By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member of Boxing WritersAssociation of America
Naoya Inoue faced Luis Nery and there was feeling that this would be another easy Inoue win and the only question was when he would stop Nery. In the opening moments in the first round, Inoue unleashed a left hook and as he dropped his right hand, Nery nailed Inoue with a counter left hook. Down goes Inoue and this was the first time he was ever dropped in his professional career. Inoue landed on all fours and quickly got up after listening to the referee count from one knee. He looked dumbfounded and surprised being on the canvas as 44,000 fans looked on, wondering what just happened. For them, the mighty Inoue hit the canvas
This would be the first time since his fight with Nonito Donaire when he battled through a broken nose and broken orbital to win the fight that he faced a challenge. He managed in the fight to floor Donaire in the eleventh round of that fight, and now he faced yet another challenge.
Inoue took over the second round as he dropped Nery with a vicious left hook. He floored Nery twice more, including a nasty Inoue nasty hook that sent Nery down in round 5. The following round, Inoue ended the fight with a right-hand sending Nery through the ropes. The referee called the fight right here. Inoue hit the canvas, the possibility of defeat staring him in the face but like many great fighters before him, he took back control of the fight.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) and much respected contributor to www.dmboxing.com since 2008
Jamie Munguia faced his toughest fight in his 44th fight against one of the best fighters of this generation, Canelo Alvarez and Munguia would be part of an Alvarez tradition of the Cinco de Mayo weekend where Alvarez was 9-1 with his only loss to undefeated light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol. This was the first time two Mexican fighters fought for an undisputed championship fight. And this was the first super Middleweight championship bout featuring two Mexican born fighters and in fact this was the first world title bout above 160 pounds featuring two Mexican fighters. So, this weekend history was being made.
Munguia took the center as the crowd was excited. Munguia jabs to set the range and starts aggressively. Canelo goes to the body with a glancing right while Munguia jab looks fast as he jabs to the body and ties up Alvarez as Alvarez comes forward. Alavarez lands left hooks to the body and then lands a right hand to the other side. Munguia wants this to be a brawl.
Alvarez in the second round takes the middle of ring but Munguia is letting his punches earlier and landing jabs. Munguia landing straight punches and forcing Canelo to lean back but Canelo work the body. The score was 10-9 and 20-1 after two rounds.
Munguia pumping jab and following with right hand plus doubles up on left hook that cracked Canelo midsection. Both men trade punches and Munguia throwing punches plenty of volume while cutting off the ring as he took the third round. Munguia using great head movement and throws punches in volume at the beginning of the fourth round but Canelo landed hooks to the body with upper cuts and sent Munguia down with a left hook and uppercut in the fourth round. Alvarez won the fifth round with his body shots and cleaner punching After five rounds, I had it 49-44.
Canelo using left hook to counter Munguia jab and Canelo connected 1-2 and left hook along with body shot in the sixth round and at the halfway mark, Canelo landed 65 power shots and connecting at 47 percent versus Munguia 42 power shots and only connecting at 30 percent.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Associationof America(BWAA)
Ryan Garcia took on Devin Haney for Haney’s 140 pound title and Garcia is one of those heavily promoted fighters who so far proved to be a a good fighter but not an elite fighter that promoters hope for. Garcia first attempt at elite status was his fight against Gervonta Davis who stopped him in the seventh round at the catch weight of 136 pounds..
Haney is a rather good fighter who has shown he is a champion, as he took the lightweight title against George Kambosas in Kambosas back yard Australia. Haney not only traveled halfway round the world once to win the title but twice to defend the title. He defeated Kambosas even easier the second time. He won a close bout against Lomachenko and Lomachenko has been one of the best lightweights for the past decade.
Haney entry into the junior welterweight saw him easily beat the once defeated Regis Prograsis including a third-round knockdown. Haney proved himself the real thing at 140 pounds as he has now found and defeated championship caliber fighters. Garcias last victory was a stoppage of Oscar Jurado, and now he was facing an important fight.
Garcia is one of those fighters who is loud and self-promoter, effectively using social media promoting himself and the sport. He is definitely the A side of this fight despite not being the champion but beating Haney was not going to be easy, who can match Garcia in boxing skills. On paper, Garcia is the stronger fighter with the higher knock out ratio but then Haney has fought quality opponents over his last four fights under championship pressure. For Garcia, this fight is about justifying the publicity and showing he is the real thing.
The weight in provided the first drama, when Garcia showed up over two pounds overweight and thus he automatically became ineligible for the title so a victory by Garcia merely vacates the title.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Holly Holm is the only fighter who has won championships as a boxer and a championship as a Mixed Martial Artist. Her most recent defeat at the hands of Kayla Harrison at the age of 42 showed maybe a fighter who no longer is the great fighter of the past. Mother time always wins as she lost her recent bout but yet Holm has managed to put together a hall of fame career as a combat fighter.
Holly Holm is the daughter of a pastor and had the nickname, the Preacher Daughter, and her first fight was a knockout win in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2002, the beginning of a combat sport career that extended 22 years to her recent MMA fight, but also includes boxing and kick boxing.
Holm career began in aerobics class at the age of 16 including cardio-kickboxing and her instructor saw talent and began instructing her. She did amateur kicking boxing before going into a professional boxing career.
By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America and respected contributor to www.dmoxing.com since 2008
Tim Tszyu fight with Keith Thurman was canceled but Sebastian Fundora ended up the new challenger for the 154 titles. While Tszyu was already talking about an Errol Spence, Jr. fight, Fundora represents a significant challenge and may even been a tougher opponent than Thurman. At 6’5”, he had the height advantage over Tsyzu which he used to his advantage in the fight.
Tsyzu, who is the son of Hall of Fame fighter Kostya Tszyu, headlined his first big PPV card on U.S. soils on Prime Video. Fundora, who was scheduled to fight Serhii Bohachuk, moved up to replace Thruman and for the rest of the story, Brian Mendoza replaced Fundora in fighting Bohachuk. Bohachuk did in fact do what Tsyzu did, beat Mendoza in a decision. (Mendoza did stop Fundora in their fight but has now lost two in a row to Bohachuk and Tsyzu.) Bohachuk dominated the fight and the scorecard reflected that as he won 117-111, 117-111 and 118-110. He dominated the fight, out landing Mendoza 319-168 punches over the twelve rounds, double the jab and double the power shots and more accurate overall 38 percent to 33 percent. Bohachuk is now looking to fighting the winner of Fundora-Tsyzu.
I was not aware ErisLandy Lara was still fighting. Just joking but he is the oldest champion as he defended his WBA middleweight champion with an easy two round stoppage of Michael Zerafa. He has now recorded three straight knockouts.
Now for the main event as Tszyu tried to find the range against Fundora who established his jab. Tszyu used his right to the body but shots a right to the head failed to connect. Finally, he connected with a right to snap Fundora head back. The second round saw a double jab from Fundora as Tszyu jab landed in the body and he managed to land a right hand to the Fundora head. Fundora bleeding from Tszyu shot and after two rounds, Tszyu up 20-18.
Tszyu gets nailed by an accidental elbow, and blood flowing from his scalps blinded him throughout the rest of the fight. Fundora lands shots as blood stream into Tszyu’s eye. Near the end of the round, both fighters trade shots at center ring and Tszyu lands a straight right. The bloodbath continued for both fighters as Tszyu was still wiping blood from his eyes and Fundora took advantage as after four rounds he was tied on my score card, but he is also a bloody mess.
Tszyu landed right hand to the body but got nailed by hard left from Fundora. Tszyu partially landed left hand while Fundora lands his shot as Tszyu partial vision is making it difficult to see punches. He does land a decent left hand and buckled Fundora. Tszyu starts the six with right hand to the body and these body shots are hard shots, but Fundora is landing stiff jabs. Tszyu lands body shots with right and left while Fundora used his height and Tszyu blood. At the halfway mark, Tszyu is up by 58-56 but these are close rounds.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWWA)
Anthony Joshua scored a brutal KO Win Over Francis Ngannou in a fight that many thought would be competitive, but Ngannou was hoping to repeat the close fight against Fury, which included a Ngannou knockdown of Fury. A few thought Ngannou should have been declared winner of his bout with Fury but not this fight. Joshua dominated from the opening bell which included two knockdowns before the final knockout caused by a vicious right hand. In two minutes, Joshua did to Ngannou what many thought Fury would do. This was a fight between one of the best heavyweights versus an MMA star fighter trying to adjust to boxing.
Joshua spent the first half of the opening round avoiding Ngannou’s left hooks and then as Ngannou attempted to switch to a southpaw stance, Joshua nailed him with a right hand that sent Ngannou tumbling backward. Ngannou got up at the count of eight but as the second round began, Joshua sent Ngannou down a second time and then finally a vicious right sent Ngannou down for good. Three right hands and that dealt the end of Ngannou.
Joshual came in this fight prepared and took his opponent seriously while Ngannou managed to get a big PPV payday financed by the Saudi’s based on his close fight with Fury. Joshua treated Ngannou as a newcomer as he exploited his opponent sieve-like defense.
By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America
O’Shaquie Foster defended his WBC super-feather weight title with a tough win over Abraham Nova with a split decision win It was a close fight, and the scores were 115-112 and 116-111 for Foster and 114-113 for Nova. Foster victory was his 12th victory in a row and his successful defense of his title that he won from Rey Vegas. The final round saw Foster knocking Nova down with twenty seconds down for a 10-8 to cement his victory.
Nova, however, did give a good account of himself and put himself in a position of another championship shot.
Foster began pushing the action during the first round, but the action was cautious through the first three rounds as neither fighter took many chances.
Foster threw two effective combinations in the fourth round, but Nova out landed him twelve punches to four and was the most active over most of the fight but while Nova threw more punches, Foster was the more accurate punches. This fight was close according to CompuBox numbers 139 punches landed for the champion and 122 for the challenger with several rounds either tied or decided by one or two punches but Nova needed 701 punches to get his 122 landed punches and had less than 20 percent accuracy whereas Foster landed nearly 33 percent of his punches including 40 percent of his power shots.
By Ton Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Joshua Buatis defeated Dan Azeez in what was called a light heavyweight eliminator in a 12-round decision as judges scored it 116-100, 117-109 and 117-109. Buatis is now 18-0 with thirteen stoppages and is in line with the winner of the Beterview vs Bivol.
Buatis’ bodywork and quick left hand proved decisive in the fight and added two knock downs in round eleven. This was a clear victory for Buatis as his power punching was the difference as he connected on 35 percent of them and landed 152 power shot to seventy-two for Azeez.
Buatis’ power punching was the difference, as he out landed Azeez 152-72, hitting on 35% and throwing one hundred more. Buatis also landed fifty-two body shots whereas Azeez landed a few more jabs. Overall, a good fight.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)
Jaime Munguia faced John Ryder for the WBC Silver Super Middleweight championship. Munguia started fast and Ryder attacked as much as he defended as Ryder landed a right hook while Munguia left hook landed on top. I gave the first round to Munguia and Munguia started the second round with a vicious attack and as Ryder attempted to short uppercut, Munguia landed an aright hook and then followed up with combination that sent Ryder down. Munguia now led 20-17 on my scorecard.
Munguia starts the third round fast looking to end the fight, but Ryder does nail him with two solids shots Ryder went down a second time, but the referee rules a slip but in the fourth round Ryder stops Munguia in his trace with a huge left and both fighters exchange bombs. Just as Ryder looks like he is gaining momentum and throws a big right-hand haymaker, he gets countered and down he went again and this time the referee rules it knockdown.
After four rounds, it is 40-34 for Munguia and Ryder was in a big hole and CompuBox has Munguia landing twenty-nine power shots to Ryder 18 after three rounds.
Going into the fifth round, Ryder needed to make drastic changes as he was behind on points and the problem for Ryder is that he didn’t have the power of Munguia who staggered Ryder in an exchange. Munguia was coming through Ryder’s punches, but Ryder had no choice but to keep fighting if he wanted a chance to win. After five it was 50-43.
By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA) … contributor to www.dmboxing.com since 2008
Callum Smith, after his loss to Saul Alveraz moved up to light heavyweight division and he has never ever been stopped or even hit the canvas in his career. He faced Arthur Beterbiev, the wrecking ball of the light heavyweight division. Beterbiev had won every fight by knockout and may even be the best light heavy even though the undefeated Dmitrii Bivol might disagree.
Smith landed one good right in the first round but that was about his success as Beterbiev simply dominated the first round and this round reflected all the other rounds as this was an easy fight to score as Beterbiev averaged twenty-six punches landed before he finally stopped Smith. Smith only averaged a little more than eight punches per round and for every Smith punch landed, Smith suffered three shots most of them power shots.
Beterviev landed his jabs more effectively and showed his boxing skills as he out landed jabs against Smith as he ninety-five jabs for nearly 39 percent rate versus twenty-eight jabs for only 16 percent. Beterbiev outslugged Smith and he out boxed Smith plus Smith only landed 16 percent of his punches, so Beterbiev defense was superior.
