1. Manny Pacquiao: What a performance from Pacquiao, a brisk 40 years-old, using his speed and agility to outpoint Keith Thurman on Saturday night on Pay-Per-View, becoming the undisputed WBA World Welterweight championship. If you look at fighters under the Premier Boxing Champions banner, only one real matchup makes sense, the winner of the Shawn Porter-Errol Spence Jr. fight. That’s a huge fight, regardless of the victor, but if Spence comes out on top, as he’s expected to do, that’s a gigantic test for both men, and Pacquiao will be at a clear physical disadvantage.
2. Leon Edwards: Rafael dos Anjos was supposed to be the final test for Edwards, as a former world champion, before getting to title contention, and Edwards handled his biggest test to date with ease. He crushed RDA on the scorecards in his first main event, and now enters his name into welterweight title contention.
3. Caleb Plant: In the buildup to the fight, Plant had some nasty words for Lee, whom he felt like soft, cuddled, and privileged, and turned it into a haves vs. have-nots matchup, and told Lee what he was going to do to him. Well, he did pretty much exactly what he said he was going to do. He finished a clearly overmatched and under-gunned Lee quickly and violently, and did so in the main event prelim on FOX.
4. Yordenis Ugas: Routed Omar Figueroa Jr. in the co-main of Pac-Thurman to become the WBC mandatory challenger at welterweight, which is currently held by Shawn Porter, however, he had a date with Errol Spence coming up.
5. Luis Nery: Nery really had three things to do, here. He had to pee clean, he had to make weight, and he had to look really, really good with a finish. Time will tell on the first, and he took his sweet time on the other two, having only made weight on a re-weigh, and didn’t look really impressive until late in a fight, finishing the bout with a devastating liver shot KO. I love watching good bodywork, and that was highlight-reel material.
6. Teofimo Lopez: Richard Commey and the IBF Lightweight title await for Lopez, who handled his main event slot on Friday against a game Masayoshi Nakatani by UD.
7. Dillian Whyte: Handed Oscar Rivas his first career loss, while claiming the Interim WBC World Heavyweight championship. A bout with Deontay Wilder has been speculated for some time, and it seems it’s nearing, now.
8. Subriel Matias: Rest easy, Maxim Dadashev. I can’t imagine how Matias feels today, but I hope he doesn’t carry it with him, and kudos to Buddy McGirt for looking out for his fighter.
9. Walt Harris: Twelve goddamned seconds in a co-main event. That’s how you get some momentum behind you.
10. Talita Alencar: Added another chapter to her worldwide rivalry with Amanda Monteiro. This time is was Alencar getting the win and the Fight to Win Flyweight title with it.
11. Rafael Silva/Shohei Masumizu/Daichi Kitakata: There were three title fights at Pancrase 307, and these three emerged from the titles as champions, with Silva retaining his, and Masumizu and Kitakata winning championships.
12. Tomoyuki Hashimoto: The new Fight To Win Flyweight champion after a choke submission over Jose Carlos Lima at Fight To Win 118.
13. Dan Hooker: I had said that Hooker and James Vick would be the most underrated fight of the weekend, and did it deliver. Vick was game, but Hooker’s striking was too much, and he slept Vick in the first round, earning a nice 50k bonus for it.
14. Tenshin Nasukawa/Shiro/Genji Umeno/Taiju Shiratori: The semifinalists in RISE’s 58kg and 61kg tournaments, respectively.
15. Antonio Arroyo/Ode Osbourne/Don’Tale Mayes/Brendan Allen: These four fighters earned contracts on Dana White’s Tuesday Contender Series. Sucks for Kevin Syler, who was the only other winner on the card and won by a dominant 30-27, 30-26, 30-26 card.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
