In Melbourne, Australia, Devin Haney retained his world lightweight championship with a unanimous decision in his rematch with George Kambosos.
I'll sum this fight up in this manner, George Kambosos tried harder, fought better, and the rematch was a more exciting fight and none of it mattered because Devin Haney dominated equally as much as in their first affair, winning a unanimous decision by scores of 119-109 and two tallies of 118-110.
I scored Haney the easy winner at 118-110.
Haney landed his jab at will and ripped Kambosos with counter rights that caused Kambosos to bleed impressively from a cut over his left eye that Kambosos had to fight through along with a cut over his right eye, which was cut from a late clash of heads that cut Haney as well.
It was a needed step for Haney to complete his obligation to Kambosos for a rematch few outside of Australia wanted to see and move on to an anticipated fight against Vasyl Lomachenko, should Lomachenko win his fight over Jamaine Ortiz in two weeks.
Haney may not be the most exciting fighter but he is so technically sound and considering that many with such skills are dreadfully dull, I think Haney isn't dull by any means.
Haney will likely move to junior welterweight after a potential defense against Lomachenko and he should fit in very well in a loaded 140-pound division.
In the co-feature bantamweight, Jason Moloney moved himself into the WBC mandatory challenger position with a unanimous decision over Nawaphon Kaikanha in an eliminator.
Moloney won by scores of 119-109 and 118-110 twice, which was the same score as mine.
Moloney will likely be involved in 2023 for the title expected to be vacated by Naoya Inoue after Inoue unifies (expected to anyway) all four bantamweight belts against Paul Butler (WBO champion) in December.
Inoue knocked out Moloney in seven rounds in October 2020 to retain the WBA and IBF titles and Inoue has since added the WBC belt to his collection.
In Brooklyn, New York, former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder returned to the ring for the first time since his second loss to Tyson Fury and won his first fight since November 2019 with a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in a WBC eliminator.
It only took one concussive right from Wilder, who landed it as Helenius pressed the action, trapping Wilder in a corner before he ran into the counter bomb.
Helenius was never in danger of getting up and once again, Deontay Wilder shows that for all the flaws in his game that there may not be a bigger puncher in all of boxing for one shot power and if you make one mistake the fight could end.
Wilder will now fight in another WBC eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger for champion Tyson Fury against fellow PBC boxer and former champion Andy Ruiz in what could be a very interesting match
I haven't seen the undercard fights but I have seen the one-punch knockout by former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant over former WBC champion Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round and give Plant credit for ending conclusively a fight that reports say was a very boring first eight rounds.
While it was an incredible knockout, Plant's behavior in pantomiming a gravedigger shoveling dirt on a still-fallen Dirrell was in very poor taste.
I've never been a Plant fan but this was beyond awful after a devastating knockout with the opponent still down and his safety unknown at the time.
For all of Plant's title defenses and Dirrell's shopworn condition ( and Dirrell should now consider retirement with a record of 1-2-1 over his last four fights with the draw being very questionable against Kyrone Davis and being stopped by Plant and David Benavidez), Dirrell is the best name on his resume' and I'd love to see Plant against David Benavidez next.
However. Benavidez will face Jose Uzcategui in January in a fight few want to see.
Ironically, Uzcategui, a former IBF champion, was the biggest win in Caleb Plant's career with Plant winning the title from him in January 2019.
Heavyweight Frank Sanchez stopped veteran Carlos Negron in nine rounds and in a mild surprise former IBF bantamweight champion Emmanuel Rodriguez dominated Gary Antonio Russell in winning a unanimous decision after ten rounds in a WBA and IBF eliminator.
Rodriguez was fighting Russell for the second time after their first fight ended after sixteen seconds after the two smashed their heads together and it was a head clash that ended this after the two collided in the ninth round with the fight being stopped a few seconds into the tenth to go to scorecards.
Rodriguez knocked Russell down in the eighth and won on all three cards convincingly at 100-90, 99-91, and 99-93 to likely be involved in one of the vacant title chases, should Naoya Inoue vacate next year.
Rodriguez was stopped in two rounds by Inoue, losing his IBF title in a World Boxing Super Series semi-final.
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