When we get punchers colliding there is a feeling that the touch paper could be lit and that we could see fireworks going off at any moment. There is also a tension that neither man will feel comfortable taking a risk and getting punished for it. Today we bring you a bout that's short, and both men really going for an early finish. With that said it should be no surprise that this one doesn't go the distance, but is very much a short, exciting thriller that sees both men being shaken. A little bit of questionable refereeing. The Fight Jung Oh Park (23-2-2, 16) vs Jintoku Sato (15-1, 15) Fans from the 1990's will potentially recognise the name of Jung Oh Park. In 1995 he challenged the then WBA Welterweight champion Ike Quartey in Atlantic City. Prior to that fight he had held the OPBF title, for several years. In fact he had won the belt in 1990 and held it well into the 1990's. In 1993 he travelled to Japan to defend that Oriental title against the big punching Jintoku Sato, more about him in a moment. For Park this was going to be 9th defense of the title, and a chance for him to pick up his first win on international soil. Coming in to this Park had been devastating, going 12-0-1 (10) in his last 13 bouts, with 8 of those bouts ending before the start of round 3. Whilst Park was the champion and regarded as a dangerous fighter his challenger was also dangerous. Jintoku Sato was a stop or be stopped fighter. He had suffered his only loss in a 1992 bout against Hiroyuki Yoshino and then bounce back with 4 wins, including a big one over Akira Ohigashi for the Japanese Welterweight title. He was looking to move Japanese level to Oriental level here as he took on Park, the long standing OPBF champion. With 31 knockouts between them, and both rarely seeing the 3rd round we didn't expect this one to go long. What we did expect was brutal shots, from both, and we were anticipating seeing both men having their chins tested. We got what we expected! The opening saw both men trying to make the most of their jabs and open up their offense. Within about 40 seconds we were seeing Sato letting big shots go and Park responded as the bout move through the gears. Within about 90 seconds the two men were stood letting shots go and Park was clearly hurt, forced to hold on. Sato went for the finish and Park fought back, throwing bombs off the ropes. The action continued to be hot right through to the end of the round as both men tried to close the show. With things starting hotly in round 1 we didn't expect them get any slower and the start of round 2 was absolute fire. If you want a short but thrilling action bout this is perfect! An exciting, short shoot out to enjoy!
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By - Eric Armit
I will start with a message from a boxing fan to-in alphabetical order-BA, EH, FW re TF vs. AJ. I know there is BM and BE’s involved but just GID. Translation: to Bob Arum, Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren regarding Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua I know there is big money and big egos involved but just Get It Done! If it doesn’t take place by autumn then there is every chance it won’t get done at all. Fury has not fought for over 14 months and there is pressure on the WBO to order Joshua to fight Oleksandr Usyk. We know the venue and the contracts are being pored over but to say we are inching to the finishing line is probably overstating the rate of progress based on recent exchanges between the parties involved so just get it done for the sake of boxing and your bank balances. It was a bit like an old crocks heavyweight weekend as Joseph Parker stated he had injured his right elbow in one of the middle rounds of his fight with Dereck Chisora and Chris Arreola had injured his left shoulder against Andy Ruiz. Some compensation for Arreola would have been his official purse of $300,000 with a guarantee with ancillaries of $500,000. Ruiz official purse was $1 million with a guarantee of $1.5 million. Other purses for the Carson show saw Erislandy Lara‘s purse at $300,000, Thomas Lamanna $100,000 (he lasted just 80 seconds which works out at $1,250 per second), Omar Figueroa at $200,000, Abel Ramos at $150,000, Sebastian Fundora at $70,000 and Jorge Cota at $60,000. Lee McGregor is not being allowed to rest on his laurels. After stopping Karim Guerfi to win the European bantamweight title in March the EBU have asked for purse offers by May 19 for a defence against mandatory challenger 32-0 Vincent Legrand. Still on European titles it is rumoured that David Avanesyan is stepping down as European welterweight champion allowing Conor Benn to challenge for the vacant title on a show on 31 July. Right now 27-0 Frenchman Jordy Weiss is the mandatory challenger with Kell Brook at No 1 and Benn at No 2 and I have seen no confirmation of the rumour. It is a tough task to win an EBU title but every bit as hard to hold on to it. There will also be three EBU title fights on the undercard to Joshua Buatsi vs. Frenchman Daniel Bienda Dos Santos in Manchester on 15 May. This should be an easy night for Buatsi as Dos Santos has only competed at four and six rounds. The European title fights will see title defences by Gamal Yafai against Jason Cunningham at super bantam and Tommy McCarthy vs. Alexander Jur at cruiserweight with Lerrone Richards and experienced Italian Giovanni De Carolis fighting for the vacant super middleweight title. All good quality fights. Former WBO super welterweight champion Jaime Munguia will return on 19 June against Pole Maciej Sulecki in El Paso. He will be defending the WBO Inter-Continental title in his third fight at middleweight. Sulecki is 29-2 with his losses against Daniel Jacobs and in a WBO title challenge against Demetrius Andrade. Excellent WBA title fight coming up in July. Ryad Merhy (29-1) will put his cruiserweight title on the line against South African Kevin Lerena (26-1) in Brussels on 17 July with Lerena’s IBO title also on the table. It will be Merhy’s first fight since October 2019 but Lerena was in the ring more recently with a win over Patrick Ferguson last December. There is still a pandemic hangover with two shows in Japan postponed and one in Denmark. The pandemic also struck Japan’s amateurs hard. Five of the nine boxers they sent to the World Youth Championships in Poland were infected reportedly after arriving in Poland. The one bright spot was the discovery of a new talent in Reito Tsutsumi who won gold at 60kgs. Another matter rattling around in Japan is an alleged positive test for Kazuto Ioka from his WBO super flyweight title defence against Kosei Tanaka in December which has still not been resolved. The Ioka camp protests innocence and blames the test procedure and everyone is waiting for the matter to be dealt with four months after the fight. One fight scheduled for later this month in Japan that is on is 21-0 Junto Nakatani defending his WBO flyweight title against former WBO champion Puerto Rican Angel Acosta. It will be Nakatani’s first defence of the title he won with an eight round kayo of 24-1 of Filipino Giemel Magramo in November. Nakatani, 23, with more exposure could be the next Japanese star. (Ed's note - It appears the date of this fight is not going ti be in May as first anticipated) Not too surprised to see that Australia’s next heavyweight boxing star Justis Huni is to face former rugby league player Paul Gallen in Sydney on 16 June. It will probably be Huni’s last fight before competing in Tokyo. Gallen has built up a big following in Australia and he gets his reward for beating up poor Lucas Brown. A win for Gallen, who has only the most rudimentary of boxing skills, would be big blow to Australian boxing as Huni looks to be a teal talent. It seems to be a bit of a turbulent time in boxing in Ghana. The Ghana Board gave Richard Commey a two year ban for being disrespectful now they have slapped heavyweight Richard Harrison Lartey with a five year ban. Lartey lost inside the distance in fights in Britain against Daniel Dubois, Nathan Gorman and Fabio Wardley but falsified a letter from the Board permitting him to fight Wardley. Lartey did not deny the charge but alleged that he forged the letter after the Board had taken £5,000 of his purse for the Gorman fight and this was his retaliation. Manny Pacquiao is not the only boxer in politics. The Marquez brothers Juan Manuel and Rafael are campaigning, peaceably, in the elections in their district. Both were world champions but they will both have to remember that punches below the belt are expected in politics. Talking about punches last weekend saw a number of boxers warned for punches to the back of the head and a plethora of such fouls ignored. Any punch to the back of the head is a foul! Most of those punches are delivered in clinches as a boxer reaches up and taps slaps or thumps his opponent. It doesn’t matter whether it is a tap or a full blooded punch it is still a foul. You can’t have a rule saying it is not a foul as long as it is not hard. You can’t say it is all right to hit someone to the back of the head but not in the groin after all not every man’s brains are down there no matter what women say. Is it going to need a tragedy or near tragedy such as that suffered by Prichar Colon before something is done about it? It is always encouraging to see a former boxer staying in the sport and playing a leading role. Dominique Nato was French amateur champion at heavyweight four times and a constant member of the French national team for eight years. A detached retina forced him out of boxing in 1985 with a 14-0 record and he was appointed national technical director to the French Federation and oversaw a period when France won six Olympic medals. He was appointed Vice President of the Federation and in March this year was elected President. So a good pair of hands at the wheel for French boxing. Not such a good time for boxing has seen two fighters facing serious charges. Felix Verdejo, 27, was arrested whilst the death of his pregnant lover Keishia Rodriguez is investigated. It is alleged that Verdejo attacked and kidnapped Rodriguez and then threw her off a bridge near San Juan. When he turned professional in 2012 Verdejo was being touted as a future world champion and he won his first 23 fights. He was then seriously injured in a car accident and was out of the ring for 13 months. When he returned he lost his first fight and had never really recovered his previous form before losing on ninth round stoppage against Masayoshi Nakatani in December 2020 On a less high profile case Namibia’s top amateur Junias Jonas has been arrested and is facing charges of allegedly attempted murder and assault of a police officer. Jonas, 27, was to have had his first professional fight last Saturday but that did not happen. Jonas had won gold at the African Championships and the Commonwealth Games and was considered one of the favourites at 63kg in Tokyo. He competed in the Rio Olympics but that was a traumatic event for him. He was arrested in Brazil for alleged sexually assaulting a housekeeper at the Athlete’s Village. He was released on the day of his quarter-final which he lost and had to remain in the Namibian Embassy in Brazil for eight months before being able to leave Brazil and was eventually cleared of the charges. Better news was that Argentinian Maximiliano Veron had returned to consciousness after a twelve day induced coma. He had undergone emergency surgery for a bleed to the brain after being stopped in eight rounds by Gustavo Lemos last month. Fights to watch for this weekend will see Liam Smith (29-2-1) vs. Magomed Kurbanov (21-0) at super welter in Ekaterinburg on Friday and of course Saul Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders in Texas on Saturday with Mexican Elwin Soto (18-1) defending the WBO light flyweight title against Japan’s Katsunari Takayama (32-8) and unbeaten Cuban heavyweight Frank Sanchez vs. seasoned veteran Nagy Aguilera (21-10) also on the card. May 14 will see Polish cruiserweight Michal Cieslak (20-1) vs. Russian Yury Kashinsky (20-1) in an IBF eliminator. Saturday 15 in yet another piece of WBA rubbish Mahmoud Charr will defend his-his what? He’s the WBA “champion in recess” but the WBA already have a Super a Secondary, and a Gold title holder so if Charr wins does he remain champion in recess or if Box Rec’s No 304 rated heavyweight Chris Lovejoy wins does he become champion in recess which would be farcical even for the WBA. I guess there is always the fall-back position of interim. Since I am on the WBA they pulled off another beauty this month. It had already been announced that Carlos Canizales would defend the secondary WBA light flyweight title against Esteban Bermudez even though Bermudez was not in the WBA ratings. In his last three fights in October 2020 Bermudez had lost on points to unrated Rosendo Guarneros who had lost his last two fights. This was Bermudez first and only fight to have been scheduled for ten rounds. In December 2020 he beat Javier Marquez who was having his first pro fight and in March this year had a technical draw in an eight round fight with Luis Macias who was 11-10-2 and had lost four of his last five fights. Surprise surprise! In the WBA ratings published 30 April Senor Bermudez suddenly appears where? At No 15-no, No 14 no, No 13 no, No 12 no, No 11 no and there he is a No 10. The WBA are so arrogant they don’t even bother to hide their manipulations. I am sure that many youngsters who enter boxing have dreams with one of those being to actually compete at the Olympic Games. Well Ghana has one of those young men in Prince “The Buzz” Larbie. He has already set his sights on the Olympics-for 2032! Larbie is only seven but already is a household name Ghana. He certainly has all of the moves of a “honey I shrunk the kids” version of a Gervonta Davis or Devin Haney and regularly takes part in exhibitions with much elder youths who don’t go easy on him. You can see him on You Tube but 2032 is a long way away and a lot can happen between now and then but you can’t blame him for dreaming. By Eric Armit
Highlights: -Joseph Parker scores split decision victory over Dereck Chisora -Andy Ruiz recovers from a second round knockdown to outpoint Chris Arreola -Sunny Edwards outpoints Moruti Mthalane to win the IBF flyweight title -Dmitry Bivol defends WBA light heavyweight title with points win over Craig Richards -Erislandy Lara collects the vacant secondary WBA middleweight title with first round kayo of Thomas Lamanna -Jovanni Straffon wins vacant IBO light weight title as he stops James Tennyson in the first round -Eduardo Ramirez halts Isaac Avelar in three rounds in fight for vacant interim WBA featherweight title -Chris Eubank Jr outpoints Marcus Morrison -Michael Conlan returns with a points win over Ionut Baluta -Sebastian Fundora beats Jorge Cota, Abel Ramos beats Omar Figueroa and Jesus Ramos beats Javier Molina, Abel Ramos World Title/Major Shows 30 April London, England: Fly: W Sunny Edwards (16-0) W PTS 12 Moruti Mthalane (39-3). Super Bantam: Michael Conlan (15-0) W PTS 12 Ionut Baluta (14-3). Super Welter: Troy Williamson (16-0-1) W TKO 6 Kieran Smith (16-1). Edwards vs. Mthalane Edwards wins the IBF title with unanimous victory over Mthalane. From the start this was a hunt with Edwards the quarry and Mthalane the hunter. Edwards boxed quite brilliantly he used his speedy footwork to avoid Mthalane’s attacks he used every inch of the ring circling the perimeter at speed and constantly changing direction. Mthalane tried to exert pressure but too often he was left swishing air at the spot which Edwards had just left. Edwards was constantly changing guards and pumping out punches looking for quantity rather than power. Mthalane was marching forward behind a high guard and blocking a lot of the punches but plenty were getting through and a bump developed under Mthalane’s left eye. The pattern did not change much as Edwards followed his corner’s instructions to keep moving. Mthalane was occasionally dangerous when he managed to trap Edwards on the ropes but Edwards was building a big lead. As Mthalane was thirteen years older it might have seemed as though a fast early pace might see the champion tire late but that did not happen. From the eighth Mthalane upped his pace putting Edwards under a lot more pressure and raising a bump under the Londoners left eye. Edwards was still quick enough to be picking up the points but now it was a much more level fight as Mthalane experience in twelve round fights and the hectic pace Edwards had set saw the challenger forced to stand and trade more often. Mthalane managed to claw back some of the deficit but the late run was just a bit too late and Edwards boxed his way to a well deserved victory. Scores 120-108, 118-111 and 115-113 for Edwards. If 120-108 looked too wide the 115-113 was hard to understand. Sunny follows his elder Charlie brother as a world title holder with Charlie having won the WBC flyweight title in 2018. He has no mandatory challenger as the first two slots in the IBF aerating are vacant but the Sunny himself was not rated at all at flyweight but was the IBF No 6 super flyweight so who knows what will happen in boxing. At 38 Mthalane must be nearing the end of the road. It is criminal the way he has been undervalued. He was in his second reign as IBF champion have relinquished the title previously. In this reign he won the title in Malaysia and has defended it Macao and twice in Japan his only loss in his previous 26 fights had come on cuts against Nonito Donaire s a true warrior. Conlan vs. Baluta Conlan gets a majority decision over Baluta as he builds a big lead only for Baluta to come back strongly over the closing rounds. No sign of rust or dust from Conlan as he opened the fight with sharp jabs switching guards and landing good counters. Conlan started the second round scoring at distance but Baluta got through with some rights to the body before Conlan finished the round with a strong attack. Both rounds had been close with Conlan having a slight advantage but the third saw Baluta coming forward more and landing some strong rights and left hooks to the body and putting his punches together well. Baluta fired a series of accurate punches at the start of the fourth but Conlan re-established his jab and connected to head and body to take the round. Conlan drove forward throughout the fifth but Baluta was moving and countering and throwing lots of punches with Conlan following Baluta around the ring but not getting close enough often enough. A better round for Conlan in the sixth. Again Baluta was firing bursts of punches but with very little accuracy. Conlan was on target with his jabs and landing rights. The seventh was close with Baluta again letting his hands fly but without much accuracy whereas Conlan was tending to throw one punch at a time but on target more and Conlan also took the eighth with some solid body punching. Conlan continued to drive forward in the ninth again attacking the body with Baluta looking to be tiring but Conlan having swellings by both eyes. Conlan had won a run of close rounds and was well in front but instead of fading Baluta came on strongly to take the tenth and continued his success into the eleventh. Baluta won the last big. He was pumping out punches and getting through with Conlan mostly on the back foot as though he felt he had the fight won and was not going to take any chances. Scores 117-112 and 115-114 for Conlan and 114-114. I had it 115-113 for Conlan and saw the first score as harsh on Baluta. Conlan wins the WBO International title to strengthen his No 1 rating with the WBO and will be looking to challenge champion Stephen Fulton later this year. Spanish-based Romanian Baluta just came up short but will have raised his profile quite a bit with the exposure this fight gave him. He was very much under the radar until scoring wins over Kyle Williams, former IBF champion TJ Doheny and David Oliver Joyce . Williamson vs. Smith Power wins this of former top level amateurs for Williamson as he halts unbeaten Smith. The much longer reach and good movement of the 6’2” Smith saw him go into the lead from the start. He was boxing well and Williamson found it hard to get past Smith’s jab or to cut down the ring. Williamson finally got though in the sixth hurting Smith early with a right. Smith tried to box his way out of trouble but another big right and a battery of punches put Smith down heavily and the fight was stopped. Williamson, a former British amateur champion, moves to nine wins on the trot and twelve victories by KO/TKIO. He is the IBF European champion which has landed him a No 13 slot in their ratings. At 27 Smith, who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, can rebound from this. 1 May Carson, CA, USA: Middle: Erislandy Lara (28-3-03) W TKO 1 Thomas Lamanna (30-5-1). Heavy: Andy Ruiz (34-2) W PTS 12 Chris Arreola (38-7-1,2ND). Super Welter: Sebastian Fundora (17-0-1) W KO 4 Jorge Cota (30-5). Feather: Eduardo Ramirez (25-2-3,1ND) W KO 3 Isaac Avelar (17-3). Welter: Abel Ramos (27-4-2) W RTD 6 Omar Figueroa Jr (28-2-1) . Welter: Jesus Ramos (16-0) W PTS 10 Javier Molina (22-4). Welter: Adrian Granados (21-8-3,1ND) DRW 8 Jose Sanchez (11-1-1). Heavy: Carlos Negron (23-3) W PTS 8 Scott Alexander (16-4-2). Lara vs. Lamanna Lara obliterates Lamanna in eighty seconds. Lara was probing with jabs and then scored with lefts down the middle. As Lamanna moved in he dropped his left glove a little and Lara blasted him with a left that landed just in front of Lamanna’s ear. He went down heavily with his head bouncing off the canvas and after starting the count the referee abandoned it to get Lamanna some medical attention and it was some time before Lamanna recovered. Lara, 38, wins the vacant secondary WBA title so is not really a two-division champion. His losses have both been split decisions coming against Saul Alvarez and Jarred Hurt. Lamanna was No 8 with the WBA having leapt from nowhere to No 8 by beating 22-14 Juan De Jesus Angulo. Ruiz vs. Arreola Ruiz returns and despite an early knockdown comprehensively outpoints Arreola. Positive opening round from Ruiz as he took the fight to Arreola scoring well with his jab and outworking Arreola. Ruiz was doing well in the second until he walked on to a downward short right to the temple from Arreola which knocked him off balance and he dipped to one knee with a glove resting on the canvas. Ruiz straightened up immediately but after the count was hurt by another right from Arreola. Arreola rocked Ruiz with a left in the third but Ruiz fired back with a left hook and a right to take the round. Ruiz took the fourth as they brawled and again it was Ruiz’s round as he jabbed to the body and landed a clubbing shot to the head. Arreola was not letting his hands go and Ruiz, comfortable on the back foot, jabbed and scored with big rights and ended the fifth with two good left hooks. Arreola was still not working hard enough and Ruiz was dominating the action in the sixth and seventh with his quicker hands and Arreola was cut on the bridge of his nose. The eighth saw Ruiz in charge jabbing strongly to head and body. Arreola was a bit more active but winced in pain and shook his left arm after landing a punch. Through the ninth once again Ruiz was throwing more and landing more and putting some good combinations together. They clashed heads in the tenth but luckily neither was cut and Ruiz pocketed another round partially with some good body punches but also because Arreola was doing very little except defend. Ruiz wobbled Arreola with a left hook in the eleventh and Arreola was again showing signs of trouble with his left shoulder and he told the referee in the break that he had a problem but would see out the last round. Ruiz was on top in the twelfth looking to take Arreola out but Arreola stayed there to the bell. Scores 118-109 twice and 117-111 for Ruiz. He looked more like the fighter who scored an upset win over Anthony Joshua and was almost 30lbs lighter than when losing to Joshua in the return. There is talk of a fight with Deontay Wilder or Luis Ortiz and Ruiz has said he would be happy to fight Arreola again. He is a man in demand now. At 40 and after two inside the distance losses in two shots at the WBC title Arreola can either retire or become a scalp for the young lions of the division. Fundora vs. Cota Fundora breaks down and stops Cota in four rounds. Cota was giving away almost 6” in height and every bit as much in reach so he took this fight inside. Fundora was happy to compete with Cota there rather than box and he was matching Cota and using his height to lean on Cota and force him back. Cota was having trouble getting off the ropes and Fundora was punishing him with hooks and uppercuts and a cut opened over Cota’s right eye. The brawl should have suited Cota and he did score with some overhand rights but he was being outscored inside as Fundora just kept pumping out punches. Cota came apart in the fourth as Fundora punished him with hooks and uppercuts that had Cota reeling and floundering. Despite that Cota connected with a heavy right but Fundora drove him to the ropes and was unloading when the referee stepped in to save Cota. The 6’5 ½” “Towering Inferno” must have hollow legs to fight at super welter. He looks thin as a rake but gets substantial leverage on his punches and in his last three fights has beaten Nathaniel Gallimore, Habib Ahmed and now Cota inside the distance. He is flattered by his No 2 ranking from the WBA but with his height and good power he will present problems for anyone he meets. Mexican “Demon” Cota had suffered consecutive losses in very tough assignments against Jeison Rosario and Jermell Charlo but had re-established himself with wins over Cesar Chavez and Thomas Lamanna and was No 12 with the WBA. Ramirez vs. Avelar If WBA titles were confetti the WBA could go into the wedding business. Ramirez stops Avelar to win the vacant interim WBA title. In typical Mexican style neither fighter wanted to back up and both were looking to land power shots early. They had some frantic exchanges with Ramirez rocking Avelar with a right in the first. They went at it again in the second with Ramirez again getting the better of the exchanges. Avelar was still trying to punch with Ramirez in the third when he was floored by a powerful right. Avelar only just made it to his feet but Ramirez swept him to the ropes and landed some more head punches forcing the referee to come in and stop the fight. Ramirez, 28, had lost on points to IBF champion Lee Selby in 2017. It was to be a title fight but as Ramirez came in over the division maximum he could not have won the title anyway. He suffered another setback when he lost on points to Claudio Marrero in June 2019 but then scored wins over unbeaten Leduan Barthelemy and Miguel Flores which landed him this title shot. “Little Canelo” Avelar lost to Stephen Fulton and in a six round fight to 14-13-3 Miguel Tique but bounced back with a win over 23-0 Sakaria Lukas in December. Ramos vs. Figueroa Ramos gets victory as after an eccentric display Figueroa retires at the end of the sixth round. Figueroa took the opening round. He was rumbling forward with a strange crouching, side-to-side jerky style but did enough work in close to take the round. Ramos was boxing on the back foot trying to figure out Figueroa’s style and his counters saw him even things up by winning the second. Figueroa kept rolling forward with exaggerated upper body movement in the third but Ramos was finding him an easy target and pushing Figueroa off to stop him working in close. On the occasions when Figueroa did get inside he was connecting with good hooks to the body but over the fourth and fifth continued to walk into punches from Ramos. By the sixth Ramos was the one coming forward landing punch after punch with Figueroa still using his strange movement to avoid punches that were not even being thrown. Ramos dished out plenty of punishment and with Figueroa spitting up lots of blood in his corner they took him out of the fight at the end of the round. Ramos lost a split verdict to Yordenis Ugas for the secondary WBA title in his last fight in September but is down at No 8 in their ratings so may struggle to get another shot. Figueroa’s style was worryingly bizarre. The former undefeated WBC lightweight champion has scored victories over Ricky Burns, Antonio DeMarco and Robert Guerrero but was floored and outclassed by Yordenis Ugas in July 2019. Ramos vs. Molina Good learning fight for Ramos as he outpoints experienced Molina and goes ten rounds for the first time. After a cautious first round in which Ramos just had a slight advantage Ramos took over in the second scoring with powerful jabs and left hooks. Molina did a bit better in the third but again Ramos was marching forward and targeting Molina’s body. The fourth and fifth followed the same pattern with Ramos walking through Molina’s punches hurting Molina to the body but Molina defending well. Molina had a good sixth but in the seventh he lost a point for a punch to the back of the head. Ramos kept up the pressure in the eighth but Molina rallied over the ninth and tenth. Scores 99-90 twice and 97-92 for Ramos. The tall 20-year-old southpaw from Arizona had won his last five fights inside the distance but former Olympian Molina keeps his record of never being stopped. Granados vs. Sanchez Granados and Sanchez fight to a majority draw in a competitive eight rounder. Granados was the boss inside but Sanchez scored with useful counters. Both were rocked at times and Sanchez had a good fourth boxing more and having Granados badly hurt by a left hook. Granados recovered and stepped up the pressure over the late round and both were shaken as they traded punches in the last. Scores 76-76 twice and 77-75 for Granados who looked unlucky not to get the decision. Granados was 0-2 in 2019 losing to Danny Garcia and Robert Easter. He was inactive last year but had returned with low level win in February. Sanchez was on a nine-bout winning streak but over moderate opposition. Negron vs. Alexander Negron makes it three wins in a row as he outpoints Alexander. No real highlight with Negron able to use his longer reach to control much of the action but with Alexander doing better over the second half of the fight. Scores 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75 for the 6’6” Puerto Rican. The former Olympian suffered a shock 66 seconds knockout at the hands of Brian Howard in August 2019 but then went on to stop unbeaten Cuban Robert Alfonso in one round. Alexander loses when he tries to step up but had performed creditably in flooring 31-2 Travis Kauffman before losing a majority decision. Manchester, England: Heavy: Joseph Parker (29-2) W PTS 12 Dereck Chisora (32-11). Light Heavy: Dmitry Bivol (18-0) W PTS 12 Craig Richards (16-2-1). Light: Jovanni Straffon (24-3-1) W TKO 1 James Tennyson (28-4). Middle: Chris Eubanks Jr (30-2) W PTS 10 Marcus Morrison (23-4). Super Welter: Scott Fitzgerald (15-0) W TKO 3 Gregory Trenel (13-7-2). (). Parker vs. Chisora Parker comes back from a first round knockdown and losing the first four rounds to outwork Chisora late to take a majority verdict. A dramatic start saw Chisora floor Parker with a right to the head less than ten seconds into the fight. Parker was up quickly and Chisora piled in trying to find another big punch. Parker held and moved until his head cleared and by the end of the round was firing big rights of his own. Chisora marched forward in the second and clipped Parker with a right to the chin. Parker was jabbing and then stepping inside and holding and Chisora was warned for a punch to the back of the head as they brawled. Chisora made the running in the third and fourth prowling after Parker walking through the New Zealander’s jab to thump to the body and rocking Parker with a heavy right. Parker did better in the fifth and sixth. He could not stop Chisora coming forward but was spearing him with jabs and bursts of hooks and tying Chisora up in close. Chisora landed a dangerous uppercut late in the sixth. Parker boxed his way through the seventh moving more and landing more and found the target with a right that forced Chisora to back up. The eighth was another round for Parker. Chisora looked to be slowing and Parker was getting through with jabs and late in the round connected with a heavy right. He was now cutting into Chisora’s lead built over the first four rounds and as he outboxed Chisora in the ninth he had probably levelled the fight. Both looked very tired in the tenth a close one which could have gone either way. As Chisora seemed to tire Parker found a reserve and had a strong eleventh when he connected with a heavy right and outlanded Chisora. The last saw Chisora dip down the well and find the energy for one last big effort and he clearly took the last. Scores 116-111and 115-113 for Parker and 115-113 for Chisora. The 29year-old former WBO champion is now 2-2 in fights in the UK having beaten Hughie Fury and Chisora and lost to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He is No 3 with the WBO and No 6 with the IBF and WBC but no one knows for sure how the heavyweight picture will pan out until a Joshua vs. Fury fight takes place-or doesn’t!. Parker has said he will gladly fight Chisora again. It has been nine years since Chisora lost to Vitali Klitschko in a challenge for the WBC heavyweight title. Losses to Dillian Whyte and Oleksandr Usyk knocked him back but he had rebounded with victories over reasonable level opponents in Senad Gashi, Artur Szpilka and David Price. Before this fight his only rating was at No 15 with the WBC and this loss will have been a big blow to any chance of another title shot and at 37 time is rapidly running out for him. Bivol vs. Richards Bivol outpoints Richards in WBA title fight. Bivol found the target early with his jab and short hooks as Richards made a tentative start. Bivol increased his work rate in the second putting his punches together well. Richards got into the fight in the third connecting with a savage right but Bivol responded with a strong attack that had Richards defending with his back against the ropes. A left to the head stung Richards in the fourth but he was willing to stand and trade with Bivol late in the round and scored well in the fifth as his confidence increased. Both had success in a close sixth with Richards just getting the better of the exchanges. Bivol asserted himself in the seventh as he outworked Richards using some flashing combinations and he built on that to also sweep the eighth connecting with some crisp rights. The ninth was close with stiff jabs from Bivol giving him a slight edge but Richards then had a good spell. He put Bivol under pressure backing the champion up in the tenth and rocking Bivol with an over hand right before scoring well to the body in the eleventh. Richards put in a huge effort in the last but Bivol showed his experience in countering cleverly and doing enough to wrap up the victory. Scores 118-110,115-113 and 115-114 all for Bivol. The first score looked too wide and the other too close as Bivol was having his first fight for sixteen months. He did hold the secondary WBA title but was upgraded to Super and this was his first defence since his elevation. The 30-year-old Kyrgyzstan-born Russian has wins over both the WBO champion Joe Smith and Jean Pascal who followed him as secondary WBA champion and it would be great to see him in against Artur Beterbiev to unify the WBA, IBF and WBC titles. Richards performed above expectation here as he had never faced a rated fighter but he showed he could compete as this high level and with Joshua Buatsi, Lyndon Arthur, Anthony Yarde and MTK tournament winner Ricards Bolotniks all rated there are some good domestic opportunities for him. Straffon vs. Tennyson The biter bitten as big puncher Tennyson is stopped inside a round by Saffron in the IBO title fight. Tennyson landed a couple of rights early but Saffron fired back with a quick burst of punches. They stood and swopped punches with both landing some heavy shots Tennyson to the head and Saffron to the body. Tennyson was driving Saffron back and had snapped Saffron’s head back with an uppercut but Saffron connected with a right hook and a left that sent Tennyson stumbling back across the ring and down. He struggled to his feet but Saffron forced him to the ropes and landed two hard head punches bringing both the referee’s intervention and the towel from Tennyson’s corner. The 27-year-old Mexican southpaw had won his last nine fights against some very modest opposition and was No 84 in the IBO ratings with Tennyson at No 15 but this his seventeenth win by KO/TKO makes him a champion. Only four of Tennyson’s fights have gone the distance. His punch has seen him score 24 inside the distance wins but his chin/defence have caused his four losses to also be quick. Eubank vs. Morrison Eubank sheds some accumulated rust with ten rounds against Morrison. The first round saw both fighters cautious with Eubank doing what scoring there was. Eubank came alive in the second twice showering Morrison with punches but then on each occasion backing off which indicated Eubank was looking for some useful ring time rather than a quick finish. Morrison was fired up at start of the third going forward throwing punches and landing with a couple of rights. Then he seemed to go off the boil and the round drifted to its end with very little more action. There was very little action in the fourth but in the fifth Eubank cut loose with a series of punches. He was then darting back before stepping in again with more punches and after doing that a few times he stood and traded punches. Morrison took some heavy hits but also landed some useful counters before Eubank shut down again and did little more in the round. Eubank used the same tactics of fire then caution in the sixth and seventh. He allowed Morrison to take the lead in the eighth as he worked on his defence. Morrison landed a heavy right in the ninth which led to some fierce exchanges and Eubank was content to run down the clock on some valuable work experience. Scores 98-92 for Eubank on the three cards. When Eubank fought Matvey Korobov for the interim WBA title in December 2019 it ended in a second round victory for Eubank when Korobov had to retire with injured shoulder. That meant that before this fight Eubank had seen less than two rounds of action in the past 26 months so you could understand his determination to get ten rounds of work. He has been training under Roy Jones Jr so he probably wanted to test out some of the changes Jones had instilled in him and he achieved those aims here. Morrison had some success but could never really threaten Eubank but he showed in stopping Emanuel Blandamura in Italy in July 2019 that he has to be respected. Fitzgerald vs. Trenel Fitzgerald returns to action with stoppage of Frenchman Trenel. A distinctly fleshy looking Fitzgerald forced the fight from the start with strong, stiff jabs and left hooks to the body. Trenel showed some early resistance but by the second round was already panting heavily and dropping his hands. With Trenel fading badly in the third he was given a slight reprieve with a stop in the action due to a low punch from Fitzgerald. When the action resumed Trenel was pinned to the ropes showing some clever defensive work but was not punching back and the referee stopped the fight. Fitzgerald had moved to the top of the domestic super welterweights with wins over Anthony Fowler and in last fight in October 2019 Ted Cheeseman but for this fight he was 169 ¼ lbs so has some weight to lose. Trenel had suffered some serious over matching being one of Edgar Berlanga’s first round victims and being stopped in six rounds by Sergio Garcia and he did not look in good condition here. 30 April Mar del Plata, Argentina: Middle: Lucas Bastida (17-1) W PTS 10 Jose Villalobos (13-7-2). 1 Local Bastida puts his troubles outside the ring behind him and retains the South American title against Villalobos. Bastida could not have made a better start. He floored Villalobos twice in the opening round. A right to the head dropped Villalobos in the first minute of the fight and he was down again later in the round from a left. Villalobos was badly rocked by the second knockdown and deliberately spat out gumshield and was deducted a point making it a 10-6 round. Bastida kept up the pressure in the second and third and floored Villalobos again in the fourth. From the fifth Villalobos clawed his way into the fight. He used plenty of clever boxing to neutralise Bastida’s power and even rocked Bastida with a right in the eighth as Bastida tired but he needed a knockout and did not even come close to that. Scores 96-91, 94-92 and 96 ½ -91 ½ for Bastida. “The Tornado” was making the third defence of his title and extends his winning sequence to 14 fights. Early in April he was arrested and jailed after being accused of the sexual assault of a woman in a gym but after a police investigation he was cleared of the charges and released just a few days before this fight. “Tsunami” Villalobos is 2-3 in his last five outings. Mexico City, Mexico: Feather: Miguel Marriaga (30-4) W KO 6 Jorge Garcia (14-4-1). Marriaga returns and picks up the WBC Fecarbox title with sixth round win over Mexican Garcia. Marriaga launched a focused body attack then in the second switched to the head and a right uppercut had Garcia staggering around the ring. Marriaga continued to put Garcia under pressure and in the sixth a left to the body dropped Garcia and he was counted out. In September the Colombian “Scorpion” lost a wide decision against Joet Gonzalez. He has lost in title fights against Nicholas Walters, Oscar Valdez and Vasyl Lomachenko but is hoping to work his way to a fourth title chance. First fight for southpaw Garcia since June 2019 and his second inside the distance defeat. Managua, Nicaragua: Super Feather: Francisco Fonseca (28-3-2) W KO 8 Robin Zamora (16-9). Super Light: Israel Lopez (7-1) W KO 7 Gabriel Escalante (14-1). Welter: Wiston Campos (32-8-6) W PTS 8 Walter Castillo (27-6-1). Fonseca vs. Zamora Fonesca scores crushing kayo of Zamora. Fonseca was hounding Zamora from the start. He had Zamora constantly on the back foot scoring with hooks inside. Zamora was firing back but didn’t have the power to keep Fonseca off. Zamora dropped to the floor in the third under a series of punches and twice lost his gumshield as Fonseca whacked him with body punches. Fonseca’s face showed how hard he had to work to win this one but in the eighth he took Zamora to the ropes and then nailed him with a left that sent Zamora down flat on his back. After starting the count the referee stopped it and called for medical assistance for Zamora who was lying half under the ropes with his legs twitching. He recovered and was able to leave the ring without aid. Fonseca's second inside the distance win over Zamora. Fonseca, 27, collects the vacant WBA Fedelatin title. He lost on points against Tevin Farmer for the IBF super feather title in 2018 and looked unlucky to only get a draw against Alex Dilmaghani in London in 2019 but was knocked out in 80 seconds by Ryan Garcia in February last year. Five of Zamora’s nine losses have come by KO/TKO. Lopez vs. Escalante Minor upset as Lopez knocks out unbeaten Escalante in seven rounds. Escalante had big edges in height and reach and scored well with his jab and straight rights when he boxed on the outside but a determined Lopez was able to get past the jab and score to the body inside keeping Escalante under pressure. It didn’t matter how many punches Escalante landed Lopez just kept coming. In the seventh he forced an exhausted Escalante to the ropes and connected with a left hook to the head that put Escalante down on his back and he was counted out. After an early disqualification loss southpaw Lopez has won six in a row. Escalante has some reconstruction work ahead. Campos vs. Castillo Campos outpoints Castillo in a battle of experienced campaigners. After a cagey start the fight warmed-up with southpaw Campos the better boxer on the back foot countering the lunges of Castillo. Campos put Castillo down with a left in the third and outboxed Castillo over the first half of the fight. The stronger but slower Castillo produced the stronger finish but Campos took a deserved unanimous decision. Welcome win for Campos after losses to Josh Kelly and Shakhram Giyasov in his last two fights. Castillo had lost to Sergey Lipinets and Devon Alexander but had not fought in 2018 or 2019 before scoring a low level win in February last year. General Santos City, Philippines: Fly: Jayson Mama (16-0) W RTD 8 Ramshane Sarguliia (7-6-2).Super Fly: Jade Bornea (16-0) W PTS 10 Roland Jay Biendima (15-8-1). Super Bantam Mike Plania (25-1) W PTS 6 Emmanuel Mogawa (5-4) Mama vs. Sarguliia Mama controls the fight all the way until Sarguliia retires after the eighth round. Mama was streets ahead of Sarguliia in skill and controlled the fight from start to finish. He used a stiff jab to keep Sarguliia on the back foot and found plenty of gaps for rights to the head. Sarguliia lacked the skills to really complete and had only occasional success with long right hands. Mama never really got out of second gear until the seventh when he hurt Sarguliia with a left to the body. He repeated the dose in the eighth with Sarguliia soaking up lots of punishment and then calling it a night. Ninth win by KO/TKO for the unbeaten 23-year-old local favourite. Fifth loss on the trot for Sarguliia Bornea vs. Biendima Routine points win for Bornea. He continually switched guards to southpaw and varied his tactics between boxing at distance and spearing Biendima with jabs and straight lefts or rights and stepping inside and brawling with Biendima. He looked comfortable in dealing with Biendima’s rushing attacks and never seemed to move out of second gear. He tried hard to finish the fight in the last showering Biendima with punches but Biendima never really looked in real trouble. Scores 99-91 twice and 100-90. The 25-year-old “Hurricane”, rated IBF 8(6)/WBC 15, was having his first fight for 16 months. He was a top performing amateur winning a number of tournaments and beating future WBO flyweight champion Kosei Tanaka. Third defeat in his last three fights for Bien Plania vs. Mogawa World rated General Santos City fighter Plania gets unanimous decision over fellow-Filipino Mogawa. Really just a shedding rust exercise for Plania. He rarely pressed his attacks hard but punished novice Mogawa if Mogawa managed to land a good punch. Plania put together some flashy combinations rocked Mogawa a few times. Even through crude Mogawa showed strength and stayed there for the full six rounds. Scores 60-54 for Plania from the judges. “Magic” Plania established himself in the world ratings by flooring 21-1-1 Joshua Greer twice on the way to a points victory in June last year earning himself a No 7 spot with the WBA and 8(6) with the IBF. Mogawa just a learner. 1 May Perez, Argentina: Welter: Brian Chaves (13-1) W KO 5 Carlos Santana (16-4). Chaves makes a successful defence of the WBA Fedebol title with victory over Santana. Southpaw Chaves was in charge of this one over the opening four rounds before ending it in the fifth. As Santana piled forward to take the fight to Chavez the champion met him with a slashing left hook to the body that dropped Santana to his hands and knees he was counted out. After eleven straight wins Chaves suffered a devastating loss when he was knocked out inside a round by world rated Jeremias Ponce in October 2017. He did not fight again until returning this year with a win in January. Santana had won 3 of his last 4 fights. Tijuana, Mexico: Feather: Jesus Delgado (22-1-1) W KO 1 Eduardo Marquez (16-8-1). Delgado continues his run of good form as he blasts out Marquez in the first round. Delgado found the range early with his jab before exploding on Marquez. He drove Marquez to the ropes landing left hooks to the body and rights to the head. Marquez managed to get off the ropes but another series of rights and lefts dropped him and he was counted out. The 24-year-old local prospect is unbeaten in his last 20 fights. Three inside the distance defeats in a row for Marquez. Plant City, FL. USA: Welter: Jose Borrego (18-2) W Alan Sanchez (20-5-1). Super Middle: Enrique Collazo (14-1-1) W Marcelo Molina (23-19-1). This was a close very competitive fight with Sanchez doing the boxing and Borrego pressing hard in every round. A clash of heads opened a cut over Sanchez’s left eye and that led to a period of even stronger pressure from Borrego who switching guards after almost every punch. The cut over Sanchez eye continued to drip blood but he boxed skilfully on the back foot using his long reach. Borrego chased and chased but Sanchez put in a great last round landing with heavy shots from both hands and that won him the fight. Scores 78-74 and 77-75 for Sanchez and 77-75 for Borrego. A welcome win for Sanchez after consecutive defeats against unbeaten fighters Alexander Besputin and Daniyar Yeleussinov. Borrego had been in good form with four wins over experienced rivals. Windhoek, Namibia: Super Light: Harry Simon Jr (14-0) W PTS 6 Dominikus Weyulu (0-1). Super Bantam: Flame Nangolo (6-0) W PTS 8 Gustav Petrus (0-1). Simon vs. Weyulu Simon gets a first win under a new promoter as he outpoints Weyulu. Simon had Weyulu in trouble in the fourth but Weyulu survived and was still there at the end of the six rounds. All three judges had Simon winning 60-54. The 23-year-old son of former two-division title holder Harry Snr. had his contract terminated by his promoter two weeks ago due to indiscipline but was quickly signed up by another promoter for this show. Nangolo vs. Petrus Nangolo scores a one-sided victory over Petrus,. He floored Petrus in the second and then outboxed him the rest of the way. Scores 79-72 twice and 80-71 for the 20-year-old. Accra, Ghana: Super Middleweight: Eliasu Sulley (9-0) W KO 8 Mawuli Folivi (5-2). Super Light: Gabriel Cofie (2-0-1) W PTS 8 Faisal Abubakar (6-1). Super Middle: Jacob Dickson (8-0) W TKO 1 Cudjoe Darah (2-28). Heavy: Haruna Osumanu (12-2) W KO 2 John Dudu (5-25). Sulley vs. Folivi Sulley collects both the National and the vacant West African titles with knockout of Ghanaian champion Folivi. All nine of Sulley’s wins have come by KO/TKO. First defence by Folivi Cofie vs. Abubakar Something of a domestic upset as Cofie outpoints highly touted crowd favourite Abubakar. The 19-year-old Sulley outboxed the heavier puncher Abubakar who had stopped all six of his victims inside three rounds. Dickson vs. Darah Prospect Dickson gets rid of badly overmatched Darah in the first round. Dickson finished it with a vicious left hook to the body. Poor Darah stood there for a couple of seconds almost as if not having been hit but then the pain kicked in and he dropped to the floor. He did get up but thankfully the referee stopped the fight before Darah got seriously hurt. Dickson, 23, has taken less than twelve rounds to win his eight fights. Poor Darah needs to be told to put his gloves away as 25 of his 28 losses have been by KO/TKO Osumanu vs. Dudu Another terrible mismatch sees 41-year-old Osumanu kayo Dudu. Two knockdowns in the second saw Dudu counted out. Osumanu who did not turn pro until he was 37 has eight wins by KO/TKO. He weighed 201lbs for a fight in 2019. He was 276lbs in his last fight! Dudu, 36, has lost 23 times by KO/TKO and was 190lbs in his last fight Fight of the week (Significance): Joseph Parker’s win over Dereck Chisora keeps him in the queue of heavyweights waiting to fight for a title once Joshua vs. Fury is settled. Fight of the week (Entertainment): Both heavyweight fights were entertaining with Parker vs. Chisora just a little livelier than Ruiz vs. Arreola Fighter of the week: Sunny Edwards for lifting the IBF flyweight title against such a good champion as Moruti Mthalane Punch of the week: The laser guided left from Erislandy Lara that flattened Thomas Lamanna Upset of the week: Jovanni Straffon was not given much chance against James Tennyson but he delivered in style Prospect watch: No one I have not recommended previously Observations Whilst it is great to see live audiences again the small riot at the Andy Ruiz vs. Chris Arreola fight was hardly the welcome return boxing needed. It was also good to see a fighter jump on the ropes and thrust his arms in the air to a crowd of fans instead of to empty seats. We had a weather set of nicknames this week with fighters bearing the nicknames of Tsunami, Tornado and Hurricane but I loved “Mad Man” Scott Fitzgerald vs. “Crazy” Gregory Trenel a bit like a lady at a party seeing another lady wearing the same dress-oh OK nothing like that! A Board or Commission has a duty to its licence holders to protect them against themselves so it is painful to see Ghanaians Cudjoe Darah 2-28 (25 losses by KO/TKO) and John Dudu 5-25 (23 losses by KO/TKO) still fight and still getting knocked out. You need stamina to be a fan now. The big show in Carson would have lasted almost six hours if all the light had gone the distance and a show in Tijuana had 15 fights scheduled. If the trend continues I can see fans having to pass a medical before being allowed in to the arena. For today's Controversial Clash we go back more than 30 years to a very odd ending that came in a WBC Welterweight bout in the US. In one corner was a popular British fighter enjoying his second reign as a world champion, whilst the other corner played host to a Korean who is now probably best remembered for this one loss, than anything else he did in his career. The controversial part here is the unique, and strange, ending, but before we get there lets just talk a little bit about the two men involved. Yung Kil Jung (25-3-2, 17) Vs Lloyd Honeyghan (32-1, 21) We expect very few fans will be familiar with Yung Kil Jung, unless you we a big fan back in the late 1980's with a great memory and remember this bout, from 1988, and his contest with Marlon Starling in 1989. And nobody willingly remembers that Starling bout. Jung was 24 coming in to this contest and had debuted way back in 1981 as a 18 year old. Despite mixed results early on, going 7-3-2 (4) in his first 12 bouts, he would go on to find his form and reel off 18 straight wins. Those 18 wins for Jung not only saw him win the Korean and OPBF Welterweight titles but also saw him climb up the rankings on the back of notable victories against the likes of Seung Soon Lee and Nobuyuki Tabata. Sadly for him however his 30 fight career, up to this point, was spent entirely in Korea, and Korean fighters historically do not travel to the West with much success. Even when they are ranked #1 by the WBC, as Jung was. Britain's Lloyd Honeyghan had claimed European, British and Commonwealth titles before making a huge splash in the US with a massive upset win over Donald Curry to win the WBC, WBA and IBF Welterweight titles in 1986. The win, over the then 25-0 Curry, saw Honeyghan move to 28-0 and become the undisputed Welterweight champion. Sadly Honeyghan would lose the WBA title on political grounds, but would defend the WBC and IBF titles through to 1987, before losing the WBC title to Jorge Vaca, on a technical decision. The loss to Vaca saw the IBF strip Honeyghan, though he would reclaim the WBC title by stopping Vaca in a rematch 5 months after the loss. Honeyghan's first defense after reclaiming the WBC title saw him take on Jung in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That was the same city that played hoest to Honeyghan for his career defining victory over Curry less than 2 years earlier. The bout was rather fun from the off, but it was clear the men were on different levels in terms of technical ability. Honeyghan was the much more talented fighter. He was the quicker man and he had a real sharpness to his work. Jung however was the more physically imposing, pressing the action in the first 3 minutes, closing the distance and using his physicality and strength to bully and push around Honeyghan. Jung's work wasn't the tidiest, but it was clear he was there for there upset and there to rough up the champion. In round 2 we began to see Honeyghan getting on his bike, using the ring, picking Jung off at range with his crisper, sharper punches.Jung was still throwing big bombs, but was taking more than he was giving and was looking marked up around the face by the end of the round. Rounds 3 and 4 were also good ones for Honeyghan who, despite trouble in the first round, was completely in control by now and the difference in skills were obvious. Jung was trying hard, but being tagged repeatedly and made to look distinctly average by Honeyghan. It was in round 5 that we got the controversy. With the two men fighting on the inside, a low left hand from Honeyghan dropped Jung who was in agony. He had been caught well below the belt and was writhing in agony as his balls had been blasted. Replays showed how low the blow was, and it was really low. Jung was unable to continue leaving us in a really weird situation. He had been clearly fouled, albeit accidentally, and was unable to fight on. Common sense suggests this should have resulted in us going to the scorecards for a technical decision due to an accidental foul. After the bout was stopped however the decision was read out that Honeyghan had retained his title not by technical decision, but by TKO. There was boos after the result, though in fairness it's unclear if they were booing the result, or the way the bout ended, though Honeyghan certainly didn't seem happy at the ending either. Interestingly the announcement of the result stated that a fighter "cannot win a bout after receiving a low blow", an odd rule to say the least and one we are curious about. Would this mean a fighter can't win a bout by DQ due to low blows? Or was the rule just open to interpretation? For us the bout had the right winner, though it very much seems like this should have been a technical decision win for Honeyghan, scored as if round 5 was completed, with a point off for the accidental foul. That would have been similar to how Honeyghan had had a point off in his first bout against Vaca. Had that happened Honeyghan would have won by technical decision, retained his title and we wouldn't be talking about the bout today. Instead he essentially won by TKO via low blow. On paper it dooesn't make much of a difference now, more than 30 years on, as to how Honeyghan won, but it's still controversial outcome and we still have Korean fans bringing up the result occassionally. Was this a controversial bout? Yes! Was the winner the right one? Yes! Did Jung do himself no favours by staying down? Yes...though in fairness he probably was in agony, but maybe should have made more of an attempt to continue if he fancied winning the contest. Notably though he would get another shot at the title. Honeyghan would lose the title in his next defense to Marlon Starling with Jung getting the first shot at Starling, who easily out boxed the Korean in a drama-less affair. In the end things probably played out better for Jung, who got a second title fight almost certainly due to the controversial ending of this one. |
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