Boxing Tonight!

[rudee]

Couple of fights tonight...
ESPN and HBO.. Merchant will come on to say hello and good bye...
Check your local listings.

[Highwayman]

Watched all these this afternoon
Britain's Kell Brook ground out a unanimous points win over Michael Zerafa in their WBA super-welterweight final eliminator at Sheffield Arena.

Brook, 32, started well and bloodied the nose of his Australian opponent - whose two previous losses were at middleweight - in the opening round.

But, in his first fight since March, he did not continue that dominance and was briefly rattled by Zerafa in the ninth.

The judges scored it 118-10, 119-109 and 117-111 to the Sheffield fighter.

Brook was at a loss to explain his performance, saying: "Normally I'm sharp but I couldn't let that right hand go.

"In training I've been exceptional but at least I've got the win."



His trainer John Fewkes said: "People have big expectations of Kell but for me he boxed well. He came through 12 rounds and the things we were working on worked. The reason he got hit too much was because he was trying too hard."

Promoter Eddie Hearn said: "Kell knows that was below par. If I was Amir Khan, I'd be on the phone now."

It has been reported that Khan will fight WBO welterweight champion Terence Crawford next year, but Brook said: "I want the Khan fight. It's now or never."

Split draw for Irishman Carroll

Earlier on the bill, Jono Carroll's IBF final eliminator with Frenchman Guillaume Frenois was declared a split draw.

The two super-featherweight southpaws were bidding for the right to become the mandatory challenger for Tevin Farmer.

Irishman Carroll, 26, had won all 16 of his previous fights, while 35-year-old Frenois had lost only one of his previous 47.

The judges called it 115-113 in favour of Frenois, 115-113 for Carroll and 114-114.

Sheffield's Kid Galahad maintained his 100% record with his 26th career victory in a featherweight contest with Brayan Mairena.

The 28-year-old, who will fight the winner of the IBF title fight between Josh Warrington and Carl Frampton on 22 December, won all eight rounds against the Nicaraguan.




Liverpool's Anthony Fowler needed only 93 seconds to beat Argentina's Jose Carlos Paz.

Fowler, 27, sent Paz to his knees with a crunching left hook to the ribs to make it nine wins out of nine, eight of which have been by knockout.

Unbeaten Sunderland fighter Josh Kelly's welterweight clash with Russia's David Avanesyan was postponed after Kelly was taken ill on the morning of the fight.

[rudee]

Good post Highway... watched some of it myself..
HBO went out with a whimper..
As far as Lamachenko... or however you spell it... I really was not impressed.
He is pretty lucky the Puerto Rican can't break an egg.. he showed a weakness
to the body.. he backed up a few times when the PR hit him in the body.
Announcers couldn't stop kissing the Ukrainian's ass..
The Uke is good.. no doubt.. but he is NOT the best pound for pound
fighter in the world... Crawford still holds the distinction..
How about Crawford vs the Ukrainian at 144 lb. ? would fill the LA Coliseum..
I would put my pink slip on Crawford...
Kudos to the Puerto Rican... he backed the Ukrainian up plenty of times..
And, he did not quit when he got decked.. came back strong... his only problem
is he cannot hit..
Good day for boxing...