ESPN will broadcast a special Thursday night edition of ESPN Friday Night Fights, appropriately billed “ESPN Thursday Night Fights,” on ESPN2 May 1, 2014 from Hialeah Park Casino in Hialeah, FL.
ABOUT THE FIGHTS
In the main event of an ESPN co-feature, Texan Roberto “La Amenaza” Garcia (34-3, 22 KOs) is scheduled to fight Dominican Victor “Mermelada” Cayo (32-4, 23 KOs) in a 10-round Jr. Middleweight bout.
Ghana’s Freddy Lawson has been celebrating breaking into the IBF ratings last week and has now been confirmed for his next challenge against ex-world champ Randall Bailey.
Having already won his maiden bout in the United States in dominant fashion, undefeated Ghanaian welterweight Fredrick Lawson next faces the challenge of former IBF Welterweight champion, Randall Bailey (44-8, 37 KOs) nicknamed The Knockout King.
Tickets went on sale on Friday for the fight scheduled for June 7th at the Myth in Minnesota, the same place Lawson (22-0, 20 KOs) so authoritatively defeated US based Ugandan, Mohammed Kanyogo back on March 22.
Said Thurman, “I felt the body shot (to Diaz). I felt he was going to go down. I wondered if I hadn’t landed it clean enough. He’s a tough guy. He showed up to fight. You saw what he was doing in the ring. His rib… he had eight more rounds to go so he did what he had to do.
On an exciting night when unbeaten WBA Interim Welterweight Champion Keith “One Time” Thurman retained his title with a third-round TKO over former world champion Julio “The Kidd” Diaz and undefeated Omar “Panterita” Figueroa successfully defended his WBC lightweight crown with a 12-round split decision over Jerry Belmontes, Lucas “The Machine” Matthysse stole the show with a spectacular, brutal 11th-round knockout over John Molina in the leading Fight of the Year candidate Saturday on SHOWTIME®.
The Argentine, ranked No. 1 in the world at 140 pounds, was hurt in the first and dropped in the second and fifth rounds. But the former interim WBC 140-pound world champion came back with knockdowns in the eighth, 10th and 11th to turn back a determined bid by Molina and capture the WBC Continental Americas Super Lightweight Championship.
After losing all five of his amateur fights against Belmontes, Figueroa (23-0-1, 17 KOs), of Weslaco, Texas, got his revenge in his first world title defense, outpointing Belmontes (19-4, 5 KOs), of Corpus Christi, Texas, by the scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 113-115.
“He gave me more than trouble,’’ Figueroa said. “He wouldn’t make a fight out of it. I’m sorry to the fans. It was more of a sparring match than a fight. I prepared so much and this was the outcome.
“He almost made me cry again but of laughter saying he was going to beat me. I prepared well. I came 100 percent. I knew he was going to run. My hands are a little sore but nothing bad, nothing crazy. Now take my time off. I have been training since January. But it is up to Al Haymon.”
LUCAS “BIG DADDY” BROWNE became the first Australian to win the Commonwealth heavyweight title in 122 years when he scored a fifth round knockout of Canada’s Eric Martel Bahoeli at the Ponds Forge Arena in Sheffield, England on Saturday night.
After flooring Bahoeli heavily with solid right in the second, Browne sustained a severe cut above this left eye from a head clash in the third, but still battled on to record his 20th pro victory and 18th stoppage.
If anything the laceration seemed to bring out the best in the 35-year-old from Sydney.
Julio Diaz (40-10-1, 29 KO’s) suffered a rib injury in the 3rd round tonight against interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KO’s) that caused the fight to be stopped at the end of the 3rd round a the StubHub Center in Carson, California. We didn’t learn anything from the fight other than the fact Thurman fights a lot better when he’s coming forward than he does when he’s being backed up and pressured.
It was clearly a huge mistake to make Thurman-Diaz the main event, because the fight was one-sided and not nearly as interesting to watch as the Lucas Matthysse vs. John Molina bout.
Wladimir Klitschko has triumphed again in commanding fashion, an action which typically raises complaints that the long-time champ fights “bums” rather than “real” challenges.
Of course, this raises an interesting question. Who are the bums and who are the real challenges? If Klitschko avoids a challenge, then name the challenge. And be careful with your answer.
I remember little more than a two years ago when Klitcshko easily KO’d Tony Thompson in six. Critics immediately excoriated him for fighting a geriatric, rather than an unstoppable machine like David Price. Yet Thompson’s name is now mysteriously removed from the retrospective list of “bums” that Klitschko fought and – just as mysteriously – David Price is no longer a “real” challenge.
Heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko did as was widely expected and stopped overmatched title challenger Alex Leapai tonight in Germany. Dominating the action throughout, Wladimir scored two knockdowns in the 5th-round, the final one ending the fight. The time was 2-minutes and 5-seconds and Klitschko, unbeaten in ten years, is now 62-3(52). Leapai, who gave it his best, falls to 30-5-3(24).
Klitschko boxed his usual fight, dominating behind his punishing left jab with his even more punishing right hand behind it. Credited with a knockdown in the 1st-round – when Leapai appeared to have slipped and was unhurt – Wladimir never lost a single minute of a single round. Showing a stubborn chin that might have surprised some, Leapai ate a ton of left jabs and telephone pole right hands, for which he deserves credit, yet the Samoan was not throwing anywhere near enough leather himself.
Tonight in Sheffield, Australian heavyweight giant Lucas Browne won the vacant Commonwealth title with an exciting 5th-round KO over Canada’s Eric Martel Bahoeli. Browne’s Sunday punch, his big right hand, got the job done, as Bahoeli was clubbed to the floor whilst stuck in a corner. The time was one-minute and 26-seconds. Browne is now 20-0(17). Bahoeli, the younger man by three year at age 32, is now 10-4(7).
There was plenty of drama to keep the fans on the edge of their seat before the ending. Browne, stalking a moving target, looked to unload his power punches, with Bahoeli boxing well, landing some shots with his fast hands. The difference in power and strength was obvious however, and sure enough Browne, known as “Big Daddy” broke though in the 2nd. A looping right hand decked Bahoeli and it looked as though the fight was over with.