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)

Boxing Challenge: Castano wins WBO Title, Diaz draws.

    In the most meaningful fight of the boxing weekend (Josh Warrington's surprising loss to Mauricio Lara may have closed the gap, but it wasn't expected to be important entering the weekend), Brian Castano dominated Patrick Teixeira and easily won a unanimous decision in Indio, California to take the WBO junior middleweight title.

I scored Castano an easy 119-110 winner and the tough but overmatched Teixeira barely survived the final round as Castano attempted to score the stoppage.

Castano's pressure suffocated the taller and longer champion, didn't allow him to use his extremely long reach, and left the Brazilian with nothing but heart by the end of the fight.

Castano is likely to take his newly won title into a four title unification against fellow PBC champion Jermell Charlo later this year in what should be a very intriguing battle.

Charlo was on social media before the fight pushing for a Castano win, which is fine considering that that's an easy fight to make promotionally, but his hashtag "Imtryintoavoidpolitics" makes me think this- I get why you want Castano to win, but you are only trying to avoid politics because the promotion you fight for is the least likely to work with anyone.

Charlo's brother Jermall is in the opposite position in the middleweight division where he needs to cross over to make big fights- Is he trying to avoid politics too?

In the main event, the IBF junior lightweight title will be vacant after champion Joseph Diaz missed weight, and with the title only available for challenger Shavkat Rakhimov, Diaz managed a late rally to pull out a majority decision draw.

Rakhimov built a large lead on the scorecards, but Diaz won the final four rounds on my card to salvage a 114-114 tally.

Two of the judges agreed with me with the other calling Diaz a slim victor at 115-113.

My guess is with the majority draw on the road and against a fighter that didn't hurt himself trying to make weight, the IBF will pit Rakhimov against the highest available contender to fill the championship.

As for Diaz, although the decision was just, his behavior since defeating Tevin Farmer to win the IBF title has been less than professional.

Refusing to fight the contractually obligated rematch for the agreed-upon rate, getting into social media battles with Farmer, and then missing weight for the Rakhimov fight makes me wonder how many people in boxing other than his long-time promoter in Golden Boy would have very much faith in Diaz's word.

Ronny Rios looked very strong in overpowering Oscar Negrete in a ten-round junior featherweight crossroads fight.

Negrete tried his best, but the naturally larger Rios ground Negrete down with his aggression and Rios looked as good as he has in years and could be nearing a possible title eliminator.

I scored Rios a 99-91 winner and for Negrete, he might be better served to return to the bantamweight division where he seems better-suited size-wise.

On ESPN, former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey entered the ring for the first time since losing his title to Teofimo Lopez and looked to return to his old form in stopping Jackson Marinez in six rounds.

Commey took apart Marinez, who outboxed the raw prospect Rolando Romero in his previous fight but was robbed on the scorecards, and didn't allow Marinez to move around the ring.

Commey knocked Marinez down in the sixth and an argument could be made the fight could have been ended there, but Commey would not allow Marinez to benefit from the chance as he landed a punishing right hand that bounced Marinez off the ropes and on the floor for the immediate stoppage.

Commey can still be a championship contender, but a Lopez rematch is very unlikely and I doubt that Devon Haney, Gervonta Davis, or Ryan Garcia will risk a low-reward fight against someone with another promotion.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's three over the weekend to move the total to 10-8.

Boxing Challenge: Casimero KO's Tete, Valdez, Frampton return.

The boxing weekend didn't have marquee bouts, but a world title changed hands, a vacant title was filled with a minor upset in a very good fight and two champions made their debuts in their new division, so there were plenty of interesting fights to scan.

In Birmingham, England, former IBF flyweight champion John Riel Casimero scored a mild upset in taking the WBO bantamweight title from Zolani Tete via a third-round knockout.
Tete controlled the first two rounds with his jab from long range with his reach advantage, which is unmatched in the 118-pound division, but Casimero connected with one right hand to the side of Tete's head at the temple to essentially end the fight.
Tete got off the mat, but his equilibrium never recovered and following another knockdown, Casimero teed off on Tete in a corner to end the fight.
Entering the fight, Tete was a top candidate to face WBA/IBF champion Naoya Inoue next year in a title unification fight, but Casimero called out Inoue after his win and that fight could be a fun and explosive battle and a far more interesting fight than Inoue-Tete.

The main card on ESPN+  from Las Vegas slated two former featherweight champions moving up in weight for fights that are expected to be used as prep fights for championship shots next year.
Former WBO champion Oscar Valdez was given a very difficult fight by last-minute replacement Adam Lopez before Valdez rallied to stop Lopez in the seventh round.
Lopez knocked Valdez down in the second round with a left hook in the second round and led on my card after six rounds,58-55, but was floored by a left/right combination in the seventh and when Valdez stunned him with seconds to go in the round, referee Russell Mora stopped the fight a bit prematurely in my opinion.
Valdez has been a fighter that is more solid than elite in my opinion and although he'll have a puncher's chance in his challenge of WBC champion Miguel Berchelt next year, I like Berchelt to win that one and keep his status as the best fighter at 130 pounds.

Former WBA champion Carl Frampton returned from his decision loss to IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington to defeat Tyler McCready via unanimous decision.
McCready, who entered undefeated, but in his first ten rounder, won the first round on my card and lost the rest, went down to a knee in the sixth and ninth rounds in the lopsided (99-88 from me) victory,
Frampton, who will likely try for Jamel Herring's WBO title, was interviewed in the ring along with Herring after his win and Frampton doesn't seem to be remotely the same size as Herring.
All things considered, I think the natural junior lightweight in Herring should be the favored fighter.

The best fight of the weekend was on the undercard from Las Vegas as an unexpected battle for the WBO junior middleweight title vacated by Jaime Munguia (this hasn't happened yet, but is expected to occur at their next meeting) took place as a facially beaten Patrick Teixeira of Brazil upset highly regarded Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic via unanimous decision.
Adames controlled most of the first half of the fight and cut Teixeira around both eyes to cause impressive bleeding throughout the fight, but neither cut was in a spot dangerous enough to end the fight.
Teixeira turned the tide with a series of right hands and continued with a left hook that sent Adames sinking to the floor near the end of round seven.
Had there been more time remaining, the fight may have ended then and there, but the bell saved Adames and he repaid the boxing gods with a game effort that matched the crimson flowing down the face of Teixeira down the stretch.
I scored it 114-113 for Teixeira, which was the same as two judges' cards, with the knockdown making the difference in the victory.
A rematch would seem to be in order eventually after such a close and terrific fight.

In Monte Carlo, Alexander Besputin outboxed fellow Russian Radzhab Butaev and won a minor belt via unanimous decision in a battle of unbeaten welterweights.
Besputin, who reminds me of a poor man's Vasyl Lomachenko, is a slick boxer that uses an ability to slide away from punches more than he does movement, managed to outwork Butaev throughout the fight and survived the only time either fighter was close to being hurt in round seven when Butaev staggered Besputin but was unable to follow up.
I thought the fight was pretty easy to score as my card of 116-112 matched all three of the official cards
Besputin is going to be an interesting match against the elite welterweights with his style and although I wonder about how his power is going to match up with those top fighters.

Besputin's win was a big triumph for Top Rank, who is always searching for opponents for WBO champion Terence Crawford and the minor belt could be key in Crawford-Besputin happening in 2020.
The minor belt is insignificant, but it has one major attraction- the eventual ability to force a fight with the WBA champion Manny Pacquiao.
Now I don't think there is a chance that Manny Pacquiao ever fights Terence Crawford as the PBC-Top Rank divide likely scuttles that, but Pacquiao had the chance for years to fight Crawford when he was with Top Rank and despite Bob Arum's attempts to make it happen, Pacquiao was never interested.
Crawford-Besputin and then forcing the WBA to mandate Pacquiao-Crawford with the likely result of Pacquiao vacating the title would be an excellent chess move by Crawford and Top Rank to force PBC to get Errol Spence into the ring for the fight we all want to see as it would give both Spence and Crawford two titles and take away the PBC talking point of not mentioning Terence Crawford because he is with the WBO.
The fight was also unusual as it was the main event of a Matchroom card with neither combatant promoted by Matchroom with Besputin working with Top Rank and Butaev using Lou DiBella as his promoter.
Matchroom won a WBA purse bid to promote the fight in October to put the fight on one of their cards.

In the boxing challenge, I scored nine points to Ramon Malpica's four with the difference being the wins by Besputin and Casimero along with a bonus point from Oscar Valdez.
The lead is now 287-250.

Back later with the Browns loss in Pittsburgh.