Happy Halloween! Butaev Stops James, Ennis and Zepeda Win in First, Babic in Second
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Las Vegas, NV (October 31, 2021)–Happy Halloween to all boxing fans. On the evening before Halloween, four major bouts took place on Saturday, October 30, 2021. Of the eight participants in these four key bouts, four combatants woke up to a Happy Halloween, while the other four woke up to an uncertain future. Such is life in the up and down crazy world of boxing.
One month after Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens kicked a 66 yards field goal as time expired to give his team over the Detroit Lions in Detroit, Michigan, boxing dealt some name fighters some decidedly unexpected and unanticipated results.
In the main event at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, undefeated Radzhab Butaev, Brooklyn, New York, by way of Khasavyurt, Russian Federation, went to 14-0 with eleven knockouts, with a ninth-round stoppage of Jamal James, to win the World Boxing Association regular World Welterweight title. The 147 pounds mix is in a constant state of flux. Both fighters boxed ferociously with nonstop action, but by late in the eighth round, James appeared to be getting the worst of it. His face swollen, and with Butaev throwing vicious body shots to go with the facelift of James, referee Celestino Ruiz had seen enough and stopped it. Perhaps James could have continued a while longer, but he was taking a beating on the ropes, and it would not have been longer before a knockout end.
Philadelphia welterweight contender Jaron “Boots” Ennis, 28-0 with 26 knockouts, dropped Thomas Dulorme, 25-6-1 with 16 knockouts, Carolina, Puerto Rico by way of Guadalupe, twice in the first 109 seconds to win a world title shot. Dulorme has won only one of his last six bouts, and the hard-punching Ennis proved it was indeed a mismatch. Also on the undercard, 18-1 welterweight Darwin Price of Houston, Texas, scored a minor upset with a sixth-round stoppage of 19-0 Jean Carlos Torres of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico.
As the even before Halloween boxing madness continued at Madison Square Garden in New York City, 34-2 Jose Zepeda of La Puente, California, used a devastating come forward left hand to drop Josue Vargas, now 19-2, Bronx, New York, in the first round, then brutally finished him in a corner after he got up for a first-round stoppage. On the undercard, 18-5 bantamweight Jonas Sultan of Cebu City, Philippines, scored a 10 round decision upset over 14-0 Carlos Caraballo of Ponce, Puerto Rico, by scores of 94-93, 94-93, and 94-93. 17-1 super bantamweight Carlos Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia, scored an eight-round split decision upset over former International Boxing Federation World Super Bantamweight champion Jonathan Guzman, now 24-2, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Halloween good luck goblins came to 12-5-2 West Virginia southpaw super lightweight journeyman Dakota Linger, who earned a lucky six-round majority draw with 12-0 prospect Matthews Rodriguez of Ridgewood, New York.
The ghosts and ghouls were out at 02 Arena in Greenwich, London, United Kingdom. 15-0 Northampton WBC and IBF Female World Super Lightweight champion Chantelle Cameron retained her titles with a 10 round decision over 27-4 challenger Mary McGee of Gary, Indiana. The ghosts were less kind in the preliminary bout to the main event, as 13-0-1 super featherweight prospect, Youssef Khoumari was upset by 15-1 Jorge David Casteneda of Laredo, Texas by 10 round majority decision to win the vacant WBC Silver International Super Featherweight title.
Finally, the skeletons of father time were not kind to washed up former heavyweight contender Eric Molina, 28-8 with 20 knockouts, Weslaco, Texas. At age 39, Molina was knocked out for the sixth time in his last 11 bouts, this time in the form of a second-round TKO by prospect Alen Babic, 9-0 with nine knockouts, Zagreb, Croatia. Molina, looking like a tub of lard and appearing at least 20 pounds over his fighting weight as a contender years ago, went down in the opening seconds of round one, then twice more in round two. Molina tried throwing some bombs in the second round, but Babic took them and fired back. Molina, who took this bout out of shape on short notice, was out of shape and out of gas when the referee stopped it. For Molina, it would have been okay to take a Ron Lyle heavyweight approach and go for broke if he was in shape. Molina was not in shape, and Babic mugged him. For a paycheck, it was not kind to watch. Molina’s heart was not in the ring, and without heart, a fighter who does not know what he or she is fighting for is going to get stopped or knocked out.
Finally, it was shades of Oleg Maskaev in Australia when debuting heavyweight Rob Wilkinson of Hobart, Australia, decked 10-4-1 Jayden Joseph, also of Hobart, Australia, in the fifth round, to win the vacant Australia-Tanzania heavyweight title.
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