Tachi Palace casino hotel, LEMOORE, CA, July 23
SHUMENOV punched, UZELKOV covered up. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
That was a curious contest between Beibut Shumenov and Viacheslav Uzelkov on Friday Night Fights. Dropped by a left hook in the opening round, Shumenov proceeded to win every other round — maybe every other minute — of the fight.
I was impressed with Shumenov in a light-heavyweight title defence that was expected to be much tougher. He was strong, disciplined and very determined. He fought a perfect winning fight — keep moving, keep punching, keep putting rounds in the bank.
TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico, July 17
MONTIEL'S left hooks were devastating. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
The big hits of this past weekend were KO winners Fernando Montiel, Alfredo Angulo and Denis Lebedev. They took care of business in a combined total of less than six rounds.
Montiel looked tremendous in his third-round destruction of Rafael Concepcion in their bantamweight title fight televised on Fox Sports Espanol.
This was Montiel’s first bout since his upset stoppage victory over Hozumi Hasegawa in Japan, and he went out to make a statement in front of the Mexican crowd.
SCHWERIN, Germany, July 17
LEBEDEV couldn't miss. / Photo: Eroll Popova, Universum
Everyone knew that Denis Lebedev was one tough son of a gun and an excellent fighter. Still, I don’t think that anyone could have foreseen a two-round blowout for the Russian boxer when Lebedev met Alexander Alexeev in a cruiserweight championship eliminator in Germany on Saturday.
The meeting of southpaws looked, on paper, like being intensely competitive. Sometimes, though, one fighter lives up to expectations and the other, in boxing parlance, doesn’t show up.
SOUTHAVEN, MS, July 16
GUERRERO gave a spirited showing. / Photo: TOM CASINO, for Showtime
ShoBox offered a cracking card on Friday, with three highly enjoyable fights. Favourites won but had to fight for the wins. Fernando Guerrero was severely tested by Ishe Smith in the middleweight main event but produced a high punch-count to earn the unanimous decision and Shawn Porter had all he could handle with Ray Robinson in a spirited welterweight bout.
Opening the show, Mike Dallas Jr. produced the smarter boxing to outpoint the physically stronger Lanard Lane in a tense eight-rounder between unbeaten junior welters.
SAN JUAN, PR, July 10
LOPEZ practically ran Concepcion out of the ring. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA
It was bombs away in San Juan on Saturday night when Puerto Rico’s Juan Manuel Lopez blasted out Bernabe Concepcion in two rounds in a short-lived but thrilling main event on Showtime. Lopez is one of the most exciting fighters in the business, an aggressive southpaw who hits hard and is willing to take risks to get the other man out of the fight. A projected match against Rafael Marquez will be one to anticipate with eagerness.
San Juan, PR, July 10
DONAIRE (left) was too much for Marquez — once he got serious, that is. / Photo: SUMIO YAMADA.
After frittering away the first four rounds by boxing in the southpaw stance, Filipino Nonito Donaire got serious, shifting to his familiar orthodox position to hammer overmatched Hernan “Tyson” Marquez in eight rounds Showtime’s chief supporting bout on Saturday.
Mexico’s Marquez was game but really should have been pulled out by his corner after getting dropped and hurt in the fifth of the bantam title bout. It was pointless letting Marquez continue, but Donaire seemed content to let his outclassed opponent linger before closing the show with a left uppercut in the eighth. Marquez picked himself up but referee Roberto Ramirez had seen enough.
York Hall, London, July 9
In a curious finish, Steve Williams, only narrowly behind in the scoring, was retired by his corner after 10 rounds in a game challenge for the British light-welter title against the much more experienced Lenny Daws.
Williams, in just his 10th fight, had just enjoyed his biggest round of the fight in the 10th. He was, however, cut badly over the right eye and, with two rounds remaining, his promoter, Tommy Gilmour, got up on the ring apron in Williams’s corner to tell the seconds to pull the plug.
Lincoln, RI, July 9
The great Las Vegas oddsmaker Herb Lambeck frequently used the expression: “Talkers don’t win.” I thought of this as I watched Hank Lundy slump to defeat in the 11th round against John Molina in their lightweight bout on Friday Night Fights.
Lundy had been disparaging to the point of insulting when talking about Molina before the fight. Molina, he said, was “dumb” fighter. Molina merely said he would let his fists do the talking, and so they did, although time was running out for the 27-year-old crowd-pleaser from Covina, CA.
Atlantic City, July 9
JONES showed impressive hand speed to stop Garcia. / Photo: Rich J. Hundley III, for Showtime
Unbeaten Philadelphia welterweight Mike Jones showed impressive hand speed as he overwhelmed Irving Garcia, of Puerto Rico, in five rounds in the ShoBox main event. Garcia proved stubborn early as he jabbed, hooked and tried to land right hands, and Jones suffered a nasty welt under the right eye. Once Jones opened up at full blast, however, the fight became one-sided.
Atlantic City, July 9
TYNER fought the best fight of his career. / Photo: Rich J. Hundley III, for Showtime
Once the ShoBox commentary team informed viewers that Antwone Smith had been fighting a virus all week, I feared the worst. Sure enough, Smith wilted and was overpowered in the ninth round by Lanardo Tyner in an excellent welterweight bout on ShoBox. Perhaps Tyner would have won had Smith been at his best. The underdog from Houston, TX (but originally from Detroit) fought the best fight of his career. He punched hard and often in both the orthodox and southpaw stances. Smith did well with inside fighting but Tyner often had the last word. I had the impression that Tyner was enjoying the fight while Smith was struggling.
