Adrien Broner Opens Up

Published

12 years ago

October 11, 2012

BronerEscodedo Lovell4 Such t-shirts, and a refusal to bow down and apologize for stuff like the Escobedo scale fail mean Broner will have plenty of haters. But the writer saw another side of the brash boxer at HBO headquarters, and had his eyes opened. (Hogan)

I do not know if I saw the future of boxing at HBO headquarters on Wednesday. All due respect to then music critic Jon Landau, who knew what Bruce Springsteen was and would be when he saw the Jerseyite do his thing at a Harvard Square concert on May 9, 1974, but I cannot be sure that Adrien Broner will be seen as “the best boxer who ever put on a pair of gloves” when the 23 year-old Cincinnati boxer-entertainer hangs up his mitts.

But I did exit the building Wednesday after hearing Broner answer press queries for almost an hour with a a new outlook on the 24-0 hitter, who at times had struck me as someone whose talent for self-hype outstripped his skill set.

No, Broner didn't back off the boasty side of himself. He didn't seek to stroke the egos of the fightwriters in the room, cunningly telling them that he thanked them for attending, and for helping keep him “relevant.” Indeed, he gently lobbed a shot at us, dismissing us in so many words as “bu–holes,” at one point.

Yet, after the session, because he explained in more depth where he came from, and some of what he has gone through to form his personality, I found myself veering closer to the territory of being a straight-up fan. Yes, as I heard Frank Deford admit on an NPR essay a couple days ago, it is true. Writers do have their favorites, and just because they manage to put a lid on the rooting interest in press row when one of their faves gets it done, that doesn't mean that they can maintain a robotic streak of objectivity. And, of course, writers can grow to dislike an athlete, be it for their fighting style, or more often, for personality or behavior traits which don't mesh with their own preferences or world view. Me, I've told you over the years, I prefer the “do, not say I will do” types, I lean towards the strong silent types Tony Soprano labeled a “Gary Cooper” type character when bemoaning the dearth of them in today's society. But in the last couple years, I've spent a fair amount of time puzzling with myself why a Floyd Mayweather talks and acts like he does. And I figured out not that long ago that it bordered on the semi-useless for me to devote too much time to solving that puzzle. Because without walking a mile in the shoes he walked in growing up, experiencing some of the traumas and dramas he did growing up, in the places he grew up in, so unlike the Wellesley, Mass. fancy-schmancy household I grew up in, I would never be able to wrap my brain around all sides of Floyd.

And on the subject of perhaps the second-most polarizing man in the game, Broner…When I hear him say that in one, two, three fights, he could well be the man in the game, I could hear that, and tsk-tsk him in my head, or on this page, for boasting, for being excessively cocky, for driving off the road of confidence, into a ditch of ludicrous hubris.

If I wanted to to, I could, when I hear Broner say, “Critics are like buttholes, I don't listen to 'em. If I want to hear a butthole, I pass gas,” I could get into a thin-skinned tizzy, and mutter to you about a manner that screams “punk.”

But instead, after hearing the 23 year-old let down the guard, and tell us a bit more about where he came from, and what hurdles he's gotten over, hurdles such as needing to fill his belly with syrup and bread sandwiches, and tap water, to quell a grumbling stomach, I'm inclined to see Broner and hear his trash-talking differently.

I'm quite sure many of you will not change your take on the kid, will still cringe when he says that it isn't a matter of whether he will fight the Brandon Rios', and Canelos, and Robert Guerreros, but whether they have the stones to accept a fight with him.

I'm sure I won't budge some of you when Broner says himself at 23 is superior to Floyd Mayweather at age 23, or when you hear the guy who had a hard time with Ponce De Leon say he doesn't think Nov. 17 foe Antonio Demarco will be able to do much against him.

Some of you might look at Mayweather put him and Broner side by side in your head and pick Floyd as the humbler of the two. When asked if his progress keeps up, in a year or two years he could see himself at 147 pounds or more, fighting Floyd Mayweather, Broner replied in the affirmative: “Of course, if he's around, I don't see him staying around too much longer. I don't know why he'd do that, that'd be dumb. Everyone know that age catches up to everyone, there's always the young lion with the same talent as you…that's too dangerous, I don't think he'd do it.”

Wait, did he just really say that he didn't think Mayweather would be wise to fight him in a year or two, that that was a “dangerous” and foolish endeavor? He did, and it is those sort of statements which make Broner more of a must-see fighter…because he is building an immense wall of expectations for himself to try to climb over, and there will be no shortage of people who watch him like they do Nascar races: hoping for him to crash and burn.

I asked Broner if after Demarco he'd fight Mayweather, leap from 135 to 147 pounds. “I love him and all but anyone who's on the other side of ring from me, I got five kids …I love Floyd to death but I don't care who is on the other side of the ring..when I get in there I have tunnel vision.”

So, Broner versus Mayweather, in a ring, tomorrow, would you beat Floyd? Broner paused…”Honestly, I'm going to be honest with you and myself I have a lot to work on, but at 23 I would have kicked his ass. I do what he do now, in his prime.”

You give him points for chutzpah…or do his words make you see him as a villain, as public boxing enemy number one, who you'd pay to see get some humble pounded into him? That likely depends on where you came from. Broner came from Cincinnati, which doesn't ring a bell with me, but the way he said it on Wednesday, means he came from a place that most of your movers and shakers pass by on their way to less complicated, more opulent locations.

“I come from Cincinnati,” he told the press Wednesday, describing how he intended to fight for the US in the 2008 Olympics, but instead got taken off that path because he “got into some trouble.”

What he did, he wouldn't specify, but here's how Broner put it: “Some big trouble too. They tried to give me football numbers but for the grace of God I came out on top.” I didn't get the “football” reference, so I asked for a clarifier. “A receiver, like 85 years, stuff like that,” Broner explained.

Without us asking explicitly, he led us into a detailed explanation of how and why he got into the sport. “I'm smart, my mom she was on dean's list and all that, so after school I would have school at home, I would have to read books, do all this, all this really burned me out.” He said he was bored in school, because he already knew what was being taught, and as teen knew he wouldn't grow to adore school. He knew he could sell drugs, he said, but realized that was a dead end. Basketball would be a fine path, but he knew Spud Webb was an exception, not a rule, in the NBA. “Boxing,” Broner said, “I always found boxing, always came back to boxing, boxing, boxing. Boxing, this is it, this is gonna be the thing gonna take me over the top.” He was 18.

Before he got full-tilt into boxing, he had to do some time, more than a year, but Broner said that was made more palatable because family and some friends stood by him. He promised God and himself he'd go hard after the boxing goal if He saw it fit to help him through the rough stretch.

I know it made me better comprehend what could be seen as cocky talk when he admitted, “I know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night and say 'I'm hungry,' and see what's to eat and say, 'F—, I got to eat syrup and bread again … and water. I know what that feels like.”

And I don't. And so I think it's wise for me to give extra respect to, and latitude to, people who have come from that, to where Broner is today. It is fashionable in many circles today to blast the Have Nots for not having enough character to rise above meager circumstances, to dismiss as loafers, as Takers, the jobless or those needing government assistance to stay afloat. One candidate for the Vice President post was just seen in an interview saying that, basically, the inner cities could be cleaned up if the citizens living there were taught “good discipline.” I don't subscribe to that one-size-fits-all-wretches view; I am not under the illusion that I am made of such solid stuff that if I were born into a sub-optimal economic situation, and wasn't Caucasian, I would rise above, and triumph over sub-humble beginnings.

I have to say, boxing is blessed, because we have this every man for himself system, with no commissioner strong-arming athletes into toeing the line, and sticking to politically correct speech. You saw that when Broner got into the issue of race. On Oct. 3, Ring TV ran a story, a Q 'n A, on Broner. He'd chatted with Lem Satterfield, who I know as a decent soul and a total professional. Broner touched on the matter of whether he'd get props if and when he beat Demarco. “Like I've told you before, man, they will never give me the credit when it's due,” he told Satterfield. “Even if I go in and I knock this guy out in the first round, they're going to always find something, you know? They're going to always find something. But what can they say? I was supposed to do it? I was faster and I've got more talent? What? I mean, he's the world champion at 135, and he just came off of some great stoppages, and so whatever I go in there and do, of course I want them to give me what I deserve. But just being me, and, you know, I'm an African American. So, you know, they're going to always find something wrong, and they're going to always find something to say. So that's why I just do what I do, and I don't even worry about the critics, man.”

Satterfield asked him to expound, asking, “What do you mean about your being an African American?”

“I really don't want to get into it because I don't want to make it a racial thing because I love the Hispanics, I love the Mexicans,” Broner said. “You know, I love all races of people. But at the end of the day, man, we all know that it's so hard for us. It's so hard. I don't really want to get into it, but you know what's going on.” So Satterfield let the subject drop, understandably. The subject was again brought up Wednesday.

Asked to clarify that Oct. 3 story, Broner said he meant that African-Americans don't support other African-American fighters, not the way Hispanic fans support other Hispanic fighters. “It's so hard for us to support our own, coming up from where we come from, they don't want to see the next man doing better than them, ” Broner said. So, black fans don't support black fighters like some other groups support boxers of the same race or ethnicity? “Exactly,” Broner said. “It's the truth.”

He said he though the Ring piece made him look like he was “racist or something” but I didn't get that from reading it, and knowing Satterfield, and how much he cares, I have to stick up for Lem, and his professionalism, and put it out there that any sort of tabloid-y exploitation is not his way, not ever. Also, you might recall Lamont Peterson touched on the same subject back in April 2011, with Satterfield. “Black people are not showing the support that's necessary to make household names in boxing,” Peterson said then.

I'm looking forward to keeping tabs on Broner's arc. He could be a stellar role model for many of those kids in Cincy, and other Have Not neighborhoods, to look up to, so I'm hoping he will embrace that power he will be able to dispense. I suspect you sort of had to be there to have that change of heart, that new depth of appreciation for Broner that washed over me. Hey, the kid himself noted that the cameras and the editors know what to capture and splice and present to stir the pot and draw viewers. His brashest statements and behavior will be collected and disseminated. “I'm not a villain,” Broner explained at HBO. “I'm just being me. I know it can rub off on some people some way, 'This guy is too cocky, too arrogant, this and that. But when they get to know about me they fall in love with me.”

Maybe not, but I think moving forward, if not love, more boxing fans will at least grow to better understand, and respect Adrien Broner.

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Michael Woods

Avila Perspective, Chap. 281: The Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia Show

Published

1 day ago

April 18, 2024

David A. Avila

Avila-Perspective-Chap-281-The-Devin-and-Ryan-Show

Over the years bouts between old foes such as Devin Haney and Ryan Garcia tend to be surprising.

Yes, both are only 25 but have known each other for many years.

When undisputed super lightweight champion Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) steps into the prize ring at Barclays Center to meet challenger Garcia (24-1, 20 KOs) on Saturday, April 20, fans will be witnessing the continuation of a feud that began more than a decade ago.

And though the champion is a heavy favorite, familiarity is Garcia’s best weapon heading into their fight on the Golden Boy Promotions card that will be shown on PPV.COM with Jim Lampley and friends. DAZN pay-per-view is also streaming the card.

In many ways Haney and Garcia have ventured down the same path. From amateur sensations to fighting in Mexico while teens to asking for the biggest challenges available.

“Whichever version of Ryan shows up on April 20, I will be ready for him. Ryan Garcia is just another opponent to me,” said Haney who holds the WBC super lightweight title after his win over Regis Prograis.

The first time I saw Haney as a pro he battled the dangerous Mexican contender Juan Carlos Burgos at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula. It was an impressive performance against a fighter who fought three times for a world title.

Haney was 19 at the time.

My first look at Garcia as a pro was in his first bout in the U.S. when he met Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Cruz at the Exchange in downtown Los Angeles. The Boricua looked at Garcia and tried intimidating him with stares, taunts and the usual patter. During the fight both swung and missed until the second round when Garcia zeroed in and took him out.

Garcia had just turned 18, the legal age to fight in California.

Both fighters did not have the Olympics credentials that lead to fame. But their talent has allowed them to fight through the dense smoke that is professional boxing.

Haney has defeated numerous world champions such as Prograis, Vasyl Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr., while Garcia has stopped champions Javier Fortuna and Luke Campbell.

As amateurs, Garcia and Haney battled six times with each winning three.

“They know each other very well,” said Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions. “Ryan is going to beat Devin Haney.”

Haney has a buttery-smooth style with one of the best jabs in boxing. He’s very adept at keeping distance and not allowing anyone to fight him inside. His reflexes are outstanding, yet he seldom fights inside. That’s his weakness.

Garcia fights tall and has superb hand speed and a lightning quick left hook. Though his defense lacks tightness his ability to rip off three-punch combinations in a blink of an eye pauses opponents from bullying their way inside.

“These guys always just look at me and look at me like I don’t know how to box,” said Garcia on social media. “Why was I one of the best fighters in the amateurs. Why was I a 15-time National champion…why did I beat everyone I came across.”

Haney is a strong favorite by oddsmakers to defeat Garcia. But you can never tell when it comes to fighters that know each other well and are athletically gifted.

When Sergio Mora challenged Vernon Forrest he was a big underdog. When Tim Bradley fought Manny Pacquiao the first time, he was also the underdog. And when Andy Ruiz met Anthony Joshua few gave him a chance.

Haney and Garcia have history in the ring. It should be an interesting battle.

PPV.COM

Jim Lampley will be leading the broadcast on PPV.COM for the Haney-Garcia card at Barclays and texting with fans on the card live. He will be accompanied by journalists Lance Pugmire, Dan Conobbio and former champion Chris Algieri.

The PPV.COM broadcast begins at 5 p.m. PT. and is available in Canada and the USA.

Other News

MMA stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal will be holding a media day event on Friday, April 19, at NOVO at L.A. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Diaz and Masvidal will be boxing against each other in a grudge match on June 1 at the KIA Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The two MMA stars met five years at UFC 244 with Masvidal winning by TKO over Diaz due to cuts.

This is a grudge match, but under boxing rules.

Fight card in Commerce, Calif.

360 Promotions returns to Commerce Casino on Saturday April 20 with undefeated super lightweight Cain Sandoval leading the charge.

Sandoval (12-0) faces Angel Rebollar (8-3) in the main event that will be shown live on UFC Fight Pass. Also on the card are two female events including hot prospect Lupe Medina (5-0) versus Sabrina Persona (3-1) in a minimumweight clash.

Doors open at 4 p.m.

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Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Boxing Odds and Ends: The Heavyweight Merry-Go-Round

There were few surprises when co-promoters Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren and their benefactor HE Turki Alalshikh held a press conference in London this past Monday to unveil the undercard for the Beterbiev-Bivol show at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 1. Most of the match-ups had already been leaked.

For die-hard boxing fans, Beterbiev-Bivol is such an enticing fight that it really doesn’t need an attractive undercard. Two undefeated light heavyweights will meet with all four relevant belts on the line in a contest where the oddsmakers straddled the fence. It’s a genuine “pick-‘em” fight based on the only barometer that matters, the prevailing odds.

But Beterbiev-Bivol has been noosed to a splendid undercard, a striking contrast to Saturday’s Haney-Garcia $69.99 (U.S.) pay-per-view in Brooklyn, an event where the undercard, in the words of pseudonymous boxing writer Chris Williams, is an absolute dumpster fire.

The two heavyweight fights that will bleed into Beterbiev-Bivol, Hrgovic vs. Dubois and Wilder vs. Zhang, would have been stand-alone main events before the incursion of Saudi money.

Hrgovic-Dubois

Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 13 KOs) and Daniel Dubois (20-2, 19 KOs) fought on the same card in Riyadh this past December. Hrgovic, the Croatian, was fed a softie in the form of Australia’s Mark De Mori who he dismissed in the opening round. Dubois, a Londoner, rebounded from his loss to Oleksandr Usyk with a 10^th-round stoppage of corpulent Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller.

There’s an outside chance that Hrgovic vs. Dubois may be sanctioned by the IBF for the world heavyweight title.

The May 18 showdown between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury has a rematch clause. The IBF is next in line in the rotation system for a unified heavyweight champion and the organization has made it plain that the winner of Usyk-Fury must fulfill his IBF mandatory before an intervening bout.

The best guess is that the Usyk-Fury winner will relinquish the IBF belt. If so, Hrgovic and Dubois may fight for the vacant title although a more likely scenario is that the organization will keep the title vacant so that the winner can fight Anthony Joshua.

Wilder-Zhang

The match between Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) and Zhilei Zhang (26-2-1, 21 KOs) is a true crossroads fight as both Wilder, 38, and Zhang, who turns 41 in May, are nearing the end of the road and the loser (unless it’s a close and entertaining fight) will be relegated to the rank of a has-been. In fact, Wilder has hinted that this may be his final rodeo.

Both are coming off a loss to Joseph Parker.

Wilder last fought on the card that included Hrgovic and Dubois and was roundly out-pointed by a man he was expected to beat. It’s a quick turnaround for Zhang who opposed Parker on March 8 and lost a majority decision.

Other Fights

Either of two other fights may steal the show on the June 1 event.

Raymond Ford (15-0-1, 8 KOs) meets Nick Ball (19-0-1, 11 KOs) in a 12-round featherweight contest. New Jersey’s Ford will be defending the WBA world title he won with a come-from-behind, 12th-round stoppage of Otabek Kholmatov in an early contender for Fight of the Year. Liverpool’s “Wrecking” Ball, a relentless five-foot-two sparkplug, had to settle for a draw in his title fight with Rey Vargas despite winning the late rounds and scoring two knockdowns.

Hamzah Sheeraz (19-0, 15 KOs) meets fellow unbeaten Austin “Ammo” Williams (16-0, 11 KOs) in a 12-round middleweight match. East London’s Sheeraz, the son of a former professional cricket player, is unknown in the U.S. although he trained for his recent fights at the Ten Goose Boxing Gym in California. Riding a skein of 13 straight knockouts, he has a date with WBO title-holder Janibek Alimkhanuly if he can get over this hurdle.

The Forgotten Heavyweight

“Unbeaten for seven years, the man nobody wants to fight,” intoned ring announcer Michael Buffer by way of introduction. Buffer was referencing Michael Hunter who stood across the ring from his opponent Artem Suslenkov.

This scene played out this past Saturday in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. It was Hunter’s second fight in three weeks. On March 23, he scored a fifth-round stoppage of a 46-year-old meatball at a show in Zapopan, Mexico.

The second-generation “Bounty Hunter,” whose only defeat prior to last weekend came in a 12-rounder with Oleksandr Usyk, has been spinning his wheels since TKOing the otherwise undefeated Martin Bakole on the road in London in 2018. Two fights against hapless opponents on low-budget cards in Mexico and a couple of one-round bouts for the Las Vegas Hustle, an entry in the fledgling and largely invisible Professional Combat League, are the sum total of his activity, aside from sparring, in the last two-and-a-half years.

Hunter’s chances of getting another big-money fight took a tumble in Tashkent where he lost a unanimous decision in a dull affair to the unexceptional Suslenkov who was appearing in his first 10-round fight. The scores of the judges were not announced.

You won’t find this fight listed on boxrec. As Jake Donovan notes, the popular website will not recognize a fight conducted under the auspices of a rogue commission. (Another fight you won’t find on boxrec for the same reason is Nico Ali Walsh’s 6-round split decision over the 9-2-1 Frenchman, Noel Lafargue, in the African nation of Guinea on Dec. 16, 2023. You can find it on YouTube, but according to boxrec, boxing’s official record-keeper, it never happened.)

Anderson-Merhy Redux

The only thing missing from this past Saturday’s match in Corpus Christi, Texas, between Jared Anderson and Ryad Merhy was the ghost of Robert Valsberg.

Valsberg, aka Roger Vaisburg, was the French referee who disqualified Ingemar Johansson for not trying in his match with LA’s Ed Sanders in the finals of the heavyweight competition at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Valsberg tossed Johansson out of the ring after two rounds and Johansson was denied the silver medal. The Swede redeemed himself after turning pro, needless to say, when he demolished Floyd Patterson in the first of their three meetings.

Merhy was credited with throwing only 144 punches, landing 34, over the course of the 10 rounds. Those dismal figures yet struck many onlookers as too high. (This reporter has always insisted that the widely-quoted CompuBox numbers should be considered approximations.)

Whatever the true number, it was a disgraceful performance by Merhy who actually showed himself to have very fast hands on the few occasions when he did throw a punch. With apologies to Delfine Persoon, a spunky lightweight, U.S. boxing promoters should think twice before inviting another Belgian boxer to our shores.

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Anderson Cruises by Vapid Merhy and Ajagba edges Vianello in Texas

Published

6 days ago

April 14, 2024

Arne K. Lang

Anderson-Cruises-by-Vapid-Merhy-and-Ajagba-Edges-Vianello-in-Texas

Jared Anderson returned to the ring tonight on a Top Rank card in Corpus Christi, Texas. Touted as the next big thing in the heavyweight division, Anderson (17-0, 15 KOs) hardly broke a sweat while cruising past Ryad Merhy in a bout with very little action, much to the disgruntlement of the crowd which started booing as early as the second round. The fault was all Merhy as he was reluctant to let his hands go. Somehow, he won a round on the scorecard of judge David Sutherland who likely fell asleep for a round for which he could be forgiven.

Merhy, born in the Ivory Coast but a resident of Brussels, Belgium, was 32-2 (26 KOs) heading in after fighting most of his career as a cruiserweight. He gave up six inches in height to Anderson who was content to peck away when it became obvious to him that little would be coming back his way.

Anderson may face a more daunting adversary on Monday when he has a court date in Romulus, Michigan, to answer charges related to an incident in February where he drove his Dodge Challenger at a high rate speed, baiting the police into a merry chase. (Weirdly, Anderson entered the ring tonight wearing the sort of helmet that one associates with a race car driver.)

Co-Feature

In the co-feature, a battle between six-foot-six former Olympians, Italy’s Guido Vianello started and finished strong, but Efe Ajagba had the best of it in the middle rounds and prevailed on a split decision. Two of the judges favored Ajagba by 96-94 scores with the dissenter favoring the Italian from Rome by the same margin.

Vianello had the best round of the fight. He staggered Ajagba with a combination in round two. At the end of the round, a befuddled Ajagba returned to the wrong corner and it appeared that an upset was brewing. But the Nigerian, who trains in Las Vegas under Kay Koroma, got back into the fight with a more varied offensive attack and better head movement. In winning, he improved his ledger to 20-1 (14). Vianello, who sparred extensively with Daniel Dubois in London in preparation for this fight, declined to 12-2-1 in what was likely his final outing under the Top Rank banner.

Other Bouts of Note

In the opening bout on the main ESPN platform, 35-year-old super featherweight Robson Conceicao, a gold medalist for Brazil in the 2016 Rio Olympics, stepped down in class after fighting Emanuel Navarrete tooth-and-nail to a draw in his previous bout and scored a seventh-round stoppage of Jose Ivan Guardado who was a cooked goose after slumping to the canvas after taking a wicked shot to the liver. Guardado made it to his feet, but the end was imminent and the referee waived it off at the 2:27 mark.

Conceicao improved to 18-1 (9 KOs). It was the U.S. debut for Guardado (15-2-1), a boxer from Ensenada, Mexico who had done most of his fighting up the road in Tijuana.

Ruben Villa, the pride of Salinas, California, improved to 22-1 (7) and moved one step closer to a match with WBC featherweight champion Rey Vargas with a unanimous 10-round decision over Tijuana’s Cristian Cruz (22-7-1). The judges had it 97-93 and 98-92 twice.

Cruz, the son of former IBF world featherweight title-holder Cristobal Cruz, was better than his record. He entered the bout on a 21-1-1 run after losing five of his first seven pro fights.

Cleveland southpaw Abdullah Mason, who turned 20 earlier this month, continued his fast ascent up the lightweight ladder with a fourth-round stoppage of Ronal Ron.

Mason (13-0, 11 KOs) put Ron on the canvas in the opening round with a short left hook. He scored a second knockdown with a shot to the liver. A flurry of punches, a diverse array, forced the stoppage at the 1:02 mark of round four. A 25-year-old SoCal-based Venezuelan, the spunky but out-gunned Ron declined to 14-6.

Charly Suarez, a 35-year-old former Olympian from the Philippines, ranked #5 at junior lightweight by the IBF, advanced to 17-0 (9) with a unanimous 8-round decision over SoCal’s Louie Coria (5-7).

This was a tactical fight. In the final round, Coria, subbing for 19-0 Henry Lebron, caught the Filipino off-balance and knocked him into the ropes which held him up. It was scored a knockdown, but came too little, too late for Coria who lost by scores of 76-75 and 77-74 twice.

Suarez, whose signature win was a 12^th-round stoppage of the previously undefeated Aussie Paul Fleming in Sydney, may be headed to a rematch with Robson Conceicao. They fought as amateurs in 2016 in Kazakhstan and Suarez lost a narrow 6-round decision.

Photo credit: Mikey Willams / Top Rank via Getty Images

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