John Ryder continued winning streak in America
John Ryder (28-5, 16 KOs) defeated Michael Guy (12-5-1, 5 KOs) via unanimous decision (100-90, 99-91, 96-94) at the Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida, and the main question for British fight fans was: 'Who in their right mind thought Guy won four rounds?!'
Coming off an action-packed fight between Carlos Gongora and Ali Akhmedov, Ryder and Guy decided they wanted to give fans a break and fought at a snail's pace unfortunately.
Islington's Ryder was the far more active of the two while Guy decided he'd treat it as a sparring session and not do too much.
Ryder was trying to force the action while Guy was happy to just be in there, not engaging at all and consistently backed himself up to the ropes throughout.
A win is a win and that's all you can ask for from Ryder, who wants big fights with Danny Jacobs next or the rematch with Callum Smith, who faces P4P King Canelo the following night on December 19.
The fight took place on the same night that Gennadiy Golovkin made history on Friday night, December 18.
It wasn't a question if Gennadiy Golovkin would beat Kamil Szeremeta to break the middleweight record for most title defenses. It was what round would Golovkin get Szeremeta out of there.
After sending Szeremeta down to the canvas four times, the referee stopped the fight before the eighth round began to give Golovkin the win by seventh-round TKO to remain the IBF middleweight champion. The victory is the 21st title defense of a 160-pound title for Golovkin, breaking the tie with Bernard Hopkins.
Golovkin (41-1-1, 36 KOs) set the tone from the opening bell and let Szeremeta know there's no way he's going to win. He reverted back to pumping the jab and not letting Szeremeta get within distance of trying to counter with anything significant. With the clock ticking down, Golovkin flung a left hook to drop Szeremeta for the first time.
The Kazakh changed things up a bit in the second as he started throwing power shots off the jab. Those punches began taking their toll on Szeremeta, and Golovkin took advantage and connected on an overhand right to send the native of Poland to the mat for the second time.
Szeremeta (21-1, 5 KOs) had no answer for what Golovkin brought on this night. He didn't have enough power on his fastball to put any doubt in his mind. After knocking Szeremeta back on his butt in the fourth round, Golovkin began throwing multiple punch combinations that battered Szeremeta. The punishment took its toll on Szeremeta as he got sent packing for the fourth and final time with a double jab. Seeing that there was no way Szeremeta would win, the referee put him out of his misery, and Golovkin made history.
Now that Golovkin returned with a "Big Drama Show", the question is now what's next? Fans want to see GGG-Canelo Alvarez 3. Golovkin refused to bring it up at all during fight week. He says he will have a keen eye on Alvarez's fight against WBA (super) super middleweight title clash with Callum Smith on Saturday from the Alamodome on DAZN (except for Mexico).
"I'm open for anybody," Golovkin told Todd Grisham in his post-fight interview. "Best opponent for me.
"We will wait for tomorrow. I hope tomorrow is a great event. The best will win. I'm open."
In the co-main event, Korean star Hyun Mi Choi (18-0-1, 4KOs) outpointed hard-hitting Colombian Calista Silgado (19-12-3, 14KOs) by unanimous decision (99-91, 98-92, 97-93) to retain the WBA super-featherweight title in a fun, action packed fight.
Even though women's boxing is only two-minute rounds, Choi and Silgado threw over 900 punches between them.
The key came down to Choi was the more active of the two and landed more power shots. Silgado came back in the final three rounds when she decided to let it go but it was too little, too late.
Carlos Gongora (19-0, 14KOs) defeated unbeaten Kazakh Ali Akhmedov (16-1, 12KOs) via knockout at 1:57 of the 12th round. to win the vacant IBO World super-mddleweight title, previously held by Chris Eubank Jr.
Akhmedov was ahead on all three judges' scorecards going into the final round of the all-action affair. Even though he was up, Akhmedov came into the round bloodied, battered, bruised, and had exhaustion written all over his face. Gongora sensed he could do some damage and sent Akhmedov to the canvas with a left uppercut 54 seconds into the round. Akhmedov made the count but was on shaky legs. He tried to hold on and survive. They were fighting on the inside when Gongora threw another short left uppercut to send Akhmedov and pull off the massive upset and the latter his first career loss.
According to CompuBox stats, Gongora and Akhmedov threw a combined 1,523 punches.
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