5/19/2018-Nat’l Harbor, Md.- If the sight impaired people called Lomachenko-Linares a FOTY candidate, what did they think of last night’s thriller between Gary Russell Jr. (28-1-17K),WBC featherweight boss and El Monte’s  JoJo Diaz Jr. (26-0-14K? IMO opinion last night’s war was a no brainer.

Going into this match, I figured the extremely talented but inactive champion would out speed and stop the top contender in eight rounds. I was deemed “crazy” by my fight friends. “Boxing Don, you’re WAY off on this one”. To me, their best hope was for Diaz to catch Russell slipping due to inactivity. Russell’s like Haley’s comet

Early on, it looked like Russell’s hand and foot speed was gonna’ send JoJo home early. Flashing uncanny and accurate sets at Diaz, Gary was definitely on point. Diaz seemed blinded by the lightening fast fusillade of punches sent his way. He looked like that proverbial ‘deer in the head lights’ for the first three rounds. Russell didn’t seem to be hurting the youngster but he had no issues ‘finding’ him. It seemed whenever he got close, Diaz had to kinda’ figure out what to do next, giving Russell time to either tie him up or scoot away. (Who “ scoots”?) Now, I know the time zone in Crab City is different from Taco Town, and suddenly in round four, Diaz got his ‘the party’s already started, JoJo’ call, THEN it became a fight, for real. Pre fight, Diaz proclaimed to be the bigger man and would “walk down Russell”. He’s walking, all right, but eating shots, as well. JoJo started locating Gary’s rib cage and was digging deep, slowing Gary’s roll. I started wondering when this shit was gonna’ start registering because I KNOW Russell was feeling those digs. For the next few rounds Diaz thought he’d found the secret to success.

JoJo was digging hard for the next few rounds and occasionally landed upstairs as well. Man, this shit was getting’ GOOD. Gary wasn’t being given time to rest as Diaz was like a robot, plowing forward in search of more ribs. IN THE SEVENTH, WITH Gary still firing away, it looked like Diaz realized he’s done the best he could do and was slowing down his output, a bad thing against a guy with Gary’s skills. Whenever Russell would send his missiles Diaz’s way, he found little resistance as Diaz was on ‘pause’ too long. His crew realized the time off didn’t impact the way Gary would be performing this late after all those body shots and time off ( a year). In the twelfth, the affect   started to show as Russell was holding a lot. When his hands were free,  JoJo was nailing Gary, driving him around the ring, hurting the champ but the bell rang to end matters. The decision was unanimous but Diaz learned a lot and so did Russell. This was an excellent fight. It seemed as if Diaz Sr. didn’t find much urgency down the stretch, being too calm for me. Instead of lighting a fire under his son, he just gave him a pillow warmer. This seemed to be a time the maternal relationship failed. I don’t care WHAT people say, ‘your son is your son, NOT just another fighter’

Rematch, why, Gary’s not getting any younger and Diaz is too risky to be dealing  with  again. He has more room for improvement than Russell. He’ll see a lotta’ ‘what ifs’ when watching the tape. Plus, Gary said “I hurt my hand in the third round” so there goes another year delay. He claims he wants the winner of Leo Santa Cruz-Abner Mares hookup and if Mares wins the rematch, there will be need for a tie breaker, so we’re talking seeing Gary about 2020. Plus, there’s all those rib shots absorbed by the champ. Man, as badly as  Lomachenko beat Russell in their fight, I’d LOVE to see a rematch but I can’t see Gary at ’35. Seeing Russell’s  arsenal on display for twelve rounds will piss people off, KNOWING they won’t see this type of action from him for YEARS. It’s distracting watching that Hip-Hop ref trying to get around the ring. He always seems to be outta’ position and gets a little annoying, always bothering the fighters. Diaz often looked agitated when he was stopped from fighting his inside game.

In the second bout, airing from Toronto Ca.,  WBC light heavyweight champ Adonis Stevenson (29-1-24K) kept his strap in a twelve round majority draw against top contender, big talking Badou Jack (21-1-13K). Why do they act as if a ‘majority draw is any different from any other kind? A draw’s a draw, to me. I hate  ANY kinda’ draw. If I pay my money and watch a 12 round fight, I wanna’  damn  RESULT. My take is, if nobody won, nobody fought. I’m strange, like that.

In any event, Jack was whining his ass off about always getting the short end of the stick. He now has FOUR draws on his slate. I have a suggestion, don’t wait ‘til the seventh round to start fighting. These guys didn’t do Jack shit (or Jack the Ripper) for the first six rounds. Jack should realize those draws COULD’VE been losses. So with the the action at a virtual standstill and Al Berstein (who’s looking more and more like  Grandpa on The Monsters) pleading for action, things got heated in the seventh round. The champ, who calls himself Superman wasn’t living up to his moniker. What damage done, came from body shots as lots were landed in the second half of the match. Jack knows the power carried in that left hand of the champ wasn’t  gonna’ take two many chances but if that’s the case, don’t whine about draws. Jack even suggested the people scoring the fight must hate promoter Floyd Mayweather.  Jack is a Mayweather fighter. So if Jack’s right, what’s he  gonna’ do going forward, fight ‘unattached’ like they do in the ams?

5/13/ Turning Stone Resort and Casino, NY.

Rey Vargas (31-0-22K) v. Azat Hovhannisyan (14-2-11K).

Has tall and talented WBC 122lb champion Rey Vargas ever left the ring without looking like he went ten with Eddy Scissorshands? This guy says he doesn’t “like to get hit”, but you can’t prove that by THIS writer. He’s a warrior and fights like one. He usually has a big height advantage over his foes and they have no problems finding him with his erect fighting style. I recall featherweight Danny (Little Red) Lopez was the same way. Over hand rights were his Kryptonite. I saw the weakest guys lower the heads and find Danny with overhand rights and would often drop him. Course, a few rounds later Danny’d be celebrating  another  ko win. Last night,  Armenian  AZAT Hovhannisyan, a short stocky free winger burned the champ often out of his crouching advances.

In the first round, while trying to judge the movements of Azat with his jab, a big right hand drove the champ into the ropes. Azat has a weird style, punching from anywhere, ask Ronny Rios. In fact, ask Rios about BOTH of these guys, they both gave him hell. A cut was opened over the left eye of Vargas (big surprise), hunh?  Azat used this as a target with his gloves as well as his head. Vargas, who facially resembles an Ostrich, has a big heart and was in no mood for backing up, zeroing in the shorter Azat, with fuel sapping body shots. Occasionally, Azat would time Rey’s reaching shots and land hard, short lefts and rights. This was a hard fought event, as are most of Vargas’s fights. He uses his reach for about three rounds, then it becomes, oh hell, let’s just  FIGHT. The body sapping shots of Vargas finally slowed the little fire plug down, slowing Azat’s output. In fact, he took the entire seventh round off. The eighth saw the champ lean into a head butt, opening up his second cut, this one, long and nasty, bleeding profusely. Azat tried desperately tried to capitalize, chasing Vargas around the ring, missing everything. Azat was cut and swollen, as well. This was the type of event that would cause one to seek employment at the post office.

Vargas was able to keep his belt, by keeping his distance and rolling to a points win. I enjoyed all the gestures from both guys, when one guy would miss badly the other would mimic him. Once, when azat was on the retreat, Vargas would act as if he may as well shadow box and started throwing punches. At the bell ending one round, Vargas dropped his hand and Azat threw a playful shot at his chin, like, ‘man you’re lucky the bell rang’.. This was an entertaining fight from both guys but I don’t know how Vargas is gonna’ go the way he gets cut. It seems to happen earlier in each fight. Azat is a fan friendly little guy and will always give a stern effort. I was surprised nobody got dropped with all the clean shots landed.

/11/18-As I settled in for another exciting night of throw downs, I was concerned about having to channel switch so as not to miss anything. Well, there was no problem, this time, only two of the seven bouts were worth a shit. Let’s hope tonight will be better.

PBC ON BOUNCE- SAM’S TOWN CASINO, LAS VEGAS, Nv.

Erick Bone (19-5-8K) v. Cameron Krael (13-12-3-3K)

Looking at the records of these two guys, especially Krael, with THREE kos in 28 fights, I thought,  good, let’s get this one outta’ the way first. To the ‘ol guy’s pleasant surprise, these two unknowns really gave the Vegas crowd their money’s worth. Sometimes it would be nice if guys got paid according to their performance (or LACK thereof). There were hard exchanges throughout this ten rounder, with both guys fighting as if a belt was on the table. There were no knockdowns but also, not too many breaks in the action. The action was as good inside as when both guys fought at range. The final verdict was a split (no problem) decision in Bone’s favor. Let’s do this again.

LaTeef Kayode (21-2-16K) v. Andrew Tabiti (15-0-12K)

Lateef Kayode is a fearsome, menacing, imposing figure, until the bell rings, that is. Once the action starts, this guy’s like a blind bull in a china shop. He has NO balance, No reflexes, No stamina and No apparent boxing skills. He just rushes forward, making it easy to get tied up and this is what happened against Tabiti. This was a lousy, stinking fight filled with bull rushes, clinches and everything else that frustrates a fight fan. For all the muscles piled up on his upper body, Lateef has no real punching power. Now, Tabiti wasn’t a helluva’ lot better, grabbing Kayode at every rush. Finally, with an (already) fading Kayode, trapped on the ropes, Tabiti landed a flush right uppercut that put Mr. Muscles down and out. Afterwards, the two men hugged and chatted for what seemed like five minutes, probably telling each other, ‘what a great show we put on’.

Ishe Smith (29-9-12K) v. Tony Harrison (26-2-21K)

Will someone PLEASE tell me why old-ass Ishe Smith is still headlining shows? I don’t know how old he is but last night, he looked 10 years older. He was lucky that he was in with a talented guy that was in no mood for trying for a ko. Except for a blistering right hand that had the squatting Smith almost down (actually it was ruled a knockdown), Harrison was content to go the distance. The normally durable Smith was on the brink of being stopped several times but Harrison let him off the hook. Harrison is a bit of a safety first guy that hardly senses a period of urgency. He’s not a fan friendly tv fighter, that’s for sure but he is a talented guy with all the tools, except that killer instinct. Smith is always referred to “the only champion from ‘Vegas” which doesn’t say much for TMT. Smith said later, “I fought a great fight”, when, after you got back to your dressing room?

SHOBOX, Philadelphia, Pa.

Devin Haney (18-0-12K) v. Mason Menard (33-2-24K)

Let me start by saying I was not overwhelmed with rising ‘Super star’ Devin Haney’s performance. He’d get booed outta’ the ring, fighting in LA like he did tonight. True, he’s young, and maybe overhyped but he fights like Money Mayweather   NOT Pretty Boy Floyd. He’s  definitely a Floyd wannabe, flashing all his material things and saying, “I wanna’be just like Floyd”. Didn’t we just hear that from Ghetto Boy, Adrian Broner ? Tonight was my first extended look at the Prodigy and he had the perfect guy as his opponent. Menard was as slow as whale shit sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I mean, he didn’t land a SINGLE shot in the first four rounds. Haney looked like he was boxing a tackling dummy. He was faster than Ali with his lateral movement, stopping only briefly to drill this heavy bag, making him seem even faster. He claims he wants to fight for the title in his next fight. Be careful what you wish for, youngster. There’s lots of guys out there that will show him what he has YET to learn. This wasn’t even a competitive fight, by a LONG shot. Actually, unless you’re a Haney fan (which there are many), this was actually a real SNOOZER. Poor Menard was like a dog on a leash out for a walk in the park. This card was partially promoted by Haney promotion. Looks like he’s WAY ahead of Floyd as far as the ‘bidness of boxing goes’ and, I can’t fault him for that but I won’t be breaking MY neck waiting for his next fight. Oh, after doing nothing for NINE rounds, Mason’s corner decided to pull the plug. He wasn’t getting hurt and it was obvious from the START he wasn’t gonna’ win shit, so why put that TKO’d by, on his slate

Joshua Greer Jr, (16-1-1-8K) v. Glenn Dezurn Jr. (9-1-1D-6K)

To me, this was the most entertaining scrap of the night. I enjoy watching Greer fight. He’s loquacious (sorta’ a Broner type but he moves his hands) fast, sharp with a little pop to his game. He’s called, ‘Don’t Blink’), and brings a pillow for his opponent into the ring. More  entertaining than a damn hairbrush. His opponent, Vernon Forrest look alike, Glenn Dezurn, Jr. was a willing foe until the heat became too much for him. Both little (122lbs) warriors were there for the party and staged some furious exchanges in this scheduled ten rounder. Greer Jr. always has a maniacal smile on his face, even when getting hit, like he’s a crazy man. He has all the weapons and is dedicated to the rib area. Greer Jr. took the starch outta’ Dezurn Jr. with a withering body attack before dropping him twice, leading to the ref to call a cease fire. This  little dynamo is only a fight or two away from running wit’ tha’ Big Dogs.

In  Other Action……

Light heavy weights Alvin Vermall Jr. (15-0-1ND-12K) struggles to a decision win against Charles Foster (15-0-8K). The 5’8’’ Vermall Jr, who has fought as high as 200 lbs, landed a few hard shots but was at a big physical advantage and was out boxed by the 6’2” Foster. The call was unanimous in Foster’s favor and Vermall needs to decide what weight lass he wants to compete in and he is NO Dwight Braxton (Qwai).

Adam Lopez (16-2-2D-8KO) had his hands MORE than full with Russian fireplug Arnold khegai (11-0-1-8K). Somebody must’ve told the Mad Russian, ‘when you fight in the US, don’t worry about ‘rules’. Arnold used every trick in the book and only lost one point as he shucked and jived his way to an eight round unanimous win. He has a herky jerky style and when you add the fouls, it’s a hard combination to beat, as Lopez discovered. Poor Lopez wanted to ‘play fair’ but that wasn’t the intention of Khegai. He gave Lopez too much to be concerned with, plus he’s a pretty decent fighter, anyway.

4/7/2018-Las Vegas, Nv. There was some pretty good activity taking place tonight. On the surface, one might think that 45 rounds and only ONE droppage would be boring, and that ONE came in the last minute of the last round.

Julian (J-Rock) Williams (24-1-1-1ND) v. Nathaniel Gallimore (20-1-17K)

This was the fight I was worried about. My Philly Boi, Williams, was facing a guy that I thought would be nothing BUT trouble. The tall, hard punching Jamaican Gallimore, reminds me of Nicholas Walters, The Axeman, always a threat. But trainer Breadman Stephens had J-Rock finely tuned and firing on all cylinders. Aside from a few anxious moments (VERY few), Gallimore was taken to school and told to ‘take notes’ on Boxing, 101. Boxing smoothly and obviously surprising Gallimore with his power, J-Rock had Nate in check, big time. On more than one occasion, Gallimore was on shaky pins at the end of a couple of rounds. Boxing smoothly, striking when he was in range and showing beautiful movement, this was the best I’ve seen Williams look. At times, Nathaniel seemed totally perplexed by the talented Williams. Many times when he thought he had Williams lined up, he’d fire a big shot that was either easily slipped or blocked effortlessly. I gave Gallimore about four rounds but somehow the one judge (ANOTHER LADY), score the fight 114-114. Vegas is gonna’ have to do something about this shit. This was an eliminator for  the IBF Jr. middleweight crown and my Boi is firmly in the mix. Great job J-Rock and Bread. At the end of the match, Sam (where’s the camera) Watson was chewing on Williams’ ear like he was Mike Tyson, I didn’t know he was William’s assistant trainer.

James DeGale (23-2-1-14K) v. Caleb Truax (29-3-2D-18K) were in a rematch of their IBF 168lb. tiff which was won by Truax first time around. This was a title bout but honestly, these guys didn’t look like more than average guys. This was a bloody mess with numerous head butts low blows, shoulder rams, just a sloppy affair. There were no sharp punches, no combinations, just two guys that resembled barroom brawlers. Worse part was, from the start, I could tell this mess was going the distance. Seriously folks, I can’t put my finger on anything impressive about this struggle. I can’t recall a fighter that was as accurate with his head butts as DeGale was, ramming Truax’s chin almost every time. He should’ve worn an extra glove. This was a fight where you didn’t care who won, just glad when it ended. To the surprise of many, the crown switched heads as Degale was awarded a split decision. Now THAT did surprise me, the parts I DID see, Truax seemed to have a sloppy edge. The scores read, 117-110 Truax (which was wide) and 114-113 DeGale, ho hum.

Jarrett Hurd (21-0-15K) v. Erislandy Lara (25-2-2D-14K)

The main event lived up to its billing in a hard fought, bombs away deal which saw undefeated IBF champ Hurd, the defense challenged brawler trying to end the career of ‘ol vet, WBA champ, Lara. I figured this would be the last go ‘round for the slick, stylish Cuban boxer. Hurd seems to think he doesn’t need defense as long as he has the size and strength advantage over most ‘54’s. But I will go on record saying, if he fights Jermell Charlo and gets hit flush as much as he did tonight, he’ll get stopped. Time and again the southpaw Lara would ram Hurd with straight lefts and booming right uppercuts. Hurd, like a robot would just trudge forward, I guess he felt, at SOME point, Lara would get tired of drilling him. Hurd reminds me of an Iran Barkley, that just plows straight ahead, digesting shit until he wears you down. I was at the Lara-Angulo fight where Lara was dropped a couple of times but fought like a real warrior in rallying to stop Angulo. Tonight he was JUST as sharp and accurate as he was then. Hurd looked like he outweighed Lara by some 15lbs. As he walked  through Lara’s bombs, Hurd would bully his smaller foe to the ropes and rip vicious left hooks to the body. Early on, the shots didn’t seem to faze Lara, but you just KNEW at some point they would register. By choice or necessity, Lara started finding himself in an inside battle where Hurd showed that size DOES matter. By the eighth round, Lara was in deep trouble,. Those body shots and ripping uppercuts were wearing his ass out. Though he was able to stand and deliver, his accurate shots had no real impact. With his face and eyes swollen and unable to get away, Lara was a sitting duck, being overpowered. In the final round, Lara was again forced to trade shots and was battered by the steamrolling Hurd. A short right uppercut followed by a sizzling left hook dropped the worn out Lara to all fours. Now THIS is where I think he got some love from ref Robert Byrd (what’s with the Byrds, anyway)? His wife is sight challenged and Robert gave Lara way to much time at this juncture. Normally, when a guy goes down, and his opponent immediately goes to a corner the ref starts his count. This time, Byrd was ushering Hurd to the corner as Lara was on one knee. He should’ve already started his count. Add to that, when Lara was on his feet, he asked, “you ok, you wanna’ fight, you sure, come to me, give me your gloves”. This was way too much conversation, imo. This robbed Hurd of the chance to stop Lara. Perhaps Byrd wanted to give the former champ respect for the battle he had waged, so I’m not mad. Lara was able to finish and though he showed a huge heart and a shitload of courage in the fight, he paid a price and his face showed. If he was a bigger puncher, he might’ve at least dropped Hurd as he stopped him in his tracks a few times. Overall, a helluva’ war and now, Hurd has two belts but if he doesn’t at least learn how to SPELL defense, he won’t be able to just soak up shots against the bigger hitting guys, LIKE Charlo.

03/31/2018-Cardiff, Wales—Undefeated (40-0-39K) WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder figured he could see better fights at ANY bar in Birmingham, Al, his home, than what happened between Anthony Joshua (20-20K) and Joseph Parker (24-0-18K). On paper, this seemed to be something worth checking out. Joshua deemed by most boxing fans and writers as a better fighter  than the sometimes wild swinging, Wilder. Joshua entered the ring wearing the WBA/IBF and IBO straps. At stake was the WBO, somehow worn by Joseph Parker. I was wondering who Parker beat to win HIS belt and realized it was the perennial doughboy, Andy Ruiz, Jr., big Whoops. Joshua’s clown promoter Eddie Hearn made a big stink about the fact Wilder wasn’t  gonna’ be in attendance for this bout, after announcing Wilder wouldn’t be permitted to enter the ring to confront the winner, to promote the next fight, ASSUMING Wilder got the winner. I guess Eddie had a special seat for Wilder somewhere in the upper deck.

After waiting for some bombs to be detonated, after 12 dreary rounds, all I saw was a clueless ref and two guys that didn’t seem too willing to assume any risks over the twelve rounds. At no time did Joshua seem intent on keeping his ko streak intact. After 20 straight, he was content to box his way to a sleeper. The decision was unanimous, I assume the judges had to be aroused from their siestas. Joshua’s biggest problem was some cheap tape on his gloves that kept coming loose. There were no knockdowns, nothing evenCLOSE, just a chess match and I hate chess. Afterwards, after being asked for the fifth time, Joshua said he’d face Wilder in Wales and that “I’ll spark him out”. If you fight like you did tonight, buddy, you’ll be asleep before you spark ANYTHING. If he wasn’t willing to get involved with a guy with a limited offense and no real visible power, what the hell is he gonna’ do with a flame thrower like Deontay? I don’t expect to see this fight any time in the near future, marinate my ASS. Joshua was starting to sound like Keith (take my time) Thurman when he hears the word ‘Spence’. Well, there’s always the upcoming weeks as we have some real action on tap.

3/27/2018- I just read an article on Fighthype  (Floyd’s site), that MUST be a damn JOKE. Floyd Mayweather (49-0) and in another of his phony-ass retirements, was criticizing fighters for talking trash and denigrating one another. Then, he sorta’ implied, ‘especially Black fighters’. Such BULLSHIT, FIRST of all Floyd’s career consisted of specializing in talking shit after he became ‘Money’ Mayweather. If anybody’s going to say, ‘c’mon Don, he was selling tickets’, save that bullshit for another time and place, ok? He was talking about Jermal Charlo, Gervonte Davis and Adrian Broner, among others.

There was an incident where Jermall was talking BIG shit about Daniel Jacobs, when he was in Jacobs’ home town, Brooklyn. He was runnin’ his mouth talkin’ some shit that only he and his twin brother can decipher. The only thing I heard was, “I’m wit it”. The interviewer was trying to talk to Charlo and he  had his head on a swivel,  sayin’ “yeah, I’m lookin’ for him, I’m in BK, where he at”? As soon as Jacobs showed up, Charlo said, “ there he is, now”. I was expecting him to YELL across the room to get Jacob’s attention. Instead, he started puppy peeing and not  sayin’ SHIT. He actually appeared to be PRAYing  Danny wouldn’t notice him. But he DID, and rolled right UP on the urinating Charlo.  Charlo was shakin’ like a hoe in church, when Danny started frontin’ him off. Charlo was muttering and stuttering and wishing his twin was there. Jacobs talked about  how much money Charlo was making and all sorts of shit. Charlo  said some shit but his heart wasn’t ‘wit’ it’.

As soon as Jacobs and his posse walked off, Charlo started up again , funny as hell. I saw another video of him on Floyd’s site where he appeared to be drunk as a damn skunk. Now you can only IMAGINE how hard he was to understand with that juice up in him. But Floyd can’t say shit about people “stayin’ in they  lane”. Shit he was all over the highway when he was talkin’ shit. So just when GGG and Canelo  started getting all the ink regarding their rematch, AS USUAL, Floyd was feeling left out and was in the back screaming, ‘ Ima’ do MMA, yall’ But he STILL got outshined when Canelo got fkd up over some damn goat meat or SOME shit. He’s currently on suspension by the Nevada commission. GGG’s talking more shit than I’ve EVER heard from him. Usually, it’s just, “big drama show”.  So, I don’t know what Floyd’s gonna’ do to top this, maybe go through with this MMA shit. If you think that shit with him and Connor was scripted, wait to you see THIS shit. GGG says he may fight BJ Saunders if Canelo isn’t allowed to fight. I think that would be a bad matchup for him. Saunders has way to much foot AND hand speed for the plodding GGG.

I’ve been reading a lot about the young 19 year old upstart from Victorville, Ryan Garcia. The kid has a lotta’ talent and can punch BUT he’s like Danny Lopez was, erect, with his chin in the air with a sign flashing, sayin, ‘hit me’. You could close your eyes, drop your head and STILL hit Lopez with a right hand. Ryan’s a tall kid and is already calling out Gervonte (Tank) Davis. Stop it RIGHT now, Ryan. You’ll be ‘cryin’ Ryan if you fought tank right now, as Davis said when told Ryan said, “I wanna’ sleep him”, “he’s a kid, I’ll KILL him in the ring”, he could be my sparring partner, though”. Luckily, Ryan’s with Golden Boy and no way in the Lord’s ass is Oscar putting him with Davis, not in the NEAR future, anyway. So, now we head for the weekend with heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua  set to destroy  New Zealand’s Joseph Parker (20-0-20K). Parker wears the WBO strap while Joshua (20-0-20K) has the IBF and WBA ornaments. This doesn’t  seem to be an affair where judges are gonna’ be required. WCB champ Deontay Wilder (40-0-39K), I’m sure, will be ringside with a mouth fulla’ shit to talk to the winner. The boxing world wants to really see Wilder and Joshua hook it up.

Greetings again my WCB friends and I trust all is well with you. I will start this off by announcing my appointment of work at my local hospital (security job) as well as working as security at the Anthony Joshua-Joseph Parker scrap this weekend, which ain’t half bad work when it means getting people in the stadium and watching the punch up for free too! Result!

Now then, I’m going to talk about the recent O2 event that happened just this weekend gone with Dillian Whyte and Lucas Browne and a few other bouts that took place that Saturday. I’ll start with the undercard bouts that were televised and worthy of mention, one which was not.

Anthony Fowler was a 2016 Olympian and is not scared to have a scrap, take a punch and just show you what he’s made of. He was up against Kalilou Dembele, a French-Cameroonian and someone not just to make up the numbers. The talking heads that make up Sky Sports boxing commentary team know their stuff and noted upon Fowler’s performance. Whereas you Amerikaners might get Jim Lampley and Max Kellerman who’ve never boxed in their lives and the closest they’ve boxed is eggs, Sky have Carl Froch, Johnny Nelson, Paul Smith Jr., and Spencer Oliver. All ex-world champions or contenders. As well as Adam Smith who is the head honcho of the Sky Boxing team and yeah, he ain’t boxed but certainly is very knowledgable on the game, having studied it since he was a kid and practised being a commentator at the same age too. Anorak!! By the way, who the fuck is that American bloke your side who tries to sound like Howard Cosell? The point I’m making, is that they noticed that Fowler was taking too many unnecessary shots despite his dominance in the contest. The thing is, the aim of the game is to hit and not get hit, so why think it’s fun to take shots which will be detrimental to your health? Particularly when you have the skills to pay the bills and when you’ve made a ton of money, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to count it?  Dave Coldwell, Fowler’s trainer was said after that this foolhardy practise will stop and this kid will keep his hands up in future. The result was a KO in the 5^th of 6 to which Dembele protested the count out, but seeing the ref’s point of view were Kalilou once dropped and had been in the 2^nd, him laying flat out with his hands like in the crucifix position, it’s easy to see why.

Dereck Chisora in case you didn’t know had an absolute war with Dillian Whyte last December and was in an 8 rounder with some stiff called Zakaria Azzouzi, probably Italian, Gawd knows anyway and he banged him out in 2. Azzouzi, dropped his hands when up against the ropes and ‘Del Boy’ went whallop on his chin and it was a case of Good night Irene. Afterwards, David Haye, who fancies himself as a promoter with Richard Schaeffer these days, tried to offer Dereck some money with his budding prospect Joe Joyce, the Olympic silver medallist from Rio 2016 at super-heavyweight. Now according to my source who is managed by the same manager as Chisora, Dereck was offered peanuts. According to the Hayemaker, he offered him more than what he got for fighting Vitali Klitschko but my source told me that was bullshit. Apparently the final offer, was 200 grand against a 3 bout novice. Saying that, Joe Joyce is a bit special but at the end of the day money talks.

Next up was Frank Buglioni, yep, you guessed it, of Italian extract, aka ‘Wiseguy’. Frank is a big ticket seller in that London and his British light heavy title was on the line against Commonwealth champion Callum Johnson. This was expected to be a cagey affair but Frank was blown away in a round! Callum Johnson has had injuries and the passing of his father that messed up his head too. You could tell as soon as he hit the ‘Wiseguy’ he was not showing any sort of mafia respect and after 2 knockdowns it was curtains for Francesco. Despite Buglioni getting up from the 2^nd knockdown he had legs like this old drunken sailor after a heavy session. I’m sure a rematch is in the offing, but we will have to wait and see on that. Johnson dedicated the fight to his late father.

The next contest of note was Lewis Ritson of Newcastle against Scott Cardle. Lewis came into the contest as the defending British lightweight champ and this kid can bang. Scott Cardle is a former holder of said belt and his gameplan was to go in there and bang like an outside shithouse door in the wind as he did in the first round. Ritson, however, kept his composure, held his hands up and fired back too. I’d have given that a 10-9 round to Cardle but Ritson was not bothered by that and went back into round 2 fighting fire with fire and dropped Scott once and then again and the towel came in from cornerman Joe Gallagher as well as the ref jumping in simultaneously to stop the bout. I suggest you look Ritson up on YouTube. If you can catch an interview with him you Amerikaners might need subtitles (I understand you struggle with broad English dialects anyway!) but Lewis speaks another language, known as Geordie. Geordie is the dialect of people from Newcastle or as the locals call is ‘Noocassel’ and a typical Geordie phrase such as “Had’away and shite man, ya divvent knaa wot ya taakin’ aboot” would translate as “I say there, fellow, you are somewhat incorrect in your assumption”. You get the idea.

To the main event which was broadcast on HBO, dunno if you saw the aforementioned bouts but the chat from the team was “this was being broadcast Stateside, live”, and into the ring for the WBC (We’re Being Conned) silver heavyweight championship was from Australia but managed by Ricky Hatton, Lucas Browne. Browne is a former WBA heavyweight champ and to be honest I liked the guy beforehand but seeing him at the weigh in at 264lbs and his belly seeping over his trunks made me think he hasn’t prepared properly. Dillian came in at 254lbs but certainly had a gameplan. Whyte boxed smart, using his long arms to good effect but Browne had nothing tucked away (certainly not his stomach) apart from his big right hand. To be honest I think I saw him catch Whyte 3 times, if that with his right hand, he was pathetic. In the end Whyte caught him with a crashing left hook in the 6^th and Lucas went face first on the floor. There was concern as it was a heavy KO and despite Whyte’s euphoria as he saw the payday with Deontay Wilder coming right up and seeing the £££ signs, he had to be calmed down as Browne looked quite dodgy on the deck. He eventually sat up and was stretchered out and to hospital as a precaution. Whyte was ecstatic in his post-fight interview and screamed blue murder at the camera calling Wilder out. I seriously think Wilder best grow some muscles on his chin after how he looked dodgy against Ortiz in his previous punch up. I noticed on Browne’s Instagram he mentioned he had shit prep, poor camp, all sorts of excuses but they don’t wash on this scribe. You come to fight and you come prepared when you’re getting big bucks.

The bout I mentioned that was not worthy of a tv broadcast, was just that, so will not be mentioned! Anyway, thanks for reading and by all means send me your feedback, hate filled comments, praise or whatever, I have broad shoulders and you’re all keyboard warriors as I might be! Hahahaha! Take care and be lucky.

3/10/2018- San Antonio- Riverside’s unbeaten Mikey Garcia, (37-0-30K) collects titles the way some folks collect trading cards. In a heated contest for the IBF Jr. Welterweight title against the forever dangerous champion, Sergey  Lipinets (13-0-10K), Garcia had to stay on his p’s and q’s.  Lipinets has a somewhat awkward style that prevented Garcia from becoming overly aggressive. Constantly dipping to his right to avoid Mikey’s big shots, Lipinets was able to nail Garcia often with sneaky shots. I read in some quarters, that Garcia was a 20 to one favorite. Those odds  were obviously set by someone that doesn’t know sht about tha’ game. The champ landed enough sneaky shots, that he was able to bust up Mikey’s nose as early as the second round. This was one of those bouts that had you expecting a bomb to explode any minute.

The struggle went back and forth with each guy ‘gettin’ his. Mikey was able to start getting to the champ in the second, landing several one two sets. But he was always mindful of the impending danger. On several occasions, Mikey had his head snapped back from jarring shots from Sergey. This was a good fight to cap off the weekend, where it seemed like EVERY fight consisted of Jr. welters.  In the seventh, both guys traded left hooks but Garcia’s was on the chin, dropping Lipinets for the first time in his career. He was able to beat the count and was right back in the rumble. The champ, with only 13 fights on his slate was a very dangerous and formidable foe, but the ability to adjust was missing. The contest went the distance with Garcia capturing a unanimous decision (116-11/117-110/117-110) which was about right. Afterwards,  Mikey called out everybody except  Deontay Wilder. After the fight, Garcia announced he was going to Belize (?) to build some houses. Uh, Mikey, there are PLENTY of places to build houses for poor people in Cali.. When he made the announcement, camera hunter, Sam Watson wanted to know if they had cameras in Belize. I’m serious, this dude can find that camera no matter WHERE they put them. He ALWAYS makes a point to stand right over the ring announcer’s shoulder, where he KNOWS that’s where the Red light is aimed.

In the semi, for the vacant (what else) WBA Jr. welterweight title, Long and lanky Rance Barthelemy (26-0-1ND-13K) found a perfect spot to learn a lot of his shots, under Kiryl Relikh’s testacles. At one point Rance bent his knees and fired a straight right DIRECTLY at Relikh’s cajones, making NO attempt to act as if it was an oops moment. For the most fight Relikh (21-2-19K) gave Rance a thorough boxing lesson. Kiryl forced the action and was declared the winner, there were no knockdowns and the final tally was (117-110/118-109/118-109.

3/9/2018-Aside from those two sluggish, lumbering heavyweights, plodding about the ring with the speed of a duck billed platypus, on Showtime, most of the action was pretty entertaining. Hell, even the female fight on ESPN were better than those behemoths. So, let’s get the big boys outta’ the way first.

In Deadwood, South Dakota, a fitting place for these two slugs. Junior Fa (13-0-8K) whom the networks seem to be promoting as a future star, from New Zealand  like he’s the second coming of Jimmy Thunder. I’d seen Fa before against a guy that looked like he’d just HEARD about boxing and didn’t know it required training. The worse aspect of it, was they did this for EIGHT rounds, with Fa awarded a majority decision. How the judges remained awake long enough to score it was a mystery to me.

In a grueling, hard fought junior welterweight eliminator, short, stocky, hard punching Ivan Baranchyk  (16-0-10K), landed enough looping power shots on the body (everywhere) of game but outgunned  Petr Petrov  (38-5-20-18K) for the better part of eight rounds in a Jr. welterweight eliminator. This was an entertaining affair with Petrov wanting to work from distance, something , something the bomb throwing Baranchyk wasn’t even REMOTELY interested OR concerned with. Round after round, Ivan would wade, in hurling looping lefts and rights at the game Petrov, with absolutely no regard for where they landed. Poor Petr was so overwhelmed, it didn’t matter HOW game he was. A stiff jab knocked Petrov off his feet in the opening seconds which was a bad omen. Over the course of eight rounds, Petr was dropped a total of four times, each seemingly coming from a different assault. Many of those hard shots landed behind Petrov’s head which I’m SURE didn’t feel good. Baranchyk’s attack was especially dangerous given his disregard for the ultimate locations of his shots. There were multiple times this carnage could’ve been called off but Petrov had a really BRAVE corner. Finally, after being battered along the ropes and dropped for the fourth time, this beating was interrupted by the ref. Petrov indeed, had his moments, landing big shots and often backing up the shorter Baranchyk, but he was in with a guy possessed tonight. The stoppage came at 1:12. The short flame thrower will prove to be no walk in the park for ANY ’40 pounder. I knew Ivan was tough when they announced he was born in New York but moved to Russia, who DOES that?

In the main event, rampaging Jr. Welter, unbeaten, Regis Prograis (20-0-17K) showed a TOTAL lack of respect for his elder as he went up one side and down the other on the veteran Julius Indongu. Last time I saw Indongu (22-1-12K), he was ko’d, courtesy of a debilitating body shot from superstar, Terrance Crawford, which should be nothing to be ashamed of. Crawford stopped him in three rounds and the cocky Regis wanted to play ‘ I can do it better’. Prograis, seems to be a combination of Errol Spence and Gervonte  Davis. Ironically, they’re all Black and lefthanded  AND relentless. He’s cocky and talkative, like Davis and a relentless body puncher ala Spence. Indongo looks really weak and seems like any decent shot causes him to unravel, which put him in a dangerous place tonight. Skittering around the ring, landing occasional flurries, it was obvious, this was not gonna’ end well for him. Nearly every time the stalking Regis put his hands on him, Indongo  seemed ready to vacate the premises. Prograis realized early (maybe at contract signing) that he had nothing to worry about and bit down on his mouthpiece and just unloaded on poor Indongo, dropping him four times in two rounds. Body shots, straight lefts, right hooks, I can’t recall anything he DIDN’T hurt Indongo with. Seems  like he was down more than up. Afterwards, Regis went into Davis mode, yelling “can’t nobody fk wit me, I’m the best at this shit”. He called out everybody and let it be known he wanted to stop Indongo quicker than Crawford, which he did. This dude is a problem. He’s strong, tough and seems to have that much needed nasty streak. He complained that his fights don’t last long enough to display all his talents.He should wear his new strap with pride.

At Costa Mesa, on the Golden Boy Card, this was a mixed bag of emotions. In the opener, fast rising, talented, Alex Rocha of Santa Ana (TKO Boxing Club, showed why he’s a fighter to keep your eyes on. Rocha (10-0-7K) is the brother of Ronny Rios, also of Santa Ana. and are extremely tight. Given the fact he seems to have all the tools, there was NO real reason for him to be fighting the guy he fought  tonight. This guy, one Miguel Dumas (10-1-7K) looked like he camps out along the Santa Ana River. He entered the ring as if he’d just been aroused from a good night’s sleep. And soon, he was BACK to sleep. I mean, I like Rocha but give me a BREAK. In just 1:49 seconds, Rocha had destroyed this guy and I DO mean, DESTROYED. After scoping his prey out for a few seconds (maybe 10), the hard hitting sharpshooter landed a sizzling set topped off by a devastating left uppercut to Dumas’ chin dropping him. Upon getting up, he was hit with THREE straight right hands allowing him to resume his siesta’. Rocha probably gets more resistance from shadow boxing. The announcer said, DeLaHoya “expected some rounds” from Dumas, yeah, rounds of  DRINKS, maybe.

I wanna’ start on the main event  by saying this. Ronny Rios (29-2-13K) is as tough and game as they come but I’m starting to worry about him. I was at his fight with Ray Vargas and he (imo) took a bad beating, DESPITE the ranting and raving of his coach. Vargas’ style was a big issue for Rios, because he’s tall, rangy and fights well inside and out. It seems Rios had no SHOT in that fight. In tonight’s fight against Hard core Armenian, Azat Hovhannisyan (13-2-10K), it seemed Rios took even a worse beating. Freddie Roach said before the fight “if Rios tries to ko Azat, he’s gonna’ end up on his ass” and THIS time Roach was right. In the runup, Rios said “I’ve been starting too slow but I won’t, tonight”. Well, maybe he SHOULD have because for every (there were many) assault he launched in front of his fanatical home fans, he was matched by the fiery WBC (Continental Americas version) champ’s two fisted response. There was action from the start and at first it seemed like the quick starting Rios was on point. Digging hard downstairs, Rios had the champ retreating. Azat started taunting Rios with his hands down and paid for it by getting punched in his mouth, TWICE.

Things took a wrong turn for Rios in the third when Azat found his range and unloaded a huge two fisted attack, startling the crowd and nearly dropping their homie. This was a devastating round for Ronny as he needed a GPS to find his corner. It was an emotional scene as his brother was seen praying hard at ringside. It seemed like Ronny never fully recovered from this assault. His corner berated him, swearing at him reminding me of his fight with Vargas. Rios was taking some serious shots and he needed encouragement, not a cussing out. I have trained many fighters and sure, sometimes they need a kick in the ass but when he’s getting beaten up they Ronny was, I don’t see how that helps and it DIDN’T.  In the fourth, a head butt (which there many) caused a HUGE (Rachman like) knot near Rios’ right temple. This seemed to be cause for concern and Rios was obviously bothered by it. Each time they clashed Rios would walk away, causing ref Jack Reiss to say, “Ronny, don’t turn your back, you ok”? This was getting bad and Azat was starting to talk shit to Rios while battering him. The fifth was a ‘breather’ round for both guys but the beating resumed in the sixth as Azat was in full killer mode, rocking Rios with a savage two fisted attack. This fight could’ve been stopped then, as Rios seemed to be losing confidence. He was blasted to the canvas by a big right hand, AGAIN time for a “that’s it” which didn’t come. Rios was on his feet but out of the fight. Another huge right hand sent Rios down and badly beaten and FINALLY Reiss stepped in. If that were MY guy, I would’ve been concerned about the knot on his temple as well as the ferocious beating he was taking. I sure as hell wouldn’t be yelling in his face, “ how bad do you want this”? This was a BAD beating, the SECOND one over a short span and good guy Rios’s peeps need to set him down for a long rest before signing another contract. I think he’s a good fighter, talented but THOSE kinds of beatings normally don’t come with a happy ending. Please Hector, WATCH ya’ boy. I felt kinda bad for Azat in a way. After his startling and convincing win, he was in center ring for nearly a minute before his peeps came to celebrate with him. He came to hostile turf and handled his business in a huge way. Big props to the champ.

Oops, in between, there was a female hookup with Lisa Garland (15-9-8K) ran up on Mariela Cornajo and in a fine performance, made her quit against the ropes following a battering. Things ended in the third round.

3/3/2018- MSG, NY-In the titanic heavyweight battle between WBC champ, Deontay Wilder and unbeaten Cuban strong man, Luis (the Real King Kong) Ortiz, the jury was out right up until the ko. In the Garden, there was never a doubt. What I saw was two, continuous, consistent, ongoing, sustained ass kickings. Were it not for the bloodied face of Igor  Mikhalkin (21-1-9K) who made me think I was watching the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the long drawn out dominance by Dimitry Bivol (12-0-10K) over Sullivan Barrera, I don’t know who suffered the most.

Former light heavyweight champ Sergey (Krusher) Kovalev put the hurt on his ‘friend,’ Mikhalkin, who was somehow, the IBO champ. This was one sided the minute the contracts were signed. Except for a couple of mid rounds, Igor had as much business in there as I would. He should ONLY be in the same arena as Krusher,  if he paid for his ticket. Kovalev looked pretty sharp, all things considered but I DID hear his corner ask him “are you tired”? This was after the SECOND round. How is THAT possible for a former champion? He complained about being over trained with John David Jackson, his old trainer. Seems like the Krusher  has an  unlimited array of excuses. This thing was like a bad sparring session. By the sixth, Igor was a total mess, courtesy of his ‘friend’. Just think if Kovalev  DIDN’T like him so much. This guy looked like Chuck Wepner,  after an outing with Smokin’ Joe Frazier. After a visit from the doctor, who SHOULD’ve had an IV with him, the carnage was stopped. This guy had cuts ON his cuts. The time of the stoppage was 2:25 seconds of the seventh round.

Dimitry Bivol , touted as the latest Russian strongman has only a dozen pro fights and already owns the WBA belt. He’s a well trained, disciplined fighter with a stiff jab and a big right hand. Berrera, who is not without talent has looked better in recent outings but should have stayed home and watched the Wilder fight tonight. The only thing he proved was he could take a protracted ass whippin’ He was beaten up from the start to the finish, which came in the twelfth round. He was dropped by a hard right and and was unsteady when he arose. The end came at 1:41 of the last round. He would’ve been better served if he’d just pulled an Andre Dirrell and waved the White flag. Though this was a romp, Bivol didn’t come out looking pretty, either. His right eye was cut from a clash of heads and he had several noticeable lumps on his face and head. I think Bivol’s peeps need to get him some more polish before he just challenges anybody, but hey, he’s the WBA champ and a champ should take on all comers, that’s how they USED to do it. After just 12 fights, one can only have SO much experience. There’s talk of him facing Kovalev and if he put his hands on Serg as often as the limited Igor did and Serge is out of petro after three rounds, well who knows WHAT might happen?