Boxing Challenge: Late Edition

   Due to my time constraints (which I'll write about in the future), the boxing challenge will be more concise than normal.

Janibek Alimkhauly retained his IBF and WBO middleweight titles with a fifth round KO of Anauel Ngamissengue.

Alimkanuly landed a massive left hand that sent his challenger flying across the ring on his back. Ngamissengue barely beat the count, but his corner justifiably surrendered for their man.

Filip Hrgovic slugged out a unanimous decision in his Manchester, England heavyweight battle with Joe Joyce.

Both fighters landed and took heavy missiles that saw both fighters cut and bleeding throughout the match.

Hrgrovic won by scores of 98-92, 97-93, and 96-95; my score was for Hrgrovic at 97-93.

Tim Tszyu stopped Joey Spencer in the fourth round of Tszyu's comeback match in Australia.

Spencer tried hard but was overmatched by Tszyu, with Tszyu dishing out punishment along the ropes. Spencer's corner ended the bout.

In Las Vegas, Olympic silver medalist Richard Torrez passed his first test with a unanimous decision over Guido Vianello in their heavyweight ten-rounder.

Torrez started fast and was aided by what I thought was a premature decision by the referee to deduct a point from Vianello in the second round for multiple holding violations.

As the fight moved into the second half, Vianello began to land his share against a tiring Torrez, but Torrez had built a lead too large to overcome.

Official cards for Torrez: 97-92 and 98-91 times two. My score was 97-92 for Torrez.

Lindolfo Delgado won a narrow majority decision in a crossroads junior welterweight battle.

Delgado built a lead, but Rodriguez began to hurt Delgado in the second half, and entering the final round, it was anyone's fight.

Rodriguez inexplicably gave away the final round, which was enough to give Delgado the win with two scores of 96-94 and another of 95-95,  the same as mine.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 50 Pts (6)
Ramon Malpica; 43 Pts (6)
Vince Samano: 20 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Chisora upsets Joyce

     Sometimes the best fights occur when two fighters that are closer to the end of their career than the beginning, have much to gain, and nothing to lose.

That's what took place in London as Joe Joyce and Derek Chisora threw down in a fight that delivered more than what was hoped in a heavyweight fight to be remembered.

It wasn't Foreman-Lyle and there were plenty of clinches between these two aging warriors but there were also many booming punches landed as well and is the latest fight to prove the point that fans can see great fights from fading veterans provided they are matched correctly in their twilight years.

Both men landed their share of bombs throughout but I thought Joyce built a small lead with the bigger punches with the edge in punches landed against Chisora, who used his usual tactic for periods of backing to the ropes or corners and launching counter punches.

Joyce almost made scoring irrelevant near the end of the eighth round as he badly hurt Chisora, driving him backwards, and with another few seconds, Joyce may have forced the end of the fight then and there.

Joyce attempted to build his advantage to start the ninth and again forced Chisora to retreat stunned  into the ropes, landing punches in an attempt to finally polish Chisora off for the evening.

To quote Lee Corso- "Not so fast my friend", Chisora bounced off the ropes to try to give extra leverage to a right hand as a pro wrestler would (Have you ever noticed that the wrestlers always bounce off the ropes off their right side, almost never the left?) and to the surprise of everyone, dropped Joyce to the floor!

Suddenly, a round that Joyce was easily winning became a losing round for him and while Joyce wasn't hurt the scorecards swung in the opposite direction.

The fight seemed to be in the balance and both men fought like it with both men exchanging power blows throughout the road.

Chisora got the better of the action to win the tenth and would win the unanimous decision by scores of 97-92 and two scores of 96-94.

I scored Chisora the winner 95-94 with the ninth round knockdown and tenth round as the difference.

Oddly, this fight had been scheduled for twelve rounds and a few days before the fight was quietly changed to ten.

Not sure why that occurred or if those two rounds would have helped one fighter or the other but I do wonder why the fight was shortened.

I'm pretty certain that Joyce and Chisora are about finished unless matched against fighters of their level and speed but their toughness and heart are still intact and many times that can bring the best in boxing.

Boxing Challenge: Zhang Poleaxes Joyce

     Joe Joyce made the case after his loss to Zhilei Zhang that Zhang never hurt him and it was only the swelling of his right eye that cost Joyce a victory as Joyce was wearing Zhang down and would have finished him late as Joyce did to Daniel DuBois and Joseph Parker.

Joyce will be unable to make a similar case after being knocked out by Zhang in the third round of their London rematch with a brutal right hook that sent Joyce to the floor and unable to beat the count.

Joyce looked like he tried some things in the first round to get around the southpaw stance of Zhang but he didn't solve anything and Zhang landed some thudding lefts and the right hook that would end the fight began to be a factor in the second.

Zhang controlled the third round and with seconds remaining, Zhang landed a straight left that led Joyce into a crunching right hook that sent Joyce to the floor to be counted out after the bell rang.

Joyce couldn't be saved by the bell and it didn't matter as he couldn't get up in time anyway, so Zhang is in line for a potential 2024 shot at Oleksandr Usyk, although he called out Tyson Fury after the fight and that is more intriguing to me on matchup alone.

While I could see Usyk outboxing the lumbering Zhang and taking an easy decision, Tyson Fury might be a different story.

It's true, that Fury has the boxing skills to easily outpoint Zhang but I don't think as highly of Fury's chin as many do. While Zhang isn't the puncher that Deontay Wilder is, Zhang has the size and body frame to bang with Fury in the trenches that other Fury opponents have lacked, which may render Fury's tactic of leaning and lying on the opponent to wear them down obsolete.

You would favor Fury, of course, but I must admit I'd give Zhang a chance of pulling the upset, and I would like to see how Fury fares against an opponent of similar height and weight.

As for Joe Joyce, I'd say his future isn't bright at 38, his second loss in a row, and for a fighter that has relied on his chin taking punches to wear the opponent out, being knocked out takes away some of his invulnerability.

I'm not willing to say Joyce is through, it could be that he just can't figure out Zhilei Zhang, and things like that in boxing have happened before but Joyce will need to be matched carefully to rebuild his confidence and there may be some money still with opponents inside the U.K. but one more loss would be the end of the line for Joyce as a plausible contender.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 148 Pts (2) 

Ramon Malpica: 135 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 103 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Zhang busts up Joyce!

   Joe Joyce has worn down every opponent that he has faced with a straightforward style, a rock-hard chin, and power punches from right field that landed with thudding impact against solid contenders such as Daniel DuBois and former champion Joseph Parker.

And Joyce was expected to do the same to China's Zhilei Zhang in London with Joyce taking punches, falling behind on the scorecards early, and then like rain on cardboard, reducing Zhang's attack and finishing him late in the fight.

And all of those things were falling into place, except for one detail- Zhang's left hand couldn't miss Joyce's face and after five plus rounds, Joyce's right eye was closed, and the expected late rally would never occur as the fight was stopped in round six due to the condition of Joyce's eye.

The Zhang victory gave him possession of Joyce's minor title and more importantly, slipped Zhang into the mandatory position for an eventual title try for the heavyweight titles currently held by Oleksandr Usyk.

While I couldn't quibble with the decision to stop the fight, I do wish the doctor had given Joyce at least the remainder of the round ( or even the seventh) to try to score a stunning knockout.

Joyce deserved at least a round to try to take Zhang out, in my opinion, but it's tough to say the fight was stopped prematurely.

Zhang started fast with a strong first round and staggered Joyce in the second, although Joyce managed to stay on his feet, and Joyce's face was already showing its worse for wear with bleeding from the nose and the swelling around his right eye was beginning.

Joyce had his share of success too and actually landed more total punches but surprisingly it was the punches from Zhang that had the stronger impact rather than the heavy-handed Joyce.

Joyce battled through and his volume could have been turning the tide if his eye had not betrayed him, as Zhang's lead on my scorecard was only 48-47 after five rounds

Still, Zhang's power shots were landing more often than Joyce's and it is possible that Zhang may have been the victor even if Joyce's eye would not have swelled shut.

Joyce has a contractual right to a rematch and he certainly will accept that with the loss of his minor title and top ranking in the WBO but that will take some time as Joyce could have suffered a broken orbital bone which could keep him out of the ring for a few months.

Given that this fight was filled with exchanges and big punches, a rematch will be anticipated by boxing fans, and assuming Joyce's face can hold up longer and better in a return bout, I'd give Joyce a good chance of reversing the result.

However, the lefthanded stance of Zhang gave Joyce loads of problems and Joyce will need to make plenty of adjustments that will enable him to avoid the Zhang straight left that caused so much damage in this defeat.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 63 Pts (0) 

Ramon Malpica: 59 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 48 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Opietaia Upsets Briedis

    In what can only be described as a bruising battle, Jai Opietaia survived a broken jaw and a furious late-round rally from Mairis Briedis to win a unanimous decision and take away the IBF cruiserweight championship in Broadbeach Australia.

Opietaia dominated the early rounds by outboxing Briedis from the outside and busted the aging champion up early, breaking his nose in the fourth round and winning six of the first seven rounds on my card.

But Briedis was far from finished as he began to break Opietaia down, breaking his jaw (which left him unable to speak after the bout) and badly hurting him in rounds ten and twelve to pull closer on the cards.

I saw some people on social media that thought the late-round stretch allowed Briedis to salvage a close win but my scorecard of 115-113 for Opietaia agreed with one official score with the remaining two tabbing Opietaia the winner at 116-112.

Briedis asked for a rematch, which I think he deserves after his late-round rally, and with the blood and guts action from the fight, it should be an easy sell especially if Briedis returns to Australia for the rematch.

A very good fight that is a notch below fight of the year level but a fight that will have no problem gaining interest for a potential second match between the two

In London, WBO number one heavyweight contender Joe Joyce lost the first two rounds to journeyman Christian Hammer but walked through the best hammers thrown to score a fourth-round knockout.

Joyce scored a knockdown in the third and two more in the fourth to pull the curtain down on the fight.

Hammer was a semi-late replacement and he gambled on taking Joyce out early because he didn't have the conditioning to go into the late rounds and he had success for two rounds.

Joe Joyce has a world-class chin and he can punch but I wonder what happens when he faces the best of the division.

Joyce takes a lot of punches and wings his shots a bit but he is going to come forward until his opponent stops him and even if you beat him, Joyce is going to make you pay for your victory.

In the other London fight, former junior bantamweight and bantamweight champion Zolani Tete scored a spectacular fourth-round KO of Jason Cunningham to perhaps placing his name in contention for a 122-pound title shot.

Tete knocked Cunningham down in the fourth and when the action resumed, landed a few punches that saw Cunningham go down and hit his head after falling which was quite scary.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 118 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 99 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 96 Pts (3) 

Boxing Challenge: Joyce sends DuBois to his knees

  The highly anticipated heavyweight battle between unbeaten Britons Daniel DuBois and Joe Joyce lived up to expectations.

And while the fight wasn't a war, it contained enough action to more than suit the discerning boxing fan and it had more than enough drama for a fight that was so important in the heavyweight division itself, let alone the two fighters involved.

2016 Olympic silver medalist Joe Joyce entered the fight as the underdog for a few reasons.

Many believed that undefeated Daniel DuBois might be the heir to the heavyweight throne after Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua clear up who the best in the world is today.

Joyce was also thought to be too slow with his punches and his feet for the more fluid DuBois and at 35, Joyce was again thought to have perhaps waited too long to turn pro.

However, Joyce did have the best victory of the two on his resume with a decision win over former title challenger Bryant Jennings, Joyce seemed to have a more than solid chin, and Joyce punches pretty well, so he was an underdog with a good chance of winning.

The fight itself was a battle of two blows that the other fighter could not miss the other with.

Joyce continually ate DuBois' right hand and DuBois couldn't miss with his left jab and as a result, you saw a competitive and pretty even fight.

As I watched the fight live and checked people on Twitter for their thoughts, the large majority had the fight for either fighter by a point and that was how I saw it with Joyce leading 5-4 in rounds entering the tenth, but the fight had a dramatic conclusion in the works.

The left jabs from Joyce had taken its toll on the left eye of DuBois and closed it to a slit that hampered his vision and made the problem of not being able to miss the jab even worse so.

DuBois was trying to make it to the finish line of a close fight before Joyce landed what seemed to be an ordinary hard jab that landed directly on the swollen eye.

DuBois dropped to a knee in pain and took the ten count.

For Joe Joyce, who I compared to Ray Mercer before the fight, the Mercer comparison seems apt for now after the upset of the phenom DuBois (Remember Mercer's brutal KO of then undefeated Tommy Morrison?) and although I'm sure at 35 years of age, Team Joyce would love to see a title shot in 2020, that doesn't appear to be in the cards with the Fury-Joshua agreement in place.

I'd love to see Joyce against Oleksandr Usyk, but I doubt Usyk would want to risk his own eventual title shot against a far larger and dangerous opponent.

Dillian Whtye or Dereck Chisora would be good fights and Joseph Parker would bring a different style for Joyce to learn from.

As for DuBois, at 23 and fighting well despite the loss, he may not have lost very much from his first defeat- despite taking the ten count.

The Athletic UK is reporting that DuBois suffered nerve damage around the eye and a broken orbital bone, so that may muffle some of the criticism that he has been receiving for quitting, but considering the struggles that Kell Brook has dealt with since a similar injury.

One final note: Before this fight Joe Joyce was ranked behind some heavyweights that were puzzling choices.

The WBC had Joyce 11th and with no one ahead of Joyce that would be really awful although their 8,9, and 10 choices (Oscar Rivas, Filip Hrgovic, and Michael Hunter) were arguable.

The WBA ranks someone named Trevor Bryan first, recent knocked out Adam Kownacki 6th, Charles Martin 7th, and washed-up Chris Arreola 8th, while not rating Joyce at all.

The IBF placed Joyce at 13th,  behind Charles Martin with a head-shakingly awful second, Tyson Fury victim Tom Schwarz 8th, fellow prospect Tony Yoka 10th and Dempsey McKean (Who?) at 12th ahead of Joyce.

The WBO listed Joyce at 11th behind other prospects Junior Fa (6th), Frank Sanchez (7th), Zhilei Zhang (9th), and Evgeny Romanov (10th), none of which boasted a win of Joyce's over Bryant Jennings quality.

I'm not saying Joyce should have been top five entering the DuBois fight, but ratings of that ilk is how you receive awful mandatory challenger fights.....

Boxing Challenge; Stevenson overwhelms Guevara

It was a busy boxing weekend- so busy in fact that I haven't had time to watch them all with several competing cards.
Therefore, I'll be writing two posts with this one covering what I have seen of this writing and one perhaps tomorrow with the remainder of the bouts.

On ESPN from Newark, New Jersey, former Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson overwhelmed another overmatched opponent in Alberto Guevara as Stevenson knocked down Guevara twice in the second round before ending the sad mismatch in the third.
I know the narrative is that no one wanted this fight (Guevara was the third fighter to accept the fight) and that may have been the case, but what I've noticed is that the recent increase in power shown by Stevenson has correlated with the leveling off of his opposition and pitting him against fighters with questionable chins.
Now, I think Shakur Stevenson is extremely talented, looks to be a possible major star (although his number one contender status in the WBO is premature) and power does often develop as young fighters age (I remember many fighters that developed punching power as their career moved on after early questions), but this appears to me to be another Top Rank promotional kudo as they moved Stevenson up the rankings against few that would challenge him and just as he arrives for his world shot against a champion that Top Rank promotes (Oscar Valdez), that champion looks ready to move up weight, leaving Stevenson with what will likely be another squash match for the vacant title.
Don't take any of that as a knock on Stevenson, he's doing exactly what you would hope to see against enhancement talents and against those fighters he has fought in a much more fan-friendly style, but if he's ready to fight for a title- I'd like to see him face a stern test.

The co-feature saw a borderline Hamburglar alert as bantamweight contender Joshua Greer won a majority decision over Nikolai Potapov.
Greer, who ESPN ran features on and made the fight all about with a sad back story from Greer growing up in Chicago, was walked down and outworked by Potapov for most of the fight, yet was given the majority duke.
I scored Potopov a 115-113 winner and I may have been generous to Greer.
The ESPN commentating, which I'll be looking at soon in a boxing broadcasting post, was its typical self with Andre Ward in one round discussing how he "told Potopov how he quit in his only loss, although I (Ward) tried to do it nicely and he seems to be doing it again", being admonished by Mark Kriegel (who is being far better used in his current role than doing color analysis) that he didn't see Potopov quitting at all as the fighters came out for the next round.
Ward's response was "I didn't say he was getting ready to quit".
Priceless.

Earlier in the day, ESPN Plus offered two interesting heavyweight fights between heavyweights that are just approaching contender status.
In the main event, Daniel DuBois knocked out Nathan Gorman in the fifth round in a pairing of unbeaten's for the British heavyweight title.
DuBois, who reminds me physically of a young Frank Bruno, controlled the fight after an even round one and knocked Gorman down in the third, cutting him above the left eye.
DuBois put Gorman down in the fifth and Gorman showed bravery in getting up to attempt to continue, but the referee wisely saw no point in allowing this to continue.
I would think DuBois might be headed for a fight against Joe Joyce with both being promoted by Frank Warren and the history of British boxing that will see their best fighters eventually fight each other in front of a big crowd with the winner of that fight moving up in the rankings for a potential title fight, but after the fight, Warren was quoted as saying he might place Gorman against Joyce next in what would appear to be a tactic of keeping his two prospects apart for a bit longer.

As for Joe Joyce, the 2016 Olympic silver medalist was forced to fight to the full distance for the first time in winning a unanimous decision over former contender Bryant Jennings.
Jennings had his moments, but simply didn't throw enough punches against Joyce to win on the scorecards and was hurt by officiating with Joyce throwing shoulder blocks the entire fight without a penalty, but Jennings lost a point late in the fight for a low blow.
For Jennings, this could be the passing of the baton as he enters the role of gatekeeper after his second loss in a row, while Joyce just seems so limited in his skills.
Joyce's punching power appears to be good, not great (Jennings was never shaken), he throws a fair amount of punches but doesn't always commit to them and I wonder how he will deal with a quality fighter that he doesn't have a size advantage over.

The final fight of this portion of the recap saw the Olympic conqueror of Joe Joyce as 2016 gold medalist Tony Yoka returned in France from a one-year drug suspension from the French Anti-Doping Agency for missing three tests between 2016-2017.
No judgment of this as Yoka missed those tests, not failed them (although why would you skip something that you would pass, is another question), but the return was a successful as Yoka stopped former fringe contender Alexander Dimitrenko in the third round.
Yoka won the first two rounds with little action before knocking Dimitrenko down in the third with a right uppercut.
As the fight continued, Yoka landed several rights that ended with Dimitrenko sprawled chest-first on the top rope as the referee stepped in.
I'm not sure what the future holds for Yoka, although I suppose some money could be made with a Joe Joyce rematch with the always easy to sell France vs England angle, as for Dimitrenko, who has lost his last three fights and all by stoppage (Yoka, Bryant Jennings and Andy Ruiz) in the last year, it might be time to walk away or at least be carefully matched from here on out.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 10-9 for this portion.
I earned three points each (Win, Result, and Bonus for Round) from Shakur Stevenson and Daniel Dubois, two from Tony Yoka and one each from Joe Joyce and Joshua Greer.
Ramon gained three points from Tony Yoka, two from Shakur Stevenson and Daniel DuBois and one each from Joe Joyce and Joshua Greer.
The challenge now stands at 175-157

Boxing Challenge: Inoue annihilates Rodriguez, Taylor, Saunders win titles.

The European version of the boxing weekend saw the World Boxing Super Series fill their final matchups in the division and saw another title change hands at another location for three championships to have new owners at the end of the day.

The star of the day had to be Naoya Inoue, who knocked down Emmanuel Rodriguez three times in the second round, twice with body shots, to win the IBF bantamweight title and advance to the finals of the WBSS, where Inoye will attempt to unify his title with WBA champion Nonito Donaire.
Donaire has been more than fortunate in making the finals with his win over Ryan Burnett coming when Burnett had to surrender with a back injury and Zolani Tete having to pull out of the tournament late in the week to be replaced by Stephon Young and I'm afraid this one could end up with a very sad ending.
I had written that Rodriguez was going to give Inoue some problems and he did for one round.
Rodriguez showed no fear of Inoue and the first round was pretty even and could have been scored for either fighter.
Round two was a different story once Inoue landed the left hook that essentially ended the fight, although Rodriguez showed tons of courage in getting up from that and then again from another hook to the body that dropped him to the mat.
It was only a matter of time and Inoue ended it with another body shot that floored Rodriguez.
For Inoue, another destruction in victory and I can't find anyone that gives the aging Donaire any type of chance in the WBSS finals.
Assuming that's the case and assuming Inoye won't be worried about unifying the division (winning over Donaire would give him two of the four titles and had Zolaini Tete not been injured before the Donaire fight, the winner of the final would have three of the four) against WBO champion Zolani Tete or WBC champion Nordine Ouabaali, I suppose Inoue could either wait for one of the best junior bantams to move up in Juan Francisco Estrada or Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, but he might try to rise in weight himself to junior featherweight where an Inoue vs the winner of fall's expected three title unification fight between Danny Roman and Rey Vargas would have some appeal.

In the other WBSS tussle from Glasgow, Josh Taylor won a unanimous decision to take away Ivan Baranchyk's IBF junior welterweight title and set up a WBSS final that will not only pit the top two seeds against each other but create a 50/50 fight as well.
Taylor knocked Baranchyk down twice in the sixth round and looked to be on the verge of finishing the champion, who showed grit in surviving the round and was actually fighting better down the stretch than earlier in the fight.
Baranchyk was landing his share in the final two rounds and even though Taylor wasn't seriously hurt, Baranchyk never stopped trying to pull a victory out of the blue.
I scored Taylor a 116-110 winner (8-4 plus a 10-7 sixth round) and that was in the range of the judge's cards which had Taylor winning by eight (a little too much) and twice by four (a little too close)
Taylor will unify his newly won championship with that of WBA champion Regis Prograis and this one is one that I am anxiously awaiting.
I lean slightly to Prograis in the finals, but Taylor is more than capable of winning the tournament.
The fight may very well come down to where the fight is held with a crowd playing a part in the result.

The final part of the weekend in England saw the return of Billy Joe Saunders, who won the WBO super middleweight crown vacated by Gilberto Ramirez in the usual sleep-inducing fashion by a unanimous decision over outmatched Shefat Isufi.
Saunders never hurt Isufi, nor seemed to even try to turn up the heat as he won almost every round on my card 119-109 (11-1), but showed nothing to change anyone's mind about fighting a slick boxing southpaw that isn't going to bring you a big payday or be willing to stand in front and fight.
In other words, Saunders is more trouble to potential opponents than what he's worth.

Heavyweight Joe Joyce knocked out Alexander Ustinov in the third round.
I'm not sure what the future will hold for the former Olympic silver medalist, who hits with power, but is painfully slow.
If Joyce can take a good punch, he could be Ray Mercer, good enough to fight a long time and win enough to stay relevant, but never an elite heavyweight.
If Joyce's chin proves to be less than world class, he's going to lose a lot because he's going to outbox no one.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica picked up twelve points to my eleven on the weekend.
I picked five of the six winners and results correctly, but Ramon nailed all six winners and results to gain a point.
My lead now stands at 132-116.