The Super-Bantamweight King of Europe is back !

Big Ears

Conventional wisdom suggests that a European fighter below Featherweight probably isn't going to be good enough to win a World title, no matter how impressive they look at European title level.

Well here's a man that broke that mould(and funnily enough did it by beating a fellow European fighter, and countryman). Mahyar Monshipour, the no nonsense Algerian Frenchman is one of those men that simply keep coming forward and fighting till there is nothing left.

In his time as World champion he wasn't the greatest technical fighter out there, but had an almost illogical ability to take what his opponent had to offer and give more in return. An iron chin, matched with a concussive punch, a big workrate and a Winky Wright type guard whenever he did cover up,which he often used to walk down opponents while disregarding the jab completely.

The seemingly unstoppable machine was finally ground to a halt against a man who seemed equally relentless(Somsak Sithchatchawal) in 2006's fight of the year. It was an incredibly gruelling fight that was very even and appeared to be turning Monshipour's way until a succession of brutal uppercuts forced the referees intervention to save the brave Frenchman(no it's not an oxymoron ) from himself.

Monshipour returned tonight, in his first fight since that crushing loss all of 33 months ago. He stopped Italian Emiliano Silvini in 6 rounds, Silvini is roughly the same level as all the other Italian S.Bantamweights about(Bartolozzi, Trotta and Morra), although is the current Italian champion at the weightclass directly below.

It's not a bad comeback win for Monshipour, quite a way off European title level but not the normal journeyman touch you'd get in this case. It was a scheduled 10 rounder aswell which possibly proves that Monshipour will be taking this serious.

I obviously haven't seen the fight but if Monshipour is the same man from 2 1/2 years ago then Munroe, Dunne, Maludrottu and Martinez are in trouble cause although skillwise some of them may be a match, he'll beat everyone of them in the chin, heart, stamina, workrate, punching power(bar maybe Martinez ?) departments.

He's very much a welcome addition to the European Super-Bantamweight scene and with Hunter back aswell there may still be quite a gap to World level(depending on how much Mahyar has left), but there will be plenty of guys that can challenge each other to be Europe's best.

Munroe, Dunne, Monshipour, Martinez, Maludrottu, Hunter, Marsh and with guys like Martin Power and Esham Pickering just below, it's exciting times.


Here is 2006's fight of the year(well, well worth a watch !)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLGYnc2XJiE

and here's his defence against Japanese fighter Shigero Nakazato

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W82ojB8kM7Q

If anyone can get their hands on his fight against Julio Zarate it's really worth watching too.

dlofnep

Jesus, Sithchatchawal was banging out some uppercuts.. That's insane.

T-K-O

Lets get him back in the mix. :cool:

joepenguin

Cheers for posting that. Hopefully he has a lot left in the tank and we'll see some good scraps at european level. It has potential to be a very good division if the right fights are made.

Big Ears

He stopped Sean Hughes in 8 rounds last night, okay Hunter and Dunne have done it quicker(and in Dunne's case much quicker), but Monshipour has only been back 7 weeks and this is his second fight. You'd expect him to be shedding plenty of rust, afterall he was out for 2 years and 9 months.

It is another stoppage though(the DQ win before this was basically a stoppage, I believe the Italian's corner entered the ring to stop the fight hence the DQ), and shows that he is serious as he's already beaten the Italian champion from the weight below and a two time British Super-Bantamweight title challenger in just 7 weeks.

Hughes had been lined up to be a defence of Munroe's title until Maloney decided to change the bout to Munroe v Arsen Matirosian, due to Matirosian's ridiculous #11 WBA ranking at the time.

Hopefully Monshipour will be in action again soon, and that's another step up in class.

eagle eye

I just read that op now Big Ears and well done, fantastic post. I don't really have anything to add to that only its great to see him return. Hopefully he can get back up near the level he was at, and then destroy all around him on his way to the European title.

joepenguin

He may even fancy his old world title back :cool:

joepenguin

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=18383

Monshipour is fighting Felix Machado on the 13th of March.
Machado has been brought in as a sparring partner for Dunne ahead of his fight with Cordoba.

joepenguin

Monshipour is fighting for the wba bantamweight title. The champ is Panamanian Anselmo Moreno (25-1 with 8 knockouts)

The fight is scheduled for the 4th of July.http://www.boxrec.com/show_display.php?show_id=576494

Other fights that night include Dimitrenko vs Chambers in Germany and Tony Quigley vs Brian Magee for the British super middleweight title in Liverpool.

mark renton

BE will be pleased :rolleyes:

Big Ears

john47832 wrote: »

BE will be pleased :rolleyes:

I knew it was happening a while back but never bothered to mention it. Terrible fight for Monshipour, moving down in weight at his age just isn't a good idea and the guy he's challenging will be far too sharp and far too smart for him.

I never expected Monshipour to really get back in World contention but I thought he could really shake things up at European level.

However now I'm afraid he'll lose this shot, retire again and that will be that.

Big Ears

Monshipour lost a split decision tonight against a very good opponent, so I'm guessing it was a good showing from the Frenchman. I've heard the fight shouldn't have been so close and Moreno deserved his win and considering the one judge who scored for Monshipour is extremely awful I'd be inclined to believe that.

However if he was able to put up a reasonable effort at World level that means there's still plenty left for him at European level should he decide to continue, and who knows maybe a shot against a weaker, less slick World title holder could prove more fruitful.