In an important welterweight fight, WBC #7, WBO #13 rated Egidijus “Mean Machine” Kavaliauskas (22-1-1, 18 KOs) scored an impressive eighth round KO over IBF #7, WBO #8, WBC #13 Mikael Zewski (34-2, 23 KOs) on Saturday night inside “The Bubble” at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas. Kavaliauskas, a two-time Olympian coming off a valiant effort last December against Terence “Bud” Crawford, dropped Zewski with a barrage of shots at the end of round seven. Kavaliauskas then came out aggressively and floored Zewski again seven seconds into round eight to end it. At the time of the KO, Zewski was ahead 67-65 on two of the three scorecards.
“I was controlling the fight. I was never in danger. I was never hurt,” said Kavaliauskas. “I wanted to knock him out faster, but it happened this way. You can never count on the knockout. I was working. I was putting pressure on him. I saw him slowing down round by round. I saw him getting weaker and weaker. I was just blocking his punches and not feeling his power.”
“I don’t think {Terence} Crawford has any other choices at welterweight. I can ask his team, with all due respect, to give me a rematch because these guys have no opponents yet.”
WBO #12 featherweight Joet Gonzalez (24-1, 14 KOs) took a clear ten round unanimous decision over WBO #5 Miguel Marriaga (29-4, 25 KOs). Gonzalez, coming off of a loss to Shakur Stevenson, outworked three-time world title challenger Marriaga to win by scores of 97-93, 99-91, 99-91.
With the win, Gonzalez may have moved to the front of the line to face the winner of the Navarrete-Villa clash for the WBO title.
“It was what I expected,” stated Joet. “He was a tough guy. He’s been in there with three world champions. He tried to make a last run for it, so I expected the best Marriaga because he knows his time was cut short. I expected the best Marriaga, and he put up a good fight.
“This puts me back in the position I want to be. I wanted to be back in with tough guys. I told my manager, Frank Espinoza, and my team at Golden Boy that I didn’t want no tune-up fights. I wanted to show people that I could compete with the top guys and be in with heavy hitters and boxers and compete for another title real soon.
“I want another world title shot. I think I’ve earned it.”
Other Results:
Featherweight Aleem Jumakhonov (9-3-2, 5 KOs) won by third round KO over Jorge Ramos (7-3-1, 4 KOs). Jumakhonov floored Ramos in round three and Ramos stayed down for the full ten. Time was 2:08.
In a clash between unbeaten bantamweights, Manuel Flores (9-0, 6 KOs) scored a fifth round TKO over Jonathan Rodriguez (8-1, 3 KOs). Flores dropped Rodriguez in round three. The bout was waved off by referee Robert Hoyle in round five after Rodriguez appeared buzzed. Time 1:11.
Super featherweight Anthony Chavez (9-1, 3 KOs) scored a six round unanimous decision over Adan Gonzales (5-4-2, 3 KOs). Chavez dropped Gonzalez in round three en route to a 58-55 3x. Gonzales previously spoiled the pro debut of Olympic gold medalist Robeisy Ramirez 13 months ago.
Lightweight prospect Eric Puente (4-0, 4 KOs) outpointed Luis Norambuena (4-6-1, 0 KOs) in a four-rounder. Scores: 39-37, 40-36, 40-36.
It was a good night of boxing. Kavaliauskas was having a tough time with Zewski until he started going to the body forcing Zewski to drop his hands. From then on, it was a question if it would be a KO win or decision for the “Mean Machine.” Kavaliauskas had great success with his jab, but wasn’t putting other punches together with it. It took him half the fight before he finally found his rhythm and started landing with clean shots. With this victory, Kavaliauskas remains a threat to the top contenders in the welterweight division.
Gonzalez fought a lot better in this fight than he did in the one-sided loss to Stevenson. Marriaga threw a lot of punches but most of them were caught on the elbows or arms. He had great success with the body punches, but Gonzalez was systematically beating him down. Marriaga had very little steam in his punches at the end. Gonzalez should have gone to the body much more. He would have knocked Marriaga out with a more concerted body attack.