Boxing Challenge: Saunders dances past Murray

     London was the scene for an easy defense for Billy Joe Saunders of his WBO super middleweight title as Saunders defeated veteran Martin Murray via unanimous decision in a dominant performance.

Murray was expected to try to maul Saunders as his best chance to win, but surprisingly the aging Murray's corner changed his tactics and by trying to show Saunders a different look, Murray took away his only chance to win as Saunders was able to control the fight from the outside with Murray unable to land from distance and waiting to try to rough Saunders up on the inside.

I agreed with two judges with Saunders a 120-108 winner and there were times that Saunders did attempt to step up the attack and stop Murray, but the game veteran managed to survive to the final bell in what should be his final fight.

Martin Murray ends his career as arguably the best fighter of his time not to win a world title in the four championship era, but the time is right for him to leave the sport.

Murray might have enough left to win some fights, but not at the world class level and at his age, why continue to take punishment if you aren't going to be a threat to win a world title?

As for Billy Joe Saunders, he looked very sharp in this victory, but how much of that was Saunders and how much was it the advanced age of Martin Murray?

It certainly does keep him very viable as a unification opponent for the Callum Smith-Canelo Alvarez winner and I'd like to see him back in the ring again before the spring to be ready for a big fight when it eventually arrives.

Saunders could also fight Gennady Golovkin, since Canelo Alvarez seems to have no interest in a third fight with Golovkin, Daniel Jacobs, who looked awful last week against Gabriel Rosado, or Demetrius Andrade in a fight that almost happened before Saunders failed a PED test.

Should Saunders be motivated and sharp, he could win any of those fights,

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each added two points to move the total to 163-152.

Boxing Challenge: KO's, New Boss and a Robbery

The last big weekend in the 2018 boxing year saw a tremendous heavyweight battle with a clean knockout, one European taking the place of another at the top of a division, two disappointing performances and one of those ended in a terrible decision.

The best fight was in London, where Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora hooked up in a rematch of their bombs away bout of 2016 that Whyte won by a narrow split decision that I scored a draw.
This one wasn't quite of that caliber, but it still was very exciting and action filled (think of taking two tests and scoring a 95 and a 92, both are excellent, but one is slightly better) and the ending was quite dramatic.
I had Chisora ahead 95-94 entering the 11th (6-4 with Chisora losing a point for a low blow in the eighth) before Chisora lost another point in the eleventh for elbowing.
Just when you began to wonder if those two points had the potential to cost Chisora the fight on the cards, Whyte decided to make that point moot with a left hook that wiped out Chisora for the evening and keep Whyte at the top of the list of heavyweight contenders.
Whyte deserves a rematch vs Anthony Joshua and may get it in the spring, while this might have been the last stand for Chisora, it was a strong one and it might be best for Chisora to step aside on a high note, although his effort in this one might earn him more paychecks.
On the undercard in a fight that I've not seen of this writing, Britain's Charlie Edwards upset Cristofer Rosales via unanimous decision to win the WBC flyweight title.

In Manchester, Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title for the first time with a unanimous decision over the favored Carl Frampton.
Warrington shot to the lead by winning five of the first six rounds and never looked back, winning on my card 117-111.
Warrington isn't going to knock out many (only six KO's), but his attack never slows and he simply did not allow Frampton to get comfortable enough to fire back and keep Warrington off of him.
The swarming Warrington throws punches by a rate that surpasses other noted volume punchers in the division such as WBA champion Leo Santa Cruz.
Frampton was talking retirement after the fight and the time may be right for Frampton to step away.
Frampton isn't getting hurt, but he hasn't been the same fighter since his winning first fight against Leo Santa Cruz and even though he's still a top ten fighter, he's dropped back from the best of the division.
As for the victor, Warrington is rumored to be headed to the U.S in 2019 for a title unification fight vs WBO champ Oscar Valdez, which should be a good one, although selfishly, a Warrington unification against Leo Santa Cruz might set a record for combined punches in a fight.
I'd still rank Warrington as an underdog against Valdez, Santa Cruz or WBC champ Gary Russell, but Warrington has surprised observers in his last two wins and he'd be a live underdog against any of the three.

On the Warrington-Frampton undercard, former minor titleholders at middleweight battled in a fight to prove future viability with Hassan N'Dam winning a majority decision over Martin Murray.
I scored the fight even at 114-114, but it seemed like N'Dam did a little more and was certainly more active than Murray, who showed a reluctance that he had not shown in past efforts.

The PBC returned for a "reboot" on network television and it reportedly did reasonably well in the ratings after doing plenty of promotional work during football.
The card pushed the Charlo brothers and while neither brother looked particularly effective, both deserved victories, but surprisingly only one received a raised hand.

Jermall Charlo defeated late replacement Matt Korobov via unanimous decision (115-113 on my card) with a late run that saw him win five of the final six rounds to gain the victory,
The cards were wider than I had it scored, with one ridiculous 119-108 scorecard being unfair to Korobov, who showed that he deserved another chance against good competition with a strong outing on short notice.
Charlo now using the nickname "Hit Man" which both Thomas Hearns and Bret Hart should sue for damaging a trademark didn't score a knockdown, but he did have Korobov hurt in the final round.
I'm still not totally convinced that Charlo will do well against the best of the division.
Charlo's best wins are still a KO of a somewhat untested at the time Julian Williams, a decision of an aging Austin Trout and now Korobov, who hadn't fought a quality opponent in four years, so there are still questions to be answered- questions other than who said it was a good idea to name Charlo "Hit Man" that is...

In the shocker of the day, Tony Harrison stunned Jermell Charlo via unanimous decision to take away the WBC junior middleweight title in a fight that would be quickly forgotten if not for the terrible decision (I had Charlo winning 116-112), Charlo's charging that Harrison told him that Charlo had clearly won to the interviewer that Harrison had denied, shortly after Harrison had graciously called Charlo a great champion, told him that he would receive a rematch and Harrison (on live national TV no less) responded with "F You, I'll fight Hurd then", referring to a unification with Jarrett Hurd, who holds the WBA and IBF titles and was expected to fight Charlo next.
A Hurd-Harrison fight would be fine to unify, but they have fought previously with Hurd stopping Harrison in nine rounds, so a rematch wouldn't especially be anticipated.
I'd bet we'll see the Harrison-Charlo rematch instead and hope it'll be better to watch than this one.
Charlo clearly deserved the win, but like his brother didn't impress doing so.
Both Charlo's seem to be overrated as punchers and underrated as boxers and would seem to be most effective when they blend the two styles.
As for the PBC, they learned a valuable lesson- when your fighters fight once or twice a year and you wait to have your best fight the best- anything can happen to derail the end game.

Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale knocked out Carlos Negron in the opening fight in the ninth round in a stay busy fight until Breazeale recieves his mandatory title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder.
Breazeale had not fought in over a year in a somewhat common occurrence among PBC fighters and needed to get some rounds in.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me 6-4 over the weekend.
My season lead was cut to 214-197.
Ramon scored two points for wins by Breazeale and Charlo along with one each from Whyte and N'Dam.
My points came from Breazeale (two) and one each from Charlo and Whyte

Berchelt crushes Barros, Taylor defeats Postol

In the boxing challenge, there were several impressive performances, but the day's first star goes to Miguel Berchelt, who retained his WBC junior lightweight title with a three-round smashing of former featherweight champion Jonathan Barros in Mexico.
Berchelt badly hurt Barros in the first and scored a knockdown in the second that had it happened before the waning seconds of that round, could have ended the fight then and there.
Berchelt immediately sent Barros to the mat in the third and relentlessly stalked Barros with a real beating before Barros hit the canvas again.
The game, if outgunned Barros rose, but his corner had seen enough and entered the ring to stop the bout.
Barros might have been an expired item, but Berchelt did exactly what a champion does in a situation against an opponent with little left than a name- he took him out quickly and impressively.
Berchelt has an all-Mexican mandatory defense against Mickey Roman next and hopefully, then a unification bout can be matched with the talented, if mercurial WBA champ (which he should not hold, but that's beside the point) Gervonta Davis, who is the only fighter in the division that can make an argument other than Berchelt as the best in the division.

Another impressive win was Scotland's Josh Taylor, who pulled a mild upset over former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol by a far (FAR) wider than was remotely realistic unanimous decision in Glasgow.
Taylor dropped Postol in the tenth round of a strong action fight and that knockdown gave Taylor the win on my card by a 114-113 tally.
Taylor now earns a mandatory shot at WBC champion Jose Ramirez sometime soon, but I wouldn't rule out a chance of Taylor entering the next World Boxing Super Series tournament at junior welterweight.
Postol fought well in defeat and I'd consider giving him a slot in that bracket as well.

Also in the U.K, but in England, veteran middleweight contender Martin Murray continued his later career drive towards a fifth world title attempt with a unanimous decision over Roberto Garcia of Mexico.
Murray wins a minor title from Garcia and keeps his name around in the rankings for a potential rematch with Gennady Golovkin or Canelo Alvarez, should he dethrone Golovkin in September.
I would rather see Murray get a shot at WBO champion Billy Joe Saunders, which would be a grudge match after that bout has been canceled twice, a winnable fight for Murray and should draw a nice house in England as well.
I haven't seen this fight yet, so no scoring on this one.

On ESPN, Golden Boy's Vergil Ortiz looks like their best young prospect since Canelo Alvarez as he looked very strong in against his first name opponent as he ripped through former junior lightweight champion Juan Carlos Salgado in three rounds in Los Angeles.
Ortiz's body shot folded Salgado in half and finished him off cleanly.
I'm a big believer in Ortiz and think that Golden Boy might have the real deal in Ortiz after several disappointments among their homegrown talents.

In the boxing challenge, I scored six points to Ramon Malpica's three on the weekend to push my lead to 107-83.
My six came from two points from wins from Martin Murray, Vergil Ortiz and Miguel Berchelt.
Ramon's three were added with two points from Berchelt and one from Ortiz.

Cleaning out the inbox...

We clean out the inbox to end the month of April.
I have plenty planned for the beginning of May as we will have the top 15 prospects for the Pirates and Indians, a look back and forward for the non-playoff bound Devils, an interview with someone from the non-sports world, and of course more from the signing front, which might discuss why this has become more like work and why if it does not change soon, how I pursue the hobby could change...

We start with an interesting article from Field and Stream that my long time (I'll pass on the word old since she is younger than me! ) friend Drista Bowser posted on Facebook on hunting Morel Mushrooms.
As you all know, I am crazy about mushrooms and you might remember from a post last year, I am attempting to grow them through a tree stump with plugs infused with spawn from various 'shrooms.
As much as I would love to find and eat these and as simple as this article makes things clear, I would still wager that the lovely Cherie will still have a panic attack about my poisoning myself and not allow me to do so.
I'll be careful,honey-I promise !!!

Former ABC soap staples All My Children and One Life to Live return to the "air" with new online versions with some of the former stars.
I thought it was a shame two years ago when I wrote about the silly cancellation by ABC and how much I always enjoyed watching OLTL with my late Aunt Edna during summers off from school.
She loved her soaps so much, so I have a soft spot for the soap genre' even though I long ago quit watching.
Good for them for bringing them back!

I enjoyed a weekend of championship boxing and I agreed with both decisions that had champions retaining their titles.
I thought Sergio Martinez won the final two rounds, which he had to have to retain his middleweight title.
I had Martinez ahead of Martin Murray 114-113, while Danny Garcia kept his junior welterweight titles over Zab Judah on my card 117-111 in an exciting fight.

Looks like one of our favorites here at the world headquarters has found a spot as Erik Arnesen will be the number one starter for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League.
The Atlantic League is the top league in Independent baseball and is noted for being a jumping point back into the affiliated world.
Good luck to Erik and we hope to see him at the AL All-Star game in Waldorf MD....

SB Nation scores with this offering based on Reggie Collier, who was a QB that I watched often in the USFL with some other mentions of quarterbacks that starred in college and in Canada.
You may not agree with all the opinions that are offered, but it still is a cool look back at exciting players in their day.

Finally goodbye to former heavyweight contender Carl "the truth" Williams, who passed away at the age of 53.
The talented Williams possessed a terrific jab and is best known for his losses in two title fights, a razor-close loss to then-undefeated Larry Holmes, and a first-round stoppage against Mike Tyson, that I thought was premature.
Williams at his peak was quite talented and might have eventually been a champion, if not for Tyson...