A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Sunday at Phoenix
Roy Jones Jr. TKO2 Vyron Phillips
Heavyweight
Records: Jones Jr. (63-9, 46 KOs); Phillips (0-1)
Rafael's remarks: Jones, 47, of Pensacola, Florida, was once the best fighter on the planet. He was No. 1 pound-for-pound from about 1994 to 2004. Now he is reduced to this sort of sideshow: fighting on an $11.99 internet-only pay-per-view card in front of a live audience of several hundred against a last-minute opponent in a freak show that also included a wrestling match, a grappling match and an MMA match involving other used-up but famous fighters from each sport.
Initially, the idea was that Jones would fight a fan, who would win the right to face Jones by submitting a 90-second video explaining why he should get to fight him and claim $100,000 with a victory. However, the Arizona Boxing and MMA Commission stepped in and nixed that awful idea, instead insisting that the opponent at least have some experience in combat sports. Of more than 1,500 entries received, the group was whittled to about 20 applicants and Phillips, 33, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was selected. He came to the ring with a 6-1 amateur boxing record a 5-3 professional MMA record (or 6-3, depending on the source you believe) in the scheduled six-round main event of this embarrassing card.
Jones, who weighed in at a fleshy 201.7 pounds, slightly more than the cruiserweight limit, was coming back from a Dec. 12 fight in Moscow in which former cruiserweight titlist Enzo Maccarinelli erased him by gargantuan fourth-round knockout, a KO so scary it should have ended Jones' career on the spot. But Jones refused to call it a day and faced Phillips, who landed some decent shots in the first round, although Jones was in control.
In the second round, Jones connected cleanly with a counter right hand to the chin and Phillips went down hard and awkwardly. He managed to beat the count but was in no shape to continue, and referee Wes Melton waved it off with 31 seconds left in the round. There is no truth to the rumor that Jones will next fight a fight a bear, but famed WWE broadcaster Jim Ross, who called the card, led the cheerleading with his other ringside commentators amazingly banging the drums for Jones to continue fighting after this abomination. That is one of the worst ideas in the world, although Jones, during his in-ring interview after the fight, left the door open to continuing to fight.
Saturday at Houston
Juan Diaz TKO9 Fernando Garcia
Lightweight
Records: Diaz (41-4, 20 KOs); Garcia (30-8-2, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: From 2004 to 2008, Diaz, 32, of Houston, held a lightweight world title, unified three major belts and was in a number of exciting fights. But after losing to Juan Manuel Marquez for the second time in 2010, he retired, well positioned for life after the ring, thanks to a college degree and a successful trucking business. But Diaz ended his retirement in 2013 and reeled off five wins in a row.
He was due to challenge Takahiro Ao for a vacant 135-pound world title in Las Vegas on May 1, 2015 -- the night before Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao. But a little more than a month before the fight, Diaz tore the rotator cuff in his left shoulder during a sparring session. Out of the ring for 18 months and fighting on the one-year anniversary of the surgery to repair his shoulder, Diaz returned to the ring to face Garcia, 27, of Mexico, himself fighting for the first time since October 2014.
Fighting in his hometown for the first time 2009, Diaz was a bit rusty after the long layoff. But, as usual, he was his relentless self as he took a lot of shots and also dished out a boatload of them, including a fierce body attack. Garcia came to fight and Diaz obliged. After eight-plus rounds of action, mostly in Diaz's favor, he knocked Garcia down -- and nearly out of the ring -- with an onslaught of punches in the ninth round. Garcia, whose face was swelling, beat the count but the fight was over moments later when referee Laurence Cole waved it off at 2 minutes, 24 seconds during Diaz's follow-up attack.
Diaz's shoulder held up fine in the fight and he is hoping for a world title shot, or at least a meaningful fight against a top name, before the end the year.
"I felt good, maybe a little bit of rust because of the inactivity, but I give myself a B-plus," Diaz said. "I'm ready to fight again and become a world champion."
Mike Alvarado TKO3 Saul Corral
Welterweight
Records: Alvarado (35-4, 24 KOs); Corral (19-7, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Alvarado, 35, a former junior welterweight world titleholder from Denver, was one of boxing's most exciting fighters during his 2011 to 2014 heyday, including memorable battles with Brandon Rios, Ruslan Provodnikov and Juan Manuel Marquez. But in January 2015, Alvarado met Rios in a rubber match in Denver and embarrassed himself. He admitted that he barely trained for the fight and then got crushed in three rounds to drop to 1-4 in his previous five fights. He had come into the fight with his life a mess. He was facing legal issues stemming from highly publicized gun charges and also was consumed by a longstanding drinking problem. Soon after the loss to Rios, Alvarado went to alcohol rehabilitation and says he has been clean and sober since. He commenced a comeback against Corral, 29, of Mexico.
The years of hard fights and hard living have caught up to Alvarado. He was slow, got hit a lot (although he always has) and his face was marked up by the second round. But he is still good enough to beat low-level opponents such as Corral.
In the second round, Alvarado landed a thudding right hand that rocked Corral with 45 seconds left. Corral came right back and landed his own shots as they duked it out toe to toe. In the third round, Alvarado landed a heavy left uppercut that staggered Corral. Alvarado knew it and went right at him. He nailed Corral with a pair of rights and was teeing off. After he landed a big overhand right, Corral went down just as referee Jon Schorle stepped in to call off the fight at 1 minute, 25 seconds.
It remains to be seen how far Alvarado can go in his comeback, but if he can stay sober and be active, it is not out of the question that he could get another meaningful fight. Perhaps he could a shot at welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas, who is also promoted by Top Rank. Alvarado said he wants another meaningful fight.
"I'm back," he said. "This is what I have worked for since last year. I finally feel at peace. I feel like I cleansed myself spiritually, mentally and physically. I'm ready to fight the best."
Arturo Marquez TKO2 Justin Henderson
Welterweight
Records: Marquez (1-0, 1 KO); Henderson (0-2)
Rafael's remarks: Marquez, 19, of Houston, is the son of 1992 U.S. Olympian and former junior middleweight world titleholder Raul Marquez, who was in his son's corner as his trainer. The younger Marquez made his professional debut after compiling a 60-10 amateur record that included participation in some national tournaments. Thanks to the televised opener ending in an early knockout, Marquez's debut made the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" broadcast and he took advantage of the exposure with a fan-friendly performance in a knockout of Henderson, 29, also of Houston. Marquez sustained a cut on his hairline from an accidental head butt in the second round but later dropped Henderson to a knee with a right uppercut. He was taking it to him in the follow-up attack when referee Laurence Cole stepped in and waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
In another undercard bout, middleweight Esquiva Falcao (13-0, 10 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw who claimed an Olympic silver medal for Brazil in 2012, knocked out Joe McCreedy (15-10-2, 6 KOs), 31, of Lowell, Massachusetts, with a body shot in the fifth round of their scheduled eight-rounder. McCreedy lost his fourth fight in a row.
Saturday at Kempton Park, South Africa
Byron Rojas W12 Hekkie Budler
Wins a strawweight title
Scores: 115-113 (three times)
Records: Rojas (17-2-3, 8 KOs); Budler (29-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Budler, 27, of South Africa, won a vacant world title at 105 pounds, boxing's smaller division, in March 2014 and successfully defended it four times. Many viewed Budler as the No. 1 man in the weight class and he was a massive favorite to retain his title for the fifth time against Rojas, 25, a completely unheralded fighter who was boxing outside of his native Nicaragua for the first time.
But Rojas pulled the big upset and extended his unbeaten streak to 12 fights (11-0 with an injury-induced no contest) since back-to-back six-round split decision losses in 2012. It was a close fight most of the way, but one that included a number of accidental head butts, one of which appeared to open a small cut over Budler's right eye in the second round. Although Budler finished the fight strong, Rojas did enough to eke it out. In winning the belt, Rojas joins pound-for-pound king and flyweight champion Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez as the second current titleholder from Nicaragua.
Friday at Philadelphia
Jesse Hart W10 Dashon Johnson
Super middleweight
Scores: 98-91, 97-92, 95-95
Records: Hart (20-0, 16 KOs); Johnson (19-19-3, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Hart, 26, of Philadelphia, is the son of 1970s middleweight contender Eugene "Cyclone" Hart. He is a quality prospect who has had an outstanding amateur career but had a surprising struggle against Johnson, 28, of Escondido, California, who came into the fight having won four bouts in a row despite his poor record.
Johnson pushed the action throughout the fight and had Hart hurt in the sixth round. Hart came back and had Johnson in trouble in the seventh round. But Johnson would come back strong before knocking the exhausted Hart down with a hard right hand in the final few seconds of the fight, although he beat the count and made it to the final bell.
Going into the fight, Top Rank's plan was to give Hart a super middleweight world title shot against Gilberto Ramirez should Ramirez lift the 168-pound belt from Arthur Abraham on the April 9 Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley Jr. III undercard. However, there's certainly no guarantee Ramirez will win and, after Hart's tremendous struggle against a journeyman, perhaps the company will rethink its plans to move Hart into such a dangerous fight so soon.
Mike Reed W6 Samuel Amoako
Junior welterweight
Scores: 60-54 (three times)
Records: Reed (18-0, 10 KOs); Amoako (21-9, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Reed, a 23-year-old prospect from Waldorf, Maryland, was supposed to fight Feb. 27 in New York on the Terence Crawford-Hank Lundy undercard, but his bout was canceled at the weigh-in because his opponent had an issue with his blood test and the New York State Athletic Commission declined to license him. Top Rank, Reed's promoter, tried to reschedule him to be on the Luis Ortiz-Tony Thompson card in Washington, D.C., one week later, but there was no room on the show. Finally, Reed, a southpaw, was added to this card and rolled past Amoako, 31, a native of Ghana who fights out of Silver Spring, Maryland. Reed had no issues against an Amoako who showed little interest in engaging. So Reed outboxed him with ease for the shutout decision as Amoako lost his fifth loss in a row.