The Boxing Truth®

  Former WBO Heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker scored a hard fought twelve round unanimous decision over previously undefeated Junior Fa on Saturday night at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Before a full arena of spectators, Fa had significant success throughout keeping Parker at distance with his jab, using lateral movement and mixing in right hands. Although this was an effective strategy, Fa’s approach was not the most crowd pleasing and as the fight progressed, Parker’s aggression and harder punches when he was able to land proved to gain ground on the scorecards. This along with opening a cut on the corner of Fa’s left eye with a right hand in the middle rounds ultimately gave him what he needed to earn the decision victory as all three judges scored the fight in his favor. Official scores were: 119-109, 117-111, and 115-113 all for Parker. Joseph Parker advances to 28-2, with 21 Knockouts. Junior Fa falls to 19-1, with 10 Knockouts.   Also on this card: ...

  Super-Middleweight  Daniele Scardina  scored a hard fought eighth round stoppage over former Spanish Super-Middleweight champion  Cesar Nunez   to win the vacant European Super-Middleweight championship on Friday night at the  Allianz Cloud in Milan, Italy. Nunez applied steady pressure on Scardina from the outset and had successfully particularly early in the fight in backing Scardina against the ropes and landing combinations to the body and landing hooks to the head.   As the fight progressed, Scardina was able to get some separation between himself and Nunez where behind a consistent jab, he was able to land combinations of his own and turn his body at angles to avoid Nunez as he came forward. This strategy proved to be effective as Nunez had increased difficulty in getting Scardina on the ropes where he could be most effective. In round eight, a flush right uppercut to the head of Nunez staggered him and Scardina proceeded to set off a barr...

  The year 2020 in the Boxing world came to a close with the return of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez as he dethroned previously undefeated WBA Super-Middleweight world champion Callum Smith on December 18th in San Antonio, TX winning both Smith’s WBA crown as well as the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) world championship in the 168lb. Super-Middleweight division. Of course, much of the latter part of last year centered on the battle that Alvarez had with both his former promoter Oscar De La Hoya as well as his broadcaster  DAZN , who has broadcast his bouts since signing with them in 2018. While all the circumstances of the now settled dispute were covered by this observer prior to Alvarez’ bout with Smith, the renewed relationship at least between Alvarez and DAZN has shown that impasses in the sport of Boxing can be resolved if parties are willing to work together. It has also resulted in a relatively quick turnaround as Alvarez will return to the ring on February 27th when he fac...

  While much of the focus of the Boxing world on Saturday, February 20, 2021 centered on the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, NV for the highly anticipated battle for the WBC Jr. Lightweight world championship between champion Miguel Berchelt and undefeated former WBO Featherweight world champion Oscar Valdez, a bout that was thought to be a Fight of the Year candidate, which will be discussed later in this column, this day in Boxing also saw two fighters return to action.   This observer is speaking of course of a card that took place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, which was promoted under the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) banner. While this event was also notable for the Jr. Welterweight debut of former IBF Lightweight world champion Robert Easter Jr. in scoring a twelve round unanimous decision over Ryan Martin, the card was highlighted by two fighters returning to competition after lengthy absences. First to make a return was former multi-time Heavyw...

  Undefeated Jr. Middleweight prospect Richard Brewart scored a six round split decision over previously unbeaten Nathan Weston on Sunday Night at Omega Products International in Corona, CA. The bout, which headlined a 3-2-1 Boxing card promoted by Thompson Boxing saw Brewart get dropped with a short left hook to the jaw in round one. Brewart was able to get up and the fight continued. Although Weston had an edge in hand speed and was effective in countering Brewart with hooks and right hands throughout the fight, as the bout progressed, his overall activity gradually declined.    This created an opportunity for Brewart to make up ground on the scorecards by being the more active of the two fighters offensively. At the conclusion of the six round bout, Brewart had made up enough ground to earn the nod of two of three official judges giving him the split decision victory. Official scores were 57-56 (Weston), and 58-55 (On two scorecards in favor of Brewart). Richard Brewar...

  European Welterweight champion  David Avanesyan scored a sixth round stoppage of previously undefeated Josh Kelly to retain his title on Saturday night at the Wembley Arena in London, England. What was the third defense of his European crown saw Avanesyan start slow and get rocked by a left hook to the head from Kelly in the second round. It was also in that round that Kelly would be cut on the side of the head by an accidental elbow as the two fighters were being separated along the ropes.   As the fight progressed, Avanesyan gradually stepped up his offense and began landing combinations and eventually turned the ebb and flow of the combat in his favor. In round five, Kelly was cut over the right eye as a result of an accidental clash of heads. The champion would take advantage of his opening in round six when he connected with a combination of hooks to the body, followed by offense to the head that forced Kelly’s gloves to touch the canvas resulting in a knockdown. S...

  In a battle for the vacant Commonwealth Lightweight championship Gavin Gwynne scored a seventh round stoppage over previously unbeaten Sean McComb on Friday night at the  Whites Hotel in Bolton, England. What was a fight fought at a very high pace from the outset, the two fighters engaged in near non-stop combat.  Gwynne had the most success in being able to force McComb to fight on the inside and never really allowed him much space to get breathing room between himself and Gwynne.   A rarity for the sport of Boxing occurred in round five when Gwynne was hit with an accidental elbow as he bent down to avoid one of McComb’s punches, which opened a deep gash on the back of Gwynne’s head that subsequently resulted in a stream of blood going directly down Gwynne’s back. Despite the wound, Gwynne continued to pressure McComb and by round six was starting to get the better of the action. The constant pace of the fight eventually wore McComb down and late in round se...

  In a battle of undefeated Welterweight prospects,  Janelson Figueroa Bocachica scored a hard-fought ten round majority decision over previously unbeaten Mark Reyes Jr. on Wednesday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. The bout, which was the main event of the latest edition of Showtime Sports’ popular ShoBox: The New Generation series saw both men willing to exchange heavy punches from the outset. While it appeared for a time that it was unlikely that the fight would go the distance due to the pace and blows each fighter landed, the reality became that it was a closely fought battle where neither man was able to sustain momentum for significant periods of time. Both however, were able to have their share of moments in landing hard hooks on each other throughout.    Perhaps a sign of each fighter’s frustration began to show as the fight progressed as the two men periodically exchanged words and both were warned periodically for questionable tactics by R...