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Terence Crawford TKOs Kell Brook; Franco-Moloney II Ends in Controversy

If Terence “Bud” Crawford isn’t the sport’s top pound-for-pound fighter, he’s at least on the very short list of contenders (a list that became shorter when Teofimo Lopez upset Vasiliy Lomachenko). Tonight, before a handful of fans at the MGM “Bubble,” Crawford stopped Kell Brook in the fourth round while making a strong case that he is indeed the best of the best and arguably one of the best welterweights of all time.
Crawford (37-0, 28 KOs) was making the fourth defense of his WBO world welterweight title. As is his custom, he started slowly. But in the opening minute of the fourth round he landed a right hook that sent Brook staggering back against the ropes. He immediately went for the kill, but was pulled off the Yorkshireman by referee Tony Weeks so that he could issue a count. When the fight resumed, Crawford took care of business. A flurry of power punches including a devastating overhand right forced Weeks to waive it off. The official time was 1:14.
It was the third defeat in 42 fights for Brook who was making his first start without trainer Dominic Ingle. All three losses were to Future Hall of Famers: Gennadiy Golovkin, Errol Spence Jr, and now Crawford. It took Spence 11 rounds to polish off Brook when they fought on Brook’s turf in front of 27,000 people in Sheffield, England.
After the fight, Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum said that talks will resume for a bout with Manny Pacquiao and that the fight will likely transpire in the early spring of 2021 in the Middle East.
Co-Feature
Joshua Franco retained his WBA world 115-pound title in a controversial fashion when the Nevada State Athletic Commission, after a delay of more than 25 minutes, affirmed the opinion of referee Russell Mora that the injury to Franco’s right eye was caused by an accidental head butt. The fight was stopped by the ring doctor after two rounds and went into the books as a no-decision.
Australia’s Andrew Moloney, who was seeking to regain the title that he lost to Franco in this ring on June 23 and thereby avenge his lone defeat, clearly had the best of it until the fight was stopped. In the opening stanza, Franco’s eye began to swell and it shut tight during the second frame. As to whether the swelling was caused by a head butt, the video was either inconclusive or showed that the swelling must have resulted from a punch as there was no head butt. The commission chose the former, much to the outrage of lead commentator Joe Tessitore who left the ESPN audience with the impression that Moloney got a raw deal.
Franco entered the contest with a record of 17-1-2. Moloney was 21-1. Look for the WBA to order a rematch. The brouhaha does not reflect well on Bob Bennett, the head of the Nevada commission, who is being roasted on social media.
Other Bouts
An 8-round bantamweight match between Joshua Greer (22-2-2) and Edwin Rodriguez (11-5-2) ended in a draw. It was the first fight back for Chicago’s Greer who was upset by Mike Plania in his last start, a setback that ended his 19-fight winning streak and knocked him out of the top slot in the WBO rankings. Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican, was better than his record. His last nine opponents were collectively 111-6-1 at the time that he fought them.
Tennessee middleweight Tyler Howard improved to 19-0 with an 8-round unanimous decision over battle-tested Alabama gatekeeper KeAndrae Leatherwood. It was the first fight in Las Vegas for Howard whose dad, a journeyman light heavyweight, was 0-3 in Las Vegas rings. The fight was uneventful until late in the final round when Howard scored a knockdown. Earlier in the fight, Leatherwood had a point deducted for excessive holding.
Cincinnati featherweight Duke Ragan, who participated in the 2016 and 2010 Olympic trials, improved to 3-0 at the expense of Sebastian Gutierrez (1-1). Ragan won every round, prevailing by scores of 40-35 across the board.
Vegas Larfield (2-0, 2 KOs), an 18-year-old Aussie from Brisbane, made an impressive U.S. debut with a third-round stoppage of Juan Alberto Flores (2-1-1).
In the opener, a lightweight contest slated for six, Raymond Muratalla, improved to 11-0 (9) with a third-round stoppage of Ecuador’s Luis Porozo (15-5). Porozo has now lost five of his last six, but was thought to be a durable type, having lost only once previously inside the distance. Muratalla, the youngest of two fighting brothers from Fontana, CA, purportedly defeated Ryan Garcia three times as an amateur.
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Alexis Rocha KOs Brave but Overmatched George Ashie on DAZN.

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

The presumption, echoed by ESPN boxing commentator Bernardo Osuna, was that tonight’s bout at Wembley Arena in London between Artur Beterbiev and Anthony Yarde would be explosive and entertaining for as long as it lasted. That proved to be true and when the smoke cleared, Beterbiev, the rugged Montreal-based Russian had retained his three light heavyweight title belts and had added another knockout to his ledger, his nineteenth as a pro in as many opportunities.
Both men landed hard shots during the fight and both were marked up at the finish. Yarde had a cut under his right eye and Beterbiev had a cut on his left eyelid.
A chopping right hand from Beterbiev late in the first minute of the eighth round marked the beginning of the end for Yarde, the muscular 31-year-old Londoner who entered the contest sporting a record of 23-2 with 22 knockouts. The punch sent him reeling backward toward his corner where he landed on his knees. He beat the count, but turned toward his corner rather than referee Steve Gray.
Gray let the bout continue, but Beterbiev pressed his advantage and after a few more unanswered punches Yarde’s trainer Tunde Ajayi stepped up on the ring apron and summoned Gray to stop it. The official time was 2:01 of round eight.
Beterbiev hasn’t lost since losing a decision to amateur nemesis Oleksandr Usyk in the quarter finals of the 2012 London Olympics. At age 38, he shows no signs of slowing down.
In his post-fight interview, the self-effacing Russian said, “I hope some day I will be a good boxer,” and acknowledged that he would welcome a unification fight with fellow Russian Dmitry Bivol, the WBA title-holder.
WBA Title Fight
In a bout that was in theory the co-feature but went off during the earlier portion of the ESPN+ livestream, Artem Dalakian (21-0, 15 KOs) retained his WBA world flyweight title with a unanimous and somewhat controversial 12-round unanimous decision over Costa Rica’s David Jimenez (12-1). The judges had it 116-112 and 115-113 twice.
An Azerbaijan-born Ukrainian, Dalakian was making the sixth defense of the title he won in 2018 with a 12-round decision over Brian Viloria in Los Angeles in his lone previous appearance at a venue in the English-speaking world. His five title defenses were in Kiev. Jimenez was coming off a 12-round majority decision over Ricardo Sandoval in what ranked as one of the bigger upsets of 2021.
A Split for the Itauma Brothers
Promoter Frank Warren’s newest signee, 18-year-old heavyweight Moses Itauma, made a big splash in his pro debut, blasting out Czechoslovakia’s Marcel Bode (2-2) in 23 seconds. Moses and his older brother Karol Itauma are sons of a British citizen of Nigerian ancestry and a Slovakian mother.
In a shocking upset, Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna, a 36-year-old Argentine who had lost six of his previous eight fights, forged a fifth-round stoppage of well-touted Karol Itauma who was 9-0 (7 KOs) as a pro coming in. Itauma ate numerous straight right hands before a straight right hand knocked him down for the count. The official time was 1:04 of round five. Maderna improved to 29-10 (11).
Also
The Frankham cousins, super welterweight Joshua and super featherweight Charles, improved their ledgers to 7-0 with 6-round shutouts over their respective opponents. The cousins are grandsons of John “Gypsy Johnny” Frankham, a former British light heavyweight champion.
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Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury on Feb. 26 in a Potential Pay-Per-View Blockbuster

It’s now official. The twice-postponed “grudge match” between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will come to fruition on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. An 8-rounder contested at a catch-weight of 185 pounds, the match and several supporting bouts will air in the U.S. on ESPN+ PPV at a cost of $49.99.
The hook for this promotion – a come-hither that will be hammered home incessantly in the coming weeks – is that Jake Paul will finally touch gloves with a legitimate professional boxer. Paul’s previous opponents were a fellow YouTube influencer (AnEsonGib), a retired NBA player (Nate Robinson), and three former MMA champions: Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, and Anderson Silva. He fought Woodley twice.
Tommy Fury, the half-brother of reigning WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, made his pro debut in December of 2018 in a four-round bout in his hometown of Manchester. He was two fights into his pro career when he became a contestant on the TV reality show “Love Island.” An enormously popular show in Great Britain, especially among the coveted 18-34 demographic, “Love Island” was in its fifth season.
Fury was paired with supermodel Molly-Mae Hague with whom he finished second. They developed a great chemistry, on and off the set, became engaged, and purportedly welcomed a baby girl this week.
What about Tommy Fury the boxer? How legitimate is he?
Fury’s record currently stands at 8-0 (4 KOs). His first opponent was a professional loser from Latvia whose current ledger reads 10-113-3. His next six opponents were a combined 4-73-2. Finally, in his last fight, which occurred in April of last year, he met an opponent with a good record, Poland’s Daniel Bocianski, who was 10-1. But look closer and one discovers that all but one of Bocianski’s 10 triumphs came against opponents with losing records. The exception was a 6-round decision over a fellow Pole whose record currently stands at 18-16-1 and who has been stopped 13 times.
Fury bloodied Bocianski and won a wide 6-round decision, but his performance was underwhelming. “Fury had the Hollywood teeth, tan, and diamante-colored shorts,” wrote Chasinga Malata of the London Sun, “leaving only his performance without sheen and sparkle.”
There is nothing in Tommy Fury’s background, aside from his biological pedigree, to suggest that he has the tools to become a world-class boxer. If he were a member of the Three Stooges, he would be Shemp.
Jake Paul, by contrast, may actually be legit. Those in the know that have watched him train have come away impressed. It says here that Paul isn’t moving up in class on Feb. 26; it’s the other way around.
In the co-feature, Ilunga Makabu (29-2, 25 KOs) will make the third defense of his WBC world cruiserweight title against Badou Jack (27-3-3, 16 KOs). A Congolese-South African, Makabu is the older brother of heavyweight contender Martin Bakole. Jack, four years older than Makabu at age 39, formerly held world titles at 168 and 175 pounds.
Although Badou Jack was born in Sweden and keeps a home in Las Vegas where he has long been affiliated with the Mayweather Boxing Club, he will have the home field advantage in Saudi Arabia where he has cultivated a loyal following. A devout Muslim, Jack will be making his fourth straight start in the Persian Gulf Region. In his last outing, he outpointed Richard “Popeye” Rivera at Jeddah, winning a 10-round split decision.

Badou Jack
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