Notebook: Wilder, Kownacki, Berlanga all suffer injuries on Saturday night's big card
Donaire deal; HOFer DeMarco dies; Quick hits; Show and tell
The injuries piled up on the Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III card on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Wilder, who got knocked out by Fury in the 11th round of their third heavyweight championship fight, got knocked down three times (he also dropped Fury twice) in losing to the champion, and was taken to University Medical Center as a precaution.
He was released later in the evening and on Monday, manager Shelly Finkel told Fight Freaks Unite that Wilder was fine other than having suffered a broken finger on his explosive right hand.
There two more more significant injuries on the undercard, both to fighters managed by Keith Connolly.
Connolly told Fight Freaks Unite that Polish heavyweight Adam Kownacki (20-2, 15 KOs), 32, of Brooklyn, New York, suffered a broken left orbit bone in his sixth-round knockout loss to Robert Helenius (31-3, 20 KOs), 37, of Finland, in a rematch of Helenius’ fourth-round upset knockout in March 2020.
Also, super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga suffered a left biceps injury during what turned out to be a much tougher than expected 10-round decision victory over former world title challenger Marcelo Esteban Coceres (30-3-1, 16 KOs), 30, of Argentina.
Kownacki’s injury happened in the first round when Helenius nailed him and his eye immediately began to swell.
“He told me he was seeing double from the first round on,” Connolly said. “He went to the hospital after the fight and the orbit bone is broken, the doctor said. He is going to see a specialist. We know it’s broken. Now we need to know if he needs surgery. I’m very proud of Adam for fighting the way he did with that injury.”
Connolly said Berlanga, who injured the biceps in his left arm during the third round, is scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday. The injury almost certainly will force Berlanga to miss a planned Dec. 11 ESPN date he was penciled in for at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York, where he was due to fight in the co-feature of a Vasiliy Lomachenko fight.
“Unless there’s a miracle and it’s a strain and not a tear when they do the MRI, he probably isn’t fighting in December,” Connolly said. “The doctor looked at it and thought it was torn and Edgar said he felt it hurting him in the fight.”
Berlanga (18-0, 16 KOs), 24, a Puerto Rican from Brooklyn, New York, not only went the distance for the second consecutive fight after beginning his pro career with 16 straight first-round knockouts, he also got dropped for the first time on a counter right hand in the ninth round en route to a 96-93 decision on all three scorecards.
“He fought a world class guy, who knows how to fight,” Connolly said. “Coceres was very cagey and it’s the kind of fight Edgar will learn from.”
Boxing Social appearance
Right after the Fury-Wilder III post-fight news conference, while still inside T-Mobile Arena, I joined my friends at Boxing Social to discuss the instant-classic fight. Please watch the video here:
Donaire signs with Probellum
Four-division world titleholder and reigning WBC bantamweight titlist Nonito Donaire (41-6, 27 KOs) has signed with upstart promoter Probellum, the company announced.
It comes as little surprise because Donaire (41-6, 27 KOs) has been promoted by Ringstar Sports and has an excellent relationship with its owner, Richard Schaefer. But Schaefer is shuttering the company after recently taking the job as president of Probellum.
The 38-year-old “Filipino Flash” knocked out Nordine Oubaali on May 29 to take his 118-pound title and break his own record as the oldest fighter to win a bantamweight world title.
Donaire joins a Probellum that has been on a signing binge. In recent weeks it has signed Regis Prograis, Badou Jack, Eimantas Stanionis (another former Ringstar boxer), Arthur Biyarslanov, Taras Shelestyuk, Ricky Burns, Eduardo Hernandez and Brandon Moore.
“Richard Schaefer has always been a ‘fighter’s first’ promoter,” Donaire said. “I am convinced that with his vision, leadership skills and passion for the fighters he will elevate the sport and most importantly continue to empower fighters. I am proud to be part of Team Probellum and continue my relationship and friendship with Richard."
Schaefer was pleased Donaire came with him to the new company.
“Nonito is one of the greatest fighters in boxing. A future Hall of Famer and four-division and nine-time world champion, but it is not just his talent in the ring but his personality, charisma and values outside of the ring which make him the champion and role model he is,” Schaefer said. “I am fortunate to call him my friend. It is a pleasure and an honor for me to have him join Probellum and I can’t wait to help him unify the bantamweight division and conquer many more world titles.”
Hall of Famer DeMarco dies
Tony DeMarco, the former welterweight world champion, died at a Boston hospital on Monday, the International Boxing Hall of Fame announced. He was 89.
“Tony DeMarco was one of the standout stars of the golden ‘50s and provided so many thrilling moments during his legendary career,” International Boxing Hall of Fame executive director Edward Brophy said. “The Hall of Fame offers our condolences to his family and joins the boxing world in mourning his passing.”
Born Leonardo Liotta on Jan. 14, 1932 in Boston, DeMarco began boxing at 12. He turned pro in 1948 at 16, borrowing the name of a friend, Tony DeMarco, to circumvent the legal fighting age of 18.
He beat lightweights and welterweights of the era, including Paddy DeMarco, Teddy “Red Top” Davis, Chris Christensen and Pat Manzi before scoring a 14th-round knockout of Johnny Saxton to win the welterweight championship at Boston Garden in 1955.
He would lose the title in his first defense two months later by 12th-round knockout to fellow Hall of Famer Carmen Basilio. In November 1955, they met in a rematch and Basilio again stopped DeMarco in the 12th round in the Ring magazine fight of the year.
DeMarco (58-12-1, 33 KOs) retired in 1962, with other notable wins coming against Hall of Famer Kid Gavilan, Wallace “Bud” Smith, Vince Martinez, Gaspar Ortega and Don Jordan. DeMarco, a popular Boston sports figure with a statue erected in his honor and a street named after him, was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019.
Quick hits
The WBA on Monday announced it has granted a request made by the promoters of secondary featherweight titlist Leigh Wood (25-2, 15 KOs), of England, and mandatory challenger Michael Conlan (16-0, 8 KOs), of Northern Ireland, for a one-week extension to the purse bid, which was scheduled to take place on Monday. Last week, Matchroom Boxing, Wood’s promoter, and Top Rank, Conlan’s promoter, asked for the extra time as they were close to making the fight, which could take place in New York on St. Patrick’s Day in March.
Junior welterweight Ohara Davies (22-2, 16 KOs) will face Ismael Barroso (23-3-2, 21 KOs) in a WBA title elimination bout on Nov. 26 (ESPN+) at MotoSpace in Dubai, D4G Promotions announced on Monday. Also on the card, former super middleweight and light heavyweight titlist Badou Jack (24-3-3, 14 KOs) will move up to cruiserweight and face Johnny Muller (23-9-2, 14 KOs). The card will also feature junior bantamweight Muhammad Waseem (11-1, 8 KOs) facing fellow former world title challenger Rober Barrera (23-3, 13 KOs) and former secondary super middleweight titlist Rocky Fielding (28-2, 16 KOs) moving up to light heavyweight to face an opponent to be determined.
There is an IBF purse bid scheduled for Tuesday at 12 p.m. ET to determine the promotional rights for a bantamweight title eliminator between the Top Rank-promoted Jason Moloney (22-2, 18 KOs), 30, of Australia, and the Lee Eaton/MTK-promoted Lee McGregor (11-0, 9 KOs), 24, the European champion from Scotland. The winner of the fight would become one of unified champion Naoya Inoue’s mandatory challengers. Inoue knocked out Moloney last October in a title defense. Moloney has won his only fight since by unanimous decision over Joshua Greer Jr. on Aug. 14.
Show and tell
If you are a regular reader of “Show and tell,” you know I mainly collect programs, posters and cards. But I also dabble in fight tickets and have put together a nice collection of several hundred in recent years. So, of course, I had to have one from the instantly legendary Tyson Fury-Deontay Wilder III heavyweight championship fight, which I traveled to Las Vegas to cover. After the fight, I was able to get a leftover full ticket for my collection, which also includes mint full tickets from their first and second fights. Here’s a ticket from Saturday’s fight now at home in my collection.
Berlanga photo: Frank Micelotta/Fox Sports
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Read a good article about fans doing anything to get “hard tickets” from important games / events that they attended. They go the box office, say their phone died or broke, and get a manual hard ticket. Digital stinks!