Scorecard: Deontay Wilder shows power, heart in win
— -- A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Birmingham, Ala.
Deontay Wilder TKO8 Chris Arreola
Retains a heavyweight title
Records: Wilder (37-0, 36 KOs); Arreola (36-5-1, 31 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Wilder, one of boxing's most destructive punchers, did big damage to Arreola with his power but also to himself. Making his fourth title defense, and doing so in front of a hometown crowd of 11,974 at Legacy Arena, Wilder not only busted Arreola up, knocked him down in the fourth round and nearly stopped him in the final seconds of the round, but he hits so hard that he also broke his right hand for at least the third time.
In addition, Wilder, 30, of Tuscaloosa, suffered a probable tear to his right biceps, injuries that will each likely require surgery and keep him out of the ring for the rest of 2016, which is a real shame.
Despite the injuries, Wilder showed a big heart to fight after the fourth round only with his left arm of use. But he continued to take it to Arreola, 35, of Riverside, California, with hooks and jabs in a thoroughly one-sided pounding. Arreola, trailing badly on all three scorecards, had a cut over his right eye and his left eye had been swollen closed, and trainer Henry Ramirez did the right thing by throwing in the towel to let referee Jack Reiss know the fight was over.
Arreola, now 0-3 in heavyweight title fights with each loss by knockout, is all done at this point. He dropped to 2-3-1 with a no decision (because of a failed drug test) in his last six fights and is unlikely to realize his dream of becoming the first fighter of Mexican heritage to win a heavyweight world title. He was lucky to even get this chance, admitting beforehand that he didn't deserve the title shot. He took the bout on somewhat short notice only after Wilder's mandatory defense on May 21 in Moscow was canceled following Alexander Povetkin's positive drug test for the banned substance meldonium.
Even with the bad right hand for half of the fight, Wilder was still in total control. According to CompuBox punch statistics, he landed 152 of 346 punches (44 percent) while the slow Arreola connected with just 52 of 188 (28 percent).
Felix Diaz W10 Sammy Vasquez
Welterweight
Scores: 96-94, 95-94 (twice)
Records: Diaz (18-1, 8 KOs); Vasquez (21-1, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: At least the right guy won. When the entertaining fight was over, it seemed quite clear that Diaz had done more than enough to win. But when the scores were read it was 96-94 in favor of Diaz and two 95-95 scorecards, meaning a majority draw. That seemed like insanity and it was. It turned out the cards had been added incorrectly and after several anxious moments they were re-tabulated and read again, this time with Diaz getting the close unanimous decision. But even those scores were poor because Diaz, 30, a 2008 Dominican Olympic gold medalist from the Dominican Republic, had taken it to Vasquez, 30, of Monessen, Pennsylvania, throughout the fight. Simply, he dominated. Many at ringside gave Vasquez only one or two rounds.
The crazy part about Diaz, coming off a very questionable decision loss to former junior welterweight titlist Lamont Peterson in October, being forced to eke out the win was that had referee Keith Hughes not made a somewhat weak call to take a point from Vasquez when he had his mouthpiece knocked out in the final few seconds of the fight it would have been scored a draw. But Diaz dominated and even Vasquez, who served two tours of duty in Iraq as a member of the U.S. National Guard, admitted that Diaz deserved to win.
Although Diaz was clearly the smaller man, he got inside on Vasquez with no problem and took it to the fellow southpaw round after round. Diaz controlled the pace and distance and basically did as he pleased. He landed lots of clean combinations and forced Vasquez to hold and back up regularly. He even had Vasquez wobbly and in trouble in the fifth round. He also cut Vasquez over the right eye in the 10th round (possibly on an accidental head butt). Despite the atrocious scoring, at least Diaz was not robbed and should go on to a bigger fight in a hot weight class. And even in a loss, Vasquez, as entertaining as anyone, fought his rear end off and should also not be dismissed off this defeat.
Both fighters also deserve credit for their willingness to fight on short notice. Vasquez was due to face former welterweight world titleholder Luis Collazo, but he pulled out after suffering a torn calf muscle in training two weeks before the fight, so Diaz, training for a lower-profile Premier Boxing Champions bout on July 12, was switched to the card to face Vasquez.
Erickson Lubin W8 Ivan Montero
Junior middleweight
Scores: 80-72 (three times)
Records: Lubin (16-0, 11 KOs); Montero (20-2, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Lubin, 20, of Orlando, Florida, is one of boxing's best prospects and this is the kind of fight that probably will help him in the long run of his career. Although he won easily and was never in any danger he seemed a tad frustrated because he could not knock out of Mexico's Montero, who took a lot of punches but simply was not intent on going the distance. Lubin, a southpaw, had the advantage in every conceivable category and put in a workmanlike effort but one thing very impressive about him is that he is such a formidable body puncher at such a young age. He tenderized Montero's body throughout the fight and even when referee Flynn Gerald warned him for straying low in the fourth round he remained committed to the body attack. He had Montero in a bit of trouble late in the seventh round but could not get him off his feet.
"I'm definitely not upset with my performance. The referee was letting him get away with a lot of clinching and head butting," Lubin said. "All in all I'm happy with my performance. I'm still undefeated. I'm going to keep stepping up in these fights and upgrading my competition. "Hell, I wanted to knock him out. But the ref wasn't really calling him for holding or even warning him for holding, so that he wouldn't hold as much and head butt as much. He was tough. I give it to him. He came to fight. Some guys come in there to survive. That was definitely the type of fighter he was. He was in there to survive. He didn't want to go home with a knockout loss."
Montero gave Lubin credit. "I was happy to go the distance and I agree with the decision," he said. "He definitely won, but I thought I put on a good fight. He didn't do that much damage to me. I was honored to get this fight and the opportunity to fight on national television. I hope the fans enjoyed my style of fighting. I look forward to getting back in the ring soon."
Sergio Frias KO2 Vic Darchinyan
Junior featherweight
Scores: 80-72 (three times)
Records: Frias (18-6-2, 8 KOs); Darchinyan (42-9-1, 31 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For many years, Darchinyan, a former flyweight and junior bantamweight titlist from Armenia and based in Australia, was one of boxing's best fighters and a guy who always gave the fans a show. He scored knockouts, talked a big game, fought numerous top opponents and always came to fight hard. But now the 40-year-old southpaw is a sad shell of what he once was and it was never more on display than watching the quite ordinary Frias, 25, of Mexico, put him to sleep with one huge right hand to the chin.
As usual, Darchinyan stalked Frias. He moved forward the entire fight while Frias fought often with his back against the ropes looking to counter. In the second round, as Darchinyan came in, Frias unleashed a right hand that caught Darchinyan flush on the chin and knocked him senseless as referee Keith Hughes immediately stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 14 seconds. Darchinyan, knocked out in four of his last seven fights, is done and he should retire before he gets badly hurt.
Also, welterweight Jamal James (20-0, 9 KOs), 27, of Minneapolis, survived a first-round knockdown and won a split decision against Wale Omotoso (26-3, 21 KOs), 31, a Nigeria native fighting out of Oxnard, California. Scores were 97-92 and 96-94 for James and 96-93 for Omotoso.
