Boxing Challenge: Junior Middleweight Madness!

    The non-New York side of the boxing weekend was centered around the junior middleweight division, with two titles being unified and another changing hands in a surprising upset.

The upset occurred in Newcastle, England, when former Olympian Josh Kelly upset Bakhram Murtazaliev to win the IBF version of the title via majority decision.

Kelly entered his pro career with plenty of hype, but was stopped by David Avanesyan and while on a seven fight winning streak, had beaten no one of note, while Murtazaliev had destroyed Tim Tszyu in three rounds fifteen months ago.

Kelly was the quicker and sharper fighter and when he survived a fourth round knockdown, Kelly began to take control and even scored a flash knockdown of his own in the ninth.

My issue is the scoring of Steve Gray, not for his scoring of the fight which was 114-113 Kelly same as mine.

It's for his scoring the final round even. 

I hate even rounds and to score the final round of a close fight even is a travesty.

Had Gray scored the final round for Murtazaliev, the fight would have ended in a draw with thee champion retaining the title.

The other scores were 115-111 for Kelly, a bit wide for my tastes, and even at 113-113.

The other title bout in the 154 pound division was in San Juan, Puerto Rico as Xander Zayas unified the WBA and WBO championships with a split decision over Abass Baraou.

Neither fighter was seriously hurt in the fight but I thought Zayas had the better of the action and agreed with the 116-112 scores on two cards for Zayas and the score for Baraou of 116-112 was surprised.

Sunday was the second card for Paramount+ and Zuffa Boxing for a very strong card.

In the main event, former WBC junior welterweight champion Jose Valenzuela fought through a severe cut to win a unanimous decision over Diego Torres.

Torres had his moments, including wobbling Valenzuela in the sixth round but his superior skils allowed him to counter the walk-down aggression of Torres.

All three scores were 99-91 for Valenzela, which I agreed with.

The co-feature was a cracker as Serhii Bohachuk rebounded from his second defeat to Brandon Adams, to win a split decision over Radzhab Butaev.

This fight was contested in front of the other throughout the fight with Bohachuk landing the harder punches and Butaev scoring more often.

Scorecards read 96-94 twice for Bohachuk and 96-94 for Butaev.

My scores was 95-95 even.

In the opener, former WBC light heavywweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk knocked down Radislav Kalajdzic down in the first and fourth rounds and badly hurt him in the fifth to build a huge lead on the cards before a stunning seventh round with Kalajdzic dropping the former champion and finishing him off in the seventh.

Kaladzic has always been an exciting fighter and his win might move him into contention in the division.

Gvozdyk's comeback will have to start over and at his age (38), I wouldn't be surprised to see "The Nail" consider retirement.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 17 Pts(3)

Vince Samano: 17 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 17 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Benavidez wins, Upsets abound

       In Satirday's co-feature from the PBC card in Las Vegas, David Benavidez won a unanimous decision over Oleksandr Gvozdyk in his debut in the light heavyweight division.

Benavidez was solid and workmanlike in the easy victory over the former WBC champion but never dazed Gvozdyk and despite winning a minor title, Benavidez may be better suited (and he said he is considering this at the post-fight press conference) returning to super middleweight for the time being and hoping Canelo Alvarez will eventually decide to face him.

Benavidez won on scorecards of 119-109, 117-111, and 116-112, my score agreeing with the middle score.

In two fights that I have yet to watch, one title was retained and an undefeated contender was surprised with his first loss.

Carlos Adames retained his WBC middleweight title with a unanimous decision over Terrell Gausha.

Adames doesn't really have a big fight in the division, so look for Adames to have a few of these fights against Gausha types that aren't quite good enough to win a title.

Scores of 119-11 and 118-110 times two for Adames.

Gary Antuanne Russell was a big favorite to win a minor junior welterweight title against former WBA champ Alberto Puello and set himself up for bigger things in the future.

Instead, Puello survived an eighth-round holding deduction to pull a surprise split decision win for the minor title.

Russell has all the talent in the world but like his brother and trainer, former WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell, he doesn't fight more than once a year, and at the top level fighting that infrequently will eventually cost you in sharpness.

Scores for Puello were 114-113 and 115-112 and for Russell 118-109.

PBC and boxing observers have been glowing in their reviews on middleweight prospect Elijah Garcia and his potential but Garcia hit a roadblock in his fight against veteran Kyrone Davis, with Davis winning a deserved but surprising split decision.

Davis couldn't miss with his right hand and while Garcia was persistent with his aggression, Davis held serve until the final two rounds when Garcia rallied and perhaps if this fight were a twelve-rounder, Garcia could have snatched victory.

Scores for Davis at 97-93 x2 (same as mine) with an awful score for Garcia of 98-92, which is beyond terrible in my opinion.

In Puerto Rico, a huge upset occurred as Australia's Liam Paro upset Subriel Matias in the homecoming fight for Matias and took away the IBF junior welterweight title.

Paro lost a point in the seventh round for hitting behind the head and while Paro's move, jab, and grab offense wasn't exciting, it was very effective against Matias, who rallied down the stretch but ran out of time.

Scores for Paro 116-111 and 115-112 x2, I had it closer for Paro 114-113.

In London from Boxxer/Peacock, Chris Billam-Smith avenged his only loss and retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision outdoors at the home field of Crystal Palace.

This fight wasn't as exciting as their first fight and Riakporhe didn't throw enough punches to overcome the more active Billam-Smith.

Riakporhe lost a point in the final round for headbutting but that had no effect on the scorecards- all for Billiam-Smith 116-111 (same as mine) and 115-112.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 88 Pts (8)

TRS: 72 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 46 Pts (3)

Boxing Challenge: Beterbiev hammers the Nail

I had high hopes for the light heavyweight unification matchup between WBC king Oleksandr Gvozdyk and IBF standard-bearer Artur Betebiev and even though it wasn't a war similar to the Golovkin-Dereyvanchenko fight, it had plenty of exchanges and more than its share of action.

In the end, it was the overwhelming strength and thudding power of Beterbiev that ground down "the Nail" and stopped him in the tenth round as referee Gary Rosato waved the fight off after the final of three knockdowns in the round.
The fight was still close on the scorecards as two of the judges had Gvozdyk ahead, one by three points and the other by a point, with the other scoring Beterbiev ahead by one point.
I had Beterbiev ahead by three points (6-3 in rounds), but almost every round except the ninth could have been given to either fighter and I wouldn't take issue with any scorecard.

Beterbiev rocked Gvozdyk several times throughout the fight, but Gvozdyk had his share of moments as well, as Gvozdyk had excellent rounds in the sixth and eighth.
The eighth was Gvozdyk's final push as he seemed to be giving ground to the persistent pressure of Beterbiev and near the end of the ninth, Beterbiev landed a big right that seemed to puncture whatever remained of Gvozdyk's will and as Gvozdyk came out of his corner, he resembled a fighter that knew he didn't have enough to hold off Beterbiev.
Gvozdyk gamely tried, but his legs were gone and three knockdowns caused by several crushing right hands ended the fight.

For Beterbiev, the next time out isn't one that will be thrilling any fans as he fights his IBF mandatory against undefeated and unknown Meng Fanglong of China.
Fanglong won an eliminator against Germany's Adam Deines via unanimous decision to earn the title shot, but Deines hadn't defeated anyone of note either and Deines knocked Fanglong down in their fight, so it's unlikely that the former Olympian would be able to handle the power of Beterbiev.
Bob Arum said that fight would likely be held in China in January to move that obligation out of the way for what is hoped to be another unification fight with WBA champion Dmitry Bivol to give the winner three of the four titles in the spring or summer.
Bivol is a promotional free agent, so if Bivol wants that fight, he'll be able to make it.
The WBO title will be the hardest title to win as champion Sergey Kovalev is required to fight a rematch with Canelo Alvarez, should he defeat him in their fight in two weeks and should Canelo win that fight, he would be extremely (You can even capitalize if you like) unlikely to face Beterbiev.

I've been on the Beterbiev bandwagon for five years after a blazing start to his career, but he was hampered by promotional issues ( mainly that his promoter Yvon Michel, who was associated with PBC, and Al Haymon didn't want their guy Adonis Stevenson to have to defend his title against Beterbiev, so they put Beterbiev on ice) until finally getting clear to move to Top Rank.
Beterbiev might be the biggest puncher in the game, only Deontay Wilder gives him a run for the money for that title, and his punishing, grinding style demands that you make a choice- stand and fight and take your chances with his power, try to box and pray you are durable enough to last twelve rounds of pain as you are pursued.

For Gvozdyk, his career isn't over after one loss and there are plenty of top fighters in the division with Top Rank for Gvozdyk to return to the top as he could fight Gilberto Ramirez, Eleider Alvarez, Jesse Hart, or even Sergei Kovalev, depending on the result of Kovalev's fight with Canelo Alvarez.
The biggest question will be can Gvozdyk recover from a loss that saw him beaten, time will tell if it has broken him.

The co-feature saw Kudratillo Abdukakhorov win a unanimous decision over Luis Collazo after the fight was stopped with under a minute remaining in the tenth round after heads collided and caused a huge cut over the left eye of Collazo, who was seriously dazed by the impact.
It wasn't a great bout, but I had Abdukakhorov the clear winner 98-92 in what will officially be a technical decision.
Abdukakhorov entered the bout as the mandatory contender for WBC/IBF champion Errol Spence for the IBF and risked that status in fighting the veteran Collazo, which he should be applauded for gambling the title fight so they can stay sharp and give himself the best chance to win that fight.
Not enough fighters do that and when they finally have the opportunity to fight for the championship, they haven't given themselves the best chance to win it.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica five to two, with the difference earning three points from the Artur Beterbiev victory to push my lead to 249-215.

Boxing Challenge:One Strange Day

Matt Heasley for Mikey Williams/Top Rank

In a strange day in what was expected to be a less than exciting boxing weekend gave followers something to at least make people shake their heads and recall what Larry Merchant always said about boxing- "the theatre of the absurd".

From Philadelphia, ESPN and Top Rank's main event was the return to action of WBC light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk with the first defense of his championship.
Gvozdyk was in with what was thought to be a soft touch in French transport Doudou Ngumbu, originally from the Congo, with the fact being unknown of how Gvozdyk would react in his first bout since injuring Adonis Stevenson.
We still don't know how Gvozdyk will react after his fifth-round stoppage over Ngumbu, which saw the fight end with Ngumbu unable to continue, but not after any Gvozdyk punches.
Instead, it was Ngumbu finished off with an injured calf that left him gimping around the ring like Fred Flintstone doing the Frantic and sitting in a corner distraught with tears after a lost chance that at 38 he will likely to never see again.
I thought Gvozdyk won every round but wasn't dominating Ngumbu and the calf hurt the challenger far more than the champions punches to that point.
Gvozdyk will hopefully face a better opponent later this year, hopefully, in a title unification against either WBO champion Sergey Kovalev or IBF standard-bearer Artur Beterbiev, should they win their next scheduled defenses.

The undercard saw a surprise as the WBO's top contender to their welterweight champion Terence Crawford, Egid Kavaliauskas may have lost his mandatory title fight as he struggled to a majority draw against Ray Robinson.
Robinson had been knocked out by Yordanis Ugas in his last fight and was thought to be a stay busy fight for the exposure to the boxing audience for Kavaliauskas to increase attention for a potential Crawford bout.
Instead, the majority draw could see Kavaliauskas dropped from the top contender position, although that isn't a given when you consider any sanctioning bodies ability to make a decision and that's the sanctioning body (WBO) that is coziest with Bob Arum.
Should Kavaliauskas be moved from the top spot, the big winners could be Jessie Vargas and DAZN as it would be Vargas (number three contender with second rated Amir Khan already facing Crawford next) that would benefit most.
Still, despite scores that read 97-93 for Robinson and two scores of 95-95. I thought Kavaliauskas was the 96-94 winner as he threw the harder punches against the mildly busier Robinson, if not impressive in doing so.

Golden Boy Promotions on DAZN presented the other Saturday night card from Indio, California with social media magnet Ryan Garcia in the top spot against veteran Jose Lopez.
Garcia had struggled to a close win two fights previously over Carlos Morales and Golden Boy is attempting to carefully match the nineteen-year-old to re-establish him.
Lopez, much smaller and slower was the perfect foil for Garcia to look good against and was hurt in round one.
Garcia finished the job in the second round with several right hands that put Lopez on the floor for the finish shots, although Lopez would stagger to his corner, where his corner ended the fight before the start of round three.
Garcia has impressive hand speed and what seems to be good power, but he seems very wide open to me and despite Oscar De La Hoya's words after the fight about the competition moving to the top level soon, I'm not sure Garcia is anywhere near ready for the top fighters in the 130 pound division.

Angel Acosta retained his WBO light flyweight title with an eighth-round knockout of former WBC champion Ganigan Lopez as the co-feature.
Lopez attempted to stick and move and was effective against Acosta, who I had slightly ahead 67-66 at the time of the stoppage.
Acosta managed to stun Lopez with a hard left hook in the eighth and managed to shrug off a dazed Lopez and his attempts to tackle the champion enough to drop him for the ten count.
Acosta vs WBC champion Ken Shiro would be a terrific unification fight in the division, but rarely are the best fights in the 108-pound division signed as it's often much easier to build up defenses against lesser contenders or move up to the flyweight division.

In the boxing challenge, I scored six points to Ramon Malpica's five to increase my lead to 72-65.
We each scored two points for the wins by Gvozdyk and Garcia, but I scored two points to Ramon's one for the win by Angel Acosta.

I usually don't write in the boxing challenge about non-challenge fights but I had to write a few words about the Matchroom card from Liverpool England on DAZN.
I considered the main event with former WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith against Sam Eggington for the challenge but decided against it.
However, as I try to watch almost everything, I still watched the card and one of the undercard fights saw former top prospect David Price appear.
Price won an Olympic bronze medal and was thought to be a potential champion with elite level power.
Price still can hurt anyone that he hits, but an alarmingly bad chin against anyone around the top 25 level had led to a series of losses that led to Price being knocked out in spectacular fashion last year against Alexander Povetkin in a fight that was such a mismatch that it shouldn't have been sanctioned.
For four rounds against undefeated former sparring partner Kash Ali, Price looked every bit the part of a contender, but entering the fifth round, the book on Price was referred to as "get through four rounds against Price and watch him melt".
Ali was clearly frustrated by Price and began fouling starting in the third round with a bite, following up with a fourth round shot to the back of Price' head and then taking him down in the fifth with better technique than some linebackers.
The fun began as the fighters rolled along the ropes with suddenly Price's head snaps back against the bottom rope and lets out a yelp.
The referee then has had enough of Ali's antics, disqualifies him as Price rises with a splotch on his torso that rivals that of Dusty Rhodes when he had that marking during that damn video that Jim Crockett Promotions played at every commercial break in 1987!
Price's win will likely see him in another OK Corral showdown against someone from the next level, where his big pop and soft chin are in a race to see which makes its way to the forefront first.

Just another crazy day in boxing and shows once again that even when you think it will be a dull day, boxing always can surprise.

Boxing Challenge; Gvozdyk dethrones Stevenson, Stevenson hospitalized

In Quebec City Canada in front of a Showtime audience that was using the broadcast as a lead-in for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury PPV, Oleksandr Gvozdyk finally took the WBC light heavyweight title that had been held hostage for so many years in Canada by Adonis Stevenson away from him with a brutal eleventh round knockout that has Stevenson hospitalized in intensive care as of this writing.

I've been a detractor of Stevenson's for years for his long stretches of inactivity and the WBC's constant coddling of his choosing less than world class opponents and the ending of his reign which started with so much promise is welcomed and would be celebrated by many if not for the sad ending which has him in critical condition.

Gvozdyk gave Stevenson the first two rounds, but on my card won all but one after that, although Stevenson did have his occasional moment as he briefly wobbled Gvozdyk in the tenth round.
Gvozdyk also clearly knocked Stevenson down in the third round, but referee Michael Griffin called it a slip as part of a completely awful evening for the officials in Quebec City.

Griffin not only missed the early knockdown, but he should also have stopped the fight in the eleventh earlier than he did as a clearly finished Stevenson was defenseless as he took one final Gvozdyk right hand that sent him tumbling to the floor in obvious distress.
And THEN you have the scorecards which were worse than a cheese sandwich left out in the sun for a week, with one judge even after ten rounds, another 96-94 and a final 98-92 card for STEVENSON?!
I had it 97-93 for Gvozdyk and you see why fighters have to finish opponents off when they can- as despite dominating the bout, Gvozdyk would have entered round twelve (this is Stevenson surviving the 11th hypothetically) even on one card (10-8 11th round) and having no chance on the other.
Gvozdyk was about to be screwed on the cards and he took matters into his own hands by doing his job.

Gvozdyk's win likely takes the PBC out of the light heavyweight picture for now as he takes the WBC title to Top Rank, Artur Beterbiev's IBF is with Matchroom and until the WBO rematch between Elieder Alvarez and Sergey Kovalev and the decision by WBA Dmitry Bivol on his tv platform occurs, we really don't know where the 175 pound division stands.
Gvozdyk is more of a standup boxer than huge puncher, but he stacks up well against any of the other three champions and would make interesting fights as well.

As for Stevenson, best wishes for a full recovery, but even with a full recovery, I would hope to not see him in the ring again.
At 41, he had already become a six round fighter that built a lead and tried to make it home as in his previous fight, a draw against Badou Jack and his never strong chin is obviously getting worse.

I have not seen the PPV card, if and when I do I will post about the results.
In the boxing challenge, I added five points to Ramon Malpica's four to move my lead to 200-179

Boxing Challenge:Ramirez Decisions Imam

Top Rank and ESPN hosted the boxing challenge for an St. Patrick's Day card in New York City that saw two challenge bouts, but the card was more than just the challenge as far as results go with the result being a very interesting night from the "World Wide Leader In Sports"
(Even though that's probably true, doesn't that line always seem pretentious?).

Let's start with the challenge and the most important fight of the evening (technically not the main event, but I digress) as a pretty solid scrap ensued as Jose Ramirez took a unanimous decision over Amir Imam to win the WBC junior welterweight title vacated by Terence Crawford.
The fight was close for the first half of the fight (I had Ramirez winning four of six rounds, but I could have seen 4-2 Imam just as easily), but Ramirez dominated the second half of the fight, badly swelling Imam's right eye and marching forward with aggression that overwhelmed Imam to the point of slowing Imam's ability to return fire.
I had Ramirez a 117-111 winner and despite a ridiculous scorecard that gave Ramirez every round, the decision was a clear-cut and fair one.
Ramirez is mandated to fight the WBC 'interim' champion Regis Prograis, who impressively dispatched Julius Indongo a few weeks back in his next fight, but Top Rank, who hosted Prograis and his promoter Lou DiBella last night, asked if Prograis would be willing to make a defense as the co-main event to a proposed Ramirez defense in his native Fresno, California, where Ramirez draws very impressive crowds and would be expected to do even better as a champion.
That makes sense to build exposure for Prograis and would give some buildup for a Ramirez-Prograis fight that style-wise might be a fight of the year level between the pair of undefeated bangers.

In the "our" co-feature highly rated light heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk dominated Mehdi Amir but didn't impress as much as I expected in winning an interim title that only exists because the WBC allows its champion Adonis Stevenson to do as he pleases (as in no mandatory defenses since 2013).
I had Gvozdyk an easy 118-110 winner, but the victory not only lacked knockdowns, Gvozdyk didn't deliver the dazzling victory as expected.
The win does make Gvozdyk the mandatory contender for the winner of Stevenson's fight against Badou Jack in May, the speed of that fight occurring may be up to the WBC as Gvozdyk (Promoted by Top Rank) brings a lot of danger, but does not bring an excessively large purse for either Stevenson (PBC) or Jack (Mayweather Promotions) along with the promotional (and television) difficulties involved.
I'll believe Gvozdyk fights either (but especially Stevenson) fighter when they enter the ring on fight night.

The promoted "Main Event" that went onto finish the evening in a non-challenge fight saw Irish Olympian Michael Conlan demolish David Berna in two rounds.
Normally a fighter in his sixth fight (that isn't Vasyl Lomachenko) is a preliminary, but Top Rank is attempting to build the appeal to the Irish fan base in NYC of Conlan as he matures as a prospect.
I wouldn't have promoted Conlan as the main event, but as I watched the fight, someone on Twitter raised a great point-had Conlan been the prelim bout, half the crowd would have left and would have taken some of the energy away that wound up being present for the Ramirez-Imam fight.
Looking at things that way, I can see their point.

I watched the undercard on the ESPN app and it was an interesting three fight card (I think there was a fourth, but I took the ladies for Meadows custard before the broadcast started) with three fighters of interest going in and saw a shocking upset with a dose of just how hard it truly is to project a prospect's future-no matter their amateur pedigree.

Four years ago, when Ramon Malpica and I first were getting to know each other, we did a post called the six-round staredown and we picked "Can't Miss" and "Tired of Seeing" for each of the three major promotions.
When Top Rank came up, Ramon picked Felix Verdejo, while I picked Vasyl Lomachenko (don't give me too much credit, I picked Omar Figueroa for Golden Boy's Can't Miss) for the Arum bunch.
Fast forward four years and Verdejo has suffered through motorcycle accidents, injuries, a few disappointing performances along with a thirteen-month layoff before his return against Antonio Lozada.
Lozada had a solid (37-2 31 KO's) record but had never fought outside of Mexico and the once touted Verdejo, who in his rise was an HBO fighter against lesser opponents than Lozada in anticipation of being one of boxing's next stars was relegated to the Watch ESPN app on a stream.
Verdejo was competitive but was in a dogfight against the taller Lozada entering the final round.
I had Lozada leading by a point, but I was completely prepared for a close and arguable decision for Verdejo on the cards.
Verdejo was the house fighter, the bigger name and the guy that was marked for future appearances and I've seen this happen a thousand times, but on this night, Lozada was having none of that.
Lozada took no chances and did what so many fighters should do in similar situations-he took the pencils away from the judges and finished the fight as he dropped Verdejo and pummeled him until the referee was forced to stop the fight with 23 seconds to go.
It was disappointing for Verdejo and his promotion to drop his return bout, but what's really disappointing is more than just one bout.
One loss doesn't destroy a career and all too often in today's boxing, a loss is a bigger deal than it should be (call it the Mayweather Ramification), but it seems like all the issues outside of the ring have taken its tool on a young fighter with loads of ability and I'm very dubious of any idea that we'll ever see from Felix Verdejo what so many thought we would see in the ring.

The other two bouts saw promising junior lightweight Christopher Diaz win by a TKO in the fourth over Braulio Rodriguez, when Rodriguez separated his shoulder (Egads!) and former junior lightweight champ Jose Pedraza win a unanimous decision over Jose Rodriguez in an eight rounder in his first fight since losing his title to Gervonta Davis and first fight since signing with Top Rank.
I thought Diaz looked like he was ready to make his first leap against better competition and Pedraza looked sharp all things considered as well.

The stream call had a different announcing crew and I liked some of what I saw.
I've always been a big supporter of Crystina Poncher calling fights,she knows the sport and just needs the reps in the job to be a coming star and I liked Brian McIntyre's (trainer of Terence Crawford) analysis too as I hadn't been too familiar with him at the mic, but thought he was solid.
I wasn't as thrilled with Todd Grisham, but that could be my bias against former wrestling announcers, although my rap against Grisham (and Showtime's Mauro Ranallo) is that they seem to come into a broadcast with set jokes and stories that they are going to get into the broadcast no matter what and the artificial excitement that seems to always be a staple of the former McMahon bunch when they commentate sports that don't have a predetermined victor.

I'm still just not thrilled with the ESPN/Top Rank main crew.
Joe Tessitore is decent enough but like an average team, he plays to the level of the competition and with Mark Kriegel and Tim Bradley, he is limited in what he has to work with.
Bradley struggles to get his thoughts out quickly and he might be better used as a commentator in between fights or even rounds where he has a little bit of time to get his insights out.
Bradley says some interesting things but could thrive in a different role and especially the same for Kriegel, who was terrific in a roundtable with Don King and Bob Arum recalling their old war stories, but in a live fight environment is just not very good.
I'm not sure how Kriegel got into this position and had enough pull to push Teddy Atlas aside, but someone at the network or promotion must really be fond of him.

In the Boxing Challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points to move the total to 43-35.
Ramon scored two points for the Oleksandr Gvozdyk win, while I scored one each for wins by Gvozdyk and Jose Ramirez.

Crawford stops Indongo in Three-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on Saturday night's Top Rank card from Lincoln,Nebraska with correct selections on both fights.
The Challenge now stands at 102-94.

In the main event,Terence Crawford looked terrific in stopping Julius Indongo in the third round with a vicious body shot,
Crawford had knocked Indongo down in the second round,but Indongo did land his share of shots on Crawford and Indongo was trying to win rather than survive,so credit him for that.
The victory gives Crawford all four junior welterweight titles and he said he might consider making one defense of the four titles before a move to 147 pounds,although I'd be surprised if that happened.
Crawford fights against PBC champions Keith Thurman and Errol Spence would be must see television (although Crawford's activity goes against the often idle fighters in the PBC) and would help establish any winner of those bouts as pound for pound top contenders.

Oleksander Gvozdyk stopped Craig Baker in round six of their light heavyweight bout.
Gvozdyk looked impressive in finishing Baker in the final round,but looked a little listless in the first five rounds of the fight.
Gvozdyk called out Andre Ward after the fight,a fight that could happen with Ward seemingly on his way to Top Rank after doing the bout as a color commentator.
Gvozdyk is talented and has a bright future,but might not have enough seasoning for Ward at this time.

Lomachenko dominates Sosa-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge rolled into Maryland of all place for three fights and two more in England for a big fight weekend.
I outscored Ramon Malpica nine to six on the weekend to move my lead to 41-36 on the year....

The first ever card at the new MGM casino in Oxon Hill Maryland featured what some consider the best fighter in the world as Vasyl Lomachenko won every round from Jason Sosa and forced his corner to throw in the towel after the ninth round to retain his WBO junior lightweight title.
Lomachenko did not score a knockdown on the game Sosa,but steadily pounded the challenger and rarely took a punch,let alone one of value.
The knockout win gave me three points (win,result and round called) to Ramon's one.

As for Lomachenko,who might be boxing's most avoided man,who knows what's next.
None of the other three champions (WBA Jezreel Corrales,WBC Miguel Berchelt or IBF Gervonta Davis) seem to have any interest in fighting him,which is why Jason Sosa took his shot.
Orlando Salido,who defeated Lomachenko in a fight that saw Salido miss weight and fire low blows consistently over their fight that should have seen Salido lose points,but weren't before Salido won a narrow split decision.
That rematch would be interesting as Salido has been the only opponent not only defeat Lomachenko,but even give him a challenge.
However,Top Rank (Lomachenko's promoter) thinks Salido has overpriced himself to avoid the rematch.
A move to 135 pounds could see two challengers to make Lomachenko work in WBA champ Jorge Linares or WBC champ Mikey Garcia,but if the WBC has their way,those two will fight each other next.
Other than those two,I don't see anyone capable of giving Lomachenko a mild challenge under 140 pounds and that could mean more squash matches like last night....

The undercard saw Oleksandr Usyk win a unanimous decision over former U.S.Olympian Michael Hunter to retain his WBO cruiserweight title.
Usyk badly hurt Hunter in the 12th and scored a knockdown when the ropes held a badly hurt Hunter up on his feet.
This fight should have been stopped in that round,but it wasn't-if Maryland is going to become a fight staple in Oxon Hill-they had better start training some quality referees.
I scored Usyk a 117-110 winner (9-3 with the knockdown),but Hunter showed some good things.
He needs more seasoning,but he could be back down the road.
I'd love to see Usyk against IBF champ Murat Gassiev or WBC titleist Mairis Breidis in unification fights,which would be close and entertaining contests.
Ramon and I each scored one point for the win,as we did for the other fight on the HBO broadcast as
there is a looming star in the light heavyweight division in Oleksandr Gvozdyk,who steamrolled Yunieski Gonzalez in three rounds.
Gvozdyk dropped Gonzalez twice in the round,sending him staggering around the ring before finishing him off in leaving him face down on the canvas.
The light heavyweight division is suddenly filled with promising big punching contenders in Gvozdyk,Artur Beterbiev,Joe Smith among other solid contenders in Elieder Alvarez,Sullivan Barrera and the rising in weight Badou Jack,so lots of good fights could be made-lets see what happens....

In Manchester,England,Terry Flanagan retained his WBO lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Petr Petrov.
I scored Flanagan a 116-112 winner,but from what I saw against the solid,but unspectacular Petrov.
Flanagan might want to stay away from the top two lightweights in the above mentioned Linares and Garcia.
Ramon and I each earned two points for the Flanagan win.

In a travesty on many levels,Liam Smith defeated Liam Williams when a severe (and rare) double cut on Williams eyelid forced his corner to resign after the ninth round.
The bout was scheduled to be for the "interim" WBO junior middleweight title that will be more than likely upgraded to the full title when Canelo Alvarez vacates the division,but Smith missed weight and left only Williams to win the title.
And then the worst part,I had Williams ahead six rounds to three at the end of nine,but near the end of the round,I thought Smith clearly charged in with malice head first and headbutted Williams causing the cut that would end the fight.
It was ruled a clash of heads and had Williams continued and had the fight been stopped due to that cut,the scorecards would have been consulted.
Instead the corner looked after their fighter over the chance of victory,gave Smith an undeserved win and kept the title vacant.
Smith's stoppage win gave me two points and Ramon one...

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