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The IBF finally forced Mike Perez to take his mandatory against rising Aussie hotshot - Jai Opetaia.

As the fight progressed it appeared anything Mike could do, Jai could do better & in the 10th during a clinch, a butt from Mike caused a cut over Jai's right eye. The fight was stopped & the scorecards read: 88-84, 86-85 & 89-82 all for Jai. Did an old vet like Mike know he didn't have enough gas in the tank to make it 15 rounds? We'll never know.

Jai was also up on PL: 268 (35%) to 146 (26%).

Jai's now 4-0 with 3 KO's & Mike is 8-2 with 7 KO's.

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The fearsome Mairis Briedis (9-0, 9 KO's) finally got a shot at an interim belt against the old vet - Steve Cunningham (11-3-1, 7 KO's).

In the 1st 2 rounds Mairis appeared too big & strong swelling both of Steve's eyes but from that point forward, Steve gave as good as he got - and then some!

In the end it went to the cards: 142-140 Mairis, 144-139 Steve & 142-142 - a draw.

Steve dominated PL 332 (37%) to 233 (22%).

Now all the CW champs have an excuse not to fight Mairis since he couldn't even beat the old vet Cunningham.

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The 2 giants in UK HW boxing finally agreed to meet:

WBC champ - Tyson Fury, 18-0 with 12 KO's
WBA champ - Anthony Joshua, 19-0 with 18 KO's

Based on the 1st round it looked like AJ was in for a long night due to Fury's boxing ability but the fight went the distance & little to no real drama the cards all read 146-139 for AJ - the new king of British boxing.

AJ was the much more accurate puncher landing 54% of his punches (365) to 320 for Fury but only 22% connect rate.

Fury's left eye was swelling red & he blamed the loss on his trainer (Sugar Hill) & said he'll probably go back to Hugh Fury in his corner.

AJ had Ben Davison in his corner - switching from Robert Garcia.

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Adonis Stevenson chalked up his 18th title defense of his WBC belt with a 1st round annihilation of Malik Zinad - 46 to 6 in PL before the ref stepped in at 2:31.

Adonis is now 20-0 with 18 KO's.

IBO champ, Dmitry Bivol knocked out Samson Onyango with a combo at the end of the 1st round to defend his title for the 3rd time & move to 12-1-1 with & 7 KO's.

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Former WBC, WBO & IBF champ, Chris Pearson, lost his belts in his last fight - a brutal 14th round combo KO to Jaime Munguia.

Apparently Chris has not fully covered as Joey Spencer moved to 12-0 (10 KO's) with a 1 punch uppercut at 2:04 of the 1st round to win the WBO interim belt.

Pearson falls to 13-3-1.

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WBO LHW champ, Sergey Kovalev, decided to try & win a title at CW against the champ from Belgium - Ryad Merhy.

In a bout that really lacked for action, Merhy retained his belt for the 4th time via a 15 MD - 146-140, 143-143 & 145-141. The champ also won PL - 331 (40%) to 269 (19%).

The most exciting thing that happened during the fight was in Kovalev's corner when cutman, Don Turner, took over giving Sergey instructions between rounds when Buddy McGirt is actually Sergey's trainer.

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In the 4th round Chris Billam Smith sent Badou Jack to the canvas with a hook for a 4 count. Chris looked too strong for the champ initially but as the fight wore on, Jack fought back & in front of 50,000 screaming Swedes, Jack retained his title via a close but unanimous decision: 143-142, 143-141, 144-141.

Jack outpunched Chris 383 (38%) to 315 (24%) for his 1st defense of the title.

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In his most impressive fight to date at 140, WBO champ, Teofimo Lopez, knocked out former IBO champ, Jamontay Clark at 2:37 of the 1st with a combo.

Clark came out guns a blazing as he hit Teo with every punch (10 landed) before Teo back him up with a hook that dropped Clark for a 6 count.

In Teo's 1st 2 fights at 140 he stopped Abdel Arrow in the 10th via TKO & took the title back in Feb from Mohamed Mimoune in Paris via a 14th round TKO.

Clark's only 2 previous losses were by decision - losing a close SD to WBC champ, Jose C. Ramirez in his last fight.

Teo's impressive performance served notice to the entire 140 pound division!

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The IBF stripped Errol Spence of his title due to inactivity & being unwilling to face Boots Ennis so Boots fought David Avanesyan for the vacant title.

In a 1 sided beating, Boots beat up David for 12 rounds & then dropped him with a right hook for a 5 count & then a barrage for 6. The ref stepped in at 2:51 of the 13th.

David's right eye was orange & left red from all the swelling.

Boots dominated PL - 416 (32%) to 129 (30%) & the scorecards reflected the fight the fans saw - 117-111 & 118-110 twice.

Boots moves to 8-0 with 6 KO's.

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Old warhorse Antonio Margarito showed he has plenty left in a 5 round destruction of Joseph Jackson - who just went 15 rounds with Jaime Munguia back in May.

Despite being 10 years older than Jackson, Tony dominated landing 204 punches (at a 64% clip!) to 78 (28%) for JJ.

There were no KD's but with Joseph's left eye swelling red the ref finally stepped in at 2:34 of the 5th after a big left hook stunned JJ on the ropes.

Antonio moves to 25-4 with 22 KO's at 154.

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In a whale of a fight, Israil Madrimov came to Germany to fight Abass Baraou with Abass finally ending matters at 1:11 of the 15th with a combo.

Madrimov dropped Abass earlier in the fight with Abass returning the favor 3 more times before ending the fight in the 15th.

The scores reflected what a tight fight it was: 132-130 for Madrimov & 131-131 twice.

Abass lead PL: 267 (21%) to 241 (23%).

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IBF champ, Caleb Plant, finally came back to make his 5th title defense - his last bout in April of 2023.

This time facing Patrick Mukala who last fought back in May - a fight that ended in a draw with WBO champ - Daniele Scardina of Italy.

From the opening bell, Pat showed he meant business swinging for the fences with hard shots.

After 3 rounds, the cards all read 29-28 & 2 of the 3 had Pat ahead.

In the 4th Plant decided to sit down on his punches & by 2:05 of the round the ref had seen enough stepping in to save Pat from any further punishment.

Caleb moves to 11-0 with 5 KO's.

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Germany's Vincenzo Gualtieri (boxing's newest superstar!) defended his belt for the 2nd time with a stirring performance against the UK's - Ismael Davis.

Davis dropped the champ in the 10th with an uppercut in a close fight. In the 13th, Vincenzo ended matters 50 seconds into the round with a hook.

Gualtieri lead on 2 of the cards: 114-113 with Davis up 115-112 on the 3rd card.

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Amilcar Vidal made another impressive title defense with a 1 punch uppercut KO of Felix Cash at 2:05 of the 10th.

Vidal was ahead on 2 of the cards: 88-86 & 87-86 from the judges from Panama & Puerto Rico. The American had Cash up 89-84.

Cash was ahead in PL: 211 (36%) to 175 (20%).

Vidal took the WBC belt via a 1st round KO of Danny Dignum - 2:05. (later stripped by the WBC)

And a 5th round KO of Khasan Baysangurov - 2:30

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Adonis Stevenson's long reign has finally ended via a boxing master class from IBO champ - Dmitry Bivol.

Adonis dropped Bivol in the 1st round for a 3 count & at that point many assumed the Canadian was too strong (Bivol being KO'd once before by a journeyman). But from that point forward, Bivol put on a boxing display for the ages, making Adonis look like a fighter 27 years older.

Bivol dropped Adonis with a quick hook in the 10th (8 count) & cruised to the WBC belt via a UD: 145-138 & 144-139 twice.

Bivol also dominated PL- 435 (39%) to 159 (9%).

Bivol is now 13-1-1 with 7 KO's & Adonis is 20-1 (18 KO's).

Adonis was going for his 19th title defense.

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Current WBO/IBO HW champ, Kevin Lerena, dropped down to CW to face Lawrence Okolie - making his 3rd title defense.

As the fight wore on, Kevin really started to take control - something Okolie noticed & came out firing in the 13th!

No KD's but the ref stepped in at 2:45 of the round with Okolie outlanding Kevin 33-2 in PL.

Good thing for Okolie, cards read 116-112, 115-114 & 116-114 all for Lerena.

PL were 253 (45%) to 251 (20%) for Kevin with the slight lead.

Okolie now 6-0-1 & Kevin's now 2-1 at CW.

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Newly crowned champ, Bakhram Murtazaliev, decided he wanted to beat his 1st challenger on his home turf instead of fighting in Russia so he came to the Target Center in Minnesota to face Sona Akale.

Early on Sona was really outboxing the champ but the Russian kept coming & dropped Sona in the 8th for a 9 count with a huge right cross.

In the 9th, Bakhram ended matters at 2:00 with a left hook.

2 cards had the fight 76-75 for Bakhram but 1 surprisingly had the Russian up 79-72.


Note - Thanks to Jackyle for the updated rating of Bakhram.

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A fight from October - Abass Baraou made his 1st defense against UFC legend - Conor McGregor in Ireland.

A fairly close fight with Conor landing 52% of his punches until he was knocked out at 2:42 of the 7th.

Cards read 58-58, 57-58 & 58-57 at the time of the stoppage.

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In the twilight of his career, Jarrett Hurd got 1 more shot at a title & made the most of it as he came to Rome & took the belt from Italy's Daniele Scardina, making his 2nd title defense.

Even though the Italian champ was the naturally bigger man, Hurd proved to be the better fighter & won the fight by a UD: 147-139, 145-143, 148-137.

Hurd also won PL: 451 (34%) to 256 (16%).

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Joey Spencer won the vacant belt earlier this year with a 1 punch 1st round uppercut KO of former unified champ - Chris Pearson.

When the WBO ordered Joey to face Bud Crawford, Joey said he's not sure Bud deserved a shot & then claimed an injury. So the WBO ordered Bud to fight Ivan Golub & took place in Ukraine.

In a tough fight where Bud was cut from a butt early in the bout & was stopped late due to the cut they went to the cards: 115-112, 116-111 & 117-110, Bud pulled out the UD.

He also dropped Ivan with a combo & won PL: 286 (23%) to 154 (18%).