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Looking Ahead to a Bustling Boxing Weekend

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In boxing, it never rains but it pours. Last weekend was dead. There were no fights of major significance. Tomorrow (Saturday, April 9) all three leading networks – Showtime, ESPN, and DAZN – have compelling offerings and they will be going head-to-head.

The Showtime tripleheader, which will air from the Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, has a central theme. All six fighters on the TV portion of the card campaign in the 154-pound division. And judging by the prevailing odds, all three bouts will be competitive. (Kudos to the fan-friendly matchmaker.)

A bout between southpaws Erickson Lubin (24-1, 17 KOs) and Sebastian Fundora (18-0-1, 12 KOs) tops the bill. It’s being packaged as a WBC interim title fight with the winner theoretically poised to get the next shot at the winner of the May 14 match between Jermell Charlo and Brian Castano.

Lubin will be rooting for Charlo. He would love to get another crack at the man that saddled him with his lone defeat. Charlo knocked him out in the opening round with one punch, a picture-perfect right hand that brought a shocking conclusion to what had been a feeling-out round.

Since that mishap in 2017, Lubin, 26, has won six straight. He will dress as the favorite vs. Sebastian Fundora who has attracted early money, depressing the odds to 3/2.

Fundora, like Lubin a native Floridian, has been living and training in Coachella, CA, but moved his camp to Las Vegas for this bout. He stands six-foot-six, hence his nickname, “The Towering Inferno.”

Lubin vs. Fundora will be preceded by a 10-round match between Sergio Garcia (33-1, 14 KOs) and Tony Harrison (28-3-1, 21 KOs). Garcia, a 29-year-old Spaniard, will be looking to rebound from his lone defeat which he suffered at the hands of Fundora in what was his U.S. debut.

The oddsmakers like his chances. He opened a 5/2 favorite over Detroit’s Harrison, a third-generation prizefighter who briefly held the WBC version of this belt. (Old-timers will remember Harrison’s grandfather Henry Hank, a hard-punching middleweight who appeared numerous times on television during the early 1960s.)

The opening bout of the telecast pits Bryant Perrella (17-3-1, 14 KOs) against Kevin Zambrano (14-0, 9 KOs).

Perrella, a 33-year-old southpaw from Fort Myers, Florida, is better than his record. In his most memorable fight, he out-boxed Abel Ramos for nine rounds only to unravel in the final minute of the contest and get stopped with one second remaining in the bout. In his last outing, he battled Tony Harrison to a 12-round draw. It was his first start with new trainer Roy Jones Jr.

Zambrano, from Mexico City, has been training in San Antonio. Something of a mystery fighter — this is his U.S. debut – he is the younger brother of Carlos Salgado Zambrano, a former two-time world super featherweight champion.

Costa Mesa, CA

The Hangar, an exposition center and concert hall at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, will be the site of Top Rank’s offering on ESPN. Top Rank has been here before, most notably on March 23, 2019, when Kubrat Pulev celebrated his TKO of Bogdan Dinu by kissing a female reporter which caused a big snit.

Former U.S. Olympian Mikaela Mayer (16-0, 5 KOs) is the headline attraction. She defends her WBO and IBF world featherweight titles against El Paso veteran Jennifer Han (18-4-1, 1 KO).

San Diego southpaw Giovani Santillan (28-0, 15 KOs) meets Colombia’s Jeovanis Barraza (23-2, 15 KOs) in the co-feature and both Moloney twins will appear in supporting bouts.

The popular Aussies – Jason is a bantamweight and Andrew a super flyweight – sport identical 22-2 records. Jason Moloney opposes Tijuana’s Francisco Pedraza-Portillo (17-10-2, 10 KOs) in a scheduled 10-rounder. His twin brother opposes Modesto, CA journeyman Gilberto Mendoza (19-11-3, 10 KOs) in a bout slated for eight.

U.S. Olympians Duke Ragan and Virginia “Ginny” Fuchs will also be in action. It’s the fifth pro fight for Ragan (4-0, 1 KO), a silver medalist in Tokyo. The 34-year-old Fuchs, an LSU grad with a compelling back story, will be making her pro debut.

San Antonio

The return of undefeated Ryan Garcia who has been out of action for 15 months is the main allurement of the Golden Boy Promotions show at the Alamodome on DAZN. Garcia, a big star on social media with a large female following, opposes Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe. (For more on this fight, check out David Avila’s pre-fight report.)

Garcia vs. Tagoe, a 12-rounder, is braced by an exceptionally strong undercard that includes five 10-round fights. In addition to the co-feature, an intriguing super middleweight clash between Gabriel Rosado and Shane Mosley Jr, Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira, a former world super welterweight title-holder, and super bantamweight Azat Hovhannisyan, a former world title challenger, will appear in separate bouts.

Hovhannisyan, from LA by way of Armenia, has won six straight since suffering a loss on points to undefeated Rey Vargas, the reigning WBC world title-holder. He will oppose 15-1 Dagoberto Aguerro from the Dominican Republic.

The good news is that tomorrow’s lid-lifter will run unopposed. The bad news is that one will have to get up at an ungodly early hour to monitor the developments in Saitama, Japan, where Gennadiy Golovkin meets Ryota Murata in a bout where the stakes are huge.

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Argentina’s Fernando Martinez Wins His Rematch with Kazuto Ioka

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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

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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

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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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