Fighters of the Week

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Fighters of the Week  1. Rodtang Jitmuangnonz: Left no doubt in his rematch with Jonathan Haggerty after their majority decision bout in August, TKOing him in the third round, and defended his ONE Muay Thai Flyweight title, the same title he took from Haggerty.

Fighters of the Week  2. Alejandra Jimenez: Pulled off a major upset by claiming both world titles from Franchon Crews Dezurn on the Golden Boy card, earning a split-decision win in a fantastic bout, and now she and Elin Cederroos hold all the gold at 168lbs.

Fighters of the Week  3. Elin Cederroos: Is now the IBF and WBA Women’s Super Middleweight champion after sneaking by Alicia Napoleon Espinosa despite flooring her in round two.

Fighters of the Week  4. Claressa Shields: You couldn’t tell there was a drop of bad blood between Shields and Ivana Habazin, as Shields cruised to an easy victory over the clearly outmatched and out-of-her-depth, Habazin. It was a very successful debut at 154 for Shields, who continues to move towards the deeper, more talented, more money divisions below her.

Fighters of the Week  5. Joe Smith Jr.: Jesse Hart was primed. By the thinnest of hairs, lost his second bid for Gilberto Ramirez’s WBO Super Middleweight championship, this time by majority decision, but aside from Ramirez, he hadn’t lost to a single other fighter. In his last bout, he waxed Sullivan Barrera, who had dominated Joe Smith Jr., the man who retired and humiliated his mentor and idol, Bernard Hopkins. Hart was a big favorite and ready to exact revenge. He ended up getting into an ugly slugfest, in which his defense, Hopkins’s specialty, was so poor, Smith was barely looking at his target and still landing. To add insult to injury, one judge scored it for Hart and was immediately mocked by the media and Bob Arum. Just more humiliation.

6. Karen Antunes: In what’s become a nice little rivalry in F2W, Antunes and fellow grappling ace Talita Alencar have been playing hot potato with their Black Belt flyweight championship. On Friday, it was Antunes taking it back by split-decision. These two are about as evenly matched as you can get.

7. Jaime Munguia: Took care of business against a game, but limited, Spike O’Sullivan in his middleweight debut, finishing him in the 11th.

8. Chip Moraza-Pollard: Continued his Cinderella Man run through the muay thai ranks, dispatching yet another challenger, and retaining his Lion Fight Cruiserweight champion over King of Kings middleweight champion Daniel Forsberg.

9. Marcio Andre: In the main event of Fight To Win 134, in a no-gi superfight, Andre decisioned Benson Henderson.

10. Ryan Deakin: The top collegiate wrestler at 157lbs held serve against #4-ranked Bo Pipher, and was a rare bright spot as Penn State rolled his Northwestern Wildcats 30-9.

11. Spencer Lee: The #1s in the NCAA at 125 and 149lbs, respectively, both pitched shutouts over their Purdue opponents, with Lee’s thrashing coming against the #5 wrestler in his division, Devin Schroder.

12. Pat Lugo: See above.

13. Steven Nelson: Claimed the vacant NABO title at super middleweight, staying undefeated with a TKO win over Cem Kilic in the co-main of Hart vs. Smith Jr. on ESPN, Saturday.

14. Travell Mazion: It was a short night’s work for Mazion on the Munguia-O’Sullivan card, earning a first-round KO and the vacant NABF Junior Middleweight strap.

15. Hector Tanajara: Defended his USNBC lightweight title for the first time, staying undefeated in a win over veteran Juan Carlos Burgos on DAZN, Saturday.

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