Therefore, I'll be writing two posts with this one covering what I have seen of this writing and one perhaps tomorrow with the remainder of the bouts.
On ESPN from Newark, New Jersey, former Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson overwhelmed another overmatched opponent in Alberto Guevara as Stevenson knocked down Guevara twice in the second round before ending the sad mismatch in the third.
I know the narrative is that no one wanted this fight (Guevara was the third fighter to accept the fight) and that may have been the case, but what I've noticed is that the recent increase in power shown by Stevenson has correlated with the leveling off of his opposition and pitting him against fighters with questionable chins.
Now, I think Shakur Stevenson is extremely talented, looks to be a possible major star (although his number one contender status in the WBO is premature) and power does often develop as young fighters age (I remember many fighters that developed punching power as their career moved on after early questions), but this appears to me to be another Top Rank promotional kudo as they moved Stevenson up the rankings against few that would challenge him and just as he arrives for his world shot against a champion that Top Rank promotes (Oscar Valdez), that champion looks ready to move up weight, leaving Stevenson with what will likely be another squash match for the vacant title.
Don't take any of that as a knock on Stevenson, he's doing exactly what you would hope to see against enhancement talents and against those fighters he has fought in a much more fan-friendly style, but if he's ready to fight for a title- I'd like to see him face a stern test.
The co-feature saw a borderline Hamburglar alert as bantamweight contender Joshua Greer won a majority decision over Nikolai Potapov.
Greer, who ESPN ran features on and made the fight all about with a sad back story from Greer growing up in Chicago, was walked down and outworked by Potapov for most of the fight, yet was given the majority duke.
I scored Potopov a 115-113 winner and I may have been generous to Greer.
The ESPN commentating, which I'll be looking at soon in a boxing broadcasting post, was its typical self with Andre Ward in one round discussing how he "told Potopov how he quit in his only loss, although I (Ward) tried to do it nicely and he seems to be doing it again", being admonished by Mark Kriegel (who is being far better used in his current role than doing color analysis) that he didn't see Potopov quitting at all as the fighters came out for the next round.
Ward's response was "I didn't say he was getting ready to quit".
Priceless.
Earlier in the day, ESPN Plus offered two interesting heavyweight fights between heavyweights that are just approaching contender status.
In the main event, Daniel DuBois knocked out Nathan Gorman in the fifth round in a pairing of unbeaten's for the British heavyweight title.
DuBois, who reminds me physically of a young Frank Bruno, controlled the fight after an even round one and knocked Gorman down in the third, cutting him above the left eye.
DuBois put Gorman down in the fifth and Gorman showed bravery in getting up to attempt to continue, but the referee wisely saw no point in allowing this to continue.
I would think DuBois might be headed for a fight against Joe Joyce with both being promoted by Frank Warren and the history of British boxing that will see their best fighters eventually fight each other in front of a big crowd with the winner of that fight moving up in the rankings for a potential title fight, but after the fight, Warren was quoted as saying he might place Gorman against Joyce next in what would appear to be a tactic of keeping his two prospects apart for a bit longer.
As for Joe Joyce, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist was forced to fight to the full distance for the first time in winning a unanimous decision over former contender Bryant Jennings.
Jennings had his moments, but simply didn't throw enough punches against Joyce to win on the scorecards and was hurt by officiating with Joyce throwing shoulder blocks the entire fight without a penalty, but Jennings lost a point late in the fight for a low blow.
For Jennings, this could be the passing of the baton as he enters the role of gatekeeper after his second loss in a row, while Joyce just seems so limited in his skills.
Joyce's punching power appears to be good, not great (Jennings was never shaken), he throws a fair amount of punches but doesn't always commit to them and I wonder how he will deal with a quality fighter that he doesn't have a size advantage over.
The final fight of this portion of the recap saw the Olympic conqueror of Joe Joyce as 2016 gold medalist Tony Yoka returned in France from a one-year drug suspension from the French Anti-Doping Agency for missing three tests between 2016-2017.
No judgment of this as Yoka missed those tests, not failed them (although why would you skip something that you would pass, is another question), but the return was a successful as Yoka stopped former fringe contender Alexander Dimitrenko in the third round.
Yoka won the first two rounds with little action before knocking Dimitrenko down in the third with a right uppercut.
As the fight continued, Yoka landed several rights that ended with Dimitrenko sprawled chest-first on the top rope as the referee stepped in.
I'm not sure what the future holds for Yoka, although I suppose some money could be made with a Joe Joyce rematch with the always easy to sell France vs England angle, as for Dimitrenko, who has lost his last three fights and all by stoppage (Yoka, Bryant Jennings and Andy Ruiz) in the last year, it might be time to walk away or at least be carefully matched from here on out.
In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 10-9 for this portion.
I earned three points each (Win, Result, and Bonus for Round) from Shakur Stevenson and Daniel Dubois, two from Tony Yoka and one each from Joe Joyce and Joshua Greer.
Ramon gained three points from Tony Yoka, two from Shakur Stevenson and Daniel DuBois and one each from Joe Joyce and Joshua Greer.
The challenge now stands at 175-157
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