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Las Vegas Pushes Forward into the New World Order of Boxing

This coming Thursday, June 4, the Las Vegas tourism industry will take baby steps back to the future when most of the big resort-hotels on the Strip re-open after being shuttered for 79 days. Boxing will return to Sin City on June 9 after a 101-day dry spell with a Top Rank card on ESPN. Another Top Rank card is planned for June 11.
Las Vegas has been called the last great boomtown of the 20th century. The locals should have been discomfited by that characterization. A boomtown is by nature a boom-and-bust town.
The Las Vegas Strip went bust on March 18 when all of the casinos went dark in compliance with Gov. Stephen Sisolak’s mandate to close all non-essential businesses. To say that the Strip has been quiet since then is an understatement. This reporter was among the first to take a leisurely bicycle ride down the famous boulevard, an activity that has become quite popular. The sidewalks were empty whereas previously they were thronged with hordes of people. A neon billboard that previously housed an advertisement for Cirque de Soleil read “Wash Your Hands.” Surreal.
Social Distancing Protocols
Visitors to Las Vegas won’t be able to barge right in to their hotel’s reception desk. First, they will be directed to a designated area to have their temperature taken. Guests and employees will be required to wear masks and no-bunching will be the rule in all the public places. Table games in the casino will have every other seat removed; in the slots area, every other machine will be blocked off.
Boxing
Top Rank got the official approval to re-introduce boxing to Las Vegas at the monthly meeting of the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday, May 27. It was a rubber-stamping as the details had already been hammered out in brainstorming sessions involving commission doctors, state health officials and executives from the host property and Top Rank. The list of protocols that Top Rank must follow reportedly runs five pages.
The fights won’t be held in the MGM Grand Garden where Tyson Fury fought Deontay Wilder before a sold-out crowd in February, but in a ballroom in an area of the property that gets little foot traffic. It would be foolish to hold the event in a larger room as no fans will be allowed and, at least for the moment, no media either. All of the boxers and their handlers will stay on the same floor of the hotel, eat at the same restaurant, and train at the Top Rank Gym. In Bob Arum’s words, they will live in a bubble.
Two fights have been confirmed for the June 9 card. In the main event, Shakur Stevenson (13-0, 7 KOs) meets Felix Caraballo (13-1-2, 9 KOs). Stevenson, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, last fought on Oct. 26 in Reno where he won the vacant WBO world featherweight title with a 12-round decision over Joet Gonzalez. It was a masterful performance by the Newark native, a near-shutout. Stevenson’s showing, said Dan Rafael, “harkened back to the brilliance of the young Floyd Mayweather and Pernell Whitaker.” Little is known about Caraballo who will be making his first start outside his native Puerto Rico. Stevenson’s title won’t be at stake.
In the co-feature, Mikaela Mayer (12-0, 5 KOs) meets Helen Joseph (17-4-2, 10 KOs). Unlike the Stevenson-Caraballo match, this shapes up as a very competitive fight. Joseph, a 31-year-old Nigerian who has been living in Camden, CT, has four losses on her record but in each instance she was fighting in her opponent’s backyard. On paper she definitely represents Mayer’s toughest test to date.
Also expected to appear are featherweight Robeisy Ramirez and rising heavyweight prospects Guido Vianello and Jared Anderson. Ramirez, a two-time Olympic gold medalist for Cuba, has won two straight since suffering a shocking defeat in his pro debut. It is expected that their opponents will be revealed on Monday.
The main event on the June 11 show pits Jessie Magdaleno (27-1, 18 KOs) against Yenifel Vicente (36-4-2, 28 KOs). It will be the third fight back for Las Vegas resident Magdaleno since losing his featherweight title to Isaac Dogboe. Vicente is from Miami by way of the Dominican Republic. No other fights have yet been confirmed.
Top Rank Boxing is expected to be back on ESPN on July 2, if not sooner. Their third event will likely include San Diego southpaw Giovani Santillan, their newest signee. Santillan, an undefeated (25-0) welterweight, will retain an affiliation with Thompson Promotions, a small LA-area firm noted for uncovering gems in the fertile Southern California terrain. Thompson proteges include Tim Bradley and former WBA/IBF super bantamweight champion Danny Roman.
And so, boxing will return shortly. The conditions are far from ideal but it’s a start, a welcome development for boxing fans and, more than that, another sign that we are making headway in stamping out this great plague that has caused so much heartbreak.
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Mercito Gesta Victorious Over Jojo Diaz at the Long Beach Pyramid

LONG BEACH, CA.-Those in the know knew Mercito Gesta and Jojo Diaz would be a fight to watch and they delivered.
Gesta emerged the winner in a super lightweight clash between southpaws that saw the judges favor his busier style over Diaz’s body attack and bigger shots and win by split decision on Saturday.
Despite losing the main event because the star was overweight, Gesta (34-3-3, 17 KOs) used an outside method of tactic to edge past former world champion Diaz (32-4-1, 15 KOs) in front of more than 5,000 fans at the Pyramid.
The speedy Gesta opened up the fight with combination punching up and down against the peek-a-boo style of Diaz. For the first two rounds the San Diego fighter overwhelmed Diaz though none of the blows were impactful.
In the third round Diaz finally began unloading his own combinations and displaying the fast hands that helped him win world titles in two divisions. Gesta seemed stunned by the blows, but his chin held up. The counter right hook was Diaz’s best weapon and snapped Gesta’s head back several times.
Gesta regained control in the fifth round after absorbing big blows from Diaz. He seemed to get angry that he was hurt and opened up with even more blows to send Diaz backpedaling.
Diaz targeted his attack to Gesta’s body and that seemed to slow down Gesta. But only for a round.
From the seventh until the 10th each fighter tried to impose their style with Gesta opening up with fast flurries and Diaz using right hooks to connect with solid shots. They continued their method of attack until the final bell. All that mattered was what the judges preferred.
After 10 rounds one judge saw Diaz the winner 97-93 but two others saw Gesta the winner 99-91, 98-92. It was a close and interesting fight.
“I was expecting nothing. I was the victor in this fight and we gave a good fight,” said Gesta. “It’s not an easy fight and Jojo gave his best.”
Diaz was surprised by the outcome but accepted the verdict.
Everything was going good. I thought I was landing good body shots,” said Diaz. “I was pretty comfortable.”
Other Bouts
Mexico’s Oscar Duarte (25-1-1, 20 KOs) knocked out Chicago’s Alex Martin (18-5, 6 KOs) with a counter right hand after dropping him earlier in the fourth round. The super lightweight fight was stopped at 1:14 of the round.
A battle between undefeated super welterweights saw Florida’s Eric Tudor (8-0, 6 KOs) emerge the winner by unanimous decision after eight rounds versus Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain.
The taller Tudor showed polished skill and was not bothered by a large cut on his forehead caused by an accidental clash of heads. He used his jab and lead rights to defuse the attacks of the quick-fisted southpaw Cato-Cain. The judges scored the fight 80-72 and 78-74 twice for Tudor.
San Diego’s Jorge Chavez (5-0, 4 KOs) needed less than one round to figure out Nicaragua’s Bryan Perez (12-17-1, 11 KOs) and send him into dreamland with a three-punch combination. No need to count as referee Ray Corona waved the fight over. Perez shot a vicious right followed by another right and then a see-you-later left hook at 3.00 of the first round of the super featherweight match.
Photo credit: Al Applerose
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Jojo Diaz’s Slump Continues; Mercito Gesta Prevails on a Split Decision

At age 30, Jojo Diaz’s career is on the skids. The 2012 U.S. Olympian, a former world title holder at 126 and 130 pounds and an interim title holder at 135, Diaz suffered his third straight loss tonight, upset by Mercito Gesta who won a split decision at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA.. The scoring was strange with Gesta winning nine of the 10 rounds on one of the cards and only three rounds on another. The tie-breaker, as it were, was a 98-92 tally for Gesta and even that didn’t capture the flavor of what was a closely-contested fight.
Originally listed as a 12-rounder, the match was reduced to 10 and that, it turned out, did Diaz no favors. However, it’s hard to feel sorry for the former Olympian as he came in overweight once again, having lost his 130-pound title on the scales in February of 2021.
Diaz also has issues outside the ropes. Best elucidated by prominent boxing writer Jake Donovan, they include a cluster of legal problems stemming from an arrest for drunk driving on Feb. 27 in the LA suburb of Claremont.
With the defeat, Diaz’s ledger declined to 32-4-1. His prior losses came at the hands of Gary Russell Jr, Devin Haney, and William Zepeda, boxers who are collectively 83-2. Mercito Gesta, a 35-year-old San Diego-based Filipino, improved to 34-3-3.
Co-Feature
Chihuahua, Mexico super lightweight Oscar Duarte has now won nine straight inside the distance after stopping 33-year-old Chicago southpaw Alex Martin in the eighth frame. Duarte, the busier fighter, had Martin on the deck twice in round eight before the fight was waived off.
Duarte improved to 25-1-1 (20). Martin, who reportedly won six national titles as an amateur and was once looked upon as a promising prospect, declined to 18-5.
Other Bouts of Note
New Golden Boy signee Eric Tudor, a 21-year-old super welterweight from Fort Lauderdale, overcame a bad laceration over his right eye, the result of an accidental clash of heads in round four, to stay unbeaten, advancing to 8-0 (6) with a hard-fought unanimous 8-round decision over Oakland’s Damoni Cato-Cain. The judges had it 80-72 and 78-74 twice. It was the first pro loss for Cato-Cain (7-1-1) who had his first five fights in Tijuana.
In the DAZN opener, lanky Hawaian lightweight Dalis Kaleiopu went the distance for the first time in his young career, improving to 4-0 (3) with a unanimous decision over 36-year-old Colombian trial horse Jonathan Perez (40-35). The scores were 60-52 across the board. There were no knockdowns, but Perez, who gave up almost six inches in height, had a point deducted for a rabbit punch and another point for deducted for holding.
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‘Big Baby’ Wins the Battle of Behemoths; TKOs ‘Big Daddy’ in 6

Lucas “Big Daddy” Browne weighed in at a career-high 277 pounds for today’s battle in Dubai with Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller, but he was the lighter man by 56 pounds. It figured that one or both would gas out if the bout lasted more than a few stanzas.
It was a war of attrition with both men looking exhausted at times, and when the end came it was Miller, at age 34 the younger man by nine years, who had his hand raised.
Browne was the busier man, but Miller, whose physique invites comparison with a rhinoceros, hardly blinked as he was tattooed with an assortment of punches. He hurt ‘Bid Daddy’ in round four, but the Aussie held his own in the next frame, perhaps even forging ahead on the cards, but only postponing the inevitable.
In round six, a succession of right hands knocked Browne on the seat of his pants. He beat the count, but another barrage from Miller impelled the referee to intervene. The official time was 2:33. It was the 21st straight win for Miller (26-0-1, 22 KOs). Browne declined to 31-4 and, for his own sake, ought not fight again. All four of his losses have come inside the distance, some brutally.
The consensus of those that caught the livestream was that Floyd Mayweather Jr’s commentary was an annoying distraction that marred what was otherwise an entertaining show.
As for what’s next for “Big Baby” Miller, that’s hard to decipher as he has burned his bridges with the sport’s most powerful promoters. One possibility is Mahmoud Charr who, like Miller, has a big gap in his boxing timeline. Now 38 years old, Charr – who has a tenuous claim on a WBA world title (don’t we all?) — has reportedly taken up residence in Dubai.
Other Bouts of Note
In a 10-round cruiserweight affair, Suslan Asbarov, a 30-year-old Russian, advanced to 4-0 (1) with a hard-fought majority decision over Brandon Glanton. The judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and a more reasonable 95-95.
Asbarov was 12-9 in documented amateur fights and 1-0 in a sanctioned bare-knuckle fight, all in Moscow, entering this match. He bears watching, however, as Glanton (18-2) would be a tough out for almost anyone in his weight class. In his previous fight, at Plant City, Florida, Glanton lost a controversial decision to David Light, an undefeated Australian who challenges WBO world title-holder Lawrence Okolie at Manchester, England next week.
A 10-round super featherweight match between former world title challengers Jono Carroll and Miguel Marriaga preceded the semi-windup. Carroll, a 30-year-old Dublin southpaw, overcame a cut over his left eye suffered in the second round to win a wide unanimous decision in a fairly entertaining fight.
It was the sixth straight win for Carroll (24-2-1, 7 KOs) who elevated his game after serving as a sparring partner for Devin Haney. Marriaga, a 36-year-old Colombian, lost for the fourth time in his last five outings, declining to 30-7.
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