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Berlanga UD 12 Quigley in New York; Adames TKO 9 Williams in Minnesota

Berlanga UD 12 Quigley in New York; Adames TKO 9 Williams in Minnesota
Two major boxing cards went head-to-head tonight in the United States. Viewers had their pick of a Matchroom show in New York on DAZN or a PBC show in Minneapolis on SHOWTIME.
The Theater at Madison Square Garden was the venue for Edgar Berlanga’s 12-round super middleweight contest with Jason Quigley. It was Berlanga’s first match under the Matchroom banner. Eddie Hearn signed him after he was released by Top Rank with an eye toward eventually sending Berlanga in against Canelo Alvarez, a match that may never materialize now that Canelo flew the coop, inking a three-fight deal with Hearn’s rival Al Haymon.
Berlanga opened his pro career with 16 first-round knockouts but tonight he was forced to go the distance for the fifth straight time. He almost took the fight out of the judges hands in the 12th and final round when he scored two knockdowns, but Quigley, who was knocked down twice previously without being seriously hurt (the second knockdown in round five should have been called a slip) was still standing at the final bell.
The scorecards (118-106 and 116-108 twice) were misleading as Quigley, who declined to 20-3, out-boxed Berlanga in several of the middle rounds. Considering the odds, one could say that the Irishman from Ballybogey, who was cut loose by Golden Boy Promotions, actually over-achieved.
Co-Feature
Heading into his match with Virginia journeyman Joe Cusumano, Brooklyn fan favorite Adam Kownacki told reporters that if he didn’t win in a dominant fashion, he would likely hang up his gloves. Hopefully, the likable Pole will be a man of his word.
In a stunner, Kownacki (20-4, 15 KOs) suffered his fourth straight defeat. Cusumano, one year older at age 35, knocked Kownacki down hard in the first round. Kownacki was out on his feet when the bell sounded. The ringside physician gave him a good look-over before the fight was allowed to continue. In the ensuing rounds, Kownacki absorbed a lot of punishment although he often gave as good as he got. The donnybrook was almost stopped in round seven, but Kownacki rallied from the brink of defeat before the bout turned sharply once again in Cusumano’s favor in the waning seconds.
Two hard right hands wobbled Kownacki in the early going of the eighth frame and the match, which could have been stopped sooner, was wisely terminated at that point. Cusumano, a huge underdog, improved to 22-4 (20 KOs) with the biggest win of his career.
Other Bouts of Note
Despite suffering an apparent injury to his left hand in round five, Staten Island’s Reshat Mati (14-0, 8 KOs) was able to wear down and eventually stop West Virginia’s Dakota Linger who lasted into the ninth round before the referee thought it imperative to stop the fight. The 24-year-old Mati, a child prodigy in multiple combat sports, was the first U.S. boxer signed by Eddie Hearn when Hearn raided the U.S. amateur ranks for promising prospects.
Nicknamed the Albanian Bear, Mati is the son of an Albanian immigrant father and an Albanian-American mother. This was a good win for him. Linger, now 13-6-3, is better than his record as he demonstrated in his previous fight when he manhandled Josue Vargas in a major upset.
Jersey City, NJ light heavyweight Khalil Coe improved to 6-0-1 (4 KOs) with a seventh-round stoppage of Buneet Bisla (7-1). Coe had Bisla on the deck twice in the opening frame, but Bisla, a 25-year-old Canadian with a kickboxing background, hung on until the seventh when a volley of punches forced the referee to intervene. Managed by the influential David McWater, Coe’s signature win came in his amateur days when he flattened the great Cuban boxer Julio Cesar la Cruz in the opening round at a tournament in Germany.
Minneapolis Armory
In the main go, a 12-round middleweight fight, Carlos Adames, a New Yorker by way of the Dominican Republic, advanced to 23-1 (18 KOs) with a ninth-round stoppage of Philadelphia’s Julian “J-Rock” Williams. Referee Mark Nelson stopped the fight with 15 seconds remaining in the ninth frame. Williams was clearly taking the worst of it, but he wasn’t badly hurt and he and his trainer Stephen “Breadman” Williams vociferously protested the stoppage.
Adames, an 11/2 favorite, was ahead by 8, 4, and 3 points through the eight completed rounds. The 33-year-old Williams, now 28-4-1, is 1-3 since his signature win over WBA/IBF super welterweight title-holder Jarrett Hurd.
Co-Feature
In a 10-round match contested at the catchweight of 157 pounds, Erickson Lubin rebounded from his loss to Sebastian Fundora in their 2022 barnburner with a fifth-round stoppage of Luis Arias. Lubin was ahead on two of the cards and even on the other heading into the fifth when he put Arias away with a looping right hand to the side of the head which Arias claimed was a rabbit punch. Arias appeared to beat the count, but his body language suggested that he really didn’t want to continue.
Lubin, who grew up in Florida, a child of Haitian immigrants, improved to 25-2 (18 KOs). Arias, a Milwaukee native of Cuban descent, fell to 20-4-1. Once considered a bright prospect, Arias is 2-4-1 in his last seven.
Also…
In the TV opener, Argentina’s Fernando Martinez (16-0, 9 KOs) successfully defended his IBF world flyweight title with an 11th-round stoppage of previously undefeated Jade Bornea (18-1). The lasting image from the fight was Bornea’s damaged right ear which was almost literally knocked off his face by a punch in the ninth round.
Martinez, known for his aggression, gradually pulled away and was ahead by margins of 6, 4, and 4 points through the completed rounds. Bornea, whose twin brother Jake is also a professional boxer, trained for this match with Filipino countryman Jerwin Ancajas who had fought 24 rounds with Martinez.
Ancajas was also on the card. The former flyweight title-holder whose long reign was halted by Fernando Martinez, carried a career-high 121 ¾ pounds for his confidence-restorer against Colombia’s Wilner Soto.
Ancajas (34-3-2, 23 KOs) put Soto on the deck in the fourth round with a three-punch combination and put him down again in the following frame with a body punch. On both occasions, Soto took a knee and the second knee-down in round five prompted the referee to waive it off. It was the seventh straight loss for Soto (22-13) and the sixth time that he has been stopped.
Photo credits: Ed Mulholland (Matchroom) and Esther Lin (Showtime)
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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach
LONG BEACH, Ca.-A cool autumn night saw welterweights and minimumweights share main events for a MarvNation fight card on Saturday.
Ukraine’s Eduard Skavynskyi (15-0, 7 KOs) experienced a tangled mess against the awkward Alejandro Frias (14-10-2) but won by decision after eight rounds in a welterweight contest at the indoor furnace called the Thunder Studios.
It was hot in there for the more than 600 people inside.
Skavynskyi probably never fought someone like Mexico’s Frias whose style was the opposite of the Ukrainian’s fundamentally sound one-two style. But round after round the rough edges became more familiar.
Neither fighter was ever damaged but all three judges saw Skavynskyi the winner by unanimous decision 79-73 on all three cards. The Ukrainian fighter trains in Ventura.
Bustillo Wins Rematch
In the female main event Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos (8-1) stepped into a rematch with Karen Lindenmuth (5-2) and immediately proved the lessons learned from their first encounter.
Bustillos connected solidly with an overhand right and staggered Lindenmuth but never came close to putting the pressure fighter down. Still, Bustillos kept turning the hard rushing Lindenmuth and snapping her head with overhand rights and check left hooks.
Lindenmuth usually overwhelms most opponents with a smothering attack that causes panic. But not against Bustillos who seemed quite comfortable all eight rounds in slipping blows and countering back.
After eight rounds all three judges scored the contest for Bustillos 78-74 and 80-72 twice. Body shots were especially effective for the Las Vegas fighter in the fifth round. Bustillos competes in the same division as IBF/WBO title-holder Yokasta Valle.
Other Bouts
In a middleweight clash, undefeated Victorville’s Andrew Buchanan (3-0-1) used effective combination punching to defeat Mexico’s Fredy Vargas (2-1-1) after six rounds. Two judges scored it 59-55 and a third 60-54 for Buchanan. No knockdowns were scored.
A super lightweight match saw Sergio Aldana win his pro debut by decision after four rounds versus Gerardo Fuentes (2-9-1).
Photos credit: Al Applerose
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Tedious Fights and a Controversial Draw Smudge the Matchroom Boxing Card in Orlando

Matchroom Boxing was at the sprawling Royale Caribe Resort Hotel in Orlando, Florida tonight with a card that aired on DAZN. The main event was a ho-hum affair between super lightweights Richardson Hitchins and Jose Zepeda.
SoCal’s Zepeda has been in some wars in the past, notably his savage tussle with Ivan Baranchyk, but tonight he brought little to the table and was outclassed by the lanky Hitchins who won all 12 rounds on two of the cards and 11 rounds on the other. There were no knockdowns, but Zepeda suffered a cut on his forehead in round seven that was deemed to be the product of an accidental head butt and another clash in round ten forced a respite in the action although Hitchins suffered no apparent damage.
It was the sort of fight where each round was pretty much a carbon of the round preceding it. Brooklyn’s Hitchins, who improved to 17-0 (7), was content to pepper Zepeda with his jab, and the 34-year-old SoCal southpaw, who brought a 37-3 record, was never able to penetrate his defense and land anything meaningful.
Hitchins signed with Floyd Mayweather Jr’s promotional outfit coming out of the amateur ranks and his style is reminiscent in ways of his former mentor. Like Mayweather, he loses very few rounds. In his precious engagement, he pitched a shutout over previously undefeated John Bauza.
Co-Feature
In the co-feature, Conor Benn returned to the ring after an absence of 17 months and won a unanimous decision over Mexico’s Rodolfo Orozco. It wasn’t a bad showing by Benn who showed decent boxing skills, but more was expected of him after his name had been bandied about so often in the media. Two of the judges had it 99-91 and the other 96-94.
Benn (22-0, 14 KOs) was a late addition to the card although one suspects that promoter Eddie Hearn purposely kept him under wraps until the week of the fight so as not to deflect the spotlight from the other matches on his show. Benn lost a lucrative date with Chris Eubank Jr when he was suspended by the BBBofC when evidence of a banned substance was found in his system and it’s understood that Hearn has designs on re-igniting the match-up with an eye on a date in December. For tonight’s fight, Benn carried a career-high 153 ½ pounds. Mexico’s Orozco, who was making his first appearance in a U.S. ring, declined to 32-4-3.
Other Bouts of Note
The welterweight title fight between WBA/WBC title-holder Jessica McCaskill (15-3-1) and WBO title-holder Sandy Ryan (6-1-1) ended in a draw and the ladies’ retain their respective titles. Ryan worked the body effectively and the general feeling was that she got a raw deal, a sentiment shared by the crowd which booed the decision. There was a switch of favorites in the betting with the late money seemingly all on the Englishwoman who at age 30 was the younger boxer by nine years.
The judges had it 96-94 Ryan, 96-95, and a vilified 97-93 for Chicago’s McCaskill.
In the opener of the main DAZN stream, Houston middleweight Austin “Ammo” Williams, 27, improved to 15-0 (10) with a 10-round unanimous decision over 39-year-old Toronto veteran Steve Rolls (22-3). All three judges had it 97-93. Rolls has been stopped only once, that by Gennady Golovkin.
Photo credit: Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing
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Zhilei Zhang KOs Joe Joyce; Calls Out Tyson Fury

Joe Joyce activated his rematch clause after being stopped in the sixth frame by Zhilei Zhang in their first meeting. In hindsight, he may wish that he hadn’t. Tonight at London’s Wembley Stadium, Zhang stopped him again and far more conclusively than in their first encounter.
In the first meeting, Zhang, a southpaw, found a steady home for his stiff left jab. Targeting Joyce’s right eye, he eventually damaged the optic to where the ring doctor wouldn’t let Joyce continue. At the end, the fight was close on the cards and Joyce was confident that he would have pulled away if not for the issue with his eye.
In the rematch tonight, Zhang (26-1-1, 21 KOs) closed the curtain with his right hand. A thunderous right hook on the heels of a straight left pitched Joyce to the canvas where he landed face first. He appeared to beat the count by a whisker, but was seriously dazed and referee Steve Gray properly waived it off. The official time was 3:07 of round three.
Zhang, who lived up to his nickname, “Big Bang,” was credited with landing 29 power punches compared with only six for Joyce (15-2) who came in 25 pounds heavier than in their first meeting while still looking properly conditioned. One would be inclined to say that age finally caught with the “Juggernaut” who turned 38 since their last encounter, but Zhang, 40, is actually the older man. In his post-fight interview in the ring, the New Jersey resident, a two-time Olympian for China, when asked who he wanted to fight next, turned to the audience and said, “Do you want to see me shut Tyson Fury up?”
He meant it as a rhetorical question.
Semi-Windup
Light heavyweight Anthony Yarde was matched soft against late sub Jorge Silva, a 40-year-old Portuguese journeyman, and barely broke a sweat while scoring a second-round stoppage. Yarde backed Silva against a corner post and put him on the deck with a short right hand. Silva’s body language indicated that he had no interest in continuing and the referee accommodated him. The official time was 2:07 of round two.
A 30-year-old Londoner, Yarde (24-3, 23 KOs) was making his first start since being stopped in eight rounds by Artur Beterbiev in a bout that Yarde was winning on two of the scorecards. Silva, a late replacement for 19-3-1 Ricky Summers, falls to 22-9.
Also
Former leading super middleweight contender Zach Parker (23-1, 17 KOs) returned to the ring in a “shake-off-the-rust” fight against 40-year-old Frenchman Khalid Graidia and performed as expected. Graidia’s corner pulled him out after seven one-sided rounds.
In his previous fight, Parker was matched against John Ryder who he was favored to beat. The carrot for the winner was a lucrative date with Canelo Alvarez. Unfortunately for Parker, he suffered a broken hand and was unable to continue after four frames. Tonight, he carried 174 pounds, a hint that he plans to compete as a light heavyweight going forward. Indeed, he has expressed an interest in fighting Anthony Yarde. Graidia declined to 10-13-4.
The Zhang-Joyce and Yarde-Silva fights were live-streamed in the U.S. on ESPN+.
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