Boxing News Boxing News
There were a brace of good fights this weekend but the big story was Floyd Mayweather Jr’s self proclaimed final appearance, which took place against opponent Andre Berto on Saturday at MGM Grand in America’s fight capitol of Las Vegas.
Statistically, Mayweather was far more accurate than Berto and as usual, “Money” didn’t get hit a lot on his way to producing a 120-108, 118-110, 117-111 points verdict, but Mayweather actually fought the very active Berto, who made Floyd work very hard to produce the win.
Berto is probably the fastest-handed fighter that Mayweather has fought since his 2006 clash with Zab Judah and the Florida resident had some success, snapping back Mayweather’s head at times and pounding his midsection with riveting combinations.
But round after round, Mayweather routinely landed crunching counters and sizzling lead rights and left hooks that disrupted the constant pressure that Berto brought to the fight.
The last couple of rounds were particularly entertaining with Berto doing everything he could to try and pierce Mayweather’s defense but that just left him open to dazzling ripostes from the champion, who had Berto very close to being KO’d in the bouts waning seconds.
With the victory, Mayweather retains the WBC and WBA welterweight titles while running his record to 49-0, tying the undefeated mark of heavyweight Rocky Marciano, who retired in 1955 at 32 years of age. Berto, a former two-time world champion, falls to 30-4 (23).
Will Mayweather stay true to his word and walk away from the sport, one victory away from breaking Marciano’s record? It will be interesting to see what happens in May, 2016.
There were two world title bouts on the undercard, highlighted by a furious firefight between WBO super feather champ Rocky Martinez, 29-2-3 (17), and Orlando Salido, 42-13-3 (29), who reprised their magnificent April 11 clash.
Both fighters came off the canvas during 12 rounds of non-stop action and while Salido was the more active boxer, Martinez retained his title when a 115-113, 113-115, 114-114 draw was announced on the scorecards.
Expect a third bout between Puerto Rico’s Martinez and Mexico’s Salido early next year.
WBC super middleweight king Badou Jack, 20-1-1 (12), held off the challenge of former European champ George Groves, 21-3 (16), who was down in the first frame.
This was a moderate paced contest but very entertaining with both men landing sharp jabs and powerful right hands. Groves bounced back well from his knockdown to win a lot of the early rounds with a highly focused attack but Jack came on strong in the later rounds, timing the Englishman with hard shots down the stretch.
Groves won over one judge 114-113 but Jack was awarded two of the cards by margins of 116-111, 115-112 to retain his title for the first time by split decision.
A rematch wouldn’t be out of the question and should it occur, would probably headline an American TV fight card.
Earlier on Saturday, the IBF junior middle belt changed owners at Foxwoods in Manshantucket with contender Jermall Charlo, 22-0 (17), realizing his heavily-hyped promised by battering champion Cornelius Bundrage, 34-6 (19), in shocking fashion.
Standing just 5’6, the stocky 42 year old Bundrage was making the first defense of his second reign as IBF king but from the start had no answers for the problems posed by the 6’0, 25 year old Charlo.
The normally durable Bundrage was getting clipped by flush punches and was down in the first, second and third rounds. After hitting the canvas for the second time in the third, the contest was waved off at 2:33 of the round.
Many in the media had been predicting big things from Charlo and his twin brother Jermell, who just happens to be Jermall’s mandatory challenger.
That fight probably won’t occur for obvious reasons, which means former world champ Austin Trout could be in line to challenge Jermall Charlo and that would be a very good clash.
Chief support at Foxwoods was provided by former WBO middleweight boss Peter Quillin, 32-0-1 (23), who knocked out overmatched Aussie import Michael Zerafa, 17-2 (9), at 1:02 of the fifth round.
The less inexperienced Zerafa did happen to land a few god shots along the way but was clearly out of his depth at world level.
Next up for Quillin will be a WBA title challenge against Daniel Jacobs in what should be a very good 50-50 fight.
Over in merry old England, one of the heavyweight division’s top prospects crushed yet another foe in short order as the towering Anthony Joshua, 14-0 (14), dropped and then belted out the even taller Gary Cornish, 21-1 (12), at 1:37 of the very first round at the 02 Arena in London for the Commonwealth and WBC International titles.
Joshua’s punches came too fast for Cornish to evade and the 6’7 Scot couldn’t handle the phenom’s crippling punching power.
Is there anyone in the UK, aside from David Haye, who has been absent from the ring for three years now, or Tyson Fury, due to face world champion Wladimir Klitschko next month, who could stand up to the enormous talent of 2012 Olympic Gold medallist?
Next on Joshua’s hit list could be undefeated domestic rival Dillian Whyte, 16-0 (13), who gave 40 year old American veteran Brian Minto, 41-10 (26), a clattering over three rounds before Minto dropped to a knee and stayed there at 0:26 of the third.
Minto did have his moments however and if the much smaller late replace opponent could find the target against Whyte, what will occur if the Brixton slugger gets his wish and faces the far more talented Joshua in December?
On Friday, the action took place in Canada but not in the usual location of boxing-mad Montreal but in Toronto’s Ricoh Coliseum.
That’s where heavy-handed WBC super middleweight ruler Adonis Stevenson, 27-1 (22), made short work of American challenger Tommy Karpency, 25-5-1 (14).
Karpency came out swinging in this all-southpaw clash and had some success but Canada’s top boxer Stevenson began to find range early, shaking the challenger in the first before flooring him at the end of the second round.
The Pennsylvania man beat the count but was still in rough shape in the third and was quickly floored twice by Stevenson, who retained his crown for the sixth time when the contest was called off after just 21 seconds of the third round.
Will Stevenson get his long sought after unification clash with WBA/IBF/WBO champ Sergey Kovalev? Let’s hope so as that would be a thrilling battle for as long as it lasted.
On the undercard, top American welterweight prospect Errol Spence Jr, 18-0 (15), won his biggest fight to date as the lefty outboxed and battered South Africa’s Chris van Heerden, 23-2-1 (12).
Spence’s handspeed and sharp defense proved to unsolvable for van Heerden, who successes were few and far between before he was dropped twice and stopped just 50 seconds into the seventh round.
