Boxing Challenge: Taylor upset, Leo keeps title

    The biggest bout of the boxing weekend would see a surprising upset. Ekow Essuman shocked the hometown crowd in Glasgow, Scotland, by winning a unanimous decision over twelve rounds over former undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor.

Taylor started quickly, banking several early rounds before Essuman turned the tide with an attack that slowed Taylor and never hit the pause button for himself.

Essuman is aggressive but lacks a powerful punch, so he never put Taylor in danger; he simply outworked Taylor and wanted the victory more.

The official scores for Essuman were 116-112, 116-113, and 115-113, with my score at 115-113.

Essuman stated that he wanted bigger fights after the win, while Taylor dropped his third fight in a row, with losses to Teofimo Lopez and Jack Catterall preceding this loss.

Promising heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma destroyed veteran Mike Balogun in two rounds on the Taylor-Essuman undercard.

Itauma dropped Balogun in the first round, and only the guts of Balogun avoided the fight ending in round one.

Itauma knocked down Balogun twice more in round two to end the fight.

Itauma will have to prove he can take a shot, but he looks legitimate as a potential divisional force.

In Japan, Angelo Leo retained his IBF featherweight title via majority decision over former bantamweight champion Tomoki Kameda.

Leo managed to keep Kameda off him just enough to earn the decision in a very good fight.

Scorecards were even at 114-114 and two for Leo, 116-112 and 115-113. I scored it 116-112 for Leo.

On Friday in Doncaster, England, lightweight Maxi Hughes banged out a unanimous decision over Archie Sharp.

Sharp was effective, but spent too much time on the move, and Hughes deserved the nod by scores of 115-113, 116-112, and a crazy 120-108.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 79 Pts (6) 

Ramon Malpica: 75 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 32 Pts  (2)

Ten Days Later

      I had the best of intentions.

I watched the pictured match to the right as Jack Catterall avenged his controversial 2022 defeat to Josh Taylor with a unanimous decision win (116-112 Catterall on my card) in a better fight than their first match but one that might be remembered more for Bob Arum's post-fight rant about the decision (I like Arum but he was way off on this one) than what happened in the ring. 

I saved the photo from the fight, placed it in the template, and planned on starting the review.

That was ten days ago and a thousand miles from where I sit now.

The window on my PC hasn't been closed since, yet not one word had been typed, only a photo of Jack Catterall and Josh Taylor.

Nothing on the excellent card from Saudi Arabia the following weekend.

Nothing about the Cavaliers firing J.B. Bickerstaff or anything written on the Devils' hiring Sheldon Keefe as their new head coach.

No ranting about the Devils signing a useless player to a ridiculous contract extension or even Newcastle United missing out on European play next season due to powerful league champion Manchester City's mind-boggling loss to Manchester United.

Only the photo of Jack Catterall following through with a left hand against Josh Taylor.

Was I busy?

Sure, I had many things to see and do in Omaha (more on that soon), returning from midway across the country, and doing the things we all need to do at home after a long trip but I surely had a few minutes over that time to write something, anything at all.

And the answer was- I just didn't feel like it.

I didn't want to be in Omaha and I didn't want to be home.

I didn't want to do anything or stay at home, it wasn't that I was overly down in the dumps either.

Other than a pounding headache that wouldn't go away and morning back spasms (from sleeping on a different surface) there wasn't anything wrong.

How do you figure out what's wrong when there isn't really anything wrong?

The answer was easy, don't force writing and wait until you want to write.

So, that leaves me here and feeling like I'm behind in things.

I'll have more as I catch up on topics other than sports soon.

Boxing Challenge: Lopez upsets Taylor, announces "Retirement"

  Teofimo Lopez rehabilitated his image and his career with a wide unanimous decision triumph over Josh Taylor to lift the WBO junior welterweight title from Taylor as well as his status as the lineal champion that Taylor held as well as all four titles since defeating Jose Ramirez in May 2021.

The fight was evenly fought through five rounds and I had Taylor slightly ahead at 48-47 but that was as good as things would get for the Scotsman as Lopez snatched control of the match and I would give each of the next seven rounds to Lopez, who would surprisingly announce his retirement after the fight, which will likely last as long as a hiccup with Lopez's return to being mentioned in elite fights to be made in the sport.

Taylor was far too slow for Lopez in the second half of the fight as Lopez connected over and over with combinations that were punctuated with an occasional wiggle and added showmanship as Taylor struggled with each attempt to regain his composure.

Lopez's victory was closer than it should have been with one judge scoring the same as I did at 117-111 and the remaining two turning in cards that were far too tight at 115-113.

While Lopez looked sharper as the fight moved on and deservedly strides back onto the big stage, I still wonder how much this win was about Lopez's skills or the sudden deterioration of Taylor, who looked less than great for the second fight in a row, and I also wonder if Taylor will ever approach the level that saw him defeat Ivan Baranchyk (when Baranchyk was unbeaten), Regis Prograis, and Jose Ramirez before his controversial win over Jack Catterall.

I suppose it's possible that Taylor's decline is due to making weight at 140 and he could move to welterweight to help with that problem.

We'll find that out when Lopez and Taylor fight again but I might think that Taylor might be best served to be matched somewhat carefully and for Lopez?

Teofimo Lopez tends to respond to challenges and when he isn't being challenged, Lopez has shown a tendency to zone out both in and outside of the ring.

While I'm sure that his team and Top Rank would like a good but not great opponent for Lopez next time out, I might not do that considering Lopez's history.

If you can make a fight with Devin Haney, do so.

With their amateur history, a battle between the three-belt unified champion at lightweight/lineal junior welterweight champion and the fully unified lightweight king moving up would certainly have plenty of intrigue.

I don't see Lopez making a fight against any of the other champions at 140 pounds with WBC and IBF champions, Regis Prograis and Subriel Matias with Matchroom and WBA "boss" Rolando Romero signed to PBC.

Although maybe there would be a chance that Lopez, who claimed before the fight that he had fulfilled his obligation to promoter Top Rank after the Taylor fight, could perhaps find either of the Matchroom duo appealing should his version of his TR contract turn out to be correct. 

The most likely big-name opponent for Lopez could be former WBC/WBO champion Jose Ramirez, who fights with Top Rank, has appeared on ESPN many times, and should Lopez decide to fight Ramirez in his hometown of Fresno, would draw a big crowd and for doing so, some extra dollars.

Ramirez has only one loss and I'd think would be an excellent consolation prize in the event that Lopez-Haney can't be signed for later this year.

Ramirez hasn't always been anxious to sign fights that would be difficult, so should Ramirez not be available, Top Rank also has undefeated contender Arnold Barboza in their camp and Barboza is likely to rise to the top contender spot (Barboza is 2nd, Jose Ramirez is 3rd) in the WBO (the title Lopez actually possesses now), so Lopez could perhaps get ahead with a mandatory (Politics depending) with a Barboza battle.

The Haney fight would make the most sense and the most dollars, Lopez would be cashing in before any possible missteps could occur, and a victory would mean possible superstardom.

Earlier in the day from London, broadcast by DAZN/Matchroom, Sunny Edwards retained his IBF flyweight title over challenger Andres Campos.

Not much to say about this one, Campos attempted to be aggressive but was generally repelled and outboxed by Edwards in a fight that was typical of an Edwards fight.

Edwards called out WBO champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez after the fight for a unification bout and hopefully, that can happen before the end of the year.

Edwards won on all cards by a score of 117-111, which was the same as mine.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:95 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 87 Pts (2)
Vince Samano: 69 Pts (0)  

The Overhand Right

   The overhand right returns after a long absence as we opine on a few recent news from the world of boxing.

I don't usually give too much credit to the WBA but when it's due...

The worst of the four sanctioning bodies recently refused requests from long-reigning champions to delay mandatory bouts against contenders who have been more than patient in waiting for their turn.

WBA featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz hasn't fought at that weight in over three and a half years or defended against a mandatory challenge in four and a half, and despite his promise to fight "regular" champion Leigh Wood to dispose of another WBA regular title, Santa Cruz asked for an exemption to fight newly crowned WBC champion Rey Vargas.

Normally, I'd be all in favor of a unification fight but this clearly was another dodge by Santa Cruz and his promoters, who also promote Vargas and just as importantly do not promote Wood, a Matchroom fighter, in order to keep things in the PBC house.

Considering Santa Cruz's blatant disinterest in the division, it's pretty easy to see what would happen if the WBA would grant the exemption and Santa Cruz would defeat Vargas- rather than fight Wood, Santa Cruz would likely keep his newly won WBC title and vacate the WBA belt.

The WBA's refusal and order for a purse bid for a Santa Cruz-Wood fight was the right thing to do and it forced PBC and Matchroom to work together to get a deal completed.

The camps have come to terms and although the network and date are yet to be decided, the floated date is November 12th or 19th, which is very interesting because those are the two dates that have been rumored as the target for an Errol Spence-Terence Crawford showdown and it seems that Santa Cruz vs Wood could be the co-feature on PPV.

That would be a welcome change to have an important and exciting fight on a PPV card as the secondary fight to a great main event- Good for PBC for placing it there if that is the plan!

The WBA also refused a waiver for their light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol to skip top contender Gilberto Ramirez in favor of another in-house fighter, in this case, Matchroom and Joshua Buatsi as Ramirez is signed with Golden Boy Productions.

While Buatsi is a deserving contender, Ramirez is even more so with a 168-pound title on his resume and wins in two WBA eliminators to secure the top contender spot.

Plus Bivol hasn't made a mandatory defense since a win over Sullivan Barrera in 2018, so he's far overdue for a mandated fight- especially one against the undefeated Ramirez which should be a good matchup between two undefeated fighters with championship backgrounds.

In both cases, the champions might have received their hall passes had they had a better background in being active against their best contenders.

I'm not against either Santa Cruz-Vargas or Bivol-Buatsi, neither is a bad fight at all but the mandated fights are even better with two deserving and patient challengers- Good for the WBA for making these happen.

As for that Errol Spence-Terence Crawford fight, it is rumored to be close to happening and it would likely take place in November in Las Vegas,

The long-anticipated fight between unbeaten welterweight champions had been held up for years by the promotional issues between PBC (Spence) and Crawford's then-promoter Top Rank but since Crawford's agreement with Top Rank ended with his last fight, a win over Shawn Porter, the fight is closer to being signed.

While the winner is likely to vacate the titles and move to 154 pounds, the problems in making Spence-Crawford may return like a bad case of food poisoning with two undefeated young stars that are likely to each collect one of the titles that are vacated in Jaron "Boots" Ennis and Vergil Ortiz.

Ennis is loosely affiliated with PBC and has a commitment to Showtime while Ortiz is promoted by Golden Boy and their broadcaster is DAZN, so I could easily see a few years move by before those two meet in the ring.

Hopefully, we won't have to suffer through another interminable wait before we do.

Josh Taylor has already vacated two of his four unified junior welterweight titles and it seems that he will shortly drop his third.

Taylor has dropped the WBA title rather than fight their undistinguished top contender Alberto Puello and the WBC belt instead of defending against the very deserving Jose Zepeda and soon will drop the IBF championship rather than defend against Jeremiah Ponce.

Ponce has won two stay-busy fights since stepping into the IBF's top contender spot with an impressive tenth-round knockout of favored Lewis Ritson in June 2021 in Ritson's hometown in England but while I like Ponce as a fighter and think he is deserving on ability, in the talent-packed division I'm not sure Ponce's wins are deserving of being in the top ten let alone a mandatory challenger position.

Taylor is keeping the WBO title in order to fight a rematch of his controversial win against Jack Catterall.

The answer to this mess could have been as simple as the three organizations giving Catterall credit for the fight that he deserved to win and installing him as the top contender in all three (along with the WBO) group's ratings and mandating the rematch everyone wants to see but that would take intelligence and cooperation- both traits that are seldom used in boxing.

I'm usually not thrilled with some of the cards that PBC and Fox have placed on PPV rather than on a free platform with the Keith Thurman-Mario Barrios and Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin shows this year alone coming to mind.

While I'm not sure of the price of the event or the need for it to be on PPV at all, the PBC card on Sunday, September 4th is a pretty nice slate.

The main event between former heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz and former title challenger Luis Ortiz could be a boom or bust bout as it could be an exciting slugfest or a clinch-filled bore but it still is an intriguing fight and should the winner do so with a conclusive knockout, it's not out of the question that they could be in position to challenge for a title again.

And the undercard is interesting as well with Isaac Cruz's comeback from his close loss to Gervonta Davis against rugged veteran Eduardo Ramirez in a lightweight eliminator, former champion Abner Mares returning from a multi-year layoff against former title challenger Miguel Flores, and talented prospect Jose Valenzuela battling former WBA junior lightweight champion Jezreel Corrales.

Maybe it should not be a PPV card but credit to PBC for putting together a strong event from the top to bottom.

Boxing Challenge: Taylor gets Home Cooking vs Catterall

    The boxing weekend started in Glasgow, Scotland, and didn't end there but the talk of the boxing world is still focused on the results there as Josh Taylor slid through a hole the size of a mouse to defend all four of his junior welterweight titles via split decision over a surprisingly strong Jack Catterall.

Catterall scored the fight's only knockdown in the eighth round with a short left hand and won almost all of the early rounds but did allow Taylor to take many of the late rounds to make the fight close enough to cause controversy in the scoring and even give some viewers validation for Taylor squeaking out a close win.

Much of the controversy (and strangely numbered scorecards) centered around referee Marcus McDonnell, who took a point from Catterall for holding, although both fighters had been holding throughout the fight, and neither deserved a point deduction that appeared to have canceled Catterall's eighth-round knockdown on the scorecards.

That lasted only five minutes or so when McDonnell cost Taylor a point for tapping Catterall after the bell that ended round eleven which hurt Catterall so badly that he ignored it and walked to his corner.

The scoring would have been even more ridiculous without the moronic point deduction as the one judge that scored for Catterall did so 113-112 (six-six in rounds with Catterall losing the tenth round point and Taylor losing two points for his deduction and a knockdown), so had the point not been taken away, the result would have been a majority decision for Taylor instead of a split decision.

Taylor won one card by the same 113-112 score, which meant that judge thought Taylor won seven rounds, which is hard to believe, and the worst card saw Taylor given a 114-111 nod that saw Taylor win an incredible eight rounds.

My card was 114-111 Catterall (seven-five in rounds with each fighter losing their points) and it was one of those fights that didn't have many swing rounds, so 6-6 in rounds is difficult for me to get to, let alone 7-5 or 8-4 for Taylor.

A cut and bruised Taylor stated that he has no interest in a prospective rematch after his train dodge and he is expected to move to welterweight, which would vacate all four titles.

Off of this outing, Taylor may not fare as well as expected at the higher weight, although it could be a case of Taylor taking Catterall lightly as well as having issues making the 140-pound limit.

I would have to think after this performance that Jack Catterall will likely be in line for a fight for one of those vacated titles and unless this was the performance of his life that would be unlikely to be repeated, Catterall is likely to win one of those titles.

Sadly, I've seen worse decisions but this still was a wrong one in my opinion.

I have seen some reliable observers believe that Taylor squeaked the decision out but I respectfully disagree.

Jack Catterall controlled the fight with his boxing ability, outlanded Taylor 120-73, and scored the fight's only knockdown, so I have a hard time justifying a Taylor win.

I'll be back later after the results of the Sunday card from London with the Saturday night Showtime card with two major upsets...

Boxing Challenge: Taylor defeats Ramirez

    All four of the championships in the junior welterweight division will reside in Scotland as Josh Taylor retained his WBA and IBF titles and stripped Jose Ramirez of the WBC and WBO versions via a close unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

All three scorecards were 114-112 for Taylor (I had Taylor a 115-111 winner), which means that each judge gave each fighter six rounds, but Taylor's knockdowns of Ramirez in the sixth and seventh-round allowed Taylor to to earn the two-point victory.

Taylor's left hand dropped Ramirez in the sixth and uncorked a left uppercut that sent Ramirez crashing to the canvas in the seventh that had a smidgen of controversy as it appeared that Ramirez had stopped and waited for ref Kenny Bayless to call for a break and relaxed just a bit.

Taylor took advantage and it is always protect yourself at all times, but it was a mistake by Ramirez to relax and give Taylor the open opportunity.

Ramirez was aggressive throughout, but Taylor was able to stand his ground enough to build an early lead on the cards and hold off Ramirez's traditional late charge for the victory.

In the end, it was a really strong contest, but the more versatile fighter that can do everything well had just enough to defeat the stronger fighter that can fight best in only one style.

I would be fine with a rematch, but Taylor has a choice to make for his next fight and neither involves Ramirez.

Taylor would seem to have two big-money choices available with Top Rank as he could move up to welterweight against WBO champion Terence Crawford as Crawford still has one fight remaining on his contract with the company or he could stay at 140 for an all-UK affair against WBO mandatory contender Jack Catterall, who took a step-aside fee to allow Ramirez to face Taylor.

Taylor could also stay at 140 and defend those titles against Teofimo Lopez, who holds three (officially anyway) of the four lightweight belts but should Taylor decide that he wants to keep all four titles at junior welterweight, he will have to face Catterall first as Catterall is not likely to take another check to allow a Taylor-Lopez bout next.

Should Taylor move up to 147 pounds, all four titles are likely to be vacated and I'd think that Jose Ramirez would be involved in the scramble to grab one of the titles as arguably, along with Regis Prograis, who like Ramirez has suffered only one loss and like Ramirez, a close decision loss to Taylor, the best non-Josh Taylor junior welterweight.

Boxing is at its best on nights like Saturday.

Two undefeated young champions giving their all on free television for all to see and at the end of the night- only one will stand tall.

In the co-feature, Jose Zepeda won convincingly but didn't dazzle in winning a unanimous decision over aging veteran Hank Lundy in a junior welterweight ten rounder.

Zepeda is rated first by the WBC and will be in line for an eventual shot at Josh Taylor or more likely involvement for the vacant title should Taylor move up to welterweight.

Zepeda won clearly (98-92 on my card), but Lundy hung tough as a late replacement and deserves credit for doing what he could do against Zepeda.

In the boxing challenge, I earned four points to Ramon Malpica's two to boost my lead to 70-66 in the overall standings. 

Boxing Challenge: Briedis wins WBSS, Taylor wins in one!

  The afternoon from the old country saw two world title fights before the huge PPV from PBC in the evening.

If you chose to watch DAZN live from Germany- you were able to see a good matchup.

If you picked ESPN+ from England, well, at least it was short.

From Munich Germany, what could be the final event from the World Boxing Super Series crowned the winner of their cruiserweight tournament as top-seeded Mairis Breidis defeated second-seed Yunier Dorticos via a majority decision to win the tournament and lift the IBF championship from Dorticos as well.

It was a fight that saw heavy punches exchanged, yet one that had its tactical parts as well with Briedis using the right hand to land counterpunches against the heavier-hitting and aggressive Dorticos that shifted the tide his way in a close fight.

I scored Briedis a 116-112 winner and thought the decision was a fair one.

I'd like to see Briedis stay in the division, where he is the top fighter for now, but he could seek bigger heavyweight money as the other three champions (WBA Arsen Goulamirian, WBC Illunga Makubu, and WBO title is vacant) aren't likely to be bouts that fans crave.

As for Dorticos, a rematch against Briedis down the road is not out of the question, and a fight against any of the other champions would be favored.

As for the WBSS, which has seen financial problems, it'll be interesting to see if it survives.

I would imagine that if it would continue, the purses could drop, and with that drop would go any incentive for fighters to not control their opponents for their next three fights.

Even it should continue, I'm not sure that there is a fit with many divisions for a compelling elite tournament.

Top Rank refuses to send their fighters, PBC only sends very few and usually in the lower weight divisions, and Matchroom, Sauerland, and other European promoters do participate, but they might wonder if it is worth the time spent, if their fighters aren't fighting the best.

When you consider the promotional ties involved, only two divisions make sense to run a tournament with the best fighters in the game.

Junior bantamweight could work with Matchroom controlling the best of the division with Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and if WBO champion Kazuto Ioka and the latest Japanese phenom Kosei Tanaka could be added, all the best fighters would be available except IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas, who is associated with Top Rank.

Flyweight would be available with three excellent champions in Julio Cesar Martinez, Moruti Mthalane, and Artem Dalakian and might make a star with an eventual winner.

Other than those two, only junior featherweight would even be close to having the elite and that would have to be worked out with PBC as they have the best of the division other than WBA/IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.

Unless the WBSS would be willing to settle for a lesser tournament with contenders and prospects, I don't see any other divisions that would work out.

It would be a sad end for a series that gave world stages and made stars out of Oleksandr Usyk, Callum Smith, Naoya Inoue, and Josh Taylor, but that could be how it ends...

As for Josh Taylor, the quicker we can move away from IBF mandatory contender Apinun Khongsong the better as Taylor retained his WBA and IBF junior welterweight titles with a first-round knockout with the first significant punch that he landed to Khongsong's body.

Taylor, wearing Bay City Rollers style Tartan, left Khongsong writhing in pain on the floor and will unify all four titles in the division in his next fight with WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points to move our totals to 117-109. 

Boxing Challenge: Taylor holds off Prograis, wins WBSS

The best fight of the weekend was also the most important as the junior welterweight division of the World Boxing Super Series concluded with an excellent fight as Josh Taylor added the WBA title to his own IBF championship with a majority decision victory over Regis Prograis in London.
Taylor dominated the middle rounds, survived a badly damaged right eye and a late run by Prograis, who won the final two rounds on my card to make it close, but not enough to catch Taylor, who I scored the winner by a 115-113 score (7-5 in rounds.).
Entering the fight, Prograis was thought to be the bigger puncher, but in the ring, Taylor seemed to be the far larger and more physical fighter and was able to score with both hands effectively landing hooks that pushed Prograis around the ring.
Hopefully some time next year, Taylor's two titles can be unified with the two (WBC and WBO) owned by Jose Ramirez for one champion, although as soon as that's accomplished the Suleman gang at the WBC will declare the winner their "franchise champion" as they did Vasyl Lomachenko recently and took some of the gas away from a Lomachenko vs the winner of December's IBF title fight between Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez event that would have resulted in a four title champion.
Ramirez will fight mandatory contender Viktor Postol (Postol has a decision loss to Taylor.) in February, so perhaps in the spring or summer, Taylor-Ramirez can be signed.

The undercard saw Dereck Chisora predictably knock out David Price in the fourth round of their heavyweight co-feature.
The third round saw a give and take with both fighters being stunned in the round, but Chisora landed two big rights and then an uppercut to drop Price, who courageously rose but his corner threw in the towel.
Price landed his share and even wobbled Chisora a time or two, but in the end Price's chin just doesn't hold up at a top 20 level and at 36 years of age, someone that cares about Price should step in and suggest that the time has come to step away.

Lee Selby nipped Ricky Burns via unanimous decision in a close but less than thrilling fight.
I figured this would be the case when it was signed and it might have exceeded my expectations a bit.
Selby was the winner on my card 116-112, but the former IBF featherweight champion is going to be outmatched against most top ten lightweights as the aging Burns gave Selby all he wanted and at this stage of his career, the former champion isn't a top ten fighter.

DAZN's other fight was a pretty good scrap on Thursday night as Elwin Soto won a close unanimous decision over Edward Heno of the Philippines to retain his WBO junior flyweight title.
Heno scored a flash knockdown in the third round for the only knockdown of the fight and held a lead after nine rounds before Soto won the final three rounds on my card for a 114-113 win.
A rematch might not be a bad idea.

ESPN plus featured an old-fashioned grudge match entering the fight for the WBO featherweight title that was vacated by Oscar Valdez.
Shakur Stevenson is dating the sister of Joet Gonzalez with the sister estranged from the family and the pre-fight buildup, the pair exchanged plenty of venom that crossed the line of the usual boxing hype.
In the ring, the fight's action might have peaked at the press conferences and the weigh-in as Stevenson put on a performance that may have tabbed him as a future star, but winning in such a dominating fashion in a mundane fight over Gonzalez makes me wonder what the future for Stevenson is.
Stevenson's a terrific boxer and has the ability to outbox almost everyone that he faces, but he didn't turn up the heat against Gonzalez and was content to take his decision and his title home rather than try to finish Gonzalez to put on the type of outing that makes you need to see more of him in the ring.
I had Gonzalez winning only one round with Stevenson winning 119-109 on my scorecard.
The fight that I would love to see is unlikely to happen with Stevenson taking on WBC and PBC promoted Gary Russell in a unification bout that would be huge in the D.C. area with Stevenson fighting out of Alexandria Virginia and Russell living in Capitol Heights Maryland.
A Stevenson-Russell fight would do well at the new MGM casino in the area or even the Verizon Center in Washington, but if the promoters cannot get Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford accomplished, the smaller potatoes of Stevenson-Russell is even less likely,

Bantamweight Joshua Greer won an unpopular unanimous decision over Antonio Nieves in the other main card battle.
Greer was knocked down in the tenth by what could have been a punch behind the head but was ruled a knockdown.
The crowd wasn't thrilled with the scorecards, but I thought they were correct in the close victory as I had Greer a 95-94 winner (6-4 in rounds minus the knockdown).
I'm not sure Greer beats any of the bantamweight champions (The winner of Nonito Donaire-Naoya Inoue will own the WBA and IBF titles, WBC Nordine Ouabaali and WBO Zolani Tete are the current champions), but with Greer being rated 2nd by the IBF and 3rd by the WBO, he could get his chance to try in 2020.

Showtime's three-fight card looked weak on paper but was better than expected.
The first fight, a heavyweight bout between late replacement Frank Sanchez against Jack Mulowayi.
Sanchez replaced Efe Ajagba, dominated by winning every round in a boring fight that wasn't included in the boxing challenge and was better suited for Showtime's ShoBox series instead of their main outlet.

The co-feature stole the night as junior welterweight Robert Easter bested Adrian Granados in a tough fight that was almost ruined by poor judging with Easter's unanimous decision coming via scoring that seemed to have the scorecards filled out in advance.
Easter 's taller style seemed to fir the attacking style of Granados, but Easter stood and engaged Granados and gave the fans an enjoyable fight to watch.
I had Easter ahead 97-93, but I could see Granados being closer on the cards if you are the type of judge that likes aggressive fighters that lands a large volume of punches.
One judge had the fight like I did at 97-93 and another's 98-92 seemed a bit wide, but tolerable, but the 100-90 score for Easter was a pathetic joke as Granados easily won between two and three rounds and maybe even four.
Easter's debut at junior welterweight in an entertaining bout took some of the dreck off of his previous fight, a too bad to be described draw with Rances Barthelemy and Granados showed his effectiveness at 140 after being knocked out for the first time in his career at welterweight by Danny Garcia.
Both fighters came out of this one looking better than when they entered, but I'm not sure either have a road to a title in the division with two champions holding two titles apiece and neither are promoted by PBC in Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez.

The main event had junior middleweight contender Erickson Lubin against late replacement Nathaniel Gallimore and Lubin, he of the big punch and questionable chin, went the distance and looked good in winning a unanimous decision over Gallimore.
I had Lubin a 99-91 victor and even though he didn't stop Gallimore or even knock him to the floor for a spectacular showing, Lubin might have gotten more out of a solid ten rounds than he would have of an early-round knockout.
Lubin looks likely to be headed towards the winner of the WBC title rematch between Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo, which should Charlo win his title back would be a rematch for Charlo and Lubin.
Their first ended in a first-round, one-punch knockout by Charlo.

In the boxing challenge, I added twelve points to Ramon Malpica's ten with the difference in points being Shakur Stevenson winning via decision and a bonus point for picking the round of Dereck Chisora's KO of David Price.
My lead stands at 261-225

Boxing Challenge:Ramirez stops Hooker in six- Unifies two titles

It was the fight that I was looking forward to most and it was worth the wait as Jose Ramirez broke through in the sixth round and stopped Maurice Hooker with a savage barrage that gave the referee little choice but to stop the fight with Hooker helpless along the ropes taking big punches.

To that point, the fight had been very evenly fought with several exchanges (I had Ramirez winning three of the previous five rounds) that saw both fighters landing bombs against the other.
The fight saw a knockdown in the first round scored by Ramirez, but as Ramirez admitted in the post-fight interview that Ramirez had stepped on Hooker's foot to cause the knockdown.
Even in the final round, Hooker had his moments and all the way to the end, Hooker was scoring his share of points and the left hook that Ramirez landed that drove a badly hurt Hooker into the ropes came from nowhere as Hooker lobbed out a lazy punch that Ramirez fired his left over.
Ramirez didn't waste his opportunity as he leaped onto the dazed Hooker, fired multiple punches and just as the referee was preparing to step in, Ramirez showed a killer instinct with one final missile that snapped Hooker's head back and gave the arbiter no choice but to end the fight.

For Ramirez, this not only gives him two titles and bragging rights for Top Rank but gives him a plausible argument for being the best in the 140-pound division, although the Regis Prograis-Josh Taylor winner would have a similar claim of holding two titles and an elite level victim on their resume'.
Ramirez showed aggression that he hasn't always shown and I loved him finishing off a badly hurt opponent.
Young champions don't always do that in similar situations and I was impressed with Ramirez not allowing a damaged opponent to regroup and closing the show.
I've always liked Ramirez, sometimes more than most, and before Regis Prograis entered the WBSS, a Ramirez-Prograis showdown was coming soon with Ramirez being the WBC champion and Prograis was their minor beltholder.
However showing foresight and faith in their fighters, promoters Bob Arum (Ramirez) and Lou DiBella (Prograis) agreed to table such a fight and gambled that a fight down the road between the pair would be worth far more and be more important.
That fight is one fight away from happening, although I wouldn't sleep on Josh Taylor's chances, who could very well defeat Prograis in their upcoming as that fight seems just as difficult to select as Ramirez-Hooker was.

The other fight in the boxing challenge saw Tevin Farmer retain his IBF junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Guillaume Frenois of France in a fight that was pretty tedious to watch.
The main excitement from this one saw Frenois consistently whining, flopping and moaning about Farmer's punches below the belt in an attempt to gain points or even a win that his own punches were not going to be able to deliver.
As for Farmer, who defended his title for the fourth time in the year since he won the championship, I admire the activity and wish other fighters would emulate his example, but he's defeating B and C level opponents and could use a step up in competition.

In the boxing challenge, I scored three points (Two for Farmer and one for Ramirez) to Ramon Malpica's one for Farmer to increase my lead in the boxing challenge to 194-171.

I am watching the Showtime card now and will be back later with a review of their event from Baltimore.

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.

Boxing Challenge: Donaire tears down Burnett, Taylor dazzles

The World Boxing Super Series filled out the dance card for the semi-finals in both their bantamweight and junior welterweight tournaments from Glasgow, Scotland with a shocking ending eliminating their top seed in the 118-pound bracket.

In the bantamweight opener of the two WBSS fights, WBA champion and the top seed in the tournament Ryan Burnett was having a pretty good fight with Nonito Donaire, who dropped eight pounds from his spring loss to Carl Frampton to return to the 118-pound division, until under a minute to go in the round when Burnett fell to the floor in pain grasping his side.
The referee was forced to call it a knockdown and I cannot imagine how much pain Burnett was in as he tried to rise and continue.
Donaire drove a near helpless Burnett into the corner and riddled him with punches as the heavy-hearted Burnett attempted to fend him off until the bell rang.
Burnett was unable to continue after the ring, being taken from the ring on a gurney and the WBA title along with the semi-final berth left with Nonito Donaire.
The ending wasn't only strange, it was an unsatisfying ending to a fight that had shown some pretty strong action after four rounds, which I had scored two rounds for each combatant.
Donaire will unify his newly won title with that of WBO champ Zolani Tete in the next round, while Burnett could have to take a sizable amount of time off to recover from his injury.

In the other WBSS matchup Josh Taylor won every round from a seemingly frozen Ryan Martin before stopping him in the seventh round.
Taylor was far better prepared for the stage than Taylor and it showed in the one-sided beatdown that wasn't even competitive.
The ending was somewhat controversial as Taylor appeared to floor Martin with a shot to the back of the head with the referee immediately waving the bout off despite the protests of Martin.
I thought Martin did indeed receive a punch to the back of his head, but it wouldn't change the result and saved Martin prolonged punishment.
Taylor will face IBF champion Ivan Baranchyk in the semi-finals and that is the fight that I am most looking forward to seeing of the four semi-finals that are currently intact.

On ESPN+ from El Paso Texas, Miguel Berchelt continued to make his case as the top 130 pounder in the world as he dominated mandatory contender Miguel "Mickey" Roman over nine rounds before the brave and beaten Roman finally succumbed to the younger and stronger Berchelt.
Berchelt pounded the consistently moving forward Roman throughout the fight and although Roman would occasionally connect with enough offense to keep the champion honest, he was overmatched in both power and technique.
Berchelt almost finished Roman in round six with two knockdowns, but the gritty Roman had no quit on this night, survived the round and tried his best for the next three rounds, but was dropped and polished off in the ninth.
Berchelt would like unification fights with WBA champ Gervonta Davis or IBF champ Tevin Farmer, but those seem unlikely due to promotional/network problems.
The best fight that could be made, in my opinion, is minor titlist Alberto Machado in what would be an exciting fight between two big (in both size and punching ability) junior lightweights and would be another chapter in the best rivalry in boxing- Mexico (Berchelt) vs Puerto Rico (Machado).
Machado is with Golden Boy and therefore DAZN for television, but Golden Boy and Top Rank have been one of the few promotional pairings that occasionally can work together, so there is some hope.

The final challenge bout was made available on Facebook and it was just as big of a mismatch as expected as light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera handily won a unanimous decision over fringe contender Seanie Monaghan in Brooklyn.
No knockdowns, but other than the first round or two each round was the same monotonous stanza over and over again.
Monaghan showed toughness, but nowhere near top ten quality, while Barrera gets back on the winning trail after losing his last fight to Dmitry Bivol.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to change the score to 181-158.
Ramon earned two points each from wins from Sullivan Barrera and Miguel Berchelt.
I added two from Berchelt and one each from Barrera and Josh Taylor.

Berchelt crushes Barros, Taylor defeats Postol

In the boxing challenge, there were several impressive performances, but the day's first star goes to Miguel Berchelt, who retained his WBC junior lightweight title with a three-round smashing of former featherweight champion Jonathan Barros in Mexico.
Berchelt badly hurt Barros in the first and scored a knockdown in the second that had it happened before the waning seconds of that round, could have ended the fight then and there.
Berchelt immediately sent Barros to the mat in the third and relentlessly stalked Barros with a real beating before Barros hit the canvas again.
The game, if outgunned Barros rose, but his corner had seen enough and entered the ring to stop the bout.
Barros might have been an expired item, but Berchelt did exactly what a champion does in a situation against an opponent with little left than a name- he took him out quickly and impressively.
Berchelt has an all-Mexican mandatory defense against Mickey Roman next and hopefully, then a unification bout can be matched with the talented, if mercurial WBA champ (which he should not hold, but that's beside the point) Gervonta Davis, who is the only fighter in the division that can make an argument other than Berchelt as the best in the division.

Another impressive win was Scotland's Josh Taylor, who pulled a mild upset over former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol by a far (FAR) wider than was remotely realistic unanimous decision in Glasgow.
Taylor dropped Postol in the tenth round of a strong action fight and that knockdown gave Taylor the win on my card by a 114-113 tally.
Taylor now earns a mandatory shot at WBC champion Jose Ramirez sometime soon, but I wouldn't rule out a chance of Taylor entering the next World Boxing Super Series tournament at junior welterweight.
Postol fought well in defeat and I'd consider giving him a slot in that bracket as well.

Also in the U.K, but in England, veteran middleweight contender Martin Murray continued his later career drive towards a fifth world title attempt with a unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia of Mexico.
Murray wins a minor title from Garcia and keeps his name around in the rankings for a potential rematch with Gennady Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez, should he dethrone Golovkin in September.
I would rather see Murray get a shot at WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, which would be a grudge match after that bout has been canceled twice, a winnable fight for Murray and should draw a nice house in England as well.
I haven't seen this fight yet, so no scoring on this one.

On ESPN, Golden Boy's Vergil Ortiz looks like their best young prospect since Canelo Alvarez as he looked very strong in against his first name opponent as he ripped through former junior lightweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado in three rounds in Los Angeles.
Ortiz's body shot folded Salgado in half and finished him off cleanly.
I'm a big believer in Ortiz and think that Golden Boy might have the real deal in Ortiz after several disappointments among their homegrown talents.

In the boxing challenge, I scored six points to Ramon Malpica's three on the weekend to push my lead to 107-83.
My six came from two points from wins from Martin Murray, Vergil Ortiz and Miguel Berchelt.
Ramon's three were added with two points from Berchelt and one from Ortiz.