ANSELMO MORENO vs WLADIMIR SIDORENKO

Anselmo Moreno is back in Germany on Saturday, defending his WBA bantam title against the man from whom he won it, Wladimir Sidorenko, in a rematch of a bout that took place a year ago.

Moreno has made two title defences back home in Panama while Sidorenko has not boxed since the last meeting. However, Panamanian source Jose Chu tells me that Moreno had only an eight-week training camp instead of the 10 weeks his management wanted, so one hopes that success hasn’t gone to his head a little. (Last time, Moreno trained for four months before meeting Sidorenko; this time the Hamburg-based Ukrainian has had the four-month training camp.)

The last fight between the two was fast-paced and competitive, with Moreno taking a unanimous decision that was disputed by the Sidorenko camp. Moreno scored points with classy counter punching from his southpaw stance, while the stocky, muscled Sidorenko kept the pressure on his taller opponent and had success with right hands. Moreno suffered a cut over the left eye but he stood up to Sidorenko’s aggression and I thought he had one of his best rounds in the 11th, when it looked as if Sidorenko might be tiring a little.

This time Sidorenko might well be in the best condition of his life — and he has always been a fighter who prides himself on his high level of fitness. He is 32 and obviously wants to be champion again, and I am expecting relentless, bell-to-bell pressure from Sidorenko, with no let up.

Moreno, though, was able to elude Sidorenko’s charges and pepper him with punches for much of their first meeting. He is only 23 and hasn’t lost in six years, and he could have the style that will always be a problem for Sidorenko, who previously twice fought to a draw with another slick Panamanian southpaw, Ricardo Cordoba.

Sidorenko has the advantage of being on home ground in Germany and I think he will be coming into the ring determined to throw everything he has at Moreno. My one concern about Moreno is that he might not have quite the same super-fit level of conditioning that he did in the first fight, when he was able to maintain his movement and punch-rate all through the fight, but he is capable of boxing beautifully, he won last time — close but clear, I thought, despite the German camp’s protests — and I am expecting him to box his way to victory once again perhaps on a split decision this time.