Boxing Challenge: Pacheco knocks out Coceres,Heaney upsets Bentley

    Saturday night in Los Angeles, super middleweight prospect Diego Pacheco overcame a difficult task in veteran Marcelo Coceres when Pacheco delivered a highlight knockout in the ninth round.

Coceres had success in the middle rounds, especially in the fifth round when he stunned Pacheco with a series of hooks but Pacheco gradually took back control of the fight and had a strong eighth round before finishing the fight in the ninth with an uppercut that chopped Coceres down with the Argentine taking the full count.

Pacheco called out Edgar Berlanga after the fight and while both fighters work with Matchroom, I'd be dubious of Berlanga accepting that fight when he could have a higher profile and payday against Jaime Munguia with a better chance of winning.

Pacheco looks like a future champion but he may not receive that opportunity for quite a while.

Earlier Saturday in Manchester, England on ESPN+, a minor upset for the British middleweight title occurred as Nathan Heaney won a majority decision over Denzel Bentley.

The title isn't as important as the shakeup in the world ratings as Bentley was rated highly after his strong effort against WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

Heaney built a lead on the scorecards as Bentley relied on single punches that didn't damage the underdog as much as expected.

Bentley did make a late charge with Heaney tiring badly in the final rounds but the deficit was too great to overcome with Heaney winning by scores of 117-11, 116-113, and 114-114.

I scored Heaney the winner at 115-113 and with Bentley being rated in the WBO's top ten with Top Rank's working relationship with Frank Warren (Heaney's promoter), I could see an Alimkhanuly challenge for Heaney sometime next year.

In the co-feature, Nick Ball dominated former junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe to win a unanimous decision in a WBC featherweight eliminator.

Ball was the more physical and larger fighter to bully Dogboe in forcing Dogboe to give way, which isn't Dogboe's style and despite trying hard and having his moments, Ball was the clear victor by scores of 119-108, 118-109, and a surprisingly close 116-111.

I scored Ball the winner at 118-109.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 174 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 157 Pts (3)
Vince Samano:  115 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Joshua decisions Franklin

   The main event from Matchroom/DAZN on Saturday was able to give Eddie Hearn what he needed most in a victory but that's about all anyone received in Anthony Joshua's return from his two decision losses to Oleksandr Usyk as Joshua looked inflexible and at times reluctant against Jermaine Franklin,

However, the Joshua jab was enough to deter Franklin and give Joshua an unsatisfying but unanimous decision victory in London.

My card agreed with two of the judges at 117-111 with the other scoring 118-111 with Joshua working his strong jab to keep Franklin from getting inside to rough Joshua up and as a result, a less-than-exciting affair occurred.

When Franklin did decide to move his hands, he did have some success, particularly in the fourth and tenth rounds but he didn't take the risk of doing so and fell behind on the scorecards.

Joshua called for Tyson Fury after the win but from what I saw in this fight, Fury wouldn't have too many concerns against Joshua in a match that has been talked about for years but seems to be well past its prime.

Franklin is a top-ten-level heavyweight, so the victory isn't a complete washout for Joshua, and until someone beats him that isn't arguably the best fighter pound for pound, you will have to give the respect that his resume deserves.

However, if Joshua has a prayer of winning against the best in the division, this version of Joshua will have to improve a great deal.

In Tulsa, Oklahoma from ESPN/Top Rank, the WBO featherweight title vacated by Emmanuel Navarrete was at stake as Robiesy Ramirez faced former WBO junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe to fill the vacancy.

It was Ramirez dominating from the outside by keeping the smaller Dogboe off balance throughout the fight and scoring a final-round knockdown of an off-balance Dogboe to clinch the unanimous decision for the two-time Olympic gold medal winner.

I scored Ramirez a 117-110 winner, which was the same as the closest judge with the remaining cards listing scores of 118-109 and 119-108.

Ramirez would make a lot of sense to oppose the winner of May's IBF title fight in Ireland between Luis Alberto Lopez and Michael Conlan, with both fighters affiliated with Top Rank, a unification battle should be fairly easy to sign.

The fight of the weekend was the featherweight co-feature with two-time title challenge Joet Gonzalez and Jose Enrique Vivas banging out a ten-rounder that could have been held in an office cubicle with both men throwing and landing plenty of punches.

Gonzalez broke open a close fight in the final rounds with Vivas suffering a severely swollen jaw that I would guess is broken as Gonzalez picked up the pace in those rounds to outwork Vivas.

I think Vivas's jaw injury occurred in the ninth round and had this been a twelve-rounder, I think the fight would have stopped in favor of Gonzalez.

I scored the fight closer than the official judges at 97-93 as the official scores were 99-91 and 98-92 x2.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 48 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 41 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 33 Pts (5) 

Boxing Challenge: Dogboe nips Gonzalez

      Isaac Dogboe grabbed the final two rounds with the fight even on two cards entering the ninth round and earned a split decision over Joet Gonzalez in the main event of an ESPN+/Top Rank card from Hinckley, Minnesota.

With the victory, Dogboe won a regional title (and shiny belt) but more importantly, moved into position for an eventual opportunity against WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas or WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete, who owns two wins over Dogboe and one over Gonzalez.

Dogboe started quickly in winning the first three rounds and looked to be on his way to a comfortable decision win before Gonzalez began to rally in the middle rounds with his highlight coming when he wobbled Dogboe with a right hand in the fourth that came the closest to scoring a knockdown from either fighter.

My card was dead even after eight rounds as Gonzalez had been the more accurate puncher with Dogboe throwing more in a good but not great battle.

Dogboe turned up his attack in the ninth and won the final two rounds to win the fight on my scorecard 96-94 and that was the same as both judges that chose Dogboe scored the fight with the Gonzalez judge scoring the exact score for the Californian.

The fight was very close and 96-94 for either fighter is a very reasonable scorecard and although a rematch would make little sense for Dogboe, I wouldn't be against one happening, and I'd wager you could see one a year or two down the road after Dogboe receives his chance at a championship.

I'd think that Dogboe might prefer a chance against Vargas rather than a third try at Navarrete, who owns both of the career losses for Dogboe but an attempt against Vargas comes with the difficulty of Top Rank working with the promoter of Vargas, which is PBC.

As for Gonzalez, the defeat may hurt him a small bit for a short time but close losses against world-class fighters don't tend to hold fighters back over the long haul as long as they remain active and work their way back through the division.

In the co-feature, undefeated lightweight Giovanni Cabrera won a convincing unanimous decision and may have erased the prospect status for good of the once-trumpeted Gabriel Flores, who has now lost two of his last three, and his win sandwiched in between the losses was very close.

Cabrera dropped Flores with the first punch that he threw in the first round as a straight left crashed Flores to the floor.

Cabrera would score another knockdown later in the round with Flores being very fortunate to reach the end of the opening stanza.

Flores won the fourth round (the only one that he won on my scorecard)  and seemed to possibly win the fifth before Cabrera knocked him down again late in the round and deflated Flores for the remainder of the bout.

If Cabrera would have been a harder puncher (only seven knockouts in his twenty wins entering Saturday), Flores could have been seriously injured as he was strafed with blows throughout and was cut and dealt with severe swelling on and under his left eye.

Flores showed plenty of heart in surviving to the end as he did in his first loss to Lopez but the appeal that he once had as the youngest fighter that Top Rank ever signed to a promotional agreement has been extinguished and at minimum, Flores will have to be rebuilt and matched very carefully for his next few fights as he has taken far too much punishment for such a young fighter in his last three matches.

As for Cabrera, he will make a move up in competition in the division soon, maybe against someone like Jeremiah Nakathila, and a win would move him into the top ten in the division.

At 28, Cabrera will need to stay active as he may not have the time to wait for those types of fights.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 133 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 113 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 109 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Valdez stops Velez late

The ESPN/Top Rank series closed its doors on the "Bubble" for the summer and will be back to the normal Saturday schedule soon with what the company was hoping for as former WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez battled past Jayson Velez and onto an exciting fall pairing with WBC junior lightweight champion Miguel Berchelt.

The tenth round knockout wasn't without its perils early as Valdez appeared to be struggling with his style "merger" between his own straight forward style and the changes brought on by his trainer Eddy Reynoso since being hired by team Valdez after his victory over Scott Quigg.
Velez was effective early against Valdez, who seems to "think" about what to do in a boxing style rather than coming naturally to him, but Valdez stemmed the tide with a left hook that dropped Velez near the conclusion of the fifth round.
After the knockdown, Valdez was far more effective in fending off the attacks of Velez to win the next four rounds on my card, and when Velez was stung in the ninth round, it appeared that the only question in the fight was could Velez make it to the end.
Velez couldn't as Valdez knocked him down in the tenth with Velez barely beating the count and with Velez shaken, Valdez pummeled Velez into the ropes giving referee Tony Weeks no choice other than to end the fight.

I had Valdez up 87-83 entering the final round, but finishing the fight convincingly could be a confidence builder for the Berchelt title challenge for the undefeated Valdez.
Still, I'm not a huge believer in Valdez in this fight against Berchelt.
Styles make fights and neither the "old" nor "new" Valdez seems to be a good fit for the bigger and harder punching Berchelt.
In either of the two scenarios, Valdez comes charging at the bigger puncher and gets punished for his troubles or he tries to box from the outside with the hybrid boxer-puncher manner to be unable to cope with the larger man from long-range.
I'm looking forward to the fight and it will have plenty of action, but short of Valdez landing big against Berchelt, who suffered his only loss by first-round knockout, I don't see Valdez winning against Berchelt and it could be the type of fight that has the type of pounding that shortens the peak of careers.

In the other boxing challenge fight, former WBO junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe stopped former title challenger Chris Avalos in the eighth and final round of a featherweight pairing.
Dogboe won six of the seven rounds before stopping Avalos in the eighth.
The stoppage seemed to be a little early with Avalos wobbled, but not seriously hurt after a Dogboe right hand and with thirty-five seconds remaining, a case could be made that Avalos might have made it to the final bell.
However, it wasn't going to change the outcome and it saved Avalos from a few more punches taken.
Dogboe will still have to prove more in the 126-pound division, but it was a good start considering his over a year away from the ring after his two losses against Emanuel Navarette.
As for Avalos, who has won only one of his last six fights, it may be time to consider retirement as other than collecting paychecks, I don't see what more he has left to give in the ring.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica added four points to my two to cut my lead in the challenge to 71-65.
The stoppage by Isaac Dogboe was the difference with Ramon gaining an extra point for calling the round.

Boxing Challenge: Second verse, Same as the first

Top Rank and ESPN offered two championship rematches and despite the results from the first fights ending in the same manner as the return fights, the card still was more than intriguing to watch on Saturday night.

Big-hitting Miguel Berchelt retained his WBC junior lightweight title when the corner representing former champion Francisco Vargas refused to allow the bout to continue following the sixth round.
Berchelt didn't escape from this one unscathed as Vargas landed his share over an entertaining six rounds, but the bigger puncher was landing more and those shots were busting up the face of the valiant but outgunned former champion and I think the decision by Vargas trainer Joel Diaz was the correct one, even if Vargas was still landing against Berchelt.
While Vargas can still be part of some entertaining fights if matched properly (think of the length of the career of Jesus Soto-Karass or Humberto Soto as two examples) matched properly are the keywords as he has to have an opponent that he won't have to chase and preferably one that isn't a younger opponent that can bang a bit, it's Berchelt with the brighter future.
Berchelt has called out Vasyl Lomachenko and that would be an easy fight to make, but he also challenged the winner of May 25th's WBO title fight in the division between Masayuki Ito and Jamel Herring, which can also be easily made to add a second title, but the best fight in the division would be more difficult to put together with Berchelt battling WBA champion Gervonta Davis.
Berchelt would have the height and reach advantage, but Davis would have a vast edge in hand speed and I'd rate Berchelt with slightly more power.
That fight is the best fight in the division to be made and while I'm more than fine with Berchelt vs Ito/Herring and I'd be OK with the much-hyped, but no real progress on the social media oriented Davis unification fight with IBF champion Tevin Farmer to unify as well, but Berchelt and Davis shouldn't have problems with either and makes Berchelt vs Davis the unquestioned decider in settling the question of who is the best in the division.

Emanuel Navarrete repeated his victory over Isaac Dogboe to make his first defense of the WBO junior featherweight title a successful one when Dogboe's cornerman (his father) threw in the towel in the twelfth and final round.
Dogboe was knocked down in the sixth but was in serious trouble several times throughout the fight and despite fighting better in the rematch than in their first encounter, the far shorter Dogboe was unable to dodge the longer Navarrete's punches from long range, especially the jab which seemed to be magnetized to his  and was outworked by the champion, which taken by itself was a bad sign for Dogboe, who usually is able to mark his will on his opponent simply by overwhelming them with a large mass of punches, but has now twice been unable to do that to Navarrete.
Dogboe's effort may have been better in the second fight, but his face told the tale and a real argument could be made (and the ESPN crew of Tessitore, Ward, and Bradley made that argument) that the fight went on far too long with the beating that Dogboe was taking perhaps being a career-long impediment.
Dogboe announced after the loss that making 122 pounds has been difficult and he'll be moving to featherweight.
If the beatings that he has taken against Navarrete hasn't taken away any of his skills and was just a bad style match for him, Dogboe could face WBO champion Oscar Valdez, Carl Frampton or IBF champion Josh Warrington in entertaining events, but I'd be surprised if Dogboe fights on without any negative effects.
As for Navarrete, he'll likely face some lesser contenders for a while as the other division champions Danny Roman (WBA and IBF) and Rey Vargas (WBC) not only appear to be on a collision course for each other, both fight on DAZN and although the Eddie Hearn half of DAZN (Roman) has worked with Top Rank, Golden Boy (Vargas) has been more reticent to do so.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added three points from the Top Rank slate, two from Berchelt and one from Navarette.
The score stands in my favor at 121-104.