Saturday, May 4, 2024

Boxing Challenge

      The boxing Saturday takes place in Las Vegas as Canelo Alvarez defends his undisputed super middleweight title against hard-punching Jaime Munguia in a bout filled with pre-fight venom from Alvarez not towards Munguia but towards Munguia's current and Alvarez's former promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

Alvarez decisioned then-undisputed junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo in a fight more noted by the timid outing by Charlo than anything Canelo did offensively.

Munguia stopped John Ryder in nine rounds in January, something Alvarez couldn't do in an easy decision win last year over Ryder.

The taller Munguia is willing to trade with Canelo and he may build a lead on the scorecards to the middle rounds but I think Canelo will catch Munguia and score a stoppage in the final third of the fight.

And then, it'll be interesting to see how Canelo and Oscar get along at the press conference!

The undercard will see two minor welterweight titles at stake and while the titles are minor, victories will eventually see the winner promoted to the full title when Terence Crawford officially vacates those titles.

In one bout, Mario Barrios "defends" against Fabian Maidana, the younger brother of the more accomplished Marcos Maidana.

Barrios, who has used his PBC connections to somehow be a welterweight title champion, despite being knocked out by lightweight Gervonta Davis and owning the proud achievement of being the only fighter in this decade to lose to Keith Thurman, did notch his biggest win last September when he defeated former welterweight champion Yordenis Ugas.

The undefeated Maidana is also untested with only one really recognizable name on his record, Andrei Klimov, whom Maidana stopped in seven rounds.

If Maidana has some of the talents of his older brother, this could be interesting.

The other minor title will pit Eivantis Stanionis against Gabriel Maestre.

Stanionis won his 'title' in a great fight via split decision over Radzhab Butaev in April 2002 but hasn't fought since, mainly because three times his scheduled defense against Vergil Ortiz was canceled due to physical issues, twice by Ortiz, once by Stanionis.

Maestre is a two-time former Olympian, who was best known for his "win" over Mykal Fox that was so awful that American boxing commissions threatened the WBA with withdrawing their approval of their sanctioning body.

Since then Maestre stopped shot former champion Devon Alexander after the third round and in his biggest win knocked out highly touted Travon Marshall in front of Marshall's home crowd in two rounds last August.

Rumor has it that should Crawford relinquish his championships PBC could pair the winners for an instant unified champion in the division.

Brandon Figueroa defends his minor featherweight title against Jessie Magdaleno in a fight that should be interesting with a pair of styles that should make the fight exciting.

Both fighters are former junior featherweight champions but the younger Figueroa is in better form with his win over Mark Magsayo in his last fight and his only loss a debatable decision loss to Stephen Fulton.

Magdaleno lost his last fight by decision to now-WBA champion Raymond Ford and Ford knocked down Magdaleno twice in that loss.

The other challenge fight comes from Japan as Emmanuel Rodriguez defends his IBF bantamweight title against Ryosuke Nishida.

Rodriguez will be making his first defense after winning the vacant title last August over Melvin Lopez.

The 9-0 Nishida has been moved quickly to a title shot and holds a win over former champion Daigo Higa on his resume'.

Boxing Challenge

World Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Canelo Alvarez vs Jaime Munguia
Ramon Malpica; Alvarez KO 9
TRS: Alvarez KO 8
Vince Samano: Munguia KO 11

Welterweights.12 Rds
Eimantas Stanionis vs Gabriel Maestre
R.L and TRS: Stanionis Unanimous Decision
V.S: Maestre KO 9

Welterweights. 12 Rds
Mario Barrios vs Fabian Maidana
R.L: Barrios Unanimous Decision
TRS and V.S: Maidana Unanimous Decision

Featherweights. 12 Rds
Brandon Figueroa vs Jessie Magdaleno
R.L: Figueroa KO 7
TRS: Figueroa KO 11
V.S: Figueroa Unanimous Decision

IBF Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds
Emmanuel Rodriguez vs Ryosuke Nishida
R.L and V.S: Nishida Unanimous Decision
TRS: Rodriguez Unanimous Decision 

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