The Past Week In Action 24 November 2015
November 20Las Vegas, NV, USA: Super Middle: Gilberto Ramirez (33-0) W PTS 10 Gevorg Khatchikian (23-2). Welter: Konstantin Ponomarev (29-0) W PTS 8 Ramses Agaton (17-3-3).Light: Saul Rodriguez (19-0-1) W TKO 1 Ivan Najera (16-2). Super Feather: Toka Kahn Clary (17-0,1ND) W RTD 2 Sergio Lopez (19-10-1). Super Feather: Casey Ramos (21-0) W PTS 8 Adones Aguelo (24-13-2). Light Heavy: Olek Gvozdyk (8-0) W TKO 3 Cleiton Conceicao (22-7-2). Ramirez vs. Khatchikian Ramirez stays on track for a world title shot with a wide unanimous decision over the strong and awkward Khatchikian. The tall Mexican was coming forward behind his southpaw jab and forcing Khatchikian on to the back foot. Khatchikian had a bag of tricks as he moved around with his hands at his thighs with exaggerated upper body movement then leapt in with wild swings. Over the first three rounds although Ramirez was doing most of the scoring as he hunted down the retreating Khatchikian he was getting caught too often with those wild rights. From the fourth the Mexican stepped-up the pace and began to bombard Khatchikian with hard right hooks to the body. Khatchikian had been trying to box in spurts but now Ramirez was forcing him to keep on the move and under pressure for three minutes in every round. Despite his domination of the fight Ramirez never really managed to shake Khatchikian or get him in serious trouble and Khatchikian was again getting through with the occasional rights. Ramirez turned the heat up even more over the ninth and tenth but Khatchikian took the punishment and made it to the final bell. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91 for Ramirez. He retains his NABF and WBO International titles and is rated WBO 1/WBC 2/WBA 2/IBF 3(2). If he goes for the WBO title it will be interesting to see whether there is enough money on offer to tempt Arthur Abraham to fight outside Germany. Dutch-based Armenian Khatchikian, the EBU No 12, had lost in eleven rounds against James DeGale in a fight for the WBC Silver title in March 2014 and had then won three low level fights in Holland. Ponomarev vs. Agaton Ponomarev needs strong finish to get by tough Mexican southpaw on a majority decision. Agaton was having his second fight in less than a week and that may have been a factor in how this fight panned out. Over the early rounds Ponomarev had his hands full and as he tried to press the fight he was constantly being caught with sharp counters from Agaton. His work rate was helping him edge the rounds but it was not until the half way mark that he took control as Agaton tired and Ponomarev pulled away to get the deserved decision. Scores 79-73 twice for Ponomarev and 76-76. The tall 23-year-old Russian “Talant” has victories over Cosme Rivera and Steve Claggett and was coming off his best win so far a decision over Mike Zewski (26-0). He is rated WBC 7/IBF 8(7)/WBO 14. Agaton had halted Jhonny Navarrete on 14 November and now falls to 9-2-3 in his last 14 fights. Rodriguez vs. Najera Rodriguez blasts out Najera inside a round. Najera was coming forward behind a high guard with Rodriguez on the back foot. Rodriguez gave an early indication of what was to come when he shook Najera with a right. Najera kept pressing but was out of range with his punches. They exchanged hooks and then Rodriguez landed a stiff left jab and a straight right. Najera kept coming but a right to the body and a left hook to the chin put him on the floor. He got up but was on wobbly legs. The referee had a hard look at him and there was already a swelling under Najera’s left eye and when the action restarted a right to the head put Najera down again with the referee immediately waiving the fight over. “Neno” Rodriguez, 22, now has 14 wins by KO/TKO. No big names in there yet but he shows real promise and is ready for bigger fights. Texan Najera had gone the full ten rounds with hot Puerto Rican hope Felix Verdejo but it is not a very valid comparison as Vallejo injured a hand early. Clary vs. Lopez Clary just too much for Lopez. The Liberian-born Top Rank prospect did not resemble his “T Nice” nickname in any way in this one. He had the skill and power to hand out a solid beating to Lopez over the six minutes this lasted. Lopez did well to come through a fiery first round but was dropped by a right in the second. He made it to the vertical position but was badly rocked again at the end of the round and his corner pulled him out of the fight in the interval. The 23-year-old southpaw goes to 11 wins by KO/TKO. Mexican Lopez had a couple of useful results in a win over Victor Betancourt (16-0) and a draw with Joksan Hernandez but had been knocked out in four rounds by Alejandro Luna in August. Ramos vs. Aguelo Ramos showcases his excellent skills but also his lack of power. Aguelo had been in with some quality opposition and took the fight to the young Texan “Wizard” but with little success. Ramos was too quick busy and accurate and hardly let Aguelo into the fight as he boxed his way to a wide unanimous verdict. Scores 80-72 from all three judges. The 26-year-old from Austin has wins over reasonably testing opposition in John Jackson and Daniel Evangelista but has had to go the distance in 13 of his last 14 fights and has just 5 wins by KO/TKO. He may need to find some power as he moves up. Filipino Aguelo, 27 is 4-5 in his last 9 fights but in Nery Saguilan, Sergio Thompson, Adrian Estrella and Will Tomlinson he has been in with a much higher quality of opponent than Ramos. The losses to Saguilan and Thompson were close fights and the verdict in the Tomlinson fight was a majority one so on reflection a good performance for Ramos. Gvozdyk vs. Conceicao Ukrainian Olympian just punches too hard for Brazilian veteran Conceicao. Gvozdyk controlled the first two rounds with a power show that indicated an early finish. Conceicao managed to get through those rounds-just-but it was all over in the third. Gvozdyk floored Conceicao with a body punch and although Conceicao made it to his feet he went down again quickly when Gvozdyk handed out some more punishment. The tall 28-year-old Gvozdyk won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics finishing even on points but losing on judge’s count back. He also competed at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. He now has six wins by KO/TKO. Conceicao, 36, went the distance in losing to Sean Monaghan in May and then went home to get a couple of easy wins. Panama City, Panama: Heavy: Guillermo Jones (40-3-2) W PTS 10 Daniel Cota (17-6-1). Welter: Aristides Quintero (20-5-1) W TKO 6 Jose Miranda (13-15-3). Bantam: Edgar Valencia (8-1-1,1ND) W TKO 2 Javier Coronado (7-17-2). Jones vs. Cota Drug cheat Jones returns to action with easy points win over Mexican Cota. Now up at heavyweight the former WBA cruiser champion handed out steady punishment but Cota did his job and went the distance. Scores 100-90 twice and 100-91. Now 43 Jones was twice stripped off his WBA title for testing positive for a banned substance and this is his first fight since May 2013. Cota a safe pick for Jones. He was knocked out in three rounds by Deontay Wilder in 2011 and then had another inside the distance loss in August 2014 which was his last fight before this one. Quintero vs. Miranda Quintero gets back to winning ways with stoppage of Miranda. After a 4-4-1 start to his career Quintero, 24, ran up 15 wins in a row, 13 by KO/TKO before losing in one round against Azael Cosio in April. Fellow Panamanian Miranda, 36, drops to 9 losses by KO/TKO. Valencia vs. Coronado Southpaw prospect Valencia halts poor Coronado in two rounds of a non-title fight. Valencia, the national champion, was good class amateur representing Panama at the Central American Games. He has 3 wins and a No Decision in his last 4 fights. Six losses on the bounce for Coronado. Temuco, Chile: Feather: Cristian Palma (20-10-1) W PTS 10 Luis Dee (4-3-1). Palma retains the national title with unanimous decision over Dee. “Tiger” Palma made his usual aggressive start with Dee determined to work on the back foot and counter punch his way to victory. It was close over the opening rounds but Palma was landing more and harder punches. He was looking for a knockout over the closing rounds but Dee became even more survival minded and was happy to have gone the distance as he had never gone ten rounds before. The 30-year-old Palma is now 3-5 in his last 8 fights but the losses have been on the road against top flight opposition including Paulus Ambunda and Mitchell Smith. One of the wins was over Luis Parra for the Chilean title. Dee was 2-0-1 in his last 3 fights but out of his depth against the experienced Palma. Belfast, Northern Ireland: Middle: Conrad Cummings (7-0-1) DREW 10 Alfredo Meli (11-0-1). Feather: Marco McCullough (14-2) W PTS 10 Sergio Prado (11-6-1), Light: Pat Hyland Jr (9-0) W PTS 6 Virgile Degonzaga (11-11-2). Welter: Paddy Gallagher (9-2) W TKO 4 Tomas Bartunek (3-4). Cummings vs. Meli The BBB of C Celtic title remains vacant after these two fought to a majority draw. “Dynamite” Cummings was fast out of the blocks flooring Meli with a left inside the first minute of the fight. However, Meli was not badly hurt and boxed his way to the bell. Cummings took the second after staggering Meli with a right but by the third Meli had seen out the storm and was outboxing Cummings. Meli was using his southpaw skills to box on the outside and as Cummings continued to advance Meli was spearing him with right jabs and combination punches. The fight was getting messy with Cummings getting warnings for holding and low blows from his frustration of not being able to pin down the clever Meli. The fast pace began to tell on Meli and Cummings was able to close the gap in the seventh and eighth. The ninth saw the referee deduct a point from both boxers for holding and Cummings closed the round strongly having Meli pinned on the ropes and hurt. Cummings was much the fresher in the last and staged a storming finish but it was not quite enough to cancel out the work Meli did in the middle rounds and the judges differed on how they saw it. Scores 95-92 for Cummings, 96-93 for Meli and 94-94. The 24-year-old Cummings dropped out of university to follow a boxing path. He was a top amateur who fought for the Mexican Guerreros in the WSB and had wins as an amateur over Esquiva Falcao and Cuban Carlos Banteur. Meli, 25 was also a high class amateur representing Ireland as an amateur fighting out of the famous Immaculata Boxing Club in Belfast. This one was so close that neither deserved to lose their unbeaten tag. McCullough vs. Prado McCullough continues his rebuilding process with wide decision over a game and dangerous Prado. The Spaniard started well hurting McCullough with a hook in the first and although McCullough did enough to win the round it made him a little more cautious. Prado also started the second brightly before the better boxing of McCullough was enough to let him pocket that round too. Over the next four rounds McCullough was in total control being busier and more accurate with his work. Prado showed some good defensive work and tried switching guards but McCullough always had the answer. McCullough had Prado hurt with a right in the seventh but the Spaniard again showed his power with some hard punches in the eighth but as he tired McCullough had him under increasing pressure over the last two rounds. Referee’s score 100-90. The 25-year-old from Belfast, a former top amateur, suffered a shock defeat when being knocked out inside a round by Hungarian journeyman Zoltan Kovacs in July but he is back on track with two wins since then. Prado, 32, is a former Spanish and EU champion at super bantam who lost on points to Kid Galahad for the EBU title in March last year and lost on points to unbeaten Dane Dennis Ceylan in June. Hyland vs. Degonzaga “Hylo” continues unbeaten as he outboxes Frenchman Degonzaga. Hyland had the better skills but Degonzaga was dangerous at times. Hyland was slotting home jabs and making good use of a sharp left hook to dominate every round but Degonzaga landed heavy shots in the third and had Hyland cut in the fifth. Hyland took the punches and his speed and accuracy saw him edge even those rounds. Degonzaga tried to drag Hyland into a slugging match in the sixth but the young Belfast fighter showed he could fight just as hard inside and finished strongly. Referee’s score 60-54. Good, testing six rounds of work for the 25-year-old Belfast fighter. Degonzaga after a run of bad results had been unbeaten in his last three fights. Gallagher vs. Bartunek Gallagher too good for inexperienced young Czech. The Belfast fighter handed out a steady beating landing stinging left hooks that had the Czech’s face visibly marked and had him almost out of the fight by the second. Gallagher put Bartunek down with a body punch in the third but got careless and was caught with a counter that had him holding to the bell. In the fourth a right put Bartunek down and although he made it to the vertical the follow up attack from Gallagher saw the fight stopped. The 26-year-old “Pat-Man” gets his fifth win by KO/TKO. Both of his losses have come in Prizefighter Tournaments and he has won his last 4 fights. Now 4 losses in 4 visits to the United Kingdom for 18-year-old Bartunek. Houghton-le-Spring, England: Super Bantam: James Dickens (21-1) W PTS 12 Martin Ward (22-3-1). Super Bantam: Thomas Patrick Ward (16-0) W PTS 6 Rey Cajina (14-30-5). Dickens vs. Ward Dickens retains British title with split decision over local fighter Ward in this all-southpaw scrap. This was a close battle all the way with Ward bravely fighting through numerous cuts and staging a late surge but just coming up short. Ward actually got into his stride first doubling up on his jab and slotting home good rights in the first with Dickens getting home with a couple of rights. Ward also took the early part of the second but then Dickens found his range by the end of the round to edge it. The third saw Ward suffer two cuts as heads clashed and although he was busier Dickens was landing the heavier punches. Ward came back with his jab to take the fifth and sixth but then Dickens took the seventh and eighth and Ward the ninth with the fight swinging to Dickens in the tenth. By now Ward had cuts over both eyes and another one high on his head which were hampering his work. He staged a strong finish in the last two rounds to make the fight so close it could have gone either way. Dickens had landed the harder punches but Ward had been busier. In the end the judges scored it 116-113 and 115-114 to Dickens and 116-112 to Ward. Liverpool’s “Jazza was making the first defence of the title he won by beating Josh Wale in a good fight in March. His only loss is a tenth round stoppage by Kid Galahad for the vacant British title in 2013. He is the mandatory challenger to Gavin McDonnell, for the EBU title which would be another excellent match. Ward, 27, is 14-2-1 in his last 17 fights with the other loss being to current IBF champion Lee Haskins and the draw being a technical draw in a fight against Stuart Hall for the IBF title in 2014 when Ward was also cut again. He is a talented fighter and can go on to win a title. Ontario, CA, USA: Super Light: Giovanni Santillan (18-0) W TKO 2 Rosbel Montoya (16-6-1). Bantam: Carlos Carlson (20-1) W PTS 8 Jose Estrella (14-9-1). Santillan vs. Montoya Santillan demolishes Montoya inside two rounds. Southpaw Santillan nearly finished it in the first. He floored Montoya early with a body punch and then put him down again at the end of the round and the bell went as Montoya made it to his feet. Santillan jumped on Montoya at the start of the second and after another knockdown Montoya’s corner team signalled to the referee to stop the fight. The 23-year-ol Santillan the “Gallo de Oro makes it ten wins by KO/TKO. He needed to be impressive after just scraping by on a majority decision in his last fight. Montoya’s best result was an upset decision over Filipino Jason Pagara in Cebu City in 2011 but he has lost his last 4 by KO/TKO with Pagara, now the WBO No 1, getting revenge with a stoppage win in 2012. Carlson vs. Estrella Carson makes it 20 wins in a row as he outpoints Estrella. After a slow first round Carson used his jab to keep Estrella on the back foot and was looking to take Estrella to the ropes where he could work away to the body. Carson clearly took the second and third but Estrella had a better fourth round. The fifth saw Carson back in charge and Estrella back on the ropes. There were a few head clashes but neither fighter was cut and with the fight becoming one-sided Estrella did well to last the distance. Scores 79-73 from all three judges. Carson, 25, hails from Tijuana but has become a big attraction at the Double Tree Hotel in Ontario. He is rated No 13 by the WBC but how a fighter who has never fought anything but 6 and 8 rounds fights and never beaten a rated fighter can be rated No 13 in the world escapes me. “Hollywood” Estrella, also from Tijuana, has now lost 5 of his last 6 fights but those who have beaten him have had total records of 51-1 when they scored their respective wins. Las Vegas, NV, USA: Feather: Horacio Garcia (30-1) W TKO 2 Raul Hidalgo (24-14). Super Bantam: Diego De La Hoya (13-0) W PTS 8 Giovanni Delgado (15-4). Welter: Alan Sanchez (17-3-1) W TKO 6 John Karl Sosa (13-1). Super Bantam: Erik Ruiz (15-4) W PTS 8 Roy Tapia (11-1-2). Middle: Jason Quigley (9-0) W PTS 4 Marchristofer Adkins (6-2). Garcia vs. Hidalgo Mexican “Violento” Garcia gets quick win in his first fight in the USA. Garcia made his usual aggressive start and Hidalgo was under pressure throughout the first round. In the second Garcia drove Hidalgo to the ropes and bombarded him with hooks and uppercuts until the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight. The 25-year-old big puncher from Guadalajara makes it 22 wins by KO/TKO. He had his 29 bout winning streak broken in May when he lost a wide verdict to former WBC bantam and feather champion Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan. Hidalgo, also Mexican, is 5-5 in his last 10 fights but the total records for those 5 that beat him add up to 83-1 so no easy ones for Senor Hidalgo. De La Hoya vs. Delgado De La Hoya gets another win. The young Mexican prospect showed excellent skills as he boxed on the back foot drawing Delgado in and scoring with hard counters. He was quicker and slicker than Delgado working well to head and body. Delgado never stopped trying. His pressure kept the bout interesting and he had more success in the later rounds but could never match the movement and hand speed of De La Hoya. Scores 79-73 from all three judges. The 21-year-old “Golden Kid” from Mexicali, a cousin of Oscar, has good wins over Manuel Roman and Jesus Ruiz. Delgado, 24, who Diego had sparred with in the past, is 3-4 in his last 7 fights. Sanchez vs. Sosa Sanchez had bid advantages in height and reach and he used them to soften Sosa up and eventually take away his unbeaten tag. At 6’1” (185cm) Sanchez was able to use his jab to keep Sosa on the outside and force him back. The main danger for Sosa came not so much from Sanchez’s jab but from the right counters he was catching the Puerto Rican with as he tried to work his way inside. Sanchez had built a good lead when one of the right counters nailed Sosa in the sixth. Sosa went down heavily and was badly shaken. Sosa made it to his feet but follow-up attacks from Sanchez saw Sosa go down twice more and the referee stopped the fight. The 24-year-old Sanchez has lost only once in his last 13 fights and that was on points against Luis Collazo in 2013. This is his fifth wins since then including a victory over Eddie Paredes. Back to the drawing board for Sosa. Ruiz vs. Tapia Another unbeaten fighter suffered his first loss here as Ruiz staged a strong finish to get the split decision over Tapia. There was never much between the two in a hard fought match. Tapia made the better start working inside but the rounds were close with both landing hard punches in an exciting scrap with Tapia just having his nose in front after six rounds. However his face was showing the marks of the work from Ruiz and over the seventh and eighth Ruiz did enough to win the rounds and the decision. Scores 77-75 twice for Ruiz and 77-75 for Tapia. Oxnard-based Ruiz,24, had lost 3 of his last 4 going in but the losses were to quality opposition in Jessie Magdaleno, Manuel Avila and Daniel Roman who between them had total records of 51-2-1 and two of those fights went the full ten rounds giving Ruiz an experience edge over Tapia who had never gone past six rounds before. Tapia, also 24, had wins over experienced opposition in Luis Maldonado and Juan Luis Hernandez so he can come again. Quigley vs. Adkins Irish star hope Quigley has to go the distance for the first time to outpoint Adkins. The Irish fighter was in charge most of the way but in the third a clash of heads saw him suffer a bad cut over his left eye. That encouraged Adkins who pressed Quigley hard over the last round but could never match the quality of the former amateur stand-out. Scores 40-36 twice and 39-37. Quigley, 24, who won gold at the European Championships and a silver at the World Championships, is an outstanding prospect. Big step up in quality for Adkins. He had won his last six fight including a victory over Shane Mosley Jr New York, NY, USA: Super Feather: Chris Galeano (10-0,1ND) W PTS 10 Shawn Cameron (10-1). Super Welter: Carlos Garcia (10-14-1) W TKO 1 Patrick Day (11-2-1). Middle: Artur Akavov (15-1) W TKO 2 Freddy Lopez (9-3). Middle: Francy Ntetu (16-0) W PTS 8 Oscar Riojas (9-3). Galeano vs. Cameron Galeano gets unanimous verdict in competitive match against fellow southpaw Cameron. Over the first three rounds Cameron was giving as good as he was getting forcing the fight against the better boxing and getting through with enough to edge slightly in front. Galeano stepped up his work from the third and was timing his counters better making Cameron pay for his aggression with fast accurate shots. There was nothing Cameron could do to match Galeano’s boxing and he became wild in his attacks which just made the job easier for the classy Bronx southpaw and Galeano ran out a comfortable winner. Scores 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. The 22-year-old was twice New York Golden Gloves champion and US National champion in 2013 but failed at the Last Chance Qualifier for a place at the US Trials for the 2012 Olympics. He had a bad start as a pro being floored twice and outpointed by David Rohn only for Rohn to test positive for a banned substance so the decision was changed to ND. Cameron, 33, also a New York Golden Gloves champion, served two tours in Iraq with the US Army. Both were up at ten rounds for the first time. Day vs. Garcia Day beat Galeano in the amateurs but is struggling as a pro. Puerto Rican Garcia landed a massive right which had Day in deep trouble and he kept firing until the referee stopped it to save Day. All over in 79 seconds. Garcia was 3-7 in his previous ten fights so did not seem to pose a threat to Day but 8 of his 10 wins have come by KO/TKO. Not sure where Day goes from here. At one time he was the No 1 rated amateur in the US in his weight division so big things were expected. His other loss was to unbeaten Alantez Fox but this one is more difficult to explain away. Akavov vs. Lopez Russian southpaw Akavov impresses in stoppage of Lopez. The solid built Akavov established his jab early and then began to unload his power shots. Lopez quickly crumbled and was floored with a left to the body in the second. He got up but was in no condition to continue. Akavov, the WBFoundation and WBO European champion has six wins by KO/TKO. Lopez only returned to the ring in March after almost six years away and is 2-2- since his comeback. Ntetu vs. Rojas DRC-born Canadian Ntetu makes heavy work of getting past Texan Rojas on a split decision. Ntetu had the skill but did not make full use of it letting Rojas brawl him out of his comfort zone. He hurt Rojas late in the fight but won the decision without impressing. Scores 77-74 and 76-75 for Ntetu and 76-74 for Rojas. Ntetu, 33, beat now world rated Schiller Hyppolite back in 2012 but has not really built on that win. Rojas has now lost 4 of his last 5 fights. Cordoba, Argentina: Light Heavy: Walter Sequeira (17-2) W KO 1 Evert Bravo (21-5-1). Super Light: Xavier Luques Castillo (15-4) W TEC DEC 5 Damian Yapur (11-3-2). Sequeira vs. Bravo Sequeira overwhelms Bravo in 70 seconds including the count. Colombian Bravo was taller and tried to work on the outside. Sequeira tracked him around the ropes until he trapped Bravo in a corner. A couple of left hooks rattled Bravo and then Sequeira unleashed a barrage of punches and Bravo slumped to the canvas. He took the ten count on one knee making no effort to rise. The 28-year-old Argentinian No 1 retains his WBC Latino title. He now has 12 wins by KO/TKO and after losing his first pro fight is now 17-1 in his last 18. Bravo, 30, lost inside the distance to Tommy Oosthuizen for the IBO super middle title and after being stopped in three rounds by Roberto Bolonti in May 2012 was inactive for almost three years before returning to action this year with three low level wins in domestic fights. Castillo vs. Yapur Castillo gets split technical decision over Yapur. The fight never really caught fire with Castillo doing just enough work with his jab to edge the first and Yapur just edged the second. Castillo had the better of the third and fourth but a clash of heads in the fourth as Castillo closed in recklessly opened a bad cut on Yapur’s right eyebrow. The referee examined the injury but said the fight could continue but early in the fifth the cut was still bleeding profusely and the referee stopped the fight and it was decided on the scorecards with the fifth round being scored. Scores 49 ½-47 ½ and 49-48 ½ to Castillo and 49-48 ½ to Yapur. Argentinian champion Castillo, 27, wins the vacant WBA Fedebol title. He has won 6 of his last 7 fights with the loss being a majority verdict against Josh King in Australia in September last year. Yapur had a 5-0-2 run but has now lost two in a row. Santiago, Chile: Super Fly: Miguel Gonzalez (23-1) W PTS 11 Luis Lazarte (52-12-2,1ND). Super Feather: Luis Parra (4-4-1) W PTS 10 Juan Jimenez (5-2). Gonzalez vs. Lazarte Gonzalez just too young, too quick and too big for experienced Lazarte and wins unanimous decision to collect the vacant WBA Fedebol title. Gonzalez stuck to his game plan using his reach and height to box on the outside with the smaller Lazarte unable to bring Gonzalez to the brawl. If anything Gonzalez was showing Lazarte too much respect and taking no chances. Although doing enough to take a couple of rounds a frustrated Lazarte was doing too much holding and too much talking. He was not just directing his remarks at Gonzalez but also at the supporters of the Chilean but again Gonzalez continued to box calmly and was a clear winner. Scores 108-101 twice and 107-103 ½. The 26-year-old “Needle” lost a wide unanimous decision to Brit Paul Butler in September 2013 but has now won six on the bounce and is rated No 13 by the WBA. Former IBF light fly champion Lazarte, 44, lost to John Riel Casimero for the WBA interim title in February 2012 in his home city of Mar del Plata a fight which was marred by disgraceful tactics by Lazarte and a full scale riot. Lazarte was then inactive until July 2014 and had won three domestic victories since then. Parra vs. Jimenez Parra wins the vacant national title with unanimous decision over Jimenez. An exciting contest saw both fighters on the canvas but “Little Engine” Parra was a clear winner. He used his better boxing to outclass Jimenez. When he lost to Jimenez in August he had allowed himself to be drawn into toe-to-toe trading which suited Jimenez better. Scores 97-91 twice and 98-90. Good win for the 28-year-old Parra as he had gone 1-4-1 in his previous six fights. Kampala, Uganda: Super Light: Hamza Sempewo (13-5) W PTS 12 Abdallah Ruwanje (4-3-1). Sempewo too good for inexperienced Tanzanian and wins the East & Central African title with wide unanimous decision. Scores 119-109 from all three judges. Good win for Sempewo as he rebounds from inside the distance loss in August. Ruwanje keeps his record of not losing inside the distance his other two losses have been to useful opposition in Cosmas Cheka and Solomon Bogere. November 21 Las Vegas, NV, USA: Middle: Saul Alvarez (46-1-1) W PTS 12 Miguel Cotto (40-5). Super Feather: Francisco Vargas (23-0-1) TKO 9 Takashi Miura (29-3-2). Feather: Ronny Rios (25-1) W PTS 10 Jayson Velez (23-1-1). Super Bantam: Guillermo Rigondeaux (16-0) W PTS 10 Drian Francisco (28-4-1). Feather: Alberto Machado (12-0) W TKO 1 Tyrone Luckey (8-5-2). Fly: Jose Martinez (16-0) W PTS 8 Oscar Mojica (8-1). Heavy: Zhilei Zhang (6-0) W PTS 4 Juan Goode (6-3). Alvarez vs. Cotto Alvarez gets huge win as he collects the vacant WBC middleweight title with unanimous decision over Cotto. Both were cautious at the start but as the action picked up in the first round Alvarez lands a hard combination to the body to take the round. The second was very close as Alvarez opens with a left to the body and Cotto with an overhand right. The Puerto Rican is staying away from the ropes and showing good movement and he looks to have evened things up. Alvarez has a good third as he scores with lefts and rights to the head with Cotto sticking to his jab and throwing lots of punches but with little accuracy. Cotto rebounds to take the fourth and even it looks to be 2-2. Cotto is using his jab again and although he has to absorb some hard rights from Alvarez he ends the round strongly. The fifth is too close to call. Alvarez lands the best punch of the round a left hook but Cotto shows good skills slipping punches and countering and by the end of the round Alvarez has a bruise showing under his right eye. The sixth was also close with Alvarez getting through with an overhand right and Cotto again jabbing to good effect but it is obvious that Alvarez has the greater power. He is throwing less but those that do land are power shots. Alvarez collects the seventh as he snaps Cotto’s head back with a right and gets through with a big right uppercut. Cotto is sticking to his boxing but just not landing enough. The eighth is a great round the best of the fight and a candidate for Round of the Year. War breaks out as they go toe-to-toe which suits Alvarez. They both bang home hard punches Alvarez scores with hooks and uppercuts but Cotto is staying with him and firing back but Alvarez is landing more and again his power shows. Cotto fires back with a thumping left to the head but it is Alvarez’s round. The pace drops a little at the start of the ninth as they both recover from their efforts. Eventually Alvarez carries on the momentum he built in the eighth and Cotto finds it hard to keep him out. Again the Mexican is landing the heavier punches and although Cotto is countering he just does not have the same power. Cotto shows his champion qualities as he fires back to win the tenth. Alvarez is warned for a low blow and the quick accurate jabbing from Cotto makes the difference. The eleventh is close but again the better boxing of Cotto just outweighs the power of the young Mexican. Alvarez puts in the stronger finish as they stand in ring centre and battle head to head in the last. Cotto is showing a cut over his left eye but too late to be of any significance. Scores 119-109, 118-110 and 117-111 all for Alvarez the new WBC champion. As for the scores Alvarez won the fight but even the 117-111 score does not do full justice to the efforts of Cotto and I can only assume that where the rounds were close the judges went for the power shots of Alvarez over the lighter shots from Alvarez. Whilst the fight did not quite live up to all expectations it was a tough exciting scrap between two great professionals and a clear indication that the sport does not need Floyd Mayweather Jr. This was one where the fight was a fight and not a spectacle. A condition of the WBC agreeing to the fight was that the winner had to face Gennady Golovkin and Alvarez has said he is willing to do that but the contract for the fight with Cotto included mutual return fight clauses and there was also talk of whether Alvarez might want to try to get revenge against Mayweather, the only fighter to have beaten him, so we will have to see what develops. Irrespective at just 25 Alvarez has already assured himself of a place in the Hall of Fame and has plenty of years left to build his profile further still. At 35 Cotto’s future is uncertain. There is no talk of retirement and since both he and Freddy Roach thought he won the fight there is no reason for him to talk retirement. He is a big name and there are still big fights out there for him. Vargas vs. Miura A cut and battered Vargas pulls this one out with a vicious attack in the ninth round to win the WBA title. In the first southpaw Miura was coming forward probing with his jab but Vargas banged home a straight right that saw Miura’s legs stiffen and he stumbled back against the ropes. Vargas followed in trying to capitalise on the early success and Miura had to duck and hold as Vargas landed more rights. When Miura did hold inside Vargas still managing to score with rights and the champion must have been happy to hear the bell but on the plus side for him was that Vargas had collected a small cut under his right eye. Miura came out aggressively in the second but again it was Vargas doing the eye-catching scoring early with his rights. Miura got a warning to watch his head and the cut under the right eye of Vargas had worsened. The Japanese fighter came on strong at the end of the round scoring with southpaw left hooks to the body. Vargas started the third well with short rights but Miura was forcing him back and drawing him into a brawl. Miura was getting home hooks to the body but Vargas ended the round boxing cleverly and spearing the oncoming champion with jabs and straight rights. Vargas tried to box again in the fourth but Miura was hunting him down and scoring with a series of strong straight lefts. He scored with a peach of an uppercut and then threw a straight left that smacked into the face of Vargas and put him down. Vargas was up quickly but there was blood dripping from the cut under his right. Luckily the bell went just as Miura had Vargas in a corner and was about to try to finish things. Miura was again coming forward in the fifth and sixth with Vargas boxing on the back foot and countering. The Mexican was landing hard right counters and was more accurate but Miura was relentless coming forward throwing right hooks and straight lefts and was bossing the fight. The eighth saw Vargas trying to come forward more and he constantly pierced Miura’s guard with precise right. Miura still kept coming just walking through the punches and landing right/left combinations. Suddenly a straight left from Miura landed flush on the face of Vargas which sent the Mexican staggering backwards to the ropes badly shaken and Miura had the challenger trapped in a corner and battering away at his defences as the bell went. At the start of the ninth Vargas was behind on two cards, the right side of his face was a mess and he looked like a boxer in trouble. In the first exchange of punches Vargas landed a left uppercut and then a straight right and Miura buckled at the knees and pitch down sideward’s to the floor landing on his back. He tried to scramble to his feet but again fell forwards to the floor. He made it to his feet at the second attempt holding his arms above his head to show he was ready to continue. He stepped forward and grabbed Vargas and wrestled him across the ring holding on fast. Vargas fired punch after punch as Miura staggered under the storm and then again grabbed Vargas and wrestled him across the ring, Miura tried to fire back but it was on pure instinct and as Vargas slammed home punch after punch the referee stopped the fight. The 30-year-old “El Bandito” had pulled off a great come-from-behind win in a fight which featured action for every minute of the nine and a bit rounds. A contender for Fight of the Year”. Vargas had earned his title shots with wins over Brandon Bennett, Jerry Belmontes, Abner Cotto, Juan Manuel Lopez and Will Tomlinson. He did not turn pro until he was 25 due to a long and successful time as an amateur when he competed at the Olympic Games, World Championships and Pan American Games. Miura, 31, was making the fifth defence of his title. He had beaten Mexican Gamaliel Diaz, to win the title, and made defences again other Mexicans in Sergio Thompson, Dante Jardon and Edgar Puerta making him the scourge of Mexican feathers but despite Miura’s magnificent effort here Vargas got one back for his country. Rios vs. Velez. Once again a fighter has to come from behind for the win as Rios takes away the unbeaten label of Puerto Rican Velez and collects the vacant WBC Silver title. Velez outboxed Rios early letting the Californian come forward and spearing him with jabs and scoring well to the body. Rios landed a very low right but escaped without a warning. Rios turned up the heat in the second but again went low and this time was warned. The pattern was pretty well set with Velez boxing on the retreat and Rios aiming to get inside and land with hooks from both hands. Clever boxing and accuracy were allowing Velez to build a lead and in the fifth after a couple of low punches the referee deducted a point from Rios. The fight was changing as Rios began to walk through Velez’s punches which lacked any real snap and was able to work in close with hooks to head and body. Velez found himself under constant pressure and being denied the room to work his jab forcing him to stand and trade and go off his game plan. Rios kept up the pressure in the eighth with Velez spending much of the time with his back against the ropes trying to fend off the persistent attacks of Rios who scored with some good left hooks late in the round. Velez had a slightly better ninth trying to stay off the ropes and get his jab back into play moving more and scoring with some hooks and uppercuts as Rios advanced but Rios persisted and Velez had to stand and trade but landed a couple of good rights inside as the round ended. Both fought with fire in the last and both had some success. Velez was scoring with his jab and straight rights and Rios was again throwing plenty of hooks and uppercuts and looking the winner. Scores 97-92, 96-93 and 95-94 all for Rios. Rios, 25, won his first 23 fights before suffering an upset loss when he was floored and stopped by Robinson Castellanos in five round in October last year. That loss cost him his world rating but this win should see him listed again. “La Maravilla” Velez, 27, had a similar record winning his first 22 fights before being held to a draw in November by Evgeny Gradovich in a challenge for the IBF title. He was rated WBC 2/IBF 5(3)/WBA 7/WBO 10 but will now tumble down in all of those lists. Rigondeaux vs. Francisco The Cuban master promises much but fails to deliver. Rigondeaux was streets ahead of Filipino Francisco in speed and skill and never really let Francisco get into the fight. Things looked promising when a long left from Rigondeaux sent Francisco staggering back but it was a false dawn and Rigondeaux reverted to type. He was too quick for Francisco threading right jabs home and punishing any error the Filipino made. Francisco could not figure out a way to deal with Rigondeaux and often just stood in front of the Cuban waiting for the chance that never came. With Rigondeaux boxing carefully and picking his punches and Francisco not finding any kind of target the action, or lack of it, had the crowd restive and booing early. Despite realising he was doing his reputation no good by another brilliant but boring display Rigondeaux never took any chances and easily boxed his way to the wide unanimous decision with two judges giving him all ten rounds and one actually finding three rounds to give to the Filipino. Scores 100-90 twice and 97-93. The 35-year-old “Jackal” had been stripped off his WBA and WBO super bantam titles just a few days before the fight for inactivity although other champions had been given more leeway by both bodies. He had also been released by Top Rank and had a new promoter but it was the same old Rigondeaux. Too good for his own good and too old to change. Francisco, 33, was pulled off a show in the Philippines so was fit and but not quite ready for the skills of Rigondeaux. The former interim WBA super fly champion suffered a crushing one round loss against fellow Filipino Jason Canoy in May and is trying to rebuild but despite the short notice it was an opportunity he could not turn down Machado vs. Luckey Machado again displays impressive power as he crushes Luckey inside a round. A left put Lucky down the first time and although he made it to his feet Machado hunted him down and floored him again with a left/right combination. Luckey made it to his feet but there was no way Machado was letting him off the hook and he was punishing him in a corner when the referee stopped the fight. The 23-year-old Puerto Rican southpaw is certainly living up to his “El Explosivo” nickname. The tall, 5’10” (178cm) puncher now has 10 wins by KO/TKO including 7 in a row and the last two both being first round finishes. “Hands of Stone” Luckey must have loaned his gloves to Machado. He had scored three wins and a draw in 2015 but could not take the power punching of Machado. Martinez vs. Mojica Puerto Rican hope Martinez remains unbeaten with points win over Mojica. Martinez fought a smart fight but Mojica contributed to his own defeat. Mojica had height and reach over Martinez but never used them and chose to fight inside. A slow first round saw them both trading body punches with not much between them. Martinez had a big second when after outboxing Mojica he had the Texan badly shaken with an uppercut. The third also went to Martinez as he landed some heavy head punches and he took the fourth by switching his focus to the body. Mojica was scoring with some of his own shots but not enough. The fifth saw Mojica’s work rate drop and Martinez was scoring well to the body. It swung the other way in the sixth as Martinez seemed to tire and Mojica was able to make the rounds much closer. Martinez was fresher in the last and dominated the action. Scores 78-74 for Martinez from all three judges. The 23-year-old “Chiquiro” from the Cotto stable is the WBC Latino champion and was coming off a knockout win over experienced Armando Vazquez in August. Mojica, 23, had been meeting a lower level opposition and sometimes struggling to get his wins. Zhang vs. Goode “Big Bang” Zhang gets a shock as Goode deposits him on his backside in the fourth. The 6’6” (198cm) Chinese fighter had 5” in height and 20lbs in weight over Goode but his technique is very basic and does not include a useful jab or much footwork. Goode had to lunge in with his attacks and Zhang showed some powerful hooks and uppercuts as Goode came forward busting open Goode’s nose. Zhang was boxing his way to a comfortable if laboured win when Goode leapt in with a right in the fourth round that knocked Zhang over. He was up quickly and was able to clinch and wrestle until his head cleared and by the end of the round he was again catching Goode with hooks although both Zhang and Goode looked exhausted by then. Scores 38-37 for Zhang from all three judges. Although the winner of an Olympic silver medal and two World Championship medals at 32 he is not going to get much better so not likely to go far as a pro. Goode, 31, won his first 5 fights by KO/TKO but has lost his last 3 on points. Manchester, England: Light: Anthony Crolla (30-4-3) W KO 5 Darleys Perez (32-2-1). Super Light: Tyrone Nurse (32-2-1) W PTS 12 Chris Jenkins (16-1-1). Bantam: Ryan Burnett (12-0) W PTS 12 Jason Booth (38-14). Fly: Charlie Edwards (6-0) W TKO 6 Phil Smith (6-2). Feather: Isaac Lowe (11-0-1) DREW 10 Ryan Doyle (11-1-1). Super Welter: Brian Rose (28-3-1) W PTS 8 Ruslans Pojonisevs (16-37-1). Crolla vs. Perez An emotional night in Manchester as Crolla completes his fairy tale recovery from serious injury to fulfil his dream of becoming a world champion as he destroys Perez with one punch to lift the WBA crown. The opening two rounds were close with Crolla taking the first as he established his jab and scored with a good overhand right. In the second Perez was finding the target with his own jab catching Crolla as he came forward and although Crolla scored with some uppercuts Perez probably just edged it. Perez was quick with his jab again in the third but Crolla scored with a hard body punch and ended the round with a flurry of punches to take that one. Perez was boxing well in the fourth finding gaps to slot home his jab but he was showing a slight swelling by his right eye and again Crolla finished the round with a flourish. It was shaping up to be another close fight but in the fifth Crolla forced Perez to the ropes with a couple of stiff jabs and then landed a sickening left to the body. Perez went down slowly to his knees and as the count proceeded slumped further with his head touching the canvas and he was still in that position when the count was completed. Great win for 29-year-old “Million Dollar” Crolla and that nickname must reflect on how he felt on winning. He had come close when they first met in July but that ended as a majority draw. This time Crolla did not leave it to the judges and scored what must be the most popular win in British boxing this year. Colombian Perez, 32, had never failed to last the distance in any fight before this and he again showed his excellent skills and the courage to twice enter the lion’s den but that body punch was just too much for him. Nurse vs. Jenkins Nurse wins vacant British title on unanimous decision over Jenkins. They had clashed on the same shows as the first Crolla vs. Perez fight and their contest also ended as a majority draw as did the main event. Jenkins edged a slow first round and used his superior strength to have Nurse fighting with his back to the ropes in the second and land a good left/right combination with Nurse already showing a bruising on the left side of his head. In the third Nurse used his better skills to score with counters and Jenkins was suddenly cut up on his forehead from an accidental elbow from Jenkins and the cut bled heavily. Nurse got into his stride in the fourth using his quicker hands and some good lateral movement to outbox the Welshman. The cut on Jenkins head was bleeding again but just when things were looking good for Nurse Jenkins exploded with a right that put Nurse down. He beat the count but was taken to the ropes as Jenkins tried to repeat his success but Nurse was fight back by the bell. The knockdown had given Jenkins a boost and in the sixth he kept the pressure on making Nurse fight inside. Nurse worked himself some space in the seventh and caught Jenkins with a right counter late to take the round. Both seemed to tire in the eighth and ninth but Nurse just did enough to pocket the rounds and probably edge in front. In the tenth Jenkins was fighting under the handicap of the cut on his forehead running blood down to affect his vision and was also cut over his left eye. He suffered another cut but this one over his right eye but by sheer aggression he shut down Nurse’s work and edged the round. The eleventh was a round fought by two very tired boxers and it was untidy and close enough to go either way. Nurse just did enough to take the twelfth as he kept his boxing together and scored with good counters. Scores 115-112 twice and 116-111all for Nurse. The tall 25-year-old Nurse wins the vacant British title. His losses have come in a three round Prizefighter Tournament and a majority decision to Dave Ryan for the vacant CBC title in October last year. He was down twice in the fight against Ryan and had to climb off the floor in this one. He has abundant skills but is not a big puncher. “Rok’nRolla” Jenkins, 27, has cause to feel he was unlucky as this was a very close fight but the former star of the Welsh amateur team will be back fighting for a title in 2016. Burnett vs. Booth Burnett wins vacant British title as he takes every round against veteran Booth. A feel out first round comes to a dramatic end as an overhand right from Burnett puts Booth on the floor. Booth gets up and sees out the round but it is a poor start for him. It does not get much better as Burnett has both skill and power and has an old head on young shoulders as shows patience and clever tactics. Booth also knows a few tricks and tries to stay off the ropes and tie Burnett up whenever he can. Booth is rocked in the fifth and again in the eighth but never seems in danger of a stoppage. Over the late rounds Burnett starts switching guards and time and again lands spiteful combinations working the body. Booth has nothing with which to change the flow of the fight but he sticks in there taking the punishment, countering when he can. Burnett is showing the full range of his arsenal and it is impressive as he works the jab, throws in hooks and uppercuts and focuses on the body although Booth shows a good defence after that first round shock. At the end it is a one-sided fight with Burnett winning 120-107 on all three cards. The 23-year-old from Belfast also holds the WBO European title. He was inactive for a year between November 2013 and November 2014 but has been very active since then this being his sixth fight of the year. He won a gold medal at the World Youth Olympics and a silver at the World Youth Championships and is yet another outstanding talent from Belfast. Booth, 38, first won the British and CBC fly titles back in 1999 and in 2003 won the IBO super fly title. He was also CBC champion at bantam and British and CBC champion at super bantam losing a majority decision to Steve Molitor for the IBF title in 2010. He was coming into this fight off a good win over Jason Cunningham. This was his 25th fight for a major title so a very distinguished career which may not be over yet. Edwards vs. Smith Edwards retains his English title with stoppage of Smith. The former top amateur continues to show progress. The early rounds were fairly even with Edwards showing some vicious uppercuts. Edwards had done enough to take the five completed rounds and then ended it in the sixth with a stunning right hook that put Smith down and led to the stoppage. The 22-year-old from Surrey, twice an ABA champion and a European Championships bronze medallist, has real talent. Smith 29 has been plagued by inactivity and although he had his moments here was never really in with a chance. Lowe vs. Doyle Lowe holds on to his English title with split draw against Doyle. The challenger made a good start using his superior strength to boss the exchanges and landing the hard punches. Just when it looked as though the title was going to change hands Lowe got into his stride blocking or avoiding Doyle’s punches and using his speed and better skills to scoop the closing rounds and save his title. Scores 97-93 for Lowe, 96-95 for Doyle and 95-95. The 21-year-old “Westgate Warrior” came close to losing his unbeaten tag in the entertaining fight and Doyle certainly deserves a second shot. Rose vs. Pojonisevs Just eight rounds of useful work for Rose as he takes every round against Latvian loser whilst he waits for a big fight. Referee’s score 80-72. First fight for former WBO title challenger Rose since his revenge win over Carson Jones in August. Ten losses in his last eleven fights for Pojonisevs. Hannover, Germany: Super Middle: Arthur Abraham (44-4) W PTS 12 Martin Murray (32-3-1). Super Middle: Eduard Gutknecht (29-3-1) W KO 4 Arman Torosyan (16-2-1).Light Heavy; Deion Jumah (6-0) W PTS 6 Fabrizio Leone (6-8). Abraham vs. Murray Once again Abraham stages a strong finish to retain his title and once again Murray come up painfully shots in a title fight. Murray started well and Abraham got his usual slow start. Murray took control of ring centre and was busier and more accurate in the first round. Abraham was trying to come forward behind his trade mark high guard but Murray was strong and had Abraham on the back foot doubling up his jab and scoring with some choice left hooks. Murray had taken each of the first two rounds and after landing his best punch of the fight so far in the third, a left hook, he did enough to be 3-0 ahead with 9 to go. After a slow start to the fourth Abraham picked up the pace and for once had Murray going back and probably just edged the round. Abraham also took the fifth just edging it as Murray was forced into holding a bit more and Abraham got through with a hard left hook. The pattern continued with the sixth a close round. Murray was still showing good skills and trying to work the body but again Abraham landed a couple of rights to nick the round. Murray was firing early in the seventh throwing some solid combinations but as Abraham fired back Murray was warned for holding and Abraham closed the round rocking Murray with a right, his best punch so far. Drama in the eighth as Murray looked to take control with hefty combinations and with Abraham firing back. A huge overhand right from Murray staggered Abraham and he was forced to hold onto the ropes to steady himself and badly shaken for the first time in the fight. The champion had recovered by the ninth and although Murray started the round brightly Abraham craftily put in a strong finish to the rounds to impress the judges probably just doing enough to take it putting him in the lead. In the tenth Abraham was again marching forward behind his high guard but this time Murray staged the stronger finish to close the gap somewhat. The eleventh was the best round so far with more exchanges with both landing hard punches and Abraham landing a hard right. Murray clinched-once too often-and the referee deducted a point from the British fighter turning what was marginally a 10-9 round for Abraham into a 10-8. With the fight close both fighters went all out in the last round Murray has some success when he took Abraham to the ropes but Abraham seemed the fresher and with the crowd behind him he ended the round strongly. Scores 116-111 and 115-112 for Abraham and 115-112 for Murray. “King Arthur”, 35, was making the fifth defence of his WBO title and is 18-3 in his world title fights. He again showed his expertise in pacing a fight and being behind early is situation normal for him. This is only the second time he has been held to a split decision, the other one being a win over Robert Stieglitz and he has only fought outside Germany twice in title fights. Murray, 33, just can’t get a break. His three losses have all been in world title fights with a split draw against Felix Sturm in Germany, a disputed points loss against Sergio Martinez in Argentina and a brave effort against the deadly Gennady Golovkin. He would certainly have a fair chance of beating WBC champion Badou Jack and WBA secondary champion Fedor Chudinov but naturally he does not want to go into another fight where his opponent has home advantage but a fight with IBF champion James DeGale would be a big fight in Britain. Gutknecht vs. Torosyan Gutknecht continues his run of wins at super middle with stoppage of late replacement Torosyan. The opening round was untidy with both fighters being warned for various infringement and the only real action in the round a left/right combination from Gutknecht which sent Torosyan reeling back and down. He was up immediately claiming he had been pushed but the referee applied the eight count and then the bell went. Early in the second a right from Torosyan staggered Gutknecht and knocked him into the ropes. He was in deep trouble and on shaky legs but an overanxious Torosyan only succeeded in bundling Gutknecht into a corner. The ropes kept Gutknecht up. He was still very shaky and he ducked inside and drove Torosyan across the ring and pushed him to the floor. By the end of the round Gutknecht had survived the crisis and was slamming home hard right crosses with Torosyan the one in trouble. In the third the fight suddenly became one-sided. Gutknecht was firing hard jabs through Torosyan’s guard and following up with rights to the head and Torosyan was looking a beaten man. Gutknecht continued the punishment in the fourth and after a series of punches Torosyan just knelt in a corner and after starting the count the referee waived the fight over. The Kazak-born Gutknecht, a former EBU light heavy champion, had lost big fights to Robert Stieglitz for the WBO super middle title, Juergen Braehmer for the EBU light heavy title and to Russian Dmitry Sukhotsky. He then had a disappointing draw with Argentinian novice Pablo Sosa (3-3-2). After that draw with Sosa he moved back down to super middle and this is his fourth win since the move. All going well but for that spell in the second round he was lucky that Torosyan did not capitalise on his vulnerability. Gutknecht was to have fought Tyrone Zeuge but when Zeuge pulled out sick Torosyan came in at very short notice. The Armenian-born fighter was coming off a points loss to Nuhu Lawal Juma vs. Leone Juma gets a win for Britain on the show. The showy 26-year-old London southpaw boxed his way to an undemanding unanimous verdict over poor Italian opponent Leone. He constantly had Leone stuck on the ropes but did not seem to have the power to seriously hurt Leone which allowed him to get out of trouble and take the fight inside. Juma showed plenty of skill boxing with his lead hand on his thigh and firing a variety of hooks and uppercuts but the fight never caught fire and Leone never looked in trouble. Scores 60-54 for Juma from all three judges. Only the third fight in almost two years for Juma who needs to be more active. Leone has lost his last seven fights all on points. Sydney, Australia: Middle: Dwight Ritchie (13-0) W PTS 10 Ryan Waters (22-5-2). Ritchie stays unbeaten and retains his Australian title with wide unanimous verdict over returning Waters. The 23-year-old “Fighting Cowboy” dominated the fight from start to finish with Waters having to survive a doctor’s inspection of a bad cut near his left eye in the fourth round and despite this being his first fight for almost four years he fought hard all the way with Ritchie just too young and fit for him. Scores 99-91 twice and 100-90. The 23-year-old Ritchie had four wins scratched off his record as he was under age when he had the fights. Waters a former Australian super welter champion last fought in December 2011. Ontario, Canada: Super Welter: Brandon Cook (16-0) W TKO 5 Rafael Sosa Pintos (50-13). Feather: Tyler Asselstine (15-2) W PTS 6 Diego Sanaco (21-20-5). Cook vs. Pintos Cook keeps his WBA Inter-Continental title as he halts Pintos in five rounds. Cook was walking Pintos down from the start. The visitor had good skills showing good movement and a quick jab but lacked the power to keep Cook out. The Canadian kept hunting and weakening Pintos with body shots and ended it in the fifth. Cook hurt Pintos with two left hooks to the body and then drove him across the ring and landed another left hook and a right uppercut. Pintos slumped to the floor but was up quickly and took the eight count. Cook got home with another two left hooks and Pintos went down but this time it was a slip. Cook then backed off and Pintos had a brief moment of coming forward and throwing some punches but then Cook backed him up to the ropes and another left hook put Pintos down. The referee started the count but then stopped and waived the fight over. The 29-year-old “Bad Boy” moves to 10 wins by KO/TKO. Uruguayan Pintos, 35, now has six losses by KO/TKO. Asselstine vs. Sanaco Southpaw Asselstine returns with a win as he comfortably decisions Argentinian Sanaco. The Toronto boxer won every round against his very limited opponent. Scores 60-50 twice and 58-52. This is Asselstine’s first fight since losing on points against Joel Diaz in May last year. Sanaco, 36, is 4-9-1 in his last 14 fights. Helsinki, Finland: Light: Edis Tatli (26-1) W TKO 3 Ramaz Bebnadze (16-3). Super Welter: Jussi Koivula (19-2-1) W TKO 3 Zoran Didanovic (17-27). Tatli vs. Bebnadze EBU champion Tatli returns to action with a stoppage of elderly Georgian. Tatli easily took the first two rounds and then stopped Bebnadze with just one second left in the third round. The Kosovo-born Finn, 28, lost a majority decision to Richar Abril for the WBA title in September last year. He was No 6 with the WBA at the time of his challenge and despite wins in January and his victory over Yvon Mendy for the EBU title he has disappeared out of their rating completely. Bebnadze, 38, has a typical Georgian record of only three fights outside Georgia which have all ended on a loss by KO/TKO. Koivula vs. Didanovic Similar outcome with Koivula’s fight. The Finn took the first two rounds and then floored and halted his ancient Serbian opponent in the third. Since having his 13 fight winning streak ended by a stoppage loss to Lukasz Maciec in 2013 Koivula has struggled to find form putting on a disappointing performance when losing to Marcello Matano in Italy and only getting a split draw with Russian Artem Karasev (7-19-1) in his last fight in August. Didanovic, 43, has lost 7 of his last 8 fights Manzano, Italy: Cruiser: Maurizio Loviglio (20-11) W TKO 12 Leonardo Bruzzese (14-2). Cruiser: Nicola Pietro Ciriani (13-1) W PTS 10 Simone Federici (7-1). Light: Massimiliano Ballisai (20-2) W TKO 4 Laszlo Fekete (13-10-2). Loviglio vs. Bruzzese Loviglio wins the vacant EU title with late stoppage after an exciting scrap that saw both fighters on the floor. Over the first three rounds Loviglio was able to box on the outside and keep out the aggressive charges of Bruzzese. In the fourth Bruzzese’s right comes into play and Loviglio is under pressure. In the fifth a right from Bruzzese followed by a left hook puts Loviglio on the floor. Loviglio gets up and manages to survive to the bell. In the sixth Bruzzese seems to have punched himself out trying to end it in the fifth but just as he is getting back into his stride a Loviglio left hook puts Bruzzese down and it is then his turn to get up and survive. Both fighters seem to tire in the seventh with Bruzzese just doing enough to win it but Loviglio constantly has Bruzzese trapped on the ropes over the next three rounds and he shakes Bruzzese with rights in the eleventh. In the last a left hook has Bruzzese stumbling on unsteady legs and the referee stops the right. The 33-year-old “Angel” from Turin wins the EU title at the second attempt having been floored twice and disqualified in his previous attempt in September last year. Argentinian-born Bruzzese, 32, had lost his Italian title to Loviglio on a tenth round stoppage in 2013. Ciriani vs. Federici Hometown fighter Ciriani wins the vacant Italian title in poor contest against Federici. It was a bad tempered fight with very little clean action. Federici younger and stronger was in the fight early having a good second round but his attacks were crude and from the middle rounds onwards Ciriani with better skills did what scoring there was and took the title. Scores 97-93, 97-94 and 96-94. Ciriani’s only loss is on points against Mirco Ricci for the vacant Italian light heavy title in March last year. This is his fourth win since then. First time past the sixth round for Federici and at 22 he will almost certainly challenge for the title again. Ballisai vs. Fekete Just a keep busy title for Italian champion Ballisai as he halts Hungarian Fekete in four rounds. The 30-year-old former EU champion from Turin gets his fourth win in a row, Fekete, 22, now has 7 losses by KO/TKO. Rotherham, England: Middle: Lewis Taylor (18-1-1) W TKO 5 Jez Wilson (12-3-1). Super Welter: Sam Sheedy (16-1) W TKO 1 Frank Dodze (18-9). Taylor vs. Wilson Yet another English champion gets a win and keeps his crown. As expected it was the challenger Wilson who came out firing and Taylor suffered a cut over his left eye within the first three minutes. Wilson continued to press but with Taylor using his edges in height and reach he came into the fight and was breaking Wilson down. A shot to the chin in the fourth put fireman Wilson down and his trainer Glyn Rhodes stepped up to the ring to signal the end for his man. The 25-year-old Taylor, the EU No 10, took world rated Eamonn O’Kane to a close majority decision in May so this a good rebuilding step. Wilson, 36, had to recover from having his jaw broken in two places in a fight against John Ryder in April last year. He returned with a win in September but may now retire. Sheedy vs. Dodze Sheedy disposes of Ghanaian in the first round. The Sheffield southpaw finished this one in just two minutes so no real test. Sheedy, 27, was having his first fight since losing a split decision to Navid Mansouri for the English title in July. This is his fourth win by KO/TKO. Dodzi’s record misleading as from his last 15 victims 11 had never won a fight and 3 had negative records. November 22 Osaka, Japan: Super Welter: Takayuki Hosokawa (28-10-4) W PTS 12 Dennis Laurente (49-7-5). Super Bantam: Hinata Maruta (1-0) W PTS 6 Jason Canoy 24-6-2). Hosokawa vs. Laurente Hosokawa wins OPBF title with paper thin split decision over Filipino veteran Laurente in a battle of two southpaws. Laurente was pressing the action but Hosokawa was boxing well behind his jab and had a two point lead by the end of the fourth round. Laurente kept pressing and closed the gap fracturing Hosokawa’s jaw in the sixth but the Japanese fighter showed guts and kept his game plan going and just deserved the narrow decision. Scores 115-113 and 115-114 for Hosokawa from the two Japanese judges and a totally ridiculous 118-110 to Laurente from the Filipino judge. The 30-year-old Hosokawa is now 10-1-1 in his last 12 fights but the jaw injury was serious enough to put a question mark over his future. Deposed champion “Mr Humble” Laurente, 38, is a class fighter turning pro back in 1994 and winning a hatful of titles including the GAB light/PABA light/OPBF light/GAB welter/ABC super welter and OPBF super welter. He deserves a return match or a shot at the title if it becomes vacant Maruta vs. Canoy I don’t know where they get them from but here is another Japanese star of the very near future. The much taller Maruta used a sharp jab and straight rights to outbox and bloody the world rated Filipino. Canoy fought aggressively and did enough to make it a close fight but was cut over both eyes, floored with a body punch in the third round and a clear loser. Scores 59-54, 59-56 and 58-55 all for the 18-year-old prospect a bronze medal winner at the Asian Junior Championships. Canoy, rated IBF 10(8) had floored Drain Francisco three times and stopped him inside a round in his last fight in May so a huge step for a fighter having his first pro contest. Kumamoto, Japan: Minimum: Tatsuya Fukuhara (16-4-5) W PTS 10 Hiroya Yamamoto (9-4). Fukuhara wins the vacant JBC title with unanimous decision over Yamamoto. Scores 96-94 twice and 97-94. The local southpaw did well considering he broke a rib in training a month before the fight. Yamamoto was having his second shot at winning the title.
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The Past Week in Action 16 November 2015
November 13 Biloxi, MS, USA: Light Heavy: Edwin Rodriguez (28-1) W TKO 3 Mike Seales (19-1). Light Heavy: Thomas Williams Jr (19-1) W TKO 2 Umberto Savigne (12-3,1 ND). Welter: Bryant Perrella (12-0) W TKO 1 Chaquib Fadli (13-6).Super Welter: Alantez Fox (18-0-1) W TKO 4 Todd Manuel (10-10-1). Cruiser: Radivoje Kalajdzic (21-0) W KO 1 Fabio Garrido (28-5-1). Middle: Fernando Guerrero (28-3) W TKO 7 Daniel Souza Santos (14-9). Rodriguez vs. Seales Rodriguez gets off the floor to stop Seales in an exciting fight of spills and thrills. Rodriguez came out firing forcing Seales across the ring and letting go big swinging rights. Seales tried to fire back but after just 26 seconds a right from Rodriguez sent Seales stumbling along the ropes and down on his knees. It really looked as though he had stumbled when trying to duck out of the corner and he was up immediately and took the standing eight count (although the rules summary had said there was no standing eight count!) . Rodriguez charged forward throwing wild right swings and walked onto a short right which put him down-and the round was not yet one minute old. Rodriguez took his time getting up at eight. Both used their jabs for a while but Rodriguez was again throwing rights from way back and paid the price as with just 13 seconds left in the round he threw a wide right that landed but Seales had launched a right a split second earlier and on a shorter trajectory which crashed on to Rodriguez’s to the jaw. The punch spun Rodriguez right around and he ended face down on the canvas. He started to get up but almost fell into the ropes and was obviously badly shaken. He was up at six and after the eight count was completed the bell went. Rodriguez seemed to have recovered at the start of the second and both were a bit more cautious but that did not last long and soon Rodriguez was swinging the right again with Seales looking to counter . Rodriguez drove Seales into a corner and bludgeoned him to the floor with an overhand right. Seales went down by the ropes on his side and had trouble getting up and was on wobbly legs. Rodriguez managed to trap Seales on the ropes and batter away but Seales was throwing the occasional punch and lasted to the bell. Rodriguez drove Seales to the ropes at the start of the third and then crashed home an overhand right and Seales pitched forward into the ropes and down on his back on the canvas. Somehow he managed to pull himself up but he was in a bad way and the fight was stopped. Not quite Hagler vs. Hearns but an explosive three rounds. Now up at light heavy this is the fourth win for the Dominican-born 30-year-old “La Bomba” since losing a wide decision against Andre Ward for the WBA super middle title in 2013. Seales, 33,had spent his career fighting in prelims in boxing backwoods and this was his first ten round fight. For a while in that wild first round he was a punch away from a major upset and perhaps now he might get some better level work. Williams vs. Savigne This one was only slightly less eventful as Williams gets off the floor to stop Savigne in two rounds. Williams was the first to go down but he was up quickly and not badly hurt. Later in the round he returned the compliment flooring the Cuban and being in charge as the round ended. William’s continued that dominance in the second round flooring Savigne for a second time. Savigne beat the count but was trapped on the ropes with incoming fire and no defence and the fight was stopped. Twenty-eight-year-old Williams was flying high when he stopped Cornelius White in one round in January 2014 but his stock nose-dived whet he seemed to quit after five rounds against Gabriel Campillo in August. He had returned with a low level win over Mike Gbenga but this was a much more impressive performance. Savigne, 36, suffers his second inside the distance loss in a row having been beaten by the undefeated Craig Baker in February. The No Decision came when Savigne tested positive for a banned substance in a fight in 2013. Perrella vs. Fadli Perrella waste no time as he disposes of Frenchman Fadli inside a round. Body punches accounted for two knockdowns and it was over in 90 seconds. A body punch had Fadli draped on the ropes in agony and since he was supported by the ropes the referee applied an eight count. After the count Perrella jumped on Fadli again and unleashed a barrage of punches that saw the referee stop the fight, The 26-year-old from Florida has won his last 9 fights by KO/TKO including 5 inside the first round. He just failed to get though the final US Olympic Trials but has impressed as a pro. Fadli was coming off back-to-back losses to Lenny Daws and Anthony Yigit but he can be an awkward customer if allowed to hang around. Fox vs. Manuel Fox extended his winning run with stoppage of Manuel. With his huge reach advantage the very tall “SlyAza” was able to score easily in every round flooring Manuel in the third and forcing his corner to retire their man at the end of the fourth. At 6’5” (196cm) the 23-year-old from Maryland is just too tall for 160lbs but seems to make the weight okay. He was US Under-19 champion at 152lbs (69kg) so weight does not seem to be a problem for him. Manuel was a very late substitute. He has lost 6 in a row but in there is a majority verdict loss to Freddy Hernandez in August. Kalajdzic vs. Garrido “Hot Rod Kalajdzic was even quicker than Perrella as he disposed of Brazilian Garrido with one right in 19 seconds-including the count. The 24-year-old has 14 wins by KO/TKO. He was born in Bosnia and was a refugee from the Bosnian war before moving to the USA with his family and settling in Florida. He has big Bosnian and Serb following. Former Brazilian champion Garrido 36 beats his previous record for a quick finish. His corner threw in the towel after only 45 seconds of his fight with Grigory Drozd. Guerrero vs. Santos Guerrero continues the rebuilding of his career with a stoppage of game Brazilian Santos. It took Guerrero a couple of rounds to get going but then he was just too good for the limited South American. The break down was a gradual process until the seventh when Guerrero floored Santos and was continuing to beat the Brazilian up when the referee stopped the fight. After 21 wins in a row, and victories over Gabriel Rosado and Ishe Smith, Guerrero was in line for a title shot until he was de-railed by dangerously unpredictable Grady Brewer in 2011. He fought his way back but was floored four times and stopped in seven rounds by Peter Quillin in a WBO title fight in 2013. Even more devastating was his third round kayo by David Lemieux in May last year. He took eleven months out before returning climbing off the floor to win a split decision over Abie Ham , a useful result but he has a long way to go yet. Santos, 39, has lost 4 of his last 5. Quilmes, Argentina: Light: German Benitez (14-0,1ND) W TKO 2 Sergio O Priotti (28-20-2). Benitez ends his first main event with stoppage of veteran Priotti. Despite some good movement from Priotti Benitez took the first round with body punches. In the second Benitez was again hunting down Priotti and when he trapped him on the ropes he landed an uppercut to the chin that put Priotti down. He made it to his feet but Benitez was on top of him straight away and a couple of hooks to the body and a right to the chin saw the referee step in to save Priotti. The 24-year-old Benitez, the FAB No 8, makes it 7 wins by KO/TKO. Priotti, 35, was a top class amateur winning a gold medal at both the World and PanAmerican Championships but that was a long way back and although coming off a win is 3-10-1 in his last 14 fights. Moscow, Russia: Heavy: Sergey Kuzmin (5-0) W KO 3 Irineu Beato Junior (18-6). Kuzmin gets easy win over Junior. In the first Kuzmin tracked Junior around the ring with the Brazilian just hiding behind a high guard. Kuzmin threw a right that landed on Junior’s glove and then poked a left through the Brazilian’s guard and Junior went down. He was up quickly and actually managed to land a good right to the body before the round ended. Junior started the second with a wild right but Kuzmin landed a stiff jab to Junior’s head and although a following left and right combination did not land Junior tumbled over again. He got up and tried some sneaky counters but was soon back behind his high guard again. It was over in the third when two jabs and a right that glanced off Junior’s head saw the Brazilian go down and make no attempt to get up. The 28-year-old Kuzmin is a former European gold medal winner and was Russian champion in 2012 and 2011 but he looked slow and his defence was far from solid and Junior went over too easily for any real assessment. Junior, 35, won his first 15 fights but is 3-6 in his last nine and was knocked out one round by Brit Dillian Whyte in August. Mexicali, Mexico: Super Light: Jesus Gurrola (21-7-3) W PTS 10 Humberto Mauro Gutierrez (31-7-2). Minimum: Abraham Rodriguez (15-0) W TKO 6 Mauricio Fuentes (18-5) Gurrola vs. Gutierrez Gurrola boxes his way to unanimous decision over southpaw Gutierrez. From the outset Gurrola was intent on using his better skills to keep Gutierrez at a distance. Utilising a sharp accurate jab and good lateral movement he succeed in his game plan over the first four rounds. Gutierrez closed the distance in the fifth and from then it was a more even match but Gurrola continued to box skilfully and Gutierrez was not able to claw back the points from those first four rounds. Scores 96-94 twice and 98-92 all for Gurrola. The locally based “Pantera” had lost 3 of his last 4 but they were all against top class opposition with the losses to Silverio Ortiz, Antonio DeMarco and Fermin De los Santos and the win over Armando Robles. Gutierrez, 27, is a former interim WBC champion but down at super feather and he is no longer the force he was being 5-6-1 in his last 12 fights. Rodriguez vs. Fuentes Tijuana fighter “Choko” Rodriguez halts Colombian Flores to win the WBC Youth Silver title. To begin with Rodriguez was boxing his way to a win however after he suffered a bad cut on his right eyebrow from a punch he changed tactics. From then he opened up and carried out a sustained assault on the body of Fuentes and in the end Fuentes did not come out for the sixth round. Eight wins by KO/TKO for Rodriguez and his best win so far. Fuentes, 26, had an indifferent start as a pro but had lost only two of his last 18 fights going in. One of those was against John Riel Casimero for the vacant IBF light fly title, with Casimero losing the title on the scales but knocking out Fuentes inside a round, and to current IBF champion Javier Mendoza. Taguig City, Philippines: Super Fly: Aston Palicte (20-1) W PTS 12 Vergilio Silvano (20-6-1) . Super Light: Al Rivera (14-2) W KO 1 Adones Cabalquinto (21-1). Light: Jayar Inson (10-0) W TKO 10 Bryan Macamay (9-4-2). Super Fly: Ryan Lumacad (10-0-1) W PTS 10 Jetly Purisima (20-18-4). Super Fly: Jerwin Ancajas (24-1-1) W KO 1 Paul Apolinario (10-16-3). Palicte vs. Silvano Palicte, a prospect from the Manny Pacquiao gym, wins the vacant WBO Oriental title with unanimous decision over Silvano. Palicte had huge edges in height and reach and also had the power. He looked good for a win inside the distance as he floored Silvano in both the second and fifth rounds. From the sixth he seemed to go off the boil and Silvano was able to get inside and make it a more even fight. It transpired that Palicte had injured his right hand but he was able to use his left to box his way to victory. Scores 118-108 twice and 116-110. The 24-year-old from Cebu who represented the Philippines at the World Youth Championships suffered his only loss when he was beaten in four rounds by Romnick Magos. He has now won 10 in a row since then, 9 by KO/TKO, and is GAB No 2. Southpaw Silvano lost to Katsunari Takayama for the IBF minimum title in December 2013 but is now 3-3 in his last 6 but with all of the losses to very good domestic opposition. Rivera vs. Cabalquinto A major upset here but some controversy. Just as the action was heating up a clash of heads saw Rivera cut up on his forehead. Cabalquinto seemed momentary stunned by the head clash and a huge punch from Rivera put him down and out cold. Cabalquinto was out for some time and needed medical attention before recovering. After losing his first fight on a one round stoppage “The Machine” Rivera has now lost only one of his last 15 fights and that was to Leonardo Doronio who on the same night in Bangkok was knocking over Taiwo Ali in three rounds. Rivera has 12 wins by KO/TKO. Cabalquinto, the GAB champion and WBO 12, was a big favourite here and will need time to recover from this shock. This was a non-title fight. Inson vs. Macamay “Hitman” Inson gets late stoppage of Macamay. This was always going to be a tough fight for Macamay against a 5’10” (178cm) southpaw( Macamay is 5’5” 165cm). Inson was able to use his reach to control the fight but was also the boss when they got close. He had Macamay down in the second but Macamay kept plugging away and it looked as though he was going to go the distance. In the last a left from Inson put Macamay down heavily and the fight was stopped with just one second to go. The 25-year-old Inson has 7 wins by KO/TKO. He holds the interim WBO Oriental title and is No 1 in the GBA ratings. Macamay, 24 gets his second loss in a row by KO/TKO. Lumacad vs. Purisima Lumacad stepped into the breach at short notice here and outpointed a tough but limited Purisima. Lumacad had southpaw Purisima down in the second but Purisima got up and made Lumacad fight hard for the next eight rounds to win the verdict. Scores 97-92 twice and 98-91. Lumacad, 23, the GAB No 6 super fly went 10 rounds for the first time. Now four losses in a row for Purisima. Lumacad was brought in to fight Purisima after Drian Francisco pulled out due to his being offered a fight with Guillermo Rigondeaux on the undercard of Cotto vs. Alvarez on 21 November. Ancajas vs. Apolinario Predictable early win for Ancajas. It took just 35 seconds and one thundering right from the Filipino southpaw to put fellow-countryman Apolinario down and out. Now 16 wins by KO/TKO for “Pretty Boy” . He is the IBF No 3 but as the first two slots are vacant he is their top rated fighter. I normally show that as 3(1). This is his eleventh win on the bounce by KO/TKO since losing a majority verdict to Mark Anthony Geraldo in 2012. Poor Apolinario was to have fought Purisima but Francisco pulling out was shuffled over to face Ancajas with. He is now 0-10-1 in his last 11 fights with 9 losses by KO/TKO. Adeje, Canary Isles, Spain: Light: Artem Haroyan (9-0) W TKO 2 Karim El Ouazghari (17-7-2). Haroyan wins the vacant WBA Continental title with stoppage of El Ouazghari. Haroyan took the first round comfortably and after shaking El Ouazghari early in the second floored the Spaniard with a series of punches to put him down. El Ouazghari made it to his feet but the referee stopped the fight which led to strong protests from El Ouazghari’s team. Armenian Haroyan, 22 is based in the Canary Islands. This was his first bout scheduled for more than eight rounds. El Ouazghari 35 gets his fifth loss by KO/TKO. He had a big edge in experience having been in with John Murray, Kevin Mitchell, Stephen Ormond and Felix Verdejo. Cleethorpes, England: Light: Kevin Hooper (18-3) W PTS 10 Andy Keates (11-3). Hooper takes majority decision and wins English title in front of his home fans. This was a close fight. The first two rounds could have gone either way and although Hooper had slightly the better of the action in most of the remaining rounds a closing surge from Keates put the outcome in doubt. Scores 97-94 and 96-94 for Hooper and 95-95. Hooper, 31, is hoping this win will get him a shot at the British title. Two of his losses have come in fights for the English title at super feather against good opposition in Gary Sykes and John Kays and the other was to the now world rated Liam Walsh. Keates, the Midland Area champion will naturally want a return and deserves one. November 14 Bristol, England: Middle: Nick Blackwell (19-3-1) W PTS 12 Jack Arnfield (19-2). Fly: Andrew Selby (2-0) W TKO 2 Jozsef Ajtai (10-0). Heavy: Hughie Fury (17-0) W KO 2 Emilio Zarate (18-15-3). Cruiser: Craig Kennedy (13-0) W TKO 6 Tamas Bajzath (11-17-1). Blackwell vs. Arnfield Blackwell retains British title after great scrap with Arnfield. The first two rounds saw Arnfield boxing on the outside using his longer reach to spear Blackwell with jabs and quick combinations whilst Blackwell showed more power particularly with left hooks to the body but was waiting too long to let his punches go. Blackwell had his jab working in the third and both scored with some good shots in an equal round but one that saw Arnfield’s nose leaking blood. Blackwell upped his pace in the fourth and again his left hooks doubled to head and body were impressive. Arnfield was again using his jab and quick counters but it was Blackwell’s round and Arnfield was cut over his left eye by a punch. Blackwell’s was getting inside and taking Arnfield to the ropes in the fifth and a left hook followed by a right cross saw Arnfield down on his knees. He was up and banging back by the bell but really from that point it was an uphill struggle for Arnfield. The pattern for the rounds was Arnfield a starting well and Blackwell pressurising and finishing the rounds with big attacks. A tiring Arnfield looked to be in trouble in the eighth but he fought back hard finding gaps in Blackwell’s guard but not having the power to exploit those openings. Blackwell was relentless walking Arnfield down and cracking home those left hooks but Arnfield just kept working the jab and was particularly successful with right uppercuts. Over the last two rounds the cut over Arnfield’s left eye was worsening but he never stopped trying to turn the fight around. Blackwell kept the pressure on scoring with short bursts of punches in close and looked to have Arnfield in deep trouble over those last two rounds but Arnfield kept finding the strength to fire back to the final bell of a great title fight. The 25-year-old Blackwell was making the second defence of his British title and is 7-0-1 in his last 8 fights with the draw being against the dangerous Sergey Khomitsky and one of the wins was a big one a stoppage of John Ryder.. His losses have been to Martin Murray and Billy Joe Saunders in British and Commonwealth title fights and a points loss to Max Bursak in a short notice fight in Bursak’s backyard in 2013. He has improved a great deal since then and is ready for bigger fights. Arnfield, 26, came in at only eight day’s notice and was in his first twelve round fight. He fought his heart out here and has improved his profile with such a fighting performance. Selby vs. Ajtai Selby is a huge talent a world class amateur who will be a future star of the flyweight division. He has to have some pro fights to get in ring time but it is difficult to find suitable opponents for such an outstanding fighter. No matter how difficult this fight was a farce. A mature 26-year-old Selby, 5’6” and a big flyweight was put in with an 18-year-old 5’2” Hungarian who weighed as low as 101lbs for a fight in July. Selby floored Ajtai in the first and showed what he thought of the fight by just resting his hands on his thighs and showboating before a volley of punches saw the referee stop the fight. Selby, the brother of IBF champion Lee, won two bronze medals and two gold medals at the European Championships and a silver at the World Championships and could probably fight for the European title tomorrow but they have to find more useful fights for him than this. Fury vs. Zarate Fury has no trouble beating poor Argentinian in two rounds. Zarate looked hesitant from the start jerking his head back every time he threw a punch. Fury took his tome stalking Zarate with his usual low guard. When he opened up at the end of the round he scored two rights, a left hook and a right uppercut. In the second he took Zarate to the ropes and landed some clubbing rights. The last landed on the side of the Argentinian’s head but as he slumped to the canvas he was holding the back of his head to claim it was a foul. It wasn’t and he was counted out remaining on the canvas and receiving attention for quite a while. The 21-year-old 6.6” (198cm) Fury, the cousin of Tyson Fury, has 9 wins by KO/TKO and is showing steady progress . Zarate 6’5 ½” (197cm) is a former South American champion but last time out he lost on points to Sergey Kuzmin who was having only his second pro fight. Kennedy vs. Bajzath Kennedy gets another win with stoppage of Hungarian. The 30-year-old Welsh boxer is in line for a shot at the British title after beating Courtney Fry in an eliminator. He got some useful ring time here and his 7th win by KO/TKO. He is rated No 15 by the EBU in a tough division. Hungarian Bajzath, 31, is 3-11 in his last 14 fights. Portland, ME, USA: Middle: Tom Falowo (14-3) W PTS 8 Russell Lamour (12-2). Falowo gets unanimous decision over Lamour to win the seventh bout in their series. Local fighter Lamour looked to have edged ahead over the first three rounds and was doing well in the fourth until a right to the head from Falowo sent him spinning into the ropes and down. Lamour took the standing count and was on the back foot for the rest of the round. From that point Falowo was in charge and he went on to win the decision. Scores 79-73, 78-74 and 77-74 all for Falowo. The 27-year-old from Rhode Island lost 3 out of 4 fights against Lamour as an amateur but has now beaten him twice as a pro. He wins the New England title. A setback for 32-year-old Lamour but he had no complaints about the decision. Las Vegas, NV, USA: Heavy: Bermane Stiverne (25-2-1) W PTS 10 Derric Rossy (30-11). Super Welter: Jarrett Hurd (17-0) W TKO 6 Frankie Galarza (17-1-2). Middle: Sergiy Derevyanchenko (7-0) W TKO 3 Jesse Nicklow (25-8-3).Super Middle: David Benavidez (11-0) W TKO 1 Felipe Romero (19-10-1). Stiverne vs. Rossy Stiverne gets off the floor after shock knockdown in first to outpoint Rossy. A counter right from Rossy dropped Stiverne but Stiverne recovered and was trading with Rossy by the second. The former WBC champion took the fight to Rossy with Rossy countering well and keeping the fight close. Both were landing with good shots and although Stiverne was getting the better of the exchanges by the seventh he was showing a swelling by his left eye. The fight was in the balance but Stiverne had a good ninth hurting Rossy with a body punch and he outlanded Rossy in the last to clinch a close decision. Scores 96-93 twice and 95-94 all for Stiverne. The 37-year-old Haitian-born Canadian was having his first fight since losing his WBC title to Deontay Wilder in January and is ready for some big fights to get back into contention. Rossy,35, is now 2-6 in his last 8 fights but can be a problem on his night as he showed when only losing on a hotly disputed decision to Vyacheslav Glazkov and beating Joe Hanks Hurd vs. Galarza Minor upset as Hurd floors and halts Galarza in battle of unbeaten fighters. Hurd was much quicker with his hands and found the less mobile Galarza an easy target from the first. Galarza had to press the fight and paid for the by eating hard counters from Hurd. A right uppercut from Hurd in the fourth put Galarza down for the first time in his career. Galarza made to his feet and survived the round but was badly shake, Galarza continued to try to force the fight but as he walked forward in the sixth he was nailed by a vicious right uppercut that virtually finished the fight. Hurd did score with a couple of rights to the head but Galarza was already turning away from the effects of the uppercut and the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Big win for 25-year-old Hurd which will raise his profile as he has been mainly boxing in small shows. He almost gave up boxing when in the amateurs and took a job at Safeway but now with this eleventh win by KO/TKO he has a future in boxing. Galarza had a good team behind him and they had made sure that even though there was an absence of any big names on his record the Brooklyn boxer’s profile was high. He can rebound but at 30 his time to do so is limited. Derevyanchenko vs. Nicklow Brooklyn-based Russian hits too hard for late sub Nicklow. In the first Nicklow was coming forward taking the fight to Derevyanchenko who was content to box and did not open up until the end of the round. Nicklow was also trying to come forward in the second but Derevyanchenko was letting his hands go and forcing Nicklow back with a stiff jab and hooks to the body. The Russian landed a hard right to the head which staggered Nicklow and then worked him over on the ropes before Nicklow broke away and was coming forward again at the bell. In the third Derevyanchenko trapped Nicklow on the ropes and scored with some hard punches but again Nicklow broke free. They got into a tangle and Derevyanchenko pushed Nicklow down to the floor. When the action resumed Derevyanchenko drove Nicklow across the ring and trapped him on the ropes. The Russian was unloading some heavy stuff and the referee stepped in to save Nicklow. The 30-year-old Derevyanchenko moves to 5 wins by KO/TKO. He was a top amateur and a real star of the WBS where he was 22-1 in four series in their tournaments. Nicklow was just outgunned and he has now lost 5 of his last 6 fights. Benavidez vs. Romero Benavidez impresses as he crushes Romero inside a round. Romero was trying to pin Benavidez on the ropes and left himself open and Benavidez nailed him with a left hook to the chin which sent the Mexican staggering across the ring to the ropes. Benavidez followed in and a left hook to the body and two rights to the head dumped Roman on his rear. He reluctantly got up at nine only to be put down by a vicious right to the body. Again it looked as though he might be reluctant to continue but he made it to his feet at nine again. Benavidez drove him across the ring with string of hurtful left hooks to the body and as Romero went down for the third time the fight was stopped. Still only 18, he is the youngest fighter to have appeared on these Shobox shows, he is nicknamed “Red Flag” to warn his opponents of the danger they face in him. The younger brother of interim WBA champion Jose now has 10 wins by KO/TKO, 9 in the first round so sounds impressive but to give it some context 6 of his victims had never won a fight and two other had only won one fight. Stiffer tests needed as although Romero was a lot more experienced he has now lost 8 fights by KO/TKO. Dessau, Germany: Heavy: Tom Schwarz (15-0) W KO 7 Ilja Mezencev (10-1). German heavyweight hope Schwarz gets off the floor to win the vacant WBO Youth title in an interesting battle. Mezencev started out showing plenty of movement circling Schwarz, constantly switching guard and firing quick punches. Swart was just coming forward behind a high guard and not letting his hands go. When the German did throw a punch it was a lazy left jab and Mezencev threw a right over the top which put Schwarz down. He was up at six and took the mandatory count with the bell going on completion of the count. It was a different story in the second as Schwarz came out much quicker cutting off the ring and throwing hard rights. One of those rights landed late in the round and Mezencev was badly shaken and held on desperately to last out the round. Schwarz was letting the right go again in the third. Mezencev was able to land hard counters but Schwarz just marched through them He hurt Mezencev again with clubbing rights sending the Kazak fighter into the ropes with the referee giving Mezencev a standing count. Another right at the end of the round snapped Mezencev's head back and again he clung on to get out of trouble. There was less action in the fourth and for most of the fifth Mezencev was finding gaps in Schwarz's defence and actually forcing the German back until a straight right from Schwarz put Mezencev down. Schwarz was celebrating in mid ring but behind his back Mezencev was up at 4 and ready continue only for the bell to go as the eight count was completed. As in the fifth Mezencev did the scoring early and had Schwarz shaken and holding only for a right to again unhinge Mezencev's legs and he was holding on to survive to the bell. Early in the seventh Schwarz nailed Mezencev with a series of clubbing rights that had Mezencev falling backwards into ropes and slumping down to the canvas with the referee waiving the fight over. The 21-year-old 6’5 ½” (197cm) Schwarz has 10 wins by KO/TKO. His plus point is the power in that right hand but he was one-paced and Mezencev found plenty of gaps in his defence but he is worth keeping an eye on. No height available for 20-year-old Hamburg-based Mezencev but he looked slight taller than Schwarz. He showed good movement and fast hands but in the end the power of Schwarz undid him. Tlalnepantla, Mexico: Welter: Daniel Echevarria (19-1) TKO 8 Abner Lopez (23-5). Bantam: Daniel Rosas (20-2-1) W PTS 10 Roberto Pucheta (9-7-1). Super Welter: Ramses Agaton (16-2-1) W Jhonny Navarrete (29-7-1). Echevarria vs. Lopez Both fighters were on the floor in this one with Echevarria finally coming out on top. Echevarria had a good start flooring Lopez with a southpaw left to the chin in the first round. They continued to trade hard punches in the second and in the third it was Echevarria’s turn to hit the floor. When some fighters get up from a knockdown the spit out their gumshield to get respite. Not Echevarria, he hit Lopes as low as he could reach and got his recovery time during Lopez’s recovery time. By the end of the fifth Echevarria was firmly in control with Lopez cut on his left eyebrow and with a bad swelling on his right cheek. Echevarria handed more punishment in the sixth and seventh before flooring Lopez in the eighth. Lopez made it to the vertical but was under fire again when the referee stopped the fight. The 23-year-old Echevarria now has 17 wins by KO/TKO as he rebounds from losing his unbeaten tag on a majority decision against Jorge Paez Jr in August. “Jaeger”, 25, had lost only one of his last 12 fights but now has his first loss by KO/TKO. Rosas vs. Pucheta Rosas has to fight hard to get the split decision over late replacement Pucheta. This one was a war of attrition with both landing and absorbing heavy punches all the way. Rosas seemed to get the better start just edging into the lead over the first three rounds. Rosas also had a good fourth bringing blood from the nose of Pucheta but there was very little between them. Pucheta ate into Rosas’s lead over the next three rounds and by the end of the eighth a right from Pucheta had opened a cut on the left eyebrow of Rosas. The ninth was Rosas’s and they fought on even terms over the last. Scores 96-94 and 96-95 for Rosas and 96-94 for Pucheta. As close as it gets. A loss would have been a big set-back for the 26-year-old Mexico City “Bad Boy”. After being unbeaten over his first 18 fights, including a draw with Jose Cabrera for the interim WBO super fly title and good wins over Roberto Castaneda and Juan Alberto Rosas, he lost in seven rounds to Rodrigo Guerrero and in June last year lost on points against Alejandro Hernandez for the interim WBO bantam title. He had scored two wins since then but a loss to the very modest Pucheta would have been big backward step. “Scorpion” Pucheta, 25 was 2-3 in his last five fights so this was a career best performance. Agaton vs. Navarrete Local southpaw Agaton gets a quick win over the normally durable Navarrete. Agaton handed out steady punishment to take the first round and had Navarrete defenceless in the second when the referee halted the fight. The 25-year-old Agaton is now 9-1-3 in his last 13 fights including a draw with Luis Fernando Uribe (28-1-1) and wins over Alejandro Barrera (25-1) and Ronald Montes (16-0). The loss was in his previous fight in August on a technical decision against Ivan Montero (18-0) when a flash knockdown cost him the decision. “ Cowboy” Navarrete, 27, had won 12 of his last 13 fights and this is his first loss by KO/TKO. San Luis Potosi, Mexico: Light: Adrian Estrella (24-1) W TKO 6 Orlen Padilla (21-6-1). Fly: Juan Hernandez (29-3) W TKO 5 Raymond Tabugon (17-4-1). Estrella vs. Padilla Estrella has little trouble in halting Colombian Padilla. Estrella fought his usual aggressive fight coming forward landing with hooks from both hands. Padilla had no choice but to stand and trade. Estrella had Padilla badly shaken in the second but Padilla survived only to soak up more punishment. In the sixth with Estralle unloding with both hands the referee had seen enough and stepped in to save the Colombian. The 23-year-old Moterrey “Diamond” gets his second win since suffering a crushing loss to Eden Sonsona in May and his 21st win by KO/TKO. He is WBC No 11 but it remains to be seen whether he has taken on board the lessons from that loss to Sonsona. Padilla, 29, suffered inside the distance loses in tough fights against Dante Jordan, Israel Perez and Eduard Troyanovsky but then returned home to Colombia where he scored 5 wins by KO/TKO but against very poor opposition, Hernandez vs. Tabugon Hernandez comes in way over the contract weight and then adds injury to insult by stopping Filipino Tabugon. The Filipino tried to live up to his “Tornado” nicknamne but Hernandez fought a quick clever counter punching fight. Constantly switching his guard Hernandez was able to slot home stinging punches through the gaps in the Filipino’s defence. The breaking down process came to and end in the fifth as Hernandez floored Tabugon and the referee stepped in to save Tabugon from any more pain. The 28-year-old “Juanito” makes it 20 wins by KO/TKO. He lost to Kazuto Ioka for the WBC minimum title in 2011 but has now won 11 of his last 12 fights and reversed the lone loss in that streak. He is WBC No 4 at light fly. Tabugon, 24, the WBO No 15, was a very live opponent with just one loss in his last 16 fights and 6 wins in a row but the experience of Hernandez was just too much for him. Maasim, Philippines: Super Fly: Richie Mepranum (31-4-1) W PTS 12 Marjhun Tabamo (8-9-4). Super Feather: Hermonito Dela Torre (17-0) W TKO 3 Richard Betos (20-13-1). Mepranum vs. Tabamo Mepranum win the vacant WBU fly title with points victory over fellow-Filipino Tabamo. Only Mepranum could win the title as Tabamo came in a massive 9lbs over the weight limit. He was sluggish as a result but Mepranum was a class above him and even a top trim Tabamo would not have stood a chance as Mepranum boxed his way to the unanimous decision. All of the 28-year-old southpaw’s losses have come against fighter who have held world titles. He lost to Julio Cesar Miranda for the WBO fly title and to Juan Francisco Estrada for the WBA/WBO titles and also to Denkaosan and Herman Marquez. He has won his last 4 fights and is GAB No 2. “Tubby” Tabamo (OK that’s just my nickname for him) also a southpaw is 0-9-4 in his last 13 fights which is enough to qualify him to fight for the WBU world title!! Dela Torre vs. Betos There are quite a few good young fighters emerging in the Philippines right now and Dela Torre is up there with the best. He gave Betos a torrid time for two rounds bombarding him with combinations with choice right uppercuts featuring as the best punch of the bunch. Those uppercuts caused a big swelling by the right eye of Betos and he retired at the end of the second round. The 21-year-old General Santos City “Hammer” has 12 wins by KO/TKO and his last seven fights in a row have ended that way. He has featured in a couple of Top Rank shows in Macao and impressed. Betos no real threat as he gets his seventh loss in a row. Las Palmas CI, Spain: Welter: Ceferino Rodriguez (20-1) W TKO 5 Davide Doria (12-1-1). Super Bantam: Kiko Martinez (34-6) W PTS 8 Everth Briceno (35-13-2). Rodriguez vs. Doria Rodriguez too good for German-based Italian Doria and wins in five rounds in front of his home crowd. Rodriguez was getting through with heavy punches from the start. Doria was competitive over the first two rounds but then went into survival mode and the fight became one-sided. Rodriguez brought it to an end in the fifth with a sustained barrage that saw the referee stop the fight. “Ferino V” the 27-year-old former undefeated EU champion was going great until he suffered a shock loss on points to Frenchman Mohamed Mimoune in April. This is his second win as he tries to put that result behind him. This was Doria’s first fight for nearly eleven months and Rodriguez was a class or two above him. Martinez vs. Briceno Former IBF champion Martinez gets in eight rounds of work against Nicaraguan veteran Briceno. The feisty little Spaniard won every round comfortably and has not yet given up on the chance of another world title fight-as long as it is not against a british fighter. Kiko has lost twice to Rendall Munroe, twice to Carl Frampton and also to Scott Quigg. Briceno 37 had two shots at the WBO super fly title but is on the down slope as this is his fifth loss in a row, Bovari, Ukraine: Light Heavy: Umar Salamov (14-0) W PTS 12 Doudou Ngumbu (34-7). Super Welter: Khassan Baysangurov (10-0) W KO 2 Marcelo Molina (17-12). Welter: Khusein Baysangurov (5-0) W TKO 1 Bryan Boussis (7-4-1). Super Light: Mishiko Beselia (12-0) W TKO 3 Deniss Kornilovs (1-4). Super Light: Denys Berinchyk (2-0) W TKO 8 Innocent Anyanwu (22-13-3). Salamov vs. Ngumbu Salamov retains his WBO Europe title with unanimous decision over French-based Ngumbu. Salamov had height and reach over Ngumbu and used them well. He was able to keep the experienced Ngumbu out and spear him with long jabs, right crosses and uppercuts and Ngumbu never really found a way to consistently get past that jab. Salamov was using good footwork and his reach advantage with Ngumbu having to jump in with his attacks but rarely having success. Ngumbu was fired up in the fourth when Salamov landed a punch after the call to break but his efforts were frustrated by the holding tactics of Salamov. The DRC-born fighter kept marching after Salamov but was rarely able to get Salamov to stand and trade. As Salamov tired over the late rounds he did a lot more holding and got away with it but Ngumbu was just too slow and as he got more frustrated by Salamov’s tactics he became wilder and less accurate with his attacks leaving himself open to counters and switching empty air more often than not.. Ngumbu had a good eleventh but Salamov was stronger and fresher in the last and a clear winner. Scores 117-111 twice and 118-110. The tall Kiev-based Russian was making the second defence of his WBO Europe title. Ngumbu, 33, has good wins over Vyacheslav Uzelkov and Johnny Muller, but lost on a split decision to Igor Mikhalkin and was beaten on points by Andrzej Fonfara in November. Baysangurov vs. Molina Baysangurov wins vacant WBO Youth title with kayo of Argentinian Molina. The was an unequal contest with Baysangurov much taller than the visitor. Baysangurov just kept walking Molina down whilst the Argentinian moved backwards at speed stopping occasionally to throw a couple of quick punches. As Baysangurov warmed to the task he landed a couple of left hooks to the body and a straight right just before the bell. In the second a couple of not too hard looking punches from Baysangurov saw Molina go face down on the canvas. He jumped up immediately but a right uppercut followed by a left hook to the body put Molina on the canvas rolling in agony and he was counted out. Baysangurov, just 18 is Russian-born but based in Kiev. He has won 4 of his last 5 fights by KO/TKO. This result no real surprise as this is Molina’s ninth loss by KO/TKO Baysangurov vs. Boussis Elder brother Khusein makes it a family double as he also wins the vacant WBO Youth title but not a very satisfactory ending. The first meaningful punch Baysangurov landed was a downward chopping left which seemed to land on the right side of the face of Boussis and Baysangurov followed that with a left hook as Boussis was slumping back on his haunches. The Frenchman was pawing at his right eye and the referee interrupted the count to ask the doctor to have a look at the eye. There did not seem to be any serious injury but Boussis did not want to continue. Three wins by KO/TKO for the 21-year-old Baysangurov. First fight outside France and first loss inside the distance for Boussis. Beselia vs. Kornilovs Beselia was a full head shorter than the stick-thin Kornilovs but since Kornilovs had no power and very limited technique Beselia was able to walk past Kornilovs jab and score with hooks and straight shots. A right fromm Beselia shook Kornilovs at the end of the round but the bell went before he could finish the job. In the second a right from Beselia sent Kornilovs into the ropes and he was sitting on the bottom rope before getting up and continuing after the eight count. It was over in the third when a series of left hooks from Beselia put Kornilovs again and the fight was stopped, Now 9 wins by KO/TKO for Georgian-born 23-year-old Beselia. Kornilovs was tall and after that there is nothing to say about him as a fighter. The fact that he lost on points to Brit Robin Deakin (1-51) is all you need to know. Berinchyk vs. Anyanwu Typical Berinchyk performance. The red-hot Ukrainian is a modern Henry Armstrong. His corner wind him up at the start of each round and he runs at full speed for three minutes. He was all over Anyanwu like a rash throwing jabs, hooks uppercuts crosses making it hard for Anyanwu to find space to counter. To make things worse he switches guard effortlessly and is a hard puncher. Anyanwu fought back with counters when he could and showed enough skill to think he could have been a very good boxer with a bit more discipline. In the fifth the Ukrainian managed a ten-punch combination from both hands. They did not all connect and when Anyanwu banged back and landed four rights to the body Berinchyk just shrugged them off and went back to the attack. In the sixth it looked as though Anyanwu was going to last the distance but thudding rights a left uppercut and more rights drove Anyanwu to the ropes. The Amsterdam-based Nigerian was covering up from the barrage when the referee stopped the fight. Anyanwu protested and it did look as though he could have ridden out the storm. The 27-year-old Berinchyk won silver medals at both the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics beating Cuban star Roniel Iglesias, Tom Stalker, Anthony Yigit and Jeff Horn in those competitions so who knows how far he can go as a pro. Anyanwu, 37, looked to be going places when he was 20-0-2 in his first 22 fights but is 2-13-1 in his last 16 fights which tells its own story. Tallinn, Estonia: Feather: James Tennyson (15-1) W KO 1 Sergejs Logins (10-8-1). Light: James Fryers (11-0) W TKO 2 Ruslans Berdimuradovs (5-5). Tennyson vs. Logins Too easy for Tennyson. After a minute the Kronk trained Belfast fighter landed a left to the chin which sent Logins backwards across the ring. Tennyson caught Logins in a corner and put him down with a left hook to the body. Logins got up –reluctantly- and was again driven to the ropes and a right uppercut and a left to the body put him down on his knees and he was counted out. Now 12 wins by KO/TKO for the 22-year-old “Assassin” . Latvian Logins rarely goes past the first round. Eleven of his fights have ended in the first three minutes, unfortunately 5 of those were losses. Fryers vs. Berdimuradovs Fryers has no trouble disposing of Berdimuradovs. The tall Belfast fighter was tracking Berdimuradovs down with the Latvian trying to switch guards to confuse Fryers but what he needed to do to stand a chance was switch opponents. After Fryers floored Berdimuradovs in the first with a punch that did not seem to be hard enough to cause the knockdown it was over early in the second when a short right to the head saw Berdimuradovs go down and make no real effort to get up. No sort of test at all for Fryers. The 23-year-old “The Future” gets his fourth win by KO/TKO. A too easy night but the 5’11” (180cm) Belfast man did his job. Berdimuradovs is 3-5 in his last 8 fights. Comerio, Puerto Rico: Light: Kevin Nieves (9-1-1) W TKO 3 Miguel Soto (12-7). Super Light: Luis Orlando del Valle (20-2,1ND) W TKO 2 Juan Jose Beltran (29-25-3). Nieves vs. Soto Nieves stops a sliding Soto in three. Fighting in his hometown Nieves dominated the fight before a punch had blood pouring from the nose of Soto. It was not broken but the injury was too serious for the fight to continue. Now 5 wins by KO/TKO for the 23-year-old Puerto Rican. Fellow-islander Soto has lost 6 in a row with the last 5 losses all being by KO/TKO. Del Valle vs. Beltran Del Valle beat Beltran for the second time. The Puerto Rican was too quick and accurate for the Mexican veteran and after flooring Beltran in the first he handed out enough punishment in the second for Beltran’s corner to retire their man at the interval. “Orlandito” made a good start as a pro with 15 wins including victories over Dat Nguyen and Chris Martin but then suffered setbacks in the form of losses to Vic Darchinyan and Luis Rosa. He returned to the winning column with a victory over Roberto Castaneda in March,. He had beaten Beltran in four rounds when they met in 2013. Beltran 37 is 3-7 in his last 10 fights. November 15 Barcelona, Spain: Super Light: Sandor Martin (25-1) W TKO 4Gyorgy Mizsei (22-15). Martin retains the EU title with stoppage of Hungarian Mizsei. The challenger was much taller than the Spaniard so over the first three rounds southpaw Martin was coming forward trying to trap Mizsei in a corner or on the ropes. Mizsei kept moving but throwing very few punches and with Martin only letting go occasionally there was little action. That changed in the fourth as Martin came out fast and Mizsei was being trapped and forced to trade. With Mizsei in a corner Martin landed a right left combination that put Mizsei down. He took the mandatory count and tried to take the fight to Martin only to be floored again by a series of punches. When he got up Martin was there again and landed a hard combination that saw Mizsei go down for the third time and the referee promptly waived the fight over. The 22-year-old from Barcelona gets his ninth win by KO/TKO and also lifts the vacant WBC Youth title. Mizsei, also 22, is 3-7 in his last ten fights but no one does him any favours as he has been in with Anthony Crolla, twice with Emiliano Marsili and with Derry Mathews in those 10 fights. Something not right with the heights here. BoxRec has Mizsei at 5’5” (165cm) but he was much taller than the 5’8” ½” (174cm) Martin? The Past Week In Action 10 November 2015
November 4 Kazan, Russia: Heavy: Alex Povetkin (30-1) W TKO 12 Mariusz Wach (31-2). Cruiser: Denis Lebedev (28-2) W TKO 8 Lateef Kayode (21-1,1ND). Super Light: Eduard Troyanovsky (23-0) W TKO 6 Cesar Cuenca (48-1). Cruiser: Ola Afolabi (22-4-4) W KO 5 Rakhim Chakhkiev (24-2). Cruiser: Olanrewaju Durodola (22-2) W TKO 2 Dmitry Kudryashov (18-1). Welter: Viskhan Murzabekov (12-0) W KO 3 Solomon Bogere (13-3-2). Light Heavy: Dmitry Bivol (5-0) W TKO 4 Jackson Junior (19-5,1ND). Povetkin vs. Wach Povetkin gets late stoppage win after a left hook splits open a cut below the left eye of Wach in the last round. It was far from being an exciting fight. Wach’s only real weapons were his height and his long left jab. Povetkin was quicker and cleverer and was able to duck under the prodded jab and get inside to land left hooks to the body and overhand rights. Wach was warned about holding over the first two rounds as he tried to stifle Povetkin’s work inside. The pattern never really varied with Wach being a bit more adventurous in the fourth and fifth but Povetkin continually moving inside and getting off two or three quick punches. Because of the pattern of the fight there were very few prolonged exchanges. Povetkin picked up the pace in the seventh and Wach was looking more intent on survival than winning. There was a brief break in the action in the tenth when a left hook from Povetkin landed very low and Wach was given some recovery time. Povetkin was doing the scoring in the eleventh but not really hurting or shaking Wach and it looked as though the fight would go the distance. That changed when a left hook from Povetkin opened a gash under the left eye of Wach. The referee had the doctor tale a look and the fight was stopped as the cut was ruled to be too bad for Wach to continue. Povetkin, 36, retains his WBC Silver title and as expected will have to wait for his mandatory shot at Deontay Wilder as the WBC have given permission for Wilder to have a third voluntary defence. Povetkin was never going to look good against Wach but he got the job down. “The Viking” Wach although 6’7 ½” is no real preparation for a Wilder fight as his arsenal is limited and his jab lacks the power of Wilder’s but in fairness this is the first time the 35-year-old Pole has lost inside the distance. Lebedev vs. Kayode Lebedev retains WBA title with stoppage of Kayode. For the first six rounds this was pretty much a non-event. In the first both fighters were just probing with their respective jabs, Lebedev with his southpaw right and Kayode with his left. Lebedev was content to let Kayode come forward and what scoring there was, and there was not much, came from long left counters from Lebedev. The pattern of limited action was the same in the second with Kayode hardly landing a punch and Lebedev getting home a couple of long lefts. Kayode tried to up the pace of the fight in the third but he was too slow and Lebedev was able to counter and get out before a frustrated Kayode could respond. Kayode’s frustration showed as he was signalling for Lebedev to stand and fight. The fourth saw Lebedev start to let his hands go more mixing in right jabs with his straight lefts and rocking Kayode back on his heels. Lebedev was too quick for Kayode again in the fifth. He was cleverly just using his right jab as a decoy with Kayode ducking to his right into the path of Lebedev’s straight lefts. The action picked up in the sixth with Lebedev trading more which gave Kayoed a better target but the Nigerian was swinging wildly and walking onto more straight lefts. Lebedev rocked Kayode with a left to the head at the start of the seventh and then in some close action seemed to land a right jab and a left cross. Kayode went down and was up at three complaining bitterly that he had been pushed down but the referee ruled it a knockdown. Kayode certainly did not look shaken and actually had a good spell at the end of the round. In the eighth a left hook on the inside sent Kayode to the floor. This time he was badly shaken and only just beat the count. An over eager Lebedev half punched/pushed Kayode down again with Kayode up immediately and protesting that he was pushed. It made no difference because when the action resumed Lebedev exploded heavy lefts driving Kayode to the ropes. One of the lefts saw Kayode’s head snapped back and he was shipping more punches and not fighting back when the fight was stopped. Second defence of the full WBA title for the 36-year-old Russian and win No 21 by KO/TKO. Kayode, 32, had no right to be fighting for the title. In September, fighting at heavyweight, he was stopped inside a round by Luis Ortiz only for the fight result to be changed to No Decision after Ortiz tested positive for a banned substance . In the 13 months since then Kayode had dropped down to cruiser with a low level win but was parachuted into the WBA ratings at No 3. Cuenca vs. Troyanovsky Troyanovsky retains his IBO title and wins the IBF title from Cuenca in an unsatisfactory ending and I guess a complaint from Cuenca’s management has already been lodged. Troyanovsky had height and reach over the champion but was unable to make much use of those edges. He kept coming forward but to say Cuenca is elusive is like saying hell is hot. The Argentinian is perpetual motion and quick. With his herky-jerky southpaw style and the combination of quick footwork and upper body movement (no wonder his nickname was originally Fred Astaire) Troyanovsky was chasing a shadow and never able to find a stationary target so was not letting his punches go. Troyanovsky kept the pressure on and managed to score with some long rights with Cuenca leaping in with quick but light punches of his own. Briefly in the third Cuenca came forward throwing punches and Troyanovsky was the one going backwards and countering. The fourth started out the same way but after Cuenca landed a quick flurry of punches Troyanovsky landed an overhand right, the best punch of the fight so far, he was able to trap Cuenca on the ropes briefly and score with some hard rights before Cuenca slipped away and urged Troyanovsky to bring it on. Again in the fifth Troyanovsky was able to force Cuenca to stand and trade and he shook the Argentinian with a sharp left hook. Cuenca was bleeding from a bruise under his right eye at the end of the round. Troyanovsky seemed to have closed the distance in the sixth getting in close trapping Cuenca on the ropes and scoring with rights. He landed a left hook and Cuenca was suddenly slower and not as confident. As Troyanovsky moved in Cuenca ducked under the Russian’s punches and then as Cuenca came up he lifted Troyanovsky off his feet and they both stumbled. Troyanovsky was able to land on his feet but Cuenca landed on the floor. There was no punch so no count. Cuenca slowly got up and went over to his corner. The impression was that the referee was asking Cuenca if he wanted to continue. Cuenca was shaking his head indicating he had a problem with his vision and looking down at his team then shaking his head at the referee. After 30 seconds of this confusion and with Cuenca showing no inclination to take steps forward as the referee was asking the referee waived the fight over. Cuenca’s team climbed into the ring pushing and remonstrating with the referee and also shouting at the ringside officials before childishly trying to force the referee to raise his hands to show that he had won the fight for Troyanovsky. It seemed to me that the referee gave Cuenca every chance to show he was ready to fight on but the Argentinian showed no inclination to do so and the referee took the right decision. Troyanovsky, 35, retains his IBO title and wins the IBF title but the controversial end soured his victory just when he seemed to be getting on top in the fight. Cuenca, 34, will feel an injustice has been done. There may have been a language problem between the Argentinian and the American referee but Dick Field has refereed close to 200 fights including 13 world title fights and I feel he got this one right. Afolabi vs. Chakhkiev Afolabi survives frantic start by champion Chakhkiev to win the IBO title. The Russian started in his usual wild fashion with thudding shots to the body with Afolabi taking centre ring and pushing out his jab but not being able to keep Chakhkiev out. A clash of heads in the second had Chakhkiev dabbing his forehead over his left eye and he suffered a small cut on his left eyelid. Afolabi then rocked the Russian with a left hook but Chakhkiev took over with a furious attack lunging in with huge looping punches and loading up on every shot. The effort seemed to tire Chakhkiev and he hardly threw a punch over the last minute of the round. Chakhkiev’s work rate dropped dramatically in the third and Afolabi was forcing the Russian back with a stiff jab. A clash of heads saw Afolabi turn away pawing at the area over his left eye and the referee stopped the action to have the doctor look at a cut over the Londoner’s eye. When the action resumed Chakhkiev rumbled forward with a salvo of big swings and looked to have Afolabi in trouble before the bell. The fourth round was Afolabi’s. Again Chakhkiev’s work rate dropped to almost zero with Afolabi not throwing many punches but coming forward and doing what clean scoring there was. In the fifth Chakhkiev looked sold out and as he lunged in a short right from Afolabi sent the Russian sideward and down. The referee decided it was a push and did not apply a count. Chakhkiev stumbled forward throwing punches but Afolabi met him with a crunching left cross and a short right which saw Chakhkiev fall face first to the canvas. He managed to turn himself over but that was it and he was still prone when the referee completed the count. “Kryptonite” Afolabi has twice been WBO interim champion but in two fights for the full title he lost a disputed unanimous decision and a majority decision to Marco Huck when both verdicts could have gone his way. It looked as though his last chance might have gone after he lost a close decision to Victor Ramirez in April for the interim IBF title but now he is a full champion. Southpaw Chakhkiev, 32, was making the first defence of his IBO title but had punched himself out after three rounds and was exhausted by the finish which puts a big question over his conditioning. Durodola vs. Kudryashov Durodola springs huge upset as he stops Kudryashov. The Nigerian came out for the first firing a barrage of hooks catching the Russian “Hammer” by surprise. Kudryashov let the storm subside and then staggered Durodola with a left hook that drove Durodola to the ropes. Kudryashov then unleashed a barrage of hooks to head and body driving Durodola around the ropes. Durodola was countering when he could and Kudryashov was wide open but again staggered Durodola with a left hook. At the bell Kudryashov was showing a swelling under his right eye. Kudryashov was again landing hard shots in the second but Durodola was blocking many and throwing bombs of his own. Kudryashov was trying to overwhelm Durodola with hooks but was walking onto hard overhand rights. Two rights sent Kudryashov into the ropes and Durodola landed some hard head punches. Initially Kudryashov got off the ropes but was on wobbly legs and Durodola drove him back to the ropes and was unloading with both hands and with nothing coming back the referee stopped the fight. The Kansas City-based 35-year-old “Gods Power” Durodola had blown his other big fight by being floored and losing a wide decision against Thabiso Mchunu in January last year. He had won four low level fights since then but was still somehow ranked No 4 by the WBC. Now he has won the WBC Silver title and with Kudryashov rated No 2 and No 3 Chakhkiev losing he is almost assured of a WBC title fight in 2016. Kudryashov, 30, had won all of his previous fights by KO/TKO with only four of those fights going past the fourth round. Here he fought a dumb fight just walking forward wide open and paid the price. He was rated WBC 2/WBA 3/WBO 5/IBF 8(6) but has blown those ratings and even the EBU No 6 ratings looks over generous. Murzabekov vs. Bogere One of only two poor matches on this otherwise excellent show saw Russian Murzabekov dispose of over-matched Ugandan Bogere in three rounds. “Little Tyson” was looking to end this early but Bogere showed some good technique and got through the first round and most of the second before a left hook put him down just before the bell. It was all over in the third as Murzabekov floored Bogere twice and then landed another left hook to put the Ugandan down and out. The little 25-year-old Russian wins the vacant IBO International title and gets his sixth win by KO/TKO. He is rated in the EBU EE-EU ratings at No 5 but is not in the EBU top 16 yet. Second loss by KO/TKO for Bogere but this was only his third fight in two years. Bivol vs. Junior Russian prospect Bivol makes light work of more experienced Brazilian Junior. Bivol made a confident start showing a ramrod jab and some quick combinations with Junior a static target and too slow to counter. In the second Bivol displayed a variety of jabs, hooks and uppercuts with Junior mostly hiding behind a high guard but occasionally throwing some quick counters. At the end of the round Bivol took Junior to the ropes and landed two straight rights and a left to the chin that sent Junior slumping to the canvas. The Brazilian was up at four and the bell went as the referee completed the eight count. The third was one-sided as Bivol flashed jabs, straight rights and left hooks through Junior’s guard although the Brazilian scored with his best two punches, a hook and an uppercut as the round ended. Bivol ended it in the fourth. As Junior moved in Bivol landed a short right which sent Junior down. He got up quickly but just shook his head during the count and the referee stopped the fight. The 24-year-old Kyrgyzstan-born Russian showed some good touches. He has good amateur pedigree having twice been World Cadet Champion and also a gold medallist at the European Cadet championships and a bronze medal winner at the European Juniors as well as twice being Russian champion. One to watch. Junior, 29, has a typical Brazilian record padded with home victories. This is his fourth loss to a Russian fighter with his other conquerors being Vasyl Lepikhin, Chakhkiev and Egor Mekhontsev. The ND was originally a four round stoppage loss to Umberto Savigne but the Cuban tested positive for a banned substance. November 5 Tokyo, Japan: Fly: Takuya Kogawa (25-4) W PTS 10 Tetsuma Hayashi (25-4-2). Kogawa holds onto Japanese title with unanimous decision over former victim Hayashi. The fight started badly for Kogawa as a right from Hayashi in the first round put the champion down. Kogawa was not badly hurt and boxed his way out of trouble. He then took over the fight sweeping the next four rounds to be in front 48-46 on all three cards at the end of the fifth round. The fight was more competitive over the last five rounds with Kogawa’s work rate dropping but he was still out boxing the challenger. Hayashi knew he needed a knockout and put up a big effort in the last but Kogawa has never been stopped and he was still there at the final bell a clear winner. Scores 97-93 twice and 96-94. The 30-year-old former WBC title challenger lost to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam for the WBC title in 2011and to Yodmongkol in March last year for the interim WBA title. He is in his second reign as JBC champion. He is rated No 12 by the WBC so another title shot is possible but unlikely. Hayashi, the JBC No 1 has now lost in three shots at the national title twice to Kogawa and also to Suguru Muranaka in April this year. Washington, DC, USA: Welter: Jamie Herrera (13-3-1) W PTS 10 Javier Flores (12-1,1ND). Herrera wins the vacant WBC USNBC title with unanimous decision over Flores. There was plenty of action in this one as pressure from Herrera was forcing southpaw Flores to stand and trade. In most rounds it was a trial of strength as they stood right in front of each other and just flailed away with hooks and uppercuts to head and body from both hands. When he chose to fight on the outside Herrera was able to get home with his left jab and straight rights but he was just as happy in the pocket exchanging. Flores scored his share of thudding body punches but Herrera outworked the Puerto Rican on the inside and was a clear winner where both fighters came out with some credit. Herrera had a run of 5 wins culminating his biggest win so far a stoppage in August last year of former IBF title contender Mike Jones, a result that sent Jones into retirement. Next time out in December he was crushed in two rounds by Egidijus Kavaliauskas but in June he was unlucky in having to settle for a draw against unbeaten Canadian prospect Steve Butler. Flores, 29, had an extensive amateur grounding but had not really been tested as a pro. November 6 Las Vegas, NV, USA: Middle: Antoine Douglas (19-0-1) W TKO 4 Les Sherrington (35-8). Welter: Taras Shelestyuk (13-0) W PTS 10 Aslanbek Kozaev (26-2-1). Welter: Keenan Smith (9-0) W PTS 8 Ben Whitaker (10-2). Douglas vs. Sherrington Douglas impresses as he destroyed a suddenly old looking Sherrington. In the first round Douglas was short with a right but then threaded home a left jab and sent a straight right through Sherrington’s guard. It put the Australian down but landed half on the chin and half on the shoulder reducing the effect and Sherrington was up immediately. Douglas continued to pressure but at one point Sherrington wrestled him to the floor and the Australian made it through the round. Sherrington was on the floor in the second as he looked to have walked into a counter short right as he tried to get inside but the referee ruled it a slip. The round did feature a genuine knockdown as Sherrington stumbled back to the ropes after being clipped with a left hook and Douglas followed up with a series of punches and Sherrington slid down to his knees. Again he was up quickly but seemed to have no punch resistance. In the third a short left hook from Douglas again saw Sherrington dumped on his rear but again he was up quickly and did not seem badly hurt. Later in the round a right from Douglas put the Aussie on the floor again. As with the knockdown in the first round the blow landed half on the shoulder and half on the chin and Sherrington rose and was able to continue. In the fourth Douglas forced Sherrington the ropes and banged home some body shots with Sherrington slumping to the floor and the referee waived the fight off. The 23-year-old from Virginia wins the vacant WBA and WBO International titles and gets his twelfth win by KO/TKO. He fought a majority draw with Michel Soro in July last year and some saw it as a disappointing result but since then Soro has halted both Glen Tapia (23-1) and Emanuele Blandamura (23-1) and in retrospect that has to seem Douglas’s beat performance so far. He team has been confident enough to put him in since with Thomas Lamanna (16-0) and Istvan Szili (18-0-2). He is rated WBA 9/WBO 11/IBF 14(13) and is ready to move up in class. Sherrington, 33, really seemed to go over too easily and found Douglas just too quick for him. Sherrington has five losses by KO/TKO but in fairness four of those losses came in his first 14 fights and over his next 28 fights one loss was due to a broken leg and the other was against Sam Solomon who won the WBA title in his next fight. Shelestyuk vs. Kozaev Shelestyuk overcomes a slow start to outpoint Kozaev. Over the first three rounds Shelestyuk struggled to keep Kozaev on the outside . The tall Ukrainian had big edges in height and reach but his jab was not snapping out and Kozaev was able to get inside and work the body. Shelestyuk was scoring with counters as Kozaev came forward but not stopping the Russian. From the third southpaw Shelestyuk started to put more power into his jab and move more giving him space for leverage. From that point he was able to boss the fight forcing Kozaev back and banging through now more damaging jabs and straight lefts. He opened a cut over Kozaev’s left eye and only a good chin kept Kozaev in the fight. The Russian tried to push forward to cut down the Ukrainian’s big lead but Shelestyuk’s reach advantage and slick movement gave Kozaev no chance to turn things around. Scores 100-90 twice and 99-91. The 29-year-old Shelestyuk wins the vacant WBA Inter-Continental and WBO NABO titles. He has great amateur credentials in the shape of Ukrainian national titles in 2009/2010 and 2011 a gold medal at the World Championships and bronze medals at both the European Championships and the 2012 Olympics. This was his first ten round fight and his first real test and he came through in style after a stuttering start. After winning his first 23 fights Kozaev fought a creditable draw with David Avanesyan in 2013 but lost by a large margin against Ray Robinson in February 2012. This was his first fight for 18 months. Smith vs. Whitaker Smith gets unanimous decision but the scores do not do justice to Whitaker. The undefeated southpaw from Philadelphia made the better start and had youth and skill on his side but Whitaker fought hard to make every round close and seemed to get the better of the middle rounds. A clash of heads in the sixth saw Smith suffer a bad cut and that seemed to give Whitaker an edge but Smith banged back to floor Whitaker in the seventh which swung things his way. Scores 78-74 twice and 79-73 which in no way mirrored what many saw as a very close fight. Smith, 25, a former World Cadet Championship’s competitor and former NGG champion was fighting over eight rounds for the first time. Texan Whitaker, 31, had gone eight rounds in winning each of his last three fights. Trois-Rivieres, Canada: Super Middle: Schiller Hyppolite (17-1) W RTD 2 Victor Palacios (12-11-2). Super Light: Mike Gadbois (14-0-3) W PTS 8 David Campillo (10-3-1). Welter: Mian Hussain (13-0) W PTS 8 Juan A Garcia (12-2-2). Super Light: Ayaz Hussain (7-0) W KO 1 Sebastien Benito (11-12). Heavy: Simon Kean (1-0) W KO 1 Balazs Bodo (1-1). Hyppolite vs. Palacios Easy win for Hyppolite as Mexican veteran retires after two rounds. The Haitian-born Canadian edged the first round as he wanted to see what Palacios brought to the table. It was not much and in the second Hyppolite was chasing Palacios down following the retreating Mexican from corner to corner and slamming home hooks from both hands. Palacios was ducking and diving but getting caught time and again with hard head punches and at the end of the round decided he had taken enough punishment and retired. The 29-year-old “Batman” the WBC No 7, makes it 12 wins since losing on points against Francy Ntetu in 2012. Palacios, 36 drops to six losses by KO/TKO. Gadbois vs. Campillo Gadbois forced to fight hard to get the decision over Campillo .Gadbois was pressed all the way as Campillo lived up to his “Iron” nickname and just kept marching forward. The Canadian’s main weapon was his southpaw right hook and it was that punch that helped him create some space and edge the rounds but Campillo was never out of the fight. Scores 79-74, 78-74 and 77-75. The 28-year-old “L’Unique” was coming off a creditable ten round draw with fellow-Canadian Steve Wilcox for the WBC International Silver title but two majority draws in 2013 with low level opposition were poor results. Campillo, 28, had lost only one of his last eleven fights and provided a good test. Hussain vs. Garcia Hussain makes a good start but in the end has to settle for a wide unanimous verdict. “Superman” was on the verge of a knockout win in the second round but just could not finish his Mexican opponent. After that the talented Canadian was trying to get an inside the distance win and not working his opening which made the fight harder than it needed to be. Scores 79-71 twice and 80-70. The 25-year-old southpaw has been meeting some useful opponents and is making progress. The Canadian No 3 who is of Pakistani lineage was Canadian amateur champion and won a bronze medal at the PanAmerican Games losing to Oscar Molina in the semi-finals. Garcia was 9-0-1 in his last 10 fights. Hussain vs. Benito Ayaz made it a double for the Hussain family as he blew away Frenchman Benoit in 62 seconds. The 24-year-old “La Machine” a former Canadian amateur champion like his brother, has 5 wins by KO/TKO including a useful victory over Miguel Antoine (17-2-1). Second loss inside the distance in less than a month for Benito but the other was a retirement and he was not suspended. Kean vs. Bodo In front of his home fans Olympian Kean gets his pro career off to a quick start as he halts overmatched Hungarian in the first round. Kean had Bodo down three times before the fight was stopped. The 24-year-old 6’5” Canadian was close to having a leg amputated after an off-road vehicle accident in 2009 but confounded the doctors by recovering and going back to boxing. He was twice Canadian champion, competed at the 2012 Olympics where he beat Tony Yoka (now the World Amateur Champion) but lost to Ivan Dychko. He failed to medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto in July losing 2-1 to American Cam Awesome so has turned pro. Hungarian Bodo no sort of test. Frankfurt, Germany: Cruiser: Mairis Briedis (18-0) W TKO 2 Laszlo Hubert (41-17-1). Super Welter: Gerome Quigley (11-0) W TKO 1 Vito Vendetta (11-2-1). Heavy: Evgenios Lazaridis (9-0) W PTS 10 Boris Estenfelder (6-1-1) Briedis vs. Hubert A walk in the park for Breidis as he lets Hubert last into the second round. The Riga fighter could have ended it in the first as he scored three knockdowns. The first came with a combination inside the first minute the second from a light cuffing right to the head late in the round with Hubert very reluctantly getting up at nine and the third was a right uppercut inside but Briedis was pulling his punches at this stage. The shambles was worsened in that the round went 42 seconds over the three minutes. Briedis looked more purposeful in the second round but again Hubert was not set on taking too much punishment. A right from Breidis which landed just behind Hubert’s left ear brought the first knockdown and the second came from a right counter as Hubbert was actually coming forward and throwing some punches. The referee stopped the fight after the second knockdown but this was close to a farce. The 30-year-old from Latvia was back down to his real weight after a sensation kayo of world rated heavyweight Manuel Charr in August. He has 15 wins by KO/TKO and is rated WBC 8/WBO 10 at cruiser so a title chance seems a long way off. Hungarian southpaw Hubert, 40, has suffered 16 of his 17 losses by KO/TKO. Quigley vs. Vendetta Maryland’s Quigley wins the vacant IBA Inter-Continental title with first round stoppage of German. Vendetta came out swinging. He was rushing forward head down throwing wild hooks and Quigley was taken out of stride and forced to cover up. Vendetta kept swinging and then bundled Quigley to the canvas. The referee rightly ruled it a slip. Again the wild attacks of Vendetta had Quigley too busy defending himself and he was given a warning for holding. Finally Quigley cracked home a body shot and drove Vendetta back. A right to the head made Vendetta’s legs wobble and a left hook and a right cross sent Vendetta head first into the ropes and he tumbled down on his back. He tried to get up fell over again and managed to get to his feet at the second attempt but almost fell over and the referee stopped the fight. It is a bit difficult to label Quigley a prospect at 32 but when he finally managed to get off some punches he had speed and power. He has 10 wins by KO/TKO and this is his second fight in Germany and second win inside a round. Vendetta, 34, was born and lives in Frankfurt but is known as the “Italian Stallion” although he fought more like an enraged bull here. His record has been built against low level opposition with his last three victims having combined records of 11-106! Lazaridis vs. Estenfelder Lazaridis wins the vacant IBA Inter-Continental title with win over German Estenfelder. The Greek had lots of trouble with the all-out aggressive crude approach of the much bigger and stronger Estenfelder who constantly marched forward behind a high guard. The German looked on the point of over whelming Lazaridis a couple of times. Lazaridis only took control from the eighth as Estenfelder slowed but the Greek did not seem to have done enough to get the unanimous decision. Lazaridis, 27 and 6’5” (198cm) tall fought his first 5 pro fights in 5 different countries but is now based in Germany. He failed to make it to the 2012 Olympics being eliminated at the European Qualifier. Frankfurt native Estenfelder, 28, had only six four round fights and one six round going into this fight. Los Angeles, CA, USA: Welter: Martin Honorio (33-9-1) W PTS 10 Miguel A Huerta (28-14-1). Super Bantam: Joet Gonzalez (12-0) W KO 3 Marcos Rios (12-0-1). Honorio vs. Huerta Honorio gets revenge for a previous loss as he outpoints Huerta in all-Mexican clash. They were both looking to trade from the outset but Honorio’s work rate and accuracy enabled him to build up a lead. Southpaw Huerta tried hard to close the gap and had some success but in the end Honorio was a clear winner. Scores 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. Honorio, 35, was having his first fight since taking a solid beating from Antonio Orozco in May 2014. Before that he climbed off the floor twice when losing a majority verdict to Juan Carlos Salgado for the IBF super feather title in April 2012 and dropped a decision against Algenis Mendez in an IBF eliminator in July 2012. When he and Huerta met in the early stages of both careers Huerta won the decision. Huerta, 35 took almost 5 years out after losing to Mike Alvarado in 2008 and had lost 3 of 4 tough fights since returning. Gonzalez vs. Rios Gonzalez marches on and looks a good prospect. Gonzalez was too quick for Rios and came close to ending it in the first when he put the Mexican down with a right to the jaw. Rios got and survived the round. Gonzalez was going to the body in the second and despite trying to fight back hard Rios was in over his head. Gonzalez ended it in the third. A left hook to the body dropped Rios and although he made it to his feet and tried to fight his way out of trouble another left hook put him down and this time he did not get up. The 22-year-old from Los Angeles has found his power. He won only one of his first six fights by KO/TKO but has now scored five wins by KO/TKO in his last six fights. He was a silver medal winner at the NGG’s but lost out at the US Trials for the 2012 Olympics. First fight outside of Tijuana for Rios who had only once been in a fight scheduled for more than four rounds and it showed. Junin, Argentina: Super Welter: Juan M Bonanni (28-6-3) W PTS 10 Luis A Moreno (18-11-5). Bonanni pleases his hometown fans with win over Moreno but takes no chances. The FAB No 2 settled for using his jab and better skills to control the fight on the outside but whilst his one-paced defence minded approach won him the fight it also meant that some rounds were closer than they should have been. Bonanni won the unanimous decision but no judge gave him more than five rounds. Scores 98-96 ½, 98-97 and 96-94. Bonanni has now won 8 of his last 9 fights. He beat Moreno on points back in January last year. Moreno is now 2-10 in his last 12 fights. Tapiales, Argentina: Super Bantam: Leandro D Esperante (14-5) W TKO 2 Ernesto Franzolini (5-5-1). Esperante again shows his punching power with stoppage of Franzolini. After taking the first round Esperante banged home a left hook to the body and followed that with an uppercut. Franzolini went down and although he just made it to his feet he was in no condition to continue. After a rocky start to his career the 26-year-old Esperante is 10-2 in his last 12 fights with the losses both being questionable. He lost a majority decision to Fabian O Orozco (23-3-2) for the Argentinian title in September last year and despite scoring a knockdown lost a split decision to former WBO bantam champion Paulus Ambunda for the vacant IBO title in Namibia in August. He has 11 wins by KO/TKO. Second loss inside the distance for prelim fighter Franzolini. November 7 Las Vegas, NV, USA: Welter: Tim Bradley (33-1-1,1ND) W TKO 9 Brandon Rios (33-3-1). Feather: Vasyl Lomachenko (5-1) W KO 10 Romulo Koasicha (25-5). Middle: Ryota Murata (8-0) W PTS 10 Gunnar Jackson (22-7-3). Feather: Miguel Marriaga (21-1) W PTS 8 Guillermo Avila (15-5). Super Light: Mike Reed (17-0) W KO 7 Rondale Hubbert (10-4-1). Welter: Egidijus Kavaliauskas (10-0) W TKO 1 Jake Giuriceo (17-5-1). Bradley vs. Rios Bradley retains his WBO welter title with stoppage of Rios. To a large extent this ceased to be a contest when Rios failed to make the weight at the first attempt and then put on 28lbs by fight time. Bradley was too quick and accurate for the sluggish Rios from the first bell. Fighting for the first time under his new trainer Teddy Atlas Bradley did not really seem to have changed much but he did look sharper and showed some more movement than in the past. The fight was one-sided with Bradley able to score with a whole range of punches against Rios who just walked onto the punishment. Defence has never been a strong point for Rios but this time it seemed to be missing altogether. Rios had his best round in the second when he was able to work inside and had a good spell in the third as he ploughed forward but Bradley was moving around Rios creating angles and countering quickly and accurately and Rios was going to struggle to win a round let alone the fight. Nevertheless Rios kept trying to get inside but was just not working hard when he did do so and his corner were pleading with him to let his hands go more. He could not get past or away from Bradley’s left jab and his punches were ending up where Bradley had been and not where he was Rios tried to up his pace in the eighth but Bradley was peppering him with jabs and then banging home quick combinations with Rios just not able to get close enough to do any scoring of his own. Rios started the ninth again coming forward and trying to get Bradley to stand and trade but Bradley was smothering any work Rios tries to do on the inside. Bradley hurt Rios with a left uppercut and then jerked his head back with two more. They started to maul and this time it was Rios holding on. You sensed that he had taken enough he was just going through the motions was gassed out and not punching back. Bradley landed a left hook to the body that drove Rios along the ropes and then a right and a left to the body which had Rios on his way down with a shot from Bradley clipping him on the chin on the way. He made it to his feet but had nothing left. When the fight recommenced Bradley took Rios to a corner and although Rios looked to be blocking the punches he was finished and slumped to the floor with the referee stopping the fight. The 32-year-old “Desert Storm” needed an impressive win after his draw with Diego Chaves and a less than scintillating victory over Jessie Vargas. He looked back to his best. His mandatory challenger is Sadam Ali which might be a hard sell and Bradley would love another shot at Pacquiao. Rios announced his retirement after the fight. The 29-year-old never recaptured the form he had as a lightweight. He was a lucky winner when Diego Chaves fouled his way out of a fight he was winning and both he and Mike Alvarado looked shop-worn when Rios won their fight in January. It remains to be seen whether he will stay retired. although wins over Lomachenko vs. Koasicha As expected Lomachenko was a class or two above Koasicha and battered the Mexican to defeat in ten one-sided rounds. To some extent Lomachenko was content to put on a boxing class as he out boxed the one0dimensional Koasicha. The Ukrainian was equally happy going forward or fighting on the back foot and constantly switched angles so that Koasicha could never be quite sure where the next punch was coming from. He kept Koasicha on the back foot pressing the action slipping and blocking the punches from Koasicha and then slotting home right jabs and quick combinations. Koasicha kept trying to get on the front foot stabbing out his jab and stepping up but whenever he did Lomachenko would make an adjustment and right jabs sharp uppercuts and crafty hooks would have Koasicha retreating again. It was obvious that Lomachenko was not looking to end this early but instead to showcase his talents and some of his punches were fast but not full power. There was nothing Koasicha could do to change the flow of the fight. He was too slow to try to counter punch and could not compete with the accuracy and variety of the Ukrainian’s attacks. You sensed that this fight would end when Lomachenko decided to end it. Koasicha’s work rate started to drop for the simple reason that every time he threw a punch he left a gap and Lomachenko was slamming home counters. From the seventh Koasicha was spending more and more time on the ropes as Lomachenko hunted him down increasing the pressure and even winding up his left before throwing the punch. Koasicha stayed in there taking the punishment and throwing enough punches of his own to justify the fight continuing but not for much longer. A left uppercut had Koasicha hurt in the ninth and the Mexican backed off with Lomachenko now looking for the finish. Koasicha actually did quite well at the start of the tenth sticking out his jab and landing with a series of hooks but after the one minute mark he was unable to get off the ropes as Lomachenko was letting go with both hands. Lomachenko landed a couple of long lefts to the body which visibly hurt Koasicha and had him bending at the waist and another long left to the body put him down. His face was a mass of bumps and bruises from Lomachenko’s punches and he rightly saw no point in continuing and was counted out. The 27-year-old Ukrainian southpaw was making the second defence of his WBO title and on this form it is difficult to see who can beat him at feather. Koasicha, 24, did his best. He showed guts to take punishment for ten rounds. He was also outclassed by current IBF champion Lee Selby for the WBC International title in May last year but went the full twelve rounds but there was no way he was going to take what Lomachenko was handing out for that long. Murata vs. Jackson Murata gets unanimous verdict over New Zealander Jackson. Murata had the edge in speed and skill and was able to outbox Jackson most of the way. The Japanese fighter targeted the body and seemed to be breaking Jackson down but Jackson banged back enough to be competitive and steal some rounds. However it was a comfortable win for Murata over a competent but limited opponent. Scores 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93. The 29-year-old Olympic gold medallist Murata seemed to have temporarily stalled as this is his only his second fight in almost a year but he should be more active in 2016. As an amateur he twice walked away from boxing but he won’t be doing that in the pro ranks. He is rated IBF 5(4)/WBC 5/WBO 5/WBA 14. Jackson, 29, keeps his record of not losing inside the distance but he was outclassed by Kerry Hope in June so a safe fight for Murata. Marriaga vs. Avila Colombian Marriaga returns with a win as he takes every round against Mexican Avila. “The Scorpion” did a lot of stinging as Marriaga’s accurate punches had Avila’s face like a relief map of the Rockies but Avila stuck to his task. The Colombian was hampered by a hand injury but breezed to victory. Scores 80-72 from all three judges. Marriaga, 29, climbed off the floor to go the distance with Nicolas Walters for the WBA secondary title in June when the Jamaican came in overweight and lost the title on the scales. Avila is 4-4 in his last 8 fights. Reed vs. Hubbert Reed gets another win as he halts late replacement Hubbard. The classy Maryland southpaw was in charge in every round as he took Hubbert apart. A right in the seventh floored Hubbert who struggled to beat the count. Reed cut loose with a barrage of punches and with nothing coming back from Hubbert the fight was stopped. The 22-year-old “Yes Indeed” Reed a former NGG champion has 10 wins by KO/TKO but no really threatening opposition so far. Hubbert was unbeaten in his first 11 fights but is 1-4 in his last 5. Kavaliauskas vs. Giuriceo Lithuanian Kavaliauskas needed just one overhand right to put Giuriceo down and out. The 27-year-old Kavaliauskas is a 2008 and 2012 Olympian and a World Championships bronze medallist. He has now won 9 contests in a row by KO/TKO and looks a top prospect. Ohioan “Bull” Giuriceo has lost 5 of his last 6 fights but went the distance with the now WBC champion Viktor Postol in April. Monte Carlo, Monaco: Welter: David Avanesyan (21-1-1) W TKO 9 Charlie Navarro (25-8). Bantam: Zhanat Zhakiyanov (26-1) W PTS 12 Yonfrez Parejo (17-2-1). Cruiser: Youri Kayembre Kalenga (22-2) W KO 9 Roberto F Bolonti (36-5,1ND). Super Light: Ruslan Provodnikov (25-4) W TKO 4 Jesus P Alvarez Rodriguez (14-1). Super Bantam: Jun Qiu Xiao (19-2) W TKO 11 Amor Belahdj Ali (14-4-1,1ND). Avanesyan vs. Navarro Avanesyan wins the vacant WBA interim title with stoppage of Navarro. This was an excellent match up of two boxers with good technical skills and punching power. Both started cautiously trying to get their jab established and fire off quick punches trying to get in land and get out with the result that it was a good boxing match but there were few sustained exchanges. Avanesyan was switching effortlessly between orthodox and southpaw and looked to have the quicker hands but Navarro had a stiff jab and was letting go with vicious body punches. Avanesyan had a good fifth round as he shook Navarro with a hard combination and the Venezuelan was then deducted a point for a very low right hook. Avanesyan ended the round with another sharp combination. There was some good exchanges and some farce in the sixth. Navarro managed to pin Avanesyan on the ropes and worked the body in the first sustained exchange and Avanesyan was lucky not to injure himself when he slipped on water in Navarro’s corner. The referee ordered Navarro’s second to mop up the water. Avanesyan banged back and then farcically Navarro slipped twice more in the same corner. Avanesyan took charge in the seventh. He was still constantly switching guard and Navarro was having difficulty dealing with the tactic. Avanesyan was coming forward and he shook Navarro with two hard lefts from his southpaw stance and he landed a choice uppercut at the end of the round. In the eighth Navarro seemed to be drifting out of the fight he was letting Avanesyan dictate the action and the Russian was stalking the retreating Venezuelan and was well on top. In the ninth Navarro tried to come forward and had some success but then Avanesyan clipped him with a right. Navarro was shaken and as he tried to take the fight to the Russian Avanesyan banged home a right uppercut and a straight left which sent Navarro back to the ropes. A thumping left to the body and a right to the head saw Navarro slump down to a sitting position on the bottom rope and he sat there pawing at his left eye. The referee started the count and although Navarro got up he then walked away towards his corner still dabbing at his left eye and the fight was over. As the doctor examined Navarro there was blood leaking out of his left eye socket. The 27-year-old Russian lost to future IBF super feather title challenger Andre Klimov in only his second pro fight so is on an unbeaten run of 20 wins and a draw with Aslanbek Kozaev, His opposition has not been strong but he showed plenty of skill and power and his constant guard switches will give others problems the way it did Navarro. The 36-year-old Venezuelan has only lost to very good opposition and registered a big win in June last year when he knocked out Alberto Mosquera (21-0-2). He is a quality fighter. Zhakiyanov Perez Zhakiyanov deservedly wins the interim WBA title with split decision over champion Perez that should have been unanimous. From the first bell to the last it was Ricky Hatton’s little Kazak who was making the fight. “ZZ” just kept tracking Perez around the ring with the Venezuelan never really taking the offensive. Perez had a reach advantage and was quick with both hands and feet but Zhakiyanov kept hunting him down and unleashing hooks to the body whenever he managed to catch the Venezuelan on the ropes. Both were smart in the way they applied their tactics. Zhakiyanov was relentless in his pursuit but too often when he did get Perez to stand and trade the Venezuelan was holding and he was warned for the offence a number of times over the last four rounds. They were both doing quality work Perez with an educated jab and hooks to the body and Zhakiyanov cleverly cutting off the ring and accurate and hurtful with his hooks. Zhakiyanov had a good ninth when he had Perez hurt and in confused retreat but Perez had returned to his skilful counter-punching by the tenth. Zhakiyanov had been the aggressor throughout and deserved the decision on that basis alone but he also landed the harder punches and for me was a clear winner in a good quality little fight. Scores 116-113 and 115-113 for Zhakiyanov and 116-112 for Perez. The 31-year-old Zhakiyanov has won 21 fights in a row. By lasting the distance Perez stopped Zhakiyanov’s current streak of wins by KO/TKO at 12. With Perez refusing to get involved in any toe-to-toe exchanges it was hard for Zhakiyanov to show his full quality but there is no one he should fear in the bantam division. Perez, who was making his first title defence, showed silky skills but he just did not do enough to deserve to hold onto the title. Kalenga vs. Bolonti Kalenga show frightening power as he crushes brave Bolonti. From the start Kalenga was dominating the action with stiff jabs and vicious rights with Bolonti trying to bang back but being forced most of the time to cover up under Kalenga’s studied violence. The second saw Bolonti trapped on the ropes with Kalenga unloading but Bolonti fought back with some counters of his own. The third was a big round for the DRC fighter. A left clipped Bolonti on the side of the head and he fell backwards into the ropes and down. He was up immediately and did not seem badly hurt. Later in the round as they traded a right from Kalenga landed just behind the ear of Bolonti and sent him crashing down. Again he was up quickly but badly shaken. Through the fourth and fifth Kalenga was stalking Bolonti and loading up with every punch but the Argentinian kept in the fight firing back when he could. Kalenga continued to come forward with a tiring Bolonti trying to tie the DRC fighter up whenever he could and his desperation showed in the seventh and eighth as he was deducted a point in each round for careless use of the head. Kalenga was a bit wild with some of his punches when in the ninth both were swinging and missing with hooks but after missing badly with a right Kalenga leapt forward with a thunderous left to the head. Bolonti went down heavily with his head ending up supported on the bottom rope. The referee started to count but realised that Bolonti was finished and needed immediate attention so waived the fight over. The 27-year-old Kalenga, a former interim WBA champion makes it 15 wins by KO/TKO. Kalenga won the interim WBA title with a win over Mariusz Masternak and defended it was a spectacular last round victory over Denton Daley. Those wins earned him a fight with Denis Lebedev for the full WBA title in April where both fighters were on the floor but Kalenga lost a unanimous decision. He is strong and has tremendous punching power. His only current rating is No 9 with the WBA but he is a real danger to anyone in the division. Bolonti, 36 gets his first loss by KO/TKO. He has done most of his fighting at light heavy where he was beaten by Tony Bellew and also by Juergen Brahmer for the secondary WBA light heavy title. He had a home win in July where he weighed 174 ¾ lbs lost a wide decision to Danny Green in August where he was 186 ¾ lbs and for this he was a fleshy 197 2/3 lbs. Provodnikov vs. Rodriguez Provodnikov takes his time but when he gets serious he quickly gets rid of Mexican novice. Hardly a punch was thrown in anger in the first round as Provodnikov stalked Rodriguez around the ring. The Mexican never came of the ropes and really only pushed out his jab being more intent on movement than scoring points. Provodnikov managed to land a couple of long rights but that was it. Rodriguez tried a few punches early in the second with Provodnikov still stalking but keeping his powder dry. He made Rodriguez stand and trade briefly and got through with a couple of long hooks but at the end of the round he had closed the distance and got through with a left uppercut and hard long right. Provodnikov upped his work rate in the third against scoring with left hooks to the body and right to the head and forcing Rodriguez to trade. The Mexican landed a quite classy straight left right cross late in the round but Provodnikov hardly noticed them and copied those two shots but with much more effect. Provodnikov trapped Rodriguez on the ropes early in the fourth and staggered him with a right cross. The Mexican stumbled back along the ropes and then cut losses with bludgeoning shots from both hands with Rodriguez slumping to his knees. Rodriguez was up at six and when the action recommenced Provodnikov took him to the ropes and with the Russian slamming home shots and Rodriguez sliding down the ropes the fight was stopped. Too easy for the 31-year-old former WBO champion Russian but no one can grudge an easy night now and then. Rodriguez showed some nice touches but there was a huge gap in class like sending someone out to fight a rhino with a pea shooter. Jun vs. Ali Jun retains the WBC Silver title with late stoppage of too brave Ali. Southpaw Ali came out firing punches trying to blow away his Chinese opponent in the first round but he was careless and a straight right from Jun put him down. In the second Ali was on top working on the inside forcing Jun to brawl and getting the better of the inside exchanges. However as in the first round he again stood in the pocket and Jun flashed out a series of hooks and uppercuts putting Ali down again. He looked more disgusted with himself than hurt and he was up quickly and they exchanged hard shots to the bell. In the fifth Jun unleashed a furious two handed attack slamming home uppercuts and hooks that had Ali’s head bouncing but the Frenchman just kept coming. Jun seemed to have punched himself out with that burst and Ali was able to get back into the groove coming forward and banging away to the body in the sixth and seventh. Jun had a good eighth at one time trapping Ali in a corner and unloading with heavy punches from both hands. In the ninth Jun suddenly started to dance around the ring just jabbing with the frustrated Ali actually appealing to the referee to tell Jun to stand and fight. A frustrated Ali left himself wide open in the tenth and was driven backwards across the ring by a stream of straight lefts and right. A final right put him down but was coming forward again by the bell. In the eleventh they were trading hard shots when a savage left hook from Jun stiffened Ali’s legs and the Chinese boxer drove Ali to the ropes and the referee stepped in to give Ali a standing count. When the action recommenced a left to the chin and straight right sent Ali down again and the fight was stopped. This was a savage battle between two low profile fighters but both deserve to be better known. Jun has done most of his fighting in China and although he did not have a sound defence the speed and power in his combinations was impressive. Ali showed, stamina, bravery and stupidity beyond the call of duty. He walked forward for three minutes of every round never stopped punching but never bothered with defence and paid for it in the end. A great little fight. Liverpool, England: Super Middle: Callum Smith (18-0) W TKO 1 Rocky Fielding (21-1). Light: Ricky Burns (39-5-1) W KO 11 Josh King (20-4). Light: Scott Cardle (19-0) W TKO 12 Sean Dodd (10-2). Middle: Tom Doran (16-0) W KO 3 Rod Smith (7-1). Smith vs. Fielding Both started out probing with their jab. Smith was short with two jabs but then landed a long right cross which staggered Fielding. He tried to duck out of trouble but a couple of hooks sent him stumbling back and down. Fielding was up at seven and tried to trade to get himself out of trouble. Instead a series of punches from Smith drove Fielding to the ropes Fielding shipped some punishment but made a couple of partially successful attempts to get back to centre ring but each time was met with hard hooks which drove him back. Fielding tried again to come forward but was clipped with right to the head which put him down. He got up but Smith jumped on him taking him to the ropes and landing long right hooks which put Fielding down again. When trying to rise he was pawing at the ropes to help himself get upright. He made it but was still very shaky and the fight was stopped. Smith’s beat and most impressive win to date. Both were known punchers but Smith got his in first and then showed cool, cruel finishing power. The 25-year-old retains his WBC Silver title and wins the vacant British title becoming the fourth member of the Smith family to win a British title. He is No 1 with the WBC so will get a shot at the title and will try to join brother Liam as a world champion although brother Stephen is hoping to beat him to it by winning a world title at super feather. Fielding, 28, had scored wins over Luke Blackledge, Noe Gonzalez Alcoba and Brian Vera and was rated IBF 5(4)/WBC 10/WBA 10 and can rebound from this and get back into contention. Burns vs. King Burns keeps his career alive with stoppage of Australian King. This was not a pretty fight but for Burns it was the result that mattered. The Scot found the crouching style of King a problem and the Australian was not short on tactics which sit just outside the rules. Burns was doing the cleaner scoring and winning the rounds but it was hard for the former double WBO champion to get any rhythm into his work. Over the first four rounds King is warned for low blows, careless use of the head and finally has a point deducted after he twice hits on the break. There was too much clinching and wrestling and Burns was guilty of forgetting his boxing and fighting inside when he did not need to. King was having some success with body punches but from the sixth the Australian seemed to tire and Burns began to box on the outside and use more body punching. So far the Scot had won every round without really dominating but in the ninth he was moving around the tiring Australian and getting through to head and body. Burns finds plenty of gaps in King’s defence in the tenth as he is slotting home jabs and body punches but he spoils his good work by being careless with his head and the referee deducts a point from the Scot. Burns opened King up with the jab in the eleventh and then a right to the head and a body punch land and King goes down on his knees and is counted out. The 32-year-old Scot wins the vacant WBO Inter-Continental title but he will have better nights and more entertaining fights hopefully. King 30, the WBO No 10 had won 17 of his last 18 fights with the loss being due to suffering a broken leg when he was knocked down in the first round against Jack Asis in 2011 but he had won 8 in a row since then. Burns was just that much higher quality than King had faced before. Cardle vs. Dodd Cardle makes a successful first defence of his British title in stirring scrap with unfancied Dodd which looked to be too close to call until the last round stoppage. Cardle was the better boxer and edged the first two rounds although it was evident that Dodd was going to give him a hard fight. As early as the second round Cardle was already showing a couple of small cuts by each eye. Cardle had an even better third as he was moving around Dodd and slotting home good jabs and wobbles Dodd with a left at the end of the round. The fourth saw Cardle cut over the left eye and Dodd has his best round so far as he gets to work inside. Dodd also looks to have taken the fifth as Cardle is now cut on the forehead and Dodd finishes the round strongly getting through with a good right late in the round. The referee had the doctor look at the cuts on Cardle’s face before the start of the sixth but the fight continues with Dodd now forcing Cardle to fight his fight and is coming out on top of the close quarters work and again getting through with rights. Somehow Cardle is cut again this time at the back of his head from a Dodd punch. Dodd takes the seventh to edge into the lead and as he is also cut there is a mess of blood about. The challenger also does enough to take the eighth and the fight seems to be slipping away from Cardle. He needs to rally and he does that in the ninth having his best round so far as he score with shots to head and body and goes back to his boxing. The tenth saw Cardle make a great start as Dodd seems to be tiring only for Dodd to get on top over the closing seconds to make it a hard round to score. The eleventh was almost a repeat with Cardle starting well but Dodd on top at the finish. It is anybody’s fight going into the last with Dodd probably just in front until Cardle nails Dodd with a big left and when a right send Dodd staggering back the referee stops the fight with just over one minute left. A controversial ending to a great little scrap. Cardle, 26, will rarely have a closer call but he did well to overcome the various cuts and find a punch to save his title. Dodd, 31, will feel he was unlucky and want a return which hopefully Cardle will give him when their cuts heal. Dodd’s other loss was to Andy Townend at super feather and he earned this title shot with a victory over Gary Buckland in September. Doran vs. Smith “Dazzlin” Doran continues to make progress but the win loses some of its dazzle as Doran comes in well over the contract weight. The fight was close over the first two rounds with both landing heavy punches. In the third Doran landed a devastating left hook to the body which put Smith down and he was unable to beat the count. The 28-year-old Welshman winner of the Prizefighter tournament in February says he know wants a shot at the British title. He put his weight problem down an injury which hindered his training. Smith, 24, was competitive over the first two rounds but is trying to form again after a spell of just one fight in 17 months. Miami, FL, USA: Welter: Kevin Bizier (25-2) W RTD 10 Frederic Lawson (24-1). Super Light: Walter Castillo (26-3-1) DREW 12 Keita Obara (15-1-1). Welter: Breidis Prescott (29-7) W PTS 8 Claudine Lacerda (17-12-1). Feather: Yaundale Evans (18-1) W TKO 1 Miguel Del Valle (10-23 ). Bizier vs. Lawson Bizier puts himself in line for a shot at Kell Brook with stoppage of Lawson. Both fighters started out with range finders and Bizier’s was working well enough for him to hurt Lawson at the end of the first with a left hook. The Canadian was taking the fight to the unbeaten Ghanaian working the body whilst Lawson was trying to get enough power in his jab to keep Bizier at distance and give himself some room to work. The tactics seemed to be working for Lawson in the fourth but in the fifth a right to the head put Lawson down. He got up but was nailed by another right which sent him into the ropes but the Ghanaian survived. Lawson was still sticking to his jab in the sixth and seventh but was taking no chances and not trading. Bizier was still coming forward targeting the body and he was outscoring Lawson but also standing in the pocket giving the Ghanaian chances to counter. The constant pressure and the body work from Bizier saw Lawson tiring and the Canadian was well on top by the end of the tenth. During the interval Lawson’s corner summoned the doctor who felt that the Ghanaian might have a fractured jaw and the fight was over. The 31-year-old Canadian makes it 17 wins by KO/TKO. Bizier was No 5 with the IBF and Lawson No 6. With positions 1 and 2 empty No 3 Sadam Ali the mandatory WBO challenger to Tim Bradley and No 4 Diego Chaves set to fight Brook once the champion’s injury heals Bizier is well placed for a title shot in 2016 but his two split decision losses to Ionut Dan Ion, who Brook destroyed inside four rounds mean that Bizier will have to find something extra to stand a chance. Lawson,26, had useful wins over Ray Narh and Breidis Prescott but his 20 wins inside the distance mean little as the matching in Ghana is sometimes terrible and 12 of his 20 wins came against fighters who had either never had a fight or never won a fight. Despite this he is a good quality fighter and can rebound from this loss. Castillo vs. Obara Obara puts in a good performance in his first fight in the USA and looks unlucky not to take the decision. The Japanese fight showed some nice touches and good movement over the first half of the bout but Nicaraguan Castillo was scoring with some good counters and the early rounds were close but with Obara looking to have edged four of the first 5. Obara’s punches were having the bigger effect with Castillo bleeding from his lip and from a cut over his right eye in the fifth. From there Obara took control moving well around the Nicaraguan and outboxing him. Castillo had good spells in the ninth but Obara’s quicker punches were finding gaps as Castillo tried to press the fight and in the eleventh the referee stopped the fight whilst the doctor examined the cut over the right of Castillo which was affecting the Nicaragua’s vision. The fight continued with Castillo looking tired and Obara still fresh and still getting home his punches. There was another halt in the eleventh for the doctor to examine a cut on Castillo’s left ear but the fight continued to the last bell with Obara looking to have done enough to take the verdict he had outworked and outscored Castillo. One judge gave it to the Japanese fighter 115-113 but the other two each scored it 114-114. This was an IBF eliminator so the results did not work for anyone. Obara, 28, the OPBF champion, lost his first fight on a stoppage but then won 15 in a row, 14 by KO/TKO. He is No 6(4) with the IBF. Castillo, 27, is now 10-1-1 in his last 11 fights. The loss was to Amir Imam in April but he had rebounded well with a stoppage of Ammeth Diaz in July. Prescott vs. Lacerda Prescott gets a needed win as he decisions Brazilian Lacerda. Prescott was always leading in this one and looked on his way to an inside the distance win when he put Lacerda down in the third but could not finish and had to go the distance. Scores 80-72, 79-72 and 78-73. The 32-year-old Colombian levels his recent score to 4-4 in his last 8 fights. “Volcano” Lacerda, 35, is 1-6-1 in his last 8 outings. Evans vs. Del Valle Evans continues to ease his way back into action with a quick stoppage of loser Del Valle. No knockdowns but Evans trapped Del Valle in a corner and unleashed a series of hard punches with the referee saving Del Valle. The 26-year-old “Money Man” from Cleveland dropped out of the scene after a one round blow out by Javier Fortuna in April 2012 and only returned to action four months ago with a win. del Valle, 39, is 2-17 in his last 19 fights. Dublin, Ireland: Super Middle: Jamie Cox (20-0) W KO 1 Ferenc Albert (20-8). Welter: Peter McDonagh (25-28-1) W PTS 10 Dean Byrne (17-6-2). Cruiser: Ian Tims (11-3) W PTS 8 Michael Sweeney (12-4-1).Super Fly: Jamie Conlan (15-0) W TKO 4 Adrian Dimas Garzon (10-19). Middle: Vijender Singh (2-0) W TKO 1 Dean Gillen (2-1). Super Light: Jamie Kavanagh (20-1-1) W TKO 7 Oskar Fiko (14-13). Cox vs. Albert Cox continues his comeback with easy stoppage of overmatched Romanian in the first defence of his WBO European title. Southpaw Cox put Albert down with a thunderous right hook. Albert was badly shaken and another right hook put him down and out after just 68 seconds. The 29-year-old Welsh former CBC champion makes it three first round wins since returning to action after 3 ½ years out due to hand injuries. He needs tougher opposition than this to measure his future in this division but he strengthens an already strong British division. Hungarian-based Albert had won his last 10 fights against low level opposition and this is now his fourth loss by KO/TKO. McDonagh vs. Byrne McDonagh continues his recent good run with a close points victory over Byrne. Over the early rounds McDonagh showed good movement and controlled much of the action with a stiff jab. Byrne had more success in the middle rounds as he managed to draw McDonagh into trading inside but when McDonagh went back to the jab he was boss. Byrne got back into contention as they exchanged shots in an outstanding eighth but in the ninth a frustrated Byrne lost a point for a couple of fouls. McDonagh stayed out of trouble in the tenth knowing he was in front with Byrne getting the round but not the stoppage he needed. Referee’s score 97-95. McDonagh, 37, the London-based “Connemara Kid” wins the vacant Irish title. With some generous matching he has gone from a run of six losses in a row to 7-0-1 in his last 8 fights. Byrne, also London-based is a former Australian super light champion but is going in the opposite direction career-wise being 2-6-2 in his last 10 fight. Tims vs. Sweeney Tims climbs off the floor and gets second win over Sweeney in this domestic clash. This was a tough brawl with both fighters trying to use their strength to dominate. It was untidy at times with too much holding. Sweeney had the better skills and tried to use the left jab right cross approach but too often missed with the right and Tims was working just that bit harder inside. In the fourth a clash of heads seemed to momentarily have Tims hurt and Sweeney finally connected with his right which put Tims on the floor. He was up at five and when the action recommenced had to ship a couple more rights before the bell. Over the closing rounds Tims proved the stronger he had a good sixth with Sweeney continually under pressure and despite a big effort from Sweeney Tims brawled his way to a paper-thin but deserved victory. Referee’s score 76-75. The 37-year-old from Dublin had outpointed Sweeney when they met in 2011 but then lost 3 of his next four fights. He took a year off after he was stretcher from the ring after injuring his leg when he was knocked down in the first round of his fight with Paul Drago, Sweeney, 32, drops to two losses in a row after being stopped by Stephen Simmons in May. Conlan vs. Garzon Conlan blows away Argentinian loser. The Belfast “Mexican” had Garzon under pressure in the first with Garzon already only looking to survive. Hard rights and left hooks had Garzon hurt in the second and the Argentinian soaked up more heavy shots in the third. Conlan ended it in the fourth as he put Garzon down with a body shot. Garzon did well to get up but he was trapped on the ropes and not fighting back when the fight was stopped. The 29-year-old WBO No 6 makes it 9 wins by KO/TKO. Good period for the family as his brother Michael became the first Irish male boxer to win a gold medal at the World Championships in Qatar last month. Garzon 39 has now lost 9 of his last ten fights so a lamb to the slaughter. Singh vs. Gillen Indian star Singh makes it two first round wins. He was streets ahead of novice Gillen. The first time he put Gillen down the refereed ruled it a slip but two more knockdowns from hard rights and yet another right put Guillen down and out at the end of the round. The 30-year-old is India’s most successful amateur to date winning medals at the Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the Olympics. The hope is he will turn out to be India’s version of Zou Shiming. Guillen had only two four round fights behind him and was no match for Singh. Kavanagh vs. Fiko Kavanagh gets late stoppage over Romanian but makes it harder than it needed to be. Kavanagh had a big edge in skill but Fiko was a rough unorthodox opponent. Kavanagh was at his best when he boxed rocking Fiko at the end of the second round. Fiko’s crude efforts to survive saw him warned for a head butt in the second and deducted a point in the third for holding as Kavanagh got into his stride. Kavanagh allowed Fiko to drag him into a brawl in the fifth and paid the price in the form of a gash over the Dubliner’s right eye. Kavanagh went back to his boxing and Fiko continued his roughhouse tactics and lost another point in the seventh again for holding. A series of punches then put the tiring Romanian down . He made it to his feet but was finished and the referee stopped the fight. Fifth win for the Los Angeles-based Kavanagh since losing to more experienced Daniel Ruiz in December 2013. Hungarian-based Fiko, 22 gets his seventh loss by KO/TKO. Milan, Italy: Welter: Antonio Moscatiello (20-2-1) W PTS 6 Sasa Janjic (5-8). This six round fight was elevated to the top of the bill when Italian Giuseppe Brischetto simply failed to show up for his EBU title fight against Hadillah Mohoumadi. The local fighter had an easy time against Janjic. The Italian champion had Janjic over a few times but the Serb kept getting up and went the full six rounds. Moscatiello’s losses have been to good quality opposition in Leonard Bundu (25-0-2) for the EBU title and Gianluca Frezza (18-2-2) for the Italian title. He is EBU No 13 and he is 6-0-1 in his last 7 fights. Janjic has lost his last 3 fights. Hidalgo, Mexico: Light: Nery Saguilan (35-4-1) W TKO 7 Carlos Cardenas (21-10-1). Light: Miguel Roman (53-11) W TKO 3 Sam Amoako (21-5). Super Feather: Edgar Monarrez (22-3-1) W PTS 10 Jesus Silveira (5-2-1). Saguilan vs. Cardenas Saguilan gives his usual colourful performance on his way to retaining his WBC USNBC title with stoppage of Venezuelan Cardenas. The local idol was a bit more focused than usual as he felt he had to make amends for a poor performance in only just edging out veteran DeMarcus Corley in August. Saguilan was always in control and had built a good lead by the end of the fourth. He scored with some good shots in the fifth and came close to ending it with some ferocious attacks in the sixth which had Cardenas badly shaken. The Venezuelan “Prophet” showed good defensive skills to make it to the bell. In the seventh Saguilan poured on the punishment and had Cardenas in deep water when the referee stopped the fight. The 27-year-old Mexican “Panther” has won eight on the bounce and is rated No 6 by the WBC. Cardenas, 31, has now lost 5 of his last 6 fights all against very tough opposition and this was his first fight since losing on points against Juan Diaz in June last year. Roman vs. Amoako “Mickey” rolls on and makes it 15 wins in a row, 12 by KO/TKO after stoppage of Ghanaian Amoako. Roman was in a different class from the tough but limited African and he landed plenty of body punches over the first two rounds with Amoako showing courage but little more. In the third a body punch put Amoako down and he could not beat the count. The 29-year-old with his 64 fights is in the tradition of Mexican boxers such as Gaspar Ortega who fought anyone anywhere . His current good run includes win over Juan Carlos Salgado, Daniel Ponce De Leon and Edgar Puente which could give him the chance to bury the memory of a fifth round kayo loss to Antonio DeMarco for the WBC light title in 2012. Former CBC title challenger Amoako was having his first fight for nearly eleven months and this is his second loss by KO/TKO. Monarrez vs. Silveira Monarrez gets unanimous decision win but was given a good test by novice Silveira before receiving the verdict. The local fighter is 7-1-1 in his last nine fights with the loss being on points against WBO title challenger Romulo Koasicha in May when a point deduction for a butt cost him a draw. Silveira was going past six rounds for the first time. Tacoma, WA, USA: Middle: Dashon Johnson (18-10-3) W TKO 9 Mike Gavronski (20-2-1). It is not always a good idea to go over old ground as Gavronski found out when he gave Johnson a return having outpointed Johnson in January. Gavronski was coming forward from the off stalking Johnson and scoring with strong jabs with Johnson content to counter. A clash of heads saw Gavronski suffer a cut to right side of his head. The scenario was repeated in the second with both rounds being close. In the third Johnson was letting his hands go more and scoring with counters on the advancing Gavronski. The fourth saw Gavronski using his jab to edge the action only for Johnson to take the fifth being quicker to the punch and loading up in his shots more. The fight continued to see-saw in the sixth with Gavronski having good spells inside and Johnson scoring with heavier shots from the outside. Johnson finished the round strongly and seemed to be getting on top. Gavronski battled back in the seventh hurting Johnson with a left but by the end of the round Johnson was landing solid punches and things were looking bad for Gavronski. Johnson was in charge in the eighth and floored Gavronski with a heavy combination. Gavronski made it to his feet and lasted to the bell but did not come out for the ninth. Johnson, 27, wins the vacant WBA NABA title. He makes a good living as a travelling loser but on his night is a real handful. He had a 2-15 run but the two wins were over unbeaten Canadian hope Adam Trupish and Scottish hope Craig McEwan and he had Dominic Wade on the floor before losing to him. Johnson had also won his last two fights. If he goes on like this the fights will dry up. No one likes a loser who wins. Local hero Gavronski, 29, can come again. Saint-Malo, France: Light Heavy: Kevin Thomas Cojean (16-7-1) W PTS 10 Hakim Chioui (30-4-1). Welter: Damien Martin (24-8-4) W PTS 8 Tobia Giuseppe Loriga (28-6-2). Cojean vs. Chioui Cojean wins the vacant French title with close unanimous decision over Chioui. These guys got down to business immediately. The rounds were close with both having good spells but Cojean doing enough to be in the lead at the half way mark. Chioui was much the bigger puncher of the two but Cojean did a good job of blocking most of Chioui’s shots but Chioui was pressing hard to close the points gap. Both fighters tired due to the heat indoors with Cojean just doing enough to hold on to his lead to the bell. Scores 96-94 twice and 97-93 all for local fighter Cojean. He wins the French title at the second attempt. He is an in-and-out performer and had lost on points to Schiller Hyppolite in Canada in his last fight in June. Former undefeated French champion Chioui,28, was 23-1-1 at one time with 13 wins in a row by KO/TKO but has lost a bit of edge since then and was knocked out in nine rounds by Igor Mikhalkin for the EBU title in March. Martin vs. Loriga Hometown fighter Martin gets victory in yet another close contest. The Frenchman outboxed the visitor comfortably over the first four rounds but Loriga kept pressing. A lot of his shots were being blocked by Martin but his sheer aggression earned him a niche in the fight and he staged a strong finish to claw back most, but not all, of the lead Martin established early. Scores 77-75 twice and 78-75, The 29-year-old French champion, the EU No 16, is 12-1 in his last 13 fights and he reversed the loss. Italian Loriga, 38, is 1-3 in his last 4 but gave Martin a tough night. Ludwigsburg, Germany: Cruiser: Firat Arslan (36-8-2) W KO 2 Paata Adushvili (17-10-2). Arslan beats poor Georgian and holds back Father Time to win the vacant WBC EPBC title. The experienced German southpaw boxed cautiously in the first just getting in three minutes of ring time and then cut loose in the second. Arslan scored three knockdowns from a mixture of head and body punches to end the fight. The 45-year-old German southpaw a former WBA secondary champion lost a split decision to Yoan Pablo Hernandez for the IBF title in August last year and this is second win since returning from 10 months of inactivity. He has fallen out of the ratings but I guess the WBC will reinstate him to allow a challenge against their champion Grigory Drozd with the selling point being that Arslan is the only fighter to have beaten Drozd which he did on a fifth round stoppage in 2006. Adushvili, 20, a typical Georgian record of wins at home and losses away. This is his fifth loss by KO/TKO |
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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