Hurd-Rosario battle to draw

      I've always thought that there is a place for veterans to continue to box past their prime with the caveat that they have to be matched very carefully and preferably against each other.

A perfect example of this was last night's ProBox main event between former junior middleweight champions Jarrett Hurd and Jeison Rosario in a ten-rounder at middleweight.

Neither fighter looked like a title contender but since they were on the same level, the former titleholders put on an entertaining fight that ended in a draw.

Both fighters landed their share of punches with Hurd landing more and Rosario hitting with the harder punches.

Hurd may have lost the fight in the final two rounds, holding a lead on my card, Hurd allowed Rosario to control the distance in those rounds, both won by Rosario with the rally giving him the draw on my card at 95-95.

Two judges scored the fight 96-94, one each for Rosario and Hurd, with the deciding judge marking a scorecard of 95-95.

I think a rematch would be acceptable especially if it meant that it kept either of the two wouldn't be matched against a contender or talented prospect.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica; 115 Pts(0) 

TRS: 106 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 58 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Figueroa oupoints Magsayo

    Brandon Figueroa outpunched and took advantage of two points deducted from his opponent, Mark Magsayo, for holding to win a unanimous decision in a WBC featherweight eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger for champion Rey Vargas.

Figueroa dominated the second half of the fight other than Magsayo's last attempt to pull the fight from the fire in the final round.

The numbers showed the fight fairly equal but Figueroa outworked Magsayo when the fight was on the line and frustrated him into committing the holding violations as Magsayo tired late.

I thought the fight was closer than the judges at 116-100 (official cards 117-109 x2 and 118-108) but Figueroa was the deserved victor.

Figueroa will now face Rey Vargas for Vargas's WBC title and I like Figueroa's chances of pressuring Vargas, who returns to the weight class after a loss for the vacant 130 pound title to O'Shaquie Foster and will have to drop weight, which for a taller, lankier boxer as Vargas could be a problem.

As for Magsayo, the loss is his second in a row after his upset win over Gary Russell and while he hasn't hurt his career very much with the two defeats, Magsayo might be well-suited to take a confidence builder in his next affair.

In the co-feature, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd dropped his second fight after rising to the middleweight division and this time to the relatively unheralded Armando Resendiz when the fight was stopped before the start of the tenth and final round due to a deep laceration to Hurd's lip.

Hurd vowed before the fight that he was going to return to the aggressive style that won him two titles at 154 pounds and defeated the likes of Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, and Tony Harrison, and he did that but he was overpowered by Resendiz, who isn't world-class currently and has a loss on his record to the average Marcos Hernandez.

I had Resendiz ahead on my card at 86-83 and I'm sure this win will get him more fights, while Hurd showed some signs of his former style, he might have to return to the junior middleweight division to make any advances.

The other challenge fight was in Newcastle, England in a WBA junior welterweight eliminator as Ohara Davies knocked out Lewis Ritson in the ninth round.

I haven't seen the fight yet but the reports are that Davies scored a spectacular KO.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 31 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica:  25 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 24 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Not much of a Show (time)

Photo Credit: Showtime Sports

The Saturday night card from Showtime and PBC from the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn wasn't one that was going to excite many fans going into the evening and it didn't even live up to those standards in three bouts that were about as stimulating as a meal at Bob Evans.

In the main event, Danny Garcia cruised to a unanimous decision over Ivan Redkach in a twelve rounder that was an overpriced sparring session.
Garcia won the first ten rounds on my card before wrapping the final two rounds for Redkach in the boxing version of the garbage (known here as the Phillip Rivers) touchdown for a 118-110 win.
Garcia was never even bothered by the much smaller Redkach, which I suppose was the entire idea of Redkach's selection as an opponent, but other than cutting Redkach over his left eye in round seven Garcia didn't seem interested in pushing the pace and attempting to take Redkach out and putting watchers out of their misery.
The most exciting part of the match was at the end of the eighth round when Redkach bit Garcia on the side of the neck which was far more effective than anything else Redkach landed.
Garcia will likely battle either Errol Spence or Manny Pacquiao sometime over the summer in yet another case of boxing giving you something you didn't ask for and expect you to do an endzone dance over it.
Garcia is a solid fighter and certainly world-class, but at welterweight, he lacks that little extra that the elite fighters have and it showed in his close losses to current WBC champ Shawn Porter and former WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman, who both are also more on the level of Garcia than that of Spence, Pacquiao or Terence Crawford.
Keep in mind, Garcia has been at this weight since August 2015 and Garcia still does not own a win over a top ten welterweight with his best wins over smaller and not quite top 10 welterweights Robert Guerrero and Brandon Rios.
Garcia will put up a good fight in his next fight, but I don't see him having much of a chance against Spence or Pacquiao.

Before the Garcia-Redkach main event, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd returned to the ring for the first time since his upset loss to Julian Williams and much like Garcia, disappointed to a degree in winning a unanimous decision over Francisco Santana.
Santana had never fought about welterweight and had lost three of his last four entering the fight, so this seemed to be a match made to make Hurd look strong in his return,
Hurd won easily (99-90) on my card, but as in the case of Danny Garcia, he didn't seem interested in winning by a knockout until dropping Santana with seconds remaining in the final round.
Santana rose and the fight ended, but the fight seemed more like gym work than a fight on a premium network.
Other than getting a ten-round win and removing the loss to Williams as the last thing on his resume',
I'm not sure what this win really did for Hurd.
I still have him placed solidly in the mix in the junior middleweight division and he wouldn't be more than a mild underdog against anyone in the division, but Hurd will have to raise his level in his next bout against a top fighter in the division.

In the opener, Stephen Fulton won a unanimous decision over Arnold Khegai over twelve rounds in an eliminator to earn the mandatory slot for WBO junior featherweight champion Emmanuel Navarrete.
Fulton's jab and speed managed to build a big lead on the cards and held off the late charge of Khegai, who was aggressive throughout the contest, but simply gave away too many rounds on my card (116-112 Fulton) to make it close
Fulton's a smooth boxer that might not have enough power to sting Navarrete, but his speed makes him a dark horse to pull an upset.

A side note on the Fulton-Khegai fight.
The PBC had made it clear that they didn't recognize the WBO as a major sanctioning body and used it as a reason to not mention Terence Crawford as a welterweight champion.
Much of their problems are likely because many PBC fighters aren't in the WBO top ten contenders to the point of silliness, so while I don't agree with their stance I can see their aggravation, but this was an official eliminator and brings a few questions.
Is this the beginning of a thaw between the WBO and PBC?
Which of the two might have stepped forward, if so?
Which one needs it more?
Likely the WBO as sanctioning fees doesn't grow on trees.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on the evening as Ramon maintained his lead in the overall standings at 10-9.

Boxing Challenge: Williams upsets Hurd

The stage looked to be set perfectly for the PBC and their WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd.
A home area crowd at George Mason University, the Washington Redskins band to accompany Hurd to the ring and a national television audience allowed everything to be in place for Hurd to move on to another title unification in the fall against the winner of June's rematch between Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo.

Julian Williams disagreed, but despite Williams's talent, he had failed in his only test against elite competition when Jermall Charlo had bullied him and knocked him out in five rounds, and even though Williams hadn't lost since he hadn't excited anyone in his victories.
Williams changed the narrative and ruined the blueprint for PBC as Williams won a close, but unanimous decision to lift the two titles from Hurd, disappointing the crowd and observers that thought that Hurd might be the special fighter to burst through the dam to lead a junior middleweight division that had plenty of champions, but no dominant forces.
After this one, which will deserve consideration for the fight of the year, the division still lacks the dominant force and despite the excellent performance by Williams, he'll have to defend his titles a few times to begin the process of being thought of as such.

Williams was expected to start fast and attempt to hold on to the lead against Hurd, who has been noted to take a few rounds to fire on all cylinders and did so, but the surprise was just how fast as he dropped Hurd in the second round although Hurd rose and was not seriously hurt.
Williams allowed Hurd to rally in the middle rounds and I thought that Williams was able to do just enough to not allow Hurd into a smooth rhythm and make a run where he grabbed a few rounds in a row.
Every time that I started to think "this is where Hurd makes his move", Williams would change the momentum and fight the naturally larger Hurd off enough to keep him at less than optimum power.
I had Williams winning 115-112 (7-5 with a knockdown) and I could see a draw at 6-6 in rounds, but even then the knockdown would have made a difference.
I mention this as ESPN scored Hurd a one-point winner, which I fail to see as accurate, but I think I see the reason why that score was their score.
ESPN's Dan Rafael lives in the area (the DMV for us locals), was in the arena, and might have been swayed by the atmosphere.
That can happen to any of us, no judgment from me, just a possible reason for why ESPN scored Hurd the victor.

This fight was good enough that it should bring a rematch (it was far better than Harrison-Charlo, which is an immediate rematch) soon, but it brings to mind two thoughts.
The first of these covers "Marinating" a term usually used in cooking, but one that has become often used in boxing after Bob Arum used it for building interest in an eventual featherweight fight between rising young stars Yuriorkis Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez as a reason to wait to make the fight.
The plan backfired when Lopez was knocked out by Orlando Salido, was never the same fighter again and the big match between Gamboa and Lopez never happened, resulting in the derisive term "Marinating" for a fight that needed to be made and for various reasons wasn't.

The PBC almost revels in the fact that the majority of their stars fight only once or twice a year and often use one or both fights in borderline squash matches as their fighters often prefer the dollars guaranteed for those lesser fights rather than the higher risk fights that could bring higher rewards.

That strategy which often builds for a long-overdue fight, yet often, isn't one that fight fans cannot wait for, backfired in the case of Jermell Charlo-Jarrett Hurd.
Now to be fair, last night's upset was a mandatory defense for Hurd, but Charlo's upset loss to Tony Harrison was another case of continuing to have a fighter defend against a series of lesser contenders rather than fighting the best.

PBC has done this far too often since their opening as a promotion, most notably with WBA champion Keith Thurman, who tends to fight two lesser contenders before an event that is far more hyped than it truly deserves such as Thurman's fight with Danny Garcia, but their recent losses in the junior middleweight division, where they control three of the four titles (WBO champion Jaime Munguia is with DAZN/Golden Boy) shows the dangers of marinating.
After all, any meat will go bad in the marinating process, should you allow it to sit too long.

The other thought is this- could it be that the PBC has a group of fighters in the division that doesn't stand out above each other, can make interesting fights no matter the combination and the winners come down to the individual matchups and styles?
Look at it this way- Jarrett Hurd bullies and hammers out Tony Harrison, Jermall Charlo (Now at 160 pounds) knocks out Julian Williams, Jermell Charlo dusts Erickson Lubin (who has the punch to beat any of these guys and the chin to lose to any as well), Harrison defeats Jermell Charlo, Williams outworks Hurd.
I had hopes that Hurd was special and might emerge as the best of this bunch and I thought that Williams might have been before his loss to Jermall Charlo (I picked him to win), but I'm beginning to believe that the PBC controlled division simply has a handful of good fighters that have different skills that will enable them to defeat some and be vulnerable to others.
That recipe can make good fights such as last night's Williams-Hurd match, but it'll mean that no one or two fighters will stand out among the pack and that means that the title fights in the division will never be able to be built as a true super fight.
Since these guys are all equal, the promotion might be better suited to encourage these guys (and the veteran Erislandy Lara) to be more active and hopefully one or two will emerge as the best.
Otherwise, the titles will continue to be swapped around without a superstar and lesser tv ratings.

In the other fights on the card, junior welterweight Mario Barrios impressively snuffed out Juan Jose Velasco with a right to the body in the second round.
Barrios appears to be the young contender representing PBC in the suddenly red hot 140-pound division and could be a mandatory contender for one of the champions shortly.

Matt Korobov appeared to have won a majority decision over Immanuel Aleem as that result was announced in the ring.
Aleem rallied late in the ten rounder to make things interesting, but my score of 97-93 for Korobov seemed in line for the most part.
About ten minutes later, the announcement was made that the announcement was incorrect and the result was actually a majority draw, which was a borderline Hamburglar appearance.
I thought Korobov was the clear victor.

In the boxing challenge, I gained two points from the Mario Barrios KO to Ramon Malpica's one to move the challenge to 118-101.

This post ran longer than I planned, so I'll be writing a separate post later on the ESPN card from Tucson, Arizona.

Boxing Challenge: Hurd takes down Lara!!

Photo Credit;Stephanie Trapp-Showtime Sports

While I was off in the Blue Grass State (more on the first trip of the year over the next few days), Showtime held an interesting three-fight telecast from Las Vegas with the main event being a title unification fight that would have major repercussions in the junior middleweight division.
In an unrelated note-this is the 4,000th post on this blog.
I'm amazed sometimes with just how much I've written about here.

Editor's Note:It turns out this is 3,995-Five posts that I've been working on, but haven't published were counted by Blogger.
I'll make the 4,000th later this week.

In the main event, Jarrett Hurd knocked Erislandy Lara down with seconds remaining in the fight and that knockdown was the difference on the scorecards as Hurd retained his IBF junior middleweight title and took Lara's WBA title for his own via a split decision.
The three scorecards all read 114-113 (two for Hurd and one for Lara), so without that knockdown, as the sun went down in the bout, both men would have retained their titles, but the result would have been a majority decision draw.
One has to love Jarrett Hurd, who is always aggressive and outworks his opponent, but unlike many fighters who win fights by accumulation, but rarely sit down on their shots and as result often fail to hurt the opposing fighter, Hurd has good power and when you look at that with the number of punches that he throws, Hurd's style makes him a very tough fighter to win a decision against.
Hurd's style makes fighters have to stand and fight far more often than they would like to and it usually is to their detriment.
That was the case in this one as Jarrett Hurd simply did not allow Erislandy Lara to move away, he forced Lara to engage and deliver a fun fight from a fighter that is often dull to watch.
Give Lara credit for a fine effort that was not in his usual style and dealt with an almost closed right eye, but I thought Hurd won a clear 115-112 decision (7-5 and a Hurd knockdown).
Hurd will likely fight Jermell Charlo in another unification fight next, the winner will hold three of the four titles after that bout.
Lara will likely fight a stay-busy bout and await that winner as this fight likely enhanced Lara more than hurt him.

As far Jermell Charlo, for all the talent that he has, his spectacular KO of Erickson Lubin ( who came into the fight with a questionable chin, I did pick Lubin though) and punching power, I found it interesting that a fighter without a win against a top-five fighter (Lubin and Vanes Martirosyan are his best wins) commented that it was Hurd preferring Lara to Charlo as an opponent before this fight.
I'm dubious of that claim, I doubt Hurd has that kind of pull (at least not yet) and with Charlo's lack of an opponent for a scheduled defense in June (bet on either a soft touch or a shopworn veteran name), I really have my doubts.
The Charlo brothers really have made their names off one (each) spectacular knockout over a talented, but untested opponent (Julian Williams for Jermall, the aforementioned Erickson Lubin for Jermell) and a large amount of social media for their hype.
Both fighters hit hard and are talented, I'm anxious to see what happens when someone fights back.

The semi-final saw James DeGale win back the IBF super middleweight title that he lost to Caleb Truax via a close unanimous decision. DeGale was badly cut in the third round but showed toughness in fighting his way through the cut.
Truax was busted around the eyes as well and marched forward throughout in a fight that just seemed to be always awkward through 24 rounds with two styles that didn't mesh well with each other as far as action and clean punches go.
I scored DeGale a 114-113 winner (7-5 minus a point deduction on DeGale in the late rounds).
DeGale will likely wish for unification with the World Boxing Super Series winner and WBA champion of the George Groves-Callum Smith fight, but he should have to get by the IBF interim champion Jose Uzcategui next.
As impressive as Uzcategui was in pounding Andre Dirrell and with DeGale looking like a faded version of himself since his draw with Badou Jack, I would rate Uzcategui a solid favorite to derail DeGale before a unification fight.
Truax will more than likely go back to his previous role as a trialhorse for the PBC's prospects and up and coming contenders with a little more prestige now as a former champion.

In the opener, Julian Williams won a majority decision over Nathaniel Gallimore to earn the IBF's mandatory position for Jarrett Hurd.
I'm amazed that someone saw this even as I thought Williams won 117-111 and didn't lose a round over the second half of the fight.
I was a big advocate of Williams before his only loss to Jermall Charlo (I picked him to win), but he still doesn't seem to be completely back from that loss.
No knockdowns in this, although Williams had Gallimore badly hurt in the eleventh, but could not finish the game.
I'm still not quite ready to quit on Williams, but he still has plenty to prove after looking good, not great.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica each earned three points on the night-two from James DeGale and one from Julian Williams.
I lead the challenge 59-46.

Boxing Challenge-PBC Junior Middleweight's and a Waste Of Time

Five title fights and an important minor title topped off the weekend in boxing and the gamut was covered from all ends with an explosive knockout, a knockout from a body blow, an exciting fight with give and take, a bloodbath, a squash match, and a predictable snoozer.

Let's start in Brooklyn, where Showtime and PBC had three of the four Junior Middleweight titles (Miguel Cotto holds the WBO title for now)
The star of the night was a fighter that I've often criticized in WBC champ Jermell Charlo (TRS #2), who destroyed Erickson Lubin (TRS #5) with one right hand in the first round.

AFP Photo/AL BELLO

Time will tell whether Lubin was overhyped or not, but regardless of that future evaluation- Jermell Charlo took on a top contender in what was thought to be a pick'em fight (I picked Lubin to win) and blew through him in one round.
Full credit to Charlo and I'm looking forward to seeing him progress against better competition (and Lubin was a step up from his past opponents).
I may not care for his (and his brother's ) post-fight behavior (I've never seen guys so angry after fights they have just won), but you cannot deny results and both Charlo's are learning how to make more fun to watch fights after some early career snoozers.

Charlo was calling out IBF champ Jarrett Hurd (TRS #4) for a unification fight after his knockout and Hurd retained his title in the Showtime opener in a good fight against former champion Austin Trout.
Trout built an early lead on the cards, but Hurd was the harder puncher and wobbled Trout in the middle rounds.
Trout battled back and cut Hurd in the seventh, but Hurd had pulled even on my card after the eighth and seemed to have Trout finished with an almost shut right eye in a tenth round that ended with Trout out of his feet.
The Trout corner showed concern for their fighter by ending the fight thereafter by not allowing Trout out of his corner for the eleventh round.
I had Hurd ahead 96-94 after ten rounds and it looked to me like Hurd would have likely stopped Trout in the eleventh.
The fight was terrific and Hurd becomes the first fighter to stop Trout something that three top fighters that defeated Trout could not do (Canelo Alvarez, Erislandy Lara, and Jermall Charlo) and Trout is a bigger name than anyone on either Charlo's record.
Charlo vs Hurd would be a very strong fight and should happen next, if not for the PBC's normal inclination (more later on this) to put together one of those "wonderful" prep fight cards (usually squash matches, again more later) so we will see when and if this will happen.

In the main event that saw the crowd leaving the arena like water swirling around a drain, WBA champ Erislandy Lara (TRS #1) win every round over former Olympian Terrell Gausha in a fight that was the typical boring, yet dominant win for the Cuban.
Lara did drop Gausha in the fourth but was more interested in flexing for the crowd than finishing Gausha, so the rest of the fight continued on its general dull path.
Lara said after the fight that he was willing to fight Charlo, but there is plenty of doubt to me that fight will ever take place as the two train together in Houston, share the same trainer in Ronnie Shields and have shown little inclination to fight each other in the past.

And then, we move to just what you would expect from PBC with a national television audience on Fox available was wasted when instead of putting Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares against each other with possible decent audiences to view, their answer was to put together a waste of time of tremendous proportions.

Leo Santa Cruz (TRS #1) defended his WBA featherweight title with a seven round stoppage over overmatched Chris Avalos in a squash match that should define main event squash matches.
Santa Cruz won every round and generally swatted the tough Avalos around the ring as a cat would bat an almost dead mouse around a floor.
This bout proved nothing other than perhaps chip a little rust off Santa Cruz and other than that minor note was a waste of time.

Abner Mares (TRS #5), who should have been fighting Santa Cruz, wasted his time against another durable but outgunned opponent in Andres Gutierrez with a unanimous technical decision after ten rounds when the fight was stopped after Gutierrez couldn't continue with a bad cut from a headbutt.
I had Mares ahead 99-91 and was never seriously threatened in yet another fight that was unneeded for any reason other than to knock the rust off Mares-rust that wouldn't be there, to begin with, if  PBC was more active for their fighters.
Sigh.

In the World Boxing Super Series in the Super Middleweight bracket, George Groves (TRS #4) stopped Jamie Cox in the fourth round to retain his WBA title with a vicious body shot in London.
Groves, who was seeded first in the tournament, received a better than expected fight from Cox, who came forward and threw plenty of punches before the sudden ending.
The victory for Groves moved him to the semi-finals against fellow Briton Chris Eubank Jr in what will be a huge fight in Great Britain.
I like Groves and I've never been completely sold on Eubank, but something tells me that Groves might be made for Chris Eubank..

In the boxing challenge, I earned nine points to Ramon Malpica's seven to boost my lead to 146-133.

I earned two points to Ramon's one for the Leo Santa Cruz win and two to his one for George Groves victory as well.
We both earned two points for the victories by Mares and Lara.
We both added one point for the win by Jarrett Hurd and neither scored in the Charlo-Rubin fight as we both selected Lubin to win.

Wilder stops Washington-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica hit the round correctly on two stoppage wins,outscored me 8 to 5 on the night and moved into the lead over me in the boxing challenge 18-16...

The biggest (literally) fight of the night saw Deontay Wilder retain his WBC heavyweight title with a fifth round stoppage of late replacement Gerald Washington.
Washington had his moments in the fight and I had the fight even when Wilder dropped Washington out of nowhere in round five.
Washington rose,but was battered around the ring before the referee ended the bout.
Wilder didn't do much to answer any questions that I have about his viability against the top heavyweights when he was fighting evenly against the untested and inexperienced Washington.
I'll continue to look at him with a raised eyebrow until he defeats a top 10 contender at minimum.
Ramon scored three points to my two for the Wilder victory.

The co-feature saw Jarrett Hurd wear down Tony Harrison after giving away the first four rounds and stop Harrison in the ninth to win the IBF junior middleweight title that Jermall Charlo vacated last week.
I thought Harrison won the first four rounds and had him ahead after eight rounds,five to three,but you could clearly see things swinging Hurd's way and with Hurd landing the bigger shots,you had a feeling how this was going to end.
Hurd still needs some refining,but his uppercut is top notch and I see him having a chance to be a power broker in the 154 pound division.
As for Harrison,his meltdown occurred just as it had in his previous loss to Willie Nelson-building a lead and running out of gas before the finish line and his world title hopes look to be questionable at this stage until he can prove that he can complete an effort against top competition.
In this bout too,Ramon earned three points to my two.

In the PBC opener and non-challenge bout (Had I know it would be televised,I would have put into the challenge) you saw as good of an action bout in the heavyweight division that you could ask for as Dominic Breazeale stopped Izuagbe Ugonoh in the fifth round of an absolute bomb fest.
Breazeale knocked Ugonoh down in the third,then Ugonoh would have put Breazeale down,if not for a stunned Breazeale's tackle of Ugonoh on his way to the canvas.
Round three of this one is the clubhouse leader for round of the year.
Ugonoh looked on his way to the win when he floored Breazeale face first in the fourth and pounded him after that along with almost closing his puffy left eye,but as Howard Cosell used to say-BUT NO!!
Breazeale then sent Ugonoh down in the fifth,Ugonoh got up but was sent down and out along the ring apron to end an explosive bout!
Breazeale's punching and lesser chin is always going to make exciting fights,but not sure he's going to win against top 10 level opponents,while Ugonoh looks to be a little overmatched size wise and if it's possible,I think he should consider trying to fight at cruiserweight,where I think he'd be a tough out for anyone down there.
If you missed this one-catch it on youtube!!

In the non-American challenge bouts,Ramon would earn two points to my one as Rey Vargas won the vacant WBC junior featherweight title via a majority decision over Gavin McDonnell in England and Eliezer Alvarez knocked out Lucien Bute in the fifth round of their light heavyweight fight in Quebec City...

Boxing Challenge-Thurman rallies past Porter,Joshua stops Breazeale

The boxing challenge saw R.L. Malpica and I each score three points over the weekend and make the total for the year 76-63.

The PBC made its debut on CBS and I thought it was a pretty strong one as Keith Thurman rallied late in the fight to earn a unanimous decision over Shawn Porter to retain his WBA welterweight title.

All three judges scored Thurman a 115-113 winner, which was identical to my score, in which Thurman won the final three rounds to earn the win on the TRS card.
Porter cut Thurman above the eye and then slowed in his attack and allowed Thurman to get back into the fight.
The bout was pretty action-friendly and I wouldn't be against an eventual rematch, but I'd like to see each man take another fight or two before a rematch.
I'd love to see Thurman unify vs WBC champ Danny Garcia (Both being with PBC, this should be easy enough to make) and Porter could have a mandated rematch if he could beat David Avenasayan and that to me looks like an excellent network-level card.
Thurman's win was less than popular with the live crowd and I have a theory on that.
Keith Thurman gives a lot of answers that appear programmed and some fans have a negative opinion of Thurman because of that.
He comes across as a bit plastic and when he wins a close fight, there is some blowback-Just a theory.

I was very impressed with junior middleweight Jarrett Hurd, who stopped Oscar Molina in the tenth to open the CBS card.
Hurd lost only one round on my card and set the tone in the first as he dropped Molina with an uppercut.
The stoppage seemed a bit premature for my taste, but Molina wasn't winning this bout anyway, so I wouldn't feel too bad about the end of the bout.
Hurd looks to be a promising prospect and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him.

On Showtime-Anthony Joshua defended his IBF heavyweight title for the first time with a seventh-round knockout of a gutsy Dominic Breazeale.
Joshua hurt Breazeale in the second, but couldn't finish him off until the seventh, when he dropped the American twice before the end of the bout.
Breazeale was more competitive than I thought. but I had Joshua winning every round.
Joshua has the talented Joseph Parker of New Zealand as a mandatory contender, but it's unknown if Joshua will have an optional defense before a Parker bout.

The co-feature was not televised in the US, but was on the boxing challenge as George Groves defeated Martin Murray by unanimous decision to win the Yaqui Lopez award for most title shots without a win (just kidding), but more importantly, earn another title shot against one of the WBA champs at 168 as the WBA still is trying to clean their mess of multiple champions in each division up.
Reports were that it was a fun fight to watch, but I was unable to watch as of this writing...