In the biggest bout of the day from Sydney Australia, junior middleweight contender Tim Tszyu dominated former WBC champion Tony Harrison before bludgeoning him with several right hands and uppercuts in round nine before the fight was mercifully stopped by the referee.
Harrison had some success with the jab against Tszyu but that was about all that the veteran could offer against Tszyu's aggression that backed Harrison up and often trapped him along the ropes for long stretches.
Tszyu was the quicker fighter and the harder puncher and other than the first round, it would have been tough to find a round to give to Harrison, as I did on my scorecard which had Tszyu ahead 79-74 after eight rounds.
The victory allows Tszyu to keep his mandatory position for a challenge later this year of unified champion Jermell Charlo, which was originally scheduled for January before it was canceled due to a broken hand suffered in training by Charlo.
Charlo-Tszyu looms as a very interesting fight and while Tszyu will be an underdog, I like his chances.
I thought Charlo lost his first fight with Brian Castano and the second fight was very close before Charlo stopped Castano in the late rounds.
I've never seen Charlo as a dominant fighter like most fully unified champions and still may turn out to be the best of a bunch of similarly talented fighters, so I can see Tsyzu winning the four titles should Charlo be at anything less than his best.
However, an argument can be made that Harrison has seen better days and didn't look impressive in his bouts since losing his title to Charlo, so while Tsyzu's win is the best of his career, it may look better now than it eventually may be.
Earlier in the day in Liverpool, England, super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco smoothly navigated the toughest test of his career in stopping British veteran Jack Cullen in four rounds.
Cullen fought on even terms in the first two rounds but Pacheco stunned Cullen with a right hand in the third which set the scene for the fourth when Pacheco dumped Cullen to the floor and despite Cullen beating the count, his corner signaled an end for their man.
Pacheco looks to be a very promising prospect in a division that is in need of an exciting young potential star.
In Paris, former Olympic heavyweight gold medalist Tony Yoka suffered his second disappointing defeat in a row, this one a listless split decision loss to former title challenger turned aging journeyman Carlos Takam.
Yoka suffered a cut over his left eye and spent most of the fight on the outside, throwing out a soft jab, and fought very tentatively against Takam, who made the fight by moving forward but never seemed to seriously hurt Yoka, who retreated anyway.
The forty-year-old Takam had slipped to journeyman status in recent fights and his win will likely earn him a few extra paydays against fringe contenders and maybe a better fight against a contender, should one need a stay active fight.
Takam called out Martin Bakole after the fight, which makes a little sense I suppose since it was Bakole that handed Yoka his first loss in the fight before this one.
As for Yoka, this should end any hope of eventual contention as he has adopted a safety-first style to avoid being hit, without the boring effectiveness that can be positive in winning fights.
Instead, Yoka's just plain boring and his future seems very bleak at this time.
I scored Takam a winner at 98-92, which was larger than the official scores of 96-94 for Takam x2 and a terrible card of 96-94 for Yoka.
Boxing Challenge
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