By Norm Frauenheim

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Sunny Edwards owned the news conferences.

Jesse Rodriguez owned the ring.

Rodriguez turned that ring into his own bully pulpit, punishing Edwards and then dropping him with a left hand that landed like his nickname, Bam, in the final moments of the ninth round Saturday night at Desert Diamond Arena.

In the final second of the ninth, Rodriguez got the last word after a long week full of unfounded accusations. He called Rodriguez a drug cheat. He called him weird.

In the end, he could only call him champ. Edwards, whose corner threw in the towel at 2:59 of the ninth, lost for the first time and lost his International Boxing Federation flyweight title.

Rodriguez (19-0, 15 KOs) added the belt to his collection, including the World Boxing Organization’s version of the 112-pound crown.

At the moment that Edwards’ corner tossed in the towel, Rodriguez fell to his knees and onto his chest. He looked relieved. 

Maybe, that’s because he won’t have to listen anymore to Edwards (20-1, 4 KOs), a little guy with heavyweight Tyson Fury’s big mouth.

The two, Sunny and Bam, embraced in the middle of the ring after it was all over. Sunny promised he’d be back. Bam promised that he was moving back up the scale, in pursuit of the super-fly title he vacated.

It was no coincidence that super-fly (115 pounds) champ Juan Francisco Estrada was in the crowd. It was also no coincidence that Hall of Fame junior flyweight Michel Carbajal was there, too.

Rodriguez showed why he is perhaps the best American in boxing’s lightest weights since Carbajal’s era through the 1990s.

Rodriguez kept his poise early and then slowly began to control the pace and the ring.

A key round was the fifth. That’s when Rodriguez grabbed the momentum At the end of the round, he rocked Edwards onto his heels with a big overhand punch. It was asign of things to come.

In the sixth, Bam opened up a cut under Sunny’s left eye. He drove him into the ropes. Then, he raised both hands over his head, as if to mock Sunny.

The mocking continued. Seconds later, the fighters drifted back toward the center the ring. That’s when Bam stuck his tongue out at Edwards. Edwards, suddenly no longer so Sunny, seemed to respond in anger. He went straight at Rodriguez, a bullish assault from a fighter known for working off his back foot.

It was as if he had forgotten who he was and how he fought.Rodriguez made him forget, mostly because the San Antonio fighter always remembered how to apply the fundamentals that are transforming him into a pound-for-pound contender. 

Murodjon Akhmadaliev restores confidence with solid TKO

Murodjon Akhmadaliev knocked out the doubt.

Knocked out Kevin Gonzalez too.

Akhmadaliev came off an emotionally crushing loss, scoring an eighth-round stoppage  in a junior-featherweight fight that restored his confidence and, he hopes, puts him back in line for a shot at pound-for-pound contender Naoya Inoue.

Akhmadaliev (12-1, 9 KOs)lost a debatable split decision to Marlon Tapales in April. Tapales used that victory to secure a date against Inoue on Dec. 26 in Japan. For weeks, Akhmadaliev wondered: It could have been me.

Saturday night, he quit agonizing and resumed fighting, knocking down the rugged Gonzalez (20-1-1, 13 KOs) four times — twice in the sixth round and twice in the eight —  for a solid TKO victory at 2:49 of the eighth in the final fight before the Sunny Edwards-Bam Rodriguez main event at Desert Diamond Arena.

“It’s been a long road back,” the Uzbekistani said. “I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder.”

The chip is gone. A bright future is back.

Galal Yafai wins unanimous decision

-He has an Olympic gold medal, an unbeaten record and a lot of work still to do.

Galal Yafai (6-0, 4 KOs), the 2020 Olympic flyweight champion from the UK. Yafai scored a business-like decision over Rocco Santomauro (22-3, 6 KOs) Saturday night on the DAZN portion of the Sunny Edwards-Bam Rodriguez card at Desert Diamond Arena.

Yafai was never in danger of losing. The 99-91, 98-93, 97-93 scorecards, all in his favor, reflect that. He left Santomauro, a Califorina flyweight,  badly bloodied over one eye. But he didn’t do much to convince anyone in the crowd that he’ll be a major flyweight title anytime soon. 

They applauded the victory, then booed him for a dull performance.

Boom, DAZN lives-stream opens with a huge KO

One punch from Ja’Rico O’Quinn kicked DAZN’s live-stream into high-gear.

It happened suddenly.

It landed like an unseen bolt.

Peter McGrail was down, unconscious seemingly before he knew what hit him.

O’Quinn, of Detroit, was losing on the scorecards through the first four rounds Saturday on the first DAZN-streamed fight on a card featuring Sunny Edwards-Bam Rodriguez. McGrail controlled the pace and the punches. 

Then — boom, O’Quinn (8-1, 5 KOs) threw a counter-right that landed like a missile onto the side of McGrail’s face, sending the Brit  (17-1-1, 9 KOs) crashing to the canvas and under the lowest rope late in the fifth round. 

HIs cornermen, ringside physician, and paramedics rushed to help. For a few  scary moments, he simply laid on his  back. Then he was helped, first onto a stool and then to his feet..

“I knew they wouldn’t give me a decision,” O’Quinn said. “He was boxing well. But I seen him try to throw a right to the body. That’s when I countered and — boom — that’s all she wrote

Boom, indeed.

Prospect Arturo Cardenas wins 4th-round TKO

Arturo Cardenas, a Robert Garcia-trained super-bantamweight from Mexico, continued to combine power, precision and poise in his journey from prospect to contender Saturday in a thorough beat down of Carlos Mujica, a Las Vegas fighter who never had much of a chance.

From head-to-body, Cardenas (2-0-1, 8 KOs) landed punches from all angles, leaving Mujica (8-4, 2 KOs) defenseless and finally beaten, a TKO loser at 1:24 of the fourth round in the fourth fight on the Sunny Edward-Bam Rodriguez card. at Desert

 Diamond Arena  

Bostan wins, fans boo in hostile brawl

They exchanged profanities. Then, their respective camps brawled.

Turns out, the hostility at a news conference was real.

Junaid Bostan and Gordie Russ II don’t like each other.

Proof was delivered in a messy, junior-middleweight fight Saturday at Desert Diamond Arena on the Sunny Edwards-Bam Rodriguez undercard. They fought, they brawled, Russ (6-1, 6 KOs) hurt Bostan (8-0, 6 KOs) in the third, Bostan recovered and furt Russ in the seventh and again in the eighth.

Bostan, of the UK, won. The eight-round decision was probably closer than the three scorecards, 79-73. But Bostan’s unanimous decision didn;t settle anything. He stretched out a gloved hand, an offer of congratulations with a fist bump. But Ross, of Detroit, turned his back and walked out of the ring.

He might have been angry at the scoring. Some in the small crowd. They booed, and Bostan encouraged them too while standing at ringside for an interview.

“Go ahead, boo, go ahead,” he said, looking at the unhappy customers.

By then Russ was long gone. 

Albert Gonzalez chops down Molina

That’s exactly what California featherweight Albert Gonzalez (7-0, 3 KOs) did, chopping down Mexican Albert Molina (9-3-1, 5 KOs), who collapsed onto the canvas in evident pain after sustaining a lethally precise body shot late in the second round of the second fight Saturday on a card featuring Jesse Rodriguez-Sunny Edwards at Desert Diamond Arena.

Molina, who rolled around the canvas for several seconds after the punishing shot from the Robert Garcia-trained Gonzalez, got up. But he was finished, a TKO loser at 2:24 of the second.

First Bell: Joe McGrail scores second-round TKO

A card stacked with UK fighters began with a British accent.

Joe McGrail, a featherweight from Liverpool, wasted little time, quickly flashing all of the reasons he’s a prospect with a second round TKO of Carlos Ortiz Jr. Saturday in the opener to a card featuring flyweights Jesse Bam Rodriguez and Sunny Edwards at Desert Diamond Arena.

McGrail (8-0, 4 KOs) dropped the overmatched Ortiz (8-5-2, 4 KOs), of Phoenix, twice in the first round and twice in the second, finishing him with a left hook at 2:40 of the second. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, Ariz. – There were no surprises on the scale. Off-the-scale, there weren’t many either.

On the scale, at least, Sunny Edwards and Jesse Bam Rodriguez were identical, 111.6 pounds each, Friday morning at the official weigh-in conducted by the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission.

They repeated that weigh-in in a staged version later in the day at Desert Diamond Arena just a few feet away from where the ring awaited them for Saturday night’s DAZN-streamed flyweight-title unification fight.

It was on that stage that the dramatic differences between them became evident. The left-handed Rodriguez (18-0, 14 KOs) had little to say. The right-handed Edwards (20-0, 4 KOs) had plenty to say.

Edwards is sometimes called the UK’s pound-for-pound best. You might get an argument from heavyweight champion Tyson Fury about that.

Place Edwards next to Fury, and it might be hard to find the flyweight. Fury was 268.8 pounds for his last fight. Even by heavyweight standards, Fury is mammoth, more than two times bigger than Edwards, the International Boxing Federation’s 112-pound champion

But Edwards’ mouth is just as big.

It continued to roar, Fury-like, at what promoters called a ceremonial weigh-in. After he stepped off the scale, he continued to call Rodriguez a cheater.

The drug-cheat theme started on social media a few days ago. It continued Thursday during a news conference when he called Rodriguez a cheat because of his relationship with SNAC and sports-nutritionist Victor Conte.

Friday, Edwards weighed in by pointing to the inside of each of his arms.

“Clean veins, clean veins,’’ he said.

By now, no interpretation of the body language was necessary.

Then, he grabbed the microphone and offered his own narrative of what had transpired in the moments leading up to the staged weigh-in. He said that Rodriguez had kept him waiting.

“Bam was still getting the needle outta his arm,’’ Edwards said.

Then, he promptly – and appropriately – dropped — the mike just as Rodriguez and his corner exited the stage, shaking their heads in dismay and perhaps anger.

The tension is there — nothing ceremonial about it — and it’s building for a contentious fight on the DAZN card (5 pm PT/8 pm ET/ 1 am UK).  

Edwards offers no real evidence to support his allegations. Promoter Eddie Hearn, Scott Fletcher of the Arizona Commission and Conte have all told 15 Rounds that both fighters have been undergoing anti-doping tests.

Edwards said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was tested by VADA Friday. Still, he continues his trash-talk campaign, which is seemingly intended to distract Rodriguez, the World Boxing Organization’s flyweight champion.

If it’s working, it’s not evident. Rodriguez, a quiet fighter from San Antonio, stayed composed in the face of Edwards’ latest rhetorical assault Friday.

“Mentally and emotionally, I’m as ready as I’ve ever been for any fight,’’ he said.

The favored Rodriguez, who plans to jump back up to super-fly (115 pounds) after Saturday, acknowledges that Edwards represents a challenge. The UK fighter is elusive. He’s often best when fighting off his back foot.

There’s no argument about Edwards’ ring style. It poses problems, both for Rodriguez and perhaps a crowd expected to be predominantly Mexican-American.

Can Edwards win a decision?

“He can’t win at all,’’ Rodriguez said in what might be a simple summation of what he thinks of Edwards and what he hopes to do to him.

Jake Paul scored a one-punch, first-round stoppage over Andre August in a scheduled eight-round super middleweight bout at The Caribe Royale in Orlando, Florida.

Paul felt August with a jab and then uncorked a perfect right uppercut to the jaw that put August down and out on his back, and the fight was over at 2:32.

Paul, 199.4 lbs kf Cleveland is now 8-1 with five knockouts. August, 198.8 lbs of Houston is 10-2-1.

Jake Paul

On his first round KO of Andre August

“Man, I’m just really happy. You know, that’s that delayed gratification, working hard this whole entire year, and it just all paying off. You know, just the power of manifestation, that’s insane. Saying it all week, saying it in my meditation, visualizing it, and making it come into fruition, and it’s a real man. I’m trying to just take in and love it the whole entire moment, and look back on it, and have fun during this whole entire experience and that’s the biggest key for me right now and it’s going to be an amazing Christmas.”

“I think this [win] is the best one. Just the first round, calling it the whole entire week, not getting hit one time in the fight, and just setting him up for that. He kept on ducking low, ducking low, and I was like, okay, I’m going to throw the uppercut, but I got to make sure he keeps on ducking low, assessed him, set him up for it, and finished it through that day hard.”

On why he took the risk of facing Andre August

“[It was] a big risk big risk and people can be discredited or say what they want but they didn’t get in there with him he’s been doing it his whole life and you look at the guy he’s strong and he’s a risk, especially him not being a big name. Putting all the line against someone like him, everyone thought it was kind of crazy, everyone first thought, what, really? You’re going to do that? Why? Where? What’s going on? What’s the plan here? And it’s just one answer, to become world champion.”

On walking out to Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

“We just always had these vibes going in camp, and sometimes we’re playing different music, and one day we were sitting in the backyard, and this pal’s like, it’s Christmas, oh my God, they’ll start playing the Christmas hits. And that first song came on and I was like, this is what I’m walking up to.”

On converting haters to fans with his first-round knockout against a 10-1 pro

“If I was walking on water in front of everybody’s eyes, they would say I couldn’t swim. When you take this path, and you’re in the top of a sport, and you got there in three and a half years with the jealousy and hate and insecure people, all the time, of course, they’re gonna critique and find any little thing that they can to try to bring me down. But what they don’t know is that it’s just making me bigger, just making me stronger, just making me more motivated to go ahead and become world champion. This is one step closer. This guy was 10-1 [and] boxing his whole life. [He was a] three-time Golden Glove champion and he [was finished in] two and a half minutes. And I was just getting woke up for it, so…. shhh. Be quiet, y’all. Be quiet. At some point, you gotta turn that hate and be like, okay, fine, I’m gonna just jump on the bandwagon. All aboard, yo. Like, y’all went from haters and all this shit, like, we welcome everybody. If you hated me before, it’s cool, you know, I forgive you. Come to the fun side. I know you wanna dance to the Christmas jingle I want. I know you’re at home, like, itching like, I can’t, I can’t help it, I wanna dance! So just kick it up! Jump off the bandwagon! Get used to it. Get used to this. I’m gonna be here forever in this sport. Like I said, I predicted all this from the start. I made it happen [with] manifestation of reality. So keep the criticisms coming, but it’s not gonna do anything.”

On his punching power

“My coaches always told me before my first rope, but mainly Shane Mosley, he was like, you got popped, you hit hard, you hit hard. And I didn’t know. [I thought] he was like, you know, just gassing me up or something. Then after I dropped, gave him the first round, I was like, oh shit, okay, maybe I do have his power… And just from that Ohio milk, there’s something different. That stuff is insane. My bone density is on point.”

On Franchón Crews-Dezurn’s WBC super middleweight title win vs. Shadasia Green

“Great job, Franchón. I wish that Shadasia would have gotten it, but… It was a good fight. It was a great fight. Congratulations.

On the biggest thing he’s learned from boxing

“I wish I could summarize that man. It’s been thousands of hours in the gym, but I think more so just believing in myself and my ability, having fun out there, and surrounding myself with the right student. When Thurman, Jalion, and Larry Wade came in, the whole attitude changed and pushed me so much harder than I’d ever been pushed before. And that was really the difference maker. And really my boxing career didn’t start until after I lost because they came in, corrected my basic fundamentals that I had skipped by due to other coaches skipping by it and they pushed me, did thousands of drills on my footwork every single day, getting my mind right, surrounding myself with amazing people, and that really is what elevated everything. So, I just owe it to everyone else, you know, and the people around me, pushing me and wanting the best way.”

On returning to the old Jake Paul

“Yeah, like, just having fun when I’m in that mode, enjoying the sport, you know, dancing around in the ring, making jokes all the time, you know, talking trash to my opponents while I’m hitting them in the face. Before, I was just trying to do things too much and just like making everything perfect, technique, technique, technique, do this, do this, do this, do this. And just everything, the vibe of the can’t change, the coaches, Larry tells me every day, just be you, just bring that old, crazy motherfucker back. And he showed me the video of me with my tongue out, after I KO’d Tyron [Woodley], playing with my cut on my head, and he’s like, this isn’t here anymore, like you need to bring this back. And I just really remember that every day now, like he’s right, I just gotta be fucking crazy and bring back all the problems and the madness and fight like a dog and have fun, and that’s the difference here. You see me in the walkout, dancing in the locker room, messing around with my brother, getting on his shoulders during the broadcast, all of these things is what makes me special, and I just lost that in previous fights.”

On how lesser known boxers can make a name for themselves

“We live in a different boxing world now, in a different digital age in general, and it’s the fighters’ responsibility now to promote themselves. And once they realize that, and realize instead of sitting around on the weekend and playing video games in between the training sessions, they gotta be on TikTok and making YouTube videos and getting out there and going on interviews and podcasts and getting any opportunity they can to grow their name. That’s why I would just encourage everybody else. The promoter is dying. It’s now the responsibility of the fighter. That’s the new boxing world. Just hustle, man. Just hustle.”

On KSI 

“He’s chasing views as a 30-year-old man, and I’m chasing legacy and belts. All kudos to him. I hope he makes his wildest dreams come true.”

On facing Logan in WWE

“Man, I’m trying to be on his team. I don’t want to go up against him. He’s the dog in WWE. I’m trying to be his team partner.”

Crews-Dezurn Decisions Green to win WBC and WBA Interim Super Middleweight Crown

Franchon Crews-Dezurn won the WBC and WBA Interim Super Middleweight title with a 10-round unanimous decision over Shadasa Green.

Crews-Dezurn landed 78 of 382. Green was 77 of 240.

Dezuen, who was the former undisputed champion and huge underdog won by scores of 98-92 and 97-93 twice and is now 9-2, Greuen, 167.2 lbs of Paterson, NJ is 13-1.

On MVP

“First of all, shout out to MVP. MVP is a great platform for women’s boxing. Shadasia [Green] was a great competitor and I always look to fight against competition. I don’t want it easy, I wasn’t built for easy. And a couple months ago, I didn’t even know what was next, but I think my journey wasn’t over. I wanna thank Peter Kahn, my manager, who’s always fighting for me just as hard as I fight in the ring. I want to thank my coaches [and] my husband, my team.

On winning back her WBC title

“This has been a journey. You see everybody’s running at the top. You guys saw me at my lowest in the UK, but I still have my head held high, and I still have high hopes. I’m going to keep going. I’m going to keep going. And my journey isn’t over because my journey isn’t for me. It’s for the little girls, the big girls, the old girls, the young girls, to have somebody look up to you and to God. So this is a special night for me. I dedicate this to my mom, and my tribe, a couple other people who lost dear ones, so thank you. Thank you.”

“I’m here to entertain you guys. I’m here to fight for legacy. And you always need that one character that’s going to give you all some entertainment. So, that’s me. Right.”

“I stamped myself in history and you can never take [away] being a champ, but tonight is very special. I’m trying to let it set in. I feel amazing, I feel blessed and I’m grateful. I just love the smile on my team’s face.”

On being slated as the underdog vs. Green

“I’m an underdog. I’m a top dog with an underdog mentality. So it’s not anything new to me. And they don’t have to believe in me. I believe in myself and I must have a team that believes in me. And you need inspiration, there you go.”

On her next fight

“The goal has remained the same. I want to go back to the UK. They gave me so much love and it’s a great joy. [My goal is to] go to the UK and run it back with Savannah Marshall. All the way down the line, at least before my last fight, I want to run it with my good sister, Claressa [Shields]. But we’ll see what happens. Maybe I blow up a win, maybe I go down a win. The opportunities are limitless.”

“We’re gonna take DMV over to the UK, so we’re gonna have fun. Woo!”

“[My next fight will be] probably second quarter of 2024. Like, I’m happy to be active. To get two fights in six months is amazing. I think I’m going to get better and better, but probably first or second quarter of 2024.”

On Shadasia vs. Savannah’s punching power

“I would say Shadesia has sharp power, like she’s got sharp inside punches, but Savannah has like leverage, because she’s a very tall, heavy-handed woman. She’s been like that since the amateurs. But yeah, yeah, yeah. I have no disrespect. Savannah is the bigger puncher.”

On settling bad blood with Shadasia Green

“I approached her and you know. I apologized, you know, for what I did, she apologized for what she did. At the end of the day, we two young women pushed into something and her goal was to get her name out there for people to know who she is. She’s accomplished that, she has a great future, she’s a good fighter. I have no ill will towards her. I respect her [and everyone] I share the ring with. [Shadasia,] thank you for sharing the ring with me.

On 3-minute women’s rounds

“We gonna throw hands regardless, as long as we’re compensated. For me, I’ve been in this game a long time, and I get paid, if I have to fight three minutes, I’m gonna be paid for three minutes. If I have to fight 12 rounds, I’m gonna be paid for 12 rounds. Nobody wants to do a job, and do extra in their job, and not get paid for it. I’m in prize fighting at this point. Respectfully.”

On what her mom could say if she could have been there tonight

“Go on, get it baby. I love you.”

Tellez Stops Navarro in 10th

Yoenis Tellez scored a vicious 10th and final round stoppage of Livan Navarro in a welterweight bout.

In round three, Tellez dropped Navarro with a hard right hand.

In round 10, Tellez landed a booming left hook that froze Navarro and he plummeted to the deck and the fight was stopped.

Tellez, 153.1 lbs of Santiago, CUB is 7-0 with six knockouts. Navarro, 153.8 lbs of Havana, CUB is 15-2.

Lorenzo Medina Stops Temple in 6th

Lorenzo Medina scored a shocking sixth and final round stoppage over Joshua Temple in a heavyweight bout.

In round two, Temple landed a right to the head that put Medina on the canvas.

In round six, Medina landed a left hook that rocked Temple. Temple was hurt, and Medina jumped on Temple and landed a huge flurry of punches and the fight was stopped at 29 seconds.

Medina, 244.4 lbs of Hialeah, FL is 9-0 with eight knockouts. Temple, 221.8 lbs of St. Louis is 12-3.

Elijah Flores remained undefeated with a six-round unanimous decision over Javier Mayoral in a welterweight bout.

Flores, 149 lbs of Bronx, NY won by scores of 60-54 and 59-55 twice and is now 7-0. Mayoral, 148 lbs of New Orleans is 6-4-1.

Alexander Gueche stopped Clayton Ward in round three of their four-round bantamweight bout.

In round four, Gueche landed a big right drove Ward to the ropes. Ward was hurt and could have received an eight-count, but the referee did not ruled that and two big shots later the fight was stopped at 2:05.

Gueche, 116 1/2 lbs of Long Beach, CA is 3-0 with three knockouts. Ward, 116 1/2 lbs of Cypress, TX is 1-1.

Zachary Randolph won a six-round majority decision over Michael Manna in a cruiserweight bout.

In round five, Manna was swelling under both eyes.

Randolph, 186 3/4 lbs of Fairmont, WV won by scores of 60-54, 58-56 and 57-57 and is now 10-3-1. Manna, 191 lbs of Pittsburgh is 7-6.

By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, AZ – Sunny Edwards called Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez a cheater Thursday, alleging that he has been using banned performance enhancers.

Edwards leveled the controversial charges in a face-to-face exchange with Rodriguez in the final news conference before their flyweight fight Saturday for two pieces of the 112-pound title at Desert Diamond Arena.

“You have SNAC on your trunks,’’ Edwards said. “Everybody knows what that means. SNAC, that means cheat.’’

Edwards offered no other evidence to support his charges other than the SNAC acronym for a sports-nutrition company run by Victor Conte.

Rodriguez is a SNAC client, one of many in boxing.

“I don’t cheat,’’ Rodriguez said to reporters after the contentious newser. “I don‘t have to cheat.’’

Scott Fletcher, Chairman of the Arizona Boxing & MMA Commission, and Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn, the fight’s promoter, told 15 Rounds that both fighters have undergone testing.

Hearn said testing has been conducted by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA).

“VADA has been testing for months,’’ Hearn said of a fight that was announced in mid-August.

Conte told 15 Rounds that the testing was contractually-mandated at his urging in talks with Rodriguez trainer Robert Garcia.

“I strongly recommended to Robert that they test, and he agreed,’’ said Conte, who served time in prison for pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids in 2005 when he ran BALCO.

Conte also said he strongly recommended that VADA conduct the testing.

“It’s the most stringent and most expensive test,’’ Conte said.

Conte also told 15 Rounds that fighters aligned with SNAC “are, for the most part, the cleanest in boxing.’’

Edwards’ explosive allegations came near the end of a wild news conference that began with a scuffle between camps for a couple of undercard fighters, junior-middleweights Gordie Ross II of Detroit and Junaid Bostan of the UK.

They exchanged profane insults on-stage. Moments later, their handlers exchanged blows in an off-stage fracas that sent chairs flying and bodies falling.

Next up: Sunny and Bam. Their part in newser began predictably, meaning both fighters promised to win.

“I’ll be taking his belt and his 0,’’ Rodriguez (18-0, 14 KOs), a San Antonio fighter and the World Boxing Organization’s champion, said to the London flyweight (20-0, 4 KOs), the International Boxing Federation’s champ.

Then, it took a nasty turn when Edwards interrupted Rodriguez.

At first, it sounded as if Edwards was annoyed at remarks Rodriquez had made a few days ago.

Apparently, Edwards thought Rodriguez had questioned the Londoner’s confidence in himself.

“I know exactly who I am,’’ said Edwards, suddenly not so Sunny. ”But you, you don’t know who you are. Don’t deny all this stuff I’m saying to you. You’re weird, wear weird clothes, too.’’

The PED allegations soon followed in what might have been an attempt to rattle Rodriguez, who is known for his quiet composure.

Then, there was the closing curtain, except this ritual in boxing theater went on longer than most. Afternoon almost turned into after-dark – lunch into dinner — before Edwards and Rodriguez broke off their ritual face-off for the DAZN-streamed card.

Edwards talked and gestured, talked and gestured some more. Rodriguez mostly glared. For about 15 minutes, they stood, face-to-face, nose-to-nose, eye-to-eye. Hearn stood there, managing to squeeze an open hand between their faces – once, twice and again when there was an opening.

For one long moment, it looked as if it would ever end. But it did. Finally. Next, there’s a weigh-in Saturday. Then, opening bell Saturday. But, it’s safe to say, the hostilities are already underway.

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By Norm Frauenheim –

GLENDALE, AZ – Nobody has to ask Sunny Edwards for a prediction. It’s there, boldly stitched onto shorts he and his corner wear.

21-0, it says in bright green thread

It’s there, the introduction to his user name.

21-0Sunny, it says at the top of his X (Twitter) account that includes a confident, sometimes confrontational thread.

It’s not a matter of record, not yet anyway. But it’s clear that Edwards (20-0, 4 KOs) promises his record will go to 21-0 after his toughest challenge Saturday night in a flyweight title unification bout against Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez (18-0, 11 KOs) at Desert Diamond Arena.

This one is for Lord of the Flies, the modern version, in an arena and a city that has a long tradition for classics in boxing’s lightest weight classes.

Its roots are about 17 miles east of Desert Diamond in Michael Carbajal’s neighborhood in downtown Phoenix. He was an American original, a junior-flyweight who fought his way into the Hall of Fame.

A few blocks from Carbajal’s neighborhood, Rodriguez, perhaps America’s best little guy since Carbajal, won his first major title, the World Boxing Council’s super-fly belt by scoring a unanimous decision over Carlos Cuadras at Footprint Center in February 2022.

Ten months later, Juan Francisco Estrada won that super-fly belt, vacated by Rodriguez, in a masterpiece performance, a majority decision over the accomplished Ramon Gonzalez at Desert Diamond on Dec. 3.

A year and a couple of weeks later at the same arena and within the same sprawling real estate, there’s another opening bell, a sound that promises another classic.

Rodriguez, the World Boxing Organization’s 112-pound champion, is favored by about 2-to-1 odds. That’s no surprise, in part because he’s already well-known within Arizona’s Mexican-American fan base. Rodriguez, a San Antonio fighter, is remembered in Phoenix for his victory over Cuadras. He’ll have a significant hometown edge in the DAZN-streamed bout.

There are questions about whether Edwards, the International Boxing Federation’s champion, can win a decision in front of what figures to be a Mexican-American crowd. He’s won 16 of his 20 bouts by decision.

But the London flyweight’s confidence looks to be unshakeable just days before he faces the powerful Rodriguez, who grew up in the Mexican school of boxing. Class starts and ends with knowing how to take a punch to throw one.

“He’s a great fighter, but he’s not been in the ring with me yet,” Edwards said during a Matchroom Face-Off in Arizona’s central desert not long after both arrived in Phoenix.

Edwards’ intricate footwork and often awkward style could prove problematic for Rodriguez, especially in the early rounds.

Confuse Rodriguez early, beat him later. That’s one theory, anyway.

Edwards’ older brother, Charlie Edwards, is fascinated by the wide stylistic differences. There are many, best defined by their popular names.

Sunny and Bam.

Boxing, football and perhaps life is ruled by a familiar line: Styles make fights. This one could be a puzzle, at least in the early moments. But Charlie Edwards, one of his brother’s prime sparring partners, is confident Sunny will be ready for Bam’s versatile aggressiveness and a hostile crowd.

“I know my brother,’’ Charlie, a former WBC flyweight champion said Wednesday at a hotel next to Desert Diamond.  “He’ll be motivated by that. That’ll bring out the best in him. I’ve seen it in him as professional and when he was an amateur, fighting a rival in a rival neighborhood.

“He likes to silence the crowd. That’s just who he is.

“Can he win a decision?

“Absolutely.’’

By Mario Ortega Jr. (Ringside)

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA  — The former unified lightweight champion Devin Haney impressed in his 140-pound debut, issuing Regis Prograis the most one-sided defeat of his career en route to claiming the WBC light welterweight title before his hometown crowd.

Haney (31-0, 15 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada was just too much of everything for Prograis (29-2, 24 KOs) of Houston, Texas by way of New Orleans, Louisiana over the twelve rounds.

After a feeling out opening stanza, the fight was all Haney. In the second round, Haney, 140, began to find the angles he needed to land, which he did with one right uppercut in particular.

Early in the third, Haney scored a knockdown with a lead right over the top of Prograis’ guard.

Prograis, 139, came out for the fourth on steady legs, but the challenger continued to give him a boxing lesson as the fight wore on. Haney landed a crisp one-two combination to punctuate the fourth round.

Haney continued to blister Prograis with combinations in the fifth round, while also putting some money in the bank via a body attack.

The one-two worked again for Haney as he rocked Prograis back on his heels with less than a minute to go in the sixth.

The pace slowed in the seventh, with Prograis was unwilling to let his hands go. The referee and the ringside doctor took a long look in the Prograis’ corner prior to the eighth.

Haney led the action in the eighth and ninth, but with less and less to counter, the Bay Area native was content to box and move. With a minute to go in the ninth, Prograis over extended himself with a left and Haney made him pay with a clubbing right that excited the crowd.

Haney seemed satisfied sending the bout to the cards as he exhibited some flashy defense in the championship rounds, but never pressed for the stoppage as he outboxed Prograis from bell-to-bell.

In the end, all three judges scored the shutout for Haney, 120-107. The question now is where does Haney go next. 140-pounds is one of the deepest divisions in boxing, but the Haneys have already floated designs on the welterweight division. Promoter Eddie Hearn floated the name of Ryan Garcia after the bout, but that seems like an unlikely prospect.

In the final appetizer before the main event, WBO #11 ranked light welterweight Liam Paro scored two knockdowns early in the sixth en route to stopping Montana Love midway through the round.

Paro (24-0, 15 KOs) of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and Love (18-1-1, 9 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio fought on even terms early in the fight. There was not much to distinguish the two as the boo birds derided the lack of early action. 

Things heated up a bit more late in the fifth, but it was the sixth where the fight took a quick turn. Paro, 140, landed clean with a left uppercut that sent Love, 140, to the seat of his pants for the first knockdown. 

When action resumed, Paro moved in aggressively, eventually landing a straight left that sent Love down for a second time. Love made it to his feet, but when Paro forced him into a neutral corner with a flurry, Love covered up for too long for referee Thomas Taylor’s liking. The referee stopped the fight at 1:49 of round six.

With the win, Paro, who had a scheduled title bout against Regis Prograis slip between his fingers due to injury earlier this year, claimed the vacant regional WBO Intercontinental 140-pound title.

Cruz Takes out Straffon in 3

Fast-rising lightweight prospect Andy Cruz (2-0, 1 KO) of Miami, Florida by way of Matanzas, Matanzas, Cuba completely steamrolled normally durable Jovanni Straffon (26-6-1, 19 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico en route to a third-round stoppage. 

Cruz, 134.4, let loose with both hands from the opening bell. It was all Straffon, 134, could do to weather the onslaught. The second round was especially one-sided, as Cruz straffed Straffon with everything in his arsenal.

Early in the third round, Cruz pressed Straffon into a neutral corner, landing clean with both hands. Having seen enough of the mismatch, referee Edward Collantes leaped in to stop the bout at :53 of the third round. 

With the win, Cruz successfully defended his IBF International lightweight title and claimed the vacant WBA Continental Latin America lightweight title. 

Yoshida Upsets Bridges to Claim Bantamweight Title

Coming in on short notice, Miyo Yoshida (17-4) of New York, New York by way of Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan upset media darling Ebanie Bridges (9-2, 4 KOs) of New South Wales, Australia to claim the IBF bantamweight championship by ten-round unanimous decision. 

Yoshida, 117.6, was in the face of the champion Bridges, 117.8, from the get-go and never took a backward step. Yoshida, despite having campaigned mainly in the 115-pound super flyweight division throughout her career, looked like the bigger fighter and landed the harder shots.

Bridges, fighting for the first time in a year with a surgically-repaired right hand,  never was able to force Yoshida into any sort of retreat and ate the more eye-catching shots as they exchanged throughout a fight fought completely on the inside. 

Yoshida, who entered the ring as the IBF #10 ranked bantamweight and had fought just one month ago in a losing effort to Shurretta Metcalf, closed out the fight strong and raised her hands in celebration as the final bell rang. In the end, all three judges scored the fight wide for Yoshida by scores of 97-93 and 99-91 twice

Middleweight prospect Amari Jones (11-0, 10 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Oakland, California was impressive in his Bay Area homecoming as he stopped tough veteran Quilisto Madera (14-5, 9 KOs) of Stockton, California in the fifth-round. 

Jones, 159.2 controlled Madera, 160, in the opening round with his jab. As the fight progressed into round three, Jones’ right hand came more into play and became the dominant punch of the fight. 

The end of round four got Jones’ home crowd excited as a right hand snapped Madera’s head back against the turnbuckle and set off an exchange along the ropes. 

Jones picked right up where he left off early in the fifth. With Jones landing clean, two-handed combinations as Madera backed against the ropes, referee Thomas Taylor leaped in to stop the fight. Official time of the stoppage was 1:44 of the fifth round. 

Beatriz Ferreira (4-0, 2 KOs) of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil saw her own blood for the first time as a professional en route to an eight-round stoppage of a game Destiny Jones (5-2, 2 KOs) of Austin, Texas.

Ferreira, 130, found a willing opponent in Jones, 129.8, who had her moments throughout the bout. Ferreira is just a fearless punching machine and Jones had to work hard to keep pace. Twice Ferreira knocked Jones’ mouthpiece out, once with a right late in the second and again in the fourth.

After Jones drew blood with an accidental elbow late in round four, Ferreira seemed more determined to go for the stoppage as the fight progressed. Ferreira eventually landed with a sweeping left hook with seconds to go in round seven that dropped Jones, who was leaning that way.

At the beginning of round eight, Jones did not react well when asked to touch gloves and referee Edward Collantes asked the doctor for a look. On the advice of the doctor, Collantes stopped the bout. Official time of stoppage was :05 of round eight.

In the opening bout, Shamar Canal (7-0, 4 KOs) of Albany, New York continued his rise with a dominant six-round unanimous decision over veteran Jose Antonio Meza (8-9, 2 KOs) of Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico. 

Canal, 132, had too many dimensions for the durable Meza. After comfortably outboxing Meza, 131.8, over the early rounds, Canal pressed on the gas in the last two and finally broke through with a straight right that dropped the Mexican native late in the sixth. All three judges were in agreement on the shutout, 60-53.

Follow all the action as Regis Progaris defends the WBC Junior Welterweight Title against former undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney.  The action begins at 8 PM ET with IBF Bantamweight champion Ebanie Bridges defending against Miyo Yoshida.  Andy Cruz takes on Jovanni Straffon and Liam Paro battles Montana Love.

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED, THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

ROUND 1: Body Punch from Haney…

ROUND 2 Body shot from Prograis…Combination from Haney..Straight left from Prograis..Good uppercut from Haney..

ROUND 3 Nice overhand right from Prograis..COUNTER RIGHT AND DOWN GOES PROGRAIS…Right to body…Swelling around eyes of Prograis

ROUND 4 Right to body from Haney…1-2 from Haney…

ROUND 5 Good body shot from Haney…Right..

ROUND 6 Left from Haney..Body shot..Big right buckles Prograis…Prograis bleeding from the nose…

ROUND 7 Combination from Haney..Body shot

ROUND 8 Counter left from Haney…Uppercut..

ROUND 9  Right rocks Prograis

ROUND 10 Left from Prograis..Counter right from Haney…

ROUND 11 Straight Right from Haney…Straight Right

ROUND 12   Haney boxing and moving

120-107 ON ALL CARDS FOR HANEY

Round 1 Check hook from Love
Round 2 2 Lefts from Paro
Round 3 Nice right hook from Love at the bell
Round 4 Left from Paro
Round 5 Jab from Paro..Left
Round 6 UPPERCUT AND DOWN GOES LOVE…STRAIGHT LEFT AND LOVE GOES DOWN AGAIN..Huge flurry from Paro…Love’s legs are wobbly…MORE PUNCHES AND THE FIGHT IS STOPPED

Round 1: Big Right from Cruz..
Round 2: Hard flush punches from Criuz…Huge right hand…Straffon in trouble…2 Big rights
Round 3:  Cruz continuing to batter StRAFFON AND THE FIGHT IS STOPPED

ROUND 1 Good jab from Yoshida…Body shot

ROUND 2 Body shot from Yoshida…Left hook

ROUND 3 Right from Bridges…Right from Yoshida…Left…

ROUND 4 Good right from Yoshida

ROUND 5 Good right from Yoshida..Body shot..Right

ROUND 6 Chopping right from Yoshida..Another right and uppercut

ROUND 7 Nice left hook from Bridges..Right from Yoshida…Flurry..Chopping right

ROUND 8 Right from Yoshida…Right from Bridges

ROUND 9 Overhand Right from Yoshida…Big uppercut..2 rights wobbles Bridges…Jab

ROUND 10 Good right from Bridges..Right from Yoshida..Left..Big left from Bridges

99-91 TWICE AND 97-93 FOR THE NEW WORLD CHAMPION MIYO YOSHIDA

Rafael Espinosa wrestled the WBO Featherweight title with an action packed 12-round majority decision over Robeisy Ramirez at The Charles F. Dodge City Center in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

The taller Espinosa had a good start to the fight as he was able to get inside and land punches. Ramirez was able to get in some decent shots of his own. In round five, Ramirez landed a right hook that sent Espinosa to the deck. Espinosa got up but fell back down at the bell.

The two traded flurries of punches which thrilled the sold out crowd which favored the Cuban born Ramirez. In round 12, Espinosa’s pressure finally wilted Ramirez and dropped the now-former champion with a flurry that was capped by a left hook.

That seemed to be the difference as Espinosa won by scores of 115-111, 114-112 and 113-113.

Espinosa, 125.3 lbs of Guadalajara, MEX is now 22-0. Ramirez, 125.6 lbs of Cuba is 13-2.

Espinoza said, “I didn’t think about anything in here. I just thought about winning. I even asked what round we were in. And I knew that I had to drop him in order to win. I just put my heart into it. I always do that. And thank God it happened.

“I think I’ve had a broken foot since the second round. But what kept me on my feet was my daughter, my parents, my wife and my family. I knew that all of Mexico was watching me. And I knew that I had to become a world champion.”

Ramirez said, “We did what we always do. We followed what Ismael Salas told us to do. We scored the knockdown and tried to end the fight, but it didn’t happen.

“I thought the fight was won. But he got his second wind. I tried to catch mine. But I’ve got to give him credit. He came after me. He got the knockdown. I didn’t think it would determine the result, but that’s what the judges decided.”

Zayas Stops Fortea in 5

Promising Xander Zayas stopped Jorge Fortea in round five of their 10-round junior middleweight bout.

In round one, Zayas dropped Fortea with a left to the body. In round five, it as another left to the body that put Fortea down for the 10-count at 1:37.

Zayas, 153.6 lbs of San Juan, PR is 18-0 with 12 knockouts. Fortea, 153,7 lbs of Souce, ESP is 24-4-1.

Zayas, “We knew that he likes to keep his elbows out. And it was just a matter of time after we got him in the first round. After that, he went into survival mode and brought his elbows down. But then we got him with another body shot.”

Good looking Bruce Carrington remained undefeated with a second round stoppage over Jason Sanchez in a 10-round featherweight fight.

In round two, Carrington rocked Sanchez with a right. He followed him around the ring and dropped Sanchez with a hard right. Sanchez was not all the way back and then ate a left hook just before the bell and went to the canvas again and the fight was over at 2:59.

Carrington, 125.8 lbs of Brooklyn is 10-0 with six knockouts. Sanchez, 125.7 lbs of Albuquerque, NM is 16-5.

Carrington said, “This was a statement to the rest of the featherweight division. I want all the smoke. It doesn’t’ matter who it is.”

Richard Torrez Jr. had to almost go the distance for the first time. The key word is almost as he stopped veteran Curtis Harper in the eighth and final round of their heavyweight bout.

Torrez battered Harper throughout the fight and finished him with a hard flurry of punches on the ropes before a referee stoppage at 2:03.

Torrez, 230.8 lbs of Tulure, CA is 8-0 with eight knockouts. Harper, 273.9 lbs of Clarksville, TN is 14-11.

Torrez said, “I knew I needed the rounds, and Curtis Harper was a tough, game opponent. This is an experience that will only help me as I progress.
 
“When I saw his mouthpiece fly out, I knew the knockout was coming. I’m happy I got the rounds in and a knockout.”

Jahi Tucker and Francisco Daniel Veron fought to a eight-round majority draw in a junior middleweight contest.

Tucker won a scorecard by a 77-75 tally, that was overruled by two 76-76 cards.

Tucker, 155.2 lbs of Deer Park, NY is 10-1-1. Veron, 155.1 lbs of Buenos Aries, ARG is 13-0-1.

Rohan Polanco scored a sixth round stoppage over Keith Hunter in a eight-round junior welterweight bout.

In round six, Polanco hurt Hunter and landed a huge flurry of punches and the fight was stopped at 2:06. Hunter was visibly upset and may have struck the referee.

Polanco, 142.9 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is now 11-0 with seven knockouts. Hunter, 139.3 lbs of Las Vegas, NV is now 15-2.

Tiger Johnson remained undefeated with an eight-round split decision over Jimmer Espinosa in a junior welterweight bout.

Johnson, 141.6 lbs of Cleveland won by scores of 79-73 and 78-74, while Espinosa took a card 77-75.

Johnson is now 11-0. Espinosa, 141.2 lbs of Tuxtl, MEX is 15-2.

Damian Knyba remained undefeated with eight-round unanimous decision over Michael Coffie in a heavyweight bout.

Knyba, 264.1 lbs of Wodzyn, POL won by scores 80-72 twice and 79-73 and is 13-0. Coffie, 290.9 lbs of Brooklyn, NY is 13-5.

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – Devin Haney, until recently the unified lightweight champion, aims to make a splash in his junior welterweight debut as he takes on one of the most avoided 140-pound title holders in Regis Prograis Saturday night at the Chase Center on pay-per-view. The twelve-round fight, which headlines a seven-bout card emanating from the home of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, also marks a homecoming for the San Francisco-bred Haney, who has never before fought in the Bay Area. Fighters weighed-in on Friday at the venue and continued a week of contentious back-and-forth. 

In the lead-up to the fight, bad blood has spilled over as Devin’s father-coach Bill Haney and Prograis’ strength coach Evins Tobler have debated everything from who grew up on the harder streets to which of their main event fighters has real punching power.

In their final face-off on Friday, Haney and Prograis took the lead in the heated back-and-forth between the camps. No one came to blows, but the animosity seemed legitimate as the two shouted each other down in an expletive-laden exchange. 

Haney (30-0, 15 KOs) of Las Vegas, Nevada closed out his lightweight campaign and solidified his standing among the pound-for-pound elite in his last bout as he scored a hotly-contested unanimous decision over former three-division ruler Vasyl Lomachenko in May. Just over a week ago, Haney relinquished all four of his 135-pound belts to signify his focus on an already crowded junior welterweight division. Haney weighed-in at 140-pounds on Friday.

Prograis (29-1, 24 KOs) of Houston, Texas by way of New Orleans, Louisiana was last in the ring in June as he had a tougher-than-expected time moving past once-beaten late replacement Danielito Zorrilla in the first defense of his WBC title reign. In an admittedly poor performance, Prograis, who was making his hometown return, struggled to close the distance and cut-off the ring against Zorrilla en route to a split decision. Prograis came in at 139-pounds Friday.

In the chief supporting bout, WBO #11 ranked light welterweight Liam Paro takes on Montana Love in a ten-round bout. Paro (23-0, 14 KOs) of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was the opponent that had to withdraw from the June title bout against Prograis in New Orleans when he injured his Achilles tendon a month before the scheduled clash. Six months later, Paro auditions for another title opportunity, while Love seeks a different type of redemption. Love (18-1-1, 9 KOs) of Cleveland, Ohio was an emerging contender at 140-pounds before he was dropped and frustrated to the point of forcing a blatant disqualification in his bout against unheralded Steve Spark last November. 

In a bout for the regional WBO Intercontinental lightweight title, Paro and Love both weighed-in at 140-pounds. 

Highly touted lightweight prospect Andy Cruz (1-0) of Miami, Florida by way of Matanzas, Matanzas, Cuba will meet Jovanni Straffon (26-5-1, 19 KOs) of Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico in a ten-round bout. Cruz will be defending the regional IBF International lightweight title he impressively claimed in his pro debut over respected veteran Juan Carlos Burgos in July. Straffon figures to be a sturdy test for Cruz’ second pro opponent, considering the Mexican native went the twelve-round distance with Maxi Hughes and ended the career of former title challenger James Tennyson by first-round knockout in 2021. 

In a bout also for the vacant WBA Continental Latin America title, Straffon came in at 134 even. Cruz, a 2020 Cuban Olympian gold medalist, scaled 134.4-pounds. 

Ebanie Bridges (9-1, 4 KOs) of New South Wales, Australia seeks to make the second defense of her IBF bantamweight title against late replacement Miyo Yoshida (16-4) of New York, New York by way of Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Japan in a ten-round bout. Bridges had been slated to meet IBF #11 ranked Avril Mathie until an injury late last month forced her fellow Aussie to withdraw. 

Bridges was last in the ring one year ago as scored an eighth-round stoppage of Shannon O’Connell in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. In the time since, Bridges nursed a surgically-repaired right hand and began training under Dave Coldwell.  Yoshida, the IBF #10 ranked bantamweight, fought just a month ago, coming up short to Shurretta Metcalf in her 118-pound debut. Bridges, who, as always, was not camera shy while hitting the scales, came in at 117.8-pounds.

Yoshida, a former WBO super flyweight champion, weighed-in at 117.6. 

Beatriz Ferreira (3-0, 1 KO) of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil will take on Destiny Jones (5-1, 2 KOs) of Austin, Texas in an eight-round super featherweight bout. Ferreira, a 2020 Brazilian Olympian and former international amateur standout, weighed-in at 130-pounds. Jones, stepping up to the eight-round distance for the first time, scaled 129.8-pounds.  

Shamar Canal (6-0, 4 KOs) of Albany, New York will take on veteran Jose Antonio Meza (8-8, 2 KOs) of Gomez Palacio, Durango, Mexico in a six-round featherweight fight. Canal, promoted by Devin Haney Promotions, was last in the ring in October, scoring a second-round knockout in Colima, Mexico. Meza last saw action in September, fighting to a double disqualification against Leonardo Padilla. Canal weighed-in at 132-pounds, while Meza made 131.8-pounds. 

Middleweight prospect Amari Jones (10-0, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Oakland, California will make a step-up against veteran Quilisto Madera (14-4, 9 KOs) of Stockton, California in an eight-round bout. Jones, promoted by Devin Haney Promotions, last fought in October, scoring a first-round stoppage in Colima, Mexico. Madera, a nine-year pro, is hoping to rebound from an eight-round decision loss to Kevin Newman II in August. Jones, who like Haney is making his Bay Area debut as a professional, weighed-in at 159.2-pounds.

Madera, who refused to attend the pre-fight press conference on Thursday, citing bad blood, scaled 160-pounds.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBC Light Welterweight Championship, 12 Rounds

Prograis 139

Haney 140 

WBO Intercontinental Light Welterweight Championship, 10 Rounds

Paro 140

Love 140 

IBF International Lightweight Championship

WBA Continental Latin America Lightweight Championship, 10 Rounds

Cruz 134.4

Straffon 134

IBF Bantamweight Championship, 10 Rounds

Bridges 117.8

Yoshida 117.6

Super featherweights, 8 Rounds

Ferreira 130

Jones 129.8

Super featherweights, 6 Rounds

Canal 132

Meza 131.8

Middleweights, 8 Rounds

Jones 159.2

Madera 160

Tickets for the event, promoted by Matchroom Boxing, Devin Haney Promotions and Rougarou Promotions, are available online at Ticketmaster.com 

Photos by Ed Mulholland/Matchroom Boxing 

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

By Norm Frauenheim –

A deal, long rumored, became official Thursday with the announcement that Amazon Prime Video and Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) have a multi-year agreement expected to begin in March.

For PBC’s roster of about 150 fighters and their fans, the announcement came as a relief, if not a lifeline, for a part of the business uncertain about its future after Showtime announced that it was leaving boxing.

Showtime’s 37-year run ends Dec. 16 with a non-pay-per-view bout featuring super-middleweight David Morrell against Sena Agbeko in Minneapolis.

According to multiple reports, the agreement includes 12-to-14 fight cards in a mix of pay-per-view and non-PPV.

As of Thursday, it wasn’t clear how the agreement might affect negotiations for high-profile bouts, including a Terence Crawford-Errol Spence welterweight rematch and Canelo Alvarez-versus-David Benavidez for Canelo’s undisputed super-middleweight title.

However, Prime Video’s 160-million subscriber base represents an opportunity.

“With Prime’s incredible reach and unprecedented marketing power, we’re very excited to reach new audiences for our sport as we continue to present the most exciting, competitive and biggest fights in boxing,” said Bruce Binkow, of Integrated Sports, a marketing agency for PBC.

Plans for a March start are intriguing. Crawford, the consensus pound-for-pound king after his singular performance in a stoppage of Spence in late July, said a few weeks ago that March was a possibility for a rematch with Spence.

Crawford told reporters in September that Spence had exercised the rematch clause in their first contract. Then, it was thought the sequel to Crawford’s ninth-round stoppage would happen in December.

But that plan was put on hold when Showtime, which carried the first fight, announced in mid-October that it would pull the plug.

Meanwhile, there’s talk that Benavidez, the World Boxing Council’s mandated 168-pound challenger after his beat-down of Demetrius Andrade Nov. 25, will fight Canelo in either May as part of the Cinco de Mayo celebration or about four months later in honor of Mexican Independence on Sept. 16.

Both would be pay-per-view bouts. There were a reported 650,000 pay-per-view customers for Crawford-Spence.

Meanwhile, Canelo is boxing’s biggest pay-per-view draw. He has slipped in the pound-for-pound debate, but his popularity is undisputed.

He is Forbes’ coverboy in the magazine’s current edition, which puts his fortune at an astonishing $275 million. Canelo has two more fights on his PBC contract.

Lords of the Flies back in AZ

The sprawling Phoenix market, known for its appreciation of the little guys since Hall of Fame junior-flyweight Michael Carbajal, will again become the site of two of today’s best next Saturday (Dec. 16) in Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez against Sunny Edwards at Desert Diamond Arena in suburban Glendale.

Both are unbeaten – Rodriguez, of San Antonio, (18-0, 11 KOs) and Edwards, of London, (20-0, 4 KOs). Both hold flyweight belts, Rodriguez the World Boxing Organization and Edwards the International Boxing Federation.

They’ll fight in the same arena where Roman Gonzalez lost the super-fly title to Juan Francisco Estrada by majority decision in a masterpiece example of skill and guts from both fighters — a year and a couple of weeks ago — Dec. 3, 2022.

Rodriguez, a dynamic mix of power and skill, is already well known to the Phoenix audience.

He upset Carlos Cuadras, winning a decision for the WBC’s version of the 112-pound title in February 2022 at Footprint Center, the Suns arena just a few blocks from where Carbajal grew up in downtown Phoenix.

Edwards-Rodriguez is intriguing, a match of contrasts between Rodriguez’ rugged power and Edwards’ elusive skillset.

Don’t expect Edwards to brawl.

“It could get me knocked out.,’’ he said during his Matchroom Face Off with Rodriguez. ”It could get me tired. It could make me lose.

“When I box, I box in a certain rhythm and a certain flow state. I’m not even trying to hurt somebody. I’ll be real, when I box there’s not one part of me and my mind that’s trying to knock somebody out. I’m there for 36 minutes.”

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

While wrapping up his training camp, Hancel Gonzalez suffered an injury that forced him to pull out of the scheduled eight-round Combate Space main event against veteran contender Ve Shawn Owens, which was to take place this Saturday at the Arena Ring Central in Mexico City, Mexico. 

Owens (14-3, 12 KOs) of Minneapolis, Minnesota was going to give up weight and natural size against the larger Gonzalez. Now, stepping in for the Colombian Gonzalez, will be a more natural welterweight in Heriberto Flores (10-0, 9 KOs) of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. 

Preparing for Saturday’s originally scheduled bout, Owens made the sacrifices that fighters make, stunting celebrations for Thanksgiving and his son’s birthday, which both took place last week. 

“It is a sacrifice, it is,” Owens explained. “I couldn’t do everything I actually wanted to do for my son’s birthday. I couldn’t really do as much as I wanted to do for Thanksgiving. Both of those days I was training and working. That is just the thing with this career. You are going to have to make sacrifices. It is a good thing that I have a good team behind me. When I say team, I mean support system. My family really understands. When it is fight time, they understand I am going to push it. They get it. It is hard, but everyone gets what I am trying to do.”

Coming off a career-best performance in decisioning once-beaten Kudratillo Abdukakhorov in February, Owens fielded some offers in the time since, but wanted to keep this date in Mexico. 

“I’ve gotten lots of offers,” explained Owens on Friday, shortly after arriving in Mexico, but before the opponent change. “Lots and lots of offers. Some of them were a bit ridiculous. Some were actually really good, but I was already really dedicated to this one. I don’t want to back-up from my word. I made a commitment to this one.”

Another component playing a part in Owens’ ten-month layoff, and the decision take this fight, is that his long-time head trainer Sankara Frazier has been slowed by a health issue. 

“Our head coach is kind of sick and going through a few things right now and putting our careers on hold,” explains Owens. “I told him, these people and our teammate in Mexico are serious. There’s not much we can really do right now and I am not getting any younger. I am 32, so I can’t keep on waiting.”

Many of Owens’ biggest fights have been televised by Showtime. With the network concluding its long association with boxing at the end of the year, keeping Saturday’s date in Mexico has added importance. 

“This year, has been kind of tough, just being active,” says Owens. “I understand changes are going on, and Al Haymon has a few tricks up his sleeve, but he’s going to need some time. I want to stay on that hot streak, so when everything with PBC takes effect, I can get going hot.”

Owens represents a huge step up in class for Flores. In his last bout, Flores stepped up to the scheduled ten-round distance for the first time and stopped fellow unbeaten Eduardo Sanchez in nine. Prior to that win in Costa Rica, all of Flores’ bouts had come against soft opposition in Mexico. 

Regardless of the opponent change, Owens aims for the same planned result as he continues his rise in the welterweight division on Saturday night. 

“Hopefully it gets me closer to the top ten in the world,” says Owens. “As far as the future, I don’t really want to speak too much on that. I want to focus on what’s in front of me right now, so I don’t want to talk about this and that. My main objective is this guy right now.”

Tickets for the event, promoted by Producciones Deportivas and televised throughout Latin America on Space, are available at the venue. 

Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime 

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

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

Welterweight contender Ve Shawn Owens will return to the ring this Saturday night as he takes on Colombian Hancel Gonzalez at the Arena Ring Central in Mexico City, Mexico. The eight-round bout marks Owens’ first ring appearance since his eye-opening victory over Kudratillo Abdukakhorov on Showtime in February. 

Owens had been a familiar face in the mix from 140 to 154-pounds dating back to 2018. After coming up short against elite opposition, Owens rose to the occasion in his native Minneapolis, Minnesota and broke through with the dominant ten-round unanimous decision over Abdukakhorov. 

As Owens’ tells it, the main change that led to his sterling performance in February was mental. “Honestly, it was more of a mindshift,” says Owens. “In the beginning phases, I was really hungry to be a world champion. Then life took full blown advantage of my career. When it came to taking some fights, it was more the fact that I needed money. I needed the money and I wasn’t really serious. But this one, I felt like I could really be something. That hunger that I had in my youth is back.”

The highly touted Abdukakhorov was hoping to rebound from his lone defeat by getting past Owens in their Showtime-televised encounter. However, Owens had been eyeing the Uzbekistani native for some time.

“This guy, I watched him fight twice, and when I saw him fight, I knew I could beat him,” remembers Owens. “Then ironically, in 2021, I had a few fights that dropped and I needed a break. I had a family member that had passed. I really needed to get my life together and then I get the call to fight this guy. I looked at him and [excitedly] said set that up. I knew I could beat him and then a year later they gave me that offer. I remembered his style; how he feints, how he reacts to certain things. And it all worked.”

A self-described student of the game, Owens (14-3, 12 KOs) has taken the same approach heading into what some may see as a stay-busy bout against the unknown Hancel Gonzalez (11-2, 9 KOs). 

“I picked up on a few things, and the things I picked up are the reasons why I want to go forward with it,” says Owens. “That one fight when he got stopped, that was a big thing, because I noticed in another fight, he would get caught with that same shot, but the second guy didn’t have the strength to get him down. I noticed his feet. He’s not going to be one of those guys that move around. He’s going to sit there and be a big target for me. We all know I love big targets. I have a huge gameplan for him, as long as he can make the weight.”

Weight is one of the main stories heading into this bout, much as it has been throughout Owens’ career. After the win against Abdukakhorov, Owens’ has decided to stake his place in the 147-pound welterweight division. Having ventured up to 154 to meet the challenge of the largest junior middleweight of recent memory, Sebastian Fundora, as well as sliding down to 140 to take on current titleholder Alberto Puello, Owens is putting his yo-yo away moving forward. 

“Nothing is throwing me off,” proclaims Owens. “My A-game is here. I feel like I should have been here. I should have been staying at 147. I feel amazing at this weight class.”

Gonzalez’ relationship with the scale has seen him see action in the light heavyweight and super middleweight divisions in recent bouts. Owens and his team will be insistent that the Colombian weighs within a few pounds of the welterweight limit at Friday’s weigh-in. 

“The only thing that is of my concern is the weight thing,” explains Owens. “As long as he can make the weight. I’m giving him a few pounds, but if he can’t do that, then we can’t.”

Gonzalez, who has looked at home physically while competing in the higher weight classes, will have an audience when he steps on the scale. “My team is on it,” explains Owens. “We are going to have eyes on there. I am not doing that anymore, fighting guys out of my weight class. I am not doing that anymore. I want to prioritize my career and the avenue that I want to go. No more silly stuff. I am not doing that anymore.”

Owens, a long-time drawing card in Minnesota, looks forward to putting on for the people in Mexico and those watching the broadcast around the world.

“I have a love for Mexico City,” says Owens. “I love the atmosphere and the people. They are going to see the fundamentals, but also that explosiveness. They are going to see a lot of fireworks.”

Tickets for the event, promoted by Producciones Deportivas and televised throughout Latin America on Space, are available at the venue. 

Photo by Esther Lin/Showtime 

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

By Norm Frauenheim

LAS VEGAS –David Benavidez promised.

And he punished.

He did to Demetrius Andrade what he did to David Lemieux and so many others. It was another moment in his demolition tour, an uninterrupted dominance of every super-middleweight other than the one he has been pursuing for so long.It was also another edition of the long-running message he has been delivering like punches at a machine-gun rate.

“Canelo, give the people the fight they want, Canelo Alvarez-versus-David Benavidez,” he said in the center of the ring to a roaring crowd just minutes after breaking down and breaking apart Andrade.

Who knows if Canelo was in the audience for Showtime’s final pay-per-view fight Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena? If he was, however, he had to be impressed.

Andrade, unorthodox and unbeaten before opening bell, was simply undone by the aggressive Benavidez (28-0, 24 KOs), who knocked him down with right hand in the fourth round and then battered him through the next two rounds. There are few fighters with Benavidez kind of momentum. 

Once he gets going, he’s a freight train rolling down a steep incline. Get the hell of his way. Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs) couldn’t. After six rounds, he had no option other than surrender.

At ringside, there was Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight great who gave Benavidez his current nickname, The Monster.

Benavidez, who emerges as the World Boxing Council’s mandatory challenger to Canelo, went over and hugged him, perhaps an embrace between the modern version of the monster Tyson once was.

“I’m the best and I’m going to be the best,” Benavidez told a crowd full of his fans from Phoenix, his hometown. “i’m going to be a legend.”

Tyson smiled.

Andrade didn’t argue.

No telling what Canelo thought

Charlo scores one-sided decision over Jose Benavidez

It was a fight preceded by insults, broken promises and fines. 

But the profanity didn’t matter. The broken promises were followed by fines. The fight went on after one fighter, Jermall Charlo, paid $75,000 for every pound heavier than a contracted catchweight.

After all of that, it was a fight that went the way it was expected to. Chaos was  the prediction. But there was none. 

A bigger man beat a smaller man. 

Charlo, a middleweight champion who hasn’t made a title defense in 29 months, beat Jose Benavidez Jr., a former junior-welterweight and welterweight contender.

Charlo (33-0, 22 KOs) scored a unanimous decision. Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.  Argue with the score cards. The margins might have been too wide. The judges had it 98-92, 99-91 and 100-90. The third card, a shutout, seemed unfair to Benavidez (28-3-1, 19 KOs) who was never off his feet and appeared to make a competitive fight out of the early rounds.

But in the end, he simply wasn’t going to beat a fighter who was at least 15 pounds heavier. Charlo’s weight at opening bell wasn’t announced. He was ordered to be no more than 176 pounds at a secondary weigh-in Saturday morning, about 24 hours after he failed to make the 163-pound catch weight. Anything more than 176 pounds, would have cost him at least another $75,0000 per pound.

Whatever the final toll, he left the ring with his wallet a lot lighter. But that didn’t weaken his leverage-per-pound against a fighter who was simply too small to be in the ring with him.

Charlo knew that. After the scores were announced, he sounded more relieved than happy.

“Thank God, both of us are going home to our families healthy,” he said.

Benavidez, never a man with nothing to say before the fight, left the ring without a word. 

After a long 10 rounds, maybe there just wasn’t anything left to say. He was out of answers. Maybe, energy, too. 

Later, during an interview from his dressing room, he had this to say:

“He’s a good fighter, I’m not going to make any excuses. I came to fight. He said he was going to back me up and I didn’t back up. I kept coming forward. The best man won tonight.

“It’s boxing. I thought it was way closer than the judges’ said it was. At the end of the day I lost, and I’m not going to make any excuses.

“I don’t know if his extra weight had anything to do with it. Maybe. Maybe not. I came prepared. I gave my best. I’m going to take some time off – it’s the holidays. Of course, I’d like to run it back at the actual weight. At 160. If you weigh me right now I’m probably 165, and he still can’t do s— to me. It’s all good. I’m not worried about it. I gave it my all, and I came up short.”

Benavidez, ever fearless, opened the bout with abundant energy. He landed a straight right hand that bounced off Charlo’s face like a wicked tennis ball. It echoed throughout the arena. Benavidez also moved stubbornly forward, backing Charlo into the ropes and then into his corner. It was then, however, that Charlo answered with a flash of power, delivered like a pointed message from his bigger, stronger body.

Benavidez backed off. But his retreat didn’t go far. Didn’t last long either.

In the second and third, he continued his march into harm’s way, straight into Charlo’s dangerous wheelhouse. Charlo would throw a punch; Benavidez would counter with combos. The crowd roared. There was a chorus of chants.

Benavidez, Benavidez, was the lyric from fans who had traveled to Vegas from Phoenix, his hometown.

Jose, Jose.

Benavidez continued to give them hope with more combos and repeated bursts of energy. Increasingly, however, there were signs that the bigger blows from Charlo were beginning to have an impact.

In the seventh, Benavidez’ face bore the reddening signs of a bruising impact from Charlo’s punches. In the eighth, there were fewer combos from Benavidez. His hands began to drop. His chances began to diminish. It looked as if an energy crisis loomed. In the tenth, it landed, leaving with one more loss in his record and probably a purse fattened by a percentage of the fines paid by Charlo. 

Matias Retains Title with 6th Round Stoppage

Subtriel Matias is in the quitting business. Business is very good.

It continued uninterrupted and seemingly unstoppable Saturday,when Matias, the International Boxing Federation’s junior-welterweight champion, forced a fifth straight opponent to surrender Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.

This time, it was a wiry-like fighter from Uzbekistan, Shohjahom Ergashev.

Matias (20-1, 20 KOs), of Puerto Rico, endured his punches early and then exhausted him with his own, forcing his corner to say no-mas a couple of seconds after the bell sounded for the start of the sixth round.

Matias’ stubborn power, he said, is a result of the work his team has done. It’s also a result of patience followed by wild bursts of energy. Ergashev (23-1, 20 KOs) simply could not slow him down. 

Lamont Roach wins junior-lightweight crown

Wait and worry has been a story line to Lamont Roach’s career.

The story ended Saturday night.

He can quit waiting. For now, he can quit worrying.

Roach (24-1-1, 9 KOs) won, finally calming a junior-lightweight world title, with a split decision over Hector Garcia (16-2, 10 KOs) in a Showtime pay-per-view bout on the card featuring David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas.

In an otherwise close bout, Roach took control in the final two rounds, knocking Garcia into the ropes with a piston-like punch in the eleventh and then scoring a debatable knockdown in the twelfth with a left to the back of Gracia’s head.

“I think I did enough,” said Roach, of Upper Marlboro MD, a winner on two scorecards, 116-111 and 114-113. “He played kind of a cat-and-mouse game .’

Garcia, who was  favored 114-113 on the third card, said he accepted the judging.

“I thought I won,” he said. “But they counted it as a knockdown in the twelfth. He hit me in the back of the head. Without that, it would have been different.”

Mercado scores junior-welterweight shutout

Mercado scores junior-welterweight shutoutFrom precision to poise, Israel Mercado had it all.

He used it all, too, scoring a four-round shutout of Wesley Rivers Saturday night on the non-televised portion of the the Benavidez-Andrade fight at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

Mercado (10-1-1, 8 KOs), a junior-welterweight from Pomona CA, scored at will from several angles in a one-sided decision over Rivers (4-4), of Dearborn Heights MI.

First-time winner

It wasn’t easy, but Alenn Medina finally moved into the win column.

Medina (1-1), a welterweight from Las Vegas, had just enough of an edge in aggression to get a majority decision over  Alex Holley (1-1), a Dallas fighter who landed in the loss column for the first time. 

In the fourth fight of the night Michel “Salsa Ali” Rivera 24-1 (14KOs) of Miami, FL took on Sergey Lipinets 17-2-1(13KOs) fighting out of Woodlands CA. The action began with Rivera establishing his Jab and keeping Lipinets off balance. Jabbing continued through the round and not much action from Lipinets. Sergey stepped it up in the second round as both fighters picked it up with the volume of punches. The third did not see too much of anything, just a warning from the referee about holding and hitting behind the head area. 

In the fourth — just as Rivera landed a stunning right — Lipinets came back in his own right, landing  a good left just as the round ended. Rivera once again wobbled his opponent. The fifth of the scheduled 10 was arguably the best round of the fight. Each fighter seemed to hurt one another — Lipinets with lefts and Rivera with rights. 

As the fight went into the later rounds the pace slowed.  Few meaningful punches landed. The fight went all 10 rounds and was a good showcase for Rivera. Rivera went on to win the unanimous decision — 97-93, 97-93, 96-94. Improving to 25-1 (14KOs)….By David Galaviz

Vito Mielnicki wins first round stoppage

Vito Mielnicki Jr. calls himself White Magic.

Saturday, he was White Lightning.

Mielnicki (16-1, 11 KOs) struck fast. Struck twice, all within the first round of the third bout Saturday on the Benavidez-Andrade card..

First, he dropped Alexis Salazar (25-6, 10 KOs), of Norwalk CA, with what looked like a glancing blow. Then, he struck with a head-rocking straight hand, finishing Salazar at 2:27 of the first round.. 

Jubin Chollet scores knockdown, wins split decision

It was timely, It was precise. It was the difference.

Jubin Chollet (9-0, 7 KOs), a lightweight from San Diego, needed a knockdown and he got one, flooring Jorge Perez (6-1, 2 KOs) with a beautifully-placed right hand in the fifth round of the second bout Saturday on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade card. It was just enough for Cholley to win a split decision. He won 57-56 on two cards. It was 57-56 for Perez on the third.

First Bell: Daniel Blancas scores unanimous decision

The show opened In an arena filled with only chilly November temperatures and echoes from punches from super-middleweight Daniel Blancas and Raiko Santana.

In the end, the loudest shots were landed by Blancas (8-0, 4 KOs), a long and lanky Milwaukee fighter who won a 76-75, 78-73, 77-74 decision over Raiko Santana in a Saturday matinee, the opener on a car featuring David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Blancas, who had Benavidez trainer Jose Benavidez in his corner, relied on his superior reach to keep Santana

(10-4, 6 KOs), of El Paso, at a distance.  

Follow all the action as David Benavidez defends the WBC Interim Super Middleweight title against two-division champion Demetrius Andrade. The action starts at 8 PM ET with three-fight undercard that includes two-world title fights. Hector Luis Garcia defends the WBA Super Featherweight title against Lamont Roach Jr.; Subriel Matias defends the IBF Junior Welterweight title against Shohjahon Ergashev Plus Jermall Charlo takes on Jose Benavidez Jr.

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED; THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY.

Round 1: Right to Body from Benavidez..2 lefts to body from Andrade..Straight to body from Benavidez..Nice combination from Andrade

ROUND 2  Body/Head combo from Andrade…Benavidez an overhand right..Blistering combination from Andrade…

ROUND 3 Counter body shot from Andrade..Body shot from Benavidez..

ROUND 4 Benavidez lands a low blow..Straight left to body from Benavidez..Right uppercut..Double jab from Andrade..Left to body …BIG RIGHT AND DOWN GOES ANDRADE

ROUND 5 Big uppercut from Benavidez…Big right hand..2 big uppercuts..Body shot…Right hook from Andrade….Big left..Andrade is hurt

ROUND 6 Uppercut rocks Andrade,,.Clubbing left hand..Uppercut from Andrade..right uppercut..Big right from Benavidez..Right—FIGHT STOPPED IN CORNER

Round 1  Big Combination from Charlo..Lead left hook and uppercut
Round 2 3 Punch combination from Charlo…Jab..Straight from Benavidez..Right uppercut and jab from Charlo…Big right..Jab
Round 3 Benavidez landing combinations that are backing Charlo up..1-2 from Charlo…Sharp Jab..Good right..Left hook from Benavidez
Round 4 Uppercut from Charlo…Left hook..Jab from Benavidez…Benavidez lands a big shot After the bell
Round 5 Double left hook from Charlo..Jab..Body shot from Benavidez..Overhand right..Body..Body shot from Charlo..Combination from Benavidez..and another
Round 6 Overhand right from Charlo…Jab..Jab to the body..Big right…Combination from Benavidez..right hand
Round 7 Right from Charlo..Jab from Benavidez…Jab from Charlo..
Round 8 1-2 from Charlo..3 Punch combination..Sharp jab..
Round 9 Combination from Charlo..Right and left from Benavidez…Left uppercut from Charlo..Thudding left hook..Big uppercut..
Round 10 Hard right from Charlo..

99-91, 98-92 and 100-90 FOR JERMALL CHARLO

Round 1:Left from Ergashev..Combination..

ROUND 2 4 Punch combination from Ergashev..Uppercut and hook from Matias..Body shot from Ergashev..Combination from Matias..Chopping left..Left hook..Uppercut and left hook..

ROUND 3 Chopping left from Ergashev..left and combination from Matias…Left from Ergashev..Right uppercut…Combination

ROUND 4 2 left hooks and big right from Matias..Big flurry in the corner

ROUND 5 Big left from Left from Matias..Ergashev looks tired…Body shots from Matias..Sharp jab….ERGASHEV CANT CONTINUE IN THE CORNER

ROUND 1 Good right to body from Roach…Anther..Left from Garcia

ROUND 2 Left hook from Roach..Right..Lead right from Garcia..Straight from Roach..Nice counter left from Garcia

ROUND 3 Right from Garcia..Counter from Garcia…Body shot from Roach..Counter Hook from Garcia..Lead left…Body Combination..Nice left from Roach..Body shot from Garcia

ROUND 4 Body shot from Roach

Round 5 Counter combination from Garcia 

ROUND 6 Left to body from Garcia..Jab from Roach..

ROUND 7 Roach lands a jab..Combination from Garcia…Nice jab..Roach lands a jab…Body counter from Garcia..Jab from Roach…Left from Garcia..

ROUND 8 Left Hook from Roach

ROUND 9 Good right from Roach..Good left hook..

ROUND 10 Right uppercut from Roach..Good left hook..Left from Garcia…

ROUND 11 Right from Roach..Right Buckles Garcia…Uppercut and big flurry on the ropes..Right

ROUND 12 BIG LEFT HOOK AND DOWN GOES GARCIA..

114-113 Roach, 114-113 Garcia, 116-111 for Roach

Follow all the action as Chantelle Cameron defends the Undisputed Super Lightweight Title in a rematch against Katie Taylor. The action Begins at 5 PM ET

NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED. THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY

Round 1: Combination from Taylor..Jab..Right from Cameron..Taylor goes down but ruled a slip…

ROUND 2 Body shot from Cameron..hard right

ROUND 3 Good combination from Taylor..Right from Cameron..Cameron is cut on the forehead

ROUND 4 Right from Taylor..Left-right combination..Body shot from Cameron..

ROUND 5 Great action

Round 6 Right from Cameron..1-2

ROUND 7 Left From Cameron..Combination from Taylor..3 Punch combination

ROUND 8 Cameron working on the inside…Big right from Taylor

ROUND 9 Hard right from Taylor

ROUND 10 Left from Taylor..

96-94, 98-92 AND 95 FOR TAYLOR

Round 1:

BY Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – The Jose Benavidez Jr.-Jermall Charlo fight was still on late Friday, saved by a deal reached after Charlo failed to make weight.

Charlo, who was three-plus pounds heavier than the contracted 163-pound catchweight at the official weigh-in Friday morning, was fined $75,000-a-pound, multiple sources told 15 Rounds.

It wasn’t clear how much of that money went to Benavidez’ purse in an agreement that also included the Nevada Athletic Commission and promoters.

The size of the purses for both Benavidez and Charlo weren’t known. The Nevada Commission no longer discloses them.

Charlo faces further fines – for an undisclosed amount — if he is heavier than 176 pounds at another weigh-in scheduled for Saturday morning, according to Jose Benavidez Sr., father/trainer for Jose Jr. and super-middleweight contender David Benavidez.

David faces Demetrius Andrade in the main event after the Benavidez Jr.-Charlo fight at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Showtime’s final pay-per-view card (5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET).

Both David and Andrade came in under the super-middleweight’s 168-pound mandatory, David at 167.0 and Andrade at 167.6

“I’m very upset,’’ the senior Benavidez told 15 Rounds backstage at Mandalay Bay’s House of Blues after a mock weigh-in before a roaring crowd a few hours after the official weigh-in.

Benavidez’ father was not surprised that Charlo failed to make weight. But he was angered at how much heavier Charlo was.

“I thought maybe it would be a pound,’’ he said.

But it was more than three times more than that. Behind closed doors and under the Nevada Commission’s regulation, Charlo first stepped on the scale at 166.4 pounds. The second time he stepped on the scale, he was heavier – 166.6.

Benavidez’ dad would only say that he negotiated a stiff fine in an effort to ensure that Charlo would not come in heavy.

In bargaining, he said, Charlo said he wanted a catchweight at “166 or 167.’’ Benavidez said he refused. Eventually, they agreed on 163.

“This is my son,’’ he said. “I’m here to protect him.’’

Jose Jr. weighed in at 161.2 pounds Friday morning.  Before the controversial weigh-in, he was already at a heavy disadvantage against Charlo, a 160-pound champion who has held the World Boxing Council’s middleweight title despite not fighting for more than two years.

The 31-year-old Jose Jr., held a secondary title at 140 pounds. He then fought at 147, including a competitive loss to pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford, who was on stage for Friday’s weigh-in. Crawford stopped Jose Jr. in the twelfth and final round of a competitive bout in Omaha 2018.

Jose Jr. is not expected to be much heavier than he was at Friday’s weigh-in. Even if he stays at 161.2 pounds and Charlo is at the negotiated limit of 176 Saturday morning, Charlo would outweigh the Phoenix-born fighter by 14.8 pounds.

“I told my son not to do it,’’ his dad said. “I told him not to fight. But he really wants to fight. He’s determined. Really motivated. So, we’re going to fight.’’

After the ritual face-off after the mock weigh-in, Jose Jr. left little doubt about that. He tried to step through and around security that stood between him and Charlo.

Finally, the weigh-in show moderator stuck a microphone in his face.

“I’m going to knock his ass out,’’ Jose Jr., yelled, leaving echoes that only an opening bell can silence.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Jose Benavidez-Jermall Charlo fight on with deal made after Charlo is heavier than catchwt. Charlo 166.4, then 166.6. Charlo fined $75,000-a-pound above 163, sources tell 15 Rounds. Trainer Jose Benavidez says Charlo to weigh Sat morning. He’ll pay more fines if heavier than 176.

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – He has a curious nickname. He’s Boo Boo.

Insert punch line here, and many do in a business surrounded by over-the-top characters whose nicknames are a mix of fantasy, fear and comic-book super-hero.

It’s just one piece in the puzzle that is Demetrius Andrade, who says he’s been Boo Boo since he was a daredevil kid climbing trees and jumping off roofs.

He’s something of an enigma, but that might be exactly what makes him a threat to David Benavidez, who now calls himself The Monster. Nothing curious about that one. Interpret at your own risk.

But Andrade doesn’t think much of The Monster moniker, one given to Benavidez by Mike Tyson on his podcast. In fact, Andrade makes a joke out of it.

“Like I said, Mike was real, real high that day,’’ Andrade said at a public workout a few days before his super-middleweight date with Benavidez Saturday night at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Showtime’s final pay-per-view bout.

It’s funny and, some say, a foolish boo-boo from Andrade, a former junior-middleweight and middleweight champion who is fighting at 168 pounds for only the second time.

Against the bigger and younger Benavidez, there’s talk and odds – nearly 4-to-1 against Andrade – that this time the daredevil still in the 35-year-old fighter is on the precarious edge of a nasty fall.

But the problem with that argument is in Andrade’s record. He’s unbeaten, 32-0 with 19 knockouts. It’s a record and something of a riddle.

Andrade’s pro career doesn’t really include any defining moments, despite titles at 154 and 160 pounds. It’s unblemished and in some ways unremarkable for all things that haven’t happened.

Mostly, the 2008 Olympian has been elusive. The left-hander is hard to hit and harder to figure out. For the 26-year-old Benavidez and just about any other fighter, the unknown is often the biggest danger.

It’s no coincidence, perhaps, that Andrade is called the most-avoided fighter of his generation. The best in his time and perhaps any other time won’t fight what they don’t know. They won’t take on a riddle they can’t solve. So far, there aren’t any solutions. That’s what the 0 on the right side of Andrade’s ledger says.

Despite his many years in the pro ring, surprise appears to be Andrade’s best weapon against the aggressive Benavidez, also unbeaten (27-0, 23 KOs), in a fight that could lead to a big pay-day against Canelo Alvarez.

“I think he’s going to be very surprised,’’ Andrade says, almost cryptically. “I have the source. I can frustrate him, set traps and break him down while also hitting him.’’

The biggest question, however is time.

“Father Time beats all,’’ Andrade said.

Can Andrade 35-year-old legs carry him out of danger, especially in the later rounds. Benavidez has been at his punishing best from the eighth through the 12^th.

The Phoenix-born Benavidez is confident he can overwhelm Andrade – stop him – in part because Andrade won’t have room to run. Benavidez says a 22-by-22-foot ring was a factor in his inability to stop Caleb Plant last March. He won a unanimous decision. Plant, he says, was able to elude some of his lethal pressure in a bigger ring.

Plant demanded and got some extra canvas, 22-by-22 feet instead of the traditional 20-by-20 in contract negotiations.

“I’m going to strike whenever there’s an opportunity,’’ Benavidez said.

But, Andrade repeated, he’ll be surprised, suggesting that he’ll never get that opportunity.

Nobody ever has. 

By Norm Frauenheim –

LAS VEGAS – David Benavidez sounds as if he is ready to be more than just another fighter chasing Canelo Alvarez.

Benavidez introduced bold aspirations, saying he wants to be a force all his own instead of just another name in the Canelo lottery, Wednesday at a public workout for his super-middleweight date Saturday with Demetrius Andrade.

“I think this is the start of the Benavidez era,’’ he said to a crowd of onlookers on the casino floor at Mandalay Bay, not far from the Michelob ULTRA Arena where he defended the first of two titles in a

victory over Ronald Gavril as a 20-year-old in 2018.

He was a kid, then. Nearly six years later, he’s a feared fighter, still young, yet just entering his prime and on a path that he believes will put him where Canelo has been.

He talked about a chance at making some history, which was Canelo’s mantra until he ran into Dmitry Bivol, a light-heavyweight who upset him and his ambitions in May 2022.

It’s not as if Canelo isn’t still on Benavidez’ horizon. The undisputed super-middleweight champion is there, dangerous as ever, as the next possibility for Benavidez, who will turn 27 on Dec. 17.

The World Boxing Council decided a couple of weeks ago at a convention in Uzbekistan that the Benavidez-Andrade winner will be Canelo’s mandatory challenger. These days, that could mean just about anything. Canelo’s celebrity and earning power equal clout. He calls his own shots. There’s talk of him fighting welterweight champion and pound-for-pound king Terence Crawford.

There’s also uncertainty about the boxing business. The Benavidez-Andrade fight is Showtime’s last pay-per-view card. There’s still no news about a new broadcast network.

Canelo, the pay-per-view star of his generation, doesn’t come cheap. His purses have doubled and tripled since he collected $12 million for his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr.

But it’s clear that Benavidez is anxious to get out from under Canelo’s dominance. For years, he called out Canelo. For years, Canelo told him — in so many words — to get in line.

“I’m so sick of talking about Canelo,’’ said Benavidez’ father and trainer Jose Benavidez, whose older son, Jose Jr., fights middleweight champion Jermall Charlo in a contentious co-main event. ”He’s been fighting little guys.’’

Canelo scored a dominant decision over Charlo’s twin brother, junior-middleweight Jermell Charlo, in his last outing, a bout that looked a lot like a tune-up.

Since beating the smaller Charlo, there’s not been much comment from Canelo about Benavidez or his chances at being the mandatory challenger. Late Wednesday, he was nearly a 4-1 favorite over Andrade, a former middleweight and junior-middleweight champion.

But Benavidez doesn’t seem to care what Canelo thinks anymore.

“To be honest, I’m not worried about Canelo,’’ said the Phoenix-born fighter, now a Seattle resident who continues to wear the PHX acronym on his trunks. “I want to clean out the division.

“I promise you I will not disappoint you. This will be the best fight – to date – of my career.

That starts, he said, with Andrade, a former Olympian with a comprehensive skillset. The 35-year-old Andrade knows his way around the ring.

He can challenge Benavidez with versatility and agile footwork, both of which figure to be an intriguing test of Benavidez’ patience, maturity and emerging ambition.

Benavidez seeking KO

Benavidez (27-0, 23 KOs) is confident he can stop the unbeaten Andrade (32-0, 19 KOs). 

His promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz is sure of it.

“I promise you David will knock out Andrade,’’ Lewkowicz told the workout crowd.

A reason might the size of the ring. It’s the traditional 20-by-20, smaller than the 22-by-22-foot ring for Benavidez’ unanimous decision over Caleb Plant last March.

Plant, who has some of Andrade’s boxing skill, was able to use the bigger ring — the result of a contract demand — to elude some of Benavidez’ punishing pursuit, especially in the final rounds.

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s not exactly a surprise that the World Boxing Council decided this week that the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade winner will be Canelo Alvarez’ mandatory challenger.

It only would have been news if the WBC had not done so during its Uzbekistan convention, a gathering that did produce headlines, including WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman’s silly fight with The Ring, a magazine older than any acronym and a century-old publication that charges a subscription fee but never a sanctioning fee.

I’ve written for The Ring.

I’ve got a subscription.

I buy my own belts.

Conventions, of course, are always trying to create news, and — from bridgerweight to franchise belts — the WBC has generated its share.

The Ring, which awards its own championship belts, “threatens the credibility’’ of boxing, Sulaiman told iFL TV. Year-in, year -out, boxing does a pretty good job of that, all by its lonesome.

Nevertheless, I’m sure the WBC-versus-The Ring will never be a Fight of the Year contender. X-worthy, maybe. Pay-per-view, definitely not.

It’s an unfortunate sideshow, a diversion from what will happen on Nov. 25 with the Benavidez-Andrade fight at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas. It’ll be the beginning of Showtime’s end, it’s final pay-per-view boxing telecast.

That’s what threatens boxing.

Not The Ring.

It’s an existential threat, one that will be there no matter who – Benavidez or Andrade — emerges from the super-middleweight bout as Canelo’s mandatory challenger.

What’s really mandatory is a network, a streaming or lineal TV partner with the cash and clout to stage a projected May or September fight featuring Canelo, boxing’s highest earner over the last several years.  

Canelo got a reported $12 million in 2013 for his loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. Since then, his purses have doubled, tripled. His guarantee for a trilogy victory over Gennadiy Golovkin in September 2022 was reported to be $45-million.

Is there any network willing to join Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) in a partnership to pay that much to Canelo against the Phoenix-born Benavidez or Andrade?

There’s no answer, and there doesn’t figure to be one until after Nov. 25. The aggressive Benavidez is about a 4-to-1 favorite over the skilled Andrade. Canelo-Benavidez figures to be a better sell than Canelo-Andrade. Canelo-Benavidez, Mexican-versus-Mexican-American, has been one fight fans have been demanding for a couple of years.

Maybe, that demand is high enough to interest a network. For now, however, it’s only a question, one that’s also creating uncertainty about a contracted Terence Crawford-Errol Spence rematch, projected for early next year.

For as long as there’s no network, there’s no sequel.

Crawford, who was stripped of the International Boxing Federation’s welterweight title just months after his brilliant summer stoppage of Spence, was asked about it while in Vegas for the Shakur Stevenson-Edwin De Los Santos late Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

“I don’t know,” Crawford told reporters at the weigh-in Wednesday. “It’s still up in the air, given the fact that Showtime has no longer decided to do boxing. So, everything’s up in the air right now with that.’’

Up and ominous, a real threat instead of an imaginary one.

Follow all the action as Shakur Stevenson and Edwin De Los Santos fight for the vacant WBC Lightweight Championship. The action begins at 10:30 PM ET with The WBO Junior Lightweight Title bout between Emanuel Navarrete and Robson Conceicao.

THE PAGE WILL UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY. NO BROWSER REFRESH NEEDED

Round 1: Short left from Stevenson..Left to body..

ROUND 2 Jab from Stevenson..De Los santos lands a body shot…

ROUND 3 2 Jabs from Stevenson…

ROUND 4 Triple Jab from Stevenson..Jab to body from De Los Santos..Left to body from Stevenson

ROUND 5 Body shot from De Los Santos..

ROUND 6 De Los Santos lands a double jab to the body…

ROUND 7 Jab from Stevenson

ROUND 8 Good jab from De Los Santos..Good Jab from Stevenson..

ROUND 9 Nice right from Stevenson..Good exchange…Right Hook from Stevenson

ROUND 10 Right hook from Stevenson..Right hook..Another right hook…

ROUND 11 Double right hook from Stevenson..

ROUND 12  1-2 from Stevenson..Right from De Los Santos…

116-112 TWICE AND 115-113 FOR STEVENSON

Round 1 Conceicao lands a combination…Body shot

ROUND 2 Right to body from Navarrete..Right from Conceicao..4 punch combination from Navarrete

ROUND 3 Navarrete has small cut on bridge of nose..3 Punch combination from Navarrete..Counter from Conceicao..

ROUND 4 Right to body from Navarrete..Short right and LEFT UPPERCUT AND DOWN GOES CONCEICAO..Right drives Conceicao off balance

ROUND 5 Short right and sweeping left from Navarrete…Combination…Left to body from Conceicao..

ROUND 6 Counter right from Conceicao..RightCombination from Navarrete..1-2..Good hook..Conceicao cut on the bridge of his nose.

ROUND 7 BIG RIGHT TO THE BODY AND DOWN GOES CONCEICAO

ROUND 8 Right from Conceicao.  Blood from mouth of Conceicao…Left hook hurts Conceicao…

ROUND 9  Doctor checks Conceicao before round…1-2 from Conceicao…Right to body from Navarrete…Body shot..Another..

ROUND 11 Right from Conceicao..Combination from Navarrete

ROUND 12 1-2 from Conceicao..Short right…

114-112 NAVARRETE…113-113 ON 2 CARDS…DRAW

In a fight that was void of action, Shakur Stevenson became a three-division world champion as he captured the WBC Lightweight Title with a 12-round unanimous decision over Edwin De Los Santos at The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Not much happened in the fight as neither guy pushed forward. Stevenson was able to jab more effectively, while the handful of times that De Los Santos tried to press, he was ineffective as the elusive Stevenson was never in range.

Stevenson landed 65 of 209 punches. De Los Santos was 40 of 316.

Stevenson picked it up over the final six-rounds and won by scores of 115-113 and 116-112 twice.

Stevenson, 133.8 lbs of Newark, NJ is now 21-0. De Los Santos, 134.3 lbs of Santo Domingo, DR is 16-2.

Stevenson said, “I had a bad performance tonight. That’s all I’m really focused on. I wasn’t feeling too good, so I’ll live with it. It’s okay. I came here and got the victory, and that’s all I wanted to do.

“I just didn’t feel good. I didn’t feel good before the fight. Honestly, I had already told myself that if I feel like this in the ring and if it’s not going well, I’m going to make sure that I box and get the victory.”

De Los Santos said, “We all know what happened. He came for a track meet. He didn’t come to fight. I showed that I am on a higher level because he never stood and fought like he does with other fighters.

“I did my job. He came to survive. That’s what he did. They gifted him the title, but I’m the people’s champion.”

Navarrete and Conceicao Fight to Draw

Emanuel Navarrete and Robson Conceicao fought to a 12-round majority draw in a bout for Navarrete’s WBO Junior Lightweight title.

In round two, Navarrete had a small cut on the bridge of the nose. In round four, Navarrete dropped Conceicao with a left uppercut. In round six, Cinceicao was cut on the bridge of his nose.

In round nose, Navarrete landed a perfect right to the body that put Conceicao down.

Navarrete landed 116 of 47 punches. Conceicao was 213 of 852.

Navarrete, 130 lbs of San Juan, MEX won by a 114-112 score, while two cards were even at 113-113.

Navarrete is 38-1-1. Conceicao, 129.3 lbs of Bahia, BRA is 17-2-1.

Navarrete said, “The decision is well-deserved. Robson is a great fighter. He left his heart in the ring. There were some details with regard to technique, but we accomplished what we said we would do. We gave a great show for the fans. And, at least, I am very happy to come away with the title.
 
“He deserves the rematch, but that decision doesn’t depend 100 percent on me. But, if it does happen, I would train even better. He knows how I fight, and I know how he fights, so it would make for an excellent fight.”
 
Conceição said, “It was a hard fight. He is very strong. It was a difficult. But I know what I did tonight.
 
“It was a good fight. It deserves a rematch. If we do get the rematch, we will both train harder and will give an even better fight.”

Brian Norman Jr. remained undefeated with a 10-round unanimous decision over Quinton Randall in a battle of undefeated welterweights.

In round four, Norman was cut over his right eye.

Norman landed 74 of 281 punches. Randall was 71 of 299.

Norman, 146.4 lbs of Atlanta, GA won by scores of 99-91 twice and 97-93 and is now 25-0. Randall, 145.3 lbs of Houston is 13-1-1.

Floyd Diaz remained undefeated with an eight-round split decision over Max Ornelas in a bantamweight bout.

In round two, Diaz dropped Ornelas with a leaping and wide left hook. In round three, it was a jab that put Ornelas on the canvas.

In round five, Diaz began to swell over his right eye.

Diaz, 117.7 lbs of Las Vegas won by scores of 78-72, 77-73 and Ornelas took a card by a 76-74. score.

Diaz is now 10-0. Ornelas, 117.9 lbs of Las Vegas is 15-2-1.

Troy Isley won an eight-round unanimous decision over upset-specialist Vladimir Hernandez in a middleweight bout.

Isley, 159.7 lbs of Alexandria, VA won by scores of 77-75 on all cards and is now 11-0. Hernandez, 156.8 lbs of Ciudad, MEX is 14-6.

Emiliano Fernando Vargas stopped Brandon Mendoza in round two of their six-round lightweight bout.

Vargas, 135.6 lbs of Las Vegas is 8-0 with seven knockouts. Mendoza, 134.9 lbs of Los Angeles is 6-3.

In round one, Vargas dropped Mendoza with a left hook that was followed by a right Hand. A second knockdown was ruled after the round when a right hand made the right glove of Mendoza touch the canvas. In round two, Vargas landed a double right over the top that put Mendoza down and the fight was stopped at 57 seconds.

In a battle of undefeated heavyweights, Jackson Murray won a six-round unanimous decision over Steven Torres.

In round three, Murray dropped Torres with a right hook to the side of the head.

Murray, 230.7 lbs of Sydney, AUS won by scores of 60-53 on all cards and is now 6-0. Torres, 240.7 lbs of Reading, PA is 6-1-1.

Abdullah Mason stopped Jose Cardenas in round two of their six-round lightweight fight.

In round one, Mason dropped Cardenas with a double left. In round two, Mason dumped Cardenas with a perfect one-two and the fight was stopped at 1:55.

Mason, 134.4 lbs of Cleveland is 11-0 with nine knockouts. Cardenas, 134.6 lbs of Laredo, TX is 7-2.

Hugo Micallef stopped Sergio Odabai after round four of their six-round junior welterweight bout.

Micallef, 142.7 lbs of Monte Carlo, MON is 9-0 with two knockouts. Odabai, 141.7 lbs of Vienna, AUS 6-2-1.

Giovanni Sarchioto remained undefeated with a third-round stoppage over Lucas de Abreu in a six-round super middleweight fight.

Sarchioto dropped de Abreu twice in round three. The first coming from a series of right hands. Sarchioto finisehed off de Abreu with a hard right that put his backside and the fight was stopped at 2:06.

Sarchioto, 167 lbs of Atazio, ITA is now 9-0 with eight knockouts. de Abreu, 166.3 lbs of Sao Paulo, BRA 14-5.

By Norm Frauenheim –

There’s trash talk and there’s chaos.

The Jermall Charlo-Jose Benavidez edition of boxing’s long running, increasingly redundant exhibition tipped toward the latter in a hide-the-kids kind of exchange during a virtual news conference Tuesday.

It’s been called wild, a polite description of what was really a verbal food fight. It was just off the wall, not to mention off the rails.

Kudos to all those who were able to put together a few cogent quotes from a session that had me reaching for my noise-reducing headphones. Subtract the profanity and there just wasn’t much left.

I’m not opposed to trash talk. It’s how boxing communicates. But let’s just say it’s getting harder and harder to listen to the language. It’s not talking. It’s screaming. At least, Muhammad Ali, trash-talk’s undisputed original, used to mix in a few poems and clever punch lines. 

Trust me, there was nothing poetic or remotely clever from either Benavidez or Charlo. Put it this way: Nearly everything rhymed with puck.

Still, there was some news, but I’m only sure of that because of Boxing Scene’s Keith Idec, who makes sense out of chaos better than anyone else seated along press row.

Thanks to Idec, we know that the bout on the David Benavidez-Demetrius Andrade Showtime pay-per-view card Nov. 25 will be at a catchweight, 163 pounds, and that Charlo’s World Boxing Council middleweight belt won’t be at stake in his first bout in more than two years.

The unbeaten Charlo (32-0, 22 KOs) hasn’t fought since a decision over Juan Macias Montiel on June 19, 2021.  That’s 28 months between opening bells. According to the WBC, he’s been battling mental-health issues.

Idec quoted Charlo as saying the belt was “nothing but a trophy.’’  

It’s there. Hide the kids and listen to the tape. But WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman took exception, criticizing Idec on X (formerly Twitter) with a post suggesting that Charlo’s comment was taken out of context.

Sulaiman’s post: It’s very unfortunate to post such a misleading comment and not the many other statements he did. Charlo is a proud WBC Champion and fully respects the organization. We just spoke confirmed directly from him. It is very common to take a few words here and there and make a story

Sorry, but Charlo’s few words were the story, the only real story in what otherwise was a torrent of profanity. Blame Charlo. Benavidez, who has turned into one of boxing’s noisiest trash talkers, clearly got to him.

Benavidez (28-2-1, 19 KOs), David’s older brother, began his part of the PBC newser by saying: “I’m not ready to do much talking.’’

Then, he wouldn’t shut up.

In one shouting match after another, the Phoenix fighter called Charlo a baby and few other b-words.  Benavidez, known these days for his movie role in Creed III, questioned why Charlo was fighting at 163 pounds instead of 160. He asked him if he couldn’t make weight because he’s undisciplined. He referred to his reported mental-health issues. He mocked him, begging him not to cry.

Benavidez, an actor when he’s not fighting, went over the line. He also knows all the lines, most of them obscene and each intended to outrage.

That was the context.

Idec simply did what he always does: His job. He reported – reported exactly – what Charlo said in reaction to the chaos that was the context.

Nothing But An Opinion: Charlo’s controversial line – “nothing but a trophy” – applies all over again, just a couple of days after he used it to describe his WBC belt. Late Thursday, news broke that the International Boxing Federation stripped Terence Crawford of its welterweight belt.

Before a formal announcement, the IBF quietly dropped Crawford and elevated Jaron Ennis to its 147-pound title in its ratings. Social media noticed.

Ennis figures to be a great champion. But only if he fights for the title. In confirming the move, the IBF cited no deal for Crawford to defend the title against Ennis, the mandatory challenger. 

Therefore, the acronym said, it “has withdrawn recognition of Terence Crawford as the IBF Welterweight world champion.”

It’s fair to say that recognition isn’t shared by fans, who watched Crawford become the consensus pound-for-pound champion against Errol Spence just a few months ago.

More Notes: A strong undercard has fallen into place for Benavidez-Andrade. PBC announced this week that ex-junior-welterweight champion Sergey Lipnets (17-2-1, 13 KOs) will face former lightweight Michel Rivera (24-1, 14 KOs) in a scheduled 10-rounder at Michelob ULTRA Arena at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay.

Off-TV, Floyd Mayweather’s heavily-hyped prospect, 17-year-old junior-lightweight Curmel Moton (1-0,1 KO) faces Hunter Turbyfill (3-0, 1 KO), of Memphis, in a four-rounder. Moton made his debut Sept. 30 on the undercard of Canelo Alvarez’ one-sided decision over Jermell Charlo.

By Mario Ortega Jr. –

DALY CITY, CALIFORNIA – Longtime lightweight contender Adam Lopez proved to be a class above a game Giovannie Gonzalez in the main event of a six-bout card at the famed Cow Palace Arena & Event Center on Saturday night. 

Lopez (17-5, 6 KOs) of Glendale, California outworked and outboxed Gonzalez (18-6-2, 13 KOs) of Stockton, California over the eight rounds en route to a shutout decision. 

Lopez, 132, began to let his hands go in the second round, as he forced Gonzalez, 133, to the ropes with combinations. There was good two-way action in the third, but Lopez just threw and landed more often. 

Lopez clearly took control of the fight in the fourth. Two body shots late in the round really seemed to bother Gonzalez. The Stockton fighter may have thought the punches strayed low as a brief shoving match took place after the bell. 

The pace slowed in the fifth and sixth rounds, but Lopez was able to notch them by throwing in combination as Gonzalez looked to land one at a time. 

Gonzalez sprang to life late in the seventh and eighth rounds, but the late flurries were not enough to sway any of the judges. After dodging Gonzalez’ final effort along the ropes, Lopez had earned the nod on all three cards by the score of 80-72. 

With the win, Lopez, who has only have ever come up short against the very top level of the division, claimed the WBC Continental Latino title. Holding the regional belt will likely aide in placing Lopez among the top fifteen when the WBC releases their next world rankings. 

In the co-main event, featherweight prospect Malikai Johnson (12-0-1, 8 KOs) of Sacramento, California stopped Eugene Lagos (16-7-3, 11 KOs) of Laguna Hills, California by way of Lebak, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines with seconds to go in the third round.

After a feeling out first round, things heated up in the second stanza. Lagos, 129, set to press the action and Johnson, 126, found his spots countering. 

Lagos was aggressive again in the third and found succes with combinations. Johnson was able to counter, especially as Lagos got a little wild with some of his swings. Lagos pressed Johnson to the ropes late in the round. The Sacramento fighter was able to maneuver off of the ropes, reversing position, before landing a left to the body that crumpled Lagos to his knees. With Lagos not moving, holding his ribs on the mat, referee Michael Margado called the fight at 2:57 of the third round. 

Jacob Macalolooy (7-0, 4 KOs) of Union City, California boxed his way to a six-round unanimous decision over rugged Jose Manuel Gomez (4-3-1, 4 KOs) of Livermore, California 

Macalolooy, 147, controlled most of the opening round until Gomez, 148, wobbled him with a right with seconds to go. The late round success may have turned Gomez into a head-hunter, as he never made a concentrated effort to slow Macalolooy with a body attack. 

Macalolooy regained his footing in the second and closed the round with a well-placed flurry. The third featured competitive action, but Macalolooy’s movement gave Gomez trouble as the fight progressed. 

As the fight moved past the midway point, Macalolooy was able to land one eye-catching blow and either move away or clinch on the inside. In the end, all three judges scored the bout a shutout for Macalolooy, 60-54.

Petr Khamukov (11-0, 5 KOs) of Woodland Hills, California by way of Labinsk, Krasnodar Krai, Russia notched a workmanlike stoppage of veteran journeyman Angel Hernandez (19-23-1, 14 KOs) of Gary, Indiana.

Khamukov, 160, methodically broke down Hernandez, 159, as the fight progressed, leading to the eventual conclusion. 

Khamukov, a 2016 Russian Olympian, nearly scored a knockdown in the first, but it was waved off due to the way Hernandez was assisted to the mat after the punch had landed. 

Hernandez fought bravely for much of the bout, but opted to take a knee with under 20 seconds to go in the third round. Referee Edward Collantes visited the corner during the rest period and quickly signaled for the end of the contest. Official time of the stoppage was 3:00 of the third. 

Damoni Cato-Cain (8-1-1, 7 KOs) of Oakland, California scored one knockdown on the way to stopping Juan Meza Moreno (4-4, 3 KOs) of Los Angeles, California after three completed rounds. 

Cato-Cain, 151, and Meza Moreno, 150, both switched from southpaw to orthodox and back throughout the contest, but it was the Oaklander that found success from the opening bell. 

Cato-Cain landed with straight left hand out of southpaw stance that dropped Meza Moreno late in first round. Cato-Cain was more measured in the second stanza, but still rocked Meza Moreno midway through the round and then staggered Meza Moreno again in the third with a right hand. 

Ringside physician Gary Furness checked on Meza Moreno after the second and third rounds, ultimately stopping the bout after the second look, with the official time of :01 of the fourth round. 

In the opening bout, Sachery Sam (2-0, 1 KO) of Stockton scored a first-round technical knockout of Ezra Rabin (1-4, 1 KO) of Oakland. 

Utilizing his jab and quick, short punches, Sam, 130, dropped Rabin, 129, four times en route to the stoppage at the 2:07 mark of the round.

It was announced that Westside Promotions, promoter of Saturday’s event, will return to the Cow Palace next March. 

Photo by Shane Radin/srflicks.com 

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

By Norm Frauenheim-

Tyson Fury exited Saudi Arabia with a bag full of cash and a lot of questions after a controversial, problematic performance that dropped boxing’s old flagship division back into a familiar mess.

Fury is still the lineal champion, although a novice almost interrupted that long line of heavyweight succession. For the record, he can still say he beat the man who beat the man.

But one judge, a lot of active fighters, retired fighters, pundits and the social-media mob argue otherwise. Before reporters even learned how to spell his name, the unlikely Francis Ngannou knocked down Fury and did enough to win on one of three scorecards last Saturday.

It was Fury, by split decision, a split that ensures that this controversy won’t go away quietly. Everybody said all the right things, picked up their paychecks, praised their hosts and headed home as if to say: “Let’s move on, nothing to see here.’’

In Fury’s bruised left eye and bloodied forehead, there was plenty to see. Plenty to question. Is he the same guy, or just another fighter who has suddenly grown old?

It comes as no surprise that his performance has forced some quick adjustments. Remember all of those reports about a December 23 date with Oleksandr Usyk? Not going to happen then. Not after what happened Saturday.

Frank Warren, Fury’s UK promoter, confirmed to reporters Thursday that there’s been a postponement. Probably in February, also in Saudi, Warren said.

“The fight will happen before 2 March and it will be for the undisputed title and all four belts,” Warren said. “The IBF (International Boxing Federation) have given consent for that now and it’s all done. The fight is on. Everybody’s agreed, and it will be announced fairly soon.”

For now, the timing of that announcement hinges on how quickly Fury heals. He’s been here before. He was badly bloodied in a unanimous decision over Otto Wallin in September 2019.  He was cut twice, once above the right eye and then along the eyelid. 

Reportedly, he needed 47 stitches to close the wound, which could have forced an early stoppage in what would have been a huge upset.

But a Fury rematch with Deontay Wilder was at stake. It was planned for Feb. 22, 2020. Then, there were similar questions about whether Fury could heal up in time. He did, and he went on to a seventh-round stoppage of Wilder on the projected date in Las Vegas.

But he was about three years younger and perhaps a lot more resilient than the 35-year-old, who struggled against Ngannou, a former mixed-martial arts champion with a big punch. Also, he had yet to face Wilder in a third fight, a violent brawl that Fury won after getting knocked down twice in October 2021.

Fury got up all over again in the third round against Ngannou. But this time it was with evident hesitancy instead of the inexhaustible resiliency he displayed against Wilder. 

He finished that trilogy definitively. Dramatically. He left no doubt in an 11^th round KO that represents the peak of a great heavyweight in his prime.

Against Ngannou, he simply held on, looking like an aging fighter with a couple of titles, plenty of money and ominous scars.

“Look, you can get somebody becoming very old in boxing overnight,” Warren said “I don’t think it’s the case with Tyson,  and we’ll find out in his next fight.

“My opinion is that I don’t think anybody expected that from Ngannou. I did expect he would be tough. But I genuinely never expected that Ngannou could shape up as a boxer like he did.’’

For the next couple of months, expect just about anything.

By Norm Frauenheim –

Tyson Fury-Francis Ngannou defies description. Fight or fraud? Fish or foul? It depends on who’s doing the marketing and/or the mocking.

Sift through all of the possibilities, and there’s only one: Exhibition. That, and all of its interpretations, was on parade at a news conference Thursday in Riyadh.

 At times, it was slapstick funny. Send in the clowns. At times, it began to redefine what it means to be cringe-worthy.

A cringe-worthy moment: Fury stripped off his jacket and vest for a bare-chested pose in a forehead-to-forehead stare-down with Ngonnou. His 59-year-old father, John Fury, quickly joined the strip show shedding his shirt and then stepping in front of the camera. Gently, John Fury – animated as in cartoon-like — had to be moved to one side. It wasn’t his show. At least, it’s not supposed to be.

All of the time, it was clear it was all about the cash.

There’s plenty of that being exhibited, although none of the numbers have been confirmed. Let’s just say that Fury’s income could make him an oil baron.

Speculation puts his payday at $60 million for an exhibition (Saturday, 2 pm ET/11 am PT, ESPN + pay-per-view), that looks a lot like a tune-up for a fight – a real one –projected for Dec. 23 against Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, also in Riyadh and also for an astonishing bankroll. Talk – and that’s all it is – puts that paycheck at $100 million.

For the Saudis, Fury looks to be another investment in their so-called sports wash. He’s another name, another possible diversion from the controversy surrounding the Saudi Kingdom’s reputation for repression. Their sports collection includes Phil Mickelson, Formula One auto racing, soccer and horse racing. A major addition would be Fury-Usyk, one of the biggest heavyweight fights in a fabled history.

“Tyson Fury is certainly the best heavyweight since Muhammad Ali and maybe ever,’’ said Fury’s 92-year-old American promoter, Bob Arum, also Ali’s former promoter.

But boxing isn’t golf. It’s a risk, one that maybe Mickelson wouldn’t even bet on.  With one punch, everything can go wrong and often does.

Fury-Ngannou, at $79.99 pay-per-view, is being mocked precisely because it looks like a set-up for the reported December date with Usyk. The Saturday exhibition is not even listed under Fury’s BoxRec entry. If the reliable, go-to BoxRec doesn’t list it, it’s not a fight. Then, there’s Fury’s World Boxing Council heavyweight belt. It’s not at stake, although WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman was there with a specially-made belt, named “the Riyadh Champion belt.’’ That makes interim sound like a promotion.

The guess is that if the unlikely happens, the WBC belt would still be in play in December against Usyk, who holds the three other belts. Then, there’s Ngonnou, a UFC champion, a mixed martial arts fighter known for unprecedented power.

Even Mike Tyson, a celebrity cornerman for Ngannou, marvels at power that once defined him.

“Nobody takes a punch like Tyson Fury, but this is a different kind of power,’’ said Tyson, who wore a businessman’s suit to Thursday’s exhibit of Fury exhibitionists.

Tyson is there to help sell the show. He’s an intriguing angle. In 1988, John Fury named his son after Tyson, who had just begun his wild run through the heavyweight division.

Mike Tyson warns his namesake about Ngannou’s power. It’s a limb-breaker, he says.

“I saw him hit this guy,’’ Tyson said as he gestured with an imaginary blow to the jaw. “And the guy wound up breaking a leg or ankle or whatever.’’

But there are doubts about whether Ngannou, of Cameroon, will ever land that big punch. He’s a novice boxer. Video of him hitting the mitts showed power, but no precision or hand speed. Autumn could turn to winter in the time it takes Ngannou to land. The clever Fury could feint, duck, feint again and counter within that long moment. Leg-breaker? Yeah Ngannou might break his own in a wild miss.

The real measure of Ngannou’s feared power is also hard to judge. He’ll be wearing 10-ounce gloves for the first time. He executed 17 stoppages in mixed martial arts wearing four-ounce gloves.

In his memorable trilogy with Deontay Wilder, he was knocked down four times by a right hand as explosive as any in history. What would Wilder’s power have done had he been wearing four ounces, instead of 10? He and Fury probably would have never gone beyond the first fight and Fury’s 12th-round resurrection from a crushing knockdown.

There are other possibilities, hard to predict and all common to boxing’s familiar chaos. Fury knows them. He’s been there. In September 2019, he fought Swede Otto Wallin in a fight perceived to be a tune-up for his first rematch with Wilder. The heavily favored Fury won a debatable unanimous decision in Las Vegas. He also suffered a nasty cut to his right eye.

A Wallin punch caused the cut in the third round. Wallin would do further damage, enough to argue that the fight should have been stopped in his favor.

Fury needed a reported 47 stitches and time to heal. There was speculation that it would delay the second fight with Wilder. It didn’t. Wilder conceded it was risky, that the cut might rupture. But he never gave a clueless Wilder the chance to try, blowing him away in the seventh round February 2020 in Vegas.

Call it a warning, Exhibit A among risks to a Saudi bet that it’ll host some heavyweight history.   

By Norm Frauenheim –

Showtime was at ringside before Canelo Alvarez was born, yet its imminent exit from boxing isn’t much of a surprise. It is however, a warning for a battered, balkanized business forever at odds with itself.

Only boxing is killing boxing. It’s an old line that bears repeating in the wake of the announcement this week that the network will televise one, maybe two more cards, including David Benavidez’ Nov. 25 super-middleweight date with Demetrius Andrade in Las Vegas.

Benavidez is 26, a face of boxing’s emerging generation. It’s fair to guess that the Phoenix-born fighter and former-two-time champion assumed that Showtime would always be there. He grew up with it. Throughout his unbeaten career, it was part of the show. 

But it’s exit, predicted for years, leaves questions about what awaits him, his rivals and their generation of fans.

Showtime has been fundamental to their hopes and expectations. It brought the money. But if Benavidez beats Andrade, will enough of that be there for a projected Canelo-Benavidez blockbuster next year, post-Showtime?

That’s just one question, emblematic of the many that boxing never really considered amid all the speculation that the network was approaching its final bell.

Rumors were there last month throughout the fight-week build-up for Canelo’s one-sided decision over Jermell Charlo, also on Showtime. By then, however, it was too late for any substantive change. After all, Showtime’s exit from boxing was predicted in 2018.

That’s when Top Rank’s Bob Arum said Showtime would eventually follow HBO and leave boxing.  

“Showtime does not belong in boxing,’’ Arum said.

Arum made the comment to reporters before Canelo’s majority decision over Gennadiy Golovkin on Sept 15 in a 2018 rematch on HBO. Twelve days later, HBO announced it was throwing in the towel, finished after 45 years.

“I mean, they’re wasting the stock holders money by doing boxing matches,’’ Arum said then.  “They should invest in entertainment because HBO realizes they’re in a dogfight with Disney, with Netflix, and so every dollar that they can conserve to put into entertainment, they need desperately.

“Showtime has to become aware of that fact, but the only way they’re going to survive is with good entertainment, because unfortunately when you do boxing, you open and close the same night.’’

Showtime’s exit became inevitable last January with Paramount+, a streaming service and a sure sign of change in philosophy – a move toward long-running shows.

Rather than one night of boxing or a live concert, Arum said, HBO and Showtime can only compete with shows that can draw an audience week after week, night after night.

“And five years from now, the linear platform won’t mean bleep,’’ Arum – aligned with ESPN since 2017 — said five years ago. “Everything will be streaming – everything. Entertainment, sports, everything will be streaming.”

Bingo.

However, either boxing didn’t listen. Or, it just assumed the good times would never end. Or, it did what it has always done. To wit: Grab the fast buck and move on.

Fighters with little name recognition made big money. The younger generation began to look upon Floyd Mayweather’s brilliant career as the model.

Throughout his long-running deal with Showtime, Mayweather did more than follow the risk-to-reward ratio to the top of the pound-for-pound debate. He rode it straight to the top of Forbes’ list of the world’s wealthiest athletes. He was No. 1 in 2018.

What could go wrong? Plenty. There was only one Mayweather. He made unprecedented money, pre-stream. But that risk-to-reward formula left an assumption that the money would never end. The Showtime exit is a sign that it will.

It’s still hard to say what impact that might have on a possible Benavidez-Canelo fight, a bout that fans have wanted for a couple of years.

It leaves a further question about the chances of a projected Terence Crawford-Errol Spence rematch of Crawford’s singular performance in a stoppage win in July, also on Showtime.

The sad aspect to the Showtime exit after 37 years is in the timing. 2023 has been one of boxing’s best years in some time. Under Stephen Espinoza’s guidance, it staged a comeback.

For years, there has been doom-and-gloom — persistent talk about an eroding fan base. But Showtime began to rediscover that audience, first in April with a reported 1.2 million pay-per-view customers for Tank Davis’ blowout of Ryan Garcia.

Then, there was Crawford-Spence. The welterweight fight had been talked about for years. Then, there were negotiations, misinformation and even a reported fight date — Nov. 19 2022. In the end, however, there was only futility.  Talks broke down in October.

Fans were outraged. More than a few editions of the boxing-is-dead theme were written, including one in this corner.

But Showtime persisted. The fight got made and it delivered a sensational moment from Crawford on July 30. 

The fight did fewer PPV numbers — a reported 700,000 — than Davis-Garcia. The number was solid. But, above all, Crawford-Spence delivered a message: The business had a pulse.

Still does.

But is anybody listening?

By Mario Ortega Jr.

Earlier this year, a new team boxing concept was launched that hoped to bring non-stop action from bell to bell. Team Combat League, the brainchild of promoter Ahmed Sheikh, featured six teams of about 24 fighters per team, spread over six weight classes, based across the United States. One of the budding young pugilists that shined over the course of the TCL’s inaugural season was featherweight Lizette Lopez of the Los Angeles Tengoose franchise.

Lopez, a 1-0 professional based out of the MXN Boxing Center in Salinas, California, was able to secure a tryout for the Los Angeles team, led by head coach Ricky Funez, through her co-head trainer Josh Sanchez. Heralded amateur Roxy Verduzco had already secured one of the female featherweight spots on the team, leaving only one more spot remaining. 

“When it really came down to it, it ended up being about a week in advance and Coach Funez asked Coach Josh if I could go down there and spar,” recalls Lopez. “We took the opportunity and went and I sparred and I ended up taking the second spot.” 

With that sparring session Lopez had made the team, which would base their training from the Tengoose Boxing Gym in Van Nuys, California, leaving the fighter from the Central Coast city of Salinas in a scramble to find housing in time for the start of the season. While most of the team were already based out of the Los Angeles area, Lopez would end up with a much longer commute than her teammates.

“I would stay in Chino Hills and have to commute an hour everyday,” remembers Lopez. “I have some close relatives that stay there and that was the only spot since it was so last minute. I want to say every Monday thru Friday we would train at about 11 am.” 

Lopez’ willingness to make the sacrifice to commute in unforgiving Southern California traffic to get to and from the gym everyday was just the first example of her dedication to the sport that impressed coach Danny Gonzalez.

“It was a long, long trip for her to come,” explains Gonzalez, one of the two assistant coaches for Los Angeles, alongside Jonathan Walley. “I instantly read it from her at the beginning, and I told her from the get-go that she was going to do great. She just had to focus on a little bit of things. That was what we ended up doing, working together and putting in the little things that she did and she ended up being one of the best female fighters on that show.” 

With less than two months between the time she found out she had made the team and the week one match-up against the New York City Attitude in Connecticut, Lopez had to quickly adjust to training in new surroundings, away from her home coaches for the first time, with new trainers with different styles and for the new format of fighting for just one, two-minute round. 

“It was definitely an adjustment, but I think I did pretty well adjusting to it,” proclaims Lopez. “It helped that I did so well training with [the Los Angeles coaches,] so everything came so natural to me. I did [have to change my mindset going into this]. In training and sparring we did a lot of pressure work and high volume punching. So I think that really helped me throughout the competition.” 

Over the course of the season, Lopez would fight a southpaw opponent seven times. One of the advantages she may have had was that her teammate and sparring partner, Roxy Verduzco, was herself a skilled southpaw. 

“It was amazing that she had the experience to move around with “Right Hook” Roxy, because she has the experience from being an amateur fighter,” explains Gonzalez. “When I would see them in there going at it, they were both going at it back-and-forth, so it was tough competition. That is why I think our girls were really, really tough and hard to beat throughout the whole entire show. Their chemistry working together was really good. After that, [Lizette] honed in and really began showcasing her skills. She was dominating a lot of the southpaw fighters she had to fight, as well as some of the orthodox fighters she fought too. Working with “Right Hook” Roxy the whole camp really sharpened her up and added to her boxing skills, because she is a forward-pressure fighter. She likes digging to the body and ripping uppercuts and using head movement. Working with Roxy, she was helping her use her jab and cutting angles, so that was really good.” 

In each week of competition, fights between each team would consist of 18 individual rounds, with each fighter competing one round at a time, once or twice throughout the night, depending on the fighter availability on each roster. The first week of action took place on March 29th at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut, the host venue for the entire regular season. In the first fight on the first night, Lopez would meet southpaw Nicole Ocasio of New York. It would be the first of three meetings they had in what would become the signature rivalry of the inaugural Team Combat League season. 

Lopez and Ocasio had met before as young amateurs in the lead-up to the 2016 USA Boxing Junior National Championships in December of that year. “We had both traveled to Kansas City, Missouri and competed in that tournament for nationals,” recalls Lopez. “We ended up sparring each other, which is pretty cool that we ended up coming back into each other’s lives all this time later.” 

Without any examples to watch before their meeting, Lopez and Ocasio functioned as the guinea pigs for the entire season and set the tone for what was to come by opting for an offensive-minded fight for the two-minute duration of their opening bout. 

“I was just going to go out there and try my best to box and fight my fight and fight smart and also just throw a lot, which is like the whole concept of the show I believe,” says Lopez. “I felt pretty good actually. I felt my performance was really good and I knew that I was only going to get better from there.” 

Though her team would end up losing to New York City by one point, Lopez held up her end by winning that opening round. Lopez gave Ocasio more movement and her conditioning held up a little better in the last half minute to seal a decision win in an entertaining contest. After each night of fights, the Los Angeles Tengoose team would fly back together to California and return to training before the next fight night would bring them back across country to Connecticut. 

In her next time out on April 13th, Lopez would meet one of her tougher adversaries for the first time in experienced pro Jennifer Miranda of the Dallas Enforcers. Miranda had already fought the ten-round distance twice and captured a WBA regional belt in Spain. For two minutes, Miranda was able to find success boxing and moving and tying up the shorter Lopez when she found her way in range. 

“I did find it a little bit challenging, fighting somebody like her,” admits Lopez. “Obviously, I was going to have to close the distance more and get inside more. She was kind of trying to hit and move, stick and move. So it was a little bit harder for me. I feel like towards the end, I started getting in closer and she would start clinching more. I just tried my best.” 

Lopez would be back in the ring on May 4th, fighting twice in one night for the first time of the competition. The first bout paired her against the tough Tyriesha Douglas of the DC Destroyers. The muscularly-built southpaw Douglas entered as a fifteen-fight pro and former WIBA champion and started out the round strong. Much like in her first bout with Ocasio, Lopez’ conditioning made the difference as she came on in the last 45 seconds, this time with clean head shots, while Douglas tried to clinch to run out the time.  Two of the three judges ringside scored the split decision for Lopez. 

In the second of her fights that night, Lopez took on Dupe Akinola, who had fought in the first overall round of the match, while the win over Douglas took place in the seventh round. Akinola got off to a strong start, in what was the 13th overall round between LA and DC. After getting knocked off balance with one shot early in the round, Lopez came on late as Akinola’s output slowed, but the late rally failed to sway the judges as the DC fighter earned the unanimous nod. 

Fighting two rounds with a break in between each round was something of an adjustment for the fighters in the competition. In boxing, maintaining adrenaline and staying warmed up is part of the routine when it comes to a fight. However, in this format there are some new challenges the fighters deal with when fighting multiple rounds. 

“I had been warming up for like a while and then we go and we sit down,” explains Lopez of the process. “I think I just needed to focus a bit more. I like being first and getting it out of the way. But I didn’t mind fighting later either. I like fighting twice and I like fighting once, either or. As long as I get to fight.” 

On May 18th, Lopez and Ocasio would engage in a two-minute war that would earn the two fighters great public acclaim and eventually the TCL’s Ali-Frazier Fight of the Year Award. In the type of fight promoter Ahmed Sheikh likely envisioned when he formatted the league, Lopez and Ocasio went all out on offense from the first bell to the last. Play-by-play announcer Ray Torres proclaimed the bout round of the year during the broadcast before it even had ended. Lopez scored the most telling blow when a right hand moved Ocasio back and again the Salinas fighter proved to have the conditioning edge down the stretch en route to the thrilling decision win. 

“I just kind of went in there and wanted to stick-and-move, basically, just get in and get out,” states Lopez of the original gameplan. “But then we just threw. The bell rang and we just started throwing. I think my conditioning just held up more. That is how the round went and we won an award for that. Shout out to Nicole again. It takes two to tango, so I am proud that I got to share the ring with her.” 

With the two minutes of war that took place the week prior fresh in her mind, Lopez entered her opening bout with the Las Vegas Hustle’s Florencia Britos with a different game plan in place on May 25th. The southpaw Britos boxed well, with one head-snapping right hook probably sealing the round in her favor. Attempting to brawl less and box with a more measured pace ended up working against Lopez. 

“I think the week before was in my head,” admits Lopez. “I should have applied more pressure and threw more with Florencia. I think I could have definitely beat her. She chose her punches really well and knew how to move out of the way. I think that would be a great fight [down the road].” 

In the tenth round of the match-up against Las Vegas, Lopez returned to her aggressive style against veteran Deanha Hobbs. Lopez utilized her come forward style and landed clean with both hands, while Hobbs attempted to box while backing up.  After two minutes, Lopez had rebounded with a unanimous decision. 

The next night of fights saw Lopez open the show with a clear-cut victory over Leanne Calderon of the Dallas Enforcers, before a rematch ten rounds later against the tall and rangy Jennifer Miranda on June 2nd. Miranda, who did not fight earlier in the night, stuck to her style of boxing at range and clinching whenever Lopez found her way in close. This time however, Lopez made it a closer fight, landing well with some head shots before Miranda was able to lock her up. The one-round decision went Miranda’s way by split verdict. 

“Lizette really did good in that fight, but since Miranda was potshotting and moving back, and grabbing into a clinch, it was difficult for her,” recalls Coach Gonzalez. “But she was slowly applying that pressure and getting more into her gamestyle, so with that type of fighter, like a Miranda, she would have slowly broke her down in maybe the third or fourth round, and slowly found the opportunity to finish her off [in a traditional bout.]. She was cutting off her angles and setting herself up so she could pin her up on the ropes, but that girl Miranda was awkward for everybody.” 

In the last week of the regular season, Lopez scored wins over Deanha Hobbs and Erisnelsy Torres Castillo on June 10th to close out her time as a member of the Los Angeles Tengoose, as her team did not qualify for the playoffs. In the first bout against Hobbs, Lopez controlled the action outside of one good right that found a home with about a half minute to go in the round. “There was that one shot, it was a good shot,” admits Lopez. “I am not going to lie. But I came out on top and I felt pretty good.” 

Lopez held a rare size advantage in her bout against Torres Castillo. The shorter fighter had trouble with Lopez’ reach and tried to swing in with looping punches. Lopez imposed her strength and rocked her opponent before the final bell en route to the decision. “I think I controlled the fight,” says Lopez. “I threw a lot of right hooks and I think I almost dropped her late in the round.” 

While still training in Los Angeles, Lopez got the call to replace a fighter on the DC Destroyers for their playoff match against the New York City Attitude in Long Beach, California on August 15th. The substitution meant a rematch of the most exciting fight of the competition was set, Lopez-Ocasio one more time. Lopez started out aggressive, just as in their previous encounters, while Ocasio attempted to box more than in their prior brawl. Several Lopez right hands were the most telling punches of the round, helping sway the bout in her favor. 

“I think that was my best performance of the whole show actually,” says Lopez. “I felt really, really good that fight. I believe I was coming in and coming out, and it was a hard time for her to hit me.” 

Watching the fight closely was coach Danny Gonzalez, who concurred with Lopez’ assessment of her performance that night. “What was the best fight for me, for Lizette, was the rematch when she fought [Ocasio] in the playoffs,” recalls Gonzalez. “In the first fight, they just sat down and were throwing blows and not really setting up their [offense.] It was one of the most amazing fights, and that is why they got nominated for the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier Award and they won it. That fight, I will never forget it. It was amazing and entertaining and they started a real great relationship. But after that, when they had their rematch, and by then we had been training together and established our gamestyle and our different strategies that would help her win the rounds that she fought, that fight was the most entertaining to me. She clearly did what we had strategized and what we had worked on after week five and for the rest of the show, when we really started getting into our groove, and I like that she showed dominance in that rematch fight.” 

After the playoffs, Lopez got one more night to showcase herself as she was named to the Team West all-star team to compete twice against Team East’s Tyriesha Douglas on August 20th. In the build-up to the showcase event, Douglas showed off her entertainer side by eating a sandwich on the scale at the weigh-in before an intense staredown as well as in a bravado-filled face-off segment on YouTube. By this time, it was clear that it was all in fun and the fighters had a mutual respect for one another. 

“In my mind I was just laughing about it,” recalls Lopez. “I think it was great that she did that because it brought so much more exposure to both of us and the show. I didn’t have any negative feelings about that or anything. It was all love, no hate with Tyriesha Douglas. She is a really good person and a really good fighter. I think we were just both going into the fight thinking we are going to give it a great fight and I think we did.” 

In a fitting conclusion, Lopez and Douglas split their two bouts. Lopez took the first round of the night by split decision by keeping the steadier pace and landing right uppercuts as Douglas faded a bit late. “I think I did pretty well,” says Lopez of that opening round. “It was just a little hard because going into it she’s like my friend. But I gave it my all and tried my best and I think I did pretty well.” 

In the second meeting, which was the 16th round of the night, Douglas won a unanimous nod after finding a home for her straight left hand for a couple of the more eye-catching blows. “I thought she took it honestly,” admits Lopez. “I thought she took it, but it is okay, it is all about the experience.” 

Lopez added greatly to her collection of supporters with her impressive showing throughout the Team Combat League competition. Los Angeles Tengoose assistant coach Danny Gonzalez counts himself as one of those believers in what the Salinas fighter could accomplish as she continues in her professional pursuits.

“Like I told her before she left, and I teared up a bit, because me and her were really bonding together,” recalls Gonzalez. “We were getting nothing but results and we were in the ring with some really tough opponents and we really held our ground and were doing really good. I told her, when you can focus and implement your strength and conditioning into what got accomplished in the last six weeks, I see nothing but super success for her. I think she can be a world champion easily because of her forward-style pressure and the way she moves and establishes her jab and she’s fierce, she’s smart, she digs uppercuts to the body and she knows how to get away from shots now that we focused on her defense. She would come a little bit too much with her forward offensive threat and she would get caught and lean forward, and she would lose rounds like that. But now that she has her feet under her and she’s managing her distance and being more intelligent with her feet, I see nothing but success for Lizette.” 

The future looks bright for Lopez, who remains ready in the gym for whatever comes next. “I do not have anyone [specifically] in mind, but whoever comes at me, trying to fight, I am ready for it,” says Lopez. “Whatever is for me, is for me. I am very grateful for the opportunity and the exposure. I got a lot of exposure out of this and I got to meet a lot of great people. Shout out to [TCL promoter] Akmed. He is a really great person that gave me the opportunity.”

With season one in the rearview, Lopez hopes to get another traditional professional bout under her belt before perhaps making a team for Team Combat League season two. Two teams have announced tryout schedules thus far, with the first one taking place November 4th as of press time. Season two kicks off on March 28, 2024 at a venue to be announced. 

Photo by Chris Farina

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

Janibek Alimkhanuly stopped Vincenzo Gualtieri in round six to retain his WBO and win the IBF Middleweight title at the Fort Bend Epicenter in Rosenberg, Texas.

Alimkhanuly hurt Gualtieri in round five with a devastating left uppercut. In round six, it was another uppercut that hurt Gualtieri that made him stumble to the corner and the fight was stopped at 1:25.

Alimkhanuly, 159.3 lbs of Kazakhstan is 15-0 with 10 knockouts. Gualtieri, 159.5 lbs of Germany is 21-1-1.

Janibek said, “This is my style of fighting. This is Qazaq style, and this is what I will continue to do.
 
“We knew from the beginning that he wasn’t going to fight back. He was waiting because he thought I was going to get tired. But I didn’t get tired.
 
“We would like to add another two belts to this collection. We hope that our promoter Top Rank can organize that.”
 
Gualtieri said, “Congratulations to Janibek. He was better tonight. But I think it was a little bit early to end the fight. But he was better today.

Keyshawn Davis won a 10-round majority decision over Nahir Albright in a lightweight bout.

Davis landed 139 of 331 punches. Albright was 92 of 425.

Davis, 135 lbs of Norfolk, VA won by scores of 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95 and is now 10-0. Albright, 134.9 lbs of Sicklerville, NJ is 16-3.

Davis said, “I had it as a win for me. That’s all that matters. He was a tough fighter. And this fight today gave me some good experience. I was feeling good. I was just boxing. I was just having fun and doing what I want to do.
 
“I just want to show that I belong at the top of the 135-pound division. I’m working my way up there. If Jose Pedraza is willing to take a fight with me, then let’s do it.”

Richard Torrez Jr. remained perfect by stopping Tyrell Anthony Herndon in a scheduled six-round heavyweight bout.

In round two, Torrez dropped Herndon with a hard 1-2 combination. Torrez jumped all over Herndon and landed an assault and the fight was stopped when Herndon turned his back at 1:26.

Torrez, 233.1 lbs of Talure, CA is 7-0 with seven knockouts. Herndon, 234.8 lbs of San Antonio is 21-5.

Torrez said, “This is a process. Top Rank has the best matchmakers, and I fight whoever they put in front of me. If they say I’m ready to fight eight-rounders next, I’ll be ready.
 
“I’m not expecting knockouts. When I don’t expect them, that’s when they happen. It’s a Catch 22. If I expect the knockouts, then they don’t happen. I just want to show my boxing ability, and I got two rounds in this time. I’m looking forward to the next one.”

Guido Vianello won an eight-round unanimous decision over Curtis Harper in a heavyweight bout.

Vianello, 241.3 lbs of Rome, ITA won by scores of 80-72 and 79-73 twice and is now 11-1-1. Harper, 275.5 lbs of Clarksville, TN is

Giovanni Marquez remained undefeated with a second-round stoppage over Donte Strayhorn in a scheduled six-round junior welterweight bout.

In round two, Marquez dropped Staryhorn with two right uppercuts. Seconds later, it was a vicious four punch combination that was punctuated by a left hook that put Strayhorn on the deck. Marquez ended things by landing seven unanswered punches that finished the fight at 2:47.

Marquez, 141.3 lbs of Houston, TX is 7-0 with five knockouts. Strayhorn, 140.2 lbs of Dallas, TX is 12-5-1.

Duke Ragan got off the deck to win a eight-round split-decision over Jose Perez in a featherweight bout.

In round five, Pere landed a big left hook that dropped Ragan. Ragan was cut on his right cheekbone. In round seven, Perez was cut over his right eye.

Ragan, 125.3 lbs of Cincinatti, OH was coming off a year layoff, and won by scores of 76-75 twice, while Perez took a card 76-75.

Ragan is now 10-0. Perez, 126.4 lbs of Oak Hill, CA is 11-2-2.

Kelvin Davis remained undefeated with an eight-round unanimous decision over Narcisco Carmona in a junior welterweight. fight.

Davis, 142 lbs. of Norfolk, VA won by scores of 80-72, 79=73 and 77-75 and is now 10-0. Carmona, 142.6 lbs of Servilla, SPA is 11-2-1.

Alan Garcia remained with a six-round unanimous decision over Nelson Hampton in a junior welterweight fight.

Garcia, 137.8 lbs of Ulysses, KN won by scores of 60-54 on all cards and is now 10-0. Hampton, 137.3 lbs of McAllen, TX is 10-8.

Oscar Bravo and Humberto Galindo fought to a eight-round majority draw in a junior lightweight fight.

In round three, Galindo was deducted a point for a low blow. In round four, Bravo was deducted a point for holding.

Scores were 76-74 for Galindo and 75-75 twice.

Bravo, 130.8 lbs of Sabtiago, CHL is 25-13-1. Gallindo, 131.7 lbs of Tijuan, MEX is 14-3-2.

Jakhungir Zokirov made a successful pro debut with a fourth-round stoppage over Guillermo Del Rio in the final scheduled round of their heavyweight bout.

In round one, Zokirov dropped Del Rio with a left hand.

In round four, Zokirov dropped Del Rio Again with another straight left and the fight was stopped at 39 seconds.

Zokirov, 263.5 lbs of Uzbekistan is 1-0 with one knockout. Del Rio, 217.1 lbs of Monterrey, MEX is 4-5-1.

By Norm Frauenheim –

It’s a Thanksgiving weekend fight, a main event between David Benavidez and Demetrius Andrade and a Holiday date projected to lead to a possible fight with Canelo Alvarez.

Sorry for the Thanksgiving reference, but it could set the table for what might be the biggest fight in 2024, which is planned for another May 5 celebration, Cinco in Mexico and Canelo de Mayo in Vegas

But there were no thanks for Canelo Thursday.

There were questions, of course. Follow the money. In boxing, that means follow Canelo.

“F— Canelo,’’ Andrade said Thursday in the first formal news conference announcing his super-middleweight fight with Benavidez at Las Vegas’ Mandalay Bay on Nov. 25, the Saturday after Turkey day.

Even without the Canelo intrigue, it’s an interesting fight, especially for Benavidez, who has formally changed his nickname since he overwhelmed Caleb Plant in a punishing late-round assault in a scorecard victory last March.

Benavidez used to call himself El Bandera Roja, The Red Flag, as in warning. But the Phoenix-born fighter, who will be 27 on December 17, has outgrown that one. By now, the warning is well-known enough to make some – perhaps even Canelo – wary.

Now, Benavidez calls himself “El Monstruo,” The Monster. That’s how he was introduced at Thursday’s newser in Los Angeles. In part, it’s what Mike Tyson called him more than a year ago. In fact, Tyson called him The Mexican Monster. But Benavidez simplified it, stripping it down to a scary simplicity. Trick or treat, he sees himself as The Monster, no nationality needed.

Canelo seems to have his own name for Benavidez. When asked about him after his one-sided decision over Jermell Charlo a few weeks ago, he used the same language that Andrade did Thursday.

“I don’t effing care,’’ Canelo said more than once.

Subtract the effing and that’s pretty much what Benavidez said about Canelo Thursday.

“I’m not worried about Canelo,’’ said Benavidez, who went on to say that only the Andrade fight concerned him.

On several levels, it was the right thing to say, of course. In tone, however, it was a different Benavidez, more pragmatic and perhaps a lot wiser. For a couple of years, he was always calling out Canelo with volumes of unabridged trash talk.

But the talk only seemed to anger Canelo, whose celebrity and documented pay-per-view number gives him all the leverage. He put Gennadiy Golovkin on ice, denying him a third fight until it was too late for GGG. Why? Maybe, because GGG angered him when he accused Canelo of being a user after a positive test for clenbuterol.

Silence on Canelo looks to be a smarter negotiating tactic. Besides, there’s only Andrade for now.

Lose to him, and Benavidez likely says goodbye to a chance at big money and a share of legacy. The oddsmakers like Benavidez to beat Andrade, a 35-year old former junior-middleweight and middleweight champ who will be fighting at 168 pounds for only the second time.

Benavidez, who will make his second appearance on Showtime pay-per-view, opened as a solid favorite, minus-320, which means he’s given about a 78 percent chance at winning.

Andrade, however, has a chance in part for skills that many say Benavidez does not have. Andrade has an Olympic pedigree. That means footwork and a high ring IQ. A fighter with an educated skillset say the critics, including ESPN analyst Tim Bradley, who says the 2008 Olympian’s footwork could lead to an upset.

“That’s why I’m taking this challenge,’’ Benavidez said. “I want to shut everybody up.’’

However, Benavidez dad, Jose Benavidez Sr, continues to talk, buoyed perhaps by his son’s powerful dominance, especially over the last four rounds.

“I think David stops him in the eighth round,’’ Jose Sr. said.

That would say it all.

NOTES: Initially, Benavidez-Andrade was headed to San Antonio, according to multiple sources and reports. It was moved to Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena within the last week. The move makes sense. Benavidez’ fan base is Phoenix, his hometown. Vegas is a lot closer to Phoenix than San Antonio. 15 rounds talked to some Benavidez fans. They said there’s a better chance of them traveling to Vegas than San Antonio on Thanksgiving weekend. Tickets went on sale Thursday.

There have been several reports that Benavidez’ older brother, Jose Benavidez Jr. will fight middleweight champion Jermall Charlo on the undercard. However, that bout has yet to be announced.