Photo Credit: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)
Report: Damon Gonzalez/Latinbox Sports
LAS VEGAS – Tyson Fury overcame a terrible cut and a stiff challenge from Otto Wallin to successfully defend his lineal heavyweight title via unanimous decision (116-112, 117-111, 118-110) in front of 8,249 fans at T-Mobile Arena Saturday evening.
Fury, cut from a punch in the third round, survived some anxious moments and rebounded to take control of the bout.
Wallin buzzed Fury in the 12th round with a left hand, but Fury weathered the last-ditch effort. Fury now has his sights set on a much-discussed early 2020 rematch with WBC world champion Deontay Wilder.
“Congrats to Otto – and God bless his father and let him rest in peace,” Fury said. “He would be very proud of Otto’s performance.
“It was a great fight I got cut earlier on the eyelid and changed the fight completely. I couldn’t see out of the left eye and there was a lot of clashes.
“Deontay Wilder, I want you next, bum!
Navarrete KOs Elorde
Four weeks removed from his last fight, Emanuel “Vaquero” Navarrete stopped No. 2 contender Juan Miguel Elorde in four rounds to retain his WBO junior featherweight world title for the third time.
Navarrete knocked down Elorde in the third round and had him in trouble in the fourth, forcing referee Russell Mora to stop the fight.
“I’m happy because I think I put on a great performance. Fortunately, my opponent is OK, and I came out here to put on a show,” Navarrete said. “I hope the fans enjoyed it on my very first Las Vegas show on Mexican Independence Day Weekend. ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete is here to stay.”
— Jose “Chon” Zepeda, who gave current WBC/WBO super lightweight world champion Jose Ramirez all he could handle in February, won a clear 10-round unanimous decision over former two-weight world champion Jose “Sniper” Pedraza.
All three judges scored the bout 97-93.
“It’s probably one of the best days of my life. It’s Mexican Independence Day. I was giving everything for Mexico,” Zepeda said. “I guess persistence {was the key to victory}. The people here were giving me excitement to go get him, to go after this guy. We knew that he was a hell of a boxer. Thank God I’m the third one that beat him. The other two were elite fighters. I’m happy for that.
“There were talks that maybe the winner of this fight would go after Ramirez. For me, the rematch, I would like that. It was a very close fight. A lot of people thought I won, a lot of people thought he won. I would love a rematch. I think the people would love it, too.”
Said Pedraza: “It was a very good fight. He looked very well, and I just couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to do. Nothing came out the way I wanted. The instruction from my corner was to throw more punches, but nothing was going my way.
“This was my debut at 140. I felt good. I will meet with my team to evaluate if we stay at 140, or if we move down in weight.
UNDERCARD ACTION FROM LAS VEGAS
In the opening bout of the night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Presented by Top Rank Boxing
Super Bantamweight Iskander Kharson (7-0, 6 KO’s) from Henderson, New York gets a victory in a big way tonight by retiring Isidro Ochoa (7-1, 3 KO’s) from Fresno, CA. who didn’t come out his corner for round six.
Kharson fought very smart keeping the pressure on Ochoa dropping him to the canvas in round five by a straight right hand, Ochoa couldn’t recover as the red corner called the fight before the sixth by TKO victory for Kharson.
Lightweight sensation Gabriel Flores, Jr. from Stockton, CA. goes to (15-0, 6 KO’s) after scoring a unanimous decision victory in a dominating performance against a very tough Miguel Angel Aispuro (12-9-2, 8 KO’s) from Cancun, Mexico.
Flores, Jr. was ahead of Aispuro in every round as all three judges score the contest 60-54 in favor of Flores, Jr.
Super Featherweight Isaac “The West Gate Warrior” Lowe (19-0-3, 6 KO’s) suffers an injured but was able to pull out the unanimous decision win over Ruben Garcia Hernandez (25-5-2, 11 KO’s) judges official scores 77-75 twice and 78-74 for Lowe.
Super Flyweight veteran Carlos Cuadras (39-3-1, 27 KO’s) from Mexico City, Mexico. Continues to show his boxing skills by scoring a majority decision victory over Jose Maria Cardenas (17-5, 14 KO’s) from Tijuana, Mexico.
Cardenas made the fight interesting early on by connecting with hard counter shots on Cuadras who made the adjustments and stayed on Cardenas as the official scores were 95-95, 96-94 twice for Cuadras.
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