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Schofield Outclasses Rhodes and Esparza Squeaks by Alaniz in San Antonio

Fate stepped in and Floyd “Kid Austin” Schofield took advantage in displaying speed, power and patience in dominating rugged Haskell Rhodes by unanimous decision on Saturday in his main event debut.
Despite suffering a gruesome cut to the cheek, Schofield was flawless.
“I did what I had to do,” Schofield said.
Texas lightweight Schofield (15-0, 11 KOs) found out just days ago that he was bumped up to the main event and showed Rhodes (28-5-1, 13 KOs) and the boxing world his sterling talent at San Antonio, Texas.
He’s only 20 years old.
When scheduled welterweight contender Vergil Ortiz was forced out of the main event due to medical complications, Golden Boy Promotions confidently inserted the young Texas lightweight prospect. Schofield eagerly accepted the challenge.
Rhodes, a veteran from Las Vegas who fought a former world champion, proved to be the perfect partner with only one knockout loss in 35 fights.
Schofield used a strong left jab to keep Rhodes from attacking inside. For the first half of the fight Rhodes kept setting traps to unload overhand rights. But the young Texas fighter never allowed many openings.
Schofield used stiff jabs and feints to keep Rhodes from rushing in. And at times he blasted the body to keep his shorter foe at a distance.
In the seventh round Rhodes decided to use his background in MMA and tackled Schofield twice to bring the younger fighter down. It seemed to ignite the Texan and he got up in total attack mode. A volley of blows capped by a left uppercut floored Rhodes who got up at the count of nine. The fight continued and Schofield blasted away with another volley and down went Rhodes again for a count of nine.
“I seen he was dipping down on the same side,” Schofield said.
Rhodes survived.
“He can take a hell of a punch,” Schofield said.
Schofield opened the eighth frame hungry for a knockout and chased Rhodes around the ring. When the two fought inside Schofield connected with a sneak left hook to the liver and after a few seconds Rhodes sunk to his knee. He beat the count again.
In the ninth round Schofield stepped up his attack looking to end the fight. Rhodes butted Schofield and followed with a right that missed. But his head connected and down went Schofield with a nasty gash on his left cheek. The ringside physician was called and he allowed the fight to continue. Schofield celebrated.
“He did that on purpose,” said Schofield about the head butt by Rhodes. “I kind of felt it when I got up.”
In the final round the undefeated Texan used his jabs and left hooks to keep Rhodes at a distance. In the final 10 seconds he vaulted to attack mode and exchanged with the rough Rhodes until the final bell.
After 10 rounds all three judges scored it 100-87 for Schofield.
Marlen Esparza Unifies
Once again Marlen Esparza benefitted somewhat from home state judging and defeated rival champion Gabriela Alaniz to unify the flyweight titles by majority decision.
Esparza is living a charmed life.
Esparza (14-1, 1 KO) banked on accuracy to out-duel Argentina’s Alaniz (14-1, 6 KOs) in front of a large Texas crowd.
One thing is certain, Esparza can take a punch.
Though Alaniz fired countless blows like a buzzsaw it was Esparza who was far more accurate. In the opening round Esparza ran across and connected with a lead right.
The Argentine fighter was known for aggressive volume punching and after a couple of rounds began to adapt to Esparza’s style.
Esparza could not miss with the right cross and every time Alaniz tried to counter the Olympian slipped and moved out of danger.
Around the fourth round Alaniz began to find the range for her battery of blows. And though Esparza was connecting with single punches the sheer volume of blows from the Argentine fighter could not be ignored.
Combinations began to connect for Alaniz and Esparza seemed willing to trade blows. But it also allowed the fighter known as “la Chucky” to gain confidence.
Alaniz scored heavily in the seventh and eighth rounds with volume punches as Esparza seemed to tire. In the ninth round Esparza opened with a lead right and seemed to regain control. It kept Alaniz slightly off her rhythm. Esparza connected with right after right again and combination punching.
Entering the final round Esparza seemed eager to run across the ring but was stopped by the referee and told to touch gloves. It seemed to catch Esparza off guard and allowed Alaniz to regain momentum. The Argentine fighter out-punched Esparza until the final bell.
One judge scored it even 95-95 but two others scored in favor of Esparza 97-93 and a ridiculous 99-91. The Olympian now holds the WBO, WBA, WBC and ring titles. Only the IBF title remains and Arely Mucino holds that title. Mucino also fights under the Golden Boy banner.
Jojo wins
Needing a win, Jojo Diaz arrived overweight but managed to out-fight the younger power punching Jerry Perez and win by unanimous decision in a super lightweight match.
Diaz was more than five pounds overweight.
After losing three consecutive fights, Diaz performed.
Behind a concentrated body attack Diaz was able to control the younger and taller Perez. And when attacked his ability to stand in the pocket and deflect and counter was never better.
Punishing blows to the body opened up avenues for Diaz to attack and he took full advantage. Though no knockdowns were scored Diaz was the decisive winner by unanimous decision 97-93 twice and 98-92.
Tudor survives
Middleweight prospect Eric Tudor knocked down Reggie Harris early in the fight and was able to hang on against the eight-pounds heavier fighter from Michigan.
Tudor floored Harris with a roundhouse right in the first round and then wobbled him in the second round. But Harris weighed eight pounds heavier and that extra weight proved to add strength to him and he rallied furiously in the middle rounds.
With only two rounds remaining Tudor put on the after-burners and hurt Harris with a counter left hook. That ignited more speedy combinations and he was able to regain control in the last two rounds. All three judges scored in favor of Florida’s Tudor 77-74, 78-73 twice.
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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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