Boxing Challenge: Hot Night in Chi-Town

     The Golden Boy/DAZN card from Chicago seemed to have an excellent main event, but the co-main event looked almost sad with two former champions meeting in a fight that would only settle which one had lost less from their prime.

The main event lived up to expectations as Oscar Duarte outslugged Kenneth Sims to win a majority decision and an eventual chance against WBA junior welterweight champion Gary Antuanne Russell.

Duarte was more aggressive, while Sims countered well but allowed Duarte to drive him often to the ropes and corners, which the judges preferred.

Duarte won by scores of 116-112, 115-113 (my score), and 114-114, and I think Duarte's eventual challenge of Russell will be another entertaining battle.

The co-feature stole the night as aging former champions Regis Prograis and Joseph Diaz hammered each other for ten brutal rounds in a fight that must be considered at year's end for fight of the year honors.

The fight was action-filled as neither fighter had the legs to move away from the other, and surprisingly, the naturally smaller Diaz packed more power than Prograis, who was a power puncher for most of his career.

Diaz bled badly from a cut over his left eye from a headbutt for most of the battle, which caused several visits from the ringside doctor throughout the match.

No knockdowns were scored, although Diaz wobbled Prograis on a few occasions. However, I'm not sure if that was due to Diaz's punches or the increasingly precarious quality of Prograis's legs.

Prograis was scored the winner by scores of 96-94 (the same as mine) twice and 98-92, which was a bit unfair to Diaz.

This was a great fight, but both fighters had questions before this fight, and a war this fierce may have taken even more out of them.

I'd rather see a rematch than fighters against younger fighters who may overwhelm either fighter.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 119 Pts  (2)

Ramon Malpica: 113 Pts(0)
Vince Samano: 46 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Catterall drops Prograis

      Jack Catterall continued to cement his claim as the uncrowned champion in the junior welterweight division after he knocked Regis Prograis down twice in round nine in winning a unanimous decision in Manchester England.

It wasn't all smooth for Catterall, who suffered a knockdown of his own in the fifth round when a Prograis jab knocked Catterall off balance with Catterall touching the canvas unhurt.

Catterall would score his knockdowns with left hands late in round nine and give Prograis credit for fighting ganely through the final three rounds.

Official scores of 117-108 and 116-109 twice (same as my card) for Catterall, who added Prograis to Jorge Linares and Josh Taylor as his victims over the last year.

Catterall continues to improve and I'd favor him over any of the junior welterweight champions, including Teofimo Lopez.

I know many think Catterall would be no match for Lopez but Lopez struggles against boxers and Catterall has the style to dazzle Lopez.

Prograis gave his best in losing his second fight in a row (after losing to Devin Haney) but he's past his prime and I'd hate to see him transition into a divisional gatekeeper, which is where he is headed at the this time.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 149 Pts (2)

TRS:  145 Pts(2)

Vince Samano: 88 Pts (0)

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)

Boxing Challenge: Prograis struggles, Tszyu stars

     There was a world championship fight this Saturday but the winner of that match wasn't the performer of the day as that fighter was a spectacular victor and gives some consideration that a unified four-title champion may not be the best fighter in his division.

But first, Regis Prograis is a fighter that is being considered the best in the junior welterweight division.

However, he didn't show it in his split decision win in his hometown of New Orleans to retain his WBC title over Danielito Zorrilla.

Zorilla appeared to have dropped Prograis in the first round but it wasn't ruled to be one, costing Zorrilla a deserved point. and Prograis scored a flash knockdown in round three.

That about covers anything exciting as Zorrilla rarely took chances and demanded that Prograis force the action, which caused long pauses in the action and resulted in a boring fight.

There were differences in the scoring, both officially and unofficially, with Prograis winning on two judges' cards at 118-109 and 117-110 with a dissenting card of 114-113 for Zorrilla.

I had it closer for Prograis at 115-112 but I've seen several cards online for Zorrilla.

Either way, it was an ugly, clunky fight that was very awkward in the ring, and may have raised questions about Prograis, who has received recent plaudits as the best in the division after running through the respected Jose Zepeda to win the title vacated by Josh Taylor.

The old boxing adage- win today, look good the next time will have to do for Prograis in victory this time.

Meanwhile, in Australia, Tim Tszyu had a harder time overcoming a training camp dog bite than he did Carlos Ocampo as Tszyu knocked Ocampo down seconds into the fight with a right hand and after Ocampo rose, he took several punches before a left polished the veteran off after only seventy-seven seconds.

Ocampo had been knocked out in one round by Errol Spence but in his previous fight had lasted all twelve rounds with Sebastian Fundora, so the early KO isn't tarnished too much.

For Tszyu, who retained his minor title as well as his mandatory shot at Jermell Charlo, it was the type of win that gets fans and media excited about his challenge of Charlo, who hasn't fought in over a year since gaining the final of his four titles with a win in his rematch vs Brian Castano.

It may even be arguable that Tszyu could be the biggest star in his eventual Charlo fight with his activity and exciting wins over Tony Harrison and Ocampo with the consideration of Charlo's inactivity and the thought that nags at me that perhaps Charlo is the best of an average era in the junior middleweight division.

The WBO has mandated that a Charlo-Tszyu fight must take place by September 30th or Charlo will be stripped of their title and Tszyu will be elevated to full status from his minor belt.

In the co-feature, undefeated Sam Goodman scored the biggest win of his career with a split decision over Ra'eese Aleem in a qualifier for the mandatory slot for the IBF in the junior featherweight division.

Aleem started quickly and when he threw punches, had Goodman confused by Aleem's volume of punching and movement.

Aleem stopped throwing as often over the second half of the fight, so Goodman took command over the final four rounds to pull out the split decision.

The judges scored 117-111 and 116-112 for Goodman along with 116-112 for Aleem, all too wide for my tastes with my card for Goodman at 115-113.

Goodman is now the mandatory challenger for IBF and WBA champion Marlon Tapales but with possible plans for Tapales to face the winner of the WBC/WBO title battle between Stephen Fulton and Naoya Inoue held in July, Goodman may have to wait until 2024 for his eventual championship attempt.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 98 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 90 Pts (3)

Vince Samano:72 Pts (3) 

Boxing Challenge: Prograis knocks out Zepeda

    The boxing weekend saw a world championship filled and the new champion staking a claim for a chance for a rematch to prove that he is the best fighter in the division.

Regis Prograis controlled his fight from the outset against Jose Zepeda for the vacant WBC junior welterweight title for most of the ten rounds and then convincingly finished Zepeda in the eleventh, leaving a beaten Zepeda sagging along the ropes and Prograis making an argument for a rematch with Josh Taylor.

Zepeda seemed to be making a late run at the win when he had his best round of the fight in the tenth before Prograis finished the evening in the following round.

I scored Prograis leading 98-92 entering the final round.

Prograis will defend his title for the first time against former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in a fight that was rumored and planned years ago and both would enter the fight with only one career loss- each of the duo losing to Josh Taylor in close fights.

Prograis-Ramirez is yet another excellent match that one could easily select either fighter to win.

However, after watching this effort from Prograis, I'd favor him as the victor.

In the co-feature, junior middleweight Charles Conwell won a majority decision (98-92, 96-94, 95-95) over veteran Juan Carlos Abreu in a WBC eliminator and moved on to another eliminator in the future.

I haven't watched this fight as of this writing, so I have no scorecards, etc.

The other two big bouts of the weekend would hail from London but on two competing cards.

Frank Warren's Queensberry promotion's main event saw a disappointing ending as Zach Parker surrendered after the fourth round due to a broken right hand.

I thought Parker won three of the first four rounds but Ryder continued to press forward as he typically does and one could see Parker throwing fewer and fewer right hands in the third ad fourth stanzas.

With the win, Ryder becomes a minor WBO champion but more importantly is now the mandatory challenger for unified champion Canelo Alvarez and the organization has ruled that if Alvarez fights anyone other than Ryder in his next two fights, they will be forced to remove their title from the Mexican star.

Ryder's not flashy and against elite boxers can be outpointed but he never stops coming forward and will give even the best of his division a physically taxing battle.

On the other side of London, Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing heaved a sigh of relief after Dillian Whyte won a majority decision over previously undefeated Jermaine Franklin of the United States.

Whyte and Franklin divided most of the middle rounds after Franklin started quickly in winning the first two rounds.

Franklin hurt Whyte in the ninth and appeared to be on the verge of an upset but Whyte staggered Franklin in the tenth and finished the fight strongly in the final round when he again stunned the American.

I thought the fight was close (I scored it a draw at 114-114) and didn't have a complaint with Whyte getting the win, although the scores of 115-115 ( I hate scoring even rounds and this judge scored two of them) and 116-112 x2, seemed a bit weird.

7-5 either way or a draw is an acceptable card, 8-4 (as two judges saw it for Whyte) for either fighter would be too much of a margin.

For Franklin, it re-establishes himself as a fighter that is deserving of future fights against contenders, and for Whyte, the win likely allows him to stay in line for a 2023 rematch with former champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua and Whyte fought an action-filled battle in 2015 when both men hurt and pounded the other before Joshua stopped Whyte in the seventh round.

Joshua has been rumored to be in negotiations for a match against Deontay Wilder that has been wanted by boxing fans for years but Whyte makes sense in the event that Joshua-Wilder cannot reach an agreement.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 194 Pts (4) 

Ramon Malpica: 166 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 158 Pts (4)  

Boxing Challenge: Teraji regains title

   A fairly non-descript boxing weekend started in Kyoto, Japan as Kenshiro Teraji avenged his only career loss and regained his WBC light flyweight title with a vicious one punch knockout of Masamichi Yabuki in the third round.

Teraji had lost his title via tenth round knockout to Yabuki last year in a surprising upset, which Teraji blamed on not having fully recovered of Covid-19 which caused the first fight's postponement before it took place.

Turned out that may have been the case as Teraji stormed Yabuki from the start, pounding Yabuki with a power jab and forcing the champion to back up from the opening bell.

Teraji ended the fight with one right hand that dropped Yabuki to his knees and only with great effort and to my surprise, Yabuki beat the count but the referee correctly stopped the bout.

For Teraji, he could be looking for unification in the division but a bigger fight could be at flyweight where he could face countryman and WBO 112 pound champion Junto Nakatani.

The fledgling promotional company Probellum's latest card from Dubai was streaming on the FUBO sports network (check out your Roku,Amazon Fire, etc to find this channel) with two fights of world caliber interest.

In the main event, Sunny Edwards retained his IBF flyweight title with a unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Muhammad Waseem.

Edwards did just enough in a foul-filled affair to hold off Waseem, who was deducted points twice in the fight, in a fight that Edwards controlled when he boxed from the outside but fought with Waseem enough to allow the challenger to win a few rounds.

I had Edwards a 116-110 winner (8-4 in rounds minus the two lost points) which was the same as one scorecard with the other two cards seeing Edwards a 115-111 winner.

After the fight, Edwards called out WBC champion Julio Cesar Martinez in a unification fight that would have a backstory with Martinez battering Edwards's brother Charlie for Charlie's then-WBC flyweight title but was ruled a no-contest when Martinez hit Charlie after knocking him down.

After the WBC ruled an immediate rematch was in order, Charlie Edwards vacated the title with Martinez winning the vacant title.

I'm not sure this fight ever takes place not due to the different promoters (Martinez is with Matchroom) but Martinez missed weight badly in his junior bantamweight loss to Roman Gonzalez, so I'm not feeling positive about Martinez's ability to make the flyweight limit.

In the co-feature, former WBA junior welterweight champion Regis Prograis continued his comeback with a sixth round TKO over Tyrone McKenna when McKenna's cuts around his eyes were judged to be too bad for him to continue.

Prograis knocked McKenna down in the second with a left hand and dominated McKenna throughout as most expected in Prograis third fight since his close loss to Josh Taylor in 2019.

Prograis should be in the mix of one of the four titles that are expected to vacated soon by Taylor.

The evening saw cards from DAZN and ESPN with interesting main events.

DAZN and Golden Boy's top of the card bout was the best action fight of the day as welterweights Alexis Rocha and Blair Cobbs slugged it out for nine rounds before Rocha finished Cobbs off for a ninth round victory.

I had Rocha slightly ahead after seven before Rocha dropped Cobbs with an uppercut in round eight with Cobbs barely surviving the round.

Cobbs did show courage in coming out of his corner for the ninth bu Rocha quickly leaped on him with a volley of punches to grab the win in the first minute of the round.

It was an excellent action fight but the stronger and better technically Rocha wore down the flashier and faster Cobbs and looked very good in the win.

I had Rocha ahead after eight rounds 77-74 (5-3 with a knockdown) and I'm hoping to see Rocha again against at least an opponent of Cobbs level, if not someone better.

ESPN+ wasn't nearly as lucky in their main event as undefeated super middleweight Edgar Berlanga won a unanimous decision over Canada's Steve Rolls in a dull ten rounder.

Berlanga went the distance for the third fight in a row after fourteen first-round knockouts to start his career and didn't dazzle anyone in this fight although I thought he won the first five rounds mainly because Rolls did even less than Berlanga did.

Once Rolls started rolling in the sixth (sorry, had to do it)  and threw a few punches, Rolls won three rounds in a row and seemed to be ready to push Berlanga to the edge.

And as quickly as it started, it ended as Berlanga turned the fight back around and won the final two rounds.

My 97-93 Berlanga score equaled two of the judges with the other scoring 96-94 in a fight that gave Berlanga a victory but added another log to a fire that wonders just how good Berlanga really is.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 39 Pts (6)

Vince Samano 38 Pts (6)

Ramon Malpica: 35 Pts (7)

Boxing Challenge: Andrade decisions Williams

    The boxing weekend didn't see any huge upsets, but it did see some interesting fights with possible reverberations down the road.  

Saturday afternoon from Matchroom/DAZN saw Hollywood, Florida as the site for Demetrius Andrade's successful defense of his WBO middleweight title.

Andrade won a clear unanimous decision and knocked Williams down in the second round with a straight left, but Williams did have his moments and the fight was more exciting than the usual lopsided Andrade fight.

I scored Andrade a 117-109 winner (9-3 with the knockdown).

Andrade was hit occasionally by Williams and showed enough vulnerability that you would think any of the other three champions (WBC Jermall Charlo, WBA Ryota Murata, and IBF Gennady Golovkin) would be interested in a unification fight more than perhaps in the past.

I doubt it, but perhaps.

Andrade now has his mandatory out of the way for the year, but I (and Andrade with promoter Eddie Hearn) have next to no idea on Andrade's next defense unless the unlikely event that the three mentioned champions decides Andrade is suddenly worth the risk.

In the co-feature, undefeated super middleweight Carlos Gongora dominated Christopher Pearson and won every round through seven and finished Pearson off in the eighth.

Pearson appeared as if he could have risen, but took the ten count as he had clearly had enough of Gongora for the evening.

I'd like to see Gongora against a better challenger and he would make a very interesting fight for quite a few of the contenders in the division.

In the main event on Fox, former WBC junior middleweight champion Tony Harrison was rocked early by Bryant Perrella and outworked over most of the twelve-round fight by Perrella, who moved up in weight for this fight.

Harrison seemed a bit listless in his first fight since losing to Jermell Charlo and didn't move his hands enough, which likely cost him the fight as when Harrison picked up the pace he was effective against Perrella.

Harrison was fortunate to escape with a draw in a difficult bout to score.

I thought Perrella shaded it 115-113, but the Perrella judge scored 117-111 ( too wide), the Harrison judge scored 116-112 ( too wide), and the final judge scored 114-114, which seemed fair.

And then there was Twiller.

Peter Kahn (Twiller's chief boxing officer) has been all over the boxing podcast circuit with several respected members of the boxing media over the last two weeks talking about what Twiller is going to bring to boxing.

While I'm all for more attention and more exposure to the sport, I'm not sure that attention and exposure of a positive nature are coming anytime soon for what was essentially a freak show last night from Atlanta.

I'll be writing more later in the week about a pay per view card that seemed to be straight from a carnival that included YouTube star Jake Paul vs MMA fighter Ben Askren, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir boxing against former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham, lots of musicians and comedians, Ric Flair officiating a "Slap Fight" with Saturday Night Live's Pete Davidson, about ten people commentating on the matches that ranged from a bemused Al Bernstein to a clearly inebriated (TONS of Marijuana references and use on this show) Oscar De La Hoya and Snoop Dog, and all of this looked like it was filmed in an abandoned warehouse with lousy lighting.

With all of that said, they may do strong numbers and I am anxious to see how well they do in PPV buys.

If they are successful, full credit to them because they are finding an audience that boxing clearly isn't getting without them.

However, is it sustainable and how many times can you play the card of gimmick shows before people tune out?

I don't have the answer to that question.

In the only real boxing match that mattered, former WBA junior welterweight Regis Prograis won the first five rounds in controlling veteran Ivan Redkach before round six when Redkach was hit with what was ruled a low blow, sold the injury like he was Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, and was unable to continue.

The reaction on Twitter was mixed with most people stating that Redkach wasn't even hit with a punch at all or if so it was a glancing shot.

Others thought that Redkach had been smashed in the kidneys and the result was believable.

In any case, Redkach was carried out on a stretcher, while I waited for a wrestler to come out of nowhere and overturn the stretcher as happened so often in pro wrestling of days past, and the fight moved to the scorecards with Prograis winning the justified unanimous decision.

What a trainwreck.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored five points on the day, which moves the total to 50-46 on the year.

Boxing Challenge: Taylor holds off Prograis, wins WBSS

The best fight of the weekend was also the most important as the junior welterweight division of the World Boxing Super Series concluded with an excellent fight as Josh Taylor added the WBA title to his own IBF championship with a majority decision victory over Regis Prograis in London.
Taylor dominated the middle rounds, survived a badly damaged right eye and a late run by Prograis, who won the final two rounds on my card to make it close, but not enough to catch Taylor, who I scored the winner by a 115-113 score (7-5 in rounds.).
Entering the fight, Prograis was thought to be the bigger puncher, but in the ring, Taylor seemed to be the far larger and more physical fighter and was able to score with both hands effectively landing hooks that pushed Prograis around the ring.
Hopefully some time next year, Taylor's two titles can be unified with the two (WBC and WBO) owned by Jose Ramirez for one champion, although as soon as that's accomplished the Suleman gang at the WBC will declare the winner their "franchise champion" as they did Vasyl Lomachenko recently and took some of the gas away from a Lomachenko vs the winner of December's IBF title fight between Richard Commey and Teofimo Lopez event that would have resulted in a four title champion.
Ramirez will fight mandatory contender Viktor Postol (Postol has a decision loss to Taylor.) in February, so perhaps in the spring or summer, Taylor-Ramirez can be signed.

The undercard saw Dereck Chisora predictably knock out David Price in the fourth round of their heavyweight co-feature.
The third round saw a give and take with both fighters being stunned in the round, but Chisora landed two big rights and then an uppercut to drop Price, who courageously rose but his corner threw in the towel.
Price landed his share and even wobbled Chisora a time or two, but in the end Price's chin just doesn't hold up at a top 20 level and at 36 years of age, someone that cares about Price should step in and suggest that the time has come to step away.

Lee Selby nipped Ricky Burns via unanimous decision in a close but less than thrilling fight.
I figured this would be the case when it was signed and it might have exceeded my expectations a bit.
Selby was the winner on my card 116-112, but the former IBF featherweight champion is going to be outmatched against most top ten lightweights as the aging Burns gave Selby all he wanted and at this stage of his career, the former champion isn't a top ten fighter.

DAZN's other fight was a pretty good scrap on Thursday night as Elwin Soto won a close unanimous decision over Edward Heno of the Philippines to retain his WBO junior flyweight title.
Heno scored a flash knockdown in the third round for the only knockdown of the fight and held a lead after nine rounds before Soto won the final three rounds on my card for a 114-113 win.
A rematch might not be a bad idea.

ESPN plus featured an old-fashioned grudge match entering the fight for the WBO featherweight title that was vacated by Oscar Valdez.
Shakur Stevenson is dating the sister of Joet Gonzalez with the sister estranged from the family and the pre-fight buildup, the pair exchanged plenty of venom that crossed the line of the usual boxing hype.
In the ring, the fight's action might have peaked at the press conferences and the weigh-in as Stevenson put on a performance that may have tabbed him as a future star, but winning in such a dominating fashion in a mundane fight over Gonzalez makes me wonder what the future for Stevenson is.
Stevenson's a terrific boxer and has the ability to outbox almost everyone that he faces, but he didn't turn up the heat against Gonzalez and was content to take his decision and his title home rather than try to finish Gonzalez to put on the type of outing that makes you need to see more of him in the ring.
I had Gonzalez winning only one round with Stevenson winning 119-109 on my scorecard.
The fight that I would love to see is unlikely to happen with Stevenson taking on WBC and PBC promoted Gary Russell in a unification bout that would be huge in the D.C. area with Stevenson fighting out of Alexandria Virginia and Russell living in Capitol Heights Maryland.
A Stevenson-Russell fight would do well at the new MGM casino in the area or even the Verizon Center in Washington, but if the promoters cannot get Errol Spence vs Terence Crawford accomplished, the smaller potatoes of Stevenson-Russell is even less likely,

Bantamweight Joshua Greer won an unpopular unanimous decision over Antonio Nieves in the other main card battle.
Greer was knocked down in the tenth by what could have been a punch behind the head but was ruled a knockdown.
The crowd wasn't thrilled with the scorecards, but I thought they were correct in the close victory as I had Greer a 95-94 winner (6-4 in rounds minus the knockdown).
I'm not sure Greer beats any of the bantamweight champions (The winner of Nonito Donaire-Naoya Inoue will own the WBA and IBF titles, WBC Nordine Ouabaali and WBO Zolani Tete are the current champions), but with Greer being rated 2nd by the IBF and 3rd by the WBO, he could get his chance to try in 2020.

Showtime's three-fight card looked weak on paper but was better than expected.
The first fight, a heavyweight bout between late replacement Frank Sanchez against Jack Mulowayi.
Sanchez replaced Efe Ajagba, dominated by winning every round in a boring fight that wasn't included in the boxing challenge and was better suited for Showtime's ShoBox series instead of their main outlet.

The co-feature stole the night as junior welterweight Robert Easter bested Adrian Granados in a tough fight that was almost ruined by poor judging with Easter's unanimous decision coming via scoring that seemed to have the scorecards filled out in advance.
Easter 's taller style seemed to fir the attacking style of Granados, but Easter stood and engaged Granados and gave the fans an enjoyable fight to watch.
I had Easter ahead 97-93, but I could see Granados being closer on the cards if you are the type of judge that likes aggressive fighters that lands a large volume of punches.
One judge had the fight like I did at 97-93 and another's 98-92 seemed a bit wide, but tolerable, but the 100-90 score for Easter was a pathetic joke as Granados easily won between two and three rounds and maybe even four.
Easter's debut at junior welterweight in an entertaining bout took some of the dreck off of his previous fight, a too bad to be described draw with Rances Barthelemy and Granados showed his effectiveness at 140 after being knocked out for the first time in his career at welterweight by Danny Garcia.
Both fighters came out of this one looking better than when they entered, but I'm not sure either have a road to a title in the division with two champions holding two titles apiece and neither are promoted by PBC in Josh Taylor and Jose Ramirez.

The main event had junior middleweight contender Erickson Lubin against late replacement Nathaniel Gallimore and Lubin, he of the big punch and questionable chin, went the distance and looked good in winning a unanimous decision over Gallimore.
I had Lubin a 99-91 victor and even though he didn't stop Gallimore or even knock him to the floor for a spectacular showing, Lubin might have gotten more out of a solid ten rounds than he would have of an early-round knockout.
Lubin looks likely to be headed towards the winner of the WBC title rematch between Tony Harrison and Jermell Charlo, which should Charlo win his title back would be a rematch for Charlo and Lubin.
Their first ended in a first-round, one-punch knockout by Charlo.

In the boxing challenge, I added twelve points to Ramon Malpica's ten with the difference in points being Shakur Stevenson winning via decision and a bonus point for picking the round of Dereck Chisora's KO of David Price.
My lead stands at 261-225

Boxing Challenge:Ramirez stops Hooker in six- Unifies two titles

It was the fight that I was looking forward to most and it was worth the wait as Jose Ramirez broke through in the sixth round and stopped Maurice Hooker with a savage barrage that gave the referee little choice but to stop the fight with Hooker helpless along the ropes taking big punches.

To that point, the fight had been very evenly fought with several exchanges (I had Ramirez winning three of the previous five rounds) that saw both fighters landing bombs against the other.
The fight saw a knockdown in the first round scored by Ramirez, but as Ramirez admitted in the post-fight interview that Ramirez had stepped on Hooker's foot to cause the knockdown.
Even in the final round, Hooker had his moments and all the way to the end, Hooker was scoring his share of points and the left hook that Ramirez landed that drove a badly hurt Hooker into the ropes came from nowhere as Hooker lobbed out a lazy punch that Ramirez fired his left over.
Ramirez didn't waste his opportunity as he leaped onto the dazed Hooker, fired multiple punches and just as the referee was preparing to step in, Ramirez showed a killer instinct with one final missile that snapped Hooker's head back and gave the arbiter no choice but to end the fight.

For Ramirez, this not only gives him two titles and bragging rights for Top Rank but gives him a plausible argument for being the best in the 140-pound division, although the Regis Prograis-Josh Taylor winner would have a similar claim of holding two titles and an elite level victim on their resume'.
Ramirez showed aggression that he hasn't always shown and I loved him finishing off a badly hurt opponent.
Young champions don't always do that in similar situations and I was impressed with Ramirez not allowing a damaged opponent to regroup and closing the show.
I've always liked Ramirez, sometimes more than most, and before Regis Prograis entered the WBSS, a Ramirez-Prograis showdown was coming soon with Ramirez being the WBC champion and Prograis was their minor beltholder.
However showing foresight and faith in their fighters, promoters Bob Arum (Ramirez) and Lou DiBella (Prograis) agreed to table such a fight and gambled that a fight down the road between the pair would be worth far more and be more important.
That fight is one fight away from happening, although I wouldn't sleep on Josh Taylor's chances, who could very well defeat Prograis in their upcoming as that fight seems just as difficult to select as Ramirez-Hooker was.

The other fight in the boxing challenge saw Tevin Farmer retain his IBF junior lightweight title with a unanimous decision over Guillaume Frenois of France in a fight that was pretty tedious to watch.
The main excitement from this one saw Frenois consistently whining, flopping and moaning about Farmer's punches below the belt in an attempt to gain points or even a win that his own punches were not going to be able to deliver.
As for Farmer, who defended his title for the fourth time in the year since he won the championship, I admire the activity and wish other fighters would emulate his example, but he's defeating B and C level opponents and could use a step up in competition.

In the boxing challenge, I scored three points (Two for Farmer and one for Ramirez) to Ramon Malpica's one for Farmer to increase my lead in the boxing challenge to 194-171.

I am watching the Showtime card now and will be back later with a review of their event from Baltimore.

Boxing Challenge: Prograis and Donaire score WBSS KO wins

Plenty of catching up to do here after my weekend trip to Virginia and I'll be writing about those stops along with catching up with the remainder of the Cleveland Browns draft picks, including one that I am very excited about.

However, first, we start with the weekend in boxing and after a tremendous card from Matchroom and DAZN on Friday night, the Saturday portion had a high bar to leap to match that card and although some performances were excellent, that bar didn't come close to being reached.

The financially troubled World Boxing Super Series finally returned with two semi-finals and they were pretty predictable from Lafayette, Louisiana.
Regis Prograis won the WBA junior welterweight title from Kiryl Relikh when Relikh's corner stopped the fight with Prograis in full control in round six.
Prograis knocked Relikh down in the first round and never was threatened after that, cutting Relikh's nose, which bled most of the fight and simply didn't allow the champion to sustain any sort of offense.
Prograis will fight the winner of the Ivan Baranchyk-Josh Taylor fight which will also be for Baranchyk's IBF title in the finals of the tournament in a unification fight.
It's strange how boxing works as just 18 months after Terence Crawford vacated all four titles in a division that seemingly was cleaned out, the division has four exciting young champions (WBA Prograis, IBF Baranchyk, WBC Jose Ramirez and WBO Maurice Hooker) has another in Josh Taylor, who would be right there with a win over Baranchyk and looks like it could be on the verge of some compelling battles.
Meanwhile, Crawford, who moved up because of a lack of remaining challenges, looks to be filled with struggles with a lack of options at welterweight due to a top-heavy division that has most of those fighters promoted by someone else.
Only in boxing.

Also, in Lafayette, Nonito Donaire retained his WBA bantamweight belt with a highlight reel knockout in the sixth round over late replacement Stephon Young.
Young, who was on the undercard in a fight made for this exact situation, replaced WBO champion Zolani Tete, who pulled out on fight week due to a shoulder injury.
I like that the WBSS thinks ahead for these concerns, but Young wasn't on the same level as Donaire or for a world-class level tournament and it showed as Donaire won every round on his way to the one punch knockout.
Donaire will move on to the finals against the winner of the Naoya Inoue-Emmanuel Rodriguez tilt for Rodriguez's IBF championship.

I'm usually quite complimentary towards Showtime's boxing program.
Their production is top notch, Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi are the best color commentators in the game and even though Mauro Ranallo isn't my choice of blow by blow men that man the mike, he's not like Gus Johnson and ruins things for me.
Still, even with all of that, the three-bout card from PBC, Saturday night was to put it nicely- a snoozer and should I prefer to go negative- the worst card from a major boxing provider perhaps ever.

The main event was for one of those minor trinkets that the WBA likes to hand out in return for sanctioning fees as former IBF lightweight champion Robert Easter drew with former IBF junior lightweight and lightweight champion Rances Barthelemy in one of the worst fights that you'll see.
A draw was the fairest verdict in a fight that saw NEITHER fighter land 55 punches over 12 rounds.
Just awful in the ring and awful that Showtime accepted this as the main event, to begin with.
I scored it 114-114, but hell, score it as you wish, I'm just lucky I stayed awake during it.
Let us all simply hope that the WBA, Showtime, Al Haymon, or anyone else does not decide to make this one happen again because this was arguably the worst main event that a major boxing network has televised in years.

The semi-main looked bad from the day that it was announced and it was just as bad in the ring as former WBC junior welterweight champion Viktor Postol won every boring round on my card (100-90) over Mohammed Mimoune.
Mimoune fell behind early against the taller Postol and with Mimoune's two career KO's. he wasn't coming from behind for a knockout.
Postol will become the mandatory contender for WBC champion Jose Ramirez, which will hopefully be more entertaining than this one was.

Heavyweight punisher Efe Ajajba blew out Michael Wallisch in two rounds of a squash match that was as competitive as expected.
Ajajba will hurt whom he hits but needs time to develop and I'd bet he's another year away from fighting someone that will really test him.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica eleven to eight for the Saturday totals to move my lead to 108-95.
The difference was maybe my best night for bonuses ever for me as I added points for calling the rounds for KO's by Prograis, Donaire, and Ajajba.

Boxing Challenge: Jacobs edges Dereyvanchenko

The boxing weekend began in beautiful Bulgaria before traveling to the Big Easy and the Big Apple to finish with somewhat of a flourish.

The biggest fight of the weekend took place in New York City as Daniel Jacobs nipped Sergiy Dereyvanchenko via a split decision to win the vacant IBF middleweight title.
I scored Jacobs a 114-113 winner with the difference being a first-round knockdown scored by Jacobs.
Dereyvanchenko hurt Jacobs more often over the course of the fight than in reverse, but Jacobs managed to stay up and that gave him the win on my scorecard, which seemed to be closer than most of the press.
Jacobs should be the most likely opponent for Canelo Alvarez in May, considering both champions are contracted with DAZN in what would put the IBF title back with the WBA and WBC titles before it was stripped from Gennady Golovkin earlier this year.

The co-feature saw Alberto Machado impressively dispose of Yaundale Evans in the first round to retain his minor title, dropping Evans three times before the referee called the mismatch off.
The lanky banging Machado might be a tough out for anyone at 130 pounds, but with his size, I could see him moving to the lightweight division and have little problems with strength.

New Orleans was the host for two World Boxing Super Series scraps in the junior welterweight tournament with the main event featuring top seed and local product Regis Prograis dominate former WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan to retain his minor title via a unanimous decision to move the next round in the tournament.
Prograis dominated throughout and dropped Flanagan to his knees in the ninth for the first time in Flanagan's career.
I scored Prograis a 118-109 winner, which seemed to be in line with most.
Prograis will battle WBA champion Kiryl Relikh in the semi-finals.

In the other quarter-final, Ivan Baranchyk earned the vacant IBF belt when Anthony Yigit was unable to continue due to a virtually closed eye in the seventh round.
I had Baranchyk far ahead and the eye brought to mind the puffed eye that Rocky Balboa asked Mickey to cut in his first fight with Apollo Creed as Fred Landucci commented on when we discussed this fight.
I thought it was a good decision to end the fight because Yigit wasn't going to be able to keep Baranchyk off of him anyway and the eye was only going to make things worse for the wounded Swede.
The new IBF champion will face the winner of next weekend's Josh Taylor-Ryan Martin fight in the semi-finals.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, veteran Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over Hughie Fury to become the top contender in the IBF ratings, which means an eventual shot at Anthony Joshua's championship.
Fury looked to be the stronger fighter early, but a Pulev jab in the second round tore open a gash along Fury's and slowly took the starch out of the Englishman, but didn't exactly leave Joshua concerned about his eventual challenge.
I scored Pulev a 116-112 winner.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to five over the weekend and cut my lead to 177-154.

Boxing Challenge: Prograis crushes Indongo

Showtime stepped up its ShoBox series from prospect level to serious championship challengers for titles in the 140-pound division with a two-fight slate in the boxing hotbed of Deadwood, South Dakota.

In the main event for the "Interim" title of the WBC, who hasn't even filled their real title in the junior welterweight division, Regis Prograis of New Orleans smoked former WBA and IBF champion Julius Indongo in just two rounds to not only win himself a trinket,but make himself a live contender to defeat any 140 pounder around.
Prograis dropped Indongo late in the first round and finished him with three second-round knockdowns.
I thought the final knockdown was arguable, but the legs of Indongo were gone and the stoppage was inevitable, so I was fine with the fight's ending.
Indongo had the disadvantage of being a late substitute for Viktor Postol, but from what I saw Indongo would have had problems taking the punches from Prograis no matter how much he was given to prepare.
Often times in boxing, a fighter's ability to take punches can change drastically and permanently after one fight and it appears that the loss to Terence Crawford may have done just that to Julius Indongo.
Keep an eye on his next few fights, it's possible Regis Prograis is that good of a puncher, but it could be that Indongo has lost the capacity to take a good shot.
As for Prograis, he proved a great deal in mowing down a former champion with ease, although time may show that he happened to be the first guy to fight a faded fighter, and with 18 KO's in 21 wins, Prograis is going to be a tough out for the winner of the Jose Ramirez-Amir Imam bout ( My money is on Ramirez there) and a possible Ramirez-Prograis fight might be one of the better fights this year.
I'd be extremely interested in seeing that one.

In the co-feature and eliminator for the IBF version of the junior welterweight title, Ivan Baranchyk ran over former lightweight contender Petr Petrov in eight rounds to earn the mandatory position for the winner of the Sergey Lipinets-Mikey Garcia fight later tonight from San Antonio.
Baranchyk scored knockdowns in the first, second and sixth rounds and was simply too big and too strong for Petrov, who was taking the fight on a week's notice and moving up from the lightweight division as a replacement for Anthony Yegit of Sweden.
I cannot imagine Mikey Garcia defending against Baranchyk (though he'd likely beat him), so my guess is that a Garcia win will eventually result in a vacated belt that Baranchyk would likely fight for.

In the boxing challenge-both Ramon Malpica and I earned one point for Baranchyk's win and no others as we both picked the shell of Julius Indongo against Regis Prograis.
I lead the challenge 37-29.