Weekend Wrap-Up


  • Last week was absolutely jammed packed with fights, especially on Saturday night.  Without a doubt the performance of the weekend was turned in by rising contender Errol Spence Jr. who headlined a PBC on NBC card.  Spence took on Chris Algieri in the welterweight division in his first true step up fight and most thought it would be a competitive bout.  Instead it was a total destruction.  Spence dropped Algieri in the fourth round and twice in the fifth round, the second of which ended Algieri's night.  He is still young but Spence looks like a future star in the sport.  Also on that card was a highly competitive cruiserweight fight between Krzysztof Glowacki and Steve Cunningham.  Glowacki brought his WBO World title to the ring and despite dropping Cunningham four times: twice in the first, once in the 10th and again in the 12th, he couldn't put him away.  Cunningham, as he always does, fought bravely and showed a tremendous amount of heart but in the end it was Glowacki who would come away with the unanimous decision victory.



  • Another young fighter looking to become a star is Gary Russell Jr. who headlined Saturday's Showtime card.  Russell took on Patrick Hyland and wasted absolutely no time in demolishing him.  In the second round Russell dropped Hyland three times and Hyland would not see the end of the round, giving Russell his second stoppage win in a row.  In his post-fight interview it was good to see Russell call out nearly every notable opponent in the featherweight division.  Also appearing on that card was undefeated Puerto Rican Jose Pedraza.  Pedraza faced off against Stephen Smith and outworked him on his way to a unanimous decision win.  



  • One fighter who didn't have himself a great Saturday night was prospect Felix Verdejo who headlined a UniMas card.  The 22-year-old Puerto Rican prospect seems to have hit a plateau recently and was not at his best on Saturday night.  Verdejo faced off against Jose Luis Rodriguez who had eight career losses coming into the fight and who had been knocked out three times.  Not only was Verdejo unable to knock him out but at the end of the fight Verdejo's face showed plenty of damage.  Despite it not being his best performance Verdejo still came away with the unanimous decision win.

  • One of the more competitive fights of the weekend took place on CBS Sports Network.  The fight featured Steve Claggett and Chris Van Heerden and nearly every round was hard to score.  At times it seemed as if Van Heerden was landing the heavier punches but his face appeared much more damaged than Claggett's did.  When the scores were read they reflected how close the fight was and Van Heerden was named the majority decision winner.  



  • The final fight to go off Saturday night aired on beIN Sports Espanol.  Undefeated Mexican prospect Luis Nery headlined that card and took on Martin Casillas.  Unfortunately for Casillas he continued his current trend of losing and he has now lost five of his last seven fights.  For Nery the win kept his record perfect and moved him another small step up the ladder in the bantamweight division.  



  • Friday night also provided boxing fans with some action the best fight of the night, and the weekend took place on Estrella TV.  That fight was between Jesus Soto Karass and Yoshihiro Kamegai, both known for being in great action fights.  This one was no different as both men spent nearly every second of all 10 rounds standing toe-to-toe and trading heavy leather.  The fight was exciting from the opening bell to the closing bell and when the scores were announced the fight was ruled a split draw.



  • Friday's other fight aired on Showtime and it was another edition of ShoBox: The New Generation.  The main event featured two unbeaten fighters in Nikolay Potapov and Stephon Young.  For all of the fights 10 rounds the action remained close and when the bout was over it seemed that the decision could go either way, and in a way it did.  One judge scored the fight for Potapov but the other two had it a draw making the final decision a split draw.


WEEKLY RECORD: 7-0-2

MONTHLY RECORD: 15-1-2

OVERALL RECORD: 685-194-25

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