Boxing Challenge: Benavidez decisions Morrell, Fulton dethrones Figueroa

     On paper, PBC's Saturday night pay-per-view from Las Vegas was their best, from top to bottom, and it was a good evening of boxing.

Still, it felt like a mild disappointment despite providing some strong action and it started at the top of the card with David Benavidez winning a unanimous decision over David Morrell to make Benavidez the top contender to the winner of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch that will occur later this month.

Benavidez-Morrell was a good fight but far from the light-heavyweight Armageddon that many thought was possible as Benavidez added Morrell's minor title to the minor belt that Benavidez already owned.

Benavidez threw more, landed more, and simply outworked Morrell, although Morrell had his moments most notably his eleventh-round knockdown of an off-balance Benavidez.

Morrell lost that extra point at the end of the same round when he hit Benavidez after the bell and had a point deducted, which was clearly a foul.

Benavidez won on the scorecards of 118-108 and 115-111 twice, the latter agreeing with my card.

The co-feature was a story of redemption and disappointment as Stephen Fulton won the WBC featherweight title unanimously over Brandon Figueroa in a rematch of their terrific 2021 matchup, won by Fulton by a majority decision.

The redemption comes from Fulton's rebounding from a knockout loss to Naoya Inoue and a controversial decision win over Carlos Castro in his recent two fights.

The disappointment part is that the fight wasn't nearly as exciting as their first fight as Fulton boxed more and Figueroa didn't punch nearly as often which gave Fulton a more conclusive victory.

The scores for Fulton were 117-111 and 116-112 twice, the same as my score.

The fight of the night was expected to be the junior welterweight ten-rounder between Isaac Cruz and Angel Fierro and that lived up to expectations as the two slugged each other for ten brutal rounds.

An absolute battle with Cruz winning on the scorecards 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94, the latter same as my card.

Cruz keeps his viability after losing his WBC championship to Jose Valenzuela but Cruz's aggressive attacking style isn't hurting junior welterweights as badly as lightweights and Cruz should consider dropping back to 135 pounds if he can make the weight.

Fierro made himself some fans with his effort and I'm sure earned himself future paydays.

In the opener, middleweight Jesus Ramos knocked out former junior middleweight champion Jeison Rosario in the eighth round after winning all seven of the previous rounds, dropping Rosario in the seventh.

Rosario has never been known for a stern chin but Ramos's win was still impressive.

Saturday afternoon from London, Peacock was expected to stream promising junior welterweight Adam Azim's latest challenge against former IBF junior lightweight champion Sergey Lipinets but the card never appeared on the streaming service for whatever reason.

Azim was deducted two points for low blows in the fight but controlled Lipinets before stopping him in round nine.

I've only seen highlights at this time.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 13 Pts(5)

TRS: 13 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 6 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Murtazaliev drills Tszyu!

     Boxing found itself with another upset Saturday night as Bakhram Murtazaliev knocked Tim Tszyu down four times and pounded him so badly that Tszyu's corner was forced to move to the ring apron and literally wave the towel of surrender in the third round to retain his IBF junior middleweight title in Orlando Florida.

Tsyzu fought well in the first round and things seemed to be in place for Tsyzu for an entertaining victory before something happened in round two- Tszyu couldn't avoid Murtazaliev's left hand.

Murtazaliev scored three knockdowns with Tszyu barely able to reach the corner at the end of the round and the doctor took what seemed to be an extremely lengthy check on Tszyu before the third round, which I thought might have allowed Tsyzu to survive a pivotal time in the fight.

Murtazaliev was having none of that as he immediately attacked Tszyu, sending him to the floor again the fight could have been stopped then but Tazyu showed tremendous will in beating the count and was given one final chance with the admonition that one more knockdown would end the match.

Tsyzu gamely tried to fire back but without any legs under him, Murtazaliev battered Tszyu along the ropes before the corner tossed in the towel to end the fight.

For Murtazaliev, the victory retains his title but also could place him on the radar of the Riyadh Season promoters for bigger fights in the future.

For Tim Tszyu, the loss is a devastating one as the defeat to Sebastian Fundora was excusable under the circumstances but Tszyu lacks any excuse for this setback.

All is not lost, Tszyu fought hard, is always entertaining, and if you remember his father's career, Kostya Tszyi lost a fight to Vince Phillips by knockout that he battled back to hold titles and enter the Hall of Fame.

Still, Tszyu will need to be rebuilt, and I think he needs to be rebuilt over the next one to two years with fighters that can refurbish his reputation and rebuild his confidence.

Earlier in the day, Boxxer saw their talented junior welterweight Adam Azim walk through former contender Ohara Davies on his way to an eighth-round knockout in London.

Give Davies credit, he landed his share of right hands but he lacked the pop to deter Azim, who knocked down Davies in round five and almost finished him off with Davies surviving the round on very shaky legs.

Davies survived until the eighth when a left hook polished Davies off for the evening, with the referee ending the bout with Davies on his knees.

Davies was a step up in competition for Azim and Azim looks to be ready for the next level after an excellent performance.

In a fight that I haven't watched, William Scull won the IBF super middleweight title via unanimous decision over Vladimir Shiskin by unanimous decision to win the title that the IBF stripped from Canelo Alvarez for refusing to defend against the unknown Scull.

Scores for Scull were 116-113, 115-113 and 116-112.

I've read from some that Scull outboxed Shishkin and others that Shiskin deserved the decision but it's agreed that Shiskin hurt Scull in the final round and it's agreed that it was a boring fight.

It will be interesting to see who Scull will defend against and when will the IBF mandate that fight?

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 147 Pts (0)

TRS: 143 Pts (2)
Vince Samano: 88 Pts (2)  

Boxing Challenge: Buatsi downs Azeez

    Joshua Buatsi earned the biggest win of his career. He became the top contender in the WBA and likely the WBC with a unanimous decision in his light heavyweight eliminator in London on Saturday.

Buatsi outslugged Azeez throughout the fight and dropped Azeez twice in the eleventh round, just after Azeez seemed to be rallying in the ninth and tenth.

Buatsi won by scores of 116-110 and 117-109 times two, the latter score the same as mine.

Buatsi's win will eventually see him with a mandatory challenge of the winner of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol that will take place in June.

Junior welterweight prospect Adam Azim continued his progress with a fifth-round stoppage of Enoch Paulson. 

Azim dominated the fight and finished with Paulson dislocating his shoulder, unable to continue.

I had Azim ahead 40-36 at the time of the stoppage.

Conor Benn took the next step in his ring return with a unanimous decision over Peter Dobson in Las Vegas.

Dobson had his moments, especially in the middle of the fight, but Benn threw more often and deserved the decision. However, he surprisingly was unable to put Dobson in any sort of difficulty.

Benn won by scores of 119-111 and two of 118-110.

I had it a little closer at 116-112.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 17 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 15 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 7 Pts (3)