Golden Gloves

Golden Gloves has agreed by mutual consent to not extend the contract of Isaac Chilemba, the WBC’s international light-heavyweight champion. After a recent meeting involving Chilemba and his manager Jody Solomons, promoter Rodney Berman agreed to cut ties as soon as the contract is up in early June. “Isaac has been great for Golden Gloves.

Isaac Chilemba captured the vacant WBC International light-heavyweight title with a rugged 12-round defeat of Namibia’s Vikapita Meroro. Meroro was awkward and ungainly, forcing Chilemba off his usually smooth rhythm. Chilemba  won as he pleased, but it was an unsatisfactory performance that will have raised doubt about his future potential. In the style of the

Speaking on Wednesday night, he said he was ready for anything Vlasov might come up with. “I’ve seen a bit of him on the internet. He looks handy, but not unbeatable. I’ve had good sparring against top boys like Khotso Motau and Vincent Vuma . . . I couldn’t be more ready.”

The exciting prospect admitted to Berman that he was struggling to make the weight and was anxious not to fight weight-drained and risk losing a major bout. Indeed, next month he appears on a major ESPN bill in Las Vegas against unbeaten Russian Maxim Vlasov.

There will be no Christmas pudding for Isaac Chilemba as he knuckles down to training ahead of his IBO super-middleweight title defence in Las Vegas in February