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Arne’s Almanac: Benavidez vs Lemieux Tops the Busy Weekend Boxing Slate

The marquee event on this weekend’s boxing slate will be held at the Gila River Arena in Glendale Arizona, the recent home of the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes, where David Benavidez meets David Lemieux in a match stamped as a WBC interim title fight in the super middleweight division. Showtime will televise.
It’s a homecoming for the 25-year-old Benavidez (25-0, 22 KOs) who has the seemingly incongruous distinction of being both undefeated and a former two-time world title-holder. He was stripped of his first title after a failed drug test and his second title reign ended when he came in overweight.
The 33-year-old Lemieux, from Montreal, is one of the sport’s hardest punchers (check out his brutal one-punch knockout of Gary “Spike” O’Sullivan). He’s won five straight since being schooled by Billy Joe Saunders, elevating his record to 43-4 (20), but he’s moving up in weight against an opponent who is taller and younger and more technically proficient. The bookies don’t like his chances. Benavidez is in the vicinity of a 15/1 favorite.
Benavidez has been calling out Canelo Alvarez for some time. Canelo’s 168-pound belts were not at risk in his engagement with Dmitry Bivol. However, barring a big upset, Benavidez is more likely to fight Caleb Plant or England’s John Ryder next.
The undercard is deep but not particularly interesting with the exception of the TV opener, a crossroads fight between precocious featherweight prospects Luis Reynaldo Nunez (16-0, 12 KOs) and Jonathan Javier Fierro (13-0, 12 KOs). Nunez, 22 is from the Dominican Republic. Fierro, who is only 18 years old, fights out of Guadalajara, Mexico.
Meng vs Pascal
The action gets underway tonight (Friday, May 20) in Plant City, Florida, where Fanlong Meng, rated #1 by the IBF at 175 pounds, steps up in class to meet veteran Jean Pascal.
The 34-year-old-Meng, a 2012 Olympian and currently undefeated (17-0, 10 KOs), will have a three-and-a-half-inch height advantage over his 39-year-old opponent. However, assuming he is still in shape – this will be his first fight in 29 months — Pascal (35-6-1, 20 KOs) won’t be an easy nut to crack. The Laval, Quebec resident from Haiti, a former two-division world title-holder, upset Badou Jack in his last outing, winning a split decision.
Four 8-round fights in the junior welterweight division, the opening round of the “Last Chance” Tournament, precede the main event. The combatants are all former promising prospects whose careers have stalled or hit the skids. To take the most severe example, Kendo Castaneda, who boasts a 17-5 record but has lost five straight, takes on Sonny Frederickson who has lost his last four, dipping his record to 21-5.
Some of these 140-pound fights should provide lively entertainment. They will air on ProBox TV (proboxtv.com), a new streaming platform described as “the first and only global sports streaming and media company dedicated exclusively to professional boxing.” Subscriptions are being offered at the introductory rate of $1.99 per month or $18 per year.
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A Matchroom Matinee
The Saturday docket includes a matinee for DAZN subscribers in North America. The featured bout, airing from London’s O2 Arena, is an all-South London showdown between light heavyweights Joshua Buatsi (15-0, 13 KOs) and Craig “Spider” Richards (17-2-1, 10 KOs).
Buatsi, born in Ghana, was a bronze medalist for England at the 2016 Rio Olympics. His manager of record is Anthony Joshua. Richards is a former world title challenger who hunkers for a rematch with Dmitry Bivol to whom he lost a 12-round decision in May of last year.
Alen Babic, whose fan-friendly fighting style has been compared to a typhoon, opposes Adam Balski in the co-feature. A victory for the wild-swinging Babic, who has answered the bell for only 29 rounds while building a 10-0, 10 KOs record, will reportedly propel the London-based Croatian into a WBC bridgerweight title fight with Oscar Rivas who won the inaugural bridgerweight title in October of last year in a slugfest with fellow Canadian Ryan Rozicki. Balski, a 31-year-old Pole, brings a 16-1 record.
In another bout of note, British junior welterweight Chantelle Cameron, who owns the WBC and IBF versions of the 140-pound title, looks to keep her undefeated (15-0, 8 KOs) record intact at the expense of Argentine challenger Victoria Noelia Bustos (23-6). Cameron is pointing toward a unification fight with Rhode Island’s Kali Reis who owns the other two pieces of the title.
Top Rank in Las Vegas
Top Rank returns to Resorts World on Saturday with an 11-bout card airing on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+. The show kicks off earlier than usual with the main card on ESPN kicking off at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.
The main event, packaged as a WBO interim middleweight title fight, matches Janibek (Qazaq Style) Alimkhanuly (11-0, 7 KOs) against Danny Dignum (14-0-1, 8 KOs).
Dignum and his team, a six-man traveling party, arrived in Las Vegas from London on Sunday. To fight in the main event of a boxing show in Las Vegas is a dream come true for the 30-year-old Brit (pictured on the right; photo courtesy of Mikey Williams) whose record includes a 3-0-1 mark in bouts sanctioned for the WBO European middleweight title.
“I didn’t come here just to show up,” said Dignum at the pre-fight press conference. “I am going to cause a big upset and make a lot of fans.” However, he didn’t say it with a lot of conviction. He knows that he is the “B” side. Top Rank calls Janibek, trained by Buddy McGirt, one of boxing’s most-avoided fighters and the next big star from Kazakhstan.
The opener on ESPN’s main platform showcases Cleveland welterweight Delante “Tiger” Johnson, a 2020 Olympian who looks to build upon his 3-0 record in a 6-rounder with Argentina’s Agustin Kucharski who is 8-4-1 and has never been stopped. The co-feature is an intriguing lightweight battle between Jamel Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) and Jamaine Ortiz, (15-0-1, 8 KOs), the latter of whom was the subject of a recent profile in these pages.
On paper Ortiz, who hails from Worcester, Massachusetts, is moving up in class. In Jamel Herring, the ex-Marine, he is facing a former Olympian and former world title-holder. However, the oddsmakers deem this a very winnable fight for Ortiz who will enter the bout in the unaccustomed role of the favorite. Herring, moving back to lightweight, looked every bit his age (36) in his one-sided defeat to Shakur Stevenson.
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Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo’selusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.
Will it be her last flyweight defense?
Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.
The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.
Mexico’s Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.
Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.
“She was kind of doing her ducking thing,” said Fundora describing Badillo’s defensive tactics. “I just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didn’t give her that break.”
The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.
In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighter’s corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.
Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.
Perez Beats Conwell.
Mexico’s Jorge “Chino” Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.
It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.
Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.
Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perez’s busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.
It was Conwell’s first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.
Other Bouts
Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.
It was very close.
Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.
Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.
One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.
Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.
Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Rico’s Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev Exits on a Winning Note: TKOs Artur Mann in his ‘Farewell Fight’

At his peak, former three-time world light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev ranked high on everyone’s pound-for-pound list. Now 42 years old – he turned 42 earlier this month – Kovalev has been largely inactive in recent years, but last night he returned to the ring in his hometown of Chelyabinsk, Russia, and rose to the occasion in what was billed as his farewell fight, stopping Artur Mann in the seventh frame.
Kovalev hit his peak during his first run as a world title-holder. He was 30-0-1 (26 KOs) entering first match with Andre Ward, a mark that included a 9-0 mark in world title fights. The only blemish on his record was a draw that could have been ruled a no-contest (journeyman Grover Young was unfit to continue after Kovalev knocked down in the second round what with was deemed an illegal rabbit punch). Among those nine wins were two stoppages of dangerous Haitian-Canadian campaigner Jean Pascal and a 12-round shutout over Bernard Hopkins.
Kovalev’s stature was not diminished by his loss to the undefeated Ward. All three judges had it 114-113, but the general feeling among the ringside press was that Sergey nicked it.
The rematch was also somewhat controversial. Referee Tony Weeks, who halted the match in the eighth stanza with Kovalev sitting on the lower strand of ropes, was accused of letting Ward get away with a series of low blows, including the first punch of a three-punch series of body shots that culminated in the stoppage. Sergey was wobbled by a punch to the head earlier in the round and was showing signs of fatigue, but he was still in the fight. Respected judge Steve Weisfeld had him up by three points through the completed rounds.
Sergey Kovalev was never the same after his second loss to Andre Ward, albeit he recaptured a piece of the 175-pound title twice, demolishing Vyacheslav Shabranskyy for the vacant WBO belt after Ward announced his retirement and then avenging a loss to Eleider Alvarez (TKO by 7) with a comprehensive win on points in their rematch.
Kovalev’s days as a title-holder ended on Nov. 2, 2019 when Canelo Alvarez, moving up two weight classes to pursue a title in a fourth weight division, stopped him in the 11th round, terminating what had been a relatively even fight with a hellacious left-right combination that left Krusher so discombobulated that a count was superfluous.
That fight went head-to-head with a UFC fight in New York City. DAZN, to their everlasting discredit, opted to delay the start of Canelo-Kovalev until the main event of the UFC fight was finished. The delay lasted more than an hour and Kovalev would say that he lost his psychological edge during the wait.
Kovalev had two fights in the cruiserweight class between his setback to Canelo and last night’s presumptive swan song. He outpointed Tervel Pulev in Los Angeles and lost a 10-round decision to unheralded Robin Sirwan Safar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Artur Mann, a former world title challenger – he was stopped in three rounds by Mairis Briedis in 2021 when Briedis was recognized as the top cruiserweight in the world – was unexceptional, but the 34-year-old German, born in Kazakhstan, wasn’t chopped liver either, and Kovalev’s stoppage of him will redound well to the Russian when he becomes eligible for the Boxing Hall of Fame.
Krusher almost ended the fight in the second round. He knocked Mann down hard with a short left hand and seemingly scored another knockdown before the round was over (but it was ruled a slip). Mann barely survived the round.
In the next round, a punch left Mann with a bad cut on his right eyelid, but the German came to fight and rounds three, four and five were competitive.
Kovalev had a good sixth round although there were indications that he was tiring. But in the seventh he got a second wind and unleashed a right-left combination that rolled back the clock to the days when he was one of the sport’s most feared punchers. Mann went down hard and as he staggered to his feet, his corner signaled that the fight should be stopped and the referee complied. The official time was 0:49 of round seven. It was the 30th KO for Kovalev who advanced his record to 36-5-1.
Addendum: History informs us that Farewell Fights have a habit of becoming redundant, by which we mean that boxers often get the itch to fight again after calling it quits. Have we seen the last of Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev? We woudn’t bet on it.
The complete Kovalev-Mann fight card was live-streamed on the Boxing News youtube channel.
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Avila Perspective, Chap. 322: Super Welterweight Week in SoCal

Two below-the-radar super welterweight stars show off their skills this weekend from different parts of Southern California.
One in particular, Charles Conwell, co-headlines a show in Oceanside against a hard-hitting Mexican while another super welter star Sadriddin Akhmedov faces another Mexican hitter in Commerce.
Take your pick.
The super welterweight division is loaded with talent at the moment. If Terence Crawford remained in the division he would be at the top of the class, but he is moving up several weight divisions.
Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) faces Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs) a tall knockout puncher from Los Mochis at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif. on Saturday April 19. DAZN will stream the Golden Boy Promotions card that also features undisputed flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora. We’ll get to her later.
Conwell might be the best super welterweight out there aside from the big dogs like Vergil Ortiz, Serhii Bohachuk and Sebastian Fundora.
If you are not familiar with Conwell he comes from Cleveland, Ohio and is one of those fighters that other fighters know about. He is good.
He has the James “Lights Out” Toney kind of in-your-face-style where he anchors down and slowly deciphers the opponent’s tools and then takes them away piece by piece. Usually it’s systematic destruction. The kind you see when a skyscraper goes down floor by floor until it’s smoking rubble.
During the Covid days Conwell fought two highly touted undefeated super welters in Wendy Toussaint and Madiyar Ashkeyev. He stopped them both and suddenly was the boogie man of the super welterweight division.
Conwell will be facing Mexico’s taller Garcia who likes to trade blows as most Mexican fighters prefer, especially those from Sinaloa. These guys will be firing H bombs early.
Fundora
Co-headlining the Golden Boy card is Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) the undisputed flyweight champion of the world. She has all the belts and Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1, 3 KOs) wants them.
Gabriela Fundora is the sister of Sebastian Fundora who holds the men’s WBC and WBO super welterweight world titles. Both are tall southpaws with power in each hand to protect the belts they accumulated.
Six months ago, Fundora met Argentina’s Gabriela Alaniz in Las Vegas to determine the undisputed flyweight champion. The much shorter Alaniz tried valiantly to scrap with Fundora and ran into a couple of rocket left hands.
Mexico’s Badillo is an undefeated flyweight from Mexico City who has battled against fellow Mexicans for years. She has fought one world champion in Asley Gonzalez the current super flyweight world titlist. They met years ago with Badillo coming out on top.
Does Badillo have the skill to deal with the taller and hard-hitting Fundora?
When a fighter has a six-inch height advantage like Fundora, it is almost impossible to out-maneuver especially in two-minute rounds. Ask Alaniz who was nearly decapitated when she tried.
This will be Badillo’s first pro fight outside of Mexico.
Commerce Casino
Kazakhstan’s Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0, 13 KOs) is another dangerous punching super welterweight headlining a 360 Promotions card against Mexico’s Elias Espadas (23-6, 16 KOs) on Saturday at the Commerce Casino.
UFC Fight Pass will stream the 360 Promotions card of about eight bouts.
Akhmedov is another Kazakh puncher similar to the great Gennady “GGG” Golovkin who terrorized the middleweight division for a decade. He doesn’t have the same polish or dexterity but doesn’t lack pure punching power.
It’s another test for the super welterweight who is looking to move up the ladder in the very crowded 154-pound weight division. 360 Promotions already has a top contender in Ukraine’s Serhii Bohachuk who nearly defeated Vergil Ortiz a year ago.
Could Bohachuk and Akhmedov fight each other if nothing else materializes?
That’s a question for another day.
Fights to Watch
Sat. DAZN 5 p.m. Charles Conwell (21-0, 16 KOs) vs. Jorge Garcia Perez (32-4, 26 KOs); Gabriela Fundora (15-0) vs Marilyn Badillo (19-0-1).
Sat. UFC Fight Pass 6 p.m. Sadriddin Akhmedov (15-0) vs Elias Espadas (23-6).
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