WEEKEND FIGHTS: BETERBIEV UNIFIES, T. INOUE LOSES, NAKATANI WINS

There was plenty of boxing action overseas this weekend with the massive Beterbiev/Bivol matchup in Saudi Arabia while two separate championship cards were staged in Japan.

JUNTO NAKATANI KO6 OVER PETCH SOR CHITPATTANA

WBC bantamweight champion Junto Nakatani scored an explosive sixth-round KO over challenger Petch Sor Chitpattana in the second of two boxing cards from Japan this weekend. Nakatani (29-0, 22 KOs) outclassed his fellow southpaw and used his faster, heavier hands to decide the fight at the 2:59 mark with a second knockdown.

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MIKAELA MAYER UD10 OVER SANDY RYAN

At the end of a long fight card that went way late into the night, Mikaela Mayer decisioned Sandy Ryan over 10 rounds in one of the best fights I’ve seen this year. Despite no knockdowns, this was an all-action contest with ebbs and flows throughout and nearly no slowdown from either fighter.

Mayer’s margins of victory were 97-93 and 96-94 with one judge seeing it at 95-95, making it a majority decision. I had it 96-94 Ryan and I feel that at worst for Ryan it was a draw, but 96-94 Mayer doesn’t bother me at all. 97-93 is getting off the trail a bit.

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DANIEL DUBOIS STOPS ANTHONY JOSHUA IN 5

Daniel Dubois added to his growing credentials with a dominant stoppage win over Anthony Joshua on Saturday September 21st. It was a pay-per-view event with 90,000 people in attendance with Dubois emerging as the man of the hour.

On the other side of the coin, Joshua lost for the third time in his last seven fights and is 6-4 over his last 10. Here’s a look at where Anthony Joshua stands at this point in his career.

PROBOX TV SEPT. 11 FIGHTS

VLADIMIR HERNANDEZ (15-6, 7 KOs) vs. RAUL GARCIA (13-1-1, 11 KOs) 10 Rounds, Junior Middleweights.

RD1 – Garcia more effective, scoring with the right through the southpaw guard Hernandez. 10-9 Garcia.

RD2 – Close round, both guys scored throughout. Hernandez’ shots heavier, Garcia more consistent. 10-9 Garcia, 20-18 Garcia.

RD3 – Great back-and-forth action, Garcia scored great against Hernandez’ pressure, but Hernandez got his in too. HERNANDEZ DOWN with about 30 seconds left. Ref gave him extra time, clock ran out. 10-8 Garcia.

RD4 – Garcia rocked him again and looked to be closing the show when Hernandez fought off the ropes and worked out of trouble. But the big left hand did tons of damage throughout. 10-9 Garcia, 40-35 Garcia.

RD5 – GARCIA DOWN a little under a minute in, and hurt badly. Got up on unsteady legs. Survived the rest of the round, got back into it toward the end. 10-8 Hernandez, 48-45 Garcia.

RD6 – Big first half for Hernandez, Garcia got it together the last 45 seconds. 10-9 Hernandez, 57-55 Garcia.

RD7 – A war of attrition. Hernandez heavier shots carry the day. 10-9 Hernandez, 66-65 Garcia.

RD8 – I was thinking about if I could give Garcia the round when GARCIA DOWN again with 45 seconds left. Not a huge punch. Garcia finished very strong. 10-8 Hernandez, 75-74 Hernandez.

RD 9 – Garcia rocked again but survived and finished pretty strong. Hernandez non-stop pressure. 10-9 Hernandez, 85-83 Hernandez.

RD10 – Garcia slight edge. More of the same the whole round. 10-9 Garcia, 94-93 Hernandez.

Official Scores: 94-93, 95-92, 96-91 Hernandez

JAYCOB GOMEZ (10-0-1, 6 KOs) vs. JERRY PEREZ (14-4-1, 11 KOs) 8 Rounds, Lightweights

Gomez (11-0-1, 7 KOs) TKO2 over Perez (14-5-1, 11 KOs)

RD1 – Lefty-righty matchup. Southpaw Gomez much more skilled, Perez throwing awkward shots. PEREZ DOWN late in the round from a left-right. 10-8 Gomez.

RD2 – PEREZ DOWN again almost one minute in. Clear mismatch. Perez got rocked and never recovered. 10-8

Fight stopped between rounds. Jaycob Gomez W, TKO2.

YOHANLER MARTINEZ (4-0, 2 KOs) vs. FRANYERSON PUERTA (5-4, 5 KO’s) 6-rounds, Middleweights

Martinez (5-0, 2 KOs) SD6 over Puerta (5-5, 5 KOs). 57-56, 57-56, 56-57.

RD1 – Martinez busier, sharper, definitely has the edge in skills. Puerta got there with some power shots. Won’t be routed by the undefeated Martinez. 10-9 Martinez.

RD2 – Martinez came out with fast combos, Puerta responded with heavy shots to the body. MARTINEZ DOWN with about 45 seconds left in the round. Perfect right hand with Martinez backed up in the corner. Martinez responded well. 10-8 Puerta, 19-18 Puerta.

RD3 – Martinez got back on his game, Puerta remained dangerous. Martinez fought out of the corner much better, didn’t get caught, punched his way out. 10-9 Martinez, 28-28.

RD4 – Very good round for Martinez, you could see his impressive skills. Puerta right there throwing heavy shots. 10-9 Martinez, 38-37 Martinez.

RD5 – Puerta got a tongue-lashing in between rounds and he went out and worked for it. Heavy shots throughout, Martinez slowed down. 10-9 Puerta, 47-47.

RD6 – Martinez back in control, landed power shots throughout the round by maintaining the right distance. Puerta walked through them, but didn’t get as much done. 10-9 Martinez, 57-56, Martinez.

 

Yoel Angeloni (4-0, 2 KOs) defeats Juan Carlos Campos Medina (3-1).

HURD AND ROSARIO FIGHT TO A DRAW ON PROBOX TV

Former 154-lb champions Jarrett Hurd and Jeison Rosario fought to a 10-round draw on ProBox TV’s Wednesday night fights. Campaigning at middleweight, both fighters looked to get into the title mix with a good performance over a fellow former champ, but it didn’t work out that way for either.

Official scores were 96-94 Hurd, 96-94 Rosario, 95-95 even.

Hurd had the better jab but didn’t use it all that often and failed to follow up throughout the fight. Rosario put together the better combinations and sustained attacks, but not nearly as well as he did in his championship days.

Both fighters showed far less energy than they had in their glory days and even a big finish by Rosario in the 10th looked more like it was due to Hurd being out of gas.

Jarrett Hurd won his first belt at 154 with a 9th-round stoppage of Tony Harrison in 2017. After three successful defenses, Hurd lost multiple belts to Julian “J-Rock” Williams in 2019.

J-Rock promptly lost the belts to Rosario in 2020, then later that year Rosario gave them up to Jemell Charlo. Rosario was stopped in three of his next six fights.

After losing to Williams in 2019, Hurd went 2-2 with one of the losses by knockout.

Those setbacks made this a logical fight where the winner, if he could look impressive, would be able to vault back into title contention. Neither fighter looked impressive and there was no winner.

ProBox TV, on the other hand, was pretty impressive. Fights on YouTube for no subscription fee is a welcome sight in this era of streaming services and pay-per-views. The undercard fights were unknowns, but there was a lot of action. Over 10,000 people watched this event. This was my first time and I’ll be back in the future.

 

 

 

MBILLI DECISIONS DEREVYANCHENKO

Christian Mbilli remained unbeaten with a 10-round unanimous decision victory over Sergiy Derevyanchenko on Saturday night. Mbilli (28-0, 23 KO’s) battered the three-time title challenger, who fought through an injury to his left arm early in the bout. Scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92.

Mbilli is ranked #1 at super middleweight by the WBC, #2 by the WBA, and #3 by both the IBF and WBO. Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs), at age 38, was a tough test for the younger (29) powerhouse and Mbilli came out very strong with volume punches that rocked the Ukranian.

Derevyanchenko weathered the early storm with movement and was scoring decent shots of his own going into the fourth round. That’s when an injury occurred to the left bicep and Derevyanchenko was forced to fight with just high right hand for the rest of the bout.

It was a game effort from Derevyanchenko, who rocked Mbilli late in the fight. There was no questioning the scorecards, but Mbilli didn’t feast on his injured, 38-year old opponent as he would be expected to with his reputation as a power puncher. The volume of punches was there, but no knockdowns were scored. At the same time, Dervyanchenko is as tough as they come, with competitive decision losses to Gennadiy Golovkin, Jermall Charlo and Jaime Munguia on his record.

AYALA WINS IBF FLYWEIGHT TITLE WITH KO6 OVER APOLINARIO

(18-0, 8 KOs) heated up after a slow start to stop Dave Apolinario in the sixth round to earn the IBF featherweight title Saturday night in Mexico City. Two knockdowns by body shots created the stoppage victory.

Apolinario (20-1, 14 KOs) won the first round as Ayala did very little against the southpaw from the Philippines. Rounds two and three were closer but it was in round four when Ayala mounted an attack in earnest and slowed Apolinario’s momentum.

Round six saw a delayed reaction from a body shot put Apolinario down and Ayala finished the job moments later with brutal punches to the mid section. Ayala now wears the belt vacated by Bam Rodriguez when he moved up to 116 earlier this year.

CRAWFORD – MADRIMOV WRAP UP, PLUS FULL CARD AND PPV SHOW THOUGHTS

A day after Terence Crawford’s split-decision victory over Irail Madrimov, I watched the fight again and then talked about the event in a video I put up on the YouTube channel. The whole event was quite a spectacle and Crawford’s win was significant in that it made him a four-division champion. But there was a lot to talk about with this monumental event. Check it out here:

RETURN OF NEW CONTENT

This is a marker for where the website came back up after yet another lengthy downtime. Much like Muhammad Ali had repeated problems with Ken Norton, I’ve had my web hosting come back again and again to set me back. After forking over the money required to defeat malware, the site is operational again.

This time around, I’ll be focusing on whatever it is that is of interest to me, rather than attempting a comprehensive up-to-date coverage of the fight game. That means the fights that I watch from week-to-week as well as look backs at some of historical fights and events from the past.

In the immediate future:

  • A look back at the 1986 lightweight showdown between Hector Camacho and Edwin Rosario
  • Results from the Paris Olympics
  • The August 3rd pay-per-view card headlined by Terence Crawford

If anything else pops up, I’ll work on it as time allows.

JUNE 20, 1980 – THE BRAWL IN MONTREAL