Weekly Aussie wrap-up: Quinlan shocks Geale, Doheny and Mitchell succeed overseas
By Anthony Cocks
Renold Quinlan 11-1 (7) scored the biggest win of his short professional career with an upset KO over former unified middleweight champion Daniel “Real Deal” Geale 31-5 (16) at the Silverdome in Launceston, Tasmania last Friday night.
The 27-year-old boxer-puncher took the fight to Geale from the opening bell, establishing his jab early on before landing the home-run right hand that saw the local favourite counted out at 1:14 of the second round.
As a substantial underdog going in to the fight, Quinlan said that many people warned him to avoid the bout.
“A lot of people told me not to take the fight with Geale, said it was too early in my career, but I wouldn’t have taken it if I wasn’t sure that I was ready,” Quinlan was quoted as saying in the Gold Coast Bulletin on Saturday.
“I got an opportunity and I took it, and this will open doors for me. I am ready to be Australia’s next boxing superstar.”
The second-round knockout came quicker than Geale’s recent stoppage losses to Miguel Cotto (TKO4) and Gennady Golovkin (TKO3). It was cleaner too.
Working behind a stiff left jab, Quinlin delivered a beautifully disguised right cross to Geale’s jaw that dropped him heavily just over a minute into the second round. The proud Tasmanian was quickly to his feet – perhaps too quickly – and as he staggered forward, careening into the waiting arms of referee Gary Ingraham, he was promptly prevented from continuing the fight.
It was clearly the right decision.
The win earned Quinlan the vacant IBO super middleweight strap and he wasted no time in calling out the big names at 160 and 168 pounds.
“I am not intimidated by anybody out there; Gennady Golovkin, Felix Sturm, Badou Jack, Chris Eubank Jr,” he said. “I know that I belong on the same stage as them.”
Quinlan, who comes from Aboriginal and Fijian heritage, has long been one of Anthony Mundine’s main sparring partners. His only career loss was a razor thin points decision to recently defeated Jake Carr for the Australian super middleweight title in 2014.
For Geale, 35, who was fighting in front of his home crowd for the first time since 2012, it wasn’t the homecoming he anticipated.
After 14 months of inactivity following his loss to Cotto in New York, the fight marked Geale’s first official bout as a super middleweight. The loss was Geale’s fourth in his last six bouts, with three coming by way of knockout.
Tasmanian-born Geale has been one of Australia’s best performed boxers of the past decade. In 2011 he travelled to Germany to score a wide unanimous points decision over Sebastian Sylvester for the IBF middleweight championship. Not satisfied with one crown, Geale returned to Germany the following year to annex the WBA strap from long-reigning titleholder Felix Sturm.
“Obviously I’m very disappointed,” the veteran told the crowd immediately after the fight. “I want to thank everybody from Tasmania and especially Launceston that came out. You are absolute legends. You are awesome. I love coming back to Tasmania, it’s the best place in the world.
“I got caught, that happens in boxing. I’ve been in the ring with some of the toughest fighters in the world and I’m still here and looking forward to whatever comes next.”
At 35 years of age, whatever comes next might well be retirement.
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Half a world away WBA #8 and IBF #14 super bantamweight TJ Doheny 16-0 (12) chalked up a win against rugged Mexican veteran Ernesto Guerrero 22-20 (15) in his USA debut for promoter Ken Casey of Murphy’s Boxing. Headlining Saturday’s “Monster Brawl III” at the Memorial Hall in Melrose, Massachusetts, the former Australian-based Irishman destroyed Guerrero at 1:47 of the second round of a fight that was scheduled to go eight.
Doheny recently relocated to Massachusetts to further his career.
“I’m getting much better work here,” he told Fightnews.com recently. “I’ve been getting great work with Hector Bermudez and sparring with (Javier) Fortuna and (Jonathan) Guzman, both world champs, not to mention the amazing team at Murphy’s Boxing.”
Manager Mike Altamura of MJA Entertainment was pleased with his charge’s performance and nominated the world titleholder they would prefer to face in the near future.
"It was just a hitout, a sharpening fight,” Altamura said. “He recently shifted to Boston and started working with Hector Bermudez, a very technically polished trainer. We factored that he may need a camp or two before he starts to effectively implement the adjustments made in training. I was content with his poise and punch selection the other night."
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Popular Mornington Peninsula super middleweight Jayde “J-Mitch” Mitchell 10-1 (4) made his first trip out of Australia to fight a successful one with a 10th round technical decision win over Shintaro Matsumoto 13-5 (9) at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan on Monday night.
The 30-year-old Mitchell, who has fought his previous 10 bouts in his hometown of Melbourne, wasn’t the least bit daunted by fighting on the road for the first time, dominating Matsumoto in every round. With Matsumoto knowing he needed a knockout to win in the later rounds, the gutsy Japanese warrior began to take more chances. One of those chances resulted in a head clash that opened up a cut over the defending OPBF champions right eye, which forced the bout to the scorecards for an easy points win for the Australian challenger. At the time of the stoppage Mitchell was ahead on all cards, 100-92 and 99-92 twice.
Mitchell is a crowd-pleasing, entertaining fighter who will make for lively match-ups against other 168 pound prospects as he continues to punch his way up the rankings.
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Meanwhile in Western Australia WBA #11 lightweight “Brilliant” Brandon Ogilvie 17-1-1 (9) knocked out Thailand’s Amphon Suriyo 18-2 (14) in the sixth round of a scheduled 10 at the Eaton Recreation Centre in Bunbury on Saturday night in the second defence of his WBA Oceania title. The time of the stoppage was 2:27.
Here’s hoping the much ballyhooed fight with domestic rival and PABA lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr 10-0 (6) can be made in the near future.
The other pro fight on the two-bout card featured 21-year-old super featherweight Nathaniel May 16-1 (9) making short work of Filipino Nathan Bolcio 13-12-3 (4), stopping him by KO at 1:17 of the first round of a scheduled 10.
“It was an explosive early victory, unexpected,” said his manager Mike Altamura. “Nathaniel is dynamic early, very fast-handed, but I was anticipating Bolcio to push him rounds. He landed an exquisite left hook though, and that’s all she wrote.”
The show was promoted by Peter Stokes of Hit Pit Promotions.
In other news Logan heavyweight Alex “Lionheart” Leapai 30-7-3 (24) has announced plans to return to the ring in December after a brief retirement. The 18-stone Queenslander last saw action in May 2015 when he lost on points over ten rounds to Manuel Charr in Russia.
Leapai announced his retirement in February after being warned by a specialist that he could go blind if he continued fighting. The family-orientated father of six cited his father’s death as one of the factors that contributed to his decision to hang up the gloves.
In 2014 Leapai became the first Australian in over 100 years to challenge for the world heavyweight title when he squared off against Wladimir Klitschko in Germany, going down in five rounds. Leapai recently celebrated his 37th birthday.
From one end of a career to another, Tim Tszyu, son of former undisputed junior welterweight champion and Hall of Famer Kostya, has announced his intention to turn pro in December this year. The talented 21-year-old has had 33 amateur bouts, competing as a junior middleweight.
“I grew up in a boxing ring,” Tim said. “I want to do it. My grandfather is involved and I’m working on the same schedule in which my father worked. This is how I grew up. And that will be my attitude, no matter what.
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Despite being comfortably into the last quarter of the calendar year, boxing shows in Australia and New Zealand are showing no signs of abating. Boxrec.com has no less than 27 cards scheduled to take place on our antipodean shores before Christmas.
Some of the standout fights on the immediate horizon include WBA #11, IBF #4 and WBO #4 welterweight Jeff “The Hornet” Horn 14-0-1 (9) defending his IBF intercontinental title against Germany’s Rico Mueller 20-1-1 (14) this Friday in Chandler, Queensland.
On the same card “Shotgun” Shannon O’Connell 13-4-1 (7) will make the second defence of her WBC silver super bantamweight championship against Hungarian Edina Kiss 10-1 (5) over 10 two-minute rounds. The only loss on Kiss’s ledger was to the talented Amanda Serrano at featherweight.
Hard-hitting super middleweight Bilal Akkawy 13-0-1 (11) squares off against Kerry Hope 23-8 (2) on Sunday 30th October in defence of his WBA Oceania title in Punchbowl, NSW.
Down in Melbourne former WBA interim junior flyweight champion Randy Petalcorin 24-2-1 (18) is back in action at in Malvern, Victoria on Friday 4th November against the notorious TBA.
Meanwhile across the ditch Robert “The Butcher” Berridge 28-5-1 (21) will take on Adrian Taihia 15-2-2 (7) over 10 rounds at ASB Stadium, Kohimarama, NZ, in a light heavyweight contest on Friday 28th October. The fight will be for the New Zealand national title at 175-pound title. Berridge is a former regional titleholder.
In international news former IBF lightweight world title challenger Leonardo Zappavigna 35-2 (25) is fighting a final IBF eliminator at 140 pounds against Russian Sergey Lipinets 10-0 (8). The fight is expected to take place in Los Angeles on 10th December. Zappavigna arrived in the States on Wednesday to start his training camp at the Wild Card Gym with trainer Ernie Zavala.
Light-punching but tough-as-nails Dwight Ritchie 14-0 (1) is deep in preparation for his OPBF 160-pound title defence against Japan’s heavy-handed Koki Tyson 10-2-2 (10) in Osaka on 23rd November. Ritchie has been getting quality sparring from Canberra middleweight Dave Touissant and 168 pound former world title challenger Blake Caparello. According to his manager Mike Altamura, “The Fighting Cowboy” is ahead of the curve conditioning-wise compared to usual.
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Finally, hot off the social media rumour mill, there’s a whisper that Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne 24-0 (21) will be getting a crack at the recently vacated WBA heavyweight title against former longtime champion Wladimir Klitschko of the Ukraine.
Browne, who became the first Australian to win a version of the heavyweight title when he came from behind on the cards to knockout reigning WBA “regular” champion Ruslan Chagaev in the 10th round in Grozny, Russia in March this year before being stripped of the title for testing positive for the banned drug clenbuterol. Browne, who has protested his innocence, was banned from boxing for six months. The WBA subsequently absolved the boxer of any wrongdoing.
Klitschko lost his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles to the UK’s Tyson Fury last November. Fury 25-0 (18) has twice postponed the rematch before reportedly testing positive to cocaine and subsequently relinquishing his titles. Klitschko has been negotiating with Britain’s IBF champion Anthony Joshua for a crack at his old belt before the year is out.
Klitschko hasn’t fought since the Fury loss. After almost a full year out of the ring it’s understandable why 40-year-old “Dr Steelhammer” would want to target a seemingly easier opponent than the popular and undefeated Joshua.
Questions? Comments? Feedback? Abuse? Email: anthonyc1974@gmail.com
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