CARSON, CALIF. — Amid the increasing contention that boxing is being dragged down by a rash of celebrity fights, an antidote is suddenly emerging: title-unification bouts.
Two-belt 140-pound champions Jose Ramirez and Josh Taylor are headed to a Saturday night unification in Las Vegas. Fully unified lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez is scheduled to defend his four belts on June 19. Super-middleweight Canelo Alvarez and heavyweights Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua are working to collect all of their division’s straps by the end of summer.
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And Saturday night in Southern California, unbeaten secondary WBA super-bantamweight champion Brandon Figueroa (22-0-1, 17 KOs) executed a brilliant rally to knock out Mexico’s previously unbeaten Luis Nery, taking away his WBC belt and setting up a Sept. 11 unification against WBO champion Stephen Fulton Jr.
“One of the reasons that the 122-pound division is one of the hottest right now is we’re not scared to fight each other,” Figueroa said after a seventh-round knockout that came on a vicious left hook delivered to Nery’s ribs. “That’s what boxing needs. Boxing is losing fans because the best aren’t fighting the fight. This is what boxing needs. The best fighting the best to see who’s the best in the division.”
It sounds like a logical premise.
But in the bitter aftertaste of how long boxing fans were left to wait for Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao and now a matchup between unbeaten welterweights Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., a few proud champions are stepping up to solicit the best possible competition.
Philadelphia’s Fulton (19-0, 8 KOs) attended Saturday’s Showtime-televised card in Carson, Calif., and said he’s driven not only to defeat Figueroa, but to then pursue IBF/WBA champion M.J. Akhmadaliev.
“It’s been my ultimate goal since I stepped into the ring in 2014 to become the first undisputed super-bantamweight champion, and now that I’m screaming and saying I want to become the first, I feel like the guys in the division want to try to snatch at that, too,” Fulton said. “I feel like I am the division now. I have this division popping, hot and on fire and the other guys are on mute. I’m bringing attention to it and I’ve beat eight other undefeated fighters. No one else has done that.”
The avoiding of elite opponents by champions and the manipulation of four titles has compromised boxing over the years. It hurt television ratings, decreased pay-per-view sales and created a window that has allowed for significant re-directed interest in fights headlined by 54-year-old Mike Tyson and YouTube brothers Jake Paul and his brother Logan, who meets Floyd Mayweather Jr. on June 6 in Florida.
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While Fulton excuses the novelty acts – “I feel the Pauls bring more light and attention to the sport. Everyone likes to see a fight,” he said – boxing finds itself in a perilous spot, potentially being reduced to a comic sideshow.
Saturday night, though, the drama was real.
Figueroa, 24, was trailing big on one scorecard and tied on another heading to the seventh round, intent to seduce former bantamweight champion Nery into fatiguing himself in an inside battle that intensified in the seventh.
“He was getting tired. I saw him breathing heavy,” Figueroa said. “We did our homework on that. My team and I decided he wouldn’t last under the pressure, and he didn’t. We just took it to him.”
The left hand to the ribs left Nery unable to rise before referee Thomas Taylor’s 10-count, and Nery turned pale backstage, requiring a precautionary trip to a local hospital.
Fight officials said they expect Nery (31-1) to fully recover.
Figueroa, meanwhile, moves on to Fulton, possessing slight height and reach advantages and some grudges over past interactions.
“I match up better with Figueroa because he’s an action-packed fighter,” Fulton said in an interview with ringside reporters before the bout. “Figueroa gets hit a lot. I like his style, but it’s tailor-made for me to get over on him. I want to engage with him more, Mexican-style. I’m accurate with my punches. Figueroa’s the only one who can match my power and has as good of a chance as any other fighter tonight.”
In the ring afterward, Fulton imitated Jake Paul by snatching Figueroa’s ballcap.
But this being real boxing — not a press event to increase pay-per-view sales — so Figueroa only released a slight smile before setting the cap back on Figueroa’s head.
Earlier in the night, frustrated former super-middleweight champion David Benavidez bashed IBF champion Caleb Plant for balking at a fight with Benavidez and meeting veteran mandatory foe Caleb Truax in February as a route to set up an expected unification with three-belt champion Alvarez in September.
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“I don’t care what he thinks he saw from Canelo, he’s going to get knocked out by Canelo,” Benavidez said. “And if he don’t get knocked out by Canelo, he’s going to get knocked out by David Benavidez.”
Benavidez also cast hate at unbeaten middleweight champion Jermall Charlo, who is taking a mismatch title defense next month against little-known Juan Macias Montiel. Benavidez said a fight with him would’ve been “a lot of money on a pay-per-view.”
I wanted Charlo. You see who he’s fighting? There was no negotiations,” Benavidez said. “I told him let’s fight. He started talking shit, spitting everywhere, yelling how he does. There was no effort to make the fight, so I don’t know … .”
Charlo’s twin brother, Jermell, is fully committed to getting into the unification act, however. On July 17, three-belt champion Jermell meets Argentina’s WBO champion Brian Castano for all four 154-pound belts.
That’s the route to improve boxing, says Fulton: “Champions should seek out fellow champions to unify their divisions, and top contenders “should collide and clash together, and then fight whoever’s on top.”
If the response to that is to say, “Oh, that never happens in boxing … .”
Wrong.
It just happened last year when then-two-belt 122-pound champion Daniel Roman of Los Angeles honored a mandatory assignment against the avoided Akhmadaliev and lost his two belts by split decision in Miami.
Roman’s career hasn’t crumbled. The 31-year-old has fought back with two victories, including an impressive unanimous decision over Tijuana’s Ricardo Espinoza on Saturday night, to re-position himself for another title shot as Figueroa’s new WBC mandatory.
“It’s about the legacy of the fighters,” Roman said when asked about the importance of champions seeking out the best possible opponents. “You’re in this business to prove to the world that you’re the best. Winning those types of fights moves you a step closer to become one of the greatest fighters there has ever been in your division.
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“My respect goes out to Taylor and Ramirez (Saturday). It takes courage to make that kind of fight happen … because you’re risking it all.”
He ought to know. But in the current state of boxing, that’s what it takes. The ones pushing for such greatness will be acknowledged accordingly while those dragging their feet in the quicksand of stagnation will sink away.
(Top photo: Esther Lin/Showtime)