Tag Archives: Lightweight
HBO Boxing After Dark Results: Lomachenko and Verdejo Shine with Stunning Knockout Victories
HBO Boxing After Dark Results: Lomachenko and Verdejo Shine with Stunning Knockout Victories
By: William Holmes
The Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City has long been a venue to showcase upcoming boxers that are on the cusp of stardom.
Tonight was no different as Puerto Rican boxer Felix Verdejo and two time Olympic Gold Medalist Vasyl Lomachenko competed in two separate fights on the HBO televised portion of the card.
Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
The annual Puerto Rican Parade was held today and as is customary for Top Rank Promotions, they promoted a card that featured several fighters of Puerto Rican decent. Zou Shiming, Christopher Diaz, and Julian Rodriguez highlighted the undercard with easy wins against over matched opponents.
The first televised bout of the night was between Felix Verdejo (21-0) and Juan Jose Martinez (25-2) for the WBO Latino Lightweight Championship.
Verdejo, as expected, had most of the fans in attendance supporting him and was greeted warmly by the crowd.
Verdejo was sharp with his jab in the first round and the crowd was boisterous in their support of him. Both boxers showed good upper body movement in the first round, but Verdejo had the quicker hands and was able to move Martinez when he landed his jab.
Martinez was pushing forward in the second round, but was unable to get inside and land any effective punches. Verdejo was beginning to throw more combinations in the second round with moderate success.
Verdejo looked very sharp in the third round and was able to land some hard counter right hands. He was also able to open up a cut by the right eye of Martinez. Verdejo focused more to the body in the fourth round and
was able to out maneuver his opponent.
Verdejo employed his lead left hook as a counter in the fifth round to keep Martinez at bay. He badly hurt Martinez with a combination that ended with a right cross that sent him stumbling back towards the ropes. He unleashed a flurry of punches on Martinez, who did not throw any punches back, and forced the referee to jump in and stop it.
Felix Verdejo remained undefeated with a TKO stoppage win at 2:40 of the fifth round.
A touching tribute to Muhammad Ali was shown in between the end of the co-main event of the beginning of the main event, and it brought the crowd to it’s feet.
The main event of the night was between Roman “Rocky” Martinez (29-2-2) and Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1) for the WBO Junior Lightweight Championship.
Lomachenko was the favorite entering the bout and the crowd was evenly split between supporters of Lomachenko and supporters of Martinez. The theatre was extremely loud during the fighter introductions.
Lomachenko, a southpaw, was pressing the action in the opening round and was able to sneak in a few straight left hands. He was showing good head movement and Martinez was fighting while moving backwards in the opening round.
Martinez was able to land some good body shots and straight right hands in the second round, but Lomachenko’s amazing footwork was on full display in the second round as he was able to land combinations and quickly circle out of danger before Martinez could counter effectively.
Lomachenko’s superior footwork enabled him to land hard straight left hands and uppercuts in the third round, and he finished the round with a crisp straight left to the face of Martinez. Lomachenko’s dominance continued in the fourth round, except for this time his straight left hands were snapping the head of Martinez backwards.
Martinez pressed the action in the fifth round but Lomachenko made him pay dearly with a hard right hook that sent him to the mat and knocked him out.
Vasyl Lomachenko put on an amazing performance with a knockout at 1:09 of the fifth round.
Undercard Quick Results:
Juan Carlos Rivera (7-0) wins by TKO at 0:49 of the sixth round over Heriberto Delgado (11-5-1) in the featherweight division.
Michael Reed (19-0) defeated Abraham Cordero (13-3-1) in the super lightweight division by TKO at 2:29 of the sixth round.
Julian Rodriguez (13-0) defeated Adam Mate (18-10) in the welterweight division by first round TKO at 2:27.
Christopher Diaz (17-0) defeated Neftali Campos (11-2) by TKO in the featherweight division at 2:33 of the eighth round.
Jose Gonzalez (3-0-1) fought to a majority draw with Sean Acosta (0-2-1) by scores of 39-37 Gonzalez, 38-38 on the other two cards.
Zou Shiming (8-1) defeated Jozsef Ajtai (15-3) by decision with scores of 100-89 on all three scorecards for the WBO International Flyweight Championship.
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PBC on Spike Results: Barthelemy Defeats Bey by Split Decision, Rodriguez Decisions Guevara
PBC on Spike Results: Barthelemy Defeats Bey by Split Decision, Rodriguez Decisions Guevara
By: William Holmes
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida was the host site for tonight’s Premier Boxing Champions Card on Spike TV.
Mayweather Promotions in association with King’s Promotions and Panther Promotions put on tonight’s card.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Trapp/Mayweather Promotions/Premier Boxing Champions
The opening bout of the night was between Puerto Rican boxer Emmanuel Rodriguez (14-0) and Mexican fight Alberto “Metro” Guevara (24-2) in the bantamweight division.
Both boxers fought out of an orthodox stance Guevara attacked the body and had moderate success with his double left hook combination. Rodriguez was accurate with his straight right hand early on and was able to stagger Guevara with a left hook near the end of the round.
Guevara had a decent second round and out threw Rodriguez, but Rodriguez had the stronger shots and even took the body attacks of Guevara well.
Rodriguez picked up his pace in the third round and his left hook was stinging Guevara, and his counter punching continued to improve in the fourth and fifth rounds. The area near Guevara’s left eye was cut in the fifth round from a head butt and the blood appeared to bother him throughout the fight.
Rodriguez’s jab and pressure was just too much for Guevara to handle. Guevara was able to land some combinations, but he didn’t have the power to hurt Rodriguez, while Rodriguez’s straight right hand was able to effectively slow down and neutralize Guevara.
The final scores were 99-91, 100-90, and 99-91 for Rodriguez.
The second bout of the night was between middleweights Caleb Plant (12-0) and Carlos Galvan (12-4-1) in a short six round fight.
Plant has some moderate hype behind his name, and he looked in control in the opening round and looked like the bigger fighter inside the ring.
Plant however was in the ring with someone who never defeated an opponent with a winning record. Plant briefly had an offensive burst in the second round and did a lot of show boating after dodging punches in the third round, but some in the crowd started to boo his defensive style inside the ring.
Plant surprised everyone with a hard left hook to the body out of nowhere in the fourth round that sent Galvan to the mat for a full ten count.
Caleb Plant wins by knockout at 1:24 of the fourth round.
The main event of the evening was between Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (24-0) and Mickey Bey (22-1-1) for the IBF Lightweight Title.
Both boxers fought out of a conventional stance and Barthelemy established himself as the aggressor early on and attacked the body of Bey.
Barthelemy continued to control the bout in the second round and his reach was appearing to give Bey problems, until a head butt occurred in the second round that forced Barthelemy to fall to his knee. The referee, incorrectly, ruled it a knockdown.
The knockdown seemed to awaken Rances Barthelemy and he was extremely aggressive in the third and fourth rounds and pounded the body of Bey and kept his opponent moving backwards.
Bey was able to take control of the fifth round by sticking to his jab and popping and moving before Barthelemy could trap him. The sixth round could have gone either way, but Barthelemy was the aggressor.
Barthelemy did a good job at catching the punches Bey in the seventh round and was able to work around the jab of Bey. Barthelemy came on strong at the end of the eighth round and got his Cuban supporters in the crowd on it’s feet.
By the ninth round Bey was falling badly behind on the cards and by the championship rounds he needed a knockout to win.
That knockout didn’t come, and Bey was simply outworked by Barthelemy for the remainder of the fight.
The final scores were 117-110 Barthelemy, 117-110 Bey, and 116-111 Barthelemy.
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Jack Catterall with a Decision Win Over Joe Hughes in Bolton
Jack Catterall with a Decision Win Over Joe Hughes in Bolton
By: Stewart J. Lawrence
With a tough fight going the full 12 rounds, Joe Catterall wins easily, but has to work hard throughout the entire time.
Jack Catterall retained his WBO European & Intercontinental title, by defeating Joe Hughes in a fight that failed to live up to the hype that it was billed at. As is often the case with a southpaw vs. orthodox fighter, fighters fail to ‘gel’ and this was definitely the case. Catterall was technically the better fighter, but failed to find his range and rhythm, resulting in a messy fight.
The pace started slow, with Catterall putting together the better shots and doing enough to take the early rounds. Joe Hughes was trying to push the pace, having some success and taking the second round, but Catterall showing he is technically the better boxer and used that with his ring craft to frustrate Hughes and start a commanding lead on the judge’s cards. As the rounds grew, Catterall started to show why people (in the UK) are tipping the 22 year old to be future world champion. During the 10th Catterall looked tired with Hughes still fresh, and the man from Wiltshire tried putting it on Catterall, but he couldn’t make it count, and again in the 11th and 12th Catterall’s class shown through and he easily seen the rest of the fight out. Never being in any trouble.
Catterall took the fight on the judge’s scorecards 111-117, but this flattered Joe Hughes a little, but you can’t take anything away from the Wiltshire man. He pushed Catterall all the way, but Catterall was levels above.
A solid display, and a good win against a tough opponent.
Catterall is rank No4 by the WBO, but he is far from ready to face the likes of Crawford or anyone of that caliber. After the fight, Catterall praised his opponent stating; ‘He’s a tough fighter and doesn’t stop coming forward, but I was never in trouble in there, and I knew I had to just keep working and getting my shots off’. His promoter stated that they would be looking for the British title next and targeting Tyrone Nurse. When asked (Catterall) what he would like next, he said: ‘I’d like to cancel the holiday I have, and fight on 9th July card (Fury vs. Klitschko). Keeping myself busy’.
Tyrone Nurse is facing Willie Limond on the undercard of Ricky Burns. Either of then fighters would be a huge step up for Catterall and show the fighting community whether the hype about this young man is justified.
Which way the Nurse/Limond fight goes, either would be a tough fight and the Chorley man will have to show us he has what it takes to become the next best Super lightweight of British boxing.
