Saturday, July 6, 2024

Boxing Challenge

      The boxing weekend's biggest story is centered in Newark, New Jersey where WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson defends his title in the final bout of his contract with promoter Top Rank.

Stevenson is expected to cruise past Artem Harutyunan but can he be more exciting than he was in his last fight winning a dreadful fight over Edwin De Los Santos.

Hartyunyan lost a close decision to Frank Martin last July and hasn't fought since, so I don't see a path to victory for him.

The bigger question is this, how much anger comes out of Stevenson in the post-fight interview?

The much more intriguing fight is the co-feature as O'Shaquie Foster defends his WBC junior lightweight crown against Robson Conceicao.

Foster has defended his title twice with spectacular endings, stopping Rocky Hernandez in the final round of a fight he was trailing on the scorecards, and in his last fight, dropping Abraham Nova in the final round to win a split decision.

Conceicao may be the least lucky fighter in boxing as he receives his fourth chance at a world championship but each of his three earlier attempts come with interesting storylines.

Against Oscar Valdez, Conceicao lost a controversial decision and Valdez tested positive for PED use after the fight.

In his challenge of Shakur Stevenson, Stevenson vacated the title after missing weight, and in his most recent try, Conceicao drew with Emanuel Navarrete, so he can't bank on an eventual fifth title chance, should he fail in this fight.

This fight could go either way and the result would not surprise me.

The remaining challenge bout will pit lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis against veteran Miguel Madueno.

Davis earned his best win in his short career, stopping former champion Jose Pedraza in six rounds in February,

Madueno is a step back in competition for Davis but Madueno upset previously unbeaten Justin Pauldo by split decision earlier this year on a ProBox card.

Golden Boy and DAZN are in Ontario, California with the rarest of all boxers, a number one contender in the ratings of all four sanctioning bodies, lightweight Wiliam Zepeda facing Giovanni Cabrera.

The aggressive buzzsaw, Zepeda ripped through Britain's Maxi Hughes in four rounds in March and quickly returns to the ring against Cabrera, who suffered his only loss by split decision to current WBC junior welterweight champion Isaac Cruz,

However, Cabrera has only seven knockouts and I don't think he possesses the power to slow down the relentless attack of Zepeda.

The co-feature is an interesting ten-round flyweight battle between Ricardo Sandoval and former WBO light flyweight champion Angel Acosta.

Sandoval was headed towards a title shot before he was upset by David Jimenez by a narrow majority decision but has won four straight since that defeat.

Acosta lost a close unanimous decision last April to Angelino Cordova and has fought (and won) only once since.

This shapes up to be a good one with Sandoval getting the edge as he's closer to his prime than Acosta, who may be slipping a bit.

It's not often that a co-feature makes it into the boxing challenge and the main event doesn't but that's the case from Anaheim with veteran super middleweights Daniel Jacobs and Shane Mosley Jr facing off.

Jacobs, who held the IBF middleweight title, hasn't fought since February 2022 when he lost a split decision to John Ryder on the road in Great Britain while Mosley Jr. has fought four times in that period.

If Jacobs is close to normal, he's a clear level above Mosley Jr. 

However, that's far from a sure thing.

Sunday morning from Tokyo, the WBA and IBF junior bantamweight titles are at stake with Kazuto Ioka (WBA) battling Fernando Martinez (IBF) for more than only those championships at stake.

The winner could be in line for WBC king Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez in a fight that would unify three of the four titles in the division.

Ioka would be the bigger fight as he's a star in Japan and holds a victory over Rodriguez's brother Joshua Franco, so there would be a backstory for that fight.

Boxing Challenge

WBC Lightweight Title 12 Rds 
Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunan
Ramon Malpica; Stevenson Unanimous Decision
TRS: Stevenson KO 10
Vince Samano: 

WBC Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
O'Shaquie Foster vs Robson Conceicao
R.L: Foster Unanimous Decision
TRS: Conceciao Split Decision

Lightweights. 10 Rds
Keyshawn Davis vs Miguel Madueno
R.L: Davis KO 10
TRS: Davis KO 7
V.S:

Lightweights. 12 Rds
William Zepeda vs Giovanni Cabrera
R.L: Zepeda KO 9
TRS: Zepeda KO 8
V.S:

Flyweights. 10 Rds
Ricardo Sandoval vs Angel Acosta
R.L & TRS: Sandoval Unanimous Decision
V.S:

Super Middleweights.10 Rds
Daniel Jacobs vs Shane Mosley Jr.
R.L and TRS: Jacobs Unanimous Decision
V.S:

Unification WBA and IBF Junior Bantamweight Titles. 12 Rds
Kazuto Ioka vs Fernando Martinez
R.L and TRS: Ioka Unanimous Decision
V.S: 




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