Boxing Challenge: Herring retires Frampton in six

    In the preview for Jamel Herring's WBO junior lightweight title defense against former junior feather and featherweight champion Carl Frampton, I wrote that this was one of those rare championship fights that brought to mind the pro wrestling stipulation of "Loser Leaves Town" with both fighters reaching the time where they have plenty of questions regarding their future in the sport.

Jamel Herring retained the title via sixth-round knockout and Carl Frampton in the ring following the defeat announced his retirement to "leave town".

Entering the fight, Herring had the size advantage from the tale of the tape, but once the bell rang the size difference was glaring and it made sense.

Herring had started his career as a lightweight and Frampton had begun his at junior featherweight, so the boxer, Herring, was physically the larger and stronger man.

Herring started strong, establishing himself as willing to stand his ground, and Frampton, who was unable to move to the inside and do the work needed for him to thrive for the first two rounds.

However, Frampton began to win some exchanges in round three, which was a close round that could have been given to either fighter and Frampton clearly won the fourth round along with cutting Herring over his left eye with a cut bad enough that Herring could have concerns about the fight being stopped as the fight continued.

With the tide starting to roll towards Frampton in the fifth round, Frampton began to pick up the pace even more but was dropped by a straight left from Herring that he was never able to truly recover from.

Frampton wouldn't survive a second time, as Herring landed a crushing uppercut that sent Frampton down early in the sixth round.

Frampton rose but was met by a volley of punches from Herring that sent a groggy Frampton into the ropes and when Herring landed another strong left that hurt Frampton, the corner leaped to the ropes to signal surrender for their man.

Frampton would announce his retirement in the ring with an emotional statement and I think he means it.

Frampton will be remembered for splitting his series with Leo Santa Cruz and his win over Scott Quigg in one of the bigger fights of the last decade in the U.K.

As for Herring, he will have two choices, he could face Shakur Stevenson in another fight that he will be the underdog in a WBO mandatory defense, but Herring could ask for a waiver in order to unify his title with that of WBC champion Oscar Valdez.

The other option could be for Herring to vacate the WBO title, which would likely be filled by Stevenson's June fight against unknown Jeremiah Nakathila, fight Valdez, and the winner would then unify against Stevenson.

I'd place Herring as a solid underdog against either Valdez or Stevenson, especially with his recent problems with cuts, but I wouldn't rule him out completely as he seems to fight his best when the least is expected of him.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored a point for the Herring victory to cut my lead back to two points at 38-36.

Boxing Challenge: The Hamburglar Returns! Favorites win

The boxing weekend from ESPN+ and Showtime would have been pretty mundane with the favorites all winning their fights, and none of the fights being exciting or memorable, but then the Hamburglar stuck his head out and made his return.
Now, boxing is truly back.

Starting in the afternoon in London, former junior featherweight and featherweight champion Carl Frampton returned as a junior lightweight and dominated Darren Traynor throughout the fight before dropping him with a body punch in the seventh round that left Traynor quickly offering his surrender.
Traynor was a late replacement and he was fairly effective at times from long range early in the fight, but as Frampton picked up the pace it was clear that the talent difference between the two was going to be too large to overcome for Traynor.
Frampton put Traynor on the floor with a body blow late in the sixth round and Traynor barely continued to the end of the round as the stage for the completion of the fight was set.
Frampton is expected to fight the winner of the WBO championship fight between Jamel Herring and Jonathan Oquendo later this fall.

Michael Conlan lost two points due to low blows, but he won just about everything else in his fight with Sofiane Takoucht and stopped Takoucht in the tenth and final round.
Conlan, who announced his decision to drop in weight from 126 pounds to 122, dominated Takoucht throughout and it didn't take long for the storyline to become this- could Conlan stop Takoucht before the low blows took him out of the fight?
Conlan will likely face the winner of the mandated WBO junior featherweight title defense of newly crowned Angelo Leo against Stephen Fulton in a bout that was delayed by Fulton's positive test for Covid-19
Leo,  an aggressive fighter without a lot of power, might be perfect for Conlan as Leo walks forward into Conlan's power punches.
Fulton may be a different case as the flashy Philadelphian might keep Conlan a step behind throughout that test as Conlan might have trouble with Fulton's speed.
Either would be an interesting and possibly entertaining fight, so be on the lookout for that one early in 2021.

Showtime's evening card from their enclosed environment would have been a card that would have easily been forgotten, if not for one of those pesky Hamburglar appearances in the middle of the three matches.

In the main event, a very nice sparring session was held as David Benavidez battered Roamer Alexis Angulo around the ring for ten rounds before the corner of Angulo decided that their fighter had enough for one day.
Benavidez missed weight and the WBC super-middleweight title will be vacated.
Benavidez landed what he wished, was able to get away with dropping his hands throughout without being concerned by any punches from Angulo, and offered ten rounds of a high-level sparring session.
Benavidez has the body frame of a light heavyweight and would be best suited to move up, but while PBC has plenty of options at super middleweight, it is Top Rank that controls most of the top light heavyweights, so Benavidez may decide to stay at 168 and hope that this missed weight was an aberration that can be excused by the downtime caused by the pandemic.
Still, Benavidez has now lost the same title twice without losing in the ring ( a failed drug test caused his first title stripping) and you have to wonder how responsible the still-only 23-year-old is going to be about making weight.
No word on who will fill the vacant title other than one will likely be mandatory challenger Avni Yildirim and knowing the WBC, do not be surprised to see David Benavidez in the other corner.

The co-feature looked to have the potential to create a new star in power-punching lightweight Rolando Romero from Floyd Mayweather's money team and I stated in the preview that Romero could be the star of the evening.
Instead, undefeated and virtually unknown Columbian Jackson Marinez outboxed Romero and appeared to have won one of those "valuable" WBA minor titles that are often given away like promotional bobbleheads at baseball games, back when they played those in front of real customers.
The fight was far from thrilling, as it boiled down to Marinez landing loads of jabs and enough right hands to keep Romero honest and Romero swinging and missing like Aaron Judge in attempts for a knockout, but the verdict seemed pretty clear-cut to everyone watching.

And (cue the Ray Stevens music) then. AND THEN Along came the Hamburglar with a unanimous decision win for Romero with scores of 115-113 (maybe a passable scorecard, IF you give every close round to Romero), 116-112 (Awful), and a jaw-dropping 118-110, which ranks with one of the worst cards in quite a while.
I scored the fight 116-112 for Marinez and that may have been mildly generous on my part.

The decision and especially the 118-110 scorecard was so awful that PBC and Money Team guys were tweeting how bad it was and busting Romero's gloves about the ridiculous decision.
Boxing people often blame a crowd for bad decisions when the cheering can influence judges, but I can't offer one reasonable explanation for this.
The WBA has stated that they will order a rematch, but from what I saw Saturday night Rollie Romero has a big punch but needs many rounds to sand his rough edges away, and having a "title" to defend and fighting twelve round fights is way beyond what he is prepared for right now.
Romero has talent, but he might be pushed far too quickly in a loaded lightweight division.

As for Marinez, he deserved a win but didn't show anything special, so he could return to obscurity should a rematch not be arranged.
That's too bad and yet another reason that boxing can suck.


The opener was about what I expected as Otto Wallin won all four rounds against Travis Kauffman, and then won by fifth-round stoppage when a shoulder injury to Kauffman caused the fight to be stopped.
Kauffman had surgery on the shoulder after his 2018 loss to Luis Ortiz and re-injured it in round one.
Kauffman announced his retirement after the fight, while Wallin's win is the biggest of his career.
Wallin's competition had been very weak before his credible loss to Tyson Fury, so this win over the veteran journeyman is the biggest of his career.
Wallin's a solid heavyweight that may not be championship timber, but he can slot in the lower half of the top fifteen consistently and won't embarrass himself against the elite of the division.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored eight points on the day to move our totals to 89-79.

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: KO's, New Boss and a Robbery

The last big weekend in the 2018 boxing year saw a tremendous heavyweight battle with a clean knockout, one European taking the place of another at the top of a division, two disappointing performances and one of those ended in a terrible decision.

The best fight was in London, where Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora hooked up in a rematch of their bombs away bout of 2016 that Whyte won by a narrow split decision that I scored a draw.
This one wasn't quite of that caliber, but it still was very exciting and action filled (think of taking two tests and scoring a 95 and a 92, both are excellent, but one is slightly better) and the ending was quite dramatic.
I had Chisora ahead 95-94 entering the 11th (6-4 with Chisora losing a point for a low blow in the eighth) before Chisora lost another point in the eleventh for elbowing.
Just when you began to wonder if those two points had the potential to cost Chisora the fight on the cards, Whyte decided to make that point moot with a left hook that wiped out Chisora for the evening and keep Whyte at the top of the list of heavyweight contenders.
Whyte deserves a rematch vs Anthony Joshua and may get it in the spring, while this might have been the last stand for Chisora, it was a strong one and it might be best for Chisora to step aside on a high note, although his effort in this one might earn him more paychecks.
On the undercard in a fight that I've not seen of this writing, Britain's Charlie Edwards upset Cristofer Rosales via unanimous decision to win the WBC flyweight title.

In Manchester, Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over the favored Carl Frampton.
Warrington shot to the lead by winning five of the first six rounds and never looked back, winning on my card 117-111.
Warrington isn't going to knock out many (only six KO's), but his attack never slows and he simply did not allow Frampton to get comfortable enough to fire back and keep Warrington off of him.
The swarming Warrington throws punches by a rate that surpasses other noted volume punchers in the division such as WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz.
Frampton was talking retirement after the fight and the time may be right for Frampton to step away.
Frampton isn't getting hurt, but he hasn't been the same fighter since his winning first fight against Leo Santa Cruz and even though he's still a top ten fighter, he's dropped back from the best of the division.
As for the victor, Warrington is rumored to be headed to the U.S in 2019 for a title unification fight vs WBO champ Oscar Valdez, which should be a good one, although selfishly, a Warrington unification against Leo Santa Cruz might set a record for combined punches in a fight.
I'd still rank Warrington as an underdog against Valdez, Santa Cruz or WBC champ Gary Russell, but Warrington has surprised observers in his last two wins and he'd be a live underdog against any of the three.

On the Warrington-Frampton undercard, former minor titleholders at middleweight battled in a fight to prove future viability with Hassan N'Dam winning a majority decision over Martin Murray.
I scored the fight even at 114-114, but it seemed like N'Dam did a little more and was certainly more active than Murray, who showed a reluctance that he had not shown in past efforts.

The PBC returned for a "reboot" on network television and it reportedly did reasonably well in the ratings after doing plenty of promotional work during football.
The card pushed the Charlo brothers and while neither brother looked particularly effective, both deserved victories, but surprisingly only one received a raised hand.

Jermall Charlo defeated late replacement Matt Korobov via unanimous decision (115-113 on my card) with a late run that saw him win five of the final six rounds to gain the victory,
The cards were wider than I had it scored, with one ridiculous 119-108 scorecard being unfair to Korobov, who showed that he deserved another chance against good competition with a strong outing on short notice.
Charlo now using the nickname "Hit Man" which both Thomas Hearns and Bret Hart should sue for damaging a trademark didn't score a knockdown, but he did have Korobov hurt in the final round.
I'm still not totally convinced that Charlo will do well against the best of the division.
Charlo's best wins are still a KO of a somewhat untested at the time Julian Williams, a decision of an aging Austin Trout and now Korobov, who hadn't fought a quality opponent in four years, so there are still questions to be answered- questions other than who said it was a good idea to name Charlo "Hit Man" that is...

In the shocker of the day, Tony Harrison stunned Jermell Charlo via unanimous decision to take away the WBC junior middleweight title in a fight that would be quickly forgotten if not for the terrible decision (I had Charlo winning 116-112), Charlo's charging that Harrison told him that Charlo had clearly won to the interviewer that Harrison had denied, shortly after Harrison had graciously called Charlo a great champion, told him that he would receive a rematch and Harrison (on live national TV no less) responded with "F You, I'll fight Hurd then", referring to a unification with Jarrett Hurd, who holds the WBA and IBF titles and was expected to fight Charlo next.
A Hurd-Harrison fight would be fine to unify, but they have fought previously with Hurd stopping Harrison in nine rounds, so a rematch wouldn't especially be anticipated.
I'd bet we'll see the Harrison-Charlo rematch instead and hope it'll be better to watch than this one.
Charlo clearly deserved the win, but like his brother didn't impress doing so.
Both Charlo's seem to be overrated as punchers and underrated as boxers and would seem to be most effective when they blend the two styles.
As for the PBC, they learned a valuable lesson- when your fighters fight once or twice a year and you wait to have your best fight the best- anything can happen to derail the end game.

Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale knocked out Carlos Negron in the opening fight in the ninth round in a stay busy fight until Breazeale recieves his mandatory title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Breazeale had not fought in over a year in a somewhat common occurrence among PBC fighters and needed to get some rounds in.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me 6-4 over the weekend.
My season lead was cut to 214-197.
Ramon scored two points for wins by Breazeale and Charlo along with one each from Whyte and N'Dam.
My points came from Breazeale (two) and one each from Charlo and Whyte

Fury, Frampton win, Rosales crushes Barnes

The boxing challenge was brought to you from Belfast with three bouts of interest with world ramifications and some less than thrilling action at times.

The fight that most were interested in viewing, was Tyson Fury's second fight back from hiatus and the big question was not if Fury would win, that was a given against journeyman Francisco Pianeta, but could Fury avoid an injury that could cost him a WBC title fight against champion Deontay Wilder later this year?
Fury managed to do that in winning each round in a lopsided unanimous decision over the plodding Pianeta.
For all the appearances of the hulking frame from the 6'9 Fury, he just isn't that exciting of a fighter with a refusal to set his feet to throw power shots and it showed in this one as he never seriously hurt a fighter that has been stopped in one round by Ruslan Chagaev and in seven by vagabond Kevin Johnson.
Fury looks to me to be a fight or two away from being back in true condition, but you can't blame Fury or his promoter for pushing the chips in now to challenge Wilder.
Anything can happen in a heavyweight fight and Fury might as well get paid well for a Wilder fight that would likely double or triple, should Fury pull an upset over Wilder and move on to an Anthony Joshua battle for all the titles in the heavyweight division.

The press conferences and buildup might be the best part of a fight between two less than reticent fighters with the lip, but I could see at least the possibility of a good fight.
For all of Fury's issues, he does throw straight punches with an excellent jab and might be able to find the range against the harder punching, but technically crude Wilder, who still has many questions about the quality of his chin.
Still, this fight could be a dull one with two giant fighters standing on the outside that might be unwilling to take a chance (Especially Fury) to do much more than work off the jab.

The main event on the marquee' featured Carl Frampton in a homecoming against unheralded Australian Luke Jackson in a defense of his minor title and Frampton did what fighters in his situation should do with a ninth-round stoppage when Jackson corner literally threw in the towel midway through the round with Frampton chasing a stung Jackson across the ring.
Jackson fought well early, cutting Frampton over the right eye in round three, but gradually wore down under the pressure of Frampton before dropping to the floor in the eighth, leading to the eventual ending in the following round.
Frampton should receive a far sterner test in his next fight against IBF champion Josh Warrington in the fall.

And the real star of the weekend was Cristofer Rosales, who slammed one body blow into former Olympian Paddy Barnes ribcage at the end of round four, sending the Irishman down for the count for the end of the fight and retained his WBC flyweight title.
Rosales, who looked very similar to countryman Roman Gonzalez in his previous win over the highly regarded Daigo Higa to win his championship, was challenged by Barnes in the first two rounds but won the third before his thunderous punch that ended the fight.
Rosales will be in against tough competition again next time against mandatory challenger Andrew Selby, who decisioned Rosales last year before Rosales won the championship against Higa.


Both Ramon Malpica scored three points in the boxing challenge (one for each fight) to move our totals to 125-100 for the season.

Boxing Challenge- Broner and Vargas draw, Frampton tops Donaire

A big boxing weekend saw several top fighters in action and a few that were once considered future superstars that disappointed returned to the ring as well..

Showtime televised a three-bout card that had the never boring on the mic, yet often less than scintillating in the ring Adrien Broner in a welterweight fight against Jessie Vargas.
Broner had won titles in three divisions and Vargas in two entering the fight,(which says a lot on there being too many organizations and they have way too many titles)  so on the surface, this looked like a bigger fight than it actually was, but the two gave a better fight than expected and saved an evening with two fights that were basically squashes.
Vargas dominated the first half of the fight with great bodywork and overwhelming Broner with the sheer number of punches but slowed in the middle of the bout and Broner took over in the second half of the fight before I thought Vargas won the last two rounds.
I had Vargas a 115-113 winner but had no issues with the majority draw from the judges.
One judge had Broner ahead 115-113 with other two judges scoring the fight even.

The other two fights were blowouts against overmatched opponents.
The second fight saw Jermall Charlo win an "interim" title in a division with an active champion by blowing away Hugo Centeno with a crushing left hook in the second round.
Charlo looked great and despite winning just two fights at the weight against fighters that had never beaten a top 15 fighter, is now a "champion: and an eventual mandatory challenger to Gennady Golovkin.
Both Charlo brothers are talented and revel in playing the "heel" role, but I still think they are hanging their hat on spectacular wins against untested prospects making their first leap against top fighters (Jermall over Julian Williams, Jermell over Erickson Lubin) and want to see what happens when they fight top five level fighters and what happens when they get hit on the chin.
PBC is weak at 160 pounds so we may have to wait until Charlo actually fights Golovkin to finally see him tested.

Gervonta Davis may have won the WBA title (or may not ) in his steamrolling Jesus Cuellar in three rounds.
Davis was clearly the bigger and stronger man and Cuellar, who hadn't fought in well over a year, simply wasn't able to hold Davis off.
The more interesting part for me was the WBA making Davis their "Super" champion over Alberto Machado, who had beaten their former "super" champion Jezreel Corrales, which to my way of thinking would make Machado their top champ.
Instead, it appears to be Davis, who may not have to fight Machado, who is promoted by Golden Boy that is looking for unification against the Tevin Farmer-Billy Dib winner for the vacant IBF title at the weight.
In the end, Machado's belt appears to be demoted for nothing more than someone felt like it.
Davis is the more talented fighter and would be my pick if Davis was to fight Machado, but that still doesn't make this decision the correct one from the most corrupt organization in boxing.
I now have a headache.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Carl Frampton won a unanimous decision over Nonito Donaire in a less than exciting bout that saw Frampton perhaps a bit too respectful towards the slowing Donaire.
This was Frampton's second fight since losing to Leo Santa Cruz and Frampton seems like he may have lost a step himself after two physical fights with Santa Cruz.
We will see if that is the case as Frampton is now the mandatory contender for WBO champion Oscar Valdez.
I had the same score as all three judges 117-111 for Frampton

The co-feature from Belfast saw Zolani Tete keep his WBO bantamweight title over Omar Narvaez by unanimous decision, winning all 12 rounds on every card.
I wouldn't know because this fight was so awful that I fell asleep.

Amir Khan returned to the ring and blew out Canada's Phil LoGreco in under a minute, scoring two knockdowns before the fight was stopped.
The fight was the first on the new and heralded ESPN+ app and I'm sure the 37 seconds was worth the five dollars for the month.
Kell Brook entered the ring post-fight to challenge Khan for a long overdue fight that might happen before the end of the year.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored nine points on the weekend.
We both added two points each for the wins by Jermall Charlo, Gervonta Davis and Carl Frampton.
Ramon picked up two for Zolani Tete's win and one for Amir Khan's victory,
I added two for Khan and one for Tete.
The challenge is currently at 70-57

Boxing Challenge-Frampton survives again!

For a small week in the boxing challenge, I was pleasantly surprised with some closer than expected bouts...

Former junior featherweight and featherweight champion Carl Frampton returned to the ring after a ten month layoff and his first career loss (to Leo Santa Cruz) and was surprisingly tested by Horatio Garcia before winning a unanimous decision.
Frampton started fast, but lost some rounds down the stretch and was even ruled to have been knocked down in the seventh even though I didn't see it that way.
I scored Frampton a very narrow 95-94 winner (6-4 in rounds with a point lost for the knockdown) and I'm not sure that Garcia wouldn't have pulled the decision out had the fight been scheduled for twelve rounds.

On the undercard, IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas was very impressive in knocking out Jamie Conlan in the sixth round.
Ancajas scored four knockdowns in the fight and seemed to have too much strength and power for the tough Conlan, who crumpled every time that Ancajas reached him to the body.
Conlan, the brother of highly touted prospect Michael Conlan, was thought to have a chance to defeat Ancajas by some (including me), but Ancajas looks to be a coming star in the suddenly talent packed junior bantamweight division.

In Las Vegas on a PBC card, Julian Williams won a unanimous decision that was far wider on the scorecards than I had it (96-94 for Williams) over former champion Ishe Smith.
The fight was much more exciting than I thought it would be entering the matchup and the veteran Smith, who has made a career out of boring distance fights, suddenly at 39 has become a fighter that is fun to watch.
The downside for this change in attitude is Smith is taking more punches and with slowed skills might wind up getting hurt if he continues to fight and this might be a good way to go out for the veteran.
As for J-Rock Williams, he doesn't look to have completely recovered from his brutal knockout loss to Jermall Charlo.
Williams looks a bit tentative when he gets hit and to fight a really close bout with the fading Smith doesn't bode well if he returns to championship contention.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored five points to my four and closed the overall gap to 179-163.
We both received two points each for the wins by Frampton and Williams, but Ramon added one for the Jerwin Ancajas win where I picked Conlan to pull the upset.

More talk on boxing on Monday night on FightHeads!

Santa Cruz avenges loss-Boxing Challenge

A fun four night night on two networks saw Ramon Malpica add three points to my two and tie the boxing challenge at six....

The biggest fight of the weekend was on Showtime with a rematch of one of the better fights of 2016 with Leo Santa Cruz regaining the WBA featherweight title from Carl Frampton via majority decision in Las Vegas.
The fight was filled with plenty of action,but for pure pugnaciousness,I thought the first fight was a little better.
It appears the next step for both will be a third fight,this time possibly in Frampton's home country of Northern Ireland.
I'm not really against a third fight,but unless it's going to be made quickly (it took six months for this rematch),I'd rather see Santa Cruz in another defense first.
I'm not a fan of two guys being the only two people involved with a title belt for well over a year.
Santa Cruz didn't throw as many punches as in the first fight,but he did make adjustments from his loss by being able to stay "long" and keep Frampton outside with more use of the jab than in the first fight.
I scored Santa Cruz a 115-112 winner or 7-4-1 in rounds....
Ramon and I each picked Frampton for no points.

The other Showtime bout saw Mikey Garcia win a title in his third division with a three round demolition of Dejan Zlaticanin to take away the WBC lightweight title.
Ramon picked Garcia for one point,while I picked Zlaticanin and 30 seconds into the fight,it became clear that Garcia was going to win this fight-it was only a matter how long and how.
The knockout is an early contender for KO of the year and hopefully this will be the start of Garcia being more active.
Garcia has always been extremely talented,I've never doubted that.
My doubts have always been just how much Garcia likes this game and does he have the desire to be great?
Hopefully,a Garcia match vs WBA champ Jorge Linares (Assuming Linares wins his rematch vs Anthony Crolla) can be made between the two top lightweights in the world.

HBO's bouts may not have had the significance of the Showtime card,but it did have a title fight and an eliminator for that champion to defend against in his next fight..
Those fights came through with two excellent action fights and well worth the watch as well-even if on delay after Showtime's bouts.

The main event saw Miguel Berchelt beat up Francisco Vargas and strip away his WBC junior lightweight title with an eleven round stoppage,
Vargas,who had endured huge beatings in tremendous battles against Takashi Miura (winning his title with a come from behind KO) and Orlando Salido (in a draw that I thought Salido won) had his moments,but Berchelt was bigger and stronger and was the deserving win in a good action fight.
Fighters like Vargas that are all action and take tons of punishment tend to lose their skills all at once and Vargas may have done that on this night.
I would suggest to Vargas that he consider retirement,I simply believe he is going to take beatings if he continues his career.
As for Berchelt,he steps into the forefront at 130 with several other fighters that all seem to be around the same talent level and can make plenty of great fights behind Vasyl Lomachenko,who is clearly the top fighter in the division....
WBC champ Berchelt,newly crowned IBF champ Gervonta Davis,WBA Jezreel Corrales and former champs Miura and Salido would make a great fight in any combination and perhaps the survivor of all could be a solid and interesting fight for Lomachenko...
Berchelt's win gave Ramon one point and none for me.

The eliminator saw Takashi Miura go back and forth with Miguel Roman before Miura put Roman away in round 12 to earn the title match later this year vs Berchelt.
I had Roman slightly ahead after nine rounds,but Miura dropped Roman in both the tenth and eleventh round before the fight ending knockdown in the final round.
This was the fight of the night,which says a lot on a night like this one!
Miura gave me two points for the win and knockout,while Ramon added one for the Miura victory

Good fight salvages bad night-Boxing Challenge

Showtime had a bad night saved by a great fight as Carl Frampton upset Leo Santa Cruz and took away his WBA featherweight title via a majority decision in Brooklyn.
The fight certainly deserves consideration for the fight of the year as the action ebbed and flowed.

Frampton threw far fewer punches than the defending champion,but threw the harder shots and won the old adage of "ring generalship" as he swept most of the early rounds on my card and created a cushion that Santa Cruz could not erase in the second half of the fight.
Neither fighter was knocked down although Santa Cruz was stunned and stumbled backwards into the ropes in the second round.
I scored Frampton a 116-113 winner,which translates to 7-4-1 in rounds.
Frampton has a few options next,which could be a unification fight vs IBF champion Lee Selby of Great Britain or a Santa Cruz rematch-either of which would have a good chance of being held in Frampton's Northern Ireland home of Belfast...
Ramon Malpica and I each picked Santa Cruz,so no points scored in the boxing challenge.

The exciting main event saved an awful evening of boxing on Showtime,which gave us a mismatch,a boring bout,Danny Garcia trying to convince people that he had no say in his opponents and Gary Russell,he of the Zabbie award win for fighting arguably the worst competition for a champion around,who then called out Vasyl Lomachenko,who schooled Russell in Russell's only bout against top ten opponents...
Combine that with the usual cliche' filled awful announcing from Mauro Ranallo and you get the point.
Just a terrible night to watch,other than the main event....

Mikey Garcia returned from his Carter administration hiatus to blast out the smaller Eloy Rojas in the fifth.
The win proved little,but considering the time off (2.5 years),I suppose Garcia deserved a gimme.
Both Ramon and I added two points for the win.

Over on HBO Latino,Golden Boy's hyped Antonio Orozco was in a life and death battle with Adam Lopez.
I thought Lopez scored the upset narrowly 96-94,but wouldn't have argued with the same score for Orozco.
Instead,boxing did what boxing does and offered a decision made before the fight started with Orozco winning a wide unanimous decision.
Ramon picked up two points for the decision win,with me adding one...

Joseph Diaz impressively took out Victor Proa in two rounds in a featherweight fight.
Diaz looks to be a comer in a suddenly talent packed 126 pound division.
Ramon and I each added one point for the Diaz win.

The boxing challenge is at 96-80....

Frampton shades Quigg by split decision

Editor's Note:I'm writing this ahead of time,but not posting in case any of you decides to watch the replay on Showtime and match up Ramon Malpica and I's live time podcast.
And if you did watch-you should have listened!

Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton kept his IBF Junior Featherweight title and added Scott Quigg's WBA belt with a split decision win in Quigg's hometown of Manchester England.
Frampton controlled the first part of the fight by dominating a reluctant Quigg with his jab and won most of the first half of the fight on my card.
Quigg rallied with a thumping body attack in the second half of the bout and had a one point lead entering the final round,but I thought Frampton won the final round with more punches thrown.
Frampton winning the final round gave him a 114-114 draw on my card and a 115-113 win on Ramon's.
The official cards saw two judges score for Frampton 116-112 with the dissenting judge going 115-113 for Quigg.
Frampton is now mandated to fight former champion/slickster/insomnia reliever Guillermo Rigondeaux by July by the WBA in what could be an interesting fight as Frampton's style of throwing lots of punches and forcing Rigondeaux to run might be the best strategy that one could try against the talented Cuban.

The internet seems more disappointed than Ramon and I with the bout.
I thought the bout was filled with action in rounds 7-12,but many seemed to be displeased.
Considering that a stadium was sold out for this bout,I'd think a rematch is likely down the road....

Live Podcast on Frampton-Quigg with Ramon Malpica!

We do a live podcast of the Carl Frampton-Scott Quigg 122 pound title unification with Ramon Malpica!

Give it a listen,if you watch tonight's Showtime replay!

It's Frampton-Quigg Time!!!

It's time for the bout that I've been waiting for two years and I am super excited for it!
The WBA and IBF Jr.Featherweight titles will be unified as Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton (IBF) takes on England's Scott Quigg (WBA) in Manchester England.
I think this is going to be a super action fight and with it being a 5;30 start on Showtime Extreme,I'm going to do something special.
Ramon Malpica and I are going to watch the fight "together",offer our opinions on the fight as it happens,discuss it all in real time and then immediately after the broadcast,I'll (and Ramon too) will immediately upload it to the podcast.
Hopefully,this trial balloon will work out and lead to other experiments!
Frampton-Quigg is about as even of a bout as you can find and if you have a way-watch it!!

Showtime has two live bouts at ten with Leo Santa Cruz defending his WBA Featherweight title against Kiko Martinez (a victim of both Frampton and Quigg) and Julio Ceja facing Hugo Ruiz in a rematch of a good fight for Ceja's WBC Jr.Featherweight belt.
HBO counters with dominant WBO Jr.Welterweight champ Terence Crawford defending against tough Hank Lundy and super prospect Felix Verdejo against William Silva...

The boxing challenge rolls on with my lead standing at 13-7

WBA-IBF Jr.Featherweight title unification.12 rds
Scott Quigg vs Carl Frampton
R.L;Quigg KO 7
TRS:Quigg KO 10

WBA Featherweight title.12 rds
Leo Santa Cruz vs Kiko Martinez
Both:Santa Cruz unanimous decision

WBC Jr.Featherweight title 12 rds
Julio Ceja vs Hugo Ruiz
R.L.Ceja KO 5
TRS: Ceja KO 9

WBO Jr,Welterweight title.12 rds
Terence Crawford vs Hank Lundy
R.L:Crawford KO 4
TRS;Crawford KO 8

Jr,Lightweights.10 rds
Felix Verdejo vs William Silva
R.L;Verdejo KO 4
TRS:Verdejo KO 6

Boxing Challenge-Quigg Impresses,Chavez doesn't

R.L.Malpica gained two points on me and moved into a 90 -90 tie in the boxing challenge after a big boxing weekend.

The most impressive winner of the weekend was England's Scott Quigg,who retained his minor title with a destructive second round knockout of former champion Kiko Martinez.
Quigg vs Carl Frampton would be a huge fight in the UK,but Frampton's signing with PBC makes that unlikely.
Quigg will face another former champion in Nonito Donaire next time out.

The aforementioned Frampton was dropped twice in round one in a PBC bout against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr,but rose and dominated the fight after to win a unanimous decision.
I had Frampton winning 113-110
Frampton vs Quigg would be a terrific bout,but Frampton is more likely to fight the Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares winner instead...

The future of the Showtime boxing program looks very bleak after a awful card from El Paso,Texas.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr showed up overweight against undersized Marcos Reyes,but had enough to waddle to a close unanimous decision,
Chavez once again disappointed,but I had him winning 96-94...
Chavez clearly cannot make 160 pounds and isn't strong enough to beat top 168 pounders,so I'm not really sure where he goes from here/
In a fight that was enough to make one watch soccer,McJoe Arroyo won the IBF's vacant Jr,Bantamweight belt via unanimous decision in a bout stopped after 10 rounds due to a headbutt over Arthur Villanueva.
I had Arroyo ahead 96-93,but what a dull fight.
What a speedy fall from grace for Showtime with garbage like this....

In fights that I did not see,Arthur Abraham gave R.L the points he needed with a seventh round KO of Robert Steglitz in their fourth bout to keep his minor 168 pound belt.
Cesar Cuenca won the IBF Jr.Welterweight title with a unanimous decision over IK Yang and Darlys Perez fought Anthony Crolla to a draw....

Frampton stops Avalos-Boxing Challenge

A two fight boxing challenge weekend resulted in R.L.Malpica taking a one point lead at 14-13.

We each earned a point for Chris Eubank Jr's 12th round knockout of Dmitri Chudinov.
Both of us thought Eubank would win via decision,so both of us gained just one point.

The difference was Carl Frampton's fifth round stoppage of Chris Avalos to retain his IBF Jr.Featherweight title.
R.L picked up three points for Frampton's win and knockout and a bonus point for picking the correct round.
I selected Frampton to win via KO,but picked round eight..
With a big fight weekend next Saturday with the beginning of Al Haymon's cards on NBC,the boxing challenge is starting to rev up after a light January and February.

I watched Carl Frampton for the second time in his knockout of Chris Avalos and came away quite impressed.
Frampton attacks with a very aggressive style and his nickname of the "jackal" is quite apt.
Avalos had next to no chance in fending off Frampton,who reminded me of his manager former WBA featherweight champion Barry McGuigan,who dethroned the longest reigning featherweight champion of the age in Eusebio Pedroza.

The Junior Featherweight division (122 pounds) has four fighters that look to be high above the rest.
Guillermo Rigondeaux (WBA champ),Leo Santa Cruz (WBC),Frampton (IBF) and England's Scott Quigg.
The potential fights are tantalizing,but I'd wouldn't bet on a simple two round tournament deciding anything.
Frampton and Quigg appear to be on a collision course for a huge summer fight in the United Kingdom,the hope is that the winner of that bout will fight Rigondeaux and that might be the best money fight for the Cuban,who's less than pleasing style has made him almost poison to the networks.
No mention of Leo Santa Cruz?
Well,the WBC champion is a Al Haymon stable member,has shown no interest in fighting any of the above three (although he does enjoy tweeting about fighting them) and has of late defended against boxers that were more along the lines of eight round fighters.
Don't believe me? Santa Cruz defended against Manuel Roman,who was shutout over eight rounds in his next fight against Diego De La Hoya,who was just 7-0 entering the fight.,
Santa Cruz's dodging of competition combined with Al Haymon's hesitation to have his fighters against anyone that isn't a member of his stable makes me think that the best we can hope for is the Frampton-Quigg winner vs Rigondeaux.

If I had guess on a winner-I might go Frampton.
Rigondeaux is clearly the most skilled fighter,but has shown a tendency to get knocked down,which could prove fatal vs Frampton.
Santa Cruz is aggressive and throws lots of punches,but doesn't have the power to hurt Frampton and I think Quigg is a nice fighter,but I think I'd rate him fourth of the four fighters.

Looks like an exciting year in the 122 pound division to me......