Matchroom/DAZN's show from San Antonio featuring hometown hero Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez's attempt to drop a weight class and win his second world championship after vacating the WBC junior bantamweight title earlier this year.
Rodriguez was successful in winning the vacant WBO flyweight title but he was unable to stop a resilient Cristian Gonzalez and even worse suffered a broken jaw in the unanimous decision victory.
Gonzalez moved just well enough to frustrate Rodriguez and while Rodriguez never stopped chasing and landed plenty of punches, Rodriguez never hurt Gonzalez seriously.
I scored Rodriguez a 117-111 winner with the official scores reading 118-110,117-111 and 116-112.
The best fight of the evening was a stunning upset as double-digit underdog Marlon Tapales grabbed many of the early rounds and held off a late charge from Murodjon Akhmadaliev to win the WBA and IBF junior featherweight titles by a split decision.
Akhmadaliev started slowly and allowed Tapales to land his jab and looping right far too often in building a lead and it wasn't until the second half that Akhmadaliev began to step up his punch output.
When Akhmadaliev did, the fight was quite entertaining and Akhmadaliev generally got the better of the action but officially he waited too long with two judges giving Tapales a 115-113 edge for the upset.
Akhmadaliev won the other by a ridiculous 118-110 which was far too wide as I gave Akhmadaliev the win at 115-113.
As Tapales was a mandatory challenger, Akhmadaliev isn't owed a contractual rematch and may have to win an eliminator or two for an eventual try to regain his crown.
Featherweight Raymond Ford knocked down former WBO junior featherweight champion Jessie Magdaleno in the fourth and eleventh rounds and dominated the other rounds as well in winning an easy unanimous decision in a WBA eliminator.
Not much to say about this one other than Ford was the bigger, faster, and stronger fighter in winning the biggest fight of his career by scores of 119-107 x2 and 116-110, with my score agreeing at 119-107.
Magdaleno looks to be in a tough spot at being unable to make the weight at junior featherweight and is not strong enough to battle the best at 126 pounds.
Carson California was the site of the Showtime/PBC card for a strange evening of boxing led by an upset that changed the future of the junior middleweight division.
For six rounds, the 6'5 Sebastian Fundora was having a clear path to retaining his minor title and more importantly his spot at the top of the WBC ratings and an eventual shot at unified champion Jermell Charlo as he battered the face of Brian Mendoza in winning all six rounds on my card.
That would all change seconds into the seventh round as Mendoza countered an uppercut attempt from Fundora with an electric left hook that sent Fundora stumbling backward and as he tried to stay upright, Mendoza leaped into the space with a right and left that left Fundora on the floor for a stunning ten count.
The win gives Mendoza the minor title held by Fundora but more importantly, it will be Mendoza in a position to wait for the winner of Charlo's title defense against Tim Tszyu, assuming he could hold that spot until his turn arrives.
The upset was the second in a row for Mendoza, who knocked out former WBA and IBF champion Jeison Rosario in his previous bout, and while I'd rate him as a strong underdog against either Charlo or Tszyu, it could be that Mendoza is one of those stories that is finding lightning in a bottle at the perfect time in a career.
The co-feature saw an excellent action fight between junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee and veteran Pedro Campa, who slammed the other with punches for the ten rounds with Campa's face looking the worse for wear but Campa landing the heavier punches.
Lee emerged with an unpopular unanimous decision by scores of 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91, all of which seemed far wide for my tastes.
I scored the fight even at 95 as a draw, so my beef isn't with Lee's win, just some awful judging.
Some of the shine from Lee has disappeared in his last few fights and I'm not sure he is championship caliber in a division that is filled with top boxers but he does make action fights and as long as he keeps winning, he'll get a chance eventually.
On the undercard, Gabriel Maestre forced former two-division champion Devon Alexander to surrender after three one-sided rounds.
Maestre didn't prove a lot in the victory as Alexander clearly needs to step into retirement.
I didn't add the opener of the Showtime telecast to the challenge as undefeated featherweights Luis Nunez and Christian Olivo started the show but I wanted to add to the ridiculous judging of the evening as Nunez won a unanimous decision that he didn't deserve by scores of an incredible 100-90, 98-92, and 97-93.
I scored Olivo a 97-93 victor and feel awful for him as he was robbed of a win that he deserved.
If there is any justice, PBC will set up a rematch as the fight was entertaining- hopefully with new judges.
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