Boxing Challenge: Canelo batters Berlanga

   Is it possible to gain in stature without winning a round?

If so, then Edgar Berlanga did so against Canelo Alvarez as he lost every round on my scorecard and a unanimous decision as Alvarez retained his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles in Las Vegas.

Berlanga won a few rounds on the official cards (118-109 x2 and 117-110, my score was 120-107). He did exchange some with Canelo but like so many Canelo opponents that talked about attacking Alvarez, Berlanga mostly fought off the back foot and after his knockdown in the third round, the question wasn't about competitiveness, it was if Berlanga would make it to the final bell.

Berlanga never threatened Canelo but fought with courage and showed some skills that might have served him better had he been more experienced against decent opposition.

Still, the name of the game is prizefighting, and earning millions of dollars without taking a risk to reach that stage is excellent management if not proper preparation for the actual fight.

Berlanga could use a fight or two against a contender to prepare for his next challenge and should he face Jaime Munguia, Christian Mbilli, or Diego Pacheco, all would be entertaining affairs that would establish him as a title contender at most and a fun fighter to watch at least.

As for Canelo Alvarez, who really knows where he stands.

I don't see him trying low reward (Although 30 million plus a piece of the pay-per-view for Canelo isn't really low reward) and high-risk mandatory challengers such as Christian Mbilli (WBC) and Diego Pacheco (WBO).

He's refused to fight David Benavidez, David Morrell has moved to light heavyweight, and there is no one of name-value available to move from 160 pounds to face him.

That means it's the winner of next month's light heavyweight unification between Artur Beterbiev (WBC, IBF, and WBO) and Dmitry Bivol (WBA) as the last fighter standing.

Bivol decisioned Alvarez in 2022 and Canelo has stated a desire to avenge that loss.

Bivol might beat you but he's not going to beat you up, while Beterbiev would be an unlikely choice with a victory as he would meet Alvarez in the middle of the ring and fight him as the bigger stronger fighter, placing Canelo in the situation of preferring to face a boxer who has already defeated him

The co-feature was as dreadful as predicted as Erislandy Lara retained his WBA middleweight title when the corner of former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia stopped the fight at the end of round nine.

A fight between two faded fighters who threw few punches and landed fewer with Lara winning the first seven rounds, and Garcia winning the eighth when he stunned Lara before Lara sent Garcia wobbling to the mat similar to King Hippo in the ninth.

Garcia's corner was smart in ending the fight and Garcia should consider ending a fine career.

Lara continues a title reign filled with journeymen and has-beens and I would imagine he'll be back sometime in 2015 against someone else of that ilk.

Caleb Plant recovered from a slow start and a fourth-round knockdown to stop Trevor McCumby in the ninth round in a surprisingly raucous fight to win a minor super middleweight title.

McCumby won the first four rounds on my card and scored a knockdown with a right hand to the shoulder that knocked an off-balance Plant to the floor.

Plant picked up the pace after the knockdown and trailed by only one point (due to the knockdown) after eight rounds.

Plant finished McCumby late in round nine and I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and competitiveness of a fight that I expected to be one-sided.

McCumby showed more than I expected and I would like to see him again against a similar level as for Plant, I was very critical of him during his IBF title reign for his pitiful opponents but I've gained respect for him since his first loss to Canelo Alvarez and his hard-fought defeat to David Benavidez.

I'd like to see Plant against some of these promising young contenders in the division such as  Berlanga, Munguia, Pacheco, or Mbilli.

I think he'd be the logical next step in opposition for any of them, and if they aren't up to snuff, Plant just might upset them.

Former WBC and WBO junior featherweight champion Stephen Fulton's move to the featherweight division almost ended in disaster as Fulton escaped with a razor-close split decision victory over Carlos Castro.

Castro knocked Fulton down in the fifth round and hurt him again in the eighth but Fulton managed to do enough early in the fight to build a lead on the cards and win the narrow decision.

Fulton won on two cards 96-93 and 95-94 with the Castro score at 95-94, I scored 95-94 for Castro and the fight was close enough to not complain about either fighter as the winner.

The fight was the first for Fulton since his July 2023 knockout loss to Naoya Inoue, where he lost both of his junior featherweight titles and it'll be interesting to see how Fulton looks in his next fight.

Boxing Challenge 

Ramon Malpica: 127 Pts (4)

TRS:117 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 69 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia dominates Benavidez

       The Saturday PBC card from Barclays Center in Brooklyn won't go down as the greatest event ever but it will be remembered for two controversial decisions that rank as some of the worst in 2022.

In the main event, Danny Garcia seemed to have easily outpointed Jose Benavidez in his return from an eighteen-month layoff before a decision that was surprisingly close on the scorecards.

My score was 119-109 for Garcia, which seemed to be close to how most watchers saw the fight but the actual judges scored Garcia a much closer winner at 117-111, 116-112, and a downright nutty 114-114.

Garcia looked sharp and even though he never hurt Benavidez, he outboxed him and was far too skilled for the much slower fighter, who was relegated to the occasional counter right hand for his only success against Garcia.

How much of Garcia's outing was due to his layoff to recharge his batteries or was it that the once-promising Benavidez simply has been unable to recover his ability from a gunshot wound that damaged his leg, won't be known until his next outing, which could be against former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison, who was mentioned during the fight, or against former welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who handed Garcia his first defeat via split decision in 2017 and was mentioned by Garcia at the post-fight press conference as his next fight.

The co-feature was expected to be an action fight and it lived up to those thoughts as Turkey's Ali Eren Demirezen handed Adam Kownacki his third defeat in a row and hopefully will make Kownacki consider retirement.

Demirezen controlled the second half of the fight, wearing down Kownacki as he cut him over the left eye.

Demirezen will likely slide into a title eliminator soon and could win should he be paired with someone that will stand and trade with him but anyone with movement will give the former Olympian major issues.

The best and most controversial fight of the evening was the opener when junior welterweight contender Gary Antuanne Russell was receiving all that he wanted from former IBF junior lightweight and lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy before a very questionable sixth-round stoppage by referee Shada Murdaugh.

Barthelemy isn't known for his thrilling contests or for engaging in toe to toe action but the Cuban did both in this one as he stung Russell in both the first and fourth rounds and led on my card after five rounds 48-47.

Russell was leading on all three official cards though and crunched Barthelemy with a leaping left hook in the sixth to send him to the canvas.

Barthelemy immediately rose and didn't stagger around like a hurt fighter yet referee Murdaugh called off the fight, robbing Russell of a possible convincing win, Barthelemy a chance to ride out the storm, and viewers of a surprisingly entertaining battle.

A rematch would seem to be in order, and even though Russell may have been solving Barthelemy's style, I'm not sure I'd be interested if I handled Russell.

I might figure that my fighter showed heart, ring smarts, and learned some things against a good opponent and move on to bigger things but PBC isn't loaded in the junior welterweight division, although the promotion will have the recently vacated WBA title in their stable with the paper championship being filled next month and the winner of Batyr Akhmedov-Alberto Puello (Akhmedov is a solid favorite in my opinion)  could be in the future for Russell.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 137 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 115 Pts (2)

Vince Samano:111 Pts  (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Spence handily defeats Garcia

 Saturday night in Arlington, Texas quite a few issues were clearly resolved, but the biggest question of all still remains- Who is the best welterweight in the world, Errol Spence or Terrence Crawford?

Spence stated his case for that spot with a lopsided unanimous decision over former junior welterweight and welterweight champion Danny Garcia in retaining his WBC and IBF welterweight titles that only lacked a stoppage to prove about all one could prove in a victory.

Spence had been out of the ring since his September win over Shawn Porter due to a bad car accident and everyone wondered how that would affect the champion with some giving Garcia a better chance than usual to pull an upset because who knew how Spence would return to the ring.

The answer was simple- Spence was as sharp as ever in a win that couldn't have been much easier in defeating a top-five level opponent after time away from the game.

Spence's win over Garcia was far more conclusive than Garcia's other two (official, I'll never forgive the judges for giving Garcia the win over Mauricio Herrera) defeats against Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter and no one is going to want to see a rematch.

Spence never seriously hurt Garcia, but he used a thudding jab to swell Garcia's left eye and cheekbone that didn't allow Garcia to get any type of offensive attack moving.

Garcia was unable to counter Spence, yet didn't attempt to initiate often and even though Garcia did a reasonable job in making Spence miss, Garcia was never able to gain the respect of Spence with anything coming back at the Texan.

I scored Spence a 118-110 winner, which was a little wider than the official cards (116-112 twice and 117-111), but the victory was a definitive one and gave boxing followers one fact- We may not know who is the better welterweight in the world right now, but we know that there is a sizable drop from the top two to the next level of welterweight with Shawn Porter, Garcia, Keith Thurman, and Manny Pacquiao.

Spence didn't seem very excited about facing Crawford next and I'm not sure I blame him.

Spence is thought to be the stronger fighter and bigger puncher, but against Garcia who is better at 140 pounds than 147, he never hurt him, and against Shawn Porter, while he did knock Porter down in the eleventh round, it may be that Spence is a very strong fighter and not a huge puncher although a very good one.

If Spence isn't the power puncher that he is reputed to, he might have to use his physical strength on the leaner Crawford to try to win a potential battle and I'm not sure Spence has the quickness in his feet to stay with Crawford.

While the matchup would pit the best two welterweights in the world and this comes from a fan of both fighters, Errol Spence might have a difficult time matching up against Terence Crawford from a style perspective and that could be the most insurmountable obstacle of all in getting the fight everyone wants to see in the ring.

As for Danny Garcia, he simply didn't throw enough punches and confirmed the opinion that while he was an elite fighter at junior welterweight, he's merely very good at 147 pounds, and might have seen his peak years behind him.

That's not saying that Garcia is done by any means or even that he doesn't have some top wins still in him, but he may have passed the day that he is going to be really competitive against the elite in the division.

In the co-feature, 6'5 junior middleweight Sebastian Fundora knocked late replacement, Habib Ahmed, around the ring for a round and a half before referee Lawrence Cole stopped the mismatch.

This was a WBC title eliminator, so Fundora may be in line for another eliminator in the future for an eventual title shot against three-title champion Jermell Charlo down the road.

Fundora has been impressive in his last two wins and seems to be transitioning to more of a puncher rather than using his massive height and reach to outbox opponents.

I'll be interested in seeing how he fares in his next step up in competition...

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica four to two to stretch my lead to 167-154.

Boxing Challenge: Not much of a Show (time)

Photo Credit: Showtime Sports

The Saturday night card from Showtime and PBC from the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn wasn't one that was going to excite many fans going into the evening and it didn't even live up to those standards in three bouts that were about as stimulating as a meal at Bob Evans.

In the main event, Danny Garcia cruised to a unanimous decision over Ivan Redkach in a twelve rounder that was an overpriced sparring session.
Garcia won the first ten rounds on my card before wrapping the final two rounds for Redkach in the boxing version of the garbage (known here as the Phillip Rivers) touchdown for a 118-110 win.
Garcia was never even bothered by the much smaller Redkach, which I suppose was the entire idea of Redkach's selection as an opponent, but other than cutting Redkach over his left eye in round seven Garcia didn't seem interested in pushing the pace and attempting to take Redkach out and putting watchers out of their misery.
The most exciting part of the match was at the end of the eighth round when Redkach bit Garcia on the side of the neck which was far more effective than anything else Redkach landed.
Garcia will likely battle either Errol Spence or Manny Pacquiao sometime over the summer in yet another case of boxing giving you something you didn't ask for and expect you to do an endzone dance over it.
Garcia is a solid fighter and certainly world-class, but at welterweight, he lacks that little extra that the elite fighters have and it showed in his close losses to current WBC champ Shawn Porter and former WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman, who both are also more on the level of Garcia than that of Spence, Pacquiao or Terence Crawford.
Keep in mind, Garcia has been at this weight since August 2015 and Garcia still does not own a win over a top ten welterweight with his best wins over smaller and not quite top 10 welterweights Robert Guerrero and Brandon Rios.
Garcia will put up a good fight in his next fight, but I don't see him having much of a chance against Spence or Pacquiao.

Before the Garcia-Redkach main event, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd returned to the ring for the first time since his upset loss to Julian Williams and much like Garcia, disappointed to a degree in winning a unanimous decision over Francisco Santana.
Santana had never fought about welterweight and had lost three of his last four entering the fight, so this seemed to be a match made to make Hurd look strong in his return,
Hurd won easily (99-90) on my card, but as in the case of Danny Garcia, he didn't seem interested in winning by a knockout until dropping Santana with seconds remaining in the final round.
Santana rose and the fight ended, but the fight seemed more like gym work than a fight on a premium network.
Other than getting a ten-round win and removing the loss to Williams as the last thing on his resume',
I'm not sure what this win really did for Hurd.
I still have him placed solidly in the mix in the junior middleweight division and he wouldn't be more than a mild underdog against anyone in the division, but Hurd will have to raise his level in his next bout against a top fighter in the division.

In the opener, Stephen Fulton won a unanimous decision over Arnold Khegai over twelve rounds in an eliminator to earn the mandatory slot for WBO junior featherweight champion Emmanuel Navarrete.
Fulton's jab and speed managed to build a big lead on the cards and held off the late charge of Khegai, who was aggressive throughout the contest, but simply gave away too many rounds on my card (116-112 Fulton) to make it close
Fulton's a smooth boxer that might not have enough power to sting Navarrete, but his speed makes him a dark horse to pull an upset.

A side note on the Fulton-Khegai fight.
The PBC had made it clear that they didn't recognize the WBO as a major sanctioning body and used it as a reason to not mention Terence Crawford as a welterweight champion.
Much of their problems are likely because many PBC fighters aren't in the WBO top ten contenders to the point of silliness, so while I don't agree with their stance I can see their aggravation, but this was an official eliminator and brings a few questions.
Is this the beginning of a thaw between the WBO and PBC?
Which of the two might have stepped forward, if so?
Which one needs it more?
Likely the WBO as sanctioning fees doesn't grow on trees.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on the evening as Ramon maintained his lead in the overall standings at 10-9.

Boxing Challenge: Crawford cans Khan

Terence Crawford had little problems retaining his WBO welterweight title via corner stoppage in the sixth round over former junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, but the problem that Crawford may not be able to climb so easily are still to come with the inter-promotional problems that threaten to choke boxing and its fans like the plague.

I thought Khan's speed could trouble Crawford and on the occasional time, it did, but those occasions appeared far too seldom for the Englishman and the real surprise came in the first round when Crawford, not known for getting out of the blocks quickly, dropped Khan with a left that was preceded by a right that appeared to do most of the damage.
Crawford nearly finished the fight there, but Khan avoided another knockdown with a well-placed grab and made it to the bell before being hurt and surviving again in the second.
Khan had a few good moments in the third and especially the fourth, but the fifth round saw Crawford landing hard punches that had Khan wincing and shaking his head and usually that means the end is near.
And it was, but in a less meaningful way than most had hoped as Crawford cracked Khan with what was either a low blow or a shot to the inner thigh (and depending on your angle, it could have been either) that saw Khan taking some of the allowed recovery period before trainer Virgil Hunter decided to intercede and surrender for his fighter from the corner.
Hunter's decision saved Khan from additional punishment but cost Crawford and fans a conclusive ending, not that is his job to worry about those things, but still an unsatisfying ending, if not an inevitable one.
Khan simply doesn't have the chin to compete with world-class welterweights and maybe not even those a notch below as his knockdown against trialhorse Samuel Vargas showed in his previous fight.
Yet, Khan would be unlikely to make 140 pounds again in a return to junior welterweight and may be caught in limbo, where his best option might be to make the fight that U.K. fans have always wanted against Kell Brook.
A Khan-Brook fight would put dollars into both men's coffers, even if the fight is too late to determine which was truly the better fighter in their prime and I'm hoping that Terence Crawford and Errol Spence don't look back in a few years and wonder about themselves as well.
Crawford-Spence is the best fight that boxing can make and Spence's claims that in-house options to unify his IBF title with are preferable (WBA champ Keith Thurman and WBC kingpin Shawn Porter) to a Crawford unification and I understand those are easy fights to make.
I would even be OK with Spence and Crawford hooking up in a year- IF you would make me this deal- Spence's next two fights are against those two PBC comrades while Crawford fights whoever he can match up with and those guys aren't going to be as interesting as Spence's competition certainly would be.
I'd be willing to wait under those conditions, no others.

On the Crawford-Khan undercard, Teofimo Lopez dominated Edis Tatli for four rounds and then stopped the former world title challenger with a right to the body that sent Tatli to one knee for the ten count.
Lopez claims he wants a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko in the next year before he leaves the lightweight division, but Lomachenko's claim is only if he holds a title will that fight take place.
A Mikey Garcia bout for the WBC title is unlikely, but should Garcia vacate the title, which is possible, Lopez could be in line for a fight that fills that vacancy, but an IBF title fight vs Richard Commey would be easier to make.
Commey would likely make more money for Lomachenko and a unification event so Top Rank will have to pay up for Commey to fight Lopez instead.

Shakur Stevenson cruised to a unanimous decision over Christopher Diaz.
I haven't watched this fight yet, but Stevenson is reported to have dominated Diaz in winning by eight, nine, and ten points on the scorecards.
I'm not sure Stevenson doesn't need more seasoning before fighting a champion at featherweight, a division that possesses four strong champions, but he seems to be on a fast track for a title fight within the next year or so.

Felix Verdejo's star may have dimmed since his days as a top prospect, but he at least added a little shine with a unanimous decision over Bryan Vasquez.
Verdejo never hurt Vasquez, but his jab was impressive and his combinations at least brought back memories of what Verdejo was thought to be before various problems caused inactivity and his first loss.
It will be interesting to see if Verdejo is challenged with another step up in competition or if he fights another boxer on the level of Vasquez, who is solid, but not quite top ten class.
I scored Verdejo a 97-93 winner on my card.

Meanwhile, Mr. Al Haymon, whose name was mentioned as much on social media during the Top Rank card due to the Crawford-Spence talk, and his PBC were outside on Fox and FS1 from Carson California.
The PBC main event saw former WBC welterweight champion, Danny Garcia return to the ring for the first time since a September loss to Shawn Porter for the vacant title and looked very strong in taking out durable Adrian Granados in the seventh round.
Granados won round one with his trademark aggression, but Garcia knocked down Granados twice in the second round with overhand rights that it seemed that everyone could see coming but Granados.
It was all Garcia from there as he never was threatened despite Granados' efforts otherwise.
Garcia sent Granados to the mat in the fifth and finished him off in the seventh as Garcia battered Granados along the ropes forcing referee Thomas Taylor to end the bout.
For Garcia, it was an impressive return, albeit against a fighter made to order for Garcia, who generally scores knockouts against fighters a step below the elite, but rarely stops an elite one.
Garcia would be well suited to fight again soon, but similar to many in the PBC, he simply doesn't fight often enough to stay in the minds of fans.
Garcia has been on both sides of close decisions in his career and has never been outmatched in any of his fights, but putting Garcia against any of the four champions have that been there done that feeling, which is logical considering that he has already fought two of them (Thurman and Porter) already.
Granados is simply physically overmatched at welterweight and if he can make the weight, would be competitive against anyone at 140 pounds.

Former heavyweight title challenger Andy Ruiz made his PBC debut a successful one in winning every round against Alexander Dimitrenko before Dimitrenko's corner stopped the bout at the end of the fifth round.
Don't give Ruiz too much credit though, as Dimitrenko seemed so dispassionate in his performance as any heavyweight in the top 100 could have dominated him on this night.
Dimitrenko's effort was a surprising one, considering his brave battle against Bryant Jennings in his previous bout, but if this is all that he will offer in the future, he should consider retirement.
As for Ruiz, who has just one loss to Joseph Parker, he has always shown ability, but a lack of activity along with a tendency to stay in shape has been a constant companion to him.
Should those things change for Ruiz, he could still be a viable contender and on the PBC side, I'd be very interested in a Ruiz-Adam Kownacki pairing.

Brandon Figueroa won a minor junior featherweight jewelry piece when Yonfrez Parejo was unable to continue after the eighth round.
The bout was filled with good exchanges in the first three rounds, but the bigger punching Figueroa began to grind Parejo down thereafter and avoided the counters that Parejo landed earlier in the fight.
I had Figueroa ahead after eight rounds 78-74 and I had the feeling that this fight might have ended before the final bell anyway, so the point may have been moot.
The undefeated Figueroa won his third fight in a row against veteran competition (Parejo, Moises Flores, and Oscar Escandon) and would be a very interesting challenger to the victor of next Friday's
WBA-IBF unification between Daniel Roman and T.J. Doheny.

Another minor belt was handed out on this card with an untelevised fight (Why that was is beyond me since it seemed like they were showing every fight down to ten years in the L.A. area) in the bantamweight division as former IBF flyweight champion John Riel Casimero knocked out Ricardo Espinoza in the twelfth round to win this title, which basically puts him into bantamweight contention.
As noted, I haven't seen this-Casimero knocked Espinoza down in the fifth and again in the final round before the fight was stopped.
Entering the final round the fight was on the line as each fighter was ahead by two points on one judge's card and the third judge had the fight even.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 15-14 to increase my lead to 94-85.
My points: three points from Brandon Figueroa (bonus point for calling the round)
                   two points from Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez, Felix Verdejo, and Andy Ruiz.
                   one point from John Riel Casimero and Danny Garcia

Ramon's points; three points from Teofimo Lopez
                           two points from Crawford, Figueroa, Verdejo, and Ruiz
                           one point from Stevenson, Casimero, and Garcia

Boxing Challenge: Porter decisions Garcia.

The boxing weekend saw another strange weekend all around, but let's start with Showtime's three-bout card that had the vacant WBC welterweight title on their marquee' as their main event with two former champions in Shawn Porter (IBF) and Danny Garcia (WBC) attempting to fill the title stripped from Keith "No Time" Thurman for inactivity.

In a good, but far from great fight, Shawn Porter rallied from a slow start to win the vacant WBC welterweight title via a close, but unanimous decision over Danny Garcia in Brooklyn.
No knockdowns and I scored Porter a 115-113 victor.
The narrow victory showed just how close the welterweight division is just behind the pair that I think are the best in the division in Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.
Keith Thurman defeated both Porter and Garcia in fights that could have been given to either fighter and now Porter and Garcia participated in a similar fight.
What that tells me is that you could put any combination of Garcia, Porter, and Thurman in the ring and get a close and decent fight with the winner depending on the particular night.
I would make any of the three a competitive underdog against either Spence or Crawford.

In the co-feature, Yordanis Ugas became Porter's mandatory contender with a dreadful unanimous decision over Cesar Barrioneuvo.
It wasn't the fault of Ugas, but still, it was a long and tedious 12 rounds and despite his winning streak of late, I still think Ugas is a cut below championship level.

Over on HBO, the one-time mother ship of boxing devoted another card to the junior bantamweights with all three fights at 115 pounds.
Superfly 3 might not have been the action slate of the previous two events, but two of the three fights were solid enough.
Juan Francisco Estrada earned his rematch with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai with a unanimous decision over Felipe Orucuta in a better than expected, but a clear- cut victory.
The fight was close for eight rounds, but Estrada took command down the stretch as he won the final four rounds on my card on his way to a 117-111 win on my card.

Donnie Nietes appeared to have won the vacant WBO junior bantamweight title with a decision over Aston Palicte, which was closer than I expected (116-112 Nietes), but far from an entertaining fight.
The entertainment was still to come as one judge scored it a draw (not a good score, but arguable) and then another scored an insane 116-112 for Palicte card to have the fight end in an unpopular draw.
The worst part of this decision means that since this was for a vacant title, the WBO will order a rematch.
Hurray.

Kazuto Ioka, a former multi-division champion, returned from a brief retirement to make his American debut controlled McWilliams Arroyo and won unanimously on the judges cards
Ioka scored the only knockdown late in the third round and was never threatened in a lopsided, but competitive fight.
Ioka was the most impressive fighter on the card against the toughest competition and it will be interesting to see what's next for him.
I scored Ioka a 98-91 winner (8-2 in rounds, with the knockdown).

DAZN made its American debut with a free fight on Facebook as Amir Khan continued his comeback against Samuel Vargas, who was last seen by American fans being pounded by Danny Garcia.
The fight showed Khan's power (Dropping Vargas in the 2nd and 3rd), his soft chin (Dropped by Vargas late in the 2nd and had there been another minute in the round, Vargas may have pulled the upset) and his underrated boxing ability (he dominated Vargas thereafter) in notching a unanimous decision.
I had Khan a 98-90 winner, but struggling with a journeyman like Vargas makes me wonder how Khan is going to fare against the better fighters or the two fighters that he is rumored to be facing next- Kell Brook or Manny Pacquiao.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica had a big week in scoring ten points (two points for wins by Khan,Porter, Ugas, Estrada, and Ioka) to my six ( two points for Estrada's and Ioka's win and one each for wins by Khan and Ugas).
I lead the overall challenge 133-111.

Caught for coverage for now, I plan on a passings piece later tonight from the road office.

Boxing Challenge:Groves exposes Eubank and Hamburglar Alert!

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The boxing challenge was similar to the last two weekends in boxing as there may have been a large number of bouts domestically, but once again it was the World Boxing Super Series without an American television home stealing the show from a live stream.

The WBSS moved to their first semi-final in the super middleweight division with a sizable amount of interest in an all-UK faceoff with both the WBA title and a berth in the finals on the line as George Groves earned the biggest victory of his career with a unanimous decision over Chris Eubank. Jr.

The choice in this bout was one of the hardest for me to make in quite a while as both fighters had reasons to pick them and pick against them and despite my rooting for Groves through the years, I had concerns about him winning on the big stage and hesitantly selected Eubank.
I was happy to be wrong in this case as Groves used his jab to control the fight's tempo and distance, befuddling Eubank and leaving him frustrated and settling for wild shots that found air more often than Groves.
Eubank did hurt Groves in the final round after Groves suffered a separated shoulder (more on that soon) and showed signs of the power that made him a betting favorite, but Groves hung on and took a clear decision (117-111 on my card) and a trip to the finals.
The shoulder injury to Groves does throw a wrinkle into the tournament plans for the finals as it is unlikely to see Groves be ready to make a return to the ring by June 2nd on the planned date for the finals against next week's winner of the Callum Smith-Jurgen Braehmer tilt.
As for Eubank, he showed the same lack of discipline that he did in his only previous loss to Billy Joe Saunders and looked to be a fighter looking for his identity in the ring.

We move back across the Atlantic for five challenge bouts on two networks from PBC and yet another mostly disappointing evening.
PBC started with a two-fight show that ran way long since a scheduled squash match for talented prospect Carlos Balderas surprisingly lasted the four round distance and the result of that decision saw the PBC running competition against itself for a while.

The main event wasn't as bad as it could have been considering that it matched the continuing comeback of Devon Alexander against the usually excuse-filled performances from Victor Ortiz.
It was not only scheduled for 12 rds instead of the standard 10, I was shocked to see the WBC sanctioned this as a title eliminator since Alexander had won just once in his comeback and Ortiz hasn't had a win over a contender in years.
It was better than expected, mainly because despite being decisively outboxed and having his eye puffed, Alexander wasn't a banger in his prime and the sometimes soft Ortiz hung in there likely because he wasn't getting seriously hurt.
As the Showtime card started and this fight moved on, it appeared that the only question for the judges was the margin for Alexander as watchers prepared to move to Showtime.
I didn't have many questions as I saw Alexander a huge 118-110 winner, but it was time to bring out the Hamburglar as the cards were stunning at 115-113 for ORTIZ!? with two more at 114-114 for a majority decision draw and the early favorite for the awful decision of the year.
I suppose it wouldn't be a Victor Ortiz fight without something odd happening and say what you will about Ortiz in the ring-the happenings are never dull when Ortiz is around.

The other fight was really bad as Caleb Plant handily (119-109 on my card) won an IBF title eliminator over trialhorse Porky Medina to near a shot against new IBF champion Caleb Truax and the world's first ever all-Caleb world championship fight.
The less said about this the better and Plant is deadly dull to watch.

The drawn-out card on Fox caused me to miss most of the curtain raiser on Showtime as Yordanis Ugas won yet another eliminator in the welterweight division (there were three on the day) this one of the IBF variety with a seventh-round knockout of Ray (missing any sugar) Robinson.
I saw the knockout but missed the first six rounds, so no scoring on the Ugas victory.

The second bout saw a rematch of a fun fight from last year as David Benavidez defended his WBC super middleweight belt for the first time against the man he defeated for the vacant title-Ronald Gavril.
Benavidez had won a narrow split decision in their first fight, had claimed he was ill for that fight and wanted an immediate rematch to remove all doubt.
The doubt was removed as Benavidez dominated on his way to a unanimous decision that saw Gavril win the final round on my scorecard to avoid being shutout (119-109).
The talented 21-year-old champion dominated Gavril with his jab and proved that there would be no need for a third encounter any time soon.
I have a feeling that this time next year that we might be discussing David Benavidez and Gilberto Ramirez in a title unification bout as the latest big fight that boxing fans will miss out on due to the issues with promoters and networks...

The main event was one that I wasn't really excited about as Danny Garcia returned to the ring for the first time in nearly a year against the shopworn Brandon Rios in yet another welterweight eliminator, the second of the evening for the WBC.
If they had half as many title defenses as eliminators, Keith Thurman's nickname wouldn't be used as a metaphor for how often he fights!
Rios, a former Zabbie winner, had been fed journeyman Aaron Herrera last June for his first win since 2015 to revive his name to be fed to someone in the future,
Garcia had a mixed bag for the evening- the good news is that he knocked Rios out with a strong right that saw Rios rise but had the fight ended by referee Kenny Bayliss in the ninth round.
I had Garcia ahead 79-73 (7-1 in rounds) entering round nine and despite the protest of Rios for the fight being stopped, Rios clearly dropped his left and invited the Garcia right that ended a long night from the PBC, so he can only blame himself for a loss that frankly should give him pause of getting out of the business.
Rios is dreadfully slow and having his best days at lightweight, Rios lacks any pop remotely resembling his power at lower divisions, the time may be right for him to consider walking away.

The bad news for Garcia?
Danny was hit far more than he should be by someone of Rios' speed and you cannot blame that all on rust.
Garcia, even in his wins, hasn't been the same fighter at 147 as he was at 140 and now he's beginning to get hit more often?
I thought Garcia won almost every round, but Rios scored enough to hold some interest and I wonder if Garcia has seen his best fights in the back window?

The evening wrapped with one of those pro wrestling style shouting matches that seem to follow the PBC almost every telecast and especially when you have any combination of Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Garcia around.
These three constantly challenge each other for future matches, street fights, hot dog eating contests and whatever else floats their boat on that evening.
It's getting to the point that it's simply silly that these things constantly happen between the three and nothing seems to ever come of it.
It's tired, old and much of it seems to be poorly acted.
Here was a tweet of mine from last night about this situation and for the record-Thurman and Garcia are the first two named with Porter being the third.

PBC 147 problem-Three guys all roughly the same level,two of them with an over inflated opinion of their value and skills that aren't really interested in top fights. The 3rd will fight almost anyone, but is a hair less talented- None of them want any part of @ErrolSpenceJr

— R.S (@ThoughtsofRS) February 18, 2018

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 6-4 on the night and moved my overall lead to  22-18.
I scored two points each on wins by David Benavidez and Caleb Plant with one point wins from Danny Garcia and Yordanis Ugas.
Ramon added two points for Benavidez with one each from Plant and Garcia.

Hoping to have an episode of Fightheads this week on the podcast to talk about these fights and next weekend's fight in the World Boxing Super Series and finally a good card coming from HBO!!

Thurman decisions Garcia-Boxing Challenge

The run of getting decisions in borderline fights ran out for Danny Garcia as he lost his WBC welterweight title to WBA champion Keith Thurman via split decision in Brooklyn.

The bout was nothing visually impressive and nothing to get excited about as Thurman controlled the bout winning 116-112 on my card despite giving away the final two rounds by "boxing" AKA running away to avoid contact.
I tweeted during the late rounds of the fight that some judge was going to have this close and sure enough, there was one.
The fight wasn't a classic by any means and I doubt that even with two title belts now that Thurman will be gaining a lot of points in the TRS rankings.
I earned two points in the boxing challenge by picking Thurman, while Ramon Malpica picked Garcia.

The undercard saw talented junior middleweight Erickson Lubin crunch overmatched Jorge Cota with a powerful left hand in the 4th and qualify for a WBC title shot vs the winner of Jermell Charlo-Charles Hatley.
Lubin is a strong prospect and it'll be interesting to see how he steps up in his title challenge.
Lubin's KO gave me two points to Ramon Malpica's one.

Andrezj Fonfara stopped former world champion Chad Dawson in an untelevised bout on the card in the tenth and final round.
Fonfara's KO allowed me two points to Ramon Malpica's one.

The fight of the day was in London, where WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew move up to heavyweight and pull a massive upset over former cruiser and heavyweight champion David Haye in the 11th round of a bombs-away slugfest.
Haye had his moments in the 4th and 5th rounds hurting Bellew before slipping on some water in the 6th and injuring his Achilles Tendon.

Bellew took over against the battered Haye, scoring a knockdown in the 6th round before ending the fight by sending Haye through the ropes in the 11th and his corner threw into the towel.
I had Bellew ahead 95-94 entering the final round with Haye winning the first five rounds prior to the injury and Bellew winning the rounds thereafter.
Haye's loss cost the UK a huge fight there with Haye challenging Anthony Joshua (assuming Joshua wins against Wladimir Klitschko).
I doubt Bellew wants that fight with the size difference, so the best payday for Bellew might be waiting for Haye to heal for a rematch.
Both Ramon and I picked Haye to win for no points.

The boxing challenge saw me outscore Ramon six to two on the weekend and move ahead in the overall challenge 22-20.

Garcia decisions Guerrero-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge rolled on as the PBC hit Los Angeles on a three bout card.

In the main event Danny Garcia took a unanimous decision over Robert Guerrero to win the vacant. WBC welterweight title.
Guerrero started quickly by winning three of the first four rounds,but would win just one thereafter as Garcia won on my card 116-113.
Garcia appears to be a good not great fighter that looked awfully slow in this victory.

The undercard fights saw one exciting and one sleep inducing (although the awful announcing on Fox could take care of the latter) bout to round off the evening...

In a dull welterweight bout,Sammy Vasquez won every round on his way to a sixth round TKO when Aron Martinez claimed an elbow injury at the end of the round.
The heavyweights put on a better show as undefeated Dominic Breazeale pulled out a miracle win when Amir Mansour couldn't continue after the fifth round after Breazeale broke Mansour's jaw near the end of the fifth.
Mansour dropped Breazeale in the third round and held a healthy lead on my card at the time of the surrender.
Breazeale is a prospect that looks ripe for the picking against anyone of Mansour's level or above..

In the boxing challenge-I earned five points to R.L.Malpica's three.
Each of us picked up two for the Danny Garcia win and one for the Sammy Vasquez victory.
The extra two points for me came on the Dominic Breazeale win..
The current tally has me ahead 9-5