Boxing Challenge: Pacheco cracks Sulecki in six!

  Super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco continued his march to the top of the division with one hit to the body of Maciej Sulecki that ended their match in round six.

Pacheco was expected to try to impress after an average outing in his last win, a unanimous decision over Shawn McCalman and he did so by breaking down Sulecki gradually before the finisher.

Pacheco became the first to knock out Sulecki as his other defeats were by decision to Daniel Jacobs (Very close) and Demetrius Andrade (Very not so close) and while it is reasonable to wonder how shopworn Sulecki currently is, Sulecki made a good accounting for himself in the loss, especially early in the fight and in round four stunned Pacheco.

Pacheco hurt Sulecki at the end of round five and with a bit more time might have finished him then and there but had that occurred, we would have missed out on that paralyzing shot to the liver.

Pacheco is ranked number one in the WBO rankings and could face WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo Alvarez, should Alvarez decide to face him and announce his plans to fight once more before the end of 2024 against a "top ten" opponent.

Pacheco mentioned one possible foe in particular- the winner of the Jaime Munguia-Erik Bazinyan fight later this month.

I tend to doubt that promoter Eddie Hearn will take that risk with a mandated title shot at risk but it sounds nice.

Diego Pacheco seems to be the real deal and the only question that remains to be answered is one that has yet to be asked- can he take a wallop from a world-class puncher?

That answer will hopefully come soon enough.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 117 Pts (2)

TRS: 108 Pts (2) 

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Somnambulant Middleweights

On a night filled with uncompetitive matches and not even in the same universe as compelling, two of the middleweight titles were on the line on two networks and neither was remotely interesting to watch.

The best performance was that of WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade, who charged from his corner and for one round seemed interested in changing his reputations for dominant and yet dull performances when he dropped challenger Maciej Sulecki in the first minute of round one and delivering a round filled with power punches that dazzled the challenger from Poland.
Andrade then returned to his corner to be told by his trainer and father, Paul Andrade that they "didn't come here for a war and to box".
Andrade then controlled every round, won them all on my card (120-107), cruised to a unanimous decision to retain his title and yet didn't do a thing to make fans want to see him against Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin.
I've always liked Andrade, and back in the old days of the FightHeads podcast ( Selfish Plug-If you are reading this and would like me to appear on a podcast, ask!) I even picked Andrade as a possible top star, if he would only fight more.
Now, he's fighting more often but isn't exciting anyone in the process.
It looks to me that Andrade is in the same position that Gennady Golovkin once found himself in- A fight against him is a low reward and high risk.

The DAZN undercard wasn't exciting either as former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker pounded Alex Leapai for ten rounds before the merciful end in the tenth.
Parker looked good, but it would have been hard not to against a retreating heavy bag that would occasionally toss a looping counter right.
The best I can say about this is that Parker threw more punches, punch output has been something Parker's been criticized for, and Leapai's chin is pretty dam strong.
Kal Yafai won a boring unanimous decision over Norbelto Jimenez that left the crowd booing and me wondering why I watch boxing sometimes.
Yafai scored a late knockdown to win going away (118-109 on my card) and hopes for a unification fight against WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada next in which he'll need to put forth the best effort of his career to win.

And then there was Showtime, home of the best announcing team and production in boxing and suddenly finds itself showing B level shows from the PBC.
This three fight card was one better suited for another network and I felt bad for Showtime watching it.
I've always been someone that campaigned for boxing to have network television, but it appears that PBC is shoveling better fights to Fox and considering the broadcast quality of Fox, who schleps the non-boxing guy Chris Myers out for their fights- that's not a good thing.

Jermall Charlo, who had been gifted the WBC middleweight title earlier in the week, defending his newly handed title with a unanimous decision over Brandon Adams in a sloppy, awkward fight.
No knockdowns and little excitement for Charlo, which was expected entering into the fight and with the fight becoming a full title fight during fight week, it just seemed like a second class event.
I've always been a "belts matter" (copyright Steve Kim) guy, but this is so silly for a fighter to have wins over Jorge Heiland, Hugo Centeno, Matt Korobov, and now Brandon Adams and claim to be the champion of the world.
I've been critical of Jermall Charlo's competition (he really only possesses three wins of note- the KO of Julian Williams, which was impressive and close decision wins over Austin Trout and last-minute replacement Korobov) and that's a fair one, but the real villain here isn't Charlo, it's the WBC for putting their champion in such a place.
I plan on taking them on later this week.

The co-feature predictably saw Erickson Lubin hammer Zakaria Attou for four rounds before the fight was ended with mercy.
I could have written that result and saved Attou the beating.
We still don't know how much Lubin has recovered from his one round loss to Jermell Charlo and we won't until he fights someone that fights back- which is a question so often uttered when dealing with PBC promoted fighters.

The first bout saw Claudio Marrero win a unanimous decision over Eduardo Ramirez to become mandatory for Leo Santa Cruz's WBA featherweight title.
This wasn't exactly a barnburner, but at least it was competitive, which was rare on this evening, no matter your network.
I scored Marrero a 115-113 winner and despite losing his previous fight to Tug Nyambayar, will now eventually face the oft-protected Santa Cruz.

Just a tedious night of boxing and one that showed the worst of the game.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica nine to seven with the difference being the bonus point for calling the round of Erickson Lubin's KO and Demetrius Andrade winning by decision.
I lead the overall challenge 163-147

Boxing Challenge:Farmer holds off Carroll

Errol Spence and Mikey Garcia might be getting the majority of the publicity for this boxing weekend and that is more than justified, but Matchroom Boxing and DAZN put together two fights that were filled with punches, action, and drama on the night before boxing's big evening that could possibly give the winners of those bouts a chance to step forward in the near future.

In the main event from Philadelphia, hometown star Tevin Farmer rallied strongly late to win a unanimous decision over Ireland's Jono Carroll and retain his IBF junior lightweight championship.
The wide scorecards did a disservice to the surprisingly stern challenge of Carroll, who wore down Farmer with a devoted body attack and fought through two facial cuts as he fought Farmer evenly through ten rounds.
Farmer dug down to win the final two rounds and the fight on my card 115-113 (7-5) after badly hurting Carroll in the final minute of the eleventh to the point of almost finishing the fight then and there.
Carroll managed to bravely stand tall against the Farmer attack and stay on his feet, but the effects would follow in the final round, which Farmer won to clinch the fight.
Farmer continues to crow and ask for a fight against WBA champion Gervonta Davis, which DAZN claimed during this event that Matchroom was offering Davis five million for such a fight.
IF (huge if) that is a five million dollar/one fight offer without options, I suppose the time for reckoning will have arrived for Davis promoter Floyd Mayweather and the PBC.
Can an organization that claims their fighters are treated so well, turn down an offer that is more than five times a fighter's highest purse for one fight elsewhere?
Especially when you consider that Davis would be a strong favorite in such a bout?
Those decisions alone are going to be fascinating to watch.
As for Tevin Farmer, he's a solid fighter that likes to stay active and he's evolved into more of an attacker than a dancer over his last few outings that's much more fun to watch, but I just don't see Farmer on the same level as Gervonta Davis.

The middleweight co-feature was scheduled to identify the next challenger for WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade in June.
Maciej Sulecki will be that challenger after a unanimous decision that saw Sulecki dominate warhorse Gabriel Rosado for eight rounds and knock Rosado down in the first and eighth rounds.
The latter knockdown had the DAZN commentators wondering if Rosado's corner, the referee or the doctor might be best suited to end Rosado's suffering.
After all, for eight rounds Rosado had shown zero capabilities of reaching Sulecki with the type of shot that would win this fight by knockout and that's what it would take to do so.
Considering all of that, of course, the best story would be Rosado coming out of nowhere to turn the fight around and he did just that with two knockdowns that would have almost certainly ended the fight had the bell not clanged after Sulecki rose from the second knockdown.
Rosado continued to abuse Sulecki in the tenth round, but Sulecki stayed on his feet to hang on for the win, which was far closer on the scorecards than it appeared to me.
I scored Sulecki a 96-90 winner, 8-2 in rounds with Sulecki losing a 10-7 ninth round and Rosado losing two points for his earlier knockdowns.
Sulecki has now been dropped late in the two biggest fights (Rosado and Daniel Jacobs) of his career and that will be something to look for as he enters his title challenge of Andrade.
As for Rosado, his late rally is going to be just enough to encourage him and his team to continue fighting and despite that rally, I'm afraid we've seen the best of a brave warrior.

Ramon Malpica and I each received four points for the evening, allowing me to retain my lead of 54-53.