Stateside nothing is going on this weekend, but overseas there are some solid fights going on.
Getting right to it. Vyacheslav Senchenko is an undefeated, 147 pound world champion. Haven’t heard of him? Don’t worry, nobody would blame you. He’s a good top 10 fighter, but he has a weak resume, solid skills, and shouldn’t have a world title. But, unfortunately, he does and he is defending it for a 4th time, first time this year. The challenger is Marco Antonio Avendano. Pretty much every big fight he has had he has lost. Plus a few others he has lost. Not much in the skill department, but he does have a punch. That’s his chance, a puncher’s chance. I don’t like those odds so I’ll go with Senchenko via wide UD.
Robert Helenius is one of the Heavyweight prospects that is working his way up. He only has 15 fights, but already a good resume. He has already faced, and beaten the likes of Samuel Peter, Lamont Brewster, and even throw in Greg Tony and Attila Levin. Not bad for only 15 fights. And with number 16 it’s another good named fighter that’s on the slide. Siarhei Liakhovich, is a faded fighter, but still very dangerous. I like Helenius in this fight. He’s younger, fresher, and has been on a roll. I’ll take Helenius to stop Liakhovich late in this fight.
Karoly Balzsay is a bit on the slide. Back in 2009 he was a world champion at 168, but Robert Stieglitz upended him, and proceeded to get upset at the end of that year. He has since won two straight tune up fights, and is now fighting for a world title again…I know, he doesn’t make sense that there is a belt on the line at 168, that’s why I ignore the belts. Anyway, Stanyslav Kashtanov is undefeated and is taking a big step up. Very much a padded record up until the point and we will see if he is legit or not. Style wise, they are pretty much the same. They have the stand up style, throw a 1-2, stand there, block, 1-2, etc. They have the stand up style, I’ll go with Kashtanov though. He seems to be just a bit quicker, and he is the fresher fighter. Kashtanov by UD.
Alexander Povetkin-Ruslan Chagaev is a real interesting fight. Finally, Povetkin is taking a step up, his first since beating Eddie Chambers. And that was over 3 years ago, closer to 4 years. Since then he has avoided Wladimir Klitschko, has had a couple of foot injuries, and is now being trained by Teddy Atlas. So, with that said, he and Teddy have only been together for 3 weeks for this training camp. Bad news for Povetkin fighting his best fighter, probably, overall in his career, or at least since Eddie Chambers. Ruslan Chagaev is a really good Heavyweight. He’s beaten the likes of John Ruiz, Carl Drumond, Matt Skelton, Michael Sprott, and Nikolay Valuev. And of course, he took on Wladimir Klitschko, but came up short…real short, like everyone else. In his last fight, he didn’t look all that good though against Travis Walker. So, who knows, if he still is the same fighter he was 3-5 years ago. So, both fighters have questions, but I worry more about Povetkin, because not having a full training camp is bad news. I’m very interested to see the weigh in, but right now I’ve got Alexander Povetkin winning by the skin of his teeth, by SD.
Marco Antonio Avendano vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko- Vyacheslav Senchenko by UD
Karoly Balzsay vs. Stanyslav Kashtanov- Stanyslav Kashtanov by UD
Robert Helenius vs. Siarhei Liakhovich- Robert Helenius by KO
Alexander Povetkin vs. Ruslan Chagaev- Alexander Povetkin by SD
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