Boxing Challenge: Joshua Dropped, Tsyzu retires Spence

      No upsets over the weekend, but the biggest news came from a near-upset as unknown Kristian Prenga dropped former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua twice in the first round before Joshua would return the favor by stopping Prenga in the second.

Joshua's next opponent, Tyson Fury, won his warm-up fight over veteran Mariusz Wach when Wach was unable to answer the bell for the eighth round.

Fury and Joshua are scheduled to meet sometime in the fall.

In Australia, former junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu won a unanimous decision over comebacking former welterweight champion Errol Spence.

Spence announced his retirement after the fight.

Former junior middleweight and middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade won his ring return with a first-round KO of Douglas Ataide.

Josh Kelly retained his IBF junior middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Caoimhin Agyarko, and Hamzah Sheeraz kept his WBO super middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Simon Zachenhuber in two boring fights on the Joshua-Prenga undercard.

Edgar Berlanga stopped Steven Butler in seven rounds in the Zuffa main event from New York City.

Richardson Hitchins won a unanimous decision over Ricardo Salas, and Jalil Hackett earned a unanimous decision over Sergey Dereyvanchenko in the supporting bouts.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 85 Pts (13)

Ramon Malpica: 70 Pts (10)

Vince Samano: 58 Pts (12)

Boxing Challenge: Bud leaves no doubt.

     After all the questions, the opinions, the barbs of who was ducking who, and who was going to be considered the best of the era, for years between Errol Spence and Terence Crawford in what was considered by almost everyone as a fight that could get either way, the anticipated fight wasn't as much a fight as it was a crowning achievement for a fighter that took many barbs and pokes of disrespect as Terence Crawford retained his WBO welterweight title and added the three championships (WBA, WBC, and IBF) when Crawford stopped Errol Spence in the ninth round with referee Harvey Dock saving Spence from excessive punishment.

Spence had taken plenty of punishment already with cuts around his left eye and both eyes suffering swelling, it was a fair stoppage considering Crawford's status as a finisher and Spence's offense declining by the round.

Spence may have won the first round, which was pretty close, and the third saw both men land their share punches in what was the most action-filled round of the fight but other than those, it was all Terence Crawford as he on all cards and only one judge gave him a single round (the third) other than round one.

Crawford knocked Spence down for the first time in his career in the second round with a one-two combination that was more of a flash knockdown than anything that seriously hurt Spence.

It was a different story as the fight moved on with Crawford beginning to take over in the fourth round as his punches began to sting Spence, who was starting to see the damage to his face build up.

In the seventh, Crawford dropped Spence with a short right and would do so again with another right just before the bell.

Crawford pounded Spence in the eighth before the end would come in round nine with a battered Spence in deep waters before Harvey Dock's final wave.

Give Errol Spence credit, he never quit trying but after his mild success in the third round, Spence wouldn't challenge Crawford again as he walked right into the Crawford jab and just about everything else that Bud threw.

I've seen a few comparisons of this fight.

Steve Kim said it was similar to Bernard Hopkins-Felix Trinidad. and I've seen comps by others to Floyd Mayweather-Diego Corrales and Marco Antonio Barrera-Prince Naseem Hamed but the fight that came to mind for me was this- Muhammad Ali-Ernie Terrell,

Yes, the "What's my name" fight when Ali hammered Terrell relentlessly throughout and wouldn't finish Terrell off so he could batter him for fifteen rounds after Terrell refused in the pre-fight buildup to call Ali by his Muslim name and called him "Cassius Clay".

I don't think Crawford was carrying the brave Spence and he wasn't talking to Spence throughout but every punch that sliced through Spence was intended for Al Haymon and his PBC promotion that had excluded Crawford from graphics as a champion, didn't want to give him the chance to fight Spence, and took shots at Crawford's opponents, while never giving him the chance to face their best, although they did allow Shawn Porter to try Crawford after Porter had been defeated by Spence.

Every jab, every combination was coming at Errol Spence but he was taking the ill intent for Al Haymon, the person most responsible for holding Terence Crawford back despite a spectacular career, and like Ali beating on Ernie Terrell for his arrogance, Crawford was beating on Spence for Al Haymon's sins.

And now perhaps we will see again what seems not to be necessary later in the year.

Spence has the option to have a rematch before the end of the year, however, Crawford can select the division where it would take place, and while Spence, who looked very drawn making 147 would love to see the rematch at 154, and Crawford said he would consider that as he wouldn't have to make that weight either.

I wouldn't do that if I were Crawford, not that I think Spence can turn it around in a rematch but why give him any sort of advantage after a defeat?

Unless- Crawford is getting something in return such as agreeing to fight at junior middleweight in return for a rematch taking place in his home state of Nebraska for example, I'd say it's 147 and make Spence decide if a rematch is worth melting down in weight again.

If Spence decides to forego a rematch, I'm not sure what Crawford has waiting for him.

Bud has been talking smack with unified junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo for years. Still, Charlo is fighting Canelo Alvarez next, and should he lose and decide to go back to junior middleweight, he'll have to fight Tim Tszyu next or drop his undisputed title tag.

Without the titles, I'm not sure Crawford-Charlo is a big draw, and even if everything comes together perfectly, does Al Haymon want to sacrifice another star at the altar of Bud Crawford?

Assuming Crawford stays at 147, the parade of mandatories would have to start soon.

IBF minor champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis is the most intriguing fight of these possibilities but Crawford would be taking a sizable risk for a relatively low financial reward.

WBA minor champion Eimantas Stanionis is a strong fighter and might win a round or two but isn't a match for Crawford.

The WBC has inexplicably rated former WBA and WBC champion Keith Thurman as their number one despite Thurman fighting once in the last four years and that was a decision win over Mario Barrios, who spent most of his career at junior welterweight.

Thurman isn't in Crawford's class but he'll talk a good game and maybe Crawford decides to settle another score if the terms are right.

The top contender for the WBO is Alexis Rocha, who fights for Golden Boy so it might be fairly easy to make but Rocha is overmatched against Crawford and GBP may decide a better road to travel would be waiting for Crawford to move up and then fight for a vacant title against the second rated contender which right now is Canada's Cody Crowley of PBC.

I'm not sure if Terence Crawford will ever have a stage similar to Saturday night's ever again but I'm very sure that Crawford's night and dominance will be remembered for a long time.

I haven't had the time to watch Issac Cruz's split decision win over Giovanni Cabrera or Alejandro Santiago's unanimous decision victory over Nonito Donaire for the WBC bantamweight title.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 128 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 115 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 89 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Or it took you long enough!

   The long-anticipated (and some may say a bit overcooked) battle between Errol Spence and Terence Crawford finally sees the bright lights this Saturday and there is more on the line than unifying the four world titles in the welterweight division (three of those titles owned by Spence).

It has even more at stake for the historians as the winner (unless the winner loses the contractually obligated rematch) would make a large step forward as an all-time great.

If Errol Spence grabs the win, despite his career being marred by injuries, Spence will leave the division on an eight-fight winning streak that would have seen him defeat Kell Brook (IBF champion), Lamont Peterson (IBF junior welterweight and minor welterweight champion), Mikey Garcia (WBO feather and junior lightweight, WBC lightweight and IBF junior welterweight champion), Shawn Porter (WBC and IBF welterweight champion), Danny Garcia (WBA and WBO junior welter and WBC welterweight champion) and Yordenis Ugas (WBA welterweight champion) along with Crawford.

Only his win over Carlos Ocampo during that run would stand out as an outlier as a softer opponent and in this era, that achievement would be very rare.

If Terence Crawford emerges victorious, Crawford would leave the division as the first ever boxer to fully unify two divisions in the four-belt era and while his list of victims in the welterweight division isn't nearly as glossy as Spence's list, (other than Shawn Porter) a win over Spence would cement Crawford as the best of the time.

It's a fight that is easy to envision ending in about any manner possible.

Spence walking Crawford down and winning a clear decision, Crawford stunning Spence and finishing him as Crawford is the best fighter in the sport at concluding the evening for a hurt opponent are both possible.

It's just as easy to see Spence using his bigger frame to physically pound on Crawford to score a KO or Crawford brilliantly outboxing the slower Spence on his way to a decision.

Crawford is able to move from a lefthanded stance to a righthanded style easier and smoother than any fighter that I've ever seen and I think that is going to be the difference.

Spence has had a detached retina and it's easier to see Crawford hitting Spence with punches that he can't see than vice versa.

I'm a fan of both fighters and I'll be happy for the victor no matter what but I must admit that I like Crawford a little better and I think he has the edge in what should be a fascinating fight.

Something tells me the effort making the weight one more time is going to take its toll on Spence and Crawford takes over in the second half of the fight,

The undercard will see a world title filled as Nonito Donaire will face Alejandro Santiago for the vacant WBC bantamweight title in the latest of the four titles that Naoya Inoue turned in as he moved up in weight.

This fight was originally scheduled for two weeks ago on a Showtime card but was moved to this night when a few injuries would affect the card.

Donaire hasn't fought since being stopped in two rounds by Inoue in their rematch last June and at forty, it's fair to wonder what Donaire has left but he's still the only fighter that truly pushed Inoue and we just don't know for sure until this fight ends. 
Santiago has won three straight since losing a majority decision to Gary Antonio Russell in 2021.

The final bantamweight title will be filled in a few weeks as Emanuel Rodriguez and  Melvin Lopez will decide the IBF version.

Lightweight contender Isaac Cruz, who gave Gervonta Davis the toughest fight of his career will battle unbeaten Giovanni Cabrera in a rare two organization eliminator (WBA and WBC).

Cruz stopped Eduardo Ramirez in two rounds in his fight, while Cabrera is unbeaten but lacks power (seven KOs in twenty-one wins) and it's hard to see Cabrera keeping Cruz off him.

Cabrera won an easy decision over one-time prospect Gabriel Flores in his last outing but Top Rank still gave him his release after the bout.

Boxing Challenge

WBA/WBC/IBF- WBO Welterweight Title Unification. 12 Rds

Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford

Ramon Malpica; Draw

TRS: Crawford KO 8
Vince Samano: 

Vacant WBC Bantamweight Title. 12 Rds

Nonito Donaire vs Alejandro Santiago

R.L: Donaire KO 5

TRS: Donaire KO 9

V.S:

Lightweights.12 Rds

Isaac Cruz vs Giovanni Cabrera

R.L: Cruz KO 6
TRS: Cruz KO 5

V.S:: 

Spence vs Crawford- Finally?!

   Errol Spence's recent tenth round TKO stoppage of Yordenis Ugas not only gave him three of the four welterweight titles in boxing, but it also gave him a chance to be a man of his word.

For the last few years, whenever Spence was asked about Terence Crawford and the biggest fight that could be made in a division under wherever Canelo Alvarez is fighting at a given time, Spence's reply would be that he wanted to only face PBC fighters (with the common "wrong side of the street" quote) and once he cleaned all of those fighters out, he would then be happy to face Terence Crawford.

Spence has now done so and he stated that he is now ready to face Crawford in one of the few bouts in boxing that you could legitimately have a solid opinion on why either fighter will emerge victoriously and yet remain a 50/50 fight.

While the fight between the best two welterweights in the world is long overdue, one can make an argument that it hasn't been quite overcooked to past its expiration date.

Crawford's knockout win over Shawn Porter last November was the biggest win of his career and Spence's win over Yordenis Ugas to add a third championship to his coffers may have been his biggest with Ugas coming off a win that retired Manny Pacquiao, although you could also say that Spence's wins over Porter or either Danny or Mikey Garcia will wear just as well after Spence's career is completed.

The time is right with interest at a record high from even some casual fans to make the welterweight division's biggest full unification fight with two undefeated champions since the 1985 pairing of Donald Curry and Milton McCrory (Remember that the unification between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad did not have the WBA title involved as it was held by James Page at the time).

Assuming that a deal can be made and for the first time, both fighters, Spence's promoter (PBC) and Crawford without a promoter to add to the mix since his contract with Top Rank expired after the knockout of Shawn Porter, all parties seem to motivated for this fight to happen in the fall. 

If I was Crawford, I'd never agree to the fight taking place in Spence's native Texas, where the commission and judges are terrible and the commission head Dickie Cole will likely strongarm his son Lawrence into refereeing the bout and it's rare that a Lawrence Cole officiated affair doesn't have a degree of controversy.

Las Vegas or Los Angeles is likely the site with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn a dark horse contender but allow me to offer an idea that is unlikely to be accepted to hold the fight.

Wichita Kansas isn't known as a boxing hotbed but neither was Omaha, Nebraska until Crawford came along but it has two things that make sense for this fight.

Omaha has been known for its strong support of Terence Crawford and the converse is true for Errol Spence's fan base in Dallas, so I am sure that fans of both fighters would love to support their champion in the legacy-defining fight of their career.

Wichita has a nice facility in the 15,000-seat InTrust Bank Arena, has a population of close to 400,000, and most importantly- happens to be almost halfway between Dallas and Omaha (301 miles from Omaha, 364 from Dallas) and can be almost a straight shot from I-75 from both areas.

In other words, a neutral site that has a nice building, both fan bases can make the trip and it's a drivable trip, if you choose not to fly,

The perfect place for all involved and an atmosphere that could be worthy of such a great fight, but my guess is no one has thought about it, and even if so, the chances are still slim.

As for the fight in the ring?

It's a boxing cliche to use the term "50-50 fight" but for a prospective Errol Spence-Terence Crawford fight that adage is deadly accurate.

One can make a very good case for a Spence win or a Crawford victory and neither could be dismissed very easily by even the most devout fan of either champion.

Spence is thought to be the bigger puncher yet it is Crawford that is the better finisher.

Crawford is thought to be the better boxer yet it is Spence that has fought the twelve-round distance more often.

Neither fighter scores many early-round knockouts but are considered to have above-average power.

Both fighters have good chins but have been unofficially dropped in recent fights that were scored as non-knockdowns (Crawford vs Egid Kavaliauskas, Spence vs Yordenis Ugas).

Spence is the naturally bigger and stronger fighter but Crawford appears to be the more fluid and naturally athletic boxer.

I believe that Spence is underrated as a boxer and Crawford is underrated as a puncher.

How do I see the fight playing out?

Often what happens when two elite fighters at their peak get into the ring is that their styles often reverse and if that happens that's definitely to the advantage of Terence Crawford.

Errol Spence doesn't fight as well off his back foot and should he be forced to box more than usual, the edge definitely swings to Crawford.

Spence is the better fighter from close range and if Spence is able to make this an inside affair, Spence should be the fighter that receives the most benefits.

Neither fighter is a particularly fast starter, so I think a chance of an early knockout is unlikely.

I think that the most likely scenario for a Spence win would be Spence slowly wearing Crawford down, taking his legs away, and dominating the late rounds for a decision win.

The most likely path for Crawford's victory would be mixing boxing and punching over the first half of the fight before changing styles in the middle rounds and stalks Spence as he busts him up around the eyes and wins via a late-round TKO or perhaps a battered Spence barely survives until the final bell before a decision win for Crawford.

I think this is the best fight that boxing can make and I think the styles should mesh well for sustained action, which isn't always the case (De La Hoya-Trinidad wasn't a great action fight despite the anticipation) and it had better be an action fight after the time and lengths taken in order to finally get these two fighters in the ring against each other.

I've been back and forth already on which fighter I lean towards but I'll reserve that choice until the fight is ready to take place- besides it gives me plenty of time to change my mind... 

Boxing Challenge: Spence TKO's Ugas

 Errol Spence shined in his latest "can you top this" with WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford as Spence dominated most of his fight with Yordenis Ugas and won the WBA crown held by Ugas when the doctor ruled that Ugas was unable to continue due to a closed right eye in the tenth round in Arlington, Texas.

In the victory, Spence retained his WBC and IBF titles to add to the WBA belt that he won here from Ugas.

Spence never knocked Ugas down but his heavy shots moved the Cuban around the ring and despite a brave effort on the part of Ugas, he committed what seems to be an awful mistake with the decision to stand and slug with the powerful Spence rather than use his physical skills to box Spence from the outside.

Still, for all of the domination by Spence, Ugas did land his share and punches and almost scored the first knockdown against Spence in his career.

Ugas landed a right hand that visibly stunned Spence and knocked his mouthpiece out.

As a jarred Spence looked down for the mouthpiece, the opportunistic Ugas jumped on Spence (very legal) with a combination of punches that sent Spence bouncing off the ropes, which should have been scored a knockdown as the ropes helped Spence remain on his feet.

Ugas attempted to land more punches but the always corrupt/inept Lawrence Cole decided then to rinse the mouthpiece but first walked Spence to the wrong corner before arriving at Spence's corner for the rinse buying Spence a few extra badly needed seconds to get things straight.

By the time action resumed, Spence was back in control of his faculties, and Ugas's best chance of an upset had passed.

Spence pounded Ugas badly in the eighth (two judges would score the round 10-8 for Spence) and the eye swelling began to increase rapidly for the soon-to-be former champion, who was found to have had suffered an orbital fracture around his right eye.

And then after the fight, the words that fight fans have been waiting for years were finally uttered as Spence stated that he wanted Terence Crawford next.

Hopefully, that fight can be made for the fall and once and all decide just which of the two is the true top welterweight of this era.

The preliminary bouts were all fights that were lopsided affairs and if all were right with boxing, the three losers would consider leaving the sport with their best days behind them.

Isaac Cruz rebounded from his close decision loss to Gervonta Davis with a five-round annihilation of washed-up Yuriorkis Gamboa.

Punch resistance has never been a strong suit of Gamboa even at his peak but his chin and legs are finished with this game as Cruz shook the veteran with every punch landed and dropped Gamboa in the second, third, fourth, and fifth rounds, before the fight ended with Gamboa against the ropes in the fifth round.

The fight likely could have been stopped two rounds before and no one would have complained a bit.

Promising lightweight Jose Valenzuela scored the biggest win of his young career with one left hook that sent former WBC junior lightweight champion Francisco Vargas down and out in the first round.

Vargas had taken his share of punishment in some terrific fights but at this stage, Vargas is a spent fuse.

As for Valenzuela, he appears to be a very promising prospect with big things ahead of him.

Welterweight Cody Crowley scored a unanimous decision over shopworn Josesito Lopez in a ten-rounder.

I haven't watched the fight of this writing...

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 63 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 55 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 52 Pts (6)

Boxing Challenge: Spence handily defeats Garcia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boxing Challenge

It's not an overly heavy week in the boxing challenge with three fights with two world titles at stake against less than firm opposition and the heavyweight debut of arguably the greatest cruiserweight ever.

However, sad news to report as WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence is in intensive care with multiple injuries from a single-car accident this morning in Dallas.
Spence is reported to have been ejected from the vehicle and the car flipped several times.
Spence is also reported not to be in "life-threatening" condition but does have serious injuries that have yet to reported, so no idea how this will affect his boxing career.

The Errol Spence situation is the exact situation where these "interim" titles that these organizations give out like free samples at Sam's Club are actually of use.
Should Errol Spence state that his injuries are severe and he will need a substantial time away from the game, this is where an interim title makes a lot of sense.
If Spence and his doctors would say that he would need a year to eighteen months away, the organization could quickly sanction an interim title fight within 30 days (no more than 60) between the top two contenders to take the fight as if you don't do this quickly, it doesn't do a lot of good and state as follows- the winner of this fight is the interim champion for (amount of time Spence would be away), and upon Spence's return (he'll be allowed one tuneup fight), the interim champion will have to fight Spence within 90 days of Spence's tuneup.
The winner will become the full champion and the interim title is disposed of.
Should Errol Spence not be able to return within the detailed amount of time, the interim champion will be elevated to full champion, although should Spence return to the ring, the same stipulations apply for fighting him.
Situations dealing with a long-term injury is the only time that interim championships should be in use.

Former world cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk makes his heavyweight debut in Chicago on DAZN in what is expected to be an enhancement match against late replacement Chazz Witherspoon.
Usyk was expected to debut earlier this year against a solid opponent in top 15 heavyweight Carlos Takam before an injury to Usyk foiled that fight.
Usyk, who is the mandatory challenger in the WBO, wasn't going to fight someone too tough and when Takam changed promoters and also wanted to change terms of compensation for the rescheduled bout, Takam was scrubbed.
Enter Tyrone Sprong, a fighter so obscure that I had to look him up and once I did, I discovered that I had never heard of any of his opposition either!
Yet Spong conveniently popped up as the WBO's number six contender in a stunning development that one would never expect from a boxing sanctioning body, which at least someone could claim him as qualified
Spong then fails a PED test and a desperate Eddie Hearn has to take almost anyone on a few days' notice and it's Chazz Witherspoon.
Witherspoon, the nephew of former WBA and WBC champion Tim Witherspoon, hasn't lost in his last eight fights, but those eight wins were against opponents that Tyrone Spong would sign up for and in his last fight against anyone you have heard of, Witherspoon was stopped by Seth Mitchell over seven years ago,
In other words, it's a mismatch, but one no worse than Tyrone Spong might have been and the circumstances do make it somewhat understandable, but I'll be surprised if this turns out to be anything more than a squash match.

Also on this card, Dmitry Bivol defends his WBA light heavyweight title against fringe contender Lenin Castillo.
Bivol is having problems finding opponents, which is why he is defending against Castillo, who is 20-2 but lost his only fight against top ten opposition against Marcus Browne, although Castillo did last the ten round distance against Browne, who is a solid banger, so Castillo could stick around for a while.

ESPN Plus will be showing Josh Warrington defending his IBF featherweight title in a stay busy fight against Sofiane Takoucht of France.
Not much to say about this one other than it should go 12 rounds.

In the boxing challenge, I lead Ramon Malpica 239-208

Heavyweights. 12 Rds
Oleksandr Usyk vs Chazz Witherspoon
R.L: Usyk KO 7
TRS: Usyk KO 6

WBA Light Heavyweight Title,12 Rds
Dmitry Bivol vs Lenin Castillo
R.L: Bivol KO 6
TRS: Bivol Unanimous Decision

IBF Featherweight Title. 12 Rds
Josh Warrington vs Sofiane Takoucht
Both: Warrington Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Spence unifies over Porter

I haven't watched the full PBC card from Los Angeles, but the main event will definitely be in the running for the fight of the year and when you read/hear from the PBC about this being a classic, unlike so many of their others- this one was just that.

Errol Spence was a lopsided favorite to unify his IBF championship with that of the WBC title with a victory over Shaun Porter and Spence came through with a victory to do so, but the unexpected difficulty and the resulting terrific battle was a surprise to almost everyone.
Spence's split decision victory was the proper one and give Spence plenty of credit for battling through what proved to be the sternest test of his career from Porter, but I do wonder if Spence couldn't have made this fight easier with just a few changes.
I suppose the question that perhaps eventually answered is this one- Was this a great fight because Shawn Porter forced Errol Spence to fight his fight or did Errol Spence make a tactical decision to do so, therefore allowing Porter to have his best chance to win, but gave fans a far more exciting fight than expected?
I had the fight dead even through ten rounds and the eleventh was even until Spence's counter left on the chin of the charging Porter scored a knockdown, which essentially gave Spence the fight on my card and I had Spence winning round twelve as well in a round that featured many furious exchanges between the two combatants.

It was a terrific fight and I was only disappointed by one point after the bout.
We might be farther away from Terence Crawford against Errol Spence than ever before.
Spence had stated entering the fight that he would fight Crawford, but his desired fight against WBA champion Manny Pacquiao would come first.
After the fight, Spence seemed to indicate that should Pacquiao choose another foe rather than Spence for his next fight, he would face Danny Garcia in a fight that I cannot imagine many being excited about.
When you consider that few of the PBC's top fighters fight more than twice a year, should Spence face Danny Garcia next, you would think that his other fight would be against Pacquiao should Manny take that fight or after the unexpectedly difficult fight against Porter, a rematch could be slotted as the other fight for Spence in 2020 and push Crawford to early 2021 at its earliest.
Only in boxing can fans eventually lose by watching a great fight.

David Benavidez won the WBC super-middleweight title that he never lost in the ring over Anthony Dirrell when the fight was stopped from Dirrell's corner as Benavidez pounded Dirrell in the ninth round.
I had Benavidez well ahead (79-73) when the fight was stopped and Benavidez badly cut Dirrell in the sixth round which led to Benavidez stepping the pace in dominating the seventh and eighth rounds before the final ninth.
I have been critical of Team Dirrell in the past in various fights, but give credit in this one as Dirrell could have chucked it in several times and instead battled on.
Still, I would have stopped the fight after the eighth and saved Dirrell from the pounding that he took in the ninth.
David Benavidez fights like a heavyweight as his style is a physical, walk the opponent down and pound on them until they surrender style and he's the biggest guy in the division physically, so he's going to be a tough out for anyone, but while I like Benavidez a lot, he's going to have problems against guys that move and the biggest fight at his weight with PBC is with IBF champ Caleb Plant, who uses just the kind of movement that could give Benavidez concerns.
Still, Plant is not a big hitter and unless he can box all night against the pressure of Benavidez, Benavidez will have more than an even chance for wearing Plant down in that potential bout, although I'm not betting on that fight happening anytime soon as Plant hasn't seemed interested in fighting decent opponents other than his title-winning match against Jose Uzcategui.

I haven't been able to see the two opening bouts, but the reports on Mario Barrios unanimous decision win over Batyr Akhmedov are approaching Hamburglar level robbery.
Barrios scored two flash knockdowns, but I've read that his face was badly lumped and from one observer commented that Barrios took the type of punishment in "winning" that you never recover from and despite still being undefeated and now holding a minor junior welterweight title, Barrios could be damaged goods, while Akhmedov, despite being dropped twice, seems to have won quite a few fans in his loss.

Editors Note: While Akhmedov generally kicked the hell out of Barrios from round five through the end of the fight, I wouldn't say that the win for Barrios was a robbery as many have written.
Here's why- I gave Barrios the first four rounds with the fourth at 10-8 with a flash knockdown, Akhmedov won the next seven rounds easily and was winning the final round before another flash knockdown.
Because Barrios was losing the round before the knockdown, I scored Barrios as winning the final round, but only by 10-9.
In rounds, Akhmedov wins on my card 7-5 and loses the point for the fourth round knockdown.so that results in a 114-113 card for Akhmedov, who dealt out vast amounts of punishment to Barrios, yet the two flash knockdowns made the fight closer on the cards than the action in the ring actually was and therefore not a robbery, although, in my opinion, the wrong guy won.

In the opener, veteran Josesito Lopez stopped even older veteran John Molina in the eighth round in a welterweight fight that will hopefully see Molina step away from the stage.
Lopez knocked Molina down twice in the first round with Molina barely surviving the initial round before Lopez dropped Molina again in the seventh before finishing him off in the eighth.
Most scorecards had Lopez winning every round, so Lopez will likely fight on in the PBC ( I wouldn't be stunned to see a rematch with Keith Thurman when Thurman returns from his latest injury hiatus).
As for Molina, the time is right for him to collect his gold watch and step aside before he gets hurt.

Friday afternoon from London, talented heavyweight Daniel DuBois knocked Ebenezer Tetteh down twice in the first round and finished him off then and there.
Tetteh was hardly a test for DuBois, but I'm really looking forward to seeing the competition improve for DuBois, who only needs to prove a sturdy chin to be of title timber as I think his skills are of that level.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to six to cut my lead to 231-202.
We both scored two points from David Benavidez and Daniel Dubois and one from Errol Spence, but Ramon scored two from Mario Barrios and I scored one from Josesito Lopez. 

Boxing Challenge: Spence Dominates Garcia

(Frank Micelotta/Fox Sports)

Many observers talked themselves into Mikey Garcia's chances of pulling an upset over Errol Spence after watching Garcia's training and demeanor entering the fight.

What many people weren't looking at was just how disgusted Errol Spence appeared to be with Mikey Garcia and that was exactly how it played out in the ring as Spence dominated Garcia in a performance that was more cat vs dying mouse than cat vs mouse in a unanimous decision win that saw Spence win every round on every judge's card (120-108) to keep his IBF welterweight title.
I gave Garcia the second round by a hair and he wasn't remotely close to adding another as Spence landed to the head and body without exception and his left seemed to be almost magnetized to Garcia, who simply couldn't avoid it or the right for that matter.
There were no knockdowns scored and some of that can be noted to the chin of Garcia, who showed an excellent one in taking the booming blows from the larger man, but perhaps even more could be credited to Spence, who reminded me of Muhammad Ali in his famous "What's my name" bout against Ernie Terrell or Dwight Muhammad Qawi (then Braxton) in his title-winning battle over Matthew Saad Muhammad in just wanting to batter Garcia for as long as he could and wasn't interested in shortening his punishment time.
For Spence, it looks like it could be Manny Pacquiao next in a fight that might be very similar to what we saw against Garcia- a very skilled bigger man pounding a very skilled smaller man, although a title unifying fight against WBC champion Shawn Porter was discussed as well.
Either of those two opponents would be the most likely foe to face Spence next, although the fight that everyone, other than those associated with Al Haymon's PBC, wants to see is against WBO champion Terence Crawford, which is extremely unlikely to happen for a while if ever.
As for Garcia, the opponent was too much regardless of the size involved and even if Garcia, who still holds the WBC lightweight title, moves back down for the fight that most wanted to see him involved with against WBA/WBO 135 pound champion Vasyl Lomachenko, which has its own issues in getting signed, mainly Garcia's refusal to do business with former promoter Top Rank, one wonders what fighter would be returning to the division.
The beating that Garcia took over the twelve rounds against Spence was the type that fighters often aren't the same fighter after returning to their more natural weight as Chad Dawson and Kell Brook have shown in recent years.

Sometimes boxing politics produces math that doesn't add up.
Two fights that everyone wanted to see didn't happen to make one fight that few wanted to see beforehand and even fewer wished that they had seen after.
Only in boxing.

I only have seen the main event and the co-main as of this writing, but the first pay per view from Fox was almost universally panned on Twitter.
I've stated in the past that the Fox crew is the worst in the game currently (and they garnered plenty of gripes), but the undercard looked weak going into the evening and produced even less.
David Benavidez made his return from drug problems and blasted out J'Leon Love in two rounds in what passed as the semi-main event.
Love, who was entering after losing a decision to Peter Quillin and in typical PBC fashion received the bout instead of the winner and was rewarded with being dominated in impressive manner by Benavidez, who was stripped of his WBC title at 168 pounds, named "Champion in recess" and will be given an immediate title shot should he go through his mandated recovery hoops.
Benavidez may be given the next shot for new champion Anthony Dirrell, although the WBC will rule soon on Dirrell giving a rematch to Avni Yildirim after their controversial fight last month.
It's possible it could be Dirrell-Yildirim II next and then Benavidez, but knowing the WBC I lean towards Dirrell-Benavidez next with the winner mandated to face Yildirim in their next bout.

Former WBC bantamweight champion Luis Nery has always had more problems out of the ring instead of in it.
Nery, who is undefeated, has had fights be invalidated for PED use and missed weight by three pounds in losing his title on the scales, but when he is on weight- Nery shows top ten pound for pound ability.
Nery appeared her against the usually durable McJoe Arroyo, who rose in weight for this fight in what appeared to be a questionable decision beforehand against the powerful Nery,
Nery bounced Arroyo off the matt four times in four rounds before the corner of Arroyo wisely ended the mismatch after the fourth round.
If you are guaranteeing me that Nery will show up clean and on weight- Nery against Naoya Inoue ranks with the fights that I would most like to see in the game.

I wrote in the challenge preview that the best fight of the weekend was in Japan and it didn't disappoint as Kosei Tanaka defeated Ryoichi Taguchi via a unanimous decision to retain his WBO flyweight title
Tanaka was defending the title that he won from Sho Kimura last year in the TRS fight of the year and even though this fight wasn't quite to that level, it was still the fight of the weekend.
Taguchi, a former light flyweight champion, showed lots of grit, but the nine years younger Tanaka wore down the veteran and took the well-deserved nod.
I'd love to see a Tanaka-Kimura rematch, but the likely target for Tanaka may be at junior bantam where former flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka will be fighting for the vacant WBO title at that weight.
An Ioka victory and the WBO policy where champions that vacate a title and rise in weight zoom to the front of the line as the mandatory contender would create a huge fight in Japan between the pair.
Should that fight go the way of Tanaka, the biggest fight in Japanese history could be in reach at bantamweight-with Tanaka vs Naoya Inoue in a fight that could fill up the Tokyo Dome.

In the boxing challenge, I won seven points in Saturday to three for Ramon Malpica to stretch my lead to 61-56.
I scored two points each from the wins by Tanaka, Nery, and Benavidez with one point from Errol Spence.
Ramon won one each from the victories by Spence, Nery, and Benavidez.

My intent is to watch the ESPN+ card today (no challenge bouts) and watch the DVR of the Arizona Hotshots ending the undefeated run of the Orlando Apollos for a game review if time permits.
I still have plenty of passings and an inbox cleaning so watch for them early next week.

Boxing Challenge: Hooker stops Saucedo

Everything seemed to be in the favor of Alex Saucedo for his attempt to lift the WBO junior welterweight title from Maurice Hooker,
Saucedo had the home advantage in Oklahoma City, his promoter (Top Rank), his television network (ESPN) and the small ring to suit his aggressive style and not the large ring preferred by the rangy Hooker.
Everything was in place to bring Saucedo the title and Top Rank, the next big fight for ESPN, which would be a Saucedo unification with WBC champion Jose Ramirez, which why Top Rank overpaid Hooker in order to win the purse bid to gain their fighter those advantages.

However, all of those advantages couldn't overcome one problem - Saucedo's inability to make the right hand of Hooker miss and the result was Hooker retaining his title and taking it back to DAZN with a seventh-round knockout.
It wasn't easy though, as the power-punching challenger dropped Hooker with a second round right hand and Hooker was dazed upon rising from the floor, but Hooker managed to clear his head and even though I had Hooker losing the third round on my card, you had the feeling that Saucedo might have seen his best opportunity go across the bow.
Hooker then began to turn the tide and at the end of the sixth round-I tweeted that I thought that I saw a look of resignation on the face of Salcedo, which usually is not a good sign.
It wasn't as Hooker stung Salcedo seconds into the seventh round and drove a staggered Salcedo into the ropes, which the referee correctly scored a knockdown as only the ropes kept Salcedo from falling.
Hooker jumped upon Salcedo after the eight count and landed several uncontested right hands which forced the referee to end the bout.

The Hooker victory ruined Top Rank's plans for a spring unification bout with WBC champion Jose Ramirez as noted earlier, but Hooker and promoter Eddie Hearn both invited Ramirez for a unification fight anyway, but the key words belonged to Hooker "come on over to DAZN", which is the television network for Hearn's fighters and where Top Rank fighters seldom tread.
Since Top Rank signed their deal with ESPN, only Oleksandr Gzovdyk has crossed lines for a challenge of Adonis Stevenson in two weeks on Showtime on another network, so I'm doubtful that fight is able to be negotiated unless Hearn is willing to bring Hooker back to ESPN.
If this is how Top Rank (or any other promoter with a platform deal) is going to talk contract with opposing promoters, don't count on a lot of these big inter-promotional fights to be signed.
Golden Boy brought Jorge Linares over to make a Vasyl Lomachenko happen and Eddie Hearn honored the purse bid to have Hooker defend here and that means that when a fighter really wants to make a fight it can be made, but if this is indeed the line in the sand for Top Rank, get ready to wait.

The co-feature (shown on ESPN +) saw Egid Kaviliauskas overcome a headbutt in the second round to knock out Robert Arriaza in the third round in a welterweight eliminator from the WBO.
Kaviliauskas used a right hand to the side of the head to floor Arriaza but added a punch to Arriaza while he was down, which rightfully angered the Arriaza camp, but I doubt that it would have changed the outcome.
Give Kaviliauskas credit for the rally with such a bad cut sending plenty of crimson flowing down his face, but not too much because we really don't know how good Arriaza really was.
The win will give Kaviliauskas the mandatory position for WBO champion Terence Crawford, also promoted by Top Rank, who watched the fight from ringside between Twitter call-outs of IBF kingpin Errol Spence, who also was watching in support of fellow Dallas native Maurice Hooker.
I don't think Crawford should be too concerned about Kaviliauskas, who fights more crudely than his two-time Olympian status would suggest nor should he worry too much about fighting Errol Spence anytime soon either.



The problem in making a Spence-Crawford fight is this- Spence is signed with PBC, who is the company least likely to allow their elite fighters to fight another elite fighter from another promoter.
Crawford is with Top Rank, which brings its own issues, but has more of a track record of making tough fights, should their fighter demand it, but of course, would prefer matching their fighters with Crawford such as Kaviliauskas.

Spence has more options with a fight in March against lightweight champ Mikey Garcia, which looks good on paper, but likely won't be more than an overpowering of Garcia in the ring and with WBA champ Keith Thurman and WBC champ Shawn Porter in the PBC stable, while Crawford doesn't have nearly as many options, unless Vasyl Lomachenko wants to make a Garcia-like leap to challenge him, so Crawford needs Spence more than vice-versa for now.

The boxing game just makes you cringe sometimes
Crawford likes to fight often but has problems finding suitable opponents.
Spence has plenty of suitable opponents but doesn't seem to want to fight very often, as he will have fought one round in 14 months by the time he fights Garcia.
WBC champion Shawn Porter seems to be willing to fight anyone, but he's never been the preferred welterweight of his own promoter and few of even his fellow PBC fighters want to fight him unless a sanctioning body forces them to and even if you defeat Porter, it's a rugged grueling fight that leaves more of you behind than you would prefer.
WBA beltholder Keith Thurman's activity in the ring makes Spence's ring time look like he's fighting constantly with only one fight in twenty-two months (and that fight was preceded by another nine months of inactivity before that) when he finally returns against shopworn Josesito Lopez in an understandable squash match to chip some rust off.
The welterweight champions talk about settling who's best, but it's going to be quite a while to see just who is the best of them all.

The funny part of the Spence-Crawford whatever that was video above was Spence's comments that Crawford was "too small and light in the ass" and could be taken as Crawford was too little to make such an encounter interesting, yet Spence, who will have fought one round in 14 months by the time he fights Garcia, has no problems fighting the even smaller Garcia.
Only in the boxing business.

In the boxing challenge, I earned two points for the Kaviliauskas win, while Ramon Malpica scored one.
Both of us selected Alex Saucedo to defeat Maurice Hooker.
I still lead the challenge 188-165

Spence squashes Ocampo

Errol Spence was having some trouble with unheralded challenger Carlos Ocampo, who looked stronger than expected and was landing on Spence.
That "trouble" ended with one second in round one with a body punch that sent Ocampo to the floor for the duration and sent Spence to the second successful defense of his IBF welterweight title.

Not much else can be added other than Spence has disposed of his mandatory obligations for a while and hopefully, he can go onto better things.
The fight that the fans want to see is Spence against newly anointed WBO champion Terence Crawford, but we are most likely to see Spence against the winner of the vacant WBC title bout between Danny Garcia and Shawn Porter and then PBC will likely attempt to build to a Spence vs inactive WBA champ Keith Thurman before they even consider Crawford.

Danny Roman defended his WBA junior featherweight title with a clear unanimous decision over Moises Flores.
Flores, who didn't make weight, couldn't take advantage of his huge height advantage and Roman shrugged off any offense from Flores as he walked Flores down and simply was far more aggressive along with being effective.
I scored Roman a 119-109 winner and Roman impresses me more each time that I see him.
I have a feeling that Roman would be a tough out for either WBC champion Rey Vargas or WBO titleist Issac Dogboe and both of those bouts could be quite interesting.

In the first encounter of the season, junior welterweights Adrian Granados and Javier Fortuna were just warming up in the fourth round when Fortuna went tumbling through the ropes and appeared to hit his head on the side of the camera well.
Fortuna was declared unable to continue and since Texas rules require four complete rounds to go to the scorecards (there were only seconds remaining), the bout was ruled a no contest.
It was unfortunate as the third and fourth rounds featured some pretty strong action and although it seemed to me that Granados was in the starting stages of breaking down Fortuna, I think we would have seen some strong exchanges as we reached that point.

In the Boxing Challenge, I added four points to Ramon Malpica's two to extend my lead to 101-80.
I added four points for the wins by Errol Spence and Danny Roman, while Ramon earned two points from Errol Spence, but Ramon selected Moises Flores to win.

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers out there!
I plan on the next post to clean the inbox a bit.

Boxing Challenge: Spence Stops Peterson!

Photo Credit: Frank Franklin-AP Photo

The 2018 Boxing Challenge raced out of the starting blocks with arguably the next big star in boxing as Errol Spence retained his IBF welterweight title when Lamont Peterson's corner refused to allow their gallant warrior to answer the bell for the start of the eighth round.

Spence won every round, knocked Peterson down in the fifth round, walked through some decent right hands from Peterson and generally made a solid top ten welterweight look like he was one step away from retirement.
It was exactly the type of performance Spence needed to deliver and he came through with flying colors.
I also enjoyed the post-fight interview where Spence called out the usually reluctant Keith Thurman as "Some Time".
Spence tweeted this morning as having a next fight date set already, so perhaps Spence is beginning to set the tone for his career by actually demand that PBC make fights for him, which would be a good thing for Spence and for boxing fans who would love to see more of him in the ring.

In the co-feature, Robert Easter defeated Javier Fortuna via split decision in a fight that likely saw Easter lose a little luster.
The much shorter Fortuna moving up in weight ( having won minor titles at 126 and 130 ) pressed the action, forced Easter to be unable to use his reach and not be able to box from the outside.
The referee took a point away from Fortuna in the second round (which seemed very early to be taking points away to me) for holding and hitting and that decision cost Fortuna a draw on the judge's card.
Fortuna swept the final four rounds on my card and I had him winning 115-112, but it was hard for me to summon too much sympathy for a guy that has lost a title on the scales in the past (at a weight NINE pounds lower), so I won't be crying too much for Fortuna.

In the challenge. I added three points (2 for Spence,1 for Easter) to Ramon Malpica's two (1 for each win) to start the 2018 challenge.

Tune in tomorrow night for Fightheads for Ramon and me's thoughts on Errol Spence, Robert Easter, and this weekend's three fights .

Boxing Challenge

The 2018 Boxing Challenge begins with a two-fight card on Showtime and one of the coming stars in the sport defending his title for the first time.

The boxing challenge with Ramon Malpica will enter its fifth year and it doesn't seem that Ramon and I have been friends that long!
Time sure flies by!
Ramon won the challenge in the first year and I have won the last three, so I'm hoping to add another imaginary trophy to the imaginary mantle!

In Brooklyn, IBF welterweight champ Errol Spence is one of the hottest names in the game and talent wise, he is certainly deserving of that status, especially off his impressive title-winning effort over Kell Brook in England.
Spence's biggest problem is typical of most of the fighters that fight for PBC- they just don't fight enough and often times they don't fight really good opposition when they do.
Spence may have taken way too much off after his win over Brook (eight months), but at least his return is not against a light touch as he'll be taking on former junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, who has given every top opponent (except a three-round KO loss to Lucas Matthysse) all they could handle, whether Peterson won (Amir Khan) close or lost (Danny Garcia) close or anything in between (Tim Bradley) and should be at least an interesting test for young Spence.

On paper, this looks like this is going to be a good one and style wise, it looks like it could be a fun fight.
However, I have a feeling, this is going to be the true coming out party for Spence-too big, too strong and too fast for the solid but not special Peterson, who is going to find himself overwhelmed by a very special fighter.

The co-feature has IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter in a non-title bout against Javier Fortuna.
Why a non-title bout?
Because Fortuna, a former minor title holder at 126 and 130 pounds, couldn't find it within himself to make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds and was ineligible to win the title from Easter.
Fortuna will give Easter a percentage of his purse and Easter cannot lose his title even if he loses the fight so the fight will go on, but since Fortuna has done this before (he lost his minor WBA featherweight title on the scales), I don't need to see him on any type of cards of major magnitude in the future.
I'm tired of giving these guys rewards for not doing their jobs to make the weight.
It disappoints everyone involved and they don't deserve second chances for quite a while-let alone third chances...

IBF Welterweight Title. 12 Rds
Errol Spence vs Lamont Peterson
R.L: Spence Unanimous Decision
TRS: Spence KO 7

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Robert Easter vs Javier Fortuna
R.L: Easter KO 8
TRS: Easter KO 6

The Spence Era Begins-Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge returned with a bout that boxing junkies had hungered for a long time and were rewarded with a back and forth thriller that ended with Errol Spence taking the IBF welterweight belt away from Kell Brook with an eleventh round stoppage.
The bout featured plenty of action with both fighters having more than a few moments, but Spence knocked Brook down in the tenth and Brook dropped to a knee in the eleventh surrendering honorably.
Spence also broke the eye socket of Brook in the middle rounds as he re-injured the socket that Gennady Golovkin broke in Brook's last bout, along with badly puffing the left eye of Brook up with swelling.
I had Spence leading at the time of the stoppage 96-93 (6-4 with an extra point deducted from Brook for the tenth round knockdown).
It was just the type of fight that fans hoped for and with the Spence victory, Premiere Boxing Champions may have found the star that they have lacked since opening their promotion.
PBC has hyped several fighters and hoped those fighters (Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, etc) would develop into the flagbearer for their company, but for various reasons fell short.
Errol Spence has the type of skills and personality to be such a star-let's hope that PBC can avoid the inactivity pitfalls and allow fans to see him active to build his fanbase, which will allow him to develop into a star.
As for Kell Brook, it appears that he has developed a chronic problem with his facial bones and is going to have problems in tough fights as his face is going to bust up.
Issues like that don't get better over time and Brook is going to have to deal with these problems for the rest of his career.
Ramon Malpica earned two points in the boxing challenge for the Spence knockout, while I picked up one for the Spence victory.

I got that point back when George Groves won the vacant WBA super-middleweight title with a sixth-round stoppage over Fedor Chudinov in another great fight loaded with action.
I had Groves slightly ahead after five rounds (3-2) but wobbled Chudinov badly in the sixth before the referee stopped the bout.
Groves could have two big-money unification bouts that would draw huge crowds (and dollars) in the U.K. with IBF champ James DeGale (Groves handed him his only loss) and if Callum Smith could defeat Andre Dirrell for the vacant WBC title, either could be in Groves' future.
I picked Groves for one point with Ramon picking Chudinov.

As of now, I don't have a result for the final bout for this week from Panama with Anselmo Moreno against Julio Ceja.
I'll add that to this post when I have the result.
Editor's Note Ceja stopped Moreno in three rounds, giving Ramon two points and my zero.
I lead the challenge as of now 70-66

Boxing Challenge

Lots of things to catch up on here at TRS with trips to Norfolk,Lexington and my 30th anniversary tour stops,but I'll be catching up on those as the week goes on.

First,we have a bout that boxing fans have been salivating over from the time that it was announced as Kell Brook defends his IBF welterweight title against undefeated Errol Spence.
Brook's win over Shawn Porter was far more impressive than Keith Thurman's over the same Porter,has had troubles getting top welterweights to fight him-much in the same fashion as Gennady Golovkin has at middleweight,while the talented Spence has outclassed his own limited competition put in front of him by the PBC and is untested against top opponents.
Brook showed he'll fight anyone by his challenge of Golovkin,but we'll see what that bout took out of him after Golovkin broke his eye socket,but Spence has been off since August and his knockout of Leonard Bungu,who will not bring back memories of Jose Napoles by any means.
I've been back and forth on who I think wins this and this is a true fight that can go either way.
The fight is on Showtime around five in the afternoon-I'll be in Frederick for the Keys and Buies Creek Astros,so I'll be watching on a delay.

The undercard sees the WBA filling its super middleweight title vacancy with former champion Fedor Chudinov,who lost his belt via controversial decision to Felix Sturm,who then failed his post fight drug test against George Groves,who despite his talent has lost three title challenges.
If Groves wins,the UK could see a big money fight there with Groves unifying his WBA title with James DeGale and his IBF title.
Groves decisioned DeGale in 2011 for the only loss in DeGale's career.

The final bout is a non-televised fight from Panama as two former champions fight for a mandatory WBC 122 pound title fight with Rey Vargas.
Anselmo Moreno,a former bantamweight champ, faces Julio Ceja,who once held the belt owned by Vargas...

IBF Welterweight Title.12 rds
Kell Brook vs Errol Spence
R.L:Spence KO 6
TRS:Spence Unanimous Decision

Vacant WBA Super Middleweight Title,12 rds
Fedor Chudinov vs George Groves
R.L: Chudinov Unanimous Decision
TRS:Groves Unanimous Decision

Jr.Featherweights.12 rds
Anselmo Moreno vs Julio Ceja
R.L:Ceja KO 7
TRS:Moreno Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge-Errol Spence arrives!

R.L.Malpica and I arrived at the total from different avenues,but we each scored 8 points Saturday night in the boxing challenge.
I still maintained a nine point lead at 39-30....

The most impressive fighter of the night was Errol Spence,who made the transition from prospect to contender as the promising Texan mowed over Chris Algeri in five punishing rounds to achieve something that Manny Pacquiao,Ruslan Provodnikov and Amir Khan couldn't in stopping Algeri....

Spence dominated Algeri in the Brooklyn NY bout and looked ready for a further jump in competition.
Errol Spence is the real deal and if the PBC has any smarts at all,they'll begin to pound the promotional drum for him as a star and begin to get him fights against their better welterweights..
Spence gave me three points for the knockout win and calling the round,while R.L received one point for the win..

R.L.got two points back to my none as Krysztof Glowacki dropped Steve Cunningham four times to win a lopsided unanimous decision to retain his WBO cruiserweight title.
To my surprise the bout was not on the PBC broadcast,so I didn't score the bout....

In a non-challenge bout,former Olympian Marcus Browne won a split decision that he didn't deserve over Radijovie Kalajdzic.
The bout was marred by bad officiating as Browne was given credit for a knockdown in round one that wasn't and hit Kalajdzic while he was on the canvas and wasn't penalized.
Kalajdizic floored Browne in the sixth and again in the eighth,but the latter was inexplicably not scored as a knockdown.
Awful scoring and officiating....

On Showtime,R.L and I each earned four points for victories as Gary Russell kept his WBC featherweight title with a second round knockout over outgunned and undeserving challenger Patrick Hyland.
Russell,who is 0-1 against top competition and just 1-1 vs top 15 contenders in a career marred by injuries,time off and bad opposition called out the only top fighter to fight him in WBO champ Vasyl Lomachenko,who won a lopsided decision over Russell.
Considering Russell is a PBC fighter and Lomachenko does his fighting for Top Rank,a rematch is unlikely,but a unification bout with WBA champ (and PBC fighter) Leo Santa Cruz is possible and would go a long way in testing Russell's mettle...

Jose Pedraza bounced back from a controversial decision in his last fight to keep his IBF Jr.lightweight title with a unanimous and decent enough win over Stephen Smith over England.
Pedraza looked far better than in his win over Edner Cherry as I scored him a 116-112 winner....

Felix Verdejo gave each of us one point with a unanimous decision over Jose Rodriguez on UniMas.
Verdejo has now went the distance in his last two fights in somewhat of a surprise.I haven't watched it yet,although I have it on tape.....

Pointless in the PBC

In what was another pointless PBC card,this one from Spike,the PBC put together another three fights that reminded one of the old squash match oriented days of pro wrestling.
Add to that Top Rank's card on TruTv and only one fighter shined on Friday night.

The main event was another title defense against outgunned opposition by WBC Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson,who destroyed clubfighter Tommy Karpency in three rounds in Toronto.
Stevenson dropped Karpency late in the second and only the bell managed to give Karpency,a third round in which he was quickly dismissed.
The interesting part of the fight was Karpency landing a sharp left that might have stunned Stevenson in round one.
Stevenson has built an entire reign of fighting fighters from a division below and boxers that lack his talent with the exception of Andrej Fonfara,who gave him a tough fight and even dropped him showing the questionable chin of a man once stopped by the immortal Darnell Boone.
I'm not sure just what these bouts prove.Knocking over guys like Karpency and the shot Sakio Bika aren't proving anything to anyone.
PBC has one fighter (Two if you want to see a Fonfara rematch) that would make an interesting fight (Artur Beterbiev) against Stevenson,so hopefully PBC can make that happen because the recent Stevenson bouts are just not worth coming to watch.
After the win,Stevenson offered the obligatory callout of WBA/IBF champ Sergey Kovalev in a fight that boxing fans want to see made,I think Kovalev wants to see made,but not sure that Stevenson and Al Haymon want to see just how solid that chin is.
Kovalev and Main Events aren't blameless either with their insistence (contractual) that such a bout take place on HBO,which won't ordinarily do business with Haymon clients,but would make an exception in this case.
Haymon/PBC is very unlikely to make an exception even for this bout,so as a result,both will issue challenges that won't/can't be accepted and life trolls on...

I missed Errol Spence's stoppage of Chris Van Heerden,due to a co-workers need to watch another program after I was called into work early.
Spence won on an eighth round knockout that was expected.
I think Spence is extremely talented and look forward to him taking on real challenges.
The KO's gave R.L.Malpica and I each four points in the boxing challenge.

The real winner to me was Oscar Valdez in an impressive fifth round stoppage of former contender Chris Avalos on TruTv.
Valdez looks ready for better competition and disposed of Avalos in a way that makes one look forward to seeing him again.
Super Middleweight Jesse Hart came in highly touted,but didn't impress in a wild and undisciplined win via ninth round stoppage of Aaron Pryor Jr.
Hart looked a little green and might need some work.

R.L. and I each add three points for the Top Rank fights and brings the current total to 107-104 going into the Saturday fights...

Late note: Saturday results,I added 7 points to R.L's 6 for a 114-110 score.
I earned two points for Floyd Mayweather's unanimous win over Andre Berto with R.L. adding one.
We both earned a point for Marcus Browne's one round KO of Gabriel Campillo.
We each added two points for Peter Quillin's KO of Michael Zerafa and we each picked one point up for Jermall Charlo's stoppage of Cornelius Bundrage.
Roman Martinez drew with Orlando Salido for zero points and we both picked George Groves to defeat Badou Jack,who won a split decision over Groves....