Tag Archives: recap

Posted on 09/13/2018

By: Sean Crose

The Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas hosted a card of boxing that was aired live on various ESPN affiliates on Thursday night. The card began with 12-2 Maricela Cornejo facing the 3-1 Franchon Crews Dezurn for the WBC Female Super Featherweight title. Cornejo, who signed with Golden Boy Promotions in 2017, fought to keep range and tie up her foe during the first portion of the bout. Dezurn, however, kept pressing the attack. Cornejo held her own through the middle rounds, but Dezurn continued to relentlessly attack. Even in the later rounds, things stayed effectively the same. Dezurn came forward while Cornejo employed footwork and attempted to hold her opponent off with her jab.

In the end, the judges rewarded Dezurn’s aggression with the WBC belt, via majority decision.

The main event featured undefeated Kazach Ruslan Madyiez (12-0) against Pablo Cesar Cano (30-7-1) in a junior welterweight 10 rounder. Cano came out aggressively against the up and comer. Madyiez, on the other hand, decided early on to remain patient, to employ his footwork, and to pick his shots. The second round essentially offered more of the same. The question started to arise as to whether (or when) Madyiez’ more deliberate strategy would begin paying off. Cano kept up the pressure in the third, but Madyiez was able to land clean at times. Unfortunately for Cano, a head butt bloodied his face up at round’s end.

Cano tossed a terrific combination at the start of the fourth, leaving the impression that, if the man could hit harder, he could have had his opponent in real trouble. The fifth showed more of the same. The active Cano was starting to make it seem as if Madyiez’ patience was betraying him. Then, however, Madyiez rocked his man hard at the end of the round. It was an accidental butt, though, that truly damaged Cano’s face at round’s end. So serious was the cut that the fight was stopped. Maydiez was at first given a TKO victory, even though Cano’s savage gash may well have come from the butt, which had occurred just before Maydiez landed the shot that rocked Cano.

After reviewing the tape, the officials decided that the cut did indeed open with the head butt, rather than the punch. This led to the fight going to the cards…and Cano winning a unanimous decision victory. Cano’s activity and work rate had paid off.

In a walkout bout afterwards, Raul Curiel, 4-0, engaged in a scheduled 6 rounder with fellow welterweight Ryan Pino, 8-2. Curiel walked away with a UD win.

Posted on 08/18/2018

By: Oliver McManus

Up in Windsor Park in front of a raucous crowd of 25,000 – all out in support of their hometown hero – Carl Frampton completed a lifelong dream in competing at the home of the Northern Irish football team and, in doing so, stamped his authority all over the featherweight scene thanks to a convincing win over Luke Jackson.

Jackson, 16-0 before the fight, came into the fight with the heavy tag of underdog and despite this was determined to put in a performance to be proud of. Frampton meanwhile was cautious not to overlook the Australian but was steadfast in his belief that there bigger things lay visible on the horizon.

Dusk was settling over the skies of Belfast when the first bell rang and the fight kicked off with Carl Frampton taking to the centre of the ring and lurching out with a pawing left hand to signal his intentions – a swift right hand marked out the early danger, pushing Jackson onto the ropes momentarily within the opening minute.

Jackson, from a crouched stance, leaned in with left hands of his own but offered relatively little in way of genuine threat throughout the, admittedly quiet, opening rounds but the attacking mind set of Frampton was, undoubtedly, enough to notch up the rounds on the scorecards.

A rhythm was found with a consummate ease by The Jackal as he rocked back on forth on his toes, taking his time before offering up some solid body shots, moving with grace, crisp on his feet and displaying the technical ability and footwork that has seen him claim so much glory in the past.

Frampton was able to put Jackson near the red without having to break out of stride or launch any particularly vicious flurries – all he had to do was stay busy, stay present and that seemed to be enough to make life uncomfortable for the Australian challenger.

Big right hands, chipping uppercuts and solid hooks rendered a stiffness in the legs of Jackson and a left hand caught the right hand side of the Aussie – whilst he was off balance – to wobble his man and Jackson was being outworked in all departments, the work rate of Frampton was superior as he moved through the motions and the uppercut of Frampton proved to be a crucial punch throughout the contest before he dropped down to target the body.

Moving into the second third of the contest and much of the same followed with Frampton working the angles against a game, gutsy Luke Jackson who wasn’t looking particularly hurt but, equally, wasn’t really offering much in terms of counter punches.

Jackson, a Commonwealth bronze medallist was trying to attack, trying to find the body of Frampton but he failed to find any regularity with his punches, looking sluggish on his feet and half-hearted with the hands.

A solid sequence of punches in the fifth round signalled the start of the end for Jackson with Frampton starting to tee off, hammering the body of Jackson with alarming consistency and power, uppercuts snapping the head back of his counterpart and, to put it simply, looking a class above the challenger.

Having declared prefight that he wanted to secure a knockout victory there was a definite change in tempo at the halfway mark from Carl Frampton but with that brought a renewed vitality from Jackson who began to throw punches with the full swivel of his body – nothing Frampton couldn’t handle, mind.

With the Australian tiring yet continuing to show heart throughout each round, he began to wander more into range of Frampton who set about making him pay with repeated shots to the body and as the rain came cascading down onto the ring, Frampton’s shots continued to cascade towards his gritty opponent.

Looking in ferocious shape, Frampton started to piece combinations together and sent a beautiful uppercut followed by sickening shot to the livers of Luke Jackson, dropping him towards the end of the eight and with blood in the water, it was time for The Jackal to set finishing the fight off once and for all.

Holding on groggily, Frampton continued to target the body of Jackson with his shots now packing extra venom, extra power, shot after shot towards the big cage of Jackson were causing visible pain and it was only a matter of time before the Australian was pulled out by his corner – so it came, with 1 minute and 21 still left on the clock of the ninth round.

Next stop? Josh Warrington for the IBF Featherweight title of the world.

On the undercard of such a memorable occasion featured Tyson Fury, lineal heavyweight champion, in his second contest since returning from his much-publicised layoff and he was up against, two time world title challenger, Francesco Pianeta.

Underwhelmed sighs greeted the announcement of his opponent but, since then, the near-inevitable showdown with Deontay Wilder towards the backend of this year has seen the spice factor significantly raised and excitement abound.

He had to get the job done first, though, in Belfast and was set about doing his business without the showboating that blighted his encounter with Sefer Seferi and weighing in at 18st 6lbs he looked the real deal and incredibly nimble.

Pianeta came into the first round with an incredible ferocioty and pace to the encounter, showering shots in towards Fury but the Tyson merely swivelled his hips, weaved his head and avoided the punches without blinking an eye.

Looking cool and comfortable the mobile figure of Fury was able to bounce around the ring, establishing a convincing jab with his long levers against an opponent who, actually, came to fight and spring a surprise.

Controlling the pace of the bout with ease it was all about Tyson Fury and with Deontay Wilder in attendance, Fury looked like sending a statement to him and the Belfast crowd.

Firing shots in with a snap of the wrist, Fury looked fast, looked comfortable and, more importantly, looked happy to be in the ring and happy with his performance. Taking it vastly more serious than his contest in Seferi, this was the Tyson Fury of old and he found his range quickly, looping in shots round the guard and exploiting the, perhaps, over-eagerness of Pianeta.

Switching stances from time to time, Fury was free flowing and quick on his feet. Elusive in his movement it was clear to see who the superior fighter was and Tyson always looked like his reflexes were one step faster than Pianeta, making the German-Italian miss by a good few inches whilst staying alert throughout the full duration of each round.

Each round seemed to follow the same sort of theme with Pianeta looking to be brute in his manner of fighting whilst Fury nullified the sting with cultured and classy movement, a cat and mouse sort of game, controlling the contest with complete and utter ease, never looking fazed and, frankly, never looking out of second gear.

Taking each round on the scorecard of Steve Gray to win the contest by 100-90 the fight didn’t produce the explosive knockout that many were expecting but it did provide crucial rounds in the bank for Tyson with his world title challenge confirmed shortly after the fight – this may not have been the exact outcome that we wanted but, certainly, it was a performance that we needed and proved, beyond doubt, that, yeah, Tyson Fury is back.

Deontay Wilder will be next – in November or December – and to use Dillian Whyte’s words, “Wilder, let’s go baby, LET’S GO!!!”.

As always, then, boxing and Belfast just seems to be that magical combination that works each and every time.

Posted on 06/30/2018

By: Ken Hissner

Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions went south of the border Friday at the Grand Oasis Arena, in Cancun, over ESPN.

In the Main Event “Speedy” Rashidi Ellis, 20-0 (13), of Lynn, MASS, won a lopsided decision over southpaw Alberto “Metralleta” Mosquera, 25-4-2 (16), of Panama City, PAN, over 10 rounds.

Photo Credit: Rashidi Ellis Facebook Account

In the first round Ellis was throwing and landing more punches as Mosquera was on the defense for the most part landing few punches. In the second round Mosquera comes out throwing punches with Ellis countering while backing up. It was a close round that could have gone either way. Mosquera did better but was it enough?

In the third round Ellis is countering well with lead rights to the chin of Mosquera. Mosquera continues to force the action but is catching as much as he has landed. Mosquera was warned twice for low blows by referee Florinto Lopez. In the fourth round in another close one Ellis countered well though not with the power of Mosquera who seemed to get out worked.

In the fifth round Ellis continues to show faster hands as Mosquera was walking into many punches. During the round the corner of Mosquera yells to “go to the body!” He replied “I’m trying but he won’t let me!” It was a big round for Ellis. In the sixth round Ellis landed an obvious low blow with referee Lopez warning him while giving Mosquera a minute rest. Ellis landed a flurry prior to the bell.

In the seventh round Mosquera continued to come forward throwing few punches getting countered well by Ellis. Mosquera has bleed from the mouth and suffered a small cut on his left cheek. In the eighth round Ellis dished out a beating to the exhausted Mosquera.

In the ninth round Ellis landed a very low blow and got a point deducted from referee Lopez. Ellis comes back again outworking Mosquera. In the tenth and final round a tired Mosquera wrestled Ellis to the canvas. Ellis came right back and easily out punched Mosquera the rest of the round.

The scores were 97-92, 98-91 twice while this writer had it 98-91.

In the co-feature super bantamweight Francisco “Panchito” Horta, 18-3-1 (10), of Cancun, Mexico, won an exciting decision over the former WBC Silver champion David “Zamorita” Reyes, 17-4-1 (6), of Sonora, MEX, over 8 rounds.

In the first round both fighters mixed it up well with neither having a solid edge in a “you pick em round!” In the second round Reyes continues to force the fight occasionally being caught by a Horta counter right uppercut to the chin. Horta landed a solid counter righ to the chin of the aggressive Reyes. Both were landing punches in bunches at the bell.

In the third round Reyes has out punched the local favorite Horta. Reyes keeps the pressure on Horta who counters well but not landing as much. In the fourth round while mixing it up Horta intentionally head butted Reyes and it cost Horta a point. At the end of the round Horta through a flurry of solid punches rocking Reyes.

In the fifth round Horta landed a solid right to the chin of Reyes stopping him in his tracks early in the round. Horta has decided to occasionally stand in and fight landed hard right hands to the chin of Reyes. A right counter right from Horta to the chin of Reyes had his knees buckled just prior to the bell. In the sixth round Horta started the round standing in slugging it out with Reyes rocking him with right hands to the chin. Then Horta started moving around the ring again. Reyes punches haven’t been as numerous in this round.

In the seventh round Reyes is back being the aggressor being countered by Horta. In the final minute of the round both were in a heated exchange. In the eighth and final round Reyes continues chasing Horta and lands an overhand right to the head of Horta. Horta comes back landing heavy punches to the head of Reyes. Reyes had his mouth open for the past two round breathing heavy but still game. Horta finished strong in a war of a last round.

Scores were 79-72, 78-73 and 80-72. This writer had it 79-72.

Featherweight Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez, 10-1 (10), of Sinaloa, MEX, was upset by Hiram Gallardo, 7-2-2 (1), of Chetumal, MEX, over 6 rounds.

In the first round Nunez comes out looking for his eleventh straight knockout. Gallardo continued to move around the ring landing an occasional lead right to the chin of Nunez. The first round was entertaining. In the second round the light hitting Gallardo has landed his share of right hands to the head of Nunez with little effect. At the end of the round Nunez landed four border line punches of which a few may have gone low.

In the third round the referee Lauro Sanchez took a point from Nunez for a low blow. A right to the body from Nunez staggered Gallardo who fought back as best he could. In the fourth round Nunez continues to work the body of Gallardo and is warned by the referee for a low blow. Gallardo lands a flurry of punches before Nunez fights back. The referee stops the action warning Nunez of yet another low blow without taking an earned point away from him. There was a third warning to Nunez from the referee for a low blow prior to the bell.

In the fifth round Nunez continues to land heavy punches to the body and head of Gallardo who has taken most of them well. Nunez countered Gallardo with a solid left hook to the chin. Gallardo came back with a right uppercut to the chin of Nunez. Gallardo continues to show plenty of heart mixing it up with the harder punching Nunez.

In the sixth and final round Nunez continues going to body and head trying for the knockout as Gallardo continues fighting back. Both were throwing punches at the bell to the delight of the crowd.

Scores were 57-56 twice and 58-55 for Gallardo as this writer had it 57-55 Nunez. For Gallardo it was his third win over an unbeaten opponent.

Posted on 06/16/2018

 

By: William Holmes

 

Errol Spence Jr., the man many consider to be the top welterweight in the world, returned to his home state of Texas in Frisco at the Ford Center to defend his IBF Welterweight Title against his mandatory challenger.   The Dallas Cowboys Organization strongly supported Errol Spence’s return to his hometown. 

 

The opening bout of the night was between Javier Fortuna (33-2-1) and Adrian Granados (18-6-2) in the super lightweight division. 

Photo Credit: Showtime Boxing Twitter Account

 

Fortuna was former champion in the super featherweight division and is fighting up to two weight classes higher than he normally does.  Granados had both a reach and height advantage and it was obvious in the ring. 

 

Grandaos was on the attack early on and landing shots to the body.  Fortuna was sharp with his straight left hands and was landing the cleaner shots early on.  Fortuna continued to land the cleaner punches in the second round but Granados was using his size to push around Fortuna.

 

Granados had a good third round and again was using his size to his advantage.  Fortuna lost two points this fight for holding, but those points may have been taken away too early.

 

The fight came to a sudden end in the fourth round when Fortuna was pushed out the ring in between the ropes and may have hit his head on the ring steps on equipment outside.  They had to place his neck in a brace and get a stretcher to take him to be evaluated.

 

The official result of the fight was a no decision due to a fighter getting hurt before the end of the fourth round.  The fight was stopped at 2:50 of the fourth round. 

 

The next bout of the night was between Daniel Roman (24-2-1) and Moises Flores (25-0) for the WBA Super Bantamweight Title. 

 

Flores came in overweight at the weigh ins and looked like the significantly bigger man in the ring.  Flores was swinging wildly and wide early on and Roman appeared to be more settled.  Roman highlighted the opening round with a good lead right hand left uppercut combination. 

 

Roman was focusing to the body for most of the fight and was doubling his left hooks and uppercuts in the second and third round. 

 

Flores kept coming forward in the fourth and fifth rounds, but Roman’s counters were finding his target while he was able to side step around his oncoming opponent.  Most of Flores punches bounced off the shoulders and guard of Roman in the sixth round, but he had a good seventh round and may have stolen it.

 

By the ninth round both boxers had thrown over 1000 punches combined but Roman was landing at a higher clip Roman was lighter on his feet in the tenth round and his body shots had slowed Flores down tremendously.

 

Flores needed a knockout in the final round to pull out a victory, but he didn’t have enough energy to seriously threaten Roman.

 

The final scores were 116-112, 118-110, and 120-108 for Danny Roman.

 

The main event of the evening was between Errol Spence Jr. (23-0) and Carlos Ocampo (22-0) for the IBF Welterweight Title. 

 

This was the first world title fight for Ocampo against the highly talented southpaw Errol Spence.  Spence slowly inched forward in the opening stanza and took some surprisingly good body shots from Ocampo.  Spence was able to land a good straight left to the chin of Ocampo that slowed him down momentarily, but Ocampo was making a good showing of himself early on. 

 

With time running out in the first Errol Spence landed two blistering hooks to the body of Ocampo that immediately dropped him to his knees.

 

Ocampo was unable to get up before the count of ten.

 

Errol Spence wins by knockout with one second left in the first round.

 

Posted on 06/09/2018

By: Sean Crose

The Jeff Horn-Terence Crawford card on ESPN+ began at 9:30 PM Eastern Standard Time live from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night as the 23-1-0 Jose Pedraza faced the 23-2 Antonio Moran for the WBO Latino Lightweight Title. The first few rounds of the bout made for an exciting, see-saw affair, as both men fought energetically and with aggresion. Yet Moran got his nose busted, a war wound that got to look quite ugly as the fight wore on.

Photo Credit: Top Rank Boxing Twitter Account

There ended up being no stoppage. There wasn’t a knockdown to be found throughout the bout, either. It proved to be an entertaining match, though. Moran never gave up. Pedraza was simply stronger and was able to put his puches together better. Ultimately, Pedraza also proved to be the more energetic fighter as the bout wore on. The Puerto Rican ended up with the unanimous decision win and WBO Latino Lightweight Strap.

It was time for the main event. The 32-0 Crawford stepped into the ring favored to beat the 18-0-1 Horn, even though Horn was the WBO World Welterweight Champion and had won that title by besting the great Manny Pacquiao – albeit by a highly controversial decision. For Crawford entered the weekend widely regarded as one of the best practitioners in the entire sport. He might have been moving up in weight to face Horn, but it was Crawford who boxing’s writers and analysts expected to walk away with the victory.

Crawford tagged his man early in the first. Yet Horn tagged Crawford clean a moment later. Crawford, however, landed the cleaner, more effective punches throughout. Crawford landed a hard left to the body in the second and then started to pick up the pace. Horn, however, was tough and kept moving forward. Crawford began the third landing clean, though Horn was able to land clean himself. Crawford, however, was landing the better shots more frequently. The man from Nebraska was really starting to go to work.

Horn kept being a warrior in the fourth, but it appeared that he was being outclassed as the first third of the bout ended. The man did, however, have a good moment in the fifth, when he got Crawford against the ropes. Horn tried to play rough and got a warning from referee Robert Byrd. Crawford then physically rough housed Horn. It had become a one sided affair. By the midway point of the fight, Crawford was continuing to beat his man up.

One thing had to be said for Horn – the man was as rough and as brave as they came. At no point through the first seven rounds (which must have been gruelling for the man) did the champion give up or cease to fight with incredible heart. It simply didn’t matter, though. Crawford was simply far too skilled. And still, Horn kept fighting on, trying to land, trying to muscle his man around. It was to little avail. Crawford kept dominating.

Crawford exploded late in the eighth, causing his man to stumble. In fact, Horn came very close to hitting the canvas. The brutality continued through the ninth – where Horn finally went down. The champion got back up, but Crawford went right back to work and referee Robert Byrd steped in and stopped the fight.

Posted on 05/27/2018

By: Sean Crose

Fresno State in California offered some boxing from the 115 pound realm on Saturday. The 29-1-1 Jerwin Ancajas battled the 14-3 Jonas Sultan for the IBF word super flyweight title. On the undercard, the 23-0 Khalid Yafai faced off against the 21-5-5 David Carmona for Yafai’s WBA super flyweight title. The fights were aired live on ESPN+, ESPNs new streaming platform from which the network hopes will spawn big things.

The night opened with Yafai and Carmona. Before the bout, Carmona had expressed his waning interest in the sport of boxing to the ESPN team. Still, the man fought his heart out in what proved to be an exciting affair. Yafai dropped his man in the first, but Carmona got off the mat and actually seemed to hurt the champion himself before the bell rang to end the round.

Yafai resumed control, but Carmona simply was not going to allow the Englishman to have an easy night’s work. After being dropped again in the fourth and once more in the fifth, it was obvious that Yafai was the dominant fighter. Carmona kept things exciting, though, and at no point in the bout did it seem like Yafai was blithely walking away with things. Ultimately, Carmona’s corner stopped the bout in between the seventh and eight rounds, apparently convinced that their man had simply had enough. There was no mistaking, though, that Carmona had made a good showing of himself throughout the fight.

It was time for the main event. This match, for the IBF strap, was between two Filipinos who entered the ring looking and acting more like gentlemen than they did contemporary showboating athletes. Ancajas, the champion, was entering the fight with the reputation of being the more polished fighter of the two, while the challenger Sultan was known to be aggressive and entertaining. Both men lived up to their reputations. The crowd may have booed at times for the match not being a slugfest, but discerning fans saw a lot to appreciate in the skill set of Ancajas, who worked an effective jab and kept his distance throughout the fight.

Sultan had certainly come to win and he did, in fact, have his moments. Those moments were too few and far between, however, and Ancajas walked away with a one sided decision victory. The fact that Ancajas was able to dominate as he did was a credit to the man’s craftsmanship. The defending champion simply never allowed Sultan to get into the match with any kind of regularity.

Posted on 05/20/2018

By: William Holmes

Showtime has shown no signs of slowing down in putting on competitive fights with a split site double header on their Showtime World Championship Boxing telecast.

The opening bout of the night was between Gary Russell Jr. (28-1) and Joseph Diaz (26-0) for the WBC Featherweight Title. This bout took place at The Theater at the MGM Grand National Harbor in Maryland.

Joseph Diaz entered the ring first and Russell second to a much louder ovation.

Photo Credit: Showtime Boxing Twitter Account

Both boxers were southpaws and Diaz looked like the bigger fighter, but Russell established early on that he had the better hand speed. He was active with his jab in the opening round and had a strong start to the fight.

Russell continued with his jab in the early parts of the second round, but Diaz had some moderate success to the body and ended the round strong.

The third round was a closer round, but it looked like Diaz was willing to take a few punches from Russell in order to land one punch of his own. Diaz ended the round with two good straight left hands.

Diaz kept a high guard in the fourth and fifth rounds but Russell landed the higher volume of punches while Diaz landed the harder shots to the body. Diaz had a strong fifth round, but Russell came back in the sixth round with his active jab and high volume output.

Russell was the first man to throw and land in the seventh and eighth rounds and looked like he was beginning to walk away with the fight. Russell hand speed was on full display in the ninth round as Diaz was simply not throwing enough punches.

Diaz had a better tenth round and took more risks than earlier rounds, but was also countered more often by the faster Russell.

The final two rounds featured several fierce exchanges, and Russell looked like he was beginning to fade a little bit in the last round, but Diaz wasn’t able to do enough to get a stoppage.
The Judges scored the fight 115-113, 117-111, and 117-111.

The last fight televised by Showtime was a WBC Light Heavyweight Title Fight between Champion Adonis Stevenson (29-1) and challenger Badou Jack (22-1-2) at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Stevenson, a southpaw, and Jack, fighting out of an orthodox stance, had spent the better part of two rounds feeling each other out and tried to find their range. Stevenson was able to land some straight left hands in the second and was more active in the third, but Jack was able to land some counters in the third round.

Photo Credit: Showtime Boxing Twitter Account

Jack was able to fire off his punches first in the fourth round but took a good left uppercut from Stevenson with about thirty seconds left. Stevenson was the aggressor in the fifth and sixth rounds while Jack fought mainly out of a tight high guard. Jack was warned for a low blow at the end of the sixth round.

Jack started to come forward in the seventh round and hurt Stevenson with a short right hand followed up by combinations. Jack was snapping the head of Stevenson in the seventh with his uppercuts, but he was warned for a low blow again at the end of the round.

Jack opened up the eighth round with another low blow and Adonis Stevenson was given time to recover. Jack followed up with short right hooks and uppercuts and was able to bust open the nose of Badou jack.

Jack looked like the fresher fighter in the ninth round and had Stevenson stumbling at one point. Stevenson was able to come back and have a strong tenth round when he hurt Jack with a body shot and had Jack peddling backwards.

Stevenson pressed the pace early on in the eleventh round and had Jack in full retreat, but he tired in the middle of the round and Jack re-established dominance in the ring.

Both boxers were able to land some good shots in the final round, but Jack ended the fight strong with a hard combination as the final bell rang.

The judges scored the bout 114-114, 115-113 Jack, 114-114 for a majority draw.

Adonis Steven retains the title with a draw.

Posted on 05/19/2018

By: Sean Crose

In the raucous cauldron of Elland Road, hometown favourite, Josh Warrington became the new IBF featherweight champion, and Leeds’ first boxing world champion after earning a split decision over ‘Lighting’ Lee Selby.

From the first bell the crowd bayed for blood, and that’s exactly what they got as, within the first two rounds Lee Selby sustained a cut to his left eye, from what the crowd presumed to be a head clash, though it didn’t seem to deter the Welsh champion from taking the centre of the ring.

Photo Credit: BoxNation Twitter Account

Selby was fighting well from distance through 4 but seemed unable to react when Warrington rushed in and fired off combinations that threw the Welshman off his stride. By the 5th round, Selby’s face was streaming with blood, but the heavily favoured Warrington crowd were loving it, as Josh landed the crowd-pleasing punches, and began to gather momentum both psychologically and physically.

Into the middle rounds, and Warrington began to dominate, but the question remained over whether the Leeds native had the power to take Selby out. The IBF champion seemed so unable to avoid Warrington’s hooks. Time and time again ‘Lighting’ Lee looked dominant from a distance but as soon as Josh piled on the pressure, there was nowhere to hide for the Welshman as he struggled to dodge the attack coming his way.

The championship rounds were upon us in what seemed like fleeting moments, this was a featherweight classic, as both fighters seemed to be going hell for leather through rounds 9 & 10. By now, Selby’s right eye was cut along with his left.

In some cases, a boxer’s face post-fight doesn’t adequately tell the story, in this case however, it probably did. Warrington began to take control over ‘Lightening’ Lee through 10, 11 & 12, though not without a fight from Selby, but it proved not enough.

The scorecards came back as, 113-115 Selby, 116-112, 115-113 Warrington, and a new featherweight champion was crowned.

Selby understandably made a quick exit from the stadium post-fight, but Warrington was more than happy to talk about tonight’s bout, and the battles to come,
‘I’ve been doubted for a very long time…I’ve always been confident throughout the build-up of this fight. Press conferences, open workouts, I’ve always massively believed I’ve had this fight won…As soon as I got into the venue tonight, it all lifted.’

‘I was doubted at English level, I was doubted at British level…I haven’t got punching power, I haven’t got the speed, I haven’t got the boxing intelligence, but I’ve just out boxed and outfought and outsmarted a brilliant champion in Lee Selby.’

When asked about future fights, the new IBF champion wasn’t shy in mentioning Frampton in his plans,

‘Carl Frampton keeps on getting mentioned but Windsor Park might be a little bit too soon. I wouldn’t mind going back to the (First Direct) Arena and defend this baby, and then possibly see about fighting Carl after that.’

Jack Catterall vs Christopher Sebire

In what would’ve been the headline act of the undercard, if it hadn’t of ended so early, Jack Catterall continued his momentum by earning a technical knockout over Christopher Sebire.

Sebire weighed 2lbs over the limit going into the bout, but it made no difference to ‘El Gato’ as he went in for the kill as the first bell tolled. The Frenchman was knocked down by a precise left-hand straight from Catterall, and he stayed down from then on. Sebire complained of an injured shoulder, but even if true, he wanted nothing to do with the British super lightweight.

Catterall now moves on to bigger and better fights. Domestically, many fans are calling for an Ohara Davies vs ‘El Gato’ matchup, which would see how far Catterall is from the best of the British super lightweights, Josh Taylor.

Nicola Adams vs Soledad del Valle Frias

In her first scheduled 10-rounder, Nicola Adams made lightwork of three-time world title challenger, and now, 13-12-4, Soledad del Valle Frias.

As expected, Nicola dominated from the first bell and looked to impress her home crowd of Leeds fans immediately, though her body shot KO came just before the end of the 1st round and left a number of the crowd confused as to whether the fight had ended or not.

It turned out it had, as the referee waved away Valle Frias, and opened the door for Adams to challenge the likes of current super flyweight champions, Linda Luca, Guadalupe Guzman, Debora Dionicius, or the German based, Raja Amasheh.

Posted on 05/18/2018

By: Ken Hissner

At the Fantasy Springs Casino, Indio, CA, Thursday night over ESPN Oscar de La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions put on a five fight card.

In the Main Event Lightweight Romero “Ruthless” Duno, 17-1 (14), of General Santos City, Philippines, living in L.A. defeated Gilberto “El Flaco” Gonzalez, 26-5 (22), of Mexico City, MEX, in an all action 10 rounds.

Photo Credit: Golden Boy Boxing Twitter Account

In the first round it was all Gonzalez who switched to southpaw after half a minute. Duno was pressing and finally landed rights to the body and head of Gonzalez. In the second round it was all Gonzalez until an overhand right from Duno landed on his head. Gonzalez pinned Duno in a corner with a flurry of punches until Duno worked his way out with several rights to the head of Gonzalez who suffered a cut by the right eye.

In the third round Gonzalez started out fast going from southpaw to orthodox and back. Duno landed a solid right to the head of Gonzalez putting him on the run. Gonzalez landed a good lead left to the chin of Duno. Referee Edward Hernandez, Sr. finally warned Gonzalez about using his shoulder.

In the fourth round Duno hurt Gonzalez with a right to the mid-section. Both boxers landed well. Near the end of the round Duno landed a hard right and left to the chin of Gonzalez drawing blood from the nose. In the fifth round Duno backed Gonzalez up with several rights to the chin. Gonzalez continues to be busy especially with his jab. Duno had a good round.

In the sixth round both boxers were letting it all hang out in a terrific exchange of punches. Both boxers were getting their licks in at a non-stop pace. Gonzalez drove Duno into a corner but fought his way out. They slugged it out right to the bell. Gonzalez had quite a bit of swelling under his right eye. In the seventh round Duno landed several rights to the body of Gonzalez ending with a left hook to the chin. Gonzalez came fighting back landing the final punch of the round.

In the eighth round Gonzalez was landing well until Duno countered with a right to the body backing Gonzalez up. Both landed left hooks at the bell to the head. In the ninth Duno landed well to the body with uppercuts continually backing Gonzalez up. Gonzalez seemed to take a breather in the round with Duno easily outscoring him.

In the tenth and final round Duno was loading up with lead rights to the chin of Gonzalez fighting southpaw. Gonzalez used his jab well with an occasional left to the chin of Duno. With less than a minute left in the round Duno hurt Gonzalez with a right to the chin.

Judges had it 97-93 twice and 98-92 with this writer having it 97-93.

In the co-feature Lightweight Oscar Duarte, 14-0-1 (9), of Chihuahua, MEX, defeated Rey “The Technician” Perez, 22-10 (6), of Santa Rosa City, Philippines, in a good 10 rounds of action.

In the first round Perez was lining up Durate with his left and got in a left hook to the head of Durate. Durate almost at the halfway point of the round landed a right to the head rocking Perez. Just prior to the bell, Durate landed a hard right to the head of Perez. In the second round Durate went right after Perez landing a flurry of punches until he got hit with an uppercut by Perez causing a red mark under the eye. Durate kept pushing Perez but got hit with a left hook.

In the third round Perez landed the first punch a right to the chin of Durate. Perez kept Durante at bey with his jab and and occasional right body shot. With seconds to go in the round Durate landed a big right to the chin of Perez. In the fourth round Durate landed a double left hook to the chin of Perez who was moving backwards. When in the middle of the ring Perez landed a combination to the head of Durate. Durate continued pressing the action landing half of his punches.

In the fifth round Durate landed a good left hook to the body. He followed up with a flurry of body shots until a left hook from Perez landed on his chin. Perez countered with a right to the head of Durate. At the end of the round Perez had a red mark over his right eye from the left hooks by Durate.
In the sixth round Durate landed three left hooks to the head of Perez. Perez turned southpaw landing a right uppercut to the chin of Durate. He then switched back to orthodox. Durate drove Perez against the ropes with body shots until he was hit by a chopping right from Perez on the chin. Durate ended the round with a left hook to the chin of Perez.

In the seventh round Perez landed a lead right on three separate occasions to the head of Durate. Durate came back with a right of his own to the head of Perez. Both boxers mixed it up well in the middle of the ring at the halfway point of the round. In the eighth round Perez came out strong landing punches to the head of Durate before going backwards. Durate landed well with several body shots dropping Perez.

Perez jumped on him landing a double left hook to the body and head. Another flurry of body punches dropped Perez again. He was up fighting back but was being overwhelmed by Durate with body shots. Perez ended the round with a right to the chin of Durate.

In the ninth round Durate was encouraged by his trainer Joe Diaz, Sr. to finish him. Durate kept after Perez halfway through the round but got countered with a right to the chin of Perez. Durate couldn’t land a big punch as Perez did well to get through the round. In the tenth and final round a minute into it Durate landed a flurry of head shots. Perez never gave up and was a good opponent for the young Durate and hung into the final bell taking plenty of body shots from Durate.

Scores of the judges were 98-90, 99-89 twice. This writer had it 97-91.

Featherweight Francisco “Alacran” Esparza, 8-0-1 (3), of Las Vegas, NV, shut out Edgar Cantu, 7-4-2 (1), of Laredo, TX, over 8 rounds.

Super Middleweight Georgian Jaba Khositashvili, 3-0 (2), of Philadelphia, PA, knocked out Fabian Valdez, 2-3 (0), of Sonora, MEX, at 0:26 of the second round.

Posted on 05/12/2018

By: William Holmes

Madison Square Garden in New York City was the host site for tonight’s collaborative effort between Top Rank Promotions and Golden Boy Promotions to put on a highly anticipated main event between Vasyl Lomachenko and Jorge Linares for the WBA Lightweight Title.

The opening bout of the night was between Carlos Adames (13-0) and Alejandro Barrera (29-4) in the welterweight division.

Adames is a high ceiling prospect for Top Rank and he made it known why early on. His straight right hand was finding it’s home often and he was in control. Barrera was able to sneek some punches in past the guard of Adames, but they didn’t appear to hurt him.

In the sixth round he switched to a southpaw stance and was still able to land shots at will. His power shots came from his right hand, but he was still fluid and smooth in his southpaw stance.

Photo Credit: Top Rank Twitter Account

Barrera was able to do some decent body work in the seventh round and was a little more effective. His counter uppercut found it’s home but Adames was landing the harder shots. Barrera continued to hang in the fight into the eighth round and showed a willingness to exchange, and he may have stolen the round when he landed some short shots on Adames when his back was against the ropes.

The ninth round featured fierce exchanges and started with Barrera walking Adames down, but Adames was able to turn the momentum back in his favor with sharp left hooks. A clash of heads occurred in the final moments of the ninth round that caused a cut by the right eye of Barrera.

Barrera needed a knockout in the final round to win, and he was the more active fighter and landed more shots in the final round, but that knockout never came.

Carlos Adames wins by decision with scores of 97-93, 96-94, and 98-92.

The main event of the night was between Jorge Linares (44-3) and Vasyl Lomachenko (10-1) for the WBA Lightweight Title.

Lomachenko, the favorite, entered the ring first while the champion, Linares, entered second.

Photo Credit: Top Rank Twitter Account

Linares looked like the significantly bigger man in the ring and was able to land his straight left hand from his southpaw stance early on in the first round. Linares though was accurate with his counter punches in the first and landed a good lead left hook at the end of the round.

Lomachenko looked to be a little looser in the second round and was landing more, and by the third round his foot movement was on point as he danced around Linares and landed multiple combinations. Lomachenko continued to stay on the attack in the fourth round. Linares was warned for rabbit punches in the fourth and Lomachenko responded by landing hard right uppercuts.

Lomachenko was able to bloody the nose of Linares in the fifth round. Linares was warned for a low blow in the fifth and sixth rounds and appeared to be fading fast. However, a clean straight right hand by Linares in the sixth round sent Lomachenko to the mat.

Linares pressed the action in the seventh round and Lomachenko was no longer on the offensive. Linares was able to land good shots to the body and head of Lomachenko.

Lomachenko looked like he was recovered by the eight round and was able to get a cut over the left eye of Linares. Lomachenko was focusing on that cut throughout the remainder of the eighth round as momentum swung back in his favor.

Linares and Lomachenko had several good exchanges in the ninth round and that round could have been scored either way, but it appeared Lomachenko was landing more shots than Linares but Linares was landing the harder shots.

Linares came right at Lomachenko in the beginning of the tenth round but Lomachenko was able to slow him down with an accurate jab. Lomachenko connected with a multi punch combination to the head and ended it with a liver shot that sent Linares crumbling in pain to the mat.

The referee counted to nine before waiving off the fight as he could tell that Linares was unable to continue.

Lomachenko wins by body shot knockout at 2:08 of the tenth round.

Posted on 04/29/2018

By: Ken Hissner

Top Rank and Peltz Boxing Promotions brought back big time boxing to Philadelphia Saturday, at Temple University’s Liacouras Center via ESPN before a well entertained crowd.
In the Main Event WBO World Junior Featherweight champion southpaw Jesse Magdelano, 25-1 (18), of Las Vegas, NV, tasted defeat for the first time losing to interim WBO champion Isaac Dogboe, 19-0 (13), of Accra, GH, who stopped him at 1:38 of the eleventh round of a scheduled 12.

In the first round Dogboe was the aggressor. Dogboe landed a solid left hook to the head of Magdelano but got countered with a 3 punch combination dropping him. Magdelano lead with a left hand to the chin of Dogboe hurting him but Dogboe tossed him to the canvas. In the second round Dogboe led with a right but got countered by a Magdelano left to the head. Dogboe rocked Magdelano with a lead overhand right to the head.

Photo Credit: Top Rank Twitter Account

In the third round Dogboe led with a right to the chin of Magdelano making him clinch. A left uppercut to the chin by Magdelano buckled the knees of Dogboe. Dogboe came back with a good combination to the body and head of Magdelano. At the bell Dogboe landed a hard overhand right to the chin of Magdelano. In the fourth round both landed with exchanges. A pair of rights to the head from Dogboe rocked Magdelano.

In the fifth round Dogboe dropped Magdelano with a vicious right to the chin. Then he went after him with a flurry of punches making Magdelano hold on. In the sixth round Dogboe drove Magdelano into the ropes on several occasions making him hold on. The sixth and seventh rounds were dominated by Dogboe though Magdelano was always dangerous. In the eighth round Dogboe continued to go after Magdelano with body and head shots. Dogboe told this writer prior to the fight he would “outsmart Magdelano” and that is the way he fought.

In the ninth round Dogboe backed up Magdelano without throwing any punches for the most part as Dogboe seemed to be loading up. Referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. had trouble at times sepeerating the two with Magdelano refusing to let go of Dogboe. It was a cat and mouse round with Magdelano getting chased.

In the tenth round Dogboe landed half a dozen punches hurting Magdelano who would pound on his own chest as if he was hurt but was. A body shot by Dogboe from a right to the body hurt Magdelano. Magdelano walked on shaky legs back to his corner. In the eleventh round Dogboe landed four unanswered punches. Seconds later a combination from Dogboe dropped Magdelano to his knees. Dogboe jumped all over him with body shots until a right uppercut dropping him until referee Esteves wisely stopped the onslaught. Dogboe made Magdelano pay for his remarks at the press conference!

Dogboe got off to a slow start but from the fourth round on it was all his fight. This humble God loving fighter will be taking the championship belt back to his home in Ghana! It couldn’t happen to a nicer God loving man!

Co-Feature Event Super Middleweight WBO No. 1 contender Jesse “Hollywood” Hart, 24-1 (20), of Philadelphia, overwhelmed Demond “D’Bestatit” Nicholson, 18-3-1 (17), of Laurel, MD, at 2:26 of the seventh round for the vacant NABF Super Middleweight title.

Photo Credit: Top Rank Twitter Account

In the first round Hart came out like a wild man trying to end it early. He is not the puncher like his father. He has better tools but not the punch of “the Cyclone”. He controlled the entire round up until the final seconds when Nicholson hit him with a right knocking him across the ring into the ropes which should have been ruled a knockdown by referee Shawn Clark. In the third round Hart landed a left to the body causing a delayed knockdown. Hart landed a left hook to the chin of Nicholson almost dropping him.

In the fourth round Hart continued to man handle Nicholson throughout with Nicholson landing an occasional right to the head of Hart. In the fifth round Hart continued to throw the right hand bomb but got countered with a solid right from Nicholson on the chin. Nicholson kept slipping most of Hart’s wild punches but got hit enough not to win the round. Nicholson showed too much respect for Hart who at the press conference said “I looked up to him when I was just 14!”

In the sixth round Hart landed three right hands to the head while in close. Nicholson finally came back with a left hook to the head of Hart. Hart kept pinning Nicholson to the ropes where Nicholson was defenseless. A Hart uppercut to the chin of Nicholson rocked him. Nicholson landed a hard right uppercut to the chin of Hart and came back with two more ending the round.

In the seventh round it was Nicholson turning aggressor. Hart looked like he was spent from all the punching he did earlier and all of a sudden he seemed to hurt Nicholson but went after him and missed with a left hook but seemed to push Nicholson to the canvas who argued with the referee Clark but wouldn’t get up. When he did the referee waved it off.

There was a controversy afterwards between both fighters almost coming to blows. The Nicholson camp and the fighter were unhappy with the ending but he lost every round and should have let his hands not his mouth do the talking.

Heavyweight Bryant “By-By” Jennings, 23-2 (13), won a close hard decision over Joey “Tank” Dawejko, 19-5-4 (11), of Philadelphia, for the vacant USA PA Heavyweight title over 10 rounds.

In the first round Dawejko landed several left hooks to the body of Jennings. Jennings came back with a double jab to the chin. Dawejko landed a double left hook to body and head of Jennings. Jennings depended on his jab the entire round. Dawejko was much more active. In the second round Jennings started off with a left hook to the head of Dawejko. Dawejko dug in a left hook to the body of Jennings whiono continues using his jab to chin and mid-section. Dawejko warned for low punch by referee Gary Rosato. Dawejko came back with a right to the head. Jennings ended the round with a solid left hook to the head of Dawejko.

In the third round Dawejko landed a lead overhand right to the head of Jennings. Dawejko landed a trip left hook to the body and head of Jennings. Jennings came back to do the same combination. In the fourth round Jennings landed a double jab to the chin. Dawejko came back with a combination to the head. Dawejko landed a right uppercut to the chin and followed with a left hook to the head of Jennings. Dawejko missed with a left hook while Jennings countered with his best punch a right to the head of Dawejko. At the ten second warning Jennings landed a low punch causing referee Rosato to warn him.

In the fifth round Dawejko landed a looping left hook to the head of Jennings. Both fighters exchanged good body shots inside. Jennings continues to use an effective jab. Dawejko continues to stalk him. At the ten second warning Jennings landed a solid right following a jab to the chin of Dawejko getting his attention. In the sixth round Jennings landed a left hook to the head of Dawejko knocking him off balance. Jennings halfway through the round started using the ring to avoid any exchanges giving away the round.

In the seventh round Dawejko went after Jennings with left hooks to the body and head. Jennings kept peppering Dawejko with his jab. Jennings countered Dawejko with a right uppercut to the chin. In the eighth round Jennings started thins off with a right to the body and head of Dawejko. Dawejko pinned Jennings to the ropes while Jennings tried to spin him off but ended in a clinch. Dawejko drove Jennings into a corner with a flurry of punches.

In the ninth round Jennings landed a good left hook to the chin of Dawejko who acknowledged it as a good one. Dawejko pushed Jennings into a corner forcing Jennings to tie him up. Jennings landed a lead straight right to the chin of Dawejko getting a reaction from the crowd. Dawejko ended the round with a combination to the body of Jennings.

In the tenth and final round Dawejko pinned Jennings against the ropes while referee Rosado again stepped in separating the two. Jennings knocked the mouthpiece of Dawejko out with a right to the chin. Jennings landed a 3-punch combination to the head and body of Dawejko. Dawejko landed a half dozen unanswered punches before Jennings landed a solid left hook to the head.

“I thought it was a competitive fight and maybe I should have done more,” said Dawejko. That was a statement from a very humble Dawejko. He did mention that he felt the referee separated them too much when he had Jennings against the ropes throwing punches. Both fighters showed respect at the press conference for each other and it seemed to carry on after the fight but from press row this writer was not able to hear Jennings comments and since the Executive Director Greg Sirb doesn’t allow this writer into the locker rooms after fights I was not able to talk to Jennings.

“Styles make good fights and I thought I came out with the win. With a new trainer I have to try to get what he wants me to do. I believe good things are coming. Joey is a slick fighter trying to set traps for me. It isn’t easy fighting a smaller fighter at times. I felt the scoring was what I felt it should have been. I was hurt once in the fight. He is a helluva fighter. We showed respect for one another knowing when we got warned from the referee it was not intentional on our parts,” said Jennings.

Judges all had it 98-92 for Jennings but this writer had it 97-93 for Dawejko. The press favored Jennings for the most part.

2016 Olympian southpaw Shakur Stevenson, 6-0 (3), of Newark, NJ, won by TKO over Roxberg Patrick Riley, 12-1 (6), Dallas, GA, at 1:35 of the second reound in a scheduled 8.

In the first round Stevenson used an effective jab to control the pace. Stevenson hurt Riley with a straight left to the mid-section of Riley. In the second round a left hook from Stevenson drove Riley into the ropes. Stevenson knocked Riley down with a combination of punches. He followed up with an onslaught of punches causing referee Clark to call a halt.

Super Featherweight 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist Robson Conceicao, 7-0 (4), of Salvador, Bahia, BRZ, pitched a shutout over Mexican Alex Torres “Azteca de Oro” Rynn, 6-2 (3), of Calgary, Ontario, CAN, over 6 rounds.

In the first round Conceicao dominated Rynn with good body work and occasional head shots. In the second round Conceicao continued with solid body work with both hands. Rynn kept switching from orthodox to southpaw and back. Conceicao landed a hard combination to the head and ended the round with a right to the chin of Rynn.

In the third round Conceicao kept landing with body punches but Rynn landed a hard counter right from the southpaw stance. From the third round through to the sixth Conceicao put on a good exhibition of his boxing skills.

All 3 judges and this writer had it 60-54.

Popular Bantamweight Christian Carto, 12-0 (8), of South Philadelphia, won an easy decision over Edwin “Puto” Rodriguez, 8-5-1 (4), of PR, over 8 rounds.

In the first round Carto controlled with his jab. Rodriguez landed a left hook which was countered by a Carto right to the head. Carto landed a solid right to the head of Rodriguez who was coming forward. Carto landed a double left hook as the bell sounded ending the round. In the second round Carto landed a double jab followed by a left hook to the body of Rodriguez. Both fighters exchanged left hooks to the head. Carto landed a lightning fast lead right to the chin of Rodriguez. Carto continued to set the pace with his jab.

In the third round Carto landed a 3-punch combination to body and head of Rodriguez. Carto landed a left hook to the ribs of Rodriguez. Carto landed a jab follwed by a right to the head of Rodriguez. Carto continued to make Rodriguez miss. Rodriguez landed a left hook to the chin of Carto at the bell. In the fourth round Rodriguez landed a double left hook to the body of Carto. Carto landed a double left hook to the body and head of Rodriguez. Carto controlled with his jab but got countered by a Rodriguez right to the chin. Rodriguez landed a left hook to the chin of Carto who countered with a left hook to the chin at the bell.

In the fifth round both boxers landed several body punches. Carto hurt Rodriguez with a hard left hook to the head. Carto landed several lead rights to the chin of Rodriguez. Both exchanged rights to the head. Carto ended the round with a 3-punch combination to body and head. In the sixth round Rodriguez landed a right to the head of Carto. There was a clash of heads leaving a lump on the top of Carto’s head. While using the ring well Carto countered with rights to the head of Rodriguez. Carto continued at times backing into the ropes and countered Rodriguez well.
In the seventh round both boxers exchanged rights to the head. Carto landed several counter left’s to the body of Rodriguez. Rodriguez landed a short right to the chin of Carto. In the eighth and final round Carto countered a Rodriguez left with a combination to the head. Carto continues to impress with each fight.

“He was a tough fighter. I thought I got head butted in the sixth round. It was a tough fight but I’m learning”, said Carto. His trainer is Mickey Rosati, his brother Frankie is the assistant and manager while cut-man Joey Eye rounded out team Carto.

Judges had it 77-75 twice and 78-74 while this writer had it 80-72.

Super Lightweight Kent “The Puerto Rican Sensation” Cruz, 14-0-1 (9), of St. Louis, MO, and Mohamed Rodriguez, 11-4-1 (4), of San Luis Potosi, MEX, drew in a lack luster 8 rounds.
In the first round the boxers felt each other out as Cruz stalked Rodriguez landing an occasional jab. Rodriguez missed with a wild left hook. Cruz landed a partially blocked right to the head of Rodriguez. In the second round Rodriguez missed with a wild right. Cruz landed a double jab to the chin of Rodriguez. Cruz missed a right and was countered by a Rodriguez left hook to the chin. Rodriguez landed a right to the head of Cruz just prior to the end of the round.

In the third round Cruz threw a pair of left hooks with the second one landing on the chin of Rodriguez. In close Cruz landed a left hook to the head of Rodriguez. Rodriguez missed with 3 punches. In the fourth round little action continued with Cruz using his jab. Cruz received a warning for hitting the back of the head of Rodriguez. In the fifth round Rodriguez missed with a right while Cruz countered with a solid left hook to the chin of Rodriguez which was the best punch of the fight up until then.

In the sixth round Cruz continued using the jab. Cruz landed a right to the body of Rodriguez. Both boxers exchanged jabs to the mid-section. In the seventh round both landed left hooks to the head at the same time. Rodriguez continued to miss more than landing. In the eighth and final round Rodriguez landed a left hook to the chin of Cruz and did a little dance. Rodriguez landed a left hook to the head of Cruz and missed with a second one.

The Judges had it 78-74 Cruz, 77-75 Rodriguez, and 76-76. This writer had it 77-75 Cruz. This entire fight was without anything to get the crowd into it.
Hot prospect Lightweight Joseph “Blessed Hands” Adorno, 7-0 (7), of Allentown, PA, stopped Jorge Hugo “Dandy” Padron, 3-2 (3), of Sonora, MEX, at 1:11 of the first round in a scheduled 6 rounds.

In the first round Adorno stalked Padron landing a solid left to the body. Seconds later Adorno landed a jab followed by a wicked right to the ribs of Padron dropping him to a knee and unable to continue. Adorn brought many fans from the Lehigh County with him.

Opening the event Super Welterweight Marcel Rivers, 5-0 (4), of Philadelphia, stopped Ronald Logan, 0-3 (0), of the Bronx, NY, at 0:40 of the second round of a scheduled 4 rounds.

In the first round Rivers landed the first solid punch a right to the head of Logan backing him up several steps. Shortly thereafter a Rivers right to the mid-section backed Logan up several steps. Rivers continued to stalk Logan. Logan threw an overhand right that missed while Rivers countered with a combination to the head of Logan. In the second round Rivers landed a solid left hook to the head of Logan who started to run backwards until he fell on his own. Referee Rosato ruled it a slip. Upon rising Logan started to limp and indicated he couldn’t continue forcing the referee to halt the fight.

Ring announcer Lupe Contreras is back in the east and doing his usual great job.

Posted on 04/21/2018

By: Ken Hissner

Mayweather Promotions, TGB Promotians and DiBella Entertainment on USA Showtime, at the Barclay Center, Brooklyn, NY, put on a triple header Saturday night.

In the Main Event welterweights with former WBA World Super Lightweight champion Welterweight Adrien “The Problem” Broner, 33-3-1 (24), of Cinn., OH, ended in a majority draw with former WBO World Welterweight champion Jesse “Pride of Las Vegas” Vargas, 28-2-1 (10), of Las Vegas, NV, over 12 rounds.

Photo Credit: Showtime Boxing Twitter Account

In the first round after exchanging jabs Broner landed a left hook to the chin of Vargas. After over a minute of the round Broner landed a combination to the head of Vargas. It wasn’t until under a minute left in the round that Vargas landed a stiff jab to the chin of Broner. In the second round Vargas landed his first right of the fight to the chin of Broner. Broner with hands high is only using a jab in the round up to this point. Vargas landed half a dozen punches without return. Broner just shook his head as if to say “nothing on it!” Vargas landed a 3-punch combination in taking a good round.

In the third round Vargas used a jab to the mid-section of Broner. He followed upt with a good combination before Broner landed a good combination in return. Both exchanged body shots. The pace really picked up in the round. Both were throwing punches at the bell. In the fourth round Broner counters with solid rights to the chin of Vargas. Both boxers landed well. Vargas landed a pair of rights to the head and Broner back with a right uppercut to the chin. Broner landed a good combination with Vargas countering with a right to the head at the bell.

In the fifth round Vargas continues to out work Broner until Broner rocked Vargas with a right to the chin. There was a mouse under the left eye of Vargas. Vargas landed half a dozen of unanswered punches as Broner came back just prior to the bell with a right of his own. In the sixth round Broner came out firing unlike previous rounds. Vargas landed an array of punches in what is a very good fight. Broner landed a 3-punch combination. Vargas landed a straight right to the chin of Broner who shook his head. With half a minute left Broner landed a low blow giving Vargas a half minute rest from referee Charlie Fitch.

In the seventh round Vargas comes out with a solid jab. Vargas landed a right to the chin of Broner who countered with a right of his own to the chin. Broner warned for using his elbow by referee Fitch. Broner ended the right with a right uppercut to the chin of Vargas. In the eighth round both boxers landed left hooks to the chin at same time. Broner landed Bof one another. Vargas continued landing good body shots. Vargas landed a right at the bell but was warned by referee Fitch for a late hit.

In the ninth round Broner came out dominating Vargas through the first minute. Vargas came back landing a big right to the head of Broner. Broner landed a good left hook with Vargas came back with a solid right to the chin of Broner. With half a minute left Broner turned up the heat getting the fans cheering with Broner rocking Vargas who almost looked like he was out on his feet at the bell. In the tenth round Broner went on the attack pushing Vargas back. Broner with hands to his side was trying to bait Vargas in. With half a minute left in the round Vargas landed a solid right to the head of Broner. Just prior to the bell Broner ended it landing a flurry of punches.

In the eleventh round Vargas is throwing rights to the head of Broner who is the aggressor. Broner landed a good right to the head of Vargas whose left eye is almost closed. It was a good close round. In the twelfth and final round Broner landed a good chopping right to the head of Vargas who is continuing backing up. Vargas started raising his hands at the halfway mark showboating. Vargas with less than half a minute to go landed a 3-punch combination to head and body of Broner. Broner’s new trainer Kevin Cunningham urged Broner throughout to do more. While Vargas trainer Mike “Body Snatcher” McCallum urged body work. It was an excellent fight.

Judge Lederman had it 115-113 Broner. Morgan and Marlinski had it 114-114. This writer had it 117-111 for Vargas.

Former World Super Featherweight champion southpaw Champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis, 20-0 (19), of Baltimore, MD, regained a world title when he stopped former WBA World Featherweight champion southpaw Jesus Marcelo Andres “El Jinete” Cuellar, 28-3 (21), of Bueno Aires, ARG, at 2:45 of round 3 for the WBA Super World Super Featherweight title, scheduled for 12 rounds.

In the first round Cuellar used a good jab while Davis was a little slower using his jab and a nice right uppercut to the body which may have hurt Cuellar with about a minute left in the round. Half a minute to go and Davis landed a right uppercut to the chin of Cuellar. Davis landed a good combination to the head of Cuellar right before the bell. In the second round Davis landed a lead left into the mid-section of Cuellar dropping him for the 8 count from referee Benjy Esteves, Jr. Cuellar was up and going after Davis for the remainder of the round until Davis landed a straight left to the chin of Cuellar.

In the third round after about a minute Cuellar landed a right hook to the left eye of Davis he shook his head from being hurt. Less than a minute to go in the round and Davis dropped Cuellar with his body landing three punches, body, head, body dropping him for a second time. Upon rising Cuellar had Davis all over him landing half a dozen punches with the final one a left hook to the chin dropping him for a third time in the fight causing referee Esteves, Jr. to wisely wave it off.

“I want to thank God,” said Davis. Upon being asked who he would like to fight next he answered “I would like to unify!”

Former IBF World Super Welterweight champion Jermall Charlo, 27-0 (22), of Houston, TX, knocked out Hugo “The Boss” Centeno, 26-2 (14), of Oxnard, CA, at 0:55 of the second round for interim WBC World Middleweight title, 12 rounds.

In the first round Charlo came forward with a lot of feinting while Centeno was using his jab. It was into the final minute of the feeling out round before Charlo landed a double jab. The referee Steve Willis was slow breaking up the numerous clinches. In the second round Charlo landed a chopping right followed by another right and a left hook that had Centeno hurt, clash of heads and a left having Centeno going down and another right putting him on his back. Referee Willis didn’t have to count but did.

“I first want to thank God for who I wouldn’t be here without. Also, thank my manager, Al Haymon. I want Triple GGG, lets get it on,” said Charlo.

Posted on 04/21/2018

By: Eric Lunger

It was a sold-out Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK, that saw the return of former Super Lightweight Champion Amir Khan to the ring after an almost two-year hiatus from the sport. For Khan (31-4, 19 KO’s) there were two main questions to be answered. First, how much did the time off diminish his hand-speed and timing? Second, what effect (if any) did the scary Alvarez knock out have on the Bolton, UK, native?

Unfortunately, the bout didn’t really last long enough to get definitive answers to those questions. In the first round, Lo Greco came out fighting behind an awkward high, pawing jab. Almost immediately, Khan blasted an overhand right straight past Lo Greco’s defense, and the Canadian went down hard. Lo Greco got back to his feet, smiling as though he couldn’t believe he could be so careless. But Khan pounced — exhibiting his hand speed of old — and Lo Greco had no answers for Khan’s sudden onslaught. That was it, Khan wins by TKO in the first round.

In the post-fight interview, Khan acknowledged the supportive fans: “I was a little nervous, coming back to a full Liverpool crowd, but guess what: I’m back! Khan is back!” He went on to promise that he would continue to fight in the UK, “I want to be a world champion again, to bring a big name back to England and fight him here.” Khan also insisted that his future was in the welterweight division, not at 154 lbs.

The broadcast team tried to goad Khan into calling out former IBF Welterweight Champion Kell Brook, who was ring-side as a SKY Sports commentator, but Khan repeated his intention to fight next at 147. When Brook entered the ring, the boxers went on a fairly conventional (and artificial) verbal sparring match that lasted longer than the actual main event.

In the featured undercard bout, Tommy “Boom Boom” Coyle (24-4, 11 KOs) took on Commonwealth Lightweight Champion Sean “Masher” Dodd (15-3-1, 3 KOs). It was a competitive and entertaining bout from the opening bell, with both fighters taking risks and throwing offensive punches. Coyle caught Dodd with an overhand right with ten seconds left in the fourth round, but Dodd managed to survive till the bell. In the sixth, Coyle landed a perfect right counter, dropping Dodd awkwardly to the matt, and the former champion banged his gloves in rueful frustration before rising to his feet. This time, however, Coyle piled on, leaving Dodd’s corner no choice but to throw in the towel.

It was a treat for US boxing fans to be able to stream a SKY Sports broadcast, via the new ESPN+ service. The next ESPN+ boxing live stream on June 9th features WBO Welterweight Champion Jeff Horn taking on American superstar Terrence “Bud” Crawford, as the Omaha fighter moves up to 147 lbs.

Posted on 03/22/2018

By: Ken Hissner

At the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, CA, Thursday night over ESPN promoted by Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions Ryan “Kingry” Garcia and Eddie “E-boy” Gomez scored KO win’s.

In the Main Event, 19 year-old Super Featherweight Ryan “Kingry Flash” Garcia, 14-0 (13), of L.A. stopped Fernando Vargas, 32-14-3 (21), of Tijuana, MEX, at 2:55 of the first round in defense of his NABF Junior Super Featherweight title.

In the first round the shorter Vargas missed a right hand. Vargas landed a right to the chin of Garcia. Garcia used a long jab keeping Vargas at bay. Garcia landed a left hook to the chin of Vargas. Garcia landed a right to the chin of Vargas. As Vargas came forward Garcia led with a right following with a left hook to the chin of Vargas and down he went. He wasn’t beating the count as referee Jerry Cantu waved it off.

“I called it with my left hook. I was nervous in my first main event. I knew when I landed a jab I knew I would catch him,” said Garcia.

In the co-feature Welterweight Eddie “E-boy” Gomez, 21-3 (12), of the Bronx, NY, stopped Keandre Gibson, 18-2-1 (7), of St. Louis, MO, at 0:54 of round 2 in a scheduled 10 rounds.

In the first round there was hardly a punch landed. Talk about a “feeling out” round. In the second round Gomez countered a right over a Gibson jab to the chin and down went Gibson. He beat the count at 8 by referee Tony Kreb but didn’t make eye contact so Kreb waved it off to the objection of Gibson.

Featherweight Joet Gonzalez, 19-0 (11), of L.A., stopped Rolando “Smooth Operator” Magbanua, 28-7 (20), of Pigkawayan, PH, at 2:06 of the 5th round of a scheduled 10 rounds.

Super Bantamweight Emilio Sanchez, 15-1 (10), of North Hollywood, CA, was upset by Eugene “Rambo” Lagos, 13-5-2 (8), of Valencia City, PH, who scored a second round knockout at 0:35 of a scheduled 8 rounds.

Super Welterweight 2016 Olympian Raul “Cougar” Curiel, 3-0 (2), of Guadalajara, MEX, scored 2 knockdowns in stopping Quantavious Green 1-2-1 (1), of Shreveport, LA, at 1:29 of round 2 of a scheduled 6 rounds.

18 year-old Welterweight Aaron “The Silencer” McKenna, 2-0 (1), of Ireland, living in L.A. stopped Jose Palacious, 0-2 (0), of CO, at 2:40 of the first round of a scheduled 4 rounds.

In the first round McKenna pressed the action and after approximately two minutes into the round landed a left to the body dropping Palacious for an 8 count. McKenna jumped on Palacious landing a double left hook to the body of Palacious. A lead right uppercut by McKenna to the chin of Palacious hurt him and he complained of getting hit behind the head but didn’t choose to continue as referee Edward Hernandez had no choice but to halt the fight.

Posted on 03/04/2018

By: Oliver McManus

Scotland’s Finest were on display at the SSE Hydro Arena in Glasgow last night as Cyclone Promotions featured five title fights on their first show of 2018 with all eyes on one man – Josh Taylor.

The Tartan Tornado is a man avoided fervently at the top of the lightweight division with his impressive array of attributes being enough to scare off all bar a few plucky warriors. Having to go about things the hard way, then, Taylor was looking to force his way into a world title shot as he faced Winston Campos, of Nicaragua, for the WBC Silver title following a late withdrawal to Humberto Soto.

Having produced career best performances across the board in 2017, Barry McGuigan’s protégé was tipped to make an explosive start to this year and backed himself to deal convincingly with the threat of Campos.

Should Taylor come through this battle unscathed then a WBC world title eliminator had been provisionally pencilled in for June but the whole of Scotland knew they could look no further than the busy, gritty, South American. For now, anyway.

Dubbed a “southpaw banana skin” for Taylor, Campos was hoping the Scotsman would slip up against him and, in doing so, provide a platform for the big time.

From the outset Taylor marked his intentions by rushing to the centre of the ring and aiming a stiff jab into the face of Campos – the Nicaraguan looked rocked and was caught by subsequent hard-hitting jabs. Having said that Campos played into the hands of the South American fighting stereotype by bouncing around the ring and looking comfortable from range.

All the signs were, however, that as soon as Taylor was allowed, nay decided, to close the gap and attack Campos up close that his opponent would then succumb to The Tartan Tornado.

Big, looping, booming hooks only went to reinforce Taylor’s early dominance and despite Campos hitting the canvas at the end of the first round it was ruled merely a slip, a dubious one though.

Round Two began in an upbeat fashion with Campos firing in a few shots to the body of Taylor with, admittedly, little impact but more as if to say “hey, I’m not going to be a walkover”. Cyclone’s Champion responded however with a punishing right hook after an attempted counter-punch from the late replacement opponent, to put Campos in a world full of trouble.
Shot after shot into the body of his opponent saw El Zurdo crumble to the canvas in credit to a scything body punch – the story would be repeated mere moments later when the South American ate repeated right hooks from Taylor and fell to the canvas again.

Hanging in via sheer guts alone the 25 year old foolishly turned his back in the opening moments of the third and fell victim to a ferocious onslaught of punches from the former Scottish amateur sensation with savage left hooks draining the stamina from his legs.

Whilst managing to get up before the count of four, referee Victor Loughlin had seen enough to suggest that the southpaw was only going to suffer unnecessary punishment should the bout have continued.

A third round knockout to add to Taylor’s collection now making it 11 from 12 as The Tartan Tornado looks set to be on a destruction path of the lightweight division in 2018… let’s get it on!

The other results from the night featured Glenn Foot capturing the Commonwealth Super Lightweight title following a rapturous contest with Jason Easton – arguably domestic fight of the year – Foot landed the first punch of the night and within thirty seconds the pair were tearing into each-other from within the space of a postage stamp. Wild swinging left and right hands by Easton were countered by tight, inside body punches.

Both fighters loaded up with real vigour and spite packed into their punches and whilst neither landed clean enough to spin the jaw of their counterpart, each punch added to the sheer spectacle of the contest.

Jabs were to be the order of the day for Easton in order to be successful but throughout the opening rounds they were found to be lacking in the extreme as Foot was never disrupted from laying leather into the home-crowd favourite.

The tempo followed the same as that of Foot’s last bout, with Josh Leather, – that contest for the IBF European title – and the fighter was fortunate enough to be displaying the best performance of his career whereas Easton seemed to be hindered by emotion.

A thunderous left overhand straight into the face of Easton gained audible gasps from the paying spectators and, at first glance, looked to break the nose of the Scotsman. With both men throwing their whole weight with each punch it was a miracle, almost, that neither ended up cold but the war raged on into the second half of the fight.
An incredible bout worthy of being a headlining contest, should we see the rematch, both fighters were gutsy throughout battle with sickening body shots from Easton only being matched with equal fire from the Sunderland man.

Easton looked to exploded towards the latter stages and with each shot slammed into the head of Foot, you felt his confidence grow and, with it, his fighting began to feel all the more fluid. On paper this was a good fight, in the ring it was an EXCEPTIONAL fight and proof, if any was needed, that trading punches is always going to produce a viewing spectacle to delight the masses.

Into the championship rounds we went although you’d be forgiven for thinking the bout had just started thanks to the sheer constant barrage of shots being fired, a simply sumptuous right hook into the side of Foot’s face left the 30 year old visibly dazed, borderline concussed, and Easton began to tee off on what was, temporarily, a sandbag begging to be hit.
All that was keeping Glenn Foot up was the sheer courage in his heart and the heaviness of his legs willing not to go down but boy, did it bring out even more from the fighter, who survived only to follow up with huge right hands of his own.

The 11th round was to be the home of the crescendo as an amalgamation of all that had been before, the build-up of all the fire, resulted in one big explosion. This barnstormer, cream-cracker of a fight had a climax witnessed only before in Athenian battlegrounds but was bestowed upon a packed, salivating SSE Hydro Arena crowd; toe-to-toe action, would we expect any more, saw Sunderland’s saviour shellac the dreams of Easton into disarray with a concussive crack of a right hand sending the whole of Scotland into shock and with that final punch, the fight was over as Glenn Foot won the Commonwealth title in a fight to go down in the history books.

10 rounds of boxing scheduled for the vacant Celtic Lightweight title took place as “The Railman” Ryan Collins took on “The Mailman” Charlie Flynn. Going into the fight it was hard to tell who the betting favourite was and given that their previous fight, 11 months ago, ended in a head collision there was very little to take from that.

Flynn started off by taking to the centre of the ring and his physical superiority made an immediate impact when a huge right hand sent Collins to the canvas with just 40 seconds gone of the first round; on weak legs, Collins looked rattled and Flynn was able to land shots at will.

Almost as though he was out of his depth the expression on Ryan Collins was one of bewilderment and did well to box at range, being sensible, but Flynn’s grit and determination earned him the unquestionable better of the opening round.

A cagey round followed with Flynn controlling the distance of the bout with ease – Collins often found himself coming up short with his punches – but both men kept their legs moving as they navigated the ring comprehensively with neither fighter really wanting to ignite the contest into a barn-burner.

The most pertinent observation over the cause of the opening two rounds was the repeated near-head-collisions between the two men, giving rise to fears that this fight could be equally as short-lived as their first duel.

And so it proved in the third when a visibly wincing Flynn was struck by the head of Collins during an up-close exchange of punches. Fortunately there was no major damage and the 24 year old recovered to pressure Collins into a real toe-to-toe battle – the first real round where both boxers could lay claim to having won it.

With rounds in the bank and the tempo of the fight set, Charlie Flynn was able to establish his authority in the following round as his controlling jab continued to pop into the face of Collins followed up by varied combinations to the body of his opponent. Boxing well and securing the rounds on the judges’ scorecards.

Just at this fight was looking to kick into life there was déjà vu of incomprehensible magnitude as both boxers leaned in and smashed heads. Gaping cuts emerged on the forehead of both with oozes of blood flowing out of the gashes.

Sometimes it’s best just to put things in the past and move on – for Collins and Flynn, after their second technical draw, I think that’s the best bet for both men.

On the undercard lightweight sensation Chantelle Cameron looked to defend her IBO title over former world title challenger Myriam Dellal – the champion looked to be on an unstoppable rise but the challenger boasted the experience necessary to render this a competitive fight.

To be brutally, brutally, honest this fight provided very little to write about with the performance perhaps best described as clinical. That’s in no way to suggest that Chantelle Cameron’s fight was anything short of top-drawer, just to say that the contest followed the same pattern throughout the 10 rounds.

In truth this was probably one of Chantelle Cameron’s best performances as Wham Bam Cam proved to be technically superb with her balance and footwork being nothing short of sublime. The former GB amateur proved that it’s not all about flashy knockouts and rather her ability to dictate the pace and position at which the fight was fought was the defining aspect of her fight-plan.

Dellal was not a slouch and came to win but the sheer gulf in class was undeniable as Britain’s best female boxer dominated the rounds by out-manoeuvring the Frenchwoman before firing off rapid combination shots with incredible hand speed.

A superb performance from Chantelle Cameron if, admittedly, a little less explosive and extravagant than many had been hoping for. Who knows, hopefully the next fight will warrant more in-depth commentary.

The rest of the results were as followed; Marc Kerr knocked out Iain Trotter in the third round to secure the Scottish Area middleweight title and now goes 6-0; Lee McGregor continued his perfect record by knocking out Pablo Narvaez to move 3 and 0 and Malik Zinad goes to 11-0 thanks to a 2nd round knockout.
If that was Scotland’s Finest then roll on 2018 because what a year it’s going to be!