FOR the second time in three months, Chris Kongo has topped the bill during a now-customary midweek show on Riyadh Season cards and logged another points victory.
Yet a proposed rematch with Florian Marku hasn’t materialised for the career welterweight, who appears to have moved up a division and with that decision, must carefully consider his options against better opposition heading into 2025.
Jacob Quinn was, once upon a time, a 4-0 boxing pro. Pierce O’Leary also shared the same record when they met as second-year pros on a Lee Eaton-promoted show behind closed doors in August 2020, but their careers have ventured in very different directions since that Yorkshire night.
The Huddersfield southpaw didn’t look out of place over four rounds when boxing former world title challenger Anthony Yigit while forcing a blemish on the record of 11-0 pro Callum Blockley as they drew over 10 rounds.
So at least for Kongo, that choice to fight Quinn on September 18, three days before Joshua-Dubois, served as a decent interim runout with the unfortunate pretence of bigger things in the pipeline.
Last night’s opponent was a noticeable downgrade, perhaps best typified by a sequence in the penultimate round where John Henry Mosquera, 5-21-1 (1 KO), was more focused on histrionics against a far more accomplished boxer unable to buck the trend – 20 previous opponents had all tried, only one knocking out the Colombian.
Steady body work in the first two rounds, it was soon apparent Kongo, 17-2 (7 KOs), didn’t have the required intensity nor urgency in his work to quickly chain together attacks breaking down a stubborn customer.
“The gaps will come,” his corner were keen to stress, though this bout was very much being boxed at Kongo’s own tempo, spiteful single shots and the left-hand jab working well, though he needed more.
Guilty of overextending and being caught for his troubles to end round three, Mosquera knew when to throw energetic flurries or shell up with his high guard and left referee Bob Williams ticking both off after excessive holding up close.
Mosquera emerged slowly from his corner in the fifth, a heavy helping of Vaseline across his right eyebrow a visual aid as Kongo’s left connected often enough that ‘2Slick’ was in cruise control. Perhaps that was the problem.
Kongo’s best performances have come with his back to the wall, and while activity is seldom a bad thing, showings like these make you question whether he can hold his own among far better opposition, defensively sharper and those who won’t stand in range.
Having campaigned at welterweight for more than a decade, amateur and pro, venturing into the light-middleweight division right now could present more opportunities at an elite level.
Ishmael Davis, two years younger and with a similar knockout ratio, is an example to emulate but matchmaking must be better and quickly if that’s to become a reality.
Skipping the domestic logjam with British champion Sam Gilley, Louis Greene and familiar face Junaid Bostan among others, Davis has an exciting unpredictability about his business, the same way he could be clearly trailing on all three scorecards and give Josh Kelly an almighty fright on six days’ notice.
In the cold after midnight in Riyadh, Kongo didn’t possess that same buzz.
If you’d told him, after outpointing Troy Williamson in his first 12-round contest on March 23, Davis would end the year boxing Serhii Bohachuk in a final eliminator for the WBC light-middleweight world championship four days before Christmas, he’d have laughed.
Fortunate those circumstances fell his way twice, sure. You’ve still got to be in position to seize chances when they come.
