In the co-feature, Isaac "Pit Bull Cruz" lost his WBA junior welterweight title and a possible rematch against Gervonta Davis in a split decision defeat to Jose Valenzuela.
Cruz didn't fight badly but he seemed a step behind Valenzuela throughout the fight and never grabbed any type of rhythm that would wear down the challenger.
I scored Valenzuela the winner at 116-112, the same as the two judges with the dissenting card for Cruz at 115-113.
With both fighters aligned with PBC and this fight being an optional defense for Cruz, I'd think that a rematch is possible soon.
The two fights in the heavyweight division featured a former heavyweight champion, a former top contender, and the top American prospect, and yet none of those became the star of the evening.
That honor belonged to Martin Bakole, whom I described as a live dog in my preview of his fight against Jared Anderson and then punished the touted American prospect for five rounds, dropping him three times on his way to the knockout triumph.
Bakole forced Anderson into retreat from the beginning and while Anderson fought back gamely when he could have packed it in, Bakole's domination was complete.
Bakole would make some interesting fights against other contenders (Zhilei Zhang, perhaps?) and made a name for himself with his upset win while Anderson, who has made no secret of not being in love with boxing and has had legal issues, answered questions about his heart and desire but created others about his ability to fend off bigger and aggressive fighters.
In the other heavyweight bout, former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz and former contender/PED user Jarrell Miller slugged it out to a majority decision draw in a "Battle of The Big Boys" that brought to mind the Saturday Night Main Event from the 1980s between King Kong Bundy and Uncle Elmer.
Miller dropped thirty pounds from his loss to Daniel DuBois but still weighed over three hundred pounds against Ruiz, who hadn't fought for almost two years and fought at two hundred seventy-four pounds, yet it was Miller who finished the fight stronger in the second half of the fight.
I scored Miller the winner 115-113 with one judge giving the edge to Miller 116-112 and the other two scored the fight even at 114-114.
While the fight was somewhat entertaining, it was also sloppy enough that neither fighter distinguished themselves enough for a bigger fight soon, so it makes sense to hook these two up for a rematch.
David Morrell moved up from super middleweight to light heavyweight for a minor title but the vaunted "boogeyman" didn't look especially strong in winning a unanimous decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic.
Kalajdzic fought surprisingly well and deserved better on the cards, which I thought were unfair to Kalajdzic with Morrell winning by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 times two.
I scored Morrell the narrow victor 115-113 and Morrell continued the strange circle of call-outs as Morrell constantly requests to face David Benavidez while Benavidez asks for Canelo Alvarez and uses similar excuses to not face Morrell as Alvarez uses to avoid Benavidez.
In the opener, former Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz was struggling in his fight with veteran Antonio Moran before stopping him in the seventh round.
Moran appeared to have hurt Cruz in round five and the fight was even on my card at 57-57 entering the seventh round.
Cruz didn't dazzle anyone in victory but deserved credit for ending the fight and avoiding what could have been a close decision.
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