Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Boxing Challenge:Zepeda skates by Castaneda

The main event from the Las Vegas "Bubble" felt you pining for what might have been as the show could have been capped off by two top ten contenders facing off in what should have been an excellent meshing of styles and loaded with exchanges of punches.

When former IBF junior welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyk fell out of his scheduled meeting with Jose Zepeda, I immediately thought the Top Rank summer series had lost its best match and without another top contender available, Kendo Castaneda was the stand-in and appeared to be overmatched against Zepeda.
The appearance turned out to be correct as Zepeda dominated Castaneda in winning a unanimous decision that didn't see a knockdown but also didn't see Zepeda turn the gas up with a performance that dazzled the audience either.
I thought Zepeda was certainly effective in wearing down Castaneda, but never hurt his opponent and he will need to bring his performance up when he faces better opposition as this level of Zepeda may not be up to the task versus elite competition.
I just have a sneaky feeling that Zepeda might be one of those fighters that may challenge for a world title on a few occasions and might come close before falling short each time.

As for Castaneda, who fell to 17-2 in the defeat, his level isn't as high and future isn't as bright as Zepeda's may be, but he fought well all things considered and even had a moment or two when he won the seventh and eighth rounds before losing 98-92 on my scorecard.

Ramon Malpica and I each scored one point in the boxing challenge.
I lead 66-59.

I have an idea for a post for tonight from the road office if I have time to write.

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