Mbilli and Martinez in a Spirited Draw plus Prelim Results from Las Vegas

Turki Alalshikh, with an assist from UFC honcho Dana White, brought Riyadh Season to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas tonight. Nine fights preceded the grand finale, the megafiight between Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford.

The penultimate prelude, a bruising 10-round tiff between super middleweights Christian Mbilli (29-0-1) and Lester Martinez (19-0-1), ended with both fighters retaining their undefeated records.

The Montreal-based French Cameroonian Mbilli, an 8/5 favorite, used his strength to keep Guatemala’s Martinez on his back foot for most of the match, but Martinez counter-punched effectively and buzzed Mbilli pn multiple occasions. The judges had it 97-93 Martinez, 96-94 Mbilli, and 95-95, producing a stalemate that struck most observers as eminently fair.

Other Bouts

Twenty-one-year-old super featherweight Mohammed Alakel, one of Turki’s pets, had the distinction of kicking off the main four-bout card on Netflix. Alakel (5-0, 1 KO heading in) was matched against late sub Travis Crawford (no relation to Terence), a 22-year-old boxer from Corpus Christi, Texas with a 7-4 (2) record.

This was Alakel’s first fight slated for more than six rounds and his first fight outside Riyadh. One could say he passed the test: he won a lopsided decision (98-92 and 99-91 twice) but it was clear that he is still very much a work in progress.

Ukrainian knockout artist Serhii Bohachuk was a consensus 5/1 favorite to avenge his 2021 defeat to South Central LA’s Brandon Adams, but it was Adams who landed the harder punches in their 10-round junior middleweight fight and the judges rewarded him with a unanimous decision (99-91, (98-92, 98-92).

Bohachuk (26-2 with 24 KOs heading in) seldom took a backward step in a fight that was “fought in a phone booth,” but his punches lacked steam in what was his third fight back since his 12-round war with Vergil Ortiz Jr, the sort of fight that shortens careers. Adams, 36, improved to 25-5 (16).

The only heavyweight contest on the docket was a predicable snoozefest. In a 10-round match that neither man deserved to win, Jermaine Franklin saddled Ivan Dychko with his first pro defeat, winning a unanimous decision. The scores were 96-94, 96-93, and a curious 97-92. From Saginaw, Michigan, the flabby Franklin improved his ledger to 24-2.

A two-time Olympic bronze medalist for Kazakhstan, now fighting out of Pittsburgh, the six-foot-nine Dychko, 35, won 14 of his first 15 fights by stoppage although lacking one-punch knockout power. Considering his impressive amateur pedigree – he was 4-0 vs, Bakhodir Jalolov! – his pro career has been largely a waste.

Highly-touted super featherweight Reito Tsatsumi, one of two fighting brothers, advanced to 3-0 (2 KOs) with a quick demolition of Javier Martinez (7-3). Tsatsumi overwhelmed Martinez with a flurry of punches, knocking the Texan to the canvas. He beat the count but was plainly buzzed and the fight was waived off. The official time was 2:18 of round one. It was the second fight back for Martinez (7-3) after a three-year layoff prompted by lifestyle problems.

Sultan Almohamed, a 17-year-old Saudi Arabian teenager, made a successful debut in a 4-round super featherweight match with a unanimous decision over South Florida’s Martin Caraballo IV. Almohamed, training alongside countryman Mohammed Alakel at Abel Sanchez’s “Summit” in Big Bear, won every round on all three cards but this was yet an entertaining fight. It was the second pro fight for Caraballo IV who fought to a draw in his pro debut.

In the first upset of the day, Team Combat League veteran Raiko Santana, from El Paso via Cuba, improved to 13-4 (7 KOs) with a stunning first-round stoppage of Terence Crawford’s bosom buddy Steven Nelson. Santana was teeing off against Nelson, who was sagging against the ropes when referee Robert Hoyle stepped in and waived it off. It was the second straight loss for Nelson, 37, who went 12 rounds with Diego Pacheco after opening his career 20-0.

The official time was 2:38 of round one. Hoyle’s stoppage was premature.

In the opener, a bout fought at the catchweight of 162 pounds, Mazatlan’s Marco Verde, a silver medalist for Mexico at the Paris Games, scored a fourth-round stoppage of Minnesota’s teak-tough but limited Sona Akale who went ballistic when referee Mark Nelson called a halt at the 1:11 mark of round four. Akale took the fight on six days’ notice.

*****Check back shortly for David Avila’s round-by-round recap of the Canelo-Crawford fight and the semi-wind-up, a battle between unbeatens Callum Walsh and Fernando Vargas Jr.

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