Aussie Wrap-Up: Horn back in the ring, Toussaint wins first major title, Moloneys invade America, Luke Jackson returns, Samuel Colomban secures national title, Ryan Breese hangs em up
By Anthony Cocks
A four-way battle is on to secure the lucrative position opposite Jeff Horn 17-0-1 (11) in his first defence of his WBO world title this November in Brisbane, Australia, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Britons Gary ‘Hellraiser’ Corcoran and Bradley Skeete, along with American Ray Robinson and Argentina’s Adrian Luciano Veron, are all vying for the opportunity. Horn won the world title with a shock win over Filipino superstar Manny Pacquiao on points in July.
The fight is expected to take place at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on November 25 just two days after the Ashes cricket series between Australia and England begins in the Queensland capital. An Aussie vs England fight would be a natural.
It was widely expected that Top Rank-promoted former titleholder Jesse Vargas would be in the opposite corner from Horn when he returns to the ring. Horn is co-promoted by Duco Events and Top Rank.
Last week it emerged that once-undefeated Brit Skeete 27-1 (12) was in the frame to land a shot at the WBO welterweight champion. The former Commonwealth and WBO European champion, who is also the reigning British champ, has only ever lost to the talented Frankie Gavin.
The 29-year-old Londoner – who is ranked #3 by the WBO – has been baiting Horn on Twitter in the past week. “I’m ready and waiting to sign the contract? Hope your [sic] not getting cold feet #ReadyWhenYouAre”.
Last year WBO #11 Corcoran challenged domestic rival Liam Williams for his Commonwealth and British junior middleweight titles in what was a genuine grudge match, getting cut and dropped en route to an 11th round stoppage loss. The 26-year-old from Wembley has since returned to the welterweight division, bouncing back with a brace of wins.
WBO #8 Adrian Luciano Veron, AKA ‘Chucky’, is a 28-year-old from Buenos Aires with a record of 21-1 (13). His ledger is largely filled with the unfamiliar names of his fellow countrymen. A KO loss to Cristian Nestor Romero in 2015 was avenged with a ten round decision victory the following year.
‘The New’ Ray Robinson is a Philly southpaw with a record of 24-2 (12) who is ranked WBO #10. He hasn’t lost a fight since dropping back-to-back decisions to Brad Solomon and Shawn Porter in 2009 and 2010 respectively. His best wins have come against former amateur standout Terrance Cauthen, Ray Narth and a shopworn Breidis Prescott in his last bout in June.
Expect one of the Poms to get the call-up within the week.
‘DIAMOND’ DAVID TOUSSAINT CLAIMS FIRST MAJOR TITLE
Canberra southpaw ‘Diamond’ David Toussaint 12-0 (8) claimed his first major title on the weekend with a six round technical decision win over Liam Hutchinson 11-5-1 (5) to pick up the vacant Australian middleweight title at the Hellenic club in Woden, ACT on Friday night.
The fight ended prematurely when a clash of heads opened up a long, nasty-looking cut on Hutchinson’s forehead that extended all the way from his hair line one the left side of his head to right above his nose. To look at it in the photos you would think he had been whacked across the face with an axe.
At the time of the stoppage Toussaint was comfortably ahead by scores of 50-46, 49-47 and 49-46 in what was scheduled to be a ten round bout.
“Obviously it wasn’t the way I wanted the fight to end, but I was happy with the result,” Toussaint told Maxboxing. “Our plan was to break him down and I think we were doing that before the headclash.
“He didn’t overly surprise me. We expected him to be a good tidy boxer and fairly tough and he was just that. We were expecting a tough fight and Liam was a great competitor.”
Toussaint had a breakout performance in his last fight when he defeated Shane Mosley Jr 10-2 (7) by eight round split decision on the undercard of the WBO welterweight title fight between Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, QLD in July. The fight was broadcast live on ESPN in the United States.
“I think the plan is to fight on the undercard of Horn’s WBO world title defence in Brisbane on November 25th so I’ll take a week or two out of the gym then back into it,” said Toussaint.
“It’s been a great year after the early layoff with the shoulder [injury] so hopefully things keep going that way.”
On the same card light heavyweight Steve Lovett 16-2-0-1NC (13) had an easy hit-out against journeyman Aswin Cabuy 19-63-4 (7) after the Sydney-based Indonesian failed to come out for the third round of a scheduled six.
Lovett’s last 11 fights have taken place in the United States where he has compiled a record of 8-2-0-1NC with 7 KOs and one DQ win since relocating there in 2014. The talented 32-year-old was coming off back-to-back KO losses against Craig Baker 17-2 (13) in Lakeland, FL and Lionell Thompson 18-4 (11) in Temecula, CA and was probably due a confidence building win.
Middleweight Wade Ryan 14-5 (3) logged a six round win over Felipe Ferreira 6-3 (2) ahead of his October 22 clash with Tim Tszyu 6-0 (5) at Star City Casino in Sydney.
MOLONEY TWINS TAKE WORKING HOLIDAY IN THE USA
Ahead of their last fights for the year at ‘Punches at the Park 6’ on October 21 at the Melbourne Park Function Centre under the Hosking Promotions banner, unbeaten twins Andrew and Jason Moloney have taken a working holiday in the USA to start their preparations for their upcoming bouts and scope out future opponents.
Andrew ‘The Monster’ Moloney, 14-0 (9), who recently moved down to super flyweight from the bantamweight division, was particularly interested to get his eyeballs on the 115-pound boxers featured on Saturday night’s SuperFly card at the StubHub Centre in Carson, California.
“The fight of the night for me was [Juan Francisco] Estrada versus [Carlos] Cuadras,” said Andrew, who debuted at WBA #8 and IBF #13 in the latest rankings after his first professional fight at the super flyweight limit of 115-pounds last month. “I think Estrada had the best performance of the night and boxed very smart.
“[Naoya] Inoue is a great boxer but I didn’t think his performance tonight was up to the standard we normally see from him. I felt he was looking for the body shot too much and followed [Antonio] Nieves around the ring instead of trapping him in the corners.
“As good as Chocolatito [Gonzalez] is, it seems that he is too small for the super flyweight division. That was a bad knockout that he took tonight. It will be interesting to see whether he can come back from that.”
The experience has only reinforced Andrew’s belief that he belongs at this level.
“It was great for me to see the top guys in the division fight live,” he said. “It has given me a really big boost in confidence as I truly believe I can match it with all of these guys when my time comes.”
It’s not all about sitting ringside at the big fights though. Since arriving in the United States the twins have been getting in quality rounds at Legendz Boxing Gym in Norwalk, Los Angeles. Jason has been sparring undefeated Irish super bantamweight Michael Conlan 3-0 (3), who last saw action on the Pacquiao-Horn undercard in Brisbane in July, as well as amateur star Chris Zavala. Andrew has been putting in work with flyweight puncher and former Mexican Olympian Joselito Velazquez 3-0 (3).
“America has been great so far,” said Andrew. “We are getting in some great sparring at Legendz Gym. These trips are priceless, every time we go on these overseas training camps I feel I improve another 10%.”
The trip will conclude with a visit to Vegas next weekend to watch the highly-anticipated middleweight world title clash between Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez 49-1-1 and Gennady ‘Triple G’ Golovkin 37-0 at the T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night. Jason Moloney 14-0 (11) will no doubt be closely watching fellow super bantamweight contenders Randy Caballero 24-0 (14) and Diego De La Hoya 19-0 (9) as they duke it out for the NABF title on the undercard.
The Aussie 122-pounder currently enjoys a world ranking of WBA #8, WBO #11 and IBF #13.
LUKE JACKSON BACK IN ACTION THIS WEEKEND
Tasmania’s leading active boxer Luke ‘Action’ Jackson 14-0 (6) will be back in the ring at City Hall in Hobart, Tasmania this Saturday night when he defends his WBO Oriental featherweight title against Humberto ‘El Convicto’ de Santiago 14-3-1 (10) of Mexico on a Fightcard Promotions show.
Jackson admits he has limited knowledge of his opponent but insists he has the tools to get the job done in front of his hometown crowd.
“I know that he switches from orthodox to southpaw and looks to have an ‘awkward’ fighting style,” Jackson told Maxboxing four days out from the fight. “He can obviously punch as ten of his fourteen wins are by knockout.”
The 32-year-old Jackson was last in action in March when his fight against once-beaten Tanzanian Mohammed Kambuluta was stopped at the end of the sixth round of a scheduled ten.
De Santiago will be the first Mexican boxer that Jackson has faced in the amateur or pro ranks.
“I’ve never fought against a Mexican as an amateur or a professional but I have done a lot of training and sparing alongside them,” he said. “He looks very similar – comes forward, ready for war. I won’t have to go looking for him in the fight, which is a style I like.”
According to Jackson, this will be a classic battle of brains versus brawn.
“My boxing IQ will be the key to defusing his power,” said Jackson. “I also intend to nullify his power with my jab. I’m not the strongest or the fastest fighter, but I have a good boxing intelligence and don’t get hit a lot.”
There is a lot riding on this fight with a victory opening the door to a possible world title fight against WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez 22-0 (19) of Mexico early in the new year, possibly in Hobart.
“We travelled to the USA for two weeks training prior to Sydney where I was lucky enough to spar guys like Alberto Machado (18-0 with 15 knockouts), Saul Rodriguez (21-0-1 with 15 knockouts) and Charles Huerta (20-5 with 12 knockouts) at Wild Card Gym in LA and Freddie Roach liked what he saw and had me sparring every day I was there,” said Jackson, who is ranked number 10 in the world by the WBO.
“My camp in Sydney finished off that hard work at Bodypunch sparring the likes of Billy Dib and Paul Fleming and mixing up my training to freshen me up.”
After the success of Jeff Horn’s WBO world title tilt against Manny Pacquiao in Brisbane in July, there has been renewed interest from other state government in financing high profile boxing bouts to encourage international tourism.
Jackson and Valdez are hardly strangers having risen through the amateur ranks together and competed in many of the same tournaments, including world championships and the London Olympic Games in 2012.
A reported AUD$300,000 is required to get Valdez onto a plane bound for Hobart.
“When I get through this fight, the Tasmanian government and supporters in Tasmania are keen so if everyone can pull together there is no reason why we can’t bring a world title to Tasmania,” said Jackson.
In the main support bout the always entertaining Jayden ‘Plugger’ Nichols 2-0-1 (1) makes the move down to cruiserweight to take on Johnny Brown 2-2-1 for the vacant Tasmanian State cruiserweight title over eight rounds in what should be a fun scrap.
SAMUEL COLOMBAN SECURES NATIONAL TITLE AT 154-POUNDS
Samuel ‘The Lion’ Colomban 25-10-1 (11) made the fifth time a charm on Saturday night as he laid claim to the Australian junior middleweight title with a ten round points decision over previously unbeaten Queenslander Adrian Rodriguez 8-1-1 (5) at the Mansfield Tavern in Mansfield, Queensland on an Ace Boxing promotion.
The 32-year-old Colomban, who represented his native Cameroon at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 and decided to remain in the host city at the end of the competition, used the experience gained over 36 professional bouts to outbox the game and heavy-handed Rodriguez. Scores were 99-91 twice and a closer 96-94 at the conclusion.
Colomban has shared the square circle with some of Australia’s toughest men from welterweight to junior middleweight in his eleven year pro career. Some of the names he has fought include current WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn, reigning Commonwealth 154-pound champion Anthony Buttigieg, former world champion Phillip Holiday, two-time world title challenger Tommy Browne, WBO #3 junior middleweight Dennis Hogan and former hot prospect Wale Omotoso, to name just a few.
In his first fight across the ditch Kiwi cruiserweight Lance ‘Buster’ Bryant 11-3 (5) made short work of Aaron Russell 10-4 (4) scoring a second round knockout in a 10 round contest for the vacant IBO Oceania title.
After a close opening round ‘Buster’ went to work in the second. Russell, who was coming off an impressive points win over previously unbeaten Kiwi Nikolas Charalampous 15-1 (7) in June, simply had no answer for the power of the Pahiatua bruiser.
After finding himself on the canvas three times Russell’s corner mercifully sent the towel over the top rope to indicate to referee Phil Austin that their fighter had had enough. Official time of the stoppage was 2:59.
Brent Rice 7-0 (2) successfully defended his Australian super featherweight title against James Katz 4-3 (2) with a unanimous decision over ten rounds. The pair had previously met two years ago with Rice winning a majority decision over four. This time around the decision was much more definitive, with Rice pitching a shutout on two of the three judges’ scorecards while the third could only find a single round to award to Katz.
RYAN BREESE ANNOUNCES SURPRISE RETIREMENT
Undefeated light heavyweight Ryan ‘Bullet’ Breese 11-0 (3) has surprised many in the sport this week with his announcement that he will be retiring from boxing.
Melburnian Breese was a promising Aussie Rules footy player, but in 2010 doctors recommended he hang up the boots after a series of chronic knee injuries. Breese persisted with the sport, helping his club Lilydale win the premiership flag the following year.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce my retirement from boxing,” Breese told his family, friends and followers on Facebook on Saturday. “After countless operations and injections the body is no longer willing! Massive thank you to everyone who made this journey possible, I’m truly grateful of all the time and support you’ve given me. I have absolutely loved my time in the ring and had some epic battles along the way that I’ll never forget!”
The 30-year-old southpaw logged some quality wins across his four-and-a-half year pro career.
Breese won the vacant Victorian state super middleweight title in his third pro fight and successfully defended it three times. He also claimed the vacant IBF Australian super middleweight title against Tej Pratap Singh in 2016 and in his final fight in August annexed the vacant Victorian state light heavyweight title against Lucas Miller.
Breese is also the only boxer to date to defeat world-ranked super middleweight Jayde Mitchell.
Not bad for a broken-down footy player.
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