Boxing Challenge; Commey stops Beltran

Ray Beltran missed the lightweight weight limit by nearly two pounds, but after some side agreements, the show went on in Temecula California in a junior welterweight bout rather than the first defense of Richard Commey's IBF lightweight title.

Commey made sure the ESPN audience saw the best from the professional that made weight as Commey drilled Beltran with four knockdowns, two of them in round one on his way to an eighth-round knockout of the former WBO champion.
Commey almost ended this fight early as he stormed from his corner to score two knockdowns, one of which was scored because only the ropes allowed Beltran to stay on his feet.
Beltran did battle back though and answered the Commey attack with counter shots, including one left hook that caused Commey to pause for a bit and allowed Beltran to hear the bell.
The next three rounds were fought on fairly even terms, although Commey had an edge on my card until a fifth-round knockdown essentially changed the fight to a Commey attack against an occasional Beltran counter hook.
After the fifth round knockdown, you had the feeling that the ending of the fight and its result was only a matter of time and Commey's left that crashed home in the eighth and drove Beltran to the floor seat-first did just that.
Beltran rose, but the fight was stopped then and there.

For the technically flawed, but fun to watch Commey, it looks like it will be elite prospect Teofimo Lopez next, assuming Lopez wins his title eliminator in July.
Commey can be easy to counter and one would think that would be a problem against the hard-hitting Lopez, but as he proved against Beltran if Commey lands he is capable of hurting any lightweight in the world.
As for Beltran, it could be time for him to consider the gold watch route and step away after his second defeat in three fights and being stopped for the first time since 2001 (!).
If Beltran does decide to fight on, it is clear that he cannot make the lightweight limit any further and will need to move up to the junior welterweight division, where plenty of young stars are waiting and with Beltran unlikely to defeat the likes of Regis Prograis, Josh Taylor, Jose Ramirez or Maurice Hooker, it would seem to be a high mountain to climb.

In the co-feature, talented junior middleweight Carlos Adames was taken to the limit by veteran Patrick Day but won a unanimous decision in an entertaining faceoff.
Day was badly hurt in the ninth and tenth rounds and at the bell, Day seemed to be hanging on by a thread as Adames hammered away attempting to grab the knockout.
For Adames, this is the type of hard fight that prospects need to progress up the ladder and develop the skills needed to survive a difficult fight against better competition and I thought Adames fought well.
The surprise was Day, who was even on my card after eight rounds (I scored Adames a 96-94 winner) and fought well against a superior force in Adames.
I would wager that Day's performance in this one was noticed by managers and promoters and he'll receive future chances to give similar tests to prospects in the future.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored two points to move the totals to 154-140.

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez rallies past Zepeda

ESPN and Top Rank put together a pretty nice card on a Sunday night from Fresno, California, which saw two entertaining fights at 140 pounds.

Photo Credit: Top Rank

In the main event, WBC champion Jose Ramirez was somewhat surprisingly extended by Jose Zepeda and needed a late rally to escape with a majority decision and retain his junior welterweight title.

Zepeda shot to the lead with some very smooth boxing and controlled a lethargic Ramirez well over the first half of the fight, but whether you want to credit Ramirez for a late charge or blame Zepeda for a late fade, Ramirez turned the tide and took a narrow 115-113 nod on my card.

These are the type of tests that every champion needs to pass to continue to progress and even though Jose Ramirez may not have been at his best, he retained his title.

As Jim Valvano used to say "Survive and Advance" and sometimes that's the best way to describe a victory.

The opener was an entertaining bout as former WBO lightweight champion Ray Beltran moved to 140 pounds and hooked up with Japan's Hiroki Okada for nine back-and-forth rounds before Beltran landed some booming right hands to knock down Okada twice in the ninth before the bout was waved off.

Beltran knocked Okada down in round two, but Okada rose and buckled Beltran in the same round to set the way this fight was going to go with give-and-take action.

I had Beltran slightly ahead at the time of the stoppage (76-75) and Beltran might be the next foe for Jose Ramirez, which could very well be the last stand for the aging, but still more than adequate veteran.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica scored three points to my two and took the overall lead at 32-31.

Boxing Challenge: Pedraza dethrones Beltran, Dogboe crushes another

ESPN presented a strong two fight (I listened to a podcast during the ladies fight) card from Glendale, Arizona that saw a star continue to develop and a new champion crowned to challenge Vasyl Lomachenko in December.

In the main event, Jose Pedraza upset Ray Beltran via unanimous decision in a close tussle to lift the WBO lightweight title from Beltran.
I had Pedraza a narrow 114-113 winner (6-6 in rounds) and the scores were wider than I thought was reasonable.
Going into the fight, the veteran Beltran figured to be the stronger fighter later in the bout and going to the eleventh round, that scenario seemed to be rolling into play.
Pedraza had won the first three rounds, but the charge of Beltran began in the fourth and Beltran would win all but one round from the 4th through the 10th.
However, it was the younger Pedraza that grabbed the final two rounds with not only a knockdown in the eleventh but a rally late in the twelfth that seemed to have Beltran buzzed a bit and backed in a corner as the bell rang to end the encounter.
The victory was more than just a title for Pedraza, who was released from PBC after his loss to Gervonta Davis, it meant a possible seven-figure payday in December for a unification match with WBA kingpin Vasyl Lomachenko.
I'm not sure Pedraza will offer a stern test to Lomachenko, but his rangier boxing style may cause Lomachenko a few more problems than the pressuring Beltran would have caused him.

Issac Dogboe continued his rise as a must see boxer with a one round blitz of Hidenori Otake.
Now, Otake was 37, had lost his only fight against a top fighter (Scott Quigg), had lost the only time that he fought outside of Japan (Again to Quigg) and looked overmatched, but when you have an opponent that isn't in your class, the best way to get something out of such fights is to get rid of them quickly.
Two knockdowns and an uppercut that turned Otake's legs to those similar to Ralph Dibny ended this one in just one round.
Moving on from Otake and the sooner the better there, I'd love to see Dogboe in the unification fights that he called for against WBA champ Daniel Roman and WBC champ Rey Vargas, but both fights will be tough to make with opposing promoters and networks (Roman is with Eddie Hearn's DAZN and Vargas with Golden Boy and HBO).
Both of those fights would be interesting with a Roman fight having the potential to be a strong action bout and the taller Vargas would be interesting to see how Dogboe deals with a talented boxer that uses distance well.

In the Boxing Challenge, I added two points for Dogboe's KO and Ramon Malpica gained one for Dogboe's victory.
Both of us selected Ray Beltran over Jose Pedraza.
The challenge now stands at 127-101.

Boxing Challenge: Beltran nips Moses

The feel-good story of 2018 boxing finally happened last night in Reno as Ray Beltran won a unanimous decision over Paulus Moses in Reno, Nevada to finally gain an elusive world championship- the previously vacant WBO lightweight title that was given up by Terry Flanagan in order to move up to the junior welterweight division.

The fight was much harder for Beltran than most, including myself, predicted against the 39-year-old Moses fighting out of Zambia.
I had the fight far closer than the judges did as it turned out on the cards, but I thought Beltran squeaked out a narrow 115-113 verdict.
In fact, I had Moses slightly ahead before I had Beltran sweeping the final three rounds for the two-point win (7-5) on my scorecard.,
The surprising Moses fought very well, cut Beltran in the third round and hurt Beltran twice before his age caught up with him and faded late.
I was very pleased for Beltran, who has had a hard-luck career, but I hated two of the scorecards (117-111 9-3 in rounds), it had the feel of one of those fights that judges throw out on occasion that they give every early round to the pre-fight favorite because they "think" they should win, which winds up with far wider scorecards than often should occur in situations where the underdog fights better than expected.
Beltran was expected to be the fallback choice for Vasyl Lomachenko in May if the Lomachenko-Jorge Linares stalemate continues, but his cuts in his victory may make it difficult to return that quickly, although a career-high payday might heal those cuts faster than usual.

In the co-feature, touted power-hitting welterweight Egid Kavaliauskas wasn't as impressive as I had hoped in a sixth-round stoppage of former minor titleholder David Avanesyan in the sixth round.
Kavaliauskas finished Avanesyan as soon as he seriously hurt him, but to me, he looked a bit sluggish and I thought Tony Weeks stopped the contest a little early (I do believe I've written that before).
All things considered, a knockout win over a top 10-15 type contender is a solid victory in Kavaliauskas' first fight at that level.

I continue to be disappointed in the ESPN announcing crew.
Joe Tessitore has always been average to me, Timothy Bradley tries hard, but always seems to be hesitant to criticize and I still wonder who thought giving Mark Kriegel such a large role as the color commentator, when he clearly is overmatched there was a good idea.
I was pleased to see Claudia Trejos on the program, I always thought she was very solid when I first watched her in the Solo Boxeo days.
I'd like to see a larger role for Trejos on future Top Rank shows, especially if it would be part of a larger revamp.
I'm glad ESPN is back in boxing, but they need to at least consider some changes.


The wins gave Ramon Malpica and I each two challenge points and moved the total to 16-14 entering this evening.
I could be back this afternoon with a few breaks with the George Groves-Chris Eubank Jr. bout from the U.K.

Boxing Challenge-Lomachenko dominates Marriaga

The boxing challenge continues after a three fight weekend that saw me score four points and Ramon Malpica score three.
I lead the challenge 98-90.

In the weekend's biggest fight,Vasyl Lomachenko won every round in stopped an overmatched Miguel Marriaga,when Marriaga's corner made the correct decision in stopping the fight after round seven after Lomachenko knocked Marriaga down and battered him around the ring.
Lomachenko also dropped Marriaga in the third and was never tested by a solid fighter that showed guts by raising to 130,but might have been better suited to have stayed at 126.
I had Lomachenko ahead 70-66 after seven and clearly there is no one at 130 pounds anywhere near his ability.
I scored two points for the Lomachenko knockout,with Ramon getting one for his victory..

Because I was in Ohio (story coming in a few days),I missed the Lomachenko fight live and as of now,I haven't watched the co-feature in which Ray Beltran won a majority decision over Bryan Vasquez.
Ramon and I each earned a point for Beltran's win..

Friday night on ESPN had the best action of the weekend as aging welterweight warhorses hooked it up in a sterling action battle as Mauricio Herrera won a majority decision over Jesus Soto-Karass.
The fight had been billed as a loser should leave boxing bout,but both showed enough to be considered to still have a little bit left,assuming they are matched properly.
The tenth was spent with plenty of toe to toe action and I wouldn't be against a rematch as I scored it 95-95,but no quibbles with the two cards that gave Herrera a 96-94 edge.
Ramon and I each scored one point for the Herrera victory.

I'm quite busy coming up,but I plan on catching up later in the week with my trip to Ohio and Bristol VA and some notes on today's passing of Don Baylor...