TWO EX PACQUIAO SPARRING PARTNERS IN BIG FIGHTS ON SATURDAY
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 Dec 2013
Tapia.
Two former sparring partners of ?Fighter of the Decade? Manny Pacquiao have tough fights this coming weekend against top class opponents.
Undefeated light middleweight Glen ?Jersey Boy? Tapia who has a record of 20-0 with 12 knockouts battles southpaw James ?Mandingo Warrior? Kirkland who boasts of only one loss against 31 wins with 27 knockouts.
Tapia?s biggest win was over previously unbeaten Abraham ?Abie? Han who was cut on the left side of the head due to an accidental head-butt in round four and was dropped in round seven and retired in round eight.
In his last fight Tapia scored a 5th round TKO over Elco Garcia on September 28, 2013.
Kirkland won the Continental Americas light middleweight title with a 6th round TKO over rugged Alfredo Angulo before retaining the title when Carlos Molina was disqualified in the 10th round on March 24, 2012.
Kirkland was dropped in the first round and came back to knock Angulo down late in the same round and after demonstrating his boxing skills through the next few rounds, Kirkland hammered Angulo to win by a sixth round stoppage.
Shawn ?Showtime? Porter another former Pacquiao sparring partner, also faces a tough challenge against Devon ?Alexander the Great? Alexander who has a record of 25-1 with 14 knockouts.
Porter is undefeated with 22 wins, one draw with 14 wins coming by way of knockouts. In a rematch with Julio Diaz last September 12, Porter won the vacant IBF North American welterweight title via a ten round unanimous decision 12 after a split draw on December 15 last year.
Alexander whose only defeat was at the hands of Timothy ?Desert Storm? Bradley when he dropped a ten round technical decision on January 29, 2011 won the IBF title with a unanimous twelve round decision over Randall Bailey on October 20, 2012 and also scored big wins over rugged Lucas Matthysse and Marcus Maidana to boost his stock.
Alexander is coming off a win over Lee Purdy who failed to make the weight and retired in the 7th round of their showdown last May 18.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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