McCarter scores unanimous win over Hernandez in Mexico City, keeps Braekhus fight on course.

Former multi weight female world champion Layla McCarter 40-13-5 (10) travelled the 2000 Miles to Mexico City for the second time in 2 years to score her 40th Profesional victory on Friday night, earning a well deserved unanimous decision over tough 21 year old Erika Hernandez 6-2-1 in her opponents back yard at the Deportivo lazaro Cardenas sports centre ballroom..
The 38 year old who has held versions of world championships in the featherweight, super featherweight, lightweight, super lightweight and super welterweight divisions was having her 4th outing in 2 years, having remained unbeaten for the last 10 years with 17 straight victories. Her opponent, a relative novice, was coming off her only loss to Jessica Camara last October in what was her first trip outside of Mexico in only a 2 year career. For McCarter slip-ups were out of the question , regardless of the opponents resume, with a huge 2018 dust up with unified Welterweight Champion Cecilia Brækhus ordered by the IBF on the immediate horizon.
Following a short glove brand delay issue in the ring the bout got under way with McCarter quickly showing her authority, forcing Hernandez onto the back foot, visibly shaking the local girl frequently, highlighting the gulf in experience.. To her credit Hernandez showed her grit in the second in an attempt to gain the visitors respect, landing with single shots, yet finding herself on the end of accurate counters towards the end of the round.. The action followed a similar pattern into the third, but with McCarter setting traps for the deliberate youngster, who predictably walked onto shots in an attempt to land anything significant.. The fourth proved to be an untidy round, with Hernandez unkempt tendency to repeatedly dip low cause several messy head clashes, McCarter enjoyed the cleaner success with the Mexican looking increasingly frustrated.. Hernandez opened round five behind the jab, but soon found herself reverting back to her rugged swinging, too often standing straight in front of McCarter, and being punished for doing so.. Hernandez failed to adapt into the sixth and continued to walk onto obvious counters, Layla occasionally lowering herself into a brawl, more suited to the Mexican, although coming out with the upper hand.. Layla boxed to orders at the start of the seventh, exposing the immaturity of Hernandez, dominating the action in every department, even standing and out-slugging the 21 year old towards the end of the round.. The American kept the majority of the action at distance throughout the final round, fencing at the desperate youngster, scoring with authority and far more frequency to earn what appeared a quite decisive unanimous win, keeping the Braekhus fight on course for the new year..

Povetkin books date with Joshua with ugly win over Hammer.

Former WBA heavyweight champion, currently ranked #2 by the WBA, Alexander Povetkin 33-1 (23 Ko’s) scored a drawn out unanimous 12 round points victory over WBA #3 Christian Hammer 22-5 (12 Ko’s) tonight at the DIVS in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Povetkin was forced to create action in a bout where Hammers main objective was to survive at all costs.. The Romanian was penalised a point in the 7th for excessive holding and did little more than nullify Povetkins best work.. The fight was untidy, and the result predictable.. Povetkin winning all but a single round by scores of 120-107, 120-108, 118-108.
The victory earned Alexander the WBO International and WBA Intercontinental titles and according to promoter Andrey Ryabinskiy, has almost certainly secured a shot at Anthony Joshua for the former Olympic champion..

Povetkin twice failed drug tests prior to important bouts with American imports Deontay Wilder and Bermaine Stiverne in 2015 and 2016 but appears to have been miraculously exonerated of his misdemeanours..  On this showing the Russian appeared sluggish and flat, mostly due to Hammer’s unwillingness to engage..   Povetkin is possibly the smallest of the current heavyweight landscape but has proven in the past that he has the tools to compete with the bigger guys..   Joshua would be a huge ask following this showing.

Rigondeaux quits in 6.. Lomachenko dominates Cuban.

In a much anticipated battle of Olympic champions, WBO junior lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko 10-1 (8 Ko’s) completely outgunned Guillermo Rigondeaux 17-1 (11 Ko’s) over the first half of a surprisingly one sided affair before the Cuban retired in his corner prior to the start of the seventh, with what later emerged as an injured left hand, last night at The Theater in Madison Square Garden, New York.
Lomachenko gained control of the fight after a slow start, going on to craftily dominating almost every round, in a performance that should essentially slide him into the running to be considered the current pound for pound number 1.
Rigondeaux found the task increasingly daunting as the rounds went on, steadily landing far fewer shots and struggling with Lomachenko’s movement.. Round 3 saw the Cuban’s workrate drop even further, the round he would later reveal as the session where the injury occurred..
A frustrated Rigondeaux had a point deducted in the sixth for holding, as well as finding himself on the end of some scathing hooks, visibly shaking the now demoralised fighter.. The round ended without and real indication of Guillermo’s distress.. Rigondeaux failing to answer the bell for the preceding round..

Lomachenko was ahead on all three judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage: 

59-54, 59-54 and 60-53.

It was startling to see such a complete fighter in his own right, quit in such menial circumstances during the most momentous fight of his career.. I expected more fortitude from a fighter of Rigondeaux’s caliber regardless of the enormity of the task..

Lomachenko wittily commented later that he’s considering altering his name to No-Mas-Chenko.. revealing that Rigondeaux never once posed him an ounce of trouble..

Unheralded Caleb Truax dethrones IBF Champion James DeGale.

In a surprise upset, 29-3-2 (18 Ko’s) Caleb Truax of Minnesota hustled his way to a unanimous points verdict over James DeGale 23-2-1 (14 Ko’s) to take ahold of the IBF Super-Middleweight championship tonight at London’s Copper-Box Arena.. DeGale got off to a fast start before fading to the highly driven challenger in the middle rounds.. Truax took complete hold of the action in a torrid 5th round where he repeatedly hurt the champion who consistently opted to lie on the ropes.. James appeared a shadow of his usual self having recently recovered from shoulder surgery, possibly returning prematurely to world title action.. Truax executed a punch perfect plan and looked every inch championship materiel on this occasion, having failed on his two previous challenges..

Scores were 114-114, 115-112, 116-112.

Manuel Charr becomes WBA heavyweight champion with unanimous decision over Alexander Ustinov in Oberhausen.

In one of most overlooked heavyweight title fights in history, Manuel Charr 31-4 (17 Ko’s) scored a well deserved 12 round unanimous decision over the mountainous Alexander Ustinov 34-2 (25 Ko’s) tonight at the Konig Pilsener Arena in Oberhausen Germany to capture the vacant WBA regular heavyweight championship.. The 6 foot 8, Belarusian used his imposing size to make the early rounds uncomfortable for Charr, with predictable yet affective punches thrown from ungainly angles, opening a cut above the Lebanese born fighters left eye.. Charr managed to find his range in the 4th after patiently attempting to counter the pedestrian Ustinov, landing the more intelligent punches in what was warming into a highly watchable bout.. The patience paid off in the seventh as he visibly shook Ustinov with a well timed left hook, maintaining the attack to rock him again towards the end of the session.. Ustinov started round 8 relatively fresh, considering the torrid nature of the 7th, in an attempt to discourage the now tiring Charr. With 25 seconds left in the round, Charr fired a searing left hook at the disorganised Ustinov, knocking the Belarusian off his feet, opening a gash under his eye in the process. An unsteady Ustinov climbed to his feet with a resigned look on his face, before the bell ending the round rescued him.. Ustinov survived the final two sessions with Charr remaining the composed front runner in a well executed performance.. Scores were.. 115-111, 116-111, 115-112. Charr displaying good ring generalship in a bout that many thought he’d emerge second best.. Ustinov showed is little more than we already knew, he’s big, awkward and manufactured..

Charr’s people now head into negotiations with representatives of Puerto Rico’s Fres Oquendo for an immediate first defence.

Charr meets Ustinov in Oberhausen for vacant WBA title.

In a lightly publicised embarrassment, two of the poorest heavyweights to contest for a portion of a world title, meet tomorrow night in Oberhausen Germany when Alexander Ustinov 34-1 (25 Ko’s) meets Manuel Charr 30-4 (17 Ko’s) for the vacant WBA title. Ustinov a 6 foot 8 inch Belarusian hasn’t boxed a ranked fighter in 5 years, when he last faced an opponent of note, he was beaten badly by future world title challenger Kubrat Pulev back in 2012. Since that defeat, Ustinov has strung together 7 straight victories but has only boxed once since 2015, a quick knockout over Rafael Zumbano in May, and within that time hasn’t boxed anything that I would remotely consider an elimination bout..
Charr in the opposite corner is equally unworthy of his unlikely opportunity. In 2012 with a promising record of 22-0, Charr looked like championship material, before losing a brave WBC title challenge to Vitali Klitschko on cuts. The Lebanese born heavyweight rebounded impressively over the next couple of years, beating Oleksei Mazikin, Dennis Bakhtov, Konstantin Airich and Kevin Johnson before again walking into dangerous territory, being stopped by Alexander Povetkin in 2014.. Since then Manuel has lost to every rated fighter he’s faced, most recently suffering a knockout at the hands of current WBC Cruiserweight Champion Mairis Breidis in 2015, facing only unranked Andrei Mazanik and Sefer Seferi since, to earn a championship challenge.
This is only the latest example in the steady trend of devaluating world titles, hurting the historic lineage of a tradition rich division, surprisingly in this instance, by the oldest of the existing governing bodies..
On paper Charr has the more impressive credentials, facing a far more decorated array of opposition than Ustinov, yet appears to have lost a degree of punch resistance of late.. Ustinov is a huge mountain of a man, with adequate fundamentals and above average power, but portrays the look of a man who’s career has been carefully cultivated in an attempt to steer him to this exact position.. It’s as interesting a fight as it is a historic event, and although the victor will be hoisted aloft as the WBA heavyweight champion, there isn’t a man alive who would be gullible enough to recognise either mans claim as serious.

Bizarre scenes at Duco Events press conference.

In a lame attempt to drum up interest in a Joseph Parker v Anthony Joshua unification bout, CEO of Duco Events David Higgins held an impromptu press conference at the Duco headquarters in Auckland NZ yesterday, making what they called a ‘Final Offer’ to Hearn and Joshua.. The evidently low budget presser began with Higgins trying to establish a valid case for Anthony Joshua having a glass jaw, making erratic comparisons to Parker, while both the WBO champion (adorned with championship belt and dressed in cutdown trousers) and Kevin Barry looked on uncomfortably.. Higgins then began to have furniture moved around so those in attendance could watch a budget video production which supposedly contained evidence of Joshua being dropped in combat.. Before the production commenced, Higgins addressed his actions, explaining that many would consider it a disrespectful move, going on to say that it is no more disrespectful than Eddie Hearns initial offer..
The video commenced for a couple of minutes with a glass shattering sound bite (assimilating Joshua’s glass jaw) before a couple of well documented interviews with sparring partners, Lawrence Okolie and Daniel Dubois played out containing verbal assumptions that they’d hurt or dropped the champion in sparring, followed by sketchy clips from Joshua’s amateur bout with Dillian Whyte and last April’s Klitschko fight.. I found the whole thing in bad taste and a tad desperate, considering it’s highly unlikely Parker is even close to the top of Anthony’s list of immediate priorities.. Higgins did go on to say that they were willing to drop to a 35% split of net profits and were willing to take the fight next.. Probably forgetting how little revenue they grossed in the Cojanu fight, not to mention their unorthodox route to Youtube for an even less convincing showing against Hughie Fury only weeks ago.. If the Parker camp are holding press meetings to announce Joshua’s frailties, it gives you the impression that they are banking on the flaws too vigorously, as if they are almost trying to convince themselves that they have a sizeable chance..
There are ways of doing things properly as a promoter, and what David Higgins did was nothing short of embarrassing, especially considering that he has a damn good heavyweight there with a lot more class that this stunt suggests.. I wish them well and hope that in hindsight they might adopt a more professional approach to handling a champion, Joseph Parker deserves that at least.

Devon Alexander returns with impressive win in St Petersburg Fl.

Former IBF Welterweight Champion Devon Alexander 27-4 (14 Ko’s) returned from a two year Ring absence last night to score a unanimous 10 round decision over Walter Castillo 26-5-1 (19 Ko’s) at the Coliseum in downtown St Petersburg Florida.. The talented southpaw looked a whole different beast to the fighter that dropped decisions to Amir Khan and Shawn Porter several years ago, dominating Castillo with well timed accurate punching throughout.. Alexander scored a knockdown at the end of the second round and completely out landed Walter for the majority of the bout.. Alexander took the time out of the ring to clean his life up after a bout with prescription drug dependency and looked every inch a world class fighter with such a clinical return.
Scores were (100-89, 100-89, 96-93.)

On the St Petersburg undercard, undefeated welterweight Miguel Cruz (17-0, 11 KOs) scored a hard earned ten round unanimous decision over David Grayton (15-2-1, 11 KOs) by scores of 96-93 magnanimously. Grayton was down once in the sixth..

Popular Welterweight Gary Antuanne Russell (3-0, 3 KOs) wasted no time, scoring a swift first round Tko over Larry Yanez (4-8-2, 0 KOs). If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Russell is the brother of WBC featherweight champion and namesake Gary Russell.

NY Golden Gloves Champion Michael Coffie turns pro in Bethlehem Pa.

Tomorrow night at the Sands Event Centre in Bethlehem pa, 30 year old 2017 New York Golden Gloves, Super-Heavyweight Champion Michael Polite Coffie takes his first step into the paid ranks when he meets 0-1 Ralph Alexander of Maryland in a 4 round heavyweight attraction.. Alexander lost his only professional outing to rising prospect Hasim Rahman jr in April but is a big man with nothing to lose. Coffie, one of nine siblings, was constantly moved around in the Brooklyn care system after being removed from his drug dependent mother as a 2 year old, before finding a stable life with foster parents in Malverne. Michael moved back to Brooklyn in his teens, and would go on to serve 8 years in the United States Marine Corps, including tours of Afghanistan.. At the mature age of 28, Coffie entered the 2016 New York Golden Gloves, losing a decision to tough Nathan Conja in the finals with literally two months of experience.. Coffie has been trained since 2015 by Khoury Porter, but has more recently added Ramon Rivera and Matty Happaney to the crew.. Michael is an enthusiastic student who is extremely eager to learn, recently returning from training camp with current WBC heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder in Alabama, there is no higher learning in this sport than sparring with the best.. Michael is promoted by Marshall Kauffman’s King Promotions and is Managed by one of the most knowledgable men in the business, the one time Ring magazine editor in cheif and former New York State Commissioner Randy Gordon, a man who has ultimate faith in the potential of his charge.. Coffie has accomplished a whole lot in a short space of time and has made an instant impression on many who get the chance to see him operate, including former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield who had only good things to say of the promising fighter..

Coffie v Alexander is part of a Kings Promotion at the Sands Event Center in Bethlehem Pa. doors open at 6pm and will be televised on a delayed telecast on Eleven Sports.

Devon Alexander overcomes personal demons, returns to the ring tonight in Florida.

Former world Welterweight champion Devon Alexander returns to the ring tonight after a two year spell away from the sport when he takes on tough Walter Castillo 26-4-1 on a Warriors boxing promotion at the St Pete Coliseum, in St Petersburg Florida.. The St Louis southpaw’s return is a remarkable one, considering the personal demons he’s had to contend with over the last 5 years.. Back in 2012 whilst preparing to face Marcos Maidana, Alexander suffered a nose injury, following a head clash in sparring. Devon insisted that the injury wasn’t severe enough to postpone the fight so all went ahead as usual, Alexander winning a wide decision.. Soon after the bout, trainer Kevin Cunningham noticed that the swelling was still evident, and upon medical examination a blood clot was discovered and surgically removed.. Cunningham thought that the issue was sorted.. Over the next few months the trainer noticed that Devon wasn’t himself, his reflexes appeared shot and his fitness was poor.. Alexander assured Cunningham that everything was fine but by the instructions of Al Haymon, Devon was sent to be checked out more thoroughly, first at the Cleveland clinic, then secondly by the Mayo clinic, both examinations revealed nothing.. Over the next two years Alexander went on to lose his world title to Shawn Porter, then drop a unanimous decision to Amir Khan before losing to Rank underdog Aaron Martinez strengthening Cunningham’s claims that something was amiss..
An ultimatum was issued by Cunningham, that he would never work with his fighter until he got to the bottom of the mystery, forcing a desperate Alexander to come clean.. Devon had become addicted to painkillers that he’d been prescribed for the nose injury back in 2012.. Alexander checked into a rehabilitation unit soon after and has been clean ever since, accrediting boxing and his family as his motivation for his swift recovery.. Alexander now based at Cunningham's new training facility in Florida insists that he is back to his best form.. Win, lose or draw, his story is remarkable and goes to show how even the most disciplined of athletes can become victims of substance abuse.. Devon last held a version of the Welterweight title back in 2013, his record stands at 26-4 (14 Ko’s)

Francisco Ruiz in critical condition following San Salvador bout, Saturday.

El Salvador’s previously unbeaten welterweight Francisco Ruiz 3-1 unfortunately lapsed into unconsciousness following his 8th round knockout loss on Saturday at the Convention centre in El Cifco, San Salvador and has remained on a critical list since being admitted to hospital. Ruiz was knocked unconscious by Ricardo Cortez 4-0-1 at the end of the 8th session, suffering his first loss. Medics at the scene Stretchered the fighter to an awaiting ambulance, where he was rushed to a nearby emergency unit.. Ruiz v Cortez was part of a ‘KO drugs boxing event’ for the Salvadoran Welterweight title.. Francisco Ruiz had only previously boxed 4 round contests.. unfortunately, specialists described Ruiz situation as unfavourable, keep the young fighter in your prayers..