While it was Final Four weekend (and can you believe how Duke choked away that game?), there was a plethora of prizefighting taking place across the globe. None of them could be called 'big' fights, but they all mattered to some degree, certainly to the participants.
Here's a look at what took place...
- In Kazakhstan, unified middleweight champion, Janibek Alimkhanuly, made a successful homecoming by stopping Anauel Ngamissengue in five. Now, I get that he wasn't exactly facing Carlos Monzon or Bernard Hopkins, but I was impressed by this performance. Alimkhanuly showed that he is now comfortable inside the pocket and counter-punching. But again, he did what he was supposed to, here.
Top Rank
The question is will Alimkhanuly, who holds the IBF and WBO titles, eventually face the other belt-holders in the division like Erislandy Lara and Carlos Adames. Just how much smoke is there to this new Top Rank-PBC alliance?
- There was a heavyweight crossroads match-up at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England that was broadcast by DAZN that featured Joy Joyce against Filip Hrgovic. There was a time not-too-long ago when 'the Juggernaut' was a legitimate heavyweight contender with victories over Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker but had hit tough times recently.
Queensberry Promotions
After his two stoppage losses to Zhilei Zhang, and his defeat to Derek Chisora, Joyce seemingly aged a few decades in just a few fights. His style was never going to age well, and now when you see Joyce, you see an more lumbering and ponderous fighter who has virtually no slap left in his punches, and has the reflexes of a cadaver.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB25AmrhMDs
This was the case against Hrgovic, who was last seen getting overwhelmed by Dubois last year. While he has a shaky gas tank, he was still the sharper of the two heavyweights in this bout. At times he labored on the ropes and absorbed the heavy hands of Joyce, but many times he was able to evade the oncoming leather that seemed to come in slow-motion, and land his own counters. After 10 rounds, it was Hrgovic winning by the scores of 97-93, 98-92 and 96-95.
For Joyce, who has now lost four out of five, it may be the end of the road.
- It was an eventful card at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas that was presented by Top Rank on ESPN. As usual there were some highly regarded prospects on the bill. A young man that really impressed me was super flyweight prospect, Steven Navarro was matched tough in what was his sixth pro bout against Juan Garcia (who came into the contest with a mark of 14-1-2, 11 KOs).
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Navarro, who comes from a fighting family, was momentarily stunned in the fourth, but then fought back rather savagely, to stop Garcia. It was impressive to see. Sometimes you don't see young boxers show intangibles at this stage of their careers but the way Navarro rallied opened my eyes. Navarro looks like a young man who is going places -- and fast.
There is a lot of controversy over the decision rendered for the Lindolfo Delgado-Elvis Rodriguez contest. There are more than a few observers who believe that it was Rodriguez who should've gotten his hand raised in victory. But it was Delgado who won by the razor thin scores of 96-94(twice) and 95-95.
Mikey Williams/Top Rank
While Delgado put on constant pressure, Rodriguez boxed well out of his southpaw stance and landed his share of hard shots. In round nine, there was a missed knockdown call as Delgado was struck and then held up by the ropes.
It was the type of fight that the winner would feel relieved, while the other side would feel as though they were robbed.
- In the main event, Richard Torrez Jr. earned a 10 round decision over Guido Vianello. It was hard fought but not the most aesthetically pleasing affair. There was an abundance of clinching, and a dearth of clean punching. It was a solid win for Torrez in what was just his 13th professional contest (13-0, 11 KOs) but you're still left wondering how he would deal with the upper echelon of the division with his relative lack of size.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stag0sSmNrU
At 6'2, 230-ish, he isn't small by most standards, but in modern day boxing Torrez will be at a size deficit in a lot of fights. Does he have the overall skill to overcome that?
- Finally, in Australia it was the return of Tim Tszyu who had a rough 2024 as he took losses to Sebastian Fundora and then Bakhram Murtalaziev. Bottom line, Tszyu needed to get on the winning track, or this career would go down under for good(yeah, I went there). Joey Spencer was chosen as his comeback opponent, and Tszyu took care of business in four.
No Limit Boxing
After two relatively tame rounds, Tszyu started to loosen up in the third, and then poured it on the next round to force the stoppage. This went as planned and now it might set up a showdown with Keith Thurman in the summer. As you watched this bout you're still alarmed by Tszyu's lack of head movement, and even this version of Thurman can still punch.
Which is why Tszyu-Thurman is an intriguing pairing.
