The final Boxing Challenge took place in Japan and China with fighters retaining titles, one vacant title filled and another saw a new claimant in a mild surprise.
The second of the two cards, this from Macau China was fought in an environment that appeared to have all the excitement and atmosphere of the business section of a Holiday Inn Express,
That was too bad as the main event was not only a pretty good scrap, it decided a title and kept both the winner and loser in the picture of the currently strong junior bantamweight division at 115 pounds.
Donnie Nietes deserved the decision in his previous attempt at the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title against Aston Palicte and received a draw instead.
That was paid back in spades as Nietes received a split decision over Kazuto Ioka that I didn't think he deserved.
Granted, my score was reasonably close for Ioka 115-113 (7-5), which was closer than boxing twitter and the official judges that gave both Nietes and Ioka a 116-112 card and a ridiculous 118-110 for Nietes, but in hindsight, I think that my score was the proverbial "every close round" to Nietes and Ioka should have gotten the duke.
I would love to see a rematch between the pair.
On the Macau undercard, there were two challenge bouts that I haven't been able to watch as of this writing as Japan's Hiroko Kyoguchi won the WBA light flyweight title from South Africa's Hekkie Budler when Budler's corner stopped the fight in the corner after round ten and IBF flyweight champion Moruti Mthalane of South Africa retained his title when Japan's Masahiro Sakamoto was unable to answer the bell for the eleventh round.
ESPN + showed one of the two challenge bouts from Tokyo as Masahiro Ito kept his WBO junior lightweight championship with a seventh-round stoppage of Russia's Evgeny Chuprakov.
I thought Ito had won each of the first six rounds and the stoppage saved Chuprakov from an extended beating.
In the other untelevised challenge event that I have not seen Japan's Ken Shiro kept his WBC light flyweight title via unanimous decision over Saul Juarez of Mexico.
In the other televised fight, Takuma Inoue (brother of WBA bantamweight champ Naoya "The Monster") won a unanimous decision to win a minor title over undefeated former minimumweight champion CP Freshmart of Thailand.
Freshmart, a long time favorite of Vince Samano, used his "real name" which with Thai fighters can cause confusion or this fight would have been a challenge fight.
In the final challenge fights of the year, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to finish the season in my favor 218-201.
If anyone is reading this and wants to take up the challenge with us, I might add one person if there is interest in doing it.
The boxing challenge finishes for 2018 with two fights from Japan on ESPN+ and three world title fights without American television that I am aware of.
On December 30, ESPN+ will show Masayuki Ito's defense of his newly won WBO junior lightweight title against Evgeny Chuparakov.
Ito upset highly touted Christopher Diaz last time out to win the vacant championship.
WBC junior flyweight champion Ken Shiro faces Saul Juarez for that title in the other challenge bout.
The most anticipated fight comes on New Year's Eve from China as Donnie Nietes battles Kazuto Ioka in what is likely to be an excellent contest for the vacant WBO junior bantamweight belt.
Nietes, who has won titles in three weight classes, should have won this title in September but was held to a ridiculous draw against Aston Palicte in a bout scored so poorly that the WBO decided that Ioka was more deserving of the second vacant title fight than Palicte.
Ioka, the former WBA flyweight Titleist returned on the same card after a sixteen-month retirement to win an easy decision over McWilliams Arroyo.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing this fight, even if I have to scrape to find coverage.
Hekkie Budler defends his WBA junior flyweight title against Hiroto Kyoguchi and Moruti Mthalane will do the same with his IBF flyweight title vs Masahiro Sakamoto in the undercard's featured fights.
I lead Ramon Malpica 214-197 in the boxing challenge,
WBO Junior Lightweight Title 12 Rds
Masayuki Ito vs Evgeny Chuparakov
Both: Ito Unanimous Decision
WBC Junior Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Ken Shiro vs Saul Juarez
R.L: Shiro Unanimous Decision
TRS: Shiro KO 6
The last big weekend in the 2018 boxing year saw a tremendous heavyweight battle with a clean knockout, one European taking the place of another at the top of a division, two disappointing performances and one of those ended in a terrible decision.
The best fight was in London, where Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora hooked up in a rematch of their bombs away bout of 2016 that Whyte won by a narrow split decision that I scored a draw.
This one wasn't quite of that caliber, but it still was very exciting and action filled (think of taking two tests and scoring a 95 and a 92, both are excellent, but one is slightly better) and the ending was quite dramatic.
I had Chisora ahead 95-94 entering the 11th (6-4 with Chisora losing a point for a low blow in the eighth) before Chisora lost another point in the eleventh for elbowing.
Just when you began to wonder if those two points had the potential to cost Chisora the fight on the cards, Whyte decided to make that point moot with a left hook that wiped out Chisora for the evening and keep Whyte at the top of the list of heavyweight contenders.
Whyte deserves a rematch vs Anthony Joshua and may get it in the spring, while this might have been the last stand for Chisora, it was a strong one and it might be best for Chisora to step aside on a high note, although his effort in this one might earn him more paychecks.
On the undercard in a fight that I've not seen of this writing, Britain's Charlie Edwards upset Cristofer Rosales via unanimous decision to win the WBC flyweight title.
In Manchester, Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over the favored Carl Frampton.
Warrington shot to the lead by winning five of the first six rounds and never looked back, winning on my card 117-111.
Warrington isn't going to knock out many (only six KO's), but his attack never slows and he simply did not allow Frampton to get comfortable enough to fire back and keep Warrington off of him.
The swarming Warrington throws punches by a rate that surpasses other noted volume punchers in the division such as WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz.
Frampton was talking retirement after the fight and the time may be right for Frampton to step away.
Frampton isn't getting hurt, but he hasn't been the same fighter since his winning first fight against Leo Santa Cruz and even though he's still a top ten fighter, he's dropped back from the best of the division.
As for the victor, Warrington is rumored to be headed to the U.S in 2019 for a title unification fight vs WBO champ Oscar Valdez, which should be a good one, although selfishly, a Warrington unification against Leo Santa Cruz might set a record for combined punches in a fight.
I'd still rank Warrington as an underdog against Valdez, Santa Cruz or WBC champ Gary Russell, but Warrington has surprised observers in his last two wins and he'd be a live underdog against any of the three.
On the Warrington-Frampton undercard, former minor titleholders at middleweight battled in a fight to prove future viability with Hassan N'Dam winning a majority decision over Martin Murray.
I scored the fight even at 114-114, but it seemed like N'Dam did a little more and was certainly more active than Murray, who showed a reluctance that he had not shown in past efforts.
The PBC returned for a "reboot" on network television and it reportedly did reasonably well in the ratings after doing plenty of promotional work during football.
The card pushed the Charlo brothers and while neither brother looked particularly effective, both deserved victories, but surprisingly only one received a raised hand.
Jermall Charlo defeated late replacement Matt Korobov via unanimous decision (115-113 on my card) with a late run that saw him win five of the final six rounds to gain the victory,
The cards were wider than I had it scored, with one ridiculous 119-108 scorecard being unfair to Korobov, who showed that he deserved another chance against good competition with a strong outing on short notice.
Charlo now using the nickname "Hit Man" which both Thomas Hearns and Bret Hart should sue for damaging a trademark didn't score a knockdown, but he did have Korobov hurt in the final round.
I'm still not totally convinced that Charlo will do well against the best of the division.
Charlo's best wins are still a KO of a somewhat untested at the time Julian Williams, a decision of an aging Austin Trout and now Korobov, who hadn't fought a quality opponent in four years, so there are still questions to be answered- questions other than who said it was a good idea to name Charlo "Hit Man" that is...
In the shocker of the day, Tony Harrison stunned Jermell Charlo via unanimous decision to take away the WBC junior middleweight title in a fight that would be quickly forgotten if not for the terrible decision (I had Charlo winning 116-112), Charlo's charging that Harrison told him that Charlo had clearly won to the interviewer that Harrison had denied, shortly after Harrison had graciously called Charlo a great champion, told him that he would receive a rematch and Harrison (on live national TV no less) responded with "F You, I'll fight Hurd then", referring to a unification with Jarrett Hurd, who holds the WBA and IBF titles and was expected to fight Charlo next.
A Hurd-Harrison fight would be fine to unify, but they have fought previously with Hurd stopping Harrison in nine rounds, so a rematch wouldn't especially be anticipated.
I'd bet we'll see the Harrison-Charlo rematch instead and hope it'll be better to watch than this one.
Charlo clearly deserved the win, but like his brother didn't impress doing so.
Both Charlo's seem to be overrated as punchers and underrated as boxers and would seem to be most effective when they blend the two styles.
As for the PBC, they learned a valuable lesson- when your fighters fight once or twice a year and you wait to have your best fight the best- anything can happen to derail the end game.
Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale knocked out Carlos Negron in the opening fight in the ninth round in a stay busy fight until Breazeale recieves his mandatory title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Breazeale had not fought in over a year in a somewhat common occurrence among PBC fighters and needed to get some rounds in.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me 6-4 over the weekend.
My season lead was cut to 214-197.
Ramon scored two points for wins by Breazeale and Charlo along with one each from Whyte and N'Dam.
My points came from Breazeale (two) and one each from Charlo and Whyte
The 2018 boxing challenge "season" winds down with three fight cards on Saturday that could keep you watching boxing from just after lunch through ten o'clock EST should you so desire.
Since I am a junkie, I'll be doing as much of that as I can (If I'm able to sleep, I might miss a little of the undercard of the first card) and we start in Manchester, England with the best world title fight of the weekend as IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington defending against former WBA champion and the only person to beat current WBA beltholder Leo Santa Cruz in Carl Frampton.
Warrington won his title in a mild surprise to some in decisioning countryman Lee Selby in May after it appeared that Selby would defend against Frampton in an anticipated bout in England with a win over Warrington.
Frampton has won all three of his fights since his only loss in the rematch vs Leo Santa Cruz but hasn't dazzled anyone in the victory.
This should be very interesting to see how both fighters step up in class- Warrington has never fought anyone of Frampton's class and Frampton will need to show if he is still an elite fighter or has he taken a step back.
The winner could face WBO champ Oscar Valdez in a title unification fight in 2019.
The Manchester slate also includes former WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders in an eight-round return to action and Irish prospect Michael Conlan, but the other challenge bout is one of those oft-mentioned crossroads bout that I look at as one of those old-school pro wrestling "Loser Leaves Town" bouts between middleweight gatekeepers Martin Murray and Hassan N'Dam.
N'Dam, who has won minor world titles twice, but has lost in each attempt to move up in status (Losses to Peter Quillin, David Lemieux and in his last fight Ryota Murata) faces Murray, who also has won two minor world titles, but has fallen short in each of four attempts (Felix Sturm in a horrible decision, Sergio Martinez, who Murray dropped in a fight that could have gone either way, Gennady Golovkin, and George Groves) for an actual world championship.
The winner keeps hopes alive for an eventual title shot, the loser moves to almost journeyman status.
Showtime moves to the forefront after that with the rematch of one of the best heavyweight fights in years as Dillian Whyte battles Dereck Chisora from London.
The 2016 fight between these two, won by Whyte via split decision, was as good of a battle of the big boys as you'll find and Whyte has a possible rematch on the line against Anthony Joshua, so he'll be motivated.
Chisora, who has had a spotty career with flashes of excellence, is coming off a KO win of former world title challenger Carlos Takam, so he's not finished by any means, but he's clearly the underdog.
If this one is half as good as their first fight, you need to look it up.
Cristofer Rosales defends his WBC flyweight title on the undercard against Briton Charlie Edwards.
Rosales is looking to end 2018 on a high note after KO wins of highly regarded Daigo Higa and Irish Olympian Paddy Barnes this year.
The action then shifts to New York with the PBC returning to Fox with a three-fight slate.
Jermall Charlo defends his minor middleweight title against last-minute replacement Matt Korobov in the main event.
Korobov replaces Willie Monroe Jr after Monroe failed his VADA test for PED's and was once thought to be a future star before being knocked out by Andy Lee by one punch in the sixth round after winning every round for the then-vacant WBO middleweight title in 2014
Korobov has rarely fought since (four times in four years) and none of those against good opponents, the best of those being veteran clubfighter Brian Vera, so who really knows what he'll have to offer, but still, I find this more interesting than Monroe, who would have likely run from Charlo, who is still living off his one notable win in a KO of Julian J-Rock Williams.
The other Charlo, Jermell defends his WBC junior middleweight title against Tony Harrison.
Charlo, like his brother, talks well, fights well doesn't fight often and doesn't like to face anyone that can punch him back faces Harrison, who has won three straight since being stopped by WBA/IBF champion Jarrett Hurd, but has failed against top competition.
Charlo didn't thrill me in his last fight, a close decision win over aging veteran Austin Trout and is expected to fight Hurd in his next bout in a three title unification fight, that apparently Charlo thinks is a pay per view fight.
While I'd love to see the two square off and I think it would be very interesting, it is nowhere near a pay per view attraction as the main event, although if paired with another strong fight would make a helluva co-feature there.
If it takes making that a PPV main event to get this fight signed, I'm not sure that will happen.
Dominic Breazeale opens the show against Carlos Negron in a stay busy heavyweight fight.
Breazeale will likely be the mandatory contender in the WBC for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch winner and he's not going to face anyone too tough and picked Negron, who has a glossy record with one loss, but whose biggest win is over trialhorse Derric Rossy.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 210-191
IBF Featherweight Title. 12 Rds
Josh Warrington vs Carl Frampton
Both: Frampton Unanimous Decision
Middleweights. 12 Rds
Martin Murray vs Hassan N'Dam
R.L: N'Dam Unanimous Decision
TRS: Murray Unanimous Decision
The Saturday debut on DAZN with Golden Boy Promotions was anticipated, even though it was expected that the star of the evening, Canelo Alvarez, would cruise through his fight. to be a card with clear-cut favorites.
It was more than that though as some of the fights would never occur, but first, it's Canelo Alvarez who would win one of the WBA's minor titles and could now claim to be yet another multi-divisional champion ( one of my boxing pet peeves) in what was as big of mismatch as you'll see in a while in a third round detonation of England's Rocky Fielding.
Alvarez dropped Fielding four times and I'm not sure that I can describe just how lopsided this fight was.
Fielding was clearly the larger man and that was his only edge.
I can live with these types of fights for active fighters, so I'm fine with this one since Canelo did fight Gennady Golovkin just three months ago, but I won't be so tolerant with another one next time.
Two of the boxing challenge fights never happened as David Lemieux didn't make weight and his fight was Tureano Johnson was sadly canceled.
That's too bad as that would have easily been the best fight of the evening.
Lemieux and promoter Golden Boy needs to realize whether it's a lack of training or simply a fighter that has outgrown his division-Lemieux needs to move on to 168 and not sign for fights at 160 no matter how badly he/they may want to make a bout.
While I'm at it-I feel terrible for Johnson, who lost a paycheck and training expenses and I'd like to add a new rule that state commissions could make and then enforce- IF a fighter does not make weight, his team is responsible for either full reimbursement of training expenses (if a fight's purse would have that be feasible) or if a prelim fight, a set sum that would at least help a little in making things right.
Prospect Vergil Ortiz was not passed by the New York State Commission due to a past eye surgery.
While I can respect that for looking out for the fighters safety, I wished someone could have figured this out before the day of the fight!
This moved Tevin Farmer's IBF junior lightweight defense against Francisco Fonseca to the co-main.
Fonseca tried hard, but Farmer dominated in a fight that both fighters were doing their best but settled into one round each resembling the last as Farmer won a unanimous decision (118-110 on my card).
Farmer once again called out WBA kingpin Gervonta Davis in a fight that both seem to want but is unlikely to happen.
That left the only other challenge bout as former WBO junior middleweight champ Sadam Ali returned to his natural weight at 147 and shutout former junior welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera on his way to a unanimous decision.
It was an ugly bout, not very entertaining and not one that saw Ali shine.
All and all, not a great night for Golden Boy or DAZN, who I'll be discussing their presentation in a future post.
Things aren't always going to fall the way the promoter/network wants them, but with the exception of Canelo doing what champions should do against overmatched competition- take them out early, this had to be a disappointing start to the GBP series on DAZN.
It'll get better- It better...
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me six to four on the weekend.
Ramon scored two points each from Tevin Farmer and Sadam Ali and one each from Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez on Friday.
I added my four with two from Ali and one each from Canelo and Farmer.
I still lead Ramon for the year with two weeks to go 210-191
Jesse Hart had called out WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez for a rematch of their 2017 fight that was a decision win for Ramirez but saw Hart charging down the stretch as the stronger fighter to narrow a huge lead at the final bell.
This fight was similar (Hart again mounted a late charge), a little different (Hart didn't get knocked down as he did in the first fight) and the fight lacked either fighter being seriously hurt as in their first encounter.
Still, with Hart seeming to be the stronger fighter, Ramirez having spent a few rounds with what appeared to be an arm or elbow injury, the blocks were falling into place like Tetris for Hart to win the title for himself and his dad, the former contender Cyclone Hart for the perfect television story ending as we entered the final round.
Sometimes, the predictable ending isn't the ending that occurs as almost simultaneously, Hart realized Ramirez was injured, turned into a fighter in cruise mode, Ramirez turned in a Larry Holmes-like final round as a one-handed fighter and landed more punches in a brave final stand to win the last round to earn a draw (114-114) on my card.
The more important cards though saw Ramirez a winner via a majority decision (had Hart won the final round, Ramirez would have still retained his title via a majority draw) and an inconsolable Hart after the fight.
Hart has no one to blame other than himself though as under the circumstances, it has been a long time since I've seen a fighter with so much to gain and with so many advantages entering the fight's end, just utterly lay an egg in such a manner.
Just an absolute stunner after eleven rounds of a strong effort for Hart and for Ramirez, he showed heart and grit in overcoming injury to pull out a fight that could have gone either way.
I'm not sure how long Ramirez will be out of the game as he recovers from this injury and he's expected to vacate the WBO title in order to move to the light heavyweight division, but despite punching power that has to be questioned and a competition resume that is made to be questioned
outside of Hart, he'll have an easier time finding better fights at the higher division so we could know soon, whether Ramirez is a nice fighter or a really good one as each of the four light heavyweight champions (Alvarez, Bivol, Beterviev, and Gvozdyk) are undefeated.
Hart will have a good chance of being chosen to fight for the title likely to be vacated considering his two fights vs Ramirez, but he has to be kicking himself after the final round and if he was told he was far ahead by his corner, that's on them and I'd definitely consider changes there if that was the case.
Most observers had Ramirez as the number one super middleweight, even over WBA champion and World Boxing Super Series winner Callum Smith, so there will be a shakeup in the division and although I favor IBF champ Jose Uzcategui as the best fighter in the division post-Ramirez, there will be much to be decided there- if the right fighters fight each other.
Overall, Gilberto Ramirez showed things that he never had to show before, while Jesse Hart returns to the gym and will have to wait for another time to attempt to erase the one that got away.
The boxing year of 2018 nears its end, but there are two cards this weekend, one on Friday and the other on Saturday with arguably the biggest name ( not best, I said biggest) in the sport.
First, on Friday night, ESPN+ puts forth a very interesting rematch from 2017 as Gilberto Ramirez defends his WBO super middleweight title against Jesse Hart from Corpus Christi, Texas.
Ramirez dropped Hart early in the fight and built a huge lead on the scorecards, but Hart won several of the late rounds and appeared to have hurt Ramirez in the eleventh round.
Ramirez is rated by many (TRS ratings included) as the best 168 pounder in the world, but other than Hart, the remaining top fighters in the division fight for other promoters/networks and Ramirez (Or Hart if he wins) may be a champion without a worthy contender in his future.
Saturday will see the debut of Canelo Alvarez on DAZN as he attempts to win a minor super middleweight title in what he says will be a lone fight at the weight before he drops back to middleweight to defend his WBA and WBC titles next year.
The hand-picked opponent is England's Rocky Fielding, who upset Tyron Zeuge of Germany to win his minor title in his last fight in his only victory against good opposition.
Fielding is a good puncher, but his chin has questions as in his only loss to current WBA champion Callum Smith, he was knocked out in one round.
Canelo isn't a huge hitter at middleweight and will be a very small super middleweight against Fielding, but the class should tell.
The undercard will have some interesting fights with the most exciting being a middleweight match between huge punching David Lemieux against aggressive Tureano Johnson.
This one might feature a possible huge knockout as Johnson took a lot of punishment in a loss to Sergey Dereyvanchenko and if his punch resistance has reduced, this could get ugly.
If Johnson still takes a shot well, this might be a really fun fight to watch.
One of boxing's most active fighters defends his IBF junior lightweight title as Tevin Farmer against journeyman Francisco Fonseca.
Farmer won his title in August and in four months as a champion will be making his second title defense.
The slick boxing Farmer knocked out James Tennyson in his first defense and appears to want to be a more fan-friendly action fighter, while Fonseca was crushed in his only fight against anyone that you've heard- an eighth-round stoppage loss to Gervonta Davis, who now owns the WBA title, but before that encounter Davis held the IBF title now held by Farmer, but was stripped for failing to make weight.
Farmer and Davis constantly snipe at each other at social media over a potential unification fight and Farmer's promoter Eddie Hearn made a big offer for Davis to fight full-time at Matchroom or come for a one fight deal vs Farmer, but Davis declined the offer.
Former WBO junior middleweight champion Sadam Ali drops down to his natural weight of welterweight against former junior welterweight contender Mauricio Herrera and prospect Vergil Ortiz battles Omar Tienda in a junior welterweight bout to round out the challenge fights.
I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 206-185
WBO Super Middleweight Title.12 Rds
Gilberto Ramirez vs Jesse Hart
R.L; Ramirez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Hart Split Decision
Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Canelo Alvarez vs Rocky Fielding
R.L: Alvarez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Alvarez KO 7
Middleweights 12 Rds
David Lemieux vs Tureano Johnson
R.L: Lemieux KO 4
TRS: Lemieux KO 6
IBF Junior Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Tevin Farmer vs Francisco Fonseca
R.L: Farmer Unanimous Decision
TRS: Farmer KO 10
Welterweights. 10 Rds
Sadam Ali vs Mauricio Herrera
Both: Ali Unanimous Decision
Junior Welterweights. 10 Rds
Vergil Ortiz vs Omar Tienda
R.L: Ortiz KO 9
TRS: Ortiz Unanimous Decision
The Boxing Challenge had its main event from New York, but the performances on the undercard were equally as strong and it was a nice night of the Sweet Science from the Big Apple (Big Apple, Big Cesspool as Wes Huntley once quipped).
The main event starred Vasyl Lomachenko in his return from shoulder surgery against Jose Pedraza as he won a unanimous decision to add Pedraza's WBO lightweight belt to the WBA version that he held entering the fight.
Lomachenko looked a little slow to start, but he dominated the second half of the fight and the eleventh round where he knocked Pedraza down twice might have been the best fought round by a fighter this year.
Only the bell saved Pedraza after that onslaught and his best in the final round allowed him to go the distance.
My card had Lomachenko winning 117-109 and Lomachenko mentioned after the fight wanting to have a chance to collect the remaining two belts in the division.
Mikey Garcia holds the WBC title and between his Quixote-like attempt to defeat Errol Spence and his noted difficulty to do business with makes such a fight as unlikely to happen as it would be awaited by fans and the IBF title is vacant currently to be decided by the winner of a Richard Commey- Isa Chaniev bout in February.
The Commey-Chaniev fight will take place on the ESPN telecast of the Eleider Alvarez-Sergey Kovalev rematch and according to Top Rank president Bob Arum, an agreement has been made with Lou DiBella, who promotes both fighters, that the winner will face Lomachenko in May.
I've never seen Chaniev fight, but I have seen Commey and Chaniev will have to be pretty strong to win that fight.
Lomachenko wasn't the only impressive winner on the worldwide leader as Emanuel Navarette upset Issac Dogboe by a unanimous decision to earn the WBO junior featherweight title that Dogboe won earlier this year.
Navarette entered the fight untested, but with an impressive record, much larger and taller than Dogboe and using those advantages was able to control Dogboe to rarely allow the Ghana native to step inside and do his best work.
Navarette was very sharp in the win, but let's wait to see if he is truly a new star.
Often styles make fights and physically, Dogboe was made for Navarette.
I scored Navarette a 116-112 winner.
And there was Teofimo Lopez, the talented lightweight prospect who faced his toughest opponent to date in trialhorse Mason Menard.
Menard had lasted seven rounds with former WBO champion Ray Beltran and eight against another nice lightweight prospect in Devin Haney in May, but I wrote if Lopez is as good as I think he is, he'll take Menard out in less than five.
Menard lasted forty-four seconds and ended the fight face down on the canvas in what will at least be a competitor in the race for KO of the year.
That was about as impressive as you could be and Lopez needs to receive yet another bounce in competition.
I hate to rush young boxers, but he's not going to be tested by the level of Menard-like fighters and he might as well take those risks.
In England, Matchroom, and DAZN led the top of their card with Kell Brook against what appeared to be a squash match and title eliminator in journeyman Michael Zerafa.
Instead, Brook won a clear decision (118-110 on my card) but looked dreadful winning and looked to be nowhere near ready to take on a top contender
Brook looked slow, took his share of punches from Zerafa and never seriously hurt a fighter that was taken out in five by Peter Quillin in the past.
Amir Khan vs Brook has been a dream fight for British fans for years, but unless Khan watched this fight and decides easy money against Brook is better than a bid to dethrone Terence Crawford, Brook might be in No Man's land.
It's sad to say, but although Brook should be applauded for courage for jumping to middleweight to try Gennady Golovkin, it was a foolish move as the beating that Brook took seems to have ruined him as a world-class fighter.
The other challenge bout from England was canceled when welterweight prospect Josh Kelly fell ill and his leap in competition against David Avanesyan was canceled.
On the final HBO card, junior featherweight contender Juan Francisco Estrada wore down former sparring partner Victor Mendez and Mendez's corner ended the fight after the seventh round.
I had Estrada ahead six to one on my card and Mendez looked ready to go, had he continued the fight and tried the eighth round.
Estrada is the mandatory contender for WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and a rematch of their exciting fight that Rungvisai squeaked a majority decision would be welcomed.
In the boxing challenge, I earned six points to Ramon Malpica's five with the difference being two points for me to Ramon's one for the Juan Francisco Estrada win.
The total is currently 206-185.
First, let me apologize that I haven't posted on the Wilder-Fury fight.
Since I've been out of town and busy, I've only seen highlights, but I'll be watching the Showtime replay.
The main fight for the weekend is on ESPN with the top rates pound for pound fighter on the list of most attempting to unify his WBA lightweight title with the WBO's version.
Vasyl Lomachenko's bid for a second title against Jose Pedraza from New York City might be an interesting one as Pedraza has the style to bother Lomachenko for a few rounds, boxing from the outside and using the jab.
"The Sniper" fought the best fight that I've seen him fight when he upset the applecart in decisioning Ray Beltran to win his championship, but don't place aside his only loss when he lost his junior lightweight title when he was basically overrun by Gervonta Davis.
The undercard has the return of the exciting WBO junior featherweight champion Issac Dogboe with a title defense against Emmanuel Navarette.
Navarette has 22 KO's in his 25 wins but has defeated no one of note, so he is a bit of an unknown factor entering this fight.
Dogboe keeps gaining status with each win so this could be an action-filled fight.
Hot lightweight prospect Teofimo Lopez faces veteran gatekeeper Mason Menard in a ten round fight to open the ESPN card.
If Lopez is as good as I think he might be, he'll take Menard out in the first half of the fight.
On an afternoon DAZN card from England, former IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook returns against Michael Zerafa of Australia.
Zerafa, a journeyman that was knocked out by Peter Quillin in his only world class bout, somehow lucked into this bout against Brook in a WBA eliminator at 154 pounds and appears outclassed.
The other challenge bout features Josh "Pretty Boy" Kelly, a promising British welterweight that I thought was very impressive in stopping Walter Castillo last month in one round in his first test against former minor titleholder David Avanesyan, who enters with losses in two of his last three fights.
If Kelly is for real (and he's being moved fast at 8-0), he'll be impressive in this one.
HBO says goodbye to boxing with two female fights and Juan Francisco Estrada as a late substitute for Roman Gonzalez against Victor Mendez.
Estrada should be heavily favored as the main reason to watch this card at all will be the Larry Merchant cameo, Jim Lampley's goodbye and what will likely be a terrific video that celebrates HBO's years in the business.
I lead the boxing challenge over Ramon Malpica 200-179
Unification WBA-WBO Lightweight titles. 12 rds
Vasyl Lomachenko vs Jose Pedraza
R.L; Lomachenko KO 7
TRS: Lomachenko KO 10
WBO Junior Featherweight Title. 12 Rds
Issac Dogboe vs Emanuel Navarette
R.L: Dogboe KO 9
TRS: Dogboe KO 5
Lightweights. 10 Rds
Teofimo Lopez vs Mason Menard
R.L: Lopez KO 5
TRS: Lopez KO 3
Junior Middleweights. 12 Rds
Kell Brook vs Michael Zerafa
R.L: Brook KO 9
TRS: Brook KO 6
Welterweights 10 Rds
Josh Kelly vs David Avenesyan
R.L: Kelly Unanimous Decision
TRS: Kelly KO 7
Junior Bantamweights 10 Rds
Juan Francisco Estrada vs Victor Mendez
R.L: Estrada Unanimous Decision
TRS: Estrada KO 8
In Quebec City Canada in front of a Showtime audience that was using the broadcast as a lead-in for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury PPV, Oleksandr Gvozdyk finally took the WBC light heavyweight title that had been held hostage for so many years in Canada by Adonis Stevenson away from him with a brutal eleventh round knockout that has Stevenson hospitalized in intensive care as of this writing.
I've been a detractor of Stevenson's for years for his long stretches of inactivity and the WBC's constant coddling of his choosing less than world class opponents and the ending of his reign which started with so much promise is welcomed and would be celebrated by many if not for the sad ending which has him in critical condition.
Gvozdyk gave Stevenson the first two rounds, but on my card won all but one after that, although Stevenson did have his occasional moment as he briefly wobbled Gvozdyk in the tenth round.
Gvozdyk also clearly knocked Stevenson down in the third round, but referee Michael Griffin called it a slip as part of a completely awful evening for the officials in Quebec City.
Griffin not only missed the early knockdown, but he should also have stopped the fight in the eleventh earlier than he did as a clearly finished Stevenson was defenseless as he took one final Gvozdyk right hand that sent him tumbling to the floor in obvious distress.
And THEN you have the scorecards which were worse than a cheese sandwich left out in the sun for a week, with one judge even after ten rounds, another 96-94 and a final 98-92 card for STEVENSON?!
I had it 97-93 for Gvozdyk and you see why fighters have to finish opponents off when they can- as despite dominating the bout, Gvozdyk would have entered round twelve (this is Stevenson surviving the 11th hypothetically) even on one card (10-8 11th round) and having no chance on the other.
Gvozdyk was about to be screwed on the cards and he took matters into his own hands by doing his job.
Gvozdyk's win likely takes the PBC out of the light heavyweight picture for now as he takes the WBC title to Top Rank, Artur Beterbiev's IBF is with Matchroom and until the WBO rematch between Elieder Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev and the decision by WBA Dmitry Bivol on his tv platform occurs, we really don't know where the 175 pound division stands.
Gvozdyk is more of a standup boxer than huge puncher, but he stacks up well against any of the other three champions and would make interesting fights as well.
As for Stevenson, best wishes for a full recovery, but even with a full recovery, I would hope to not see him in the ring again.
At 41, he had already become a six round fighter that built a lead and tried to make it home as in his previous fight, a draw against Badou Jack and his never strong chin is obviously getting worse.
I have not seen the PPV card, if and when I do I will post about the results.
In the boxing challenge, I added five points to Ramon Malpica's four to move my lead to 200-179
Friday morning from Brisbane, Australia in a fight that matched the top two Australian fighters in recent years, former welterweight champion Jeff Horn knocked out former super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine in a little over a minute.
Horn's knockout didn't appear to be an especially hard shot at first glance, but the replay showed that the left hook just disintegrated any hope or fight that the aging Mundine had on this evening and for all the bravado and arrogance shown in the pre-fight promotion, Mundine's career should have been over long ago and this effort (to be unkind) or lack of punch resistance (to give the benefit of the doubt) reinforced that fact.
Mundine should fade away into Australian boxing history, but Horn still has a future somewhere, likely at 154 and shouldn't have much of a problem finding fights, especially if he can work out an agreement with PBC, who currently holds almost all of the cards in the junior middleweight division.
Horn isn't an elite welterweight/junior middleweight, controversial win over Manny Pacquiao aside, but Horn will give anyone except for the truly elite a rough outing.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added one point for the Horn victory to move the boxing challenge to 195-175.
The month of December starts with an interesting heavyweight title fight that few may see along with some other bouts over the weekend.
The biggest fight literally and figuratively comes from Los Angeles as WBC heavyweight kingpin Deontay Wilder faces the lineal champion that never lost his titles in the ring in Britain's Tyson Fury.
The heavy-hitting Wilder's most impressive win came in his last fight in January with a exciting knockout of Luis Ortiz that saw Wilder badly hurt in the seventh round, but rebounding to stop Ortiz in the tenth.
The victory over the division's most avoided fighter earned Wilder more credibility in one night than he gained in his first six defenses combined.
Wilder hits as hard as anyone in the game, but there are still chin questions and for as much power as he brings, his wild and freelancing style leaves him wide open for counters.
Fury won three of the four world titles (lacking only the WBC title at stake in this fight) and the lineal title in a 2015 decision over Wladimir Klitschko that was clearly won by Fury, but was one of the duller title events in recent history, but issues out of the ring caused him to relinquish the titles before two fights earlier this year against limited competition.
I still remember cruiserweight Steve Cunningham knocking Fury down and almost out years ago and I think part of his chin holding up against Klitschko was the reluctance of the former champion to throw any punches at all.
It'll be an interesting fight and I could see it going either way as Wilder is the harder puncher, but Fury is the bigger man.
The undercard is nothing special with WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd defending against Great Britain's Jason Welborn in Hurd's first fight back from shoulder surgery.
Welborn is a journeyman type, who isn't deserving of a title fight really, but under the circumstances, fits the bill for Hurd's return to the ring.
Luis Ortiz, who will have an excellent chance of facing the Wilder-Fury winner next, faces journeyman Travis Kauffman, who has fought just three times in three years and was once stopped by Tony Grano.
This one is designed to make Ortiz look good and could end early.
Showtime is showing an excellent "free view" on its channel, YouTube and Facebook before the card from Los Angeles starts as WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson defends against mandatory contender Oleksandr Gvozdyk in Quebec City, Canada.
This is interesting on several fronts as Stevenson rarely defends against anyone with a chance to defeat him ( He ducked mandatory contender Elieder Alvarez for years), will be defending against a fighter that isn't controlled by the PBC (Gvozdyk is promoted by Top Rank, who lost the purse bid), against a fighter that is a natural light heavyweight (Stevenson drew with former 168 pound champ Badou Jack last time out) and Stevenson is now 41 years old.
I would have picked Gvozdyk easily had he not fought just once in the last 16 months and looked ordinary in that fight against Mehdi Amar, but hopefully "The Nail" will rise to the occasion.
The first fight in the challenge is the Australian grudge match on ESPN+ around 6;30 AM Friday morning as former WBA super middleweight champ Anthony Mundine faces former WBO welterweight titlist Jeff Horn in a catchweight fight.
I normally hate these, but without a title on the line and Mundine being far larger, this is one of those rare occasions where it is a good fit.
I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 194-174.
Middleweights. 12 Rds
Jeff Horn vs Anthony Mundine
R.L: Horn Split Decision
TRS: Horn Unanimous Decision
WBC Lt.Heavyweight Title. 12 Rds
Adonis Stevenson vs Oleksandr Gvozdyk
R.L: Stevenson KO 10
TRS: Gvozdyk Unanimous Decision
The boxing challenge weekend saw three fights and all of them added up to a collective "meh".
The tepid weekend was an appetizer for what is hoped to be an explosive slate of fights to start December and like an appetizer that doesn't measure up, it was small and in one case left an awful taste in your mouth.
HBO continued its flat tire of a farewell tour with Dmitry Bivol delivering a dominating yet unfulfilling unanimous decision over a faded Jean Pascal to retain his WBA light heavyweight title in Atlantic City.
I had Bivol winning all but one round,(119-109) but never seemed close to really turning up the heat and trying to finish Pascal off and whether Bivol was bored or there was another reason for an average outing.
Bivol is now a television free agent and where he signs will determine what champion that he will try to unify his title with.
DAZN streamed a less than exciting card from Monte Carlo with Denis Lebedev cruising to a boring unanimous decision over American unknown Mike Walker in a bout that will give Lebedev the WBA cruiserweight title, should Oleksandr Usyk vacate it.
Less said about this the better, but I had Lebedev a 119-109 winner.
The other challenge event saw a robbery as Kal Yafai retained his WBA junior bantamweight championship via a ridiculous unanimous decision over Israel Gonzalez via scores of 117-111 and two cards of 116-112.
I thought Gonzalez controlled the fight and outpunched the heralded Yafai and won on my 116-112 scorecard.
If this is how Yafai is going to fight in the future, he will have real problems with the other champions/top contenders as Gonzalez lost every round and hit the mat three times earlier this year in a challenge to the title of IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me five to four and trimmed my lead to 194-174.
The difference was Ramon's two points for Denis Lebedev's win to my one.
Only three boxing challenge events this weekend with the main fight taking place on the dying franchise that is HBO with Dmitry Bivol defending his WBA light heavyweight title against a well-past his prime Jean Pascal.
Bivol would have been involved in a huge title unification against Sergey Kovalev on this card, had Kovalev not been upset in August by Eleider Alvarez, but will instead face a name fighter in former champion Pascal, who seems to be well past his best days.
My best guess is that this fight goes one of two ways- Either an inspired Pascal summons whatever he has left in his backpack, troubles Bivol for a while and but wears down for a late stoppage or clear decision or Bivol just dominates Pascal from the opening bell and finishes him in the first six rounds.
The other two fights are on a DAZN card from Monte Carlo with the main event being the WBA's cruiserweight "Champion in recess" (Which basically means he'll receive a title shot when he asks for it) Denis Lebedev returning to the ring against Mike Wilson.
Wilson is from Oregon (Not exactly a traditional boxing area) and has fought no one of note, despite being undefeated.
Lebedev returns to the ring for the second time since September after fighting just one in two years
after losing to Murat Gassiev in 2016.
My guess is that Lebedev is attempting to get back into ring shape as he anticipates Oleksandr Usyk's departure from the cruiserweight division and then cashes in his title shot for the vacant WBA belt against a softer opponent.
The only challenge bout on the undercard from Monaco will show Kal Yafai's defense of the WBA junior bantamweight title against Israel Gonzalez.
Yafai will hopefully have a shot a bigger fight in the division in 2019 and an impressive win over Gonzalez might help after Gonzalez lasted ten rounds with IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas in February.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 190-169
WBA Light Heavyweight Title.12 Rds
Dmitry Bivol vs Jean Pascal
R.L: Bivol KO 6
TRS: Bivol KO 8
Cruiserweights. 12 Rds
Denis Lebedev vs Mike Wilson
R.L: Lebedev Unanimous Decision
TRS: Lebedev KO 5
WBA Junior Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds
Kal Yafai vs Israel Gonzalez
Both: Yafai Unanimous Decision
A Matchroom card televised by DAZN managed to kill a Saturday (or in my case Saturday and Sunday before I watched the entire card) with various bouts of interest and three in the boxing challenge from the boxing hotbed of Mulvane, Kansas.
The main event saw Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller win a minor heavyweight title with a fourth-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu.
Miller weighed in at over 300 pounds and Dinu looked strong enough by winning the first two rounds.
Miller picked up the pace in the third before finishing him in the fourth round after two knockdowns.
Miller could be the spring opponent for three title holding champion Anthony Joshua, who is also promoted by Matchroom, but even if not then Miller will eventually receive that shot with the minor title that he won in Mulvane.
Miller makes me think of so many of the beefy 1980's heavyweights such as Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, Michael Dokes etc that possessed world-class abilities and the appetite to go with it that made them capable of the occasional brilliant performance yet so often were maddeningly inconsistent.
Hopefully, Miller can win his battle with the fork and make the best of his chances.
Going into the evening, I believed that the best fight of the night would be the grudge middleweight fight between Gabriel Rosado and Luis Arias, but the surprise of the night was the absolute war (which is an often overused term in boxing, but it fits here) between Brandon Rios and Ramon Alvarez, the brother of Canelo in a junior middleweight contest that saw plenty of punches thrown and plenty caught by each fighter as Rios wore down Alvarez and stopped him in round nine.
I have nominated Rios for a "Zabbie" (Fighter that I wish would go retire) plenty in the past and even in this win as a junior middleweight, I still think that would be a good idea.
However, if matched properly and preferably at welterweight, Rios can still have some fun fights to watch, but not at anyone resembling a current contender and especially one at junior middle.
That will not be how it turns out though as Rios still is a name, he'll face someone he shouldn't and he is very likely to take a bad beating.
The Rosado-Arias bout had what looked like a sure-fire ingredient for the best fight, bad blood, a side bet between the fighters of ten thousand dollars, what seemed to be a motivated Luis Arias, who looked dreadful against Daniel Jacobs and you had Gabe Rosado, who always makes interesting, if not always competitive battles before his face would fall apart and let him down.
This time Rosado used a new game plan for him that saw him be less entertaining, but longer lasting as the normally cut prone Rosado wasn't bothered by cuts at all.
The problem was on my card, where Rosado's new style cost him the first rounds before his usual late charge against Arias.
The final card saw a draw with one judge scoring the fight for each fighter and the third had the scores even.
I had Arias a close 96-94 winner, but if the fight had been a twelve rounder, I think Rosado would have gotten the nod.
The winner could have been next for WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, although I don't think either would be deserving or overly competitive in a prospective fight.
The talk was of a rematch, where perhaps both camps could double down on their wager and bet $20,000 on the outcome.
Non-Boxing challenge fights on the slate was another ladies title fight and Olympic bronze medalist Nico Hernandez, who won a less than fascinating unanimous decision in his eight rounder.
Hernandez is going to have to show a little more pop in his mitts if he wants to draw attract American fans to his normally internationally dominated division.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored four points (Three for Jarrell Miller and one for Brandon Rios) to my two (One per Miller and Rios) to cut my lead to 190-169.
Everything seemed to be in the favor of Alex Saucedo for his attempt to lift the WBO junior welterweight title from Maurice Hooker,
Saucedo had the home advantage in Oklahoma City, his promoter (Top Rank), his television network (ESPN) and the small ring to suit his aggressive style and not the large ring preferred by the rangy Hooker.
Everything was in place to bring Saucedo the title and Top Rank, the next big fight for ESPN, which would be a Saucedo unification with WBC champion Jose Ramirez, which why Top Rank overpaid Hooker in order to win the purse bid to gain their fighter those advantages.
However, all of those advantages couldn't overcome one problem - Saucedo's inability to make the right hand of Hooker miss and the result was Hooker retaining his title and taking it back to DAZN with a seventh-round knockout.
It wasn't easy though, as the power-punching challenger dropped Hooker with a second round right hand and Hooker was dazed upon rising from the floor, but Hooker managed to clear his head and even though I had Hooker losing the third round on my card, you had the feeling that Saucedo might have seen his best opportunity go across the bow.
Hooker then began to turn the tide and at the end of the sixth round-I tweeted that I thought that I saw a look of resignation on the face of Salcedo, which usually is not a good sign.
It wasn't as Hooker stung Salcedo seconds into the seventh round and drove a staggered Salcedo into the ropes, which the referee correctly scored a knockdown as only the ropes kept Salcedo from falling.
Hooker jumped upon Salcedo after the eight count and landed several uncontested right hands which forced the referee to end the bout.
The Hooker victory ruined Top Rank's plans for a spring unification bout with WBC champion Jose Ramirez as noted earlier, but Hooker and promoter Eddie Hearn both invited Ramirez for a unification fight anyway, but the key words belonged to Hooker "come on over to DAZN", which is the television network for Hearn's fighters and where Top Rank fighters seldom tread.
Since Top Rank signed their deal with ESPN, only Oleksandr Gzovdyk has crossed lines for a challenge of Adonis Stevenson in two weeks on Showtime on another network, so I'm doubtful that fight is able to be negotiated unless Hearn is willing to bring Hooker back to ESPN.
If this is how Top Rank (or any other promoter with a platform deal) is going to talk contract with opposing promoters, don't count on a lot of these big inter-promotional fights to be signed.
Golden Boy brought Jorge Linares over to make a Vasyl Lomachenko happen and Eddie Hearn honored the purse bid to have Hooker defend here and that means that when a fighter really wants to make a fight it can be made, but if this is indeed the line in the sand for Top Rank, get ready to wait.
The co-feature (shown on ESPN +) saw Egid Kaviliauskas overcome a headbutt in the second round to knock out Robert Arriaza in the third round in a welterweight eliminator from the WBO.
Kaviliauskas used a right hand to the side of the head to floor Arriaza but added a punch to Arriaza while he was down, which rightfully angered the Arriaza camp, but I doubt that it would have changed the outcome.
Give Kaviliauskas credit for the rally with such a bad cut sending plenty of crimson flowing down his face, but not too much because we really don't know how good Arriaza really was.
The win will give Kaviliauskas the mandatory position for WBO champion Terence Crawford, also promoted by Top Rank, who watched the fight from ringside between Twitter call-outs of IBF kingpin Errol Spence, who also was watching in support of fellow Dallas native Maurice Hooker.
I don't think Crawford should be too concerned about Kaviliauskas, who fights more crudely than his two-time Olympian status would suggest nor should he worry too much about fighting Errol Spence anytime soon either.
The problem in making a Spence-Crawford fight is this- Spence is signed with PBC, who is the company least likely to allow their elite fighters to fight another elite fighter from another promoter.
Crawford is with Top Rank, which brings its own issues, but has more of a track record of making tough fights, should their fighter demand it, but of course, would prefer matching their fighters with Crawford such as Kaviliauskas.
Spence has more options with a fight in March against lightweight champ Mikey Garcia, which looks good on paper, but likely won't be more than an overpowering of Garcia in the ring and with WBA champ Keith Thurman and WBC champ Shawn Porter in the PBC stable, while Crawford doesn't have nearly as many options, unless Vasyl Lomachenko wants to make a Garcia-like leap to challenge him, so Crawford needs Spence more than vice-versa for now.
The boxing game just makes you cringe sometimes
Crawford likes to fight often but has problems finding suitable opponents.
Spence has plenty of suitable opponents but doesn't seem to want to fight very often, as he will have fought one round in 14 months by the time he fights Garcia.
WBC champion Shawn Porter seems to be willing to fight anyone, but he's never been the preferred welterweight of his own promoter and few of even his fellow PBC fighters want to fight him unless a sanctioning body forces them to and even if you defeat Porter, it's a rugged grueling fight that leaves more of you behind than you would prefer.
WBA beltholder Keith Thurman's activity in the ring makes Spence's ring time look like he's fighting constantly with only one fight in twenty-two months (and that fight was preceded by another nine months of inactivity before that) when he finally returns against shopworn Josesito Lopez in an understandable squash match to chip some rust off.
The welterweight champions talk about settling who's best, but it's going to be quite a while to see just who is the best of them all.
The funny part of the Spence-Crawford whatever that was video above was Spence's comments that Crawford was "too small and light in the ass" and could be taken as Crawford was too little to make such an encounter interesting, yet Spence, who will have fought one round in 14 months by the time he fights Garcia, has no problems fighting the even smaller Garcia.
Only in the boxing business.
In the boxing challenge, I earned two points for the Kaviliauskas win, while Ramon Malpica scored one.
Both of us selected Alex Saucedo to defeat Maurice Hooker.
I still lead the challenge 188-165
The boxing challenge starts early this week as the biggest fight of the weekend is on a Friday night from Oklahoma City on ESPN at midnight.
Top Rank and ESPN has a very intriguing bout for the WBO junior welterweight title as hometown hero Alex Saucedo challenges for the title of Maurice Hooker of Dallas.
Hooker upset Terry Flanagan in England to win the title vacated by Terence Crawford and will be attempting to make his initial defense a successful one.
Saucedo is coming off an absolute battle against Lenny Zappavigna winning on cuts in round seven on ESPN to secure his spot as the mandatory contender.
Top Rank (Saucedo's promoter) won a tight purse bid to hold the fight in Oklahoma City and place it on ESPN over Hooker's promoter (Eddie Hearn and Matchroom), who had they won the bid would have placed it on DAZN to broadcast and would have placed the bout in Dallas
Hooker was an underdog against Flanagan and he'll be the underdog against a hostile crowd in Oklahoma City, but he's a very live underdog with boxing skills that could carry the day against the aggressive and heavy hitting Saucedo.
A win by Hooker will set him up to perhaps face the eventual winner of the 140 pound World Boxing Super Series, which has two of the current champions in it in WBA's Kiryl Relikh and IBF's Ivan Baranchyk as well as the tournament favorite in Regis Prograis.
A win by Saucedo could see him right back in the spring as Top Rank has announced that they are likely to match Saucedo against WBC champion Jose Ramirez (also promoted by Top Rank) in what not only would unify two titles but would match two exciting to watch and undefeated champions, so there is plenty on the line when the clock strikes midnight (or 11 PM locally) in Oklahoma City Frida night!
I've heard that ESPN is only televising Hooker-Saucedo with the undercard on ESPN+ and the main fight on the supporting card is not only part of the challenge, but an important fight in its own right as two undefeated welterweights face off for the right to be fed (err become the mandatory) to WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford with Egid Kavaliauskas battling Roberto Arriaza.
Egid Kavaliauskas is from the Egis Klimas stable that manages Vasyl Lomachenko and Oleksandr Usyk and has a sizable amateur resume, while I don't know very much about Arriaza at all, so this will be interesting to see which fighter will be next to challenge Terence Crawford.
DAZN has the other challenge fights on Saturday night from the boxing hotbed of Mulvane, Kansas as Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller will fight Bogdan Dinu for a minor title that was stripped from Manuel Charr for failing a drug test.
The title means little to most, but Miller is trying to stay busy and one can never take issue with that, especially with a fighter that tends to balloon quickly in weight when he is out of the ring.
I've never seen Dinu, but as respected as source as Showtime's Al Bernstein was quoted as saying that if Miller comes into this fight out of shape or underprepared, Dinu could pull a major upset.
I'll often think of such things as hyperbole from someone announcing the fight, but Bernstein has nothing to do with the contest and that lends major credibility to the chances of Dinu.
The main reason this card is in Kansas is the continuing comeback of perennial Zabbie contender Brandon Rios, who was last seen being dispatched by the naturally larger Danny Garcia.
Rios is being matched well this time against the journeyman younger brother of Canelo Alvarez-Ramon Alvarez.
If Rios cannot win this one, I think Rios should consider leaving the game because if he cannot beat fighters of Alvarez's level, it is time to go.
The final fight has the always entertaining and always bleeding Gabe Rosado meeting Luis Arias in a middleweight battle.
Arias was last seen in a timid effort (after a large amount of pre-fight bluster) against Daniel Jacobs on HBO, but he has the boxing skills to win a decision over the often crude Rosado.
The questions are these- Does Arias have the heart to hang for the entire fight against the constant marching forward and brave Rosado and win on the cards?
Can Rosado manage to keep his skin together long enough not to have the fight stopped just as he begins to make his traditional late-round charge?
This one could be on either end of the spectrum from entertaining to tedious.
WBO Junior Welterweight Title. 12 Rds
Maurice Hooker vs Alex Saucedo
Both: Saucedo Unanimous Decision
Welterweights. 12 Rds
Egid Kavaliauskas vs Roberto Arriaza
R.L: Kavaliauskas Unanimous Decision
TRS: Kavaliauskas KO 9
Heavyweights, 12 Rds
Jarrell Miller vs Bogdan Dinu
R.L: Miller KO 4
TRS: Miller Unanimous Decision
Junior Middleweights 10 Rds
Brandon Rios vs Ramon Alvarez
Both: Rios Unanimous Decision
Middleweights. 10 Rds
Gabriel Rosado vs Luis Arias
R.L: Arias Unanimous Decision
TRS: Arias KO 8 (I don't see Arias knocking out Rosado, but he'll cut him up)
In a DAZN centered weekend, the star was the expected one as the only man to hold all four championships in his division,Oleksandr Usyk ended a close fight (on some cards) with a left hand that not only ended his fight with former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, but likely ended the Briton's career in the eighth round.
The fight was interesting and competitive entering round eight, but I had Usyk well ahead (5-2) and wearing Bellew down, but apparently, the on-site judges were seeing something that I was not as Bellew led on two cards and was even on the third.
Bellew had his moments early, but I cannot fathom him being even in any way, let alone ahead, but Usyk took the scorecards out of play with one shot.
Usyk is likely to vacate his titles (too bad, I really like having one champion) for a move to the heavyweight division, where Eddie Hearn, who co-promotes Usyk and fully promotes WBA/IBF/WBO champion Anthony Joshua, was quoted after the fight that the plan was for Usyk to fight his next fight at heavyweight and then challenge Joshua.
The win for Usyk added Bellew to Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev to Usyk's victims for 2018 and considering that all three wins were in his opponent's home countries and the World Boxing Super Series victory, Oleksandr Usyk will more than likely be my choice for fighter of the year.
The co-feature saw former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla hammer out a workmanlike unanimous decision over Daud Yordan to become the mandatory contender for the WBA and their lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
Lomachenko, who will attempt to add the WBO belt of Jose Pedraza in a few weeks, might be likely to travel to London to spread his reputation (and show he can sell tickets) in Europe to fight Crolla, but Eddie Hearn may not be in a hurry to force his man to fight Lomachenko and may be content to bide his time and hope for a Lomachenko voluntary vacating of that title, should that situation arise.
I scored Crolla a 117-111 (9-3) winner.
The evening card had the World Boxing Super Series finishing their quarter-final round by completing their cruiserweight semi-final bracket from Chicago.
The first fight featured the tournament's top seed and the man that gave Oleksandr Usyk his most difficult bout earlier this year with former WBC champion Mairis Briedis against little known Noel Mikaelian of Germany.
This fight displayed two surprises- the first came when Mikaelian controlled the fight with his jab against an either underprepared or overconfident (perhaps both) Briedis and won handily on my card 115-111 (8-4) with both fighters being penalized one point for fouls (Mikaelian in the 4th, Briedis in the 10th) in the fight.
The second surprise rose when the scorecards were announced to the surprise of everyone, including Briedis it seemed, that Briedis was the winner and even worse by margins that were simply incredible (2,4 and an unbelievable 6 points).
I feel bad for Mikaelian, who stepped up with a solid effort against the toughest test of his career and should have been rewarded with a winning, if not glittering victory.
If I made the decision for the WBSS, I'd immediately place Mikaelian as the "Stand-by Alternate" for each of the next two rounds to be used in case of an injury or a competitor misses weight.
Briedis will face the winner of the other bout in Krzysztof Glowacki.
Glowacki, who won a WBO minor title that I usually wouldn't mention, but if Oleksandr Usyk does vacate his titles. Glowacki will likely be elevated to full champion in that organization, defeated Maksim Vlasov via a unanimous decision in a fight that was more entertaining than the other quarter-final, but still was far from a classic.
Glowacki was credited with a third-round knockdown that appeared to be more along the lines of a trip but was scored a knockdown on his way to a 118-109 (10-2 with a bonus point for the knockdown) triumph on my scorecard.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me six to five on the weekend with the difference being Ramon earning two points for the Mairis Briedis win, whereas I scored just one for the Briedis "win".
I lead the season 186-164.
Another weekend in the Boxing Challenge as DAZN is the place to be as all four challenge encounters are on DAZN from two cities.
The biggest fight is from Manchester, England as the only unified world champion defends his four world titles for the first time.
Oleksandr Usyk didn't wait long to get back into the ring after winning the World Boxing Super Series in July and he'll be taking on an interesting customer in Tony Bellew.
Bellew held the WBC cruiserweight title before vacating in order to move to heavyweight for two lucrative fights against David Haye, in which he won both and is on a ten fight winning streak, but before that was stopped in six by Adonis Stevenson at light heavyweight.
I think this could be interesting for a bit, but in the end, Usyk is simply a higher level fighter than Bellew.
Elite beats World Class every time.
The other challenge fight is a WBA lightweight eliminator with former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla against Daud Yordan, who at one time (about nine to ten years ago) was a title challenger at featherweight.
Crolla. who lost two decisions to Jorge Linares, has rebounded from those losses with wins over Ricky Burns and Edson Ramirez.
The winner becomes the mandatory contender for Vasyl Lomachenko, who would likely travel to England for a Crolla fight to spread his name recognition.
The World Boxing Super Series will conclude their quarter-final round in the cruiserweight division with two fights from Chicago.
I wasn't thrilled with the WBSS returning to the cruiserweights so soon, but it is what it is and the number one seed is back from the first tournament in former WBC champion Mairis Briedis, who was the closest fighter to defeating Oleksandr Usyk in losing a majority decision earlier this year.
I scored Usyk-Briedis a draw and wouldn't be against a rematch, but Briedis will have to win this tournament before that happens and his first opponent will be Noel Mikaelian of Germany.
Mikaelian has only fought one name that anyone would recognize in former champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and suffered his only loss via split decision.
Former WBO champion Krzysztof Glowacki battles Maksim Vlasov in the other WBSS bout.
Glowacki, who dropped the title in his only career defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, should have been entered in the previous tournament, but for some reason was placed as the alternate behind Mike Perez.
Glowacki faces Maksim Vlasov, who has won twelve fights in a row against less than top opposition since moving up from super middleweights as he leaped over light heavyweight since a loss by decision to Gilberto Ramirez in January 2015.
Glowacki has the advantage of being the stronger fighter and the more natural fighter at the weight.
The winners of these two bouts will meet in the semi-finals next year.
In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 181-158
World Cruiserweight Title 12 Rds
Oleksandr Usyk vs Tony Bellew
Both: Usyk Unanimous Decision
Lightweights. 12 Rds
Anthony Crolla vs Daud Yordan
Both: Crolla Unanimous Decision
World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Quarter-Final 12 Rds
Mairis Briedis vs Noel Mikaelian
R.L.: Briedis Unanimous Decision
TRS: Briedis KO 10
World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Quarter-Final 12 Rds
Krzysztof Glowacki vs Maksim Vlasov
R.L: Glowacki KO 9
TRS: Glowacki KO 12
The World Boxing Super Series filled out the dance card for the semi-finals in both their bantamweight and junior welterweight tournaments from Glasgow, Scotland with a shocking ending eliminating their top seed in the 118-pound bracket.
In the bantamweight opener of the two WBSS fights, WBA champion and the top seed in the tournament Ryan Burnett was having a pretty good fight with Nonito Donaire, who dropped eight pounds from his spring loss to Carl Frampton to return to the 118-pound division, until under a minute to go in the round when Burnett fell to the floor in pain grasping his side.
The referee was forced to call it a knockdown and I cannot imagine how much pain Burnett was in as he tried to rise and continue.
Donaire drove a near helpless Burnett into the corner and riddled him with punches as the heavy-hearted Burnett attempted to fend him off until the bell rang.
Burnett was unable to continue after the ring, being taken from the ring on a gurney and the WBA title along with the semi-final berth left with Nonito Donaire.
The ending wasn't only strange, it was an unsatisfying ending to a fight that had shown some pretty strong action after four rounds, which I had scored two rounds for each combatant.
Donaire will unify his newly won title with that of WBO champ Zolani Tete in the next round, while Burnett could have to take a sizable amount of time off to recover from his injury.
In the other WBSS matchup Josh Taylor won every round from a seemingly frozen Ryan Martin before stopping him in the seventh round.
Taylor was far better prepared for the stage than Taylor and it showed in the one-sided beatdown that wasn't even competitive.
The ending was somewhat controversial as Taylor appeared to floor Martin with a shot to the back of the head with the referee immediately waving the bout off despite the protests of Martin.
I thought Martin did indeed receive a punch to the back of his head, but it wouldn't change the result and saved Martin prolonged punishment.
Taylor will face IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk in the semi-finals and that is the fight that I am most looking forward to seeing of the four semi-finals that are currently intact.
On ESPN+ from El Paso Texas, Miguel Berchelt continued to make his case as the top 130 pounder in the world as he dominated mandatory contender Miguel "Mickey" Roman over nine rounds before the brave and beaten Roman finally succumbed to the younger and stronger Berchelt.
Berchelt pounded the consistently moving forward Roman throughout the fight and although Roman would occasionally connect with enough offense to keep the champion honest, he was overmatched in both power and technique.
Berchelt almost finished Roman in round six with two knockdowns, but the gritty Roman had no quit on this night, survived the round and tried his best for the next three rounds, but was dropped and polished off in the ninth.
Berchelt would like unification fights with WBA champ Gervonta Davis or IBF champ Tevin Farmer, but those seem unlikely due to promotional/network problems.
The best fight that could be made, in my opinion, is minor titlist Alberto Machado in what would be an exciting fight between two big (in both size and punching ability) junior lightweights and would be another chapter in the best rivalry in boxing- Mexico (Berchelt) vs Puerto Rico (Machado).
Machado is with Golden Boy and therefore DAZN for television, but Golden Boy and Top Rank have been one of the few promotional pairings that occasionally can work together, so there is some hope.
The final challenge bout was made available on Facebook and it was just as big of a mismatch as expected as light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera handily won a unanimous decision over fringe contender Seanie Monaghan in Brooklyn.
No knockdowns, but other than the first round or two each round was the same monotonous stanza over and over again.
Monaghan showed toughness, but nowhere near top ten quality, while Barrera gets back on the winning trail after losing his last fight to Dmitry Bivol.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to change the score to 181-158.
Ramon earned two points each from wins from Sullivan Barrera and Miguel Berchelt.
I added two from Berchelt and one each from Barrera and Josh Taylor.
