Koreano Torres Delivers on PROBOX Card

PROBOX gave us another exciting Wednesday night of solid prospects that were competitively matched, and again PROBOX TV'S "Wednesday Night Fights" delivered.

In the main event, two local products from Sonora, Mexico, produced a 10-round thrilled. 21-year-old "Koreano" Luis Torres survived the toughest challenge of his young and promising career against Misael Cabrera. "Koreano" took a quiet first round based on his jab despite no one landing much of anything else. However, it was evident "Koreano" a southpaw, had a massive speed advantage. He was first with the jab, and Cabrera would try to react and counter. Cabrera looked uncomfortable early on but landed his best shot late in the second round. However, it just served to wake Torres up. Moments later, a left hand put Cabrera on the canvas. Torres put together a nice quick flurry just before the bell sounded to end the second. Torres snapped Cabrera’s head back with a straight left moment into the 3rd and looked in complete control. However, Cabrera started to rally in the middle rounds. Working aggressively, getting onto the inside, and outworking Torres. He was able to take away the speed advantage as the pace started to slow. On top of that, Cabrera got a rest as the tape on his gloves continually came undone. The fight seemed to be evening up going into the eighth. "Koreano" came out super aggressive to start the round, rocking his opponent with the left hand, and pinning him against the ropes. Torres unleashed a five-punch combination and seemed to take control of the fight again, after a dominant eighth round. The ninth started as the eighth ended with Torres snapping his opponets head back. Cabrera seemed to be faded but put together a rally very late in the 9th, scoring with a left hook and right hand late in the round to even things out. Fatigue was clearly kicked in, on both fighters in the last round, which took place in a phone booth, with Cabrera clearly getting the best of it. A right hand snapped his head back, and then a left hook staggered Torres, who momentarily looked to be in trouble. Cabrera poured in another right hand. However, it was too little, too late, as the judges favored the earlier work from Torres by scores of 96-93x2 and a much too wide 98-91, all in favor of Torres, who moved his record to 18-0 (10).

In the evening's co-main Mario Valenzuela pulled a minor upset over unbeaten Alez Fuentes. Both fighters had a difficult path to get to this stage, but tonight it was Valenzuela who was in complete control. A long rangy fighter seemed to be in control. Using just his jab and swift foot movement. Fuentes, the shorter fighter, was not working behind a jab and was loading up on one big shot after another that rarely found its mark. Valenzuela continued to control his shorter opponent with just his jab doubling and tripling on it beautifully. Fuentes tried to pick up the pace late, but still was not working behind the jab, and his long power shots, continued to fall short, as the aggression ultimately wasn't very effective. Fuentes was unable to change the direction of the fight as Valenzuela rolled to a wide, lopsided, unanimous decision victory.

In the card's opening bout, touted prospect Oscar Alvarez moved his record to 9-0 (7) in a tougher-than-anticipated scrap with Diego Lopez. Alvarez a tall and rangy, 19-year-old, worked behind the jab but was getting tagged a lot. Lopez worked his way in and scored on the inside with thudding power shots. He just wasn't busy enough. Alvarez landed clean and flashier shots from long range. When it was all said and done two of the three judges favored Alvarez by scores of 78-74,and 77-75, and the third handed in an even 76-76 card.

The Week’s TV Schedule

ProBox TV has been an amazing blessing for boxing fans. It has been a second coming of Showtime's SHOBOX. The new app has given us excellent prospects that are matched tough. Wednesday's card is no different. Live from Mexico, Luis Torres will put his undefeated record on the line against Misael Cabrera, who sports an impressive 13-1 record, for the WBC Latino lightweight title. Torres has scored two impressive UD victories in a row, both in Mexico. In February of 2022, he defeated Diego Chavez and followed that up in September with a career-best performance and took apart Cesar Gutierrez. Also on the card are undefeated prospects Oscar Alvarez, a 19-year-old phenom, super featherweight who sports an 8-0 record and 4-0 featherweight Alex Fuentes. 

On Friday, a Thompson's Boxing Card will keep fight fans entertained. In a must-win welterweight bout between two one-loss contenders, Luis Lopez (13-1-1) and Angel Beltran (15-1) put it all on the line in the evening's main event. The winner takes a massive step forward and the loser risks falling into irrelevancy in the 147-pound picture. In the evening's co-main event, we get a battle of unbeaten prospects as Jesus Gonzalez (6-0) and Keon Papillion (5-0) square off in a welterweight bout 

Saturday brings an absolutely loaded day of boxing three cards in three countries. The action kicks off in Australia as the native countryman Tim Tszyu battles Tony Harrison for the WBO interim jr middleweight title! The winner will then fight undisputed champ Jermell Charlo. In the co-main event, fight fans will get a look at undefeated Australian Super Bantamweight Sam Goodman, who battles former world champ TJ Doheney in a 10-round affair.

The action moves to Liverpool, England, as highly touted prospect Diego Pacheco takes a step up as he battles Jack Cullen, for the vacant WBO International Super Middleweight title. Pacheco sports a perfect 17-0 (14) record and, with a win over Cullen looks to enter the world title picture at 168. Also on the card is Robbie Davies jr, who looks to stay hot and pick up his fourth consecutive win as he battles Darragh Foley in a 10-round affair. 

The final card takes place at the Zenith de Paris-La Villette, in Paris, France. Heavyweight Tony Yoka looks to bounce back from his first career loss as he steps in with former world title challenger Carlos Takam in the evening's main event. Yoka (11-1) started his career with 11 straight wins before losing to Martin Bakole last May via majority decision in a very competitive fight. In the co-main, European Light Heavyweight champ Thomas Faure (21-4-1) puts his European title on the line against 18-0 upstart Dan Azeez, a hard-hitting London native, is coming off a career-best win, an 8th-round stoppage of Rocky Fielding back in December.

Harrison Confused on Tszyu’s Mandatory Status

Former Junior Middleweight champion Tony "The Tiger" Harrison seems to be confused about how Tim Tszyu got into position to fight Jermell Charlo for all four major belts. To clarify for the former champ, who upset Charlo in 2018 before being stopped by Charlo a year later in the rematch, the answer is, of course, Terrell Gausha. Tszyu defeated Gausha in March of '22 via unanimous decision. That win captured the WBO Global 154-pound title as well made him the mandatory for the WBO champion. The WBO champion happens to be Jermell Charlo, who happens to hold the other three belts. When Tszyu was ordered to fight Charlo for the WBO belt, the two agreed to fight for all four belts. Charlo agreed to defend all four belts. So who did Tszyu fight to get to fight for every 154-pound belt? The answer is Terrell Gausha. If you think that is not a worthy name to put you into the mandatory position, that's a reasonable argument. If you think Tszyu is benefitting from nepotism for being the son of Kostya Tszyu, a hall of famer and legend of the sport, that's an argument as well. It's noteworthy to mention the only belt of the four majors that the elder Tszyu never held was the WBO. He held the other three, none of those sanctioning bodies mandated Tszyu. If you think Tszyu got to skip the line that's a problem with the WBO, not Tszyu.

Harrison will travel to fight the WBO Global champ for the interim title on March 12th in his backyard at the Qudos Bank Arena, in Sydney Australia. Tszyu has fought in Sydney a number of times, most recently in November of 2021 when he dominated Takeshi Inoue over 12 rounds. Tszyu is listed as about a 2-1 betting favorite and the winner of the belt will be mandated to fight Charlo when he returns from injury. Charlo is currently sidelined after sustaining a left scaphoid fracture and 5th metacarpal base fracture. He was originally scheduled to fight the Australian on January 28th which was ditched in December when Charlo injured the hand.

Figueroa and Fierro Headline Sneaky Exciting Night of Boxing

Saturday was low-key the best night of boxing in 2023. Two cards produced all-action, fan-friendly fights. One from Mexico that aired on DAZN, and the second, a PBC card live from Ontario, California. 

On the early card out of Mexico, Angel Fierro secured perhaps a career-best win in absolutely taking apart Eduardo Estela over seven action-packed, but mainly one-sided rounds. Estela was dropped a total of three times. Fierro maintained a high punch output and the effects become noticeable in the fourth. With about a minute left, Fierro floored Estela with a barrage of power shots. Estela beat the count but was dropped again moments later. This time from an uppercut that nearly knocked Estela out of the ring. However, the game challenger was again able to beat the count. Estella valiantly fought back in the fifth and appeared to be making a fight of it for a while. However, Fierro regained control, and this time for good. Towards the end of the seventh, a two-piece combination staggered Estela into the ropes. Fierro followed up with a left hook that stapped Estela in his tracks and then unleashed a whirlwind of power shots that dropped Estela to the canvas for a final time as Referee Miguel Angel Canul came in and saved Estela at 2:59 of the seventh.

In the co-main, we got a KO of the year candidate as 25-year-old Eduardo Nunez of Los Mochis, Mexico, scored with a violent right cross that flattened Jesus Martin Ceyca and brought Referee Edgar Ledezma to immediately waive the bout off at 2:14 of the second round.

Also on the card was 28-year-old 2016 olympian Middleweight prospect Misael Rodriguez of Cienega de Ceniceros, Mexico. Rodriguez is trained by Robert Garcia, was able to overcome adversity for the first time to improve his record 13-0 (7) defeating Aaron Rocha Guerrero by unanimous decision via Scores of 77-76x2, and 78-76 for Rodriguez.

In the evening's other card, the PBC card aired on Showtime. Brandon "The Heartbreaker" Figueroa delivered another fight-of-the-year type scrap. After somewhat of a slower start, a slow start for Figueroa's standard at least, the younger Figueroa brother got cooking in the middle rounds. Pressing forward and switching between the conventional and southpaw stances, "The Heartbreaker" began breaking his man down with body shots and hooks, along with a pinpoint uppercut that he landed from both hands from both stances. Figueroa's pressuring styles started to pay dividends as Magsayo was twice deducted a point for holding and clinging to the Rio Grande Valley native. Facing disqualification, Magsayo could no longer hold on, and Figueroa slammed on the gas and wore Magsayo down in a highly entertaining final few stanzas. Removing any doubt and swinging the fight in the south Texans' favor. With two judges scored the fight 117-109, and the third had it 118-108. As he now moves on to fight Vargas for his WBC featherweight belt. 

In the co-main former unified 154-pound world champ Jarrett Hurd was unsuccessful in his middleweight comeback Armando Resendiz stood toe to toe with the former champ and broke him and eventually got the stoppage. After a highly competitive and even-ish first half, Resendiz seized control, outworking out landing and making "Swift" simply look slow. Hurd's aggression came to halt in the eighth as Hurd was no longer coming forward, and the writing was on the wall. Resendiz slammed on the gas and pressed the action as Hurd was being beaten down. The ninth was more of the same as Resendiz continued to unload on Hurd. The round proved to be the last as the referee called Hurd over to the doctor to start the 10th and the decision was made to stop the fight.

Also on the undercard was the coming out party of 19-year-old Elijah Garcia of Phoenix, Arizona, who destroyed the 160 Pound boogie man, Amilcar Vidal. Garcia got going in the second. He would sharpshoot from the outside and land heavy artillery, while on the inside. The third saw both fighters standing toe to toe and landing heavy artillery. In the fourth, Garcia badly hurt Vidal with a thudding countershot that snapped Vidal's head back and then unloaded a hurricane of power shots, each landing with accuracy and power that sent Vidal crumbling to the floor as the bout was waved off. Giving Garcia the victory and moving his record to 14-0 (12).

Davis-Garcia Make Compromise Make 4/22 Official

Henry Clay was an American attorney and statesman. He also served as the 7th US speaker of the house. Caly was known as the "Great Compromiser". He came up with the Compromise of 1850 and is largely credited for keeping the country together through a tumultuous 19th century. Clay said a good compromise is when "NEITHER side is happy!" contrary to the cliche we hear today, "both sides are happy." When neither side is happy, we have a good compromise, according to the great compromiser. That's what it looks like we have in the Tank Davis VS Ryan Garcia deal. The bout is finalized for April 22nd. It's a 12-round, 136-pound bout, and they are contractually obligated to a rematch only if Garcia beats Tank on April 22nd. Davis will have the option to exercise the rematch clause. This sort of answers the question as to who is the A-side. It's Davis. If Tank isn't successful in the first bout, the rematch will be head promoted by Golden Boy and would be televised by DAZN, the streaming service that has rights to Golden Boy. This was a major sticking point for Garcia's team during the final steps of negotiating.

However, Davis is highly favored to win by both Vegas sportsbooks and the fighting public. The 28-year-old Davis opens up a nearly 3-1 favorite over the 24-year-old Garcia. The bout will be held in Vegas, but no venue has, as of yet, been nailed down. Three possible venues are being discussed, all of which are in Las Vegas.

Garcia, 23-0 (19), last fought in July and blew away Javier Fortuna in six one-sided rounds. The win, given the level of opposition, may have been "King Ry's" career-best performance. Tank opted to take an interim fight and stopped Hector Luis Garcia in 2023's first major event. Davis set a gate record at the Capital One Arena in the nation's capital, when he stopped Garcia on January 7th to move his record to 28-0 (26).

Matias Captures IBF Title.

Subriel Matias becomes the eighth man from Puerto Rico to capture a title at the 140-pound division.

He captured the IBF 140-pound world title by stopping Jeremias Ponce of Argentina in a fan-friendly slugfest that ended with Ponce's corner calling a halt to about. Following a snooze fest of an undercard at the Amory in Minneapolis. Ponce came out like a shot out of canon, unleashing on Matias. Throwing about 100 punches in the opening round and waking up Matias. Matias got going in the second, mixing up head and body shots. Ponce kept up the work rate, but the Puerto Ricans landed the more powerful shots. While both were scoring with plenty of clean licks. It was evident that Matias had much more sting on his punches. That became evident after an explosive closing 10 to 15 seconds of the third. The fourth round started, and Ponce looked to be wearing down, and by the fifth, Matias was rocking and unleashing on the fatiguing Ponce. A body shot dropped Ponce late in the fifth. He was able to beat the count with ease and survived the last few seconds of the fifth. But the corner from Argentina had seen enough and informed the ref their man had seen enough. Moving Matias's record to 19-1 (19).

In the co-main event hometown hero Jamal "Shango" James did typical "Shngo" things. James controlled a 10-round affair with Alberto Palmetta, also of Argentina. In a mostly one-sided affair, James controlled the fight from the upside and outworked his determined opponent. With exceptions in the third and 10th rounds, where Palmetta was able to slip onto the inside and put combinations together and slow James down, the Minneapolis native remained in complete control. James had been inactive since October of 2021 when he suffered his second career loss, a 9th-round stoppage to Radzhab Butaev. James improved his record to 28-2 (12).

In the opening bout of the Showtime-televised portion of Saturday nights card, Elvis Rodriguez rolled over Joseph Ardono. In a bout that was a must-win for each man who had suffered losses in their development. After a slow start, the action picked up, and Rodriguez ended up needing each of his two knockdowns to eke out a split-decision victory over Adorno by scores of 97-91 and then a much too close 95-93 and an absolutely ridiculous even card of 94-94. The Minnesota state commission has been egregious in several of these cards at the Armory over the last two years.

Scrappy Ramirez Shines on Thursday Golden Boy Card

We got a prospect-heavy, mid-week card two days in a row! It gets no better than that for hardcore fight fans. On top of that, we got the always-entertaining, John "Scrappy" Ramirez in the evening's main event! Scrappy likely gave his best performance yet. Displaying lightning-quick reflexes, sharp counter-punching, and pinpoint accurate leads. All the while firing off unique combinations. Scrappy, a fun-loving underdog, who loved to talk, is now on his way to a world title opportunity in the near future. Scrappy, a Los Angeles, California, native, dominated Luis Padilla of Jalisco, Mexico, at the fantasy springs in Indio, California. Ramirez ran his record to a perfect 11-0 (8) in scoring the unanimous decision victory by lopsided scores of 100-90 and 99-91 X2, while Padilla fell to 16-4-2. Ramirez appears ready to take a step up, and he has called out WBA champ Josh Franco, who also used to fight for Golden Boy but no longer does. There's no need for Scrappy to continue with fighters at this level.

On the undercard, an impressive-looking welterweight. Grant Flores made his professional debut a most impressive one. Flores secured a first-round TKO over an overmatched Jorge Lopez. Flores scored with a thudding right-hand-left hook combo that dropped his man like a ton of bricks. Flores then dropped him again with a right hand. Lopexz courageously made it to his feet, but the youngster stayed on his man and poured in some more hands that brought in the referee to call off the bout at the 2:31 mark of the opening round, moving Flores's record to 1-0 (1).

Grant's cousin Manny Flores also picked up a "w" in the evening's co-main event. The older cousin got off to a good start and dropped his very rugged opponent, Franklin Gonzalez, in the fifth stanza. However, that seemed to be the last great moment for Florez as Gonzalez, a KO artist from Venezuela, rallied late and scored with sharp counter shots, lead hooks, and lead right hands. Gonzalez was coming on strong and was scoring at will in the last two rounds. However, the hometown, Flores, had put enough in the bank to eke out a slim split decision victory and move his record to sure Flores got the split decision to 15-0 (11).

PROBOX TV Delivers Thrilling Night of Prospects

Showtimes "SHOBOX The Next Generation" has given fight fans a great peek into the world of premier upcoming prospects. They match their opponents tough, and the winner emerges in front of a large audience. While SHOBOX is still going strong as ever and continues to provide fans with great boxing value. There is now a Coke to that Pepsi. A Chevy to that Ford. PROBOX TV, which is either free on Youtube or $1.99 a month with the ad-free app. The series shows mid-weak cards with young upcoming prospects matched toughly. This Wednesday was no exception. As a matter of fact, it was likely the best card the promising new series has produced. During the undercard portion of the event, we got a look at undefeated Puerto Rican Light Heavyweight prospect Najee Lopez who now fights out of Atlanta. Demonstrated a master class of skill. He showcased great patience stalking his opponent, Cristian Fabian Rios. Sharp shooting from the outside and using the entire ring in dominating the rugged veteran. Lopez tried picking up the pace, but Rios wasn't going anywhere and lasted the distance. The decision was as lopsided as possible. Lopez won every round on every card 60-54x3. In just his seventh professional fight. Lopez showed what could become a championship pedigree and championship skills. Rios, a veteran of 40+ fights, is a durable and valid pro who has been in with David Lemieux, Kyrone Davis, and Esquiva Falcao and has been stopped just once in his career. The dominant performance bodes quite well for the 23-year-old fighting out of Atlanta.

In the co-main Darrelle Valsaint put on a boxing clinic, showing off an incredible ring IQ and skill set for a 20-year-old, in just his seventh pro fight. In a major step-up fight against Star Boxing's prospect Lucas De Abreu. It turned out to be a hotly contested high-speed chess match that seemed to possibly be up for grabs entering the final two rounds. Valsaint slammed on the gas, picked up the pace, and started coming forward. He began scoring with beautiful counter shots. Clearly running the table over the final two stanzas in what was a very high level, high IQ chess match by scores of 59-55X2 and 58-56.

If the evening's co-main event delivered the purest form of the sweet science, the main event produced brutal warfare as Richard Vansiclen and Manuel Gallegos stood toe to toe over 10 even, back-and-forth rounds.

Vansiclean, of Seattle, Washington, a southpaw featured a terrific right hook and was winning the battle of the outside foot. While Gallegos, a pure pressure fighter and a ferocious body puncher was landing thudding body shots throughout the early rounds. Gallegos spent the majority of the fight as the aggressor ripping. Both fighters looked to be slowing down to start the sixth. Vansiclean started to make a more tempered approach and started boxing off the back foot. Attempting to slow the pace of the fight Vinsiclen took the role of the boxer and started landing clean counter shots and working behind a jab. It appeared he had done enough to both ringside commentators, Paulie Malignaggi and Chris Algieri, and to us. However, the judges disagreed and ruled it a majority decision draw. Two of the three judges scored 95-95, and the third judge scored in favor of Gallegos 96-94.