Juergen Braehmer’s illness this week has thrown the first wrench into the World Boxing Super Series’s tournament plans as he dropped out of his semifinal bout with top British prospect and emerging contender Callum Smith. Little known to boxing fans Nieky Holzken of the Netherlands is his replacement. Who is he and what kind of fight are we looking at?
27 year old Callum Smith (23-0, 17 KOs) has long been considered the crown jewel of the fighting Smith family. His three brothers have been competent professionals excelling at the European level and flirting with world titles, but they never really had the kind of talent to get over the top. The idea is that their baby brother does.
We saw our first inkling of his ability in 2015 when Smith obliterated fellow unbeaten British prospect Rocky Fielding inside one round to win the British title. He followed up that dynamic performance with another first round stoppage to pick up the European belt as well. The youngest Smith brother is 4-0 since then, including a stoppage of solid British level fighter Luke Blackledge.
However, despite his clear win over talented (and since tragic) Swedish fighter Erik Skoglund in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series, Callum Smith actually lost some of his shine in the eyes of most that night. Smith struggled in the first half of that fight with Skoglund’s consistent jab. Through four rounds, it looked like maybe Smith was not going to be able to figure out how to deal with getting the simple shot in his face consistently. Skoglund wasn’t doing much else, but a simple jab had Callum befuddled in there. Eventually he adusted and scored a late knockdown to seal the deal, but for the first time in his career Callum Smith didn’t necessarily look like a guaranteed future titleholder in that fight.
Now he faces the unknown, at least in terms of the boxing world. Yet, what if I told you Nieky Holzken (13-0, 10 KOs) was actually considered for a brief moment in time the best fighter in the world? Indeed, he was, just not in boxing. In 2015, Holzken won the Glory welterweight kickboxing tournament to become their 170 lb champion. These days Glory is the premiere kickboxing organization in the world, so that carries some real weight. He defended the title four times before losing it and then failing to regain his title on a pair of split decisions. During that run he was considered the top pound for pound fighter in the sport by many.
He has also remained somewhat active as a small time boxer on the side, posting his 13 wins over the past four years. Last time out he fought at the European level of the sport for the first time against former Ukrainian Olympian Victor Polyakov. Now, Polyakov is not a world level fighter by any means, but he was coming off pair of really solid performances. First he upset recent former secondary titleholder Giovanni De Carolis and then he should have upset 2012 German Olympian Stefan Haertel to give him his first loss, but he was robbed on the cards. Holzken impressed by putting Polyakov away early in the second round on body work.
That is one half of what Nieky Holzken was known for as a kickboxer, devastating hooks to the body. This is, of course, directly transferable to boxing. The Dutch contender was also known for his fluid movement. This is also applicable. Yet, I don’t suspect that it will matter. I’ll watch this fight with a real curiosity as to see what an elite kickboxer can look like against a potentially world level boxer in a traditional boxing match, but I don’t expect it to be all that competitive. Simply put, the two disciplines are similar but ultimately far too different sports. The footwork, the angles, the pace, and the length of the fight are just going to be all wrong for Holzken. It’ll take something really special from the former top pound for pound kickboxer to pull this one off.
ITV Box Office has this one in the UK whereas Youtube has (sadly) been the home of these great tournaments in the US. There is nothing really notable on the undercard, so feel free to tune in for the main event alone. The fight is expected to go on around 5 PM Eastern, but that is never an exact science so allow for some wiggle room.
