Boxing Challenge: Matias stops Ponce

 It might not have quite reached fight of the year level but Subriel Matias's stoppage of Jeremias Ponce to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight title was still a very entertaining five rounds with Ponce unable to answer the bell for the start of round six.

Ponce charged early and controlled the first round with a surprising early attack and the two squared off with bunches of punches landed on each other in rounds two-four, as the two set a tremendous pace and had the fight continued at that rate, we could have seen a fight that would be remembered for years.

As usually happens in these types of give-and-take battles, one of the participants eventually wilts and in this case, it was Ponce as he was knocked down hard late in the fifth round, and while he showed tons of grit in getting up and concluding the round, his corner decided to stop the fight before the start of round six.

I scored the fight even after five rounds at 57-57, giving Ponce three of the five rounds with Matias gaining a point for the knockdown and I think Matias would have had an excellent chance at closing the show had the fight continued into the sixth round.

I think both fighters have futures as action fighters but Matias now has 19 knockouts in as many wins and with his hard punching and sometimes wild style, Matias is likely to provide entertaining fights against almost anyone and Matias should see the best of PBC's fighters in the division and even lightweights moving up as the better fighters in the division are affiliated elsewhere. (Josh Taylor, Regis Prograis, Jack Catterall, and Jose Ramirez fight for others).

PBC does have the somewhat lightly-regarded WBA champion Alberto Puello in their stable and pitting Matias and Puello against each other would unify half the division's titles, so that fight would not only make sense, it would provide extra credibility in a talent-rich division.

The co-feature saw comebacking welterweight Jamal James win a unanimous decision over Alberto Palmetta in a fight that never really seemed to catch fire.

James started well and finished well with Palmetta doing his best work in between.

James had not fought for seventeen months and it showed a little but James will have other fights available against fighters of his level.

I scored James a 97-93 winner, a tad closer than the official cards at 98-92 X2 and 99-91.

In the opener, Elvis Rodriguez won a majority decision over Joseph Adorno with knockdowns in the seventh and tenth.

I haven't watched this one as of this writing but the official scores read 94-94, 96-92, and 97-91 for Rodriguez, who could be in the running for a chance at IBF champion Subriel Matias or WBA king Alberto Puello with the win.

Boxing Challenge: Ennis, Zepeda score First Round KO's

 The boxing weekend saw one mild surprise and two top contenders score impressive first-round knockout wins against good opposition.

The most meaningful fight ended with an upset as Radzhab Butaev surprised Jamal James with a ninth-round knockout to take the minor welterweight title held by James and earn a mandatory chance at WBA champion Yordenis Ugas.

Butaev pressured the 6'2 James throughout the fight and held a slight lead on my scorecard (77-75) entering the ninth round before beginning to hurt James and with James against the ropes, referee Celestino Ruiz stopped the fight.

It was a little premature in my opinion as James was stung a bit but not badly dazed.

Butaev will get a title shot against Ugas or Eimanis Stanionis for the full WBA title.

The WBA has ordered Ugas-Stanionis with the winner to face Butaev but Ugas has asked for an exception to face WBC and IBF champion, Errol Spence.

Should the extension be granted, Stanionis and Butaev could fight each other for the mandatory fight for a Ugas-Spence winner but if it is not granted Ugas has threatened to vacate the WBA belt to fight Spence anyway, which would result in Stanionis-Butaev for the vacant title. 

The co-feature saw the most feared welterweight in the sports as Jaron "Boots" Ennis blew Thomas Dulorme out in one round.

Ennis knocked Dulorme down with a left hook followed by a right hand and Dulorme rose and tried to fight off Ennis but seconds later would be felled by a combination that he couldn't rise from and was counted out.

For Ennis, it was another impressive performance that will make few interested in fighting him, even champions such as Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.

Ennis is rated in the top six by all four organizations but not higher than third by the IBF and its very possible that Ennis may have to wait until 2023 and be a mandatory challenger to get a title shot, which is too bad because other than answering chin questions, which haven't been an issue thus far, Ennis looks to be as strong of a young contender as I've seen in quite a while.

In New York City, junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda crushed Josue Vargas in one round of a grudge match after a pre-fight buildup that saw punches and kicks exchange from both men and their camps.

Zepeda dropped Vargas in the first round with a left and with Vargas badly hurt, Zepeda battered Vargas into a corner and fired away relentlessly before the referee ended the fight.

Zepeda is ranked second by the WBC and might be placed in fights like these for a while as he waits for  Josh Taylor to vacate his four titles.

No boxing challenge as we didn't get choices, due to a miscommunication. 

Boxing Challenge: James, Morrell win minor titles

The Saturday night card on Fox that returned PBC to the boxing game,post-pandemic, was disappointing on a few levels.
I'll write about the most disappointing detail from outside the ring later, but inside the ring, the action was acceptable, if not awesome.

In the main event, Welterweight Jamal James earned a unanimous decision over Thomas Dulorme for one of the seemingly endless WBA minor belts in Los Angeles.
Dulorme was his typical attacking self, but the 6'2 James managed to take control midway through the bout to pull away to the deserved decision by outboxing Dulorme from the outside.
James managed to be more effective with the change in tactics, but it did make the bout less exciting with fewer exchanges.
I scored James the winner 116-112.
The victory was the biggest of his career for James and did give him a minor belt, which is worthless other than to give him a certain status in the WBA and might (emphasis on might) give him an eventual chance at a bigger fight in the organization.
James is a solid fighter and is a lower end of the top ten that would be acceptable for a title shot when a champion needs a good opponent, but not a great one.
Still, something about James makes me that this is his ceiling and he won't be able to take the next step from top ten/twelve level to championship timber.
As for Dulorme, he will always be able to land these types of fights because he is an excellent gatekeeper in the division, and he'll always give his best effort, but he is a step below the contenders in the division.

David Morrell won another WBA minor belt with a unanimous decision win over Lennox Allen in the co-main event.
The win for Morrell was his third in as many pro bouts as the Cuban handled the twelve round distance well and showed different dimensions as a boxer that has some power as well.
I'm not sure why Morrell, who is far younger than most Cuban defectors at 22, is being pushed so quickly unless the aim is to develop someone to feed to the David Benavidez-Caleb Plant winner that PBC is apparently building towards.
Morrell's plenty talented and being a southpaw could be a fighter that few will want to take a risk against for a low reward.
As with Jamal James, Morrell adds another one of those WBA worthless belts to defend against soft opposition for the time being.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points (2 for each win above) to Ramon Malpica's two (from David Morrell) to extend my lead to ten points at 81-71.

PBC announced their upcoming cards on Fox during the card and being kind, they look very weak in their main events.

Two title eliminators at welterweight on different shows look less than strong but could have ended with an anticipated match.
Former WBC and IBF champion Shawn Porter will face undefeated and thoroughly untested Sebastian Formella on August 22nd on one show while Yordenis Ugas battles Abel Ramos for another of the 12 WBA belts in September,
Porter defended his title in 2019 via a split decision over Ugas that many scored for Ugas (I scored it even at 114) and a rematch would be a fight that I could get behind.
Instead, we get Porter against Formella, who has fought no one that anyone could remotely call a contender) and Ugas against Abel Ramos, who is 0-2-1 against the best fighters he has fought in Maurice Hooker, Jamal James, and Ivan Baranchyk.
Ramos-Formella would be fine as a co-main event or an eliminator main event on FS1, but neither of the fights scheduled is appetizing.
Some of the blame for this goes to the sanctioning bodies involved, but don't tell me if PBC wanted to make Porter-Ugas instead that the alphabet boys involved wouldn't have re-evaluated.

However, neither of those two main events is as awful as the other card with Erislandy Lara defending one of the 12 WBA titles at junior middleweight Greg Vendetti.
Lara, who has become more fan-friendly as an action fighter as he ages, is saddled with Vendetti, a Massachusetts clubfighter that has two names that stick out on his record- a unanimous decision over Yoshihiro "Mr.Action" Kamegai that saw Kamegai retire after the loss and being blown out in two rounds by fringe contender Michel Soro.
This looks like a colossal mismatch and isn't worthy of the main event on national television.
PBC needs to do better.

Boxing Challenge; Vargas wins, Rios upsets De La Hoya

I had a little bit of time and was able to watch the two remaining shows from Saturday night and the boxing challenge bouts were both expected and unexpected in their results.

In the main event, Rey Vargas retained his WBC junior featherweight with a unanimous decision over Tomoki Kameda.
Vargas, an effective if not exciting fighter, generally evaded the charges of Kameda, who attempted to be aggressive throughout and stunned Vargas in the final rounds, but also had a point taken away for unsportsmanlike conduct.
I scored Vargas a 116-111 winner (8-4 rounds, with the 12th round being the rare 9-9 round with the point deduction), but he didn't exactly thrill anyone in victory.
Vargas could face WBA/IBF champion Danny Roman in his next fight, which would be an interesting fight that could go either way between two versatile and exciting boxer-punchers.

The co-feature was a surprising standout also from the junior featherweight division as undefeated and lightly tested Diego De La Hoya and veteran Ronny Rios slugged it out for six rounds before Rios stunned the cheering crowd at Carson with a right uppercut that landed with perfect timing to drive the slumping De La Hoya to one knee.
De La Hoya slowly rose and beat the count, but he clearly had conceded the fight and replays show that he may have told the referee that his day was concluded before the stoppage.
De La Hoya might have had the referee stop the fight anyway, but the way the fight ended will make observers consider the desire of De La Hoya in the future.
As for Rios, a fighter that has disappointed in his chances to move up a level after being considered a top prospect, this is a career highlight that should get him further fights along the ladder and might even be considered for a shot at Daniel Roman, if the Roman-Vargas fight is not made next.
Rios was decisioned by Vargas in a previous title attempt, so Roman is the more likely target for Rios, should a title opportunity be offered.

PBC put together two very strong action encounters in their top two fights from Minneapolis on FS1.

Welterweight Jamal James continued his buildup for a future title shot with a unanimous decision win over former lightweight champion Antonio DeMarco.
DeMarco hurt James in the second round, but James managed to weather the storm and won a wide decision (97-93 on my card) in a fight that showcased several exchanges of big punches.
DeMarco will likely receive another fight at a similar level, despite a 2-5 record over the last five years off this effort, while James seems to lack that something that would make him a stern test against the champions of the division.

The co-feature saw Gerald Washington come from behind on the cards to drop Robert Helenius for the count in the eighth round of a limited, yet give and take battle of two heavyweight fringe contenders.
I had Helenius slightly ahead at 67-66 entering the eighth when Washington landed a series of right hands, the final of which drove Helenius across the ring to the mat with a dazed Helenius only able to hook his glove around the bottom rope at the fight's end.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added four points for this set of fights.
179-161 is the current tally in my favor.