Boxing Challenge: Navarrete, Espinoza keep titles, Hitchins wins one

    As the final month of 2024 began, the boxing weekend was stuffed to the brim with action from several platforms worldwide, and there were many entertaining battles for the fans' viewing pleasure.

Top Rank and ESPN+ appeared to have two excellent rematches for championships after both original fights were good action fights. However, the best-laid plans can go up in smoke, and both fights were disappointing in different ways.

In the Phoenix main event, Emanuel Navarrete repeated his victory over Oscar Valdez in a far more dominant manner as Navarrete dropped Valdez three times (rounds one, four, and six) and won via knockout after a body shor finished Valdez to retain his WBO junior lightweight crown.

Navarette won by a clear but entertaining unanimous decision in their first fight over Valdez but had struggled to a draw against Robson Conceicao and a loss to Denis Berinchyk in an attempt to win the vacant WBO lightweight title and didn't seem to be putting the time in to prepare properly.

Navarrete was prepared for Valdez and stormed from the gate and never allowed Valdez to get started and won every round on my card.

Navarrete is rumored to perhaps face WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster in a unification match next year while Valdez might need a confidence builder or two after taking a shellacking from Navarrete.

In the co-feature, Robiesy Ramirez appeared to be building a lead against Rafael Espinoza in their rematch for the WBO featherweight title that Espinoza took from Ramirez by a thrilling majority decision last December.

However, seconds into round six, Ramirez ended the fight with a "No Mas" to allow Espinoza to retain the title,

Throughout the fight, Joe Tessitore and Tim Bradley stated that the Ramirez team had told the referee to watch for elbows from Espinoza, which they claimed was a major factor in the first fight, and sure enough, that's exactly what Ramirez complained about in the post-fight interview and used as his reason for quitting-double vision caused by elbows that the referee did nothing to stop.

Ramirez is reported to have suffered a broken orbital bone around his right eye, which lends some credibility to his surrender.

I gave Ramirez the first four rounds and while I gave the fifth to Espinoza, it was a close round.

The judges saw it closer with two judges scoring Ramirez up by one point and the other with an incredulous card of a three-point lead for Espinoza, which I don't see in any case.

On the undercard, welterweight contender Giovani Santillan rebounded from his first loss to Brian Norman, when veteran Frederick Lawson surrendered after one round, and unbeaten junior welterweight Lindolfo Delgado knocked out Jackson Marinez in five rounds.

Richardson Hitchins won the IBF junior welterweight title in San Juan Puerto Rico via a split decision over Australia's Liam Paro.

Paro started quickly but Hitchens dominated the second half of the fight and I thought won easily at 116-112.

Two judges agreed with me at 116-112 for Hitchins with a way out of bounds score for Paro at 117-111.

Hitchins called for WBO champion Teofimo Lopez after the fight, which I find highly unlikely with Hitchins's boxing style known for bothering Lopez, differing promoters, and Hitchins not bringing a large paycheck to the table.

Unbeaten junior lightweight Henty LeBron earned his biggest career win with a unanimous decision win over former world title challenger Christopher Diaz.

I thought the fight was close for LeBron at 96-94 which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring for LeBron 97-93.

LeBron scored well with counters against Diaz, who marched forward the entire fight and deserves future fights against young prospects after a strong performance.

A fun and entertaining heavyweight match between two veterans over forty for a minor title may not have been at the world-class level but it was worth watching with two former world title challengers hooked up in Sofia Bulgaria.

In the end, it was the hometown fighter, Kubrat Pulev boxing a bit smoother with the jab and Pulev's more active offense that earned him the WBA minor title by unanimous decision over Mahmoud Charr.

Pulev's scores were 117-11 times two and 116-112 with my score at 117-111 for Pulev.

The question for me will be this, will Pulev eventually decide to keep himself as the eventual WBA mandatory challenger for a title attempt? Or at 43, will he use the "title" to bring mid-level heavyweights to Bulgaria and earn Pulev larger paydays than he could dream of making anywhere else?

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica:  179 Pts (11)

TRS: 179 Pts (11)

Vince Samano: 115 Pts (7)

Boxing Challenge: Chisora clips Pulev, Vargas dethrones Magsayo

     The boxing Saturday was filled with fun fights with lots of competitive matches and a title changing hands in the featherweight division.

We start earlier in the day from London with a Matchroom/DAZN card and a heavyweight fight that lived up to its hype as Derek Chisora avenged a split decision loss to Kubrat Pulev in 2016 with a split decision win of his own.

Chisora started strong and hit Pulev to the body often in the first few rounds but in the middle rounds decided to return to the tactic that he used effectively against Joseph Parker by going to the ropes, and firing looping right hands that often found the mark against Pulev.

Pulev scored well from distance and wobbled Chisora badly in the eighth round with a left uppercut and landed more throughout the fight.

Both fighters stayed active to the end and the final four rounds were fought toe to toe with two tired veterans throwing and landing bomb after bomb until the final bell.

I scored the fight even at 114, so I had no issues with Chisora getting the nod by scores of 116-112 and 116-114 (No typo, one judge scored two even rounds) while the dissenting judge scored 116-112 for Pulev.

I had to feel good for Chisora, who has so often lost close decisions in the past but as exciting as his fights have been of late, I have concerns about the punishment that he is taking.

I wonder about referees that know Chisora's tactics and will want to give him every chance to continue in fights and on a wrong night it could result in Chisora receiving an even worse beating.

Chisora called out Deontay Wilder after the fight and while promotional issues make that fight unlikely, it would be very interesting to pair Wilder's power but vulnerable chin against Chisora's toughness.

In the co-feature, a second try at a WBA junior middleweight eliminator worked just as the first time- without a winner as Israil Madrimov battered Michel Soro in the second round and appeared poised to finish the Frenchman in the third but as he charged after Soro to start the round, an ugly head clash opened a bad cut over Soro's left eye and forced the fight to be stopped immediately.

While the cut was bad, it wasn't any worse than the one that Kubrat Pulev would fight through and now with another no-victor result, the WBA will likely order these two to fight again for a third time to determine their mandatory contender to Jermell Charlo.

In Ekaterinburg, Russia, Magomed Kurbanov decisioned former WBO champion Patrick Teixeira to become Charlo's mandatory challenge in the WBO junior middleweight rankings.

I haven't watched this one yet but I've read Kurbanov knocked Teixeira down in the first round on his way to the unanimous decision.

Showtime and PBC put together what proved to be an excellent three-bout card from San Antonio, Texas, and the Alamodome.

In the main event, former WBC junior featherweight champion Rey Vargas moved up in weight to the featherweight division and pulled a mild upset in winning the WBC championship from Mark Magsayo via split decision.

Vargas has been known for his less than interesting victories but engaged more against Magsayo and built a solid lead into the middle rounds against Magsayo, who ended the long-time reign of Gary Russell in his last appearance.

Magsayo had fallen behind on the cards against Julio Ceja in his fight before the Russell win and needed to score a come from behind tenth round knockout to win, and Magsayo almost did the same to retain his title against Vargas, knocking Vargas down in round nine to tighten the scorecards.

Magsayo looked like he scored another knockdown in the tenth, but it was surprisingly scored a slip and by the end of the round, Magsayo had allowed his final and best chance to pass him by.

The eleventh and twelfth rounds were pretty evenly fought and while it wasn't the most exciting fight I've ever seen, it was far more action-filled than any previous fight from Vargas.

Vargas won on two cards 115-112, which was the same as my score, with Magsayo taking the fight according to one judge 114-113, which seemed to be a stretch for me.

Vargas called for WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz after the fight, but the WBA, who has allowed Santa Cruz to keep their title for 41 months and counting without a fight in the division and still hasn't announced a mandated fight against Leigh Wood but he's more likely to face the WBC mandatory contender Brandon Figueroa.

Figueroa earned the mandatory spot with a sixth-round knockout of Carlos Castro in the co-feature that Figueroa controlled but Castro occasionally established himself in the action.

Figueroa knocked Castro down in the third round and Castro barely beat the ten count, but survived the round and landed a few good shots over the rest of the fight.

Castro started the sixth round strong and trapped Figueroa along the ropes before Figueroa was able to turn things around, trapping Castro along the ropes himself and battering him with several combinations forcing the referee to step in and end the fight.

I had Figueroa ahead 49-45 at the time of the stoppage.

It was an excellent outing for Figueroa, who was returning after his narrow majority decision loss to Stephen Fulton last November (I scored Figueroa a close winner), and whenever he would face Rey Vargas, it seems to be an interesting mix of styles.

In the opening fight, lightweight prospect Frank Martin received a good fight from late replacement Jackson Marinez before pulling away in the late rounds and stopping Marinez in the tenth and final round.

Martin almost finished Marinez in the ninth round, knocking him down with the bell ringing to end the round before the fighters could be brought back together to continue.

Martin polished Marinez off quickly in the tenth, scoring a knockdown and ending the fight within thirty seconds.

I had Martin ahead 78-71 entering the last round, so it was very impressive how Martin ended the fight rather than cruise to the finish.

Martin is the best lightweight prospect that PBC currently promotes and clearly has the potential to eventually be a title contender but considering PBC's lack of top fighters in the division other than Gervonta Davis and Isaac Cruz, neither of which Martin is quite ready for currently, look for a few more fights for Martin against fighters on the level of Marinez.

That may not be totally a bad thing for Martin's development but it may not make for many competitive battles.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:  127 Pts  (9)

Ramon Malpica: 105 Pts  (6)

Vince Samano: 102 Pts  (6)

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez stops Boesel, Kovalev returns.

   The remainder of the boxing weekend also was hosted in the state of California (as was the Charlo-Castano rematch) with DAZN and Golden Boy with a card from Ontario California and Triller returning with a PPV from the Inglewood Forum.

Golden Boy's main event was a squash match masquerading as a WBA title eliminator at light heavyweight as former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez continued his wait for a shot at WBA champion Dmitry Bivol with a lopsided pounding of Germany's Dominic Boesel in a fourth-round stoppage that ended with Boesel down in a corner as the referee waved the fight to its conclusion.

Not much else to be said about this as Ramirez had Boesel retreating from the initial bell and it was clear that this fight would last as long as it took Ramirez to finish Boesel.

This was another WBA eliminator, which doesn't seem that bad on the surface- until you realize that this weekend's Joshua Buatasi-Craig Richards main event on DAZN is also a WBA eliminator in the division.

Ramirez is more than qualified to face Bivol now and hopefully unless Canelo Alvarez picks up his option for his rematch with Bivol, Ramirez will receive his shot next rather than get stuck against the Buatasi-Richards winner, which I have a funny feeling might be where Ramirez might be forced to make his next fight.

The co-feature was an action affair as lightweight prospect William Zepeda survived a stern test from veteran Rene Alvarado in a tight battle.

Give the credit to this one to Alvarado, who lost his fourth fight in a row but loses no credibility for losing this one and made a gallant stand against the younger and power-punching Zepeda as he matched him blow for blow for most of the fight.

Zepeda won the final three rounds on my scorecards as the older and naturally smaller Alvarado began to wilt just enough too to allow Zepeda to slide by with a 96-94 win on my card.

One judge saw it the same as I did with the other two a wider 97-93 and too large 98-92 call.

A good victory for Zepeda and a strong effort from Alvarado, who showed in defeat that he still has a little left in his career.

Triller had been away from the fight game for a while but while their return may not have been pay-per-view worthy, there were two interesting fights headlining their show.

In the main event, former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returned to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2019 and won a unanimous decision in his debut at cruiserweight over previously undefeated Olympic bronze medalist Tervel Pulev.

The cruiserweight version of Kovalev doesn't fight like the feared bomber that ruled the light heavyweight division and should have received the decision against Andre Ward in their first fight but instead is a more mobile boxer that uses the jab to control the action, much as he did to some success in his loss to Canelo Alvarez.

Kovalev looked good against Pulev with his new style which should protect what has become a shaky chin in his latter years with three of his four losses coming by knockout (Ward in their rematch, Eleider Alvarez and Canelo Alvarez) and despite Pulev moving forward throughout the fight, the Kovalev jab kept Pulev at bay and off-balance.

I scored Kovalev a 97-93 winner, which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring Kovalev a 98-92 winner.

Kovalev instantly becomes the biggest name in a division that rarely possesses stars and when they do have them, they don't stay long.

Kovalev is going to be small for the division and I wonder how his power will fare against the top two fighters in the division in IBF champion Mairis Bredis or WBO champion Lawrence Okolie but should he receive a title shot in the future, it'll be arguably the most interesting fight in the division other than a Briedis-Okolie unification bout.

Former heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over journeyman Jerry Forrest in an occasionally fun fight with Pulev taking over after four rounds against a competitive but worn-out Forrest.

Forrest was entering this bout off a controversial loss to Michael Hunter that most thought he deserved the decision but Pulev is a solid top 10/15 fighter that is overmatched against the elite of the division but is a class above the Jerry Forrest types.

I scored Pulev the winner 98-92 which agreed with one judge as the other two saw Pulev as a 99-91 winner.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 79 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 69 Pts  (5)

Ramon Malpica: 67 Pts (5) 

Boxing Challenge: Joshua knocks out Pulev

 Anthony Joshua needed a victory in his title defense against Kubrat Pulev, but he needed an impressive performance even more and he delivered just that as Joshua knocked Pulev down four times on his way to a ninth-round knockout to retain his WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles in London.

Joshua knocked Pulev down twice in the third round and two more times in the ninth before the fight was ended. Joshua showed more aggression and looked more like the confident bomber as he was before the two fights with Andy Ruiz in 2019 and less like the cautious and tentative boxer that he showed in winning the Ruiz rematch.

An argument could have been made that the fight could have been stopped in the third round as twice Pulev turned his back to avoid Joshua's punches and that could have been judged to have been a sign of surrender.

The fight continued with Pulev occasionally rocked by right hands and right uppercuts throughout until the ninth round when Pulev was finished off for the evening.

I had Joshua leading 79-71 at the end of eight rounds and was on his to an easy win before concluding the fight.

It was the performance that Joshua needed to push the memories of his loss and dull win over Andy Ruiz to the background and get fans excited about unification with WBC champion Tyson Fury.

Both fighters and their promoters want that fight to happen next and it could- But it's all up to an arbitrator to decide whether Deontay Wilde breached his contract for a third fight with Fury.

Should Fury win the case, he's open for a fight with Joshua, but it may better if he is forced to fight Wilder as Joshua could face WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk at the same time and keep all four titles for the unification fight.

If Joshua fights Fury instead of Usyk, he could be stripped of the WBO title, and then all four championships would not be unified by a Joshua-Fury fight.

In undercard action, cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie stayed busy while he waited for Krzysztof Glowacki to return from and fight for the vacant WBO championship with a second-round knockout of late substitute Nikodem Jezewski.

Okolie knocked down Jezewski twice in the first round and once in the second before the mismatch was ended.

Hughie Fury won a clear, but unspectacular unanimous decision over Mariusz Wach in a fight that was a minor IBF eliminator.

The most exciting part in Fury's win was an unintentional headbutt over his left eye that threatened to stop the fight in the fourth round, but Fury was able to battle through and finish with help from his cutman.

I scored Fury a 99-91 winner giving only the fifth round to Wach.

The winner is scheduled to face Martin Bakole, who won a unanimous decision over Sergey Kuzmin on the undercard in another eliminator.

The Las Vegas bubble hosted its final card of the year for Top Rank and ESPN and while the main event was the expected showcase match, the co-feature (thus far) was the fight of the day.

Shakur Stevenson continued to bide his time before a junior lightweight title attempt with a unanimous decision over Toka Kahn-Clary.

Stevenson won every round and was rarely hit doing so against the soft-fisted Kahn-Clary, who is a cut or two below world-class caliber.

I scored Stevenson a 100-90 winner in a fight that proved little other than Kahn-Clary could make Stevenson go ten rounds.

Stevenson is the number one contender in the WBO rankings and the number two in the WBC and with both of those champions and their next challengers controlled by Top Rank (WBO Jamel Herring vs Carl Frampton and WBC Miguel Berchelt vs Oscar Valdez), Stevenson could have the opportunity to win both of those championships in 2021.

The co-feature also was held in the junior lightweight division and the winner was going to move up into the lower part of some rankings as one-time sensation Felix Verdejo battled Masayoshi Nakatani in a ten-round fight.

Verdejo started fast and looked he was on his way to a career-changing victory over Nakatani, who was returning after his only career loss in which he surprised almost everyone in lasting the distance and giving a solid test to Teofimo Lopez. 

Verdejo knocked Nakatani down in the first with Nakatani surviving only because the knockdown occurred late in the round and sent him to a knee in the fourth round, although he didn't seem nearly as stung by that one.

I had Verdejo well ahead after six rounds (60-52) and it seemed like Nakatani would need a knockout to win unless he scored a knockdown in each remaining round.

Nakatani began to turn the fight around in the seventh when he landed a right that badly hurt Verdejo. Verdejo managed to stay upright, but you had the feeling that the race had begun- if Verdejo lasts through the final three rounds, he wins on the scorecards with ease, but would his legs give out on him first?

The eighth saw Nakatani continue to back Verdejo up and sting him, but Verdejo fired back gamely and even stunned Nakatani a bit in an action-filled exchange.

Midway through the ninth, Nakatani landed another right that sent Verdejo flying backward into the ropes and to the floor, and honestly, I wouldn't have complained if the fight was stopped after Verdejo rose in a daze.

Still, I don't have a problem in giving the fighter up on the scorecards every chance to hold on, but in seconds another Nakatani right dropped Verdejo facedown on the floor to end the fight.

For Nakatani, he places himself in the mix at 130 pounds and considering his effort against the naturally larger Lopez, is going to have plenty of fights to be made involving him.

For Verdejo, I wouldn't be against considering retirement, even at 27.

Verdejo's offensive skills are still among the best in the division, but he seems to hit a wall after six rounds ( Verdejo's other knockout loss was in the tenth round of a fight that he was winning against Antonio Lozada) and when he runs out of gas, his punch resistance completely goes away.

Verdejo didn't dog it in defeat, but I'd be concerned with him facing a big puncher.

I have not watched the three Showtime fights and I'll either write it up when I watch them or add them with an edit here.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me nine to seven due to the Nakatani win and a bonus point for calling the round in Anthony Joshua's win.

My lead was cut to 174-163 in the overall standings.

Showtime Edit:

Ronald Ellis lost the first four rounds to Matt Korobov, but Korobov injured his ankle and was unable to continue, giving Ellis the TKO victory.

It may be time for the aging and breaking down Korobov to consider retirement.

Korobov fights well, but his body doesn't seem to handle the stress, and injuries seem to follow him around.

Richardson Hitchens won a split decision over Argenis Mendez that should have been unanimous.

I scored Hitchens a 97-93 winner and that may have been generous to Mendez.

In the main event, Chris Colbert broke open a fairly close fight with a knockdown in the ninth round and scored three more to end the evening in the eleventh round with a victory over Jaime Arboleda.

I had Colbert ahead 96-93 entering the eleventh.

Ramon Malpica outscored me four to three in the Showtime fights to cut into my lead either further in the boxing challenge at 177-167

Boxing Challenge: Champions all defend successfully

On a Saturday that saw three titleholders defend their belts from two California locations, all three walked away with their titles packed away, but with varying degrees of difficulty.

From Los Angeles (cue Van Earl Wright audio), the most difficult evening saw Billy Joe Saunders rally to knock out unheralded Marcelo Coceres after three knockdowns in the eleventh round.
The odd thing about this fight arrived after the tenth round in the corner of Coceres, where Coceres seemed to be celebrating early with kisses and hugs to members of his corner and close on the scorecards (he was down 96-94 on two cards and ahead on the third by the same score), left his corner and was knocked out in that round.
Why a professional corner didn't even attempt to keep their fighter focused on the prize with everything going their way and possibly only two rounds away from winning a world title, is beyond mind-boggling to me.
Their fighter was controlling the action, what there was of it anyway, and Coceres had won six of the previous seven rounds, mainly by doing to Saunders what Saunders had done to so many of his opponents- outslicking and frustrating them with angles and quickness.
I had Coceres ahead 96-94 (6-4) and that was after giving Saunders the first three rounds.
Saunders finally caught Coceres with the right shot and the fight was essentially finished then and there, although Coceres would attempt to survive before the referee waved the fight over after the third knockdown.
For Coceres, he'll more than likely return to Argentine obscurity, while Saunders may have saved a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez, although I'm not sure that will be a great money fight or even a great fight in the ring and it comes with more risk than you think as a prepared and sharp Saunders (which hasn't regularly been the case) has the ability to give Alvarez fits.
To do that, Saunders will have to be far more prepared than he was in this title defense though and I wouldn't ever bank on that preparation occurring.

On the same card, Devin Haney struggled a little bit early in dealing with the taller Alberto Santiago, but not enough to lose any rounds on my card (120-108) or the judges to retain his WBC lightweight title for the first time.
Haney was too much for Santiago and although Haney scored a fifth-round knockdown, Santiago was never seriously in danger of being stopped.
Haney doesn't really have a challenger that is waiting for him unless inter-promotional issues can be dealt with.
The 'real' champion Vasyl Lomachenko now has no reason to face Haney now that he has the ridiculous franchise title, the WBC's top contender and third-ranked contenders in Gervonta Davis and Javier Fortuna both are affiliated with PBC, making a Haney match a difficult one to sign.
That leaves second-rated Luke Campbell, who gave Lomachenko a strong effort in losing last time out and like Haney, fights for Matchroom/DAZN, so Campbell may be next for Haney as his first significant test.

Up the road in Fresno, Jamel Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight title with a close unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Lamont Roach.
The fight was an often messy match with two styles that didn't mesh well and as is often the case when awkward styles mixes occur, the scorecards were wider than I thought with two 117-111's and a 115-113 that was closer to what I saw at 114-114.
Roach rocked Herring and almost scored a knockdown in the eleventh, but was helped by a missed knockdown that should have been scored in the ninth round.
On my card, Herring won most of the early rounds, with Roach coming on strong in the later rounds.
Herring taking on WBC champion Miguel Berchelt would make sense with both of the champions promoted by Top Rank or another possibility could be former WBO featherweight champion, Oscar Valdez.
Valdez has also been rumored to fight Berchelt and whichever champion doesn't get that fight with Valdez has a less than inspiring list of future opponents.

In the co-feature, heavyweight Kubrat Pulev won almost every round (99-91 on my card) over journeyman Rydell Booker in winning a unanimous decision.
Pulev never scored a knockdown, but steadily wore down Booker, who showed a good chin, but came into the fight looking out of shape.
Pulev is the number one contender for the IBF and will be a mandatory challenger for the winner of December's Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me nine to six over the weekend ( including the bantamweight fights from Japan) to move the overall score to 271-241.
Ramon grabbed two points for Jamel Herring's win (I picked Lamont Roach) and two to my one for the win by Billy Joe Saunders to make the difference.

Ruiz shocks Joshua! Heavyweight Division in Flux!

Photo Credit: Al Bello-Getty Images

Madison Square Garden was prepared for Anthony Joshua to dispatch Andy Ruiz, retain his three titles and with a successful American debut, begin to pound those drums for a fight with Deontay Wilder.

For two and a half rounds, everything was following the script, Joshua was using the jab, keeping the shorter Ruiz at bay and when Joshua sent Ruiz crashing to the mat in the third round, the stage was seemingly set for Ruiz to go away and for Joshua to try and sell Kubrat Pulev as another challenger that was worth watching even if they weren't Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury.

Then Andy Ruiz got up.
The fight changed as Joshua moved for the kill as Sergio Mora (I believe so) raved at ringside about Joshua's patented finishing ability, Ruiz began landing counter right hands and soon after it was Joshua on the floor!
Ruiz saw his chance for a massive upset and unlike so many fighters in a similar position in heavyweight title history, he didn't become passive.
Ruiz has been criticized by many (including me) for not moving his hands enough (I thought it cost him the fight in his only loss to Joseph Parker) and on this occasion, that mistake wasn't about to be made as he hurt a stunned Joshua and dropped him again near the end of the round.
A real argument could have been made that the fight could have been stopped right there with a clearly dazed Joshua, but referee Michael Griffin was paying attention, knew the end of the round was near and in an excellent officiating decision allowed the bell to clang and Joshua to trudge to his corner.
Joshua would have his moments in the 4th and 5th (even won the 5th on my card narrowly), but you had the feeling that Ruiz wasn't going away entering the sixth where Ruiz began to throw combinations and the Andy Ruiz on this night was fighting up to his potential and you could feel Joshua almost slump his shoulders at the end of the round.

In round seven, both fighters were throwing big shots from the start of the round, but it was Ruiz with the shorter and faster shots that seemed to bother Joshua more than really hurt him and twice Joshua went down from Ruiz's punches, but yet with a tinge of a beaten fighter with his mouthpiece flying out from the second knockdown.
Here is the one thing I would say about the stoppage,
Joshua goes to his corner, places his hands on the ropes, keeps looking to his corner like a fighter that expects a break for the missing mouthpiece, the referee removes his hands, Joshua puts them back and then the fight is stopped.
Do I think Joshua was hurt? Yes
Am I OK with the stoppage? Yes, because I think Joshua would have likely gotten a clean mouthpiece and then knocked down again, his legs were that gone-But I do think he was thinking/hoping for that break in a desperate manner and considering Michael Griffin gave him one break already in continuing, I have no problems in not giving him another.

I thought both Ruiz and Joshua were classy in victory and defeat, which is more than I can say for Deontay Wilder on Twitter degrading Joshua (Tyson Fury was very encouraging to Joshua in his tweet) and PBC mouthpiece Ray Flores, who used the opportunity to praise his boss Al Haymon for giving Ruiz another chance after his release from Top Rank and needle Joshua, but if Joshua is the biggest loser on this night, Deontay Wilder is second.
Like so many fights that never happened, Joshua-Wilder will never be as big as it could have been with both fighters undefeated and therefore will more than likely see both fighters make far less, if and when that fight ever happens.
Deontay Wilder lost a lot of money last night and that might be money that he'll never get back, although I don't think he'll need any financial donations anytime soon!
Another loser is the streaming service DAZN, who had based much of their boxing kingdom around Joshua (along with Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin) and took a huge blow with the loss.
DAZN too will have much on the line in the rematch.

You still have to feel good for Andy Ruiz, who lived up to his potential in the ring on this night.
Ruiz may look like a 1980's heavyweight, but looks can be deceiving.
The rematch will be quite interesting, can Ruiz reach those heights again?
Will the inevitable media tours and appearances take something out of him?
Fighters that have never dealt with that before can react in different ways and fighters that pull major upsets often are unable to deal all that comes with the fame and the title- think Leon Spinks, Buster Douglas, Oliver McCall, and Hasim Rahman to name a few.

As for Anthony Joshua, he will likely attempt one of the harder things in boxing-change a style that has been effective for him in order to adopt a new one that protects a vulnerable chin.
It's been done, most notably by Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis, but those two champions had Emmanuel Steward to guide them through that transition- Anthony Joshua will not.

Now we have total chaos in the heavyweight division- even worse than before.
Ruiz has three of the four titles but doesn't have a notable win other than this one against Joshua.
Wilder is the biggest puncher, most fun to watch and longest reigning champion but faced little in good competition other than Luis Ortiz and I thought he lost to Tyson Fury.
Fury is the linear champion and I thought he beat Wilder, but he's often dull to watch and he lacks a top 10 win other than his boring win over Klitschko.

You could toss these three in any order and it would be a reasonable rating, but I'll go Fury (because I thought he beat Wilder), Wilder (Mainly on the win over Luis Ortiz and the near stoppage of Fury) and then Ruiz for now.
And don't forget this, it was the IBF's top contender in Kubrat Pulev that was up next for Joshua in the title rotation and the IBF could insist on Pulev being next for Ruiz, regardless of the rematch clause.
I'm sure Pulev will be offered step-aside money, but if he declines that, the IBF could strip Ruiz of their title for fighting the contractually obliged to and more financially lucrative Joshua rematch.

A crazy night in heavyweight boxing and the division is now more muddied than before, which was substantially so.
It could be quite a while before this clears up.

Back later with the rest of the boxing weekend.

Boxing Challenge: Pulev cuts down Dinu

Saturday night's card from ESPN had been promoted all week as the Kubrat Pulev show as the Bulgarian that holds down the number one contender position in the IBF prepared to make his American debut.
Pulev's opponent Bogdan Dinu was simply the fighter chosen to showcase Pulev, who can either wait for a mandatory title shot against Anthony Joshua or use his newly signed agreement with Top Rank to pursue Tyson Fury.
Dinu had looked almost meek in losing for the first time against Jarrell Miller in his last fight and few considered Pulev to be in danger of endangering his future prospects.
Endangered they were however as Dinu had his moments entering round four, but Pulev seemed to be in control before Dinu landed a right hand that opened one of the worst cuts that you'll see in quite a while along the left eye of Pulev and dominated that fourth round.
Now, the race was on- could the cut be slowed before Pulev could pull this fight from the fire?
The fifth and sixth rounds were entertaining as both fighters landed heavy shots against the other, but Dinu seemed to have landed his best blows and Pulev seemed to have the fight moving toward him despite the blood.
Pulev roared out in the seventh and was seemingly prepared to finish the fight early in the round as he sent Dinu to the mat with what appeared to be knockout blows, but with Dinu on the floor, Pulev struck him on the back of the head.
Dinu was given time to recover and Pulev was deducted one point, although the knockdown remained intact.
More often than not in these situations, the fighter that got hammered on the back of the head doesn't survive to receive any value from the foul and Dinu didn't either as he was dropped after the recovery period and floored again for a second time with the finishing shot seeming to land on a spot very close to the original impact of the foul.
This time, it wasn't a foul due to the circumstances and also this time, Dinu would be finished as the blood continued to flow down the side of Pulev's face as the large Bulgarian contingent cheered wildly.
I had Pulev slightly ahead after six rounds at 58-56 entering the final round.
While Dinu seems to have lost perhaps the best chance that he will ever have to leap into title contention, Pulev's value has to have risen among fans after such an exciting victory and will make a challenge of either Joshua or Fury both more valuable and more interesting.

On the undercard, former WBO junior featherweight champion Jessie Magdaleno returned from his first loss to Isaac Dogboe to dominate a less than interested Rico Ramos over ten rounds to win a unanimous decision.
Former champion Ramos missed weight, fought almost reluctantly and lost every round with the exception of the final two with Magdaleno going into cruise control to safely earn the nod.
I had Magdaleno a 98-92 winner and was never threatened.
No word on Magdaleno returning to 122 or staying at 126 where Top Rank could have fights against WBO champion Oscar Valdez or newly signed Carl Frampton waiting for him.
As for Ramos, I've seen more than enough of his multiple returns and it is more than overdue for boxing observers to move on and simply realize that his title-winning KO of Akifumi Shimoda in 2011 was simply lightning striking.

DAZN and Matchroom were live from London Saturday afternoon (for me anyway) with a typical boxing event where a fighter wins a title in an upset and is given a very winnable first title defense usually before a home crowd.
That stereotype hit every mark that you could think of as Charlie Edwards defended his WBC flyweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over Angel Moreno.
Edwards won every round on my card and all three judges with the crude Moreno resigned to throwing an occasionally wild right hand.
It was the first defense for Edwards after his surprising title victory over Crisofer Rosales in the fall.
I wouldn't rate Edwards highly against the other champions in the division (Kosei Tanaka WBO, Artem Dalakian WBA, and Moruti Mthalane IBF) but being with Matchroom and their television connections, I bet Edwards will be the easiest one to see his fights live.

In the boxing challenge, I earned five points to Ramon Malpica's four and increased my lead to 66-60
We each earned two points from Charlie Edwards and one from Jessie Magdaleno, but Kubrat Pulev's knockout handed me two points to Ramon's one.

Lots of things to write about on this Sunday/Monday as more boxing from the PBC on FS1 with an interesting Lamont Peterson-Sergey Lipinets main event on tap, the Arizona Hotshots in the battle for sole possession of second place against the San Diego Fleet (1st place San Antonio held serve there with a Saturday victory) and maybe Ohio State in the field of 32 against the Houston Cougars.
I didn't write about the Buckeyes first-round upset over Iowa State because I didn't get to see very much of it due to work, although I did see the last few minutes.
As far as Buckeye coverage, it will really come down to how I feel after a long day of lunch with the lovely Cherie after work and then even more sports.
I mean, really how much gas can one have?

Boxing Challenge: Jacobs edges Dereyvanchenko

The boxing weekend began in beautiful Bulgaria before traveling to the Big Easy and the Big Apple to finish with somewhat of a flourish.

The biggest fight of the weekend took place in New York City as Daniel Jacobs nipped Sergiy Dereyvanchenko via a split decision to win the vacant IBF middleweight title.
I scored Jacobs a 114-113 winner with the difference being a first-round knockdown scored by Jacobs.
Dereyvanchenko hurt Jacobs more often over the course of the fight than in reverse, but Jacobs managed to stay up and that gave him the win on my scorecard, which seemed to be closer than most of the press.
Jacobs should be the most likely opponent for Canelo Alvarez in May, considering both champions are contracted with DAZN in what would put the IBF title back with the WBA and WBC titles before it was stripped from Gennady Golovkin earlier this year.

The co-feature saw Alberto Machado impressively dispose of Yaundale Evans in the first round to retain his minor title, dropping Evans three times before the referee called the mismatch off.
The lanky banging Machado might be a tough out for anyone at 130 pounds, but with his size, I could see him moving to the lightweight division and have little problems with strength.

New Orleans was the host for two World Boxing Super Series scraps in the junior welterweight tournament with the main event featuring top seed and local product Regis Prograis dominate former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan to retain his minor title via a unanimous decision to move the next round in the tournament.
Prograis dominated throughout and dropped Flanagan to his knees in the ninth for the first time in Flanagan's career.
I scored Prograis a 118-109 winner, which seemed to be in line with most.
Prograis will battle WBA champion Kiryl Relikh in the semi-finals.

In the other quarter-final, Ivan Baranchyk earned the vacant IBF belt when Anthony Yigit was unable to continue due to a virtually closed eye in the seventh round.
I had Baranchyk far ahead and the eye brought to mind the puffed eye that Rocky Balboa asked Mickey to cut in his first fight with Apollo Creed as Fred Landucci commented on when we discussed this fight.
I thought it was a good decision to end the fight because Yigit wasn't going to be able to keep Baranchyk off of him anyway and the eye was only going to make things worse for the wounded Swede.
The new IBF champion will face the winner of next weekend's Josh Taylor-Ryan Martin fight in the semi-finals.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, veteran Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over Hughie Fury to become the top contender in the IBF ratings, which means an eventual shot at Anthony Joshua's championship.
Fury looked to be the stronger fighter early, but a Pulev jab in the second round tore open a gash along Fury's and slowly took the starch out of the Englishman, but didn't exactly leave Joshua concerned about his eventual challenge.
I scored Pulev a 116-112 winner.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to five over the weekend and cut my lead to 177-154.