Podcast: Recaps of Foster-Nova and Nontshinga's revenge vs. Curiel
Plus: News of the week; anniversaries of the three key fights
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
There were two shows of note, both on Friday, and we recapped and discussed both: the Top Rank show topped O’Shaquie Foster’s split decision win over Abraham Nova to retain the WBC junior lightweight title and the Matchroom Boxing card headlined by a fantastic rematch as Sivenathi Nontshinga rallied to stop Adrien Curiel in the 10th round to regain the IBF junior flyweight title. We also discussed news items of the week and reflected on the anniversaries of three notable fights.
Here is what’s on the show (in order):
Recap of Foster’s win over Nova in his second defense: how the fight went, the scorecards, what could be in store next. We also went over the two other fights on the main card unbeaten junior lightweight Andres Cortes’ fourth-round knockout of Bryan Chevalier and featherweight prospect Bruce “Shu Shu” Carrington’s sensational fourth-round KO of Bernard Torres.
Recap of Nontshinga’s extremely entertaining battle with Curiel as he avenged a loss on enemy turf and regained the title in dramatic fashion. Plus: former featherweight titlist Mauricio Lara moving up to junior lightweight and fighting a disappointing draw with Daniel Lugo.
Top Rank’s announcement that heavyweight contender Jared Anderson will fight former WBA “regular” cruiserweight titlist Ryad Merhy on April 13.
Golden Boy’s announcement that it has signed junior middleweight contender Charles Conwell.
Golden Boy finalizing the March 16 William Zepeda-Maxi Hughes undercard.
Please upgrade to a paid subscription for full access to all posts and comments — and also help support independent journalism
Memories on the 31st anniversary of “The Grand Slam of Boxing,” when Julio Cesar Chavez stopped Greg Haugen in the fifth round to retain the WBC junior welterweight title in the headliner at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City before all-time boxing record crowd of 132,247.
Memories on the 24th anniversary of when Erik Morales eked out a disputed split decision in a legendary slugfest with bitter rival Marco Antonio Barrera to unify the WBC and WBO junior featherweight titles in the first fight of their historic trilogy.
Ringside memories on the 13th anniversary of when Nonito Donaire crushed Fernando Montiel in the second round for the knockout of the year to win the unified WBC/WBO bantamweight titles.
Please give it a listen! Also: rate, review, subscribe and enjoy!
We bring you the preview each Friday and the weekend recap each Monday. Let me know what you think of the podcast by leaving your comments.
Foster-Nova photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Please upgrade your subscription here: https://danrafael.substack.com/subscribe
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
