The Top Ten Strawweights of the Decade: 2010-2019

Published

4 years ago

November 13, 2020

The Top Ten Strawweights of the Decade: 2010-2019

The tragedy of this list, comprised of the best 105lb fighters from the past decade, is that numbers one and two share an era, a home country, a weight division, but due to promotional issues, will never meet. Modern boxing in a nutshell we see two fighters who represent the most natural sporting opposition imaginable for one another who don’t need each other, each milking an alphabet strap for their earnings.

Rant over: this list is also comprised of men who fought in some of the very best fights of the decade, against one another. The smallest division of all, the combat it produces is perennially underrated by fans and writers alike. Not by you though, perhaps, and certainly not by me.

One more time then: all rankings are by TBRB, except prior to their founding, all rankings between January of 2010 and October of 2012 are by Ring.

For those of you who have read this series from the first article to the last: I thank you.

10 – Katsunari Takayama

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 8-5 Ranked For: 60% of the decade

Katsunari Takayama seemed likely to place higher at the beginning of this process, but in reality, he lost most of the big fights in this 105lb decade. Often, they were worthy defeats against class operators but the disaster he suffered against Mateo Handig in October of 2012, for all that it was a close run, seemed to end his time at the top. Rather typically of boxing, Takayama came blasting back with the single best performance of his war-torn career, against the number one ranked Mario Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a man we will learn more about below, but it is enough to state here that he was the finest puncher of the strawweight decade, a puncher who was also armed with an iron jaw. For all his limitations, this was not a fighter Takayama would necessarily have expected to beat, or even meet after back-to-back losses against Handig and Nkosinathi Joyi, but that was the type of fighter Takayama was.

He was superb against Rodriguez, boxing as though he had won his last two fights, fighting hard when he needed to, boxing in a tight circle and prioritizing the jab after he was dropped in the third round by a savage Rodriguez hook. Never entirely out of danger, he nonetheless dominated exchanges with a buzzing straight-armed 1-2, swarming volume to body and head, varied movement, sometimes coming all the way out, sometimes tightening the circle, sometimes standing toe-to-toe and seeking to slip. It was a quality performance against a dangerous fighter on foreign soil.

There is so much to admire about Takayama. He was only in good or great fights, he had a strong jaw, he travelled, and he would fight anyone. All of that said, Takayama lost almost every single one of his significant fights at the poundage during the decade. Joyi beat him clean, Francisco Rodriguez Jr. received the decision in their wonder-match and although it could have gone either way, the decision was reasonable; Jose Argumedo, who defeated him on a technical decision in 2015 came close to taking his slot here.

In the end his victory over world’s number one Rodriguez is just enough, in combination with his being ranked for 60% of the decade and all those wonderful fights he gifted us, to grant him the low spot.

09 – Kazuto Ioka

Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 22-2 Ranked For: 12% of the decade

My memory of Kazuto Ioka was false. I thought of him as a dominant 105lb fighter who would make a mark on the top ten with ease, perhaps even a candidate for a top five spot. A close look has seen him the first locked-in inclusion for the decadal top ten but nearer the #11 spot than #5.

In short, he has just a single win of real note and a single supplementary win that matters, the former over Akira Yaegashi in what appears on paper to be something of a generational contest. In fairness, the two men delivered, Ioka inflicting brutal punishment on the fearless Yaegashi who continued to fire back long after blindness must have overtaken corners of his vision. Grotesquely swollen he fought so hard as to make the contest razor-thin in scoring, so close as to make one wonder as to what those scorecards might have looked like had Yaegashi not been marked-up so badly. Such speculation is not helpful however, nor does it take into account the mercilessness and precision with which Ioka worked Yaegashi’s wounds, nor the indelible composure he wielded as his opponent’s face ballooned. The decision may have been narrow, but it is difficult to argue with.

Ten months earlier, he had scored a victory over Juan Hernandez Navarrete. Navarrete’s name is not one that echoes through eternity, but he scored a narrow, debatable win over Moises Fuentes, a fighter who would come to matter. That match is barely enough, in combination with his win over a pre-prime Yaegashi, to slip Ioka in ahead of Takayama.

08 – Mario Rodriguez

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 14-13-4 Ranked For: 22% of the decade

Mario Rodriguez had a disastrous decade, but his spell at 105lbs was not a part of that failure. Beaten from pillar to post at 108lbs, even by Pedro Guevara with whom he fought on even terms at 105lbs, where his paper record was a much more respectable 6-2-3. The losses, to Katsunari Takayama and Donnie Nietes (who did not remain in the division long enough to be considered for this list), hardly hurt him and the wins include some impressive supplementary names. The big win though, and the one that grabs him the number eight spot, is over preeminent minimumweight Nkosinathi Joyi, twenty-nine years old and in his absolute prime.

Joyi was coming off a career’s best win over Takayama when Rodriguez welcomed him to his native Mexico in September of 2012. A significant underdog, Rodriguez looked it early; slow, static in the feet, little dips of the head sparing him the absolute worst of Joyi’s attentions but in essence he seemed a knockout waiting to happen.

In the second, Rodriguez put his head on Joyi’s chest and began to throw some hard punches. Joyi outboxed him once more but Rodriguez had his blueprint in hand. Joyi continued to beat him brutally, especially to the body, but Rodriguez never threw the yolk. In the fifth, he found Joyi with punches and the referee incorrectly ruled a knockdown a slip. After dominating, Joyi had found trouble.

Mario’s secret was that he was the rarest of things: a 105lb puncher, a legitimate big hitter. Armando Vazquez ditched in four, future 108lb Gilberto Keb Baas dusted in five, lesser fighters dispatched in less time. In essence, Rodriguez, never stopped aside from his muddled debut, was equal to Joyi’s punches and Joyi, the far more established fighter, could not live with Mario’s. In the seventh, Rodriguez popped Joyi on the chin with an uppercut, a left up around the ear, a similar scuffed right and Rodriguez had beaten Joyi and locked himself in to this list.

07 – Francisco Rodriguez Jr.

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 33-4-1 Ranked For: 6% of the decade

Francisco Rodriguez Junior was ranked at 105lbs for just a few short months between January of 2010 and the end of 2019, barely legible as far as this list is concerned. During those weeks, he did two things that mattered: defeated number six contender Merlito Sabillo by tenth round stoppage and won the fight of the decade, at any weight, against number two contender Katsunari Takayama.

Sabillo was first, in March of 2014 and although brave, he was outgunned, as much due to Francisco’s own granite chin as his withering body attack. He dropped and handled Sabillo, then worked him over into the tenth, when Sabillo’s corner did the right thing and pulled their man.

Rodriguez had summitted and the timing could hardly have been better. Four months later he stepped in with Takayama and the result was fire. There is no way that this fight can be described in several paragraphs here and I will not even try. If you have seen, you know. If you have not, stop reading this and type Francisco Rodriguez Jnr. vs Katsunari Takayama into your search bar.

What Rodriguez shows is elite heart, elite chin, elite workrate and fine punching. Those attributes would remain when he departed 105lbs for 115lbs. In truth, he was never a natural 105lb fighter and spread himself too thin to rank any higher here. Still, his 2014 was splendid and it is impossible to imagine this list without him.

06 – Byron Rojas

Peak Ranking: 2 Record for the Decade: 27-4-3 Ranked For: 47% of the decade

Byron Rojas is one of the bravest and most underestimated road warriors in all of boxing. In May of 2016 he travelled from his native Nicaragua to South Africa to face the superb Hekkie Budler in his own back yard. All heart and charge, Rojas put his head down and threw his gloves out, repeatedly, without cease, for the twelve rounds that followed. Budler, clearly perturbed, had a long night and despite doing the cleaner punching and being the only one of the two to engage in the rudiments of upper body movement, was clearly behind after six rounds.

Budler then made the sort of gorgeous adjustment that only an experienced champion can, moving, instead of away, in to Rojas, physically trying to push him back by hitting to the body. It made for a fascinating ninth round, clearly won by the South African. In the tenth, Rojas made his own adjustment, dropping his guard and throwing violent meathooks at Budler who suddenly wanted no part of the inside. Rojas twice hurt his man in that round and although the eleventh and twelfth were close, had clearly done enough. Budler tied the belt around Rojas’s waist himself.

Having defeated the third best strawweight of his generation, Rojas set sail, in his very next fight, to meet the best, Thammanoon Niyomtrong. Rojas lost that fight – narrowly – and a 2018 rematch more definitively. Being honest though, those losing efforts, on the road, probably enhance his standing here just a tiny bit. It is a difference-maker though. Rojas was ranked at 105lbs for nearly half the decade, true, and we see some of the gatekeeper types that appear often in discussing the men on this list – Julio Mendoza, Daniel Mendoza – but overall he probably doesn’t have the flat-out win resume for the spot. Still, as a man, he was that and more.

05 – Moises Fuentes

Peak Ranking: 3 Record for the Decade: 16-6-1 Ranked For: 18% of the decade

Moises Fuentes flirted with these lists at heavier poundage, but he was never going to break on through. At 105lbs, he has cracked the top five – can it be justified?

Two key fights barrel Fuentes into the upper echelons of this list and neither one is to be missed. In 2011, coming off a defeat and one more away from gatekeeper status, Fuentes stepped in with #3 contender and tough Raul Garcia. The two staged a war, exchanging knockdowns and violence throughout. Fuentes took a close decision in a fight that could have gone either way.

This positioned him beautifully for the fight that every minimumweight wanted against the descending Don of the 105lb division, Ivan Calderon. Calderon, fresh from his brutalization at the hands of Giovani Segura up at 108lbs, was returning to reclaim what at this point seemed his birth-right. Fuentes’s name went into the hat and was drawn; he was the alphabet champion destined to pass Calderon back his gold.

Except he wasn’t. Now, there is no dispute about this: Calderon was not what he was. I covered the fight at the time and wrote that “His legs seemed less and less able to carry him for twelve rounds. Something that had seemed easy in 2008 now had the appearance of being difficult for him… The creeping sense that his legs were beginning to betray him had come to fruition. There would be no Ali-like second career”. For all that this was true, Fuentes had begun his work, the work of a fighter, even as he ceded early rounds. Fuentes was chopping off the ring, measuring the speed, measuring his guns against Calderon’s defences.

In the fourth, he tracked Calderon down to a corner and began the steady and sad process of tearing him apart. Calderon crumbled in just five.

I took this personally at the time, describing it as “the saddest sight to see in fights, the metaphorical equivalent of watching a Ferrari Italia F458 being driven off a cliff” but watching it for this series I was in the main just impressed by Fuentes. Viewed remote from the incident it is hard not to be given Fuentes’s ruthless domination of a legitimate great at the poundage. He deserves his credit, and he gets it here, decadal top five at the poundage.

04 – Nkosinathi Joyi

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 9-5-1 Ranked For: 25% of the decade

Nkosinathi Joyi stormed out of the 00s and in to the 10s the world’s premier minimumweight and proved it in his very first fight of the decade against the excellent Raul Garcia, who he thrashed. In his next fight he matched Katsunari Takayama but a clash of heads caused the fight to be called off and a no contest rendered. The immediate rematch was Joyi’s finest performance.

He did as fine a job as has been done in tracking Takayama down, and Takayama did try hard to keep him at arm’s length. In the fourth Joyi just outwalked him and lashed him with southpaw left hands to the face; in the ninth, too much showboating saw Takayama caught in the corner and punished. In between, Takayama had his occasional, surging moments but even in the rounds he lost, it felt that Joyi was not far away from retaining control.

A legitimate puncher, Joyi was consistently excellent at finding range and persisting in that range. Expert balance and technical footwork capable of mining that balance for maximum returns meant that once he had found the range, he was expert in maintaining it. Combined with a vicious body attack, it can be readily understood why this combination should be so difficult for a fighter like Takayama.

All that skill though was not enough to hide a certain fragility which, as we have seen, cost him against Mario Rodriguez. Another loss, this one narrow and on the cards against Hekkie Budler, sent him scurrying for 108lbs where he was repeatedly beaten up and stopped. Returning to 105lbs, he was clearly outpointed in a confused performance against Simpiwe Konkco. It seemed all but over for him.

Then something wonderful and strange happened. Two weeks before the end of the decade, Joyi was fed to the number six contender, Filipino Joey Canoy, and in a wonderful return to form, Joyi batted him unmercifully for twelve rounds. The only version of this fight I could track down was a video taken in a South African front room of a television broadcasting the fight (I’d like to thank the gentleman in question, who can at one point be overheard on the telephone), but nevertheless, it can be seen that Joyi looks himself, for all that it was a slower version. Canoy was firmly outclassed, stuck on the end of the Joyi jab and battered throughout by beltline work, underlining Joyi’s status as the finest bodypuncher of the divisional decade.

This victory enhances his standing considerably. How could it not? Once again ranked in the divisional top ten by the TBRB, he is nowhere near as deadly nor as respected he was in 2010, but at thirty-seven years of age he’s holding on, and with a strap to defend, he may just make his mark once more in the third decade of his prestigious career.

03 – Hekkie Budler

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 18-4 Ranked For: 51% of the decade

Hekkie Budler, a legend in his native South Africa, boxes with a catch-as-catch-can style that I thoroughly enjoy. Against number nine contender Michael Landero, Budler attacked directly, invaded the pocket and out-fought him for a near shut out. Against number ten contender Chaozhong Xiong, Budler stopped well short of a shutout, losing the first and dropped heavily in the second, trapped on the end of a fulsome left hook at a perfect angle from his jaw. Seriously hurt, he was lucky to escape the round.

Budler’s skill is in adaptations though and he spent the rest of the fight controlling the distance. Punishing Xiong for each transgression, he slowed the fight way down, taking the explosive start and making it something infinitely duller but easier to control. Xiong was reduced to launching forayed attacks from distance and sucking up what Budler had to give him in the meantime. By the fight’s end I was impressed but also nodding off.

Budler tended towards thrills though with a chin good enough to hold heavy shots and an engine good enough to run a busy fight plan against all-comers should he chose to do so. In “The Mega Fight” as it was billed in South Africa, Budler received a record payday to match fellow South African hero Nkosinathi Joyi and their fight was an excellent one. Guilty of shoe-shining early, Budler was behind in my card going into the second half of the fight but a grandstand finish saw him nip home by a smidge to win the most important fight of his career.

Losses to Gideon Buthelezi and Byron Rojas put the brakes on him just a little bit and it’s worth noting that Xiong is likely the second best win of his career, a rather unimpressive one; nevertheless, Budler was certainly in the running for the #2 spot.

02 – Wanheng Menayothin

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 42-0 Ranked For: 83% of the decade

Wanheng Menayothin, also known as Chayaphon Moonsri, ran across some unexpected and much deserved fame recently for overhauling Floyd Mayweather’s 50-0. Wanheng currently stands 54-0, undefeated but a different kind of undefeated; the kind that sees a fighter boxing to put food on the table in the literal, rather than that the figurative sense.

Wanheng is heralded and has been ranked for 83% of the decade; he is the most famous minimumweight since Calderon – and here he is, at #2 instead of #1. You are owed an explanation. Here it is:

Wanheng hasn’t fought anyone that good. I don’t mean this in the sense the word is normally used, that he has dominated a weak era (he hasn’t, and it isn’t), I mean he hasn’t fought anyone that good. The best fighter he has met may have been then number six contender Oswaldo Novo. Wanheng has done no business in the top five in the weight class he is said to have dominated. This means he hasn’t dominated it.

He crushed Novo, closing and battering him with an endless fuselage of punches that speaks of the hunger that continues to drive him at thirty-five. It is also true, though, that Novo has not won a single fight since he met Wanheng and included among the many losses he has endured is one to Saul Juarez. Juarez, then, is perhaps the best fighter Wanheng has beaten? He also met Wanheng in 2016 and Juarez, who I feel has been a little underrated, took Wanheng the distance. It was a tough fight, but one clearly won by Wanheng although Juarez, too, has been living a loser’s nightmare since that contest.

And it is hard beyond that to dig up contenders for a number one foe for Wanheng. Florante Condes has a certain doughy appeal, Pedro Taduran has looked decent since his loss to Wanheng, but beyond that, Wanheng’s 54-0 is comprised mostly of men any competent fighter would be expected to beat.

Wanheng is certainly that. He is disciplined, strong, brings good pressure and is armed with a very decent range of punches. The first real test of his career, should he have one, still lies ahead of him, and that means #2 is the absolute roof for him.

01 – Thammanoon Niyomtrong

Peak Ranking: 1 Record for the Decade: 20-0 Ranked For: 52% of the decade

Thammanoon Niyomtrong, also known as Knockout CP Freshmart (don’t ask) is unassailable in his position as the highest rated strawweight of the decade. It is not close; it is not debatable, there is no argument. The Thai (pictured) is the most accomplished 105lb fighter of the decade.

When he was but 12-0 he matched Carlos Buitrago, a fighter, for me, who is more dangerous than anyone Wanheng Menayothin has met in his celebrated fifty-four fights. It was also, for my money, the closest the undefeated Niyomtrong has come to defeat. The bones of his style were already firmly established; careful swarming, accompanied by very hard punches in ones, twos and threes in a clear adoption of drills, but also an opportunist’s eye for a winging punch. Moving across him is foolish and moving into him dangerous. At 12-0 though, he was inexperienced at pacing himself and had yet to complete the twelve-round distance. After thoroughly dominating the first half of the fight he suffered a dramatic fade late, missing often, holding intermittently. He scraped home by a single round on all three official cards (and mine).

Niyomtrong had escaped, barely, in a tough, difficult fight against the number six contender. The man he is: he rematched Buitrago eighteen months later and thrashed him. On my card, he lost only two rounds, stamina and economy worthy additions to his fighting arsenal. Noteworthy also is that between these two fights, Niyomtrong found time to meet with another undefeated ranked fighter, Alexis Diaz. Diaz, arguably as dangerous as anyone Wanheng met, deployed a hurtful beltline attack in the first which Niyomtrong lost, something that is not unusual for him. In the second though, he began launching his unusual array of one-twos, a fascinating collection of punches which take a standard pressure-stalk and render it something more thoughtful and difficult; Diaz was cracked in the fourth but was essentially tortured throughout the second and third.

I would argue that in these short months Niyomtrong had already overhauled Wanheng’s 105lb career, or the acute end of it anyway. Post Buitrago, though, Niyomtrong stepped into a new class. His foil for the second phase of the decade would be Byron Rojas, Rojas at his best, straight off his victory over Hekkie Budler. Rojas was brutal with Niyomtrong, fouling him with his shoulders, pushing at Niyomtrong’s cut eye with the top of his head, butting him. A liberal referee allowed Rojas to continue with his fierce work throughout the second half of the fight uninterrupted, but Niyomtrong was not so kind. All the while he was dolling out hurtful punches, including a peach of a lead left uppercut. The fight was close, but Niyomotrong was a narrow winner. Narrow, as we have seen, is not good enough for this fighter, so he once again provided a rematch for a fighter who had troubled him and once again beat him more widely on the second occasion.

Xiong Zhao Zhong played the part of Diaz during this second phase, another fight Niyomtrong, still just thirty, won widely.

Niyomtrong has outstripped his countryman Wanheng on every metric I use to measure fighters bar the number of fights he has had and the number of fights he has won, but the clear gulf in quality of opposition bested makes him the clear choice. He is also the final divisional number one we will encounter – with just the decadal pound-for-pound list to be revealed.

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Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser: Callum Walsh Returns to Madison Square Garden

Published

19 hours ago

March 17, 2025

Thomas Hauser

On Sunday, March 16 (the night before St. Patrick’s Day), Callum Walsh continued his move up the junior-middleweight ranks with a brutal first-round knockout of Dean Sutherland at the Hulu Theatre at Madison Square Garden. The seven-bout card promoted by Tom Loeffler featured seven Irish boxers. Walsh stole the show but two non-Irish fighters on the undercard caught the eye.

In the third fight of the evening, Cletus Seldin (known as “The Hebrew Hammer) took on Yeis Gabriel Solano. The last time Seldin fought at Madison Square Garden (March 15, 2024), he took the ring announcer’s microphone after a majority-decision win, dropped to one knee, held out a diamond engagement ring, and asked one Jessica Ostrowski to marry him. The future Mrs. Seldin (who was clad in black leather) said yes, and the happy couple paraded around the ring together. They were married on September 7.

“So I’ve got a ring now,” Seldin says. “And I love married life because I love Jessica.”

A cynic at ringside on Sunday night wondered if Jessica might serve Cletus with a summons and complaint for divorce in the ring after the fight. Not to worry. The couple seems happily married and, after Seldin eked out a majority decision over Solano (now winless in five fights dating back to 2019), Cletus and Jessica announced in the ring that they’re expecting the birth of their first child.

In the next fight of the evening, Irish heavyweight Thomas Carty (255 pounds) brought a 10-0 (9 KOs) record into the ring to face 409-pound Dajuan Calloway (10-3, 9 KOs, 1 KO by).

Carty-Calloway was a poor match for a prospect. A fighter gets relatively little credit for beating a 400-pound opponent. And the problems posed by a physical confrontation with a 400-pound mountain are considerable.

With fifty seconds left in round two, Carty collapsed to the canvas as Calloway spun him around on the inside. Thomas rose, limping badly on a clearly-injured left knee. And referee Jamil Antoine foolishly allowed the bout to continue.

Carty tried to circle away, fell again. And Antoine – more foolishly – instructed the fighters to fight on. There was a third fall that the referee ruled a knockdown. The bell rang. And then the fight was stopped. It goes in the record book as a knockout at 3:00 of the second round.

Worse for Carty, he now appears to be facing surgery followed by a long rehabilitation. There’s no way to know how much further damage was done to his knee in the forty seconds that he was clearly impaired and under assault by a 409-pound man who was trying to knock him unconscious.

But the night belonged to 23-year-old Callum Walsh.

Walsh is from Cork, Ireland, trains in California with Freddie Roach, and came into the ring with a 12-0 (10 KOs) record.

“He’s a pretty good fighter,” Roach says. “He’s getting better. And he works his ass off in the gym.”

Equally important in an age when social media and hype often supersede a fighter’s accomplishments in the ring as the key to marketability. Walsh has the enthusiastic backing of Dana White.

Callum seems more at ease with the media now than when he fought at Madison Square Garden a year ago. And he has a new look. His hair is shorter and no longer dyed blond.

“It’s a new year, so time for a new look,” Walsh explained. Later, he added, “I don’t want to be a prospect anymore. I want to be a contender. I expected the road to be tough. I’ve never had anything easy in my life. I’ve worked as a fisherman. I’ve worked on a cargo ship. I like this job a lot more. They have big plans for me. But I still have to do my job.”

Sutherland, age 26, was born in Scotland and has lived there his entire life. He came to New York with a 19-1 (7 KOs, 1 KO by) record and, prior to fighting Walsh, noted, “I’m under no illusions. Fighting an Irishman on St. Patrick’s Day in New York; it’s all being built up for him. If it goes to the scorecards, no matter how the fight goes, I’m unlikely to get the decision. But when the bell rings, it will be only me and Callum. I’ve watched his fights. I’ve studied his habits and rhythm. I’ve been through hard fights. He’s untested. This is my big opportunity. I’m not here to be part of Callum’s record.”

Talking is easier than fighting. When the hour of reckoning came, Walsh was faster, stronger, better-skilled, and hit harder than Sutherland. Indeed, Callum was so dominant in the early going that round one had the look of a 10-8 round without a knockdown. Then Sutherland was flattened by a right hook at the 2:45 mark and any thoughts as to scoring became irrelevant.

It was Walsh’s best showing to date, although it’s hard to know the degree to which Sutheralnd’s deficiencies contributed to that showing. What’s clear is that Callum is evolving as a fighter. And he’s the kind of fighter who fits nicely with the concept that Turki Alalshikh and Dana White have voiced for a new boxing promotional company. Whether they’ll be willing to put Walsh in tough is an open issue. UFC puts its fighters in tough.

****

There was a void at ringside on Sunday night. After more than four decades on the job, George Ward is no longer with the New York State Athletic Commission.

Ward was the model of what a commission inspector should be. I watched him in the corner and in dressing rooms countless times over the years. A handful of inspectors were as good as he was. Nobody was better. Later, as a deputy commissioner, he performed the thankless back-of-the-house administrative duties on fight night while other deputy commissioners were enjoying the scene at ringside.

George and Robert Orlando (who, like George, is a former New York City corrections officer) also normally presided over pre-fight weigh-ins. That’s worth mentioning here because it ties to one of the more unfortunate incidents that occurred during the tenure of former NYSAC executive director Kim Sumbler.

On November 1, 2019, Kelvin Gastelum weighed in for a UFC 244 match against Darren Till to be contested at Madison Square Garden. The contract weight for the fight was 186 pounds. It was known throughout the MMA community that Gastelum had been having trouble making weight. Before stepping on the scale, he stripped down completely naked and a towel was lifted in front of him to shield his genitals from public view. Then, to everyone’s surprise, his weight was announced as 184 pounds (two pounds under the contract weight).

How did Gastelum make weight? Video of the weigh-in showed him resting his elbow on his coach as he stood on the scale.

Why am I mentioning this now?

Ward and Orlando know all the tricks. While they were readying for the Gastelum-Till weigh-in, Sumbler told them that they were being replaced on the scales by two other commission employees who had been brought to New York City from upstate. They asked why and were told, “Because I said so.”

George Ward was one of the behind-the-scenes people who make boxing work. He’ll be missed.

****

Six years ago, Gene Pantalone wrote a traditional biography of former world lightweight champion Lew Jenkins. Now he has written – shall we say – a creative biography of lightweight great Freddie Welsh.

Welsh was born in Wales in 1886 but spent most of his ring career in the United States. He captured the lightweight crown by decision over Willie Ritchie in 1914 and relinquished it to Benny Leonard three years later. BocRec.com credits him with a 74-5-7 (34 KOs) ring record in bouts that are verified and were officially scored. If “newspaper decisions” are added to the mix, the numbers rise to 121 wins, 29 losses, and 17 draws. Many of the losses came when Welsh was long past his prime. He’s on the short list of boxing’s greatest fighters. The only knock out he suffered was when he lost the title to Leonard.

Chasing The Great Gatsby is styled as a biography of Welsh and also an advocacy brief in support of the proposition that Welsh was the inspiration and model for the title character in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s seminal novel The Great Gatsby. I’m unsure how factually accurate Pantalone’s work is in some places. Also, too often, he uses big words when small ones will suffice. For example:

“He was a pugilistic virtuoso, a pummeling poet with fists of fury and a keen intellect. His duality was evident in every aspect of his being, an amalgamation of the vicious and the benevolent.”

Over the course of 349 pages, that weighs a reader down.

Still, there are some interesting observations and nuggets of information to be mined in Chasing The Great Gatsby. Among my favorites are Pantalone’s description of Jack Dempsey training for his historic 1921 fight against George Carpentier at a “health farm” that Welsh owned in New Jersey; Pantelone’s description of how the stadium that hosted Dempsey-Carpentier was built; and Pantalone’s evaluation of the fight itself, which he calls “a spectacle of titanic proportions,” before adding,” The truth was inescapable. The fight had not lived up to its grandeur, but the event did.”

****

Several of the books that Robert Lipsyte has written during his storied career as a journalist focus on boxing; most notably, Free to Be Muhammad Ali and The Contender (a young adult novel). Lipsyte’s most recent book – Rhino’s Run (published by Harper) – is a young adult novel keyed to high school football, not the sweet science. But the opening sentence bears repeating:

“Punching Josh Kremens didn’t feel as good as I thought it would, and I’d been thinking about it for five years.”

Be honest! Don’t you want to read more?

Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and ME is a personal memoir available at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1

In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

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Ever-Improving Callum Walsh KOs Dean Sutherland at Madison Square Garden

Published

1 day ago

March 16, 2025

David A. Avila

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Irish luck was not involved as Callum Walsh won the battle of hard-hitting southpaws over Dean Sutherland by knockout on Sunday.

One right hook was all it took.

“You’re never going to beat the Irish,” said Walsh.

In a contest between Celtic super welterweights Walsh (13-0, 11 KOs) retained the WBC Continental America’s title against Sutherland (19-2, 7 KOs) in quick fashion at the Madison Square Garden Theater in Manhattan.

Usually fights between southpaws can be confusing to both contestants. But Walsh had expressed a fondness for fighting lefthanders then vividly exhibited the reasons why.

Walsh, 24, a native of Cork, Ireland, now living and training in Los Angeles, quickly demonstrated why he likes fighting lefties with a steady flow of combinations from the opening bell.

He did not hesitate.

Sutherland, 26, had only lost once before and that was more than two years ago. Against Walsh the Scottish fighter was not hesitant to advance forward but was caught with lefts and right hooks.

After two minutes of scattered blows, Sutherland fought back valiantly and when cornered, Walsh tapped two jabs then unleashed a right hook through the Scottish fighter’s gloves that floored the Aberdeen fighter for the count at 2:45 of the first round.

“I’m feeling very good. Dean Sutherland is a very good opponent. I knew he was going to be dangerous. That was my best opponent,” said Walsh.

It was the fourth consecutive knockout win for Walsh who seems to improve with every single combat.

“I’m looking forward to the future. I’m getting stronger and stronger,” said Walsh who is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach. “Anyone that comes to me I will take him out.”

Other Bouts

Super featherweight Feargal McCrory (17-1, 9 KOs) survived a knockdown in the fourth to out-muscle Keenan Carbajal (25-5-1, 17 KOs) and batter down the Arizona fighter in the seventh and again in the eighth with volume punching.

Carbajal was deducted a point early for holding in round two, but regained that point when he floored the Irish southpaw during an exchange in the fourth.

Despite suffering a knockdown, McCrory continued stalking Carbajal and floored him in the seventh and eighth with battering blows. Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. stopped the fight without a count.

A rematch between two Irish super middleweights saw Emmet Brennan (6-0) remain undefeated by unanimous decision over Kevin Cronin (9-3-1).

Cronin started quickly with a pressure style and punches flowing against Brennan who resorted to covering and countering. Though it looked like Cronin was building up a lead with a busier style, the judges preferred Brennan’s judicious counters. No knockdowns were scored as all three judges saw Brennan the winner 98-92 after 10 rounds.

Dajuan Calloway (11-3, 9 KOs) emerged the winner by technical knockout over Thomas Carty (10-1) who was unable to continue after two rounds when his leg tangled and thereafter was unable to stand. Because he could not continue the fight was ruled a technical knockout win for Calloway in the heavyweight match.

Also

Cletus “Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (29-1, 23 Kos) defeated Yeis Solano (15-5) by majority decision after eight rounds in a super lightweight contest.

Donagh Keary (1-0) defeated Geral Alicea-Romero (0-1-1) by decision after four.

Light heavyweights Sean O’Bradaigh (0-0-1) and Jefferson Almeida (0-1-1) fought to a majority draw after four.

Photo credit: JP Yim

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Nick Ball Wears Down and Stops TJ Doheny Before the Home Folks in Liverpool

Published

3 days ago

March 15, 2025

Arne K. Lang

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Fighting in his hometown, Liverpool’s five-foot-two fireplug Nick “The Wrecking” Ball stopped TJ Doheny after 10 progressively more one-sided rounds to retain his WBA belt in the second defense of the featherweight title he won with a hard-earned decision over Raymond Ford in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Referee Michael Alexander, with the assent of Doheny’s corner, waived it off following the bell ending Round 10, much to the chagrin of the brave but mildewed Doheny who burst into tears. But then, Doheny’s right eye was closed shut and he was plainly exhausted. This may be the end of the line for the 38-year-old campaigner from Perth, Australia via Portlaois, Ireland who was 26-5 heading in following his first loss inside the distance which came against pound-for-pound king Naoya Inoue.

There were no knockdowns, but Ball (22-0-1, 13 KOs) was docked a point in round nine for throwing Doheny to the canvas after having previously been warned for this infraction. Earlier, both he and Doheny were warned for an incident that could have ended the bout prematurely. At the end of the first round, Ball extricated himself from a headlock by kicking Doheny in the back of his knee. The challenger’s leg appeared to buckle as he returned to his stool.

Going forward, Ball has many options. The 28-year-old Liverpudlian purportedly relishes a unification fight with WBC belt-holder Stephen Fulton, but the decision ultimately rests with Ball’s promoter Frank Warren.

Other Bouts of Note

In a 12-round bantamweight contest that was close on the scorecards but yet a monotonous affair, Liverpool’s Andrew Cain won a split decision over former WBC flyweight title-holder Charlie Edwards. The scores were 116-112 and 115-114 favoring Cain with judge Steve Gray submitting a disreputable 115-113 tally for Edwards. At stake were a trio of regional titles.

The science of boxing, they say, is about hitting without getting hit. Charlie Edwards is adept at the latter but the hitting part is not in his DNA. He was on his bicycle from the get-go, a style that periodically brought forth a cascade of boos. Cain, who trains in the same gym with Nick Ball, was never able to corner him – Edwards was too elusive – but Cain, to his credit, never lost his composure.

In improving to 14-1 (12), Cain achieved a measure of revenge, in a sense. In his last documented amateur bout, in 2014, Cain was defeated by Charlie’s brother Sunny Edwards, also a former world title-holder at the professional level. Heading in, Charlie Edwards (20-2, 1 NC) was unbeaten in his last 13 which included a comfortable decision over Cristofer Rosales in his flyweight title fight. Charlie relinquished that belt when he could no longer make the weight.

Showboating Cuban lightweight Jadier Herrera, who fought 13 of his first 14 pro fights in his adopted home of Dubai, advanced to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of spunky but outclassed Mexican import Jose Macias (21-4-2). The official time was 2:31 of round seven.

An all-Liverpool affair between super flyweights Jack Turner (11-0, 10 KOs) and Ryan Farrag (23-6) was over in a jiff. The match, which went next-to-last in the bout order, ended at the 42-second mark of round two. A barrage of punches climaxed by a left hook sent Farrag down hard and the referee waived it off.

The noted spoiler Ionut Baluta, whose former victims include Andrew Cain, forged another upset with a 10-round split decision over local fan favorite Brad Strand. The judges favored Baluta 98-91 and 96-94, out-voting the Italian judge whose 97-93 tally for Strand was deemed the most accurate by the TV pundits.

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