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Forgotten Fades – Humberto Soto Vs. Urbano Antillon by Patscorpio

This particular fight I feel is if someone mentioned this fight on a random humbug that means I know they truly do watch boxing. The funny thing was this was not originally the main event for the Top Rank PPV (Remember those cards?!!). It was Nonito Donaire vs Wladimir Sidorenko. My mind slips me on why they changed the lineup and bumped the fight I am about to mention to the main event, but it turned out to be a great decision. Humberto Soto vs Urbano Antillon for the WBC Lightweight Title. Humberto Soto was making the third defense of the vacant belt that he won by beating David Diaz. For Urbano Antillon, it would be his second crack at becoming a world champion. He had previously come up short against Miguel Acosta and was hungry for another shot.

               In the first round, Soto looked like he was going to warm up into the fight by throwing some jabs out there. However, Antillon was not interested in any feeling out process. After some time, he started throwing bombs at each other which Soto replied back in kind. They were roughing each other up. Antillon would throw Soto to the canvas. It got chippy early. Antillon established heavy pressure and Soto just had to stand there and trade. Soto landed like three uppercuts to end the first round. In between the rounds, you can already see both guys are marked up. The crowd loved every minute of it. The second round is more of the same with Antillon using a jab trying to move in. Soto ate every bit of those jabs to throw combinations at Antillon. Then it was Rock’em Sock’em action with more choice low blows. Soto’s combination punching is a joy to watch. A right hand from him momentarily froze Antillon. Antillon body punching was class as it kept Soto on his toes. The third-round action was just scintillating. Antillon could not wait to go and engage. He backed up Soto immediately with body shots as Soto ripped hooks and uppercuts to his head. A left hook from Soto made Antillon freeze once again. Soto then went to Antillon’s body while Antillon ripped Soto with headshots. Got to love the change of reversal. The 4th, 5th, and 6th rounds were just an exercise in brutality. Antillon is given an official warning for low blows, but he did make Soto cover up more. But eventually Antillon strays too low again and gets the point deducted. The amount of hooks and uppercuts these two are letting off is crazy. You just do not see brutal combination punching like that every day.

The 7th and 8th rounds Antillon suffers a cut where the ref deemed it caused by headbutt. The pace though never lets up. A right hook from Soto again makes Antillon freeze up again. Antillon has taken one too many of those types of shots that has made him do that. Except Antillon half slipped and half staggered after that shot as well. Soto lacing a shelled up Antillon with serious combinations. Antillon looked worse for wear and looked like he was about to go down. His face now has a crimson mask. The doctor had to check out the cut. In the ninth round, Soto tries to box and keep some distance until Antillon starts touching him to the body again. 10th round, Soto laced him with uppercuts which made Antillon throw him to the canvas. Soto tried slowing down the pace and boxing more which Antillon responded by throwing left and right hooks at him. Later in the round, Antillon landed more choice shots that landed low. The ref however did not admonish him for it. The last two rounds you can tell both fighters are losing steam but still throwing. At this point, will is carrying both of them. Antillon is bleeding more profusely from his eye. Trading shots on the ropes and falling into clinches. Soto landed overhand rights and Antillon responded with hooks and then of course got rough again. Antillon again spins Soto around and throws him to the canvas. The crowd cheers them on as they trade to the final bell. Soto again came remarkably close to dropping Antillon in those last seconds. What an amazing slugfest this was. Soto’s last second probably won him that round and the fight itself. When the scores were read, Soto would retain this title by unanimous decision with scores of 115-112 and 114-113 x 2.

For Urbano Antillon, this would unfortunately be the closest that he would come to becoming world champion. So heartbreakingly close but came up short. He would only fight two more times after this. The next fight would be against the reigning WBA Lightweight Champion Brandon Rios. Prime and peaking, Rios would stop Antillon in a very brutal 3 round war.  Following some time off, Antillon would fight only once more, winning by KO. There hasn’t been much on Antillon since retiring outside of a video interview done by ESNEWS about a decade ago – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff1NxwwfhL8 – where he confirms his retirement as well as discusses how he adjusted to life after boxing.   For Soto, he would make one more title defense before vacating it to move to 140 pounds. After 3 non-descript fights, he would go on to challenge power punching Lucas Matthysse who would become the first man to drop and stop him within five rounds. He would continue on winning eleven of his final thirteen fights. During which he scored some unlikely upset wins over the likes of John Molina and Brandon Rios. His final fight against Jessie Vargas would prove that he was too old and small to compete at 154. Vargas would stop the normally durable Soto in six rounds, sending him into retirement. The excellent “Best I Faced” article (https://www.ringtv.com/646609-best-i-faced-humberto-soto/) highlighted Soto’s activities in his retirement, which was working with amateur fighters and owning taxis & buses in Mexico.  It is always great to hear of boxers doing well in life after boxing, but it is also great to remember the great performances as well. This fight is more than worthy of remembrance. Full recommendation to watch.

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Jaron Boots Ennis vs David Avanesyan Fight Report by King P

Great to be back at a Matchroom event! This time I am in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center to see the Matchroom debut of Jaron “Boots” Ennis. Looking forward to seeing him fight in front of his hometown crowd.

 The night kicked off with young prospect Dennis Thompson making his pro debut at Bantamweight in his hometown against Fernando Valdez. Thompson showed good variety on offense, including a barrage of body punches. Rocked Valdez with hooks and uppercuts, Valdez is hanging in though. Thompson was in control all four rounds and cruised to an easy UD (40-36 3x).

Young welterweight Ismail Muhammad took on Frank Brown. In the opening minute, Muhammad gets dropped by Brown in an exchange of punches (which ended in a clash of heads). Ismail gets up and does well the rest of the round though. The clash of heads results in a mouse under Brown’s eye, and a cut above. Muhammad took control in the second round though, as he fought behind the jab and rocked Brown a couple times. Brown came back the next round more aggressively and made Ismail uncomfortable. Muhammad dropped Brown in the fourth with a short left cross. After 6 rounds where both fighters traded knockdowns, Ismail Muhammad was declared the winner by UD (58-54 2x, 57-55).

Christian Carto took on Carlos Buitrago. Good action in the first round, as both fighters were able to get excellent work in. Buitrago was able to successfully pressure Carto in spurts and land good shots. Carto also had some nice shoeshine combinations in between. Good second round by Carto, as he increased his work rate and landed more body punches. Carto drops Buitrago in the third with a nice uppercut and ends the round with a nice barrage of punches. The ref calls off the fight at the end of the third while Buitrago is on his stool.

Next up was Christopher Diaz taking on Derlyn Hernandez. The fight ended early, as Diaz rocked Hernandez in the second round and continued to pummel him until the ref stepped in to stop the fight. Khalil Coe taking on a replacement opponent in Kwame Ritter. The first round was rough, but the action picked up in the 2nd and Coe scored a knockdown. Then continued to pummel Ritter for the rest of the round until the ref stepped in and stopped it.

After we had WBC Featherweight champion Skye Nicolson defending her title against Dyana Vargas. This was an easy shutout for Nicolson, who styled Vargas the whole fight. Vargas has power, but she has no way of setting anything up. Skye jabbed and 1-2’d her all night. At 1 point Vargas tried to taunt Skye and call her a chicken, only for Nicolson to pop her for a hard 1-2 that stunned Vargas. Skye cruised to an easy shutout victory.

It’s the co-main event. Young welterweight Jalil Hackett steps up in opposition to take on Peter Dobson. Pete is a rugged vet who gave Conor Benn a tough time. So, it was going to be interesting to see what Hackett does. Jalil got off to a fast start, boxing up Pete very well. He was able to find a home for that left hook to land all night. However, as the fight wore on, Dobson was able to make a comeback. Not sure if Hackett gassed or just took his foot off the gas. Either way, Pete was able to take advantage and win the last couple rounds to make it even closer. Hackett was still able to leave with a unanimous decision.

Finally, we get to the main event. Jaron “Boots” Ennis defends his IBF Welterweight title against the late replacement in David Avanesyan. Ennis started off in the pocket trading with Avanesyan, and clearly getting the better of the exchanges. Boots was getting hit a bit, but his offense was overwhelming David so he could afford to take a couple punches to get his punches off. The body attack was quickly taking its toll on Avanesyan. In the fifth round, Avanesyan was finally knocked down. He got up but was served more body shots that were clearly punishing him. After the round, Avanesyan’s corner had enough and waved it off.

In the post-fight press conference, Ennis mentioned that he was not as sharp as he wanted to be due to the layoff. The ring rust definitely affected his timing, but he was still satisfied that he got the job done. Boots made it clear that he wants Crawford and is hoping that Eddie Hearn and Turki Alalshikh can make the fight happen. Only time will tell if that fight gets made, Until next time…

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Shakur Stevenson vs Artem Harutyunyan – Fight Report by King P

It is great to be back at a Top Rank event once again. This time in Newark, New Jersey to see the hometown kid Shakur Stevenson make his first defense of his WBC Lightweight title. Interested in seeing how he looks after his critically panned performance against Edwin De Los Santos.

The card started with young Heavyweight prospect Ali Feliz taking on Robson Perez in a 4-round bout. Ali spent every round using his boxing to shut out Perez. Nice jab, good combination punching, and some nice body shots were all used to secure the victory. Feliz seemed content using his boxing skills and not trying to get Robson out of there with his power. Good showing by Felix nonetheless.

Next up was Kelvin Davis (brother of Keyshawn) taking on Kevin Johnson. There was a lot of back and forth between Johnson and the Davis bros at the weigh in, so I was definitely looking forward to seeing how it would transfer to the real fight. The actual fight started off slow, not much action to start. Things finally picked up in the fourth round as the fighters became more aggressive and started upping their activity. Kevin had some nice body shots and Kelvin had some good counters. Johnson was able to rally in the latter half of the fight, as he was landing more on Kelvin and making him uncomfortable. After 8 rounds, Kelvin was declared the winner by majority decision (78-74 2x, 76-76).

Next fight was local fighter Keith Colon, making his pro debut at Featherweight against Hunter Turbyfill. Colon came out guns blazing in his debut, tagging Hunter with body shots and hard right hands. Colon put Turbyfill down in the second and continued to punish him with shots to the body and head until the ref waved it off. The crowd loudly cheered for the hometown kid as he made a statement in his pro debut. Looking to see more of Colon in the future.

Next fight was William Foster taking on Eridson Garcia. Garcia looked sharp, establishing his boxing skills and power early against Foster. He hurt Foster early a couple times, though Foster was able to weather the storm. It was quickly evident that Foster did not have much for Garcia, struggling to keep up with Erdison’s pace. Garcia lit up Foster all night, claiming a dominant UD victory.

The main card kicked off with exciting young prospect Abdullah Mason. Mason has earned a ton of praise from the fans and pundits alike, touting him to be a future elite/star fighter. In his first fight on ESPN, he takes on a tough and crafty veteran in Luis Lebron. Abdullah told me personally that he was aiming to make a statement and knock Lebron out. Well in the second round, Lebron was already busted up and bruised like he went through ten rounds. Mason proceeded to knock down Lebron 2x, and continued to pummel him until the corner mercifully stopped the fight. A statement was made. Abdullah Mason has a bright future ahead of him, and fights like the show exactly why.

Following up Abdullah Mason was another hot young prospect in Keyshawn Davis, as he took on rugged veteran Miguel Madueno. Madueno definitely was on the front foot all fight and used his relentless pressure to try and get to Davis. But Keyshawn used his boxing to counter and pick off Madueno every time he came in. Madueno is tough, so he was able to take everything Davis dished out. After the sixth round is when things started getting hectic. Keyshawn hit Madueno after the bell, and Madueno got in his face. From the seventh round on, it turned into what could be described as a wrestle fest. A lot of holding, grabbing, and a couple of takedowns to the canvas. Keyshawn was still able to counterpunch in between the rough housing moments, on his way to a UD victory.

Next up was the co-main and what turned out to be the most controversial fight of the night: O’Shaquie Foster defended his WBC 130 title against veteran Robson Conceicao. The actual fight was nothing to write home about. Foster controlled the fight with his job and was able to outland Conceicao as Robson mostly swung at air. The crowd was bored, restless, and was booing by the fifth round. It was so bad that in the 12th round the fans were counting down after 10 seconds like WWE fans during the Royal Rumble, and they loudly cheered when the buzzer went off at 0. Everybody was happy the fight was over, and patiently waited for the scorecards to be read so that the main event could get started. The scores took a while to be read, and then we finally got the result: Robson Conceicao was declared the winner by split decision! 116-112 and 115-113 were the scores for Conceicao (the lone score for Foster was 116-112). Loud boos reigned down from the crowd, Foster was visibly distraught, and every boxer took to social media and voiced their displeasure. Although the fight was boring to the fans, they still believed Foster was the rightful winner and they made no qualms about voicing their displeasure. One can only hope this wrong is somehow righted in the near future.

And finally it is time for the main event. Shakur Stevenson makes his return to the ring to face Artem Harutyunyan. Fight started off slow as Shakur used the early rounds to figure out Artem. By round four though, he had Artem’s rhythm down pat and methodically picked him apart. Throwing 1-2 punch combos to the head and body. Artem did not stand straight in front of Shakur, but Shakur’s elusiveness made it tough for Artem to land anything of note. He tried to come forward and up the output, but Shakur countered him the times he got close. By the 9th round Shakur was in complete cruise control, opting not to step on the gas and take it to Artem. By then the fans were booing and many started making their way towards the exit. By the 11th round it became very noticeable that fans were not interested in sticking around to see an uneventful UD, and they started leaving in droves. The 12th round came and went, and Shakur was declared the winner by UD.

After the fight, Shakur said he did not feel the need to try and stop Artem. He weighed in on his future, saying he would take things one step at a time. He was a free agent and was going to go home and talk things out with his team to see what his next best move was. He also threw shots at Lomachenko, saying Bob was protecting him. Seems evident that Shakur will not be getting that fight. The world now patiently waits to see what Shakur’s next move is, and if he will try to do something to get himself closer to a fight with Tank. But we will have to wait a while to see how that unfolds. Until next time…