Boxing Challenge: Zepeda zaps Roach, Muratalla retains title.

     From the better late than never department, William Zepeda bounced back from his loss to Shakur Stevenson with a tremendous win over Lamont Roach to win the WBC lightweight title that was stripped from Stevenson.

I gave Roach the first two rounds, but only one round after that, as Zepeda's overwhelming barrage of punches was far too much for Roach to overcome.

My 118-110 was the same as one judge, with the other two scoring 117-111.

Raymond Muratalla won an easy if workmanlike decision over Robson Conceicao to retain his IBF version of the lightweight title.

After the win (119-109 on two cards and 118-110 on the third), Muratalla announced plans to move to the junior welterweight division.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 87 Pts (2)

Ramon Malpica: 74 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Sheeraz bursts Berlanga, Stevenson shines vs Zepeda

     Riyadh Season's first card in the New York market (Times Square) may have been a massive disappointment, but their second, held in the Louis Armstrong Tennis Center (home of the U.S.Open), was filled with exciting fights without a bad one in the bunch.

In the main event, Hamzah Sheeraz ended the carefully managed contention of Edgar Berlanga with a vicious fifth-round knockout.

Sheeraz dropped Berlanga twice in the fourth round, and Berlanga was lucky to survive. Sheeraz then drove a stunned Berlanga into the ropes seconds into the fifth round, forcing the end of the fight.

Despite being the first fight in the super middleweight division for Sheeraz, he looked bigger and stronger than Berlanga, who showed heart in getting up from the knockdowns but was overmatched and now faces several questions about his viability as a future contender.

Sheeraz could face Canelo Alvarez next (should Alvarez defeat Terence Crawford) as Sheeraz and Chris Eubank Jr appear to be next in line for a Canelo challenge.

In the co-main event (which I differ with), Shakur Stevenson not only retained his WBC lightweight title via unanimous decision over the difficult challenge of William Zepeda, but he also won in an entertaining fashion, which had turned off many fans in recent months.

Stevenson outboxed Zepeda, but he did so skillfully and didn't move around the ring, preferring to counter the aggressive Zepeda.

I had the fight even after eight rounds, but Stevenson dominated the final four rounds of the fight, winning them all to win 116-112 on my card.

The official scores were far too wide for my tastes (119-109 and 118-108 times two), were unkind to Zepeda, and didn't fairly represent the fight.

Stevenson spoke of a potential move to junior welterweight after his win but he could stay at lightweight for fights against any of Lamont Roach (his fall rematch with WBA champion Gervonta Davis appears in jeopardy after another Davis legal problem), IBF champion Raymond Muratalla or in the least likely option to happen, the winner of the vacant WBO title fight between Abdullah Mason and Sam Noakes.

Zepeda lost nothing in defeat and remains a very viable challenge for anyone in the lightweight division.

Subriel Matias won the WBC junior welterweight title with a majority decision victory over Alberto Puello.

The fight was well-paced from the start, with Matias walking down Puello, who boxed but didn't run from the stronger fighter.

Neither fighter seriously hurt the other, and the fight has been dubbed "controversial" by online pundits.

I scored it 115-113 for Matias, which agreed with two of the judges, with the other scoring a draw at 114-114.

Matias will face the WBC's top contender Dalton Smith in the fall, with the two meeting in the ring after the win.

Puello will reportedly face the winner of that fight after losing this one by such a small margin.

I could have been fine with either Matias or Puello winning their decision, as I thought the more controversial decision was the card opener with David Morrell winning a split decision over former Olympic bronze medalist Imam Khataev.

Khataev was the more aggressive fighter and landed the harder shots throughout the fight.

Khataev dropped Morrell late in the fifth round, and while Morrell wasn't seriously hurt, it capped off the scorecard for me, as I had Khataev a 96-93 winner.

The official scores were 96-93 and 95-94 for Morrell and 95-94 for Khataev.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 107 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 97 Pts (4)

Vince Samano: 44 Pts (4)

Boxing Challenge: Saturday Bloody Saturday

    Saturday's boxing was quite a bloody one, with fights involving plenty of the red stuff left in the ring.

The first fight of the day came from Japan, where the lower-weight's "King of the Upset" pulled another one as IBF junior flyweight champion Masamichi Yabuki rose to the flyweight division and knocked out unbeaten champion Angel Ayala in the final round to take Ayala's IBF title.

Yabuki dropped Ayala in each of the first two rounds. While Ayala won some rounds, Yabuki led by a wide margin entering the final round when Yabuki scored one final knockdown to end the fight.

Yabuki made his name by upsetting Kenshiro Teraji and taking Teraji's WBC title by knockout before losing the rematch, and in his most recent fight before beating Ayala, he knocked out Sivenathi Nonthshinga to win the light flyweight title.

Yabuki will have one week to decide which of the two titles he will keep, and it's expected to be the flyweight championship as it would set up a lucrative third match against WBA and WBC champion Kenshiro Teraji with three of the division's titles at stake.

On ESPN from Las Vegas, Mikaela Mayer was too active for Sandy Ryan, and that made the difference in the fight as Mayer retained the WBO welterweight title that she won from Ryan in another exciting battle.

Ryan landed the higher percentage, but Mayer's output and punches landed allowed her to win the justified decision by scores of 97-93 x2 and 98-92.

I had the match a little closer for Mayer at 96-94.

Brian Norman was dynamite in the co-feature as he retained his WBO welterweight title by a third round knockout of Derrieck Cuevas.

Cuevas landed well in round one, but Norman hurt Cuevas in round two, and after a third round knockdown, Cuevas had little interest in fighting on.

Bruce Carrington stopped Jose Vivas in the third round of a featherweight eliminator and is expected to fight for a title in his next fight.

Carrington scored a second-round knockdown before the finish in the third round in his impressive victory.

DAZN and Golden Boy were in Cancun, Mexico, for the lightweight rematch between top contender William Zepeda and former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer.

Zepeda won an arguable split decision in the first fight, and although the rematch was closely contested, Zepeda was the deserving majority decision victor.

Zepeda dominated the first half of the match, Farmer charged back in rounds eight through twelve but Zepeda built enough of a lead to win on my card 115-113 with the official cards reading 116-112 and 115-113 for Zepeda, along with a score of 114-114 on the final card.

Zepeda should finally receive his title shot in his next fight, while Farmer, after another tough-luck defeat, deserves another attempt to upend a contender.

Oscar Collazo retained his WBA and WBO strawweight titles with a fifth round knockout of Edgar Cano after a vicious bodyshot.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 44 Pts (10)

Ramon Malpica: 37 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 20 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez, Collazo unify, Barboza, Zepeda win

    After a Friday that saw the attention of the sports world focused on Arlington, Texas, the true boxing fan turned their eyes to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for an excellent card from Golden Boy Promotions.

In the main event, Gilberto Ramirez added the WBO cruiserweight title to the WBA version that he possessed entering the fight with a unanimous victory over Chris Billam-Smith.

Ramirez finally appears to have found a weight division that he comfortably resides in and he was able to control the always brave Billam-Smith throughout the fight.

Billam-Smith bravely fought through a nasty cut and landed his share of punches during a fight that was more interesting than expected.

Ramirez is expected to meet IBF champion Jai Opietaia next with three of the four titles at stake and Billam-Smith will always have fights available due to his proclivity for entertaining battles.

Junior welterweight Arnold Barboza notched the biggest win of his career with a unanimous decision win over former WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez in a pairing of two former stablemates.

Barboza landed the jab with ease against a listless Ramirez, who seems to have lost the fire for boxing in a career headed for stardom.

I've always thought Barboza was a solid contender that might be lacking that small difference between champion and challenger but it's more than time for Barboza to receive that chance.

As for Ramirez, he once appeared to be a star in the making but for various reasons turned down big fights and championship opportunities and if his energy has departed, he should consider retiring.

Lightweight contender William Zepeda is ranked first by all four sanctioning bodies but Zepeda was very fortunate to skim by former IBF junior lightweight champion Tevin Farmer by split decision.

Farmer isn't noted as a strong puncher but knocked Zepeda down in the fourth round and was just slick enough to trouble Zepeda, who usually overwhelms his opponents with constant offense.

Zepeda did enough offensively to get by Farmer, who has revitalized his career in recent days but this fight could have gone to either fighter close.

Scores were 95-94 times two for Zepeda and 95-94 for Farmer, which was my score.

This fight had several close rounds, so if I rewatched it, my score could change in a very close match.

The best performance on the card may have been Oscar Collazo's, who ended the reign of Knockout CP Freshmart, which was the longest in boxing entering the fight, taking his WBA minimumweight title by a seventh round knockout.

Collazo added the WBA title to the WBO belt that he held after knocking Freshmart down three times, once in the sixth and twice in the seventh with the fight ending without a count.

Collazo stated he wanted a full unified title, which has never happened in this division and is unlikely but showed the type of talent that might see him become a multi-division champion.

Oscar Duarte hammered out a unanimous decision over Batyr Akhmendov in the opening fight.

Akhmendov was effective early and banked some rounds but Duarte landed the harder punches and was the more effective fighter down the stretch.

Scorecards for Duarte at 96-94 (same as mine), 97-93 and 98-92.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 168 Pts (5)

TRS: 168 Pts (7)
Vince Samano: 107 Pts (2) 

Boxing Challenge: Zepeda Shines, Stevenson Wins

     The Boxing Weekend's biggest star was in Newark, New Jersey and while Shakur Stevenson controlled Artur Harutyunyan and retained his WBC lightweight title via a comfortable unanimous decision, Stevenson did little to polish a reputation that is rapidly becoming stained by boredom.

Stevenson had a mild window in the eighth and ninth rounds that he might have stopped Harutyunyan but he didn't press for the stoppage and the chance drifted away.

Stevenson's contract with Top Rank ended with a victory and while his win (119-109, 118-110, 116-112, my score 118-110) was more exciting than his last win over Edwin De Los Santos, it was far from a barnburner and didn't give Stevenson a great statement to sell himself to potential suitors.

For all of his tremendous skills, Stevenson may be the Pernell Whitaker of his era, a fighter with immense talents who can beat anyone but is satisfied with dominant but dull wins.

That may win fights, titles, and even the Hall of Fame but doesn't attract fans or pay-per-view purchases

The Hamburglar made an appearance in Newark after O'Shaquie Foster was robbed of his WBC junior lightweight title via split decision to Robson Conceicao.

This was the fight that I rated as the hardest to choose a winner of the weekend yet Foster outboxed Conceicao and while I didn't have it the shutout as the ESPN commentators scored, I did think Foster won handily at 117-111.

I thought the judges who scored for Foster at 116-112 had the fight too close but the other judges were simply terrible with scores of 116-112 and 115-113 for Conceciao.

I picked Conceciao to win but I was heartbroken for Foster during his post-fight interview as there was no anger in his eyes, only tears and his voice breaking.

Hopefully, Top Rank or the WBC will mandate an immediate rematch, Foster at least deserves that much.

Lightweight Keyshawn Davis won a foul-filled, dirty fight over Miguel Madueno by a unanimous decision.

Scores for Davis of 99-91 (same as mine) and while I like Davis, he has the feel of a fighter that could be very good but not great.

Abdullah Mason's fight with Luis Lebron wasn't part of the challenge but his impressive three-round knockout deserves mentioning.

Mason will be a star and if they fought soon, I'd pick Mason to beat Keyshawn Davis right now.

I think Mason is that good.

The star of the weekend was lightweight contender William Zepeda, who mowed down Giovanni Cabrera in three rounds.

Cabrera had lost only once, a split decision to WBC junior welterweight champion Isaac Cruz, and had an excellent first round against Zepeda.

Zepeda improved in the second and third, began to land to the head and body, finishing Zepeda off with a shot to the liver.

As the top contender in all four sanctioning groups, Zepeda has options that few challengers have, and win or lose, Zepeda is going to give a champion all sorts of hell.

I have yet to see these fights but here are the results.

From Golden Boy/DAZN

Ricardo Sandoval stopped Angel Acosta in the 10th and final round in what has been reported to be a close fight and a dubious stoppage.

Pay Per View

Shane Mosley Jr won a unanimous decision over Daniel Jacobs 

Fernando Martinez won a unanimous decision over Kazuto Ioka to unify the WBA and IBF junior bantamweight titles.

Martinez should be in line for a 2025 fight with WBC champion Jesse "Bam" Rodriguez or perhaps WBO champion Kosei Tanaka later this year.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 103 Pts  (6)

TRS: 91 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: (0)

Boxing Challenge: Zepeda rolls over Gesta

   The Saturday main event from Golden Boy/DAZN from Commerce, California listed lightweight contender William Zepeda as a prohibitive favorite over Mercito Gesta in their twelve-round battle.

Prohibitive may have been too close to describe Zepeda's destructive domination as he backed Gesta up from the opening bell, firing both quantity and quality punches to the head and body with Gesta often trapped along the ropes, reserved to only throw an occasional punch to try to stave off the Zepeda attack.

Those attempts had the success of a fly against a window- it may connect but it's not hurting the window.

And midway through the sixth round, Gesta's corner decided that they had seen enough and gave their man an honorable surrender after five and a half rounds of a brutal mismatch that proved only that Zepeda is ready to face the best of the division to see how he sizes up against those at the top.

The problem for Zepeda is that Golden Boy doesn't have a top-level lightweight to face Zepeda to see how good he is unless Ryan Garcia could be convinced to return to lightweight, which is unlikely due to Garcia's issues making 135 pounds and Zepeda being the definition of high risk, low reward for Garcia, who is coming back from his first loss.

Zepeda is ranked second by the WBA but should Devin Haney give up that tile, Gervonta Davis will likely be promoted from minor champion and defend against the WBA number one contender Isaac Cruz in a rematch of their 2021 fight.

The WBC has Zepeda ranked fifth and he was offered a chance at Shakur Stevenson for the vacant title but he was unavailable as he had the Gesta fight signed that took precedence.

In the IBF rankings, Zepeda is sixth ( the IBF currently lacks a number one) but each of the contenders ahead of him are affiliated elsewhere, George Kambosos and Vasyl Lomachenko (Top Rank) Cruz (PBC), and Maxi Hughes (Matchroom).

The WBO ranks Zepeda seventh behind Lomachenko, Cruz, Stevenson, Denys Baranchyk, Angel Fierro, and Frank Martin.

I don't know if Baranchyk has an American promoter, Martin is with PBC, and Fierro is with Matchroom, so maybe DAZN's involvement with Golden Boy and Matchroom could help make an exciting All-Mexico battle that I would favor Zepeda to win.

Zepeda overwhelmed Gesta with volume and I wonder how effective he would be against the division's best.

Zepeda has been knocked down in the past and while I wouldn't say that his chin is vulnerable, I would say that I wonder how his chin will hold up against better fighters than he has been fighting in his career.

One thing that I will say about William Zepeda is this- whenever he receives the chance against a top opponent, Zepeda is going to leave everything in the ring.

Boxing Challenge

TRS:  143 Pts (1)

Ramon Malpica: 131 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 98 Pts (1)  

Boxing Challenge: Lomachenko wins in return

  Vasyl Lomachenko's return to the ring against Jamaine Ortiz was expected to be a mere formality on his way to a 2023 title shot against Devin Haney but after eight rounds, Ortiz was ahead on my scorecard and appeared to have a chance of a seismic change to the boxing landscape in New York City.

That would be the high point of the evening for Ortiz as the legendary stamina of Lomachenko kicked in as he dominated the final four rounds, sweeping them on all scorecards and earning the unanimous decision with the likely invite to face Haney for all four world championships next year.

Lomachenko finished the first round with some swelling below the right eye, which his corner claimed was due to the abrasive tape on the gloves of Ortiz.

The swelling didn't become worse throughout the fight but it was an annoyance throughout.

I scored Lomachenko a 115-113 winner, which equaled one judge's card with the other two tabbing Loma the winner by scores of 116-112 and 117-111, which seemed to be wider than the fight indicated in my opinion.

Lomachenko hadn't fought in eleven months since his win over Richard Commey and between the layoff and the war in Ukraine, it would be understandable if he wasn't razor sharp but going back to his loss to Teofimo Lopez where he started slowly and collected many rounds down the stretch, Lomachenko, like Gennady Golovkin, may be showing his age through the amount of time (and rounds that he gives away) that it takes for him to be revved up and at top speed.

Lomachenko has always been a small lightweight in stature and he gave height and strength away to Ortiz and in the post-fight interview when Devin Haney was called into the ring to discuss a fight with Lomachenko, the size difference was startling.

Considering the size advantage, activity, and youth, I'd rate Haney as a slight favorite against Lomachenko, who I wouldn't say has lost a step as much as has been hampered by nagging injuries and a lack of consistent ring time.

In San Diego, undefeated lightweight William Zepeda placed himself directly in position to fight for any potential vacated titles next year with a dominant unanimous decision over former IBF junior lightweight champion Joseph Diaz.

Zepeda hammered Diaz from the opening bell and simply outworked and overpowered the veteran, who hung in the fight enough to occasionally keep Zepeda honest but never enough to truly concern him either.

Zepeda won on two cards 119-109 and the other 118-110 with my card agreeing with the latter.

Diaz, who lost a featherweight championship attempt to Gary Russell in 2018, lost his second in three fights at 135 pounds (losing to Devin Haney last year), lacks the power to hurt top lightweights and cuts are becoming a major problem for Diaz, who lost his 130-pound title on the scales but would be better suited to try to return to the junior lightweight division.

As for Zepeda, he is non-stop aggression and his beating of Diaz was much more comprehensive than the fighters that also hold wins over Diaz ( Haney and Russell) and in a lightweight division with lots of strong fighters even if Devin Haney moves up, Zepeda is going to be a tough out for any of them.

In London, boxing's version of the unsinkable Molly Brown emerged again with an upset that could once again result in a championship attempt as former IBF junior featherweight and featherweight champion battered favored Jordan Gill and forced his corner to throw in the towel in the middle of round four.

The win gave Martinez the European title and since the fight was an IBF eliminator, Martinez could be one win again from a second shot at the title that he both won (over Kid Galahad) and lost (to Josh Warrington) in the last twelve months by knockout.

Gill was favored after his ninth-round knockout of Karim Guerfi in his last fight in the biggest win over his career and a Gill-Warrington or Gill-Leigh Wood pairing would have drawn a nice crowd in the UK but Martinez was having none of that from the start as every punch from the 36-year-old Spaniard seemed crash hard against Gill.

Martinez dropped Gill twice in the third and two more times in the fourth and with Gill's nose streaming blood and his face puffing with swelling, his corner waved the fight off after the fourth knockdown of the fight in round four.

Kiko Martinez truly is amazing and there may have not been a better world-class level gatekeeper than Martinez in years, and once again Martinez will be an underdog against Josh Warrington or Leigh Wood next time out as he keeps earning that one more payday after a surprising win.

Just don't sleep on him even if the odds seem to be all against him. 

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 177 Pts  (2)

Ramon Malpica: 154 Pts (3)

Vince Samano: 145 Pts  (5)

Boxing Challenge: Ramirez stops Boesel, Kovalev returns.

   The remainder of the boxing weekend also was hosted in the state of California (as was the Charlo-Castano rematch) with DAZN and Golden Boy with a card from Ontario California and Triller returning with a PPV from the Inglewood Forum.

Golden Boy's main event was a squash match masquerading as a WBA title eliminator at light heavyweight as former WBO super middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez continued his wait for a shot at WBA champion Dmitry Bivol with a lopsided pounding of Germany's Dominic Boesel in a fourth-round stoppage that ended with Boesel down in a corner as the referee waved the fight to its conclusion.

Not much else to be said about this as Ramirez had Boesel retreating from the initial bell and it was clear that this fight would last as long as it took Ramirez to finish Boesel.

This was another WBA eliminator, which doesn't seem that bad on the surface- until you realize that this weekend's Joshua Buatasi-Craig Richards main event on DAZN is also a WBA eliminator in the division.

Ramirez is more than qualified to face Bivol now and hopefully unless Canelo Alvarez picks up his option for his rematch with Bivol, Ramirez will receive his shot next rather than get stuck against the Buatasi-Richards winner, which I have a funny feeling might be where Ramirez might be forced to make his next fight.

The co-feature was an action affair as lightweight prospect William Zepeda survived a stern test from veteran Rene Alvarado in a tight battle.

Give the credit to this one to Alvarado, who lost his fourth fight in a row but loses no credibility for losing this one and made a gallant stand against the younger and power-punching Zepeda as he matched him blow for blow for most of the fight.

Zepeda won the final three rounds on my scorecards as the older and naturally smaller Alvarado began to wilt just enough too to allow Zepeda to slide by with a 96-94 win on my card.

One judge saw it the same as I did with the other two a wider 97-93 and too large 98-92 call.

A good victory for Zepeda and a strong effort from Alvarado, who showed in defeat that he still has a little left in his career.

Triller had been away from the fight game for a while but while their return may not have been pay-per-view worthy, there were two interesting fights headlining their show.

In the main event, former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returned to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez in 2019 and won a unanimous decision in his debut at cruiserweight over previously undefeated Olympic bronze medalist Tervel Pulev.

The cruiserweight version of Kovalev doesn't fight like the feared bomber that ruled the light heavyweight division and should have received the decision against Andre Ward in their first fight but instead is a more mobile boxer that uses the jab to control the action, much as he did to some success in his loss to Canelo Alvarez.

Kovalev looked good against Pulev with his new style which should protect what has become a shaky chin in his latter years with three of his four losses coming by knockout (Ward in their rematch, Eleider Alvarez and Canelo Alvarez) and despite Pulev moving forward throughout the fight, the Kovalev jab kept Pulev at bay and off-balance.

I scored Kovalev a 97-93 winner, which was the same as one judge with the other two scoring Kovalev a 98-92 winner.

Kovalev instantly becomes the biggest name in a division that rarely possesses stars and when they do have them, they don't stay long.

Kovalev is going to be small for the division and I wonder how his power will fare against the top two fighters in the division in IBF champion Mairis Bredis or WBO champion Lawrence Okolie but should he receive a title shot in the future, it'll be arguably the most interesting fight in the division other than a Briedis-Okolie unification bout.

Former heavyweight title challenger Kubrat Pulev won a unanimous decision over journeyman Jerry Forrest in an occasionally fun fight with Pulev taking over after four rounds against a competitive but worn-out Forrest.

Forrest was entering this bout off a controversial loss to Michael Hunter that most thought he deserved the decision but Pulev is a solid top 10/15 fighter that is overmatched against the elite of the division but is a class above the Jerry Forrest types.

I scored Pulev the winner 98-92 which agreed with one judge as the other two saw Pulev as a 99-91 winner.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 79 Pts (7)

Vince Samano: 69 Pts  (5)

Ramon Malpica: 67 Pts (5)