Boxing Challenge: Davis dominates Albright in rematch

  Nahir Albright got his rematch against Keyshawn Davis in Norfolk, Virginia, but while the ending was the same, the fight was far more one-sided as Davis won an easy unanimous decision.

Davis won by scores of 118-110 on two cards and 117-109 on the third, and despite missing weight, showed the talent to make plenty of waves in the welterweight division.

Davis won every round, but lost two points for a bodyslam in round six.

In the co-feature, former WBO welterweight champion Brian Norman knocked out Josh Wagner in two rounds in Norman's first appearance since losing his title to Devin Haney.

Norman knocked Wagner down twice in the second round on the way to the victory.

In Doncaster, England, Filip Hrgovic stopped Dave Allen in three rounds in a showcase match that could see Hrgovic become the next opponent for highly touted Moses Itauma.

And in Germany, Paddy Donovan won a majority decision over Karen Chukhadzian to win an IBF welterweight eliminator and become the mandatory challenger for the winner of next month's IBF title match between Lewis Crocker and Liam Paro.

Official scores of 115-111, 114-112, and 113-113.

I have yet to watch this fight to score.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 51 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 44 Pts (2)

Vince Samano:  36 Pts (6)

Boxing Challenge: Riyadh Rumbles!

      It's better than never coverage from me yet again, but this time it's not so bad, as there will be no boxing challenge action over the Thanksgiving weekend.

In the main event, David Benavidez stopped Anthony Yarde in the seventh round to retain his WBC light heavyweight title.

Benavidez bullied Yarde in the corners and ropes before scoring a knockdown and stoppage.

Benavidez announced that his next fight will be against WBA and WBO cruiserweight Gilberto Ramirez in 2026.

That is an interesting fight, but not as interesting to me as Benavidez against either Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev.

Devin Haney knocked down Brian Norman in the second round and outboxed him the rest of the way to take Norman's WBO welterweight title via unanimous decision.

The win gave Haney a title in a third weight division.

Haney won by scores of 117-110, 116-111, and a way too close 114-113, with my score at 117-111.

Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez added the WBA crown to his junior bantamweight title (WBC and WBO) collection with a tenth-round KO of Fernando Martinez.

Rodriguez was way ahead when he ended the fight in the tenth.

The best fight was in the opener when Abdullah Mason won the vacant WBO lightweight title by a close unanimous decision over Sam Noakes.

Mason cut Noakes over his left eye early in the fight and forced the Briton to fight through the blood all evening.

The pair met toe to toe for much of the fight and produced an action-filled fight.

Mason won by scores of  115-113 on two cards (and mine) and 117-111 on the other.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 146 Pts(5)

Ramon Malpica: 138 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 58 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Norman fries Sasaki

  Brian Norman knocked Jin Sasaki down twice in the first round and knocked him out with a brutal one-punch knockout in round five to retain his WBO welterweight title in Tokyo, Japan.

Give Sasaki credit for toughness; he attacked Norman and landed some punches on the champion, but he was shelled by return fire as he marched towards Norman, and the left hook that ended the fight was as good as you'll see.

Norman called for WBA and IBF champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis after the fight, and the fight is growing in appeal after Norman's title win and two defenses in the last ten months, but Ennis may be moving to the junior middleweight division.

Norman also showed interest in the winner of the WBC title fight between Mario Barrios and the returning Manny Pacquiao, but I would say that would be unlikely with Norman carrying too much danger for too few dollars for the mediocre Barrios or the ancient Pacquiao.

It's amazing how conclusive victories combined with activity can bring a fighter to prominence!

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 96 Pts (2)
Ramon Malpica: 87 Pts(1)
Vince Samano: 40 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Saturday Bloody Saturday

    Saturday's boxing was quite a bloody one, with fights involving plenty of the red stuff left in the ring.

The first fight of the day came from Japan, where the lower-weight's "King of the Upset" pulled another one as IBF junior flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki rose to the flyweight division and knocked out unbeaten champion Angel Ayala in the final round to take Ayala's IBF title.

Yabuki dropped Ayala in each of the first two rounds. While Ayala won some rounds, Yabuki led by a wide margin entering the final round when Yabuki scored one final knockdown to end the fight.

Yabuki made his name by upsetting Kenshiro Teraji and taking Teraji's WBC title by knockout before losing the rematch, and in his most recent fight before beating Ayala, he knocked out Sivenathi Nonthshinga to win the light flyweight title.

Yabuki will have one week to decide which of the two titles he will keep, and it's expected to be the flyweight championship as it would set up a lucrative third match against WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji with three of the division's titles at stake.

On ESPN from Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer was too active for Sandy Ryan, and that made the difference in the fight as Mayer retained the WBO welterweight title that she won from Ryan in another exciting battle.

Ryan landed the higher percentage, but Mayer's output and punches landed allowed her to win the justified decision by scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92.

I had the match a little closer for Mayer at 96-94.

Brian Norman was dynamite in the co-feature as he retained his WBO welterweight title by a third round knockout of Derrieck Cuevas.

Cuevas landed well in round one, but Norman hurt Cuevas in round two, and after a third round knockdown, Cuevas had little interest in fighting on.

Bruce Carrington stopped Jose Vivas in the third round of a featherweight eliminator and is expected to fight for a title in his next fight.

Carrington scored a second-round knockdown before the finish in the third round in his impressive victory.

DAZN and Golden Boy were in Cancun, Mexico, for the lightweight rematch between top contender William Zepeda and former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer.

Zepeda won an arguable split decision in the first fight, and although the rematch was closely contested, Zepeda was the deserving majority decision victor.

Zepeda dominated the first half of the match, Farmer charged back in rounds eight through twelve but Zepeda built enough of a lead to win on my card 115-113 with the official cards reading 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda, along with a score of 114-114 on the final card.

Zepeda should finally receive his title shot in his next fight, while Farmer, after another tough-luck defeat, deserves another attempt to upend a contender.

Oscar Collazo retained his WBA and WBO strawweight titles with a fifth round knockout of Edgar Cano after a vicious bodyshot.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 44 Pts (10)

Ramon Malpica: 37 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge-Berinchyk surprises Navarrete

     The ESPN boxing card from San Diego saw two upsets with one new champion and another simply biding his time before stepping forward to collect his belt.

In the main event, Denis Berinchyk surprised heavy favorite Emanuel Navarrete with a split decision to win the vacant WBO lightweight title in a fight that wasn't nearly as active as one expects from a Navarrete fight.

Berinchyk countered the wild punches of Navarrete more effectively than Navarrete's opponents in the lighter-weight divisions and it was Berinchyk who dominated the late rounds of the fight surprising Navarrete who has usually been the stronger fighter in the waning rounds in the past.

Navarrete was slower than usual and he may have been sluggish at the higher weight enabling Berinchyk to do just enough to earn a split decision with scores of 116-112 and 115-113 to counter a dissenting card of 116-112 for Navarrete.

Berinchyk might be headed for WBC champion Shakur Stevenson next while Navarrete could return to the junior lightweight division and defend the WBO title that he still holds in that division or stay at lightweight, where he will need to improve his efforts if he expects to contend for a championship.

In the co-feature, Brian Norman turned in the best outing of his career in busting up Giovanni Santillan's face before dropping him twice and finishing him off in round ten,

Norman had not been overly impressive in his unbeaten career against less-than-strong opposition and Santillan looked very strong in his six-round crushing of Alexis Rocha, costing Rocha his top ranking in the WBO.

Santillan started strong and looked to be bullying Norman before Norman established his respect in the fourth round and began to steadily beat up Santillan, cutting him on both sides of his face which would cover both combatants in blood.

Norman hurt Santillan in the ninth and perhaps the Santillan corner could have stopped the fight but allowed their fighter to come out for the tenth where Norman knocked Santillan down and the referee could have ended things then and there but kept things going which resulted with Norman landing an uppercut for the final knockdown with the fight finally concluding.

With the win, Norman wins the WBO interim welterweight title, which normally means nothing but Norman will become the full champion when Terence Crawford officially leaves the division.

I'll be writing on the Usyk-Fury undercard in my next post.