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Two Fascinating Tussles Gird Saturday’s Lomachenko-Haney Showdown

Two Fascinating Tussles Gird Saturday’s Lomachenko-Haney Showdown
For all that the big fights are the ones that anchor the sport, for me it is a good undercard that makes it breathe.
It is possible to spend the early hours of the morning here in the UK waiting for Tank Davis and Ryan Garcia to appear in the ring with only a series of mismatches and minor attractions for company. Not so this weekend when two genuinely attractive undercard matches will play out while we wait for Vasyl Lomachenko and Devin Haney to reach the squared circle.
First among these is the Andrew Moloney-Junto Nakatani match at 115lbs, a contest that infers bravery in the fighters who made it happen, a genuinely fascinating fight that will be sure to tug at the thinking of Sweet Science readers. Moloney’s twin brother Jason won himself a strap in a close, strange fight this past weekend against Vincent Astrolabio, an awkward puncher from the Philippines and a difficult assignment for anyone up at bantamweight. At superfly, Andrew (25-2), out of Australia, seems to have hunted down a similarly awkward opponent in the form of a tall, Japanese southpaw puncher with a 24-0 record, for his own pursuit of alphabet riches.
Nakatani has been a joy to behold as he’s moved into the 115lb top ten (currently ranked number nine to Moloney’s eight). Boxing out of a deep stance he forgoes what is generally a height advantage at five feet seven inches and instead positions himself for maximum return on his power-punches. That aggressive gamble has bought him a knockout in 75% of his fights, including a six-fight streak that stretched from 2022 back into the last decade.
Selecting a favourite from among these is difficult, but his stoppage of Filipino tough Giemel Magramo in 2020 was perhaps the most impressive. Magramo (now 28-3) has been beaten before and since, but never has he been stopped; Nakatani lashed him apart with long straights in eight rounds. Magramo crowded him until almost the last though and Nakatani, who is perhaps hampered a little by an absence of elite handspeed, used footwork to make room for himself and balance to take advantage of punching opportunities, hitting round the corner to the body and with uppercuts to Magramo’s dipping head. Not a technician in the most meaningful sense of the word, Nakatani is technically sure and can improvise.
He impressed, too, in what was his only fight outside Japan to this date, stopping Angel Costa, once a beltholder down at 108lbs, in four rounds at the Casino Del Sol, Tucson. After that victory in defence of the 112lbs strap he won against Magramo, Nakatani boxed once more at 112lbs then left for 115lbs, running into the first man to go the distance with him in years: teak tough Mexican Francisco Rodriguez Jr. Amongst the most durable fighters on earth, Rodriguez provided for Nakatani something of a final engine check. The Japanese stood toe-to-toe with his opponent in the tenth and final round, all but outfighting the Mexican on the inside where Rodriguez was meant to dominate. He won every other round on my card.
There is absolutely no shame in failing to break a chin or will like that of Rodriguez, but it does bring us to the edge of Nakatani’s limitations. Rodriguez is not big at 115lbs and has a lot of wear on him and a fighter of Nakatani’s freshness and offensive capabilities may have been expected to make a dent – now we know where the outer limit lies.
What this means for Andrew Moloney is now the question to hand. Andrew is durable, without question, but has been dropped several times in his career, most notably against another tough Filipino, Richard Claveras. Claveras bothered Andrew with a volume of long uppercuts and improvised punches from that family and although Andrew won the fight clean, Nakatani is a different machine – but one who can improvise with the same sort of punch to fine effect. It was improvised straight left hands, too, that saw Andrew decked by Joshua Franco in their June 2020 contest. This was also something of a flash knockdown, but it cost Andrew a majority draw. These small vulnerabilities matter and it seems that sudden, runaway attacks might be the key to getting Andrew off his feet.
That single point difference on two scorecards earned him a rematch with Franco, resulting in 2020s most controversial result. The woeful Russell Mora decreed a phantom “accidental headbutt” early in the fight as the cause of swelling to Franco’s right eye when repeated viewings of the fight film reveal no such thing. What should have been ruled a technical knockout victory was instead rendered a No Contest despite the use of replays to aid in these decisions being in play in Nevada at the time. Andrew, rightly, was furious and the irony could not have been lost upon him when an instant replay in the third fight of this unexpected trilogy corrected a badly called knockdown in his favour. He dropped a unanimous decision.
Most notable for me in that fight was Andrew’s late collapse. While his brother Jason demonstrates elite conditioning in every fight, Andrew dropped five of the six rounds in the second half of the third Franco fight by my card and the last four rounds all went to Franco on the official scorecards. Essentially, Franco outwaited him with a compact, economic style while Andrew burned through energy moving and hitting. More recently in dominating Norbelto Jimenez, Andrew boxed in a compact, jab-heavy, aggressive style possibly designed to address these shortcomings, but such a style will also have risks against Nakatani. Likely though it is a better bet than trying to outfight the version of Nakatani that turned up in the ninth and tenth rounds of his fight with Rodriguez.
Still, I favour Nakatani. Andrew Moloney will be the best technician the Japanese has faced, but he did wreck Milan Melindo back in 2019; even a past-prime Melindo presents some of the technical challenges Moloney will muster. I look for Nakatani to take over late after a rough start and win a decision in a more violent re-run of the third Franco fight.
Of secondary interest is the rematch between the world’s number two at 130lbs, Mexican Oscar Valdez (30-1), and unranked American featherweight Adam Lopez (16-4). Normally this is not a confrontation to whet the appetite but the circumstances surrounding the first fight fascinates. Originally scheduled to fight different opponents on the 2019 undercard for the Carlos Adames-Patrick Teixeira match, both seemed to have lost out on paydays when their respective fights fell through the day before the contest – boxing’s chaotic organisation for once paid off as the two were matched against one another instead and produced fireworks.
In a chance of a lifetime, Lopez found himself unexpectedly fighting in an alphabet eliminator and he came within seconds of winning. In the second, a technically loose Valdez put his head where it probably should not have been, and Lopez chased him with a right then lashed against his movement with a hook going the other way. Valdez was down and this was not a flash; he seemed tangled in his own limbs as he fought his way to his feet. Lopez went after his man but in a controlled fashion that I suspect he may now regret, and Valdez boxed his way steadily back into the contest over the following two rounds, before our friend Russell Mora stepped in for yet another inappropriate intervention in stopping the fight with seconds remaining in the seventh.
Lopez deserves his rematch and although Valdez will be a favourite almost as prohibitive as he was in their first fight, I will be glued to this one. Valdez hasn’t boxed a round since his April 2022 thrashing at the hands of Shakur Stevenson and hasn’t won a fight since September of 2021. If winning is a habit, Valdez is not in it, and while he has boxed with mixed fortunes, Valdez has contested eighteen rounds in that time.
These two fascinating tussles will precede the Haney-Lomachenko showdown on a night of boxing which is not to be missed.
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‘Krusher’ 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 Welter 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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TSS Salutes Thomas Hauser and his Bernie Award Cohorts

The Boxing Writers Association of America has announced the winners of its annual Bernie Awards competition. The awards, named in honor of former five-time BWAA president and frequent TSS contributor Bernard Fernandez, recognize outstanding writing in six categories as represented by stories published the previous year.
Over the years, this venerable website has produced a host of Bernie Award winners. In 2024, Thomas Hauser kept the tradition alive. A story by Hauser that appeared in these pages finished first in the category “Boxing News Story.” Titled “Ryan Garcia and the New York State Athletic Commission,” the story was published on June 23. You can read it HERE.
Hauser also finished first in the category of “Investigative Reporting” for “The Death of Ardi Ndembo,” a story that ran in the (London) Guardian. (Note: Hauser has owned this category. This is his 11th first place finish for “Investigative Reporting”.)
Thomas Hauser, who entered the International Boxing Hall of Fame with the class of 2019, was honored at last year’s BWAA awards dinner with the A.J. Leibling Award for Outstanding Boxing Writing. The list of previous winners includes such noted authors as W.C. Heinz, Budd Schulberg, Pete Hamill, and George Plimpton, to name just a few.
The Leibling Award is now issued intermittently. The most recent honorees prior to Hauser were Joyce Carol Oates (2015) and Randy Roberts (2019).
Roberts, a Distinguished Professor of History at Purdue University, was tabbed to write the Hauser/Leibling Award story for the glossy magazine for BWAA members published in conjunction with the organization’s annual banquet. Regarding Hauser’s most well-known book, his Muhammad Ali biography, Roberts wrote, “It is nearly impossible to overestimate the importance of the book to our understanding of Ali and his times.” An earlier book by Hauser, “The Black Lights: Inside the World of Professional Boxing,” garnered this accolade: “Anyone who wants to understand boxing today should begin by reading ‘The Black Lights’.”
A panel of six judges determined the Bernie Award winners for stories published in 2024. The stories they evaluated were stripped of their bylines and other identifying marks including the publication or website for which the story was written.
Other winners:
Boxing Event Coverage: Tris Dixon
Boxing Column: Kieran Mulvaney
Boxing Feature (Over 1,500 Words): Lance Pugmire
Boxing Feature (Under 1,500 Words): Chris Mannix
The Dixon, Mulvaney, and Pugmire stories appeared in Boxing Scene; the Mannix story in Sports Illustrated.
The Bernie Award recipients will be honored at the forthcoming BWAA dinner on April 30 at the Edison Ballroom in the heart of Times Square. (For more information, visit the BWAA website). Two days after the dinner, an historic boxing tripleheader will be held in Times Square, the logistics of which should be quite interesting. Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Teofimo Lopez share top billing.
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