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The Past Week in Action 31 July 2018 -- Part I By Eric Armit PhilBoxing.com Wed, 01 Aug 2018  Highlights -Mikey Garcia outpoints Robert Easter to unify the WBC and IBF lightweight titles -Masayuki Ito floors and outpoints Christopher Diaz to lift the vacant WBO super featherweight title -Dillian Whyte outpoints Joseph Parker in dramatic heavyweight battle that sees both fighters on the floor -Sho Kimura knocks out Froilan Saludar in WBO flyweight title defence -Knockout CP Freshmart decisions Chaozhong Xiong to retain WBA minimumweight title -Gideon Buthelezi returns to action and decisions Argentinian Lucas Fernandez in IBO super fly title defence -Luis Ortiz crushes Romanian Razvan Cojanu in two rounds -Dereck Chisora comes from way behind to stop Carlos Takam in brutal battle and put his name back in the heavyweight picture -In a good weekend for unbeaten fighters Christian Mbilli, Carlos Ornelas, Joshua Buatsi, Connor Benn, Anthony Fowler, Fabian Maidana, Mario Barrios, Esquiva Falcao, Jeyvier Cintron and Antonio Lopez all win WORLD TITLE FIGHTS-IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO full tiles only. For the undercards see under dates below: July 27 Quingdao, China: Fly: Sho Kimura (17-1-2) W KO 6 Froilan Saludar (28-3-1). Minimumweight: Knockout CP Freshmart (18-0) W PTS 12 Chaozhong Xiong (27-8-1). Kimura vs. Saludar Kimura retains the WBO title as he grinds down a game Saludar with relentless pressure before dropping him for the count in the sixth. Saludar had a good opening round. As Kimura was pacing forward behind a high guard Saludar was threading jabs through the champions guard and landing some sharp counters and both landed heavy rights. Kimura was going to the body with left hooks but Saludar had done the better work. Kimura upped the pace in the second he was marching forward with purpose behind a tight guard and firing hooks. Saludar was still banging home counters but Kimura was walking through them and working to the body. Kimura had Saludar pinned to the ropes early in the third and pounded away to head and body until Saludar managed to punch his way out into the ring centre. Things looked bad for Saludar when he was again taking punishment on the ropes but he decided to go on the offensive. Now he was walking through Kimura?s punches and landing hard to the head. Kimura was on the back foot but also scoring with some neck-snapping rights. A great round. Kimura was waging a war of attrition. Saludar had some success at the start of the fourth but was being ground down and Kimura was landing hook after hook. Some were straying low but Saludar was slowing and tiring from the pressure. Kimura was forcing Saludar around the ring in the fifth. He was again using vicious left hooks to the body. A right to the head shook Saludar and then two left hooks to the body and another left to the body saw him kneel on the canvas. He was up at seven but was again shipping heavy punishment until the bell. In the sixth Kimura had Saludar in a corner and was bombarding Saludar with punches to head in body and a stoppage would have been justified. Instead Saludar punched his way out of the corner and turned Kimura onto the ropes and began to throw punches. It was a final fling and Kimura again put Saludar on the ropes and was landing some booming head punches and left hooks to the body and finally a gutsy Saludar slipped to the canvas and was counted out. The 29-year-old ?Grassroots Champion? Kimura was making the second defence of the WBO title and has now won 10 of his last 11 fights by KO/TKO. Good work for a guy who had no amateur experience, and was a modest 5-1-2 in his first 8 fights. He beat Chinese idol Shiming Zou to win the title and somehow that made him an idol in China. He has even gone as far as giving up his job humping wine in a wine cellar. His style is simple just keep walking forward and keep punching and it is working well for him. Saludar, 29, suffers only his second loss by KO/TKO. The first came against Puerto Rican McWilliams Arroyo back in2014. He had won his last five fights mostly against very modest domestic opposition. If he had won this one he would have joined younger brother Vic who won the WBO minimumweight title two weeks ago making them the first pair of Filipino brothers to simultaneously hold a world title CP Freshmart vs. Xiong CP Freshmart takes points victory over Xiong in the fifth defence of his WBA title. Not a great fight. CP Freshmart (Thammanoon Niyomtrong) had a strong jab and used it well. Xiong found it hard to get past the jab and when he did CP Freshmart was either landing short countering hooks or stepping back quickly so that Xiang came up short. By the third CP Freshmart was beginning to move inside with chopping hooks and uppercuts. Xiang was showing some quick movement but when his counters did land they lacked power. The Thai is slow and one-paced and comes forward in a straight line and that allowed Xiang some success. There were no real highlights and although both scored with some good shots in the tenth over the closing rounds there was too much holding and too much swinging and missing. A poor clinch-filled twelfth just about summed up this fight. Scores 118-110 twice and 116-112 all for the champion. The 27-year-old CP Freshmart (life is too short to keep spelling out Thammanoon Niyomtrong) , a sergeant in the Thai army, was having his first fight outside Thailand. Xiong ,35, became China?s first world champion when he beat Javier Martinez in 2012 for the WBC minimumweight crown. He lost the title in 2014 to Oswaldo Novoa and lost a close decision to Hekkie Budler for the WBA title later in the same year. He was rated No 2 by the WBA going into this one. July 28 Los Angeles, CA, USA: Light: Mikey Garcia (39-0) W PTS 12 Robert Easter (21-1). Garcia floors and outpoints a disappointing Easter. Garcia is already a four division champion and wins his first unification fight as he adds Robert Easter?s IBF title to the WBC title he already holds. Round 1 Both fighters were probing with their jabs in the first. Easter was on the front foot early and worked well with his jab. Garcia came forward over the second half of the round but was short with his punches. Score 10-9 Easter Round 2 The second involved a similar pattern. Easter was using his height and long reach to work from distance and scored with a couple of good punches. Garcia was tracking the retreating Easter but not throwing much and he missed with a pair of rights. Score 10-9 Easter Easter 20-18 Round 3 Easter was working the jab well, he was shooting out his left to the head and body and following with occasional rights. Garcia had upped his pace but had not really landed anything until a right cross followed by a left hook to the chin put Easter down late in the round. Easter was up quickly and took the eight count but the bell went before Garcia could land another meaningful punch. Score 10-8 Garcia Tied 28-28 Round 4 Garcia took this one. Easter was no longer using his jab as he had before. Garcia was landing his own jab. He was also able to pin Easter to the ropes a couple of times and score with hooks around Easter?s guard. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 38-37 Official scores: 38-37, 39-36 and 38-37 for Garcia Round 5 This was a much closer round. Easton went back to the jab and used it both to score and to make Garcia busy trying to block or dodge the punch. Easter also stayed off the ropes. Garcia got though with a couple of hooks but Easter just shaded the round. Score 10-9 Easton Tied 47-47 Round 6 Easter used his jab well again early in this round. Garcia was not cutting the ring off and Easter kept jabbing and moving. Garcia trapped Easter on the ropes and was able to score enough to just edge the round. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 57-56 Round 7 Another round where Easter worked well over the early stages with Garcia a prowling menace but not throwing punches. Garcia came to life and landed a shower of hard punches and with a few more combinations took the round. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 67-65 Round 8 This was turning out to be an interesting fight but not an exciting or entertaining one. There was not enough sustained action. Easter was looking to stay outside and jab and try an occasional right and Garcia was prowling after Easter but only attacking in spurts. Garcia took this one with another late burst of punches but it was again close. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 77-74 Official scores: 77-74, 78-73 and 76-75 for Garcia Round 9 This was the best round in the fight so far. Easter decided to stand and trade punches with Garcia. Easter managed to land a few hooks and a straight right which was the best punch he had landed in the fight but he was fighting Garcia?s fight. Garcia was scoring inside with hooks to head and body and Easter looked tired. Garcia kept punching and Easter was very shaky at the bell. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 87-83 Round 10 Another round for Garcia. He started slowly but eventually was taking Easter to the ropes and unloading with hooks curving punches around Easter?s guard and banging rights through the middle. Easter had lost a lot of his movement and was hardly throwing any punches. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 97-92 Round 11 Garcia?s again. Easter was just circling the perimeter of the ring stabbing out a jab with no power behind it. Garcia was tracking him and springing in with quick attacks and scoring with hooks and straight rights. He scored with a hefty right but Easter took it and was not rocked. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 107-101 Round 12 No wild attacks from Garcia and no last round heroics from Easter. Garcia pressed for the whole three minutes and outworked Easter whose work rate had fallen over the late rounds. Garcia added this round to his already commanding lead. Score 10-9 Garcia Garcia 117-110. Official scores: 117-110, 118-109 and 116-111 for Garcia This was not an exciting match but of course for the fighters what was at stake was more important than to be entertaining. Garcia pressed the fight but only fought in short bursts and even with the knockdown never really had Easter in serious trouble. Easter just did not have the punch to keep Garcia out and expended a lot of effort early trying to avoid Garcia?s attacks and faded badly over the late rounds. With the two titles in the bag Garcia is now looking to get Errol Spence into the ring so that he can become a five- division champion and as Spence was in the audience it could happen and is probable the best of the fights that can be made for both Garcia and Spence. 
Masayuki Ito tags Chris Diaz with a left. Kissimmee, FL, USA: Super Feather: Masayuki Ito (24-1-1) W PTS 12 Chris Diaz (23-1). This fight was supposed to end with Diaz enthroned as WBO champion but un-heralded Ito spoilt the party by flooring and outpointing Diaz Round 1 Both fighters were trying to establish their jabs early. Ito was taller with a longer reach and he stabbed home his jab and landed some sharp rights. Diaz was less mobile and not as accurate. Score 10-9 Ito Round 2 Diaz started to let his hands go in the second with lots of combinations and he landed a good right to the head. Ito was quicker and getting through with his jab and raking Diaz?s body with lefts and took the round. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 20-18 Round 3 Diaz took this round. He was getting through with left hooks and scored with a couple of straight rights. Ito was still finding gaps for some heavy punches but his jab was under used. Score 10-9 Diaz Ito 29-28 Round 4 Diaz had the better of the early exchanges with a series of punches to the body. He was getting past Ito?s jab to work inside. He made the mistake of standing in front of Ito and not punching and Ito crashed home a three-punch right/left/right combination to Diaz?s head and the Puerto Rican went down on his backside. He got up immediately and did not seem too badly shaken. After the eight count Ito was landing more rights to the head. Eventually Diaz began to fire back but it was a big round for Ito. Score 10-8 Ito Ito 39-36 Official scores: 39-36, 39-36 and 39-36 Ito Round 5 Ito was throwing lots of punches in this one but Diaz was blocking most of them. The eye-catching punches were two head-rocking rights and a pair of left hooks from Diaz as he took the round. Score 10-9 Diaz Ito 48-46 Round 6 Diaz showed growing confidence in this round. His jab was sharp and he was effective with hooks from both hands. Ito was still dangerous with right crosses but was too often coming inside whereas his early success had come from bombing Diaz from distance. Score 10-9 Diaz Ito 57-56 Round 7 Ito brought his jab back into play in this round. He was using the jab to curb Diaz?s attacks and to set up Diaz for combinations of straight lefts and rights through the middle of Diaz?s guard. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 67-65 Round 8 Another round for Ito. Diaz could not get past Ito?s jab. He was stuck on the outside and Ito was again landing clubbing rights to the head and left hooks to the body. Diaz was just not throwing enough to be a threat. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 77-74 Official scores: 77-74, 78-72 and 79-72 Round 9 Diaz was in danger of fading out of this fight but he battled back in this round. Ito was still firing bunches of straight punches but Diaz doing a better job of blocking them. He scored with some eye-catching hooks and seemed to rock Ito with a left hook just before the bell. Score 10-9 Diaz Ito 86-84 Round 10 In a fiercely fought round Diaz opened up with some hurtful hooks and Ito fired back with straight punches from both hands. Ito cleverly walked Diaz onto some crisp counters and then let fly with more straight shots to the head. Diaz needed to win this round but after that bright start he let Ito take control. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 96-93 Round 11 Another big round for Ito. He just could not miss Diaz with big overhand rights. Twice Ito?s head banged into the face of Diaz but luckily there was no cut. Ito was warned but it just led to some more booming rights to the head of Diaz. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 106-102 Round 12 Diaz was throwing wild punches looking for the kayo he needed but all that was doing was leaving him wide open for counters from Ito. Again those straight punches were battering Diaz and he never looked like pulling this one out of the fire as Ito took the last. Score 10-9 Ito Ito 116-111 Official scores; 118-109, 117-110 and 116-111 for Ito Ito, 27. was something of a surprise package never having fought outside Japan or beaten a highly rated opponent but he outworked and outpunched Diaz. A product of the Japanese novice tournaments he was All-Japan Newcomer winner. He went on to build his pro record to16-0-1 before losing a majority decision to Rikki Naito in a challenge for the Japanese super feather title in 2015,. He bounced back from that to win seven in a row collecting the OPBF and WBO Asia Pacific titles along the way. ?Smurf? Diaz, 23, had scored wins over Bryant Cruz and Braulio Rodriguez . He was competitive over the first six rounds but then faded badly with all three judges giving Ito five of the last six rounds. At 23 he can come again. Some sources have him born in Puerto Rico but he was born in Philadelphia and moved to Puerto Rico with his family when he was one month old. Click here for Part II. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eric Armit.  |
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