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KEITH THURMAN SURVIVES DETERMINED JOSESITO LOPEZ, RETAINS TITLE BY MAJORITY DECISION

NEW YORK — It had been nearly two years since Keith Thurman had last been in a professional boxing ring.

On the shelf isn’t where he figured he’d be after his breakout win, a split decision over Danny Garcia. First he had his right elbow operated on, ending 2017 for him. Then an injury to his left hand canceled a 2018 return.

In the interim he got married in Nepal and watched as Errol Spence Jr. and his former foe Shawn Porter rose to prominence in the division.

After twelve hard rounds, Thurman (29-0, 22 knockouts) emerged bruised but unbowed, outpointing Josesito Lopez (36-8, 19 KOs) by majority decision to retain the WBA welterweight title on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 9,623 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

One scorecard had it 113-113 even, while the other two had it 115-111 and 117-109 for the 30-year-old from Clearwater, Fla., who ended 22 months of inactivity with a hard outing in the main event of a PBC on Fox card.

No one knew exactly what to expect when the bell rang for his fight Saturday night against Josesito Lopez. After a tentative opening round, Thurman reminded people why they call him “One Time”.

With about thirty seconds remaining in the second, Thurman stepped back from the taller Lopez and cranked a counter left hook, putting Lopez on the canvas. It looked like we could get an early finish, it turned out to be just a wakeup call for Lopez.

Lopez, though never a world beater, showed why he was known as “The Riverside Rocky”, standing up to the heavy uppercuts and wide swinging rights to land his own shots around the guard of Thurman.

Then things went sideways. After failing to get rid of Lopez inside of six rounds, the way Marcos Maidana, Andre Berto and Canelo Alvarez did, Lopez found his moment, torquing Thurman’s head with a left hook, then knocking his head upright with a right hand. Thurman was in big trouble for the remainder of the round, drawing referee Steve Willis in close for a look as Lopez looked for the finish.

“He had me buzzed and shaken up in the seventh round, but I tried to stay on the outside away. I was a little off in my prediction of how long his arms were. He lunged in and was really willing to commit to the knockout,” said Thurman.

Thurman survived, much in part because Lopez appeared to gas himself out. Thurman recovered behind his jab in round eight, just as he had when Luis Collazo hurt him with a body in round five of their 2015 fight.

Thurman resumed throwing heavy bombs in round nine, landing combinations and periodically touching the body with his left as he circled around the ring.

Lopez walked through the heavy offensive outbursts from Thurman, forcing the titleholder to move more than usual. Thurman appeared exhausted at the final bell but raised his hands victoriously.

“I was disappointed I couldn’t finish him and get him out of there,” said Lopez, 34. “If he thinks he’s the best welterweight out there, then I want two through five lined up for me.”

Thurman had the edge in punch stats with 247 landed out of 899 (27.5%) thrown while Lopez landed 117 of 513 (22.8%). Thurman also had the edge in jabs (79 to 17) and power punches landed (168 to 100).

Thurman excused the performance, saying he didn’t expect to be at his best following the layoff, but took aim at his promotional company’s biggest recent signing, Manny Pacquiao. Thurman says he wants to face the 40-year-old living legend, who made his PBC debut with a unanimous decision over Adrien Broner last week, and wouldn’t mind if he had to travel to the Philippines to do so.

“I would most likely definitely take the Manny Pacquiao fight this year,” said Thurman regarding the fighter who holds the “regular” version of his WBA belt. “I’m ready to fight wherever Pacquiao wants it.”

BY RYAN SONGALIA

TUGSTSOGT NYAMBAYAR A HIT IN BROOKLYN; EARNS WBC FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE SHOT

NEW YORK — The vision is precise, and certainly tells the mind in light-speed time what to do and when to react. That’s all Tugstsogt Nyambayar, the Mongolian 2012 Olympic flyweight silver medalist, needs.

Just that sliver of an opening. Just that minute drop of a glove.

Then he strikes.

He lands with accuracy, and thudding impact, and the game southpaw Claudio Marrero was able to uphold the frequent barrages. He just couldn’t stave off the fissures in his defense that “King Tug” mined.

In his biggest challenge to date as a professional, King Tug won a twelve round unanimous decision over Marrero in the WBC world featherweight title eliminator on the FS1 portion of the PBC on Fox from Barclays Center on Saturday night.

“We had a really good camp so this is just me putting the pressure and pace that we worked on in camp and using it in the ring,” said Nyambayar, after going twelve rounds for the first time in his career. “This sets me up for big fights. Whatever big fights are presented to us, we’ll take it.”

Nyambayar (11-0, 9 knockouts) outlanded Marrero (23-3, 17 KOs) 119 to 114, but needed 509 punches to get there, for 23.4 percent, while Marrero threw a total of 714 punches (16 percent).

Perhaps the most telling stat came in the jabs. King Tug landed just 10, but he threw just 98 (10.2 percent), while Marrero landed 12 jabs of 345 (3.5 percent).

In the 10th, referee Benjy Esteves took a point away from Marrero for hitting Nyambayar on the break. With a welt building below Marrero’s left eye, King Tug engaged again and even landed a low blow, but Esteves didn’t charge Nyambayar with a point.

In the last round, Marrero wanted to battle Nyambayar, but he attacked wildly, and Nyambayar picked him apart with piercing counter rights. Then, Nyambayar thought he would have some fun in closing, hopping around the ring with his arms up.

In the end, Nyambayar had his hand raised, after judges Julie Lederman (114-113), Eric Marlinski (115-112) and John Poturaj (116-111) saw him as the winner.

If Chris Colbert wanted to garner attention, he certainly did with his fluorescent pink look on the top of his head, to the bathrobe he wore into the ring, complete with white fur around the collar.

Colbert, the Brooklyn-based fighter known as “Little B-Hop,” was facing a challenge in Joshuah Hernandez (8-2, 7 KOs) a sinewy, skilled fighter from Chicago who had just lost once prior to meeting Colbert.

The pair fought in close quarters in the first two rounds, with Hernandez sporting a bloody nose for his efforts.

In the third, Colbert (10-0, 3 KOs) showed he could fight southpaw or orthodox, switching things up on Hernandez and making him hesitant. Through four rounds, Colbert had outlanded Hernandez 76-34.

Hernandez tried crowding Colbert in a corner in the fifth, though, to no avail. Colbert bore through the slight onslaught, and even landed a hard right. Too bad Colbert doesn’t possess heavy, one-punch power.

The pair finished the sixth with a wild exchange, after Colbert motioned with his glove to incite Hernandez into coming forward. The two then blasted away until the bell closed the round.

It was a spirited brawl in which Colbert came out ahead.

“He put up a great fight,” Colbert said about Hernandez. “Today I decided not to give the crowd a boxing lesson, I decided I wanted to show them that I can stand and fight with anybody if I choose to. We’re going to keep making these fights easier and easier.

“I have very high-quality fight and I’m getting better and better as we go. I’m looking forward to getting more opportunities.”

In a scheduled six-round super lightweight fight, Antuanne Russell (8-0, 8 KOs) stopped very overmatched Roberto Almazan (7-9, 2 KOs) at :59 of the second round with a pair of knockdowns, both off of right hooks off the top of the head.

It wasn’t much of an exhibition. Russell was clearly the superior fighter and Almazan appeared in survival mode from the opening bell. It didn’t take long for referee Shada Murdaugh to see enough and wave it over.

“I listened to my corner’s directions and they told me that the hook was going to be there when he shot his left hand,” Russell said after what amounted to a sparring session. “I went to my hook position and I was ready to catch and fire.

“This is nothing new to me. I just try to execute what I’m told and sharpen my craft. We’re going back to the drawing board and we’ll be patient.”

BY JOSEPH SANTOLIQUITO

THURMAN-LOPEZ UNDERCARD: CHORDALE BOOKER REMAINS UNBEATEN WITH DECISION WIN

NEW YORK — Chordale Booker (14-0, 7 KOs) easily defeated Juan De Angel (21-10, 19 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision on the Keith Thurman-Josesito Lopez undercard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The official scores at ringside were 80-71 on one card and 79-72 on the other two.

Making his fourth appearance at Barclays Center, the 27-year-old Booker scored the only knockdown of the bout in the seventh round when he hurt De Angel with a body shot causing the Colombian fighter to bend over and take a knee. With his left eye almost closed, De Angel managed to evade the southpaw Booker’s right-handed jab and survive the round.

“We always work on attacking the body, ever since I’ve started. I’ve always been a good body puncher and get great leverage on those punches,” said Booker.

Booker put the pressure on again in the eighth and final round chasing De Angel around the ring looking to add a punctuation point and end the bout in spectacular fashion. A left shot to the body hurt De Angel again sending him into the ropes and away from further punishment by Booker.

The only meaningful moment in the bout for De Angel was in the second when Booker walked into a right hand after leaving his left out there a moment too long. Booker recovered quickly and landed a fiery combination of his own to move De Angel into the corner. Booker had De Angel stunned again in the fifth round and had a seemingly defenseless De Angel in front of him but rather than risk a counter shot back at him Booker decided to keep working behind his jab and snapped De Angel head back.

Booker is continuing to make his climb up the junior middleweight rankings and is coming off a first round knockout victory over Jason Wahr last November in North Carolina. After winning multiple New York City amateur tournaments Booker moved to Connecticut.

“I’m about to make a list of fighters that I want to face to propel me to the next level. I’m going to keep climbing and fighting better opponents. I thought I had a good performance today, but not great. I feel like I showed that I have a lot I can do in this sport,” said Booker.

Philadelphia’s Stephen Fulton improved to 15-0 (6 KOs) with a fifth-round TKO victory over Marlon Olea 13-4 (12 KOs). The official time of the stoppage was 41 seconds of the fifth round.

The lightning-quick Fulton scored two knockdowns in the bout in which he dominated from the beginning. The first knockdown came in the second round when a Fulton measured Olea with a lead left hook that landed clean and put the Colombian Olea down.

Fulton put Olea down again in the fourth round with a sharp three-punch combination that hurt Olea. In the fifth round it became evident that Olea went into survival mode and stopped trying to compete. A one-two combo almost floored Olea again but before he could try to fall into the ropes the referee decided he had enough.

The 24-year-old Fulton is coming off victory over German Meraz last September in California and spent time in camp with Carl Frampton last year.

Middleweight prospect Mark Duncan (3-0, 3 KOs) defeated Daniel Flores (0-3) by TKO in the third round. The official time of the stoppage was 1:46.

The accumulation of punches in addition to a nasty cut over Flores’ right eye was enough for the referee to stop the bout. The 31-year-old Duncan got off to a fast start in the opening round hurting Flores several times including opening up the gash above the right eye with a clean punch.  The Clarksburg, Md. native is coming off a first round TKO victory over Ray Cervera at Barclays Center last month on the Charlo Brothers undercard.

In welterweight action Tyrek Irby (6-0, 2 KOs) defeated Jonathan Figueroa (2-2, 1 KO) by four-round unanimous decision. The official scores at ringside were 40-36 and 39-37 on the other two.

The 25-year-old Irby was too fast and sharp for Figueroa who had trouble keeping up with the Maryland-native. Irby stunned Figueroa twice in the second and again the last round by landing clean combinations starting with the body then going back up top.

Irby is coming off unanimous decision victory over Lamont White in his hometown of Maryland late last year.

In the opening bout of the evening super middleweight prospect Mycheal Teal (2-0, 2KO’s) scored a first round knockout of Jacob Landin (0-3). The official time of the stoppage was 30 seconds. The 24-year-old Teal is a gym mate of Keith Thurman and is trained by Dan Birmingham. 

BY VLADIMIR LIK

MARSELLOS WILDER, YOUNGER BROTHER OF DEONTAY, KOED ON THURMAN-LOPEZ CARD

NEW YORK — In a minor upset, journeyman William Deets (7-12, 3 KOs) knocked out cruiserweight prospect Marsellos Wilder (3-1, 2 KOs) in the fourth round on the Keith Thurman-Josesito Lopez undercard at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The official time of the stoppage was 2:35.

Wilder, the younger brother of WBC heavyweight champion Deontay, was seemingly in control for the entire bout when his punches started to come in wide and Deets landed a clean three-punch combination sending Wilder down. Wilder attempted to beat the count but was in very unsteady legs and almost fell between the ropes prompting the ringside physician to rush in.

The 34-year-old Deets was hurt several times in the bout the including the third round when he lost his mouthpiece twice on both occasions after eating hard-right hands from Wilder. The 29-year-old Wilder  did his best to get Deets out of there but the durable Nebraska fighter, who has only been stopped three times in his 12 defeats, managed to stay in there and counter back when Wilder would drop his hands.

The younger Wilder was coming off a victory on his older brother’s undercard last month in Los Angeles and already had his next fight date scheduled for February 23 in London on the James DeGale-Chris Eubank, Jr. undercard.

BELLATOR 214: HEAVYWEIGHT GOAT FEDOR EMELIANENKO PREPARES TO TAKE HIS FINAL WALK AGAINST RYAN BADER

LOS ANGELES – Big night for Bellator at The Forum, Inglewood. The final walk, potentially, for Fedor Emelianenko, the great Russian MMA heavyweight regarded as the greatest of all-time. The final of the fight league’s heavyweight grand prix tournament, which has been a major success and sees American Ryan Bader pitched against Emelianenko in his bid to claim the title, having already claimed the light heavyweight crown. Bader has heavy hands, and brilliant wrestling.

The two are matched in weight and height. Bader is the less weather worn, in the pomp of his career, and the favourite. It’s likely that Fedor will go all-out early, and if Bader (26-5 in MMA) can weather the onslaught, the 36-year-old from Chandler, Arizona, has a great opportunity to claim the greatest scalp he will ever have on his record.

The Russians are here in force, to witness the berserker, explosive Sambo style that saw Fedor (38-5-1 in MMA) undefeated in a run of 27 victories between 2000 and 2010, when he lined up a Who’s Who of the great fighters, coming through adversity to defeat them all in their pomp in Japan and in the USA: Antonio Nogueira, Mirko CroCop, Mark Hunt, Mark Coleman et al. At 42, Fedor is likely making his last walk to the cage.

For “The Last Emperor”, that time of retirement may well have come. That’s not to say there are still not great performances in him. Working out, the speed and power were there this week on media day as he cracked the 4oz gloves into the pads of trainer Peter Theiss. He is still revered, still considered the greatest heavyweight of all-time. Still carries a profound aura and presence.

He has never had a bad word to say about his opponents. Never gloated. Never glowed even. There are few who do not admire the great Russian bear.

A former champion in Japan’s PRIDE Fighting Championships, a former Strikeforce title contender and one of the few names the UFC tried, and failed, a few times to sign, Fedor joined Bellator through his association and friendship with its fight league president Scott Coker.

“This is a huge event for us as we see the culmination of the heavyweight grand prix, and the rise of a new set of stars,” explained Coker, the CEO of Bellator, which is owned by media giants Viacom. Last year, the fight league signed a three-year 140 million U.S. dollar deal with DAZN, the OTT streaming service. DAZN have exclusive rights to eight events annually.

The card is replete with show-stealers including a fight between rising prospect Aaron Pico and Henry Corrales, a pair of Los Angeles natives from different sides of the tracks. Pico is highly touted, a gifted boxer – and wrestler – who has designs on becoming a world champion in MMA, and in boxing. He trains with Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Boxing Gym. There is even talk of him departing MMA for a year to try to qualify as a wrestler for Mexico at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Corrales, a veteran of 32, with a record of 16-3, is up for this. It’s likely to be a fight in a phone box. “If he (Pico) wasn’t finishing these guys, he’s highlighting reeling these guys, he wouldn’t be so talked about,” admitted Corrales to me this week. “His amateur career is pretty legit. He’s a high-level wrestler. Golden Gloves boxer. It’s part of the game.”

They are both from Whittier. “Same area, yep. We never crossed paths. There’s a ten-year gap. My people don’t even know of his people. I’ve never seen him, just heard about him. Different backgrounds too. He grew up in an athletic field. The dark arts brought me to the martial arts. I didn’t grow up playing sports, I was just being a clown and an ill-disciplined little f—. Different background and different circles.”

But it is an all-Hispanic showdown. Corrales has ‘Guerrero Azteca’ tattooed on his chest, depicting a lion’s head behind a cage. “Mexicans want to fight. It’s in their blood. I guess the knowledge isn’t there because of the generations of boxing. They absorb the knowledge of boxing, they’re familiar with the sport. But it comes to MMA, they’re just as big fans. I’m Mexican American. I guess there’s not too many who just do MMA.

Then the rub, and the difference in backgrounds. “I’ve been stabbed back in the day by a Mexican that looks like Pico,” offers Corrales. Motivation enough, it seems Pico, for his part, cannot wait for the challenge in this step up in class. “I think it’s going to be a great fight,” Pico told me this week. “But I don’t think it’s what he thinks it’s going to be. People don’t know I have it all. I can stand on my feet and wrestle too. I’ve been working a lot on the ground. Obviously, I can box and fight on my feet. I know what I’ve got to do to win.”

Once a formidable wrestler, he now delights in the stand-up. “Absolutely, I love fighting for the knockout. That’s what people remember. That’s what people remember Mike Tyson for. I want people to know Pico could do it all but, ultimately, he knocked a lot of people out. His fighting style is a real brawler type. But a lot of people underestimate my quickness in my punches in those four-ounce gloves. It’s a whole different ball game, the way I’m able to punch. It’s crazy. I feel comfortable on my feet. I could have made a run at the Olympic boxing team. I’ve boxed with all those guys on the team. I definitely have made a big impact in boxing. But life took me in a different direction. I’m happy with that because I was able to travel the world. I think I would have been a better boxer than a wrestler, 100 percent.”

Pico, as mentioned, does have clear ambitions as a boxer. “MMA is the priority right now, but I will get boxing fights. I’m not sure when, I’ll have to sit down with everybody. But if it was up to me, if I’m healthy between fights I don’t know why I can’t do both.”

“I’m pretty sure Bellator will let me box. Scott Coker is a very open-minded guy. He knows I’m representing Bellator and MMA fighters. One thing about me going into boxing, it won’t be a sideshow. I want to make a big impact in boxing. I really, really feel I can do that. I spar with a lot of guys, and I’m doing MMA all week, but spar with boxers who are doing it every day. I’m holding my own.”

In this era of combat sports, we have the crossovers too, and there is an intrigue, a fascination to the MMA debut of WWE star Jack Swagger – or to give him his real name Jake Hager – as a heavyweight here at the event. On the eve of his transition into the toughest proving ground in sport: heavyweight MMA fights getting punched in the face with 4oz gloves by 250-pound men who want to take your head off, or snap your limbs, he told me: “I’m making MMA great again for pro wrestlers. I don’t know if I’m trying to confuse MMA fans who are new to me with four different names, but it’s a work in progress. I definitely want to bring that persona, charisma and character into the cage.”

But this is a long way from the long-legged spandex of the WWE, where he was a champion. Hager was a formidable college wrestler in the United States and a very decent American football player for the University of Oklahoma (where he graduated in finance, for the record). Not since Brock Lesnar crossed into MMA from WWE has such a name made the great leap of faith. And there are risks.

“Oh, it’s a huge risk, a very big investment in myself and my abilities,” acknowledged Hager. “But I think if you look at life, that’s how you accomplish the big things. In 2016 and 2017, I wasn’t in a good place. I’d been on the road for 12 years, I was drinking too much. I needed to get back to who I was. This was a way for me to better myself. Be better than my past self. That was really important. I feel with all that’s happened in the last year and a half, I’ve already won.” Swagger’s debut opponent is a six-foot journeyman JW Kiser who is 1-1 in MMA. It ought to be a gentle opener, but you just never know in an MMA heavyweight fight.

The Forum will be buzzing for the Bellator fight league’s 2019 opener tonight, in which history will be made, and when a huge chapter may close with the presence of greatness in Fedor Emelianenko

JOHN RIEL CASIMERO BEGINS ROAD BACK TO CONTENTION AGAINST KENYA YAMASHITA

John Riel Casimero is hoping to reassert himself as a contender once again when he faces Japan’s Kenya Yamashita on February 16 at the Midas Hotel and Casino in Pasay City, Philippines.

Casimero, a former titleholder at 108 and 112 pounds, didn’t get going out the gate the way he had wanted to at 115 pounds, losing an upset decision to Jonas Sultan in a world title eliminator for the IBF belt in September of 2017.

He sat out ten months before returning against a journeyman in Mexico last July, and went through a series of managerial moves in the United States before returning to the Philippines to train under his brother Jayson Casimero, a former pro, in their hometown of Ormoc City in the province of Leyte.

 

BY RYAN SONGALIA