- It was yet another busy weekend for boxing in 2017 and the biggest fight aired on Showtime and pit Andre Berto against Shawn Porter. The fight was a title eliminator with the winner getting a shot at WBC champion Keith Thurman. From the start it was clear that this fight was Porter's. He was too physically strong for Berto who could not keep Porter from getting inside and attacking the body. He may not be the most skilled or very pleasing to watch but Porter is always in excellent shape and seemingly never gets tired. His relentless style against Berto led to a second round knockdown and a ninth round stoppage win for Porter who now can try to get his revenge against Thurman. The other fight on that Showtime card was between Jermell Charlo and Charles Hatley. Like in the main event, one fighter showed early that he would be tough to beat. That fighter was Charlo who has been sitting down on his punches more as of late and it has paid off. Charlo was able to control the fight against the rusty Hatley on his way to a very impressive sixth round knockout. That knockout will now be added to the mix for 2017 Knockout of the Year, a category that already has plenty of worthy contenders.
- Also on Saturday night but before the fights on regular Showtime it was Showtime Extreme airing boxing action. The main event of that card featured one of the faces of women's boxing, Amanda Serrano. Serrano was trying to become women's boxing five division champion and the only Puerto Rican, male or female, to achieve that. Serrano had to beat Dahiana Santana in order to reach that goal and had no problem doing so. Serrano consistently landed heavy punches that hurt Santana and looked to have her corner worried between every round. Eventually Serrano was just too strong for Santana as she finished her off in the eighth round.
- Saturday was definitely a busy night for boxing, especially with Top Rank's pay-per-view card. That card was headlined by undefeated rising star Oscar Valdez he had a tough test in Miguel Marriaga. It was a very good, tough fight between the two heavy hitters that will be a candidate for the 2017 Fight of the Year. These are the type of fights that Valdez needs to win and the type of fights that will continue to endear him to fans. In the 10th round Valdez dropped Marriaga and he won the fight by the way of unanimous decision which was the right decision despite scorecards that were far too wide. The co-feature of that card was a bout between Gilberto Ramirez and Max Bursak. Ramirez was the favorite entering the fight and Bursak never did anything to change that. The only knock against Ramirez was that he couldn't put Bursak away. Bursak made it to the final bell despite losing every single round on every single scorecard. In the second fight of the night the undefeated Jessie Magdaleno took on Adeilson Dos Santos. Magdaleno made quick work of Dos Santos, dropping him twice in the second round, the second of which ended the fight. To open the card Shakur Stevenson made his professional debut against Edgar Brito. Stevenson was obviously set up to win his pro debut and did just that. He controlled the action for five rounds and moments into the sixth round the fight had to be stopped and sent to the scorecards because the ringside physician ruled that Brito couldn't continue. It made no difference though as Stevenson won every round on each of the three judges cards.
- Thursday night is when last week's action kicked off when Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN aired a card on ESPN2. The main event was a 10-round bout between Michael Perez and Marcelino Lopez. At 27 years old Perez is too old to be considered a prospect since he has been fighting as a pro for nine years but he isn't a true contender either. Against Lopez he was dropped in the eighth round but still was able to do enough in the other rounds to get the split decision victory. The other fight put Rashidi Ellis against John Karl Sosa. Ellis entered the fight 17-0 and left the ring 18-0 when he was awarded the majority decision in a very close fight.
WEEKLY RECORD: 9-0
MONTHLY RECORD: 20-0
OVERALL RECORD: 873-246-35
Comments
Post a Comment