Boxing recap: Kambosos gets booed following triumph

George Kambosos Jr and Serhii Bohachuk didn’t find what they sought in the boxing ring on Saturday night. Kambosos, fighting for the first time since back-to-back losses to Devin Haney, didn’t leave the crowd impressed after a narrow victory. Bohachuk was hoping for a solid tuneup fight on Saturday night but ended up seeing his fight end in the first round.

Those two events highlighted what was a relatively slow night for fights on July 22. There was also a bizarre MF & DAZN X Series event that featured mostly freak-show-type fights. Over the weekend, there was also some news announced about fighters, their upcoming fights, and other information. Here’s a look at everything that went on this weekend.

Kambosos gets back in the win column

Kambosos, an Australian lightweight, is never going to be the fighter who runs away from his opponents. Four of his past six fights have seen his fights end by split or majority decision. When Kambosos fought Maxi Hughes Saturday in Shawnee, Okla, it was once again a boxing match that could have gone either way.

The judges scored the fight 114-114, 117-11, and 115-113 in favor of Kambosos. The scorecards being read left Hughes disappointed and the crowd showing its displeasure. Hughes (26-6-2) did have an argument looking at the statistics. 

Hughes landed at a higher percentage, hitting the target 29 percent of the time. What helped Kambosos was how active he was. Kamabosos threw 471 total punches to Hughes’ 338 and may have appeared to land more to the judges. Hughes did hold a 98-90 edge in punches landed. While there was disappointment for Hughes, this gives Kambosos an argument to seek out another big fight.

Shakur Stevenson was not impressed with Kambosos

Stevenson attended the boxing bout in Oklahoma and said that he wasn’t impressed with Kambosos, who some thought may be a good opponent for Stevenson. Previously, Stevenson was the WBC and WBO super featherweight champion but was stripped of both titles after he failed to make weight during his bout with Robson Conceicao in September 2022.

Stevenson was interviewed after the fight and said he thought Hughes won the bout. Stevenson is hoping to continue his undefeated run against a fighter like Devin Haney or Gervonta Davis. It will be interesting to see who Stevenson, who is 20-0 in his career, will fight next.

Olympian maintains perfect record

Keyshawn Davis wasn’t all that happy with his performance Saturday night. After not finding a way to knock out Francesco Patera on the undercard of the Kambosos fight, Davis felt he only deserved a B or C grade. But the most important thing for Davis was getting his hand raised.

He was able to accomplish that by scoring a 100-89, 99-90, 100-89 victory. In doing so, Davis became the first fighter to knock down Patera, doing so in the eighth round. Davis is now 9-0 and is looking for a chance to fight for a title next year.

Davis is a 24-year-old fighter out of Norfolk, Va. He turned professional in 2021. Davis is hoping that holding the WBO Inter-Continental and WBC-USNB lightweight titles will hope to get him some tougher fights moving forward. The early parts of boxers’ careers typically feature fights against hand-picked opponents.

Bohachuk didn’t quite find the challenge he wanted

Serhii Bohachuk was hoping former world title challenger Patrick Allotey would provide him with a stiff test that would stretch out over several rounds. But the fight didn’t go that way. Bohachuk caught Allotey with a right cross late in the first round that sent Allotey to the canvas.

Allotey wasn’t happy the fight was waved off, but the optics weren’t good. Serhii Bohachuk’s punch forced Allotey to fall forward, landing facedown on the canvas with his arms out in front of him. Bohachuk, who is a junior middleweight, is hoping to get a title shot for his next fight.

Bohachuk, a Ukranian fighter, has now won six straight fights by knockout since he took his only career loss to Brandon Adams in 2021. He has seen all 24 of his professional bouts end inside the distance.

Under the big top

The MF & DAZN X Series isn’t one for people that are interested in traditional boxing. In an age where people are trying all different ways to sell combat, this was certainly a bizarre attempt at it. The main event featured a four-way survivor match.

Four boxers, NichLMAO, Swarmz, Ryan Johnston, and B Dave, participated in the event. What ensued was a wild, four-round free-for-all that saw a lot of sloppy action. NichLMAO would end up being scored the winner with 117 points. NichLMAO landed enough blows to score the winner.

The event was a bit of a circus. In addition to one or two traditional boxing matches, there was also a tag-team style bout.

Usyk decides to give soccer a go

Ukrainian heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk couldn’t find a way to convince Tyson Fury to have a bout to unify all the heavyweight titles. Instead, Usyk announced last Friday that he signed a contract with Ukrainian soccer club Polissya. He had previously played for the club during a friendly match last year.

Usyk will still be able to keep up his duties as a heavyweight champion as well. Usyk’s next fight is scheduled for Aug. 26 at Traczynski Arena in Wroclaw, Poland. The undefeated Usyk will defend his IBF, IBO, WBO, and WBA titles against Daniel DuBois.

Deontay Wilder searches for next fight

More talks of American heavyweight Deontay Wilder looking for another opponent were floated this weekend. Wilder’s hopes of landing a fight with fellow American Andy Ruiz Jr haven’t materialized yet. Wilder, a former WBC heavyweight champion, had started his career with a 42-0-1 record.

However, Wilder would take two rough beatings from Tyson Fury in 2020 and 2021 and has only fought once since. Wilder beat Robert Helenius in the first round via KO in October 2022. Wilder is still hoping to pursue another title but first needs to find a top-level opponent who wants to fight him.