Boxing Challenge: Conwell upset, Smith dominates

    My apologies again for not providing a preview for the boxing challenge, but we had an internet outage at work, and since I was there, I was unable to do more than a short Dragnet version Thursday night from home.

Unbeaten former Olympian Charles Conwell would have been my selection for boxing's high-risk and low-reward award winner for his talent and comparatively light paycheck for facing him.

Golden Boy Promotions has been keeping Conwell busy in hopes of moving him into a mandatory position to make a champion to defend against him. In a WBC eliminator, Conwell was on the verge of finally forcing a title match.

Jorge Perez was recruited as the likely foil for Conwell, and he seemed the safe choice, having lost four fights. With his career-best victory in his last fight, a decision over former contender Kudratillo Abdulakhorov, Perez would carry more weight for a Conwell win.

The fight was very close and hard-fought, but it seemed like Conwell was having an off night as the six-foot Perez caught Conwell coming in and cut Conwell in two places.

In the end, Perez had just enough to pull the major upset by split decision, with all scores at 115-113, two for Perez and one for Conwell.

Conwell will have to get back on the horse quickly to return to title contention, and Perez has now moved into that status.

A rematch would be welcomed, but I suspect Perez's team will quietly wait for an eventual chance at WBC and WBO champion Sebastian Fundora.

In England, Dalton Smith did everything but stop Mathieu Germain in a junior welterweight eliminator as Smith scored three knockdowns in a unanimous decision win that was tedious to watch.

The fault was more Germain's than Smith's as he fought to survive and did just that, while Smith tried to finish the fight, Germain lasted the twelve.

Scores of 119-105 and two of 117-107 for Smith.

I scored 118-106 for Smith.

Former featherweight champion Josh Warrington returned from a respite to win a unanimous decision over Asad Asif Khan in another less-than-inspiring pairing.

Warrington won by scores of 99-89, 99-90, and 97-91.

I scored 99-90 for Warrington, who Eddie Hearn spoke of looking for a bigger fight in his next outing, but I don't think Warrington has enough to beat anyone of status at this point in his career.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 57 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 50 Pts(4)

Vinee Samano: 23 Pts(0)

Boxing Challenge: Munguia Vaporized!

    The boxing weekend appeared to have a few interesting bouts, mainly to keep contenders in action, but one right hand from the sky felled a contender and became the star of the weekend.

Unbeaten and unknown Bruno Surace of France hadn't beaten anyone of note and had only fought a few ten-rounders before he traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to face super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia.

Few gave Surace a chance, and even if you thought Surace had a chance, with only four knockouts in his twenty-five wins, no one thought Surace could stop the durable Munguia. After the expected Munguia win, he would face Christian Mbilli in a WBC-ordered eliminator, which would be sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Surace was better than advertised and despite losing most of the first five rounds and being knocked down in the second round by a Munguia hook, Surace was hanging around in a fight that he appeared to be overmatched.

That was before Surace bounded off the ropes with a pulverizing right hand that dropped Munguia to the floor.

Munguia bravely beat the count but couldn't continue as the fight ended as what will likely be named the upset of the year for 2024.

Munguia vs Mbilli will be delayed as Munguia will likely look for a chance to redeem himself against Surace as quickly as possible.

Monte Carlo was the site of the first of DAZN's two cards with their main event featuring former WBA and IBF junior featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, who knocked Ricardo Espinoza down three times in the third round before the referee stopped the fight in that round.

Akhmadaliev is the best fighter in the division that has yet to meet the undisputed champion, Naoya Inoue, and in winning a WBA minor title,  Akhmadaliev will hopefully receive his chance at "The Monster" sometime in 2025.

In the evening DAZN program, welterweights Alexis Rocha and Raul Curiel swapped punches for twelve exciting rounds with the judges deciding on a majority decision draw.

Rocha banked the early rounds by boxing a bit and keeping Curiel at bay from the outside but began to exchange more often, which made the fight more fan-friendly but took away Rocha's tactical advantage.

The scorecards were 116-112 for Rocha and two at 114-114, which is how I saw the fight.

Both fighters seemed amenable to a rematch; considering this fight, a rematch would be well received.

Unbeaten junior middleweight Charles Conwell continued his march to a title shot with a dominating seventh-round knockout of Gerardo Vergara.

Conwell should be in line for either a title chance or a final title eliminator next year.

On Sunday, heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte won a surprisingly entertaining slugfest over Ebenezer Tetteh when Tetteh's corner ended the fight after the seventh round.

Tetteh's only loss entering the fight came to Daniel DuBois via first-round knockout and most expected Tetteh to look for a way out as soon as Whyte hit him but showed plenty of heart in exchanging with Whyte throughout the fight.

Whyte hurt Tettah badly in both the sixth and seventh rounds and the fight was stopped at the right time.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 184 Pts(5)

TRS: 184 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 116 (1)

Boxing Challenge: Prograis knocks out Zepeda

    The boxing weekend saw a world championship filled and the new champion staking a claim for a chance for a rematch to prove that he is the best fighter in the division.

Regis Prograis controlled his fight from the outset against Jose Zepeda for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title for most of the ten rounds and then convincingly finished Zepeda in the eleventh, leaving a beaten Zepeda sagging along the ropes and Prograis making an argument for a rematch with Josh Taylor.

Zepeda seemed to be making a late run at the win when he had his best round of the fight in the tenth before Prograis finished the evening in the following round.

I scored Prograis leading 98-92 entering the final round.

Prograis will defend his title for the first time against former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in a fight that was rumored and planned years ago and both would enter the fight with only one career loss- each of the duo losing to Josh Taylor in close fights.

Prograis-Ramirez is yet another excellent match that one could easily select either fighter to win.

However, after watching this effort from Prograis, I'd favor him as the victor.

In the co-feature, junior middleweight Charles Conwell won a majority decision (98-92, 96-94, 95-95) over veteran Juan Carlos Abreu in a WBC eliminator and moved on to another eliminator in the future.

I haven't watched this fight as of this writing, so I have no scorecards, etc.

The other two big bouts of the weekend would hail from London but on two competing cards.

Frank Warren's Queensberry promotion's main event saw a disappointing ending as Zach Parker surrendered after the fourth round due to a broken right hand.

I thought Parker won three of the first four rounds but Ryder continued to press forward as he typically does and one could see Parker throwing fewer and fewer right hands in the third ad fourth stanzas.

With the win, Ryder becomes a minor WBO champion but more importantly is now the mandatory challenger for unified champion Canelo Alvarez and the organization has ruled that if Alvarez fights anyone other than Ryder in his next two fights, they will be forced to remove their title from the Mexican star.

Ryder's not flashy and against elite boxers can be outpointed but he never stops coming forward and will give even the best of his division a physically taxing battle.

On the other side of London, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing heaved a sigh of relief after Dillian Whyte won a majority decision over previously undefeated Jermaine Franklin of the United States.

Whyte and Franklin divided most of the middle rounds after Franklin started quickly in winning the first two rounds.

Franklin hurt Whyte in the ninth and appeared to be on the verge of an upset but Whyte staggered Franklin in the tenth and finished the fight strongly in the final round when he again stunned the American.

I thought the fight was close (I scored it a draw at 114-114) and didn't have a complaint with Whyte getting the win, although the scores of 115-115 ( I hate scoring even rounds and this judge scored two of them) and 116-112 x2, seemed a bit weird.

7-5 either way or a draw is an acceptable card, 8-4 (as two judges saw it for Whyte) for either fighter would be too much of a margin.

For Franklin, it re-establishes himself as a fighter that is deserving of future fights against contenders, and for Whyte, the win likely allows him to stay in line for a 2023 rematch with former champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua and Whyte fought an action-filled battle in 2015 when both men hurt and pounded the other before Joshua stopped Whyte in the seventh round.

Joshua has been rumored to be in negotiations for a match against Deontay Wilder that has been wanted by boxing fans for years but Whyte makes sense in the event that Joshua-Wilder cannot reach an agreement.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 194 Pts (4) 

Ramon Malpica: 166 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 158 Pts (4)