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Oscar Collazo shines with TKO victory; Gabriela Fundora remains undisputed

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Oscar Collazo and Gabriela Fundora retained their titles with dominant stoppage victories Saturday night at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

It should also be added that former interim champion Arnold Barboza Jr. impressed in his welterweight debut, defeating Kenneth Sims Jr. by wide unanimous decision.

Unified strawweight champion Collazo (14-0, 11 KO) retained his WBA and WBO titles with a sustained body attack that knocked down Jesus Haro and forced him to retire on his stool slow in the sixth round.

Haro put up little resistance when Collazo started boxing and increased the pressure when he realized his opponent had nothing for him. After three rounds, Puerto Rico’s Collazo began driving tough shots to the body, with Haro flinching in pain with each powerful shot. The outcome was inevitable as Haro (13-4, 2 KO) began to retreat and take cover under fire.

Haro ran out of gas after six rounds and elected to stay in his corner for round 7, leading to Collazo’s fourth straight stoppage. Collazo landed 128 of 287 punches (44.5%) compared to 38 of 229 (16.5%) for Haro.

Fundora (18-0, 10 KO) strengthened her position in the undisputed flyweight championship with a one-sided stoppage of Viviana Ruiz. Fundora, the fourth-ranked pound-for-pound player in ESPN’s rankings, easily dissected Ruiz, using her height and reach advantage to secure her fourth straight stoppage win.

Ruiz, 43, may have been two decades older than Fundora, but the age difference wasn’t the reason she couldn’t muster enough strikes against the women’s flyweight queen. Fundora (23) used her jabs and movements to keep Ruiz (10-3, 5 KO) on the outside and without a window to break through. Still, she tried to put pressure on Fundora and paid the price by finding herself on the wrong side of a punch combo. Fundora landed her with a left hand in the fifth round and set the stage for the finish.

In Round 7, Fundora sat on her punches and attacked the challenger, leaving referee Ray Corona no choice to step in and decide to stop the fight. Fundora is teasing a move up to 108 pounds, which is a scary proposition for her potential opponents. But first she wanted to make sure fans were satisfied with her dominance and finishing skills.

“I just want the fans to go home every time and say, ‘Damn, she got another knockout,’” Fundora said.

Barboza (32-1, 11 KO) returned to the win streak against Sims after suffering the first loss of his professional career against Teofimo Lopez last May.

Barboza was a step ahead of Sims in almost every possible way, as he boxed beautifully, suffered little injury other than head-butting wounds, and appears to be a formidable fighter in the 147-pound weight class.

Barboza took control of the fight early and was never forced to give up the convenience of dissecting Sims through 12 rounds. Not known for his finishing skills, Barboza focused on the good moments and controlled the distance. He never allowed Sims to set up a sustained attack and either comboed or moved out of range.

The judges scored the fight 117-111, 118-110 and 120-108 for the fighter from Long Beach.

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Boxing

Roy Jones Jr Declares New KO Artist the Next Canelo: Fans Eager for Fight

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"Roy Jones Jr Declares New KO Artist the 'Next Canelo': Fans Eager for Fight"

Roy Jones Jr has named one fighter as the “new Canelo” and, by extension, considers them to be the ‘face of boxing’.

Some might argue that Canelo Alvarez remains boxing’s biggest commercial star but, with the 36-year-old approaching retirement, the sport is surely crying out for another mainstream attraction to take his place.

It is also unusual for the four-division world champion that, by the end of this year, he will not have fought on Cinco de Mayo or Mexican Independence Day weekend.

Instead, occupying the latter date earlier this month was Ryan Garciawho retained his WBC world title with a second-round stoppage of Conor Benn, taking his record to 21 knockouts from 26 victories, with just two defeats.

In doing so, the 28-year-old has kept himself in the mix for unification matches with Teofimo Lopez and Devin Haney but, until such fights materialise, he seems eager to remain active and defend his welterweight belt.

As far as a next opponent goes, Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz has been mentioned as a possible option following his emphatic sixth-round knockout of Nestor Bravo last weekendand it seems that pound-for-pound legend Jones would enjoy that clash.

That is because Jones has told All The Smoke Boxing that Garcia-Cruz is a stylistically similar matchup to Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier.

“Ryan is the new Canelo – everybody wants to see Ryan.

“[Cruz] has the style – the perfect style – that you want to see against Ryan. Ryan’s a classic boxer-puncher; Pitbull is a brawler-puncher. That’s Ali and Frazier, almost.

“Who would not, on planet Earth, want to see that fight?”

While Cruz is, indeed, a tenacious brawler-puncher, the 5ft 4in super-lightweight would be contending with a glaring size disadvantage if he moves up to 147lbs and faces Garcia.

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Heavyweight Brothers Aim to Dominate Boxing Like the Klitschkos

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"Heavyweight Brothers Aim to Dominate Boxing Like the Klitschkos"

A pair of German prospects hope to follow in the footsteps of Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, who became the first brothers to simultaneously reign as world heavyweight champions.

The two highly-decorated Ukrainians achieved this feat between 2008 and 2013, after Vitali reclaimed his WBC title by dethroning Samuel Peter with an eighth-round finish.

‘Dr. Ironfist’ would then retire from the sport and pursue his political career, while Wladimir became the longest-reigning world heavyweight champion in history before losing to Tyson Fury in 2015.

While holding all four major titles between them, though, the Klitschko brothers established themselves as a dominant force and became mainstream celebrities in Germany.

Since then, the German boxing scene has struggled to generate such widespread attention but, now, over a decade later, Ismet Ademi (24) and Endrit Ademi (21) are bidding to emulate the Klitschko duo.

With seven national titles between them, the pair turned professional earlier this year and caught the eye of several promoters in the UK and US.

It can now be revealed, however, that the Ademi brothers have inked multi-year deals with Ringside Zone, who considers itself the leading boxing promotional outfit in Germany.

With Ismet returning to action on October 10, the 1-0 (1 KO) prospect explained that he and younger brother Endrit, 2-0 (2 KOs), would rather establish themselves on home soil than chase opportunities overseas.

“My brother and I had massive offers from abroad, but Germany is our home and this is where we want to build our legacy.

“Ringside Zone has already shown they can put German fighters in world title fights, and that mattered to us. We made a promise to each other years ago that we would become world champions together – signing here is another step toward keeping it.”

With lofty plans for the future, the Ademi brothers make for intriguing additions to the heavyweight scene as they aim to eventually reach world level and reach the heights that the Klitschko brothers once did.

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Muhammad Ali Names Boxings Greatest: He Was the Greatest

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"Muhammad Ali Names Boxing's Greatest: 'He Was the Greatest'"

Muhammad Ali once revealed who he believed to be the pound-for-pound greatest fighter of all time.

Ali is arguably the biggest name to ever grace boxing, becoming a global cultural figure not just for what he accomplished inside of the ring, but also for his activism efforts outside of it.

He was a three-time world heavyweight champion, and claimed wins in a number of epic battles, including the ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ against George Foremanand the ‘Thrilla In Manila’ against Joe Frazier.

Ali finished with a record of 56 wins from his 61 professional bouts, and despite all of his success, Ali conceded that another man ranked above him as the number one fighter in boxing history, admitting that he feels Sugar Ray Robinson is deserving of that honour.

“That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful.

“I’d say I’m the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound-for-pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time.”

Robinson competed professionally from 1940 to 1965, having a remarkable 201 fights during that time, winning 174 of them. At his peak, Robinson once had a record of 129 wins from 132 fights, with 85 of those wins coming by knockout.

He went on a 91-fight unbeaten streak during that time, as he held the world welterweight title for five years, before becoming world middleweight champion on multiple occasions.

Ali isn’t the only boxing legend that believes Robinson is the best ever, with fellow heavyweight icon Mike Tyson also sharing the same view.

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