Featured Articles
RINGSIDE Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Gets Gift Decision Over Brian Vera

CARSON, CALIF.-Julio Cesar Chavez was seemingly out-punched, out-conditioned and out-smarted but was given a very controversial unanimous decision against Bryan Vera after 10 rounds in a light heavyweight fight that was supposed to be a super middleweight fight on Saturday.
Chavez (47-1-1, 32 Kos) seemed to be out-worked by Vera (23-7, 14 Kos) in a fight that took place in the light heavyweight division instead of the originally contracted super middleweight. But more than 5,000 mostly Chavez fans saw a strange unanimous decision go toward the popular Mexican fighter.
“Of course I won the fight,” said Chavez (seen being backed up by Vera in Al Applerose photo) after the fight. “He was fighting dirty.”
For most of the 10 rounds Vera was the fighter making the action and Chavez was the counter-puncher. Three judges saw it in favor of Chavez.
Vera did most of the punching in the first round. He used double jabs and some combinations against Chavez, who was constantly on the move. A couple of left hooks from Chavez found the mark but did no damage. Meanwhile Vera’s jab was connecting and several combinations found the mark too.
Chavez continued moving away in round two and allowed Vera to take the initiative. Several combinations from the Texan landed but did not hurt the bigger Chavez. Again, Vera was making the fight and much more busy than Chavez.
Round three saw Vera continue to make the fight, especially with his busy left jab followed by combinations. Chavez landed a counter right flush but it caused no damage to Vera who smiled every time he was hit by Chavez.
Vera ate a left hook and stood motioning with his hands as if to ask the crowd why Chavez’s vaunted left hook didn’t do anything to him in round four. Chavez then unloaded some gruesome right hands and another left hook that probably won the Mexican fighter the round.
Chavez seemed to be looking for the big punch (as in the Chris Farina-Top Rank photo) and though he landed a few, it was Vera who was out-hustling him with combination punching in round five. A four-punch combination from the Texan scored and a left-right combo tagged Chavez well. A perfectly placed right cross by Chavez score big but was it enough to win the round?
A sneaky right cross by Chavez connected solidly and slightly wobbled Vera, who shook it off and continued to pressure the taller fighter in round six. Chavez landed a few more rights and a left hook but Vera never stopped pressing forward. A combination by the Texan made it interesting, but it was Chavez’ round.
Vera was winning round seven easily when he got cocky and allowed Chavez to connect with a left hook flush. Vera shook momentarily and Chavez tried to follow up but couldn’t. It was a close round to score. Both connected with blows but Vera added some scoring jabs too.
Good round for Vera in the eighth as Chavez seemed to take his foot off the pedal. Vera fired combinations at will while Chavez looked for that home-run punch. Left uppercuts and left hooks landed for Vera as the Mexican fighter looked a little tired.
Vera shortened his punches and began firing combinations, including multiple uppercuts. Though Chavez was never hurt by the blows they were scoring as Chavez looked for the big blow to end the fight. He may have felt he was ahead on points but many of the fans saw it as a close fight.
The final round saw Vera open with a jab and also score with a three-punch combination. Then, Chavez fired a double left hook, a left uppercut right hand combination and a right hand. Vera then began to play around a little and that seemed to give the round to Chavez.
When the scores were read many expected a victory for Vera, but instead it was Chavez who was given the unanimous decision; 98-92 by Gwen Adair, 97-93 by Marty Denkin and 96-94 by Carla Caiz. A shockwave of derision rumbled through the crowd, except for the die-hard Chavez fans who seemed relieved by the decision.
“I definitely won the fight,” said Vera. “We had a game plan and I stuck to it.”
Chavez was confident that he deserved the fight, especially in light of the low blows, head butts and other alleged infractions.
Art Pelullo, the president of Banner Promotions, which promotes Vera, said he wasn’t peeved by the one card that saw it 96-94, but the other two cards were in his opinion out of order.
“First, you want to see the right guy win,” said Pelullo. “But that judge who scored it 98-92 didn’t watch the fight. She seemed to have her scores already made.”
After the fight Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. said he had his son winning the fight, but admitted it was a very close fight. “I don’t judge with my heart, I judge with my head,” Chavez Sr. said. “I had Julio winning five or six rounds for certain.”
Vera said he could only give Chavez three rounds.
“If you look at the stats you can see I landed a lot more punches,” said Vera. “I had a feeling something like this was going to happen.”
Other bouts
Karim “HardHitta” Mayfield (18-0-1, 11 Kos) started slowly but caught his rhythm against Utah’s Chris Fernandez in round four when he floored him twice. The fight resumed with Fernandez hanging on stubbornly and full of fight until round eight. Mayfield fired a left hook to the body and Fernandez slumped to the floor and could not get up. Referee Ray Corona stopped the fight at 2:59 of round eight for a knockout win for Mayfield, who brought hundreds of fans from San Francisco.
Las Vegas contender Diego Magdaleno (24-1, 9 Kos) breezed through Edgar “Trash” Rio Valle (35-16-2, 25 Kos) after 10 rounds in a junior lightweight bout. Magdaleno had lost a world title bid this past April and changed training camps from Las Vegas to Indio, California. Though he won every round according to the judges, Magdaleno was not satisfied. “I was very rusty in there,” Magdaleno said.
Indio’s Gabino Saenz (11-0-1, 8 Kos) erupted on Dominic Coca (8-5) with a left hook that sent him to the canvas. Coca got up but was under fire from Saenz. A Saenz double right wobbled Coca and referee Lou Moret jumped in to stop the fight at 2:27 of the first round for a technical knockout.
Mexico’s Daniel “Galeno” Sandoval (33-2, 30 Kos) out-worked the ultra-defensive Richard Gutierrez (26-12-1, 16 Kos) after 10 rounds of a junior middleweight match. Sandoval won by unanimous decision in a very tedious fight.
Jose Felix Jr. (25-0-1, 20 Kos) blew out Ghana’s tall Joseph Laryea (11-9, 10 Kos) in the first round in their lightweight clash. The fighter from Los Mochis attacked Laryea and caught him with a left hook and right hand. Laryea did not beat the count at 2:37 of round one.
Jose Ramirez (6-0, 4 Kos) unloaded early against Denver’s Daniel Calzada (8-9-2) and kept it going for all four rounds. Calzada and Ramirez showed good chins but it was Ramirez’s speed that proved the difference. All three judges scored it 40-36 for the former U.S. Olympian Ramirez, a junior welterweight.
Oscar Valdez (7-0, 6 Kos) knocked out Jose Morales (7-5-1) of Denver at 1:57 of round two of a featherweight bout.
Featured Articles
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
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
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
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
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
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday