Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (25-2, 16 KOs) defeated Australia’s Blake Caparello (22-2-1, 6 KOs) by unanimous decision (98-91 X 3) in a 10-round super middleweight attraction in the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Spike main event from the Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In a bout that started off with a lot of back and forth action, Caparello struck first with a left in the second round that sent Dirrell to the canvas.
In an impressive punching display, former WBC 168lb champion Anthony Dirrell (29-1-1, 23 KOs) smashed the game but limited 32-year-old Caleb Truax (26-3-2, 16 KOs) in stopping him in the 1st round after putting him down twice in the 1st round on Friday night at the Taj Mahal Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Dirrell stunned Truax with a right hand and then put him on the canvas with another right. Truax was able to continue fighting, but he was knocked down with the first clean landing shot that Dirrell threw. The fight was stopped immediately after the second knockdown. The fight was stopped at 1:49 of the round.
Weights for Premier Boxing Champions on Spike that will take place Friday, at The Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City.
Andre Dirrell 169 – Blake Caparello 167
Anthony Dirrell 168.8 – Caleb Truax 168.6
Jonathan Guzman 122 – Daniel Rosas 121.2
Brendan Barrett 248 – Alando Pugh 236
Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) takes on Australia’s Blake Caparello (22-1-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight attraction as Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) returns to Spike on Friday, April 29 from Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Also on the same card, Dirrell’s brother, former world champion Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) will meet former world title challenger Caleb “Golden” Truax (26-2-2, 16 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight affair as part of an exciting night of PBC on Spike action beginning at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
Former light heavyweight World title challenger Blake “il capo” Caparello announced his arrival at 168lbs by putting on an educated boxing display to dominate game Frenchman Affif Belghecham.
Caparello in his first fight at super middleweight lifted the WBO Oriental and the PABA titles and improves to
21 – 1 – 6 ko’s.
Caparello stated; “I felt good at my new weight and I’m happy to know I can go 10 rounds against a pressure fighter. I’m looking forward to some big fights at super middleweight.”
It seems no one at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, NV was happy with the way the fight between Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios and Diego Gabriel Chaves ended. It was a close, rugged battle that fans undoubtedly were enjoying. They certainly didn’t want it to end so abruptly at the hands of referee Vic Drakulich. Diego clearly didn’t want it to end with him on the losing end. He felt he was winning the fight, and that it was snatched away from him. Even Rios expressed dissatisfaction with the way things ended, but he felt Diego deserved to be penalized.
The fight was a war. Most people thought that it would evolve into a war, but it wasn’t expected to start that way. Diego controlled that surprise. He came out throwing power jabs and hard overhand rights. Would he run out of steam? Rios seemed to be caught off guard initially, but by the second round he already had Diego backing up. He got in close and started throwing punishing shots to the body. Diego was hit with his first penalty point in the third round, apparently for excessive holding.
The Russian started the fight by rushing head on against his unpretentious opponent. The only notable thing about Caparello is that he is a southpaw and this required some adjustments to the fine-tuned automatic skills of his opponents. Kovalev did not seem to care about his opponent’s stance other than throwing straight right hands a little more frequently.
Caparello almost made a name for himself when he was credited with a knock down against Kovalev in the first round. The referee clearly made a mistake, Caparello did land a clean left hand on his foe but his lead foot was firmly set on Kovalev’s lead foot toes and tripped Kovalev off balance. The Russian went down but wasn’t hurt at all; he wasn’t even annoyed and did not make a fuss or challenge the referee’s call. He only “revved up” and the thuds of his shots became more audible. The knock down only expedited matters and brought controlled anger to Sergey’s actions.
(Photo Credit: Rich Graessle/Main Events) In the much-anticipated WBO Light Heavyweight World Championship bout, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KO’s*) takes down undefeated Australian challenger Blake “Il Capo” Caparello (19-1-1, 6 KO’s) in the second round in the third defense of his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title. Kovalev was under a microscope these last few days with the possibility of a unification bout with Bernard “Alien” Hopkins looming. Krusher did not let the pressure get to him, he focused only on the opponent in the ring with him tonight.
Kovalev and Caparello were feeling each other out in the first round. Caparello knocked Sergey off balance in the first and his glove touched the canvas, but Krusher got back up quickly. Blake went down in the second from a crushing body blow but beat the count. He taunted Kovalev to come back at him which Krusher did in relentless fashion. After two more knockdowns, referee Sparkle Lee called it off at 1:47 of round two.
Atlantic City, NJ: Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs), the undefeated Russian Wrecking Ball, returns to HBO Boxing After Dark and Atlantic City on August 2nd to defend his WBO Light Heavyweight World Title against undefeated Blake “Il Capo” Caparello (19-0-1, 6 KOs) at Revel Casino Hotel.
Kovalev, 31, originally from Chelyabinsk, Russia and now residing in Fort Lauderdale, FL, will defend his WBO title for the third time since taking it by force from Nathan Cleverly in a four round TKO victory in Cleverly’s hometown of Cardiff, Wales on August 17, 2013. Renowned for his ability to knockout anyone who dares to step in the ring with him, Krusher has an astonishing 91% knockout-to-win ratio. This will be his fourth fight on HBO and his second in Atlantic City.
New York, NY / West Orange, NJ (1/31/14) – In his US debut, Australian light heavyweight contender Blake Caparello scored a 10-round unanimous decision over Elvir Muriqi to headline ESPN’s Friday Night Fights at the Richard Codey Arena, in West Orange, NJ. Caparello was very consistent fighting out of the southpaw stance as he landed hard shots to the head and body. Muriqi was precise with his right hand at times, but it was too few and far between the work rate of the Aussie. Caparello, 174.5lbs., of Victoria, Australia, won by scores of 100-90, and 98-92 twice, and is now 19-0-1. Muriqi, 171½lbs., of New York, NY, is now 40-6.
“It was a tough fight,”said a victorious Caparello. “I used my angles and quick hands. I love that I was fighting in America. The fans were all against me, but it was an awesome experience.”