In a Fight of The Year candidate Marcos “El Chino” Maidana (34-3, 31 KO’s), of Margarita, Argentina, capped a spectacular night of fights with a sixth-round technical knockout win over “The Riverside Rocky’’ Josesito Lopez (30-6, 18 KO’s) of Riverside, Calif., before a loud and raucous record sell-out crowd of 8,629 at the Home Depot Center Saturday in the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING main event live on SHOWTIME.
In a tremendous all-action slugfest in the semi-main that preceded Maidana-Lopez, Cuban Erislandy Lara (18-1-2, 12 KO’s) of Houston, Texas, overcame two knockdowns to capture the vacant WBA Interim Super Welterweight World Championship with an exciting 10th-round technical knockout of Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) of Los Angeles. In the opening bout of the telecast, undefeated Jermell Charlo (21-0, 10 KO’s), of Houston, registered a close, unanimous 12-round decision win over Demetrius Hopkins (33-3-1, 13 KO’s) of Philadelphia, Pa. The tactical match was scored 115-13 on all three judges’ scorecards.
“What we saw tonight is what the people want to see,” Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions said afterward. “What do you want to see next? The Broner-Malignaggi winner (they fight June 22 on SHOWTIME from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.) vs. Maidana? Oh my God, now that would be exciting. That would be an amazing matchup.
“This was an incredible night of boxing. People want to see exciting fighters like Angulo, Lopez and Maidana.”
The sold-out record attendance number eclipsed the old mark of 8,226 fans who witnessed Israel Vazquez-Raul Marquez III in March of 2008.
While the SHOWTIME unofficial scorers (Steve Farhood, Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi) had Maidana up 48-47 at the time of the main event stoppage, Lopez actually was ahead on two of the official scorecards, 48-47, and behind on the other, 48-47, when the fight was called by the referee following a devastating Maidana overhand right that staggered Lopez.
“My character and my guts got me this victory,” said Maidana, who retained his WBA Intercontinental Welterweight Championship. “In the second round, he hit me in my hip and it felt like I was paralyzed. The pain lasted for two rounds and that’s when he landed the shots, but my desire to win got me through it. He underestimated my power and I knew I could knock him out.
“It was a good job by the ref to stop it, but I wanted to keep fighting,’’ Maidana added.
Said Lopez: “He hurt me a little, but we’re professionals. He stunned me with a good right hand, but I was not out of the fight.”
Like the main event, the Lara-Angulo affair was halted as well, after Angulo turned his back after being hit above the left eye and suffering a reported broken orbital bone. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. signaled the end of the fight with Lara ahead 85-84 on two of the judges’ scorecards and Angulo ahead 86-83 on the other.
“Angulo started tough but I hung in there,” said Lara, who overcame knockdowns in the fourth and ninth rounds. “I knew I was still in the fight after I got knocked down. I knew I was still winning.”
Lara got a miracle, he was doing a great job boxing but lets be honest he was not going to hear the bells at end of the 12th. Angulo finally showed some indications that he could box and not just slug. I’m glad he did the right thing and call a day instead of risking his eye. My favorite fight of the night.
great job showing the sat. fights
Comments are closed.