9/16/2017-Las Vegas- Someone should’ve awakened judge Adelaide Byrd last night to tell her she was missing a really good fight. It wasn’t the first time she was ringside and missed a fight, though. I’m surprised she was able to find her seat and where was her dog sitting or was HE blind, too? She’s the wife of Floyd Mayweather’s personal ref, Robert Byrd and if HE’D been reffing the fight, she would have given the decision to HIM. This lady didn’t even have the smarts to make it a ‘close’ fight. Had she done that, I don’t think she’d be catching as much hell today, but hey, why blame her, she didn’t SEE the fight. ‘Vegas officials say “she’s a fine judge”, yeah, especially for someone that can’t see. I never thought I’d give a boxing judge the lead in my story but I believe in giving the handicapped the credit they deserve, it’s the LEAST I can do. And now, last night’s action.

Let’s see, there were 46 rounds of action aired, with NO ko’s, NO knockdowns and NO TKO’s, in fact, I’d be hard pressed to find anything CLOSE to a knockdown. I DID see some blood in the prelims, though but not $80 worth, which is what I gave up. In the main event in which once AGAIN,  Canelo Alvarez (49-1-1-34K) promised to “show the world how a REAL Mexican fights”, spent as much time scooting around the ring like Speedy Gonzalez, as he did, fighting. Yeah, there were times when he’d stop and fire sets at champion Gennady Golovkin (37-0-33K) but he didn’t seem to wanna’ really get down and go for it. He wasn’t nearly as accurate and explosive as he normally is and admitted he was always “aware of his power”. GGG was the aggressor most of the night but Alvarez showed good lateral movement and pretty much stayed in a safe zone. After getting off to a quick start, the Redhead started to fade a tad around the seventh and eighth rounds, languishing longer and longer on the ropes, searching for counters. His corner screamed to “stay off the ropes” but when a fighter knows what he should be doing and doesn’t do it, it’s usually due to what his opponent is doing to HIM. There were some serious exchanges but the predicted fight for the ages never broke out. In the end, this was called a draw with the scores reading 118-110 for Canelo (Byrd) ,115-113 for GGG and of course 114-114 to guarantee the rematch, GOOD JOB, VEGAS AND OSCAR.

There was mutual respect shown earlier and it seemed Canelo’s ‘hit and git’ style was offsetting GGG. GGG was looking for the “war” he was promised but didn’t get it. He said afterwards, “I wanted REAL fight”. It seemed like Canelo was having more trouble than he anticipated in landing his shots, credit GGG’s underrated D. Being a big GGG fan, I didn’t see the savagery he usually displays in his fights, given he’d waited so long for THIS fight. Is he slowing down, possibly. Neither guy was really hurt badly in the hotly contested battle. Canelo seemed to get his second wind and landed some two-three punch sets on Golovkin and had a slight edge in the last two rounds but the champ was STILL in pursuit and as most people think, ‘you should have to BEAT the champ’ to take his hardware. IMO, GGG did enough to win by a slim margin but even BEFORE the verdict (even the blind lady’s) was announced, I saw Golden Boy’s matchmaker, Eric Gomez tell GGG’s people “it was a draw”. So it seems as if Oscar DeLahoya  got his wish, a rematch. Now, Canelo has (naturally) said “ I won the fight, I won 7-8 rounds”. When the Blind Byrd lady goes to her optometrist, she should take Canelo with her. I just hope Canelo doesn’t pull a Danny Jacobs and milk this ‘victory’ for the next two years. A rematch is already being discussed and somewhere, the Byrd Lady’s saying, ‘damn, I’d like to SEE that one’. GGG seems ok with doing it again, but his clock is ticking fast. Did this scrap match the hype, do they EVER? I don’t think so but  I still saw GGG winning, maybe 7-5 in rounds.

The undercard looked promising on paper. In the opener, tall, lanky, smooth boxing Ryan Martin (19-0-11K), lightweight prospect won a tougher than it should’ve been ten rounder over the game, Francisco Rojo (30-0-13K). Rojo was the stalker, pushing Martin all around the ring, while Martin was uninterested in getting overly involved with the tough shit. He was JUST like hot prospect Caleb Plant was a few weeks ago, doing JUST enough to win and satisfied with it. He seems to have a nice skill set but when the heat was turned up, he didn’t seem to REALLY wanna’ risk his ‘0’. His corner was imploring him to work more, “we need to drop this guy, it’s too close man”. Ryan was like, ‘oh please, I’m winning’. He doesn’t get rid of some if that ‘coolness’, I see the same thing happening to him that happened to that other hotshot, Amir Iman.

Roughneck Randy Caballero (24-014K) did all he could but was slightly overmatched by the undefeated Diego DeLahoya (19-0-9K) over 12 rounds. This was a back and forth affair with both guys having their moments. Diego finished much stronger down the stretch and left no doubt, especially since The Byrd Lady wasn’t involved in the judging. She would’ve given it to OSCAR DelaHoya instead of Diego.

South ElMonte’s Joel (JoJo) Diaz (23-0-13K) won a twelve round decision over late replacement, but game, Rafael Rivera (25-0-16K). This was a WBC featherweight eliminator. I don’t see how a late sub should be involved in an ‘eliminator’. I ALSO don’t see how Diaz can focus with his coach, Joel Diaz screaming instructions NON-STOP during the fight AND between rounds. You could here his screeching over the crowd noise. One  would think after all the instructions during training his guy would have SOME sorta’ idea what to do in the fight. But hey, whatever leads to success, right?

9/9/2017-Las Vegas – Phoenix’s David Benavidez (18-0-17K) became boxing’s youngest world champion at twenty, as he won a hard fought 12 round decision over Ron (the Thrill) Gavril (18-1-14K), capturing the vacant WBS Super middleweight title. This marked the first time either guy had gone the full twelve rounds. This was a hard fought battle with guys accepting as much as they put out and the only knockdown came in the final round when a left jab- hook from the ultra tough Gavril sat the youngster down for a ‘time out’. This prompted Gavrils trainer, Eddie Mustapha Muhammead to make one of the MANY ridiculous comments HE made all during the fight. Eddie said after the fight “that knockdown PROVED we won the fight”. Right Eddie,  because NO fighter has EVER gotten up from a drop to win a fight. Not that I can recall. In FACT after the FIRST round, he said to Gavril, “he aint nuthin’, I TOLD you he aint nuthin”. Psssst,  Eddie,  NEITHER guy did much, it was the FIRST of twelve rounds, so I guess YOUR boy was “nuthin”, either. Then after the SECOND round, he was screaming at his guy, “he’s getting’ tired, he’s getting tired”. Bullshit, at twenty years of age a fighter can’t even SPELL “tired” after two rounds. I was thinking, if your boy needs THAT much encouragement, he’s in trouble. As good a fighter as Eddie was in his day, he had NO business talkin’ THAT nonsense to his guy. But Gavril proved to be one tough Romanian (I’ve never heard of any OTHER kind).

I like Benavidez’s smooth, old school style, he’s stylish, has good moves and has deceptive power. He stands a bit upright but his D isn’t that bad. He was able to drill the shorter Gavril with piercing jabs and good body shots and Gavril was NOT shy about getting’ HIS shit off, either as he pressured the youngster with his own two fisted attack. David would slide around the ring at times, searching for openings and beckoning Gavril to ‘bring it’. Gavril had inferred that David was a bit young to fighting for a belt so soon. Both guys gave the crowd their money’s worth and  the annoying Jay Nady (the ref) didn’t have much to scream and yell about, something he delights in doing, he LOVES to lecture fighters. This was a tough fight to judge because each guy had their moments. Gavril would launch an early assault and the young ‘un would rally with combos at round’s end. Though he started to fade a bit late in the fight, Benavidez still had enough to launch two handed assaults at the persistent Romanian, especially in the eleventh round when he seemed close to dropping Gavril,  forcing him to grab and hold. Of course, by THIS time, his coach was no longer lying about Danny being “nuthin” and “tired”.  In the final round when there was still some uncertainty, both guys gave their all and during a hot session, Gavril put the kid on his butt and I figured , ‘oh shit, this is a Mayweather fighter, they’re IN ‘Vegas , Adelie Bryd was one of the judges, AND Floyd was ringside. Mrs. Byrd scored it 116-111 for Benavidez, TOO wide a margin. In FACT, I expected her to give it to Jay Leone Love, who had fought earlier. Just kidding, she’s not THAT bad. One gave it to Gavril and the final judge had it 117-111 for Benavidez. Those folks need to be drug tested, this was a CLOSE fight. Hell, what’s wrong with a rematch, wouldn’t piss ME off. I’m sure this fight will do wonders for David going forward, he has a high ceiling. To think, some guys are still in the amateurs at twenty and here’s David Benavidez, a bonafide,  undefeated, world champion, with all arrows pointing upward

In the semi main, they dusted off J’Leone Love (23-1-1ND-13K), woke him up from hibernation and  put him in a fight. I once thought this guy had  so much goin’on. Tonight he faced a guy from a lower weight, middle, who came up to challenge Love in a super middleweight scrap. In fact, Love said pre fight, that Abie Han (26-3-16K), “was too small” for him. Well, for the most part, this so-so fight saw Love doing most of the back pedaling. Between rounds, his trainer was throwing more punches than HE was. Round  after round, he was shadowboxing, instructing Love who had a ‘man, please’ look on his face. Han would keep switching to southpaw without throwing a punch, then switch back while Love didn’t seem to have a CLUE what HIS plan was. He should’ve let his coach do the fighting, he’d worked a real good sweat between rounds. In the eighth round a head butt took place, that didn’t seem THAT serious, but Han turned away and went down. Turns out, this was a SERIOUS butt and Han was in deep trouble and Love also had a very nasty gash alongside HIS left eye. After a long delay with Han still down, it was obvious this event had seen its conclusion. Fair enough, this was declared a  majority draw, but as for a rematch, I’ll pass.

In the first aired scrap, a guy I’d been high on and wanting to see again, Caleb (Sweet Hands) Plant (15-0-10K) faced an opponent that was called on ONE week’s notice and had nothing worth discussing regarding his career. Andrew Hernandez (19-6-1-1ND-9K) said he was sitting on his couch eating potato chips when he was called in as a replacement. I’d seen Caleb in his pro debut at the Galen Center back in 6/10/2014 and even THEN, he looked impressive, scoring a first round ko. In subsequent matches he showed skill, moxie, slick moves and some pop. Last night while on his biggest stage, he spent ALL night bullshitting and ‘being cute’. I mean, it’s okay to be a showman if at SOME point you take care of business the RIGHT way. Hernandez wasn’t supposed to last four rounds with his potato chip eatin’ ass. But Plant, who admits he likes to “put on a show for the fans”, has a lotta’ work to do if he expects to become ‘elite’. He put on all his cute moves and shit, which was cool BUT, he did it for TEN rounds when it should’ve been about four-five.  At NO point did he seem interested in getting Mr. Lay’s Chips up outta’ there. He just shucked and jived for ten rounds and the BAD part was, he seemed CONTENT in doing it. I was totally disappointed with all his bullshit. He was at a fight here in Lancaster, at the Pec Center and was constantly yelling at a friend of his in the ring, “ don’t go backwards, use your power, he screamed”, even standing up throwing punches  to let everybody know HE was a fighter. Well, he should’ve  used his own advice last night instead of dragging this fight on for ten rounds. I’m glad I didn’t stay up to watch it. If he faces one of the top guys as he says he “can’t wait to do”, he’s gonna’ get a RUDE awakening, they won’t let him bullshit for ten rounds, TRUST me. He TOO, has joined TMT and after the fight, Floyd Mayweather was asked what he wanted to see in Plant. Now wait for this, here’s what Floyd had the unmitigated gall, the nuts the AUDACITY to say, “I he should’ve gotten him outta’ there in three-four rounds, he had a wounded animal in there and shouldn’t have let him go the distance”. I’M not LYIN, That’s what KILLER FLOYD said, and WITHOUT smiling…… So, Love AND plant, two Money Team guys failed to impress, no WONDER Badou Jack left those people and the improvement is MOST obvious.

8/31/2017- Lancaster, Ca…. Well, now that the stench has dissipated somewhat, it’s time to get back to some REAL shit. I only have a few things to say about this thing, unless it keeps coming up in the media. Course, then I’ll be obligated to contribute my two cents, house rules. As silly as it sounds, to ME, Floyd Mayweather  is 49-0, I REFUSE to count that farce, CAN’T do it. Not that anybody cares but it’s a source of satisfaction for ME. For all those that are cool with it, I assume the next time Floyd pulls this shit they’ll be right there. Maybe his next opponent will be Pee Wee Herman. Floyd can say it’ll be to shame all the masturbators of the world. I see NO reason why he can’t get to 60-0 at THIS rate. I HAVE to respond when I read about Floyd repeating that bullshit about “walking McGregor down”. He made it sound like he was gonna’ do it from jump, when he didn’t do it until McGregor was too tired to get an erection and STILL didn’t go down. Now, Floyd can try to mend his fences with the Beebs.  So, if Floyd is REALLY finally retired, do his house ho’s get marked down?

Floyd said he was  gonna’ “wear him down with body shots”. You always see him throwing heavy ‘body’ shots on the heavy bag, then during the fight he throws about ten over ten rounds. Saw where Britain’s middleweight Chris Eubank Jr. has been training with Floyd Mayweather Sr. in Vegas. He calls him a “great trainer”. This guy’s the only guy I know that’s considered ‘great’ but only has ONE guy that’s worth a shit. What other fighter has he taken from ‘cradle to crown’?  As proud and aloof as Papa Eubank is, I’m surprised he allows Sr. to mess with his son. I can just picture him standing around posing, pissed, with his nostrils looking like a double barreled 12 gauge.

When is Paulie Malifaggi gonna’ stop acting like a ho and begging to fight McGregor? Nobody wants to witness that shit, plus I thought his whiny ass retired? As a commentator, I think it’s CLASSLESS for him to slam Connor publicly the way he does. Somebody needs to rein his ass in.

Danny Jacobs has milked his imaginary ‘win’ over GGG LONG enough. Surviving is NOT winning, Daniel. He’s claiming he’s the “most feared middleweight in the  game”. Guess what, Sergio Mora fought you TWICE and dropped your ass once, he didn’t show much “fear” and nobody has put ‘killer’ status on Mora. I’ve seen plenty of mw’s out there asking for your cell number. Call ME nuts but I say Lemieux would knock Jacobs’ ass out. Now, let’s get to the REAL fights on tap. I’m not sure who I’m rolling with in the blockbuster GGG-Canelo Alvarez hookup. If you hold my tootsies to the flames, I’d go with GGG.  It’s gonna’ be a hard fight, but GGG (37-0-33K) is NOT Khan, Chavez Jr. Liam Smith OR James Kirkland. Those guys were ‘easy pickings’ for the Redhead. The only one that had a shot was Kirkland (sorta’) because of his power, then again, I remember how he struggled with the original punching bag, Alfredo Angulo. Come to think of it, Canelo (49-1-1-34K) could be in some REAL trouble. They do it on the 16^th of Sept. in ‘Vegas.

There will be dueling cards of interest on October 14^th. Why does boxing DO this? At Stub Hub, there’s a double header showcasing two locals leading to their long awaited rematch. Abner Mares (30-2-1-15K) faces Andres Gutierrez (35-1-25K) and Leo Santa Cruz (33-1-1-18K) faces Chris Avalos (27-5-20K). I don’t know too much about Gutierrez, so I’m picking Mares to handle his business. Avalos says ” I put some hurt on Leo in the amateurs and I’m sure he’ll have that on his mind”. Really? I remember Henry Tillman beat Mike Tyson twice in the ams and didn’t last three rounds in the pros. The boxing landscape is congested with guys that flipped the script on guys they lost to in the  ams. I agree, with Chris, Leo WILL remember it and stop Chris late.

There’s also a triple header  that night featuring: Erslandy Lara (24-2-2-14K v. Terrell Gausha (20-0-9K), Jermell Charlo (29-0-14K) v. Erickson Lubin (18-0-13K) and Jarrett Hurd (20-0-14K) v. Austin Trout (30-3-17K). So, my boxing fam we’ve got some good stuff on tap, not like… well, never mind. Has Willie Monroe forgotten that GGG damn near decapitated his ass at the Forum? Now, he’s threatening to stop GGG in a rematch. Manny won’t be fighting Horn in a rematch. Smart move, leave that brute alone, Manny.

8/26/2017-Stub Hub, Carson, Ca.-  “December 31 and that’s it”, those were the words  of future hall of famer, Puerto Rico’s multi champion, Miguel Cotto ( 40-5-33K). But after last night’s scintillating victory over never say die Yosh Kamagai, fans wanna’ no ‘why’ ? There’s obviously plenty left in his tank and we KNOW fighter’s NEVER leave on top. With the ever pressing Kamagai (27-3-2D-24K) applying his ‘running man’, pressure, Cotto was as sharp as a razor as he bounced plenty of leather off the body and head with both hands. Looking as nimble and sharp as he ever has, this was a performance for the ages for Miguel. Kamagai is nothing, if not persistent and has a chin of steel. With excellent footwork and elusiveness,  Cotto  was at the top of his game and on fire for twelve rounds, as he won the WBO 154 strap. Kamagai learned early that the worse person to have Cotto was against the ropes. From this spot, springing out of his peek-a-boo stance, he laced Kamagai with beautiful three and four punch sets and got outta’ Dodge before Kamagai could locate him.. He was in superb condition and his shots were powerful and on point. I’ve never seen him sharper. Kamagai is amazingly durable and he’s gonna’ need to go on a diet after eating all the leather Miguel tossed his way. But at the end, he was still clear headed and unmarked and he never stopped running at Cotto. He also was tossing leather back at Cotto, digging shots to the body and head. This was  a fan friendly fight and as Cotto said post fight, “I knew I wasn’t gonna’ be able to knock him out. So, who will be his last fight in December? “I’ll let Freddie pick the right one, said Miguel”. “The GGG-Canelo fight is who I want” said Roach. Freddie’s a brave guy.

Santa Ana’s tough, skilled Ronny Rios (28-1-13K) got several earfuls from his forever trainer, Hector Lopez between rounds to “get close to that mfkr and STAY close. Only issue was, the object of Lopez’s affection was a tall, lanky flamethrower, WBC boss, Ray Vargas. At five feet ten and  122 pounds with great leverage on his shots, Vargas was MORE than hell to deal with for Rios. Vargas (29-0-22K) is a free swinging power hitter. He digs well downstairs and pretty much is the total package. He throws most of his shots in combination form. This was a hard-ass assignment for the shorter Rios, though he tried hard. This was just a bad hookup for the Pride of Santa Ana. To make matters worse, Vargas is elusive and has great lateral movement. When Rios DID land a clean shot on Vargas’ chin, he fired back angrily or danced away, never hit with combos. In THIS game, sometimes there are just some guys you can’t do SHIT with and that was Rios’ problem tonight. His best hope is to let this guy move up to another division. Vargas is a talented guy, trained by the professor, Nacho Beristain. Looks like he’ll be champ for a minute. The decision was unanimous for Vargas.

826/2017 Las Vegas—What does it mean when you’re the FOURTH best performer on your OWN show? In Las Vegas, last night the best performer was Badou  Jack which was understandable since he’s improved immeasurably since he left the money team. Welterweights Thomas DeLorme and Yordonis Ugas also had much better performance than Mr. A-Side. I’m a die hard fight fan and have watched fights since 1952 which makes me ancient. I’ve seen most of the greats and laugh myself silly when people tell me what Floyd Mayweather would’ve done to Leonard, Hearns and Duran. I know what he would’ve done, AVOIDED them

Last night’s circus turned out to be just what most expected only it took a bit longer. I won’t say Connor McGregor (0-0-0) punches like a girl, that would be a slap in the face to someone like Maressa Shields, in FACT, she would’ve stopped him last night. There once was a fighter they called “Slapsie Maxie Rosenbloom, Connor was worse than that. I’ve seen stuntmen hit harder and their punches are FAKE.  After all the shenanigans and sideshows leading up to the fight, this thing hardly lived up to it. For the first 3-4 rounds, Floyd Mayweather (49-0-27K) did shit, besides get hit with crazy, awkward jabs and a few right hands from the super awkward MMA guy. Most  of the time he ended up with his back to McGregor and getting a few noogies. Floyd better be glad that was Adrian Broner behind him. Sight impaired ref Robert Byrd saw the top of Floyd’s head as the back of his neck and accused McGregor of rabbit punches. Floyd looked every bit of his 40 years early, missing a ton and really didn’t do shit until McGreggor ran out of gas. Floyd said that was the plan. If you’re supposedly the GOAT, why in the fk would you have to wait for this neophyte to tire out? If Floyd had done what he promised and went right after Connor, this shit would’ve lasted 3-4 rounds. To allow this character to last TEN rounds for WHATEVER reason was a win for the beginner far as I’m concerned. Floyd was like a damn Komodo dragon that bites his prey, inject its poison and follows it for days, waiting for it to die.

True enough, Byrd had his hands full, there was all sorts of crazy shit goin on. Aside from those awkward herky jerky movements and odd angled punches Connor threw, there were low blows, elbows, hands behind the back by Connor, just crazy shit, VERY unprofessional. The talking heads said “it always takes Floyd a few rounds to figure things out”. They said that shit for NINE rounds. If you’re a self proclaimed all timer with 49 fights and no losses, wtfk is there to “figure out” from a guy that has ZERO pro fights? I don’t get it. MMA fans barked about how strong and powerful their guy was. Bullshit, his punches were weak as cat piss. I’ve seen 10 year old amateurs that punch better. So, to wrap it up (for now), after waiting for this wounded animal to die, Mayweather decided to step on the gas and launched a series of right hands at a fading, stumbling McGregor. The crowd was on its feet, going crazy, HELLO, people, this IS a guy that’s NEVER had a pro fight, against Mayweather. When Byrd stepped in, Floyd raced to the ropes and jumped on them as if he’d stopped Errol Spence Jr., NOT a guy in a cocoon. Floyd’s faithful will say, ‘aw Don, he just wanted the fans to get their monies’ worth”, BULLSHIT, Floyd has NEVER given a shit about ‘fans’ and has no problems saying it (if I walk to the bank with 350 mil in my pocket, I don’t care WHAT the people think”), so he keeps it real, there. So ONCE again, Floyd promises to ‘retire for good’. Why SHOULD he, when he can find people with ZERO pro / amateur experience to pad his record? Hell, he could EASILY get to 70-0, plus there’s the André  Bertos of the world hanging around, as well. The absolute BEST thing about the fight was I didn’t pay a DAMN-ASS cent for it.

What he HELL was Gervonte Davis’ issue last night? On the biggest stage of his life,  BESIDES losing his title on the Toledos, the newest ‘savior of boxing’ crapped the sheets. I had been bragging to a friend about Davis (18-0-17K) being a young Mike Tyson but he ended up looking more like Cicely Tyson. For sure his head was NOT in ‘Vegas tonight. He was wild, throwing amateurish shots (ala McGregor) constantly looking up at the overhead monitor, not listening to his corner instead bopping his head and tapping his feet as if he was wearing some Beats. His opponent Francisco Fonseca TRIED to keep it professional, but Davis wasn’t in the mood. This was a STRANGE outing for the 22 year old FORMER champion and he’d better get his shit together soon or he’ll become another Adrian Bronner. He eventually stopped Fonseca in the eighth round on a questionable shot behind the head, though I DID see a Terrence Crawford like body shot land seconds before the rabbit shot. Davis is with TMT, who knows, maybe he’ll pull a Badou Jack and escape

Badou Jack (20-1-2D-12K) left no stones unturned as he ransacked champ Nate Cleverly to snatch his WBA light heavyweight crown. This was a dominant showing for Jack, as he walked up one side of Cleverly and down the other. Cleverly (30-3-16K) was absolutely no match for the vastly improved Jack and spent most of his night trapped on the ropes and just soakin’ up shit. Jack punished the champ all fight long and Nate seemed to have NO idea who the hell Jack was or what he was about. Give Jack another two fights, keep him away from TMT and he might be something for champ Andre Ward to consider.

In perhaps the most hard fought, competitive fight of the card, welters Thomas DeLorme (24-2-16K) and Yordanis Ugas (19-3-9K) waged holy HELL. Bombs were launched shortly after instructions were given and didn’t stop until Ugas’ hand was raised at the end. These guys were wingin’ shit with evil intentions. As hard as these two were swinging, I was glad a few of them missed. Uppercuts, whistling overhand rights, sizzling left hooks, all of this took place. Both guys hit the deck to NO one’s surprise. Ugas was down twice, DeLorme once. This fight should’ve been the headliner, not that OTHER bullshit, THIS was a FOR REAL fight

The most pedestrian fight of the night was a Cruiser weight affair between Andrew Tabiti and Steve Cunningham which  was a snore fest, the less said, the better.

In an earlier match, a  youngster  I think will be a champ someday,  got a rude awakening and a thorough boxing lesson. Jose Miguel Borrego (12-0-11K) was taken to school by homie Juan Heraldez over ten rounds. Heraldez (12-0-8K) was too slick and too quick for the hard punching Borrego. That is until the ninth when a big left hook bounced off Juan’s temple sending him down. He got up and stayed the course, boxing his way to a unanimous decision. Borrego was cut and bruised and spent too much time following Juan around the ring. I’m sure he learned a valuable lesson tonight and will bounce back.

8/25/2017- Miami Ok.- On a weekend that promises a little of everything, PBC got things started with a trio of entertaining hookups. All three of these bouts will no doubt be more entertaining than that Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor SIDESHOW. The ref should wear a clown’s outfit complete with a bubble nose and oversized shoes. He’ll NEED those shoes to help him wade through all the shit this thing promises to be.

Kicking things off tonight was a pair lightweights.  Austin Dulay,  just 21 years old (10-0-7K) faced Columbia’s Carlos Padilla. This started out like it was gonna’ be a quickie as the smooth, poised Dulay didn’t seem to have DELAYING anything on HIS mind. He rocked the game Padilla (16-5-1D-10K) three times in the first round. Looks can be deceiving though as thinking he had a ‘good thing’, Dulay got comfortable and before he recognized it, Padilla started returning fire. In the third, a combo along the ropes sat Padilla down. By this time he’d done the best he could but wasn’t working with enough tools. Wisely, his corner refused to send him out against this hot prospect and that was that. I’m sure the next time he has somebody ready for the ice house, the hard punching Dulay will seal the deal. It was good to see Padilla’s corner had good sense (more on the corner men later).

When WCB visited the Wild Card Gym in Hollywood a few times last week, Oxnard’s tall, rangy middleweight, Hugo (The Boss) Centeno  Jr. was getting some excellent work in with Shawn (Showtime) Porter, EXCELLENT work. Centeno (25-1-13k) from Oxnard, trained by the very capable Eric Brown, faced unbeaten Immanual  Aleem (17-0-10K). Aleem seemed to think he could punk Centeno as he got involved with him from the jump. Centeno, is a patient guy and doesn’t mind boxing a few rounds to get the info he needed. As Aleem charged in, the smiling  Centeno  just boxed, coolly, landing a few shots when the opportunity presented  itself. In round two, the plan was starting to bear fruit as Hugo was able to reach Aleem with a couple of nice left hooks. In the third, that left hook landed again, but THIS was the REAL deal. Like a bolt of Oxnard lightening, it landed with force on the chin of Aleem and it was the dog’s dick. Aleem’s  body hit the mat once, his head, three times. It was as clean a ko as one could order and left not a second of doubt. Afterwards trainer Brown was asking “where’s the belt” ? I’m sure the next time I’m at the Wild Card, the belt will be on display. I’ve seen Hugo several times live and he improves each time out. I recall him sending a guy out on a stretcher at Fantasy Springs a few years back. Hugo has a lotta’ tools to work with and really seems to enjoy himself inside the squared circle. Props to Brown  and Hugo Sr. for their  boy’s showing. LET’S GO, HUGO!

Man, there are some BRAVE corner men in this business. In the main event, tough, game, middleweight, Tureano Johnson (20-1-14K) took a bad beating from Sergiy  Derevyanchenco ( I HATE these long ass names, drives spellcheck apeshit) 10-0-8K). Johnson’s corner surely didn’t seem to have his best interests at heart, allowing him to stay in there for 11 rounds and a minute of the twelfth. Sergiy is an up and comer and this was his first twelve rounder. He has quite an amateur background and it showed. The pattern for this rumble was established early. Johnson’s one of those guys that has only one gear and that gear will have him asking ‘what’s my name’ when his career is over. Round after round he was blasted with right hands, uppercuts, wicked body shots, you name it, he got hit with it. Johnson got his shit off, as well,  but really was pretty much a heavy bag. Sergiy did show signs of fatigue at times because the one direction Johnson wasn’t offering up much breathing room. Whenever Sergiy  DID slow down, Johnson pounced, drilling the youngster with strong uppercuts inside. This was really a hard ass fight and both guys showed the effects when it finally ended. Really, I wouldn’t ve  let Turean out for the final three rounds, I don’t give a damn HOW durable he was. He got BEAT UP. Finally, in the twelfth after getting his second wind, Sergiy trapped a fast fading Johnson on the ropes and Turean had ‘ hell to tell the captain’ as he was met with a fusillade of shots. He finally went down, got up ate some more leather and the ref jumped in at the 1:40 mark. This was something he should’ve done around the tenth round, either THAT, or let him finish. The damage had long been done. This was an eliminator and now Sergiy is in line to face Jermall Charlo. He’ll do well, but I don’t think he’s quite ready. For sure, he’d better not show signs of fatigue after six rounds. Overall, a nice lead in to all the action scheduled for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to the Cotto fight. Also, Ronny Rios at the Stubb Hub in Carson. I’m also interested in seeing what hot prospect Jose Miguel Borrego (13-0-12K) looks like. Last I saw of him he stopped Palmdale’s Kevin Watts at the Pec Center in Lancaster. They’re showing his fight on the 3 o’clock card on Fox, leading up to the Mayweather Circus.

8/19/2017- Lincoln Ne. A few weeks ago, I went to an amateur boxing show at the TKO Boxing Club in Santa Ana, Ca. and saw MORE competition than I saw tonight on the ESPN card. This was supposed to be a super competitive bout for the unified championship in the 140 lb. division. Terrence (Bud) Crawford  the WBC / WBO boss (31-0-22K) faced another undefeated champ, Julius Indongo (22-0-12K) ruler, now EX ruler of the IBF / WBA versions was a waste of Bud’s time. Normally, African fighters are fearless, well conditioned guys. Not THIS slug. Indongo (DUNG for short, I guess) did NOTHING besides throw a few windmill punches that the superb Crawford could see with his eyes closed. This guy took up about six seats on an airplane, probably first class for THIS shit? Like that German chick that traveled 6 thousand miles to hand her ass to Claressa Shields a few weeks ago, aside from not taking a prolonged beating, Indongo didn’t fare much better.

Julius kept spouting off about always fighting on the road and he wasn’t worried about crowds, came out tighter than baby sister’s you-know- what. This guy offered NO concerns for Terrence AT ALL. I’m sure Terrence was expecting a better effort than THIS. A left hand to the head dropped Julius in the second round and I’m sure when he got back to his stool, he was inquiring about the next flight time back to Africa. In the third, after trying a few over hand lefts, he tried to exchange with the REAL champ and took a left hand to the solar region and it was like a solar ECLIPSE for HIM. He was down and done as the dramatic ref Jack Reiss tolled the ten count. This was a workman like victory for the fine tuned Crawford and if this is ALL that’s left at ’40, hell, he HAS to move up and I PROMISE you he’ll get some work up there that will get AND hold his interest. Teddy Atlas needs to stop with all his silly-ass descriptions of everything. Whenever he’s asked a damn question, he has a story to tell. Andre Ward had that ‘WTH are you TALKING about Teddy’ look on his face.

In the so-called semi main, some guy looking about 50 years old named Craig Baker (they must’ve found him on CRAIG’S list) Came in with a 17-1-13K slate and they said he stopped his last five opponents. Shit, I must’ve been ONE of them. He had a James Harden like beard to provide some cushion, which I’d like to see outlawed. He was fed to prospect  Alex Gvozdyx, undefeated at 13-0-11K. This Craig guy was a waste of time just like Indungo. He was just there to get paid and show off his beard. Gvozdyx,  for SOME reason took SIX rounds to dispose of the inept Craig’s lister before dropping him in the sixth and punishing him on the ropes until the ref stopped it. Alex has some ability but is a bit reluctant until he sees his opponent hurt. This was the kind of fight that made you wonder, wth’s the point? I kept switching to the Rams / Raiders game and I don’t even WATCH pre season games, but I HAD to do SOMETHING.

For ME, this was really the hat trick for ESPN because in the first aired fight, highly touted former Olympian, Shakur Stevenson (2-1-1K) was pitted against another guy that offered VERY little comp. David Paz landed about six clean punches over the entire six rounds of this fight. The talking heads tried their best to make it seem like this was competitive but by the fourth round, even THEY were mentioning the youngster’s short comings, especially Teddy. Now, one might say, ‘c’mon Don, the guy has only TWO fights let him develop. Well, let him develop OFF tv. Back in tha’ day, you didn’t get on tv after two fights and have issues with a guy that could barely make a fist. I’m embarrassed to admit it but tonight’s card damn near has me waiting to see the Circus next week. Whatever happens, there will be SOMETHING for me to write about. I’m actually hoping for some crazy, off-script  kinda’ shit.

8/10/2017 DNTN LA- Charles Huerta (19-5-11K), the Pride of Paramount, won a hard fought rough and tumble affair against Miguel Gonzalez (20-2-17K), in a scheduled eight rounder. The show, promoted by former multi-division champ Oscar DeLaHoya had it all. There were low blows, rabbit shots head butts and this was after TWO ROUNDS. Gonzalez from Mexico, was a free swinger, to say the least. His shots were from all over the place and Huerta had no problems picking them off and punching between them. Gonzalez supposedly had 17 kos, well the guys he stopped must’ve worn concrete boxing shoes and couldn’t move away from those telegraphed punches. When he wasn’t free swinging, he was barging in with his head. The ref had his hands full, with all the rough stuff going down. This isn’t to say it was all Miguel, as he was dropped from a low blow in the SECOND round. He couldn’t equal Huerta in skill so he went with what he had. There were many exchanges but nothing approaching a legit knockdown. In the eighth round they bumped heads and Huerta walked away with a bad cut to his forehead causing the doc to deem him unable to continue. Since he was ahead on the cards, Huerta was awarded a ‘split decision’ win. Huerta looked sharp and showed a punishing jab early on as well as nice combos. The wide swinging Gonzalez landed some decent body shots but really didn’t do much else, LEGALLY.

In the semi main, oft beaten Daniele Perrales ((11-10-ID-5k) made a big mistake in challenging upstart Christian Gonzalez (16-1-14K) and paid dearly for it. In less than three full rounds, the ‘ol vet got ten rounds worth of ass whippin’. Gonzalez dropped ever punch in the book on poor Perrales, busting his nose earlier and finally putting him on all fours in the third, leaving Perrales wondering when it would be safe to get back up. He was on all fours for a good three minutes. This thing should’ve been called off the minute the contracts were inked.

Written by: Chris Bulter

Hello again WCB’ers and today I’m here to introduce you to a friend of mine and one to keep an eye out as he progresses in the professional ranks and that is…..(drum roll)… Des ‘The DEStroyer’ Newton. Des is 29 years old and has only been boxing 5 years, he made his professional debut just over a year ago and is starting to make waves in the South West of England. An extremely confident and affable young man, Des, who boxes in the lightweight division is a top ticket seller on the shows here in Plymouth. Of his 6 pro bouts, 5 of which have taken place in the city, he has sold the most tickets on all of them. I recently asked him why he was such a good ticket seller.“My personality, basically and because I know lots of people, be it through being a pain in the arse when I was a bit younger and through my trade as a carpenter.” It’s fair to say that everyone in the gym that turns up for training gets a ticket off Des as well as all the other people he gets to know through work. On average Des has sold about 250 tickets per show. Des said “The other local boxers that come close are Darren Townley and Jack Bellingham, but as is the case in one city we all tend to know each other’s friends so shifting tickets can be a bit of a bind.” Des’s aim is to emulate Plymouth hero and former British and Commonwealth middleweight champion Scott Dann who used shift loads too. I asked him how he found the transition from amateur to professional was, “Perfect!”, he said, “I love the longer rounds (Des didn’t box many 3 minute rounds as an amateur, having only had 16 amateur bouts) as they suit me better.” Which bought me onto the training and his schedule, how was that going? “As I work full time I fit my training in around my job. I get up early and do my roadwork and then hit the gym after work. I’m in the gym 4-5 nights a week and 2-3 times a week I am doing technical training with Jim Davidson.” Jim was a member of the 2012 Team GB coaching squad and doesn’t live too far away from Plymouth. Des, incidentally, lives in a small village outside the city called Bere Alston, which is literally out in the sticks and if you don’t know the roads that way is a bit of a bitch to get to. “I also do strength and conditioning training with Adam Domyslawski who has his own S & C and personal training business. I also asked Des about his toughest opponent to date, and he replied “In the amateurs it was some African kid called Selen Agundi, in the pros it was a tough journeyman by the name of Jamie Quinn.” It’s fair to say that although Des’s opponents have all been journeymen, as his career progresses the bouts will get harder and the opposition tougher, as is expected. I asked Des what was so hard about Quinn, to which he replied that “That was due to illness, I was a bit under the weather so couldn’t perform at my best, despite the victory.” As an observer of that particular contest, it was competitive, Quinn came along to win. In Des’s last contest on Saturday (29^th July) Des came up against Liam Richards in a defence of his British Challenge Title belt, of which he won comprehensively over 8 rounds, despite losing a point for one of his punches going south of the border. For the benefit of WCB followers, it is not a highly regarded belt but does act as a stepping stone for bigger things. I asked Des of his next contest and when? “29^th October, again in Plymouth and hopefully for the Southern Area title, but boxing politics being what they are, that remains to be seen.” I asked Des how confident he felt about going up to 10 rounds for that particular challenge to which he said, “You saw me do 8 rounds ok, 10 rounds will be no problem.” As I said earlier, this man is not short of confidence and has the full backing of the Plympton Boxing Club and his family of wife Jessie and daughter Lacey, whose name he has emblazoned on his shorts. Des also wouldn’t get where he is without the help of his sponsors, he gives a huge thanks to sponsors that are nutritionalist and personal trainerEmily Whitehead, Kirsty Harrison at Harrison Sports Therapy, Adam Domyslawski at Plymouth Performance gym, Jerry Batten, Proline GroundWorks, Michael Short at Shortcircuit and The Professional Car agent for their assistance.

Des has a “box-fighter” style, he was keen to put on a performance in his last bout and was hoping to get a KO. Liam Richards proved to be a bit more resilient than expected and despite losing every round was not there just to make up the numbers and survive as was seen by one of the away fighters earlier on the bill. Des loves a good scrap and likes getting hit, despite us in the gym pulling our hair out at him and to keep reminding him the aim of the game is to hit and not get hit. Des isn’t shy about being flamboyant when entering the ring either, “I love to give my fans a show and be an entertainer. The buzz I get from seeing all those people who bought a ticket off me and cheering me on is an amazing feeling, and I aim to please my paying public”. You certainly aren’t wrong there, it is a sight to keep them peeled for. Des, thanks for your time for westcoastboxing.com and I’ll see you in the gym before long. Cheers, mate.