Boxing Challenge: Russell retains, Hitchins drops out

    The undercard of the Ryan Garcia-Mario Barrios was supposed to feature two defenses of junior welterweight championships, but only one would be defended.

 In the scheduled co-feature, Richardson Hitchins claimed food poisoning combined with the IBF's re-hydration clause (in IBF title fights, the fighters must weigh in at ten pounds or less over the division limit on the day of the match) rendered him unable to defend the title as scheduled against Oscar Duarte.

The situation is muddled as the IBF could strip Hitchins and schedule a vacant title fight between their two contenders, Duarte and Lindolfo Delgado, or demand Hitchins fight his mandatory (Delgado) or face Duarte as planned.

Gary Antuanne Russell retained his WBA version of the 140-pound championship with a close and hard-fought unanimous decision over his mandatory challenger, Andy Hiraoka.

Russell was the busier fighter and built a sizable lead on the cards, but lost several rounds in the second half of the fight and held off the late rush of Hiraoka.

Hiraoka was deducted a point for a low blow in the tenth, which ended any hope of a comeback win.

Judges' scores for Russell were 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112, while I had Russell winning 115-112.

Former lightweight title challenger Frank Martin and Nahir Albright slugged for ten even rounds in a junior welterweight match.

So even, all three judges and I scored it the same, 95- 95, a draw.

It was an easy fight to score with Martin controlling the first half and Albright the second.

A rematch would be welcomed, but Martin is affiliated with PBC, as is Gary Antuanne Russell, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Russell title defense against Martin.

In a super middleweight ten-rounder, Bektemir Melikuziev fought through a severe cut over his left eye to stop Sena Agbeko in the seventh round.

There were several head clashes between the two, and one caused the cut in the middle rounds.

Melikuziev scored a knockdown in the seventh, and after Agbeko rose, Melikuziev drove Agbeko into the ropes, forcing the referee to end the fight.

In Manchester, England, Leigh Wood dominated Josh Warrington in their junior lightweight rematch, winning a unanimous decision.

Boxing Challenge

Vince Samano: 23 Pts (5) 

Ramon Malpica: 22 Pts (4)
TRS: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Roach wins while drawing vs Davis

  This will be a hybrid of the usual reports as I am still recovering (more on that in future posts) and still have plenty of other items to catch up with.

The biggest fight of the weekend saw the biggest story of the weekend as the top American star in the game, WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, was taken to the brink against WBA junior lightweight titleholder Lamont Roach, and held to a majority decision draw that bluntly should have given Davis his first career defeat.

Roach was robbed of a massive victory and a paycheck for a rematch that would be far larger with a win than a majority draw that he was given.

I scored the fight 114-114, as did two judges with the dissenter tabbing Davis the winner 115-113. so the scorecards were all reasonable but the travesty occurred in round nine when Roach landed a short right hand that was followed by a soft jab that then saw Davis voluntarily take a knee, which he claimed was needed when "grease from his hair had gotten into his eye".

That may have been the case but no matter the reason, if a fighter takes a knee it should be scored a knockdown.

Referee Steve Wilks started a count and then stopped it allowing Davis to save the point- a point that would save his title.

If the proper call had been made, Roach would have won round 10-8 and flipped all three cards in his favor for a unanimous decision stunner.

While I'm sure a rematch will be signed and Roach will be paid handsomely, he should have the title entering a second fight which would have been worth even more money.

As for Gervonta Davis, this could have been an off night or overconfidence against a former amateur rival moving up in weight and isn't known for his power in the smaller division.

While Davis didn't fight poorly, he didn't look sharp either.

Despite his tremendous one-shot power, Davis isn't a physically large lightweight, so perhaps there are some reasons that Davis is consistently matched against smaller lightweights (Frank Martin, Isaac Cruz) and junior lightweights moving up in weight (Roach, Hector Luis Garcia.

Davis is among the best bangers in the sport and his skills are excellent but in a division with excellent fights to be made, Davis appears content to defend against second-tier fighters for large paychecks.

While I completely understand the goal of making as much money as possible, Davis is beginning to feel the backlash of being a fighter who is dodging the elite challenges that are available.

The problem with that gameplan is that when you eventually lose, it will be to an opponent that will be considered inferior, and the defeat usually hurts your "legacy".

It's not too late for Gervonta Davis but Davis needs a convincing win over Lamont Roach in a rematch and then set sail to finally make those matches to see just how he will be remembered.

In other bouts-

Gary Antuanne Russell dominated Jose Valenzuela to win the WBA junior welterweight title, winning by scores of 120-108 (same as mine) and 119-109 times two.

Russell, like his older brother and former WBC featherweight champion Gary, has excessive talent but falls into long periods of inactivity.

Hopefully, that will not happen this time as PBC would like to see Russell unify with WBC champion Alberto Puello, who kept his title via a split decision over Sandor Martin.

Puello won 116-112 and 115-113 to overrule the 115-113 card for Martin.

I scored it 115-113 for Martin.

Puello handed Gary Antuanne Russell his only career loss, so a rematch does have some intrigue.

Cuban junior middleweight Yoenis Tellez battered former WBA and IBF champion Julian Williams in winning a unanimous decision by scores of 119-109, 118-110 (my score) and 117-111.

Former IBF junior welterweight champion Subriel Matias won a title eliminator with an eighth-round knockout of Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela in Puerto Rico.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 25 Pts(6)

Ramon Malpica: 23 Pts(5)

Vince Samano: 15 Pts(0)

John Herndon: 5 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Benavidez wins, Upsets abound

       In Satirday's co-feature from the PBC card in Las Vegas, David Benavidez won a unanimous decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his debut in the light heavyweight division.

Benavidez was solid and workmanlike in the easy victory over the former WBC champion but never dazed Gvozdyk and despite winning a minor title, Benavidez may be better suited (and he said he is considering this at the post-fight press conference) returning to super middleweight for the time being and hoping Canelo Alvarez will eventually decide to face him.

Benavidez won on scorecards of 119-109, 117-111, and 116-112, my score agreeing with the middle score.

In two fights that I have yet to watch, one title was retained and an undefeated contender was surprised with his first loss.

Carlos Adames retained his WBC middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha.

Adames doesn't really have a big fight in the division, so look for Adames to have a few of these fights against Gausha types that aren't quite good enough to win a title.

Scores of 119-11 and 118-110 times two for Adames.

Gary Antuanne Russell was a big favorite to win a minor junior welterweight title against former WBA champ Alberto Puello and set himself up for bigger things in the future.

Instead, Puello survived an eighth-round holding deduction to pull a surprise split decision win for the minor title.

Russell has all the talent in the world but like his brother and trainer, former WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell, he doesn't fight more than once a year, and at the top level fighting that infrequently will eventually cost you in sharpness.

Scores for Puello were 114-113 and 115-112 and for Russell 118-109.

PBC and boxing observers have been glowing in their reviews on middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia and his potential but Garcia hit a roadblock in his fight against veteran Kyrone Davis, with Davis winning a deserved but surprising split decision.

Davis couldn't miss with his right hand and while Garcia was persistent with his aggression, Davis held serve until the final two rounds when Garcia rallied and perhaps if this fight were a twelve-rounder, Garcia could have snatched victory.

Scores for Davis at 97-93 x2 (same as mine) with an awful score for Garcia of 98-92, which is beyond terrible in my opinion.

In Puerto Rico, a huge upset occurred as Australia's Liam Paro upset Subriel Matias in the homecoming fight for Matias and took away the IBF junior welterweight title.

Paro lost a point in the seventh round for hitting behind the head and while Paro's move, jab, and grab offense wasn't exciting, it was very effective against Matias, who rallied down the stretch but ran out of time.

Scores for Paro 116-111 and 115-112 x2, I had it closer for Paro 114-113.

In London from Boxxer/Peacock, Chris Billam-Smith avenged his only loss and retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision outdoors at the home field of Crystal Palace.

This fight wasn't as exciting as their first fight and Riakporhe didn't throw enough punches to overcome the more active Billam-Smith.

Riakporhe lost a point in the final round for headbutting but that had no effect on the scorecards- all for Billiam-Smith 116-111 (same as mine) and 115-112.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 88 Pts (8)

TRS: 72 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Navarrete outlasts Valdez

 Boxing in August often can be the slowest month of the year and looking at the schedule, this past Saturday was the biggest of the month, and up until the final bout of the day, the day had been mostly unsatisfying.

That bout would save the day as Emanuel Navarrete went to war with Oscar Valdez for twelve rounds and kept his WBO junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision victory that he deserved but not by the margins that he received on two cards.

The one card of 116-112 was the same as mine, with Navarrete pulling away in winning the final two rounds but the scores of 119-109 and 118-110 were extremely unfair to Valdez.

Navarrete is wide-open offensively and often fights down to his perceived competition but was clearly motivated on this night against a fellow Mexican and an underdog on the betting line.

Valdez's advantage in technical skill was outweighed by the relentless number of punches tossed by Navarrete and the right eye of Valdez was completely closed by the end of the fight to prove the point.

Give Valdez credit for grit and effort and should a rematch be eventually signed, I'd give him a chance to reverse the result but he'll have to throw more punches and he's going to have to do it against a Navarrete that could have full use of his right hand, which Navarrete injured midway through the fight.

Neither fighter scored a knockdown nor had the other in serious trouble, so the fight did lack some of the drama that other action fights but it deserves at least an honorable mention when the fights of the year are determined.

It's a good thing that Navarrete-Valdez delivered because the remainder of the weekend wasn't the most exciting that boxing has ever seen.

In London from Matchroom/DAZN, former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua sleepwalked through six dull rounds against late replacement Robert Helenius, even losing a round or two against Helenius, and had fans wondering if Joshua had become so defensive that he may never be the same fighter again.

And then it all went away as Joshua crunched Helenius with one right hand that was reminiscent of the right hand that Deontay Wilder wiped Helenius out with, albeit six rounds later than Wilder's, in the seventh round to end the fight and suddenly make the proposed December match with Wilder much more intriguing that it had been a few minutes previously.

Other than the fight-ending bomb, there isn't much to say about Joshua-Helenius other than Helenius lasting longer than expected, and doing better than expected.

I had Joshua leading 59-55 at the end of the fight.

Hopefully, it's onto the Wilder-Joshua fight that has been rumored seemingly forever, which could be a battle of who lands first between two bombers or a tentative disappointment with Joshua taking few chances or Wilder swiping wildly at air.

I can see either result occurring and that's some of the intrigue for the fight that thus far has been oft-rumored and never happening.

The co-feature saw the number one contender for the IBF heavyweight title score a final-round stoppage that was neither dramatic nor overly interesting as Filip Hrgovic stopped previously unbeaten Demsey McKean in round twelve.

It was pretty dull as Hrgovic didn't really press much of the action, McKean would grab when Hrgovic tried to be aggressive, and even when he didn't, with Marcos McDonnell, who is nearing Lawrence Cole level as far as obnoxious officiating, calling none of it and causing McKean to hold even more.

That covered it until Hrgovic landed a right that stunned McKean with Hrgovic landing a series of chopping Tim Witherspoon-style rights that trapped McKean along the ropes helpless before McDonnell ended the fight.

Not a great performance by Hrgovic but he finished it well and one would hope the work would be a positive for his challenge of the Oleksandr Usyk-Daniel DuBois title fight winner in two weeks.

Sometimes, two well past their prime warriors can put on a fun but sloppy fight because they can't move away and hit every punch they throw, and other times, well you get two old guys just doing enough to be safe with bored onlookers wondering when the next fight starts.

The latter was the result of the Derek Chisora-Gerald Washington fight that was filled with huffs, puffs, and holds in a forgettable fight that Chisora won by unanimous decision by scores of 96-94, 97-94, and 98-93.

My score for Chisora at 96-94 seemed about right and my hope is that Eddie Hearn won't put Chisora in next with someone that can hurt him due to the win.

Showtime's three-fight slate from PBC may not have had the most important fights of the weekend but they did fill a title vacancy, an unbeaten prospect wins by early knockout, and another prospect is shocked by another early-round KO.

The main event would see a dominant performance by Emmanuel Rodriguez, who won every round and knocked down Melvin Lopez three times in the final round on his way to a unanimous decision and would win the IBF bantamweight title vacated by Naoya Inoue.

Not much to add to the three judge's cards of 120-105 other than I concur.

Gary Antuanne Russell added his seventeenth knockout to his flawless mark with a first-round knockout of Kent Cruz.

Russell dropped Cruz twice with Cruz taking the count after the second knockdown.

Many have tabbed welterweight Travon Marshall as a future star and fighting near his home appeared to be the first step forward for Marshall's career.

Marshall had looked impressive in his eight wins with seven by KO and his opponent had disappointed as a pro in former Olympian Gabriel Maestre, who has been most remembered for his decision win over Mykel Fox that was such an awful decision that it was the fulcrum that forced the WBA into dissolving its minor titles, a process that they are still involved in to this date.

Marshall won round one and then ate a huge right hand from Maestre that sprawled him across the ropes and partially outside the ring.

Honestly, referee Sharon Sands gave Marshall every opportunity and could have stopped the fight there.

Maestre leaped on Marshall, who fired back as best he could but didn't try to hold and when he ran into a right hand that floored him again, the fight was over.

Marshall will definitely need some rebuilding after losing in his first test and Maestre will likely receive a shot against another mid-level welterweight soon after his surprising win.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 137 Pts (9)

Ramon Malpica: 123 Pts (8)

Vince Samano: 95 Pts (6)

Boxing Challenge: Garcia dominates Benavidez

       The Saturday PBC card from Barclays Center in Brooklyn won't go down as the greatest event ever but it will be remembered for two controversial decisions that rank as some of the worst in 2022.

In the main event, Danny Garcia seemed to have easily outpointed Jose Benavidez in his return from an eighteen-month layoff before a decision that was surprisingly close on the scorecards.

My score was 119-109 for Garcia, which seemed to be close to how most watchers saw the fight but the actual judges scored Garcia a much closer winner at 117-111, 116-112, and a downright nutty 114-114.

Garcia looked sharp and even though he never hurt Benavidez, he outboxed him and was far too skilled for the much slower fighter, who was relegated to the occasional counter right hand for his only success against Garcia.

How much of Garcia's outing was due to his layoff to recharge his batteries or was it that the once-promising Benavidez simply has been unable to recover his ability from a gunshot wound that damaged his leg, won't be known until his next outing, which could be against former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison, who was mentioned during the fight, or against former welterweight champion Keith Thurman, who handed Garcia his first defeat via split decision in 2017 and was mentioned by Garcia at the post-fight press conference as his next fight.

The co-feature was expected to be an action fight and it lived up to those thoughts as Turkey's Ali Eren Demirezen handed Adam Kownacki his third defeat in a row and hopefully will make Kownacki consider retirement.

Demirezen controlled the second half of the fight, wearing down Kownacki as he cut him over the left eye.

Demirezen will likely slide into a title eliminator soon and could win should he be paired with someone that will stand and trade with him but anyone with movement will give the former Olympian major issues.

The best and most controversial fight of the evening was the opener when junior welterweight contender Gary Antuanne Russell was receiving all that he wanted from former IBF junior lightweight and lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy before a very questionable sixth-round stoppage by referee Shada Murdaugh.

Barthelemy isn't known for his thrilling contests or for engaging in toe to toe action but the Cuban did both in this one as he stung Russell in both the first and fourth rounds and led on my card after five rounds 48-47.

Russell was leading on all three official cards though and crunched Barthelemy with a leaping left hook in the sixth to send him to the canvas.

Barthelemy immediately rose and didn't stagger around like a hurt fighter yet referee Murdaugh called off the fight, robbing Russell of a possible convincing win, Barthelemy a chance to ride out the storm, and viewers of a surprisingly entertaining battle.

A rematch would seem to be in order, and even though Russell may have been solving Barthelemy's style, I'm not sure I'd be interested if I handled Russell.

I might figure that my fighter showed heart, ring smarts, and learned some things against a good opponent and move on to bigger things but PBC isn't loaded in the junior welterweight division, although the promotion will have the recently vacated WBA title in their stable with the paper championship being filled next month and the winner of Batyr Akhmedov-Alberto Puello (Akhmedov is a solid favorite in my opinion)  could be in the future for Russell.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 137 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 115 Pts (2)

Vince Samano:111 Pts  (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Showtime Upsets in Vegas!

    The Showtime card Saturday night was a surprisingly strong one with a world championship changing hands, a prospect moving into contender status, and a late replacement dominating a fighter that had been heavily pushed by the promoter (PBC ) and the network itself.

In the main event, Hector Garcia grabbed an opportunity after WBA junior lightweight champion Roger Gutierrez had to drop out of his title defense against mandatory contender Chris Colbert after testing positive for Covid-19 and turned it into the night of his boxing career as Garcia dominated, bullied, knocked Colbert down for the first time in his career, and turned the highly touted Colbert into someone running for his life in the last third of the fight as Garcia won an easy unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

Garcia was a former Olympian but had not fought anyone near the level of Colbert before this fight and the first four round were fought evenly before Garcia began to hammer Colbert to the body to slow down a fighter that used his legs to control all of his previous fights.

Garcia threw lots of punches that surprised Colbert when he could not grab and hold as a tactic accumulating points and not allowing Colbert to fire many counterpunches.

In the seventh, Garcia dropped Colbert and almost finished the fight then and there with a badly hurt Colbert showing heart in surviving the round but Colbert shifted into permanent "Camacho" mode for the remainder of the fight with more interest in surviving than attempting to fire a miracle bomb.

I scored Garcia an easy 118-109 (10-2 with a knockdown in rounds) victor, which was near the three official scores.

For Garcia, the win is the stepping forward to the world stage and it will be Garcia that faces the healed Gutierrez for the WBA title.

As for Colbert, this is a devastating defeat that not only cost him a championship attempt but Colbert also took a beating that some boxers never recover from and at a minimum this loss provided future opponents a game plan to follow in future bouts.

The co-feature was the fight I was most looking forward to and even though it was far from a stinker, it was the least impactful of the three fights on the card as junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell scored his sixteenth stoppage in as many wins and won his first fight over a world-class fighter in stopping former WBC champion Viktor Postol with seconds remaining in the fight.

Don't get too excited about stopping Postol as the stoppage was a poor one considering Postol may have been mildly dazed but far from hurt before the fight was stopped.

Still, Russell fought very well and would have been the deserved winner on the scorecards.

I had Russell ahead 87-84 entering the final round and he clearly was going to add the final round over the game but distracted Postol, a native of Ukraine, who fought well but was outfought by Russell.

Postol's three losses were all decision losses to champions Terence Crawford, Josh Taylor, and Jose Ramirez, so PBC will likely give that stat an unjustified push but Russell looked solid in his first try against top ten fighters and I'd think Russell will be in the mix for one of those four titles in the division that Josh Taylor may be planning to vacate.

In another surprise involving a former Olympian, Argentina's Fernando Martinez overpowered and outslugged Jerwin Ancajas via unanimous decision and took away the IBF junior bantamweight title held by Ancajas.

Ancajas had made nine defenses of the title since 2016 and was scheduled to unify his title with the WBO version held by Kazuto Ioka in his next fight after their first fight was canceled due to Covid-19 in December, so unless Martinez would like to jump in and take the Ioka fight, the unification in the division is off the board for now as Ancajas does have a rematch clause.

The fight itself was an action-filled affair that saw each fighter throw and land often but Martinez held a large edge in both as I scored Martinez an easy 117-111 winner.

Sunday from London, Lawrence Okolie retained his WBO Cruiserweight title over Michal Cieslak via unanimous decision in a sloppy fight that saw the larger Okolie control Cieslak and scored the fight's only knockdown in the fifth round.

IBF champion Mairis Briedis was in attendance dressed as Super Mario and what could be a good sign that Briedis vs Okolie for the best fighter in a weak division could be coming soon, should Bredis dispose of his mandatory against Jai Opetaia in his next outing.

Boxing Challenge-This Week's Pts in parentheses

Vince Samano 28 Pts (4)

TRS 26 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica 23 Pts (2)