Boxing Challenge: Ruiz Decisions Ortiz

 Premiere Boxing Champions Sunday night PPV card from Los Angeles looked interesting before the card for a few different reasons and while the main event didn't quite live up to what it could have been, one contender moved towards a potential lucrative rematch, a former champion returned to the ring and might be better suited to end his comeback, and a prospect that seemed to be ready to enter contender status suffered a shocking defeat.

In the main event, Andy Ruiz knocked down Luis Ortiz three times but still barely earned a close unanimous decision in a WBC heavyweight eliminator.

Ruiz knocked Ortiz down twice in the second round and added another in round seven, but the fight played as follows- When Ruiz threw punches, he scored often and won the rounds that had more action, when Ruiz was reserved in his punches, Ortiz threw jabs and won the less than exciting rounds.

Ruiz won 114-111 on two cards and 113-112 on the final card to win the decision.

I scored it 113-112 for Ruiz as well, which means without the knockdowns, Ortiz would have won, and had he avoided one of the knockdowns, he would have salvaged a draw on my scorecard.

The fight wasn't filled with the toe to toe action that seemed likely in the pre-fight predictions and Ortiz certainly seems ripe for the picking by a younger heavyweight that will go after him and put some pressure on him but Andy Ruiz does just enough to leave you wanting more even in victory.

Ruiz looks very likely to face Deontay Wilder next in a WBC final eliminator, should Wilder defeat Robert Helenius as he is heavily favored to do in October and that would be an easy fight to sign with both fighters promoted by PBC and Wilder came into the ring after the fight to congratulate Ruiz.

The winner of the Ruiz-Wilder/Helenius bout would become the mandatory challenger in the WBC but considering the always questionable future of their champion Tyson Fury, it would not surprise me in the slightest to have that fight for what could be the vacant WBC championship.

In the co-feature, lightweight Isaac Cruz snuffed out the timed Eduardo Ramirez in two rounds in a WBC lightweight eliminator and called for a rematch with Gervonta Davis after the knockout.

Cruz knocked Ramirez down once in the second before ending the fight with a right hand that followed a big left hook to put Ramirez down on the floor without a count.

Rumors are flying about a Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fight that could be in the works for December, which would be terrific if true but considering the rival promoters involved (Davis PBC, Garcia Golden Boy) I'll believe that when I see it.

However, Cruz is the one fighter that has fought Davis close, and considering the lack of PBC talent in the lightweight/junior welterweight division, should Davis-Garcia once again fall apart, Cruz would be the best option for Davis that would be easy to reach an agreement.

In the opener, rising lightweight star Jose Valenzuela was the victim of a surprising upset as late replacement Edwin De Los Santos stopped Valenzuela in three explosive rounds.

De Los Santos took the fight on a week's notice when former WBA junior lightweight champion Jezreel Corrales was unable to participate due to visa issues and with 13 knockouts in 14 wins and a two-round destruction of then-undefeated Luis Acosta on his record, De Los Santos was regarded to at least have a punchers chance of a major upset.

De Los Santos came out very aggressively in winning the first round and attempted to repeat that tactic in the second before Valenzuela caught him with a counter right that sent De Los Santos to the canvas.

De Los Santos wasn't hurt though and stormed back to drop Valenzuela later in the round, losing a point for hitting Valenzuela while he was down.

De Los Santos resumed his attack in the third and quickly knocked Valenzuela down for the second time and while a dazed Valenzuela rose to continue, he wobbled when hit by a De Los Santos left hook and the referee ended the surprising upset.

Valenzuela was thought to be nearing contender status so this defeat is a setback to his career and even if he returns with some wins, he will now have some chin questions to deal with for the remainder of his career.

As for Del Los Santos, with his style and power, I'd love to see him against Isaac Cruz if Gervonta Davis fights someone else and Cruz has a need for an opponent as that matchup is a guaranteed lock for action!

Former three-division champion Abner Mares returned from an eye injury and settled for a majority draw against journeyman Miguel Flores.

Mares started fast and won four of the first five rounds but tired badly in the second half of the fight.

I scored the same as two judges at 95-95 with the dissenting judge giving a 96-94 edge to Mares.

I don't see much of a future against top competition for Mares and at 36, it's easy to say what's the point in continuing at this stage with eyes that twice have been through retina surgery.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 156 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 134 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 124 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Ortiz stops Martin

   The main event in a Fox PPV that likely shouldn't have been a PPV from Hollywood, Florida saw Luis Ortiz win an IBF heavyweight eliminator with a sixth-round knockout over Charles Martin to put himself into position for a future title shot.

Martin had shown a less than stern chin in the past but it was Martin that scored knockdowns in the first and fourth-round against Ortiz, who only previously had been dropped by the power punching, Deontay Wilder.

Still, once Ortiz landed his heavier shots with Martin the fight was soon ended with Martin having his glove between the ropes for his first knockdown and was essentially out on his feet.

Ortiz quickly scored a second knockdown and when Martin barely beat the count the fight was stopped.

I had Martin ahead after five rounds 48-45, three rounds to two with the two knockdowns.

Ortiz retains his knockout power but being knocked down twice by Martin, who isn't known as a big puncher, shows that Ortiz could be nearing the end of the line with a chin that is beginning to look vulnerable and suddenly appears to be slower in getting his punches off.

Martin should return to the gatekeeper/fringe contender ranks and considering that he turns 36 in April, is unlikely to come this close to a title shot again.

In the co-feature, Frank Sanchez won every round in a unanimous decision win over Christian Hammer in a fight that I haven't watched yet.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica, Vince Samano and C.J. Burney all scored four points to my three in the start of the 2022 competition.

Boxing Challenge: Haney decisions Gamboa

   Devin Haney didn't prove anything unexpected in his unanimous decision win over Yuriorkis Gamboa, but he did retain his WBC lightweight title in a dominant fashion in Hollywood, Florida.

Haney landed more and connected with some heavy shots but never seemed close to ending the fight by stoppage and never knocked down Gamboa, who had been stopped in the final round of his previous fight by Gervonta Davis.

Haney hadn't fought in close to a year (two days shy) after shoulder surgery and the inactivity did show, as, despite his effectiveness in the bout, Haney didn't land as many punches as in past fights.

Gamboa tried his best against Haney and even threw more punches than the far younger man, but at 38 Gamboa appears to be finished as a serious challenge to the best fighters in the division.

I scored Haney a 120-107 winner, winning every round with Gamboa losing a point in the eleventh round for holding.

Devin Haney is a very talented young fighter, but he seems to be a step ahead of where he should be in his career.

Haney has not lost a round in his last two fights, but both went the entire twelve round distance, he scored only one knockdown in those rounds (against Alberto Santiago), and with Gamboa's history of being knocked down (and three times out), it's not unreasonable to begin to wonder about Haney's power a little.

Haney certainly belongs in the lightweight discussion with Teofimo Lopez, Vasyl Lomachenko (should he decide to remain in the division), Gervonta Davis, the winner of next month's Ryan Garcia-Luke Campbell fight, and maybe Jorge Linares, but he'll need to begin to fight better opponents soon.

Haney's resume' doesn't have any standouts and should Garcia defeat Campbell, Haney will have the weakest opposition of any of the four standout young fighters in the division.

Hopefully, Haney will be facing a stern test in his next outing.

In Los Angeles, (Full Van Earl Wright here) heavyweight Luis "King Kong" Ortiz returned to the ring for the first time since his second of his two knockout losses to Deontay Wilder in what seemed to be an incredibly awful Fox main event from PBC.

Sadly, it was as awful as expected as Ortiz stopped Alexander Flores in 45 seconds in what appeared to be a glancing shot at best.

I say glancing because I didn't really see a punch, the two came together and Flores fell to the floor unable to beat the count.

Ortiz officially landed three punches in the win, but proved nothing about what he has remaining in his career.
Flores had been stopped early in both of his losses which happened to be the two fighters that you may have heard of (Joseph Parker and Charles Martin), but this was just beyond awful and a pathetic excuse for a main event on FS1, let alone network television.

An absolute joke.

Ramon Malpica and I each added three points on the day in the boxing challenge to move our totals to 156-147.

The Browns are on bye, so the next post will be the sloppy, but easy win by Ohio State over Rutgers.

I may do a smaller version of a recap as I really hate those squash match recaps sometimes.

Boxing Challenge: Wilder crunches Ortiz, Callum Smith creaks by Ryder

For almost seven complete rounds, Luis Ortiz was trying to complete his rematch with Deontay Wilder such as a jockey that is attempting to hold the lead at a very slow pace to lessen the chances of a stronger closer coming off the pace for a victory.

However, when you have the fastest gun in the game on your side it only takes one shot to end a fight.
And it only takes one mistake even as Ortiz was landing well be on his way to winning another round when Wilder fired one right hand.
That right hand landed flush and when the smoke cleared, it was only Wilder standing and keeping the WBC heavyweight title via seventh-round knockout in Las Vegas.
I had Ortiz ahead 59-55 after six rounds and would have likely given him the seventh, had the round ended.
The fight wasn't filled with activity and could have been called dull as both fighters respected the power of the other and rarely engaged.
I'm not really sure what this fight answered that we didn't already know- Deontay Wilder can erase a lot of effective boxing with one shot and Deontay Wilder can look pretty ordinary against good fighters while he waits for one shot.
Wilder moves onto the rematch with Tyson Fury in what appears to be February in another intriguing
fight.
Tyson Fury is the one fighter that took Wilder's best shot and got up, and Deontay Wilder is the one fighter that proved that he can hurt Tyson Fury when he lands, so the rematch is certainly very interesting.
Now, if we can just talk PBC and Top Rank into a cross-promotional fight or two on the undercard.

The undercard looked promising and then crumbled before the fight.
My favorite fight between two of the top five bantamweights in the world was canceled when Luis Nery missed weight by a pound and Emmanuel Rodriguez refused to accept compensation to fight an overweight Nery, so the fight was sadly canceled.
I think I'm with Rodriguez here.
Rodriguez is coming off his first career loss, is fighting a very talented former champion that has a PED history and has a history of missing weight.
When you consider all of those facts, should you risk another second loss against a fighter that is stronger for not hitting the weight mark for a couple thousand dollars?
I completely understand Rodriguez not proceeding and since this fight was a WBC title eliminator, the fair thing is to declare Rodriguez the top contender and refuse to rank Nery at 118 pounds.
Considering it's the WBC, the likely decision is likely to make this the fault of Rodriguez and give Nery the mandatory position.
Sarcasm mildly intended.

And if you thought Luis Nery was unprofessional, please allow me to introduce Julio Ceja!
Ceja, a former WBC junior featherweight champion, entered his fight with minor Titleist Brandon Figueroa after a terrific try against Guillermo Rigondeaux that saw him on the wrong side of an early stoppage while leading on the scorecards.
Ceja's effort against Rigondeaux was the best ever against the Cuban ( other than his ill-advised attempt against Vasyl Lomachenko), so Ceja had some goodwill in the bank that went awry when
Ceja missed weight by a stunning FOUR and a quarter pounds!
To put that in perspective, Ceja would have been overweight for a featherweight title fight and this was scheduled for the 122-pound junior featherweight division.
Figueroa decided to accept the fight when he was both compensated financially and assured by the sanctioning body that he would not lose his minor title, should he lose.
And here is why the argument made by Emmanuel Rodriguez for not accepting the extra money against an overweight opponent made sense because Figueroa's normally a very good puncher and he just couldn't hurt the larger Ceja in an excellent fight.
Figueroa-Ceja ended in a draw and it was fun to watch, but Ceja had such an artificial edge with the weight advantage that you wondered just how much that played into the fight.
Ceja has been knocked out three times in his career, yet Figueroa, a very good puncher, couldn't move him at all.
I scored Ceja a 115-113 winner in a fight that was very close and felt bad for Figueroa in the situation.

The co-feature was another gift for Leo Santa Cruz, who seems to thrive on winning vacant titles against questionable competition and then sitting on them until he rises in weight.
Santa Cruz won his fourth world title (from three different organizations.) with a unanimous decision over Miguel Flores to add the WBA junior lightweight title to his trophy case and won few fans in doing so.
Santa Cruz fights usually follow the same pattern, landing lots of punches, with not a lot of power, and his overmatched opponents are defeated on the scorecards, but generally unhurt.
This fight followed that template as I gave Flores the first round and no others, so the scorecard isn't the issue for me.
My issue with Santa Cruz is this- he's talented and has won four "titles". but is only 1-1 against top-notch fighters, splitting a series with Carl Frampton and his two wins over Abner Mares after Mares had slipped past his best are his only other notable wins.
I'm not sure what the issues are with Santa Cruz, is it that he doesn't want to fight top opponents and is satisfied with belts and money?
Or is it that his promoters choose not to roll the dice and gamble Santa Cruz against someone that could beat him?
I wonder about the PBC sometimes in these situations with fighters that haven't fought good competition and how it happens with examples such as Santa Cruz, Gary Russell, and Gervonta Davis.
My guesses are as follows:
Gervonta Davis is a fighter that is "on the wrong side of the street" (I'm really beginning to hate that phrase) promotionally in his division and has a chance to win against the best in the game.
Davis has that kind of ability but needs a breakout win that PBC seems unwilling or unable to provide.
Russell has tons of talent but seems content to fight once a year, keep a title, cash a nice check, and not challenge himself.
Santa Cruz isn't as talented as the above two and has been protected from fighters such as Russell (both are featherweight champions with PBC and could easily fight) and either his management or promotion realizes this and is protecting him for as long as possible.

We move to DAZN with cards from Matchroom and Golden Boy and a very interesting result that has been overshadowed by the Wilder-Ortiz fight.

Matchroom's main event from Liverpool, England looked to be a stay busy fight as Callum Smith, who is looked at by most as the top super middleweight in the world, defended his WBA title against countryman John Ryder, who entered the fight on a four-fight upset streak with all four wins over undefeated or one-loss fighters.
However, the biggest name on Ryder's record was Rocky Fielding in a loss, so Smith was a prohibitive favorite to defend his title.
Watching the clips of the weigh-in, Smith looked to be a full division larger than Ryder, and with six inches in height and reach over Ryder, this seemed to be a mismatch.
AND that's why we fight the fights and why everyone makes mistakes.

In honesty, I watched this fight twice.
The first time that I watched it, I scored it 115-113 for Callum Smith with Smith holding off the late charge of Ryder, who won the final three rounds on my card.
After that, I went to bed having stayed up to watch Ohio State-Penn State, then Smith-Ryder and needing sleep before work.
When I got up, something was nagging at me about it, but I had to watch the other DAZN card, Wilder-Ortiz, etc and I put it aside.
Still, I talked to Fred Landucci and he asked me about my thoughts which made my earlier questions return.
In short, I rewatched it and my score changed to 115-113 for Ryder, who attacked throughout, took advantage of a seemingly overconfident and underprepared Smith and my rewatched card could be slightly kind to Smith.
Ryder was the stronger fighter, worked Smith over to the ropes and ripped away on the inside to the body of the bigger man.
I also thought that Ryder did much better than expected in the center of the ring where you would think Smith would not only want to be but where he would control the action.

I had the edge of rewatching to get things right which judges in live-action do not, but what seems to happen in fights where the huge favorite wins an unpopular decision is this- In those early rounds when fights are just starting to settle in, judges fall into a trap and score those early rounds for the fighter that's expected to win- because they think that's what should be happening rather than what is.
By the time that you realize that the fight isn't happening the way it "should", it's too late and there is how you get a bad call.
I would imagine a rematch is in order, but I have a feeling that John Ryder may have already fought the fight of his life once, and should a rematch be forced, Callum Smith is going to be ready.
Callum Smith is the better fighter, but John Ryder deserved the duke on this night.
A belated Hamburglar for this one.

The evening card for DAZN was a Golden Boy card with two of those wonderful minor belts from the WBA and saw an upset in the main event as Rene Alvarado tore apart Andrew Cancio like Gale Sayers through an overmatched defense.
Cancio had knocked out Alvarado in their first fight in 2015 and after two wins over highly regarded Alberto Machado, was thought to be a rising fighter with a great story.
Alvarado used his longer reach and surprising aggressiveness from the start to cur Cancio around both eyes and bloodied his nose to the point of Alvarado's white trunks appearing to be a light pink from Cancio's blood.
Cancio fought as bravely as he could, but he couldn't figure out how to avoid Alvarado's incessant offense in order to get inside to do his best work.
I had Alvarado ahead 69-64 (6-1) when the fight was mercifully ended in Cancio's corner at the end of the seventh round.
Cancio was becoming quite a story, but it is very possible that Cancio is a solid fighter that simply had the number of Alberto Machado.
We'll see if Rene Alvarado, also a solid fighter, can perform well against fighters other than Andrew Cancio.

In the other fight, China's Xu Can continues to impress in his move up the featherweight ladder with his unanimous decision win over Manny Robles.
Can reminds me a bit of Josh Warrington in that he throws a lot of punches and attempts to overwhelm his opponents with volume.
Funny that I should mention Warrington, who was the champion called out in the post-fight interview by Can and that would be a very exciting fight to see.
Neither fighter has world-class sting on their punches but in a fight between those two the ringside people counting the punches had better be ready to work overtime!
I scored Can the winner 118-110 over Robles, who took his first loss but had won his previous two fights by close split decisions and the bloom seems to be fading off a once-promising prospect.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica seven to five (the Wilder KO making the difference) to move my overall lead to 278-246.

I'm going to try to be back later with the Browns romp over Miami and looking forward to a rematch in Pittsburgh.
 

Boxing Challenge: Lara and Castano even at the end

The Barclays Center may have been generously listed as half-filled and only may have been actually attended by half of that number, but the main event on Showtime was a pretty solid fight as former WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara battled Argentina's Brian Castano to a draw for Castano's minor title.

Lara won most of the early rounds on my card, three of the first four before Castano won four of the next six with a solid body attack and didn't allow Lara to move away from Castano's swarming attack, although Lara had his moments as well.
The fight was even after ten rounds and could have easily gone either way in both the eleventh and twelfth rounds with both fighters scoring well.
I gave Lara both rounds by a close margin and as a result the fight at 115-113.
The scores were very fair with each fighter earning a winning card of 7-5 in rounds with the deciding card scoring the fight even at 6-6.
The once-thoroughbred like legs of Lara have slowed from his prime and the resulting fighter is a more exciting fighter to watch, but one that currently allows opponents that previously would not have been competitive against Lara to suddenly have success against him.
Castano may not be an elite fighter, but he certainly proved himself to be qualified and I might even lean his way in a possible rematch against the 35-year-old Lara.

The other fight didn't prove anything that we didn't know as heavyweight contender Luis Ortiz dominated Christian Hammer in winning a unanimous decision.
Ortiz won on my card 99-91 and other than Ortiz staying busy and Hammer showing a strong chin, very little was accomplished in what appears to be the last Showtime Championship Boxing card for a while, although the network does have a few ShoBox cards scheduled.

Ramon Malpica and I earned one point in the boxing challenge, where Ramon keeps a one point lead at 42-41.

Boxing Challenge:Wilder makes his case

The boxing challenge continues to move up and along after a five-fight weekend.

Sorry, this has been a little late, but there have been some family illness issues and I am a bit behind.

In the biggest fight of the weekend as part of a two fight Showtime telecast, Deontay Wilder came from behind (on my card anyway) to stop Luis Ortiz in the tenth and retain his WBC heavyweight title in Brooklyn.
Wilder had floored Ortiz in the fifth, but Ortiz didn't seem to be especially hurt after rising.
Ortiz badly hurt Wilder, leaving him wobbling around the ring and lurching into Ortiz as he desperately held onto the Cuban to survive the round.
The bell may have saved Wilder, but referee David Fields, in a strange move, asked the doctor to check Wilder before the round started and bought Wilder extra time to clear his head.
Here's why this was so strange-Wilder was not cut, so that shouldn't have been an issue and the doctor had the minute in between the seventh and eighth round to look at Wilder in the corner and saw no reason to stop the fight.
It seemed a little fishy to me, but still give Wilder credit, I had questions about his chin (I still do) and what would happen when he was tested- He survived the Ortiz attack and battled on.
Wilder would finish Ortiz in the tenth with two knockdowns and as good of an uppercut as you'll see.
The good news? The final few rounds were pretty dramatic and fun to watch.
The bad news? The first almost five rounds were pretty close to unwatchable and the scorecards that had Wilder ahead after nine were downright laughable.
Had Wilder not stopped Ortiz and gauging the way that the fight was being judged, Wilder was on his way to a decision win-one that would have again cast controversy.For the record, I had Ortiz up 86-83 as Ortiz lost a point for the fifth round knockdown and I scored round seven 10-8 for Ortiz in the round that he almost finished Wilder off.
In the end- it was an average fight with a few really good exchanges and some really high drama.

In the Brooklyn co-feature, Jose Uzcategui avenged his controversial disqualification loss to Andre Dirrell by winning almost every round ( I had him winning 79-73) before Dirrell's corner stopped the fight in between the eighth and ninth rounds.
Uzcategui didn't score a knockdown, but did bust up the face of Dirrell and pounded him thoroughly to the point that the stoppage was more humane than a reflection on Dirrell, who I have been critical of in the past for dogging it in some fights.
Uzcategui's win places him as the next fight for the winner of the IBF title rematch between Caleb Truax and James DeGale.
Truax pulled off a shocking upset of DeGale and unless DeGale shows that his loss was simply a really bad night and dominates the rematch, I would consider Uzcategui a solid favorite against either.
I'd go even farther and say I'm not sure that Uzcategui would be worse than pick 'em against anyone in the division and that includes champions George Groves (WBA), David Benavidez (WBC) and Gilberto Ramirez (WBO).

Over in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden, HBO showed arguably the two best light heavyweights in the world with title defenses by WBO champion Sergey Kovalev and WBA beltholder Dmitry Bivol.

In the main event, Kovalev continued to rebuild himself with a pounding of fellow Russian Igor Mikhalkin in which he won every round, cut Mikhalkin on his nose, caused heavy bleeding from the nose and then ripped open a cut under Mikhalkin's eye in the sixth.
The ending came in the seventh as the doctor saw Mikhalkin's cuts as serious and since he had lost every round, ending the fight seemed the right thing to do.
I've been a long-time Kovalev fan and gave him and his team the benefit of the doubt in scheduling two squash matches for his comeback since losing to Andre Ward.
I won't give him that benefit for his next fight- the Krusher needs to pick up the competition.

Dmitry Bivol was far ahead of Sullivan Barrera entering the final round (109-100) and could have been content to jab his way to a dominant, if not thrilling victory over the first top ten (arguably even top five) opponent of his career.
Bivol wasn't going to settle for that in flooring and finishing Barrera for a knockout win.
Bivol was very impressive in dominating Barrera like no one previously had done and that includes Andre Ward.
In the perfect world, I'd love to see a Bivol-Kovalev unification fight (makeable with both guys with HBO) or a Bivol-Artur Beterbiev unification fight (Not so makeable with Beterbiev having promotional issues) before the end of the year, but keeping Bivol active against quality opponents is going to be nothing but a positive for the struggling HBO boxing program.

In an untelevised fight from England, former IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook moved up to junior middleweight and snapped a two-fight losing streak and a two-fight broken eye-socket streak with a second-round knockout of Sergei Rabchenko.
Rabchenko might have not been top quality as far as opponents go, but he was decent enough all things considered and Brook looked quite impressive in taking him out.
Brook might be considered for a title match against WBC champ Jermell Charlo at his new weight and that faceoff would answer lots of questions about both men...

In the boxing challenge. I scored eight points to Ramon Malpica's four to boost my lead to 36-27
I earned two points for wins by Kell Brook, Dmitry Bivol and Sergey Kovalev and one point each for wins by Deontay Wilder and Jose Uzcategui.

Ramon earned two points for Sergey Kovalev's win and one point each for the wins of Dmitri Bivol and Kell Brook.

Ortiz,Vargas post KO's-Boxing Challenge

HBO went to Washington with a two bout card and was rewarded with a chalk bout along with a surprise in two levels...

Jessie Vargas ended a surprisingly good fight with a knockdown just before the end of the eighth round of Sadam Ali and then finished Ali off in the ninth round to win the vacant WBO welterweight title.
Vargas had not scored a knockout in ten fights,but suddenly looks to be revitalized with a new more aggressive style...
R.L.Malpica and I each picked Ali for no points.

Luis Ortiz dropped Tony Thompson twice early before ending the fight near the end of round six.
Ortiz wasn't quite as entertaining as in his destruction of Bryant Jennings,but some of that is due to the lanky and less than active Thompson's refusing to engage..
I earned three points for Ortiz's win and KO with a bonus point for the correct round,while R.L added two.

In an untelevised bout,Oscar Escandon knocked out Robinson Castellanos in round seven.
Both of us selected Castellanos for no points..

Over on Showtime,Julian Williams became the mandatory challenger for IBF jr.middleweight champ Jermall Charlo with a seventh round stoppage of Marcelo Matano.
I earned three points for the Williams win,KO and correct round,with R.L. picking up two...

Lucas Browne moved himself further in the WBA "tournament" to clean up their heavyweight title mess with a 10th knockout of Ruslan Chagaev in Russia.
Chagaev knocked Browne down in the eighth,but couldn't finish him off.
R.L. picked Browne to win for one point as I picked Chagaev...

On the day,I added six points to R.L's five.
The boxing challenge now stands at 23-16 in my favor.