After last week’s super fight in Dallas and the start of college basketball’s annual March Madness tournament, boxing didn’t exactly take a complete back seat in the world of sports. Sure, opening day for baseball is set for later this week along with the continuation of college basketball’s tournament, but, unlike in other years when boxing would tend to take a hiatus during the weeks in the holiday season, all four major sports have key dates in October, the dog days of summer, and the spring. Boxing this year continues to heat up on the calendar with several major shows still yet to take place. This weekend shows, promoted by major outfits, found a way to fit into the already hectic sports schedule. This is yet another indication that the sport is dealing with a renaissance with the various platforms that have invested in boxing.
Top Rank Promotions and ESPN used this weekend to showcase a
returning former world champion and a top heavyweight contender in a fight that
was more than just a stay busy assignment.
Former WBO Jr. Featherweight Champion Jesse Magdaleno (26-1)( 18 KOs)
returned to the ring for the first time in close to a year with a ten round
decision win over former world champion Rico Ramos (30-6)(14 KOs). Last April, Magdaleno lost his jr.
featherweight championship to Isaac Dogboe in a fight that was as brutal in
terms of the physical punishment that both fighters absorbed. While Magdaleno came up short, after an extended
time away from the ring to regenerate his body and mind, Magdaleno returned
this time making his debut in the featherweight division.
It was a good performance by Magdaleno as he showed that
although he was off for a full year, he didn’t seem to have any major lingering
obvious effects from his war with Dogboe.
He was able to move fluidly as well as pull the trigger with both his
jab and combination punching. Ramos on
the other hand had trouble letting his hands go and it looked as if he was
overthinking the fight, while Magdaleno was fighting instinctively. This is a good sign for Magdaleno, since many
undefeated champions after a brutal loss can show signs of losing a step
physically and mentally (confidence) in his abilities. Although this fight with Ramos was a true
cross roads fight for both men, it is indeed a good sign for Magdaleno that he
seems to have put last April in the rearview mirror as his career begins its
new journey.
Moving forward there are some real good options for him for
some big fights at featherweight. One of
those options was mentioned during the broadcast, a fight with his stable mate
and current WBO champion Oscar Valdez.
Yes, it’s true they are friendly with each other, but business and
championships shouldn’t get in the way of this fight being made. When it is made, sign any boxing fan up to
watch a fight that easily could be a fight of the year candidate. From the looks of Magdaleno the featherweight,
the only thing that was noticed was the fact that while he showed real good
power four pounds lighter at jr. featherweight, fighting as a full
featherweight may be the heaviest division for him to compete in in terms of
his natural power. Which again, will
make a fight with Valdez even more interesting.
Heavyweights were the main event of the night, with Kubrat
Pulev (27-1) (14 KOs) winning by TKO in the seventh round over the game Bogdan
Dinu (18-2)(14 KOs). Coming into the
fight, Pulev was rated as the number one contender in the rankings by the
IBF. This means he could have easily
waited for a chance to have the sanctioning body force a fight with their
current champion Anthony Joshua, or have him fight for the vacated title if
Joshua would chose not to fight him.
With Top Ranks recent signing of the lineal champion Tyson Fury, Pulev
and Top Rank understood that it would be wise to showcase Pulev in a solid
matchup to increase his name recognition to make a fight with Fury in the
future more appealing. This gamble was
worth it both in terms of future business and entertainment for fans watching on
ESPN. Pulev survived some powerful right
hands from Dinu that caused a serious cut over his left eye, that put the
outcome in jeopardy for Pulev. A sense
of urgency took over and Pulev answered any questions about his grit and
determination as he battled back to stop Dinu.
In the process, he gained the recognition needed to justify a shot
against any of the top three champions in the division, as well as interjecting
his name into the minds of the casual boxing fan that follows the heavyweight
division. It was a successful night for
the fighters and thus a solid show for Top Rank Promotions during a weekend
being dominated by what was taking place around the country on the
hardwood.
FS1 Card – Sunday
While Top Rank squeezed in their card on Saturday night, Premier
Boxing Champions (PBC) broadcasted their show on Sunday evening from Maryland
featuring a welterweight fight between Lamont Peterson (35-5)( 17 KOs) and
Sergey Lipinets (15-1)(11 KOs). Going
into the fight, with the welterweight division being the hottest in the sport
outside of the heavyweights, Peterson and Lipinets were trying to stake their
claims that their names should also be mentioned with the current champions and
big-name contenders for future fights.
Peterson, for his part, had already fought most of the big names in the
division and was trying to make one last run at championship glory. Lipinets, was setting out to prove that after
his lone loss at jr. welterweight against Mikey Garcia, was behind him and that
he is ready to face key opposition as a welterweight.
Normally my thoughts would include things that took place
throughout the entire card, which included some entertaining fights. However, in this case, the main event went
above any expectations and turned out to be a solid fight. With both fighters aware of their current
career positions, they wasted no time trying to establish that it was going to
be their evening. Everything that
Peterson did throughout the fight consisted of veteran moves, which at times had
Lipinets confused. Peterson dedicated
his attack to the body with whipping right hands and left hooks. At times, some of the shots wandered a bit
south of the boarder to stop Lipinets from coming forward.
These veteran tactics were met and countered with energy
from Lipinets, the fresher of the two fighters.
As the fight progressed, Lipinets was down on the scorecards, but
continued to plow ahead and never wavered from his approach of applying
pressure and throwing power punches.
After a ten-round war, Lipinets kept scrapping away with his punches,
which caused Peterson to abandon his veteran moves and accept he invedibable. After taking several last stands against his
younger foe, Peterson was clearly hurt at the end of the ninth round and hung
on to hear the bell.
The inevitable came to fruition in the tenth round when
Peterson was dropped to the canvas for the first knockdown of the fight. Bloodied and clearly beaten down, his trainer
and father figure Barry Hunter decided that his champion had enough and threw
in the towel. It was clearly a decision
that might not have been easy for other trainers to make on the behalf of
Peterson’s well-being, considering that he was ahead in the fight. However, for Hunter it was clearly an easy
choice to make. Once the announcement of
the result was made, Hunter took the microphone and along with Peterson stated
that his fantastic career had come to its end.
Thank you to Lamont Peterson for his entertaining career and
dedication to the sport of boxing. He
always handled himself in a professional manner and gave fans and the media
access to his incredible story that saw him rise from the streets of Washington
D.C., as a homeless youth with his brother Anthony, to becoming a national
champion and standout amateur before becoming a two-division world
champion. His five losses came only
against other world champions, and aside from his losses to Errol Spence and
Lucas Matthysse (during Matthysse’s solid run), Peterson was competitive in all
his fights and gave everyone he fought fits.
His career best win came against Amir Khan in a great fight in 2011 and
unfortunately there was never a rematch.
As for Lipinets, his name will now be thrown around as a
possible opponent for any of the welterweights affiliated with PBC. He most likely will get his shot at one of
the main names when the business of some of the bigger fights may get in the
way from being made. Fights against
Thurman, Porter, and even a fighter like Ugas would be interesting while they
last, however, those outcomes may be a little easier to determine considering
the fact that a younger Peterson would have most likely had his hand raised in
victory last night.
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