Boxing Challenge: Joshua regains titles over Ruiz

 In a calculated and disciplined performance that many doubted that he could give, Anthony Joshua dominated from the outside and refused to give Andy Ruiz the toe to toe exchanges that he needed to be successful and regained the three heavyweight titles (WBA, IBF, and WBO) that he lost to Ruiz by knockout in June.

The bout held in a temporary stadium built in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia didn't have a lot of fireworks as their first fight did with both fighters hitting the mat, but showed the type of skill that would serve Joshua well in future fights against Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
Joshua established the jab early, cutting Ruiz above the left eye in the first round and when Ruiz returned the favor in the following round, Joshua avoided panic and stuck to the gameplan throughout.
I had Joshua a 119-109 winner and I don't see the need for a rematch until Ruiz can re-establish himself with a victory or two.
Joshua has two mandatories coming up and most assumed that no matter the winner of Joshua-Ruiz that either the IBF or WBO titles would be vacated.
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says that Joshua plans on fighting both mandatories if the organizations can work together to allow it.
Kubrat Pulev is the IBF top contender with Oleksandr Usyk atop the WBO rankings.

On the undercard, Alexander Povetkin and Michael Hunter drew over twelve rounds in a WBA heavyweight eliminator that was a far better action battle than expected with both fighters being hurt throughout the fight and several high-powered exchanges.
I had the fight as one judge at 114-114 with the other two judges scoring 115-113 for each fighter.
My issue came in round five when the ropes held a stunned Hunter up, which should have been called a technical knockdown.
Had that been scored properly, Povetkin would have won a split decision.

The other challenge heavyweight battle was also better than expected as Dillian Whyte returned to the ring and defeated Marius Wach of Poland via a unanimous decision.
Whyte weighed his highest ever after taking the fight on late notice and it showed as he was a bit sluggish in allowing Wach to land plenty of punches and keep the fight close and entertaining.
I scored Whyte a 96-94 winner, which was a little closer than the official judges did.

On Showtime, PBC's two fights saw Jermall Charlo knock out Dennis Hogan in seven rounds to retain his WBC middleweight title in Brooklyn.
The much larger Charlo knocked Hogan down in the fourth round before finishing him in the seventh with a knockdown that Hogan got up from, but was in no condition to continue.
Similar to WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, Charlo doesn't have opponents willing to fight him, so he's rarely tested (I would really love to see Charlo-Andrade) and therefore has a weak resume', especially at middleweight.

Charlo doesn't have many fights to make, but PBC has tried to bring him in an opponent in Chris Eubank Jr, who made his American debut against Matt Korobov in the co-main event.
Korobov lost a close decision to Charlo in the only middleweight fight that Charlo has had where the opponent has fought back and would have been an excellent measuring stick for Eubank.
I say would have been because Korobov suffered a shoulder injury in the second round while throwing a punch and was unable to continue, giving Eubank an unsatisfying second round TKO.
Eubank will likely be next for Jermall Charlo.

On ESPN plus from Mexico, Emanuel Navarette ran through another opponent in defending his WBO junior featherweight title, this time it was Francisco Horta that Navarrette crushed in four rounds.
Navarette defended his title for the fourth time this year and had won the first three rounds on my scorecard.
Hopefully, we will see him against one of the other champions (Daniel Roman or Rey Vargas) in 2020.

The other ESPN fight saw the often-forgotten man in the junior bantamweight division as IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas stopped a game Miguel Gonzalez in six rounds to keep his title for the eighth time.
Ancajas also has unification thoughts, but all three champions in his division fight for other promoters (Juan Francisco Estrada, Kal Yafai, and Kazuto Ioka) and might be difficult to make.
Gonzalez was never knocked down but took a beating in the sixth before the fight was ended.
I had Ancajas ahead 49-46 when the fight was stopped.

From Montreal, David Lemieux won his super middleweight debut with a split decision win over Max Bursak.
Lemieux was knocked down in the first and fifth and knocked Bursak down in the sixth.
I haven't seen this fight, so no scoring from this fight.

Boxing Challenge: Lomachenko crunches Crolla

This will be part of a two-post boxing challenge as I type from the bumpy road home from West Virginia and I have yet to see the FS1 fights from Saturday, so I'll try to give an update on those tonight or tomorrow.

Friday saw the return of Vasyl Lomachenko as he destroyed former WBA champion Anthony Crolla in stopping him with one right hand in the fourth round in Los Angeles to retain his WBA and WBO lightweight titles.
Lomachenko looked to be completely healed from his shoulder injury in 2018 and at peak form after dominating but not quite as sharp against Jose Pedraza in his last fight following the surgery.
Lomachenko dominated every round and almost halted Crolla in the third when Crolla was called for a technical knockdown when his bottom rested on a rope which kept him from falling to the floor.
Lomachenko celebrated and members of the California commission entered the ring as well thinking the bout was concluded before being told of the knockdown call by referee Jack Reiss and being chased from the ring.
With seconds remaining, Crolla made it to the bell but was living on borrowed time and that time was only fifty-eight seconds when Lomachenko smashed Crolla with a right that sent him face down on the canvas, where Jack Reiss may have counted to one before waving the fight off.
Lomachenko broke a knuckle on his right hand with the punch that ended the fight but is still expected to defend his titles as expected in September, possibly in a unification event against IBF champion Richard Commey although Commey may decide for another bout due to his own hand issues and the unification could wait until December.
The fight most would want to see for Lomachenko would be unifying against the other lightweight champion Mikey Garcia, but that continues to be unlikely until 2020 at the earliest.

The ESPN card also would see the light heavyweight debut of WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez against journeyman Tommy Karpency and Ramirez looked more impressive than he has in recent fights at 168 pounds.
Ramirez won every round in dominant fashion and a body shot that broke the ribs of Karpency caused the veteran to not come out of his corner after the fourth round.
Ramirez could return to super middle for a rumored title unification fight against WBA champion Callum Smith or go after one of the three champions that Top Rank promotes at light heavyweight.

Meanwhile, in Monterrey, Mexico on DAZN, the Hamburglar made an appearance as heavily favored Jaime Munguia kept his WBO junior middleweight belt by a controversial majority decision over lightly regarded Irishman Dennis Hogan, who fights out of Australia.
Hogan started quickly, banked some early rounds and surprisingly considering the reputation of Munguia as a puncher, landed the harder shots throughout the bout.
Munguia did rally late in the fight and the final three rounds were filled with toe to toe action, so Munguia did manage to make the fight close and I could maybe see a draw if you gave Munguia a close round or two someplace, but I had Hogan a 7-5 winner (115-113) and that may have been mildly generous to the champion, who certainly was given the benefit of the doubt in his home country.
Munguia should give Hogan a rematch, should he stay at 154, but weight problems may have to send him to 160, where his struggles in his last two fights make me think that he may be caught between a rock and a hard place- Stay at 154 and allow that problems making the weight are causing problems with fighters that he should outclass, move to 160, where the weight should be easier on him physically, but a talented class could take advantage of his still being green against top competition.

In the boxing challenge, I added six points (three from Ramirez, two from Lomachenko, and one from Munguia) to Ramon Malpica's four (two from Ramirez, one each from Lomachenko and Munguia) to move my lead to 78-69.

Back tomorrow with a look at the PBC on FS1 card, which I haven't watched yet