Tag: Jelena Mrdjenovich

Fight Week: Emanuel Navarette returns against Christopher Diaz

FIGHT WEEK HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+. *** EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs) VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs) When : Saturday, …

FIGHT WEEK

HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+.

***

EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs)
VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uzlw2j-7v8

  • When: Saturday, April 24
  • Where: Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, Fla.
  • TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: Navarrete’s WBO title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Edgar Berlanga vs. Demond Nicholson, super middleweights; Josue Vargas vs. Willie Shaw, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Navarrete UD
  • Background: Navarrete is coming off a close decision over previously unbeaten Ruben Villa to win his title last October, making him a two-division champion. Villa went down twice, which proved to be the difference in the scoring. The 26-year-old Mexican is a high-volume puncher with power. He had stopped his previous five opponents, not counting an unofficial fight during the coronavirus pandemic in Mexico. Navarrete has said he wants to unify the 126-pound titles. Diaz is a capable boxer-puncher who has fallen short in his biggest fights. The Puerto Rican, also 26, lost a wide decision in a competitive fight against Masayuki Ito for a vacant 130-pound title in 2018. Then, after moving down to 126, he was outclassed by Shakur Stevenson and lost another one-sided decision the following year. He’s coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Jason Sanchez last June. Super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga, facing Demond Nicholson, will be seeking his 17th knockout in as many fights on the undercard.

[lawrence-related id=14562]

***

JELENA MRDJENOVICH (41-10-2, 19 KOs)
VS. ERIKA CRUZ HERNANDEZ (12-1, 3 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sHpROifBg

  • When: Thursday, April 22
  • Where: United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.
  • TV/Stream: NBC Sports Net
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: For Mrdjenovich’s WBA title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Juan Pablo Romero vs. Deiner Berrio, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Mrdjenovich UD
  • Background: Mrdjenovich vs. Hernandez became the main event when the scheduled main event between Jermaine Franklin and Stephan Shaw fell out because Franklin tested positive for COVID-19. Mrdjenovich will be making the seventh defense of the title she won by outpointing Edith Matthysse in March 26, which earned her a major belt in a third division. The 38-year-old Canadian, a native of Edmonton, is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Iranda Paola Torres this past December in Los Angeles. Hernandez, a 30-year-old southpaw from Mexico City, will be fighting for a major title for the first time. She has fought outside her native country only once. She last fought in February, when he outpointed Leticia Uribe in Tijuana. Her only loss came in her second pro fight.

Also fighting this week: Heather Hardy (22-1, 4 KOs) of Brooklyn faces Jessica Camara (7-2, 0 KOs) of Canada in an eight-round lightweight fight on Friday in Tampa, Fla. (UFC Fight Pass). Also on Friday, in Barcelona, Spain, Sandor Martin (37-2, 13 KOs) of Spain takes on Kay Prospere (14-1-1, 7 KOs) of the U.K. in a scheduled 12-round bout (DAZN). And on Saturday, in Osaka, Japan, Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10 KOs) defends his WBC junior flyweight title against Tetsuya Hisada (34-10-2. 20 KOs).

 

Fight Week: Emanuel Navarette returns against Christopher Diaz

FIGHT WEEK HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+. *** EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs) VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs) When : Saturday, …

FIGHT WEEK

HARD-HITTING VOLUME PUNCHER EMANUEL NAVARRETE IS SCHEDULED TO DEFEND HIS NEWLY WON FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE AGAINST CHRISTOPHER DIAZ ON ESPN AND ESPN+.

***

EMANUEL NAVARRETE (32-1, 27 KOs)
VS. CHRISTOPHER DIAZ (26-2, 16 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Uzlw2j-7v8

  • When: Saturday, April 24
  • Where: Silver Spurs Arena, Kissimmee, Fla.
  • TV/Stream: ESPN, ESPN+
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: Navarrete’s WBO title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Edgar Berlanga vs. Demond Nicholson, super middleweights; Josue Vargas vs. Willie Shaw, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Navarrete UD
  • Background: Navarrete is coming off a close decision over previously unbeaten Ruben Villa to win his title last October, making him a two-division champion. Villa went down twice, which proved to be the difference in the scoring. The 26-year-old Mexican is a high-volume puncher with power. He had stopped his previous five opponents, not counting an unofficial fight during the coronavirus pandemic in Mexico. Navarrete has said he wants to unify the 126-pound titles. Diaz is a capable boxer-puncher who has fallen short in his biggest fights. The Puerto Rican, also 26, lost a wide decision in a competitive fight against Masayuki Ito for a vacant 130-pound title in 2018. Then, after moving down to 126, he was outclassed by Shakur Stevenson and lost another one-sided decision the following year. He’s coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Jason Sanchez last June. Super middleweight prospect Edgar Berlanga, facing Demond Nicholson, will be seeking his 17th knockout in as many fights on the undercard.

[lawrence-related id=14562]

***

JELENA MRDJENOVICH (41-10-2, 19 KOs)
VS. ERIKA CRUZ HERNANDEZ (12-1, 3 KOs)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-sHpROifBg

  • When: Thursday, April 22
  • Where: United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.
  • TV/Stream: NBC Sports Net
  • Division: Featherweight
  • At stake: For Mrdjenovich’s WBA title
  • Pound-for-pound ranking: None
  • Odds: NA
  • Also on the card: Juan Pablo Romero vs. Deiner Berrio, junior welterweights
  • Prediction: Mrdjenovich UD
  • Background: Mrdjenovich vs. Hernandez became the main event when the scheduled main event between Jermaine Franklin and Stephan Shaw fell out because Franklin tested positive for COVID-19. Mrdjenovich will be making the seventh defense of the title she won by outpointing Edith Matthysse in March 26, which earned her a major belt in a third division. The 38-year-old Canadian, a native of Edmonton, is coming off a unanimous-decision victory over Iranda Paola Torres this past December in Los Angeles. Hernandez, a 30-year-old southpaw from Mexico City, will be fighting for a major title for the first time. She has fought outside her native country only once. She last fought in February, when he outpointed Leticia Uribe in Tijuana. Her only loss came in her second pro fight.

Also fighting this week: Heather Hardy (22-1, 4 KOs) of Brooklyn faces Jessica Camara (7-2, 0 KOs) of Canada in an eight-round lightweight fight on Friday in Tampa, Fla. (UFC Fight Pass). Also on Friday, in Barcelona, Spain, Sandor Martin (37-2, 13 KOs) of Spain takes on Kay Prospere (14-1-1, 7 KOs) of the U.K. in a scheduled 12-round bout (DAZN). And on Saturday, in Osaka, Japan, Kenshiro Teraji (17-0, 10 KOs) defends his WBC junior flyweight title against Tetsuya Hisada (34-10-2. 20 KOs).

 

Amanda Serrano dominates, stops Daniela Bermudez in Round 9

Amanda Serrano dominated and then stopped Daniela Bermudez in Round 9 of their fight Saturday in Puerto Rico.

Amanda Serrano put the perfect punctuation mark on an excellent performance Saturday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the country of her birth.

Serrano, the 126-pound champion and resident of Brooklyn, had outclassed Daniela Bermudez for eight-plus rounds before ending the fight with two body shots in the ninth of a scheduled 10 rounds.

Bermudez moved up from 122 pounds for the fight, which raised questions about whether the Argentine could withstand Serrano’s power.

However, for most of the fight, that wasn’t the primary issue for her. Her biggest problem was the superior skill level of Serrano, which allowed the seven-division titleholder to outclass her challenger from beginning to end.

Bermudez (29-4-3, 10 KOs) was typically aggressive, stalking Serrano for much of the fight. And she landed clean shots here and there. However, she simply wasn’t able to box effectively enough to win rounds against one of the best fighters in the world.

Serrano (40-1-1, 30 KOs) outboxed Bermudez from distance when she chose to and got the better of inside exchanges when she had to, which made the fight easy to score.

Serrano was on her way to a wide decision victory, as she won every round on all three cards through eight rounds. Then came a perfect left hook to the body, followed by a right to the gut, which forced Bermudez to take a knee.

The challenger knew immediately she couldn’t continue, shaking her head to her cornermen and spitting out her mouthpiece. The official time of the stoppage was 1:33 of Round 9.

“I knew I was going to be able to walk her down,” Serrano said. “I knew that I was a lot bigger than her, that I had a lot more power than her. I knew it was going to come. I was listening to my corner. They told me to box, to put on a show in front of my island. So that’s what I did.

“And the knockout came in the ninth, which shows I have power until the very end.”

Serrano, who was making the first defense of the WBC and WBO titles she won by outpointing Heather Hardy in September 2019, already is one of the most-accomplished boxers in history.

But she wants more. She wouldn’t say specifically who she’d like to fight but she made her objective clear.

“I want to become undisputed, I want to be the first undisputed champion coming out of my beautiful island of Puerto Rico,” she said. “So I definitely might go IBF, WBA. Nothing against any champion. I want those belts. And if they want to become undisputed champion they have to come through me too. We need each other.”

That could result in a showdown with either Sarah Mahfoud or Jelena Mrdjenovich, who hold the IBF and WBA titles, respectively.