Boxing Challenge: Benavidez no picnic for Boo Boo

   David Benavidez stamped himself again as the best possible opponent for world super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez when Demetrius Andrade was unable to answer the bell for the start of round seven in their Las Vegas clash.

Andrade started well, outboxing Benavidez in the first two rounds before Benavidez began landing in the third round and dominated thereafter, knocking Andrade down in the fourth with a body shot, and battering a very game Andrade in the fifth and sixth.

With Andrade's right eye starting to swell badly, referee Thomas Taylor asked Andrade to show him something in the upcoming round or he would have to stop the fight, Andrade's corner did the right thing in protecting their fighter by ending the evening for Andrade.

A dominant win for Benavidez and the best of his career in my opinion and Andrade was brave in taking his first defeat, showing more in defeat against the bigger man than he may have in his previous wins.

Benavidez once again called out Canelo Alvarez, who hadn't seemed interested in fighting Benavidez in the past, and I'd be surprised if Alvarez answered that call in his next outing, even though Alvarez still has two more fights scheduled with PBC, the promoter for Benavidez.

Benavidez is bigger, younger, and stronger than Canelo, and a prospective fight between the two reminds me of another all-Mexican battle between Oscar De La Hoya and Julio Cesar Chavez, which also ended with the younger, stronger, and faster De La Hoya winning on cuts in four rounds in 1996 and winning the rematch in eight rounds.

Benavidez deserves the shot at Canelo next but if I had to guess who is going to get that chance, that man made his ring return after almost a two-and-a-half year absence in WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, who missed weight by multiple pounds even though he was fighting above his division limit.

Charlo looked better than I expected in winning an easy unanimous decision over the much smaller Jose Benavidez over ten rounds held at a catchweight in the super middleweight division.

Charlo didn't score a knockdown but under the circumstances that's about the only thing to be critical of his outing but remember this- Benavidez is a natural 140-pounder, entered the fight with a record of 1-2-1 over the last five years, and he was knocked out by Terence Crawford, so while Benavidez is a tough customer, this wasn't a quality contender Charlo was beating.

Charlo won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92 which was my score.

I haven't seen the other two title fights which saw Subriel Matias stop Shohjahon Ergashev in six to retain his IBF junior welterweight title, and Lamont Roach defeat Hector Luis Garcia by split decision to win the WBA junior lightweight belt.

I did see the YouTube free fight with Michel Rivera winning a close unanimous decision over Sergey Lipinets in a ten-round junior welterweight battle.

I scored Rivera the winner at 96-94.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 177 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 160 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:115 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Inoye crushes another, Charlo, Munguia win

   The boxing Saturday had plenty of news in the ring and a very important announcement outside of it, but the star of the day was exactly whom you think it would have been when the day began.

Naoya Inoue used a devastating body attack to knock down Michael Dasmarinas three times with body shots and stop him in the third round to retain his WBA and IBF bantamweight titles in Las Vegas.

While Dasmarinas wasn't a premiere opponent, Inoue disposed of his mandatory challenger from the IBF as great fighters should- as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Inoue quickly figured out that Dasmarinas wasn't able to take his power to the body and began to take him apart with the minimum of effort reducing the chances of a freak cut or injury and allowing Inoue to stay active quicker later this year.

The most interesting part of the evening was seeing WBC champion Nonito Donaire and WBO champion John Riel Casimero both in Las Vegas watching Inoue, while the Showtime card in Houston is announcing that Donaire will be replacing Guillermo Rigondeaux against Casimero in their scheduled August affair.

Inoue decisioned Donaire in 2019's fight of the year and Casimero signed to fight Inoue in April 2020 in a fight that was canceled by the Covid Pandemic, so either fight against Inoue would have appeal.

I often criticize PBC for their manner of delaying big fights with interim bouts that serve little purpose, but give Al Haymon's group credit for this one- they decided to strike quickly and with Donaire reporting no problems from his title win last month, PBC talked Rigondeaux into stepping aside to make a bigger and more exciting title unification fight- And that is good for boxing.

The co-feature saw former WBO junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe defeat Adam Lopez by majority decision in an excellent featherweight fight.

Dogboe won three of the first four rounds on my card, but won only one after that and was hurt in both the ninth and tenth rounds by the more versatile Lopez, who I scored the winner 96-94.

Hopefully, a rematch can be arranged.

Down in Houston at the same time as the Top Rank card, Showtime placed a three-fight card with an expected squash match title defense by WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo against undistinguished challenger Juan Montiel as the main event.

While Charlo dominated Montiel, he didn't get away scot-free either as he suffered the first cut of his career over his right eye and ate far too many left hands from a challenger that should not have landed a fraction of that amount.

I scored Charlo a 119-109 winner, giving Montiel only the eleventh round and the challenger won some fans with his unexpectedly stern effort, but Charlo didn't live up to the hype that surrounds him as he was unable to stop a fighter that sometimes ridiculed Jaime Munguia finished in only two rounds.

Unlike his brother at junior middleweight, who has fought everyone that he possibly could, the larger of the two brothers has fought one top ten fighter in seven fights at the weight (Sergey Dereyvanchenko), and for all of the heat that Devin Haney receives at lightweight for being an "E-Mail" champion, few acknowledge that Charlo received his championship in the same manner.

So, Charlo adds another unimpressive pelt to his wall, shouts another "Lions Only" chant, ignores WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, and calls out IBF champion Gennady Golovkin and WBA titlist Ryota Murata for a fight that will only happen if those fighters will fight on his terms-I.E- his promoter and network.

That happens often in boxing anymore, but few talk the talk and then doesn't walk the walk like Jermall Charlo.

He would be better suited to learn something from his brother- the Lions legacy is earned from the top of the chain defeated in battle, not the amount of lower feeders.

In the co-feature, lightweight Isaac Cruz busted up former WBC junior lightweight champion Francisco Vargas and won a unanimous decision in a fight filled with fouls and inside fighting.

I scored Cruz a 98-92 winner.

Cruz is slowly putting himself into position for a WBA minor title shot against either of two promoted by PBC in Gervonta Davis or Rolando Romero.

A Cruz-Romero fight would be the best to make right now with both fighters being offensive bangers that could make a very exciting fight for PBC and Showtime.

I haven't been able to watch the first fight as Angelo Leo won a close unanimous decision over Aaron Alameda as the ESPN card started late due to other programming on the "Worldwide Leader".

I'll try to watch that one and add thoughts in an Editor's Note.

Earlier in the afternoon, Golden Boy and DAZN offered up two pairings that offered the expected and the unexpected in their afternoon in the West Texas town of El Paso at the Don Haskins Center.

In the main event, top-ranked middleweight Jaime Munguia beat up late substitute Kamil Szeremeta for six rounds when the corner stopped the fight before the seventh could begin.

Munguia looked strong in winning all six rounds, his sometimes wide shots were tightened up a bit compared to past performances, and he seems to be back to a fighter that will live and die with his offense after trying to change some parts of his arsenal with mixed results.

Some fighters can adapt and others are what they are with changes doing more to harm than help and I think Munguia fits into the latter slot more than the former.

Munguia is ranked first by both the WBO (due to their rule that a champion moving up in weight instantly moves to the top of his new division) and the WBC (for what reason I have no idea) but doesn't seem overly interested in challenging either WBC champion Jermall Charlo or WBO beltholder Demetrius Andrade and instead called out Gabriel Rosado (more on that shortly) which didn't bring a lot of excitement to me at all.

So why would Jaime Munguia be calling for Gabriel Rosado of all people?

Rosado, who usually puts on great efforts in defeat, was quite dull in a close loss to Daniel Jacobs and was expected to be the first gatekeeper to fall in front of the impressive "Bek The Bully", Bektemir Melikuziev, a former Olympic silver medalist that had mowed through his first seven opponents, who were stronger than usual for a fighter with such little pro experience.

Rosado seemed to be the perfect choice for Melikuziev to move into title contention and when "The Bully" knocked Rosado down in the first, the road appeared to be far shorter since no one takes Rosado out early.

Melikuziev controlled the second and much of the third until he followed Rosado into a corner only to see Rosado time a perfect right hand that dropped Melikuziev face-first and immediately scored an immense upset for the veteran.

The KO was reminiscent of Juan Manuel Marquez's knockout of Manny Pacquiao and although it's disappointing for Melikusiev, one has to feel good for Rosado, who has come very close to a career-defining win in the past and likely has added some paydays for the future.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored nine points on the day and moved the total to 87-81 on the season.

Boxing Challenge: Charlo Brothers win in PPV Debut

  The debut of the Charlo brothers in their first appearance on pay per view went as well as the brothers, PBC, and Showtime could have expected as both brothers grabbed victories in fights that were generally good bouts.

Jermell Charlo won his title unification fight at junior middleweight as he took away Jeison Rosario's WBA and IBF titles to add to the WBC championship that he held entering the fight by an eighth-round knockout.

Charlo knocked Rosario down in the first round with a shot to the top of the head, but Rosario survived and worked his way back into the fight.

Charlo was losing round six before hitting Rosario with a left hook that sent Rosario to the canvas and Rosario would barely survive the round.

Charlo would end the fight in the eighth with a jab to the stomach that took all the air from Rosario and ended the match.

I haven't seen a knockout from a jab to the stomach since Little Mac knocked out King Hippo on Mike Tyson's Punch Out, so that is quite an achievement for Charlo.

Jeison Rosario joins the depth chart at PBC at junior middleweight of fighters that can beat some, lose to others and will likely still in the mix among their contenders.

For Jermell Charlo. if he is the king of the hill for now and deservedly so, I'm not sure that he is head and shoulders above the rest for the long term.

Charlo struggled twice with Tony Harrison and there could be one of the guys on the depth chart that could match well with Charlo (Jarrett Hurd perhaps) and upset him, but he'd be favored over any of them until proven otherwise.

Three championships come with three mandatories and they range from interesting (Talented, but inexperienced Israil Madrimov WBA),  mundane (Bakhram Murtazaliev IBF), and been there done that (Erickson Lubin WBC, who Charlo knocked out in one round in 2017), so I really don't know where Charlo goes next, but I'm doubting it will be anyone to really excite fans because there just isn't anyone in the junior middleweight division to do so.

Earlier in the evening, Jermall Charlo defended his WBC middleweight title via unanimous decision over Sergey Dereyvanchenko for the biggest win of Charlo's career.

The fight played out in the manner that most expected to- Charlo scoring well from long distance, getting out to a fast start, banking early rounds, and holding off the Dereyvanchenko rally.

Charlo wobbled Dereyvanchenko in the third round and Dereyvanchenko stung Charlo in the seventh, but neither fighter was ever in huge trouble during the fight or knocked out.

Dereyvanchenko did take heavy damage around his eyes with bruising around both, but he continued to press the action and make Charlo work throughout the fight.

I scored Charlo a comfortable, but not dominant 116-112 winner, which agreed with one of the three scorecards.

I'm not sure where Charlo is headed now.

As strong as PBC is at 147 and 154, they are that weak at 160 as Dereyvanchenko was the best fight that PBC had for Charlo and Dereyvanchenko was ranked first by the WBC.

The next eventual mandatory would be Jaime Munguia (currently ranked second) and the talented but still raw Munguia isn't quite of Charlo's caliber yet, along with the promotional problems of PBC dealing with Golden Boy as Munguia's promoter.

Charlo says he'll fight anyone, but if seven million dollars wasn't enough for a unification fight with WBO champion Demetrius Andrade to fight outside of the PBC, I have my doubts that he's moving outside the PBC cocoon anytime soon.

As for Dereyvanchenko, he now has three close title fight losses and I'm not sure that he gets another title shot anytime soon and with his association with PBC, who does he fight to move back up the ladder?

A very difficult spot to be in for the veteran.

John Riel Casimero knocked out Duke Micah in the third round to keep his WBO bantamweight championship to open the evening.

Casimero knocked Micah down in the second and delivered a fearsome beating for the remainder of the round before finishing Micah off in the first minute of the third round.

Casimero had a scheduled unification match with WBA and IBF champion Naoya Inoue canceled due to Covid-19 and I'm not sure if his contract with PBC was a one-off contract or if it could be longer in term.

A Inoue-Casimero fight would likely be explosive, exciting, and short, but I hope that pairing can be revived and made in 2021.

The other three fights on the card, I have not watched yet, so when I do I will return and edit with my scorecards.

Luis Nery won a unanimous decision over Aaron Alameda to win the vacant WBC junior featherweight title.

Daniel Roman won a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Payano.

Brandon Figueroa stopped Damien Vasquez in the tenth round.

In the boxing challenge I outscored Ramon Malpica eleven to eight on the PPV.

I moved my overall lead to 128-117.

Boxing Challenge: Joshua regains titles over Ruiz

 In a calculated and disciplined performance that many doubted that he could give, Anthony Joshua dominated from the outside and refused to give Andy Ruiz the toe to toe exchanges that he needed to be successful and regained the three heavyweight titles (WBA, IBF, and WBO) that he lost to Ruiz by knockout in June.

The bout held in a temporary stadium built in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia didn't have a lot of fireworks as their first fight did with both fighters hitting the mat, but showed the type of skill that would serve Joshua well in future fights against Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.
Joshua established the jab early, cutting Ruiz above the left eye in the first round and when Ruiz returned the favor in the following round, Joshua avoided panic and stuck to the gameplan throughout.
I had Joshua a 119-109 winner and I don't see the need for a rematch until Ruiz can re-establish himself with a victory or two.
Joshua has two mandatories coming up and most assumed that no matter the winner of Joshua-Ruiz that either the IBF or WBO titles would be vacated.
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn says that Joshua plans on fighting both mandatories if the organizations can work together to allow it.
Kubrat Pulev is the IBF top contender with Oleksandr Usyk atop the WBO rankings.

On the undercard, Alexander Povetkin and Michael Hunter drew over twelve rounds in a WBA heavyweight eliminator that was a far better action battle than expected with both fighters being hurt throughout the fight and several high-powered exchanges.
I had the fight as one judge at 114-114 with the other two judges scoring 115-113 for each fighter.
My issue came in round five when the ropes held a stunned Hunter up, which should have been called a technical knockdown.
Had that been scored properly, Povetkin would have won a split decision.

The other challenge heavyweight battle was also better than expected as Dillian Whyte returned to the ring and defeated Marius Wach of Poland via a unanimous decision.
Whyte weighed his highest ever after taking the fight on late notice and it showed as he was a bit sluggish in allowing Wach to land plenty of punches and keep the fight close and entertaining.
I scored Whyte a 96-94 winner, which was a little closer than the official judges did.

On Showtime, PBC's two fights saw Jermall Charlo knock out Dennis Hogan in seven rounds to retain his WBC middleweight title in Brooklyn.
The much larger Charlo knocked Hogan down in the fourth round before finishing him in the seventh with a knockdown that Hogan got up from, but was in no condition to continue.
Similar to WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, Charlo doesn't have opponents willing to fight him, so he's rarely tested (I would really love to see Charlo-Andrade) and therefore has a weak resume', especially at middleweight.

Charlo doesn't have many fights to make, but PBC has tried to bring him in an opponent in Chris Eubank Jr, who made his American debut against Matt Korobov in the co-main event.
Korobov lost a close decision to Charlo in the only middleweight fight that Charlo has had where the opponent has fought back and would have been an excellent measuring stick for Eubank.
I say would have been because Korobov suffered a shoulder injury in the second round while throwing a punch and was unable to continue, giving Eubank an unsatisfying second round TKO.
Eubank will likely be next for Jermall Charlo.

On ESPN plus from Mexico, Emanuel Navarette ran through another opponent in defending his WBO junior featherweight title, this time it was Francisco Horta that Navarrette crushed in four rounds.
Navarette defended his title for the fourth time this year and had won the first three rounds on my scorecard.
Hopefully, we will see him against one of the other champions (Daniel Roman or Rey Vargas) in 2020.

The other ESPN fight saw the often-forgotten man in the junior bantamweight division as IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas stopped a game Miguel Gonzalez in six rounds to keep his title for the eighth time.
Ancajas also has unification thoughts, but all three champions in his division fight for other promoters (Juan Francisco Estrada, Kal Yafai, and Kazuto Ioka) and might be difficult to make.
Gonzalez was never knocked down but took a beating in the sixth before the fight was ended.
I had Ancajas ahead 49-46 when the fight was stopped.

From Montreal, David Lemieux won his super middleweight debut with a split decision win over Max Bursak.
Lemieux was knocked down in the first and fifth and knocked Bursak down in the sixth.
I haven't seen this fight, so no scoring from this fight.

Boxing Challenge: Somnambulant Middleweights

On a night filled with uncompetitive matches and not even in the same universe as compelling, two of the middleweight titles were on the line on two networks and neither was remotely interesting to watch.

The best performance was that of WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, who charged from his corner and for one round seemed interested in changing his reputations for dominant and yet dull performances when he dropped challenger Maciej Sulecki in the first minute of round one and delivering a round filled with power punches that dazzled the challenger from Poland.
Andrade then returned to his corner to be told by his trainer and father, Paul Andrade that they "didn't come here for a war and to box".
Andrade then controlled every round, won them all on my card (120-107), cruised to a unanimous decision to retain his title and yet didn't do a thing to make fans want to see him against Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin.
I've always liked Andrade, and back in the old days of the FightHeads podcast ( Selfish Plug-If you are reading this and would like me to appear on a podcast, ask!) I even picked Andrade as a possible top star, if he would only fight more.
Now, he's fighting more often but isn't exciting anyone in the process.
It looks to me that Andrade is in the same position that Gennady Golovkin once found himself in- A fight against him is a low reward and high risk.

The DAZN undercard wasn't exciting either as former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker pounded Alex Leapai for ten rounds before the merciful end in the tenth.
Parker looked good, but it would have been hard not to against a retreating heavy bag that would occasionally toss a looping counter right.
The best I can say about this is that Parker threw more punches, punch output has been something Parker's been criticized for, and Leapai's chin is pretty dam strong.
Kal Yafai won a boring unanimous decision over Norbelto Jimenez that left the crowd booing and me wondering why I watch boxing sometimes.
Yafai scored a late knockdown to win going away (118-109 on my card) and hopes for a unification fight against WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada next in which he'll need to put forth the best effort of his career to win.

And then there was Showtime, home of the best announcing team and production in boxing and suddenly finds itself showing B level shows from the PBC.
This three fight card was one better suited for another network and I felt bad for Showtime watching it.
I've always been someone that campaigned for boxing to have network television, but it appears that PBC is shoveling better fights to Fox and considering the broadcast quality of Fox, who schleps the non-boxing guy Chris Myers out for their fights- that's not a good thing.

Jermall Charlo, who had been gifted the WBC middleweight title earlier in the week, defending his newly handed title with a unanimous decision over Brandon Adams in a sloppy, awkward fight.
No knockdowns and little excitement for Charlo, which was expected entering into the fight and with the fight becoming a full title fight during fight week, it just seemed like a second class event.
I've always been a "belts matter" (copyright Steve Kim) guy, but this is so silly for a fighter to have wins over Jorge Heiland, Hugo Centeno, Matt Korobov, and now Brandon Adams and claim to be the champion of the world.
I've been critical of Jermall Charlo's competition (he really only possesses three wins of note- the KO of Julian Williams, which was impressive and close decision wins over Austin Trout and last-minute replacement Korobov) and that's a fair one, but the real villain here isn't Charlo, it's the WBC for putting their champion in such a place.
I plan on taking them on later this week.

The co-feature predictably saw Erickson Lubin hammer Zakaria Attou for four rounds before the fight was ended with mercy.
I could have written that result and saved Attou the beating.
We still don't know how much Lubin has recovered from his one round loss to Jermell Charlo and we won't until he fights someone that fights back- which is a question so often uttered when dealing with PBC promoted fighters.

The first bout saw Claudio Marrero win a unanimous decision over Eduardo Ramirez to become mandatory for Leo Santa Cruz's WBA featherweight title.
This wasn't exactly a barnburner, but at least it was competitive, which was rare on this evening, no matter your network.
I scored Marrero a 115-113 winner and despite losing his previous fight to Tug Nyambayar, will now eventually face the oft-protected Santa Cruz.

Just a tedious night of boxing and one that showed the worst of the game.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica nine to seven with the difference being the bonus point for calling the round of Erickson Lubin's KO and Demetrius Andrade winning by decision.
I lead the overall challenge 163-147

Boxing Challenge: Smith Dazzles in NYC

With all of the massive repercussions from Andy Ruiz's victory over Anthony Joshua to take away three of the four heavyweight titles, I am only now getting around to the other three fights in the weekend boxing challenge.

In the co-feature at Madison Square Garden, the best super middleweight in the world also made an American debut, although the United States bow for Callum Smith was far more spectacular than that of Anthony Joshua as Smith blew away Hassan N'Dam in only three rounds to retain his WBA 168 pound title.
Smith scored a knockdown in each of the three rounds and N'Dam, who hit the floor six times in a loss to Peter Quillin and another four in his loss to David Lemieux, was overmatched from the opening bell.
You had the feeling that this was the type of fight that fighters can be seriously hurt in with a bigger and stronger fighter like Smith against a too gutsy for his own good N'Dam, who would continue to beat the count with each knockdown and take a prolonged beating, so the referee's stoppage was a very good one.
Smith, who appears to have only one possible fight inside the division that would be really interesting (I think David Benavidez against Smith would be very interesting, should his out of the ring problems be in the past) has been rumored as a potential opponent for Canelo Alvarez, should the Canelo third fight against Gennady Golovkin fall through later this year.
Smith's younger brother (Liam) lost to Canelo a few fights back, but Callum is bigger and stronger than Canelo and should that be held in England, which has been floated as a possibility, I'd think Smith has a pretty fair chance of winning that fight.

PBC's card from San Jacinto, California saw a surprise in the main event as Ivan Redkach, who had struggled at 135 and 140 pounds of late after receiving early notice as a prospect, stunned former two-division champion Devon Alexander by scoring three sixth-round knockdowns and finishing a badly buzzed Alexander then and there.
Alexander led slightly on my card (48-47) in five predictably sludgey rounds in typical Alexander style filled with bumps, nudges, and grabs before an uppercut that drove Alexander out of his crouch (I've been screaming for years for Alexander opponents to do that!) and a chopping left that reminded me of a Tim Witherspoon style right and sent Alexander face first to the mat.
Give Alexander credit, he got up from what looked to be a candidate for knockout of the year, but the fight was essentially over then and there with the following two knockdowns as simple formalities leading up to the official end.
I'm not sure what this means for Redkach, who disappointed as a lightweight prospect and seems a bit small to defeat top welterweights, other than he'll likely receive a few more fights with PBC, but for Alexander, who I thought defeated Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto only to be given a draw and a split decision loss, it might be time to pack it in.
Much was made of the replacement of longtime trainer Kevin Cunningham in favor of Roy Jones for Alexander and it wasn't Jones that crumbled under that uppercut, so he's not to blame for the loss, it simply might be Alexander's time.

The co-feature was a predictably boring middleweight bout as Willie Monroe Jr outboxed Hugo Centeno via unanimous decision.
The less said about this the better (I had Monroe winning 96-94), but about the only interesting part of this fight where the post-fight interview with Monroe with Jordan Hardy saw Monroe call out (sigh) Jermall Charlo, where an excited (for some reason) Hardy breathlessly commented: "Hopefully we'll see that one soon!".
Oh brother, so that means that should Charlo-Monroe happen before the end of the year (with PBC, that's not a guarantee) after a projected Charlo win over Brandon Adams, Over a three year span after Charlo's knockout of Julian Williams, which is really Charlo's only top-notch victory, Jermall Charlo's opponents after moving to middleweight are: Jorge Heiland, Hugo Centeno, Matt Korobov, Brandon Adams and Willie Monroe.
Not exactly a way to create excitement around your fighter.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored four points to my two (two points each for Callum Smith and Willie Monroe, while I added only Smith's points) to trim the lead to 137-124.

Boxing Challenge: KO's, New Boss and a Robbery

The last big weekend in the 2018 boxing year saw a tremendous heavyweight battle with a clean knockout, one European taking the place of another at the top of a division, two disappointing performances and one of those ended in a terrible decision.

The best fight was in London, where Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora hooked up in a rematch of their bombs away bout of 2016 that Whyte won by a narrow split decision that I scored a draw.
This one wasn't quite of that caliber, but it still was very exciting and action filled (think of taking two tests and scoring a 95 and a 92, both are excellent, but one is slightly better) and the ending was quite dramatic.
I had Chisora ahead 95-94 entering the 11th (6-4 with Chisora losing a point for a low blow in the eighth) before Chisora lost another point in the eleventh for elbowing.
Just when you began to wonder if those two points had the potential to cost Chisora the fight on the cards, Whyte decided to make that point moot with a left hook that wiped out Chisora for the evening and keep Whyte at the top of the list of heavyweight contenders.
Whyte deserves a rematch vs Anthony Joshua and may get it in the spring, while this might have been the last stand for Chisora, it was a strong one and it might be best for Chisora to step aside on a high note, although his effort in this one might earn him more paychecks.
On the undercard in a fight that I've not seen of this writing, Britain's Charlie Edwards upset Cristofer Rosales via unanimous decision to win the WBC flyweight title.

In Manchester, Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over the favored Carl Frampton.
Warrington shot to the lead by winning five of the first six rounds and never looked back, winning on my card 117-111.
Warrington isn't going to knock out many (only six KO's), but his attack never slows and he simply did not allow Frampton to get comfortable enough to fire back and keep Warrington off of him.
The swarming Warrington throws punches by a rate that surpasses other noted volume punchers in the division such as WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz.
Frampton was talking retirement after the fight and the time may be right for Frampton to step away.
Frampton isn't getting hurt, but he hasn't been the same fighter since his winning first fight against Leo Santa Cruz and even though he's still a top ten fighter, he's dropped back from the best of the division.
As for the victor, Warrington is rumored to be headed to the U.S in 2019 for a title unification fight vs WBO champ Oscar Valdez, which should be a good one, although selfishly, a Warrington unification against Leo Santa Cruz might set a record for combined punches in a fight.
I'd still rank Warrington as an underdog against Valdez, Santa Cruz or WBC champ Gary Russell, but Warrington has surprised observers in his last two wins and he'd be a live underdog against any of the three.

On the Warrington-Frampton undercard, former minor titleholders at middleweight battled in a fight to prove future viability with Hassan N'Dam winning a majority decision over Martin Murray.
I scored the fight even at 114-114, but it seemed like N'Dam did a little more and was certainly more active than Murray, who showed a reluctance that he had not shown in past efforts.

The PBC returned for a "reboot" on network television and it reportedly did reasonably well in the ratings after doing plenty of promotional work during football.
The card pushed the Charlo brothers and while neither brother looked particularly effective, both deserved victories, but surprisingly only one received a raised hand.

Jermall Charlo defeated late replacement Matt Korobov via unanimous decision (115-113 on my card) with a late run that saw him win five of the final six rounds to gain the victory,
The cards were wider than I had it scored, with one ridiculous 119-108 scorecard being unfair to Korobov, who showed that he deserved another chance against good competition with a strong outing on short notice.
Charlo now using the nickname "Hit Man" which both Thomas Hearns and Bret Hart should sue for damaging a trademark didn't score a knockdown, but he did have Korobov hurt in the final round.
I'm still not totally convinced that Charlo will do well against the best of the division.
Charlo's best wins are still a KO of a somewhat untested at the time Julian Williams, a decision of an aging Austin Trout and now Korobov, who hadn't fought a quality opponent in four years, so there are still questions to be answered- questions other than who said it was a good idea to name Charlo "Hit Man" that is...

In the shocker of the day, Tony Harrison stunned Jermell Charlo via unanimous decision to take away the WBC junior middleweight title in a fight that would be quickly forgotten if not for the terrible decision (I had Charlo winning 116-112), Charlo's charging that Harrison told him that Charlo had clearly won to the interviewer that Harrison had denied, shortly after Harrison had graciously called Charlo a great champion, told him that he would receive a rematch and Harrison (on live national TV no less) responded with "F You, I'll fight Hurd then", referring to a unification with Jarrett Hurd, who holds the WBA and IBF titles and was expected to fight Charlo next.
A Hurd-Harrison fight would be fine to unify, but they have fought previously with Hurd stopping Harrison in nine rounds, so a rematch wouldn't especially be anticipated.
I'd bet we'll see the Harrison-Charlo rematch instead and hope it'll be better to watch than this one.
Charlo clearly deserved the win, but like his brother didn't impress doing so.
Both Charlo's seem to be overrated as punchers and underrated as boxers and would seem to be most effective when they blend the two styles.
As for the PBC, they learned a valuable lesson- when your fighters fight once or twice a year and you wait to have your best fight the best- anything can happen to derail the end game.

Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale knocked out Carlos Negron in the opening fight in the ninth round in a stay busy fight until Breazeale recieves his mandatory title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Breazeale had not fought in over a year in a somewhat common occurrence among PBC fighters and needed to get some rounds in.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me 6-4 over the weekend.
My season lead was cut to 214-197.
Ramon scored two points for wins by Breazeale and Charlo along with one each from Whyte and N'Dam.
My points came from Breazeale (two) and one each from Charlo and Whyte

Boxing Challenge- Broner and Vargas draw, Frampton tops Donaire

A big boxing weekend saw several top fighters in action and a few that were once considered future superstars that disappointed returned to the ring as well..

Showtime televised a three-bout card that had the never boring on the mic, yet often less than scintillating in the ring Adrien Broner in a welterweight fight against Jessie Vargas.
Broner had won titles in three divisions and Vargas in two entering the fight,(which says a lot on there being too many organizations and they have way too many titles)  so on the surface, this looked like a bigger fight than it actually was, but the two gave a better fight than expected and saved an evening with two fights that were basically squashes.
Vargas dominated the first half of the fight with great bodywork and overwhelming Broner with the sheer number of punches but slowed in the middle of the bout and Broner took over in the second half of the fight before I thought Vargas won the last two rounds.
I had Vargas a 115-113 winner but had no issues with the majority draw from the judges.
One judge had Broner ahead 115-113 with other two judges scoring the fight even.

The other two fights were blowouts against overmatched opponents.
The second fight saw Jermall Charlo win an "interim" title in a division with an active champion by blowing away Hugo Centeno with a crushing left hook in the second round.
Charlo looked great and despite winning just two fights at the weight against fighters that had never beaten a top 15 fighter, is now a "champion: and an eventual mandatory challenger to Gennady Golovkin.
Both Charlo brothers are talented and revel in playing the "heel" role, but I still think they are hanging their hat on spectacular wins against untested prospects making their first leap against top fighters (Jermall over Julian Williams, Jermell over Erickson Lubin) and want to see what happens when they fight top five level fighters and what happens when they get hit on the chin.
PBC is weak at 160 pounds so we may have to wait until Charlo actually fights Golovkin to finally see him tested.

Gervonta Davis may have won the WBA title (or may not ) in his steamrolling Jesus Cuellar in three rounds.
Davis was clearly the bigger and stronger man and Cuellar, who hadn't fought in well over a year, simply wasn't able to hold Davis off.
The more interesting part for me was the WBA making Davis their "Super" champion over Alberto Machado, who had beaten their former "super" champion Jezreel Corrales, which to my way of thinking would make Machado their top champ.
Instead, it appears to be Davis, who may not have to fight Machado, who is promoted by Golden Boy that is looking for unification against the Tevin Farmer-Billy Dib winner for the vacant IBF title at the weight.
In the end, Machado's belt appears to be demoted for nothing more than someone felt like it.
Davis is the more talented fighter and would be my pick if Davis was to fight Machado, but that still doesn't make this decision the correct one from the most corrupt organization in boxing.
I now have a headache.

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, Carl Frampton won a unanimous decision over Nonito Donaire in a less than exciting bout that saw Frampton perhaps a bit too respectful towards the slowing Donaire.
This was Frampton's second fight since losing to Leo Santa Cruz and Frampton seems like he may have lost a step himself after two physical fights with Santa Cruz.
We will see if that is the case as Frampton is now the mandatory contender for WBO champion Oscar Valdez.
I had the same score as all three judges 117-111 for Frampton

The co-feature from Belfast saw Zolani Tete keep his WBO bantamweight title over Omar Narvaez by unanimous decision, winning all 12 rounds on every card.
I wouldn't know because this fight was so awful that I fell asleep.

Amir Khan returned to the ring and blew out Canada's Phil LoGreco in under a minute, scoring two knockdowns before the fight was stopped.
The fight was the first on the new and heralded ESPN+ app and I'm sure the 37 seconds was worth the five dollars for the month.
Kell Brook entered the ring post-fight to challenge Khan for a long overdue fight that might happen before the end of the year.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored nine points on the weekend.
We both added two points each for the wins by Jermall Charlo, Gervonta Davis and Carl Frampton.
Ramon picked up two for Zolani Tete's win and one for Amir Khan's victory,
I added two for Khan and one for Tete.
The challenge is currently at 70-57

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.

Garcia decisions Broner-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points in the boxing challenge to move the total,but the margin stayed the same as the score is now 94-87...

The biggest fight of the weekend saw WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia deliver arguably the best performance of his career in his move to junior welterweight with a dominant unanimous decision over Adrien Broner on Showtime.
Garcia is about as technically sound as they come and he used combinations along with a surprising body attack to leave the inactive Broner to do little but shake his head in an attempt to shake Garcia's poise.
I scored Garcia a 118-110 winner and you could make an argument for 120-108.

Garcia has lots of interesting fights that could be made,if promotional issues would not enter into the picture-as they always do.
Garcia could drop back to 135 where he still holds the WBC title and fight WBA champ Jorge Linares,but with Linares with Golden Boy,that could be difficult to make.
If Garcia chooses to stay at 140,a Terence Crawford (or Julius Indongo should he upset Crawford in August) fight would be one of the best in boxing,but Crawford is a Top Rank fighter and since Garcia's divorce from the Bob Arum company,I doubt they will do many favors for Garcia.
Garcia could get PBC champions at 147 in Keith Thurman or Errol Spence in fights that again would be interesting,but that involves going up another seven pounds for a fighter that won his first title at 126.
Still,it'll be interesting to see what avenue Garcia takes next...

As for Adrien Broner,I think we've seen what we'll see from him.
He's good,but not great,neither a true boxer or big banger and more of a top ten fighter rather than a true elite fighter.
Despite the branding and building of the name,Adrien Broner simply isn't an elite fighter.
Oh.every once in a while in the future,the name he built will be used to make some money or build another fighters resume' and maybe he'll even win another title,if matched properly,but he's been exposed for good now and you'll never see him as a true A side in a big fight again.
Ramon and I each received two points for the Garcia win.

In the other Showtime bout,Jermall Charlo debuted as a middleweight with a fourth round knockout over Jorge Sebastian Heiland to become the WBC's mandatory contender for the winner of Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez.
Heiland clearly was injured entering the bout with a leg issue and just couldn't keep his balance in going down in the second and fourth.
Charlo did what needed to be done,but for this to be his first fight at the weight against an overmatched journeyman with just one name victory (an over the hill Matthew Macklin) and qualify him for a title fight was ridiculous.
Charlo's post-fight interview was just as ludicrous as Charlo called himself the Hitman,the "real Tommy Hearns" and later compared himself to Sugar Ray Leonard.
I wasn't aware that wins over Julian Williams (Charlo's best win to date) and Jorge Sebastian Heiland brought one such prestige,but apparently they do....
I added two points for the Charlo KO with Ramon adding one for the win.

Showtime also streamed a heavyweight fight for free on their YouTube channel,showing while HBO is stuck in 2007,Showtime is being innovative and using technology to grow the sport-now if they could only get some of their better guys to fight more often and versus better competition.
Talented,but overweight Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller returned after a long layoff to stop Gerald Washington at the end of round eight.
You might remember Washington's last bout in a undeserved title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder where he fought evenly for four rounds vs Wilder before being stopped in the fifth round,this time Washington was generally bullied by the bulkier Miller in being badly hurt in the sixth,seventh and eighth rounds before not being allowed to start the ninth round.
I thought Miller won every round before the end of the bout.
Miller is going to have to try to be in better shape against tougher opponents,but I'm intrigued by Miller's potential,if he could do that.
Ramon and I each added two points for the Miller knockout.

In an untelevised bout,former bantamweight champion Rau'shee Warren won a unanimous decision over former junior bantamweight champ McJoe Arroyo to become the IBF's mandatory contender for their champion Jerwin Ancajas.
Ramon received two points for the Warren win and unanimous nod,while I added one for the Warren win.

Charlo wastes Williams,Mares edges Cuellar and Heavyweight fight of the year

The boxing challenge continued with lots of fights,I haven't seen them all,so I'll stick to the ones that I have seen.
The total for the weekend (not including the two title fights that I wrote about earlier) was ten points for me and nine for Ramon Malpica.
The total is 149-125.

Of all the fights on the two American networks and the huge British card,the fight of the day was the co-feature in England as heavyweights Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora hooked up for the heavyweight fight of the year.
I watched this on Youtube,since Showtime literally refused to show it and waited live on the air with talking heads and a ladies bout for the Anthony Joshua fight to start.
Showtime really dropped the ball as this fight was a winner from start to finish.
You want action-this one had it!
This fight was all that people say that they want from heavyweight boxing with Whyte earning a razor thin split decision in a WBC title eliminator that could see him challenge WBC champ Deontay Wilder.
I scored it 114-114 and would love to see a rematch.
Whyte knocked IBF champ Anthony Joshua down in their fight,which was Whyte's only loss,so a Wilder-Whyte fight might be lots of fun...
I added two points to Ramon's one for this win.

The HBO card saw Terence Crawford stop a outgunned John Molina in the eighth round in Omaha.
Molina came in well overweight,so this was not for Crawford's junior welterweight titles.
I give Molina credit-he never stopped coming,but he was just outclassed and lost every round...
Ramon and I each earned two points for the Crawford stoppage.
I'm not sure what's next for Crawford,who may have to move to welterweight to find a meaningful challenge.
The other HBO fight saw veteran lightweight contender Ray Beltran stop Mason Menard in the seventh round.
Ramon earned one point,while I selected Menard...

The Showtime card from Los Angeles was much better as veteran featherweights Abner Mares and Jesus Cuellar battled in a good action fight,that would have been the fight of the weekend if not for Whyte-Chisora.
Mares knocked Cuellar down in the eleventh round and that made the difference on my card,which was 114-113 in favor of the Mexican veteran.
Mares won a secondary title that will likely set up for the winner of the Carl Frampton-Leo Santa Cruz rematch for the WBA featherweight title,although Mares promoter Richard Schafer was talking about a fight versus the perpetually inactive WBC champion Gary Russell as well.
Ramon and I each picked Cuellar,so no points on that one.

The fight I was looking forward to most saw a surprise to me as I thought Julian Williams would defeat Jermall Charlo for Charlo's IBF junior middleweight title.
Instead Charlo dropped Williams in the second and fifth and finished him in the fifth round.
Charlo dominated with his jab,which knocked Williams down in the second and a right uppercut in the fifth brought the end after Williams won the fourth round on my card and seemed to be working his way back into the fight.
I've been critical of the Charlo brothers (Jermell Charlo is the WBC champion),but there was nothing to quibble about in this one as Charlo notched the best win of his career and did it in spectacular fashion.
Credit due to Charlo for this one,although he loses some for his callout of Canelo Alvarez after the fight.
I really hate it when fighters (PBC fighters do this the most) call out guys from the opposite end of the promotional/network battle when they know there is no way that such a fight is going to be made.
It is such a waste of time with such bravado when the boxing politics indicate there is no way a fight with Canelo Alvarez,who can draw with the dog can be made with Jermall Charlo for the risk and hassle of the other promotions.
Look at the hassle of Gennady Golovkin's negotiations with Daniel Jacobs for a fight that is mandated and tell me an optional fight can be made.
Enjoy your win and keep it real....