Boxing Challenge: Russell retains, Hitchins drops out

    The undercard of the Ryan Garcia-Mario Barrios was supposed to feature two defenses of junior welterweight championships, but only one would be defended.

 In the scheduled co-feature, Richardson Hitchins claimed food poisoning combined with the IBF's re-hydration clause (in IBF title fights, the fighters must weigh in at ten pounds or less over the division limit on the day of the match) rendered him unable to defend the title as scheduled against Oscar Duarte.

The situation is muddled as the IBF could strip Hitchins and schedule a vacant title fight between their two contenders, Duarte and Lindolfo Delgado, or demand Hitchins fight his mandatory (Delgado) or face Duarte as planned.

Gary Antuanne Russell retained his WBA version of the 140-pound championship with a close and hard-fought unanimous decision over his mandatory challenger, Andy Hiraoka.

Russell was the busier fighter and built a sizable lead on the cards, but lost several rounds in the second half of the fight and held off the late rush of Hiraoka.

Hiraoka was deducted a point for a low blow in the tenth, which ended any hope of a comeback win.

Judges' scores for Russell were 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112, while I had Russell winning 115-112.

Former lightweight title challenger Frank Martin and Nahir Albright slugged for ten even rounds in a junior welterweight match.

So even, all three judges and I scored it the same, 95- 95, a draw.

It was an easy fight to score with Martin controlling the first half and Albright the second.

A rematch would be welcomed, but Martin is affiliated with PBC, as is Gary Antuanne Russell, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Russell title defense against Martin.

In a super middleweight ten-rounder, Bektemir Melikuziev fought through a severe cut over his left eye to stop Sena Agbeko in the seventh round.

There were several head clashes between the two, and one caused the cut in the middle rounds.

Melikuziev scored a knockdown in the seventh, and after Agbeko rose, Melikuziev drove Agbeko into the ropes, forcing the referee to end the fight.

In Manchester, England, Leigh Wood dominated Josh Warrington in their junior lightweight rematch, winning a unanimous decision.

Boxing Challenge

Vince Samano: 23 Pts (5) 

Ramon Malpica: 22 Pts (4)
TRS: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Hitchins stops Kambosos

   Richardson Hitchins dominated George Kambosos, and instead of being satisfied with an easy decision, Hitchins stepped up and took Kambosos out in the ninth round.

Kambosos tried gamely to attack Hitchins, but he was unable to avoid the jab, and his face was beginning to show the effects of punishment after only one round.

Hitchins cracked consistently to the body throughout the fight, and when he staggered and hurt Kambosos in the eighth round, it was a matter of time, and Hitchins finished things in the ninth with a body shot.

Kambosos beat the count but had nothing left, and there was no issue when the fight ended.

Hitchins called for Teofimo Lopez afterwards (that would be an interesting fight), and Devin Haney (a not-so-interesting fight).

Each would be a step up in attention for Hitchins, who raised his stock with the win.

In the co-feature, Andy Cruz stopped Hisnori Mishiro in five rounds to earn the mandatory challenger position for IBF lightweight champion Raymond Muratalla.

Like the main event, the favorite unleashed a beating on a tough but outclassed opponent as Cruz scored three knockdowns in the fight.

In Argentina (I haven't watched yet), Nonito Donaire defeated Andres Campos by unanimous decision after nine rounds when a head clash forced the fight's end.
Donaire won a minor bantamweight title with the win.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 94 Pts (5)

Ramon Malpica: 86 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 40 Pts (2) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica:  179 Pts (11)

TRS: 179 Pts (11)

Vince Samano: 115 Pts (7)

Boxing Challenge: Hitchins dominates Zepeda

    I forgot to post the other fight in last week's boxing challenge as Richardson Hitchins dominated former world title challenger Jose Zepeda in winning the DAZN junior welterweight main event from Orlando Florida.

Hitchins controlled the fight from the outside with his jab keeping Zepeda at bay and when Zepeda was able to get semi-close to Hitchins, Hitchins grabbed Zepeda, tied him up, and waited for the break.

That sums up this one as two judges scored Hitchins the winner at 120-108 (as I did) with the other giving Zepeda one round at 119-109.

Hitchins isn't an exciting fighter to watch but he is a very effective one and in a talent-laden junior welterweight division, Hitchins is a fighter that defines high risk and low reward for the champions and top contenders at 140 pounds.

As for Zepeda, he has reached the stage of his career where if he is going to be effective, he'll have to be matched against fighters who are willing to stand and fight with him as he simply isn't quick enough to chase down boxers that move.

Boxing Challenge 

TRS: 150 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 137 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 105 Pts (2)