While the decision was close but not really in dispute (Magsayo won 115-113 on two cards with the dissenting at 114-114, I agreed on my card with the majority of the judges), the controversial part is the injury to the right shoulder of Russell that forced Russell to be a one-handed fighter for much of the bout.
Russell claimed he entered the bout with the injury that he suffered two weeks ago in camp and insisted that he fight through the pain anyway, Magsayo stated that he landed a punch in the third round that caused the damage, and I thought Russell's injury came in the fourth round when he winced in pain following a punch.
While the timing of Russell's shoulder issue, the courage, and talent of Russell can't be as he essentially fought one-armed and battled his way to a fight that could have easily been scored for him.
Magsayp started fast in winning the first two rounds but Russell's shoulder began to be a factor just as he was turning the tide and Magsayo, on my card, won just enough over the remainder of the fight to win on my card
Magsayo didn't dominate the fight as one would have hoped against a one-armed fighter and that alone makes a rematch appealing to me.
The reign of Gary Russell was one that was a disappointment to most boxing fans and observers and the loss of his title had the same disappointing ending with a close loss and a less than satisfying ending.
The co-feature was the fight of the evening as junior welterweight Subriel Matias avenged his only loss when Petros Ananyan was unable to answer the bell at the beginning of round ten.
Matias was far ahead on my card after nine (89-81) dominating but entertaining rounds that saw Ananyan give his all and land some shots on Matias but the Puerto Rico native was a different fighter than in their first fight and pounded Ananyan with counter shots as Ananyan walked in.
Matias landed a strong left hook late in round nine that dropped Ananyan and only the bell ringing after he got off the mat. saved him as the fight may have been ended then and there if there had been more time remaining in the round with Ananyan looking badly dazed.
The doctor/corner did the right thing and ended the fight rather than send Ananyan out to take more punishment, which was definitely the right decision.
Matias appears to be in good shape with the IBF with a fight against Jeremiah Ponce, which would be a very interesting fight between two exciting bombers, that would either be a final eliminator or could be the vacant IBF title should Josh Taylor start shedding belts after his title defense against Jack Catterall next month to move to welterweight.
In the evening's first event, late replacement Sakaria Lukas was robbed of an upset win over Tug Nyambayar in a ten-round featherweight opener.
Lukas landed a left in the eighth round that knocked down Nyambayar but was not scored as a knockdown and cost Lukas a win in the fight that was scored a draw at 96-94 for each fighter and then a 95-95 even card.
Had the knockdown been scored properly, Lukas would have gotten the decision.
In the boxing challenge, here are the current standings with the points for this week in parentheses.
Ramon Malpica 9 pts (3)
Vince Samano 8 pts (2)
TRS 6 pts (1)
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