Fonfara brutalizes Mitchell

24-year-old light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (21-2, 12 KOs) needed only three rounds during “Fight Night 22″ in Chicago, to accomplish two important feats. The “Polish Prince” both won the IBO/USBO light heavyweight belt and prolonged his streak to nine consecutive wins by knockout. This time, on the receiving end of Fonfara’s KO power was former super middleweight champ Byron Mitchell (29-10, 22 KOs), who should understand after this fight that besides bringing a wealth of experience, he can’t compete anymore with stronger and younger fighters like Fonfara. Mitchell was down twice in the first round and one more time in the round three before trainer George Hernandez decided that Byron had received enough punishment for one night.

Boxing Schedule.

March 7
Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Daniel Geale vs. Osumanu Adama (IBF middleweight)
Billy Dib vs. Eduardo Escobedo (IBF featherweight)
Kali Meehan vs. Travis Walker (heavyweight)

BB King Blues Club & Grill, New York City
Alex Perez vs. Francisco Figueroa (welterweight)
Boyd Melson vs. Delen Parsley (super welterweight)
Will Rosinsky vs. Zane Marks (light heavyweight)
Tor Hamer vs. Dieuly Aristilde (heavyweight)

A new era for the Spinks Jinx

It was an explosive night of knockouts at the Ameristar Casino and Spa in St. Charles, MO, Friday night as Steve Smith’s Rumble Time Promotions put on their “March Mayhem” contests. Leon “III Generation” Spinks (1-0, 1 KO), grandson of former heavyweight champion, Leon Spinks, convincingly won his professional debut, quickly dispatching of Casey Crane (0-4) in just 1:41, knocking him out with a beautiful right hook.
Spinks worked his jab early , landing it as he started to get into a rhythm. Crane tried to mix it up with Spinks, but as “III Generation” later said, “I was trying to spin him, and doing what I had to do to get the W!” Spinks was able to land a 3 punch combination followed by a four punch combo and Crane was immediately overwhelmed by Spinks’ speed. Coming off of a third combo, Spinks landed the right hook, and Crane dropped to the canvas. Crane got to his feet, but as he was doing so, he told referee Mike England that he would not continue, giving the latest family member in the Spinks Jinx tradition his first win.

Brandon Rios faces Richard Abril for the vacant WBA lightweight title on April 14th

By Jason Kim: Brandon Rios (29-0-1, 22 KO’s) will be getting a chance to regain his WBA World lightweight title on April 14th in a fight against Richard Abril (17-2-1, 8 KO’s) for the vacant WBA world lightweight title at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada.Rios, 25, was stripped of his WBA title last December when he failed to make weight for his fight against John Murray. Rios would turn around and win the fight by an 11th round TKO victory, but his title was lost on the scales. He’ll get the chance to regain if if he can make weight for the fight against the Cuban Abril. Rios reportedly has a nutritionist to help him with his diet so that he won’t have to struggle to make weight like he did last time.

However, it’s questionable whether even a nutritionist is going to be able to help Rios in staying at lightweight for long, because he’s still filling out and will likely have an even tougher time in the future. The good news is it probably won’t matter if he starves himself for five days before his bout against Abril like he did against Murray, because Abril can’t punch and doesn’t have much hand speed. Abril is ranked #1 by the WBA, but he’s not in Rios’ class and will likely lose by a knockout or a lopsided decision.

Even a weight drained Rios will be too much for Abril in my estimation. Rios hits too hard and is a much better fighter on the inside than the 5’11″ Abril is. Rios will probably have to chase Abril down, because the Cuban fighter likes to hit and then immediately back up to avoid getting hit in return. Abril will slug if he senses Rios is vulnerable, but I doubt he’ll even try that in this fight because he’ll know that he stands no chance at beating Rios by trying to slug with him. That would be playing into Rios’ hands if the light hitting Abril tried to mix it up with him by standing and trading in a toe-to-toe war.