/13/2018- Los Angeles, I guess it wouldn’t be fair to expect outstanding action every weekend, though that WOULD be nice. I started out Friday the 13^th which should’ve been an omen, watching the Golden Boy Card on ESPN. Weak is the word that comes to mind. It may be Oscar’s budget. Maybe he spent too much on Canelo’s  issues. He supposedly paid a lotta’ extra scratch to finally get the rematch with GGG underway. Anyway, this card had two women’s fights that were aired and neither SHOULD’VE been. No wonder my boy Henry Ramirez hates women’s boxing.

In the first ‘fight’ a girl named Samantha Pill ( I NEEDED a pill after this thing), 3-0 was completely outta’ her orbit when she was trounced by Maricela Cornejo (11-2-4K) It was a sham and Pill was left a crying wreck after being beaten around the ring by the aggressive Cornejo. Mercifully, the end came at :43 seconds of the second round. The next one was even worse ( if that was possible) as Seniesa Estrada (13-0-6K) from East LA had a day at the beach against hapless, helpless Jhosep Vizcaino (6-6-3K) who supposedly traveled all the way from Peru, alone without a trainer. Well, as it turned out, Oscar saved a few bucks by hiring some local yokels to man the corner. It was a total farce as this Peruvian couldn’t fight at all and was battered around the ring by the talented Estrada, finally succumbing to a body shot in the second round. I’m sure the crowd was wondering what else was going on downtown tonight.

The main event, featuring local favorite Joet Gonzalez (19-0-11K) from Glendora faced vet Rafael Rivera from Tijuana. Everybody KNEW what Raf (25-1-2D-16K) had to do just to get a DRAW. Especially since homie had sold over a hundred ducats. This was a pretty entertaining ten rounder between two little guys that were in excellent shape. Both guys stayed busy the entire ten, each giving as good as they got. There wasn’t much power involved, nothing close to a knockdown, just a busy fight with not a lot to choose from. Actually it was so close the crowd was nervous when one judge gave it to the visitor. Restoring sanity, though, the other two officials scored it for Gonzo. Commentating at ringside (and doing a good job) was once beaten Jo-Jo Diaz who had given Rivera his first loss.

7/14/2018-NOLA-  The most impressive guy I saw tonight was the brash, cocky AND talented Teofirmo Lopez (9-0-7K) facing the dangerous William Silva (25-1-14). This to me, seemed like risky business for Lopez, just 20 years old and in his first ten rounder after just 9 fights. I wonder what’s the hurry with some of these people. Turns out, Lopez can handle himself. He, along with Devin Haney and Ryan  Garcia, all young and unbeaten are the future of tha’ game. After seeing how Lopez pretty much made Silva his honey, stopping him in six rounds, I’d say he’s ahead of the rest. He dropped Silva with a sizzling left hook in the opening round and from that point on, he had no problems. Lopez started clowning in the third, knowing what he had in front of him, showing great reflexes and defensive skills. He said he was “something different” and he wasn’t far off. He stepped it up in the fifth dropping all sorts of shit on the vet, showing ZERO respect. He proved to be a good finisher as well, when after dropping Silva at the end of round five, came out in the sixth to close the show and did just that, trapping Silva in a corner and terrorizing him with big shots, dropping him with a left to the body, closing the show. I don’t know what the weight difference is between him and the mouthy Haney, but they need to fight. It would be interesting, all the pre fight b.s. that would take place.  If Haney fights Lopez the way he fought that last lead footed dude, he’ll get chased outta’ the ring. Lopez is fast and punches hard and has that killer attitude.

In the main event, explosive, hard punching Regis Prograis (21-0-18K), ranked number one at Jr. welter, patiently stalked and disassembled what was supposed to  be a test, Juan Jose Velasco (20-0-12K). This was no contest, as Regis, with his herky-jerky upper body movement seemed to be more interested in punishing Juan than knocking him out. The southpaw Prograis KNEW he had a gimmie and treated it more like a sparring session, trying to prove he could “go rounds”. His people need to remind him the pay’s the same whether he wins in one round or twelve. After marching through whatever little resistance Velasco offered, Regis finally landed a vicious body shot that ended matters in the fifth. Afterwards, he called out everybody, including Mikey Garcia, who seems to be on everybody’s bucket list. For sure, he’d get shutout by Garcia if he works at the same rate he did tonight. He should’ve gotten this guy outta’ there sooner. There’s a TON of action for this guy in the ‘40’s. He reminds me of Tank Davis who he might face in the future. So far, he seems to fight to the level of his compitition, that will have to change.

Didn’t order the Paquiao-Matthyesse fight but I think Manny’s done and he may have picked the wrong guy in the heavy handed Argentine. I see Manny beaten badly and possibly stopped late.

Detroit’s talented, unbeaten Claressa Shields (5-0-2K) seems hell-bent on becoming the female Adrien Broner. Tonight, she won a tough, hard fought battle against the more experienced Hanna Gabriels (18-1-1D-11K). Tonight was a night of ‘firsts’ as the two time Olympian was dropped and cut for the first time as a pro. The knockdown came in the opening round, courtesy of a short right uppercut during an exchange. More shocked and embarrassed in front of her home town, Shields got up and went on to pretty much dominate the rest of the fight. Gabriels had her moments but Claressa as usual, was too big for her opponent. Now training in Florida with new coach John David Jackson, Shields showed poise and confidence and a nice arsenal of punches.

With the great former multi champion Thomas (Hitman) Hearns sitting ringside, Shields handled her business. I’d like to have a dollar for every suit Hearns  has. He looked fit. Shields always talks about becoming the “face of women’s boxing”. Well, if so, she’s gonna’ have to turn down that ghetto-ass attitude of hers. Almost every interview I’ve seen of her, that mouthy attitude surfaces. She seems to relish having that attitude, bragging about being from Flyht, blah, blah. In fact a while back Andre Dirrell’s trainer sucker punched a fighter that had just beat Dirrell. There are a couple of Dirrells that fight, one is about to get his ass kicked by David Benavidez in September. When the punk coach sucker punched that fighter (who should’ve flattened his ass), Shields said, “damn right he did the right thing, I would’ve done that, too”. Go, Ghetto girl. After  she  won  tonight, unanimously, the interviewer said, “Hammer’s here and said…. and before he could finish his comment, (Hammer had just  beaten some 41 year old to earn a fight with Sheilds) the former Olympian and ‘face of women’s boxing went fkn berserk. “where she at, I’ll beat her ass right now”, screeched Shields. Later she charged at Hammer and was seen throwing punches and had to be forcibly restrained, more than once. Now, I’m about promoting fights but Shields was absolutely Ghetto, cursing and going nuts. Even my wife said, “dang, why’s she doin’ all that?

So, Ms. Shields, if you’re planning to be the “ face” of ANYTHING, you need to to do something about that attitude sista’. I’ve seen clips of her talking to the kids, supposedly encouraging them to “be all they can be” and never give up. I wonder if she said anything about conducting yourself as a professional, win, lose or draw.

Sorry for not being on the ball and telling all as it has been happening over this side of the Atlantic, I’ve being busy with trying to find employment; I’m pleased to say I have got a job in the security industry and am working hard and all hours too.

Last night was the big comeback of Tyson Fury, the former undisputed world’s heavyweight champ, the self styled “Gypsy King”. Tyson has been out of the ring for almost 1000 days and it showed. He had ballooned up to nearly 400 pounds in weight by eating junk and so on; he’d had mental health issues and had not been in a good place with himself. This might seem incredible considering the money he had earned from his career so far, but then depression and drug abuse can hit anyone. I’m 55 and have never snorted cocaine and believe me, I have suffered depression and PTSD from the Falklands War backdated from 1982, but I suppose when you are at a low ebb it can be surprising what it does to you. Some of us have a better sense of self worth and discipline I guess.

Anyway, Fury entered the ring at 276lbs, still looking to shed a lot more weight and standing head and shoulders over an Albanian doorman (ha! Just like me!) who was a blown up cruiser weighing in at 217lbs by the name of Sefer Seferi, who entered the ring with a record of 23-1. His sole defeat was a 10 round loss to Manuel Charr, no great shaker of the heavyweight division either. Fury, as we all know was expected to win, and convincingly so too. I had a wager he’d get this stiff out in 2, and yet again the bookies had the last laugh. Fury was having fun with his ring walk, and once the pre-fight instructions were over you got the impression that Fury was not taking it very seriously. It certainly didn’t look that way and the referee Phil Edwards told the boxers to get on with it and stop clowning around.

The second round was much the same and not a lot going on, it was getting a bit pathetic. However, when Fury did decide to do something useful he looked good with it despite his moobs wobbling about a bit. Into the 3^rd round and not much to write home about, in fact there was more action in the crowd as apparently a 15 man brawl was occurring and even the two supposed to be doing the fighting for pay were looking outside to see what was going on! Again, the referee had to remind them what the two inside the ring were supposed to be doing. This was pretty farcical, and out for the 4^th, and this time Fury decided to take the task in hand and get the job done. Fury showed some skill and was throwing big shots, they were taking their toll on Seferi and a big uppercut was the blow that made up his mind that enough was enough and he quit on his stool and failed to answer the bell for the 5^th.

So did we learn anything by that? Not really, it was a bit more what we expected as in Fury taking those baby steps into the ring with the horse play but other than that, after nearly 3 years out of action you couldn’t have expected much. This was conceded by Tyson and his HOF promoter Frank Warren, in front of a sell-out Manchester Arena. Promises to get in better shape and lose some more of the timber from the midriff will remain to be seen, Tony Bellew was being touted as the next opponent. Watch this space.

On the undercard, we had a very lively scrap for the vacant WBO super lightweight strap with Manchester’s Terry Flanagan 33-0 against an Amerikaner by the name of Maurice Hooker, 23-3. This was a clash of southpaw v orthodox and Hooker had a huge reach advantage of 9 inches. This was always going to be a tough task for Flanagan to attend to, Hooker using his rangy advantage to good effect. However this did not deter Terry and he made good inroads scoring with good left hands and being the way this being with Terry stepping outside Maurice’s front foot, eventually it was going to be a bit messy. Unfortunately it turned out that way, with a clash of heads in the 6^th round, with Flanagan suffering a nasty gash on his forehead and over his eye. This was a tough, hard fight and both were having success and for me was hard to score. How the judges scored it at 117-111 one way, again the same scoreline the opposite way and 115-113 for Hooker made me think and the new champion, made me wonder if Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles were totting up the scores 117-111! I wouldn’t have argued with 115-113 for Hooker and he was a worthy champion, Flanagan a tad unlucky and always battling the elements with those nasty cuts, the fight might’ve not gone the distance.

Well that’s me for now, I’m up at 0415 for a job that starts at 6 in a town an hour’s drive away. Take it easy and stay lucky. Rab………..

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.