Iago Kiladze – Syndication Server

Viktor Faust stops Iago Kiladze in wild brawl that might’ve been stopped prematurely

Viktor Faust stopped Iago Kiladze ina wild brawl that might’ve been stopped prematurely.

A strange decision by the referee might’ve ended a wild heavyweight bout too early Saturday.

Viktor Faust and Iago Kiladze went down a total of five times in less than two full rounds in the first fight on the all-heavyweight pay-per-view card featuring Luis Ortiz vs. Charles Martin on Saturday in Hollywood, Florida.

Kiladze (27-6-1, 19 KOs) went down the last time, got up on wobbly legs and wanted to continue. However, referee Samuel Burgos didn’t like what he saw in Kiladze and stopped the fight at 1:44 of Round 2.

An enraged Kiladze responded by hitting Burgos with a soft punch, for which he undoubtedly will pay a price.

“What’s wrong with you, man?” Burgos asked Kiladze, which was a reasonable question.

However, his frustration was understandable. He was arguably in no worse shape than Faust (9-0, 7 KOs) in a fight that could’ve been a boon to his career had he won.

Burgos said afterward that he stopped the fight because Kiladze stumbled sideways when he was asked to step toward him, which one could argue.

Still, the stoppage will be debated. And many will have decided that an entertaining brawl came to a premature end.

The fighters went down three times in the first round, Kiladze two times and Faust once. They each went down in the second round.

Viktor Faust stops Iago Kiladze in wild brawl that might’ve been stopped prematurely

Viktor Faust stopped Iago Kiladze ina wild brawl that might’ve been stopped prematurely.

A strange decision by the referee might’ve ended a wild heavyweight bout too early Saturday.

An enraged Kiladze responded by hitting Burgos with a soft punch, for which he undoubtedly will pay a price.

“What’s wrong with you, man?” Burgos asked Kiladze, which was a reasonable question.

However, his frustration was understandable. He was arguably in no worse shape than Faust (9-0, 7 KOs) in a fight that could’ve been a boon to his career had he won.

Burgos said afterward that he stopped the fight because Kiladze stumbled sideways when he was asked to step toward him, which one could argue.

Still, the stoppage will be debated. And many will have decided that an entertaining brawl came to a premature end.

The fighters went down three times in the first round, Kiladze two times and Faust once. They each went down in the second round.

Good, bad, worse: Fighting spirit on one card, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on the other

Good, bad worse: Celebrating fighting spirit on one card, bemoaning Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s actions on another

GOOD

Jermell Charlo and Tony Harrison gave us a spirited main event Saturday night, going back and forth in a competitive tussle until Charlo landed a big left hook that led to a dramatic 11^th-round knockout.

In the process, Charlo regained from this bitter rival the junior middleweight belt Harrison took from him a year ago. Great stuff.

That wasn’t my favorite part of the Fox card, though. Fans love when a fighter hired as “opponent” refuses to cooperate because of innate, unexplainable fighting spirit that isn’t necessarily commensurate with his ability. And I’m a fan.

I’m referring specifically to heavyweight Iago Kiladze and lightweight Rene Tellez Giron, who were “opponents” on the Charlo-Harrison II undercard at Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

Kiladze was supposed to be just another step in Efe Ajagba’s ascent to stardom. The 33-year-old Los Angeles-based Georgian had been stopped in three of his previous four fights and hadn’t had his hand raised in victory since he beat a relatively unknown Cuban in 2017.

Iago Kiladze (right) proved against Efe Ajagba that you can’t always keep a good man down. Stephanie Trapp / TGB Promotions

In other words, Kiladze doesn’t have championship pedigree. He has pride, though. And presumably dreams, as ever fighter does. We saw it on Saturday.

Ajagba, a 6-foot-6 Adonis from Nigeria, put Kiladze down in the second round and had people thinking, “Well, this isn’t going to last long.” Kiladze got up. Ajagba hurt Kiladze the following round, leaving him on shaky legs that seemed about to collapse. Kiladze didn’t give up. Instead, he stunned everyone watching by landing a hard right counter that put Ajagba on his butt.

Kiladze went down hard again in Round 5 and, this time, he seemed to be finished. Nope. He got up and continued to fight his heart out. The underdog’s corner threw in the towel shortly thereafter, which was fortunate: He never would have done so.

Giron was hired as a stepping stone in the career of undefeated U.S. Olympian Karlos Balderas but Giron, just another in a long line of anonymous, but unusually tough Mexicans who happens to have an impressive left hook, turned their matchup into a firefight and emerged victorious.

Undefeated? Giron didn’t care. An Olympian. Meant nothing to him. Hot prospect? Maybe that could be him instead. He had a job to do and he did it with infectious passion.

Who doesn’t love a stirring battle between gifted rivals like Charlo and Harrison? I’ll always admire that kind of ability. There’s something just as special about no-names – like Kiladze and Giron – who believe in themselves even if no one else does and fight like they want to be the best in the world.

Thank you to the featured fighters, thank you to the no-names.

BAD AND WORSE

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. had surgery to repair his broken nose after his fight with Daniel Jacobs on Friday in Phoenix. Ed Mulholland / Matchroom Boxing USA

I don’t begrudge Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. using his name to make a good living in boxing. I’d probably do the same thing.

The problem with Chavez is that he has abused the privilege, as we saw before, during and after what was supposed to be a super middleweight fight against Daniel Jacobs on Friday in Phoenix. Consider his actions:

Junior refused to submit a sample for a random drug test administered by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency on Oct. 24, which resulted in a temporary suspension by officials in Nevada. The fight was moved from Las Vegas to Phoenix as a result.
He missed weight by 4.7 pounds, which required the parties to renegotiate the contract. He ended up losing $1 million in the process but walked away with as much. Jacobs, making his debut as a full-fledged 168-pounder, had to face the equivalent of a cruiserweight at fight time.
He quit after the fifth round of the fight with a broken nose and cut above his left eye, claiming he couldn’t breathe. That sparked a near riot as angry fans threw everything they could get their hands toward the ring.
And he blamed head butts and elbows for his injuries when replays seemed to show that punches caused the damage.

Chavez might’ve been excused if all this added up to a one-time indiscretion. Many fighters run into problems – including broken noses that make it difficult to fight – at some time or another. However, with him, it has been one misstep after another most of his career.

He has failed other tests for banned substances. He has missed weight more than once. And he has skipped training sessions, a clear indication that he hasn’t taken the sport seriously. Trainer Freddie Roach, with whom he worked on Saturday and for his fight against Sergio Martinez in 2012, said Chavez missed a month’s worth of workouts leading into the latter event.

Chavez, only 33, probably will fight again because he still has a name that can earn him the kind of paychecks many more-serious fighters can only dream. A lot of people wish he wouldn’t, though. He has worn out his welcome.

And that’s a shame. Junior had some ability. Had he done things the right way, he probably would’ve been considered a less-gifted, but worthy successor to his great father. Instead, he’ll be remembered as someone who behaved more like entitled brat than a professional boxer.

Efe Ajagba survives knockdown to stop game Iago Kiladze in Round 5

Efe Ajagba survived a knockdown to stop a game Iago Kiladze on the Tony Harrison-Jermell Charlo card Saturday in Ontario, California.

Another fight, another knockout. With a twist.

Efe Ajagba did what he was expected to do against journeyman Iago Kiladze on the Tony Harrison-Jermell Charlo card Saturday in Ontario, California. He won by stoppage. However, he had to overcome a knockdown and a determined opponent to do it.

Ajagba, the 6-foot-6 Adonis from Nigeria, put Kiladze down in the second round in what seemed to be the beginning of the end for the Georgian. Maybe it was. But it took a while.

Ajagba (12-0, 10 KOs) hurt Kiladze again in Round 3, leaving him on shaky legs. However, as Ajagba attempted to finish the job, Kiladze put him down with a straight counter right. Ajagba didn’t seem to be hurt but Kiladze certainly got everyone’s attention.

Kiladze (26-5-1, 16 KOs) went down one more time with a right about midway through Round 5. Again, Kiladze, clearly dazed but refusing to quit, managed to get up and continue. At that moment, Ajagba had to be thinking, “What do I need to do to get rid of this guy.”

In fact, that last knockdown did the job. Moments later, with Ajagba all over Kiladze, the underdog’s corner stopped the fight.

The right hand that put Ajagba down played no role in the fight but probably underscores the fact that Ajagba, a late starter, still has plenty of room to grow. His trainer, Ronnie Shields, told him very simply after that round, “Keep your hands up.”

It’s all part of the learning process for one of the top heavyweight prospects.

In another preliminary bout, one prospect went down while another might’ve emerged.

Carlos Balderas, a 2016 U.S. Olympian, was supposed to continue his ascent in the featherweight division against Rene Giron. The Mexican had other ideas.

Giron, coming off a decision loss to Michel Rivera in June, fought like a 126-pound version of Joe Frazier, putting the favorite down twice with hard left hooks. The second shot ended the action-packed fight in the sixth round of a scheduled eight-rounder.

The fight arguably should’ve ended after the first knockdown, which occurred in the final seconds of Round 3. Balderas, hurt badly, beat the count but couldn’t follow referee Ray Corona’s instruction to walk toward him. Instead, he stumbled backward.

Still, Corona allowed the fight continue. And seconds later the bell sounded to end the round and give Balderas (9-1, 8 KOs) more life.

In Round 4, things got brutal in a different way. Giron (14-1, 8 KOs) landed what appeared to be an accidental low blow that Corona allowed to pass without stepping in. Balderas then took matters into his own hands, purposely punching Giron below the belt. He got a warning and the fight continued.

In the end, however, none of that mattered. Balderas had recovered from the first left hook when another one hurt him and put him down in Round 6. He got up at around the count of nine, which wasn’t good enough for Corona, who stopped the fight.

Also, middleweight contender Hugo Centeno Jr. (27-3-1, 14 KOs) fought to a split decision draw with Juan Macias Montiel (21-4-2, 21 KOs).

And featherweight contender Jhack Tepora (23-1, 17 KOs) was stopped by veteran Oscar Escandon (26-5, 18 KOs) with a single body shot 1 minute, 30 seconds into their fight. Tepora had been unbeaten and Escandon, 35, had lost his previous three fights.