appeared the case from the get-go, when
Rigondeaux, perhaps the most faithful
devotee of the Cuban School of Boxing,
opted to trade with Ceja in the so-called
phone booth, instead of sauntering
around the ring looking for the counter, as
is his wont.
It was a puzzling sight and ill-advised
considering his strengths relied upon a
certain degree of finesse. Not that anyone
was complaining.
Ceja pressed the action early on,
however, outworking a fighter seemingly
more mythologised than unicorns. Ceja
even stunned Rigondeaux briefly midway
through the second round with a left
hook.
The pace seemed to favour Ceja,
who plowed forward and would throw,
at times, as many as five-to-eight
unanswered punches. Rigondeaux, a
natural counterpuncher, battled back with
the occasional eye-catching uppercut and
straight lefts, but he was losing the fight.
Then in the eighth round, after referee
Russell Mora had docked a point from
each fighter for low blows, Rigondeaux
floored Ceja with a blistering overhand
left that was delivered smack dab on the
chin. And this is where referee Mora,
who is regularly cited as one of the worst
officiators at the top level, made the
foolhardy decision to wave off the fight at
2-59 (that is, with one second left before
the beginning of the break), even thoughCeja, whom all three judges had ahead on
their scorecards, looked ready to continue.
Union City, California’s Joey Spencer
may have added another win to his
nascent record, but he goes back home
with plenty of question marks to address
after his opponent Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s
Akeem Black roughed him up in the
second half of their fight (set for six).
The judges — Max DeLuca, Lisa Giampa,
Richard Ocasio — were generous, to
say the least, with all three turning in
scorecards of 59-55 in favour of Spencer,
who was completely gassed by the fifth
round.THE VERDICTCharlo’s back in
business but time may be running
out for Rigondeaux.BATTLING suspicions that he had lost
his edge, super-welterweight contender
Jermell Charlo, from Houston, Texas,
shot back at sceptics with a vicious third-
round knockout of Mexican fall guy Jorge
Cota at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Indeed, there is nothing quite like a
viral-worthy KO over a no-hoper to get
the feelgood vibes flowing again. Of
course, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.
Originally, Charlo was slated to face
WBC super-welterweight champion Tony
Harrison, who snatched the title from him
last December via a controversial points
decision. But the rematch was waylaid
after the Detroit-based Harrison suffered
an ankle injury during training camp,
forcing him to pull out of the fight.
But as with most stateside cards these
days, with fights tied more and more to
the programming agenda of a particular
network, the TGB-promoted show had to
go on. Enter Cota, who had all but three
weeks to prepare and moreover, was
already a known quantity of sorts; two
years ago, he had been starched by 154-
pound contender Erickson Lubin.
Cota fought competently for as long
as he could, landing a few slapping
combinations in the first two rounds.
Charlo got the opening he wanted in the
third. During an exchange, Charlo ducked
and countered with a short hard right that
sent Cota to the canvas.
Cota got up on wobbly legs and held
onto the rope for support, as referee
Jay Nady, neglecting to ask the Mexican
to walk toward him, sent him back into
the line of fire. Sniffing blood, Charlo
promptly connected on a text-book one-
two combination that immediately felled
Cota. Nady came over to wave off the
fight at 2-14 of the third, as Cota gaped
at the rafters above him with star-struck
eyes.
Looking ahead to the Harrison rematch
scheduled for the autumn, Charlo barked,
“I’m a much better fighter than [Harrison].
Like I said, he’s lucky he didn’t accept this
fight with me this time.”
An unexpected super-bantamweight
slugfest between the Mexican Julio Ceja
and the irascible, talented, and perennially
frustrating Cuban southpaw Guillermo
Rigondeaux ended on a sour note.
Had Father Time finally caught up
to the 38-year-old Rigondeaux? That
MEASURING:
Charlo lines up Cota
for his right handPhoto: SEAN MICHAEL HAM MAYWEATHER PROMOTIONS14 lBOXING NEWSlJUNE 27, 2019 http://www.boxingnewsonline.net★★ MAIN EVENT
★★ UNDERCARDLAS VEGAS, NV
JUNE 23FULL RESULTS
Jermell Charlo (154 1/2lbs), 32-1 (16), w ko 3 Jorge
Cota (154 1/4lbs), 28-4 (25); Joey Spencer (
3/4lbs), 8-0 (6), w pts 6 AkeemBlack (154 1/2lbs),
5-3 (2); Guillermo Rigondeaux (121 1/2lbs), 19-
(13), w rsf 8 Julio Ceja (121 3/4lbs), 32-4 (28); Chris
Colbert (133 1/4lbs), 12-0 (4), w pts 8 Albert Mercado
(133 1/2lbs), 16-3-1 (3); Jesus Ramos (143 1/2lbs),
10-0 (9), w pts 4 Kevin Shacks (141 1/4lbs), 3-4-
(3); Quinton Randall (149 3/4lbs), 4-0 (1), w pts 4
Kewone Hill (150lbs), 2-1 (2); Julian Rodarte (
1/2lbs), 17-0-1 (7), w pts 8 Miguel Aispuro (
3/4lbs), 11-7-2 (7); Leduan Barthelemy (127 1/2lbs),
15-0-1 (7), w pts 8 Jose Cayetano (127 1/2lbs), 21-
(10); Marquis Taylor (146 1/2lbs), 10-1-1, drew 8
Lucas SantaMaria (145 3/4lbs), 9-1-1 (7).Charlo wins
spectacularly
but Cota is no
test, writes
Sean NamACTION
★★★★★ OUTSTANDING ★★★★ GOOD ★★★ FAIR ★★ DISAPPOINTING ★ RUBBISH
Reporters’ star ratings for main events and undercards are based on in-ring entertainment, competitiveness and whether overall expectation was metPOINTLESS EXERCISE