A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Sunday at Tokyo
Naoya Inoue KO3 Ricardo Rodriguez
Retains a junior bantamweight title
Records: Inoue (13-0, 11 KOs); Rodriguez (16-4, 5 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Two-division titlist Inoue, 24, of Japan, a superb fighter worthy of any pound-for-pound list, made his fifth 115-pound defense by destroying mandatory challenger Rodriguez, a 27-year-old Los Angeles-based Mexican, with ease. Inoue cruised through the first two rounds and then pounded him out. He dropped Rodriguez with a left to the head and he was wobbly getting up. Moments later, Inoue nailed him with a left hook and went down again as referee Ramon Pena counted him out at 1 minute, 8 seconds. Rodriguez was down collecting himself for a couple of minutes. There's a chance we may finally get to see Inoue in the United States in his next fight in September.
Milan Melindo KO1 Akira Yaegashi
Wins junior flyweight title
Records: Melindo (36-2, 13 KOs); Yaegashi (25-6, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Melindo, 29, of the Philippines, had twice lost world title opportunities at flyweight and junior flyweight before claiming an interim junior flyweight belt by decision over Fahlan Sakkreerin Jr. in November. When full titlist Yaegashi, 34, a three-division titleholder from Japan, returned from a shoulder injury he was obligated to make his third defense against Melindo. It was a quick fight and a stunning result as Melindo devastated Yaegashi, dropping him three times. First he floored him with a hard left hook, then with a left uppercut and then flattened him with a fight-ending right hand, after which referee Eddie Hernandez Sr. waved it off at 2:45.
Saturday at New York
Terence Crawford TKO10 Felix Diaz -- Full recap
Retains unified junior welterweight world title
Records: Crawford (31-0, 22 KOs); Diaz (19-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Crawford, 29, of Omaha, Nebraska, one of the best fighters in the world pound for pound, put on yet another overwhelmingly dominant performance and did so against a quality opponent in Diaz, a 33-year-old southpaw and 2008 Olympic gold medalist from the Dominican Republic. Crawford, making his fifth defense, pounded Diaz throughout the fight before 8,026 in his first fight in the main arena at Madison Square Garden as he landed all kinds of heavy shots with both hands and made Diaz, a very good fighter, look virtually helpless. Diaz had soaked up tremendous punishment when trainer Joel Diaz threw in the towel after the 10th round in a very compassionate move. Crawford would love to move up to welterweight for a fall showdown with titlist Manny Pacquiao but could first meet Julius Indongo, who was ringside and has the other two 140-pound belts Crawford doesn't have, this summer to unify all four belts.
Raymundo Beltran KO2 Jonathan Maicelo -- Full recap
Lightweight - Title eliminator
Records: Beltran (33-7-1, 21 KOs); Maicelo (25-3, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Knockout of the year alert! Beltran, 35, a Mexico native fighting out of Phoenix, may have earned his green card with this sensational KO of Maicelo, 33, a Peru native fighting out of North Bergen, New Jersey. With the win, Beltran, who is 0-1-1 in world title fights, moved into position to become the mandatory challenger for titleholder Robert Easter Jr. and he did it in crushing fashion. Beltran annihilated Maicelo with a left hook flush on the chin for his fourth KO in a row.
Three 2016 Olympians signed by Top Rank also won on the card: 19-year-old featherweight Shakur Stevenson (2-0, 1 KOs), a silver medalist from Newark, New Jersey, knocked out Carlos Suarez (6-4-2, 1 KO), 29, of Argentina, in the first round; junior welterweight Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (2-0, 1 KO), 25, a gold medalist from Uzbekistan, won 80-72 on all three scorecards against Agustine Mauras, 26, of Lawrence, Massachusetts; and lightweight Teofimo Lopez Jr. (5-0, 5 KOs), 19, of Davie, Florida, who represented his parents' home country of Honduras, stopped Ronald Rivas (5-6-2, 3 KOs), 30, of Guatemala, in the second round.
Saturday at Oxon Hill, Md.
Gary Russell Jr. TKO7 Oscar Escandon -- Full recap
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Russell (28-1, 17 KOs); Escandon (25-3, 17 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Russell, 28, who was born in Washington, D.C., and lives in nearby Capitol Heights, Maryland, had his first pro fight at home as he dominated Escandon to retain his title for the second time. With younger brothers Gary Antonio and Gary Antuanne also winning on the undercard it was a night for the Russell family to celebrate their victories as well as the birthday of their father and trainer Gary Russell Sr.
Russell Jr., despite coming of an 13-month layoff, was very sharp as he laid a beating on interim titlist and mandatory challenger Escandon, 32, of Colombia, who was off a 14-month layoff. Escandon could not handle Russell's speed, skills or power, getting knockdown with an uppercut in the third round and nearly getting stopped. In the seventh, Russell, a southpaw, blasted Escandon with a right hand to the temple, prompting referee Harvey Dock to wave the fight off at 59 seconds.
Andre Dirrell W-DQ8 Jose Uzcategui -- Full recap
Wins a vacant interim super middleweight title
Records: Dirrell (26-2, 16 KOs); Uzcategui (26-2, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: With full titleholder James DeGale sidelined by injury, mandatory challenger Uzcategui, 26, of Venezuela, and Dirrell, 33, of Flint, Michigan, were paired for the interim belt with DeGale having to face the winner upon his return. Unless a rematch of this massively controversial fight is ordered, it will be Dirrell, who got dropped twice and lost a decision to Dirrell for the vacant belt in 2015.
This fight was quite competitive and entertaining as each had their moments. When the fight was stopped, Uzcategui was ahead 77-74 and 77-75 and one judge had it 76-76 but those cards were irrelevant because Uzcategui, after knocking Dirrell out with a three-punch combination as the eighth round ended was disqualified by referee Bill Clancy for landing the final shot after the bell, even though there was no way he could pull up mid-combination. The bell was still ringing when the shot landed. Clancy made a bad call. At best, Uzcategui should have been awarded a KO. At worst Clancy should have ruled an unintentional foul and send the fight to the cards for a technical decision. Dirrell, who stayed down as his corner barked for him to do so, eventually was fine and a couple of minutes after the fight trainer Leon Lawson Jr. sucker punched Uzcategui in the face with a left-hand in an apparent assault and nearly ignited a riot. The police were looking for him and Dirrell has a belt he doesn't deserve.
Rances Barthelemy W12 Kiryl Relikh -- Full recap
Junior welterweight - Title eliminator
Scores: 117-109, 116-110, 115-111
Records: Barthelemy (26-0, 13 KOs); Relikh (21-2, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: It was a highly entertaining fight but most thought it was a bad decision, especially the 117-109 scorecard turned in by judge Don Risher that didn't reflect reality. Nonetheless, former junior lightweight and lightweight titlist Barthelemy, 30, a Cuban defector fighting out of Las Vegas and ending an 11-month layoff by moving up in weight, earned a mandatory shot at unified titlist Julius Indongo. But it wasn't easy as he and ex-title challenger Relikh, 27, of Belarus, went at it hard for the entire fight. Relikh had a massive fifth round, dropping Barthelemy and nearly stopping him. Barthelemy returned the favor in the eighth round, dropping Relikh with a right hand to the body. It was a close fight, but Relikh was the bigger hitter, much busier puncher and dominated the CompuBox stats, which judges do not see.
Saturday at London
Gervonta Davis TKO3 Liam Walsh -- Full recap
Retains a junior lightweight title
Records: Davis (18-0, 17 KOs); Walsh (21-1, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: At 22, Davis, of Baltimore, is the second-youngest active world titleholder and is only getting better. He won the his belt via seventh-round knockout of Jose Pedraza in a tremendous performance in January and shredded mandatory challenger Walsh, 31, of England, on his turf in his first defense. With promoter and mentor Floyd Mayweather at ringside, Davis was patient and measured in his attack but was clearly the better, faster, more powerful and polished fighter. In the third round, Davis unloaded and showed what the difference between a world-class fighter and a regular fighter looks like. He was all over Walsh, hurting him with shots until flooring him with a chopping left hand to the head. Walsh was very unsteady when he got to his feet and Davis attacked, landing two wicked lefts, which prompted referee Michael Alexander to intervene at 2:11.
Saturday at Laredo, Texas
David Benavidez KO8 Rogelio "Porky" Medina
Super middleweight - Title eliminator
Records: Benavidez (18-0, 17 KOs); Medina (37-8, 31 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Benavidez, 20, of Phoenix, stayed on course to become the youngest super middleweight titleholder in history as he blew away Medina in a one-sided thrashing in an entertaining scrap. Callum Smith and Anthony Dirrell are due to meet for a vacant title, likely Sept. 9, and the winner must face Avni Yildirim with the winner of that bout due to face Benavidez, who dropped former title challenger Medina three times. Medina, 28, of Mexico, gave James DeGale a good go in a competitive world title challenge last April but was no match for Benavidez, who dropped him in the sixth and seventh rounds before knocking him nearly out of the ring in the eighth round with an eight-punch flurry. Referee Jon Schorle waved the fight off after the knockdown without a count at 1:01.
Saturday at Tokyo
Hassan N'Dam W12 Ryota Murata -- Full recap
Wins a vacant middleweight title
Scores: 116-111, 115-112 N'Dam, 117-110 Murata
Records: N'Dam (36-2, 21 KOs); Murata (12-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Horrible decision alert! How bad was this judging atrocity? The day after the fight, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza, whose organization sanctioned it for its secondary title, apologized for the scoring, to Murata, his team and all Japanese fans and said an immediate rematch would be ordered. That's extraordinarily unusual. American judge Raul Caiz Sr. (117-111) got it right. Judges Gustavo Padilla, of Panama, had a putrid score of 116-111 and Canada's Hubert Earl (115-112) was also bad in a fight Japan's Murata, 31, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, dominated against former titlist N'Dam, 33, of France. Murata dropped N'Dam with a right hand late in the fourth round and manhandled him.
Daigo Higa TKO6 Juan Hernandez
Wins a vacant flyweight title
Records: Higa (13-0, 13 KOs); Hernandez (34-3, 25 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Hernandez, 30, of Mexico, won a vacant flyweight title in March and was scheduled for first defense against Higa, 21, of Japan. However, Hernandez was 112.5 pounds at Friday's weigh-in, a half-pound over the limit, and was stripped. The belt was only available for Higa to win and he did so in resounding fashion. Higa dropped Hernandez five times -- once in the second round and four times in the sixth round -- before referee Vic Drakulich stopped it at 2:58 of the sixth round. Going into the sixth it had been close with Higa ahead 48-46, 47-46 and 47-46. Also on the card, Japan's Ken Shiro (10-0, 5 KOs), 25, squeaked out a majority decision against Ganigan Lopez (28-7, 17 KOs), 35, of Mexico, to win a junior flyweight title. Two judges scored it 115-113 for Shiro and one had it 114-114 as Lopez lost his 115-pound belt in his second defense.
Saturday at Nagoya, Japan
Kosei Tanaka W12 Angel Acosta
Retains a junior flyweight title
Scores: 117-110 (twice), 116-111
Records: Tanaka (9-0, 5 KOs); Acosta (16-1, 16 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Tanaka, 21, of Japan, boxing's youngest active titleholder and already a two-division titleholder, made first defense against Miguel Cotto-promoted Acosta, 26, of Puerto Rico, the mandatory challenger. In an action-packed fight, Tanaka scored a fifth-round knockdown and maintained control to pound out a decision.