Boxing Challenge: ZZZZ

    The four-fight boxing challenge weekend didn't offer much in either action or competitiveness as all four favorites won their matches in a lopsided manner.

The day started in Dublin, Ireland, with Anthony Cacace doing just enough to win the WBA junior lightweight title by unanimous decision over James "Jazza" Dickens.

Not much to say about this one other than the right guy won (116-112, which was my score, 116-113, and 115-113) and could defend against Ryan Garner, who won on the undercard.

The action wasn't much better from Anaheim, California, where Arnold Barboza dominated a welterweight eliminator over Kenneth Sims and won a unanimous decision.

Barboza won by scores of 120-108, 118-110, and 117-111.

I scored Barboza the winner 119-109.

Oscar Collazo kept his WBA and WBO minimum/strawweight titles when lightly regarded challenger Jesus Haro retired on his stool at the end of the sixth round.

Collazo hammered Haro's body and ground down his opponent, and the retirement saved Haro from a longer pounding.

Alexis Rocha controlled a spent Joseph Diaz and cruised to a unanimous decision win.

Diaz occasionally landed a strong shot but was overmatched by the larger and more powerful Rocha.

Rocha's victorious scores were: 100-90 (same as mine), 98-92, and 97-93.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 29 Pts (7)

Ramon Malpica: 27 Pts (1)

Vince Samano: 24 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Saturday Bloody Saturday

    Saturday's boxing was quite a bloody one, with fights involving plenty of the red stuff left in the ring.

The first fight of the day came from Japan, where the lower-weight's "King of the Upset" pulled another one as IBF junior flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki rose to the flyweight division and knocked out unbeaten champion Angel Ayala in the final round to take Ayala's IBF title.

Yabuki dropped Ayala in each of the first two rounds. While Ayala won some rounds, Yabuki led by a wide margin entering the final round when Yabuki scored one final knockdown to end the fight.

Yabuki made his name by upsetting Kenshiro Teraji and taking Teraji's WBC title by knockout before losing the rematch, and in his most recent fight before beating Ayala, he knocked out Sivenathi Nonthshinga to win the light flyweight title.

Yabuki will have one week to decide which of the two titles he will keep, and it's expected to be the flyweight championship as it would set up a lucrative third match against WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji with three of the division's titles at stake.

On ESPN from Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer was too active for Sandy Ryan, and that made the difference in the fight as Mayer retained the WBO welterweight title that she won from Ryan in another exciting battle.

Ryan landed the higher percentage, but Mayer's output and punches landed allowed her to win the justified decision by scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92.

I had the match a little closer for Mayer at 96-94.

Brian Norman was dynamite in the co-feature as he retained his WBO welterweight title by a third round knockout of Derrieck Cuevas.

Cuevas landed well in round one, but Norman hurt Cuevas in round two, and after a third round knockdown, Cuevas had little interest in fighting on.

Bruce Carrington stopped Jose Vivas in the third round of a featherweight eliminator and is expected to fight for a title in his next fight.

Carrington scored a second-round knockdown before the finish in the third round in his impressive victory.

DAZN and Golden Boy were in Cancun, Mexico, for the lightweight rematch between top contender William Zepeda and former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer.

Zepeda won an arguable split decision in the first fight, and although the rematch was closely contested, Zepeda was the deserving majority decision victor.

Zepeda dominated the first half of the match, Farmer charged back in rounds eight through twelve but Zepeda built enough of a lead to win on my card 115-113 with the official cards reading 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda, along with a score of 114-114 on the final card.

Zepeda should finally receive his title shot in his next fight, while Farmer, after another tough-luck defeat, deserves another attempt to upend a contender.

Oscar Collazo retained his WBA and WBO strawweight titles with a fifth round knockout of Edgar Cano after a vicious bodyshot.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 44 Pts (10)

Ramon Malpica: 37 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez, Collazo unify, Barboza, Zepeda win

    After a Friday that saw the attention of the sports world focused on Arlington, Texas, the true boxing fan turned their eyes to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for an excellent card from Golden Boy Promotions.

In the main event, Gilberto Ramirez added the WBO cruiserweight title to the WBA version that he possessed entering the fight with a unanimous victory over Chris Billam-Smith.

Ramirez finally appears to have found a weight division that he comfortably resides in and he was able to control the always brave Billam-Smith throughout the fight.

Billam-Smith bravely fought through a nasty cut and landed his share of punches during a fight that was more interesting than expected.

Ramirez is expected to meet IBF champion Jai Opietaia next with three of the four titles at stake and Billam-Smith will always have fights available due to his proclivity for entertaining battles.

Junior welterweight Arnold Barboza notched the biggest win of his career with a unanimous decision win over former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in a pairing of two former stablemates.

Barboza landed the jab with ease against a listless Ramirez, who seems to have lost the fire for boxing in a career headed for stardom.

I've always thought Barboza was a solid contender that might be lacking that small difference between champion and challenger but it's more than time for Barboza to receive that chance.

As for Ramirez, he once appeared to be a star in the making but for various reasons turned down big fights and championship opportunities and if his energy has departed, he should consider retiring.

Lightweight contender William Zepeda is ranked first by all four sanctioning bodies but Zepeda was very fortunate to skim by former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer by split decision.

Farmer isn't noted as a strong puncher but knocked Zepeda down in the fourth round and was just slick enough to trouble Zepeda, who usually overwhelms his opponents with constant offense.

Zepeda did enough offensively to get by Farmer, who has revitalized his career in recent days but this fight could have gone to either fighter close.

Scores were 95-94 times two for Zepeda and 95-94 for Farmer, which was my score.

This fight had several close rounds, so if I rewatched it, my score could change in a very close match.

The best performance on the card may have been Oscar Collazo's, who ended the reign of Knockout CP Freshmart, which was the longest in boxing entering the fight, taking his WBA minimumweight title by a seventh round knockout.

Collazo added the WBA title to the WBO belt that he held after knocking Freshmart down three times, once in the sixth and twice in the seventh with the fight ending without a count.

Collazo stated he wanted a full unified title, which has never happened in this division and is unlikely but showed the type of talent that might see him become a multi-division champion.

Oscar Duarte hammered out a unanimous decision over Batyr Akhmendov in the opening fight.

Akhmendov was effective early and banked some rounds but Duarte landed the harder punches and was the more effective fighter down the stretch.

Scorecards for Duarte at 96-94 (same as mine), 97-93 and 98-92.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 168 Pts (5)

TRS: 168 Pts (7)
Vince Samano: 107 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Goodbye to Broner

      The three fights in the boxing challenge over the weekend were not only far from exciting, they weren't very competitive with all three fights lasting the scheduled distance.

Friday on a PPV from Don King ( complete with a dedication to the tenth anniversary of the death of former WBC President Jose Sulaiman) what's left of Adrien Broner's career looks to finally washed away as Blair Cobbs knocked Broner down in round two and dominated him on the way to an easy unanimous decision triumph.

Cobbs isn't noted as a puncher but his right hand in round two sent Broner ass over tea kettles (Knocking a tooth out from Broner) and a harder hitter might have ended the fight then and there.

After that, every round was similar with Cobbs landing whenever he threw and Broner unable to fire back with any offense.

I scored the fight 99-91 for Cobbs, which could have been generous as the ninth round that I scored for Broner was a close round, which was closer to the truth than the official scorecards which gave Cobbs the win by scores of 97-92 and two awful scores of 96-93.

Hopefully, this is the last fight for Broner, who was slow and uninspired, after being dominated by Cobbs, who is more of a top twenty welterweight than a contender, Broner will be a sideshow at best in his future fights.

About the only excitement of the weekend came in Verona, New York, when Gerardo Zapata knocked down and badly hurt WBO minimumweight champion Oscar Collazo in the second round of their championship battle.

Other than the final minute of that round, it was all Collazo, winning every other round on my card (118-109) and most others in retaining his title by unanimous decision by official scores of 119-109 times two and 117-111.

Saturday in New York City, highly touted junior middleweight Xander Zayas earned his biggest win to date with a unanimous decision over a shopworn Patrick Teixeira.

Teixeira was backed up for the entire fight, suffered a cut in round nine, and didn't win a round as Zayas dominated but never seriously threatened to stop the former WBO champion.

Zayas won 100-90 on two cards (Including mine) and 99-91 on the other, which is very hard for me to find a possible round to give Teixeira but while Zayas looked good, he didn't look dynamic and if the twenty-one-year-old is to be the star that Top Rank hopes for, he'll have to do better against overmatched opponents in the future.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 80 Pts (5)

TRS: 68 Pts (5)
Vince Samano:43 Pts (2)