SportsRatings: Boxing/MMA

2 great HW Fights: #2 Parker vs. #5 Bakole; #7 Kabayel vs. #11 Zhang round-by-round scoring

Two great Heavyweight fights among the card in Riyahd today.

The top fight is #2 Joseph Parker vs. #5 Martin Bakole, a last-minute replacement for #4 Daniel Dubois. Bakole weighed in at 315 pounds roughly, to Parker's 267.

Parker vs. Bakole probably starts around 4:30 5:20 eastern time

Live update: Fighters entering ring. Fight is beginning

1. Fighters mostly stationary, at mid-distance. Good jab lunge by Parker. Body shot by Bakole. Very different fight than Kabayel-Zhang for sure. Decent body shot by Parker, who is more active, Bakole waiting for opening. Parker caught in corner so he clinches late in round. Bakole gets in a right uppercut but Parker did more work in a sparse first round. Parker 10-9.
2. Bakole moving in now instead of standing still. Parker good 1-2, Bakole gets hit coming in too. Now Parker coming forward gets countered by Bakole. Pretty even first half of round. Bakole getting stung by short shots in tight. Parker great right but Bakole takes it, but Parker hits Bakole with hook to top of head, Bakole wobbles and falls down, he can't get up to the ref's satisfaction and Parker wins by TKO!

Parker TKO 2 Bakole

Stoppage was maybe a little early for some tastes but Bakole got up facing the ropes. Would have to see that again at full speed to judge. Bakole was clearly overweight and only flew in at 2am the previous night, so minus 25 pounds and an actual training camp, the result would have been different—at least, Parker wouldn't have gotten a 2nd round TKO. I'm sure Bakole got paid a lot for his last-minute replacement.

Parker solidifies his hold on the #2 spot that he just took over from Tyson Fury this month. A fight with #1 Oleksander Usyk is certain to happen hopefully this year. Bakole will drop to the lower reaches of the top 15.

Undercard fight:

 #7 Agit Kabayel (25-0-0) vs. Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1) was early on the card. A great bout for an undercard fight.

Kabayel weighed in around 240, Zhang about 290. That's the big difference in this fight, as well as Zhang's age (41) vs. Kabayel (32).

Live update: Fighters are being introduced. Fight is starting.

Round-by-round scoring:

1. Zhang scores early, Kabayel increases his distance. Ring looks small with both guys in there. Zhang fires and Kabayel returns fire well. A lot of winging hooks from both guys. Zhang backs Kabayel up to the ropes. Awkward clinch near the end, another left from Zhang. Close round to Zhang 10-9
2. Agit goes to body early, a lot of activity, Zhang fires back, lots of back and forth in first minute. Rock'em sock'em robots right now. Zhang covering up mostly, firing back occasionally. Big right from Kabayel, Zhang takes it well. Volume this round is insane! Solid uppercut from Zhang, Kabayel throws 10 smaller punches. Agit close in to keep Zhang from stretching out punches. Good round for Kabayel; 19-19
3. Agit starts where he left off with high volume, big body punch from Zhang. Both focusing on body. Zhang tying up, wrestling. Big left from Zhang, no reacting from Agit. More body punches from Kabayel. Strong jab from Zhang, several punches from Agit. Agit moving forward as the aggressor, 2 solid upperuts from Agit, Zhang returns. Same crazy workrate as round 2. Kabayel's higher workrate takes another competitive round. Kabayel 10-9; 29-28
4. Kabayel right into close range with body shots once again, annoying Zhang. Zhang pushes him away and gets a warning from the ref. Uppercut from Agit has Zhang take notice, he looks tired. Zhang's return shots aren't affecting him. Another warning from the ref for pushing. Big punch from Zhang doesn't faze Agit. Agit's workrate relentless. Connecting at will, and Zhang's return shots don't have a lot on them, luckily for Kabayel. Kabayel 10-9; 39-37
5. Kabayel starts right back up again. Zhang's corner wanted him to step back and fire, and he finally does, with a left hook that sits Kabayel down on the canvas! He's right back up but Zhang is on him. Agit tries to re-assert control, he looks ok midway through the round. Round after the knockdown was mostly Agit, but he didn't get a knockdown. Zhang 10-8; 47-47
6. Agit right back on the horse, Zhang is very tired. Kabayel body shot leads to an almost knockdown? Ref pulled Agit away, but Zhang hadn't gone down, so he started it back up, and no knockdown is called. Weird. Zhang is barely hanging on to Agit in the clinch. Taking a lot of body shots, lots of cumulative punishment but still hasn't gone down, now he finally does. Zhang might not get up, he didn't! Agit Kabayel KO Zhilei Zhang round 6

Big win for Kabayel, who will move into the top 5 in the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100. Zhang will drop into the lower reaches of the top 25.

 

 

 

Fury-Usyk II: Live summary (not detailed!)

Less formal than round by round as I also watch the college football playoffs

Rounds 1-3: Close, call them all 10-10 (see how detailed I'm being?) Fury might have edged the majority of these but not terribly clearly

Round 4: Usyk has best shot of round, Fury almost steals it at the end though

Round 5: Fury's best round, constant pressure and good combinations (good uppercut during round as Usyk entered)

Round 6: Usyk comes back and dominates round 6 more than Fury did round 5

Call it 59-58 at the half-way point with lots of leeway

Round 7: Pretty even until Usyk landed a good shot with a minute left, but overall another tie round. Usyk wins round at the end I think with another shot late

Round 8: Fury gets the uppercut again. Heads clash mid-round. Usyk doing more work though, except for brief period.

About 79-76 Usyk right now, which covers the close rounds, so at best for Fury it's 4-4 right now.

Round 9: Fury much better this round, probably got it though Usyk has his moments too especially late

Round 10: Fury trying to land big shots, working the uppercut well, wrestling a lot. If it were wrestling Fury would take this round. Announcers thing he won it handily but the ref should have been on Fury's case more. 

Possibly 97-96 Usyk now if we give the last two to Fury.

Round 11: Close round that Usyk probably takes with a solid left against the ropes.

Round 12: Good back and forth  last round, I give it to Usyk because he wanted to fight at the end and Fury just wanted to hold.

So my (half-assed) scorecard has Usyk winning 117-114, with extreme cards having Usyk 117-111 or a 114-114 draw

So I expect a majority or split decision one way or other, probably to Usyk. If Fury wins we'll see Usyk-Fury III in 2025.

The Judges: 116-112 for Usyk, wow

The judges pretty much saw it as I did, except they paid more attention than I did early I assume.

Now Usyk has beaten Fury twice, Joshua twice, and top contender Daniel Dubois once. Who is left to fight? Parker?

Deontay Wilder vs. Zhilei Zhang Live Round-by-Round Scoring; Hrgovic vs. Dubois

#14 Zhilei Zhang and #25 Deontay Wilder both hope for a big comeback fight in Saudi Arabia; and #9 Filip Hrgovic hopes to remain undefeated against #31 Daniel Dubois

Among the 4 fighters there are 2 bronze Olympic medals (Wilder and Hrgovic) and one silver (Zhang). Zhang weighed in at 282, Wilder at 214.

Zhang vs. Wilder is about to start

1. Typical southpaw vs. orthodox handplay early. Wilder being backed up, neither throwing anything. Right to the body from Wilder. Zhang lunges in with a left, they clinch. Wilder spins away from being trapped against the ropes. A whole lot of nothing this round, not giving any advantage for that. 10-10
2. Wilder swings the right to the body a few times. Zhang continues to corner him and try to unload. Same as first round but Zhang does land a solid punch, about the only one of the fight so far. That and "ring generalship" I guess is worth the round for Zhang 10-9; 20-19
3. Zhang resumes walkdown, Wilder seems as unlikely to throw as he did against Parker. Zhang is a much bigger, slower target though. Zhang lands a decent punch, which for this fight is worth everything. Wilder cornered again, takes a bit of damage nothing too bad, but he's not scoring at all. Zhang 10-9; 30-28
4. Not surprising these two are throwing so few punches, they are #1 and #3 among low-volume in the HW division, which says a lot. They are living up to that. Wilder almost falls down dodging a Zhang feint. Wilder occasionally throws a right to the body but misses due to the southpaw-orthodox distance. Finally lands a right hand, but it isn't fight-ending, and he didn't do much the rest of the round. Neither did Zhang. 10-10; 40-38 Zhang
5. Wilder lands an early right hand on Zhang. Finally some action in round 5 as they both block each other's efforts and both score. Wilder has found some energy. Zhang lands, Wilder takes it well. Wilder lands again but Zhang lands a BIGGER shot and Wilder looks in trouble, Zhang chases him down and hits again and Wilder goes down flat. REF STOPS THE FIGHT even though Wilder made it back up

Wilder was in no shape to continue. Zhilei Zhang TKO 5 Deontay Wilder

This might be it for Wilder, he never looked like he wanted to fight despite his claimed resurgence of will. Zhang fought like he always does, plodding and (occasionally) powerful. He moves back up but only has so much time left himself.

 

First up among the HWs was Hrgovic vs. Dubois

1. Dubois looks huge, jabbing from the center of the ring. Hrgovic winging a left hook jab, holding hand low. Right cross from Hrgovic. Fighters are swinging now already in the middle of the first round. Dubois takes another right hand well. Dubois responds with a right! Finally the take a break and clinch but go right back to swinging. It's measured action though, not chaotic and wild. Jab at the end for Dubois, great round. Dubois wasn't hurt but took more of the big shots. Hrgovic 10-9
2. They start right where they left off, the first minute and first half of the round is constant action. Hrgovic lands more right hands and Dubois' jab is working too. Good right from Dubois who is doing well in the 2nd half but Hrgovic gets in another right. Double jab from Dubois and a good left hand! He might have stolen the round, it's very close. Dubois 10-9; 19-19
3. Dubois pretty aggressive at the start as Hrgovic was cut last round from a clash of heads Dubois punch. Combo from Hrgovic, but he looks a bit frustrated by the pace. Exchange and Hrgovic lands better, more right crosses, but Dubois is undaunted. Good round for both guys, this is a hell of a fight. 10-10; 29-29
4. Another fast start from Dubois with his jabs. Jab from Hrgovic pops Dubois, but big right hand doesn't faze him. More clinching as the fighters are finally tiring. Nothing is hurting Dubois, who keeps up his high work rate with the jab. Dubois pops Hrgovic a few times with jabs. Really hard to say who is winning this fight, gotta punt again. 10-10; 39-39
5. Dubois lunges in with Hrgovic in the corner. Hrgovic combo goes to the body, and smacks Dubois with a punch he finally seems to feel in the middle of the round. Right hand from Hrgovic. Dubois is trying to make the round close though. Stiff jab from Hrgovic. Big right near the end too. Hrgovic 10-9; 49-48
6. Slightly slower start to this round but it's still fast by HW standards. Good exchange by the ropes as both connect. They clinch after 1 minute, both slowing down. Dubois walks in and clinches again. Both connect with right hands. Hrgovic's right is coming up short this round. Sluggish round from both guys 10-10; Hrgovic 59-58
7. Dubois aggressive again. Hrgovic has cuts over both eyes. Dubois whiffs on some big hooks, backing Hrgovic into corner. Dubois connects with some shots and Hrgovic looks very tired, on the defensive. His punches are lacking power too. Dubois is really taking control of this round, and maybe the fight if Hrgovic doesn't recover. Big round for Dubois. Hrgovic offering little defense at this point. Dubois warned about use of head, Hrgovic is barely standing. Dubois 10-9; 68-68
8. Dubois going for the kill, but he's tired too. Dubois rocks him, Hrgovic tries to clinch. Break for doctor to look at Hrgovic's cuts, and they stop the fight from the cuts!

Daniel Dubois TKO Filip Hrgovic round 8 due to medical stoppage

Hrgovic was probably overconfident going in, saying the fight was going to be easy. He certainly hit Dubois with a half dozen shots that might have stopped another fighter, but Dubois walked through everything. Hrgovic got tired first and his defense went away and the cuts made everything tougher—and ultimately led to the doctor stoppage

Undefeated HWs: #1 Tyson Fury vs. #2 Oleksandr Usyk round-by-round scoring (+Sanchez vs. Kabayel)

Here it is: #1 vs. #2, undefeated vs. undefeated.

Tyson Fury (34-0-1) vs. Oleksandr Usyk (21-0-0) in Saudi Arabia.

Not only is it the first #1 vs. #2 since 2009, but it's the first battle between an undefeated #1 and undefeated #2 since June 1988 when #1 Michael Spinks was KOed by #2 Mike Tyson (and prior to that? #1 Joe Frazier KOed by #2 George Foreman in January 1973, and before that Ali vs. Frazier in March of 1971).

And also on the main card: #6 Frank Sanchez (24-0-0) vs. #17 Agit Kabayel (24-0-0)—another undefeated vs. undefeated heavyweight bout!

Following Jai Opetaia's win over Mairis Briedis comes the main event next. Ring walk should be soon.

Ring walk is over, intros are over, now the fight:

#1 Tyson Fury vs. #2 Oleksandr Usyk round-by-round scoring

1. Fury keeping distance to use his reach, Usyk using movement and feints. Both going for body with jabs. Strong body shot from Fury. Usyk punches out of the clinch. Fury with arms low but right hand up, Fury holds ropes and mugs for the crowd. Jab and right to body from Fury, solid uppercut from Usyk. Fury avoids followups. Hard to score round, really weird action after midway point. 10-10
2. Power shot from Usyk with left looping hook right off the bat, Fury backing up now. Working the jab. More goofing from Fury. Usyk backing Fury up again, connects with left to body. Usyk connecting with the harder shots, good right from Fury though. Combo from Usyk. Good uppercut from Fury but that opening shot was the difference, have to give Usyk credit this time 10-9 Usyk; 20-19
3. Fury moving more at the start of this round, trying to find his way in, connects a few times. Jabs his way out of the corner and lands a 1-2. Usyk pushing his way in though, connects to body and face. Another left from Usyk mostly blocked. Usyk racing to catch Fury as he moves around. Double jab and left from Fury but Usyk connects on a combo near the end. Another close one, can't quite give that one to Fury or Usyk. 10-10; Usyk 30-29
4. Usyk very aggressive at start, two uppercuts to body from Fury though. Jab and uppercut from Fury. Fury clowning after another mild combo. Clash of heads. Good uppercut from Fury. Fury ducks in and connects with a right, clowns again. Usyk corners Fury, who blocks and ducks most of the combo. 10-9 Fury; 39-39
5. Fury snaps Usyk's head back with a jab. Still moving in, Fury backs him up with body shots. Usyk is undaunted. Action is very fast, let's see who gets tired. Usyk claims a low blow but is unaffected. Double jab by Fury. Fury holding him off this round for the most part. Good body shot. Fury getting the better of the exchanges this round. Solid round for Fury as last few seconds bleed off. 10-9 Fury; 49-48
6. Both fighters very active once again to start the round, neither is taking any rounds off here. Fury combo punches are blocked for the most part. Huge uppercut whiffs for Fury. Monster body shot wobbles Usyk, then another one clearly hurts him. Usyk keeping distance now. Big punches from Fury but defended well by Usyk. Fury slowing down a bit after that flurry of activity. Usyk moving forward again. Fury 10-9; 59-57
7. Fury backed into corner, pushes his way out. Usyk still has lots of life in him, pretty much refreshed from last round, connected with a few strong shots. Big uppercut to the face from Fury. Power jab from Usyk to Fury's face. Fury combo and he walks away to the right, almost turning his back to Usyk. Great combo from Usyk but Fury is unaffected and returns fire. Another close one 10-10; Fury 69-67
8. Usyk has a cut over his right eyebrow. Three shot combo from Fury but Usyk returns fire. Incredible start. Great combo from Usyk, who is really coming on early in the round. Great 1-2 from Usyk, Fury pretends it didn't hurt. Usyk counterpunching more now, Fury more tentative. Another shot to Fury's nose, Fury clinches. Right from Usyk, now Fury's hands are up. Clear round for Usyk 10-9; Fury 78-77
9. Fury much more tentative with cut to nose/face. Fury clinches, face looks awful while Usyk's cut was cleaned up well. Fury looks more serious now, no more clowning. Usyk pressuring. Two lefts from Usyk. Fury fighting back with rights and uppercuts to body in last minute. Another right from Fury, round is about even now. Huge right from Usyk has Fury stumbling all over, he should just go down, he stumbles into the corner and they call a knockdown. The bell rings and Fury is a zombie. Usyk 10-8; 87-86
10. Fury looks better but wobbly, Usyk attacking. Fury can hardly punch though. Usyk attacks but Fury covers up well. He looks better now. Combo from Usyk. Now Usyk is clowning a bit. Usyk whiffs on a huge left, and a right. Fury cornered again but escapes. Fury survives the round, and I'm not sure Usyk won it. 10-10; Usyk 97-96
11. Great fight. Usyk charges in at the start. Fury using his jab again well. Fury backs off from Usyk's chasing shots. Usyk goes to body and chin. Good right overhand/cross from Usyk. Good uppercut from Fury to body. Fury backed to ropes and Usyk connects. Huge overhand left probably tilts the close round to Usyk 10-9; 107-105
12. Fury behind on my card but with close rounds, he could be up 2 rounds. Suggests a split decision for Usyk is most likely. Usyk closes in and scores, Fury responds. Fury clinches when Usyk charges. Combo from Fury but he needs more, needs to win this round and may need  a knockdown or knockout. Usyk looks fresher, and more aggressive, connects with a hook. Fury hits with right hand with 1 minute left. Fury great straight right hand. Exchanges at the end between both fighters. Very even round. 10-10; Usyk 117-115

Ok, with five 10-10 rounds my scores are: Usyk 117-110, Usyk (115-112 or 114-113), Fury 115-112. Split decision for Usyk. Let's see what the judges say.

Judges cards: 115-112 Usyk; Fury; 114-113 Usyk; 114-113 Usyk

Just as my "cards" predicted, a split decision win for Oleksandr Usyk, but none of the cards was a wide Usyk decision.

Oleksandr Usyk is the SportsRatings heavyweight champion, and everyone else's champion too for a change! I guess we're going to have the rematch in October.

 

Scoring from the undercard:

#6 Frank Sanchez vs. #17 Agit Kabayel round-by-round scoring (12 round scheduled)

1. Quick start to the action, fighters are standing toe to toe and sparring heavily. Kabayel going to the body like he did against Makhmudov. Sanchez backing up, but he connects with a solid right. Great left jab/uppercut follows, Kabayel is clinching and hooking his arms over Sanchez. Ref warns both about clinch activity. Uppercut misses for Sanchez. Kabayel taking Sanchez's shots well, has him on the ropes now. Lots of action, both fighters did well but Sanchez had the bigger shots. 10-9 Sanchez
2. Kabayel moving forward, being more aggressive than I thought he'd be. Another clinch and lots of hand-fighting in the clinch. Kabayel's jabs are getting in, and he connects with a great uppercut. Sanchez playing the rope-a-dope n the ropes? A few good shots back Kabayel off for a bit with a minute left. Good left by Kabayel, Sanchez responds. Right hand by Kabayel! Great action so far. Sanchez let the round go by staying on the ropes. 10-9 Kabayel; 19-19
3. Kabayel continuing the pressure; more clinch fighting. Not much real connecting going on this round, movement and clinching, both maybe resting after first 2 rounds. Good 1-2 by Kabayel. Did he do enough to win the round? Probably since Sanchez didn't do much either. Kabayel 10-9; 29-28
4. Kabayel once again backs Sanchez to the ropes. Exchanges between the two. Good uppercut by Sanchez, Kabayel takes it well, he responds with solid jabs and bodyshots. Sanchez looks uncertain, like his right hand is hurt? Sanchez trapped in the corner, takes some shots but blocks most. Still, he doesn't look like himself exactly. Kabayel is relentless in stalking him down, good right hand hook to the head. Another good round for Kabayel 10-9; 39-37
5. Sanchez's movement is questionable and he has a bandage on his knee, takes a few shots from Kabayel, teeing off on him now against the ropes. So far Sanchez has taken it well but isn't looking confident. Sanchez might have to brawl with Kabayel to open anything up, he's not dealing with the pressure well. His leg is clearly bothering him. Kabayel 10-9; 49-46
6. Sanchez backs right up to start the round. Good left by Kabayel. Kabayel is outboxing him even at this point, it's not just a matter of low output from Sanchez. Good counter, but most of his punches aren't going anywhere. Strong right but Kabayel. The difference in "ring generalship" is stark, even if the blows were even. 10-9 Kabayel; 59-55
7. Jabs from Kabayel, he's throwing 5 punches for every 1 or 2 counters from Sanchez. Right hand from Kabayel catches Sanchez sleeping. A few moments later Sanchez goes down from random body shot; moments later he is down again! Sanchez doesn't get up. Wow.

Agit Kabayel KO 7 Frank Sanchez

Impressive win for Kabayel, but the mystery is how bad Sanchez looked after the first or second round. He clearly wasn't himself. Was it his knee? Something else? Or just Kabayel's relentless body shots, which were what put him down.

In any case, #17 Kabayel will move up to #7, and Sanchez will drop to around #14. Oddly, Kabayel will land right behind Efe Ajagba, whose only loss is to Sanchez. Kabayel vs. Ajagba next?

Early action:

Already, Sergei Kovalev has lost a cruiserweight decision to undefeated Robin Sirwan Safar; and lightweight Mark Chamberlain impressively TKOed Joshua Wahab in the first round.

19-year-old HW prospect Moses Itauma is currently taking on Ilja Mezencev. Itauma is unranked so far as he hasn't faced any rated competition, but at 6-6 and hard-hitting he looks to be a contender soon. Mezencev survived the first round, barely, after a huge left. Update: he didn't survive the 2nd round. Big punch from Itauma on top of the head scored the 2nd round TKO.

Joshua-Ngannou, Parker-Zhang live round-by-round scoring

Decent set of fights available on DAZN: #4 Anthony Joshua vs. Francis Ngannou, and #6 Zhilei Zhang vs. #7 Joseph Parker.

Main event: Joshua-Ngannou begins soon

Round-by-round scoring:

1. Both fighters look active, lunging with jabs. Ngannou's guard with right hand high in front. Joshua going for low jabs. Huge hook from Ngannou misses as Joshua ducks. Joshua goes to body again. Joshua gets straight right hand through and Ngannou knocked down!! Ngannou had shifted to southpaw and got caught. Ngannou looks ok. 10-8 Joshua
2. Let's see how Ngannou responds. He looks like he feels he needs to get a good punch in to even things up, which might be true. Joshua looks confident, obviously. Another good right from Joshua. Remember what happened in the Ruiz fight after Joshua put Ruiz down in the same manner though. Jab from Ngannou but he hasn't connected much. Jab from Joshua and another hook and Ngannou is down again! This is about how people though the Fury fight would go. Immediately Joshua connects with another right hand and Ngannou is out cold!

Anthony Joshua KO 2 Francis Ngannou

Well that was VERY different from the Fury-Ngannou fight. Ngannou looked like the amateur boxer that he really is. Pretty amazing work from Joshua though, he did in 1 1/2 rounds what Fury couldn't do in 10 rounds.

 

 #6 Zhilei Zhang (26-1-1) vs. #7 Joseph Parker (34-3)
The winner will jump to #3 in our Heavyweight rankings, a peak for either fighter. 

Round-by-round scoring:

1. Pawing jabs from both as Zhang's southpaw stance conflicts with Parker's orthodox; no big shots for 1st half of round, more cat-pawing. One punch from each maybe. Jab from Zhang. Hardly enough to score a full round on, as I often do I have to call it even. 10-10
2. Parker lunges forward with body shot here and there to break up the lead hand pawing, Zhang being even more patient. Big lunge from Parker right hand to body. 1st half pretty dull. Zhang goes to body and traps Parker in corner but gets tied up. Left hook to face connects. Zhang returns. Parker 1-2. Still not much happened, close round but Parker was more active. Parker 10-9; 20-19
3. More active jabbing from both to start round 3. Parker rushes right back in after break, goes to body. Zhang traps him in corner after a good connect though. Lots of head movement from Parker, Zhang still waiting then very quick straight left puts Parker on his ass. No damage but makes a 50/50 round into a 10-8 round for Zhang, who pours on a bit at the end. 10-8 Zhang; 29-28 Zhang
4. Zhang jabbing actively to start the round, alternative with left hand which is as quick as his jab. Parker returning fire, lands a few, good 1-2, now the action is really starting. Pretty even mid-way. Good shots from Parker to the body. Zhang standing in front of him less active and Parker taking advantage, solid right from Parker. Good exchanges, then ref warns Parker for low blow as round ends. Parker 10-9; 38-38
5. Zhang pawing tentatively, both waiting to strike, not much over first minute. Standing in front of each other posturing, quick lunge from Parker misses, connects to the body then. Parker's activity might win this round too as Zhang isn't pulling the trigger, at all. Good one from Parker adds to his advantage. 10-9; 48-47 Parker
6. Zhang looking a bit peppier but not really putting the jab all the way out. Parker lunges in and clinches after a miss. Parker's movement might be confusing Zhang who isn't committing to any punches. A small jab connects though. Parker to the body. Another blocked but he connects and then clinches. Exchange between the two, another clinch. Zhang sleepwalking through another round, Parker had to do even less, probably still won it. 10-9; 58-56 Parker
7. Not sure if Zhang's corner is telling him he's winning or what? But he shows no urgency, maybe he's thinking KO? More action in first minute this time but nothing telling. Parker putting 1-2 on Zhang's gloves mostly, Zhang tries to return, clinch from Parker. Parker using his speed well as Zhang is defintely lumbering. Another Parker clinch confounds Zhang. Parker ducks again to clinch when Zhang gets near. Good counter from Zhang. Parker doesn't deserve that one, neither does Zhang though; 10-10; 68-66 Parker
8. Parker connects with big right hand and return from Zhang as Parker ducks low to avoid. Parker's activity is really making Zhang look slow. But Zhang connects and as Parker ducks to avoid follow up and he runs into it and Parker takes a knee, ruining a good start for him. Minute left and Parker is fine, back to movement as before. Zhang trying to use the uppercut more as Parker goes low but misses. Zhang 10-8; 76-76
9. Zhang keeps same (non) urgency, probably thinks he's up with two 10-8 rounds. Parker fighting the same, too, more active, running gloves into Zhang's gloves and occasionally body. Clinch. Good body shot from Zhang, good one from Parker. Parker in-fighting during clinch. Jab from Zhang. Another too close to call round 10-10; 86-86
10. Uppercut from Zhang then body shots for Parker while Parker ducks low. Combo from Parker several punches, nothing too hard though. But he's scoring while Zhang isn't very much. Zhang needs to pull the trigger more. Good uppercut from Parker. Zhang just isn't going first, ever. Overhand from Zhang sort of lands, Parker double jab. Right hand. Zhang is just sitting doing nothing. Parker 10-9; Parker 96-95
11. Parker gets the best of jab trade. Parker digging in, Zhang looks slow, still never pulling the trigger. Same story as previous round, he basically needs another flash knockdown or Parker is going to win. Parker is just taking target practice on Zhang's gloves and arms, with little threat of return fire. Parker 10-9; 106-104
12. With three 10-10 rounds it's still within either fighter's reach by any judging bias, but Parker most likely wins a decision, which might be a split/majority decision. Parker looking good this round, lots of energy while Zhang looks sluggish, not able to attempt the KO or at least knockdown he probably needs. Parker holding him off his jab. Zhang just not trying at all to the very end, Parker 10-9; 116-113

If I divide the 10-10 rounds, my three cards are 116-113 and 116-110 Parker, and one card 113-113 draw, majority decision for Parker. Hard to see the cards ending up for Zhang overall.

Judges cards:  113-113 draw; 114-112, 115-111 for Joseph Parker, almost reflecting exactly my three cards. This is why I give a lot of 10-10 rounds and divvy them up to reflect the different way judges see a fight.

Great win for Parker who is on an absolute roll, beating Deontay Wilder and now Zhilei Zhang, both Olympic medalists, Bronze and Silver. Will he get another shot at the Gold (Joshua?). He'll jump to #3 in our rankings, ahead of Joshua, next month. Meanwhile Zhang looked old and slow, still dangerous. It looks like there is a rematch clause (which sucks) but it's hard to see it turning out different. Zhang will fall out of our top 10 next month.

Prelim brief summaries/scoring for HW fights:

Next fight features another ranked fighter, #89 Juan Torres (11-6-1) vs. undefeated Andryii Novytskyi (9-0), another guy looking to make his debut on the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100

1. Shorter Torres struggling to get past tall Novytskyi's long reach. Nov is 6-6 while Torres is 6-1 but looks much shorter (and rounder at over 250lbs). Novytskyi 10-9
2. Torres lunging multiple times but Nov stepping back to avoid, & Torres looks tired already. Long jabs are affecting Torres who is shrinking from contact rather than thinking offense. Novytskyi is being careful though. Good shot near the end; Novytskyi 10-9; 20-18
3.  Novytskyi jabbing, has one good shot over the top, Torres ducks under and almost goes for a takedown. Torres has his first good punch mid-round. More wrestling with a minute left, then solid right from Nov, then Torres takes a knee on followup. He doesn't get up, KO 3 Novytskyi

The end came really quickly and pretty unexpected, though it seemed inevitable that Novytskyi would win eventually, just not that soon. Torres pretty much gave up at first real adversity.

Andryii Novytskyi will make his Top 100 debut in April's rankings.

Early prelim:  #13 Justis Huni vs. Kevin Lerena (10 rounds); Lerena not rated as a heavyweight after extensive Cruiserweight career

1. Close round 10-10
2. Lerena stronger most of the round, Huni came on near the end; still Lerena 10-9; 20-19
3. Huni much busier than Lerena, who takes the round off basically, defends and doesn't get hurt; Huni 10-9; 29-29
4. Another close one, tbh didn't watch closely 10-10; 39-39
5. Lerena looks much more experienced, calmer, but Huni looks very fresh; Lerena dodges and returns fire well. Lerena 10-9; Lerena 49-48
6. Good left from Lerena early; defends well with hands up. Huni using a lot of energy with each punch but not slowing down. Huni connects with solid left as Lerena slows down a bit, round is getting close. Huni probably took it Huni 10-9; 58-58
7. Another good left to start from Lerena, who is very strong in first minute. Huni looking to come back with good combo, Lerena slowing down work rate in middle of round. No one really took charge of that one 10=10; 68-68
8. Once again, an early left catches Huni, who keeps up good work rate early though. Huni might be starting to wear Lerena down despite Lerena's solid guard. Lerena's offensive output is down a lot. Lerena's face is bloodied now and he looks tired as Huni looks fresh. Huni 10-9; Huni 78-77
9. Lots of feints from both fighters in first minute; Huni opening up a bit, Lerena still blocking most of it. 1-2 from Lerena; anyone's round with a minute left. Lerena makes a bit of effort, but Huni blasts him with a good shot at the end. Really not a very clear round. 10-10; Huni 88-87
10. With four 10-10 rounds I have no idea what the judges will say. Huni looks fresher and ring generalship goes to him, but he might not have won the rounds, as Lerena's boxing has been solid while Huni wins on power. Halfway through, Huni is ROCKED by Lerena and in BIG trouble. It was another left, that he's been getting Huni with all day. Huni didn't go down though, and needs to stay up for 30 seconds. Lerena's too tired to do it. They're going to hug it out for the last 10 seconds. Clearest 10-9 round you'll ever see, Lerena 10-9; 97-97 draw

So the announcers think Huni was well ahead, I have it 95-95 if the four 10-10 rounds are split, and either 97-93 Huni or 97-93 Lerena if I give the 10-10s one way or the other. Kind of wish I had scored this with more attention to detail. Let's see what the judges say: 96-94, 96-94, 98-92 all for Justis Huni

I guess they gave 3 of the 4 10-10 rounds to Huni, though the 98-92 was a bit much.

Huni won't benefit for the difficult win, however, as Lerena is not ranked: he beat expired HWs Bogdan Dinu, Mariusz Wach, lost to Daniel Dubois, and beat Ryan Merhy before Merhy was ranked. Pretty much did the most you can without getting rated!

Fury-Ngannou post-mortem: If you dismissed it, you missed it; the fight was great

Despite all the complaining about Fury vs. Ngannou it turned out to be a great fight, with a deservedly close decision that went pretty much exactly as I scored it: 95-94 for Fury with a super-close last round that was probably the most boring round of the fight, unfortunately.

But anyone who dismissed the fight as a "money fight" or compared it to a Jake Paul fight missed a very skilled bout. Ngannou surprised everyone, Fury and myself included, with his skill at traditional boxing. Coming from MMA—a sport whose boxing cred isn't exactly very high—most thought he had only a puncher's chance. And it's true, the cards were only as close as they were because of a 3rd round knockdown by Ngannou. But for the entire fight, he showed skill and patience boxing like a boxer, not an MMA star.

The dumbest thing people were saying was that Ngannou would be "slow." Anyone who has seen him fight MMA knows he is not slow at all, his hand speed is fantastic and his defensive reactions are super-fast, especially for his size. It seems that slow-speed pad work shown in training videos was the point of reference for his alleged "slowness."

People were also very wrong in assuming Fury would knock out Ngannou, without knowing anything about his MMA career. Ngannou always had a solid chin, and a great ability to dodge punches. His weakness in MMA was grappling, not getting hit. The main real weakness for Ngannou was his gas tank, as most of his fights are fairly short and he's pretty over-muscled. In the fight there were times he slowed down, but he was able to recover and looked sharp in the later rounds as adrenaline probably took over by then.

And from all corners, Fury was greatly overestimated as a boxer. For some reason, this same guy who was ridiculed for his lack of skill 10 years ago is suddenly the next Muhammad Ali in popular estimation. Let's face it, Fury isn't an all-time great technician. He may be an all-time great, but it's the fact that he's so skilled for his giant size, not that he has half the talent of a Muhammad Ali or even an Oleksander Usyk.

People also conveniently forgot that Fury has a very questionable chin. The recovery from Wilder's punches are the main point of reference, as he's the only one to not succumb to a Wilder KO. But he's been knocked down or stunned by numerous fighters, even former cruiserweight Steve Cunningham. It wasn't hard to imagine Ngannou doing the same.

And about Wilder: wasn't everyone in agreement after the first Fury fight that, and I paraphrase: Wilder has no boxing skill at all, he's just a power puncher, and he can't do anything other than land the big right hand. With that information, shouldn't Ngannou be able to fight Tyson Fury to a draw as well?

All of this ended up being true. But in no way did I expect a tight decision in this fight. I figured Fury would have the most trouble in the first three rounds when Ngannou was fresh and fast with his looping punches (this came true). Then in the next three rounds Fury would start to take control (also happened). Then over the last four rounds, Fury would make Ngannou look like a punching bag as Ngannou tired and was unable to muster much offense. The last part didn't happen, as Ngannou kept his form, didn't tire much, and had some good rounds that put the outcome in doubt.

The big difference was Ngannou's boxing skill. That's how he avoided fading down the stretch and kept himself in the fight. Fury was unable to use his skill to just take over the fight because Ngannou showed good defensive skills. And enough offensive skill—other than the big punch threat—to keep Fury from getting in rhythm. 

It's too bad Ngannou didn't get the split draw. As it is, in our system, Ngannou will still be a nobody with no wins or draws against registered fighters. It's as if this fight never happened. Fury will remain at #1 and won't lose any points.

If Ngannou had gotten the draw, Fury would have remained #1 but lost about half his advantage over #2 Usyk, and Ngannou would have made his debut at #3 at 0-0-1, well behind Usyk but ahead of everyone else including Anthony Joshua (#6) and Deontay Wilder (#10).

So it looks like the boxing world owes Francis Ngannou an apology—as does the MMA world—for thinking this fight would be a joke, a sure KO loss for Ngannou.

But I suspect the new narrative will be that Fury "sucks" because he couldn't dominate a guy with a 0-0 record. That's the internet for ya.

Fury-Ngannou fight and all undercard round-by-round scoring

The Tyson Fury / Francis Ngannou fight has been controversial for many reasons, but the only real concern is whether it's a "real fight" or not. The participants have been clear from the start that it is not an "exhibition," that it would count on their records, and there is no "no knock-down rule" whatever the hell that "rule" would mean in the first place (gravity doesn't exist?).

But some continued to insist the fight wasn't "real" and was unsanctioned so it wouldn't mean anything—in other words, if Francis Ngannou somehow won, he would not be champion in any way, and in fact would not have beaten Tyson Fury. It looked as though Boxrec.com wouldn't list the fight in its database.

Having a full slate of solid heavyweight bouts on the undercard helped a lot in terms of relevance. And with the sanctioning of the entire card under the BBBofC, and now being listed in Boxrec, hopefully the reality of the card and its headliner are no longer questioned. Here is the card and rankings on the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100:

#1 Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou

#13 Fabio Wardley vs #28 David Adeleye

#16 Joseph Parker vs #71 Simon Kean

#14 Martin Bakole vs #76 Carlos Takam

#52 Arslanbek Makhmudov vs #41 Junior Anthony Wright

That said, if Fury beats Ngannou as expected, he won't gain any points on SportsRatings for beating a 0-0 fighter. Only if Ngannou wins will the bout affect our ratings. The other fights, however, have all sorts of implications for the heavyweight division. 

The card starts at 2pm eastern time and the fights are available on PPV via ESPN+. Check back here for round-by-round scoring assuming my laptop (and hotel internet) are trustworthy.

 

Round-by-round scoring below:

#1 Tyson Fury vs. Francis Ngannou

1. Fury attacks hard early, Ngannou swings for the fences too. Big right counter from Fury. Good left from Ngannou, almost connects with a big right but Fury backs up, clinches when Ngannou comes in. Fury keeping distance and jabbing. Ngannou using decent defense and being patient. Ngannou going to the body, hits the belt. Big right from Fury, Ngannou takes it well. Hard jab from Fury. Good first round for both fighters. Fury 10-9.
2. Ngannou walking forward, Fury feigning a lot, Ngannou rushes in but Fury gets away. Left hand from Ngannou, Fury clinches but Ngannou gets a good uppercut. Fury goes southpaw for a while, so does Ngannou. Fury rushes in clinching, avoids a big punch. Fury keeps running in and clinching low, that was probably Ngannou's round. 10-9; 19-19
3. Fury throwing fewer jabs and doing more feigns, giving Ngannou time to think and Ngannou connects with a big left, but Fury takes it well. Fury's jabs are short right now, he rushes in again and clinches. Good one two from Fury, but he tries another one and Ngannou counters with a huge left and Fury GOES DOWN!! He looks confused with 20 seconds left. He gets up and looks ok but the fight is changed now. Ngannou 10-8; 29-27
4. Another punch from Ngannou. Fury whiffs on a big shot. Body shots from Fury, Ngannou whiffs on huge punch. Fury is serious now, throwing hard leather but Ngannou is taking it well. They throw at the same time and Fury gets the best of it. Fury's jab is working better too. Ngannou is southpaw stance. Fury came back well by the end, Fury 10-9; Ngannou 38-37
5. Big shot from Ngannou and Fury returns one. Ngannou fires back after Fury's jab. The two are trading evenly right now in the first half. Uppercut from Fury just misses. One-two from Fury hits solid, and a good jab. Jab from Fury, return miss from Ngannou. Another good round for Fury 10-9; 47-47.
6. Now we start to see if Ngannou tires, as most of his MMA fights are less than 10 minutes total. Fury's jab is working well as Ngannou has slowed just a bit. Good combo by Ngannou but Fury dodges most, also Ngannou just misses on two winging lefts, now he charges in and pins Fury against the ropes. Ngannou connects with a short right but almost everything else is missing. Now he's looking a lot slower, his power may be fading. No action in the last 30 seconds. Fury 10-9; 57-56
7. Ngannou walking down Fury, throws a hard right that connects. Another solid left from southpaw stance from Ngannou. He throws some uppercuts in the clinch. Fury comes in and connects, does so again and Ngannou wrestles him down to the canvas in the clinch. Pretty even round so far, Ngannou had the better moments at the start. Ngannou 10-9; 66-66
8. Fury lands with a right, then they clinch. Big left from Ngannou as the two are fighting in close as they lunge in. Good uppercut work from Fury. Ngannou isn't much slower than he was at the start. Fury gets in another uppercut and avoids some big shots but Ngannou gets some big shots in. Huge battle on the inside and Ngannou getting the best of it. Fury trying to clinch and hold on, he looks more tired than Ngannou. Ngannou 10-9; 76-75.
9. Fury in some trouble here for a shocking decision loss. Looks like an elbow from Ngannou (Fury connected one earlier). Jabs from Fury. Solid right from Fury too. Big break in action in middle of round. Fury fighting at distance, Ngannou not getting much going. Fury 10-9; 85-85
10. Round ten with my score tied. Faking jabs to start from both fighters. Jab from Fury finally for real. No one is really doing enough to win the round with just over a minute left. Jab from Fury and return from Ngannou. One minute left. Ngannou tries a jumping punch (sort of a Superman punch) but misses. 10 seconds left and no one is trying too hard, but Fury does get in a hook near the end. If we had to score this very close round it would go to Fury, not that he really deserves it as the champ. But we can't call a 10-10 in the final round and Ngannou did almost nothing, so it's Fury 10-9; 95-94

With the last round a tossup, it could go either way and possibly be a draw, but most likely a majority decision for Fury.

Scorecards: Ngannou 95-94, Fury 96-93, Fury 95-94. Fury by split decision

A pretty amazing fight—I was hoping for a draw that would give Ngannou the credit in our system that he deserves. This makes me wish he had taken some other fights first to build up his boxing bona fides.

 #14 Martin Bakole vs #76 Carlos Takam

Bakole defeated Takam in the 4th round by TKO. The fight was held before 2pm (EST), missed it while watching football, oh well. Seems the PPV started after the first 2 fights, including the first one I wanted to see. A good win for Bakole but completely expected, as Takam has been more of a high-level gatekeeper at age 42.

Bakole will probably move up a spot to #13 on the SportsRatings Heavyweight Top 100. Takam will just barely hang on in the top 100.

 #52 Arslanbek Makhmudov vs #41 Junior Anthony Wright

The undefeated Makhmudov (Mak) hasn't had an important fight in some time so Junior Anthony Wright (Jr) is actually ranked higher in our ratings. That will probably change as Mak is a heavy favorite in this one.

1. Mak comes out swinging, JrR responds in turn! Good action early. Mak backs off but a counter shot and followup (two actually) floors Jr and he barely beats the count. They continue to swing in a phone booth and another shot from Mak stuns Wright and the ref stops it with Wright still standing in the middle of the ring. Round one TKO for Makhmudov

Wright was game but probably foolish for continuing his in-your-face bravery following the knockdown.

The win should elevate Makhmudov into the lower reaches of the top 25, while Wright will fall to around #75.

 #16 Joseph Parker vs #71 Simon Kean

Parker has only lost to Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte, and Joe Joyce. Kean has a loss to Dillon Carmen and hasn't faced anyone of Parker's level.

1. Parker lands a good left early, Kean turned around and hits back of head. Good jabs from Kean. Parker counter punching, going for the body as Kean's guard is pretty high. Good right hand from Kean though. Tied up again awkwardly, almost clash of heads there. Body shot from Parker. His own guard is pretty low. Uppercut from Kean connects, good left hook too. Really tight round by the end. Punting, 10-10.
2. Kean moving forward a bit more early. Parker lunges in for a combo. Good jab from Parker, then good left hook and he ducks out of the way. Good combo, then triple jab from Parker. First half of round is all Parker, another jab.  And a really good combo. A few good jabs from Kean are his first offense. Little action later in the round, but it was all Parker earlier. Parker 10-9, Parker 20-19.
3. Parker jabs from the outside, good right from Kean. Strong right from Parker then he whiffs on a big shot. Lots of feigning in fighting range before one fighter acts, usually Parker. Big uppercut from Parker, going for the kill, another uppercut puts Kean down for the full count! Parker KO 3 Kean

Parker had a good workout in this fight, Kean presented some problems but Kean was clearly not in Parker's class. Parker will move up just a bit, back into the top 15 where he's spent a lot of his career. Kean will stay in the top 100 at 5-2 in rated fights and now 23-2-0 overall.

 #13 Fabio Wardley vs #28 David Adeleye

Two undefeated prospects fight for the British boxing title. Wardley is 16-0-0 with 15 KOs, while Adeleye is 12-0-0 with 11 KOs. In fights rated significant by SportsRatings Wardley is 5-0 with wins over wins over Eric Molina, Nick Webb, Chris Healey, Nathan Gorman, and Michael Coffie. Adaleye is 3-0 with wins over Danny Whitaker, Kamil Sokolowski, and Chris Healey. So no real big names but almost all of them are still in the top 200.

1. Jumping jab from Adeleye connects early. Both with wide stances facing off. A lot of feeling out, slow-motion so far. Good countershot from Adeleye misses by a hair. Wardley stalking him down a bit now, backed him against the ropes, but isn't pulling the trigger a lot. Combos miss from both fighters. Left hook by Adeleye surprises Wardley. Wardley uncorks at the very end but doesn't do much, nor did Adeleye. Yes another punt, 10-10
2. Hopefully more pulling the trigger on both sides this round. Jab by Adeleye, wrestling in the clinch. Adeley stalking. Fast jab by Adeleye, who looks a bit tired already backing up. Wardley frustrated by Adeleye's elbow in the clinch. Fighters trade shots, then solid shot by Wardley near the end. Not much else. Wardley 10-9, 20-19.
3. Lots more action early this round as both are swinging and clinching. Adeleye holding on as Wardley attacks, ref warns Adeleye. Wardley goes to body, Adeleye scores with a right hook. Wardley the agressor, moving forward. Adeleye punches Wardley coming off the clinch when the ref didn't divide them. Wardley connects with a solid right. But Adeleye counters well backing up. Close round, really, but Wardley is commanding the ring for sure. Wardley 10-9, 30-28.
4. Wardley comes up swinging, Adeleye pushes forward but gets counterpunched. 2nd attempt was better. Action has slowed down already one minute in. Adeleye rushes in again, Wardley clinches. Good combo from Wardley before Adeleye clinches. Wardley comes in again, Adeleye definitely on the defensive in the latter part of the round. Two huge jabs from Wardley, but a robe-bound Adeleye fires back. Wardley a solid body shot near the end. Wardley 10-9, 40-37.
5. Adeleye isn't doing bad but needs to connect with a solid punch to change the dynamic of being stalked down. He stands his ground and trades early before Wardley gets a few jabs in. Ref cautions both fighters for something. Wardley scores with a right hand, and 2 jabs. Adeleye comes alive but Wardley covers up well. Good jab from Adeleye. And another. A third, but Wardley is undeterred. Left hook from Adeley, big scrumm near the end of the round. Adeley showing he sisn't going away, but Wardley connects at the end. Even round by the end. 10-10; Wardley 50-47
6. Huge shot early by Adeleye, and more in the clinch, including perhaps an elbow to the chin and a punch behind the head. Warley looks angry, as he has most of the fight. Rest of round has been much less interesting with 1 minute to go. Lunging jab and headlock from Adeley. Wardley comes back with combination. Good work at the end by Wardley; Adeley started strong in the first 20 seconds but that's all he did. Wardley 10-9; 60-56.
7. Wardley working the jab again in round seven. Double jab scores again. Body shot for variety. Wardley dodges a counterpunch. Right and left hooks score for Wardley and Adeleye goes down! Barely beats the count. Wardley looking for the finish and he's floundering around the ropes and the ref stops the fight! TKO 7 Fabio Wardley

Wardley was cruising toward a wide decision but things suddenly turned around when the unique combo he threw caught Adeleye by surprise. With the win Wardley will move very close to the top ten, but probably only get to around #12. Adeleye will fall out of the top 50, probably near #75-ish. He shoved the ref (and sort of punched him lightly too) which might result in a suspension apart from that, but it didn't look all that threatening.

#11 Zhan Kossobutskiy vs. #18 Efe Agagba Live Round-by-Round Scoring

On the Jared Anderson / Andrey Rudenko card, the co-main event is the more interesting fight. #11 Zhan Kossobutskiy is 19-0, #18 Efe Ajagba is 17-1. The winner of this fight will be firmly in the top ten.

Both fighters have been in the top ten; Kossobutskiy was #10 just a few months ago when he was supposed to fight #11 Jared Anderson (who moved to #10 after beating Charles Martin, Kossobutskiy's replacement after the latter had visa issues). Ajagba was in the top ten before suffering his first loss and only loss to #4 Frank Sanchez.

The two have a combined 30 KOs (18 for Kossobutskiy, 13 for Ajagba) so it should be a banger. Starts soon. Going to use these fighters first names only in the round-by-round summaries.

1. Zhan pushing into Efe early, Efe trying to keep him away with the jab. Lots of clinching early already less than a minute in. Jabs from Efe, to the body and head. Uppercut too. Zhan walks forward with combo. Good slugging inside from both. Zhan connects with a couple late left hands, his best work since early in the round. Lean Zhan but really too close to call for a first round. 10-10
2. Solid right by Efe. Feet get crossed with Zhan in southpaw; good uppercut by Efe. Good flurry by Zhan. They're trading big shots. Possible low blow by Efe, not called. Awkward hold leads to flip with both fighters ending up on the canvas. Efe has Zhan a bit hurt at the end of the round. Ajagba 10-9; 20-19
3. Big action early as a low blow hits Efe and Zhan pushes him down after they were separated. Two low blows, actually, and a push. Zhan is deducted a point for all of that, a huge development. Zhan landed another low blow! Another point deduction! Now both are really trading, and consciously keeping things high. Now Efe lands a low blow! This is nuts. He gets a warning. Zhan is getting lazy and frustrated. He gets in close, and then another low blow gets a warning this time for Zhan, rather than a DQ which he is flirting with. Efe won the round but I'm calling that one a draw and the two deductions make it 10-8 Ajagba; 30-27
4. Efe teeing off a bit early, Zhan returns with good counters. Then Efe is floored with a clear low blow. This is reminiscent of Andrew Golota. Ajagba wins by disqualification

Very disappointing fight but Efe Ajagba forced Zhan Kossobutskiy to quit, basically. Ajagba's body shots—a few a bit low—made Zhan respond but will full-fledged low blows. The fight still didn't go his way and the last one was inexcusable.

Ajagba will move into the top ten at about #8, with Kossobutskiy's first loss dropping him out of the top 25.

Joshua-Helenius, Hrgovic-McKean round-by-round scoring

Former HW champ #6 Anthony Joshua (25-3-0) takes on #66 Robert Helenius (32-4-0) in London, with Helenius a late replacement for Dillian Whyte. 

Because of the replacement, the more interesting fight could be #12 Filip Hrgovic (15-0-0) vs. #53 Demsey McKean (22-0-0).

Also on the undercard are #86 Derek Chisora (33-13-0) vs. #153 Gerald Washington (20-5-1) and #62 Johnny Fisher (9-0-0) vs. unrated Harry Armstrong (5-1-1).

In early results Fisher defeated Armstrong on a standing TKO as Armstrong's corner threw in the towel shortly following the fight's first knockdown in the 7th round. He remains undefeated at 10-0 but needs to work on his accuracy as he spent much of the fight winging huge punches that whiffed. Fisher tried to finish the fight in the first round and almost succeeded but Armstrong gave him trouble while hanging around for the next five rounds as Fisher's telegraphed bombs whiffed. To be fair he finally connected on one early in the 7th which left Armstrong hanging on the ropes which the referee correctly called a knockdown.

Oddly, Hrgovic vs. McKean is the next fight up.

I'm not "keen" on Demsey's chances but Hrgovic has been lackluster at times and recently underestimated another southpaw Zhelie Zhang and almost lost that fight. If he doesn't take McKean—who is unbeaten—seriously it could be a tougher bout than he probably expects and an upset isn't out of the question as McKean looks motivated.

#12 Hrgovic vs. #53 McKean round-by-round scoring:

1. Early feeling out by the two 6-6 fighters, Hrgovic sinking long lunging body shots early. Lots of the usual left-right pawing typical of orthodox-southpaw fights. McKean still looking for a way in. Right from Hrgovic, McKean finally gets a left in. Misses with another one. A lot of dancing and spinning that round, Hrgovic looked a bit more in control. Hrgovic 10-9
2. Hrgovic again lunging in for lengthy right hand body shots. McKean's left is coming up short. Neither fighter making the jab work due to the orthodox/southpaw clash. A right from Hrgovic, McKean comes back with combo; another right from Hrgovic. Left and right hook narrowly miss from Hrgovic, then Filip connects with some long shots but nothing big. A few good chopping shots in the clinch score for Hrgovic. Great straight right from Hrgovic, who is starting to take control a bit. Hrgovic10-9; 20-18.
3. Hrgovic looking a bit faster than McKean, who tries some straight left-right combos. Good shots again in the clinch from Hrgovic. McKean throwing from too far away most of the time. He has yet to land a really solid shot. McKean clinching more now. Decent body shots from McKean; he clinches again as Hrgovic comes in. Hrgovic slowed down the 2nd half of that round but threw a flurry at the end. Hrgovic 10-9; 30-27
4. More of the same this round, Hrgovic with the better work, McKean's shots falling short, but it's pretty even in terms of work rate. McKean isn't falling farther behind but isn't doing anything to catch up or change the dynamic of the fight. He holds on against the ropes to avoid Hrgovic's pressure. Big shot from McKean whiffs near the end. Closer maybe but still Hrgovic 10-9; 40-36.
5. Hrgovic winning handily but not dominating the minute by minute action, McKean is still in there despite having little effectiveness himself. Stiff straight left from McKean, and again. Body shot by Hrgovic. Another stiff jab from McKean. Wrestling a bit in the clinch. Pressure again from Filip and McKean clinches. Good shot by Hrgovic as McKean walks into it. McKean lands another frustrating jab and maybe he won that one. It was close anyway. McKean 10-9; Hrgovic 49-46.
6. McKean ducking under Hrgovic's punches and clinching. Good body shot from McKean. Decent shot by Hrgovic, who is being frustrated by McKean's clinches and can't get his rhythm. But McKean's not hurting him. Good exchange by both fighters near the end and wrestling against the ropes. Close round, really neither fighter did very well there or got hit too badly 10-10; Hrgovic 59-56
7. Fighters trade jabs. McKean looking more active early one, has Hrgovic in the corner, but he let him off the hook with a lame clinch and got turned around. Pushing Hrgovic against the ropes again but takes some counter shots for his trouble and the ref warns him. McKean giving good shots and taking a few in return. McKean very active this round if only moderately effective. Hrgovic looking a bit sloppy in his counters and McKean keeps the pressure up, though he doesn't look too spry himself. Did McKean take that round? Hard to say, Hrgovic countered fairly well but body language was bad. If it goes to "ring generalship" McKean wins. McKean 10-9; Hrgovic 68-66
8. Good uppercut from McKean against the ropes. Chopping counter from Hrgovic. He shakes off McKeans clinch with a flurry. A lot of clinching from McKean, just wandering into it. Good work from McKean at the end but he really just clinched a lot, Hrgovic's counters were better. Hrgovic 10-9; 78-75.
9. Hrgovic looks a little more alive at the start of the 9th, but soon McKean is holding the center of the ring. Good response from Hrgovic but McKean pushes forward. McKean is getting in there but not doing a whole lot, trying to clinch before throwing. Good exchange. Hrgovic connects solidly and McKean is just holding on late. Hrgovic 10-9; 88-84.
10. Key round for McKean if he is to go the distance. He looks tired but is still coming forward. Hrgovic playing defense, not wasting his own energy, countering. McKean's offense is just not getting through but he tries to make it as sloppy as possible. Hrgovic doing well but not really moving toward the stoppage. Hrgovic 10-9; 98-93
11. Big shot early from Hrgovic. McKean working hard in the first half of the round, not getting what he needs to turn the fight around but putting it all on the line. More and more Hrgovic looking like he'll be ok with the decision win. McKean has him in the corner, good counters from Hrgovic, more pressure from McKean. Another close round but McKean wins it on activity. McKean 10-9; Hrgovic 107-103
12. Hrgovic looks very active early to start the final round, but quickly slows down. Connects with huge right hook and McKean folds over the rings, ref starts the count and waves the fight off.
    
    Hrgovic TKO 12 McKean

Hrgovic gets the TKO win after all in an odd finish. But the questions about his stamina will remain as he looked sluggish for the entire 2nd half of the fight. McKean went all in trying to change the fight and couldn't, and left himself vulnerable to the big shot.

Chisora vs. Washington about to begin. Chisora wearing Barbie pink shorts and gloves.

Washington weathers Chisora's juggernaut style in the first round, no big damage done; better offense from Washington in the 2nd, gets a "push" knockdown at the end and probably evens the fight at 1-1; 3rd round a lot of clinch fighting as Chisora pushes forward; checking Chisora's eye between rounds, after clash of heads earlier, continues. Good work by Washington in 4th round evens the fight again; lots of pressure from Chisora in 5th; starting to take control in the 6th as Washington tires; 7th round Washington has nothing on his punches, but has good flurry at the end that might have stolen the round; 8th round pretty even on balance; Chisora throwing the right a lot in the 9th, looking for a big shot, didn't get it; both fighters active in 10th round which probably goes to Chisora.

I have it about 5-3 Chisora with 2 rounds close, which leaves a draw open to Washington, possibly a rogue judge going for him but probably a majority decision at least for Chisora.

Scores: 98-93, 97-94, 96-94 UD for Chisora

Ring walk for Joshua - Helenius right now

Joshua-Helenius Round-by-round scoring

1. Helenius starts aggressively. Good jab by Joshua. Fighters settle in at distance. Strong jab by Joshua. Another one. Body shot from Helenius. Right connects for Joshua, now another jab. Joshua wins on jabs Joshua 10-9
2. Tactical fight at distance settles in again. Joshua connecting again with light jabs. Helenius not pulling the trigger this round. Big right from Joshua, Helenius clinches. Now Helenius is throwing the jab out to keep Joshua away. Both fighters pretty tentative, especially Helenius. Joshua 10-9; 20-18
3. Joshua popping jab to Helenius' face, lands a right too. Now a body shot. Helenius unable to get offense going. Pressure from Joshua after body shot. Ducks a Helenius hook, returns fire. Joshua 10-9; 30-27
4. Joshua winning rounds so far without being impressive. Joshua lunges in for clinch oddly. Helenius pawing out the jab more, both fighters looking more active. Strong right from Joshua, no followup though as Helenius ties up. Awkward exchange with Helenius throwing body shots. Snapping jab from Joshua. Helenius just not doing enough. Joshua 10-9; 40-36
5. Joshua pushing forward a little more. Big body hook and followup right. Good jab from Helenius, return from Joshua draws a clinch. Two punches each connect. Solid right from Helenius, and again. Left hook too. Helenius standing right in front and doing pretty well. Another jab from Helenius, and another on a counter. Solid counter by Joshua. Helenius 10-9; Joshua 49-46
6. Better work from Joshua this round. Helenius starting to tire as punches add up midway. Cuts and tired look from Helenius, but Joshua bleeding too. Joshua 10-9; 59-55
7. Solid jabs from Joshua early force Helenius to tie up against the ropes. Joshua smells blood now, Helenius is tired. Joshua being careful as Helenius is still countering HUGE shot puts Helenius down and that's that. Helenius is not getting up, not even moving.

Joshua KO 7 Helenius

He took his time but he got it done.

#4 Joe Joyce vs. Zhilie Zhang round-by-round scoring

4th ranked and undefeated Joe Joyce takes on Olympic silver medalist Zhilie Zhang. Zhang is currently #88 after a loss and draw in his last 4 fights. He's still a big threat with a big punch but Joyce, an Olympic silver medalist himself, has the big advantage in durability and stamina as he lives up to his nickname, The Juggernaut. He's a -1100 favorite, which seems a bit excessive but he should definitely be the favorite. Both fighters are 6 feet, 6 inches tall.

Round-by-round scoring for the 12 round fight:

1. Early feeling out for the first minute. Good shots from Zhang, landing some hard punches in the middle of the round which is really his only chance—the longer the fight goes the more Joyce will be favored. Good shot to the body for Zhang. Joyce is unfazed and continues his high output but not connecting much. Joyce hanging back a little bit though. Zhang 10-9
2. Joyce respecting Zhang's 80 inch reach which is equal to Joyce's. Good exchange early in the round. Joyce relentless with activity. Great counter 1-2 by Zhang. Huge left from Zhang! Joyce is stunned and stumbles around the ring a bit but stays up. Ref separates and restarts them and Joyce recovers. Joyce back to the activity late in the round, Zhang looks a bit tired. Zhang 10-9; 20-18 
3. Joyce starting with high workrate to not let Zhang get anyting in, Zhang goes to the body, gets a right in but 90% of activity is Joyce. Zhang fading a bit it seems with a minute left. Zhang gets a few lefts in, and another one late but Joyce is unfazed. Much better round for Joyce 10-9; 29-28 Zhang
4. Joyce stepping up pace, mostly jabs hitting Zhang's arms but staying relentless. Zhang's output is very slight midway through, though he gets some lefts in still. 1-2 left right from Zhang scores, Joyce keeps the pressure up. Another few shots from Zhang but activity probably wins a close round for Joyce 10-9; 38-38
5. Joyce really speedy as round 5 starts, going to the head and body. Counter left from Zhang is almost his first punch after more than half a minute. Big left from Zhang, multiple punches from Joyce though. Joyce's face looks far worse though as Zhang's punches are connecting unimpeded. Activity probably wins that for Joyce, too, but it's even closer than last round, and he doesn't look great, especially Joyce's right eye. Joyce 10-9; 48-47 Joyce
6. The ref checks Joyce's eye, and he passes the test but things get serious as there's no guarantee he's winning the fight. Good short right from Zhang. Joyce continues relentless punching, but Zhang comes alive with 4 or 5 good strikes and the doctor is checking the eye again. Joyce answers correctly 2 finger and 1 finger, but the fight is STOPPED! And Zhang wins the TKO on doctor's decision!

Wow. Joe Joyce's legendary durability cost him, as he remained unfazed by most of Zhang's shots, but you can have a great chin but no one has a "great eye" and the damage was enough for the doctor to stop the fight.

Zhang, only #88 in SportsRatings' top 100, will jump into the top 10 for the first time in his career. Joyce will fall to just outside the top 10.