AS 2015 crawls steadily on its trajectory to its end in a few months, there are five compelling fights on the local and international scenes no fan can afford to miss. In the offing are two rematches involving WBC silver bantamweight champion Catherine Phiri versus Christina McMahon for the WBC gold belt and Esther Phiri against Sandra Almeida for the Women’s International Boxing Association and the Women International Boxing Federation welterweight title unification.
The rematches were separately ordered by the sanctioning bodies following controversial endings of the first bouts in Lusaka which gave boxing a black eye.
Internationally, on September 12, WBC and WBA welterweight champion Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr in possibly his last fight ever in which he hopes to seal his perfect record with a 49-0 column faces once-upon-a-time dangerous Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas Nevada, US.
Then on October 17 IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) and IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (GGG) (33-0, 30 KOs) square off for their unification fight on HBO pay-per-view from Madison Square Garden in New York.
WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39- 33 Kos- 4) stakes his title against rising Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on November 21 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, US.
After winning a unanimous points decision in his historic bout dubbed “Fight of the Century” against Manny Pacquiao in May, Mayweather (48-0, 26 knockouts) bypassed a number of “deserving” opponents for his last fight and settled for Berto, an American of Haitian origin.
The most prominent and bitterest of those who missed the big payday was Britain’s Amir Khan who sounded desperate in his bid to convince the world he was the best challenger. In truth, however, every challenger wants a piece of the purse that comes with crossing paths with the guy whose moniker “Money” has become almost his first name.
Mayweather has been criticised for picking Berto who has won three and lost as many of his last six fights. While some thought he was joking, Mayweather was “100 percent serious” in settling for Berto, a two-time former world champion who could still pose serious problems to Mayweather.
Berto – as his former trainer Tony Morgan said – has “natural speed” and “natural power.”  I  have watched Berto myself many times before and I believe he comes to fight. The only snug, though, he’s facing someone who doesn’t mi x it; someone who believes in safety first, and is a master of defence which could make the fight boring. Berto is a serious underdog going into this fight because he’s shorter, has a shorter reach and is not too hard to hit. He got the slight nod over the others based purely on his record and quality of past opponents big-name fighters – such as Freddy Hernandez, Victor Ortiz, and Robert Guerrero.
GGG- Lemieux promises to be a sure bloody affair because the man from Kazakhstan, Golovkin, is the most feared among middleweights, but he is facing someone who packs explosives in his left hand. So, while Golovkin on paper looks to be the favourite, he will have to avoid the 26-year-old Lemieux’ weapon of death.
“I’m not here to be his friend. I’m here to be his opponent. On the 17th we’re going to fight. There will be blood,” Lemieux said during the press conference to kick off the promotion of their contest. Golovkin went on to say that he’s kind of nervous to be facing a fighter like Lemieux, adding: “This is amazing history for everybody. I promise an amazing show.”
Canelo-Cotto is already a big talking point with some pundits predicting a win for Alverez because of his youth and power, while Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach believes the Mexican will be taught a boxing lesson by the veteran Puerto Rican. Going by the way Cotto stopped the man who was once thought to be the best middleweight in the world Sergio Matinez, I think this is going to be one hell of a fight. Comments:mwale.simon@yahoo.co.uk 0966755574/0953