Boxing Challenge: Opetaia outlasts Briedis, Cacace stuns Cordina

      The undercard for the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury main event was interesting with a world title back where it should have been all along, a surprising new world champion, a developing heavyweight contender, and what will hopefully be goodbye to a once-great fighter.

Jai Opietaia won back the IBF cruiserweight title that was stupidly stripped from him and repeated his 2022 win over Mairis Breidis by unanimous decision.

The fight wasn't quite as good as their first fight in action but it was similar with both fighters marking up the other, Opietaia building a large lead, and staving off the late rush by Briedis, who hurt Opietaia twice in the final few rounds.

Opietaia won the decision at 117-11 and two scores of 116-112, which was a little wider than my score of 115-113 for Opietaia.

In the upset of the day, underdog Anthony Carace stopped Joe Cordina in the eighth round to win the IBF junior lightweight title.

The win wasn't without controversy as in the third round, the referee yelled "break" and Cordina stopped fighting.

Carace didn't, cracking Cordina with a right hand and would send him to the canvas later in the round.

The fight was all Carace after that round as Cordia could not bounce back from the knockdown.

The punch did take a little of the shine of the surprising win for Carace.

Heavyweight Agit Kabayel continues to cement his reputation as a heavyweight contender as Kabayel dominated previously unbeaten Frank Sanchez and took him out in the seventh round with a body shot.

The normally smooth-boxing Sanchez clearly had knee issues from the start of the fight made him a sitting duck for Kabayel, who pressured Sanchez into submission.

Sergey Kovalev is at the end of his career as he lost almost every round to the unheralded Robin Safar and was knocked down in the final round in spectacular fashion.

Give Kovalev credit for getting up and avoiding the knockout but he's finished as a fighter, so continuing to box will only make things worse.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 75 Pts (4)

TRS: 63 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 41 Pts ( 7)

Boxing Challenge: Haney retains, Wilder returns

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

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

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

I scored Haney the easy winner at 118-110.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 175 Pts  (9)

Ramon Malpica: 151 Pts (9)

Vince Samano:140 Pts  (6)  

Boxing Challenge: Fury finishes off Wilder.

    The undercard for the third and likely final fight between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder may have disappointed but the main event certainly did not as Fury and Wilder slugged it out into the eleventh round before Fury conclusively finished Wilder with a crunching overhand right that left no doubt on who the better heavyweight is and retain his WBC heavyweight title.

Fury knocked Wilder down in the third and tenth, while Wilder sent Fury to the floor twice in the fourth round and just missed pulling off an amazing upset.

Fury generally controlled most of the action as he did in the first two fights, but Wilder had a few more moments in the third fight and his fourth-round knockdowns had Fury in more trouble than after either of the two knockdowns in the first fight.

My scorecard entering the final round had Fury ahead 94-91.

For Fury, the bigger man did what he did in the second fight, using his size and footwork to wear down Wilder on the inside and in clinches and at the same time move well enough to frustrate the often wild swipes from Wilder.

Wilder was effective in the early rounds when he scored with combinations and was able to stun Fury enough to keep the larger man off balance but by the sixth round, his legs were essentially gone and left Wilder resigned to basically winging the right hand and hoping to clip Fury with a miracle bomb.

Fury appears to be destined next to face Dillian Whyte, the longtime top WBC mandatory contender in what would be a huge fight in England, should Whyte defeat Otto Wallin in their October 30th fight and that's not a guarantee when you consider Wallin's close loss to Fury.

Should Fury defeat Whyte as he will be favored to do (or Wallin should he defeated Whyte), I would imagine he would next face the winner of the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch sometime next summer to unify Fury's WBC belt with the other three organizations titles held by the winner of the rematch.

As for Wilder, I'm not convinced that at 36 years of age that he might be better suited to consider retirement.

Wilder would have to be rebuilt in order to qualify for a future title shot that would be at least 18 months away at the earliest and while there would be interest in a Wilder-Joshua or even a Wilder-Usyk bout, even after all these years, I think few would be interested in a fourth Wilder-Fury fight.

And with PBC having nothing to with Usyk, Fury, or Joshua, Wilder's best bets could be against former champion Andy Ruiz, Robert Helenius, or Frank Sanchez, both of whom won on the undercard.

Still, Wilder may have proved more with his strong effort and willingness to go out on his shield than in any of his title defenses against mostly soft touches.

I thought the fight was very good at a high level but I didn't think it was the greatest heavyweight title fight of all time as some claimed after the fight.

I would say it's in the middle to back half of the top ten heavyweight title fights in history.

The undercard was thought to be paired with two fights that could be action slugfests and both came up short.

Robert Helenius left no doubt about his second win over Adam Kownacki with a sixth-round battering that left Kownacki with a broken orbital bone.

Kownacki stumbled around and was repeatedly smashed by the taller and longer Helenius before the fight was stopped in the sixth.

I had given Helenius all five rounds before the stoppage.

In a very droll fight between two undefeated heavyweights, PBC's Frank Sanchez won a unanimous decision over Top Rank's Efe Ajagba in a fight that really deserved to be skipped.

Sanchez knocked Ajaaba to one knee in the eighth round for the fight's only highlight.

I had Sanchez a 98-91 winner and looks to be placed against a PBC veteran that has a name or high ranking in the near future.

Part of the reason that this was posted so late as I was waiting to have time to watch "The Battle of Liverpool" that pitted former WBO champion Liam Smith against rising prospect Anthony Fowler in junior middleweight slugfest on a DAZN/Matchroom card.

Smith finished Fowler in the eighth round with a left hook that Fowler got up from but was unable to continue with the referee stopping the bout.

Fowler started fast, winning the first three rounds on my cards and cutting Smith above the left eye in the first round.

Smith began to turn the tide in fourth when he returned the favor to Fowler and scored a knockdown in the fifth and had taken the lead on my card after seven rounds, 67-65.

Smith will stay on the scene with the likelihood of meeting someone in a title eliminator for one of the sanctioning bodies soon while Fowler seems to be more of a European title level veteran rather than a top fifteen style contender.

In the boxing challenge, I scored five points to Ramon Malpica's two to move my lead to 135-116.

Boxing Challenge: Helenius stuns Kownacki, Carroll surprises Quigg

Photo: Michael Owens Getty Images

Two surprising upsets on a boxing Saturday salvaged what didn't look to be an exciting weekend for the sport.

PBC suffered the big loss in their heavyweight main event on Fox as undefeated and heavily favored Adam Kownacki was stopped in the fourth round by Finland's Robert Helenius in a WBA title eliminator.
Kownacki had appeared many times on PBC televised cards and with victories over top twenty level heavyweights such as Charles Martin, Gerald Washington, and Chris Arreola, Kownacki was being built for an eventual in-house challenge of then-WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
Kownacki had been offered the chance to replace Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller last year in the "Andy Ruiz" role as last-minute challenger to Anthony Joshua and turned it down.
Ruiz would accept the call to win Joshua's three titles as well as a massive payday for the rematch,
as Kownacki was reported to be the next optional defense for Wilder after his obligations for rematches against Luis Ortiz and Tyson Fury were fulfilled.

Kownacki appeared to have another suitable opponent in Helenius, who fit the bill of Kownacki's last opponent in Chris Arreola- somewhat of a name in the division, as he had been around for a decade, wasn't going to run from Kownacki, would land enough punches to make an entertaining match, but not enough to derail the title train and would be durable enough to last a while, if not the distance.
For three rounds, the fight was going to plan as both fighters landing heavy punches with Kownacki landing more and doing more damage going into the fourth.
Helenius started the fourth round with a right hand that dropped Kownacki to a knee, but referee Robert Fields ruled the knockdown a slip.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that the knockdown was a legitimate one and Helenius, who seemed spent at the end of the third round, sensed that this might be his only opportunity to grab the upset and jumped on it as he landed a big right and following up with a left hook that knocked Kownacki down along the ropes.
A dazed Kownacki got up but in serious trouble as Helenius followed up with a compilation of punches and avoided the desperate counters of Kownacki, which forced Robert Fields to end the fight.

For Kownacki, PBC will likely try to rebuild him against the same level of fighter that he previously faced or perhaps they will decide to select him as the increased opponent level for one of their two undercard victors before Kownacki could lose again and lose even more stature.
For Helenius, suddenly he's first in line for Anthony Joshua only two fights after being knocked out by Gerald Washington.
Helenius was once one of the better prospects in the division after wins over Lamon Brewster, Sam Peter, and Sergei Liahovich- IN 2011!
Helenius' career began to stall after he "won" one of the worst decisions you'll see over Dereck Chisora in December 2011 with promotional problems and fought just five times against lesser opponents until a stunning loss in April 2016 to, future Deontay Wilder enhancement talent, Johann Duhaupas sent him out of contention with his only name opponents, before the Kownacki win, both defeating Helenius in Dillian Whyte and Gerald Washington.
Give Helenius plenty of credit for his upset win, considering his track record, it's ridiculous to have him in line for a mandatory shot and this fight should not have been an eliminator or at least it should have been an eliminator to reach a final eliminator.
That title shot will be well over a year away though as Kubrat Pulev will be next with either the fight to unify all titles with Tyson Fury or WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk following, so Helenius is either three or four fights away from that shot.
One would think that Helenius would like to stay busy during that time, but more than likely he'll take few chances on losing the title shot and payday.

The other two fights ended as expected with Efe Ajagba and Frank Sanchez continuing their undefeated streak with victories.
Ajagba stopped Razvan Cojanu in nine rounds in a fight that saw Conaju occasionally land right hands but was outgunned by the power jab and right hand of the undefeated Ajagba.
Ajagba knocked Cojanu down in the eighth round and might have finished him with more time in the round.
The die was cast and when Cojanu took a knee in the ninth after taking punishment, the fight was stopped.
I like Ajagba's offensive skills, especially the jab and I think he could be a quality heavyweight in time, but he's been vulnerable to getting hit with right hands in his last two fights and I wonder about his resistance to punches when he fights the next level of heavyweights.

As for Frank Sanchez, he won every round against trialhorse Joey Dawejko in winning a unanimous decision.
Despite the dominance of Sanchez, he never stepped up the pace against Dawejko, was content to box from the outside, and didn't seem interested in taking any chances against the durable, but slow Dawejko.
Sanchez is going to be a heavyweight that few are going to want to fight and even fewer are going to want to watch him fight in lopsided bouts until he faces better competition as he progresses to contender status.

The Helenius upset of Adam Kownacki might have been a bigger deal in boxing's big picture, but another upset occurred Saturday in the UK as Jono Carroll stopped former WBA junior featherweight champion, Scott Quigg in the eleventh round in Manchester.
Carroll consistently beat Quigg to the punch, walked down Quigg with harder punches to lead 99-91 on my card as he entered the eleventh round when Carroll hurt Quigg with combinations that had a badly hurt Quigg trapped along the ropes when Quigg's trainer Joe Gallagher threw in the towel to stop the fight.
The win was the biggest of the Irishman's career and combined with his very competitive defeat to then-IBF champion Tevin Farmer, Carroll should move up in the IBF ratings in which he was rated ninth entering this fight.
As for Quigg, he should consider this the right time to retire as he showed very little in his first try at junior lightweight after being out of the ring for sixteen months and since Quigg cannot make the featherweight limit, his chances for future success seem bleak.

In the Boxing Challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's three to stretch my lead to 45-40.
The difference was the Frank Sanchez unanimous decision rather than a knockout.