Tag: Terrell Gausha

Fight Week: Lubin vs. Gausha, Pedraza vs. Molina do-or-die matchups

Junior middleweight contender Erickson Lubin hopes to maintain his hot streak against Terrell Gausha on Saturday.

FIGHT WEEK

A capsulized look at the coming week in boxing.

ERICKSON LUBIN (22-1, 16 KOs)
VS. TERRELL GAUSHA (21-1-1, 10 KOs)

Terrell Gausha (right) is 1-1-1 in his last three fights, including a loss to Erislandy Lara (left). AP Photo / Steve Luciano

When: Saturday, Sept. 19
Where: Uncasville, Conn.
TV: Showtime
Division: Junior middleweight
At stake: No titles
Odds: NA
Also on the card: Tugstsogt Nyambayar vs. Eduardo Ramirez, featherweights; Jaron Ennis vs. Juan Carlos Abreu, welterweights
Prediction: Lubin UD
Background: The talented Lubin stumbled badly when he was stopped by Jermell Charlo in the first round in October 2017. However, he has won four consecutive fights since — including victories over Ishe Smith and Nathaniel Gallimore — to rebuild his status as a welterweight contender. He’s ranked No. 1 by the WBC, whose titleholder is Charlo, and No. 4 by the WBA. Charlo faces Jeison Rosario in a title-unification fought a week after Lubin faces Gausha. Gausha was scheduled to fight Lubin on Oct. 26 but had to pull out because of a hand injury. The hand has healed. The capable 2012 U.S. Olympian is hoping to stay in the championship mix. He’s 1-1-1 in his last three fights, a unanimous, but competitive decision loss to Erislandy Lara, a first-round KO of Joey Hernandez and a split draw with Austin Trout in May of last year. He will have been out of the ring for 16 months.

JOSE PEDRAZA (27-3, 13 KOs)
VS. JAVIER MOLINA (22-2, 9 KOs)

Jose Pedraza celebrated after his one-sided victory over Mikkel LesPierre on July 2. Mikey Williams / Top Rank

When: Saturday, Sept. 19
Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas
TV: ESPN+
Division: Junior welterweight
At stake: No titles
Odds: NA
Also on the card: Efe Ajagba vs. Jonnie Rice, heavyweights
Prediction: Molina UD
Background: Both fighters recently reestablished their credentials as potential contenders. Pedraza bounced back from decision losses to Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Zepeda in 2018 and last year by dominating capable Mikkel LesPierre en route to winning a near-shutout decision in July. The Puerto Rican looked like the two-division titleholder of old. Molina, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, returned in 2018 from a 2½-year hiatus after a loss to Jamal James and has won five in a row, including an impressive unanimous-decision upset of former title older Amir Imam on Feb. 22 which resurrected hopes that he might realize his potential after turning 30. The winner could step into the sanctioning-body rankings. The loser could be in trouble.

Fight Week: Lubin vs. Gausha, Pedraza vs. Molina do-or-die matchups

Junior middleweight contender Erickson Lubin hopes to maintain his hot streak against Terrell Gausha on Saturday.

FIGHT WEEK

A capsulized look at the coming week in boxing.

ERICKSON LUBIN (22-1, 16 KOs)
VS. TERRELL GAUSHA (21-1-1, 10 KOs)

Terrell Gausha (right) is 1-1-1 in his last three fights, including a loss to Erislandy Lara (left). AP Photo / Steve Luciano

When: Saturday, Sept. 19
Where: Uncasville, Conn.
TV: Showtime
Division: Junior middleweight
At stake: No titles
Odds: NA
Also on the card: Tugstsogt Nyambayar vs. Eduardo Ramirez, featherweights; Jaron Ennis vs. Juan Carlos Abreu, welterweights
Prediction: Lubin UD
Background: The talented Lubin stumbled badly when he was stopped by Jermell Charlo in the first round in October 2017. However, he has won four consecutive fights since — including victories over Ishe Smith and Nathaniel Gallimore — to rebuild his status as a welterweight contender. He’s ranked No. 1 by the WBC, whose titleholder is Charlo, and No. 4 by the WBA. Charlo faces Jeison Rosario in a title-unification fought a week after Lubin faces Gausha. Gausha was scheduled to fight Lubin on Oct. 26 but had to pull out because of a hand injury. The hand has healed. The capable 2012 U.S. Olympian is hoping to stay in the championship mix. He’s 1-1-1 in his last three fights, a unanimous, but competitive decision loss to Erislandy Lara, a first-round KO of Joey Hernandez and a split draw with Austin Trout in May of last year. He will have been out of the ring for 16 months.

JOSE PEDRAZA (27-3, 13 KOs)
VS. JAVIER MOLINA (22-2, 9 KOs)

Jose Pedraza celebrated after his one-sided victory over Mikkel LesPierre on July 2. Mikey Williams / Top Rank

When: Saturday, Sept. 19
Where: MGM Grand, Las Vegas
TV: ESPN+
Division: Junior welterweight
At stake: No titles
Odds: NA
Also on the card: Efe Ajagba vs. Jonnie Rice, heavyweights
Prediction: Molina UD
Background: Both fighters recently reestablished their credentials as potential contenders. Pedraza bounced back from decision losses to Vasiliy Lomachenko and Jose Zepeda in 2018 and last year by dominating capable Mikkel LesPierre en route to winning a near-shutout decision in July. The Puerto Rican looked like the two-division titleholder of old. Molina, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, returned in 2018 from a 2½-year hiatus after a loss to Jamal James and has won five in a row, including an impressive unanimous-decision upset of former title older Amir Imam on Feb. 22 which resurrected hopes that he might realize his potential after turning 30. The winner could step into the sanctioning-body rankings. The loser could be in trouble.

Austin Trout puts away overmatched Rosbel Montoya in second round

Austin Trout, fighting at the lightest weight of his career, stopped Rosbel Montoya in two rounds Saturday.

Austin Trout made a strong impression in his first fight for his new team.

Trout, the headliner on the Impact Network’s first boxing show, hadn’t been in the ring since last May. He weighed in at 149¼ pounds – the lowest of his career – as part of a plan to move down to welterweight.

Still, he put Rosbel Montoya down three times and stopped him at 1:09 of the second round Saturday night at the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort and Casino in Ruidoso, New Mexico, Trout’s home state.

The fact Montoya (17-10-1, 13 KOs) is a tier or two below the former junior middleweight titleholder obviously played a role in Trout’s dominance. The Mexican had lost seven of his previous eight fights and hadn’t fought at all in more than a year and a half, after all.

But Trout did what he came to do, gauge his effectiveness at the lower weight and win impressively. His previous low weight was 152½ in 2008.

“It was good,” Trout said afterward. “I won. I got the knockout. That’s an A+. It can always be better but this is my first time coming in at 149. I wanted to see how I felt. So far so good. Let’s try it again, let’s come back at 149 and see what we got next.”

Trout said he felt a difference in his power compared to his fights at 154 pounds.

“I feels good to move these people with my punches instead of having to finesse the whole fight,” he said.

Trout was asked who he wanted to fight next. His answer was predictable given his ambitions to win a title at 147 pounds.

“Where do I start?” he said. “Dany Garcia, Keith Thurman, Shawn Porter … who’s the boy? … Errol Spence, Terence “Bud” Crawford … Terence Crawford for sure.”

Trout, plagued by inactivity the past several years, said he plans to fight at least three times this year.

The victory was the first for him since he outpointed Juan De Angel in February 2018. After that, he lost a majority decision to Jermell Charlo and drew with Terrell Gausha.