Boxing Challenge:Hrgovic survives Itauma

    Saturday was supposed to be the coronation for heavyweight Moses Itauma.

Itauma had been compared to Mike Tyson for his electrifying power, and Filip Hrgovic was the foil in Itauma's first title fight, the vacant IBF championship.

And Itauma showed his power, winning all eight rounds and showing Hrgovic that the reviews of the twenty-one-year-old's offense were correct.

However, those rounds came at a price- sapping the stamina of Itauma and changing the attack to wild, looping punches that won rounds but didn't have the impact of earlier blows.

Itauma scored a knockdown in round two with a glancing hook, but Itauma landed many other power punches that Hrgovic was able to essentially shrug off.

In round nine, Itauma was still throwing wild punches, but Hrgovic battered Itauma around, avoiding his desperate counters, and just as the referee moved in to stop the fight, the towel flew in from Itauma's corner.

For Hrgovic, mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez is next, as Sanchez took a large cash-out to allow Itauma and Hrgovic to meet for the IBF title under the condition that he would be next to face the winner.

Itauma suffered a leg injury during the fight, and he'll have to take time to recover, but he's young enough and talented enough to bounce back and become a force in the division.

Lightweight contender Sam Noakes won an easy unanimous decision over former WBO champion Denis Berinchyk in the co-feature.

And in California, super middleweight contender Lester Martinez stopped Luca Planic in ten rounds.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:99 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 84 Pts (3)

Vince Samano; 60 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Fundora pounds Thurman

 Due to time constraints, a just-the-facts wrap-up of the boxing challenge.

Sebastian Fundora stopped Keith Thurman in six lopsided rounds to keep his WBC junior middleweight title.

Junior middleweight Yoenis Tellez won a unanimous decision over Brian Mendoza.

Heavyweight contender Moses Itauma stopped Jermaine Franklin in the fifth round.

Light heavyweight Willy Hutchinson won a unanimous decision over Ezra Taylor.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 36 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 35 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 28 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Itauma Wallops Whyte

   Dillian Whyte looked in good shape, and he's always given a good effort even in his losses, so Whyte appeared to be ready to test Moses Itauma for the first time.

That didn't happen as the youthful bomber walked through Whyte from the bell, wobbled him badly, and dropped him to the floor.

Whyte got up, but the fight was concluded.

For Itauma, it was the latest in a list of spectacular victories. While the talk has started of a challenge to the undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk, Itauma said that he would accept such a fight. Itauma admitted that contenders Joseph Parker and Agit Kabayel were currently more deserving of the chance and stated that he would be willing to fight either man next to qualify for a Usyk fight.

As for Dillian Whyte, he appears to be finished at the top level and is headed for journeyman status, where his name is used to pad the records of young prospects like Itauma.

It's the cycle of life in boxing, and Dillian Whyte is completing the life cycle.

Junior lightweight Raymond Ford defeated veteran Abraham Nova by unanimous decision in a competitive fight.

Ford won by two scores of 97-93 and one of 96-94; I agreed with the latter.

Ford may be headed for a challenge of IBF champion Eduardo "Sugar" Nunez, which is quite intriguing.

Nova fought well in taking the fight on short notice and still maintains his status in the division.

I haven't seen the other two fights in the boxing challenge as of the time of this writing.

Nick Ball retained his WBA featherweight title by a unanimous decision over Sam Goodman 

Editor's Note- I scored the fight for Ball 115-113.

Filip Hrgovic won a unanimous decision over David Adeleye.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 126 Pts (7)

Ramon Malpica: 120 Pts (7)

Vince Samano; 46 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Taylor upset, Leo keeps title

    The biggest bout of the boxing weekend would see a surprising upset. Ekow Essuman shocked the hometown crowd in Glasgow, Scotland, by winning a unanimous decision over twelve rounds over former undisputed junior welterweight champion Josh Taylor.

Taylor started quickly, banking several early rounds before Essuman turned the tide with an attack that slowed Taylor and never hit the pause button for himself.

Essuman is aggressive but lacks a powerful punch, so he never put Taylor in danger; he simply outworked Taylor and wanted the victory more.

The official scores for Essuman were 116-112, 116-113, and 115-113, with my score at 115-113.

Essuman stated that he wanted bigger fights after the win, while Taylor dropped his third fight in a row, with losses to Teofimo Lopez and Jack Catterall preceding this loss.

Promising heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma destroyed veteran Mike Balogun in two rounds on the Taylor-Essuman undercard.

Itauma dropped Balogun in the first round, and only the guts of Balogun avoided the fight ending in round one.

Itauma knocked down Balogun twice more in round two to end the fight.

Itauma will have to prove he can take a shot, but he looks legitimate as a potential divisional force.

In Japan, Angelo Leo retained his IBF featherweight title via majority decision over former bantamweight champion Tomoki Kameda.

Leo managed to keep Kameda off him just enough to earn the decision in a very good fight.

Scorecards were even at 114-114 and two for Leo, 116-112 and 115-113. I scored it 116-112 for Leo.

On Friday in Doncaster, England, lightweight Maxi Hughes banged out a unanimous decision over Archie Sharp.

Sharp was effective, but spent too much time on the move, and Hughes deserved the nod by scores of 115-113, 116-112, and a crazy 120-108.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 79 Pts (6) 

Ramon Malpica: 75 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 32 Pts  (2)

Boxing Challenge: Usyk repeats win

    It wasn't as dramatic as their first match but it was probably a better fight as Oleksandr Usyk repeated his win from the spring with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury in Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

It was similar to the first match as Fury banked some early rounds and Usyk slowly wore the much larger man down winning most of the final two-thirds of the bout.

The problem that Tyson Fury has with Oleksandr Usyk is this- all of the skills that have made Fury an excellent champion are skills that Usyk possesses and better.

All three judges scored Usyk a winner 116-112, the same as mine, and I think this is the consensus score.

If you give every remotely close round to Fury, you might get to a draw but even that feels wrong.

Usyk was challenged by IBF champion Daniel DuBois after the fight and it came off especially classless, especially since Usyk knocked out DuBois last year and DuBois has a difficult title defense in February against Joseph Parker on tap.

Fury can always fight Anthony Joshua for a big payday and draw a stadium-sized crowd in the UK, so I wouldn't think his career is over.

In the other challenge bouts, promising heavyweight Moses Itauma impressively mowed down Demsey McKean in one round, and junior middleweight Serhii Bohachuk defeated Ishmael Davis when Davis's corner stopped the fight after the end of the sixth round.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 190 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 186 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 116 Pts (0)