Boxing Challenge: Wardley rallies again!

    For the second fight in a row, Fabio Wardley rallied from behind to score a miracle knockout win, and in this win, he defeated the best opponent of his career to earn a chance at undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.

Wardley's eleventh-round stoppage of Joseph Parker won him a minor title, but his victory in London has replaced Parker as the next opponent for Usyk.

The fight was action-filled and competitive, but two of the three judges had Parker ahead (by two and six points), with the third scoring it even after ten rounds (I had Parker ahead 97-93).

Both fighters landed heavy shots throughout the fight, but Parker had Wardley in mild trouble in the ninth and tenth rounds.

I thought the stoppage by referee Howard Foster was premature, as Parker looked to be hurt worse earlier in the round, and Wardley wasn't connecting solidly (if at all) with the flurry that ended the fight.

A rematch seems to be a good idea, but I can't see Wardley risking his now mandatory shot at Usyk, although Parker took that risk to face Wardley.

I don't see Wardley having more than a puncher's chance against Usyk, who will likely handle Wardley in the same manner that he disposed of the similarly styled Daniel DuBois.

However, as Wardley has proven in his two recent bouts, you always have a chance when you possess the power to end a fight at any time.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 135 Pts (0)

Ramon Malpica: 128 Pts (0)

Vince Samano; 53 Pts  (0) 

Boxing Challenge: Usyk repeats win

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 190 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 186 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 116 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Usyk dethrones Fury!

     It was an action-filled Saturday in the boxing universe with several upsets, new champions crowned, and maybe even a new addition to the all-time greats of the sport.

In the biggest bout of the day, Oleksandr Usyk unified the world heavyweight title by adding the WBC title to his three others with a split decision win over previously unbeaten Tyson Fury.

Fury won most of the first half of the fight before Usyk began to change the narrative in round seven and in round eight, Usyk exploded with a series of punches that sent Fury reeling around the ring in a daze that had referee Mark Nelson stopped the fight, I don't think there would have been a large controversy.

Fury was able to get up from the knockdown with the round closing after Fury rose and give the Englishman credit for getting himself together between rounds.

Fury wouldn't win a round on my card thereafter but he fought competitively and had his moments against Usyk, who nonetheless had the advantage in the final rounds.

The scorecards were for Usyk 115-112 (my score and the score that seems to be the most common), 114-113 (meaning without the knockdown, it would have finished as a draw), and 114-113 for Fury (which I disagree with but if you gave everything close to Fury, I can see it).

Usyk will be the undisputed champion for days or a week if he's lucky as the IBF will demand Usyk defend against their top contender Filip Hrgovic, which Usyk is unlikely to do as the two fighters agreed to a two-fight series when the contracts were signed.

I suppose it's possible that Hrgovic could take step-aside money but it's unlikely and the most likely scenario is that Hrgovic's fight against Daniel DuBois on June 1 will be for the vacant IBF title.

DuBois was stopped last year in a title try against Usyk, so a DuBois win will make things even more ridiculous.

One question on Oleksandr Usyk is whether or not this win qualifies him as an all-time great.

Perhaps not as an all-time great heavyweight but as an all-time great fighter- yes.

A fully undisputed title at cruiserweight followed by an undisputed championship at heavyweights with wins over the best of each division except for Deontay Wilder makes an excellent statement for Usyk's greatness.

Usyk's boxing skills along with his underrated punch definitely rate him as an all-time great and now that he has added Tyson Fury to his record pushes him up the ladder of greatness.

I have some things to do so the remainder of the weekend recap will have to wait until I have more time.

Boxing Challenge: Usyk stops DuBois

 Oleksandr Usyk returned (or close to it) home for his three-title defense against Daniel DuBois in Wroclaw, Poland, and kept those titles with a ninth-round knockout but there is some controversy involved, and should the WBA rule a certain way could slow down Usyk's wished for attempt at title unification against WBC kingpin Tyson Fury.

The fight was even on my card after four rounds with Usyk winning the first two with ease and DuBois narrowly edging Usyk for the third and fourth before the controversy began.

Early in round five, DuBois nailed Usyk with a punch that ESPN's Joe Tessitore initially called a body punch knockdown with Usyk on the mat in pain.

Referee Luis Pabon ruled the punch low and gave Usyk multiple minutes to recover.

Usyk took command after the delay and won every round from there, knocking DuBois down late in round eight and completing the task after a knockdown in round nine.

I had Usyk up after eight at 78-73 and DuBois wasn't going to get back into the fight at the time of the stoppage anyway but after the fight, both DuBois and his promoter Frank Warren claimed that they had been robbed of victory by the decision of Luis Pabon.

Team DuBois will be appealing to the WBA for an immediate rematch and should they get it, Usyk may have to decide who to make happy, the WBA or the IBF, who has the next mandatory contender slot with their top challenger Filip Hrgovic.

Of course, should a Tyson Fury fight become available, Usyk could pass on either fight, neither of which would bring a large payday.

Hrgovic has stated that he will not take step-aside money, so Usyk may have to face him next or risk the IBF title.

As for the low blow vs. body shot controversy, I slowed it down to Zapruder level and it appears a bit low and only the thumb on the glove of DuBois appears to be definitively above the waistline.

It was a close call in live action but it was the right one.

ESPN moved to its own card with two heavyweight attractions from Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The main event saw undefeated Jared Anderson return from his first time going the distance in a decision win over Charles Martin with a fifth-round knockout of Andriy Rudenko.

Anderson dominated the fight throughout and when he battered Rudenko in the fifth, the referee justly ended the fight with the helpless Rudenko beaten along the ropes.

Anderson did everything to the durable Rudenko but drop him and Anderson looked strong after he was wobbled by Martin in his last fight, so his return was successful in rebuilding his confidence a bit.

It'll be interesting to see how Top Rank matches Anderson in his next fight or two.

Will they give him more Rudenko-types to help re-establish him as a destroyer?

Or do they return him to the Charles Martin gatekeeper level as a test of his progression?

Zhan Kossobutskiy was supposed to be the opponent for Anderson in July but due to visa problems, he couldn't enter the country and forced the late replacement of Charles Martin to save the card.

With his visa issues settled, Kossobutskiy was slotted into the co-feature against once-beaten Efe Ajagba, who had disappointed since his only loss to Frank Sanchez.

So with his reported power and amateur background, Kossobutskiy was thought by some to be a trap fight for Ajagba and a possible victor.

Of course, it didn't turn out that way as Ajagba hurt Kossobutskiy in the second and the Russian never recovered as he began to hit Ajagba low several times, most of those intentionally (although Ajagba hit Kossobutskiy low as well, so he wasn't innocent) in the third round, losing two points as a result.

Kossobutskiy did the same in the fourth and was disqualified for his efforts (or non-effort) and likely has blown any chance of fighting on American shows for quite a while.

For Ajagba, it's another win but also another win that doesn't move him up the ladder very much.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Top Rank fish or cut bait with Ajagba and try to feed him to Jared Anderson sometime in the next year.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 141 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 128 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 96 Pts (1) 

Boxing Challenge: Usyk retains title in Joshua rematch

   Oleksandr Usyk survived a rocky ninth round, swept the final three rounds to clinch a split decision win over Anthony Joshua in their rematch, and retained his WBA, IBF, and WBO championships in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Joshua gave a much more spirited effort than in their first bout and after rocking Usyk badly in the ninth seemed on the verge of regaining the championship for a third reign.

However, the Pride of Ukraine wasn't about to allow that to happen as Usyk immediately grabbed control in the tenth round as he hurt Joshua and swept the final three rounds on my scorecard for a 116-112 win.

I thought the fight was close entering the final round and had Joshua won that round, I might have understood a scorecard of a draw but I was surprised to see a 115-113 score for Joshua that was overruled by the two judges giving Usyk the edge at 115-113 and 116-112.

While this fight was far more entertaining than the first affair, I don't think we need a third fight for a while in a similar matter to Deontay Wilder's great attempt in losing his third fight to Tyson Fury.

It was a good fight but Joshua needs to reestablish himself and move on (for now) as Deontay Wilder is doing as well.

Joshua stated that he will be back in the ring in December, which is a good thing to be more active, and while I still think there is lots of money in a Joshua-Wilder clash, I'm dubious of that happening.

After all, if Al Haymon and Eddie Hearn couldn't get this done for the unified heavyweight championship for all of those dollars so close, why should I expect them to agree for smaller, although sizable paydays as contenders?

As for Usyk, the logical next fight would be the unification bout with WBC champion Tyson Fury, who waffles back and forth on his future as most people flip the cool side of the pillow in order to grab attention but is unlikely to turn away the big bucks for a Usyk fight.

I'll say this and I respect the talent and ability of Tyson Fury but I'll be rooting for Oleksandr Usyk in that one for a few reasons- most of which are personal preferences of mine.

Usyk is entertaining yet not clownish and doesn't need the constant attention, it would be a wonderful thing that his home country of Ukraine could use right now, and I would like to move away a bit from the hulking heavyweights that have come into vogue over the last decade or two.

It's an intriguing fight that Fury will be favored in but I still remember that Steve Cunningham knockdown against Fury and Cunningham was a natural cruiserweight as well.

Fury will be the firm favorite and deservedly so with his advantages but this is the first time that he will be facing a fighter with more skills and more experience- Sleep on the chances of Oleksandr Usyk at your own betting peril.

The undercard was very entertaining with two fights that were very close and a former world champion scoring a devastating knockout.

Filip Hrgovic held off the attack of the surprising Zhilei Zhang and became the mandatory challenger in the IBF for Oleksandr Usyk with a close unanimous decision victory.

Zhang scored a flash knockdown in the first round, which made the difference on my card as I thought Zhang earned the nod by a 114-113 score.

The judges disagreed with all scoring for Hrgrovic by scores of 115-112 (x2) and 114-113.

Both fighters were hurt during the fight with Hrgrovic wobbling around the ring in the seventh round and he was fortunate that the round ended when it did.

Hrgovic was cut in the third from the scalp from a headbutt and Zhang ended the fight with heavy bruises and marks around both of his eyes.

Both fighters had their excellent moments and neither fighter could fully keep command of the fight as each landed their share of power punches.

Hrgovic showed some vulnerabilities that he hadn't in the past and Zhang redeemed himself a bit for his lackluster draw with Jerry Forrest in his previous test against better heavyweights.

A fun twelve-rounder and while I'm not sure either is ready for a title shot, the pair meshed for a tight and exciting co-feature.

Former WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Callum Smith moved to the top contender spot in the WBC ratings with a spectacular fourth-round knockout of Mathieu Bauderlique.

Smith lost the first two rounds on my card but in the third began to reach the Frenchman with long right hands.

Smith landed a left early in the fourth round that caused Bauderlique to use his glove to keep him off the floor, which is a knockdown, and shortly after rising, Bauderlique moved into full retreat and attempted to fend off Smith but ate a left hook that sent him to the mat and the fight ended before a count.

Smith is now in a position to eventually challenge WBC/IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev sometime in 2023 after Beterbiev's WBO mandatory is fulfilled against Great Britain's Anthony Yarde.

Former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack won a split decision over formerly undefeated Richard Rivers in an excellent cruiserweight action fight that will be remembered for more than only the action.

The first was the crazy eighth round which lasted for a minute longer than it should have and Jack landed several punishing bombs during that minute on Rivera, which likely gave the edge to Jack for the round and took a lot of energy from Rivera during the final two rounds.

Had the round ended properly, Rivera would have likely gotten the round and the fight would have ended in a majority draw.

Both fighters gave as good as they received and the split decision for Jack was reasonable at 96-94 from two judges with the other scoring 96-94 for Rivera.

I split the difference with a 95-95 scorecard, so my major issue is with the comatose timekeeper, not the scoring.

The other memorable portion of this fight was the commitment to Rivera of his gimmick as Popeye which included wearing the character's hat and pipe during his ring introductions, using Popeye on his waistband, and quickly sliding back into the costume after the fight.

Give credit as this was an entertaining evening of boxing even if the crowd seemed like they were relatively disengaged and not very excitable despite the action.

I will be back next with the Showtime and ESPN action from the weekend as my Sunday fantasy football draft took away my writing time on Sunday.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:148 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica:126 Pts (5)

Vince Samano:116 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Usyk Dethrones Joshua

     The boxing world lost arguably its biggest fight when Anthony Joshua was upset in his native London by unanimous decision to Oleksandr Usyk and lost his WBA, IBF, and WBO championships to the former cruiserweight champion.

The defeat ended hopes of a Joshua-Tyson Fury fight that would have unified all four heavyweight titles next spring and makes fans wonder where the division is going after Fury fights Deontay Wilder next month.

I wrote in my preview of the fight that I almost picked Usyk and had he looked a bit more impressive in his two heavyweight wins, I would have done so.

I thought that should Usyk defeat Joshua, he would do so in similar ways as Michael Spinks had surprised the larger Larry Holmes- keep the larger man off balance with lunges on the inside, getting out before he can be hit and when he is on the outside, stay far enough outside that he isn't hit there.

Usyk did all of these well and smoothly but the bigger surprise was that Usyk was the more powerful puncher of the two as he stunned Joshua several times during the bout and badly hurt Joshua with under a minute to go in the final round, driving a dazed Joshua into the ropes and if there would have been another minute to go in the fight. I think Usyk might have put Joshua away.

Usyk swept the final five rounds of the fight on my card to win 117-111 (9-3) and two of the official cards were close to mine at 117-112 and 116-112 with the other card for Usyk at 115-113 which I thought was a little closer than it was, but there were three close rounds on my card (I gave two of three to Usyk) so that isn't a crazy scorecard.

Joshua is expected to activate his rematch clause for next spring, the WBC is expected to mandate that next month's Dillian Whyte-Otto Wallin winner will immediately face the Fury-Wilder winner so a unified championship isn't happening before next fall and the real fly in the ointment to all of this could happen if Wilder would defeat Fury as I doubt Al Haymon puts Wilder in with Usyk at all.

Remember for all the vast power that Deontay Wilder possesses, he isn't a large heavyweight and he's closer in size to Usyk than he is Fury, so with Usyk's boxing ability I don't see a path for a Usyk-Wilder fight should Wilder win.

Give credit to a history-making effort by Oleksandr Usyk and credit to Anthony Joshua who could have folded his tent in the late rounds when he suffered an eye socket injury and caused his eye to swell almost shut and instead fought through to finish the fight.

On the undercard, Lawrence Okolie retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a third-round knockout of unknown Dilan Prasovic.

Okolie scored a late knockdown in the second round and quickly finished off Prasovic with a body shot early in the third.

I'd like to Okolie against IBF champion Mairis Bredis next to establish the winner as the best cruiserweight in the world.

Callum Smith crushed Lenin Castillo with one right hand that scared anyone that saw it as Castillo twitched badly while on the canvas.

Castillo was reported fine after a hospital trip and the win by Smith was very impressive as Castillo had never been stopped before and had lasted the full twelve rounds against WBA champion Dmitry Bivol.

For Smith, it could see Bivol in his future as Bivol's championship is the only one of the four not controlled by Top Rank and Bivol has worked with Smith's promoter Matchroom in the past.

In Madrid. the comeback of former middleweight champion Sergio Martinez continued with a unanimous decision over veteran Briton Brian Rose.

I scored Martinez a 97-93 winner and Martinez survived a rough second round where Rose had Martinez in a good deal of trouble.

I'm not really sure if I'm ready to state that Martinez is ready for a title shot, but even at 46 he's still capable of competing against anyone other than the elite and just under the elite of the division.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica five to four with the difference being a bonus point scored by me for calling the round of the Lawrence Okolie knockout win.

I lead the challenge 130-114.

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: Usyk wins heavyweight debut

The boxing challenge weekend was predictable and the winners were impressive enough in various degrees to think about future endeavors more than the victories on Saturday.

In Chicago, in front of a raucous crowd, former world cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk won all seven rounds in his first fight at heavyweight and dominated the final few rounds on his way to defeating late substitute Chazz Witherspoon, when Witherspoon didn't answer the bell to start the eighth round.
Usyk took the first few rounds without any real harm, but it wasn't until the fourth round when Usyk began to step up the pace and landing more punches against the overmatched Witherspoon.
Usyk used his boxing ability to land punches from the angles that he dominated the cruiserweight division with and was taking the energy out of Witherspoon with each round and seemed to be on his way to knocking out the last-minute replacement, but the corner was smart enough to see that their fighter was out of gas and chose an honorable surrender.
Usyk looked good in his initial heavyweight bout, but even though Usyk is the mandatory challenger in the WBO for the winner of the Andy Ruiz-Anthony Joshua rematch, he might be better suited to fight another fight against better competition before challenging for the championship.
Former WBO champion Joseph Parker is with Matchroom and would be an excellent gauge for how Usyk would perform against a top ten level fighter with another name being mentioned is England's Dereck Chisora, who is also with Matchroom.
Chisora is a strong fighter, who would physically test Usyk and has been a gatekeeper in the division.
If you are a legitimate contender, you defeat Chisora and often soundly, if you are of the second level, Chisora generally beats you.
Either would make plenty of sense for Usyk's next outing.

The co-main event saw Dmitry Bivol retain his WBA light heavyweight title with a lopsided unanimous decision over Lenin Castillo.
Bivol knocked Castillo down in round six, but didn't press his advantage and settled for winning every round on my card for a 120-107 total.
Dmitry Bivol is certainly capable of defeating any of the other top light heavyweights but has moved from being an exciting power puncher to an effective, but not always entertaining champion that dominates his challengers but doesn't leave the crowd raving as they depart.
Bivol is now a promotional free agent, so he could choose to move to Top Rank for a shot at the winner of next week's unification fight between WBC champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk and IBF titleholder Artur Beterbiev, but it's unknown whether he will decide to do so.

Earlier in the day from Leeds, England, Josh Warrington retained his IBF featherweight title with a second-round knockout of Sofiane Takoucht.
Warrington, who is not known as a heavy puncher, knocked down Takoucht twice in the second round before the final knockdown that finished the show.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored five points on the weekend.
My lead is now 244-213.

Boxing Challenge: Usyk finishes Bellew

Photo Courtesy: Getty Images

In a DAZN centered weekend, the star was the expected one as the only man to hold all four championships in his division,Oleksandr Usyk ended a close fight (on some cards) with a left hand that not only ended his fight with former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, but likely ended the Briton's career in the eighth round.
The fight was interesting and competitive entering round eight, but I had Usyk well ahead (5-2) and wearing Bellew down, but apparently, the on-site judges were seeing something that I was not as Bellew led on two cards and was even on the third.
Bellew had his moments early, but I cannot fathom him being even in any way, let alone ahead, but Usyk took the scorecards out of play with one shot.
Usyk is likely to vacate his titles (too bad, I really like having one champion) for a move to the heavyweight division, where Eddie Hearn, who co-promotes Usyk and fully promotes WBA/IBF/WBO champion Anthony Joshua, was quoted after the fight that the plan was for Usyk to fight his next fight at heavyweight and then challenge Joshua.
The win for Usyk added Bellew to Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev to Usyk's victims for 2018 and considering that all three wins were in his opponent's home countries and the World Boxing Super Series victory, Oleksandr Usyk will more than likely be my choice for fighter of the year.

The co-feature saw former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla hammer out a workmanlike unanimous decision over Daud Yordan to become the mandatory contender for the WBA and their lightweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko.
Lomachenko, who will attempt to add the WBO belt of Jose Pedraza in a few weeks, might be likely to travel to London to spread his reputation (and show he can sell tickets) in Europe to fight Crolla, but Eddie Hearn may not be in a hurry to force his man to fight Lomachenko and may be content to bide his time and hope for a Lomachenko voluntary vacating of that title, should that situation arise.
I scored Crolla a 117-111  (9-3) winner.

The evening card had the World Boxing Super Series finishing their quarter-final round by completing their cruiserweight semi-final bracket from Chicago.
The first fight featured the tournament's top seed and the man that gave Oleksandr Usyk his most difficult bout earlier this year with former WBC champion Mairis Briedis against little known Noel Mikaelian of Germany.
This fight displayed two surprises- the first came when Mikaelian controlled the fight with his jab against an either underprepared or overconfident (perhaps both) Briedis and won handily on my card 115-111 (8-4) with both fighters being penalized one point for fouls (Mikaelian in the 4th, Briedis in the 10th) in the fight.
The second surprise rose when the scorecards were announced to the surprise of everyone, including Briedis it seemed, that Briedis was the winner and even worse by margins that were simply incredible (2,4 and an unbelievable 6 points).
I feel bad for Mikaelian, who stepped up with a solid effort against the toughest test of his career and should have been rewarded with a winning, if not glittering victory.
If I made the decision for the WBSS, I'd immediately place Mikaelian as the "Stand-by Alternate" for each of the next two rounds to be used in case of an injury or a competitor misses weight.
Briedis will face the winner of the other bout in Krzysztof Glowacki.

Glowacki, who won a WBO minor title that I usually wouldn't mention, but if Oleksandr Usyk does vacate his titles. Glowacki will likely be elevated to full champion in that organization, defeated Maksim Vlasov via a unanimous decision in a fight that was more entertaining than the other quarter-final, but still was far from a classic.
Glowacki was credited with a third-round knockdown that appeared to be more along the lines of a trip but was scored a knockdown on his way to a 118-109 (10-2 with a bonus point for the knockdown) triumph on my scorecard.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me six to five on the weekend with the difference being Ramon earning two points for the Mairis Briedis win, whereas I scored just one for the Briedis "win".
I lead the season 186-164.

Boxing Challenge;Usyk wins WBSS!!

Finally, we have a four belt champion and the winner of the first World Boxing Super Series as Oleksandr Usyk gave the performance of his career with a dazzling and dominant victory over Murat Gassiev in Moscow via a unanimous decision.

Usyk's win annexed the WBA and IBF cruiserweight titles from Gassiev added them to the WBO and WBC championships that he already held and left no doubt that he is the best cruiserweight in the world.
I thought the fight was a pick em level fight, but I leaned Gassiev by a hair.
I was quickly proven wrong as the speed and quickness of Usyk left Gassiev befuddled and confused for the evening and on the occasion that the power-hitting Gassiev did connect, Usyk took those hammers extremely well in winning a 118-110 decision on my card.
Usyk was the tournament's top seed and won all three of his tournament events in his opponent's home country defeating Marco Huck in Germany, Mairis Briedis in Latvia and then Gassiev in Russia in the final.

The rumored next fight for Usyk is Brit Tony Bellew, a former cruiserweight champ with two wins over former heavyweight champion David Haye in Bellew's last two fights.
Hopefully, that fight will be at cruiserweight, where it would be nice to see Usyk make a few defenses of the unified title and not have the title break back into four pieces after a move to heavyweight.
I'd like to see Usyk in a rematch vs Mairis Bredis, who Usyk defeated in the semi's by a narrow majority decision before he leaves for the bigger division.
I scored their fight a draw so this would be far from a sure thing for Usyk.

As for the WBSS, they couldn't have asked for more from their first tournament.
They had every major cruiser and most of the best in the world, were able to put together exciting and compelling bouts and unified all the titles.
Every tourney won't be able to do that, as their super middleweight bracket has shown and they won't be able to attract all the champions every time, as their 2018-19 brackets have shown.
The cruiserweight champions were all European attractions, so there was not a need for an American presence- eventually, they will need one.
The WBSS still will need to prove that they will be able to bring the best fighters in from the three main American promoters (they have yet to pull a major star from Golden Boy, PBC or Top Rank), and they have to hope Eddie Hearn's streaming service DAZN catches on as season two's contests will be exclusive to that outlet, but still I have to say the WBSS is an early success story, let's hope that this can be sustained.

On HBO, the main event was the return of exciting banger Jaime Munguia in the first defense of his WBO junior middleweight title against former champion Liam Smith in Las Vegas.
I haven't had a chance to watch Munguia's unanimous decision win, so I'll edit this later when I have.

Alberto Machado won every round over Rafael Mensah in the dull opener to retain a minor title.
Machado was arguably the most screwed over fighter by the WBA after he won their top title with a stunning KO of favored Jezreel Corrales, only to be dropped to their "regular' title in order to have the top "vacant" title (which really wasn't) filled by Gervonta Davis.
Machado knocked Mensah down at the end of the first round and had he had a few more seconds, might have ended the fight there.
Instead, we received eleven more rounds of a tedious beating.
I scored Machado a 120-107 winner.

In the challenge, Ramon Malpica scored 4 points to my 3 and cut my lead to 25 at 115-90...

Boxing Challenge:Usyk slips by Briedis

Photo Credit; World Boxing Super Series

The boxing weekend featured the World Boxing Super Series unifying two titles and giving viewers more than they could have expected and then HBO gave their subscribers one of the worst cards that they have offered in years to end the day with an utter waste of time...

The first semi-final in the cruiserweight division of the World Boxing Super Series in Riga, Latvia looked to be an interesting matchup as two titles would be unified, but some thought it might be more of a world-class battle of chess.
The pleasant surprise saw the early leader for fight of the year (hey, it's January) as WBO champ and top seed Oleksandr Uskyk took the WBC title away from the home country hero and third seed by as hard-fought of a majority decision as you'll see and advance to the finals.
A great fight with ebbs and flows that I scored even at 114, but it "felt" like Usyk edged it out by a hair, yet when you added it all up, I had it even.
It's one of those fights that is screaming for a second viewing (and scoring).
Usyk will face the winner of next week's fight between IBF champion Murat Gassiev and minor beltholder Yunier Dorticos in what is sure to be an exciting fight from Russia.

The problem is seeing these fights because American television isn't picking them up, the streams are struggling to work and it's tough to find them.
It's too bad because once you do-it's really high-level stuff with the cruiserweights (the super middleweights haven't been as strong thus far).

What makes the lack of ease finding the WBSS even frustrating is when you have such issues and then HBO, the network that has been the Cadillac of boxing television for so many years, puts on a card like they did Saturday night from the Forum in Inglewood California.
I know HBO has hitched its wagon mainly to Golden Boy Promotions (along with a few other "independents"), but this looked like a card better suited to their ESPN deal (where it would have been a nice "free "show) and not worthy of an HBO slot.

In the main event and in one of the dullest non-Erislandy Lara or Guillermo Rigonedeaux main events that you'll see, Lucas "The Machine" Matthysse continued his comeback with a knockout of unknown Tewa Kiram in the eighth round after seven rounds that had the live crowd booing and the Twitter followers disgusted with the dreadful fight.
I've always been a Matthysse fan, but he looks like a fighter that unless you match him against someone that stands directly in front of him and engages, he might be a shot fighter.
Matthysse picked up one of those WBA minor belts that we don't recognize, which means he could eventually be forced upon Keith Thurman, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that to happen, but he mentioned a Danny Garcia rematch (Garcia won their first match against a prime Matthysee off his jab, I fail to see why rematching a faded version changes anything) or a Manny Pacquiao pipedream, which might be a more fun fight to watch but considering Matthysse's still potent power is a high-risk low reward for Manny.
As for Kiram, the less said the better and I really don't need to see him again period, let alone on HBO.

In the co-feature, challenger Mercito Gesta tried hard and lasted the distance with WBA lightweight champion Jorge Linares, but other than winning a few early rounds was clearly outclassed by one of the two best lightweights in the world.
The problem for Linares is that the other best lightweight in the world, WBC champ Mikey Garcia talks a lot about fighting him, but doesn't seem actually interested in signing a contract to make the fight happen.
That is one of many baffling business decisions from Garcia, who I'd favor to defeat Linares, who still considers himself more of a businessman that boxes than a boxer that makes solid business decisions,
I thought Linares was two cuts above Gesta, who wasn't deserving of a title shot and that's about how it turned out as I scored it a perhaps overly generous (for Gesta) 117-111 win for Linares.
It's just hard for me to believe HBO turned down rights to great stuff like Usyk (who they have televised in the past)- Breidis and next week's likely barnburner between Gassiev and Dorticos to buy fights like these and then have the head of their boxing department (Peter Nelson) actually try with a straight face before the card to portray these as "50/50 fights".
Just plain awful...

In the boxing challenge-Ramon Malpica earned six points for the weekend to my four to move ahead in the overall standings at 8-7.

Ramon earned three points from Lucas Matthysee's win and KO (Bonus point for round), two from Jorge Linares, and one from Oleksandr Usyk.
I received two from Matthysee and one each from Linares and Usyk.

Boxing Challenge-Benavidez survives,Usyk kicks off World Super Series

The boxing challenge started Friday night and Saturday afternoon with two title fights that were interesting.

Friday night on Showtime,heavily favored David Benavidez survived the surprisingly stern challenge of Ronald Gavril to win a split decision and capture the vacant WBC super middleweight title in Las Vegas..
Benavidez dominated the early rounds and built a lead on the cards before a rally by Gavril that brought him back into the fight.
Benavidez's lead appeared safe,especially when he dominated the twelfth round for the first two minutes before Gavril scored a flash knockdown out of nowhere.
I scored the round for Gavril,but only 10-9 because Benavidez won the round other than the knockdown.
I had issues with all three scores as they were all far too wide with two for Benavidez and one for Gavril.
I had Benavidez a 115-113 winner.
Ramon Malpica and I each added one boxing challenge point for the Benavidez win.

Meanwhile in Germany,the World Boxing Super Series kicked off and it was a mixed bag as far as production goes,but a solid,but lopsided fight in the ring as Oleksander Usyk defended his WBO title in winning his quarterfinal battle in the cruiserweight tournament with a tenth round stoppage of Marco Huck.
Huck was determined and never stopped trying,but was simply far too slow to deal with the flashy and athletic Usyk,who won every round,but one on my card and that was more that the champion and tournament top seed took the round off more than anything that Huck did.
Usyk looked very strong in the win and will face the winner of the WBC title/quarterfinal bout between Marius Breidis and Mike Perez.
Usyk-Breidis (who I assume will win) should be an excellent bout.
Ramon and I each added one point for Usyk's victory and the challenge score is 118-104.

The World Boxing Super Series is a great concept and did a much better job than I ever dreamed of filling the brackets with top fighters.
However,there have been some stumbles.
A bracket that favors the second seed more than the first,a lack of an American television outlet and today's slipup that to be fair came from trying to do the right thing.
The WBSS announced today that they were streaming the Usyk-Huck fight on their website,if you signed up.
I did and waited for an email that would give me the password to access.
I am still waiting for that email seven hours later!
Others must have had issues as well because a little before fight time,a tweet came through that said that it was available on their website.
It was.
For six rounds-it was.
Then the site was this bout has ended and the stream was gone-never to be found again.
The WBSS has time to work these things out,but today's issues were less than a strong start....

Back later with HBO's tripleheader and the Buckeyes hosting the Oklahoma Sooners...

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...

More on these and other boxing issues Monday on Fightheads..