The most meaningful fight ended with an upset as Radzhab Butaev surprised Jamal James with a ninth-round knockout to take the minor welterweight title held by James and earn a mandatory chance at WBA champion Yordenis Ugas.
Butaev pressured the 6'2 James throughout the fight and held a slight lead on my scorecard (77-75) entering the ninth round before beginning to hurt James and with James against the ropes, referee Celestino Ruiz stopped the fight.
It was a little premature in my opinion as James was stung a bit but not badly dazed.
Butaev will get a title shot against Ugas or Eimanis Stanionis for the full WBA title.
The WBA has ordered Ugas-Stanionis with the winner to face Butaev but Ugas has asked for an exception to face WBC and IBF champion, Errol Spence.
Should the extension be granted, Stanionis and Butaev could fight each other for the mandatory fight for a Ugas-Spence winner but if it is not granted Ugas has threatened to vacate the WBA belt to fight Spence anyway, which would result in Stanionis-Butaev for the vacant title.
The co-feature saw the most feared welterweight in the sports as Jaron "Boots" Ennis blew Thomas Dulorme out in one round.
Ennis knocked Dulorme down with a left hook followed by a right hand and Dulorme rose and tried to fight off Ennis but seconds later would be felled by a combination that he couldn't rise from and was counted out.
For Ennis, it was another impressive performance that will make few interested in fighting him, even champions such as Errol Spence and Terence Crawford.
Ennis is rated in the top six by all four organizations but not higher than third by the IBF and its very possible that Ennis may have to wait until 2023 and be a mandatory challenger to get a title shot, which is too bad because other than answering chin questions, which haven't been an issue thus far, Ennis looks to be as strong of a young contender as I've seen in quite a while.
In New York City, junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda crushed Josue Vargas in one round of a grudge match after a pre-fight buildup that saw punches and kicks exchange from both men and their camps.
Zepeda dropped Vargas in the first round with a left and with Vargas badly hurt, Zepeda battered Vargas into a corner and fired away relentlessly before the referee ended the fight.
Zepeda is ranked second by the WBC and might be placed in fights like these for a while as he waits for Josh Taylor to vacate his four titles.
No boxing challenge as we didn't get choices, due to a miscommunication.
