THE MOST IMPORTANT events from the last week of the campaign
Oscar Collazo defended his WBO minimum weight belt after a unanimous decision against Gerardo Zapata.
Blair Cobbs hits and passes Adrien Broner, with wins for Michael Hunter and Yuniel Dorticos.
Xander Zayas goes ten rounds for the first time, impressively defeating Patrick Teixeira, while Bruce Carrington and Delante Johnson register wins.
Patrice Volny, Osleys Iglesias and Movladdin Biyarslanov earn distance victories in Montreal.
Callum Walsh destroys Carlos Ortiz in two rounds.
Jonathan Gonzalez and Atif Oberlton score.
Thomas LaManna wins the vacant WBO Gold middleweight title by defeating Juan Abreu.
Who won the week?
Most significant: Xander Zayas shows that he has invigorating moments ahead of him after his victory over Patrick Teixeira.
Most fun: Ian Green and Roy Barringer fought a war, so this is my pick and honorable mention for Patrice Volny vs. Steven Butler.
Warrior of the week: Xander Zayas, with honors to Blair Cobbs.
Punch of the week: I’m banking on Osleys Iglesias’ devastating right hook that finished off Evgeny Shvedenka.
Upset of the week: In his first fight in almost two years, Blair Cobbs didn’t seem to pose a threat to the returning Adrien Broner, but he was victorious. Only doubts about Broner mean that we can expect a slight upset during the week, without many worries
A perspective watch: Cuban middleweight Yoenli Napoles, 4-0, four KO/TKO, showed impressive strength.
Combat card observations
Rosette: Don King plans 94 rounds of boxing
Red card: Michael Hunter and Cassius Chaney for putting together a fight that would have given even heavyweights a bad name.
General observations:
- Michael Hunter should be paid per pound of weight he agrees to. Against Cassius Chaney it was 42 pounds; against Alek Ustinov it was 66 pounds; and Martin Bakole, 43 lbs. The highest payment would be the fight with Ignacio Esparza, in which he lost 101 pounds!
- A 5v5 match between Bob Arum and Oscar de la Hoya was mentioned. I’m not sure even Saudi Arabia has enough money to organize this.
- Since the controversy surrounding Daniel Dubois’ low blow to Oleksandr Usyk, most referees have been especially cautious. Instead of simply waving in the general direction of the lane line, their instructions place their hand firmly above the line so that both the player and the referee are sure what is and what is not a foul. They should also make it clear that any blow delivered behind the ear is a foul.
JUNE 8
An impressive performance by Zayas, who played an invigorating and mature match against the experienced Teixeira. If Teixeira was hoping to exploit the southpaw jab to work the front paw, it was immediately obvious it wasn’t going to work.
Teixeira was cut in the left eye by the clash of heads. Frustrated, Zayas wanted to end it before the final bell, so he chased Teixeira, landing punches with both hands, but Teixeira made it to the final bell.
He scored 100-90 twice and Zayas scored 99-91. The 21-year-old Puerto Rican dominated his lively opponent, the former interim WBO titleholder, and showed his growing class in both attack and defense. He is ranked fifth in the WBO and seventh in the WBC and has challenged Erickson Lubin and Josh Kelly, who are ahead of him in the rankings.
Xander Zayas (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Tardy substitute De Gracia provided Carrington with some useful rounds of action before succumbing in the eighth round. De Gracia was the aggressor early on and Carrington adapted to the opponent’s change and blunted De Gracia’s attacks with some sharp defending behind the high guard.
Carrington took De Gracia down, then landed a left hook to the head, followed by a brief right hook that sent him into the ropes, where he hung before sliding to the floor.
He got up early, but after the count, Carrington pinned him to the ropes and beat him with hooks and uppercuts until the referee stopped the fight. IBF title challenger Eduardo Ramirez is the only fighter to stop De Gracia.
Thomas LaManna defeated Juan Carlos Abreu in the third round to win the vacant WBA gold belt. LaManna used his longer reach to control the action in the first two rounds. He knocked down Abreu with an uppercut in the third quarter, then knocked Abreu down twice more, leading to a stoppage.
LaManna was stopped 80 seconds into his challenge to Erislandy Lara for his second WBA middleweight title of 2021, but he has now racked up eight wins on the bounce and hopes this “gold” title will earn him another title shot. LaManna joins Jaron Ennis as the second man to beat Abreu in the distance.
JUNE 7
Cobbs hit and passed the ponderous Broner. Cobbs launched an attack in the second, coming from behind and scoring with his right hands. He then stepped forward and fired a shot to the head that knocked out Broner. Broner climbed to the top, but the blow knocked out his mouthguard and one of his teeth, and he spun around, trying to pick up the tooth. The referee slowed the count and put Broner’s mouthguard back on.
When the action resumed, Cobbs had Broner against the ropes and was landing a lot of punches but not reloading them, so there were a lot of them but no power.
The corner told Broner in the top of the ninth that he needed a knockout. He landed several mighty hooks, putting pressure on Cobbs, but he was too ponderous to find the right punch. Cobbs just danced for the better part of a tenth of a second, and Broner lost his mouthguard again. Broner was moving faster than at any other point in the fight, but was unable to pin Cobbs until he landed two right hooks at the bell.
Scores of 96-93 twice and 97-91 went to Cobbs, with 97-91 looking correct. The first fight for 34-year-old Cobbs since stopping Maurice Hooker in August 2022. He will be hoping this victory will land him some high-profile fights.
It was Broner’s first fight in a year and only his third since losing to Manny Pacquiao (see below) in January 2019. He was ponderous both offensively and defensively, and on paper Cobbs shouldn’t be a threat, but in this showing, Broner will struggle to make any impact.
Hunter won every round against Chaney in a terrible heavyweight fight. At first Hunter found Chaney’s body an uncomplicated target for his thrusts, but he didn’t really open up, even though Chaney showed no signs of being a threat. Hunter mixed up his punches more in the second half, but the sluggish Chaney didn’t really show anything. Even though Chaney was 42 pounds heavier, Hunter was able to get him to the ropes and work him with body punches.
Hunter accelerated towards the end, looking for a stoppage, but couldn’t push Chaney away and won by a 100-90 majority on all the judges’ cards.
Collazo had a complex moment in the second quarter, but he won with a vast advantage on the cards. Although Collazo dominated the first two minutes and there was no knockdown, one judge scored the round 10-8 for Zapata.
Zapata was having some success with body shots in the middle round, but Collazo was winning the rounds and it was really just a matter of whether Zapata could stay the distance as Collazo chased him around the ring, throwing amazing combinations at him. Zapata made it to the bell, but Collazo won with scores of 119-109 in two cards and 117-110 in the third.
Collazo defended his WBO title for the third time. Nicaraguan Zapata was running out of steam and had no claim to be worthy of a title shot, and apart from those brief seconds at the end of the second round, he was outclassed.
Brandon Glanton won every round before defeating an exhausted Alexei Egorov in the eleventh round. Glanton jabbed well early on, using faster hands to penetrate Egorov’s guard, then stepped under Egorov’s punch and landed hooks to the body. Egorov couldn’t beat Glanton’s punch, and Glanton was busier and faster. Egorov was too ponderous to be a long-range threat and Glanton worked the Russian’s body inside, with Egorov just holding on to stop Glanton’s punches.
In the eleventh round, Glanton led Egorov around the ring with hooks and uppercuts. Glanton led Egorov through the ropes in the eleventh until a clash of heads caused Glanton to turn and pat himself on the forehead.
The action was stopped, but neither fighter was stopped, and Glanton began attacking Egorov again with body blows that had Egorov dropping to one knee with his head down and shaking his head as the referee counted to ten. Glanton, 34, won the vacant WBA International title.
Walsh blew out Carlos Ortiz in two rounds in a southpaw clash. Walsh got off to a great start on Ortiz’s floor, landing a right hook on the first punch. Ortiz tried to get up and make an exchange in the second round, but went down early in the round.
Walsh has a killer finish on the ball, and after the penalty, he fired a quick combination of a right to the body and a left to the head. Ortiz was stunned and a straight left to the chin sent him to the floor, stopping the fight.
The ninth victory for the outstanding 23-year-old Irish prospect as he defended his WBC Continental Americas title. Walsh is a real danger. He has speed and power. Ortiz, 39, no test, fighting only his fourth fight in almost five years.
JUNE 6
Patrice Volny defeated Steven Butler in nine rounds. Butler continued to attack Volny’s punches, but in the ninth set a series of uppercuts caused Butler to stumble, and the referee stopped the fight after mighty protests from Butler (below, left, loss to Alimkhanuly).
Cuban midfielder Iglesias scored a brutal and disturbing KO of Yevgeny Swedenko in the first round. Iglesias stalked Shvedenka and rocked him with a left hook. He then delivered a devastating brief right hook to the temple. Shwedenko fell on his back, his body trembling, his legs and arms shaking wildly in the air.
The referee immediately stopped the fight. Iglesias (26) defended the IBO belt for the second time and won his tenth victory by KO/TKO. He is a real threat in this division.
The US-based Russian Szwedenko, former WBC International and Russian champion, drew with the world-famous Pavel Siljagin in September. He recovered enough to leave the ring on his feet.
