Written by Eric Armit
POINTS from the previous work week
Oscar Collazo retained his WBO minimumweight belt with a unanimous decision against Gerardo Zapata.
Blair Cobbs is down and Adrien Broner is out and there are wins for Michael Hunter and Yuniel Dorticos.
Xander Zayas goes ten rounds for the first time, with a surprise win over Patrick Teixeira, while Bruce Carrington and Delante Johnson register wins.
Patrice Volny, Osleys Iglesias and Movladdin Biyarslanov scored within the winning distance in Montreal.
Callum Walsh destroys Carlos Ortiz in two rounds.
Jonathan Gonzalez and Atif Oberlton scored.
Thomas LaManna wins the vacant WBO Gold middleweight title by stopping Juan Abreu.
Who won the week?
Most Important: Xander Zayas shows that there are exciting times ahead in his victory over Patrick Teixeira.
Most exciting: Ian Green and Roy Barringer battled it out, so that's my pickwith an honorable mention to Patrice Volny vs. Steven Butler.
A fighter of the week: Xander Zayas, for honorable mention to Blair Cobbs.
Boxing of the week: I want a grueling hook from Osleys Iglesias that eliminated Evgeny Shvedenko.
The upset of the week: In his first fight in almost two years, Blair Cobbs didn't seem to pose a threat to the returning Adrien Broner, but he did get the win. Only doubts about Broner make for a minor upset in a week without many upsets
A watch of hope: Cuban middleweight Yoenli Napoles, 4-0, four by KO/TKO, showed incredible power.
Fight Card View
Rosette: Don King schedules 94 rounds of boxing
Red card: Michael Hunter and Cassius Chaney put on the kind of fight that would give even a heavyweight a bad name.
General View:
- Michael Hunter should be paid by the pound for weight gain. Against Cassius Chaney, it was 42 lbs; against Alek Ustinov, it was 66 lbs; and Martin Bakole, 43 lbs. The highest salary would be the fight with Ignacio Esparza, where he let go of 101 kilograms!
- There has been talk of a 5 v 5 between Bob Arum and Oscar de la Hoya. I'm not sure even Saudi Arabia has enough money to plan that.
- Ever since the controversy over Daniel Dubois' below-the-belt hit on Oleksandr Usyk, many referees have been more cautious. Instead of simply waving in the normal direction of the belt line, they now firmly place their hand above the line in their commands so that it is clear to both the fighter and the referee what is and is not a dirty punch. They should also make it clear that any punch that lands behind the ear is an insult.
JUNE 8
Xander Zayas advances by defeating Patrick Teixeira – New York, USA
An impressive display from Zayas, who delivered an exciting and mature performance against the experienced Teixeira. If Teixeira was hoping to use the southpaw to work on the front foot, it became clear that wasn't going to work.
Teixeira was cut above his left eye from the clash of heads. A frustrated Zayas looked to end it before the final bell, and chased Teixeira to the floor, firing punches from both hands, but Teixeira reached the final bell.
Scored 100-90 twice and 99-91 for Zayas. The 21-year-old Puerto Rican was a live opponent of the interim WBO title holder and showed a growing level in both offense and defense. He is ranked No. 5 in the WBO and No. 7 in the WBC and has been calling out Erickson Lubin and Josh Kelly, both of whom are ahead of him in the rankings.
Xander Zayas (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Bruce Carrington manages De Gracia – New York, USA
De Gracia's late successor gave Carrington some valuable rounds to work with before succumbing in the eighth round. De Gracia was the aggressor early on, with Carrington often switching opponents and ignoring De Gracia's attacks with smart defensive work behind the top guards.
Carrington hunted De Gracia before landing a hook to the head and a short right hook that threw him into the ropes, where he hung before sliding to the floor.
He was up early, but Carrington pinned him against the ropes after the count and hit him with hooks and uppercuts until the referee stopped the fight. IBF title contender Eduardo Ramirez is the only one who has stopped De Gracia.
Cornflake Thomas LaManna with Abreu's Breakfast – Atlantic City, USA
Thomas LaManna stopped Juan Carlos Abreu in the third round to win the vacant WBA Gold belt. LaManna used his long reach to control the action in the first two rounds. He put Abreu down with an uppercut in the third, then dropped Abreu twice more, it was stopped.
LaManna was stopped 80 seconds into his challenge to Erislandy Lara for a second WBA middleweight title in 2021 but now has eight wins in the competition and is hoping this “golden” title will get him another title. LaManna joins Jaron Ennis as only the second man to hit Abreu in a home run.
JUNE 7
Blair Cobbs deals Broner another loss – in Florida, USA
Cobbs came down and pointed at the slow Broner. Cobbs went on the attack in the second, coming up behind his jab and landing with rights. Then he came forward and shot Broner in the head. Broner went up, but the punch had dislodged Broner's mouth guard and one of his teeth, and he went around trying to pick the tooth up. The referee counted down and put the guard back in Broner's mouth.
When the action resumed, Cobbs had Broner on the ropes and was throwing a lot of punches but not landing on them, so there was value but no power.
Corner told Broner early in the 9th that he needed a knockout. He drove home some big hooks, putting Cobbs under pressure, but he was too slow to land the punch he needed. Cobbs just danced and danced for most of the tenth when Broner lost his mouth guard again. Broner moved faster than at any other time in the fight but was unable to pin Cobbs until he landed two right hooks on the bar.
Scores of 96-93 twice and 97-91 were all Cobbs, 97-91 to the right. Cobbs, 34, will have his first fight since knocking out Maurice Hooker in August 2022, and he will be hoping that this win will get him more serious fights.
This was Broner's first fight all year and only his third since losing to Manny Pacquiao (see below) in January 2019. He was slow on both offense and defense, and on paper, Cobbs shouldn't have been a threat, but on this show. , Broner will struggle to make any impact.
Michael Hunter is too strong for poor Cassius Chaney – Florida, USA
Hunter won every round over Chaney in a terrific heavyweight fight. Hunter was finding Chaney's body easy to deal with his jabs early on but he didn't open up despite Chaney showing no signs of danger. Hunter mixed up his punches more in the second, but the slower Chaney didn't really show anything. Despite Chaney being 42lbs heavier, Hunter was able to muscle him into the ropes and work with body punches.
Hunter picked up the pace in the end, demanding a stoppage, but just couldn't put Chaney away and won 100-90 on all the judges' cards.
Oscar Collazo survives a difficult time out of Gerardo Zapata – New York, USA
Collazo had a tough time in the second but won this one with big numbers on the cards. Although Collazo won the first two minutes and there was a knockdown one of the judges scored 10-8 in the Zapata round.
Zapata had some success with body shots in the middle rounds, but Collazo was winning the rounds, and it was just a matter of whether Zapata could last long as Collazo chased him around the ring, hitting him with explosive combinations. Zapata reached the bell, but Collazo won by scores of 119-109 on two cards and 117-110 on the third.
Collazo was defending his WBO title for the third time. Nicaragua's Zapata was out of his depth and had no claim to a title shot, and, except for those brief seconds at the end of the second round, he was knocked out.
Glanton killed Egorov in Moscow – Russia
Brandon Glanton won every round before beating a tired Aleksei Egorov to win in the eleventh round. Glanton was striking from the start using quick hands to pierce Egorov's guard with his jab and then get under Egorov's jab to land hooks to the body. Egorov couldn't get past Glanton's jab and Glanton was busy and fast. Egorov was too slow to be dangerous from distance and Glanton was working the Russian's body inside with Egorov only holding to block Glanton's punches.
Glanton drove Egorov into the ring in the eleventh round with hooks and uppercuts. Glanton was driving Egorov on the ropes in the eleventh until a clash of heads saw Glanton turn away, slapping his forehead.
The action stopped but nobody got cut again as Glanton went to work on Egorov again with body punches where Egorov dropped to his knees and shook his head as the referee counted to ten. Glanton, 34, won the vacant WBA International title.
Irish eyes smile on Callum Walsh – Santa Ynez, USA
Walsh knocked out Carlos Ortiz in two rounds in the southpaws conference. Walsh made a good start putting Ortiz down with a right hook early on. Ortiz tried to stand and trade in the second but went down early in the round.
Walsh is a deadly finisher, and after the count, he fired a quick combination of right to the body and left to the head. Ortiz was stunned, and a straight left to the chin sent him down, stopping the fight.
It was the ninth win for the 23-year-old Irishman who was defending the WBC Continental Americas title. Walsh is a real threat. He has speed and power. Ortiz, 39, who is undrafted, was having his fourth fight in nearly five years.
JUNE 6
Vicious Volny defeated Butler in a grudge match at home – Montreal, Canada
Patrice Volny knocked out Steven Butler to win in nine rounds. Butler kept cutting through Volny's punches but in the ninth a series of uppercuts had Butler tripped and the referee stopped the fight due to strong protests from Butler (seen below, left, defeated by Alimkhanuly).
Iglesias ice Shvedenko in shocking fashion – Montreal, Canada
Cuban southpaw Iglesias scored a brutal and decisive KO of Evgeny Shvedenko in the first round. Iglesias was stalking Shvedenko and rocked him with a left hook. He then followed up with a short hook to the temple. Shvedenko fell on his back, his body shaking and his legs and arms shaking violently in the air.
The referee immediately waved off the fight. Iglesias, 26, was defending his IBO belt for the second time and earned his 10th win by KO/TKO. He is really dangerous at this stage.
US-based Russian Shvedenko, a former WBC International and Russian champion, was playing world-class Pavel Silyagin in September. He recovered enough to leave the ring at his feet.
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