Boxing Challenge: Chavez quits, Jacobs wins

It was an ugly scene in Phoenix for DAZN's Matchroom Boxing card Friday, but it certainly was one that couldn't have come as a surprise to those that have watched the career of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Julio Jr. who has quit in the ring, missed weight, trained for fights in his living room rather than go to the gym, and failed drug tests by using drugs and refusing to take them ( a refused test is considered an automatic positive) managed to do several of these all during one signed fight and lost via TKO when he refused to continue after round five of his fight with Daniel Jacobs.

Chavez, who refused a drug test and was forced to receive a favorable court injunction to even participate, followed that up by paying Jacobs one million dollars for missing weight by five pounds and after all of that?
Chavez fought pretty well for five rounds.
I gave Chavez the first and fifth rounds and even though I gave Daniel Jacobs the fourth, it was a very tight round.
Chavez worked the body well in the fifth and as I watched the fifth round end, it was Jacobs that I was wondering about being potentially bothered.
That part was a surprise.
What wasn't a surprise was Julio Jr. deciding that he couldn't continue and ending the fight in the corner.
Depending on who was asked after the fight, Junior was having problems with his nose, his hand, and a cut around his eye and decided to concede.
The Phoenix crowd, who were the latest to be sunk by the Chavez hustle, weren't any happier than I was and began to throw things at the ring and hit several ringside persons, notably DAZN's Brian Kenny, while he was on the air. and Chavez as he ran fleeing up the aisle.
Daniel Jacobs will move on and I guess he'll receive a title shot against Callum Smith or Billy Joe Saunders in 2020.
As for Julio Jr. I've seen more than enough from him to say that anyone that tries to use him again should quickly change their mind- as I wrote yesterday, he's just not worth the effort.

The co-feature stole the show as Julio Cesar Martinez wore down Crisofer Rosales and stopped Rosales in the ninth round to win the vacant WBC flyweight title that Martinez almost won a few months back, but after knocking down then-champion Charlie Edwards Martinez hit him while Edwards was on the canvas and the fight was declared a no-contest.
This one featured many exchanges in the early rounds, but as the fight moved forward, the harder punching Martinez began to break the smoother boxing Rosales and the final few rounds were dominated by Martinez against the game but beaten Rosales.
Martinez looks to be a star in the making with an exciting style and he's one to watch in the 112-115 pound divisions.

The other challenge bout saw the ring return of former WBO junior welterweight champion Maurice Hooker as a welterweight and Hooker finished off Uriel Perez in one round.
Perez took several shots to the body and appeared to be injured after Hooker's shot dropped him to the floor.
A pained looking Perez rose but notified the referee that he couldn't continue further.
Hooker claims that he wishes to return to the junior welterweight division, but considering his problems making the weight in the past, I would think that weight is going to be very difficult to make for the former champion.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me six to five, the difference being the early ending in the Jacobs-Chavez Jr. pairing.
I lead the overall standings 307-271.

Boxing Challenge: Ortiz outslugs Orozco

In the latest step up in the career of elite welterweight prospect Vergil Ortiz, Ortiz won a minor title, but more importantly, showed patience and power as he knocked out Antonio Orozco in the sixth round in Grand Prarie, Texas.

The title may be almost meaningless, but the performance certainly was not as Ortiz nearly finished the fight in the first round as he drove Orozco into the ropes, badly stunning and I wouldn't have argued had the referee ruled that a knockdown.
Ortiz then settled into a groove and even though Orozco continued to throw punches with occasional success, Ortiz was showing the type of patience that future champions possess as he entered the sixth round for the first time in his career.
Ortiz landed a huge uppercut early in the sixth that really was the end of the fight as Orozco hit the floor.
Orozco showed a massive heart in rising, but soon was dropped again and could have packed the evening in right there. but lifted himself up one more time and attempted to hold on, but a screaming Ortiz left hook sent Orozco to the floor once more and there was no need to see anything further as the fight was called off.
For Ortiz, it was a solid win over a world-class level fighter, although Orozco had proven himself at junior welterweight, not at welterweight and showed that he can be more than a one-dimensional hitter as he moves higher up the welterweight rankings.
The biggest problem for Ortiz might be similar to that of Terence Crawford in the welterweight division- his promoter/media presenter just doesn't have anyone for him to fight.
The only DAZN (and not even Golden Boy Promotions) fighter in the division in the top ten is Jessie Vargas, so that fight would make sense as something to pursue, but other than Vargas there is next to nothing available in the division at this time.
Vergil Ortiz might be the next star welterweight, let's hope he gets the chance to prove it.

In the other fight in the challenge, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr knocked out Evert Bravo in the first round after landing a body shot.
Chavez looked strong in his first fight at 175 pounds, but Bravo had been knocked out in three of his previous four fights, so let's see him in his next outing.

In the boxing challenge, I scored three points to Ramon Malpica's two to extend my lead to 203-176.

Finally, on the ESPN card that I watched, despite not placing any fights for the boxing challenge, one of those fights that you love to see, but rarely occur took place in Philadelphia as the highly-touted prospect lost against the fighter brought in as an enhancement talent.
This one was even bigger than just a touted prospect as two-time Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez was shocked by 5-2-2 Adan Gonzales in a split decision that should have been unanimous.
Ramirez suffered a flash knockdown in the first round when a Gonzales left hand knocked Ramirez off balance and when Ramirez's glove steadied him on the floor, it was correctly ruled a knockdown.
With a 10-8 first-round against him, Ramirez would have to sweep the next three rounds to win the fight and all things considered, it was still considered likely, but instead, Gonzales continued to win the exchanges as Ramirez looked stuck in the amateur style, didn't work off his jab as the taller and longer fighter and most importantly was outworked throughout the fight as I scored Gonzales a 39-36 victor.
To no one's surprise, there is always the house judge as somehow David Braslow scored Ramirez a 38-37 winner, meaning that on his card, Ramirez did win the final three rounds.
The bigger surprise, which says a lot for boxing, is that the other two judges didn't find a way to score the fight for the house fighter and gave Gonzales a split decision win.
We'll see if this win is the highlight of the career for Adan Gonzales or if he has a future ahead of him, but for one night Gonzales was as good as he had to be to pull a huge and unexpected upset.

Boxing Challenge-Quigg Impresses,Chavez doesn't

R.L.Malpica gained two points on me and moved into a 90 -90 tie in the boxing challenge after a big boxing weekend.

The most impressive winner of the weekend was England's Scott Quigg,who retained his minor title with a destructive second round knockout of former champion Kiko Martinez.
Quigg vs Carl Frampton would be a huge fight in the UK,but Frampton's signing with PBC makes that unlikely.
Quigg will face another former champion in Nonito Donaire next time out.

The aforementioned Frampton was dropped twice in round one in a PBC bout against Alejandro Gonzalez Jr,but rose and dominated the fight after to win a unanimous decision.
I had Frampton winning 113-110
Frampton vs Quigg would be a terrific bout,but Frampton is more likely to fight the Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares winner instead...

The future of the Showtime boxing program looks very bleak after a awful card from El Paso,Texas.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr showed up overweight against undersized Marcos Reyes,but had enough to waddle to a close unanimous decision,
Chavez once again disappointed,but I had him winning 96-94...
Chavez clearly cannot make 160 pounds and isn't strong enough to beat top 168 pounders,so I'm not really sure where he goes from here/
In a fight that was enough to make one watch soccer,McJoe Arroyo won the IBF's vacant Jr,Bantamweight belt via unanimous decision in a bout stopped after 10 rounds due to a headbutt over Arthur Villanueva.
I had Arroyo ahead 96-93,but what a dull fight.
What a speedy fall from grace for Showtime with garbage like this....

In fights that I did not see,Arthur Abraham gave R.L the points he needed with a seventh round KO of Robert Steglitz in their fourth bout to keep his minor 168 pound belt.
Cesar Cuenca won the IBF Jr.Welterweight title with a unanimous decision over IK Yang and Darlys Perez fought Anthony Crolla to a draw....