By Eric Armit:
Highlights: -Dillian Whyte gets revenge as he stops Alexander Povetkin four rounds -Thabiso Mchunu retains the WBC Silver cruiserweight title with points victory over Evgeny Tischenko -Zac Parker stops Vaughan Alexander in two rounds -Ted Cheeseman wins the vacant British super welterweight title with late stoppage of James Metcalf -Lennox Clarke wins the British and Commonwealth super middleweight titles with inside the distance victory over Willy Hutchinson -Prince Patel wins the vacant Commonwealth super flyweight title with stoppage of Julias Kisarawa World Title/Major Shows March 27 Gibraltar, Gibraltar: Heavy: Dillian Whyte (28-2) W TKO 4 Alexander Povetkin (36-3-1). Super Welter: Ted Cheeseman (17-2-1) W KO 11 James Metcalf (21-1). Welter: Michael McKinson (20-0) W PTS 10 Chris Kongo (12-0). Heavy: Nick Webb (17-2) W TKO 2 Erik Pfeifer (7-1). Super Feather: Youssef Khoumari (12-0-1) W TKO 5 Kane Baker (14-8). Heavy: Fabio Wardley (11-0) W KO 5 Eric Molina (27-6). Whyte vs. Povetkin Revenge is sweet for Whyte as he floors and stops Povetkin in four rounds to win the interim WBC title. In the first a right to the body had Povetkin staggering and stumbling along the ropes with Whyte trying to nail him with a big punch. Povetkin managed to get off the ropes but it was a bad start for the Russian. Povetkin was looking to connect with some big rights but was off target and Whyte stuck to getting the range with his jab. Povetkin was more positive in the second taking the fight to Whyte but Whyte landed a heavy right and by the end of the round there was already a bump under Povetkin’s left eye. Povetkin was throwing single big punches but a right counter from Whyte set Povetkin back on his heels and Whyte did some good work with his jab. Whyte came out with a clear sense of purpose in the fourth and landed two hard rights then had Povetkin reeling under a series of punches. Povetkin steadied himself and it looked as though the crisis had passed but Whyte knocked Povetkin into the ropes with a right and then another right sent Povetkin reeling and a left hook helped on the way to the floor. Povetkin struggled to his feet but was unsteady and as the referee signalled the end of the fight the towel came in from Povetkin’s corner. There is talk now of a fight with Deontay Wilder which would be interesting and makes sense for both fighters which they wait to find out what is happening with Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. Povetkin did not look sharp and this is being put down to his COVID-19 experience and it probably did play a part but don’t overlook the fact that Whyte had already floored Povetkin twice in the first before the thunderbolt struck and if Povetkin felt he needed more time to fully recover from the COVID-19 then he should not have gone into the ring, Cheeseman vs. Metcalf Former Champion Cheeseman wins the vacant British title with an eleventh round stoppage of Metcalf in great but gruelling contest. In the first Cheeseman was getting through with his jabs and right crosses with Metcalf scoring with hooks inside and they were both getting landing hefty punches. Metcalf attacked hard in the second going to the body and also landing a good left hook to the head but Cheeseman ended the round strongly scoring with rights to the head. It was trench warfare in the third with Cheeseman just landing the cleaner shots. In the fourth Metcalf was on top until late in the round when a huge right from Cheeseman sent him reeling across the ring. Cheeseman followed up and showered Metcalf with punches and it looked as though Metcalf must go down but he stayed on his feet to the bell. Cheeseman had suffered a cut by his right eye in a clash of heads and Metcalf had bruising under his left eye. Cheeseman boxed a bit more over the fifth and sixth which let Metcalf into the fight and Metcalf was strong over the seventh and eighth with Cheeseman mainly on the back foot and countering. Cheeseman took over in the ninth and tenth as Metcalf seemed to be tiring. In the eleventh Cheeseman landed punch after punch with Metcalf trying to fire back but there was no power left in his punches and Cheeseman connected with three rights that sent Metcalf down flat on his back. He struggled to his feet but was wobbly and the referee stopped the fight. Cheeseman came through a rocky spell in 2019 losing to Sergio Garcia and dropping his British title to Scott Fitzgerald but had scored a good win over Sam Eggington in August last year. Former undefeated Commonwealth champion Metcalf played a big part in making this a great scrap. McKinson vs. Kongo McKinson gets majority decision over Kongo in a fight which lacked any real highlights. In an untidy start Kongo’s gloves briefly touched the canvas as he overbalanced when their legs clashed as he was pulling away from McKinnon’s punches. Brief though it was it gave McKinson a 10-8 round and that proved critical in a close fight. Kongo used his longer reach to score with his jab but found McKinnon’s southpaw style awkward to deal with. McKinson did well when countering the incoming Kongo but neither was impressing. Kongo gradually worked his way in front but then took his foot of the pedal in the later rounds where he was doing more posing than punching and that allowed McKinson to get his nose back in front Scores 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95 for McKinson so that slip in the first round cost Kongo a draw. McKinson continues a good recent run of victories over good level opposition and wins the WBO Global title. Former champion Kongo let this one slip away from him. It will only be a temporary set-back but it will cost him is No 13 spot in the WBO rankings Webb vs. Pfeifer Webb blows away unbeaten Pfeiffer in two rounds. Webb was scoring heavily in the first and then he dropped Pfeifer with a left in the second. Pfeifer beat the count but was put down twice more and the fight was stopped. Webb is getting back on track after losses to David Allen and Kamil Sokolowski sent his career off the rails. Russian-born German Pfeifer was European Union champion won a bronze medal at the World Championships and scored two wins over Tony Yoka in the WSB. Khoumari vs. Baker Londoner Khoumari makes it five inside the distance finishes as he stops Baker in the fifth. Khoumari was in charge from the start he was forcing Baker on to the back foot with strong jabs and then banging home left hooks to the body and straight rights, Baker fought back hard he was jabbing well but not really able to match the power or accuracy of Khoumari and on three occasions punches from Khoumari sent Baker’s mouthguard flying. Khoumari scored heavily in the fourth with lefts to the body and uppercuts. Baker was piling forward in the fifth but he was deducted a point when his mouthguard came out again and then Khoumari launched a fierce attack connecting with shots to head and body that had Baker reeling and the referee stopped the fight. Khoumari, who is managed by Dillian Whyte, showed impressive skills and quick accurate punches and will now be looking to take on some of the top domestic opposition. Baker had won 3 of his last 4 fights but the accuracy and power of Khoumari undid him. Wardley vs. Molina On a good night for British heavyweight Wardley knocks out Molina in the fifth. Wardley was showing some clever upper body movement boxing with his hands down early but not throwing enough punches. Despite that he had Molina in trouble with a right in the third. Molina was able to score with his jab but became over confident. He hurt Wardley with a right in the fifth but when he tried to move in to capitalise on that Wardley connected with a series of heavy counters that put Molina down on his back and he was counted out. Ten wins on the bounce by KO/TKO for 26-year-old English champion Wardley who is progressing quickly for a boxer with no amateur experience. Former WBC and IBF title challenger Molina at 38 is way past his best and was knocked out in three rounds by Filip Hrgovic in his last contest in December 2019. Ekaterinburg, Russia: Cruiser: Thabiso Mchunu (23-5) W PTS 12 Evgeny Tischenko (8-1). Super Feather: Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (17-0) W PTS 10 Lunga Stimela (13-1). Super Feather: Ruslan Kamilkov (10-0-1) W TKO 6 Evgeny Chuprakov (23-4). Super Feather: Dmitrii Khasiev (11-2-2) W KO 5 Vladislav Krasnoshein (8-2-1).Light: Zaur Abdullaev (13-1) W PTS 10 Zhora Hamazaryan (10-3-2). Super Feather: Stanislav Kalitskiy (11-1) W KO 5 Pavel Malikov (16-4-1). Mchunu vs. Tischenko Mchunu’s experience in the pros gives him the edge over former amateur star Tischenko as Mchunu eases to victory. There was no fluidity to Tischenko’s work he was stiff legged and mechanical. Mchunu was never really troubled by the Russian’s longer reach and the 6 “ height difference being able to spring forward and get inside to work. Tischenko made very little use of his jab just pawing with it much of the time and not coming in behind it. Tischenko was effective when he brought his left into play firing it straight and with power and he won rounds where he was able to work at distance. He had problems getting any power when he was punching down at the smaller Mchunu and did not close the distance quickly enough so even with his long arms he was reaching with his punches and losing some of the power. With Tischenko not really using his jab Mchunu was able to dart inside and score to the body with Tischenko not interested in fighting in close. Mchunu had more variety in his work connecting with body shots and lefts to the head inside and he was far quicker than the big Russian who when Mchunu darted forward tended to retreat rather than try to counter. It was a one-paced fight without any highlights and Mchunu simply outworked Tischenko. Scores 117-111 twice and 119-109 with the last a bit harsh. Mchunu retains the WBNC Silver title and protects his WBC No 1 rating. He will be looking to get revenge against WBC champion Ilunga Makabu who knocked Mchunu out in eleven rounds in 2015. It could be that Tischenko would do better putting on some poundage and trying the new Bridgerweight but one of his problems is that eight fights against very modest opposition was not enough to prepare him for an experienced battler such as Makabu. Yaqubov vs. Stimela Yaqubov retains the WBC International title with victory over South African Stimela. The visitor tried to take the fight to Yaqubov but was met with fast, precise counters from the clever Tajik boxer. Stimela just kept coming trying to hustle Yaqubov out of his cool approach and drag him into a brawl. Yaqubov found plenty of gaps in Stimela’s defence but two early visits to the canvas by Stimela were both ruled as pushes. Yaqubov finally registered a knockdown with a left hook and after Stimela beat the count he put him down again with a right. Stimela recovered and although shaken a couple of times in the late rounds he fought hard all the way to the final bell. Scores 99-89, 99-90 and 99-91 for Yaqubov. The 25-year-old southpaw Yaqubov is a class boxer but a little short on power. He is No 5 with the WBC but this is a very tough division. Stimela showed plenty of aggression and determination on his first fight outside South Africa and gave Yaqubov a fair test. Kamilkov vs. Chuprakov Kamilkov gets important win as he stops former WBO super feather title challenger Chuprakov in defence of the WBO Inter-Continental title. It was Chuprakov who went on the offensive in the first but Kamilkov countered accurately and floored Chuprakov with a right in the second. Kamilkov then took the fight to Chuprakov but now it was Chuprakov scoring with counters as Kamilkov advanced with his hands down looking to fire hooks. Kamilkov was scoring regularly raking Chuprakov with hooks and uppercuts and Chuprakov began to cave in under the punishment until the referee stopped the fight in the sixth. Kamilkov had lots of success in an extensive amateur career including gold medals in four successive World Cup of Petroleum Countries tournaments. Since losing to Masayuki Ito for the vacant WBO title in 2018 it has been a rocky road for Chuprakov as he is now 3-3 in his last six fights. Khasilev vs. Krasnoshein Southpaw Khasilev scores brutal kayo of Krasnoshein. Both looked to dominate early and with neither wanting to give way it turned into an entertaining hard-punching scrap. It looked level for three rounds but then Khasilev took over in the fourth handing out serious punishment before putting together a series of punches in the fifth ending with a booming right uppercut that dropped Krasnoshein flat on his back and the fight was immortally stopped. Khasiev seems to have suddenly found some power as this is his third inside the distance in a row after only scoring two stoppage wins in his first eleven fights. Abdullaev vs. Hamazaryan Abdullaev takes unanimous decision after a thrilling scrap with Hamazaryan. Both boxers worked behind their jab with Abdullaev mainly boxing on the back foot and Hamazaryan strong and dangerous with his rights with each having good spells in the early rounds. Hamazaryan scored well to the body in the fifth and Abdullaev went on the offensive in the sixth raking Hamazaryan with long punches only for a right from Hamazaryan staggering him at the bell. In the seventh a right from Hamazaryan had Abdullaev wobbly and a left put him down. Hamazaryan tried hard to finish it but Abdullaev survived. He then dominated the fight over the last three rounds with Hamazaryan being deducted a point for losing his mouthguard in the eighth and Abdullaev flooring Hamazaryan with the last punch of the fight. With Hamazaryan making it to his feet the result was decided on the scorecards which read 96-91, 95-92 and 94-93 showing the importance of the one point deduction and the last punch knockdown. Russian Abdullaev lost in four rounds against Devin Haney for the WBC interim title in September 2019 but rebounded well with a points win over Pavel Malikov in August last year. Armenian Hamazaryan put up great effort here but falls to 1-3-2 in his six most recent contests. Kalitskiy vs. Malikov Kalitskiy stops Malikov in five. After an even first round Malikov sent Kalitskiy to the floor with rights in both the second and third rounds. Kalitskiy recovered from those two knockdowns and landed some heavy punches in the fourth before detonating a wicked right uppercut to the chin of Malikov which put him down and he was counted out. The 23-year-old Ekaterinburg-based Kazak had been stopped in eight rounds by Khasilev in his last fight in August. Malikov’s career has come off the rails. He looked to be going well after beating Vage Sarukhanyan and IBF title challenger Isa Chanev but then suffered consecutive inside the distance losses against Zaur Abdullaev and Roman Andreev in 2020. 26 March London, England: Super Middle: Zach Parker (20-0) W TKO 2 Vaughan Alexander (15-5). Super Bantam: Brad Foster (14-0-2) W PTS 10 Alvaro Rodriguez (10-4-1). Welter: Danny Ball (10-0-1) W PTS 10 Sam Gilley (11-1). Super Light: Sam Maxwell (15-0) W PTS 8 Ben Fields (10-10-2). Heavy: David Adeleye (5-0) W KO 1 Dave Preston (9-1). Bantam: Dennis McCann (9-0) W PTS 8 Luis Moreno (9-2). Parker vs. Alexander Parker impresses as he dismantles Alexander in two rounds. In the first Parker was much too fast for Alexander. He was switching angles and switching guard almost from punch to punch. He connected with some rights to the head and hooked well to the body. Alexander managed to land a couple of times but nothing heavy and Parker ended the round with a series of punches. Parker finished the job in the second. He dropped Alexander for the first time with two left hooks and put him down again with a clubbing right to the head. Alexander got up but was pinned to the ropes with Parker unloading head punches until the referee stopped the fight. Parker,26, wins the WBO international title with his fourteenth quick victory. He is No 1 with the WBO and will have to see what shakes out after the Saul Alvarez vs. Billy Joe Saunders fight in May but it seems certain he will fight for the WBO title later this year or in early 2022. Parker was impressive here although Alexander, 35, is a long way from world ratings level having returned to boxing in 2016 after serving an eleven year prison term. Foster vs. Rodriguez Foster cruises to comfortable victory as he takes every round against Spaniard Rodriguez. Foster had to make the fight as Rodriguez was on the defensive from the start. Foster did a good job of cutting off the ring and connected with jabs and left hooks. Rodriguez had some success in the fourth round as he combined some good defensive work with some useful counters but Foster was the one landing more. Rodriguez work rate dropped off and he was cut over his left eye and stunned by a punch in the eighth and jolted by a series of punches in the last. Scores 100-90 for Foster on all three cards. Foster collects the vacant IBF International title. He is the official challenger to Gamal Yafai for the European title and No 10(8) with the IBF. Spanish champion Rodriguez is 0-3 in fights in the UK. Ball vs. Gilley This was a close one with Ball outscoring Gilley early but having to fight hard later to get the decision. It was a tactical battle but an entertaining one. Gilley started well and then Ball had a strong fourth and opened a gap over the middle rounds seeming to have an edge in power. Gilley forced the fight hard late taking on Ball inside and looked to have closed the gap but Ball had more left in the last round and that made the difference. Scores 96-94 twice and 97-94 for Ball. The 24-year-old from the West Midlands retains the WBC International Silver title. Londoner Gilley will rebound from this. Maxwell vs. Fields Maxwell decisions substitute Fields. It proved a more difficult night than expected for Maxwell. Fields was strong and awkward with his lunging attacks and rough stuff inside. Maxwell was streets ahead in talent and that showed when he chose to box but too often allowed himself to be drawn into a brawl. Gradually he broke down Fields who tired badly late and was deducted a point for holding in the seventh as Maxwell showed some classy touches late in the fight. Referee’s score 79-73 for Maxwell. He was to have challenged Akeem Ennis Brown for the British title but Ennis Brown was injured and former Midlands Area champion Fields was a late replacement McCann vs. Moreno Brilliant boxing from young prospect McCann as he outclasses Mexican Moreno. McCann was just too clever, too fast and too accurate for the limited Moreno. He was getting through with a whole range of punches and countering the crude lunges of Moreno with crisp hooks. A right floored Moreno in the last but he made it to the final bell. The 20-year-old southpaw McCann, he turned pro at 18,looks a class act. Moreno came in on the back of five wins but against substandard foes. Adeleye vs. Preston Adeleye finishes substitute Preston inside two minutes. No way this was going to last long. Adeleye sent a couple rights whizzing past Preston’s chin before burying a wicked left hook to the ribs of Preston who was unable to get up. The 24-year-old Londoner has taken less than nine rounds for his five wins. A former Junior, Senior ABA and British Universities champion Adeleye is the proud owner of a degree in Business Management. Preston was having his first pro fight and was overwhelmed. Miami, FL, USA: Bantam: Melvin Lopez (25-1) W TKO 1 Samuel Gutierrez (16-31-6).Super Bantam: Jorge De Jesus Romero (20-0-1) W PTS 8 Yeison Vargas (17-6). Super Feather: Mark Bernaldez (22-4) W TKO 6 Hector Ambriz (12-13-2). Light: Josec Ruiz (22-4-3) W TKO 2 Rodolfo Puente (19-6-2). Super Feather: Otar Eranosyan (7-0) W TKO 2 Marco Mendoza (11-10-1). Lopez vs. Gutierrez Another power show from Nicaraguan Lopez as he scores three knockdowns on the way to a first round win over late replacement Gutierrez. Lopez opened with some hard, accurate right jabs then he sent Gutierrez back and down with a left. After the count Lopez pursued Gutierrez to a corner and a series of punches had Gutierrez going down on one knee. He was up at seven but then went down again as Lopez blitzed him with left hooks and the fight was stopped. An inside the distance loss against little Chilean Jose Velasquez in October 2019 was a setback but Lopez has rebounded with four wins by KO/TKO the last three all coming in the first round. Old pro Gutierrez is sliding rapidly being without a win in his last twelve fights. Romero vs. Vargas Romero comes through a frustrating eight rounds with a decision over Vargas. In the first Romero had Vargas retreating with strong jabs and straight rights. Vargas tried to dart inside but his punches were coming up short. Romero continued to press the action with Vargas showing some good defensive work and doing well in short bursts but Romero was always the one coming forward and he was connecting with some hefty rights. Romero continued to do most of the scoring but he was having trouble pinning Vargas down and Vargas had enough success with his quick attacks to steal a round and was never really in trouble. Scores 79-73 twice and 78-74 for Romero. The Cuban’s progress took a hit when he was held to a draw by a skidding Daniel Lozano in August last year. He has scored three wins since then. Colombian Vargas was knocked out in 63 seconds by Melvin Lopez in September and after compiling a 17-0 record back home he has now suffered six consecutive losses five by KO/TKO Bernaldez vs. Ambriz Filipino Bernaldez comes from behind to end the fight with a big right in the sixth. Bernaldez was conceding height and reach to Mexican Ambriz but the Mexican was looking to stand exchange punches rather than box and had a good first round. In the second Bernaldez began to score with hooks to the body and that quickly had Ambriz on the back foot and under pressure. Ambriz came back with a strong third and used his jab to blunt Bernaldez’s attacks and landed some powerful right crosses in the fourth. Ambriz was so confident he was showboating in the fifth changing guards and indulging in some fancy footwork but he also scored well and looked to have built a good lead. All of that counted for nothing in the sixth. Against a tired looking Ambriz Bernaldez connected with some hard body shots and then landed a booming right to the head that sent Ambriz crashing to the canvas. He only just beat the count and was unsteady and the fight was over. The 26-yeart-old “Machete” makes it sixteen wins by KO/TKO. His two losses have come against good opposition in Andy Vences and unbeaten Albert Bell. Ambriz looked a much better fighter than his current 0-10-1 form and he has gone the distance in that run against Denis Shafikov, Hector Tanajara and Robson Conceicao and drawn with Antonio Lozada. Ruiz vs. Puente Ruiz gets win over a reluctant Puente. Ruiz was attacking hard in the first with Puente just flapping punches and holding. In the second Puente was deducted a point for holding and then dropped by a low punch. The referee gave Puente some recovery time although it was obvious Puente did not want to get up. Finally he did and was put down by two left hooks and a right and the referee stopped the fight without a count. Honduran “Scorpion” Ruiz suffered back-to-back losses in 2020 so a welcome win for him here. Puente has lost in the second round in three of his last four fights. Eranosyan V. Mendoza Eranosyan stops Mendoza in two rounds. This was really a farce. Mendoza never moved more than one pace from the ropes and circled the ring hiding behind a high guard . It was target for practice for Eranosyan and Mendoza went down twice at the end of the first round. He went down again from a right to the head in the second and the towel came in from his corner. It’s an insult to Miami-based Georgian to put him with opponents such as this. He gets his fifth win by KO/TKO but a few minutes of sparring would have been of more use to him. Mexican Mendoza, 40, had lost his previous five fights inside the distance and lasted less than eleven minutes in those five fights. Hurlingham, Argentina: Welter: Christian Andino (16-1) W PTS 10 Miguel Antin (19-7). In a clash of former Argentinian title challengers Andino has no problems in dealing with the aggression of Antin. Andino was scoring regularly with his jab and used clever movement to frustrate Antin’s attacks. He hurt Antin with a right in the sixth but lacked the power to capitalise on that. He outboxed a tiring Antin over the closing rounds to wrap up a risk free decision. Scores 100-90 for Andino on the three cards. Andino, who fights out of the Oscar “Ringo” Bonavena gym, survived a lung operation in 2016 before turning pro. Fifth loss in his last six outings for Antin. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Super Fly: Geraldo Valdez (10-0) W PTS 10 Arturo Segundo (12-5). Light: Francis Frometa (13-0) W TKO 10 Jose Roa (10-2-1). Light: Richard Solano (24-2-2,1ND) W DISQ 2 Andres Tapia (16-9-4). Super Light: Jose Galvez (15-2) W RTD 2 Luis Castillo (23-7). Valdez vs. Segundo On a card that was billed as a war between Dominicans and Mexicans Valdez gets the win but looks very lucky to do so. Segundo put Valdez on the floor in the eighth and looked to have done enough to take the decision but two of the judges disagreed with some widely varying scores. The judges saw it 98-91 and 97-93 for Valdez and 95-94 for Segundo. Former top amateur Valdez retains the WBC Latino title. Segundo is just a modest level prelim fighter in Mexico so he performed much better than expected Frometa vs. Roa Frometa gets late stoppage against Mexican Roa. Frometa almost ended it the first flooring Roa heavily. Roa got through the crisis and from the third it was a close fight until a strong attack from Frometa early in the tenth brought the referee’s intervention. This was to be Frometa’s experience of going ten rounds but instead it counts as his eighth inside the distance victory. Roa’s current form was 11-0-1 before this loss. Solano vs. Tapia Solano gets a win as Mexican Tapia is thrown out for hitting on the break, Solano was better in the first round the fight was decided in the second. Tapia landed a punch after the referee had ordered break. When Tapia did the same thing again the referee disqualified him. Dominican Solano,32, is on a 19 fight unbeaten streak at 18-0,1ND going back to 2014. Tapia is 0-2-1 in his three most recent fights. Galvez vs. Castillo Galvez scores another win for the home side as he beats Castillo. After two punishing rounds Castillo retired on his stool before the start of the third. Eleven consecutive wins for Galvez and his eighth by KO/TKO. Seventh inside the distance defeat for Castillo Blagnac, France: Super Feather: Anthony Riviere (10-3-1) W PTS 10 Khalil El Hadri (10-1). Home town boxer Riviere gets an upset decision over previously unbeaten El Hadri to win the French title. Riviere set a fast pace from the start aiming to hustle the more skilful champion out of his stride. It took El Hadri a couple of rounds to settle and then we got plenty of action in a tight scrap. Riviere was just that little bit busier in the exchanges but not much between them and home advantage probably helped Riviere get the nod. Scores 96-94 twice and 98-92 for Riviere who has put an air of respectability on his record being 6-1-1 in his last 8 fights. Former French amateur champion and WSB competitor El Hadri was making the first defence of the National title. Rome, Italy: Feather: Christopher Mondongo (9-2) W TEC DEC 7 Suat Laze (25-7-1,1ND).Cruiser: Francesco Versaci (21-3-1) TEC DRAW 1 Mattia Faraoni (6-1-1). Mondongo vs. Laze Rome fighter Mondongo wins the vacant Italian title with technical decision over Laze. It was war from the first bell as Laze sought to overwhelm Mondongo with the pair feverishly trading shots. Mondongo stayed cool under fire blocking many of Laze’s punches and scoring with accurate counters. Mondongo rocked Laze with a right in the fifth but Laze responded with a right that put Mondongo on the mat. Mondongo beat the count and fought back hard over the sixth and seventh. Laze was cut over his left eye in a clash of heads in the seventh and was unable to continue so it went to the judges who came up with scores of 67-65 and 66-65 for Mondongo and 66-66. After losing his first fight Mondongo is now 9-1 in his last 10. Laze , 41, Albanian-born but now an Italian citizen, won the Italian title in December 2019 at the age of 39 making him the oldest boxer to win the Italian featherweight title but then had to relinquish the title through injury. Versaci vs. Faraoni Disappointing end here as Versaci is hurt by a punch to the back of the head and is unable to continue so the fight ends as a technical draw leaving Versaci as champion so they will have to do it all over again. Mexico City, Mexico: Fly: Christian Gonzalez (12-1) W PTS 10 Adrian Curiel (16-4). Gonzalez wins the WBC Fecarbox title with majority decision over Curiel. Over the early rounds Gonzalez made use of his longer reach to work on the outside and Curiel struggled to get close enough to work effectively. After four rounds Gonzalez was in front 40-36, 40-37 and 39-37. Curiel upped the pressure from the fifth and clawed back a little of Gonzalez lead but Gonzalez defended well and his jabs had Curiel bleeding heavily from the nose. The scores at the end of eight rounds still had Gonzalez in control at 78-74, and 77-75 twice. Curiel staged a strong finish over the last two rounds but just came up short. Scores 96-94 twice for Gonzalez and 95-95. Gonzalez, 21, makes it six wins in a row. Curiel had won 4 of 5 going in. Chapala, Mexico: Super Middle: Jose Uzcategui (29-4) W Josue Obando (20-28-2). Super Bantam: Edwin Palomares (14-3-1,1ND) W Cesar Ramirez (18-4). Uzcategui vs. Obando Former IBF super middle champion Uzcategui returns with a win. He handed out steady punishment over the first two rounds and an early finish looked likely. Obando did better over the third and fourth as he upped his pace a little but Uzcategui was in charge again after that. It was a case of breaking down a game Obando and in the eighth the referee stopped the fight just as Obando’s corner were preparing to throw in the towel. Venezuelan Uzcategui lost his IBF title on points against Caleb Plant in January 2019 and in December 2019 was floored and outpointed by Lionel Thompson and dropped out of the ratings so this is a first step back. Obando had scored a win over experienced Marco Reyes but Uzcategui was too strong. Palomares vs. Ramirez Palomares ends this one late with a savage kayo of Ramirez. Palomares had outlanded Ramirez and built a good lead. But Ramirez fought hard to stay in contention. He was running out of time and pressing hard but just before the final bell a right from Palomares detonated on the chin of Ramirez knocking him out cold with just two seconds remaining in the fight and the medical team rushed to treat him and he recovered. Palomares was coming off two good victories having stopped 25-2 Carlos Ornelas in June and Czech Martin Parlagi in December. First outing for Ramirez since being knocked out in ten rounds by John Riel Casimero for the WBI interim title in August 2019. 27 March London, England: Super Middle: Lennox Clarke (20-1-1) W TKO 5 Willy Hutchinson (13-1). Feather: Louie Lynn (9-0) W PTS 10 Sebastian Perez (12-2-1). Heavy: Nathan Gorman (18-1) W TKO 2 Pavel Sour (13-4). Light: Mark Chamberlain (8-0) W KO 1 Jordan Ellison (11-32-2). Clarke vs. Hutchinson Clarke proves too strong for Hutchinson and scores a stoppage in the fifth. Hutchinson controlled the action early boxing at distance using his long reach to score with jabs and putting together some significant bunches of punches. Clarke kept walking in but was being made to pay a price being shaken by an uppercut in the second and having to absorb some long hooks and straight rights. A clash of heads saw Hutchinson cut over his left eye and Clarke began to find the target with head punches as he came forward. The fifth round saw Clarke force Hutchinson to the ropes and a thunderous right almost put Hutchinson put on his feet. Clarke managed to land two more head shots as Hutchinson went down. He got up but rightly the referee decided he was not in any condition to continue. Clarke wins both the vacant British and Commonwealth titles. His only loss came against world rated Lerrone Richards for the same two titles in November 2019. Scot Hutchinson, a former World Youth champion, is 22 and showed good skills and power and will rebound from this. Lynn vs. Perez Lynn wins his first title in his first ten round fight as he outworks Spaniard Perez. Lynn set a fast pace from the off and Perez just could not match him. Perez had some good spells but nowhere near enough to threaten Lynn’s dominance and the Surrey man was a clear winner. Scores 100-91, 98-92 and 97-93 for Lynn. He had won seven of his eight victories inside the distance so this longer fight was useful experience for him. In his last fight in December 2019 Perez had lost a close decision to unbeaten Frenchman Elie Konki for the European Union title. Gorman vs. Sour Gorman scores five knockdowns in under four minutes to stop Sour. Gorman shook Sour with a right in the first and then put him down with a strong left jab. Sour got up but was down twice more before he connecting with a good right at the bell. Gorman put Sour twice with rights early in the second and the referee waived the fight over. Gorman, 24, is putting his house in order after a fifth round kayo loss against Daniel Dubois and this is win No 2 on his way back. Sour was stopped early in his career by Filip Hrgovic and more recently suffered back-to back losses against Jermaine Franklin and Hughie Fury Chamberlain vs. Ellison Chamberlin wipes out experience Ellis with a body shot. Chamberlain towered over Ellison and used his longer reach to land some southpaw lefts. He forced Ellison to the ropes and connected with a rib bending left which saw Ellison drop to his knees writhing in agony and he was counted out. All five of the former English amateur’s quick wins have come in the first round. Ellison is 0-11-1 in his recent activity with 9 of those losses against unbeaten fighters. Accra, Ghana: Super Fly: Prince Patel (24-1-2) W TKO 9 Julias Kisarawa (32-8-1). Heavy: Ebenezer Tetteh (21-1) W RTD 6 Haruna Osumanu (11-3). Super Bantam: Isaac Sackey (25-1-1) W PTS 12 Gabriel Odoi Laryea (21-5-2). Patel vs. Kisarawa Patel halts Tanzanian Kisarawa in the ninth to win the vacant Commonwealth title. From the start Patel used his hand speed and good movement to outboxed the limited Kisarawa. The Tanzanian did a bit better as they traded punches in the second but it was obvious he lacked the power to trouble Patel. After fighting southpaw for two rounds Patel switched guard in the third and scored well with body punches. Kisarawa kept busy in the fourth but Patel hurt him with some solid rights. Patel upped his pace and put Kisarawa down in the fifth and applied more pressure after the eight count. Kisarawa went down on one knee in the sixth under a shower of punches but survived to the bell. Patel continued the pressure in the seventh and eighth and in the ninth as Kisarawa was stumbling with exhaustion and hardly able to lift his hands the referee stopped the fight. Patel was just too good for a very limited and sloppy Kisarawa as he gets his nineteenth inside the distance win. Patel covered all of the bases winning the vacant Commonwealth title but also the WBO Global, WBO African, WBA Inter-Continental and IBF Continental titles. Kisarawa lacked the skill or power to pose a threat but at least he did better than when facing Patel in 2018 when he was halted in five rounds. Tetteh vs. Osumanu Tetteh was giving away 40lbs in this fight but that just meant he was facing an obscenely overweight 40-year-old Osumanu. It took Tetteh a little while to get rolling but he eventually wore down Osumanu who retired at the end of the sixth round. Tetteh lifts the WBA Pan African title but some realism entered his heavily padded record when he was stopped inside a round by Daniel Dubois in September 2019. Both of Osumanu’s losses have been retirements. Sackey vs. Laryea No problems for Sackey as he retains his WBO African title winning every round. Scores 120-108 for Sackey from the three judges. Sackey,26, was 22-0-1before being knocked out by the very useful Wasiru Mohammed in 2018 and this is his third win as he re-establishes himself. Former Commonwealth title challenger Laryea put together a 16-0-2 run but then suffered losses when overmatched against Martin Ward and Albert Pagara. Lanus, Argentina: Super Bantam: Alberto Melian (9-2) W PTS 10 Frency Fortunato (10-1). Welter: Alberto Palmetta (17-1) W KO 2 PTS 10 Jose Herrera (35-12). Melian vs. Fortunato Melian overcomes a disastrous first five rounds to outpoint Fortunato in a scarp featuring seven knockdowns. Dominican Fortunato had height and reach over Melian and Melian was taking chances to get inside. Just one minute into the second Fortunato floored Melian with a right uppercut. Melian was up quickly but badly shaken. Fortunato chased him around the ring throwing punches and Melina went down on one knee to get some recovery time. He managed to survive with a lot of holding. At the start of the third Fortunato sent Melian to the canvas with two hefty rights to the head. Melian survived again by holding some, moving some and by Fortunato losing his mouthguard. The fourth was a close round but just when Melian seemed to be working his way into the fight he was floored by a right in the fifth. He got up and shook Fortunato later in the round. So five rounds gone, four knockdowns giving Fortunato a 10-7 and two 10-8 rounds with the unofficial scoring having Fortunato 50-41 in front but Melian was still there and about to turn things around. He outpunched a tiring Fortunato in the sixth and seventh and Fortunato went down twice in the eighth partially from punches and partially from exhaustion but made it to the bell. Both were exhausted in the ninth but Melian outpunched Fortunato. In the tenth Fortunato had nothing left and again went down from a mixture of exhaustion and punches but too late for Melian to get the knockout. Scores 92-91 twice and 94-90 for Melian. An amazing comeback from disaster from Melian in a truly dramatic contest. Melian, an Olympian in 2012 and 2016 wins the WBA Inter-Continental title. Fortunato had won 6 of his last 7 fights by KO/TKO and came so close to winning here as well. Palmetta vs. Herrera Palmetta scores one punch kayo to retain the WBA International belt. Palmetta was scoring with some left hooks and straight rights in the first with Herrera’s defence looking leaky. Palmetta rocked Herrera a few times in the second before a left to the head dropped Herrera on his back and he just failed to beat the count. Southpaw Palmetta, 30, the WBA No 6, makes it ten inside the distance victories in a row. As an amateur he won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games and gold at the Pan American Championships as well as competing at the 2016 Olympics and being a member of the Argentinian Condors in the WSB. Fourth loss in his last five contests for Herrera but against good quality fighters. Toowoomba, Australia: Heavy: Joe Goodall (7-0-1) W TKO 2 Herman Purcell (17-9). No big surprise here as Goodall blows away poor Purcell in the second round. With Goodall being 6’4 ½” and Purcell 5’ 9 ½” just landing a punch would be an achievement for Purcell. Goodall was a top level amateur and he had the ability and the power to end this. He floored Purcell twice in the second round. Purcell got up from the second knockdown prepared to tear into Goodall not realising his corner had thrown in the towel and a gutsy Purcell wanted to ignore it and fight on. Goodall wins the vacant Australasian title. In the amateurs he was Australian champion in 2014, 2015 and 2016 a silver medallist at the Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the World Championships. With those credentials a draw with a fighter with a 4-3 record in his last fight in August 2019 was a huge disappointment. However he has since undergone shoulder surgery and is still one to follow. Samoan Purcell had scored victors in each of his last four fights and was No 5 in the Australian ratings. Brisbane, Australia: Super Light: Jacob Ng (15-0) W PTS 10 Blake Minto (13-2-2). Entertainer “The Flamingo” Ng continues his 100% record with a wide unanimous verdict over Minto. Scores 100-90, 99-91 and 98-93. Not sure if Ng wore his pink flamingo feathers to the ring but he is not all flash as the tall 26-year-old Gold Coast citizen can fight. A run of 7 wins and a draw had seen Minto climb to No 9 in the Australian rankings. Roosdaal, Belgium: Welter: Meriton Karaxha (28-5-3) W PTS 10 Emanuele Cavallucci (12-3-1). Super Light: Mohamed El Marcouchi (27-2) W PTS 10 Brice Bula Galo (11-2-1). Karaxha vs. Cavallucci Karaxha comes away with a unanimous decision but has to work hard against a quick and clever Italian Cavallucci. Scores 98-92, 97-93 and 96-95. The Albanian Karaxha lifted the vacant IBO International title and now has ten wins and two draws in his last twelve fights. Former Italian champion Cavallucci was 9-1 going in. El Marcouchi vs. Galo El Marcouchi also given a harder time than expected but also took the unanimous verdict on scores of 97-92, 97-93 and 96-93 and he wins the IBO Continental belt. The 33-year-old Miami-based El Marcouchi has lost only one of his last twenty-five fights and that was on a disqualification. Belgian-based DRC fighter Galo’s only previous loss was a disqualification against Karaxha and he was on a seven-bout winning streak. Seine-Saint-Denis, France: Super Welter: Howard Cospolite (19-8-3) W TKO 1 Mahmoud Taha (9-7-3). Super Middle: Gustave Tamba (16-1) W PTS 10 Steven Crambert (8-7). Super Welter: Milan Prat (9-1) W TKO 2 Flavien Bogongo (6-10-4) Cospolite vs. Taha Cospolite retains the French title with stoppage of Taha. Cospolite blitzed Taha coming out firing punches. He drove Taha to a corner and had him reeling under heavy fire when the referee stepped in to save Taha. First defence of the title for 38-year-old Cospolite. He is 0-2-1 in challenges for the European Union title but may yet get a fourth shot. Taha had won his last four fights but here he suffered his fifth inside the distance loss. Tamba vs. Crambert French champion Tamba returns to the ring after 14 months and makes a successful second title defence with his second win over Crambert. Tamba had a big edge in skills and easily outboxed Crambert with his better accuracy and higher work rate. Scores 99-91 twice and 100-90 for Tamba who extends his winning streak to 14. He had won every round against Crambert when defending his title against him in November 2019. Four losses in his last five fights for Crambert. Prat vs. Bogongo Highly rated prospect Prat batters an overmatched Bogongo to defeat in two rounds. The 21-year-old Prat’s loss came last month when he was disqualified after his opponent could not continue following a punch to the back of the head. French amateur champion Prat will be entering the qualifiers for the Tokyo Olympics. This is only the second time Bogongo has been beaten inside the distance. Tijuana, Mexico: Super Light: Omar Aguilar (20-0) W KO 1 Carlos Cardenas (26-19-1). Aguilar vs. Cardenas Aguilar again puts on a power show as he hunts down and destroys Cardenas in one round. Aguilar’s long reach gave Cardenas problems as he bobbed and weaved trying to find a way inside. He managed to dart in and land a right but Aguilar was finding the range and letting his rights go. With 25 seconds remaining in the round he landed a left hook that forced Cardenas to the ropes and then connected with a left and a right that dumped Cárdenas on the floor and he was counted out. The 21-year-old from, Ensenada has scored 19 inside the distance wins in his 20 fights with thirteen first round victories. Venezuelan “Prophet” Cardenas somehow did not see this coming. Last time out Cardenas lost a majority decision to 31-1-1 Pedro Campa. Cebu, Philippines: Feather: Peter Apolinar (14-1) W PTS 10 Juanito Paredes (8-7-1). Light Fly: Mark Vicelles (13-0-1) W KO 4 Arnold Garde (10-11-3). Super Bantam: Arthur Villanueva (33-4-1) W PTS 6 Bryan Tamayo (6-2-2). Light Fly: Mark Anthony Barriga (10-1) W RTD 4 Junuel Lacar (8-7-3). Apolinar vs. Paredes Apolinar extends his winning run to nine with victory over Paredes. Scores 99-91 twice and 98-92 for 25-year-old Apolinar. Despite his modest record Paredes had won 5 of his last 6 fights. Vicelles vs. Garde Cebu southpaw Vicelles remains unbeaten with fourth round win over Garde. Vicelles had built as comfortable lead before putting Garde down with a left uppercut .Now ten in a row for Vicelles with Garde going in the opposite direction with only one win in his eight most recent outings. Villanueva vs. Tamayo Former world title challenger Villanueva returns and gets in six rounds of activity. Tamayo was cut over his right in a clash of heads in the second but it was never really a factor as Villanueva eased his way to victory. Scores 59-53 on the three cards for Villanueva. “King Arthur”, 32, has lost in title shots against McJoe Arroyo, Zolani Tete, and Nordine Oubaali with his other loss being to Luis Nery. This is his first ring action since losing Oubaali in July 2019. Fellow southpaw Tamayo lacked the experience to trouble Villanueva. Barriga vs. Lacar Barriga had been out of action even longer than Villanueva so must have been disappointed when Lacar decided to retire after four rounds. The flashy southpaw upped the pace from round to round and a series of punches in the fourth had Lacar looking in trouble and it was no surprise when he retired at the end of the round. In his last fight former Olympian Barriga dropped a split decision against Carlos Licona for the vacant IBF minimumweight title in December 2018 and will be looking to work his into another title shot. Lacar is 1-6 in his last 7 fights now. Jachranka, Poland: Middle: Fiodor Czerkaszyn (17-0) W PTS 10 Javier Maciel (33-11).Super Middle: Mateusz Tryc (11-0) W PTS 8 Jorge Garbey (6-0-1). Light Heavy: Marek Matyja (19-2-2) W PTS 8 Bartlomiej Grafk (22-39-4 Czerkaszyn vs. Maciel Czerkaszyn boxes his way to victory over Argentinian Maciel. Czerkaszyn was comfortable working at distance and easily dealing with Maciel’s attacks. Maciel upped his pace pressing harder but counter rights from Czerkaszyn took the fire out of him and he was in trouble after a left hook to the body in the seventh. Czerkaszyn cruised through the last three rounds on his way to victory. Scores 100-90 twice and 98-92 for Czerkaszyn. The 25-year-old Ukrainian-born Pole has wins over experienced opposituion in Kassim Ouma, Wes Capper and Patrick Mendy and revealed after the fight that he had a broken rib in training. Maciel, a WBO middleweight title challenger back in 2011 has lost five in a row. Tryc vs. Garbey Tryc too strong for Cuban Garbey. Tryc took the fight to Garbey working with hooks inside. He was credited with a knockdown but it was really a slip and Garbey rocked Tryc with a right in the fourth. Tryc took over again and floored Garbey with a right in the sixth with the bell saving Garbey and the Cuban withstood a fierce attack from Tryc in the eighth. Scores 79-70 from all three judges for former Elite Level amateur Tryc. Spanish-based Garbey was in his first eight round fight. Matyja vs. Grafka Matyja gets his third win over Grafka but has to fight hard for it. Matyja got though with some good left hooks to the body and straight rights but his pace dropped in the fourth. He took control again in the fifth but even through Grafka seemed to be tiring he bounced back to take the sixth and was busier over the seventh with Matyja just doing enough to edge the last. Scores 76-74 and 77-75 for Matyja and 77-77. Only one loss in his last eleven outings for Matyja but 0-7-1 in his last 8 for Grafka. Pamplona, Spain: Super Welter: Jose Suero (7-0-1) W KO 3David Soria (9-1). A bit of an upset as Suero knocks out champion Soria to win the Spanish title. Suero had Soria on the back foot and often pinned against the ropes in the first two rounds but Soria connected with some good counters to the body. In the third Soria took Suero to the ropes and they both threw rights. Both landed but the power was with one from Suero that floored Soria for the count. The Spanish-based Dominican gets his third win by KO/TKO. Local fighter Soria was making the initial defence of the title and was a big favourite. Bangkok, Thailand: Fly: Tanes Ongjunta (8-1) W PTS 10 Kompayak (61-12). Super Light: Sangarthit (11-0) W TKO 8 Chonlatarn (61-7). Ongjunta vs. Kompayak Time catches up with Kompayak as inexperienced hope Ongjunta scores wide points decision over the former WBC light fly champion. The 5’0 ½” Kompayak just could not handle the height (5’5”) and reach advantages or the speed of his younger opponent. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91 for Ongjunta who has kept busy with four wins in the last five months. This victory nets him the WBA Asia belt. Kompayak, 38, has lost 5 of 6 against modest opposition. Chonlatarn vs. Sangarthit Sangarthit gets big win as he stops Chonlatarn in eight. The teenager set too fast a pace for the aging Chonlatarn and scored knockdowns in the seventh and eighth with the fight being stopped after the second knockdown. Sangarthit (Phoobadin Yoohanngoh –I’ll stick with Sangarthit) retains the WBA Asia title. He is just 17 having turned pro at 14. Chonlatarn, 36, lost in title fights against Chris John and Vasyl Lomachenko and also to Miguel Berchelt for the interim WBO super feather title but this is his third inside the distance loss in a row. March 28 Brussels, Belgium: Light Heavy: Malik Zinad (17-0) W KO 9 Timour Nikarkhoev (22-4). Oscar Ahlin (21-2) W PTS 10 Alpay Yaman (12-2). Zinad vs. Nikarkhoev Zinad pulls this one out of the fire with late kayo of Nikarkhoev. It had been a bad tempered match with Nikarkhoev just looking to have built a lead when a crunching right from Zinad put him down on his back. Nikarkhoev got up but stumbled into the ropes and the referee waived the fight over. Libyan-based Maltese Zinad wins the vacant IBO International belt with his fifteenth inside the distance victory. Belgian-based Russian Nikarkhoev was 9-1 in his last 10 fights with the defeat coming on points over twelve rounds against Igor Mikhalkin for the IBO title in July 2019. Ahlin vs. Yaman Swedish “Golden Boy” Ahlen floored Yaman in the second and third rounds but Yaman stuck around to the last bell. Scores 99-90 twice and 97-91 for Ahlin. After nine years as a pro he does not seem to have progressed very far due to the poor quality of his opposition. German Yaman no sort of test for Ahlin. Fight of the week (Significance): Dillian Whyte’s revenge win over Alexander Povetkin could lead to a fight with Deontay Wilder which should be explosive Fight of the week (Entertainment): A hard choice. Ted Cheeseman vs. James Metcalf was a classic. Anthony Riviere’s French title victory over Khalil El Hadri saw ten hard fought rounds and Zaur Abdullaev vs. Zhora Hamazaryan had quality and last punch drama but I have to go for Alberto Melian vs. Frency Fortunato with seven knockdowns and Melian coming off the floor four times in the first five rounds to emerge the winner. Fighter of the week: Dillian Whyte for his win over Alexander Povetkin in a must win fight Punch of the week: Again a number of candidates as Mark Bernaldez flattened Hector Ambriz with a thunderous right and Dmitri Khasiev almost decapitating Vlad Krasnoshein with an uppercut but I go for the right from Edwin Palomares that knocked Cesar Ramirez out cold. Upset of the week: None really Prospect watch: British heavyweight David Adeleye 5-0 5 wins by KO/TKO shows considerable power Observations Nicknames again Colombian Rodolfo Puente is fooling no one with his “Tsunami” nickname-he is just 5’0” tall and that hardly qualifies as a puddle. Albanian Meriton Karaxha is stretching the envelope of truth with his “Mister TNT” as he has only nine inside the distance wins in his 36 bouts. That’s just 25% so perhaps he needs to lower his horizon and go for something like “Mr Dull Thud” They certainly start them young in Thailand with unbeaten prospect Sangarthit turning prom at 14, fighting ten round fights at 16 and beating three-time world title challenger Chonlatarn at 17. A bit of light comedy in the Melian vs. Fortunato fight. The referee warned Melian for a low punch at the same moment as Fortunato complained about a butt. Gives a whole new meaning to the old one-two. Troubling to see another set of young Irish boxers fighting in Europe with their results not being recorded. That means that any inside the distance losses for the Irish fighters or their opponents will not appear on either record.
0 Comments
We return to the Minimumweight division for this week's closet classic which came in May 2013 and was a genuinely fun, and often over-looked bout from Japan. In one corner was the WBA Minimumweight champion, making his first defense of the title which he had won in an instant classic, whilst the other corner featured 22 year old Mexican fighting in his first world title bout. Together they made something short, but thrilling. The Fight Ryo Miyazaki (18-0-3, 10) vs Carlos Velarde (23-2-1, 13) No one will ever try to describe Japan's Ryo Miyazaki as a special boxer. Technically he was quite limited, almost predictable, but he was tough, rugged, and seemingly always got caught in wars. His technical limitations were always pretty clear, but his ability to fight hard and fight tough made him one of the most fun to watch Minimumweights of his time. His WBA Minimumweight title win in December 2012, against Pornsawan Porpramook, was a brilliant bout, but not his only classic. In fact just a few months after his title win he was involved in another great bout as he took on Mexican challenger Carlos Velarde. Mexican youngster Carlos Velarde was relatively unknown outside of the Mexican domestic scene. His only bout outside of Mexico up to this point was a loss in Panama to Edwin Diaz. Despite that loss he had bounced back with 3 wins, including a technical decision over Oswaldo Novoa, to get a shot at Miyazaki and the WBA title. Aside from the loss to Diaz the only other marks on Velarde's record were a TKO loss to Jesus Silvestre in 2009, when he was just 18, and a draw in his 2007 debut, when he was just 16. Despite having no major win on his record he had proven to be exciting, fun to watch and aggressive. He was pretty much the type of guy who was going to make for fun fights, especially if he thought he needed to score a stoppage to get a win, as he likely he would here. From the opening round Velarde came forward, trying to pressure Miyazaki. Miyazaki was more cautious, and willing to move away when he needed to, but still tried to fight fire with fire. Within a minute we were already seeing some great back and forth action. It was exciting, but also technically correct, with neither man being reckless. Miyazaki looked the more versatile, but the challenger looked very polished, and like a fighter with a very clear gameplan, based around breaking down Miyazaki. In round 2 the tempo picked up slightly, but kept the same type of pattern as the opening round. Velarde coming forward, throwing more, and Miyzaki picking his spots more. It was great two-way action despite the fact the styles were often very different, with nice lulls to catch your breath, and then great intense bursts of action. We won't ruin any more of this fight, but for those looking for something short and enjoyable to watch. It also has a truly brilliant finish to it and that alone is worthy of the time it takes to watch the bout. A fun, short, exciting bout, with a fantastic finish. A perfect closet classic. By Eric Armit
Highlights: -Artur Beterbiev halts Adam Deines in defence of the IBF and WBC light heavyweight titles -Lawrence Okolie knocks out Krzys Glowacki in six rounds to win the vacant WBO cruiserweight title -Vergil Ortiz stops Maurice Hooker in seven rounds -Lee McGregor stops Karim Guerfi in one round to win the European Bantamweight title and Maxi Hughes knocks out Paul Hyland to win the vacant British lightweight title -Oscar Rivas returns with a win in Quebec City -Alex Besputin, Angelo Riguccini, Chris Billam-Smith, Anthony Fowler and Denys Berinchyk record wins. World Title/Major Shows 20 March Moscow, Russia: Light Heavy: Artur Beterbiev (16-0) W TKO 10 Adam Deines (19-2-1). Welter: Alexander Besputin (14-0,1ND) W RTD 3 Viktor Plotnikov (33-10,1ND). Super Middle: Pavel Silyagin (7-0) W PTS 12 Azizbek Abdugofurov (13-1). Super Light: Khariton Agrba (5-0) W TKO 2 Helber Rojas (13-4-2). Super Welter: Ramzan Baysarov (12-1) W TKO 5 Michel Marcano (21-3-1). Light Heavy: Igor Mikhalkin (24-2) W TKO 4 Denis Tsaryuk (12-5). Beterbiev vs. Deines After an even start Beterbiev pounds a gutsy Deines to defeat in ten rounds. Round 1 Beterbiev was quicker with his jab and tried a couple of rights. Deines was short with his until late in the round when he connected with a couple of jabs and a long left. It might have given him the round but with seconds remaining Beterbiev caught Deines with a right. Deines at the same time threw a right of his own but was off balance from the punch from Beterbiev and went down on one knee. He was up quickly and the bell went. Score: 10-8 Beterbiev Round 2 Good round from Deines. He was on the back foot letting Beterbiev advance and then darting in with two or three punches and getting out before Beterbiev could respond. He stuck with those tactics and although Bererbiev upped his pace late in the round Deines took the round. Score: 10-9 Deines Beterbiev 19-18 Round 3 A close round. Beterbiev pressed hard and southpaw Deines was circling the perimeter of the ring and then firing a straight left or coming in behind his jab. Beterbiev landed a couple of rights but Deines had more success. Score: 10-9 Deines TIED 28-28 Round 4 Beterbiev upped the ante in this one. He was coming in behind a stiff jab and pounding Deines to the body. Deines’s offence had almost disappeared and Beterbiev landed some hurtful uppercuts. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 38-37 Round 5 Beterbiev was now in control. Deines was firing occasional straight lefts but too often was pinned to the ropes or in a corner. He was just covering up and Beterbiev was digging shots to the body from both hands and connecting with straight rights and uppercuts. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 48-46 Round 6 Now the fight was totally one-sided. Beterbiev was hounding Deines around the ring with Deines often just static against the ropes and letting Beterbiev choose his spots. Beterbiev was mixing his punches from head to body and there was very little coming back from Deines. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 58-55 Round 7 Deines was livelier in this round coming forward throwing long lefts but two body punches from Beterbiev sent him back into his shell. Beterbiev was connecting with clubbing shots from both hands and Deines was slowing and tiring but hanging in there even if not doing much. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 68-64 Round 8 A slower round. Beterbiev continued to force Deines back with short hooks and uppercuts with Deines firing straight lefts but his punches had no power. The clubbing shots from Beterbiev were breaking Deines down and it was just a question of how much punishment Deines was willing to take and how much the referee was willing to let him take. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 78-73 Round 9 It was unrelenting punishment for Deines in this one. Beterbiev was dismantling the challenger punch by punch and the fight could have been stopped. Deines fired back just enough to stay in the fight but he was exhausted and taking brutal punishment. Score: 10-9 Beterbiev Beterbiev 88-72 Round 10 Beterbiev continued to land heavily until a short left hook detonated on Deines chin. He took a couple of step forward and then collapsed on his knees. He was up at seven but turned to his corner. They were waiving a towel but the referee motioned them away and then looked at Deines and stopped the fight. Beterbiev, 36, was defending the WBC and IBF titles and has yet to be taken the distance in any fight. He has said he would come down to super middle for a fight against Saul Alvarez but that is not on the cards. Sergey Kovalev has offered to fight Beterbiev but Beterbiev has shown no interest in that. The most likely fight is with the winner of Joe Smith vs. Maxim Vlasov for the vacant WBO title in Tulsa on 10 April which would unify three titles. There would be little interest in fights against WBC No 1 Jean Pascal or IBF No 1 Meng Fanlong. A fight with Dmitry Bivol the holder of the secondary WBA title would be an attraction but Bivol is due to defend his title against Craig Richards on 1 May and both the WBC and IBF will push for Beterbiev to meet his mandatory obligations. Russian-born German Deines,30 was competitive for a couple of rounds but after that his limitations were evident. The only fighter he has met who was even remotely near the ratings was Meng Fanlong and he lost that by wide margins on all three cards so he will struggle to get another title shot. Besputin vs. Plotnikov Besputin eases his way back with victory over Plotnikov. Besputin was scoring often and heavily in the first with Plotnikov just soaking up punishment. Besputin upped his pace and continued his onslaught over the second and third and Plotnikov decided not to come out for the fourth. First fight for Besputin since decisioning Radzhab Butaev for the vacant secondary WBA title in November 2019 only to be stripped of the title after testing positive for a banned substance. Eight losses in a row for 42-year-old Ukrainian Plotnikov who came in as a late replacement. Silyagin vs. Abdugofurov Very impressive performance from Silyagin as he outclasses Abdugofurov. Silyagin used his long reach to constantly score at distance and showed real power in his straight rights. He worked equally well to head and body with Abdugofurov never really able to pose a threat as Silyagin used clever movement to change angles and score with heavy shots. Abdugofurov had no plan to deal with Silyagin’s jabs and too often just resorted to lunging attacks which Silyagin was able to avoid or counter as he controlled the fight all the way. Scores 120-108 twice and 119-110.The 27-year-old Russian wins the WBC Silver title and could make an impact in the division. Uzbek Abdugofurov was making the first defence of the Silver title. Agrba vs. Rojas Highly-touted puncher Agrba sweeps aside Venezuelan Rojas in two rounds. Agrba just punched too hard for Rojas. He got past the jab of the taller Venezuelan and was bombarding him with booming shots from both hands. Rojas tried to punch with Agrba but was beaten down. The end came in the second with Rojas stuck in a corner with Agrba pounding him with heavy punches forcing the referee to step in and stop the massacre. The 26-year-old Georgian-born Russian southpaw has real power. Rojas has a heavily padded record with 11 of the men he has beaten never having won a fight. Baysarov vs. Marcano Baysarov wins the vacant WBC CIS and Slovak title with stoppage of Marcano. Fifth win for the 31-year-old Russian as he recovers from an upset points loss to Mexican veteran Silverio Ortiz back in 2017 after which he was inactive in 2018. As with Rojas Venezuelan Marcano’s record is an illustration of the level of matching in that country with the 21 fighters he has beaten having accumulating only 10 wins between them. Mikhalkin vs. Tsaryuk First fight for twenty months for Mikhalkin and only his second in over two years as gets rid of some rust and Tsaryuk in four rounds. Tsaryuk was the aggressor over the first two rounds but Mikhalkin was only settling in and sharpening his timing. In the third he floored Tsaryuk with a body shot and then in the fourth bombarded Tsaryuk with punches to force the stoppage. Mikhalkin, a former undefeated EBU and IBO champion, scored three wins over Beterbiev in the amateurs but was stopped in seven rounds by Sergey Kovalev when he challenged for the WBO title in 2018. Southpaw Tsaryuk has gone from 12-0 to five consecutive losses four by KO/TKO. Secunda, South Africa: Super Light: Xolisani Ndongeni (27-2 W TKO 10 Byson Gwayana (11-7). Ndongeni used a fast stiff jab to control the action in this one. Early in the third he put Gwayana down with a left and a right. Gwayana had to take more heavy rights but he was still there at the bell. Ndongeni continued to boss the action. His jab was too strong for Gwayana to get on the front foot very much and Ndongeni was really loading up on his rights. When Gwayana did come forward Ndongeni covered well and countered with rights. A booming right sent Gwayana crashing to the canvas in the eighth and although he made it to his feet he was unsteady and the bell came just in time for him. Ndongeni just kept throwing rights in the ninth and with Gwayana not fighting back the referee halted the fight. Ndongeni won 25 straight before being outpointed by Devin Haney in January 2019 but in a big shock was knocked out by Prince Dlomo last October. He has a rebuilding job on his hands after that loss but this is a first step in that directing. Malawian Gwayana falls to 2-5 in his last 7. London, England: Cruiser: Lawrence Okolie (16-0) W KO 6 Krzys Glowacki (31-3). Cruiser: Chris Billam-Smith (12-1) W PTS 10 Vasil Ducar (9-4-1). Super Welter: Anthony Fowler(14-1) W KO 3 Jorge Fortea (21-3-1). Super Feather: Joe Cordina (12-0) W PTS 10 Faroukh Kourbanov (17-3). Okolie vs. Glowacki Okolie outclasses and kayo’s a disappointing Glowacki in six rounds to win the vacant WBIO title. Round 1 Okolie was using his 6’5” height and longer reach to keep Glowacki on the end of his jab. Glowacki was padding forward but waiting too long to throw a punch and Okolie was threading jabs through the Poles defence and scoring with quick rights. It was good to see the referee give Glowacki a stern telling off for punches to the back of Okolie’s head. Score: 10-9 Okolie Round 2 Okolie stuck with what was working for him. He kept Glowacki on the end of his jab getting past Glowacki’s guard and throwing single rights and moving. Glowacki was too slow to cut the ring off and when he did get inside Okolie tied him up. Glowacki was warned for an attempted butt. Score: 10-9 Okolie Okolie 20-18 Round 3 Okolie continued to fight on the back foot. He kept his jab in Glowacki’s face sometimes flicking the jab and on others ramming it home and then landing single rights. Glowacki was unable to get past the jab and again was not pressing hard enough or cutting off the ring Score: 10-9 Okolie Okolie 30-27 Round 4 The fight changed in this round. After scoring with jabs early Okolie began to follow his rights with left hooks. His confidence was high and he started to take the fight to Glowacki connecting with a series of rights that had Glowacki under pressure. So far Glowacki had hardly landed a punch and was warned again for a punch to the back of Okolie’s head. Score: 10-9 Okolie Okolie 40-36 Round 5 Okolie boxed his way through this one. It was almost exclusively jabs with only the occasional right. Glowacki was too slow again to cut off the ring and just soaked up the jabs and a cut was opened over the right eye of the Pole who threw a punch after the bell. Score: 10-9 Okolie 50-45 Round 6 After landing some jabs Okolie unleashed a straight right that dropped Glowacki on his back, He made it to his feet at nine but turned away from the referee and the fight was stopped. Commanding performance by the 28-year-old from Hackney with his thirteenth win by KO/TKO. On paper former champion Glowacki was a big step up in quality of opposition for Okolie but Glowacki showed nothing. There are not that many good fights to be had at cruiser although the winner of the eliminator between Thabiso Mchunu and Evgeny Tischenko would be a better test than Glowacki. The 34-year-old Pole looked very shop-worn. He had been stopped in three rounds by Mairis Breidis for the WBO title in June 2019 in what was also a WBSS semi-final. A return was ordered by the WBO due to a knockdown scored by Breidis using his elbow. The WBO ordered a return then stripped Breidis when instead he fought Yunier Dorticos in the final of the WBSS. Perhaps 21 months of inactivity has caused a deterioration in Glowacki but we won’t know until he fights again. Billam-Smith vs. Ducar Billam-Smith given some valuable ring time by Czech Ducar. Billam-Smith took a couple of rounds to settle with Ducar hustling him hard. From the third Billam-Smith began to find his range and he put Ducar down with a right in the fourth. Ducar continued to press in the fifth but Billam-Smith found the target with a body punch in the sixth and Ducar was forced to take a count. The Czech did not crumble and gave Billam-Smith some rough moments testing his chin a couple of times but Billam-Smith controlled the action on his way to a wide unanimous decision. Scores 99-90 twice and 97-92 Commonwealth champion Billam-Smith added the WBA Continental title to his collection with this victory. Former IBO title challenger Ducar did well to last the distance after that knockdown in the sixth. Fowler vs. Fortea Fowler blast out Fortea in three. Fowler quickly had Fortea on the back foot and under fire. He was landing long shots to the body and overhand rights with Forties only showing any aggression late in the round. In the second Fortea stood and exchanged punches more. Both connected with hard rights but Fowler was putting his punches together and again Fortea spent much of the tome on the retreat. In the third Fowler controlled the action with his jab and late in the round he connected with a left hook that sent Fortea down on his rump. Fortea was up at eight but when the action started again a right to the head sent him stumbling across the rings and down on his back resting against the ropes and he was unable to get up before the referee counted to ten. Fowler was defending the WBA International title for the first time and showed the power that has given him eleven quick wins. Fortea had won 8 of his last 9 fights and in the losing bout in that run had gone twelve rounds with IBF No 1 Bakhram Murtazaliev so a good performance from Fowler. Cordina vs. Kourbanov Cordina gets majority decision over Kourbanov over ten fast-paced rounds. Cordina looked sharp in his first fight for a year initially being too quick for the less skilled Kourbanov. Cordina landed some flashy combinations at the start of the second and third but Kourbanov came right back at him with some well-timed punches of his own. Kourbanov really started to roll in the middle rounds. He was walking through Cordina’s punches which seemed to lack their usual snap and was able to press hard and score well to the body. He had a good sixth banging away to Cordina’s body with Cordina signalling for Kourbanov to bring it on but not scoring much himself. Cordina began to get the better of the exchanges from the seventh although fighting inside too much but Kourbanov had enough success to make the closing rounds tight. Scores 98-93 and 96-95 for Cordina and 96-96. A tougher fight than wanted or expected but for me he was a clear winner. The British and Commonwealth champion he is rated WBA 13/IBF 15(14) and will be looking to improve his rating this year in a tough division. Kyrgyzstan-born Belgian Kourbanov is a former European Union champion and his two earlier losses have come against quality opposition in Devis Boschiero for the EU title and Samir Zani for the European and he gave Cordina a real test here. Fort Worth, TX, USA: Welter: Vergil Ortiz (17-0) W TKO 7 Maurice Hooker (27-2-3). Super Light: Alex Martin (16-3) W PTS 10 Luis Alberto Hernandez (21-1). Super Light: Marcelino Nicolas Lopez (37-2-1) W KO 5 Jairo Lopez (27-12). Super Light: George Rincon (11-0 W PTS 8 Luis Solis (25-12-4). Ortiz vs. Hooker Ortiz breaks down, floors and halts Hooker although the finish is brought about by an injury to Hooker. In the first Ortiz was bobbing and weaving coming forward behind a high guard and getting past Hooker’s jabs to score with straight rights and hooks from both hands. Hooker was catching Ortiz with counters on the way in but not able to keep him out and Ortiz was landing scorching hooks to the body. Ortiz kept up the pressure in the second. He was focusing hard on the body again ramming home punches downstairs. Hooker was finding the target with his jabs and hooks and landing more than Ortiz but the power was coming from Ortiz and he shook Hooker with a right just before the bell. Hooker upped his pace over the third and fourth as he shed the rust from fifteen months out of the ring. He was raking Ortiz with jabs and landing sharp counters stopping Ortiz in his tracks with a right in the fourth but with Ortiz getting through with left hooks to the body. Ortiz was ferocious in the fifth. He had Hooker backing up under a relentless body attack. Hooker countered occasionally but then the body punches from Ortiz would have him retreating again. In the sixth a left to the body and a right to the head had Hooker backing off across the ring to a corner and two rights to the head put him down on his hands and knees. When he then rolled over to a sitting position it looked as though he was not going to get up but he arose at seven and then chose to stand and exchange punches for the ten seconds left in the round. As they swopped punches in the seventh a left from Ortiz landed and Hooker turned away from the action and went down on a knee clutching his right wrist. He indicated to the referee he could not continue so the referee stopped the count and waived the fight over. Ortiz wins the vacant WBO International title and makes it 17 wins by KO/TKO in 17 fights. I guess his WBA gold belt might also have been on the line but who cares. Hooker gave the 22-year-old Texan a good test in an entertaining fight becoming only the second fighter to take Ortiz past the sixth round. He has wins over Mauricio Herrera, Antonio Orozco, Brad Solomon and Samuel Vargas and by 2020 could be ready for Terence Crawford or Errol Spence. Former WBO champion Hooker certainly had the skill but not the power to match Ortiz. His only other loss was a sixth round stoppage against Jose Carlos Ramirez in July 2019 in a match to unify the WBC and WBO title. He can still be a factor at super light or welter. Martin vs. Hernandez With a sparkling display of skill Martin dazzles Hernandez and takes away his unbeaten tag. Hernandez spent most of the evening trying vainly to hunt Martin down. The Illinois southpaw boxed cleverly on the back foot sliding away from Hernandez’s efforts to trap him and threading jabs through Hernandez’s guard and banging home some heavy punches of his own. Hernandez had no back-up plan and even when he started to have some success in closing Martin down over the late rounds Martin stood and interchanged punches and was more than a match for Hernandez and won widely. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91 for Martin. He lost three hard fights in 2017 and was inactive in 2018 before scoring one win in 2019 and one last year so there was nothing in his record to make him a big risk for Hernandez particularly as Hernandez’s last three wins had been scored over fighters with combined records of 55-4. At 24 Hernandez has time to rebound. Lopez (Marcelino) vs. Lopez (Jairo)) Argentinian Lopez (m) batters Mexican Lopez (j) to defeat but Lopez (j) was as gutsy as hell and never stopped fighting. Lopez (m) was hunting Lopez (j) down and floored Lopez (J) in each of the first two rounds but with Lopez (j) getting up each time and fighting back fiercely. As they swopped punches in the third a right had Lopez (j) hurt and he again went down on one knee. He beat the count but was down again but this time from a punch to the back of the neck so no count. He was down again in the fourth and given a count although it looked like a push/slip. An uppercut and a left hook in the fifth sent Lopez (j) down to his knees and this time he indicated he was finished and the referee tolled out the ten. The power of his punches saw the Argentinian at 29-0-1 at the start of his career and he showed his power with a second round kayo of Pablo Cano in 2017.He has won 8 of his last 9 fights by KO/TKO. Mexican Lopez was stopped in two rounds by Luke Campbell but had won his last three fights. Rincon vs. Solis Although Rincon was giving away height and reach he was quicker than Solis and had the harder punch. He was getting under the jabs from Soils and scoring with southpaw lefts inside. Solis showed very little in the way of offence just pushing out a weak jab and throwing a straight right now and then. A right to the head knocked Solis off balance in the sixth and he touched the canvas with his knee and a glove and was given a count. By the seventh a swelling under the left eye of Solis was hampering his vision but he was passed as able to continue by the doctor and lasted out to the final bell. Scores 80-71 twice and 79-72 for Rincon. Texan Rincon is a former US Under-19 and National Golden Gloves champion. Mexican Solis had lost 3 out of 4 but he had been put into tough matches against Antonio Barboza, Kerman Lejarraga and Antonio Moran. 16 March Quebec City, Quebec: Heavy: Oscar Rivas (27-1) W RTD 3 Sylvain Louis (8-6).Super Middle: Patrice Volny (16-0) W TKO 5 Janks Trotter (10-6-2). Welter: Sebastien Bouchard (19-2 W PTS 6 Mario Perez (20-8-5). Rivas vs. Louis Rivas blows away Louis in three rounds. Rivas shook the lanky Louis with an overhand right in the first and it was obvious Louis could not handle the Colombian’s power. A right sent Louis into the ropes which held him up but he bounced back so quickly the referee did not give him a count. Rivas continued to hunt Louis down in the second and floored him with a right to the chest. Louis was up before the count was completed and fired back. Rivas scored heavily with left hooks in the third and at the end of the round Louis retired complaining of trouble breathing. First fight for the 33-year-old Rivas since losing on points to Dillian Whyte in July 2019. He is now aiming to go on and fight Kevin Lerena to become the first holder of the new Bridgerweight title. Former Canadian cruiser champion Louis had taken Rivas to a split decision back in 2012 but in his last fight in September 2016 was knocked out in nine rounds by Denton Daley for the Canadian and Commonwealth cruiser titles. Volny vs. Trotter Another return match and another predictable outcome as Volny stops veteran Trotter in five. Really just a bit of rust shedding for Volny. A tubby Trotter just marched forward into Volny’s punches taking punishment . Volny was firing rapid combinations from both hands and then lying back and letting Trotter flail punches as Volny wanted some ring time. Volny staggered Trotter at the end of the first round and floored him in the second. Trotter bravely marched forward over the third and fourth but was floored twice in the fifth and the referee stopped the fight. Volny, 31, got in some rounds of work as he now waits to find out when he will clash with Patrick Wojcicki in an eliminator to find an opponent for IBF champion Gennady Golovkin. He looks a useful fighter but neither Wojcicki nor Volny have ever faced or beaten a rated fighter but that is boxing today. First fight for Trotter,37, since May 2018-when he was stopped in one round by Volny. Bouchard vs. Perez On his return from injury Bouchard shows he has recovered with a points win over useful Perez. He outboxed a willing but at times crude Perez but it was just the sort of fight Bouchard needed as he had to work hard for his win. Scores 60-54, 59-56 and 58-56 for Bouchard. His last fight was in November 2019 against Ayaz Hussain for the Canadian title when he tore the distal tendon in his left biceps and had to retire in the fourth round. Mexican Perez is a popular visitor to Canada being 4-3-3 in his ten fight there. 17 March General Santos City, Philippines: Bantam: Froilan Saludar (32-4-1) W PTS 8 Reymark Taday (10-14-1). Super Bantam: Jack Bornea (14-3-1) TEC DRAW 4 Nicardo Calamba (9-32-5). Light: Hermonito Dela Torre (22-3) W KO 1 Renan Portes (10-14).Light: Rimar Metuda (15-6-1) W KO 3 Eden Sonsona (36-13-2). Saludar vs. Taday Saludar wins every round against poor Taday. It was really not much more than sparring for Saludar. He was able to score with ease through Taday’s wide open defence. Saludar never looked to get above second gear and occasionally just stood against the ropes and let Taday whale away before swinging off the ropes and catching Taday with a good selection of punches. Taday was limited and crude and never threatened to win a round. “Sniper” Saludar, lost to Sho Kimura in a WBO flyweight title challenge in 2018. Taday drops to 1-9 in his last 10 fights. Borneo vs. Calamba Local fighter Borneo has to settle for a technical draw against Calamba. Borneo dominated the action with some good body punches. Southpaw Calamba was competitive but could not keep his balance and kept slipping on the canvas. A clash of heads in the third opened a cut over Calamba’s left eye. The referee stopped the fight in the fourth and after considerable confusion it was ruled Calamba could not continue and it was declared a technical draw as the fourth round had not been completed. Borneo was on his way to a win and as he was having his first fight since October 2018 he really needed more ruing time. He is the twin brother of unbeaten IBF No 8 Jade. Calamba has won only one of his last nine contests. Dela Torre vs. Portes Dela Torre brushes aside continual loser Portes. Dela Torre hounded Portes around the ring until dropping him with a right to the head with Portes being counted out. Big things were predicted for Dela Torre when he won his first 19 fights but after flooring Mongolian Tugstsogt Nyambayar he found Nyambayar too strong and was outpointed. Two inside the distance losses in his next three fights blew him off course and he gets his second win in his recovery process. Nine consecutive losses for Portes Metuda vs. Sonsona Metuda shoves veteran Sonsona further down the slope with third round kayo. Metuda beat on a retreating shadow of a boxer in Sonsona. Once a world rated fighter Sonsona was a hapless loser here. Metuda pressured Sonsona over the first two rounds before putting him down with two body punches in the third. To make things look worse Sonsona climbed to his feet the moment the count was completed. Metuda, a southpaw like Sonsona, does well in domestic action but is 0-5-1 on foreign soil. Sonsona, a former WBC International and Philippines champion, won 17 of his first 18 fights and lost in a challenge against Silence Mabuza for the IBO bantam title. Having been 110lbs for his first pro fight he was 145lbs for this one his seventh consecutive defeat. 18 March Salinas, Puerto Rico: Super Fly: Jose Martinez (21-1-3) DREW 10 Israel Gonzalez (26-4-1). Light: Angel Fierro (18-1-1) W KO 6 Alberto Machado (22-3). Super Fly: Angel Acosta (22-2) W PTS 8 Gilberto Mendoza (17-10-3). Welter: Jose Roman (11-0) W PTS 8 Roque Agustin Junco (10-8-1). Martinez vs. Gonzalez Martinez and Gonzalez end all even after ten entertaining rounds. Mexican Gonzalez managed to make his longer reach and better skills tell over the first three rounds. Martinez was rumbling forward looking to work inside but good defensive movement and counters gave Gonzalez the edge. From the fourth to the sixth Martinez broke through with Gonzalez under heavy pressure and holding to stay in the fight. The seventh was close and they fought hard through the last three rounds. Martinez has no reverse gear and Gonzalez was forced to stand and trade and he seemed to have just done enough to edge it but a draw was a fair result. Scores 96-94 Gonzalez and 95-95 twice. Although the younger man at 24 Gonzalez had more depth in his experience having lost in world title shots against Jerwin Ancajas for the IBF super fly title on a tenth round stoppage and on points against both Khalid Yafai and Roman Gonzalez for the WBA title. Martinez, 28, had been 20-0-2 until being knocked out in two rounds by Aston Palicte in January 2019 bur had rebounded with a stoppage of Yeison Vargas in February last year. Fierro vs. Machado Mexican Fierro gets off the canvas twice to break down and kayo former WBA super feather title holder Machado in six rounds. Machado made a great start. He dropped Fierro with a right hook in the first and then dropped with the same punch in the second. Machado dominated the third but Fierro started to roll in the fourth. He was rocked by another right hook but for most of the round he was taking the fight to Machado and scoring with hard shots to the body. Fierro continued to land heavily in the fifth and Machado was coming apart. In the sixth Fierro shook Machado with a couple of punches and then landed a ferocious left that put Machado down and he failed to beat the count. Huge win for the 22-year-ol Fierro and his fifteenth inside the distance finish. He had lost to Alex Martin in January last year and Machado was another couple of levels above Martin. He had been preparing for a fight in Tijuana but took this fight at two week’s notice when Hector Tanajara fell ill. His dance of delight was a sight to see. Machado, 30, had lost his secondary WBA title in 2019 against Andrew Cancio and then been knocked out in three rounds in a return match. He was rated WBO 12/WBA 13 but three inside the distance defeats in his last four fights puts his career under question. Acosta vs. Mendoza Former WBO light fly title holder Acosta sheds some dust with points win over Mendoza. In his first fight since October 2019 over the early rounds Acosta was off with his timing and accuracy but he slowly got into the groove. He floored Mendoza with a left in the seventh and tried hard to put Mendoza away in the last but Mendoza made it to the bell. All three judges had Acosta winning 79-72. The Puerto Rican is No 1 flyweight with the WBO will now be looking to get a date for his challenge to title holder Junto Nakatani. Californian Mendoza gets his second loss in a row. Roman vs. Junco The 6’2” (188cm) Roman was never really troubled as he eased to victory over 5’8” (173cm) Junco. Roman was able to keep the fight at distance and connected with some solid counters as Junco tried to fight his way inside. Roman won every round and in the last Junco was dumped into the ropes by a right but the referee ruled it a slip. Scores 80-72 twice and 80-71 as that judge decided it was a knockdown. Roman was a regular member of the Puerto Rican amateur team but missed out on the big competitions. Three losses in his last four fights for Argentinian Junco Mexicali, Mexico: Super Feather: Luis Alberto Lopez (22-2) W KO 1 Mauro Loreto (20-13-2). Light Fly: Juan Garcia (9-0-2) DREW 10 Moises Caro (8-0-2). Lopez vs. Loreto Lopez destroys over matched Loreto in the first. Loreto looked lively to start with trying to take the fight to Lopez with plenty of movement. That stopped when Lopez connected with a blistering left hook to the body. Loreto crawled around the canvas trying to get up but failed. Local fighter Lopez suffered his only defeat on points against then unbeaten Ruben Villa in May 2019 with Villa going on to lose a close decision to Emanuel Navarrete for the vacant WBO feather title a year later. Lopez bounced back with a stoppage of 18-0 Cristian Baez and a split verdict over 23-1-1 Andy Vences. Loreto is a disappointing 2-8 in his last ten fights with six of those loses by KO/TKO. Garcia vs. Caro Two unbeaten records at risk here as Garcia and Caro got together for the second time but after ten rounds of good action both remain undefeated. Scores 97-93 Garcia, 96-94 Caro and 95-95. Both are in their early twenties and both were in their first ten round fight having fought a draw over six rounds in June 2019. They will go their separate ways now. 19 March Granadero Balgorria, Argentina: Light Heavy: Brian Nahuel Suarez (14-0) W TKO 1 Jesus Aviles (9-4). Heavy-handed Suarez demolishes Aviles inside a round. Suarez was tracking Aviles and connected with a right that caused Aviles to dip at the knees and stagger back to the ropes. Suarez then batter him with lefts and rights to the head until the referee jumped in to save Aviles. Argentinian light heavyweight champion Suarez collects the WBA Fedebol title at light heavyweight having won the Fedebol cruiserweight title in December. He has won 13 of his 14 fights by KO/TKO. Peruvian Aviles in way over his head and is 1-4 in his last 5 fights. Bruchsal, Germany: Light Heavy: Benjamin Gavazi (13-1) W TKO 7 Vasilij Sarbayev (15-9-1). Super Middle: Dimitar Tilev (13-0) W TKO 4 Roman Hardok (7-3). Heavy: Marko Radonjic (22-0) W TKO 1 Ozcan Cetinkaya (31-22-2). Gavazi vs. Sarbayev Gavazi wins the vacant German title with inside the distance victory over Sarbayev. Gavazi was in control from the first round. He worked well snapping out his jab and scoring with straight rights. Sarbayev struggled to get in the fight and with his left eye almost closed slowly began to crumble. A right from Gavazi put Sarbayev on the floor in the sixth and although he beat the count and made it out of the round he was effectively finished. In the seventh Gavazi continued to pound on Sarbayev and with the German-based Kazak’s eye closed and blood dripping from what looked like a broken nose the fight was halted. After losing his first pro fight “The Hornet” extends his winning streak to thirteen, Sarbayev was 4-1 going in but took a battering here. Tilev vs. Hardok In another German title fight Tilev comes out on top against Russian-born Hardok with a fourth round stoppage. Tilev’s opposition has been mediocre at best but it is too soon to be pushing him. Second title shot for Hardok. Radonjic vs. Cetinkaya All over in 91 seconds as Radonjic continues his campaign against the “can’t fight a lick” club” The Montenegrin has won 22 of his fights by KO/TKO but it will come as a shock to him if he is ever matched with someone with even a modicum of talent. Late stand-in Cetinkaya, 42, has lost 16 times by KO/TKO but is a step up from Radonjic’s other opponents. Bardez, India: Super Middle: Artysh Lopsan (5-1-1) W TKO 5 Vijender Singh (12-1). Russian Lopsan upsets the odds with stoppage of Indian star Singh. The 6’4” Lopsan boxed well at distance in the first but Singh upped his pace in the second and connected with a right to the head that sent Lopsan down. Lopsan bounced straight up and then put Singh under heavy pressure in the third. The fourth saw Singh already exhausted and floored three times. Singh tried to trade punches with Lopsan in the fifth but a left to then head stunned him and a left hook sent him down. Singh sat out most of the count on his knees and when he did get up he indicated to the referee he was finished to save the referee having to make the decision. There was nothing in his record that made Lopsan look a risky fight as apart from Pavel Silyagin who stopped him the rest of his opponents had been substandard but because of Singh’s name he will probably get a couple of good pay days. Singh has made a mess of his career. The 2008 Olympic bronze medal winner had beaten Badou Jack, Rona Gavril and Terrell Gausha in the amateurs but he made some bad decisions as a pro and although he is committed to continuing at 35 he will struggle. Asti, Italy: Middle: Etinosa Oliha (14-0) W TKO 2 Bogdan Malinovic (3-1). Oliha steam rollers poor Malinovic. Oliha raked Malinovic with punches in the first before flooring him with a body punch at the end of the round. The bell saved Malinovic but Oliha knocked him over twice more in the second and the referee halted the match. Sixth inside the distance victory for 22-year-old Italian champion Oliha. He was to have defended the national title against Francesco Lezzi but the promoter had to pull Lezzi out. Although Lezzi had scored a win over French hope Milan Prat on 28 February it was on a disqualification after Lezzi was unable to continue after being hit with a rabbit punch leading to him being given a safety suspension for 28 days so 18-year-old Malinovic came in at late notice. Guasave, Mexico: Alessandro Riguccini (26-0) W TKO 2 Johan Perez (26-8-2). Fly: Imanol Lopez (13-0) W RTD Rigoberto Osorio (5-2-1). Super Light: Rodolfo Orozco (28-2-3) W TKO 5 Paul Salcido (15-5). Riguccini vs. Perez Unbeaten Italian Riguccini marches on with win over Perez. The Mexican-based Italian pressed hard in the first finding Perez an elusive target but he began to get thought late in the round. In the second Riguccini moved in and connected with a wicked left hook to Perez’s ribs. Perez dropped to his hands and knees in pain and was unable to get up. Fifteenth inside the distance finish in a row for Riguccini and his twenty-second in total. He retains the WBC interim Silver title. He is rated No 26 by the WBC but not rated by any of the other bodies. Perez, a former WBA interim super light title holder, has fallen into the habit of losing every testing fight dropping his interim title in 2014.. Lopez vs. Osorio Local prospect Lopez was moving up to ten rounds here but did not need to go that for as Orozco retired. Eighth time Lopez had ended his fight early. Osorio just not up to the standard for an opponent such as Lopez. Orozco vs. Salcido Orosco bludgeons Salcido to defeat. The hard-punching Orozco put Salcido down in the fourth and twice more in the fifth before the referee saves Salcido. Orozco, 21, gets his eight short route victory in his last ten fights. Third time Salcido has dropped out early Szklarska Poreba, Poland: Robert Parzeczewski (26-1) W PTS 8 Facundo Nicolas Galovar (10-6-2). Super Middle: Patryk Szymanski (21-4) W TKO 5 Daniel Bocianski (10-1). Parzeczewski vs. Galovar “Arab” Parzeczewski boxes his way to victory over competitive Argentinian Galovar. Parzeczewski had his jab working well from the start and showed some good movement to frustrate Galovar’s aggression. Galovar was occasionally dangerous but a right hook had him dazed in the sixth and the bell saved him from defeat. Galovar ended the fight strongly but Parzeczewski was never really threatened. Scores 80-72 twice and 78-74 for Parzeczewski. After an early loss Parzeczewski put together a run of 17 wins including victories over Dariusz Sek and Dmitry Chudinov but in September last year was stopped in two rounds by 21-1-1 Sherzod Khusanov. Spanish-based Galovar had fought a creditable draw with 14-1 Yoann Kongolo in Berne in his last fight in December 2019. Szymanski vs. Bocianski After four losses in his last five fights Szymanski keeps his career alive with stoppage of tall fellow-Pole Bocianski. Szymanski dominated the action in the first being quicker and putting his punches together better than the 6’3” Bocianski. He was winning the exchanges in the second when just before the bell a right uppercut from Bocianski had Szymanski’s legs quivering and he was lucky the bell went before Bocianski could land another punch. The pace slowed in the third and Szymanski rocked Bocianski with rights to the head in the fourth. Bocianski was using his longer reach to score in the fifth when Szymanski connected with a right uppercut. Bocianski floundered across the ring on spaghetti legs and although he did not go down the referee right stopped th4e fight. Szymanski went 19-0 at the beginning of his career so he badly needed to stop his slump. Bocianski’s height and reach are his string points but he has no power. Bolton, England: Bantam: Lee McGregor (10-0) W TKO 1 Karim Guerfi (29-5,1ND). Light: Maxi Hughes (23-5-2) W TKO 8 Paul Hyland Jr (20-3). Super Bantam: Shabaz Masoud (8-0) W TKO 4 Louis Norman (14-9-1). McGregor vs. Guerfi McGregor obliterates champion Guerfi to win the European title. McGregor made his intentions clear driving home a right hook to the body before the sound of the bell had faded. Guerfi fired back with a right but McGregor drove him to the ropes and again landed a right to the body. They traded punches but with less than á minute gone a left to the body had Guerfi turning away and dropping to his knees. He crawled to the ropes and pulled himself up but just moments later another left to the body saw him collapse on his side. Guerfi was up early and tried to punch with McGregor but was again hurt by body punches before a left to the head floored him for the third time. He tried to rise but dropped back to the canvas and then managed to get upright but was wobbly and the referee waived the fight over after just 2:43. On paper this was a tough test for McGregor the British and Commonwealth champion but he simply blew Guerfi away. The Frenchman had challenged for both the interim WBA and IBO titles and was in his second reign as European title and rated IBF 8(7). Hughes vs. Hyland Hughes wins the vacant British title with kayo as Hyland forgets the rules to protect yourself at all times. The taller Hyland was coming forward behind his guard with southpaw Hughes showing some good defensive work. Hyland landed a couple of left hooks to the body and Hughes replied with a right to the head which rattled Hyland. In the second and third Hughes boxed cleverly on the back foot and got through time and again with hooks to the body. Hyland chose to stand inside and exchange punches with Hughes in the fourth and fifth but was taking punishment from body punches. He did better when he boxed more in the sixth. Hyland was boxing in the seventh until he decided to match Hughes punch-for punch inside. A series of shots from Hughes had Hyland reeling and he was in deep trouble but kept fighting even though clearly exhausted. In the eighth two lefts to the body had Hyland reeling again. Hyland decided a punch from Hughes was low and turned away walking towards a corner with his hands down. The referee waived them to carry on so Hughes ran after Hyland and from behind Hyland hooked a right to the chin that Hyland did not see coming and he went down on his back and was counted out. Not good to see a fighter kayoed by a punch thrown from behind his back but Hyland only has himself to blame and the speed with which Hughes crossed the ring was too quick for the referee to intervene even if he had wanted to. Hughes adds the British title to the WBC International one he holds and this might see him improve on his WBC 15 rating. This was Hyland’s first fight since being beaten by Francesco Patera for the European title in June 2019. Masoud vs. Norman Solid performance from prospect Masoud as he halts seasoned pro Norman. Masoud put Norman down late in the third with a right to the head and scored two more knockdown in the fourth before Norman’s corner threw in the towel. Second inside the distance win for 25-year-old from Stoke. Former English flyweight champion Norman suffers his fourth inside the schedule defeat. Tampa, FL, USA_ Bantam: Saul Sanchez (16-1) W TKO 1 Frank Gonzalez (8-2). Light: Maliek Montgomery (9-0) W KO 1 Kris Berberich (0-3). Sanchez dismantles Gonzalez with three knock downs. A short right to the head brought the first knockdown but Gonzalez was up immediately. After the count Sanchez drove Gonzalez to the ropes with overhand rights and Gonzalez fell into the ropes and was being held up by them so was given a count. Sanchez then connected with a solid right to the body and Gonzalez stumbled forward and grabbed Sanchez as he tumbled to the canvas with the referee stopping the fight. Ninth inside the distance finish for Californian Sanchez. Local fighter Gonzalez had won his last five fights. Montgomery vs. Berberich Montgomery makes it nine out of nine as he stops overmatched Berberich in one round for his ninth inside the distance win. The 25-year-old from Georgia has taken less than 22 round for his wins. He is flying under the radar. In the amateurs he won two gold medals a silver and bronze at successive National Golden Gloves Championships but lost out in the final of the US Olympic Trials for Rio being outpointed by Teo Lopez. One to follow. Berberich has yet to last beyond the second round in his four fights. 20 March La Cauticva, Argentina: Super Bantam: Hector Andres Sosa (11-0) W PTS 10 Ckari Cani Mansilla (15-2). Feather: Mayco Estadella (9-0-1) W TKO 4 Nicolas Botelli (7-5). Sosa vs. Mansilla Sosa scores two knockdowns in the second round but Mansilla comes through the crisis with Sosa having to settle for a split decision. Sosa was snapping out his jab and testing Mansilla with in the first. In the second Sosa connected with three heavy right but Mansilla banged back with a heavy right that buzzed Sosa. When he tried to capitalise on that a left from Sosa put him down. He was up at six but was put down for a second time but again he beat the count. He was on the floor for a third time but the referee ruled it was a slip otherwise the fight would have been over. From the third Mansilla fought back hard trying to regain the lost ground and they swapped hard rights and both landed heavily to the head. Sosa was rocked a few times just had the edge in power and despite a big effort from Mansilla at the end he just could not bridge the points gap from that near disastrous second round. Scores 97-91 ½ and 96 ½ -92 ½ for Sosa and 95-94 for Mansilla. Sosa remains South American champion. He is No 1 in the Argentinian ratings. Mansilla is No 2 so hopefully they will meet again for the vacant National title. Estadella vs. Botelli Estadella puts Botelli down twice for stoppage victory. After two close rounds Estadella dominated from there flooring Botelli twice with rights to the head with the referee stopping the contest after the second knockdown. Estadella was defending the interim Argentinian title. Botelli had been stopped in two rounds by Hector Andres Sosa in 2019. Vienna, Austria: Middle: Marcos Nader (23-1-1) W PTS 10 Alexander Pavlov (11-2). Nader retains the IBF International title after unanimous decision over Pavlov. Nader had to work hard against the less experienced Pavlov to win this one. Nader pressed the fight from the start and outlanded Pavlov but the tall German used his longer reach well and landed some good counters and gave Nader some problems. Nader had built a lead but Pavlov started to win rounds in the later stages although but started his drive too late and Nader was a clear winner. Scores 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94. Spanish-born Nader turned pro with Team Sauerland but after losing his European Union title to Emanuele Blandamura in 2014 he returned to the amateurs. He moved back to pro boxing in 2018 and this is his 5th win since returning. For winning their International title the IBF have him rated No 15(13) even though BoxRec has him at No 110 in the world. Pavlov had shown he could mix at this level in only losing on a majority verdict against unbeaten German hope Vincenzo Gualtieri in June last year. Charleroi, Belgium: Super Light: Antoine Vanackere (16-1) W KO 1 Ivan Njegac (12-17). Super Middle: Michel Garcia (16-1) W PTS 6 Sladjan Dragisic (5-22-2). Super Light: Ray Moylette (12-1) W KO 1 Adam Walas (1-4). Light: Niall O’Connor (6-0) W PTS 6 Angelo Turco (8-18-2).Heavy: Niall Kennedy (14-2-1)W KO 5 Hrvoje Bozinovic (2-23). Middle: Craig O’Brien (12-2) W PTS 6 Daniel Przewieslik (2-12-1). Vanackere vs. Njegac Early night for Belgian southpaw Vanackere and a left to the body puts Njegac down and out. All over in 64 seconds. Eighth consecutive win for the 26-year-old Belgian champion. Seven is the number for Njegac but in his case it is losses in a row. Garcia vs. Dragisic In his first outing in almost two years Garcia beats Dragisic for the second time taking a unanimous decision. Now on a 13-bout winning streak Garcia had stopped Dragisic in five rounds in May 2018. This is only Garcia’s second fight since then but losers are more popular and this was Dragisic’s thirteenth! Moylette vs. Walas Moylette wipes out novice Walas inside a round. Easy outing for Moylette against substitute opponent. Moylette put Walas down with a body punch in the first Walas made it to his feet but a second knockdown was enough. First fight for the former top amateur since losing his unbeaten record when being outpointed by Mexican Christian Uruzquieta in December 2018. Disgraceful match with Pole Walas having failed to last three minutes in each of his five losses. O’Connor vs. Turco In one real fight on this show O’Connor given all he can handle. by local fighter Turco. O’Connor was generally in control but could never subdue Turco who proved a much better fighter than his record showed. Turco made many of the rounds close but O’Connor’s body punching was his edge and he looked a clear winner but had to settle for a split decision. Scores 59-56, 58-57 for O’Connor and 58-57 for Turco. O’Connor had won his last four inside the distance but his last fight was in December 2018 so the shelves needed dusting. Ten losses in a row for Turco but he has only been stopped three times. Kennedy vs. Bozinovic No useful ring time for Kennedy as he disposes of another pitiful substitute. After a slow start Kennedy began to land heavily to the body. In the third he dropped Bozinovic twice and the farce was over. After inside the distance losses to Devin Vargas and Alen Babic Kennedy needed a win but even that does not justify this rubbish. Twelve inside the distance losses for Croatian Bozinovic O’Brien vs. Przewieslik O’Brien has to work hard to win this one. Despite a poor record Przewieslik came to fight and both were rocked on occasion. O’Brien looked to have built a lead but Przewieslik had a good fifth hurting O’Brien with a body punch. O’Brien tired in the last but did enough to win. Scores 59-56 and 58-57 for O’Brien and 58-56 for Przewieslik. First fight for 15 months for O’Brien whose losses have been in tough asks against Anthony Fowler and Kieron Conway. Ninth consecutive defeat for Przewieslik. Nadi, Fiji: Cruiser: Alivereti Kauyaca (5-0-1) W PTS 10 Savenaca Naliva (14-3-1,1ND). Super Light: Ronald Naidu (11-5-3) W TKO 10 Nathan Singh (3-1). Kauyaca vs. Naliva Kauyaca outpoints Naliva in a battle of National champions. It was a close fight with a second round knockdown scored by Kauyaca proving the decider as he took a majority decision. Fijian cruiser champion Kauyaca makes it five wins in a row. Naliva, the Fijian light heavyweight champion, was coming off a run of five victories. Naidu vs. Singh A controversial finish sees Naidu stop Singh in the last round to win the vacant Fijian title. Singh had boxed his way into the lead and looked on his way to victory. Naidu had more left and he forced Singh to the ropes and pelted him with punches. Singh was hanging out though the middle ropes and when the referee pulled Naidu back Naidu’s corner team and supporters climbed into the ring. No decision had been given and trouble broke out before Naidu was declared the winner by TKO. Fifth win by KO/TKO for Naidu who is also Fijian champion at welterweight. He had much more experience than Singh who had never gone past 21 March Brovari, Ukraine: Light: Denys Berinchyk (15-0) W TKO 3 Jose Sanchez (18-2). Middle: Khasan Baysangurov (20-1) W KO 2 Oleksandr Rubchev (6-7-1). Super Light: Vasyl Chebotar (8-0) W KO 1 Joan Lique (6-1). Berinchyk vs. Sanchez After yet another bizarre ring entrance Berinchyk does the business between the ropes as he batters Chilean Sanchez to defeat in three rounds. Berinchyk was his usual all-out aggressive self. Sanchez did well to get though the first two rounds but in the third Berinchyk drove him to a corner and connected with a succession of head punches until the referee stopped the fight The 32-year-old Ukrainian was making the fifth defence of the WBO International title. He is rated No 3 by the WBO and No 6 by the IBF but his name never comes up when a world title fight is discussed. Sanchez has built his record against sub-standard domestic and South American rivals. Berinchyk’s ring entrance for this fight saw him carried to ringside on a stretcher with his right arm and leg in huge plaster casts accompanied by two sexily dressed “nurses”. The arm cast was so big that when he tried to get off the stretched the weight of the cast tipped him off the stretch and on to the floor. Baysangurov vs. Rubchev Russian Baysangurov dismisses Ukrainian Rubchev in two rounds. After pressing hard in the first Baysangurov dug a vicious left hook into the ribs of Rubchev who sunk to the canvas to be counted out. Baysangurov was stopped in eleven rounds by Rob Brant in February 2019 in a challenge for the secondary WBA title and this is his third KO/TKO victory as he rebuilds. Rubchev went 0-1-5 in his initial six fights but his better form since then has been due to the abysmal level of his opposition. Chebotar vs. Lique Chebotar flattens Lique with one punch. Lique was crude and when he lunged forward a left to the head from Chebotar put him face down on the canvas and out. The 19-year-old southpaw is being brought along slowly. German-based Colombian Lique inept. Fight of the week (Significance): Artur Beterbiev’s win over Adam Deines clears the way for a unification of the version of the light heavyweight title later this year. Fight of the week (Entertainment): Vergil Ortiz vs. Maurice Hooker was packed with quality work from both with Hooker’s willingness to stand and trade making for plenty of entertainment. Honourable mention to Hector Sosa vs. Ckari Mansilla who provide ten rounds of fiercely competitive fighting. Fighter of the week: I go for Lawrence Okolie for the way he outclassed Krzys Glowacki with honourable mentions to both Beterbiev and Ortiz-oh and fellow-Scot Lee McGregor for his one round destructing of Karim Guerfi. Punch of the week: Plenty of good examples this week but I go for the left from Angel Fierro that put Alberto Machado down and out. Upset of the week: Fierro’s victory over Machado was the shock result of the week with honourable mention to Alex Martin for his win over 21-0 Luis Hernandez Prospect watch: Super Middleweight Pavel Silyagin (7-0) showed real class in outpointing unbeaten Azizbek Abdugofurov. He went 10-1 in fights in the WSB including a victory over Joshua Buatsi so worth following. Observations I am considering setting up a sanctioning body to control the use of nicknames. This week we had Filipino Nicardo Calamba with a 9-32-5 record and 27 losses by KO/TKO using the nickname “Destroyer”. With a record like that he has been down so often I would allocate him the nickname of “Submarine”. I will be doing ratings of the nicknames and naturally will expect some under the table payments for certain nicknames and will encourage the multi-use of a nicknames, secondary nicknames, interim nicknames, franchise nicknames and emeritus nicknames and will be sourcing nicknames from Asia, the Pacific, Europe etc. Watch this space for further announcement of this service that boxing has needed so badly for so many years. I might have to have a word with Maxi Hughes. I noted he has the words “Granddad” on his shorts which I think sends the wrong message. Since he is not actually using it as a nickname I have claimed the copy-right as I am intending to auction that nickname off to Mike Tyson or Roy Jones but would consider a bid from Manny Pacquiao. Yet another new venue with the Vijender Singh vs. Artysh Lopsan being held on the roof of the “Majestic Pride Casino ship". There was an invasion of Europe by fighters from Ireland this week with Ray Moylette, Niall O’Connor, Niall Kennedy, Craig O’Brien and Rhys Moran fighting on a show in Belgium and another batch fighting in Luxembourg bet they were disappointed to find the pubs were shut there as well. Whilst boxing is a very, very global sport the way it's held in various countries is very different. Sure the in ring action is, essentially, the same, with two fighters sharing the ring with a referee, and judges on the outside of the ring scoring bouts based on some scoring criteria. Despite the similarities how the sport is done in various nations and various rules relating to the sport are very different in various areas.
Today we're going to take a look at some of the various differences in boxing from various countries. Some aren't totally unique, but are perhaps not things that many fans will be too aware of, even if they happen in other countries. Please note this isn't an extensive list, and it does focus on the Orient rather than Central Asia. Open Scoring We'll start with a controversial one, but one that we suspect many fans have heard of, and that is the use of "Open Scoring". The idea has been tried in the US once or twice, but is mostly used now in Asia, with Japan and Thailand both using it for various fights, and using it in different ways. The idea of open scoring is to let the fighters, teams and audience, know how judges are scoring the bout at set intervals, and not waiting until after the final scores to know how the judges are seeing the fight. In some ways this can destroy the drama of a fight, or set one fighter into a running mentality, avoiding a fight if they are well in the lead. On the other hand it can lead to a fighter who is behind changing tactics and giving all they have in an attempt to turn a fight around. In both Thailand and Japan it's used at various levels. Both countries use it for WBC world title fights, and scores are announced after round 4 and round 8. In Japan scores are typically announced into the venue in rounds 5 and 9, with an on screen graphic for TV viewers. In Thailand scores are shown on a hand held white board by an official. Outside of world title fights Thailand uses open scoring for 10 round WBC minor title bouts, such as WBA Asia titles, with scores announced after rounds 4 and 8. W In Japan open scoring is used for OPBF title bouts and Japanese title bouts. With OPBF title bouts being 12 rounders the scores are announced after rounds 4 and 8, whilst Japanese fights, which are set for 10 rounds, have their scores announced after 5 rounds, early in round 6. For 10 round bouts we prefer the Japanese system to the Thai one, and think announcing the scores with just 2 rounds left in a bout removes too much drama, though we do like the fact they are using it, and it does give the fighter who's losing a chance to turn things around. 10-10 rounds aren't a problem! One thing that we can all agree on, whether you like or hate open scoring, is the fact that scoring is notoriously bad in this great sport. Sadly we'll never get a fix we're all happy with, but one way to stop wide cards in a close fight is for judges to be willing to score 10-10 rounds when they need to. In South Korea this is a normal thing. In fact if we see a show where 10-10 rounds aren't used then we're really surprised. They do, at times, give some weird scores, but we would prefer "weird scores" with the right winner, than the wrong winner with awful scores. We feel it gives judges more flexibility and that is, perhaps, what the sport needs. A close round with no winner doesn't need a winner "just because". Instead fights need the right result, and we would love to see the liberal use of 10-10 rounds explored more often in the west. Introductions This one isn't as simple as a catch all, with different promoters doing things differently, but there are general differences here with Japan and Thailand being the most obvious cases. In Thailand a typical main event bout, will be delayed 10 to 30 minutes whilst we get extravagant introductions that really are something truly unique, and frustrating in equal measure. Unlike the US and UK where pre-fight circus is focused on the fighters, in Thailand we often see the in ring activity consist of numerous sponsors being brought into the ring, and introduced, we see the fighters standing through the anthems, and we see a long and lengthy break up in the event whilst the audience get introduced to the companies that are supporting the shows. It's long, it's tedious, it's horrific for international fans to sit through. Thankfully it appears the whole process is slowly being phased out by the newer promoters, but it has been a staple of the Thai boxing scene for years. In Japan however we often see the champion enter the ring before the challenger. This isn't always the case, but does happen much, much more often than in other countries. It seems like this is a traditional thing, and we dare say it comes from an idea of a champion facing their challenger, and accepting the challenge. Whatever the reason we do like the idea, though can understand why it's not a regular thing. Missing weight punishments This is something that we typically see in the Philippines and Japan who both take very different stances on punishments for missing weight, and this time we actually think the Japanese view is the wrong one, and the Filipino idea is one that every country should be taking a big look at. In Japan if a foreign fighter misses weight they are typically added to the "Invitation banned fighter list", essentially meaning a Japanese promoter can't use them until a ban is over. In 2018 the JBC announced an overhaul in what happens if a Japanese fighter misses weight. The key change is that they are punished depending on how much they weigh over the agreed limit. If they are over the limit but under set % they will be allowed to re-weigh 2 hours later or the following day, and need to make a set weight. If they do this they will be fined and given a short suspension. If they are that set % the bout will cancelled. If that happens they are fined, given a lengthy suspension, their manager is also punished and they aren't allowed to fight again at that weight. Although a good idea on paper it does mean their opponent often misses out on a fight and a pay day, and can also result in some fights being cancelled a day or so in advance on medical grounds, avoiding the suspension. In the Philippines a fighter that misses weight is typically forced to fight with heavier gloves. A very clear punishment that allows the bout to go ahead, and punishes the guilty party in a very obvious way. The heavier gloves slows a fighter's punches down, slows their movement, takes a bit of snap off their shots and drains stamina quicker. It also allows the bout to go ahead, and is a direct advantage to their opponent. Incidentally this seems to genuinely work, and we've seen things like Rustico Torrecampo beating an overweight Manny Pacquiao with this rule in play, giving Pacquiao his first loss in 1996. We really do like the rule and would love to see more countries follow suit. Perhaps adding more complexity to the rule, to further punish a fighter for missing the limit. Sadly in the west the main punishment seems to be a short term financial one, with a portion of an over-weight fighters purse being given to the fighter who made weight, and not something that actually helps in the fight it's self. Officials for world title bouts At the moment this isn't in effect as much as usual, due to the on going Covid19 pandemic, but typically world title bouts in Japan don't feature Japanese officials, unless both fighters are Japanese. To ensure fairness all 3 judges and the referee for world title bouts in Japan are usually from neutral countries. It's often felt "judging in Japan" is the fairest for visitors, and we dare say this is the reason why. The judges have no ties to the country, other than their work on a particular fight. If we compare Japanese world champions to, say, British world champions the choice of officials is bizarre. For example Kazuto Ioka has only had Japanese officials involved in two of his world title bouts, both against Japanese fighters, whilst Anthony Joshua only has one world title fight without a British official, with that being his bout against Wladimir Klitschko. Of course it's not just Ioka. You can genuinely select any Japanese world champion from recent years and see this in action. Sadly this does come at a cost, and we rarely see Japanese officials getting big gigs on the world scene, which is a huge shame. It's seen officials like Michiaki Someya, Nobuto Ikehara, Yuji Fukuchi and Akihiko Katsuragi rarely getting world level fights and if we're being honest they all deserve far, far more high profile bouts than they get. Inside fighting welcome! On the subject of Japanese officials it should be noted that they are a lot, lot happier to see inside fighting take place than officials in the West. This was something noted by Masayoshi Nakatani following his bout in Teofimo Lopez, and is something we see time and time again. In some countries, notably the US and the UK again, referees tend to be very quick to split the fighters if they get too close and don't let fighters fight their way out of clinches. In Japan however fighting out of the clinch is part of the sport, and something the officials are very welcome to see. It's due to this that also don't see a lot of clinches in Japan, compared to many countries. If a fighter is clinching and gets tagged a few times they tend to change their mind on clinching so much. It would be good to see more referees allowing fighters to fight out of the clinch, and letting the action flow more freely. Free TV is King! In Japan and Thailand Free TV really is king! In fact the whole idea for some of these nations, including the Philippines, is to get eyes on the sport! In Japan many of the biggest names are on free TV and world title fights are typically shown across the country for free. As well as those free big bouts fans in certain regions, notably Kanto, get bouts on tape delay for free though TBS and Fuji TV. There is pay TV involved in boxing, with the most notable service being G+, but when a fighter is a star they tend to be on free to air TV. As well as that promoters are also offering a lot of content online. There's the long running Boxing Raise service, along with the growth of A-Sign boxing and Boxing Real all streaming shows online. There's also the recent emergence of Sakana and Seki-Chan, two fans who have started to stream shows from the often over-looked Central Japan region. It's also worth noting that when a Japanese fighter fights in the US they tend to have their bout shown live on pay service WOWOW before getting their bout shown on prime time on free TV, and this has been a massive ratings hit for free TV broadcast. Perhaps something other countries could begin to consider copying. There is PPV in Japanese boxing, but it is used in such rare circumstances it's not even worth talking about. It's used maybe once or twice a year, and never for a massive professional event. In Thailand free TV really is key, with channels like Workpoint, Channel 7, Tru4U and Thairath all showing events. As well as that online services for all the channels are also available and the promoters also make their content available. Generally if you miss a show in Thailand that's not a massive issue as video quickly emerges, usually from the promoter. We can't recall a single incident of PPV being used in Thailand. In the Philippines most events of note are streamed live on the excellent PowCast, making Pow Salud one of the most important men in the Filipino boxing scene. PowCast not only stream most notable Filipino bouts but then upload the individual bouts, allowing fans to watch the bouts on demand, for free! This also extends to China, where many shows are available online through official streams, where again the idea is to get people to watch the product, and allow fighters to make a name for themselves! TV exclusivity is... different Countries in Asia do have some fighters under exclusive TV contracts, where fighters are only allowed to fight on a certain TV channel, and their affiliates. Some notable ones in Japan are Naoya Inoue and Ryota Murata on Fuji TV, Kazuto Ioka on TBS and Kosei Tanaka on CBC. That however doesn't keep them on a single channel. For example we see fighters doing guest commentary for a channel they don't fight on, or featuring on talk shows on other channels. This helps build wider awareness of the fighter, and builds to their profiles. Sadly this doesn't happen too often in some countries. Just imagine how good it would be to see Anthony Joshua commentate on BT Sport for a Tyson Fury fight to potentially build to their contest... Whilst it's certainly not unheard of in the US to see a fighter turn up on another channel at ringside, or in a post fight interview, it is much, much more prevalent in Japan. Top prospects are moved quickly In the West we often see fighters fighting 15-20 fights before taking on their first serious test. There are exceptions to this, but for the most part supposedly top prospects are given a slow and gradual step up in class, with a string of early career easy wins. In other countries however, such as Japan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, top prospects are being moved quickly. The realisation that if a fighter is good enough then they should be be matched tough. Whilst this does have flaws, and we've seen so many talented young fighters suffer early losses and never reach the heights expected of them, we have also seen it work out brilliantly for so many others. There isn't a catch all way to bring all prospects through, but we would love to see more Western promoters trying to bring their prospects through in an aggressive manner. Again this isn't an extensive list, but it's a good starting point for those wanting to know some difference between what we see in the West and what we see in certain parts of Asia. Sometimes controversial bouts just beggar as to what has actually happened and back in 1978 we had one that, even 40 years on, leaves us confused every time we watch it. It was a DQ that seemed weird and had it not ended in a DQ we would have seen one of the most amazing upsets in boxing history. Instead of getting the upset we got one of the strangest endings in boxing history and one that didn't make any sense at all. In fact it very much looked like they decided to do what they could to bail out the world champion and big star. Fel Clemente (11-7-2, 3) vs Danny Lopez (38-3, 36) In October 1978 American fighter Danny "Little Red" Lopez was widely regarded as one of the top Featherweights on the planet and one of the most destructive fighters in all of boxing. He had won the WBC Featherweight title in November 1976 and had quickly scored 4 defenses, all by stoppage. Those stoppages had seen him not only retain his title but also extend a T/KO streak to 6 fights and build on prior victories against the likes of Ruben Olivares and Chucho Castillo and had been unbeaten in 14 bouts stretching back more than 3 years. In fact all 3 of his losses up to this point came within 8 months of each other before he found the best form of his career. Lopez was the man at 126lbs. Filipino fighter Fel Clemente on the other hand was essentially a journeyman. Unlike most journeyman however he came to fight, claiming a massive upset against OPBF champion Zensuke Utagawa in 1975, and almost taking the unbeaten records of Ronnie McGarvey (then 25-0) and Gerardo Aceves (then 6-0) later that same year. In 1978 he had a bizarrely busy year, which had included an upset win over Romeo Anaya in March, another upset win the following month over Jose Torres and one over Ernesto Herrera. He had actually gone 4-2 in 1978 before getting the call to face Lopez, just a month after losing a 12 round split decision to Francisco Flores. Clemente's record looked like that of a club fighter, 7 losses from 20 bouts, but he was much, much better than those numbers suggested. He had been matched hard and had scored a lot of surprise wins. The match up saw both men travel to Palazzo Dello Sport in Pesaro, Italy for the bout, a strange location for a bout between an American world champion and a Filipino who was barely ranked in the top 10 by the WBC. Nothing seemed to make sense about the contest, but in many ways the where and why didn't need to make sense, it was supposed to be an easy win for Lopez. It was supposed to be the next defense for Lopez, with no issues. Someone didn't give Clemente the script and he took the fight to Lopez rather early on. Through the first round the challenged landed some very eye catching shots on the bigger, stronger Lopez. Whilst Lopez did land some good shots of his own it seemed Clemente was landing move of them, and was landing cleaner, with little burst of accurate shots whilst Lopez was, mostly, limited to single shots here and there. Clemente continued to box well, confusing Lopez, countering him well, and even rocking him in the second round. The clean shots of Clemente were catching the eye time and time again and Lopez really was struggling to time him, or get his respect. Lopez's brick like hands weren't forcing Clemente to back off, and instead the Filipino was choosing when to come forward and when to make Lopez move. In round 3 we finally saw Lopez begin to establish himself, as he moved up a gear. Despite better work from Lopez Clemente was continuing to have his moments and he turned up the pace late in the round as he attempted to steal the round. It was a great finish to the round, despite Clemente beginning to look a bit tired. After a very good start to the fight for Clemente we then got controversy in round 4, just as Lopez was looking to take over. The Filipino's left eye was swelling shut, the result of hard shots from Lopez, but Lopez's own face wouldn't hold up much longer as he suffered a nasty cut of his own, mid way through the round, around his right eye. This was a huge, nasty cut that forced Lopez to be taken over to the doctor. The referee ruled it to have come from a headbutt, though gave no warning to the two fighters. It seemed clear that if there was a headclash it was an accidental one. After the doctor's inspection the bout seemed ready to go on. Both men looked like the fight was going to restart but referee Gujelmo Ajor kept the action paused before speaking to people outside of the ring, then speaking to the doctor again, who looked at Clemente. Lopez then had his cut looked over by his cutman, who cleaned up the cut. The crowd were getting restless, frustrated and wanted the action to continue. It then seemed we were getting the fight's resumption before Ajor called off the bout leading to the announcer getting in the ring. It seemed, almost certain, that the cut, caused from what may have been an accidental headbutt, would lead to a technical decision. Then the ring announcer came into the ring before the gloves were removed from the men. Prior to the fight it was made clear that if the bout was stopped on an accidental foul the bout would go to the scorecards. It seemed that was what was going to happen here. It seemed that we were going to get a decision result one way or the other. Then the announcement came in, with Lopez being announced by disqualification. Much to the massive anger of the fans who booed and whistled, making their anger well known. Clemente looked like he was celebrating, but it seemed he was saluting the fans whilst the situation became less and less clear. The anger of the crowd grew as Lopez gave an interview. It was clear what the fans had thought of the outcome and they were pissed. Sadly for Clemente he would never secure a rematch, and went 2-5 before ending his career. Despite that losing most of his remaining bouts he did share the ring with the likes of Salvador Sanchez, Ruben Castillo, Rocky Lockridge and Juan Laporte. Lopez on the other hand made 3 more defenses before losing the title in 1980 to Salvador Sanchez. He would lose a rematch to Sanchez before retiring, making a a fight comeback in 1992, which he lost to Jorge Rodriguez, before hanging them up for good. Whilst we get a lot of great all-Japanese wars we don't tend to see the same in other countries, and fantastic all-Korea, all-Filipino and all-Thai bouts are surprisingly rather rare. This is, genuinely quite disappointing, but easily explained, with top talent in those countries rarely facing off. It's not unheard of, but it is rare. Today we look at one of those rarities are we bring you an amazing all-Thai bout from 2008, pitting two world class Thai's against each other in a world title eliminator, that delivered in amazing fashion. The Fight Somsak Sithchatchawal (56-2-1, 43) vs Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (32-1, 22) We suspect many fans who follow the lower weights will be familiar with both Samsak Sithchatchawak and Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, as they were really notable during their careers. Somsak is best known for his incredible, 2006 bout with Mayhar Monshipour, which saw him win the WBA Super Bantamweight title, whilst Poonsawat was the guy who had to cancel a bout with Guillermo Rigondeaux due to an irregularity in his blood test. In 2008 the two men clashed. Before we talk about the clash lets talk about the fighters in a little more detail. Somsak, as mentioned, fought in "that bout" with Monshipour. Sadly his reign with the WBA Super Bantamweight title was short lived and he was stopped by Celestino Caballero in his first defense. Despite the short reign he had rebuilt his reputation with 10 straight wins to climb towards another world title fight. By 2008 he was highly ranked again and had earned his place in a world title eliminator. In the opposite corner would been Poonsawat. In the ring Somsak was a tough, talented, skilled southpaw, who proved he could battle off the ropes against Monshipour and was able ti box in the middle of the ring. He wasn't a pure brawl, but could brawl when he needed to. Whilst he had under-rated skills his big strength was his power, and at Supe Bantamweight he hit hard enough to get get opponents respect, and worked at a high enough pace to grind opponents down. Somsak was the only one of these tow to be proven world class. Poonsawat had been the WBA "interim" Bantamweight champion in 2005 and 2006, he won that title with a brilliant win against Ricardo Cordoba and defended it once, against Leo Gamez, before losing to Volodymyr Sydorenko in a bout for the main title. He was an aggressive but technically sound fighter and despite not being a pure KO puncher was a fighter with very solid power . Whilst many will remember him for the fact the Rigondeaux fell apart, he had actually been a very solid fighter before that incident. In fact before the issues with the Rigondeaux bout, in 2012, he had actually gone all the way to winning a Super Bantamweight title and would have been one of the best opponents on Rigondeaux's record had they fought. From the opening bell it was Poonsawat coming forward, pressing and attacking. Somsak was looking to soak up the pressure, as he had against Monshipour. Despite being the aggressor Poonsawat was smart with his aggression. He was looking to apply a lot of pressure with is footwork, and fire off combinations with both hands when Somsak was there to hit. He wasn't recklessly coming in, but was fighting smart. The pressure from Poonsawat ramped up in round 2 as we began to get more of a war. Somsak again soaked it up, but took more punishment than he had in the opening round as Poonsawat's clean power shots rocked him and drew screams from the fans. Somsak responded by firing back and we were already getting something very special. Somsak's shots back at Poonsawat weren't always the best but he was looking to counter his countryman. In just 2 rounds we were already getting a bout that was stating to resemble Somsak's bout with Monshipour. The pace did drop slightly to begin round 3, but it didn't slow for long and the action grew in intensity as the round went on. We'll leave this here, so as to not spoil what happens, but the bout is well and truly worth a watch. Round by round the two men were knocking lumps out of each other in a truly spectacular all-Thai bout. This was very much fit to be a world title eliminator. It was intense, exciting, power shots being thrown regularly from both and was a perfect clash of styles. It may not have been as good as Somsak's war with Monshipour, but it's still a brilliant bout on it's own merit. By - George Delis (@Delisketo)
Heavyweight: -Alexander Povetkin (36-2): interim WBC World champion. Povetkin will once again meet with Dillian Whyte (27-2) on March 27, for the interim WBC championship. -Zhan Kossobutskiy (15-0): WBA #14 Zhan knocked out Onoriode Ehwarieme (18-2) on February 20 to capture the WBA International title and enter the world rankings for the first time. -Evgeny Romanov (15-0): WBO #10 Romanov defended his WBO Global title against former world champion Siarhei Liakhovich (27-9) in November. Cruiserweight: -Aleksei Egorov (11-0): WBA Gold champion Egorov is currently negotiating a fight with the WBA Super champion Arsen Goulamirian (26-0). -Evgeny Tishchenko (8-0): WBO #4 / IBF #5 / WBC #15 The 2016 Olympic champion will challenge Thabiso Mchunu (22-5) for the WBC Silver crown on March 27. This bout will also serve as a WBC world title eliminator. -Aleksei Papin (12-1): WBC #2 / WBO #8 Papin takes on Vaclav Pejsar (15-10) in a stay busy fight on April 2nd. -Yury Kashinsky (19-1): IBF #4 / WBA #9 / WBC #11 Kashinsky last fought 13 months ago. Light Heavyweight: -Artur Beterbiev (15-0): IBF & WBC World champion Beterbiev defends his belts on March 20 against Adam Deines (19-1). -Dmitry Bivol (17-0): WBA (Super) World champion Bivol has begun training for his 7th defense. The former WBO Super Middleweight champion Gilberto Ramirez (41-0) is said to be his next opponent. -Maksim Vlasov (46-3): WBO #2 Vlasov will clash with Joe Smith Jr. (26-3) for the vacant WBO Light Heavyweight title on April 10. -Sergey Kovalev (34-4): WBO #6 Kovalev’s encounter with Bektemir Melikuziev (7-0) was cancelled due to Kovalev testing positive for synthetic testosterone. -Igor Mikhalkin (23-2): WBC #4 Mikhalkin faces Denis Tsaryuk (12-4) on March 20. -Rustam Tulaganov (4-0): WBA #14 The 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist defeated Beibi Berrocal (17-8) 2 months ago. -Ali Izmailov (5-0): IBF #11 Izmailov enters the world rankings after dispatching former IBF International champion Ruslan Fayfer (25-3) this past November. -Umar Salamov (25-1): WBO #4 Salamov was meant to fight Vlasov for the vacant WBO title, before he tested positive for COVID-19. Super Middleweight: -Fedor Chudinov (23-2): WBA Gold champion Fedor retained his Gold belt against Isaac Chilemba (26-7) last month. -Bektemir Melikuziev (7-0): WBO #12 / WBA #15 The 2016 Olympic Silver medalist easily dispatched Morgan Fitch (19-5) within 3 rounds. -Aidos Yerbossynuly (15-0): WBA #1 / WBO #4 / IBF #4 / WBC #11 Aidos will defend his WBA International & WBO Global titles for the 5th time, on March 28 against Tim Cronin (12-5). After that fight, he will clash with top contender Evgeny Shvedenko in an IBF eliminator. -Azizbek Abdugofurov (13-0): WBC #4 Azizbek puts his WBC Silver championship on the line this Saturday night, against accomplished amateur star Pavel Silyagin (6-0). -Aslambek Idigov (19-0): WBO #6 / IBF #13 Idigov picked up 2 major wins last year over Ryan Ford (17-6) and former interim WBA titlist Stanislav Kashtanov (36-6). -Evgeny Shvedenko (15-0): IBF #3 As mentioned above, Shvedenko is scheduled to square off with Aidos Yerbossynuly in the near future. -Vladimir Shishkin (12-0): WBC #7 / IBF #10 / WBA #13 Shishkin defeated Sena Agbeko (23-2) on February 17. Middleweight: -Gennady Golovkin (41-1): IBF World champion Triple G destroyed Kamil Szeremeta (21-1) in his inaugural IBF title defense. -Kanat Islam (28-0): WBO #6 / IBF #14 The 2008 Olympic Bronze medalist finally returned to action few weeks ago and scored his 28th victory. -Magomed Madiev (15-0): WBA #2 Madiev defeated Konstantin Mishechkin (16-10) in January. -Janibek Alimkhanuly (9-0): WBO # 3 / WBC #6 / IBF #11 The 2013 AIBA World champion wants a match with Ryota Murata (16-2). -Andrey Sirotkin (19-1): WBC #13 Sirotkin won 3 fights in 2020 and also captured the WBC Asia Continental title. -Meiirim Nursultanov (14-0): IBF #9 / WBC #15 Nursultanov only fought once last year. Super Welterweight: -Magomed Kurbanov (21-0): WBA #5 / WBO #5 Kurbanov’s biggest fight of his career will take place on May 8, when he goes up against the former WBO world champion Liam Smith (29-2). -Israil Madrimov (6-0): WBA #1 Madrimov faces fellow undefeated fighter Emmany Kalombo (14-0) on April 3rd. -Sadriddin Akhmedov (12-0): WBA #15 Akhmedov decisioned Stephen Danyo (17-4) in January, winning the NABF & WBA Continental titles in the process. -Mekhrubon Sanginov (10-0): WBA #10 Sanginov has already fought twice in 2021, beating Quincy LaVallais (11-1) and Miguel Angel Suarez (15-7). -Bakhram Murtazaliev (18-0): IBF #1 / WBO #4 Murtazaliev has knocked out 14 out of his 18 opponents. Welterweight: -Sergey Lipinets (16-1): IBF #3 / WBO #9 Lipinets and Jaron Ennis (26-0) will collide on April 10 for the vacant IBO crown. -David Avanesyan (27-3): WBC#5 / IBF #5 / WBA #7 / WBO #10 Avanesyan marked a successful 3rd defense of his European title, against Josh Kelly (10-1) last month. -Daniyar Yeleussinov (10-0): IBF #8 The 2016 Olympic Gold medalist earned the biggest victory of his pro career last November, when he stopped former IBF & WBA champion Julius Indongo (23-3) within 2 rounds. -Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-0): IBF #1 / WBC #8 / WBO #12 Kudratillo recently defeated Javier Flores (15-3) -Radzhab Butaev (13-0): WBA #1 Butaev ruined Terry Chatwood’s (9-1) perfect record with a 3rd round KO this past December. Super Lightweight: -Shakhram Giyasov (10-0): WBA #6 The 2016 Olympic Silver medalist defends his WBA International belt against former world title challenger Isa Chaniev (14-3) on April 3rd. -Shohjahon Ergashev (19-0): IBF #4 / WBA #8 / WBO #8 Ergashev is said to be involved in an IBF eliminator in the coming months. -Eduard Troyanovsky (29-2): WBC #11 / IBF #11 The former IBF champion will face Valery Oganisyan (4-0) on April 2nd. -Batyrzhan Jukembayev (18-0): IBF #8 / WBC #8 / WBA #14 Jukembayev signed with MTK Global. -Batyr Akhmedov (8-1): WBA #5 After suffering his first loss at the hands of Mario Barrios (26-0), Akhmedov came back last September and finished Rey Perez (24-12) in less than 3 minutes. Lightweight: -Zapir Rasulov (35-1): WBA #15 Rasulov scored his 31st knockout last October. He takes on Nestor Faccio (18-12) on June 19 and then Jose Forero on August 13. -Elnur Samedov (11-1): IBF #14 Samedov dominated Alexander Podolsky (11-2) to successfully retain his WBA Continental title. -Zaur Abdullaev (12-1): IBF #8 / WBC #9 Zaur faces Zhora Hamazaryan (10-2) on March 27. Super Featherweight: -Mark Urvanov (18-2): WBA Gold champion Urvanov delivered a stunning KO last year, ending the undefeated streak of Akzhol Sulaimanbek Uulu (15-1) and became the inaugural WBA Gold champion. He was meant to challenge Rene Alvarado (32-9) for the World title, before the Nicaraguan lost his belt to Roger Gutierrez (25-3) earlier this year. -Shavkat Rakhimov (15-0): IBF #1 / WBC #7 Rakhimov fought Joseph Diaz (31-1) for the vacant IBF championship to a draw. -Muhammadkhuja Yaqubov (16-0): WBC #5 / WBO #7 Yaqubov defends his WBC International title for the 4th time, on March 27, against the unbeaten Lunga Sitemela (13-0). -Ruslan Kamilov (9-0): WBO #15 Kamilov takes on former world title challenger Evgeny Chuprakov (23-3) on March 27 for the WBO Intercontinental strap. Featherweight: -Tugstsogt Nyambayar (12-1): WBC #3 / WBA #8 The 2012 Olympic Silver earned a split decision win over Cobia Breedy (15-1). -Andranik Grigoryan (12-0): WBA #10 Grigoryan defeated former IBF Intercontinental champion Andrei Isayeu (30-19) last June. Super Bantamweight: -Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0): WBA & IBF World champion. The 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist will mark his inaugural defense against the interim IBF champion Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3) on April 3rd. - Yevgeniy Pavlov (3-0): WBA #12 The 21 year old turned pro last year and won 3 fights in a row. Bantamweight: -Nikolai Potapov (22-2): IBF #6 / WBO #4 / WBC #15 Potapov’s latest victory was over former WBA Intercontinental champion Oleksandr Hryshchuk (16-3) in December. Super Flyweight: -Mikhail Aloyan (5-1): WBA Gold champion The 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist will defend his fight Pablo Carrillo (25-7) this coming spring for the interim WBA strap. Flyweight: -Olimjon Nazarov (25-5): WBO #5 Nazarov has been on an impressive 12 fight winning streak since 2018. By Eric Armit:
Highlights: -Juan Estrada retains the WBC and WBA super fly titles with controversial victory against Roman Gonzalez -Hiroto Kyoguchi remains WBA light flyweight champion when challenger Axel is unable to continue after suffering an injury to his right hand. -David Benavides stops Ronald Ellis in eleven rounds to keep his name in the frame for a 2020 shot at Saul Alvarez -Isaac Cruz outpoints Jose Romero in WBA lightweight title eliminator -Michael Zerafa brings down the curtain on the career of Anthony Mundine as he blasts him out in one round -Terrell Gausha revitalises his career with second round stoppage of Jamontay Clark -Thai Srisaket keeps busy whilst waiting for his shot at Juan Estrada with stoppage of Kwanthai -Ryno Liebenberg shows there is plenty of life left in his career as he stops unbeaten Rowan Campbell World Title/Major Shows 13 March Dallas, TX, USA: Super Fly: Juan Estrada (42-3) W PTS 12 Roman Gonzalez (50-3). Light Fly: Hiroto Kyoguchi (15-0) W TKO 5 Axel Vega (14-4-1). Middle: Austin Williams (8-0) W PTS 8 Denis Douglin (22-8). Feather: Ray Ford (8-0-1) DREW 8 Aaron Perez (10-0-1): Super Welter: Souleymane Cissokho (12-0) W TKO 6 Daniel Echevarria (21-11). Estrada vs. Gonzalez Estrada retains the WBC and WBA titles with very controversial split decision over Gonzalez Round 1 Good opener for Estrada. He was firing jabs and left hooks to the body with Gonzalez on the back foot. Gonzalez tried a short spell of aggression but Estrada was soon back in charge with his jabs, left hooks and straight rights. Score: 10-9 Estrada Round : 2 Estrada also made a quick start in this one landing his jabs and putting Gonzalez under pressure. Finally Gonzalez came to life and he was marching in firing hooks and uppercuts. Estrada was on the bock foot countering well but Gonzalez was outworking him inside. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez TIED 19-19 Round 3 Already the pace was hot with the promise of a classic battle in front of us. Gonzalez continued to rumble forward pumping out hooks and uppercuts. He scored with three rights in succession and continued to outscore Estrada who was under pressure for the three minutes. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 29-28 Round 4 Estrada had abandoned his jab as he was not able to keep Gonzalez out with it. It was a big round for Gonzalez he was showering Estrada with punches rocking him with right hooks to the head and raking him with body punches. Estrada landed some good shots before the bell but it was Gonzalez’s round. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 39-37 Official Scores: Judge Jesse Reyes 39-37 Gonzalez, Judge Carlos Sucre 39-37 Estrada, Judge David Sutherland 39-37 Estrada Round 5 This was a close one. Estrada went back to his jab and was taking the fight to Gonzalez who continued to find the target with his right hooks and worked hard inside. Estrada was connecting with left hooks to the body but Gonzalez was having that bit more success. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 49-46 Round 6 Good round for Estrada. He was moving more and using his jab to set himself up for barrages of counters. For a period Gonzalez seemed to shut down just standing in front of Estrada getting caught with punches. He then sprung to life wading in with hooks and uppercuts but it was Estrada’s round. Score: 10-9 Estrada Gonzalez 58-56 Round 7 Estrada was moving well and scoring then backing off instead of standing and trading, He connected with a right that was the best punch in the fight so far. He then began to put together some combinations of five and six punches that were rattling off Gonzalez but the Nicaraguan responded even though being outlanded. The fight was living up to its promise and then some. Score: 10-9 Estrada Gonzalez 67-66 Round 8 Gonzalez got back in the groove. He was pressurising Estrada staying in close and raking Estrada with hooks and straight rights. Now it was Gonzalez putting together some impressive sequences and outworking Estrada. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 77-75 Official Scores: Judge Jesse Reyes 77-75 Gonzalez, Judge Carlos Sucre 77-75 Estrada, Judge David Sutherland 76-76 TIED Round 9 Gonzalez work rate was phenomenal he just kept walking forward with bursts of punches. He was particularly effective with a straight left straight right paring that consistently found the target. Estrada was connecting with left hooks to the body and clubbing rights but being outworked and outlanded. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 87-84 Round 10 Gonzalez was relentless. He was rolling forward firing punch after punch. Straight rights and hooks from both hand. He seemed to find the target with every punch he threw. Estrada fought back hard but the snap seemed to have gone out of his punches. Score: 10-9 Gonzalez Gonzalez 97-93 Round 11 A great round of action all the way. Estrada was moving more and more accurate with his punches. He was the one scoring with rights to the head. When he did stand and trade. Over the second half of the round they just traded punches after punch with Estrada forcing Gonzalez onto the back foot with an array of shots. They had bumped heads a few times and some punches strayed low but other than that the referee could have taken the night off as there had not been a single clinch is any round. Score: 10-9 Estrada Gonzalez 106-103 Round 12: These two had given everything in every round and they continued to do that to the final bell. Gonzalez just had that little bit more left and he outlanded a tiring Estrada. Score; 10-9 Gonzalez. Gonzalez 116-112 Official Scores: Judge Jesse Reyes 115-113 Gonzalez, Judge Carlos Sucre 117-111 Estrada, Judge David Sutherland 115-113 Estrada The judges saw it differently with the WBA saying they were going to suspend Judge Sucre for his 117-111 score for Estrada. Irrespective of that Estrada remains champion. It will be interesting to see what comes next. Srisaket is No 1 with the WBC and is 1-1 in fights with Estrada so the WBC will have to decided whether Srisaket should get his chance or they order an Estrada vs. Gonzalez rematch. The WBA No 1 by some miracle I am not sure even the WBA understand is another Thai Yodmongkol CP Freshmart (Sirichai Thaiyen) who somehow in the last 29 months has reached No 1 with those clowns at the WBA by scoring eight consecutive wins against fighters with combined records of 16-9 with 15 of those wins scored by one of the of the losers, six never having won a fight and the most recent having a 1-3 record. What a farce. Third defence for Estrada who played his part in a great contest. Hopefully Gonzalez will get a return. He was being written off after back-to-back losses to Srisaket in 2017 but has shown what a great little fighter he is. Kyoguchi vs. Vega Kyoguchi retains the WBA light fly title after Vega is forced out of the fight due to an injury to his right hand. Round 1 Kyoguchi was quickly into his stride jabbing well and scoring with straight rights and left hooks to the body. Vega just could not get onto the front foot due to the strength of Kyoguchi jab and the champion connect with a hard overhand right. Score: 10-9 Kyoguchi Round 2 A totally different round. Vega closed the space and never took a backward step. He was working inside with hooks denying Kyoguchi any chance to use his jab. For the whole three minutes they went toe-to-toe. Kyoguchi was digging in hooks and uppercuts but Vega was outworking him and scored with two hard rights. Score: 10-9 Vega TIED 19-19 Round 3 A close round. Vega did not press as much over the first half of the round and Kyoguchi was able to score with his jab and straight rights. Over the second half Vega went on the war path again getting inside to land hooks and uppercuts and he just did enough to take the round. Score:10-9 Vega Vega 29-28 Round 4 Kyoguchi was able to work at distance in this one. He was jabbing well and hooking to the body. Vega closed the space late in the round but Kyoguchi matched him inside. Score: 10-9 Kyoguchi TIED 38-38 Official Scores: Judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo 39-37 Vega, Judge Lawrence Cole 38-38, Judge Gregorio Alvarez 38-38 Round 5 Kyoguchi was again scoring well with his jab with Vega standing off and allowing Kyoguchi the space to work. Vega stepped in and landed a right to Kyoguchi’s head and then immediately turned away from the action retreating across the ring clutching his right wrist. Kyoguchi chased after Vega and with Vega doubled up in agony landed a punch before the referee was able to jump between them. Vega was unable to continue giving Kyoguchi the win on a stoppage. Kyoguchi, a former undefeated IBF minimum title holder, was making the third defence of the WBA light fly title and now 7 of his 15 fights have been world title fights. At 4’9 ½” Mexican Vega has to take his fights inside to win. This one was poised. It could be that Vega’s body punching might have worn down Kyoguchi or that walking into Kyoguchi’s punches might have eventually broken Vega down. The 20-year-old challenger deserves another shot to answer those questions. Williams vs. Douglin Houston southpaw Williams moves forward with unanimous decision over experienced Douglin. Plenty of action in this one. Douglin looked dangerous in the first scoring well with hooks and they traded hard shots in the second with Williams winning the exchanges. Body punches from Williams had Douglin in some trouble in the third but Douglin rebounded getting through with southpaw lefts in the fifth. From there Williams took over. He handed out a steady beating to Douglin over the sixth and seventh before slowing in the last. Scores 79-73 twice and 77-75 for Williams. The 24-year-old from Houston was facing a genuine test and came throught it. Douglin, 32, has been in with Jermell Charlo, Geroge Groves, David Benavidez and Anthony Dirrell but last time in November 2019 lost on points against Mike Guy. Ford vs. Perez Two very different styles here with Ford the upright boxing southpaw and Perez a crude lunging scrapper. Ford was trying to box at distant but Perez was hustling him out of his comfort zone and had Ford under heavy fire in the first. Ford steadied himself and connected with good counters in the second. The pattern of the fight did not change; Ford was scoring well at distance and catching Perez on the way in but Perez was walking through the counters and pumping out punches in a steady stream once he was inside. Accuracy did not enter the equation for Perez but the sheer volume of the punches he was throwing almost overwhelmed Ford. It was a case of going for quality or quantity and the judges were split on it with one going 78-74 for Perez, one 77-75 for Ford and the third seeing it 75-75. Neither fighter was happy with the result. Strangely considering their styles Ford was the one nicknamed “Savage”. Cissokho vs. Echevarria French hope Cissokho returns after 18 months of inactivity with stoppage of Mexican southpaw Echevarria. After a slow start Cissokho built his pace putting Echevarria under more and more pressure. A right floored Echevarria in the fifth. Echevarria was down again late in the round but it was a slip so no count. Cissokho ended it in the sixth with another knockdown after which the referee halted the fight. The Senegal-born Cissokho, a bronze medal winner at the Rio Olympics, has wins over useful opponents in Carlos Moreno and Dmitry Mikhaylenko. Echevarria came in 7lbs over the contract weight. He was 18-0 with 16 wins by KO/TKO early in his career but 3-11 since then shows he has slipped away badly Uncasville, CT, USA: Super Middle: David Benavidez (24-0) W TKO 11 Ronald Ellis (18-2-2). Light: Isaac Cruz (21-1-1) W PTS 12 Jose Romero (24-1). Super Welter: Terrell Gausha (22-2-1) W TKO 2 Jamontay Clark (15-2-1).Welter: Kudratillo Abdukakhorov (18-0) W RTD 8 Javier Flores (15-3,1ND). Benavides vs. Ellis Benavidez proves just too strong and too big for a game Ellis. Benavides was working behind his jab in the first using his longer reach to slot punches home. Ellis staged some quick attacks and showed good hand speed and landed enough to take the round. Benavides looked a bit mechanical and slow in the second until he fired a couple of eye-catching bursts of punches. Ellis started the third with a fierce attack and they traded punches until Benavides launched a rapid combination to shake Ellis. Benavides then dominated the rest of the round with his longer reach and had Ellis under fire at the bell. Benavides walked Ellis down over the fourth and fifth. He was able to keep Ellis on the back foot and bombarded him with punches when he trapped Ellis against the ropes. Ellis was countering when he could but Benavides was just taking a step back and then coming forward behind his jab again. Benavides upped his output in the sixth punishing Ellis with there being little Ellis could do except try to counter when he could-which was not very often. Benavides rocked Ellis with two big rights in the seventh and there was less and less coming back from Ellis. Benavides pounded on Ellis in the eighth and ninth and the doctor came to the ringside to check that Ellis was able continue after each round. Benavides worked away in the tenth with hooks to the body from both hands and clubbing rights to the head. Ellis was able to score with the occasional counter but it was a very one-sided fight now. Benavides drove Ellis around the ring in the eleventh landing with heavy single shots and short burst of lighter punches. He had Ellis pinned against the ropes and clouted him with punch after punch until the referee jumped in to save Ellis. Benavidez was in front 98-92 on two cards and 99-91 on the third at the stoppage. The 24-year-old “Red Flag “was stripped of the WBC super middle title when he failed to make the weight for a defence against Roamer Angulo in August last year. He won the fight but losing his WBC title took his name off the board when they were looking for an opponent for Saul Alvarez. He is back at No 1 in the WBC rankings but Alvarez has a pretty full dance card for this year but he could be No 1 on the list for 2022 if he stays unbeaten. Ellis gave it a shot but just could not deal with the physical advantages or the power of Benavides. His other loss was on a majority decision against DeAndre Ware but he had put himself back in the picture with a points win over Immanuwel Aleem and a fortunate win over matt Korobov on an injury. Cruz vs. Romero Cruz wins WBA eliminator with a points decision over Romero in a messy, disappointing fight. Romero used smart tactics against the ever aggressive Cruz. The Argentinian had a fast, accurate jab and he used that to good effect over the early rounds showing good mobility and connecting with quick counters. Cruz kept chugging forward to work inside but Romero did a lot of clinching to smother Cruz’s work. It was a frustrating fight for the smaller Cruz. Romero was cut over his right eye in a clash of heads in the fourth but was cleared to continue by the doctor. A low punch in the sixth cost Cruz a point but Romero was clinching less which gave Cruz a chance to work. Romero’s early work made the fight close but Cruz was the stronger and he came on late in the fight and was a worthy winner. Scores a too wide 118-109, 115-112 and 114-113 all for Cruz. He will now go to No 1 with the WBA but there are Teo Lopez, Gervonta Davis and Yvan Mendy all holding versions of the title and Cruz is not ready for Lopez yet. Former undefeated Argentinian champion Romero was No 6 with the WBA but he will struggle against any top line opponent. Gausha vs. Clark Gausha gets his career back on track with an early stoppage of Clark. A very cautious first round with lots of probing from both men but no real commitment to a punch. The second opened with more pawing and probing. The 6’2” Clark was firing straight lefts but Gausha was moving back and evading them. As Clark threw another straight left Gausha dated in and connected with a left to the head that put Clark down. He got up but did not seem to know where he was and was unsteady on his feet , The referee had a quick look and decided he was able to continue but as Gausha rushed forward Clark stumbled back across the ring and the referee realised Clark was in a bad way and jumped between Gausha and Clark before Gausha could do more damage. After losses Erislandy and Erickson Lubin Gausha had fallen out of the ratings and at 33 times is running out so he needed to win this one. Although losing to Jeison Rosario back in 2018 Clark had rebounded with a draw against unbeaten Sebastian Fundora and was No 9 with the WBA. At 26 he has time to regroup and come again. Abdukakhorov vs. Flores Uzbek Abdukakhorov was putting his IBF No 1 position at risk here but he kept himself in line for a shot at Errol, Spence with an eighth round stoppage of Flores. Victories over Keita Obara and Luis Collazo had been enough to get him to No 1 now he has to wait for the IBF to force Spence to fight him or vacate. Puerto Rican Flores lost almost every round against Ron Cruz in April 2019 but he had come back with a kayo of 16-0 Angel Ruiz in October 2019. Melbourne, Australia: Middle: Michael Zerafa (28-4) W TKO 1 Anthony Mundine (48-11). Light Heavy: Faris Chevalier (12-1) W PTS 10 Blake Caparello (30-4-1). Zerafa vs. Mundine Zerafa blitzes Mundine inside a round. Mundine was coming forward when Zerafa suddenly connected with a left which staggered Mundine and Zerafa then cut loose with a series of rights to the head that sent Mundine into the ropes and then down on his hands and knees. Mundine looked more angry than hurt and was up quickly. Zerafa came forward looking for an opening and then connected with a heavy right to the head that sent Mundine crashing to the canvas and the fight was immediately waived off. Huge win for Zerafa who lost to Kell Brook and won then lost in fights with Jeff Horn. He immediately called out Tim Tszyu. Mundine had already said this was his last fight no matter what the result and conformed his retirement at 45. He has been a hugely successful and hugely controversial figure in Australian boxing with his strong support of the rights of his own indigenous people. Chevalier vs. Caparello I feel real sympathy for Chevalier. He gives up boxing due to the difficulty in getting fights then returns after almost five years and in his first fight outpoints WBA No 3 Caparello only to have his achievement swamped by Zerafa’s stoppage of Mundine. It was not a great fight but Chevalier was a clear winner with Caparello outboxed and perhaps looking the end of career. The three judges all gave it to Chevalier 97-93. The Paris-born Australian, a former Australian super middleweight champion lifts the WBA Oceania title. He lost his first pro fight so is on a twelve-bout winning streak. Caparello, 34, was stopped in two rounds by Sergey Kovalev in a challenge for the WBO light heavyweight title in 2014 and then suffered losses against Andre Dirrell and Isaac Chilemba. He had partially recovered with four domestic wins but now faces choices about his future. 10 March Uncasville, CT, USA: Super Light: Brandun Lee (22-0) W KO 3 Samuel Teah (17-4-1). Light: Steven Ortiz (12-0) W PTS 8 Jeremy Hill (14-1). Welter: Brian Norman (19-0,1ND 10 1st) W Ben Whitaker (15-5). Light Vic Padilla (9-0) W TKO 5 Thomas Velasquez (10-1-1).Super Feather: Jordan White (11-1) W TKO 5 Misael Lopez (11-1,1ND). Lee vs. Teah Lee continues his destructive way as he blasts out Teah in the third. Leah had his jab working from the bell and was connecting with long rights and left hooks. Teah landed a useful left hook but was not quick enough. Teah made a bright start in the second but once Lee started to put his punches together he was rocking Teah with quick accurate shots. A burst of head punches floored Teah in the third. Teah made it to his feet but Lee bombarded him with punches until a booming right sent Teah down on his back and the fight was immediately stopped. Twenty wins by KO/TKO for 21-year-old Lee who wins the vacant IBO Inter-Continental belt. It has taken Lee less than 41 rounds for his 22 victories. Liberian-born “Tsunami” Teah had wins over Kenneth Sims and Sonny Frederickson so a reasonable test on paper Ortiz vs. Hill Ortiz builds an early lead and then holds off a strong finish from Hill to win a close unanimous decision. Ortiz’s better skills saw him move ahead over the first four rounds. He was jabbing well and outboxing the less skilled Hill. Hill was crude at times and walked into plenty of counters but kept pressing and made the fifth and sixth rounds too close to call and might have just edged them on the cards. Ortiz opened a gap again as he outboxed Hill over the seventh. Hill put in a good last round but it wasn’t enough. Scores 77-75 twice and 79-73 for Ortiz. Good win for the 27-year-old Philadelphian but a lack of power may hold him back. Hill came in as a late substitute and let the fight get away from him over those opening rounds. Norman vs. Whitaker In theory Norman was moving up to ten rounds but instead registered win No 16 by KO/TKO as he halted Whitaker in the fifth. The 20-year-old from Georgia is being sensibly matched. Texan Whitaker, 36, had won 4 of his previous 5 fights and scored wins over two unbeaten opponents in succession before this loss. Padilla vs. Velasquez Padilla overcomes a flash knockdown in the first to break down and stop Velasquez. Good start for Velasquez as connects with a right counter to the body and an off balance Padilla went down. Not a heavy knockdown and Padilla in no real trouble. Padilla had problems with the style of Velasquez in a the second and third but did enough to edge the rounds. Padilla began to put his punches together in the fourth and was taking control. In the fifth Padilla had Velasquez on rubber legs with a hook and floored him with a left. Velasquez made it to his feet but was shaky and floundered as Padilla unloaded on him so the referee halted the fight. Eighth early win for the 22-year-old Puerto Rican Padilla but he struggled early. Velasquez, 25, was in his first eight round fight. White vs. Lopez After a slow start White’s power proves too much for Lopez. Over the first two rounds Lopez took the fight to White despite being rocked in the opener. He was still in charge in the third until a body shot late in the round gave White the edge. Lopez rallied and outworked White in the fourth and fifth. Lopez lost focus in the sixth and White connected with a heavy right to send Lopez down. He got up too early and when the action resumed White trapped him on the ropes and put him down again. Lopez was up but wobbly and the referee halted the contest. Seven wins on the bounce for White,23, and ninth win by KO/TKO. Denver-based Mexican Lopez just did not have the power to match White. 12 March Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Super Feather: Edwin de los Santos (9-0) W KO 1 Luis Montano (16-8). Super Welter: Carlos Adames (19-1) W TKO 6 Bryan Medina (14-2). Light Heavy: Bryan Perez (14-1) W PTS 10 Felix Varela (18-4). Light Heavy: Juan Carrillo (5-0) W TKO 3 Reinaldo Gonzalez (16-3). Minimum: Eric Rosa (3-0) W KO 3 Kenny Cano (14-3). Heavy: Alexis Garcia (10-0) W TKO 3 Amron Sands (11-1). de los Santos vs. Montano Promising southpaw de los Santos impressively dismantles Montano inside a round. de los Santos was firing hooks from the start and a left to the head dropped Montano with just 40 seconds gone. He beat the count and in his anxiety to end it de los Santos was a bit wild. With 20 seconds left in the round de los Santos fired home two body shots that put Montano down again. He just about made at the count of nine but the referee waived to signal the fight was finished. The 21-year-old southpaw makes it eight early wins and collects the vacant WBC Latino title. He looked sharp and has power. Mexican Montano was 5-1 in his last six outings. Adames vs. Medina Adames hands of plenty of punishment and scores two knockdowns before Medina’s corner pulls their man out of the fight. Adames almost ended this in the first. He connected with a couple of strong body punches and then a blistering right uppercut put Medina down with less than ten seconds left in the round. Medina was unsteady when he got up and his second hustled him back to his corner. Adames took his foot off the pedal in the second and paid for it as Medina landed a good left hook. Medina chose to stand and exchange punches in the third making for some thrilling action but this time he paid the price being dropped by a heavy left hook and again he was saved by the lateness of the knockdown and got up and made it to his corner. Things slowed in the fourth with Adames content to box in a lower gear. It looked as though Adames was going to coast through the fifth but a series of hooks and uppercuts had Medina staggering across the ring. His mouthguard had come out so he got a few seconds respite and survived. Adames was getting through with hefty head shots in the sixth and finally Medina’s corner threw the towel in to save their man. First fight for Adames since losing a very close verdict to Patrick Teixeira for the WBO title when a knockdown made the difference between winning the fight and losing it. He had dropped out of the ratings but should return now and is capable of winning a title. Fellow-Dominican Medina gave it a good shot and at 26 will come again. Perez vs. Varela Perez gets close unanimous points victory over Varela in entertaining and incident filled scrap. Not sure why Varela chose to wear a gorilla mask into the ring but he did. It obviously did not frighten Perez as with just one minute gone in the fight he floored Varela with a hard right. Varela was up at four but when the action resumed he was floundering and holding to survive. The referee stepped in to break them and pushed them apart which sent Varela to the floor again. He was given time to recover from being floored by then referee and that proved important as he was put down again by a right to the side of the head. Varela was up quickly but under pressure and he tumbled to the floor but was not give a count and the bell went. The end of a very eventful round and a 10-7 start for Perez. Valera used his longer reach and better skills to outbox Perez over the next three rounds although he slipped and nearly took a header through the ropes. Varela wasted his three good rounds by his stupidity in the fifth. With just seconds to go and with Varela clowning dropping his gloves and winding up his right arm a left hook from Perez sent him hurtling into the ropes and down. When he made it up and the referee completed the eight count he was able to walk back to his corner. Varela boxed well in the sixth and had Perez badly rocked by a left hook in the seventh. Varela boxed well in the eighth and ninth with an exhausted Perez being docked a point for continually spitting out his gumshield. Valera had Perez hurt at the start of the tenth until a big left hook from Perez changed that and Varela was staggering and stumbling and then Perez went down but it was a slip and Varela had lost a round he needed to win and the fight. Scores 96-94 for Perez on all three scorecards. Perez, also a Dominican, reverses his only defeat and wins both the vacant WBC Latino and WBA Fedecaribe titles. Varela a former WBA interim title holder, was having his first fight since being disqualified for low blows against Vyacheslav Shabranskyy in September 2019. Carrillo vs. Gonzalez Impressive showing from Colombian Carrillo as he stops Gonzalez in three rounds to win the vacant WBA Fedecentro title. The heavy-handed Carrillo landed hard shots over the first and in the second a series of hooks saw Gonzalez in trouble and he was given a standing count. A straight left sent Gonzalez down on one knee in the third and as he started to rise he was obviously finished and the referee stopped the fight. Carrillo is a former Colombian champion at 81 and 91kgs. He won bronze medals at the Pan American Games and Pan American Championships and competed at the World Championships and Rio Olympics. Third loss on KO/TKO for 37-year-old Venezuelan Gonzalez. Rosa vs. Cano Dominican “Mini Pacman” Rosa gets his first inside the distance win as he knocks out Cano in the third. Rosa showed some good southpaw skills and quick hands putting together some flashy combinations and he had Cano hurt at the end of the opening round. He scored well with southpaw lefts in the second and dealt easily with the attacks of the bigger Cano. Rosa was breaking Cano down in the third when one of his punches went low. Cano hesitated and looked at the referee but when he saw Rosa was not going to be penalised he drove forward throwing loose punches seeking retribution but instead a left and right to the head sent him to the canvas and he was counted out. Rosa, 20, he will be 21 this month, was Dominican champion at schools and Youth level and picked up medals with the national side. He turned professional in October and went straight into tem round fights winning the WBC Latino and WBA Fedelatin titles in his first paid fight. He defended those title over ten rounds in December so his three fights have all been scheduled for ten rounds and all been title fights. Cano had won 4 of his last 5 and lost on points over eleven rounds against current WBA interim light flyweight champion Daniel Matellon in 2017. Garcia vs. Sands No fancy footwork or snappy jabs from these 250lbs fighters as Garcia blasts out Sands in the third. The 6’6” Sands just could not keep Garcia out and was rocked by a right at the end of the first round. Garcia landed heavily again in the second with Sands banging back late in the round. In the third Garcia launched a vicious attack driving Sands to the ropes and pounding him with punches until Sands went down with his head resting on the bottom rope. He pulled himself up but was wobbling and the referee stopped the fight. Sixth inside the distance win for the 5’11” Garcia who weighed 250lbs. Florida-based Bahamian Sands, 257 lbs, just could not match Garcia for power and was never able to make his longer reach count. Bolton, England: Welter: Lewis Crocker (13-0) W PTS 10 Deniz Ilbay (22-3). Light: Gary Cully (12-0) W TKO 2 Viktor Kotochigov (12-2). Super Feather: Isaac Lowe (21-0-3) W PTS 6 Ed Harrison (2-6). Jordan Reynolds (1-0) W PTS 6 Robbie Chapman (6-7). Crocker vs. Ilbay Crocker floors and outpoints a combative Ilbay. In the first round Ilbay outworked Crocker and was able to slot straight rights through the centre of Crocker’s guard. Crocker upped his pace in the second and started to use his longer reach as a range finder and dug in some hurtful body punches. Crocker landed a series of left hooks to the body at the start of the third that had Ilbay backing off. Ilbay fought his way back into the round but an evil left to the body had him backing away and going down on one knee. He was up at eight and survived an onslaught from Crocker. Ilbay rebounded and although outworked by Crocker in the fourth he landed a big right hand with 30 seconds to go in the round that had Crocker’s legs doing a dance and if Ilbay had landed that punch earlier Crocker would have been in deep trouble. From there Crocker dominated the fight with sharp jabbing and hurtful left hook to the body. He rocked Ilbay with a right in the sixth and a left hook in the eighth saw Ilbay briefly touch the canvas to stay upright but it was seen as a knockdown. He was shaken again in the tenth but still fighting back. Scores for Crocker 99-90, 97-92 and 97-93. Crocker, 24, was making the first defence of his WBO European title. German Ilbay had boxed past some reasonable level opponents but in the end was well beaten here. Cully vs. Kotochigov Cully flattens Kotochigov in the second round. The 6’2” Cully towered over the 5’7” Kotochigov and made good use of his physical advantages to score at distance with Kotochigov unable to get past Cully’s southpaw jabs. When Cully let his punches flow late in the opener Kotochigov had to soak up some hard lefts. Cully continued to ram home punches in the second until a straight left dropped Kotochigov on his back. The Kazak tried to rise but collapsed back to the canvas and the fight was stopped. Cully, the Irish champion, wins the vacant WBO European title. Kotochigov was expected to do better after losing a close decision to Maxi Hughes in Dubai in October. Lowe vs. Harrison Lowe decisions substitute Harrison but pays a price in the shape of a bad cut. Lowe was just too quick and too busy for Harrison and easily controlled the first two rounds. In the third Lowe turned away from a clash of heads showing a bad cut over his left eye. That sparked Harrison who used his longer reach to score and traded punches more than he had over the first two rounds. Harrison was competitive over the fourth and fifth landing some good rights but Lowe was the one doing most of the scoring. A dominant sixth for Lowe saw Harrison looking to trade early but then being forced to defend as Lowe banged home hooks and uppercuts. Referee’s score 60-55 for Lowe giving him his seventh win in a row. He is rated WBO 9/WBC 11/IBF 12(11). This is his first contest for thirteen months and he would have been looking to move into some big fights but that bad cut will delay his programme. Thai-born Brit Harrison turned pro in February last year and fitted in seven fights in less than ten months. Reynolds vs. Chapman Top amateur Reynolds shows plenty of talent in his first pro fight. Chapman was his usual awkward and willing self but had no answer to the speed and accuracy of Reynolds. Chapman was badly shaken in the second but despite soaking up a lot of punishment was never really troubled after that. Plenty of flashy stuff from Reynolds but he has the ability to back it up. Referee’s score 60-54 for Reynolds. He was ABA and British champion and is reported to have won 90 of his 102 amateur fights. Sixth consecutive loss for Chapman. Neuquén, Argentina: Cruiser: Yamil Peralta (9-0) W TKO 6 Dario Balmaceda (19-20-2). Light: Damian Rojas (14-2) W PTS 10Walter Leiva (5-3-1). Peralta vs. Balmaceda Peralta lifts the Argentinian title with stoppage of former victim Balmaceda. Peralta was more measured in his approach in this one outboxing the slower Balmaceda scoring with thudding jabs and rights to the head, In the sixth a left hook sent Balmaceda stumbling into the ropes and he went down under a succession of punches. He managed to get up and carry on until a right to the temple made his legs tremble and he dropped to one knee. The referee completed the eight count and as Balmaceda got up his corner chucked in the towel. Peralta had stopped Balmaceda in nine rounds in February last year to win the South American title. An Elite level amateur Peralta, 29, is aiming to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. Balmaceda, 36, now has balance in his record with 13 wins by KO/TKO and 13 Losses by KO/TKO. Rojas vs. Leiva Rojas collects the vacant WBA Fedebol title on a majority decision after a war between two southpaws. It was Leiva who came out on top in the first three rounds but that changed when a solid right to the body in the fourth saw Leiva down in agony. He made it to his feet and survived the round but that knockdown cost him the fight. They knocked lumps off each other for the remaining rounds of nonstop action with Rojas getting the decision. Scores 96-93 and 95-94 for Rojas and 95-95. Rojas, 25, the Argentinian No 5 made it five consecutive victories. Leiva, 26, unranked was in his first ten round fight and deserved a draw here. Lo Barnechea, Chile: Fly: Andres Campos (10-0) W Ramon Velasquez (7-4). Campos makes it a double over Velasquez as he breezes to a clear decision victory. The tiny Velasquez set a fast pace in the first going after Campos throwing plenty of punches but not landing many. Campos took charge from the second boxing well behind his jab and scoring with hooks inside. Campos continued to boss the fight coming close to putting Velasquez down in the sixth. He controlled the action in the seventh, eighth and ninth with a wild Velasquez being deducted a point in the ninth for a butt and then Campos eased his way through the tenth. All three judges scored it 98-91 for Campos who had beaten Velasquez on a sixth round retirement in 2019. Campos is looking to get some fights in the USA in 2021. At 4’11” Velasquez always gives away height and reach and this is his fourth loss in a row. Culiacan, Mexico: Super Bantam: Kevin Gonzalez (22-0-1) W PTS 10 Ivan Morales (33-4). Home town fighter Gonzalez gets a career best win as he takes unanimous decision over more experienced southpaw Morales. This was only the third fight in over three years for Morales and he made a slow start. Gonzalez raked Morales with body punches and a clash of heads made life even harder for Morales as he was cut on his left eyebrow. Gonzalez had pocketed a winning lead and held off a strong finish from Morale to take the decision. Toughest test yet for the 23-year-old “Jackal”. Morales, 29, the younger brother of Erik Morales lost to Lee Haskins for the IBF bantamweight title in 2016. Cape Town, South Africa: Super Welter: Cristiano Ndombassy (12-4) W PTS 10 Jami Webb (6-1). Cruiser: Mohammed Ali Bayat Farid (17-2-1) W TKO 3 Mussa Ajibu (28-17-5). Ndombassy vs. Webb South African-based Angolan Ndombassy gets a controversial split decision over Webb. The fight was close enough to have gone either way with one judge going for Ndombassy 96-94 and another seeing him the winner by a strange 94-92 and the third seeing Webb the winner at 97-93. Ndombassy has improved his record recently being 8-2 in his last 10 outings and claims the World Boxing Federation International title. Webb had only 18 rounds of experience going into this fight. Farid vs. Ajibu Iranian Ali Bayal Farid does not do points wins. He handed out a steady load of punishment to Malawian Ajibu who decided not to come out for the fourth round. The Dubai-based Ali Bayal Farid has scored all of his wins by KO/TKO with his loss coming on points against UK’s Jack Massey on points in London in November. He has fought in Abu Dhabi, Germany, Spain and Bosnia as well as the UK and now South Africa. Poor Ajibu has lost ten in a row nine of them inside the distance. Plant City, FL, USA: Feather: Dennis Contreras (24-10-1) W TKO 10 Hairon Socarras (23-2-3). Contreras steamrollers Socarras to defeat. Socarras boxed cleverly in the first letting the taller Contreras bring the fight to him and countering with quick bursts of hooks. Contreras did a better job of cutting off the ring in the second and despite some slick bobbing and weaving from Socarras Contreras took the round. Contreras attacked relentlessly in the third. He trapped Socarras in a corner and piled on the punches until Socarras slipped to the canvas. He fought back over the rest of the round but was constantly under pressure. Socarras stopped Contreras in his tracks with a left hook in the fourth but was forced to defend desperately as Contreras again forged forward in the fifth and sixth. Socarras connected with some powerful counters in the seventh and eight but Contreras just shrugged them off and kept coming unloading on Socarras with hooks and uppercuts. Late in the ninth Contreras had Socarras pinned to the ropes and just fired punch after punch with very little coming back from Socarras. A big attack in the tenth saw him drive Socarras along the ropes until Socarras pitched face down on the canvas. Socarras got up but the referee had seen enough to convince him Socarras was finished for the night. Contreras seems to have moved his career up a level lately. This is his second defence of the WBA Fedecentro title and win No 22 by KO/TKO. In succession the 28-year-old Mexican has beaten 20-2-1 Belmar Preciado, 20-0 Carlos Flores and now 23-1-3 Socarras but despite the Fedecentro title and his impressive wins he is still unrated by the WBA. Cuban Socarras has good skills but has found his ceiling. 13 March Bang Phun, Thailand: Super Fly: Srisaket (50-5-1) W RTD 3 Kwanthai (50-8-1). Super Bantam: Chainoi (14-0-1 ) W PTS 10 Pungluang (54-10). Super Fly: Phongsaphon (12-1) W PTS 10 Petchbarngborn (44-11). Srisaket vs. Kwanthai Really just a bit of glorified paid sparring as Srisaket bludgeons a faded Kwanthai to defeat in three rounds. Srisaket worked Kwanthai over in the first cracking him with sharp hooks and uppercuts. Kwanthai was hiding behind a high guard and getting in the odd sneaky shot but did not look to be really trying very hard. Srisaket moved up a gear in the second. He was clouting Kwanthai with southpaw right hooks and digging to the body with both hands. He put together some impressive combinations with Kwanthai just hiding and then throwing an occasional punch. Srisaket went to work in earnest in the third. He pounded Kwanthai with left hooks and right uppercuts until Kwanthai took a knee in a corner. He was up at eight but shaking his head. Srisaket pounded on him some more and Kwanthai only just made it the bell and then did not come out for the fourth. Srisaket (Wisaksil Wangek) has managed to keep fairly active despite the pandemic and this was really just a routine run out whilst he waits for his chance to meet Juan Francisco Estrada. He has beaten both Estrada and Gonzalez but lost a very narrow decision to Estrada in a return match. Former WBA Minimumweight champion Kwanthai (Ekkawit Songnui), 38, is a spent force. He is 3-5 in his last 8 fights with two of the losses and all three wins against novices. Chainoi vs. Pungluang Chainoi retains the WBC Asian Boxing Council title with unanimous decision over seasoned ex-champion Pungluang. The younger Chainoi was quicker with his hands and nifty on his feet and outboxed the slower Pungluang. Over the third and fourth Pungluang began to find the target with some solid rights but Chainoi stuck to his strengths and outworked Pungluang without ever really looking close to a stoppage. Scores 98-92 twice and 97-93 for Chainoi (Thattana Luangphon) in his third defence of the WBC ABC title. Former WBC bantamweight champion Pungluang (Panya Uthok), 31, is on the slippery downward slope now being 2-7 in his last 9 fights. Phongsaphon vs. Petchbarngborn It seems as though the changing of the guards is going on in Thai boxing with some of the former top boxers fading out of the picture. That was the case here as Phongsaphon dominated veteran Petchbarngborn. Phongsaphon pounded on Petchbarngborn from the first bell driving Petchbarngborn to the ropes and unloading punches. It looked as though it would be an early finish but Petchbarngborn soaked up the punishment and came into the fight more over the later rounds exposing some flaws in Phongsaphon’s defence and lasting the distance. Scores 98-92 twice and 97-93 for the 20-year-old Phongsaphon who makes it twelve consecutive victories in retaining the WBC Asian Boxing Council belt. Petchbarngborn (Karoon Jarupianlerd), 35, was kayoed in ten rounds by Naoya Inoue in a challenge for the WBO super fly title but has now suffered two losses in a row against relative novices. Rio Cuarto, Argentina: Super Welter: Adrian Sasso (16-2) W TKO 3 Sergio Lopez (13-5). Fighting in front of his home fans Sasso stops Lopez in the third round. Sasso is tall for a super welter and a southpaw and he used his long reach to slot punches home from distance. Lopez was walking forward throwing wild, wide punches to overcome the height disparity. He was taking punishment as he lunged forward. In the third a series of punches had Lopez off balance and sent him tumbling down against the ropes. He climbed up but after completing the eight count the referee waived the fight off. Lopez complained strongly and even did a little dance to show he was more than capable of continuing but the fight was over. Sasso, 25, retains the South American title with his ninth win in a row but he lacks the skills to go beyond domestic level. Lopez had been stopped inside a round by Lucas Bastida in a challenge for the South American middleweight title in December Hamburg, Germany: Heavy: Ali Eren Demirezen (14-1) W TKO 2 Nikola Milacic (21-2). Heavy: Michael Wallisch (22-4) W TKO 6 Knife Didier (6-6). Heavy: Viktor Vykhryst (7-0) W PTS 8 Wilmer Vasquez (11-1-211 Demirezen vs. Milacic Turk Demirezen wins the vacant WBO European title with stoppage of German Milacic. Demirezen had it easy he bounced late substitute Milacic off the canvas a couple of times in the second round and the fight was stopped. Third win for Demirezen after losing his unbeaten tag in a wide points defeat against Efe Ajagba in July last year. Milacic came in at 24 hours notice after original opponent Jacek Platek was arrested after the weigh-in on Friday. Milacic’s record looks good as long as you don’t examine it closely. Wallisch vs. Didier Wallisch too big and too strong for Congolese boxer Didier. Wallisch had won all the way before flooring and stopping Didier with a body punch in the sixth. It seems as though Wallisch is looking to reinvent himself as he was 219lbs for this fight down from 261lbs when he lost to Joe Joyce last July. Didier has lost his last four fights Vykhryst vs. Vasquez Ukrainian Vykhryst preserves his 100& record with unanimous decision over Vasquez. The Venezuelan did better than expected occasionally finding gaps for counters but Vykhryst stayed focused and used his longer reach to keep Vasquez from every really threatening and was a comfortable winner. Scores 80-72 from the judges. The 28-year-old 6’5” Vykhryst (boxing as Victor Faust in Germany as happened with the Klychko brothers boxing as Klitschko) certainly has the credentials from his time as an amateur although a second round kayo loss to Joe Joyce in the Worlds Series of Boxing is a blot he might like to erase. First fight in 20 months for Vasquez, 39. He was out of the ring for almost nine years before returning with a couple of easy jobs in 2019. Dzuerzonlow, Poland: Light: Damian Wrzesinsk (22-1-2,1ND) W PTS 10 Julio Barraza (19-3-1). Welter: Michal Lesniak (13-1-1) W Rodrigo Labre (6-4). Middle: Lukasz Maciec (26-3-1) W Pablo Mendoza (9-7). Wrzesinsk vs. Barraza Wrzesinsk decisions Barraza in an entertaining ten rounder. Barraza landed a couple of useful lefts in the first round. Wrzesinsk then changed to southpaw and was more assured. He outboxed Barraza comfortably to collect the points over the second, third and fourth but then Barraza got back into the fight from the fifth and it was a hard-fought scrap from there with Wrzesinsk having the edge but the round being close. Wrzesinsk shook Barraza with a combination at the end of the ninth and boxed his way to victory through the tenth. Scores 97-93 twice and 98-92 for the Pole. Wrzesinsk,33, was making the third defence of his Polish International title and registers his eighth win in a row. He is not in the EBU ratings as the EBU do not recognise the body he fights under. Mexican Barraza made Wrzesinsk work hard for the win. Lesniak vs. Labre Lesniak has to get off the canvas to take a close unanimous verdict over Labre. In the opening two rounds Lesniak let himself be dragged into a brawl by Labre. He settled down to box in the third and fourth using his longer reach. Late in the fifth a left hook to the body sent Lesniak down for a count. From there Lesniak boxed at distance under constant pressure from Labre and the fight was close. Scores 76-75 twice and 77-74 for Lesniak. After an early loss Lesniak is 10-0-1 in his eleven most recent outings. Spanish-based Ecuadorian Labre had won his last three fights. Maciec vs. Mendoza Usually the Latin American fighters based in Spain tend to be non-threatening, competitive losers but As with Labre Mendoza gave Maciec all the trouble he could handle and looked unlucky not to come away with a draw. Scores 76-75 twice and 77-74 for Maciec. Since losing an important fight to Hugo Centeno in 2015 Maciec downsized the quality of his opposition and had periods of inactivity. Nicaraguan Mendoza suffers his sixth loss in succession. New Hampshire, USA: Light Heavy: Chris Traietti (29-4) W TKO 1 Alfredo Trevino (9-8-1).Welter: Brandon Berry (20-5-2) W PTS 8 Augustin Cicero (16-18-3). Cruiser: Tommy Karpency (30-7-1) WKO 1 Mickey Scarborough (6-14) Traietti vs. Trevino No upset here as Traietti floors Trevino three times and stops him in the first round. Eight wins in a row for Traietti against inferior level opposition and victory No 23 by KO/TKO. Traietti is improving as it took him two round to stop Trevino in 2017.A big local favourite Traietti loses when he tries to step up. To give you a picture of 37-year-old Mexican Trevino he is 5’9” , weighed 247lbs for this fight and is batting 1-7 in his last 8 fights. Berry vs. Cicero Berry gets in some ring time and comes away with a comfortable win over another 37-year-old Mexican in Cicero. Scores 79-72. Seventh consecutive win for Berry against non-threatening opponents. Cicero has won just one of his last six fights. Karpency vs. Scarborough Another abysmal match sees Karpency put Scarborough down and out in just 52 seconds. The 35-year-old southpaw, a former WBC title challenger, has 19 victories by KO/TKO. Poor 44-year-old Scarborough has been beaten in all of his last ten fights failing to go the distance in nine of them. .14 March Kempton Park, South Africa: Super Middle: Ryno Liebenberg (21-7-1) W TKO 8 Rowan Campbell (12-1). Super Fly: Sabelo Ngebinyana (13-4) W PTS 8 Ricardo Malajika (7-1). Super Bantam: Ludumo Lamati (17-0-1) W PTS 8 Said Mohammed Hassan (16-8-2). Liebenberg vs. Campbell Seasoned pro Liebenberg shows he is far from finished as he outclasses and stops a brave but inexperienced Campbell. It was clear from the first round how this fight was going to develop. Campbell seemed tentative but not Liebenberg who was targeting Campbell’s body. Campbell tried to smother Liebenberg’s attacks by clinching to survive and was deducted a point for holding. Heads were colliding frequently and Campbell was cut over the left eye in the second and put down later in the round. Liebenberg continued to dominate the fight in the fourth and Campbell was now also showing damage around his right eye. He survived a doctor’s examination in the fifth and displayed plenty of guts by continuing to try to take the fight to Liebenberg. Heads were still banging together and both fighters were deducted a point for a butt Liebenberg in the sixth and Campbell in the seventh. Campbell had to soak up more punishment in the seventh and was under fire in the eighth when the referee stopped the fight. Liebenberg, 37, took possession of three titles from Campbell lifting the South African, IBO All-African and WBA Pan African belts. Experience triumphed here. Liebenberg had lost a big fight he was winning when stopped on cuts against Vincent Feigenbutz so it was good to see this one go his way. In a lovely gesture he had pledged to donate his purse to a childs welfare charity. Campbell just was not ready with this fight against Liebenberg just being a step too far and now he needs to regroup Ngebinyana vs. Malajika A bit of an upset here as Ngebinyana takes split verdict over prospect Malajika. Southpaw Ngebinyana scored a knockdown with a body punch late in the opening round and built on that. Malajika has plenty of style but he did not help his cause by switching guards continually in some ways breaking his own rhythm. Ngebinyana was a worthy winner. Scores 77-74 twice for South African super flyweight champion Ngebinyana and 77-74 for Malajika. Lamati vs. Hassan First fight for 20 months for talented Lamati who easily decisions diminutive Tanzanian Hassan. The visitor had little chance against much more skilled Lamati and it did not help Hassan’s chances when Lamati’s punches caused a huge bruise over the Tanzanian’s left eye. Scores 80-72 twice and 80-73 for Lamati. A former undefeated South African super bantamweight champion he is rated No 5 by the WBC so will be hoping to work his way to a title fight. Hassan had lost to Lamati in 2018 when a shoulder injury forced him to concede defeat. Santa’Elia Fiumerapido, Italy: Heavy: Ivan D’Adamo (7-1-1,1ND) W TKO 8Heavy: Eduardo Giustini (7-2). Age proves no barrier as D’Adamo wins the vacant Italian title by halting Giustini in eight rounds. The 40-year-old neighbourhood boxer was in charge from the outset. He was able to use his longer reach to outscore southpaw Giustini. Much as he tried Giustini could not get past D’Adamo’s jab and he was badly rocked by a right late in the fifth. Giustini fought back hard but was put down by a right in the seventh. Again Giustini fought hard in the eighth until another right had him in a daze and the referee gave him a standing count. It was clear Giustini had not recovered at the end of the count and the referee stopped the fight. Five wins in a row for D’Adamo who did not turn pro until he was 37. Giustini had a run of five wins going into this title fight. Fight of the week (Significance): Estrada’s win over Gonzalez might lead to a third fight which would be another big plus for the sport Fight of the week (Entertainment): Estrada vs. Gonzalez a classic. Honourable mention to Damian Rojas vs. Walter Leiva Fighter of the week: He may have lost the decision but Gonzalez gets my vote. Punch of the week: Brandun Lee’s left hook that finished Samuel Teak was a smasher Upset of the week: Faris Chevalier out of the ring for five years beating the WBA No 3 Blake Caparello was not on the cards. Prospect watch: Dominican Republic’s super featherweight Edwin de los Santos 9-0 impressed. Observations RIP Marvin Hagler one of the greatest. It doesn’t pay to look away when Brandun Lee or Brian Norman are fighting. Lee has scored 12 first round wins in 23 fights and Norman 11 in 20 so both over 50% Spare a though for Malawian cruiserweight Mussa Ajibu he has now lost his last 10 fights, 9 by KO/TKO and been thrown in with opponents such as Olan Durodola, Max Vlasov and Ilunga Makabu. He needs a new job or a new manager. Plenty of boxers looking to get back in action. On the weekend of 6/7 March there were two shows in Ghana with one having 14 schedule fights and the other 16 and on Friday in the Dominican Republic there were ten contests. Have pity on me. If I ever harboured any thought of becoming a fight commentator they have long since disappeared. I mean how could I handle the IBF No 1 welterweight Qudratillo Xabibullo Ogli Abduqaxorov (Kudratillo Abdukakhorov). By - George Delis (@Delisketo)
Middleweight: -Ryota Murata (16-2): WBA World champion Murata and his 2012 Olympic finals rival Esquiva Falcao (28-0) might finally meet again later this year. Super Welterweight: -Takeshi Inoue (17-1): WBO #7 Inoue ended 2020 with 1 defense of his WBO Asia Pacific title. Welterweight: -Keita Obara (23-4): IBF #6 Obara will defend his Japanese strap against Shoki Sakai (25-11) on April 8. -Yuki Beppu (21-1): WBO #11 The WBO Asia Pacific champion Beppu will face the OPBF title holder Ryota Toyoshima (13-2) on May 6 in a unification match. Super Lightweight: -Andy Hiraoka (17-0): IBF #12 Hiraoka picked up an easy win over Fumisuke Kimura (9-7) last week in Japan. Lightweight: -Shuichiro Yoshino (13-0): WBO #8 / WBA #12 / WBC #13 / IBF #15 Yoshino defended his Japanese, OBPF & WBO Asia Pacific belts against Valentine Hosokawa (25-8) this past September. His next fight will most likely be in spring. The unbeaten Hironori Mishiro (10-0) is said to be the challenger. -Masayoshi Nakatani (19-1): WBO #5 / WBC #7 / IBF #10 Nakatani shocked everyone when he knocked out Felix Verdejo (27-2), after being dropped himself twice, to become the WBO Intercontinental champion. There are talks about him facing Vasyl Lomachenko (14-2) next. Super Featherweight: -Kenichi Ogawa (25-1): IBF #3 / WBA #5 / WBO #6 A fight between Ogawa and Shavkat Rakhimov (15-0) for the vacant IBF championship is currently under negotiations. -Kosuke Saka (21-5): WBO #11 Saka successfully defended his Japanese title against the veteran Takuya Watanabe (37-10) on January 22nd. Featherweight: -Tomoki Kameda (36-3): WBA #12 The former WBO Bantamweight & interim WBC Super Bantamweight champion is planning his Featherweight debut. -Musashi Mori (12-0): WBO #4 Mori will put his WBO Asia Pacific crown on the line, in a double title fight, against Olympic medalist and OPBF champion Satoshi Shimizu (9-1) on May 13th. - Hinata Maruta (11-1): WBC #10 Maruta stopped Ryo Sagawa (10-2) on February 11th, capturing the Japanese title in the process. -Ryo Matsumoto (24-3): IBF #14 The former world title challenger was scheduled to take on Takashi Igarashi (13-5) but the fight didn’t materialize (Ed's note - Igarashi suffered an injury in the build up to the fight). -Reiya Abe (20-3): IBF #11 Abe ruined Ren Sasaki’s (10-1) perfect record this past October. (Ed's note - Abe is scheduled to return in April against Koshin Takeshima) Super Bantamweight: -Ryosuke Iwasa (27-3): interim IBF World champion Iwasa challenges the WBA/IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (8-0) on April 3rd. -Hiroaki Teshigawara (22-2): IBF #3 / WBC #4 / WBO #12 Teshigawara has defended his OPBF championship 4 times overall, all knockouts. -Ryo Akaho (36-2): WBO #11 / IBF #15 Akaho is aiming to put himself back in world title contention this year. Bantamweight -Naoya Inoue (20-0): WBA (Super) & IBF World champion The Monster dispatched Jason Moloney (21-2) last October. His next title defense could be against mandatory IBF contender Michael Dasmarinas (30-2). -Daigo Higa (17-1): WBO #7 / WBA #8 / WBC #12 / IBF #13 Higa scored his 17th knockout on New Year’s Eve. -Takuma Inoue (14-1): WBC #5 / WBO #6 / IBF #9 / WBA #10 Takuma managed to defeat Keita Kurihara (15-6) on January 14th, for the OPBF title. Super Flyweight: -Kazuto Ioka (26-2): WBO World champion Ioka gave the 3 division world champion Kosei Tanaka (15-1) his first professional loss, knocking him down twice before the referee stopped the match in the 8th round. -Ryoji Fukunaga (13-4): IBF #9 / WBC #13 / WBO #14 Fukunaga unified the Japanese, OPBF & WBO Asia Pacific titles last December. -Sho Ishida (29-2): IBF #10 / WBA #13 Ishida beat Toshiya Ishii (3-1) in November. -Kosei Tanaka (15-1): WBO #6 / WBC #6 Tanaka tasted defeat for the 1st time at the hands of Kazuto Ioka. Flyweight: -Junto Nakatani (21-0): WBO World champion. Nakatani is aiming to defend his WBO title soon. His dream opponent is Kosei Tanaka. -Ryota Yamauchi (7-1): WBA #2 / IBF #10 / WBO #10 Yamauchi became the WBO Asia Pacific champion last August. Light Flyweight: -Hiroto Kyoguchi (14-0): WBA (Super) World champion. Kyoguchi defended his belt for the 3rd time on Match 13 against Axel Aragon Vega (14-4). -Kenshiro Teraji (17-0): WBC World champion. Kenshiro’s next defense will take place on April 24 against the WBC #1 contender Tetsuya Hisada (34-10). -Katsunari Takayama (32-8): WBA #5 The former king of the Strawweights made a successful Light Flyweight debut against 2x world title challenger Reiya Konishi (17-3) on December 27th. -Kenichi Horikawa (41-16): WBC #5 / IBF #6 / WBO #12 / WBA #13 The 41 year old scored the upset over rising star Daiki Tomita (15-2). -Masamichi Yabuki (12-3): WBC #2 / WBA #7 / IBF #8 / WBO #10 Yabuki marked his inaugural defense of the Japanese title against Toshimasa Ouchi (22-10). -Riku Kano (17-4): WBO #5 / IBF #11 Kano became the WBO Asia Pacific champion last November. Strawweight: -Ginjiro Shigeoka (5-0): WBA #10 / WBC #10 / WBO #11 / IBF #12 Shigeoka‘s comeback fight is expected to take place soon. -Masataka Taniguchi (13-3): WBO #1 / IBF #14 Taniguchi captured the Japanese title a few months ago. -Tsubasa Koura (15-1): IBF #7 / WBC #8 / WBO #11 Koura hasn’t competed for over a year. -Norihito Tanaka (20-8): WBC #11 / WBA #15 / WBO #15 / IBF #15 Tanaka beat Yuni Takada (8-6) this past November. The WBA "interim" world titles are, rightfully, much maligned by the boxing world. The reality is the sport doesn't need them, or at least it rarely needs them. Whilst the title is essentially worthless, given the WBA's propensity for handing out titles like candy on Halloween, it has lead to some great fights over the years. Today we look at one of really great WBA "interim" title bouts from 2005. The bout pit unbeaten fighters from Thailand and Panama and they delivered a really great fight. The fight Poonsawat Krantindaenggym (22-0, 15) VS Ricardo Cordoba (25-0, 17) In one corner was Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym, a 24 year old boxer-puncher who had turned in 2001 and had been busy since making his debut. He had picked up the PABA Bantamweight title in just his 4th professional bout and had added the WBA Fedelatin title to his collection, whilst climbing through the WBA world rankings. His competition to this point hadn't been great, but he had been dominating opponents, and making a name for himself on the regional scene and was regarded as a genuine prospect. In August 2005 he finally got a big as he took on Ricardo Cordoba. At this point the 21 year old Ricardo Cordoba was thrilling fans of the Panamanian scene. He'd made his debut as a teenager, in September 2000, and had scored wins that, now on reflection, were good wins over Roinet Caballero, William Gonzalez, Carlos Meza and, most notably, Celestino Caballero. Whilst his wins have aged well with time, and weren't that impressive at the time, it's hard to ignore that coming into this bout he was impressing time and time again back home in Panama. He was unbeaten, heavy handed, exciting, tough and looked like a future champion in the making. He was lacking in terms of polish but certainly looked like a danger man coming through the ranks and was now getting his chance to shine on international soil. The opening round saw the two men figuring each other. Poonsawat was coming forward whilst the Panamanian southpaw was boxing well on the backfoot. As the rounds went on however the two men seemed to figure each other out and began to up the tempo, moving through the gears. Through round 2 we were starting to get a really exciting tactical war, with aggression from both men, heavy shots flying back and forth and yet everything was technically solid from both guys. Whilst neither will go down as a defensive genius they were both technically solid and aggressive making for some really good action. By round 3 we were getting an all out war. Both men seemed to feel their power and strength would be the difference, but had to keep things honest, knowing the other could land a hurtful shot if they made a mistake. Inside, outside, both were showing great variation in a high tempo bout that everything. The title they might have been fighting for was relatively pointless, but they were fighting as if it was the most important bout either man would ever have. They were both being genuinely tested, and both were coming up with answers. We won't ruin much of the bout, but we will say that this was legitimately one of the best bouts from 2005, and had everything. It wasn't really in many people's discussion for Fight of the Year, but in reality it should have made the short list as it had everything. Just unfortunately is was the same year as Corrales Vs Castillo I, and lets be honest no other bout was in the conversation as the end of the year. The fact both of these guys went on to have notable careers, in fact both went on to win the WBA Super Bantamweight title, gives a sign of the talent of both fighters. This was great, and is very much a forgotten classic. There's not a load of knockdowns, but there is skills, drama and excitement. |
FeaturesWhen we have some free time we're hoping to add a series of fun articles to the site. Hopefully these will be enjoyable little short features Archives
March 2022
Categories
All
|