REAL COMBAT MEDIA WEEKLY BOXING REPORT – “Split Decision Edition“
By Zo Crooks,Real Combat Media Chicago Boxing Correspondent
Welcome to the Real Combat Media Boxing Weekly Edition of “Split Decision”. This week will feature a recap of fights from Erislandy Lara with PBC on Spike TV, to Nicholas Walters on HBO and Boxing After Dark, and Shobox card featuring Deontay Wilder’s first title defense. We also are going to go over a few notes and upcoming events including Adrien Broner vs Shawn Porter fight week. Let’s GO!!!
Erislandy Lara put on a clinic in da CHI! Some may consider the fight boring but I am a true fan of the sweet science of the sport. The fight drew a few boos from the crowd but it was still a masterful one sided performance with Lara winning a wide unanimous decision of 120-107 on all 3 judges cards. Lara looked really sharp in this bout. Delvin Rodriguez went the distance though. He just couldn’t get out of the way of Lara’s left hand. Lara moved to a record of (21-2-2, 12 KOs) and Rodriguez to (28-8-4, 14 KOs).
So what’s next for the “American Dream”? After the fight Lara called out some big names. Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Saul Canelo Alvarez (again) and Gennady “GGG” Golovkin at 160 pounds! Either of the 3 would be nice. Thank you Al Haymon!
Artur Beterbiev might be the business! Beterbiev laid Alexander Johnson down in the 7th round of the co-feature on the PBC card on Spike Friday night. The dude can crack! Beterbiev improved his undefeated record to (9-0, 9 KOs). People are saying that he may be ready for Sergey Kovalev, whom he defeated in the amateurs but let’s hold up on that for a lil bit and see how he do against a few veterans first. Amateurs and pros are two different leagues.
Axeman comin…Axeman comin…(in my Uncle Luke voice). Nicholas Walters remained undefeated against an old nemesis Miguel Marriaga. Marriaga once defeated the Axeman in the amateurs back in 2008 at the Olympic qualifying tournament. That was then, this is now! Walters dominated the bout against Marriaga winning an unanimous decision with scores of 119-108, 118-109, and 117-110.
Walters (26-0, 21 KOs) may have dominated but it was a tough fight. Marriaga (20-1, 18 KOs) suffered his first defeat but landed some good shots throughout the bout himself. In the ninth round Walters caught Marraiga with a right hand counter that dropped him. Marriaga shook it off though. He almost got dropped again in the 12th and final round but he stayed on his feet.
Walters did lose one thing in the bout before it even took place….his belt! Axeman came in over weight by one pound. It was intially 1.4 lbs but after almost 2 hours he only managed to lose .4 lbs. They better hurry up and make that fight with Vasyl Lomachenko.
Felix Verdejo is no joke!!!! I was really impressed with the next great Puerto Rican star! Kind of reminds me of a young Miguel Cotto mixed with some Felix Trinidad. The funny thing is he fought with a hand injury. WOW!!!
Deontay Wilder scared me a lil bit on Saturday night. The Bronze Bomber from Alabama walked away with another knockout victory to improve to (34-0, 33 KOs), but he showed that a left hook and an uppercut could be lethal against him. The heavy handed Eric Molina stunned Wilder a couple of times in the bout. The good thing about that is Wilder showed that he has a chin. That left hook that Molina landed would have laid down damn there anyone. Much respect to Wilder. He put on a great show in front of his hometown crowd. The first huge match ever staged in Alabama!
Wilder is one of the best punchers in the game! PERIOD!!! Looking at the future a name is being mentioned for Wilder in Alexander Povetkin. Povetkin just disposed of Mike Perez last month. Dude can box and bang with the best of them so that would be a good match for Wilder. A dangerous match but a good one. This would be a great measuring stick for Wilder.
It’s fight week in Vegas for Shawn Porter and Adrien Broner. I can’t wait to see this fight. I will be in Vegas all week ready to go! The battle of Ohio. Cleveland vs Cincinnati. Also the card will co-feature Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr against Roberto Garcia. This will Spence’s first real test because Garcia aint no pushover nor punk. We will see on Saturday.
Andre “SOG” Ward is back in action on Saturday night. I’m excited about his return. It’s been almost 2 years since his last bout. Politics as usual. Now that business is handled and Ward has signed with the ROC he will return to action against Paul Smith at the Oracle in Oakland, CA. The sport missed him!
David Lemieux returns to action on Fox Sports 2. Lemieux will take on Hassam N’dam on Saturday night as well. This fight is for the vacant IBF middleweight title. Great matchup.
Floyd Mayweather returns to the ring on September 12th. This is the last fight of an outstanding and Hall of Fame career for Money! Cotto and Canelo wont take place on that date. Cotto is A-side and nodody is going to tell him when and where or how. He earned that right especially going up against Canelo. Names like Kell Brook and Amir Khan is floating around as front runners for the bout against Money. Truth is, we won’t know until Money says so!
First Oscar De La Hoya, now Antonio Margarito is rumored to be attempting a comeback. Crickets…crickets….
Congratulations to a future HOF in Sergio Martinez. Martinez made the announcement this weekend that he will be walking away from the sport. I have always admired Martinez. He truly never avoided anyone. Great athlete, great fighter. Thank you for an outstanding career.
This concludes my weekly edition of Split Decision. Please email me your questions or comments to [email protected]. Every week I will answer a few questions in this column. Thank you…follow me on Twitter @Zomanystylez.
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