Showtime PPV Results: Mares beats Oquendo

07/13/201407/12/2014 Michael Montero

The crowd had filled in by the start of the third bout of Showtime’s PPV broadcast, as Mexican Abner Mares made his return to the ring after almost a year off against Puerto Rican Jonathan Oquendo. The last time we saw Mares in the right was last August at the StubHub Center in Carson, California, were he was stopped in the first round by veteran Johnny Gonzalez.

The “Mexico, Mexico” chants started seconds after the opening bell, as both fighters met in the center of the ring. Both men looked sharp and focused on their strategies, trying to set the pace. It was a close first round that could’ve went either way. It was more of the same through the early rounds, with Mares staying disciplined, keeping his hands up and working behind his jab. As the rounds progressed, Mares took advantage of Oquendo’s high guard and began to rip shots to the body.

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Showtime PPV Results: Herrera-Perez

09/15/201607/12/2014 Michael Montero

Tonight’s Showtime pay per view broadcast opened with a terrific matchup, as American Mauricio Herrera took on Johan Perez, of Caracas, Venezuela. The last time we saw Herrera was in Puerto Rico against 140 pound kingpin Danny Garcia, where many fans feel he was the victim of home cooking in favor of the champ. This time he felt more at home in Las Vegas, which is only about a four hour drive from his residence in Riverside, California. Perez held training camp for this bout in America for the first time in his career, where he benefited from great sparring at Daniel Ponce De Leon’s gym in California.

The opening rounds started with Herrera moving forward and Perez backing up, circling to his left, and attempting to counterpunch. Neither man could get land anything flush, causing a lot of tie ups as they slipped punches and jockeyed for position. Things were a bit messy and Herrera wasn’t cutting off the ring but rather following his opponent. It felt as though the Venezuelan fighter was doing the better work early on.

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Ruslan Chagaev wins “Regular” WBA heavyweight title with majority decision win over Fres Oquendo

07/07/201407/06/2014 James Slater

Tonight in Grozny, Russia, former WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev became a two-time champ, as he won a 12-round majority verdict over Fres Oquendo to pick up the “regular” WBA strap. The scores were 115-113 twice and 114-114. 35-year-old Chagaev is now 33-2-1(20). 41-year-old Oquendo, who felt he had won, fell to 37-8(24).

It was a bizarre night in many ways. The setting for the fight was quite impressive, as was the ring set-up and the pre-fight entertainment. The presence, too, of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov was quite unique. As for the fight itself, the action was intriguing enough in the early rounds, with southpaw Chagaev pressing the action in his usual bull-like fashion. Fast-handed, Chagaev out-jabbed the taller Oquendo, winning the early to middle rounds. Neither man was noticeably hurt, until Chagaev picked up a nasty cut above the left eye in the 7th.

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Terence Crawford KO’s Yuriorkis Gamboa

06/29/201406/29/2014 Paul Strauss

Terence Crawford not only transitioned from orthodox to southpaw, he pulled off a much bigger metamorphosis going from eastern Nebraska to the top of the world. That came as no surprise to the ten thousand plus fans on hand at the Century Link Center, Omaha, Nebraska. They already knew something that the rest of the world was only beginning to see. That pearl of knowledge is Terence “Hunter/Bud” Crawford is one helleva fighter!

If you watch the History Channel, you know Omaha is not only a good sized city on the banks of the Missouri River, it is also the name of the famous beach where allied troops landed on D-Day in June of 1944. It was the beginning of the end for the Axis Powers. Crawford pulled off his own D-Day when he transitioned from orthodox to southpaw in the third round of his battle with the undefeated Cuban sensation named Yuriorkis Gamboa.

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Terence Crawford takes a big step towards superstardom with sizzling stoppage win over Yuriorkis Gamboa

06/29/2014 James Slater

WBO lightweight king Terence Crawford looked superb last night in handing former amateur superstar Yuriorkis Gamboa his first pro defeat. Too big, tall and rangy he may have been for former featherweight Gamboa, but nothing should be taken from Crawford’s win. Looking for all the world like a Thomas Hearns clone, Crawford displayed power, accuracy, speed and, most of the time – barring the occasion in the 9th-round when he was hurt before turning things back around in his favour – patience.

Gamboa, at a major disadvantage in terms of reach, had to, as commentator Larry Merchant said, “try and make things happen,” and in doing so, by coming in and trying to land dome hurt on his taller opponent, the Cuban talent put himself at serious risk. Crawford of course took advantage of this and buzzed his challenger a number of times. Only Gamboa’s ridiculous heart and courage kept him in the fight, and Gamboa even stated post-fight that, after the second hurtful knockdown of the 9th and final round, he’d wanted to continue.

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Crawford beats Gamboa

06/29/201406/29/2014 Paul Albano

If you would have told me before the Terrance Crawford (24-0) and Yuriorkis Gamboa’s (23-1) Saturday night tilt (contested in Omaha…known the world over as the fight capital of Nebraska) that Crawford was going to win by a tenth round stoppage I would have said…okay, fine. Crawford is a talented, skilled boxer fighting in his hometown. He’s also significantly bigger than Gamboa, both in terms of height and natural weight class, and he’s looked far sharper in his recent bouts. So yeah, a tenth round stoppage seems about right. But if you would have told me that Crawford and Gamboa would also be sort of a spectacularly entertaining life or death slugfest, and probably the leading candidate for fight of the year, I would have said no that won’t happen: I don’t care if you’re clairvoyant or from the future or whatever your deal is, but you’re wrong. A blown-up featherweight coming off a slow paced tap-fest over a year ago against a defensively responsible counter-puncher could never be a fight of the year candidate and really, it’s idiotic to suggest otherwise. And yet Saturday night happened.

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Crawford stops Gamboa; Korobov decisions Uzcategui

06/29/201406/28/2014 Rob Smith

WBO lightweight champion Terence Crawford (24-0, 17 KO’s) got off to a slow start in the first 4 rounds, but then came on to knock 32-year-old Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-1, 16 KO’s) down 4 times en route to stopping him in the 9th round tonight in a fight televised by HBO from the CenturyLink Center, in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Crawford was hurt in the 9th round after getting a little too overanxious trying to score a stoppage. But Crawford came back to knock Gamboa down twice with big punches to get the stoppage. Gamboa got back up after the second knockdown but the referee Genaro Rodriguez chose to stop the fight at 2:53 of the round.

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The “Polish Prince” Ryan Kielczewski goes to 20-0

06/29/201406/28/2014 Raymond Rolak

St. Charles, MO– Ryan Kielczewski, 24, the pride of Quincy, Massachusetts went to 20-0 (4 KO’s) with an eight round unanimous decision over Ramsey Luna. Luna, 22, of Corpus Christi, Texas now stands at 12-2 (5 KO’s). The Ameristar Casino crowd never got enthused with the plodding and lackluster match. The win puts Kielczewski into a great position for a super flyweight title bout. Kielczewski kept scoring with a methodical style.

With the win, Kielczewski, who has been branded as Boston’s “Polish Prince” should be in-line for a title fight. The fight was the lead in to the main event on the Friday Night Fights telecast on ESPN.

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Errol Spence Jr. Impresses With Resounding Victory Over Ronald Cruz Friday on ShoBox: The New Generation

06/28/201406/28/2014 Showtime Boxing

LAS VEGAS (June 27, 2014) – Undefeated Errol Spence, Jr. didn’t lose a round and may have made the transition from prospect to contender in a dominating unanimous decision victory (100-90 three times) over the durable Ronald Cruz in the main event of ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME® from The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Spence (13-0, 10 KOs) was remarkably efficient with his power punches, landing 282 shots compared to Cruz’s 65 at a rate of 58 percent. Looking like a potential future world champion, the 2012 U.S. Olympian was technically sound and sharp with his punches, picking apart the courageous Cruz (20-4, 15 KOs) as he went past the eighth round for the first time in his career. Conditioning certainly wasn’t an issue for the 24-year-old, who threw more punches in the 10th and final round (114) than he did in any other round in the fight.

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Zlaticanin defeats Ricky Burns

06/28/201406/27/2014 Bill Phanco

We may have seen the end of Ricky Burns’ career tonight with him losing a 12 round split decision to visiting fighter Dejan Zlaticanin (19-0, 13 KO’s) at the Braehead Arena, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. The judges scored the fight 115-113, 115-113 for Zlaticanin, and 115-113 for Burns.

Zlaticanin shocked the Scottish crowd in the opening round when he connected with a beautiful left hook that smashed into Burns’ jaw, sending him down on the canvas. Burns was hurt but somehow he was able to make it back to his feet and make it out of the round. Zlaticanin pasted him with two additional big left hooks to the head similar to the first one before the round ended. Burns was able to take them because he was bracing for the shots.

After the 1st round, the fight settled into a pattern where Zlaticanin stalked Burns around the ring, tagging him with big left hooks to the head and smashing him with powerful body shots.

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