Podcast: Recaps of 'Boots' and 'Bam' show, Davis-Lemos card
Plus: The undercards; Subriel Matias' return; news of the week; Hagler-Duran and Arguello-Pryor I anniversary memories
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There were a pair of notable cards this weekend and we recapped them both — the Top Rank card headlined by rising lightweight contender Keyshawn Davis’ crushing second-round knockout of Gustavo Lemos on Friday night and the Matchroom Boxing event headlined by IBF welterweight titlist Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ decision over Karen Chukhadzhian in their rematch on Saturday night. We also covered several news items of the week and looked back on the anniversary of three big-time fights.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Recap of Davis’ star-making knockout of Lemos in his first main event and first fight in his hometown of Norfolk, Virginia: How he did it; overcoming Lemos’ huge weight advantage; the world title fight that could be next for him.
Recap of the Davis-Lemos undercard, including middleweight prospect Troy Isley’s decision over Tyler Howard; lightweight prospect Abdullah Mason’s sensational two-round shootout with Yohan Vasquez; wins by Keyshawn’s brothers Kelvin and Keon; and featherweight contender Ra’eese Aleem’s rout.
Recap of Ennis-Chukhadzhian II: How different it was from their first fight; reasons for Ennis’ less-than-stellar performance; Chukhadzhian completely changing his style from the first fight; will Ennis stay at welterweight or move up; the opponent he could face next.
Recap of the Ennis-Chukhadzhian II undercard: lineal/WBC junior bantamweight champion Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez’s superb third-round knockout of Pedro Guevara and his future; Raymond Ford’s one-sided win in an impressive junior lightweight debut; and more.
Recap of the return of former junior welterweight titlist Subriel Matias in a second-round knockout of Roberto Ramirez.
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Announcement that super middleweight contender Jaime Munguia will have his fourth fight of the year in a Tijuana, Mexico, homecoming on Dec. 14.
Once fearsome Nigerian late 1990s heavyweight contender Ike Ibeabuchi, at age 51, being set to return to the ring for his first fight in 25 years.
Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya and Matchroom Boxing’s Eddie Hearn laying out the fights they hope to make for a “5 vs. 5” card between their companies.
Announcement that former junior featherweight champion Israel Vazquez is battling cancer with the WBC spearheading a campaign to help raise money for his treatment.
Top Rank’s announcement that welterweight contender Giovanni Santillan will return from his first loss on Dec. 7.
Memories on the 42nd anniversary of when Aaron Pryor knocked out fellow Hall of Famer Alexis Arguello in the 14th round to retain the WBA junior welterweight title in their extraordinary first fight, which is one of the top handful of bouts in boxing history.
Memories on the 41st anniversary of when Marvin Hagler eked out a hard-fought 15-round decision over fellow legendary Hall of Famer Roberto Duran to retain the undisputed middleweight title.
Ringside memories on the 24th anniversary of when Lennox Lewis routed No. 1 contender David Tua to retain the heavyweight championship in the first fight I traveled to cover in Las Vegas, an extremely memorable experience in my career.
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Ennis-Chukhadzhian photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing
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