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

The final Boxing Challenge for 2019 will conclude the year with a three-fight card on Showtime.

The Showtime-televised card from Atlanta ( Every time that I think of Atlanta for an indoor event, I keep hearing Gordon Solie talking about the long-demolished Omni) will showcase one of the young stars that just needs a big fight to prove it as Gervonta Davis will take on veteran Yuriorkis Gamboa for one of those wonderful minor WBA titles.
Davis debuts as a lightweight against Gamboa, who has never been noted for an outstanding chin.
Gamboa might have a moment or two, but this shapes up as a bout that will show the best of Davis, who for all of his talent and ability has only defeated one top ten fighter (Jose Pedraza).
Davis is going to look spectacular, but I'm not sure what the win is going to prove or if we find out anything new about Davis.

Another minor WBA title to be ignored is on the card, but if the title is to be tossed aside the fight shouldn't be as it's an interesting light heavyweight battle between veteran former champions Jean Pascal and Badou Jack.
Pascal was thought by most to be a spent battery as he entered his upset win over undefeated Marcus Browne that cost Browne a shot at the true WBA champ Dmitri Bivol, while Jack hasn't fought since January when he lost a decision to that same Marcus Browne as Jack fought through one of the ugliest cuts that you'll see in any fight.
Boxing isn't one of those sports that you can safely say that Pascal beat Browne, who beat Jack, so therefore Pascal should beat Jack.
It doesn't work that way and this is a 50-50 fight.
Was Pascal's surprising win his final stand at 37? What does Jack have left at 36 ( Jack doesn't seem to be that old, but he turned pro late) and did the Browne fight find a weakness with Jack's skin at this stage?
Jack has a five-inch advantage in height, but only one inch in reach, but the key here might be Pascal charging in and clashing heads with the taller Jack.
When heads collide, the taller fighter is the fighter that usually cuts worse and I have a feeling that this might be a close, ugly, and sloppy battle.

The curtain-jerker will see the continuing comeback of former IBF super-middleweight champion Jose Uzcategui against Lionell Thompson in a ten rounder.
Uzcategui was upset by Caleb Plant in January and scored a first-round KO in Mexico in his only bout since.
Thompson has spent most of his career at light heavyweight and lost his biggest fights there to Sergey Kovalev and Edwin Rodriguez, but the variable is the drop to super middleweight.
Could Thompson be stronger at 168 pounds and if so, will he be able to up his game against a fighter in Uzcategui that seems to be a class above him in skill.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 319-285

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Gervonta Davis vs Yuriorkis Gamboa
R.L: Davis KO 5
TRS: Davis KO 6

Light Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Jean Pascal vs Badou Jack
R.L: Jack Split Winner
TRS: Pascal Split Winner

Super Middleweights 10 Rds
Jose Uzcategui vs Lionell Thompson
Both: Uzcategui Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Rising Sun Edition

The Monday morning card from Yokohama, Japan didn't bring forth any surprises,  but it did bring some strong performances from the four favorites in their victories.

In the main event, minor middleweight beltholder Ryota Murata delivered a highlight film knockout of Steven Butler in the fifth round.
Give Butler credit-for an unproven fighter that had somehow risen to the top spot in the WBO rankings (Butler passed up a title shot against Demetrius Andrade to fight Murata), he tried hard, engaged, and won the first two rounds on my scorecard.
However, Murata was too big and strong for the Canadian and his superior power soon had Butler retreating and it seemed that the question was how does Murata win the fight rather than if he wins.
One crunching right sent Butler falling to the floor with the referee ending the fight without a count.
I'd like to see Murata against better fighters in 2020, but it appears as it'll be a contractually obligated third fight with Rob Brant and possibly Brazil's Esquiva Falcao, whom Murata defeated to win his gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Neither of those excites me very much, but that's the state of boxing today.

Moruti Mthalane defended his IBF Flyweight title with a ninth-round knockout of Akira Yaegashi.
Yaegashi, a former champion in three divisions, fought gamely but was to be outgunned by Mthalane, who turned up the heat in the seventh and eighth rounds before the stoppage late in the ninth when a battered Yaegashi wobbled to the ropes followed by the referee stepping in to end the fight.
The 37-year-old Mthalane doesn't appear to be your usual fighter of his age and even though I'm not sure where the money would come from for this, a mini-tournament between the four flyweight champions (Mthalane, Artem Dalakian WBA, Julio Cesar Martinez WBC, and Kosei Tanaka WBO) might be as much action as boxing could offer in three fights.

Ken Shiro kept his WBC junior flyweight title after knocking late substitute Randy Petalcorin out in the fourth round.
Petalcorin won the first two rounds off his back foot, but Shiro found the weak spot of Petalcorin in the third when three body shots produced three knockdowns.
The fight likely should have ended in the corner, but the fight continued into the fourth for a short time- which was the first time that Shiro again landed to the body and that ended the fight.
Petalcorin was a replacement for IBF champion Felix Alvarado, which lost the division a unification fight.
Shiro-Alvarado would be a good fight, but the biggest fight would be another unification fight against WBA champ Hiroto Kyoguchi in an all-Japanese unification event.

The comeback for former multi-divisional champion and a top pound for pound contender Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez began with an eight-round fight against Diomel Diocos.
Gonzalez had fought only once since his stunning KO loss to Srisket Sor Rungvisai in 2017, so this was a chance to get some work against Diocos, a journeyman that had only been stopped once in his career against the then-undefeated bomber Daigo Higa.
Gonzalez wouldn't work for many rounds as he finished Diocos in two, which was an impressive result, considering the solid chin of the opponent and the time spent away from the ring by Gonzalez.
Gonzalez still might need another fight to be ready for a potential title challenge, but he doesn't look to be outmatched by any of the champions at 115 pounds.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points on the evening to move the overall numbers to 319-285.

Boxing Challenge

A special boxing challenge from Yokohama Japan from ESPN+ takes place at 4 AM with three of the top Japanese boxers in two title fights and a former pound for pound favorite returning to the ring.

The main event pairs middleweight Ryota Murata defending his minor title against Steven Butler of Canada.
Murata looked great in July in avenging his surprising loss to Rob Brant with a two-round pummelling of the Minnesota native.
Murata means big crowds in Japan and a victory could perhaps see some top middleweights ( even though all four champions at the weight aren't affiliated with Top Rank) interested in a large purse to fight Murata in Japan.
Canada's Butler is taking a major bounce up the competition ladder against Murata, who is the best opponent that he has fought, gave up the WBO's mandatory position for their champion Demetrius
Andrade to take on Murata.

WBC light flyweight champion Ken Shiro defends his title against Randy Petalcorin of the Philippines.
The exciting Shiro is the latest at 16-0 from Japan to dominate the light flyweight division.
Petalcorin lost in his last fight to IBF champion Felix Alvarado in seven, but steps in as a replacement for Alvarado in the fight that was initially planned to be a title unification fight.

Moruti Mthalane will put his IBF flyweight championship up and against Akira Yaegashi.
Yaegashi has held the minimum, light flyweight, and flyweight titles in the past, but has fought only twice in the two and a half years since losing in one round to Milan Melindo.
Mthalane of South Africa will be facing the best fighter of his career in the third defense of his title.

Eight rounders usually don't make the boxing challenge, but when you have a fighter that once held a top-five position in the pound for pound rankings, you notice and make exceptions.
Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez returns after a 15-month layoff following a fifth-round KO of Moises Fuentes.
The Fuentes fight is the only fight for Gonzalez since his stunning knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai in August 2017, so Gonzalez has fought just once in twenty-eight months.
Opponent Diomel Diocos is a journeyman at 14-5-3 but has only been stopped once by Daigo Higa, who once was one of the most exciting stars in the lower weight divisions.


Middleweights. 12 Rds
Ryota Murata vs Stephen Butler
R.L:  Murata KO 9
TRS: Murata KO 6

WBC Jr.Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Ken Shiro vs Randy Petalcorin
R.L: Shiro Unanimous Decision
TRS: Shiro KO 8

IBF Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Moruti Mthalane vs Akira Yaegashi
Both: Mthalane Unanimous Decision

Junior Bantamweights. 8 Rds
Roman Gonzalez vs Dionel Diocos
R.L: Gonzalez KO 6
TRS: Gonzalez Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Charlo rallies past Harrison

The rematch between Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo appeared to be the opposite of their first fight.
Charlo seemed to have won their first battle and the judges saw it differently-scoring for Harrison.
In the rematch, other than a second-round flash knockdown, it was Harrison appearing to be winning and yet the judges had Charlo leading on the scorecards.

However, this time the fighter that didn't deserve to be ahead made sure that his hand was raised as Jermall Charlo dropped Tony Harrison twice in the eleventh round, survived California Athletic Commission members entering the ring after the second knockdown and win back the WBC junior middleweight title that he lost one year ago.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Charlo fight without a small dab of controversy somewhere and this one was more than the CAA entry, it arrived from referee Jack Reiss, who gave every chance for Harrison to survive the two knockdowns when it could have been arguably easy to end the fight and instead ended it just as Harrison seemed to be regaining his senses a bit.
I didn't think it was an awful stoppage by Reiss, but it seemed like he tried to allow Harrison the opportunity to fight through adversity as a champion should and just as he was turning the tide, the hassock was placed in his way to trip over.

I had Harrison up by two points entering the eleven and had he avoided the second-round knockdown in a round that he was winning (giving Charlo a 10-8 round in a round that was going to be scored 10-9 for Harrison), could have had the fight well in hand on my scorecard with two rounds to go.
That takes nothing away from Charlo, who took advantage of Harrison moving less than in their initial faceoff and caught him to take away much of the controversy that was looming from the judges, but while I would think a third fight is eventually in order, I would think that a three belt unification is next for Charlo with WBA/IBF champion Julian Williams, while it wouldn't be a bad thing for Harrison to pair with another former champion Jarrett Hurd and attempt to avenge Hurd's past win over Harrison.
Those two fights together would give the Charlo-Williams winner a natural opponent for their first defense and one capable of winning the three titles.
PBC is deep at 154, but I'm not sure there is a standout among Charlo, Williams, Hurd, Harrison, Erislandy Lara, and Erickson Lubin.
However, it's a unique situation as it seems that almost any of these fighters are capable of beating the others, can make interesting fights with almost any combination, and the victorious champion may come down to the style that suits a particular fighter, not that any of this group is above the others overall.

However, the Charlo brothers don't make themselves easy to root for and this win wasn't an exception as Charlo commented that he "dominated" (he didn't) and that he was off to bigger and better things (which is reasonable but could have been far more gracious in victory).
The Charlo brothers have so much to prove ( between them they have only Jermall's win over Julian Williams over a top guy) still, but when you only want to fight once or twice a year and only one is against a Harrison type (lower end of the top ten ), the chances of becoming a true star dim.
It's tough to claim "Lions Only" when the best opponents are usually a notch or two lower on the food chain.

The PBC delivered a fun night of boxing on Fox with the other challenge bout as heavyweight prospect Efe Ajagba knocked out trialhorse Iago Kiladze in a surprisingly captivating scrap in five rounds.
The power-punching former Nigerian Olympian dropped Kiladze in the second and appeared to be on his way to be knocking Kiladze out for the fourth time in his last five fights in the third round as Kiladze was rolling around the ring as if he was wearing roller skates.
Ajagba backed off as if he was expecting either Kiladze to drop to the floor or the referee to move in and end the fight.
Neither of those happened and as Ajagba moved forward to finish what seemed to be a foe on his last legs, Kiladze launched a right hand that sent Ajagba crashing down to the canvas!
Ajagba didn't appear seriously hurt, but it was enough to allow Kiladze to survive the round and the following fourth.
Ajagba knocked Kiladze down again in the fifth round with a right that sent Kiladze crumpling to the mat that could have seen the end of the fight, but Kiladze continued and still attempted to fire those counter rights to keep Ajagba honest, but as he was trapped along the ropes it was the corner of Kiladze that jumped to the apron and allow their man to end the fight honorably and on his feet.
Give Kiladze credit for making such a strong attempt at winning and Ajagba continues his learning curve as a prospect.
Ajagba has plenty of power, but he is still very raw and after being knocked down by a blown-up cruiserweight, it's not an unreasonable concern to wonder about the eventual quality of his chin when he starts taking shots from contenders rather than journeymen.

The other fight on the entertaining PBC evening wasn't a boxing challenge event, but it allowed me to watch one of my most enjoyable things in boxing- An unknown fighter brought in as an enhancement talent to lose to a hot prospect doesn't and pulls an upset that not only is fun to watch but dismays the promotion as well.
Former U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas was stopped in six rounds by Mexico's Rene Tellez Giron in a fight that was notable for several reasons other than the obvious upset.
The fight was often spent toe to toe that saw both fighters score well, but Balderas seemed to be the stronger and bigger boxer for the first two and three-quarters rounds.
Near the end of the third, Giron's left hook dropped onto the jaw of Balderas and sent him flying to the ring surface in what seemed to be a spectacular KO.
Surprisingly, Balderas was able to get up, but he was clearly buzzed and the fight should have been called as referee Joe Corona asked Balderas to walk to him (he couldn't), Balderas stumbled backward.
Corona instead allowed the fight to continue and the bell shortly clanged saving Balderas, who gained even more time when he drilled Giron extremely low early in the next round.

Here's my problem with the non-stoppage- it can be argued that Corona heard the thump sound on the mat to indicate there were ten seconds or less in the round and that allowing Balderas to continue and give him the minute between rounds to recover was appropriate.
That would be a fair argument and even a good one- If that standard was usually followed by referees that far more often stop fights in that situation than allow the fight to continue.
However, it usually isn't used properly and fights are ended and in all honesty, if the situations were reversed and it was Giron in that spot and not the heavily PBC invested Balderas, do you really believe that Giron would have been allowed the chance to continue?
I doubt it.

Balderas (with the aid of the low blow) did manage to recover and exchange pretty evenly for the next few rounds of the eight-rounder with Giron.
I still had Giron well ahead on the cards and, with this being boxing, I was already wondering just Giron was going to be screwed on the scorecards against the better-connected fighter when yet another left hook smacked against Balderas and sent him to the floor again.
This time, Corona decided to end the fight and the upset was complete.
The other fun part about watching these types of upsets?
If you watch enough boxing, you have to be familiar with the "face of PBC" Sam Walton ( no, not THAT Sam Walton), who appears in someone's corner for every PBC fight and for PBC fighters in their rare inter-promotional fights, as a one-man support squad,
At first, when Al Haymon appeared on the scene with Floyd Mayweather at HBO and began to accumulate power in the sport, I thought Walton WAS Al Haymon!
That is how often you see the face of Sam Walton when you view PBC events and when you have the chance to see Sam's head down and face frowning, it's a sight to see!

From London, heavyweight prospect Daniel DuBois knocked out Kyotaro Fujimoto in the second round of their scheduled ten rounder.
DuBois knocked Fujimoto down with a jab in the second and after Fujimoto managed to get up, DuBois ended the fight quickly with a piledriving right hand that was over before Fujimoto hit the floor.
DuBois didn't prove much in this squash match other than that he might be ready to see an increase in resistance from his opponents.
There are plenty of questions that DuBois needs to answer as he rises up the rankings, but the power isn't one of those.

In a WBO eliminator, middleweight Liam Williams impressively disposed of Alantez Fox in five rounds in what might put him eventually in the path of WBO beltholder Demetrius Andrade.
Williams won every round against the 6'4 Fox, cutting him early, knocking him down in the fourth, before badly hurting Fox in the fifth.
The desperate Fox was penalized a point for holding but was soon sent wobbling into the ropes and the fight was stopped thereafter.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored five points on the day to change the season numbers to 312-276.

Boxing Challenge: Chavez quits, Jacobs wins

It was an ugly scene in Phoenix for DAZN's Matchroom Boxing card Friday, but it certainly was one that couldn't have come as a surprise to those that have watched the career of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Julio Jr. who has quit in the ring, missed weight, trained for fights in his living room rather than go to the gym, and failed drug tests by using drugs and refusing to take them ( a refused test is considered an automatic positive) managed to do several of these all during one signed fight and lost via TKO when he refused to continue after round five of his fight with Daniel Jacobs.

Chavez, who refused a drug test and was forced to receive a favorable court injunction to even participate, followed that up by paying Jacobs one million dollars for missing weight by five pounds and after all of that?
Chavez fought pretty well for five rounds.
I gave Chavez the first and fifth rounds and even though I gave Daniel Jacobs the fourth, it was a very tight round.
Chavez worked the body well in the fifth and as I watched the fifth round end, it was Jacobs that I was wondering about being potentially bothered.
That part was a surprise.
What wasn't a surprise was Julio Jr. deciding that he couldn't continue and ending the fight in the corner.
Depending on who was asked after the fight, Junior was having problems with his nose, his hand, and a cut around his eye and decided to concede.
The Phoenix crowd, who were the latest to be sunk by the Chavez hustle, weren't any happier than I was and began to throw things at the ring and hit several ringside persons, notably DAZN's Brian Kenny, while he was on the air. and Chavez as he ran fleeing up the aisle.
Daniel Jacobs will move on and I guess he'll receive a title shot against Callum Smith or Billy Joe Saunders in 2020.
As for Julio Jr. I've seen more than enough from him to say that anyone that tries to use him again should quickly change their mind- as I wrote yesterday, he's just not worth the effort.

The co-feature stole the show as Julio Cesar Martinez wore down Crisofer Rosales and stopped Rosales in the ninth round to win the vacant WBC flyweight title that Martinez almost won a few months back, but after knocking down then-champion Charlie Edwards Martinez hit him while Edwards was on the canvas and the fight was declared a no-contest.
This one featured many exchanges in the early rounds, but as the fight moved forward, the harder punching Martinez began to break the smoother boxing Rosales and the final few rounds were dominated by Martinez against the game but beaten Rosales.
Martinez looks to be a star in the making with an exciting style and he's one to watch in the 112-115 pound divisions.

The other challenge bout saw the ring return of former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker as a welterweight and Hooker finished off Uriel Perez in one round.
Perez took several shots to the body and appeared to be injured after Hooker's shot dropped him to the floor.
A pained looking Perez rose but notified the referee that he couldn't continue further.
Hooker claims that he wishes to return to the junior welterweight division, but considering his problems making the weight in the past, I would think that weight is going to be very difficult to make for the former champion.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me six to five, the difference being the early ending in the Jacobs-Chavez Jr. pairing.
I lead the overall standings 307-271.

Boxing Challenge

I'm still not up to writing full columns yet, but I had this edition of the Boxing Challenge and the PPM that has been posted earlier today almost completely finished, so it didn't take a lot of work to post these.

I want to try to get back to normal sometime this weekend if I can with boxing, Browns, and when I can get through it, I want to write about my mom.


The Boxing Challenge starts early with a Friday DAZN card that seems filled with far more drama than it is worth and ends with a key junior middleweight title fight on Fox Saturday night.

Starting on Friday night, Daniel Jacobs will make his super middleweight debut against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr from Phoenix in a bout filled with licensing problems for Chavez and now hours before the tilt, Chavez missed weight so badly that Jacobs earned an extra one million dollars for allowing the fight to take place.
There are fewer bigger fans of Julio Sr. than I, but I'm very tired of the routine that comes with Julio Jr and he's just not worth the trouble.
For all the drama that comes with Julio Jr, he has always shown a very reliable chin and should Jacobs be able to take Chavez Jr. out, it would still be a notable feat even at this stage of his career.

This is an interesting card other than the main event with the co-feature of an especially intriguing bout for the vacant WBC flyweight title pitting Julio Cesar Martinez against Crisofer Rosales.
Martinez seemed to be close to winning that title in September against then-champion Charlie Edwards as he was delivering a beating to the champion, but after knocking Edwards down, Martinez hit Edwards and the fight was ruled a no-contest when Edwards was unable to continue.
Edwards vacated the title rather than face Martinez in a mandated rematch that was likely to see a similar result.
Rosales is a former WBC champion that upset the once-highly touted Daigo Higa to win the title before losing the championship to Edwards.
The other challenge fight will see former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker move to the welterweight division against journeyman Uriel Perez.
Hooker suffered his first loss to Jose Ramirez earlier this year via a sixth-round KO in their unification matchup and with a taller frame, Hooker seems like a better fit at 147.

The most important fight of the weekend is on Fox and the PBC from Ontario California, as one day short of a year and one postponement later, the rematch of one of the most controversial fights of 2018 will finally occur as Tony Harrison defends his WBC junior middleweight title against Jermell Charlo.
Harrison upset Charlo in a fight that most (including me) thought Charlo won fairly handily and when the fight was rescheduled for earlier this year, it was postponed with Harrison suffering a training injury.
Charlo fought late substitute, Jorge Cota, knocking Cota out in three rounds, and then criticized Harrison for faking an injury.
Combine that with the decision and post-fight mess from the first fight and you have a legitimate grudge match entering this fight.
Here's the deal- Charlo should have won the first fight and before that fight, Harrison was thought of as a talented, but flawed fighter that fell short against the best two fighters that he had faced (knockout losses to Jarrett Hurd and Willie Nelson).
If you take those facts, Charlo should be a strong favorite to take the title back.

The other challenge bout is in the heavyweight division as PBC hopeful Efe Ajagba will face Iago Kiladze.
Ajagba has been terrorizing low competition on the PBC side with vicious early knockouts but looked much human in his last fight in July as he defeated Ali Demirezen via a unanimous decision.
Kiladze was knocked out three times in 2018 against top fifteen level fighters on the rise ( Adam Kownacki in six, Michael Hunter in five, and Joe Joyce in five), but made decent fights against all three and in his only fight of 2019, drew over eight rounds against undefeated Cuban Robert Alfonso.
Watch for how Ajagba wins this fight.
Should he knock out Kiladze around the same range as Kownacki, Hunter, and Joyce did, he looks legitimate, but should he go the distance and maybe even struggle or bore?
There is a red flag alert.

Earlier on Friday on ESPN plus, the top heavyweight prospect in the world returns as Daniel DuBois continues to rise on the ladder as he fights journeymen and fighters that are world-ranked, yet shouldn't be.
DuBois still has plenty of questions to be answered and of his 13 wins and 12 knockouts, only Kevin Johnson is anyone that was once considered top twenty and it was Johnson that took DuBois ten rounds. but DuBois looked so impressive in stopping fellow undefeated Nathan Gorman in five rounds in July that he is very highly thought of many (myself included) and is looked at as a potential championship opponent for someone in two years and could be a huge fight for the sport.
Oh, DuBois is fighting someone?
Yes, Kyotaro Fujimoto is 21-1 but has never fought anyone notable, and his only loss came at the hands of Solomon Haumono via a fifth-round KO.
Watch this one and check out DuBois, but don't take to long to settle in...

In a minor title/title eliminator, two former junior middleweight fringe contenders that lost their biggest tests, move up to middleweight and we'll see what happens with Liam Williams facing Alantez Fox.
Williams, who has lost twice to Liam Smith, although in the first fight I had him leading before being stopped on cuts from a deliberate headbutt that should have seen the out of shape Smith disqualified, has the hometown edge against Fox, who at 6'4 might be able to keep Williams on the outside and box his way to a win.
Fox lost his only step up in competition when he lost a decision to Demetrius Andrade and he is not a big puncher, so the key here seems to be can Fox keep Williams off him on the inside?
The fighter that answers that question will likely be your victor.


In the boxing challenge. I lead Ramon Malpica 302-265

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Daniel Jacobs vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
R.L: Jacobs KO 9
TRS: Jacobs Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBC Flyweight Title. 12 Rds
Julio Cesar Martinez vs Crisofer Rosales
Both: Martinez Unanimous Decision

Welterweights. 10 Rds
Maurice Hooker vs Uriel Perez
R.L: Hooker KO 5
TRS: Hooker KO 3

Heavyweights 10 Rds
Daniel DuBois vs Kyotaro Fujimoto
R.L: DuBois KO 7
TRS: DuBois KO 1

Middleweights,12 Rds
Liam Williams vs Alantez Fox
R.L: Williams Unanimous Decision
TRS: Fox Unanimous Decision

WBC Junior Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Tony Harrison vs Jermell Charlo
R.L: Charlo Unanimous Decision
TRS: Charlo KO 8

Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Eje Ajagba vs Iago Kiladze
R.L: Ajagba Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ajagba KO 6

Boxing Challenge: Crawford KO's Kavaliauskas

The Saturday night card from Top Rank on ESPN gave viewers all that they could expect from the card from Madison Square Garden as arguably the world's best fighter received a test for a few rounds and a prospect turned into a champion with the type of explosive performance that made fans look anxiously forward to a future fight against a superstar.

Terence Crawford survived a few uneasy moments in the early rounds before knocking out Egid Kavaliauskas in the ninth round.
Kavaliauskas landed some big punches on Crawford in the second and third rounds before Crawford settled into his normal groove and began land more often.
Crawford knocked Kavaliauskas down late in the seventh and appeared to be biding his time through the eighth before two knockdowns ended the fight in the ninth from the best finisher in boxing.
I had Crawford well ahead despite taking more punches than he is accustomed to by a score of 78-71.
I'm not sure what fighter will face Crawford next with the PBC still having the best depth in the division, but Crawford does have hope in the future with strong junior welterweights such as Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, and Josh Taylor possibly moving up in late 2020 or early 2021.

Teofimo Lopez established himself as a champion and possible star with a two-round destruction of Richard Commey that won the IBF lightweight title for Lopez and the chance for two more titles against Vasyl Lomachenko in the spring.
I thought Commey won the first round and might have been winning the second before both fighters cocked right hands.
It was Lopez landing first with a devastating shot that Commey showed a great chin and heart by even rising from a shot that against many would have ended the fight.
However, at that stage, heart and chin weren't going to be enough to survive and as Lopez landed combinations that trapped a groggy Commey against the ropes, referee David Fields was forced to stop the fight.
I would favor Vasyl Lomachenko against his fight against Lopez, but Lopez has the power and speed to trouble Lomachenko and with the puncher's chance of pulling the huge upset.

In the ESPN opener, featherweight Michael Conlan dominated Vladimir Nikitin and won a ten-round decision in a rematch of their Olympic match that ended with Nikitin winning a controversial decision.
Their professional battle wasn't close (98-92 on my card) as Conlan patiently boxed on the outside and picked apart the attacking Nikitin in a bout that lacked excitement other than a seventh-round that featured a few exchanges.
Conlan will face Shakur Stevenson sometime next year as he has risen to the top contender's position in the WBO without facing a top fifteen fighter.

Friday night in the main event from Golden Boy on DAZN, another talented future star looked very sharp as welterweight Vergil Ortiz stopped veteran Brad Solomon in five rounds.
The crafty Solomon did his best to keep Ortiz off him and simply lacked the strength to do so against the power of Ortiz.
Ortiz scored a flash knockdown in the fourth round but dominated the fifth with Solomon being forced to his knees twice before the fight was called off.
Ortiz looks to be a match for even the best welterweights in the game, but like Terence Crawford appears to be trapped in a spot where he is going to have problems finding big fights due to his promoter.
Ortiz does hold one of those minor WBA belts, so perhaps Alexander Besputin, who holds another one of those, of Top Rank, could be a match or even Terence Crawford in what would be a high-risk high reward for both men.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to five in the boxing challenge with the difference being the win from Teofimo Lopez and an extra point from Vergil Ortiz
I lead the challenge 302-265

Boxing Challenge

The boxing weekend starts early on DAZN with one of the best prospects in the game and then moves to ESPN on Saturday with arguably the best fighter in the game defending his title with two anticipated bouts on the undercard.

DAZN and Golden Boy will showcase their coming star as welterweight Vergil Ortiz faces veteran Brad Solomon on Friday night.
Ortiz is an exciting young fighter and might be mildly tested by Solomon, a veteran that is a slick and difficult to fight boxer and could have had a far different career but was plagued by a lack of power and a difficult time finding opponents due to his style and ability.
I think Ortiz breaks Solomon down, but it'll be good for the development of Ortiz fighting a fighter such as Solomon.

ESPN is in the Big Apple with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford facing his WBO mandatory contender in Egidijus Kavaliauskus.
Crawford, who might be the best fighter in all of boxing and almost certainly is the fighter that is most avoided around his weight class, looks to keep things running smoothly against the undefeated  Kavaliauskus.
Kavaliauskus struggled to a draw against Ray ( Sugar withheld) Robinson in his last fight in March and looks to be another overmatched opponent against Crawford, who looks to land a big fight in a division that the other top fighters in the division are promoted by the PBC.

The co-feature looks like a very good battle with IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey defending against another of the blazing young stars in boxing, Teofimo Lopez.
Commey, who in both of his defeats were by debatable split decision, could arguably be undefeated looked very good in defending his title for the first time against former champion Ray Beltran, stopping him in eight rounds.
Lopez didn't look as sharp as normal in his last bout, but still controlled Masayoshi Nakatani in a clear unanimous decision victory.
This looks to me to be a very close fight that you could make a strong case for either fighter.
The winner will fight Vasyl Lomachenko for his WBA and WBO titles in their next fight in what would have for all four lightweight belts, had the WBC not implemented their silly franchise champion designation.

The other bout is an Olympic rematch between Michael Conlan and Vladimir Nikitin at featherweight.
Their controversial Olympic bout that memorably saw Conlan give judges the middle finger and an enraged post-fight interview that is remembered to this day, is just the beginning with both fighters now undefeated in the pro ranks.
Conlan has won all twelve of his fights, while Nikitin has won only three against non-threatening opponents, stopping none of them.
This looks to be the time for Conlan to settle the score.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 297-258.

Welterweights. 12 Rds
Vergil Ortiz vs Brad Solomon
R.L: Ortiz KO 7
TRS: Ortiz Unanimous Decision

WBO Welterweight Title. 12 Rds
Terence Crawford vs Egidijus Kavaliauskus
R.L: Crawford KO 8
TRS: Crawford KO 11

IBF Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Richard Commey vs Teofimo Lopez
R.L: Lopez Unanimous Decision
TRS: Commey Majority Decision

Featherweights. 10 Rds
Michael Conlan vs Vladimir Nikitin
Both: Conlan Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Joshua regains titles over Ruiz

 In a calculated and disciplined performance that many doubted that he could give, Anthony Joshua dominated from the outside and refused to give Andy Ruiz the toe to toe exchanges that he needed to be successful and regained the three heavyweight titles (WBA, IBF, and WBO) that he lost to Ruiz by knockout in June.

The bout held in a temporary stadium built in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia didn't have a lot of fireworks as their first fight did with both fighters hitting the mat, but showed the type of skill that would serve Joshua well in future fights against Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
Joshua established the jab early, cutting Ruiz above the left eye in the first round and when Ruiz returned the favor in the following round, Joshua avoided panic and stuck to the gameplan throughout.
I had Joshua a 119-109 winner and I don't see the need for a rematch until Ruiz can re-establish himself with a victory or two.
Joshua has two mandatories coming up and most assumed that no matter the winner of Joshua-Ruiz that either the IBF or WBO titles would be vacated.
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says that Joshua plans on fighting both mandatories if the organizations can work together to allow it.
Kubrat Pulev is the IBF top contender with Oleksandr Usyk atop the WBO rankings.

On the undercard, Alexander Povetkin and Michael Hunter drew over twelve rounds in a WBA heavyweight eliminator that was a far better action battle than expected with both fighters being hurt throughout the fight and several high-powered exchanges.
I had the fight as one judge at 114-114 with the other two judges scoring 115-113 for each fighter.
My issue came in round five when the ropes held a stunned Hunter up, which should have been called a technical knockdown.
Had that been scored properly, Povetkin would have won a split decision.

The other challenge heavyweight battle was also better than expected as Dillian Whyte returned to the ring and defeated Marius Wach of Poland via a unanimous decision.
Whyte weighed his highest ever after taking the fight on late notice and it showed as he was a bit sluggish in allowing Wach to land plenty of punches and keep the fight close and entertaining.
I scored Whyte a 96-94 winner, which was a little closer than the official judges did.

On Showtime, PBC's two fights saw Jermall Charlo knock out Dennis Hogan in seven rounds to retain his WBC middleweight title in Brooklyn.
The much larger Charlo knocked Hogan down in the fourth round before finishing him in the seventh with a knockdown that Hogan got up from, but was in no condition to continue.
Similar to WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, Charlo doesn't have opponents willing to fight him, so he's rarely tested (I would really love to see Charlo-Andrade) and therefore has a weak resume', especially at middleweight.

Charlo doesn't have many fights to make, but PBC has tried to bring him in an opponent in Chris Eubank Jr, who made his American debut against Matt Korobov in the co-main event.
Korobov lost a close decision to Charlo in the only middleweight fight that Charlo has had where the opponent has fought back and would have been an excellent measuring stick for Eubank.
I say would have been because Korobov suffered a shoulder injury in the second round while throwing a punch and was unable to continue, giving Eubank an unsatisfying second round TKO.
Eubank will likely be next for Jermall Charlo.

On ESPN plus from Mexico, Emanuel Navarette ran through another opponent in defending his WBO junior featherweight title, this time it was Francisco Horta that Navarrette crushed in four rounds.
Navarette defended his title for the fourth time this year and had won the first three rounds on my scorecard.
Hopefully, we will see him against one of the other champions (Daniel Roman or Rey Vargas) in 2020.

The other ESPN fight saw the often-forgotten man in the junior bantamweight division as IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas stopped a game Miguel Gonzalez in six rounds to keep his title for the eighth time.
Ancajas also has unification thoughts, but all three champions in his division fight for other promoters (Juan Francisco Estrada, Kal Yafai, and Kazuto Ioka) and might be difficult to make.
Gonzalez was never knocked down but took a beating in the sixth before the fight was ended.
I had Ancajas ahead 49-46 when the fight was stopped.

From Montreal, David Lemieux won his super middleweight debut with a split decision win over Max Bursak.
Lemieux was knocked down in the first and fifth and knocked Bursak down in the sixth.
I haven't seen this fight, so no scoring from this fight.

Boxing Challenge

The final month of the boxing challenge has arrived with a heavyweight rematch involving three of the four heavyweight titles from Saudi Arabia (?), championship fights from two more platforms and an untelevised (on American TV at least) return to the ring from one of the biggest punchers in the game.

The Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch will have the undercard starting in the morning and the main event should hit the ring from Saudi Arabia on DAZN around lunchtime.
The rematch of their fight from June when both fighters hit the deck in the third round before Ruiz pulled the stunning upset of Joshua off with a seventh-round knockout, winning the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles.
This is a fight that I'm back and forth about and is a difficult one to predict.
Ruiz has fast hands and if he's in shape and ready to go (which Ruiz hasn't always been able to do so), I can see Ruiz repeating his victory, taking his three titles to PBC and await the winner of the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury rematch for the unified title.
Joshua is a heavy puncher and he did draw Ruiz as a late substitute for Jarrell Miller, who failed a PED test before the fight.
Joshua's more talented physically and likely the better boxer, but he has questions about his chin now and it remains to be seen how Joshua mentally handles returning from his first loss, especially in an immediate rematch against the person that knocked him out.
If Joshua is in good shape mentally, I think he rebounds and wins his titles back.
However, if he has doubts or isn't perfectly prepared, Ruiz is very capable of winning the rematch and sending almost total control (other than Tyson Fury) of the heavyweight division to Al Haymon's PBC.

The Ruiz-Joshua undercard will also be based in the heavyweight division with two fights of consequence that is likely to see the winners stay near the top of the contenders' list.
Former WBA champion Alexander Povetkin continues his comeback from his seventh-round KO loss to Anthony Joshua in 2018 as he fights Michael Hunter in a WBA eliminator.
Povetkin's first return fight earlier this year was a unanimous decision win over Hughie Fury, while Hunter won a unanimous decision over then-undefeated Sergei Kuzmin in September to qualify for the eliminator.
I am a lot more torn on this than I should be on the resume' because with Povetkin now 40 years of age, I can see Hunter outboxing him.
The winner should be involved in a fight for the WBA title, should it be vacated from whatever results occur from the Ruiz-Joshua affair.

The other fight sees the return of Dillian Whyte from his PED test controversy as he passed one test and failed another before his unanimous decision win over Oscar Rivas in July.
Whyte had worked his way into the top contender slot for the WBC but amid all the controversy Whyte has been removed from all four sanctioning bodies rankings.
Whyte will be pursuing some sort of legal action in the future, I'm sure, but is attempting to stay active against Poland's Marius Wach.
Wach was a one-time title challenger, losing a unanimous decision to Wladimir Klitschko, but has lost his last three fights and is past his prime.

We move to the evening with Top Rank providing a card for ESPN Plus and Showtime offering a PBC slate Saturday night.

Top Rank will have two titles from Puebla Mexico with the main event starring the Eveready bunny of boxing, Emanuel Navarrete defending his WBO junior featherweight title against Francisco Horta.
Navarrete will be fighting for the fifth time since upsetting Issac Dogboe in December 2018 against the unheralded Horta and will be a heavy favorite to retain his title.

IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas defends his title against Miguel Gonzalez.
Ancajas was scheduled to fight Jonathan Rodriguez last month, but a visa issue for Rodriguez canceled the fight.
The light-hitting Gonzalez (8 KO's in 30 wins) seems to be tailor-made for Ancajas, who is looking for a spectacular victory as he awaits bigger fights in the division against WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada, WBA champ Kai Yafai or WBO beltholder Kazuto Ioka.

Showtime's PBC card from their official home in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn will top the card with Jermall Charlo's WBC middleweight title defense against Australia's Dennis Hogan.
Charlo has beaten less than impressive competition since his move to middleweight and he was handed the WBC title after their ridiculous franchise champion designation for Canelo Alvarez.
Combine those facts with Charlo's close decision two fights ago over late-minute replacement Matt Korobov along with a dull decision over undersized Brandon Adams and you have to wonder just how good Charlo is.
Charlo does have what seems to be a perfect foil in Hogan, who is moving up from junior middleweight and giving away height, reach, and power against Charlo, but Hogan did fight very impressively as a sizable underdog in his last fight challenging Jaime Munguia for Munguia's WBO junior middleweight belt.
Hogan lost via majority decision, but most ( including me) thought that Hogan should have been the winner.
Hogan will need to improve on his career-best performance to upset Charlo in this one.

The co-feature from Showtime will pit the previously mentioned Matt Korobov in a middleweight crossroads bout against Chris Eubank Jr.
Eubank will be making his American debut and will be dropping from super middleweight to take this fight for one of the WBA's meaningless trinkets.
Eubank seems to be the physically larger fighter and he has the longer reach (two and a half inches) despite both standing 5'11,
Both fighters are top ten caliber fighters and both fighters have failed on their biggest stages, Korobov in losses to Andy Lee and Charlo, Eubank to George Groves and Billy Joe Saunders.
It'll be interesting to see which one can rise to the challenge.

Power punching David Lemieux is back in the ring from Montreal in a bout that is surprisingly not on an American outlet.
I'm surprised that Golden Boy (co-promoter)  didn't find a way to stream the bout on DAZN, even if on a delay.
Lemieux had struggled for years trying to make 160 pounds and this fight will be his first at the super middleweight class.
The opponent will be Max Bursak, who was last seen against a top fighter in 2017 losing every round to Gilberto Ramirez in a challenge for the WBO super middleweight title then held by Ramirez.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 287-250.

WBA/IBF/WBO Heavyweight Titles. 12 Rds
Andy Ruiz vs Anthony Joshua
R.L: Ruiz KO 9
TRS: Joshua Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Alexander Povetkin vs Michael Hunter
R.L: Povetkin KO 7
TRS: Povetkin KO 10

Heavyweights. 10 Rds
Dillian Whyte vs Marius Wach
R.L: Whyte KO 5
TRS: Whyte KO 7

WBO Junior Featherweight Title. 12 Rds
Emanuel Navarrete vs Francisco Horta
R.L: Navarrete Unanimous Decision
TRS: Navarrete KO 5

IBF Junior Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds
Jerwin Ancajas vs Miguel Gonzalez
R.L: Ancajas KO 8
TRS: Ancajas KO 6

WBC Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Jermall Charlo vs Dennis Hogan
R.L: Charlo KO 4
TRS: Charlo Unanimous Decision

Middleweights. 12 Rds
Chris Eubank Jr vs Matt Korobov
Both: Eubank Unanimous Decision

Super Middleweights. 10 Rds
David Lemieux vs Max Bursak
R.L: Lemieux KO 3
TRS: Lemieux KO 4

Boxing Challenge: Casimero KO's Tete, Valdez, Frampton return.

The boxing weekend didn't have marquee bouts, but a world title changed hands, a vacant title was filled with a minor upset in a very good fight and two champions made their debuts in their new division, so there were plenty of interesting fights to scan.

In Birmingham, England, former IBF flyweight champion John Riel Casimero scored a mild upset in taking the WBO bantamweight title from Zolani Tete via a third-round knockout.
Tete controlled the first two rounds with his jab from long range with his reach advantage, which is unmatched in the 118-pound division, but Casimero connected with one right hand to the side of Tete's head at the temple to essentially end the fight.
Tete got off the mat, but his equilibrium never recovered and following another knockdown, Casimero teed off on Tete in a corner to end the fight.
Entering the fight, Tete was a top candidate to face WBA/IBF champion Naoya Inoue next year in a title unification fight, but Casimero called out Inoue after his win and that fight could be a fun and explosive battle and a far more interesting fight than Inoue-Tete.

The main card on ESPN+  from Las Vegas slated two former featherweight champions moving up in weight for fights that are expected to be used as prep fights for championship shots next year.
Former WBO champion Oscar Valdez was given a very difficult fight by last-minute replacement Adam Lopez before Valdez rallied to stop Lopez in the seventh round.
Lopez knocked Valdez down in the second round with a left hook in the second round and led on my card after six rounds,58-55, but was floored by a left/right combination in the seventh and when Valdez stunned him with seconds to go in the round, referee Russell Mora stopped the fight a bit prematurely in my opinion.
Valdez has been a fighter that is more solid than elite in my opinion and although he'll have a puncher's chance in his challenge of WBC champion Miguel Berchelt next year, I like Berchelt to win that one and keep his status as the best fighter at 130 pounds.

Former WBA champion Carl Frampton returned from his decision loss to IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington to defeat Tyler McCready via unanimous decision.
McCready, who entered undefeated, but in his first ten rounder, won the first round on my card and lost the rest, went down to a knee in the sixth and ninth rounds in the lopsided (99-88 from me) victory,
Frampton, who will likely try for Jamel Herring's WBO title, was interviewed in the ring along with Herring after his win and Frampton doesn't seem to be remotely the same size as Herring.
All things considered, I think the natural junior lightweight in Herring should be the favored fighter.

The best fight of the weekend was on the undercard from Las Vegas as an unexpected battle for the WBO junior middleweight title vacated by Jaime Munguia (this hasn't happened yet, but is expected to occur at their next meeting) took place as a facially beaten Patrick Teixeira of Brazil upset highly regarded Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic via unanimous decision.
Adames controlled most of the first half of the fight and cut Teixeira around both eyes to cause impressive bleeding throughout the fight, but neither cut was in a spot dangerous enough to end the fight.
Teixeira turned the tide with a series of right hands and continued with a left hook that sent Adames sinking to the floor near the end of round seven.
Had there been more time remaining, the fight may have ended then and there, but the bell saved Adames and he repaid the boxing gods with a game effort that matched the crimson flowing down the face of Teixeira down the stretch.
I scored it 114-113 for Teixeira, which was the same as two judges' cards, with the knockdown making the difference in the victory.
A rematch would seem to be in order eventually after such a close and terrific fight.

In Monte Carlo, Alexander Besputin outboxed fellow Russian Radzhab Butaev and won a minor belt via unanimous decision in a battle of unbeaten welterweights.
Besputin, who reminds me of a poor man's Vasyl Lomachenko, is a slick boxer that uses an ability to slide away from punches more than he does movement, managed to outwork Butaev throughout the fight and survived the only time either fighter was close to being hurt in round seven when Butaev staggered Besputin but was unable to follow up.
I thought the fight was pretty easy to score as my card of 116-112 matched all three of the official cards
Besputin is going to be an interesting match against the elite welterweights with his style and although I wonder about how his power is going to match up with those top fighters.

Besputin's win was a big triumph for Top Rank, who is always searching for opponents for WBO champion Terence Crawford and the minor belt could be key in Crawford-Besputin happening in 2020.
The minor belt is insignificant, but it has one major attraction- the eventual ability to force a fight with the WBA champion Manny Pacquiao.
Now I don't think there is a chance that Manny Pacquiao ever fights Terence Crawford as the PBC-Top Rank divide likely scuttles that, but Pacquiao had the chance for years to fight Crawford when he was with Top Rank and despite Bob Arum's attempts to make it happen, Pacquiao was never interested.
Crawford-Besputin and then forcing the WBA to mandate Pacquiao-Crawford with the likely result of Pacquiao vacating the title would be an excellent chess move by Crawford and Top Rank to force PBC to get Errol Spence into the ring for the fight we all want to see as it would give both Spence and Crawford two titles and take away the PBC talking point of not mentioning Terence Crawford because he is with the WBO.
The fight was also unusual as it was the main event of a Matchroom card with neither combatant promoted by Matchroom with Besputin working with Top Rank and Butaev using Lou DiBella as his promoter.
Matchroom won a WBA purse bid to promote the fight in October to put the fight on one of their cards.

In the boxing challenge, I scored nine points to Ramon Malpica's four with the difference being the wins by Besputin and Casimero along with a bonus point from Oscar Valdez.
The lead is now 287-250.

Back later with the Browns loss in Pittsburgh. 

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge doesn't have the huge fights that last week had and the next two weeks will, but there are still five interesting fights that will see two former champions at featherweight attempt to qualify for title shots in their new division, a bantamweight title with the winner possibly in line for Naoya Inoue, a minor title at welterweight being fought over with two untested fighters in their first true increase in opposition and two big-hitting prospects fighting for a vacant world belt.

Most of the action will appear on ESPN+ on Saturday night with three of the matches from Las Vegas.
Former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez and former WBA/IBF junior featherweight and WBA featherweight champion Carl Frampton return to the ring after absences for tuneup fights in their new division at 130 pounds.
Valdez faces veteran Andres Gutierrez, who lost to his best two opponents in Abner Mares and Cristian Mijares, but lasted with both of them while Frampton will fight undefeated Tyler McCreary, who is entering the fight after his best win, an eight-round split decision over Jessie Cris Rosales in July.
With victories, Valdez will tackle the division's top fighter in WBC champion Miguel Berchelt next time while Frampton would challenge WBO boss Jamel Herring.
The winners of those bouts could possibly unify against each other later in 2020 if mandatory challengers do not get into the way.

Late note; Andres Gutierrez missed weight for his fight against Oscar Valdez by a stunning ELEVEN pounds!
Gutierrez shouldn't be licensed to fight for at least one year after this stunt.
Valdez will still fight against once-beaten Adam Lopez, who was scheduled to fight on the undercard.

The other fight could be a fun and explosive fight for the vacant WBO junior middleweight title that was recently given up by Jaime Munguia as undefeated Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic meets once-beaten Patrick Teixeira of Brazil.
Adames has beaten his best two opponents in his most recent fights with a decision over the late Patrick Day and a fourth-round knockout of veteran Frank Galarza. while Teixeira has won his last four including a decision win over Nathaniel Gallimore since his only loss, a second-round loss to veteran bomber Curtis Stevens.

ESPN+ will be streaming a card from London Saturday afternoon that will include one fight in the challenge that isn't the main event on the card as WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete will defend against John Reil Casimero of the Phillippines.
Tete decisioned Mikail Aloyan to defend his title in the first round of the World Boxing Super Series, but suffered an injury before his semi-final/unification fight against then-WBA champion Nonito Donaire and was replaced in the tournament.
It was a tough break for Tete, who style-wise might have been a very difficult fight for Donaire.
Tete has been mentioned as a possible opponent for Naoya Inoue by Inoue's new promoter Top Rank, so this is more than just a title defense for the South African champion.
Casimero was once the IBF flyweight champion and looked very impressive in winning the WBO interim title to be defended while Tete was injured, against Ricardo Espinoza with a final round knockout in an extremely close fight.

DAZN's main event from Monte Carlo will feature two undefeated Russian fighters that aren't promoted by Matchroom Boxing for a minor WBA title that was placed up for purse bid when the two promoters couldn't agree on a contract.
It's a stepping stone towards a big fight down the road with Alexander Besputin against Radzhab Butaev to basically have a minor belt and with luck maybe consideration for main WBA champion Manny Pacquiao eventually.
Both are mostly untested, although Besputin owns a unanimous decision win over fringe contender Juan Carlos Abreu as the best win of the pair.

I lead the boxing challenge over Ramon Malpica 278-246.

Junior Lightweights. 10 Rds
Oscar Valdez vs Adam Lopez
R.L: Valdez KO 4
TRS: Valdez KO 7

Junior Lightweights, 10 Rds
Carl Frampton vs Tyler McCreary
Both: Frampton Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBO Junior Middleweight Title 12 Rds
Carlos Adames vs Patrick Teixeira
R.L: Adames Unanimous Decision
TRS: Adames KO 4

WBO Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds
Zolani Tete vs John Riel Casimero
R.L: Tete Unanimous Decision
TRS; Casimero KO 11

Welterweights. 12 Rds
Alexander Besputin vs Radzhab Butaev
R.L: Butaev Unanimous Decision
TRS: Besputin Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Wilder crunches Ortiz, Callum Smith creaks by Ryder

For almost seven complete rounds, Luis Ortiz was trying to complete his rematch with Deontay Wilder such as a jockey that is attempting to hold the lead at a very slow pace to lessen the chances of a stronger closer coming off the pace for a victory.

However, when you have the fastest gun in the game on your side it only takes one shot to end a fight.
And it only takes one mistake even as Ortiz was landing well be on his way to winning another round when Wilder fired one right hand.
That right hand landed flush and when the smoke cleared, it was only Wilder standing and keeping the WBC heavyweight title via seventh-round knockout in Las Vegas.
I had Ortiz ahead 59-55 after six rounds and would have likely given him the seventh, had the round ended.
The fight wasn't filled with activity and could have been called dull as both fighters respected the power of the other and rarely engaged.
I'm not really sure what this fight answered that we didn't already know- Deontay Wilder can erase a lot of effective boxing with one shot and Deontay Wilder can look pretty ordinary against good fighters while he waits for one shot.
Wilder moves onto the rematch with Tyson Fury in what appears to be February in another intriguing
fight.
Tyson Fury is the one fighter that took Wilder's best shot and got up, and Deontay Wilder is the one fighter that proved that he can hurt Tyson Fury when he lands, so the rematch is certainly very interesting.
Now, if we can just talk PBC and Top Rank into a cross-promotional fight or two on the undercard.

The undercard looked promising and then crumbled before the fight.
My favorite fight between two of the top five bantamweights in the world was canceled when Luis Nery missed weight by a pound and Emmanuel Rodriguez refused to accept compensation to fight an overweight Nery, so the fight was sadly canceled.
I think I'm with Rodriguez here.
Rodriguez is coming off his first career loss, is fighting a very talented former champion that has a PED history and has a history of missing weight.
When you consider all of those facts, should you risk another second loss against a fighter that is stronger for not hitting the weight mark for a couple thousand dollars?
I completely understand Rodriguez not proceeding and since this fight was a WBC title eliminator, the fair thing is to declare Rodriguez the top contender and refuse to rank Nery at 118 pounds.
Considering it's the WBC, the likely decision is likely to make this the fault of Rodriguez and give Nery the mandatory position.
Sarcasm mildly intended.

And if you thought Luis Nery was unprofessional, please allow me to introduce Julio Ceja!
Ceja, a former WBC junior featherweight champion, entered his fight with minor Titleist Brandon Figueroa after a terrific try against Guillermo Rigondeaux that saw him on the wrong side of an early stoppage while leading on the scorecards.
Ceja's effort against Rigondeaux was the best ever against the Cuban ( other than his ill-advised attempt against Vasyl Lomachenko), so Ceja had some goodwill in the bank that went awry when
Ceja missed weight by a stunning FOUR and a quarter pounds!
To put that in perspective, Ceja would have been overweight for a featherweight title fight and this was scheduled for the 122-pound junior featherweight division.
Figueroa decided to accept the fight when he was both compensated financially and assured by the sanctioning body that he would not lose his minor title, should he lose.
And here is why the argument made by Emmanuel Rodriguez for not accepting the extra money against an overweight opponent made sense because Figueroa's normally a very good puncher and he just couldn't hurt the larger Ceja in an excellent fight.
Figueroa-Ceja ended in a draw and it was fun to watch, but Ceja had such an artificial edge with the weight advantage that you wondered just how much that played into the fight.
Ceja has been knocked out three times in his career, yet Figueroa, a very good puncher, couldn't move him at all.
I scored Ceja a 115-113 winner in a fight that was very close and felt bad for Figueroa in the situation.

The co-feature was another gift for Leo Santa Cruz, who seems to thrive on winning vacant titles against questionable competition and then sitting on them until he rises in weight.
Santa Cruz won his fourth world title (from three different organizations.) with a unanimous decision over Miguel Flores to add the WBA junior lightweight title to his trophy case and won few fans in doing so.
Santa Cruz fights usually follow the same pattern, landing lots of punches, with not a lot of power, and his overmatched opponents are defeated on the scorecards, but generally unhurt.
This fight followed that template as I gave Flores the first round and no others, so the scorecard isn't the issue for me.
My issue with Santa Cruz is this- he's talented and has won four "titles". but is only 1-1 against top-notch fighters, splitting a series with Carl Frampton and his two wins over Abner Mares after Mares had slipped past his best are his only other notable wins.
I'm not sure what the issues are with Santa Cruz, is it that he doesn't want to fight top opponents and is satisfied with belts and money?
Or is it that his promoters choose not to roll the dice and gamble Santa Cruz against someone that could beat him?
I wonder about the PBC sometimes in these situations with fighters that haven't fought good competition and how it happens with examples such as Santa Cruz, Gary Russell, and Gervonta Davis.
My guesses are as follows:
Gervonta Davis is a fighter that is "on the wrong side of the street" (I'm really beginning to hate that phrase) promotionally in his division and has a chance to win against the best in the game.
Davis has that kind of ability but needs a breakout win that PBC seems unwilling or unable to provide.
Russell has tons of talent but seems content to fight once a year, keep a title, cash a nice check, and not challenge himself.
Santa Cruz isn't as talented as the above two and has been protected from fighters such as Russell (both are featherweight champions with PBC and could easily fight) and either his management or promotion realizes this and is protecting him for as long as possible.

We move to DAZN with cards from Matchroom and Golden Boy and a very interesting result that has been overshadowed by the Wilder-Ortiz fight.

Matchroom's main event from Liverpool, England looked to be a stay busy fight as Callum Smith, who is looked at by most as the top super middleweight in the world, defended his WBA title against countryman John Ryder, who entered the fight on a four-fight upset streak with all four wins over undefeated or one-loss fighters.
However, the biggest name on Ryder's record was Rocky Fielding in a loss, so Smith was a prohibitive favorite to defend his title.
Watching the clips of the weigh-in, Smith looked to be a full division larger than Ryder, and with six inches in height and reach over Ryder, this seemed to be a mismatch.
AND that's why we fight the fights and why everyone makes mistakes.

In honesty, I watched this fight twice.
The first time that I watched it, I scored it 115-113 for Callum Smith with Smith holding off the late charge of Ryder, who won the final three rounds on my card.
After that, I went to bed having stayed up to watch Ohio State-Penn State, then Smith-Ryder and needing sleep before work.
When I got up, something was nagging at me about it, but I had to watch the other DAZN card, Wilder-Ortiz, etc and I put it aside.
Still, I talked to Fred Landucci and he asked me about my thoughts which made my earlier questions return.
In short, I rewatched it and my score changed to 115-113 for Ryder, who attacked throughout, took advantage of a seemingly overconfident and underprepared Smith and my rewatched card could be slightly kind to Smith.
Ryder was the stronger fighter, worked Smith over to the ropes and ripped away on the inside to the body of the bigger man.
I also thought that Ryder did much better than expected in the center of the ring where you would think Smith would not only want to be but where he would control the action.

I had the edge of rewatching to get things right which judges in live-action do not, but what seems to happen in fights where the huge favorite wins an unpopular decision is this- In those early rounds when fights are just starting to settle in, judges fall into a trap and score those early rounds for the fighter that's expected to win- because they think that's what should be happening rather than what is.
By the time that you realize that the fight isn't happening the way it "should", it's too late and there is how you get a bad call.
I would imagine a rematch is in order, but I have a feeling that John Ryder may have already fought the fight of his life once, and should a rematch be forced, Callum Smith is going to be ready.
Callum Smith is the better fighter, but John Ryder deserved the duke on this night.
A belated Hamburglar for this one.

The evening card for DAZN was a Golden Boy card with two of those wonderful minor belts from the WBA and saw an upset in the main event as Rene Alvarado tore apart Andrew Cancio like Gale Sayers through an overmatched defense.
Cancio had knocked out Alvarado in their first fight in 2015 and after two wins over highly regarded Alberto Machado, was thought to be a rising fighter with a great story.
Alvarado used his longer reach and surprising aggressiveness from the start to cur Cancio around both eyes and bloodied his nose to the point of Alvarado's white trunks appearing to be a light pink from Cancio's blood.
Cancio fought as bravely as he could, but he couldn't figure out how to avoid Alvarado's incessant offense in order to get inside to do his best work.
I had Alvarado ahead 69-64 (6-1) when the fight was mercifully ended in Cancio's corner at the end of the seventh round.
Cancio was becoming quite a story, but it is very possible that Cancio is a solid fighter that simply had the number of Alberto Machado.
We'll see if Rene Alvarado, also a solid fighter, can perform well against fighters other than Andrew Cancio.

In the other fight, China's Xu Can continues to impress in his move up the featherweight ladder with his unanimous decision win over Manny Robles.
Can reminds me a bit of Josh Warrington in that he throws a lot of punches and attempts to overwhelm his opponents with volume.
Funny that I should mention Warrington, who was the champion called out in the post-fight interview by Can and that would be a very exciting fight to see.
Neither fighter has world-class sting on their punches but in a fight between those two the ringside people counting the punches had better be ready to work overtime!
I scored Can the winner 118-110 over Robles, who took his first loss but had won his previous two fights by close split decisions and the bloom seems to be fading off a once-promising prospect.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica seven to five (the Wilder KO making the difference) to move my overall lead to 278-246.

I'm going to try to be back later with the Browns romp over Miami and looking forward to a rematch in Pittsburgh.
 

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge continues with seven fights on three platforms and a heavyweight championship on the line in a rematch of a fight that might not have been great from start to finish but had two of the most memorable rounds of 2018.

From Las Vegas, PBC brings the biggest fight of the week as Deontay Wilder defends his WBC heavyweight title in a rematch against Luis Ortiz, of a fight that saw Ortiz badly hurt Wilder and was within seconds of lifting Wilder's crown before Wilder survived and stopped Ortiz in the tenth round.
Their first fight might have been the final stand for Ortiz, who is listed at forty but could be closer to fifty, and he has looked less than sharp in his wins against lesser competition, so you have to favor Wilder with the first fight win and the best one-punch power in the game.
However, Ortiz isn't overmatched against the often-wild and wide open Wilder and should Wilder decide that he wants an early KO, Ortiz is more than capable of testing the still-questioned chin of Wilder.
Everything in this points to Wilder, but if Ortiz has anything left at all, he is more than capable of jeopardizing Wilder's rematch with Tyson Fury.

The undercard is a strong one from PBC with two world title fights and a match between two of the top five bantamweights in the world.
The co-feature matches Leo Santa Cruz fighting for the vacant WBA junior lightweight title in yet another "title" essentially handed to the Haymon-backed Santa Cruz, this time against Miguel Flores.
Santa Cruz, who has beaten one top fighter that was in their prime (Carl Frampton, who split two fights against Santa Cruz) and after you add Santa Cruz's two wins over Abner Mares, who was still a good fighter, but past his best days when he was matched against Santa Cruz you have reached the end of his world-class opponents.
The fact that this is for the WBA title is a joke as Flores is 2-2 since February 2017 with stoppage losses to Dat Nguyen and Chris Avalos (neither of whom are even in the top 25) with the wins over one fighter with an 11-7 record and the other with a record of 21-14.
I'll never understand how and why Leo Santa Cruz has gotten so many breaks in boxing and a free pass essentially from many of the boxing press, but he's clearly comfortable being protected by the blanket provided by Mr. Al Haymon.

The other two fights on the pay per view carry the undercard, which they better considering another lousy Leo Santa Cruz fight, and have interesting fights that have a favorite, yet in both the underdog has a chance of winning.
Brandon Figueroa defends his minor junior featherweight title against former WBC champion Julio Ceja.
Figueroa punches well and would match pretty well against any of the three champions (Daniel Roman holds the WBA and IBF titles) in the division
Ceja has lost two in a row but is coming off a somewhat controversial loss to Guillermo Rigondeaux in the eighth round when leading on my scorecard, Ceja was dropped, rose and referee Russell Mora stopped the fight with one second remaining in the round.
Should Ceja enter this one with the same type of performance, he'll be the first serious test of Figueroa's career.

The opener could be the fight that steals the show as two former bantamweight champions faceoff in a WBC eliminator to become the mandatory challenger for their champion Nordine Oubaali.
Luis Nery is rated by some to be in the top ten pound for pound in the boxing and never lost his WBC title in the ring after twice defeating long-time champion Shinsuke Yamanaka to win that title.
The undefeated Nery was stripped for failing a PED test (same drug as Canelo Alvarez) and has been battling back from that ever since.
Nery's opponent is former IBF champion, Emmanuel Rodriguez, who lost his first fight in May when he was knocked out in two rounds by Naoya Inoue in the semi-finals of the WBSS after fighting well for the first round.
I lean towards Nery, but Rodriguez could give Nery all that he wants.
When you consider that Naoya Inoue has now signed with Top Rank and with Nery part of the PBC,
Inoue-Nery might be the next great fight that boxing fans miss out on with the boxing cold war in the dead of winter.

DAZN streams the other three fights during Saturday from different times and locations.
Saturday afternoon's fight will be live from Liverpool England as WBA super-middleweight champion Callum Smith defends his title against mandatory contender John Ryder in an all-British title fight.
Smith, who is regarded as the best in the 168-pound division, has been rumored as a possible opponent for Canelo Alvarez and is a prohibitive favorite against Ryder, who lost his biggest fight to Rocky Fielding, who failed so miserably last year against Alvarez.

Later in the evening, Golden Boy takes over with two of the lower WBA titles from Indio, California.
Andrew Cancio, who should be the "real" WBA champion that traces back to the ridiculous decision to take the real title away from Alberto Machado (who Cancio dethroned) to give to Gervonta Davis, who despite being the superior fighter, shouldn't have been handed the title. faces Rene Alvarado in a rematch of their 2015 fight.
Cancio stopped Alvarado in eight rounds then and Cancio has improved since then, so he is the clear favorite.

The other minor title fight takes place in the featherweight division as Xu Can defends against Manny Robles.
Can pulled a surprise with his unanimous decision over Jesus Rojas in January and then defeated Shun Kubo by a sixth-round stoppage in his home country of China in May.
The undefeated Robles takes a step up in competition in this one but impressed me when I watched his split decision win over Rigoberto Hermosillo in May.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 271-241

WBC Heavyweight Title.12 Rds
Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz
R.L: Ortiz KO 7
TRS: Wilder KO 8

Vacant WBA Junior Lightweight Title.12 Rds
Leo Santa Cruz vs Miguel Flores
Both: Santa Cruz Unanimous Decision

Junior Featherweights,12 Rds
Brandon Figueroa vs Julio Ceja
R.L: Figueroa Unanimous Decision
TRS: Figueroa KO 10

Featherweights 12 Rds
Luis Nery vs Emmanuel Rodriguez
R.L: Nery KO 9
TRS: Nery KO 7

WBA Super Middleweight Title. 12 Rds
Callum Smith vs John Ryder
R.L: Smith KO 8
TRS: Smith KO 5

Junior Lightweights 12 Rds
Andrew Cancio vs Rene Alvarado
R.L: Cancio Unanimous Decision
TRS: Cancio KO 8

Featherweights 12 Rds
Xu Can vs Manny Robles
Both: Can Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Champions all defend successfully

On a Saturday that saw three titleholders defend their belts from two California locations, all three walked away with their titles packed away, but with varying degrees of difficulty.

From Los Angeles (cue Van Earl Wright audio), the most difficult evening saw Billy Joe Saunders rally to knock out unheralded Marcelo Coceres after three knockdowns in the eleventh round.
The odd thing about this fight arrived after the tenth round in the corner of Coceres, where Coceres seemed to be celebrating early with kisses and hugs to members of his corner and close on the scorecards (he was down 96-94 on two cards and ahead on the third by the same score), left his corner and was knocked out in that round.
Why a professional corner didn't even attempt to keep their fighter focused on the prize with everything going their way and possibly only two rounds away from winning a world title, is beyond mind-boggling to me.
Their fighter was controlling the action, what there was of it anyway, and Coceres had won six of the previous seven rounds, mainly by doing to Saunders what Saunders had done to so many of his opponents- outslicking and frustrating them with angles and quickness.
I had Coceres ahead 96-94 (6-4) and that was after giving Saunders the first three rounds.
Saunders finally caught Coceres with the right shot and the fight was essentially finished then and there, although Coceres would attempt to survive before the referee waved the fight over after the third knockdown.
For Coceres, he'll more than likely return to Argentine obscurity, while Saunders may have saved a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez, although I'm not sure that will be a great money fight or even a great fight in the ring and it comes with more risk than you think as a prepared and sharp Saunders (which hasn't regularly been the case) has the ability to give Alvarez fits.
To do that, Saunders will have to be far more prepared than he was in this title defense though and I wouldn't ever bank on that preparation occurring.

On the same card, Devin Haney struggled a little bit early in dealing with the taller Alberto Santiago, but not enough to lose any rounds on my card (120-108) or the judges to retain his WBC lightweight title for the first time.
Haney was too much for Santiago and although Haney scored a fifth-round knockdown, Santiago was never seriously in danger of being stopped.
Haney doesn't really have a challenger that is waiting for him unless inter-promotional issues can be dealt with.
The 'real' champion Vasyl Lomachenko now has no reason to face Haney now that he has the ridiculous franchise title, the WBC's top contender and third-ranked contenders in Gervonta Davis and Javier Fortuna both are affiliated with PBC, making a Haney match a difficult one to sign.
That leaves second-rated Luke Campbell, who gave Lomachenko a strong effort in losing last time out and like Haney, fights for Matchroom/DAZN, so Campbell may be next for Haney as his first significant test.

Up the road in Fresno, Jamel Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight title with a close unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Lamont Roach.
The fight was an often messy match with two styles that didn't mesh well and as is often the case when awkward styles mixes occur, the scorecards were wider than I thought with two 117-111's and a 115-113 that was closer to what I saw at 114-114.
Roach rocked Herring and almost scored a knockdown in the eleventh, but was helped by a missed knockdown that should have been scored in the ninth round.
On my card, Herring won most of the early rounds, with Roach coming on strong in the later rounds.
Herring taking on WBC champion Miguel Berchelt would make sense with both of the champions promoted by Top Rank or another possibility could be former WBO featherweight champion, Oscar Valdez.
Valdez has also been rumored to fight Berchelt and whichever champion doesn't get that fight with Valdez has a less than inspiring list of future opponents.

In the co-feature, heavyweight Kubrat Pulev won almost every round (99-91 on my card) over journeyman Rydell Booker in winning a unanimous decision.
Pulev never scored a knockdown, but steadily wore down Booker, who showed a good chin, but came into the fight looking out of shape.
Pulev is the number one contender for the IBF and will be a mandatory challenger for the winner of December's Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me nine to six over the weekend ( including the bantamweight fights from Japan) to move the overall score to 271-241.
Ramon grabbed two points for Jamel Herring's win (I picked Lamont Roach) and two to my one for the win by Billy Joe Saunders to make the difference.