A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Stuttgart, Germany
Chris Eubank Jr. TKO3 Avni Yildirim -- Full recap
Super middleweight -- World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals
Records: Eubank Jr. (26-1, 20 KOs); Yildirim (16-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Brash and confident like his famous father, former two-division world titleholder Chris Eubank Sr., Eubank Jr. boldly said before facing Yildirim that if he had "even the slightest bit of weakness, he will not last six rounds." Eubank needed only half that amount of time in a devastating and superb performance, maybe the best of his career. No. 3 seed Eubank, 28, of England, disposed of unseeded Yildirim, 26, of Turkey, in violent fashion. He dropped with a right uppercut in the first round that forced Yildirim to touch his right knee to the mat. In the third round, he laid a beating on him with a series of unanswered punches before cleanly dropping him with a flush left hook, causing referee Leszek Jankowiak to wave off the fight before he even hit the ground, at 1 minute, 58 seconds.
Eubank will move on to the semifinals to face the winner of the all-British quarterfinal between world titleholder and No. 1 seed George Groves (26-3, 19 KOs) and unseeded Jamie Cox (23-0, 13 KOs), who meet on Saturday in London. Eubank plans to be ringside to root for Groves, the opponent he very much wants to fight.
In an undercard fight, former cruiserweight world titlist Firat Arslan (41-8-2, 26 KOs), 47, of Germany, knocked out Alejandro Emilio Valori, 34, of Argentina, with a left hook in the seventh round. Arslan won his seventh fight in a row since losing a decision challenging then-titleholder Yoan Pablo Hernandez in 2014.
Saturday at Manchester, England
Anthony Crolla W12 Ricky Burns -- Full recap
Lightweight
Scores: 117-112, 116-114, 116-113
Records: Crolla (32-6-3, 13 KOs); Burns (41-7-1, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Crolla, 30, fighting in his hometown, and Burns, 34, of Scotland, are both former lightweight titleholders in need of a victory. Crolla was coming off back-to-back decision losses to Jorge Linares in title fights, and Burns, a three-division titleholder, was coming off losing his junior welterweight belt to Julius Indongo and returning to 135 pounds.
In the end, it was Crolla, who attacked Burns' body and was the busier fighter, who got the much-needed victory in a fan-friendly and competitive fight. The win should set Crolla up for another significant fight. Though Burns lost, he did himself proud.
Conor Benn TKO1 Nathan Clarke
Welterweight
Scores: 117-112, 116-114, 116-113
Records: Benn (9-0, 7 KOs); Clarke (5-2-1, 1 KO)
Rafael's remarks: Benn, 21, of England, the son of 1990s British superstar and two-division world titleholder Nigel Benn, made short work of Clark, his 27-year-old countryman. Benn scored two knockdowns en route to the impressive victory. He dropped Clarke with a right hand to the chin midway through the opening round and then floored him again moments later with an onslaught of shots. When Benn was teeing off on Clarke during the follow-up attack, referee Darren Sarginson stepped in to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 18 seconds. Next up for Benn will be his U.S. debut as he is headed for Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, to appear on the undercard of the Daniel Jacobs-Luis Arias middleweight fight, according to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
Saturday at London
Andrew Selby W12 Maximino Flores -- Full recap
Middleweight -- Title eliminator
Scores: 119-109, 117-111 (twice)
Records: Selby (10-0, 5 KOs); Flores (23-4-1, 16 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Selby, 28, of Wales, the younger brother of featherweight world titleholder Lee Selby, thoroughly outboxed the aggressive Flores, 26, of Mexico, in a good fight. Although Flores landed some solid shots against Selby, a 2012 Olympian, he was lazy on defense at times and showboated a bit too much. But Selby also has fast hands and feet, and showed off some dazzling moves as he made Flores miss and pay often. The victory earned Selby a mandatory world title shot against the winner of the fight between world titlist Daigo Higa (13-0, 13 KOs), of Japan, who is scheduled to defend the 112-pound belt against Thomas Masson (17-3-1, 5 KOs), of France, on Oct. 22 in Japan.
Saturday at Tampico, Mexico
Jose Carlos Paz W10 Jorge Paez Jr.
Junior middleweight
Scores: 98-92, 97-93 (twice)
Records: Paz (21-6-1, 12 KOs); Paez Jr. (40-10-2, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Paz, 26, of Argentina, scored the clear win over Paez, 29, of Mexico, the son of former world titleholder Jorge Paez, in the beIN Sports Espanol main event. Paz, fighting outside of his home country for only the second time, outboxed the lethargic Paez in a lackluster bout as Paez dropped to 2-5 in his last seven bouts. The fight was fairly even for the first half, but then it was all Paz, who beat Paez to the punch nonstop over the second half.
Also on the card, featherweight Edivaldo Ortega (25-1-1, 12 KOs) stopped Tomas Rojas (49-16-1, 33 KOs), a former junior bantamweight world titleholder, at the end of the seventh round in a battle of Mexican southpaws. Rojas, who lost for the second time in three bouts, suffered a cut over his right eye and took quite a bit of punishment before retiring on his stool. Ortega bounced back from his lone defeat 10 months ago.
Saturday at Hong Kong
Rex Tso Tech. Dec. 7 Kohei Kono
Junior bantamweight
Scores: 68-66 (three times)
Records: Tso (22-0, 13 KOs); Kono (33-11-1, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Tso, a 30-year-old southpaw from Hong Kong, scored the biggest victory of his career, as he moves close to a shot at a world title, but it came with a cost. In the second round, Tso and Kono, 36, a former junior bantamweight world titleholder from Japan, had a bad accidental head butt, and Tso got the worse of it. His left eye began to swell, and by the time referee Sawaeng Thaweekoon stopped the fight in the seventh round and sent it to the scorecards for a technical decision, Tso's eye was nearly closed. But Tso got the victory and then was taken to the hospital to be checked out. Kono dropped to 1-3 in his last four fights.
Friday at Los Angeles
Christian "Chimpa" Gonzalez W8 Gamaliel Diaz
Lightweight
Scores: 79-72 (twice), 76-75
Records: Gonzalez (18-1, 15 KOs); Diaz (40-18-3, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Gonzalez, 21, of Buena Park, California, is a prospect Golden Boy Promotions is high on, but in March he suffered an upset second-round knockout loss to Romero Duno. Now on the comeback trail, Gonzalez won his second fight in a row since then as he outpointed former junior lightweight world titlist Gamaliel Diaz, 36, of Mexico, in a tough fight that headlined Golden Boy's "LA Fight Club" card on Estrella TV. Referee Jack Reiss docked a point from Diaz in the eighth round for holding and hitting. It was the same round in which Gonzalez suffered a cut by his right eye on an accidental head clash. But before that, Gonzalez had outboxed Diaz to pull ahead on the scorecards for his biggest win. Diaz has lost three fights in a row and seven of his last eight.