Dirrell-Davis draw in WBC 168lb eliminator

Dirrell Vs Davis Fight Night21
Photo: Sean Michael Ham/TGB Promotions

In a WBC super middleweight eliminator, two-time world champion Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (33-2-2, 24 KOs) and Kyrone “Shut It Down” Davis (15-2-1, 6 KOs) fought to a twelve round draw on Saturday night at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles. No particularly memorable highlights in a tough, gritty fight where Dirrell had a slightly higher workrate. Scores were 115-113 Davis, 115-113 Dirrell, 114-114.

19-year-old welterweight Jesus Ramos (15-0, 14 KOs) impressed again with a second round TKO over Emilio Bojórquez (24-3, 18 KOs). Ramos dropped Bojórquez in round two and got the referee’s stoppage with Bojórquez taking punishment on the ropes. Time was 1:44.

18-year-old welterweight Vito Mielnicki, Jr. (8-0, 5 KOs) scored a third round TKO against Noe Lopez (10-4-1, 4 KOs). Lopez down in round two. Referee stoppage in round three.

Undefeated super lightweight Michel Rivera (20-0, 13 KOs) scored an eighth round TKO over Anthony Mercado (13-5, 11 KOs). Rivera was credited with a knockdown in round two. Mercado took a knee in round six. The bout was waved off by the ref with Mercado in bad shape. Time was 2:26.

Lightweights Anthony Cuba (1-0-1, 1 KO) and Diego Elizondo (3-2-3, 0 KOs) battled to a four round draw. Scores were 39-37 Cuba, 38-38, 38-38.

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  • I think Rivera is the goods, definitely looking forward to seeing more of him and he’s already had a couple of decent wins.

  • Beware of a young man named Jesus Ramos (age 19), but I am not sure if can make 147 much longer because he looks like a 154-160 pounder. Maybe he can continue making 147 during the next 1-3 years.

  • That was a better fight than I thought it would be. I thought Dirrell won the fight but a draw isn’t a travesty in my opinion. I can’t imagine they’d do a rematch, but Dirrell can go and do whatever he’s going to do and maybe Davis can turn this into a title shot in his natural weight class at 160.

    • Excellent points! I too feel Dirrell may have squeezed the victory by a sliver, but this draw is not out of question. Dirrell not the same as he was when he was champion, but time changes all of us.

    • Yeah, I had it 8 rounds to 4. I really didn’t think many of the rounds were that close. The difference from last week is that Davis was actually doing a lot of work in the rounds I scored against him, so I’m not appalled that he earned some close ones on the scorecard. That’s totally unlike Broner last week where he did absolutely nothing for half the fight.

      • One thing I noticed is Dirrell was susceptible to the left counter by Davis. Dirrell has a decent chin, but not sure that would work against a bigger puncher.

        • Yeah, I saw that too. The problem is Davis couldn’t really get it working without firing it as a counter. Doubly problematic is that Direll is a precise puncher and his counter usually came after he already ate a punch or two.

  • I was surprised by how well Davis held his own against Dirrell. He was countering Dirrell’s shots and stood his ground in many of the exchanges. It was a close fight but I gave Dirrell the nod. Based on this performance, I am more excited about seeing Davis fight again. Dirrell, not so much.

    I am perplexed by Joe Goossen. He looks and sounds like he’s not paying attention during the telecast. He’s responding to questions that weren’t asked, misunderstood some of the questions, and even Lennox Lewis had to step in to rescue him. Even when he understands the questions, he beats around the bush in coming up with an answer. Definitely not direct and succinct. Reminds me of the current version of Teddy Atlas. He too never seems to come up with concise answers to relatively simple questions.

    As far as I’m concerned, the most exciting fighter of the night and a rising future star is Jesus Ramos. I’ve seen him and Mielnicki fight several times but Ramos just stood out to me. He has natural punching power and doesn’t have to throw hard to get his knockouts. I believe he would have given Ugas a better fight than his uncle, Abel Ramos, did.

    • I agree as I’m not sure what was going on with Joe Goosen tonight. He seemed overly confused and I’m not interested in half answers to legitimate questions. Both PBC and T.Rank need to improve on the broadcast team’s performance.

  • A terrible card. Most fights were mismatches. Good thing it was free broadcast tv.

    • When boxing is going to be broadcasting the same night that a ufc card is ,perhaps the powers that be ,could put on a competitive card that will entice viewers to develop a interest in our great sport. Putting on two horrible mismatches with one decent fight won’t cut it

  • Close fight, I thought Dirrell won. He was the more effective fighter and controlled the tempo. Davis fought his heart out the and EARNED the draw…I know it’s a flash photo and a millisecond of the action, but look how wide open Dirrell is in the pic for Davis to drill him!

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