World Women's Middleweight Title Unification

Welcome to the second installment of the World Boxing Review Radio Show's pre-fight blog of the upcoming World Women's Middleweight Title Unification bout between Claressa Shields and Christina Hammer. Yesterday I wrote about Aaron Snowell and myself and our involvement in the Radio Show. I want to mention today the other participants: Henry Hascup and Tony Triem. These two gentlemen are boxing historians at the top of the class. Henry will be off on a brief hiatus to attend to his Little League duties but for next week's show, where I will be broadcasting live from Atlantic City, Tony will return to discuss the historic significance of the fight. 

The undercard is outstanding. Two great heavyweight battles will also be a part of the Showtime televised slate, featuring two fighters from Michigan, Shields' home state. Jermaine Franklin is a 25 year old native of Saginaw who holds an impressive 17-0 record with 13 knockouts. The 6'1" fighter most recently fought Craig Lewis on July 13 last year in Detroit and won by UD. He also has recent wins over Ed Fountain by TKO and Corey Phelps by KO. He is looking to become the new face of the American Heavyweights and ultimately has a showdown with Deontay Wilder in his plans. His opponent is 38 year old 6'3" Rydell Booker out of Detroit who only last year returned to the ring after a fourteen year layoff. Unfortunately, there was a very good reason for his absence from the ring. Shortly after he lost to James Toney (may I correct his record to 77-10-3; I miswrote yesterday) in 2004 in a match for the IBA World and WBC Continental Americas Heavyweight titles by UD, he was busted for possession of cocaine over 1000 grams and was sentenced to 12-30 years in prison. He stayed in shape while incarcerated and upon leaving prison took up boxing again. He returned to the ring on February 2, 2018 and won a decision over Rodney Moore. He fought twice more last year; scoring UD's over Jamal Woods and Domonic Jenkins. Previously he was an amateur champion in the late 90's and then won the Michigan State, Mid-America, USA-Michigan State and USA Mid-West cruiserweight crowns when he defeated Ka-Dy King in only his 8th professional bout. He also won the WBC Youth World Cruiserweight belt. He made his professional debut on August 10, 2001, winning by TKO over Mike White.

The other televised heavyweight battle will have Sweden's Otto Wallin (20-0, 13 KO's) clashing with Baltimore's Nick "Slick" Kisner (21-4-1, 6 KO's). Wallin also has global plans, seeking to become the first Swedish heavyweight champion since Ingemar Johansson defeated Floyd Patterson back in 1959 in Yankee Stadium. He is rated #5 by both the IBF and WBA and won recent bouts against Adrian Granat by UD for the EBU-European Union crown and Gianluca Mandras by TKO for the WBA Continental belt. He has previously trained in the US but this will be his stateside debut. His 28 year old opponent Kisner won the NABA-USA Cruiserweight title on March 3rd of last year with a UD over Brian Holstein in a rematch. Kisner also won that first fight by MD for the then vacant crown. He lost the WBA Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title fight when he was knocked out in the fourth round by the unbeaten Ryan Merhy. He's also fought in Atlantic City before back in '16 when he lost an 8 round SD to Lamont Capers at the Claridge Hotel and Casino, sight of the upcoming 2019 Atlantic City Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies, where we will be present. 

I'll continue looking at the undercard tomorrow, writing about former WBC Heavyweight champ Samuel Peter and the battle for the vacant IBF World Female Featherweight crown between Elena Gradinar and Brenda Karen Carabajal. 

Bob Murray

The World Boxing Review