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The McCann-Baluta Barnburner was the Jewel of an Interesting Friday Slate

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An interesting Friday menu of boxing got off to a rousing start with a barnburner at venerable York Hall in gritty East London. The scheduled 12-round bout between Dennis McCann and Ionut Baluta ended inconclusively, but before the match was stopped, fans in the sweltering, sold-out arena were treated to nine rounds of torrid, back-and-forth action that somewhat fittingly produced a stalemate.

An accidental clash of heads in round seven left McCann (pictured in the red trunks) with a terrible gash on his forehead and ultimately led to the match being halted by the ringside physician. The fight went to the scorecards, yielding tallies of 86-85 McCann, 86-86, and 86-86 – a majority draw.

The 22-year-old McCann remains unbeaten at 14-0-1 but showed that he needs to work on tightening his defense. He and Baluta (16-4-1) both expressed interest in a rematch. When it happens, it will undoubtedly go to a larger venue, perhaps serving as the co-feature on a pay-per-view.

Featherweight Nathaniel Collins, a 29-year-old southpaw, made a huge jump in public esteem in the co-feature, knocking out Raza Hamza in 15 seconds. It was a two-punch combo, a straight right followed by a cuffing left to the back of the head that ended the fight moments after the opening bell. Collins, a relative unknown despite owning a domestic title, stands poised to supplant Josh Taylor as the next great fighter from Scotland. To accomplish that, however, he may have to get past England’s surging Nick Ball and then the winner of the forthcoming clash in October between countrymen Leigh Wood and Josh Warrington. The featherweight scene in the U.K. is percolating.

Orlando

Orlando-based, Puerto Rico-born Nestor Bravo, a super lightweight, continued his gradual ascent up the ladder and kept his unbeaten record intact with a 10-round unanimous decision over Will Madera, a father of six from Albany, New York. The scores were all over the map: 99-91, 97-93, and 96-94.

Bravo (22-0, 15 KOs), rocked Madera (17-3-3) in the opening round, but the Empire State veteran stayed the course and had plenty of fuel in his tank at the finish. In his previous bout Madera, a frequent sparring partner of Abraham Nova, went 10 rounds with knockout artist Brandun Lee.

The co-feature, a 10-round welterweight affair, was an intriguing match between undefeated Cuban defectors Damian Lescaille and Hugo Noriega. The lanky Noriega (8-0 heading in), had the stronger amateur pedigree – he owned a win over future gold medalist Roniel Iglesias – but Lescaille, at age 24 the younger man by nine years, had youth on his side and came from a better barn; he is trained by Ronnie Shields.

The fight went the distance with Lescaille, now 5-0, winning by scores of 96-93 and 97-92 twice.

Atlanta

Super lightweight Kurt Scoby (13-0, 11 KOs), advanced his knockout skein to eight with a sixth-round stoppage of Narciso Carmona (11-1-1). A 25-year-old Spaniard, Carmona had his best round in the fifth, but Scoby took him out in the next frame, strafing him with an assortment of unanswered punches to force the stoppage. The official time was 2:31 of round six.

Scoby, a muscular Southern California native who now hangs his hat in Brooklyn where he trains at Gleason’s Gym, bears watching. In his previous bout, he sent Philadelphia veteran Hank Lundy off into retirement with a second-round stoppage.

Colorado’s Shawn McCalman, who competes as a super middleweight or a light heavyweight depending on the opponent, maintained his winning ways with a mild upset of Money Powell IV in a ho-hum 8-rounder. McCalman improved to 14-0 (7), but did little to improve his stock. It was the second loss in 15 pro starts for Powell IV who entered the pro ranks well-touted after a stellar amateur career.

Buenos Aires

The sour note to Friday’s activity was caused by Gustavo Lemos who came in overweight, forcing the cancellation of his match with countryman Javier Jose Clavero.

Lemos was ranked #1 by the IBF at lightweight and on pace to capture a big-money fight with Devin Haney. He had been out of the ring for 17 months and it was thus agreed that the bout would proceed if he weighed no more than 140 pounds, but he wasn’t able to trim down that low and now his career going forward is murky.

Photo credit: Queensberry Promotions

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Skavynskyi and Bustillos Win on a MarvNation Card in Long Beach

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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

Applerose2

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

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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

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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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