Two fairly big fights this past weekend that flew somewhat under the radar were Claressa Shields- Danni Gabriels in a female 160 pound title fight and a WBC Eliminator at 140 pounds in Scotland between Josh Taylor and former world champ Victor Postol.
Shields-Gabriels 160 pounds
-Coming into this fights Shields was 5-0 and had fought very weak competition. Her two Olympic Gold Medals are impressive but so far in the pros she has not stepped up, regardless of the fact that some of her opponents had decent records. In Gabriels she finally had a legit opponent, albeit one whose lone loss was by KO and was moving up to 160 from 154 while Shields was coming down fro 168 to 160. The size difference showed in the fight. As for the fight itself it was very entertaining. Gabriel dropped Shields in the first round with an uppercut and was very active throughout.Shields used her size and strength to wear her down and push her back and win a decision. The good news for Shields is that she finally beat a legit contender and someone who came to win. Bad news is she got dropped and was unable to KO a much smaller girl who had been KO’d before at a lower weight. This win set up a big fight with Christina Hammer, who won and did it impressively on the undercard. She has very solid boxing skills and I believe has a very good chance of beating Shields when they fight. Now that is a fight I am looking forward to seeing.
Josh Taylor-Victor Postol 135 pounds
-Iv said before that Taylor is my favorite prospect in boxing. A 2012 Olympian for Scotland he has moved up the ranks very quickly beating some very solid fighters and in his 13th fight took on a former wold champ in Victor Postol who had beaten Lucas Mathysse and whose lone loss was a decision to Terrance Crawford. Since the Crawford loss he had only fought once but he came in top shape here and fought very well. A back and forth affair where through 9 it was anyones fight. But an overhand left from the southpaw Taylor dropped Postol in the 10th and Taylor poured it on in the last couple rounds to win an exciting unanimous decision. The most impressive part of the win to me was the fact that Taylor, in only his 13th pro fight and who had never been 10 actually closed the show stronger than Postol who was 29-1, had been 12 before and done it against some of the best in the world. This win sets Taylor up for a world title shot sometime in the next year against one of the better young fighters in the game in Jose Ramirez. It will be Ramirez’ solid chin and pressure come forward style against Taylor’s speed and southpaw style. This is a great fight and one that everyone should be looking forward to.
-On a side note it is very impressive to me how fast certain prospects are moving forward in their careers, especially overseas. For some reason American prospects have not caught up in this regard. Look up Lomachenko, Josh Taylor and Josh Kelly’s first 10 fights and compare them to Keith Thurman, Errol Spence and Terrance Crawford. It is not even comparable. American prospects are babied compared to top prospects from other countries and worst of all they put these mismatches on tv. The type of guy Spence just beat last week (who was a 60-1 underdog in Vegas) would’ve been an opponent for Josh Taylor in his first 10 rounder if they were the same weight. Unfortunately records count to the casual fan and to TV executives who make the decisions and who only have a very basic knowledge of the sport. Who you fought and when you fought them and how you did with them matters so much more. I have literally seen dozens of guys with 10-10 records who are much better than guys Iv seen who are 21-1. Just remember, records can be very deceiving and only tell a very small part of the tale.
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