Live from Las Vegas. Updating as results become official. Main card on Paramount+, ring walk estimates: Magsayo-Cortes 8:16 pm ET, Vanhouter-Akpejiori 9 pm, Opetaia-Mikaelian 9:55 pm, Garcia-Benn 10:50 pm.
Main card
Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn, WBC welterweight title. Awaiting. Both made weight Friday, Benn at 146 after 1,610 days, Garcia lighter still at 145.5.
Jai Opetaia vs. Noel Mikaelian, Ring and Zuffa cruiserweight titles, plus the WBA regular title, announced as at stake in a late twist. The fight survived Don King’s cease-and-desist, proceeds without WBC sanction, and now carries a belt from the WBA, one of the four bodies named in Opetaia’s federal lawsuit. Awaiting.
Raphael Akpejiori vs. Da’Mazion Vanhouter, heavyweights. Awaiting.
Mark Magsayo vs. Andres Cortes, lightweights. Awaiting.
Prelims
Pablo Rubio vs. Oswaldo Molina. In progress, result to come.
Abel Gonzalez UD8 Raul Salomon (77-74, 77-74, 77-74). The unbeaten super middleweight hit the canvas from a right hook in the final thirty seconds of the opening round, then took the fight over completely, dodging Salomon’s power and walking him onto clean counters for seven rounds. Gonzalez moves to 9-0 and spent his post-fight interview calling for Richardson Hitchins, Devin Haney, or the winner of the main event, ambition not lacking.
Vlad Panin TKO4 Dakota Linger (1:22). Panin (25-2) turned the biggest stage of his career into a six-and-a-half-minute statement, and the New York club circuit veteran never gave Linger (17-8-3) a moment to settle. A left hook to the body hurt Linger in the final thirty seconds of the opening round, a right uppercut lifted his chin as he tried to cover, and by the second round the referee was telling Linger directly that he had to show him something. He couldn’t. The beatdown continued to the head and body until back-to-back clean combinations in the fourth forced the referee to step in and wave it off at 1:22 with Linger absorbing a barrage on the ropes. The Belarus-born banger who stopped the previously unstoppable Shinard Bunch on the way here now has a signature win on the biggest boxing card of the year.
Alexis Rocha UD10 Jose Ramirez (98-91, 98-91, 97-92). A legitimate war with a disputed ending on two fronts. Rocha (27-2-1, 16 KOs) conceded the early rounds to Ramirez’s experience and craft, then raised his output through the middle of the fight and took the action to the former unified 140-pound champion. A ninth-round clash of heads left Rocha cut and bleeding, and after the doctor cleared him he came storming back, with Ramirez ruled down moments later on a call the veteran protested immediately. The knockdown went to replay review and stood. Both men emptied out in a tremendous tenth. Then the cards were read, and 98-91 twice for a fight this competitive raised eyebrows across ringside, with at least one media scorecard having Ramirez winning 95-94. The right storylines are still true: Rocha’s ceiling question got its best answer yet, and Ramirez (29-4), now a three-fight loser at 34, faces the crossroads no fighter outruns. But the width of those cards will be argued about longer than the fight lasted.
Sean Garcia MD6 Abraham Morales (56-56, 58-54, 58-54). The champion’s younger brother opened the family’s evening by weathering Morales’ nonstop pressure, then making him pay for it late in the third with a counter left hook, the Garcia household’s signature weapon, for a knockdown. A harsh-looking point deduction in the fifth handed Morales (4-2) his best round and a path back into the fight, but Garcia (8-1-1) boxed cleanly through the sixth to bank the majority decision. One judge’s 56-56 card was the only drama on the scorecards.
