Boxing Challenge: Upset of the Millenium?

  Larry Merchant used to call boxing "The Theatre of the Absurd" when crazy things would happen on HBO's broadcasts and what he meant was anything can happen in our nutty sport.

Saturday night in Fresno, California, some may have recalled Merchant's phrase and yet others may have preferred the phrase from childhood "Whatever comes around goes around" when you saw someone get their comeuppance.

By all accounts, Mikey Garcia had a great career in winning titles in three divisions but he often was his own worst enemy outside the ring in refusing to budge in order to make career-defining fights, several long layoffs between fights, promotional disputes, and a refusal to see that one doesn't become an A-side until you compromise a little to defeat an A-side fighter or two.

Add to that what seemed to be an almost disdain for the sport and one could easily see Mikey Garcia being upset by a lesser fighter sooner or later.

What no one saw as Spaniard Sandor Martin, who had lost to the only name fighter on his record in former title challenger Anthony Yigit, and was a more than prohibitive underdog to be overwhelmed by Garcia in yet another Garcia "need to get the rust off" after a self-enforced inactive period, take advantage of an unprepared and unmotivated Garcia to win a shocking majority decision in arguably the biggest upset in years.

The fight was slow and lacked a lot of action, so Martin did the one thing that he could do to win, even against a dull Garcia- stick, move, and pray for help on the scorecards.

Martin controlled through his boxing from outside with Garcia throwing just one punch at a time and the big question was this- Would the unknown fighter get the close decision that he deserved against the hometown big name?

To my surprise, he did with two scores of 96-94 (same as mine) and a third of a 98-92 for a majority decision that was as big of a surprise as any fight in recent years.

Matchroom CEO Eddie Hearn stated that there was not a rematch clause for the two but really a rematch will be the largest financial option for Martin and for Garcia, he almost will have to defeat Martin in order to return to contender status.

Mikey Garcia always talked about how much he never liked boxing and with his behavior towards the business of boxing Garcia showed that out.

However, it is not unfair to consider that Mikey Garcia may have already given boxing the best that the sport will see and what boxing historians and fans could eventually decide about Mikey Garcia for all of his accomplishments that boxing never saw the best that he could have offered.

In the co-feature, mandatory challenger Jonathan Gonzalez spoiled the plans for a light flyweight unification fight as Gonzalez won the WBO title via split decision over Elwin Soto.

In many ways, Gonzalez's win was very much like the victory that would follow later in the evening by Sandor Martin- Gonzalez used the stick and move method and held off the weak aggression of Soto that probably deserved a unanimous decision rather than a split nod.

Gonzalez winning two cards (and mine) at 116-112 with a pretty bad 116-112 card for Soto in opposition was the fair result and ruined a unification fight with Soto and WBA champion Hiroto Kyoguchi that was planned for next year.

The best fighter of the weekend won his showcase bout in his home country as Mairis Bredis kept his IBF cruiserweight belt with a third-round knockout of Germany's Artur Mann in Riga, Latvia.

Breidis knocked Mann down in the second round before adding two more in the third to finish the outmatched Mann.

Breidis did announce his intention to face the second-best fighter in the division, England's Lawrence Okolie, and unify the IBF and WBO titles before both fighters would move to the heavyweight division.

It's the best fight that can be made with the cruiserweight and hopefully can be signed for the first half of 2021.

In Newcastle, England, Hughie Fury defeated Christian Hammer vis TKO when Hammer was unable to continue after the fifth round.

I thought Fury won all five rounds but the fifth round did see several exchanges between the two and the injury to Hammer's bicep that forced the ending in the corner was ill-timed as it occurred just as the fight was starting to open up.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points to move the total to 140-120.

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:Lomachenko adds another belt

The Boxing Challenge zipped forward with fights from England, Australia, and the United States before taking next weekend off.

The main fight of the weekend was held across the pond as Vasyl Lomachenko kept his WBA and WBO lightweight titles and added the vacant WBC championship with a unanimous decision over Luke Campbell.
I scored the fight closer than the official judges at 116-111 for Lomachenko, which seems to be more in line with the majority of scorecards.
Lomachenko did have some issues with the jab and the length of Campbell, who boxed very well and I thought he was in the fight after ten rounds (6-4 in favor of Lomachenko), which wasn't the case on the official cards, but Lomachenko began drilling Campbell in the eleventh and a right to the body sent Campbell to one knee.
Campbell battled through the round and survived to the final bell without being knocked down again.
Lomachenko needs one other belt, that of the IBF which currently held by Richard Commey.
Commey will face the meteoric prospect Teofimo Lopez in December and the winner is expected to face Lomachenko in the spring of 2020.

On the undercard, Alexander Povetkin slogged his way to a unanimous decision over Hughie Fury in a boring bout.
Povetkin scored enough with his right to gain the clear decision (I agreed with all three judges that saw Povetkin a 117-111 winner) and will eventually have another chance against a heavyweight that is a top ten type in an eliminator.
As for Hughie Fury, who falls to 0-3 against world-class competition and it looks to me like Fury is a clear cut below that level and I'm not sure I'm interested in seeing him face those opponents in the future.

Controversy reigned in the other London bout as Charlie Edwards retained his WBC flyweight title when his fight vs Julio Cesar Martinez ended in a no-contest in the third round.
Martinez seemed to be on the way to taking the championship with an attack that was breaking Edwards down rapidly.
In the third, Martinez dropped Edwards to a knee with a big left hook, but then followed up with a shot to the body while Edwards was on the floor.
The referee didn't see the foul and counted Edwards out and Martinez was announced as the new champion.
The WBC did see the foul and ruled the bout a no contest, Edwards was returned his title and an immediate rematch was ordered.
It certainly was a foul and the correct call, but there was next to no question in my mind that Martinez was on his way to winning and I'm very doubtful that Edwards can do anything differently to turn the tide in his direction in a rematch.

The PBC card on Fox from Minneapolis looked weak on paper and it wasn't much better in the ring with the main event being a downright joke as Erislandy Lara knocked out Ramon Alvarez in two rounds win one of those WBA minor titles.
The main joke part was Alvarez, a totally undeserving "contender", who had never beaten a top contender (the biggest names on his record in Ben Tackie and Vivian Harris were well past their prime and well over their top fighting weight) weighed four pounds over the limit for the fight and essentially was a rated contender as part of the various sanctioning bodies never-ending need to kiss the ring of Ramon's brother, who happens to be named Canelo Alvarez.
Lara called out Canelo after the fight for a rematch of their July 2014 fight in which Alvarez won a controversial split decision that many believe Lara won.
Next to no chance of that happening with the promotional divide in the sport, but it kills me when PBC fighters call out fighters from other platforms, yet none of them show interest in making such fights when the time to negotiate begins.
I know all fighters call the other groups fighters out, but only PBC lacks a track record in making the biggest inter-promotional fights.

In a decent fight, junior middleweights Sebastian Fundora and Jamontay Clark fought to a draw.
The freakishly tall for the division Fundora at 6'6 was hit by Clark far more than he should have over his jab, but it made for a good fight as far as action goes.
I scored Clark a winner by a speck at 96-94, but I have no problem with the draw or even a similar score for Fundora, but the judge that saw Fundora winning scored a silly 98-92 card.

From Australia, Michael Zerafa knocked out former WBO welterweight champion Jeff Horn in the ninth round in an upset.
I haven't seen the fight yet, but I have seen the final minute and the referee that allowed a badly hurt Horn to continue for well past the time that the fight should have been stopped, should never work a fight again.
Jeff Horn is very fortunate to escape this loss with his health and might want to consider retirement after this loss to Zerafa, who has never won at this level previously,

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica five points to four.
Both of us earned two points from Alexander Povetkin and one from Vasyl Lomachenko, with the difference being my two points from Erislandy Lara to Ramon's one.
I lead the overall standings 219-188.

Boxing Challenge: Jacobs edges Dereyvanchenko

The boxing weekend began in beautiful Bulgaria before traveling to the Big Easy and the Big Apple to finish with somewhat of a flourish.

The biggest fight of the weekend took place in New York City as Daniel Jacobs nipped Sergiy Dereyvanchenko via a split decision to win the vacant IBF middleweight title.
I scored Jacobs a 114-113 winner with the difference being a first-round knockdown scored by Jacobs.
Dereyvanchenko hurt Jacobs more often over the course of the fight than in reverse, but Jacobs managed to stay up and that gave him the win on my scorecard, which seemed to be closer than most of the press.
Jacobs should be the most likely opponent for Canelo Alvarez in May, considering both champions are contracted with DAZN in what would put the IBF title back with the WBA and WBC titles before it was stripped from Gennady Golovkin earlier this year.

The co-feature saw Alberto Machado impressively dispose of Yaundale Evans in the first round to retain his minor title, dropping Evans three times before the referee called the mismatch off.
The lanky banging Machado might be a tough out for anyone at 130 pounds, but with his size, I could see him moving to the lightweight division and have little problems with strength.

New Orleans was the host for two World Boxing Super Series scraps in the junior welterweight tournament with the main event featuring top seed and local product Regis Prograis dominate former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan to retain his minor title via a unanimous decision to move the next round in the tournament.
Prograis dominated throughout and dropped Flanagan to his knees in the ninth for the first time in Flanagan's career.
I scored Prograis a 118-109 winner, which seemed to be in line with most.
Prograis will battle WBA champion Kiryl Relikh in the semi-finals.

In the other quarter-final, Ivan Baranchyk earned the vacant IBF belt when Anthony Yigit was unable to continue due to a virtually closed eye in the seventh round.
I had Baranchyk far ahead and the eye brought to mind the puffed eye that Rocky Balboa asked Mickey to cut in his first fight with Apollo Creed as Fred Landucci commented on when we discussed this fight.
I thought it was a good decision to end the fight because Yigit wasn't going to be able to keep Baranchyk off of him anyway and the eye was only going to make things worse for the wounded Swede.
The new IBF champion will face the winner of next weekend's Josh Taylor-Ryan Martin fight in the semi-finals.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, veteran Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over Hughie Fury to become the top contender in the IBF ratings, which means an eventual shot at Anthony Joshua's championship.
Fury looked to be the stronger fighter early, but a Pulev jab in the second round tore open a gash along Fury's and slowly took the starch out of the Englishman, but didn't exactly leave Joshua concerned about his eventual challenge.
I scored Pulev a 116-112 winner.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to five over the weekend and cut my lead to 177-154.

Boxing Challenge: KO,close one and a snoozer

Three different fights of equal significance on this Saturday from Texas, California, and Manchester England with all of them with different results.

Let's start in San Antonio, Texas at the Alamodome for a World Boxing Super Series quarterfinal in their cruiserweight tournament with minor titleholder Yunier Dorticos defending his belt with a vicious second-round knockout of Dmitry Kudryashov, that saw the Russian native on the floor with his eyes rolling in his head after eating a booming right hand.
This bout looked to be the most interesting first-round cruiserweight final and for the round and a half that it lasted-it was as both fighters landed their fair share of crunching punches.
In the end, it was the more versatile Dorticos that was able to close the show.
Dorticos moves in the tournament to the semi-finals against the winner of IBF champion Murat Gassiev against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in Newark, New Jersey next month.

Two questions that I'm going to answer-one has been asked to me and one that I'm asking rhetorically.
The first is why don't I recognize Dorticos as the WBA champion?
It's because, despite Denis Lebedev's loss to the aforementioned Gassiev last year, the WBA still recognizes Lebedev as their "super" champion and in divisions that the WBA has 2 or even 3 champions, I only recognize that champion as the WBA champion.

The better question is why did the WBSS put a fight between a Cuban and a Russian without a local hook in San Antonio, Texas, and expect it to draw?
I don't know what the attendance numbers, but I wonder why this match was selected for this location?
Another issue is the WBSS stream on their website, which so many have complained about as being so fuzzy.
I believe I have the solution-the pomp and circumstance that the WBSS attempts to add to their events includes a dazzling light show that uses a ring of lights that surrounds the ring in a form that resembles the Roman Colosseum.
It adds attractiveness to the show and I like it-Until the fight begins.
They don't turn off those lights and it just plays havoc with the picture (and pixels) and you get a less than desirable picture on your PC.

In Inglewood, California, WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares retained his championship with a split decision win over Britain's former Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell.
Linares scored a knockdown in the second round that also cut Campbell and that knockdown allowed Linares the win as had he not scored that knockdown the fight would have been a draw on a card that Linares won on by one point.
Linares looked so impressive in the first three rounds that I was talking to Fred and said I expected Linares to finish Campbell in the middle rounds.
However, I was wrong as Campbell began to battle back by not allowing Linares to move inside on the rangy Briton and beginning to trouble Linares on the scorecards as well.
Linares put things back together in winning the final two rounds to win on my card 115-112 (7-5 in rounds minus a point for Campbell on the knockdown).
I thought I'd see better work from Linares, but it could have been the style of Campbell that made Linares more hesitant than usual.
I'll wait until his next start before proclaiming Linares in decline, but that fight will be one that might help determine just that.

In the first fight of the day, New Zealand's Joseph Parker kept his WBO heavyweight belt with a tedious majority decision over a less than combative Hughie Fury of England.
Parker, who has put together three less than impressive albeit victorious efforts in winning his title and defending it twice, did at least come forward and try to engage, which is more than I could say for Fury, who did little except move, grab and jab with an occasional right hand in a less than meritorious performance.
The fight was awkward and hard to judge as neither fighter did much offensively, but Parker did enough to win a contest that won't be fondly remembered by almost anyone.
I scored Parker a 117-111 winner (9-3).
I'm not sure what Parker has next as Fury was his mandatory defense, so he now has time for an optional defense or pursues Anthony Joshua or the Deontay Wilder-Luis Ortiz winner.
The WBO ratings are a real mess. Fury at number one has been disposed of, number two contender Christian Hammer has one notable victory in the last four years (a KO over soft jawed former Olympic bronze medalist David Price),third-rated Kubrat Pulev is fighting Joshua, fourth-ranked Tom Schwartz is undefeated, but against a resume' that makes Hammer's look like the opponents of Larry Holmes and number five contender Dominic Breazeale is fighting Bermane Stiverne in a WBC eliminator.
What a mess indeed...

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on day-two from the KO win by Yunier Dorticos and one each from the wins by Jorge Linares and Joseph Parker.
I lead the challenge 134-122.

For more on these and other boxing talk-Listen to me and Ramon on Fightheads Monday at 8 EST at
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fightheads or call in to talk to us at 646-787-1746