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Three Punch Combo: The Fight That Could Steal the Show This Weekend and More
THREE PUNCH COMBO — Boxing returns to DAZN on Saturday with a massive card from The Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, TX. This venue, which serves as the indoor practice facility for the Dallas Cowboys, will play host to a significant welterweight bout when Mikey Garcia (39-1, 30 KO’s) returns to the ring to face Jessie Vargas (29-2-2, 11 KO’s). Also on the docket is a much anticipated 115-pound title fight between champion Khalid Yafai (26-0, 15 KO’s) and former pound for pound king Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez (48-2, 40 KO’s). While I love both of these contests, it is another title fight on this card that I think may steal the show.
Fresh off his destruction in December of Cristofer Rosales to capture the WBC flyweight crown, Julio Cesar Martinez (15-1, 12 KO’s) returns to the ring to make his first title defense against the undefeated Jay Harris (17-0, 9 KO’s). Given their respective styles, we are all but guaranteed to see non-stop action from the opening bell to whenever the contest concludes.
As I have previously noted in these pages, Martinez is an absolute non-stop pressure fighter who rarely takes his foot off the gas. Possessing above average hand speed and heavy-handed power, he simply looks to break his opposition down with his combination of pressure and power. And thus far it has worked to the tune of him becoming a world champion in just 16 fights.
One difference between Martinez and other pressure fighters is the way that Martinez uses angles to find ways to land precision power shots. He will often switch fluidly between the orthodox and southpaw stances to create these angles.
Like many other pressure fighters, Martinez has a tendency to abandon defense for his own offense. He actually takes it to the extreme, often coming forward with his hands down along with no head movement. At some point, he is going to pay for this lack of attention to defense. Could it come against Harris?
After a short but solid amateur career, Harris turned pro at 23 in 2013 and has moved along steadily. He is coming off his two best wins against former world title challenger Angel Moreno and former amateur standout Paddy Barnes. In each of those fights, Harris showed steady progression and seems well poised for that next big step-up in competition.
Harris is a traditional boxer-puncher by trade but has shown tendencies to get into firefights. He is technically sound and likes to work behind a solid left jab to set up his power punching combinations. Harris possesses decent hand speed and, like Martinez, can be a solid accurate puncher.
In the aforementioned fight against Barnes, Harris showed some solid power in his left hook. He knocked Barnes down twice with the left hooks to the body, the second of which finished him off in the fourth round.
Martinez is going to bring the fight to Harris. But I think Harris is skilled enough to provide resistance and give back as good as he gets. If I am right, this is going to be one fan-friendly fight that could ultimately compete for fight of the year.
Some Thoughts on the Judging of McKenna-Mimoune
For those not familiar, MTK Global is running eight-man single elimination tournaments across several different weight classes in the UK with the winner in each weight class being awarded a lucrative management contract. This past Friday in London saw the semi-finals in both the featherweight and 140- pound divisions. And as so often happens in boxing, one of the contests, a 140-pound bout between Tyrone McKenna (21-1-1, 6 KO’s) and Mohamed Mimoune (22-4, 3 KO’s), ended in a controversial decision. McKenna was the beneficiary, winning the ten-round fight on all three cards.
My card sided with Mimoune. I had the fight 96-94 in his favor. However, unlike the commentators and many on social media, I was far from outraged that McKenna was given the nod.
This may sound overly simplistic, but we need to keep in mind that fights are scored on a round by round basis. Each round is its own separate entity. And sometimes a round is won big by a fighter but scored just 10-9 in their favor without knockdowns. This would be the same score if that same fighter had just edged out that round.
In the case of McKenna-Mimoune, we saw Mimoune take control of the fight late and win many of those later rounds by a substantial margin. To be honest he completely dominated those rounds.
But in the early going, there were many close rounds that were hard to score. McKenna seemed to edge a couple and some were frankly a coin flip. If the judges sided with McKenna for those close rounds, and it appears they did just that, then there is a clear path to him getting the decision.
For me, this was somewhat reminiscent of Foreman-Briggs which I also thought was not a robbery. Maybe the scoring system in boxing needs to be changed but that is a topic for another day. I don’t think given the scoring system in place for this sport that the McKenna-Mimoune decision was all that outrageous.
What’s Next For Emanuel Navarrete?
This past Saturday, on the undercard of Wilder-Fury II, 122-pound champion Emanuel Navarrete (31-1, 27 KO’s) stopped tough Jeo Santisima (19-3, 16 KO’s) in the eleventh round. It was Navarrete’s fifth title defense in less than a year. So, what is next for the popular and busy Navarrete?
First off, I think we have seen the last of Navarrete at 122. It was well documented during the PPV broadcast that Navarrete was struggling to make the weight. In addition, there are political boundaries that need to be crossed in order to make any big fights for Navarrete at 122. So, a move north to featherweight is seemingly inevitable.
Top Rank, which co-promotes Navarrete, does have a champion at featherweight in Shakur Stevenson. But Stevenson is a prized young fighter and there is no way Top Rank puts him anywhere near Navarrete. Not in a few months or even a few years. And as with the 122-pound division, there are political boundaries standing in the way of putting Navarrete in with the other featherweight champions at this time.
So, with no immediate title fight realistically available for Navarrete at featherweight, I think Top Rank looks to put him in with a ranked contender. And I think the most logical option is Christopher Diaz (25-2, 16 KO’s) who is also tied in with Top Rank.
Diaz himself was once a highly-thought-of young fighter but an upset loss to Masayuki Ito for a 130-pound title belt in 2018 sent Diaz’s career sideways. He dropped down to featherweight after that loss where he has two wins sandwiched around a one-sided loss on points in a ten-round contest with the aforementioned Stevenson.
Diaz needs a jolt to his career and, frankly, Top Rank is probably nearing the end of the road with him. So, this can be viewed as a final opportunity for Diaz and a fight I think he jumps at if offered. And it’s an easy sell to the fans as Diaz on paper would certainly represent the best opponent for Navarrete since his two fights with Isaac Dogboe.
I think it’s very likely that we see this fight on a Top Rank platform sometime this spring or summer.
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Usyk Outpoints Fury and Itauma has the “Wow Factor” in Riyadh
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.
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?
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
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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