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Maidana TKOs Lopez & Lara TKOs Angulo at Home Depot

CARSON, CALIF.-Argentina’s Marcos Maidana and Cuba’s Erislandy Lara were behind on scores but rallied to somehow win on Saturday at the Home Depot.
Come-from-behind wins were the name of the game at the Golden Boy Promotions fight card.
Josesito Lopez (30-6, 18 Kos) was seeking to win a spot against a welterweight world champion at the Home Depot and Angulo (22-3, 18 KOs) was guaranteed a world title shot in the junior middleweight division. Both lost despite great efforts.
Lopez used his reach and jabs to open up the first round. After getting comfortable, Maidana connected with a solid left hook that woke up the Riverside fighter. He returned fire with blows to the body and head that woke up the crowd.
After winning the second round it looked like the Maidana freight train was at full speed. After clipping Lopez with a few blows, the Riverside fighter urged Maidana for more. Then Lopez fired his own volleys and hurt Maidana with a four punch combo that forced the Argentine to grab tight Lopez’s waist.
“He hit me on the hip and it paralyzed me for two rounds,” said Maidana.
Lopez seemed to figure out the proper distance to fight Maidana and took advantage in round four with long range bombs that could not miss. Maidana tried to counter and ran into some right hands one after another and fell to the floor. It was ruled a slip by the referee.
Maidana needed to change tact and began looking to counterpunch the taller Lopez. After some feints and a few right hands, Maidana opened up with a nine-punch volley that put Lopez in retreat. Lopez ended the round with a long right that connected flush, but lost the round.
The Argentine found a formula and stuck with it. In round six he fired a right to the body and then an overhand right to the head that forced Lopez to take a knee. He got up before the count of 10 but was met with a nine-punch combination that forced referee Lou Moret to stop the onslaught at 1:18 of the round. Maidana was declared the winner by technical knockout.
Lopez was ahead on the score cards.
“I definitely knew that was the way the fight was going to go. It was a good punch that I gave him,” said Maidana. “It was a great job by the ref because he still wanted to fight some more…nobody knew what was going to happen.”
The Riverside fighter was disappointed about the stoppage.
“I felt the stoppage was a little premature. Yeah, he stunned me, but we’re professionals, we can fight out of those situations,” said Lopez. “I got stunned. I got buzzed. If I’m not down for the count I felt he should have let me fight my way through.”
In the previous bout, Angulo stayed as close as possible against the fast moving Lara (18-1-2, 12 Kos). From the first round it was obvious that the Mexican fighter was going to attack the body and that Lara was countering with left hands.
Lara rarely opened up with combinations as Angulo put on the pressure while attacking the body with short punches. That seemed to be the plan for the Mexican to keep the punches short and it seemed to work as Lara couldn’t get off with punches.
Angulo floored Lara with a left hook during an exchange in round four and a huge roar went up from the mostly pro-Mexican crowd. The Mexican attacked in a lower crab-like crouch and didn’t allow Lara to counter with his left uppercut.
The Cuban fighter stepped up his game in round five after getting knocked down the round before. A pretty three-punch combination from Lara stung the fast attacking Angulo, but not enough to hurt him. It was a good round for Lara.
Angulo returned to his low crouch and pinpointed the body of Lara every time the Cuban stopped moving around the ring. Nine-punch combinations to the body stung the Cuban’s left side in round seven.
The body attack paid dividends in round eight for Angulo, who was firing eight and six-punch combos at Lara, who returned fire with one-twos, then moved.
Angulo kept pressuring and firing to the body then suddenly erupted with a left hook and down went Lara again. The Mexican fighter kept the pressure and hurt Lara again with a right hand. But Lara showed he was still in the fight with a crisp one-two that stalled Angulo’s attack a few seconds in the ninth round.
Once again Lara came out more enthusiastically following the second knockdown and Angulo went back into stalking mode. A sudden three-punch combination from Lara landed and suddenly Angulo turned his back and walked away. Referee Raul Caiz immediately signaled the fight over at 1:50 of the 10th round. Two judges had Lara slightly ahead 85-84 and one judge saw Angulo ahead 86-83. But the huge hematoma on Angulo’s eye was evident.
Lara was ecstatic.
“It was a great opportunity, Angulo is a great fighter, he put me down twice but he couldn’t continue in the fight,” said Lara, who suffered knockdowns for the first time in his pro career. “I feel I was still winning the rounds. The only rounds I lost were when I hit the floor.”
Angulo’s trainer Virgil Hunter claimed that the injury was caused by an illegal thumb to the eye by Lara. The gloves were confiscated by the California State Athletic Commission for inspection. Angulo was taken to the hospital for a possible orbital bone fracture.
Other bouts
Fans didn’t appreciate the tactical win by Jermell Charlo (21-0, 10 Kos) over Philadelphia’s Demetrius Hopkins (33-3-1, 13 Kos) after 12 rounds in a junior middleweight bout. Houston’s Charlo was the more aggressive and was rewarded by all three judges who had him winning 115-113. Fans booed throughout the fight for the lack of action.
Orange County’s Ronny Rios (21-0, 10 Kos) started slowly against southpaw Mexican Leonilo Miranda (32-6, 30 Kos) but after two rounds he found a rhythm and systematically beat down the taller fighter. From rounds three through six Rios hit Miranda with pounding shots while the lefty was unable to connect with anything significant. Finally, after a savage beating, Miranda’s corner stopped the fight at 1:37 of round six.
“I believe in my fighters,” said Frank Espinoza, who manages Rios. “I think he’s ready to win a world championship.”
Ireland’s Jamie Kavanagh (14-0-1, 6 Kos) looked extremely sharp in stopping Mexico’s Alfonso Landeros (21-32-2) at the end of round three in a lightweight match. Now training in Indio with Joel Diaz, the Irish fighter attacked the body relentlessly and was accurate throughout the fight.
“We made some slight changes,” said Kavanagh, who formerly trained at Wild Car Boxing. “I worked a lot on staying down after my punches. It made a difference.”
Former U.S. Olympian Joseph Diaz Jr. (5-0, 3 Kos) was deadly accurate in stopping Rigo Casillas (8-11-1) at the end of round three of a featherweight fight.
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Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
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