By Jeff Zimmerman at ringside

While the face of boxing Canelo Alvarez was battling Edgar Berlanga in Las Vegas last night to reclaim his super middleweight title, an exciting club show was taking place at the Tower Club, Dallas, on the 48th floor overlooking the city skyline. Super featherweight Avoran Graham (11-0, 6 KOs) from Grand Prairie earned a hard-fought unanimous decision against savvy veteran Juan Antonio Lopez (18-17-1, 8 KOs) out of Fort Worth in the main event in front of an intimate, but raucous crowd. Continue reading “Results from Dallas”

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada

WBC/WBA/WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez (62-2-2, 39 KOs) scored a twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated contender Edgar Berlanga (22-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Canelo pressed forward from the opening bell and landed the harder shots. Berlanga fought cautiously early on. In round three, Canelo dropped Berlanga with a left hook. Berlanga survived the round. Things heated up in round five when both fighters were warned for low blows. Berlanga had some success with his jab, with Canelo connecting with the harder shots. In round eight, Canelo started punishing Berlanga for the rest of the way.

Scores were 117-110, 118-109, 118-109. Fifth straight decision win for Canelo.

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada

WBA middleweight world champion Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara (31-3-3, 19KO’s) of Miami by way of Guantanamo, Cuba retained his title as he stopped two-division world champion Philadelphia’s Danny “Swift” García (37-4, 21 KO’s) in the ninth round in the Canelo-Berlanga co-feature on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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Feeling each other out in the opening round, Garcia countered and waited for openings as the southpaw Lara stuck the right jab. Working patiently in the second and third round Lara and Garcia continued to figure each other out as they began drawing whisltes from the crowd. It was still a strategic fight on the part of Lara and Garcia in the fourth but Garcia began pressing late in the round as Lara shot the straight left Continue reading “Lara halts Garcia, retains WBA middle belt”

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside
Photos: Sumio Yamada

Caleb Plant (23-2, 14 KOs) returned to the ring as he scored a spectacular ninth round knockout handing Trevor McCumby (28-1, 21 KOs) of Glendale, Arizona his first defeat in a wild fight for the vacant WBA interim super middleweight title on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

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It was a slow first round but things got started in the second as McCumby connected with the left hook numerous times and appeared to stagger Plan in the second. Prompting McCumby to shake and rattle at the end of the round. McCumby showboated in the third and was fighting with more confidence as he outworked Plant. McCumby sent Plant to the canvas in the fourth. Continue reading “Plant stops McCumby, wins WBA interim”

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside

Former world champion Stephen Fulton (22-1, 8 KO’s) of Philadelphia edged out Carlos Castro (30-3, 14 KO’s) of Phoenix by split decision as they went the distance in a ten round featherweight bout. Starting at fast pace in the opening round, Fulton and Castro stuck the jab and countered. Fulton began to beat Castro to the punch in the third as the fast pace continued. Castro used the jab to neutralize Fulton’s hand speed and counters in the fourth but the former champion was still boxing effectively. A straight right by Castro in the fifth dropped Fulton. Castro cut off the ring and attempted to attack, but Fulton survived.

Fulton appeared to have regained his composure in the sixth as he boxed and kept his distance from a more confident Castro. Working off the jab in the seventh, Castro was consistent sticking it as Fulton stood busy in the pocket. Excahnging to begin the eighth, Castro caught Fulton on the inside with another right hand as Fulton was rocked and held on. Shortly after the referee warned Fulton for holding. Late in the fight in the ninth, Castro stayed busy continuing to work the jab with Fulton staying close in the pocket landing the flashy shots. The tenth and final round, Castro and Futlon stood busy on the inside with Fulton connecting with a huge left hook. Castro kept pressing behind the jab and finished strong.

After completing ten rounds, the judges scored the bout 95-94 Castro, 96-93 Fulton, and 95-94 for Fulton. Continue reading “Early Results from Las Vegas”

By Brad Snyder-The Undercard
Photos by Bob Ryder

Friday night in Detroit, Michigan, Carlos Llinas brought the city another explosive showcase of professional boxing at Motor City Casino Sound Board with Night of Knockouts XXXI. Llinas stated about the card, “I am very happy with the way this show turned out. This show made Michigan History by having the first female referee to officiate a womens boxing match. The Tini vs Begley fight had an international flavor to it, as Begley was brought over from Ireland to face Tini. So, just happy for the fans and support as always.” Continue reading “Night of Knockouts XXXI Results”

Unbeaten 6’6 cruiserweight David “The Nice Guy” Nyika (10-0, 9 KOs) scored an impressive third round KO against rugged veteran Tommy Karpency (31-9-1, 19 KOs) on Saturday night at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland, New Zealand. Nyika dropped Karpency twice in round three to end it. Time was 1:13. Nyika ia rated #14 by the IBF.

By Damon Gonzalez / LatinBox Communications

In Friday night’s main event in a sold out crowd at the Hilton Downtown Tampa in Tampa, Florida presented by Alessi Promotions, unbeaten heavyweight Drake Banks (6-0, 5 KOs) from Homosassa, Florida. was overpowering as he broke down a very tough Alexis Soriano Taveras (3-2-1, 1 KO) from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. ending his night at the 1:34 mark of round three by TKO victory. Continue reading “Heavyweight Banks remains unbeaten”

WBC #2 super featherweight Eduardo “Rocky” Hernandez (36-2, 32 KOs) scored a six round unanimous technical decision over Thomas “Gunna Man” Mattice (22-4-1 17 KOs) on Thursday night at the Arena Sonora in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. The bout was stopped after six rounds due to a cut (caused by a headbutt) suffered by Hernandez. Judges scored it 59-55, 58-55, 58-56. Mattice, who was getting stronger as the bout progressed, wasn’t happy about the stoppage.

By Brad Snyder at ringside
Photos: Bob Ryder

Unbeaten USBA junior middleweight Ardreal “Bossman” Holmes Jr. (16-0, 6 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over Hugo Noriega (10-3, 5 KOs) on Thursday night at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan. Holmes outboxed Noriega and won by scores of 96-94, 97-93, 97-93.

Unbeaten super welterweight prospect Joseph “Sug” Hicks (11-0, 7 KOs) outpointed Ronnie Austion (10-2, 7 KOs) in an eight-rounder. Scores were 79-73, 78-74, 80-72. Continue reading “Holmes, Hicks remain unbeaten”

Super Welterweight Vladimir “24K” Hernandez (16-6, 7 KOs) hammered out a ten round unanimous decision over Raul “El Doma” Garcia (13-2-1, 11 KOs) on Wednesday night at the ProBox TV Events Center in Plant City, Florida. Scores were 94-93, 95-92, 96-91. Garcia dropped Hernandez in round three, but Hernandez later floored Garcia twice.

Hernandez-Garcia was moved to the main event after a scheduled super middleweight clash between Lester Martinez and Joeshon “Showtime” James was scrapped due to an illness suffered by Martinez.

Featherweight Oscar ‘Cachorro’ Murguia (12-1, 4 KOs) scored an upset split decisión over countryman Adrian Montoya (15-2, 13 KOs) in the 10 round main event Friday night in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Murguia seemed to control the action for the better part of the bout landing the more precise punches. Montoya had his moments in spurts as the aggressor landing some flush punches. Murguia took them well and stayed in the pocket landing many eye catching counter punches. In the end the judges had it officially 97-94, 97-96, and 96-94. It was not specified which scores were for which fighter. An emotional Murgia fell to the canvas in tears of joy after he was announced the winner.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten Japanese southpaw puncher Mikito Nakano (11-0, 10 KOs; amateur mark 68-9, 48 KOs), 126, impressively acquired the vacant OPBF featherweight belt when he connected with vicious body bombardments to finish Filipino Brix Piala (9-2, 3 KOs), 125, for the count at 0:34 into the fourth round in a scheduled twelve on Saturday in Tokyo, Japan.

Nakano, from the start, aggressively attacked the cautious Filipino southpaw and quickly decked him with a left uppercut to the belly just before the gong to end the third session. Swarming over the still damaged opponent in the next round, Nakano landed wicked shots exclusively to the midsection to have him down in agony for the fatal ten. Teiken gym now dominates both Asian regional feather champs in WBO AP’s Kenji Fujita (7-0, 3 KOs; amateur 153-21) and OPBF’s Nakano. Both are worth watching.

Photos

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Elongated southpaw Kun-Tae Lee (8-0-1, 2 KOs; amateur mark 102-10), 140, successfully kept his Japanese 140-pound belt as he defeated Ryan Joshua Yamamoto (7-7, 1 KO), 139.25, by a unanimous decision (99-91 twice, 100-90) over ten on Saturday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Lee, a Japan-based Korean who had scored sixty-two consecutive victories to make it a national amateur mark, was in command almost all the way, but the challenger occasionally showed his strong heart to withstand the champ’s faster and more accurate combos and gamely retaliated toe-to-toe, winning the fifth round. Despite his retaliation Lee swept the second half and had him at bay down the stretch. In the super light category, in Japan, the 5’11” Lee may face tough opposition in the future against WBA mandatory contender Ghanan-Japanese Andy Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KOs), OPBF and WBO AP ruler Daishi Nagata, unbeaten JBC contenders #1 Kotaro Sekine (9-0-1, 8 KOs) and #2 Mikyo Watarai (5-0, 3 KOs; amateur mark 77-15, 19 KOs).

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Former world title challenger Jose “Chon” Zepeda (38-5, 28 KOs) destroyed Ivan Redkach (24-8-1, 19 KOs) in a welterweight clash on Friday night at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, Temecula, California. Zepeda dropped Redkach with a body shot in round one and RedKach barely beat the count. The end came after two more knockdowns in round two. Time was 2:02.

Super lightweight Kevin Hayler Brown (6-0, 3 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over John Bauza (18-2, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida. Brown dropped Bauza in round one battled to a 96-93, 98-91, 97-92 verdict.

Undefeated NABF super lightweight champion Arthur Biyarslanov (16-0, 14 KOs) against previously unbeaten late sub Tamas Kiliti (10-1, 6 KOs) on Thursday night at the Casino de Montréal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Biyarslanov dropped Kiliti twice in round one and once at the end of round two. The bout was finally stopped after a fourth knockdown in round three. Time was 1:38.

Unbeaten NABF light heavyweight champion Imam Khataev (8-0, 8 KOs) pounded on game Ezequiel Maderna (31-13, 21 KOs) until Maderna took a knee in round seven. Time was :45.

In a clash for the vacant WBA interim female super welterweight title, hometown hero Mary Spencer (9-2, 6 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Naomi Mannes (7-3-1, 4 KOs). Close fight with the 39-year-old Spencer scoring a questionable tenth round knockdown in a 96-93 3x win. This was Spencer’s third attempt to win a world title.

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda (to come soon)

Undisputed 122-pound champion Naoya Inoue kept his belts by halting TJ Doheny at 0:16 of the seventh round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Naoya maintained the pressure on the more experienced Doheny, who abruptly complained of his lumbago and his incapability to walk and fight. It might be a disappointing end, but Inoue showed his strength and kept his belts with no problem.

(More to come)

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Southpaw footworker Yoshiki Takei (10-0, 8 KOs), 117.75, very barely kept his WBO bantamweight belt as he was awarded a hairline unanimous decision (114-113 twice, 115-112) over ex-WBC flyweight champ Daigo Higa (21-3-1, 19 KOs), 117.75, over twelve sizzling rounds on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Takei kept circling to counter with uppercuts to the shorter but more powerful challenger. The tide turned busily as Takei and Higa scored with solid shots each other. The eleventh round saw Higa connected with a roundhouse shot at the neck of Takei, who went down to take the count. Takei, however, furiously went forward to overcome his deficit on point in the final session, when Higa didn’t show any of his aggressiveness only to try to keep his accumulation of points. It turned out to be a serious mistake for Higa. Though the judges eventually favored the defending champ, it wasn’t a good performance for Takei.

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By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten southpaw Andy Hiraoka (24-0, 19 KOs), 140, impressively acquired the right of the WBA 140-pound mandatory challenge against Jose Valenzuela, as he kept outjabbing WBA interim champ Ismael Barroso (25-5-2, 23 KOs), 140, from Venezuela, floored him three times and halted him at 2:58 of the ninth round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. The younger, taller and faster Andy kept sticking and moving to frustrate the older Venezuelan, 41, who kept stalking the Fancy Dan. Andy, thirteen years his junior at 28, sent him to the deck with a countering southpaw right hook in the sixth, and finally accelerated his attack to deck him twice more in the fatal ninth. For Andy it was an impressive victory over the dangerous hard-puncher Barroso, whose interim belt wasn’t at stake. The referee was Christopher Young. Photos

Keeps OPBF, WBO AP 147lb belts

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Free-swinging WBO#3, WBC#5, WBA#4, IBF#4 Jin Sasaki (18-1-1, 17 KOs), 146.25, kept his OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific welterweight belts as he decked muscular Australian Qamil Balla (15-2-1, 8 KOs), 147, twice and finally blasted him out at 0:52 of the seventh round on Tuesday in Tokyo, Japan. Sasaki pressed the action with his whirlwind attack from the start, and dropped Balla with a vicious left hook in round three. They mixed it up in the close quarter and swapped roundhouse blows, but Jin had the upper hand over the fading Qamil. The fatal seventh witnessed Sasaki pin him to the ropes and swam over him with his favorite left hooks, decking him again to prompt the referee Someya’s halt. Photos

Keeps Japanese 122lb belt

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

WBA#9, WBC#10 elongated southpaw Toshiki Shimomachi (19-1-3, 12 KOs), 121.75, had a tough time but defeated up-and-coming challenger Ryuya Tsugawa (13-2, 9 KOs), 122, by a unanimous decision (96-93 twice, 97-92) to retain his Japanese national super bantam belt on Tuesday at Ariake Arena, Tokyo. The 5’10” lanky champ made good use of his advantageous height and reach, and made himself a difficult target for the hard-punching challenger to catch up with. Shimomachi was leading on points after the fifth on the open scoring system: identically 49-46. Tsugawa, however, caught him with a left hook followed by a solid right, dropping Shimomachi midway in round eight. But the lefty champ survived the last two sessions and barely kept his national title.

Continue reading “WBA #9 Shimomachi defeats Tsugawa”

Unbeaten super lightweight Cain Sandoval (14-0, 12 KOs) scored an impressive sixth round KO against Romero Duno (26-6, 20 KOs) on Saturday night at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. A right hand to the body in round six floored Duno for the count. Time was 1:59.

Fighting for the first time in the United States, middleweight Sadriddin Akhmedov (14-0, 12 KOs) knocked out Antonio Todd (17-11, 9 KOs) in the first round of their scheduled eight rounder.

Fighting for the first time in nine months, light heavyweight powerhouse Umar Dzambekov (9-0, 6 KOs) stopped Eddie Ortiz (13-1-2, 5 KOs) in the fourth round.

By Miguel Maravilla at ringside

Boxing was back at the “War Grounds” as local undefeated WBO #1 super middleweight Diego Pacheco (22-0 18 KOs) of Los Angeles made a statement in knocking out the always durable Maciej Sulecki (32-3, 12 KOs) of Poland in the sixth in headlining on DAZN from the Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

Firing away the jab in the opening round, Pacheco boxed and kept Sulecki at a distance. Pacheco kept pumping the jab and boxed patiently in round two as Sulecki pressed and looked to work his way in. Sulecki slipped to start round three and pressed, Pacheco continued to work the jab and began to let go of the right hand. Continuing to box in the fourth, Pacheco stuck to the plan as Sulecki kept going forward, Pacheco peppered away with the jab and follow up with the right as Sulecki kept pressing.

Stepping up the pace, Pacheco hurt Sulecki late in the fifth round and followed up with powerful right hands as the Polish fights was saved by the bell. A crunching left hook to the body by Pacheco did it in the sixth as Sulecki hit canvas and referee Ray Corona reached a ten count at 54 seconds of the sixth. Continue reading “WBO #1 Pacheco KOs Sulecki in six”

WBA #15 cruiserweight Aleksei Papin (18-1, 17 KOs) scored an impressive fifth round KO against former world title challenger Felix Valera (23-5, 20 KOs) on Friday night at the Ice Arena in Cherepovets, Russia.

44-year-old former heavyweight title challenger Kevin “Kingpin” Johnson (36-22-2, 20 KOs) won a four round majority decision over Sean Turner (12-5, 8 KOs).