By Ian S Palmer
Former WBA Super Middleweight Champion Rocky Fielding of Liverpool, England is set to meet Emmanuel Danso of Accra, Ghana in a 10-round light heavyweight bout this Friday, November 26th. The fight from Dubai can be seen live in America on ESPN+ and is also available on the iFL you tube channel in some regions. Fielding hasn’t fought since November, 2019 when he stopped Abdallah Paziwapazi in the fourth round. Danso last saw action last December when he was halted in the sixth round by Bek Nurmaganbet.
The 34-year-old Fielding has an impressive record of 28-2 with 16 Kos. He won the WBA Super Middleweight Belt in July, 2019 by stopping Tyron Zeuge in the fifth round in Germany and then lost it in his first defence five months later when Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s stopped him in the third round. Fielding stands 6-feet-1-inch tall with a 75-inch reach and has boxed 143 rounds since making his pro debut back in 2010.
Fielding enjoyed a fine amateur career and since turning pro he’s also captured several other titles such as the English, Commonwealth, WBA Inter-Continental, WBC International and British Super Middleweight Championships. Until meeting Alvarez, Fielding hadn’t exactly taken on the cream of the crop in his division though with his biggest wins coming over the likes of Zeuge, Luke Blackledge, Charles Adamu, Brian Vera, Christopher Rebrasse, John Ryder and David Brophy.
His first loss came at the hands of Callum Smith via a first-round TKO in November, 2015, so his chin may be a little suspect. However, he did what he had to against Zeuge to take the title as he used his size and power to good advantage. Fielding’s not really known as a big puncher though as he current knockout ratio stands at 53.3 per cent.
Danso is a 32-year-old who carries around a mark of 32-6 with 26 Kos. He turned pro back in 2011 and has boxed 207 rounds since. However, the only opponent the average boxing fan may recognize would be Robin Krasniqi who handed Danso his first pro defeat when he stopped him in seven rounds in 2014 in a shot at the vacant WBO Light-Heavyweight Title.
He was also beaten by Fanlong Meng, Ruslan Fayfer and Stephen Abbey respectively in three consecutive fights in 2017 with Fayfer stopping him in the fourth round and Abbey in the fifth. The contest against Meng was for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Light-Heavyweight Crown and he dropped a 10-round unanimous decision.
Danso was stopped once again in 2019 when he was halted by Umar Salamov in the third round in a shot at the WBO International Light -Heavyweight Title. It’s obvious that Danso doesn’t possess the greatest chin in the sport as he’s been stopped in five of his six defeats. He did manage to win the vacant WBA Pan African Light-Heavyweight Championship in 2013 when he halted George Amuzu in the eighth round.
He has good power though with 26 Kos in his 32 wins and has a current knockout ratio of 68.4 per cent. Unfortunately there’s no height and reach information available for Danso so we don’t really know how he stacks up with Fielding size-wise.
Prediction…
Danso has had 38 pro fights and 31 of them were stopped as he’s one of those boxers who appears to either win or lose by knockout. That might not bode too well for Fielding as he’s been out of action for the past two years. If Fielding can get past the first few rounds though his chances should increase. This fight could go either way due to Danso’s power combined with his suspect chin. I’ll go with Fielding though due to his experience but I still have a feeling this fight could go either way.
