Boxing Challenge: Joshua knocks out Pulev

 Anthony Joshua needed a victory in his title defense against Kubrat Pulev, but he needed an impressive performance even more and he delivered just that as Joshua knocked Pulev down four times on his way to a ninth-round knockout to retain his WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles in London.

Joshua knocked Pulev down twice in the third round and two more times in the ninth before the fight was ended. Joshua showed more aggression and looked more like the confident bomber as he was before the two fights with Andy Ruiz in 2019 and less like the cautious and tentative boxer that he showed in winning the Ruiz rematch.

An argument could have been made that the fight could have been stopped in the third round as twice Pulev turned his back to avoid Joshua's punches and that could have been judged to have been a sign of surrender.

The fight continued with Pulev occasionally rocked by right hands and right uppercuts throughout until the ninth round when Pulev was finished off for the evening.

I had Joshua leading 79-71 at the end of eight rounds and was on his to an easy win before concluding the fight.

It was the performance that Joshua needed to push the memories of his loss and dull win over Andy Ruiz to the background and get fans excited about unification with WBC champion Tyson Fury.

Both fighters and their promoters want that fight to happen next and it could- But it's all up to an arbitrator to decide whether Deontay Wilde breached his contract for a third fight with Fury.

Should Fury win the case, he's open for a fight with Joshua, but it may better if he is forced to fight Wilder as Joshua could face WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk at the same time and keep all four titles for the unification fight.

If Joshua fights Fury instead of Usyk, he could be stripped of the WBO title, and then all four championships would not be unified by a Joshua-Fury fight.

In undercard action, cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie stayed busy while he waited for Krzysztof Glowacki to return from and fight for the vacant WBO championship with a second-round knockout of late substitute Nikodem Jezewski.

Okolie knocked down Jezewski twice in the first round and once in the second before the mismatch was ended.

Hughie Fury won a clear, but unspectacular unanimous decision over Mariusz Wach in a fight that was a minor IBF eliminator.

The most exciting part in Fury's win was an unintentional headbutt over his left eye that threatened to stop the fight in the fourth round, but Fury was able to battle through and finish with help from his cutman.

I scored Fury a 99-91 winner giving only the fifth round to Wach.

The winner is scheduled to face Martin Bakole, who won a unanimous decision over Sergey Kuzmin on the undercard in another eliminator.

The Las Vegas bubble hosted its final card of the year for Top Rank and ESPN and while the main event was the expected showcase match, the co-feature (thus far) was the fight of the day.

Shakur Stevenson continued to bide his time before a junior lightweight title attempt with a unanimous decision over Toka Kahn-Clary.

Stevenson won every round and was rarely hit doing so against the soft-fisted Kahn-Clary, who is a cut or two below world-class caliber.

I scored Stevenson a 100-90 winner in a fight that proved little other than Kahn-Clary could make Stevenson go ten rounds.

Stevenson is the number one contender in the WBO rankings and the number two in the WBC and with both of those champions and their next challengers controlled by Top Rank (WBO Jamel Herring vs Carl Frampton and WBC Miguel Berchelt vs Oscar Valdez), Stevenson could have the opportunity to win both of those championships in 2021.

The co-feature also was held in the junior lightweight division and the winner was going to move up into the lower part of some rankings as one-time sensation Felix Verdejo battled Masayoshi Nakatani in a ten-round fight.

Verdejo started fast and looked he was on his way to a career-changing victory over Nakatani, who was returning after his only career loss in which he surprised almost everyone in lasting the distance and giving a solid test to Teofimo Lopez. 

Verdejo knocked Nakatani down in the first with Nakatani surviving only because the knockdown occurred late in the round and sent him to a knee in the fourth round, although he didn't seem nearly as stung by that one.

I had Verdejo well ahead after six rounds (60-52) and it seemed like Nakatani would need a knockout to win unless he scored a knockdown in each remaining round.

Nakatani began to turn the fight around in the seventh when he landed a right that badly hurt Verdejo. Verdejo managed to stay upright, but you had the feeling that the race had begun- if Verdejo lasts through the final three rounds, he wins on the scorecards with ease, but would his legs give out on him first?

The eighth saw Nakatani continue to back Verdejo up and sting him, but Verdejo fired back gamely and even stunned Nakatani a bit in an action-filled exchange.

Midway through the ninth, Nakatani landed another right that sent Verdejo flying backward into the ropes and to the floor, and honestly, I wouldn't have complained if the fight was stopped after Verdejo rose in a daze.

Still, I don't have a problem in giving the fighter up on the scorecards every chance to hold on, but in seconds another Nakatani right dropped Verdejo facedown on the floor to end the fight.

For Nakatani, he places himself in the mix at 130 pounds and considering his effort against the naturally larger Lopez, is going to have plenty of fights to be made involving him.

For Verdejo, I wouldn't be against considering retirement, even at 27.

Verdejo's offensive skills are still among the best in the division, but he seems to hit a wall after six rounds ( Verdejo's other knockout loss was in the tenth round of a fight that he was winning against Antonio Lozada) and when he runs out of gas, his punch resistance completely goes away.

Verdejo didn't dog it in defeat, but I'd be concerned with him facing a big puncher.

I have not watched the three Showtime fights and I'll either write it up when I watch them or add them with an edit here.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me nine to seven due to the Nakatani win and a bonus point for calling the round in Anthony Joshua's win.

My lead was cut to 174-163 in the overall standings.

Showtime Edit:

Ronald Ellis lost the first four rounds to Matt Korobov, but Korobov injured his ankle and was unable to continue, giving Ellis the TKO victory.

It may be time for the aging and breaking down Korobov to consider retirement.

Korobov fights well, but his body doesn't seem to handle the stress, and injuries seem to follow him around.

Richardson Hitchens won a split decision over Argenis Mendez that should have been unanimous.

I scored Hitchens a 97-93 winner and that may have been generous to Mendez.

In the main event, Chris Colbert broke open a fairly close fight with a knockdown in the ninth round and scored three more to end the evening in the eleventh round with a victory over Jaime Arboleda.

I had Colbert ahead 96-93 entering the eleventh.

Ramon Malpica outscored me four to three in the Showtime fights to cut into my lead either further in the boxing challenge at 177-167

Boxing Challenge: Verdejo demolishes Madera

A late recap for the boxing challenge saw a little bit of shine return to the once-promising star of lightweight Felix Verdejo from the Las Vegas "Bubble" on Thursday night as Verdejo demolished previously undefeated (although that includes three draws) Will Madera in one round.

Verdejo's win climbed to the main event after the "Negative, Positive, Negative" Covid-19 testing of WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring caused the cancellation of Herring's title defense against Jonathan Oquendo, but the spectacular performance by Verdejo in front of a national audience will make fans want to see more of the former Puerto Rican Olympian in the future.

The right, right, left combination that left Madera prone in a corner near the end of the first round showed why so many tabbed Verdejo as a future superstar when he turned pro in 2013.
Verdejo has been working with a new trainer this year with Ismael Salas and Salas has a track record of working well with reclamation projects in recent years, so even if this victory still leaves Verdejo with plenty to prove, training with Salas and the knockout gives hope for Verdejo.
Although it seemed a bit silly for Verdejo to call out Vasily Lomachenko after this win (Verdejo still has never beaten a top ten lightweight), it does make him an interesting fighter to watch in the division and should he defeat a tougher opponent in his next fight, I would not be surprised to see him in the mix for one of the three vacant lightweight titles that could be vacated by the Lomachenko-Teofimo Lopez winner (Lomachenko has talked of returning to junior lightweight and Lopez is likely to move up to junior welterweight).


Ramon Malpica and I each added one point for the Verdejo win to move the total to 69-61 in the boxing challenge.

Boxing Challenge: Rosario shocks Williams!

Photo; Corey Perrine-Getty Images

The boxing weekend saw a shocking upset in Philadelphia as their hometown champion Julian Williams lost his WBA and IBF junior middleweight titles by fifth-round knockout to Jeison Rosario in Williams' first title defense since his upset win over Jarrett Hurd.

I was struck immediately by how much larger Rosario seemed than Williams at the start of the fight, but I still figured Williams would handle Rosario.
In hindsight, I should have remembered the other fight that Williams looked so much smaller than his opponent- His KO loss to Jermall Charlo.
Williams started well, but Rosario rebounded in the second round where his right hands began to puff Williams up around his left eye and what proved to be more important, cut Williams over the same eye.
This would impair the vision of Williams as he would spend the rest of the fight, occasionally swiping at the cut in an attempt to clear his vision and it would only make sense that the champion was having problems picking up the incoming right hands from Rosario.
Rosario won the third, but Williams rebounded to grab the fourth on my scorecard to even the fight entering the fifth.
The right hand was the most damaging punch throughout the fight for Rosario, but it was the left that started the road to the championship as a left sent Williams stumbling to the ropes in distress.
Rosario began to land further, but Williams hit the deck in an attempt to hold onto Rosario and was barely able to rise from the stumble.
Williams was in such despair that I wouldn't have argued if Benji Estevez stopped the fight then, but Williams was given the chance to survive.
He wouldn't as a swarming Rosario sent Williams careening off the ropes with a right uppercut that left Estevez no choice but to end the fight.

Once again, my theory that the PBC may have a lot of talented depth in the 154-pound division, but lacks a standout, proves true with Rosario's upset of Williams.
Adding Rosario to the mix improves that depth, but I doubt that Rosario is a star either.
PBC has several fighters that can make excellent fights against one another, but the winner of these fights depends on the style and whom they are matched against.
Jarrett Hurd beats Tony Harrison, Tony Harrison beats Jermell Charlo, the elder Charlo beats Julian Williams, Williams beats Hurd, who beat Erislandy Lara, add Jeison Rosario and the beat goes on.
Williams is contractually obligated to a rematch with Rosario, just as Williams was obligated to one vs Jarrett Hurd after Williams upset win (see what I mean?), but Rosario could take Williams' place in what was scheduled to be a three title unification fight with Jermell Charlo instead.
It would make sense to have Rosario-Charlo with Hurd-Williams II as the co-feature and natural next fight for the unified winner and I bet that would be a fun card for viewers.
PBC should make Rosario-Charlo quickly and not hesitate as knowing the three sanctioning bodies, they will start shoving mandatories at both fighters soon, which could cause delays for close to a year.


The co-feature was nothing to mention as promising junior lightweight Chris Colbert won a minor title with a unanimous decision over former WBA champion Jezreel Corrales.
Colbert knocked Corrales down in the tenth round, but Corrales wasn't seriously stunned.
I scored Colbert a 117-110 winner, but the most impressive thing about this fight was the deep purple shade that Colbert dyed his hair.
I think Colbert is a very good prospect, but I wouldn't rank him as the top prospect in the game as commentator Dan Goossen stated.
I'll go with Golden Boy welterweight Vergil Ortiz for that honor.

Over on ESPN with Top Rank, their fights weren't very stimulating, but they did deliver one exciting ending as former WBO light heavyweight champion Eleider Alvarez knocked out Michael Seals with one comet-like right hand in the seventh round.
Up to that crunching right, Alvarez had won every round on my card (60-54) but wasn't thrilling in doing so as he clearly paid plenty of respect for the big punching Seals, who tried to fire his own booming right but seemed a hair off in launching it.
Both fighters attempted to fire rights at the same time in round seven and as happened throughout the bout, it was Alvarez that threw the faster and straighter punch and Seals was falling forward after the punch landed, but as Seals fell, his head smacked into the shoulder of Alvarez as he followed through.
The collision changed the trajectory of Seals and instead of falling forward, he was driven backward and smacked his head against the bottom rope in an ugly scene.
Referee Danny ( Don't call me Tony) Schiavone quickly stopped the fight and fortunately, Seals was fine upon getting to his corner.
Alvarez will next face Joe Smith on an ESPN card this spring in what should be an entertaining fight as both guys can punch well (Smith has the edge) and both men take a punch well (Alvarez might have a small advantage there) so the styles should mesh well.
The winner of that fight might be in line for either WBC and IBF champion Artur Beterbiev or WBA titleholder Dmitri Bivol.
Beterbiev-Alvarez would be very intriguing to me as Beterbiev stops everyone, Alvarez has the best chin in the division and with both fighters establishing a home in Montreal, I would think pairing them for a title defense in the Bell Centre would draw an excellent crowd.

In the co-feature, the once-touted Felix Verdejo continued to slog along the comeback trail with a unanimous decision over Manuel Rey Rojas in a lightweight ten rounder.
Verdejo dominated the fight (98-92 on my card), but never stepped the pace up in an attempt to take the journeyman Rojas out.
Verdejo is now being trained by Ismael Salas and there is always a process of development, so I wouldn't give up hope of a career rebound yet, but it could very well be that the promise that Verdejo once showed could have been left on the side of the road where he had his motorcycle accident in 2016.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me five to four to take the early season lead at six to five.
The point difference was the Eleider Alvarez knockout, which Ramon predicted with my prediction having Alvarez a decision victor.

Boxing Challenge: Crawford cans Khan

Terence Crawford had little problems retaining his WBO welterweight title via corner stoppage in the sixth round over former junior welterweight champion Amir Khan, but the problem that Crawford may not be able to climb so easily are still to come with the inter-promotional problems that threaten to choke boxing and its fans like the plague.

I thought Khan's speed could trouble Crawford and on the occasional time, it did, but those occasions appeared far too seldom for the Englishman and the real surprise came in the first round when Crawford, not known for getting out of the blocks quickly, dropped Khan with a left that was preceded by a right that appeared to do most of the damage.
Crawford nearly finished the fight there, but Khan avoided another knockdown with a well-placed grab and made it to the bell before being hurt and surviving again in the second.
Khan had a few good moments in the third and especially the fourth, but the fifth round saw Crawford landing hard punches that had Khan wincing and shaking his head and usually that means the end is near.
And it was, but in a less meaningful way than most had hoped as Crawford cracked Khan with what was either a low blow or a shot to the inner thigh (and depending on your angle, it could have been either) that saw Khan taking some of the allowed recovery period before trainer Virgil Hunter decided to intercede and surrender for his fighter from the corner.
Hunter's decision saved Khan from additional punishment but cost Crawford and fans a conclusive ending, not that is his job to worry about those things, but still an unsatisfying ending, if not an inevitable one.
Khan simply doesn't have the chin to compete with world-class welterweights and maybe not even those a notch below as his knockdown against trialhorse Samuel Vargas showed in his previous fight.
Yet, Khan would be unlikely to make 140 pounds again in a return to junior welterweight and may be caught in limbo, where his best option might be to make the fight that U.K. fans have always wanted against Kell Brook.
A Khan-Brook fight would put dollars into both men's coffers, even if the fight is too late to determine which was truly the better fighter in their prime and I'm hoping that Terence Crawford and Errol Spence don't look back in a few years and wonder about themselves as well.
Crawford-Spence is the best fight that boxing can make and Spence's claims that in-house options to unify his IBF title with are preferable (WBA champ Keith Thurman and WBC kingpin Shawn Porter) to a Crawford unification and I understand those are easy fights to make.
I would even be OK with Spence and Crawford hooking up in a year- IF you would make me this deal- Spence's next two fights are against those two PBC comrades while Crawford fights whoever he can match up with and those guys aren't going to be as interesting as Spence's competition certainly would be.
I'd be willing to wait under those conditions, no others.

On the Crawford-Khan undercard, Teofimo Lopez dominated Edis Tatli for four rounds and then stopped the former world title challenger with a right to the body that sent Tatli to one knee for the ten count.
Lopez claims he wants a fight with Vasyl Lomachenko in the next year before he leaves the lightweight division, but Lomachenko's claim is only if he holds a title will that fight take place.
A Mikey Garcia bout for the WBC title is unlikely, but should Garcia vacate the title, which is possible, Lopez could be in line for a fight that fills that vacancy, but an IBF title fight vs Richard Commey would be easier to make.
Commey would likely make more money for Lomachenko and a unification event so Top Rank will have to pay up for Commey to fight Lopez instead.

Shakur Stevenson cruised to a unanimous decision over Christopher Diaz.
I haven't watched this fight yet, but Stevenson is reported to have dominated Diaz in winning by eight, nine, and ten points on the scorecards.
I'm not sure Stevenson doesn't need more seasoning before fighting a champion at featherweight, a division that possesses four strong champions, but he seems to be on a fast track for a title fight within the next year or so.

Felix Verdejo's star may have dimmed since his days as a top prospect, but he at least added a little shine with a unanimous decision over Bryan Vasquez.
Verdejo never hurt Vasquez, but his jab was impressive and his combinations at least brought back memories of what Verdejo was thought to be before various problems caused inactivity and his first loss.
It will be interesting to see if Verdejo is challenged with another step up in competition or if he fights another boxer on the level of Vasquez, who is solid, but not quite top ten class.
I scored Verdejo a 97-93 winner on my card.

Meanwhile, Mr. Al Haymon, whose name was mentioned as much on social media during the Top Rank card due to the Crawford-Spence talk, and his PBC were outside on Fox and FS1 from Carson California.
The PBC main event saw former WBC welterweight champion, Danny Garcia return to the ring for the first time since a September loss to Shawn Porter for the vacant title and looked very strong in taking out durable Adrian Granados in the seventh round.
Granados won round one with his trademark aggression, but Garcia knocked down Granados twice in the second round with overhand rights that it seemed that everyone could see coming but Granados.
It was all Garcia from there as he never was threatened despite Granados' efforts otherwise.
Garcia sent Granados to the mat in the fifth and finished him off in the seventh as Garcia battered Granados along the ropes forcing referee Thomas Taylor to end the bout.
For Garcia, it was an impressive return, albeit against a fighter made to order for Garcia, who generally scores knockouts against fighters a step below the elite, but rarely stops an elite one.
Garcia would be well suited to fight again soon, but similar to many in the PBC, he simply doesn't fight often enough to stay in the minds of fans.
Garcia has been on both sides of close decisions in his career and has never been outmatched in any of his fights, but putting Garcia against any of the four champions have that been there done that feeling, which is logical considering that he has already fought two of them (Thurman and Porter) already.
Granados is simply physically overmatched at welterweight and if he can make the weight, would be competitive against anyone at 140 pounds.

Former heavyweight title challenger Andy Ruiz made his PBC debut a successful one in winning every round against Alexander Dimitrenko before Dimitrenko's corner stopped the bout at the end of the fifth round.
Don't give Ruiz too much credit though, as Dimitrenko seemed so dispassionate in his performance as any heavyweight in the top 100 could have dominated him on this night.
Dimitrenko's effort was a surprising one, considering his brave battle against Bryant Jennings in his previous bout, but if this is all that he will offer in the future, he should consider retirement.
As for Ruiz, who has just one loss to Joseph Parker, he has always shown ability, but a lack of activity along with a tendency to stay in shape has been a constant companion to him.
Should those things change for Ruiz, he could still be a viable contender and on the PBC side, I'd be very interested in a Ruiz-Adam Kownacki pairing.

Brandon Figueroa won a minor junior featherweight jewelry piece when Yonfrez Parejo was unable to continue after the eighth round.
The bout was filled with good exchanges in the first three rounds, but the bigger punching Figueroa began to grind Parejo down thereafter and avoided the counters that Parejo landed earlier in the fight.
I had Figueroa ahead after eight rounds 78-74 and I had the feeling that this fight might have ended before the final bell anyway, so the point may have been moot.
The undefeated Figueroa won his third fight in a row against veteran competition (Parejo, Moises Flores, and Oscar Escandon) and would be a very interesting challenger to the victor of next Friday's
WBA-IBF unification between Daniel Roman and T.J. Doheny.

Another minor belt was handed out on this card with an untelevised fight (Why that was is beyond me since it seemed like they were showing every fight down to ten years in the L.A. area) in the bantamweight division as former IBF flyweight champion John Riel Casimero knocked out Ricardo Espinoza in the twelfth round to win this title, which basically puts him into bantamweight contention.
As noted, I haven't seen this-Casimero knocked Espinoza down in the fifth and again in the final round before the fight was stopped.
Entering the final round the fight was on the line as each fighter was ahead by two points on one judge's card and the third judge had the fight even.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 15-14 to increase my lead to 94-85.
My points: three points from Brandon Figueroa (bonus point for calling the round)
                   two points from Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, Teofimo Lopez, Felix Verdejo, and Andy Ruiz.
                   one point from John Riel Casimero and Danny Garcia

Ramon's points; three points from Teofimo Lopez
                           two points from Crawford, Figueroa, Verdejo, and Ruiz
                           one point from Stevenson, Casimero, and Garcia

Boxing Challenge:Ramirez Decisions Imam

Top Rank and ESPN hosted the boxing challenge for an St. Patrick's Day card in New York City that saw two challenge bouts, but the card was more than just the challenge as far as results go with the result being a very interesting night from the "World Wide Leader In Sports"
(Even though that's probably true, doesn't that line always seem pretentious?).

Let's start with the challenge and the most important fight of the evening (technically not the main event, but I digress) as a pretty solid scrap ensued as Jose Ramirez took a unanimous decision over Amir Imam to win the WBC junior welterweight title vacated by Terence Crawford.
The fight was close for the first half of the fight (I had Ramirez winning four of six rounds, but I could have seen 4-2 Imam just as easily), but Ramirez dominated the second half of the fight, badly swelling Imam's right eye and marching forward with aggression that overwhelmed Imam to the point of slowing Imam's ability to return fire.
I had Ramirez a 117-111 winner and despite a ridiculous scorecard that gave Ramirez every round, the decision was a clear-cut and fair one.
Ramirez is mandated to fight the WBC 'interim' champion Regis Prograis, who impressively dispatched Julius Indongo a few weeks back in his next fight, but Top Rank, who hosted Prograis and his promoter Lou DiBella last night, asked if Prograis would be willing to make a defense as the co-main event to a proposed Ramirez defense in his native Fresno, California, where Ramirez draws very impressive crowds and would be expected to do even better as a champion.
That makes sense to build exposure for Prograis and would give some buildup for a Ramirez-Prograis fight that style-wise might be a fight of the year level between the pair of undefeated bangers.

In the "our" co-feature highly rated light heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk dominated Mehdi Amir but didn't impress as much as I expected in winning an interim title that only exists because the WBC allows its champion Adonis Stevenson to do as he pleases (as in no mandatory defenses since 2013).
I had Gvozdyk an easy 118-110 winner, but the victory not only lacked knockdowns, Gvozdyk didn't deliver the dazzling victory as expected.
The win does make Gvozdyk the mandatory contender for the winner of Stevenson's fight against Badou Jack in May, the speed of that fight occurring may be up to the WBC as Gvozdyk (Promoted by Top Rank) brings a lot of danger, but does not bring an excessively large purse for either Stevenson (PBC) or Jack (Mayweather Promotions) along with the promotional (and television) difficulties involved.
I'll believe Gvozdyk fights either (but especially Stevenson) fighter when they enter the ring on fight night.

The promoted "Main Event" that went onto finish the evening in a non-challenge fight saw Irish Olympian Michael Conlan demolish David Berna in two rounds.
Normally a fighter in his sixth fight (that isn't Vasyl Lomachenko) is a preliminary, but Top Rank is attempting to build the appeal to the Irish fan base in NYC of Conlan as he matures as a prospect.
I wouldn't have promoted Conlan as the main event, but as I watched the fight, someone on Twitter raised a great point-had Conlan been the prelim bout, half the crowd would have left and would have taken some of the energy away that wound up being present for the Ramirez-Imam fight.
Looking at things that way, I can see their point.

I watched the undercard on the ESPN app and it was an interesting three fight card (I think there was a fourth, but I took the ladies for Meadows custard before the broadcast started) with three fighters of interest going in and saw a shocking upset with a dose of just how hard it truly is to project a prospect's future-no matter their amateur pedigree.

Four years ago, when Ramon Malpica and I first were getting to know each other, we did a post called the six-round staredown and we picked "Can't Miss" and "Tired of Seeing" for each of the three major promotions.
When Top Rank came up, Ramon picked Felix Verdejo, while I picked Vasyl Lomachenko (don't give me too much credit, I picked Omar Figueroa for Golden Boy's Can't Miss) for the Arum bunch.
Fast forward four years and Verdejo has suffered through motorcycle accidents, injuries, a few disappointing performances along with a thirteen-month layoff before his return against Antonio Lozada.
Lozada had a solid (37-2 31 KO's) record but had never fought outside of Mexico and the once touted Verdejo, who in his rise was an HBO fighter against lesser opponents than Lozada in anticipation of being one of boxing's next stars was relegated to the Watch ESPN app on a stream.
Verdejo was competitive but was in a dogfight against the taller Lozada entering the final round.
I had Lozada leading by a point, but I was completely prepared for a close and arguable decision for Verdejo on the cards.
Verdejo was the house fighter, the bigger name and the guy that was marked for future appearances and I've seen this happen a thousand times, but on this night, Lozada was having none of that.
Lozada took no chances and did what so many fighters should do in similar situations-he took the pencils away from the judges and finished the fight as he dropped Verdejo and pummeled him until the referee was forced to stop the fight with 23 seconds to go.
It was disappointing for Verdejo and his promotion to drop his return bout, but what's really disappointing is more than just one bout.
One loss doesn't destroy a career and all too often in today's boxing, a loss is a bigger deal than it should be (call it the Mayweather Ramification), but it seems like all the issues outside of the ring have taken its tool on a young fighter with loads of ability and I'm very dubious of any idea that we'll ever see from Felix Verdejo what so many thought we would see in the ring.

The other two bouts saw promising junior lightweight Christopher Diaz win by a TKO in the fourth over Braulio Rodriguez, when Rodriguez separated his shoulder (Egads!) and former junior lightweight champ Jose Pedraza win a unanimous decision over Jose Rodriguez in an eight rounder in his first fight since losing his title to Gervonta Davis and first fight since signing with Top Rank.
I thought Diaz looked like he was ready to make his first leap against better competition and Pedraza looked sharp all things considered as well.

The stream call had a different announcing crew and I liked some of what I saw.
I've always been a big supporter of Crystina Poncher calling fights,she knows the sport and just needs the reps in the job to be a coming star and I liked Brian McIntyre's (trainer of Terence Crawford) analysis too as I hadn't been too familiar with him at the mic, but thought he was solid.
I wasn't as thrilled with Todd Grisham, but that could be my bias against former wrestling announcers, although my rap against Grisham (and Showtime's Mauro Ranallo) is that they seem to come into a broadcast with set jokes and stories that they are going to get into the broadcast no matter what and the artificial excitement that seems to always be a staple of the former McMahon bunch when they commentate sports that don't have a predetermined victor.

I'm still just not thrilled with the ESPN/Top Rank main crew.
Joe Tessitore is decent enough but like an average team, he plays to the level of the competition and with Mark Kriegel and Tim Bradley, he is limited in what he has to work with.
Bradley struggles to get his thoughts out quickly and he might be better used as a commentator in between fights or even rounds where he has a little bit of time to get his insights out.
Bradley says some interesting things but could thrive in a different role and especially the same for Kriegel, who was terrific in a roundtable with Don King and Bob Arum recalling their old war stories, but in a live fight environment is just not very good.
I'm not sure how Kriegel got into this position and had enough pull to push Teddy Atlas aside, but someone at the network or promotion must really be fond of him.

In the Boxing Challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points to move the total to 43-35.
Ramon scored two points for the Oleksandr Gvozdyk win, while I scored one each for wins by Gvozdyk and Jose Ramirez.

Boxing Challenge-Wilder struggles past Molina

A less than explosive night in boxing covered two networks and the boxing challenge on Saturday night as we discovered more questions than answers.

On Showtime,Deontay Wilder was expected to crush Eric Molina early in front of a excited home crowd in Birmingham,Alabama in the first defense of his WBC heavyweight title in boxing's version of a pro wrestling squash match.
Instead,Wilder struggled at times and was rocked in the third round against a fighter that really was not deserving of a title opportunity before stopping Molina in round nine.
Wilder did floor Molina three times,but looked like more Michael Grant than Lennox Lewis and I have a feeling that his chin might not hold up in the long haul.
Wilder will next face Alexander Povetkin in a mandatory defense and should be severely tested.
Povetkin is the second best heavyweight in the world and his right hand could be the litmus test for the chin of Wilder that I question...

Jose Pedraza won the IBF Jr.Lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Andrey Klimov and looked pretty impressive doing it.
Pedraza ripped Klimov to the body and threw a lot of punches.
I'd be interesting in seeing more of Pedraza soon....

In New York on HBO,featherweight Nicholas Walters dropped his WBA title on the scales when he failed to make weight and that advantage helped Walters use his size for a unanimous decision over Miguel Marriaga.
Walters scored a ninth round knockdown in a bout that looked to be a good one on paper turned out to be a bout that lacked fireworks.
Walters was expected to face Vasyl Lomachenko in his next bout,but that is possibly on ice with the questions with Walters being unable to make 126.

Felix Verdejo scored an unanimous decision over brave Ivan Najera with knockdowns in rounds five and seven.
Verdejo injured his left hand,yet dominated the undefeated Najera,who never quit trying,but was in a different class from Puerto Rico's Verdejo,who looks to be a star in the near future..

In the boxing challenge,R.L.Malpica and I each earned six points on the evening.
Two each for the Wilder and Pedraza wins and one each for the Verdejo and Walters victories.
I hold my lead in the challenge at 73-72.

I plan on being in Harrisburg today for the Trenton Thunder,but hope to be back for game five of the NBA finals.
If I would stay home,I'll be doing either an On the signing front from the latest autograph news or a Cleaning out the inbox from the non-sports world.
Either way,I'll get those knocked out early  next week!