Boxing Challenge: Martinez upsets Kid Galahad

    The showcase fights in the boxing challenge played out very close to expectations but the real surprise occurred in what was thought to be the mismatch of the day and would result in a new champion that could result in a stampede of promoters and managers attempting to step into line for the first shot at a new and very vulnerable champion.

We start with an upset that is likely second only to Sandor Martin's surprise win over Mikey Garcia as the upset of the year.

For almost five complete rounds, England's Kid Galahad was dominating his handpicked opponent for the first title defense of his IBF featherweight title in his hometown of Sheffield, England in Kiko Martinez, who entered the bout with many have the thought of Martinez being a shopworn fighter.

Things can change on a dime in boxing and when Martinez landed one right hand near the end of the fifth round that shocked everyone watching the fight by dropping Galahad to the floor, the time was-a-changin as Galahad barely beat the count and was almost carried to his corner by his team.

Martinez had to know this might be his only chance of victory considering how the rest of the fight had played out and as the two fighters moved to the center of the ring for the sixth round, the Spaniard gunned one more right hand that slammed into the champion's jaw sending him sailing to the floor where the fight was immediately stopped giving the aging Martinez the IBF title and his first win over a world-class opponent in close to eight years.

Martinez had lost to his better opponents during that time in losses to Carl Frampton, Scott Quigg, Leo Santa Cruz, Gary Russell, and most recently top British prospect Zelfa Barrett in February, and was looked as not only over the hill and undeserving of a title opportunity but a fighter that was being given one last payday as a gold watch for a solid career.

Instead, Martinez will get at least one more payday, if not more...

DAZN's evening main event from Anaheim, California, and Golden Boy gave the observers what they expected in a bruising battle between middleweights Jaime Munguia and Gabriel Rosado.

Munguia won the decision on the scorecards by a wide margin (winning by six, eight, and ten points) but it certainly wasn't an easy win ( I scored Munguia a winner at 118-110) because as almost always (Daniel Jacobs fight excepted) Rosado brings it to the ring.

Munguia landed combinations throughout the fight against the veteran, but never dropped or hurt Rosado and was unable to truly stop Rosado from coming forward.

Still, for all the aggression from Rosado, he wasn't able to land enough to keep the younger and faster Munguia from controlling the exchanges and that meant the difference in the fight.

Mungia called out Gennady Golovkin after the fight and assuming that GGG wins his December unification fight against Ryota Murata, that could be not only an easy fight to make but a fun one to watch.

As for Rosado, his usual effort likely keeps his name in circulation and he'll continue to get paid for game and gritty efforts, just not usually winning ones.

On Showtime, David Benavidez broke down a very game Kyrone Davis with his relentless storm of punches and forced the Davis corner to throw in the towel during round seven.

Davis took a tremendous amount of punishment from Benavidez, but never stopped trying and even landed a few right hands.

However, Benavidez overwhelmed Davis and when he started to crunch Davis to the body in the fifth and sixth rounds you could make an argument that Davis would have been best served by his corner to have ended the fight after the sixth round.

Benavidez is one of the two names from the PBC that are mentioned most prominently for the next opponent for Canelo Alvarez along with WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo and while I'd hope that it will be Benavidez facing Canelo ( or facing Charlo with the winner faces Canelo), I'm thinking it would be Charlo first.

I think Benavidez's size and punch rate can give Canelo many problems, while Charlo is likely to fight a similar fight to Caleb Plant and Billy Joe Saunders and meet a similar fate.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored four points to my three (Ramon called the Benavidez fight to end in a seventh-round KO) and cut my lead to 147-129. 

Boxing Challenge: Canelo Crunches Yildirim

  The boxing challenge was reduced to only three fights for the weekend, but all three would be important ones in their divisions.

The biggest star in boxing took care of an obligation as Canelo Alvarez retained his WBA and WBC super-middleweight titles with a ridiculously easy stoppage of Avni Yildirim after three rounds when Yildirim's corner ended the fight.

Alvarez was barely touched in the three rounds (Yildirim landed four power punches) and the only drama in the WBC-mandated bout (Yildirim had been promised the fight for two years after a controversial loss to Anthony Dirrell)  was this- could Canelo escape without getting cut on a headbutt or a stray elbow?

Alvarez knocked Yildirim down with a straight right in the third and went on the attack and even though Yildirim didn't seem to be in extreme danger, one could see that the end was near.

However, the spectacular ending would be lacking as just as Yildirim's trainer Joel Diaz told him he was going to give him one more round, a member of the corner could be seen motioning for his surrender.

With the promised defense out of the way, Alvarez moves on and will take another step toward the goal of a unified super-middleweight title with an announced May fight against WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders.

The winner of that event will own three of the four titles in the division.

Saunders may not make an exciting fight or even a winning one, but I have a feeling that Saunders will fight better than many expect against Alvarez.

Much like his cousin, Tyson Fury, Saunders is one of those fighters that fights best when he is motivated by strong competition, and against the brightest star in boxing, he better be motivated.

Earlier in the day, the fight of the century in New Zealand had more than only national impact as amateur heavyweight rivals Joseph Parker and Junior Fa squared off with the winner staying in the title picture.

Fa landed the bigger punches and wobbled Parker in the first and seventh, but Parker threw more and was the rougher fighter in close and won a unanimous decision.

My 115-113 card for Parker matched one judge with the other two were more than a bit too wide at 117-111 and a hideous 119-108.

The fight picked up in the late rounds and I wouldn't be surprised to see a rematch eventually, but for now, it seems Parker will face Dereck Chisora next with the winner likely to see the Oleksandr Usyk-Joe Joyce winner as a possible 2022 title challenger or positioned for the also likely vacating of the WBO title by the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury winner.

The PBC/Fox main event between super middleweights Anthony Dirrell and Kyrone Davis ended in a draw, but I haven't watched it as of this writing.

Editor's Note: I thought Dirrell pulled this out close (115-113), but considering Davis had never fought at the weight and lacked experience against top ten competition, Dirrell looked a bit shopworn.

Dirrell will move on and could fight a rematch against David Benavidez, who dominated him in their first battle, but I expect the fight to be one-sided and it's one that I don't need to see.

Dirrell's problem is that he isn't going to beat champions or contenders, but fighting fights such as this one isn't going to add much to the bank account.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to move the overall total to 20-19.