Boxing Challenge; Stevenson bores, Junior Lightweights war

  On a rare Thursday night event with elite fighters and two world titles, Las Vegas was the site as ESPN wanted their broadcast partner for boxing, Top Rank, to help with the start of a huge sports weekend in Las Vegas that would culminate in the Formula One race on Saturday.

The stage was set for Shakur Stevenson to continue his rise to stardom with a national audience viewing his attempt to grab the WBC lightweight title vacated by Devon Haney.

Stevenson succeeded in taking the title but didn't win any fans as Stevenson "won" a unanimous decision over Edwin De Los Santos in one of the most boring fights you'll see at the world-class level.

Neither fighter landed double-digit punches in any round, and the pair combined according to Compubox (Boxing's stat-keeping organization) for a combined forty punches, an all-time low for a twelve-round fight in the thirty-eight years of Compubox's existence.

Neither man took any chances and since no one would, the advantage swung to the more skilled fighter, and Stevenson did enough to win under the circumstances.

Stevenson won by scores of 115-113 and 116-112 (x 2), I scored Stevenson the winner at 117-111.

Stevenson didn't take advantage of De Los Santos's reluctance (despite his reputation for power) and Stevenson didn't make anyone scream to see him fight Devin Haney or anyone next time out after such a boring fight.

Stevenson is always going to look better against fighters that attack and at least gamble for a victory, which De Los Santos refused to attempt but neither Devin Haney nor Vasyl Lomachenko are aggressive fighters which makes me wonder if a Stevenson fight against either man would be much more exciting than this fight was, although I'm not sure if any fight could be more boring than this.

Fortunately, the co-feature saved the day as Emanuel Navarrete retained his WBO junior lightweight championship with a majority draw with Robson Conceicao.

Navarrete knocked Conceicao down in the fourth and sixth rounds and those knockdowns would be key in the decision as one judge ruled for Navarrete 114-112 (a draw without the knockdowns) and the remaining two judges even at 113-113 (Conceicao wins without them) as same as my score.

Conceicao managed to slow the usual non-stop attack of Navarrete just enough to reach him with counters and mixed in (especially in the last few rounds) enough right hands to earn the majority draw and perhaps an eventual rematch since the fight was an entertaining one.

It makes sense for Navarrete unless first, he can sign a unification match against WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster, who signed a contract with Top Rank last week.

Conceicao would make sense to face the winner of a Navarrete-Foster match and considering his two defeats to Oscar Valdex and Shakur Stevenson had faded his star a little bit, it seems to me that despite the draw, Conceicao was the biggest winner of the evening.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 170 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 154 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 112 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Ennis rolls over Villa

   The Showtime main event from Atlantic City saw the return of Jaron "Boots" Ennis from more than only a few months away from the ring, it would see the return of the violent Ennis that made him the apple of fans scouting for the next big star after a dominant but hardly dazzling decision win over Karen Chukhadzian to win an interim title earlier this year.

Ennis pounded an incredibly tough and game Roiman Villa for ten rounds before the end that made sense to allow Villa an out from taking the type of punishment that changes lives.

Ennis chopped Villa to the floor in the tenth and the fight quickly ended but hurt Villa multiple times in the fight, most notably in round six when Villa almost dipped to the floor and amazingly kept himself up and even more amazingly survived the round without going down.

Ennis occasionally took a right hand from Villa, so his night wasn't perfect but his offensive game ripped through Villa and had him bleeding from the nose and mouth for most of the battle.

Ennis was able to win the battles on the inside and outside against Villa, who showed a strong chin and toughness to spare but wasn't able to accomplish nearly enough against the formidable offensive toolbox of Ennis. It'll be interesting to see how much this battering took from Villa as often a fighter doesn't recover entirely after punishment like this.

Ennis called out the winner of the Errol Spence-Terence Crawford fight as a possible opponent but there will almost certainly be a rematch and the winner is likely to vacate his titles with Ennis's minor title with the IBF being promoted to the full championship.

A more realistic possibility would be against Eimantas Stanionis, who holds the minor WBA title and had his fight with Vergil Ortiz canceled for the third time earlier this week.

Stanonis fights with PBC ( The Ortiz fight was promoted by Golden Boy due to a purse bid), and a fight with Ennis would be entertaining, easy to make, I think, and could keep two of the titles that Spence or Crawford unify together.

Stanionis needs a fight, Ennis stated he wants to fight again before the end of the year, and with Spence-Crawford II contractually obligated to happen before 2023 ends, Ennis-Stanionis would make a terrific co-feature for the rematch PPV.

You would have to favor Ennis obviously but Stanionis wouldn't be without a chance to win.

The remaining two fights in the boxing challenge both showcased lightweight prospects that won lopsided decisions against overmatched opponents.

On Showtime, Edwin De Los Santos added something to his reputation as a puncher as he calmly outboxed Joseph Adorno in a dull ten-rounder.

Not much to say about this one other than De Los Santos used the jab to control Adorno throughout.

De Los Santos won easily by scores of 100-90 (same as my score) and two judges listed it as 99-91.

On DAZN from Golden Boy, Floyd Schofield was promoted to the main event after the cancellation of the Stanionis-Ortiz bout and dominated journeyman Haskell Rhodes in winning a unanimous decision.

The fight wasn't competitive but Schofield showed more pizzaz in dropping Rhodes twice in the seventh, and once in the eighth before a ninth-round headbutt tore a horizontal cut along Schofield's left cheekbone and allowed Rhodes some time to get himself together enough to last the distance.

Schofield won on all three cards 100-87, the same as mine.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 116 Pts (6) 

Ramon Malpica: 107 Pts (6)

Vince Samano: 84 Pts (6) 

Boxing Challenge: Ruiz Decisions Ortiz

 Premiere Boxing Champions Sunday night PPV card from Los Angeles looked interesting before the card for a few different reasons and while the main event didn't quite live up to what it could have been, one contender moved towards a potential lucrative rematch, a former champion returned to the ring and might be better suited to end his comeback, and a prospect that seemed to be ready to enter contender status suffered a shocking defeat.

In the main event, Andy Ruiz knocked down Luis Ortiz three times but still barely earned a close unanimous decision in a WBC heavyweight eliminator.

Ruiz knocked Ortiz down twice in the second round and added another in round seven, but the fight played as follows- When Ruiz threw punches, he scored often and won the rounds that had more action, when Ruiz was reserved in his punches, Ortiz threw jabs and won the less than exciting rounds.

Ruiz won 114-111 on two cards and 113-112 on the final card to win the decision.

I scored it 113-112 for Ruiz as well, which means without the knockdowns, Ortiz would have won, and had he avoided one of the knockdowns, he would have salvaged a draw on my scorecard.

The fight wasn't filled with the toe to toe action that seemed likely in the pre-fight predictions and Ortiz certainly seems ripe for the picking by a younger heavyweight that will go after him and put some pressure on him but Andy Ruiz does just enough to leave you wanting more even in victory.

Ruiz looks very likely to face Deontay Wilder next in a WBC final eliminator, should Wilder defeat Robert Helenius as he is heavily favored to do in October and that would be an easy fight to sign with both fighters promoted by PBC and Wilder came into the ring after the fight to congratulate Ruiz.

The winner of the Ruiz-Wilder/Helenius bout would become the mandatory challenger in the WBC but considering the always questionable future of their champion Tyson Fury, it would not surprise me in the slightest to have that fight for what could be the vacant WBC championship.

In the co-feature, lightweight Isaac Cruz snuffed out the timed Eduardo Ramirez in two rounds in a WBC lightweight eliminator and called for a rematch with Gervonta Davis after the knockout.

Cruz knocked Ramirez down once in the second before ending the fight with a right hand that followed a big left hook to put Ramirez down on the floor without a count.

Rumors are flying about a Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight that could be in the works for December, which would be terrific if true but considering the rival promoters involved (Davis PBC, Garcia Golden Boy) I'll believe that when I see it.

However, Cruz is the one fighter that has fought Davis close, and considering the lack of PBC talent in the lightweight/junior welterweight division, should Davis-Garcia once again fall apart, Cruz would be the best option for Davis that would be easy to reach an agreement.

In the opener, rising lightweight star Jose Valenzuela was the victim of a surprising upset as late replacement Edwin De Los Santos stopped Valenzuela in three explosive rounds.

De Los Santos took the fight on a week's notice when former WBA junior lightweight champion Jezreel Corrales was unable to participate due to visa issues and with 13 knockouts in 14 wins and a two-round destruction of then-undefeated Luis Acosta on his record, De Los Santos was regarded to at least have a punchers chance of a major upset.

De Los Santos came out very aggressively in winning the first round and attempted to repeat that tactic in the second before Valenzuela caught him with a counter right that sent De Los Santos to the canvas.

De Los Santos wasn't hurt though and stormed back to drop Valenzuela later in the round, losing a point for hitting Valenzuela while he was down.

De Los Santos resumed his attack in the third and quickly knocked Valenzuela down for the second time and while a dazed Valenzuela rose to continue, he wobbled when hit by a De Los Santos left hook and the referee ended the surprising upset.

Valenzuela was thought to be nearing contender status so this defeat is a setback to his career and even if he returns with some wins, he will now have some chin questions to deal with for the remainder of his career.

As for Del Los Santos, with his style and power, I'd love to see him against Isaac Cruz if Gervonta Davis fights someone else and Cruz has a need for an opponent as that matchup is a guaranteed lock for action!

Former three-division champion Abner Mares returned from an eye injury and settled for a majority draw against journeyman Miguel Flores.

Mares started fast and won four of the first five rounds but tired badly in the second half of the fight.

I scored the same as two judges at 95-95 with the dissenting judge giving a 96-94 edge to Mares.

I don't see much of a future against top competition for Mares and at 36, it's easy to say what's the point in continuing at this stage with eyes that twice have been through retina surgery.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 156 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 134 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 124 Pts (2)