Friday, April 7, 2023

Boxing Challenge

     It's a huge boxing weekend with several bouts in the challenge across the various networks.

ESPN leads with the talented two-time champion Shakur Stevenson in a WBC lightweight eliminator against Japan's Shuichiro Yoshino in Stevenson's hometown of Newark.

No one wants a piece of Stevenson in various eliminators, so it falls to Yoshino, who is undefeated with wins over former contenders Masayoshi Nakatani and Masayoshi Ito but seems badly overmatched in this fight.

The co-features will showcase Top Rank's two top prospects, heavyweight Jared Anderson and lightweight Keyshawn Davis.

Anderson faces undefeated George Arias, while Davis squares off with former junior welterweight title challenger Anthony Yigit.

Arias has beaten undefeated opponents in his last two fights but neither is close to the caliber of Anderson.

 Yigit has lost both of his fights against world-class opposition by knockout in losses to Ivan Baranchyk and Rolando Romero.

ESPN+ will have a special card from Tokyo with three matches of interest.

Kenshiro Teraji will defend his WBA and WBC junior flyweight titles against late replacement Anthony Olascuaga in the main event.

Teraji was supposed to meet WBO champion Jonathan Gonzalez in a title unification fight but Gonzalez dropped out due to illness.

In a matchup for the vacant WBA bantamweight title, Takuma Inoue will attempt to gain one of the four titles that his brother Naoya vacated against rugged veteran Liborio Solis.

Solis, the former WBA junior bantamweight champion, will be making his fourth attempt at winning a  title at 118 pounds while Inoue lost his only fight in his challenge of then-WBC champion Nordine Oubaali.

Another title eliminator at featherweight of the IBF style pits former junior featherweight and featherweight champion, Kiko Martinez against Reiya Abe.

Martinez looked to be washed up before his 2021 upset win to take the IBF title from Kid Galahad and lost the title in his next fight by KO to Josh Warrington before returning with a KO of British contender Jordan Gill.
Abe seems to be the underdog in this fight but will have the hometown crowd behind him.

DAZN and Matchroom have a strong three fights from San Antonio with the main event featuring undefeated Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez in an attempt to win the vacant WBO flyweight title against heavy underdog Cristian Gonzalez.

Rodriguez had a huge 2022 with wins over Carlos Cuadras and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai to win and defend the WBC junior bantamweight title but decided to vacate that title to return to the flyweight division.

This appears to be a lesser fight for Rodriguez as he tunes up for future unification matches against fellow Matchroom boxer WBC champion Julio Cesar Martinez and recent Matchroom signee and IBF champion Sunny Edwards.

Murodjon Akhmadaliev puts his WBA and IBF junior featherweight belts on the line against mandatory challenger Marlon Taples.

The talented but oft-inactive Akhmadaliev knocked out Ronny Rios last June and looks to move on to a potential four-title unification against the winner of the WBC and WBO title battle this summer between Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue.

Tapales briefly held the WBO bantamweight title before losing the title on the scales before his first title defense and was knocked out in eleven in an attempt at the vacant IBF junior featherweight title against Ryosuke Iwasa in 2019.

A WBA featherweight eliminator looks very interesting with unbeaten Raymond Ford and former WBO junior featherweight boss Jessie Magdaleno.

Magdaleno looked like a coming star when he won the title via decision over Nonito Donaire in 2016 but defended once before an upset loss to Isaac Dogboe.

Magdaleno has fought only four times in the five years since the Dogboe loss and despite winning all four bouts, enters this one with several questions to answer.

Ford has gotten the benefit of the doubt twice, drawing with Aaron Perez and a split decision over Edward Vasquez but looked sharp in his last fight as he stopped difficult veteran Sakaria Lukas in eight rounds.

Showtime/PBC are in Carson, California with three fights for the challenge and the main event will see Sebastian Fundora defend his minor junior middleweight title against Brian Mendoza.

Fundora, the top WBC contender to the unified champion Jermell Charlo, looked spectacular in his 2022 win over Erickson Lubin but not as exciting in his last win over Carlos Ocampo.

Mendoza notched his top career win in his last fight when he knocked out former WBA and IBF champion Jeison Rosario in the fifth round but in his other bout against a top opponent was soundly decisioned by hot prospect Jesus Ramos.

Junior welterweight prospect Brandun Lee has received plenty of attention for his knockouts early in his career but seemed to have leveled a bit in decision wins over Zach Ochoa and Will Madera before a KO win in his last fight over Diego Luque in January.

Lee faces veteran Pedro Campa, who is best known for his seventh-round knockout loss to Teofimo Lopez last year.

It's an undercard fight that rounds out the challenge as two welterweights battle for relevancy as former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Devon Alexander attempts to turn back the clock against Gabriel Maestre.

Alexander has lost his last three fights but only one of those since 2019 when he dropped a unanimous decision to Luke Santamaria.
Should Alexander lose this one, it's time to step away.

Maestre is the former Argentine Olympian that won a controversial decision in 2021 over Mykal Fox for a minor title that was so awful and howled over that started the WBA down the road to abolishing their title silliness.

Maestre has fought just once since, a draw in Montreal vs Taras Shelestyuk.

Boxing Challenge

Lightweights. 12 Rds 
Shakur Stevenson vs Shuichiro Yoshino
Ramon Malpica: Stevenson KO 9
TRS: Stevenson KO 8
Vince Samano: Stevenson KO 7

Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Jared Anderson vs George Arias
R.L: Anderson KO 3
TRS: Anderson KO 2
V.S: Anderson KO 6

Lightweights.10 Rds
Keyshawn Davis vs Anthony Yigit
R.L: Davis KO 6
TRS: Davis KO 4
V.S: Davis Unanimous Decision

WBA & WBC Light Flyweight Titles. 12 Rds
Kenshiro Teraji vs Anthony Olascauga
R.L: Teraji Unanimous Decision
TRS: Teraji KO 8
V.S: Teraji KO 6

Vacant WBA Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds
Takuma Inoue vs Liborio Solis
All: Inoue Unanimous Decision

Featherweights. 12 Rds
Kiko Martinez vs Reiya Abe
R.L: Abe Unanimous Decision
TRS: Martinez Split Decision
V.S: Abe KO 4

Vacant WBO Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez vs Cristian Gonzalez
R.L: Rodriguez KO 7
TRS: Rodriguez KO 11
V.S: Rodriguez KO 8

WBA and IBF Junior Featherweight Titles. 12 Rds
Murodjon Akhmadaliev vs Marlon Tapales
R.L: Akhmadaliev Unanimous Decision
TRS and V.S: Akhmadaliev KO 9

Featherweights 12 Rds
Raymond Ford vs Jesse Magadaleno
All: Ford Unanimous Decision

Junior Middleweights 12 Rds
Sebastian Fundora vs Brian Mendoza
R.L: Fundora KO 10
TRS: Fundora KO 11
V.S: Fundora KO 7

Junior Welterweights 10 Rds
Brandun Lee vs Pedro Campa
R.L: Lee Unanimous Decision
TRS: Lee Majority Decision
V.S: Lee KO 7

Welterweights 10 Rds
Devon Alexander vs Gabriel Maestre
All: Maestre Unanimous Decision

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