Category Archives: Tom Donelson

Bivol “Majority Decision” over Beterbiev for “Undisputed” Light Heavyweight Title

Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America

The past year, boxing has been blessed with some great fights, first there was the two Usyk-Fury in which Usyk narrowly beat Tyson and this past weekend, Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol finished their second bout and this time Bivol came out on top.  Both Beterbiev and Bivol fights were tight close fights, but this fight saw Bivol winning many of the later rounds, rounds that Beterbiev won in their first fight.

Bivol won the first three rounds as his jab and boxing skills dominated as it did in the first three rounds in their first fight, but Beterbiev turned on a switch as he forced the action and landing solid shots in the both the fourth and fifth round.  Beterbiev landed 37 punches to Bivol 26 punches plus 24 of those punches were power shots and Bivol only landed 7 power shots.  The sixth round was close while I gave it to Bivol, Beterbiev landed several right hands and both fighters landed similar numbers

I had 58 to 56 for Bivol but others had the fight even, which was reasonable.  Bivol countered Beterbiev in the seventh round and in the eighth round, Bivol dominated with his own body shots and in the ninth round,  Bivol slipped Beterbiev and then turned the table as he landed three shots and by this point, Beterbiev was not hurting Bivol.  I had the fight 88 to 83 in favor of Bivol. 

The tenth round was close and Beterbiev landed more punches and with two rounds left, the fight was 97-93 on my card. 

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Benavidez Defeats Morrell … Unanimous Decision

Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Benavidez continued his undefeated status as he outworked David Morral to earn a unanimous decision in battle of light heavyweights contenders.  Benevidez used power shots and unrelenting body assault to outwork Morrell. 

The first three rounds were feeling out process as neither fighter had much advantage but in the fourth round, Benavidez took control as he dominated the round in which he landed 30 punches to Morrell 22 punches. 

From this point, he dominated most of the rounds with the exceptions of the eleventh.  From fourth to tenth Benevidez landed 151 punches to 104 for Morrell in those rounds.  He built up a big lead, but the eleventh gave Morrell’s fan hope.   He landed more punches than Benevidez and even knock Benevidez down but instead of 10-8 round, it ended up a 9-8 as Morrell threw a punch after the bell ranged.

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Usyk Defeats Fury in Rematch by Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America – respected and honorable contributor to www.dmboxing.com since 2008

Oleksandr Usyk may be the best heavyweight of his generation, and he proved this as he defeated Tyson Fury for a second time in another tightly contested fight.  Fury is his rival and the one who has been a leading heavyweight for the past decade since he defeated Wladmir Klitschko to take his title.   Usyk was the older fighter and smaller fighter, who came up from the cruiserweight division before becoming the best heavyweight in the world and faced a big challenge against the bigger Fury.  Since the Klitschko brothers left the heavyweight scene after dominating it from 2004 to 2015, fellow Ukrainian Usyk has added to Ukraine’s list of great heavyweights in this century.

Tyson Fury has had a history of adopting new tactics in a rematch as he showed in the Wilder trilogy. In his first fight, he boxed and nearly lost the fight but for a gutsy performance of managing to survive a brutal knockdown in round 12. In the rematch, he became the aggressor and used his height and weight to overpower Wilder.   In their final match, Fury combined power and boxing skills to wear out Wilder and stopped him.

In their first fight, Fury landed 157 punches in a close fight with a connect rate of 32 percent whereas Usyk was the more accurate boxer landing 170 punches for 41 percent connect rate.  Usyk wore Fury out in the later rounds.  In the rematch, Usyk connected on 179 punches to Fury’s 144 punches and connected on a little over 42 percent versus Fury 28 percent.  In ten of the rounds, Usyk landed more punches than Fury.  And Fury did come in 14 pounds, or as the Brits would say, one stone heavier.

While this does not speak to the overall quality of the punches and many rounds were decided by one or two punches, this shows that Usyk connected more consistently throughout the fight versus Fury.

In the opening rounds, Fury opened up boxing and jabbing, even on occasions switching to southpaw.  Usyk in the fourth round nailed Fury with two big left hooks and Fury countered with powerful rights and as time wound down, he unleashed a right upper cut.  This round showed the competitive nature of the fight, and this round went Fury but in the previous third round, Usyk began to pressure Fury as he battered Fury to the body.

Halfway through the fight it was a close but as the second half proceeded, Usyk took control of the bout.  Over the last five rounds he landed 54 percent of his power shots and overall, he landed more punches than any other Fury opponent. I had it 116-112.

 

Over the years, Fury has proven to be a good boxer with defensive skills, but Usyk’s boxing skills overcame Fury’s size, boxing skills and power and allowed him to win two closes but no doubt decisions.

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Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson by Decision … Katie Taylor over Amanda Serrano

Heavyweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

The big fight on Netflix was Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul or that was the the fight that got all the intention.  Jake Paul’s job was to defeat a former great heavyweight who has not been in the ring in two decades and eligible for senior citizen discount. 

J

ake Paul did what Jake Paul was supposed to do, win the bout with jabs and combinations whereas Tyson hardly looked the fearsome fighter he was at his peak and connected on two punches per round.  It was easy fight for Paul and sad ending for Tyson but both men got rich in the process. 60 million people tuned in. 

In the fight round Paul landed a right that shook Tyson and Tyson landed a left hook that twenty years ago would have sent Paul in the front row, but it did nothing .   Paul jab was effective in keeping Tyson off.  I could remember a time when no jab would keep Tyson off in his prime.  He would find a way around it and knock you out.  But that was the young twenty something Tyson.  Tonight, father time reminded Tyson that indeed, he was an old fighter.

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Beterbiev wins the “undisputed” light heavyweight championship with majority decision victory over Bivol

Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of Ameria (BWAA)

There was time that a fight between two elites undefeated fighters fighting for the undisputed light heavyweight title would have been a big thing but for most sports fan, boxing is no longer the major sport it once was, and it is approaching the level most Americans view soccer.  It is disappearing and if you look at the big fights and in particular among light heavyweights and beyond, they are dominated by European fighters where interest still reign. 

Heavyweight division is strictly a foreign affair as Usyk and Fury will fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship. At this moment, I view Dubois title as being granted because of politics as Usyk decided to allow Fury a deserve rematch since they are two best Heavyweight in the world.

Dmitry Bivol is classic boxer who already defeated Canelo Alvarez and Beterbiev has won every bout he participated by knock out and been a champion of his version of the light heavyweight since 2017.

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Dubois Crushes Joshua / Knockout in Five

Heavyweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Anthony Joshua fought Daniel Dubois for the IBF which really belongs to Oleksandr Usyk who was the champion and vacated since he preferred to fight Tyson Fury and not Dubois.  Dubois gave Usyk a tough fight in their last bout, but Joshua was the favorite.   This was supposed to put Joshua in line for a maybe a third fight with Usyk or a fight with a Fury.  However, this fight turned out to be a complete disaster for Joshua as Dubois sent Joshua sprawling four times in the first round, the third round, fourth round and finally sent down for the final time in the fifth round.

In the opening round, Joshua worked his jab while Dubois attack with his hooks, and while Joshua punches were cleaning and landed a sharp upper cut, Dubois nailed Joshua with a looping right hand that sent Joshua down on wobbly legs.  The bell saved Joshua. 

Joshua looked shaky as the one round and Dubois landed the majority of shots as he landed four times as many punches but at least he stayed standing   After two rounds, the bout was easy to score 20-17.

Joshua threw a right hand that missed but Dubois didn’t miss with his counter left and Joshua rolled backwards as Dubois landed more blows that left Joshua taking a count and now Dubois had a 30-25 score.

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Canelo Defeats Berlanga by Unanimous Decision … AND – other results from Las Vegas Fight Card

Middleweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Caleb Plant had to get up from a fourth-round knockdown, but stormed back to overpower Trevor McCumby in route to a ninth-round stoppage win on the Canelo vs Berlanga undercard.

Plant (23-2, 13 KO) was a heavy favorite coming in, but did show some rust after an 18-month layoff, and had to sort of grow into the fight. He definitely had to do that once it was clear that underdog McCumby (28-1, 21 KO) was here to fight, as he brought some power shots to the former titleholder early, and scored that knockdown in the fourth. With a fight probably tied after four rounds and Plant maybe a point down, Plant had to use his experience and start taking control of the fight.

Whether he’ll admit it or not, Plant seemed to “wake up” from there, and the dog came out of him, as he stood in the pocket and bullied McCumby both physically and mentally starting in the fifth round, leading to the referee stopping the fight right before the end of round nine.

Now that Plant is the interim WBA super Middleweight champion which makes no sense since the present WBA champion is still active and champ.  His name is Canelo Alvarez.

Plant landed more than double the punches, and connected on nearly 55% of his punches, showing his domination.

The 41-year-old Erislandy Lara faced Danny “Swift” Garcia at Middleweights but the 36-year-old Garcia coming off a two-year layoff looked older as a fighter than Lara.  Garcia only connected on 33 punches over 9 rounds and connected on 17 percent of punches.  He looked slow, tentative, and unable to get any offense going.  In the second round he didn’t even connect on a single punch. It is not that Lara was spectacular as he connected on only 67 punches and landed only a quarter of his punches, but he was a more effective fighter.

Garcia was a champion at 140 and 147 pounds while defeating high profiles but now he is an older fighter, and it showed.  Garcia lacked energy and not the aggressive Garcia in his prime and he got consistently nailed by Lara right hand jab.   Lara landed consecutive rights before a sharp left sent Garica to his knee in the ninth.  His corner stopped the fight and maybe a great career will be over. 

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Inoue Stops Doheny – 7th Round TKO Victory

Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America – and – respected contributor to www.dmboxing.com since 2008

Naoya Inoue defended his title against TJ Doheny for Inoue unified super bantamweight title and Inoue dominated his opponent with multiple of attacks including a blistering body shot.

The first round saw Inoue stalking his opponent as Dohney, landed a couple of body shots against the southpaw Dohney.  Inoue continued his stalking into the second round but in the third round Doheny may have won the third round as he landed 13 punches to Inoue 8 punches. He managed to move around and land his jab but at the end of the fourth round, Inoue forced Doheny to the rope and landing solid body shots.

At the start of the fifth round Doheny showed aggressive as he moved forward but this last about one  minute before Inoue reversed Doheny movement and forced the Irish fighter to retreat. Doheny showed the ability to defend against Inoue as he avoided two big shots.  Inoue did manage to land solid body shots.

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Angelo Leo vs. Venado Lopez … Serhii Bohachuk vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr. (August 10, 2024) Results

Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Angelo Leo ended his fight with the then champion Luis Alberto Lopez with one of the most devastating knockouts I have seen in a while. In what was a close fight going into the final two rounds, Leo landed a beautiful picture-perfect left hook just as they would teach, and Lopez landed on his back and head bounded off the canvas.  This was action packed fight, with Lopez coming into the fight as one of the best in the featherweights with 13 fight winning streak including three successful title fights with his last fight an eighth round TKO win over Reiya Abe past March. 

Leo landed the cleaner punches as he pushed the issue with the champion but going into the eleventh round as Lopez was ahead on one cared 86-85 and the other judges had it 86-85 for Leo.

Lopez best punches were his uppercuts and added loaded up shots with his easily.  Leo last loss was to Steven Fulton in a 122-pound title but since then won five fights and did have a vacant 122-pound title. Now he has a 126 pound. 

Continue reading Angelo Leo vs. Venado Lopez … Serhii Bohachuk vs. Vergil Ortiz Jr. (August 10, 2024) Results →

Crawford by Decision Win Over Madrimov

Middleweights, Recent Fights, Tom Donelson

By Tom Donelson / Member Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA)

Terence Crawford was shooting  for a fourth title at the 154-pound division against WBA champion Israil Madrimov, but it was not a coronation as Crawford won a close decision with judges scoring the fight 115-113,115-113 and 116-112.  Most every round was close as Crawford averaged 8 landed punches and 36 throws whereas Madrimov averaged 7 punches landed and 23 punches thrown. This was a fight that many rounds saw one or two quality punches decide the round. Crawford threw over 200 more punches and more active, but he only had 22 percent accuracy and Madrimov actually connected on 30 percent of his punches and landed some good rights throughout the fight plus concentrated on the body. 

The bout proved to be a tactical fight and Crawford had the superior jab and this allowed him to connect occasionally with his right hand and Madrimov landed clean right hands but there were very few combinations punches and the one punch Madrimov landed successfully was his looping right but he also missed quite a bit with that punch.

In seven rounds, Crawford landed a more punches and Madrimov landed more punches in just four rounds with one round even.  I had the fight 115-113 but you could have scored it 114-114 or 116-112 for there were rounds that were close to score. 

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