Opening bell: The best-laid plans go awry
There was much at stake when junior welterweight titlist Maurice Hooker and mandatory challenger Alex Saucedo squared off for the belt in Saucedo's hometown of Oklahoma City.
Besides the title, their undefeated records and the prospects of much bigger fights down the line for the fighters, the promoters also had a lot at stake on Friday night. Matchroom Boxing's Eddie Hearn and Roc Nation Sports, Hooker's co-promoters, wanted him to win to get him back to Hearn's broadcast platform DAZN as another titleholder capable of carrying a card. Top Rank, which promotes Saucedo and had surprisingly won the purse bid for the bout, had big plans for Saucedo on ESPN.
So when Hooker (25-0-3, 17 KOs), his nose bloodied and him having survived a hard knockdown in the second round, rallied to take over and stop Saucedo (28-1, 18 KOs) with a brutal assault along the ropes at 1 minute, 36 seconds of the seventh round, suddenly Hearn was the one making big plans and Top Rank and Saucedo had seen theirs go down the drain.
Hearn talked about the prospect of a unification fight between Hooker and the Top Rank-promoted Jose Ramirez, who was on hand hoping for a Saucedo win, but that is an extremely unlikely fight because of the network divide.
Hearn said he would like to take Hooker, 29, home to Dallas for his first defense after he won a vacant belt on the road in England against Terry Flanagan in June and then made his first defense in Saucedo's hometown. Besides the unrealistic Ramirez fight, Hearn also mentioned three other potential opponents for Hooker that seem far more doable: former lightweight titlist Jorge Linares (45-4, 28 KOs), who moved up to junior welterweight for a September win and who is with Golden Boy, which also has a deal with DAZN; former junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri (21-3, 8 KOs), who returns from a 2½-year layoff Nov. 30 and is with promoter Joe DeGuardia, who does business with Hearn; and the Hearn-promoted fringe British contender Tommy Coyle (25-4, 12 KOs), who went to Boston on Oct. 20 and pounded out a tough decision against Ryan Kielczweski.
The best-laid plans of Top Rank, Saucedo and Ramirez (23-0, 16 KOs) were extinguished. Ramirez is due back for a February defense, and Saucedo, had he won, would have defended in the spring. Had they each won those fights, Top Rank was going to match them in a summer unification fight. The winner would have been available for another potential unification fight, this one for the undisputed title against Regis Prograis, should he win the World Boxing Super Series tournament, in which he is the favorite.
So much for that plan, because in boxing, making long-range plans is never a good idea. They're fun to talk about, but sometimes the real fights get in the way.
'Big Baby' ready for big fight
Heavyweight contender Jarrell "Big Baby" Miller is ready for a title shot or at least a top contender. He's good, he's been active, he's faced credible opposition, he wins by knockout, he's fun to watch and he's got a larger-than-life personality.
Fighting just six weeks after blasting Tomasz Adamek in two rounds, Miller (23-0-1, 20 KOs), 30, of Brooklyn, New York, continued his assault on the division with a fourth-round knockout of Bogdan Dinu (18-1, 14 KOs), 32, of Romania, on Saturday at the Kansas Star Arena in Mulvane, Kansas, in the DAZN main event.
Miller predicted he would finish Dinu inside of five rounds.
The 315-pound Miller held a 78-pound weight advantage, and though he started a bit slowly, he made his punches count as he savaged Dinu to the body. Miller is a very big man, but he has very fast hands and puts his combinations together. He nailed Dinu with a four-punch combination -- two rights to the body, right uppercut and left hook to the head -- to drop him cleanly in the fourth round. Dinu barely beat the count and Miller kept throwing, landing a five-punch combo, this time punctuated by a right to the head that dropped Dinu to a knee, where he took the count from referee Bill Clancy at 2:45.
Making Miller's victory that much more impressive was that he did so with a bum left hamstring that he stretched out between rounds and immediately after the fight.
"We got the W and no excuses," he said. "Fighting a cold all week and hamstring pull, but we had to adjust and make [it] happen. I give myself a 4 out 10."
If that's a 4, imagine a 10.
The next step: He's ready for the Deontay Wilder-Tyson Fury winner or to be Anthony Joshua's April 13 opponent given that Joshua against the Wilder-Fury winner is unlikely. If Dillian Whyte beats Dereck Chisora in their Dec. 22 rematch, he likely will get Joshua on April 13. If Whyte loses, it seems likely that Miller, who is co-promoted by Eddie Hearn (who promotes Joshua and Whyte), would get the call to challenge Joshua for his unified titles.
Prospect watch: Jaron Ennis
Welterweight Jaron "Boots" Ennis is only 21 but not that far from big things. In the main event of the "ShoBox: The New Generation" card on Showtime on Friday at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Ennis (22-0, 20 KOs) turned in a sensational performance in front of a hometown crowd against Philly rival Raymond Serrano (24-6, 10 KOs), 29, the best opponent of his career.
Ennis, fast and powerful, was at his devastating best in the second round. He dropped Serrano three times, including with a right hook from a southpaw stance, then with a booming overhand right from an orthodox stance that sent Serrano crashing to the mat like a slow-motion falling tree. He finished Serrano moments later with a right uppercut that planted him face-first on the mat, where referee Gary Rosato counted him out at 1:12. The win was Ennis' 12th knockout in a row.
"It was a good fight. I was just in there having fun," Ennis said. "My dad [and trainer, Bozy Ennis] said to start touching the body, and that set up the big shots. That's exactly what I did. I knew after the first knockdown, the fight was over. He's a good fighter, and it looks good to have his name on my resume. I'm ready for anybody in my division. I will knock any of them out."
The next step: He should be right back on "ShoBox" as soon as possible against an opponent superior to Serrano. Ennis, a 2015 National Golden Gloves champion before going pro in 2016, can handle it.
Fights you might have missed
Saturday at Bilbao, Spain
Welterweight Kerman Lejarraga (27-0, 22 KOs) KO4 Frankie Gavin (26-4, 15 KOs).
Lejarraga, 26, a big puncher and exciting fighter from Spain, was supposed to defend his European title against England's Gavin, 33, a southpaw and former world title challenger, but Gavin weighed in at 151 pounds, a whopping 5 over the division limit, so the title was not at stake in the fight, which streamed live on ESPN+ in the United States. Still, Lejarraga had a chance to showcase his entertaining and aggressive style as he ended Gavin's three-fight winning streak. Gavin boxed pretty well for the first two rounds, but Lejarraga's pressure was too much for him and he hurt Gavin repeatedly in the fourth round, drilling him with a left hand to the body for the full count. Co-promoter Lou DiBella is now expected to bring Lejarraga to the U.S. to work with Top Rank on his next fight.
Friday at Philadelphia
Junior welterweight Sam Teah (15-2-1, 7 KOs) W8 Kenneth Sims Jr. (13-2-1, 4 KOs), 79-73, 77-75 (twice).
Despite two close scorecards, Teah, 31, of Philadelphia, appeared to dominate Sims in the "ShoBox" co-feature. He used his jab and carried the action to Sims, who was disappointing. Teah, who averaged nearly 86 punches per round, won on volume punching against the less active Sims, who averaged 59 punches per round. It was close for the first couple of rounds until Teah took over. Sims, 24, of Chicago, a once-touted prospect, dropped to 1-2-1 in his past four bouts.
Junior featherweight Arnold Khegai (14-0-1, 9 KOs) W8 Jorge Diaz (19-6-1, 10 KOs), scores: 79-72, 77-74 (twice).
In the opener of the "ShoBox" tripleheader, Khegai, 26, of Ukraine, pressed the action as expected. He suffered a cut over his left eye after an accidental head clash in the fourth round but was undeterred. Diaz threw enough punches to keep it somewhat competitive for the first half of the fight. Khegai hurt Diaz with a left hook in the fifth round and dropped Diaz with a combination that forced him to take a knee in the sixth round. Diaz, 31, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, a steppingstone opponent with many hard fights under his belt, dropped to 2-5-1 in his past eight fights and announced his retirement after the bout.
Friday at Ontario, California
Junior lightweight Michael Dutchover (12-0, 9 KOs) KO3 Ruben Tamayo (27-12-4, 18 KOs).
Dutchover, of Midland, Texas, turned 21 the day before the fight and celebrated with his fifth win of the year. In the third round, Dutchover dropped Tamayo, 29, of Mexico, to a knee with a left hook to the body. He dropped him again moments later with a right hand to the body, and referee Lou Moret waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 15 seconds. Tamayo has been a steppingstone opponent for many young fighters, including Oscar Valdez, Joseph Diaz and Jesus Cuellar.