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: Prograis knocks out Zepeda

    The boxing weekend saw a world championship filled and the new champion staking a claim for a chance for a rematch to prove that he is the best fighter in the division.

Regis Prograis controlled his fight from the outset against Jose Zepeda for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title for most of the ten rounds and then convincingly finished Zepeda in the eleventh, leaving a beaten Zepeda sagging along the ropes and Prograis making an argument for a rematch with Josh Taylor.

Zepeda seemed to be making a late run at the win when he had his best round of the fight in the tenth before Prograis finished the evening in the following round.

I scored Prograis leading 98-92 entering the final round.

Prograis will defend his title for the first time against former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in a fight that was rumored and planned years ago and both would enter the fight with only one career loss- each of the duo losing to Josh Taylor in close fights.

Prograis-Ramirez is yet another excellent match that one could easily select either fighter to win.

However, after watching this effort from Prograis, I'd favor him as the victor.

In the co-feature, junior middleweight Charles Conwell won a majority decision (98-92, 96-94, 95-95) over veteran Juan Carlos Abreu in a WBC eliminator and moved on to another eliminator in the future.

I haven't watched this fight as of this writing, so I have no scorecards, etc.

The other two big bouts of the weekend would hail from London but on two competing cards.

Frank Warren's Queensberry promotion's main event saw a disappointing ending as Zach Parker surrendered after the fourth round due to a broken right hand.

I thought Parker won three of the first four rounds but Ryder continued to press forward as he typically does and one could see Parker throwing fewer and fewer right hands in the third ad fourth stanzas.

With the win, Ryder becomes a minor WBO champion but more importantly is now the mandatory challenger for unified champion Canelo Alvarez and the organization has ruled that if Alvarez fights anyone other than Ryder in his next two fights, they will be forced to remove their title from the Mexican star.

Ryder's not flashy and against elite boxers can be outpointed but he never stops coming forward and will give even the best of his division a physically taxing battle.

On the other side of London, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing heaved a sigh of relief after Dillian Whyte won a majority decision over previously undefeated Jermaine Franklin of the United States.

Whyte and Franklin divided most of the middle rounds after Franklin started quickly in winning the first two rounds.

Franklin hurt Whyte in the ninth and appeared to be on the verge of an upset but Whyte staggered Franklin in the tenth and finished the fight strongly in the final round when he again stunned the American.

I thought the fight was close (I scored it a draw at 114-114) and didn't have a complaint with Whyte getting the win, although the scores of 115-115 ( I hate scoring even rounds and this judge scored two of them) and 116-112 x2, seemed a bit weird.

7-5 either way or a draw is an acceptable card, 8-4 (as two judges saw it for Whyte) for either fighter would be too much of a margin.

For Franklin, it re-establishes himself as a fighter that is deserving of future fights against contenders, and for Whyte, the win likely allows him to stay in line for a 2023 rematch with former champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua and Whyte fought an action-filled battle in 2015 when both men hurt and pounded the other before Joshua stopped Whyte in the seventh round.

Joshua has been rumored to be in negotiations for a match against Deontay Wilder that has been wanted by boxing fans for years but Whyte makes sense in the event that Joshua-Wilder cannot reach an agreement.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 194 Pts (4) 

Ramon Malpica: 166 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 158 Pts (4)