Terence Crawford (41-0, 31 KOs) looked like a mortal on Saturday night, squeaking by a close twelve-round unanimous decision against WBA junior middleweight champion Ismael Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.
Crawford pulled it out in the final two rounds, landing the better shots to earn a narrow decision. The scores were 116-112, 115-113, and 115-113.
“It’a s a waste of time. It’s not a 116-112; because he’s fighting Crawford; he’s not getting a fair shake,” said promoter Eddie Hearn about Madrimov getting the business. “That was a fight that could have gone either way.”
Jose ‘Rayo’ Valenzuela (14-2, 9 KOs) ended Isaac ‘Pitbull’ Cruz’s (26-3-1, 18 KOs) reign as the WBA light welterweight champion, beating him by a twelve-round split decision in their co-feature fight. The judges’ scores were 116-112 for Rayo, 115-113 for Cruz, and 116-112 for Valenzuela.
Rayo Valenzuela boxed beautifully, using his height and reach to jab the 5’4″ Pitbull Cruz. He picked off the shorter fighter all night with shots and eluded many of his power shots with his movement.
At times, Valenzuela stood his ground and fired huge shots to halt Cruz’s forward pressure. In the sixth, Rayo hurt Cruz with an uppercut. Although Cruz quickly recovered from the shot, it was clear that he’d been in trouble.
After the fight, some fans in the crowd booed Rayo Valenzuela during his post-fight interview, expressing their unhappiness with seeing him beat the popular Pitbull Cruz.
– Heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-2-1, 22 KOs) looked like a shell of his former self, fighting to a questionable twelve-round majority draw against Jarrell Miller (26-1-2, 22 KOs).
Ruiz faded after three rounds, and they may have only won one round, the referee of the way, but the two judges that scored it a draw saw it differently. The judges’ scores were 116-112 for Miller, 114-114, and 114-114.
Miller, 34, wore down Ruiz with pressure, landing punches to the body and shoe-shining in the final 10 seconds of each round to steal them. He looked like the better fighter during the contest, as Ruiz was exhausted in the eight rounds.
His cheeks were swollen from the punches that Miller had hit him, and he looked like a classic definition of a washed fighter. The two years of inactivity for Ruiz and his lack of activity for him in the last five years have taken a lot out of him.
– Heavyweight contender Martin Bakole (21-1, 16 KOs) massacred highly touted Jared Anderson (17-1, 15 KOs), stopping him in the fifth round of a three-knockdown performance. Anderson was badly hurt from an uppercut in round one by Bakole.
The 24-year-old Anderson was literally out on his feet and defensively to three follow-up power punches from Bakole that put him down. Anderson only made it out of the first round due to the knockdown coming in the final seconds.
Bakole showed no respect for Anderson’s punches in rounds two, three, and four, walking through his shots to land heavy shots to the head. The punches from Bakole continually snapped Anderson’s head back. Anderson was bleeding from the mouth at the end of the fourth and looked in bad shape, walking back to his corner after taking a beating from Bakole.
In the fifth round, Bakole went after Anderson, hurting him with shots from close range, stunning him with each. Bakole then dropped Anderson with a left to the head. When Anderson got to his feet, he was gone and defenseless to protect himself when the action resumed.
Bakole then finished off Anderson with several sledgehammer blows that put him down for the second time in the round. The referee then waved it off. The time of the stoppage was at 2:07 of round five.
– David Morrell (11-0, 9 KOs) used his power punching and pressure to defeat Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic (29-3, 21 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision to win the WBA World Light Heavyweight title. Morrell looked good in the first three rounds, catching Kalajdzic with hard punches to the head, and waving to the audience at times. The scores were 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111.
After the third, Morrell seemed to tire out and fought in brief spurts, often near the end of the rounds. He let Kalajdzic land a lot of shots by walking forward with a high guard and not throwing.
Morrell appeared hesitant to expend energy, and he paid for it by eating a lot of punches against a guy that he should have been able to knock out.
– Lightweight contender Andy Cruz (4-0, 2 KO) scored a seventh round knockout win over Antonio Moran (30-6-1, 21 KOs) in a fight that was a back and forth war. The bigger fighter, Moran, landed a lot of heavy shots on Cruz, and was backing him up throughout the contest.
The 2020 Olympic Cuban gold medalist Cruz, 28, took over the fight in the sixth, nailing Moran repeatedly with hard jabs, and hurting him. By the end of the round, Moran looked exhausted and had nothing left.
Cruz went for the finish in the seventh, nailing Moran with short punches on the inside. Moran’s nose was bleeding and he looked like he didn’t want anymore. Cruz caught Moran with a right hand to the head that backed him up against the ropes.
He then staggered Moran with several hard shots that caused him to stagger back against the ropes. The referee stopped the action to rule it a knockdown due to the ropes holding Moran up. However, Moran staggered across the ring, showing that he was out of his feet. At that point, the referee wisely waved it off.
– Steven Nelson maintained his undefeated streak, now standing at 19-0-0, with a knockout victory over Marcos Vázquez Rodríguez in a super middleweight clash. Rodríguez, who also came in unbeaten, found himself tasting the canvas twice in the third round and again in the fifth, where he was counted out.
– Ziyad Almaayouf fought to a controversial majority draw against Michal Bulik in a welterweight bout.
