Boxing Challenge: Barboza shades Catterall

    Please forgive the shorter-than-usual recap of the Saturday Boxing Challenge events from DAZN.

I'm fighting off food poisoning which cost me attending a game on Sunday and was very disappointing to miss.

From Manchester, England Arnold Barboza defeated Jack Catterall by a split decision to become the mandatory challenger for Teofimo Lopez's WBO junior welterweight title.

The fight was very close and not all that exciting with all scores at 115-113, two for Barboza and one for Catterall.

I scored 115-113 for Catterall but there wasn't a robbery involved.

In the co-feature British junior lightweight James "Jazza" Dickens upset countryman Zelfa Barrett by Unanimous Decision.

On the evening card from Anaheim, junior welterweight Oscar Duarte stopped Miguel Madueno in seven rounds, and junior welterweight Kenneth Sims won a unanimous decision over Kendo Castaneda.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 19 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 18 Pts(3)

Vince Samano: 15 Pts (7)

Boxing Challenge: Davis bashes Berinchyk!

      Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis vowed to crunch another former Olympic silver medalist and take the WBO lightweight title from Denis Berinchyk after the latest out-of-the-ring controversy before a New York-based fight.

Before the weigh-in, someone reported as possibly being part of Berinchyk's team sent a racist note and bananas to Davis's room and an enraged Davis said he would take it out on Berinchyk in the ring.

Davis did just that, dropping Berinchyk with a body shot in the third round before landing another body blow to the liver in the fourth that sent Berinchyk to his knees and unable to beat the count.

Davis's win was very impressive as he dominated Berinchyk and was never threatened in return.

The lightweight division now has four excellent and diverse champions with Davis holding the WBO title, Gervonta Davis the WBA belt, Shakur Stevenson the WBC titleholder, and the injured Vasyl Lomachenko holding the IBF strap but hasn't decided if he will be continuing his career.

Another unbeaten Top Rank prospect notched an impressive win as junior middleweight Xander Zayas stopped Slawa Spomer in the ninth round.

Zayas won every round and other than one right hand landed by Spomer in the fifth round, It was all Zayas.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 16 Pts (3) 

Ramon Malpica; 15 Pts (2)

Vince Samano : 8 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge

   The boxing schedule is finally starting to gain steam in 2025 with six fights this weekend, one world title, and another bout that could see the winner eventually promoted to a full world championship.

Matchroom/DAZN will start the Saturdday from Manchester, England with a junior welterweight minor title matchup between two fighters who have long deserved a title shot and caught up in the politics of boxing.

Jack Catterall meets Arnold Barboza for a minor title, which will either nab the winner a chance at the WBO title held by Teofimo Lopez or in the possible event that Lopez decides not to face the winner, be promoted to full champion eventually.

Catterall, who lost a controversial decision to then-undisputed champion Josh Taylor in 2022, has looked good in his two fights in 2024 winning decisions over Taylor in their rematch and Regis Prograis.

Barboza scored the biggest win of his career in November with a unanimous decision win over former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez.

Neither man is an especially hard puncher and style-wise, this could be an awkward and tactical match but the winner will deserve a title chance or the regular championship.

The co-feature will pit two British junior lightweights, who have each challenged for a world title and cannot afford a defeat if they hope to return to the world-class level.

Zelfa Barrett has won four straight since his ninth-round knockout loss to Shavkat Rakhimov in 2022 for the vacant IBF title while Jazza Dickens has won only two eight-round fights since his 2023 knockout loss to Hector Sosa.

Dickens has lost four of his five defeats by knockout, so Barrett's the better puncher and takes a better punch, so I favor Barrett in this one.

Friday night, Top Rank and ESPN take center satge with the first title shot for Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis, who will challenge Denys Barinchyk for Barinchyk's WBO lightweight title in New York City.

Berinchyk won his title last May with a surprising split decision upset over favored junior lightweight champion Emanuel Navarette, Berinchyk will be making his first defense against Davis, who destroyed Gustavo Lemos in two rounds in November.

If Davis is as talented as I believe he is, he should defeat the gritty Barinchyk and may look spectacular in winning.

Xander Zayas is in the co-feature against unbeaten German Slawa Spomer in a junior middleweight encounter.

Both boxers are unbeaten in twenty fights but Zayas has fought better competition and Spomer is an unknown factor.

Zayas has been heavily pushed by Top Rank since the start of his career and a victory could earn him a title eliminator in his next fight.

DAZN is back in the evening from Anaheim, California with a Golden Boy promoted card.

In the main event, junior welterweight Oscar Duarte meets late replacement Miguel Madueno.

Duarte was scheduled to meet former champion Regis Prograis, who was forced to pull out due to a shoulder injury suffered in training.

Duarte has won two straight since his 2023 knockout loss to Ryan Garcia and even in his loss to Garcia, acquitted himself well in defeat.

Madueno was last seen last July in losing almost every round to Keyshawn Davis. In his fight before that, Madueno won a split decision over Justin Pauldo, who knocked out former IBF junior lightweight champion Shavkat Rahkimov last week.

The other challenge bout isn't the co-feature from Golden Boy but it's important as highly ranked junior welterweight Kenneth Sims faces tough local Kendo Castaneda.

Sims fought only one time in 2024 and will attempt to sharpen his skills against Castaneda, who took contender Elvis Rodriguez the ten-round distance in a loss in his last outing.

Boxing Challenge

WBO Lightweight Title. 12 Rds

Denis Barinchyk vs Keyshawn Davis

Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano: Davis Unanimous Decision
TRS: Davis KO 8

Junior Middleweights. 10 Rds

Xander Zayas vs Slawa Spomer

All: Zayas Unanimous Decision

Junior Welterweights 12 Rds

Jack Catterall vs Arnold Barboza

R.L and TRS: Catterall Unanimous Decision
V.S: Barboza Unanimous Decision

Junior Lightweights 12 Rds

Zelfa Barrett vs Jazza Dickens

R.L: Barrett Unanimous Decision
TRS: Barrett KO 9
V.S: Dickens Unanimous Decision

Junior Welterweights 12 Rds

Oscar Duarte vs Miguel Madueno

R.L and TRS: Duarte Unanimous Decision
V.S: Duarte KO 9

Junior Welterweights 10 Rds

Kenneth Sims vs Kendo Castaneda

All: Sims Unanimous Decision

 

Ohio State completes coaching staff

    The Ohio State Buckeyes were down to the final of three coaching staff positions that needed to be filled and the team pulled a mild surprise in former New England Patriots defensive coordinator and Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia as their replacement for Jim Knowles as their defensive coordinator.

Ohio State earlier had promoted Brian Hartline to offensive coordinator and play caller and hired Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen as their new offensive line coach.

Hartline was expected to have a chance for the offensive coordinator position, and was regarded as the favorite, if he pushed for it, due to his value as a recruiter and developing wide receivers, where he is the best in the sport.

Ohio State wasn't going to take a chance on losing Hartline and promoting was the easy call, especially if Ohio State hires a veteran coach soon to help Hartline progress into the job.

Tyler Bowen hasn't coached the offensive line since 2017 at Maryland but his three years at Virginia Tech as their offensive coordinator should help Brian Hartline before that, Bowen was the tight ends coach at Penn State, where the Nittany Lions have put four tight ends into the pros in recent years and expected first rounder in the upcoming draft Tyler Warren, all were recruited by Bowen.

It's hoped that Bowen's recruiting prowess will improve the only area where Ohio State's recruiting has flagged a bit in recent years.

Bowen's hiring was a mild surprise, although his name did receive some mention as a candidate coming up to the hire but the real surprise was the hiring of Matt Patricia as the defensive coordinator.

Patricia was the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots from 2012-17, winning two Super Bowls as their DC and leading them to one of the best defenses in the league before moving to Detroit for three seasons as the Lions head coach, where he finished with a 13-29-1 record.

Patricia returned to New England for two seasons and moved to Philadelphia in 2023 as an advisor before taking 2024 away from football, where he was reported to have spent time with Bill Belichick studying the college game.

Patricia hasn't coached in college since 2003 when he was on the Syracuse staff as a graduate assistant, so it'll be interesting to see if he needs any adjustment time to familiarize himself with the college game.

Patricia's rapport with players has been questioned after many difficulties with players with the Lions, although I haven't seen issues with him from his Patriots background, perhaps it was a situation of a young coach in a position he simply wasn't ready for.

Patricia's name wasn't mentioned as a candidate until a day before accepting the job. Most thought that Ryan Day would promote Matt Guerreri and Tim Walton to co-defensive coordinators.

Patricia's hiring has brought questions from Buckeye fans who wonder how much Patricia had to do with the success of the New England defenses on a team coached by Bill Belichick and that's a fair question to ask.

My response would be this-  Patricia is a proven defensive coordinator, who won't do a lot of recruiting, and lots of schemes and masterminding plans.

Plus, I think we could be here as soon as next year looking for a new defensive coordinator. Patricia is attempting to clear his name from the Detroit fiasco and would rather work in the NFL.

This trio of hires seems to have the potential to be great, but with a mix in the middle, it could fail.

The jury is out.

Cleaning Out The Inbox- Non-Sports Passings

   It's time for a non-sports edition of tributes to say goodbye to those away from the sports world.

Goodbye to Marianne Faithfull at the age of 78.

The often-troubled singer/actress came to fame in the sixties with a beautiful singing voice that saw her make the charts several times with her top-charting single her cover of the Rolling Stone's "As Tears Go By" in 1965.

Faithfull would be in a relationship with Stones lead singer Mick Jagger for several years and wound up homeless and suffering from Anorexia after their breakup in the early seventies.

Faithfull's voice would change into a raspy sound after battles with laryngitis and drug addiction permanently damaged her vocal cords but that didn't stop Faithfull from future success with several critically successful albums and roles in films and stage productions.

Goodbye to Peter Tuiasosopo at the age of 61.

A replacement player for the Los Angeles Rams for three games in the 1987 strike season, Tuiasosopo made his name in movies and films more than in the NFL, as he would never play another game in the league.

Tuiasosopo is known to most for his role in the Street Fighter films or a recurring role on NCIS but to me, he will always be thought of as "Manu Manu" the center for the Texas State Armadillos in the football comedy "Unnecessary Roughness"

Goodbye to Bob Kuban at the age of 84.

The namesake of the 1960s group Bob Kuban and the In-Men, Kuban and his group hit it big with their 1966 song "The Cheater," which ranked as high as twelve on the charts and is still an oldies station staple today.

Kuban and the In-Men had two other songs that reached the top 100 before returning to St.Louis, where they would remain the top local band.

Kuban and the In-Men performed at the opening ceremonies of the first Busch Stadium in St.Louis in 1966 and while the band was topped by Kuban in the title, it was not Kuban who sang vocals on "The Cheater", it was Walter Scott who ironically would be murdered by his wife's lover in 1983 in an attempt to cover up infidelity. 

Goodbye to Tony Roberts at the age of 85.

The veteran actor acted in several Woody Allen films and was a stage actor in Neil Simon productions in a fifty-five career.

Used mostly in supporting roles, Roberts received two chances to break out as a lead, both in 1971 and both with Sandy Duncan as his co-star.

Both " The Million Dollar Duck" (a Disney film with Dean Jones and Duncan) and "Star Spangled Girl" (a Neil Simon production based on Simon's play with the theme song that Davy Jones would sing on a Brady Bunch episode) performed poorly at the box office.

Roberts would not receive another chance to play the lead in a film or television series.

But to me, a child of the age, those two roles are memorable.

I used to go to almost all the Disney films as a child, so Million Dollar Duck sticks with me as a good memory and Star Spangled Girl was a film that often found its way to late-night viewing in the days without many options to choose from as a "Late Night Movie".

2024 Ohio State- Looking back

    It was a rockier ride than many expected with two bumps that could have derailed the train but the Ohio State Buckeyes won the 2024 National Championship as many also expected. 

And while losses to Oregon and especially a mediocre Michigan team caused doubts in the minds of some people (including me) about where the season would end, the national championship was achieved.

Ohio State was often tagged as the twenty-million dollar team for the cost through NIL, but what isn't always mentioned is that most of the financial planning involved keeping players already on the team rather than adding players from other schools.

To be fair, Caleb Downs was likely expensive to add, but Downs almost picked Ohio State out of high school as the second choice to Alabama and would have likely stayed in Tuscaloosa had Nick Saban not retired. Will Howard wasn't cheap either, but Ohio State's philosophy on transfers has consistently spent most of its budget on its current roster rather than throwing money around raiding others.

Ohio State made its share of mistakes against Michigan, mainly by playing to the strengths of its undermanned opponent. Still, the Oregon loss was a result of several oddball events coming together in one road game, allowing an excellent team to escape with a one-point win.

It was tough to see the coaching mistakes against Michigan, but I was optimistic about the playoffs because I thought Ryan Day coached so well in their almost win over Georgia in 2022. After a similar defeat against Michigan, I gave Ohio State a good chance of winning the tournament based on talent alone.

My concern was the first-round matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers.

Following a traumatic loss, it was unknown how the Buckeyes would respond but if they could rebound against Tennessee, they would immediately return as one of the favorites to win.

After watching the win over Tennessee, I had the feeling that this would be a title-winning run but while I picked Ohio State to win, I would be lying if I was positive before the game!

Watching the effort that Ohio State had against Tennessee answered my questions and while I wouldn't say I was cocky, I was certainly confident that the Buckeyes would be the final team standing.

Other than a late rally by Notre Dame, only the Texas Longhorns pushed Ohio State, and when Jack Sawyer hit Quinn Ewers to send the football careening away to be grabbed by Sawyer for the game-clinching score that will be the lasting memory of the season, I had the feeling that the title was decided then.

In a season that saw a national championship return to Columbus, the Jack Sawyer return was the most memorable play, but surprisingly, it wasn't filled with plays to be remembered.

Other than spectacular catches by Jeremiah Smith, the most memorable play from the regular season was in a loss: the Will Howard scramble, which ended with Howard sliding just as the clock ended the game in the defeat to Oregon.

The loss to Michigan was (and is still) so devastating to the program, its perception, and Ryan Day himself but as in life, sometimes it takes an unexpected step back to move forward.

It's impossible to know if that defeat spurred Ohio State to the National Championship or if the Buckeyes won over Michigan. Would they have had the same motivation to up their game in the postseason?

In the end, it was a memorable season without an overwhelming amount of memorable moments ending with the end goal being accomplished.

It's hard to argue with that.

Boxing Challenge: Chisora marches on

   Dereck Chisora was thought to be near the end of the line as a heavyweight contender and his fight with Otto Wallin was the boxing equivalent of a gold watch with one final large payday on his way out of the sport.

Instead, Chisora arrived in tremendous shape, didn't tire as quickly as he had often done in recent years, and survived an awful cut over his left eye to defeat Wallin via a unanimous decision in Manchester, England.

Chisora outworked Wallin throughout and twice scored knockdowns (in rounds nine and twelve) to cement the win.

Neither knockdown placed Wallin in danger of being stopped. Still, they did solidify Chisora's lead on the scorecards in a victory with scores of 117-109, 116-110 (my score), and a surprisingly close 114-112 with the knockdowns giving the edge to Chisora on that card.

For Chisora, who claimed before the fight that this would be his final fight in the UK, he suddenly has unexpected options.

The IBF decided to make this fight an eliminator for their second spot in the ratings and Chisora could choose to face the winner of the Martin Bakole-Efe Ajagba match and should he win, move into their mandatory challenger position.

Chisora may also pursue Anthony Joshua for a guaranteed large purse and of the three names that Chisora mentioned after his win, the possibility of Joshua bringing a larger cheer from the crowd than either champion's name, so perhaps that could be in play.

I don't want to see Chisora against the Bakole-Ajagba winner because both men are big punchers and Chisora soaks up punishment.

Joe Joyce was at ringside and should Chisora decide to face Joyce in a rematch of their terrific fight last July, I'd be okay with that.
Joyce punches hard but is painfully slow and Chisora could avoid some of Joyce's lobbing bombs.

Chisora against IBF champion Daniel DuBois could end similarly and a rematch against three-titleholder Oleksandr Usyk (Usyk won a unanimous decision in 2020) might be less competitive but Chisora could take less punishment against the supremely skilled champion.

As for Wallin, he will slip back into the fringes of contention as he came up short in a fight that was made for him to win against a smaller, limited, aging fighter and wasn't good enough.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 13 Pts (0) 

TRS: 13 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 6 Pts (0)