We have an undisputed super lightweight champion and his name is Josh Taylor. In a unification fight for all the 140lb belts, WBA/IBF champion Josh Taylor (18-0, 13 KOs) scored a twelve round unanimous decision over WBC/WBO king Jose Ramirez (26-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

Good two-way action early. Taylor was cut over the left eye in round five. The bout turned when Taylor dropped Ramirez in round six with a straight left hand and again in round seven with a left uppercut. Ramirez was hurt but survived.

Taylor backed off on the gas pedal after that, allowing Ramirez to shade most of the late rounds to pull close. Scores were 114-112 3x. The two knockdowns were the difference.

With the win, Taylor became the sixth man in the four-belt era to attain undisputed status.

WBC #1, WBO #6 super lightweight Jose “Chon” Zepeda (34-2, 26 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over “Hammerin” Hank Lundy (31-9-1, 14 KOs) in the Taylor-Ramirez co-feature on Saturday night inside The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Coming off his fight of the decade against Ivan Baranchyk last October, Zepeda-Lundy was a uneventful performance with Zepeda winning 98-92 3x.

In an upset, junior welterweight Kenneth “Bossman” Sims Jr. (16-2-1, 5 KOs) won an eight round majority decision over previously unbeaten Elvis “The Dominican Kid” Rodriguez (11-1-1, 10 KOs). Scores were 76-76, 78-74, 78-74. Continue reading “Zepeda tops Lundy, Sims upsets Dominican Kid”

In a clash for the WBC silver middleweight title, Sam Eggington. (30-7, 17 KOs) scored a twelve round unanimous decision over WBC #9 rated former IBF junior middle champion Carlos Molina (37-12-2, 12 KOs) on Saturday night at the Coventry Skydome Arena in Coventry, England. Eggington outworked Molina to win 116-112, 119-109, 117-111. The 37-year-old Molina has never been stopped.

Unbeaten super lightweight Stephen McKenna (8-0, 8 KOs) didn’t waste any time with Damian Haus, scoring another sensational first round stoppage. McKenna now has five KO1s to his name. Continue reading “Eggington beats Molina for WBC silver”

By Ron Jackson

South Africa’s Hekkie Budler returned to action after being inactive since 31 December 2018 and added another belt to his collection when he beat Jonathan Almacen from the Philippines on a 12 round unanimous points decision, to win the vacant WBC Silver light flyweight title at the Booysens Hall in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

The scores 118-111 twice and 117-111. Continue reading “Budler wins WBC Silver light flyweight belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Unbeaten southpaw prospect Kazuki Nakajima (10-0-1, 8 KOs), 117.75, acquired the vacant OPBF bantamweight belt (renounced by Takuma Inoue) as he defeated compatriot Kai Chiba (13-2, 8 KOs), 118, by a unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 119-109) over twelve fast rounds on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.

It was the first regional title bout of a doubleheader at the Korakuen Hall, where 726 spectators were in attendance with the JBC’s strict regulation. Continue reading “Nakajima defeats Chiba, wins vacant OPBF 118lb belt”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

Who says we can see better matchups under the COVID-19 pandemic than previously? No way. It’s just because of our government’s regulation to keep foreign athletes/boxers from freely entering Japan and our promoters have been compelled to book fights of competitive compatriots.

A good example was the unification bout of the regional featherweight champs. OPBF champ and 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Satoshi Shimizu (10-1, 9 KOs), 125.5, outhustled and outscored WBO Asia Pacific ruler Musashi Mori (12-1, 7 KOs), 125.75, to win a unanimous nod (116-112, 118-110 twice) over twelve all-southpaw rounds on Friday in Tokyo, Japan. Continue reading “Shimizu outscores Mori, unifies OPBF, WBO AP 126lb belt”

By Jeff Zimmerman

In the main event at the world-famous Mesquite Rodeo Arena, Dallas’ lightweight Alexis Del Bosque (17-5-1, 9 KOs) and Pedro Vicente (7-2-1, 2 KOs) hailing out of Puerto Rico battled to an entertaining split draw over eight rounds. This was the first local DFW card since Canelo-Saunders set an indoor U.S. boxing record of 73,126 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington a couple of weeks ago.

Texas, particularly Dallas-Fort Worth, became a hotbed for big-time boxing as it has hosted Garcia-Campbell, Chocolatito-Estrada 2, Ortiz-Hooker, Spence-Garcia, and Canelo-Saunders over the last several months during the year of COVID.

But local fan favorite lightweight Del Bosque nicknamed “El Perro” and Vicente showed that smaller shows are alive and well in Dallas as they did not disappoint the raucous crowd on Friday night. Continue reading “Del Bosque-Vicente ends in draw”

By Héctor Villarreal

Former WBA bantamweight super champion, Panamanian Anselmo “Chemito” Moreno (39-6, 12 KOs) outscored Mexican Antonio Tostado (25-7, 8KOs) to claim the Interim Fedelatin featherweight title on the main event of the “Poker of aces” event held at Los Andes Mall in San Miguelito, Panama, aired by ESPN Knockout. Two judges scored the fight 100-90 but the third one gave only 2 points (96-94) to Moreno, the winner by unanimous decision.

Former super feather super champion, Jezreel “Invisible” Corrales (24-4, 10 KOs), also a local favorite, brutally stopped Mexican Miguel Martinez at 44 seconds of the very first round.

WBO #4, IBF #5, WBA #12 Jonathan “Bomba” Gonzalez (23-3-1, 13 KOs) retained his WBO/NABO Jr flyweight title against WBO #15, WBC #3 Armando “Ichiro Ozeki” Torres (26-18, 19 KOs) by fourth round TKO on Friday night at the
Bryan Glazer Family JCC Auditorium, Tampa, Florida. The bout was halted in round four when Torres turned his back. Torres suffered a cut from a head butt moments earlier and it wasn’t clear whether it would be a no decision (since the bout didn’t go four full rounds) or a TKO until the official announcement.

In a battle between unbeaten super featherweights, Otar Eranosyan (8-0 5 KOs) scored a ten round unanimous decision over Jose Argel (8-1, 2 KOs) to claim the vacant WBA Continental Americas title. Scores were 100-90, 100-90, 99-91.

In a WBC bridgerweight eliminator, unbeaten WBC #4 Evgeny Romanov (16-0, 11 KOs) won a twelve round unanimous decision over WBC #3 Dmitry Kudryashov (24-4, 23 KOs) on Friday night at the Khimki Basketball Center in Khimki, Russia. Romanov methodically broke down Kudryashov over the one-sided fight. With the win, Romanov also picked up the vacant WBC silver title.

By Ron Jackson

Ayanda Ndulani stopped fellow South African Nkosinathi Joyi in the fourth round to claim the IBO minmumweight belt, in a completely one-sided fight at the International Conference Centre in East London on Friday night.

Joyi (48,10kg) forfeited the belt on the scales and only Ndulani (47.40kg) could win the championship.

The 31-year-old Ndulani 11-2-1; 4 attacked from the opening bell as he took the fight to lacklustre and weight drained Joyi 29-6; 19, scoring with lefts and rights to the head that had the former champion staggering back to his corner at the end of the round. Continue reading “Ndulani stops Joyi in the fourth round”

By Joe Koizumi
Photos by Naoki Fukuda

The OPBF welterweight champion Ryota Toyoshima (14-2-1, 9 KOs), 147, collected another regional 147-pound belt when he impressively dispatched WBO Asia Pacific titlist Yuki Beppu (21-2-1, 20 KOs), 146.25, at 2:59 of the tenth round in a scheduled twelve on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.

It was the 600th episode of the Dynamic Glove television program presented by Teiken Promotions since 1981. Continue reading “Toyoshima finishes Beppu, unifies OPBF, WBO AP 147lb belts”