Butaev is Upset by Stanionis, Spence, Benn and Crowley Shine, Vargas and Gamboa at End of Road
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Every boxing and sports career has its moment to shine in the sunlight of success. Conversely, some boxing and sports careers realize a moment when the limelight fades away, and the sunsets on a career which hits an unfortunate sudden or eventual end of the road.
The weekend of April 15 to 17, 2022, had some bright moments, but also some conclusive ends to once bright boxing careers. For several well-known boxers, the sun has set.
For “El Ciclon de Guantanamo”, Yuriorkis Gamboa, 30-5 with 18 knockouts, age 40, his third consecutive comeback attempt has ended in failure to April 16, 2022. A former Cuban star and former featherweight, super featherweight and lightweight world champion, Gamboa, who has not won a bout in three years, got decked three times, enroute to a fifth-round stoppage loss to world ranked Isaac Cruz, 23-2 with 16 knockouts, Mexico City, Mexico. Cruz won the vacant WBO Inter-Continental Lightweight title.
Former WBC World Super Featherweight champion Francisco Vargas, 27-4-2 with 19 knockouts, Mexico City, Mexico, who lost a 10 round decision to Isaac Cruz in June 2021, age 37, got knocked out at 1:25 of the first round of a vacant WBC Continental Americas Lightweight title bout by 12-0 lightweight prospect Jose Valenzuela of Seattle, Washington, at AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas, April 16, 2022.
Errol Spence Jr. settled part of the welterweight argument, with pretty much only WBO champ Terence Crawford in his way now. Spence, 22-0 with 18 knockouts, DeSoto, Texas, now holds the WBC, WBA and IBF World Welterweight titles, after stopping Cuban Yordenis Ugas, 27-5 with 12 knockouts, Miami, Florida, in the tenth round at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 16, 2022, adding the WBA Super World Welterweight title to his championship portfolio.
Canadian southpaw Cody “The Crippler” Crowley, 21-0 with eight knockouts, Las Vegas, Nevada, scored his second consecutive divisional upset, dropping and 10 round decisioning fading former world title challenger Josesito Lopez, 38-9 with 21 knockouts, Riverside, California, age 37, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on April 16, 2022. Crowley lost only one round on two scorecards, signaling the probable end to the 47 bouts long career of veteran Lopez.
British welterweight contender Conor Benn, 21-0 with 14 knockouts, Ilford, United Kingdom, retained the WBA Continental Lightweight title at Manchester Arena on April 16, 2022, with a second round stoppage of South African southpaw Chris van Heerden, 28-3-1 with 12 knockouts, Santa Monica, California. Spence or Crawford could be next for the top ranked Benn.
Also at Manchester Arena, Chris “The Gentleman” Billam-Smith retained the Commonwealth British Empire and European cruiserweight titles with an eighth-round knockout of 18-4 Tommy McCarthy of Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was a rematch of the title smith won from McCarthy by 12 round split decision in July 2021.
At AT&T Stadium, 14-0 Russian World Boxing Association World Welterweight champion Radzhab Butaev of Indio, California, was upset by 14-0 Eimantas Stanionis of Kaunas, Lithuania, losing his title by 12 round decision. One judge had it 114-113 BUtaev, overruled by 117-110 and 116-111 for Stanionis.
At Hall Omnisport de la Prealle, in Herstall, Belgium, 28-3 Francisco Patera of Genk, Belgium, won the vacant WBO Global Lightweight title with a 10-round majority decision over 19-1 Samuel Molina of Malaga, Spain. On the same card, 0-13 super lightweight ringer Stefan Markovic of Bosnia and Herzegovina stunk out the house on the undercard, by winning a six-round decision over 1-0 prospect Alberto Frati of Rome, Italy.
On the Manchester Arena undercard, there were two stinkers. WBC and IBO Female World Super Featherweight champion 12-1 Alycia Baumgardner, Bingham Farms, Michigan, won every round on the scorecards over 17-12-1 Edith Soledad Matthysse, age 41, of Trelew, Argentina, but still lost her titles on the scale before the bout. 19-0 super lightweight journeyman Miguel Cesario Antin of Trelew, Argentina, also stunk out the house, fighting to a draw with 11-0 Salford UK prospect Luke Evans.
At Telford, United Kingdom, 30-6 super bantamweight Iceman Jason Cunningham retained the EBU European and IBF International Super Bantamweight titles with a sixth-round knockout of 16-0 Terry Le Couvieur of Auray, France. 5-0 welterweight prospect George Davies of York, United Kingdom, stunk out the house on the undercard, drawing over six rounds with 7-29-2 Cameroon journeyman Serge Ambomo, a loser of 17 straight.
In the semifinal bout of a lightweight tournament card of three-rounders at Skydome, Coventry, United Kingdom on April 16, 2022, 13-3 West Midlands British lightweight prospect Shawn “Scorpion” Cooper was upset by 9-2-1 Rylan Charlton. In a Tony Zale style shocking ending, Charlton landed a left to the body, followed by a right to the head combination, knocking out Cooper cold at 1:42 of the third round.
At York Hall, Bethal Green, London, United Kingdom, on April 15, 2022, 11-0 Liverpool lightweight prospect Luke Hall lost a 12 round decision to Gavin Gwynne of Wales, who retained the Commonwealth British Empire and claimed the BBBofC regional lightweight titles. 12-0 London middleweight prospect Dean Richardson settled for an undercard six-round stinky draw with 10-40 Bulgarian journeyman Angel Emilov, loser of ten straight.
This reporter also wanted to mention the California State Athletic Commission needs to review its policies regarding accidental headbutts, and the declaration of no contests within the four-round regulation rules of ABC boxing. Case on point, on April 15, 2022, at DoubleTree Hotel in Ontario, California, in the featherweight main event, Ruben Villa scored a ninth-round knockout over Horacio Garcia, stopped standing by California rules. It turns out Garcia was cut on the left eye by an accidental headbutt in round one. On the same card, welterweight Esteban Munoz stopped Kenny Williams after three rounds in the corner, but Williams was cut on the right eye by an accidental head butt in round three. The idea is who the fighters are is less important than where do you draw the line after an accidental head butt. The recipients of the accidental head butt were made to continue until they could not, instead of receiving a technical draw within four rounds. Therefore, the decision to let both bouts run was highly questionable.
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