ESPN Plus and Top Rank's main event saw the return of WBO featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete after a ten-month absence and the man once touted as the busiest champion in boxing looked to be suffering from his inactivity as challenger Eduardo Baez seemed to be lightly tapping his way to a potential upset.
I had Baez ahead 49-46 and I might have been generous in giving the champion one round but one left hook to the liver put Baez away in round six and saved the title for Navarrete.
Baez led on two cards (50-45 and 48-47) while judge Pat Russell somehow saw Navarrete leading 49-46, a scorecard that seems downright nutty.
Along with Navarrete's unusual inactivity, the Mexican champion had problems making weight and he seems to be faced with a choice of either moving up to 130 and a clash with Shakur Stevenson or fighting more often to help him keep in sharp and in shape.
Navarrete's problem with staying at 126 is a lack of big-fight possibilities.
The winner of November's WBA title fight would be unlikely if Leo Santa Cruz (PBC) retains the championship over Leigh Wood (Matchroom), although Navarrete vs Wood could happen if the Englishman pulls a mild upset.
Josh Warrington (IBF and Matchroom) appears to be waiting for a fight vs Wood if he beats Santa Cruz and the mandatory for Navarrete's title is Isaac Dogboe, who has already lost to Navarrete twice in lopsided defeats and no one wants to see a third fight, likely not even Dogboe.
Meanwhile, over on Showtime, PBC's main event turned out to be very predictable but the other two matches on the telecast decided two new world champions in solid battles.
The main event was originally scheduled to be a faceoff of two faded former champions that badly needed a win and preferably an exciting one, in Adrien Broner and Omar Figueroa.
Broner's late exit from the fight brought in former IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets into the fight in his place from the undercard as, since the Covid-19 pandemic, PBC has been very smart in arranging to have suitable replacements on their undercards in the event of a fighter not being available at the last minute.
That has proven to be prescient thinking on this and several other occasions and I applaud their preparation for different scenarios.
However, Figueroa wasn't likely to appreciate it as Lipinets is closer to his prime and a harder puncher than Broner, so Figueroa was facing a tougher opponent for his trouble and was battling back losing to Abel Ramos when he was battered into submission with the fight ending after the sixth round.
That fate was going to be repeated as Lipinets handed Figueroa another beating and forced his corner to stop the fight at the end of the eighth round.
Figueroa might have won the first round but was dropped in the second and took a pounding for the rest of the fight that might have been best suited to end a round or two sooner than it lasted.
Figueroa stated that he was planning on retiring and based on what I've seen in his losses to Ramos and Lipinets, that's a pretty good idea.
Figueroa may not have lived to the early hype of many (including myself) and became a huge star but he did win a world title and that's a pretty decent career even if it wasn't as good as was expected.
Alberto Puello won the WBA title that was relinquished by Josh Taylor via a split decision over hard-luck Batyr Akhmedv in another close fight with awful scoring.
Both fighters landed plenty and although Akhmedov attacked more, Puello didn't run away and did walk forward on some occasions.
I thought Akhmedov nosed the win out 115-113 as did one judge but I would have no issue at all with a Puello triumph-IF someone scored 115-113 for the Dominican Republic native as the fight was extremely tight.
The problem was that the two odd judges saw Puello as the winner at 117-111 and there is simply no way that either fighter in this fight won nine of twelve rounds.
Again, no issues with Puello getting a slight edge- it's the size of the win that is so awful.
It was a great fight and I wouldn't be against a rematch, considering the scoring and the quality of the fight.
In the opener, Hector Luis Garcia won the WBA junior welterweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Roger Gutierrez.
Garcia entered the bout after dominating the flashy and well-thought of Chris Colbert in his last fight, knocking Colbert out of a challenge of Gutierrez, and the WBA, deservedly and surprisingly, installed Garcia in the position previously held by Colbert as the mandatory challenger.
It was truly a tale of two fights- the first eight rounds were dominated by Garcia as Garcia controlled Gutierrez with aggression that wasn't reckless with Gutierrez downright reluctant to move his hands.
Gutierrez's corner was even threatening to stop the fight after eight rounds if Gutierrez didn't start to throw punches.
So to start the ninth, Gutierrez changed his tactics, started to reach Garcia with his right hand and began to bully Garcia to the ropes and forced the younger man to give ground as Gutierrez won the final four rounds on my card but the comeback started far too late in losing on my scorecard 116-112.
On the official cards, Garcia won a little wider with two scores of 117-111 and a 118-110 slate but Gutierrez has to be just sick after seeing how effective he was once he started throwing more punches that he was backing Garcia and had he done so earlier in the fight that he may have retained his title.
Garcia brings one junior lightweight title to PBC, who didn't have a presence in the division other than Chris Colbert entering the year, so this is good for PBC's fighters at 126 and 130, who would have had problems in making a fight with WBC/WBO champion Shakur Stevenson (Top Rank) or IBF king Joe Cordina (Matchroom).
I would think Gary Russell would make some sense as a challenger to Garcia in the PBC fold and would make an interesting fight as well.
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