Geale makes statement in Australian boxing showcase
Daniel Geale (23-1, 14 KOs) staked his claim as a top-five contender for Australian boxing's mythical throne as the pound-for-pound best as he used his composure, overwhelming work rate and almost lightning-like hand speed to beat and batter former WBO #9 world rated super-middleweight Kariz Kariuki (21-9-2, 18 KOs) into submission in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre.
After a cautious start to the fight, Geale was landing solid shots with ease on Kariuki, who was pummeled repeatedly by Geale en route to an eleventh-round stoppage victory earning Geale the vacant IBF Pan Pacific super-middleweight title. The fight was originally scheduled to be a defence of Geale's IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title but this was changed when both fighters weighed in over the middleweight limit of 72.57 kilograms. This was a curious decision made by Geale and his team as he was IBF #7 world rated as a middleweight.
The beat down was stopped with only 11 seconds remaining in the eleventh round as referee Charlie Lucas leaped between the fighters to save a turned Kariuki from an almost certain knockdown as Geale was about to race in for the finish.
Many had expected Kariuki to come out strong and attempt to land some hard punches, but it appeared almost immediately that Kariuki couldn't deal with the speed and work-rate of Geale. Geale was landing two or three shots for every one that Kariuki threw early. After three competitive rounds where both fighters appeared to be paying respect for each others ability, Kariuki's defense was almost non-existent as he spent most of the last two thirds of the fight fending off Geale's onslaught.
In many stages of the fight it Kariuki wore the expression of a fighter that did not want to be in the ring and it appeared as if he had lacked the desire to fight or in indeed even be competitive. This was a completely different Kariuki to the one that fans had previously seen defeated fighters such as Nader Hamdan, Josh Clenshaw, Sonni Michael Angelo and Dale Westerman in highly polished performances, however nothing can be taken away from Geale who put on yet another first-class performance against an opponent who proved to be second-rate.
Billy Dib (27-1, 15 KOs) was lucky to escape his fight with Thailand's Vacharakrit Senahan (17-3-1, 9 KOs) without a disqualification loss when Dib viciously hit Senahan after he was knocked down for a second time, while Senahan was still down on one-knee.
Dib started the fight well as he jabbed both from the orthodox and southpaw stances. Dib, who is rated by the IBF #4 in the featherweight division showed great variation in his shots as he hooked off of his jab, while also driving straight shots to the stomach of Senahan. As Dib frequently does in many of his fights, he used angles to land hooks behind the Thai's high guard.
Within thirty seconds of the opening bell it was clear that Senahan, who had previously drew with former world title challenger Fahsan 3K Battery and beaten formerly world rated Fahsai Sakkreerin was not in the same league as Dib. Senahan's face told the story as it showed the viewers watching the card from home that Dib's shots were landing, as both of Senahan's cheeks were swollen and bruised.
However the main talking point of the fight was after the second knockdown when Dib, who has previously hit opponents after they have been knocked down, clearly hit Senahan who was down on one-knee. A deliberate punch was thrown and landed by Dib after Vacharakrit Senahan had dropped to the canvas.
Dib didn't appear to be fussed about the contentious hit, almost as if he believed that Senahan wasn't really down, implying that the punch was legal. After watching the replay, it would have been obvious to even his most loyal of supporters that any explanation wasn't going to work, so he changed tactics.
Senahan was literally sitting on the canvas when Dib intentionally threw the illegal punch and in reality should have been disqualified by referee Les Fear, even if he was clearly overpowering Senahan.
In the third title fight of the evening, Rob Medley (28-3, 18 KOs) made a successful return to the light-middleweight division when he picked up the vacant IBF Australasian light-middleweight title with an easy stoppage victory over incapable Argentine import Sergio Leonides Aparicio (13-3-1, 6 KOs).
Medley, who was returning to the light-middleweight division for the first time since being defeated by Anthony Mundine as a middleweight in January, made certain there was no controversy surrounding his fight, taking no risks and little effort to defeat Aparicio with an underwhelming third-round knockout.
It was clear by about the second round that Aparicio had no chance to win the fight. He was being clearly outboxed by Medley and it appeared only a matter of time until he would be taking an extraordinary amount of punishment from Medley, who has been around the traps, fought and beaten some legitimate welterweight and light-middleweight contenders.
Medley won by TKO in the third round when referee Charlie Lucas mercifully jumped in to halt the carnage. Medley had easily won all two completed rounds on the scorecards of all three judges and was hitting Malignaggi with flush, clean shots.
Thankfully, Aparicio came out of the fight fine health-wise, however the way Medley was beating on him slowly, round after round, is the most dangerous type of fight and are the type of fights that can potentially cause deaths in boxing. As many if not all of the experts say, it's not the one-punch knockouts that hurt a fighter, it's the fighters that are taking punishment round after round that are in serious danger of getting hurt.
In the fight of the night, Nader Hamdan (42-8-1, 18 KOs) was extremely unlucky to have suffered the eighth loss defeat of his professional career as Junior Talipeau (15-1-1, 5 KOs) got the last laugh when he snatched a highly controversial yet thrilling split points decision in a rematch of their January fight.
Talipeau started fast, as he attempted to catch Hamdan cold with his overhand right. Hamdan, a veteran of over fifty fights gained his composure quickly as the fight slowly began to mould into a brutal scrap; especially in the later rounds. Surprisingly, it was Talipeau whose tough night at the office was rewarded with the judges Ray Reed and Max Murphy scoring the bout 77-76 and inexplicably 78-74 for Talipeau. Judge Les Fear scored the bout 77-76 for Hamdan.
Hamdan was countering well and caught Talipeau many times with nicely timed jabs, while also enjoying similar success with a left hook which landed flush almost every time it was thrown. Talipeau was definitely landing the harder shots of the two but it was Hamdan who was putting out a higher workrate of punches and forcing the fight onto Talipeau.
Hamdan repeatedly fired his straight right that was on occasions, snapping Talipeau's head back. By the end of the fight, Talipeau's face was bruised and the welts around his eyes were becoming increasingly noticeable. When Talipeau would try to attack, Hamdan would revert to jabbing from the outside while countering with the right hand.
An unfortunate ending for Hamdan, who has shown once again that he can still mix it with the best middleweights and super-middleweights in the country; I for one hope a rematch can be negotiated.
The Contender Season One winner Garth Wood (7-1-1, 3 KOs) made a disappointing return to the ring when his bout with William Hadlow (7-18-5, 3 KOs) ended within 30 seconds of the opening round. Replays showed conclusively that a cut was opened up on an accidental clash of heads when both fighters came together, Wood immediately reacted almost as if he knew the fight would be over.
A clearly disappointed Wood pushed off Hadlow before letting out a few swear words. Wood will next fight on the undercard of Mundine vs Yerez on June 30th.
Shannon Taylor (50-8-3, 36 KOs) proved his doubters wrong when he turned back the clock to easily dismantling Ben Costello (6-4-1, 4 KOs). Costello was always supposed to be quicker, stronger and a lot more accurate than Taylor, however this wasn't the case as Taylor took his time and picked his shots before eventually putting Costello away.
Taylor had the perfect game plan for Costello, evading his bullying rushes and then picking him apart with counter punches. The performance was even more stunning because Taylor was coming off a one-sided loss to Les Sherrington and Costello was coming off a career-best knockout win over previously unbeaten prospect Kurt Bahram.
Taylor needed less than half a round to figure out the onrushing Costello, hurting him with a counter right-hand before trapping him in the neutral corner and hitting him with a flurry of hooks midway through the first round before referee Charlie Lucas wisely waved off the bout as Costello's head was repeatedly being knocked back.