Boxing Challenge: Ramirez returns, Okolie defends

   There were more fights of interest than only in Las Vegas on Saturday with main events from three platforms on the day, two of those running concurrently with the PBC pay-per-view from Nevada.

ESPN and Top Rank used the main network to broadcast former WBC and WBO junior welterweight boss Jose Ramirez in front of his rabid hometown fan base in Fresno, California in a WBC eliminator against former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey.

Commey had been thought to be on the downside of a career filled with exciting battles and after a draw against Jose Pedraza, moving up in weight and giving away the hometown crowd to boot, it was easy to see Ramirez as a strong favorite, despite Ramirez being away from the ring for a year.

Instead, Commey gave Ramirez all that he could handle before Ramirez stopped him with a body shot that left Commey on his knees to receive the count of ten in the eleventh round.

Ramirez attempted to make short work of Commey as he sent him around the ring with an attack from the opening bell that contained Commey in a corner and along the ropes in an opening round salvo that seemed to show an early end to the evening.

Ramirez controlled the next few rounds before Commey began to separate from Ramirez by connecting with his jab and landing several straight rights and pulling himself back into the fight on my scorecard.

After ten rounds, the fight was up for grabs and while I had Ramirez up 96-94, Commey looked to be the stronger fighter, and the momentum all belonged to the Ghanian.

However, it was Ramirez that closed the show with a knockdown early in the round that would have likely clinched the bout on the scorecards but to Ramirez's credit, he didn't allow Commey to survive as he chased him down before a crunching left hook to the body that sent Commey to a knee with Commey unable to rise to beat the count.

For Jose Ramirez, who entered the fight answering plenty of questions about why he passed on chances twice to fight for the WBC title, first against Jose Zepeda for the vacant title, and then against Regis Prograis after Prograis won the vacant title with a tenth round knockout of Zepeda, and leaves it with an exciting victory and talks again for a fight against Prograis, which has been rumored for years and for various reasons, has never taken place.

As for Richard Commey, he proved that he still can fight against world-class opponents and while he doesn't have the firepower at 140 pounds as he did at 135, should Commey be able to make the weight in the lightweight division, he might be very competitive in bouts that could divide the titles should Devin Haney defeat Vasyl Lomachenko and move up to the junior welterweight division.

As for the aforementioned Jose Zepeda, he fought for the first time since losing to Regis Prograis in the main event of a DAZN show from Guadalajara, Mexico and honestly, I'm no more sure how the punishment that Zepeda had taken from Prograis as Zepeda won every round (100-90 on all three judges cards and mine) from former Indian Olympian Neeraj Goyat, who spent the entire fight clowning, gesturing and doing about anything that you can name short of landing punches.

The less said about this one, the better as Zepeda still has to show that he's the same fighter as previously and Goyat is someone that I don't have to watch again anytime soon.

Earlier in the day, ProBox picked up the Sky Sports feed from Manchester England and weren't rewarded with an exciting fight as Lawrence Okolie retained his WBO cruiserweight title with a unanimous decision over New Zealand's David Light.

Light was the WBO mandatory challenger and didn't have much luck getting to Okolie, who didn't exactly shine in victory other than an occasional right hand, a jab, and holding.

Lots and lots of holding to the point that Okolie lost a point in round eleven for his grabbing tactics.

Okolie won easily with scores of 119-109, 117-110, and a surprisingly close 116-112.

My score agreed with the middle score of 117-110.

Okolie's defense was his first since signing with Boxxer and leaving Eddie Hearn and Matchroom but his third defense overall and his second uninspiring performance against an opponent that Okolie could have dominated.

Okolie may fight a grudge match next against his fellow Boxxer stablemate Richard Riakporhe and should Okolie stink the joint up in that one, even with a win I'll wonder what Boxxer thinks that they are going to receive for their investment in Okolie.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:42 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 36 Pts (5)

Vince Samano: 28 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Commey-Pedraza battle to draw

   For a crossroads fight between two former champions at a lighter weight class fighting at junior welterweight, most looking at Jose Pedraza and Richard Commey's clash as a crossroads fight with the loser taking a step back in status, the best possible result happened for both fighters as Commey and Pedraza exchanged blows for ten fast-paced rounds before the decision was announced as a draw.

The Tulsa crowd enjoyed the bout that ended with one judge scoring for Pedraza at 97-93, another for Commey 96-94, and the third, agreeing with my scorecard, with a 95-95 tab.

Commey had a small edge in the first half of the fight and looked to be on his way to a win before a Pedraza headbutt badly cut Commey over the left eye, producing a cut that would pour blood for the remainder of the fight and on several occasions would force Commey to paw at the cut in order to clear his vision.

Pedraza's best round was the ninth when he appeared to hurt Commey and he added the tenth on all three cards to pull out the draw.

The biggest question for a potential rematch is- How much did the cut affect Commey as he was the better fighter before the slice and allowed Pedraza to take charge after the cut?

That question would be answered in a rematch and it's one worth considering when you decide on a favorite in such a rematch.

The draw was a very fair result which allows both fighters to survive another day before being moved out to pasture and a rematch would be an excellent avenue for both men to earn another quality payday with similar stakes for the winner and loser.

A worthwhile main event and the type of fight that promoters should try to make more often, especially on lighter boxing weekends as one card can take center stage in the boxing world.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 152 Pts (0) 

Ramon Malpica: 131 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 120 Pts (0) 

Boxing Challenge: Lomachenko dominates Commey

  I haven't been able to watch all of the fight cards from Saturday (there were five in total!), so I will be splitting the reviews into two parts.

On ESPN from Madison Square Garden, former three-division champion Vasyl Lomachenko tossed his hat into the Australian derby for the right to travel Down Under for the first shot at the recently crowned WBA.IBF, and WBO lightweight champion George Kambosos with a dominant unanimous decision over former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey.

Lomachenko started and drove Commey into the ropes with a strong right hand late in the second round but gestured to Commey to come to the center of the ring rather than jump on the veteran.

In the seventh, Lomachenko scored the only knockdown of the fight with a left hook that almost ended the fight but after Commey beat the count Lomachencko spoke to Commey's corner and asked them to stop the fight.

Richard Commey might be the best-liked fighter in the game as Teofimo Lopez liked Commey so much that he attended Commey's return to the ring after Lopez's win over Commey and Lomachenko legitimately seemed concerned by Commey's condition in the seventh round.

Lomachenko didn't move into a full-blown slowdown after the seventh but he also didn't accelerate the pace in an effort to stop Commey either as the Ghanian gamely made to the final bell without much offense in the late rounds.

I scored Lomachenko an easy 118-109 winner (10-2 with a knockdown) which is in the ballpark of the official scores (119-108 x2 and 117-110) and after his second dominant win in a row after his loss to Teofimo Lopez, Lomachenko is ranked first by the WBC and WBO and has stated that he will travel to Australia to face George Kambosos if asked.

On DAZN, Matchroom placed the first name victim on the record of welterweight prospect Conor Benn as washed-up veteran Chris Algeri was taken out with one right hand near the end of the fourth round in Liverpool England.

Benn was dominating the fight before the knockout that ended the fight with Algeri out cold and without the referee even needing to count.

Algeri, who is still living off a dubious win over Ruslan Provodnikov almost eight years ago, was overmatched against Benn, and after a knockout like this one should return to retirement before he gets hurt.

As for Conor Benn, Matchroom is starting to be cornered a bit as Benn doesn't appear ready for the top ten level fighters but is too advanced for the journeymen and fringe contenders at this time.

On AXS, which is what used to be  HD-Net, the initial card from Richard Schaffer's Probellum debuted with a rough production start (early on no sound) with crude graphics and a less than stellar on-air group and that's before the problems with the in-ring product.

The day before the fight, WBO bantamweight champion John Riel Casimero pulled out of his mandatory title defense against Paul Butler with "Gastric Distress:,

Casimero claimed he went to the hospital and the WBO quickly stated that unless Casimero produced medical records, he would be stripped of the title.

Fortunately, 44-year-old former champion Joseph Agbeko who somehow is still ranked was on-site and ready to replace Casimero against Butler for the "Interim" title with the promise of being elevated to the full titleholder, should Casimero be stripped.

That lasted for a few hours before Butler pulled out of the fight refusing to face Agbeko.

In the Probellum main event, Sunny Edwards outboxed his mandatory challenger Jayson Mama to win a dominant unanimous decision to retain his IBF flyweight title.

Edwards scored a flash knockdown in the eighth round for the only knockdown and cruised to an easy win (119-108 on my card) over the confused Mama, who had no idea on how to deal with the slickness of Edwards.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me five to four on these fights, my lead is at 167-150.

Boxing Challenge: Castano wins WBO Title, Diaz draws.

    In the most meaningful fight of the boxing weekend (Josh Warrington's surprising loss to Mauricio Lara may have closed the gap, but it wasn't expected to be important entering the weekend), Brian Castano dominated Patrick Teixeira and easily won a unanimous decision in Indio, California to take the WBO junior middleweight title.

I scored Castano an easy 119-110 winner and the tough but overmatched Teixeira barely survived the final round as Castano attempted to score the stoppage.

Castano's pressure suffocated the taller and longer champion, didn't allow him to use his extremely long reach, and left the Brazilian with nothing but heart by the end of the fight.

Castano is likely to take his newly won title into a four title unification against fellow PBC champion Jermell Charlo later this year in what should be a very intriguing battle.

Charlo was on social media before the fight pushing for a Castano win, which is fine considering that that's an easy fight to make promotionally, but his hashtag "Imtryintoavoidpolitics" makes me think this- I get why you want Castano to win, but you are only trying to avoid politics because the promotion you fight for is the least likely to work with anyone.

Charlo's brother Jermall is in the opposite position in the middleweight division where he needs to cross over to make big fights- Is he trying to avoid politics too?

In the main event, the IBF junior lightweight title will be vacant after champion Joseph Diaz missed weight, and with the title only available for challenger Shavkat Rakhimov, Diaz managed a late rally to pull out a majority decision draw.

Rakhimov built a large lead on the scorecards, but Diaz won the final four rounds on my card to salvage a 114-114 tally.

Two of the judges agreed with me with the other calling Diaz a slim victor at 115-113.

My guess is with the majority draw on the road and against a fighter that didn't hurt himself trying to make weight, the IBF will pit Rakhimov against the highest available contender to fill the championship.

As for Diaz, although the decision was just, his behavior since defeating Tevin Farmer to win the IBF title has been less than professional.

Refusing to fight the contractually obligated rematch for the agreed-upon rate, getting into social media battles with Farmer, and then missing weight for the Rakhimov fight makes me wonder how many people in boxing other than his long-time promoter in Golden Boy would have very much faith in Diaz's word.

Ronny Rios looked very strong in overpowering Oscar Negrete in a ten-round junior featherweight crossroads fight.

Negrete tried his best, but the naturally larger Rios ground Negrete down with his aggression and Rios looked as good as he has in years and could be nearing a possible title eliminator.

I scored Rios a 99-91 winner and for Negrete, he might be better served to return to the bantamweight division where he seems better-suited size-wise.

On ESPN, former IBF lightweight champion Richard Commey entered the ring for the first time since losing his title to Teofimo Lopez and looked to return to his old form in stopping Jackson Marinez in six rounds.

Commey took apart Marinez, who outboxed the raw prospect Rolando Romero in his previous fight but was robbed on the scorecards, and didn't allow Marinez to move around the ring.

Commey knocked Marinez down in the sixth and an argument could be made the fight could have been ended there, but Commey would not allow Marinez to benefit from the chance as he landed a punishing right hand that bounced Marinez off the ropes and on the floor for the immediate stoppage.

Commey can still be a championship contender, but a Lopez rematch is very unlikely and I doubt that Devon Haney, Gervonta Davis, or Ryan Garcia will risk a low-reward fight against someone with another promotion.

In the boxing challenge, I scored four points to Ramon Malpica's three over the weekend to move the total to 10-8.

Boxing Challenge: Crawford KO's Kavaliauskas

The Saturday night card from Top Rank on ESPN gave viewers all that they could expect from the card from Madison Square Garden as arguably the world's best fighter received a test for a few rounds and a prospect turned into a champion with the type of explosive performance that made fans look anxiously forward to a future fight against a superstar.

Terence Crawford survived a few uneasy moments in the early rounds before knocking out Egid Kavaliauskas in the ninth round.
Kavaliauskas landed some big punches on Crawford in the second and third rounds before Crawford settled into his normal groove and began land more often.
Crawford knocked Kavaliauskas down late in the seventh and appeared to be biding his time through the eighth before two knockdowns ended the fight in the ninth from the best finisher in boxing.
I had Crawford well ahead despite taking more punches than he is accustomed to by a score of 78-71.
I'm not sure what fighter will face Crawford next with the PBC still having the best depth in the division, but Crawford does have hope in the future with strong junior welterweights such as Jose Ramirez, Regis Prograis, and Josh Taylor possibly moving up in late 2020 or early 2021.

Teofimo Lopez established himself as a champion and possible star with a two-round destruction of Richard Commey that won the IBF lightweight title for Lopez and the chance for two more titles against Vasyl Lomachenko in the spring.
I thought Commey won the first round and might have been winning the second before both fighters cocked right hands.
It was Lopez landing first with a devastating shot that Commey showed a great chin and heart by even rising from a shot that against many would have ended the fight.
However, at that stage, heart and chin weren't going to be enough to survive and as Lopez landed combinations that trapped a groggy Commey against the ropes, referee David Fields was forced to stop the fight.
I would favor Vasyl Lomachenko against his fight against Lopez, but Lopez has the power and speed to trouble Lomachenko and with the puncher's chance of pulling the huge upset.

In the ESPN opener, featherweight Michael Conlan dominated Vladimir Nikitin and won a ten-round decision in a rematch of their Olympic match that ended with Nikitin winning a controversial decision.
Their professional battle wasn't close (98-92 on my card) as Conlan patiently boxed on the outside and picked apart the attacking Nikitin in a bout that lacked excitement other than a seventh-round that featured a few exchanges.
Conlan will face Shakur Stevenson sometime next year as he has risen to the top contender's position in the WBO without facing a top fifteen fighter.

Friday night in the main event from Golden Boy on DAZN, another talented future star looked very sharp as welterweight Vergil Ortiz stopped veteran Brad Solomon in five rounds.
The crafty Solomon did his best to keep Ortiz off him and simply lacked the strength to do so against the power of Ortiz.
Ortiz scored a flash knockdown in the fourth round but dominated the fifth with Solomon being forced to his knees twice before the fight was called off.
Ortiz looks to be a match for even the best welterweights in the game, but like Terence Crawford appears to be trapped in a spot where he is going to have problems finding big fights due to his promoter.
Ortiz does hold one of those minor WBA belts, so perhaps Alexander Besputin, who holds another one of those, of Top Rank, could be a match or even Terence Crawford in what would be a high-risk high reward for both men.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica outscored me seven to five in the boxing challenge with the difference being the win from Teofimo Lopez and an extra point from Vergil Ortiz
I lead the challenge 302-265

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: Kovalev's Revenge

Photo Credit: Top Rank 

In Frisco, Texas in front of a packed crowd of fight fans that included our own Ramon Malpica and his stunning wife, Ryan, Sergey Kovalev answered the questions that almost any boxing fans thought needed to be answered after his knockout loss to Eleider Alvarez last August as he flourished under new trainer Buddy McGirt on his way to a clear unanimous decision and regaining the WBO light heavyweight title.

I was back and forth all week and at various times was prepared to select either fighter.
Kovalev was the more skilled fighter, but more often than not, the general rule in boxing proves true- In a rematch, the winner usually wins easier than in the initial encounter, so I reluctantly selected Alvarez, although I would have been just as reluctant to take Kovalev as the fight looked to be that close.

It wasn't as Kovalev shrugged off the barbs of Andre Ward and seemingly everyone at ESPN (other than Tim Bradley) tracing back to George Grande in the pre-fight analysis to deliver arguably the best performance of his career.
Kovalev threw many more punches than Alvarez, took the occasional counter right that stopped him in the first fight, very well, and dominated the fight by controlling Alvarez from the outside with the left jab.
Steve Kim of ESPN put it best, this Kovalev fought more like the technician that dominated Bernard Hopkins and less like the Krusher that steamrolled so many light heavyweights.
Kovalev turned back the clock and with his promoter (Main Events) having the ability to work with Top Rank, Kovalev could find himself in unification talk with WBC champ Oleksander Gvosdyk and new Top Rank signee IBF champion Artur Beterbiev to prove this version of Sergey Kovalev might be the best of all.

It was a crazy night for ESPN and fans watching this card.
The undercard ran from 7 (All times EST) to 10 on their streaming service before cutting to the main channel then for two title fights and then back to ESPN+ for prospect Teofimo Lopez and the Kovalev-Alvarez fight.
I understand the finances of Kovalev-Alvarez on ESPN+, but the network might have been better served just putting the entire card online.
Two lopsided blowouts led to way too much talking and some of the comments mentioned earlier were noted by what would be my choice for the crew that I would say I like least in the sport.
By the time both fights were completed on ESPN+ and the Kovalev/Alvarez interviews were completed, it was just short of 2 AM Eastern time.
Hopefully, someone involved with the boxing program will begin to see just how unpopular the late finish along with the jumping from platform to platform like one steps on rocks to cross a stream and attempt to avoid situations as these again.

I might try to work on a piece this week that looks at the broadcasting talent and production from each of the three forces in televised boxing, you might want to count on some less than flattering words on ESPN.

The ESPN+ fight that preceded Kovalev-Alvarez allowed the best prospect in boxing to get some work and he delivered not only a beating to former world title challenger Diego Magdaleno for seven rounds- he also added the early leader for knockout of the year.
Teofimo Lopez did about everything one could ask for, he boxed, punched, scored a sixth-round knockdown and he carved Magdaleno's face into pieces before finishing him in as an impressive manner as you could imagine with a left hook that landed with booming force and sent Magdaleno crashing to the mat without the consciousness to even try to break his fall.
The only bad part was with the concussed and prone Magdaleno out on the floor, Lopez, who had already danced a small jig and leaped to the turnbuckle, then ran across the ring to stand over Magdaleno and offer a walk-off swing, which could be considered a baseball uppercut or even a long drive off the tee.
Magdaleno's corner was justifiably upset with former world champion and Diego's brother Jessie leading the charge, but fortunately, any incident was avoided.
Lopez is fun to watch and has loads of talent, but behavior like that is ridiculous.
I know part of building a fan base can also be making fans want to see you defeated, but there is a line and Lopez crossed it.

The two ESPN fights ended early with Richard Commey dispatching Isa Chaniev in two rounds to win the vacant IBF lightweight title along with a ticket to unify his newly gained title with that of WBA/WBO champion Vasyl Lomachenko in April.
Commey showed the power that he hadn't shown often of late as he dropped Chaniev near the end of the first round, put him down again in early in the second and then punished Chaniev along the ropes until referee Lawrence Cole was forced to end this one early.
Richard Commey will give Vasyl Lomachenko a tougher fight that he's been used to (Jorge Linares aside) and he just might have some moments roughing Lomachenko up to a degree that hasn't been seen since Lomachenko's only loss, the controversial split decision to Orlando Salido.

Oscar Valdez kept his WBO featherweight title in his first fight in eleven months with a relentless performance over Carmine Tommasone with a seventh-round knockout.
Tommasone never threatened, although he did what he could with the limited skills that he brought to the fight, and was knocked down four times including the knockdown that ended the fight.
Valdez did exactly what he needed to do, get some rounds in, dominate an overwhelmed foe and be ready to move to the next and hopefully more competitive opponent with the hopes that might be IBF champion, Josh Warrington.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica tied the challenge at 20 for the year as he scored six points to my four on the evening.
Ramon added two points each from Valdez, Commey and Lopez, while I posted two from Lopez and just one each from Commey and Valdez.

End of the season-Jacobs disposes of Mora

The Boxing Challenge returned last night in Reading,Pennsylvania with a PBC card that saw another "callout" of Gennady Golovkin that will be unlikely to happen and a lightweight title fight that filled a vacancy.

However,a slight detour.
I was unable to watch the card until this morning as I was live and in person at the Hagerstown Suns playoff game that saw them eliminated by the Lakewood Blue Claws.
That game also saw the end to the autograph season and following the game,I was stuck in a huge rainstorm,so wet clothes and all,I made a quick retreat to work.
Before I get to Boxing,just a quick nod to all my autograph buddies that make the year so great.
At this time of year,I am just as ready as the players to be finished for a while,but it's always the best time of the year.
Thanks to (no particular order) Derreck Chupak,Doug Hopkins,Bill Cover,Kendall Morris and Tim Jarman at home,Fred and Michael Landucci at Harrisburg and Brett Shaw at Altoona as well as my traders Jason Christensen,Corey White,Tom O'Brien and Craig Lindgren for all your help and fun in this crazy hobby that I so adore....

The main event saw Daniel Jacobs take on Sergio Mora for the second time in a rematch that few wanted to see the first time.
Jacobs dropped Mora in the fourth and fifth before scoring three knockdowns in the seventh to finish the fight.
Jacobs is supposed to be the mandatory for Gennady Golovkin,if Golovkin beats Kell Brook later today,but after the Sergei Kovalev/Adonis Stevenson HBO?PBC mess,I'm dubious of that bout getting made.
Ramon Malpica and I each added two points for the Jacobs win...

The vacancy for the IBF in the 135 pound division was filled with Robert Easter's split decision win over Richard Commey.
The fight was pretty entertaining and close for two fighters that had never went the 12 round distance entering the bout.
Commey scored the fights only knockdown when he knocked Easter off balance and Easter's glove touched the floor,but Easter almost stopped Commey in a huge 12th round for the Ohio native.
I scored Commey a 114-113 winner.
Ramon and I each earned 1 point for the Easter win and the total standings is now 99-83