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Devin Haney Speeds Past Tijuana’s Juan Carlos Burgos
TEMECULA, Calif.-Pit against one of Tijuana’s best fighters 19-year-old Devin “The Dream” Haney out-maneuvered and at times out-slugged Juan Carlos Burgos

TEMECULA, Calif.-Pit against one of Tijuana’s best fighters 19-year-old Devin “The Dream” Haney out-maneuvered and at times out-slugged Juan Carlos Burgos for the IBF North American lightweight title on Friday.
It was at times masterful.
Haney (20-0, 13 KOs) used his blinding speed and counter-punching skills to show the cheering crowd at Pechanga Resort and Casino that he’s not too young to jump in against even a rough and tough lightweight like Burgos.
“I wanted to show I can box or I can brawl,” said Haney. “I can be a dog in there if I have to.”
He had plenty of moments to show the dog in him.
Though the first two rounds saw Haney skip around the ring shooting punches here and there, to the surprise of the crowd he stopped running in the third round and showed off his ability to fight somewhat in the pocket. The blinding speed was apparent and seemed to surprise Burgos as quick rights caught the Tijuana prizefighter flatfooted at times.
Burgos looked perplexed for six rounds trying to find an antidote for Haney’s blazing speed. At the end of the sixth Burgos corner instructed him to target the body.
After finding no success for six rounds, Burgos connected with half a dozen solid blows to Haney’s body. The Las Vegas fighter countered with rights to the head but Burgos stormed through the counters and attacked the body like it was a lifeline. It proved to be successful enough to stall Haney’s relentless attacks.
The Tijuana fighter found success in the eighth round as well by targeting the body with his left hooks and left uppercuts. Haney decided to move and counter from afar and was successful at connecting with solid shots. The Mexican fighter was simply too tough to knock down, but Haney clearly won the final two rounds.
After 10 rounds one judge scored it 97-93 and two others 100-90. The Sweetscience.com scored it 98-92 for Haney.
“He was a tough guy and he had a lot of experience,” said Haney. “It was a good fight to show what I can do at a higher level. I’ll fight any lightweight. I don’t care who it is.”
Draw
A rematch between Thomas Mattice (13-0-1) and Zhora Hamazaryan (9-1-1) ended in a split draw after eight rounds in a super lightweight rematch. Their first fight several months ago was a victory for Mattice, but fans at the arena and on social media revolted at the scores. This fight saw the momentum shift several times between the two fighters with different styles.
Hamazaryan was the aggressor throughout the fight and Mattice preferred to counter. But it was the holding by the taller Mattice that opened the door for Hamazaryan who erupted with blows whenever he was held especially in the fourth round when he snaked a right cross through the guard, and staggered Mattice.
But after eight rounds one judge saw it 77-75 Mattice, another 77-75 Hamazaryan, and a third 76-76 for a split draw.
In the opening television bout Cem Kelic (12-0, 7 KOs) out-worked Ohio’s Deandre Ward (12-1-2, 8 KOs) in an entertaining super middleweight fight where each round was savagely contested. But after eight rounds all three judges saw it in favor of Kelic who was simply busier and more accurate than Ward.
One thing about Ward is whenever he was tagged by a big blow he rallied back furiously with his best shots. But he simply was out-hustled by Kelic.
Other Bouts
Michigan’s Kevin Shacks (3-2-3, 3 KOs) upset San Diego’s Ricardo Valdovinos (7-1, 5 KOs) with a last-second knockout. Both were scrapping blow for blow when at the 10-second warning Shacks fired a quick one-two that caught Valdovinos perfectly for a knockout at 2:59 of the first round in their super lightweight match.
Temecula’s Anthony Franco (2-1-1) and Colorado’s David Payne (2-1-1) fought to a draw after four rounds. Payne started off quicker but Franco rallied back in the last two rounds of their welterweight fight. All three judges scored it 38-38.
Photo credit: Dave Mandel / SHOWTIME
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Garcia Promotions’ Event in San Bernardino was a Showcase for Saul Rodriguez

SAN BERNARDINO-Saul “Neno” Rodriguez, out of action for nearly three years, returned to the prize ring on Saturday in San Bernardino at the Club Event Center in a Garcia Promotions event. San Bernardino is in the Inland Empire which is two counties just east of Los Angeles.
Riverside’s Rodriguez (24-1-1) weighed much more than the designated weight and his match with Mexico’s Juan Meza Angulo was demoted to an exhibition because of the weight disparity. Despite wearing head gear, the popular Riverside fighter was able to stop Angulo (6-1) in his first fight since February 28, 2020.
Though Rodriguez looked slightly over-weight as a super lightweight, it didn’t dampen his sharp punching skills. He immediately caught Meza with a well-timed overhand right. Luckily, Rodriguez didn’t put muscle on it. The fight proceeded.
Because of inactivity, Rodriguez seemed to relish getting back to work. He moved around and tried different combinations. Everything seemed to be working in his favor. But Meza countered a left by Rodriguez with a strong right. It proved the popular Riverside fighter needs work on bringing back his left quickly.
After Meza connected things got serious.
Rodriguez immediately opened the third round at a quicker tempo and seemed intent on changing from a wait-and-see attitude to one of bad intentions. Meza didn’t notice the change and looked to catch Rodriguez with a combo and instead was caught with a monster counter-right. Down went Meza with a thud. The fight was stopped.
Fans, many of them wearing Team Neno t-shirts, were deliriously happy to see Rodriguez back in action.
In the co-main event, San Bernardino’s Leo Ruiz clashed with granite-chinned Cameron Krael.
Ruiz (11-0, 7 KOs) unloaded horrific bombs on Krael (19-25-3) who calmly kept his gloves covering his head and although some managed to connect flush, nothing fazed the Las Vegas fighter.
Round after round Ruiz unloaded on Krael only to quickly realize that attempting a knockout was futile. The reputation of Krael’s chin was correct and no need to break a knuckle trying to score a knockout. Instead, Ruiz went six rounds and won every one to take a win by unanimous decision by scores of 60-54 on all three cards.
Other Bouts
Gabe Muratalla (9-0) knocked out Michael Nielsen (6-3) with a four-punch combination in the third round of a bantamweight fight. Body shots dropped Nielsen in the second round.
Ventura’s Jose Delgado (10-1-4), a southpaw, overcome a sluggish start with body shots to defeat San Bernardino’s Jesus Beltran (6-3-1) by majority decision after four rounds in a lightweight fight.
Riverside’s Victor Pelayo (2-0) defeated Milwaukee’s D’Angelo Hopgood (2-1) by decision after four rounds in a very close super bantamweight match. Both fighters showed solid fundamentals in a fight that could have easily been scored a draw. Pelayo won by decision 39-37 on all cards.
Riverside’s Jose Rodriguez (2-0) stopped Henry Mendez (0-9-2) in the fourth round of a super welterweight bout. Mendez was deducted a point in the second round for incessant holding after numerous warnings.
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Alexis Rocha KOs Brave but Overmatched George Ashie on DAZN.

Golden Boy Promotions’ potted their first offering of 2023 at the recently opened YouTube Theater, a 6,000-seat venue situated inside the stadium built to house LA’s two NFL franchises. The main event was a scheduled 12-round welterweight match between Alexis Rocha, a southpaw from nearby Santa Ana and George Ashie, a 38-year-old Ghanaian making his U.S. debut. Ashie was a late substitute for Anthony Young who reportedly suffered a nose injury in training. The match and supporting bouts were live-streamed on DAZN.
Ashie, who was fighting above his normal weight class and carried a career-high 146 pounds, was brave but out-gunned. Rocha knocked him down in the third frame with a right hook and hurt him several more times as the fight progressed although Ashie never stopped trying. In round six, an accidental clash of heads left Rocha with a nasty cut on his left eyebrow. He fought with more urgency after this incident and knocked Ashie out cold in the next round. The official time was 2:08 of round seven.
It was the fifth straight win for Rocha who improved his ledger to 22-1 (14 KOs). After the bout, he expressed an interest in fighting Terence Crawford. Ashie fell to 33-6-1 (25).
Other Bouts of Note
Floyd “Austin Kid” Schofield, a precocious 20-year-old lightweight, had Albert Mercado on the canvas in the second round but was unable to put him away despite hurting him multiple times and went 10 rounds for the first time in his young career.
Schofield, the 2022 TSS Prospect of the Year, improved to 13-0 (11), winning 100-89 on all three cards. Mercado, a 35-year-old Connecticut-born Puerto Rican, declined to 17-5-1 but retained his distinction of having never been stopped.
Super middleweight Bektemir Melikuziev, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist for Uzbekistan who lives and trains in Indio, California, overpowered San Diego’s Ulises Sierra who was on the deck twice from body punches before the fight was waived off at the 2:59 mark of round three. It was the fourth straight victory for Melikuziev (11-1, 9 KOs) after suffering a stunning one-punch knockout at the hands of seemingly shopworn Gabriel Rosado with whom he is pursuing a rematch. Sierra was 17-2-2 heading in with eight of his wins coming in Mexico.
In a match framed as a WBO minimumweight title eliminator, Oscar Collazo (6-0, 4 KOs) scored an impressive fifth-round stoppage of Yudel Reyes. Collazo knocked Reyes down twice in the fifth round, the second with a vicious right hand that put Reyes down so hard that the referee didn’t bother to count. The official time was 2:59 of round five.
In theory, Collazo’s next fight will come against the Filipino Melvin Jerusalem who won the title earlier this month with a second-round stoppage of Masataka Taniguchi in Osaka. Reyes, a 26-year-old Mexican making his U.S. debut, declined to 15-2.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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Artur Beterbiev TKOs Anthony Yarde in a London Firefight

The presumption, echoed by ESPN boxing commentator Bernardo Osuna, was that tonight’s bout at Wembley Arena in London between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde would be explosive and entertaining for as long as it lasted. That proved to be true and when the smoke cleared, Beterbiev, the rugged Montreal-based Russian had retained his three light heavyweight title belts and had added another knockout to his ledger, his nineteenth as a pro in as many opportunities.
Both men landed hard shots during the fight and both were marked up at the finish. Yarde had a cut under his right eye and Beterbiev had a cut on his left eyelid.
A chopping right hand from Beterbiev late in the first minute of the eighth round marked the beginning of the end for Yarde, the muscular 31-year-old Londoner who entered the contest sporting a record of 23-2 with 22 knockouts. The punch sent him reeling backward toward his corner where he landed on his knees. He beat the count, but turned toward his corner rather than referee Steve Gray.
Gray let the bout continue, but Beterbiev pressed his advantage and after a few more unanswered punches Yarde’s trainer Tunde Ajayi stepped up on the ring apron and summoned Gray to stop it. The official time was 2:01 of round eight.
Beterbiev hasn’t lost since losing a decision to amateur nemesis Oleksandr Usyk in the quarter finals of the 2012 London Olympics. At age 38, he shows no signs of slowing down.
In his post-fight interview, the self-effacing Russian said, “I hope some day I will be a good boxer,” and acknowledged that he would welcome a unification fight with fellow Russian Dmitry Bivol, the WBA title-holder.
WBA Title Fight
In a bout that was in theory the co-feature but went off during the earlier portion of the ESPN+ livestream, Artem Dalakian (21-0, 15 KOs) retained his WBA world flyweight title with a unanimous and somewhat controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (12-1). The judges had it 116-112 and 115-113 twice.
An Azerbaijan-born Ukrainian, Dalakian was making the sixth defense of the title he won in 2018 with a 12-round decision over Brian Viloria in Los Angeles in his lone previous appearance at a venue in the English-speaking world. His five title defenses were in Kiev. Jimenez was coming off a 12-round majority decision over Ricardo Sandoval in what ranked as one of the bigger upsets of 2021.
A Split for the Itauma Brothers
Promoter Frank Warren’s newest signee, 18-year-old heavyweight Moses Itauma, made a big splash in his pro debut, blasting out Czechoslovakia’s Marcel Bode (2-2) in 23 seconds. Moses and his older brother Karol Itauma are sons of a British citizen of Nigerian ancestry and a Slovakian mother.
In a shocking upset, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna, a 36-year-old Argentine who had lost six of his previous eight fights, forged a fifth-round stoppage of well-touted Karol Itauma who was 9-0 (7 KOs) as a pro coming in. Itauma ate numerous straight right hands before a straight right hand knocked him down for the count. The official time was 1:04 of round five. Maderna improved to 29-10 (11).
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