Connect with us

Boxing

Ring Ratings Update (July 6): O’Shaquie Foster’s Rankings Remain Unchanged After Controversial Defeat

Published

on

Robson Conceicao (left) won a highly controversial split decision over O’Shaquie Foster on July 6. (Photo: Mikey Williams-Top Rank)

The 135-pound weight class took center stage last Saturday, but it was the 130-pound title fight that had the Fight Review Panel concerned.

O’Shaquie Foster he seemed to clearly outbox the three-time title challenger Robson Conceicao over 12 rounds in the main event of the Top Rank card in Newark, Recent Jersey, but two official judges (Tony Lundy and Paul Wallace) awarded the Olympic gold medalist a highly controversial split decision for his rather ineffective aggression throughout the banal fight, which was televised on ESPN.

The scores were 116-112 (Lundy) and 115-113 (Wallace) for the 35-year-old Brazilian, and 116-112 (Ron McNair) for the 30-year-old Texan, who was defending his WBC belt for the third time. Most observers agreed with McNair’s score or saw it as more one-sided in favor of Foster (22-3, 12 KOs), who entered the fight as The Ring’s No. 2 junior lightweight. Conceicao (19-2-1, 9 KOs) is The Ring’s No. 8 junior lightweight.

Conceicao was the aggressor against Foster, but his actions rarely proved effective. (Photo: Mikey Williams-Top Rank)

In the main event Top Rank Shakur StevensonThe Ring’s No. 4-ranked lightweight defended his WBC belt with a unanimous decision over the German title challenger Artem HarutyunyanThe lack of action in the fight drew criticism from ESPN commentators, mostly aimed at Stevenson’s cautious performance, which continued to be criticized by fans, pundits, and even some of the fighter’s peers on social media (partly because the 27-year-old talent remains sensitive to criticism).

On the introductory card, Keyshawn Davis passed the physical test with flying colors, going 10 tough rounds with tough Mexican brawler Miguel Madueno, who entered the fight with a flashy 31-2 (28 KO) record and a brutal attitude. Davis (11-0, 7 KO), who entered the fight as the No. 8 lightweight in The Ring’s rankings, handled the aggression to win by a unanimous decision of 99-91.

Across the country, in the Golden Boy Promotions/DAZN main event in Ontario, California, William ZepedaNo. 3 in The Ring’s lightweight rankings, he remained undefeated with a third-round knockout of scrappy title challenger Giovanni Cabrera, whose only previous loss was a split decision Isaac Cruz last July. Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) lost the first round to Cabrera (22-2, 7 KOs), but soon overwhelmed the brave outsider with his trademark pressure, weighty punching and attacking the body.

William Zepeda’s train continued to move forward with his 27th KO against the courageous but outgunned Giovanni Cabera. Photo: Cris Esqueda / Golden Boy Promotions

Zepeda and Stevenson maintained their positions (given that both were weighty favorites to win), while the less experienced Davis moved up a spot. But what to do with Foster, who should have raised his hand? What to do with Conceicao, who earned the official victory but shouldn’t have?

“Foster lost his WBC title to Conceicao in a very controversial manner,” he said. Anson Wainwrightt. “This might be one of those occasions where we don’t get rid of Foster. Maybe we keep him at No. 2 and move Conceicao up, showing that we don’t agree with the decision but we also respect the official decision?”

This suggestion was not enough for the majority of the commission members, who did not want to reward Conceicao for a victory he did not actually deserve.

“I agree that there is no action for Foster,” he said. Jake Donovan“I strongly disagree with Conceicao; if anything, he should be lower. I don’t know why we should elevate him in such a bad decision that even ordinary fans are criticizing the sport.”

Added Adam Abramowitz: “I would invoke our ‘robbery clause’ for Foster-Conceicao. Conceicao didn’t win that fight. And I wouldn’t move him up either.”

Abraham Gonzalez, Michael Montero AND Diego Morel it was agreed that Conceicao should not be promoted and Foster should not be relegated.

Added Tom Gray: “We do not recognize the official decision because it was a load of crap. The only way to discourage incompetence is to reject it completely.

“It’s not Robson’s fault, but he shouldn’t be world champion and that’s it. This ‘a win is a win’ is complete excuses.”

“They both stay where they are.”

The Scot spoke.

RING RATINGS UPDATED (as of July 6):

LIGHT – William Zepeda remains at No. 3. Shakur Stevenson remains at No. 4. Keyshawn Davis moves up to No. 7.

JUNIOR LIGHTWEIGHT – O’Shaquie Foster remains at No. 2. Robson Conceicao remains at No. 8.

JUNIOR BANNER WEIGHTFernando Martinez moves up to No. 1 after winning a split decision Kazuto Jokawhich drops to 3rd place.

“AND “I agree that Puma is advanced,” he noted Donovan“I can live with Ioka staying one spot behind Estrada, even though I thought the fight would be 115-113 either way (I had Ioka but I see Puma winning). The (official) results were awful.”

HOUSEFLYRicardo Sandoval remains in 6th place after defeating Angel Acosta in round 10.

“Sandoval scored a highly questionable knockout victory over Acosta in round 10. He stays where he is,” he noted Wainwright.

JUNIOR WEIGHT FLYDaniel Matellon exits due to inactivity. Shokichi IwataFresh off a sixth-round knockout of Jahzeel Trinidad, he remains at No. 8 but moves up to No. 7 due to exhaustion. The former title challenger Regie Suganob (15-1, 5 KOs) comes in at number 10.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Boxing

News Summary; Eubank, Canelo, Gilley, Fulton,

Published

on

On Saturday evening, CHRIS EUBANK JR will have former coach Wladimir Klitschko in his corner.

Jonathon Banks, who led Klitschko’s team after Manny Steward’s death, also worked with Dillian Whyte and Gennady Golovkin.

Eubank is not afraid to rotate corners, having previously worked with Ronnie Davies, Roy Jones Jr and Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre. On Saturday evening, the 35-year-old middleweight fighter will face Pole Kamil Szeremeta. Banks was in Golovkin’s corner four years ago when the Kazakh champion defeated Szeremeta in seven rounds.


CANELO ALVAREZ will reportedly be in Japan on Sunday to watch one of the Inoue brothers in action.

Takuma Inoue defends his WBA bantamweight title against Seiya Tsutsumi in an event featuring four world title fights. Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso will be at work, however, as his fighter Cristofer Rosales will face Kenshiro Teraji for the vacant WBC flyweight title.


SAM GILLEY understands he has a novel opponent for October 18 after Louis Greene withdrew from the rematch.

Both super welterweights had one of the best domestic fights of 2023, which Gilley won via unanimous decision. Greene’s replacement will be Jack McGann, who was stopped in one round by Greene in March.


Fulton’s only loss came against Naoya Inoue in July 2023. (Getty Images)

STEPHEN FULTON will continue his path to becoming a two-division world champion when he returns on December 14.

ESPN reports that the former unified super bantamweight champion will face featherweight Brandon Figueroa at the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach main event in Houston.

Fulton and Figueroa have already met once in November 2021, when Fulton added the WBC world title to his WBO 122-pound title, defeating the Texan by majority decision in a great fight.

Continue Reading

Boxing

Jermall Charlo will return to Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach on December 14 at PPV in Houston

Published

on

Jermall Charlo fought his way back home to end his final break from the ring.

The Ring has confirmed that the former two-division champion will return to the ring on December 14. Charlo (33-0, 22 knockouts) will appear on Gervonta “Tank” Davis-Lamont Roach PBC’s Prime Pay-Per-View event at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

At the time of publication, the adversary had not yet been identified. However, The Ring learned that the main candidate is Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (38-5-1, 17 KO). Such a fight would take place at the full super middleweight limit.

PBC creator Al Haymon was trying to replace the injured Nico Collins on his NFL Fantasy Football team, but was unable to comment on the situation.

Houston’s Charlo will be out of the ring for just over a year before fight night. He ended a 29-month absence from the ring on November 25 last year in Las Vegas with a ten-round victory over Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs). Charlo did not make the set weight for the fight, reaching a career-high 166.4 pounds.

This will mark his second fight in a row in the super middleweight division. Charlo already held the IBF junior middleweight and WBC middleweight titles.

Previous rumors claimed that Charlo would potentially face fellow former two-division titleholder Demetrius Andrade. However, The Ring confirmed that these were false hopes and that such a match was never included in the budget for the Davis-Roach undercard.

Charlo’s last home fight came in June 2021, when he scored over Juan Macias Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KO). The fight also took place at the Toyota Center and was the fourth and final defense of his WBC middleweight title.

Personal problems forced a longer break from the ring. Along with this, plans to defend the title against Maciej Sulecki in June 2022 in this place were canceled.

Charlo was ultimately cleared from the WBC 160-pound fight due to his inability to defend against interim champion and mandatory challenger Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KO). Charlo has been given the title of “Hi-time Champion”, although he is not expected to return to middleweight.

If this fight takes place, it will be LaManna’s third career fight above 160 pounds.

The 32-year-old from southern Modern Jersey has won eight straight since a knockout loss to Erislandy Lara in May 2021. The fight will feature a secondary version of the WBA middleweight title. Since then, Lara has landed a full slate of titles, and LaManna is planning a comeback.

In his last appearance, LaManna scored a second-round knockout of normally fit Juan Carlos Abreu (26-8-1, 24 KOs). Their clash took place on June 8 in LaManna’s home region of Atlantic City.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

Continue Reading

Boxing

Ohara Davies watch out: Adam Azim has found his ‘manly strength’

Published

on

Adam Azim has been making headlines since bursting onto the British boxing scene four years ago.

What initially caught attention was Azim’s incredible hand speed. However, his influence caused him to quickly engage in a fight for the victory with his younger welterweight rival Dalton Smith.

Each fighter benefits greatly from having a talented, high-profile rival, but despite the best efforts of the governing bodies, a match between the two is still a long way off and it has begun to feel like the constant chatter and maneuvering is overshadowing Azim’s development.

Ankle and wrist injuries have kept Azim (11-0, 8 KO) out of the ring since he defended his European title against Enock Poulsen in February. As frustrating as it was to force the newborn player to the side, the setbacks may have been his body’s way of telling him – and everyone around him – to snail-paced down.

In his absence, Azim relinquished the European title and Smith vacated the British belt after stopping the still unsafe Jose Zepeda to legitimize himself as a world title challenger. The two are further apart than they have been in a while.

Azim seems to have benefited from this break. Instead of constantly working on a specific opponent, he was able to work on his all-around game and instead of defending his career path, he focused solely on self-improvement.

On October 19, Azim returns to action in a reasonable and meaningful domestic fight against recent world title challenger Ohara Davies.

The conversation about Smith will inevitably heat up again, but over the next few weeks the talented Azim will be at the center of his own story again.

“My attitude towards this fight is completely different. I’ve been working really strenuous in the gym, improving every day and working extremely strenuous,” Azim told BoxingScene. “The good thing about being in the gym all the time is that you take into account what you need to do in the ring and keep working on it. That’s why I’m working on my footwork and internal fight, which is one of the things I want to work on.

“As a complete package – as a professional player – it’s good to have a good inside game, but also an outside game.”

It seemed like barely a month had passed without Azim scoring such a spectacular early goal that provides manna from heaven for social media teams and fuel for the hype machine.

In November 2022, Azim made his sixth straight stoppage quickly, defeating the tough Rylan Charlton over two rounds, and then the search began for opponents who could weather the early storm and give him quality innings.

The matchmakers certainly did their job.

Santos Reyes got up from the floor and went 10 rounds, just like Adam Faniian. Franck Petitjean made it to the 10th round of a free European title fight before ultimately being overwhelmed, while a shoulder injury forced Enock Poulsen to withdraw after five rounds earlier this year.

The rounds were invaluable. They gave Azim confidence in the gas tank, but also taught him which elements of his style would work at a championship level and which elements needed more work.

“You know what?” Azim said. “After the Rylan Charlton fight, I fought Santos Reyes and when I dropped him, I thought, ‘Yes, I’ve got him again.’ But there is a point where these people have strenuous heads, good chins and there is a way where you have to overcome it in a mature way. In my case, I was just throwing punches, trying to get him out, not thinking about it.

“If I fought him again, the story would be different because now I know how to beat him, you know? If I had stayed inside with him then, I would have gotten him out because I just kept it ticking for so long. It’s those three and four punches, not just one or two, where there are shots that they can’t see.

“Even with the Aram Fanian fight, it was a unsafe fight for me at the beginning. He fought 24 fights and lost only one during that time, so he was a good, advancing opponent for me.

“Now the fights last longer, I can think about how to eliminate them and break them – but that comes with maturity. I was 19, 20 years venerable then. Now I’m 22, so I’m getting older and of course gaining masculine strength, which is also good to have.

I work really strenuous so I know what to do in the ring.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

OUR NEWSLETTER

Subscribe Us To Receive Our Latest News Directly In Your Inbox!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Trending