Boxing Challenge: Tszyu stops Horn

Australia's superfight turned out to be competitive for one round and that first round was pretty close.

After that round, Tim Tszyu took command, knocked Jeff Horn twice in the third round, and delivered a beating that should send Horn into retirement after his corner ended the one-sided drubbing at the end of the eighth round.

The first round was evenly fought and could have been scored for either fighter.
I scored it for Horn, but there would not be another round that Horn could stake a claim for his own and the speed of Tszyu was too much for the veteran, who couldn't start anything on offense other than an occasional right hand that Tszyu was able to walk through.
Tszyu controlled the exchanges and surprisingly was able to outmuscle the larger and expected to be the stronger of the two fighters.

Tszyu, the son of the former unified junior welterweight champion, showed speed and power in his first fight against world-class competition, although it remains to be determined if this version of Jeff Horn was still at that level.
Tyszu will likely move up in the rankings after this win after entering 6th in the IBF and 9th in the WBO with Horn being ranked ahead of him in the WBO ratings and I could see an interesting match with WBO champion Patrick Teixeria as a possibility soon.
Should the money (and international travel allowed) be available, I would guess that Teixeria would be willing to travel to Australia for a sizable purse increase.
I'd rate Tszyu as a slight favorite over Teixeria and as a solid underdog against either of the participants in the unification fight next month for the other three titles between Jermell Charlo (WBC) and Jeison Rosario (WBA and IBF), but I wouldn't rate him as having no chance at all against either champion.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica added one point and cut into my lead at 94-87.

Boxing Challenge: Horn ends Mundine in One.

Friday morning from Brisbane, Australia in a fight that matched the top two Australian fighters in recent years, former welterweight champion Jeff Horn knocked out former super middleweight champion Anthony Mundine in a little over a minute.

Horn's knockout didn't appear to be an especially hard shot at first glance, but the replay showed that the left hook just disintegrated any hope or fight that the aging Mundine had on this evening and for all the bravado and arrogance shown in the pre-fight promotion, Mundine's career should have been over long ago and this effort (to be unkind) or lack of punch resistance (to give the benefit of the doubt) reinforced that fact.

Mundine should fade away into Australian boxing history, but Horn still has a future somewhere, likely at 154 and shouldn't have much of a problem finding fights, especially if he can work out an agreement with PBC, who currently holds almost all of the cards in the junior middleweight division.
Horn isn't an elite welterweight/junior middleweight, controversial win over Manny Pacquiao aside, but Horn will give anyone except for the truly elite a rough outing.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added one point for the Horn victory to move the boxing challenge to 195-175.

Crawford batters Horn, Santa Cruz decisions Mares

Lots to catch up on here at TRS as we have lots of inbox cleaning, our trip last weekend and starting to prep for the drafts for the Cavaliers and Devils.

First, though we have to move to the weekend in boxing while I was in the Canastota/Rochester area, there was plenty of boxing in the boxing challenge to catch up on.

We start in Las Vegas, where Terence Crawford battered Jeff Horn for nine rounds, gave him over twenty stitches for his cuts and lifted his WBO welterweight title as well.
Crawford was reported to have won every round and pounded the overmatched Horn to the point of needing to be saved by the referee.
I didn't see this fight as I am not an ESPN+ subscriber, although I will be soon.

I didn't start the ESPN+ subscription because at the same time (as I watched from my hotel room in Rochester), Showtime offered two title bouts from Los Angeles.
In the main event, Leo Santa Cruz retained his WBA featherweight title with a unanimous decision over Abner Mares in another good, but not great encounter.
Nothing really changed from their first fight and I didn't really need to see it again this time, but it was entertaining enough.
I had Santa Cruz as a 116-112 (8-4) winner and that was roughly how the judges saw it as well.
Santa Cruz is talking about a unification fight with WBC champion Gary Russell and with both being promoted by PBC, one would think that would be easy to make.
However, with Russell's history of inactivity and Santa Cruz often taking most of a year off before a squash match to prepare his return for an exile of his own making, I'd be only mildly surprised to see this happen at all and downright shocked to see it before 2019.

Jermell Charlo retained his WBC junior middleweight title with a majority decision over veteran Austin Trout.
Charlo dropped Trout in the third and eighth rounds and those knockdowns saved him from losing on one card, but Charlo generally controlled a less than thrilling bout.
I had Charlo a 116-110 winner, but to a certain degree, I thought Charlo was exposed in this one when you consider that WBA/IBF champ Jarrett Hurd stopped Trout last year and was much more dominant, Charlo may have shown that his hype and power might be overrated because many (including me) thought so highly of Erickson Lubin before Charlo knocked him out in one round.
I still don't think Charlo has beaten anyone of top five caliber and I'd pick Hurd over him in a potential bout.

Showtime continues to build itself as the fans fight network with a free stream from England with the return of former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and a title vacancy filled in the junior welterweight division.
Fury goofed, clowned and patted his way to a TKO when Sefer Seferi surrendered in his corner after the fourth round.
In a fight that was more spectacle than contest Fury proved little other than to truly see what he has retained of his talents, we will still have to wait.

Maurice Hooker upset former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan via a split decision to win the final of the 140 pound belts (WBO) to be filled after Terence Crawford vacated his four titles last year.
I had Hooker a close winner (115-113) in a bruising fight that was filled with more action than I've ever seen from a Flanagan bout.
Hooker's win not only gained him the WBO belt, but also an entry into the World Boxing Super Series in the fall tournament in the junior welterweight division.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica matched my weekend total of seven points.
Ramon earned three points from Terence Crawford, two from Leo Santa Cruz and one each from Jermell Charlo and Tyson Fury.
My points came from two each from Crawford, Santa Cruz and Fury with one from Jermell Charlo.

The challenge for the year stands at 97-78

Boxing Challenge:Horn stops Corcoran

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Boxing Challenge continued from Australia as Jeff Horn defended his WBO welterweight title with an eleventh round stoppage of unheralded Gary Corcoran of England.
Horn was way ahead on my card and the win not only retained his title, but likely earned him a healthy purse in his next fight and the right and the right to try to take out one of the best fighters in the world in Terence Crawford.

In other weekend fights that I hadn't seen of last writing.

The upset of the weekend saw journeyman Caleb Truax upset IBF super middleweight champion James DeGale via majority decision in London.
DeGale dominated the first two rounds and looked like he thought he would blow through Truax early and gassed himself out.
I had Truax a 115-113 winner.

Lee Selby retained his IBF featherweight title on that card via a unanimous decision over Eduardo Ramirez in a workmanlike victory.
I scored Selby a 117-111 winner.
Selby will face mandatory countryman Josh Warrington in his next defense.

On the Salido-Roman undercard, Rene Alvarado scored a minor upset with a narrow split decision over Denis Shafikov.
I scored the fight a draw at 95-95.

Boxing Challenge points to:

Ramon Malpica:2 pts, 1 each for wins for Jeff Horn and Rene Alvarado
TRS: 4 pts, 2 pts for Jeff Horn win/KO and 2 pts for Lee Selby win/decision

Current Standings192-173

Horn shocks Pacquiao-Boxing Challenge

In a shocker on national television in the return of elite boxing to ESPN from Brisbane,Australia,Jeff Horn gave a spirited and gritty performance and challenged Manny Pacquiao all night and gave him all he wanted.
The problem is that he didn't win and yet Horn,who was almost out on his feet in round nine,received the unanimous decision and the WBO welterweight title.

Remember when I talked about Andre Ward losing the narrative after his loss to Sergey Kovalev in their first fight because instead of getting deserved credit for showing heart and courage,he got heat for getting an undeserved decision?
That's exactly what happened tonight because instead of Jeff Horn earning credit for far exceeding expectations and giving Manny Pacquiao all he wanted,the narrative is Horn winning a fight that he shouldn't have been given.
I scored it 116-112 for Pacquiao and even if it was closer than the other famous fight that saw the Hamburglar arrive in a Pacquiao fight (1st fight vs Timothy Bradley,I scored that one 10-2),it still saw the wrong guy get the win.
Top Rank went for the bucks in having Pacquiao fight on the road and the crowd was a strong one.
What they forgot was that when you go to the hometown,some times you get a hometown decision.



Ramon Malpica and I earned no points for that,but we did get a point for the seventh round knockout in the co-feature by Jerwin Ancajas over Teiru Kinoshita to retain his IBF junior bantamweight title.
Ancajas is one of many exciting fighters and fits well in a loaded 115 pound division.
The challenge stands at 79-74.

As for the ESPN broadcast-there's some flaws.
I've always thought Joe Tessitore was a little overrated as the blow by blow announcer,but he's not terrible.
Teddy Atlas was a favorite of mine for years,but has become so shrill and almost insane with some of his out of control takes and Timothy Bradley was a nice fighter,but is bad at the broadcast table to the point of referring to Australia as "Argentina".
Atlas loves our sport,but needs to take things back about three notches.
The problem is that boxing doesn't have a large bench to move experienced announcers into place to take those spots,so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
That was nothing compared to the studio where the disinterested Steve Levy  worked with blowhard Stephen A.Smith,who rightfully railed against the decision for about an hour,but did it in a way that made me crave Advil.
Smith also spent time hitting boxing for not being UFC and how wonderful UFC is.
That's fine,but if I'm ESPN and Top Rank,I don't really want a guy on air talking about another product that my promotion or network has no involvement with being so much better than what we are putting on the air.
ESPN and Top Rank clearly has some decisions to make as this series rolls forward....

This could have been a great night for boxing,but instead it's just a controversial one...