Andy Ruiz Defeats Luis Ortiz, Plus Everything Else
Despite seeing Andy Ruiz Jr. drop Luis Ortiz, three times, his low output saw an incredibly close fight go his way, for one simple reason. Ruiz Jr. just didn’t throw all that much.
Ruiz, one of the most marketable heavyweights based on his look (a seemingly overweight Mexican man), win over Anthony Joshua, and loyal following, headlined a PPV for the third time, but second as the star of the show – as both of Ruiz Jr.’s PPV win on FOX have seen him going all 12-rounds.
The fight was slow – and despite the knockdowns, a lot of lulls in the action.
That being said, Ruiz Jr. is a very interesting opponent for Deontay Wilder as he poses some interesting questions. One of which being – Ruiz’s ability to turn defense into offense.
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Lightweight contender Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz looks like a star as he stopped Eduardo Ramirez in two rounds. The fight was all Cruz as he rushed Ramirez, and Ramirez fighting at lightweight for the first time as he had his most successful run at featherweight just couldn’t handle the pressure.
The L.A. crowd took to Cruz, as Cruz appeared to be one of the big winners from this card.
Abner Mares and Miguel Flores fought to a draw. Mares has been away from the sport for roughly four years with an injury. Mares started strong, but his conditioning failed him in this fight.
An upset. Edwin De Los Santos knocked out popular lightweight Jose “Rayo” Valenzuela in three rounds.
Other notables, Joey Spencer got a ten-round decision win over Kevin Salgado, and Ra’eese Aleem looked like a stud getting a dominant win over Mike Plania. Somebody, please get Aleem a world title fight.
Estrada Wins…
Juan Francisco Estrada defeated Argi Cortes, but it took about everything you had to do so and left more questions than answers. My long-standing belief was prior to this fight that despite being younger than Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, Estrada is at about the same point in his career as Chocolatito, because of the hard fights he has been in.
On Labor Day weekend, to only the most hardcore of fight fans, Estrada found himself in a fight of the year type bout, in a bout that was set up as essentially a tune-up fight prior to his December 3rd fight trilogy bout against Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez. Estrada won, but barely.
With only three months left for a turnaround, despite a win over Gonzalez in their last fight, one that nearly all of the media scored for Gonzalez, it appears the table is set for Gonzalez to close this part of his career, and Estrada who has been out of the ring more than he has been in the ring in recent memory seems to be showing a bit of slippage as he might not be in his prime anymore.
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Sivenathi Nontshinga won the IBF light flyweight title over Hector Flores
Calixto in a modern classic battle between two world-ranked fighters. The bout which will be largely ignored due to the size of both fighters was tremendous and worthy of praise.
Erika Cruz Hernandez defeated Jelena Mrdjenovich in a rematch of a fight that originally occurred on Ring City USA, as Cruz Hernandez successfully defended her WBA featherweight title, yet again.
Rocky Hernandez got a fifth-round knockout over an undefeated opponent as well.
Club Shows
Liam Smith got a fourth-round KO of Hassan Mwakinyo. Smith seemingly should find himself in some form of a big fight.
Light heavyweight Dan Azeez outpointed Shakan Pitters in a fun regional fight.
Natasha Jonas now holds the WBO and WBC super welterweight women’s titles, with a win over undefeated champion Patricia Berghult.
Olympian Frazer Clarke got a first-round KO as well.
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130 lbs contender Albert Bell won a unanimous decision in Toledo, Ohio, to win the WBO-NABO Super Featherweight Title, which should help him in obtaining a world title ranking.
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Heavyweight Joey Dawejko got a fourth-round KO of Mike Marshall.
MMA In 500 Words Or Less
MMA in 500 Words Or Less
Ciryl Gane knocked out Tai Tuivasa in the third round of their heavyweight main event.
Robert Whittaker defeated yet another middleweight when he outpointed Marvin Vettori. Whittaker is a guy who is strong, and has good timing, just his muscular build puts him at a disadvantage against fighters with elite speed, which is the only elite attribute he lacks at the world-class level.
