“Historical Heavyweight Show at the Barclays”
BoxingGlove Notes
Distinio Lois, Jr.
Just like the yearly Barnum & Bailey Circus coming into town for their annual performance to the delight of the many circus fans, Saturday, January 16, 2016, DiBella Entertainment, Warrior Boxing, and Sferis Knockout Promotions’ heavyweight championship fight card at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn will be just as exciting or more than the circus.
To the historian boxing fan if they remember, this will be the first time in 115 years that a heavyweight championship fight will be held in the borough of Brooklyn, N.Y.
The last heavyweight championship fight in Brooklyn was in the 1900’s at the Seaside Athletic Club in Coney Island, when Jim Jeffries knocked out Gentleman Jim Corbett in the 23rd round of a 25 round title fight.
Since then all of the heavyweight title fights have been held in the current mecca of boxing Madison Square Garden, Manhattan, N.Y.
The strange irony of this boxing history is that Brooklyn has been the birthplace of some of the greatest heavyweight champs, like Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Shannon Briggs, & Michael Moorer, and yet they never defended their titles in their birth borough, of Brooklyn.
Thanks to the promotional efforts of these promoters, Brooklyn will finally get its due, not only 2 heavyweight title fights, but a bonus, 3rd heavyweight fight.
Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder, 35-0, 34 knockouts, current W.B.C. Heavyweight Champ, and a 2008 Beijing Olympian Bronze Medalist, will defend his crown against Artur Szpilka, 20-1, 15 k.o.’s Wieliczka, Poland, and in the semi-final Charles Martin, 22-0-1, 20 knockouts, Carson, California will challenge Vyacheslav “Czar” Glazkov, 21-0-1, 13 k.o.’s, Lugansk, Ukraine, for the vacant I.B.F. Heavyweight crown.
In the 3rd fight, Adam “Baby Face” Kownacki, 12-0, 10 knockouts will fight Danny Kelly, 9-1-1, 8 k.o.’s in a 10 round eliminator, in a spectacular 9 bout fight card featuring different weight levels in addition to the heavyweights.
Just like the circus elephants, which draw a lot of attention, the 6 heavyweights represent a weight tonnage of 1,414 pounds of humanity, which could very easily remind us of the pre-historic now extinct mammals, and that the heavyweights were the only ones featured in an entire fight card in past years.
Deontay Wilder kept his promise to defend his title in Brooklyn accepting the challenge of Artur Szpilka who declared that he wanted to be the first Polish born national to become heavyweight champ of the world.
Although a betting underdog but a fan favorite Szpilka, is a tough hard hitting south paw now under the tutelage of world known championship trainer Ronnie Shields who stated, “Ronnie has trained me perfectly with a battle plan that will upset Wilder, and I will take the heavyweight title back home to Poland.”
A smiling Wilder declared, “that, will never happen since I hit too hard, I am too fast for you, and I could handle south paws easily in the ring.”
Deontay Wilder stated further, “I plan to win all of the heavyweight belts and be a champion for a long time, and you are not going to stop me because you are fighting a Bomb Squad.”
Could Artur Szpilka defeat Wilder? Of course, anything is possible in the ring especially when you could feel Szpilka’s fierce determination and confidence.
Analyzing both combatants it doesn’t seem possible that Szpilka could win since the 6’7” Wilder a former Football & Basketball player from Tuscaloosa, Alabama and under the training of former world champ Mark Breland, is one of the hardest punching fighters in today’s ring market, who has scored 34 knockouts in 35 fights, and is fast, has a long reach, could jab very well, and is very defensive.
It will be an uphill battle for Szpilka against all odds already mentioned in addition to the fact that he was already knocked out by former heavyweight contender and light puncher, Brian Jennings 2 years ago.
Since then, Szpilka has won 4 straight fights in preparation for the biggest and most important fight of his boxing career.
The semi-final fight which also is a world title heavyweight fight for the vacant I.B.F. Crown highlights 2 relatively unknown boxers with seemingly good fight records. Martin as well as Glazkov, are both undefeated and the winner will certainly be a future opponent for either Wilder or Szpilka.
I would have to call this a pic-em fight since they are so evenly matched, and inexperienced in championship fights, but, with impressive knockout records. Whoever of the 2 lands the first telling punch will probably determine the victor.
Barclays Center expects a sell-out crowd since from the very beginning of this fight promotion and its historical theme, plus Szpilka’s city wide Polish fan base, tickets have been sold in massive volumes.
The fight fan enjoyed a banner boxing year in 2015, and all fight Promoters have made a commitment to continue that trend in 2016.
Black Star News readers certainly hope so.
