Not so Boxing Challenge: Inoue, Nakatani notch wins

    It comes too late to be, but I wanted to write before it was too late. The biggest fight in Japanese history appears to be on the horizon, but not without some difficulty in Riyadh.

In the main event, undisputed world junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue retained his four titles with a dominant unanimous decision over mandatory contender Alan David Picasso.

No knockdowns scored with the champion winning by scores of 120-109, 119-109 (my score), and 117-111.

Former unified bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani made his junior featherweight bow a successful one. Still, he had to battle for it, as Nakatani barely repelled the unexpectedly firm challenge of Sebastian Hernandez by a close but unanimous decision.

Lots of action, and Nakatani's left eye was swollen shut by the end of the bout.

Scores of 115-113 on two cards (and mine) with the third an absurd 118-110 all for Nakatani.

Inoue and Nakatani are expected to meet in the spring at the Tokyo Dome for Inoue's titles in the biggest All-Japanese fight in the nation's history.

The other fight took place in Japan, where Masamichi Yabuki retained his IBF flyweight title with a final-round knockout of former light flyweight champion Felix Alvarado.

Yabuki scored knockdowns in the eleventh and twelfth rounds to cement the win.

Boxing Challenge: Inoue marches through MJ

   We recapped the Las Vegas side of the boxing weekend earlier, so now it's onto the remainder of the weekend, which saw the world junior featherweight title retained and two new champions taking their place at the table.

Nagoya, Japan, was the site as Naoya "The Monster" Inoue dominated Murodjon "MJ" Akhmadaliev and won an easy unanimous decision to retain his undisputed junior featherweight titles.

Inoue never hurt or knocked down Akhmadaliev, which speaks volumes about the challenger's quality. However, the Monster was far too fast and skilled for Akhmadaliev, and aside from two or three rounds, Inoue dominated the fight.

Akhmadaliev did wobble Inoue in the waning seconds of the fight, but had little time to follow up.

Inoue earned the judges' nod by scores of 118-110 twice and 117-111, which was my score.

Inoue will make his next defense against another mandatory challenger (Akhmadaliev was the WBA's mandatory challenger) before the end of the year against the WBC's Alan David Picasso in Saudi Arabia.

Should Inoue retain those titles, he would face Junto Nakatani next year in the Tokyo Dome in the biggest All-Japanese fight in history.

The co-feature saw an upset as Christian Medina knocked out Yoshiki Takei in the fourth round to win the WBO bantamweight title.

Medina floored Takei in the first round and battered him throughout before finishing him in the fourth.

Paddy Donovan met Lewis Crocker for the second time, and for the second time, Crocker emerged with a controversial victory. 

Donovan was dominating the first fight but was disqualified for hitting Crocker after the bell in an IBF welterweight eliminator.

Since then, Jaron "Boots" Ennis vacated the title, and the IBF mandated rematch was for the vacant title.

This time, Crocker scored knockdowns in the third and fifth rounds, but I thought Donovan was ahead (114-112 on my card) at the end of the fight.

The official decision differed, with Crocker winning on two cards (114-112 and 114-113), with Donovan winning on one card (115-111).

I'd be fine with a third fight eventually between these two.

Roman Gonzalez continued his comeback with a unanimous decision win over Hector Robles in Nicaragua.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 132 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 125 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 52 Pts (1) 

Boxing Challenge: Inoue saves the weekend

   In the original Star Wars film, Princess Leia appeared as a damaged hologram in an attempt to contact Obi-Wan Kenobi, repeatedly commenting, "Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are our only hope."

That scene came to mind after the two dreary events previously over the weekend with a paraphrase "Naoya Inoue you are our only hope".

Naoya Inoue came through, but the mild surprise came from Ramon Cardenas, who didn't read the script and floored Inoue in the second round.

Inoue wasn't seriously hurt from the left hand that knocked him down, but he began to turn the tide in the fourth, and after round four, Inoue controlled the action despite Cardenas having his share of success in exchanges.

In the seventh, the Monster stung Cardenas, and it became clear the end was near, which Inoue's inner radar realized, jumping on Cardenas to start the eighth round, driving him into the ropes with authority with a series of punches that forced referee Harvey Dock to stop the fight.

I had Inoue slightly ahead at the time of the stoppage 67-66.

For Inoue, he'll be facing the top challenger in the division, former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev this September in what should be an interesting fight.

Inoue has now been dropped twice in his last three fights (Cardenas and Luis Nery) by similar punches, a counter left, and Akhmadaliev is a skilled counterpuncher, so it will be interesting to see if Inoue works on fixing a flaw before that match.

As for Cardenas, he has made a name for himself after an energetic and valiant attempt to dethrone Inoue and he's earned the chance for high-visibility fights in the future.

In the co-feature, Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight title over Edward Vazquez in a strong outing for the champion.

Vazquez tried hard but his light punching power wasn't enough to stun Espinoza and with the physical advantages held by the 6'1 champion, Vazquez couldn't use his usual game to outbox him from a distance.

Vazquez was dead game and tried to win but this was a bad style match for him, and the fight ended similarly as the main event with Espinoza pouring it onto a battering challenger along the ropes in round seven.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 68 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 65 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:30 Pts  (2)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue erases Kim

    Lightly regarded junior featherweight challenger Ye Joon Kim tried his best to win rather than survive in his challenge of the undisputed champion Naoya Inoue Friday morning in Tokyo. Still, the fight was over when Inoue landed his first strong right hand.

That right connected in round four and they would fight no further with Inoue retaining all four of his championships via fourth-round KO.  

Kim was game and even landed a few right hands on "The Monster" but class showed the first time Inoue's power crashed home.

Inoue announced plans for three more fights in 2025, which is encouraging to boxing fans, and is reported to include a trip to the USA to meet the WBC's mandatory challenger Alan Picasso, a long-awaited defense against WBA mandatory Murodjon Akhmadaliev in Saudi Arabia, and then a Japanese superfight against WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani.

All three will present superior opposition to Inoue than Kim and while each will be a significant underdog, each will have supporters that think their man will be the one that tames the Monster.

Nakatani's height and reach will be a difficult task against Inoue and despite his surprising loss to Marlon Tapales, Akhmadaliev has the technical skills to at least trouble Inoue for a few rounds.

It looms as a very interesting year for Inoue and should all three of those fights occur with Inoue wins, The Monster will have a major case for 2025's fighters of the year.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica; 4 Pts (2)

TRS: 4 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 2 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue forces surrender in seven

      The Monster claimed another meal in Tokyo Tuesday as undisputed world junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue defended his four championships successfully as former IBF champion TJ Doheny was forced to surrender in round seven.

Doheny fought well as anyone could have hoped as he feinted against Inoue effectively, and landed his straight left, and I even thought he won the third round but Inoue started to whack away at the body of the Australian in the fifth and sixth and near the end of round six, Doheny was visibly shaken by a body punch.

Doheny was driven to the ropes with another body punch in the seventh that turned him around and he immediately indicated he was fine with the stoppage due to either an injury to his back or foot, perhaps even both.

This was about what was expected in the optional title defense and promoter Bob Arum stated the plans for Inoue to have one more fight before the end of 2024.

Inoue does have two mandatories coming up, so it's likely to be either the WBA's top contender in former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev or the IBF's leading challenger in Australia's Sam Goodman.

The co-feature was an excellent fight as Yoshiki Takei scraped by former WBC flyweight Daigo Higa with a razor-close unanimous decision to retain his WBO bantamweight title.

Takei controlled the early rounds with Higa dominating late, including an eleventh-round flash knockdown of the champion but with the fight on the line Takei won the final round and with it the fight.

Scores for the champion of 115-112 and 114-113 times two with my score of 114-113 for Higa.

The fight was so close and well-fought, a rematch would make sense.

In an untelevised fight at junior lightweight, Andy Hiroka stopped veteran Ismael Barroso in the ninth round of a WBA eliminator.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 123 Pts (6)

TRS: 112 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 65 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue survives knockdown

        "The Monster" was dented in the initial round by Luis Nery's left hook that knocked down Naoya Inoue in the first round for the first time in his career.

But Inoue responded with a left hook of his own in the second round that dropped Nery to the canvas and while Nery had his moments, Inoue dominated after the first round, added another knockdown in the fifth before finishing Nery in the sixth with a right hand that sprawled the challenger across the bottom rope to retain all four junior featherweight titles.

Nery, a former WBC bantamweight and junior featherweight champion, came with his best effort and landed his share of left hooks but Inoue was too fast and out of Nery's league, which says a lot as Nery received some consideration for top ten pound for pound a few years ago and entered the fight with only one loss since (a ninth-round knockout loss to Brandon Figueroa).

Naoya Inoue is just too good and is expected to face Australia's Sam Goodman in a fall fight that will count as one of Inoue's mandatory defenses.

In the co-feature, Yoshiki Takei completed the Japanese takeover of the bantamweight division with a unanimous decision win over Jason Moloney to take Moloney's WBO title.

All four of the titles in the 118-pound division now reside in the land of the Rising Sun with four different champions.

Takei lost a point in the second round for a low blow but controlled Moloney for most of the fight, although Moloney hurt Takei badly late in the final round, and had there been a round thirteen, Moloney may have been able to stop Takei but alas that round never occurred.

Takei won on the cards by scores of 116-111 times two and 117-110, my scorecard read 116-111.

WBA bantamweight champion Takuma Inoue retained his title by a unanimous decision over Sho Ishida but like his brother later in the evening, was knocked down in the first round.

Ishida did well early and seemed to be walking Inoue down but a busted nose that bled throughout the fight hampered the challenger.

The scorecards for Inoue were 118-109 times two and 116-111, while my card read 117-110.

In the cards opener, Seigo Yuri Akai retained his WBA flyweight title with a unanimous decision over Taku Kuwahara, who lost the second fight of his career, both to Akai.

Akai's winning scorecards were 118-110 and 117-111 times two with the latter score the same as my card.

There isn't a boxing challenge for this as I didn't have time to work on a preview or even post selections and I don't think it's fair for the competition to have me knowing my picks without putting them up on the site.

I wouldn't cheat but it removes any controversy.

Boxing Challenge: Inoue Unifies Again!

   Naoya Inoue got more than most bargained for in a strong effort by Marlon Tapales but even in a gutsy attempt by Tapales, the greatness of Inoue was far too much as Inoue took away Tapales's WBA and IBF junior featherweight titles by tenth round knockout in Tokyo.

Adding those titles to the WBC and WBO championships that Inoue owned entering the fight means that Inoue completely unified the division in the two fights that the Monster has fought in the weight class.

Inoue was expected to overpower Tapales but Tapales showed the willingness to engage with Inoue and took the power shots very well, even fighting back after a fourth-round knockdown and winning the seventh round on my card, which is rare against Inoue.

Still, even though Tapales fought much better than expected, he was overmatched by Inoue, who could be the best fighter in the world and if he is rated behind anyone, it's Terence Crawford and no one else.

Inoue announced his desire to stay in the division to defend his titles rather than vacate them almost immediately as he did with his bantamweight titles. He is expected to face former WBC bantamweight and super featherweight champion Luis Nery in the spring.

Nery is a fighter who was once rated by some as a top ten pound-for-pound fighter and has won four straight since suffering his only loss in 2021, a seventh-round knockout loss to Brandon Figueroa.

Nery will be the hardest puncher that Inoue has faced other than maybe Nonito Donaire but Nery is likely to have issues with the speed of Inoue and his chin gave out against Figueroa, it's hard to see him holding up against Inoue.

Naoya Inoue is a special fighter and has already stamped himself as a Hall of Famer.

The question is this- Who will be the fighter that truly pushes him to the limit?

I don't see anyone doing so at 122 pounds, is that fighter at 126 pounds?

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 198 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 179 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 131 Pts (2)  

Boxing Challenge: Inoue Simply the Best!

     I've written before that occasionally you can watch thirty seconds to a minute of a fight and it becomes crystal clear that one fighter is going to dominate the other, barring a change of tactics.

One of those matchups occurred earlier today in Tokyo Japan after all the pre-fight speculation, previews, and predictions, it was abundantly obvious that Naoya Inoue was going to defeat WBC and WBC junior featherweight champion Stephen Fulton unless Fulton could do anything to change the dynamic.

If Fulton would be unable to do anything to pull that off, the only question would be whether Inoue won by decision or would he be able to stop Fulton?

Fulton was trying his best to repel Inoue but he was unable to establish the jab which in the buildup for the fight was thought to be the tactical edge that Fulton might have, and Inoue used his jab to set up his attack to break down Fulton bit by bit.

Fulton did try his best and the fourth and fifth rounds were relatively close although I scored both for Inoue and Inoue held a 70-63 lead on my card.

There would be no need to score further as Inoue landed a tremendous right hand that reduced Fulton's legs to rubber only to be hit by a left hook that dropped Fulton for the first time in his career.

Fulton showed heart in getting up but he was unable to fend off the charge of Inoue's punches and knocked Fulton down again with the referee stopping the fight without a count.

Impressive is too soft to describe the victory as Inoue stepped up in weight and tore apart the best fighter that the division had to offer with ease, taking his two championships with him.

And pity poor Marlon Tapales, who upset Murodjon Akhmadaliev with a split decision to take his WBA and IBF titles in April, and was brought into the ring for a faceoff with Inoue after the fight.

Tapales, much like Paul Butler last December, will be given the payday of his career for the sacrifice of his titles, and will almost certainly be dismissed by Inoue whenever he chooses to do so.

And after Inoue dispatches Tapales, Inoue is likely to leave the junior featherweight division as he left the bantamweights- with nothing to prove and with all four titles.

That would leave the featherweight division to conquer and again the only question is when Inoue hits that magical invisible weight that his greatness is reduced to merely excellent.

Inoue would be favored against any featherweight champion and none of those fighters other than maybe WBO champion Robeisy Ramirez, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner would have even a minimal chance.

WBC king Rey Vargas fights for PBC and unlike Fulton, who also fights for PBC, Vargas doesn't appear likely to gamble on greatness to challenge Inoue.

Vargas is a safety-first boxer and would likely try to run from Inoue for twelve rounds.

The WBA champion, England's Leigh Wood fights for Matchroom and would likely engage Inoue before paying a massive price to do so, should such a fight be arranged.

IBF titleist Luis Alberto Lopez has impressed with his road wins over Josh Warrington to win this title and then defending against Michael Conlan but he doesn't appear to have the all-around game that would trouble Inoue and while WBO standard bearer Robeisy Ramirez has the amateur pedigree and maturing professional game, I wonder if he has the in-ring discipline that it will take to defeat Inoue.

It may be putting the cart well before the horse but I'm not sure that the junior lightweight division has the man to tame the Monster either.

It may be two years away before invading that division would happen but I'd favor Inoue against any of the four champions- Hector Luis Garcia (WBA/PBC) fought well before being stopped by Gervonta Davis but suffered from double-vision in that fight and his status is unknown, WBC (free agent) champion O'Shaquie Foster would likely be meat on Inoue's platter, IBF beltholder Joe Cordina (Matchroom) would meet a fate similar to Leigh Wood in an Inoue challenge, a game attack before being overwhelmed, and either WBO champion Emanuel Navarrete or his August challenger in two-division champion Oscar Valdez would be an exciting opponent for Inoue as well as the best known and with both promoted by Top Rank, would be an easy fight to sign, although both appear to be overmatched by Inoue.

Of course, upsets always are part of the boxing landscape and eventually, some unexpected boxer will take away the zero of Inoue if he fights long enough or moves up in weight too many times.

However for now and for the foreseeable future- Naoya Inoue looks unbeatable and unless the winner of Saturday night's Errol Spence-Terence Crawford battle is incredibly impressive to stake their claim, Inoue is the best fighter in the world.

In the co-feature, Robeisy Ramirez retained his WBO featherweight title with a fifth-round knockout over former Olympic bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu.

Ramirez won the first four rounds over the lanky challenger before busting his face and eye in the fifth before crunching him with a left uppercut that Shimizu did well to get up from but was saved by the referee from taking more punishment.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 124 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 114 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 89 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue Unifies 118 pound Titles

  Naoya Inoue felt very little retribution from the punches of Paul Butler and gradually wore down the Englishman with punishing bodywork before polishing the final obstacle to unification in the bantamweight division off in the eleventh round in Tokyo.

Butler's offense disappeared after the first few rounds and without the desire to move forward against the bombs of Inoue, the only question became could Butler survive the entire twelve-round distance?

Inoue attempted to make the fight entertaining as Butler retreated including imitating the famous Roy Jones "chicken" stance with both hands behind his back.

Just as it seemed that Butler would possibly last through the twelve rounds, Inoue stepped up his body attack and drove Butler to his knees in a corner.

The referee ended the fight but Butler wasn't threatening to beat the count, so the fight was going to end even if Butler had been given a chance to rise.

The Inoue victory was not only the first in the four-title era to unify the bantamweight division, but the division also was never unified in the three-title generation, and the first fully unified champion at 118  pounds since the WBC stripped Enrique Pinder in 1973.

Inoue will almost definitely vacate his titles and move to junior featherweight but I'm not sure what big fights await him.

Stephen Fulton holds the WBC and WBO titles but plans a move up to featherweight for a Brandon Figueroa rematch and even if not, Fulton fights for PBC which means unless Inoue fought Fulton on Showtime, that fight wouldn't happen.

MJ Akhmadaliev holds the WBA and IBF titles and last I heard, he was affiliated with Matchroom, which makes an Inoue possible as the two companies have worked together in the past but in this case, Akhmadaliev would likely have to fight Inoue on an ESPN platform and would be unlikely to go to Japan to face "The Monster".

While fans would love to see Inoue against either, I'm not sure the money (Fulton) or motivation (either) would be enough to make a match.

The most likely outcome would be that Fulton would vacate his two titles after a Figueroa fight and Inoue would be immediately installed as an entrant in a WBO vacant title fight as a WBO champion that gave up his title.

In the WBO, the top two contenders are both with PBC (Ra'eese Aleem and Luis Nery) and I doubt either would face Inoue for the reason answered above.

The third contender and most likely for Inoue is former IBF junior bantamweight and WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete, who has won two straight since losing his title to John Riel Casimero in 2019.

Tete's chin isn't the best although he may last a few rounds with his height and reach advantage, I'd think that Inoue would likely score an early and spectacular knockout.

I'm hoping for a big 2023 for Naoya Inoue but I have a feeling that we will still remain wanting more than boxing fans receive.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 209 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 178 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 165 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue Destroys Donaire in Two!

  The highly anticipated rematch of the 2019 fight of the year ended quickly in Saitama Japna as Naoya Inoue knocked Nonito Donaire down each in of the first two rounds and closed the show in round two to keep his WBA and IBF bantamweight titles and add the WBC version of the championship to his coffers with the knockout win.

Donaire had won both of his fights after losing a unanimous but very competitive decision to Inoue, winning the WBC title along with defending against his mandatory challenger and all the while chasing the Inoue rematch, while Inoue had defeated Jason Moloney and two lesser rated contenders in the interim.

Donaire landed the biggest shot early when he appeared to stun Inoue with a left hook but with seconds remaining in the opening round, Inoue landed a right hand that dropped Donaire to the canvas, and had there been even a few more seconds remaining in the round, Inoue may have finished his opponent in the initial round.

Donaire fought bravely in the second round and tried to fire counters against the charging "Monster" but again the right hand of Inoue landed and drove Donaire back into the ropes with Inoue chasing him and landed one final right that dropped Donaire to his back.

Donaire was too proud to be counted out and beat the count of the referee but was not fit to continue as
the referee ended the fight.

The 39-year-old deserves credit for that and I'm still not sure that he isn't the second-best bantamweight in the world even after this blitz from Inoue.

As for the Monster, he called for newly crowned WBO champion Paul Butler after the fight to fully unify the division, and while I understand why Inoue wants to fully unify for historical purposes and support him in doing so, I don't think anyone outside of Butler that thinks that Butler has a snowball's chance in the tropics of holding off the Monster for more than a few rounds.

After the expected annihilation of Butler, I don't see anyone in the bantamweight division that has a remote chance against Inoue other than maybe former WBO champion John Riel Casimero, who was stripped of the title before a scheduled fight with Butler and had a unification fight with Inoue canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Inoue could either face one of the two future Hall of Famers that currently reside in the 115-pound division, WBA champion Juan Francisco Estrada or Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez but both would likely not have the strength to beat Inoue and would essentially be given a gold watch and one final large payday in such a fight.

WBC 115-pound champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez has the talent level but he just moved up to 115 pounds and doesn't have the needed experience yet to make another leap so quickly against Inoue.

Inoue could move up to junior featherweight and a fight against either WBC and WBO champion Stephen Fulton or WBA/ IBF champion MJ Akhmadaliev would have some appeal-especially if Fulton is able to get his wish for the full unification at 122 pounds against Akhmadaliev.

Fulton seems to match up well with Inoue but his fight against the similarly aggressive Brandon Figueroa was very close and Inoue is a different level of boxer than Figueroa.

A unified bantamweight champion against a unified junior featherweight king might be the biggest fight under featherweight in decades- IF promotional interests can work together to get a contract signed.

No matter what the future holds for Naoya Inoue, this victory over Nonito Donaire cements him at or near the top of the pound-for-pound list, and with several interesting fights in his future, the force that is known as the Monster should be around for quite some time.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 99 Pts (1) 

Ramon Malpica: 85 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 82 Pts (1)

Boxing Challenge

     Early Tuesday morning, the two fighters responsible for the 2019 fight of the year will step into the same ring in Saitama, Japan for the second time against one another two and a half years later for the rarest of all bouts- a rematch that involves division unification with another championship at stake that was not in the first match yet the same titles are on the table from the first fight.

In the interim between their epic first fight, Nonito Donaire, who most thought had made his final career stand in a tremendous effort in losing via unanimous decision to Naoya Inoue, knocked out Nordine Oubaali in four rounds to win the WBC bantamweight title and defended in against countryman Reymart Gaballo with a fourth-round knockout and made a second fight a more attractive pairing by going out and earning it.

Naoya Inoye has defended his WBA and IBF titles three times but only once against a top challenger in a seventh-round knockout of Andrew Moloney, and even though Inoue has fought three times since to Donaire's two, Donaire's opponents were of better quality and maybe even more impressive outing than that of the "Monster".

And despite Inoue winning the first fight and scoring the fight's only knockdown, it can be argued that the younger fighter took the more severe beating as Inoue exited the fight with a broken orbital bone and a broken nose with Donaire- but with all of that going in Donaire's favor, the decision was unanimous and unquestioned.

Inoue is still in his prime at 29 and no matter how often the 39-year-old Donaire turns back the clock in an unexpected manner, sooner or later the clock catches all men.

So the question is can Donaire do anything different or improve on what worked in their first fight?

If he can, it could set up the left hook that finished Oubaali and Gaballo and pull an upset for the ages but you would have to be a sentimentalist to pick Donaire in this one.

However, some fighters are fated to fight well against others no matter when in their career the fights take place and Nonito Donaire seems to be in that niche with Naoya Inoue.

This should be another good one from Saitama Tuesday morning.

Boxing Challenge

Unification WBA/IBF- WBC Bantamweight Titles. 12 Rds 

Naoya Inoue vs Nonito Donaire

R.L: Inoue KO 9

TRS and V.S: Inoue Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Inoye crushes another, Charlo, Munguia win

   The boxing Saturday had plenty of news in the ring and a very important announcement outside of it, but the star of the day was exactly whom you think it would have been when the day began.

Naoya Inoue used a devastating body attack to knock down Michael Dasmarinas three times with body shots and stop him in the third round to retain his WBA and IBF bantamweight titles in Las Vegas.

While Dasmarinas wasn't a premiere opponent, Inoue disposed of his mandatory challenger from the IBF as great fighters should- as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Inoue quickly figured out that Dasmarinas wasn't able to take his power to the body and began to take him apart with the minimum of effort reducing the chances of a freak cut or injury and allowing Inoue to stay active quicker later this year.

The most interesting part of the evening was seeing WBC champion Nonito Donaire and WBO champion John Riel Casimero both in Las Vegas watching Inoue, while the Showtime card in Houston is announcing that Donaire will be replacing Guillermo Rigondeaux against Casimero in their scheduled August affair.

Inoue decisioned Donaire in 2019's fight of the year and Casimero signed to fight Inoue in April 2020 in a fight that was canceled by the Covid Pandemic, so either fight against Inoue would have appeal.

I often criticize PBC for their manner of delaying big fights with interim bouts that serve little purpose, but give Al Haymon's group credit for this one- they decided to strike quickly and with Donaire reporting no problems from his title win last month, PBC talked Rigondeaux into stepping aside to make a bigger and more exciting title unification fight- And that is good for boxing.

The co-feature saw former WBO junior featherweight champion Isaac Dogboe defeat Adam Lopez by majority decision in an excellent featherweight fight.

Dogboe won three of the first four rounds on my card, but won only one after that and was hurt in both the ninth and tenth rounds by the more versatile Lopez, who I scored the winner 96-94.

Hopefully, a rematch can be arranged.

Down in Houston at the same time as the Top Rank card, Showtime placed a three-fight card with an expected squash match title defense by WBC middleweight champion Jermall Charlo against undistinguished challenger Juan Montiel as the main event.

While Charlo dominated Montiel, he didn't get away scot-free either as he suffered the first cut of his career over his right eye and ate far too many left hands from a challenger that should not have landed a fraction of that amount.

I scored Charlo a 119-109 winner, giving Montiel only the eleventh round and the challenger won some fans with his unexpectedly stern effort, but Charlo didn't live up to the hype that surrounds him as he was unable to stop a fighter that sometimes ridiculed Jaime Munguia finished in only two rounds.

Unlike his brother at junior middleweight, who has fought everyone that he possibly could, the larger of the two brothers has fought one top ten fighter in seven fights at the weight (Sergey Dereyvanchenko), and for all of the heat that Devin Haney receives at lightweight for being an "E-Mail" champion, few acknowledge that Charlo received his championship in the same manner.

So, Charlo adds another unimpressive pelt to his wall, shouts another "Lions Only" chant, ignores WBO champion Demetrius Andrade, and calls out IBF champion Gennady Golovkin and WBA titlist Ryota Murata for a fight that will only happen if those fighters will fight on his terms-I.E- his promoter and network.

That happens often in boxing anymore, but few talk the talk and then doesn't walk the walk like Jermall Charlo.

He would be better suited to learn something from his brother- the Lions legacy is earned from the top of the chain defeated in battle, not the amount of lower feeders.

In the co-feature, lightweight Isaac Cruz busted up former WBC junior lightweight champion Francisco Vargas and won a unanimous decision in a fight filled with fouls and inside fighting.

I scored Cruz a 98-92 winner.

Cruz is slowly putting himself into position for a WBA minor title shot against either of two promoted by PBC in Gervonta Davis or Rolando Romero.

A Cruz-Romero fight would be the best to make right now with both fighters being offensive bangers that could make a very exciting fight for PBC and Showtime.

I haven't been able to watch the first fight as Angelo Leo won a close unanimous decision over Aaron Alameda as the ESPN card started late due to other programming on the "Worldwide Leader".

I'll try to watch that one and add thoughts in an Editor's Note.

Earlier in the afternoon, Golden Boy and DAZN offered up two pairings that offered the expected and the unexpected in their afternoon in the West Texas town of El Paso at the Don Haskins Center.

In the main event, top-ranked middleweight Jaime Munguia beat up late substitute Kamil Szeremeta for six rounds when the corner stopped the fight before the seventh could begin.

Munguia looked strong in winning all six rounds, his sometimes wide shots were tightened up a bit compared to past performances, and he seems to be back to a fighter that will live and die with his offense after trying to change some parts of his arsenal with mixed results.

Some fighters can adapt and others are what they are with changes doing more to harm than help and I think Munguia fits into the latter slot more than the former.

Munguia is ranked first by both the WBO (due to their rule that a champion moving up in weight instantly moves to the top of his new division) and the WBC (for what reason I have no idea) but doesn't seem overly interested in challenging either WBC champion Jermall Charlo or WBO beltholder Demetrius Andrade and instead called out Gabriel Rosado (more on that shortly) which didn't bring a lot of excitement to me at all.

So why would Jaime Munguia be calling for Gabriel Rosado of all people?

Rosado, who usually puts on great efforts in defeat, was quite dull in a close loss to Daniel Jacobs and was expected to be the first gatekeeper to fall in front of the impressive "Bek The Bully", Bektemir Melikuziev, a former Olympic silver medalist that had mowed through his first seven opponents, who were stronger than usual for a fighter with such little pro experience.

Rosado seemed to be the perfect choice for Melikuziev to move into title contention and when "The Bully" knocked Rosado down in the first, the road appeared to be far shorter since no one takes Rosado out early.

Melikuziev controlled the second and much of the third until he followed Rosado into a corner only to see Rosado time a perfect right hand that dropped Melikuziev face-first and immediately scored an immense upset for the veteran.

The KO was reminiscent of Juan Manuel Marquez's knockout of Manny Pacquiao and although it's disappointing for Melikusiev, one has to feel good for Rosado, who has come very close to a career-defining win in the past and likely has added some paydays for the future.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored nine points on the day and moved the total to 87-81 on the season.

Boxing Challenge: One Punch Knockout Night for Davis,Inoue

  The boxing Saturday was filled with world title defenses, title contenders returning to the ring, and two of the most devastating one-punch knockouts that you'll see.

Let's start with the final card of the evening with PBC putting together a pay-per-view from San Antonio, Texas, and a fight that has been reported to be quite an action-packed affair.

Editors Note: As of this writing, I have not seen any of the PPV cards yet, so I'm just reporting the results. When I have a chance to see and score them, I'll come back and edit my scorecard with thoughts for posterity.

In the main event, Gervonta Davis took away Leo Santa Cruz's WBA junior lightweight title and kept his own minor title by a crunching sixth-round knockout that left Santa Cruz out cold for a period of time and will be a contender for knockout of the year.

The fight was noted to be fought on mostly even terms before the left uppercut (that I have seen!) that will threaten Alexander Povetkin's knockout of Dillian Whyte for the KO of the year.

Davis claims that he will keep both championships (Which I don't have an issue with if he can continue to make the weight), but in the past, the WBA has claimed that they will not allow a champion to hold two of their titles, but organizations in boxing tend to make these decisions on the fly and according to the fighter or promoters so who knows how the WBA will rule on this.

In the undercard matches.

Mario Barrios kept his minor title over Ryan Karl by 6th round knockout

Regis Prograis stopped Juan Heraldez in three rounds

Isaac Cruz knocked out Diego Magdaleno in the first round...

From London's television studio, Oleksander Usyk received what he was looking for from Derek Chisora- A good twelve-round test as a heavyweight and moved to the future with a unanimous decision victory.

Chisora started well in the first few rounds and had his moments late, but Usyk rallied after the early stages and banked rounds to build a solid lead on the scorecards.

No knockdowns, although Usyk did wobble Chisora a bit near the end of the seventh round.

I scored Usyk a 116-112 winner, so the verdict was a fair one.

Usyk is the mandatory contender in the WBO for champion Anthony Joshua, but could take step aside money for Joshua's unification fight with Tyson Fury, or should he refuse to move away, he could fight for a vacated title from Joshua.

The co-feature saw a mild upset as George Kambosos won a split decision over former IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby in an IBF lightweight eliminator to earn a mandatory title shot next year against Teofimo Lopez.

The thoughts were as wide as the scorecards as experts from England (Selby) and Australia (Kambosos) were each puzzled by a split decision and complained about the judges not favoring their man.

I thought Kambosos landed the harder punches against the smoother Selby and deserved a close call- 115-113 on my scorecard.

On ESPN Plus from the Las Vegas bubble, Top Rank featured the "Monster" Naoya Inoue in his debut for the company, and Inoue shined as hoped with a one-punch knockout of tough Australian contender Jason Moloney.

Moloney fought on almost even terms for the first three rounds, but Inoue began to land well in the fourth and fifth before a left hook sent Moloney to the mat in round six.

Inoue's right hand ended the fight in the seventh with a KO that would have received far more attention had Gervonta Davis not scored his highlight-reel knockout later in the evening.

Inoue could face WBO champion John Riel Casimero next in a unification fight that was scheduled earlier this year before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an untelevised bout, former cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev made his heavyweight debut with a first-round KO of Sefer Sefari.

Gassiev scored an early knockdown with Seferi rising unsteadily and the referee stopping the fight.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 13-9 on the day and boosted my lead to 153-144.

Boxing Challenge: Inoue holds off Donaire!

It might have been held while East Coast fans were in the midst of their commute, but if you were able to watch Naoya Inoue's unanimous decision over Nonito Donaire, you won't be forgetting it anytime soon.

In a year with plenty of strong candidates for the fight of the year, my money is on Inoue-Donaire and it's going to take one hell of a fight in the waning weeks of 2019 to take that title away- Inoue-Donaire was that good.

Inoue's win unified the IBF title that he entered the fight holding, added the WBA title formerly held by Donaire, as well as the bonus cash for winning the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
Inoue was a heavy favorite to win the fight from his home country and most (me included) thought that Inoue could actually hurt the aging Donaire, who is on the downside of a career that will eventually land him in the hall of fame.

This fight had it all- action, both men fighting through facial adversity (Inoue dealt with a cut over his right eye, while Donaire dealt with both of his eyes swelling), constant shifts in momentum, and the storyline of the young lion at his peak and ready to take the final step into stardom against the aging gunslinger that had been counted out before the fight started, yet was prepared to fire one final shot.
Inoue looked like he was going to end the fight in the fifth when he was landing strong rights and had Donaire backing up, but Donaire had his moments too with the best rounds of the fight in the eighth and ninth, almost knocking Inoue down in the ninth.
The pendulum swung back towards Inoue again in the tenth, stunning Donaire and looking to finish the former champion off for the evening.
Inoue would try, but as he did so the stage was set for a round of the year contender.

Rather than be overwhelmed by the powerful Inoue or simply collect a paycheck for boxing cautiously, it was the once-great Donaire that made this fight what it was as it was Donaire that gave almost as good as he got and it was Donaire that fought on when he could have conceded after a valiant effort and called it a day.
When I watched Donaire finally knocked to a knee by an Inoue body shot in the eleventh round, you could almost read the story of the fight written- "a gritty Nonito Donaire finally was worn down by the younger, stronger, faster Naoya Inoue".
And honestly, the count by referee Ernie Sharif (Whom I remember from his boxing career) was very close to counting Donaire out, but then you could hear "My Way" in the background as Inoue charged in and was ready to close the curtain, it was the badly hurt Donaire firing back and for a brief second, Donaire stunned Inoue and thoughts of Corrales-Castillo began to float through my mind.
Inoue then turned the tide again and had Donaire in trouble late in the round.
Both fighters landed heavily in the final round in exchanges that were filled with action before the decision.

I scored Inoue a 115-112 winner (7-5 in rounds with the knockdown)  and I thought two of the three cards were a little wide (114-113 was fine, but 116-111 and 117-109 were off-base), but the winner was correct and that's the main thing.
After the fight, Inoue announced an agreement with Top Rank which will see him fight twice in the US next year and once at home in Japan.
Donaire would be best suited to consider retirement off such a terrific fight as I'm not sure that he can repeat the performance in a rematch and at 37 the time seems to be right to walk away

The natural next fight for Inoue would be a unification fight with Nordine Oubaali, who successfully defended his WBC belt with a unanimous decision over Takuma Inoue, the younger brother of Naoya, in the co-main event.
I scored Oubaali a 117-110 winner over Inoue, who showed heart against Oubaali, but nowhere near his older brother's punching power. although he did have Oubaali somewhat in trouble in the final round.
Oubaali knocked Inoue down in the fourth round for the fight's only knockdown.

Boxing Challenge: Inoue annihilates Rodriguez, Taylor, Saunders win titles.

The European version of the boxing weekend saw the World Boxing Super Series fill their final matchups in the division and saw another title change hands at another location for three championships to have new owners at the end of the day.

The star of the day had to be Naoya Inoue, who knocked down Emmanuel Rodriguez three times in the second round, twice with body shots, to win the IBF bantamweight title and advance to the finals of the WBSS, where Inoye will attempt to unify his title with WBA champion Nonito Donaire.
Donaire has been more than fortunate in making the finals with his win over Ryan Burnett coming when Burnett had to surrender with a back injury and Zolani Tete having to pull out of the tournament late in the week to be replaced by Stephon Young and I'm afraid this one could end up with a very sad ending.
I had written that Rodriguez was going to give Inoue some problems and he did for one round.
Rodriguez showed no fear of Inoue and the first round was pretty even and could have been scored for either fighter.
Round two was a different story once Inoue landed the left hook that essentially ended the fight, although Rodriguez showed tons of courage in getting up from that and then again from another hook to the body that dropped him to the mat.
It was only a matter of time and Inoue ended it with another body shot that floored Rodriguez.
For Inoue, another destruction in victory and I can't find anyone that gives the aging Donaire any type of chance in the WBSS finals.
Assuming that's the case and assuming Inoye won't be worried about unifying the division (winning over Donaire would give him two of the four titles and had Zolaini Tete not been injured before the Donaire fight, the winner of the final would have three of the four) against WBO champion Zolani Tete or WBC champion Nordine Ouabaali, I suppose Inoue could either wait for one of the best junior bantams to move up in Juan Francisco Estrada or Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, but he might try to rise in weight himself to junior featherweight where an Inoue vs the winner of fall's expected three title unification fight between Danny Roman and Rey Vargas would have some appeal.

In the other WBSS tussle from Glasgow, Josh Taylor won a unanimous decision to take away Ivan Baranchyk's IBF junior welterweight title and set up a WBSS final that will not only pit the top two seeds against each other but create a 50/50 fight as well.
Taylor knocked Baranchyk down twice in the sixth round and looked to be on the verge of finishing the champion, who showed grit in surviving the round and was actually fighting better down the stretch than earlier in the fight.
Baranchyk was landing his share in the final two rounds and even though Taylor wasn't seriously hurt, Baranchyk never stopped trying to pull a victory out of the blue.
I scored Taylor a 116-110 winner (8-4 plus a 10-7 sixth round) and that was in the range of the judge's cards which had Taylor winning by eight (a little too much) and twice by four (a little too close)
Taylor will unify his newly won championship with that of WBA champion Regis Prograis and this one is one that I am anxiously awaiting.
I lean slightly to Prograis in the finals, but Taylor is more than capable of winning the tournament.
The fight may very well come down to where the fight is held with a crowd playing a part in the result.

The final part of the weekend in England saw the return of Billy Joe Saunders, who won the WBO super middleweight crown vacated by Gilberto Ramirez in the usual sleep-inducing fashion by a unanimous decision over outmatched Shefat Isufi.
Saunders never hurt Isufi, nor seemed to even try to turn up the heat as he won almost every round on my card 119-109 (11-1), but showed nothing to change anyone's mind about fighting a slick boxing southpaw that isn't going to bring you a big payday or be willing to stand in front and fight.
In other words, Saunders is more trouble to potential opponents than what he's worth.

Heavyweight Joe Joyce knocked out Alexander Ustinov in the third round.
I'm not sure what the future will hold for the former Olympic silver medalist, who hits with power, but is painfully slow.
If Joyce can take a good punch, he could be Ray Mercer, good enough to fight a long time and win enough to stay relevant, but never an elite heavyweight.
If Joyce's chin proves to be less than world class, he's going to lose a lot because he's going to outbox no one.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica picked up twelve points to my eleven on the weekend.
I picked five of the six winners and results correctly, but Ramon nailed all six winners and results to gain a point.
My lead now stands at 132-116.

Boxing Challenge: The "Monster" at the end of this book!

A big boxing weekend brought to you by your friends at DAZN with seven of the eight challenge fights being televised on their streaming service.

The performance of the day came early Sunday morning from Yokohama Japan where the "Monster" Naoya Inoue won the first bout in the bantamweight tournament for the World Boxing Super Series when he destroyed former WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano in just one minute, leaving Payano supine on the floor and moving Inoue to the semi-finals with hardly taking a punch.
The post title comes from the beloved Sesame Street book that I enjoyed so much as a child and Ryan and Rachel did as well- Grover starring in "The Monster at the end of this book"

I only see two fighters in the tourney that have a chance against Inoue and it's not the tournament's top seed-WBA champion Ryan Burnett, who I think is meat on a platter against the Monster.
IBF champion Emmanuel Rodriguez was very impressive in winning his title on the road over England's Paul Butler and talent-wise, if not experience-wise, Rodriguez could match up well, and should Rodriguez defeat Australia's Jason Moloney, he'll get his chance against Inoue.
On the other side of the bracket, WBO champ Zolani Tete has the type of style that could trouble Inoue-IF he can box for all twelve rounds without getting hit.
Good luck with that, but Tete could make a potential Inoue bout interesting, if not exciting.

In the other WBSS bout from the junior welterweights, WBA champion Kiryl Relikh won a unanimous decision over his mandatory contender and former IBF champion Eduard Troyanovsky.
No knockdowns scored and I had Relikh winning 116-112 or 8-4 in rounds.
Relikh moves to the semi-finals and will face the winner of top-seeded Regis Prograis vs former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan.

Another WBSS note, I'm a big fan of the tournament and the setup, but I'm still critical of the bracketing.
In the WBSS, the top seed (should they win in round one) faces the third seed (should they win) with the second seed facing the fourth, should things fall according to seeding.
In no other sport is a tournament set up this way and you are better off being the second seed than the top seed-Not the way things should be.

On Saturday afternoon, YouTube showed one of the better fighters in the world as Thailand's Srisaket Sor Rungvisai retained his WBC junior bantamweight belt in front of his countrymen with a unanimous decision over tough, but outclassed Iran Diaz of Mexico.
I had Rungvisai a 119-109 winner and I expected Rungvisai to face Juan Francisco Estrada next in what would be a rematch of their exciting fight from earlier this year that Rungvisai won by majority decision.
However, IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas was in attendance with his matchmaker Sean Gibbons in Thailand and rumors are that Rungvisai's next bout could be a unification bout vs Ancajas, who drew with Alejandro Santiago two weeks to retain his title.
Perhaps one more "Super Fly" card could be made with Rungvisai-Ancajas unifying, Estrada against Santiago in the co-feature to determine the number one contender for the new unified champion and maybe a fight for the continuing comeback of Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez?

DAZN bought the rights to the WBSS, but their main tenant is Eddie Hearn and Hearn's Matchroom Boxing, who presented a four-fight card that exceeded expectations as far action.

The main event saw Jessie Vargas receive his second majority draw in a row in a surprisingly good fight against Thomas Dulorme.
Dulorme, who had previously failed in various attempts to raise his stature, was knocked down in the tenth and appeared to be on his way to a loss, but won the 11th on my card and scored a flash knockdown of Vargas with seconds to go in the fight to win the 12th 10-8 and pull the win out 113-112.
The knockdown gave Dulorme a draw as well, as two cards scored the draw with the knockdown, so getting dropped cost Vargas a unanimous decision.

In another match that proved to be more of a battle than expected, IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev made his first defense a successful one against undefeated, but lightly matched Callum Johnson of Great Britain.
The night looked to be a short one for Johnson when Beterbiev sent him to the floor late in round one. but Johnson shockingly dropped Beterbiev in the second and things looked to be on their way to a war.
They only looked that way as Beterbiev ripped a nasty cut over Johnson's eye in round three before finishing him off with a right hand that looked like it traveled about a foot to finish him off for good.
Beterbiev against anyone would seem to be a good fight, but with HBO"s departure from the game, a Dmitry Bivol bout would be the one that is not only possible but exciting as well.

Danny Roman defended his WBA junior featherweight title with a tenth-round knockout of England's Gavin McDonnell.
I had Roman ahead 6-3 in rounds after nine before he knocked McDonnell down in the tenth, McDonnell was able to get up, but the referee called the fight off in an excellent decision.
Roman is about as solid of a technically strong fighter as you'll find and unification fights against Rey Vargas (WBC/Golden Boy) or Issac Dogboe (WBO/Top Rank) would be interesting 50/50 fights, if
the business of boxing doesn't get in the way.

Jarrell Miller blew away a washed-up Tomasz Adamek in a squash match that few even Miller wanted to see.
Miller badly hurt the former light-heavy and cruiserweight champion in the opening round, but the bell saved Adamek. who wouldn't be saved a second time when an uppercut finished off the mismatch.
Miller could be in the mix for an April date with Anthony Joshua for his three titles.

In the Boxing Challenge, I scored ten points to Ramon Malpica's nine for the weekend to move my lead to 159-136

Boxing Challenge:Rungvisai leaves no doubt!

The boxing challenge continued with a three bout card in the junior bantamweight division that featured lots of action.
I scored four points on the night in the boxing challenge to Ramon Malpica's three to boost my lead to 122-107.

In the main event Srisaket Sor Rungvisai demolished Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez with a right hand that might have ended the once invincible Gonzalez's career for a fourth round knockout to retain his WBC junior bantamweight title.
Rungvisai had taken Gonzalez's title in March in New York City via majority decision in a great fight that most (including me) thought that Gonzalez deserved the victory and the WBC mandated an immediate rematch.
The rematch was far different as Rungvisai won the first three rounds on my card (although the third round could have went either way),landed several hard punches and even though Gonzalez was firing back and landed his share of punches,seemed to be less than his normal self.
In round four,Rungvisai started quickly and dropped Gonzalez with a right hand that severely hurt Gonzalez and he barely beat the count.
Gonzalez held Rungvisai at bay for a bit and looked like he might weather the storm before Rungvisai ended the bout with one right hand that ended the the night and maybe the career of Gonzalez.
Gonzalez didn't resemble anything like the fighter that was once thought of as the game best fighter pound for pound and just doesn't seem to be strong enough at 115 pounds.
Unless Gonzalez wants to return to flyweight,I just don't see him continuing at junior bantamweight unless he and his team just chalks this off as Rungvisai just being a bad matchup for him.
As for Rungvisai,he'll have another interesting and fun fight coming up that has a good chance of returning to HBO against new mandatory contender Juan Francisco Estrada,the former WBA/WBO flyweight champion.

Estrada won a unanimous decision in a title eliminator on HBO's opener over former WBC champion Carlos Cuadras.
Cuadras raced to a sizable early lead and appeared to have banked many of the early rounds.
The patient Estrada kept on doing what he does,applying pressure and wearing Cuadras down and began to hurt him in the middle rounds.
Estrada knocked Cuadras down in the tenth,scoring a two point round as he swept the final three rounds.
The knockdown won Estrada the fight as all three judges scored him a 114-113 winner.
Had Estrada not scored that knockdown,the fight would have been a draw.
I had Estrada the winner at 115-112 (7-5 in rounds with the knockdown).

The middle fight saw "The Monster" Naoya Inoue of Japan retain his WBO title with a technical knockout of an overmatched Antonio Nieves when Nieves was not allowed out of his corner at the end of round six.
Inoue knocked Nieves down with a body shot in the fifth round and then battered him badly in round six before the end of the fight.
HBO had been building Roman Gonzalez for a fight against Inoue,so there has to have been some disappointment,especially that Srisaket Sor Rungvisai got Gonzalez before Inoue did,but this card was so good as far as action,that I would not be surprised at all to see a future card with another Inoue defense along with the Rungvisai-Estrada title fight with the winner facing off in their next fight.

I finished with two points for Estrada's win and two for Inoue's.
Ramon finished with two points for Inoue's victory and one for Rungvisai's...