Notebook: Cruz-Gamboa one of three fights added to Spence-Ugas Showtime PPV card
Munguia wants middleweight title shot; Berlanga gears up for return; Garcia speaks on leaving Reynoso; Marcos Maidana ending eight-year retirement; Quick hits; Show and tell
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Although not yet formally announced, the fights on the undercard of the Showtime PPV headlined by the Errol Spence Jr.-Yordenis Ugas three-belt welterweight unification fight on April 16 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — Spence’s home region — are set.
In one fight, lightweights Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Yuriorkis Gamboa, who both lost to Gervonta Davis in world title fights, will meet in a 12-rounder, multiple sources told Fight Freaks Unite.
Cruz (22-2-1, 15 KOs), 23, of Mexico, turned in a strong performance in his last fight in a disputed decision loss challenging secondary lightweight titlist Davis in the main event of a Showtime PPV on Dec. 5.
Gamboa (30-4, 18 KOs), 40, a former unified featherweight titlist and 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist, is well past his prime and has lost two fights in a row, a 12th-round knockout to Davis in a secondary lightweight title bout in December 2019 and a one-sided decision loss challenging lightweight titlist Devin Haney in November 2020.
In another bout, which has long been ticketed for the Spence-Ugas card, Radzhab Butaev (13-0, 10 KOs), 28, a New York-based Russia native, will make the first defense of his WBA “regular” welterweight title against mandatory challenger Eimantas Stanionis (13-0, 9 KOs), 27, a 2016 Olympian from Lithuania.
The WBA announced the bout would be on the card and Stanionis confirmed it on his Instagram page, posting “April 16th I’m back in the ring! I will be fighting Radzhab Butaev.”
Stanionis was initially ordered by the WBA to next face Ugas as part of its four-man box-off to get down to one titleholder in the division. But Stanionis volunteered to step aside and allow Ugas to face Spence to unify while he faces Butaev, who won the first bout of the box-off on Oct. 30 on Showtime by stopping Jamal James in the ninth round to take the “regular” title.
The WBA said it will order the Spence-Ugas winner and Butaev-Stanionis winner to meet next as the sanctioning body continues to reduce the number of titles it recognizes.
The opening bout of the pay-per-view, according to sources, will be a 10-round lightweight fight between hot prospect Jose Valenzuela (11-0, 7 KOs), a 22-year-old Mexican based in Seattle, and faded former junior lightweight titlist Francisco Vargas (27-3-2, 19 KOs), 37, of Mexico.
Valenzuela is coming off a dominating fourth-round knockout of Austin Dulay in December. Vargas participated in back-to-back fights of the year — a ninth-round knockout of Takashi Miura to win the WBC 130-pound title in 2015 and a draw in a 2016 defense against Orlando Salido — but is 4-3 since the draw and coming off a one-sided decision loss to Cruz in June.
Next for Munguia?
After middleweight contender Jaime Munguia blew through D’Mitrius Ballard in the Golden Boy main event on DAZN on Saturday night at the Plaza Monumental de Playas de Tijuana in his hometown of Tijuana, Mexico, Munguia pronounced himself ready for a world title shot.
“We’re ready for those title shots. We’re ready for the best fighters,” former junior middleweight titlist Munguia said through a translator. “Whoever it comes (against).”
WBO titleholder Demetrius Andrade and IBF titlist Gennadiy Golovkin also fight on DAZN and would be makeable fights, although GGG first faces Ryota Murata in a delayed unification fight this spring and then may face rival Canelo Alvarez in September.
Munguia, 25, won his fifth fight since moving up to the middleweight division in 2020 but had not yet campaigned for a title shot even though he could have gotten an immediate WBO title opportunity because he vacated the organization’s belt in the lower division.
Munguia, in his first hometown fight since 2017, had no problems with Ballard (21-1-1, 13 KOs), 28, of Temple Hills, Maryland, after a slow start in the first round. Munguia picked up the pace in the second round and then poured it on in the third round, badly hurting Ballard and sending him reeling into a corner with a clean left hook to the chin. He continued to pound Ballard until he went down face first. He beat the count but Munguia was all over him. He landed another powerful hook during the onslaught and referee Juan Jose Ramirez stopped it at 1 minute, 47 seconds.
Berlanga excited for return
Power-punching super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga is deep into training and excited for his 10-rounder against Steve Rolls, which will headline a Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card on March 19 (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET) at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.
“Having my first main event at home is amazing,” said Berlanga, a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, New York. “I’m ready to show everyone what I’m made of. I want people to see that I can sell out an arena. I don’t need to have a title or a big-name opponent to sell tickets. I have a fan base, and everyone is going to see that on March 19.
“I think 2022 is going to be a big year for me, and I can’t wait to kick it off in my first main event in New York”
The fight will be the first for Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs), 24, since October surgery to repair a torn left biceps he suffered during the third round of a 10-round decision victory over former world title challenger Marcelo Esteban Coceres on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III undercard in October. Berlanga overcame the injury and the first knockdown of his career.
“I learned a lot from my last fight, and I’ve been working really hard on correcting my mistakes,” said Berlanga, who is training in Las Vegas. “After my surgery, I chose to do my rehab out here in Las Vegas so I could not only do physical therapy with the best team in the business, but also focus 100 percent on boxing. The fans are going to see big things from me this year beginning March 19.
“I’m proud to represent New York City and Puerto Rico. I want to be the next great Puerto Rican champion. My first memories of boxing are watching Tito Trinidad fight as a little kid, and I want to give the Puerto Rican people someone that they can be proud of.”
If Berlanga wins and comes away unscathed Top Rank’s plan is for Berlanga to again headline at the Hulu Theater on June 11, the eve of the annual Puerto Rican Day parade in New York.
Chavez the Great
Hall of Famer Julio Cesar Chavez boxed for 25 years and became one of the greatest legends in boxing history. He is revered as the best fighter in the storied history of Mexican boxing, won world titles in three divisions and was in many exciting and dramatic fights. He was also undefeated in his first 90 fights (89-0-1) even though he faced many top quality opponents. To honor his phenomenal career The Ring magazine issue dated October 2021 was a special all-Chavez tribute. I was pleased to have written a piece for the issue on his most memorable fight, the junior welterweight unification battle against Meldrick Taylor that went down as the 1990 fight of the year and the fight of the decade. For the cover of the issue, renowned artist Richard Slone painted a gorgeous piece depicting Chavez up close and action from some of his fights.
Noted art collector Ingo Wegerich purchased Slone’s original painting for his amazing collection of boxing art and asked me to write about it. He posted photos of the Chavez piece and what I wrote about him on his website. He has many great pieces from his collection on the site and if you’re a fight fan it’s worth a few minutes to check out the collection here: https://wegerich-fineart.com/en/ingo-wegerich-fine-art-collection/.
Podcast appearance
I joined my pal Chris Mannix on his Volume Sports boxing podcast a few days ago and we discussed many topics, including Ryan Garcia’s trainer change, the latest on lightweight champion George Kambosos as he decides on which opponent to face, John Ryder’s disputed decision over Daniel Jacobs, Jaime Munguia, Canelo Alvarez and Amir Khan vs. Kell Brook. Give it a listen here:
Garcia on trainer change
When lightweight star Ryan Garcia announced earlier this month that he had left reigning trainer of the year Eddy Reynoso and would train under Joe Goossen for his April 9 fight against Emmanuel Tagoe, he did not go into much detail as to the reason why.
But during an appearance Friday on ESPN’s “Max On Boxing,” Garcia addressed the change in more detail.
“I’ve worked with Joe in the past and he’s always been somebody that I still call and whatnot so we already have a relationship, but the reason I switched was because Eddy didn't really have time to train me and it just wasn't working out anymore,” Garcia said told host Max Kellerman. “It was already two weeks in (to training camp) and I hadn’t seen him so I was just like, ‘You know what? I just need to make a switch.’ Joe’s been great and he's dedicated and I’m excited to be working with Joe.”
Goossen will train Garcia at Garcia’s gym in San Diego, not far from Reynoso’s camp, which is also in San Diego.
Garcia and Goossen worked together when Garcia was an amateur and they’ve maintained a relationship since.
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs), 23, of Victorville, California, who is coming off a 15-month layoff, during which he dealt with mental health issues and had surgery on his injured left hand, will meet Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs), 33, of Ghana, in a 12-rounder that will headline a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Reynoso has a deep stable of others fighters he trains, including pound-for-pound king and undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez, junior lightweight titlist Oscar Valdez, former heavyweight titlist Andy Ruiz Jr., heavyweight contender Frank Sanchez and flyweight titlist Julio Cesar Martinez.
Marcos Maidana returns
Former junior welterweight and welterweight world titlist Marcos Maidana is exiting an eight-year retirement.
Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs), 38, a big puncher from Argentina, has not boxed since back-to-back decision losses in welterweight title fights against Floyd Mayweather in 2014. But Legacy Sports Management announced that Maidana will fight social media and YouTube personality Yao Cabrera in a six-round middleweight fight on a card it is putting on March 26 at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Cabrera (0-0), 25, of Uruguay, who boasts 11 million Instagram followers, rose to fame after faking his own death in 2019.
The card is headlined by cruiserweight Mike Perez (26-3-1, 17 KOs), 36, a Cuban southpaw fighting out of Ireland, taking on Vasil Ducar (10-4-1, 9 KOs), 32, of the Czech Republic, in a 12-round regional title bout.
Quick hits
Former world titleholders Javier Fortuna and Jeison Rosario scored knockout wins Sunday in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, their home country. In the main event, Fortuna (37-3-1, 26 KOs), 32, a former secondary junior lightweight titleholder, knocked out Rafael Hernandez (32-15-3, 25 KOs), 38, a fellow southpaw from Venezuela, in the first round of a lightweight bout. Fortuna rebounded from a decision loss to Joseph Diaz Jr. in a WBC interim lightweight title bout in July. Rosario (22-3-1, 16 KOs), 26, stopped Jesus Perez (12-6-1, 9 KOs), 28, of Venezuela, in the fourth round of a middleweight fight. The win was Rosario’s second in a row since back-to-back knockout losses to Jermell Charlo in their three-belt unification fight in September 2020 and Erickson Lubin in June.
It’s a night of cruiserweights as Richard Riakporhe (13-0, 9 KOs), 32, of England, will face Italian southpaw Fabio Turchi (20-1, 14 KOs), 28, in the Sky Sports-televised main event on March 26 at the OVO Wembley Arena in London, promoter Boxxer announced. The co-feature matches British countrymen Mikael Lawal (15-0, 9 KOs), 26, and Deion Jumah (13-0, 7 KOs), 32, in another cruiserweight bout.
Show and tell
Julio Cesar Chavez was in his absolute prime — five months after having routed Hector Camacho and seven months before his pound-for-pound showdown against Pernell Whitaker — when he made his 10th defense of the WBC junior welterweight title against Greg Haugen, who made the mistake of trash talking Chavez. In his most famous pre-fight quote, Haugen said of Chavez, who was 84-0 at the time, “All he’s fought are Tijuana tax drivers.” Chavez pummeled Haugen. He dropped him in the opening seconds of the fight, laid a massive beating on him, dropped him again in the fifth round and stopped him later in the round. It was all to the delight of the all-time boxing record crowd of 132, 247, which still stands, that turned out for a huge Don King-promoted Showtime PPV card dubbed “The Grand Slam of Boxing” at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
The fight, and its loaded undercard, took place on Feb. 20, 1993 — 29 years ago on Sunday. Here is a full ticket in my collection. The Julian Jackson-Gerald McClellan fight listed on the ticket did not take place as Jackson fell out and McClellan fought a replacement in nontitle bout. Felix Trinidad, a 17-0 prospect at the time, was also on the show as was then-super middleweight titlist Michael Nunn in a defense against Dan Morgan.
Cruz photo: Esther Lin/Showtime; Munguia-Ballard photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy; Berlanga photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
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I have to laugh when Munguia says...
“We’re ready for those title shots. We’re ready for the best fighters,”
as he was offered a world title fight against Andrade and refused it, claiming he needed a couple of fights more experience. In fact it's said he's refused this world title shot several times.
Munguia has beaten 5 or 6 nobodies since the initial refusal and now that Andrade has moved up to 168lbs he now says he's ready for anyone.
Sadly, this sort of thing is very common in boxing these days.
You have to wonder if Pitbull Cruz is happy with his Team’s decision to turn down a Ryan Garcia fight.