…Ring Magazine Call It The Fight Of The Year: Zepeda Vs. Baranchyk
If a fight that lasts just five rounds has no less than eight knockdowns featured, you know it was just that – a FIGHT.
Everything that is great about boxing was on display last night in a great fight that has been dubbed “The Battle In The Bubble.”
In a fight that saw both fighters hit the deck four times, Jose “Chon” Zepeda (33-2, 25 KOs) beat former IBF 140-lb Champion Ivan Baranchyk (20-2, 13 KOs) by a terrific 5th round knockout in a WBC light welterweight title eliminator on Saturday night at the Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Jose Zepeda knocked out Ivan Baranchyk in the fifth round of their junior welterweight instant classic Saturday evening at the MGM Grand Las Vegas.
Zepeda-Baranchyk and Gabriel Flores Jr.-Ryan Kielczweski headline Saturday evening show LIVE on ESPN+ (7:30 p.m. ET)
(ESPN+ 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m.
In what could possibly be a candidate for Fight of the Year, boxing’s pound-for-pound superstar attraction Gennadiy “GGG” Golovkin (40-1-1, 35 KOs) and Sergiy “The Technician” Derevyanchenko (13-2, 10 KOs) slugged it out for 12 dramatic rounds filled with heart and grit that saw Derevyanchenko hit the canvas in Round 1 and suffer a brutal cut over his right eye in Round 2, but battle back to balance out the scorecards with impressive power shots to the body.
The vacant Ring 140-pound championship is confirmed to be on the line when Regis Prograis and Josh Taylor meet in the WBSS Super-Lightweight Final for the Ali Trophy, The Greatest Prize in Boxing.
‘Monster’ Naoya Inoue stops IBF champ Emmanuel Rodriguez to set up Nonito Donaire showdown and Josh Taylor dropped Ivan Baranchyk twice on his way to winning the IBF world title and booking his place in the WBSS final.
Josh Taylor (15-0, 12 KOs) dominated previously unbeaten IBF light welterweight champion Ivan Baranchyk (19-1, 12 Kos) in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to advance to the final of the World Boxing Super Series light welterweight tournament at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.
Freddie Roach on WBSS: “This is what we need in boxing.”
Renowned trainer Freddie Roach is excited to guide Ivan Baranchyk in the battle of the unbeatens vs Josh Taylor, the WBSS Super-Lightweight Semi-Final and IBF World Championship tonight at The SSE Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.