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Avila Perspective, Chap. 246: Undefeated Welterweight Kings, Seniesa and More

Avila Perspective, Chap. 246: Undefeated Welterweight Kings, Seniesa and More
When Terence Crawford meets Errol Spence Jr. in the prize ring in Las Vegas it marks a special rare occurrence for professional boxing.
It’s been 24 years since two undefeated welterweights ranked among the top fighters pound-for-pound met in a Las Vegas boxing ring. That was Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya.
It’s happening again.
WBO welterweight titlist Crawford (39-0, 30 KOs) looks to determine if he, or WBA, WBC, IBF titlist Spence (28-0, 22 KOs) deserve all the juice when they meet Saturday July 29, at T-Mobile Arena in the Las Vegas Strip. Showtime pay-per-view will televise the TGB Promotions card.
“It would be a dream come true to become the first welterweight undisputed champion of the world in the four-belt era,” said Spence. “I watched all the great fighters as a kid. Now, I get to have my moment.”
Back in September 1999, De La Hoya was undefeated and coming off wins against Ike Quartey, Oba Carr and Julio Cesar Chavez. Trinidad was a wrecking machine and bowled over Pernell Whitaker and Hugo Pineda. The two welterweight kings met at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
It was a packed arena and celebrities like Jack Nicholson, Big Pun and Jennifer Tilly were among the stars eager to watch the two welterweight super stars. That night De La Hoya raced in front with a hit and move strategy for the first eight rounds. Then, Trinidad slipped into a more offensive gear and won by majority decision.
Neither fighter was knocked down nor hurt in the epic match.
Now we have another pair of undefeated welterweights with sterling records, speed, power and both eager to reach superstar status.
Spence, 33, fights out of a southpaw stance and hails from Texas where he developed his style that took him to the 2012 London Olympics. As a pro, he’s never tasted defeat but had a razor-close battle against Shawn Porter four years ago in Los Angeles. Spence scored a late knockdown and won by a split decision.
Crawford, 35, also fights out of a southpaw stance or orthodox, depending on the moment. He’s racked up world titles in the lightweight, super lightweight and welterweight divisions. The first time I saw Crawford perform was on the undercard of Brandon Rios and Richar Abril in April 2012 in Las Vegas.
One common foe was Shawn Porter who was stopped by Crawford in the 10th round at the Mandalay Bay. Porter retired from fighting immediately after the fight.
Each has their own unique way of stalking an opponent. Spence prefers a strategic technical pressure style and batters away. Crawford has a more herky-jerky approach and uses angles to open up attacks.
“My name is already up there with the all-time greatest welterweight fighters. It’s just a matter of going out there on Saturday and putting the cherry on top and furthering my legacy,” said Crawford.
Both welterweights have solid chins, speed and power. The winner may end up as the pound for pound king depending on the mode of victory.
A guy from Japan named Naoya Inoue just obliterated super bantamweight champ Stephen Fulton to win his fourth division world title. He may have something to say about the new kingpin of boxing.
T-Mobile Undercard
Mexico’s Isaac “Pit Bull” Cruz (24-2-1, 17 KOs) returns and faces Chicago’s undefeated Giovanni Cabrera (21-0, 7 KOs) in a lightweight battle and title eliminator for the WBA and WBC titles in the semi-main event. Cruz has become very popular since matching blows with Gervonta “Tank” Davis two years ago in Los Angeles.
Also, legendary Nonito Donaire (42-7, 28 KOs) returns and meets Mexico’s Alexandro Santiago (27-3-5, 14 KOs) for the vacant WBC bantamweight world title. Donaire lost that title to Inoue in his last fight. The Japanese champion has moved up.
Monster
Well, Naoya Inoue has done it again.
After winning three division world titles including the undisputed bantamweight championship, Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue went after WBA and WBC super bantamweight titlist Stephen Fulton and took his belts too.
Now Inoue (25-0, 22 KOs) has four division world titles. Many expect new pound for pound lists to name Inoue as the number one fighter in the world. It remains to be seen until Spence and Crawford are finished with their affair.
Can anyone stop the Monster?
Seniesa Estrada Owns Friday
Speaking about pound for pound fighters, petite Seniesa “Super Bad’ Estrada (on the left) claims Friday night all her own when she defends the WBA and WBC minimumweight world titles against Leonela Yudica of Argentina.
East L.A’s Estrada (24-0) meets Argentina’s Yudica (19-1-3) at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on Friday July 28. ESPN+ will stream the Top Rank Card live.
Yudica is a former world champion who lost her IBF flyweight title to Mexico’s Arely Mucino in a brutal struggle. She is dropping down in weight to meet Estrada for the minimumweight world titles.
“I’m positive that they have underestimated me. I have had a lot of fights, and I have a lot of experience. I defended my flyweight title 10 times,” said Yudica at the press conference. “And while it is a great challenge to be going down in weight, I am ready and prepared to show that I have everything it takes to become world champion again.”
Estrada has won titles in the light flyweight and flyweight titles as well.
“I never overlook any opponent. I know that she has faced tough champions before, and she is not afraid to take a risk and fight champions. But my style is unlike any other champion she’s faced,” said Estrada.
Fights to Watch
Fri. ESPN+ 4:30 p.m. Seniesa Estrada (24-0) vs Leonela Yudica (19-1-3); Abraham Nova (22-1) vs Jonathan Romero (35-1).
Sat. Showtime ppv 5 p.m. Errol Spence Jr. (28-0) vs Terence Crawford (39-0); Isaac Cruz (24-2-1) vs Giovanni Cabrera (21-0); Nonito Donaire (42-7) vs Alexandro Santiago (27-3-5).
Estrada-Yudica photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank via Getty Images
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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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Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday

To say that Mekhrubon Sanginov is excited to resume his boxing career would be a great understatement. Sanginov, ranked #9 by the WBA at 154 pounds before his hiatus, last fought on July 8, 2022.
He was in great form before his extended leave, having scored four straight fast knockouts, advancing his record to 13-0-1. Had he remained in Las Vegas, where he had settled after his fifth pro fight, his career may have continued on an upward trajectory, but a trip to his hometown of Dushanbe, Tajikistan, turned everything haywire. A run-in with a knife-wielding bully nearly cost him his life, stalling his career for nearly three full years.
Sanginov was exiting a restaurant in Dushanbe when he saw a man, plainly intoxicated, harassing another man, an innocent bystander. Mekhrubon intervened and was stabbed several times with a long knife. One of the puncture wounds came perilously close to puncturing his heart.
“After he stabbed me, I ran after him and hit him and caught him to hold for the police,” recollects Sanginov. “There was a lot of confusion when the police arrived. At first, the police were not certain what had happened.
“By the time I got to the hospital, I had lost two liters of blood, or so I was told. After I was patched up, one of the surgeons said to me, ‘Give thanks to God because he gave you a second life.’ It is like I was born a second time.”
“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could have happened in any city,” he adds. (A story about the incident on another boxing site elicited this comment from a reader: “Good man right there. World would be a better place if more folk were willing to step up when it counts.”)
Sanginov first laced on a pair of gloves at age 10 and was purportedly 105-14 as an amateur. Growing up, the boxer he most admired was Roberto Duran. “Muhammad Ali will always be the greatest and [Marvin] Hagler was great too, but Duran was always my favorite,” he says.
During his absence from the ring, Sanginov married a girl from Tajikistan and became a father. His son Makhmud was born in Las Vegas and has dual citizenship. “Ideally,” he says, “I would like to have three more children. Two more boys and the last one a daughter.”
He also put on a great deal of weight. When he returned to the gym, his trainer Bones Adams was looking at a cruiserweight. But gradually the weight came off – “I had to give up one of my hobbies; I love to eat,” he says – and he will be resuming his career at 154. “Although I am the same weight as before, I feel stronger now. Before I was more of a boy, now I am a full-grown man,” says Sanginov who turned 29 in February.
He has a lot of rust to shed. Because of all those early knockouts, he has answered the bell for only eight rounds in the last four years. Concordantly, his comeback fight on Saturday could be described as a soft re-awakening. Sanginov’s opponent Mahonri Montes, an 18-year pro from Mexico, has a decent record (36-10-2, 25 KOs) but has been relatively inactive and is only 1-3-1 in his last five. Their match at Thunder Studios in Long Beach, California, is slated for eight rounds.
On May 10, Ardreal Holmes (17-0) faces Erickson Lubin (26-2) on a ProBox card in Kissimmee, Florida. It’s an IBF super welterweight title eliminator, meaning that the winner (in theory) will proceed directly to a world title fight.
Sanginov will be watching closely. He and Holmes were scheduled to meet in March of 2022 in the main event of a ShoBox card on Showtime. That match fell out when Sanginov suffered an ankle injury in sparring.
If not for a twist of fate, that may have been Mekhrubon Sanginov in that IBF eliminator, rather than Ardreal Holmes. We will never know, but one thing we do know is that Mekhrubon’s world title aspirations were too strong to be ruined by a knife-wielding bully.
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Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City

In the showdown between undefeated welterweight champions Jaron “Boots Ennis walked away with the victory by technical knockout over Eamantis Stanionis and the WBA and IBF titles on Saturday.
No doubt. Ennis was the superior fighter.
“He’s a great fighter. He’s a good guy,” said Ennis.
Philadelphia’s Ennis (34-0, 30 KOs) faced Lithuania’s Stanionis (15-1, 10 KOs) at demonstrated an overpowering southpaw and orthodox attack in front of a sold-out crowd at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
It might have been confusing but whether he was in a southpaw stance or not Ennis busted the body with power shots and jabbed away in a withering pace in the first two rounds.
Stanionis looked surprised when his counter shots seemed impotent.
In the third round the Lithuanian fighter who trains at the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood, began using a rocket jab to gain some semblance of control. Then he launched lead rights to the jaw of Ennis. Though Stanionis connected solidly, the Philly fighter was still standing and seemingly unfazed by the blows.
That was a bad sign for Stanionis.
Ennis returned to his lightning jabs and blows to the body and Stanionis continued his marauding style like a Sherman Tank looking to eventually run over his foe. He just couldn’t muster enough firepower.
In the fifth round Stanionis opened up with a powerful body attack and seemed to have Ennis in retreat. But the Philadelphia fighter opened up with a speedy combination that ended with blood dripping from the nose of Stanionis.
It was not looking optimistic for the Lithuanian fighter who had never lost.
Stanionis opened up the sixth round with a three-punch combination and Ennis met him with a combination of his own. Stanionis was suddenly in retreat and Ennis chased him like a leopard pouncing on prey. A lightning five-punch combination that included four consecutive uppercuts delivered Stanionis to the floor for the count. He got up and survived the rest of the round.
After returning shakily to his corner, the trainer whispered to him and then told the referee that they had surrendered.
Ennis jumped in happiness and now holds the WBA and IBF welterweight titles.
“I felt like I was getting in my groove. I had a dream I got a stoppage just like this,” said Ennis.
Stanionis looked like he could continue, but perhaps it was a wise move by his trainer. The Lithuanian fighter’s wife is expecting their first child at any moment.
Meanwhile, Ennis finally proved the expectations of greatness by experts. It was a thorough display of superiority over a very good champion.
“The biggest part was being myself and having a live body in front of me,” said Ennis. “I’m just getting started.”
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn was jubilant over the performance of the Philadelphia fighter.
“What a wonderful humble man. This is one of the finest fighters today. By far the best fighter in the division,” said Hearn. “You are witnessing true greatness.”
Other Bouts
Former featherweight world champion Raymond Ford (17-1-1, 8 KOs) showed that moving up in weight would not be a problem even against the rugged and taller Thomas Mattice (22-5-1, 17 KOs) in winning by a convincing unanimous decision.
The quicksilver southpaw Ford ravaged Mattice in the first round then basically cruised the remaining nine rounds like a jackhammer set on automatic. Four-punch combinations pummeled Mattice but never put him down.
“He was a smart veteran. He could take a hit,” said Ford.
Still, there was no doubt on who won the super featherweight contest. After 10 rounds all three judges gave Ford every round and scored it 100-90 for the New Jersey fighter who formerly held the WBA featherweight title which was wrested from him by Nick Ball.
Shakhram Giyasov (17-0, 10 KOs) made good on a promise to his departed daughter by knocking out Argentina’s Franco Ocampo (17-3, 8 KOs) in their welterweight battle.
Giyasov floored Ocampo in the first round with an overhand right but the Argentine fighter was able to recover and fight on for several more rounds.
In the fourth frame, Giyasov launched a lead right to the liver and collapsed Ocampo with the body shot for the count of 10 at 1:57 of the fourth round.
“I had a very hard camp because I lost my daughter,” Giyasov explained. “I promised I would be world champion.”
In his second pro fight Omari Jones (2-0) needed only seconds to disable William Jackson (13-6-2) with a counter right to the body for a knockout win. The former Olympic medalist was looking for rounds but reacted to his opponent’s actions.
“He was a veteran he came out strong,” said Jones who won a bronze medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “But I just stayed tight and I looked for the shot and I landed it.”
After a feint, Jackson attacked and was countered by a right to the rib cage and down he went for the count at 1:40 of the first round in the welterweight contest.
Photo credit: Matchroom
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