Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
The No. 1 and No. 2-ranked Super Middleweights in the world met in a unification bout this past Saturday night to determine the world’s best 168-pound fighter on Showtime Championship Boxing‘s main event live from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
The intense fight was highlighted by two knockdowns and 12-action packed rounds of quality boxing.
Badou Jack (20-1-3, 12 KOs) and James DeGale (23-1-1, 14 KOs) set out to unify the division and show who was the top fighter at 168 pounds, but instead showed the world they are both equally great fighters with major heart.
The WBC champion Jack and the IBF titlist DeGale fought to a 12-round majority draw at and both will retain their titles.
This fight card may have left us with no answer as to who is the best Super Middleweight champion, but it did tell us some important things.
Here are five important lessons we learned from Saturday night’s Showtime Championship Boxing card:
1. Women’s Boxing Is Officially Making a Resurgence
Amanda Serrano (31-1-1, 23 KOs) defeated Yazmin Rivas (35-10-1, 10 KOs) by unanimous decision in a defense of her WBO Junior Featherweight title.
The fight aired on Showtime’s substation, Showtime Extreme, and thus became the first nationally televised English-language women’s world title bout in the United States since 2007.
Serrano carries a nearly 72 percent KO ratio and may be the hardest hitting woman in boxing right now. Serrano came up short of a KO but managed to get a unanimous-decision victory as her fight against Rivas went the distance in the 10-round bout.
The durable Rivas has still never been knocked out in her highly experienced 36 fight professional boxing career.
Serrano showed that she is not only a brawler, but that she is also a great boxer who is truly able to do it all inside the ring.
In August 2016, NBC aired Heather Hardy vs. Shelly Vincent, on their substation NBC Sports Network. Both Serrano and Hardy, in their victories, have shown that women’s boxing can be very entertaining, and have started to re-open the doors for the return of women’s boxing to television.
“It was a great night for women’s boxing, and I hope it keeps getting bigger and bigger,” said Serrano after her victory.
Women’s boxing in the past year has made great strides, and should continue to grow. There are many talented female boxer’s fighting hard for their own opportunity to also showcase their talents on a television broadcast.
Women’s boxing is truly on the rise again.
2. Gervonta “Tank” Davis Is the REAL DEAL
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
The young contender Gervonta “Tank” Davis (17-0, 16 KOs) has now been promoted to the IBF Junior Lightweight champion by stopping Jose Pedraza (22-1, 12 KOs) in the seventh round.
Davis remained accurate and patient against the aggressive veteran Pedraza and it paid off immensely.
Davis controlled Pedraza throughout the fight and landed some of the most beautiful combination’s boxing has seen in a very long time.
He was a patient, skilled and lethal assassin. Yet somehow, the most amazing part of this bout is knowing that Davis is merely 22 years old and his victory has made him the youngest current world champion in the United States.
Davis is truly the future of boxing and he proved it astoundingly on Saturday night.
3. Mayweather Promotions Is Doing Something Right
Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime
Floyd Mayweather, the owner and CEO of Mayweather Promotions, had two fighters in world title bouts on Saturday night as both main event and co-main event on Showtime Championship Boxing.
As a promoter, Mayweather has successfully taken Gervonta Davis to a world title.
Mayweather promotions has a talented stable of young fighters still being groomed for their chance at a title fight.
Also, Mayweather Promotions’ current champion, Badou Jack, should attempt to seek titles in multiple classes very soon.
Floyd Mayweather explained during the press conference that Mayweather Promotion’s is very much thriving.
“We have so many new faces at Mayweather Promotions, including Thomas Dulorme, and we look forward to taking him to the next level and back to world title contention,” said Mayweather.
“Everything takes time in the sport. Nothing happens overnight. We started Mayweather Promotions to give back and help fighters, not take from fighters. I’ve been there, so I know how these fighters feel. It takes a lot to reach this level,” said Mayweather as he explained his motives and future plans for the promotional company.
4. Always Invest in a Good Mouthpiece
Photo by Marilyn Paulino/RBRBoxing
James DeGale was able to keep his IBF title, but unfortunately, he was not able to keep his front tooth.
DeGale will need surgery to repair his mouth after his mouthpiece repeatedly fell out during his fight and he lost his front tooth.
At one point, DeGale was fighting without his mouthpiece for more than a minute until the referee could find a break in the action.
5. 2017 Boxing Is Lit!
Photo by Tom Casino/Showtime
Televised championship boxing returned to action this weekend for the first time in 2017 and it did so with a bang.
2017 may have just started, but it is already giving fans so much to look forward to.
Looking ahead to the first half of 2017, there are amazing matchups scheduled between some of best fighters. (No, not Soulja Boy vs. Chris Brown.)
2017 is bringing fans championship bouts like Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia, Gennady Golovkin vs. Daniel Jacobs and Canelo Alvarez vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. These big-time bouts have fans salivating in anticipation.
Boxing is not only bringing in great numbers, but also, ringside seats seem to have become the celebrity “it” place to be once again.
Anyone who was anyone, was in attendence at Sergey Kovalev vs. Andre Ward in Las Vegas. That boxing fan celebrity star power seems to be carrying into the new year as well.
Whether you are a casual fight fan, a true boxing head or a star power celebrity; you have to know 2017 boxing is lit!
