SPORTS SHORTS 8: 20 IN 2020 (MAJOR WORLD TITLE FIGHTS) PART 1
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 29 Dec 2020
As our yearender let's take a look at 20 of the major world title fights in the year 2020.
January 30: Demetrius Andrade defeated Luke Keeler by ninth-round TKO for the WBO middleweight title at the Island Gardens, Miami, United States. Former two-time junior middleweight world titlist Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs), 31, of Providence, Rhode Island landed 146 of 385 punches (38%) while Keeler (17-3-1, 5 KOs), 32, of Ireland, landed just 34 of 298 shots (11%). Andrade scored two knockdowns en route to knocking out the overmatched Keeler in the ninth round.
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February 23: Tyson Fury demolished Deontay Wilder by seventh-round TKO (WBC heavyweight title) at the MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas. Fury, 32, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, England defeated Wilder, 35, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S., stopping his rival in the seventh round in their rematch, winning the WBC heavyweight title. Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) scored knockdowns in the third and fifth rounds, dominating Wilder (42-1-1, 41 KOs) who suffered the first loss of his career.
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February 23: Emanuel Navarrete defeated Jeo Santisima by 11th-round TKO for the WBO super-bantamweight title at the MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas. "As I said during the build-up to the fight, I was coming for another knockout victory, and I got it," said Navarrete. "It took me a little more time than expected. I hurt him a couple of times during the fight, but I got to give it to him; he is a real Filipino warrior. He took a lot of punches and didn't go down. His corner had to stop the fight." The 25-year-old Navarrete of San Juan, Zitlaltepec, Mexico, is boxing's most active world champion, as he has won five in a row by stoppage since winning the world title via decision over Isaac "Royal Storm" Dogboe in December 2018. The win improved his record to 31 wins, 27 by KOs, and 1 loss. The 24-year-old Santisima of Aroroy, Masbate fell to 19-3 with 16 knockouts. But Santisima received a lot of praises after the fight.
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February 29: Britain's longest-reigning world champion Kal Yafai lost his WBA super-flyweight title to Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez at the Ford Center, Texas. Gonzalez (49-2, 41 KOs), 32, of Managua, Nicaragua dominated Yafai (26-1, 15 KOs), 30, a 2008 Olympian from Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. Gonzalez dropped Yafai with a barrage of punches and in the ninth round, landed a perfect right hand to the head that fell Yafai to his back and the referee waved it off 29 seconds into the round.
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August 22: Katie Taylor beat Delfine Persoon by unanimous points decision for the WBC, IBF, WBO and WBA lightweight titles at the Fight Camp, Brentwood, Essex, England. Taylor, 34, from Bray, County, Wicklow, Ireland used her boxing talent to grind out a unanimous decision over Persoon, 35, of Gits, West Flanders, Belgium Judges had it 98-93, 96-94 and 96-94 all in favor of Taylor, who improved to 16-0 with 6 KOs as Persoon dropped to 44-3 with 18 KOs.
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September 26: Jermall Charlo of Houston, Texas beat Sergiy Derevyanchenko of Nikolaev, Ukraine via unanimous decision for the WBC middleweight title at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, United States. At the end of the fight, all three judges scored the fight in favor of Charlo, 116-112, 117-111 and 118-110. The 30-year-old Charlo landed 219 of 627 punches thrown compared to the 180 of 681 thrown by Derevyanchenko, aged 34.
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September 26: John Riel Casimero defeated Duke Micah by third-round technical knockout defending his WBO bantamweight title at the Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut, United States. Casimero of Ormoc City, Leyte made a successful first defense of his crown knocking out Micah of Accra, Ghana in the third round. The 30-year-old Casimero dominated Micah throughout with a series of punishing body blows, improved to 30-4, with 21 KOs, had Micah in trouble in the second round, sent the challenger down to the canvas with a left hook. The Filipino unleashed a left hook followed by a right uppercut left sent Micah wobbling, prompting the referee to stop the fight. Casemiro landed 24 body shots compared to Micah’s four.
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October 17: Teofimo Lopez of New York City shocked Vasyl Lomachenko of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine for the unanimous points decision win for the WBA, WBC, WBO & IBF lightweight titles at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Lopez, 23, defeated Lomachenko, 32, via unanimous decision with scores of 116–112, 119–109 and 117–111. CompuBox stats showed Lopez, was more active landing 183 of 659 thrown (28%), while Lomachenko was more accurate landing 141 of 321 thrown (44%). Lopez outlanded Lomachenko in 8 of the 12 rounds.
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October 23: Juan Estrada beat Carlos Cuadras by 11th-round knockout for the WBC super-flyweight title in Mexico City, Mexico. Estrada (41-3, 28 KOs), aged 30, from Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico was dropped hard in the third round by Cuadras (39-4-1, 27 KOs), aged 32, of Guamúchil, Sinaloa, Mexico, as Estrada took several heavy shots. Estrada recovered and took control of the fight to drop Cuadras twice in the 11th round to score a knockout win in that round at the TV Azteca Studios in Mexico City.
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October 23: Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez beat Israel Gonzalez by unanimous decision for the WBA super-flyweight title in Mexico City, Mexico. Chocolatito (50-2, 41 KO) had a hard time with the taller, longer, younger fighter Israel Gonzalez (25-4, 11 KO), age 24, from Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico in the opening round, but in the second to the final round he had the fight already in control. Chocolatito took this on scores of 116-112, 117-111, and 118-110 for the unanimous decision win.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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