Boxing Challenge: Benn Avenges loss to Eubank Jr.

    The boxing challenge boasted two cards outside the United States this weekend, with one fighter avenging his only defeat and another retaining his world championship.

Conor Benn evened his series with Chris Eubank Jr with a dominant unanimous decision win in London.

Eubank, who won the first fight earlier this year in what might be the fight of the year, looked spent as Benn outboxed the older man throughout and avoided any counters.

Benn dropped Eubank twice in the final round and would have likely stopped his foe with even a few more seconds remaining in the fight.

Benn announced plans to return to welterweight for potential title challenges of either WBC champion Mario Barrios or IBF titleholder Lewis Crocker, both of which Benn would be favored against.

Eubank Jr should consider retirement, but likely will not, even if a third fight seems unlikely after Benn's easy victory.

On the undercard in a fight I have yet to watch, Jack Catterall knocked Ekow Essuman in the eleventh round of a welterweight eliminator.

Catterall was fighting in the division for the second time, while Essuman had scored his biggest career win in his previous fight over former champion (and Catterall foe) Josh Taylor.

In Mexico, Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight title when challenger Arnold Khegai was unable to answer the bell for round eleven.

Espinoza hammered the gutsy Khegai throughout the fight, rendering Khegai's face into a swollen mask.

I didn't see the co-feature, but most seem to believe Lindolfo Delgado was given a split decision in his junior welterweight eliminator against Gabriel Valenzuela

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 141 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 133 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:  53 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Inoue saves the weekend

   In the original Star Wars film, Princess Leia appeared as a damaged hologram in an attempt to contact Obi-Wan Kenobi, repeatedly commenting, "Obi-Wan Kenobi, you are our only hope."

That scene came to mind after the two dreary events previously over the weekend with a paraphrase "Naoya Inoue you are our only hope".

Naoya Inoue came through, but the mild surprise came from Ramon Cardenas, who didn't read the script and floored Inoue in the second round.

Inoue wasn't seriously hurt from the left hand that knocked him down, but he began to turn the tide in the fourth, and after round four, Inoue controlled the action despite Cardenas having his share of success in exchanges.

In the seventh, the Monster stung Cardenas, and it became clear the end was near, which Inoue's inner radar realized, jumping on Cardenas to start the eighth round, driving him into the ropes with authority with a series of punches that forced referee Harvey Dock to stop the fight.

I had Inoue slightly ahead at the time of the stoppage 67-66.

For Inoue, he'll be facing the top challenger in the division, former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev this September in what should be an interesting fight.

Inoue has now been dropped twice in his last three fights (Cardenas and Luis Nery) by similar punches, a counter left, and Akhmadaliev is a skilled counterpuncher, so it will be interesting to see if Inoue works on fixing a flaw before that match.

As for Cardenas, he has made a name for himself after an energetic and valiant attempt to dethrone Inoue and he's earned the chance for high-visibility fights in the future.

In the co-feature, Rafael Espinoza retained his WBO featherweight title over Edward Vazquez in a strong outing for the champion.

Vazquez tried hard but his light punching power wasn't enough to stun Espinoza and with the physical advantages held by the 6'1 champion, Vazquez couldn't use his usual game to outbox him from a distance.

Vazquez was dead game and tried to win but this was a bad style match for him, and the fight ended similarly as the main event with Espinoza pouring it onto a battering challenger along the ropes in round seven.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 68 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 65 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:30 Pts  (2)

Boxing Challenge: Navarrete, Espinoza keep titles, Hitchins wins one

    As the final month of 2024 began, the boxing weekend was stuffed to the brim with action from several platforms worldwide, and there were many entertaining battles for the fans' viewing pleasure.

Top Rank and ESPN+ appeared to have two excellent rematches for championships after both original fights were good action fights. However, the best-laid plans can go up in smoke, and both fights were disappointing in different ways.

In the Phoenix main event, Emanuel Navarrete repeated his victory over Oscar Valdez in a far more dominant manner as Navarrete dropped Valdez three times (rounds one, four, and six) and won via knockout after a body shor finished Valdez to retain his WBO junior lightweight crown.

Navarette won by a clear but entertaining unanimous decision in their first fight over Valdez but had struggled to a draw against Robson Conceicao and a loss to Denis Berinchyk in an attempt to win the vacant WBO lightweight title and didn't seem to be putting the time in to prepare properly.

Navarrete was prepared for Valdez and stormed from the gate and never allowed Valdez to get started and won every round on my card.

Navarrete is rumored to perhaps face WBC champion O'Shaquie Foster in a unification match next year while Valdez might need a confidence builder or two after taking a shellacking from Navarrete.

In the co-feature, Robiesy Ramirez appeared to be building a lead against Rafael Espinoza in their rematch for the WBO featherweight title that Espinoza took from Ramirez by a thrilling majority decision last December.

However, seconds into round six, Ramirez ended the fight with a "No Mas" to allow Espinoza to retain the title,

Throughout the fight, Joe Tessitore and Tim Bradley stated that the Ramirez team had told the referee to watch for elbows from Espinoza, which they claimed was a major factor in the first fight, and sure enough, that's exactly what Ramirez complained about in the post-fight interview and used as his reason for quitting-double vision caused by elbows that the referee did nothing to stop.

Ramirez is reported to have suffered a broken orbital bone around his right eye, which lends some credibility to his surrender.

I gave Ramirez the first four rounds and while I gave the fifth to Espinoza, it was a close round.

The judges saw it closer with two judges scoring Ramirez up by one point and the other with an incredulous card of a three-point lead for Espinoza, which I don't see in any case.

On the undercard, welterweight contender Giovani Santillan rebounded from his first loss to Brian Norman, when veteran Frederick Lawson surrendered after one round, and unbeaten junior welterweight Lindolfo Delgado knocked out Jackson Marinez in five rounds.

Richardson Hitchins won the IBF junior welterweight title in San Juan Puerto Rico via a split decision over Australia's Liam Paro.

Paro started quickly but Hitchens dominated the second half of the fight and I thought won easily at 116-112.

Two judges agreed with me at 116-112 for Hitchins with a way out of bounds score for Paro at 117-111.

Hitchins called for WBO champion Teofimo Lopez after the fight, which I find highly unlikely with Hitchins's boxing style known for bothering Lopez, differing promoters, and Hitchins not bringing a large paycheck to the table.

Unbeaten junior lightweight Henty LeBron earned his biggest career win with a unanimous decision win over former world title challenger Christopher Diaz.

I thought the fight was close for LeBron at 96-94 which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring for LeBron 97-93.

LeBron scored well with counters against Diaz, who marched forward the entire fight and deserves future fights against young prospects after a strong performance.

A fun and entertaining heavyweight match between two veterans over forty for a minor title may not have been at the world-class level but it was worth watching with two former world title challengers hooked up in Sofia Bulgaria.

In the end, it was the hometown fighter, Kubrat Pulev boxing a bit smoother with the jab and Pulev's more active offense that earned him the WBA minor title by unanimous decision over Mahmoud Charr.

Pulev's scores were 117-11 times two and 116-112 with my score at 117-111 for Pulev.

The question for me will be this, will Pulev eventually decide to keep himself as the eventual WBA mandatory challenger for a title attempt? Or at 43, will he use the "title" to bring mid-level heavyweights to Bulgaria and earn Pulev larger paydays than he could dream of making anywhere else?

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica:  179 Pts (11)

TRS: 179 Pts (11)

Vince Samano: 115 Pts (7)

Boxing Challenger: Espinoza stops Chirino,Undercard theft

       Top Rank's Friday night card from Las Vegas on ESPN+ saw a title retained and a contender moving towards a title shot win a decision that he didn't deserve after missing weight before the fight.

Rafael Espinoza made the first defense of his WBO featherweight title a successful one as Espinoza knocked Sergio Chirino down three times before the referee stopped the fight in the fourth round.

Chirino was knocked down in the waning moments of both the first and second rounds but Espinoza didn't have enough time to finish the job in either round.

That wasn't the case in the fourth after another knockdown with the referee waving the bout off.

Espinoza came into prominence in the fight that made him a champion as an unknown challenger to then-champion Robeisy Ramirez and rallied from a knockdown to drop Ramirez in the final round to win the title by majority decision in a great battle.

The original plan was for an immediate rematch but Espinoza requested making an optional defense first and should Ramirez defeat Brandon Benitez next Saturday, the rematch will be scheduled in the fall.

The travesty was in the co-feature as undefeated junior lightweight contender Andres Cortes missed weight at the weigh-in and then after being outpunched by veteran Abraham Nova, was given an unpopular unanimous decision.

Nova threw more, landed more, and was the better fighter, all of which wasn't enough for the judges who somehow scored Cortes the winner 97-93 x2 and 96-94.

Nova's best round was the ninth, when he threw over one hundred punches and backed Cortes into a corner, and blasted away but one judge scored the round for Cortes anyway.

Cortes called out division champions after the fight but between blowing the scales and winning such a controversial decision, I'd think a Nova rematch would be a better idea.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 91 Pts (3)

TRS: 76 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 48 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Haney dominates Prograis, Espinoza stuns Ramirez

     Many observers thought that Regis Prograis was a live underdog in his defense of his WBC junior welterweight title against lightweight king Devin Haney in San Francisco on Saturday.

They could not have been more wrong as Haney knocked Prograis down in the third round and won every round in a superb display of boxing to win the WBC 140-pound belt by a unanimous decision.

Prograis never was able to offer any offense against the pure skills of Haney, and after he hit the deck from a short Haney right in round three, Prograis was unable to win even on the inside against Haney and clearly looked to be a level below the new champion.

All three judges scored the fight the same as I did at 120-107.

Haney will certainly drop his remaining lightweight titles and stay at junior welterweight where he looked strong and natural at the weight.

Haney's future looks bright with the biggest potential fight with WBO champion Teofimo Lopez, which could happen with Haney having worked with Lopez's promoter Top Rank in the past, although it's unlikely to happen right away with Lopez expected to defend against former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in early 2024.

Ryan Garcia has been mentioned as a possibility but I don't see Garcia as a serious threat to Haney, although a Garcia fight would pad his wallet more than a little.

IBF champion Subriel Matias would bring a bruising style that I would love to see Haney against but Matias's link with PBC makes that a long considering the risk/reward ratio.

The PBC connection makes a chance at lightly-regarded WBA champion Rolly Romero even less likely than Matias in a fight that would be more fun at the press conferences than in the ring.

As for Prograis, a two-time champion, it's very evident from his last two fights that he looked stronger than he actually was in winning the vacant title last year due to the fading of his opponent, Jose Zepeda, and that the generation of junior welterweights that included Prograis, Josh Taylor, and Jose Ramirez turned out to be less than boxing watchers thought they would become.

One thing is for sure: Devin Haney is a terrific all-around fighter. If he has added a little more pop to his punch at the higher weight, Haney will be a very difficult out for any fighter around his division for quite a while.

Devin Haney may have delivered the performance of the evening but the fight from ESPN and Top Rank from Pembroke Pines Florida was the fight of the night and will be in the running for the fight of the year with previously unknown Rafael Espinoza shocking WBO champion Robeisy Ramirez to take his title via majority decision.

Espinoza was an unknown quantity entering the fight with an unbeaten record against unknown competition in his native Mexico but with 18 knockouts in 21 wins and a freakish 6'1 frame for a fighter in the featherweight division, one didn't know how good Espinoza was going to be.

The answer was very good as Espinoza won the first four rounds by outworking Ramirez and keeping the shorter man off balance.

Espinoza was winning the fifth until late in the round, Espinoza was switching his stances and just as he began to move, Ramirez fired a short bullet of a right hand that knocked down Espinoza with Espinoza beating the count but in serious condition.

Espinoza took advantage of the little time remaining in the round to survive but Ramirez took control of the fight and won every round on my card from the sixth through the ninth, appearing to be on his way to a difficult retention of his title with Espinoza earning deserved credit for a gallant effort.

Instead, Espinoza turned the tide by winning the tenth and eleventh rounds and the fight was literally on the line with my card reading 104-104, six rounds to five for Espinoza but Ramirez scored a 10-8 fifth round due to the knockdown.

Round twelve saw Espinoza firing all the punches that he had at Ramirez until finally hurting him late in the round and dropping Ramirez along the ropes.

Ramirez would gallantly rise and finish on his feet but the knockdown was enough to lift the challenger to a majority decision by scores of 115-111, 114-112, and 113-113.

I gave Espinoza the nod 114-112 in one of the biggest upsets of the year and the best fights of the campaign as well.

Ramirez appeared to lack focus in his pre-fight interview with Mark Kriegel due to various issues with his family in his native Cuba and I even thought before the fight that if Espinoza was as good as his record Ramirez could be in trouble as a fighter that isn't in the correct frame of mind.

Still, no one knew how good Espinoza was going to be, and while Ramirez would be very deserving of a rematch, that would depend on the WBO as Espinoza was an optional defense and the WBO"s  mandatory challenger Arnold Khegai could be forced on Espinoza before a rematch or unification possibilities. 

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 181 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 163 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 118 Pts (0)