HOLY HOLLY! “Holm” Run Showing From Ex Boxing Champ, Who Destroys Rousey

Published

9 years ago

November 15, 2015

MONDAY UPDATE: Pockets of buzz were still ringing on Monday.

I walked by a local hospital, in Brooklyn, saw an EMT doing that kick, the one above, which sent Ronda Rousey to an unfamiliar place…La La land, and a zone of, maybe, self doubt.

The EMT and me chatted about the fight, and the strategy used by Rousey, who stood and banged with a woman whose specialty would be just that.

So, chatter about Saturday nights’ UFC 193 resonated, and elements of the bout and the aftermath keep filling 140 character bursts on social.

We heard from Rousey, via Instagram, where she said, “I just wanted to thank everyone for the love and support. I appreciate the concerns about my health, but I’m fine.” (Some speculated she dodged the post-fighter presser, because she’s a poor sport. But in fact, she went to a hospital for observation, as is most often the case following KOs in UFC.) “As I had mentioned before, I’m going to take a little bit of time, but I’ll be back.”

Fans of good sportsmanship took issue with no public congrats being offered to her conqueror, Holly Holm…

The buzz ripples will continue to makes waves…Makes sense, being that the company set a live attendance record, drawing 56,214 payers in Melbourbe, beating UFC 129 in Canada. This promotion spurred interest galore…

One thing to ponder, from us on the pugilism side of the tracks, does such a compelling and enduring spectacle and hubbub such as the Holm-Rosey battle have boxing deal-makers and power-brokers considering beefing up their effort to kickstart female talent in the realm. I’d guess yes..

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SUNDAY UPDATE: The signs and signals and hints, now they are apparent, in that proverbial rear view mirror, after the unconquerable one got KTFO.

She seemed on edge, in a different way, like the excess media attention had slithered into her brain, lodged there, was a tumor of annoyance. Her impatience at handling difficult questions told us her temperment was what it often appeared to be, edgy, but now teetering towards edgy and untethered. What if, you ask now, knowing you should have been cognizant of that leading up to UFC 193, after Rondy Rousey got kicked into unconsciousness by a super-strong and committed athlete with just two-plus years of mixed martial arts training tucked into her belt, she is human, and can be bested?

If went out the Octagon door, and remaining tall and proud is Holm, a boxing ace thought to be past her pugilistic prime. Maybe so, but today is hers to savor.

She was the benificiary of a beyond-iffy—-sorry UFC boss Dana White, it’s absolutely fair game to question Rousey’s strategy— gameplan, which saw the grappling/judo ace Rousey look to prove that RING cover was not mistake.

She tried to be the boss standing up with someone who had years of experience on her, and ate 5-ounce serving of fist sandwiches for that hubris.

And in that rear view mirror, more puzzling information…Rousey looked out of sorts against a left-hander, who’s rear hand kissed her lips and chin a few times. Yeah, no, choosing a left-hander to prove something is to be done only after lengthy contemplation and preparation. But maybe there was that…and maybe Ms. Holm is just all that..and while many think Rousey was EXPOSED, maybe it is Holm who is exposed…as being a magnificent physical and athletic specimen.

But of course, in that mirror, we can look and see and ponder the actions and reasons and behaviors which resulted in much euphoria when Rousey got punched and then kicked into a humbler place. She acted petulant and childish when refusing to touch gloves before the match with home, and Fate saw it, and interceded.

Now, now we will see if the gushy assessments are spot on. Now we see if Rousey has the stuff of legends..or maybe more so was a product of environment and skilled mystique building and being a big fish in a pond of guppies, in women’s MMA, just in the nascent stage…Rousey will be given the chance to see if she can do better against Holm in a rematch..and if the ferocity and the bluster and the attitude was perhaps more of a front than a reality…This morning, she woke up, realized it was no bad dream, and Ronda Rousey faces an unconquerable certainty: she is faced with the most difficult physical challenge of her athletic arc.

Look in the mirror and see the resolution to that puzzle? I look and I see a haze…I see no hints which inform me..I see for Ronda Rousey a massive challenge and an athlete who may, or may not, be up to the task.

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The rise of Ronda Rousey has been an improbable one, considering that not many years ago, the man running the promotion she fights in, UFC, said he’d never run womens’ fights.

It’s not so improbable when you watch her, see how she acts, note her charisma, see the obvious magnetism in her actions, and sense the less tangible pull you find yourself feeling when you see her perform.

The camera is interested in her, and not just for the fact that she eats arms for lunch, is a stone-cold tendon killer as she submits foe after foe in the Octagon.

The imprint of the 28-year-old is widening, and it’s clear that her star will be enlargening, brightening; she’s on the cover of the current RING magazine, a decision which has been debated heatedly, with purist boxing fans pointing out that it’s insulting to accomplished female fighters that an 0-0 pugilist who merely aspires to try her hands at pugilism gets a RING cover.

But with more copious attention comes increased scrutiny, right Dr. Ben Carson?

The 12-0 Rousey headlines a UFC PPV event in Melbourne, Australia Saturday night, where she will look to deal with Holly Holm in her typical bloodlessly ruthless and abbreviated fashion.

Holm sports a 9-0 mark in MMA, which she’s been doing since 2011, after going 33-2-3 as a pro boxer. Most expect that even if she hits the Octagon with barbed wire wrapping on her limbs, the Rousey armbar will be activated and have her surrendering in short order.

“Rowdy” Ronda yesterday drew an unwanted buzz burst when it was noted that she spoke of a violent encounter with her ex boyfriend in the autobiography she put out a few months ago. At the Thursday media day event to hype the Holm fight, the California resident was asked about the violent situation with the ex she doesn’t name in the book, “My Fight/Your Fight.”

“So if someone is blocking you into an apartment and won’t let you leave, you’re entitled to defend yourself and find a way out,” she explained. “If you’re trying to get into your car and leave and they’re grabbing your steering wheel and saying you can’t leave, technically you’re being kidnapped, and you can defend yourself in any way that is necessary,” she said, in order to paint the incident as self defense.

“I punched him in the face with a straight right, then a left hook,” the former teen judo ace recounted in the book; to give context to the scuffle, she noted he took took nude pictures of her without asking, and then blocked her from leaving his apartment after she delved into the subject with him.

“He staggered back and fell against the door.” She said he wanted to continue to debate. “I walked around the car, pulled him by the neck of the hoodie again, dragged him onto the sidewalk and left him writhing there as I sped away,” Rousey wrote.

The publicizing of the scrap puzzled or enraged some folks who noted she’s been a vocal critic of boxer Floyd Mayweather, who served 60 days of a 90 day sentence in jail in December 2011 after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor battery domestic violence charge for hitting the mother of his three children, in front of two said children.

Rousey’s mocked him for that altercation, and persistently needed him for his lack of character.

The issue itself, athletes battering their partners, is an ultra-hot button matter, being that the NFL hierarchy is knee-deep in getting grilled on the matter of now Dallas Cowboys’ player Greg Hardy. He was arrested after cops were called to his residence, and his then girlfriend said he assaulted her, in May 2014. Hardy denied that he entered the bathroom, the place where the woman said the then Carolina Panthers footballer threw her, where she hit a wall, and then fell into the tub.

Hardy said she fell in the tub; he was suspended for ten games, appealed, and that was dropped to four games. Hardy went to court to answer charges, was sentenced to 18 months and a 60-day jail term, suspended. But he appealed that verdict and charges were dropped, when the lady didn’t attend the jury trial. He returned to the field of play on Oct. 11, but fans still debate whether he should be allowed to compete.

The NFL had the fire lit under their feet when Ray Rice in March 2014 was seen on video punching the woman he’s now married to, knocking her out, while they were in an Atlantic City casino. He too was suspended, indefinitely, but he appealed, and can be signed and play in the league if a team so chooses to. The ex Baltimore Raven is not with a team now. Fans and media debated whether his off the field behavior should be held against him, or what he does away from the field is by and large not pertinent to him playing football.

Rousey was under the microscope, by extension, when it was last month revealed she was dating fellow fighter Travis Browne, a heavyweight in the UFC. He’d been accused by his ex wife of hitting her, with her posting pics on Instagram and presenting the marks on her as a result of domestic violence. He went on record saying his ex was serving up “false accusations.” The Browne situation seems like it is a touchy one; on a conference call last week, Rousey was asked about dating Browne, and abruptly her line went dead. Her phone died, she explained, to eye rolls, but was terse and said “next question” when asked about Browne the next day.

Boyfriend drama has been a not infrequent theme in a life notable for the difficult terrain she’s navigated. Rousey’s father commited suicide in 1995, and she is, amateur shrinks theorize, working out some rage issues inside the cage, in her workplace.

In May, she explained that she decided to pose tastefully nude in the 2012 ESPN The Magazine “Body Issue” after she stumbled on nude pics taken by the ex she said she had that violent rumble with. They were stored on his hard drive, and she erased them. But, she said, she wanted to beat anyone else to the punch, by doing the nude thing before anyone else leaked possible pics. “I’m going to put them out there on my terms,” Rousey explained.

I asked a UFC rep if boss Dana White has addressed the Rousey/domestic violence incident revelation, and would furnish a response.

“No, but Ronda addressed (it) in her media scrum yesterday that is available online,” said Dave Sholler, a UFC VP of PR.

Difficult spot for White; he’d been asked when women would fight in his Octagon, in 2011. “Never!” the combustible deal maker replied.

Never went out the window, faster than you can say “depleted roster of name attractions,” and she debuted in 2012 in the premier MMA league; now Rousey drives the front car in the MMA train. White wouldn’t and couldn’t, I don’t think, throw her under any bus, as her aura grows, with ever more movie roles and forays into WWE, and other outside-MMA milieus. But the Rousey road he now has to drive through is rockier, littered with scrutinizers looking to snare her scalp, in the name of fairness, or principle, or political correctness, so the less he says on this book’s revelation, maybe the better for him, and the company.

Anti Mayweather folks have enjoyed Rousey’s jabs at “Money.” She has zinged his supposed inability to read, and he’s responded that he didn’t even know who she was. He had to know, when she picked up the Best Fighter Award at the July ESPYs, and said, “I can’t help but really say I wonder how Floyd feels being beat by a woman for once. I’d like to see him pretend to not know who I am now.”

The Rousey altercation laid out in the book has spurred intense debate, and while it could translate into a beefier PPV buy rate, it makes for at least a thorny patch for the UFC officers.

Meanwhile, on social media, side-takers are weighing in; is she not being critiqued and held to the same standards as men who engaged in such an altercation? Is Rousey not that much different, in fact, than Mayweather, and should she not be, at the least, chided for hypocrisy?

Up for debate…how much, or little, should off the field or out of the cage missteps affect how we perceive the athletes we follow…and should they be seen as role models, or simply fallible human beings who shouldn’t be expected to live up to our projected desires as more perfect models of humanity?

Meanwhile, through it all, the shows go on. The NFL serves up the organized mayhem which blows away church-going as the favored weekend distraction endeavor in our United States, while a small but growing and intellectually well-armed critics carve away at the mission of the league and the cultural worth of such brain-rattling competitive fare; and the UFC’s visibility and brand strength continue to be impacted by Ronda Rousey, a compelling spitfire of combat, yet another athlete whose traits which aid her in overwhelming the body and will of foes may not serve her as well outside her workplace.

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Michael Woods

Thomas Hauser’s Literary Notes: Johnny Greaves Tells a Sad Tale

Published

2 days ago

May 11, 2025

Thomas Hauser

Johnny Greaves was a professional loser. He had one hundred professional fights between 2007 and 2013, lost 96 of them, scored one knockout, and was stopped short of the distance twelve times. There was no subtlety in how his role was explained to him: “Look, Johnny; professional boxing works two ways. You’re either a ticket-seller and make money for the promoter, in which case you get to win fights. If you don’t sell tickets but can look after yourself a bit, you become an opponent and you fight to lose.”

By losing, he could make upwards of one thousand pounds for a night‘s work.

Greaves grew up with an alcoholic father who beat his children and wife. Johnny learned how to survive the beatings, which is what his career as a fighter would become. He was a scared, angry, often violent child who was expelled from school and found solace in alcohol and drugs.

The fighters Greaves lost to in the pros ran the gamut from inept local favorites to future champions Liam Walsh, Anthony Crolla, Lee Selby, Gavin Rees, and Jack Catterall. Alcohol and drugs remained constants in his life. He fought after drinking, smoking weed, and snorting cocaine on the night before – and sometimes on the day of – a fight. On multiple occasions, he came close to committing suicide. His goal in boxing ultimately became to have one hundred professional fights.

On rare occasions, two professional losers – “journeymen,” they’re called in The UK – are matched against each other. That was how Greaves got three of the four wins on his ledger. On September 29, 2013, he fought the one hundredth and final fight of his career against Dan Carr in London’s famed York Hall. Carr had a 2-42-2 ring record and would finish his career with three wins in ninety outings. Greaves-Carr was a fight that Johnny could win. He emerged triumphant on a four-round decision.

The Johnny Greaves Story, told by Greaves with the help of Adam Darke (Pitch Publishing) tells the whole sordid tale. Some of Greaves’s thoughts follow:

* “We all knew why we were there, and it wasn’t to win. The home fighters were the guys who had sold all the tickets and were deemed to have some talent. We were the scum. We knew our role. Give some young prospect a bit of a workout, keep out of the way of any big shots, lose on points but take home a wedge of cash, and fight again next week.”

* “If you fought too hard and won, then you wouldn’t get booked for any more shows. If you swung for the trees and got cut or knocked out, then you couldn’t fight for another 28 days. So what were you supposed to do? The answer was to LOOK like you were trying to win but be clever in the process. Slip and move, feint, throw little shots that were rangefinders, hold on, waste time. There was an art to this game, and I was quickly learning what a cynical business it was.”

* “The unknown for the journeyman was always how good your opponent might be. He could be a future world champion. Or he might be some hyped-up nightclub bouncer with a big following who was making lots of money for the promoter.”

* “No matter how well I fought, I wasn’t going to be getting any decisions. These fights weren’t scored fairly. The referees and judges understood who the paymasters were and they played the game. What was the point of having a go and being the best version of you if nobody was going to recognize or reward it?”

* “When I first stepped into the professional arena, I believed I was tough. believed that nobody could stop me. But fight by fight, those ideas were being challenged and broken down. Once you know that you can be hurt, dropped and knocked out, you’re never quite the same fighter.”

* “I had started off with a dream, an idea of what boxing was and what it would do for me. It was going to be a place where I could prove my toughness. A place that I could escape to and be someone else for a while. For a while, boxing was that place. But it wore me down to the point that I stopped caring. I’d grown sick and tired of it all. I wished that I could feel pride at what I’d achieved. But most of the time, I just felt like a loser.”

* “The fights were getting much more difficult, the damage to my body and my psyche taking longer and longer to repair after each defeat. I was putting myself in more and more danger with each passing fight. I was getting hurt more often and stopped more regularly. Even with the 28-day [suspensions], I didn’t have time to heal. I was staggering from one fight to the next and picking up more injuries along the way.”

* “I was losing my toughness and resilience. When that’s all you’ve ever had, it’s a hard thing to accept. Drink and drugs had always been present in my life. But now they became a regular part of my pre-fight preparation. It helped to shut out the fear and quieted the thoughts and worries that I shouldn’t be doing this anymore.”

* “My body was broken. My hands were constantly sore with blisters and cuts. I had early arthritis in my hip and my teeth were a mess. I looked an absolute state and inside I felt worse. But I couldn’t stop fighting yet. Not before the 100.”

* “I had abused myself time after time and stood in front of better men, taking a beating when I could have been sensible and covered up. At the start, I was rarely dropped or stopped. Now it was becoming a regular part of the game. Most of the guys I was facing were a lot better than me. This was mainly about survival.”

* “Was my brain f***ed from taking too many punches? I knew it was, to be honest. I could feel my speech changing and memory going. I was mentally unwell and shouldn’t have been fighting but the promoters didn’t care. Johnny Greaves was still a good booking. Maybe an even better one now that he might get knocked out.”

* “Nobody gave a f*** about me and whether I lived or died. I didn’t care about that much either. But the thought of being humiliated, knocked out in front of all those people; that was worse than the thought of dying. The idea of being exposed for what I was – a nobody.”

* “I was a miserable bastard in real life. A depressive downbeat mouthy little f***er. Everything I’ve done has been to mask the feeling that I’m worthless. That I have no value. The drinks and the drugs just helped me to forget that for a while. I still frighten myself a lot. My thoughts scare me. Do I really want to be here for the next thirty or forty years? I don’t know. If suicide wasn’t so impactful on people around you, I would have taken that leap. I don’t enjoy life and never have.”

So . . . Any questions?

****

Steve Albert was Showtime’s blow-by-blow commentator for two decades. But his reach extended far beyond boxing.

Albert’s sojourn through professional sports began in high school when he was a ball boy for the New York Knicks. Over the years, he was behind the microphone for more than a dozen teams in eleven leagues including four NBA franchises.

Putting the length of that trajectory in perspective . . . As a ballboy, Steve handed bottles of water and towels to a Knicks back-up forward named Phil Jackson. Later, they worked together as commentators for the New Jersey Nets. Then Steve provided the soundtrack for some of Jackson’s triumphs when he won eleven NBA championships as head coach of the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers.

It’s also a matter of record that Steve’s oldest brother, Marv, was arguably the greatest play-by-play announcer in NBA history. And brother Al enjoyed a successful career behind the microphone after playing professional hockey.

Now Steve has written a memoir titled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Broadcast Booth. Those who know him know that Steve doesn’t like to say bad things about people. And he doesn’t here. Nor does he delve into the inner workings of sports media or the sports dream machine. The book is largely a collection of lighthearted personal recollections, although there are times when the gravity of boxing forces reflection.

“Fighters were unlike any other professional athletes I had ever encountered,” Albert writes. “Many were products of incomprehensible backgrounds, fiercely tough neighborhoods, ghettos and, in some cases, jungles. Some got into the sport because they were bullied as children. For others, boxing was a means of survival. In many cases, it was an escape from a way of life that most people couldn’t even fathom.”

At one point, Steve recounts a ringside ritual that he followed when he was behind the microphone for Showtime Boxing: “I would precisely line up my trio of beverages – coffee, water, soda – on the far edge of the table closest to the ring apron. Perhaps the best advice I ever received from Ferdie [broadcast partner Ferdie Pacheco] was early on in my blow-by-blow career – ‘Always cover your coffee at ringside with an index card unless you like your coffee with cream, sugar, and blood.’”

Writing about the prelude to the infamous Holyfield-Tyson “bite fight,” Albert recalls, “I remember thinking that Tyson was going to do something unusual that night. I had this sinking feeling in my gut that he was going to pull something exceedingly out of the ordinary. His grousing about Holyfield’s head butts in the first fight added to my concern. [But] nobody could have foreseen what actually happened. Had I opened that broadcast with, ‘Folks, tonight I predict that Mike Tyson will bite off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear,’ some fellas in white coats might have approached me and said, ‘Uh, Steve, could you come with us.'”

And then there’s my favorite line in the book: “I once asked a fighter if he was happily married,” Albert recounts. “He said, ‘Yes, but my wife’s not.'”

“All I ever wanted was to be a sportscaster,” Albert says in closing. “I didn’t always get it right, but I tried to do my job with honesty and integrity. For forty-five years, calling games was my life. I think it all worked out.”

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book – The Most Honest Sport: Two More Years Inside Boxing – will be published this month and is available for preorder at:

https://www.amazon.com/Most-Honest-Sport-Inside-Boxing/dp/1955836329

In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

Published

3 days ago

May 11, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Argentina's-Fernando-Martinez-Wins-His-Rematch-with-Kazuto-Ioka

In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12^th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.

In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.

The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.

But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.

Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.

Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.

As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.

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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

Published

3 days ago

May 11, 2025

David A. Avila

Emanuel-Navarrete-Survives-a-Bloody-Battle-with-Charly-Suarez-in-San-Diego

In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.

What do they feed these guys?

Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.

An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.

From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.

It was savage.

Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.

Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.

Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.

But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.

Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.

Interim IBF Lightweight Title

The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.

Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.

Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.

Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.

There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.

Muratalla was brief.

“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”

Perla Wins

Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.

Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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