Top Rank and ESPN+ appeared to have two excellent rematches for championships after both original fights were good action fights. However, the best-laid plans can go up in smoke, and both fights were disappointing in different ways.
In the Phoenix main event, Emanuel Navarrete repeated his victory over Oscar Valdez in a far more dominant manner as Navarrete dropped Valdez three times (rounds one, four, and six) and won via knockout after a body shor finished Valdez to retain his WBO junior lightweight crown.
Navarette won by a clear but entertaining unanimous decision in their first fight over Valdez but had struggled to a draw against Robson Conceicao and a loss to Denis Berinchyk in an attempt to win the vacant WBO lightweight title and didn't seem to be putting the time in to prepare properly.
Navarrete was prepared for Valdez and stormed from the gate and never allowed Valdez to get started and won every round on my card.
Navarrete is rumored to perhaps face WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster in a unification match next year while Valdez might need a confidence builder or two after taking a shellacking from Navarrete.
In the co-feature, Robiesy Ramirez appeared to be building a lead against Rafael Espinoza in their rematch for the WBO featherweight title that Espinoza took from Ramirez by a thrilling majority decision last December.
However, seconds into round six, Ramirez ended the fight with a "No Mas" to allow Espinoza to retain the title,
Throughout the fight, Joe Tessitore and Tim Bradley stated that the Ramirez team had told the referee to watch for elbows from Espinoza, which they claimed was a major factor in the first fight, and sure enough, that's exactly what Ramirez complained about in the post-fight interview and used as his reason for quitting-double vision caused by elbows that the referee did nothing to stop.
Ramirez is reported to have suffered a broken orbital bone around his right eye, which lends some credibility to his surrender.
I gave Ramirez the first four rounds and while I gave the fifth to Espinoza, it was a close round.
The judges saw it closer with two judges scoring Ramirez up by one point and the other with an incredulous card of a three-point lead for Espinoza, which I don't see in any case.
On the undercard, welterweight contender Giovani Santillan rebounded from his first loss to Brian Norman, when veteran Frederick Lawson surrendered after one round, and unbeaten junior welterweight Lindolfo Delgado knocked out Jackson Marinez in five rounds.
Richardson Hitchins won the IBF junior welterweight title in San Juan Puerto Rico via a split decision over Australia's Liam Paro.
Paro started quickly but Hitchens dominated the second half of the fight and I thought won easily at 116-112.
Two judges agreed with me at 116-112 for Hitchins with a way out of bounds score for Paro at 117-111.
Hitchins called for WBO champion Teofimo Lopez after the fight, which I find highly unlikely with Hitchins's boxing style known for bothering Lopez, differing promoters, and Hitchins not bringing a large paycheck to the table.
Unbeaten junior lightweight Henty LeBron earned his biggest career win with a unanimous decision win over former world title challenger Christopher Diaz.
I thought the fight was close for LeBron at 96-94 which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring for LeBron 97-93.
LeBron scored well with counters against Diaz, who marched forward the entire fight and deserves future fights against young prospects after a strong performance.
A fun and entertaining heavyweight match between two veterans over forty for a minor title may not have been at the world-class level but it was worth watching with two former world title challengers hooked up in Sofia Bulgaria.
In the end, it was the hometown fighter, Kubrat Pulev boxing a bit smoother with the jab and Pulev's more active offense that earned him the WBA minor title by unanimous decision over Mahmoud Charr.
Pulev's scores were 117-11 times two and 116-112 with my score at 117-111 for Pulev.
The question for me will be this, will Pulev eventually decide to keep himself as the eventual WBA mandatory challenger for a title attempt? Or at 43, will he use the "title" to bring mid-level heavyweights to Bulgaria and earn Pulev larger paydays than he could dream of making anywhere else?
Boxing Challenge
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