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The 50 Greatest Featherweights of all Time Part One: 50-41

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The Featherweights were a maddening project.

Part of the fun for me in undertaking this project, which has already seen me run through the greatest heavyweights, light-heavyweights, middleweights, welterweights and lightweights of all time has been a cross-comparison of the weight divisions which, for the most part, has been very revealing.  Not so with the featherweights.  Need currency, will travel, and featherweight, more than any other division, is awash with fighters who departed for big fights at lightweight or arrived looking for big fights from bantamweight.

Very few careers were begun and then finished within the division’s limits.

This makes for a fabulous mix, with pound-for-pound greats making visits in almost every installment.  It makes for excruciating comparative issues which have been difficult to resolve.  I hope I have resolved them and over the next five weeks, I would invite you to be the judge.

This is a featherweight list in the truest sense.  It is based upon the body of work performed by fighters within that weight range, almost exclusively.  It is not possible to identify a specific poundage because the limit in 1904 was different to that of 2004, but as a general rule, work done between the lower and upper weight range plus 2lbs has been the range under consideration.  So while we know Eder Jofre is one of the greatest fighters to have ever lived, here we are judging him only upon his brief stay at featherweight.

Who a fighter beat, and how, are the primary concerns then.  Secondary was an appraisal of a fighter’s status in his given era; was he the lineal champion, the #1 contender, and for how long?  Lastly, skillset as it appears on film (where possible) and head-to-head considerations are considered.  These are the least of the criteria because they are the most speculative.  Ranking a fighter on who he might beat is comforting and simple but it is also pure conjecture, whatever the source.  Ranked contenders dispatched, wins accrued, losses suffered, these stand as facts and although their interpretation is subjective by nature the foundations are firmer.  Your favourite fighter might look a killer on film, but so did a host of failed prospects; only minimal prizes are handed out here for what a fighter “might have done.”

Note, also, that in denoting a fight, the heavier man has the say.  A 134lb man fighting a 125lb man is a lightweight contest and was appraised as such.  Here, it is the turn of the featherweights.

I promise this will be the longest introduction of the series and I promise that most of the boring stuff is out of the way now.  But I do need this structure in order to make decisions about fighters separated by a single punch thrown a hundred years ago (and you need to understand them before you shout about your favorite featherweight being too low…).  With that out of the way, we can begin.

This is how I have them:

50 – Jose Legra (133-11-4)

Jose Legra, “The Pocket Muhammad Ali”, was born in Cuba in 1943 and turned professional there seventeen years later. Castro ascended as his fledgling career sprouted wings; Mexico welcomed him with blood-soaked arms.

Mexico represented, until recently, the best apprenticeship in boxing for a smaller fighter. There were dozens of featherweights, all desperate to entertain the pugilistic immigrants pouring out of Cuba, matters of national pride as well as personal ambition seeing to Legra’s early chin check. He emerged a fighter who knew how to win, as well as lose.

Legra made his home in Spain, fascinating in that he showed little interest in fighting in America. He boxed a single contest there upon his exile from Cuba, and traveling again to suffer defeat at the hands of Vicente Saldivar in 1969. He could be seen more often in Great Britain where he had perhaps his finest moment in 1968, smashing the excellent Howard Winstone to the canvas twice before stopping him on a cut. He then travelled to Mexico for what the Associated Press called “the most one-sided championship bout in history”, yo-yoing Clemente Sanchez repeatedly off the canvas before putting a stop to the farce and lifting the world’s featherweight title.

He lost it in his very next fight, a desperately close encounter with the legendary bantamweight Eder Jofre, who was coming out of retirement for a tilt at the featherweight crown. Beating the great Brazilian in Brazil in such circumstances was never going to be easy; worse was to come as he was knocked out in a round by Nicaraguan legend Alexis Arguello, in Nicaragua. At that point Legra hung them up, his career numbered among those of the greatest road-warriors.

49 – Jeff Fenech (29-3-1)

Jeff Fenech fought only a tiny handful of contests at featherweight – five by my count – but in those few contests he made his mark upon the division. Not the indelible mark he would make up at130lbs, nor the echo that rumbles back from the name Carlos Zarate, a part of the Fenech resume down at 122lbs, but a mark, nonetheless.

Fenech popped up at featherweight early in 1987, dominating Tony “Mad Dog” Miller with the Australian featherweight title on the line. Miller’s absurd toughness carried him through to a lopsided decision loss and Fenech dropped back down to 122lbs. He emerged again at 126lbs a year later, strapping on the alphabet title earned against Victor Callejas. Fenech looked free at the poundage, perhaps having been a little tight at super-banatamweight; Callejas, after all, was a serious man riding a serious winning streak barracked by a very serious punch.

Fenech destroyed him. The fight was not even competitive. Callejas was at sea in a storm of pressure fostered by a fighter who was stonger, faster, harder and who did not give his opponent a moment’s rest. Callejas tried everything; in the second he even landed a stiff head butt. Fenech shifted further inside and landed a harder one. But more than that, he was defensively superb, dipping his way in, ditching the deadly Callejas left-hook with head-movement and bumping him out of form with the shoulder. I think it was Jeff’s very best performance, and the end, when it came in the tenth, was a mercy.

Fenech stopped the over-matched Tyrone Downes in his first defense, returning to the higher level with excellent victories over George Navarro and Marcos Villasana before departing for the division above, unbeaten.

Fenech was the closest thing we have seen to a reincarnation of Sandy Saddler in the featherweight division, a monstrous proposition for any 126lb fighter. That said, he just didn’t tarry long enough in the division to nail down a higher ranking here and there is, perhaps, a case for leaving him out altogether – but head-to-head must have a place here. Simply put, Fenech would beat a lot of the fighters ranked above him.

48 – Earl Mastro (46-5-2; Newspaper Decisions 4-0)

Earl Mastro was a granite-jawed and clever boxer who, bereft of punch but not of heart, climbed to the top of the featherweight rankings in the late 1920s and early 1930s before running into the brutal Battling Battalino who kept him from championship honors.  Before that time Mastro earned himself a reputation as one of the era’s finest featherweights by out-boxing some of the finest boxers of that time.

He failed his first audition for greatness, losing out to the brilliant Fidel LaBarba over ten in 1928, but the following year he reversed the decision in a narrow decision that reads like a fight which could have turned either way. Their 1930 contest was closer still, a draw, but splitting a three fight series with LaBarba is certainly no shame and it made him.

Three more standout victories shepherd Mastro in ahead of the likes of Tommy Watson and Lee Rodak, the first of these coming over Eddie Shea in Chicago Stadium. Both hometown boys, the fight was big in the city but there was only ever one man in it, Mastro getting across the line in style by distance. This may have been his most important win, coming, as it did, only weeks after a loss by disqualification in a fight he was dominating against Billy Shaw. Mastro pushed on, besting the wonderful former bantamweight champion Bud Taylor at the second time of asking after their original fight was ruled a draw. The fight ended raucously with both men piling through the ropes, Mastro named the winner when Taylor failed to regain the ring; Mastro rematched him once more and took a decision over ten.

Throw in two victories over the top-ranked Kid Francis and it is clear that Mastro built himself a most excellent resume at the poundage. Sinus trouble, difficult to treat at the time and not an uncommon ailment in busy fighters, even ones as clever as he, saw him retired in his mid-twenties; this was a great shame, but in conjunction with his loss to Battalino it limits his standing here.

47 – Solly Smith (27-14-19; Newspaper Decisions 1-0)

I am aware that the paper record of Solly Smith will send the modernist screaming for the hills while tearing his hair out, and I have a degree of sympathy. This list isn’t really the place for fighters who have failed to win even fifty percent of their fights. But Smith makes the list based upon two things. First, there is the exquisite purple patch he boxed between 1895 and August of 1898 during which he went unbeaten, reigned as the featherweight champion of the world and bested one of the greatest fighting machines ever to step into the ring, at any weight, in a twenty round contest.

George Dixon was the reigning featherweight champion in 1897 and was as admired by his fistic peers as any fighter that would ever follow him. Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Pernell Whitaker, name the man and he was no more respected than was George Dixon in the late 1890s. He was also a heavy favorite over Smith, and with good reason. He had lost just three contests in the previous ten years, one to the great Frank Erne, since avenged, one meaningless four-round contest (his third that month) and one early bout by disqualification. More, he had previously knocked Smith out back in 1893.

The San Francisco Call: “Instead of swinging wildly and recklessly, as he was wont to do in his early fighting days, Smith gauged his distance and timed his blows like a polished veteran.”

Feinting for the lead, Smith threw enough to remain the aggressor, crackling the champion’s body with punches while turning in an outstanding show of slipping the left and blocking the right as Dixon moved through his full repertoire of punches. In an era where fights that held the slightest appearance of closeness were often deemed draws, he did enough to lift the title.

Dave Sullivan took it from him the very next year and Smith’s post-title collapse was extraordinary. He won just one of his last sixteen fights. But in the years leading up to his greatest night he defeated the experienced “Omaha Kid”, Oscar Gardner, himself close to claiming a place on this list, former champion “Torpedo” Billy Murphy and the undefeated English champion Willie Smith. He also managed two title defenses before Sullivan got to him and the disastrous run-in to his career began.

Of the pioneer era champions he was second only to Dixon for my money, and is good for his spot despite all those losses and draws.

46 – Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1)

The wonderful Juan Manuel Marquez spent much of his career toiling in relative obscurity at and around featherweight, his style more cautious than the one he would master in the divisions above. Still, his premier boxing skills were as present then as they would always be and his more cautious style brought him a number of excellent wins at the poundage.

Ranking him any higher than he is seen here is made problematic by the loss of not one but two key fights at the weight. Way back in 1999 he had his first tilt at a strap against Freddie Norwood and dropped an inexplicably wide unanimous decision. I personally had a difficult, squabbling encounter a draw and see no issue with a card either way. Seven years later he travelled to Indonesia to take on hometown legend Chris John, another wide decision loss the result. Again, I scored this fight a draw in the light of two justifiable deductions to the Marquez score for low blows (I gave John 1,3,7,11 and 12), making, again, any ruling seem reasonable to me. The net result is two key featherweight contests going against the Mexican.

In the plus column is good longevity at the weight, which brought with it solid victories over ranked contenders such as Victor Polo, Derrick Gainer and Manuel Medina, enough to speak of a fine career; but Marquez was an unlucky featherweight. In addition to those two desperately close decision losses to John and Norwood, he boxed a wonderful draw with the great Manny Pacquiao, climbing off the canvas three times, a huge effort to obtain a result that can enhance his standing, but only marginally. Worse, he was ranked the WBO’s number one contender to Naseem Hamed for two whole years without getting “The Prince” into the ring. Things only needed to be a little different in order that he might rank considerably higher.

A word here for Manny Pacquiao, a name synonymous with that of Juan Manuel Marquez; he does not make the list. His 2-0-1 ledger at the weight just doesn’t provide enough depth for him to reach these heights.

45 – Percy Bassett (64-12-1)

Percy Bassett was the “interim” world featherweight champion back when that phrase actually meant something. During World War II any championships belonging to active servicemen were frozen for the duration of the conflict; an interim champion was named for that time in order that some semblance of business as usual could continue. The practice continued into peace time for a spell.

Bassett won that title in 1953 while the lethal Sandy Saddler served in the army, and he won it against a very legitimate opponent, #1 contender Ray Famechon. The two swapped withering body punches as a fully decked out Saddler looked on, but it was Bassett who found more room for his viciousness; his knockout of Famechon, for it was such despite the fact that Famechon was helped back to his corner at the end of the third, technically resulting in a corner retirement, was brutal.

Other key wins over Lulu Perez, who was stopped in eerily similar circumstances in the eleventh, and Charley Riley, who he struggled with but was able to master, sneak him in the back door of the top fifty.

44 – Kuniaki Shibata (47-6-3)

From the heavyweights through to the featherweights, one of the most difficult questions to present itself has been, “what do you do with a robbery?” If you see a fight where the official decision is indefensible, do you “over-rule” it for the purposes of the project? Or accept it as the decision on the ground under the rules of the day scored by people only feet away?

For me, there is no one answer, but I think most of all the extremity of the bad decision is the deciding factor. So for the purposes of this list, Kuniaki Shibata’s 1971 draw with Ernesto Marcel is treated as a loss. Shibata no more drew that fight than I’ve been to the moon. He was clearly out-pointed.

He did show a huge heart in that fight though, walking through fire to keep the rounds competitive if not close. This is typical of Shibata and typical of a lot of other excellent Japanese featherweights for whom he is the standard bearer. Though I can’t quite name him a lock for this list, he is a very strong contender based upon the fact that he is the man who unseated the great Vicente Saldivar

Saldivar was on his second run as featherweight king, having come out of retirement to rip the title back, and probably he was not the fighter he had been during his first run. But nor had he been defeated since a 1962 disqualification loss and he was favored to win his 1970 match up with Shibata. The Japanese didn’t open like an underdog, charging Saldivar back to a neutral corner and lashing out.

A cursory glance might reveal a pressure fighter looking to land bombs, but in fact Shibata was a nuanced fighter and a clever one. He trusted himself enough to get close to a fighter like Saldivar, slip and counter; he baited leads then attacked in counter-rushes. It was a fine fight plan and it just wore the veteran down. By the tenth, he was bleeding heavily from a cut over the eye, and by the twelfth he looked like every one of those ring miles was right on him. Perhaps his decision to quit rather than face Shibata in the thirteenth can be forgiven.

It’s a sensational featherweight victory and the only time in his career that Saldivar lost a title match. It’s very much the peg upon which Shibata hangs his place on this list, his wider resume bereft of high quality once the Marcel draw is stripped from him. That said, his first round stoppage of the highly ranked Raul Cruz is nice and is well worth tracking down online. Cruz was as knocked out as any fighter ever was.

43 – Sal Bartolo

Sal Barolo was the contender affected most terribly by the birth in September of 1922 of one Gugliermo Papaleo, aka Willie Pep. Bartolo was ranked for half of the decade that Pep dominated, the 1940s, before throwing in the towel and fleeing for lightweight. In all, he met the defensive genius on three occasions, twice with Willie’s pet title on the line.

But Bartolo’s brush with immortality took place in a first, non-title fight with his nemesis. “One of the stiffest tests of [Pep’s] brilliant career” according to the Associated Press, it saw the “pride of East Boston” match his aggression with the champion’s wonderful skill and fall just a hair short of victory. Cut and battered early, he identified a clever shift to the right as he closed as the incitement to a withering body attack which peaked in the sixth round. He forced Pep from those famous feet, for all that a push and a slip was the culprit rather than a punch.

Bartolo dropped a split decision but was rewarded with a title match. With the championship on the line Pep delivered his glittering best and won a lop-sided decision over a deeply frustrated Bartolo who barely landed a glove after the second.

Probably Willie thought he was rid of the man who had troubled him so in that first fight, but Bartolo now went on a scintillating run of form winning a stunning twenty-six fights in three years. He also managed to gather up a strap, lifting the NBA version of the title in a knockout over Spider Armstrong. Rare are the contenders so consistent as to be able to force a dominant champion into the ring three times, and rarer still were men of such quality as to force Pep into a trilogy of fights but Bartolo earned his last chance.

An unusually spiteful Pep broke Bartolo’s jaw in ninth; he battled on and into the twelfth when he was dropped for the count.

In addition to Armstrong, Bartolo defeated made men like Willie Roach, Maurice LaChance and most impressively of all Phil Terranova. He would have been the champion in many weaker eras.

42 – Eder Jofre (72-2-4)

Few men can claim to having actually mastered the art of pugilism. Eder Jofre, perhaps, is one such man.

He will be remembered as a bantamweight, principally, and that is as it should be but he made his mark too at 126lbs, a mark indelible in history for the fact that he lifted the lineal featherweight title of the world.

The leap between bantamweight and featherweight is perhaps not as difficult as that from featherweight to lightweight or lightweight to welterweight, but it is certainly no small matter. No small matter is his taking the title from one Jose Legra, then in his prime at thirty years old. Jofre was thirty-seven and it was expected that he would lose that fight.

He won it, sending Legra into a hell he often invited his opponent’s to visit, defined by a clinical body attack, despite suffering multiple cuts, despite being dropped by a winging right hand that flew through his chin at the end of the third.

Nor did he stop there. Jofre added the not inconsiderable scalp of all-time great featherweight Vicente Saldivar, who came out of retirement to meet him in a 1973 superfight. Jofre stopped him in four, proving himself the only old man on the block who could still cut it with the young bucks. He proved it one more time while marching into his forties against the thirty year old Octavio Gomez, who was on the downside but still ranked.

Throw in Shig Fukuyama and Jose Antonio Jiminez and you have what amounts to a nice little resume at featherweight; delightfully, Jofre went unbeaten at this poundage which further barracks his position, although it must be weighed against an apparent reluctance to meet some of the more outstanding challengers, Alfredo Marcano chief among them.

41 – Eloy Rojas (40-5-2)

Eloy Rojas was the legitimate, lineal featherweight champion of the world between 1993, when he impressively defeated Yong-Kyun Park in South Korea, and 1996 when he was stopped by Wilfredo Vazquez. Between, he made several impressive defenses including another duel with Park on Korean soil and against former 122lb champion Samarat Payakaroon.

Rojas was soundly beaten in his first torrid contest with Park so the rematch was the sweetest of victories. Rojas is to be admired for taking the rubber match and even more admired for finding a way to defeat his old foe once more in a raucous foul-filled battle that stressed the limitations of Park’s mauling style. Rojas found the footwork to grant him space in the early rounds and the accuracy and punch selection to pepper him with nasty uppercuts through the second half.

Rojas was one of three champions that spanned 1987 to 1996 and they all figure upon this list. Rojas ranks the lowest here, below Park despite edging that rubber. In part, this is because outside of Park, Rojas perhaps did the least, scoring that win over Payakaroon and defeating the capable Miguel Arroza, but otherwise treading water; also, of the three, Rojas managed the fewest lineal title defences and beat the fewest ranked contenders.

But he could easily have ranked at #40 or #39 based upon his victories over Park.   For a detailed accounting of the reasons for Park and Antonio Esparragoza ranking over him, join me for Part Two next week.

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh

Oleksandr Usyk left no doubt that he is the best heavyweight of his generation and one of the greatest boxers of all time with a unanimous decision over Tyson Fury tonight at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. But although the Ukrainian won eight rounds on all three scorecards, this was no runaway. To pirate a line from one of the DAZN talking heads, Fury had his moments in every round but Usyk had more moments.

The early rounds were fought at a faster pace than the first meeting back in May. At the mid-point, the fight was even. The next three rounds – the next five to some observers – were all Usyk who threw more punches and landed the cleaner shots.

Fury won the final round in the eyes of this reporter scoring at home, but by then he needed a knockout to pull the match out of the fire.

The last round was an outstanding climax to an entertaining chess match during which both fighters took turns being the pursuer and the pursued.

An Olympic gold medalist and a unified world champion at cruiserweight and heavyweight, the amazing Usyk improved his ledger to 23-0 (14). His next fight, more than likely, will come against the winner of the Feb. 22 match in Ridayh between Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker which will share the bill with the rematch between Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol.

Fury (34-2-1) may fight Anthony Joshua next. Regardless, no one wants a piece of Moses Itauma right now although the kid is only 19 years old.

Moses Itauma

Raised in London by a Nigerian father and a Slovakian mother, Itauma turned heads once again with another “wow” performance. None of his last seven opponents lasted beyond the second round.

His opponent tonight, 34-year-old Australian Demsey McKean, lasted less than two minutes. Itauma, a southpaw with blazing fast hands, had the Aussie on the deck twice during the 117-second skirmish. The first knockdown was the result of a cuffing punch that landed high on the head; the second knockdown was produced by an overhand left. McKean went down hard as his chief cornerman bounded on to the ring apron to halt the massacre.

Photo (c);Mark Robinson/Matchroom

Photo (c): Mark Robinson

Itauma (12-0, 10 KOs after going 20-0 as an amateur) is the real deal. It was the second straight loss for McKean (22-2) who lasted into the 10th round against Filip Hrgovic in his last start.

Bohachuk-Davis

In a fight billed as the co-main although it preceded Itauma-McKean, Serhii Bohachuk, an LA-based Ukrainian, stopped Ishmael Davis whose corner pulled him out after six frames.

Both fighters were coming off a loss in fights that were close on the scorecards, Bohachuk falling to Vergil Ortiz Jr in a Las Vegas barnburner and Davis losing to Josh Kelly.

Davis, who took the fight on short notice, subbing for Ismail Madrimov, declined to 13-2. He landed a few good shots but was on the canvas in the second round, compliments of a short left hook, and the relentless Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) eventually wore him down.

Fisher-Allen

In a messy, 10-round bar brawl masquerading as a boxing match, Johnny Fisher, the Romford Bull, won a split decision over British countryman David Allen. Two judges favored Fisher by 95-94 tallies with the dissenter favoring Allen 96-93. When the scores were announced, there was a chorus of boos and those watching at home were outraged.

Allen was a step up in class for Fisher. The Doncaster man had a decent record (23-5-2 heading in) and had been routinely matched tough (his former opponents included Dillian Whyte, Luis “King Kong” Ortiz and three former Olympians). But Allen was fairly considered no more than a journeyman and Fisher (12-0 with 11 KOs, eight in the opening round) was a huge favorite.

In round five, Allen had Fisher on the canvas twice although only one was ruled a true knockdown. From that point, he landed the harder shots and, at the final bell, he fell to canvas shedding tears of joy, convinced that he had won.

He did not win, but he exposed Johnny Fisher as a fighter too slow to compete with elite heavyweights, a British version of the ponderous Russian-Canadian campaigner Arslanbek Makhmudov.

Other Bouts of Note

In a spirited 10-round featherweight match, Scotland’s Lee McGregor, a former European bantamweight champion and stablemate of former unified 140-pound title-holder Josh Taylor, advanced to 15-1-1 (11) with a unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-3). The judges had it 96-92 and 97-91 twice.

A cousin and regular houseguest of Tyson Fury, Lowe fought most of the fight with cuts around both eyes and was twice deducted a point for losing his gumshield.

In a fight between super featherweights that could have gone either way, Liverpool southpaw Peter McGrail improved to 11-1 (6) with a 10-round unanimous decision over late sub Rhys Edwards. The judges had it 96-95 and 96-94 twice.

McGrail, a Tokyo Olympian and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, fought from the third round on with a cut above his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads. It was the first loss for Edwards (16-1), a 24-year-old Welshman who has another fight booked in three weeks.

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

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Fury-Usyk Reignited: Can the Gypsy King Avenge his Lone Defeat?

In professional boxing, the heavyweight division, going back to the days of John L. Sullivan, is the straw that stirs the drink. By this measure, the fight on May 18 of this year at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was the biggest prizefight in decades. The winner would emerge as the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis out-pointed Evander Holyfield in their second meeting.

The match did not disappoint. It had several twists and turns.

Usyk did well in the early rounds, but the Gypsy King rattled Usyk with a harsh right hand in the fifth stanza and won rounds five through seven on all three cards. In the ninth, the match turned sharply in favor of the Ukrainian. Fury was saved by the bell after taking a barrage of unanswered punches, the last of which dictated a standing 8-count from referee Mark Nelson. But Fury weathered the storm and with his amazing powers of recuperation had a shade the best of it in the final stanza.

The decision was split: 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk who became a unified champion in a second weight class; 114-113 for Fury.

That brings us to tomorrow (Saturday, Dec. 21) where Usyk and Fury will renew acquaintances in the same ring where they had their May 18 showdown.

The first fight was a near “pick-‘em” affair with Fury closing a very short favorite at most of the major bookmaking establishments. The Gypsy King would have been a somewhat higher favorite if not for the fact that he was coming off a poor showing against MMA star Francis Ngannou and had a worrisome propensity for getting cut. (A cut above Fury’s right eye in sparring pushed back the fight from its original Feb. 11 date.)

Tomorrow’s sequel, bearing the tagline “Reignited,” finds Usyk a consensus 7/5 favorite although those odds could shorten by post time. (There was no discernible activity after today’s weigh-in where Fury, fully clothed, topped the scales at 281, an increase of 19 pounds over their first meeting.)

Given the politics of boxing, anything “undisputed” is fragile. In June, Usyk abandoned his IBF belt and the organization anointed Daniel Dubois their heavyweight champion based upon Dubois’s eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic in a bout billed for the IBF interim title. The malodorous WBA, a festering boil on the backside of boxing, now recognizes 43-year-old Kubrat Pulev as its “regular” heavyweight champion.

Another difference between tomorrow’s fight card and the first installment is that the May 18 affair had a much stronger undercard. Two strong pairings were the rematch between cruiserweights Jai Opetaia and Maris Briedis (Opetaia UD 12) and the heavyweight contest between unbeatens Agit Kabayal and Frank Sanchez (Kabayel KO 7).

Tomorrow’s semi-wind-up between Serhii Bohachuk and Ismail Madrimov lost luster when Madrimov came down with bronchitis and had to withdraw. The featherweight contest between Peter McGrail and Dennis McCann fell out when McCann’s VADA test returned an adverse finding. Bohachuk and McGrail remain on the card but against late-sub opponents in matches that are less intriguing.

The focal points of tomorrow’s undercard are the bouts involving undefeated British heavyweights Moses Itauma (10-0, 8 KOs) and Johnny Fisher (12-0, 11 KOs). Both are heavy favorites over their respective opponents but bear watching because they represent the next generation of heavyweight standouts. Fury and Usyk are getting long in the tooth. The Gypsy King is 36; Usyk turns 38 next month.

Bob Arum once said that nobody purchases a pay-per-view for the undercard and, years from now, no one will remember which sanctioning bodies had their fingers in the pie. So, Fury-Usyk II remains a very big deal, although a wee bit less compelling than their first go-around.

Will Tyson Fury avenge his lone defeat? Turki Alalshikh, the Chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and the unofficial czar of “major league” boxing, certainly hopes so. His Excellency has made known that he stands poised to manufacture a rubber match if Tyson prevails.

We could have already figured this out, but Alalshikh violated one of the protocols of boxing when he came flat out and said so. He effectively made Tyson Fury the “A-side,” no small potatoes considering that the most relevant variable on the checklist when handicapping a fight is, “Who does the promoter need?”

The Uzyk-Fury II fight card will air on DAZN with a suggested list price of $39.99 for U.S. fight fans. The main event is expected to start about 5:45 pm ET / 2:45 pm PT.

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

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Unheralded Bruno Surace went to Tijuana and Forged the TSS 2024 Upset of the Year

The Dec. 14 fight at Tijuana between Jaime Munguia and Bruno Surace was conceived as a stay-busy fight for Munguia. The scuttlebutt was that Munguia’s promoters, Zanfer and Top Rank, wanted him to have another fight under his belt before thrusting him against Christian Mbilli in a WBC eliminator with the prize for the winner (in theory) a date with Canelo Alvarez.

Munguia came to the fore in May of 2018 at Verona, New York, when he demolished former U.S. Olympian Sadam Ali, conqueror of Miguel Cotto. That earned him the WBO super welterweight title which he successfully defended five times.

Munguia kept winning as he moved up in weight to middleweight and then super middleweight and brought a 43-0 (34) record into his Cinco de Mayo 2024 match with Canelo.

Jaime went the distance with Alvarez and had a few good moments while losing a unanimous decision. He rebounded with a 10th-round stoppage of Canada’s previously undefeated Erik Bazinyan.

There was little reason to think that Munguia would overlook Surace as the Mexican would be fighting in his hometown for the first time since February of 2022 and would want to send the home folks home happy. Moreover, even if Munguia had an off-night, there was no reason to think that the obscure Surace could capitalize. A Frenchman who had never fought outside France,  Surace brought a 25-0-2 record and a 22-fight winning streak, but he had only four knockouts to his credit and only eight of his wins had come against opponents with winning records.

It appeared that Munguia would close the show early when he sent the Frenchman to the canvas in the second round with a big left hook. From that point on, Surace fought mostly off his back foot, throwing punches in spurts, whereas the busier Munguia concentrated on chopping him down with body punches. But Surace absorbed those punches well and at the midway point of the fight, behind on the cards but nonplussed,  it now looked as if the bout would go the full 10 rounds with Munguia winning a lopsided decision.

Then lightning struck. Out of the blue, Surace connected with an overhand right to the jaw. Munguia went down flat on his back. He rose a fraction-of-a second before the count reached “10,”, but stumbled as he pulled himself upright. His eyes were glazed and referee Juan Jose Ramirez, a local man, waived it off. There was no protest coming from Munguia or his cornermen. The official time was 2:36 of round six.

At major bookmaking establishments, Jaime Munguia was as high as a 35/1 favorite. No world title was at stake, yet this was an upset for the ages.

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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