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Ringside at the Palladium: Cassius Chaney and “Popeye” Rivera Win

WORCESTER — Inside the claustrophobic downtown Palladium, I’m ten feet away from an active boxing ring while spit, snot and sweat is raining down on me.
And God knows what else.
It’s an illuminated mist of manly danger. And though I’m certainly not wearing a mask, in my years of reporting from ringside I’ve always thought it wise to wear a brimmed hat. I find a baseball cap especially useful in keeping all that blood and guts out of my face and off of my stuff.
The scene last night in Worcester was one of normality. Hundreds of local boxing fans milled in close quarters, many fighting for space in standing room only sections. There were no restrictions put in place by the state and the vast majority in attendance were unmasked.
There were no surprises in the ring. No upsets scored. Every fighter who hustled his fair share of tickets to be on this Rivera Promotions show won as expected. And there were no girl fights.
Promoter Jose Antonio Rivera hopes to be back at this venue in November. It costs the promoter six thousand dollars to rent the Palladium as opposed to the fifteen grand required to rent out the much larger DCU event center across the street where he’s previously promoted.
In the main event scheduled for ten rounds, Main Events heavyweight prospect Cassius “C.O.G.” Chaney, 264, New London, CT, 21-0 (14) earned a unanimous decision against Shawndell Terell Winters, 219, Harvey, Illinois, 13-6 (12). Scores were 96-94, 98-92 and 97-93.
Chaney, cornered by a very vocal Stephen “Breadman” Edwards, had to deal with the fact that most fans left the building after “Popeye” Rivera won in the co-main. Then he had to deal with a delay as the Massachusetts boxing commission worked on broken boards beneath the canvas.
Chaney won the fight with his flicking jab and fresher skills. In the ninth round, an accidental clash of heads resulted in a cut to Chaney’s left eye. Chaney’s promoter Kathy Duva watched from ringside as her charge got 10 important rounds in against an experienced opponent.
Winters, who gave former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker a good go, wasn’t impressed. “I thought I outworked him. The reality is, I’m not an easy win. Kudos to Chaney.”
“I felt a little rusty,” confessed Chaney after getting his left eye looked at by ringside physicians. “He was using his head in there. The cut had me seeing double but he didn’t press the issue.”
Co-Main Event
Richard “Popeye” Rivera, 177, Hartford, CT, improved to 20-0 (15) with a first round blowout of Ernesto “Gatti” Rivas, 176, Guadalajara, México, 11-18 (6) in a scheduled 8-rounder. Rivas was itching and ready to go but he couldn’t take it to the body. “Popeye” ring walked through the crowd and he walked right through Rivas, decking the Mexican with a two-fisted body attack.
Fighting for the first time with John “The Iceman” Scully in his corner, “Popeye” Rivera overcame a six- month spell of inactivity to win for the first time since last February.
“God is number one. He is the center of everything.”
Rivera then called out Badou Jack of all people.
In the dressing room afterwards, Rivera explained his logic. “Badou is somebody I can make a statement fighting. I was supposed to fight a guy named Blake McKernan. He ended up fighting Jack on the Tyson-Jones undercard. The guy didn’t wanna fight me, he wanted to fight Jack. Jack won, and so I don’t want to fight the guy who lost. I wanna fight the guy who won!”
Trainer John “The Iceman” Scully offered his critique after really watching Rivera fight up close for the first time. “Look, as the trainer, I’m not as excited as some other people. There’s always gonna be a million things to work on. We’re not looking to fight Canelo or Beterbiev at this point.”
Undercard Bouts
Wilfredo “El Sucaro” Pagan, 140, Southbridge, MA via Puerto Rico, 6-1-1 (3) and Carlos Marrero, 137, Bridgeport, CT, 2-6-2 went to war over six rounds and neither boxer emerged with a win. The judges saw it a draw, 58-56 Pagan, 59-55 Marerro and 57-57 even. This was the most entertaining and most competitive fight on the whole card and local fans loved the action.
I caught up with both battered warriors in the dressing room after the fight. “It was a real old-fashioned war,” said the 41-year-old Pagan. “I thought I won four rounds but I’m not a judge.”
“It was very intense,” Marrero told me afterwards as blood leaked from his right eye. “Because he was the crowd favorite, I tried to push a little bit more in the last ten seconds of every round.”
There will probably be a rematch.
Bryant Daniels, 220, Worcester, 6-1 (4) earned a first round TKO when Corey Morey, unofficially 300, Philadelphia, 1-5, fell down in a corner and grabbed his left knee. Daniels is a 2-time New England Golden Gloves champion and his time spent in the unpaid ranks once saw him share a ring with the now deceased Boston Bomber. Tonight he shared it with a Philadelphia Doughboy.
Daniels hasn’t been in the ring since October 2017, a decision loss to a guy named Josh Temple down in Atlanta. “This is my comeback fight. I’ll take what I can get. I’ve been off three years.”
Daniels works in insurance sales and had to choose working over fighting during the pandemic. In comparing the two vastly disparate professions, Daniels declared, “It’s still measuring risk.”
Crowd favorite Bobby “BH3” Harris III, 167, Worcester, 3-0-1 needed a little help from the officials to score a unanimous 4-round decision over Juan Celin Zapata, 166, Bronx via Honduras, 6-19-2 (4). Zapata, fit and ready to rumble, scored an uncalled knockdown in the second round off a wild left hook that decked Harris in his own corner. In the third, a bad cut appeared over the right eye of Harris and it bled until the final bell. Scores: 40-36, 39-36, 40-35.
Harris thanked his mom and went to get stitches.
Enrique Collazo, 168, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 16-1-1 (11) scored a fourth round TKO of Ronald Montes, 168, Colombia, 18-14 (16) when Montes stayed on the stool after suffering a knockdown in the fourth round. For his efforts, they put a minor title on the waist of Collazo.
Heavyweight Demek Edmonds, 199, Worcester, 3-0 (2) pounded out a forgettable 4-round decision over Rafael De Souza, 206, Brazil, 0-2. Edmonds, 26, is a 3-time New England Golden Gloves champion and he’s still adjusting to life in the pros. Scores: 40-36 on all three cards.
Angel Gonzalez, 127, Hartford, CT, 5-0 (3) overcame a massive height disadvantage against Richard “Hard To Hit” Barnard, 135, Hawaii, 1-5-1 to score a 4-round unanimous decision. The reason Barnard was so damn hard to hit is that his tiny opponent could barely reach his chin.
Eslih “Mr. Slick” Owuso, 161, Worcester, MA via Ghana, 5-0 (2) stopped the very unwilling Carlos Galindo, 159, Woburn via Peru, 1-17 in the first round when referee Leo Gerstel saw enough flopping around on the canvas from Galindo. Time of the TKO was: 1:32. Owuso wears his long hair like Lennox Lewis while Galindo’s only win came against Maine’s Brandon Berry.
In the opening bout of the evening, Josniel “TG” Castro, 155, Florida, 4-0 (2) made a punching bag out of Anthony Everett, 154, Lawrence, MA 1-9 (0), scoring a unanimous 4-round decision. Castro scored a knockdown off a left hook in the second. Judge’s Scores: 40-34 on all cards.
All things considered, it was an entertaining night at the fights and it’s good to be back in the press section and chasing these boxers into the dressing rooms for interviews. Worcester’s own Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriquez was spotted at ringside by this reporter looking a few pounds over 175. I asked Edwin if he planned to ever fight again. That’s when the bomb went off.
“No, I’m retired.”
New England’s future starts now.
Photos by Christian Nunez
Venue: The Worcester Palladium
Live Attendance: Approx 1,800
Promoter: Jose Antonio Rivera
Co-Promoter: Chuck Shearns
Matchmaker: A.J. Rivera
Ring Announcer: John Vena
Show Publicist: Bob Trieger
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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

In an excellent fight climaxed by a furious 12th round, Argentina’s Fernando Daniel Martinez came off the deck to win his rematch with Kazuto Ioka and retain his piece of the world 115-pound title. The match was staged at Ioka’s familiar stomping grounds, the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo.
In their first meeting on July 7 of last year in Tokyo, Martinez was returned the winner on scores of 117-111, 116-112, and a bizarre 120-108. The rematch was slated for late December, but Martinez took ill a few hours before the weigh-in and the bout was postponed.
The 33-year-old Martinez, who came in sporting a 17-0 (9) record, was a 7-2 favorite to win the sequel, but there were plenty of reasons to favor Ioka, 36, aside from his home field advantage. The first Japanese male fighter to win world titles in four weight classes, Ioka was 3-0 in rematches and his long-time trainer Ismael Salas was on a nice roll. Salas was 2-0 last weekend in Times Square, having handled upset-maker Rolly Romero and Reito Tsutsumi who was making his pro debut.
But the fourth time was not a charm for Ioka (31-4-1) who seemingly pulled the fight out of the fire in round 10 when he pitched the Argentine to the canvas with a pair of left hooks, but then wasn’t able to capitalize on the momentum swing.
Martinez set a fast pace and had Ioka fighting off his back foot for much of the fight. Beginning in round seven, Martinez looked fatigued, but the Argentine was conserving his energy for the championship rounds. In the end, he won the bout on all three cards: 114-113, 116-112, 117-110.
Up next for Fernando Martinez may be a date with fellow unbeaten Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, the lineal champion at 115. San Antonio’s Rodriguez is a huge favorite to keep his title when he defends against South Africa’s obscure Phumelela Cafu on July 19 in Frisco, Texas.
As for Ioka, had he won today’s rematch, that may have gotten him over the hump in so far as making it into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. True, winning titles in four weight classes is no great shakes when the bookends are only 10 pounds apart, but Ioka is still a worthy candidate.
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Emanuel Navarrete Survives a Bloody Battle with Charly Suarez in San Diego

In a torrid battle Mexico’s Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete and his staccato attack staved off the herky-jerky non-stop assaults of Philippine’s Charly Suarez to win by technical decision and retain the WBO super feather world title on Saturday.
What do they feed these guys?
Navarrete (40-2-1, 32 KOs) and his elongated arms managed to connect enough to compensate against the surprising Suarez (18-1, 10 KOs) who wowed the crowd at Pechanga Arena in San Diego.
An accidental clash of heads opened a cut on the side of Navarrete’s left eye and forced a stoppage midway through the fight.
From the opening round Navarrete used his windmill style of attack with punches from different angles that caught Suarez multiple times early. It did not matter. Suarez fired back with impunity and was just as hungry to punch it out with the Mexican fighter.
It was savage.
Every time Navarrete connected solidly, he seemed to pause and check out the damage. Bad idea. Suarez would immediately counter with bombs of his own and surprise the champion with his resilience and tenacity.
Wherever they found Suarez they should look for more, because the Filipino fighter from Manila was ferocious and never out of his depth.
Around the sixth round the Mexican fighter seemed a little drained and puzzled at the tireless attacks coming from Suarez. During an exchange of blows a cut opened up on Navarrete and it was ruled an accidental clash of heads by the referee. Blood streamed down the side of Navarrete’s face and it was cleared by the ringside physician.
But at the opening of the eighth round, the fight was stopped and the ringside physician ruled the cut was too bad to continue. The California State Athletic Commission looked at tape of the round when the cut opened to decipher if it was an accidental butt or a punch that caused the cut. It was unclear so the referee’s call of accidental clash of heads stood as the final ruling.
Score cards from the judges saw Navarrete the winner by scores of 78-75, 77-76 twice. He retains the WBO title.
Interim IBF Lightweight Title
The sharp-shooting Raymond “Danger” Muratalla (23-0, 17 KOs) maneuvered past Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-2, 12 KOs) by unanimous decision to win the interim IBF lightweight title after 12 rounds.
Both fighters were strategic in their approach with Muratalla switching from orthodox to southpaw at various times of the fight. Neither fighter was ever able to dominant any round.
Defense proved the difference between the two lightweights. Muratalla was able to slip more blows than Abdullaev and that proved the difference. The fighter from Fontana, California was able to pierce Abdullaev’s guard more often than not, especially with counter punches.
Abdullaev was never out of the fight. The Russian fighter was able to change tactics and counter the counters midway through the fight. It proved effective especially to the body. But it was not enough to offset Muratalla’s accuracy.
There were no knockdowns and after 12 rounds the judges scored it 118-110, 119-109 twice for Muratalla who now becomes the mandatory for the IBF lightweight title should Vasyl Lomachenko return to defend it.
Muratalla was brief.
“He was a tough fighter,” said Muratalla. “My defense is something I work on a lot.”
Perla Wins
Super flyweight Perla Bazaldua (2-0) eased past Mona Ward (0-2) with a polished display of fighting at length and inside.
Combination punching and defense allowed Bazaldua to punch in-between Ward’s attacks and force the St. Louis fighter to clinch repeatedly. But Ward hung in there despite taking a lot of blows. After four rounds the Los Angeles-based Bazaldua was scored the winner 40-36 on all three cards. Bazaldua signed a long term contract with Top Rank in March.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.
Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.
In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.
Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.
Semi-Wind-Up
Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.
This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.
Other Bouts of Note
In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.
In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.
Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.
A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry
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