Three division world champion Abner Mares (29-2-1, 15 KOs) dethroned WBA featherweight champion Jesus Cuellar (28-2, 21 KOs) by a 12 round split decision on Saturday night at USC’s Galen Center in Los Angeles.
Two judges scored the fight 117-110 and 116-111 for Mares, and one judge scored the fight 115-112 for Cuellar.
Argentina’s Cuellar, who was making his third title defence, had his moments and landed some hard shots but Mexican Mares outboxed him in most of the rounds and scored a…
Crawford outclasses Molina in eight
Unbeaten American Terence Crawford (30-0, 21 KOs) scored a one-sided eighth round TKO over countryman John Molina Jr (29-7, 23 KOs) to retain his WBO and WBC light welterweight titleon Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
Crawford was landing hard shots from the start.
Molina was tough but he never had any answers.
Crawford jabbed and unloaded punches to the head and body until referee Mark Nelson stopped the punishment at 2:32 of the eighth round.
The titles was not at…
Joshua demolishes Molina and sets up Klitschko clash
IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) demolished Eric Molina (25-4, 19 KOs) in three rounds on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena.
The Briton easily overpowered Molina from the start of his second world title defence.
Joshua mostly boxed cautiously behind his jab behind his jab for the first couple of rounds but he soon started unloading heavy blows in the third.
Molina had nothing to offer in this fight and was in survival mode throughout.
The 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist…
John Molina Jr fails to make weight for Terence Crawford fight
American John Molina Jr failed to make weight for his light welterweight world title challenge against WBO/WBC champion Terence Crawford on Saturday night at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, which is Crawford’s hometown.
Molina weighed in four pounds over the 140-pound limit. He was given two hours to lose the excess pounds, but came in at 143.4 when he returned to the scales.
The fight is still on, but Molina cannot win the belts.
Crawford, who weighed in at 139.6 pounds, cannot lose…
Luis Concepcion fails to make weight and stripped of title, Kal Yafai fight goes ahead
Luis Concepcion has failed to make weight for his WBA super-flyweight title defence against Britain’s Kal Yafai and has been stripped of the belt.
The Panamanian was 2.7 pounds over the 115-pound limit at Friday’s weigh-in.
Yafai, who came in at 117.7 pounds, has still opted to fight Concepcion and will be champion if he wins.
Yafai said: “This is all about me, not him. I am 100 per cent confident I will become a world champion.”
If Concepcion wins, the title will remain vacant.
The bout will…
Lee Haskins withdraws from title defence against Shohei Omori
Britain’s Lee Haskins has withdrawn from his IBF bantamweight title defence against Shohei Omori, set for 31 December in Kyoto, Japan, after injuring his leg in training.
Medical reports show he will be fit to resume training in early January.
Haskins said: “I am gutted to have to pull out of this fight, I was looking forward to the challenge of boxing in Japan and closing out 2016 with three title defences.
“I will rest up over Christmas and hopefully will be able to get back to training in…
Saunders holds on to world title after poor performance aganist Akavov
Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders (24-0, 12 KOs) retained his WBO middleweight title with a points win over Artur Akavov (16-2, 7 KOs) on Saturday night at the Paisley Lagoon Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.
In his first title defence, Saunders won a unanimous decision by scores of 116-113, 116-112 and 115-113, but he was outworked for most of the fight and fortunate to keep the WBO belt.
Saunders has not been in action since winning the world title with a majority decision over Andy Lee last December,…
Murat Gassiev decisions Denis Lebedev to win IBF cruiserweight title
Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs) outpointed defending champion Denis Lebedev (29-3, 22 KOs) to win the IBF cruiserweight title on Saturday night at the MegaSport Arena in Moscow, Russia.
The Russian fighter won a 12-round split decision over countryman Lebedev, as the judges scored the bout 116-112, 116-111 for Gassiev, while the third had it 114-113 in favor of Lebedev.
Southpaw Lebedev was busier, but Gassiev landed the harder shots, dropping Lebedev with a body shot in the fifth and marking him…
Lomachenko wins after Walters quits
WBO super featherweight champion Vasyl Lomachenko (7-1, 4 KOs) retained his title with a TKO victory over previously unbeaten Nicholas Walters (26-1-1, 21 KOs) on Saturday night at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Lomachenko, who was making the first defence of the title he won by a fifth-round knockout over Roman “Rocky” Martinez in June, outboxed, outworked and outclassed the former WBA featherweight champion and Walters quit after seven rounds.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist connected…
Flanagan finishes off Cruz in eight
WBO lightweight champion Terry Flanagan (32-0, 13 KOs) scored a eighth round stoppage win over Puerto Rican challenger Orlando Cruz (25-5-1, 13 KOs) on Saturday night at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.
The Manchester fighter dominated the action from the start as Cruz was in survival mode throughout.
Flanagan, who was making the fourth defence of the title, upped the pressure as the fight progressed and dropped his overmatched opponent twice in the eighth before referee Steve Gray…