Boxing Challenge: Haney steals the show, Herring upsets Ito

Despite a world title changing hands, there could only be one star of the night and it was clearly Devin Haney, who dominated a normally solid Antonio Moran for six rounds and hammered home a looping right hand in the seventh for a memorable one punch knockout on DAZN.

It was Haney's DAZN/Matchroom debut and he was dazzling in his performance as Moran, who lost a close decision to Jose Pedraza last June, was overmatched against Haney.
I scored Haney as the winner of every round before the memorable ending and the fight's only question by the fourth round was whether Haney would be able to stop Moran, who had never been stopped in his previous losses.
Haney will have to take another step up when he challenges for a world title, but I wouldn't be surprised a bit if, by 2021, the fight fans are talking about as the "fight that must be made" would match Devin Haney with Teofimo Lopez.

On ESPN, the WBO junior lightweight title was the centerpiece of a pro wrestling like storyline as former Marine and Olympian Jamel Herring pulled an upset of champion Masayuki Ito in Kissimmee, Florida via a unanimous decision.
Herring was just too slick for Ito, who was noted for never having an amateur fight before turning pro and it showed against the skilled, but never noted for being outstanding Herring.
In hindsight, Ito was made to order for a fighter of Herring's style and I should have seen that coming.
Herring avoided the wild lunges of Ito well and was able to control the fight from the outside as Ito seemed confused by Herring's left-handed stance and was rarely able to land.
I scored Herring a 116-112 (8-4) winner which agreed with one judge, with the other two scoring a too wide 118-110.
Herring dedicated the win to his late daughter, who passed away from SIDS as an infant and would have turned ten on the day of Herring's title win.
It's a compelling story, but one that isn't likely to end in a long championship book as Herring may fight WBC champion Miguel Berchelt in a unification fight in which Herring will again be a sizable underdog.

In the co-main event, Jose Pedraza returned from his loss to Vasyl Lomachenko to stop Antonio Lozada in the ninth round of their ten round event.
Lozada showed lots of heart and aggression and gave Pedraza little quarter, but the difference between a top ten fighter and a top twenty fighter can be vast and despite the effort, Pedraza wore Lozada down before being knocked down and finished in the ninth round.
Pedraza may be blocked in the lightweight division for now and might have to move to 140 pounds for another title shot.
Pedraza is unlikely to receive a Lomachenko rematch for two (and likely three after his match with Luke Campbell) belts and the remaining champion Richard Commey (IBF) is defending against Ray Beltran next,a victory should see Commey cash in against Lomachenko for all the lightweight gold and Pedraza is surprisingly unranked by the IBF.

Over with the PBC on FS1 from Biloxi Mississippi, the Hamburglar peeped his head outside the arches as former Olympian Terrell Gausha appeared to have clearly outpointed former champion Austin Trout in a fight that could be called boring and well, I'm calling it boring, but Gausha didn't receive the deserved nod as the judges called the fight a draw with three divergent and inaccurate card.
I had Gausha winning originally 96-94, but a rewatch (hey, I was at work and I was bored!) saw me give Gausha a 97-93 decision.
The Gausha judge scored it 99-91, which was ridiculous, but the 95-95 wasn't good (I thought my original 96-94 Gausha was generous to Trout), but the 96-94 Trout card was terrible.
It wasn't that Gausha was exciting or terrific in triumph, mind you, but Trout looked slow and just didn't move his hands enough.
Trout called for a rematch, saying he hadn't fought enough of late and while that may be true (and just whose fault is that again?), I don't think anyone really wants to see this again and what would it prove even if they did.
PBC could stick either of these two against Julian Williams or the Tony Harrison/Jermell Charlo winner anyway, so a rematch seems pointless.

I would like to add one point- Austin Trout seems to be the first fighter to succumb to the matchmaking style of PBC, where you fight once a year and maybe face a top-notch boxer every other year.
Inactivity dulls the skills and inactivity hurts an older fighter more than a younger one as far as sharpness goes, but the younger fighter is hurt by not fighting enough by not learning what you need to learn as an older fighter to dig deep, win a fight that you shouldn't or discover the tricks of the trade to give you a chance to win in a fight you might not be the favorite to win.
The system that PBC pushes for their fighters is that you'll get good pay for fewer fights and take less damage and that makes sense- in theory.
However, what that seems to be doing as well is limiting their fighters prime (in earning years as well as performance), affecting their long term performance and keeping them from the careers that their fighters are capable of.
Austin Trout might be the first test case of my theory, but over the next few years, I'm willing to bet that he won't be the last.

The other fight in the challenge from China has not taken place yet (Later this morning), so I will edit this post with the result and update to the boxing challenge after it is over.

In the boxing challenge as of this writing, I have added three points to Ramon Malpica's two with the Devin Haney fight being the difference in points.
Both of us picked Jose Pedraza's win for one point, both of us picked Masayuki Ito in his loss and the Trout-Gausha draw gives no points.

Editor's Note; Carlos Canizales defeated Sho Kimura via unanimous decision.
Ramon added two points for that win and took four points to my three for the weekend.
Ramon cuts my lead in the challenge to 135-120.

Crawford batters Horn, Santa Cruz decisions Mares

Lots to catch up on here at TRS as we have lots of inbox cleaning, our trip last weekend and starting to prep for the drafts for the Cavaliers and Devils.

First, though we have to move to the weekend in boxing while I was in the Canastota/Rochester area, there was plenty of boxing in the boxing challenge to catch up on.

We start in Las Vegas, where Terence Crawford battered Jeff Horn for nine rounds, gave him over twenty stitches for his cuts and lifted his WBO welterweight title as well.
Crawford was reported to have won every round and pounded the overmatched Horn to the point of needing to be saved by the referee.
I didn't see this fight as I am not an ESPN+ subscriber, although I will be soon.

I didn't start the ESPN+ subscription because at the same time (as I watched from my hotel room in Rochester), Showtime offered two title bouts from Los Angeles.
In the main event, Leo Santa Cruz retained his WBA featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Abner Mares in another good, but not great encounter.
Nothing really changed from their first fight and I didn't really need to see it again this time, but it was entertaining enough.
I had Santa Cruz as a 116-112 (8-4) winner and that was roughly how the judges saw it as well.
Santa Cruz is talking about a unification fight with WBC champion Gary Russell and with both being promoted by PBC, one would think that would be easy to make.
However, with Russell's history of inactivity and Santa Cruz often taking most of a year off before a squash match to prepare his return for an exile of his own making, I'd be only mildly surprised to see this happen at all and downright shocked to see it before 2019.

Jermell Charlo retained his WBC junior middleweight title with a majority decision over veteran Austin Trout.
Charlo dropped Trout in the third and eighth rounds and those knockdowns saved him from losing on one card, but Charlo generally controlled a less than thrilling bout.
I had Charlo a 116-110 winner, but to a certain degree, I thought Charlo was exposed in this one when you consider that WBA/IBF champ Jarrett Hurd stopped Trout last year and was much more dominant, Charlo may have shown that his hype and power might be overrated because many (including me) thought so highly of Erickson Lubin before Charlo knocked him out in one round.
I still don't think Charlo has beaten anyone of top five caliber and I'd pick Hurd over him in a potential bout.

Showtime continues to build itself as the fans fight network with a free stream from England with the return of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and a title vacancy filled in the junior welterweight division.
Fury goofed, clowned and patted his way to a TKO when Sefer Seferi surrendered in his corner after the fourth round.
In a fight that was more spectacle than contest Fury proved little other than to truly see what he has retained of his talents, we will still have to wait.

Maurice Hooker upset former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan via a split decision to win the final of the 140 pound belts (WBO) to be filled after Terence Crawford vacated his four titles last year.
I had Hooker a close winner (115-113) in a bruising fight that was filled with more action than I've ever seen from a Flanagan bout.
Hooker's win not only gained him the WBO belt, but also an entry into the World Boxing Super Series in the fall tournament in the junior welterweight division.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica matched my weekend total of seven points.
Ramon earned three points from Terence Crawford, two from Leo Santa Cruz and one each from Jermell Charlo and Tyson Fury.
My points came from two each from Crawford, Santa Cruz and Fury with one from Jermell Charlo.

The challenge for the year stands at 97-78

Boxing Challenge-PBC Junior Middleweight's and a Waste Of Time

Five title fights and an important minor title topped off the weekend in boxing and the gamut was covered from all ends with an explosive knockout, a knockout from a body blow, an exciting fight with give and take, a bloodbath, a squash match, and a predictable snoozer.

Let's start in Brooklyn, where Showtime and PBC had three of the four Junior Middleweight titles (Miguel Cotto holds the WBO title for now)
The star of the night was a fighter that I've often criticized in WBC champ Jermell Charlo (TRS #2), who destroyed Erickson Lubin (TRS #5) with one right hand in the first round.

AFP Photo/AL BELLO

Time will tell whether Lubin was overhyped or not, but regardless of that future evaluation- Jermell Charlo took on a top contender in what was thought to be a pick'em fight (I picked Lubin to win) and blew through him in one round.
Full credit to Charlo and I'm looking forward to seeing him progress against better competition (and Lubin was a step up from his past opponents).
I may not care for his (and his brother's ) post-fight behavior (I've never seen guys so angry after fights they have just won), but you cannot deny results and both Charlo's are learning how to make more fun to watch fights after some early career snoozers.

Charlo was calling out IBF champ Jarrett Hurd (TRS #4) for a unification fight after his knockout and Hurd retained his title in the Showtime opener in a good fight against former champion Austin Trout.
Trout built an early lead on the cards, but Hurd was the harder puncher and wobbled Trout in the middle rounds.
Trout battled back and cut Hurd in the seventh, but Hurd had pulled even on my card after the eighth and seemed to have Trout finished with an almost shut right eye in a tenth round that ended with Trout out of his feet.
The Trout corner showed concern for their fighter by ending the fight thereafter by not allowing Trout out of his corner for the eleventh round.
I had Hurd ahead 96-94 after ten rounds and it looked to me like Hurd would have likely stopped Trout in the eleventh.
The fight was terrific and Hurd becomes the first fighter to stop Trout something that three top fighters that defeated Trout could not do (Canelo Alvarez, Erislandy Lara, and Jermall Charlo) and Trout is a bigger name than anyone on either Charlo's record.
Charlo vs Hurd would be a very strong fight and should happen next, if not for the PBC's normal inclination (more later on this) to put together one of those "wonderful" prep fight cards (usually squash matches, again more later) so we will see when and if this will happen.

In the main event that saw the crowd leaving the arena like water swirling around a drain, WBA champ Erislandy Lara (TRS #1) win every round over former Olympian Terrell Gausha in a fight that was the typical boring, yet dominant win for the Cuban.
Lara did drop Gausha in the fourth but was more interested in flexing for the crowd than finishing Gausha, so the rest of the fight continued on its general dull path.
Lara said after the fight that he was willing to fight Charlo, but there is plenty of doubt to me that fight will ever take place as the two train together in Houston, share the same trainer in Ronnie Shields and have shown little inclination to fight each other in the past.

And then, we move to just what you would expect from PBC with a national television audience on Fox available was wasted when instead of putting Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares against each other with possible decent audiences to view, their answer was to put together a waste of time of tremendous proportions.

Leo Santa Cruz (TRS #1) defended his WBA featherweight title with a seven round stoppage over overmatched Chris Avalos in a squash match that should define main event squash matches.
Santa Cruz won every round and generally swatted the tough Avalos around the ring as a cat would bat an almost dead mouse around a floor.
This bout proved nothing other than perhaps chip a little rust off Santa Cruz and other than that minor note was a waste of time.

Abner Mares (TRS #5), who should have been fighting Santa Cruz, wasted his time against another durable but outgunned opponent in Andres Gutierrez with a unanimous technical decision after ten rounds when the fight was stopped after Gutierrez couldn't continue with a bad cut from a headbutt.
I had Mares ahead 99-91 and was never seriously threatened in yet another fight that was unneeded for any reason other than to knock the rust off Mares-rust that wouldn't be there, to begin with, if  PBC was more active for their fighters.
Sigh.

In the World Boxing Super Series in the Super Middleweight bracket, George Groves (TRS #4) stopped Jamie Cox in the fourth round to retain his WBA title with a vicious body shot in London.
Groves, who was seeded first in the tournament, received a better than expected fight from Cox, who came forward and threw plenty of punches before the sudden ending.
The victory for Groves moved him to the semi-finals against fellow Briton Chris Eubank Jr in what will be a huge fight in Great Britain.
I like Groves and I've never been completely sold on Eubank, but something tells me that Groves might be made for Chris Eubank..

In the boxing challenge, I earned nine points to Ramon Malpica's seven to boost my lead to 146-133.

I earned two points to Ramon's one for the Leo Santa Cruz win and two to his one for George Groves victory as well.
We both earned two points for the victories by Mares and Lara.
We both added one point for the win by Jarrett Hurd and neither scored in the Charlo-Rubin fight as we both selected Lubin to win.