Povetkin impresses with stoppage of Boswell
Brendan Gabraith from ringside: In the co-headline bout, WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin stopped Cedric Boswell in the eighth round of an impressive performance in Helsinki on Saturday night.
Teddy Atlas’ ‘work in progress’ was expected to be given a stern test by veteran campaigner Cedric Boswell and for the first four rounds it was a fairly competitive fight. However, after three close rounds that Povetkin shaded, the Atlas prodigy established control in the fourth. Povetkin steadily increased his pressure ducking under the jab and stepping in with quick left and right hooks. Povetkin continued to control the fight, getting through with his leads with more authority and increasing consistently as Boswell started to feel the pace. Boswell’s earlier stiff jab was by now replaced with a sluggish, lazy jab that invited Povetkin to step up his counters.
From the sixth round onwards, Povetkin stepped in to land flush hooks on Boswell's unprotected head and the writing looked to be on the wall. Towards the end of the seventh, Povetkin trapped Boswell in the corner and unleashed a flurry of short hooks, forcing the referee to take a long, hard look, but Boswell was saved by the bell. At 2:58 of round eight the referee stopped the contest, Boswell’s brave effort finally succumbed under a barrage of heavy punches; the finisher was a heavy right hook that laid Boswell on the canvas.
Povetkin, who received a great ovation when he entered the ring, saluted the cheering crowd after his excellent performance. This was a good win for Povetkin and he showed a good tight guard as he manoeuvred in and out of the pocket against the rangy and quick handed Boswell.
Povetkin could face Marco Huck next. Huck issued a challenge to Povetkin in the post fight press conference (pictured), where he asked for a shot at the Russian's WBA title.
Huck stated that he had defended his WBO title eight times and there was no one left to fight in the cruiserweight division and he wanted to move up to heavyweight and fight Povetkin. Povetkin accepted the challenge and when Teddy Atlas was asked what he thought about Huck’s challenge, Atlas confidently replied that he would fight Huck tomorrow or next week if he wanted.
In the show opener light heavyweight Erik Skoglund defeated Amine Belali on points 40-36.
Light middleweight prospect Jack Culcay looks like an exciting fighter to keep an eye on in the future. Culcay easily scored a KO win over Giammario Grassellini with four-punch combo, left right to head and double body shots inside the first 30 seconds. The early finish to a scheduled ten rounder was sealed with the heavy body shots. Grassellini, who I have previously seen against Stephen Haughian on the under card of Duddy-Eastman in the Kings Hall a few years ago, is a durable fighter and it was impressive that Culcay finished the Italian so easily.
Finnish welterweight, Jussi Koivula, received the second biggest cheer of the evening, as he made his way into the ring. In a competitive fight with Jose Del Rio, Koivula sustained a nick over the right eye in the first, that appeared to be have been caused by a glancing right from southpaw. Opening round was even, Koivula shaded the next two with more accurate single body shots and the Tampere man landed his best head combination at the end of the second.
Koivula dominated the fourth with good counter attacks to the head to the flat-footed Del Rio. The fifth was a lively, Del Rio catching Koivula with a one-two upstairs and Koivula responding with a three-punch flurry that caused a bloody nose. Del Rio was the aggressor in the sixth and won his first clear round of the fight. Del Rio dominated the first part of the seventh even managing an ‘Ali Shuffle’, but Koivula finished the round with the cleaner punching.
Koivula finished the fight on top and at one stage hurting Del Rio with a right hook to the body. Koivula a clear UD win. The scores were 80-72, 80-72 and 78-75.
Finnish lightweight Edis Tatli faced Pasquale Di Silvio in a scheduled ten rounder. Tatli, looking the bigger man, worked well behind a stiff jab, mixing it with left leads. A fairly low scoring boxing match developed with Tatli edging competitive rounds in the first half of the fight. Tatli rocked Di Silvio in the seventh – knocking out his gum shield, Tatli held on to finish the round. In the eighth Di Silvio walked into another hook and was momentarily buzzed. Tatli dominated the final two rounds taking a UD points. The final scores were 100-90, 100-92, and 98-93 to Tatli.
Heavyweights Edmund Gerber ended his fight with Marcus McGee inside the first minute of the opening round with a left hook to the jaw. McGee could not recover in time and after 18 seconds of the first round, Gerber had improved his record to 18-0.
‘The First Lady’ Cecilia Brackhus v Kuulei Kupihea in a ten x two minute rounder at welterweight showcased an excellent array of boxing skills to dominate Kupihea and eventually score the deserved stoppage in the final round. Brackhus took the opener with smooth boxing on the front foot landing cleanly to the head.
The First Lady picked off Kupihea with well-timed counters causing swelling underneath the left eye. This pattern continued and at the end of the fifth Brackhus landed a flush right hook. In the sixth Brachhus continued to stalk Kupiphea and continued to outbox her opponent. In a dominating performance, Brackhus stopped Kupihea after 57 seconds of the tenth round.
Heavyweights Jarno Rosbert defeated Manuel Alberto Pucheta in a dull and uneventful eight rounder 80-73, 80-73 70-74. Rosbert seemed reluctant to throw more than one punch at a time against out of shape slugger Pucheta.
Overall, Sauerland Promotions put on an excellent card at the Hartwall Arena, the home support were supplied with a card filled with Finnish fighters and talented prospects such as Jack Culcay and Edmund Gerber. More importantly the entertaining main event exceeded expectations and it was interesting to observe Povetkin’s progress under the eye of Teddy Atlas.
