REAL COMBAT MEDIA WEEKLY BOXING REPORT – “Split Decision Edition“
By Zo Crooks,Real Combat Media Chicago Boxing Correspondent
Welcome back to another edition of “Split Decision”. We try to keep you informed on what’s going on in the world of boxing on a weekly basis. This week we have the recaps for the PBC bouts that took place featuring Jermell Charlo, Malik Scott vs. Tony Thompson, Gervonta “Tank” Davis and more. Keep in mind it’s fight week as well as Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley takes on Brandon Rios, Vasyl Lomachenko vs. Romulo Koasicha, Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez and of course the PBC card featuring Kevin Bizier vs. the undefeated Fredrick Lawson. We also have the latest news and notes such as Carl Frampton vs. Scott Quigg, Guillermo Rigondeaux, Keith “One Time” Thurman vs. Shawn Porter news and more….
What you know about that Texas boy!!! Jermell Charlo dominated Joachim Alcine in the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions card on NBCSN. Charlo (27-0, 12 Kos) was fighting at home in Houston, TX and looked really good Saturday night. Charlo punches were accurate and on point. Those punches finally caught up with Alcine in the sixth round when Charlo caught dude with an uppercut that sent him back to the ropes. Charlo then caught him with a right and finished the job with a left hook as referee Jon Schorle stopped the fight in the sixth round. Charlo, now working with new trainer Derrick James for the first time, was just too much for Alcine. Charlo was working with Ronnie Shields up until now but recently split with the long time trainer. His twin brother Jermall, who is the junior middleweight titleholder still works with Shields. Alcine (35-8-2, 21 KOs), the 39-year-old former junior middleweight titlist from Montreal is now 2-6-1 and been knocked out in three of the losses since his upset victory over David Lemieux in 2011.
Getting back on track….Tony Harrison (22-1, 18 Kos) of Detroit, a former protege’ of the legendary late Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, is looking to get back on track following his only defeat to Willie Nelson this summer. There was a lot of hype following Harrison before his bout with Nelson. Harrison returned to the ring for the first time since that defeat on Saturday night as the co main event on the PBC card in Houston against Cecil McCalla (20-3, 7 Kos) of Baltimore. McCalla was on a two fight losing streak coming into this bout, one to Ishe Smith and the other to Africa’s Chris van Heerden. Harrison was in control of this fight until the ninth round. The same round in which he was taken out by Nelson on July 11th. McCalla, who didn’t look impressive the whole night, caught Harrison with a right hand and had him doing that hotline bling dance on shaky legs. McCalla landed a few more shots but Harrison hung on and made it out of the round. Harrison got it together and closed out the fight to win a unanimous decision. In his last two fights Harrison has been rocked hard in the ninth round. Harrison might want to start ending fights earlier or tighten up his defense.
Philly-stakes!!!….At this point in his career, the stakes are high for Philly native Malik Scott. At age 35 he is getting no younger so that means becoming a world champ or nothing at this point. On Friday night’s PBC card on Bounce TV, Scott (38-2-1, 13 KOs) took on old veteran Tony Thompson (40-6, 27 Kos) of Washington, D.C who is now 44 years old. Going into the fight, the word was that a Thompson victory would pave the way for a shot at world titleholder Deontay Wilder in January. Scott had other plans as he controlled the fight early and often using his speed against Thompson. Things was all good until the ninth round when Thompson caught Scott with a right hand that sent Scott down. Scott recovered and hung on for the unanimous victory. Since Thompson didn’t get the W against Scott, that means no fight with Wilder and a Scott vs. Wilder card wont happen neither because Wilder disposed of Scott in the first round not too long ago. I don’t know what’s next for Scott but time is ticking. He has talent so hopefully he gets a world title shot soon.
Move…get out the way, get out the way…..Gervonta “Tank” Davis was rolling Friday night on the PBC on Bounce TV undercard Friday night in Orlando, Fl. There’s a lot of hype around Davis (13-0, 12 Kos), the young undefeated Baltimore native fighting out of the Mayweather camp. Floyd “Money” Mayweather was there ringside to watch the TMT fighter do some damage. Davis beat down Cristobal Cruz (40-19-4, 24 KOs). Tank dropped Cruz with a left-right combination in the first round and then floored him with an uppercut in the third round, after which referee Frank Santore Jr. waved off the fight at 1 minute, 31 seconds. After the fight Floyd had this to say, “Gervonta is a young kid from Baltimore who comes from a rough background, like myself. He works hard and is dedicated to the sport of boxing. Mayweather Promotions wants to take him to the next level. The ultimate goal is to see him break all of my records.” That’s a lot of praise coming from the legend himself. Davis is definitely on his way!
Upcoming bouts:
On Saturday November 7th Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) will defend his WBO tilte belt against hard hitting Brandon “Bam-Bam” Rios (32-2-1, 26 KOs) in a 12 round welterweight bout on HBO. The card, which will be hosted by the Wynn Las Vegas, will take place Nov. 7 (HBO, 10 p.m. ET/PT) at the refurbished Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. This will be Bradley’s first fight with Teddy Atlas as his trainer after splitting with long time trainer Joel Diaz. This fight wont disappoint at all. One thing for sure about both fighters is that they both come to fight! On the undercard that night Vasyl Lomachenko (4-1, 2 Kos) a 27-year-old southpaw, will be making his third title defense against Romulo Koasicha (25-4, 15 KOs), 24, of Mexico. Lomanchenko was in talks with Guillermo Rigondeaux for a bout but it fell apart for one reason or another. Initially, Lomachenko’s fall fight was supposed to be a unification match with the “Axe Man” Nicholas Walters (26-0, 21 KOs), whom Top Rank also promotes. However Walters failed to make weight in his June 13 defense against Miguel Marriaga and was stripped of the belt.
Also on Saturday November 7th PBC on NBCSN will feature undefeated 147 pounder Frederick Lawson (24-0, 20 Kos) of Chicago against Kevin Bizier (24-2, 16 KOs). The scheduled 12-round clash will headline a Premier Boxing Champions card at Miccosukee Resort & Gaming in Miami (NBCSN, 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT). Bizier’s pro career started with 21 consecutive victories, and his only two losses were by split decision, and both against the same opponent: fellow Quebec resident Jo Jo Dan in November 2013 and November 2014. Bizier rebounded from his first setback to Dan with consecutive early-round TKOs against Carlos Leonardo Herrera (May 2014) and Laszio Fazekas (September 2014). He also rallied from the second Ion defeat, scoring an eight-round, majority-decision victory over Fouad El Massoudi in his most recent contest in April. Lawson’s last bout was a razor-thin, 10-round, split-decision victory over Breidis Prescott in March. While one judge sided with Prescott 96-93, two judges gave Lawson the nod by identical 95-94 scores. That marked the first time in his pro career that the native of Ghana was victorious by anything other than a stoppage or unanimous decision. Lawson has gone the distance three times in his last four fights after stopping 19 of his first 20 opponents.
Former junior welterweight titlist Ruslan Provodnikov(24-4, 17 KOs) will return to action against Jesus Alvarez Rodriguez (13-0, 10 KOs) in a scheduled 10-round welterweight bout Nov. 7 on promoter Rodney Berman’s “Night of Champions” card at Salle Des Etoiles in Monte Carlo. Provodinikov was unable to secure a deal with an American television network. The fight will be Provodnikov’s first with new trainer Joel Diaz, with whom Provodnikov began working after he parted ways with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach a few weeks ago. Rodriguez, 23, of Mexico, has never faced a quality opponent. In fact, only one of his foes had a record better than .500 when they met.
WORD IS……
Guillermo Rigondeaux, already stripped of one of his two junior featherweight world title belts last week due to inactivity, has also been relieved of his other one for the same reason. The WBA has followed the decision of the WBO and stripped Rigondeaux (15-0, 10 KOs) of its top-tier 122-pound world title. “Rigondeaux has not defended or scheduled to defend his title in a timely fashion culminating in only four bouts since September 15, 2012,” the WBO wrote in its ruling. However, “in light of Rigondeaux’s impressive record and accomplishments, the delays associated with his various managerial/promoter disputes, and the loss of his unification status (because he was stripped by the WBO)” the WBA reclassified him as a “champion in recess.” According to the WBA’s letter, Rigondeaux must next “come out recess” and face Scott Quigg — the secondary titlist who is now the organization’s top titleholder in light of Rigondeaux being stripped — or whomever holds the title on or before May 1. The WBA said that England’s Quigg has been granted a special permit to face IBF titlist Carl Frampton, of Northern Ireland, in a much-anticipated title unification fight on Feb. 27. That fight was announced Monday. Damn homie!!!! I see what they are doing though!
Andre Ward’s next fight is now signed, sealed, and delivered! Ward (28-0, 15 KOs), 31, of Oakland, California, will move up in weight and fight at 175 pounds for the first time in the Miguel Cotto-Canelo Alvarez co-feature on Nov. 21 (HBO PPV) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports, Ward’s promoter, announced on Thursday night. As I told you last week that the fight will be the first of an exclusive three-fight contract that Ward has signed with HBO. It will also include a fight in the spring of 2016, followed by a fall pay-per-view showdown with three-belt light heavyweight world titleholder Sergey Kovalev (28-0-1, 25 KOs), who is also under contract to HBO. Kovalev and his promoter, Main Events, have also agreed to terms.
In a recently released video, Manny Pacquiao has stated that he was in negotiations with Floyd “Money” Mayweather for an upcoming rematch in 2016. I seen the video but I wont believe anything until Money says it himself. Mayweather is currently retired! However there is a new MGM Arena that is slated to open in April of 2016! MGM has been the home of Mayweather for years. Mayweather often says that the MGM means “Mayweather Gets Money”. With that being said one could easily speculate that nobody fights in the new building until Mayweather does! Don’t forget that he broke ground on it!
Chris Algeri is set to return against Erick Bone in a scheduled 10-round welterweight bout on Dec. 5 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The fight was formally added Wednesday to the undercard of the secondary middleweight title bout between friendly Brooklyn rivals Daniel Jacobs (30-1, 27 KOs) and “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (32-0-1, 23 KOs). Algeri (20-2, 8 Kos) who is from Long Island, NY is coming off a two fight losing streak at the hands of Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan. Bone (16-2, 8 KOs), 26, of Ecuador, is also coming off a loss but one in which he opened a lot of eyes. He took a fight with former welterweight titleholder Shawn Porter on short notice on March 13 and gave a credible performance in a fifth-round knockout loss in his first fight with national television exposure.
Orlando Salido (42-13-3, 29 KOs) of Mexico is set for a trilogy with Puerto Rico’s Roman “Rocky” Martinez (29-2-3, 17 KOs). Their first two fights were instant classics! Martinez won the first bout via unanimous decision in what could be a fight of the year candidate and in the second bout on the undercard of Mayweather vs. Berto on September 12 in Las Vegas they fought to a draw! A draw? Yeah right!!! Clearly Salido won that second match undoubtedly! Both fighters and their handlers were at the WBO’s annual convention last week in Orlando, Florida, where the sanctioning body approved a third fight between them in early 2016.
Antonio Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs) is making a comeback at age 37. Last fight we seen for Margarito was in 2011 at Madison Square Garden in a rematch against Miguel Cotto. Margarito was fighting with a surgically repaired eye in that bout. He suffered the eye injury against Manny Pacquiao in a bout a year prior to his rematch with Cotto. The former welterweight titlist has not fought in four years and has lost three of his past four fights dating back to the beatdown he took in a ninth-round knockout loss to Mosley in January 2009. Right before the fight with Mosley it was discovered by trainer Nazim Richardson that Margarito used illegal hand wraps and therefore he was suspended after his bout with Mosley. Word is that his divorce and his desire to fight is bringing him back to the ring and that he has been spotted in the gym in tremendous shape lately. We shall see.
That’s my time for this week but if you have any questions or comments that you want addressed in next week’s issue then hit me up on twitter @Zomanystylez or email me [email protected]. Thanks for following!!!!
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