Boxing Challenge:Stevenson dominates Lopez

      The boxing weekend was packed with matches, so packed that the weekend previews were split into two; we will do the same with the results.

We start with the biggest show of the weekend and the performance of the weekend, as Shakur Stevenson ended Teofimo Lopez's reign as the WBO junior welterweight champion with a unanimous decision victory in New York City.

Lopez had struggled against mobile boxers like Sandor Martin and Jamaine Ortiz, and with Stevenson's movement, it was natural to think Lopez would struggle against Stevenson.

Instead, Stevenson stood in front of Lopez and still made himself unable to be hit in a performance so dominant that Lopez appeared to be on a different level.

Stevenson won on all three cards (and mine) at 119-109 and now will have to choose between keeping his WBC lightweight title, WBO junior welterweight title, or even moving to welterweight for a potential bout with Conor Benn, whom Stevenson invited into the ring after the fight.

As for Lopez, I'm not sure he has the strength or the power at welterweight, but the division isn't strong at the moment, so it's possible he could succeed.

In the co-feature, Keyshawn Davis returned as a junior welterweight, knocking out Jamaine Ortiz in the twelfth round.

Davis dropped Ortiz in the eleventh round and finished him in the final stanza.

Ortiz had lost close decisions to Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez and was expected to test Davis, which didn't happen with the best performance of Davis's career.

Davis called out Devin Haney for a fight this year, and that would be interesting.

The best fight of the night was Bruce Carrington winning the vacant WBC featherweight title with a sudden ninth-round knockout of Carlos Castro.

Castro gave Carrington all that he wanted and had the favorite wobbled in one instant, but Carrington was leading on my card 77-75 at the end, and the fight was swinging his way before the knockout.

Heavyweight Jarrell Miller won a split decision over Kingsley Ibeh in a match that will be remembered by most for Miller losing his hairpiece during the fight and fighting the rest of it with a ring of glue around his head for the remainder of the match.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 13 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 13 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 12 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Ortiz returns

   Two Friday main events in the boxing challenge saw interesting bouts with contender Jamaine Ortiz dropping late replacement Cristian Mino four times before the fight was mercifully stopped in round four.

Ortiz vowed before the fight that he was going to scrap the boxing style that allowed him to fight close fights with Vasyl Lomachenko and Teofimo Lopez and planned to make more exciting fights.

Ortiz lived up to those statements against Mino but time will tell if Ortiz actually exchanges toe to toe with the best in the division or how effectively he will be in such swaps.

Earlier in the day from Belfast, Northern Ireland, junior welterweight Robbie Davies narrowly defeated Javier Fortuna in a ten-rounder filled with sloppy exchanges and physicality without lots of punches landed.

Fortuna scored the only knockdown with under a minute in the tenth round but Davies would survive until the final bell.

In the ridiculous English system that has only the referee judging the fight in a non-title event, Davies was judged the winner 95-94.

I scored Fortuna the winner 95-94.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica : 151 Pts (2)

TRS: 147 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 91 Pts (3) 

 

Boxing Challenge: Davis roars, Lopez bores

   Teofimo Lopez had a chance to dazzle the Las Vegas crowd in the area for Sunday's Super Bowl and his entrance was entertaining as a circus ringmaster.

Unfortunately, that was as entertaining as things would be in the main event as Lopez looked mediocre in a desultory outing in retaining his WBO junior welterweight title by a unanimous decision that has been panned by many over Jamaine Ortiz.

Neither fighter threw many punches and Ortiz was content to box from the outside using a lefthanded stance which was enough to win on my card 115-113.

Lopez experienced difficulty cutting the ring off from the mobile Ortiz. He looked more like the puzzled and unmotivated fighter that slid by Sandor Martin than the determined tiger that upended Josh Taylor last year.

Lopez won on two cards 115-113, which I disagree with but the Steve Weisfeld card of 117-111 seemed particularly out of whack.

While I thought Ortiz deserved the nod, I don't need to see a rematch of a fight that was extremely dull and Lopez certainly will not want to face a defensive-minded boxer like Ortiz for a lesser paycheck again.

Teofimo Lopez is starting to remind me of Zab Judah as a fighter that you can never count out yet as one that you can't count on as well.

Lopez has the talent to defeat the best in the sport but struggles against mobile boxers, especially if he feels that he doesn't have to focus on the opposition.

It happened against George Kambosos, Sandor Martin, and now Jamaine Ortiz, showing a pattern of his biggest flaw.

Just don't rule him out against elite fighters, because when motivated Lopez ranks at the top of the spot.

The star of the night was former Olympic silver medalist Keyshawn Davis, who impressed in stopping former junior lightweight and lightweight champion Jose Pedraza in six rounds.

Davis showed more strength and power than he had in recent outings and won every round against Pedraza, who tried his best but didn't use his range and seemed content to wait and hope for a right-hand miracle.

Davis looked very sharp in victory, and I'm looking forward to seeing him in his next attempt against top opponents.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 20 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 18 Pts (3)

Vince Samano; 10 Pts (3) 

Boxing Challenge: Lomachenko wins in return

  Vasyl Lomachenko's return to the ring against Jamaine Ortiz was expected to be a mere formality on his way to a 2023 title shot against Devin Haney but after eight rounds, Ortiz was ahead on my scorecard and appeared to have a chance of a seismic change to the boxing landscape in New York City.

That would be the high point of the evening for Ortiz as the legendary stamina of Lomachenko kicked in as he dominated the final four rounds, sweeping them on all scorecards and earning the unanimous decision with the likely invite to face Haney for all four world championships next year.

Lomachenko finished the first round with some swelling below the right eye, which his corner claimed was due to the abrasive tape on the gloves of Ortiz.

The swelling didn't become worse throughout the fight but it was an annoyance throughout.

I scored Lomachenko a 115-113 winner, which equaled one judge's card with the other two tabbing Loma the winner by scores of 116-112 and 117-111, which seemed to be wider than the fight indicated in my opinion.

Lomachenko hadn't fought in eleven months since his win over Richard Commey and between the layoff and the war in Ukraine, it would be understandable if he wasn't razor sharp but going back to his loss to Teofimo Lopez where he started slowly and collected many rounds down the stretch, Lomachenko, like Gennady Golovkin, may be showing his age through the amount of time (and rounds that he gives away) that it takes for him to be revved up and at top speed.

Lomachenko has always been a small lightweight in stature and he gave height and strength away to Ortiz and in the post-fight interview when Devin Haney was called into the ring to discuss a fight with Lomachenko, the size difference was startling.

Considering the size advantage, activity, and youth, I'd rate Haney as a slight favorite against Lomachenko, who I wouldn't say has lost a step as much as has been hampered by nagging injuries and a lack of consistent ring time.

In San Diego, undefeated lightweight William Zepeda placed himself directly in position to fight for any potential vacated titles next year with a dominant unanimous decision over former IBF junior lightweight champion Joseph Diaz.

Zepeda hammered Diaz from the opening bell and simply outworked and overpowered the veteran, who hung in the fight enough to occasionally keep Zepeda honest but never enough to truly concern him either.

Zepeda won on two cards 119-109 and the other 118-110 with my card agreeing with the latter.

Diaz, who lost a featherweight championship attempt to Gary Russell in 2018, lost his second in three fights at 135 pounds (losing to Devin Haney last year), lacks the power to hurt top lightweights and cuts are becoming a major problem for Diaz, who lost his 130-pound title on the scales but would be better suited to try to return to the junior lightweight division.

As for Zepeda, he is non-stop aggression and his beating of Diaz was much more comprehensive than the fighters that also hold wins over Diaz ( Haney and Russell) and in a lightweight division with lots of strong fighters even if Devin Haney moves up, Zepeda is going to be a tough out for any of them.

In London, boxing's version of the unsinkable Molly Brown emerged again with an upset that could once again result in a championship attempt as former IBF junior featherweight and featherweight champion battered favored Jordan Gill and forced his corner to throw in the towel in the middle of round four.

The win gave Martinez the European title and since the fight was an IBF eliminator, Martinez could be one win again from a second shot at the title that he both won (over Kid Galahad) and lost (to Josh Warrington) in the last twelve months by knockout.

Gill was favored after his ninth-round knockout of Karim Guerfi in his last fight in the biggest win over his career and a Gill-Warrington or Gill-Leigh Wood pairing would have drawn a nice crowd in the UK but Martinez was having none of that from the start as every punch from the 36-year-old Spaniard seemed crash hard against Gill.

Martinez dropped Gill twice in the third and two more times in the fourth and with Gill's nose streaming blood and his face puffing with swelling, his corner waved the fight off after the fourth knockdown of the fight in round four.

Kiko Martinez truly is amazing and there may have not been a better world-class level gatekeeper than Martinez in years, and once again Martinez will be an underdog against Josh Warrington or Leigh Wood next time out as he keeps earning that one more payday after a surprising win.

Just don't sleep on him even if the odds seem to be all against him. 

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 177 Pts  (2)

Ramon Malpica: 154 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 145 Pts  (5)

Boxing Challenge: Boom Boom! Out Go MY Lights?

   A fun day of boxing was in the middle of the Showtime main event and as David Benavidez pounded David Lemieux along the ropes in the second round of their super-middleweight fight and seemed poised to finish the veteran former IBF middleweight champion in spectacular fashion, suddenly a flash of white and a booming sound would knock my power out at the road office for the final eight and a half hours of my shift and delay my recap!

Apologies for that but sitting in the dark was far from fun and I would have no time for a review on Sunday for reasons that you will see later in the week!

As I return to the David's (Benavidez and Lemieux), the bigger and younger Benavidez would finish off the very courageous and just as overmatched Lemieux in the third round.

Lemieux tried to fire his once-powerful right hand. Still, Benavidez was far too strong and almost ended the fight in the first round when a left hook snapped Lemieux's head back, trapping him in a corner and with another thirty seconds may have finished the bout in one.

Benavidez busted Lemieux's nose early in the second and knocked him through the ropes early in the second (this is where I lost the telecast) with again Lemieux being very fortunate to reach the end of the round.

Lemieux tried to hold Benavidez off in the third as he attempted to step his punch output up but Benavidez quickly ended the attempt and resumed his pummelling of the Canadian to force Lemieux's corner to end the fight.

A spectacular win for Benavidez, who would love to fight Canelo Alvarez, who seems occupied for the near future but his PBC options appear limited to the always-reluctant Caleb Plant or hoping for a rise in weight for WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo for the time being.

The co-feature saw Cuban prospect Yoelvis Gomez forced to fight for the ten-round distance for the first time against veteran journeymen Jorge Cota but notched shutouts (100-90, I scored Gomez a 99-91 victor) on all three cards to earn a unanimous decision in a junior middleweight pairing.

Gomez is very aggressive but somewhat wild in delivering his shots and although I'm very high on his future, he needs a few more fights before his next attempt at improved competition.

Meanwhile, over in Las Vegas, Janibek Alimkhanuly won a minor title that could be promoted to the full WBO title depending on the eventual decision of WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade after a two-round destruction of England's unbeaten but overmatched Danny Dignum on a Top Rank/ESPN card.

Alimkhanuly was far too strong for the outclassed Dignum, who was game but his punches against
Alimkhanuly was like a child throwing Nerds candy into a whirring fan before succumbing to a huge left uppercut that concluded the evening.

Alimkhanuly now awaits the decision of Demetrius Andrade, who will either vacate the WBO title to move to 168 pounds, which would give Alimkhanuly full title status, or in the event of Andrade staying at 160, he will be forced to face Alimkhanuly in what would be a very intriguing fight.

Unbeaten Jamaine Ortiz took control down the stretch over his lightweight ten rounder against former WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring and won a unanimous decision that would result in Herring announcing his retirement after the decision.

Ortiz was too quick in winning the final four rounds on my card to win 97-93 (which agreed with two judges, the other scored 96-94) and surprisingly announced in his post-fight interview that he was likely to try junior welterweight in his next fight.

Herring has always been a class act and I am sorry to see him leave the stage but the time appears to be right as he has clearly lost a few steps and I'd hate to see Herring move to steppingstone status.

The day started with an evenly fought light heavyweight duo slugging each other for twelve rounds as Joshua Butasi survived a late run by Craig Richards to snare a close unanimous decision from London.

The Matchroom-DAZN event was a WBA eliminator but more importantly, was for the unofficial title of best British 175 pounder with Butasi setting the pace and Richards countering well.

The best action came in the later rounds when Richards began to rally on the scorecards but his late run came too late as Butasi won by 115-113 twice (my scorecard) and 116-112.

Buatasi is a potential opponent for WBA champion Dmitry Bivol, should Canelo Alvarez not activate his option for a rematch but I would wager that it would be Gilberto Ramirez getting the nod for a Bivol assignment under that scenario.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 88 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 74 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 74 Pts (7)