PBC's main event would see middleweight Carlos Adames retain his minor title with a controversial ninth-round stoppage over former WBA and IBF junior middleweight Julian Williams when referee Mark Nelson stopped the fight with Williams stung along the ropes but throwing punches back.
I thought Williams was in a little bit of trouble, and he had been busted up just under his right eye, so it's not as if Williams was a lock to survive but he was punching back and I thought the stoppage was premature.
Adames had a large lead on the scorecards after eight rounds with leads of three, four, and an astonishing eight points, which means that the judge had scored every round for Adames.
I had the fight closer at 77-75 for Adames and he was likely on his way to a win but Williams fought well and deserved a better fate or at least the chance to place his fate in his own hands defensively at the end.
I don't really see Adames as this "boogeyman" ( there must be two of these boogeymen around at 160 pounds as Top Rank says the same thing about WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly) as he was called in the pre-fight buildup, although he is a good fighter in a very week middleweight division and deserves the full WBC with champion Jermall Charlo inactive for two years and soon to fight Canelo Alvarez at super middleweight, the WBC should do the right thing and force Charlo to fight Adames next (which he wouldn't and shouldn't do considering the payday for a Canelo fight) and when he chooses to face Canelo, give the full title to Adames.
As bad as the Adames-Williams ending was, the co-feature was worse as junior middleweight Erickson Lubin returned from an over a year layoff after losing to Sebastian Fundora, to defeat veteran Luis Arias by a fifth-round knockout.
After the first four rounds were fairly evenly fought (I had Lubin ahead 39-37), Lubin landed a right hand just behind the ear of Arias in the fifth that knocked Arias down but it appeared to be a glancing blow, although a legitimate knockdown.
Arias was perched on one knee as he listened to the court of Zachary Young and appeared to me to get up at the count of nine.
Young, however, counted to ten and claimed that Arias had not gotten up in time to beat the count which was clearly untrue.
An absolutely putrid call by Young, who could have stopped the fight with less controversy by judging Arias unable to continue (I would have said that would have been a mistake as well but there is a difference between judgment and a blatant violation of the rules).
It's a needed comeback win for Lubin and a tough loss for Arias, who lost his third fight in his last four and was stopped for the first time, which is a difficult pill to swallow considering how he lost.
These crazy things such as awful scorecards, misinterpretations of the rules by referees, poor stoppages, etc, seem to pop up most often in states that aren't widely known as hotbeds for the sport- in this case, Minnesota.
There really needs to be something about these smaller state commissions shoving their referees and/or judges into roles for world-class fights that they either aren't experienced enough or aren't good enough to handle properly.
Sanctioning bodies could install more qualified people for these spots but in many cases, the state commission will insist on their people being involved.
The answer could be the media provider or the promoter insisting on world-class referees and judges and if the state doesn't like it (in this case, Minnesota), pull the event and go somewhere else.
Faced with the loss of money from the event, I'd bet after a few times, these commissions will do the right thing.
The key to this would be working with the commission a few weeks before the card on deciding on the officials involved and ironing out any differences early.
A compromise could be allowing the state to use their people for the lower undercard and the world-class level fights is where the better/more experienced officials could step in.
There is too much on the line for champions and contenders to continue to have these types of problems.
In the opening fight, Fernando Martinez retained his IBF junior bantamweight title with an eleventh knockout of Jade Bornea.
I had the fight even after eight hard-fought rounds and in round nine, Martinez landed a left hook against Bornea's right ear, which caused what I would call a boil, bulging on the ear.
Martinez landed another hook against the ear later in the ninth, busting the boil open and causing lots of blood to flow.
Martinez dominated the tenth and the fight was stopped in the eleventh with Bornea weakening to the loss of blood.
I haven't watched the Kazuto Ioka-Joshua Franco fight or the Edgar Berlanga-Jason Quigley battle, so I'll do a followup with those two fights and the boxing challenge results with that post.
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