Juanma TKOs Ponce De Leon; Wilder kayos Scott; Garcia beats Herrera

Juanma TKOs Ponce De Leon; Wilder kayos Scott; Garcia beats Herrera

The first of several Showtime bouts was short, but exciting. Approximately six years ago Juan Manuel “Juanma” Lopez destroyed Daniel Ponce De Leon in one round. The win propelled Juanma to the top of his division. Ponce De Leon had to fight hard to regain his position at the top level of the division. Saturday the two met again.

This time both had grown into junior lightweights, and neither was young or up and coming phenoms. Rather, both men were fighting to extend their careers be serious title contenders. The question was who had the most left?

The first round was very cautious, so much so smatterings of boos could be heard from the Puerto Rican Crowd. The round was a difficult one to score. Ponce de Leon pressed the action in the second, trying hard to protect himself from southpaw JuanMa’s powerful right hook, the punch that was responsible for his kayo loss in their first bout. It seemed like he had learned how to get under it, or block it.

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As Advertised: Juanma Lopez and Daniel Ponce de Leon give us a mini-classic (but a controversial ending tarnishes things)

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Going into the rematch fight, we knew super-featherweights Juan Manuel Lopez and Daniel Ponce de Leon would exchange bombs in a can’t miss fight. And last night in “Juanma’s” homeland of Puerto Rico, on a card that was headlined by Danny Garcia’s controversial points win over a determined Mauricio Herrera, we saw a blisteringly exciting battle that was, unfortunately, tarnished somewhat by yet more controversy; this controversy coming by way of a premature stoppage.

Back in 2008, a new star burst onto the world stage down at super-bantamweight, as Lopez iced defending WBO boss De Leon inside a round. A lot has happened to both power punching fighters since, and last night the rematch, up at 130-pounds, was largely seen as the last roll of the dice for both men, Lopez especially. Many experts, including Lopez’ former promoter Bob Arum, openly called for Juanma’s retirement after his TKO loss to Mikey Garcia last year. De Leon, who is the older man by three years at 33, was also looked at as a fine fighter who had seen better days, yet he was deemed to have had more left than his fellow southpaw.

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Danny Garcia defeats Mauricio Herrera; Deontay Wilder dazzles with first-round knockout over Malik Scott

Danny Garcia defeats Mauricio Herrera; Deontay Wilder dazzles with first-round knockout over Malik Scott

(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) BAYAMON, Puerto Rico (March 16, 2014) – Unified Super Lightweight World Champion

Danny “Swift” Garcia (28-0, 16 KOs) defeated Mauricio “El Maestro” Herrera (20-4, 7 KOs) via a majority decision to remain undefeated on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING®.

Garcia established himself in the first round, landing the bigger punches against Herrera. But it was quickly clear that the challenger wasn’t going to let Garcia off easy, peppering the champion with strong shots to his body and head.By the end of round four, Garcia’s corner, specifically his father and trainer, Angel Garcia, could be heard telling the champion urgently to step-up his game and take control. Herrera, of Riverside, Calif., pressed on and proved himself as a worthy opponent with both fighters exchanging vicious shots throughout the extremely close match.

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29 Year Old Sensation “Czar” Glazkov Defeats Veteran Tomasz Adamek

29 Year Old Sensation "Czar" Glazkov Defeats Veteran Tomasz Adamek

(Photo Credits: Rich Graessle/Main Events) Bethlehem, PA: “Czar” Glazkov did what only two out of 51 men before him managed to do – defeat veteran brawler Tomasz “Goral” Adamek. In a twelve round unanimous decision the 29 year-old Olympic Bronze Medalist from Lugansk, Ukraine (17-0-1, 11 KOs) remains undefeated as he upsets the 37 year-old veteran from Gilowice, Poland, Tomasz “Goral” Adamek (49-3-0, 29 KOs) to win the NABF North American Heavyweight Title and secure the #2 position in the IBF.

Two judges scored the bout 117-111 and one judge scored the bout 116-110. Glazkov landed an amazing 37% (212 of 580) of his shots on the veteran Adamek, who landed only 21% (161 of 761). Czar said, “I would like to thank Main Events and Kathy Duva for giving me this opportunity and taking me to this road. I also want to thank Tomasz Adamek for taking this bout and giving me this opportunity. He was risking more than I did. Tomasz was not a guy who was backing up, he was coming forward. It was a very good bout.”

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Bellew defeats Brudov; Brook stops Robles

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Making his first fight at cruiserweight, Tony Bellew (21-2, 13 KO’s) was able to stop former WBA interim cruiserweight champion Valery Brudov (41-5, 28 KO’s) in the 12th round tonight to win the vacant WBO International cruiserweight title at the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, UK. Bellew showed good power in dropping Brudov three times in the fight.

In the 12th, Bellew caught the 37-year-old Brudov with a perfectly timed left hook to the head that dropped him on his backside. Brudov tried to get up, but he was far too hurt and the fight was immediately stopped. Bellew also knocked Brudov down once in the 2nd round and another time in the 6th.

Bellew will need to improve dramatically if he’s going to go anywhere in the division. Brudov was an old small guy without a ton of power, and there are much better contenders in the division than this guy and Bellew had major problems against him.

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Garcia decisions Herrera; Lopez halts De Leon; Wilder destroys Scott

Garcia decisions Herrera; Lopez halts De Leon; Wilder destroys Scott

(Photo credit: Tom Casino/Showtime) In a very close fight that was difficult to score, WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia 28-0, 16 KO’s) defeated the hard as nails challenger Mauricio Herrera (20-4, 7 KO’s) by a 12 round majority decision tonight at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez, in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. It was not a good performance from Garcia, because he failed to make adjustments to Herrera’s fighting style and he got picked apart in the last half of the fight.

I personally scored the fight for Herrera by four rounds, but Garcia getting the decision makes sense because of the venue. Herrera wasn’t going to win this fight without knocking Garcia out to doing something spectacular like knocking Garcia down 3-4 times. The judges scored it 114-114, 116-112, 116-112.

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Glazkov decisions Adamek; Chilemba defeats Grachev

Glazkov decisions Adamek; Chilemba defeats Grachev

Photo: Rich Graessle/Main Events — Tomasz Adamek (49-3, 29 KO’s) ran out of luck tonight in his dream of fighting for another heavyweight world title, as the younger and stronger Vyacheslav Glazkov (17-0-1, 11 KO’s) pounded out a 12 round unanimous decision tonight in beating Adamek in front of his own fans at the Sands Casino Resort, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. Adamek took a beating in the fight and ended up with a right eye that was nearly swollen closed courtesy of the hard jabs that Glazkov was hitting him with all night.

Glazkov used his jab and power shots to beat up Adamek and build up a big deal. Adamek rallied in the last four rounds, but he was too far behind for him to make up the difference. The judges scored the fight 117-110, 117-111, 116-112.

Adamek did a lot of good things in the fight like using constant movement to keep from getting hit. However, Glazkov did a great job of cutting off the ring and nailing Adamek with big right hand shots to the head. He had Adamek hurt on more than one occasion in rounds 7-9.

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Canelo Alvarez Impresses In Controversial TKO Victory Over Alfredo Angulo, Saturday on SHOWTIME PPV

Canelo Alvarez Impresses In Controversial TKO Victory Over Alfredo Angulo, Saturday on SHOWTIME PPV

(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) LAS VEGAS (March 8, 2014) – Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez scored a controversial 10th round technical knockout victory over Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo in front of 14,610 fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the main event of Saturday’s “TOE TO TOE: CANELO vs. ANGULO” on SHOWTIME PPV.

Canelo (43-1-1, 31 KOs) landed a vicious left uppercut that rocked “El Perro’s” head back at 0:47 of the 10th round. Sensing Angulo was taking too much punishment, referee Tony Weeks stepped in and halted the exciting battle.

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Canelo stops Angulo in 10th; Santa Cruz defeats Mijares

Canelo stops Angulo in 10th; Santa Cruz defeats Mijares

In an example of perfect match-making by Golden Boy Promotions, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) easily destroyed the weak and slow Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) by a 10th round TKO on Saturday night from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the perfect opponent for Canelo to beat up on, as Angulo had absolutely no power and no speed.

Whatever happened to his one decent power is unclear, but he definitely didn’t have it tonight. Canelo, looking like a light heavyweight rather than a junior middleweight, used his size and power to hit Angulo at will with power shots. After being warned in between the 9th and 10th rounds that the fight would be stopped, Angulo went out for the 10th and took a few huge shots from Canelo. At that point referee Tony Weeks stepped in and halted the fight at 0:47 of the 10th.

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Rustam Nugaev and Roman Morales Victorious on ESPN Friday Night Fights

PALA, CA (March 7, 2014) – Tonight Gary Shaw Productions in association with Greg Cohen Promotions, Antonio Leonard Promotions and All In Entertainment presented ESPN “Friday Night Fights” to a lively crowd at the Pala Casino Spa and Resort. Every fight was sensational as all fighters went to war with eachother.

In the 10-round main event, Rustam Nugaev (27-6-1, 17 KOs) and Marvin Quintero (25-5, 21 KOs) provided the fans with a rugged night of action. Quintero was using his hand speed and lateral movement to get off his punches while Nugaev was establishing a ferocious body attack. Both fighters were landing power shots, but it seemed that Nugaev was landing the harder blows. It was a close fight after four rounds but Quintero hurt his hand in the final seconds of the round. Once the doctor deemed Quintero couldn’t continue the fight was ruled a TKO in Nugaev’s favor.

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