A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Halle/Westphalia, Germany
Marco Huck W12 Mirko Larghetti
Retains a cruiserweight title
Scores: 118-110, 116-112 (twice)
Records: Huck (38-2-1, 26 KOs); Larghetti (21-1, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For the past five years, Huck, 29, of Germany, has dominated the cruiserweight division. He won his belt in August 2009 and has faced several top opponents -- including Firat Arslan (twice), Ola Afolabi (three times), Denis Lebedev -- and even moved up to heavyweight for a shot at the belt Alexander Povetkin held at the time and got robbed in a majority decision loss in 2012. Huck returned to cruiserweight and continued to defend his title.
Now, by handily defeating Larghetti, 31, of Italy -- who had no résumé of any consequence coming into this undeserved title shot -- Huck matched the cruiserweight division record for defenses with No. 13. He tied the record set by Johnny Nelson (45-12-2, 29 KOs), of England, a southpaw defensive specialist, who blossomed late in his career and held the same alphabet belt Huck now holds. In fact, Nelson, who reigned from 1999 to 2005 before vacating the title and retiring at age 38, was ringside for the fight. And while he congratulated Huck for tying the record, there were backhanded statements indicating that Nelson is not all that impressed with Huck and that he might be interested in exiting retirement for a shot at Huck. It seems doubtful that would happen, but it did spice things up a bit.
Huck had few problems with Larghetti, who was game to the end. Larghetti landed a few decent shots that seemed to trouble Huck briefly near the end of the seventh round, including a straight right hand and a left hook that got through. But Huck was also doing damage and Larghetti's bruised face showed the impact of the punches.
It was an action fight, as Huck's fights usually are. His jab was powerful and effective. By the 12th round, both fighters seemed exhausted, but Huck was able to put together a tremendous flurry in the final moments of the fight as he cornered Larghetti and was teeing off on him. Finally, Larghetti, who had taken a vicious right hand to the head, fell into the ropes and then to the canvas in bad shape. This is where things get very confusing.
The sequence began with about seven seconds left in the fight. There was no audible bell to signal the end of the fight on the telecast and as Larghetti was falling to the canvas, referee Jack Reiss moved in seemingly to stop the fight. It appeared to be a clean knockout.
For reasons that make no sense, the fight was instead sent to the scorecards after several moments of confusion, even though Reiss ruled that the final blow was before the end of the fight. And remember -- a fighter cannot be saved by the bell in any round of a world title fight under the unified rules of boxing. This seemed like a clear cut knockout, but the scorecards were read anyway.
Huck won the obvious decision, but he was robbed of a knockout in his record-tying fight. The WBO, which sanctioned the title bout, said it would review the ending of the fight, although it does not have the power to change the official result. Hopefully, the German regulators will also review the fight and correct the poor mistake Reiss made in declaring this fight to have gone the distance. This should have been a knockout for Huck.
After the fight, Huck promoter Kalle Sauerland said that Huck could be headed for a fight in the United States next as well as a possible move up to heavyweight again. It all sounds good. When Huck fights, fans always get their money's worth.
Denis Boytsov W10 Timur Musafarov
Heavyweight
Scores: 98-91, 97-93, 95-94
Records: Boytsov (34-1, 26 KOs); Musafarov (6-2, 5 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Boytsov, 28, who was born in Russia and lives in Germany, was the mandatory challenger for heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko when he took a tuneup fight in November against obscure Australia-based Samoan Alex Leapai, got dropped twice and lost a lopsided unanimous decision. Boytsov's word title shot went bye-bye and Leapai wound up getting it instead and got crushed by Klitschko in five one-sided rounds in April.
Boytsov, meantime, made his return to the ring from that hideous loss to face Musafarov, 27, a native of Uzbekistan living in Germany. Obviously, this was a mismatch on paper given that Musafarov came into the fight with only seven pro fights against nobodies and was coming off a loss. So it should come as no shock -- even less of a shock than Leapai's win -- that Boytsov won a clear decision, although he did not look particularly good and it was more competitive than anyone would have guessed it would be.
Saturday at Las Vegas
Rogelio "Porky" Medina KO3 J'Leon Love
Super middleweight
Records: Medina (33-6, 27 KOs); Love (18-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Upset alert! Love, 26, of Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and now living in Las Vegas, has been pushed hard by promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. despite some shaky performances and a failed drug test that cost him a questionable victory against Gabriel Rosado when it was changed to a no decision. But nonetheless, Love was probably only a win or two away from getting a shot at a world title; but that is down the drain after Medina, 25, of Mexico, knocked him out. Badly.
It was a shocker in the "ShoBox: The New Generation" main event. Medina was given no chance to win by anyone as he entered the fight, having lost four of his last six fights against non-elite opponents, and was meant to be fodder. The fight began slowly with not much happening through the first two rounds. Love was moving and Medina was pursuing, both of which were expected. But in the third round the fight suddenly ended when Medina crushed him with a clean left hook that snapped Love's head sideways. Medina finished the combination with a window dressing right and another left, but Love was on his way down face-first basically right in front of Mayweather's seat.
Love struggled to get up, made it maybe halfway and then collapsed into the ropes as referee Tony Weeks was already calling it off at 39 seconds. This was an explosive knockout, and Love became the third fighter from Mayweather's so-called "Money Team" to suffer a brutal knockout in recent fights, along with Badou Jack and Mickey Bey.
Even Medina was stunned by the way the fight ended, saying, "I was very surprised the fight ended like it did when it did. I expected to win but not in this kind of explosive fashion this early in the fight."
Medina called out for a title shot against newly crowned belt-holder Anthony Dirrell while Love was taken to a Las Vegas hospital for observation.
Badou Jack W10 Jason Escalera
Super middleweight
Scores: 100-90 (twice), 99-91
Records: Jack (17-1-1, 11 KOs); Escalera (15-3-1, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Jack, 30, who is from Sweden, represented Gambia in the 2008 Olympics and now lives in Las Vegas where he trains alongside Floyd Mayweather Jr., suffered his first defeat in February when he was knocked out in the first round by Derek Edwards in a big upset. For his comeback, Jack was matched with Escalera, 29, of Union City, New Jersey, a tough, rugged fighter, but a guy not on the same level as Jack in terms of skills. That showed from the outset.
Escalera, fighting for the second time in the month and third time in six weeks, has good power, but once Jack made it through what had to be some anxious moments of uncertainty in the early going, considering what had happened last time out -- although he claimed after the fight that he did not have any nervousness beforehand -- he settled down quickly and easily outboxed Escalera in a massively one-sided fight.
The CompuBox results illustrate the fight well. Jack landed 241 of 500 punches (48 percent) while Escalera landed just 83 of 677 (12 percent). Jack looked pretty sharp, displayed excellent defense, moved well, popped his jab and basically did as he pleased against Escalera, who was a step too slow to do anything of consequence. All in all, a good bounce-back victory for Jack.
Ronald Gavril TKO7 Thomas Falowo
Super middleweight
Records: Gavril (10-0, 8 KOs); Falowo (12-3, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Gavril, 28, a former national amateur champion in his native Romania, is now based in Las Vegas and one of the better prospects in the Mayweather Promotions stable. He took on Falowo, 25, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a smaller man (he has fought most of his career at middleweight), who has spent time sparring with former super middleweight titlist Sakio Bika.
This was a match of Gavril's punching power against Falowo's slickness and jab. While Falowo threw a ton of jabs, he was not having all that much success with it. Gavril can bang, and when he landed a clean straight right hand a minute into the third round, Falowo hit the canvas, although he quickly beat the count. Falowo came back and probably won the fourth round, but Gavril was the boss for most of the fight. In the seventh round, Gavril stunned Falowo with a right hand to the head that froze him in his tracks. Gavril pounced and unloaded a series of follow-up shots over the next few seconds, including a big left hand, forcing referee Robert Byrd to intervene at 2 minutes, 14 seconds. Gavril is an offensive-minded fighter and entertaining. What he needs to do is be more active, as he has only had 10 fights since turning pro in late 2011.
Saturday at Hermosillo, Mexico
David Sanchez TKO5 Anuar Salas
Junior bantamweight
Records: Sanchez (26-2-2, 20 KOs); Salas (14-3, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In May, Sanchez, 22, claimed a vacant interim belt by outpointing Breilor Teran. Sanchez was supposed to make his first defense against Salas, of Colombia, but for reasons that are unclear, the bout was instead a 10-round fight without the strap at stake -- even though they both weighed in at the division limit of 115 pounds. In any event, at least nobody got a sanctioning fee for that fight, which took place in Sanchez's hometown in front of a boisterous crowd.
They exchanged a lot of punches in a give-and-take first round, but Sanchez -- known as "Tornado" -- began to assert himself in the second round as he rocked Salas with a powerful left hook. From there, Sanchez was pretty much in control. He was quicker and looked physically stronger. Even when Salas landed a nice left hook to the jaw midway through the fifth round, Sanchez walked right through it. Later in the round, Sanchez rocked Salas with three uppercuts that sent him reeling backward. Sanchez continued to connect with shots, finally dropping Salas to the mat due to the volume of punches. Salas got to his backside, shook his head a few times as if to clear the cobwebs and used the ring ropes to pull himself up. He got up at the count of eight, but his legs did a little dipsy doo. He was off balance and referee Porfirio Penato waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 35 seconds. This was a good performance from Sanchez, who is definitely a crowd pleaser. All three of Salas' defeats have come in the three fights that he has had outside of his home country.
Saturday at Caracas, Venezuela
Yonfrez Parejo TKO11 Luis Hinojosa
Wins a vacant interim bantamweight title
Records: Parejo (16-1-1, 7 KOs); Hinojosa (25-8, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Typical WBA nonsense as Parejo, 28, of Venezuela, and Hinojosa, 27, of the Dominican Republic, have no notable victories between them -- Parejo's last three opponents were either .500 or below and Hinojosa had also built his record against a series of sub-.500 opponents -- yet they were allowed to fight for an interim 118-pound title. By virtue of the outcome, the WBA now absurdly has three titleholders in yet another division as Anselmo Moreno, the longtime titleholder, holds the main belt and Jamie McDonnell holds the secondary belt.
Parejo, with the hometown advantage, was in control most of the way before he nailed Hinojosa with a pair of right hands to the body during a flurry in the 11th round, causing him to take a knee and for referee Luis Pabon to surprisingly call off the fight without at count at 1 minute, 32 seconds. Hinojosa lost the first six fights of his pro career and seven of his first eight as he suffered his first loss since a four-round decision in 2010 and that terrible start to his career.