Notebook: Taylor routs Carabajal, retains undisputed lightweight title
Bet US show; FITE in Focus; Munguia returns; Quick hits; Show & tell
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Katie Taylor retained the undisputed women’s lightweight championship in dominating fashion with a one-sided decision over Karen Elizabeth Carabajal on Saturday in the main event of a Matchroom Boxing card on DAZN at OVO Arena Wembley in London.
The fight marked Taylor’s return to the famed arena for the first time since making her professional debut there six years ago next month.
Taylor, who made her seventh defense of the undisputed title and 14th overall, won 100-91, 99-91 and 98-92 in her first bout since a split decision win over unified featherweight champion Amanda Serrano in their epic battle on April 30 at sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York.
Taylor put on a supreme performance against Carabajal, who showed toughness but not much else. Taylor landed many power shots, had much faster hands and controlled the entire fight while making the challenger miss regularly.
According to CompuBox statistics, Taylor landed 97 of 280 punches (35 percent) and Carabajal landed 77 of 431 (18 percent). Taylor outlanded her in nine of the 10 rounds.
The win over Carabajal (19-1, 2 KOs), 32, who was fighting outside of her home country of Argentina for the first time, could set Taylor up for a possible rematch with Serrano next. They tried to make an immediate rematch but could not agree to terms.
Serrano (43-2-1, 30 KOs), 34, a Puerto Rican southpaw, returned from the loss to outpoint Sarah Mahfoud in a three-belt featherweight unification fight on Sept. 24 in Manchester, England.
Whoever Taylor (22-0, 6 KOs), 36, faces next, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn made one thing clear: she will fight for the first time as a professional in her native Ireland. Hearn and Taylor would like for the fight to be at the 80,000-seat Croke Park in Dublin.
She is an Irish national hero but has yet to fight professionally in Ireland because the government has declined to sanction fights in the wake of a shooting at a weigh-in in Dublin in 2016 it believes was related to the Kinahan organized crime group. However, Hearn believes the government will lift the ban to accommodate a Taylor event.
“It’s time to return to Ireland now,” Matchroom promoter Eddie Heard said. “Whoever it is against, the next fight has to be Ireland.”
In the co-feature, former featherweight and junior featherweight titlist Kiko Martinez (44-11-2, 31 KOs), 36, of Spain, knocked out Jordan Gill (27-2-1, 8 KOs), 28, of England, in the seventh round of an upset to take his European featherweight title in a bout that also served as an IBF world title elimination bout.
Martinez, who was coming off losing the IBF featherweight title by seventh-round knockout to Josh Warrington in March, dropped Gill twice in third round and twice more in the fourth, prompting Gill’s corner throw in the towel at 2 minutes, 44 seconds.
Boxing Social appearance
I joined my friends at Boxing Social to discuss the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva fight, the demise of the Errol Spence Jr.-Terence Crawford and Gervonta Davis-Ryan Garcia fights and the ongoing disaster of Conor Benn’s failed drug test situation. Please watch the video here:
FITE in Focus
I was happy to be part of the panel discussion to preview the Jake Paul-Anderson Silva pay-per-view card on an episode of FITE in Focus. Check out our show here:
BetUS Boxing Show
If you missed the BetUS Boxing Show live at 1 p.m. ET on Friday on YouTube, please check out the replay (and also subscribe to the YouTube channel). We previewed and picked the four major main events that take place on Saturday: Jake Paul-Anderson Silva, Vasiliy Lomachenko-Jamaine Ortiz, Joseph Diaz Jr.-William Zepeda and Katie Taylor-Karen Carabajal. We also took viewer questions and comments on a fun show! Watch our show here:
Munguia to face unknown Coria
Former junior middleweight titlist and middleweight contender Jaime Munguia will face Gonzalo Coria in a 10-rounder on Nov. 19 (DAZN) at Arena Astros in Guadalajara, Mexico, Golden Boy announced on Friday.
Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs), 26, of Mexico, will be facing yet another obscure or lightly considered opponent in a long series of such matches. However, Munguia was confirmed as the WBO’s mandatory title challenger during this past week’s annual convention.
WBO titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly is due for an optional defense against Denzel Bentley on Nov. 12 in Las Vegas and the WBO said, assuming he wins, his next fight will have to be the mandatory defense.
Munguia will be fighting for the third time in 2022 and is coming off a fifth-round knockout of heavy underdog Jimmy “Kilrain” Kelly in June. Now, Munguia is back to face Coria (21-5, 8 KOs), 25, a southpaw from Argentina.
“We are prepared for this new challenge, and I’m excited to fight for the first time in Guadalajara,” Munguia said. “We have never stopped training. Coria is not a simple rival. He will want to come and beat me in my home country. Once we get through this test, I hope to kick start 2023 with a big fight that all my fans are waiting for.”
Coria has boxed twice before outside of Argentina, a 2017 win in Uruguay and a 2018 loss in Latvia.
“I am more than prepared for this fight to go up against a great (former) champion like Jaime Munguia,” Coria said. “We are preparing with all our energy and we are coming for a huge victory.”
Quick hits
Weights from New York for Saturday’s Top Rank ESPN+ card: Vasiliy Lomachenko 134.6 pounds, Jamaine Ortiz 134; Robeisy Ramirez 125.6, Jose Matias Romero 127.4; Richard Torrez Jr. 229.4, Ahmed Hefny 218; Duke Ragan 128, Luis Lebron 128; Nico Ali Walsh 159, Billy Wagner 159; Tiger Johnson 141.4, Esteban Garcia 139.2; Troy Isley 159, Quincy LaVallais 157.4; Abdullah Mason 135.6, Angel Barrera 135; Haven Brady Jr. 131, Eric Mondragon 130.6.
Weights from Glendale, Ariz., for Saturday’s Showtime PPV: Jake Paul 186.5 pounds, Anderson Silva 186.1; Ashton Sylve 132.4, Braulio Rodriguez 132.5 pounds; Alexandro Santiago 117.9, Antonio Nieves 117.8; Uriah Hall 198.6, Le’Veon Bell 197.6; Chris Avila 183.3, Mike Varshavski 182.6; Jeremiah Milton 248.2, Quintin Sumpter 219.6; Ogleidis Suarez 168.9, Shadasia Green 169.2; Danny Barrios Flores 122.5, Edgar Ortiz Jr. 120.2; Adrian Rodriguez 123, Dominique Griffin 122.3; Eliezer Silva 155.7, Anthony Hannah 162.7.
Weights from San Diego for Saturday’s Golden Boy DAZN card: Joseph Diaz Jr. 137.6 pounds, William Zepeda 137; Alexis Rocha146.7, Jesus Perez 146.8; Leonela Yudica 111.4, Arely Mucino 112 (for Yudica’s IBF women’s flyweight title); Hector Valdez Jr. 121.4, Max Ornelas 120.6; Jorge Chavez 127.2, Adrian Leyva 127.4; Japhethlee Llamido 126.2, Pablo Cruz 128; Jan Salvatierra 111.4, Robert Ledesma 111; Asa Stevens 122.6, Mychaquell Shields 122.8.
Per the California State Athletic Commission, official contract purses for Saturday night’s Golden Boy card on DAZN: Joseph Diaz Jr. $450,000, William Zepeda $300,000; Alexis Rocha $175,000, Jesus Perez $25,000; Leonela Yudica $25,000, Arely Mucino $25,000; Hector Valdez Jr. $15,000, Max Ornelas $15,000; Jorge Chavez $2,500, Adrian Leyva $1,500; Japhethlee Llamido $2,000, Pablo Cruz $7,500; Jan Salvatierra $2,500, Robert Ledesma $2,500; Asa Stevens $4,000, Mychaquell Shields $2,000.
Weights from London for Saturday’s Matchroom Boxing DAZN card: Katie Taylor 134.6 pounds, Karen Carabajal 134.2 (for Taylor’s undisputed women’s lightweight title); Jordan Gill 125.8, Kiko Martinez, 124.8 (for Gill’s European featherweight title); Johnny Fisher 233.4, Dominik Musil 262.7; Mary Romero 120.5, Ellie Scotney 121.5; Gary Cully 135.8, Jaouad Belmehdi 136.3; Mickey Ellison 174.9, Thomas Whittaker Hart 174.8; John Hedges 181.6, Ales Makovec 180.2; Jordan Reynolds 163.1, Jose Manuel Lopez 161.3; Maisey Rose Courtney 113.5, Judit Hachbold 111.2.
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn announced he has signed two British amateur standouts, welterweight Pat McCormack (2-0, 2 KOs), 27, a 2020 Olympic silver medalist, and middleweight Mark Dickinson (3-0, 1 KO), 23, who won gold medals at the European and Commonwealth Youth Games. “Pat's achievements in the amateurs speak for themselves. Silver medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and a gold medal at the 2019 European Games in Minsk and many more,” Hearn said. “He's one of the very best amateurs we've seen on these shores in recent times and I'm incredibly excited to guide his professional career moving forwards. Mark is one of the most exciting prospects in British boxing and another product of the famous Birtley Boxing Club. He had an outstanding amateur career.”
Show and tell
The legendary Julio Cesar Chavez vacated his junior lightweight world title and moved up to lightweight, where he immediately challenged fellow Hall of Famer Edwin Rosario for the WBA title. Chavez dominated and battered Rosario in an 11th round knockout victory. A few months earlier, Jose Luis Ramirez, Chavez’s Mexican countryman, outpointed Terrence Alli to win the vacant WBC lightweight title. About a year later the two champions met in a much-anticipated unification fight at the Las Vegas Hilton. Chavez, making his second defense, was 61-0 and Ramirez, who was making his third defense, was 101-6. In the 11th round, Chavez and Ramirez banged heads, leaving Ramirez with a nasty gash. He was ruled unable to continue and the fight was sent to the scorecards for a technical decision. Chavez prevailed 98-91, 96-94 and 95-93 as he unified 135-pound titles. The fight was on Oct. 29, 1988 — 34 years ago on Saturday. Here is a scarce program from the fight in my collection.
Taylor photo: Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing; Lomachenko-Ortiz photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank; Diaz-Zepeda photo: Tom Hogan/Golden Boy
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The KT fight was pretty much what I expected, but I’m not mad at it. Taylor was doing real damage with the overhand right, made it entertaining. They really need three-minute rounds in women’s boxing.
Really admire Katie Taylor, she’s a top class athlete, respects her opponents and her year round VADA contract shows she’s serious about drug testing.
Katie deserves to have a fight in Ireland instead of always fighting away from home and Croke Park next Summer would be a great event.
That said, Katie is 37 next July and one day somebody younger could catch her at just the right time - unless Katie calls it a day before that happens.