Kovalev was ahead on my card at the end of ten 97-93 and a seemingly exhausted Yarde was caught for the one-punch KO with a straight right to prove Kovalev's power is still intact, but Yarde, a very good puncher, had Kovalev badly hurt in the eighth round and the questions about Kovalev's chin at this stage of his career certainly remain, although the questions about his willingness to fight through adversity were certainly answered.
Still, Kovalev certainly seems to be a fighter that may have seen his best days by being buzzed by the strong punching, but very inexperienced on the world-class level Yarde and while I would not say that Kovalev struggled in this title defense, he clearly had his problems and there might be a race to see who can get to the potentially vulnerable champion-a race that seems to likely to be won by one Saul "Canelo" Alvarez.
In Mexico on DAZN, Juan Francisco Estrada retained his WBC junior bantamweight title in a homecoming squash match against DeWayne Beamon with a ninth-round knockout.
Estrada, who had won his title against Sriskaket Sor Rungvisai in a rematch in his last fight, was due for a fight that was not a grueling one and he got it against Beamon, who had never beaten anyone close to being a contender.
Estrada won every round and knocked Beamon down twice in the second round, but spent more time playing to the crowd at times or he may have been able to get Beamon out of their early.
Beamon tried throughout and even landed a shot or two, but was clearly overmatched against the best 115 pounder in the world.
Estrada could be matched against WBA champion Kal Yafai, who is also affiliated with Matchroom/DAZN or a rubber match against Rungvisai next time out.
Friday night from Broken Arrow Oklahoma brought a rare challenge fight from the ShoBox with Vladimir Shishkin dominating DeMarcus Ware over eight rounds before Ware's trainer stopped the fight with Ware taking a beating in the eighth.
The decorated Russian amateur methodically broke down Ware, who was entering the fight after his biggest career win over Ronald Ellis, and in winning every round on my card, showed that Shishkin is ready for world-class opposition.
In Nagoya Japan, Kosei Tanaka stopped Jonathan Gonzalez in the seventh round to retain his WBO flyweight title.
Tanaka's bodywork slowed the fast-moving challenger, who looked pretty slick for the first two rounds against the heavily favored champion.
However, when the body shots began to land, the foot speed slowed and Tanaka would score a knockdown in the third to turn the fight.
Gonzalez was given credit for a knockdown in the same round, although his knockdown seemed to a result of some grappling rather than any landed punches.
Tanaka's bodywork ended the fight in the seventh with three knockdowns, all off punches to the body and even though Gonzalez continued to try to survive after each, he was clearly deflated and the stoppage was a very good one.
Fox Sports One completed the challenge fights from Edinburg, Texas as Brandon Figueroa crushed Javier Chacon in four rounds to retain his minor title.
Figueroa might have similar talent to his brother Omar, who between out of the ring issues, inactivity, and poor management has wasted it and should he keep his nose to the grindstone, he could be a star.
Figueroa might be on the "wrong side of the street" for now though with his affiliation with PBC being a hindrance to fights against the best champions in the 122 pound division with WBA/IBF champion Danny Roman (Matchroom), WBC champion Rey Vargas (Golden Boy) and WBO titleholder Emanuel Navarrete (Top Rank) all with opposite promoters that are unlikely to work to make an appealing fight happen.
In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 7-5 to increase my lead to 214-184.
No comments:
Post a Comment