The Overhand Right

   It's been a long time since an edition of the Overhand Right, so here's a chance to offer a few opinions on boxing outside of fight results.

I thought Mikaela Mayer did enough to nose out Natasha Jones in their women's welterweight title fight and while it was close on my card (96-94), I thought Mayer was the clear winner as most of the rounds were decisively won by one side or the other.

I wrote about the surprising decision loss by Artem Dalakian of his WBA flyweight title to Seigo Yuri Akui and how I thought Dalakian's style of moving away hurt him as judges prefer aggressive fighters.

Sooner or later, most fighters that use this style eventually lose a fight that they deserve to win due to this factor, and Dalakian proved the rule.

Fighters like Dalakian usually make dull fights and it's not always accompanied by outrage when they lose but that still doesn't make it right.

All too often in these style matchups, the aggressive fighter receives undeserved points from judges for "coming forward" or "trying to make the fight", which isn't part of the judging criteria.

The commentators for the fight (Crystina Poncher and ladies' flyweight champion Seniesa Estrada) seemed as puzzled as I had been when hearing of the decision. However, there were observers on the net who had the fight closer than I did.

While talking about Poncher and Estrada, I found their observations of the card from Osaka to be quite interesting.

Pomcher has always been a favorite of mine as an underrated blow-by-blow voice that I hope to see given higher-profile fights for ESPN/Top Rank cards. Still, the revelation was Estrada, who offered several intriguing points during the Kenshiro Teraji-Carlos Canizales main event battle.

Estrada's best point was about Teraji's directional movement, as the champion refused to move away from Canizales's power and instead moved right into the challenger's shots.

Estrada's statement proved true later in the fight when Teraji changed things up and began to get hit far less by the challenger.

Hoping to see and hear more in the future from Poncher and Estrada as a team at the announcer's table.

I see Teofimo Lopez continues to call out Terence Crawford for a mega-fight and while I'm not sure that it happens because Lopez isn't quite the PPV draw quite yet that the WBO junior welterweight champion thinks that he is, I am still interested in that pairing.

Lopez does tend to fight better in big fights than he does small ones as he showed in wins over Vasyl Lomachenko and Josh Taylor, his only loss to George Kambosos and a split decision win over Sandor Martin that many including myself thought he lost.

Lopez doesn't have the physical disadvantages that you would think he would either against Crawford, so it's not a mismatch in stature, and skill-wise Lopez can be competitive.

However, Crawford is in a different league, in my opinion, and I'm not sure of Lopez's promotional status with Top Rank after his title defense next month against Jamaine Ortiz.

Crawford has a lawsuit pending against Top Rank and is unlikely to deal with TR should Lopez remain bound to them.

PBC announced the top two fights on their first PPV with Amazon in March.

I'm not thrilled with the main event with WBO junior middleweight champion Tim Tszyu defending against former WBA and WBC welterweight champion Keith Thurman.

Tszyu has been an active contender and now champion, having fought three times in 2023.

The same can't be said of Thurman, who hasn't fought since a ho-hum decision win over Mario Barrios in February 2022, and his most recent fight before Barros was his loss to Manny Pacquiao in July 2019.

When you add that Thurman has never fought at 154 pounds and his 1-1 record in the last five years, it's easy to see Thurman as undeserving of this title opportunity.

The co-feature will have Rollie Romero, he of the questionable win over Ismael Barroso, defending against Isaac Cruz, who moves up from lightweight for the title chance.

While I don't have a problem with Cruz, the fight should be Romero-Barroso II, especially now that Barroso knocked out Ohara Davies in one round to grab the WBA interim title that was granted with Romero out with back issues.

WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara will defend his title for the first time against Michael Zerafa of Australia.

Lara, who has fought very soft competition in his four bouts since his 2019 draw with Brian Castano, was promoted to full champion last year when Gennady Golovkin vacated the title but hasn't fought at all since his May 2022 win over journeyman Gary "Spike" O'Sullivan.

Zerafa has lost against his best opponents Peter Quillin, Jeff Horn, and Kell Brook, and doesn't seem deserving of his status but neither does Lara really, so that says a lot for a sadly weak 160-pound division. 

Adrian Broner: Why boxing needs to let him go and keep him around

   At one time, it would have been fashionable to poke fun at Adrien Broner for several things.

For one, Broner won titles in four divisions, yet the best fighter that he defeated for a title was Antonio DeMarco.

Broner won several decisions that he didn't deserve (Paulie Malignaggi, Adrian Granados, and his most recent win in February 2021 over Jovanie Santiago), didn't always come into a fight in shape, missed weight on several occasions, and usually offered a profane post-fight interview with claims that he won a fight that he clearly lost.

That's not even counting the out-of-the-ring issues and YouTube videos filled with lighting cigars with one hundred dollar bills, with constant problems that made you wince with every new piece of news.

For all of the titles and all the hype from PBC (including from HBO before there was a PBC), Broner was a good boxer, not a great one, and more often than not was more sizzle than steak.

Only one of those title wins was the type of performance (the tenth-round knockout of Antonio DeMarco) that dazzled you, and Broner might have proven more in his defeats to Marcos Maidana and Shawn Porter than in any wins.

Broner showed heart in taking a punishing pounding against Maidana, and well behind on the cards against Porter, Broner hung in there and knocked Porter down in the final round.

Broner's chin and guts cannot be questioned, but his speed and power always were overrated a bit, and his preparation and dedication to the sport were more often than not very much in question.

In the last few years, Broner has been trotted out every year or two to fight a big name (2015 Porter, 2017 Mikey Garcia, and 2019 Manny Pacquiao), and would say all the right things about being in the best shape of his life and dedicated to the sport, and then wouldn't throw enough punches and be handily handed a decision defeat.

And then there was the February 2021 decision win to Jovanie Santiago that most thought he lost, and after a borderline gift, Broner spent the post-fight cursing, talking about his sex life, and talking about everything but why he looked slow and fortunate to win.

Fast forward to the present, and yet another Broner comeback against another disappointing once-thought-to-be future star in Omar Figueroa in a Showtime main event.

Broner-Figueroa looked like one of those fights with two faded names pitted against each other, and hope that the winner looked good enough to be fed to a younger fighter in need of a former champion and major name on their record.

Today, Broner dropped out of the fight, citing "mental health" issues, forcing PBC to elevate former IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets from the undercard to face Figueroa, who will now face a better fighter (at this stage) but a lesser name.

Broner has pulled this stunt too many times, and in the ring, he's just not worth the troubles that follow along with him.

PBC, Showtime, whomever, should decide that they have had enough of Broner in the ring and not book him any further because they cannot depend on him to show up or act like a professional when he does appear.

Enough is enough.

And yet, I feel for Adrien Broner.

Mental Health may be a recent addition to sports vernacular and only now is starting to receive the attention that it deserves in the sports world, but it's easy to chuckle at fighters such as Broner and Ryan Garcia that seem to be using the term as an excuse for not being at their best or not reaching their contractual obligations when their past shows several setbacks.

Broner has made many mistakes away from boxing that scream mental health issues, and it's not difficult to see that he needs help and likely money despite making millions in boxing.

Someone in the game could try to help Broner, perhaps starting him as an assistant trainer, or an English commentator on international broadcasts, or something in the boxing media.

Broner needs something to keep him busy and out of trouble, and with his background with PBC and Showtime, there has to be something that someone can try to do to keep him busy, out of the ring, but yet involved enough with what he knows best- on the condition that he receives regular treatment for help with his mental well-being.

Oftentimes, these attempts can backfire or be ignored by the person that someone is trying to help, but PBC or Showtime could at least try and hope that they can keep him out of the ring and well.

And if that doesn't work, maybe it's time for the promotion that has tolerated this behavior and his issues for so long to cut him loose and minimize their losses.

"The Problem" has his problems; it would be good for him and the sport for him to keep those out of the ring from now on.

Boxing Challenge: Plant shuts out Truax

   In a fight where almost everything that was predicted happened (other than if you predicted a late-round stoppage like I did), Caleb Plant defended his IBF Super Middleweight title via a unanimous decision over Caleb Truax.

I thought Plant won every round (120-108) and although he never seriously hurt Truax, Plant busted Truax up around both eyes and had he not injured his left hand as he claimed after the fight, may have scored the stoppage.

I've made my points several times about the lousy quality of Plant's opponents in the past and the shopworn Truax didn't boost that very much, but let's look at the good things about Plant.

Plant is very skilled, has quick hands, isn't easy to hit, and may be a difficult opponent for the best of the division (Canelo Alvarez, David Benavidez, Callum Smith, Billy Joe Saunders) to handle.

The problem for me and it's the most difficult part for me to get past with Caleb Plant is the competition level and it's for two reasons.

The first is that it makes me wonder about what his team and promoters know about him and are they protecting him for one big cash-in?

I don't claim to know the answer to that question, we will find that out in a possible fall fight against Canelo Alvarez, as Plant would be silly to face a strong opponent now with the Canelo payday on the horizon, but there are legitimate questions to answer for the Tennessee native.

How will Plant react in such a fight when it becomes needed to vary his attack, battle through getting hurt or fight a hard twelve rounds against someone capable of defeating him?

Part of developing a fighter is testing them against opponents that may not defeat them but can challenge them and force them to answer various questions that all fighters must answer.

Caleb Plant's team has developed a talented world champion who is going to make a lot of money and if that is the success that you are looking for then they have done their job well.

However, if your goal is to best prepare your fighter to win that big fight once that opportunity comes along, they may have come up far short.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica earned two points to my one from the Plant-Truax fight and cut my early season lead to 6-5.

Looking forward to two weeks from tonight to really get the boxing season out of the blocks with two very good cards from DAZN/Golden Boy and ESPN/Top Rank!

Boxing Challenge: Not much of a Show (time)

Photo Credit: Showtime Sports

The Saturday night card from Showtime and PBC from the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn wasn't one that was going to excite many fans going into the evening and it didn't even live up to those standards in three bouts that were about as stimulating as a meal at Bob Evans.

In the main event, Danny Garcia cruised to a unanimous decision over Ivan Redkach in a twelve rounder that was an overpriced sparring session.
Garcia won the first ten rounds on my card before wrapping the final two rounds for Redkach in the boxing version of the garbage (known here as the Phillip Rivers) touchdown for a 118-110 win.
Garcia was never even bothered by the much smaller Redkach, which I suppose was the entire idea of Redkach's selection as an opponent, but other than cutting Redkach over his left eye in round seven Garcia didn't seem interested in pushing the pace and attempting to take Redkach out and putting watchers out of their misery.
The most exciting part of the match was at the end of the eighth round when Redkach bit Garcia on the side of the neck which was far more effective than anything else Redkach landed.
Garcia will likely battle either Errol Spence or Manny Pacquiao sometime over the summer in yet another case of boxing giving you something you didn't ask for and expect you to do an endzone dance over it.
Garcia is a solid fighter and certainly world-class, but at welterweight, he lacks that little extra that the elite fighters have and it showed in his close losses to current WBC champ Shawn Porter and former WBA/WBC champion Keith Thurman, who both are also more on the level of Garcia than that of Spence, Pacquiao or Terence Crawford.
Keep in mind, Garcia has been at this weight since August 2015 and Garcia still does not own a win over a top ten welterweight with his best wins over smaller and not quite top 10 welterweights Robert Guerrero and Brandon Rios.
Garcia will put up a good fight in his next fight, but I don't see him having much of a chance against Spence or Pacquiao.

Before the Garcia-Redkach main event, former WBA and IBF junior middleweight champion Jarrett Hurd returned to the ring for the first time since his upset loss to Julian Williams and much like Garcia, disappointed to a degree in winning a unanimous decision over Francisco Santana.
Santana had never fought about welterweight and had lost three of his last four entering the fight, so this seemed to be a match made to make Hurd look strong in his return,
Hurd won easily (99-90) on my card, but as in the case of Danny Garcia, he didn't seem interested in winning by a knockout until dropping Santana with seconds remaining in the final round.
Santana rose and the fight ended, but the fight seemed more like gym work than a fight on a premium network.
Other than getting a ten-round win and removing the loss to Williams as the last thing on his resume',
I'm not sure what this win really did for Hurd.
I still have him placed solidly in the mix in the junior middleweight division and he wouldn't be more than a mild underdog against anyone in the division, but Hurd will have to raise his level in his next bout against a top fighter in the division.

In the opener, Stephen Fulton won a unanimous decision over Arnold Khegai over twelve rounds in an eliminator to earn the mandatory slot for WBO junior featherweight champion Emmanuel Navarrete.
Fulton's jab and speed managed to build a big lead on the cards and held off the late charge of Khegai, who was aggressive throughout the contest, but simply gave away too many rounds on my card (116-112 Fulton) to make it close
Fulton's a smooth boxer that might not have enough power to sting Navarrete, but his speed makes him a dark horse to pull an upset.

A side note on the Fulton-Khegai fight.
The PBC had made it clear that they didn't recognize the WBO as a major sanctioning body and used it as a reason to not mention Terence Crawford as a welterweight champion.
Much of their problems are likely because many PBC fighters aren't in the WBO top ten contenders to the point of silliness, so while I don't agree with their stance I can see their aggravation, but this was an official eliminator and brings a few questions.
Is this the beginning of a thaw between the WBO and PBC?
Which of the two might have stepped forward, if so?
Which one needs it more?
Likely the WBO as sanctioning fees doesn't grow on trees.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on the evening as Ramon maintained his lead in the overall standings at 10-9.

Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge is very light this week with two fights on Showtime, which is a card that isn't up to the usual quality of the network and shows a sign of what could be an issue in the future.

The main event offers the return of former WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara against Brian Castano of Argentina, who holds one of the WBA's minor titles.
Lara, who lost a narrow split decision last year to Jarrett Hurd in a title unifying match, was unusually entertaining in his fight with Hurd and it'll be interesting to see if that was Lara engaging offensively against Hurd was a sign of an aging fighter without the legs to fight in the style that he once had excelled in or did Lara choose to fight in such a manner because he thought it gave him the best chance to win.
Castano lacks a win over a top ten contender with his only win over even a fringe contender, an unimpressive split decision over Michel Soro last July.
However, Castano was a highly rated amateur with victories over Errol Spence and Sergey Dereyvanchenko and appears to have a background that one would at least think could give Lara a run for his money, should the Hurd fight prove to be the last stand for the Cuban as an elite fighter.

I'm not sure Lara-Castano is a true Showtime-level main event, but I'm definitely sure that the co-feature lacks that panache' with a top-five heavyweight in a stay busy fight.
Luis "King Kong" Ortiz is a top-five heavyweight that almost knocked out WBC champion Deontay Wilder before being stopped himself in a great fight and will be fighting for the third time since that loss (Wilder has fought only once), but isn't taking any chances with another fight against a marginal fringe contender in Christian Hammer.
Hammer has losses to Tyson Fury, Alexander Povetkin, and Marius Wach, in other words, so each time the competition increased to the world-class level, Hammer gets knocked out.
This one really shows the dip in quality of late and gives me pause enough to write this- Does PBC and Al Haymon have a deep enough bench to give two partners in Showtime and Fox the type of boxing that both deserve?

The Showtime season is off to a slow start (to be generous) with Gervonta Davis one round crushing of smaller and overmatched Hugo Ruiz and even though Ruiz was a late substitution, I think the original fight vs Abner Mares was the same type of fight vs a smaller and outgunned opponent for Davis, although the more established Mares might have lasted a few more rounds, leading up to Lara-Castano after the Saturday card no fights are on their schedule until mid-April and that is a female fight (I'm not a fan of ladies boxing) of note between Clarissa Shields and Christina Hammer.

Fox has been showing name fighters from the promotion thus far with Keith Thurman and Leo Santa Cruz, but both were against essentially showcase opponents, although Josesito Lopez badly hurt Thurman in a strong effort to the point of making one wonder-if Thurman had been facing a top ten opponent, would he have survived?
Next week's WBC welterweight title bout with Shawn Porter against Yordanis Ugas is a more competitive fight and Danny Garcia's April fight against Adrian Granados could be another showcase fight, although Granados has exceeded expectations in the past when seemingly overmatched.
PBC has increased the quality of cards for FS1 with two main events already in the books (Caleb Plant-Jose Uzcategui and Anthony Dirrell-Avni Yildirim) and two others scheduled for March (Lamont Peterson-Sergey Lipinets) and April (Peter Quillin-Caleb Truax) that are of equal to better quality than what Showtime has been receiving thus far.

What makes this worse for boxing fans is that Showtime has the best announcing crew ( I'm not a huge Mauro Ranallo fan, but he is not terrible when he keeps the canned puns to himself and Al Bernstein with Paulie Malignaggi are the best color commentators in the game) and the best production as well, so it is missed when their program isn't getting the best fights.
The involvement of Fox (who has the worst blow by blow man arguably in decades in Chris Myers) in boxing can be a good thing as a network presence can attract new fans, but hopefully, their rise won't mean the beginning of demise at Showtime.

In the Boxing Challenge, Ramon Malpica leads me 41-40.

Junior Middleweights. 12 Rds
Erislandy Lara vs Brian Castano
Both; Lara Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights.12 Rds
Luis Ortiz vs Christian Hammer
R.L.: Ortiz KO 5
TRS: Ortiz KO 3

Boxing Challenge: Plant dethrones Uzcategui

Caleb Plant won all the early rounds and took advantage of an off-balance Jose Uzcategui twice to score flash knockdowns that gave him an insurmountable lead on the scorecards before using the boxing version of the "Four Corners" (Phil Ford was unavailable for comment) to run out the clock, upset Uzcategui and take away the IBF super-middleweight title.

Uzcategui won the final five rounds on my scorecard, but the knockdowns put him so far behind Plant that he won those rounds mainly due to desperate aggression.
Even though Uzcategui knew he needed a knockout to win, he still didn't move his hands enough to seriously hurt Plant, who protected his lead with holding, grabbing, and clutching a frustrated Uzcategui.

Plant's win and performance came as a surprise to me ( I had Plant a 115-111 winner) and I'm still not sold on him in the long run as he seems to be a very beatable champion.
However, he has plenty of room to improve, isn't in an overwhelmingly strong division, and fights for the PBC, which means he'll likely be matched very carefully until an eventual mandatory bout.
My guess is that if Anthony Dirrell (PBC) wins the vacant WBC title over Avni Yildrim, they'll build for a Plant-Dirrell fight in the usual PBC manner in which both fighters will fight two showcase fights and take a year to eighteen months to build for a fight that few are hungering for anyway.

As for Uzcategui, a fighter that was highly thought of by many and avoided by many as well, this was a very disappointing outing and he'll have to start over because he still won't be a likely opponent for top fighters because of his ability when he's at his best.
This was still a setback for Uzcategui, who had a national showcase and the ability to fight fighters from any promotional unit or network and whether due to overconfidence or a lack of preparation, came up lacking on a night that he could have made a huge statement.

In the co-feature, Brandon Figueroa was very impressive in a three-round crushing of Moises Flores in a junior featherweight eliminator.
Figueroa punished Flores from the opening bell and sent him to the floor with a left hook in the third round.
Flores rose but was hit with a volley of punches that culminated with a right hand that dropped Flores into a corner where the referee called off the bout.
Figueroa will now be the mandatory contender for WBA champion Danny Roman in what should be an interesting mix of styles and a very good matchup.
I slightly favor Roman in that one, but it's very close between the pair.

Ramon Malpica and I each start the 2019 boxing challenge with one point for the Brandon Figueroa victory.

Boxing Challenge:Valdez outslugs Quigg

In yet another network counterprogramming
adventure-ESPN faced off with Showtime with titles on the line in the main event on both networks.

ESPN's card featured Oscar Valdez defending his WBO featherweight title against himself as Scott Quigg weighed in three pounds overweight and could not win the title.
Valdez could have lost it though with a defeat that would cause his title to become vacant, but in a fight that was fun to watch, but felt like an anti-climax, Valdez won a unanimous decision to retain his title.
Give both fighters plenty of credit (in the ring), both fought gallantly through injuries as Quigg's nose was broken giving him a look of an NBA player wearing a mask to protect a broken nose and Valdez fought half the bout with a broken jaw that forced his corner to keep his mouthpiece in to avoid the pain of taking the gumshield in and out.
I scored Valdez a 116-113 winner (7-4-1 in rounds), which was a little closer than the scorecards.
The fight was action-filled, but the actions of Quigg (who I've always liked) and his camp in first missing weight that badly and then hamstringing Valdez/Top Rank/ESPN on terms to even allow the fight to happen at all, were less than honorable.
Quigg did fight through a stress fracture in his foot and to be fair that could have hurt his chances to make the weight, but Quigg was clearly the larger man in the bout.
Oscar Valdez rose a great deal in my eyes with this win as he overcame a size difference, dealt with outside the ring drama and dealt with a broken jaw and still managed to win the fight against a strong opponent.
It was a great fight that deserves a rematch, but I'm doubtful that we'll see it unless Valdez has no other options (which might be the case with the three other featherweight champs Gary Russell, Leo Santa Cruz and Lee Selby all being with PBC).

The co-feature saw Erick DeLeon battle to a majority draw with Andy Vences in a fight with two undefeated prospects.
I scored it 95-95, so I was more than fine with the decision.
Vences seemed a bit quicker, DeLeon threw the harder shots, a draw was good enough for me...

Meanwhile, in San Antonio, Mikey Garcia won his fourth divisional title via a unanimous decision over Sergey Lipinets to lift the IBF junior welterweight title in Texas.
Garcia wasn't as effective at the higher weight despite putting Lipinets on the floor in the seventh round and it was more workmanlike than spectacular in the victory.
I scored Garcia a 118-109 winner (10-2 with a knockdown), but in my opinion, Garcia would be better suited to return to 135, where not only is he more effective, but he has bigger fights there against Vasyl Lomachenko, Jorge Linares (rumors are flying that Lomachenko-Linares in May is close to getting signed!) or Robert Easter than at 140 where you are just beginning to see the titles filled from Terence Crawford's move up to 147.
There seem to be some fighters at junior welterweight that might develop into stars (Jose Ramirez and Regis Prograis seem to have the best chance of doing that or Amir Imam should he upset Ramirez next weekend), but they sure aren't there yet and other than collecting belts that he won't defend, I don't seem any real advantage to hanging around junior welterweight for Garcia, who has built his career on beating good fighters with flaws and has yet to face someone that might have an even chance of defeating him.

In Showtime's other bout, one of the worst decision's of 2017 was remedied as Kiryl Relikh shutout (on my card) Rances Barthelemy to win the vacant WBA junior welterweight title.
The two fought last year in a title eliminator that saw a decision so bad that the Hamburglar was out as Barthelemy took an awful decision.
The judges this time got it right in the mandated rematch as Rellikh dominated the fight against Barthelemy.
I'm not sure Relikh is a star in the making, but his walk forward style could make some fun fights at 140.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points on Saturday.
I received two points each from Mikey Garcia and Oscar Valdez, while Ramon earned two from Valdez and one each from Garcia and Kiryl Relikh.
I lead the challenge 41-33.

Boxing Challenge:Wilder makes his case

The boxing challenge continues to move up and along after a five-fight weekend.

Sorry, this has been a little late, but there have been some family illness issues and I am a bit behind.

In the biggest fight of the weekend as part of a two fight Showtime telecast, Deontay Wilder came from behind (on my card anyway) to stop Luis Ortiz in the tenth and retain his WBC heavyweight title in Brooklyn.
Wilder had floored Ortiz in the fifth, but Ortiz didn't seem to be especially hurt after rising.
Ortiz badly hurt Wilder, leaving him wobbling around the ring and lurching into Ortiz as he desperately held onto the Cuban to survive the round.
The bell may have saved Wilder, but referee David Fields, in a strange move, asked the doctor to check Wilder before the round started and bought Wilder extra time to clear his head.
Here's why this was so strange-Wilder was not cut, so that shouldn't have been an issue and the doctor had the minute in between the seventh and eighth round to look at Wilder in the corner and saw no reason to stop the fight.
It seemed a little fishy to me, but still give Wilder credit, I had questions about his chin (I still do) and what would happen when he was tested- He survived the Ortiz attack and battled on.
Wilder would finish Ortiz in the tenth with two knockdowns and as good of an uppercut as you'll see.
The good news? The final few rounds were pretty dramatic and fun to watch.
The bad news? The first almost five rounds were pretty close to unwatchable and the scorecards that had Wilder ahead after nine were downright laughable.
Had Wilder not stopped Ortiz and gauging the way that the fight was being judged, Wilder was on his way to a decision win-one that would have again cast controversy.For the record, I had Ortiz up 86-83 as Ortiz lost a point for the fifth round knockdown and I scored round seven 10-8 for Ortiz in the round that he almost finished Wilder off.
In the end- it was an average fight with a few really good exchanges and some really high drama.

In the Brooklyn co-feature, Jose Uzcategui avenged his controversial disqualification loss to Andre Dirrell by winning almost every round ( I had him winning 79-73) before Dirrell's corner stopped the fight in between the eighth and ninth rounds.
Uzcategui didn't score a knockdown, but did bust up the face of Dirrell and pounded him thoroughly to the point that the stoppage was more humane than a reflection on Dirrell, who I have been critical of in the past for dogging it in some fights.
Uzcategui's win places him as the next fight for the winner of the IBF title rematch between Caleb Truax and James DeGale.
Truax pulled off a shocking upset of DeGale and unless DeGale shows that his loss was simply a really bad night and dominates the rematch, I would consider Uzcategui a solid favorite against either.
I'd go even farther and say I'm not sure that Uzcategui would be worse than pick 'em against anyone in the division and that includes champions George Groves (WBA), David Benavidez (WBC) and Gilberto Ramirez (WBO).

Over in Manhattan at Madison Square Garden, HBO showed arguably the two best light heavyweights in the world with title defenses by WBO champion Sergey Kovalev and WBA beltholder Dmitry Bivol.

In the main event, Kovalev continued to rebuild himself with a pounding of fellow Russian Igor Mikhalkin in which he won every round, cut Mikhalkin on his nose, caused heavy bleeding from the nose and then ripped open a cut under Mikhalkin's eye in the sixth.
The ending came in the seventh as the doctor saw Mikhalkin's cuts as serious and since he had lost every round, ending the fight seemed the right thing to do.
I've been a long-time Kovalev fan and gave him and his team the benefit of the doubt in scheduling two squash matches for his comeback since losing to Andre Ward.
I won't give him that benefit for his next fight- the Krusher needs to pick up the competition.

Dmitry Bivol was far ahead of Sullivan Barrera entering the final round (109-100) and could have been content to jab his way to a dominant, if not thrilling victory over the first top ten (arguably even top five) opponent of his career.
Bivol wasn't going to settle for that in flooring and finishing Barrera for a knockout win.
Bivol was very impressive in dominating Barrera like no one previously had done and that includes Andre Ward.
In the perfect world, I'd love to see a Bivol-Kovalev unification fight (makeable with both guys with HBO) or a Bivol-Artur Beterbiev unification fight (Not so makeable with Beterbiev having promotional issues) before the end of the year, but keeping Bivol active against quality opponents is going to be nothing but a positive for the struggling HBO boxing program.

In an untelevised fight from England, former IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook moved up to junior middleweight and snapped a two-fight losing streak and a two-fight broken eye-socket streak with a second-round knockout of Sergei Rabchenko.
Rabchenko might have not been top quality as far as opponents go, but he was decent enough all things considered and Brook looked quite impressive in taking him out.
Brook might be considered for a title match against WBC champ Jermell Charlo at his new weight and that faceoff would answer lots of questions about both men...

In the boxing challenge. I scored eight points to Ramon Malpica's four to boost my lead to 36-27
I earned two points for wins by Kell Brook, Dmitry Bivol and Sergey Kovalev and one point each for wins by Deontay Wilder and Jose Uzcategui.

Ramon earned two points for Sergey Kovalev's win and one point each for the wins of Dmitri Bivol and Kell Brook.

Boxing Challenge:Groves exposes Eubank and Hamburglar Alert!

Photo Credit: Getty Images

The boxing challenge was similar to the last two weekends in boxing as there may have been a large number of bouts domestically, but once again it was the World Boxing Super Series without an American television home stealing the show from a live stream.

The WBSS moved to their first semi-final in the super middleweight division with a sizable amount of interest in an all-UK faceoff with both the WBA title and a berth in the finals on the line as George Groves earned the biggest victory of his career with a unanimous decision over Chris Eubank. Jr.

The choice in this bout was one of the hardest for me to make in quite a while as both fighters had reasons to pick them and pick against them and despite my rooting for Groves through the years, I had concerns about him winning on the big stage and hesitantly selected Eubank.
I was happy to be wrong in this case as Groves used his jab to control the fight's tempo and distance, befuddling Eubank and leaving him frustrated and settling for wild shots that found air more often than Groves.
Eubank did hurt Groves in the final round after Groves suffered a separated shoulder (more on that soon) and showed signs of the power that made him a betting favorite, but Groves hung on and took a clear decision (117-111 on my card) and a trip to the finals.
The shoulder injury to Groves does throw a wrinkle into the tournament plans for the finals as it is unlikely to see Groves be ready to make a return to the ring by June 2nd on the planned date for the finals against next week's winner of the Callum Smith-Jurgen Braehmer tilt.
As for Eubank, he showed the same lack of discipline that he did in his only previous loss to Billy Joe Saunders and looked to be a fighter looking for his identity in the ring.

We move back across the Atlantic for five challenge bouts on two networks from PBC and yet another mostly disappointing evening.
PBC started with a two-fight show that ran way long since a scheduled squash match for talented prospect Carlos Balderas surprisingly lasted the four round distance and the result of that decision saw the PBC running competition against itself for a while.

The main event wasn't as bad as it could have been considering that it matched the continuing comeback of Devon Alexander against the usually excuse-filled performances from Victor Ortiz.
It was not only scheduled for 12 rds instead of the standard 10, I was shocked to see the WBC sanctioned this as a title eliminator since Alexander had won just once in his comeback and Ortiz hasn't had a win over a contender in years.
It was better than expected, mainly because despite being decisively outboxed and having his eye puffed, Alexander wasn't a banger in his prime and the sometimes soft Ortiz hung in there likely because he wasn't getting seriously hurt.
As the Showtime card started and this fight moved on, it appeared that the only question for the judges was the margin for Alexander as watchers prepared to move to Showtime.
I didn't have many questions as I saw Alexander a huge 118-110 winner, but it was time to bring out the Hamburglar as the cards were stunning at 115-113 for ORTIZ!? with two more at 114-114 for a majority decision draw and the early favorite for the awful decision of the year.
I suppose it wouldn't be a Victor Ortiz fight without something odd happening and say what you will about Ortiz in the ring-the happenings are never dull when Ortiz is around.

The other fight was really bad as Caleb Plant handily (119-109 on my card) won an IBF title eliminator over trialhorse Porky Medina to near a shot against new IBF champion Caleb Truax and the world's first ever all-Caleb world championship fight.
The less said about this the better and Plant is deadly dull to watch.

The drawn-out card on Fox caused me to miss most of the curtain raiser on Showtime as Yordanis Ugas won yet another eliminator in the welterweight division (there were three on the day) this one of the IBF variety with a seventh-round knockout of Ray (missing any sugar) Robinson.
I saw the knockout but missed the first six rounds, so no scoring on the Ugas victory.

The second bout saw a rematch of a fun fight from last year as David Benavidez defended his WBC super middleweight belt for the first time against the man he defeated for the vacant title-Ronald Gavril.
Benavidez had won a narrow split decision in their first fight, had claimed he was ill for that fight and wanted an immediate rematch to remove all doubt.
The doubt was removed as Benavidez dominated on his way to a unanimous decision that saw Gavril win the final round on my scorecard to avoid being shutout (119-109).
The talented 21-year-old champion dominated Gavril with his jab and proved that there would be no need for a third encounter any time soon.
I have a feeling that this time next year that we might be discussing David Benavidez and Gilberto Ramirez in a title unification bout as the latest big fight that boxing fans will miss out on due to the issues with promoters and networks...

The main event was one that I wasn't really excited about as Danny Garcia returned to the ring for the first time in nearly a year against the shopworn Brandon Rios in yet another welterweight eliminator, the second of the evening for the WBC.
If they had half as many title defenses as eliminators, Keith Thurman's nickname wouldn't be used as a metaphor for how often he fights!
Rios, a former Zabbie winner, had been fed journeyman Aaron Herrera last June for his first win since 2015 to revive his name to be fed to someone in the future,
Garcia had a mixed bag for the evening- the good news is that he knocked Rios out with a strong right that saw Rios rise but had the fight ended by referee Kenny Bayliss in the ninth round.
I had Garcia ahead 79-73 (7-1 in rounds) entering round nine and despite the protest of Rios for the fight being stopped, Rios clearly dropped his left and invited the Garcia right that ended a long night from the PBC, so he can only blame himself for a loss that frankly should give him pause of getting out of the business.
Rios is dreadfully slow and having his best days at lightweight, Rios lacks any pop remotely resembling his power at lower divisions, the time may be right for him to consider walking away.

The bad news for Garcia?
Danny was hit far more than he should be by someone of Rios' speed and you cannot blame that all on rust.
Garcia, even in his wins, hasn't been the same fighter at 147 as he was at 140 and now he's beginning to get hit more often?
I thought Garcia won almost every round, but Rios scored enough to hold some interest and I wonder if Garcia has seen his best fights in the back window?

The evening wrapped with one of those pro wrestling style shouting matches that seem to follow the PBC almost every telecast and especially when you have any combination of Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter, and Garcia around.
These three constantly challenge each other for future matches, street fights, hot dog eating contests and whatever else floats their boat on that evening.
It's getting to the point that it's simply silly that these things constantly happen between the three and nothing seems to ever come of it.
It's tired, old and much of it seems to be poorly acted.
Here was a tweet of mine from last night about this situation and for the record-Thurman and Garcia are the first two named with Porter being the third.

PBC 147 problem-Three guys all roughly the same level,two of them with an over inflated opinion of their value and skills that aren't really interested in top fights. The 3rd will fight almost anyone, but is a hair less talented- None of them want any part of @ErrolSpenceJr

— R.S (@ThoughtsofRS) February 18, 2018

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica 6-4 on the night and moved my overall lead to  22-18.
I scored two points each on wins by David Benavidez and Caleb Plant with one point wins from Danny Garcia and Yordanis Ugas.
Ramon added two points for Benavidez with one each from Plant and Garcia.

Hoping to have an episode of Fightheads this week on the podcast to talk about these fights and next weekend's fight in the World Boxing Super Series and finally a good card coming from HBO!!

Boxing Challenge

Photo Credit: World Boxing Super Series

The boxing challenge returns with a big week with a world title being filled on ESPN Friday night, PBC cards on Fox and Showtime on Saturday and the World Boxing Super Series moving to the super middleweight semi-finals as well, so this should be a fun weekend with an eight-fight challenge!

The biggest fight to me is the World Boxing Super Series semi-final that features WBA champion George Groves defending against Chris Eubank Jr in the better fight of the two super middleweight semis.
Both fighters won impressively against lesser opposition in the first round and seem to have that British grudge match thing going that happens so often there.
I'm more of a fan of Groves, who has come up short in most of his big fights than Eubank, who lacks a name win, but his split decision loss (his only defeat) to Billy Joe Saunders looks much better now than it might have previously.
This really is a pick 'em bout and although I'm rooting for Groves, I have a feeling that this might shade towards Eubank.

Top Rank has a two-fight card tonight with the main event filling the WBO lightweight title vacated by Terry Flanagan as veteran Ray Beltran, who has become the poster child for bad breaks gets another chance to become a world champion as he battles Paulus Moses.
This might be Beltran's best and last chance, so he'll need to take advantage of it against Moses, who at 39 makes Beltran look young at 36!
The co-feature is an interesting welterweight fight as unbeaten Lithuanian Olympian Egid Kavaliauskas faced David Avanesyan.
Avanesyan lost a close decision to Lamont Peterson last year so this might be another fight that could go either way this weekend.
Keep an eye on this one, as I would not be shocked at all to see the winner if they win in impressive fashion to start to mentioned for fights against Terence Crawford or even Manny Pacquiao as Top Rank attempts to build some future opponents for their two welterweight stars.

And then there is always Al Haymon's PBC to put together fights that are about as compelling to watch as those November specials from the SEC where Alabama plays Mercer, Auburn tackles Coastal Carolina etc..

Their evening starts on Fox as Haymon continues to fill those time buys that he has taken such a bath on and does so on throwaway cards in order to keep his main benefactor happy with the better providings on Showtime.
Fox features the comeback of former two-division champion Devon Alexander against perennial Zabbie contender Victor Ortiz in a welterweight bout.
Alexander did look good in his first comeback bout against Walter Castillo and Ortiz's style (straight ahead and willing to quit) looks made to order for Alexander, who I still think has a title shot in his future with PBC as his name and resume would at least look good on paper in potential in-house challenges of Errol Spence or Keith Thurman.
The co-feature is another uninspiring offering in an IBF super middleweight title eliminator for a shot at champion Caleb Truax, who pulled arguably the upset of the year in 2017 with a stunning decision win over James DeGale, who was rated number one by us at that weight.
Caleb Plant, who PBC has nudged towards the top with several televised appearances against opponents that might have struggled against Robert Plant faces veteran journeyman "Porky" Medina for a future title shot.
Medina is more of a top twenty fighter than a true contender, but he'll clearly be the biggest name and best opponent for Plant. so there is a little intrigue, even if the winner deserves to be nowhere near a title shot.

After those thrillers, the Haymon gang moves to Showtime for a three-bout card of varying interest and quality.
The main event features the ho-hum return of Danny Garcia, who after taking nearly a year off after his split decision loss in a title unification fight vs Keith Thurman, returns against another Zabbie contender Brandon Rios in a WBC title eliminator that seems looks more squash match than main event as PBC attempts to get something out of the former lightweight champion's resume.
The worst thing about the PBC evening is that they matched the wrong guys!
Danny Garcia vs Devon Alexander likely wouldn't set the world on fire, but it's a more competitive bout than Garcia-Rios or Alexander-Ortiz and if you really wanted an exciting win to build someone up that is past their prime-a Victor Ortiz-Brandon Rios fight would be fun to watch as far styles go and would have given the winner a small bump for a feeding to someone down the road.
Instead, we have two seemingly over the hill fighters that are overmatched in main event contests-
PBC rolls on!!!

The second bout is the best bout of the PBC evening as WBC super middleweight champ David Benavidez defends the title he won last year in a great fight against Ronald Gavril.
Benavidez won a narrow split decision in their bout for the vacant title in their first bout that could have been decided for Gavril just as easily and the WBC mandated an immediate rematch.
The winner along with WBO champ Gilberto Ramirez ( In my opinion, Benavidez vs Ramirez might be the best fight that can be made at 168) would be a good and interesting matchup against the winner of the World Boxing Super Series (The winner of the tourney will be the WBA titleholder).
If the rematch is close to the first fight in action, this is the best PBC fight of the weekend.

The opener is another IBF eliminator, this one at welterweight with one of the very few fighters that have been helped by PBC as Yordanis Ugas faces Ray (No Sugar) Robinson.
Ugas was a disappointment as a pro after defecting from Cuba before the advent of the PBC but has put together a nice winning streak against decent opposition that includes Ugas winning bouts taken on short notice.
Robinson is roughly along the same level of Ugas' recent competition, so Ugas should be favored to win the eliminator.

I lead Ramon Malpica in the boxing challenge 14-12.

Vacant WBO Lightweight Title. 12 Rds
Ray Beltran vs Paulus Moses
R.L: Beltran KO 6
TRS: Beltran KO 4

Welterweights. 10 Rds
Egid Kavaliauskas vs David Avanesyan
Both: Kavaliaukas Unanimous Decision

WBA Super Middleweight Title/World Boxing Super Series Semi-Final
George Groves vs Chris Eubank Jr.
R.L: Eubank Unanimous Decision
TRS: Eubank Split Decision

Welterweights. 10 Rds
Devon Alexander vs Victor Ortiz
R.L: Alexander Unanimous Decision
TRS; Alexander KO 8

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds
Caleb Plant vs Porky Medina
R.L: Plant KO 8
TRS: Plant Unanimous Decision

Welterweights 12 Rds
Danny Garcia vs Brandon Rios
Both: Garcia Unanimous Decision

WBC Super Middleweight Title 12 Rds
David Benavidez vs Ronald Gavril
Both; Benavidez Unanimous Decision

Welterweights. 12 Rss
Yordanis Ugas vs Ray Robinson
R.L: Robinson Unanimous Decision
TRS: Ugas Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge: Spence Stops Peterson!

Photo Credit: Frank Franklin-AP Photo

The 2018 Boxing Challenge raced out of the starting blocks with arguably the next big star in boxing as Errol Spence retained his IBF welterweight title when Lamont Peterson's corner refused to allow their gallant warrior to answer the bell for the start of the eighth round.

Spence won every round, knocked Peterson down in the fifth round, walked through some decent right hands from Peterson and generally made a solid top ten welterweight look like he was one step away from retirement.
It was exactly the type of performance Spence needed to deliver and he came through with flying colors.
I also enjoyed the post-fight interview where Spence called out the usually reluctant Keith Thurman as "Some Time".
Spence tweeted this morning as having a next fight date set already, so perhaps Spence is beginning to set the tone for his career by actually demand that PBC make fights for him, which would be a good thing for Spence and for boxing fans who would love to see more of him in the ring.

In the co-feature, Robert Easter defeated Javier Fortuna via split decision in a fight that likely saw Easter lose a little luster.
The much shorter Fortuna moving up in weight ( having won minor titles at 126 and 130 ) pressed the action, forced Easter to be unable to use his reach and not be able to box from the outside.
The referee took a point away from Fortuna in the second round (which seemed very early to be taking points away to me) for holding and hitting and that decision cost Fortuna a draw on the judge's card.
Fortuna swept the final four rounds on my card and I had him winning 115-112, but it was hard for me to summon too much sympathy for a guy that has lost a title on the scales in the past (at a weight NINE pounds lower), so I won't be crying too much for Fortuna.

In the challenge. I added three points (2 for Spence,1 for Easter) to Ramon Malpica's two (1 for each win) to start the 2018 challenge.

Tune in tomorrow night for Fightheads for Ramon and me's thoughts on Errol Spence, Robert Easter, and this weekend's three fights .

Boxing Challenge

The 2018 Boxing Challenge begins with a two-fight card on Showtime and one of the coming stars in the sport defending his title for the first time.

The boxing challenge with Ramon Malpica will enter its fifth year and it doesn't seem that Ramon and I have been friends that long!
Time sure flies by!
Ramon won the challenge in the first year and I have won the last three, so I'm hoping to add another imaginary trophy to the imaginary mantle!

In Brooklyn, IBF welterweight champ Errol Spence is one of the hottest names in the game and talent wise, he is certainly deserving of that status, especially off his impressive title-winning effort over Kell Brook in England.
Spence's biggest problem is typical of most of the fighters that fight for PBC- they just don't fight enough and often times they don't fight really good opposition when they do.
Spence may have taken way too much off after his win over Brook (eight months), but at least his return is not against a light touch as he'll be taking on former junior welterweight champion Lamont Peterson, who has given every top opponent (except a three-round KO loss to Lucas Matthysse) all they could handle, whether Peterson won (Amir Khan) close or lost (Danny Garcia) close or anything in between (Tim Bradley) and should be at least an interesting test for young Spence.

On paper, this looks like this is going to be a good one and style wise, it looks like it could be a fun fight.
However, I have a feeling, this is going to be the true coming out party for Spence-too big, too strong and too fast for the solid but not special Peterson, who is going to find himself overwhelmed by a very special fighter.

The co-feature has IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter in a non-title bout against Javier Fortuna.
Why a non-title bout?
Because Fortuna, a former minor title holder at 126 and 130 pounds, couldn't find it within himself to make the lightweight limit of 135 pounds and was ineligible to win the title from Easter.
Fortuna will give Easter a percentage of his purse and Easter cannot lose his title even if he loses the fight so the fight will go on, but since Fortuna has done this before (he lost his minor WBA featherweight title on the scales), I don't need to see him on any type of cards of major magnitude in the future.
I'm tired of giving these guys rewards for not doing their jobs to make the weight.
It disappoints everyone involved and they don't deserve second chances for quite a while-let alone third chances...

IBF Welterweight Title. 12 Rds
Errol Spence vs Lamont Peterson
R.L: Spence Unanimous Decision
TRS: Spence KO 7

Lightweights. 12 Rds
Robert Easter vs Javier Fortuna
R.L: Easter KO 8
TRS: Easter KO 6

Boxing Challenge-Frampton survives again!

For a small week in the boxing challenge, I was pleasantly surprised with some closer than expected bouts...

Former junior featherweight and featherweight champion Carl Frampton returned to the ring after a ten month layoff and his first career loss (to Leo Santa Cruz) and was surprisingly tested by Horatio Garcia before winning a unanimous decision.
Frampton started fast, but lost some rounds down the stretch and was even ruled to have been knocked down in the seventh even though I didn't see it that way.
I scored Frampton a very narrow 95-94 winner (6-4 in rounds with a point lost for the knockdown) and I'm not sure that Garcia wouldn't have pulled the decision out had the fight been scheduled for twelve rounds.

On the undercard, IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas was very impressive in knocking out Jamie Conlan in the sixth round.
Ancajas scored four knockdowns in the fight and seemed to have too much strength and power for the tough Conlan, who crumpled every time that Ancajas reached him to the body.
Conlan, the brother of highly touted prospect Michael Conlan, was thought to have a chance to defeat Ancajas by some (including me), but Ancajas looks to be a coming star in the suddenly talent packed junior bantamweight division.

In Las Vegas on a PBC card, Julian Williams won a unanimous decision that was far wider on the scorecards than I had it (96-94 for Williams) over former champion Ishe Smith.
The fight was much more exciting than I thought it would be entering the matchup and the veteran Smith, who has made a career out of boring distance fights, suddenly at 39 has become a fighter that is fun to watch.
The downside for this change in attitude is Smith is taking more punches and with slowed skills might wind up getting hurt if he continues to fight and this might be a good way to go out for the veteran.
As for J-Rock Williams, he doesn't look to have completely recovered from his brutal knockout loss to Jermall Charlo.
Williams looks a bit tentative when he gets hit and to fight a really close bout with the fading Smith doesn't bode well if he returns to championship contention.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored five points to my four and closed the overall gap to 179-163.
We both received two points each for the wins by Frampton and Williams, but Ramon added one for the Jerwin Ancajas win where I picked Conlan to pull the upset.

More talk on boxing on Monday night on FightHeads!

Boxing Challenge-PBC Junior Middleweight's and a Waste Of Time

Five title fights and an important minor title topped off the weekend in boxing and the gamut was covered from all ends with an explosive knockout, a knockout from a body blow, an exciting fight with give and take, a bloodbath, a squash match, and a predictable snoozer.

Let's start in Brooklyn, where Showtime and PBC had three of the four Junior Middleweight titles (Miguel Cotto holds the WBO title for now)
The star of the night was a fighter that I've often criticized in WBC champ Jermell Charlo (TRS #2), who destroyed Erickson Lubin (TRS #5) with one right hand in the first round.

AFP Photo/AL BELLO

Time will tell whether Lubin was overhyped or not, but regardless of that future evaluation- Jermell Charlo took on a top contender in what was thought to be a pick'em fight (I picked Lubin to win) and blew through him in one round.
Full credit to Charlo and I'm looking forward to seeing him progress against better competition (and Lubin was a step up from his past opponents).
I may not care for his (and his brother's ) post-fight behavior (I've never seen guys so angry after fights they have just won), but you cannot deny results and both Charlo's are learning how to make more fun to watch fights after some early career snoozers.

Charlo was calling out IBF champ Jarrett Hurd (TRS #4) for a unification fight after his knockout and Hurd retained his title in the Showtime opener in a good fight against former champion Austin Trout.
Trout built an early lead on the cards, but Hurd was the harder puncher and wobbled Trout in the middle rounds.
Trout battled back and cut Hurd in the seventh, but Hurd had pulled even on my card after the eighth and seemed to have Trout finished with an almost shut right eye in a tenth round that ended with Trout out of his feet.
The Trout corner showed concern for their fighter by ending the fight thereafter by not allowing Trout out of his corner for the eleventh round.
I had Hurd ahead 96-94 after ten rounds and it looked to me like Hurd would have likely stopped Trout in the eleventh.
The fight was terrific and Hurd becomes the first fighter to stop Trout something that three top fighters that defeated Trout could not do (Canelo Alvarez, Erislandy Lara, and Jermall Charlo) and Trout is a bigger name than anyone on either Charlo's record.
Charlo vs Hurd would be a very strong fight and should happen next, if not for the PBC's normal inclination (more later on this) to put together one of those "wonderful" prep fight cards (usually squash matches, again more later) so we will see when and if this will happen.

In the main event that saw the crowd leaving the arena like water swirling around a drain, WBA champ Erislandy Lara (TRS #1) win every round over former Olympian Terrell Gausha in a fight that was the typical boring, yet dominant win for the Cuban.
Lara did drop Gausha in the fourth but was more interested in flexing for the crowd than finishing Gausha, so the rest of the fight continued on its general dull path.
Lara said after the fight that he was willing to fight Charlo, but there is plenty of doubt to me that fight will ever take place as the two train together in Houston, share the same trainer in Ronnie Shields and have shown little inclination to fight each other in the past.

And then, we move to just what you would expect from PBC with a national television audience on Fox available was wasted when instead of putting Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares against each other with possible decent audiences to view, their answer was to put together a waste of time of tremendous proportions.

Leo Santa Cruz (TRS #1) defended his WBA featherweight title with a seven round stoppage over overmatched Chris Avalos in a squash match that should define main event squash matches.
Santa Cruz won every round and generally swatted the tough Avalos around the ring as a cat would bat an almost dead mouse around a floor.
This bout proved nothing other than perhaps chip a little rust off Santa Cruz and other than that minor note was a waste of time.

Abner Mares (TRS #5), who should have been fighting Santa Cruz, wasted his time against another durable but outgunned opponent in Andres Gutierrez with a unanimous technical decision after ten rounds when the fight was stopped after Gutierrez couldn't continue with a bad cut from a headbutt.
I had Mares ahead 99-91 and was never seriously threatened in yet another fight that was unneeded for any reason other than to knock the rust off Mares-rust that wouldn't be there, to begin with, if  PBC was more active for their fighters.
Sigh.

In the World Boxing Super Series in the Super Middleweight bracket, George Groves (TRS #4) stopped Jamie Cox in the fourth round to retain his WBA title with a vicious body shot in London.
Groves, who was seeded first in the tournament, received a better than expected fight from Cox, who came forward and threw plenty of punches before the sudden ending.
The victory for Groves moved him to the semi-finals against fellow Briton Chris Eubank Jr in what will be a huge fight in Great Britain.
I like Groves and I've never been completely sold on Eubank, but something tells me that Groves might be made for Chris Eubank..

In the boxing challenge, I earned nine points to Ramon Malpica's seven to boost my lead to 146-133.

I earned two points to Ramon's one for the Leo Santa Cruz win and two to his one for George Groves victory as well.
We both earned two points for the victories by Mares and Lara.
We both added one point for the win by Jarrett Hurd and neither scored in the Charlo-Rubin fight as we both selected Lubin to win.

Boxing Challenge:Derevychenko runs through Johnson

In what I thought would be an action fight and proved to be so,Sergiy Derevyanchenko wore down an extremely game Tureano Johnson and stopped him seconds into the final round in a middleweight clash in Miami,Oklahoma.

Derevyanchenko was unable to knock down Johnson until the finish of the fight,but he repeatedly pounded Johnson throughout the fight and despite some bright spots from Johnson,won most of the rounds.
Give plenty of credit to Johnson,who never stopped trying and landed his share of big punches,he was simply facing a fighter that fought his fight,but was simply stronger and more powerful.
Aside from being a fun fight to watch as expected,the bigger news was Derevyanchenko earning the mandatory contender slot in the IBF for the winner of the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez fight in September.

For as good of a fighter Derevyanchenko could eventually be,he still is just 11-0,has just one win over a top 20 contender (this one over Johnson) and he couldn't have asked for a better style for his first top opponent to have.
I think Derevyanchenko still needs some seasoning and since he now holds a mandatory contender slot,it's unlikely to happen as it's more likely that his management team will either wait for the title shot or fight soft touches to stay active,yet not endanger the title shot down the road.

Derevyanchenko might create a better fight for Golovkin or Alvarez than some of the contenders that they have faced,but his lack of preparation will likely teach him and his management team what happens when you face top competition without the proper amount of experience.

I earned two points in the boxing challenge to Ramon Malpica's one to boost my lead to 104-95.

Garcia decisions Broner-Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points in the boxing challenge to move the total,but the margin stayed the same as the score is now 94-87...

The biggest fight of the weekend saw WBC lightweight champion Mikey Garcia deliver arguably the best performance of his career in his move to junior welterweight with a dominant unanimous decision over Adrien Broner on Showtime.
Garcia is about as technically sound as they come and he used combinations along with a surprising body attack to leave the inactive Broner to do little but shake his head in an attempt to shake Garcia's poise.
I scored Garcia a 118-110 winner and you could make an argument for 120-108.

Garcia has lots of interesting fights that could be made,if promotional issues would not enter into the picture-as they always do.
Garcia could drop back to 135 where he still holds the WBC title and fight WBA champ Jorge Linares,but with Linares with Golden Boy,that could be difficult to make.
If Garcia chooses to stay at 140,a Terence Crawford (or Julius Indongo should he upset Crawford in August) fight would be one of the best in boxing,but Crawford is a Top Rank fighter and since Garcia's divorce from the Bob Arum company,I doubt they will do many favors for Garcia.
Garcia could get PBC champions at 147 in Keith Thurman or Errol Spence in fights that again would be interesting,but that involves going up another seven pounds for a fighter that won his first title at 126.
Still,it'll be interesting to see what avenue Garcia takes next...

As for Adrien Broner,I think we've seen what we'll see from him.
He's good,but not great,neither a true boxer or big banger and more of a top ten fighter rather than a true elite fighter.
Despite the branding and building of the name,Adrien Broner simply isn't an elite fighter.
Oh.every once in a while in the future,the name he built will be used to make some money or build another fighters resume' and maybe he'll even win another title,if matched properly,but he's been exposed for good now and you'll never see him as a true A side in a big fight again.
Ramon and I each received two points for the Garcia win.

In the other Showtime bout,Jermall Charlo debuted as a middleweight with a fourth round knockout over Jorge Sebastian Heiland to become the WBC's mandatory contender for the winner of Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez.
Heiland clearly was injured entering the bout with a leg issue and just couldn't keep his balance in going down in the second and fourth.
Charlo did what needed to be done,but for this to be his first fight at the weight against an overmatched journeyman with just one name victory (an over the hill Matthew Macklin) and qualify him for a title fight was ridiculous.
Charlo's post-fight interview was just as ludicrous as Charlo called himself the Hitman,the "real Tommy Hearns" and later compared himself to Sugar Ray Leonard.
I wasn't aware that wins over Julian Williams (Charlo's best win to date) and Jorge Sebastian Heiland brought one such prestige,but apparently they do....
I added two points for the Charlo KO with Ramon adding one for the win.

Showtime also streamed a heavyweight fight for free on their YouTube channel,showing while HBO is stuck in 2007,Showtime is being innovative and using technology to grow the sport-now if they could only get some of their better guys to fight more often and versus better competition.
Talented,but overweight Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller returned after a long layoff to stop Gerald Washington at the end of round eight.
You might remember Washington's last bout in a undeserved title fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilder where he fought evenly for four rounds vs Wilder before being stopped in the fifth round,this time Washington was generally bullied by the bulkier Miller in being badly hurt in the sixth,seventh and eighth rounds before not being allowed to start the ninth round.
I thought Miller won every round before the end of the bout.
Miller is going to have to try to be in better shape against tougher opponents,but I'm intrigued by Miller's potential,if he could do that.
Ramon and I each added two points for the Miller knockout.

In an untelevised bout,former bantamweight champion Rau'shee Warren won a unanimous decision over former junior bantamweight champ McJoe Arroyo to become the IBF's mandatory contender for their champion Jerwin Ancajas.
Ramon received two points for the Warren win and unanimous nod,while I added one for the Warren win.

Boxing Challenge Weekend

Photo Credit:Rich Schultz Getty Images

The Boxing Challenge returned with three fights on HBO,two from PBC and two more from the United Kingdom.

Let's begin with the PBC show on Fox,which rated as a disappointment on several levels.
In the main event,former lightweight champion Omar Figueroa returned after a year and a half hiatus and blasted out former multi-division champion Robert Guerrero in three rounds with Guerrero hitting the floor three times in the second round and twice in the third before the bout was stopped.
For the winner,Figueroa couldn't ask for a better opponent than the faded Guerrero,but I wonder about Figueroa's size at 147.
It seems as Figueroa and his camp wonder as well,as Figueroa announced after the win that he planned to drop to junior welterweight for future bouts.
That seems smart to me as Figueroa looks to be a pretty strong challenge for anyone in that division that isn't named Terence Crawford.
As for Guerrero,who dropped to 1-4 in his last five bouts and could have been 0-5 if not for kind judging-he needs to give it up.
Guerrero clearly is not at the world class level anymore and continuing to try to do so will only result in lopsided losses and potential injury.
I earned one point for the Figueroa win with Ramon Malpica not earning any by picking Guerrero...

The other challenge bout on the PBC side saw former Olympian Marcus Browne blow out Seanie Monaghan in two rounds.
Browne dropped Monaghan in round one and pummeled him in the second before the bout was stopped.
Browne called out WBC champion Adonis Stevenson after the fight,although if there was justice,he would offer a rematch from two fights ago with Radivoje Kaladzic,who I thought clearly defeated Browne,but Browne was given the split decision.
Monaghan,who had been mentioned several times as an opponent for a champion or contender was exposed as a clubfighter that had never beaten anyone remotely resembling a top twenty fighter.
I added one point for Browne's win with Ramon picking Monaghan...

We move to HBO and a three fight card that looked great on paper,but didn't really produce in the ring.
Miguel Berchelt retained his WBC junior lightweight belt with a unanimous decision win over mandatory challenger and former champion Takashi Miura.
Berchelt couldn't miss Miura with the jab and on my card,I had Berchelt an 119-109 winner (11-1 in rounds).
Berchelt solidified his claim as the second best fighter at 130 pounds behind Vasyl Lomachenko and said he has no problem fighting Lomachenko,although he would be a huge underdog in that potential bout.
Ramon and I each picked up one point for the Berchelt win..

Berchelt might be better suited to unify with WBA champion Jezreel Corrales,who squeaked by rugged journeyman Robinson Castellanos by majority decision after ten rounds after a Corrales head butt busted open Castellanos and forced a stoppage.
I had the fight even at 94-94 after being mandated to score the tenth round after just 30 seconds of action in one of the dumber rules in boxing.
I scored the 10th round even,but Corrales was ahead in rounds (6-3-1),but Castellanos dropped Corrales twice in the fourth round to pick up points before losing one of those back when Corrales knocked Castellanos off balance and to the floor in the seventh.
Berchelt vs Corrales would be an interesting fight,unification is always a good idea and the winner would clearly stake his right as the second best 130 pounder and might earn himself a Lomachenko bout...
One point to both Ramon and I for the Corrales win.

The miracle run of Joe Smith hit a lull as Smith lost a unanimous decision to the talented Sullivan Barrera.
I only saw the final two rounds as of this writing with Ramon and I each getting no points for selecting Smith.

In the U.K.Chris Eubank Jr punched his ticket to the World Boxing Super Series with a unanimous decision over Arthur Abraham and Lee Selby retained his IBF featherweight title with a unanimous win over Jonathan Barros.
I've yet to watch either fight,so no scoring yet.
Ramon and I each picked two points for each of these wins.

On the day,I added eight points in the boxing challenge to Ramon's six and extended my lead in the boxing challenge to 87-80....

Boxing Challenge

Big weekend in the boxing challenge as HBO delivers a tripleheader that should feature a ton of action,PBC with three more fights (only two in the challenge) and two more bouts from Europe that include a title bout and what essentially is a qualifier for the World Boxing Series in the Super Middleweight tournament.
I lead the boxing challenge 79-74.

HBO has the best fights of the weekend with two title fights in the 130 pound division as the jockeying begins for who is number two in the division behind Vasyl Lomachenko.
WBC champ Miguel Berchelt defends his title against former champ Takashi Miura in his first defense since ripping apart Francisco Vargas,who dethroned Miura in a terrific bout.
Berchelt looks to be a coming star,but he'll have to prove it against Miura,who will come at Berchelt all night.
This one is going to be a good one.
Meanwhile on the WBA side,Jezreel Corrales defends his title against Robinson Castellanos.
Corrales shocked long time champ Takashi Uchiyama in April 2016 with a second round knockout before winning a split decision in their rematch.
Castellanos makes a living winning fights that he shouldn't despite an ugly (for a world contender) 24-12 record with upset wins over Ronny Rios,Rocky Juarez and most recently a knockout that ended the hopes of Golden Boy to give a big push to Yuriorkis Gamboa.
I hope that there is a way to hook the winners of these two bouts up in their next fight.
The opener on HBO features the light heavyweights with Joe Smith,who essentially ended the careers of veterans Andrezj Fonfara and Bernard Hopkins against Sullivan Barrera,a durable top ten contender.
The light heavyweights have several interesting contenders and this might mean a title fight for the winner.

The backers of PBC are reported to have seen their war chest of dollars dwindle of late and with PBC having a broadcast date on Fox and delivering a less than brilliant card.
The main event has undefeated former WBC lightweight champ Omar Figueroa fighting for the first time in eighteen months against the PBC gatekeeper in faded former champion Robert Guerrero,who is 1-3 in his last four fights and on my card should be 0-4 (I scored Aron Martinez a winner over Guerrero,who won a split decision).
Figueroa was once thought to be a coming star and disappointed despite remaining undefeated.
Guerrero looks like a shot fighter to me,but Figueroa's style will show us just what Guerrero has left.

The other bout in the challenge on this card puts former Olympian Marcus Browne against Seanie Monaghan in what might be a spirited bout.
Browne comes off a knockout of Thomas Williams and a split decision win over Radivoje Kaladzic that was clearly controversial with Browne losing on my card.
Monaghan has neared a title shot with an exciting style and an ability to draw fans in the New York area,despite never beating anyone near a top twenty contender.

Europe has two fights of note with the main one in the super middleweights as Chris Eubank Jr fights Arthur Abraham in what is basically a "play-in" fight for a World Boxing Series slot.
The winner will be seeded third and will fight Avni Yildrim in the first round of the tournament.
Eubank will be fighting his first contender since rising to the 168 pound division,while the two division champion Abraham will be facing his first true test since losing every round and his WBO belt to Gilberto Ramirez in April 2016.

IBF featherweight champ Lee Selby defends his title against Jonathan Barros in a fight delayed twice by athletic commission dealings with the health of Barros.
One never knows if this one will come off either.
Selby is hoping to see if a win can land him a sizable paycheck for a fight in Northern Ireland against Carl Frampton..

WBC Junior Lightweight title.12 rds
Miguel Berchelt vs Takashi Miura
R.L:Berchelt KO 10
TRS; Berchelt KO 9

WBA Junior Lightweight title .12 rds
Jezreel Corrales vs Robinson Castellanos
Both:Corrales Unanimous Decision

Light Heavyweights.12 rds
Joe Smith vs Sullivan Barrera
R.L:Smith Unanimous Decision
TRS:Smith Split Decision

Welterweights.12 rds
Omar Figueroa vs Robert Guerrero
R.L: Guerrero KO 7
TRS:Figueroa Unanimous Decision

Light Heavyweights.10 rds
Marcus Browne vs Seanie Monaghan
R.L: Monaghan Unanimous Decision
TRS:Browne Unanimous Decision

Super Middleweights.12 rds
Arthur Abraham vs Chris Eubank Jr.
Both:Eubank Unanimous Decision

IBF Featherweight title.12 rds
Lee Selby vs Jonathan Barros
Both:Selby Unanimous Decision

Easter decisions Shafikov

It was a pretty rare main event for Al Haymon's PBC-it was a good action fight,close throughout and a decent crowd (not sure how many were comp tickets though) for Toledo Ohio's Robert Easter and his IBF lightweight title defense against mandatory challenger Denis Shafikov.

And then the decision was announced and it was Hamburglar time.
As you know,when I see a miscarriage of justice on boxing scorecards (not always seeing a different winner in a close fight),I use the Hamburglar for the main picture.
I wasn't upset at Easter winning a unanimous decision (Ramon Malpica and I each earned two boxing challenge points to move to 78-73),it was a close fight that I scored 114-114 and I'd have no problem either way-as long as the scores were close.
They weren't,
One judge scored 116-112 (8 rounds to 4),which was a little long to me,but plausible as there were lots of close rounds.
However,the masked face of the Hamburglar arose with the other two cards-TWELVE to ZERO!!
Two judges scored a fight that I saw at 6-6 with all twelve rounds for the hometown fighter!!!
I felt bad enough for Shafikov in losing his third (and likely last) shot at a world title,but I felt even worse after those cards-those guys had their minds made up before the fight started!

The scorecards ruined a pretty decent fights with good action that swung back and forth,
Shafikov walked forward and threw a lot of punches,but sometimes was wild with his shots,while Easter was on his heels often and had to fight inside more than he would have liked,but was more effective there than I thought he would be.
Easter doesn't have a lot of options in his weight class,as there isn't many top contenders there with PBC,so he's likely to have an optional defense in his next bout,while Shafikov will likely go back to the drawing board and try to find a way to get his fourth shot at a title.

I'll be back with Manny Pacquiao's ESPN debut against Jeff Horn,unless the Cavaliers or Devils are able to make some news on day one of free agency...

The Spence Era Begins-Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge returned with a bout that boxing junkies had hungered for a long time and were rewarded with a back and forth thriller that ended with Errol Spence taking the IBF welterweight belt away from Kell Brook with an eleventh round stoppage.
The bout featured plenty of action with both fighters having more than a few moments, but Spence knocked Brook down in the tenth and Brook dropped to a knee in the eleventh surrendering honorably.
Spence also broke the eye socket of Brook in the middle rounds as he re-injured the socket that Gennady Golovkin broke in Brook's last bout, along with badly puffing the left eye of Brook up with swelling.
I had Spence leading at the time of the stoppage 96-93 (6-4 with an extra point deducted from Brook for the tenth round knockdown).
It was just the type of fight that fans hoped for and with the Spence victory, Premiere Boxing Champions may have found the star that they have lacked since opening their promotion.
PBC has hyped several fighters and hoped those fighters (Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, etc) would develop into the flagbearer for their company, but for various reasons fell short.
Errol Spence has the type of skills and personality to be such a star-let's hope that PBC can avoid the inactivity pitfalls and allow fans to see him active to build his fanbase, which will allow him to develop into a star.
As for Kell Brook, it appears that he has developed a chronic problem with his facial bones and is going to have problems in tough fights as his face is going to bust up.
Issues like that don't get better over time and Brook is going to have to deal with these problems for the rest of his career.
Ramon Malpica earned two points in the boxing challenge for the Spence knockout, while I picked up one for the Spence victory.

I got that point back when George Groves won the vacant WBA super-middleweight title with a sixth-round stoppage over Fedor Chudinov in another great fight loaded with action.
I had Groves slightly ahead after five rounds (3-2) but wobbled Chudinov badly in the sixth before the referee stopped the bout.
Groves could have two big-money unification bouts that would draw huge crowds (and dollars) in the U.K. with IBF champ James DeGale (Groves handed him his only loss) and if Callum Smith could defeat Andre Dirrell for the vacant WBC title, either could be in Groves' future.
I picked Groves for one point with Ramon picking Chudinov.

As of now, I don't have a result for the final bout for this week from Panama with Anselmo Moreno against Julio Ceja.
I'll add that to this post when I have the result.
Editor's Note Ceja stopped Moreno in three rounds, giving Ramon two points and my zero.
I lead the challenge as of now 70-66