PBC Fight of the Year-Boxing Challenge

Normally,I would not do a full boxing post with boxing challenge events scheduled for the next day,but with a few notes from a Friday night filled with boxing,I figured I'd add this quickly....

The PBC had their best fight of the year as light heavyweights Andrezj Fonfara and Nathan Cleverly hooked up in an action packed twelve rounder.
No knockdowns,but lots of punches landed by both men as Compubox (the punch counting people) listed this bout as the new 175 pound division standard for punches thrown and landed in a 12 round bout.
Cleverly suffered a broken nose and bled badly through the second half of the fight as Fonfara took a narrow victory of 116-112 (two cards) and 115-113 on the cards.
I had Fonfara winning 115-113 and the win could likely land him a rematch with WBC champion Adonis Stevenson,who swapped knockdowns with Fonfara in a Stevenson decision win in 2014...

R.L and I each added two points for the win and were both wrong for Kohei Kono's win over Koki Kameda,which I haven't seen as of now.
The challenge currently stands at 120-116.

I wish I could say I like the Spike TV team.
Antonio Tarver is one of the better analysts around,but I'm not a fan of MMA commentator Jimmy Smith and just when Dana Jacobson starts moving up on my list,she closes with a forced "Hail to the Victors" reference to reinforce her connection to the michigan Wolverines.
I'm only kidding a little,Jacobson has been a pleasant surprise on the program,but I'm not sure the MMA crowd would be thrilled with Tarver calling their bouts and acting like an expert,so I hope you would understand why Smith doesn't do that for boxing fans...


TruTV offered a Top Rank card that I didn't add any of the bouts for the challenge.
The main event featured Sean Monaghan pummeling a courageous but overmatched Donovan George.
The fight was decent enough,but I have a feeling that when the day comes that Monaghan faces a top light heavyweight that this fight will be repeated-with Monaghan playing the part of George.
The co-feature was a less than strong battle between undefeated Roy Jones disciple Brad Solomon defeat Ray Serrano.
Solomon even tries to fight like Jones,which was bad enough watching the real Roy Jones.
Top Rank was off to a good start with their initial few cards on TruTv,but this shows signs of a downward spiral that I hope can be avoided.

I did like the announcing unit on the color side.
I've been a fan of Ray "Boom Boom"Mancini since I was a kid,so having Mancini around is always welcomed.
Boom Boom might not be the most eloquent speaker,but his plain speaking and passion for the sport comes through to the viewer.
I think that had Mancini started with full time commentary after he got out of the ring,he might have been boxing's John Madden.

I also thought that the use of Crystina Poncher as the third person in the booth was original and I thought she was excellent.
Poncher's knowledge was strong and you can tell she puts the time into knowing the game.
I hope to see more of Poncher in a role of helping to call the action as well as the host role....