Boxing Challenge: Zepeda Shines, Stevenson Wins

     The Boxing Weekend's biggest star was in Newark, New Jersey and while Shakur Stevenson controlled Artur Harutyunyan and retained his WBC lightweight title via a comfortable unanimous decision, Stevenson did little to polish a reputation that is rapidly becoming stained by boredom.

Stevenson had a mild window in the eighth and ninth rounds that he might have stopped Harutyunyan but he didn't press for the stoppage and the chance drifted away.

Stevenson's contract with Top Rank ended with a victory and while his win (119-109, 118-110, 116-112, my score 118-110) was more exciting than his last win over Edwin De Los Santos, it was far from a barnburner and didn't give Stevenson a great statement to sell himself to potential suitors.

For all of his tremendous skills, Stevenson may be the Pernell Whitaker of his era, a fighter with immense talents who can beat anyone but is satisfied with dominant but dull wins.

That may win fights, titles, and even the Hall of Fame but doesn't attract fans or pay-per-view purchases

The Hamburglar made an appearance in Newark after O'Shaquie Foster was robbed of his WBC junior lightweight title via split decision to Robson Conceicao.

This was the fight that I rated as the hardest to choose a winner of the weekend yet Foster outboxed Conceicao and while I didn't have it the shutout as the ESPN commentators scored, I did think Foster won handily at 117-111.

I thought the judges who scored for Foster at 116-112 had the fight too close but the other judges were simply terrible with scores of 116-112 and 115-113 for Conceciao.

I picked Conceciao to win but I was heartbroken for Foster during his post-fight interview as there was no anger in his eyes, only tears and his voice breaking.

Hopefully, Top Rank or the WBC will mandate an immediate rematch, Foster at least deserves that much.

Lightweight Keyshawn Davis won a foul-filled, dirty fight over Miguel Madueno by a unanimous decision.

Scores for Davis of 99-91 (same as mine) and while I like Davis, he has the feel of a fighter that could be very good but not great.

Abdullah Mason's fight with Luis Lebron wasn't part of the challenge but his impressive three-round knockout deserves mentioning.

Mason will be a star and if they fought soon, I'd pick Mason to beat Keyshawn Davis right now.

I think Mason is that good.

The star of the weekend was lightweight contender William Zepeda, who mowed down Giovanni Cabrera in three rounds.

Cabrera had lost only once, a split decision to WBC junior welterweight champion Isaac Cruz, and had an excellent first round against Zepeda.

Zepeda improved in the second and third, began to land to the head and body, finishing Zepeda off with a shot to the liver.

As the top contender in all four sanctioning groups, Zepeda has options that few challengers have, and win or lose, Zepeda is going to give a champion all sorts of hell.

I have yet to see these fights but here are the results.

From Golden Boy/DAZN

Ricardo Sandoval stopped Angel Acosta in the 10th and final round in what has been reported to be a close fight and a dubious stoppage.

Pay Per View

Shane Mosley Jr won a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs 

Fernando Martinez won a unanimous decision over Kazuto Ioka to unify the WBA and IBF junior bantamweight titles.

Martinez should be in line for a 2025 fight with WBC champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez or perhaps WBO champion Kosei Tanaka later this year.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 103 Pts  (6)

TRS: 91 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: (0)

Boxing Challenge: Foster defeats Nova, Nontshinga regains title

     O'Shaquie Foster cemented his strong final rounds with a round twelve knockdown of Abraham Nova in winning a split decision to retain his WBC junior lightweight title in New York City.

Nova managed to have his moments but Foster swept the final four rounds and punctuated the win when he dropped Nova along the ropes.

Nova wasn't in serious difficulty but the knockdown was a clean one.

Foster won on two cards of 116-111 with Nova winning on the dissenting opinion 114-113.

I had Foster the victor at 115-112.

Foster's win continued his recent run of good form and despite the defeat, Nova proved himself worthy of a future title or title eliminator.

In Oaxaca, Mexico, Sivenathi Nontshinga avenged his loss last year to Adrien Curiel and regained the IBF light flyweight title that he lost to Curiel.

Curiel bullied Nontshinga for the first seven rounds, building a lead on the scorecards on aggression and volume but Nontshinga began to turn the tide in the eighth and badly stung Curiel late in the ninth round.

Curiel was never able to recover and Nontshinga finished the show in the tenth to regain the title.

I haven't seen the Mauricio Lara- Daniel Lugo fight which ended in a majority decision draw.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 21 Pts (1) 

Ramon Malpica: 19 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 12 Pts (2) 

Fury shades Ngannou, Foster rallies past Hernandez!

    The biggest event of the boxing weekend was the non-title heavyweight bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between WBC champion Tyson Fury and former UFC heavyweight kingpin Francis Ngannous but I didn't include it in the boxing challenge.

I thought the fight was a sideshow with the lineal heavyweight champion in a clear money grab against someone who had never boxed before before a difficult title unification against the man that holds the other three titles Oleksandr Usyk.

I could not have been more wrong and while there may be reasons for Ngannou doing better than expected, it would be unfair to avoid giving him credit for an incredible effort considering his lack of experience.

In all honesty, it was far from a titanic war with both men exchanging bombs through the non-title ten rounder but it had enough action to be entertaining and provided one memory that should stand the test of time in both boxing history and those who enjoy MMA- the third round knockdown of Fury with the above photo that immediately went viral.

The left hook that floored Fury didn't appear to seriously hurt him, and he was likely stung much worse against Deontay Wilder but that knockdown swung the eventual narrative that Ngannou was robbed.

I thought Fury controlled the middle rounds strongly and although Ngannou had his moments, I thought Fury did enough to edge the decision by 95-94 (6-4 in rounds minus the knockdown) on my card with the official scores reading 96-93 and 95-94 for Fury overruling the opposing judges 95-94 for Ngannou.

Ngannou's performance cannot be understated and while Fury looked a little out of shape and may not have taken him seriously enough to prepare well, Fury outlanded Ngannou and more often than not, handled him when the fight was at a distance.

I can understand those who don't know boxing going overboard for the underdog and thinking Ngannou won but the 95-94 card for him is about as far as you can go reasonably which would be 5-5 in rounds with the knockdown making the difference.

As for the legacy of Tyson Fury, I think this is a small stain to struggle to this degree with a basic novice, no different than it would be for Ngannou to be taken the distance by Fury in an MMA cage and win a close fight.

It's easy to say now but I've always found the talk of Tyson Fury as an all-time great to be premature and questionable to start with.

He did dominate Deontay Wilder with two wins and a draw that he deserved in their three-fight series but if you question Wilder as a great (certainly a champion and huge puncher but not great)  Fury's only win of note historically is his dull decision win over the great but past his prime Wladimir Klitschko.

Fury has only himself to blame for his lack of sharpness as it's been Fury who dropped out of fights and spent more time announcing demands from opponents than training.

Now no matter if he beats Oleksandr Usyk or not (and he better be in shape for that fight), Fury will be remembered by the casual sports fan for being knocked down by a novice than defeating an excellent champion such as Usyk.

And it's all his doing.

Meanwhile, in Cancun Mexico,  an excellent fight was waged as WBC junior lightweight champion O'Shaquie Foster charged from behind to salvage his title with a final-round stoppage over Rocky Hernandez.

Hernandez won most of the early rounds as he was too busy for Foster, who was successful boxing but wasn't throwing enough punches to win many of those rounds.

After ten rounds, Hernandez led on the scorecards, and with Foster's lack of power over his career, Hernandez looked to be six minutes away from a world title.

The stage was set for the round of the year with Foster seeking a knockout, Foster battered Hernandez around the ring for most of the round with the challenger appearing to be out on his feet and just as it seemed the fight needed to be stopped, Hernandez fired back and hurt Foster, driving him backward.

Both fighters exchanged blows late in the round but Hernandez appeared much worse for wear entering the final round.

Hernandez led on two of the three cards and if he could last the final round, he was likely to be crowned champion.

Foster had other ideas as he dropped Hernandez early in round twelve and again punished him badly with Hernandez refusing to grab and hold to kill the clock.

Hernandez hit the floor again and barely beat the count before being given one more chance to survive but was ripped with punches from Foster and the fight was ended with only twenty-two seconds remaining.

The stoppage was a good one and Hernandez was given every chance to try to make it to the final bell, so no complaints on that part.

One still has to feel bad for Hernandez to come so close to victory but admire Foster for the fortitude to win a fight he was losing in a way that was not his forte.

Foster appears likely to fight a unification match next as the Matchroom fighter will face the winner of next Saturday's IBF title fight pairing champion Joe Cordina and challenger Edward Vazquez, both of whom are signed with Matchroom.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 161 Pts (1)
Ramon Malpica: 148 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 109 Pts (0) 

Boxing Challenge: Foster wins vacant 130 pound title

   A less than thrilling Showtime telecast was headlined by O'Shaquie Foster's unanimous decision victory over WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas in San Antonio to win the vacant WBC junior lightweight championship.

Shakur Stevenson gave up the title when he missed weight before his scheduled defense vs Robson Conceicao last year. While Foster is no Stevenson, he is a solid veteran that will now be a factor in a division that currently lacks a dominant figure.

Foster kept the taller Vargas from establishing his jab and in handing Vargas his first career setback, Foster never allowed Vargas to frustrate him with his awkward style as Vargas had done with his other opponents and Vargas could rarely mount enough offense other than a few of the middle rounds.

Foster won on my card 117-111 and while the official margin varied (119-109, 117-111, and 116-112), there was little doubt that Vargas was outpointed.

While the fight was far from memorable for its action, Foster now joins Emanuel Navarrete (WBO), Shavkat Rakhimov (IBF), and Hector Luis Garcia (WBA) as champions that have various questions to answer as they attempt to establish themselves as the best of the division.

As for Vargas, he'll return to the featherweight division and his WBC title as he will await a mandatory defense against the winner of the Brandon Figueroa-Mark Magsayo in March.

The co-main event was a total mismatch as Mario Barrios dominated every round in stopped Jovanie Santiago in the eighth round.

Santiago wasn't knocked down until the eighth but took a steady battering and never remotely threatened Barrios at all.

The less said about this the better as Barrios will likely pair against someone else in an eliminator while Santiago should return to a role against prospects and fringe contenders as he is badly overmatched against top-caliber opponents.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 23 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 23 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 13 Pts (2)