(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/PBC) In a surprisingly competitive fight, IBF featherweight champion Lee Selby (22-1, 8 KOs) retained his IBF title with a tougher than expected 12 round unanimous decision win over 36-year-old former three division world champion Fernando Montiel (54-5-2, 39 KOs) on Wednesday night on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the Gila River Arena, in Glendale, Arizona. The judges scored the fight 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112.
Rob Smith
Flanagan stops Magadaleno; Smith defeats Thompson
Diego Magdaleno (28-2, 12 KO) ran into a buzz saw tonight in the form of WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (29-0, 12 KOs), who completely destroyed the 28-year-old Magdaleno in 2 rounds at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. Before the mismatch was over, Magdaleno had been knocked down three times by Flanagan.
The fight wasn’t stopped until referee Terry O’Connor mercifully stopped in to halt the fight at 2:38 of the round due to Magdaleno being on the verge of getting seriously hurt.
Broner stops Allakhverdiev, wins WBA 140lb title
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) Adrien Broner (31-2, 23 KOs) scored his 23rd knockout of his career in defeating #4 WBA Khabib Allakhverdiev (19-2, 9 KOs) by a 12th round knockout on Saturday night to win the vacant WBA light welterweight title at the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati. Ohio. The referee Harvey Dock stopped the fight after Allakhverdiev took some hard uppercuts in the 12th. It was a very questionable stoppage thought.
Stevenson stops Karpency; Spence destroys Van Heerden in 8
In a one-sided mismatch, WBC 175lb champion Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (27-1, 22 KOs) obliterated No.9 Tommy “Kryptonite” Karpency (25-5-1, 14 KOs) by a 3rd round knockout tonight at the Ricoh Coliseum, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Stevenson knocked Karpency down twice in the fight. The bout was stopped 21 seconds into the 3rd round after Stevenson dropped a hurt Karpency with a chopping left to the head. Karpency got to his feet, but the referee waived it off.
Dirrell schools Rubio; McDonnell decisions Kameda
(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) 30-year-old former WBC 168lb champion Anthony Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) defeated Marco Antonio Rubio (59-8-1, 51 KOs) by a 10 round decision in a mismatch on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas. Rubio was little more than a punching bag in the fight for the much bigger, stronger and quicker Dirrell.
The three judges all scored the fight the same in giving Dirrell every round by the scores of 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90. Dirrell had Rubio slightly hurt on a number of occasions, but he wasn’t able to finish him off due to him throwing only shot at a time. Dirrell’s pot shot style of fighting wasn’t conducive to getting a knockout against a guy with a good chin like Rubio.
Santa Cruz decisions Mares
Making his debut in the featherweight division, undefeated Leo Santa Cruz (31-0-1, 17 KOs) proved to be too strong and too busy for 29-year-old former three division world champion Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) in defeating him by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the WBA Super World and WBC Diamond featherweight straps tonight in their fight on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Briedis destroys Charr
It was similar to the way Juan Manuel Marquez knocked Manny Pacquiao out three years ago in 2012. The only difference was Briedis split Charr’s guard with a right uppercut to the chin and followed it up with a parting left hook to the head that sent the 245 pound Charr face down on the canvas. Charr’s arms were to his sides when he hit the canvas and he didn’t even attempt to brace his fall because he was literally knocked unconscious. Referee Irakly Malazonia stopped the fight officially at 2:55 of the round.
Bute defeats Di Luisa; Alvarez decisions Prieto
Former IBF 168lb champ Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) came out on top tonight in defeating Italy’s Andrea Di Luisa (17-3, 13 KOs) by a 4th round TKO after Di Luisa’s corner threw in the towel in the 4th round at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Bute knocked the 33-year-old, Ink-covered Di Luisa down with a left to the head in the 4th. Di Luisa got to his feet at the count of 8. When asked if he was okay, Di Luisa appeared to shake his head. The referee let it continue anyway. Moments later, Di Luisa’ corner threw in the towel and the fight was halted at 1:53 of the round. Bute was slightly hurt by a left hand from Di Luisa before the knockdown. The shot had Bute backing up, but he wasn’t badly hurt but he clearly was stunned by the shot from the Italian fighter.
Tarver-Cunningham fight to draw; Glowacki destroys Huck
(Photo credit: Ed Diller/DiBella Entertainment) In heavyweight action between two aging smaller heavyweights, 39-year-old Steve “USS” Cunningham (28-7-1, 13 KOs) and 46-year-old former 175lb champion Antonio Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KOs) fought to a 12 round draw tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The fight televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Spike TV in the United States.
It was a tossup fight that really could have gone either way. The judges scored it 115-113 for Cunningham, 115-114 for Tarver and 114-114 even. It was a winnable fight for either of these guys, but a draw was definitely fair. If the judges had given the fight to Tarver, they would have had to ignore the fact that he was doing almost nothing in every round of the fight.
Garcia stops Malignaggi; Jacobs defeats Mora
(Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) We may have seen the end of former two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi’s career tonight with him getting beaten up and stopped in the 9th round by former WBA/WBC 140lb champion Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The referee prematurely stopped the fight at 2:22 of the 9th round after Garcia stunned Malignaggi.
It didn’t matter that Malignaggi seemed to recover from the shot and was fighting back. The referee Arthur Mercante Jr. decided he’s seen enough from Malignaggi and chose to stop the fight. Malignaggi was cut in two places around his right eye at the time of the stoppage. However, the fight wasn’t stopped because of his cut.