Boxing Challenge: Titles retained in Tucson

Top Rank put the type of action card that boxing fans hoped would be happening on ESPN when they agreed to work together with two entertaining title fights that ended with both WBO champions retaining their titles.

Ramon Malpica gained two points to my none as Gilberto Ramirez (TRS # 2) retained his super middleweight belt with a unanimous decision over Jesse Hart.
My card had Ramirez winning 116-111 as the champion knocked Hart down in the second round and severely hurt him to the point that Hart barely survived the round.
Ramirez wobbled Hart again in the third and won most of the middle rounds with a strong body attack.
I gave Hart three of the last four rounds and he buckled Ramirez's knees in the eleventh but didn't realize that he had stunned Ramirez and didn't press the attack.
Ramirez seems to be more of a solid champion than a future superstar to me.
He has gone the 12 round distance in each of his three title fights and strikes me as a beatable fighter that has the potential to defeat anyone as well.
A solid all-around fighter that doesn't do anything exceedingly well.
As for Hart, I'd like to see more of him as he rallied well and continued to fight hard despite being far behind on the scorecards.

In the other WBO title fight, featherweight champion Oscar Valdez (TRS # 2) won a surprisingly difficult unanimous decision over Genesis Servania to retain his championship.
Valdez was dropped in round four but rebounded to floor Servania in the fifth round in an action fight that featured several toe to toe exchanges.
In the end, Servania wasn't as active as you need to be if you are going to win a decision in the champion's hometown and simply needed to throw more punches than he did.
I scored Valdez a 115-111 winner and Ramon and I each scored one challenge point with the win.
Oscar Valdez is going to make some fun fights and his next opponent is rumored to be former WBA champ Carl Frampton, who split two entertaining bouts with current WBA titlist Leo Santa Cruz.
Valdez-Frampton should be another slugfest if that bout is able to be made and I'm not sure that I would lean one way or the other right now in who I would pick to win that fight.

The boxing challenge total currently is 130-118 in my favor against Ramon Malpica.
Three more fights today in the challenge from England, San Antonio, and Los Angeles.
I'll be covering those as well as the Ohio State noon kickoff vs UNLV.