Tapia (left) Kirkland (right) Fight of the Year
New York, NY– After over 70 plus rounds of combined coverage between two networks (HBO & Showtime) that pitted 14 fighters standing opposite of each other in seven separate bouts, some changes and new evaluations have manifested in the sport of boxing, let’s take a look:
KIRKLAND & TAPIA STOLE THE SHOW AND MAYBE THE YEAR
Atlantic City, NJ– While (to me) the HBO card seemed weaker (on paper) then Showtime’s offering, the co-featured bout on their (HBO’s) air saw streaky middleweight (154) James Kirkland (32-1, 28 KOs) against promising up and coming scrapper Glen Tapia (20-1, 12 KOs) go to Hell and back in amazing war of attrition. Despite being rocked early, Kirkland did what he does best and threw a huge volume of power shots to stop the very battered and beaten warrior Glen Tapia in an amazing contest which is (IMO) a leading candidate for “Fight of the Year“. (W Kirkland, TKO 6).
OTHER HBO RESULTS
Super Bantamweight (122) champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (13-0, 8 KOs) easily defended his WBO & WBA belts via a points nod victory over a very limited representation of Joseph Agbeko (29-5, 22 KOS). Opening the show, scrappy middleweight (160) tough guy Mathew Macklin showed he still has some life in his very talent rich division by out working the game, but limited pug Lamar Russ (14-1, 7 KOs) over 12 rounds to a decision victory.
SHOWTIME CARD WENT ON FOR DAYS
Brooklyn, NY– Combining for a whopping total of 48 rounds (in rare form) Showtimes’ card failed to excite. Below are the particulars:
In a descent encounter of solid craft and sloppy wailing, Anthony Dirrell (26-0-1, 22 KOs) and Sakio Bika (32-5-3, 21 KOs) battled to an uneventful draw. Afterwards, newly rewarded WBA super middleweight (154) champ Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KOs) outclassed an oddly disinterested version of a once potentially promising future star in Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOS).
BROOKLYN FANS WERE HAPPY AT END
As the night progressed, the co-feature witnessed former welterweight (147) belt holder Devon Alexander (25-2, 14 KOs) become further exposed as a fighter that’s in decline against newly crowed strap carrier Shawn Porter (23-0-1, 14 KOs). In the main event; Paulie Malignaggi (33-5, 7 KOs) displayed youthful activity to command a unanimous decision over a very seemingly faded shop worn Zab Judah (42-9, 29 KOs). For more in depth coverage of these fights, listen to this past Sunday’s show where I appeared as guest breaking down all the action. The link can be found right here at Ring Talk on our home page.
SIGNORELLA MORE THAN HBO AND SHOWTIME BOXING RESULTS
Editor’s note: John Signorella can “talk the talk” as he appeared on the Ring Talk Boxing Replay that shall be up shortly on the HOME page of www.ringtslk.com in both an article post and a Podcast.
John Signorella