The Overhand Right

   It's been a long time since an edition of the Overhand Right, so here's a chance to offer a few opinions on boxing outside of fight results.

I thought Mikaela Mayer did enough to nose out Natasha Jones in their women's welterweight title fight and while it was close on my card (96-94), I thought Mayer was the clear winner as most of the rounds were decisively won by one side or the other.

I wrote about the surprising decision loss by Artem Dalakian of his WBA flyweight title to Seigo Yuri Akui and how I thought Dalakian's style of moving away hurt him as judges prefer aggressive fighters.

Sooner or later, most fighters that use this style eventually lose a fight that they deserve to win due to this factor, and Dalakian proved the rule.

Fighters like Dalakian usually make dull fights and it's not always accompanied by outrage when they lose but that still doesn't make it right.

All too often in these style matchups, the aggressive fighter receives undeserved points from judges for "coming forward" or "trying to make the fight", which isn't part of the judging criteria.

The commentators for the fight (Crystina Poncher and ladies' flyweight champion Seniesa Estrada) seemed as puzzled as I had been when hearing of the decision. However, there were observers on the net who had the fight closer than I did.

While talking about Poncher and Estrada, I found their observations of the card from Osaka to be quite interesting.

Pomcher has always been a favorite of mine as an underrated blow-by-blow voice that I hope to see given higher-profile fights for ESPN/Top Rank cards. Still, the revelation was Estrada, who offered several intriguing points during the Kenshiro Teraji-Carlos Canizales main event battle.

Estrada's best point was about Teraji's directional movement, as the champion refused to move away from Canizales's power and instead moved right into the challenger's shots.

Estrada's statement proved true later in the fight when Teraji changed things up and began to get hit far less by the challenger.

Hoping to see and hear more in the future from Poncher and Estrada as a team at the announcer's table.

I see Teofimo Lopez continues to call out Terence Crawford for a mega-fight and while I'm not sure that it happens because Lopez isn't quite the PPV draw quite yet that the WBO junior welterweight champion thinks that he is, I am still interested in that pairing.

Lopez does tend to fight better in big fights than he does small ones as he showed in wins over Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, his only loss to George Kambosos and a split decision win over Sandor Martin that many including myself thought he lost.

Lopez doesn't have the physical disadvantages that you would think he would either against Crawford, so it's not a mismatch in stature, and skill-wise Lopez can be competitive.

However, Crawford is in a different league, in my opinion, and I'm not sure of Lopez's promotional status with Top Rank after his title defense next month against Jamaine Ortiz.

Crawford has a lawsuit pending against Top Rank and is unlikely to deal with TR should Lopez remain bound to them.

PBC announced the top two fights on their first PPV with Amazon in March.

I'm not thrilled with the main event with WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu defending against former WBA and WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman.

Tszyu has been an active contender and now champion, having fought three times in 2023.

The same can't be said of Thurman, who hasn't fought since a ho-hum decision win over Mario Barrios in February 2022, and his most recent fight before Barros was his loss to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.

When you add that Thurman has never fought at 154 pounds and his 1-1 record in the last five years, it's easy to see Thurman as undeserving of this title opportunity.

The co-feature will have Rollie Romero, he of the questionable win over Ismael Barroso, defending against Isaac Cruz, who moves up from lightweight for the title chance.

While I don't have a problem with Cruz, the fight should be Romero-Barroso II, especially now that Barroso knocked out Ohara Davies in one round to grab the WBA interim title that was granted with Romero out with back issues.

WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara will defend his title for the first time against Michael Zerafa of Australia.

Lara, who has fought very soft competition in his four bouts since his 2019 draw with Brian Castano, was promoted to full champion last year when Gennady Golovkin vacated the title but hasn't fought at all since his May 2022 win over journeyman Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan.

Zerafa has lost against his best opponents Peter Quillin, Jeff Horn, and Kell Brook, and doesn't seem deserving of his status but neither does Lara really, so that says a lot for a sadly weak 160-pound division. 

Boxing Challenge: Teraji wins thriller

  The Tuesday broadcast from Osaka, Japan by ESPN+ was well worth the early rise with an excellent fight with a not-so-exciting bout with a questionable ending at the top of the card.

In the main event, Kenshiro Teraji kept his WBA and WBC light flyweight titles by a hairline majority decision over a very strong Carlos Canizales in a fight that will be in consideration for fight of the year around this time next year.

Both fighters scored knockdowns, Teraji's in the second round, Canizales in the third with Teraji's the more serious of the two.

Teraji had a slight edge in most of the rounds but Canizales often used the tactic of rallying late in rounds to attempt to sway the judges in close rounds.

Teraji gave away the final two rounds on my card but still had enough to win on my card 114-112 which was the same of two judges with the dissenting vote at 113-113.

An excellent fight and one that deserves a rematch should Teraji be unable to reach a bigger fight.

The co-feature saw an upset as Seigo Yuri Akui took the WBA flyweight title from long-time champion Artem Dalakian by a disputed unanimous decision.

The fight was very dull with Dalakian constantly moving away with Akui coming forward but mostly ineffectively.

I thought Dalakian clearly won but I've always thought that sooner or later, boxers that fight off the back foot eventually will get screwed on the scorecards because judges simply don't like the appearance of avoiding engagement.

Scores were 116-112, 117-111, and a shocking 119-109 card for Akui.

I thought Dalakian won at 116-112 and deserves a rematch, although it likely will not be any more exciting than this one.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 11 Pts (1)

Ramon Malpica: 10 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 4 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Beterbiev grinds down Yarde

     Is it possible that a fight plays out exactly as you thought it would yet be very entertaining, the winner loses nothing in their victory, and the loser gains credibility and fans in defeat?

The answer to that query was yes as Artur Beterbiev retained his WBC, IBF, and WBO light heavyweight titles via eighth-round TKO over a dead game Anthony Yarde in London.

The bout would see each fighter land booming shots against the other for seven hard-fought rounds and the scorecards were divergent with scores that ranged from Beterbiev up by several rounds to cards that had Yarde ahead by a similar amount.

Two judges had Yarde in the lead after seven rounds at 68-65 and 67-66 with the dissenting judge scoring Beterbiev as the leader at 67-66 which is the same score as mine.

Yarde had success from the outside and when he would attack at times as well but he seemed to lose some energy after the first few rounds in which he seemed to be fighting with nervousness and that would take its toll as the fight progressed.

Each fighter would cut the other around the eye in the sixth round with Beterbiev's cut along his left eyelid with Yarde's located just under his right eye.

Beterbiev hammered Yarde with a right hand and then dropped him with a follow-up right that sent him to the mat on his hands and knees.

Yarde beat the count but when the best finisher in boxing is charging you there is little that one can do after eating two more rights, the Yarde corner climbed the steps and signaled to referee Steve Gray for an honorable surrender for their fighter, who gained much in defeat with a valiant effort.

For Beterbiev, he is hoping for a unification for the only title that he doesn't own against WBA champion Dmitry Bivol but that will be difficult as Beterbiev's promoter Bob Arum has stated that a Beterbiev-Bivol affair must take place on his network-ESPN.

Bivol has other options, such as a lucrative rematch with Canelo Alvarez which would be a higher purse and lesser risk since Bivol has already defeated Alvarez.

Should such a match not occur, Beterbiev will likely have a mandatory from the WBC for former WBA and WBC super middleweight Callum Smith to deal with, which is another interesting fight that may not be a lot different than the usual Beterbiev battle.

In the co-feature, Artem Dalakian retained his WBA flyweight title via a controversial unanimous decision over his mandatory challenger, minor beltholder David Jimenez.

Dalakian didn't fight with his usual fervor and Jimenez's aggressiveness did seem to carry the day on my card, which was 115-113 for Jimenez.

The official scores were 116-112 and two scores of 115-113 for the champion and even though I thought Jimenez won a close fight, I didn't think it was a robbery.

That differed from ESPN's Andre Ward and Tim Bradley, both of whom ranted after the fight about the problems and injustices from bad scoring etc that affect careers etc, which I thought was rich when you consider that each of the biggest victories in their own careers (Bradley over Manny Pacquiao and Ward over Sergey Kovalev in their first fight) were almost universally condemned for their awful scoring.

It was a close fight that I thought Jimenez deserved but wasn't a decision to spend time complaining about.

In the evening from Inglewood, California, welterweight contender Alexis Rocha steamrolled late replacement George Ashie and finished him with a spectacular knockout in the seventh round.

Rocha knocked Ashie down late in the third round and the bell might have saved Ashie from a stoppage then and there, which may have been better for Ashie's health than continuing to take punches for the Ghana native.

Rocha could face WBO champion Terence Crawford next as Crawford was in the Golden Boy offices earlier Saturday and with a dearth of contenders that aren't affiliated with PBC and Rocha rated third by the WBO, I could say there are worse fighters for Crawford to stay busy against.

Still, I don't see Rocha having much of a chance against Crawford and I'm not very excited about the fight other than keeping Crawford in action, which is never a bad thing for boxing.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:16 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 15 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 10 Pts (0) 

Boxing Challenge: Russell retains, Rigondeaux bores.

The boxing challenge returns with a five-fight weekend with two titles on the line along with a minor title, a title eliminator and the return of a former star to the ring.

We start in Allentown, Pennsylvania with a PBC card on Showtime and the annual appearance of WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell.
Russell, who fights once a year, clicks up a victory, makes grand proclamations and then returns to the Washington area like Puff the Magic Dragon slipping into his cave to await his next year's contest, won a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Tug Nyambayar to retain his championship.
Russell controlled the fight for the first eight rounds with those rounds being more tactical than action-filled, but Nyambayar picked up the pace in the final third of the fight, landed his best shots and forced Russell into entertaining exchanges.
The late rally wasn't close to enough for the challenger from Mongolia, who lost 116-112 on my card, which was the closest card among the three judges and Nyambayar may look back on this fight and bemoan his lack of punches that caused him to fall behind on the cards as he was effective, especially to the body, when he was offensively active.
Russell announced plans to move up two divisions to lightweight, should a hoped for, but unlikely fight with Leo Santa Cruz falls through, which seems like a pipe dream with most of the best lightweights being involved with Top Rank rather than Russell's PBC.

The co-feature saw Guillermo Rigondeaux drop to bantamweight to win another tedious split decision and pick up a minor title with a split decision over Liborio Solis.
Solis started aggressively in the first round and seemed to surprise Rigondeaux with a right hand that forced the Cuban to grab and hold on for the end of the round.
Rigondeaux then settled into his standard (read dull) style and except for a seventh-round technical knockdown that drove Solis into the ropes from a left hand and the ropes holding him up, the fight was generally lacking in action.
I saw Rigondeaux a 115-112 winner and despite the split card, I don't need to see this fight again.

On DAZN from Sheffield, England, Kell Brook returned from a ring absence and an awful albeit winning last fight against Michael Zerafa to dominate Mark DeLuca of the United States and knock DeLuca out in the seventh round in a squash match intended to make Brook shine.
This fight did that as Brook smashed DeLuca's nose in the third and scored a knockdown with a strong left hook that saw DeLuca rise just as the bell clanged.
DeLuca was hurt again in the fourth before being dropped for the count with an impressive left hook/uppercut with blood flowing furiously through his nose.
Brook mentioned a rematch with Errol Spence, which is unlikely, but the likely next step on his comeback could be against fellow Briton and Matchroom promotee Liam Smith in what could be an interesting fight with both fighters attempting to make a last stand in the sport.

In the Matchroom co-feature, Kid Galahad outboxed Claudio Marrero for the entire fight and forced Marrero's corner to stop the fight at the end of the eighth round to move into the IBF's mandatory contender position for the second time in the featherweight division.
Galahad stood on the outside, landed his jab at all and methodically drained the aggression from Marrero as he won all but the first round on my scorecard.
Galahad now qualifies for a rematch against IBF champion Josh Warrington from their fight last year that saw Warrington retain his title via split decision in a close but ugly mix of styles that will see very few looking forward to a rematch.

The final fight of the challenge saw Artem Dalakian retain his WBA flyweight title by unanimous decision over Josber Perez in Kyiv, Ukraine.
I have this fight available via YouTube, but I have yet to watch it as of this writing.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica seven to five on the week with the difference being my extra points from Gary Russell's decision win and Kell Brook's KO.
I extended my lead to 24-20 in the early part of the marathon.

Boxing Challenge: Rungvisai nips Estrada.

HBO Sports

The boxing challenge had a rarity in the last few weeks as the World Boxing Super Series did NOT have the best fight of the weekend!
I wrote about the Callum Smith victory earlier Saturday, so that does not need to be recapped.

The four-bout show from Los Angeles (3 televised by HBO) featured some strong action and the main event was a fight good enough in the ring and close enough on the scorecards to consider doing it again.
Sriasket Sor Rungvisai retained his WBC junior bantamweight title by the width of a paper sheet with a majority decision win over Juan Francisco Estrada in a thrilling fight.
Rungvisai built a lead and held off the late charge of Estrada including a twelfth round that is as good as you'll see this year.
Rungvisai earned the votes of two judges with a reasonable 115-113 and a ridiculous 117-111 overruling a 114-114 draw card that agreed with my personal card.

McWilliams Arroyo pulled off a surprising upset of heavily favored Carlos Cuadras via a majority decision.
Cuadras started well as he did in his close loss to Juan Francisco Estrada, but again relaxed and allowed Arroyo to get back into the fight.
I scored Arroyo a close 96-94 winner, but would not have argued with the same score that chose Cuadras as the victor.

Donnie Nietes retained his IBF Flyweight title with a seventh-round knockout of Juan Carlos Reveco.
I had Nietes winning every round when he nailed Reveco with a right hand late in the sixth that sent Reveco wobbling to his corner.
Nietes finished Reveco less than a minute into the next round for the victory.

In the non-televised title fight (Thanks to Ring.Tv for showing the fight live) Artem Dalakian won the vacant WBA flyweight title with a unanimous decision over veteran Brian Viloria.
I had Dalakian a 115-112 winner (One point deducted from Dalakian for pushing down on Viloria), but an elbow that sliced Viloria's forehead open in the eleventh and produced as ugly of a gash as you could see in the ring caused Viloria to visibly slow down and gave Dalakian the final two rounds to put the victory and championship away.
The scores were far too lopsided for my tastes, but the winner was the correct one.
The time may be the right one for the 37-year-old Viloria to consider walking away from the game.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's three on the weekend to move my lead to 26-21

I received two points from Artem Dalakian's win and one each from Donnie Nietes and Callum Smith.
Ramon added one point each from wins by Rungvisai, Nietes, and Smith.