Boxing Challenge: Wake me when it's over

     Riyadh Season Promotions have made some things happen in boxing that wouldn't have happened without them, which is good.

However, their back-to-back cards this weekend, Times Square and Riyadh, were an absolute disaster with boring fights, the defeat of Ryan Garcia, and it was the first setback for the promotion.

Throwing money at stars isn't always the answer; hopefully, they will learn their lesson.

In the main event, Canelo Alvarez regained the IBF super middleweight title that he never lost with a unanimous decision over the stuck-in-reverse William Scull.

Once again, Alvarez holds all four titles in the division. After the win, a fall fight with Terence Crawford was announced in the ring, and that was the only good thing from the main event.

Scull ran (I tweeted this during the fight), Canelo plodded after him, few punches landed, none of those significant, and it was dreadful to watch.

As bad as this was, and it was bad, I'm not going to rip Scull as many are currently.

This was his best chance to win- stink the joint out and hope the judges value his "work".

Scull won a few rounds on my card (117-111 for Canelo), and you might say that if he were more active and took more chances, he might have won ( official cards 119-109, 116-112, and 115-113) against the cement shoes of Canelo.

I'd disagree, as taking those chances would have placed him in front and gotten him knocked out.

It made an awful match, and you can blame Scull for the tedium, but he took his only chance to win, as slim as that was.

The best fight of the weekend wasn't Holyfield-Qawi I, but it was a solid cruiserweight fight as Badou Jack retained his WBC cruiserweight title with a majority decision over Noel Mikeaelin.

Both fighters did their share of good work, and it was entertaining in its own way.

Jack earned the decision by scores of 115-113 times two and 114-114.

I had Mikaelin winning 115-113, but this was a very close fight, and I'd like to see a rematch.

Jaime Munguia won his rematch with Bruno Surace by unanimous decision and regained some of his stature in the super middleweight division that he lost when Surace knocked him out with one punch in December.

However, it was a more reticent Munguia that boxed more and didn't get hit as much, although less entertaining, You could see the changes in Munguia from his change in trainers to Eddy Reynoso.

Munguia mentioned the names Caleb Plant and Edgar Berlanga after the fight; either would be welcomed as potential foes.

Munguia won by scores of 117-111 times two and 116-112, with my score agreeing with the latter.

Efe Ajagba and Martin Bakole batted to a majority draw in their heavyweight opener.

Ajagba controlled the fight from a distance for most of the early fight, Bakole rallied late, hurting Ajagba in the seventh, and I think if the fight was a twelve-rounder, Bakole would have gotten the nod.

Official scores of 96-94 for Ajagba and two of 95-95, I scored Ajagba a 96-94 winner.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 65 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 62 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 28 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Jack knocks out Makabu

  In an entertaining fight, former super middleweight champion Badou Jack added the WBC cruiserweight title to a career that also saw him win a minor title at light heavyweight with a final-round knockout of champion Illunga Makabu in the top supporting bout to the Jake Paul-Tommy Fury bout in Saudi Arabia.

Jack was ahead entering the final round and had knocked Makubu down (with a nifty almost somersault to boot) in the fourth and eleventh rounds,

Jack stunned Makabu in the final round and with a staggering champion behind on the scorecards, the referee decided to end the day with a deserved stoppage.

The thirty-nine-old Jack hadn't beaten a world-class opponent since his 2017 knockout at light heavyweight over Nathan Cleverly. 

His three fights following the victory saw a draw with Adonis Stevenson and losses to Jean Pascal and Marcus Browne and even though he had won his five contests since against lesser opponents, he didn't look good doing as he barely escaped his last fight winning a split decision over Richard Rivera.

Off those fights, it wasn't unreasonable to wonder how much Jack had left in his career but he was clearly the stronger and faster fighter against the younger (slightly) Makabu, who I thought lost his last bout to Thabiso Mchunu.

The title win was the best performance for Jack since his draw with Adonis Stevenson and against even the best in the division, he would be an interesting underdog against IBF champ Jai Opetaia, WBO king Lawrence Okolie, or Mairis Breidis.

As for Makabu, he looked very slow and although he attempted to fire back, he seems to be a fighter well past his best days.

Boxing Challenge (Includes the Showtime card)

TRS: 29 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 24 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 19 Pts ( 4)

Boxing Challenge: Usyk retains title in Joshua rematch

   Oleksandr Usyk survived a rocky ninth round, swept the final three rounds to clinch a split decision win over Anthony Joshua in their rematch, and retained his WBA, IBF, and WBO championships in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joshua gave a much more spirited effort than in their first bout and after rocking Usyk badly in the ninth seemed on the verge of regaining the championship for a third reign.

However, the Pride of Ukraine wasn't about to allow that to happen as Usyk immediately grabbed control in the tenth round as he hurt Joshua and swept the final three rounds on my scorecard for a 116-112 win.

I thought the fight was close entering the final round and had Joshua won that round, I might have understood a scorecard of a draw but I was surprised to see a 115-113 score for Joshua that was overruled by the two judges giving Usyk the edge at 115-113 and 116-112.

While this fight was far more entertaining than the first affair, I don't think we need a third fight for a while in a similar matter to Deontay Wilder's great attempt in losing his third fight to Tyson Fury.

It was a good fight but Joshua needs to reestablish himself and move on (for now) as Deontay Wilder is doing as well.

Joshua stated that he will be back in the ring in December, which is a good thing to be more active, and while I still think there is lots of money in a Joshua-Wilder clash, I'm dubious of that happening.

After all, if Al Haymon and Eddie Hearn couldn't get this done for the unified heavyweight championship for all of those dollars so close, why should I expect them to agree for smaller, although sizable paydays as contenders?

As for Usyk, the logical next fight would be the unification bout with WBC champion Tyson Fury, who waffles back and forth on his future as most people flip the cool side of the pillow in order to grab attention but is unlikely to turn away the big bucks for a Usyk fight.

I'll say this and I respect the talent and ability of Tyson Fury but I'll be rooting for Oleksandr Usyk in that one for a few reasons- most of which are personal preferences of mine.

Usyk is entertaining yet not clownish and doesn't need the constant attention, it would be a wonderful thing that his home country of Ukraine could use right now, and I would like to move away a bit from the hulking heavyweights that have come into vogue over the last decade or two.

It's an intriguing fight that Fury will be favored in but I still remember that Steve Cunningham knockdown against Fury and Cunningham was a natural cruiserweight as well.

Fury will be the firm favorite and deservedly so with his advantages but this is the first time that he will be facing a fighter with more skills and more experience- Sleep on the chances of Oleksandr Usyk at your own betting peril.

The undercard was very entertaining with two fights that were very close and a former world champion scoring a devastating knockout.

Filip Hrgovic held off the attack of the surprising Zhilei Zhang and became the mandatory challenger in the IBF for Oleksandr Usyk with a close unanimous decision victory.

Zhang scored a flash knockdown in the first round, which made the difference on my card as I thought Zhang earned the nod by a 114-113 score.

The judges disagreed with all scoring for Hrgrovic by scores of 115-112 (x2) and 114-113.

Both fighters were hurt during the fight with Hrgrovic wobbling around the ring in the seventh round and he was fortunate that the round ended when it did.

Hrgovic was cut in the third from the scalp from a headbutt and Zhang ended the fight with heavy bruises and marks around both of his eyes.

Both fighters had their excellent moments and neither fighter could fully keep command of the fight as each landed their share of power punches.

Hrgovic showed some vulnerabilities that he hadn't in the past and Zhang redeemed himself a bit for his lackluster draw with Jerry Forrest in his previous test against better heavyweights.

A fun twelve-rounder and while I'm not sure either is ready for a title shot, the pair meshed for a tight and exciting co-feature.

Former WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Callum Smith moved to the top contender spot in the WBC ratings with a spectacular fourth-round knockout of Mathieu Bauderlique.

Smith lost the first two rounds on my card but in the third began to reach the Frenchman with long right hands.

Smith landed a left early in the fourth round that caused Bauderlique to use his glove to keep him off the floor, which is a knockdown, and shortly after rising, Bauderlique moved into full retreat and attempted to fend off Smith but ate a left hook that sent him to the mat and the fight ended before a count.

Smith is now in a position to eventually challenge WBC/IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev sometime in 2023 after Beterbiev's WBO mandatory is fulfilled against Great Britain's Anthony Yarde.

Former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack won a split decision over formerly undefeated Richard Rivers in an excellent cruiserweight action fight that will be remembered for more than only the action.

The first was the crazy eighth round which lasted for a minute longer than it should have and Jack landed several punishing bombs during that minute on Rivera, which likely gave the edge to Jack for the round and took a lot of energy from Rivera during the final two rounds.

Had the round ended properly, Rivera would have likely gotten the round and the fight would have ended in a majority draw.

Both fighters gave as good as they received and the split decision for Jack was reasonable at 96-94 from two judges with the other scoring 96-94 for Rivera.

I split the difference with a 95-95 scorecard, so my major issue is with the comatose timekeeper, not the scoring.

The other memorable portion of this fight was the commitment to Rivera of his gimmick as Popeye which included wearing the character's hat and pipe during his ring introductions, using Popeye on his waistband, and quickly sliding back into the costume after the fight.

Give credit as this was an entertaining evening of boxing even if the crowd seemed like they were relatively disengaged and not very excitable despite the action.

I will be back next with the Showtime and ESPN action from the weekend as my Sunday fantasy football draft took away my writing time on Sunday.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:148 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica:126 Pts (5)

Vince Samano:116 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Davis Stops Gamboa in 12th

The three-fight Showtime card from Atlanta turned out to be fun, interesting and disappointing as the broadcast moved forward.

In the main event, Gervonta Davis picked up a minor title in his lightweight debut as he stopped veteran Yuriorkis Gamboa, but didn't look as impressive as most expected him to against an opponent in his late 30's and had been dropped in double figures over his career.

Gamboa was reported to have fought through a torn Achilles tendon that he suffered in the second round and if that is true, that is a tremendous show of courage from the Cuban.
Still, Davis knocked Gamboa down in the second, where Gamboa is thought to have injured his Achilles, eighth, and again in the final round, when referee Jack Reiss ended the fight with Gamboa on the floor.
Davis dominated Gamboa ( I had Davis winning 109-97 after eleven rounds), but all things considered including taking two attempts to make the weight limit, the evening had to be somewhat disappointing for Davis and his team on the overall.
Davis has drawn strong crowds for his three fights this season (over 36,000 at three venues) against less than sturdy competition, so he has shown a fanbase, but with a resume' so soft that his second-best career win might be this one over the faded Gamboa, Davis is talented, but remains unproven and combined with a lack of dedication to training/making weight, I still wonder about the viability of Davis against the elite of the division such as Vasyl Lomachenko, Teofimo Lopez, and Devin Haney.
Davis shouldn't have to worry about those three as they aren't affiliated with PBC and PBC is planning on taking Davis to pay per view next time against WBA junior lightweight champion and fellow protectee Leo Santa Cruz in a fight that should see the larger Davis as a prohibitive favorite in a pairing that few want to see.

The co-main was the fun fight of the evening as veteran light heavyweights Jean Pascal and Badou Jack slugged it out for twelve rounds for Pascal's minor title in what was a tale of two fights.
The early rounds were controlled by Pascal, who scored a knockdown in the fourth round, while the late rounds were dominated by Jack, who notched a knockdown of his own in the twelfth round, just missing finishing off the tiring Pascal, who gamely held onto the final bell and retained his minor belt via split decision.
I thought Jack's late rally slightly outweighed the early work of Pascal as I scored it 114-112 for Jack, but it certainly was close enough to go either way.
A rematch would be a good idea considering the ages of the fighters (Pascal 37 Jack 36), the quality of this fight and the lack of other light heavyweight contenders other than Marcus Browne (Pascal defeated Browne and Jack lost to Browne this year) who are connected with PBC makes a rematch very likely.

Journeyman Lionell Thompson made his move down in weight from light heavyweight to super middleweight a surprising success as the underdog upset former IBF champ Jose Uzcategui via unanimous decision.
Thompson scored a flash knockdown late in the first but was deducted a point for holding in the fourth to even the playing field.
Thompson managed to land enough jabs to keep Uzcategui at bay and pull off the victory, 95-93 on my scorecard.
Uzcategui continued against Thompson what he started in his title losing effort against Caleb Plant by giving away points via flash knockdowns and not throwing enough punches until late in the fight.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's two on the card (the difference being the Pascal win) to boost my lead to 323-287.

Boxing Challenge: Pacquiao solves the Problem

 Before their pay per view fight, the story had been almost entirely about the typically boorish behavior of Adrien Broner and only a little about the skills of 40-year-old Manny Pacquiao.

The questions now are these-  just which PBC star will Manny Pacquiao face next and when will PBC realize that Adrien Broner is simply not an elite level fighter and when will their promotional company stop presenting him as such?
Manny Pacquiao threw more punches, landed the harder punches and was never threatened in a unanimous decision victory that some scored as a shutout.
I scored it 118-110 and it was surprisingly closer on the official cards, but the easy win opens up Pacquiao several avenues to choose from for his next fight.
There's always the rumors of a Floyd Mayweather return, but in hoping that never happens, Manny still has options.
Fights vs WBA champion Keith Thurman (Pacquiao holds a WBA minor title) and WBC champion Shawn Porter are possible as could be one vs Danny Garcia, who always seems to be in the thick of these events, much like Adrien Broner (more on him in a bit) and could be of interest.
IBF champion Errol Spence would be a huge challenge, should he defeat Mikey Garcia, but I'm doubtful we ever would see a Spence-Pacquiao fight as many of the reasons that Pacquiao left Top Rank was an unwillingness to face Terence Crawford so Spence wouldn't be as equal of a reward as the risk.
Mikey Garcia is a possibility, especially if he upsets Spence as the two are close to the same natural size, might make the exciting fight of the bunch and would be an attractive PPV event.

Manny Pacquiao showed enough in victory to remain viable, but Adrien Broner did not.
Broner, who despite a watered down "four division champion" resume' line has never decisively beaten a fighter better than Antonio DeMarco, has some 'arguable' decision wins over the likes of Daniel Ponce DeLeon, Paulie Malignaggi, Adrian Granados and a really questionable draw vs Jessie Vargas and losses against every top opponent he has faced (Marcos Maidana, Mikey Garcia, Shawn Porter and now Manny Pacquiao) continues to receive sizable paychecks and big fights despite mouth that delivers more in the press conference that he ever brings to the ring.
Broner's awful treatment of Al Bernstein and racist statements towards the Pacquiao camp were bad enough, but his effort, which showed a sturdy chin and nothing else, was lacking until his delusional post-fight conduct where he hollered about whipping Pacquiao for "The Hood", screaming about being robbed and talking about beating up 60-year-old Showtime interviewer Jim Gray, seemed more aimed at being a character rather than a fighter.
If we see Broner anywhere near a big fight again, PBC needs to take a deeper look at their managemental decisions and perhaps "The Zabbies" may eventually be renamed "The Bronies"!

In the co-feature, former Olympian Marcus Browne dominated and busted open Badou Jack in winning a unanimous decision (116-110 on my card) to win a minor title.
Browne boxed very well off the jab and clearly controlled the fight, but his best shots were a right hand that seemed to hurt Jack in the fifth and a headbutt that left a vertical cut down Jack's forehead which gushed as much blood as you'll see in a boxing ring.
Browne has the potential with his size and skills to be a tough fight with any of the best at 175, but
his chin has been shown to be questionable and I still think he received a gift split decision against Radivoje Kalajdzic, in a decision that was as bad you'll see.
Browne now holds a WBA minor title and will eventually face their true champion Dmitry Bivol down the road.

In the other challenge bout, Nordine Oubaali won the vacant WBC bantamweight title with a competitive, yet clear unanimous decision over Rau'Shee Warren in a pairing of southpaws.
The fight was a rematch of their 2012 Olympic fight, which was also won by Oubaali, who marched forward with a strong right hook and is in a position to be the only bantamweight title that will not be held by the winner of the World Boxing Super Series in the division.

The Jhack Tepora-Hugo Ruiz fight was canceled when Tepora was far overweight at the weigh-in.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica earned four points to my wo on the evening.
Ramon added two points each from the Pacquiao and Oubaali wins, while both of my points were due to the Pacquiao win.
I lead the challenge 9-8.

Boxing Challenge: Stevenson draws with Jack, Russell tops Diaz

Sorry, this is late, but the PC is having issues that I think are related to the latest Windows update.
Hopefully, I have smoothed those out and will have no future issues, but it did cause me to lose the entire column on the Cavaliers game three thrashing of the Celtics.
Fingers crossed that this is not an issue that continues!

Kudos to Showtime for the three fight weekend from three cities, two countries, and two platforms.
I'll have more on Showtime below.

Adonis Stevenson looked to be the fearsome champion of old for six rounds and was far ahead on my card to retain his WBC light heavyweight title in Toronto.
When the bell rang to begin round seven, everything changed for the reluctant one and he would win just one more round against the challenge of Badou Jack.
That round was enough to salvage a 114-114 draw on my card and saved his title on the judges' scorecards as Stevenson kept his championship with a majority draw.
Two judges saw it as I did with another scoring 115-113 for Jack.
It was a good enough fight, but nothing that I have to see again soon.
Stevenson was badly staggered by Jack in the 12th round, looked every one of his forty years of age and might be the sports most vulnerable champion as contenders elbow their promoters for a shot at the aging Haitian expatriate.
Jack would love a second shot, I'm sure, but the WBC allowed this fight as long as the winner agreed to fight Oleksandr Gvozdyk next.
Stevenson's track record shows that he is likely to put that fight off as long as possible and the WBC has given him more breaks than any fighter that I can remember in years, so I'm not sure that fight happens next, but it should as the WBC should order that fight or mandate that Stevenson vacate the title.
Badou Jack now owns two draws in his two biggest fights ( He drew with James DeGale in a super middleweight unification contest in 2017) and really can only blame himself.
Jack gives away far too many early rounds and makes a late charge to get back into the fight only to be at the mercy of the judges in hairline fights.
It's easy to say that Jack needs to start faster, but perhaps he simply cannot.

Meanwhile, in beautiful Oxon Hill, Maryland (and I really need to hit one of these cards sometime), Gary Russell made one of his yearly appearances and for six rounds was in a dogfight with mandatory contender Joseph Diaz.
The problem with that was that title fights are twelve rounds and Russell kicked the fight into a gear that Diaz wasn't capable of keeping up with over the second half of the fight to win a unanimous decision to keep his WBC featherweight strap.
Diaz did exactly what Badou Jack in the half of the fight-he simply didn't throw enough punches to keep Russell honest and for some reason after investing lots of bodywork in the first half of the bout didn't follow up over the second half.
I thought this is how this fight would play out and as someone that has always thought the world of Gary Russell the fighter and yet next to nothing of Gary Russell's management, I hope to see Russell back in the ring before the end of the year and against good competition too.
Gary Russell deserves better, he simply needs to step up and fight for it- outside the ring as well as inside.

The afternoon fight from Leeds, England saw Josh Warrington surprise Lee Selby with a split decision win to take Selby's IBF featherweight title and attempt to place himself in the bigger picture at 126 pounds.
Selby was never able to accomplish that throughout his title reign, so we'll have to see if Warrington can pull that off, but on this night, Warrington should have won a unanimous decision as the 115-113 Selby card was ridiculous.
Warrington has one of suffocating styles that smothers others (like that?) but is never going to bother anyone with his pop (6 KO's in his 27 wins) and against the elite of the division I would be dubious of his chances, but one thing is clear-If Warrington gets that shot against the top names- they better be ready to fend him off for twelve rounds.

A few words on Showtime, if you please ( An nod to Gordon Solie there) and their growing dominance in televising boxing.
Putting aside their connection with Al Haymon's PBC, which is often more than tentative about putting their best against the best), Showtime consistently is making solid fights, if not fights that make the world stop on a dime and have made themselves the network that I have always hoped to see in televised boxing.

Showtime is making bouts happen more than any other network and keeping boxing fans active and eyes on their product that not only helps the sport but the network as well.
Not every bout has to have championship connotations and I would like to see some fighters against better competition (most notably the Charlo's), but it's tough to argue against an active network that brings boxing to fans multiple times a month in at least interesting fights.

Showtime also offers the fairest broadcast set in the fight game as well and I was struck by this watching the Gary Russell-Joseph Diaz bout last night.
The easy way to cover this was to shower Russell, a Showtime/PBC fighter, with praise while discussing Diaz, a Golden Boy Promotions, and non-Showtime fighter, with some distance as Showtime would not gain anything from a Diaz victory.
Instead, their three-man crew of Mauro Ranallo, Al Bernstein, and Paulie Malignaggi called it straight, gave both fighters their due with what happened in the ring with no consideration for their connections outside of the ring.
This would be a layup to say that is the way all events should be called, but it isn't the case.
ESPN is somewhat of an offender with Timothy Bradley, who is quite friendly with many of Top Rank's stars outside the ring, and Mark Kriegel, who is from a writing background and calls fights with a wish for a storyline and not what is actually happening in the ring.
The opposite of what Showtime does with their commentators is HBO, who has the solid Jim Lampley, but employs Max Kellerman and Roy Jones (and occasionally Andre Ward), who enter the fight with a narrative, rarely deviate from said narrative and definitely choose a side more often than not.

I've been critical on occasion of Mauro Ranallo for often generating artificial excitement when it is not needed, but I think it's his legitimate if somewhat misguided enthusiasm for the sport that causes this and I cannot knock that.
Al Bernstein has been a favorite of mine for years and even though I wasn't always a fan of Paulie Malignaggi in the ring as a fighter, I think as a commentator, Malignaggi brings up points from the fighters perspective that aren't always about his career as is often the case with the aforementioned Roy Jones.
Showtime's announcers are the fairest in the game and from the viewer's standpoint, that's all boxing fans can ask for from the new leader in boxing television.

In the boxing challenge, I scored two points to Ramon Malpica's one.
I added two points from Gary Russell's win with Ramon scoring one.
No points were scored from the Stevenson-Jack draw and both of us selected Lee Selby to defeat Josh Warrington.
I now lead the challenge 90-71.

Boxing Challenge:Mayweather stops McGregor

At the end of a big boxing weekend, I had earned 12 points with Ramon Malpica adding seven to put the boxing challenge at 116-102.

In the fight that excited many, but not me, Floyd Mayweather showed signs of age and rust from being 40 and out of the ring for two years before rallying to stop Conor McGregor in the tenth round.
I thought McGregor won the first three rounds, but none thereafter and I had Mayweather ahead 87-84 before the stoppage by referee Robert Byrd.
I'm going to give this a little more than I thought I would so here are a few thoughts.
Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor are brilliant.
Mayweather wasn't going to be hurt by the supposed big bombing McGregor, who learned that being a big puncher in what he does in the UFC doesn't translate to boxing and McGregor wasn't going to be overwhelmed by Mayweather offensively, so neither were going to be hurt.
Mayweather looks to be a spent force at 40 and he needs to take his vow seriously of retiring for good.
Had this been an Errol Spence, Canelo Alvarez, or Gennady Golovkin in the ring last night, Mayweather likely would have hung his first L.
As for McGregor against the same bunch, the fight would have likely ended in half the rounds that this one did.
McGregor looked awkward but looked better than I figured and won a few rounds, which is more than many had done against Mayweather.
Give him credit for exceeding expectations, but keep in mind, the "big hitter" was walked down and stopped by Floyd Mayweather, who hadn't stopped anyone that hadn't dropped their hands to talk to the ref (Victor Ortiz 2011) since Ricky Hatton in 2007!
Better than expected, but still nothing I had to see...
Ramon and I both added two points for the Mayweather KO win.

The undercard was underwhelming as expected.
Mayweather Promotions supposed future superstar Gervonta Davis had a rough weekend as he failed to make weight so he forfeited his IBF junior lightweight title on the scales, got hurt in the seventh round of his bout with Francisco Fonseca before fouling Fonseca with a punch to the back of the head and referee Russell Mora counting Fonseca out rather than penalizing Davis and giving Fonseca a rest period in round eight.
I had Davis ahead 68-65 when the fight ended.
Davis is going to have to do better than this in the future if he is going to be the star that Mayweather hopes he will be.
Ramon and I earned two points each for this bout.

In the most impressive bout of the evening, Badou Jack was impressive in his light heavyweight title debut by taking a secondary light heavyweight title with a fifth-round demolition of Nathan Cleverly.
Jack won every round on my card and I would think that PBC would be pointing him towards WBC champ Adonis Stevenson, but first mandatory challenger Dimitry Bivol awaits.
I would favor the hard-punching Bivol in that bout, so don't be surprised if Jack vacates his minor title for a Stevenson bout, which could be a very entertaining fight.
Ramon and I each earned one point for the win by Jack.

In the PPV opener, Andrew Tabiti won a unanimous decision over former champion Steve Cunningham in a cruiserweight fight.
I haven't seen that fight, so no scoring there.
I added two points for the win by the undefeated Tabiti, while Ramon picked Cunningham.

In a Fox televised prelim affair, Yordanis Ugas won a unanimous decision over Thomas Dulorme in an entertaining scrap.
Ugas knocked down Dulorme twice in the second with Dulorme returning the favor with a seventh-round knockdown.
Dulorme had points deducted for illegalities twice and those cost him the fight as he lost by one point on two cards.
I scored Ugas a 94-92 winner in a fight that would have been five-five on my card if using the rounds system.
I gained two points for the win by the former Olympic bronze medalist with Ramon picking Dulorme.

Over on HBO, two world titles were on the line from Carson, California.
Miguel Cotto won every round from the constantly attacking Yoshihiro Kamegai and won a unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO junior middleweight title.
Kamegai took some huge shots and kept coming, but as good as Cotto looked, he never hurt Kamegai and I told Fred Landucci as I watched that I saw some slowing from Cotto, who was getting hit more than he should from the crude Kamegai.
Cotto says he'll fight one more time before he retires and wants the Golovkin-Alvarez winner, which I'm sure he prefers Alvarez to turn out to be the winner.
Ramon and I each won one point for the Cotto decision...

I only saw the last two rounds of the HBO opener as Rey Vargas won a unanimous decision over Ronny Rios to keep his WBC junior featherweight title.
I added two points for the Vargas win with Ramon adding one.

Now that boxing is finished for the weekend, I hope to start on my New York trip soon.
Keep in mind that Fightheads will be returning in eight days and I've missed it more than I thought.
Can't wait to return to the air... 

DeGale and Jack battle to Draw-Boxing Challenge

As bad as the PBC presentation on Spike was on Friday,that's how good the same promotion (with some help from "Mayweather Promotions") was on Showtime on Saturday as two title fights and a preliminary fight on Showtime Extreme produced excellent viewing for the boxing fan....

The main event saw an attempt to unify two of the super middleweight titles that failed as WBC champion Badou Jack and IBF beltholder James DeGale battled to a majority draw in an entertaining bout.
DeGale scored a flash knockdown of Jack in round one and dominated the early and middle rounds before ceding control to Jack,who won many of the late rounds and dropped DeGale in the final round,nearly stopping the Briton.
Had DeGale not been knocked down in the twelve,he would have won a unanimous decision.
I had DeGale a 114-112 winner,which agreed with one judge,but the other two scored the bout a draw.
One would think a rematch would be in order after such an exciting fight,but Floyd Mayweather,the promoter of Jack appears to want to move Jack to light heavyweight where the natural fight considering promotional issues would be against WBC champion Adonis Stevenson.

The co-feature saw the emergence of a possible future star as Gervonta Davis took the IBF junior lightweight title away from Jose Pedraza via a seventh round knockout.
Davis,another member of Floyd Mayweather's "Money Team" fights far differently than his mentor as Davis comes forward, makes exciting fights and is fun to watch-none of which could be said on a consistent basis of Floyd Mayweather.
Pedraza could have been more effective,if less exciting had he used his size to use the jab and see if Davis could find his way through it.
Instead,Pedraza stood his ground and attempted to back Davis up to his own detriment and fell far behind on the cards before the Davis stoppage.
PBC is stronger in some divisions than others and 130 pounds is not one of their stronger divisions as many of the bullies in the division including the boss of them all in Vasyl Lomachenko fight for other promoters and make fights vs those fighters difficult to make.
Davis strikes me as a talented fighter,who will make good fights,but will wind up being very good,but not elite....
Ramon Malpica and I each earned one point for the Davis win,so after the first weekend.I lead Ramon 4-3...

Normally,I don't mention undercard fights,but Showtime extreme shows a few undercard fights early in the evening at times and there was a middleweight fight between two undefeated prospects that both have been seen on Showtime's ShoBox series for prospects.
Immanuel Aleem was the underdog vs Ievgen Khytrov,but in the fight of the night (which does go a long way),Aleem dropped Khytrov in the first and then again in the third and looked to be ready to put Khytrov away.
That's when the fun really began as a stunned Khytrov turned the tide and began to send Aleem reeling around the ring and was out on his feet before being saved by the bell.
In round six,Aleem dropped a badly hurt Khytrov with a crunching left and an argument could have been made to end the fight right then,but Khytrov gamely rose before being driven into the ropes to be pounded before the referee stopped the fight.
Huge win for Immanuel Aleem,who is worth remembering after this fight and goes to show that there is more than just the main event when it's time for good action in the ring....