Featured Articles
The Hauser Report: Keyshawn Davis at Madison Square Garden

The Hauser Report: Keyshawn Davis at Madison Square Garden
Bob Arum promoted his first fight card – Muhammad Ali vs. George Chuvalo – in Toronto on March 29, 1966. Top Rank was formed soon after and is arguably the greatest promotional company in the history of boxing.
Top Rank has promoted more than two thousand fight cards and seven hundred world championship bouts. It has been on the cutting edge of new technologies and was the first major player in boxing to understand and exploit the power of the Hispanic market in the United States.
But Top Rank has been struggling lately. Its roster of elite fighters has gotten smaller. Its lucrative exclusive contract with ESPN expires this summer and won’t be renewed. The company is exploring other options, but so is every other promoter in boxing not tied exclusively to DAZN.
Meanwhile, Arum is doing his best to develop what he hopes will be a new generation of stars. One of these fighters – Keyshawn Davis – was on display before a sold-out crowd of 4,979 at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theatre on Valentine’s Day.
Davis is 25 years old and came into the fight with a 12-and-0 (8 KOs) record. His opponent, 36-year-old Denys Berinchyk (19-0, 9 KOs), was the reigning WBO lightweight champion by virtue of an upset split-decision victory over Emanuel Navarrete last June. Berinchyk had the belt, but the spotlight was on Davis (a 2020 Olympic silver medalist and 6-to-1 betting favorite).
Throughout fight week, Davis had the carriage of a fighter who is undefeated in the professional ranks and knew that the odds were stacked in his favor. He reveled in acting the bully at the final pre-fight press conference where he repeatedly interrupted Berinchyk before getting up from his chair and looming over the Ukrainian. That was followed by an incident at the weigh-in when Keyshawn put his hands on Denys and, as the fighters turned to face the media, stepped into Berinchyk’s space. That earned a shove and tempers flared.
It’s easy for a fighter to act out like that when he’s facing a 6-to-1 underdog. It’s unlikely that Keyshawn would have behaved in the same manner had he been readying to fight – say – Gervonta Davis.
When fight night came, it was just a matter of time until Berinchyk was knocked out. There was no way he could deal with Keyshawn’s speed and power. One guy was fighting in slow motion and the other on fast-forward.
Davis dropped Berinchyk with a body shot in round three and ended matters in round four with a brutal hook to the liver that left Denis gasping for air on the canvas.
Keyshawn has speed, skills, and power. Time will tell if he has a chin and heart.
Davis-Berinchyk highlighted a basic truth about boxing and other sports. Some athletes are simply more physically gifted than others.
LeBron James has a wonderful work ethic. But there are many basketball players who work as hard as LeBron and know the nuances of the game just as well. His physical gifts separate him from the pack. Ditto for Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Judge, and every other elite athlete.
Jack Nicklaus wasn’t just a talented golfer. At age thirteen, Nicklaus ran a 100-yard dash in eleven seconds flat and was the starting quarterback, punter, and placekicker on his junior high school football team. As a high school basketball player, he averaged eighteen points a game on a team that went to the fourth round of the Ohio state championship tournament. That same year, he made twenty-six free throws in a row and was named “all-league” and “honorable mention all-state.” To round out his resume, he played catcher on the school baseball team.
Davis has exceptional physical gifts. The phrase “physically gifted” also applies to 20-year-old Abdullah Mason (16-0, 14 KOs) who dismantled Manuel Jaimes at the Hulu Theater on Friday night. Mason is a legitimate prospect. Like Davis, he has speed, skills, and power. Five months ago, Jaimes went the distance against Rolly Romero. Mason knocked him down four times on the way to a fourth-round stoppage.
Other thoughts on Friday night’s fights at Madison Square Garden include:
Juanma Lopez De Jesus (who represented Puerto Rico at the 2024 Olympics and is the son of former WBO champion Juan Manuel Lopez) made his pro debut at 114 pounds against Bryan Santiago. Santiago was a typical opponent for a prospect making his pro-debut. Lopez knocked him out at 59-seconds of round one with the first solid punch he landed. After the fight, Santiago literally didn’t know what hit him. For the record, it was an uppercut.
Rohan Polanco turned in a dominant performance, stopping Juan Carlos Torres in two rounds. Keon Davis (Keyshawn’s brother) knocked out an overmatched Ira Johnson, also in the second stanza.
Vito Mielnicki Jr. and Connor Coyle fought to a spirited draw although, in the eyes of this observer, the edge belonged to Mielnicki. And Xander Zayas turned in a solid performance in scoring a ninth-round stoppage over Slawa Spomer. Referee Charlie Fitch might have stepped in a bit too quickly. But Fitch is a good referee. Spomer was getting hit more than he should have been. And according to CompuBox, Slawa had been outlanded 257 to 39.
Top Rank hopes to keep Zayas and Mielnicki on track until there’s a vacant 154-pound belt that they can fight for or a weak champion that one of them can beat.
Two of the favorites on the February 14 card disappointed.
Jared Anderson had been touted as America’s best heavyweight until his deficiencies were exposed and he was knocked down three times en route to a fifth-round stoppage by Martin Bakole on the Crawford-Madrimov undercard in Los Angeles last August. Marios Kollias (born in Greece and now fighting out of Sweden) is a big, strong, very slow fighter with rudimentary skills. Kollias had two fights last year. In one of them, he lost to a Danish fighter named Kem Ljungquist. In the other, he beat a guy named Tamaz Izoria (who has 15 losses in 20 fights and has been knocked out 11 times).
The Jared Anderson who savagely demolished Jerry Forrest at Madison Square Garden two years ago would have made short work of Kollias. But that version of Anderson hasn’t been seen lately. Jared came in for the Kollias fight at a career-high 258 pounds. And he fought like a man who has doubts about whether he wants to continue fighting professionally.
Anderson-Kollias had the feel of a slow sparring session. Kollias’s trunks kept sliding below his protective cup, necessitating repeated stoppages so referee David Fields could adjust them. The only fire Jared showed came near the end of the tenth and final round when he flagrantly fouled Marios by throwing him over his hip to the canvas. Fields should have deducted two points for the unprovoked infraction but let the matter slide. Properly incentivized, Kollias landed his best punches of the night just before the final bell. The scorecards read 99-91, 99-91, 98-92 in Anderson’s favor.
Anderson-Kollias was a dreary fight. Nico Ali Walsh vs. Juan Carlos Guerra was a sad one.
Nico is Muhammad Ali’s grandson and fights in the neighborhood of 157 pounds. He turned pro in 2021 and, after knocking out five of six carefully chosen opponents, went the distance in his next six outings (including one “no contest”). When he entered the ring on Friday night, his record stood at 10-and-1.
Without the “Ali” name, Nico would still be an exceptionally nice young man and a college graduate with myriad talents. People are impressed by him and for good reason. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into being a good fighter.
The buzz that attended the start of Nico’s ring career is gone. He hasn’t improved noticeably as a fighter and doesn’t have the physical gifts necessary to take him beyond the club-fight level.
Guerra was a fungible opponent. The assumption was that Nico would outbox him. Juan Carlos threw wide looping punches throughout the fight and was an inartful aggressor. But inartful aggression is better than no aggression at all.
Nico got hit too much by a guy who – fortunately for Nico – was short on power. He fought tentatively, seldom initiated the action, didn’t counterpunch effectively, and failed to dissuade Guerra from coming forward.
In the final round, trailing badly by any objective measure, Nico didn’t try to pick up the pace.
Four of the rounds clearly belonged to Guerra. The other two were up for grabs. Judges Waleska Roldan and Georgi Gergov scored the bout 58-56 for Guerra.
In a shocker, Ken Ezzo’s scorecard read 58-56 in Nico’s favor.
Most fights aren’t hard to score. A judge has to pay attention, know what he (or she) is watching, and be honest. Ezzo’s scorecard was a disgrace.
It’s still possible that, by virtue of his family name, Nico can be maneuvered to a nice payday on a Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia. But he’s getting hit in the head too much. So I’ll repeat what I wrote after watching him fight several years ago:
“Whenever Nico fights, my heart will be in his gloves. But I’d rather that he not fight again. Muhammad Ali sacrificed so much at the altar of boxing – more than enough to obviate the need for sacrifices by any member of his family in the years to come.”
Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most recent book – MY MOTHER and me – is a personal memoir available at Amazon.com. https://www.amazon.com/My-Mother-Me-Thomas-Hauser/dp/1955836191/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5C0TEN4M9ZAH&keywords=thomas+hauser&qid=1707662513&sprefix=thomas+hauser%2Caps%2C80&sr=8-1
In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for career excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Bombs Away in Las Vegas where Inoue and Espinoza Scored Smashing Triumphs

Japan’s Naoya “Monster” Inoue banged it out with Mexico’s Ramon Cardenas, survived an early knockdown and pounded out a stoppage win to retain the undisputed super bantamweight world championship on Sunday.
Japan and Mexico delivered for boxing fans again after American stars failed in back-to-back days.
“By watching tonight’s fight, everyone is well aware that I like to brawl,” Inoue said.
Inoue (30-0, 27 KOs), and Cardenas (26-2, 14 KOs) and his wicked left hook, showed the world and 8,474 fans at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that prizefighting is about punching, not running.
After massive exposure for three days of fights that began in New York City, then moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and then to Nevada, it was the casino capital of the world that delivered what most boxing fans appreciate- pure unadulterated action fights.
Monster Inoue immediately went to work as soon as the opening bell rang with a consistent attack on Cardenas, who very few people knew anything about.
One thing promised by Cardenas’ trainer Joel Diaz was that his fighter “can crack.”
Cardenas proved his trainer’s words truthful when he caught Inoue after a short violent exchange with a short left hook and down went the Japanese champion on his back. The crowd was shocked to its toes.
“I was very surprised,” said Inoue about getting dropped. ““In the first round, I felt I had good distance. It got loose in the second round. From then on, I made sure to not take that punch again.”
Inoue had no trouble getting up, but he did have trouble avoiding some of Cardenas massive blows delivered with evil intentions. Though Inoue did not go down again, a look of total astonishment blanketed his face.
A real fight was happening.
Cardenas, who resembles actor Andy Garcia, was never overly aggressive but kept that left hook of his cocked and ready to launch whenever he saw the moment. There were many moments against the hyper-aggressive Inoue.
Both fighters pack power and both looked to find the right moment. But after Inoue was knocked down by the left hook counter, he discovered a way to eliminate that weapon from Cardenas. Still, the Texas-based fighter had a strong right too.
In the sixth round Inoue opened up with one of his lightning combinations responsible for 10 consecutive knockout wins. Cardenas backed against the ropes and Inoue blasted away with blow after blow. Then suddenly, Cardenas turned Inoue around and had him on the ropes as the Mexican fighter unloaded nasty combinations to the body and head. Fans roared their approval.
“I dreamed about fighting in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas,” said Cardenas. “So, I came to give everything.”
Inoue looked a little surprised and had a slight Mona Lisa grin across his face. In the seventh round, the Japanese four-division world champion seemed ready to attack again full force and launched into the round guns blazing. Cardenas tried to catch Inoue again with counter left hooks but Inoue’s combos rained like deadly hail. Four consecutive rights by Inoue blasted Cardenas almost through the ropes. The referee Tom Taylor ruled it a knockdown. Cardenas beat the count and survived the round.
In the eighth round Inoue looked eager to attack and at the bell launched across the ring and unloaded more blows on Cardenas. A barrage of 14 unanswered blows forced the referee to stop the fight at 45 seconds of round eight for a technical knockout win.
“I knew he was tough,” said Inoue. “Boxing is not that easy.”
Espinoza Wins
WBO featherweight titlist Rafael Espinosa (27-0, 23 KOs) uppercut his way to a knockout win over Edward Vazquez (17-3, 4 KOs) in the seventh round.
“I wanted to fight a game fighter to show what I am capable,” said Espinoza.
Espinosa used the leverage of his six-foot, one-inch height to slice uppercuts under the guard of Vazquez. And when the tall Mexican from Guadalajara targeted the body, it was then that the Texas fighter began to wilt. But he never surrendered.
Though he connected against Espinoza in every round, he was not able to slow down the taller fighter and that allowed the Mexican fighter to unleash a 10-punch barrage including four consecutive uppercuts. The referee stopped the fight at 1:47 of the seventh round.
It was Espinoza’s third title defense.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Undercard Results and Recaps from the Inoue-Cardenas Show in Las Vegas

The curtain was drawn on a busy boxing weekend tonight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where the featured attraction was Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue appearing in his twenty-fifth world title fight.
The top two fights (Inoue vs. Roman Cardenas for the unified 122-pound crown and Rafael Espinoza vs. Edward Vazquez for the WBO world featherweight diadem) aired on the main ESPN platform with the preliminaries streaming on ESPN+.
The finale of the preliminaries was a 10-rounder between welterweights Rohan Polanco and Fabian Maidana. A 2020/21 Olympian for the Dominican Republic, Polanco was a solid favorite and showed why by pitching a shutout, punctuating his triumph by knocking Maidana to his knees late in the final round with a hard punch to the pit of the stomach.
Polanco improved to 16-0 (10). Argentina’s Maidana, the younger brother of former world title-holder Marcos Maidana, fell to 24-4 while maintaining his distinction of never being stopped.
Emiliano Vargas, a rising force in the 140-pound division with the potential to become a crossover star, advanced to 14-0 (12 KOs) with a second-round stoppage Juan Leon. Vargas, who turned 21 last month, is the son of former U.S. Olympian Fernando Vargas who had big money fights with the likes of Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya. Emiliano knocked Leon down hard twice in round two – both the result of right-left combinations — before Robert Hoyle waived it off.
A 28-year-old Spaniard, Leon was 11-2-1 heading in.
In his U.S. debut, 29-year-old Japanese southpaw Mikito Nakano (13-0, 12 KOs) turned in an Inoue-like performance with a fourth-round stoppage of Puerto Rico’s Pedro Medina. Nakano, a featherweight, had Medina on the canvas five times before referee Harvey Dock waived it off at the 1:58 mark of round four. The shell-shocked Medina (16-2) came into the contest riding a 15-fight winning streak.
Lynwood, California junior middleweight Art Barrera Jr, a 19-year-old protégé of Robert Garcia, scored a sixth-round stoppage of Chicago’s Juan Carlos Guerra. There were no knockdowns, but the bout had turned sharply in Barrera’s favor when referee Thomas Taylor intervened. The official time was 1:15 of round six.
Barrera improved to 9-0 (7 KOs). The spunky but outclassed Guerra, who upset Nico Ali Walsh in his previous outing, declined to 6-2-1.
In the lid-lifter, a 10-round featherweight affair, Muskegon Michigan’s Ra’eese Aleem improved to 22-1 (12) with a unanimous decision over LA’s hard-trying Rudy Garcia (13-2-1). The judges had it 99-01, 98-92, and 97-93.
Aleem, 34, was making his second start since June of 2023 when he lost a split decision in Australia to Sam Goodman with a date with Naoya Inoue hanging in the balance.
Check back shortly for David Avila’s recaps of the two world title fights.
Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
Featured Articles
Canelo Alvarez Upends Dancing Machine William Scull in Saudi Arabia

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, who has acquired a new nickname – “The Face of Boxing” – is accustomed to fighting on Cinco De Mayo weekend, but this year was different. For the first time, Canelo was fighting outside the continent of North America and entering the ring at an awkward hour. His match with William Scull started at 6:30 on a Sunday morning in Riyadh.
In the opposite corner was 32-year-old William Scull, an undefeated (23-0) Cuban by way of Germany, whose performance was better suited to “Dancing With the Stars” than to a world title fight. Constantly bouncing from side to side but rarely letting his hands go, Scull frustrated Canelo who found it near-impossible to corner him, but one can’t win a fight solely on defense and the Mexican superstar was returned the rightful winner in a bout that was a fitting cap to a desultory two days of Saudi-promoted prizefighting. The scores were 115-113, 116-112, and 119-109. In winning, Canelo became a fully unified super middleweight champion twice over.
Terence Crawford was in attendance and HE Turki Alalshikh made it official: Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) and Canelo (63-2-2, 39 KOs) will meet in the Fight of the Century (Alalshikh’s words) on Sept. 12 in Las Vegas at the home of the city’s NFL team, the Raiders. For whatever it’s worth, each of Canelo’s last seven fights has gone the full 12 rounds.
Semi-wind-up
In a match between the WBC world cruiserweight title-holder and the WBC world cruiserweight “champion in recess” (don’t ask), the former, Badou Jack, brought some clarity to the diadem by winning a narrow decision over Noel Mikaelian. One of the judges had it a draw (114-114), but the others gave the fight to “Jack the Ripper” by 115-113 scores.
A devout Muslim who is now a full-time resident of Saudi Arabia, the Sweden-born Jack, a three-division title-holder, had the crowd in his corner. Now 41 years old, he advanced his record to 29-3-3 (17). It was the first pro loss for Mikaelian (27-1), a Florida-based Armenian who was subbing for Ryan Rozicki.
The distracted CompuBox operator credited Mikaelian with throwing 300 more punches but there was no controversy.
Tijuana’s Jaime Munguia, a former junior middleweight title-holder, avenged his shocking loss to Bruno Sarace with a unanimous 12-round decision in their rematch. This was Munguia’s first fight with Eddy Reynoso in his corner. The scores were 117-111 and 116-112 twice.
Surace’s one-punch knockout of Munguia in mid-December in Tijuana was the runaway pick for the 2024 Upset of the Year. Heading in, Munguia was 44-1 with his lone defeat coming at the hands of Canelo Alvarez. Munguia had won every round against Surace before the roof fell in on him.
Surace won a few rounds tonight, but Munguia was the busier fighter and landed the cleaner shots. It was the first pro loss for Surace (26-1-2) and ended his 23-fight winning streak. The Frenchman hails for Marseilles.
Heavyweights
In a 10-round heavyweight match fought at a glacial pace, Martin Bakole (21-2-1) and Efe Ajagba (20-1-1) fought to a draw. One of the judges favored Ajagba 96-94 but he was outvoted by his cohorts who each had it 95-95.
Bakole, a 7/2 favorite, came in at 299 pounds, 15 more than he carried in his signature win over Jared Anderson, and looked sluggish. He was never able to effectively close off the ring against the elusive Ajagba who fought off his back foot and failed to build on his early lead.
The fight between the Scotch-Congolese campaigner Bakole and his Nigerian-American foe was informally contested for the heavyweight championship of Africa. That “title” remains vacant.
In a 6-rounder, heavy-handed Cuban light heavyweight Brayon Leon, a stablemate of Canelo Alvarez, was extended the distance for the first time while advancing his record to 7-0 at the expense of Mexico’s Aaron Roche (11-4-1). Leon knocked Roche to the canvas in the fourth round with a right-left combination, but the Mexican stayed the course while eating a lot of hard punches.
Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry Promotions
To comment on this story in the Fight Forum CLICK HERE
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Results and Recaps from Las Vegas where Richard Torrez Jr Mauled Guido Vianello
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Weekend Recap and More with the Accent of Heavyweights
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Remembering Hall of Fame Boxing Trainer Kenny Adams
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis Wins Welterweight Showdown in Atlantic City
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Boxing Notes and Nuggets from Thomas Hauser
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Avila Perspective Chap 320: Boots Ennis and Stanionis
-
Featured Articles4 weeks ago
Dzmitry Asanau Flummoxes Francesco Patera on a Ho-Hum Card in Montreal
-
Featured Articles3 weeks ago
Mekhrubon Sanginov, whose Heroism Nearly Proved Fatal, Returns on Saturday