The final Saturday of March gives us a number of really good bouts, both in Asia with an ALA show and around the globe with interesting bouts in Mexico, the US and the UK. In the UK, where we get the first of the big international bouts, fans will get the chance to see the unbeaten Kell Brook (32-0, 22) defend his IBF Welterweight title for the first time and make his first return to the ring following his stabbing last year. The talented Brit, dubbed “The Special One”, will taking on mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan (34-2, 18). The match up is a mandatory but still a good test for Brook, especially given the stabbing incident. If Brook is the same fighter he was when he won the title then he wins this easily, if he's not the same movement then he may well be dragged into a very tough contest. Another bout on this card worth noting is a Middleweight bout between the promising Adam Etches (18-0, 15) and the always testing Sergey Khomitsky (29-11-3, 12). Etches is a fantastic prospect but this is his first real gut check and it's a fantastic time to find out if he's as good as hopes. An interesting Flyweight bout will see the touted Khalid “Kal” Yafai (13-0, 9) put his unbeaten record on the line against Cristofer Rosales (10-1, 7). Yafai is dropping to Flyweight for the first time and although talented he looks like he'll need a lot more seasoning before being ready for a title fight in boxing's toughest division. A bout with relevance to Asian fight fans comes at Super Featherweight where the world ranked Stephen Smith (20-1, 12) battles Jacek Wylezol (11-8, 6) in a stay busy fight. We want to see Smith testing himself against the best in the world, such as Takashi Miura or Takashi Uchiyama, but bouts like this really do leave us wondering what Smith and his team are playing at. In the US fans will see a number of notable bouts, the most notable of which is a WBC Featherweight title bout which sees monster puncher Jhonny Gonzalez (57-8, 48) defending his title against once touted American Gary Russell Jr (25-1, 14). Russell Jr is getting his second shot at a world title, after being beaten by Vasyl Lomachenko last year, whilst Gonzalez looks to record the 3rd defence of the title he won back in 2013 with an upset win against the then unbeaten Abner Mares. Really interesting fight and one we've seen opinions being split on. In an excellent co-feature bout fans will see the talented Jermell Charlo (25-0, 11) battle against Vanes Martirosyan (35-1-1, 21). The fighters involved in this bout should have styles that make for an interesting fight, though we're unsure how exciting it will end up being. Both are talented fighters and both are in the hunt for a Light Middleweight title fight later in the year so both will fight for the win. Jermell's twin brother Jermall Charlo (26-0, 16) will also be inaction on this card as he takes on Michael Finney (12-2-1, 10), who has gone 0-2-1 in his last 3 bouts. Although Finney is a good test for prospects we do think Charlo, both of them in fact, have progressed to contender status and this should be a mismatch in the ring. In Mexico the bout of interesting will see the heavy handed Miguel Berchelt (24-1, 21) fighting against Rene Gonzalez (31-7-1, 23) in a potentially explosive clash between two men who can be hurt and can do the hurting. Neither man afford a loss here and both know that they will have to perform at their best is they are to remain relevant in the under-rated Super Featherweight division. The division looks set to change a lot in the coming 12 months and the loser here will unfortunately miss out on any coming opportunities. The winner however will find themselves put forward as a serious contender later in the year. (Image courtey of www.notifght.com)
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This Friday isn't a busy day in global boxing but there is a few notable fights taking place around the planet.
The most notable bouts are taking place in Panama where we see the next chapter in the Shannon Briggs (57-6-1, 50) story as he battles Hungarian journeyman Zoltan Petranyi (51-21, 16) in what appears likely to be a mismatch. Petranyi is one of the best in Hungary but really doesn't belong in the ring with someone like Briggs, especially not if Briggs is wanting to be taken seriously as a possible contender. Staying in Panama fans will get the chance to see WBC female Featherweight champion Jelena Mrdjenovich (34-9-1, 18) defending her title against Colombia challenger Francia Elena Bravo (19-4-2, 9) in what appears to be a stay busy defence for the brilliant Canadian champion. For British fans they have a wonder British and Commonwealth title bout to look forward to as Cruiserweight champion Ovill McKenzie (23-12, 12) takes on Matty Askin (17-2, 10). On paper it looks like a mismatch but in reality it should be a really interesting match up and McKenzie is much better than his record indicates. The winner here may find themselves being given a world title fight if they are lucky, though as a stand alone bout this may be the best of the day. This coming Thursday sees ESPN running a rare “Friday Night fights...on Thursday” with a couple of interesting match ups. We won't pretend the card is something special but there are two bouts that have genuinely caught our eye.
One of those bouts will feature former IBF Super Featherweight champion Rances Barthelemy (21-0-0-1, 12) who dips his toes at Light Welterweight as he takes on the limited Angino Perez (18-6, 16). The unbeaten Cuban vacated his world title a few months ago following struggles to make the Super Featherweight limit though we're unsure if his future lies at 135 or 140. As for this bout it seems that it's going to be little more than a rust shaking fight against Perez, a very lanky Lightweight who has been stopped 4 times and lost every time he's faced anyone even semi-notable. The other bout, a more attractive bout in fact, will see the unbeaten and heavy handed Fredrick Lawson (23-0, 20) takes on Colombian slugger Breidis Prescott (27-6, 20). This is likely to be explosive and both will know that a win will really their career. For Lawson it's a chance to get a career best victory whilst Prescott needs a win to remain relevant following 4 losses in his last 7 bouts. Both men have thunderous power and both are likely to expect a KO here however Lawson does look to be the much more technically capable fighter coming into the bout. One thing is for sure, we're very excited about this one. March 20
Indio, CA, USA: Welter: Alfonso Gomez (25-6-2) W PTS 10 Yoshihiro Kamegai (25-3-1). Feather: Ronnie Rios (24-1) W PTS 10 Sergio Frias (16-5-2). Light: Jamie Kavanagh ( 18-1-1) W TKO 5 Miguel Zamudio (32-7-1). Feather: Abraham Lopez (17-0-1) DREW 8 Juan Carlos Martinez (20-16-1). Super Middle: Jason Quigley (5-0) W TKO 2 Tolutomi Agunbiade (2-3). Gomez vs. Kamegai Gomez gets important win over tough Kamegai. It was an important fight for both contestants. Gomez had to prove he had put his injuries behind him and get active again and Kamegai was looking to build on an exciting if losing effort against Roberto Guerrero. It was the boxing skills of Gomez that triumphed here. Kamegai was looking to turn this into a slugging match but Gomez fooled him by boxing a clever, strategic fight. The first three rounds went to Gomez as he used a strong jab and quick combinations to counter the charging Kamegai. Gomez suffered a set-back in the fourth when he lost a point for a butt. Slowly Kamegai was closing the distance and forcing Gomez to trade inside more but even inside the Mexican was doing the better work and piling up the points. Gomez did enough take the fifth and sixth , but Kamegai was finally landing good punches particularly hooks to the body in the seventh. They continued to trade in the eighth with Gomez seeming to tire. The Mexican dug down and found another gear and even though still standing in the pocket and trading he did enough to ensure he came out a clear winner although the fights was tougher than it looked on the cards. Scores 98-91 for Gomez from all three judges. Mexican Gomez 34 was a competitor in the first “Contender” series and went on to challenge Miguel Cotto for the WBA welter title in 208 and Saul Alvarez for the WB super welter title in 2011. His only fight in 2012 saw him lose to Shawn Porter and was inactive in 2013. He returned to the ring in July 2014 with a win over Ed Paredes so this was only his second fight in almost three years. He showed that he is back and dangerous Kamegai had a great fight with Guerrero in June and beat Oscar Godoy in Las Vegas in December but this loss is a big set-back. Rios vs. Frias Rios could not afford another loss so he made no mistakes here and overcame a bad first round to win comfortably. In the first Rios looked to have been rocked by a left but shook it off to start to dominate from the second. He was sharper and more accurate and forcing Frias onto the back foot with a string of jabs and rights. He kept the pressure on and despite getting caught with some good shots in the seventh he was back in the grove in the eighth and coasted through the last round. Scores 99-91 twice and 98-92. First fight for the 25-year-old Californian since being floored and losing in five rounds against Robinson Castellanos in October. He had been really climbing before that defeat having beaten Rico Ramos, Leonilo Miranda and Andrew Cancio but the Castellanos loss sent him tumbling out of the ratings. Kavanagh vs. Zamudio Despite a long lay-off Kavanagh was quicker getting his punches off first and scoring with good rights to the body with Zamudio not using his reach advantages and ending the round with a lump under his left eye. Zamudio increased his aggression in the second round going to Kavanagh’s body with the Irish fighter under pressure but firing back. A clash of heads saw Kavanagh suffer a cut up on his hairline and another over his left eye. At the end of the round Kavanagh landed a good left hook to the body and Zamudio countered with a right to Kavanagh’s body and Kavanagh fell back to the canvas. He was up immediately as the bell went. In the third Zamudio was again taking the fight to Kavanagh but the Irishman was boxing well on the back foot and was more accurate. He was also slotting home jabs and rocked Zamudio with a thumping right. Zamudio’s defence was falling apart as he strove to turn the fight around in the fourth with body punches but Kavanagh was stopping him in his tracks with a stiff jab and thumping home hooks to the body The fifth was painful for Zamudio as Kavanagh could not miss the Mexican with his powerful jab and Zamudio was just walking onto some clubbing rights to the head. At the end of the round the doctor examined Zamudio in his corner and advised that the fight be stopped. The 24-year-old “Nuisance” makes it 9 wins by KO/TKO. He was unbeaten in 16 fights before losing to Daniel Ruiz in December 2013. The former World Junior Championships silver medal winner had two wins in 2014. He was impressive here but sometimes mixed it a little too much. Zamudio, 23, was 3-3 in his last 6 fights going in but the losses were to very good opposition in Saul Rodriguez, Sharif Bogere and Will Tomlinson. Lopez vs. Martinez Minor setback for Lopez as he is held to a draw by experienced Martinez. Sheer aggression helped Martinez take the lead over the first two rounds as he rumbled forward scoring with heavy rights. Lopez finally settled down from the third round and boxing at a distance used his superior skills to overcome the early lead of Martinez and edge ahead. Martinez would not be denied and he came on strong again over the late rounds to close the gap and get a well-earned draw. Scores 76-76 twice and 77-75 for Lopez. The slow start from Lopez was not surprising as this was his first fight since March 2012 and could also explain his slump over the closing rounds. Martinez, 33, had his best win when he outpointed Bernabe Concepcion in 2011 but he subsequently lost to Mikey Garcia, Edner Cherry (a majority decision) and in his last fight in August to Jose Pedraza Quigley vs. Agunbiade Can’t miss prospect Quigley blows away Agunbiade inside two rounds. Quigley took the first round to see what was in front of him and then ended it quickly in the second. The tigerish young Irishman drove Agunbiade along the ropes with a volley of punches to head and body and the referee jumped in to save the out-gunned Agunbiade. Five wins by KO/TKO for Quigley acquired in less than eight rounds in total. The 23-year-old from Ballybofey won gold medals at the European Youth, European Under-23 and European Senior Championships and took a silver medal at the World Championships. He can box and has real power. Texan Agunbiade has lost his last 3 fights so no kind of test. Windhoek, Namibia: Malcolm Klassen (29-6-2) W PTS 12 Paulus Moses (35-3). Julius Indongo (17-0) W PTS 12 Ibrahimu Class (12-2). Super Bantam: Immanuel Naidjala (20-2-1) W KO 3 John Masamba (1-4). Super Welter: Bethuel Ushona (33-3-1) W PTS 8 Boitshepo Mandawe (14-6). Fly: Jafet Utoni (9-1) W PTS 10 Sibusiso Twani (12-7-1). Light: Martin Haikali (17-6)) W PTS 10 Nkosinathi Ntsangase (9-7-1). Middle: Walter: Kuutondokwa (7-0) W TKO 4 Charles Masanjo (4-6). Cruiser: Vikapito Meroro (28-4) W TKO 1 Omour Mzungu (?? ). Klassen vs. Moses “Stone” Klassen hands former WBA secondary title holder Moses as real set back. This was a stirring toe-to-toe scrap between two fighters used to fighting at the highest level. Klassen had a great start as he had Moses in deep trouble in the first. The Namibian “Hitman” hit back in the third by flooring Klassen. The pace continued hot with Moses scoring with some heavy shots only for Klassen to find a left hook to put the Namibian down in the sixth. Klassen found another gear and stepped up the pace building a solid lead and despite a ferocious effort by Moses over the last two rounds Klassen was a clear winner. Scores 116-110, 115-110 and 113-112. The 33-year-old former IBF super feather champion wins the vacant WBO International title. He had dropped out of the ratings after a points loss to Will Tomlinson in 2013 but with Moses rated No 3 lightweight by the WBO he is back in the picture. At 36 Moses is getting close to the last chance saloon but there is no hint of retirement. Indongo vs. Class “Blue Machine” Indongo, 32, has to climb off the canvas to win this one. Tanzanian Class is not a noted puncher so it was a major shock when he floored Indongo in the first. Indongo was up quickly and after taking the eight count he took control with his southpaw jab to box on the outside. He out boxed Class most of the way although the Tanzanian remained dangerous until the last. Scores 116-111 from all three judges. Indongo wins the vacant WBO African title but has been very carefully protected to avoid any risky fights, but at 32 can he afford that slow a build? Class, 24, the UBO African champion had won his last 12 fights against undemanding opposition at home. Naidjala vs. Masamba “Prince” Naidjala failed to make the bantam limit for this one but he did not really need the help of any weight advantage against very moderate opposition. Naidjala had the poor Malawian down in the first round and finished the job in the third with a right uppercut to the body with Masamba unable to get up. Now 13 wins by KO/TKO for Naidjala. He was unbeaten in his first 18 fights before losing on points to Tomoki Kameda for the WBO bantam title in 2013. He won a couple of domestic level fights but suffered a loss last December when he was outpointed by South African Gideon Buthelezi for the WBO African title. This was a too easy a return to winning ways. Masamba, 33, was having his first fight for almost three years making this a very bad bit of matching. Ushona vs. Mandawe The “unstoppable” Ushona nearly wasn’t. South African Mandawe was throwing big punches from the off and one had to land sometime. It did in the third an Ushona had to climb off the floor and get back into the fight. It was close on points to the half way mark and then Ushona pulled away using a higher work rate and quick combinations to take the deserved decision. Scores 77-74 twice and 78-74. The 33-year-old “Tyson” is rebuilding after a shock eighth round stoppage loss against Dario Pucheta in October. “Gangster” Mandawe, the South African No 9 has failed in three shots at winning a national title but in one of those attempts he took world rated Chris van Heerlen to a split decision. Utoni vs. Twani Utoni wins unanimous decision over South African southpaw Twani. It was a tough fight with Utoni flooring Twani with a body punch in the first. Twani complained that is was a low punch but it counted. In the third a body punch put Twani down again. This time it was low and Utoni was deducted a point. Both fighters had good spells but Utoni was forcing the pace and won the unanimous decision. Scores 97-91, 96-92 and 95-93.The 35-year-old Namibian “Lion” was a former top amateur. He was African Champion, won gold and silver medals at the Commonwealth Games competed at the 2008 Olympics and won a bronze medal at the World Military Championships. He has reversed his only pro loss but it is a great pity he left it so late to go pro. Twani, the South African No 5 minimum is a former national title challenger and last time out lost to Luyanda Nkwanka for the vacant WBFed title. Haikali vs. Ntsangase Haikali takes unanimous decision over lower level opponent Ntsangase. Haikali, a former Namibian and current WBO African champion won on scores of 97-93 twice and 98-92. He has now won 7 of his last 8 fights. South African Ntsangase has lost 5 of his last 6. Kuutondokwa vs. Masanjo New kayo merchant Kuutondokwa gets another quick win. The Namibian banger has won 6 of his 7 fights by KO/TKO and had won each of his last 4 fights inside the first round. It will need better opposition before he can really be assessed. Malawian Masanjo is 20-5 in his last 7 fights with all 7 fights ending by KO/TKO. Meroro vs. Mzungu Luckily this piece of rubbish matching did not last long as WBO No 4 cruiser Meroro stops unknown Tanzanian Mzungu in the first round. The first meaningful punch Meroro threw saw Mzungu go down. He got up but indicated he wanted no more and the fight was stopped. What a world rated fighter is doing fighting an unknown fighter with no traceable record only the promoter and the local Board know. Flemington, Australia: Super Light: Mike Katsidis (31-7) W PTS 6 Rodynie Rafol (12-6-2). Katsidis returns with a low profile win. In his first fight since losing to John Coyle in October the former interim WBO champion made a slow start and gave Filipino Rafol a chance to establish a lead over the first two rounds. Katsidis finally got going and edged the next three rounds and did enough to take the decision. Scores 58-56 twice and 59-55 for Katsidis. He is now 3-5 in his last eight fights and at 34 it is difficult to see how he can get back to world title level. Filipino Rafol is not rated by the GAB and is 4-5 in his last 9 fights. Douai, France: Light Heavy: Tomasz Adamek (22-10-2) W PTS 10 Mohamed Merah (12-3-3) . Super Light: Marco Siciliano (11-3) W PTS 10 Farid Chebabha (16-3-4) . Adamek vs. Merah A bad night for the clients of the Douai Boxing Club as local favourites lose in title matches. Czech “Jumbo” Adamek is a good European level fighter started well and finished strongly to earn the unanimous decision on scores of 98-92 twice and 96-94 and lifts Merah’s WBFed International title. A clear win but the two wide scores did not reflect the effort put in by Merah. The 34-year-old Adamek had a bad spell in 2012/2013 as he went 2-5-1 but in there was a draw with Dustin Dirks (27-1) and a narrow decision loss to unbeaten German prospect Enrico Koelling. He then took eleven months off before returning with a low level victory in November. Hometown fighter Merah,27, had given his career a boost with a run of 13wins and a draw but in December was halted in two rounds by Dominic Boesel. He is FFB No 3. Siciliano vs. Chebabha Italian Siciliano climbs off the floor to beat Chebabha on a split decision and relieves the local fighter of his WBFed International title. Chebabha not a noted puncher by any means floored Siciliano in the second round and built a lead. However Siciliano came on late and just did enough to get his nose in front . Scores 95-94 twice for Siciliano and 95-94 for Chebabha. The 34-year-old Siciliano a former Italian title challenger has won 4 of his last 5 fights and is No 7 in the unofficial Italian ratings. Chebabha was making the second defence of his title and coming in was on a run of 13 wins and 3 draws. Mexico City, Mexico: Bantam: Alejandro Hernandez (29-11-2) W PTS 10 Martin Casillas 15-5). Hernandez gets routine win over Casillas. The “Little Clown” controlled the fight with a sharp jab which Casillas never really found a way past. Hernandez was quicker and fired off fast combinations with Casillas having to feed off slim openings, just enough to make him competitive but never to change the outcome. Hernandez was varying his work from head to body and Casillas had to soak up a lot of punishment but was still there at the final bell. Scores 97-93 twice and 98-93. The 28-year-old Hernandez wins the vacant WBC Latino title and will be to aiming to get back into the ratings and land another title shot. In the past he has lost to Omar Narvaez for the WBO fly title, drawn with Marvin Sonsona when the Filipino lost his WBO super fly title on the scales and after good wins over Marvin Mabait (19-1-2) and Daniel Rosas (17-1-1) lost a split decision to Tomoki Kameda for the WBO bantam title. Fourth time lucky ? Three losses in his last four fight for Casillas as a promising career ebbs away. Bangkok, Thailand: Fly: Kongfah (20-0) W KO 3 Ricky Morales (4-1-1). Super Fly: Srisaket (33-4-1) W KO 3 Madit Sada (9-21-1). Kongfah vs. Morales No real match here as Kongfah just brushes aside Indonesian novice Morales. Although a southpaw Kongfah was throwing lead right for the first round with Morales doing so much ducking that he was warned four times. It was amusing but Morales was probably wearing some else’s protective cup and the fight was stopped twice so that he could adjust his “dress”. Morales clinched, ran, ducked and dived his way through the second. In the third the poor Indonesian was literally running around the ring trying to avoid Kongfah. Once again Morales held up his hand for a time out whilst he adjusted his protector. Finally Kongfah cornered him and land a series of body punches which put Morales down. He got up at eight but just shook his head and waived his surrender. Kongfah retains his WBC Youth title and makes it 12 wins by KO/TKO. I find it disgraceful that the WBC would allow their name to be associated with such an appalling mismatch Srisaket vs. Sada This one was a farce. Srisaket was about 10 levels above poor Sada. The Indonesian just went backwards around the perimeter of the ring throwing a few light jabs whilst Srisaket tried to cut off the ring. He failed to do it over the first two rounds as Sada almost bent himself in half dodging punches. Srisaket eventually hurt him with a right in the third and drove Sada into a corner. A left to the head and a right to the body put Sada down on his side and he stayed there for the full count. Disgraceful to see a former WBC champion and still No 2 in the ratings fight someone as inept as Sada. Seven losses in a row for Sada and his 9 wins all came against opposition who had never won a fight. Glendale, AZ, USA: Bantam: Alexis Santiago (18-3-1) W TKO 3 Antonio Tostado Garcia (15-5). The Phoenix “Beaver” halts Garcia in three. Santiago took his time over the first two rounds against the former WBO title contender. Garcia did a lot of spoiling and very little fighting. Santiago has been building a reputation with some good wins and when he went to work in the third it spelled trouble for Garcia. Santiago began to throw hard shots to head and body and Garcia found himself forced to trade. He was dropped in the middle of the round but Santiago was not going to let him off the hook. He chased Garcia down and battered the resistance out of him forcing the referee to stop the fight. Santiago wins the vacant WBO NABO title and makes it 8 wins by KO/TKO. He has won his last 7 fights including victories over Hanzel Martinez (20-1) and Alex Rangel (15-1-2). Mexican Garcia, 21, lost in four rounds to Omar Narvaez in a shot at the WBO super fly title in May and lost 2 of his next 3 fights by KO/TKO against good opposition. March 21 Rostock, Germany: Light Heavy: Juergen Braehmer (46-2) W RTD 9 Robin Krasniqi (46-4). Cruiser: Agron Dzila (22-1) W PTS 12 Bernard Adie (12-3). Super Middle: Vincent Feigenbutz (19-1) W TKO 9 Balazs Kelemen (22-1). Super Light: Anthony Yigit (13-0-1) W PTS 10 Timo Schwarzkopf (14-1). Heavy: Denis Boystov (36-1) W TKO 2 Irineu Beato Costa Junior (16-4). Super Middle: Stefan Haertel (5-0) W PTS 6 Volodymyr Borovsky (21-58-2). Braehmer vs. Krasniqi Braehmer retains the WBO title but in a war with brave challenger Krasniqi. A quiet first round saw Krasniqi mainly probing with his left jab and firing a couple of shots to the body. Braehmer was dancing on his toes and trying to draw the lead so that he could counter. In the second Braehmer landed a couple of straight southpaw lefts but Krasniqi got through with a straight right that knocked Braehmer into a corner. Later in the round a straight left to the jaw saw Krasniqi’s legs shake and Braehmer took him to the ropes but could not find another opening then but when they moved back to centre ring Braehmer again scored with straight lefts to take the round. There was less action in the third with Braehmer setting traps and Krasniqi boxing patiently. Braehmer scored with a good left but Krasniqi got through with a right uppercut and with a right cross as the round ended but Braehmer had probably shaded the round. Krasniqi was more confident in the fourth scoring with his jab and long rights to the body and took the round. The pattern was the same for much of the fifth with Krasniqi coming forward and scoring with straight lefts and rights to the body. Just after he had landed a good straight right he walked into one of Braehmer’s traps and was nailed with a chopping left. Once again his legs wobbled and he went backwards into the ropes with Braehmer following him but Krasniqi managed to wrestle and scoot backwards until the bell. Braehmer was on top in the sixth. Krasniqi was still coming forward but the counter that had nailed him in the fifth round made him more hesitant and Braehmer was letting his hands and scored with straight rights and left hooks. The seventh was the best round of the fight as war broke out. Krasniqi came out throwing punches from both hands and they stood and traded for the first time. Krasniqi scored with some thumping head shots and Braehmer countered with fast sharp combinations and some vicious lefts to the body they were both taking and giving. Krasniqi came out aggressively in the eighth looking to make the older man fight hard in an attempt to drain his stamina. With 30 seconds left in the round Braehmer suddenly landed two straight lefts which had Krasniqi staggering back across the ring. The champion cut loose but Krasniqi survived. The ninth was as dramatic as it gets. First Braehmer staggered Krasniqi and then Krasniqi landed three consecutive right cross and Braehmer’s legs wobbled. He recovered landed a straight right/left combination and Krasniqi staggered across the ring and fell into the ropes. Since the ropes were holding him up the referee applied a count. When the action continued Braehmer clattered into Krasniqi landing hook after hook and driving the challenger along the ropes until the bell. That was the end as that final onslaught had opened a gash on the right side of Krasniqi’s upper lip that was too serious for the Kosovan to continue. This was a very tough fourth defence for the 36-year-old Braehmer, harder than expected. He has not lost a fight since 2008 but he can’t stand too many of these wars. German-based Kosovan Krasniqi, 27, performed much better than expected and even as a loser his standing was increased. Dzila vs. Adie Macedonian Dzila wins the vacant Global Boxing Union title with hard-fought unanimous decision over Adie. Kenyan oldie Adie made a good start taking the fight to Dzila over the first two rounds. The fight turned in the third when Dzila floored Adie. The Kenyan beat the count and over the middle rounds these two stood toe-to-toe in exchanges. Adie was scoring well with uppercuts but with Dzila having the superior firepower and wobbling Adie on occasion. It was still a close fight but in the tenth Dzila scored another knockdown and Adie went into survival mode for the closing rounds. Scores 117-109, 117-110 and 116-110. The 26-year-old Swiss-based “Godzilla” Dzila has won his last 12 fights, 11 by KO/TKO but you won’t find any of his opponent in the top 50 in the division. Adie, 41, is 1-3 in fights outside Kenya. Feigenbutz vs. Kelemen Feigenbutz makes it 18 wins in a row but takes nine rounds to catch up with Hungarian Kelemen. The young German has such an impressive run of wins by KO/TKO that he is beginning to ignore the basics. Kelemen had height and reach over Feigenbutz and used them well. The Hungarian’s jab was not strong but it had great nuisance value as it found the target regularly and Feigenbutz was having trouble landing his much harder shots. Feigenbutz was waiting too long to get his shots off and was running out of time. He resolved that in the ninth shaking Kelemen badly with a hard combination that had Kelemen reeling and in deep trouble and the referee stopped the fight. The 19-year-old German has 18 wins by KO/TKO including 12 in a row now. He retains his WBO Inter-Continental title. “Balu” Kelemen, 36, the Hungarian champion was facing his first real test and although he boxed well he lacked the power to hold Feigenbutz off . Yigit vs. Schwarzkopf Yigit continues to progress and takes unanimous verdict over Schwarzkopf. The young Swedish southpaw used some slick moves, accuracy, hand speed and a higher work rate to win this one. Schwarzkopf just could not match Yigit for skill and was loading up on his punches and throwing them one at a time without finding the opportunities to land the big one. Schwarzkopf did finally have some success in the ninth when he rocked Yigit but the Swede was back on top in the last. Scores 97-93 twice and 96-93. The 23-year-old Yigit, twice a quarter finalist at the European Championships and a competitor in the World Championships and 2012 Olympics, is being sensibly and competitively matched with wins over Kasper Bruun (19-0-1) and Kim Poulsen (26-1) which shows the confidence his team has in him. Kosovan-born Schwarzkopf , 23, the EBU-European External champion has wins over Ismael El Massoudi and former WBC champion Junior Witter but he could not make his extra strength tell against the speed and skill of Yigit. Boystov vs. Junior Boystov gets a win as Brazilian pulls out claiming a hand injury. There was little action in the first round with Boystov coming forward jabbing and landing long rights to the body and the much taller Junior backing around the ring and prodding out jabs which always fell short. There was more action in the second with Boystov working his jab well and scoring with left hooks to the body and Junior lunging forward swinging wild punches with both hands. Late in the round Boystov landed two left hooks to the head and suddenly Junior was staggering back into the ropes. Boystov got home three or four sweeping shots but then the bell went. In his corner Junior was indicating a problem with his right hand and so the fight was waived off. Three wins for 29-year-old Boystov since disastrous defeat by Alex Leapai in 2013 which cost him a world title shot. He has lost his place in the world ratings and is No 8 with the EBU. Junior, 34, has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. He is tall with a long reach but has no concept of how to use those advantages. Haertel vs. Borovsky Another points win for German poster boy Haertel. The talented former top amateur is streets ahead of Kazak-born Ukrainian southpaw Borovsky in talent and works his way to a win with plenty of jabs and straight rights. Scores 60-54 twice and 60-52. The 27-year-old Olympian has great skills but seems to lack power as he is yet to win inside the distance as a pro. Poor Borovsky makes it 21 losses in a row. Milan, Italy: Super Light: Luca Giacon (27-1,1ND) W PTS 12 Steve Jamoye (16-1-1). Giacon wins the interim WBC Silver title with unanimous decision over gritty Belgian Jamoye. It looked as though this might be a tough night for the “Black Mamba” when Jamoye found the target early with some hard rights which had Giacon in some trouble. However the Spanish-born Giancon was the bigger puncher of the two and the danger sign was there when Giacon fired back in the second and had Jamoye hurt by a left to the body. Giacon is not just a banger he also has a fluid style to go with the power and that combination allowed him to build a lead against Jamoye. The Belgian showed a tough chin but was also being caught with body punches. The seventh proved a big round for Giacon as he ripped a left into Jamoye’s body. Jamoye was clearly hurt almost bending in half to get away from another shot but Giacon would not be denied and he scored again with a left to the body and Jamoye went down. He got up and made it to the bell. He showed great heart by fighting hard over the last five rounds, not going down again and in fact getting through with some shots that again tested Giacon’s chin. Giacon was a clear winner but this was a huge step up in the level of opposition for Jamoye and he came away with a lot of credit for his fighting spirit. Scores 119-109, 118-109 and 116-111.Giancon’s only loss was a second round stoppage against Emiliano Marsili for the vacant EBU title in 2013. This is his sixth win since then. Belgian Jamoye, 23, the younger brother of former European champion and WBC title challenger Stephane, can come again but a lack of punch power could be his undoing at the top level. Tallinn, Estonia: Middle: Artur Akavov (13-1) W TKO 9 David Makaradze (21-9-1). Heavy: Robert Helenius (20-0) W TKO 1 Andras Csomor (11-5-1). 6 Akavov vs. Makaradze Akavov retains his WBO European title with win over game Georgian Makaradze. The Russian southpaw was in control of this one but lacked the power to seriously shake the challenger. It looked as though Akavov was going to have to settle for a points victory. Both were cut but the cut over the right eye of Makaradze was worse and too bad for him to continue and the fight was stopped. Third defence of his WBO Europe title for 27-year-old Akavov who has won his last 7 fights and is a silly No 12 with the WBO. Makaradze, 35, was inactive from October 2013 until returning with a low level win in January. This is his second loss inside the distance. Helenius vs. Csomor This was more farce than fight. The 6’6 ½” (200cm) Helenius towered over the 5’11 ½” (182cm) Hungarian. Csomor tried to leap inside and was caught with a left hook. He backed off and then tried again. This time after being hit by the left hook he staggered back to the ropes and a combination from Helenius put him down. He was up and was allowed to continue after the eight count. The first steps he took showed his legs were unsteady and Helenius drove him to corner and thumped home a couple of shots and the referee stopped the fight after 62 seconds. The 31-year-old “Nordic Nightmare” (it looked like the guy who did his hair for this fight was the nightmare) makes his return after two years out due to a career threatening shoulder injury. He was right at the top of the ratings after wins over Samuel Peter, Siarhei Liakhovich and Dereck Chisora but it would have been dangerous for him to continue without getting the shoulder fixed. He had to be eased back but this was a waste of ring time. Csomor did not belong in the same ring. Colombelles, France: Welter: Maxime Beaussire (18-0-1) W PTS 8 Ludovic Duval (10-15-1). Beaussire gets wide unanimous decision over Duval. The young “Conqueror” simply outworked his older opponent just busy/busy. The light-punching Duval lacked the power to slow Beaussire down and although he never stopped trying he lost by a wide margin on all three cards. Scores 79-73 twice and 80-72. The 23-year-old Beaussire is mandatory challenger for the French title with Duval rated No 4. Duval 35 has won and lost in two fights with the French champion Denis Martin but unfortunately the win was in a non-title fight. Duval is FFB No 4. Every one of Duval’s 26 fights have gone the distance. Tapachula, Mexico: Super Feather: Emanuel Lopez (18-4-1) W TKO 9 Carlos Padilla (15-2-1). Minimum: Carlos Buitrago (28-1-1) W PTS 10 Mario Rodriguez (19-9-4). Super Bantam: Eduardo Ramirez (13-0-2,1ND) W PTS 9 Roman Morales (19-0). Welter: Alejandro Barrera ( 26-2) W PTS 9 Juan Macias Montiel (15-2-1). Lopez vs. Padilla Lopez wins the interim WBA title. The tactics were on show early as Lopez was trying to force his way inside and drag Padilla into a brawl and the Colombian was using his left jab to try to keep Lopez out. The local fighter was just rolling forward willing to take a bundle of counters from Padilla to work the body. Whenever Padilla could get some space he was scoring well to the body and very much in the fight over the first four rounds. In the fifth the Colombian’s work started to decrease as Lopez maintained his unrelenting pressure. By the sixth it was obviously not a question of who was going to win but of how long it would take Lopez to finish things off. Early in the seventh a clubbing right from Lopez had Padilla in deep water and Lopez landed hard punch after punch until another right put Padilla down. He got up, took the eight count and survived to the bell-just. In the eighth a body punch put Padilla down again. He somehow managed to get up but a barrage of punches had him helpless and the referee stopped the fight. The 25-year-old local has 7 wins by KO/TKO but how he and Padilla landed this title shots is a mystery to me. Padilla, 25, lost to Aristide Perez on points in May but somehow qualified for this title shot by a nothing win in his one fight since then. This is his first loss inside the distance Buitrago vs. Rodriguez One of these days Buitrago is going to get some luck in a world title fight but in the meantime he showcased his skills here with a points win over Rodriguez. He was scoring with hooks and crosses and trying to silence the local crowd. He certainly did that in the fourth. Rodriguez could not match the Nicaraguan for skill so he just kept rolling forward trying to walk through the punches and cut down Buitragto’s space. The crowd was urging Rodriguez on until he was nailed in the fourth by a combination that put him down. Rodriguez has not failed to last the distance in any fight since losing in two rounds in his first pro fight in 2005 so he was shocked and hurt. He got up and Buitrago was unloading with shot after shot and put him down for a second time. Again Rodriguez got up and again he was taking a shellacking sufficient for Julio Cesar Chavez who was working with the TV team to be calling for the fight to be stopped. Guts and chin got Rodriguez through the round. He was back in the fight in the sixth and was outscoring Buitrago in the seventh and eighth. The Nicaraguan kept his composure, edged the ninth and resisted a big effort by Rodriguez in the tenth. Scores 96.5-93, 96-93, 95.5-93 for Buitrago. The Nica wins the vacant WBA NABA title which positions him for a shot at Hekkie Budler. The 23-year-old “Chocorroncito” fought a split draw in a challenge to Merlito Sabillo for the Filipino’s WBO minimum title in Quezon City in November 2013 and lost by 115-113 from the three judges in a fight in Thailand with Thai CP Freshmart for the interim WBA title in October 2014 and arguably he would have won both fights at a neutral venue. He was being tipped as a future world champion from the age of 13 and endorsed by Alexis Arguello for that future honour. Maybe next time. “Little Dragon” Rodriguez 26, won the IBF title with a shock kayo of unbeaten Nkosinathi Joyi (22-0) in South Africa in 2012 but lost it to Katsunari Takayama in 2013. He has continued to fight good quality opposition losing to Pedro Guevara and Ganigan Lopez and outpointing Odilion Zaleta. Ramirez vs. Morales Morales was the slight favourite in this battle of unbeaten southpaw fighters but Ramirez came away with the unanimous verdict. There were some good exchanges over the first two rounds and then it heated up from the third. Ramirez was forcing the action using fast combinations with Morales showing good movement and countering. They continued to trade in the fourth and fifth with Ramirez having a slight edge. It was Morales on top in the sixth being quicker to let his hands go but also picking up warnings for low blows and a rabbit punch, but no deductions. Ramirez was the one catching the eye with counters in the seventh but in the eighth Ramirez was looking tired and Morales did the attacking. Knowing it was close they fought ferociously in the ninth and that round was as close as the fight. Scores 87-84,87-85 and 87-86 with the last looking the more accurate. Ramirez wins the vacant WBA Fedecentro title. His opposition has been a lower standard than that of Morales so this is a significant win for him. Morales, 23, “The Pride of San Andro” had been slowing moving up to ten rounds class in action in California so will go back there to rebuild. Barrera vs. Montiel Barrera uses his greater experience to get a split verdict over Montiel. Over the first two rounds Barrera was picking up the points with a sharp, accurate jabs and Montes was not letting his hands go. In the third and fourth the tables were turned with Montiel working on the outside and Barrera having only partial success when he could work the body. It got worse for Barrera in the fourth, fifth and sixth as Montiel was scoring with left hooks to the body and straight rights. It changed again over the seventh and eighth as Barrera was now walking down a tiring Montiel taking him to the ropes and scoring with strength sapping body punches. They both had success in the last with Barrera just finishing the stronger. Scores 89-84.5 and 87.5-85 for Barrera and 87.5-84.5 for Montiel although the fight looked closer to the ring action than any of those scores. Barrera won his first 20 fights before losing to Armando Robles (20-1-1) in 2012. He managed a good win over Gabriel Martinez but suffered a bad loss to Ramses Agaton in May last year. In August he bounced back with a win over local rival Abner Lopez. Now he is WBA Fedecentro champion so back on the road. Montiel, 20, had won his last 7 by KO/TKO but these 9 competitive rounds will be much more valuable. Tlalnepantla, Mexico: Super Light: Nery Saguilan (32-4-1) W PTS 10 Marcos Villasana Jr (15-6). Welter: Jose Lopez (24-3-1) W TKO 3 Ismael Urieta (4-2). Saguilan vs. Villasana I wonder how good Saguilan would be if he decided to become serious. His whole act is a crowd pleaser from his “Pantera” mask to his herky-jerky fighting style. He would be a handful for more experienced fighters than young Villasana so the son of the former WBC champion did well to keep his focus. Saguilan was fighting in spurts over the first two rounds but then got serious for a while after Villasana buzzed him with hard left. Saguilan then went to work using plenty of movement to create punching angles and scoring with hard punches to head and body from both hands. Luckily for Villasana Saguilan is a volume puncher rather than a knockout artist and he was never really in any danger and managed to pick up a couple of rounds using his advantages in height and reach. He was also fighting at a big disadvantage on weights as Saguilan was so far over the weight for their WBC USNBC light title fight that he made no attempt to get off the excess poundage and Villasana was under a big handicap. Scores 97-93 from all three judges The 27-year-old “Panther” is rated No 10 super feather by the WBC but that needs to be looked at if he can’t even make lightweight. Despite his talent Saguilan has made a habit of losing the important fights. Villasana is 4-5 in his last 9 fights and I fear that the name is the only thing he has inherited from dad. Lopez vs. Urieta Lopez ends this terrible match in three rounds. Urieta did well to get through the first two rounds but that was all he could manage. In the third “Piston” hammered home a left hook to the jaw which had Urieta staggering and after a few more head shots the referee halted the mismatch. The 24-year-old former WBFed champion has lost two big ones on points against Viktor Postol and Humberto Soto but is on a good run with 7 wins in a row. This is his 15th win by KO/TKO. Urieta, 20 had won his last 4 fights but just 4 and 6 round fights. Takapuna, New Zealand: Middle: Gunnar Jackson (20-5-3) W Nathan Carroll (10-3-1). Jackson retains the WBO Oriental title with majority verdict over Australian Carroll. Scores 97-95, 96-95 and 96-96. Second defence of his title for 28-year-old Jackson and he has now won 6 of his last 7 fights with the only loss being on points against Anthony Mundine when he came in as a late substitute. “King” Carroll, 32, was having his first fight since losing on points to Dennis Hogan in November 2013 so did well to run the home fighter so close. Managua, Nicaragua: Feather: Rene Alvarado (22-4) W TKO 3 Rafael Castillo (11-20-3,1ND2-5 1ND ). Fly: Guillermo Ortiz (13-7-3,1ND) W PTS 8 Juan Palacios (29-4-1,1ND). Alvarado vs. Castillo No knockdowns but Golden Boy fighter Alvarado has little trouble in dismissing Castillo. Alvarado waited out an early storm from Castillo and then hit back with body punches and left hooks. Castillo was hurt and only just got through the first round. Alvarado kept up the pressure in the second and in the third with Castillo soaking up punishment the referee stopped the fight. The 26-year-old “Twin” (his twin brother Felix is also a world class level pro) a former WBC Silver champion had lost a big fight to Rocky Juarez in 2014 and started 2015 badly by dropping a decision to Eric Hunter in January. He is hoping Golden Boy can get him big fights in 2015. Now 6 losses by KO/TKO for fellow-Nica Castillo. The show was promoted by Bufalo Boxing the company of the former WBA minimum and light fly champion Rosendo Alvarez. Ortiz vs. Palacios This loss could spell the end for former interim WBA and WBC minimumweight champion Palacios. To begin with Ortiz boxed cautiously showing too much respect to the former champion but when he realised how far down Palacios has slipped that combined with Palacios being in his first fight for almost three years soon had Ortiz taking command. Palacios found some of his old form over the late rounds but Ortiz had already done enough to capture the decision by then. Scores 78-74 twice and 77-75. A huge win for 21-year-old Nica Ortiz who had been 3-4-1 in his last eight fights going into this one and has never really been more than a 4-6-8 round fighter. This is a scalp that will get him more work. Palacios, 34, lost his WBA interim title on the scales in 2011 and although he came back with a win in 2012 he has shown a lack of discipline being grossly over the contract weight forcing the cancelation of a couple of proposed comeback fights. Brodnica, Poland: Super Light: Michal Syrowatka (12-0) W PTS 10 Felix Lora (18-14-5). Light Heavy: Dariusz Sek (22-2-1) W PTS 8 Yevgeni Makhteienko (4-3). Super Middle: Norbert Dabrowski (17-2) W PTS 8 Robert Talarek (10-10-2). Light Heavy: Michal Starbala (12-0) W PTS 6 Bart Grafka (11-16-1). Syrowatka vs. Lora Syrowatka gets by his first big test as he decisions the unpredictable Lora. It was the visitor who edged the first two rounds but in the third Syrowatka changed the whole complexion of the fight by putting the Dominican-born Lora down. It looked as though Syrowatka was going to get an early win but Lora used his considerable survival skills to make it to the bell. Syrowatka was trying to repeat that success but when he saw that Lora had fully recovered he went back to his boxing patiently working his openings which was letting Lora back into the fight. However, any chance Lora had of springing an upset disappeared in the eighth when Syrowatka worked an opening and landed a right putting Lora on the canvas for the second time. Again Lora got up and survived the round and the next two but Syrowatka was a clear and impressive winner. Scores 98-89, 97-91 and 96-92. Syrowatka, 27, wins the vacant Polish International title and is making good progress. Spanish-based Lora has lost his last 4 fights but against opponents with combined records of 46-1-1. On his good nights he has scored upset wins on the road over Krzys Cieslak (18-2),Serhiy Fedchenko (33-2) and Massimiliano Ballisai (15-0). Sek vs. Makhteienko Sek wins as he tries to put loss to Robin Krasniqi behind him. The former double Polish amateur champion won every round. He took on board the lessons from the Krasniqi fight showing a tighter defence and going to the body more. Over the last three rounds Makhteienko absorbed a steady beating as Sek looked to punctuate the performance with a kayo but the Pole has had to go the distance in 8 of his last 9 fights and it was the same here. Scores 80-72 from all three judges. Sek, the EBU No 5 has only suffered defeats at the hands of Robert Woge and Krasniqi, both where he was conceding home advantage and he will be looking for some big matches to get back in the mix. Dabrowski vs. Talarek Dabrowski just edges out Talarek by majority decision in this fight between former amateur team mates. After a quiet start Talarek came forward putting pressure on Dabrowski who had shown discomfort with those tactics in previous fights. Fortunately for Dabrowski Talarek was looking to land one big punch and not letting his hands go. This gave Dabrowski the chance to counter with some strong right hooks. Talarek had Dabrowski hurt with a right uppercut in the sixth but Dabrowski banged back to have the better of the last two rounds. Scores 79-73, 77-76 and 76-76. The 26-year-old Dabrowski won his first 13 fights but then his a bad spell losing 2 of 3. He has steadied the ship and this is his third win in a row. Talarek, 31, is 4-6 in his last 10 fights but 7 of them have been on the road and to his credit he has won 3 of those away from home fight. Starbala vs. Grafka Starbala remains unbeaten with a wide unanimous decision over fellow-Pole Grafka. Starbala was by far the better technical boxer and was impressive with his left hooks. However Grafka just kept coming constantly putting Starbala under pressure with the favourite forced to resort to clinching to smother Grafka’s attacks. Starbala was scoring with accurate counters but by the end was looking tired from the relentless attacks of Grafka. Scores 59-56 twice and 59-55 but this was tougher for Starbala than the scores show. Starbala is a talented fighter who as an amateur beat Brit Anthony Ogogo, was Polish national champion twice and competed at the World and European Championships but at 32 time is not on his side as he is only fighting six round bouts. Grafka is 2-8 in his last 10 fights but usually goes the distance. London, England: Super Welter: Mike Lomax (22-7-1) W TKO 7 Chas Symonds (18-9). Super Light: Ryan Taylor (10-3-1) W TKO 4 Danny Gunn (3-1). Cruiser: Tony Conquest (14-2) W PTS 6 Tomislav Rudan (2-3-1). Lomax vs. Symonds Lomax bows out with a win. The 36-year-old Londoner had to fight hard to overcome experienced Symonds. An even first round saw Lomax working his southpaw jab and Symonds countering with left hooks. Symonds edged the second as he was able to take Lomax to the ropes and do some good scoring inside. The third was an untidy round but Lomax punctuated it with a classic left hook to pocket the points. Over the next three rounds the fight turned into a brawl as Symonds, who was cut in the fourth, forced the more skilled Lomax to stand and trade. Symonds was scoring to the body in the seventh until a thunderbolt left from Lomax landed and put him out cold. Lomax wins the vacant British Master’s title and makes it two wins over Symonds. After the fight he announced his retirement. The winner of the Prizefighter Tournament in 2008 he lost to Kell Brook for the British welter title and in November last year was stopped inside a round by Liam Williams for the CBC super welter title. Symonds, 32, is a value for money fighter who is capable of giving anyone a tough test. Taylor vs. Gunn “Crash Bang” Taylor gets back on the winning trail with stoppage of Gunn. Taylor was having his second fight at his new weight and under his new promoter. Both fighter and promoter would be pleased that Taylor looked sharp. The taller Gunn boxed well behind an accurate jab but Taylor was catching him with counter rights. The fight was warming up nicely in the fourth when a big right from Taylor sent Gunn tumbling into the ropes badly shaken and the referee stopped the fight. Taylor, 26 had been struggling to make weight at lightweight and took a year out before returning in December with a win. Gunn , 22, was moving up from four rounds to eight and Taylor was a also a leap in the standard of his opposition. . Conquest vs. Rudan Conquest sheds some rust with points victory over Croatian novice. Conquest took a little while to get into the groove but when he did he was in total control. He had Rudan down twice from body punches and boxed his way comfortably to a wide points victory. Referee’s score 60-52. The 30-year-old “Conqueror” scored a good win when he beat Australian Daniel Ammann for the vacant CBC title in February last year. He lost the title in his first defence when the dangerous Ovill McKenzie kayoed him in April. This was Conquest’s first fight since then. Novice Rudan did better than might have been expected and had drawn and won his last two fights. Barnsley, England: Light Kevin Hooper (17-3) W TKO 6 Ben Wager (11-7-1). Hooper had a great first round as slammed home three hard rights in the first minute of the fight with one of them starting a swelling under Wager’s left eye. Hooper also took the second but hometown fighter Ware battled back to win the third and fourth to square things up. Hooper began to score repeatedly with rights in the fifth and was getting on top. That initial injury to Wager’s left eye had worsened considerably and the fight was stopped. The 30-year-old Hooper has lost only to very good opposition in Gary Sykes and Jon Kays in fights for the English title and unbeaten Liam Walsh. He hopes this win will get him another shot at the English title. Ware had won 4 of his last 5 fights including an eliminator for the English title. Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Feather Josec Ruiz (11-2) W TKO 7 Johnson Tellez (4-22-5). “Scorpion” Ruiz retains the WBC title as Tellez fails to come out for the eighth round. From the outset the local fighter was bombarding Tellez with vicious body shots and clumping rights to the head. Tellez was mainly hiding behind a high guard and just emerging to throw some wild swings. Tellez did well to hold up until the sixth round but in that round he was dumped on the canvas. He was badly battered but made it the bell. In the seventh Ruiz was again ripping in body punches and right uppercuts to the chin. Tellez was staggered at the end of the round. When the referee called them out for the eighth round Tellez stayed in his corner. The 20-year-old Ruiz had been taken to a split decision by Tellez in July but there was no doubt this time. He has 6 wins by KO/TKO but his two losses were to Rafael Castillo who Rene Alvarado destroyed in three rounds (see above) The opposition has been poor with 5 of his ;last 6 opponents having negative records. Nicaraguan Tellez, 22, is 1-7-3 in his last 11 fights. This coming weekend isn't a big one but there is a number of interesting bouts scheduled for it, despite none of the being ground breaking contests.
Of the bouts in question 3 take place in Mexico on the same show from Chiapas. The main event here will see Emanuel Lopez (17-4-1, 6) battle against Carlos Padilla (15-1-1, 9) in a cynical match up for the WBA “interim” Super Featherweight title. The match up is appalling for a “title” bout but could be an interesting fight. Lopez is the slightly better known fighter having managed to record a draw with Cristobal Cruz a year ago though other than that he has little on his record. Padilla on the other hand is completely unknown, having only faced one fighter of any real significance. Another frivolous WBA “interim” title bout will see the unbeaten Joselyn Arroyo Ruiz (17-0, 7) battle against Maribel Ramirez (9-7-2, 3) for the WBA interim female Flyweight title. This looks like a mismatch and Ramirez has gone 1-4-1 in her last 6, including a 4th round KO loss to Naoko Fujioka a couple of years ago. We know the WBA like their sanctioning fees but they really are devaluing their own titles with bouts like this. Thankfully there is some common sense in place on this show with a brilliant match up between Nicaraguan visitor Carlos Buitrago (27-1-1-1, 16) and Mexico's very own Mario Rodriguez (19-9-4, 12). We like Buitrago, a lot, and he was unfortunate in both of his set backs, including a loss to Knockout CP Freshmart, and he should have enough to over-come the tough but limited Rodriguez. For those who recognise Rodriguez's name he is a former IBF Minimumweight champion who was beaten by Katsunari Takayama a couple of years ago. Coming into this bout Rodriguez is 4-3 in his last 7 and we'd not be shocked to see him drop another bout here. On paper the most significant bout of the day is actually in Europe where another WBA title will be up for grabs as WBA "regular" Light Heavyweight champion Juergen Braehmer (45-2, 33) defends his secondary title against Robin Krasniqi (43-3, 16). On paper this looks a good bout between honest professionals with a lot of experience. The reality however is that Krasniqi is a very limited challenger and Braehmer has seen much better days. That's not to say it's a bad bout but it's, once again, not a “world class” bout, despite what the WBA may be suggesting. March 12
San Antonio, TX: Super Feather: Francisco Vargas (22-0-1) W TKO 8 Will Tomlinson (23-2-1). Middle: Yamaguchi Falcao (4-01ND) W TKO 1 Ray Terry (3-1).Light Heavy: Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (13-0) W TKO 5 Fabiano Pena (11-1-1). Super Middle: D’Mitrius Ballard (9-0) W KO 1 Jason Zabokrtsky (3-1). Vargas vs. Tomlinson WBC No 1 Vargas wears down gutsy Australian Tomlinson. In the first Vargas was willing to walk through Tomlinson’s punches and the Australian was using his jab to get form of control over the fight. Vargas began to up the pressure from the third and although Tomlinson was getting home some good counters he could not handle Vargas inside and could not keep him outside. Tomlinson got some encouragement as a clash of heads saw Vargas cut on his right eye brow. Vargas survived a doctor’s inspection but it gave Tomlinson some encouragement. The fourth and fifth saw Vargas working the body and despite the best efforts of Tomlinson Vargas was chipping away at his resistance. By the eighth Tomlinson’s face was swelling and marked from the punishment handed out by Vargas. In the eighth two left hooks sent Tomlinson down and the referee stopped the fight. The 30-year-old “El Bandito”, a 2008 Olympian, adds this scalp to those of Brandon Bennett, Jerry Belmontes, Abner Cotto and Juan Manuel Lopez which already hang on his belt. He retains the WBO NABO title and makes it 16 wins by KO/TKO. “Wild Will” Tomlinson, 28, a former undefeated IBO champion, loses inside the distance for the first time. He had rebounded from a March 2014 loss to Jerry Belmontes with a couple of wins but it is back to square one again. Falcao vs. Ibarra Falcao is finding his feet as a pro and is too good for Terry. The Brazilian floored Terry and the referee stopped the fight with only 81 seconds on the clock. The 27-year-old southpaw, a Pan American Games silver medal winner and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist was in a nightmare double disqualification in his first pro fight but is getting into the groove. Terry had no chance in this one. Shabranskyy vs. Pena No chance of a Brazilian double as Shabranskyy worked over Pena for four rounds. Shabranskyy had height and reach and was throwing bombs in the first. Pena retreated and covered up throwing an occasional wild right but took a lot of hard punches as the first round ended. Shabranskyy was banging home stiff jabs and loading up on left hooks and right crosses in the second with Pena showing a good chin and actually coming forward and putting Shabranskyy on the back foot for much of the round. Pena continued to walk forward in the third but Shabranskyy was peppering him with jabs and hooks to the body. A left hook from Shabranskyy was low and he was given a warning with Pena given time to recover. Pena was too gutsy just walking onto punch after punch. More in the fourth as Shabranskyy was able to stand-off and slam home jabs and Pena was still walking into right crosses and left hooks to the body and it could not be allowed to go much longer. The fifth was no worse or better for Pena and he actually jarred Shabranskyy with a jab but again it was a one-sided pasting and his corner rightly retired their man at the end of the round. “Lion Heart” Shabranskyy wins the vacant WBC USNBC title, his first pro title, and makes it 11 wins by KO/TKO. With his height, reach and power he is formidable but he has a bad habit of leaving his left low after throwing a jab and that could be dangerous against a puncher. Pena, 27, was having his second fight outside Brazil. He showed incredible courage but was not in the same class as the tall Ukrainian’s class. Ballard vs. Zabokrtsky Ballard gets another quick win. The former top amateur needed only one thunderous left hook to put Zabokrtsky down and out. The Temple Hills 21-year-old has six wins in a row by KO/TKO and has yet to go past the fourth round. A former NGG and four-time PAL champion he lost out to Jesse Hart at the US Olympic Trials. Zabokrtsky no test. March 13 Quilmes, Argentina: Light Heavy: Isidro R Prieto (23-0-3) W TKO 4 Jackson Junior (16-3,1ND). Prieto shows he is ready for better opposition as he dismantles Junior in four rounds. He was in charge from the start and floored Junior for the first timer in the third. The Brazilian made it to the bell but was effectively finished. A series of head punches put Junior down early in the fourth. Junior was up quickly but at the end of the eight count he started walking towards his corner. The referee indicated to Prieto that the fight was still on and he literally ran across the ring catching Junior by surprise and landed a couple more punches. Junior again got up quickly but the referee waived the fight off with Junior not dissenting. Prieto, a 28-year-old Argentinian-based Paraguayan retains his WBO Latino title for the fourth time and has 19 wins by KO/TKO. He is rated No 8 by the WBO but his opposition has not been high quality and he will need to fight outside South America to progress. “Demolisher” Junior, 29, was the one demolished. His other losses have been at a very high level against Vasily Lepikhin and Rakhim Chakhkiev. He also lost in four rounds to Umberto Savigne but that was changed to a no decision when the Cuban tested positive for a banned substance. Junin, Argentina: Super Light: Marcelino N Lopez (31-1-1) W TKO 8 Sergio J Escobar (27-26-3). Lopez used a perpetual body attack to breakdown Escobar. For round after round Lopez worked the body and with his superior power dominated Escobar. He was mixing-in fast, hard combinations and finally in the seventh a body/head combination forced Escobar to drop to one knee. He just made it to his feet by nine and tried to fight back but in the end the bell saved him. In the eighth a left hook to the body saw Escobar go down again and the referee stopped the fight just as the towel was thrown in from Escobar’s corner. First defence of his South American title for 28-year-old “Nino” Lopez and win No 16 by KO/TKO. He blew his unbeaten record and his Argentinian title in an upset loss to Pablo Barboza in July and moved up a division. He had drawn and won a majority decision in previous fights with Escobar. “Loco Lima” Escobar, 32, is a former Argentinian super feather champion. San Francisco, Argentina: Light: Raul H Centeno (18-1) W KO 6 Ruben D Lopez (8-3-3). Centeno retains WBC Latino title with knockout of Lopez. The challenger tried hard over the first couple of rounds to be competitive but Centeno was too quick and accurate. Centeno had height and reach so Lopez had to reach with his punches and Centeno made him pay with left hooks ripped into the body. Lopez tried to force the fight in the second with some furious attacks but Centeno was never really troubled. Lopez was swinging punches wildly in the third with Centeno ducking under them and he scored with two good punches to the jaw, from each hand. The fifth saw Centeno cutting Lopez in half with wicked left hooks to the body and at the bell a distressed Lopez was pinned in a corner and looking ready to crumble. In the sixth Centeno backed Lopez to a corner and unloaded three brutal left hooks to the body and Lopez went down on his back and was still there as the referee counted to eight and then just waived the fight off. Eight wins by KO/TKO for Centeno but the opposition so far has been low level. He is FAB No 4 and it is time for him to move up. Lopez, 32, was 8-0-2 in his previous ten fights but this was his first scheduled ten rounder. Falconara Marittima, Italy: Light: Michele Focosi (20-3-2) W PTS 12 Bence Molnar (11-5). Super Bantam: Vittorio Parrinello (4-0) W PTS 6 Antonio Horvatic (6-14). Focosi vs. Molnar Focosi finally wins a title with a unanimous decision over Hungarian for the vacant IBF Mediterranean title. It was a good, entertaining scrap. Focosi was taking the fight to his younger opponent working inside with body punches with Molnar using his jab more but not dodging the close work. Focosi continued to take the fight inside and it was delicately balanced when in the seventh an uppercut to the body and a right to the chin put Molnar down. He made it to his feet and survived pressure from Focosi in the eighth. The Italian’s work rate dropped in the ninth which helped Molnar stay in the fight although he boxed with more caution and Focosi was able to ease his way to victory. Scores 117-110 twice and 114-112. Focosi, 31, had failed in three shots at winning an Italian title. He won his first 15 fights but has fallen away to 5-3-2 in his last 10 fights. “Baby Face” Molnar, just 19, had won 7 of his last 8 fights and was in his first fight scheduled for more than eight rounds so did well. Parrinello vs. Horvatic Double Olympian Parrinello given six rounds of work from Horvatic. Parrinello was in control apart from a spirited fourth round from Horvatic and remains unbeaten. At 31 he may have left it late to turn pro but he has the talent to go to European title level if not further. He won his first Italian national title in 2005 and competed at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics only losing to eventual gold medal winner Luke Campbell 11-9 in London. Croatian “Maximus “Horvatic has 5 losses in a row. London, England: Cruiser: Lawrence Bennett (7-1) W TKO 1 Jamie Hearn (11-8-1). Bennett retains the BBB of C Southern Area title with stoppage of Hearn. The Jamaican-born Swindon “Bad Boy” floored Hearn early and did not let him off the hook forcing the stoppage in just 103 seconds. First win by KO/TKO for Bennett in his first start for his new promoter. Third loss in title fights for Hearn who was coming off a good first round win over Larry Olubamiwo. Newport, Wales: Middle: Chris Ware (6-1) W KO 7 Frankie Borg (9-4). Super Welter: Barrie Jones (21-10) W TKO 3 Jerome Samuels (5-6). Ware vs. Borg Swansea’s Ware wins the BBB of C Welsh area title with kayo of Borg to make it a treble over his fellow-Welshman. The deciding factor here was the power in Ware’s right hand. Borg scored early with some good body punches and straight shots but once Ware’s right hand began landing things turned very painful for the brave defending champion. Those rights put Borg down three times and opened a cut over Borg’s right eye. With just seconds to go at the end of the seventh another right put Borg down and he just could not make it to his feet this time. The doctor quickly entered the ring to assist Borg and after five minutes he was able to leave the ring under his own steam. Ware had beaten Borg when they were amateurs and floored Borg twice when outpointing him over four rounds in December. Third win by KO/TKO for Ware and the first time one of his fights went past the fourth round. Borg, 34, was making the second defence of the Welsh title that he won with a victory over former European champion Kerry Hope. It is his third loss by KO/TKO. Jones vs. Samuels Jones wins the Welsh title with stoppage of Samuels. Jones had a big edge in experience and made a quick start putting Samuels down right at the beginning of the first round. It was not counted although it looked a genuine knockdown. Jones never let Samuels get into the fight and had his young rival down three times. Samuels made it to his feet each time but with Samuels in trouble on the ropes the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight after the third knockdown. Jones, 30, a southpaw, is a former Welsh super welter champion and is on a good run with 5 wins in his last 6 fights. The tall 21-year-old Samuels was making the first defence of his Welsh crown but was having his first fight in a year and never got a chance to shake the rust. Dad Paul Samuels was Welsh super welter champion and challenged for both the British and IBO titles. Ft McDowell, AZ, USA: Heavy: Billy Wright (47-4) W KO 1 Gilberto Domingos (22-3). Middle: Louis Rose (12-2-1) TKO 6 Milorad Zizic (11-1). Welter: Solomon Egberime (23-4-1) W PTS 8 Gerardo Cuevas (17-13). Wright vs. Domingos Predictable win for Wright over Brazilian with typically padded record. Body punches floor Domingos twice in less than two minutes. The 50-year Arizona-born Wright retains his WBC Latino and Fecarbox titles. Domingos, 29, was having his first fight for 13 months. Only two previous losses for Domingos and they speak louder than all of his 22 wins. He failed to last a round in December 2013 against Arnold Gjergiaj and was halted in three rounds by Reinaldo de Lima who had a 6-4 record. The WBC rate Wright a laughable No 16 which means he is just one place from being qualified to challenge for the WBC title. BoxRec have him at No 63 and the IBO at No 62 so there is some realism in the world. Rose vs. Zizic Zizic had won IBF Youth and WBC Mediterranean titles but was never in the fight against Rose who wins the vacant NABF Junior title. Rose is not a noted puncher so when he put Zizic down in the first that was a bad sign for the Montenegrin. The Californian repeated the dose in the third round but failed to close the fight out. In the sixth he put Zizic down for a third time and Zizic’s corner threw in the towel. Now four wins by KO/TKO for Rose who was coming off a first round kayo loss to Ievgen Khytrov in November so must have seemed a safe pick. Zizic will find things tougher in the USA than they were for him in Germany and Montenegro. Egberime vs. Cuevas Australia-based Nigerian Egberime gets a win as he returns from inactivity. The former Australian super light and welter champion boxed his way comfortably through the first seven rounds but then had to weather a late storm from Cuevas in the last. Scores 78-74 twice and 79-73. First fight for Egberime since losing a wide unanimous decision to Paul Spadafora in December 2012. Cuevas, 35, has the family name but that is all he inherited from dad Pipino. He has lost 5 of his last 6 fights. Ontario, CA, USA: Welter: Andre Berto (30-3) W TKO 6 Josesito Lopez (33-7). Super Light: Miguel Vazquez (35-4) W PTS 10 Jerry Belmontes (19-6). Welter: Shawn Porter (25-1-1) W KO 5 Eric Bone (16-2). Heavy: Chris Arreola (36-4,1ND) W PTS 8 Curtis Harper (12-4). Heavy: Gerald Washington (16-0) W PTS 8 Jason Gavern (26-19-4). Super Bantam: Hanzel Martinez (22-2) W PTS 8 German Meraz (48-34-1,1ND).Super Welter: Oscar Molina (11-0) W TKO 5 Jose A Leal (9-7-1). Bantam: Tugstsogt Nyambayan (1-0) W KO 1 Gabriel Braxton (2-9). Berto vs. Lopez Important win for former WBC champion Berto which keeps his career alive but it was a struggle and some controversy over the ending. In a slow start Berto had his jab working early but Lopez was just as strong with his jab able to land some hooks and uppercuts and had the best of the opening exchanges. Lopez continued to find gaps and with Berto’s punching lacking accuracy it was the Mexican who was impressing. Berto increased his work rate in the fourth and fifth doubling his jab and getting home with some rights but still Lopez was matching him as they traded in some good exchanges. In the sixth Berto connected with a hard right cross. Lopez was sent sideways by it and Berto threw a series of punches with flew over the top of the head of Lopez but the next right crashed into the left side of Lopez’s chin and he went down on his back. Lopez got up and was ready to box on after the eight count. Berto went after him and landed a right high on the right side of Lopez’s head. Lopez went down with both hands and one knee on the canvas. He was immediately climbing to his feet but without even starting a count the referee stopped the fight. Despite the controversy Berto was happy with his performance and after losing his title to Victor Ortiz and slipping way down the pecking order with losses against Robert Guerrero and Jesus Soto Karass he must feel he is very much back in the mix. Lopez was naturally upset. He is a tough, durable fighter with Saul Alvarez and Marcos Maidana the only other fighters to beat him by KO/TKO. After the loss to Maidana in 2013 he had done some solid rebuilding with wins over Mike Aranoutis, Aaron Martinez (19-2-1) and Rafael Cobos so a set-back for the 30-year-old Riverside Rocky”. Vazquez vs. Belmontes Vazquez eases his way back with undemanding win over Texan Belmontes. The fight was too one-sided to be interesting. The former IBF light champion was able to control the fight with his jab and score freely with rights. Belmontes just never got into the fight he had to get close and Vazquez just gave him no opportunity to do so. Scores 99-91 twice and 98-92. First fight for Vazquez since losing his IBF title to Mickey Bey on a split decision exactly six months ago. Now the 26-year-old Mexican’s highest position is No 6 with the WBA and IBF so he has some way to go to get back into contention. Three losses in a row for “The Corpus Christi Kid” Belmontes and 4 in his last 5 fights. He beat Will Tomlinson and lost a split decision to Omar Figueroa for the WBC title but this was a flat performance. Porter vs. Bone Porter knocks out late substitute Bone. Porter struggled to impress early as his work was untidy and Bone was able to hold his own in the exchanges. Once Porter started to get his act together in the second Bone whilst willing to trade then struggled to stay with him. Porter had the better of the exchanges in the third and fourth. In the fifth Porter launched a series of punches that forced Bone back. As he retreated Bone went down and seemed to twist his knee. It was not counted as a knockdown but now Porter was looking to finish things. He took Bone to a corner and landed a salvo of body punches which sent Bone down. Bone got up but two hooks to the head put Bone down again and he could not beat the count. Now 16 wins by KO/TKO for the former IBF champion. As with Vazquez, the 27-year-old “Showtime” finds himself down in the IBF No 6 spot and with Kell Brook defending against Ionut Dan Ion he will have to be patient. Ecuadorian Bone, 26, came in at 24 hours’ notice after Roberto Garcia pulled out. A former South American champion Bone’s only other loss was a very controversial split decision defeat against Alberto Mosquera (19-0-2) in 2013 and he reestablished himself with four wins including victories over Francisco Figueroa and Mahonri Montes. Hopefully in taking this fight at such short notice he will be rewarded with some more work. Arreola vs. Harper Arreola wins but in a much harder fight than he expected or wanted. Harper showed no respect for the two time world title challenger and nearly paid the price. He came out firing in the first and racked Arreola with some meaty swipes. Never one to back away from a fight Arreola banged back and late in the round floored Harper with a huge right. Harper was up quickly and more rights from Arreola rocked him before the bell. The fight then settled down into an even match with Arreola still dangerous with his rights and Harper showing some good skills. In the fourth Harper again exploded with some hard punches having Arreola shaky with a combination at the start of the round and again at the end with Arreola seeming to have an injured hand. Arreola was in danger of losing and he steady himself and used his superior experience to boss the next two rounds and then staged a strong finish over the final two rounds to earn the decision. A loss here would have been a disaster but in the end Arreola won on scores of 78-73, 77-74 and 76-75. Ten months out since his loss to Bermane Stiverne, carrying some surplus weight and the hand injury may have been the cause for Arreola making heavy weather of this but if he is to stay in the mix the 34-year-old “Nightmare” can’t afford any slips. Harper, 26, had never gone past six rounds and that told against him. After a loss in his first pro fight his only losses in his next 13 contests were to unbeaten fighters in Gerald Washington and Donovan Dennis and my feeling is he will be a busy man from now on after rocking Arreola. Washington vs Gavern “El Gallo Negro” Washington taken the distance by experienced journeyman Gavern. This one was entertaining but one-sided as Washington had Gavern down three times but could not keep him there and never really had Gavern in serious trouble. Scores 79-70 twice and 78-71. Only the third time Washington has gone past six rounds so Gavern does what he was paid to do but at 32 it must be time for the 6’6” (198cm) former USC football player to move up to better opposition than journeymen. Gavern, 37, lost inside the distance to Deontay Wilder and Chinese hope Zhang Junlong and there are plenty of heavyweight hopefuls to keep him in work. Martinez vs. Meraz Martinez was the aggressor throughout in this one and perhaps that plus more accuracy is what swung the judges his way in an entertaining fight. Meraz is an experienced if losing fighter and he was effective with counters against the ever charging Martinez. Both fighters showed a willingness to trade with not a lot between them but Martinez picking his shots better and being the busier. Scores 79-73 twice and 78-74. Martinez, the 23-year-old Mexican “Rude Boy” ran up 19 wins before losing to tough opposition in Alejandro Gonzalez in early 2013 and Alexis Santiago in February 2014. He took eleven months out and this is his second win since returning. Meraz was having his second fight in twelve days and is 2-6 in his last 8. Molina vs. Leal Olympian Molina makes it 9 wins by KO/TKO as he slowly winds up before halting late selection Leal. Molina took a couple of rounds to really get into his stride which allowed Leal some space to be competitive. Once Molina did get going he had too much class and power for the Mexican and chopped away at him until dropping him with a left hook in the third which prompted Leal’s corner to throw in the towel. The 25-year-old Californian-born Molina represented Mexico at the 2012 Olympics and also won a silver medal at the Pan American Games for them. Leal came in at short notice and now has 7 losses by KO/TKO. Nyambayan vs. Braxton Brief first pro fight for Al Haymon’s Mongolian. Nyambayan takes 2:10 of the first round to kayo Braxton. The 22-year-old “King Tug” is a former World Championships and 2012 Olympic silver medal winner so has good amateur credentials. Seven losses in his last eight fights for Braxton. Tampa, FL, USA: Bantam: Ricardo Rodriguez (11-2) W RTD 7 Jonathan Vidal (18-4). Super Light: Sergey Lipinets (6-0) W TKO 9 Cosme Rivera (37-20-3). 10 Rodriguez vs. Vidal Rodriguez continues his good run and springs an upset as he batters once promising Vidal to defeat. Rodriguez just kept pressing Vidal until the Puerto Rican cracked. Rodriguez had Vidal down in the fifth and was in control in the sixth and seventh with Vidal’s corner pulling their man out of the fight at the end of the round. The 25-year-old Rodriguez adds the vacant WBC Latino title to the WBC Fecarbox title he already holds. He has won 9 of his last 10 fights. “Pitbull” Vidal, 25, won his first 17 fights but is 1-4 in his last 5 and this is his second inside the distance defeat in a row. Lipinets vs. Rivera Russian Lipinets wins the vacant WBC Latino title as he erodes the resistance of former world title challenger for a late stoppage. Lipinets was just too young, strong and quick for the durable veteran and after he floored Rivera in the ninth the fight was stopped. Lipinets has gone 7, 8 and now 9 rounds in his last three fights, winning each by KO/TKO so the 25-year-old former world champion at full contact MMA is getting in some useful learning fights. Mexican Rivera, 38, is 2-6 in his last 8 fights as he moves towards journeyman status. Westbury, NY, USA: Middle: Antoine Douglas (17-0-1) W TKO 6 Tom Lamanna (16-1). Light: Ismael Barroso (17-0-2) W TKO 6 Issouf Kinda (17-3). Super Middle: Jerry Odom (13-1,1ND) W TKO 1 Andrew Hernandez (8-1-1,1ND). Douglas vs. Lamanna Douglas emphasised the gap in class here as he floored Lamanna three times on his way to a stoppage. Douglas was the quicker and stronger with the better technique and bossed the fight. He chipped away at Lamanna breaking down his resistance and by the end of the fifth the stage was set for the finish. A sharp set of punches saw Lamanna go down. He did not look badly hurt but the right/ left hook combination that caused the next knockdown had Lamanna in deep trouble. He got to his feet but when he was put down again the fight was over. ”Action” Douglas, 22, wins the vacant WBA Fedelatin title and has 11 wins by KO/TKO. Lamanna, 23, just could not make that step up in opposition but will regroup. Barroso vs. Kinda Barroso the aggressor and Kinda boxing. In the third a clash of heads opened a cut over the right eye of Barroso. The fourth saw heads bump again with Barroso suffering a worse gash. He survived a doctor’s inspection and then proceeded to dismantle Kinda. The Burkina Faso-born Kinda was under pressure and soaked up some heavy head shots. At the bell Kinda said he had trouble with his vision and retired. Since turning pro in 2006 the 32-year-old Barroso has travelled around fighting in his home country and also in Panama, Mexico, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. He wins both the interim WBO NABO title and the interim NABA belt. He has won 12 of his last 13 fights by KO/TKO. “Volcano” Kinda has now lost 3 of his last 4. After a good win over Mike Aranoutis he has stumbled to defeat against good level opposition in Chris Howard and Jeremey Bryan Odom vs. Hernandez Odom corrects his “rush of blood to the head” loss as he brushes aside Hernandez. Last time they met Odom floored Hernandez in the fourth round and kept punching when Hernandez was down and was disqualified. This time he stunned Hernandez with a right to the head and then rained in punches until the referee stopped the fight. The tall 22-year-old multi-titled amateur, “The King’s Son” has 12 wins by KO/TKO and is a real talent. Hernandez out of his depth. Bangkok, Thailand: Light: Amin Sor Wangmoo (11-1-1) W KO 3 Smile Brown (6-20-1). Super Fly: Eaktawan (8-0) W TKO 3 Ardi Tefa (6-4). Amin vs. Brown Easy win for Amin as he uses body attack to beat down Indonesian loser. Not a great deal of action in the first round and what there was was coming from Amin in the form of long right leads and right hooks to the body against the Indonesian southpaw. In the second Amin was able to slot home hooks and uppercuts through the porous defence of Smile with very little coming back. In the third Amin finally got a well-deserved warning to keep his punches up. He then drove Smile across the rings to Smile’s own corner with a series of 6 or 7 body punches and Smile went down on his back and was still there at the count of ten. Now 9 wins by KO/TKO for Amin who retains the WBA Asian title. The 35-year-old Brown now has 14 losses and a draw in his last 15 fights. Eakatawn vs. Tefa Eakatawn has no trouble with Indonesian novice Tefa. The first round saw Tefa lunging forward with wild swings and Eakatawn either blocking or ducking before scoring with some hard left hooks to the body at the end of the round. Tefa was even wilder in the second swinging and missing with twelve consecutive swipes with Eakatawn having difficulty finding room to counter. In the third Tefa was just walking forward with a wide open defence and launching punches that had the audience in the back row ducking. Eakatawn landed one left hook to the head that put Tefa down on his hands and knees and he was counted out there. Six wins in a row by KO/TKO for Eakatawn. This may also have been a WBA Asian title but not sure. It was pitiful to see how much of a raw novice Tefa is and frightening to think that in the space of two months between November last year and January he was put in the ring with former world title challenger Denver Cuello and former WBC champion Srisaket . March 14 Las Parejas, Argentina: Super Feather: Jonathan V Barros (39-4-1) W TKO 6 Sergio E Gonzalez (27-1-4,1ND). Barros retains the interim WBC Latino title as he floors challenger Gonzalez three times. Barros had Gonzalez down in the second and third rounds but Gonzalez fought back strongly. The end came in the sixth as two right hooks to the chin and a cross to the side of the head put Gonzalez down for the third time and the towel came flying in from the corner of Gonzalez. The 31-year-old “Yoni” a former secondary WBA champion fell away after losing his title to Celestino Caballero in 2011and suffering defeats in 2012 against Juan Carlos Salgado for the IBF title and to Mikey Garcia. He returned to the winning column in 2013 and this is his fifth win since then. Southpaw Gonzalez, 36 is a former Argentinian champion. He loses by KO/TKO for the 9th time. Charleroi, Belgium: Feather: Alex Miskirtchian (25-3-1) W PTS 8 Michael Escobar (7-13). Heavy: Herve Hubeaux (20-1) W KO 1 Laszlo Hubert (40-16). Cruiser: Ryad Marhy (14-0) W TKO 5 Bjoem Blaschke (9-5-1). Miskirtchian vs. Escobar Former undefeated European champion Miskirtchian returns with a win. It was not all plain sailing for Miskirtchian as Escobar proved a more than useful opponent and the Armenian had to cope with a sore right hand and by the end of the fight there was some damage around his left eye. However for his first fight since losing to Evgeny Gradovich for the IBF title in May this unanimous decision gave him useful rounds in the bank. Scores 79-73 twice and 77-75. The WBC No 9/IBF 10(9) will be looking to get back the European title he relinquished to concentrate on his challenge Gradovich. Eleven losses in a row for Nicaraguan Escobar but only two losses by KO/TKO so when engaged to fight the local he does what is expected and required. Hubeaux vs. Hubert Not a noted puncher Hubeaux gets his quickest win for a very long time. The tall young Belgian took only 53 seconds to blast out Hungarian Hubert. Eight wins in a row for Hubeaux and he has reversed the only defeat on his record but the WBC Youth champion may struggle as the opposition gets tougher. Hubert, 39, moves to 14 losses by KO/TKO. Marhy vs. Blaschke Young puncher Marhy just could be the best prospect in Belgium right now. The 22-year-old had no trouble in halting German Blaschke in five rounds. The Ivory Coast-born 22-year-old goes to 13 wins by KO/TKO. He is yet to have to go past the fifth round for a victory. Blaschke is 1-4-1 in his last 6 fights. Montreal, Canada: Light Heavy: Sergey Kovalev (27-0-1) W TKO 8 Jean Pascal (29-3-1,1ND). Heavy: Vyacheslav Glazkov (20-0-1) W PTS 12 Steve Cunningham (28-7). Light Heavy: Isaac Chilemba (24-2-2) W PTS 10 Vasily Lepikhin (17-1). Light: Dierry Jean (28-1) W KO 3 Carlos M Reyes (25-4-1). Light Heavy: Nadjib Mohammedi (37-3) W TKO 6 Lee Campbell (8-2). Welter: Dmitry Mikhaylenko (19-0) W TKO 5 Felipe De La Paz Teniente (15-4-2). Kovalev vs. Pascal In an impressive show of power punching Kovalev crushes Pascal in eight rounds. The Russian had his jab working early picking up the points with Pascal looking dangerous with a succession of hooks but was also a bit wayward with his accuracy. A left from Pascal landed at the start of the second round only for Kovalev to get through with a straight right later which momentarily had Pascal rocked. There were some torrid exchanges in the third with Pascal again catching the eye with a right only for Kovalev to thud home a left which again had Pascal hurt. They then traded shots and a right from Kovalev sent Pascal down half way through the ropes. It was the first time Pascal had been knocked down in his career and after the completion of the eight count he had to survive a ferocious attack from Kovalev. They continued to exchange hard punches in the fourth with Kovalev having more power but Pascal finding gaps to get through with his rights. Surprisingly Kovalev’s intensity seemed to drop in the fifth and sixth with Pascal countering the Russian’s attacks with left hooks and rights. Despite this success Pascal was having to fight hard to stay with Kovalev who it was apparent had the greater power. The power was telling again as the seventh progressed with Kovalev thudding home heavy shots and eroding the resistance of Pascal. A series of punches in the eighth had Pascal on unsteady legs. As Kovalev moved in to try to finish it he slipped on some water and fell down. The referee stopped the fight to give him time to get up and during this break it could be seen that Pascal had very little left. Kovalev resumed his attack and landed two huge rights which was enough for the referee and he stepped in and stopped the fight. Pascal protested the stoppage but Kovalev was 68-64 up on all three cards and he was getting stronger whilst Pascal was getting weaker. A timely stoppage. The 31-year-old Kovalev retains the WBO title for the fifth time and makes the first defence of the WBA and IBF titles he won with his victory over Bernard Hopkins in November. It would be nice to think that the former World Military champion was going to meet WBC champion Adonis Stevenson in a unifier but there is no guarantee it will happen. Meanwhile Kovalev goes to 23 wins by KO/TKO. Former WBC And IBO champion Pascal, 32, was unhappy with the stoppage which will almost certainly mean he harbours no thoughts of retirement. He is still a world class fighter and can be a gatekeeper for Kovalev and Stevenson although he would not thank me for the suggestion. Cunningham vs. Glazkov If this was an eliminator then both fighters were eliminated. Glazkov received a controversial decision in a fight that never really caught fire. Cunningham was quicker and busier than the Ukrainian and built a substantial lead over the first six rounds. His rights had Glazkov marked under his left eye and Glazkov was throwing single punches and allowing Cunningham to pocket rounds After the sixth Cunningham seemed to tire. He opened a cut over the right eye of the Ukrainian and had some success in the ninth as he dislodged Glazkov’s gum shield but his work rate dropped over the second half of the fight and he did more holding. Those factors combined with some heavy rights from the Ukrainian allowed Glazkov to do enough to convince the judges to give him the verdict even though Cunningham certainly threw and landed more punches but it seems that Glazkov’s punches were harder and more eye-catching. Scores 116-112 twice and 115-113. The 30-year-old Ukrainian “Czar” is the top rated fighter with the IBF at No 2 as the No 1 spot is vacant. However with Cunningham rated No 4 (3) that means that Glazkov has beaten a top 15 fighter (finally) so can go to the mandatory spot as challenger to Wlad Klitschko. He is just too slow and his defence too leaky to stand a chance with Wlad. Mind you he has had some very lucky breaks with controversial decisions so if he goes the distance who knows? At 38 Cunningham’s time is running out. He did a good job of rebounding from losses to Tomasz Adamek and Tyson Fury with wins against Manuel Quezada and Amir Mansour but this loss knocks him back again. Chilemba vs. Lepikhin “The Professor” Lepikhin gets a lesson from Chilemba on how tough it is at the top. The tall 6’3 ½” Russian had been able to use his physical advantages to intimidate and overwhelm the opposition but that did not work with the strong, experienced fighter from Malawi. Both scored with some good punches over the first two rounds but Lepikhin began to lose heart when Chilemba started bullying him and Lepikhin was unable to keep Chilemba away or dent his chin. With each round Lepikhin seemed to become more discouraged and he went into survival mode with Chilemba simply beating him up and bossing the fight with Lepikhin unable or unwilling to do anything about it. In the end it was an embarrassingly easy win for Chilemba. Scores 99-91 twice and 100-90. The 27-year-old Malawi “Golden Boy” has wins over Max Vlasov and Denis Grachev, a draw with Thomas Oosthuizen and a draw and loss in two very close fights with Brit Tony Bellew. He is rated WBC 2/WBO 6/IBF 7 so a fight with Adonis Stevenson would seem his likeliest option. Lepikhin, 29, had looked great in beating Robert Berridge and Jackson Junior but they are a rank below Chilemba and Lepikhin might be better at cruiser. Jean vs. Reyes Jean makes successful return to the ring as he takes a big step in his fight against his well publicised problems with alcohol and gambling. After an understandably hesitant start. The Haitian-born Canadian dominated the first two rounds and then put the much smaller Reyes down in the third with a straight right and a couple of complimentary short hooks. Reyes got up but Jean went after him again and a couple hooks got through to the body with the last landed via a left hook putting Reyes down on his hands and knees and the referee waived the fight off with no count needed. Now 32, Jean lost on points to Lamont Peterson for the IBF title in January last year and then came back with two inside the distance wins. His out of ring problems then led to a spell in rehab but he looked back to good form here. After losing on points to Nicholas Walters in 2009 Reyes ran up 11 wins and a draw before losing to Canadian Logan McGuinness in December 2012. He was then inactive until January last year and was 2-1 in three fight in 2014 with the loss being to rated Mexican Miguel Berchelt in four rounds. The only other time Reyes has failed to last the distance. Mohammedi vs. Campbell The intent here was to showcase Mohammedi as a future opponent for Kovalev as he is the IBF No 1. Unfortunately Campbell was no real test. The Frenchman was too quick and slick. Boxing on the back foot in the first he peppered Campbell with jabs and landed quick combinations constantly changing punch angles with Campbell just throwing hopeful rights. Campbell scored with a left to the chin early in the second and boxed more cautiously but Mohammedi was dazzling him by tripling his jab and throwing 4 of 5 punch combinations. In the third Mohammedi moved onto the front foot and for the whole three minutes he slotted and slammed punches through Campbell’s guard. If there was a criticism it was that there was no body work all head shots. It was the same in the fourth with a dispirited Campbell just walking into to punch after punch. With Mohammedi going for quantity and not setting himself there were plenty of punches but with minimum leverage. The fight could and should have been stopped in the fifth as Campbell was battered around the ring taking head punch after head punch. He was bravely still trying to go forward but it was now a massacre. The fight was finally stopped in the sixth with Campbell trapped in a corner and Mohammedi just unloading punch after punch. The former French and WBFed champion lost in two rounds to Nathan Cleverly for the interim WBO title in 2010 and to Dmitry Sukhotsky in two round in 2011. Since then he has won 13 fights on the bounce, 11 inside the distance with Hakim Chioui, Olek Cherviak and Anatoliy Dudchenko the only recognisable names in that run. The 30-year-old sets a tremendous work rate letting his hands go with speed and accuracy but for the number of punches he landed he should have been able to end this in two or three rounds. It is also unusual to see a world rated fighter without a body attack. He is not liable to be a big threat to Kovalev. Campbell showed too much courage and both the referee and his corner should have pulled him out in the fifth round. His other loss was against Sullivan Barrera in June when Barrera had to climb off the floor to kayo Campbell in the sixth. Mikhaylenko vs. Teniente “The Mechanic” gets an inside the distance win. Mikhaylenko had Teniente down in the first from a selection of punches to head and body but could not finish things then. It meant another four round of pain for Teniente with Mikhaylenko working him over and generally brutalising him. The Mexican considered that he had suffered enough for one night and retired in the interval between the fifth and sixth rounds. The 28-year-old Mikhaylenko has wins over Sechew Powell and Ronald Cruz so this was a step down just to keep busy. “El Cubano” Teniente now has three losses by KO/TKO. He had been 6-2-2 in his previous 10 fights but no disgrace in the losses to Brit Adam Etches and Silverio Ortiz. Ballerup, Denmark: Super Middle: Patrick Nielsen (24-1) W TKO 8 George Tahdooahnippah (34-2-2). Super Middle: Tim-Robin Lihaug (11-1) W TKO 2 Slavisa Simeunovic (16-11). Father: Dennis Ceylan (134-0-1) W PTS 10 Dmitry Kirilov (31-6-1). Heavy: Otto Wallin (10-0) W KO 2 David Gegeshidze (14-8-1).Heavy: Kevin Lerena (11-1) W PTS 6 Igor Pylypenko (4-20-2). Nielsen vs. Tahdooahnippah Nielsen moves up to super middle and gets easy win over Tahdooahnippah.Nielsen was able to outbox Tahdooahnippah over the first two rounds before cutting loose in the third. A southpaw left put Tahdooahnippah down on his knees clearly badly hurt. He made it to his feet and retreated to a corner where Nielsen tried hard to end the fight but failed. From that point on Tahdooahnippah was looking only to survive. “Comanche Boy” spent a lot of time with his back to the ropes whilst Nielsen pounded away well on top but not able to put Tahdooahnippah away. At the end of the seventh round Tahdooahnippah was finished and retired. Nielsen wins the vacant WBA International title. Second win for the young Dane as he rebuilds after losing to Dmitry Chudinov for the interim WBA middle title in June. The 36 year-old Tahdooahnippah’s impressive statistics built on low level opposition back home in Oklahoma and on his only other fight outside the State he was halted in six rounds by Delvin Rodriguez. Lihaug vs. Simeunovic Lihaug halts poor Simeunovic in two. After a first round devoid of highlights Lihaug landed a left which put Simeunovic on the floor and the towel came floating in a short while later. The 22-year-old Norwegian has 7 wins in a row and 6 wins by KO/TKO. He was unimpressive in only winning on a split decision against Farouk Daku in his last fight and Simeunovic was too inept to provide any opportunity to shine. Simeunovic, a 35-year-old German-based fighter from B & H now has 10 losses by KO/TKO. Ceylan vs. Kirilov Nice win for Ceylan as he gets the experience of ten rounds under his belt. He made a very sharp start. He had height and reach over the experienced Russian and made good use of his jab and straight rights with Kirilov trying unsuccessfully to find a home for his left hook. The fourth was closer and Kirilov had a good fifth as he increased his pace and was able to close with Ceylan more. The fifth was Kirilov’s best to that point as he was forcing his way inside where he could nullify Ceylan’s jab. Kirilov also took the sixth with Ceylan now fighting Kirilov’s fight by standing in close and trading. It looked as though the fight had turned in Kirilov’s favour with Ceylan getting into unexplored territory over the last two laps. However Ceylan went back to his boxing and worked his way to a clear win. Scores 100-90, 98-92 and 97-93. The 26-year-old Danish Olympian is making steady progress after looking ordinary in a split draw with Cris Montilla last year. Kirilov, 36, a former IBF super fly champion, was inactive form August 2008 until returning in May2013. He is now 2-2 on his return and was coming off an eighth round retirement loss against Marco McCullough for the WBO European title in September. Wallin vs. Gegeshidze Wallin gifted an easy win to pad his record but no satisfaction in the win over an overweight and out of condition opponent. The crowd must have been happy when Wallin floored Gegeshidze late in the second round and the referee did not even bother to count. The 24-year-old Swedish southpaw has 8 wins by KO/TKO and has won his last 5 fights that way but he faced nothing here. Gegeshidze had lost to Hughie Fury and Steffen Kretschmann and had even managed to find a win outside Georgia, but had to go to China to find it. Ahlin vs. Gaona Swedish “Golden Boy” Ahlin makes it 10 wins by KO/TKO. A stunning right floored Gaona and although he made it to his feet He was put down by a left. Again Gaona got up but he was finished and the fight was stopped. No real test for Ahlin but he got the job done quickly. Gaona had been knocked out inside a round by David Lemieux in 2012 but more recently had been demolished in a round by Eamonn O’Kane in April and then beaten Steve Franjic in Canada in three rounds in November. Lerena vs. Pylypenko South African southpaw Lerena wins on points over spoiler Pylypenko. Lerena was always winning the fight but apart from a brief period in the fourth when Pylypenko was badly shaken he never really looked likely to stop the very tall Ukrainian. Pylypenko did not have the skills to make full use of his height 6’5” (195cm) so spent much of the time just spoiling and tying Lerena up inside. Scores 60-53 twice and 59-54. Lerena, 22, lost to Johnny Muller in November so although this was not pretty it was a win. The 41-year-old Pylypenko is a dismal 1-19-1 in his last 21 fights. Charleville-Mezieres, France: Light Heavy: Igor Mikhalkin (16-1) W KO 9 Hakim Chioui (30-4-1). Russian Mikhalkin retains the European title as he proves too strong for French challenger Chioui. Fighting in front of his local fans Chioui gave them some hope by making a good start. He took the fight to Mikhalkin and by the end of the third the Russian’s face was marking up and a bad swelling had developed below the champions left eye. The fourth saw a dramatic and eventually decisive change as a counter shot from Mikhalkin put Chioui down. The Frenchman survived and for a while in the fifth looked to be getting back into the fight but in the sixth a shot to the head put Chioui down for the second time. He recovered and went from aggression to countering in the seventh and eighth. Mikhalkin ended it in the ninth with a fierce right/left combination which saw Chioui fall face down and out. The German-based 29-year-old Russian southpaw was making the first defence of his European title and gets his 9th win by KO/TKO. He is rated No 8 by the IBF and would be a tough proposition for many of those rated above him. Former undefeated French Chioui, 29, won his first 13 fights by KO/TKO but then went on to lose twice inside the distance to Jonathan Profichet and was stopped by Nadjib Mohammedi in April 2013. Five wins in a row since then rebuilt his confidence but Mikhalkin just punched too hard for him. Stuttgart, Germany: Heavy: Erkan Teper (14-0) W PTS 12 Johann Duhaupas (31-2). Teper wins the vacant European Union with unanimous verdict over Duhaupas. This was a slow paced fight with Teper trundling forward behind Duhaupas a high guard and Duhaupas stabbing out a jab and thumping rights to the body Teper was only really effective on the inside where he could land short chopping blows. There was nothing elegant about it as Teper was holding and leaning on Duhaupas trying to tire him and the Frenchman was warned for pushing the German off with his should. With Duhaupas leaning to his right in the clinches many of Teper’s rights were curving round the Frenchman’s head and landing in the back of his head but Teper was not warned. As Teper kept trundling forward Duhaupas looked arm weary and there were too many clinches and it became too much of a waltz and Teper finally lost a point for pushing in the ninth. Teper was outworking Duhaupas over the closing rounds but with so little clean action it was hard to score. In the decision went to Teper on scores of 116-112 twice and 115-112 but it was a poor fight. The 32-year-old German, a former undefeated EU champion, wins the vacant IBF Inter-Continental tile. He is the official challenger to Tyson Fury for the EBU title. He is 6’5” (195cm) and built like a bull and that bullish strength is his biggest asset. Whether it will be enough at a higher level remains to be seen. Duhaupas, 34, also a former EU champion and also 6’5” (195cm) is a bit slimmer. He boxes with his left at thigh level and here he just lacked the strength to keep Teper out. Cegled, Hungary: Cruiser: Imre Szello (5-0) W TKO 3 Shalva Jomardashvili (40-12-2). Super Bantam: Zsolt Bedak (24-1) W DISQ 6 Arnoldo Solano (14-5). Light Heavy: Richard Baranyi (10-0) W TKO 2 Rastislav Kovac (27-21-1). Szello vs Jomardashvili Szello gets win as a bad cut forces the fight to be stopped in the third. Jomardashvili is a rotund figure and was conceding a lot in height and reach to the local fighter. Szello boxed his way comfortable through the first round with Jomardashvili advancing slowly behind a high guard but not throwing a real punch in the round. Both were warned. Szello for a low punch and Jomardashvili for holding. The pattern was the same in the second with Szello using his jab and quick flurries and Jomardashvili just trundling forward throwing wild and wide shots. Close to the end of the round Szello landed a right to the chin of Jomardashvili and the Georgian fighter went down. His nose was bleeding heavily and he almost reluctantly got up at nine. The bell went and curiously Jomardashvili’s seconds stayed outside the rope and no stool was put in the corner with Jomardashvili himself using a towel to wipe the blood from his nose. In the third Jomardashvili came out swinging wild shots there was a clash of heads and Szello also landed a right so as a bad cut opened over the left eye of Jomardashvili it was difficult to tell what caused it. Szello landed a couple more shots and with the blood running into his eye Jomardashvili stepped away from the action and the referee stopped the fight with Szello the winner. The 31-year-old, fighting in the town of his birth, makes it three wins by KO/TKO. A former bronze medal winner at European Cadet, Junior and Senior level and Olympic and World Championships representative he has turned pro very late so has to move quickly. Jomardashvili, 28, is a winner at home and a loser away as with most Georgian fighters. Bedak vs. Solano Bedak wins as Nicaraguan Solano is throw out for not fighting. Bedak was walking Solano down from the outset with Solano showing plenty of speed circling the ring but little else. He was clinging on whenever Bedak tried to work inside and got a warning for it in the second round. It was frustrating for Bedak as Solano just did not want to fight. The experienced Hungarian tried standing still with his hands down but nothing interested Solano and he clung like a limpet whenever Bedak tried to work inside. In the sixth for two minutes the Nicaraguan just ran and ran without throwing a single punch and the referee stopped the “fight” and disqualified Solano for his lack of effort. “Mr Left Hook” Bedak, 31, the WBO European champion, is rated No 3 by the WBO for holding their European title. He lost in a challenge to Wilfredo Vazquez for the same WBO title in 2010 but was then out of the ring for almost three years and this is his eighth win as he rebuilds. Back in 2004 at the Olympics he beat Abner Mares. First fight outside Nicaragua for Solano and perhaps his last after this farce. Baranyi vs. Kovac The tall, slim Baryani had nothing in front of him in Slovakian Kovac and in the first was able to score with his jabs and thump home some body punches to the ample middle of Kovac. I t was no contest and two right hooks floored Kovac in the second. When he got up he tried to throw some slapped rights but as he trundled forward the retreating Baryani landed seven successive rights to the body with Kovac slumping to the floor and the referee just waived the mismatch over. Now eight wins by KO/TKO for the 24-year-old Baryani who will rarely have an easier win. Czech-based Kovac now has 14 losses by KO/TKO. Siena, Italy: Super Welter: Orlando Fiordigiglio (21-0) W PTS 6 Achilles Szabo (14-9). Just a light workout for Fiordigiglio. The EU champion won every round as southpaw Szabo decided early that he was going to go the full six rounds so showing some good moves and occasionally landing a sharp left hook. Other than that Fiordigiglio slowed his pace in the fourth and then got serious over the last two but had settle for a unanimous decision. This was really just some work for the 30-year-old in preparation for his title defence against Frenchman Cedric Vitu who will be a much tougher opponent. Hungarian Szabo usually goes the distance. Tijuana, Mexico: Feather: Fernando Montiel (54-4-2) W PTS 10 Rogelio Jun Doliguez (19-3-2). Super Bantam: Juan Carlos Sanchez (20-3-1) W PTS 10 Luis Melendez (41-10-1). Super Fly: Hernan Marquez (38-5-1) W TKO 3 Roberto Lopez (31-27-1).Super Light: Fernando Carcamo (18-6) W TKO 2 Francisco Guzman (3-7-1). Light Daniel Echevarria (17-0) W TKO 3 Omar Estrella (19-8-2). Montiel vs. Doliguez Montiel outclasses Filipino but southpaw Doliguez climbs off the floor a couple of times to last the distance. Montiel almost made it an early night as he landed a hard left hook in the first round which dumped Doliguez on the floor. The Filipino was up but shaken and a series of punches bounced him into the ropes and down for a second time. Doliguez managed to get up and stay there to the bell. Montiel looked to have scored another knockdown late in the second but there was a bit of pushing involved so the referee did not count it. Doliguez was managing to get a small foothold in the fight and staggered Montiel with a left but Montiel also shook Doliguez with a right to the chin. The Filipino was getting dangerous with his head and lost a point in the seventh and it was a hazard Montiel had to navigate for the remainder of the fight. Montiel battered away at Doliguez in the ninth and tenth but Doliguez stood up to the punishment and made it to the final bell. Scores 99-98 from all three judges. The 36-year-old former WBO super fly and bantam and WBC bantam champion is looking for a shot at the feather title but right now his only rating in that division is No 14 (13) with the IBF so plenty of work to do. The 23-year-old “Hercules” Doliguez has never lost inside the distance and was unbeaten in his first 20 fights but was coming off a technical decision loss to fellow-countryman Dennis Tubieron in September. Sanchez vs. Melendez Sanchez uses his height and reach to outscore experienced Colombian in a battle of southpaws. The former IBF super fly champion was able to box on the outside for most of the time keeping Melendez on the end of his jab and scoring with hard right hooks. Those hooks eventually closed the left eye of Melendez and the skill of Sanchez and that handicap were too much for Melendez to overcome. Melendez had some success with counters but generally Sanchez controlled the fight and boxed his way to a wide unanimous decision. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91. The 24-year-old Mexican lost his IBF title on the scales when he failed to make the weight for a title defence in November 2013 and was stopped by Tete in the tenth round. This was his first fight since that loss. He is now going to look for a shot at a title at bantamweight. Melendez, 35, a former WBO super fly title challenger who lost in title fights to Fernando Montiel in 2007 and to Joseph Agbeko for the IBO bantam title in 2013 had run up 7 wins in action back in Colombia. Marquez vs. Lopez Down the card in a six round fight former WBA fly champion Marquez gets a needed win. If you are only as good as your last fight then Marquez was in trouble as in his last fight he has fought a split draw with Ricardo Roman a guy with a 9-5-2 record. “Tyson” came out in his usual aggressive style with Lopez presenting some problems as he launched punches from a variety of angles to try to blunt the attacks of Marquez. It did not work and Marquez just kept pressing and pressing and targeting the body. In the third a body punch floored Lopez. He got up but was floored again and although capable of fighting on the referee stopped the fight to avoid Lopez suffering any more punishment. That’s 27 wins by KO/TKO for 26-year-old Marquez. He lost his WBA title to WBO champion Brian Viloria in a unification match in 2012 and also suffered inside the distance losses to Giovani Segura and McJoe Arroyo which saw him banished from the ratings. “Tyson” faces a long road back now. Carcamo vs. Guzman Southpaw Carcamo halts Guzman in the second. The 2014 ESPN Boxcino finalist had Guzman in trouble early in the first with some left hooks. Guzman survived that onslaught but in the second a right hook opened a cut on the left eyelid of Guzman and the doctor decided it was too dangerous for Guzman to continue. “El Guerrero Yanqi” Carcamo, 24, already had a win over Vicente Escobedo before going on to make a good impression in the Boxcino where he halted unbeaten Samuel Kotey Neequaye and Miguel Gonzalez before falling to the talented Petr Petrov in the final in May. After almost ten months out of the ring this win gets him the vacant NABA and the interim WBO NABO titles but now he needs to be more active. Guzman really just a prelim fighter who has lost 4 of his last 5 fights. Echevarria vs. Estrella Southpaw Echevarria continues his winning ways with a victory over useful Estrella. Echevarria’s attacks were too much for the Tijuana fighter and he retired at the end of the third round.. Echevarria has 15 wins by KO/TKO. A win over Estrella was no certainty as Estrella had beaten Alan Herrera and Joksan Hernandez and in his last fight went twelve rounds with Armando Robles. Naucalpan, Mexico: Bantam: Julio Ceja (29-1) W PTS 10 Oscar Blanquet (32-10-1). Light Heavy: Marco A Periban (21-3-1) W PTS 6 Octavio Castro (16-15-2) Ceja easily wins the contest between two former world title challengers going in opposite directions. Over the opening three rounds Ceja had to work hard to keep out the pressing Blanquet. Ceja’s power came into play in the fourth as he staggered Blanquet with a left and right to the chin and then bombarded Blanquet with head punches which had him on the verge of going down. Blanquet survived and was back in the fight in the fifth. Ceja exploded again in the sixth with Blanquet again on the ropes and in deep trouble. Ceja took a breather in the seventh but was in full flow in the eighth and Blanquet was taking a real beating but the referee let the punishment continue until the bell saved Blanquet. Ceja tried to finish it over the last two rounds but a gutsy Blanquet made it to the final bell. Scores 98-92 twice and 98-93. Still only 22 Ceja’s only loss was a by a majority decision against Jamie McDonnell for the vacant IBF title in May 2013 and this is his fifth win since then. He is rated IBF 4(2)/WBC 4/WBO 8 and will be a champion one day, perhaps in 2016. Blanquet, 29, is now based in Japan. He lost on points to Akira Yaegashi for the WBC flyweight title in 2013 and was halted in two rounds by Roman Gonzalez in the same year. He has now lost 6 fights in a row. Periban vs. Castro Periban started his rebuilding here in a low level way with a points win over Castro. The former WBC super-middle title challenger used his better skills to outbox his southpaw opponent. Castro was willing to walk forward and trade but the classic straight left, right cross saw Periban comfortably controlling the action and winning every round. Scores 60-54 from all three officials. The 30-year-old Mexican is trying to rebound from seeing a promising run of 20 wins in a row collapse with a loss to Sakio Bika for the vacant WBC title, a draw with Badou Jack and defeats against J’Leon Love and James DeGale. No longer world rated he needs to gamble in some big fights to get another chance. Castro, 32, is now 0-3-1 in his last four fights but all against good opposition. Lubin, Poland: Heavy: Mariusz Wach (30-1) W PTS 10 Gbenga Oluokun (19-11). Light Heavy; Robert Parzeczewski (8-0) W PTS 8 Farouk Daku (18-8-1). Light Heavy: Michal Gerlecki (10-0) W TKO 4 Stejpan Bozic (29-11). Wach vs. Oluokun Third win for Pole Wach since his return to the ring. The 6’7 ½” (202cm) Pole had huge height and reach advantages in this one and was comfortable as long as he was able to use the straight left/ straight right shots to keep Oluokun out. That worked in the first round but the Nigerian had some success in close at the end of the second as he was a bit quicker than Wach and proved able to get under the Poles punches. Wach rarely deviated from the left/right plan but from the fifth he seemed to tire allowing Oluokun to work in close. Wach went back to basics in the eighth and ninth and although his work rate dropped he was still outscoring Oluokun who was also tired and not attacking so frequently. The last round saw the best action of the fight as with both fighters exhausted. Wach ignored his jab and they traded some hefty punches to the bell with the Nigerian finishing the stronger. Scores 97-92, 97-93 and 98-94. A more entertaining fight than it promised to be as the North Bergan-based “Viking” was pushed hard by an Oluokun who can still be dangerous even if he is on the slippery slope to nowhere. The 35-year-old Wach is hoping for a fight with Tyson Fury as he sees that as another chance for a world title shot after losing so clearly on points against Wlad Klitschko in 2012. Oluokun, 31, has gone from 16 wins in a row to 3-11 in his last 14 fights and seems to have accepted the cloak of a traveling looser. Parzeczewski vs. Daku The Polish “Arab Parzeczewski outboxes Ugandan southpaw Daku. The Pole had the edge in skills but a willing Daku had come to fight and he made things tough for the light-punching Pole. Daku kept forcing the fight and although never really threatening to turn things around he was much more competitive than the scores suggest. The official’s cards had it 80-72 twice and 80-73. Daku had put up a very creditable performance in losing on a split verdict to Norwegian Tim-Robin Lihaug last month. Gerlecki vs. Bozic Gerlecki has little trouble in dealing with a very faded Bozic. The Pole comfortably won the first three rounds against a passive and unthreatening veteran. The fourth was one-side with Bozic taking a knee after being caught with a right and he retired at the end of the round. The 27-year-old from Gdansk was moving up to eight rounds for the first time and gets his sixth win by KO/TKO. Despite numerous attempts the best Gerlecki could do as an amateur was runner-up in the National Championships in 2011 but he is hoping to get a title as a pro. Croatian Bozic, 40, has 8 losses by KO/TKO losing inside the distance recently to James DeGale, Fedor Chudinov and Tyron Zeuge. Caguas, Puerto Rico: Super Bantam: Luis Orlando Del Valle (19-2,1ND) W TKO 8 Roberto Castaneda (21-9-1). Light Fly: Angel Acosta (10-0) W KO 7 Armando Vazquez (23-14-1,2ND). Super Feather: Alberto Machado (10-0) W TKO 1 Jean J Sotelo (19-15-2). Welter: Rashidi Ellis (14-0) W TKO 5 Victor Gonzalez (12-10). Del Valle vs. Castaneda Del Valle celebrates now being part of the Roc Nation/Miguel Cotto stable with a win over Mexican Castaneda. “Orlandito” was in command against the experienced but sliding Castaneda. He suffered a cut on his nose in a clash of heads in the third and with the blood affecting his vision he had to amend his game plan which gave Castaneda some encouragement. Del Valle ended it in the eighth by flooring Castaneda with a big right which also opened a bad cut and saw the fight stopped. The 28-year-old former top amateur saw a 16 bout winning streak broken when in 2012 he lost to Vic Darchinyan in an overly ambitious step-up. His rebuild was derailed by a loss to Luis Rosa in May and this is his first fight since then. With the powerful backing he now has he hopes to get back into the ratings soon. Although only 23 Castaneda’s career already seems on the downslide as he has lost 6 of his last7 fights Acosta vs Vazquez It was a good night for former members of the Puerto Rican amateur team as Acosta kayoed Vazquez in the seventh. Vazquez shook things up, including Acosta, when he landed a heavy left in the first round but Acosta steadied himself and was rarely troubled after that. Acosta proceeded to slowly grind Vazquez down and in the seventh a brutal combination put Vazquez down and out. The 24-year-old “Tito” has won all of his fights by KO/TKO and collects the vacant WBC Fecarbox title. One to watch. Mexican Vazquez has won only one of his last 9 fights and was knocked out in four rounds by Brian Viloria in December. Machado vs. Sotelo Not to be outdone by his former amateur team-mates Machado overwhelmed oldie Sotelo inside a round. The hard-punching “Explosivo” just battered away at poor Sotelo until the referee was obliged to stop the massacre. Now 34, the 5’10” (178cm) Machado did not turn pro until he was 32 but is losing no time with five wins in a row by KO/TKO. Colombian Sotelo, 40, has lost 5 of his last 6 but the five losses have been against opponents with total records of 69-2 so all good class opposition. Ellis v. Gonzalez Ellis extends his winning run with stoppage of Colombian Gonzalez to collect the WBA Fedecentro and interim WBC Latino titles. Eleven wins by KO/TKO for Ellis. He badly wanted the win as he was under some pressure. He is on his way to Las Vegas to act as a sparring partner for Floyd Mayweather Jr so did not want to turn up there as a loser and his sister Rashida is boxing for the US Amateur team and hoping to win her way to Rio so pressure from sister as well as brother Ronald who is unbeaten in 11 fights as a pro. “Speedy” has done most of his fighting in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Gonzalez is 2-6 in his last 8 fights. Kempton Park, South Arica: Light Heavy: Thomas Oosthuizen (24-0-2) W PTS 12 Ryno Liebenberg (16-2). Light: Richard Commey (21-0) W TKO 7 Thompson Mokwana (20-10-1). Super Feather: Jasper Seroka (24-4) W TKO 7 Ashley Dlamini (16-3-2). Middle: Dowayne Combrink (11-1-1) DREW 12 Giovanni Bushby (6-5-1). Oosthuizen vs. Liebenberg Oosthuizen gets back on top with split decision that should have been unanimous over local rival Liebenberg. After a cautious start the tactics were predictable. The 6’4” (193cm) Oosthuizen had to use his superior reach to keep Liebenberg on the end of his jab and Liebenberg had to get inside and test Oosthuizen resistance to body punches. Southpaw Oosthuizen basically out boxed Liebenberg with slick footwork and hard, fast combination punching. Liebenberg hardly ever took a step backwards and had plenty of success with his body punches but Oosthuizen was the busier and more accurate. There had been some bad blood between the two before the fight but they both earned the other man’s respect through some tough exchanges. If Liebenberg had hoped his work would slow Oosthuizen in the late rounds that did not work and Oosthuizen showed his past problems with weight at super middle were shed with his move to light heavy. He was back to the form that had taken him within sight of a world title fight. If there was a minus it was some showboating that was not well received by the crowd. Liebenberg showed the determination and heart that had seen him climb high in the world ratings and they put on a good fight for the customers. The only off note was in one judge scoring the fight for Liebenberg when everybody else in the building saw Oosthuizen a clear winner. Scores 117-111 twice for Oosthuizen and an unbelievable 115-113 for Liebenberg. The 26-year-old Oosthuizen will be better suited to light heavy and will now be looking for more high profile fights. Liebenberg, 30, was coming off a painful loss to world rated Eleider Alvarez in October and is now looking to move down to super middle. Commey v. Mokwana Commey enhances his reputation and retains the CBC title with stoppage of Mokwana. The challenger from South Africa did well to get through the first three minutes as the rising young star from Ghana had Mokwana on the floor twice. Mokwana had not been beaten inside the distance and he showed good powers of recovery to take him through the second and third rounds. However long rights and body punches from Commey, some of which were landing way too low and earned him a stern warning, were slowly sapping the challenger’s resistance. Commey put Mokwana down again in the fourth and the fifth and the fight should have been stopped then. It continued to the seventh when the referee had seen enough and stepped in to save Mokwana from any more agony. The 28-year-old from Ghana now has 19 wins by KO/TKO. This was the first defence of the CBC title which he had won by decisioning Gary Buckland in July. He has genuine talent and power. So far his only rating is No 12 with the WBO but with Judas Clottey and Joseph Agbeko getting to the late period of their careers Commey could be the next star from Ghana. Mokwana, twice a holder of the South African title was having his first fight in a year and was nowhere sharp enough to face someone as talented as Commey. Seroka vs. Dlamini This was the only disappointing fight on the show as Dlamini let himself and his supporters down with a miserable surrender. Seroka took charge from the opening round and never released his grip. He used a high work rate to outbox a hesitant Dlamini and floored him with a left in the second round. He continued to punish Dlamini in the fourth but took a breather in the fifth and sixth. Hit ended in the seventh when a right to the body which saw Dlamini just turn away from the fight in surrender. The 33-year-old Seroka retains the South African title in the first defence in his second reign. Hopefully he will now be more active as he did not fight in 2012, had only one fight in 2013 and his only fight in 2014 was in March so 12 months ago. The diminutive Dlamini, just 5’1” (155cm) was unbeaten in his last 5 fights and was expected to do better than this. Combrink vs. Bushby A fight for local bragging rights between two well matched fighters was the recipe for an exciting fight and that is what these two provided. Bushby was the pressure fighter and Combrink the boxer so it was a good mix. Early in the fight it was Busby, the harder puncher looking as if he might stop Combrink. That did not happen as Combrink showed a good chin and started to take over as Bushby seemed to tire from the half way mark. Busby made a huge effort in the seventh and had Combrink in deep distress but Combrink held out and went on to get a deserved share of the decision. Scores 116-114 for Combrink, 115-113 for Bushby and 114-114 so the WBA Pan African title remains vacant. Combrink, 24, trained by Harold Volbrecht, had won a very close unanimous decision over Busby in December. Former South African challenger Bushby had former IBF and IBO champion Vuyani Bungu in his corner. Both of the fighters and the crowd would welcome a third fight. Glendale, CA, USA: Super Feather: Toka Kahn Clary (15-0,1ND) W PTS 8 Edwin Solis (6-3-3). Light Heavy: Egor Mekhontsev (8-0) W TKO 1 Marcelo L Da Silva (21 5). Super Feather: Angel Rodriguez (12-1) W PTS 8 Sergio Nunez (12-2-1). Clary vs. Solis Clary wins unanimous decision over Solis. The Top Rank prospect found Solis had come to fight and the Mexican was taking the fight to Clary over the first two rounds with some success. Southpaw Clary took over in the third hurting Solis with punches from both hands as he made Solis pay for his aggression. Solis kept coming over the last four rounds but trying to pin down Clary and absorbing so many hard counters took their toll and he was a very tired fighter by the last round. Clary came close to a stoppage with a big effort in the eighth but Solis held out to the bell. Scores 78-74 twice 78-73.The 22-year-old Liberian-born former NGG champion is making steady if unspectacular progress. “Shark” Solis, 26, was unbeaten in his last 6 fights with 3 wins and 3 draws and has not yet lost inside the distance. Mekhontsev vs. Da Silva This one was over quickly as Da Silva was unable to continue after suffering a disabling injury to his left arm just 31 seconds into the fight. A win but no real satisfaction for the unbeaten Russian former amateur luminary. Rodriguez vs. Nunez Mexican-based Venezuelan Rodriguez keeps on track with a points victory over Nunez. The Venezuelan had the better armaments in a solid jab and a right he just could not miss with. Nunez started brightly but slowed over the second half of the fight and in the end it was a comfortable win for Rodriguez. Scores 78-74 twice and 79-73. Rodriguez represented Venezuela at the 2007 and 2009 World Championships and won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games so he has a solid amateur background. Californian Nunez lost to Carlos Diaz Ramirez who is also the only fighter to have beaten Rodriguez. Washington, DC, USA: Super Light: Mike Reed (13-0) W TKO 2 Edgardo Soto (12-9). “Yes Indeed” Reed blows away oldie Soto in two rounds. The former amateur standout just had too much speed and power for Soto. Despite being a southpaw Reed started to use left hand leads to open Soto up and that also opened a route to Soto’s body which allowed Reed to score heavily with hooks. He floored Soto twice in the first with Soto lucky to get through the round. Another knockdown in the second was enough and the referee stopped the contest. Southpaw Reed, 27, a former NGG champion and US Championships silver medal winner, has 7 wins by KO/TKO. Soto, 38, is now at 9 losses in a row. New York, NY, USA: Feather: Patrick Hyland (30-1) W KO 4 Manuel de los Reyes Herrera (21-16-1). Super Middle: Gary O’Sullivan (20-1) W TKO 3 Milton Nunez (28-13-1). Super Middle: Will Rosinsky (18-2) W TKO 1 Paul Gonsalves (7-6-1). Hyland vs. Herrera A good night for the Irish as both fighters from the “Emerald Island” win. In this all-southpaw fight Hyland was forcing the action from the first bell establishing a stiff jab and landing hard body punches that put him in control. In the second Herrera was hardly able to get off the ropes as Hyland pressed and pressed and forced the Colombian to trade which is not what Herrera should be doing. By the third Herrera was already beginning to fade and Hyland was landing shots that had Herrera’s head bouncing about. In the fourth a right to the body put Herrera down on his knees and he stayed there for the full count. The 31-year-old Dublin “Punisher”, one of three boxing brothers, took 20 months out after losing to Javier Fortuna for the interim WBA title and has scored three wins against medium level opposition since his return. Herrera predicable did not go the distance and this is his 10thg loss by KO/TKO. He is 2-6 in his last 8 fights. O’Sullivan vs. Nunez “Spike” too sharp for Colombian Nunez. Same tactics as the Hyland fight and same outcome. O’Sullivan had Nunez on the back foot and on the ropes for most of the action. Nunez tried to stand and exchange but he lacked the punch to turn back O’Sullivan. In the third a series of punches put Nunez down. He made it to his feet but was floored again by a left hook and the referee halted the one-sided contest. O’Sullivan lost his big one on points against Billy Joe Saunders in July 2013. He took 11 months out and got an important win in November wiping out Anthony Fitzgerald in 75 seconds in a grudge match. Nunez, 27, losses by KO/TKO for the 10th time. He is 3-7 in his last 10 fights with the 3 wins in Colombia and the 7 losses outside but all to good opposition including Sergio Mora and Daniel Jacobs. Rosinsky vs. Gonsalves Rosinsky marks his return to the ring with a win. The fighting fireman had poor Gonsalves down four times in the first round. He floored Gonsalves with a left to the body which really took all of the fight out of Gonsalves. Gonsalves was put down three more times with the referee waiving the fight off after the fourth knockdown with just one second left in the round. The 30-year-old Rosinsky, a New York Firefighter was US National champion back in 2005 and had a good start as a pro beating Aaron Pryor Jr and Otis Griffin but after defeats by Edwin Rodriguez and Kelly Pavlik he decided to stick to the day job. Now after a break of over two years he is giving it another shot. Second loss by KO/TKO for Gonsalves who had taken unbeaten Mike Lee to a majority decision in his last fight. Manchester, England: Super Welter: Jimmy Kilrain Kelly (14-0) W TKO 3 Nodar Robakidze (12-11-3). Cruiser: Enzo Maccarinelli (39-7) W TKO 1 Gyorgy Novak (5-3). Kelly vs. Robakidze Kelly wins the vacant WBC Youth Silver title. He had Georgian Robakidze in deep distress in the first but just failed to finish the job. Robakidze survived the second round but body punches put him down twice in the third and the fight was stopped. Six wins by KO/TKO for the tall 22-year-old local who was moving up to ten rounds. Robakidze, 21, is 0-4 in visits to the UK with all four losses by KO/TKO. Maccarinelli vs. Novak Short night for Maccarinelli. If he was hoping to get in some ring time in his first fight in eleven months he failed. The big Welsh former WBO, CBC, EBU and British champion took only 48 seconds to blitz Hungarian novice Novak. Maccarinelli was to have appeared on another bill this night but when that was cancelled did a quick side-step. This his first fight since losing to Juergen Braehmer for the secondary WBA title in April last year. Novak just a prelim fighter who should not have been allowed in the ring with Maccarinelli. Much of today's most notable and most exciting comes from Canada where fans are in for a treat, in fact they are in for one of the best shows this year with 3 genuinely notable bouts and 2 lesser quality support bouts. As well as the Canadian show we also have notable action in Mexico with several interesting contests. We'll start with Canada where the main event is a blockbuster Light Heavyweight bout between the thunderously hard hiting Sergey Kovalev (26-0-1, 23) and tough Canadian based Haitian Jean Pascal (29-2-1-1, 17). Kovalev will be defending the WBA “Super” , IBF and WBO titles in his first bout since he convincingly defeated Bernard Hopkins last year and this could be his second big win. As for Pascal he needs a good win here if he's to remain a big fighter fighter, especially after his farcical contest with Roberto Bolonti last time out and his terrible unexciting contest with Lucian Buta last January. A brilliant support bout will see former Cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (28-6, 13) battle against unbeaten Heavyweight hopeful Vyacheslav Glazkov (19-0-1, 12) who has been really been unconvincing in recent contests. Glazkov needs a good performance to remain relevant whilst Cunningham will be hoping to move one fight closer to a potential mega-payday which he is well due before his retirement. The second big support bout will see Vasily Lepikhin (17-0, 9) battle against Isaac Chilemba (23-2-2, 10) in a really well match Light Heavyweight bout. The winner here may well be the next opponent for the Kovalev/Pascal winner and it wouldn't be a surprise for this contest to be a very competitive bout. In a supporting under-card bout Nadjib Mohammedi (36-3, 22), another top Light Heavyweight contender, will take on Lee Campbell (8-1, 4) in a stay busy fight whilst former Light Welterweight title challenger Dierry Jean (27-1, 19) takes on Carlos Manuel Reyes (25-3-1, 17) in what should be an easy win for Jean. In Tijuana, Mexico fans will get the chance to see former world IBF Super Flyweight champion Juan Carlos Sanchez Jr (19-3-1, 9) battle against the highly experienced Luis Melendez (41-9-1, 30), himself a former world title challenger. This could be an good contest but Sanchez Jr should be too fresh for the 35 year old Melendez. On the same card Yazmin Rivas (31-8-0-4, 9) looks to defend her WBC female Bantamweight title against the little known Celina Salazar (6-1-2, 1). On a second Mexican card, held in México, fan will see heavy handed Bantamweight contender Julio Ceja (28-1, 26) battle against former world title challenger Oscar Blanquet (32-9-1, 23), who enters this bout on a run of 5 successive losses including a loss to Akira Yaegashi and a stoppage to Roman Gonzalez. (Image courtesy of fightnetwork.com) This Friday promises a lot in terms of boxing on the international scene. It sees Al Haymon's PBC series continue with it's first show on Spike, as well as other bouts through the US and a female title fight in Mexico. The PBC show is the second successive double header from Al Haymon and again it features big names in match ups made for the casual fans but bouts that have the potential to fall very flat if the fighters refuse to put on a show. On paper the more exciting of the two bout will see former Welterweight title holder Andre Berto (29-3, 22) battle against the exciting and gutsy Josesito Lopez (22-6, 19). Around 3 years ago this would have been a must watch match up between two flawed but exciting fighters. Now however we have our doubts about the contest with Berto having looked "on the slide" in recent bouts and lacking a notable win in more than 3 years, in fact he is 2-3 in his last 5 bouts and has been dropped in all 3 loses whilst none of his recent wins were that impressive in terms of his performance. Lopez, who is a real gutsy fighter, has lost 3 of his last 7 including really nasty beatings against Saul Alvarez and Marco Maidana whilst subsequent wins have been less than stellar performances. This could be exciting or it could be the shell of two men collecting one final pay day. The other part of the double header will see another former Welterweight champion look to get back to winning ways as Antoine Douglas (24-1-1, 15) battles for the first time since losing his IBF belt to Kell Brook. Porter takes on the heavy handed and tough, but ultra-slow Roberto Garcia (36-3, 23). On paper this looks exciting but the reality is that Porter should be too quick for Garcia. This could be messy, it could have exciting moments but it's clear that the bout has been set up for Porter to get back to winning and even to build up fights with himself against either Berto or the unbeaten Keith Thurman. Also on the PBC card fans will get the chance to see a pair of Heavyweight bouts. One will see former world title challenger Chris Arreola (35-4-0-1, 31) take on the over-matched Curtis Harper (12-3, 8) whilst the other features the unbeaten Gerald Washington (15-0, 11) taking on journeyman Jason Gavern (26-18-4, 11). Sadly both of these appear to be massive mismatches. On another US televised card fans will get a clash of unbeaten fighters as Antoine Douglas (16-0-1, 10) faces off against Thomas Lamanna (16-0, 7). This unbeaten showdown, for a WBA regional title, will see the winner being moved quickly however it shouldn't be the end of the line for the loser. On paper Douglas has faced much better competition, including Michel Soro, however Lamanna may feel this is his chance to shine. With both having unbeaten records and the bout being televised we're hoping for something a little bit special from two prospects who each need a notable win at this point in their career. On a third US card we see a Russian in a really big step up, but the Russian in question is viewed as a "super fighter" That aforementioned Russian is Sergey Lipinets (5-0, 4) who will be hoping to claim the WBC Latino title at 140lbs as he battles former world title challenger Cosme Rivera (37-19-3-1, 25). Lipinets is said to be a very special fighter who has transitioned from kick-boxing to boxing and is thought to be on the fast track to the top. Although Lipinets lacks a big win this would move towards big fights and we suspect this bout will be able to prove whether he is as good as the hype suggests. As for Rivera he is looking a bit "shot" but still has the tools to ask questions of prospects en route to picking up losses. In Mexico we have a female world title fight as IBF female Super Bantamweight champion Yulihan Alejandra Luna Avila (12-2, 1) defends her belt for the first time. Avila will be up against the unbeaten Sabrina Maribel Perez (12-0-1, 2). Perez has previously held a WBA interim and a WBC Silver title but never a full world title, which she'll be hoping to claim here. (Image courtesy of Premier Boxing Champions) The Super Featherweight division has been a long over-looked one with many fighters, such as Takashi Uchiyama, the WBA "Super" champion, and Takashi Miura, the WBC champion, both being massively under-rated by fans in the West. Thankfully the division does often deliver on action and later today fans get a chance to see some of that action as a really exciting takes place in the US. The match up in question will see the unbeaten Francisco Vargas (21-0-1, 15) battle against Will Tomlinson (23-1-1, 13) in a bout for the WBO International and NABF titles. Vargas really impressed us last year when he scored wins ove Abner Cotto, Juan Manuel Lopez and Gernaro Camargo, with stoppage against both Lopez and Camargo. With an exciting and action based style Vargas has the potential to add real excitement to the division and a chance to become a major player. Likewise Tomlinson is also capable of giving exciting bouts with his all action style that saw him putting a loss to Jerry Belmontes behind him courtesy of wins over Alberto Cupuido and Miguel Samudio. Of the two Tomlinson is the harder worker and the one who depends more on volume however Vargas is the bigger puncher and this should make for some really exciting moments with some serious back and forth action. Also on this card is Olympic bronze medal winner Yamaguchi Falcao (3-0-0-1, 1) who puts his unbeaten record on the line against fellow unbeaten Raymond Terry (3-0, 2). Falcao, who is the brother of Esquiva Falcao, came up short in the 2012 Olympics against Egor Mekhontsev however the general view is that he could go all the way. One other bout on this card worth noting will see the much touted Vyacheslav Shabranskyy (12-0, 10) battle against another unbeaten fighter in the form of Fabiano Pena (11-0-1, 8). The Ukrainian boxer-puncher is widely viewed as a potential champion and has shown all the tools to go a really long way however on paper this is a good test. Sadly looking in to Pena's record is disappointing and he's certainly the big under-dog here considering his opposition so far. (Image courtesy of www.couriermail.com.au) A huge thanks, once again, to Eric Armit for his weekly report
March 4 Panama City, Panama: Super Bantam: Liborio Solis (19-3-1) W PTS 10 Ronald Barrera (30-13-2). Super Fly: Keyvin Lara (14-1-1) W PTS 8 Iwier Hernandez (9-5-1). Solis vs. Barrera Solis gets unanimous decision over experienced Barrera. Solis had Barrera down in the first but the Colombian southpaw made it to his feet and fought back hard using his additional weight to make things difficult for Solis. The Venezuelan lost a point for a punch to the back of the head with the referee giving Barrera five minutes to recover. Solis had the skills but Barrera pressed him all the way and Solis had to fight hard for his victory. Scores 99-89, 97-91 and 96-92. Now ten wins in a row for the former WBA super fly champion. Solis, 32, lost his title on the scales when he failed to make the weight for a fight with Daiki Kameda in 2013. He is WBA No 2 at bantam and is aiming for a fight with WBA champion Juan Carlos Payano. “El Indio” Barrera, 30, a former Colombian minimum and light fly champion, did not make it to the weigh-in as he was still travelling. When he did arrive he was well over the 118lbs limit so it went ahead as a super bantam fight. Lara vs. Hernandez Lara wins the vacant WBC Latino title with unanimous decision over Hernandez. Lara just outworked Hernandez he was too busy just throwing punches in bunches and Hernandez had trouble getting any punching room. He was also being slowed by body punches and even when Lara lost a point in the last for one that slipped too low he already had the decision sown up. Scores 79-72, 78-73 and 77-74. The 20-year-old Nicaraguan was having his first fight outside his country. He lost and then drew in his first two fights so now has a 14 bout winning run. He has said he will fight back down at flyweight in future. Panamanian-based Venezuelan Hernandez was 3-0-1 in his last 4 fights. March 5 Tokyo, Japan: Feather: Satoshi Hosono (27-2-1) W PTS 10 Rikiya Fukuhara (30-8-1). Super Fly: Ryo Matsumoto (14-0) W KO 2 Thanuthong (0-1). Hosono vs. Fukuhara Hosono retains the JBC title with unanimous decision over his No 1 challenger and former victim Fukuhara. Hosono found himself under pressure over the first two rounds but showed his power when he put Fukuhara down in the fourth. The challenger increasingly found himself dragged inside where the strength of Hosono gave the champion a big edge. Fukuhara staged a strong finish but could not make up the leeway. Scores 98-91, 98-92 and a 95-94 from one judge who saw a very different fight. The 31-year-old “Bazooka”, who is also a former OPBF champion, was unsuccessful in title fights against Poonnsawat for the WBA super bantam and both Celestino Caballero and Chris John for the WBA feather title. He is rated WBA 5/IBF 9(8)/WBO 14 so another title shot is not impossible but not likely. This was win No 20 by KO/TKO. Fukuhara, a former JBC super bantam champion, had lost in seven rounds against Hosono in a non-title fight in 2012 but had scored four wins to climb to the No 1 challengers spot with the JBC Matsumoto vs. Thanuthong In a very poor bit of matching heavy hitting Matsumoto disposes of Thai debutant Thanuthong. It was a one-sided fight and ended early in the second round when a body punch sent Thanuthong down in distress and he was counted out. The 21-year-old from Yokohama, the OPBF champion, is rated IBF 10(9)/WBO 10/WBC 11 so has a bit to do before he gets a title shot but it could happen in 2016 if he continues to progress. Nothing you can say about a guy having his first traceable fight being thrown in with a world rated fighter except that it should not happen. Manukau, New Zealand: Heavy: Joseph Parker (13-0) W KO 4 Jason Pettaway (17-2).Heavy: Izuagbe Ugonoh (11-0) W TKO 2 Thomas Peato (2-3). Parker vs. Pettaway Easy win for Parker as he pounds Pettaway to defeat in four rounds but is lucky not to get disqualified. The New Zealander was always in control with Pettaway unable to match Parker for power. A right cross and a left hook had Pettaway covering up in the second and right hook shook him when he was on the ropes. In the third a pair of hooks to the body had Pettaway backing across the ring to the ropes and three head punches saw Pettaway slumping to his knees. He was up at eight and looked a beaten fighter. The end came in the fourth when a right sent Pettaway stumbling into the ropes. A left to the body sent him into a corner and Parker unleashed a series of punches that had Pettaway down on his right knee. The knee was on the canvas when Parker landed another right and then the referee counted to eight and waived the fight over as Pettaway was struggling to his feet. The 24-year-old 6’4” (193cm) Parker now has 11 wins by KO/TKO but Pettaway was no real test and a step back from past victims such as Brian Minto and Sherman Williams. Parker retains the PABA title for the fourth time and the WBO Orient title for the third time. He is rated WBO 9/WBA 10 (9) and is now heading for Florida to spar with Wlad Klitschko. Pettaway, 34, had built his record on the West Virginia/Kentucky circuit so it was meaningless in terms of quality. His only other fight outside the circuit was in New York in 2012 when he was halted in four rounds by Magomed Abdusalamov. How a fighter from West Virginia qualifies to fight for an Orient title only the WBO know and I would not describe New Zealand as part of the “Orient” either. Ugonoh vs. Peato Parker’s sparring partner Ugonoh halts Peato in two rounds. The Pole landed a left to the ribs that had Peato down in agony and unable to continue. Now 9 wins by KO/TKO for the 28-year-old 6’4” (193cm) who was having his second fight in New Zealand. New Zealander Peato took the fight at a week’s notice and has lost 3 of his last 4 fights. Bangkok, Thailand: Minimum: Knockout CP Freshmart (10-0) W PTS 12 Muhammad Rachman (65-12-5). Bantam: Panomroonglek (44-2) W KO 8 Mateo Handig (13-9). CP Freshmart v. Rachman CP Freshmart retains interim WBA title with unanimous decision over seasoned oldie Rachman. After a cautious opening round the champion landed a good overhand right at the start of the second and began to force the fight more letting his hands go. Rachman was boxing cleverly using his jab to break-up CP’s rhythm and occasionally standing and trading in short bursts. From the fourth Rachman was continually forced onto the back foot as the strength of the younger champion told. CP was scoring with meaty hooks to the body and the challenger resorted to negative tactics tying CP up inside and the fight was untidy for a while. Rachman was warned in the sixth for ducking too low and now it was more of a pursuit than a fight with CP coming forward throughout the whole of the seventh and eighth rounds with Rachman in survival mode and being lucky not be penalized for holding and ducking low. The chase continued in the ninth but CP was doing a poor job of cutting off the ring and getting frustrated with Rachman sliding home counter jabs and quickly little flurries of shots. The tenth saw a change in the fight. The 43-year-old Rachman was expected to tire but in the tenth he stayed off the ropes and took centre ring trading with CP scoring with quick little combinations and ending the round with a three-punch combination for his best round so far. Surprisingly Rachman used the same tactics in the eleventh and CP was thrown out of his stride by the change in the fight pattern stepping back a couple of times to refocus on having a live opponent in front of him. They traded punches again in the last round with CP increasing his activity level and Rachman standing with him and punching but with the strength of the younger man giving him the edge. Scores 117-112, 119-111 and 119-109. First defence for the 24-year-old Thai since winning the title with a close decision over Carlos Buitrago in October. He showed strength but was not quick and it was disappointing to see how he failed to shut down Rachman and spent round after round on the chase. There were a number of good reasons why Rachman “The Rock Breaker” should not have been given this title fight but the former IBF and WBA minimum champion fought a clever fight and showed good pacing in being able to scrap so hard over the final three rounds. Panomroonglek vs. Handig Panomroonglek wears down game and talented Filipino with the sheer power and strength of the Thai just too much in the end in this all-southpaw battle. Panomroonglek just kept walking forward behind a ramrod stiff jab and thumping to the body. Handig showed great hand speed catching Panomroonglek in every round with head-jerking right uppercuts and digging left hooks to the body. For round after round Panomroonglek continued his attrition tactics absorbing punches that might have stopped others in their tracks and although Handig was getting through with spectacular punches he could not stop the juggernaut. Handig scored spectacularly well in the fifth landing a six-punch combination at the start of the round and then tripling his right uppercuts-and Panomroonglek just rolled on banging home the jab and working the body. Handig finally disintegrated in the eighth. A pair of hooks to the body had him badly hurt and after he retreated across the ring to his own corner a couple more body punches saw him go down on his knees looking out into the crowd. He stayed there as the referee counted the ten. Third defence of the PABA title for Panomroonglek and 26 wins by KO/TKO. There is nothing fancy about the 30-year-old Thai but he has a powerful jab and great strength. He lost to Koki Kameda on a split decision for the WBA bantam title in 2013 and this was his eighth win since then. ”Waray Warrior” Handig, 25, showed great hand speed and dazzling combinations but in the end just could not last the pace. He reached the No 1 spot in the IBF ratings when he beat current IBF/WBO minimum champion Katsunari Takayama in 2012 but blew that rating by losing to Ganigan Lopez in 2013 and has lost his last three fights, all in Thailand, against fighters with combined records of 93-2! It’s tough on the road. March 6 Liverpool, England: Super Fly: Zolani Tete (20-3) TKO 8 Paul Butler (17-1). Super Bantam: James Dickens (19-1) W PT 12 Josh Wale (17-7-2). Fly: Kevin Satchell (14-0) W TKO 1 Walter Rojas (24-6-1). Super Welter: Liam Smith (19-0-1) W TKO 8 Robert Talarek (10-9-2). Light: Derry Mathews (37-9-2) W TKO 5 Gyorgy Mizsei (21-14). Super Light: Jack Catterall (11-0) W TKO 5 Cesar D Inalef (18-5-1). Light: Tom Stalker (10-1) W PTS 6 Mike Mooney (8-14) Butler vs. Tete Tete proves a revelation as he outboxes and then crushes talented Butler to retain his IBF title. The South African had height and reach over Butler and made good use of both. After a slow opening round southpaw Tete was boxing with real class using his right jab to control the fight. Butler just could not get past that jab and was constantly caught with straight lefts. When he did get inside Tete tied him up and then pushed him away before Butler could get any useful work done. Tete was warned a couple of times for those tactics but was clever enough to avoid a point deduction. The challenger was being frustrated at every turn and just could not get into the fight until the fourth round. He had a good fifth and scored his best punches of the fight in the sixth but the success was momentary and not really enough to give Butler either of the rounds and by now his nose was leaking blood. Tete was setting himself more in the sixth and scoring with heavier shots thrown with speed and accuracy. Despite the dominance of Tete the finish when it came was a surprise. The South African produced a thunderous left uppercut which put Butler down. He struggled to his feet but the referee saw he was finished and waived the fight over. The 26-year-old “Last Born” (he comes from a large family and his mother decided enough was enough) has spent much of his career under the radar. He was stopped in five rounds by fellow-South African Moruti Mthalane for the IBF fly title in 2010. He lost a very debatable majority decision to Juan A Rosas in Mexico in 2011 in a IBF title eliminator and an equally questionable split decision to Roberto D Sosa in Argentina in yet another IBF eliminator. It was third time lucky as he took no chances with the judges in Mexico in November 2013 as he climbing off the canvas to kayo Juan Carlos Sanchez in a third IBF eliminator. He had to travel to Japan to fight for the now vacant IBF title and won it with a wide unanimous decision over unbeaten Teiru Kinoshita. This was his first defence and you have to cheer for a guy who says he is fighting to buy a prosthetic leg for his mother. No longer a case of Zolani who? Butler, 26, a former IBF bantam and CBC and British super fly champion had relinquished the IBF title to chase a title at his natural weight of super fly but the gamble failed. Despite this loss Butler is a talented youngster who will fight for a world title again in the future. Dickens vs. Wale Dickens wins this battle between two good young prospects for the vacant British title. The local southpaw’s crouching style gave Wale problems from the outset and Dickens pocketed most of the early rounds. Wale found a solution over the middle rounds and his pressure saw Dickens forced to shoulder him off to get some room. He did it too often and lost a point for this sin in the fifth round. It was however mostly an open fight fought at distance with Dickens showing excellent counter punching skills and Wale forcing the fight and concentrating on a body attack. Dickens was probably 2 or 3 points in front going into the tenth, but he gifted Wale a point when he again found it necessary to shoulder Wale off and suffered his second point deduction. Wale put in a big eleventh but Dickens pulled out a good last round to be a clear winner. Scores 115-112 twice and 116-110. Dickens, 26, wins the British title at the second attempt having lost to Kid Galahad for the vacant title in 2013. Three wins since then for the EBU No 6. Wale, also 26, had a 1-3 run in 2012/ 2013 losing to Kid Galahad, future IBF champion Stuart Hall and world rated Gavin McDonnell. He bounced back to fight McDonnell to a split draw last May and with McDonnell now No 9 with the WBO that was an excellent result. He was EBU No 6 before this fight and will come again. Satchell vs. Rojas EBU and CBC champion Satchell makes short work of Argentinian Rojas. Body punches did for Rojas. He was down twice from wicked left hooks and it was all over with six seconds left in the round. After four points wins in a row the 26-year-old Satchell showed he has power. He is rated IBF 8(7)/WBO 9/WBC 11. Rojas does not do distance fights so when he comes on it is probably a safe time for the judges slope of for a crafty drinks break. He has 23 wins by KO/TKO and 6 losses by KO/TKO so only 2 of his 31 fights have lasted the distance which in each case was four rounds. Smith vs. Talarek Smith well on top when a cut ends this fight. The Liverpudlian, one of the four fighting Smith brothers, was well on the way to a win before the cut. He was wearing down the tough Pole with stiff jabs and a variety of body punches in every round. The fourth and fifth both saw Talarek wilting from hooks and uppercuts but he gamely stayed in the fight only really looking to survive. He might have made it to the last bell but in the eighth a right from Smith opened a bad cut over the left eye of the Pole and after examining the cut the ringside doctor advised that the fight be stopped. The 26-year-old “Beefy” the British champion has 9 wins by KO/TKO and four wins over good level opposition have seen him world rated IBF 5/WBO 6/WBA 13. He is No 4 with the EBU. He has the ability to win a major title perhaps in 2016. Talarek, 31, was unlucky to lose his record of never being beaten inside the distance. He had won on the road in each of his last two fight. Mathews vs. Mizsei Mathews gets in some useful ring time as he prepares for his shot at the WBA title. Mizsei provided the type of work Mathews needed as he was able to come forward in every round and get through with hard punches from both hands with Mizsei putting up some stiff resistance but never really being a danger. Mathews had been scoring with his right for four rounds and ended it in the fifth when another straight right slammed through Mizsei guard and he went down and was counted out. At 31 Mathews knows that his 18 April fight with Richar Abril for the WBA title is likely to be his only chance to win a world title. It is not good for his chances that he has lost 7 fights inside the distance but he has been in fine form lately being 7-1-1 in his last 9 fights. His WBA No 6 rating is due to him winning their Continental title against inexperienced Brit Adam Dingsdale but no matter how he got there the Abril fight will be the biggest in his career. Mizsei, 21, is 0-5 in fights in Britain including losing every round against Anthony Crolla in November. He has been thrown into some tough matches for such a young fighter. He won the EU title with a massive upset victory over Cuban/Italian Brunet Zamora (25-1-2), but lost his EU title on a stoppage against Jean Pierre Bauwens and was twice beaten by IBF No 3 Emiliano Marsili in challenges for the EBU title. He did his job here ok. Catterall vs. Inalef Excellent prospect Catterall picks up a second title with stoppage of Inalef. The Chorley southpaw always looked likely to end this one early. He put Inalef down in the second round. A right caused the Argentinian’s gumshield to come out and he stopped fighting only for Catterall to land a heavy right that put Inalef down. Catterall ratched up the pressure in the third and fourth and was landing with a series of punches in the fifth when Inalef turned away and the referee stopped the fight. The 21-year-old college graduate wins the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title and now has 7 wins by KO/TKO. His WBO European title win over Tom Stalker has him a too early No 13 with the WBO but he is an outstanding prospect. Southpaw Inalef, 29, had an eight bout winning run ended when he lost to Mauro Max Godoy for the vacant Argentinian title in September and this is his first loss inside the distanced. Stalker vs. Mooney “The Captain” Stalker makes a fresh start with a points win over Mooney. Referee’s score 60-55. The 30-year-old southpaw was a very successful amateur three times winning silver medals at the European Championships and getting gold at the European Union Championships and Commonwealth Games. He stayed amateur to try to get a gold at the 2012 Olympics but lost in the quarter-finals and turned pro. The stoppage loss to Catterall in October leaves him a lot to do in the pro ranks. Fellow-Brit “Mad Man” Mooney had won 3 of his last 4 fights including a stoppage of prospect Sam O’maison so deserved respect. Las Vegas, NV, USA: Super Welter: Tony Harrison (20-0) W TKO 2 Antwone Smith (23-6-1). Middle: Ievgen Khytrov (9-0) W TKO 8 Jorge Melendez (28-5-1). Bantam: Rau’shee Warren (13-0,1ND) W TKO 1 Javier Gallo (21-11-1,1ND). Super Welter: Erickson Lubin (10-0) W TKO 1 Ken Council (8-1).Welter: Phil Lo Greco (26-1) W PTS 8 Rafael Cobos (15-6-5). Light: Jamel Herring (11-0) W PTS 8 Hector Marengo (7-9-4). Middle: Caleb Plant (6-0) W TKO 1 Den Henry (2-3-3). Harrison vs. Smith Harrison wins a fight of fighters going in opposite directions. Harrison used his physical advantages to rule the early part of the first round and then detonated a big right which sent Smith down. He made it to his feet but another right had him reeling and down just as the bell went. Smith came out for the second but it did not last long. Another massive right from Harrison had Smith tottering and the referee stopped the fight. If this was Harrison’s biggest test so far then he passed with ease as he moved to 17 wins by KO/TKO including eight in a row. The lanky 24-year-old product of the Kronk team and grandson of Henry Hank, one of my favourites from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, is rated No 13 by the IBF and will be a real danger by 2016. Smith, 28, looked a prospect when losing only one of his first 20 fights but he is 5-5 since moving up in quality of opposition with losses to Lanardo Tyner, Kermit Cintron, Roberto Garcia and Jermall Charlo. Khytrov s. Melendez Ukrainian Khytrov again shows the potency of his punches as he beats down and halts game Puerto Rican Melendez. Khytrov was banging home left jabs and hard rights in every round. Melendez did well to stand up to the big rights but it always felt like it was just a matter of time until he caved in. Khytrov was forced to pace himself as Melendez proved more durable than his other victims and he settled for slowly breaking down Melendez’s resistance. Melendez had some success with body punches but could only delay and not cancel the inevitable. A right from Khytrov in the sixth had Melendez in dire straits and but for the bell Khytrov might have ended then. It took him until the eighth round to close the fight out. He punished Melendez with overhand rights and body punches in the seventh and when another body punch put Melendez down in the eighth the referee stopped the fight just as Melendez’s corner signaled their man’s surrender. Nine wins by KO/TKO in nine fights for the 26-year-old “Ukrainian Lion”. Not yet world rated he will be by the end of 2015. He has good amateur credentials winning a gold medal in the European Junior Championships, a bronze medal at the European Senior Championships and a gold medal at the World Championships but the big one passed him by as he lost to Brit Anthony Ogogo at the 2012 Olympics. Melendez, 26, got up to No 4 in the WBO ratings after a run of 13 wins, 12 by KO/TKO but fell away after points losses to Nick Brinson and Javier F Maciel. He was a cut above Khytrov’s past opposition but not quite good enough to go the full ten rounds. Warren vs. Gallo Warren has the skill now he needs to show this power a lot more. The Cincinnati fighter, one of the most successful amateurs in US domestic competitions, bombed out Gallo in just 52 seconds. Warren floored the experienced Mexican early and after Gallo made it to his feet a barrage of punches crashed through his guard and the referee halted the fight. If I tried to list all of the successes Warren enjoyed in the various US Championships as an amateur it would fill a page. He won a World Championship’s gold medal but never progressed beyond the early stages of the 2004, 2008 or 2012 Olympics. Hopefully he has not left it too late to turn pro. He and Gallo clashed literally in December and that also ended in one round but as a no decision due to a clash of heads. Gallo has been in with tough opposition. He lost the Rodel Mayol on a majority decision but was stopped by Drian Francisco and Vic Darchinyan. Lubin vs. Council Lubin is already showing power but he took 41 seconds longer than Warren to register his win. The undefeated prospect floored Council early with a right. Council never really recovered from the knockdown and was down twice more with the referee stopping the fight. The 19-year-old southpaw “Hammer” makes it 7 wins by KO/TKO with 5 coming in the first round. The former NGG champion had been taken the distance in 3 of his last 4 fights. Council, 30, had won his fights on the mediocre Mississippi/Kentucky circuit so his unbeaten record was meaningless. Lo Greco vs. Cobos Italian/Canadian Lo Greco gets his comeback off to a good start as he takes wide unanimous decision over Mexican Cobos. Lo Greco had too much skill for the limited Mexican and boxed his way to the verdict on scores of 80-72 twice and 79-73.The 30-year-old “Italian Sensation” was having his first fight since losing to Shawn Porter in May 2013. Porter helped him prepare for this fight so no hard feelings it seems. Under Al Haymon Lo Greco is hoping to land some big fights. Cobos is now 4-2-2 in his last eight fights with the other loss being to Josesito Lopez in September. Herring vs. Marengo Olympian Herring has been short of ring time going into this one with 4 of his last 5 having ended in the second round. It looked as though this one was going to be even shorter when Herring put Marengo down in the first. The Puerto Rican did not fold but was never a threat as Herring accumulated the points and some useful ring time. Scores 80-71 twice and 80-72. The tall 29-year-old former US Armed Forces champion was US National champion and fought his way through the US Olympic Trials and the Americas Olympic Qualifiers but lost his first fight at the London Olympics. Yet another Al Haymon signing. Fifth unbeaten opponent in a row for Marengo. He has lost to 4 but got a good win over local favourite Alan Gotay in September. Plant vs. Henry Plant gets another first round win. Plant floored poor Henry early with a left hook and although Henry made it to his feet he was badly dazed. Plant scored with more heavy punches and Henry was pinned in a corner when he turned away from Plant. The referee should have stopped the fight right then but he hesitated and Plant landed some more heavy head shots which put Henry out cold. Henry went to hospital after the fight. The 22-year-old “Sweet Hands” Plant was US National champion in 2010 and NGG champion in 2011 but failed to make it through the final US Trials. This is his third first round win on the bounce and his fourth in total. Texan Henry was in way over his head and could have been badly hurt. Carlton, Australia: Super Middle: Zac Dunn (17-0) W TKO 2 Beibi Berrocal (14-3,1ND). Super Welter: Ben Capps (11-2-2) W TKO 7 Fred Tukes (12-2-2). Super Middle: Robert Berridge (25-2-1) W TKO 5 Togas Letoa (15-16-1). Bantam: Andrew Moloney (3-0) W PTS 4 Nibeon Lottila (0-1). Super Bantam: Jason Moloney (3-0) W TKO 3 Alvin Bais (14-5). Dunn vs. Berrocal Dunn marches on with stoppage of useful Colombian. The Melbourne prospect forsook his normal skillful technique and entered into heavy trading with the Colombian in the first round. Berrocal had the better of the early part of the second round but Dunn fired back with a storm of punches and with Berrocal partially dropping his hands and looking in trouble the referee stopped the fight. Some felt the stoppage was just a tad early but Dunn was landing heavily. The 24-year-old Barry Michael title hope has won 10 of his last 11 fights by KO/TKO and retains the WBO Oriental title. The WBO No 12 has good amateur credentials being a double Australian Youth champion, getting a bronze medal at the World Cadet Championships and was a quarter-finalist at the World Junior Championships. Now his focus is on the vacant IBO title. With the IBO the promoter can choose the opponent but with the IBO having the right of veto. Southpaw Berrocal loses inside the distance for the second time. Capps vs. Tukes Youth wins out here as Capps halts oldie Tukes. Capps had to come from behind after southpaw Tukes had built a lead. In the seventh Capps had Tukes in trouble and poured on the punches until the referee stopped the fight. The 22-year-old Melbourne fighter wins the vacant IBO Oceania title and continues to improve with only one loss in his last 13 fights. He is ANBF No 6 and hoping for a fight with national champion Shannon King. US-born Tukes, 42, was inactive from February 2013 until returning with a minor win last December. He loses inside the distance for the first time. Berridge vs. Letoa “The Butcher” just too strong and hard punching for Samoan loser Letoa. Berridge was in charge in this all-southpaw scrap. The relentless pressure from the New Zealander just wore Letoa down and he was finally floored by an uppercut in the fifth. He made it to his feet but Berridge bombarded him with punches until the referee stopped the fight. Now 21 wins by KO/TKO and first win for Berridge since he was thrown in with Ukrainian Vasily Lepikhin in August and floored three times and stopped. Berridge had won 9 on the bounce by KO/TKO before the Lepikhin fight so will be looking to recover that form. Letoa, 32, usually goes the distance and this is only his fifth loss by KO/TKO. Moloney vs. Lotilla One of talented twins Moloney doubles his pro ring experience with win over new pro Lotilla. Moloney won the unanimous decision with the only highlight (or low if you get my meaning) coming when a punch from Moloney slipped below the line in the second and Lotilla was given a bit of rest and recovery time. The talented 24-year-old Maloney, the Victoria State champion had won his other two fights in a total of 4:29 so he extends his experience. First pro bout for Filipino Lotilla so important he go the distance to ensure he gets some more engagements. Moloney vs. Bais The other twin Jason also doubled his pro experience as his other two fights had both ended inside the first round. He floored Bais at the end of the second round and handed out more punishment in the third before the referee stopped the fight. Maloney, a former Australian Under-17 and Under-19 champion was a quarter finalist at the Commonwealth Games. Filipino Bais won his first 13 fights but has lost 5 of his last 6 fights but in there are fights in Thailand with world rated fighters Srisaket, Tabtimdaeng and Tepparith and only former WBC champion Srisaket got the job done quicker than Maloney. San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina: Super Fly: Roberto D Sosa (26-2) W PTS 10 Carlos Ruben Dario Ruiz (20-5). Sosa retains the Argentinian title and wins the vacant WBO Latino title with points victory over Ruiz in a close contest in front of Ruiz’s hometown fans. The former IBF title challenger was nailed by a hard right cross in the second and had to climb off the floor for the win. He recovered quickly and used his superior skills and quick hands to get back in the fight. He was making good use of the jab and punches to the body but Ruiz was making Sosa fight hard in every round. In the eighth crucially Ruiz was deducted a point for use of the elbow and although he fought hard in the ninth and tenth just could not close the gap. Scores 95-93 twice and 95-94. Important win for the 30-year-old “Incho” as he had suffered an upset loss to Diego Liriano in November and needed a victory if he was to have any chance of a second title shot. He beat current IBF champion Zolani Tete in an eliminator in 2012 but in his title shot in 2013 Juan Carlos Sanchez lost the title on the scales but outpointed Sosa. “Bad Boy” Ruiz, 29, the FAB No 5 scored a win over Liriano in 2013 but KO/TKO losses to Luis Concepcion and Javier N Chacon sent him down the ratings. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Super Light: Jonathan G Chavez (11-1-1) W PTS 10 Diego Aguilera (9-5). Chavez outboxes the limited Aguilera. A slow start saw Chavez cede the first round to Aguilera but then he found the slower, fighter and easy target as Aguilera walked forward in a straight line with a leaky defence. Aguilera managed to finish strongly looking to have edged both of the closing rounds, but Chavez was a clear winner. Scores 99 ½-91, 98-92 and 97-94 ½. Five wins in a row for the local 27-year-old FAB No 7. Three losses in a row for FAB No 8 Aguilera. Bankstown, Australia: Light: Valentine Borg (9-1) W KO 3 Tom Ford (7-4-2). Borg crushes Ford in three. The tall Australian had the reach and the power and floored Ford twice in the third round with the second knockdown going to the full count. Borg wins the vacant WBO Asia Pacific title. A former top amateur the local prospect makes it five wins by KO/TKO and his third in a row since losing on a shock kayo against Filipino Joebert Delos Reyes in March last year. He is ANBF No 4 and has a good win over Dennis Tubieron (16-2-1) who is to fight Brit Josh Warrington for the WBC International title next month. Thai Ford (real name Weerachit Kitee, but I will stick with Ford) is 2-3-1 in his 6 fights in Australia. Saint Quentin, France: Heavy: Tony Averlant (21-8-2) W PTS 12 Shawn Miller (14-2-1). Super Feather: Guillaume Frenois (36-1) W PTS 10 Jacek Wylezol (11-7). Averlant vs. Miller Averlant retains the WBF title in front of his home crowd. The Frenchman boxed a cautious fight using his more extensive experience and with plenty of respect for Miller’s punch power. Averlant made good use of height and reach to spear the stubby Miller with jabs and cracked in straight rights and uppercuts. Miller kept bulling forward banging hooks to the body but too often was standing in front of Averlant behind a high guard whilst Averlant planted punches through Miller’s guard. The American was looking for a brawl so that he could work the body and slow the more mobile home fighter. After five round an amusing error saw the ring card girl walk round the ring with a card declaring that the next round would be the second which must have made the fighters wonder if they had strayed into a Groundhog Day cycle. The error certainly stirred Averlant he ended the seventh with seven consecutive rights leads to the head of Miller all of which landed. Averlant had a big tenth as he landed combination after combination and when Miller tried to get inside he was coming in head down and paid the price with a point deduction. The pace dropped in the eleventh with Averlant using the full perimeter of the ring to stay outside and Miller not having the stamina to up his pace. The last round was Averlant’s as he was firing his combinations and could not miss Miller with right crosses. Miller was wild with a couple of swings which were more lie you expect for a fight in San Quentin California than Saint Quentin France. Scores 116-111 twice and 115-112. For me Averlant was a much clearer winner. Averlant, 31, is 4-3 in his last 7 fights. He lost a split decision to Eduard Gutknecht for the European title in 2012 and was halted in two rounds by Juergen Braehmer for the same title in 2013. He won the WBFed title with a decision over Serdar Sahin (22-1) last May. Having achieved his aim of defending his title in front of his own fans he is now considering retirement. Troy’s Miller, 32, had 12 wins and a draw in his last 13 fights so a live opponent. Frenois vs. Wylezol Typical performance from talented southpaw Frenoise as he outboxes travelling Polish loser Wylezol but lacks the punch or the inclination to step up a gear and win inside the distance and settles for a unanimous decision. The 31-year-old southpaw suffered his only defeat when beaten by Devis Boschiero in a challenge for the European title in September 2103 and this is his fifth win since then. He is No 2 with EBU so hoping to get another title shot later this year. Wylezol is 2-7 in his last 9 fights with 6 of those losses on his travels. Dole, France: Super Middle: Roman Shkarupa (27-4-2) W KO 2 Bilel Latreche (17-5-1). Shkarupa sends Latreche and his home fans away filled with disappointment. Latreche had been in good form and it was thought he stood a good chance here but it was not to be. The visitor from the Ukraine outboxed the local fighter in the first round taking the round on all three cards. In the second he drilled home a thunderous overhand right that put Latreche down on his back by the ropes and there was no way he was going to beat the count. Now eleven wins by KO/TKO for Shkarupa as he rebuilds and lifts the vacant WBA Continental title. Losses to Nikola Sjekloca, Max Vlasov and Giovanni De Carolis saw him retire in 2012. He returned in November last year and won the GBU world title by beating Georgian George Kandelaki. Hometown fighter Latreche, 28, a former undefeated French champion was 10-1-1 going into this fight. Lyon, France: Feather: Oktay Takalak (13-0) W TKO 3 Sofiane Bellahcene (4-9-3). Middle: Michel Soro (25-1-1) W KO 2 Anderson Clayton (43-10-1). Takalak vs. Bellahcene Takalak wins the vacant French title as he outclasses and halts Bellahcene. From the start it was obvious this was not going the distance as the tall, slim Takalak was driving Bellahcene around the ring scoring pretty much as he pleased with punches to head and body and he shook Bellahcene with a right near the end of the first round. The tale of the round was in the redness on Bellahcene back where he had been trapped on the ropes for so much of the round and his flushed face which had taken punch after punch. It was more of the same in the second with Takalak stabbing home his long jab, taking Bellahcene to the ropes and belabouring him with wicked body shots. Bellahcene tried to fire back but was wild. It ended in the third. Takalak was landing some vicious uppercuts and straight rights and suddenly blood was pouring down the face of Bellahcene due to a gash on the bridge of his nose. The referee took him to his corner and after examining the damage with Bellahcene’s second the fight was stopped. A former undefeated French champion the 24-year-old from Lyon was inactive from June 2013 to October last year. He is a tall rangy fighter with a good jab and a vicious body puncher, but this fight was too one-sided to be any test of his potential. First loss inside the distance for Bellahcene but he is 1-5-2 in his last 8 fights. Soro vs. Clayton Soro wins but Clayton pathetic. Soro established his jab early and Anderson tested every foot of the ring during his constant retreats. Soro was able to get home some thumping body shots and right crosses with Anderson resorting to wild swings and clinching. Anderson’s balance was so bad in the second that he lunged with a left and almost landed on the canvas with his face. Soro got the job done. He caught the rushing Anderson with a right and the Brazilian went down. He got up and Soro took him to a corner and landed 3 or 4 punches with Anderson slumping down to sit on the bottom rope. The fight again continued after the eight count and a right to the temple put Anderson down and out. The Ivory Coast-born Frenchman now has 15 wins by KO/TKO and will rarely have an easier one. The former undefeated French Champion’s only loss was a unanimous decision against Zaurbek Baysangurov for the WBO/IBO titles in 2012. He has scored seven wins and had a draw with unbeaten Antoine Douglas since the Baysangurov fight. He is official challenger for the European title and with Billy Joe Saunders having relinquished the title he is waiting to see who he is matched with. Former WBFed champion Clayton, 36, has slipped a long way down from his last visit to France in 2013 when he halted Sebastien Madani (34-1) in two rounds to retain his WBF title. Santa Rosa City, Philippines: Feather: Eden Sonsona (33-6-2) W TKO 1 Rex Olisa (10-28-1). Bantam: Ernesto Saulong (17-1-1) W TKO 4 Jaderes Padua (9-5-1). Sonsona vs. Olisa Sonsona blows away experienced Olisa inside a round. It took Sonsona just 106 seconds to pour on enough power for the referee to have to step in to save Olisa. The 26-year-old southpaw a former GAB super fly and bantam champion took a year out after a kayo loss to Jonathan Oquendo in a WBO eliminator in 2010. He is 5-0-2 in his last 7 fights with the two draws being of the technical type and unfortunately one was against Bernabe Concepcion in July which was to have been his road back to the ratings. “T-Rex” Olisa has now lost 10 of his last 11 fights but only two of those have been inside the distance. Saulong vs. Padua Hometown fighter Saulong continues his road back with a stoppage of Padua. The 24-yea-old “Chocolate” was unbeaten in his first 15 fights before suffering a kayo loss to journeyman Rey Megrino last May. He has eased back with three wins against modest opposition. Padua has lost 4 of his last 5 now, all by KO/TKO but to opposition such as former champions Tomas Rojas and Fernando Montiel. Madrid, Spain: Welter: Ceferino Rodriguez (18-0) W PTS 8 Renald Garrido (13-9-1).Super Light: Nicolas Gonzalez (11-0) W PTS 8 Kevin Dotel (6-1). Super Feather: Ruddy Encarnacion (33-23-4) W TKO 5 Ramaz Bebnadze (11-1). Rodriguez vs. Garrido Garrido tries hard but in the end a comfortable win for the Canary Islander. The visitor was pressing trying to take Rodriguez out of his calm measured boxing but had very little success. “Ferino V” had the fight under control evading the Frenchman’s attacks counter-punching and controlling the fight with his jab. Garrido kept pressurising but was punished for it and the only thing missing was a finishing punch from Rodriguez. Scores 80-72 twice and 79-73. The 26-year-old Rodriguez, the EU champion and EBU No 2 is looking to get a shot at the winner of the Frankie Gavin vs. Gianluca Branco fight which is for the vacant EBU title. “Le Lion” Garrido, 31, was 3-2-1 in his last 6 fights and lost on points to Sandor Martin in Spain in December. Gonzalez vs. Dotel Local prospect Gonzalez gets a unanimous decision but the scores do not reflect the tough time Dominican Dotel gave Nico. Dotel totally dominated the first round and was on his way to winning the second when a hooked counter put him on the canvas. From then on Dotel was a bit more cautious but not a lot. He was still taking the fight to Gonzalez and they were trading hard in every round. Gonzalez got through with heavy punches late in the fifth and Dotel was badly shaken but saved by the bell. Dotel was hurt again at the end of the seventh but responded by going right back into Gonzalez and exchanging punch for punch. The fought like tigers in the last right to the bell in a great little contest. Scores 79-72 twice and 78-74. The 26-year-old Gonzalez is considered one of the best prospects in Spain. Dotel “The Black Pearl” was having his first eight round fight and the 78-74 was probably the best representative of the effort he put in. Encarnacion vs. Bebnadze “The Black Wolf” feeds again. Encarnacion took the first round and most of the second but then the Georgian began to get through with punches of his own and it suddenly became a harder fight. It was even through the third and fourth but then Encarnacion moved up a gear. He was landing punch after punch as the Georgian faltered and a hard combination shook Bebnadze. With nothing coming back the referee stopped the fight. Now 10 wins and a draw in his last11 fights for the 36-year-old EU champion who keeps knocking on the door for a European title fight but no one seems to hear him. After eleven wins at home, 8 by KO/TKO, this was the first true test for Bebnadze-a fight outside Georgia. Bangkok, Thailand: Feather: Chonlatarn (53-2) W KO 7 Jason Redondo (10-3-1). Bantam: Pungluang (49-3) W KO 6 Petchchumpol (5-4). Fly: Kwanpichit (28-1-2) W TKO 4 Thaminkhao (4-11-1). Chonlatarn vs. Redondo Chonlatarn halts game Filipino after a slow start. For the first three rounds Redondo was quicker to the punch than a flat-footed Chonlatarn and was throwing and landing more and setting a fast pace. Chonlatarn refused to speed up and after those first three rounds Redondo was feeling the pace and Chonlatarn was starting to let his hands go. Redondo was still getting through with plenty of punches but was unable to hurt Chonlatarn and was beginning to wilt under the thumping uppercuts and body punches. It was a disgrace but Chonlatarn was landing low punch after low punch with no warning from the referee or complaint from Redondo. The sixth saw Chonlatarn finally up on his toes and he slammed three consecutive right had leads through the southpaw guard of Redondo. In the seventh Chonlatarn was landing those thumping uppercuts and body shots above and below the belt and drove Redondo into a corner the Filipino tried to fire back but Chonlatarn drove him to the canvas with sweeping punches from both hands and then landed two more as Redondo was on one knee on the canvas. The referee picked up the count. Redondo was up at three but at seven he just turned his face out into the crowd and shook his head. Chonlatarn wins the vacant WBO Asia Pacific title and makes it 34 wins by KO/TKO. First fight for Chonlatarn since his loss to Vasyl Lomachenko for the WBO title in November. He was just too strong for Redondo but benefited from a referee who seemed to think Redondo’s belt line started at his knees and anything above that was okay. The 20-year-old Redondo showed quick hands and good skills but lacked power. He had won 5 of his last 6 fights. Pungluang vs. Petchchumpol Pungluang has to fight hard but finally gets the win. Southpaw Petchchumpol gave Pungluang a torrid time over the first two rounds with his two-fisted attacks showing no respect to the former WBO champion. Pungluang came awake in the third and was the one throwing fast combinations to head and body with little Petchchumpol happy to go head-to-head and just walk through everything. Petchchumpol began to tire and his work rate dropped with Pungluang starting to walk him down. Suddenly after a light jab to the face from Pungluang Petchchumpol just turned away and started walking to his corner. Pungluang reached around and landed a punch but Petchchumpol just kept walking. The referee came over to his corner and started counting at seven Petchchumpol nodded his head and started to raise his gloves but the referee completed the count and Petchchumpol climbed out through the ropes and disappeared to the dressing rooms. Pungluang lost his WBO title to Paulus Ambunda and failed to regain it when Tomoki Kameda kayoed him in seven rounds in July last year. This is his third low level win since then. He is No 2 with the WBO so another title fight is there if he stays unbeaten. Petchchumpol was giving away height, reach, experience and power and just decided he was done for the day but he showed plenty of fighting spirit. Kwanpichit vs. Thaminkhao Kwanpichit ends this mismatch early. He was having his first fight since losing on points to Zou Shiming in November and went to work early thudding home body punches. Thaminkhao tried a few wild swipes but that was all. In the second Kwanpichit was doubling and tripling his hooks to the body with Thaminkhao just retreating and covering up. The third saw Thaminkhao somehow survive three minutes of thudding body shots and uppercuts. In the fourth Kwanpichit cornered him and put Thaminkhao down with a right cross. He was up quickly and took a sustained beating. He did not seem to know how to get close and clinch and paid for his ignorance when a sweeping left hook and right cross put him down again and the fight was stopped. Just a standard pay day for Kwanpichit as he moves to 13 wins by KO/TKO. Thaminkhao 1-10-1 in his last 12 fights. Los Angeles, USA: Super Bantam: Joseph Diaz (15-0) W TKO 3 Juan L Hernandez (17-4-1). Super Middle: Jason Quigley (4-0) W KO 1 Lanny Dardar (2-3-2). Light: Chris Gonzalez (9-0) W TKO 6 Julio Sarinana (3-3-1). Diaz vs. Hernandez Olympian Diaz marches on with another impressive display of skill and power. He was on top of Hernandez from the first scoring with quick, hard combinations and targeting the body. Having softened Hernandez up in the first and floored him with a body punch at the end of the second he ended it in the third. A body punch forced Hernandez to go down on one knee early in the third and on the bell another body shot put him down. Hernandez was on the canvas in agony but the referee did not apply a count as he was unsure whether the blow had landed after the bell. When Hernandez was unable to recover the referee decided that the punch had landed after the bell but accidentally so declared Diaz the winner on a stoppage. The 22-year-old “JoJo” now has 10 wins by KO/TKO and already has victories over good level opposition in Raul Hidalgo and Roberto Castaneda. The Californian southpaw was US National champion in 2010 and 2011 and competed at the World Championships, the 2012 Olympics and the WSB. The 32-year-old Hernandez, “The Black Pearl” was inactive for four years before returning to the ring last November with a win. Last month he went twelve rounds with WBO No 1 Genesis Servania so an impressive performance by Diaz Quigley vs. Dardar Quigley, the next Irish star, made it 4 wins by KO/TKO by dumping Dardar in 94 seconds. Dardar came forward throwing punches with Quigley backing up. The Irishman then landed two right crosses the second of which put Dardar down on one knee. He was up quickly and ready to continue after the eight count. Dardar tried to march forward again but shipped a hard right cross left hook combination. When he came forward again a right to top of his head sent Dardar stumbling sideward with his glove brushing the canvas. He was given another eight count and again tried to come forward but Quigley landed a right and then a left to the chin. Dardar try to hold but his legs were gone and after another couple of head shots had him staggering back to the ropes the referee stopped the fight. Third first round win in four pro fights for 23-year-old Quigley. He won gold medals at Youth, Under-23 and Senior level in European Championships and took a silver at the World Championships in 2012. That loss at the World Championships to a local fighter broke a run of 33 fights without a loss in all amateur competitions. Dardar had lost inside the distance to Esquiva Falcao in five rounds in December. Gonzalez vs. Sarinana Gonzalez keeps his record of 100% wins by KO/TKO in a fight with quite a few incidents. After taking the first round things started to go off the rails for Gonzalez. Sarinana, who has yet to win a fight inside the distance, dropped Gonzalez in the second with a left/right combination. Gonzalez was not badly hurt and took control again in the third only for a clash of heads in the fourth to leave him with a cut on his left eyebrow. Floored and cut, not in the script. Gonzalez was on top in the fourth when a butt from Sarinana resulted in a point deduction. Sarinana was suffering from a swelling which was gradually closing one eye restricting his vision. Late in the seventh the referee asked the doctor to look at the eye and the doctor recommended the fight be stopped. The teenager keeps that 100% but he won’t want too many victories like this. Three losses in a row for Sarinana but first loss by KO/TKO. Kissimmee, FL, USA: Feather: Jonathan Oquendo (25-4) W PTS 10 Gabino Cota (17-4-1) Oquendo wins his comeback fight with wide unanimous decision over Mexican Cota. In his first fight since losing to Abner Mares in July the Puerto Rican wound things up slowly against a strong but limited opponent. He had Cota badly shaken in the second and although his work rate dropped a bit in the middle rounds he came through a good test of his stamina. As Cota tired badly he tried hard for a knockout over the last two rounds but the Mexican has a good chin. Scores 99-91 twice and 98-92. The 31-year-old Oquendo has lost the big fights being halted by Juan Manuel Lopez and Wilfredo Vazquez when a win in either would have landed him a world title shot. The loss to Mares was in the same category so now he is easing his way back. Cota did well to stay the distance but has now lost three tough ones in a row losing in 2014 to Leonilo Miranda and Andrey Klimov. Concord, NC, USA: Cruiser: Roy Jones Jr (59-8) W Willie Williams (14-8-2). A fat, out of condition Jones gets rid of poor Williams in two rounds. Jones had nothing in front of him and he rarely raised his pace above a plod allowing Williams some leeway in the first. It was over in the second. Jones just stood and let Williams land 4 or 5 hooks to the body without even bothering to try to block them. He then shook Williams with a left hook. That knocked Williams into the ropes and Jones drove him along the ropes landing 8 or 9 head punches with Williams slumping to the floor face down. He got up on shaky legs and the referee stopped the fight. The 46-year-old once great Jones is a cert for the Hall of Fame five years after he stops fighting. Now would be a good time to stop. He is only hanging around for a fight with Marco Huck and in our sport that is unfortunately not out of the question. What next? Jones trying to do a Shannon Briggs on Huck? Williams is 2-6-1 in his last 9 fights. Philadelphia, PA, USA: Heavy: Joey Dawejko (14-3-3) W KO 1 Enobong Umohette (9-3). Super Feather: Jason Sosa (14-1-3) W TKO 4 Bergman Aguilar (12-2-1). Dawejko vs. Umohette Dawejko makes it four first round wins in a row with this one being the quickest. There was hardly enough time for the seconds to climb out of the ring before a pulverising right from Dawejko put Nigerian Umohette face down out cold after just 27 seconds. After a rocky start as a pro the 24-year-old “Polish Thunder” a former World Youth champion has now won 6 straight including a victory over Derric Rossy. Next he takes a big step as in May he faces Amir Mansour who is 21-1 and had Steve Cunningham down twice before losing on points to the former world cruiser champion which is Mansour’s only loss. Umohette, 35, had a run of 9 wins but was then inactive for a year. He returned to the ring in November losing inside the distance to former victim Lyle McDowell. Sosa vs. Aguilar Sosa makes it nine wins on the bounce by KO/TKO as he halts Aguilar in three rounds. The power was with the Camden hope and although Aguilar tried hard and at times seemed to give Sosa some problems a left from Sosa ended the fight in the third. A crunching left landed on Aguilar’s chin and the Costa Rican suffered a jaw injury which made him turn away in pain. The referee immediately stopped the fight with Aguilar suffering a suspected broken jaw. The 26-year-old Sosa was 4-1-3 in his first 8 fights but a run of ten wins illustrates his improvement. Aguilar was 8-0-1 in his previous 9 fights going in but against poor opposition. Dallas, TX, USA: Super Light: Maurice Hooker (17-0-2) W TKO 2 Santos Banavides (23-6-2). “Mighty Moe” too quick for grizzled veteran Benavides. The young Texan had a some problem finding his distance against the Nicaraguan due to the difference in their heights. He solved the problem in the second with a right that put Benavides on the floor. Benavides got up but a storm of punches from Hooker had Benavides floundering and the fight was stopped. The lanky 25-year-old local was held to a draw in his first pro fight and then again by fellow unbeaten prospect Abel Ramos in January last year. He has added 5 wins since then and he usually takes his victims out in the first two rounds or goes the distance. Benavides, 33. lost only two of his first 27 fights but those heady days are gone. He was outpointed by Bryan Vasquez for the interim super feather title in 2011 and has been thrown in with top opposition in Denis Shafikov, Jose Felix Jr, Amir Imam and now Hooper and lost all four of those fights by KO/TKO. March 7 Las Vegas, NV, USA: Welter: Keith Thurman (25-0) W PTS 12 Robert Guerrero (32-3-1). Super Light Adrien Broner (30-1) W PTS 12 John Molina (27-6). Feather: Abner Mares (29-1-1) W PTS 10 Arturo Santos Reyes (18-5). Robert Easter (13-0) W TKO 2 Alejandro Rodriguez (22-16-1). Heavy: Dominic Breazeale (14-0) W TKO 4 Victor Bisbal (21-3). Middle: Terrell Gausha (14-0) W TKO 2 Norberto Gonzalez (21-7). Super Bantam Jorge Lara (270-0-1) W TKO 1 Mario Macias (26-15). Thurman vs. Guerrero Thurman and Guerrero put on a fight of the type needed if the Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions series is to be a success. Thurman won a wide unanimous decision effectively outclassing southpaw Guerrero but the guts and determination shown by Guerrero made it an exciting scrap. Thurman dominated from the outset getting into his grove quickly and peppering Guerrero with punches up and down with Guerrero struggling to respond. Guerrero got Thurman’s attention with a hard right in the second but was struggling to get into the fight. In the third a clash of head saw Thurman emerge with a worrying looking hematoma over his left eye and that spurred Guerrero to his best round so far. Thurman did not let the injury affect his dominance. There were plenty of exchanges but Thurman was getting through with hard punches and out landing Guerrero who was reduced to just scoring with counters as and when he could. They continued trading for round after round providing the crowd and the viewers with action filled three minutes. Thurman took his foot off the pedal in the 7th And 8th rounds boxing and picking his punches allowing Guerrero a chance to be more active but it was the counter shots from Thurman that marked each round. Thurman came close to ending the fight in the ninth. He nailed Guerrero with a right uppercut that saw “The Ghost” slip to the floor. Guerrero made it to his feet and took the eight count. Thurman jumped on him and battered Guerrero along the ropes slamming rights through Gurerro’s guard. Thurman was a couple of shots away from a finish but Guerrero hung on until the bell. Guerrero then showed what a great warrior he is by coming out firing in the tenth in a rally that had the crowd on their feet. Thurman knew he was well in front and although he still did enough to take the decision the intensity of his earlier work was missing in the eleventh but they provided a stirring finish to the fight although both tired they battered way at each other to the final bell. Scores 120-108 twice and 118-110 all for Thurman. Guerrero made it much more interesting as a fight than the scores suggest but Thurman again boosted his stock and once Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao leave the scene he will be in the mix to be the next champion. This was the first defence of his secondary WBA title. He went to hospital after the fight due to concerns over the hematoma but that should be okay in 2 to 3 weeks and there was no damage to the orbital bone. Guerrero lost clearly but showed he has a great chin and lots of guts and at 31 there are still some high profile fights out there if he wants them. Broner vs. Molina Broner wins decision over a hesitant and too slow Molina. Broner was just too quick and his work too varied for Molina to deal with, Broner was scoring with jabs, hooks and uppercuts with Molina not letting his hands go. He seemed to be looking for one big punch to win the fight and that was never going to happen. He had some small success with a right in the second round which stopped Broner in his tracks only for Broner to regroup and end the round on top. Broner was using good lateral movement and Molina was just following him around the ring looking for and not finding an opening. It could be that the brutal fight with Lucas Matthysse took a lot out of Molina and left him a less confident and gun-shy fighter. Broner was his usual flashy, cocky self throwing quick punches in bunches and building a huge lead. What he also needed to do here was to punctuate his performance with a win inside the distance but over the closing rounds he boxed cautiously taking no chances and that drew boos from the audience but Broner stuck with that strategy. Scores 120-108 twice and 118-110. Still only 25 the former WBO super feather, WBC light and WBA welter champion just can’t or won’t do what he needs to do to become an attraction for the crowd and the viewers. He has talent but has attitude instead of charisma. Molina, 32, is 3-5 in his last eight fights with a one round stoppage loss against Antonio DeMarco for the WBC light title and points losses against Matthysse, Andrey Klimov and Humberto Soto. He was up against a talented fighter here but he no longer belongs at this level. Mares vs. Reyes Mares gets a win in this clash of former stars of Mexican amateur boxing but in a very lackluster fashion. He was off his game and although he made Reyes briefly touch down in the second round he was never totally dominant. Reyes was able to force the fight in many of the rounds with Mares scoring with good counters but the fight never caught fire with Reyes was often able to turn the fight a brawl. It transpired that Mares had felt unwell on the morning of the fight and considered pulling out but needed the fight to get some work in with preparation for a return with Jhonny Gonzalez as his aim. He won this one clearly but knows that he will probably need another warm-up match and box a lot better before facing Gonzalez. Scores 99-90, 98-91 and 96-93. After his first round crushing by Gonzalez in August 2013 the 29-year-old former WBC super bantam and featherweight champion was inactive for 11 months before returning with good wins over useful opposition in Jonathan Oquendo and Jose Ramirez but he did not impress here. Reyes, a World Junior Championships silver medal winner and 2008 Olympian has not had the “Golden Boy” treatment being matched with former world champions Fernando Montilla and Hozumi Hasegawa in his first 15 fights. He had rebounded from the Hasegawa defeat with 6 wins but lost on points in December to South African Simpiwe Vetyeka. Easter vs. Rodriguez Easter blows away late sub Rodriguez in the second roiund. After three points wins in his last four bouts Easter seemed to be finding it difficult as the opposition improved but not here. Rodriguez survived the first round but was on the floor three times in75 seconds in the second and the fight was stopped. The tall Toledo 24-year-old makes it 10 wins by KO/TKO and with his height, 5’11” (180cm) and power he will give any lightweight problems at this level. Mexican Rodriguez is 3-7-1 in his last 11 fights but has been in with Ray Beltran, Jose Pedraza, Haskell Rhodes and Jose Felix Jr. A hard way to earn some loose change. Breazeale vs. Bisbal Breazeale gats another inside the distance win as he halts Bisbal. The 29-year-old Olympian halted Bisbal in the fourth for win No 13 by KO/TKO. Nagy Aguilera is the only one to have taken the big Californian the distance so far. Puerto Rican Bisbal, 4, also a former top amateur, was having his first fight since being stopped in 5 rounds by Magomed Abdusalamov in March 2013. Gausha vs. Gonzalez Gausha, Breazeale’s teammate in London makes easy work of what looked to be his toughest test so far as he floors and stops Gonzalez with a wicked body punch in the second. The 27-year-old Cleveland fighter a two-time US National Champion and Olympic and WSB competitor continues to progress. Gonzalez 33 has now slipped to 5 losses in his last 6 fights but he has a win over highly touted Michael Oliveira and took Roberto Garcia to a split decision and went the whole eight rounds with Erickson Lubin. Lara vs. Macias Southpaw Lara just batters away at fellow-Mexican Macias until the fight was stopped. The 24-year-old from Guadalajara has 19 wins by KO/TKO but has yet to face any class opposition and only scraped past Jairo Hernandez (10-4) on a split decision in January last year. Poor Macias is being thrown to the wolves He has lost 5 of his last 6 fights and the last three guys to beat him have combined records of 76-0-2! Macao, S.A.R China: Fly: Amnat Ruenroeng (15-0) W PTS 12 Zou Shiming (6-1). Super Light: Ik Yang (19-0,1ND) W TKO 6 Patomsuk (29-3-1). Super Fly: Aston Palicte (17-1) W TKO 7 Ismael Garnica (13-6-1,1ND). Super Welter: Glen Tapia (23-1) W TKO 3 Daniel Dawson (40-5-1). Super Fly: Rex Tso (16-0) W PTS 10 Michael Enriquez (10-3-1). Light Jose Felix (29-1-1) W KO 1 Ray Sermona (17-5-5). Ruenroeng vs. Shiming The champion came, he saw and he spoiled the party. Ruenroeng retained his IBF title with a clear unanimous verdict over Chinese hero Shiming. Ruenroeng took charge from the start commanding the centre of the ring using his jab well and landing some crisp counters. The dream came alive briefly in the second round when a left hook from Shiming put Ruenroeng down but it was partly due to Ruenroeng being off balance and he was not badly shaken. In the second Ruenroeng also introduced Shiming to the niceties of the pro game by landing a low shot and tipping the Chinese fighter over his shoulder. He was warned for both infractions but no points were deducted. The third again saw Ruenroeng using his skill to keep Shiming at the end of his left jab and the challenger did not seem to know how to get past the Thai’s defence and was throwing some wide wild punches to no effect. There was nothing pretty about some of the middle rounds as Ruenroeng was tying Shiming up inside and both were wrestling around with heads banging together. Pretty or not it was again Ruenroeng keeping cool and outboxing Shiming. The challenger took the ninth, the tenth could have been scored to either but Shiming needing an impressive finish but he just did not have enough fire left to seriously threaten. It was only the second time he had gone twelve rounds whereas it was the sixth time for Ruenroeng and he had paced the fight perfectly. Scores 116-111 from all three judges. The 35-year-old Thai had lost 2 out of 3 fights with Shiming as amateurs but he showed that his greater experience of pro fighting and his better skills had given him the edge in this fourth meeting. Shiming will come again. He is such an important figure in Chinese boxing that he and his team must regroup and try again if the Chinese market for boxing is to be fully explored. Yang vs. Patomsuk Yang holds on to his IBF Pan Pacific title with stoppage of Thai. Yang made a fast start trying to blow Patomsuk away early. When that did not happen he settled for slowly chopping away at Patomsuk. The Thai signaled his presence with some meaty rights and also had Yang cut but the Korean-based Chinese fighter turned up the heat mixing some heavy punches with a bit of showboating. In the sixth Yang decided to end it and rattled the Thai with a barrage of punches until the referee halted the fight. The 29-year-old Yang, the IBF No 9(8) has won 12 of his last 14 fights by KO/TKO. Patomsuk, 31, had lost only one of his last 23 fights but the opposition was low level. Palicte vs. Garnica New Filipino prospect on the block Palicte hands out a battering to Mexican Garnica. The young Filipino was too quick, accurate and physically bigger and stronger for the face-first Garnica. The brave but limited Mexican was broken and bloody when the referee stopped the one-sided fight in the seventh round. The 24-year-old IBF Youth champion has 15 wins by KO/TKO winning that way in each of his last 7 fights but the opposition has not been high level. Only the third loss by KO/TKO for Garnica who lost on points to Brit Paul Butler in October. Tapia vs. Dawson “Jersey Boy” Tapia takes another step towards putting the brutal loss to James Kirkman behind him. Dawson landed two good rights in the first as Tapia was taking a studied approach. Tapia was quicker to the punch in the second and beginning to open up the guard of the Australian and slot home some hard shots. Early in the third Tapia landed a heavy right that had Dawson badly rocked. He should perhaps have taken a knee to get some respite but when he did not Tapia drove him into a corner with another right and unleashed a salvo of punches forcing the referee to stop the fight. Third win for the 25-year-old Tapia since that dark night in December 2013 when he took a beating that would have ended many careers. Instead he took six months off and now with Top Rank he is showing his old form. He wins the WBO NABO title which should get him a world rating. Dawson 37 may have reached the end of his road. He lost to Serhiy Dzinziruk for the WBO title in 2010 and was beaten on points by Austin Trout last August. This loss ends his dream of another title shot but there a few domestic fights he might stay around for. Tso vs. Enriquez Tso gets a tough test from Filipino Enriquez and after winning the WBA International title is now hoping for a world title shot. Enriquez knew he could not match southpaw Tso for speed or skill so he tried to make Tso engage in a brawl. The tactic worked as the young Hong Kong fighter never really took control of the fight. The deciding factor was knockdown scored by Tso in the fourth. A left hook put Enriquez on the floor but the Filipino came back from that to force Tso to fight hard in every round. Tso just never found the punching room to repeat that knockdown and the fight was close right to the end with real concern that Tso might have thrown away his chance of the title shot but the judges went his way. Scores 95-94 twice and 96-93 so that knockdown proved crucial. The 27-year-old “Wonder Boy” was lucky to win this one and talk of a fight with WBA champion Kohei Kono must be in doubt as Kono is scheduled to defend against Koki Kameda. The “Filipino Blade” Enriquez, 23, proved to be a surprise package as he had lost in five rounds to Mzuvukile Magwaca in South Africa and was only No 5 bantam with the GAB. Felix vs. Sermona Felix racks up another inside the distance victory. Young “Josesito Jr” need only one thumping right hand to put Filipino Sermona down and out. All over in 106 seconds. After losing a close unanimous decision to Bryan Vasquez for the interim WBA title in April the 22-year-old from Los Mochis is working his way back up the ratings for another title shot. He has scored 3 wins by KO/TKO since that major setback and has 24 wins by KO/TKO in total. Third loss by KO/TKO for Sermona who is No 6 with the GAB. Hull, England: Light: Tommy Coyle (21-2) W TKO 5 Martin Gethin (25-7-1). Welter: Sam Eggington (14-2) W TKO 5 Shayne Singleton (20-1). Super Middle: Rocky Fielding (20-0) W PTS 8 Olegs Fedotovs (19-19). Light: Luke Campbell (10-0) W TKO 3 Levis Morales (11-2-1). Super Light: Bradley Saunders (12-0) W TKO 5 Stephane Benito (22-19-3). Super Bantam: Gamal Yafai (5-0) W TKO 3 Krzys Rogowski (9-13). Super Welter: Tim Knight (5-0-1) DREW 8 Erick Ochieng (16-4-1) Coyle vs. Gethin Gethin nearly ruins the future plans for a big local showdown when he floors Coyle early but Coyle battles back for win. Coyle took the fight to Gethin at the start letting his punches go early and being the busier fighter. It was near disaster in the second. The two boxers were exchanging punches when with his back to the ropes Coyle left his chin up in the air and Gethin exploded a vicious left hook to the jaw. Coyle went down in a heap but managed to drag himself up. As the referee was applying the count Coyle stumbled back into the ropes on unsteady legs and looked in deep trouble. Just as in his fight last February with Daniel Brizuela when he climbed off the floor to win Coyle again showed remarkable power of recovery and not only lasted to the bell but despite the knockdown and a cut on his right eyebrow he came out strong in the third and fourth rounds. The fight was delicately poised when at the end of the fifth Gethin retired having again suffered a burst eardrum. Coyle seemed to be getting on top before the end but Gethin was very much in the fight. Next Coyle wants a fight with local rival Olympic gold medalist Luke Campbell who also won on the night. Coyle, 25, the IBF No 13 has good wins over John Simpson, Daniel Brizuela and Mike Katsidis but he is unlikely to get off the hook if the talented Campbell puts him down. Gethin, 31, twice a British champion, has now lost 4 of his last 5 fights and this recurring injury to his ear may be the final straw. Eggington vs. Singleton Eggington very impressive as he halts previously unbeaten Singleton. As expected Singleton showed some neat boxing skills to take the first round but Eggington had been showing some impressive power in recent fights and he produced another power performance here. In the second round a left hook put Singleton down hard. Singleton beat the count and managed to make it to the bell. Eggington was on top in the third as Singleton struggled to get back into the fight but he steadied himself enough to pinch the fourth but every punch Eggington landed seemed to discomfort Singleton. Early in the fifth a right had Singleton on the floor for the second time. He made it to his feet but the follow-up attack saw him go down again and the fight was stopped. The 21-year-old “Savage” wins the WBC International Silver title. His two losses have both been in the Prizefighter Tournaments which are exciting but not indicative of the true quality of a fighter. This is the fourth win in a row by KO/TKO for Eggington including a stoppage win over former CBC champion Denton Vassell (20-1). Singleton, 25, will have some lessons to take on board after this crushing loss but he has plenty of talent and can rebound. Fielding vs. Fedotovs Fielding returns with a win. The former undefeated CBC champion won every round against Latvian travelling loser Fedotovs but never looked close to ending it early and got caught with a few punches he would have blocked or avoided if he had been sharp. After an extended period of inactivity the eight rounds of work will have been useful as he sheds the rust. Referee’s score 80-72. The 27-year-old IBF No 7 was having his first fight in 8 months. He is looking for a fight with local rival Paul Smith but will need to be a lot sharper for that. Fedotovs has lost 6 of his last 7 fights but is usually durable. Campbell vs. Morales Campbell tries to put his father’s precarious health behind him in the ring. He made a late decision to fight on the card but was his usual high quality self. He was able to hurt Morales right from the start and there was no way this fight was gong to go eight rounds. In the second a right to the side of the head had Morales tumbling forward to the canvas. The Nicaraguan made it the bell but the reprieve was temporary. In the third Campbell drove Morales into a corner and landed a series of punches that had Morales down on his knees. The last punch looked suspiciously as if might have landed just after the Nicaraguan’s knees touched the canvas but as he struggled to his feet the fight was rightly stopped. The rangy 27-year-old southpaw just oozes class and his power has brought him 8 wins by KO/TKO. He destroyed Daniel Brizuela in five rounds which is a much better job than Coyle did but when these two meet previous form will be washed away by emotion. First fight outside Nicaragua for Morales and first loss by KO/TKO. He will now probably join the traveling band of losers used around European rings Saunders vs. Benito. Saunders takes a while to wear down persistent Frenchman Benito but gets the expected win. The former top amateur is due to challenge Dave Ryan for the CBC title next month so this was good preparation. Benito was right there to be hit and Saunders was scoring with hard punches in each round but Benito was willing to trade and it looked as though he might go the full six rounds but the referee had seen enough in the fifth and stopped the fight. Nine wins by KO/TKO for the EBU No 11. He won a bronze medal at the World Championships, a gold medal at the European Union Championships a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games and competed at the 2008 Olympics but has suffered somewhat from injuries. His fight with Ryan should a good one. Yafai vs. Rogowski Yafai marches on. The Birmingham prospect is another who has suffered from injuries but “The Beast” is going to be a force. He had no trouble with Pole Rogowski with the referee stopping the fight late in the third round. Yafai has excelled at all levels being a gold medal winner at the British Cadet Championships, a silver at the European Cadet Championships, a gold at the European Cadet Championships, an ABA title and a bronze medal at the European Championships where he beat Irish star John Joe Nevin. It is a toss up to where he or brother Khalid is the more talented. Rogowski was a very good amateur but as a pro has just been a consistent loser and is 2-6 in his last 8 fights. Knight vs. Ochieng Knight takes a big step up in quality and gets a creditable draw. The local youngster began looking sharp with Ochieng slower but dangerous when he landed. Things were going well for Knight until the fourth when an overhand right put him down. When he made it to his feet he was under fire again and an uppercut unbalanced him so that he touched the canvas. He quickly recovered and after that second knockdown was trading on equal terms with Ochieng. In the fifth it was Ochieng’s turn to be in trouble as a furious attack from Knight sent him out through the ropes. He regained his feet and they continued to fight on pretty even terms. A great fight back by Knight but he had to settle for a draw. Referee’s scorecard 75-75. Good experience in his first eight round fight for the 22-year-old Knight against a seasoned pro. Former English champion and British title challenger Ochieng had a spell of three losses in a row but is rebuilding steadily and is 2-0-1 in his last three fights. Caseros, Argentina: Welter: David E Romero (11-5) W TKO 7 Luis A Tejerina (12-3-1). Fly: Luis A Lazarte (52-11-2) W PTS 10 Carlos A Farias (12-8-2). Heavy: Marcelo Dominguez (48-8-1) W PTS 6 Nestor D Dominguez (17-6-1). Romero vs. Tejerina Romero wins the vacant WBO Latino title with stoppage of Tejerina. In furious action Romero made the better start edging the first two rounds only for Tejerina to bang back to even things up over the next three rounds. As the fight progressed through the middle rounds Romero was the busier and more accurate and Tejerina was having trouble staying with him. Romero had a big sixth round and in the seventh put Tejerina down with a right. He beat the count but was down again from a right/left combination and the referee stopped the fight. The 22-year-old “Romerito” is FAB No 9 and this is his fifth win by KO/TKO. Tejerina, 27, had won his last three fights. Lazarte vs. Farias Former IBF light fly champion Lazarte just scrapes by southpaw Farias on a split decision. Lazarte swept the first three rounds but then age caught up with him and Farias was able to claw back some of the lead looking to have edged the fifth and sixth. Lazarte rallied to make the seventh and eighth close rounds and Farias staged a big effort over the ninth and tenth but just not enough to get the decision. Scores 96-94 and 97 ½-96 for Lazarte and 97 ½-93 for Farias. The 44-year-old “Mosquito” took 2 ½ years out after losing to John Riel Casimero for the interim IBF light fly title and now has three wins since returning to action in July last year. He is currently No 2 super fly with the FAB. “Pancake” Farias, 28, falls to 6 losses and a draw in his last 7 fights. He is FAB No 5 at flyweight but the Argentinian title and the first three places in the FAB ratings are vacant. M. Dominguez vs. N Dominguez A comfortable win for M Dominguez but with a sting in the tail. After an even first round the experience of the veteran M Dominguez told as he outboxed N Dominguez comfortable. He came near ending it in the last round when a shot to the chin followed by a left hook to the body put N Dominguez down but he got to his feet and survived to the bell. The 45-year-old former WBC cruiser champion admitted that he suffered a broken finger during the fight. Fighting at heavyweight he has won 8 of his last 9 fights. He is FAB No 1 so in line for a shot at national champion Matias A Vidono who beat him on a cuts stoppage in October. Two losses in a row for FAB No 5(4) Dominguez. Surfers Paradise, Australia: Light Heavy: Trent Broadhurst (14-1) W KO 1 Joe Rea (10-17-4). On a much shortened show Broadhurst floors Irishman Rea three times for automatic KO win. The 26-year-old local, a former Australian amateur champion and Commonwealth Championships silver medal winner, makes it 9 wins by KO/TKO and 7 wins since a kayo loss to Robert Berridge in 2011. Rea, 31, is 1-5-3 in his last 9 fights. This was the main event after fights for Damien Hooper and Cameron Hammond had to be cancelled. Magdeburg, Germany: Cruiser: Kai Kurzawa (36-4) W PTS 12 Dennis Ronert (23-1). Light Heavy: Dominic Boesel (18-0) W PTS 10 Timy Shala (19-1-1). Super Light: Felix Lamm (10-1) W KO 3 Ahmet Cicek (4-2). Heavy: Tom Schwarz (11-0) W TKO 3 Jakov Gospic (15-11). Kurzawa vs. Ronert Kurzawa wins upset decision over unbeaten Ronert. It looked as though this might be all over in the first when the beefy Ronert bulldozed his way through Kurzawa’s defence and slammed home a left to the body. Kurzawa went down in agony and was still in pain at the end of the eight count. Ronert took him to the ropes and battered away but could not repeat the knockdown before the bell. After that Kurzawa was faster with his punches and more mobile and as Ronert advanced behind a high guard he was able to thread punches through to the face and around the elbows to the body. Ronert was a tank rumbling forward and dangerous with heavy swings. In the third a body punch from Ronert landed low and Kurzawa was given time to recover. He fought back hard scoring on the advancing Ronert only to be punched half way out through the ropes as he ducked to avoid more body punches. Kurzawa was getting through with a lot more shots but Ronert just walked through whatever was thrown at him and when he closed the distance he was by far the heavier puncher. A clash of heads in then fifth saw a lump appeared under the right eye of Ronert. The sixth was a bad round for Kurzawa as Ronert first worked him over on the ropes and as he moved into centre ring landed a punch on the sash around Kurzawa's trunks. He went down on one knee expecting a time-out but instead the referee started to count so he had to get up at eight and go back into the fight. Ronert had him on the ropes again but by the end of the round Kurzawa was straight lefts and a head snapping uppercut. It was a battle of attrition where the questions were over whether the 16 years older Kurzawa could last the pace. They both tired badly with it being a case of whether the greater quantity from Kurzawa or the hard punches from Ronert would impress the judges. Ronert nearly pulled it off as he sent Kurzawa staggering with a left hook in the last but he was too tired to capitalise on that success. Scores 114-112 twice for Kurzawa and 113-113. The 38-year-old Kurzawa wins the vacant IBF International title. He has won his last 14 fights going back to 2010 and if he is not going to give Ronert a return he will find a queue of young heavyweights looking to take him on after this win. The 22-year-old Ronert is strong and has a hard dig but is on the slow side and comes in on a straight line with little head movement which Kurzawa was able to exploit here. Boesel vs. Shala Boesel retains the WBO Inter-Continental title with verdict over Shala. Boesel was quicker with his jab and showed a better variety of punches. He was content to box on the back foot much of the time looking for Shala to lead and then bang home counters. The third saw Boesel suddenly take charge and on three occasions open up with 5-6 punch combinations. The fight became a bit bad tempered in the fifth as Boesel landed 4 punches which went over the stooped head of Shala and landed on the back of his neck. Shala replied in kind but the handbags were then put away. Boesel was just too quick for Shala who was constantly coming forward but hesitant to throw his punches as Boesel was setting traps to lure him onto counters. Shala landed some good right crosses behind the jab in the seventh and Boesel was showing a lump over his left eye. Shala came forward throughout the eighth but for every lead he threw Boesel paid him back with thumping right hand counters. The pace dropped in the ninth with Shala still coming forward and Boesel on his toes using his own jab but not so many counters. Both were tired in the last with Boesel taking that one countering as Shala looked for the knockout he needed. Scores 98-92 twice and 97-93. The 25-year-old German, the EBU No 11 had won only two of his last eight fights by KO/TKO and again here he never really had Shala shaken despite landing so many beefy punches. He has had trouble with the weight in the past but had no problems this time. Previously unbeaten Austrian-based Kosovan Shala showed some good skills working everything off his jab but he did not have the speed or power to win this one. Lamm vs. Cicek The tall slender southpaw Lamm towered over little Cicek and duly got his expected win. Neither fighter did much over the first two minutes until Lamm let his hands go with some fast combinations but did not connect very cleanly. The second saw Lamm following Cicek around the ring looking for an opening but not finding one and Cicek occasionally stopping to throw some wild swings. Lamm came out in the third with a more aggressive approach. He hurt Cicek with a good left hook to the body and as they came together Lamm threw a left which missed and followed it with a right hook that crashed into Cicek’s jaw and put him on his back. He struggled to his feet but staggered on unsteady legs and the fight was stopped. Lamm wins the vacant BDB version of the German title and makes it 4 wins by KO/TKO. German-based Turk Cicek had won his last 4 fights but was in over his head both for quality and size. Schwarz vs. Gospic Schwarz moves to 8 wins by KO/TKO with stoppage of overweight Croatian. Schwarz was taller, lighter and quicker than Gospic. After a cautious start in the first round he went to work. A right cross staggered Gospic who managed to cover up and avoid the next few shots, but Schwartz cut loose again near the end of the round with more big rights with Gospic happy to hear the bell. Schwarz was on his toes in the second not really applying pressure and content to just get in some paid sparring practice. Gospic landed a couple of shots to the body and a useful left uppercut but that was all. In the third a chopping right put Gospic down. He was up at six and ready to continue. Schwarz drove Gospic into a corner and just fired punch after punch as Gospic slumped into the ropes and the referee stopped the fight. The 6’5 ½” (197cm) 20-year-old German heavyweight badly needs ring time as 7 of his fights have ended in the first round and he is still showing some flaws. This one was a gift for him. Gospic, 32, was 6’1” (185cm) and weighed 266 ½ lbs (121kg) which tells you all you need to know about his fitness. He has lost inside the distance to Matt Skelton and Gary Cornish in trips the UK. Tokyo, Japan: Super Light: Hiroki Okada (10-0) W TKO 3 Hayato Hokazono (18-5-1). Welter: Suyon Takayama (22-1) W PTS 10 Nobuyuki Shindo (16-3). Okada vs. Hokazono Okada retains the JBC title for the second time with stoppage of Hokazono. The champion was fired up from the bell and was landing hard punches to head and body and a clash of heads saw both boxers cut before the end of the round. Okada kept up the pressure and with the advantage of Hokazono’s cut affecting his vision was well on top. Hokazono survived a number of examinations of the cut. Knowing the cut was bad Hokazono became wild in his attacks and Okada floored him heavily in the third. Hokazono made it his feet but he was very shaky and the referee rightly stopped the fight. After winning his first 7 fights by KO/TKO the 25-year-old Okada had gone the full ten rounds in his next two fights so this is a return to the KO/TKO path. Second unsuccessful challenge for the national title for Hokazono who was 10-3 in his previous 13 fights. Takayama vs. Shindo Takayama makes a fifth defence of his JBC title but needs a strong finish to overcome a poor start. Southpaw Shindo had Takayama on the floor in the first and also opened a cut over the champion’s right eye all before the half way mark of the fight. Since he was also giving away height and reach Takayama could only cope by taking the fire out of the fight and closing down Shindo’s work so he could do some scoring of his own. It made for a messy untidy fight but the champion’s tactics worked over the second half of the fight. It wasn’t pretty but he did enough to get the unanimous decision. Scores 96-93 twice and 96-94. The 29-year-old JBC champion is rated No 4 by the OPBF but has no real chance of getting a world rating in this division. Shindo, 28, 6’1” (186cm) tall had won 12 of his last 13 fights. |
InternationalWe know that not every fight involves an Asian fighter but a lot of fights do affect Asian fighter. As a result we've decided to add this new section to Asian boxing where we look at selected International bouts. Archives
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