Boxing Challenge: Figueroa oupoints Magsayo

    Brandon Figueroa outpunched and took advantage of two points deducted from his opponent, Mark Magsayo, for holding to win a unanimous decision in a WBC featherweight eliminator to decide the mandatory challenger for champion Rey Vargas.

Figueroa dominated the second half of the fight other than Magsayo's last attempt to pull the fight from the fire in the final round.

The numbers showed the fight fairly equal but Figueroa outworked Magsayo when the fight was on the line and frustrated him into committing the holding violations as Magsayo tired late.

I thought the fight was closer than the judges at 116-100 (official cards 117-109 x2 and 118-108) but Figueroa was the deserved victor.

Figueroa will now face Rey Vargas for Vargas's WBC title and I like Figueroa's chances of pressuring Vargas, who returns to the weight class after a loss for the vacant 130 pound title to O'Shaquie Foster and will have to drop weight, which for a taller, lankier boxer as Vargas could be a problem.

As for Magsayo, the loss is his second in a row after his upset win over Gary Russell and while he hasn't hurt his career very much with the two defeats, Magsayo might be well-suited to take a confidence builder in his next affair.

In the co-feature, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd dropped his second fight after rising to the middleweight division and this time to the relatively unheralded Armando Resendiz when the fight was stopped before the start of the tenth and final round due to a deep laceration to Hurd's lip.

Hurd vowed before the fight that he was going to return to the aggressive style that won him two titles at 154 pounds and defeated the likes of Erislandy Lara, Austin Trout, and Tony Harrison, and he did that but he was overpowered by Resendiz, who isn't world-class currently and has a loss on his record to the average Marcos Hernandez.

I had Resendiz ahead on my card at 86-83 and I'm sure this win will get him more fights, while Hurd showed some signs of his former style, he might have to return to the junior middleweight division to make any advances.

The other challenge fight was in Newcastle, England in a WBA junior welterweight eliminator as Ohara Davies knocked out Lewis Ritson in the ninth round.

I haven't seen the fight yet but the reports are that Davies scored a spectacular KO.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 31 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica:  25 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 24 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Stevenson Snoozer, Ponce Impresses

 The boxing weekend didn't look to be all that exciting and it didn't turn out to be, but boxing could have found itself a possible future champion, and on a day that promised so little, that alone is a small victory.

In the biggest fight of the day from Top Rank/ESPN in Las Vegas, Shakur Stevenson dominated unknown Jeremiah Nakathila in winning every round and a unanimous decision, but no one seemed thrilled with Stevenson's tentative performance, and the only positive from the bout was the hope that Stevenson will fight Jamel Herring for Herring's WBO title next unless Herring decides to vacate in order to face Oscar Valdez for Valdez's WBC belt.

Should Herring choose to give up his title to face Valdez, the WBO will either hand Stevenson the title (he won their silly interim title in victory) or force Stevenson to face their top available contender in another untested contender Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov, in what would be the latest of lopsided bouts for Stevenson that the outcome is known before the fighters step into the ring.

Stevenson knocked an off-balance Nakathila late in the fourth round, but Nakathila wasn't seriously troubled and there were no other real chances to finish the fight.

I scored Stevenson a 120-107 winner in a forgettable fight except for the performance of referee Celestino Ruiz, who commented to the fighters "Watch Your Feet" about a dozen times per round.

The styles were awkward as southpaw vs conventional fights often are and in these fights, feet will often get tangled, and it's not easy to keep thing smooth, but Ruiz's non-stop warnings will be the only part of this fight that anyone will remember six months from now about this fight.

In the co-feature, former IBF junior lightweight and WBO lightweight champion Jose Pedraza fought well enough in yet another crossroads bout for the veteran to bring to mind Jim Valvano's phrase "Survive and Advance" as he defeated undefeated prospect Julian Rodriguez when Rodriguez's eye was swollen shut at the end of the eighth round.

The fight was closer on the cards than most seemed to see it with all three judges scoring Pedraza ahead 77-75, while I had Pedraza up 78-74 and I wonder if that might have been generous.

Rodriguez fought hard and gave what he had, but he was taking a big jump in opposition against Pedraza and it was apparent from the beginning as Pedraza's right hand smacked Rodriguez around the left eye and never stopped targeting the left side of Rodriguez's face throughout.

Pedraza's win may have placed him into position to fight for one of the titles that Josh Taylor may eventually give up, but Pedraza was calling out another champion after the win- WBA, IBF, and WBO lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez.

I wouldn't have an issue with Lopez-Pedraza down the road as a decent fight placed in between two really strong fights, and Pedraza would be better qualified than most for that type of challenger.

In the day's first fight from Newcastle, England, undefeated Argentine junior welterweight Jeremias Ponce jumped on hometown boxer Lewis Ritson and almost stopped him in the first round with a relentless attack to the body of Ritson that he was never able to shrug off.

Ponce's aggression overwhelmed the tough Ritson and Ritson didn't win a round on my card with only the fourth round even close to being scored for the Briton.

Ponce knocked Ritson down three times and Ritson's father, who is the boxer's head cornerman, threw in the towel after the first knockdown to save his son, but referee Steve Gray chose to ignore the towel and allowed the fight to continue with Ritson scoring two more knockdowns before the not-so merciful ending.

Referees can choose to ignore the corner's surrender if they desire, although they usually do honor the corner's request.

Ponce's performance made him the mandatory contender in the IBF for unified champion Josh Taylor, although he is more likely to fight for an eventual vacated title by Taylor.

In the boxing challenge, I scored three points to Ramon Malpica's two to boost my lead to 78-72.