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Jared Anderson and Adam Kownacki: Heavyweights on Worrisome Paths

Jared Anderson last fought in August of last year when he scored a fifth-round knockout over Ukrainian journeyman Andrii Rudenko on a card in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That elevated his record to 16-0 (15 KOs) and reinforced the opinion that he was America’s best hope to end the era of foreign dominance in boxing’s glamour division.
Although Anderson hasn’t fought since then, his name has been in the news and the news hasn’t been pretty. On Thursday of last week, Feb. 29, the 24-year-old boxer was arrested in Huron Township in Wayne County, Michigan, his second brush with the law in less than four months.
ESPN boxing writer Mike Coppinger broke the story on the day that it happened. Coppinger subsequently updated the story with information posted by the Huron Township Office of Public Safety on the department’s Facebook page.
Anderson was arrested after a police chase that ended when he crashed his Dodge Challenger into a highway median. The chase began in the early afternoon when a policeman attempted to pull him over for speeding. During the chase that wended north and south across roughly five-and-a-half miles, his vehicle reached a top speed of 130 mph.
Noting that Anderson’s car had a camera mounted on the back windshield, Huron Township Police Chief Everette Robbins expressed the view that Anderson baited the policeman. Because the pursuing officer periodically discontinued the chase in the interest of public safety, Robbins (perhaps alluding to Burt Reynolds and Jackie Gleason in the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies) described it as a cat-and-mouse game.
In Michigan, Anderson’s escapade is a third-degree felony with a potential five-year prison term. He spent two nights behind bars before he was released on bond and has his first court hearing scheduled for March 13 in Romulus, Michigan. Romulus is roughly 50 miles from Anderson’s home in Toledo, Ohio. The following month, on April 13, he is scheduled to resume his boxing career in Corpus Christi, Texas, with Belgium’s Ryad Merhy in the opposite corner.
Previous Incident
Speeding also factored into Anderson’s previous arrest. On Nov. 6 of last year, in the wee hours of a Monday morning, he was pulled over for driving 55 mph in a 40-mph zone in the lakefront Toledo suburb of Oregon, Ohio.
The officer detected the scent of marijuana in the vehicle and the odor of alcohol on Anderson’s breath. An open bottle of tequila was found in the vehicle and there was a handgun in the glove compartment. He was charged with being in possession of a firearm while driving under the influence.
Anderson was arrested and spent 8 hours in jail. The OVI charge (operating a vehicle while impaired) was expunged when he passed a breathalyzer test but the firearms charge stuck even though it was in a locked compartment. In court, he pleaded “no contest” and was slapped with a $200 fine and a six-month suspended sentence.
In addition to his boxing prowess, Anderson has attracted notice for his flamboyant ring walks. In August of 2022, prior to his twelfth pro fight, he adopted a solemn pose, walking slowly to the ring in prison garb with a ball-and-chain. The intent was to call attention to the plight of his older brother Adam “Dub” Anderson who was incarcerated. At the age of 20, Dub Anderson was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role with three co-defendants in a fatal 2013 home invasion.
Kownacki
In this cruel sport, some fights are so exhilarating that they shorten careers, which is to say that they hasten the day when the victorious fighter crosses over to the wrong side of the hill. Although hindsight is always 20/20, the Aug. 4, 2019 fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn between Adam Kownacki and Chris Arreola is emblematic.
The 12-round battle, which some pundits likened to a heavyweight version of Gatti-Ward, set CompuBox records for punches thrown and punches landed in a heavyweight fight. Although there were no knockdowns, both fighters absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment. Kownacki, who at age 30 was the younger man by eight years, emerged the winner by a unanimous decision.
Kownacki had prefaced that win with victories over Charles Martin (UD 10) and Gerald Washington (TKO 2). His triumph over Arreola boosted his record to 20-0. Next in the line of fire was WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder. Although Kownacki would have been a massive underdog, it would have been a massive payday for the amiable, moon-faced Pole who had developed a cult following that extended beyond his Polish homies in Brooklyn.
But Wilder wasn’t available quite yet (he had a commitment to fight Luis “King Kong” Ortiz) and Kownacki’s braintrust thought it prudent to keep him busy. They matched him with a journeyman from Finland, a Wilder-like beanpole named Robert Helenius, in theory a safe and useful opponent.
Kownacki won the first three rounds with his non-stop aggression and then the roof fell in. In round four, fighting off the ropes, Helenius buzzed him with a sneaky counter right that produced a flash knockdown. Although Kownacki was up in a jiffy (the knockdown was erroneously ruled a slip), the punch discombobulated him and the Finn seized the moment, storming after him with a barrage of punches that forced the referee to intervene.
In their rematch in Las Vegas, Kownacki was down on the cards and his eyes were starting to close when the referee stopped the messy fight in the sixth frame. Kownacki was subsequently out-pointed by a relatively unknown fighter from Turkey, Ali Eren Demirezen, and then stopped in eight frames by the very limited Joe Cusumano. In this fight, Kownacki was saved by the bell in the first round but to his credit kept plugging away until his corner threw in the towel.
Ringside scribe Thomas Hauser likened the sad spectacle to a wake with the body inside the ring. “Adam shouldn’t get hit in the head anymore,” wrote Hauser in his post-fight report. “Not in sparring and not in a fight. Shame on anyone who, in any way, facilitates his fighting again.”
Hauser’s admonition wasn’t heeded. This past Saturday in Koszalin, Poland, in his first ring appearance in the country of his birth, Kownacki was blasted out in 45 seconds by 24-year-old Kacper Meyna, a fellow Pole who entered the ring with an 11-1 record. It was his fifth straight loss and fourth inside the distance, reducing his record, once 20-0, to 20-5. It seems obvious that his punch resistance is shot; it happens.
Years from now, historians may look back on his fierce rumble with Chris Arreola and see it as a watershed fight for him. Yes, Adam Kownacki triumphed that night, but there was much more to the story.
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Gabriela Fundora KOs Marilyn Badillo and Perez Upsets Conwell in Oceanside

It was just a numbers game for Gabriela Fundora and despite Mexico’s Marilyn Badillo’s elusive tactics it took the champion one punch to end the fight and retain her undisputed flyweight world title by knockout on Saturday.
Will it be her last flyweight defense?
Though Fundora (16-0, 8 KOs) fired dozens of misses, a single punch found Badillo (19-1-1, 3 KOs) and ended her undefeated career and first attempt at a world title at the Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, California.
Fundora, however, proves unbeatable at flyweight.
The champion entered the arena as the headliner for the Golden Boy Promotion show and stepped through the ropes with every physical advantage possible, including power.
Mexico’s Badillo was a midget compared to Fundora but proved to be as elusive as a butterfly in a menagerie for the first six rounds. As the six-inch taller Fundora connected on one punch for every dozen thrown, that single punch was a deadly reminder.
Badillo tried ducking low and slipping to the left while countering with slashing uppercuts, she found little success. She did find the body a solid target but the blows proved to be useless. And when Badillo clinched, that proved more erroneous as Fundora belted her rapidly during the tie-ups.
“She was kind of doing her ducking thing,” said Fundora describing Badillo’s defensive tactics. “I just put the pressure on. It was just like a train. We didn’t give her that break.”
The Mexican fighter tried valiantly with various maneuvers. None proved even slightly successful. Fundora remained poised and under control as she stalked the challenger.
In the seventh round Badillo seemed to take a stand and try to slug it out with Fundora. She quickly was lit up by rapid left crosses and down she went at 1:44 of the seventh round. The Mexican fighter’s corner wisely waved off the fight and referee Rudy Barragan stopped the fight and held the dazed Badillo upright.
Once again Fundora remained champion by knockout. The only question now is will she move up to super flyweight or bantamweight to challenge the bigger girls.
Perez Beats Conwell.
Mexico’s Jorge “Chino” Perez (33-4, 26 KOs) upset Charles Conwell (21-1, 15 KOs) to win by split decision after 12 rounds in their super welterweight showdown.
It was a match that paired two hard-hitting fighters whose ledgers brimmed with knockouts, but neither was able to score a knockdown against each other.
Neither fighter moved backward. It was full steam ahead with Conwell proving successful to the body and head with left hooks and Perez connecting with rights to the head and body. It was difficult to differentiate the winner.
Though Conwell seemed to be the superior defensive fighter and more accurate, two judges preferred Perez’s busier style. They gave the fight to Perez by 115-113 scores with the dissenter favoring Conwell by the same margin.
It was Conwell’s first pro loss. Maybe it will open doors for more opportunities.
Other Bouts
Tristan Kalkreuth (15-1) managed to pass a serious heat check by unanimous decision against former contender Felix Valera (24-8) after a 10-round back-and-forth heavyweight fight.
It was very close.
Kalkreuth is one of those fighters that possess all the physical tools including youth and size but never seems to be able to show it. Once again he edged past another foe but at least this time he faced an experienced fighter in Valera.
Valera had his moments especially in the middle of the 10-round fight but slowed down during the last three rounds.
One major asset for Kalkreuth was his chin. He got caught but still motored past the clever Valera. After 10 rounds two judges saw it 99-91 and one other judge 97-93 all for Kalkreuth.
Highly-rated prospect Ruslan Abdullaev (2-0) blasted past dangerous Jino Rodrigo (13- 5-2) in an eight round super lightweight fight. He nearly stopped the very tough Rodrigo in the last two rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Abdullaev is trained by Joel and Antonio Diaz in Indio.
Bakersfield prospect Joel Iriarte (7-0, 7 KOs) needed only 1:44 to knock out Puerto Rico’s Marcos Jimenez (25-12) in a welterweight bout.
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‘Krusher’ Kovalev 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 Welterweight 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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