3,425 stories on BoxingScene are published under the Cliff Rold byline.
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By Cliff Rold - Thirty-two years is a long time. For Hall of Fame three-division titlist James Toney and once feared heavyweight contender Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, thirty-two years (and change) is how long it’s been since both had their breakthrough star-making moments in boxing. For Toney, those moments were achieved in victory; for Ruddock, in gritty losses.
Costa Rica’s Yokasta Valle hasn’t tasted defeat in a long time. It’s been over five years to be exact. A ten-round decision loss to Tina Rupprecht in 2018, on the road in Germany, was her second consecutive loss. Seventeen wins in a row says a lot has changed. On Saturday, Valle defended her IBF and WBO 105-pound belts with a near shutout longtime former WBA titlist Anabel Ortiz.
With Thanksgiving fast approaching in the States, boxing fans will have more than turkey to look forward to as the month rolls on. Just two days after the festivities, the biggest fisticuffs of the month will play out on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pick It: TBRB #2 Joe Cordina vs. Edward Vazquez (Saturday, DAZN, 3:00 PM EST) - A solid doubleheader of title fights highlights this card with a junior lightweight main event. 31-year old IBF titlist Joe Cordina (16-0, 9 KO) gets a chance to defend the title he won twice in less than a year without losing it in the ring. 28-
By Cliff Rold - It doesn’t take much to make things interesting. Last weekend’s epic junior lightweight title showdown between O’Shaquie Foster and Eduardo Hernandez didn’t garner the attention Tyson Fury embarrassing himself against Francis Ngannou did. It doesn’t change what happened in the ring.
Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat never gets old. According to Showtime’s Steve Farhood on Twitter Monday, what O’Shaquie Foster did to post his first defense of the WBC 130-pound title was a little more special than that. According to Farhood, “There have been thousands of world title fights, but on Saturday night, O'Shaquie Foster became only the 14th fighter in a title fight to trail on points going into the last round and score a stoppage to win.”
Pick It: TBRB #5 O’Shaquie Foster vs. Eduardo Hernandez (Saturday, DAZN, 9:00 PM EST) - This one is sort of flying under the radar in a week overcome by antics and exhibitions, but for good meat and potatoes pugilism fans this could be the gem on the horizon. The 30-year old WBC 130 pound titlist Foster (20-2, 11 KO) has won
By Cliff Rold - It’s a case where quality can be measured in minutes. A maximum of sixteen minutes. On Friday (DAZN, 8 PM EST), Puerto Rican undisputed women’s featherweight champion Amanda Serrano (45-2-1, 30 KO) makes a step forward for championship boxing when she defends Brazilian contender Danila Ramos (12-2, 1 KO) in a main event from Orlando, Florida. Serrano will be heavily favored and Ramos appears to offer little in the way of a physical threat.
Opportunity knocked. A pair of fighters answered the door in a big way last weekend. Heading into last weekend, Alexis Rocha had risen in enough esteem at welterweight to be ranked in the top five by both TBRB and Ring Magazine. The WBO ranked him number one while the WBC and IBF both had him in the top ten.
Pick It: TBRB #4 Jack Catterall vs. Jorge Linares (Saturday, DAZN, 2:00 PM EST) - Luck is a funny thing. A little more of it with the judges and 30-year old Jack Catterall (27-1, 13 KO) would be able to say he won the undisputed junior welterweight crown in February 2022. Instead, Catterall caught the rough end of a split decision versus Josh Taylor and then rode a roller coaster of a rematch imploding along the way.