Category Archives: Fight Reports

BENAVIDEZ OUTPOINTS MORRELL

Photo: Premier Boxing Champions

David Benavidez added the WBA regular 175-pound title to his WBC interim honors with a 12-round unanimous decision over David Morrell on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Benavidez (30-0, 24 KOs) landed the more telling blows throughout the fight to earn the victory by scores of 115-111, 115-111 and 118-108. After an even start, Benavidez took control over the middle rounds, survived a knockdown in round 11 and saw that negated with a point deduction for Morrell (11-1, 9 KOs) for hitting after the bell.

In another major fight, Stephan Fulton (23-1, 8 KOs) lifted the WBC featherweight title from Brandon Figueroa (25-2-1, 19 KOs) with a UD12. Fulton won this rematch of a 2021 fight for super bantamweight titles by a more comfortable margin with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112. The decision in the first fight was disputed while this one was a clear victory for Fulton.

RESULTS

DAVID BENAVIDEZ UD12 over DAVID MORRELL JR.
STEPHEN FULTON UD12 over BRANDON FIGUEROA
ISAAC CRUZ UD10 over ANGEL FIERRO
MICO CUELLO TKO10 over CHRISTIAN OLIVO
JESUS RAMOS TKO8 over JEISON ROSARIO

PACHECO DECISIONS NELSON

By Steven Cummings

WBO #1 super middleweight Diego Pacheco (23-0,  18 KOs) turned back a determined Steven “So Cold” Nelson with a unanimous 12-round decision. Nelson (20-1, 16 KOs) suffered his first loss despite pressing the 23-year old Pacheco throughout the fight and testing the youngster with his unpredictable movement.

Official scores were all 117-113 for Pacheco. InTheCorner.Net scored it 115-113 for Pacheco.

Pacheco started very slowly as Nelson bobbed and weaved on the outside, too far for Los Angeles, CA native to reach, even with his long, rangy arms. Nelson would pop in for quick shots in close then quickly pop out or the two would clinch. The much taller Pacheco took several round to get his offense and counter game going.

The turning point came in round four, a round that Nelson may well have won on the cards. But he took a right hand that opened a cut over his right eye which bled the rest of the fight. From that point until the start of round 10, the fight looked more like a contest between a 23-year old phenom and a 36-year old veteran.

Pacheco got into a rhythm of countering Nelson’s awkward movement and landed numerous solid shots over the next several rounds. While Nelson never slowed, he was rocked a few times and his effectiveness didn’t match Pacheco’s power.

The final two rounds saw another shift, as Nelson came out fired up to save the day. Round 11 may have been Nelson’s best of the fight, as he pressed desperately and landed his most telling shots of the night. Round 12 was the same but even more so, as Nelson went for it and got numerous heavy shots in. As well as he did that round, Pacheco wobbled him in the waning seconds but didn’t have time to finish him off.

While this wasn’t the greatest technical match, it was wildly entertaining and both fighters made a great showing. Diego Pacheco could have controlled the action more with his size and reach, but the smothering style of Nelson gave him trouble in the early rounds. Great work for a 23-year old to put in.

Meanwhile, Nelson showed himself to be a formidable opponent in the super middleweight division. That may help him get future fights but it could also make him someone that other fighters want to avoid. “So Cold” is must-see viewing so here’s hoping it’s the latter.

SMITH BLOWS OUT OUIZZA WITH TKO1

Undefeated super lightweight Dalton Smith (17-0, 13 KOs) outgunned Walid Ouizza with a stream of accurate power shots that ended with a TKO after the bell to end round one. Smith won the vacant European 140-lb. title as well as retaining the WBC Silver Super Lightweight title.

Ouizza (19-3, 8 KOs) was rocked by several shot throughout the round, getting knocked off balance by single blows. Smith turned up the heat near the end of the round and it was too much for the Frenchman. Two knockdowns happened in the waning seconds, with the second one causing the referee to wave off the fight as Ouizza’s corner threw in the towel.

Dalton Smith won the WBC silver belt last March with a fifth-round stoppage of Jose Zepeda. Another impressive win today puts Smith in line for bigger bouts against the top 140-lbers.

PRIEST – HOWARD FIGHT NIGHT COVERAGE

Photo: Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy Promotions

By Steven Cummings

MAIN EVENT
ERIC PRIEST (15-0, 8 KOs) UD10 over TYLER HOWARD (20-3, 11 KOs)
Official scores – 100-90 X 3
10 Rounds, Super Middleweights

Eric Priest kept his perfect record intact with a masterful 10-round shutout over rugged veteran Tyler Howard. Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) enjoyed a clear separation in skill level as he kept Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) from getting untracked.

It probably wasn’t as spectacular as Priest hoped but it was every bit of a dominant performance. Controlling the action with a busy jab, Priest used movement and potent counter punching to thwart any offense from Howard.

As the rounds went by, Priest dug in more and more with the right hand, but the constant throughout the bout was the precise jab and good footwork.

Despite the lack of two-way action and the fact that Priest never felt any distress, this was good work against a veteran that sets him up to keep climbing the ladder.

RD10 – Priest kept Howard from every getting any sustained attack going.
Smooth and steady throughout, Priest threw a shutout. 10-9 Priest, 100-90 Priest.

RD9 – Another clean round for Priest. Controlling the fight while Howard can’t solve him. 10-9 Priest, 90-81 Priest.

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SIMPSON STOPS WOODALL IN 2

Undefeated super middleweight Callum Simpson moved to 16-0 (11 KOs) with a convincing TKO2 over Steed Woodall (19-3, 12 KOs) on Saturday night in Sheffield, England. Simpson withstood an early attack in the first round and ended matters at 1:56 of the second round.

Woodall was dropped by by a left hook followed by a right hand. He got up and took a couple of hard shots before the referee waved it off, maybe a bit premature. Simpson was in control but Woodall was far from helpless.

With the win, Simpson retained two British boxing super middleweight titles.

The brief main event was the capper on a four-bout Sky Sports broadcast, with all four contests ending quickly. The fights were shown on Peacock, with solid production and commentary. But the matchups didn’t work out to be very comptetive.

CAROLINE DUBOIS TD WITH JESSICA CAMARA

Photo: SkySports.com

WBC lightweight champ Caroline Dubois remained champion when her first defense was stopped after two rounds due to a cut over the eye of opponent Jessica Camara. The action was one-sided while it lasted in Sheffield, England on Saturday night, as Dubois (10-0-1, 5 KOs) dropped the challenger a minute in and fired heavy shots throughout the short bout.

Camara (14-4-1, 3 KOs) was busted up by punches but the cut over her left eye was from an accidental headbutt. After the second round, referee Kieran McCann notified Camara’s corner that he would have the doctor take a look at the start of the third. When the bell rang, McCann immediately called time out and after the doctor’s inspection, the bout was waved off.

Dubois won the title last August with a UD10 over Maira Moneo.

MUNGUIA SHOCKED BY SURACE

Jaime Munguia was stopped via one-punch knockout by lightly regarded Bruno Surace on Saturday night in Tijuana, MX. What was supposed to be a successful end of a busy, four-fight year for Munguia (44-2, 35 KOs) went bad when Surace (26-0-2, 5 KOs) recovered well from a second-round knockdown and landed the show-stopper in the sixth.

Nothing in Surace’s record indicated he would be anything other than fodder for a hometown party for Munguia. The Frenchman had just eight wins over fighters with winning records and only four knockouts in 27 fights. But he came up with the power to damage Munguia much more than Canelo Alvarez was able to do in May.

ROCHA, CURIEL BATTLE TO A DRAW

Alexis Rocha and Raul Curiel went 12 tough rounds that saw their welterweight bout end in a majority draw on Saturday night in Ontario, CA. One judge had it 116-112 for Rocha while the other two saw it 114-114.

Rocha (25-2-1, 16 KO’s) is ranked #2 by the WBO and #9 by the WBC while holding the NABO belt. Curiel (15-0-1, 13 KO’s) hold the NABF title and is ranked #5 (WBC), and #10 (IBF).

Both fighters called for a rematch immediately after the fight.

ESPINOZA DEFENDS FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE WITH TKO6 OF RAMIREZ

Photo: Lance Pugmire

Rafael Espinoza (26-0, 22 KOs) defended his WBO featherweight title for the second time, this time against the man he won it from last year, Robeisy Ramirez, with a TKO6 on Saturday night in Phoenix, AZ. Ramirez waved off the fight himself just after the start of the sixth round due to double vision in his right eye.

Espinoza was coming on after a slow start in the first two rounds where Ramirez was able to have success with constant movement and rapid fire attacks on the inside before moving away. Espinoza stepped up the action in round three and slowed Ramirez’ progress the rest of the way.

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MIKE TYSON – JAKE PAUL COVERAGE

I’ll be following along on the Netflix event tonight with fight results and some commentary on the Serrano-Taylor rematch as well as the headliner.

JAKE PAUL UD8 OVER MIKE TYSON

Pretty underwhelming. Either you like the “event” or you don’t. I’m ok with it. Mike had very little and Jake went easy on him. Fair enough. We got a couple of great fights on the undercard and a lot of eyes were on boxing tonight. Just my personal opinion but this new era of boxing is going quite well. Events such as

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