Butaev stops James; Ennis and Rivera also shine on entertaining Showtime card

Zepeda starches Vargas in first round on Top Rank show

Radzhab Butaev kept grinding away. He battered Jamal James to the body, landed many heads shots and bloodied and bruised his face until referee Celestino Ruiz had seen enough and stopped the fight in the ninth round on Saturday night.

Although the stoppage came at an unusual moment, because James did not appear to be in any particular distress and had not taken a big shot, the fight was nonetheless halted, giving Butaev the victory and the WBA “regular” welterweight title in the spirited main event of a Showtime-televised Premier Boxing Champions tripleheader at the Michelob ULTRA Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Butaev, the mandatory challenger, led 77-74 on two scorecards and James was ahead 76-75 on the third scorecard at the time of the surprise stoppage.

“This is very important for me. It’s a big first step,” Butaev said through an interpreter. “It’s always been my dream to become a world champion. I took the first step today and I’m very happy.”

Thanks to his body attack, Butaev overcame the taller, longer James, who had gotten off to a strong start. But Butaev stalked him throughout the bout, closed the gap and was able to get to him with his heavier punches.

The momentum swung to Butaev in the fourth round, when the body shots seemed to take their toll on James. He eventually told his corner that his legs were gone but that he would figure things out.

In the fifth round, Ruiz docked one point from Butaev for holding and hitting, although he had not been warned and it seemed like an unnecessary penalty at that moment. Ruiz constantly broke the fighters apart when it did not seem warranted, slowing Butaev’s aggression.

“I have nothing against the ref referee. I have all the respect. I personally like to have a back and forth fight,” Butaev said. “Everybody has their own way of doing things. I have an exciting style. The fact that he took a point off, I have nothing against it. It’s his right. He saw it the way he saw it.”

Butaev (14-0, 11 KOs), 27, a Brooklyn, New York-based Russia native, continued to march forward and fire shots, and James’ face showed the damage. In the ninth round, Butaev was stalking forward and James’ nose was bleeding but no telling blow had landed when Ruiz surprisingly intervened and waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 12 seconds.

“I felt it was coming to the point where it could have ended a lot worse,” Butaev said. “I felt it was the right thing to do because I knew that I had him. I knew Jamal James was a really tough fighter and I have a lot of respect for him. I thought he showed a lot of heart and he was a lot better than I expected.”

According to CompuBox statistics, Butaev landed 175 of 549 (32 percent) shots and James 121 of 541 (22 percent).

“It wasn’t my night tonight. Big shout out to Butaev. He did his thing tonight,” said James, who disagreed with the stoppage. “I’d rather go out on my shield if I’m going to go out. I thought it was a very competitive fight but that’s why we have a referee. He was just a better man tonight. I don’t want to make any excuses. I couldn’t keep him at range and I think rust played a part of it. But that’s boxing. Sometimes it’s not your night.”

James (27-2, 12 KOs), 33, of Minneapolis, who was making his first title defense and fighting for the first time in 14 months, saw a seven-fight winning streak end since a 10-round decision loss to Yordenis Ugas in 2016. Ugas went on to win a world title and sent Manny Pacquiao into retirement with a win over him on Aug. 21.

Soon after that fight, the WBA ordered a four-man box-off in the 147-pound division to get down to one titleholder. Butaev won the first bout of the box-off and will be mandated to next face the winner of Ugas versus Eimantas Stanionis, which has not yet been scheduled.

Ennis destroys Dulorme

Welterweight Jaron “Boots” Ennis, the 2020 prospect of the year, has become in recent fights a serious contender and showed it again in a first-round destruction of battle-tested former title challenger Thomas Dulorme in the scheduled 10-round co-feature.

Ennis, who most tab as a future pound-for-pound caliber fighter, dropped Dulorme twice before referee Michael Ortega stopped the massacre at 1 minute, 49 seconds.

“It was a good knockout. You know me — I wanted to show my skills and abilities,” Ennis said. “I’m just thankful for this opportunity. Now it’s on to the next. Let’s get the big names. Let’s go.”

Dulorme lost his third fight in a row but he had never been so utterly destroyed, giving solid accounts of himself 12-round decision losses to Eimantas Stanionis and Jamal James in his previous two bouts.

But Dulorme (25-6-1, 16 KOs), 31, of Puerto Rico, could not deal with the overwhelming speed, power and precision of Ennis (28-0, 26 KOs), 24, of Philadelphia, who dropped him to all fours with an overhand right for the first knockdown about a minute into the bout.

Dulorme was up by Ortega’s count of seven and landed a solid right hand in the ensuing exchange, but then Ennis took him out with a right-left combination that dropped him flat on his back. He tried to get up but could not beat Ortega’s count.

“We got it early, that’s OK by me,” Ennis said. “We don’t get paid for overtime. I knew it was over after that first knockdown. I just had to take my time and not rush anything. Everything I did today we worked on in the gym.”

It was Ennis’ 11th career first-round knockout and he has yet to be pushed past the sixth round. He believes he is ready for a world title fight and it’s hard to argue after having beaten Dulorme and former junior welterweight titlist Sergiy Lipinets in decisive fashion in his two most recent fights.

“I’ve been ready for a world title two years ago,” Ennis said. “I want the top guys: Errol Spence Jr., Yordenis Ugas, Shawn Porter, Terence Crawford, Keith Thurman. I’m ranked No. 3 in the IBF, so Errol Spence Jr. is who I want next.”

Rivera shuts out Romero

Lightweight contender Michel Rivera cruised to a shutout decision against Matias Romero in the opener.

Rivera won 100-90 on all three scorecards in one-sided but entertaining fight in which he simply outgunned Romero, who he knows well from having trained at the same gym.

“I really don’t have beef with anybody. I’m just fighting to be great in boxing,” Rivera said. “He took the fight because he knows me and he needs the money. I said no to this fight at first. He took it. It’s finished now and we both move on.”

Rivera (22-0, 14 KOs), 23, a Dominican Republic native fighting out of Miami, relied heavily on his jab to control the fight but also landed a steady diet of rights hands. He much busier and landed more than double the total punches of Romero (24-2, 8 KOs), 25, of Argentina, who lost his second fight in a row by decision.

According to CompuBox, Rivera landed 202 of 649 punches (31 percent) and Romero landed just 106 of 398 (27 percent).

Despite the one-sided win, Rivera was not happy with the fight.

“I don’t feel good about my performance. I know that I can be a lot better than I showed tonight,” Rivera said. “Of course, I can improve and get some more experience. I’m No. 2 in the WBA so I think I'm just waiting for a world title shot.”

There were several times in the fight when Rivera connected solidly but Romero remained on his feet.

“I just had trouble getting to the right distance,” Romero said. “He was hitting me with the jab and I just couldn't reach him. I wanted to counter but I couldn't get there fast enough. I tried to engage but he really didn't want to. He beat me fair and square. He didn't bring anything I haven't seen before but he did a good job."

Zepeda crushes Vargas

Junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda had an easy night as he blitzed Josue Vargas in the first round of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN+ main event at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

They had exchanged harsh words at the pre-fight news conference on Thursday and then scuffled at Friday’s weigh-in, but when it was time to actually fight, Zepeda did the damage.

He came to Bronx, New York, product Vargas’ home turf and annihilated him.

First, two-time world title challenger Zepeda (35-2, 27 KOs), 32, of La Puente, California, landed a huge overhand left that sent Vargas to the canvas face first. Vargas beat the count but Zepeda, a southpaw, was all over him, forcing him to a corner and unloading about a dozen unanswered punches, including two heavy right hands that connected flush. As Vargas (19-2, 9 KOs), 23, slid down the corner post to the mat, referee David Fields waved off the fight at 1 minute, 45 seconds.

“I was ready. I was 100 percent ready, and I told him in the press conference there’s levels to this,” said Zepeda, winner of the 2020 fight of the year by fifth-round knockout of former junior welterweight titlist Ivan Baranchyk. “He was the one who wanted to fight me. I just accepted the fight, and it showed today that boxing is not a game in there. There’s levels to this. I told him, and he probably knew I hit hard. I don’t think he recovered after that (knockdown) shot.”

“I’m 32 years old, and I’m in my prime. I want the WBC world title and all the belts, to be honest. I’m ready for it. I showed today I’m ready for the WBC world title.”

Zepeda won his fifth fight in a row. Vargas’ only previous loss came via third-round disqualification in a four-rounder in 2016.

“He caught me with a good left hand, and I tried to recover, but I think I got up too fast,” Vargas said. “That’s what happened. Overall, I’m OK. I’m good. I’m healthy. We’re not stopping from here. It’s on to the next. I learned from my disqualification loss, and now I learned from my second loss. It’s part of the sport. The greatest athletes in boxing have losses. I’m not ashamed of myself. I’ll be back stronger, for sure.”

Sultan upsets Caraballo

In the bantamweight co-feature, underdog Jonas Sultan (18-5, 11 KOs), 29, of the Philippines, a former junior bantamweight title challenger, upset Carlos Caraballo (14-1, 14 KOs), 25, of Puerto Rico, by unanimous decision in an action fight.

Sultan won 94-93 on all three scorecards in a fight in which both fighters were knocked down. Sultan floored Caraballo four times, in the second, third, sixth and ninth rounds. They traded knockdowns in the third round.

“This is boxing. This is war, and I came to win tonight,” Sultan said. “Caraballo is a tough man, but I wanted this one.”

The fight was the first for Caraballo after signing with Top Rank on Thursday to co-promote him with Miguel Cotto Promotions.

Taylor, Benn card announced

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn on Saturday announced that undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor and welterweight up-and-comer Conor Benn will return to action on Dec. 11 (DAZN) at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, England. Both will face opponents to be determined.

Taylor (19-0, 6 KOs), 35, of Ireland, is coming off retaining her titles via shutout decision of Jennifer Han on Sept. 4.

“I had less than a week at home after my last fight and then it was back to the U.S. to start training again because I wanted to get another fight as soon as possible,” said Taylor, who trains in New England. “I'm looking forward to finishing the year on a high in Liverpool with a big performance and another successful defense of my titles.”

Benn (19-0, 12 KOs), 25, of England, was last in the ring on the same Sept. 4 card in a one-sided 10-round decision over veteran Adrian Granados.

“I was in Liverpool earlier this month for the Liam Smith versus Anthony Fowler show and the atmosphere was absolutely incredible,” Benn said. “I’m expecting another banged out crowd and top atmosphere on Dec. 11 as I look to end 2021 with a bang.”

James-Butaev, Ennis-Dulorme and Rivera-Romero photos: Esther Lin/Showtime; Zepeda-Vargas photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank

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