In the bantamweight opener of the two WBSS fights, WBA champion and the top seed in the tournament Ryan Burnett was having a pretty good fight with Nonito Donaire, who dropped eight pounds from his spring loss to Carl Frampton to return to the 118-pound division, until under a minute to go in the round when Burnett fell to the floor in pain grasping his side.
The referee was forced to call it a knockdown and I cannot imagine how much pain Burnett was in as he tried to rise and continue.
Donaire drove a near helpless Burnett into the corner and riddled him with punches as the heavy-hearted Burnett attempted to fend him off until the bell rang.
Burnett was unable to continue after the ring, being taken from the ring on a gurney and the WBA title along with the semi-final berth left with Nonito Donaire.
The ending wasn't only strange, it was an unsatisfying ending to a fight that had shown some pretty strong action after four rounds, which I had scored two rounds for each combatant.
Donaire will unify his newly won title with that of WBO champ Zolani Tete in the next round, while Burnett could have to take a sizable amount of time off to recover from his injury.
In the other WBSS matchup Josh Taylor won every round from a seemingly frozen Ryan Martin before stopping him in the seventh round.
Taylor was far better prepared for the stage than Taylor and it showed in the one-sided beatdown that wasn't even competitive.
The ending was somewhat controversial as Taylor appeared to floor Martin with a shot to the back of the head with the referee immediately waving the bout off despite the protests of Martin.
I thought Martin did indeed receive a punch to the back of his head, but it wouldn't change the result and saved Martin prolonged punishment.
Taylor will face IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk in the semi-finals and that is the fight that I am most looking forward to seeing of the four semi-finals that are currently intact.
On ESPN+ from El Paso Texas, Miguel Berchelt continued to make his case as the top 130 pounder in the world as he dominated mandatory contender Miguel "Mickey" Roman over nine rounds before the brave and beaten Roman finally succumbed to the younger and stronger Berchelt.
Berchelt pounded the consistently moving forward Roman throughout the fight and although Roman would occasionally connect with enough offense to keep the champion honest, he was overmatched in both power and technique.
Berchelt almost finished Roman in round six with two knockdowns, but the gritty Roman had no quit on this night, survived the round and tried his best for the next three rounds, but was dropped and polished off in the ninth.
Berchelt would like unification fights with WBA champ Gervonta Davis or IBF champ Tevin Farmer, but those seem unlikely due to promotional/network problems.
The best fight that could be made, in my opinion, is minor titlist Alberto Machado in what would be an exciting fight between two big (in both size and punching ability) junior lightweights and would be another chapter in the best rivalry in boxing- Mexico (Berchelt) vs Puerto Rico (Machado).
Machado is with Golden Boy and therefore DAZN for television, but Golden Boy and Top Rank have been one of the few promotional pairings that occasionally can work together, so there is some hope.
The final challenge bout was made available on Facebook and it was just as big of a mismatch as expected as light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera handily won a unanimous decision over fringe contender Seanie Monaghan in Brooklyn.
No knockdowns, but other than the first round or two each round was the same monotonous stanza over and over again.
Monaghan showed toughness, but nowhere near top ten quality, while Barrera gets back on the winning trail after losing his last fight to Dmitry Bivol.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to change the score to 181-158.
Ramon earned two points each from wins from Sullivan Barrera and Miguel Berchelt.
I added two from Berchelt and one each from Barrera and Josh Taylor.
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