On Monday night, at the fascinating Theater Carré in Amsterdam, Dutch-Ugandan fighter Willy Kyakonye and Cuban-born, Italy-based Angelo Morejon will square off for the WBC Silver bridgerweight title. The bout will headline the Ben Bril Memorial, one of the most important events on the Dutch professional boxing calendar. Boxe Punch will be covering the event from ringside thanks to the press accreditation kindly granted to our website by the event promoter, Mr Hans de Brujin.
The Ben Bril Memorial
The Ben Bril Memorial has been held since 2007, and Monday’s event will mark its eighteenth edition. It is a gala dedicated to the memory of Ben Bril, the great Dutch Jewish amateur boxer who competed at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics at just 16 years of age.
Bril continued his career throughout the 1930s, winning several national titles, but his sporting path was abruptly interrupted by Nazi persecution. The Dutch boxer was arrested in 1942 together with his wife and son after being betrayed by his former Olympic teammate Sam Olij, who collaborated with the Nazis as a Jew hunter during the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Fortunately, Bril survived his imprisonment in the concentration camps and, after the war, remained involved in boxing, the true common thread running through his life, working as an international referee and judge. In those roles, he took part in three editions of the Olympic Games: Tokyo 1964, Mexico City 1968 and Montreal 1976.
Bril died in 2003 at the age of 91, but his memory still remains very strong among Dutch boxing fans and beyond.
Willy Kyakonye’s Best Weapons
The Left Hook
The Dutch boxer’s true ace in the hole is his devastating left hook, a punch that has allowed him to end several fights inside the distance in brutal and spectacular fashion. The power Kyakonye generates with his lead hand, combined with his habit of using it repeatedly by doubling or even tripling up on hooks and uppercuts, suggests that he may be a natural southpaw fighting from an orthodox stance, something Morejon would do well to keep in mind when shaping his tactical approach to the fight.
The Home Crowd
There is no doubt that the support inside the Theater Carré will be heavily tilted in favour of the local fighter, meaning Kyakonye will be able to draw on the crowd’s enthusiasm for an additional emotional boost. Fighting on home soil, the Dutchman may also take less time than his opponent to shake off the tension and settle into the fight, which makes him especially dangerous in the opening minutes, when his power will be amplified by the notoriously dangerous effect of taking heavy shots while still cold.
Angelo Morejon’s Best Weapons
The Left Jab
Angelo Morejon’s left hand, especially when the Cuban is at his athletic best, is a genuine piston, and on Monday night it could prove to be a crucial tactical weapon. While Kyakonye mainly uses the jab to measure distance and create openings before unleashing his violent combinations, Morejon uses it in an explosive, relentless and penetrating way, creating a barrier for anyone trying to rush him head-on. If El Terrible immediately finds the right rhythm with his jab, Kyakonye’s plans could become significantly more complicated.
Fluidity
Watching the fights contested so far by the two men highlights a significant advantage for Morejon in terms of fluidity and coordination. He always looks comfortable in the ring, as though he were operating in his natural habitat. Kyakonye’s tendency to tense his muscles and load up heavily on many of his punches could therefore have a negative effect on his sharpness if the fight goes long and reaches the later rounds.
What Will Happen? Boxe Punch’s Prediction
This fight presents a number of unknowns, because both men are, in theory, facing the toughest, most dangerous and demanding test of their careers. On top of that, they are both undefeated, meaning their limitations may not yet have been fully exposed.
Take, for example, the question of stamina and the ability to fight effectively while fatigued. Kyakonye has never gone beyond the seventh round, while Morejon has reached the tenth only once. Which of the two will perform better in the so-called championship rounds if the fight goes all the way to the end of the twelfth?
That is just one of the many unanswered questions that will only be resolved on Monday night inside the Theater Carré. Your writer, however, has never backed away from uncertainty and mysterious variables, so I will still try, as is customary in this column, to outline the dynamics of the fight that appear most likely to me.
Kyakonye has ended nine of his fourteen professional fights by the end of the third round, which leads me to expect a fast start built around an immediate search for a forceful conclusion.
If he is not paralysed by the hostile atmosphere and the nerves associated with such a major occasion, Morejon has the technical tools to deal with that hypothetical early assault. His footwork, distance control, defence and the excellent left jab already discussed in this article are exactly the ingredients he needs to avoid being overwhelmed and to carry the fight into its next phase.
While the Cuban fighter’s power is not comparable to that of true knockout artists, it is unquestionably respectable, as shown by the generally cautious and wary approach adopted by his previous opponents. If Kyakonye becomes too reckless in his offensive momentum, he could pay the price and find himself forced to adopt a more cautious approach.
As the pace begins to drop, I expect Morejon’s superior technical level to allow El Terrible to build an advantage on the judges’ scorecards and enter the second half of the fight with momentum on his side.
At that point, if this scenario does unfold, the mental qualities of the two fighters will come into play. Kyakonye will have to try to close the gap through physicality and pressure, even at the cost of making the fight chaotic and messy; Morejon will have to grit his teeth, remain faithful to his game plan and punish his opponent’s advances, even if that means taking risks.
Personally, based on the information available to us, I have the feeling that Morejon is the fighter more likely to distinguish himself positively in the crucial moments of the contest. I do not believe Kyakonye has yet accumulated the professional experience necessary to find the right key, and I expect his attacking style, as the minutes pass, to gradually drain his physical and mental energy, leaving him increasingly exposed to El Terrible’s counters. The Dutchman also suffered some knockout defeats in the amateur ranks, which may suggest that his chin is not invulnerable: one more factor that leads me to favour the Cuban fighter.
I therefore predict a knockout victory for Angelo Morejon in the final quarter of the fight.