Notebook: Adams, down on all three cards, scores dramatic knockout of Bohachuk
Parker, Barry split; Bivol-Ramirez talks; Quick hits
Trailing badly on all three scorecards, Brandon Adams came up with a home run punch to stop Serhii Bohachuk in the waning seconds of the eighth round of their junior middleweight main event Thursday night on NBC Sports Net’s Ring City USA card outdoors at the Felix Pagan Pintor Gym in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico.
It was a surprising conclusion to an entertaining bout that was rescheduled from Dec. 3 in Hollywood, California, because Bohachuk tested positive for Covid-19, leaving Adams to knock out late replacement Sonny Duversonne in the second round.
Former middleweight world title challenger Adams (23-3, 15 KOs), 31, of Watts, California, had his hands full with Bohachuk from the opening bell and had trouble with his footing on the slick mat. And as if taking shots from Bohachuk wasn’t hard enough, he was deeper in a hole because referee Ramon Pena docked him one point for low blows in the third round.
Bohachuk (18-1, 18 KOs), 25, a Ukraine native based in Los Angeles, was the heavier puncher and beating him to the punch until the eighth round. That’s when Adams barreled forward and landed a series of punches that backed the tiring Bohachuk toward a corner. One of the shots, a left hook, caught Bohachuk cleanly on the chin and dropped him. He beat the count but was unsteady and Pena waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 47 seconds to give Adams the dramatic victory.
“He was a tough guy,” Adams said. “He brought another side out of me that I knew was inside. I had to dig in deep tonight and use all the strength that I had to connect with one of those punches from the cannon.
“It was real tough fighting in there tonight. The ring was wet; the ref was against me tonight. It was an uphill battle. I am an explosive fighter and I couldn’t take advantage of that because I didn’t have my legs under me because the ring was wet. But even though I was irritated, the show must go on. I am a pro. I have to figure out how to get the ‘W’ and that’s what I had to do. I am grateful for the win. I loved Puerto Rico. Everyone out here embraced me with love.”
At the time of the stoppage, Adams was down 69-64, 68-64 and 68-64. He was also without trainer Dub Huntley, who did not make the trip due to concerns over Covid-19 and was replaced by Christopher Camacho.
“I thought he was dominating the fight,” said Manny Robles, Bohachuk’s trainer. “I told him to watch out for that left hook. I told him if he took away that left hook then he would control the fight. It takes a couple of rounds for Serhii to get warmed up, but he looked good and his defense was actually really improving until that knockout.”
In the co-feature, Puerto Rican featherweight Bryan Chevalier (15-1-1, 12 KOs), 26, easily knocked out Carlos Zambrano (26-2, 11 KOs), 36, of Peru, in the third round.
Chevalier, coming off a 15-month layoff, dropped Zambrano in the first round, though it was from a grazing right hand behind the head. He used left hands to the body to legitimately drop him twice more in the third round, and he was counted out at 2:21. Zambrano was coming off a nearly four-year layoff. He had not fought since losing an interim featherweight title by first-round knockout to Claudio Marrero in April 2017.
In the opener, Puerto Rican junior welterweight Danielito Zorrilla (15-0, 11 KOs), 27, won an eight-round technical split decision over Ruslan Madiyev (13-2, 5 KOs), 28, of Kazakhstan.
Zorrilla was ahead 77-75 and 77-74 and Madiyev was up 76-75 on the third scorecard after the fight was stopped at 1:16 of the eighth round because Zorrilla could not continue after being hit with punch behind the head.
Madiyev had been docked one point by referee Janny Guzman for punching behind the head in the fifth round.
Zorrilla was taken to the hospital as a precaution and was in stable condition late Thursday.
Joel Diaz, Madiyev’s trainer, was upset by the outcome.
“The result of the fight wasn’t fair,” he said. “We knew we came to Puerto Rico with everything against us. Ruslan was just getting his groove. He was getting stronger after the fifth. Zorrilla started to slow down because he was tired. He kept hugging Ruslan during most of the fight.
“The referee took a point from my fighter for hitting him in the (back of the) head. I understand, but Zorrilla was hugging too much and during exchanges you can get hit. But I said to the refreee three times, ‘Zorrilla is hugging to much, pay attention.’ But he never paid attention. That hit at the end wasn’t even a hit. It was more of a scratch Personally, Zorrilla wanted out of the fight. Because of the experience I have, I can tell he was tired. He couldn’t handle the pressure and chose the right moment to say Ruslan hurt him. He wasn’t hurt. He’s a good actor. He should go do movies.”
Parker and Barry split
Former heavyweight world titlist Joseph Parker and longtime trainer Kevin Barry have split just days after Parker (28-2, 21 KOs), 29, outpointed New Zealand countryman Junior Fa in long-simmering rivalry bout on Feb. 27.
Parker announced on Thursday that they have “agreed to amicably end their working relationship, bringing to a close a hugely successful eight-year partnership.”
The reason given was because Parker, with a young family, wants to remain in New Zealand rather than travel to Las Vegas, where Barry lives, for training camp. They had been together since Parker’s fifth fight in 2013.
“Without Kevin I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Parker said. “Together we made it to the very top. Kevin was with me every step of the way, guiding my progress inside and outside of the ring. So, it is with genuine sadness that I confirm our partnership has come to an end. But the time just feels right. It’s fitting that we closed this chapter of my career with a win in front of a great home crowd in Auckland, and with bigger things just on the horizon.”
Barry, a 1984 Olympic silver medalist, was the longtime trainer for former heavyweight contender David Tua and then led Parker to his win over Andy Ruiz for a vacant heavyweight title in Auckland, New Zealand, in 2016.
“I’m hugely proud to have played a part in New Zealand and Samoa crowning their first heavyweight world champion,” Barry said in a statement. “It has been an amazing journey with Joseph and Team Parker. But all journeys must come to an end, and the time is right for myself and Joseph to go in our own directions. I have been in New Zealand for five months now, away from my family and my other fighters. I have three guys fighting for world titles this year and have responsibilities with them and a few new guys.
“It’s not possible for me to stay in New Zealand any longer. For Joe, he has a wife and three young girls in New Zealand, and he wishes to spend more time here.
“I totally understand this and will always be in his corner and support him. We have always had a very close bond and I want nothing but the best for him. We have achieved so much together. It has been one heck of an amazing journey.”
David Higgins, Parker’s manager, said the split was mutual.
“With Kevin based in Las Vegas and Joseph keen to spend more time in New Zealand — and not to mention the restrictions on travel created by Covid-19 — this was a natural time for one of New Zealand’s most successful sporting partnerships to come to a close,” Higgins said.
Bivol, Ramirez in talks
Golden Boy Promotions, which signed light heavyweight contender Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (41-0, 27 KOs) last week, is already in talks with the team of world titlist Dmitry Bivol (17-0, 11 KOs) to match them later in the year.
Both fighters would fight in the spring and then meet later in the year for what would be a very significant fight in the 175-pound division.
I spoke to Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya and Bivol manager Vadim Kornilov about the discussions they’re having about the fight and wrote about it for BoxingScene. Please read the story here: https://www.boxingscene.com/dmitry-bivol-gilberto-ramirez-title-showdown-discussions--155834
Quick hits
The fight between featherweight titlist Emanuel Navarrete and Christopher “Pitufo” Diaz, which will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card April 24, will take place at Silver Spurs Arena, an 8,000-seat venue part of the Osceola Heritage Park, in Kissimmee, Florida, a source with direct knowledge of the plans told Fight Freaks Unite. Top Rank will begin putting on shows outside of the bubble of the conference center at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in April. Diaz is Puerto Rican and Kissimmee and the Orlando region have a large Puerto Rican community. A limited number of spectators will be permitted. Silver Spurs Arena hosted a Showtime world title tripleheader in 2007 on which Chad Dawson outpointed Tomasz Adamek to win a light heavyweight title, Cory Spinks outpointed Rodney Jones to retain a welterweight belt and Julio Diaz stopped Jesus Chavez in the third round to win a lightweight title.
Claressa Shields and Marie-Eve Dicaire both made weight on Thursday for their undisputed women’s junior middleweight world title fight, which headlines the all-female “Superwomen” card on Friday (PPV and FITE, 9 p.m. ET, $29.95) at the Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center, in Flint, Michigan, Shields’ hometown. Shields (10-0, 2 KOs), 25, was 153.6 pounds and Dicaire (17-0, 0 KOs), 34, of Canada, was 152.6.
Former junior middleweight titlist Yuri Foreman (35-3, 10 KOs), 40, of New York, is set for the second fight of his return from a nearly four-year retirement. Foreman will face Jimmy Williams (16-5-2, 5 KOs), 34, of Plainfield, New Jersey, in an eight-rounder on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky. Foreman retired after getting hammered in a fourth-round knockout loss challenging Erislandy Lara for a junior middleweight belt in January 2017. He returned for an eight-round split decision win over club fighter Jeremy Ramos in December in Louisville.
Former cruiserweight world titlist Firat Arslan (47-9-3, 32 KOs) is 50 and coming off a sixth-round stoppage loss but will end a 13-month layoff against Venezuelan southpaw Gusmyr Perdomo (26-9, 17 KOs), who hasn’t fought since August 2019, on Saturday. Arslan is putting on the card at his own gym, the Firat Arslan Sportscenter, in Goeppingen, Germany.
Show and tell
In one of the biggest super middleweight fights in division history, Jeff Lacy traveled to Manchester, England, to face Joe Calzaghe in a much-anticipated unification bout that Showtime had been building toward. They were a combined 61-0 at the time and Lacy was the clear favorite. But Calzaghe turned in a brilliant performance and tortured the overmatched Lacy, knocking him down in the 12th round to punctuate a shutout ass kicking. To many it is the defining victory of Calzaghe’s Hall of Fame career, even though he also beat Mikkel Kessler, Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones. Calzaghe-Lacy took place on March 4, 2006 — 15 years ago Thursday. Here’s a mint site poster in my collection.
More show and tell
Pernell Whitaker, the late Hall of Fame legend, was the reigning welterweight champion but could not find a real challenge. So, as a one-shot deal, he moved up to junior middleweight to challenge long-reigning titlist Julio Cesar Vasquez on March 4, 1995 — 26 years ago on Thursday. Whitaker took Vasquez to school, won a lopsided unanimous decision and claimed a world title in his fourth division before returning to welterweight. Here’s a mint program from the fight in my collection.
Adams-Bohachuk photo: Tom Hogan/Ring City USA; Parker photo: Amanda Westcott/DAZN
Thanks Dan ! Top notch fight reporting
Is the Foreman Williams fight being broadcasted?