UNIFICATION
Taylor aims to add the IBF lightweight belt to her WBA strap in Brooklyn
TALKING POINT EDDIE HEARN continues to build his stable, and takes to Brooklyn for his latest American promotion, which is expected to trigger some big moves in the USA for Matchroom. Sky Sports and HBO televise.
IT’S not Katie
Taylor’s fault. It’s not her fault she has the kind of amateur pedigree most women in the professional ranks can only imagine. Nor is it her fault she’s able to fast-track her way to world titles because her lightweight rivals – the competitive ones – are few and far between.
It’s just the way of things. Taylor, a fivetime world champion in the amateurs, as well as a 2012 Olympic gold medallist, has a head start and is using this to rattle through her career at a rate of knots. On Saturday (April 28) in Brooklyn, for instance, she goes for her second world title and looks to unify Victoria Noelia
Bustos’ IBF lightweight belt with the WBA belt she currently owns. Oh, and it will be just her ninth professional fight.
This speaks to Taylor’s ability and also the dearth of talent not only in her division, lightweight, but in the women’s game in general. It’s getting there, of course; it will get there. But, for now, a talent like Taylor, someone who won all there was to win in the unpaid ranks, and is blessed with acumen and technical skills her peers lack, has carte blanche to collect belts.
The person out to stop her on Saturday, Noelia, 18-4 (0), has yet to compete outside her native Argentina and is more boxer than puncher, as her record suggests. Yet to register a stoppage win in a seven-year pro career, Bustos is accustomed to going the full 10 rounds and comfortable boxing on the back foot behind her jab. She’s composed, moves well and shoots a decent and straight right cross. She’s also, however, a level or two beneath Taylor, technically, and has been outpointed four times (the last person to beat her was Erica Anabella Farias in 2016). One suspects you need more than 18 wins in Argentina and an IBF title to defeat Taylor. The WBA champion’s last outing in December against Jessica Mccaskill was the closest we’ve come to a competitive Katie Taylor fight, thanks in large part to Mccaskill’s pluckiness, but was still won handily by Taylor on the cards. In hindsight, that fight was compelling because Mccaskill realised her limitations, accepted the fact Taylor boasted better skills, and decided to do something about it. She turned a boxing match into a fight and roughed up the
Taylor gets huge chance to shine in America and latest opponent should bring out the best in her, writes Elliot Worsell
favourite. She forgot all about her 5-1 pro record, her lack of experience, and threw respect out the window. It didn’t work, no, but it created an interesting spectacle and formulated a blueprint of sorts. It should, at the very least, have given other lightweights hope.
The problem for Noelia is she appears more boxer than brawler and seems to lack Mccaskill’s fire. Which is why Taylor, 8-0 (4), has to be backed to unify her WBA title with Bustos’ IBF version. She might have to go the distance to do so – Bustos is tough – but, as is often the case with Taylor, her pedigree should win out.
Middleweights might be in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment but Daniel Jacobs continues to keep his head down and get on with business. This Saturday he faces the unbeaten Maciej
Sulecki in a non-title 12-rounder that hasn’t made much noise but could be a bit of a sleeper.
Sulecki, while somewhat unproven as a professional, is without a defeat in 26 fights and has outscored Jack Culcay and stopped Hugo Centeno Jnr in 10 rounds. Seven of his last eight wins have come via stoppage, in fact, and Sulecki, at 28, would seem more than ready for an opportunity like this against Jacobs. He has served his apprenticeship and flown under the radar for long enough. Now it’s time to see whether the Pole can mix it at the highest level.
Jacobs, 33-2 (29), definitely represents the highest level. The 31-year-old from Brooklyn pushed Gennady Golovkin all the way in March 2017, giving the Kazakh the sternest test of his pro career, and then comprehensively outpointed the unbeaten Luis Arias in November. He’s in his prime right now. He might one day rematch Golovkin – a fight that should happen – and emerge as number one.
First, though, Jacobs must get past Sulecki, a potential banana skin, and make the difference in levels clear from the getgo. Boxing behind his dependable, sharp left jab, Jacobs can accumulate rounds, keep Sulecki honest with power shots, and eventually claim a comfortable decision.
Brooklyn’s Jarrell Miller, all 300 pounds of him, isn’t just fighting for victory on Saturday night against Johann
Duhaupas. In truth, he’s fighting for a shot at Anthony Joshua, the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion, who could be waiting in the wings for him this summer – in Brooklyn – if he keeps his undefeated record intact.
He should manage that at the Barclays Center because Duhaupas, while a serviceable heavyweight contender, has been stopped by the likes of Alexander Povetkin and Deontay Wilder, as well as outscored by fringe types Erkan Teper and Francesco Pianeta. His best wins are a sixth round knockout of Robert Helenius and a points victory over Manuel Charr, both of which demonstrate ability, but Duhaupas, 37-4 (24), has clearly found his level.
Miller, on the other hand, has yet to find his. All we know at this stage is his career-best win is a ninth round stoppage of Mariusz Wach and that he possesses the pretty record and personality to snare a Joshua fight later this year, so long as he comes through Duhaupas and, more importantly, looks good in the process.
It’s hard to guarantee Miller, 20-0-1 (18), looks good – he’s a heavyweight, after all – but he should certainly get the win, late or via decision.
DUHAUPAS SEEMS TO HAVE FOUND HIS LEVEL BUT MILLER IS YET TO FIND HIS