Thursday Night Boxing Roundup

It was a torrid evening between the ropes last night as there were several fightcards of importance taking place. The most important show took place on a DiBella Entertainment promotion at Manhattan Center in New York with South African bantamweight Silence Mabuza posting a unanimous decision over the tough as nails ex-NABF titlist Ricardo Vargas. The Mexican had to come off the floor in the ninth frame after eating a perfect right hand and was outclassed throughout the contest by Mabuza, who now becomes the mandatory challenger for IBF Champion Rafael Marquez. The two fought previously last November, with Marquez stopping “African Spice” in the fourth round.

Also on the bill, super middle Curtis Stevens dropped ex-light middle world champ Carl “The Squirrel” Daniels in the first enroute to a wide points victory to remain undefeated. Super middle Jerson Ravelo served notice that he’s back in force with a one punch first round knockout of ex-Jeff Lacy victim Donnell Wiggins. Light middle James Moore was victorious as were middleweights Peter Quillin and Juan Ubaldo Cabrera in their matchups.

Don’t Miss Our Exclusive Ringside Mabuza – Vargas Boxing Report Coming Soon

At the Coeur d’Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho, former IBF Cruiserweight Champion and southpaw body punching terror Vassiliy Jirov returned to the 200lb division after an exciting but unsuccessful two year foray as a heavyweight. On a Moe Smith promotion, “The Tiger” pounced on his prey from the start, launching a furious body assault but opponent Luke Munson fought back at every turn. Midway through the ten round bout Jirov cracked the journeyman with a blistering right hook and down went Munson. Amazingly, the man from Washington came back hard and by the eighth returned the favor by canvassing Jirov. The final two rounds saw the Russian pull clear of Munson to take a unanimous decision.

The Marriott Hotel in Irvine, California, saw a Roy Englebrecht promotion featuring a raft of six and four round battles headlined by Los Angeles welter Cleotis Pendarvis who decisioned professional debutante Ricardo Galindo. Also taking home victories were welterweight Aaron Morgan, lightweights Miriam Nakamoto, Paula Cortez and Beto Ibarra as well as cruiserweight Billy Bailey.

Don’t Miss Our Exclusive Ringside Pendarvis – Galindo Report Coming Soon

We wrap things up at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan, where hometown fighter Hiroshi Yamaguchi wrested the OPBF Welterweight crown from Filipino southpaw Rev Santillan by split decision after a titanic battle. Also winning on the JB Sports promoted card were Kei Igarashi, Kazuma Miura, Hitoshi Saito, Yusaku Toho, Yuji Nakao and Yutaro Shirotani.