Boxing Challenge: Riyadh Rumbles!

      It's better than never coverage from me yet again, but this time it's not so bad, as there will be no boxing challenge action over the Thanksgiving weekend.

In the main event, David Benavidez stopped Anthony Yarde in the seventh round to retain his WBC light heavyweight title.

Benavidez bullied Yarde in the corners and ropes before scoring a knockdown and stoppage.

Benavidez announced that his next fight will be against WBA and WBO cruiserweight Gilberto Ramirez in 2026.

That is an interesting fight, but not as interesting to me as Benavidez against either Dmitry Bivol or Artur Beterbiev.

Devin Haney knocked down Brian Norman in the second round and outboxed him the rest of the way to take Norman's WBO welterweight title via unanimous decision.

The win gave Haney a title in a third weight division.

Haney won by scores of 117-110, 116-111, and a way too close 114-113, with my score at 117-111.

Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez added the WBA crown to his junior bantamweight title (WBC and WBO) collection with a tenth-round KO of Fernando Martinez.

Rodriguez was way ahead when he ended the fight in the tenth.

The best fight was in the opener when Abdullah Mason won the vacant WBO lightweight title by a close unanimous decision over Sam Noakes.

Mason cut Noakes over his left eye early in the fight and forced the Briton to fight through the blood all evening.

The pair met toe to toe for much of the fight and produced an action-filled fight.

Mason won by scores of  115-113 on two cards (and mine) and 117-111 on the other.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 146 Pts(5)

Ramon Malpica: 138 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 58 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia rolled by Romero

      The Ring magazine card in Times Square appeared to be a good idea initially, but various problems with the city of New York and its zoning rules turned the crowd into a quiet crowd of high rollers.

That was before the fights began, when they were rewarded with thirty-six rounds of less-than-exciting action and a likely loss in one of the more anticipated fights in the game.

In the main event, Rolando Romero pulled a huge upset by winning a unanimous decision over Ryan Garcia and perhaps losing the much-anticipated rematch between Garcia and Devin Haney.

Romero didn't exactly dazzle in victory, but he scored the only knockdown of the evening when he dropped Garcia in the second round with a left hook and did his job well enough to win a WBA minor title, which should earn him a bigger fight eventually.

Garcia fought as poorly as one could remember in an awful performance as a prohibitive favorite, and it's reasonable to wonder how much of his win over Devin Haney may have been due to his use of PED's.

That's how bad Ryan Garcia looked, and he looked like a fighter who may have blazed past his prime without stopping at Go.

Romero did enough to win (118-109 and 115-112 x 2, my score 117-110), but let's not fool ourselves, we didn't see a new star born in Times Square, and if I have a solid welterweight right now, I'm gunning for Rolly Romero.

The co-feature was equally dull as Devin Haney dominated Jose Ramirez, but he did that as tediously as you could have imagined.

Haney moved, Ramirez lumbered, and it was this for twelve long rounds.

The less said about this, the better, but Haney did his part by winning his fight for the Ryan Garcia rematch, as dreadful as it was.

Haney won by scores of 119-109 x2 (and my score) and 118-108.

Teofimo Lopez showed his skills in a workmanlike victory over Arnold Barboa with a unanimous decision victory.

Lopez's speed was too much for Barboza, who won a few rounds but generally was a step behind Lopez.

Lopez won on the scorecards 118-110 and 116-112 times two, the same as my score.

Lopez retained his WBO junior welterweight title in the win, but without a marquee opponent in the division ( champions Alberto Puello, Richardson Hitchins, and Gary Antuanne Russell), Lopez talked of a rise to the welterweight division for a challenge of WBA and IBF champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis after the bout.

The idea of a live card in Times Square was an audacious attempt, but in actuality, the card lacked atmosphere and reminded me more of the post-COVID "Bubble" cards than a raucous live crowd.

Points for effort, but overall, I'd be fine without a return.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 63 Pts (2)
Ramon Malpica; 58 Pts (2)
Vince Samano: 25 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia surprises Haney!

    Few people including myself gave Ryan Garcia much of a chance against Devin Haney after his antics since the fight was signed, even less when he missed weight by over three pounds (which turned the fight into a non-title welterweight pairing rather than for Haney's WBC junior welterweight belt), and even less than those expectations when he drained a large bottle of alcohol at the weigh-in.

However, this is boxing and anything can happen, so Garcia surprised everyone by knocking down Hnaey in the seventh, tenth, and eleventh rounds, and winning a shocking majority decision. 

Garcia staggered Haney in the first and may have finished Haney off in the seventh after dropping him but two possible knockdowns weren't counted, Garcia was penalized a point for hitting on the break, and there was an added stop in the action when a cameraman entered the ring thinking the round was completed with a minute remaining.

The problem was that on my card if you take away the knockdown rounds and round one, round eight was the only other round that Garcia had a case for winning.

I thought Haney won seven of the twelve rounds, which is how I scored the fight 112-112 with the poor decision by referee Harvey Dock to dock (pun intended) the point in the seventh costing Garcia the fight on my card and one judges as well with the two majority cards going to Garcia 115-109 and 114-110.

Garcia was the faster fighter and landed his left hook consistently but his lack of conditioning cost him in the close rounds in my opinion to allow Haney to squeeze out a few rounds that Garcia might have grabbed in better shape.

Still, it was phenomenal for Garcia to fight so well under the circumstances, and credit him for winning the fight.

However, he did miss weight by over three pounds, pounds that Haney made, and now I would have questions about Garcia making weight for any signed fight, let alone one for a championship since he isn't sorrowful about missing weight, he's reveling in his achievement and now will have no incentive to try in the future.

The fight reminded me of the Jose Luis Castillo-Diego Corrales rematch of arguably the greatest fight ever where Castillo badly missed weight, Corrales made the weight and took a piece of Castillo's purse before the much stronger Castillo, who didn't weaken himself to hit the scale, knocked Corrales out in four.

In the case of Castillo-Corrales II and Garcia-Haney, there will always be an asterisk around those wins despite excellent performances as the question that will forever be unanswered is this- Could they have fought so well had they made weight or at least been forced to try?

Some are complaining about the WBC decision to allow Haney to keep his title despite the defeat.

I'm not.

Garcia missed weight, Haney made it, and then it was agreed to allow the fight to take place as a welterweight match-up, that makes it a non-title fight and the result should have nothing to do with Haney keeping his title, he lost over the weight, that's why there are weight classes, and should he wish to fight at 140 pounds (Garcia announced plans to move to 147 pounds), it's reasonable to see Haney remain as champion.

Garcia didn't seem interested in a rematch with Haney or the man who defeated him in Gervonta Davis and even at 147, I don't see much for him in big fights with Terence Crawford moving to 154 pounds and not wanting any part of the IBF champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis.

Garcia may wait for more of the stars at 140 pounds to move to 147 and he can make lots of money against lesser contenders as he waits for the big fight.

Haney will need to re-establish himself after the loss and his marketability may have taken a hit after the loss but I'm not sure that's fair.

We ask our stars not to be boring (as in Shakur Stevenson), and yet when they abandon their best style to be more entertaining as Haney did and make a better fight with a loss, we shuffle them aside.

Boxing fans and writers often want things both ways and in the case of Devin Haney, I'm not sure that's fair quite yet.

I was away on the weekend on a trip (I'll be writing about it in the coming days), so I haven't seen the complete undercard.

I have seen the best fight on the undercard with David Jimenez upsetting John "Scrappy Ramirez for a minor junior bantamweight title by unanimous decision of 117-11 x2 and 116-112.

I picked Ramirez even though I liked Jimenez's chances because Ramirez was better connected and I thought that may make the difference in a close fight.

Glad the judges got the right result as Jimenez's only loss was controversial in losing a decision to then-WBA flyweight champion Artem Dalakian.

I also watched Sergey Dereyvanchenko's unanimous win over durable trialhorse Vaughn Alexander in a super middleweight ten-rounder.

Dereyvanchenko floored Alexander in the eighth round for the fights only knockdown with a body shot.

Talented junior middleweight Charles Conwell dominated veteran Nathaniel Gallimore in his return to the ring after a long absence.

Conwell won every round before the referee ended the fight in round six, which was an excellent decision on his part.

Conwell is the mandatory contender in the WBC ratings and will be a tough out for whoever has to take him on.

I have not seen the co-feature but many are howling about the split decision that was given to 140-pound contender Arnold Barboza over Great Britain's Sean McComb.

Barboza's scores were 97-93 and 96-94 with the more popular score for McComb at 98-92.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 51 Pts (6)

TRS: 50 pts (4)

Vince Samano: 23 Pts (3) 

Boxing Challenge: Haney dominates Prograis, Espinoza stuns Ramirez

     Many observers thought that Regis Prograis was a live underdog in his defense of his WBC junior welterweight title against lightweight king Devin Haney in San Francisco on Saturday.

They could not have been more wrong as Haney knocked Prograis down in the third round and won every round in a superb display of boxing to win the WBC 140-pound belt by a unanimous decision.

Prograis never was able to offer any offense against the pure skills of Haney, and after he hit the deck from a short Haney right in round three, Prograis was unable to win even on the inside against Haney and clearly looked to be a level below the new champion.

All three judges scored the fight the same as I did at 120-107.

Haney will certainly drop his remaining lightweight titles and stay at junior welterweight where he looked strong and natural at the weight.

Haney's future looks bright with the biggest potential fight with WBO champion Teofimo Lopez, which could happen with Haney having worked with Lopez's promoter Top Rank in the past, although it's unlikely to happen right away with Lopez expected to defend against former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in early 2024.

Ryan Garcia has been mentioned as a possibility but I don't see Garcia as a serious threat to Haney, although a Garcia fight would pad his wallet more than a little.

IBF champion Subriel Matias would bring a bruising style that I would love to see Haney against but Matias's link with PBC makes that a long considering the risk/reward ratio.

The PBC connection makes a chance at lightly-regarded WBA champion Rolly Romero even less likely than Matias in a fight that would be more fun at the press conferences than in the ring.

As for Prograis, a two-time champion, it's very evident from his last two fights that he looked stronger than he actually was in winning the vacant title last year due to the fading of his opponent, Jose Zepeda, and that the generation of junior welterweights that included Prograis, Josh Taylor, and Jose Ramirez turned out to be less than boxing watchers thought they would become.

One thing is for sure: Devin Haney is a terrific all-around fighter. If he has added a little more pop to his punch at the higher weight, Haney will be a very difficult out for any fighter around his division for quite a while.

Devin Haney may have delivered the performance of the evening but the fight from ESPN and Top Rank from Pembroke Pines Florida was the fight of the night and will be in the running for the fight of the year with previously unknown Rafael Espinoza shocking WBO champion Robeisy Ramirez to take his title via majority decision.

Espinoza was an unknown quantity entering the fight with an unbeaten record against unknown competition in his native Mexico but with 18 knockouts in 21 wins and a freakish 6'1 frame for a fighter in the featherweight division, one didn't know how good Espinoza was going to be.

The answer was very good as Espinoza won the first four rounds by outworking Ramirez and keeping the shorter man off balance.

Espinoza was winning the fifth until late in the round, Espinoza was switching his stances and just as he began to move, Ramirez fired a short bullet of a right hand that knocked down Espinoza with Espinoza beating the count but in serious condition.

Espinoza took advantage of the little time remaining in the round to survive but Ramirez took control of the fight and won every round on my card from the sixth through the ninth, appearing to be on his way to a difficult retention of his title with Espinoza earning deserved credit for a gallant effort.

Instead, Espinoza turned the tide by winning the tenth and eleventh rounds and the fight was literally on the line with my card reading 104-104, six rounds to five for Espinoza but Ramirez scored a 10-8 fifth round due to the knockdown.

Round twelve saw Espinoza firing all the punches that he had at Ramirez until finally hurting him late in the round and dropping Ramirez along the ropes.

Ramirez would gallantly rise and finish on his feet but the knockdown was enough to lift the challenger to a majority decision by scores of 115-111, 114-112, and 113-113.

I gave Espinoza the nod 114-112 in one of the biggest upsets of the year and the best fights of the campaign as well.

Ramirez appeared to lack focus in his pre-fight interview with Mark Kriegel due to various issues with his family in his native Cuba and I even thought before the fight that if Espinoza was as good as his record Ramirez could be in trouble as a fighter that isn't in the correct frame of mind.

Still, no one knew how good Espinoza was going to be, and while Ramirez would be very deserving of a rematch, that would depend on the WBO as Espinoza was an optional defense and the WBO"s  mandatory challenger Arnold Khegai could be forced on Espinoza before a rematch or unification possibilities. 

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 181 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 163 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 118 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Haney squeaks by Lomachenko

   In an entertaining bout alternating between slugfest and a skilled chess match, Devin Haney retained his world lightweight title with a narrow unanimous decision over Vasyl Lomachenko in Las Vegas.

The close but unpopular decision by scores of 115-113 (times two) and 116-112 not only allowed Haney to keep all four of his world championships and keep big future fights open but to do so regardless of promotional affiliation as Haney's agreement with Top Rank concluded with his win over Lomachenko.

Haney used Lomachenko's characteristic slow start to build a lead on the scorecards and held off the Ukrainan's usual fast finish to win the fight (avoid a draw) by winning the final round and while some are screaming robbery about the decision, I wouldn't have screamed with either man winning a tight nod as I scored it even at 114.

The biggest issue was Dave Moretti's scoring the tenth round for Haney, which was arguably the best round of the fight for Lomachenko but the evening was filled with storylines that actually played out with both fighters delivering excellent performances, Lomachenko winning the crowd in Haney's hometown, and Haney digging deep for the first victory of his career against an elite fighter.

While a Haney-Lomachenko rematch would be welcomed and perhaps warranted, it's pretty clear that Haney is going to move onto other horizons with his free agency status holding the potential for multiple top-level fights, each with loads of intrigue.

A decision to continue working with Top Rank could see Haney against the linear (and WBO) junior welterweight champion, the winner of next month's Josh Taylor-Teofimo Lopez battle, or against the super-talented Shakur Stevenson in a defense of Haney's titles.

Should Haney return to his former promoter (which has been rumored from the day he left) Eddie Hearn's Matchroom boxing, Haney could face Matchoom's newly-inked WBC junior welterweight standard-bearer Regis Prograis or England's Jack Catterall, who most people think defeated Josh Taylor.

A deal with Golden Boy Promotions might net Haney a fight against recently defeated but still marketable Ryan Garcia at junior welterweight or a defense of his lightweight titles, should he choose to stay at 135 pounds, against their exciting contender William Zepeda.

And the biggest payday of them all? A title defense against the popular power-punching Gervonta Davis with Al Haymon's PBC.

Lomachenko's options are more limited without a rematch as he's not able to bulk up against the stronger junior welterweights but he certainly boosted his marketability with his outing and even without Haney, a fight against Shakur Stevenson would bring plenty of attention, and should Haney move up to 140 pounds, Lomachenko would almost certainly receive a chance at one of the vacant titles.

The best single performance of the night may have been former WBO flyweight champion Junto Nakatani moving up to the junior bantamweight division for the WBO's vacant title and brutally knocking out Andrew Moloney in the final round of a fight that should have been stopped in the corner long before then.

Nakatani scored knockdowns in the second and eleventh rounds and a battered Moloney should have been saved from himself before the last round by his corner.

Moloney would pay for his valor as Nakatani slipped a Moloney punch and crunched him with a left hand that put Moloney out before he hit the canvas without a count.

Nakatani is going to make waves in the 115-pound division and I don't see any of the big names in the division, including Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, or anyone else (Kazuto Ioka gave this title up to not face Nakatani) fighting him anytime soon.

Lightweight Raymond Muratalla grabbed his biggest career win with a second-round knockout of Jeremiah Nakathila that saw Muratalla hurt Nakathila and drive him into a corner but I thought most of the follow-up punches missed with one exception and I thought the referee jumped in and ended the fight a bit prematurely in my opinion.

It's still a big win for Muratalla and may enter his name into a potential fight against either Lomachenko or Stevenson if the two don't have other options.

I haven't seen Oscar Valdez's unanimous decision win over Adam Lopez as of this writing.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 84 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 79 Pts (4)

Vince Samano:64 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Haney retains, Wilder returns

   The boxing Saturday is going to have to carry the next two weeks in the sport as the schedule lightens until the final weekend of the month but the world lightweight championship was at stake and the return of a former heavyweight champion in desperate need of a spectacular win, so it was more than adequate to help boxing fans make it to the end of the month.

In Melbourne, Australia, Devin Haney retained his world lightweight championship with a unanimous decision in his rematch with George Kambosos.

I'll sum this fight up in this manner, George Kambosos tried harder, fought better, and the rematch was a more exciting fight and none of it mattered because Devin Haney dominated equally as much as in their first affair, winning a unanimous decision by scores of 119-109 and two tallies of 118-110.

I scored Haney the easy winner at 118-110.

Haney landed his jab at will and ripped Kambosos with counter rights that caused Kambosos to bleed impressively from a cut over his left eye that Kambosos had to fight through along with a cut over his right eye, which was cut from a late clash of heads that cut Haney as well.

It was a needed step for Haney to complete his obligation to Kambosos for a rematch few outside of Australia wanted to see and move on to an anticipated fight against Vasyl Lomachenko, should Lomachenko win his fight over Jamaine Ortiz in two weeks.

Haney may not be the most exciting fighter but he is so technically sound and considering that many with such skills are dreadfully dull, I think Haney isn't dull by any means.

Haney will likely move to junior welterweight after a potential defense against Lomachenko and he should fit in very well in a loaded 140-pound division.

In the co-feature bantamweight, Jason Moloney moved himself into the WBC mandatory challenger position with a unanimous decision over Nawaphon Kaikanha in an eliminator.

Moloney won by scores of 119-109 and 118-110 twice, which was the same score as mine.

Moloney will likely be involved in 2023 for the title expected to be vacated by Naoya Inoue after Inoue unifies (expected to anyway) all four bantamweight belts against Paul Butler (WBO champion) in December.

Inoue knocked out Moloney in seven rounds in October 2020 to retain the WBA and IBF titles and Inoue has since added the WBC belt to his collection.

In Brooklyn, New York, former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder returned to the ring for the first time since his second loss to Tyson Fury and won his first fight since November 2019 with a first-round knockout of Robert Helenius in a WBC eliminator.

It only took one concussive right from Wilder, who landed it as Helenius pressed the action, trapping Wilder in a corner before he ran into the counter bomb.

Helenius was never in danger of getting up and once again, Deontay Wilder shows that for all the flaws in his game that there may not be a bigger puncher in all of boxing for one shot power and if you make one mistake the fight could end.

Wilder will now fight in another WBC eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger for champion Tyson Fury against fellow PBC boxer and former champion Andy Ruiz in what could be a very interesting match

I haven't seen the undercard fights but I have seen the one-punch knockout by former IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Plant over former WBC champion Anthony Dirrell in the ninth round and give Plant credit for ending conclusively a fight that reports say was a very boring first eight rounds.

While it was an incredible knockout, Plant's behavior in pantomiming a gravedigger shoveling dirt on a still-fallen Dirrell was in very poor taste.

I've never been a Plant fan but this was beyond awful after a devastating knockout with the opponent still down and his safety unknown at the time.

For all of Plant's title defenses and Dirrell's shopworn condition ( and Dirrell should now consider retirement with a record of 1-2-1 over his last four fights with the draw being very questionable against Kyrone Davis and being stopped by Plant and David Benavidez), Dirrell is the best name on his resume' and I'd love to see Plant against David Benavidez next.

However. Benavidez will face Jose Uzcategui in January in a fight few want to see.

Ironically, Uzcategui, a former IBF champion, was the biggest win in Caleb Plant's career with Plant winning the title from him in January 2019.

Heavyweight Frank Sanchez stopped veteran Carlos Negron in nine rounds and in a mild surprise former IBF bantamweight champion Emmanuel Rodriguez dominated Gary Antonio Russell in winning a unanimous decision after ten rounds in a WBA and IBF eliminator.

Rodriguez was fighting Russell for the second time after their first fight ended after sixteen seconds after the two smashed their heads together and it was a head clash that ended this after the two collided in the ninth round with the fight being stopped a few seconds into the tenth to go to scorecards.

Rodriguez knocked Russell down in the eighth and won on all three cards convincingly at 100-90, 99-91, and 99-93 to likely be involved in one of the vacant title chases, should Naoya Inoue vacate next year.

Rodriguez was stopped in two rounds by Inoue, losing his IBF title in a World Boxing Super Series semi-final.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 175 Pts  (9)

Ramon Malpica: 151 Pts (9)

Vince Samano:140 Pts  (6)  

Boxing Challenge: Haney Handles Kambosos

    On a day that saw two young champions take a step toward stardom, Devin Haney and Stephen Fulton made the move upward with the best performances of their careers.

I'll be writing about the Showtime and DAZN cards in the next post in order to concentrate on Devin Haney's road victory over George Kambosos to unify all four championships in the lightweight division and hopefully stuff the WBC "franchise" championship into the trash for causing this mess to begin to with.

Haney's easy unanimous decision win by scores of 118-110 and 1160-112 (X2) (my score was 117-111 for Haney) may not have been the most aesthetically pleasing triumph in history for those watching and sitting through what has an excellent case for the worst pre-fight broadcast in boxing television history from ESPN but Haney's win was exactly what was needed to win against Kambosos and to do so by such control that the expected to be raucous Australian crowd was silenced for most of the bout.

Haney's offense was as basic as one could imagine but the Haney jab and one-two combination combined with just enough movement to avoid any punches were able to confound Kambosos, who rarely found his target and didn't resemble the tiger that invaded New York City to upset Teofimo Lopez last fall.

Kambosos wasn't nearly aggressive enough to trouble Haney as his wild right hand seldom hit the mark and even though Kambosos would land only one less power punch than Haney landed, the Haney jab was more than enough to carry the day and win a decision without dispute from even the most fervent Kambosos supporter.

Haney is contractually obligated to give Kambosos a rematch in the fall and again in Australia but few seem excited about a second bout considering this one wasn't either exciting or competitive.

Still, there is an obligation and Kambosos will almost surely activate that clause as he's unlikely to ever receive better terms down the road with another sizable paycheck and again fighting at home but he had both of those in this fight, and other than the paycheck those advantages didn't help him very much at all.

Haney established himself as a star with a great performance on the biggest stage of his career and should he defeat Kambosos in their rematch, Haney will hold the cards in the division with all four titles and with his move to Top Rank before the Kambosos match, Haney will have several big fights that would be relatively easy to make.

First on the list would have to be multiple division champion Vasyl Lomachenko, who would have been the person in the ring with Kambosos with both sides agreeing to a deal before Lomachenko stayed in his home country of Ukraine to defend against the recent invasion by Russia.

Assuming Lomachenko's issues in his native land will eventually be settled, Lomachenko would likely receive the first chance under the circumstances with the only question being whether or not Lomachenko would take a tuneup fight first or move straight to Haney.

The conqueror of Lomachenko and the surprising loser to Kambosos, Teofimo Lopez, has been rumored to be moving north to the junior welterweight division even before his win over Lomachenko and had he not lost to Kambosos, a pairing of the unified lightweight champion (disregarding the franchise issues) against the then unified junior welterweight kingpin Josh Taylor (Taylor has since been stripped of the WBA title for refusing to fight their mandatory challenger, the unbeaten, untested, and unknown Dominican Alberto Puello for a small purse after few were interested in bidding for the fight via purse bid) would have been very attractive before the luster was removed by Lopez's defeat.

Could Lopez be tempted to stay at lightweight for a full four title attempt against Haney, who Lopez had taunted via social media and tagged him with the term "Email champion" that only would go away after Haney's win this weekend?

The WBA still has a minor title in the division and despite the title meaning little, the fighter holding it certainly does with Gervonta Davis as the beltholder.

Davis has been criticized for his relatively weak competition and there are questions about when Davis's contract with Mayweather Promotions expires with some reports stating that it ended last week with Davis's knockout of Rolando Romero and yet others reporting that Davis has one year remaining on his contract.

Mayweather refuses to do business with Bob Arum and Top Rank, so a Haney-Davis fight would seem to be a long shot with the best hope coming from the WBA deciding that the time is right to end their lightweight mess and order Haney vs Davis and hope for the best- Don't hold your breath waiting for that to occur.

Ryan Garcia would be another big fight and his association with Golden Boy wouldn't be a hindrance to challenging Haney as Golden Boy has worked with Top Rank on several occasions.

And one other possibility with Top Rank eventually could be WBC and WBO junior lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson, should Haney hold off his challengers and Stevenson rises after his goal of unifying the junior lightweight division.

I'm not sure that I would pick Haney against all of those fighters but I'm not sure I'd wager against him either and after this win, Haney now owns the best resume' of the young stars in the division.

Devin Haney is the Email champ no more.

In the other two boxing challenge affairs from Melbourne, Jason Moloney stopped Aston Palicte in the third round of a ten rounder between two former world title challengers in a crossroads fight.

Moloney knocked Palicte down and quickly finished him off with seconds remaining in the round.

Moloney will likely hang around in the lower half of the top ten and likely appear in a title eliminator soon, while Palicte looked weaker in his new weight division and might be better suited to return to junior bantamweight.

Lucas Browne shocked Junior Fa with a first-round knockout in their ten rounder and juiced-up what appeared to be a fading career.

Browne had been stopped by Paul Gallen and David Allen in his previous four bouts and looked to be overmatched against Fa, who entered the fight with only one loss, a distance fight with former WBO champion Joseph Parker and had never shown signs of a weak chin.

Browne landed a huge right hand to drop Fa, who never was able to get his legs back under him after rising and Browne finished him off with a right hand that could have been close to being to the back of the head of Fa.

It wasn't an obvious foul but there may be enough evidence there to support a rematch that would likely give both fighters a solid purse perhaps on the Haney-Kambosos rematch card.

I'll be back with the review of the Showtime/PBC card and a world title explosively changing hands from Wales on DAZN.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 95 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica; 78 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 78 Pts (1) 

Boxing Challenge: Haney Decisions Diaz

     Devin Haney figured to be tested by Joseph Diaz on Saturday and he was as Diaz put forth his usual determined effort but Diaz has always been a solid top ten fighter and against the best in the sport has fallen short.

Nothing changed in Las Vegas as Haney had too much speed and boxing ability for Diaz in winning a unanimous decision that may have been wide but was not easy.

Haney won on scores of 117-111 (x two and my scorecard) and 116-112 and despite Diaz never giving up and occasionally landing a good punch on Haney, the champion was never in the type of trouble that he navigated in his last fight against Jorge Linares.

Diaz stung Haney a bit in the final round as he fired several lefts in an attempt to score a knockout but was unable to finish the champion.

Haney may be headed to Australia for a fight for all four titles against George Kambosos in a fight that would be the biggest fight in Australian boxing history but Kambosos also could decide to fight Vasyl Lomachenko, should Lomachenko defeat Richard Commey next week or even Gervonta Davis in a long shot should Davis defeat Isaac Cruz.

Any of those three choices would be a strong fight against Kambosos and an easy sell but I'm guessing considering the principles involved with Lomachenko (Top Rank) and Davis (PBC) that it will be Devin Haney that will get the call.

In London, Anthony Yarde avenged his split decision loss to Lyndon Arthur in December with a fourth-round knockout.

Yarde began to walk Arthur down from the opening bell and immediately showed that this was going to be a different outcome than the first fight.

Arthur won the second round and appeared to shake Yarde a little in the fourth round with a right hand although that was his downfall as Yarde suddenly charged Arthur and landed a series of body shots which instantly took their toll on a weakened Arthur.

Arthur attempted to clinch his way through the problems but Yarde refused to tie up and after a right hand to the head dropped Arthur to the floor, where he barely beat the count but the fight was ended anyway.

A huge win for Yarde and with Arthur being ranked first by the WBO, it is likely that Yarde will take over that position, and promoter Frank Warren stated after the match that Yarde has an agreement in place to face the winner of the Joe Smith-Callum Johnson in January for that championship that is currently held by Smith.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica added four points to my two to cut my lead to 160-143.

Back later with the Gervonta Davis PPV card, once I have a chance to watch all three fights.

Boxing Challenge: Donaire regains, Haney retains.

    In the boxing challenge, one title remained with a talented young star, and one title was returned to a star of the past with one more remarkable effort in a career filled with them.

Starting in Carson, California with PBC and Showtime, 38-year-old Nonito Donaire regained the WBC bantamweight title that he held in 2011 (that's ten years, folks) by knocking out formerly undefeated champion Nordine Oubaali in the fourth round.

The two split the first two rounds of feeling each other out before Donaire hit Oubaali in the third round with a glancing left hook that caused Oubaali to touch his gloves to the floor but didn't seriously stun the champion.

That couldn't be said when at the bell and I mean just at the bell, Donaire landed another left hook that knocked Oubaali down, and referee Jack Reiss did an excellent job in realizing that Oubaali wouldn't have to take another punch in the round and allowed the champion to go to his corner (Well, he walked to the wrong corner first) and try to summon the strength to get himself together.

It didn't help as Donaire walked Oubaali down for ninety seconds or so and then landed a left hook which was the best shot followed by a right and another left hook that sent Oubaali to the canvas with Reiss ending the fight without a count.

For Donaire, who entered the fight an underdog after what appeared to be his last stand in a gallant losing effort to Naoya Inoue where he lost his WBA title by unanimous decision, Donaire wants a rematch with Inoue which would unify three of the four bantamweight titles.

I'm not sure of Donaire's contract situation with PBC, but if an Inoue match couldn't be worked out Donaire could fight for the WBO title, should John Riel Casimero retain his title in his summer match vs Guillermo Rigondeaux.

A Donaire-Casimero fight could be quite the shootout, but I doubt Donaire would have any interest in a Rigondeaux rematch after his loss chasing Rigondeaux around the ring.

In any event, it was a terrific night for boxing as Donaire showed that even at 38, he is still a quality bantamweight and could give Inoue another tussle, although it could be that Inoue is still too strong for the veteran.

No matter Donaire's future, he gave boxing fans another great memory and added another page to a career that will eventually see him inducted into the boxing hall of fame.

Meanwhile, in Las Vegas. Devin Haney held off the late charge of Jorge Linares and defeated the former three-division via unanimous decision to retain his WBC lightweight championship.

Haney boxed very well and dominated the first nine rounds until late in the round when Linares landed a strong uppercut that foretold the final three rounds as Linares won the final three rounds and seemed to have hurt Haney just before the bell in round ten.

The Linares right hand bothered Haney to the point that he wobbled to his corner in the most tenuous state of his career and Haney would do well to get through the eleventh before Haney's head started to clear against several strong punches from Linares.

Linares would win the final round, but Haney did better than in the previous two stanzas and avoided a mishap to work his way to the final bell.

For Linares, the impressive finish and lasting to the final bell in defeat for the first time in his career will earn him another solid fight or two for sizable paychecks, even if he will have to live a late rally that fell short.

As for Haney, his dominance will be remembered, and now there will be some that question Haney's chin after riding out the late rounds.

I think it's fair to keep that in mind, but remember Linares knocked down Vasyl Lomachenko and is noted for his punching ability, so it wasn't a pillow-fisted boxer that stunned Haney.

The fight to make next for Haney should be Teofimo Lopez and settle this WBC franchise champion nonsense to unify all four titles as it should have been, to begin with.

Eddie Hearn said he had no problem allowing Haney to fight Lopez on ESPN for a Top Rank appearance against Lopez, which solves a major roadblock in making the match.

I'd favor Lopez in that fight, but give Haney a chance of winning as well.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points on the weekend and moved the total for the year to 72-68.

Boxing Challenge: Haney decisions Gamboa

   Devin Haney didn't prove anything unexpected in his unanimous decision win over Yuriorkis Gamboa, but he did retain his WBC lightweight title in a dominant fashion in Hollywood, Florida.

Haney landed more and connected with some heavy shots but never seemed close to ending the fight by stoppage and never knocked down Gamboa, who had been stopped in the final round of his previous fight by Gervonta Davis.

Haney hadn't fought in close to a year (two days shy) after shoulder surgery and the inactivity did show, as, despite his effectiveness in the bout, Haney didn't land as many punches as in past fights.

Gamboa tried his best against Haney and even threw more punches than the far younger man, but at 38 Gamboa appears to be finished as a serious challenge to the best fighters in the division.

I scored Haney a 120-107 winner, winning every round with Gamboa losing a point in the eleventh round for holding.

Devin Haney is a very talented young fighter, but he seems to be a step ahead of where he should be in his career.

Haney has not lost a round in his last two fights, but both went the entire twelve round distance, he scored only one knockdown in those rounds (against Alberto Santiago), and with Gamboa's history of being knocked down (and three times out), it's not unreasonable to begin to wonder about Haney's power a little.

Haney certainly belongs in the lightweight discussion with Teofimo Lopez, Vasyl Lomachenko (should he decide to remain in the division), Gervonta Davis, the winner of next month's Ryan Garcia-Luke Campbell fight, and maybe Jorge Linares, but he'll need to begin to fight better opponents soon.

Haney's resume' doesn't have any standouts and should Garcia defeat Campbell, Haney will have the weakest opposition of any of the four standout young fighters in the division.

Hopefully, Haney will be facing a stern test in his next outing.

In Los Angeles, (Full Van Earl Wright here) heavyweight Luis "King Kong" Ortiz returned to the ring for the first time since his second of his two knockout losses to Deontay Wilder in what seemed to be an incredibly awful Fox main event from PBC.

Sadly, it was as awful as expected as Ortiz stopped Alexander Flores in 45 seconds in what appeared to be a glancing shot at best.

I say glancing because I didn't really see a punch, the two came together and Flores fell to the floor unable to beat the count.

Ortiz officially landed three punches in the win, but proved nothing about what he has remaining in his career.
Flores had been stopped early in both of his losses which happened to be the two fighters that you may have heard of (Joseph Parker and Charles Martin), but this was just beyond awful and a pathetic excuse for a main event on FS1, let alone network television.

An absolute joke.

Ramon Malpica and I each added three points on the day in the boxing challenge to move our totals to 156-147.

The Browns are on bye, so the next post will be the sloppy, but easy win by Ohio State over Rutgers.

I may do a smaller version of a recap as I really hate those squash match recaps sometimes.

Boxing Challenge: Champions all defend successfully

On a Saturday that saw three titleholders defend their belts from two California locations, all three walked away with their titles packed away, but with varying degrees of difficulty.

From Los Angeles (cue Van Earl Wright audio), the most difficult evening saw Billy Joe Saunders rally to knock out unheralded Marcelo Coceres after three knockdowns in the eleventh round.
The odd thing about this fight arrived after the tenth round in the corner of Coceres, where Coceres seemed to be celebrating early with kisses and hugs to members of his corner and close on the scorecards (he was down 96-94 on two cards and ahead on the third by the same score), left his corner and was knocked out in that round.
Why a professional corner didn't even attempt to keep their fighter focused on the prize with everything going their way and possibly only two rounds away from winning a world title, is beyond mind-boggling to me.
Their fighter was controlling the action, what there was of it anyway, and Coceres had won six of the previous seven rounds, mainly by doing to Saunders what Saunders had done to so many of his opponents- outslicking and frustrating them with angles and quickness.
I had Coceres ahead 96-94 (6-4) and that was after giving Saunders the first three rounds.
Saunders finally caught Coceres with the right shot and the fight was essentially finished then and there, although Coceres would attempt to survive before the referee waved the fight over after the third knockdown.
For Coceres, he'll more than likely return to Argentine obscurity, while Saunders may have saved a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez, although I'm not sure that will be a great money fight or even a great fight in the ring and it comes with more risk than you think as a prepared and sharp Saunders (which hasn't regularly been the case) has the ability to give Alvarez fits.
To do that, Saunders will have to be far more prepared than he was in this title defense though and I wouldn't ever bank on that preparation occurring.

On the same card, Devin Haney struggled a little bit early in dealing with the taller Alberto Santiago, but not enough to lose any rounds on my card (120-108) or the judges to retain his WBC lightweight title for the first time.
Haney was too much for Santiago and although Haney scored a fifth-round knockdown, Santiago was never seriously in danger of being stopped.
Haney doesn't really have a challenger that is waiting for him unless inter-promotional issues can be dealt with.
The 'real' champion Vasyl Lomachenko now has no reason to face Haney now that he has the ridiculous franchise title, the WBC's top contender and third-ranked contenders in Gervonta Davis and Javier Fortuna both are affiliated with PBC, making a Haney match a difficult one to sign.
That leaves second-rated Luke Campbell, who gave Lomachenko a strong effort in losing last time out and like Haney, fights for Matchroom/DAZN, so Campbell may be next for Haney as his first significant test.

Up the road in Fresno, Jamel Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight title with a close unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Lamont Roach.
The fight was an often messy match with two styles that didn't mesh well and as is often the case when awkward styles mixes occur, the scorecards were wider than I thought with two 117-111's and a 115-113 that was closer to what I saw at 114-114.
Roach rocked Herring and almost scored a knockdown in the eleventh, but was helped by a missed knockdown that should have been scored in the ninth round.
On my card, Herring won most of the early rounds, with Roach coming on strong in the later rounds.
Herring taking on WBC champion Miguel Berchelt would make sense with both of the champions promoted by Top Rank or another possibility could be former WBO featherweight champion, Oscar Valdez.
Valdez has also been rumored to fight Berchelt and whichever champion doesn't get that fight with Valdez has a less than inspiring list of future opponents.

In the co-feature, heavyweight Kubrat Pulev won almost every round (99-91 on my card) over journeyman Rydell Booker in winning a unanimous decision.
Pulev never scored a knockdown, but steadily wore down Booker, who showed a good chin, but came into the fight looking out of shape.
Pulev is the number one contender for the IBF and will be a mandatory challenger for the winner of December's Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me nine to six over the weekend ( including the bantamweight fights from Japan) to move the overall score to 271-241.
Ramon grabbed two points for Jamel Herring's win (I picked Lamont Roach) and two to my one for the win by Billy Joe Saunders to make the difference.

Boxing Challenge;Haney's the one?

On a wacky Friday night in boxing that featured one fight canceled in one of the more bizarre manners even for a sport that often specializes in the bizarre, there was a star in the ring to allow thoughts of bigger things down the road rather than the absurdity of today.

DAZN and Matchroom presented the dazzling Devin Haney in another spectacular performance.
Haney did some serious damage to the face of Zaur Abdullaev in the fourth round and forced the corner of Abdullaev to halt the fight by not allowing their fighter to come out for the fifth round.
Haney wins one of those ridiculous "titles", but more importantly positions himself for either a future title shot for the unified lightweight title that will be held by Vasyl Lomachenko or the winner of the Richard Commey-Teofimo Lopez fight after their fight next winter/spring.
Haney was impressive with both his speed and power against the overmatched Abdullaev, who took a pounding without falling and was only going to continue to be battered had the bout continued.

Devin Haney continues to impress me and every time Haney fights, he makes me think that he will be the next dominant fighter in boxing.
Haney's done nothing to make me think otherwise and until I see a hiccup, I give him a small edge over Teofimo Lopez as the best prospect at 135 pounds under (I give that restriction to exclude the devastating Vergil Ortiz at welterweight).
Many compare Haney to Floyd Mayweather, but there is another fighter that he reminds me of as well.
Haney reminds me of prime Meldrick Taylor with power that can get an opponent out and speed that is dazzling and to date, Haney gets hit less than Taylor too.
For those of you that don't remember prime Meldrick Taylor, it was Taylor that was two seconds and a bad decision by a referee from handing the great Julio Cesar Chavez his first loss- Taylor was that good.


The problem for Haney might be getting fights after his last two performances and even if Lomachenko wins to unify the four lightweight titles ( he currently holds three), the naturally larger Haney just might be the impetus for Lomachenko to drop back to 130 pounds and not give away the edge in size to Haney.
Haney could be that good and should Lomachenko decide to make the return to junior lightweight, Haney's biggest problem could be finding a way to be involved with picking up a vacant title or two.

The co-feature saw heavyweight Michael Hunter add another minor title with a unanimous decision over Sergey Kuzmin.
Kuzmin basically plodded around the ring as Hunter controlled the distance and didn't allow Kuzmin to do anything on the inside and use his strength.
Hunter dropped Kuzmin in round five and although Kuzmin was not seriously dazed, he didn't seem overly interested in taking counterpunches to get anything done on the inside.
I scored Hunter a 118-109 winner (10-2 in rounds with a knockdown)
Hunter has an excellent chance of being a possible title challenger, should Anthony Joshua regain his three championships from Andy Ruiz with both fighters promotional connections being with Matchroom.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored three points (Two for Haney, One for Hunter) to my one for Haney's win.
Ramon cut into the overall margin to 220-191.

Boxing Challenge: Haney steals the show, Herring upsets Ito

Despite a world title changing hands, there could only be one star of the night and it was clearly Devin Haney, who dominated a normally solid Antonio Moran for six rounds and hammered home a looping right hand in the seventh for a memorable one punch knockout on DAZN.

It was Haney's DAZN/Matchroom debut and he was dazzling in his performance as Moran, who lost a close decision to Jose Pedraza last June, was overmatched against Haney.
I scored Haney as the winner of every round before the memorable ending and the fight's only question by the fourth round was whether Haney would be able to stop Moran, who had never been stopped in his previous losses.
Haney will have to take another step up when he challenges for a world title, but I wouldn't be surprised a bit if, by 2021, the fight fans are talking about as the "fight that must be made" would match Devin Haney with Teofimo Lopez.

On ESPN, the WBO junior lightweight title was the centerpiece of a pro wrestling like storyline as former Marine and Olympian Jamel Herring pulled an upset of champion Masayuki Ito in Kissimmee, Florida via a unanimous decision.
Herring was just too slick for Ito, who was noted for never having an amateur fight before turning pro and it showed against the skilled, but never noted for being outstanding Herring.
In hindsight, Ito was made to order for a fighter of Herring's style and I should have seen that coming.
Herring avoided the wild lunges of Ito well and was able to control the fight from the outside as Ito seemed confused by Herring's left-handed stance and was rarely able to land.
I scored Herring a 116-112 (8-4) winner which agreed with one judge, with the other two scoring a too wide 118-110.
Herring dedicated the win to his late daughter, who passed away from SIDS as an infant and would have turned ten on the day of Herring's title win.
It's a compelling story, but one that isn't likely to end in a long championship book as Herring may fight WBC champion Miguel Berchelt in a unification fight in which Herring will again be a sizable underdog.

In the co-main event, Jose Pedraza returned from his loss to Vasyl Lomachenko to stop Antonio Lozada in the ninth round of their ten round event.
Lozada showed lots of heart and aggression and gave Pedraza little quarter, but the difference between a top ten fighter and a top twenty fighter can be vast and despite the effort, Pedraza wore Lozada down before being knocked down and finished in the ninth round.
Pedraza may be blocked in the lightweight division for now and might have to move to 140 pounds for another title shot.
Pedraza is unlikely to receive a Lomachenko rematch for two (and likely three after his match with Luke Campbell) belts and the remaining champion Richard Commey (IBF) is defending against Ray Beltran next,a victory should see Commey cash in against Lomachenko for all the lightweight gold and Pedraza is surprisingly unranked by the IBF.

Over with the PBC on FS1 from Biloxi Mississippi, the Hamburglar peeped his head outside the arches as former Olympian Terrell Gausha appeared to have clearly outpointed former champion Austin Trout in a fight that could be called boring and well, I'm calling it boring, but Gausha didn't receive the deserved nod as the judges called the fight a draw with three divergent and inaccurate card.
I had Gausha winning originally 96-94, but a rewatch (hey, I was at work and I was bored!) saw me give Gausha a 97-93 decision.
The Gausha judge scored it 99-91, which was ridiculous, but the 95-95 wasn't good (I thought my original 96-94 Gausha was generous to Trout), but the 96-94 Trout card was terrible.
It wasn't that Gausha was exciting or terrific in triumph, mind you, but Trout looked slow and just didn't move his hands enough.
Trout called for a rematch, saying he hadn't fought enough of late and while that may be true (and just whose fault is that again?), I don't think anyone really wants to see this again and what would it prove even if they did.
PBC could stick either of these two against Julian Williams or the Tony Harrison/Jermell Charlo winner anyway, so a rematch seems pointless.

I would like to add one point- Austin Trout seems to be the first fighter to succumb to the matchmaking style of PBC, where you fight once a year and maybe face a top-notch boxer every other year.
Inactivity dulls the skills and inactivity hurts an older fighter more than a younger one as far as sharpness goes, but the younger fighter is hurt by not fighting enough by not learning what you need to learn as an older fighter to dig deep, win a fight that you shouldn't or discover the tricks of the trade to give you a chance to win in a fight you might not be the favorite to win.
The system that PBC pushes for their fighters is that you'll get good pay for fewer fights and take less damage and that makes sense- in theory.
However, what that seems to be doing as well is limiting their fighters prime (in earning years as well as performance), affecting their long term performance and keeping them from the careers that their fighters are capable of.
Austin Trout might be the first test case of my theory, but over the next few years, I'm willing to bet that he won't be the last.

The other fight in the challenge from China has not taken place yet (Later this morning), so I will edit this post with the result and update to the boxing challenge after it is over.

In the boxing challenge as of this writing, I have added three points to Ramon Malpica's two with the Devin Haney fight being the difference in points.
Both of us picked Jose Pedraza's win for one point, both of us picked Masayuki Ito in his loss and the Trout-Gausha draw gives no points.

Editor's Note; Carlos Canizales defeated Sho Kimura via unanimous decision.
Ramon added two points for that win and took four points to my three for the weekend.
Ramon cuts my lead in the challenge to 135-120.