Boxing Challenge: Inoue marches through MJ

   We recapped the Las Vegas side of the boxing weekend earlier, so now it's onto the remainder of the weekend, which saw the world junior featherweight title retained and two new champions taking their place at the table.

Nagoya, Japan, was the site as Naoya "The Monster" Inoue dominated Murodjon "MJ" Akhmadaliev and won an easy unanimous decision to retain his undisputed junior featherweight titles.

Inoue never hurt or knocked down Akhmadaliev, which speaks volumes about the challenger's quality. However, the Monster was far too fast and skilled for Akhmadaliev, and aside from two or three rounds, Inoue dominated the fight.

Akhmadaliev did wobble Inoue in the waning seconds of the fight, but had little time to follow up.

Inoue earned the judges' nod by scores of 118-110 twice and 117-111, which was my score.

Inoue will make his next defense against another mandatory challenger (Akhmadaliev was the WBA's mandatory challenger) before the end of the year against the WBC's Alan David Picasso in Saudi Arabia.

Should Inoue retain those titles, he would face Junto Nakatani next year in the Tokyo Dome in the biggest All-Japanese fight in history.

The co-feature saw an upset as Christian Medina knocked out Yoshiki Takei in the fourth round to win the WBO bantamweight title.

Medina floored Takei in the first round and battered him throughout before finishing him in the fourth.

Paddy Donovan met Lewis Crocker for the second time, and for the second time, Crocker emerged with a controversial victory. 

Donovan was dominating the first fight but was disqualified for hitting Crocker after the bell in an IBF welterweight eliminator.

Since then, Jaron "Boots" Ennis vacated the title, and the IBF mandated rematch was for the vacant title.

This time, Crocker scored knockdowns in the third and fifth rounds, but I thought Donovan was ahead (114-112 on my card) at the end of the fight.

The official decision differed, with Crocker winning on two cards (114-112 and 114-113), with Donovan winning on one card (115-111).

I'd be fine with a third fight eventually between these two.

Roman Gonzalez continued his comeback with a unanimous decision win over Hector Robles in Nicaragua.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 132 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 125 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 52 Pts (1) 

Boxing Challenge: Estrada slips by Gonzalez

   Juan Francisco Estrada sped to a huge lead on the scorecards but Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez took command in the middle rounds to enter the final round with the decision in the balance with the vacant WBC junior bantamweight title to the victor.

But it was Estrada that won the final round and earned him the majority decision, the title, and perhaps most important of all - the two-to-one lead in the series of fights between the two.

In a fight much like their second, Estrada boxed well when able to keep the fight in the center of the ring but as the bout progressed, it was Gonzalez marching forward and putting Estrada on the defensive to win those rounds.

Estrada's win was by scores of 114-114, 115-113 (same as my score), and 116-112 with the latter seeming a bit wide for my taste.

After the fight, both seemed anxious for a fourth encounter, which I'd be fine with although I'd prefer Estrada against the winner of the New Year's Eve unification match between WBA champion Joshua Franco (a title Estrada vacated to fight Gonzalez a third time) and WBO boss Kazuto Ioka.

Many leaned slightly toward Gonzalez in picking this fight as he had looked so impressive in defeating WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez while Estrada looked average in a decision win over Argi Cortes but much like his countryman Juan Manuel Marquez in his fights vs Manny Pacquiao, Estrada is always able to raise his game against Gonzalez to another level and twice it has been good enough to win a razor close decision.

In the co-feature, Julio Cesar Martinez was very fortunate to receive a majority decision win over late replacement Samuel Carmona of Spain.

Carmona stepped in for an injured McWilliams Arroyo and built a lead over the first half of the fight with a cute boxing style that frustrated Martinez and left him following Carmona listlessly around the ring for the first seven or eight rounds.

Carmona appeared to have injured his right hand in the middle rounds and Martinez did win some rounds on aggression but Carmona seemed to put the fight away in the late rounds although the judges didn't agree with Martinez winning by scores of 114-114, 116-112 and a pathetic 117-111.

I scored Carmona a winner at 116-112.

It was the second listless performance in a row for Martinez, who lost to Roman Gonzalez at junior bantamweight earlier this year, and his struggles in this one make me wonder if he would cope well at all in a possible unification fight as rumored against IBF champion Sunny Edwards, who is an excellent boxer and could dance around Martinez all fight long.

As for Carmona, a former Olympian, he fought well and should be heard from more in the flyweight division in the future.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:200 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 170 Pts(1)

Vince Samano:158 Pts (0)

Boxing Challenge: Chocolatito routs Martinez

    Many boxing observers had selected late replacement and WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez to upset legendary Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez in Saturday night's junior bantamweight clash in San Diego, California.

They couldn't have been more wrong as Gonzalez dominated a game Martinez, at his own game, and cruised to a unanimous decision victory that proved an adage that just because a fight is hard-fought and exciting by both fighters does not mean it was a close fight.

Martinez landed his share but took many more and the only surprise by the middle of the fight was Martinez making to the final bell and doing so without being knocked down.

The technically sharp Gonzalez consistently landed his straight power shots through the wider, looping shots of Martinez and knocked the younger Mexican off-balance all evening, and yet for a fighter that is always a hit the gas, walk em' down style fighter, Gonzalez rarely gets hit squarely which makes his knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai even more puzzling in hindsight.

Gonzalez appears to still want the third fight with Juan Francisco Estrada, although other appetizing fights could be made including a third fight with Rungvisai ( who won a controversial decision over Gonzalez before knocking him out in the rematch), WBC champion Bam Rodriguez, or even another move up in weight against the winner of the Naoya Inoue-Nonito Donare rematch at bantamweight.

I would think any one of those choices would make a great fight, although a third Rungvisai fight is the lowest reward for his risk ( I just have a feeling that if those two fight when they are 65, it's a close fight. They just mesh that way for the same reason I give Gennady Golovkin a better chance than most of surprising Canelo Alvarez).

As for Martinez, who lost twenty percent of his purse for blowing weight, I am not sure he can make the flyweight limit or trust him if he said he was going to try but I'm not sure he fits in the current 115-pound picture.

The co-feature was an absolute war as heavily favored Mauricio Lara knocked out Emilio Sanchez in three thrilling rounds.

More exchanges than you can imagine, Sanchez was knocked down in the first barely surviving, and battled through an exciting second before an early favorite for the round of the year in round three.

Sanchez storms out crunching Lara to the body, badly hurting Lara, who hit the mat for a non-knockdown with an exhausted Lara asking the referee to lift him off the floor and seeming to be on his way to a stunning upset defeat.

And with less than twenty seconds remaining in the third round, Lara rises from the verge of defeat to drive Sanchez across the ring and a second before the bell wipes Sanchez out with one punch and leaves him lying prone in his own corner.

What a fight and Lara is likely to have an excellent shot at fighting the winner of the IBF title affair between Kiko Martinez and Josh Warrington.

Boxing Challenge

TRS 33 Pts (4)

Vince Samano 31 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica 28 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Estrada escapes Chocolatito

  Occasionally, boxing gets it right.

They put the best two fighters in a division in the ring and they deliver all that a fan could want- skills, action, and drama all come together, and even though it seems that many are disappointed in the judging, there can be no doubt that Juan Francisco Estrada and Roman Gonzalez put forth a classic for the ages with Estrada keeping his WBC junior bantamweight title and adding the WBA title held by Gonzalez to his collection.

There is a bit of controversy, as it seems that the majority feel that the split decision that was given to Estrada should have been owned by Gonzalez and there are even a few that are using the term "robbery".

I scored the fight even at 114-114, so I didn't have a problem with 115-113 for either fighter as two judges saw the fight, but the 117-111 tally for Estrada was extremely bad and has taken a little shine off a tremendous fight among boxing's followers.

I've written before when I score fights as a draw that sometimes the scorecards wind up even, but you have a "feel" that one fighter has the edge ( one example was Oleksandr Usyk vs Mairis Briedis) despite the scorecard.

In the case of this fight, it had the feel of Gonzalez nosing Estrada out and the Compubox stats did have Gonzalez throwing more and landing more in a give-and-take battle.

I haven't examined the official cards round by round, but often when you see a scorecard that is out of whack as the one offending judge scored, it happens because they either already have it in their mind what is going to happen or they simply really like one style or the other and that fighter is given the benefit of the doubt in every close round.

Still, I hate the calls of robbery.

I think the 9-3 Gonzalez cards around the internet are just as bad as the official 9-3 Estrada card and while some will say a close fight can be a robbery, I usually disagree with one exception.

Occasionally, you will see a 7-5 fight that didn't have any close rounds and each fighter clearly won their rounds.

In that case, I can see that, but this fight wasn't that way.

Estrada controlled the fight when he was able to move Gonzalez backward, when Gonzalez came forward or stood evenly with Estrada, Chocolatito took command.

Estrada wasn't always willing to commit to this tactic and while it didn't hurt on the scorecards, it did cause fans to give Gonzalez more benefits of the doubt in the close rounds.

Estrada will be facing the third member of this 115-pound triangle in Srisaket Sor Rungvisai next in a mandatory fight.

Rungvisai stepped aside to allow the unification fight to take place and the Thai has split two fights against Estrada winning the first and losing the second with his WBC title with it.

As for Gonzalez, one idea put forth by Carlos Toro (@carlostoromedia) on Twitter sounds great to me with Gonzalez facing Japan's Kazuto Ioka, who is coming off a big win over Kosei Tanaka on New Year's Eve, for Ioka's WBO title on the same card as Estrada-Rungvisai with the winners then meeting in the following fight for three of the four titles in the division.

That would be a terrific plan and would offer three intriguing matchups and perhaps the losers could be enticed to square off as well.

No matter your thoughts on the rightful winner, it's rare to have an elite fight with all the trimmings in boxing and even more rare to have both fighters behave so classy following the fight as well.

I'm all for doing this one again in the future.

The main undercard bout saw Hiroto Kyoguchi retain his WBA light flyweight title after challenger Axel Vega suffered a hand injury in the fifth round and was unable to continue.

The unheralded Vega was doing better than expected against Kyoguchi through four rounds by aggressively pushing the heavily favored champion backward, but after landing a right hand in the fifth round to the top of Kyoguchi's head, Vera crumpled in pain to the ropes and the referee quickly stopped the bout.

The match was surprisingly competitive, but I was a little disappointed in the performance of Kyoguchi, who I was excited to see in his American debut.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points on the DAZN/Matchroom card to move the total points to 23-22.

I'll be back later with the Showtime results and over the next few days, I'll be doing a rewatch of Estrada-Gonzalez, and planned posts on the losses of Marvin Hagler and Joe Tait in recent days... 

Boxing Challenge: Estrada, Gonzalez win to set rematch

DAZN's Friday night card with two titles at stake in the junior bantamweight division received quite a boost with the main event turning into a battle that won't be forgotten anytime soon as Juan Francisco Estrada retained his WBC title with an eleventh round stoppage of challenger Carlos Cuadras in Mexico City.

Cuadras started very quickly and raced to an early lead with a knockdown of Estrada in round three as the highlight of the initial rounds.

Estrada wasn't severely hurt, but the knockdown from a right uppercut and glancing left hook gave Cuadras hopes of ruining the expected Estrada-Roman Gonzalez fight early in 2021.

In the fifth round, Estrada began to turn the tide as Cuadras began to breathe through his mouth, throw fewer punches and those that were thrown were far wider than in the early rounds.

The technically sound Estrada connected with accurate shots to the head and to the body and slowly began to take more and more energy from Cuadras by the round to take a small lead.

Cuadras made a last stand by winning the tenth round, but Estrada closed the show in round eleven with two knockdowns that saw a courageous Cuadras exchange punches as best he could before a right hand swiveled the head of Cuadras and allow the referee to end the fight.

I had Estrada slightly ahead after ten rounds, 95-94 (6-4 with the Cuadras knockdown), and would have clinched a decision win after the eleventh, had Cuadras survived.

The other title fight saw the WBA version of the 115-pound division championship defended as Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez won a clear, but not easy unanimous decision over a determined Israel Gonzalez.

The taller Israel Gonzalez won the first two rounds on my card and was never hurt by Chocolatito, but also couldn't keep the champion's pressure slowed enough to make a claim thereafter other than winning the tenth round for my final card of 117-111 for the champion.

A solid victory for Roman Gonzalez in his first title defense after defeating Kal Yafai earlier this year and a unification match with Juan Francisco Estrada looks likely for early next season in what is one of the most anticipated fights in the game.

Gonzalez won a close unanimous decision over Estrada to defend his then-flyweight title in 2012 when Estrada was the first fighter to keep the fight close against Gonzalez, who was ranked at the time as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world.

WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez won a non-title fight by second-round knockout over Moises Calleros.

The fight was scheduled to be a title fight, but Calleros missed weight badly as a late replacement with the fight continuing as a non-title bout.

The extra weight didn't help any as Martinez dropped Calleros in the first round with a left hook and battered him into submission in the second round for the victory.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored four points to move the total to 135-126 in my favor...

Boxing Challenge:Chocolatito Regains Title, Garcia, Martinez win

Saturday night from Frisco, Texas, Matchroom Boxing, and DAZN assembled an excellent card of boxing and one that will be difficult to match this year.

When you have a three-division champion winning in his return, an excellent action championship fight, a future star moving up the ladder and a former heavyweight champion ending his fight vis knockout, it's a great night.

However, none of those fights are the story of the night as that honor belongs to Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, who won the WBA junior bantamweight title from Kal Yafai by a ninth-round knockout.
Gonzalez had fought only twice, both against lower-level competition, since his stunning fourth-round knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
The knockout defeat for Gonzalez was the second in a row to Rungvisai, who had defeated Gonzalez via a decision in their first fight in which finished in the conversation for fight of the year with most scoring Gonzalez as a decisive winner and combined with knee surgery since, many wondered how much that Gonzalez had lost from the supremely skilled fighter that was so dominant at junior flyweight and flyweight and was still elite at junior bantamweight, if not quite the same at the higher weight.
Despite five successful defenses of his WBA title, Yafai was looked at as the third best fighter in the division at best behind WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada and Rungvisai with some ranking him fourth or fifth behind IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas and/or WBO Kazuto Ioka, as Yafai didn't have a standout win and had scored just one knockout in his defenses.
Yafai was clearly the bigger and taller man and he may have been able to fight off the jab, using his range to keep Gonzalez off him and maybe won a decision, but instead despite his corner's protestations, decided to fight on the inside and try to grind down the veteran.
The grinding process worked well- for Gonzalez, who gradually pounded Yafai and dominated the sixth and seventh before knocking Yafai down late in the eighth round.
The clock saved Yafai in the eighth, but it would not in the ninth as Gonzalez knocked Yafai down with a crushing right within the first few seconds with the referee waving the battle off immediately.

Gonzalez winning was a surprise only due to his circumstances, not his ability and it was one of those nights in boxing that you don't see very often- a great fighter summoning up an unexpected effort to make the viewers remember how great he once was and that he might have more than a bit remaining.
I had Gonzalez leading 78-73 going into the ninth, so it was more than just hurting a fighter and finishing him off and I'll be interested to see "Chocolatito" 's next fight as he has just entered a triangle of exciting 115 pounders with Estrada and Rungvisai with each fighter having scores to settle- Gonzalez holds a win over Estrada (at flyweight), Estrada has defeated Rungvisai, and Rungvisai owns two wins over Gonzalez, so any pairing of the three will have an instant storyline and all should be action fights.

Roman Gonzalez may have won fighter of the night, but the fight of the night had to be Julio Cesar Martinez's unanimous decision victory over Jay Harris.
Martinez retained his WBC flyweight title in a fight that saw Harris fight bravely but was just a bit overmatched against the talented champion.
The fight was often held toe to toe with both fighters landing strong shots, but Martinez landed the bigger shots and more often, bloodying Harris from the nose and swelling the face of the Welshman for the second half of the fight.
Martinez landed a hard left to the body in the tenth that dropped Harris and looked like the end of the fight was near, but Harris managed to grit his way through and last the distance.
Martinez won on my scorecard 116-111 and I'd love to match him against any of the three other champions in the flyweight division, but don't rule out Harris either.
I'm not sure Harris beats any of the other champions in a strong division, but when fighters move up in weight or retire, I think he might be in the mix.

For four rounds of the main event, Jessie Vargas was on his way to a huge upset over Mikey Garcia.
I thought Vargas won three of the first four, the other round was close and just as I started to think upset, Garcia struck with a barrage of right hands that knocked Vargas down and swung the fight his way.
Garcia tried to end the fight in the sixth and seventh with a strong attack against a shaken Vargas, but Vargas rode out the storm and when Garcia put the car into neutral for the final four rounds, content to win a decision, that's what Garcia got- a unanimous decision that thrilled few and proved only that Garcia is capable of defeating top ten welterweights, but not the best of the division.
I scored Garcia a 116-111 winner, but I didn't find him overly impressive in victory and for all of his technical skills, Garcia's workmanlike style hasn't dazzled me since his days at 126 and 130 pounds.
Many things in life, we get paid for things that we are good at, not always things that we love.
Mikey Garcia doesn't seem to have the passion that truly great fighters have and sometimes watchers of the sport have to realize that we may want the passion for greatness more than the men that fight do.

Israil Madrimov entered a junior middleweight eliminator with the reputation of a future star and he did nothing to disprove that with a dismantling of Charlie Navarro in six rounds.
The 40-year-old Navarro isn't at the level of a title eliminator and he gave little resistance to Madrimov, who toyed with Navarro as he would with a novice before two sixth-round knockdowns ended the fight.
Madrimov's next fight will be tougher as he'll face someone in a final eliminator that could see him face recently crowned WBA/IBF champion Jeison Rosario or Julian Williams, should Williams win their contractually obligated rematch.

Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker survived a cut to stop trialhorse Shawndell Winters in five rounds.
Winters gave a game effort, but the naturally smaller fighter could never sting Parker and earn his respect.
Parker knocked Winters down late in the third round with the bell saving Winters and Winters showed plenty of heart in getting through the fourth, but was unable to survive the bigger puncher's fifth-round combination that sent him to the floor and ended the fight.
Parker could be facing British veteran Dereck Chisora next, who he was scheduled to fight last year before falling out due to a spider bite or even WBC top contender Dillian Whyte in a rematch of their terrific 2018 fight that was won by Whyte by unanimous decision.
Whyte could be reluctant to face Parker with a title shot on the line, but a rematch could be another battle.

In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica eight to seven with the Roman Gonzalez win as the difference in the week.
I lead the challenge 41-37.

Boxing Challenge: Rising Sun Edition

The Monday morning card from Yokohama, Japan didn't bring forth any surprises,  but it did bring some strong performances from the four favorites in their victories.

In the main event, minor middleweight beltholder Ryota Murata delivered a highlight film knockout of Steven Butler in the fifth round.
Give Butler credit-for an unproven fighter that had somehow risen to the top spot in the WBO rankings (Butler passed up a title shot against Demetrius Andrade to fight Murata), he tried hard, engaged, and won the first two rounds on my scorecard.
However, Murata was too big and strong for the Canadian and his superior power soon had Butler retreating and it seemed that the question was how does Murata win the fight rather than if he wins.
One crunching right sent Butler falling to the floor with the referee ending the fight without a count.
I'd like to see Murata against better fighters in 2020, but it appears as it'll be a contractually obligated third fight with Rob Brant and possibly Brazil's Esquiva Falcao, whom Murata defeated to win his gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
Neither of those excites me very much, but that's the state of boxing today.

Moruti Mthalane defended his IBF Flyweight title with a ninth-round knockout of Akira Yaegashi.
Yaegashi, a former champion in three divisions, fought gamely but was to be outgunned by Mthalane, who turned up the heat in the seventh and eighth rounds before the stoppage late in the ninth when a battered Yaegashi wobbled to the ropes followed by the referee stepping in to end the fight.
The 37-year-old Mthalane doesn't appear to be your usual fighter of his age and even though I'm not sure where the money would come from for this, a mini-tournament between the four flyweight champions (Mthalane, Artem Dalakian WBA, Julio Cesar Martinez WBC, and Kosei Tanaka WBO) might be as much action as boxing could offer in three fights.

Ken Shiro kept his WBC junior flyweight title after knocking late substitute Randy Petalcorin out in the fourth round.
Petalcorin won the first two rounds off his back foot, but Shiro found the weak spot of Petalcorin in the third when three body shots produced three knockdowns.
The fight likely should have ended in the corner, but the fight continued into the fourth for a short time- which was the first time that Shiro again landed to the body and that ended the fight.
Petalcorin was a replacement for IBF champion Felix Alvarado, which lost the division a unification fight.
Shiro-Alvarado would be a good fight, but the biggest fight would be another unification fight against WBA champ Hiroto Kyoguchi in an all-Japanese unification event.

The comeback for former multi-divisional champion and a top pound for pound contender Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez began with an eight-round fight against Diomel Diocos.
Gonzalez had fought only once since his stunning KO loss to Srisket Sor Rungvisai in 2017, so this was a chance to get some work against Diocos, a journeyman that had only been stopped once in his career against the then-undefeated bomber Daigo Higa.
Gonzalez wouldn't work for many rounds as he finished Diocos in two, which was an impressive result, considering the solid chin of the opponent and the time spent away from the ring by Gonzalez.
Gonzalez still might need another fight to be ready for a potential title challenge, but he doesn't look to be outmatched by any of the champions at 115 pounds.

In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored seven points on the evening to move the overall numbers to 319-285.

Boxing Challenge:Rungvisai leaves no doubt!

The boxing challenge continued with a three bout card in the junior bantamweight division that featured lots of action.
I scored four points on the night in the boxing challenge to Ramon Malpica's three to boost my lead to 122-107.

In the main event Srisaket Sor Rungvisai demolished Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez with a right hand that might have ended the once invincible Gonzalez's career for a fourth round knockout to retain his WBC junior bantamweight title.
Rungvisai had taken Gonzalez's title in March in New York City via majority decision in a great fight that most (including me) thought that Gonzalez deserved the victory and the WBC mandated an immediate rematch.
The rematch was far different as Rungvisai won the first three rounds on my card (although the third round could have went either way),landed several hard punches and even though Gonzalez was firing back and landed his share of punches,seemed to be less than his normal self.
In round four,Rungvisai started quickly and dropped Gonzalez with a right hand that severely hurt Gonzalez and he barely beat the count.
Gonzalez held Rungvisai at bay for a bit and looked like he might weather the storm before Rungvisai ended the bout with one right hand that ended the the night and maybe the career of Gonzalez.
Gonzalez didn't resemble anything like the fighter that was once thought of as the game best fighter pound for pound and just doesn't seem to be strong enough at 115 pounds.
Unless Gonzalez wants to return to flyweight,I just don't see him continuing at junior bantamweight unless he and his team just chalks this off as Rungvisai just being a bad matchup for him.
As for Rungvisai,he'll have another interesting and fun fight coming up that has a good chance of returning to HBO against new mandatory contender Juan Francisco Estrada,the former WBA/WBO flyweight champion.

Estrada won a unanimous decision in a title eliminator on HBO's opener over former WBC champion Carlos Cuadras.
Cuadras raced to a sizable early lead and appeared to have banked many of the early rounds.
The patient Estrada kept on doing what he does,applying pressure and wearing Cuadras down and began to hurt him in the middle rounds.
Estrada knocked Cuadras down in the tenth,scoring a two point round as he swept the final three rounds.
The knockdown won Estrada the fight as all three judges scored him a 114-113 winner.
Had Estrada not scored that knockdown,the fight would have been a draw.
I had Estrada the winner at 115-112 (7-5 in rounds with the knockdown).

The middle fight saw "The Monster" Naoya Inoue of Japan retain his WBO title with a technical knockout of an overmatched Antonio Nieves when Nieves was not allowed out of his corner at the end of round six.
Inoue knocked Nieves down with a body shot in the fifth round and then battered him badly in round six before the end of the fight.
HBO had been building Roman Gonzalez for a fight against Inoue,so there has to have been some disappointment,especially that Srisaket Sor Rungvisai got Gonzalez before Inoue did,but this card was so good as far as action,that I would not be surprised at all to see a future card with another Inoue defense along with the Rungvisai-Estrada title fight with the winner facing off in their next fight.

I finished with two points for Estrada's win and two for Inoue's.
Ramon finished with two points for Inoue's victory and one for Rungvisai's...

Golovkin decisions Jacobs-Boxing Challenge

Three fights from Madison Square Garden for the boxing challenge saw Ramon Malpica and I each score three points on the evening and I maintained my two point lead at 29-27.

The main event saw Gennady Golovkin score a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs to retain his WBA,WBC and IBF middleweight titles.
Golovkin knocked Jacobs down in the fourth round,but seemed to have Jacobs in far more trouble in the ninth round before time ran out in the stanza.
I had Golovkin winning 116-112 (7-4-1 in rounds with Jacobs losing a point for the knockdown),which seems to be a little wider margin than most and even a few thinking Jacobs had won.
Give Jacobs lots of credit for a determined effort and fought far better than I had expected,but his unprofessional behavior in skipping the IBF mandatory weigh-in on the day (had Jacobs won,the IBF belt would be vacant) in order to blow up to the light heavyweight,if not cruiserweight division by the start of the fight shows that weigh-in formulas still need to be tweaked in order not to be taken advantage of.
Golovkin looked vulnerable in the eyes of some and people are looking at his age (35) as a likely factor,but I see another factor-activity.
Golovkin has been a fighter that has thrived on fighting four times a year,fought only twice last year and had been off six months since his last fight against Kell Brook.
Wrap up inactivity,a little bit of age and a larger and better opponent than expected and you have a recipe for a good fight and why some people could see Golovkin as being ripe for a defeat.
Perhaps now Canelo Alvarez and more likely Oscar De La Hoya might be ready to sign that contract vs Golovkin should they get by Julio Cesar Chavez Jr....

In what will be a contender for fight of the year,Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez lost his first fight in his career and his WBC junior bantamweight title in an absolute war to former champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai via a majority decision.
Gonzalez was knocked down in the first round and suffered a large and ugly cut over his right eye from a Rungvisai head butt in the third.
Rungvisai would be penalized a point in the sixth for head butts and the pair spent most of the second half of the fight sending each other careening around the ring in a violent dance that had the crowd screaming.
Roman Gonzalez was a great fighter at his previous weight classes,but seems to have reached "the wall".
The wall is the point for great fighters where their greatness is caught up with by their rising weight and counter balances their skills with the larger fighters they are facing.
In other words-the weight eventually makes a great fighter a very good one.
I scored Gonzalez a 114-112 winner (7-5 in rounds,with Gonzalez losing a point for the knockdown and Rungvisai a point for the head butt).
Most had Gonzalez winning with a few for Rungvisai,but I wouldn't put this into the robbery section.
It was a close fight that demands a rematch,but that won't be next as Carlos Cuadras,who beat Rungvisai for the title before being the first to show some smudges on the previously shiny finish of Gonzalez before losing that title in their bout last year,will be the mandatory challenger next for Rungvisai.
Cuadras won a unanimous decision over David Carmona before the two main events.
I didn't have a chance to see that fight,but it was reported to be less than thrilling.

Ramon and I each scored one point for the Golovkin win and two for the unanimous decision by Cuadras.
Both Ramon and I each picked Roman Gonzalez for no points.

For more on this news filled weekend-listen to Fight Heads tomorrow night for more opinions and talk...

Boxing Challenge-GGG dries up Brook

The boxing challenge moved on with a big boxing weekend.
I earned ten points to Ramon Malpica's seven to boost the overall lead to 106-87..

We each earned two points for Gennady Golovkin's fifth round stoppage of Kell Brook.
Give Brook lots of credit for taking the fight and for coming to fight,but he was overmatched and undersized and Golovkin clearly was breaking him down physically (broken eye socket) and his corner did the right thing in saving their fighter,who could still be a terrific fighter in 147 and 154 pound action.
As for Golovkin,who retained his WBA,WBC and IBF belts,the WBA is asking for Daniel Jacobs next and hopefully the political powers (HBO and PBC) can come to an agreement to get that fight in the fall.

Roman Gonzalez won the WBC Jr.Bantamweight title from Carlos Cuadras with a unanimous decision nod.
Cuadras fought well and had he set down a little more of his punches,might have prevailed.
I scored Gonzalez a narrow 115-113 winner,but we might have seen the weight where Gonzalez transitions from great to very good.
It happens to all fighters as they move up,their power lessens and their greatness dims just a bit.
I added two points for the Gonzalez victory with Ramon adding one.
The undercard fight on HBO saw Jesus Soto-Karass surrender in his corner after round eight against Yoshihiro Kamegai.
The bout was entertaining enough,but Kamegai was clearly ahead on the cards.
Might be time for Soto-Karass to consider hanging the gloves up.
Ramon picked Kamegai and added one point,while I picked Soto-Karass to win.

The best fighter that you may not have heard kept his IBF Jr.Welterweight title as Eduard Troyanovsky blew away Keita Obara in two in Moscow.
Troyanovsky might be the next star in the making from Russia,if he gets some U.S. exposure.
I earned two points for the win and knockout with Ramon getting one for the win

On the Golovkin-Brook undercard,we each earned two points for Lee Haskins unanimous decision win over Stuart Hal for Haskins IBF Bantamweight crown,but I added one to Ramon's zero for Johnriel Casimero's 10th round stoppage of Charlie Edwards to retain his IBF Flyweight title.

Golovkin drills Wade-Boxing Challenge

The boxing challenge moved on with three expected victories and R.L.Malpica and I each adding five points to our total to make the score 44-35....

The biggest fight of the weekend saw Gennady Golovkin drop Dominic Wade three times in two rounds before Wade was counted out.
Golovkin's win enabled him to keep his two middleweight belts and as impressive as his dispatching was-his post-interview basically calling out Canelo Alvarez to either fight him or "bring him the belt" was quite priceless.

It took a gritty effort from McWilliams Arroyo in order to last the distance with WBC flyweight champ Roman Gonzalez,but he was able to hear the final bell.
I gave Arroyo the first round,but no more as Gonzalez won on my card 119-109.
Gonzalez said he was going to fight one more fight at 112 pounds before a move up to 115 and junior bantamweights,
Hopefully,that fight will come against WBA/WBO champ Juan Francisco Estrada to unify three of the four belts in a rematch of a great fight when Gonzalez defended his light flyweight title against Estrada...

Nonito Donaire stopped Zsolt Bedak in the third round in the Philippines to retain his WBO junior featherweight title in the weekend's other title fight....

GGG drops Lemieux-Boxing Challenge

The Boxing Challenge continued with R.L.Malpica and I and despite some differing results,the lead stayed at four points at 127-123.

Gennady Golovkin continued his rampage through the middleweight division with a eighth round stoppage of David Lemieux that wasn't really competitive despite Lemieux giving a game effort.
I got to watch the fight a few hrs after as some kind soul posted on youtube (I'm sure it was ripped down shortly after) and I had Golovkin winning every round by the stoppage.
The win allowed Golovkin to add the IBF belt with his WBA title and gave R.L. and I each two points...

Roman Gonzalez retained his WBC flyweight belt with a dominant ninth round stoppage over Brian Viloria.
I didn't see this one,but Gonzalez stopped a top three flyweight and looks to have two top notch fighters in his sights-WBA champ Juan Francisco Estrada or Japanese sensation Naoya Inoue,either of which would be good bouts.
R.L and I each earned two points for the Gonzalez win....

I also missed the unanimous decision win on the card by Tureano Johnson over Eamonn O'Kane.
Johnson's win gave me two points,but R.L.earned just one with his call of a Johnson split win...

The PBC card on Saturday afternoon from Fairfax Virginia was filled with controversy,
The co-feature saw undefeated Pritchard Colon against late replacement Terrel Williams.
Williams won via disqualification when Colon's corner thought the fight was over after the ninth.
I always thought ring card girls weren't needed,but the PBC doesn't use them and this happened,so maybe there is a need after all!
In a dirty fight that saw Colon lose points for low blows and Williams drop them for hitting behind the head,I had Williams far ahead after knocking Colon down in the ninth.
Immediately after the bout. Colon was rushed to the hospital with bleeding on the brain and is still in critical condition at this writing.
A big win for Williams over the touted prospect Colon that takes a sad turn with the ending.
No points for R.L. and I as both of us picked Colon.

R.L.added one point to my none as hometown fighter Lamont Peterson took a majority decision over former Olympian Felix Diaz.
Diaz has had a slow start (although undefeated entering the fight) to his career,but I thought Diaz had a chance to pull a huge upset and picked him,even though it seems no one else was.
The scores were 114-114 (I can see that) and 116-112 for Peterson (Bad) with a 117-111 for Peterson as well (pathetic),
I scored it 116-112 for Diaz,who looked strong in a losing effort....

Boxing Challenge-Golovkin and Gonzalez crush opposition

The boxing challenge rolled on with HBO showing two stars of the sport in spectacular wins.
I didn't have time to post the predictions,but R.L.Malpica and I each earned four points on the evening to keep the challenge tied-this time at 53.
We each picked the winners to win by KO,but neither of us nailed the correct round for any bonus points

In the main event,Gennady Golovkin retained his WBA middleweight title with a sixth round knockout of Willie Monroe Jr.
Golovkin floored Monroe twice in the second round and looked to be ready to finish off Monroe in the third.
However,a surprising Monroe battled back and even landed a few nice punches over the next few rounds as the inevitable GGG breakdown occurred.
Golovkin finished Monroe in the sixth with a knockdown that Monroe barely beat the count on and Monroe then mumbled an honorable surrender to the battle.
Another knockout for Golovkin in increasing his knockout streak to twenty in a row and give full credit for the outgunned Monroe,who fared better than expected and showed lots of grit by surviving the second round,when he could have easily packed it and collected his paycheck then without dishonor.
Golovkin of course is still looking for a big name opponent,which he is unlikely to find.
WBC champion Miguel Cotto has made a career of ducking Golovkin,Canelo Alvarez would fight GGG,but as the last huge cash cow of Golden Boy Promotions,his promoters are in no hurry to sacrifice him,Andre Ward talks a big game at 168,but is tediously dull and rarely fights and Floyd Mayweather would rather appear on a Hee Haw remake square dancing with Bob Arum than fight this man
Golovkin will likely fight another top 20 level fighter in August or September as he continues to clean out the division before maybe a bout against the winner of the vacant IBF title fight between David Lemieux and Hassan N'Dam.
Lemieux would bring an exciting fight and Golden Boy might sacrifice Lemieux to test Golovkin before a Canelo Alvarez fight,assuming that Alvarez would get by Miguel Cotto.

As impressive as was Gennady Golovkin,the big winner of the night might have been WBC flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez,who made his mainstream American debut with a two round destruction of Edgar Sosa in just two rounds.
We wrote about Gonzalez last year being the best fighter that you've never heard of  and hopefully after this win,he'll begin to be known with HBO investing some coin in the flyweights to boot.
Sosa was not a scrub brought in to put a shine on Gonzalez (a light flyweight champion of 10 defenses at one time),but it was clear early that Sosa had zero chance of holding off Gonzalez,who smoothly closed the show in the second round with three knockdowns.
Gonzalez has several exciting fights that could be made-foremost a rematch with WBA/WBO 112 pound champion Juan Francisco Estrada,who gave Gonzalez the closest fight of his career in a light flyweight defense in an exciting 12 round decision.
I think HBO would buy that and looks like both fighters would be willing.Another option would another unification against IBF champ Amnat Ruenroung or maybe the biggest bout of all-a move up to 115 pounds against the Japanese dynamo Naoya Inoue.
Roman Gonzalez might have started the road to being what HBO thought they were getting in Nonito Donaire-an exciting lower weight fighter with lots of fun fights to be made.

The fights may have been showcase bouts to a degree,but both fighters being showcased came to fight and took their opponents out,looking good in doing so.
That is a rare quality in boxing and makes both Gennady Golovkin and Roman Gonzalez must watch fighters....

Roman Gonzalez-the best fighter that you have never heard of

Roman Gonzalez was the kingpin of the light flyweight division for four years and before that he ruled the strawweight or minimum weight division for two more,
He just won the WBC flyweight title over the lineal champion Akira Yaegashi by a knockout for his third division title and he has won 40 fights without a defeat with 34 of those ending via a stoppage.

Gonzalez even defeated the WBA champion at Flyweight,Juan Francisco Estrada two years ago in a defense of his light fly belt,so he has established himself as the true flyweight champ in a suddenly exciting division.
All three major belts will be on the line in the course of a week with Gonzalez winning his belt Friday,Estrada defending his with a win over Giovanni Segura and Ruenroeng defending his IBF belt against McWilliams Arroyo later this week,the eyes of many in boxing are on the flyweights.
Between Gonzalez,Estrada (with wins over Brian Viloria and Segura),Viloria,Segura,Yaegashi,Zou Shiming,IBF champ Ruenroeng,Arroyo and more,the 112 pound division has quality depth with exciting fights to be made up and down the division for the first time that I can remember in many,many years.

So what's the problem?
No one knows about Roman Gonzalez outside of the hardcore boxing crowd and that's a shame.
Gonzalez knocks people out with a fierce left hook,he comes forward,yet isn't reckless and he is very skillful,but has only appeared on American (English speaking) television once.
I would think that Gonzalez would have some appeal to Top Rank with his skills and that the company has done business with many of the mentioned flyweights above including WBA champ Estrada that would make it easy to build excitement in China with their much ballyhooed and promoted Zou Shiming.
Shiming would be meat on Gonzalez's platter right now,but beginning to feature Gonzalez now and even Estrada as well makes sense to me.
Trying to get Shiming a belt may be tougher than expected,so why not make as much as possible for a shot at Gonzalez?
A HBO Boxing after Dark with defenses by Gonzalez and Estrada could be an appetizer for a Gonzalez-Estrada unification bout which makes even more sense since Estrada was the only fighter to even give Gonzalez a run for his money in their first bout.
ESPN has been investing a little money in boxing of late,maybe they could be convinced,especially when you consider the money that the flyweights make would make those bouts very cost friendly for the network,
Most of the fights involving the flyweights could be easy to make except for maybe if McWilliams Arroyo would win his fight this week as Arroyo is with Golden Boy and it would build interest internationally for an eventual Shiming title fight.

Until then,Roman Gonzalez will continue to be the best kept secret in boxing and the best fighter that most have never heard of.