Boxing Challenge: Inoue forces surrender in seven

      The Monster claimed another meal in Tokyo Tuesday as undisputed world junior featherweight champion Naoya Inoue defended his four championships successfully as former IBF champion TJ Doheny was forced to surrender in round seven.

Doheny fought well as anyone could have hoped as he feinted against Inoue effectively, and landed his straight left, and I even thought he won the third round but Inoue started to whack away at the body of the Australian in the fifth and sixth and near the end of round six, Doheny was visibly shaken by a body punch.

Doheny was driven to the ropes with another body punch in the seventh that turned him around and he immediately indicated he was fine with the stoppage due to either an injury to his back or foot, perhaps even both.

This was about what was expected in the optional title defense and promoter Bob Arum stated the plans for Inoue to have one more fight before the end of 2024.

Inoue does have two mandatories coming up, so it's likely to be either the WBA's top contender in former WBA and IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev or the IBF's leading challenger in Australia's Sam Goodman.

The co-feature was an excellent fight as Yoshiki Takei scraped by former WBC flyweight Daigo Higa with a razor-close unanimous decision to retain his WBO bantamweight title.

Takei controlled the early rounds with Higa dominating late, including an eleventh-round flash knockdown of the champion but with the fight on the line Takei won the final round and with it the fight.

Scores for the champion of 115-112 and 114-113 times two with my score of 114-113 for Higa.

The fight was so close and well-fought, a rematch would make sense.

In an untelevised fight at junior lightweight, Andy Hiroka stopped veteran Ismael Barroso in the ninth round of a WBA eliminator.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 123 Pts (6)

TRS: 112 Pts (4)
Vince Samano: 65 Pts (5)

Boxing Challenge

    It's another early morning card from Japan as the undisputed world junior featherweight kind, "The Monster" Naoya Inoue makes another defense of his titles and arguable status as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

Inoue takes on an easier foe than he has been facing of late as he will meet former IBF champion TJ Doheny after recently dispatching Stephen Fulton, Marlon Tapales, and Luis Nery, all former champions who are of a higher quality than Doheny.

Doheny has been showcased as an eventual Inoue foe on recent Japan-based cards, winning three straight against average competition since losing a wide unanimous decision to countryman Sam Goodwin in Australia in 2023.

Doheny has never been stopped in his four losses, a statistic that will be tested against the powerful Inoue and that's about the only thing intriguing about this fight.

Still, champions are entitled to these fights once in a while, especially when they fight three or more times in a year, so I'm okay with this defense- as long as it doesn't become a habit! 

The WBO bantamweight title is at stake with champion Yoshiki Takei defending against Daigo Higa.

Takei impressively won his title with a unanimous decision over Jason Moloney in May, while Higa held the WBC flyweight title and was looked at as a star in the sport unless he was knocked out in an upset against Crisofer Rosales in 2018.

Higa is 6-1-1 and has never been the same dynamic force since losing to Rosales, so he's the clear underdog in this outing.

In an untelevised fight, Ismael Barroso meets Andy Hiraoka in a WBA junior welterweight eliminator.

Barroso, who was robbed of the WBA title with a ridiculous stoppage loss to Rolando Romero, then won a WBA minor title with a first-round KO of Ohara Davies in January, should be fighting for their full title but instead finds himself stuck in another eliminator.

The unbeaten Hiraoka is fighting his best opponent after fighting Pacific Region-level fighters throughout his career but has stopped eighteen of his twenty-three opponents.

Boxing Challenge

World Junior Featherweight Title 12 Rds 

Naoya Inoue vs TJ Doheny

Ramon Malpica: Inoue KO 7

TRS: Inoue KO 3
Vince Samano: Inoue KO 6

WBO Bantamweight Title,. 12 Rds

Yoshiki Takei vs Daigo Higa

All: Takei Unanimous Decision

Junior Welterweights. 12 Rds

Ismael Barroso vs Andy Hiraoka

R.L and V.S: Hiraoka Unanimous Decision

TRS: Barroso Unanimous Decision

Ohio State dispatches Akron 52-6

    Will Howard threw three touchdowns in his Buckeye debut, two of those to freshman Jeremiah Smith as the Ohio State Buckeyes survived early season jitters to cruise past the Akron Zips 52-6 in Columbus.

The Buckeye defense scored two touchdowns and sacked Akron quarterbacks five times.

Ohio State (1-0) will host Western Michigan, who gave Wisconsin a tough tussle in week one next Saturday night.

Olentangy Offerings

1) Freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has a chance to be the best receiver Ohio State has ever seen.

That's a lot from a program that recently had the likes of Marvin Harrison Jr and Chris Olave in their lineup.

2) Smith is starting as a freshman, which is nearly unheard of at a school with the talent that is consistently recruited to Columbus and the history of the program.

This guy will be here for three seasons and gone, enjoy him while you can.

3) And for the great performance, it could have been better on the second play, Will Howard hit Smith with a short pass that was open for a sixty-yard scoring play and Smith dropped the ball.

Bet that doesn't happen often over the next three years.

4) I know it's Akron but I see signs of a defense that could be dominant by the end of the season.

This team looks strong at every defensive position and it just might be the best in the nation as the season goes on.

5) Defensive player that I'm really going to like? Linebacker Arvell Reese.

Reese seems to be everywhere and I really was impressed with him in the win.

6) Will Howard started okay but picked up the pace in the second half.

I liked what I saw from the Kansas State transfer and I think OSU is going to be just fine.

These blowouts are harder to write when I didn't have the time to watch them in detail (watched at work), please remember that when they are shorter in brevity.

Boxing Challenge: Pacheco cracks Sulecki in six!

  Super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco continued his march to the top of the division with one hit to the body of Maciej Sulecki that ended their match in round six.

Pacheco was expected to try to impress after an average outing in his last win, a unanimous decision over Shawn McCalman and he did so by breaking down Sulecki gradually before the finisher.

Pacheco became the first to knock out Sulecki as his other defeats were by decision to Daniel Jacobs (Very close) and Demetrius Andrade (Very not so close) and while it is reasonable to wonder how shopworn Sulecki currently is, Sulecki made a good accounting for himself in the loss, especially early in the fight and in round four stunned Pacheco.

Pacheco hurt Sulecki at the end of round five and with a bit more time might have finished him then and there but had that occurred, we would have missed out on that paralyzing shot to the liver.

Pacheco is ranked number one in the WBO rankings and could face WBA/WBC/WBO champion Canelo Alvarez, should Alvarez decide to face him and announce his plans to fight once more before the end of 2024 against a "top ten" opponent.

Pacheco mentioned one possible foe in particular- the winner of the Jaime Munguia-Erik Bazinyan fight later this month.

I tend to doubt that promoter Eddie Hearn will take that risk with a mandated title shot at risk but it sounds nice.

Diego Pacheco seems to be the real deal and the only question that remains to be answered is one that has yet to be asked- can he take a wallop from a world-class puncher?

That answer will hopefully come soon enough.

Boxing Challenge

Ramon Malpica: 117 Pts (2)

TRS: 108 Pts (2) 

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (2)

Boxing Challenge

       It's a one-fight weekend in the boxing challenge as super middleweight contender Diego Pacheco continues his development against veteran Maciej Sulecki on a DAZN/Matchroom card from Carson, California.

Pacheco was devastating in his climb up the ladder but was just average in a unanimous decision over unbeaten but unknown Shawn McCalman in April.

Sulecki made a name for himself in 2016 when he lost a close decision to Daniel Jacobs but in his next name fight, he was floored several times and didn't win a round against Demetrius Andrade in 2019.

Since losing to Andrade, Sulecki has won four fights but none against contenders, and two of the four with losing records, so it's fair to consider how much Sulecki will bring to the ring against Pacheco.

Pacheco needs an impressive performance, and Sulecki needs at least a solid one to remain in the picture for main event fights.

Super Middleweights. 12 Rds 

Diego Pacheo vs Maciej Sulecki

Ramon Malpica: Pacheco KO 9
TRS: Pacheco KO 4

Vince Samano: Pacheco KO 3

PPM

     Last season, we decided to go with a younger actress (Peyton List) as the face of the PPM and for the 2024 season, we decided to go back to the past with Cheryl Ladd, who was the favorite of "Charlie's Angels" of a young me.

That holds up today (in my opinion), so needing to make a quick decision for the PPM, I decided to select Ms.Ladd.

There will be one change in the PPM as I will be moving from the Chargers (Will not root for a team with a Harbaugh) and selecting another NFL team for the PPM.

It will likely be a West Coast team but could also be a return to the Saints.

College

Ohio State over Akron 72-7

Texas Tech over Abilene Christian 45-17

N.C. State over Western Carolina 49-14

Bowling Green over Fordham 35-17

Arkansas over Arkansas Pine-Bluff 42-10

UTSA over Kennesaw State 34-16

Boise State over Georgia Southern 33-24

Oregon State over Idaho State 40-21

Middle Tennessee over Tennessee Tech 28-14

Games of the Week

Georgia over Clemson 35-21

West Virginia over Penn State 24-21

Road Trip: Pulsar, Hayburners and Leadbelly's

As we entered our final full day in Omaha, we decided to use our morning and early afternoon to visit Lincoln, Nebraska's capital city and home to the Cornhuskers.

Located about an hour west of Omaha, Lincoln was interesting with an antique mall to peruse and I had looked up a few interesting places to consider eating. 

On the drive, I saw the Platte Valley Antique Mall which I hadn't seen while researching and since it was literally off the interstate, we decided to stop.

I was glad I did as I found a few programs (Omaha Royals and a Nebraska-Oklahoma 1980 football) and saw a cool old pinball machine that I would have loved to have purchased!

Manufactured in 1951, Hayburners used a horse racing motif, and not only was it working, but it was recently cleaned and looked almost new!

It's the exact style of machine that I love with the old numbers that move plates as you score and a basic few bumpers system but reading the reviews of the game, it looks better than it would play and it was for the best that I didn't purchase (Like I was writing a three thousand dollar check and figuring out how to get it to Maryland anyway!).

The next stop was on the outskirts of Lincoln, and the main reason for the drive was the Aardvark Antique Mall.

Aardvark was large and had a large supply of items but I managed to hold off the impulse to buy Pulsar the Ultimate Man of Adventure (I had him as a kid and hadn't thought of him in years but this was the first of three times I would see Pulsar this summer) and escaped without spending anything!

We continued into Lincoln for a visit to Leadbelly's.

Located in the Haymarket district near Memorial Stadium, home of the Cornhuskers, there were several places to choose from to eat and a few shops as well, one of which Cherie stopped by to purchase a few items for herself and others.

Leadbelly's had a 1930s-style speakeasy feel to it and it wasn't overly busy for a weekday lunchtime visit, which added to our enjoyment as we could talk and not have to shout over others.

We decided to have a little bit of a few things as we split a bacon cheeseburger, and ordered two appetizers to share- some delicious orange chicken poppers and some stadium nachos.

Everything was great, and we certainly enjoyed our time at Leadbelly's.

After driving back to our hotel for a little downtime, it was time for the hardest part of the trip.

We met Ryan and his family at the Greek Islands, a favorite of theirs and a place that plays to the theatrical as they do things like lighting a hot plate in front of you as part of the show.

I really wasn't that hungry after Leadbelly's so I ordered a sandwich and that was all that I ate.

It was good, but I wasn't up for eating too much.

After our goodbyes, which were far harder than I expected, it was quiet in the vehicle.

Surprisingly, I was thinking of my parents and events of over thirty years before.

You see, anyone who knows me well knows that I always wanted to return to raise my family in Ohio and for various reasons, that never was able to happen.

My parents never wanted us to leave and while that was understandable, I felt that they could have been more supportive, and had they done so, I might have been able to pull the move off.

Yet years later, while I'm preparing to say goodbye to my son ( and Nebraska is much farther away than Ohio for the geographically challenged), I found myself thinking of those times and perhaps empathizing a bit with their plight.

After all, they didn't want to lose their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson (most of this was before Rachel was born) either, and maybe they thought they were doing the right thing.

That's what I was thinking and I'm still torn but in the end, I don't think ( not that I could) I'd try to stand in anyone's way or guilt trip them before or after the decision.

In the end, I think everyone would like to have their family close by, but life takes all of us in different directions and while I miss my son ( and my new family), I don't think it would be fair to put my wishes above what is best for either of my children.

All of that said, it's not easy leaving them behind and I'm not sure that it ever will be easy nor should it be.

If it were easy, I'd wonder how much one would really care.

We finish up the series next time with the drive home and the stops on the way!