Top Rank put a strong card on ESPN with two challenge fights and a third that I should have had in the challenge, but I just missed it on the schedule.
The main event was the fight of the weekend and unveiled a new star in boxing as Ghana's Issac Dogboe stopped Jessie Magdaleno in the eleventh round in Philadelphia to take away Magdaleno's WBO junior bantamweight title.
Magdaleno started fast with a knockdown in round one and won the first four rounds on my card before Dogboe dropped the champion in the fifth,
The knockdown turned the tide for the challenger, who would not lose another round on my card and put Magdaleno down in the eleventh before the fight was stopped. I had Dogboe ahead entering the eleventh 95-93 and he looks to have a bright future after such an exciting fight.
Magdaleno loses little status in defeat and is expected to move to a loaded featherweight division in his next fight.
Bryant Jennings won a unanimous decision over Joey Dawejko in an all-Philadelphia heavyweight fight that had a few bits of action but generally was nothing special.
I had Jennings winning 97-93 and Jennings needs to step up his competition as he has faced second and third-tier opponents since being stopped by Luis Ortiz in December 2015.
In a notable bout that was on the telecast and should have been in the challenge, Jesse Hart knocked out Demond Nicholson in the seventh round in a super middleweight fight.
Hart is still the WBO's number one contender to Gilberto Ramirez for a rematch of their terrific fight last year in which Ramirez won a unanimous decision.
On HBO, Daniel Jacobs knocked down Macjej Sulecki in the twelfth round on his way to a unanimous decision victory in Brooklyn.
I had Jacobs winning due to the knockdown 114-113, but the scorecards were predictably wider in favor of the hometown fighter.
Jacobs didn't look great against Sulecki, a natural 154 pounder, but he did enough to earn the victory and become a mandatory for Gennady Golovkin, who now has 4 (The WBA has two thanks to their bringing back their ridiculous "regular" title back when they could have been finished with it when Golovkin defeated Jacobs) mandatory contenders with a combined 2 wins over top ten opponents at the weight- Jacobs WBA ( 1 Peter Quillin), Ryota Murata WBA "Regular Champ: ( 0 although he does own a win over Hassan N'Dam, who was one at one time, but well faded when Murata faced him), Sergey Dereyvanchenko IBF (Arguably one over Tureano Johnson, who could be argued to be around the bottom of the top ten) and Jermall Charlo WBC (0).
All would make an intriguing opponent for Golovkin, but we just don't know for sure what they will bring to such a bout because of such weak opposition and with all guaranteed a future bout with Triple G, none will risk their title shot (and I can understand why they wouldn't) against a legitimate threat.
Still, just wishing here- wouldn't you love a four fighter mini-tournament among those four?
Jacobs-Charlo for this made-up "King of Brooklyn" thing that seems more important to Jacobs than fighting solid natural middleweights and Dereyvanchenko-Murata in what would be a straight-ahead war with the winners facing off with two excellent wins for their Golovkin shot.
Ah, boxing...
As for Sulecki, I'd like to see more from him after a strong effort and see him back at junior middleweight against Jarrett Hurd or Jermell Charlo for their titles.
Jarrell Miller defeated trialhorse Johan Duhaupas in the opener with a lopsided unanimous decision in a heavyweight fight,
The 300 plus pound Miller won 119-109 on my card and only the strong chin of the Frenchman Duhaupas allowed him to go the distance.
Miller is rumored to be the likely opponent for the American debut of Anthony Joshua for his three titles this summer.
In the boxing challenge, I earned five points to Ramon Malpica's four to extend my lead in the boxing challenge to 75-61.
I gained points from Daniel Jacobs (2), Jarrell Miller (2) and Bryant Jennings (1) while Ramon added points from Jennings (2), Jacobs (1) and Miller (1).
Both Ramon and I selected Jessie Magdaleno to defeat Issac Dogboe.
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