Fourth Quarter fade costs Ohio State in Texas loss

    Ohio State dominated their visit to Austin for three quarters, but allowed touchdowns on the final three drives, allowing Texas to slip by with a 24-23 win.

Julian Sayin threw for 278 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Jeremiah Smith caught eight passes for 164 yards and a touchdown to pace the skill players.

Ohio State drops to 1-1 and will host Kent State next Saturday.

Olentangy Offerings.

1) I know Texas scored on three long drives in the fourth quarter, but I have a hard time blaming the defense, which was simply gassed out on the final drive.

The defense does appear to be down a bit from last season, but that's natural considering the talent on that team.

I'm not concerned.

2) Texas did convert two key fourth downs that, if the Buckeyes had been able to stop one, would have been the difference in the game.

3) Jeremiah Smith had a huge game, but most of his damage came in the first half.

I wouldn't say I would be disappointed in his game at all, but a better second half would have helped the cause.

4) I think Ryan Day erred by allowing Texas to roll so much time off the clock before scoring their game-winning touchdown,

Ohio State only needed a field goal to win, and those seconds would have helped in the final desperation drive.

5) Julian Sayin was okay, not great, and his first-half pass was too high for a wide-open Devin McCuin and cost the Buckeyes a certain touchdown.

6) Devin McCuin was dynamic against Ball State. Still, the UTSA transfer returned to earth against Texas, missing his connection on the above pass from Julian Sayin, and finishing with only one catch for five yards.

Ohio State will need someone to step up as the second receiver to relieve some pressure on Jeremiah Smith.

7) I'm aware of Connor Hawkins ' late-game miss from 45 yards that would have clinched the game, but watching the replay, it looked like the holder didn't have a smooth handling of the snap.

Hawkins hit his other three tries, including one from 48 yards, and I think Ohio State has a top notch kicker.

8) The defeat was the first loss in Ohio State history when leading by seventeen points or more at halftime and lost for the first time in 366 games when entering the fourth quarter with a lead of twenty or more- yuck.

9)  Of all the brickbats that could be thrown at Ryan Day for the loss- conservative second-half playcalling, poor time management late in the game, etc .- one stands out above all.

Fourth and two from the Texas 13 and ahead 10-0, Day decided to go for it rather than take a chip shot for three points.

Day then called a run up the middle by Ja'Kobi Jackson for one yard and turned the ball over on downs.

Day has had a tendency to go for it in such situations and against better teams, especially on the road; taking every point might be a better idea.

10) The Buckeyes fell back in their long-standing trap of rotating their defensive linemen so much that when the game is on the line, their best players are on the sidelines.

Larry Johnson has always been a believer in that, and while I see the point (especially on a hot night in Texas) in keeping your freshest players in the lineup, I don't believe it should come at the cost of your best.

Boxing Challenge

 Boxing Challenge

WBC Welterweight Title, 12 Rds

Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn

Ramon Malpica: Garcia KO 8

TRS: Garcia KO 4

Vince Samano:

Cruiserweights, 12 Rds

Jai Opietaia vs Noel Mikaelian

R.L: Opietaia KO 6

TRS: Opietaia Unanimous Decision

V.S:

Lightweights 10 Rds

Mark Magsayo vs Andres Cortes

R,L and TRS: Magsayo Unanimous Decision

V.S:

Welterweights 10 Rds

Jose Ramirez vs Alexia Rocha

R.L: Ramirez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Rocha Unanimous Decision

V.S:   

PPM

  The NFL season begins and the Ohio State Buckeyees travel to Texas to meet the Longhorns.

Last Week: 9-2

College

Ohio State over Texas 23-21

Texas Tech over Oregon State 41-13

Boise State over Memphis 42-37

N.C. State over Richmond 49-10

UTSA over Texas State 31-21

Wyoming over Northern Colorado 43-13

Nebraska over Bowling Green 37-16

Marshall over Middle Tennessee 27-17

Clemson over Georgia Southern 34-24

Utah over Arkansas 40-31

Games of the Week

Iowa over Iowa State 28-14

Virginia Tech over Old Dominion 45-10

Pro

Jaguars over Browns 27-10

Lions over Saints 31-27

Games of the Week

Bills over Colts 24-17

Chiefs over Broncos 28-25

Boxing Challenge: Knyba upsets Ruiz

         In Newark, New Jersey, former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz's comeback stumbled from the start as Damian Knyba won a much closer-than-it-should-have-been unanimous decision.

The 6'7 Knyba danced on his toes for most of the fight and pounded Ruiz consistently with his jab.

Knyba dropped Ruiz in the seventh, and the fight could have arguably been stopped, but Ruiz deserves credit for surviving and even winning a few rounds later in the fight.

The scores were bad, with Knyba winning 117-110 (my score was 116-111) and by two scores of 114-113, which means that without the seventh-round knockdown, the fight would have been scored a majority draw and would have been a horrible result.

Knyba will likely move on to an eliminator of some sort, while Ruiz looks like a fighter far past his prime and might want to consider retirement.

Middleweight Vito Mielnicki scored the biggest win of his career with a dominant unanimous decision over former title challenger Austin "Ammo" Williams in the co-feature, scoring a knockdown and winning by scores of 98-91 on all three scorecards.

In Ireland, the IBF's top welterweight contender Paddy Donovan stopped countryman Tyrone McKenna on cuts in the fifth round.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 101 pts (2)

Ramon Malpica; 87 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (0)

Ohio State rolls past Ball State

    Unlike that school up North that won over Western Michigan in the biggest injustice since the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal game in basketball, Ohio State dispatched its MAC opponent with ease as the Buckeyes scored two touchdowns in each quarter in a 56-3 thrashing of Ball State. 

Julian Sayin threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns, with Jeremiah Smith catching eight passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

Ohio State will travel to Texas next Saturday for a rematch of last season's Buckeye win.

Honestly, I fell asleep during the game, so I'm not offering a recap.

I do plan on watching an edited replay, and if time permits, I may write about the reserve quarterbacks who each played and threw a touchdown in the win: Luke Fahey and Tavian St.Clair

PPM

       It's a new year of football and a new year of the Pigskin Picking Machine, or as we call it- the PPM.

First, with the shakeup in Western football, with schools leaving the Mountain West to join the returning Pac-12, we have some changes in the schools in the PPM.

The PPM has always featured one team from each conference in college football and two games of the week. Perennial favorite Boise State has moved to the Pac-12 from the Mountain West, where the Broncos will replace Oregon State.

This leaves a gap as the Mountain West will need a team; the team selected will be the Wyoming Cowboys.

We also change the "face of the PPM" every season, and this year, I didn't have a standout choice.

So, I selected one person from Entertainment, News, Sports, and Wrestling (not listing the runners-up, as they could be future choices) and asked Fred Landucci to make the call.

Fred selected CNN host and rabid Alabama football fan, Kaitlan Collins, and Collins will be this season's Face of the PPM.

Thanks for the help, Fred!

College Football

Ohio State over Ball State 56-3 

Texas Tech over Abilene Christian 72-10

Arkansas over North Alabama 39-14

Oregon over Boise State 41-35

Wyoming over Colorado State 24-21

UTSA over UT-Rio Grande 45-21

Georgia Southern over Charleston Southern 37-24

Bowling Green over Tarleton State 23-19

Middle Tennessee State over Murray State 17-12

Games of the Week

LSU over Clemson 35-20

Ole Miss over Louisville 39-34

Boxing Challenge

  The boxing challenge is rather light but interesting, with the comeback of former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz.

Ruiz has been inactive since his August 2024 draw with Jarrell Miller, but he's matched well with Damian Knyba.

The 6'7 Knyba has only one loss, but it was against his best opponent earlier this year, losing in three rounds to WBC champion Agit Kabayel, before Kabayel was named champion following Oleksandr Usyk's vacating all of his titles/

Ruiz needs a win first of all, but an impressive win could go a long way in earning Ruiz a better opponent in his next fight.

The co-feature is interesting with a crossroads middleweight match between popular but untested Vito Mielnicki and former world title challenger Austin Williams.

Williams lost both his bouts against world-class opposition (Hamzah Sheeraz and Carlos Adames) but Mielnicki has fought no one of that status.

On the Katie Taylor undercard, top welterweight contender Paddy Donovan meets countyman Tyrone McKenna.

Donovan is the mandatory challenger for IBF champion Liam Paro.

Boxing Challenge

Heavyweights 12 Rds 

Andy Ruiz vs Damian Knyba

Ramon Malpica: Ruiz KO 9

TRS: Ruiz KO 6

Vince Samano:

Middleweights 10 Rds

Vito Mielnicki vs Austin Williams

R.L: Mielnicki Unanimous Decision

TRS: Williams Unanimous Decision

V.S:

Welterweights 10 Rds

Paddy Donovan vs Tyrone McKenna

R.L: Donovan Unanimous Decision

TRS: Donovan KO 8

V.S:

Devils trade for Luke Evangelista

     The New Jersey Devils continue building toward a 2026-27 postseason return, trading two high future draft picks to the Nashville Predators for right winger Luke Evangelista. 

New Jersey will send Nashville a first-round pick that originally starts with Colorado, which could be in 2027, 28, or even 29 depending on the conditions at the time, and the Devils' second-round draft choice in 2028 for Evangelista. 

The twenty-four-year-old Evangelista is under contract for this season at three million and will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Last season, Evangelista produced career highs in points (56) and assists (44) for the Predators while scoring twelve goals for Nashville.

Evangelista is noted for passing more than his shot, and while he's defensively responsible, he's not the most physical forward and can be pushed off the puck.

The acquisition of Evangelista bulks up the forwards, as he'll fit well on either of the Devils' first two lines, but it does mean that the team isn't likely to be complete with their offseason moves, as the Devils have a surplus and a decision to move a forward might pay dividends with extra cap room when the deadline arrives.

 

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

       Another edition of tributes for some persons of note who have recently left us.

Goodbye to Tommy John at the age of 83.

Known more for the elbow surgery named after him, Tommy John won 288 games in a career that lasted from 1963 to 1989.

John was a slightly above .500 pitcher in seven years with the Chicago White Sox before a 1972 trade to the Dodgers, where he won thirty games in two and a half seasons before the elbow injury that usually ended careers.

John was a better pitcher after the surgery, as he won twenty or more games three times and 164 games post-operation.

Assist to Denise Nicarry with the notification.

Goodbye to John Niland at the age of 82.

The stalwart guard of the late sixties and early seventies Dallas Cowboys, Niland was named All-Pro three times and made six Pro Bowls from 1966-74 before playing one season with the Philadelphia Eagles, after which a knee injury ended his career.

Side note: John Niland is the first 7-11 Slurpee cup that I ever remember receiving as part of the NFL's promotional agreement with 7-11.

Goodbye to O.J. Brigance at the age of 56.

Brigance has the honor of being the only player to achieve a feat that will almost certainly never be repeated.

Brigance is the only player ever to win a Grey Cup and an NFL title and do it in the same city, winning the Grey Cup with the Baltimore Stallions in 1995 and a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens in 2001.

In the CFL, Brigance was a feared edge rusher, finishing with twenty sacks for the B.C. Lions in 1993.

As an NFL player, Brigance was mainly used on special teams for four different teams: the Dolphins, Ravens, Rams, and Patriots.

Goodbye to Zolani Tete at the age of 38.

The South African held the IBF Junior Bantamweight title and the WBO Bantamweight championship in a career that spanned 2006-2022.

Tete holds the record for the fastest knockout in a world championship fight when his right hook knocked Siboniso Gonya out in eleven seconds in 2017.

Goodbye to Larry Christenson at the age of 72.

Christenson was the third overall pick of the 1972 MLB draft and, a year later at 19, threw a complete game in his MLB debut for the Phillies.

Christenson spent his entire eleven-year career with the Phillies, winning eighty-three games, with nineteen of those victories in 1977, and won a World Series with the 1980 Phillies.

Goodbye to Tony Mundine at the age of 75.

A middleweight contender in the 1970s, Mundine might be remembered by most as the father of Anthony Mundine, who once held the WBA super middleweight title.

The elder Mundine defeated former welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith and once challenged the great Carlos Monzón for the middleweight title in 1974, losing by seventh-round knockout in Argentina.

Boxing Challenge:Hrgovic survives Itauma

    Saturday was supposed to be the coronation for heavyweight Moses Itauma.

Itauma had been compared to Mike Tyson for his electrifying power, and Filip Hrgovic was the foil in Itauma's first title fight, the vacant IBF championship.

And Itauma showed his power, winning all eight rounds and showing Hrgovic that the reviews of the twenty-one-year-old's offense were correct.

However, those rounds came at a price- sapping the stamina of Itauma and changing the attack to wild, looping punches that won rounds but didn't have the impact of earlier blows.

Itauma scored a knockdown in round two with a glancing hook, but Itauma landed many other power punches that Hrgovic was able to essentially shrug off.

In round nine, Itauma was still throwing wild punches, but Hrgovic battered Itauma around, avoiding his desperate counters, and just as the referee moved in to stop the fight, the towel flew in from Itauma's corner.

For Hrgovic, mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez is next, as Sanchez took a large cash-out to allow Itauma and Hrgovic to meet for the IBF title under the condition that he would be next to face the winner.

Itauma suffered a leg injury during the fight, and he'll have to take time to recover, but he's young enough and talented enough to bounce back and become a force in the division.

Lightweight contender Sam Noakes won an easy unanimous decision over former WBO champion Denis Berinchyk in the co-feature.

And in California, super middleweight contender Lester Martinez stopped Luca Planic in ten rounds.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:99 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 84 Pts (3)

Vince Samano; 60 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge

   Vacant IBF Heavyweight Title, 12 Rds

Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic

Ramon Malpica: Itauma KO 7

TRS: Itauma KO 3

Vince Samano:

Lightweights 10 Rds

Sam Noakes vs Denis Berinchyk

R.L and TRS: Noakes Unanimous Decision

V..S:

Super Middleweights 12 Rds\

Lester Martinez vs Luka Plantic

R.L: Martinez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Martinez KO 10

V.S: 

Cavaliers acquire Peyton Watson from Denver

     The Cleveland Cavaliers may have failed in their pursuit of LeBron James, but their backup plan may end up paying more dividends in the long run after acquiring Peyton Watson from the Denver Nuggets in a five team trade that added the previously reported deal with Charlotte which included Dennis Schoeder and Tre Mann.

Cleveland added Watson, and Cam Whitmore from Washington and traded Mann (acquired from Charlotte for Schoeder) and a 2027 second rounders (Clippers) to Washington, sent Max Strus to the Los Angeles Clippers, and their 2031 unprotected first round selection to Denver.

Watson was the final pick of the first round of the 2022 draft out of UCLA by Oklahoma City but has spent his four year career with the Denver Nuggets,

Last season was the breakout season for Watson, who averaged 14 points per game, shooting 49 percent and 41 percent from three-point range.

The rangy 6'8 forward provides both offensive and defensive upside and at 24 (at season's start), Watson is just entering his prime seasons.

If Watson can make another jump similar to his leap last season, he could eventually become an All-Star caliber player.

Watson is under contract for the next three seasons and should step into the startling lineup at the small forward position.

Cam Whitmore could be waived by the Cavaliers, but if he's not, he's an intriging addition.

Whitmore was the 20th pick overall by the Rockets in 2023 from Villanova and spent last season with Washington, averaging nine points and just under three rebounds in twenty-one games due to a shoulder injury.

Whitmore makes over five million per season and his salary on a team that has to stretch every penny at this stage seems to point to Whitmore not spending his season in Cleveland.

Losing Max Strus is a mixed bag for me.

Strus can be extremely effective when he has a hot streak and he's noted for being a plus in the locker room

However, his shot is streaky and I've never loved his defense although it was more due to his limited athletic ability than a lack of effort.

With Strus leaving and the previous departure of Dean Wade, the Cavaliers have removed the two players who frustrated me most from the roster.

Considering the Cavaliers have traded so many future first rounders, trading another one five years down the road does cause some concern but considering the team's all-in status, I can understand the team's decision to move a first rounder at this time.   

Boxing Challenge

  Due to a weekend trip, I wasn't able to click the predictions for last weekend's boxing challenge.

I haven't even watched any of the matches, so the points and results are below

WBA Welterweight title. 12 Rds 

Rolando Romero vs Teofimo Lopez

Predictions 

Ramon Malpica and TRS: Lopez Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: Romero KO 9

Result: Lopez Majority Decision

Middleweights 10 Rds

Yoenil Hernandez vs Francisco Veron

Predictions

R.L: Hernandez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Hernandez KO 6

V.S: Veron Unanimous Decision

Result: Hernandez Majority Decision

Junior Featherweights 12 Rds

Victor Santilan vs Gary Antonio Russell

R,L and TRS: Russell Unanimous Decision

V.S: Santillan Unanimous Decision

Result: Russell Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 94 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 81 Pts ( 5)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (0)

Cleaning out the Inbox

 Time to clean out the inbox with a few notes of interest.

My favorite soft drink is going to change its flavor.

7up has announced plans to change its Lemon-Lime flavor to "Lime-Lemon," with a stronger lime flavor.

Since 7up is my favorite drink, this distresses me, and we shall see if the new taste keeps it in the top position in the rankings.

The new version of 7up is expected to debut at any time.

The Athletic writes about the rebuilding of Sheffield Wednesday as one of the biggest clubs in English soccer, attempting to come back from insolvency.

Sheffield Wednesday was dropped from the Championship to League One for the new season after winning only two of forty-six games in a season that saw the team deducted points for their financial woes.

Sheffield Wednesday is now under new ownership in America's David Storch, who is throwing himself into a task that involves personnel and a decaying stadium, in an effort to avoid dropping further down the ladder to League Two at the end of the season.

A recent meteorite that smashed through the roof of a New Jersey home is reported to contain the building blocks of life.

ABC News reports the meteorite is a CM 1/2 Carbonaceous Chondrite, a rare and primitive meteorite, and is one of the most scientifically valuable meteorites ever recovered.

People Magazine writes of a home for sale in Kentucky that looks like a time capsule from the 1970s.

The condition of the home was described as pristine, with walls and floors covered with bright red shag carpet.

The three-bedroom home was on the market for only one week before selling for 360,000 dollars.

Times of India writes that the Wild Boar problem started in the southern United States, and it traces back to 1912, when a handful of scared boars were imported for a private hunting ranch in North Carolina.

The boars jumped the fence and escaped into the wild, eventually interbreeding with domesticated hogs to develop a tough, rugged hog that became the boar we know today, an ecological destroyer.

Cleaning out the Inbox; Passings

    It's time to recognize some stars who have recently left us and offer a tribute to their careers.

Goodbye to Dory Funk Jr at the age of 85.

One half of the only brothers to hold the NWA title with brother Terry, Dory Jr's reign ran from 1969 (winning from Gene Kiniski) to 1973 (losing to Harley Race) and was the second longest to only Lou Thesz.

Dory Jr, held many regional titles and was the key American in dealing with All Japan Pro Wrestling after losing the championship.

Funk's matches with Jack Brisco in the 1970s are considered classics, with the two battling through Funk's title reign and later Brisco's championship period as the challenger.

Funk's solid and deliberate style, with more sports-based interviews, was very much of his time, and as time passed, it was brother Terry, whose wild brawling style and crazed interviews adapted better to the changes in pro wrestling.

Goodbye to Don Nelson at the age of 86.

A standout as a player and as a coach, Nelson won five championships with the Boston Celtics, and although he never won a championship as a coach, his 1,335 wins rank second all time behind Gregg Popovich.

Nelson's number 19 is retired by the Celtics, and his final season saw the Celtics win the NBA title in six games over the Phoenix Suns.

As a coach, Nelson coached for thirty-one years with the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks, and Mavericks and is one of only two coaches to win 250 games with three franchises.

Goodbye to Cozell McQueen at the age of 64.

McQueen's NBA career was brief, consisting of three games with the 1986-87 Detroit Pistons, but McQueen will forever be remembered as the center for the 1983 National Champion N.C. State Wolfpack, who guarded such collegiate standouts as Virginia's Ralph Sampson and Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon.

It is McQueen, who is shown sitting above the rim as the Pack celebrated their miracle win over Houston in the 1983 title game.

Goodbye to Butch Huskey at the age of 54.

Huskey turned down a scholarship to Oklahoma as a tight end to sign with the New York Mets and hit 55 homers in parts of five seasons with the Mets, 24 of those in 1997.

Huskey would play for four teams in two seasons after leaving the Mets in 1999, and his big-league career was over after the 2000 season.

Goodbye to Billy Ray Smith Jr. at the age of 64.

The son of former Baltimore Colts defensive lineman Billy Ray Smith Sr,, Smith was the fifth overall pick from Arkansas by the San Diego Chargers in the classic 1983 NFL Draft.

Smith played his entire ten-year career with the Chargers and had eleven sacks for the Bolts in 1986, but he was never the impact player that you would expect from the fifth overall pick.

Goodbye to Magic Weisner at the age of 27.

Magic Weisner just missed winning the 2002 Preakness Stakes from far off the pace, finishing second with a strong late rally to finish second by half a length to Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem.

The Maryland-bred started the race at odds of 33-1 and likely would have been higher had the Preakness been anywhere other than Maryland.

Magic Weisner would finish fourth in the Belmont Stakes before a win in the Ohio Derby and another second to War Emblem in the Haskell Invitational, after which he contracted West Nile Virus, almost losing his life.

Cavaliers trade Dennis Schroder to Charlotte

   The Cleveland Cavaliers' off-season was all about trying to bring LeBron James back to Cleveland, but when James decided to take his talents to Philadelphia, Cleveland had very little to show for any changes to the roster.

Cleveland agreed to a deal with Mario Hezonja to bring him back to the league after a hiatus that began in the 2019-2020 season, but Hezonja averaged only 7 points and 3 rebounds over his 5 NBA seasons, so not a huge upgrade there.

The Cavaliers trade of veteran guard Dennis Schröder to Charlotte for guard Tre Mann isn't about Mann as much as getting a salary off the roster to possibly land one of the two wings who have been rumored to have interest from Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have been consistently mentioned as a major player in discussions to land Peyton Watson of the Denver Nuggets and/or Jonathan Kuminga of the Atlanta Hawks, and with Schröder in line to earn 14.5 million over each of the next two seasons, he was the most likely target to create cap space.

Schroder averaged eight points and four assists in thirty games with Cleveland after being acquired with Keon Ellis from Sacramento for DeAndre Hunter.

Schroder will be remembered best by Cleveland fans for his 19 points in game five of the playoffs against Toronto in leading the Cavaliers to a big win.

Charlotte will be the 12th team that Schroder has played for in his NBA career.

Tre Mann is a 6'4 guard who was selected 18th overall by Oklahoma City in the 2021 draft out of Florida.

The twenty-five-year-old Mann averaged 5.5 points and 1.6 assists per game in fifty-three games for the Hornets, averaging twelve minutes per game.

I'm not sure if Mann figures into the Cavaliers' plans for 2026-27, as he could be included in possible deals with the Nuggets or Hawks to help the numbers work.

Should Mann survive the off-season, he will battle Craig Porter for the backup point guard position.

Boxing Challenge: McKenna wins 160 pound gold

    Dublin, Ireland, hosted the only two fights in the boxing challenge last week, and both were dull and hard to get through. 

In the main event, Aaron McKenna won a unanimous decision over  Etinosa Olina to win the IBF middleweight title, which was stripped from Janibek Alimkhanuly for failing a drug test.

McKenna's win was dull, but Callum Walsh's unanimous decision over Tyler Denny was worse.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 90 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 76 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (0)

 

Boxing Challenge

  The middleweight division may be the weakest in boxing right now, and the division's status shows with two unbeaten and mostly untested fighters meeting for the IBF title, which was stripped from Janibek Alimkhnauly for a positive test for PED's.

The home crowd in Dublin, Ireland, will be biased towards their fighter, Aaron McKenna, who owns a solid win over former junior middleweight champion Liam Smith, but few other noteworthy wins, while his opponent, Etinosa Olina of Italy, lacks any interesting wins, and his win entering this fight was over a fighter with a 19-33 record.

In the co-feature, unbeaten middleweight Callum Walsh meets light-punching Tyler Denny, who has stopped only one opponent in his career.

Boxing Challenge

Vacant IBF Middleweight Title. 12 Rds 

Aaron McKenna vs Etinosa Olina

Ramon Malpica: Olina Unanimous Decision

TRS: McKenna Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: 

Middleweights. 10 Rds

Callum Walsh vs Tyler Denny 

R.l; Walsh Unanimous Decision

TRS: Walsh KO 4

V.S:

Boxing Challenge: Zepeda zaps Roach, Muratalla retains title.

     From the better late than never department, William Zepeda bounced back from his loss to Shakur Stevenson with a tremendous win over Lamont Roach to win the WBC lightweight title that was stripped from Stevenson.

I gave Roach the first two rounds, but only one round after that, as Zepeda's overwhelming barrage of punches was far too much for Roach to overcome.

My 118-110 was the same as one judge, with the other two scoring 117-111.

Raymond Muratalla won an easy if workmanlike decision over Robson Conceicao to retain his IBF version of the lightweight title.

After the win (119-109 on two cards and 118-110 on the third), Muratalla announced plans to move to the junior welterweight division.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 87 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 74 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge

     It's a lightweight title doubleheader on TNT in the boxing challenge.

The vacant WBC title, which was stripped from Shakur Stevenson, will be filled after William Zepeda meets Lamont Roach in the main event.

Zepeda hasn't fought since losing to Shakur Stevenson for this title last July, while Roach hasn't fought since his December draw with Issac Cruz.

I think the pressuring style of Zepeda and the boxer/puncher mentality of Roach make a good mix, and this should be a very close and intriguing fight.

The co-feature pairs IBF champion Raymond Muratalla against former WBC junior lightweight champion Robson Conceicao.

The unbeaten Muratalla earned his best victory in January with his decision win over former Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz, while Conceicao has won two lower-level fights in his native Brazil since dropping his title to O'Shaquie Foster.

The hope is perhaps the victors in the two fights can be matched next in a unification fight.

Boxing Challenge

Vacant WBC Lightweight Title, 12 rds 

William Zepeda vs Lamont Roach

Ramon Malpica and Vince Samano: Zepeda Unanimous Decision

TRS: Roach Split Decision

IBF Lightweight Title. 12 Rds

Raymond Muratalla vs Robson Conceicao

R.L and TRS:Muratalla Unanimous Decision

V.S: Conceicao Unanimous Decision