Boxing Challenge: Sheeraz bursts Berlanga, Stevenson shines vs Zepeda

     Riyadh Season's first card in the New York market (Times Square) may have been a massive disappointment, but their second, held in the Louis Armstrong Tennis Center (home of the U.S.Open), was filled with exciting fights without a bad one in the bunch.

In the main event, Hamzah Sheeraz ended the carefully managed contention of Edgar Berlanga with a vicious fifth-round knockout.

Sheeraz dropped Berlanga twice in the fourth round, and Berlanga was lucky to survive. Sheeraz then drove a stunned Berlanga into the ropes seconds into the fifth round, forcing the end of the fight.

Despite being the first fight in the super middleweight division for Sheeraz, he looked bigger and stronger than Berlanga, who showed heart in getting up from the knockdowns but was overmatched and now faces several questions about his viability as a future contender.

Sheeraz could face Canelo Alvarez next (should Alvarez defeat Terence Crawford) as Sheeraz and Chris Eubank Jr appear to be next in line for a Canelo challenge.

In the co-main event (which I differ with), Shakur Stevenson not only retained his WBC lightweight title via unanimous decision over the difficult challenge of William Zepeda, but he also won in an entertaining fashion, which had turned off many fans in recent months.

Stevenson outboxed Zepeda, but he did so skillfully and didn't move around the ring, preferring to counter the aggressive Zepeda.

I had the fight even after eight rounds, but Stevenson dominated the final four rounds of the fight, winning them all to win 116-112 on my card.

The official scores were far too wide for my tastes (119-109 and 118-108 times two), were unkind to Zepeda, and didn't fairly represent the fight.

Stevenson spoke of a potential move to junior welterweight after his win but he could stay at lightweight for fights against any of Lamont Roach (his fall rematch with WBA champion Gervonta Davis appears in jeopardy after another Davis legal problem), IBF champion Raymond Muratalla or in the least likely option to happen, the winner of the vacant WBO title fight between Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes.

Zepeda lost nothing in defeat and remains a very viable challenge for anyone in the lightweight division.

Subriel Matias won the WBC junior welterweight title with a majority decision victory over Alberto Puello.

The fight was well-paced from the start, with Matias walking down Puello, who boxed but didn't run from the stronger fighter.

Neither fighter seriously hurt the other, and the fight has been dubbed "controversial" by online pundits.

I scored it 115-113 for Matias, which agreed with two of the judges, with the other scoring a draw at 114-114.

Matias will face the WBC's top contender Dalton Smith in the fall, with the two meeting in the ring after the win.

Puello will reportedly face the winner of that fight after losing this one by such a small margin.

I could have been fine with either Matias or Puello winning their decision, as I thought the more controversial decision was the card opener with David Morrell winning a split decision over former Olympic bronze medalist Imam Khataev.

Khataev was the more aggressive fighter and landed the harder shots throughout the fight.

Khataev dropped Morrell late in the fifth round, and while Morrell wasn't seriously hurt, it capped off the scorecard for me, as I had Khataev a 96-93 winner.

The official scores were 96-93 and 95-94 for Morrell and 95-94 for Khataev.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 107 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 97 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 44 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Benavidez decisions Morrell, Fulton dethrones Figueroa

     On paper, PBC's Saturday night pay-per-view from Las Vegas was their best, from top to bottom, and it was a good evening of boxing.

Still, it felt like a mild disappointment despite providing some strong action and it started at the top of the card with David Benavidez winning a unanimous decision over David Morrell to make Benavidez the top contender to the winner of the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch that will occur later this month.

Benavidez-Morrell was a good fight but far from the light-heavyweight Armageddon that many thought was possible as Benavidez added Morrell's minor title to the minor belt that Benavidez already owned.

Benavidez threw more, landed more, and simply outworked Morrell, although Morrell had his moments most notably his eleventh-round knockdown of an off-balance Benavidez.

Morrell lost that extra point at the end of the same round when he hit Benavidez after the bell and had a point deducted, which was clearly a foul.

Benavidez won on the scorecards of 118-108 and 115-111 twice, the latter agreeing with my card.

The co-feature was a story of redemption and disappointment as Stephen Fulton won the WBC featherweight title unanimously over Brandon Figueroa in a rematch of their terrific 2021 matchup, won by Fulton by a majority decision.

The redemption comes from Fulton's rebounding from a knockout loss to Naoya Inoue and a controversial decision win over Carlos Castro in his recent two fights.

The disappointment part is that the fight wasn't nearly as exciting as their first fight as Fulton boxed more and Figueroa didn't punch nearly as often which gave Fulton a more conclusive victory.

The scores for Fulton were 117-111 and 116-112 twice, the same as my score.

The fight of the night was expected to be the junior welterweight ten-rounder between Isaac Cruz and Angel Fierro and that lived up to expectations as the two slugged each other for ten brutal rounds.

An absolute battle with Cruz winning on the scorecards 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94, the latter same as my card.

Cruz keeps his viability after losing his WBC championship to Jose Valenzuela but Cruz's aggressive attacking style isn't hurting junior welterweights as badly as lightweights and Cruz should consider dropping back to 135 pounds if he can make the weight.

Fierro made himself some fans with his effort and I'm sure earned himself future paydays.

In the opener, middleweight Jesus Ramos knocked out former junior middleweight champion Jeison Rosario in the eighth round after winning all seven of the previous rounds, dropping Rosario in the seventh.

Rosario has never been known for a stern chin but Ramos's win was still impressive.

Saturday afternoon from London, Peacock was expected to stream promising junior welterweight Adam Azim's latest challenge against former IBF junior lightweight champion Sergey Lipinets but the card never appeared on the streaming service for whatever reason.

Azim was deducted two points for low blows in the fight but controlled Lipinets before stopping him in round nine.

I've only seen highlights at this time.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 13 Pts(5)

TRS: 13 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 6 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Upsets and Pushes

 The Crawford-Madrimov undercard was filled with interesting fights that saw a few upsets and spectacular endings.

In the co-feature, Isaac "Pit Bull Cruz" lost his WBA junior welterweight title and a possible rematch against Gervonta Davis in a split decision defeat to Jose Valenzuela.

Cruz didn't fight badly but he seemed a step behind Valenzuela throughout the fight and never grabbed any type of rhythm that would wear down the challenger.

I scored Valenzuela the winner at 116-112, the same as the two judges with the dissenting card for Cruz at 115-113.

With both fighters aligned with PBC and this fight being an optional defense for Cruz, I'd think that a rematch is possible soon.

The two fights in the heavyweight division featured a former heavyweight champion, a former top contender, and the top American prospect, and yet none of those became the star of the evening.

That honor belonged to Martin Bakole, whom I described as a live dog in my preview of his fight against Jared Anderson and then punished the touted American prospect for five rounds, dropping him three times on his way to the knockout triumph.

Bakole forced Anderson into retreat from the beginning and while Anderson fought back gamely when he could have packed it in, Bakole's domination was complete.

Bakole would make some interesting fights against other contenders (Zhilei Zhang, perhaps?) and made a name for himself with his upset win while Anderson, who has made no secret of not being in love with boxing and has had legal issues, answered questions about his heart and desire but created others about his ability to fend off bigger and aggressive fighters.

In the other heavyweight bout, former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz and former contender/PED user Jarrell Miller slugged it out to a majority decision draw in a "Battle of The Big Boys" that brought to mind the Saturday Night Main Event from the 1980s between King Kong Bundy and Uncle Elmer.

Miller dropped thirty pounds from his loss to Daniel DuBois but still weighed over three hundred pounds against Ruiz, who hadn't fought for almost two years and fought at two hundred seventy-four pounds, yet it was Miller who finished the fight stronger in the second half of the fight.

I scored Miller the winner 115-113 with one judge giving the edge to Miller 116-112 and the other two scored the fight even at 114-114.

While the fight was somewhat entertaining, it was also sloppy enough that neither fighter distinguished themselves enough for a bigger fight soon, so it makes sense to hook these two up for a rematch.

David Morrell moved up from super middleweight to light heavyweight for a minor title but the vaunted "boogeyman" didn't look especially strong in winning a unanimous decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic.

Kalajdzic fought surprisingly well and deserved better on the cards, which I thought were unfair to Kalajdzic with Morrell winning by scores of 118-110 and 117-111 times two.

I scored Morrell the narrow victor 115-113 and Morrell continued the strange circle of call-outs as Morrell constantly requests to face David Benavidez while Benavidez asks for Canelo Alvarez and uses similar excuses to not face Morrell as Alvarez uses to avoid Benavidez.

In the opener, former Olympic gold medalist Andy Cruz was struggling in his fight with veteran Antonio Moran before stopping him in the seventh round.

Moran appeared to have hurt Cruz in round five and the fight was even on my card at 57-57 entering the seventh round.

Cruz didn't dazzle anyone in victory but deserved credit for ending the fight and avoiding what could have been a close decision.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica; 111 Pts (4)

TRS: 99 pts (4) 

Vince Samano: 55 pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Bam unifies, Showtime bids farewell

      The boxing weekend's biggest fight came from Matchroom/DAZN from Glendale, Arizona with Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez taking the IBF flyweight title from Sunny Edwards to add it to the WBO title that Rodriguez owned entering the fight.

Edwards made the fight more entertaining than was expected before the fight as he was willing to exchange shots with the stronger puncher but that was to the detriment of the Englishman, who is known for his boxing skills and not his punching power.

I thought Edwards held his own early and had the fight even after four rounds but Sunny's left eye had been compromised in the second round and would only get worse as the fight progressed.

Edwards announced after the fight that he had suffered an orbital fracture and considering the eye damage, Edwards deserves kudos for hanging in there against the power punches of Rodriguez.

Round six saw both men land well with Edwards surprising with his eagerness to swap in the middle of the ring but even with Edwards's success, Rodriguez still won the round and controlled the seventh and eighth.

Rodriguez battered Edwards in the ninth and dropped him near the ropes as the round neared its end.

Edwards got up and reached his corner but his team wisely ended the fight.

I had Rodriguez ahead at the time of the stoppage 87-84.

Rodriguez was mentioned for a big fight with junior bantamweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada, which could be an excellent action fight as well as a possible changing of the guard with the veteran Estrada attempting to make a final stand against the young tiger, Rodriguez.

In the co-feature, former WBA and IBF junior featherweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev knocked out Kevin Gonzalez in the eighth round to win a title eliminator that will eventually allow Akhmadaliev to fight for his old WBA title after Naoya Inoue vacates his 122-pound belts after his likely win next week over Marlon Tapales.

Gonzalez fought well early but Akhmadaliev broke down Gonzalez, dropped him twice in round six before knocking him down and finishing him off in the eighth.

Had Akhmadaliev fought like this against Marlon Tapales earlier this year, it would be Akhmadaliev that would be unifying titles with Naoya Inoye next week and in my opinion, would be a far more interesting challenge to Inoue than Tapales will be.

It was goodbye to Showtime on Saturday from Minneapolis with a three-fight card with a mismatch in the main event as David Morrell retained his minor title with a second-round drilling of Sena Agbeko in a super middleweight pairing.

Morrell was expected to dispatch Agebeko with ease and he did so, so there's not much else to say other than Morrell looks like the real deal but his competition has been less demanding than Morrell's talent deserves.

The problem is that Morrell looks to be one of the best three super middleweights in the world and in that world, the champion, Canelo Alvarez, doesn't seem thrilled with fighting the second-best, David Benavidez, and Benavidez doesn't seem intrigued with fighting Morrell.

Holding the minor WBA title will eventually put Morrell in a spot to challenge for a title, against Alvarez or a vacant belt but the big fights may elude Morrell for a while.

The super middleweight division has some talented young fighters but they are spread out among several promoters.

Christian Mbilli and Erik Bazinyan are based with Montreal's Eye of the Tiger, who works with Top Rank, Diego Pacheco, and Edgar Berlanga are with Matchroom, and Jaime Munguia is promoted by Golden Boy, so few if any have an incentive to try Morrell on for size.

I'd say the next step for Morrell could be Caleb Plant or Jermall Charlo, should Charlo not fight David Benavidez.

Plant may be the more likely choice, having suffered knockout losses to Alvarez and Benavidez but there is a grudge between Charlo and Plant outside the ring that may make a fight between them a better sale to fans.

In the co-feature, Jose Valenzuela didn't allow the judges to be involved in his rematch with Chris Colbert as Valenzuela knocked Colbert down in round one, and battered him throughout before a one-punch knockout ended the fight in the sixth round.

Colbert tried hard and landed an occasional counter right but he was outgunned by the harder-punching Valenzuela and took a lot of punishment for the third fight in a row had the judges not given the first fight to Colbert, unjustly, Colbert would be on a three-fight losing streak.

Colbert doesn't punch hard enough to keep top fighters off him, and while he is a skilled boxer he's not skilled enough to overcome that liability.

Valenzuela called for Gervonta Davis after the fight and considering the dearth of talent for PBC at lightweight other than Isaac Cruz, Valenzuela could get his chance in 2024, assuming Davis needs an opponent.

The opener was a blast from the past as two welterweight veterans Robert Guerrero battled Andre Berto in a rematch of their spirited 2012 match,

Guerrero won the first fight by unanimous decision and he would repeat the win in the same manner.

Berto was quicker, Guerrero stronger, and Guerrero would win the inside battles to win a reasonably entertaining unanimous decision by scores of 99-91 and 98-92 (x2).

I had the fight a bit closer for Guerrero at 97-93.

It was the type of pairing that fighters of a certain age and quality can still be successful as I don't have much interest in seeing either of these two against a contender or even a solid prospect but matched properly, older boxers can still have a place in the sport.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 187 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 169 Pts (6)

Vince Samano: 124 Pts (6) 

Boxing Challenge: Cordina outlasts Rahkimov,

   The boxing weekend was more than only Gervonta Davis's win over Ryan Garcia as a world title changed hands in Cardiff, Wales and a minor beltholder staked a claim for a possible fall fight to determine yet again a true challenger for a unified champion's top contender position.

Matchroom/DAZN featured a fight that will be in consideration for fight of the year when that time arrives as Joe Cordina outlasted Shavkat Rahkimov via a split decision to regain the IBF junior lightweight title that he never lost in the ring.

The non-stop action swung back and forth between the two with the only major difference coming in the second round when Cordina knocked Rahkimov down briefly and after two, it appeared Cordina was on his way to a short evening with Rahkimov's knockdown and his right eye already showing the start of the damage that would see the eye almost closed by the fight's end.

Rahkimov began to close the gap over the middle rounds with a body attack that seemed to be slowing Cordina and the final two rounds would decide the fight on my scorecard which would appear to favor Rahkimov who has worn fighters down in the past for late round knockouts and his body attack.

Instead, it was Cordina that took control in those final two rounds by edging Rahkimov by being slightly busier and outworking him to win the fight on my card 114-113 and the second-round knockdown made the difference.

The knockdown made the difference on only one card, a 114-113 score for Cordina with the other two cards split at 115-112 for Cordina and a surprising 116-111 for Rahkimov.

Had Cordina not scored the knockdown, the fight would have finished in a draw with Rahkimov retaining the title.

Cordina won the title with a second-round KO of Kenichi Ogawa last June but was stripped last fall after a hand injury required surgery before a planned fight with Rahkimov with the IBF stripping him of the title.

The ruling was a bit harsh in my opinion as boxers take longer time than that in between fights anymore with no measures taken at all.

Rahkimov won the vacant title with a knockout over Zelfa Barrett with the provision that Cordina would receive a title shot immediately upon his return to the ring.

I certainly think a rematch would be acceptable and with the other champions in the division with other promoters (WBA champion Hector Luis Garcia and WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster are with PBC and WBO boss Emmanuel Navarette fights for Top Rank), a rematch with the action in this fight would seem to be an easy sell.

The top two undercard fights from the Davis-Garcia both were fought in the super middleweight division with a dominant first-round knockout from minor beltholder David Morrell taking center stage.

Morrell scored a standing eight count when he sent late replacement Yamaguchi Falcao against the ropes with only the ropes allowing Falcao to remain standing.

Morrell leaped on Falcao with another knockdown with the referee quickly waving the fight off.

Morrell may be pitted against David Benavidez in the fall in a fight that may decide just who the top contender to unified champion Canelo Alvarez truly is.

That was supposed to be decided by Benavidez's recent win over former IBF champion Caleb Plant but I think Morrell is more talented than Plant and while his opponents haven't been top-ten caliber, Morrell's talents and skills appear to be among the best in the division and Morrell could be an even larger threat to defeating Benavidez.

Hopefully, that fight can be signed (both fighters are promoted by PBC) if Alvarez doesn't fight Benavidez first as the winner would have a great claim for an inevitable fight with Alvarez.

Bektemir Melikuziev avenged his only defeat with a unanimous decision over shopworn veteran Gabriel Rosado via unanimous decision.

I haven't watched the fight yet but Melikuziev won with the scores reading 99-91 from all three judges.

Rosado announced his retirement after the fight.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 68 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 63 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 55 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Bivol Zips by Zurdo

   In the most important fight of the weekend, Dmitry Bivol easily outpointed former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez to retain his WBA light heavyweight title by unanimous decision in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Bivol won almost all the middle rounds after the first four rounds were split evenly between the two and capped off the fight with an excellent round twelve.

Ramirez did have some success hitting the body of Bivol but more often was far too slow and plodding for the slick Bivol, who used a basic jab and right hand to keep Ramirez away and was never threatened by his foe.

I scored it for Bivol 116-112, which was a little closer than the judges at 118-110 and 117-111 times two but I could easily see the fight wider for Bivol, if you give Bivol one or two of the early rounds that I gave Ramirez.

Bivol stated that he wants a unification fight with Artur Beterbiev for all four world titles and such a fight would rank among the best fights that could be made in the sport with the smooth boxer/puncher in Bivol against the feared bomber in Beterbiev, who has knocked out every opponent in his career.

Beterbiev has a WBO mandatory commitment against Anthony Yarde in January and such a fight couldn't take place until the summer of 2023 but hopefully, the fight can be signed.

The co-feature saw a strange ending as Shavkat Rakhimov won the vacant IBF junior lightweight title with a ninth-round knockout of Zelfa Barrett to fill the title vacated by Joe Cordina, who needed surgery for an injury.

Both fighters signed a contract before the fight that agreed for the winner to fight Cordina when he is physically able to return.

Barrett stormed out of the gates and dominated the first four rounds blending boxing off the jab and whipping power punches on Rakhimov like he had spent his training camp watching Emanuel Steward teaching at the Kronk gym.

Barrett knocked Rakhimov down with an uppercut in the third round and appeared to be on his way to a mild upset but like a speed horse running at a distance, Barrett started declining in the fifth and Rakhimov began to slowly grind Barrett down in the middle rounds.

In the ninth, Barrett either suffered a leg injury or simply had nothing left as Rakhimov's pressure sent Barrett gamely but ineffectively around the ring, and even though the punches may not have been the cause as much as Barrett's legs, Rakhimov scored two knockdowns before the Barrett corner tossed in the towel of surrender.

Rahkimov-Cordina is a very interesting fight and in a division that now lacks Shakur Stevenson, could be in a position to establish themselves at the top of the division with WBA champion Hector Garcia and the winners of the two bouts to fill the vacancies left by Stevenson (WBC O'Shaquie Foster vs Rey Vargas and WBO Oscar Valdez vs Emanuel Navarrete).

The evening card from Showtime from Minneapolis ends with a sad note as the main event has taken a tragic turn.

Minor Super Middleweight champion David Morrell dominated his top-rated challenger Aidos Yerbossynuly over eleven rounds and delivered a beating, although entering the final round, Morrell had yet to score a knockdown.

Morrell had busted open Yerbossynuly's nose early in the fight, causing impressive bleeding that stained the trunks of each man with a pink hue and while Morrell was too much for Yerbossynuly, Yerbossynuly never stopped trying and never stopped coming forward, and when he ran into a straight left that knocked him down a few seconds into the round, Tony Weeks perhaps should have stopped the fight then and there, considering the state of the scorecards (I gave Yerbossynuly only of the eleven rounds) and how much punishment Yerbossynuly had taken.

Perhaps the corner could have stopped it considering Zelfa Barrett's corner earlier in the day stopped the fight to protect their man who had taken many fewer punches to the head.

Instead, the fight continued with Morrell landing at will in search of the knockout he promised and Yerbossynuly trying to grab and hold to make it to the final bell.

Tony Weeks deducted a point from Yerbossynuly for holding but allowed the fight to continue with Morrell continuing to land with impunity and Yerbossynuly taking shot after shot before a right floored Yerbossynuly again with Weeks ending the fight.

Dan Rafael is reporting, as of this writing, that Yerbossynuly is hospitalized and in a medically induced coma and I just feel that it didn't have to be this way.

The corner and the referee are employed to protect the fighter from themselves, and this is the type of fight that tragedy often occurs- a fight that doesn't see many knockdowns from a fighter that is a good but not spectacular power puncher against an opponent that is overmatched in talent but not in heart and results in a sustained beating to the head.

Hopefully, Yerbossynuly will be okay, although he should certainly retire.

As for Morrell, he won his eighth fight, the seventh by KO, and adds an impressive victory over the best opponent of his career but I'm not sure what's next for the Cuban.

Morrell isn't going to prove anything by dominating fighters of the class of Yerbossynuly but with Canelo Alvarez out for a few months with hand surgery, and others ahead of Morrell on the mandatory list, Morrell may be forced to fight these types of fights and maybe hope that eventually, he could face one of the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant combatants.

Ironically, Morrell might be more likely to face the loser of that fight scheduled for early 2023 as the winner will not be likely to risk a shot at Canelo Alvarez against the high-risk low-reward Morrell.

The co-feature saw a mild upset as late replacement Brian Mendoza knocked out former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jeison Rosario in the fifth round of a middleweight ten-rounder.

Mendoza replaced the very talented prospect Yoelvis Gomez and maybe for Rosario's sake, that was a fortunate development.

Rosario has always had issues with taking punches with all three of his defeats entering the fight by stoppage and he had shown a tendency to crumble under body blows but still on pedigree Mendoza's chance was to catch Rosario and hope he wilted.

And that's exactly what happened as Mendoza worked the body and dropped Rosario in the second with Rosario barely surviving the stanza and even though Rosario courageously fought back, it seemed like the fight was Mendoza's to win- he would do just that with an uppercut in the fifth that ended the fight and Rosario's career as he announced his retirement following the fight.

That's likely a good idea as Rosario's punch resistance isn't going to improve as he fights more.

Mendoza will appear more on PBC cards after a solid win and I wouldn't be surprised to see him against former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Julian Williams, who lost his titles to Rosario and won a fight on the YouTube streamed undercard.

On the YouTube undercard, former contenders Andre Dirrell and Yunieski Gonzalez squared off in a light heavyweight bout that proved to be a good battle.

I wrote in the preview that fights like these can be quite fun with two veterans that perhaps don't have the skills and the legs that they once have but losing those attributes can make their fights more entertaining than in their prime.

Dirrell at 39 and Gonzalez at 37 were matched properly and the result was a back-and-forth fight that saw each man have their peaks with Gonzalez starting fast, Dirrell turning the tide in the middle rounds before Gonzalez hurt Dirrell in the ninth round.

That took a lot from Gonzalez and Dirrell ripped Gonzalez in the tenth and scored the stoppage with Gonzalez taking punches along the ropes

Dirrell was cut early in the fight and over Dirrell's career, he has often found a way to lose in strange ways that haven't always been the most courageous.

That's not the case in this one as Dirrell fought hard and found a way to win but I'm afraid that this win might have earned him a fight against a younger fighter looking to make his name and that wouldn't end well for Dirrell...

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 185 Pts (4) 

Ramon Malpica: 158 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 152 Pts (4) 

Boxing Challenge:Fulton Routs Roman, Cordina Crushes Ogawa

   Entering the PBC on Showtime card from Minneapolis on Saturday evening, two things seemed to be all but certain- Stephen Fulton's defense of his WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles against former WBA and IBF champion Danny Roman would be a close and exciting fight and David Morrell would look impressive in his super middleweight minor title defense against a seemingly overmatched Kalvin Henderson.

Morrell lived up to expectations but the Fulton-Roman pairing did not as Fulton outboxed and controlled Roman as no fighter had previously on his way to an easy unanimous decision to retain his two championships.

Fulton outboxed and outpunched Roman and never allowed the veteran to get into any type of rhythm by using a dominant jab and excellent counterpunches to smack Roman as he attempted fruitlessly to generate any offense with an inside attack.

Two judges saw a shutout for Fulton at 120-108 with the other arbiter giving Roman one round at 119-109.

I gave Roman two rounds for a 118-110 score for Fulton, who followed his majority decision win over Brandon Figueroa that many thought Figueroa won in a close fight with the best performance of his career against a former champion that only lost his titles by a borderline decision.

Fulton might begin to receive some consideration for entry in the pound for pound rankings after this impressive performance but Fulton is looking for bigger game- becoming an undisputed champion and called for WBA and IBF champion M.J Akhmadaliev, who defeated Roman to win those titles and has a scheduled defense in three weeks against mandatory challenger Ronny Rios.

That may be a difficult match to sign as Akhmadaliev is contracted to Matchroom and DAZN and Matchroom and PBC are seldom able to cross paths to make top fights but Eddie Hearn has been more willing to allow his fighters to fight elsewhere if the fight is important enough or could make the fighter more money, so there is a little hope.

A fight that would be easier to put together would be a rematch with Brandon Figueroa and most would love to see that considering the excellent action of the first fight, the closeness and that many gave Figueroa the edge.

If Fulton can't have Akhmadaliev, Figueroa would be an excellent consolation prize for boxing fans.

As for the co-feature, David Morrell bullied and bashed gritty but overmatched Kalvin Henderson on his way to a fourth-round knockout to retain his minor belt.

Morrell is now 7-0 with six knockouts but his competition hasn't been impressive although Morrell's performances certainly have been.

No knockdowns scored but Morrell trapped Henderson along the ropes and delivered punishment throughout with Henderson unable to do more than throw an occasional counter right to try to keep Morrell from swarming him.

Morrell certainly is talented and I'm very interested to see how he stacks up against better foes but fights against David Benavidez or against the winner of a rumored Caleb Plant-Anthony Dirrell fight would see the Cuban against a much-improved opponent and could prove to be more than he can handle unless he is a very special fighter.

One thing is certain though- Morrell is getting nothing but television exposure out of these glorified pummellings and if you are going to advertise your fighter as a 'champion', his "title defenses" can at least be against someone that can remotely give him a challenge.

Earlier in the day, a world title did change hands from Cardiff Wales as former Olympian Joe Cordina electrified his home crowd and Kenichi Ogawa with one overhand right that Ogawa never saw to take Ogawa's IBF junior lightweight championship via second-round knockout.

Ogawa hit the canvas very hard and was only able to move to all fours before the fight was rightfully concluded.

Cordina's victory may have been worth even more than winning the IBF title as he could parlay his win into a unification fight with WBC and WBO champion Shakur Stevenson, who has publically stated that he wishes to unify the division before an eventual move to 135 pounds.

Stevenson tweeted his congratulations and gave Cordina compliments from knowing him in the past with the interesting addendum that Stevenson would travel to Great Britain to face Cordina in a unification fight.

I believe Stevenson when he says this because he was willing to travel to the UK when he was at featherweight for a potential match with Josh Warrington which came very close to taking place, so I do believe Stevenson is serious about fighting on the road.

Joe Cordina may never have a better chance to become a star than in a unification fight with a star of Shakur Stevenson's status and to possibly have that fight in his home country, is almost too much to ask for and it all started with one overhand right.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 98 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 83 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 81 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Parker repeats against Chisora

 The boxing challenge finished up the 2021 season on Saturday with four fights and two of them loaded with action.

In London, Joseph Parker won a unanimous decision in his rematch with Derek Chisora in a fight that was a better one than their original but the story in defeat was the effort by Chisora, who easily could have cashed in at several times during the fight and yet battled through in one of the more courageous efforts that you'll see.

Parker would knock down Chisora in the seventh and in both the fourth and eighth rounds, Parker would drive Chisora into the ropes with Chisora using the ropes to stay upright and was rightfully scored knockdowns on both occasions.

On each occasion, Chisora would walk to a corner, anchor himself against the corner post, and wave Parker in and would then begin to fire enough wild punches to pull himself together to survive the round.

Parker was far more aggressive than in his first fight against Chisora and used the jab to set up the right hand rather than box off his back foot.

Parker's right uppercut was the key difference this time as it seemed that it found Chisora with every attempt and it was the uppercut that scored all three official knockdowns.

Parker won on all three cards and was closer than I expected ( 115-110, 115-111, and a surprising 114-112 card that would have seen Chisora win on one card without knockdowns) as my card had Parker winning 117-108.

Parker keeps himself in line for a future try at a title shot (Parker is ranked in the top five in three of the four organizations) while Chisora will continue to grab good paydays as a gatekeeper in the division.

DAZN returned in the evening with the final card of the year from Golden Boy with the main event that was much more entertaining than expected as Gilberto Ramirez earned the mandatory contender spot for WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol with a tenth round knockout over Yuneski Gonzalez.

No knockdowns in this one but plenty of toe-to-toe exchanges that were generally dominated by Ramirez with Gonzalez scoring enough to keep Ramirez honest and make the fight an entertaining one.

I had Ramirez well ahead in the fight at 88-84.

For Ramirez, it was an entertaining win and it does seem that the reluctant super-middleweight champion has developed into an aggressive light heavyweight and I'm looking forward to a Ramirez challenge of Dmitry Bivol.

On the undercard, Lamont Roach dominated Rene Alvarado and won a unanimous decision in a battle of top ten junior lightweights.

I scored Roach a 99-91 winner.

In Minneapolis on Fox, super middleweight David Morrell stopped Alantez Fox in four rounds in a fight that I haven't had time to watch yet.

Boxing Challenge: James, Morrell win minor titles

The Saturday night card on Fox that returned PBC to the boxing game,post-pandemic, was disappointing on a few levels.
I'll write about the most disappointing detail from outside the ring later, but inside the ring, the action was acceptable, if not awesome.

In the main event, Welterweight Jamal James earned a unanimous decision over Thomas Dulorme for one of the seemingly endless WBA minor belts in Los Angeles.
Dulorme was his typical attacking self, but the 6'2 James managed to take control midway through the bout to pull away to the deserved decision by outboxing Dulorme from the outside.
James managed to be more effective with the change in tactics, but it did make the bout less exciting with fewer exchanges.
I scored James the winner 116-112.
The victory was the biggest of his career for James and did give him a minor belt, which is worthless other than to give him a certain status in the WBA and might (emphasis on might) give him an eventual chance at a bigger fight in the organization.
James is a solid fighter and is a lower end of the top ten that would be acceptable for a title shot when a champion needs a good opponent, but not a great one.
Still, something about James makes me that this is his ceiling and he won't be able to take the next step from top ten/twelve level to championship timber.
As for Dulorme, he will always be able to land these types of fights because he is an excellent gatekeeper in the division, and he'll always give his best effort, but he is a step below the contenders in the division.

David Morrell won another WBA minor belt with a unanimous decision win over Lennox Allen in the co-main event.
The win for Morrell was his third in as many pro bouts as the Cuban handled the twelve round distance well and showed different dimensions as a boxer that has some power as well.
I'm not sure why Morrell, who is far younger than most Cuban defectors at 22, is being pushed so quickly unless the aim is to develop someone to feed to the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant winner that PBC is apparently building towards.
Morrell's plenty talented and being a southpaw could be a fighter that few will want to take a risk against for a low reward.
As with Jamal James, Morrell adds another one of those WBA worthless belts to defend against soft opposition for the time being.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points (2 for each win above) to Ramon Malpica's two (from David Morrell) to extend my lead to ten points at 81-71.

PBC announced their upcoming cards on Fox during the card and being kind, they look very weak in their main events.

Two title eliminators at welterweight on different shows look less than strong but could have ended with an anticipated match.
Former WBC and IBF champion Shawn Porter will face undefeated and thoroughly untested Sebastian Formella on August 22nd on one show while Yordenis Ugas battles Abel Ramos for another of the 12 WBA belts in September,
Porter defended his title in 2019 via a split decision over Ugas that many scored for Ugas (I scored it even at 114) and a rematch would be a fight that I could get behind.
Instead, we get Porter against Formella, who has fought no one that anyone could remotely call a contender) and Ugas against Abel Ramos, who is 0-2-1 against the best fighters he has fought in Maurice Hooker, Jamal James, and Ivan Baranchyk.
Ramos-Formella would be fine as a co-main event or an eliminator main event on FS1, but neither of the fights scheduled is appetizing.
Some of the blame for this goes to the sanctioning bodies involved, but don't tell me if PBC wanted to make Porter-Ugas instead that the alphabet boys involved wouldn't have re-evaluated.

However, neither of those two main events is as awful as the other card with Erislandy Lara defending one of the 12 WBA titles at junior middleweight Greg Vendetti.
Lara, who has become more fan-friendly as an action fighter as he ages, is saddled with Vendetti, a Massachusetts clubfighter that has two names that stick out on his record- a unanimous decision over Yoshihiro "Mr.Action" Kamegai that saw Kamegai retire after the loss and being blown out in two rounds by fringe contender Michel Soro.
This looks like a colossal mismatch and isn't worthy of the main event on national television.
PBC needs to do better.