Barrera over Smith Jr. , Corrales over Costellanos, Berchelt over Miura, Figueroa over Guerrero – RESULTS

By Tom Donelson (BWAA)

Author, Member Boxing Writers Association of America

 (To view all Tom’s fine work on this website – go to Categories section and click onto his name)
 

On Saturday, July 15, 2017 – Sullivan Barrera gave heavy punching Joe Smith a boxing lesson from round two thru the end of the fight as he landed three times as many punches.   Smith stunned Barrera with a left hook that sent him down to the canvas but after that it was Barrera fight as he simply out boxed Smith with blistering combinations to go with vicious body shots.  He won an easy victory despite hitting the canvas in the first round.

The second fight was on the HBO card, Jezreel Corrales faced Robinson Castellanos for Corrales WBA Super featherweight title.    Castellanos stunned Corrales with two knockdowns in the fourth round and sent shock wave in Corrales camp.  The fight was close at the halfway mark as I had the fight 57 -55 as did HBO Harold Lederman as both fighter landed similar number of punches. 

Near the end of the seventh round, Corrales knocked Castellanos in a round that Castellanos was winning and the next two rounds were close before an accidental head butt ended the fight in the tenth round.   According to Compubox, Corrales was the more accurate fighter whereas Castellanos connected on 15 more punches so the judges had to decide for Castellanos aggressive nature versus Corrales awkward movement.  Corrales won the bout on a majority decision as one judge had it 94-94 while the other two 96-92 and 94-93.  I agreed with the 94-94 score but this was a pick em type of fight and could have gone for either fighter. 

Miguel Berchelt defended his Super featherweight against Takashi Miura and in the opening round, Berchelt landed a left hook near the end of the round that sent Miura down in a round that very few punches were thrown or landed.   The last minute of the third round, Miura connected on straight left but took some rights from Berchelt that won the round for Berchelt.

Throughout the fourth and fifth round, Berchelt dominated the fight as he landed more of the power shots as Miura couldn’t connect on his own power shots enough times or power to bother Berchelt.  The sixth round was the closet round of the fight over the first half but it would been hard to give any rounds to Miura and I didn’t.  I had it 60 to 53 going into the second half.

Berchelt landed the more effective punches in the seventh through ninth but Miura did manage to land some vicious body shots as he continued to move forward.  Going into the tenth round, Berchelt was winning the fight but Miura power kept him in the fight as he had the power to make up a 10 point deficit with one punch.

Miura continued his straight forward style and while he got nailed with big shots, he landed his share to occasionally let Berchelt know that he was still in the bout. I had this bout an easy 119-108 win for Berchelt but there were times that Berchelt felt the power of Miura’s body shots. 

Earlier on this evening on a different  venue show, Omar Figueroa knocked Robert Guerrero five times and stopped him in the third round.

For Guerrero, this may be his last fight as the many wars he has fought in has taken their tolls. 

dmboxing Note:  Robert Guerrero announced his retirement after the publishing of this article piece and was why Tom doesn’t mention.  Guerrero, age 34, ends his professional career with a ring record of 33 wins, 6 losses, 1 draw and 18 by knockout. He was only stopped once in forty fights – that being his last to Omar Figueroa. 

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