Boxing Challenge: Upset of the Millenium?

  Larry Merchant used to call boxing "The Theatre of the Absurd" when crazy things would happen on HBO's broadcasts and what he meant was anything can happen in our nutty sport.

Saturday night in Fresno, California, some may have recalled Merchant's phrase and yet others may have preferred the phrase from childhood "Whatever comes around goes around" when you saw someone get their comeuppance.

By all accounts, Mikey Garcia had a great career in winning titles in three divisions but he often was his own worst enemy outside the ring in refusing to budge in order to make career-defining fights, several long layoffs between fights, promotional disputes, and a refusal to see that one doesn't become an A-side until you compromise a little to defeat an A-side fighter or two.

Add to that what seemed to be an almost disdain for the sport and one could easily see Mikey Garcia being upset by a lesser fighter sooner or later.

What no one saw as Spaniard Sandor Martin, who had lost to the only name fighter on his record in former title challenger Anthony Yigit, and was a more than prohibitive underdog to be overwhelmed by Garcia in yet another Garcia "need to get the rust off" after a self-enforced inactive period, take advantage of an unprepared and unmotivated Garcia to win a shocking majority decision in arguably the biggest upset in years.

The fight was slow and lacked a lot of action, so Martin did the one thing that he could do to win, even against a dull Garcia- stick, move, and pray for help on the scorecards.

Martin controlled through his boxing from outside with Garcia throwing just one punch at a time and the big question was this- Would the unknown fighter get the close decision that he deserved against the hometown big name?

To my surprise, he did with two scores of 96-94 (same as mine) and a third of a 98-92 for a majority decision that was as big of a surprise as any fight in recent years.

Matchroom CEO Eddie Hearn stated that there was not a rematch clause for the two but really a rematch will be the largest financial option for Martin and for Garcia, he almost will have to defeat Martin in order to return to contender status.

Mikey Garcia always talked about how much he never liked boxing and with his behavior towards the business of boxing Garcia showed that out.

However, it is not unfair to consider that Mikey Garcia may have already given boxing the best that the sport will see and what boxing historians and fans could eventually decide about Mikey Garcia for all of his accomplishments that boxing never saw the best that he could have offered.

In the co-feature, mandatory challenger Jonathan Gonzalez spoiled the plans for a light flyweight unification fight as Gonzalez won the WBO title via split decision over Elwin Soto.

In many ways, Gonzalez's win was very much like the victory that would follow later in the evening by Sandor Martin- Gonzalez used the stick and move method and held off the weak aggression of Soto that probably deserved a unanimous decision rather than a split nod.

Gonzalez winning two cards (and mine) at 116-112 with a pretty bad 116-112 card for Soto in opposition was the fair result and ruined a unification fight with Soto and WBA champion Hiroto Kyoguchi that was planned for next year.

The best fighter of the weekend won his showcase bout in his home country as Mairis Bredis kept his IBF cruiserweight belt with a third-round knockout of Germany's Artur Mann in Riga, Latvia.

Breidis knocked Mann down in the second round before adding two more in the third to finish the outmatched Mann.

Breidis did announce his intention to face the second-best fighter in the division, England's Lawrence Okolie, and unify the IBF and WBO titles before both fighters would move to the heavyweight division.

It's the best fight that can be made with the cruiserweight and hopefully can be signed for the first half of 2021.

In Newcastle, England, Hughie Fury defeated Christian Hammer vis TKO when Hammer was unable to continue after the fifth round.

I thought Fury won all five rounds but the fifth round did see several exchanges between the two and the injury to Hammer's bicep that forced the ending in the corner was ill-timed as it occurred just as the fight was starting to open up.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points to move the total to 140-120.

Boxing Challenge:Chocolatito Regains Title, Garcia, Martinez win

Saturday night from Frisco, Texas, Matchroom Boxing, and DAZN assembled an excellent card of boxing and one that will be difficult to match this year.

When you have a three-division champion winning in his return, an excellent action championship fight, a future star moving up the ladder and a former heavyweight champion ending his fight vis knockout, it's a great night.

However, none of those fights are the story of the night as that honor belongs to Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, who won the WBA junior bantamweight title from Kal Yafai by a ninth-round knockout.
Gonzalez had fought only twice, both against lower-level competition, since his stunning fourth-round knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
The knockout defeat for Gonzalez was the second in a row to Rungvisai, who had defeated Gonzalez via a decision in their first fight in which finished in the conversation for fight of the year with most scoring Gonzalez as a decisive winner and combined with knee surgery since, many wondered how much that Gonzalez had lost from the supremely skilled fighter that was so dominant at junior flyweight and flyweight and was still elite at junior bantamweight, if not quite the same at the higher weight.
Despite five successful defenses of his WBA title, Yafai was looked at as the third best fighter in the division at best behind WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada and Rungvisai with some ranking him fourth or fifth behind IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas and/or WBO Kazuto Ioka, as Yafai didn't have a standout win and had scored just one knockout in his defenses.
Yafai was clearly the bigger and taller man and he may have been able to fight off the jab, using his range to keep Gonzalez off him and maybe won a decision, but instead despite his corner's protestations, decided to fight on the inside and try to grind down the veteran.
The grinding process worked well- for Gonzalez, who gradually pounded Yafai and dominated the sixth and seventh before knocking Yafai down late in the eighth round.
The clock saved Yafai in the eighth, but it would not in the ninth as Gonzalez knocked Yafai down with a crushing right within the first few seconds with the referee waving the battle off immediately.

Gonzalez winning was a surprise only due to his circumstances, not his ability and it was one of those nights in boxing that you don't see very often- a great fighter summoning up an unexpected effort to make the viewers remember how great he once was and that he might have more than a bit remaining.
I had Gonzalez leading 78-73 going into the ninth, so it was more than just hurting a fighter and finishing him off and I'll be interested to see "Chocolatito" 's next fight as he has just entered a triangle of exciting 115 pounders with Estrada and Rungvisai with each fighter having scores to settle- Gonzalez holds a win over Estrada (at flyweight), Estrada has defeated Rungvisai, and Rungvisai owns two wins over Gonzalez, so any pairing of the three will have an instant storyline and all should be action fights.

Roman Gonzalez may have won fighter of the night, but the fight of the night had to be Julio Cesar Martinez's unanimous decision victory over Jay Harris.
Martinez retained his WBC flyweight title in a fight that saw Harris fight bravely but was just a bit overmatched against the talented champion.
The fight was often held toe to toe with both fighters landing strong shots, but Martinez landed the bigger shots and more often, bloodying Harris from the nose and swelling the face of the Welshman for the second half of the fight.
Martinez landed a hard left to the body in the tenth that dropped Harris and looked like the end of the fight was near, but Harris managed to grit his way through and last the distance.
Martinez won on my scorecard 116-111 and I'd love to match him against any of the three other champions in the flyweight division, but don't rule out Harris either.
I'm not sure Harris beats any of the other champions in a strong division, but when fighters move up in weight or retire, I think he might be in the mix.

For four rounds of the main event, Jessie Vargas was on his way to a huge upset over Mikey Garcia.
I thought Vargas won three of the first four, the other round was close and just as I started to think upset, Garcia struck with a barrage of right hands that knocked Vargas down and swung the fight his way.
Garcia tried to end the fight in the sixth and seventh with a strong attack against a shaken Vargas, but Vargas rode out the storm and when Garcia put the car into neutral for the final four rounds, content to win a decision, that's what Garcia got- a unanimous decision that thrilled few and proved only that Garcia is capable of defeating top ten welterweights, but not the best of the division.
I scored Garcia a 116-111 winner, but I didn't find him overly impressive in victory and for all of his technical skills, Garcia's workmanlike style hasn't dazzled me since his days at 126 and 130 pounds.
Many things in life, we get paid for things that we are good at, not always things that we love.
Mikey Garcia doesn't seem to have the passion that truly great fighters have and sometimes watchers of the sport have to realize that we may want the passion for greatness more than the men that fight do.

Israil Madrimov entered a junior middleweight eliminator with the reputation of a future star and he did nothing to disprove that with a dismantling of Charlie Navarro in six rounds.
The 40-year-old Navarro isn't at the level of a title eliminator and he gave little resistance to Madrimov, who toyed with Navarro as he would with a novice before two sixth-round knockdowns ended the fight.
Madrimov's next fight will be tougher as he'll face someone in a final eliminator that could see him face recently crowned WBA/IBF champion Jeison Rosario or Julian Williams, should Williams win their contractually obligated rematch.

Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker survived a cut to stop trialhorse Shawndell Winters in five rounds.
Winters gave a game effort, but the naturally smaller fighter could never sting Parker and earn his respect.
Parker knocked Winters down late in the third round with the bell saving Winters and Winters showed plenty of heart in getting through the fourth, but was unable to survive the bigger puncher's fifth-round combination that sent him to the floor and ended the fight.
Parker could be facing British veteran Dereck Chisora next, who he was scheduled to fight last year before falling out due to a spider bite or even WBC top contender Dillian Whyte in a rematch of their terrific 2018 fight that was won by Whyte by unanimous decision.
Whyte could be reluctant to face Parker with a title shot on the line, but a rematch could be another battle.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica eight to seven with the Roman Gonzalez win as the difference in the week.
I lead the challenge 41-37.

Boxing Challenge: Spence Dominates Garcia

(Frank Micelotta/Fox Sports)

Many observers talked themselves into Mikey Garcia's chances of pulling an upset over Errol Spence after watching Garcia's training and demeanor entering the fight.

What many people weren't looking at was just how disgusted Errol Spence appeared to be with Mikey Garcia and that was exactly how it played out in the ring as Spence dominated Garcia in a performance that was more cat vs dying mouse than cat vs mouse in a unanimous decision win that saw Spence win every round on every judge's card (120-108) to keep his IBF welterweight title.
I gave Garcia the second round by a hair and he wasn't remotely close to adding another as Spence landed to the head and body without exception and his left seemed to be almost magnetized to Garcia, who simply couldn't avoid it or the right for that matter.
There were no knockdowns scored and some of that can be noted to the chin of Garcia, who showed an excellent one in taking the booming blows from the larger man, but perhaps even more could be credited to Spence, who reminded me of Muhammad Ali in his famous "What's my name" bout against Ernie Terrell or Dwight Muhammad Qawi (then Braxton) in his title-winning battle over Matthew Saad Muhammad in just wanting to batter Garcia for as long as he could and wasn't interested in shortening his punishment time.
For Spence, it looks like it could be Manny Pacquiao next in a fight that might be very similar to what we saw against Garcia- a very skilled bigger man pounding a very skilled smaller man, although a title unifying fight against WBC champion Shawn Porter was discussed as well.
Either of those two opponents would be the most likely foe to face Spence next, although the fight that everyone, other than those associated with Al Haymon's PBC, wants to see is against WBO champion Terence Crawford, which is extremely unlikely to happen for a while if ever.
As for Garcia, the opponent was too much regardless of the size involved and even if Garcia, who still holds the WBC lightweight title, moves back down for the fight that most wanted to see him involved with against WBA/WBO 135 pound champion Vasyl Lomachenko, which has its own issues in getting signed, mainly Garcia's refusal to do business with former promoter Top Rank, one wonders what fighter would be returning to the division.
The beating that Garcia took over the twelve rounds against Spence was the type that fighters often aren't the same fighter after returning to their more natural weight as Chad Dawson and Kell Brook have shown in recent years.

Sometimes boxing politics produces math that doesn't add up.
Two fights that everyone wanted to see didn't happen to make one fight that few wanted to see beforehand and even fewer wished that they had seen after.
Only in boxing.

I only have seen the main event and the co-main as of this writing, but the first pay per view from Fox was almost universally panned on Twitter.
I've stated in the past that the Fox crew is the worst in the game currently (and they garnered plenty of gripes), but the undercard looked weak going into the evening and produced even less.
David Benavidez made his return from drug problems and blasted out J'Leon Love in two rounds in what passed as the semi-main event.
Love, who was entering after losing a decision to Peter Quillin and in typical PBC fashion received the bout instead of the winner and was rewarded with being dominated in impressive manner by Benavidez, who was stripped of his WBC title at 168 pounds, named "Champion in recess" and will be given an immediate title shot should he go through his mandated recovery hoops.
Benavidez may be given the next shot for new champion Anthony Dirrell, although the WBC will rule soon on Dirrell giving a rematch to Avni Yildirim after their controversial fight last month.
It's possible it could be Dirrell-Yildirim II next and then Benavidez, but knowing the WBC I lean towards Dirrell-Benavidez next with the winner mandated to face Yildirim in their next bout.

Former WBC bantamweight champion Luis Nery has always had more problems out of the ring instead of in it.
Nery, who is undefeated, has had fights be invalidated for PED use and missed weight by three pounds in losing his title on the scales, but when he is on weight- Nery shows top ten pound for pound ability.
Nery appeared her against the usually durable McJoe Arroyo, who rose in weight for this fight in what appeared to be a questionable decision beforehand against the powerful Nery,
Nery bounced Arroyo off the matt four times in four rounds before the corner of Arroyo wisely ended the mismatch after the fourth round.
If you are guaranteeing me that Nery will show up clean and on weight- Nery against Naoya Inoue ranks with the fights that I would most like to see in the game.

I wrote in the challenge preview that the best fight of the weekend was in Japan and it didn't disappoint as Kosei Tanaka defeated Ryoichi Taguchi via a unanimous decision to retain his WBO flyweight title
Tanaka was defending the title that he won from Sho Kimura last year in the TRS fight of the year and even though this fight wasn't quite to that level, it was still the fight of the weekend.
Taguchi, a former light flyweight champion, showed lots of grit, but the nine years younger Tanaka wore down the veteran and took the well-deserved nod.
I'd love to see a Tanaka-Kimura rematch, but the likely target for Tanaka may be at junior bantam where former flyweight champion Kazuto Ioka will be fighting for the vacant WBO title at that weight.
An Ioka victory and the WBO policy where champions that vacate a title and rise in weight zoom to the front of the line as the mandatory contender would create a huge fight in Japan between the pair.
Should that fight go the way of Tanaka, the biggest fight in Japanese history could be in reach at bantamweight-with Tanaka vs Naoya Inoue in a fight that could fill up the Tokyo Dome.

In the boxing challenge, I won seven points in Saturday to three for Ramon Malpica to stretch my lead to 61-56.
I scored two points each from the wins by Tanaka, Nery, and Benavidez with one point from Errol Spence.
Ramon won one each from the victories by Spence, Nery, and Benavidez.

My intent is to watch the ESPN+ card today (no challenge bouts) and watch the DVR of the Arizona Hotshots ending the undefeated run of the Orlando Apollos for a game review if time permits.
I still have plenty of passings and an inbox cleaning so watch for them early next week.

Boxing Challenge:Valdez outslugs Quigg

In yet another network counterprogramming
adventure-ESPN faced off with Showtime with titles on the line in the main event on both networks.

ESPN's card featured Oscar Valdez defending his WBO featherweight title against himself as Scott Quigg weighed in three pounds overweight and could not win the title.
Valdez could have lost it though with a defeat that would cause his title to become vacant, but in a fight that was fun to watch, but felt like an anti-climax, Valdez won a unanimous decision to retain his title.
Give both fighters plenty of credit (in the ring), both fought gallantly through injuries as Quigg's nose was broken giving him a look of an NBA player wearing a mask to protect a broken nose and Valdez fought half the bout with a broken jaw that forced his corner to keep his mouthpiece in to avoid the pain of taking the gumshield in and out.
I scored Valdez a 116-113 winner (7-4-1 in rounds), which was a little closer than the scorecards.
The fight was action-filled, but the actions of Quigg (who I've always liked) and his camp in first missing weight that badly and then hamstringing Valdez/Top Rank/ESPN on terms to even allow the fight to happen at all, were less than honorable.
Quigg did fight through a stress fracture in his foot and to be fair that could have hurt his chances to make the weight, but Quigg was clearly the larger man in the bout.
Oscar Valdez rose a great deal in my eyes with this win as he overcame a size difference, dealt with outside the ring drama and dealt with a broken jaw and still managed to win the fight against a strong opponent.
It was a great fight that deserves a rematch, but I'm doubtful that we'll see it unless Valdez has no other options (which might be the case with the three other featherweight champs Gary Russell, Leo Santa Cruz and Lee Selby all being with PBC).

The co-feature saw Erick DeLeon battle to a majority draw with Andy Vences in a fight with two undefeated prospects.
I scored it 95-95, so I was more than fine with the decision.
Vences seemed a bit quicker, DeLeon threw the harder shots, a draw was good enough for me...

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Mikey Garcia won his fourth divisional title via a unanimous decision over Sergey Lipinets to lift the IBF junior welterweight title in Texas.
Garcia wasn't as effective at the higher weight despite putting Lipinets on the floor in the seventh round and it was more workmanlike than spectacular in the victory.
I scored Garcia a 118-109 winner (10-2 with a knockdown), but in my opinion, Garcia would be better suited to return to 135, where not only is he more effective, but he has bigger fights there against Vasyl Lomachenko, Jorge Linares (rumors are flying that Lomachenko-Linares in May is close to getting signed!) or Robert Easter than at 140 where you are just beginning to see the titles filled from Terence Crawford's move up to 147.
There seem to be some fighters at junior welterweight that might develop into stars (Jose Ramirez and Regis Prograis seem to have the best chance of doing that or Amir Imam should he upset Ramirez next weekend), but they sure aren't there yet and other than collecting belts that he won't defend, I don't seem any real advantage to hanging around junior welterweight for Garcia, who has built his career on beating good fighters with flaws and has yet to face someone that might have an even chance of defeating him.

In Showtime's other bout, one of the worst decision's of 2017 was remedied as Kiryl Relikh shutout (on my card) Rances Barthelemy to win the vacant WBA junior welterweight title.
The two fought last year in a title eliminator that saw a decision so bad that the Hamburglar was out as Barthelemy took an awful decision.
The judges this time got it right in the mandated rematch as Rellikh dominated the fight against Barthelemy.
I'm not sure Relikh is a star in the making, but his walk forward style could make some fun fights at 140.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on Saturday.
I received two points each from Mikey Garcia and Oscar Valdez, while Ramon earned two from Valdez and one each from Garcia and Kiryl Relikh.
I lead the challenge 41-33.

Garcia decisions Broner-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points in the boxing challenge to move the total,but the margin stayed the same as the score is now 94-87...

The biggest fight of the weekend saw WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia deliver arguably the best performance of his career in his move to junior welterweight with a dominant unanimous decision over Adrien Broner on Showtime.
Garcia is about as technically sound as they come and he used combinations along with a surprising body attack to leave the inactive Broner to do little but shake his head in an attempt to shake Garcia's poise.
I scored Garcia a 118-110 winner and you could make an argument for 120-108.

Garcia has lots of interesting fights that could be made,if promotional issues would not enter into the picture-as they always do.
Garcia could drop back to 135 where he still holds the WBC title and fight WBA champ Jorge Linares,but with Linares with Golden Boy,that could be difficult to make.
If Garcia chooses to stay at 140,a Terence Crawford (or Julius Indongo should he upset Crawford in August) fight would be one of the best in boxing,but Crawford is a Top Rank fighter and since Garcia's divorce from the Bob Arum company,I doubt they will do many favors for Garcia.
Garcia could get PBC champions at 147 in Keith Thurman or Errol Spence in fights that again would be interesting,but that involves going up another seven pounds for a fighter that won his first title at 126.
Still,it'll be interesting to see what avenue Garcia takes next...

As for Adrien Broner,I think we've seen what we'll see from him.
He's good,but not great,neither a true boxer or big banger and more of a top ten fighter rather than a true elite fighter.
Despite the branding and building of the name,Adrien Broner simply isn't an elite fighter.
Oh.every once in a while in the future,the name he built will be used to make some money or build another fighters resume' and maybe he'll even win another title,if matched properly,but he's been exposed for good now and you'll never see him as a true A side in a big fight again.
Ramon and I each received two points for the Garcia win.

In the other Showtime bout,Jermall Charlo debuted as a middleweight with a fourth round knockout over Jorge Sebastian Heiland to become the WBC's mandatory contender for the winner of Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez.
Heiland clearly was injured entering the bout with a leg issue and just couldn't keep his balance in going down in the second and fourth.
Charlo did what needed to be done,but for this to be his first fight at the weight against an overmatched journeyman with just one name victory (an over the hill Matthew Macklin) and qualify him for a title fight was ridiculous.
Charlo's post-fight interview was just as ludicrous as Charlo called himself the Hitman,the "real Tommy Hearns" and later compared himself to Sugar Ray Leonard.
I wasn't aware that wins over Julian Williams (Charlo's best win to date) and Jorge Sebastian Heiland brought one such prestige,but apparently they do....
I added two points for the Charlo KO with Ramon adding one for the win.

Showtime also streamed a heavyweight fight for free on their YouTube channel,showing while HBO is stuck in 2007,Showtime is being innovative and using technology to grow the sport-now if they could only get some of their better guys to fight more often and versus better competition.
Talented,but overweight Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller returned after a long layoff to stop Gerald Washington at the end of round eight.
You might remember Washington's last bout in a undeserved title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder where he fought evenly for four rounds vs Wilder before being stopped in the fifth round,this time Washington was generally bullied by the bulkier Miller in being badly hurt in the sixth,seventh and eighth rounds before not being allowed to start the ninth round.
I thought Miller won every round before the end of the bout.
Miller is going to have to try to be in better shape against tougher opponents,but I'm intrigued by Miller's potential,if he could do that.
Ramon and I each added two points for the Miller knockout.

In an untelevised bout,former bantamweight champion Rau'shee Warren won a unanimous decision over former junior bantamweight champ McJoe Arroyo to become the IBF's mandatory contender for their champion Jerwin Ancajas.
Ramon received two points for the Warren win and unanimous nod,while I added one for the Warren win.

Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge kicks off August with four bouts on the Showtime platform-two on the network and one for free on the network's Youtube and Facebook pages.
The fourth may be televised if time permits...

The big bout of the weekend features WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia moving up to junior welterweight against multiple division former champion Adrien Broner.
Garcia is a big hitter,but started his career at featherweight and you wonder where he will meet the weight class where his power levels out.
Broner has won titles in three weight classes,but has never beaten a top five in his division fighter,let alone a fighter of the talent of Mikey Garcia.
Broner has shown a pretty solid chin among all of his fights,so it'll be interesting to see if Garcia can hurt Broner.
A loss wouldn't hurt Garcia,but a loss might send Broner to special attraction status...

Showtime also will have the return of former IBF junior middleweight champ Jermall Charlo,who looked so spectacular in winning as an underdog against Julian Williams in the final defense of his title before he vacated and moved to middleweight.
Charlo should have been right back into the ring to take advantage of the huge win,but eight months have went by since the win and the momentum has been lost.
As for Jorge Sebastian Heiland,Charlo's opponent in this WBC middleweight eliminator,he is 1-1 against anyone I've heard of and his only big win was a knockout three years ago over a faded Matthew Macklin.

Showtime might not have the cache' or the wallet of HBO,but they are light years ahead of HBO on streaming,where they stream their fight live to subscribers (HBO does not) and on Saturday,the network will be showing one challenge fight (maybe another) and a ladies bout for free on YouTube and Facebook

Talented,but untested heavyweight Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller takes on his first real test against former title challenger Gerald Washington.
Washington was stopped by Deontay Wilder in five in his last bout for the WBC heavyweight title in a shot that was undeserved,but fought on equal terms with Wilder for four rounds before the stoppage.
Miller has some talent,but doesn't always come to fights in shape,so it'll be interesting to see if Miller is in shape and how he matches up with the 6'6 Washington.

In the "television time remaining" category,former WBA bantamweight champion Rau'shee Warren drops down to junior bantamweight in an IBF eliminator against another former champion-IBF 122 pound champ McJoe Arroyo.
The winner will fight IBF champ Jerwin Ancajas,who dethroned Arroyo.
Warren lost his title in his last bout in a split decision to Zhanat Zhakiyanov in a fight that I scored for Zhakiyanov by one point..

I lead the challenge over Ramon Malpica 87-80

Junior Welterweights.12 rds
Mikey Garcia vs Adrien Broner
Both:Garcia unanimous decision

Middleweights.12 rds
Jermell Charlo vs Jorge Sebastian Heiland
R.L:Charlo unanimous decision
TRS:Charlo KO 7

Heavyweights. 10 rds
Jarrell Miller vs Gerald Washington
R.L:Miller KO 5
TRS:Miller KO 7

Junior Bantamweights, 12 rds
Rau'shee Warren vs McJoe Arroyo
R.L:Warren unanimous decision
TRS:Warren majority decision

Linares outclasses Crolla-Boxing Challenge

Their first fight might have been close and exciting,but the rematch in Manchester,England between Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla was a lopsided affair that saw Linares retain the WBA lightweight title via unanimous decision.

Linares chose to use his speed and threw beautiful combinations to not allow Crolla to get any type of offense going and looked as good as one can look in a championship fight,especially in the challengers backyard.
Give Crolla lots of credit for hanging in there all evening and taking quite a pounding.
Crolla could have easily packed it in after being felled by a Linares uppercut in the seventh round,but rose and even had a few moments after that,but never threatened Linares in any fashion.
All three judges scored the bout as I did 118-109 (10-2 in rounds plus the knockdown) for the champion.

The Linares victory looks to have cemented a summer showdown with WBC champion Mikey Garcia in what should be an excellent fight between two of the best offensive fighters in the sport that have both won titles in three different divisions.
Both fighters would enter such a bout with questions.
Linares has been stopped in all three of his losses and has shown a tendency to cut while Garcia has steamrolled through his competition,but despite dominating,he was dropped by Roman Martinez and staggered badly by Juan Carlos Burgos.
I've also wondered about Garcia's desire in the sport and have questions about how he may respond when he is challenged by a fighter that can approach his skill level.

There are some promotional issues as Linares fights for Golden Boy with Garcia being represented by Golden Boy's sworn enemy in former GBP chairman Richard Schaefer and his new Ringstar Promotions,so this fight won't be easy to make,but with the WBC mandating Garcia to defend against Linares next (Linares was the WBC champ before becoming the "champion in recess" due to injuries)
that should help the fight get signed.
It's one of the best matchups in the game and the winner will clearly be the best at 135 pounds.

Ramon Malpica each picked Linares by unanimous decision,so we each added two points to move the total to 31-29 in my favor.

Santa Cruz avenges loss-Boxing Challenge

A fun four night night on two networks saw Ramon Malpica add three points to my two and tie the boxing challenge at six....

The biggest fight of the weekend was on Showtime with a rematch of one of the better fights of 2016 with Leo Santa Cruz regaining the WBA featherweight title from Carl Frampton via majority decision in Las Vegas.
The fight was filled with plenty of action,but for pure pugnaciousness,I thought the first fight was a little better.
It appears the next step for both will be a third fight,this time possibly in Frampton's home country of Northern Ireland.
I'm not really against a third fight,but unless it's going to be made quickly (it took six months for this rematch),I'd rather see Santa Cruz in another defense first.
I'm not a fan of two guys being the only two people involved with a title belt for well over a year.
Santa Cruz didn't throw as many punches as in the first fight,but he did make adjustments from his loss by being able to stay "long" and keep Frampton outside with more use of the jab than in the first fight.
I scored Santa Cruz a 115-112 winner or 7-4-1 in rounds....
Ramon and I each picked Frampton for no points.

The other Showtime bout saw Mikey Garcia win a title in his third division with a three round demolition of Dejan Zlaticanin to take away the WBC lightweight title.
Ramon picked Garcia for one point,while I picked Zlaticanin and 30 seconds into the fight,it became clear that Garcia was going to win this fight-it was only a matter how long and how.
The knockout is an early contender for KO of the year and hopefully this will be the start of Garcia being more active.
Garcia has always been extremely talented,I've never doubted that.
My doubts have always been just how much Garcia likes this game and does he have the desire to be great?
Hopefully,a Garcia match vs WBA champ Jorge Linares (Assuming Linares wins his rematch vs Anthony Crolla) can be made between the two top lightweights in the world.

HBO's bouts may not have had the significance of the Showtime card,but it did have a title fight and an eliminator for that champion to defend against in his next fight..
Those fights came through with two excellent action fights and well worth the watch as well-even if on delay after Showtime's bouts.

The main event saw Miguel Berchelt beat up Francisco Vargas and strip away his WBC junior lightweight title with an eleven round stoppage,
Vargas,who had endured huge beatings in tremendous battles against Takashi Miura (winning his title with a come from behind KO) and Orlando Salido (in a draw that I thought Salido won) had his moments,but Berchelt was bigger and stronger and was the deserving win in a good action fight.
Fighters like Vargas that are all action and take tons of punishment tend to lose their skills all at once and Vargas may have done that on this night.
I would suggest to Vargas that he consider retirement,I simply believe he is going to take beatings if he continues his career.
As for Berchelt,he steps into the forefront at 130 with several other fighters that all seem to be around the same talent level and can make plenty of great fights behind Vasyl Lomachenko,who is clearly the top fighter in the division....
WBC champ Berchelt,newly crowned IBF champ Gervonta Davis,WBA Jezreel Corrales and former champs Miura and Salido would make a great fight in any combination and perhaps the survivor of all could be a solid and interesting fight for Lomachenko...
Berchelt's win gave Ramon one point and none for me.

The eliminator saw Takashi Miura go back and forth with Miguel Roman before Miura put Roman away in round 12 to earn the title match later this year vs Berchelt.
I had Roman slightly ahead after nine rounds,but Miura dropped Roman in both the tenth and eleventh round before the fight ending knockdown in the final round.
This was the fight of the night,which says a lot on a night like this one!
Miura gave me two points for the win and knockout,while Ramon added one for the Miura victory