Boxing Challenge: Cordina outlasts Rahkimov,

   The boxing weekend was more than only Gervonta Davis's win over Ryan Garcia as a world title changed hands in Cardiff, Wales and a minor beltholder staked a claim for a possible fall fight to determine yet again a true challenger for a unified champion's top contender position.

Matchroom/DAZN featured a fight that will be in consideration for fight of the year when that time arrives as Joe Cordina outlasted Shavkat Rahkimov via a split decision to regain the IBF junior lightweight title that he never lost in the ring.

The non-stop action swung back and forth between the two with the only major difference coming in the second round when Cordina knocked Rahkimov down briefly and after two, it appeared Cordina was on his way to a short evening with Rahkimov's knockdown and his right eye already showing the start of the damage that would see the eye almost closed by the fight's end.

Rahkimov began to close the gap over the middle rounds with a body attack that seemed to be slowing Cordina and the final two rounds would decide the fight on my scorecard which would appear to favor Rahkimov who has worn fighters down in the past for late round knockouts and his body attack.

Instead, it was Cordina that took control in those final two rounds by edging Rahkimov by being slightly busier and outworking him to win the fight on my card 114-113 and the second-round knockdown made the difference.

The knockdown made the difference on only one card, a 114-113 score for Cordina with the other two cards split at 115-112 for Cordina and a surprising 116-111 for Rahkimov.

Had Cordina not scored the knockdown, the fight would have finished in a draw with Rahkimov retaining the title.

Cordina won the title with a second-round KO of Kenichi Ogawa last June but was stripped last fall after a hand injury required surgery before a planned fight with Rahkimov with the IBF stripping him of the title.

The ruling was a bit harsh in my opinion as boxers take longer time than that in between fights anymore with no measures taken at all.

Rahkimov won the vacant title with a knockout over Zelfa Barrett with the provision that Cordina would receive a title shot immediately upon his return to the ring.

I certainly think a rematch would be acceptable and with the other champions in the division with other promoters (WBA champion Hector Luis Garcia and WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster are with PBC and WBO boss Emmanuel Navarette fights for Top Rank), a rematch with the action in this fight would seem to be an easy sell.

The top two undercard fights from the Davis-Garcia both were fought in the super middleweight division with a dominant first-round knockout from minor beltholder David Morrell taking center stage.

Morrell scored a standing eight count when he sent late replacement Yamaguchi Falcao against the ropes with only the ropes allowing Falcao to remain standing.

Morrell leaped on Falcao with another knockdown with the referee quickly waving the fight off.

Morrell may be pitted against David Benavidez in the fall in a fight that may decide just who the top contender to unified champion Canelo Alvarez truly is.

That was supposed to be decided by Benavidez's recent win over former IBF champion Caleb Plant but I think Morrell is more talented than Plant and while his opponents haven't been top-ten caliber, Morrell's talents and skills appear to be among the best in the division and Morrell could be an even larger threat to defeating Benavidez.

Hopefully, that fight can be signed (both fighters are promoted by PBC) if Alvarez doesn't fight Benavidez first as the winner would have a great claim for an inevitable fight with Alvarez.

Bektemir Melikuziev avenged his only defeat with a unanimous decision over shopworn veteran Gabriel Rosado via unanimous decision.

I haven't watched the fight yet but Melikuziev won with the scores reading 99-91 from all three judges.

Rosado announced his retirement after the fight.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 68 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 63 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 55 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Fundora stops Lubin

   Showtime's Saturday card may have lacked fights of impact on the undercard but the Las Vegas main event not only produced a challenger at 154 pounds for the winner of Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano, but it was also a tremendous and physical battle that made you wonder how much was taken out of the victor and the defeated for their future fights.

Fundora controlled the fight on the inside against the heavy-hitting Lubin, which would be a surprise if you looked at Fundora and never watched a fight of his previously, and knocked Lubin down in the second round.

Fundora throws tons of punches, isn't afraid to brawl, and with arguably the best nickname in boxing (The Towering Inferno) is just vulnerable enough to make his fights must-watch events.

And it was the vulnerability of Fundora's chin that came into play in the seventh round when Lubin, behind on the scorecards, knocked Fundora down and looked like he had a chance to make a miracle win occur.

Instead, it was Fundora that dominated the eighth and ninth, and with Lubin's face a lumpy mess that looked more like an old-school hockey goalie than a junior middleweight contender, trainer Kevin Cunningham stopped the fight before the start of the tenth round.

I had Fundora leading 86-83 after the entertaining pairing and as noted above, it was the type of fight that may have changed the career of Lubin, who may never be the same fighter again after the pasting that he received, and Fundora didn't escape unscathed despite the victory either.

Fundora should face the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano winner sometime over the next year or so and will be a difficult opponent for either fighter.

Former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison looked as good as he had in years in outboxing Sergio Garcia, who fought time to fight and play in the Masters on the same weekend (just kidding) and won an easy unanimous decision.

Garcia tried to attack and slow Harrison down but was never able to achieve consistent success against the slick counterpunches from Harrison, who won for the first time since winning his title over Jermell Charlo (Harrison lost the rematch and drew with Bryant Perrella) and said he was willing to travel to Australia to face Tim Tszyu in his next fight.

I thought Harrison won 98-92 and hopefully will face a tougher foe than Garcia, who lost for the second fight in row after losing to Sebastian Fundora and appears to be a cut below top ten caliber.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 52 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (0)

Ramon Malpica: 42 Pts (1)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia wins return

     Saturday night's card from DAZN and Golden Boy from San Antonio, Texas may have gotten the desired result in the win column but it didn't answer any of the questions surrounding lightweight star Ryan Garcia, who dominated but didn't dazzle in a unanimous decision victory over Emmanuel Tagoe.

Garcia scored a second-round knockdown that might have been more of a push and hurt Tagoe badly with a right hand in the tenth that saw the Ghanian lucky to survive the round.

Garcia was aggressive and he tried for the knockout throughout the fight but Tagoe moved for most of the fight and Garcia did appear to have some issues in cutting off the ring as well as winging some punches that a better contender than Tagoe might take advantage with counters against an open Garcia.

I scored Garcia an easy victor at 119-108

For his first fight in fifteen months, it was a solid effort against a veteran that wasn't interested in exchanging punches with Garcia and was very mobile but it did make you wonder how Garcia will do against an elite boxer with better skills than Tagoe.

The co-feature was a dull fight as Shane Mosley Jr. scored a surprising majority decision upset over veteran Gabriel Rosado over ten rounds

Mosley dominated with the jab, never allowed Rosado to rough him up on the inside, and outworked the aging veteran, who lost his third in his last four bouts and is 1-4-1 in his last six with the only win his miracle third-round knockout over Beketmir Melikuziev, which he was knocked down and getting pounded before the stunning one-punch ending.

For Mosley, even considering the sliding of form for Rosado, this is the biggest win of his career and I'm sure this will get him more fights in the future against name fighters.

However, I don't think he can hold off stronger fighters or pressure boxers and he seems to be caught in the role of a fringe contender with a memorable moniker.

The other surprise was the scoring with judge Mendez Ramos with an odoriferous card of 95-95.

I had Mosely well ahead at 98-92.

I'll be writing on the Showtime card later today when I have a chance to watch the broadcast.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 49 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 41 Pts (1)

Boxing Challenge: Martinez upsets Kid Galahad

    The showcase fights in the boxing challenge played out very close to expectations but the real surprise occurred in what was thought to be the mismatch of the day and would result in a new champion that could result in a stampede of promoters and managers attempting to step into line for the first shot at a new and very vulnerable champion.

We start with an upset that is likely second only to Sandor Martin's surprise win over Mikey Garcia as the upset of the year.

For almost five complete rounds, England's Kid Galahad was dominating his handpicked opponent for the first title defense of his IBF featherweight title in his hometown of Sheffield, England in Kiko Martinez, who entered the bout with many have the thought of Martinez being a shopworn fighter.

Things can change on a dime in boxing and when Martinez landed one right hand near the end of the fifth round that shocked everyone watching the fight by dropping Galahad to the floor, the time was-a-changin as Galahad barely beat the count and was almost carried to his corner by his team.

Martinez had to know this might be his only chance of victory considering how the rest of the fight had played out and as the two fighters moved to the center of the ring for the sixth round, the Spaniard gunned one more right hand that slammed into the champion's jaw sending him sailing to the floor where the fight was immediately stopped giving the aging Martinez the IBF title and his first win over a world-class opponent in close to eight years.

Martinez had lost to his better opponents during that time in losses to Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg, Leo Santa Cruz, Gary Russell, and most recently top British prospect Zelfa Barrett in February, and was looked as not only over the hill and undeserving of a title opportunity but a fighter that was being given one last payday as a gold watch for a solid career.

Instead, Martinez will get at least one more payday, if not more...

DAZN's evening main event from Anaheim, California, and Golden Boy gave the observers what they expected in a bruising battle between middleweights Jaime Munguia and Gabriel Rosado.

Munguia won the decision on the scorecards by a wide margin (winning by six, eight, and ten points) but it certainly wasn't an easy win ( I scored Munguia a winner at 118-110) because as almost always (Daniel Jacobs fight excepted) Rosado brings it to the ring.

Munguia landed combinations throughout the fight against the veteran, but never dropped or hurt Rosado and was unable to truly stop Rosado from coming forward.

Still, for all the aggression from Rosado, he wasn't able to land enough to keep the younger and faster Munguia from controlling the exchanges and that meant the difference in the fight.

Mungia called out Gennady Golovkin after the fight and assuming that GGG wins his December unification fight against Ryota Murata, that could be not only an easy fight to make but a fun one to watch.

As for Rosado, his usual effort likely keeps his name in circulation and he'll continue to get paid for game and gritty efforts, just not usually winning ones.

On Showtime, David Benavidez broke down a very game Kyrone Davis with his relentless storm of punches and forced the Davis corner to throw in the towel during round seven.

Davis took a tremendous amount of punishment from Benavidez, but never stopped trying and even landed a few right hands.

However, Benavidez overwhelmed Davis and when he started to crunch Davis to the body in the fifth and sixth rounds you could make an argument that Davis would have been best served by his corner to have ended the fight after the sixth round.

Benavidez is one of the two names from the PBC that are mentioned most prominently for the next opponent for Canelo Alvarez along with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and while I'd hope that it will be Benavidez facing Canelo ( or facing Charlo with the winner faces Canelo), I'm thinking it would be Charlo first.

I think Benavidez's size and punch rate can give Canelo many problems, while Charlo is likely to fight a similar fight to Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders and meet a similar fate.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored four points to my three (Ramon called the Benavidez fight to end in a seventh-round KO) and cut my lead to 147-129. 

Boxing Challenge: Inoye crushes another, Charlo, Munguia win

   The boxing Saturday had plenty of news in the ring and a very important announcement outside of it, but the star of the day was exactly whom you think it would have been when the day began.

Naoya Inoue used a devastating body attack to knock down Michael Dasmarinas three times with body shots and stop him in the third round to retain his WBA and IBF bantamweight titles in Las Vegas.

While Dasmarinas wasn't a premiere opponent, Inoue disposed of his mandatory challenger from the IBF as great fighters should- as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Inoue quickly figured out that Dasmarinas wasn't able to take his power to the body and began to take him apart with the minimum of effort reducing the chances of a freak cut or injury and allowing Inoue to stay active quicker later this year.

The most interesting part of the evening was seeing WBC champion Nonito Donaire and WBO champion John Riel Casimero both in Las Vegas watching Inoue, while the Showtime card in Houston is announcing that Donaire will be replacing Guillermo Rigondeaux against Casimero in their scheduled August affair.

Inoue decisioned Donaire in 2019's fight of the year and Casimero signed to fight Inoue in April 2020 in a fight that was canceled by the Covid Pandemic, so either fight against Inoue would have appeal.

I often criticize PBC for their manner of delaying big fights with interim bouts that serve little purpose, but give Al Haymon's group credit for this one- they decided to strike quickly and with Donaire reporting no problems from his title win last month, PBC talked Rigondeaux into stepping aside to make a bigger and more exciting title unification fight- And that is good for boxing.

The co-feature saw former WBO junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe defeat Adam Lopez by majority decision in an excellent featherweight fight.

Dogboe won three of the first four rounds on my card, but won only one after that and was hurt in both the ninth and tenth rounds by the more versatile Lopez, who I scored the winner 96-94.

Hopefully, a rematch can be arranged.

Down in Houston at the same time as the Top Rank card, Showtime placed a three-fight card with an expected squash match title defense by WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo against undistinguished challenger Juan Montiel as the main event.

While Charlo dominated Montiel, he didn't get away scot-free either as he suffered the first cut of his career over his right eye and ate far too many left hands from a challenger that should not have landed a fraction of that amount.

I scored Charlo a 119-109 winner, giving Montiel only the eleventh round and the challenger won some fans with his unexpectedly stern effort, but Charlo didn't live up to the hype that surrounds him as he was unable to stop a fighter that sometimes ridiculed Jaime Munguia finished in only two rounds.

Unlike his brother at junior middleweight, who has fought everyone that he possibly could, the larger of the two brothers has fought one top ten fighter in seven fights at the weight (Sergey Dereyvanchenko), and for all of the heat that Devin Haney receives at lightweight for being an "E-Mail" champion, few acknowledge that Charlo received his championship in the same manner.

So, Charlo adds another unimpressive pelt to his wall, shouts another "Lions Only" chant, ignores WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, and calls out IBF champion Gennady Golovkin and WBA titlist Ryota Murata for a fight that will only happen if those fighters will fight on his terms-I.E- his promoter and network.

That happens often in boxing anymore, but few talk the talk and then doesn't walk the walk like Jermall Charlo.

He would be better suited to learn something from his brother- the Lions legacy is earned from the top of the chain defeated in battle, not the amount of lower feeders.

In the co-feature, lightweight Isaac Cruz busted up former WBC junior lightweight champion Francisco Vargas and won a unanimous decision in a fight filled with fouls and inside fighting.

I scored Cruz a 98-92 winner.

Cruz is slowly putting himself into position for a WBA minor title shot against either of two promoted by PBC in Gervonta Davis or Rolando Romero.

A Cruz-Romero fight would be the best to make right now with both fighters being offensive bangers that could make a very exciting fight for PBC and Showtime.

I haven't been able to watch the first fight as Angelo Leo won a close unanimous decision over Aaron Alameda as the ESPN card started late due to other programming on the "Worldwide Leader".

I'll try to watch that one and add thoughts in an Editor's Note.

Earlier in the afternoon, Golden Boy and DAZN offered up two pairings that offered the expected and the unexpected in their afternoon in the West Texas town of El Paso at the Don Haskins Center.

In the main event, top-ranked middleweight Jaime Munguia beat up late substitute Kamil Szeremeta for six rounds when the corner stopped the fight before the seventh could begin.

Munguia looked strong in winning all six rounds, his sometimes wide shots were tightened up a bit compared to past performances, and he seems to be back to a fighter that will live and die with his offense after trying to change some parts of his arsenal with mixed results.

Some fighters can adapt and others are what they are with changes doing more to harm than help and I think Munguia fits into the latter slot more than the former.

Munguia is ranked first by both the WBO (due to their rule that a champion moving up in weight instantly moves to the top of his new division) and the WBC (for what reason I have no idea) but doesn't seem overly interested in challenging either WBC champion Jermall Charlo or WBO beltholder Demetrius Andrade and instead called out Gabriel Rosado (more on that shortly) which didn't bring a lot of excitement to me at all.

So why would Jaime Munguia be calling for Gabriel Rosado of all people?

Rosado, who usually puts on great efforts in defeat, was quite dull in a close loss to Daniel Jacobs and was expected to be the first gatekeeper to fall in front of the impressive "Bek The Bully", Bektemir Melikuziev, a former Olympic silver medalist that had mowed through his first seven opponents, who were stronger than usual for a fighter with such little pro experience.

Rosado seemed to be the perfect choice for Melikuziev to move into title contention and when "The Bully" knocked Rosado down in the first, the road appeared to be far shorter since no one takes Rosado out early.

Melikuziev controlled the second and much of the third until he followed Rosado into a corner only to see Rosado time a perfect right hand that dropped Melikuziev face-first and immediately scored an immense upset for the veteran.

The KO was reminiscent of Juan Manuel Marquez's knockout of Manny Pacquiao and although it's disappointing for Melikusiev, one has to feel good for Rosado, who has come very close to a career-defining win in the past and likely has added some paydays for the future.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored nine points on the day and moved the total to 87-81 on the season.

Boxing Challenge: Jacobs nips Rosado

 The boxing challenge started on a rare Friday with two of the worst fights that you can imagine.

In all honesty, these fights would be good programming to show someone if you didn't want to them to become a boxing fan.

In the early evening (or late afternoon, it's dark here at this time of year either way), ESPN+ attempted to build an attraction with 2016 Olympic gold medalist in the (super) heavyweight division Tony Yoka of France, who recently signed a promotional partnership with ESPN's boxing provider, Top Rank.

Yoka, who defeated fellow prospect Joe Joyce of Great Britain to win the gold medal in London, stands 6'7 and while well-built, lacks the body beautiful look of Anthony Joshua and the defensive end frame of Tyson Fury, instead looks more like a power forward that needs to fill out a bit.

Veteran Christian Hammer did what he could against a bigger and more talented opponent, which was to land an occasional right hand and do what veterans do- rough the prospect up and see if they can intimidate them or change their game plan.

Yoka certainly stuck to his strategy of staying on the outside, using his jab, and outboxing the Romanian that now fights out of Germany, but he did get a bit frustrated with the tactics of Hammer and despite an easy win (99-90, Hammer was deducted one point),  Yoka didn't shine in a fight with little action.

Then we moved to DAZN with Matchroom Boxing from Hollywood, Florida for what was considered to be a mismatch between former two-time middleweight champion Daniel Jacobs and tough, but limited Gabriel Rosado.

I've never been much of a Daniel Jacobs fan, he really only has two major wins of note, yet he continues to be paid and treated like he is a star and must-see viewing.

Jacobs didn't wow anyone in his first fight at 168 in a win that saw Julio Cesar Chavez Jr quit in his corner and he was thought to be a prohibitive favorite against the charging Rosado.

Rosado always comes to fight, but his tender skin often haunts him and he is a natural junior middleweight, so against the larger Jacobs, he seemed to be overmatched.

Always isn't always anymore as Rosado didn't cut, but he also didn't land many punches and had a listless Jacobs on the hook for what would have been a massive upset in a fight that looked more like a limited sparring session instead of a fight involving a former world champion.

Instead, Rosado fell to Jacobs level and fought without energy in a match that normally would call for a rematch in a fight as close as this one.

Only in any of the twelve rounds did either fighter land double-digit punches in a round (Rosado landed ten in round eight) and while the decision was in doubt, what wasn't in doubt was not wanting to see these two guys against each other again.

The ending was worse when ring announcer Jeremiah Gallegos after announcing the scores of 115-113 on all three cards for a split decision, called the winner "from Philadelphia" sending Rosado into the air with emotion, and then calling it for Jacobs, who is from Brooklyn, not Philadelphia where Rosado resides. 

I scored it 114-114, so I have no problems with a close verdict either way but neither fighter seemed overly interested in winning it.

Just an awful two fights and I've written more than either fight deserves.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 3-2 to boost my lead to 161-150.

Boxing Challenge:Farmer holds off Carroll

Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia might be getting the majority of the publicity for this boxing weekend and that is more than justified, but Matchroom Boxing and DAZN put together two fights that were filled with punches, action, and drama on the night before boxing's big evening that could possibly give the winners of those bouts a chance to step forward in the near future.

In the main event from Philadelphia, hometown star Tevin Farmer rallied strongly late to win a unanimous decision over Ireland's Jono Carroll and retain his IBF junior lightweight championship.
The wide scorecards did a disservice to the surprisingly stern challenge of Carroll, who wore down Farmer with a devoted body attack and fought through two facial cuts as he fought Farmer evenly through ten rounds.
Farmer dug down to win the final two rounds and the fight on my card 115-113 (7-5) after badly hurting Carroll in the final minute of the eleventh to the point of almost finishing the fight then and there.
Carroll managed to bravely stand tall against the Farmer attack and stay on his feet, but the effects would follow in the final round, which Farmer won to clinch the fight.
Farmer continues to crow and ask for a fight against WBA champion Gervonta Davis, which DAZN claimed during this event that Matchroom was offering Davis five million for such a fight.
IF (huge if) that is a five million dollar/one fight offer without options, I suppose the time for reckoning will have arrived for Davis promoter Floyd Mayweather and the PBC.
Can an organization that claims their fighters are treated so well, turn down an offer that is more than five times a fighter's highest purse for one fight elsewhere?
Especially when you consider that Davis would be a strong favorite in such a bout?
Those decisions alone are going to be fascinating to watch.
As for Tevin Farmer, he's a solid fighter that likes to stay active and he's evolved into more of an attacker than a dancer over his last few outings that's much more fun to watch, but I just don't see Farmer on the same level as Gervonta Davis.

The middleweight co-feature was scheduled to identify the next challenger for WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in June.
Maciej Sulecki will be that challenger after a unanimous decision that saw Sulecki dominate warhorse Gabriel Rosado for eight rounds and knock Rosado down in the first and eighth rounds.
The latter knockdown had the DAZN commentators wondering if Rosado's corner, the referee or the doctor might be best suited to end Rosado's suffering.
After all, for eight rounds Rosado had shown zero capabilities of reaching Sulecki with the type of shot that would win this fight by knockout and that's what it would take to do so.
Considering all of that, of course, the best story would be Rosado coming out of nowhere to turn the fight around and he did just that with two knockdowns that would have almost certainly ended the fight had the bell not clanged after Sulecki rose from the second knockdown.
Rosado continued to abuse Sulecki in the tenth round, but Sulecki stayed on his feet to hang on for the win, which was far closer on the scorecards than it appeared to me.
I scored Sulecki a 96-90 winner, 8-2 in rounds with Sulecki losing a 10-7 ninth round and Rosado losing two points for his earlier knockdowns.
Sulecki has now been dropped late in the two biggest fights (Rosado and Daniel Jacobs) of his career and that will be something to look for as he enters his title challenge of Andrade.
As for Rosado, his late rally is going to be just enough to encourage him and his team to continue fighting and despite that rally, I'm afraid we've seen the best of a brave warrior.

Ramon Malpica and I each received four points for the evening, allowing me to retain my lead of 54-53.

Boxing Challenge: Miller walks through Dinu

A Matchroom card televised by DAZN managed to kill a Saturday (or in my case Saturday and Sunday before I watched the entire card) with various bouts of interest and three in the boxing challenge from the boxing hotbed of Mulvane, Kansas.

The main event saw Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller win a minor heavyweight title with a fourth-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu.
Miller weighed in at over 300 pounds and Dinu looked strong enough by winning the first two rounds.
Miller picked up the pace in the third before finishing him in the fourth round after two knockdowns.
Miller could be the spring opponent for three title holding champion Anthony Joshua, who is also promoted by Matchroom, but even if not then Miller will eventually receive that shot with the minor title that he won in Mulvane.
Miller makes me think of so many of the beefy 1980's heavyweights such as Greg Page, Tony Tubbs, Michael Dokes etc that possessed world-class abilities and the appetite to go with it that made them capable of the occasional brilliant performance yet so often were maddeningly inconsistent.
Hopefully, Miller can win his battle with the fork and make the best of his chances.

Going into the evening, I believed that the best fight of the night would be the grudge middleweight fight between Gabriel Rosado and Luis Arias, but the surprise of the night was the absolute war (which is an often overused term in boxing, but it fits here) between Brandon Rios and Ramon Alvarez, the brother of Canelo in a junior middleweight contest that saw plenty of punches thrown and plenty caught by each fighter as Rios wore down Alvarez and stopped him in round nine.
I have nominated Rios for a "Zabbie" (Fighter that I wish would go retire) plenty in the past and even in this win as a junior middleweight, I still think that would be a good idea.
However, if matched properly and preferably at welterweight, Rios can still have some fun fights to watch, but not at anyone resembling a current contender and especially one at junior middle.
That will not be how it turns out though as Rios still is a name, he'll face someone he shouldn't and he is very likely to take a bad beating.

The Rosado-Arias bout had what looked like a sure-fire ingredient for the best fight, bad blood, a side bet between the fighters of ten thousand dollars, what seemed to be a motivated Luis Arias, who looked dreadful against Daniel Jacobs and you had Gabe Rosado, who always makes interesting, if not always competitive battles before his face would fall apart and let him down.
This time Rosado used a new game plan for him that saw him be less entertaining, but longer lasting as the normally cut prone Rosado wasn't bothered by cuts at all.
The problem was on my card, where Rosado's new style cost him the first rounds before his usual late charge against Arias.
The final card saw a draw with one judge scoring the fight for each fighter and the third had the scores even.
I had Arias a close 96-94 winner, but if the fight had been a twelve rounder, I think Rosado would have gotten the nod.
The winner could have been next for WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, although I don't think either would be deserving or overly competitive in a prospective fight.
The talk was of a rematch, where perhaps both camps could double down on their wager and bet $20,000 on the outcome.

Non-Boxing challenge fights on the slate was another ladies title fight and Olympic bronze medalist Nico Hernandez, who won a less than fascinating unanimous decision in his eight rounder.
Hernandez is going to have to show a little more pop in his mitts if he wants to draw attract American fans to his normally internationally dominated division.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored four points (Three for Jarrell Miller and one for Brandon Rios) to my two (One per Miller and Rios) to cut my lead to 190-169.