PBC in Allentown: Russell Jr UD-12 Nyambayar; ‘Rigo’ Wins Yet Another Snoozer

PBC in Allentown: Russell Jr UD-12 Nyambayar; ‘Rigo’ Wins Yet Another Snoozer

There was one very big surprise, and one non-surprise Saturday night in the first boxing card ever staged in Allentown, Pennsylvania’s 5½-year-old PPL Center, most known to this point as a site for concerts and minor league hockey.

The big surprise was the number of very loud, flag-waving Mongolian fans who came out – who knew there were (a) so many who lived in the area, or (b) had enough money to afford the very long trip – in support of countryman Tugstsogt Nyambayar, who challenged WBC featherweight champion Gary Russell Jr. in the main event. Russell (31-1, 18 KOs), from Washington, D.C., shrugged off the unexpectedly high crowd support for the visitor from a far-off land (well, actually he now lives in Los Angeles) to score a wide unanimous decision over Nyambayar (11-1, 9 KOs), a silver medalist at the 2012 London Olympics.

The non-surprise was that, despite some recent hints that defensive genius Guillermo Rigondeaux was willing to take an additional risk here and there to make his style more fan-friendly, he remains one leopard who is and likely forever shall be reluctant to change his spots. At least that was the conclusion that the live audience and Showtime commentators reached after the crafty Cuban southpaw captured a secondary bantamweight title via unanimous decision over Liborio Solis in the co-featured bout.

On an excitement scale, the needle moved most for the first of the three televised bouts, in which Jaime Arboleda (16-1, 13 KOs), from Miami by way of his native Panama, overcame a 12^th-round knockdown to register a controversial and somewhat unpopular split decision over Jayson Velez (29-6-1, 14 KOs) in a WBA super featherweight title eliminator. Scores were 114-113 for Arboleda (twice) and 115-112 for Velez.

“Jayson Velez is a great fighter and has a great style,” Arboleda said after the last of the 1,629 punches, as tabulated by CompuBox, was thrown in a slugfest that featured very little defense. “I hurt him badly a few times, but I just got a bit ahead of myself and didn’t finish.”

A disappointed Velez, who connected on 225 of 692 (33%) to 269 of 937 (29%) for Arboleda, said “it was a close fight, but I think I won. It could have gone the other way. I knocked him down twice, but they didn’t count one of them (which was ruled a slip by referee Eric Dali).”

The 39-year-old Rigondeaux (20-1, 13 KOs) has been said to be trying to shed his defense-first reputation, a notion that was advanced by his two most recent ring appearances, both of which ended in stoppages. But he reverted to form after a rocky first round in which he was hurt several times by Solis (30-6-1, 14 KOs), a former WBA super flyweight champ who also is no spring chicken at 37. In what was far and away his best round, Solis landed 28 of 100 punches but then landed only 31 over the final 11 rounds, finishing 59 of 490.

Rigondeaux’s trainer, Ronnie Shields, has been trying to find a middle ground in which his guy continues to be a defensive genius, while flashing some of the power he always has had but dispenses in his own good time, and only when it suits his purpose.

Such a time came after the sixth round, five rounds after the first boos were heard (and, no, they weren’t all from the Mongolians) and two after shouts of “Boring! Boring!” One judge, Don Ackerman, who submitted a scorecard of 115-112 for Solis, apparently was giving the Panama-based Venezuelan rounds simply because he continued to come forward as an ineffectual aggressor.

“You cannot give rounds away,” Shields told Rigondeaux after the sixth round. “You got to engage a little bit more.”

That message apparently registered as Rigondeaux floored Solis with a three-punch combination, a left uppercut followed by two straight lefts. But he made no great effort to press his advantage, preferring to make Solis swat at air.

“He’s a timing guy,” Showtime analyst Paulie Malignaggi said of Rigondeaux. “He won’t come out of his comfort zone.”

Now that he has a world title at his “natural” fighting weight of 118 pounds, diluted though it may, Rigondeaux said he is ready to fight anyone and everyone in his new division. It remains to be seen how many of his hoped-for opponents would want to chase boxing’s Fred Astaire around the ring.

“I just saw the opportunity to strike,” he said of the knockdown.

And another tepid reaction from the paying customers?

“No, not at all,” Rigondeaux said when interviewer Jim Gray asked if he minded the catcalls from those who would have preferred more of his hits than Solis’ misses. “Look what the booing of the fans got me. I’m available to anyone who wants to get in the ring. Who do the fans want to see me fight? I’m available for any fighter. Now that I’m at my (natural) weight, let’s go hunting.”

Another hunter is Russell, who has been depicted as a reluctant warrior based on the fact he has fought only five times in five years. But despite long stretches of inactivity, he remains one of the longest-reigning champions, having won his title on a fourth-round stoppage of Jhonny Gonzalez on March 28, 2015. His conquest of Nyambayar marked his fifth successful defense.

A quick-handed southpaw – although the Showtime crew’s description of his hand speed as “blinding,” might be a bit excessive; it isn’t quite a match for a prime Meldrick Taylor or Roy Jones Jr. – Russell cites reluctance on the part of other  champions and top contenders to share the ring with him as a continuing frustration.

“Ring generalship. Hand speed. Boxing IQ,” Russell said when asked what separated him from Nyambayar, who showed he was no slouch despite the wide margins of victory for the champion (118-110, 117-111, 116-112).

What Russell wants next is a rematch with the only man to have defeated him as a pro, Vasiliy Lomachenko, who is now the WBC and WBA lightweight champion. That would mean a jump up two weight classes for Russell, which he said he is ready, willing and able to do, although a unification showdown with WBC featherweight ruler Leo Santa Cruz might make a nice consolation prize.

The main-event victory for Gary Jr., the oldest of the three boxing Russells at 31, capped a big night for the family as younger brothers Gary Antonio Russell and Gary Antuanne Russell also won undercard bouts. Twenty-seven-year-old junior welterweight Gary Antonio Russell  (17-0, 13 KOs)  was awarded a sixth-round disqualification victory over Jesus Martinez (27-11, 13 KOs), who was deemed to have clinched too often and too long, while rising junior welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (13-0, 13 KOs), a 2016 U.S. Olympian, starched Jose Marrufo (12-10-2, 1 KO) in one round.

In other bouts:

*Allentown hometown hero Martino Jules (9-0, 2 KOs), a super featherweight, needed less than a round to put away Mexico’s Pablo Cupul (10-31, 5 KOs);

*Super welterweight Jamontay Clark (15-1-1, 7 KOs) scored an eight-round unanimous decision over Anthony Lenk (16-7, 7 KOs);

*Bantamweight Jonathan Rodriguez (8-0, 3 KOs) came away with a UD6 over Edson Eduardo Neri (3-5, 2 KOs);

*Welterweight Marlon Bolen (4-0, 3 KOs) stopped Larry Ventus (9-15-1, 4 KOs) in one round.

Photo credit: Amanda Westcott / SHOWTIME

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