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Ringside Report: WBO Champ Andrade stops Quigley in 2; Reis Tops Camara in Scorcher

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MANCHESTER, NH —Though its name was recently changed from the Verizon Wireless Arena to the SNHU Arena, Demetrius Andrade is no stranger to this entertainment venue.

No, “Boo-Boo” knows ManchVegas well.

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, Andrade fought here, headlining ‘Fight To Educate’ charity boxing cards against decidedly limited opposition. In the ensuing decade, not a lot has changed for Andrade. He doesn’t fight often and when he does, it’s always against another overmatched opponent.

Hopefully this changes soon.

Tonight in ‘Live Free or Die’ New Hampshire, Andrade, now 31-0 (19), successfully defended his WBO middleweight belt for the fifth time, defeating 30-year-old Jason Quigley, 19-2 (14) via all-too easy second round TKO. After a slow start in the first, Andrade turned up the heat and scored a knockdown late in the frame. In the second, Andrade picked up where he left off, blasting Quigley to the canvas in a neutral corner where referee Arthur Mercante Jr. called a halt.

Time of the stoppage was 2:24.

Andrade, 33, now hopes that his promotional outfit and the network he fights on can finally get him a big money fight. “If Matchroom and DAZN do their jobs, the people are gonna turn out.”

Eddie Hearn swears he can’t find anyone willing to fight the unbeaten WBO middleweight champion and that’s why Andrade had to settle for the “challenge” of Jason Quigley in the other, less-known Manchester. “He’s the most avoided fighter I’ve ever worked with,” says Hearn.

If you believe Eddie’s hype, the best middleweight fighters in the world are ducking the slick southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island because he represents all risk and very little reward.

The truth is that Andrade has little fanbase outside Providence and the actual ticket seller tonight was Jason Quigley. If it wasn’t for the Irish coming in through Boston to see him fight in New Hampshire, there’d be little local interest in the rest of the card’s offerings, including Andrade. Hearn tried to book the Boston Garden for this show but had to settle for Manchester’s SNHU.

Andrade wants to know who’s next.

It really should be Gennady Golovkin.

“Where you at GGG?” asks “Boo-Boo” and it’s not hard to see why. The unification matchup should be easy to make. Both boxers are current belt holders at middleweight and both have a need to be involved in much more high-profile bouts. Andrade has never had a big fight while the post-Canelo “Triple G” now fights lower tier opponents including his next foe, 16-2 Ryota Murata.

Andrade wants the winner of Golovkin-Murata and he bristles with contempt at the notion that Jamie Munguia will get a shot at GGG before he ever does. “Let’s make these big fights happen.”

DAZN Televised Co-Features 

In the most competitive female fight this writer has ever reported on live from ringside, Kali Reis, 138, 19-7-1 (5), Providence, RI, scored a brutal 10-round split decision over 33-year-old Jessica “The Cobra” Camara, 139, 8-3, Montreal, Canada to retain her WBA female super lightweight championship. Scores: 97-93 Reis, 95-94 Camara and 97-93 Reis. With the victory, Reis, 35, adds the vacant WBO championship and continues on in the “Road to Undisputed” tournament. She will now face WBC champion Chantelle Cameron for all the belts.

reis

“Camara was tough, hats off to her,” said Reis.

WBC flyweight champion Julio Cesar Martinez, 111.4, 18-1 (14), Mexico City, retained his title via ‘No Decision’ after two rounds were complete against McWilliams Arroyo, 111.6, Puerto Rico, 21-5 (16). Both boxers scored clean knockdowns in the first round and it looked like a war was brewing. In the second round, Arroyo, 35, suffered a bad cut around his right eye from an unintentional headbutt and he was then pushed to the canvas for what was ruled an official knockdown. The fight was stopped in the corner on advice of the ringside physician. This was Arroyo’s third shot at the flyweight title, and a terrible disappointment. A rematch is in order.

Unified WBA and IBF super bantamweight champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev, 121.8, 10-0 (7), Chust, Uzbekistan, got off to a fast start and it looked like he might score an early knockout. Instead, his 32-year-old opponent Jose Velasquez, 121.6, 29-7-2 (19), Quellion, Chile, showed why in his six previous losses, he’d never been knocked out. He took everything the 27-year-old Akhmadaliev threw at him and made a very compelling fight of it even if the judge’s didn’t reflect it in their unanimous 119-109 scoring. Velasquez did pushups and backflips after the final bell.

Non-Televised Undercard 

Southpaw heavyweight Demsey “The Tower” McKean, 243, 20-0 (13), in his first fight outside of Australia, pounded out a sixth round TKO over overweight Don Haynesworth, 293, 16-5-1 (14), New Rochelle, NY. McKean has been in camp with Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte. He is ranked by the ABC orgs and says that a fight with Joseph Parker in Australia would be a big.

Cruiserweight Tommy “The Kid” O’Toole, 2-0 (1), Galway, Ireland, promised to impress and he certainly did, blowing away Mark Malone, 1-2, Longview, Texas at 1:31 of the first round. Malone was down for a good while after a flush left hook dumped him into a corner and onto his face.

Super lightweight Nelson Perez, 5-0, (2), Marlboro, Mass dominated Raymundo Rios Cardiel, 3-8-2 (3), Durango, Mexico over four. Perez scored left hook knockdowns in the first and second before Rios steadied himself and went the distance. Scores: 40-34 on all three scorecards.

In the opening bout of the evening, light heavyweight prospect Khalil “Big Steppa” Coe, 1-0-1, Jersey City, NJ was held to a 4-round majority draw by Aaron Caspe, 6-4-2, Augusta, Georgia. Scores were 39-37 and 38-38 twice. Coe got hit an awful lot by his journeyman opponent. A member of Team Coe told me their fighter was suffering dehydration from food poisoning.

***

Boxing Writer Jeffrey Freeman grew up in the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1987, during the Marvelous career of Marvin Hagler. JFree then lived in Lowell, Mass during the best years of Irish Micky Ward’s illustrious career. A former member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a Bernie Award Winner in the Category of Feature Story Under 1500 Words. Freeman covers boxing for The Sweet Science in New England. 

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom

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Najee Lopez Steps up in Class and Wins Impressively at Plant City

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Garry Jonas’ ProBox series returned to its regular home in Plant City, Florida, tonight with a card topped by a 10-round light heavyweight match between fast-rising Najee Lopez and former world title challenger Lenin Castillo. This was considered a step-up fight for the 25-year-old Lopez, an Atlanta-born-fighter of Puerto Rican heritage. Although the 36-year-old Castillo had lost two of his least three heading in, he had gone the distance with Dimitry Bivol and Marcus Browne and been stopped only once (by Callum Smith).

Lopez landed the cleaner punches throughout. Although Castillo seemed unfazed during the first half of the fight, he returned to his corner at the end of round five exhibiting signs of a fractured jaw.

In the next round, Lopez cornered him against the ropes and knocked him through the ropes with a left-right combination. Referee Emil Lombardo could have stopped the fight right there, but he allowed the courageous Castillo to carry on for a bit longer, finally stopping the fight as Castillo’s corner and a Florida commissioner were signaling that it was over.

The official time was 2:36 of round six. Bigger fights await the talented Lopez who improved to 13-0 with his tenth win inside the distance. Castillo declined to 25-7-1.

Co-Feature

In a stinker of a heavyweight fight, Stanley Wright, a paunchy, 34-year-old North Carolina journeyman, scored a big upset with a 10-round unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Jeremiah Milton.

Wright carried 280 pounds, 100 pounds more than in his pro debut 11 years ago. Although he was undefeated (13-0, 11 KOs), he had never defeated an opponent with a winning record and his last four opponents were a miserable 19-48-2. Moreover, he took the fight on short notice.

What Wright had going for him was fast hands and, in the opening round, he put Milton on the canvas with a straight right hand. From that point, Milton fought tentatively and Wright, looking fatigued as early as the fourth round, fought only in spurts. It seemed doubtful that he could last the distance, but Milton, the subject of a 2021 profile in these pages, was wary of Wright’s power and unable to capitalize. “It’s almost as if Milton is afraid to win,” said ringside commentator Chris Algieri during the ninth stanza when the bout had devolved into a hugfest.

The judges had it 96-93 and 97-92 twice for the victorious Wright who boosted his record to 14-0 without improving his stature.

Also

In the TV opener, a 10-round contest in the junior middleweight division, Najee Lopez stablemate Darrelle Valsaint (12-0, 10 KOs) scored his career-best win with a second-round knockout of 35-year-old Dutch globetrotter Stephen Danyo (23-7-3).

A native Floridian of Haitian descent, the 22-year-old Valsaint was making his eighth start in Plant City. He rocked Danyo with a chopping right hand high on the temple and then, as Danyo slumped forward, delivered the coup-de-gras, a short left uppercut. The official time was 2:17 of round two.

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Japanese Superstar Naoya Inoue is Headed to Vegas after KOing Ye Joon Kim

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Japan’s magnificent Naoya Inoue, appearing in his twenty-fourth title fight, scored his 11th straight stoppage tonight while successfully defending his unified super bantamweight title, advancing his record to 29-0 (26 KOs) at the expense of Ye Joon Kim. The match at Tokyo’s Ariake Arena came to an end at the 2:25 mark of round four when U.S. referee Mark Nelson tolled “10” over the brave but overmatched Korean.

Kim, raised in a Seoul orphanage, had a few good moments, but the “Monster” found his rhythm in the third round, leaving Kim with a purplish welt under his left eye. In the next frame, he brought the match to a conclusion, staggering the Korean with a left and then finishing matters with an overhand right that put Kim on the seat of his pants, dazed and wincing in pain.

Kim, who brought a 21-2-2 record, took the fight on 10 days’ notice, replacing Australia’s Sam Goodman who suffered an eye injury in sparring that never healed properly, forcing him to withdraw twice.

Co-promoter Bob Arum, who was in the building, announced that Inoue’s next fight would happen in Las Vegas in the Spring. Speculation centers on Mexico City’s Alan Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs) who is ranked #1 by the WBC. However, there’s also speculation that the 31-year-old Inoue may move up to featherweight and seek to win a title in a fifth weight class, in which case a potential opponent is the winner of the Feb. 2 match between Brandon Figueroa and Stephen Fulton. In “olden days,” this notion would have been dismissed as the Japanese superstar and Figueroa/Fulton have different promoters, but the arrival of Turki Alalshikh, the sport’s Daddy Warbucks, has changed the dynamic. Tonight, Naoya Inoue made his first start as a brand ambassador for Riyadh Season.

Simmering on the backburner is a megafight with countryman Junto Nakatani, an easy fight to make as Arum has ties to both. However, the powers-that-be would prefer more “marination.”

Inoue has appeared twice in Las Vegas, scoring a seventh-round stoppage of Jason Moloney in October of 2020 at the MGM Bubble and a third-round stoppage of Michael Dasmarinas at the Virgin Hotels in June of 2021.

Semi-wind-up

In a 12-round bout for a regional welterweight title, Jin Sasaki improved to 19-1-1 (17) with a unanimous decision over Shoki Sakai (29-15-3). The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 116-112.

Also

In a bout in which both contestants were on the canvas, Toshiki Shimomachi (20-1-3) edged out Misaki Hirano (11-2), winning a majority decision. A 28-year-old Osaka southpaw with a fan-friendly style, the lanky Shimomachi, unbeaten in his last 22 starts, competes as a super bantamweight. A match with Inoue may be in his future.

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Eric Priest Wins Handily on Thursday’s Golden Boy card at the Commerce Casino

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Model turned fighter Eric Priest jabbed and jolted his way into the super middleweight rankings with a shutout decision win over veteran Tyler Howard on Thursday.

In his first main event Priest (15-0, 8 KOs) proved ready for contender status by defusing every attack Tennessee’s Howard (20-3, 11 KOs) could muster at Commerce Casino, the second fight in six days at the LA County venue.

All ticket monies collected on the Folden Boy Promotions card were contributed to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation as they battle wildfires sprouting all over Los Angeles County due to high winds.

Priest, 26, had never fought anyone near Howard’s caliber but used a ramrod jab to keep the veteran off-balance and unable to muster a forceful counter-attack. Round after round the Korean-American fighter pumped left jabs while circling his opposition.

Though hit with power shots, none seemed to faze Howard but his own blows were unable to put a dent in Priest. After 10 rounds of the same repetitive action all three judges scored the fight 100-90 for Priest who now wins a regional super middleweight title.

Priest also joins the top 15 rankings of the WBA organization.

In a fight between evenly matched middleweights, Jordan Panthen (11-0, 9 KOs) remained undefeated after 10 rounds versus DeAundre Pettus (12-4, 7 KOs). Though equally skilled, Panthen simply out-worked the South Caroliina fighter to win by unanimous decision. No knockdowns were scored.

Other Bouts

Grant Flores (8-0, 6 KOs) knocked out Costa Rica’s David Lobo Ramirez (17-4, 12 KOs) with two successive right uppercuts at 2:59 of the second round of the super welterweight fight.

Cayden Griffith (3-0, 3 KOs) used a left hook to the body to stop Mark Misiura at 1:43 of the second round in a super welterweight bout.

Jordan Fuentes (3-0) floored Brandon Badillo (0-3-1) in the third round and proceeded to win by decision after four rounds in a super bantamweight fight.

A super featherweight match saw Leonardo Sanchez (8-0) win by decision over Joseph Cruz Brown (10-12) after six rounds.

Photo credit: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy

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