Championship weekend wrap

It was a great weekend in boxing that saw champions, past and present, all busy over a few days in some great action for fight fans.

-Former 135-pound world champion Robert Easter Jr. (21-1-1, 14 KO’s) and former two-division champ Rances Barthelemy (27-1-1, 14 KO’s) fought to a D 12 in a bout for the vacant WBA lightweight title on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

-Unbeaten super lightweight Regis “Rougarou” Prograis (24-0, 20 KO’s) dethroned WBA champion Kiryl Relikh (23-3, 19 KO’s) by TKO 6 in a WBSS 140-lb semi-final on Saturday in Lafayette, Louisiana.

-In another Cajundome, Louisiana tussle, WBA bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (40-5, 26 KO’s) scored a highlight reel KO 6 over Stephon Young (18-2-3) in a 118-lb WBSS semi-final on Saturday night. Before Donaire iced him, Young had found a home for some punches but once Donaire got his distance down he started to turn the tide.

-Former WBC super lightweight champion Viktor Postol (31-2, 12 KO’s) scored a UD 10 over Mohamed Mimoune (21-3, 2 KO’s) in a WBC title eliminator on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Postal dominated to earn a 98-92, 97-93, 99-91 nod across the board.

-Unbeaten Japanese female prospect Kasumi Saeki (4-0, 3 KO’s) acquired the vacant WBO 105-pound belt by TKO 6 over Mexican Elizabeth Lopez (6-2-4, 1 KO) on Saturday in Osaka, Japan.

-Former unified flyweight champion Juan Francisco “El Gallo” Estrada (39-3, 26 KO’s) scored a UD 12 to defeat WBC super flyweight champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai (47-5-1, 41 KO’s) on Friday night at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California. Rungvisai chipped his way back into the fight in the second half to tighten it up a bit but had dug himself into a deep hole by coming out in the orthodox stance, that seemed largely ineffective, in the first half of the bout (Hello Hagler vs. Leonard).

-In a fight that is everything that is great about boxing, WBA super bantamweight champ Daniel Roman (27-2-1, 10 KO’s) scored a MD 12 over former IBF junior featherweight champ TJ Doheny (21-1, 15 KO’s) on Friday night on the Rungvisai/Estrada card. This beauty was a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate.

-Bombs away!! Former two-time world champ Jesse Vargas (29-2-2, 11KO’s) stopped three-time world champ Humberto Soto (69-10-2, 38 KO’s) in the 6th round in a junior middleweight bout (catch weight 151 pounds) at The Forum on the Inglewood show. This was a back and forth, all-action pier sixer!!

-Former IBF featherweight champion Billy “The Kid” Dib (44-5, 25 KO’s) scored a TKO 1 win over Surachet Tongmala (7-12, 4 KO’s) at the Hurstville Entertainment Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia on Friday.

* I ran a story in Maxboxing this week that stated that only thing that might be left for Amir Khan to do in boxing is get hurt - and nobody wants to see that. Interesting quote in London’s Daily Mirror newspaper regarding Khan from his former promoter Frank Warren.

"Whether Amir was looking for an early exit in there or not is largely irrelevant looking at the bigger picture. He was being completely outboxed and outfoxed by the highly skilled Crawford and it wasn’t going to end well whichever way it came about. It is Amir’s post-fight rhetoric that should be causing the most concern, where he stated that he cannot end his career on such a note. That is exactly what he should do, while he is still walking, talking and with all his faculties in place. It is not going to get any easier for him and continuing is dangerous territory" – Frank Warren