Dalton Smith Knocks Out Ouizza in 1st

Dalton Smith remained undefeated with an opening round stoppage of Walid Ouizza in a scheduled 12-round super lightweight bout in Nottingham, ENG.

Smith floored Ouizaza when he landed a big flurry that was culminated by a right to the side of the head. Ouizza never fully recovered and Smith landed a hard right that put Ouizza down again and the fight was stopped at 3:00.

Smith, 140 lbs of Sheffield, ENG is 17-0 with 13 knockouts. Ouizza, 139.4 lbs of Saint-Quen, FRA is 19-3.

Conah Walker Scores Improbable 11th Round Stoppage over Scarff

Conah Walker scored a miraculous come from behind 11th round stoppage over Harry Scarff in a 12-round welterweight bout.

After being way behind in the cards, Round 11 saw Walker landed a big right hand that dropped Scarff. Scarff was badly hurt and a barrage of punches until the bout was stopped at 1:23.

Walker, 146.7 lbs of Wolverhampton, ENG is 15-3-1 with six knockouts. Scarff, 146.3 lbs of Derby, ENG is 13-4.

Scotney Defends Super Bantamweight Titles W/Decision over Motu

Ellie Scotney defended the IBF/WBO Super Bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Mea Motu.

In round one, Scotney was cut over the left eye from an accidental headbutt.

Scotney, 121.7 lbs f Vatford, ENG won by scores of 99-91 on all cards and is now 10-0. Motu, 121.1 lbs of Auckland, NZ is 20-1.

Sulaimaan Decisions Arce

Ibraheem Sulaimaan won an eight-round decision over Reuquen Facundo Arce in a super featherweight bout.

Sulaimaan, 132.3 lbs of Birmingham, ENG won by a score 80-72 and is now 7-0. Arce, 131 lbs of Buenos Aires, ARG is 18-18-2.

Hamza Uddin won an eight-round decision over Misael Ezequiel Graffioli in a flyweight contest.

Uddin, 133.3 lbs of Walsall, ENG won by an 80-72 score and is now 4-0. Graffioli, 113.1 lbs of Canada de Gomez, ARG is 5-4.

Traie Duberry barely held on to win a six-round decision over Camilo Castagno in a cruiserweight bout.

In round two, Duberry landed a hard right hand that rocked Castagno in the corner and Castagno was dropped after another right hand.

In round five, Duberry landed another right hand that forced Castagno to take a knee. Late in round six, Castagno landed a brutal overhand left that planted Duberry on his behind. Unfortunately for Castagno, that punch landed just before the bell rang.

Duberry, 198.2 lbs of Aston, ENG won by a 59-53 score and is now

Things No Longer Cordial Between Pacheco and Nelson Ahead of Saturday

Highly-regarded super middleweight Diego Pacheco meets fellow unbeaten Steven Nelson at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in the headlining bout of the second leg of a two-continent DAZN broadcast on Saturday night. While two regional titles are at stake, the true prize for the winner of the twelve-rounder could be a bout against one of the major players at 168-pounds. Fighters weighed-in on Friday afternoon at the OPM Theater, one floor down from the host venue.

Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) of Los Angeles, California has gradually moved to the precipice of landing the marque bout he has vocally demanded during fight week. In his last time out, Pacheco impressively halted veteran Maciej Sulecki in the sixth with a perfectly-placed bodyshot. Sulecki, albeit naturally smaller and now older, had previously lasted the distance against Demetrius Andrade and Daniel Jacobs in his only two prior defeats.

The 36-year-old U.S. Army veteran Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs) of Omaha, Nebraska has moved along at a different pace and to less fanfare than his 23-year-old counterpart. Nelson’s resume does not have a Sulecki type to be found, as Pacheco marks the veteran’s first major headline opportunity. In his last bout, Nelson dropped previously undefeated Marcos Vazquez three times en route to a fifth-round stoppage, deep down on the undercard of Terence Crawford’s victory over Ismail Madrimov in Los Angeles last August.

Pacheco, the WBO #1/WBC #3/IBF #6 ranked super middleweight, is only one fight away from a bout with Canelo Alvarez, according to recent remarks by his promoter, Eddie Hearn. Pacheco is trained by Jose Benavidez Sr., no stranger to leading a 168-pounder to the doorstep of such a bout, as David Benavidez was in that same position not long ago. Benavidez Sr.’s first journey towards Canelo has thus proven fruitless and it remains to be seen where on the scale Alvarez will appear next.

Nelson, the WBO #9 ranked super middleweight, must look at his opportunity against Pacheco as his Canelo fight. The Nebraska native has developed quietly, in the shadows of Crawford, fighting mainly on his undercards in recent years. With a win over Pacheco, who defends the regional USWBC and WBO International titles on Saturday, Nelson would put himself in prime position to attract one of the big names at 168-pounds.

Pacheco made 166.4-pounds on Friday, while Nelson hit the super middleweight limit of 168. The public weigh-in ceremony got heated during the face-off, as a jawing back-and-forth turned into some shoving before camps went their seperate ways.

In the leading supporting bout, WBA #4/IBF#5/WBC #6/WBO #15 ranked lightweight Andy Cruz (4-0, 2 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of Matanzas, Matanzas, Cuba defends the regional IBF International lightweight title against WBA #12 ranked Omar Salcido (20-1, 14 KOs) of Lakeside, California by way of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico in a ten-round bout.

Cruz, previously one of the most accomplished amateurs of all-time, appears to be on the fast-track towards a world title opportunity. Cruz has referred to himself as Keyshawn Davis’ daddy in the lead-up to Saturday’s bout, a nod to his four amateur victories over the fellow lightweight contender. While Davis will vie for a world title in February, Cruz will be defending the regional title he won in his pro debut for the fourth time. However, the 2020 Cuban Olympic gold medalist cannot afford to look past the veteran Salcido, who enters the bout fresh off of his signature victory to date, a ninth-round stoppage of Chris Colbert this past October.

For the bout, which will also see the WBA Continental Latin America title on the line, Cruz and Salcido scaled an identical 134.8-pounds each.

Junior welterweight prospect Ernesto Mercado (16-0, 15 KOs) of Pomona, California looks to march towards to bonafide contender status as he moves up in class against former two-division world champion Jose Pedraza (29-6-2, 14 KOs) of Cidra, Puerto Rico in a ten-round bout. Mercado, 142.4 at Friday’s weigh-in and recently signed to Matchroom Boxing, will be making his Las Vegas debut against a fighter in Pedraza, 143, that has fought a who’s who list from all over the world.

Junior welterweight prospect Leonardo Rubalcava (9-0, 3 KOs) of Jurupa Valley, California by way of Teocaltiche, Jalisco, Mexico takes on Israel Mercado (11-1, 7 KOs) of Montclair, California in an eight-round bout. Rubalcava, making his Las Vegas debut, scaled 141-pounds, as did Mercado, fighting in Vegas for the second straight occasion.

Former amateur standout Harley Mederos (7-0, 6 KOs) of Brooklyn, New York will meet Arturo de Isla (5-2-1, 4 KOs) of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico in a six-round lightweight bout. Mederos, who capped a well decorated amateur run as U.S. National champion in 2020, scaled 134.4-pounds, while de Isla made 135.6.

2024 Indian Olympic bronze medalist Nishant Dev of Woodland, California by way of Karnal, India will make his professional debut against Alton Wiggins (1-0-1) of Modesto, California in a six-round junior middleweight bout. Dev came in at 155.8-pounds, while Wiggins tipped 156.4.

19-year-old former amateur standout Zaquin Moses (1-0) of Newark, New Jersey will take on replacement opponent Mario Garcia (3-0, 3 KOs) of Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico in a four-round super featherweight bout. Moses was 130.4, giving up seven pounds to make the fight, with the short-notice Garcia at 137.4-pounds Friday.

For those watching from home, the DAZN marathon boxing broadcast begins with Dalton Smith’s junior welterweight headliner against Walid Ouizza from Nottingham, England, with coverage beginning at 12:15 EST. Coverage from Las Vegas begins at 5:45 EST.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

USWBC Super Middleweight Championship

WBO International Super Middleweight Championship, 12 Rounds

Pacheco 166.4

Nelson 168

WBA Continental Latin America Championship

IBF International Lightweight Championship, 10 Rounds

Cruz 134.8

Salcido 134.8

Light welterweights, 10 Rounds

Mercado 142.4

Pedraza 143

Light welterweights, 8 Rounds

Rubalcava 141

Mercado 141

Lightweights, 6 Rounds

Mederos 134.4

de Isla 135.6

Light middleweights, 6 Rounds

Dev 155.8

Wiggins 156.4

Super featherweights, 4 Rounds

Moses 130.4

Garcia 137.4

Tickets for the event, promoted by Matchroom Boxing, are available online at Ticketmaster.com

Photos by Melina Pizano/Matchroom

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Naoya Inoue: On the road and in search of more of himself

By Norm Frauenheim

Naoya Inoue’s astonishing career continues without any apparent limits.

There are 10 straight knockouts, 22 in title fights. There are four titles in four weight classes, two undisputed. He’s unbeaten, and for now unchallenged.

Yet, he talks as if his resume is somehow incomplete. He talks about his career as though it’s more of a search for identity than just another fight.

Inoue, Japan’s Rising Son, wants to know more about himself.

“I don’t know how complete I am as a boxer,’’ Inoue said.

That might surprise Ye Joon Kim, who was destroyed in another thorough beat down delivered by Inoue (29-0, 26 KOs) at home in Tokyo Friday with still another deadly display of tactical efficiency and predatory instinct.

The result, a fourth-round knockout of Kim in a junior-featherweight title defense, was also thoroughly predictable. Kim (21-3-2, 13 KOs) was a late stand-in for Sam Goodman, an Australian forced to withdraw because of a nasty cut suffered in training. But we expect a lot from Inoue these days. Anything less than dominance would be disappointment.

Kim didn’t have a chance. Goodman wouldn’t have either. That, of course, has raised a familiar chorus of skepticism. Terence Crawford, an Inoue rival alongside Oleksandr Usyk in the pound-for-pound debate, has heard the same questions. They go all the way back to Joe Louis’ Bum Of The Month during his heavyweight reign.

Dominance is double edged. Too much of it, and fans begin to doubt because of inevitable questions about the quality of the opposition.

Inoue might wonder himself.

Might wonder, too, about how more complete he can be against fighters perceived to be real threats. Fighters like Junto Nakatani, or Murodjon Akhmadaliev, or Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez. Against them, perhaps, Inoue will be forced to extend himself beyond the limits of what it means to be complete.

That journey in self-discovery begins — appropriately enough — on the road. Inoue confirmed what Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told The Boxing Hour/15 rounds and Boxing Scene in early December while in Phoenix for Emanuel Navarrete’ stoppage of Oscar Valdez in a rematch. Inoue said he will leave the comforts of home and the intense loyalty of Japanese fans for the first time in nearly four years.

“Yes, 2025 will be a big year for me to go overseas to have a fight,’’ Inoue said during a post-fight monologue that was seen on ESPN+ in the early-morning hours in the United States. “In spring of 2025, I’ll be going to Las Vegas to show the great match. I am planning to have fights in Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia this year.’’

Arum, who likened Inoue to Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, foresees an Inoue fight in Vegas in April or May. The initial road test is not expected to present Inoue with a steep challenge. The opposition figures to be more like Kim than Bam.

Both The Boxing Hour/15 Rounds and Boxing Scene reported in early December that there had been some preliminary talks about Alan David Picasso (31-0-1, 17 KOs), a Mexico City junior-featherweight with the perfect last name for Inoue’s masterpiece of a career.

So far, it’s been an artistic run, one summed up Friday with a body assault that — in the end —was punctuated by a head-rocking, left-right combo. At 2:25 of the fourth, Inoue was already planning to hit the road.

“The great country of Japan has given Ohtani to the city of Los Angeles, and at least for one fight, the great country of Japan will give this great Inoue to the city of Las Vegas for one fight this spring,” said the 93-year-old Arum, who was at ringside at Ariake Arena.

For the 31-year-old Inoue, it’s an opportunity to introduce and re-introduce himself to fans whose only opportunity to see him has been in the early-morning hours. Hitting the road is another way of saying he’s going global, all in an attempt to become a complete craftsman and the game’s first real cross-over star since Manny Pacquiao.

Jesus Ramos wants Lubin rematch

Colleague Marc Abrams broke some news this week on his 15 Rounds podcast in an interview with Jose Ramos Jr., who fights former junior-middleweight champion Jeison Rosario Feb. 1 on the card featuring fellow Arizonan David Benavidez against David Morrell at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

The fight is Ramos’ second since a controversial scorecard loss to Erickson Lubin in September 2023. Ramos, who stopped Johan Gonzalez last May in his first fight since his lone loss, says he’s seeking a rematch.

“Definitely,’’ said Ramos (22-1, 17 KOs), who lives and trains in Casa Grande, south of Phoenix. “We’ve been trying. Whenever he’s ready.’’

Rosario’s power poses a threat in what’s an interesting fight and perhaps a step toward a rematch. Lubin (18-2, 8 KOs), of Orlando, stopped Rosario (29-4-2, 23 KOs), dropping the Dominican twice in the sixth round nearly four years ago in Atlanta.

Ramos, now 23, says there are lessons in the loss, controversial because of a couple of widely different scores, all favoring Lubin — 117-111, 116-112, 115-113. When announced, there were lots of boos from a crowd at T-Mobile for Canelo Álvarez’ decision over Jermell Charlo.

The defeat, Ramos said, changed his mindset.

“I’m learning more, growing as a person,’’ he said.

Benavidez-Morrell: David-versus-David, a stage setter in a February twin bill

By Norm Frauenheim

Benavidez-Morrell, David-versus-David, is intriguing on several levels in a fight primarily significant because it’s a new year’s first real stage-setter for a potential light-heavyweight showdown between the best of a new generation and the best in an aging one.

Three weeks after the Davids, both in their late 20s and entering their primes, meet on Feb. 1 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Center, the 175-pound establishment’s leading faces, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitrii Bivol, meet again on Feb 22 in a rematch of Beterbiev’s narrow scorecard victory in Saudi Arabia in October.

The winner in the first is supposed to meet the winner of the second in what could be a generational showdown. That’s the plan, anyway. That might be the problem, too. In the boxing biz, plans are just another glass jaw. They get shattered all the time.

The good news is that Benavidez-Morrell is a pick-em fight. The 28-year-old Benavidez has been a slight favorite since it was announced, probably because the unbeaten, yet former two-time super-middleweight champion has more professional experience. But Morrell, also unbeaten, has the amateur pedigree that comes with being a Cuban-born boxer. Morrell, who turns 27 this Saturday (Jan. 18) — the day after Muhammad Ali’s birthday, had a reported amateur record of 130-5.

That suggests he knows his way around the ring, a skill he might need in countering Benavidez, a Phoenix-born fighter known for his energy and ferocious pursuit in the later rounds. That’s just one element in a fight close enough to perhaps lead to a rematch, a sequel that could also get replayed in calls for a trilogy fight between the 34-year old Bivol and Beterbiev.

If Bivol wins the second, then expect a third against Beterbiev, who will be 39 years old on Tuesday, January 21 in a month that should include boxing gloves on the hooves of its traditional zodiac sign, a goat. Or is that GOAT?

Nobody, perhaps, will be more interested in each fight more than Canelo Álvarez, who has fallen out of the pound-for-pound debate, yet continues to be the pay-per-view leader. Canelo is the biggest reason for the Benavidez-Morrell fight.

He wouldn’t fight either, forcing both to move up the scale, from 168 pounds to 175. Each is 1-0 at the heavier weight in respective debuts that they won, yet each with a mixed performance. Their second appearance at light-heavy is also considered too-close-to-call in part because it’s hard to judge their debuts — an injured Benavidez, in a unanimous decision over former champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk in June and a tentative Morrell, also in a unanimous decision over Radivoje Kalajdzic in August.

Most of Canelo’s attention figures to be on Bivol-Beterbiev. A Bivol victory in that rematch might convince him to seek his own rematch with the Russian, who upset him, scoring a unanimous decision over the heavily-favored Mexican in May 2022.

For Canelo, each fight figures to be something of a scouting mission. He’s 34, presumably entering the last stage in his brilliant career. Reportedly, he’s looking for options. If he doesn’t find one in the light-heavyweight double-header in February, there’s persistent talk that he’ll turn to Terence Crawford, the welterweight great who won a junior-middleweight title in his first fight at 154 pounds in August.

Talk about that possibility, rumored ever since Crawford’s defining welterweight stoppage of Errol Spence in July 2023, was all over social media this week. This time, there was talk that an agreement was in place for Crawford to challenge Canelo, undisputed at 168 pounds, some time later in the year, perhaps in September in Las Vegas.

But none of that talk came from Canelo.

Until it does, it’s still speculation. Fair or not, his pay-per-view supremacy comes with perks, including the final say-so. If he sees an option or options in February, the Crawford possibility might get postponed or eliminated altogether.

Still, it is a potential story, part of the Goliath-sized stakes that could be there for a February twin bill that starts with the Davids.

Good, Bad and the Stupid: A look back and a hopeful look ahead

By Norm Frauenheim

Say goodbye to the good, bad and the stupid. 2024 was a lot like so many other years on boxing’s roller-coaster ride through history.

From Ryan Garcia to Jake Paul-versus-Mike Tyson, there was plenty to forget. Actually, Tyson probably had the best advice. He said he didn’t remember a thing about the Paul fight, a Netflix show of the absurd. Wish it was that easy.

But there were moments and performances worth remembering. Thank you Oleksandr Usyk, Jesse Rodriguez, Naoya Inoue, Artur Beterbiev, Dmitrii Bivol and the Ukrainians for saving the year from becoming one for the spit bucket.

A look back at 2024 and hoping for better in 2025:

Fighter of the Year

Usyk, From this corner, it looks to be a no-brainer. He beat Tyson Fury twice, nearly stopping him in May and then backing it up in December with a comprehensive — 116-112 on all three cards — decision on Dec. 21, both in Saudi Arabia. But there is no consensus in boxing or anywhere else these days. The social-media mob dismissed the rematch’s scoring and Usyk’s place in history. If you don’t like him as Fighter of the Year, how about Man of the Year? He stands up for the Ukraine, his home in a desperate war against the Russians. He is boxing’s most compelling personalty since Manny Pacquiao, also a people’s champ still revered by fellow Filipinos.

What does Usyk do in 2025? Nobody knows. He doesn’t know. The answer might rest in the fate of his country. If he continues to box, there’s an opportunity to further his claim on a genuine legacy. 2025 includes the 50th anniversary of Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier 3. Ali won the 1975 fight, an unrivaled mix of courage, skill and brutality on October 1 of that year. Trainer Eddie Futch, knowing that Frazier couldn’t see and had only his inexhaustible will to continue, ended it after the 14th round.

The fight was many things. There was the violence witnessed in Fury-Deontay Wilder 3. There was Evander Holyfield’s masterful skillset, a key to conquering the bully in feared Tyson. All of the classic elements were there — all at once — in the Thrilla In Manila. A reported 100 million watched on closed-circuit. A reported 500,000 bought HBO pay-per-view. Boxing will never be the same. But the aniversary is an opportunity to look at heavyweight history and a chance for Usyk to prove that he has place in it.

Fighter Of The Year Runner-up

Jesse Rodriguez. He calls himself Bam and that’s exactly the impact he had on 2024. His power was already documented, but there might have been some questions about the skills needed to deliver it against an equally skilled opponent.

Enter Juan Francisco Estrada in late June on a hot desert night in downtown Phoenix. Rodriguez, then a flyweight champion, re-claimed his Super Fly belt and reputation in a bout that was fought at a skills-and-will level as high as any throughout 2024. Bam scored a knockdown, got knocked down himself, got up and finished Estrada with body punches delivered with timing and precision. Estrada, an acknowledged master of ring tactics, was finished, moving up in weight instead of a rematch. Rodriguez went on to win a third-round stoppage of Pedro Guevara in Philadelphia in November.

Bam in 2025? His momentum carries him into the New Year, but it is double edged. Everybody saw what he did to Estrada, who said no to another one, despite a rematch clause. Roman Gonzalez had been rumored, but apparently he also said no to a proposed date with Rodriguez. Rodriguez wants to unify the 115-pound title, perhaps against Argentine Fernando Martinez, who withdrew from a New Year’s Eve rematch with Kazuko Ioka in Japan because of the flu. Eventually, Martinez figures to fight Ioka. Rodriguez gets the winner? It looms as a possible steppingstone to what is still a dream fight — Rodriguez against pound-for-pound claimant Naoya Inoue.

Fight Of The Year

Ageless Artur Beterbiev, in majority-decision over Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed light-heavyweight title in a beauty of a bout in October.

It was close enough to do it all over again, and that’s the plan, also in Saudi Arabia on Feb 22.

What happens in 2025? The rematch, a pick-em fight, is a stage setter for the rest of the year. Three weeks before, David Benavidez and David Morrell, light-heavyweight newcomers, face each other in the first real significant fight of 2025 in Las Vegas.

The Benavidez-Morrell winner on Feb. 1 is a so-called mandatory, meaning it will lead to a fight against the Beterbiev-Bivol winner. But only complications are really mandatory, especially if the tactically-skilled Bivol wins this time.

That might might mean Canelo Alvarez, the undisputed super-middleweight champion in a move to to avenge his 2022 scorecard loss to Bivol.

It’s not clear what Canelo intends to do. A date with former welterweight great and current junior-middleweight champ Terence Crawford continues to be at the top of the rumor mill. But Bivol would be an option. So, to would Beterbiev, although that one is unlikely because of the rugged Beterbiev’s heavy-handed power.

No matter what happens, Benavidez has to beat Morrell first. It’s risky, but it has fans talking a month before opening bell precisely because it is.

If Benavidez wins what will be only his second fight at 175 pounds and Canelo chooses to fight the Bivol-Beterbiev winner, Benavidez will find himself in the same place the Phoenix-born fighter has always been:

Waiting on Canelo — another chapter to a story line that dominated in 2023 and again in 2024.

Trainer Of The Year

Robert Garcia. This is a no-brainer. Garcia, Jesse Rodriguez’ trainer, is putting the best into busy. Latest example: Garcia, Jesse Rodriguez’ trainer, put in a lot of roadwork on Dec. 7. From dressing room to ring and back, Garcia worked five corners on a Top Rank/ESPN-televised card featuring Emanuel Navarrete’s blowout stoppage of Oscar Valdez in a rematch at Footprint Center, the Phoenix Suns home arena.

Fighters of the Year

The Ukrainians. They aren’t all as talented as Usyk or Vasiliy Lomachenko. Throughout 2024, however, virtually all have proven to be a tough out. There’s an old line in boxing: They come to fight. It’s a cliche, but the Ukrainians gave it new life throughout 2024. With their country in peril from the Russians in a brutal war, they boxed with skill and inexhaustible resilience against better-known and always heavily favored fighters. In 2024, an unprepared Ukrainian did not answer an opening bell.

Here are just two:

Denys Berinchyk. He introduced Navarrete to the lightweight division. The favored Navarrete lost a split decision to Berinchyk in San Diego for a vacant 135-pound title in May. Instead of a rematch with Berinchyk for a bid at a fourth division title, he chose to fight Valdez for a second time.

Serhii Bohachuk. He knocked down talented junior-middleweight Vergil Ortiz Jr. twice before losing a debatable majority decision in August in Las Vegas. It was the first time any fighter had taken Ortiz to the scorecards.

Remember them. Without them, boxing wouldn’t have been what it was in 2024.

Oleksandr Usyk: A warrior fighting with a purpose bigger than himself

By Norm Frauenheim

Legacy is this generation’s tired cliche. Actually, it’s more than just that. It’s silly, a refrain repeated by fighters more idle than busy. Legacy has been transformed into just another argument, which makes it about as cheap as another title belt. Just about everybody has one, or thinks they deserve one.

But there is an exception:

Oleksandr Usyk.

His decision — unanimous on identical scorecards and tactically thorough throughout 12 rounds — over Tyson Fury last Saturday has led to a yada-yada debate about his place in heavyweight history. He’s an all-timer. No, he’s not. Hell, yes, he is. Opinion, more plentiful than even those aforementioned belts, is also like legacy these days. On social media, everybody has one. A boxing acronym would say it’s mandatory. Meaningless, too.

Usyk, I think, knows that. His voice is missing from the debate his victory ignited. Above all, he has already delivered a solid argument, one that will be fairly judged and best decided over time. He has beaten Fury twice, nearly stopping the much bigger man in their first encounter and dominating him on the cards — 116-112 on all three — in the second.

Each fight provides a further look at Usyk, whose ring persona is beginning to say a lot about who he is outside of the ropes. In his two fights against Usyk, it’s clear — make that undisputed — that he fights with purpose. As a tactician, he possesses some deadly determination. He’s stubbornly sure of himself and what he can do. Nothing Fury said or sang could interrupt a focus that was evident on any television screen. What’s more, it was there, from Round 1 to Round 24, in Fury’s face, a mix of confusion and frustration

Fury’s clowning is a lot more than a lousy lounge act. It’s been a Fury tactic, effective against Deontay Wilder and others. Distract the opponent, anger him and then turn him into the punch line. But Usyk would not fall for the Fury feints and foolishness. In effect, Usyk turned the stand-up routine in Fury’s skillset into a significant, perhaps, fatal weakness.

Simply put: He wouldn’t allow Fury to be himself. That’s an art, performed only by some of the all-timers. Muhammad Ali did it to George Foreman with the Rope-A-Dope on a 1974 night in Africa forever memorialized in the film, When We Were Kings.

I don’t know if Fury will be back. Maybe, he returns for a fight against Anthony Joshua or somebody else who would fall for his tricks, a show that still sells.

I don’t know if Uysk will be back. Maybe, he goes back to cruiserweight. He talked about it. Maybe, he fights Daniel Dubois, who made a fool of himself when he climbed into the ring and tried to goad Usyk into a rematch.

It was a flashback to the aftermath of his split-decision over Joshua in a rematch August, 2022. Joshua, acting very much like a big toddler throwing a heavyweight tantrum, threw belts out of the ring, grabbed the microphone and later cried at the post-fight newser. All the while, Usyk, looking like the only grown up in boxing’s overgrown kindergarten, remained patient, poised and ever purposeful.

During Saturday night’s aftermath in Riyadh, there was a further sign — a powerful symbol — that Usyk is fighting for something more than just another belt or some more Saudi cash. Instead of a belt, he held an ancient sword above his head. The saber, according to Ukrainian media, belonged to Ivan Mazepa, a warrior who used it to fight for Ukraine’s independence from Russia three centuries ago.

It’s a story I didn’t know. It’s a story boxing fans beyond Ukraine’s bloodied front lines don’t know. It’s a story that today’s Russians are trying to bury in their ongoing war against the Ukrainians

It’s also a story worth telling, one that helps explain Usyk, a fighter with a purpose bigger than himself and one that will eventually put him among the all-time greats, no matter what is said today.

Usyk2Fury: Repeat or rewrite?

By Norm Frauenheim

Oleksandr Usyk, never a man of many words, has had even fewer this week, just days before a sequel that has all of social-media’s usual suspects talking.

But Usyk doesn’t have to say much, if anything, before a rematch full of its own redundancies. His name already says it best.

Oleksandr, which is of Greek origin, means:

To Defend.

It’s a goal as clear as it is risky against Tyson Fury, whose heavyweight resume is a masterpiece collection of adjustments within fights and between them.

To wit: He doesn’t lose rematches.

Then again, neither does Usyk.

That’s about to change Saturday (DAZN) in Riyadh in a rematch perhaps as significant as any in the history of boxing’s fabled flagship division.

Of course, Fury, unlike Usyk, has had a lot to say this week without really saying anything at all.

“The biggest adjustment I’ve made is to grow a beard,’’ Fury said after he arrived in Saudi Arabia to a parade that added a few octaves and exclamation points to what over-the-top means.

Fury has always been better with lyrics and one liners than just anybody in the crowded trash-talking corner of the noisy game. It’s part lousy-lounge act. But it’s also a tactic, one he has used with great effect throughout his heavyweight reign.

After opening bell, his brilliant feint is a weapon. Before opening bell, he weaponizes his words.

It worked against Deontay Wilder, especially in their first rematch when the dangerous Wilder tried to blame the sudden loss of his singular power on fatigue he said he suffered by wearing an armored medieval costume in his ring walk.

Truth is, Wilder didn’t know who the heck he was anymore. He had lost his feared identity, his armor of confidence, on the night Fury got up from his power six years ago in Los Angeles, in a wild draw.

Fury then reminded him of that repeatedly — hauntingly — during the weeks and months before their first rematch — won by Fury in a seventh-round TKO — February 2020 in Las Vegas.

Wilder was embarrassed then. Later, he was destroyed in a concussive conclusion to the trilogy, five knockdowns of violence that ended in Fury winning an 11th-round KO October 2021, also in Vegas.

Fury dominated Wilder, both physically and psychologically, perhaps finishing his career.

The damage done to Fury is still an open question, one that Usyk surely hopes to answer Saturday in the rematch to his contentious split decision over Fury seven months ago.

Fury swears he’s in better condition. He says he went into seclusion in training at a camp in Malta. He says he didn’t speak to his wife for months. She might have been relieved. Just joking, I think. This time, he says he won’t clown around. This time, he says he promises to deliver only pain.

Blah-blah-blah. By now, we’ve heard it all from Fury.

So, too, has Usyk.

A difference, however, is that Usyk, unlike Wilder, doesn’t really listen. At least, he doesn’t appear to react to anything said or sung by Fury. Usyk — poised, patient and menacing — is his own counsel.

Amid everything he didn’t say this week, he had one comment, quotable if you’re the media and perhaps foreboding if you’re Usyk.

“Don’t be afraid,’’ Usyk said at a final news conference that included an unblinking, 12-minute stare-down. “I will not leave you alone.’’

By now, Fury knows that. Since May, I’m guessing he has had dreams of Usyk, always there and always in his face.

In a style that borders on a battle of attrition, the smaller Usyk, stubborn and stealthy, tirelessly works his way inside. It a risk, big enough to be costly for Usyk, especially in the early rounds.

Fury knows that. Fury’s immense advantages in size and power could end this fight before the sixth round. If, however, Usyk is able to push the fight into the seventh, then the eighth and again into the ninth, perhaps he has a chance to finish what he could not in their first fight.

That’s when he hurt a fading Fury badly. He didn’t stop him, although there’s a solid argument that it should have ended, then and there. But a knockdown was ruled, which was enough for Usyk to win on two of the three scorecards.

It was close, but close is when Usyk is at his very best. Fury is best at pulling off the dramatic. Only Fury got up from the full impact of the lethal power in Wilder’s right hand. Only he could survive that right once more, get up all over again and knock out Wilder in a scary third encounter.

Guess here: Each fighter knows the other very well by now. For Usyk, the task is to endure an early assault, then launch one of his own later. For Fury, the test is to end it, close the show as fast as possible.

There’s a temptation to predict that this one ends in a draw. Yes, that’s cynical, but some cynicism is a fight fan’s best defense. Riyadh, Matchroom, Top Rank and DAZN would love a third fight.

A close first fight suggests that the second will be too, which also would probably lead to a trilogy. Neither Usyk nor Fury is young. But they’re not exactly old either. Usyk is 37. He’ll be 38 on Jan. 17. Fury is 36. He’ll be 37 on August 12.

A rematch clause is in place, according to Fury promoter Frank Warren.

“It’s contracted,” Warren told Boxing News. “That will be the case if Tyson wins, providing nobody retires.”

Providing, too, that Usyk, the defending champion, doesn’t do what his name has always told him:

To Defend.

Jaime Munguia makes plans for a New Year by staying busy

By Norm Frauenheim

Busy is a vanishing fundamental in boxing these days, although likable Jaime Munguia continues to practice the old-school art-form this week with his fourth fight in a year Saturday in a Tijuana homecoming.

It’s not much of a fight, notable only because of Munguia, who continues to work on his craft in a super-middleweight bout that sets the stage for what could be a significant step into his prime next year. Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) is not quite a full-blown star, but his busy schedule is a sure sign that he intends to be.

He re-introduces himself to hometown fans for the first time in nearly three years on ESPN against unknown Bruno Surace (25-0-2, 4 KOs), who is leaving France for the first time for a fight not expected to last long. Munguia is a 25-to-1 favorite. Those kind of odds suggest that Munguia will spend more time saying hello to old friends than exchanging punches with the Frenchman.

Nevertheless, he’ll re-acquaint himself with his loyal fan base while also alerting it to a year he hopes will put him at centerstage in the super-middleweight shuffle.

Other than the Tijuana homecoming, the biggest news involving Munguia this week actually comes out of Germany at the World Boxing Council’s (WBC) annual convention in Hamburg. The acronym’s menu included an order Wednesday that Munguia fight feared Christian Mbilli for an interim (aren’t they all?) title significant only because it’s supposed to lead to a shot at the real championship.

We say “supposed to” because so many never do, especially at super-middle. That’s Canelo Alvarez’ division, the pay-per-view star and boxing diva who gets what he wants.

It’s no coincidence that the WBC ratings committee noted that Canelo will be granted “a voluntary” title defense. Call it the Canelo Clause, meaning he does whatever he wants. Still, it’s not clear what his plans are. Guess here, he won’t fight anybody still in his twenties and with enough energy to stage an aggressive assault in the late rounds.

Again, the guess here is that’s exactly why he hasn’t — and probably never will — fight David Benavidez, the Phoenix-born fighter who will be 28 years old on Tuesday.

Benavidez’ upcoming birthday included a promising gift this week, also from the WBC, which designated his Feb. 1 fight against dangerous David Morrell as a light-heavyweight eliminator for a shot at the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol 2 winner for the undisputed title, scheduled for Feb. 22.

By now, of course, Benavidez knows all about the mandatory role. Nothing mandatory about it. It’s limbo land. Benavidez was there, the so-called mandatory challenger for Canelo’s title. Yet, Canelo has always found ways to fight somebody else.

The Canelo Clause gives him free rein, one that could even put him at the front of the Beterbiev-Bivol line, especially if Bivol manages to reverse his earlier loss to Beterbiev. That would give Canelo a chance to avenge his scorecard loss to Bivol.

But who knows? Canelo hasn’t been saying much about plans for 2025. For now, at least, the volunteer in his “volunteer defense” might still be Terence Crawford, one of the all-time welterweight greats and a newly-minted junior-middleweight champion. There’s still talk that Crawford will move up to 168 pounds to fight Canelo for what might be Crawford’s final fight in a Hall of Fame career.

All of this puts Munguia in an uncertain spot. He’s already fought Canelo, losing a unanimous decision last May in one of what will be his four-fight schedule in

2024.

Munguia stopped John Ryder, a solid and skillful UK fighter, at Footprint Center in Phoenix in January. He stopped Canadian Erik Bazinyan in September at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. Following the WBC’s Mbilli-Munguia announcement from Germany, all of the talk centered on an eventual Mbilli-Canelo showdown, perhaps in May or September of next year.

That, of course, presumes that Mbilli beats Munguia. But what if the opposite happens? Let’s say Munguia, still perfecting his craft, beats Mbilli and puts himself in line for a rematch.

Would the 34-year-old Canelo, who is near the end of his prime, agree to a second fight with Munguia, 28 and just entering his prime? Munguia didn’t have much of a chance against Canelo. He lost on all three scorecards — 117-110, 116-111, 115-112. Canelo knocked him down in the fourth round, putting Munguia on the canvas for the only time in his career.

After the fight, Canelo told reporters that he “carried” Munguia. The narrative circulated for weeks. Munguia was very careful with polite, diplomatic answers to inevitable questions. Finally, Munguia objected. In an interview with Boxing Scene and The Boxing Hour days before his stoppage of Bazinyan, Munguia said:

“Truth is, I found it disrespectful.’’

The forthright comment was a certain sign of Munguia’s emerging maturity. In effect, he was telling Canelo that he belongs at center stage and perhaps in a rematch.

Above all, the comment is there, a good promotional angle and a on-the-record demand from Munguia for some respect from the game’s biggest name. There’s only way to get that:

A rematch.

Until then, there’s only one thing to do:

Stay busy.

NOTES

In the wake of Emanuel Navarrete’s devastating three-knockdown, sixth-round stoppage of Oscar Valdez last Saturday in a junior-lightweight rematch Saturday at the Suns home arena in downtown Phenix, there are mounting calls for Valdez, 34, to retire. Top Rank’s Bob Arum told Yahoo’s Keith Idec that he would urge Valdez to retire when they talk again, probably early next month. In an interview with Boxing Scene and The Boxing Hour before the rematch loss, Valdez was adamant. Retirement talk was already circulating. Valdez said he would not. He said retirement was not in his mindset. Question is, what are his options if he decides to fight on after the second loss to Navarrete, who also said in post-fight interviews that he’s contemplating retirement after two or three more fights. Arum says he believes Valdez would be a good trainer. The bi-lingual Valdez also has done some media work as a ringside commentator.

Apparently, Mike Tyson has already done what everybody else is trying to do. He tells Fox Sports Radio that he doesn’t recall much of what happened in the Jake Paul fiasco last month. “I don’t remember the fight that much,’’ Tyson says of an exhibition that was something other than a fight. “I kind of blanked it out.’’ Forget about it? Not quite. Lawsuits and stupid conspiracy theories continue to circulate in the wake of a Netflix show that attracted a reported audience of more than 70 million. It generated lots of money, which probably answers the one question nobody wants to address: How in the hell did Texas license Tyson? He underwent transfusions for excessive bleeding from an ulcer just months before the show. The 58-year-old Tyson told New York Magazine that he asked a physician whether he was going to die. Apparently, Texas regulators ignored that question. I’ve said it once; I’ll say it again. We’re lucky we didn’t witness something more than an embarrassment on Nov. 15 in a ring on the Dallas Cowboys home field.

Next Up? Rafael Espinoza fighting for possible shot a Valdez-Navarrete winner

By Norm Frauenheim

PHOENIX — Rafael Espinoza is in line for a possible shot at the Oscar Valdez-Emanuel Navarrete junior-lightweight winner if he beats Robeisy Ramirez in a featherweight rematch, one of two title rematches on the ESPN-televised card Saturday at Footprint Center.

There’s talk that Espinoza, unusually tall for a featherweight, is about to move up in weight, from 126 pounds to 130, if he again beats Ramirez, who lost a dramatic majority decision to Espinoza a year ago in Pembrook Pines, Fla.

The 6-foot-1 Espinoza (25-0, 21 KOs), the World Boxing Organization’s featherweight champion, was at 125.7 pounds Friday at the official weigh-in. He was only a tenth-of-a-pound heavier than Ramirez (14-2, 9 KOs), but was five inches taller. At 30 years old, it looks as if Espinoza is ready to fight in a heavier division.

“Rumor is, he’ll go up,’’ Brad Goodman, of Top Rank, said.

First, however, he has to beat Ramirez, a Cuban who many thought won the first fight. Late Friday, Ramirez was a slight betting favorite.

There has been talk that Espinoza might move up to challenge Texan O’Shaquie Foster (23-3, 12 KOs), the World Boxing Council’s junior-lightweight champion. But Espinoza, who wore late Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela’s jersey to Friday’s weigh-in, in an all-Mexican fight against either Valdez or Navarrete for the WBO’s 130-pound title looks to be a more marketable match among Mexican and Mexican-American fans.

Black Hat: Navarrete ready to prove it still fits

By Norm Frauenheim

PHOENIX — Emanuel Navarrete arrived at a news conference without his trademark. The black cowboy hat wasn’t there. For years, it has been a symbol — defiant, ominous and a reliable indication of exactly what he intends to do.

But Thursday he just wore a simple baseball cap. He could have been just about anybody.

Of course, he isn’t. Friends and rivals still call him Vaquero, an old-school nickname that says Beware. Maybe, he just left the defining hat in his room or his bags. It’s a good bet, of course, that it’ll be there when he makes his ring entrance Saturday night for a rematch with Oscar Valdez at Footprint Center. The black hat, after all, is his identity.

Yet, there are questions just days before opening bell about exactly who he is at this stage of a whirlwind career, which includes three division titles and — for awhile — an unlimited horizon. He stormed into the sport at a get-the-hell-out-of-my-way pace, a fighter as fearless as he was impatient. But is that gunslinger still there?

The answer to that one looms as a determining factor as to whether he can score a punishing encore over Valdez, who was badly-battered in losing a one-sided decision in their first fight on a hot day in August 2023 at Desert Diamond Arena in nearby Glendale. Since that bloody drama about 16 months ago, Navarrete defended a junior-lightweight title in a narrow decision over Robson Coneicao and talked about a possible date with Shakur Stevenson. Anything looked possible.

But a jump up the scale to lightweight in a fight against Denys Berinchyk halted his momentum. He looked sluggish and fleshy in losing a split decision to Berinchyk, another prepared and skillful Ukrainian. Against Berinchyk, Navarrete looked just like another guy in a baseball cap. The loss — which cost him a fourth division title, prompted his return to junior-lightweight in another title defense in a rematch with Valdez, who is as stubbornly studious as he tenacious.

Repeatedly, Valdez has promised tactical changes in the rematch. Expect more patience from a fighter who went for broke early in the first fight and wound up broken because of it. The question is whether a return to 130 pounds is the right fit, the only fit, for Navarrete. He conceded Thursday that there have been changes.

“Everything has gone well in camp,’’ Navarrete said. “We had to make some changes, mostly because my body is not the same as it was. But everything else is good. As soon as I get to the fight location, which in this case is Phoenix, the switch is on. There will be no excuses. I’m here because I want to be.”

Valdez, who dismissed a win-or-retire narrative in an interview with Boxing Scene and The Boxing Hour at a north Phoenix gym Wednesday, suggested that Navarrete has already been thinking about retirement. Navarrete was quoted in Spanish-speaking media that he might retire after a few more fights. Connect the dots and the result is some inevitable speculation: How much has Navarrete changed? Has he hung up that black hat for good? The rematch with Valdez might be as much and opportunity to answer that question as it is a chance for Valdez to avenge a painful loss.

“This is the biggest fight of my career, because this the first time I’m fighting somebody who already beat me,’’ he said Thursday.

Translation: Valdez is seeking redemption on a night when Navarrete might be in pursuit of a restoration. He wants to prove that the black hat still fits. He’s still a Vaquero in more than just name.

“We all have worked and we have planned to put on a war together again,’’ he said. “I can’t say much more, yet I know it will be epic.”

Oscar Valdez in a tough fight to turn a rematch into a rivalry

By Norm Frauenheim

It’s rematch with a chance at becoming a rivalry.

Emanuel Navarrete-Oscar Valdez 2 on Dec. 7 in Phoenix was never envisioned after Navarrete won a decision as punishing as it was one-sided on the scorecards 15 months ago.

Then, Valdez left the ring in nearby Glendale, tears mixing with blood that poured from a right eye swollen shut into a grotesque mess by a fractured orbital bone. Then, Valdez’ many fans in southern Arizona and Mexico’s northern Sonora only hoped he would recover from a night, a fight, shocking for its mix of violence and drama. Applause mixed with prayers like the blood and tears.

Despite the pain, Valdez knew his fans were there. Knew what they were thinking. Despite the anguish, he apologized.

“I’m sorry I disappointed everyone,’’ he said then at Desert Diamond Arena. “I feel terrible. I wanted to give you all a great fight. I hope you enjoyed the fight. I hope to return strong.’’

He did return. He finished Australian Liam Wilson in a dominant seventh-round stoppage last March, also in Glendale. Then, he didn’t know that a Navarrete rematch was even a remote possibility.

Navarrete had gone on to defend his junior-lightweight title with a victory over Brazilian Robson Conceicao and was planning on a move up the scale to lightweight in a bid for a fourth division title against Ukrainian Denys Berinchyk in San Diego in May.

The expectation was that Navarrete would win and vacate his junior-lightweight title, which would then belong to Valdez. Instead he lost and decided to stay at 130 pounds, prompting the World Boxing Organization to order in July what had been an unlikely rematch.

Like so much else in boxing, expectations are just another glass jaw. This time, they were shattered by Berinchyk scoring an upset, winning a split decision over Navarrete, who delivered a dull performance just months after fans and media were asking him whether he thought he had a chance against Shakur Stevenson. He doesn’t.

For now, however, the only relevant question is whether Valdez has any chance in his second opportunity against Navarrete, this time in downtown Phoenix on the Suns home floor at Footprint Center. Valdez, a 118-110, 119-109, 116-112 loser in the first fight, says he does.

Above all, he talks as if he’s anxious to walk back into harm’s way for a chance to genuinely win the title in the ring instead of acquiring it through a mere paper shuffle.

Had Valdez been elevated to the WBO’s 130-pound champion because of a Navarrete move up the scale in the wake of a 135-pound victory over Berinchyk, Valdez would have been dismissed as just another E-mail champ. That’s a long way from the blood and guts that have been there throughout his career. Remember Scott Quigg?

In March 2018 on a rain-swept night in an outdoor ring in Carson, Calif, a heavier Quigg, who fought despite missing weight, broke Valdez’ jaw midway through the 12 rounds. Valdez fought through it, winning a unanimous decision. After it was all over, the persistent rain had washed away the dirt and debris.

But the rain did not — perhaps could not — wash away a stain in the corner of the canvas where Valdez sat and spit up blood between rounds.

After it was all over, the fight’s winner was strapped onto a board like an accident victim, placed into the back of an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital. He’s that kind of fighter. Down, but never finished.

He endures. You can bust up his eye. Break his jaw. But that will remains intact, seemingly unbreakable. At least, it has. There’s a lingering question about how much more punishment the resilient Valdez can absorb. He’ll turn 34 on Dec. 22, a few weeks after the Navarrete rematch.

That inevitable question will be there, and it’s one the 29-year-old Navarrete figures to test repeatedly with his many-angled array of punches. Valdez, still a serious enough student of the game to know not to waste a lesson, promises to be more prepared the second time around.

“I think my game plan was just off, because I left the game plan and was just looking for that one shot,’’ Valdez told Fight Hype TV from his San Diego training camp last week. “The fans were there, and they were enjoying it. It was loud and I wanted to please the crowd and go for that one-shot knockout. And it did not work, especially with a fighter like Navarrete.

“So, now we’re going back looking at the fight, looking at film and watching the fight. Like I said, I made a lot of mistakes.

“So, we’re training, day-by-day, trying to get better and become just a better fighter, be the smarter fighter inside the ring and win in general. Everybody knows we lost our first fight, which was devastating for me because I thought I was 100 per cent gonna win that fight.

“I feel blessed. I feel blessed to have the opportunity again, but I’m more focused than ever because I’ve faced him already. I know what he’s got. I know his advantages. It’s for a championship belt, and it means everything to me.”

Navarrete, inconsistent over the last couple of years, goes into the rematch favored. The oddsmakers haven’t forgotten the first fight, either.

A Valdez victory just seems unlikely. Then again, so was a Valdez victory over Miguel Berchelt in February 2021. Valdez knocked out Berchelt, then feared and unbeaten, in the 10th round. The Berchelt stunner and Valdez’ dominance of Wilson are signs he might be able to spring another surprise. Many believe Wilson was robbed of victory over Navarrete in a controversial fourth-round knockdown in Glendale in February 2023. Navarrete got up and survived, winning a ninth-round stoppage.

There are questions about whether Navarrete simply overlooked the unknown Aussie. Yet, there are also questions as to whether he still has the energy to throw his many-angled punches with the same degree precision, all at a whirlwind rate.

If Valdez can summon up counters to the energy, precision, angles and work-rate, he might have a bigger answer to whether the fight is just another sequel or a rematch turned into a true rivalry.

NOTES

Valdez, A Mexican Olympian born in Nogales who went to school in Tucson, will be fighting In the Phoenix area for the third straight time.

Navarrete will fight in Phoenix for the third time in his last five bouts.

AUDIO: COUNTRY BOX 26: Chris Howard emotional Interview ahead of fight with Ryan Schwartzberg

Benavidez-Morrell: Something real after the carnival

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s the first significant fight in a New Year. That’s mere coincidence, but it’s also appropriate.

David Benavidez-versus-David Morrell on February 1, formally announced this week, is all about timing, a theme sure to unfold as both fighters step into their respective primes in only their second fight at light-heavyweight.

In part, it’s a potential stage-setter, both for the sport and the 175-pound division. On the calendar, at least, it’s a chance to move beyond a dreary year, one that figures to be remembered mostly for the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fiasco. Maybe, the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury rematch on Dec. 21 changes all of that. We can hope. Make that pray.

At 175 pounds, it’a a chance for the Benavidez-Morrell winner at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena to move into a shot at perhaps the undisputed title against Artur Beterbiev, although even he is talking about Jake Paul.

Paul is calling himself the Face of the Game, mostly because he’s got the key to the vault. There’s speculation he might even coax Andre Ward out of retirement. Big money can do that, and that’s what Paul’s face brings to prize-fighting, more prize than fight these days. Forget the scars, skills and courage. Cash is the only feature that matters anymore.

Even Saudi Prince Turki Al-Sheikh, who has brought even more cash into the sport, claimed to be the Face after his promotional role in a card featuring accomplished Terence Crawford’s debut victory at junior-middleweight in Los Angeles last summer. Apparently, Al-Sheikh forgot that Crawford had more rights to the Face than just about anybody. When reminded that the reigning Face has to risk that face in the ring, Al-Sheikh — to his credit — backed off.

Meanwhile, Paul’s face eluded most of Tyson’s punches. Then again, there weren’t many to elude. Eighteen landed, for a pathetic average of fewer than three per round over the eight-round farce last Friday in Arlington, Tex. More punches land in shadow boxing.

It was sad because Tyson used to be The Face. But it’s unrecognizable anymore, bought off by anybody with only cash in his skill set.

Can it be restored? Hard to say. But it’s worth a try and maybe Benavidez-Morrell is a place to start.

Start over.

I remember an exchange I had with Paul more than two years ago before he fought mixed-martial-arts legend Anderson Silva at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, AZ, just a few miles of roadwork from the mean streets where Benavidez grew up near downtown Phoenix.

At the news conference in October 2022, I welcomed Paul to Benavidez’ hometown. At the time, Paul was calling out Canelo Álvarez. He still is. So, I asked him if he wanted to fight Benavidez, too. Paul stopped, looked at me intensely and said: “I’m not ready for that.’’

It was an honest answer, a real moment in a business turning into a carnival, a Hall of Mirrors. Nobody knows what they’re looking at anymore.

Last week, I had a theory that most in the crowd of 72,000 at AT&T Stadium and a Netflix audience — estimated at 75 million viewers, worldwide — would not know that Usyk and Fury are fighting a rematch for the undisputed heavyweight title next month. Wouldn’t care either. Now, I’m not even sure many would know who Usyk or Fury are.

To them, the craft is no longer the attraction. Only $pectacle is. They got one, but now there are weird, wild conspiracy theories. $pectacle and conspiracy go together like show and business.

At last report, a class-action lawsuit has been filed by fans unhappy at Netflix’s production of the event. No word on whether they’re unhappy at themselves from buying into the hype.

The Sweet Science?

Nothing Sweet or Scientific about it.

From this corner, the formal announcement of the Benavidez-Morrell date in the aftermath of Tyson-Paul was a relief. It’s something real, old-school and fundamental in a world gone awry.

Maybe, I’m expecting too much from Benavidez and Morrell. But all of the time-honored elements are there for a real fight. A memorable one, too. Nobody 58-years-old will be answering an opening bell. Benavidez is 27. He’ll be 28 on Dec. 18. Morrell is 26. He’ll be 27 on Jan. 17. They’re both unbeaten — Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs).

They’re the face of the future.

For now, that’s the only face we’ve got.

NOTES

Jesus Ramos Jr., a promising junior-middleweight from Casa Grande AZ, will fight on the Benavidez-Morrell undercard. The 23-year-old Ramos was last seen in the corner for his brother Abel in his spirited draw with welterweight champion Mario Barrios on the Paul-Tyson undercard. Jesus Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) will fight former champion Jeison Rosario (29-4-2, 17 KOs). “I’ve learned my lesson about leaving things up to the judges,’’ Ramos said during a news conference this week in Los Angeles. “I can’t do that anymore. I’m coming to knock him out.”

Emanuel Navarrete is a slight favorite to again beat Oscar Valdez in their junior-lightweight rematch Dec. 7 at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix. Navarrete is coming off a disappointing performance at a new weight, a split-decision loss at lightweight to Denys Berinychk. Meanwhile, Valdez was impressive in a stoppage of Aussie Liam Wilson, who many believe got robbed of victory over Navarrete in a controversial bout, also in Arizona in 2023. Navarrete is talented, yet erratic. Meanwhile, consistency defines Valdez, whose seemingly inexhaustible resilience continues to make him dangerous.

I’ve already said this on other platforms and I’ll say it again: Tyson-Paul generated real numbers. Real money, too. Here’s a real question: Why was Tyson licensed? In a post after the bout, he talked about dying, saying that he underwent transfusions for excessive bleeding in May from an ulcer that postponed the bout. Yet, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licenses him anyway? Texas regulators must have known about Tyson’s condition. He talked about it in ominous detail in a story published by New York Magazine before opening bell. Did Texas listen, decide he was exaggerating and license him anyway? If so, we’re fortunate we witnessed only an embarrassment.

Tyson-Paul: Netflix is the sure winner in an exhibition full of fears for Tyson

By Norm Frauenheim –

Mike Tyson has been making a fool out of himself and just about everybody around him for decades. Maybe, he’ll do it again, making a fool out of Jake Paul and the rest of us who believe he shouldn’t be in a traditional boxing ring against anybody anywhere.

Any more.

But, of course, he will be Friday night on the Cowboys home field in Texas in front of an expected crowd of 80,000 and who-knows-how-many from Netflix’s subscriber population of 287.2 million, millions more than the nearly 150 million who voted in the recent presidential election.

Don’t call it a fight, although the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation elected to do so, but only after adding four ounces to the usual 10-ounce gloves while reducing the number of scheduled rounds from 10 to eight and subtracting a minute from each round, from three to two.

Texas, like Netflix, knows a money-maker when it sees one. In this transactional era, traditional rules and regs are just some of the numbers that can be adjusted if the projected financials are big enough. They are.

Reportedly, Paul will walk away with $40-million, a purse that might make the accomplished Canelo Alvarez — the only traditional boxer left among the wealthy athletes near the top of Forbes’ annual rating — wonder if he’s in the wrong game.

But Tyson-Paul isn’t about boxing, although boxing surely wishes it was. Does anybody in the Tyson-Paul audience plan to watch the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury heavyweight rematch next month? Guess here: Very few. Truth is, very few probably even know it’s happening.

Usyk-Fury is a real fight. It’s intriguing, but only for a shrinking demographic that still enjoys a craft historically defined as The Sweet Science. Nothing about the 58-year-old Tyson versus a 27-year-old Paul figures to be sweet or scientific.

It’s spectacle, a Tyson speciality. It also happens to be the only thing about Tyson that hasn’t eroded over the decades. He’s feared for his punching power, and perhaps some of that is still there. It’s the last thing to go.

But the real power, the most durable element in Tyson’s skillset — is his ongoing ability to create the kind of anticipation that precedes a spectacle and sometimes an accident. A crowd will gather for both.

Tyson’s career as an active fighter is remembered more for what happened in defeat than victory. The infamous Bite Fight — Evander Holyfield lost part of his ear and won the fight in a DQ — defines him. It shut down the MGM Grand and the city of Las Vegas on a hot night in June 1997.

Cabbies still driving Vegas streets tell stories about it to this day. Meanwhile, Holyfield, one of history’s great heavyweight champions, occupied an almost forgotten role in one of boxing’s most unforgettable moments, infamous because of Tyson and the genuine unpredictability he brings to any event.

Then.

And now.

Twenty-seven years later, that unpredictability is still centered around Tyson. He’ll be 60 in a couple of years. Texas regulators and Netflix can alter the length of rounds and the amount of padding in the gloves. It can tamper with a lot of the numbers. But not that one.

Father Time doesn’t negotiate.

On the scale Thursday, Tyson, reported to be at 233 pounds, looked good, especially for a man moving from middle age into old age. Some of the photos posted on social media included one word: SCARY.

Yeah, scary for him.

I’ve been asked to pick the fight. The sure winner, of course, is Netflix. But there’s another pick, really more of a hope. Here’s hoping Tyson emerges unhurt. Guess is, he will. For all of his trash-talk, Paul, reported to be at 220 pounds, is smart enough to know that his fellow Millennials in the crowd and audience are cheering for Tyson.

They remember him like kids remember their favorite comic-book SuperHeros. They never get old. But Tyson has.

Father Time beats us all, perhaps because of an unforeseen injury or just because of exhaustion, or an erosion in reflexes, or some problematic pre-condition. Remember, this fight was postponed in May because of an ulcer, which Tyson said was bleeding. Tyson told New York Magazine that he was spitting up blood. He was quoted as saying: “I said to the doctor: ‘Am I going to die?’ ‘’

Scary.

A hint at what might happen, perhaps, comes from his greatest rival, Holyfield.

Twenty-four years after The Bite Fight, a 58-year-old Holyfield lost to a mix-martial-arts fighter, Vitor Belfort, who agreed to do an exhibition just eight days before the show in 2021.

Within two minutes of opening bell, Holyfield went down, falling to the canvas in a chaotic crash of uncoordinated legs and limbs. Holyfield got up, but without any of the instinctive reflexes he possessed a couple of decades earlier. They were gone, washed away by the years. He was finished at 1:49 of the first round. It was sad, yet inevitable.

Then.

And probably now.

Two Kings: Boots and Bam, a bet on the future

By Norn Frauenheim-

Matchroom is calling it Two Kings, which is a couple of face cards from Four Kings, George Kimball’s terrific book about a four-way rivalry that has become a reference point in boxing history.

Many aspire to be the next Four Kings. But there will never be another four quite like Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.

Still, half of the famed four is a pretty good hand, a bet that will pay off for promoter Eddie Hearn if welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis and super-fly champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez achieve all of their advertised potential.

The pair will be there Saturday — each an emerging champion in a doubleheader show of main events — at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center on a DAZN card that figures to provide a promising look, rare these days in a sport desperate for young stars.

Ennis is 27 and Rodriguez 24, which makes them about a generation younger than Tyson Fury, 36, and Oleksandr Usyk, 37, the middle-aged players in the much-hyped heavyweight rematch December 21 in Saudi Arabia.

Fury-Usyk is a step toward retirement. Ennis-versus-Karen Chukhadshian and Rodriguez-versus-Pedro Guevara are about who’s next. What’s next.

Make no mistake, Fury-Usyk 2 is still intriguing. But some of the anticipation has faded. It’s a little bit stale, a lot like one of Fury’s jokes.

In Ennis and Rodriguez, there’s the unlimited optimism that comes with youth. That also creates a problem, at least it does for the unbeaten Ennis (32-0, 29 KOs), a huge talent fans hope to see and rivals hope to elude.

Ennis’ versatile skillset has been evident for a couple of years. It’s also been impressive enough to put him on top of the list for most-avoided, a problematic category.

It’s not a good place to be, an ongoing dilemma that has led to a rematch with Chukhadshian (24-,1 KOs), who in 2023 lost a one-sided decision to Ennis in Washington DC.

A sequel is not something anybody really wants. Fans were thinking more about Terence Crawford or maybe Vergil Ortiz. It’s no secret that Ennis has wanted to fight Crawford, a former undisputed welterweight champion who won a junior-middleweight belt in his last appearance.

But the accomplished Crawford has shown no interest in a challenging date with the younger man. In media interviews this week, Ennis has said he’s moved on, beyond the Crawford possibility. He said he has tried to talk Errol Spence and/or Keith Thurman into fighting him. Apparently, no takers there either.

“It is what it is,’’ Ennis told reporters. “I’m going to be great, regardless.’’

The path to being great, however, is tricky. Ennis, who will be fighting in hometown Philly for the second straight time, can only get there if he proves himself to be a draw — at the box office and on live-stream telecasts.

That’s where Rodriguez (20-0, 13 KOs) enters the equation, a main-event fighter whose drawing power became evident in his last fight before a roaring crowd of about 10,000 in downtown Phoenix in late June.

That’s when he stopped Juan Francisco Estrada in a masterful performance. It was also a victory that allowed him to add to his nickname. Bam is also “The Legend Slayer.’’

For Rodriguez, the stop in Philly against the 35-year-old Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) is a step toward proving he can be a legend as well as a slayer. Also, it’s an opportunity for him to affirm the emerging stardom that was

evident at Footprint Center, the Suns NBA home in downtown Phoenix.

If Bam can prove to be a draw in Philly, Ennis’ resume could get some important leverage, a card that would also strengthen Hearns’ hand at the table.

New Deal: Boxing hopes for one as Bam Rodriguez embarks on another chapter

By Norm Frauenheim

He’s a little guy about to embark on a second chapter, also a significant one with the potential to be the biggest in the history of fighters at the bottom — the forgotten — end of boxing’s scale.

Jesse Rodriguez’ emergence over the last year is impossible to ignore. His popularity, perhaps, is best defined by his nickname. Bam, it’s simple, descriptive and easy to remember in just about any language. Bam, it could be in a super-hero cartoon or a TV ad for some new household product. But these days it sums up a fighter whose dynamic skillset can put some rare bam into a sport in desperate need of some.

Increasingly, today’s boxing is about fights that don’t happen. Anyone interested in more exasperating speculation about Canelo Alvarez-versus-David Benavidez or Canelo-versus-Terence Crawford? Didn’t think so. Anybody interested in more dreary news about the IBF, Irrelevant Boxing Federation, stripping another fighter of another title? Didn’t think so.

There have been lots of headlines this week, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s iconic stoppage of George Foreman in then Zaire. The stories are terrific. But, mostly, they fill a void. Nostalgia is about all boxing has these days.

Baseball celebrated its rich history this week with another compelling World Series between the Dodgers and Yankees while boxing remembers its colorful past while wondering whether there’s much of a future.

Increasingly, I fear, boxing’s biggest moments will be the circus-like exhibition that we’re about to witness in the 57-year-old Mike Tyson against the 27-year-old Jake Paul. A big crowd figures to gather November 15 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex. A big Netflix audience is likely.

But they’ll be watching for the same reason people stop to watch a car wreck. In Tyson-Paul, there’s a chance an accident is about to happen.

It’s a dreary landscape, mostly devoid of promise. But there is Rodriguez, unbeaten (20-0, 13 KOs) and a reason for optimism. He just renewed his deal with Matchroom, the opening step in the 115-pound fighter’s move up the pound-for-pound scale.

Next up: A date against a so-called mandatory challenger, Mexican Pedro Guevara (42-4-1, 22 KOs) on Nov. 9 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia on a card featuring welterweight champion Jaron “Boots” Ennis against Karen Chukhadzhian.

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn added Bam to the card after hearing complaints about Chukhadzhian in a rematch. Ennis scored a one-sided decision — 120-108 on all three scorecards —over the Ukrainian in January 2023.

Hearn countered the complaints with his newly-minted star, Rodriguez, a small fighter who figures to be a big draw for Philly’s Puerto Rican audience. In part, the Philadelphia fight is a chance for Rodriguez to further affirm the stardom he established in entertaining fights in Phoenix, the best market for little guys in the United States since Hall of Fame junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal’s memorable run in the 1990s.

The milestone moment was Rodriguez’ masterful seventh-round stoppage of Juan Francisco Estrada last June in front of a roaring crowd of about 10,000 at Footprint Center, the Suns home arena in downtown Phoenix. It was a Super Fly fight that included power — three knockdowns — two by Bam and one by Estrada. Mostly, however, it was an almost artful exhibition of boxing skill from both.

If boxing passed out an award for Most Skillful Fight Of the Year, Rodriguez-Estrada would be this corner’s choice with light-heavyweight Artur Beterbiev’s majority decision over Dmitry Bivol on Oct. 14 in Saudi Arabia a close second. Rodriguez-Estrada was fought at the craft’s highest level.

Initially, the proud Estrada talked about a rematch. After thinking about it, however, he decided no and announced he would move up in weight. In effect, it was an affirmation of just how good Rodriguez is.

And will be.

The best guess is that Rodriguez will beat Guevara, a 35-year-old former champion who is perhaps best known for beating former featherweight and junior-lightweight champion Oscar Valdez Jr. as an amateur.

Then, there’s a move to unify the 115-pound title. For now, it’s not clear where that takes him. There had been talk about a fight with the winner of a projected rematch between Kazuko Ioka and Fernando Martinez, an Argentine who scored a decision over Ioka in Japan in July.

There have confusing reports this week about whether the Irrelevant Boxing Federation had stripped Martinez of its 115-pound title. At last report, the acronym said Martinez had relinquished the belt because he wanted to proceed with the Ioka rematch instead of a so-called mandatory. I don’t know. I don’t care.

The only significant scenario here is a path for Rodriguez to secure a shot at another belt — against Ioka or Martinez or whoever — in an effort to unify one title in perhaps another step toward Naoya Inoue, maybe the most popular Japanese athlete not named Shohei Ohtani.

For now, Rodriguez-versus-Inoue is a dream fight. Inoue, a former junior-flyweight champion, is currently fighting at junior-featherweight, 122 pounds. There’s been talk about him at featherweight, 126. Weight might be a hurdle, although the 24-year-old Rodriguez is expected to mature. His body type suggests he can carry more weight.

There’s also Junto Nakatani. Nakatani, unbeaten with dangerous power, is fighting at bantamweight. He looms as the most immediate threat to Inoue’s Japanese reign.

Still, Rodriguez-versus-Inoue — a cross-cultural, world-wide clash between a Mexican-American and a Japanese star — is still the Dream.

Boxing needs one.

Vazquez Decisions Gonzalez in U.S. Debut

MODESTO, CALIFORNIA – Jose Luis Vazquez scored a hard-fought eight-round unanimous decision over veteran gatekeeper and local favorite Giovannie Gonzalez to remain unbeaten in the main event of a seven-bout card from the Modesto Centre Plaza on Saturday night.

Vazquez (17-0, 3 KOs) of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico and Gonzalez (20-7-2, 15 KOs) of Stockton, California took the first round to feel each other out. Vazquez, 139, may have taken the opening stanza with a couple hard shots and his forward movement, as both he and Gonzalez, 137.4, had a low output.

Vazquez, the larger man in the fight, had to sweat off some extra poundage in the moments before Friday’s official weigh-in and looked to have rehydrated into a full-fledged welterweight. The extra weight may have aided Vazquez in absorbing Gonzalez’s power, including the clean uppercut the Stockton native landed early in the second. Gonzalez took a shot that may have strayed below the belt line late in the round, which set off a heated exchange in the last 30 seconds.

Vazquez maintained the distance he wanted in the third and let his hands go when the action stayed in the center of the ring. Gonzalez had to work hard to get inside, but had his moments when he could force Vazquez along the ropes. After Vazquez took the fourth with his left jab, Gonzalez had a solid fifth round, landing with an overhand right and some clean work to the body.

Counter to what one would expect, Gonzalez, the 34-year-old, eight-year veteran, got busier as the fight moved into the later rounds. The 22-year-old Vazquez did not wilt in the later portion of the fight, but was more selective with his output in the final two rounds. Gonzalez applied pressure in the seventh and eighth, but just did not have the power to alter the course of the fight as he punched up to land on Vazquez, listed as holding a five inch height advantage.

Judge Kru Michael Rinaldi had it 79-73, judge Melissa McMorrow scored it 78-74, while judge Michael Margado had it the closest at 77-75, all for Vazquez, recently signed by Toscano Boxing Promotions, promoter of tonight’s event, who was fighting outside his native Mexico for the first time.

Gonzalez, known as “King Gio,” may have fought his last fight if his statement made after the bout holds true.

“I have been doing this since I was twelve,” said Gonzalez after the fight. “It is a tough game. Father Time, nobody can beat it. This was probably my last fight.”

Making his second trip to fight in the U.S., Gustavo Perez Alvarez (14-1, 4 KOs) of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico came into the backyard of Jesus Haro (12-3, 1 KO) of Merced, California and came away with a wide eight-round unanimous decision.

The taller, southpaw Perez Alvarez, 106, established his right jab and maintained the distance he needed to be successful in the opening round. Haro, 105, found his way into range to land a clean combination in the last third of the second round and let go with his right hand early in the third round, but was not active enough to please his corner or the official judges.

Things began to heat up in the middle rounds, with the action only slowed by accidental head clashes in the fourth and fifth, as the southpaw versus orthodox stances were to blame for the timeouts.

Perez Alvarez’s left hand proved to be a problem for Haro as the fight progressed. Perez Alvarez, nicknamed “Smiley,” was able to land his left as a lead from a distance that Haro could not counter. Haro had a better round in the sixth, using his jab, but still did not let his right go with enough frequency.

Perez Alvarez continued to find a home for his left hand for much of the seventh, before Haro came on late in the round with some combinations. After beginning the eighth aggressively, “Smiley” spun Haro’s head with a right midway through the stanza. Haro came on late in the round as Perez Alvarez seemed confident that he led on the scorecards.

Judge Melissa McMorrow had the bout 78-74, while judges Edward Collantes and Kru Michael Rinaldi scored the shutout for Perez Alvarez, 80-72.

“I have no words, this was a great night for me tonight,” said Perez Alvarez after the bout. “We knew we were facing a tough opponent as he was. In the second round, we adjusted to box and then pressure him, box and pressure him, back-and-forth.”

Fighting outside of Mexico for the first time as a pro, Emiliano Cardenas Rodriguez (4-0, 3 KOs) of Union City, California scored a four-round unanimous decision over Eduardo Sanchez (1-1) of Watsonville, California by way of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico in an entertaining and competitive contest.

Cardenas Rodriguez, 117.8, carried the first round as his strength advantage was clear at the outset. Sanchez, 117, had strong stretches in the second round, but Cardenas Rodriguez had the ability to wipe away that solid work with his edge in power-punching.

After a back-and-forth third, Sanchez had his best round in the fourth, as he outworked Cardenas Rodriguez and avoided getting caught by any head-snapping retorts for the three minutes.

In the end, judges Melissa McMorrow, Kru Michael Rinaldi and Michael Margado all scored the bout 39-37 for Cardenas Rodriguez.

Manuel Flores (5-0, 5 KOs) of Stockton proved his knockout record is not one of smoke and mirrors as he stopped rugged David Reyes Jr. (3-3-1, 2 KOs) of Fresno, California in the second round of a scheduled four.

Flores, 139.2, and Reyes, 139.8, went at it from the opening bell, much to the delight of the boisterous onlookers in Modesto. Reyes was rocked early in the first, but gathered himself quickly and got into the fight heading into the second round.

Reyes opted to trade with Flores again as the second began. The two fired at each other in a heated exchange near a neutral corner, before the Stockton native broke through and dropped his opponent near the ropes. The always tough Reyes got to his feet and continued to fire instead of holding on. Eventually, as Flores landed power shots near the blue corner, referee Edward Collantes leaped in to stop the bout. Official time was 1:30 of the second round.

Nicholas Saavedra (2-0) of Modesto used his size advantage en route to a four-round unanimous decision over game veteran Jonathan Almacen (7-14-3, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Saavedra, 124.2, and Almacen, 124.2, traded power punches for much of the fight, but the Modesto resident withstood the shots of the former light flyweight contender better down the stretch of the fight.

Almacen was game, but some well-placed body shots may have slowed him down over the second half of the bout. All three judges, Melissa McMorrow, Edward Collantes and Kru Michael Rinaldi, scored the shutout for Saavedra, 40-36.

Pedro Juarez (1-0) of Tracy, California downed Alec Acuavera (0-1) of Pittsburg, California in the third round en route to a hard-fought four-round unanimous decision in a bout pitting two pro MMA fighters making their professional boxing debuts.

Juarez, 134, and Acuavera, 136.4, each had their moments in the bout, especially over the first two rounds, as they traded on even ground. The fight began shifting towards Juarez’s favor late in the third, as he landed clean upstairs to slow Acuavera before finally dropping him with a left just before the bell to end the round. Juarez rocked Acuavera again seconds into the fourth, but the Pittsburg resident regained his balance and kept on throwing, finding some success late in the round. Before the bell sounded to end the bout, Juarez rocked Acuavera again just to keep it exciting until the last second.

After four action-packed rounds, judges Melissa McMorrow and David Hartman scored the fight 39-36, while Michael Margado had it a shutout, 40-35, all for Juarez, who now turns his attention to his next scheduled MMA bout on November 15th in Wheatland, California.

In the opening bout, Irving Xilohua (7-1, 4 KOs) of Stockton pounded out a four-round unanimous decision over John Mark Alimane (8-9-1, 4 KOs) of Laguna Nigel, California by way of Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines.

Xilohua, 130.6, rocked Alimane, 131.4, with a counter right in the first round to set the tone.

Xilohua hurt his opponent upstairs midway through the second round, which prompted Alimane to expose his body. Xilohua took advantage, which led Alimane to hold for the remainder of the round. In the third, Xilohua hurt Alimane to the body, which left the Filipino’s head as an open target. It was more of the same in the fourth, as Xilohua bloodied Alimane before the conclusion.

All three judges, Melissa McMorrow, Edward Collantes and Kru Michael Rinaldi scored the bout a shutout for Xilohua by the score of 40-36. The bout had originally been slated for six rounds, but was ultimately reduced by the California State Athletic Commission.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Vazquez Set for Clash with Gonzalez in Modesto

MODESTO, CALIFORNIA – Undefeated prospect Jose Luis Vazquez makes his United States debut against longtime local favorite Giovannie Gonzalez in the main event of a seven-bout card at the Modesto Centre Plaza on Saturday night. Fighters for the event, which will be streamed live on promoter Toscano Boxing Promotions’ YouTube channel, weighed-in on Friday afternoon at the host venue.

Vazquez (16-0, 3 KOs) of Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico has fought entirely out of his native Mexico and may find a partially hostile crowd on Saturday as his opponent usually draws vocal supporters. In his last bout, Vazquez, recently signed to Toscano Boxing Promotions, scored an eight-round unanimous decision over Edgar De La Cruz in Jalisco, Mexico in July.

The veteran Gonzalez (20-6-2, 15 KOs) of Stockton, California figures to provide a stern test for the 22-year-old Vazquez and help determine whether the Mexican’s record translates to stateside success. Gonzalez is coming off two quick wins in Tijuana, Mexico this past April and May as the eight-year veteran got back to his winning ways after an 0-2-1 three fight stretch.

In the co-main event, Jesus Haro (12-2, 1 KO) of Merced, California takes on Gustavo Perez Alvarez (13-1, 4 KOs) of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico in an eight-round light flyweight bout.

Haro, who scaled 105, is coming off of an eight-round decision over Lito Dante and this same venue in July. Perez Alvarez, who weighed-in at 106, was last in the ring just one month ago, scoring a third-round knockout in Mexico.

Irving Xilohua (6-1, 4 KOs) of Stockton will meet John Mark Alimane (8-8-1, 4 KOs) of Laguna Nigel, California by way of Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines in a six-round super featherweight bout. Xilohua, who scaled 130.6, was last in the ring this past July, ending a one-year layoff by stopping Romshane Sarguilla at the Modesto Centre Plaza. The naturally larger Alimane, 131.4, is looking for his first victory since campaigning in the United States over the last two years.

Emiliano Cardenas Rodriguez (3-0, 3 KOs) of Union City, California will take on Eduardo Sanchez (1-0) of Watsonville, California by way of Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico in a four-round pairing of unbeaten bantamweights. The 19-year-old Cardenas, who came in at 117.8-pounds, will be making his U.S. debut after three quick wins in Mexico to begin his career, which began in April. Sanchez, who trains out of Noble-Moreno Boxing and came in at 117-pounds even, turned pro in June with a split decision over Esteban Sital in Costa Mesa, California.

Manuel Flores (4-0, 4 KOs) of Stockton will aim to continue his unbeaten run against the always tough David Reyes Jr. (3-2-1, 2 KOs) of Fresno, California in a four-round light welterweight bout. Flores, who weighed-in at 139.2-pounds, will be making his U.S. debut, having fought entirely in Mexico since beginning his career last February. Reyes, who came in at 139.8-pounds, was last in the ring this past August, dropping a four-round decision to Tony Hirsch Jr. in an entertaining and competitive bout.

In a four-round pairing of professional MMA fighters making their pro boxing debuts, Pedro Juarez of Tracy, California will take on Alec Acuavera of Pittsburg, California in a lightweight bout. Juarez, who fights out of Oakdale MMA in Oakdale, California, weighed-in at 134-pounds even. Acuavera, who has been a pro MMA fighter since May of last year, came in heavy at 136.4-pounds. Acuavera received a fine for missing the weight by 1.4-pounds on Friday.

Nicholas Saavedra (1-0) of Modesto attempts to defend his home turf against veteran Jonathan Almacen (7-13-3, 2 KOs) of Los Angeles, California by way of Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila, Philippines in a four-round featherweight bout. Saavedra, returning to the site of his pro debut this past July weighed-in at 124.2-pounds, as did the veteran Almacen. The Filipino holds a wide experience advantage, having gone the ten-round distance with former world champion Hekkie Budler two years ago.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Light welterweights, 8 Rounds

Vazquez 139

Gonzalez 137.4

Light flyweights, 8 Rounds

Haro 105

Perez Alvarez 106

Super featherweights, 6 Rounds

Xilohua 130.6

Alimane 131.4

Bantamweights, 4 Rounds

Cardenas Rodriguez 117.8

Sanchez 117

Light welterweights, 4 Rounds

Flores 139.2

Reyes Jr. 139.8

Lightweights, 4 Rounds

Juarez 134

Acuavera 136.4*

Featherweights, 4 Rounds

Saavedra 124.2

Almacen 124.2

*missed weight by 1.4-pounds

Tickets for the event, promoted by Toscano Boxing Promotions, are available online at Ticketon.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Usyk-Fury 2: Fury promises nothing drastic, just more focus

By Norm Frauenheim –

On the career map, redemption is a risky stop. Retirement is right around the corner. So, too, is a rematch.

It could go either way for Tyson Fury, who has repeatedly called his second fight with Oleksandr Usyk Dec. 21 for the heavyweight title as a chance at redemption for his lone loss by split decision to the tireless, stubbornly resilient Usyk last spring.

The stakes, heightened by an either-or scenario, were there Wednesday at a London news conference notable more for what wasn’t said than what was. Fury didn’t have much to say. Or sing.

He’s known for turning a boxing newser into a lousy lounge act. One liners, cheap insults, a few lyrics from Bye-Bye Miss American Pie and mocking gestures have long been a part of the Fury show.

But the well-rehearsed act wasn’t there Wednesday, perhaps because he knows it played a part in his scorecard loss in Riyadh last May.

“What’s going through my mind?’’ Fury said when asked about the looming rematch, the only time he’s ever had to come back from defeat. “I’m just looking forward to a fantastic fight. Last time in May, it was a fantastic fight. Oleksandr won the fight, fair and square. Just looking to put on a great fight again.

“It was very close last time, he got it by a point. A little bit more focus, a little bit more lack of complacency, and I should do the job I need to do. Nothing drastic has to change. A bit more of the same. A little bit more focus, like I say, and I will be victorious.”

The news conference was not without some theatrical touches, of course. Usyk showed up in costume, dressed like Hitman: Agent 47. It’s a film and a video game. But the eyes were all Usyk. Their intensity is impossible to disguise.

“I don’t have motivation,’’ Usyk said, cryptically. “Only my regime, only my concentration.’’

That concentration is unmistakable. It’s also a challenge Fury couldn’t crack in May. It’s there, within Usyk, at a sustained level rare in any sport. Fury was winning the first fight through eight rounds.

In the ninth, however, Usyk found a way, throwing combinations that knocked down Fury. Fury recovered, but without the will or the energy to win a close fight. Maybe, that changes in the rematch with a more committed, better-conditioned Fury. The odds, however, make Usyk a slight favorite, in part perhaps because he knows how to win the close ones.

Usyk’s singular concentration seems to make him immune to Fury’s clever bag of tricks. Usyk might not have the power to knock out Fury. Deontay Wilder couldn’t either. Over three fights, Fury withstood Wilder’s power, which accounted for a 97.67 percent KO rate, astonishing even for the heavyweight division.

Fury got up in their first meeting, Lazarus-like, in the 12th and final round in 2018 for a draw in downtown Los Angeles. In retrospect, Fury’s ability to survive what no one else could in his initial meeting with Wilder dictated the rest of the trilogy.

Fury didn’t exactly take away Wilder’s only real weapon, but he survived it, leaving Wilder with doubts. Fury fractured Wilder’s singular confidence in a way he has not in trying to crack Usyk’s concentration.

Meanwhile, questions persist about what Fury has left in the wake of the Wilder rivalry, including a violent third fight. Fury won that one, an 11th-round stoppage in October 2021 in Las Vegas. But neither fighter emerged unscathed. There were five knockdowns — Wilder down three times, Fury twice. It was dangerous, definitive and dramatic.

Promoters called it:

“Once And For All.”

For Wilder, it looks as if it was. He has lost his last two fights, first a decision to Joseph Parker in December and then a fifth-round stoppage to Zhilei Zang in June. In both, he looked like a shell of the feared fighter he was against Fury.

Yet, Fury, too, often looks as if he doesn’t have the same durability. He got knocked down by Francis Ngannou, a mixed-martial arts fighter and novice boxer, yet managed to escape with a debatable split-decision. Then, he wasn’t able to overcome a late knockdown delivered by Usyk, whose versatile skillset and knowhow are seemingly inexhaustible.

In an interview this week with DAZN, Fury said he had little fear of Usyk. Wilder’s raw power, he suggested, was a more immediate threat.

“Whether it is round one, round ten or round twelve with two seconds to go – one mistake, it’s game over,’’ Fury told the streaming network, “With Usyk, I don’t feel that much terror.’’

Fury went on to praise Usyk. He called him a good boxer.

“But there’s different levels to power,’’ Fury said. “One man can switch you off like a TV, and one man can hit you and hurt you and wear you down.’’

In the end, this one, like the last one, figures to go the distance. Question is: Can Fury still go there?

Introducing Pedro Juarez

In recent years, more and more fighters have taken their shot at competing in both mixed martial arts and professional boxing, to varying degrees of success. Tracy, California’s Pedro Juarez, a bantamweight in MMA, which translates to a lightweight in boxing, will attempt to begin his dual path pro journey this coming Saturday night, when he makes his professional boxing debut against Alec Acuavera in one of the supporting bouts on the Toscano Boxing Promotions event at the Modesto Centre Plaza in Modesto, California.

Juarez, a four-fight professional MMA fighter, actually began his combat sports career as a boxer, despite being drawn in by watching the UFC on television, after finding his way to his first boxing coach, Felipe Martinez.

“I originally started off as a boxer and about 2012 is when I started training,” recalls Juarez. “One of my friends was going to the boxing gym and I had him take me there to Felipe’s Boxing Gym in Lathrop. I wanted to train and I was eager to learn. I started training in boxing and stayed with that because I didn’t really see MMA training. Once I started going to the boxing gym, I liked it and stuck with boxing for a long time. It was at his house, in his backyard. He had a ring and he had bags. He would train all the local kids. He would train a lot of fighters and was a cool guy. He wouldn’t charge a lot of people. We would just come over and train. Eventually, later down the road, I transitioned to MMA.”

Eventually, Juarez decided to pursue the combat sport that originally caught his eye, mixed martial arts, which led him to the well-regarded Oakdale MMA Last Stand Fight Team, led by Tom Theofanopoulos, more than 35 miles from his native Tracy.

“At some point, I kind of ended up losing interest in boxing,” explains Juarez. “I went through a little rough period where, I don’t know, I just lost the passion. So I thought, I’ll transition into MMA, since that was what got me to start training, because I started watching it on TV. So I thought I’d make the transition and see how it went. I ended up going over to Oakdale MMA. I tried it and I liked it and have stuck with it ever since.”

Before turning professional in 2022, the highlight of Juarez’s amateur MMA career would be winning the 209 Beatdown bantamweight title over Raul Godinez at the Modesto Centre Plaza in 2019. Juarez would have to overcome some adversity before scoring the split decision victory to claim the title as Godinez landed an uppercut seconds into the bout that broke Juarez’s jaw.

“We had a good fight,” remembers Juarez. “I ended up getting the win, but it was tough though, getting my jaw broken in the first round and having to battle through that, but I stayed in there. Stayed composed and got the win.”

Nearly two years to the day after Juarez scored the biggest win of his amateur MMA career, the Tracy native was slated to make his professional debut as part of Bellator 266, which was televised by Showtime from the SAP Center in San Jose, California. Unfortunately for Juarez, that fight would not come to pass.

“Everything was going good with training, but the week of the fight, something was going on with my MRI,” remembers Juarez. “They didn’t communicate that to us, so by the time we found out, there wasn’t enough time to follow-up and see what was going on. So the commission said he’s not cleared to fight and they scrapped it. I was there fight week. I was at the hotel and doing everything you have to do during fight week. On Wednesday, when they told us, it sucked, but everything happens for a reason I guess. After everything happened, I was really bummed out for a while. That was a really big opportunity, to turn pro under Bellator, the second biggest promotion out there as far as MMA, and when it fell through, it was devastating, but there wasn’t anything I could do really.”

Juarez would go on to turn professional in MMA a year after the scuttled bout in San Jose. While pursuing his pro MMA career out of Oakdale MMA, Juarez saw an opportunity to bring one of his old boxing coaches, Alfredo Perez, on board the team when the fight compound expanded to include a boxing gym and program.

“I have known Alfredo for a long time, since my early boxing days,” explains Juarez. “I was able to connect him to Oakdale MMA, because my MMA coach, Tom Theofanopoulos, is the instructor and owner of Oakdale MMA and he was looking to start a boxing program and looking for coaches. I linked up Alfredo and him and they made it work.”

Before the COVID pandemic forced his gym, the Boxing Development Center in Oakdale, to close, Perez got to know and worked with Juarez during his amateur boxing run. The two forged a relationship and bond and with Perez in place at Oakdale MMA, Juarez could return to boxing with a familiar coach when the opportunity presented itself.

“We have a really good relationship and I kind of look after him like he’s one of my own,” says Perez. “He’s just a really good kid; respectful, humble and a lot of class. The kid works hard. He’s got a day job, he goes and works eight hours and then comes out all the way to Oakdale almost every day. Sometimes I even have to back him down a little bit and tell him to get some rest so he doesn’t overtrain.”

With four pro MMA fights under his belt, Juarez had been slated for fight number five this past September. However, when promoters for the event could not find him an opponent, Juarez looked toward this coming Saturday’s event on the calendar as an opportunity to get back into the boxing ring.

“Pedro let me know he wanted to continue in boxing as well,” says Perez. “I said, ‘If you really want to do this, we have to do it 100 percent. We can’t half ass it.’ He’s always been a pretty good boxer. The transition was really not hard at all, it actually was pretty easy. He already has the skill set of stand-up. Working with him on mitts and taking him sparring and everything, we took him a couple different places, just to see where we were at three or four months ago, and he’s a totally different person. He’s in shape and ready to go.”

Juarez, with the help of his team, has made the adjustments in the gym necessary to make the move from preparing for a mixed martial arts bout to making his professional boxing debut.

“At first, it was a little different, because I am used to throwing kicks and the range is different,” explains Juarez. “But once I just focused solely on boxing and got into the groove of things, I was able to switch my mindset to that of just a boxer. I just focused a lot on my hands the last eight to ten weeks. It feels comfortable. I feel good.”

Juarez will meet Alec Acuavera of Pittsburg, California, a fellow MMA fighter making his pro boxing debut, on Saturday in Modesto. Acuavera is somewhat of an unknown to the Juarez camp, who have made their preparation more about preparing Juarez rather than focusing on their match-up.

“I have seen a couple of his fights, just to get an idea,” says Juarez. “But I have just been focused on me and what I am going to do.”

“To be honest, I don’t know anything about him,” admits Perez. “I saw a little video of him in one of his fights, but that is all I know. I believe he’s a little bit taller and probably a little longer. So in our camp, we had some guys that were a little bit taller than Pedro. So that helped with our game plan and what we are going to do, come this Saturday.”

Juarez will become the first boxer to turn professional out of Oakdale MMA, which opened in 1988. As the first pro out of the boxing program, Juarez is someone the younger aspiring boxers and fighters look up to as they aim to achieve their dreams.

“We have our amateurs that fight out of here and the kids like to see him and get excited,” explains Perez. “A few of them might even stop him for an autograph and Pedro gets a kick out of that. I told him, ‘You are inspiring kids and you have to use that platform so they can see that they can do this too.’ He definitely is inspiring them and sometimes he will even work out with some of the amateurs that are getting ready to compete. He’s definitely an inspiration at the gym.”

Juarez plans on scoring a victory in his pro boxing debut this weekend and carrying that momentum into an MMA bout on November 15th in Wheatland, California. Should he come out unscathed in those bouts, Perez hopes Juarez can return to the boxing ring before the end of December. It is an ambitious plan, but Juarez seems ready to take on the challenge, beginning with Acuavera this Saturday in Modesto in a fight that takes place at the same venue of his biggest MMA victory in 2019.

“I am excited to be going back to my first sport, because boxing is the first sport that I ever did,” says Juarez. “I am a boxer at heart. Doing a pro fight, that is always something that I wanted to do anyway. Now that the opportunity came, I jumped on it. I am excited to go out there and represent my team, the Last Stand Fight Team and Oakdale MMA.”

Tickets for the Saturday’s event, promoted by Toscano Boxing Promotions, are available online at Ticketon.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Common Sense? There is none in acronym’s threat to strip Beterbiev

By Norm Frauenheim

An old line is as current as ever this week because of the acronyms, which continue to prove that the only thing killing boxing is boxing itself.

The IBF is redefining itself. Call it the Irrelevant Boxing Federation. The latest move dropped Thursday with news that defies common sense. Business sense, too. Then again, the IBF is in the business of collecting sanctioning fees. But there won’t be too many more of those if the IBF continues to make baffling moves that can only shove the acronym into further obscurity.

The latest: A threat to strip Artur Beterbiev of the IBF piece of the light-heavyweight title within a week after he retained it, two other belts and added a fourth in a controversial scorecard decision over Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh.

You didn’t have to watch the fight to know that a rematch had to be next. I didn’t watch because of another acronym, DAZN, which advertised that the undercard’s live stream would be free in the US and Canada, yet then charged $19.99. Frustrated, I just decided to say no. It was just the latest example of how boxing conducts itself. Only in boxing can a circular firing squad become a business agenda.

According to many accounts in the post-fight scuffle on social media, Bivol got robbed. Maybe. Maybe not. However, at least one of the scorecards in the majority decision says that Bivol did enough to get a rematch. One judge scored it a draw, 114-114. The other two cards favored Beterbiev, 115-113 and 116-112, a score that managed to generate a lot of the outrage.

Whatever you think, the fight and subsequent debate left a question. The only way to get an answer is with a rematch. For a few days, at least, that seemed to be what everyone wanted.

Beterbiev, who says little, said enough to indicate he’s willing.

With Bivol and his corner, there was never much doubt. Many in the Bivol corner were shouting robbery. An attorney for Bivol petitioned the acronyms Wednesday, asking for a rematch.

For once, there seemed to be some consensus. But — surprise, surprise — it didn’t last. The familiar chaos was back with news from the IBF that it would order Beterbiev to fight somebody named Michael Eifert. It could have ordered him to fight the Eiffel Tower for all that it mattered. Does anybody know who Michael Eifert is? Didn’t think so.

Then again, does anybody know William Scull? He’s a good name for Halloween, but as a champion, or challenger he is as unknown as Eifert (13-1, 5 KOs), an IBF challenger living in Germany who is best known for scoring a decision over a faded Jean Pascal in March 2023.

By coincidence, perhaps, Scull (22-0, 9 KOs), a Cuban also living in Germany, fights for the first time Saturday since the IBF elevated him to the top of super-middleweight ratings after stripping Canelo Álvarez of its 168-pound belt.

Scull fights for Canelo’s former piece of the undisputed title against an unbeaten Russian named Vladimir Shishkin, (16-0, 10 KOs) in Falkensee, a town west of Berlin. Will anybody see it? Put it this way: There won’t be any speculative stories about the pay-per-view count. No television or streaming is planned.

In effect, the IBF stripped Canelo of the belt and itself of his drawing power. The numbers are smaller, but the IBF could be taking a similar step in a baffling move, a so-called order that Beterbiev fight an unknown or risk losing his 175-pound belt.

Common sense dictates that the IBF — or any other acronym arrogant enough to issue orders, designate mandatories and call itself a ruling body — threatens to strip Beterbiev of only if he declines to do an immediate rematch.

Anything else is a down payment on irrelevancy.

NOTES

Speaking of rematches, a couple of them were formally announced this week. Top Rank will stage Emanuel Navarrete-versus-Oscar Valdez Dec. 7 in Phoenix in a rematch of Navarrete’s punishing decision over Valdez in a dramatic junior-lightweight title bout August, 2023 at Glendale’s Desert Diamond Arena.

The card, aptly called Scores 2 Settle, will also include Rafael Espinoza versus Robeisy Ramirez in a featherweight rematch of Espinoza’s majority-decision victory in December.

The ESPN card has been in the news for months. The only difference will be the site. Initially, it was believed that Navarrete-Valdez would go back to Glendale. But it was announced this week that they’ll do the sequel at Footprint Center, the NBA Suns home in downtown Phoenix.

Flores Decisions Contreras Before Hometown Crowd

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA – World ranked lightweight contender Gabriel Flores Jr. continued his run of success fighting at home, scoring a one-sided eight-round unanimous decision over journeyman Dennis Contreras at the Adventist Health Arena on Saturday night.

Flores (24-2, 8 KOs) of Stockton utilized his superior boxing skills, giving Contreras (24-14-1, 22 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico angles and movement that the Mexican struggled to combat. Contreras was much more straightforward with his offense and had to sell out to get in close enough to land on the more elusive Flores.

In the fifth, Flores, 134.6, pressured Contreras, 136.6, to the ropes and began to double up on stiff left hands. By leaning against the ropes, Contreras appeared to try to goad Flores into creating an opening, but if that was his plan it proved to be fruitless.

Flores stood more flatfooted in stretches during the sixth, providing the home crowd with some excitement as he stood and traded headshots with Contreras early in the round. Contreras, whose power did not appear to carry up to the lightweight division, landed clean with several upstairs, but Flores walked through them and landed more of his own.

Contreras kept coming forward as the fight moved into the final two rounds, but Flores was too clever for his Mexican adversary, picking his openings and moving away from counters. Flores sat down on his punches in the final rounds, but could not stop his forward-moving opponent in his tracks. Contreras was moving on less steady footing than earlier in the fight, but kept trying his best as the final bell rang.

Judge Melissa McMorrow scored the bout 79-73, while judges Rey Danseco and Kermit Bayliss both scored the eight-rounder a shutout, 80-72.

After the bout, Flores, the WBA #11 ranked lightweight, told ringside interviewer Aliyah Orozco that he hoped to land a top ten opponent in his next bout.

Fighting days after his hometown was affected by Hurricane Milton, Dominique Francis (16-0, 10 KOs) of Opa-Locka, Florida scored a dominant fourth-round knockout of previously beaten Julio Carrera (18-1-1, 14 KOs) of Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico.

Francis, 130.8, was the classier boxer and exploited the holes in the game of Carrera, 130.8, from the outset of the bout. Once Francis found Carrera’s body, the writing was on the wall. Late in the fourth, Francis landed a clean left to the body that was the damaging blow which ultimately led to the fight-ending knockdown. Two more shots upstairs and another left downstairs followed, sending Carrera down to a knee. With referee Michael Margado counting, Carrera made no effort in returning to his feet. Margado reached the count of ten for the stoppage at the time of 2:21 in round four.

In an entertaining back-and-forth scrap, Jessie James Guerrero (4-0-3, 2 KOs) of Gilroy, California and Bryan Santiago (1-1-2) of Weslaco, Texas fought to a six-round split decision draw.

Guerrero, 112.8, had more technique and speed, but Santiago, 114, applied relentless pressure throughout as each fighter had their moments of success. Guerrero was at his best when he could keep Santiago at arm’s length and use his jab and combinations to prevent Santiago from finding his way inside. Santiago was effective at times with his free-swinging style from the outside or when he got rough on the way inside.

With several rounds difficult to score, judge Melissa McMorrow scored the bout 58-56 for Santiago, while judge Kermit Bayliss scored the fight the other way, 58-56 for Guerrero and judge Ray Danseco had the even card, 57-57, forcing the draw.

Rising super flyweight Andrew Rodriguez (5-0, 1 KO) of Salinas, California scored a one-sided four-round unanimous decision over an overmatched Marcelino Rangel (1-1) of Toledo, Ohio.

Rangel, 114.6, began round two motivated and after some gesturing to the crowd, landed clean with a couple right hands. Rodriguez, 114, soon found his range again and began doubling up his left hand to Rangel’s body and head. With Rangel withering from the body shots, Rodriguez kept up the attack, finally downing the Ohio resident with a left near the liver. Rangel rose, but absorbed much punishment along the ropes as the round came to a close.

Rodriguez continued to damage Rangel to the body in the third, creating openings to land upstairs. Referee Michael Margado kept a close look, but Rangel managed to last the round. Margado ushered Rangel over to ringside physician Gary Furness to start the fourth, but the fight continued. Rodriguez continued to land from the outside, where the shorter Rangel had no ability to land in retort. Despite taking heavy punishment, Rangel lasted until the final bell. All three judges scored the bout a shutout, 40-35, for Rodriguez.

Super bantamweight prospect Kyle Lacanlale (2-0, 2 KOs) of San Ramon, California pounded away at Ricardo Antonio Luna (0-2) of Glendale, California by way of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico en route to a third-round stoppage.

Lacanlale, 122.6, punished Luna, 124.8, to the head and body for the entirety of the contest. Lacanlale landed in combination, often doubling on his left or mixing in his right. Luna started aggressively in the second round, but Lacanlale quickly made him pay for the openings his offensive outburst created. Lacanlale then continued the onslaught in the third. Eventually three unanswered overhand rights prompted referee Michael Margado to call a halt to the bout at :53 of round three.

Multi-combat sport star Jennah Creason (2-0) of Visalia, California bested her much larger short-notice opponent Seta Vatuvei (0-3) of Hayward, California via four-round technical decision.

Creason, 148.8, was the faster and more accurate puncher throughout the bout. Vatuvei, 154.8, wound up cut from an accidental head clash in the opening round. By the second round, the blood was running freely and Creason was starting to overwhelm Vatuvei in spots with her output. The trend continued in the third round, with referee Edward Collantes and ringside physician Gary Furness each keeping a keen eye on the cut. Three seconds officially into round four, Furness recommended the fight end and it went to the scorecards. All four judges scored the shutout for Creason, 40-36

Former amateur standout Steve Canela (1-0) of San Jose, California was tested and passed, scoring a four-round unanimous decision over a game David Music (0-1) of Findlay, Ohio.

Canela, 136.2, turned up the aggression in the second round, as his right hand began to find a home upstairs. Music, 136.8, bounced back to have his moments in round three and got off to a solid start in round four, before Canela turned the fight back in his direction. Canela began landing some clean power punches in succession late in the round. By the end, Music’s nose was bloodied, but he kept coming. All three judges were in agreement on a shutout for Canela, 40-36.

In the opening bout, Tatiana Almaraz (1-4) of Concord, California by way of Guatemala City, Guatemala moved into the win column with a four-round unanimous decision victory over Vicky Zhao (0-1) of Capitola, California by way of Chongqing, China.

Almaraz, 110.6, appeared to be the more powerful of the two fighters, but Zhao, 108.8, was willing to trade all through the fight. After four competitive rounds, judge Ray Danseco scored the bout 39-37, while judges Kermit Bayliss and Melissa McMorrow scored the bout a shutout, 40-36, all for Almaraz.

Photo by Julio C. Sanchez/G-Squad Entertainment

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Flores Back in Action in Stockton

STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA – Local favorite Gabriel Flores Jr. continues his busy year of defending his home turf tomorrow night as he takes on Dennis Contreras in the eight-round lightweight main event of an eight-bout card at Adventist Health Arena. Fighters on the card, dubbed “Nightmare in the Arena,” weighed-in Friday morning at the host venue.

Flores (24-2, 8 KOs) of Stockton is back indoors at the venue where he will be competing for the third time in his last four bouts. Last time out, Flores, an excellent ticket seller in his hometown, scored an eight-round unanimous decision over tough Ronal Ron at the open air Banner Island Ballpark that sits a few steps down from the arena. Despite some fairly wide scores in his favor, Flores was challenged in the bout by Ron, who gave a solid account of himself. Flores, the WBA #11 ranked lightweight, will be fighting for the third time under the G-Squad Entertainment banner, as he and his father-promoter Gabe Flores Sr. chart their course towards bigger and better game, while creating some excitement at home. Flores came in just under the contracted weight at 134.6-pounds on Friday.

Contreras (24-14-1, 22 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico enters the bout with an eye-catching knockout to win ratio, but he will be coming up in weight to the 135-pound lightweight division for the first time in his career. Contreras has fought as low as 118-pounds and only recently moved up to 130-pounds from featherweight three fights back. In his first bout at super featherweight, Contreras was stopped by Michael Magnesi in a failed bid for the lightly regarded IBO title in 2022. Contreras failed to make the contracted weight, coming in 1.6-pounds over at 136.6-pounds. As of press time, Contreras was attempting to drop the extra poundage.

In the co-feature, Dominique Francis (15-0, 9 KOs) of Opa-Locka, Florida will take on fellow unbeaten Julio Carrera (18-0-1, 14 KOs) of Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico in an eight-round super featherweight bout.

Francis, whose hometown was affected by Hurricane Milton this week, has been well-traveled for a 23-year-old U.S.-based prospect, having competed in Mexico, Argentina and Colombia in his last five bouts. Two fights back, in a bout internationally-televised by TyC Sports, Francis showed his resiliency and ring smarts, surviving a knockdown early in the ninth round of a bout he was winning handily on the cards en route to a ten-round unanimous decision over Argentinian Braian Ariel Arguello in Argentina. On the other hand, Carrera has fought his career entirely in his native Mexico and his one small step-up opponent, Nazario Castro Nieblas, accounts for the draw on his ledger. Francis and Carrera both scaled in at 130.8-pounds.

Returning to Stockton, super flyweight prospect Andrew Rodriguez (4-0, 1 KO) of Salinas, California will meet Marcelino Rangel (1-0) of Toledo, Ohio in a four-rounder. The 21-year-old Rodriguez was matched with tough Alejandro Robles and dealt with a bad cut between his eyes, but scored the decision win in an entertaining U.S. debut at Banner Island Ballpark in July. Rangel turned professional in May with a four-round unanimous decision in Fostoria, Ohio. Rodriguez made 114-pounds, while Rangel weighed-in at 114.6-pounds.

In a six-round super flyweight bout, Jessie James Guerrero (4-0-2, 2 KOs) of Gilroy, California returns to the ring for the first time since the birth of his first-born daughter as he takes on rugged Bryan Santiago (1-1-1) of Weslaco, Texas. Guerrero, who was last in the ring in March, scoring three knockdowns en route to a second-round knockout at this same venue in Stockton, came in at 112.8-pounds. Santiago, who engaged in two crowd-pleasing brawls with Ricardo Castillo in Hidalgo, Texas this year, winning the first and ending up with a draw in the second, made 114-pounds.

Making his long awaited professional debut, former amateur standout Steve Canela of San Jose, California will take on debuting David Music of Findlay, Ohio in a four-round lightweight bout. Canela had been slated to debut on the last G-Squad Entertainment card in July, but the California State Athletic Commission would not approve his short notice opponent due to having fought the week prior. Canela did end up fighting that night, but in an exhibition. Canela came in at 136.2, while Music scaled 136.8-pounds.

Multi-combat sport star Jennah Creason (1-0) of Visalia, California meets tough Seta Vatuvei (0-2) of Hayward, California in a four-round junior middleweight bout. Creason, who has had many potential opponents drop out after researching her accomplishments, moved up in weight to make the fight happen Saturday. Vatuvei has not shied away from tough competition in her brief pro career, having taken on well-regarded former amateur standouts in every fight thus far. Creason stayed closer to her normal fighting weight at 148.8-pounds, while Vatuvei came in at 154.8-pounds on Friday.

Vicky Zhao of Capitola, California by way of Chongqing, China will make her professional debut against Tatiana Almaraz (0-4) of Pittsburg, California by way of Guatemala City, Guatemala in a four-round light flyweight bout. Despite her record, Almaraz, 110.6-pounds, is a very capable fighter that has been matched tough in her career to this point, but should provide a solid test for the debuting Zhao, who scaled 108.8-pounds.

Former amateur standout Kyle Lacanlale (1-0, 1 KO) of San Ramon, California will take on Ricardo Antonio Luna (0-1) of Glendale, California by way of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico in a four-round super bantamweight bout. Lacanlale is fresh off an impressive pro debut in August where he scored a first-round knockout in a bout that lasted one minute. Lacanlale weighed-in at 122.6-pounds, while Luna scaled 124.8-pounds.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Lightweights, 8 Rounds

Flores Jr. 134.6

Contreras 136.6*

Super featherweights, 8 Rounds

Francis 130.8

Carrera 130.8

Super flyweights, 4 Rounds

Rodriguez 114

Rangel 114.6

Super flyweights, 6 Rounds

Guerrero 112.8

Santiago 114

Lightweights, 4 Rounds

Canela 136.2

Music 136.8

Welterweights, 4 Rounds

Creason 148.8

Vatuvei 154.8

Light flyweights, 4 Rounds

Almaraz 110.6

Zhao 108.8

Super bantamweights, 4 Rounds

Lacanlale 122.6

Luna 124.8

*1.6-pounds over contracted weight, attempting to shed weight at press time

Tickets for the event, promoted by G-Squad Entertainment, are available online at Gsquadent.com

Photo by Julio C. Sanchez/G-Squad Entertainment

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Artur Beterbiev lets his perfect record speak for itself

By Norm Frauenheim –

Power and perfection define Artur Beterbiev. Truth is, that’s about all we really know about him. The two elements are linked like numbers in an astonishingly simple equation, a record that says a lot about him and perhaps says everything he wants to say about himself.

Twenty fights, twenty victories, twenty knockouts.

Challenge that one at your own peril. Dmitry Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) will, of course, Saturday (main event, DAZN/ESPN+, 6 pm ET) in Saudi Arabia in a light-heavyweight fight as significant as any in the division since the first Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev bout eight years ago.

Yet, Ward-Kovalev 1, marketed as Pound For Pound, was different on so many other levels. Mostly, there was personal enmity, even before Ward won a hotly-debated decision — 114-113 on all three cards — over Kovalev in November 2016.

It was as controversial as any over the last decade. But the controversy was fitting. Ward and Kovalev didn’t like each other. Actually, like is a polite way of describing it. But it is a four-letter word.

The hostility, marked by equal amounts of contempt and abundant suspicion, helped make the fight marketable. Seven months later, it also spawned a rematch, which ended with Ward winning an eighth-round TKO in a sequel as forgettable as the first was memorable.

On the insult scale, Beterbiev-Bivol isn’t even close, although Bivol promoter Eddie Hearn tried to change that this week. First, Hearn insulted Beterbiev, calling him “arrogant.’’

At an earlier newser, Hearn told TNT Sports, “Beterbiev said about three words, I found it quite arrogant.”

Beterbiev, Hearn then added, limited his answers to the media to about one word.

“I think he just went ‘good,’ ‘’ Hearn said. “You’re getting paid an absolute fortune, the entire world’s media here, you owe us a little bit more than that. He couldn’t care less. In a way I respect it, but in a way, I think it’s a little disrespectful.”

At the final newser Thursday in Riyadh, Hearn continued the theme, all in an apparent attempt to break through Beterbiev’s taciturn defense.

For a moment, it looked as if Hearn was getting through.

Beterbiev looked at Hearn and said during the live-streamed newser:

“You talk a lot.”

Hearn’s quick counter:

“It’s my job. You should try it.”

End of conversation.

It wasn’t surprising. Statues are more quotable than Beterbiev. But we knew that. He’s memorable more for how he fights than anything he’s ever said. But here’s another number: 39. He’s within four months of turning 40. That includes recent injuries. A knee injury forced Beterbiev to postpone the original date with Bivol, June 1.

He’s beyond prime time, and time might be the only thing that can undo his reign of perfection. He’s the favorite to leave Riyadh with the undisputed light-heavyweight title. Then, it’s back to Montreal and quiet anonymity.

However, there’s a sense that Father Time’s arrival at Beterbiev’s doorstep will come in the form of the 33-year-old Bivol, a fellow Russian who is given a real chance at an upset in a fight noteworthy for how it sets up the 175-pound division.

It was announced this week that David Benavidez, a Phoenix-born fighter, and David Morrell, a Cuban living in Minnesota, have agreed to fight. When and where, however, aren’t certain. January 25 or a date in February are mentioned. But time and place are subject to what happens in Riyadh.

Benavidez holds an interim belt at 175 pounds, which makes him a mandatory challenger — whatever that means — for the Beterbiev-Bivol winner. Benavidez would have to beat Morrell to keep his place in line.

Then again, Canelo Alvarez could always cut in line. Canelo, who Benavidez has been been pursuing for years, began talking about Bivol in September, before and after his one-sided decision over Edgar Berlanga in a solid defense of the undisputed title at 168 pounds. Bivol beat Canelo a couple of years ago.

The potential scenarios provide several talking points for what Beterbiev-Bivol means. One Example: Beterbiev, still aggressive and powerful at 39, beats Bivol with a stoppage, another notch in his perfect record. Then, Benavidez beats Morrell with his trademark energy and volume punching. Next, Beterbiev-Benavidez, a fight with the kind of fireworks that could ignite a classic. It would be an instant talker, which for now Beterbiev-Bivol is not.

Even Bivol, a pragmatic and patient tactician, is careful not to speculate about anything beyond Saturday. Beterbiev, of all people, spoke for both of them Thursday.

“It’s not my business,’’ he said when asked for his thoughts about possibilities beyond Bivol. “I have a fight this Saturday. I’m only focused on this fight.”

A fight that’s bound to generate lots of talk, no matter what anybody says.

Or doesn’t say.

Jessie James Guerrero: New Motivation and Even More Determination

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

From the famed fighting clan centered in Gilroy, California, Jessie James Guerrero will return to the ring this coming Saturday night for the first time since beginning his own family with the birth of his daughter Luna this past June. With the newfound inspiration that comes with being a father, Guerrero aims to advance his career as he takes on Bryan Santiago in a six-round super flyweight attraction as part of the Gabriel Flores Jr.-Dennis Contreras card streamed by BLK Prime from the Adventist Health Arena in Stockton, California.

Guerrero (4-0-2, 4 KOs) was last in the ring in March, scoring a second-round stoppage of Jose Rodriguez Montemayor at the same venue in Stockton. Emotions ran high, as the fight took place on Guerrero’s expecting girlfriend Ariel’s birthday.

“When I was walking to the ring, I had a little emotion before I was coming out of the tunnel,” recalls Guerrero. “I was just thinking about having a baby and everything. It just hit me. But I was able to hold my emotion once I saw the crowd. Everything changed and I got locked in.”

With the added pressure and motivation to put on a performance, Guerrero did just that. Guerrero would find Rodriguez Montemayor’s sweet spot, dropping him three times in the second round with a punishing body attack to force the stoppage.

“He was a good opponent,” Guerrero says of Rodriguez Montemayor. “It was a good fight. Everything I did in the training camp is what I displayed that night. Everything worked out perfect and everything was set in place.”

Though the fight only lasted into the second round in March, it was Guerrero’s first scheduled six-rounder. Guerrero, whose pro ledger fails to include two bouts he won as a 16-year-old in Tijuana, Mexico that have yet to be recognized by official record keeper BoxRec, has been moved along by his team, which includes his grandfather Ruben Sr., his dad Ruben Jr. and his uncle, multi-time world champion Robert Guerrero.

“We all work together and make the best decisions,” says Ruben Sr. of the family operation, which includes five active professional fighting Guerreros, including Robert, who is eyeing a return in the near future, and many respected trainers. “We are a family. That is the way we prepare the boys, as one big family. We take care of my grandsons. My sons learned a lot from me and we are doing the best we can for them. It is their turn now.”

After a quick return to the ring was ruled out by the California State Athletic Commission, Guerrero turned his focus to his blossoming family as Ariel’s pregnancy wound down. Luna, who was due on Father’s Day, arrived a week earlier. As any parent knows, everything changes once you bring your first born into the world.

“It is going good,” explains Guerrero of his new family life. “There are just a lot of things to look out for now. It’s not just get up and go. We have to work around our schedules. She is four months old now. It has not been as hard as we thought it would be. We have family and everybody helps out. I stay with her for four or five hours, just me and her, while my lady goes to work. We have our family time together and then I go to the gym and they have their time together.”

There are so few things in the world that could come close to motivating a man as much as their newborn daughter. “It has put a spark in me,” says Guerrero. “It made me realize that I got a little one to provide for and that is going to look up to me. I know that I want to do the best for her, whatever it takes. It is a lot of emotions, but I am handling it. As long as my family is healthy and I stay healthy, that is all that matters.”

Having adjusted to family life, Guerrero can resume focus on his promising pro career. For many fighters competing in the lower weight divisions, any time away from the gym could be problematic, as every pound gained has added significance when you need to make 115 or 112-pounds on fight night. Guerrero, still a young pro, seems to have a strong hold on what he needs to do to be on point when it is time to hit the scales on Friday.

“At first, about a year or two ago, it was easy,” says Guerrero of his ability to rebound from time away from the ring and make weight. “But as I’ve been getting older and my body is changing, I’ve noticed that I go up a few more pounds than I usually had. But it is easy for me to cut the weight. I have a fast metabolism and I do it the smart way. I don’t do it like some of these guys that do it, the last week, where they feel weak. That is not a good way to cut weight at the last minute. I start about two-and-a-half weeks out from the fight. Then I just have the last little bit to cut to get the last pound when it is time to make weight.”

Guerrero will be dropping down from his last fight in March for his second scheduled six-rounder, this time at the 112-pound flyweight division against Bryan Santiago (1-1-1) of Donna, Texas.

“He has three fights,” explains Guerrero, as Santiago’s listed record fails to include a July 27th bout in Harlingen, Texas. “I found a third fight. He lost his first fight, won his second fight and then he rematched the kid again and got a draw. I did my research.”

Guerrero, who will be entering the ring for his ninth pro fight when including the two victories he had in Tijuana not as of yet officially recognized, will have the edge in ring time over Santiago and also feels he has an ace in the hole helping him prepare for his opponent’s style.

“He’s 21 and I am 20, so he is a year older than me, but I feel like I am the more experienced one coming into the fight. This is my ninth pro fight and he only has three. I think this is his first time being in a six-rounder too. He’s a come forward, pressure fighter. But one of the good things is that one of my buddies, one of the pros in our gym, is a pressure fighter too, so I have been working with him for the whole month.”

The fighter in camp with Guerrero, helping him prepare most for Santiago, is Angel Luis Cavazos, a bantamweight that won his professional debut on September 21st by first round knockout in Tijuana.

“Angel fights exactly like [Santiago,”] explains Guerrero. “He comes forward and he’s a pressure fighter. After I saw the video on him, I knew exactly who I needed to work with. And Angel was already getting ready for his pro debut too, so he was in shape and in camp. He started his three weeks before I started my camp.”

With all the motivation in the world to succeed now, Guerrero is ready to show the world the type of fighter he has become on Saturday night in Stockton.

“It is not going to be the same as the last time I was in Stockton,” says Guerero. “Last time I was a young teenager and now I am a father, so it is completely different. It is going to be a whole different performance, a whole different Jessie James.”

Tickets for the event, promoted by G-Squad Entertainment, are available online at gsquadent.com

Photo by Trini Guerrero/@trinigphotography

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Only one way for Haney to fight the court of public opinion

By Norm Frauenheim

Devin Haney finds himself in two courts.

A court of law.

And the court of public opinion.

Where you won’t find him — at least for now — is in the ring.

Location, location, location. They’re impossible to untangle in an unforgiving craft that, fair or not, demands that disputes are settled in the ring instead of a court of law. That leaves Haney in a place where he can only lose.

The court of pubic opinion, a chaotic collection of ungovernable jurors gathered on various social-media platforms, are mocking and condemning Haney for suing Ryan Garcia for battery and fraud in the infamous April 20 New York fight that often looked like an accident.

Haney was knocked down three times by a much-bigger Garcia, who blew off making weight — 140 pounds, mocked the ceremonial part of a staged weigh-in by apparently drinking a beer on the scale, tested positive for performance-enhancer ostarine and then denied it by alleging he was the victim of a conspiracy.

For now, at least, Garcia’s apparent edge in the court of public opinion Is a simple matter of numbers. Garcia, still serving a one-year suspension, has followers that only Gallup can count.

He’s also good at stirring up his followers with scenes that were defined by that bottle of beer on the ceremonial scale last April. His followers just want entertainment, the next act in outragetainent. Expect Garcia to deliver.

Haney and his trainer/father, Bill, want a judgement, a verdict in their favor for what that they believe damaged pound-for-pound aspirations. Maybe, it did. But that’s up to a jury, if it ever that gets that far.

From this corner, I’m willing to give Haney and his father their day in court on an issue that involves more than just Garcia and his apparent contempt for the ring craft and the rules that govern it.

But their timing is lousy. The laborious legal process will take its course. But forget the docket. Devin Haney is still a fighter, meaning he’s only as good as his next fight. He needs to get beyond that long night against Garcia.

The scorecard loss, a majority decision, was erased from his record, still unbeaten. But the nightmare is still there. He’ll have to wait on a chance to deliver evidence in a courtroom. But it’s time he begins to deliver evidence in the ring. Until he does, that court of public opinion will view him as a plaintiff instead of a prize fighter

It’s time, past-time, for Haney to resume his career in the first step toward silencing the social-media mob, currently led by Gracia promoter Oscar De La Hoya, who this week called Haney “a shot fighter.”

For now, Haney’s burden is to prove De La Hoya wrong. For now, he can only do that by answering another opening bell.

NOTES

Phoenix makeweight Elijah Garcia is training in Las Vegas at Bob Santos’ gym since his split decision loss to Kyrone Davis in a middleweight fight June 15 in Las Vegas. Garcia missed weight before suffering his only loss in 17 bouts. The 21-year-old prospect is expected to be at super-middleweight when he fights to get his promising career back on track, perhaps in December.

Terence Crawford said no to a two-fight deal with mixed-martial-arts celebrity Conor McGregor, according to multiple reports. The deal was reported to be for two bouts — one boxing and the other MMA. The money was huge. “Hundreds of millions,’’ McGregor told Duelbits in a live-stream interview. But Crawford, a former amateur wrestler, has been a boxer throughout his brilliant pro career. The MMA venture would have been more spectacle than craft for Crawford, perhaps the ring’s most masterful craftsman since the 1980s. For Crawford’s decision, one word: Thanks.

David Benavidez: Talk swirls about who’s next for the newly-minted light-heavyweight

By Norm Frauenheim –

David Benavidez, who continues to search for an opponent for his second light-heavyweight fight, is interested in David Morrell amid confusing, often contradictory posts that quote him as saying he’ll fight Jesse Hart next.

The Boxing Hour confirmed a report early Thursday by Boxing Scene that Benavidez asked his management to send an offer to Morrell for a fight, perhaps in December. It’s not clear how Morrell will respond. The two exchanged some trash talk when both were still at super-middleweight.

Benavidez, who was still a mandatory challenger at 168 pounds and hopeful for a shot at champion Canelo Alvarez, ignored Morrell. Morrell accused Benavidez of ducking him. If that sounds familiar, it is. Benavidez has accused Canelo of ducking him for a couple of years.

But things have changed. Both Benavidez (29-0, 24 KOs) and Morrell (11-0, KOs) have moved up to light-heavy and each are coming off victories that left doubts about how they would do at 175 pounds. The 27-year-old Benavidez, troubled by hand injuries and a healing cut over one eye, scored a unanimous decision over former champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk June 15 in Las Vegas. Morrell, a 26-year-old Cuban living in Minneapolis, also won a unanimous decision in his light-heavy debut, beating Radivoje Kalajdzic August 3 in Los Angeles.

There was also talk throughout Thursday in media and reportedly from Benavidez himself that his next opponent would be Jesse Hart, a Philadelphia fighter and former super-middleweight challenger who has been at light-heavy since 2019. Hart, 35, is 3-1 at 175 pounds, losing a split decision to popular Joe Smith in January 2020.

As of Thursday, however, there was no announcement of a Benavidez-Hart or Benavidez-Morrell fight from PBC (Premier Boxing Champions), which represents Benavidez.

Benavidez posted on social media that he would be fighting Hart next instead of Morrell, who he did say would be a future opponent. Then, Benavidez deleted the post, but not before a couple of web sites quoted him as saying Hart, not Morrell, was next.

That’s when Hart responded on X, formerly Twitter, twice:

First, Hart posted: “I dont know nothing about fighting

david benavidez i haven’t spoken to anybody involving details about us fighting i dont know where yall getting this narrative”

Then, in response to somebody who posted the Hart-instead-of-Morrell scenario as if it were fact, Hart countered: “Fake news”

The Hart possibility has been rumored for a few weeks. If there were any talks, however, they didn’t go far. Sources have told The Boxing Hour that Hart wants more money than he has been offered for a fight with Benavidez, the World Boxing Council’s so-called mandatory challenger at light-heavy.

Presumably, that would put Benavidez in line to fight the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol winner. Beterbiev and Bivol fight for the undisputed light-heavy title in one of the division’s biggest bouts in history Oct. 12 in Saudi Arabia.

If Bivol wins, however, Canelo could get in the way of Benavidez’ pursuit of a light-heavyweight title. Canelo has mentioned Bivol repeatedly since his one-sided decision over Edgar Berlanga Sept. 14 at Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena. He has talked about avenging his scorecard loss to Bivol in May 2022. Beating Bivol, he says, would do more for his legacy than a big-money fight against ex-welterweight great and pound-for-pound claimant Terence Crawford, now at junior-middleweight.

Canelo gets whatever he wants. No fake news there. The WBC did not strip Canelo of its 168-pound belt when Benavidez was still it’s mandatory challenger at that weight. Instead, it gave Benavidez a so-called option. Really, he had no choice. He had to move to 175-pounds and beat Gvozdyk. Then, he was installed as the mandatory at the heavier weight. But it’s safe to assume the WBC will grant Canelo’s wish and find a way to give him a shot at another undisputed title if Bivol beats Beterbiev.

No matter what happens, Benavidez has to win his next one whether it’s against Hart, or Morrell, or Fill In The Blank Here. For now, at least, the date is not clear. A few weeks ago, it was thought Benavidez’ next fight would be in Los Angeles on Dec. 14 or Dec. 21. Now, however, there are conflicting dates.

On Dec. 14, popular Jaime Munguia, coming off a solid decision over Eric Bazinyan in Glendale AZ last Friday, is reportedly interested in fighting at home, Tijuana, and Golden Boy Promotion plans to stage a card featuring welterweight Alexis Rocha in Ontario, Calif.

On December 21, most of the boxing audience will be watching the live-stream of the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury heavyweight rematch in Saudi Arabia.

Benavidez might have to wait until early next year. There’s been talk of Vegas’ MGM Grand. There’s also talk that it’s time for him to return to Phoenix, his hometown and the heart of his fan base.

He hasn’t fought in his hometown since a third-round blowout of David Lemieux at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, a few miles of roadwork from where grew up on the streets of Phoenix.

Sanchez Moves Past Briceño in Lincoln

LINCOLN, CALIFORNIA – In a highly competitive affair, Alan Sanchez managed to edge out an eight-round majority decision over Salvador Briceño in a battle of two hard-nosed veteran warriors in the main event of a well-matched ten-bout card at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort on Saturday night.

Both Sanchez (24-6-1, 10 KOs) of Fairfield, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico and Briceño (18-9-1, 11 KOs) of Roseville, California also by way of Guadalajara entered the evening looking for a win after hard-fought decision defeats in their last bouts. Instead of taking on easy get-back opponents, the two Guadalajara-born and locally-based welterweights opted to take on one another with the hopes of jumping back into bigger opportunities with a victory.

After a feeling-out opening round, Briceño, 146, did well to control the action in round two behind his jab. Sanchez, 146.3, was a bit slower on the draw in the opening rounds, but stayed disciplined on his defense, which made it difficult for Briceño to land clean coming off of his left hand.

The action picked-up in round three, as Sanchez began to open up a bit more, but Briceño stuck with him, ready to counter. Both fighters had their moments in a high output round four. The Guadalajarans also began to show some bravado. Whenever their opponent would land something clean, the recipient would get out of range and then shake their head or hold their forearms out apathetically to signal no damage had been done.

Briceño was the busier fighter in rounds five and six, mostly with the jab, but with some well-timed right hands as well. Sanchez did not attempt as many punches, but landed a few eye-catching power shots that would end up swaying the judges.

Sanchez took control in the last quarter of the fight, having his best round to date in the seventh. Sanchez landed several power punches in the last minute that made it one of the easier rounds to score in the fight. Briceño packed his jab away in the eighth, which gave Sanchez free entry in close, where the Fairfield resident let his hands go, unlike early in the fight.

With his strong close to the bout, Sanchez wound up a majority decision winner, as judge Michael Margado’s 76-76 card was overruled. Judge Brian Tsukamoto scored the bout 77-75, while judge Kru Michael Rinaldi scored the fight a shutout for Sanchez, 80-72. With his victory over known tough out Briceño, Sanchez figures to be in line for a profitable opportunity.

In the co-main event, Blake McKernan (15-2, 8 KOs) of Sacramento, California continued his march on the comeback trail with a decisive fourth-round knockout of veteran Milton Nunez (40-34-1, 33 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of Barranquilla, Colombia.

McKernan, 200, who displayed the habit of shaking out his right hand throughout the bout, had little trouble finding the plodding Nunez, 204, who seemed satisfied to cover up and look for one home run shot at a time. McKernan was busier and found great success leading with right hand power punches.

Late in the third stanza, McKernan landed with a clean left hook that staggered Nunez and had the Colombian leaning on the ropes for much of the remaining time in the round. Early in the fourth, with referee Dan Stell already in close, McKernan landed a left to the body that brought Nunez’s hands down to protect. With the Colombian’s head open, McKernan landed a left upstairs that forced Nunez to a knee. With the trajectory of the bout clear, Stell opted to immediately wave off the bout, without any protest from Nunez. Official time was 1:00 of round four.

Unbeaten middleweight Victor Guerrero (8-0, 6 KOs) of Morgan Hill, California got off of the canvas early to drop and eventually halt veteran spoiler Moris Rodriguez (8-17-2, 5 KOs) of Sacramento in round four.

Guerrero, 160, did well to keep the much shorter Rodriguez, 160.3, at bay with his jab for much of the first round. However, Rodriguez did exploit an opening for a lead overhand right that appeared to momentarily bother the unbeaten fighter. Roughly ten seconds into the second round, Rodriguez targeted the same opening, landing a stiff left and an overhand right over Guerrero’s lowered left that dropped the prospect to the seat of his pants. Guerrero reached his knee and took a nine count before action resumed. Guerrero would hold on enough to clear his cobwebs and, despite taking some clean uppercuts and rights, would ultimately land well in the final seconds of the round.

After allowing Rodriguez in close during the second round, Guerrero found his distance again in the third and took over with his right hand. Rodriguez, fighting for only the second time since the pandemic, may have gassed out a bit going for the stoppage the previous round as well. Seconds into the fourth, Guerrero landed with a left that snapped Rodriguez’s head back and sent him to the ropes. With Rodriguez’s right glove hooked on the ropes, Guerrero unleashed with a flurry that eventually had the Sacramento resident holding on as the action moved around the ring. After a warning from referee Michael Margado, Guerrero clubbed Rodriguez to the mat for a knockdown. When action resumed, Rodriguez opted to trade with Guerrero, actually landing clean with a left, before a right uppercut staggered him along the ropes. Margado did not like what he saw from Rodriguez and called for the stoppage at 1:09 of the fourth round.

Ruben Torres (6-2-2, 1 KO) of Sacramento and William Davis (3-2-2, 1 KO) of Sacramento failed to settle bragging rights over their hometown, but did not fail to entertain the crowd on hand en route to a six-round majority draw.

Things got hot in round three, as Davis, 145, seemed to hurt Torres, 147, early before the tide turned late in the round. Most of the fight was an even back-and-forth. The southpaw Davis was at his best when he could get distance, fire and move. Torres, the constant pursuer, was most effective when he could cut the ring or force Davis along the ropes.

By the end of an exciting fight, Torres was bloodied but undeterred as both men fought until the final bell of round six. In the end, the scorecard of judge Brian Tsukamoto read 58-56 for Torres, but was overruled by the cards of judges Dan Stell and Kru Michael Rinaldi, who both had the fight even, 57-57.

Islam Abdusamadov (4-0, 3 KOs) of Santa Clara, California by way of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia scored a first-round knockdown and weathered some moments in the final act en route to a four-round unanimous decision over Andrew Buchanan (3-2-1, 2 KOs) of Hesperia, California.

Abdusamadov, 158, and Buchanan, 159, were open to trading leather from the opening bell. During the midst of an exchange about a minute into the fight, Abdusamadov connected with a left that snapped back Buchanan’s head and dropped him to his knees for a knockdown. Buchanan did well to get on his toes and box for the remainder of the round, clearing any cloudiness in the process.

Abdusamadov was mostly the hunter in rounds two, three and early in round four, while Buchanan remained in boxer mode. Things changed briefly about a minute into the fourth, when a short and clean right on the inside from Buchanan rocked Abdusamadov. Despite being implored by his corner, Buchanan did not really follow-up with urgency and Abusamadov was able to get back to being the pressure fighter in the bout.

Judges Brian Tsukamoto, Kru Michael Rinaldi and Dan Stell all scored the bout idenitically, 39-37 for Abdusamadov.

Jamaar Collins (2-0, 2 KOs) of Merced, California took little time in dispatching Cashton Young (3-3-1, 1 KO) of Encino, California by first-round stoppage. Collins, 220, dropped Young, 230, with a left in the midst of an exchange roughly half of a minute into the bout. Young managed to get up and tried to get through the round with his jab. Collins had other things in mind and hurt Young along the ropes. When the punches stopped coming back from Young, referee Dan Stell leaped in to call an end to the fight at 2:19 of round one.

In a competitive and entertaining bout, Brenda Hernandez Cardenas (2-0, 1 KO) of San Diego, California scored a four-round split decision over tough luck Maribel Guerrero (0-3) of Gilroy, California.

Many of the rounds were tough to score, especially with only the two minutes to differentiate between the two. Hernandez Cardenas, 116, may have sewn up round two with a head-snapping left near the bell, one of the more telling blows landed in the contest.

Guerrero, 118, was at her best when she could get distance, box and move. Even when backed to the ropes, Hernandez Cardenas did well in exchanges when Guerrero pressured her in close. In the end, judge Dan Stell scored the bout for Guerrero, 39-37, but was overruled by judges Brian Tsukamoto and Kru Michael Rinaldi, who both had the fight for Hernandez Cardenas, 40-36.

In a rough-and-tumble affair, Christian Avalos (3-1-2) of Carson City, Nevada used his superior technique to turn back the rugged Luciano Ramos (2-6) of Stockton, California by way of Buenos Aires, Argentina via four-round unanimous decision.

Ramos, 139, did well early to thwart the boxing style of Avalos, 138, while falling back on his MMA background for some inside roughness. Avalos settled down and began to box better from the outside in round two. By round three Avalos took over the bout.

Judges Michael Margado, Brian Tsukamoto and Kru Michael Rinaldi were all in agreement with a score of 39-37 for Avalos.

In an action-packed encounter, Alexander Espinoza (23-6-2, 8 KOs) of Sacramento by way of Managua, Nicaragua pounded out a six-round unanimous over tough-as-nails Diuhl Olguin (16-40-7, 10 KOs) of Oak Hills, California.

Espinoza, 128, just had more gears and facets than Olguin, 126, who has to be one of the better 40-loss fighters of recent times. Olguin kept the pressure, despite getting rocked on a couple of occasions during the bout.

Judge Kru Michael Rinaldi scored the bout 60-54, while judges Brian Tsukamoto and Michael Margado both had the fight 59-55, all for Espinoza.

Over two fights and eight rounds, Mario Hernandez (2-1-1) of Sparks, Nevada and Marco Ortiz (1-3, 1 KO) of Red Bluff, California have provided fans in the Sacramento area with non-stop action. For the second time in two fights, it was Hernandez that was declared the victor in the end.

Hernandez, 175, and Ortiz, 173 ½, each stood their ground and traded throughout the twelve minutes in which they shared the ring on Saturday night. Each had their moments, but Hernandez landed the most eye-catching and head-snapping shots when all totaled.

All three judges scored the bout 40-36 for Hernandez. In August of last year, Hernandez scored a four-round unanimous decision over Ortiz in an exciting fight in Sacramento.

Saturday’s event was the first boxing card held at the new Venue at Thunder Valley. Promoter Nasser Niavaroni of Upper Cut Promotions aims to bring boxing back to the venue early next year.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

Briceño and Sanchez Meet at the Crossroads on Saturday

By Mario Ortega Jr.

ROSEVILLE, CALIFORNIA – Last week in Las Vegas, Nevada, the fighting pride of Guadalajara, and the most known boxer in all of the world, Canelo Alvarez thrilled all of his supporters, from Mexico and elsewhere, with a dominant performance on the biggest stage in the sport. Tomorrow night, two more of Guadalajara’s fighting sons will battle it out against one another when Salvador Briceño meets Alan Sanchez in the eight-round welterweight main event at the Thunder Valley Casino Resort in Lincoln, California. Their bout headlines a ten-bout card, dubbed “Thunder Showdown,” the first boxing event held at the new Venue at Thunder Valley. Fighters weighed-in Friday morning at Kickboxing, Inc. in nearby Roseville.

Briceño (18-8-1, 11 KOs) of Sacramento, California by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico has fought a long list of contenders and prospects on even terms, but is still looking for that one landmark victory that could catapult him into a marquee fight. Briceño is looking to rebound from a six-round decision defeat in April to comebacking Jonathan Garcia. Briceño got off of the deck in a thrilling slugfest on that night in Oroville, California, but the loss adds importance to securing a victory over Sanchez on Saturday.

Sanchez (23-6-1, 10 KOs) of Fairfield, California also by way of Guadalajara fought his way to the main stage back in 2013, coming up short against former world champion Luis Collazo. Sanchez saw a three-fight win streak snapped in his last bout, a closely-contested eight-round unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Louie Lopez on the July undercard of Nate Diaz-Jorge Masvidal in Carson, California.

Not that Briceño nor Sanchez have ever needed any extra incentive to put on a show for attending fans, given the fact they are both fighting near their adopted hometowns and the stages they are in their careers, the two Mexican warriors figure to lay it all on the line tomorrow night in what should be a memorable eight rounds or less. Briceño weighed-in at 146-pounds, while Sanchez scaled 146.3 on Friday.

In the co-main event, cruiserweight contender Blake McKernan makes a quick return to the ring against Colombian veteran Milton Nunez in a six-round bout.

McKernan (14-2, 7 KOs) of Sacramento, California ended a long layoff on August 3rd with a physician stoppage over Jasper McCargo. McKernan had been out of the ring due to multiple shoulder surgeries and a bout with severe sepsis, which caused organ dysfunction.

Nunez (40-33-1, 33 KOs) of Miami, Florida by way of Barranquilla, Colombia will be fighting for the fourth time this year, coming off of a eight-round unanimous decision over Eduardo Flores on July 27th. McKernan scaled 200-pounds, while the late arriving Nunez made 204-pounds.

Alexander Espinoza (22-6-2, 8 KOs) of Sacramento by way of Managua, Nicaragua will take on tough-as-nails journeyman Diuhl Olguin (16-39-7, 10 KOs) of Oak Hills, California by way of Guadalajara in a six-round featherweight bout. Espinoza made 128-pounds, while Olguin scaled-in at 126.

Undefeated middleweight prospect Victor Guerrero (7-0, 5 KOs) of Morgan Hill, California will move up to the six-round distance against the most experienced opponent of his young career in Moris Rodriguez (8-16-2, 5 KOs) of Sacramento, California.

Guerrero, nephew of former world champion Robert Guerrero and son of former pro Victor Guerrero Sr., made his U.S. debut with a four-round unanimous decision over Matthew Monroe back in January. Guerrero made 160-pounds even.

Rodriguez, who turned pro back in May of 2009 when Guerrero was just a few years into attending grade school, has been known to spring an upset on occasion against well-regarded prospects and rarely gets this much notice ahead of his fights. Rodriguez came in at 160.3-pounds.

Ruben Torres (6-2-1, 1 KO) of Sacramento will take on William Davis (3-2-1, 1 KO) of Sacramento in an intriguing six-round welterweight bout. Torres last was in the ring in July, edging out a close six-round decision over tough Xavier Madrid in Modesto, California. Davis notched a decisive four-round decision over Miguel Soto-Garcia in Sacramento in August. Torres scaled 147-pounds, while Davis was 145 on Friday.

Islam Abdusamadov (3-0, 2 KOs) of Santa Clara, California by way of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia steps up his competition against Andrew Buchanan (3-1-1, 2 KOs) of Hesperia, California in a four-round middleweight bout.

Abdusamadov, who came in at 158-pounds, is coming off of his most dominant victory, a first-round stoppage of normally durable Matthew Monroe just last month.

Buchanan, weighing-in at 159-pounds, has already been the six-round distance twice in his young pro career. Only prospect George Liddard has been able to get one over the Hesperia resident, which came in the form of a six-round unanimous decision.

Maribel Guerrero (0-2) of the famed fighting Guerrero family out of Gilroy, California, will take on unbeaten Brenda Hernandez Cardenas (1-0, 1 KO) of San Diego, California in a four-round bantamweight bout.

Guerrero has taken on tough competition early in her career. In her last bout, Guerrero and unbeaten Iris Contreras put on a show back in April. After four rounds, Contreras had edged out the fight on the cards. Guerrero weighed-in at 118-pounds on Friday.

Hernandez Cardenas turned pro back in May after an amateur career that included some national tournament experience. Hernandez Cardenas, who scaled 116-pounds on Friday, scored a first-round stoppage over Jazmin Contreras in just over a minute into her debut.

In a light heavyweight rematch, Mario Hernandez (1-1-1) of Sparks, Nevada will aim to make it two-for-two against Marco Ortiz (1-2, 1 KO) of Red Bluff, California in a four-rounder.

In August of last year, Hernandez scored a four-round unanimous decision over Ortiz in an exciting fight in Sacramento. Ortiz has fought only one other opponent in his three pro fights thus far, but hopes a trend will continue on Saturday. Ortiz was last seen avenging his other defeat by way of knockout over Matthew Monroe in April.

Hernandez, who made 175-pounds on Friday, is coming off of a four-round unanimous draw with undefeated Jaime Cerna last November. Ortiz, the shorter man again, made 173 ½-pounds.

All-action lightweight Christian Avalos (2-1-2) of Carson City, Nevada returns to Northern California to take on rugged Luciano Ramos (2-5) of Stockton, California by way of Buenos Aires, Argentina in a four-round light welterweight bout.

Avalos moved up to the six-round distance in his last fight, getting the nod over Pedro Angel Cruz in an entertaining back-and-forth slugfest by unanimous decision in Oroville, California this past April. Avalos scaled-in at 138-pounds on Friday.

Ramos, also a veteran of 20 MMA bouts, trains out of the Nick Diaz Academy in Stockton. Ramos and Avalos have one common opponent, Mark Salgado. Ramos defeated Salgado by split decision in January 2022. Avalos fought Salgado twice and both memorable bouts ended in draws in May and August of 2023. Ramos made 139-pounds on Friday.

Jamaar Collins (1-0, 1 KO) of Merced, California will take on Cashton Young (3-2-1, 1 KO) of Encino, in a four-round heavyweight bout. Collins turned professional with a quick first-round kayo of Herman Hodnett in Sacramento in August. Young has fought once since 2018, a four-round decision win in January of 2003 that was later changed to a no contest. The solid Collins came in at 220-pounds, while Young was ten pounds heavier at 230.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

Welterweights, 8 Rounds

Briceño 146

Sanchez 146.3

Cruiserweights, 6 Rounds

McKernan 200

Nunez 204

Featherweights, 6 Rounds

Espinoza 128

Olguin 126

Middleweights, 6 Rounds

Guerrero 160

Rodriguez 160.3

Welterweights, 6 Rounds

Torres 147

Davis 145

Middleweights, 4 Rounds

Abdusamadov 158

Buchanan 159

Bantamweights, 4 Rounds

Guerrero 118

Cardenas Hernandez 116

Light heavyweights, 4 Rounds

Hernandez 175

Ortiz 173 1/2

Light welterweights, 4 Rounds

Avalos 138

Ramos 139

Heavyweights, 4 Rounds

Collins 220

Young 230

Tickets for the event, promoted by Upper Cut Promotions, are available online at uppercutpro.com

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com

The rise in rank of “El General”

By David Galaviz

Glendale, AZ…… Emiliano Vargas step back in to the desert diamond arena where is now becoming his home away from home. Come Friday night it will be his forth time fighting in the arena, each time he gave the fans what they came to see. When asked back in February of 2023 how many times he would like to fight in that year he stated 4/5 times and he kept that promise.

El General faces off against Irishmen Larry Fryers13-6-1 (5kos) who he described like fighting a Mexican fighter with that come forward fighting style, during Wednesdays press conference. Fryers has been one of the most out spoken opponents Emiliano has faced, Larry went on record saying he is going to knock him out in 5 rounds. However Vargas responded by saying its easy saying those prediction, in the ring it another thing and plans to show him that he has been waking up early, running the miles, learning in the gym. When asked by reporters what keeps his fire burning; his father, “my father keeps me humble”. Just like his father (Fernando Vargas) Emiliano looks to become a multiple world champion. Vargas has what it takes to be a great fighter the skill, dedication, and the fans who all love him. Be sure to catch his fight on ESPN+ or live in person at Desert Diamond Arena Friday

Roof To Canvas: Joey Dawejko poised to test unbeaten Richard Torrez Jr.

By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, Ariz — Roofs came at a lot of angles. Joey Dawejko has walked them all and never fallen off one.

“I’ve got pretty good balance,’’ said Dawejko, a roofer when he’s not a heavyweight.

It’s the well-balanced heavyweight who will test another well-balanced prospect, Richard Torrez Jr., Saturday night in an entertaining co-main event on a Top Rank, ESPN-televised card featuring super-middleweights Jaime Munguia-Erik Bazinyan at Desert Diamond Arena.

Dawejko (28-11-4, 16 KOs) figures to be a pretty good test of Torrez’ credentials, including a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and a perfect record (10-0, 10 KOs).

“He’s a great prospect, silver medalist and all’’ said Dawejko, who was 244.1 pounds Thursday at the official weigh-in on the Desert Diamond Arena floor. “I think it’s the right time in our careers for this fight. Obviously, Top Rank called me to test this guy. Taking this fight was easy for me, because I’ve been in there and am used to different styles.

“I’m ready to show him how the pros work.’’

From roof to canvas, Dawejko, who appeals to the blue-collar in all boxing fans, has the kind of broad experience that is also there in Torrez. Torrez, of Tulare Calif, continues to take dancing classes.

“For my footwork,’’ he said.

Now, he’s added to the course load.

“Tennis lessons,’’ said Torrez, who was at 232.6 pounds Thursday. “Moving around to get a shot at the tennis ball forces you to do even more footwork.’’

Dawejko has learned most of his footwork on roofs. Flat roofs, pitched roofs. He’s walked them all as the owner of his own roofing company in hometown Philadelphia. He’s named it after his ring name. He’ll go back to it, Tank’s Knockout Roofing, after the fight.

“I’ve focused on training through this whole camp,’’ said Dawejko, who wears a tank logo on his T-shirts and caps.

Torrez expects a great fight.

“A really cool battle,’’ he said. “I don’t think we’re going to take back steps too much.’’

Brass Band: Munguia gets a noisy introduction to a new stage in his career

By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Jaime Munguia, a quiet man in a noisy business, brought a brass band with him.

It marched onto stage, drums banging and horns blaring at an otherwise predictable weigh-in Thursday, about 24 hours before a comeback from his lone loss Friday night against Erik Bazinyan Friday in an ESPN-televised bout at Desert Diamond Arena.

It wasn’t exactly an orchestra. Easy listening, it wasn’t. But there are no violins in boxing. Just a few fiddles, tarnished trombones and cymbals that sound like crashing trash-can lids. They were all there, introducing Munguia before he stepped on the scale and then off at 167.7 pounds, just under the super-middleweight limit.

It wasn’t exactly pretty.

But it was impossible to ignore.

That’s the idea.

Munguia, post-Canelo, is embarking on a new stage of his career, one that begins with hopes that have always been there despite an expected, yet some what sobering scorecard loss last May. Nobody thought Munguia would beat Canelo Alvarez.

But it was impossible to say no to the opportunity and money. Sure enough, he lost. But the defeat might prove to be a valuable lesson plan for a fighter projected to be among the elite within a few years. He’s 27-years-old, at the doorstep of his prime.

“I feel strong, better than ever,’’ Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) said amid the band’s clanging echoes as it exited the arena.

The plan is for Munguia to deliver an opening statement on what he hopes to accomplish. Bazinyan (32-01, 23 KOs), an Armenian-born fighter living in Montreal, is unknown to most fans in Mexico and the United States. But he represents a significant test of Munguia and his aspirations. A decisive win could put an end to any doubts about how Munguia would emerge from the Canelo loss.

In tone, at least, Munguia, who has one-fight deal with Top Rank, has begun to sound more decisive. There were whispered questions about his maturity before the Canelo fight. At times, it sounded as if he was just happy to be there. Earlier this week, however, Munguia left little doubt about what he thought of Canelo’s assertion that he had carried Munguia. Canelo told media before his scorecard victory over Edgar Berlanga last Saturday that he didn’t knock out Munguia because he didn’t want to embarrass his fellow Mexican.

For the first time in an interview with Boxing Scene and The Boxing Hour last Tuesday, Munguia responded clearly and forcefully. He respects Canelo. But, Munguia said, he found Canelo’s “carried” claim to be “disrespectful.’’

It was a comment that some saw as a sure sign that Munguia is maturing, moving on and into his prime as his own man. Now, it’s time for him to follow-up against Bazinyan, who is ranked among the world’s top 10 super-middleweights by virtually every acronym and boxing publication.

If Munguia is fighting to introduce himself to another stage of his career, Bazinyan is battling to introduce himself to fans beyond Canada.

“I’m here to win,’’ he said after weighing at 169.9 pounds.

It’s hard to know what to make of Bazinyan’s record. His most noteworthy win is a stoppage of Ronald Ellis. He knocked him out in the sixth round with successive rights in October 2023. Ellis also got stopped by David Benavidez, who blew him out in the 11th round in March 2021. Christian M’billi scored a decision over Ellis in December of 2021. Benavidez is now at light-heavyweight after vacating a so-called mandatory challenger’s spot at super-middleweight. Then, M’billi moved into the spot that Benavidez vacated.

Bazinyan’s stoppage of Ellis suggest he’s a threat. But his most recent fight, a draw with somebody named Shakeel Phinn in May, suggests he’s not.

“He’s a good fighter,’’ said Munguia, who has been reunited with Hall of Famer Erik Morales as his trainer after two fights with Freddie Roach. “He switches up, he’s got power. I’ve got to be ready. We’re prepared. We have a lot of thing coming. But, first we have this big fight here. We have to win this to move forward.’’

Munguia calls Canelo “disrespectful”

By Norm Frauenheim

PHOENIX — Jaime Munguia, quiet and polite, respects Canelo Alvarez.

But he doesn’t respect what Canelo said last week.

In interviews throughout the week before Canelo’s one-sided decision over Edgar Berlanga, Canelo said he carried Munguia last May in their super-middleweight fight last May.

“Truth is, I found it disrespectful,” Munguia told Boxing Scene and The Boxing Hour through a translator after he appeared at a west Phoenix gym, not far from Glendale where he’ll fight Canada Erik Bazinyan Friday night at Desert Diamond Arena in a super-middleweight fight televised by ESPN.

Canelo said he did not knock out Munguia because he didn’t want to embarrass the 27-year-old fellow Mexican, who got up from a fourth-round knockdown. When first asked about Canelo’s claim, Munguia simply said that he didn’t believe it.

“It was a good fight,” Munguia said during a media appearance at the Top Rank gym last Friday. “It was a close fight. That what I think.”

After calling Canelo’s public assertion disrespectful, Munguia pointed out that Canelo didn’t knock out Berlanga, either. Canelo had promised that he would stop Berlanga within eight rounds.

Munguia, who is returning to Arizona after his January stoppage of John Ryder in downtown Phoenix at the Footprint Center, said he watched the pay-per-view telecast of Canelo’s scorecard victory over Berlanga at T-Mobile Arena. He complemented Canelo’s performance, saying he fought “an intelligent” fight.

“It was good for the fans.” Munguia. said.

Munguia also said he outperformed Berlnanga.

“I outperformed him in several way,” Munguia said.”It threw more punches, I was closer on the scorecards.”

Munguia goes into the fight against Bazinyan reunited with trainer Erick Morales, who spent most of last year running for political office.Moraes, of Tijuana, won a stea in what is the Mexican Congress..

Morales is also skeptical of Canelo claim.

“I don’t believe it,” he said.

Press Conference Notes: Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan Set for Super Middleweight Showdown in Arizona

GLENDALE, Ariz. (Sept. 18, 2024) — Jaime Munguia wants another shot at becoming a two-division world champion, but first, he’ll have to get past an unbeaten puncher.

Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs) will face Erik Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs) in the 12-round main event Friday evening at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.

After his January stoppage victory over British veteran John Ryder at Footprint Center, Munguia will return to the Phoenix area. In May, he made an unsuccessful bid for the undisputed crown against countryman Canelo Alvarez.In the eight-round heavyweight co-feature, Olympic silver medal standout Richard Torrez Jr. (10-0, 10 KOs) will fight Philadelphia-born veteran Joey Dawejko (28-11-4, 16 KOs).

Junior welterweight prospect Emiliano Fernando Vargas (11-0, 9 KOs) will open the three-fight ESPN broadcast in an eight-rounder versus upset-minded Irishman Larry Fryers (13-6-1, 5 KOs)

Munguia-Bazinyan, Torrez-Dawejko, and Vargas-Fryers will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes, and ESPN+ at 10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT.

The ESPN+-streamed undercard begins at 6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT and includes a 10-round junior lightweight clash between unbeaten Filipino Charly Suarez (17-0, 9 KOs) and Texas-born puncher Jorge Castañeda (17-3, 13 KOs).

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Eye of the Tiger, Zanfer Promotions, and Golden Boy Promotions, tickets are on sale now via Ticketmaster.com.

This is what the fighters had to say at Wednesday’s press conference.

Jaime Munguia

“I’m very excited to return on this important, patriotic month for my country. It’s an honor to have my first fight with Top Rank.”

“I’m excited to be once again working with my old team. I’m excited to be back in Big Bear. It’s been a great preparation. It’s been one of the best preparations of my career, and we’re going to have a great fight.”

“We have had a tough time since last year. We’ve had great fights against great fighters. We’ve been on great stages as well. That has helped us to get a lot of confidence. We learn more with each camp and will apply all the experience we have learned.”

“It’s a very important fight. He’s an aggressive fighter who gives a great show to the people. I know it’s going to be a tough fight, but I’m going to walk away with my hand raised.”

Erik Bazinyan

“I’ve been in against top fighters for the past few years. I’ve fought and beaten anyone that my team has brought to me. This is a great opportunity. And I’m here to win.”

“We are very well prepared. We have a great game plan and had a great training camp with Marc {Ramsay}. We have done everything possible to win.”

“It’s the right time for this fight. I have been ready for the past couple of years. When I get an opportunity like this, I take it. So, it’s time to let the world know who I am.”

Richard Torrez Jr.

“It’s hard to say I haven’t recognized {the knockout streak}, but it’s not something that I search for. Growing up in the amateurs and pros now, I’ve really noticed that the more you look for it, the less likely it is to come.”

“I think fireworks happen. I’m really excited for Friday night because I think he’s going to come to fight. He’s ready to show out for the crowd and likewise for me. I think it’s going to be a really cool battle. I don’t think we’re going to take steps back too much. I’m excited to put on a show for Arizona.”

Joey Dawejko

“It feels great. It’s amazing. I fought on Top Rank cards a few times. I’m happy to be back now, especially since I’ve been training and doing what I’m supposed to do.”

“He’s a great prospect, silver medalist in the Olympics. I think it’s the right time in both of our careers for this fight. Obviously, they called me to test this guy. Taking this fight was easy for me because I’ve been in there with everybody and am used to different styles. I’m ready to show him how the pros work.”

“I’ve focused on training this whole training camp. My roofing business took a back seat, so I could focus on what I have to.”

Emiliano Fernando Vargas

“I know Larry Fryers is coming to fight. He’s a fighter. He’s fighting for his dreams as well, the same way I am. Come Friday, I’m looking to put on a show. I’ve had some of my best performances here in Glendale, Arizona. I’m looking to continue to do the same thing and show the world that ‘El General’ is here to stay.”

“Every fighter brings out a different side of me. He’s a hard-hitting fighter. He comes forward. He’s strong. He’s an Irish fighter. They come forward like Mexicans. So, he’s going to give his all, I’m going to give my all, and it’s going to be a great fight show for all the beautiful fans.”

“This is the beautiful thing about boxing. It doesn’t lie. When you step into the ring, at the end of the day, it’s going to show if you did your miles, if you did your sparring. Everything shows at the end of the day. I may look like a pretty face, but at the end of the day, I’m a fighter.”

Larry Fryers

“This kid is a special talent. My job is to see if he is the real deal. Look, I’m here, determined, and ready to, unfortunately, wreck his dreams to make mine possible. That’s what is going to happen on Friday night.”

“Emiliano, he’s got talent, he’s got skill. He’s got everything he needs to get to the top. But he’s never had someone like me face him. Come Friday night, I’m going to bring him into deep waters. We’re going to see if he can swim or not.

“He’s a fighter in his own right. Like I’m hoping, on Friday night, me and him are going to do a blood-and-guts war, and we’re going to bring out the best in each other.”

Friday, Sept. 20

ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+ (10:30 p.m. ET/7:30 p.m. PT)

Jaime Munguia vs. Erik Bazinyan, 12 rounds, super middleweight

Richard Torrez Jr. vs. Joey Dawejko, 8 rounds, heavyweight

Emiliano Fernando Vargas vs. Larry Fryers, 8 rounds, junior welterweight

ESPN+ (6:15 p.m. ET/3:15 p.m. PT)

Charly Suarez vs. Jorge Castañeda, 10 rounds, Vacant WBO International junior lightweight title

Alan Garcia vs. Ricardo Fernandez, 8 rounds, junior welterweight

DJ Zamora vs. Gerardo Antonio Perez, 8 rounds, junior lightweight

Steven Navarro vs. Oscar Arroyo, 6 rounds, junior bantamweight

Jorge Garcia Perez vs. Ilias Essaoudi, 10 rounds, junior middleweight

Sebastian Hernandez vs. Yonfrez Parejo, 8 rounds, junior featherweight

Dalton Smith Knocks Out Ouizza in 1st

Things No Longer Cordial Between Pacheco and Nelson Ahead of Saturday

Naoya Inoue: On the road and in search of more of himself

Benavidez-Morrell: David-versus-David, a stage setter in a February twin bill

More Questions: Teofimo Lopez’ latest move hard to figure

Good, Bad and the Stupid: A look back and a hopeful look ahead

Oleksandr Usyk: A warrior fighting with a purpose bigger than himself

Usyk2Fury: Repeat or rewrite?

Jaime Munguia makes plans for a New Year by staying busy

Next Up? Rafael Espinoza fighting for possible shot a Valdez-Navarrete winner

Black Hat: Navarrete ready to prove it still fits

Oscar Valdez in a tough fight to turn a rematch into a rivalry

AUDIO: COUNTRY BOX 26: Chris Howard emotional Interview ahead of fight with Ryan Schwartzberg

Benavidez-Morrell: Something real after the carnival

Tyson-Paul: Netflix is the sure winner in an exhibition full of fears for Tyson

Two Kings: Boots and Bam, a bet on the future

New Deal: Boxing hopes for one as Bam Rodriguez embarks on another chapter

Vazquez Decisions Gonzalez in U.S. Debut

Vazquez Set for Clash with Gonzalez in Modesto

Usyk-Fury 2: Fury promises nothing drastic, just more focus

Introducing Pedro Juarez

Common Sense? There is none in acronym’s threat to strip Beterbiev

Flores Decisions Contreras Before Hometown Crowd

Flores Back in Action in Stockton

Artur Beterbiev lets his perfect record speak for itself

Jessie James Guerrero: New Motivation and Even More Determination

Only one way for Haney to fight the court of public opinion

David Benavidez: Talk swirls about who’s next for the newly-minted light-heavyweight

Sanchez Moves Past Briceño in Lincoln

Briceño and Sanchez Meet at the Crossroads on Saturday

The rise in rank of “El General”

Roof To Canvas: Joey Dawejko poised to test unbeaten Richard Torrez Jr.

Brass Band: Munguia gets a noisy introduction to a new stage in his career

Munguia calls Canelo “disrespectful”

Press Conference Notes: Jaime Munguia and Erik Bazinyan Set for Super Middleweight Showdown in Arizona