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Three Punch Combo: Beating the Drum for Vinny Paz and More

THREE PUNCH COMBO — It is officially election season and candidates for the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY are making their final cases for induction with ballots being due at the end of October. By far the most debated name amongst voters and fans for induction in the 2019 Hall of Fame class is Vinny Paz. I, for one, strongly support his candidacy.
By now, we all know his inspirational story. He came back from injuries sustained in a horrific car crash in 1991 after winning his second world title to not only beat the odds to fight again but have tremendous success inside the ring. But it is not that incredibly courageous story that gets him in the Hall of Fame. It is in fact his resume.
Paz — who legally changed his name in 2001 from Vinny Pazienza — finished with a career record of 50-10 with 30 knockouts. He was a multi-division world champion and defeated some of the best fighters of his era. Paz owns wins against former world champions Harry Arroyo, Greg Haugen (twice), Gilbert Dele, Lloyd Honeyghan, and Hall of Famer Roberto Duran (twice).
Paz’s Hall of Fame credentials are similar those of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini who was inducted into the Hall in 2015. As a matter of fact, Paz’s resume is actually stronger. Paz fought and defeated more former world champions than Mancini and faced much better competition throughout the course of his career.
But what makes the comparison to Mancini even more appropriate is the fact that both he and Paz were must-watch television during their era. Paz was one of the most entertaining fighters in boxing. And when he fought, people watched — and not just those hooked on boxing; Paz had crossover appeal. Boxing is a unique sport in that it is about skill and entertainment value. Paz brought both which certainly counts for something when considering his Hall of Fame credentials.
There is a sense of urgency to get Paz into the Hall of Fame in the 2019 class. It may be his last realistic opportunity. Only three fighters in the modern category are elected each year. Usually, the newly eligible fighters get precedence and eat up the majority of these slots. This makes it tougher for holdovers such as Paz to get elected.
However this year, the new fighters eligible are fairly weak when compared to many previous years. So there is an opportunity for a couple of holdovers to get elected. Looking ahead to future years, there are some big names that will be on the ballot for the first time. Unless the voting process is changed, future classes in the modern category will mostly be dominated by those first timers. This is why it is imperative that voters do the right thing this year and elect Paz in the International Boxing Hall of Fame class of 2019.
Don’t Count On Canelo-Jacobs Happening Anytime Soon
This past Saturday, Daniel Jacobs (35-2, 19 KO’s) won a hard-fought split decision against Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-1, 10 KO’s) to win the vacant IBF middleweight title. After the win, talk immediately turned to a big fight with middleweight kingpin Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. And though such a fight would seem easy to make due to the promoters with whom they are aligned, don’t expect it to happen anytime in the near future.
Canelo just inked a 5-year, 11-fight deal reportedly worth $365 million with streaming service DAZN. It makes sense with such a large guarantee that DAZN takes things a little slow with Canelo. Why risk him losing right off the bat with so much invested in him?
The first fight for Canelo under this new deal with DAZN is against Rocky Fielding in the 168-pound division. Fielding was knocked out in the first round in his only loss. The term “safe” opponent seems very appropriate.
While the competition will certainly step up for Canelo in 2019 under the DAZN banner, he will still likely face opponents against whom he would be substantially favored. One likely name sometime in 2019 for Canelo is David Lemieux and given Golden Boy’s pact with DAZN this fight should be easy to put together. I would expect this fight in May of 2019. Given the history of when he fights, a return in September would then seem likely but I don’t think the opponent will be one that presents a ton of risk. Assuming all goes according to plan, the earliest I would expect Canelo-Jacobs to happen would be in May of 2020.
Under The Radar Fight
Next Saturday, most of the boxing world will be fixated on ESPN+ for the 130-pound title fight between Miguel Berchelt (34-1, 30 KO’s) and Miguel Roman (60-12, 47 KO’s), a potential Fight of the Year candidate. But this is not the only intriguing fight that is being streamed that night, so fire up those devices as there is a light heavyweight bout that should also provide some fireworks.
Facebook Watch will present the fight between Sullivan Barrera (21-2, 14 KO’s) and Sean Monaghan (29-1, 17 KO’s). With light heavyweight being so deep at the moment, this is a must-win bout for both as a win puts either right back in line for a significant fight.
Barrera is a former Cuban amateur standout and a boxer-puncher by nature. He is much more agile inside the ring than Monaghan and will look to use movement to keep Monaghan off-balance and to set up angles to unload combinations. Barrera has the quicker hands and is the much sharper puncher. However, one of Barrera’s weaknesses is that he tends to pose too much after unloading punches which may give Monaghan some opportunities.
Monaghan knows only one way to fight and that is by coming forward being the aggressor. He is going to look to apply constant pressure and look for opportunities to counter. Defense has never been a strong suit for him, but he is heavy handed and is the bigger puncher of the two. Monaghan’s chances boil down to either landing a big counter shot or hoping his heavy handed pressure wears down Barrera.
I like this fight a lot and will find a way to watch even if it is running simultaneous on another device of mine to Berchelt-Roman. The contrast of styles and defensive flaws of both Barrera and Monaghan should make for an entertaining fight. There has also been some serious bad blood between the two over the years on social media. Let’s add in the fact too that this is an absolute must-win for both and this has the makings of a potential war. As a matter of fact, it would not shock me one bit if Barrera-Monaghan brings more action than Berchelt-Roman.
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Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

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

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

Rolly Romero Upsets Ryan Garcia in the Finale of a Times Square Tripleheader
Disappointment.
Those bright lights on Times Square proved too much for some but not for Rolly Romero who soaked it up, floored Ryan Garcia early, then cruised to victory on the public streets of Manhattan on Friday.
Romero (17-2, 13 KOs) rode into the prize ring in a vintage Chevy Impala against Garcia (24-2, 23 KOs) and his flashy Batmobile on the streets of Manhattan and walked away victorious.
Simple as one-two-three.
Though both fighters pack tremendous power it was the lightning speed of Garcia that transfixed most and many felt that speed would prevail. It did not.
Instead, Romero caught Garcia inside with his own left hook followed quickly with another hook and down went the Southern Californian in the second round. But just like in previous instances Garcia quickly got up.
Romero tried to end the fight but was caught with a Garcia left hook and you could visibly see the changes in attitude. Romero re-thought his strategy and took the safer approach of making it a slow-moving exchange of feints, jabs and touches from distance.
For the next 10 rounds the crowd first sat on the edge of their seat then slowly sank back realizing that self-preservation had overtaken both fighters.
Though there were moments of possible shock, awe and explosion, it never came. After 12 rounds two judges scored it 115-112, and another 118-109 for Romero.
“Knockdowns always help the fighter,” said Romero.
Garcia was gracious in defeat.
“Rolly fought a good fight and did a good job,” said Garcia. “Hats off to Rolly.”
Haney Wins
Las Vegas fighter Devin Haney (32-0, 15 KOs) defeated Central California’s Jose Carlos Ramirez (29-3, 18 KOs) in a fight with few punches exchanged but plenty of side-to-side movement to win by unanimous decision.
For most fans, watching dirt turn to mud would have been more exciting.
If Haney’s goal was to win the fight and remain undefeated, he succeeded. If he was seeking to entertain fans and prove he is one of the best welterweights in the world?
It was a failure.
Still, Haney evaded exchanges for more than two minutes out of every round. Ramirez, knowing that chasing with abandon could lead to traps could not close the distance.
Haney did get caught a few times and proved any shock residual from his last fight against Ryan Garcia a year ago was a none-issue. Ramirez was also caught by a few uppercuts and survived.
Though very little meaningful punches were landed by either fighter, the judges chose Haney 119-109 twice and 118-110.
Teofimo Wins
Fighting in front of hometown fans, Teofimo Lopez (22-1, 13 KOs) gave Arnold Barboza (32-1) his first defeat.
But it was never easy.
It was like watching a magician at work as Lopez led viewers, commentators and TV judges to think he was overwhelming Barboza with his left hand. Meanwhile the actual fight was happening in a far different dimension.
Jim Lampley, the golden voice of TV commentating for decades, returned but he needs a crack group to lead him toward the proper direction. In this instance he was told Lopez was winning every round.
He was not.
Every time Lopez tried to bamboozle his foe, he was met with a body shot, jab or some other deterrent. Every round was contested scientifically with precise steps, counter steps and touches.
Lopez was quickly swollen by the blows landed by Barboza, yet the Californian did not show as much. Lopez was indeed connecting too.
It was a brilliant display of scientific boxing that the commentating crew failed to convey to the viewers. At one point, I simply turned off the sound.
Few blows landed flush. A right cross that beat Lopez to the punch in the sixth round was perhaps the best. A slick three-punch combination by Lopez in the seventh round was poetry.
Neither fighter was able to take over the fight.
Lopez moved around every round never staying in the same spot. Barboza maintained his balance and composure and seldom gave Lopez easy pickings. After 12 rounds of scientific boxing all three judges scored in favor of Lopez 116-112 twice and 118-109.
“Never quit in anything you want to do,” said Lopez.
On another note, the new commentating team for DAZN needs better side support for Lampley.
Overall, the Ring Magazine fight card was all razzle but no dazzle.
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