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Carlos Takam, at 39 years old, is still a heavyweight force.

Takam ended Week 5 inside the MGM Grand “Bubble” with a 10-round unanimous decision over Jerry Forrest by scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94. A former world title challenger and 2004 Olympian, Takam notched his fourth consecutive win following back-to-back defeats at the hands of Anthony Joshua and Derek Chisora.

Forrest (26-4, 20 KOs) closed the fight strong as the aggressor and won three of the last four rounds on two of the judges’ scorecards. According to CompuBox, Takam landed 27 more power punches (84 to 57).

“My father passed away a week ago, so I came into the fight with a heavy heart. It may not have been a spectacular knockout, but most importantly, we got the win,” Takam said. “We took this fight on short notice, but the opportunity on ESPN was too big to pass up. We knew we could beat him regardless.

“I want anyone in the top five, or a title shot if that materializes.” 

— Carlos Castro (26-0, 11 KOs) defeated the most notable name of his career, knocking out former world title challenger Cesar Juarez (25-9-1, 19 KOs) after Juarez’s corner stopped the one-sided bout following the conclusion of the fourth round.

Juarez has now lost two fights in a row.

“I admire Cesar Juarez as a Mexican warrior and for everything he’s given the sport. I told him it was an honor to share the ring with him,” Castro said. “I want any title opportunity or an interim title shot. Whatever comes my way, I am ready. I am highly ranked and prepared for the next step.”

— In a six-round battle of undefeated junior lightweight prospects, Joshafat Ortiz (8-0, 4 KOs) edged Joshua Orta (6-1, 2 KOs) by majority decision (57-57, 58-56 2x). Ortiz swept the first four rounds on two of the judges’ cards.

— Nine days after losing his first professional fight, middleweight Donte Stubbs (7-1, 2 KOs) upset the previously unbeaten Fred Wilson Jr. (6-1-2, 2 KOs) by six-round unanimous decision (58-53 2x, 58-54). Stubbs scored knockdowns in the third and fifth rounds, and Wilson had a point deducted for holding in the fourth.

— In a scheduled four-round welterweight fight that featured the rare double knockdown, Corey Champion (2-3, 2 KOs) knocked out Peter Cortez (2-2, 1 KO) in the opening round. Champion knocked down Cortez early in the round, then the double knockdown occurred. Champion roared back to stop Cortez in an instant undercard classic.

Adam Kownacki doesn’t dodge any questions about the first loss of his professional boxing career. In fact, he answers them before you even get a chance to ask.

And though the 31-year-old could talk about maybe getting a quick hook from referee David Fields in his March 7 headliner against Robert Helenius, overlooking his underdog opponent, being overwhelmed by the media and fan obligations that went along with being the main event in his hometown of Brooklyn, or even being less than focused because he and his wife had just welcomed a son into the world a few months earlier, he doesn’t do any of that. In fact, there are no excuses at all.

“I just got caught with a good shot,” he said of the short right hand that put him on the deck in the fourth round of the heavyweight bout at Barclays Center. Fields ruled it a slip, but Kownacki admits it was more than that.

“It wasn’t ruled as a knockdown, which it was, and it buzzed me a little bit,” he recalls. “And with your pride and ego hurt you want to get him back. But with me being buzzed, he caught me with another good two shots, put me on my ass, I got back up and then he just let his hands go. Looking back at it now, I wish the referee let it continue and let me go out on my back, but the referee’s there to do a job and I guess it was the right call. He saw me hurt and he called it right. I’m healthy and I can fight again soon. If he did let it continue and I was laid out, it would have been worse and I might have been hurt.”

At 1:08 of the fourth round, Kownacki’s 20-0 record turned to 20-1, and it was the Sweden native moving into position to challenge for Anthony Joshua’s WBA title, not Kownacki. It was a costly defeat, but being a heavyweight, defeats don’t cost as much as they might in other weight classes. In other words, a couple wins and Kownacki is back in the mix. He could even be fighting for a title next if the WBA forces Joshua’s hand on fighting Helenius, Joshua balks and gives up the belt and “The Nordic Nightmare” and Kownacki do it again, this time for a vacant title.

Stranger things have happened, but with the COVID-19 pandemic still keeping much of the boxing world on hold, Kownacki has simply taken the time after the Helenius fight to spend time with his family and keep them safe while staying in shape in case the phone rings. And while much has been made of Kownacki’s weight over the years, with such talk ramping up again after he lost, he’s let go of listening to the naysayers, choosing to listen to his body instead.

“Definitely after the last fight I want to make sure my weight is down,” he said. “It’s always a topic of conversation, which sucks because I don’t think that really defines how I’ll perform. But I really want to get to a certain weight. With Arreola I was a little bit heavier. I weighed in less, but I cut a lot of water weight just to make sure it was lower than it actually was. This fight, I did it more naturally, I didn’t really starve myself or do a weight cut – it was my natural weight. And now I’m keeping it around the same weight, making sure that when I fight again later this year or early next year that it won’t be a topic of conversation and I’ll be able to focus on the fight and not losing the weight in camp. It sucks (to hear about his weight) because I know I do the right stuff. This fight too, I was in great shape.”

He got caught. It happens when the big boys of boxing are throwing bombs, and in March, Kownacki was the nail and not the hammer. There’s no shame in that, especially considering that in the history of the heavyweight division, the only elite fighter to make it out with an “0” in his loss column was Rocky Marciano. Don’t tell that to the internet, though. To them, it’s open season on anyone who doesn’t live up to their impossible expectations.

“Luckily, I have a lot of people backing me and saying that it was all right, so I tried to focus on the positive stuff,” said Kownacki of the aftermath of the Helenius fight. “It’s boxing and I feel all these negative fans should actually join a boxing gym and see how easy it is. Everybody likes to talk, but if they did it, they’d probably never do it again because it’s a very tough sport we’re in, especially the heavyweight division, where one punch changes everything. It sucks, but you take it as a lesson.”

There were a lot of lessons for Kownacki to take away, and he hopes the next time he steps between the ropes he’ll get to implement them against the man who beat him.

“Obviously, I want a rematch,” he said. “And I think it might happen. Even though this was a WBA eliminator, I don’t think he’s gonna get a shot at Joshua anytime soon because Joshua is trying to have bigger fights first and he might give away the WBA title, so I think the rematch will probably happen. And that’s the fight I want. I want to make sure it was a mistake. Lennox Lewis avenged his losses, so I want to avenge mine too, and hopefully I’ll get that shot. If not, I just want to fight the best and make the best fights happen. If it’s Andy Ruiz, Luis Ortiz or even Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury or Anthony Joshua, those are the guys I want to fight right now.”

In the meantime, the heavyweight contender from Poland embraces the time with his wife Justyna and 10-month old Kazimierz, who is growing faster than dad can keep up with him.

“We had gone upstate when he was six months old and he wasn’t crawling, he wasn’t doing anything,” said Kownacki. “Now, we went upstate a couple weeks ago and he was crawling and he was like a totally different person already. (Laughs) Watching him grow is truly amazing. He’s all over the place and you can’t take your eyes off him because he’s doing something, climbing the stairs and the beds, putting remote controls everywhere. It’s fun. And everybody loves him. It’s been great.”

Posted on 07/10/2020

By: Oliver McManus

Boxing returns to British soil for the first time since March with a five fight card broadcast live on BT Sport and, in the States, ESPN+. Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren leads the way with two title fights on Friday night beamed from the BT Sport Studios.

Lichfield’s Brad Foster tops the bill in defense
of his British and Commonwealth super bantamweight titles with James
Beech Jr in the opposite corner. Foster, 22 years old, has already
produced a memorable performance in 2020: he stopped Lucien Reid in six rounds
of their rematch back in February. That fight, if we’re honest, was largely
built up as Reid’s opportunity to “right some wrongs” from the majority draw
they fought to in September.

Foster hushed any remaining critics with a
performance much more mature than his years. His well-measured  approach to the sport is a testament to his
tough paper round of development: this will be his sixth title fight on the
bounce in which he’s defeated a former British champion, a defending
Commonwealth champion and two unbeaten contenders.

Bloxwich’s James Beech is another young fighter
looking to seize big opportunities. The 23 year old is a two weight Midlands
Area champion – at super feather and featherweight – but told Boxing Insider before this fight was made
that he felt super bantamweight suited him best. His last bout was in December
2019 with a tough ten rounds against Luke Jones. That fight, for the Midlands
super featherweight belt, saw Beech develop over the second half of the fight
and, you suspect, over 12 rounds the gap would have widened.

Long and rangy super welterweight Hamzah Sheeraz defends his WBO European
title against Paul Kean in a contest
scheduled for ten rounds. Sheeraz has been touted by Warren for a long time as
possessing something special and, at 21 years of age, he’s got plenty of time
to show it. He collected the first title of his career in November with a sixth
round stoppage of Ryan Kelly: a fight in which Sheeraz looked really spiteful
and chomping at the bit for a stoppage.

Dundee’s Paul Keen is a wee shorter – by two
inches at 6ft even – than his counterpart but carries that southpaw nuisance in
his back pocket. The 27 year old, a professional for four years, has boxed
largely out of Paisley’s Lagoon Leisure Centre but has never ducked a
challenge; half of his fights against men with positive records or for a title
of sorts. The sole loss on Keen’s record came against Stefan Sanderson, who
passed away on June 23rd, for the Scottish title in September 2018.

Three hot prospects will feature on the undercard
with hard hitting Mark Chamberlain up against Stu Greener over six
rounds whilst heavyweight action comes courtesy of Dorin Krasmaru vs Phil
Williams and David Adeleye vs Matt
Gordon.

Sugar Ray Robinson was thoroughly enjoying his European tour until he encountered Randy Turpin in London

RANDY TURPIN w pts 15 SUGAR RAY ROBINSON
July 10, 1951; Earls Court, London
ACCORDING to several books, Sugar Ray Robinson – a bona fide international superstar – was having a wonderful time in Europe until he stepped into the ring with Randy Turpin in 1951. The narrative remains that Robinson didn’t take the fight seriously but to say he wasn’t in fighting shape was untrue: Though it was his first defence of the world middleweight title he had taken from Jake LaMotta five months before, he had engaged in eight non-title bouts in the interim, six in Europe, never weighing more than 162lbs. But it’s certainly fair to assume he took victory over Turpin for granted. What followed was the greatest performance in history by a British fighter. There were street parties up and down the country afterwards.

DID YOU KNOW? Robinson was paid $84,000 for the fight which set a new record for the highest-paid fighter ever to appear in a British ring.

WATCH OUT FOR: The American commentator’s observations are hilarious at times. “Turpin doesn’t even have a glass chin which is usually standard FOB equipment for British fighters,” he says during round nine.

Casey Patterson didn’t have much of a clue what had just happened. For nine days, he did many things people would love to do in their lifetime, save for one: sleep. He spent a week in Sweden, running a tournament with Hans Stolfus. They won and, by extension, won the entire tour championship.

Pouring rain the entire time. Airplane. Sleepless red eye. California. Hospital. His wife, Lexi, is having a baby. Name’s Cash.

See ya, Lexi!

Off to New York.

Another plane. Third time zone. A wink of sleep.

He and Ty Loomis are winning. Winning more. Then a loss — to the contender’s bracket they go. A longer road. But it’s working. They’re beating Matt Olson and Kevin Wong, Anthony Medel and Patterson’s buddy, Stolfus. Then they take down John Mayer and Jeff Nygaard.

We’re in the finals!

We’re in the finals?

A phone call to Lexi. Hasn’t slept either. Newborns, you know?

“I’m in the finals!” Casey yells to his wife — and if you had seen Patterson play during New York, you’ll know that yelling is exactly what he did.

“Wait,” she says, “you’re not coming home?”

Should he come home?

“Gnarly,” he recalled of that conversation.

But he couldn’t come home. Not now. Not after the journey he had been through. There were still people out there he needed to prove wrong. He’d do it, too. The next day, he and Loomis won their first AVP title, stunning John Hyden and Sean Scott, making it a clean sweep of the top four seeds in the tournament in four straight matches.

In nine days, Casey Patterson had won the Swedish Tour, had his first of four children, and won his first AVP tournament. It’s possible he won more titles in that week and a half than he had hours of sleep.

“I was like ‘What just happened?’” Patterson recalled on SANDCAST: Beach volleyball with Tri Bourne and Travis Mewhirter. “The last nine days were such a blur, because you’re still in jet lag, you have a kid, then you don’t sleep at all, you go straight to playing. That’s when the scoops of pre-workout started, because I’m like ‘Dude, I can’t even keep my eyes open and if I drink too much water then I feel sick, so I just gotta go straight to the mouth.’ That’s where the scoops started. It’s been a dream ever since.”

Patterson is nothing if not all in. He’s always been that way, far before his Sweden-newborn-New York-AVP win blur of a life-changing week and a half. When he began taking beach volleyball seriously, during an off-year at BYU, he didn’t dip his toes in. He up and moved to Hawai’i, with 42 bucks and a skateboard to his name. He lived on the floor, did yard work in the morning, helped build a guest house, then the rest of the day was his. The garage had a gym, so he’d lift, do his yard work, then go play with the aunties at DeRussy, Queen’s Beach on the weekend, the North Shore with the lifeguards. Wherever there were games, he’d find them, skating wherever there was a beach and a ball.

One weekend, he won a King of the Beach, splitting two grand.

“I lived off that and ate rice,” he said, laughing. “That was the year BYU won the national championship. I was like ‘Sweet, of course, the year I leave. I would have at least rode the bench and taken it.’ It was weird. Beach just gradually told me I needed to do that.”

Indoor became the avenue through which his beach career was funded. He’d play in Puerto Rico and Sweden, beginning in 2005, then return to the States to play beach during the summers. It was slow. A main draw here. A pair of ninths there.

Then came New York in 2009, a season in which his prize money ballooned from just over $10,000 to nearly $50,000. Suddenly Patterson was a father, a bona fide professional beach volleyball player, an enormous personality in a sport deprived of them, one the TV cameras always found. He was an AVP champion.

And then the AVP went bankrupt.

Dozens of players considered, and did, retire. But the beach had called, and Patterson had answered. He’d make this work.

He went overseas with Brad Keenan to get his first real taste of the FIVB, scooped up a full deck of wild cards with Koichi Nishimura on the Japanese Tour, supplemented with another contract in Puerto Rico.

“I was just a gypsy, doing whatever I could do to keep playing volleyball,” Patterson said. “I know this is what I should be doing, I gotta make it happen. I was for sure a journeyman, I’m just going to put the bag on and fine someone who wants to play. That’s all I did.

“You just become this ultimate utility man. Social media? I can do that. Photographer? I could do that. Coach a clinic on the other side of the world and come back and play? Sure. It’s a constant world of stress and what-ifs and your wife is wondering what’s going to happen, are you ever going to provide for me consistently, are we ever going to go on vacation? But you become resilient, and you learn how to make things happen and you learn how to network so well that it’s become a valuable thing for me to reach out when there is no volleyball or when there is. You become this well-rounded human that you’re like ‘If I own a company, I want to hire those guys, because they survive off of nothing for so long and almost create this professional label out of thin air.’”

When the AVP returned, Patterson’s gypsy years paid off. He had made the switch to defense, winning an NVL at the Preakness with newcomer Ryan Doherty. The dream was to have Phil Dalhausser call him, offer to make an Olympic run. it was Phil, after all, whom Patterson had beat in the finals in Baltimore. Patterson didn’t get that call, but he did get the next best thing: Jake Gibb was on the other end of the phone.

Let’s make a push for Rio.

Gibb had just finished ranked No. 1 in the world with Sean Rosenthal. It was the break Patterson had been seeking since he was relegated to the bench at BYU. It would take only two tournaments to prove he was every bit deserving of it. A win in Shanghai preceded a silver in Argentina, where they’d beat a brutal gauntlet of Brazilians Alison and Emanuel, Alvaro and Ricardo, and Italians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai.

“I’m going to come in loud and hot and aggressive and you’re going to love to play with me and you’re probably going to hate to play against me, but when I do get you on my team, we’re going to be best friends forever, and that’s how I always work,” Patterson said. “I always thought you gotta be all in, band of brothers, let’s go. That was always my theory on how to play.

“Jake 100 percent just charged me up and let me go. He just said ‘Just be you dude.’ Tyler [Hildebrand] would always say ‘Look, Case, if you’re not going full Hulk, and you’re quiet sometimes, and you’re not being you, those are the matches we lose. You’re trying to be a Todd Rogers and being quiet and all cerebral. That’s not your game. That’s not your world. You don’t thrive. You thrive in talking to the crowd and listening to what they’re saying. If they’re talking trash, you’re talking back to them and trying to get them back on your team. You gotta be full Hulk, you gotta go all in, because that’s when you make things happen.’”

Things happened, all right. Thirteen AVP wins in four years, six FIVB medals, AVP’s team of the year in 2013, 2014, and 2016.

“That justified Jake’s decision and it justified my decision to go all in and not go coach 15 teams to make up financially,” Patterson said. “All I did was play volleyball and that was it. That was the only opportunity I’ve had where the only thing I did was play volleyball.”

It’s a new phase he’s in now. Volleyball is no longer all Patterson does. After the 2016 Olympics, in which he and Gibb finished 19^th, Patterson moved to Thousand Oaks, about an hour drive from Hermosa Beach and at least two from Huntington, where he and Gibb trained. Gibb partnered with Taylor Crabb, Patterson took up a more mentor-type role.

He scooped talented up-and-comers in the USA Volleyball pipeline: Theo Brunner, Stafford Slick, Chase Budinger. He’s continued to enjoy success in abundance, making three finals in 2019 alone, and “I’m still competitive,” he said, “but I just don’t take it personal, and I’m not so angry all the time. I’m learning and I’m able to have conversations with people I didn’t like playing at all.

“After Jake was done I had a choice, it was either ‘I’m going to try to stay in the main draw or develop guys that USA is putting time into and hopefully give them some experiences and chances to be in tournaments and win.’”

All of his succeeding partners have done just that. Slick took his best finish at a major this past year with Billy Allen, a ninth at the World Championships, where they upset Brazil’s Evandro and Bruno. In 2019, with Reid Priddy, Brunner won his first silver medal, his highest finish on the FIVB. After a year with Budinger, in which they finished with more points than any other team on the AVP, Budinger was picked up for a long-term partnership with Chaim Schalk in which the 2024 Olympics are the goal.

“Normally I probably would have been really upset with that,” Patterson said. “But I was just like ‘Dude I want you to be as successful as possible, I can’t tell you what to do. I hope you do really well and you’re successful and this is the right choice for you. I want you to be successful and if that isn’t with me, then I don’t want someone pity playing with me.’ I just want to be ‘Hey dude, go for it, go win as many events as possible.’”

No matter his role — partner, mentor, father, husband, coach, beach volleyball player, sponsored athlete — Patterson has never known anything but all in. He’s enjoying this final chapter, a supportive one. When John Hyden, perhaps his biggest rival throughout his career, asked Patterson to post about Hyden’s new facility in Tennessee, Patterson didn’t think twice.

“Hyden and I collectively hated losing to each other more than anyone else,” Patterson said, laughing. “He hated playing against me because I was loud and annoying and I hated playing against him because of his style and what he would say and talking to the refs and whining about calls and me whining back. And now he sent me a thing about his club for me to post and I’m like ‘Yeah dude I’d love to post that for you and help you promote your club!’ I wish I had that mentality my whole career instead of just the last few years.”

It’s peaceful, this new mindset. And Patterson is, as always, all in on it.