Boxing Challenge: Munguia cuts down Johnson

Boxing never fails to show you something that you haven't seen before and the Golden Boy card on DAZN from their home base in Indio, California gave another new memory in the main event as Jaime Munguia stopped Tureano Johnson at the end of the sixth round.

Sounds pretty average, until you see the uppercut that Munguia landed on Johnson that tore a piece of his lip off and sent it flying outside the ring.

It literally left the ring and calling what Johnson was left with on his lip a cut is being very conservative as it took a chunk out of it.

While any loss is an unfortunate one, Johnson was just starting to gain some ground on Munguia before the ending of the fight and I would doubt that we would see a rematch.

I had Munguia slightly ahead (58-56) after six, but I think Johnson may have made the final half of the fight an interesting one.

Instead, I'll remember for that missing gouge out of Johnson's lip..

The co-feature saw a dazzling effort from slick boxing Rashidi Ellis in winning a unanimous decision over fellow unbeaten Alexis Rocha.

This was the fight that I was most looking forward to on this card, not for the action but for two talented fighters with a strong step to a higher level and I went back and forth on which fighter to select.

I chose the stronger Rocha over the faster Ellis and regretted it as Rocha was far too slow to deal with Ellis's quickness.

I had Ellis a 116-112 winner in the biggest win of his career and I'm willing to bet that few will want to face in a future eliminator.

Elwin Soto defended his WBO light flyweight title over Carlos Buitrago with a unanimous decision that seemed to be closer in my eyes than on the judges scorecards.

Soto won on one card 119-109 and 117-111 on another with the final card of 115-113 being the same as my card.

Ramon Malpica picked up six points to my three and continues his late season rally in cutting my lead to 140-135.

Barrera stops Shabranskyy-Boxing Challenge

HBO Latino put on a pretty good card last night that featured light heavyweights Sullivan Barrera and Vyachaslav Shabranskyy,both coming off interesting fights.
Shabranskyy won a surprising decision over Yuneski Gonzalez,while Barrera went the distance in a loss to Andre Ward.
Shabranskyy was thought of by many (Including me) as a potential contender at 175 and Barrera would be an interesting test.

Instead,the pair hooked up in a great action fight that saw Shabranskyy dropped in round one and Barrera in round two.
Slowly,Barrera began to take command with a knockdown in the fifth before knocking Shabranskyy down and out in the seventh.
The win likely will put Barrera in contention for one of the three titles that Andre Ward is expected to vacate with his "retirement/ducking Kovalev".
It was a rough night for Golden Boy promotions with Shabranskyy's loss (Barrera is promoted by Main Events) and a stunning first round knockout loss by their touted welterweight Eddie Gomez at the hands of Rashidi Ellis.
No boxing challenge points for these fights or the Alexander Povetkin-Bermane Stiverne heavyweight eliminator,which was canceled with Povetkin's positive test for PED's.
Ramon Malpica didn't get the email in time,so nothing for those bouts..

Bernard Hopkins and his farewell bout headlines a three fight HBO card.
Hopkins faces Joe Smith,who pulled a shocker with his first round blitz of Andrezj Fonfara on a PBC card.
Touted WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk makes his American debut against Thabiso Mchunu and featherweight contender Joseph Diaz faces Horatio Garcia..

Light Heavyweights.12 rds
Bernard Hopkins vs Joe Smith
Both:Hopkins Unanimous Decision

Featherweights 10 rds
Joseph Diaz vs Horatio Garcia
R.L: Diaz KO 8
TRS:Diaz Unanimous Decision

WBO Cruiserweight title 12 rds
Oleksandr Usyk vs Thabiso Mchunu
R.L:Usyk KO 5
TRS:Usyk KO 8