Devin Haney finished Antonio Moran in fantastic form. Jamel Herring got emotional after his fight vs. Masayuki Ito. And neither Austin Trout nor Terrell Gausha got any satisfaction.
But let’s go a little deeper, and let’s watch (or rewatch) some of the tape. Here’s everything you might have missed in boxing this weekend.
Notable weekend fights:
--In his debut on the DAZN streaming service, Devin Haney (22-0, 14 KOs) looked spectacular, knocking out Antonio Moran (24-4) in the seventh round with a walloping right hand. Originally, Haney was supposed to be fighting Luke Campbell for a vacant lightweight title. Instead, Vasiliy Lomachenko—who’s No. 1 on my pound-for-pound list—got that fight. So, Haney made the best of his new opponent, knocking Moran down with a body shot in the fifth. Replays showed that Haney stepped on his feet while landing a punch, and the knockdown probably should have been ruled a slip. But later that round, Haney appeared to legitimately hurt Moran. Then, in the seventh, Haney’s right hand ended the fight.
Haney didn’t get his chance at a title vs. Campbell. But he’ll likely get a shot at a belt soon enough, and the 20-year-old is definitely dangerous enough to win it.
--In an extremely emotional victory, Jamel Herring (20-2, 10 KOs) won his first world title by outboxing and outpointing Masayuki Ito (25-2-1) to take his junior lightweight belt by unanimous decision. Herring, the former Marine fighting on Memorial Day weekend, was also remembering his late daughter, Ariyanah, who died as a baby from SIDS and who would have turned 10 years old on Saturday. And he simply out-classed Ito for most of the fight with an accurate jab and by slipping many of Ito’s attempts with solid defense. Afterward, Herring was nearly speechless with emotion. But Miguel Berchelt, the ruler at 130 pounds, came into the ring for the post-fight interviews, to congratulate Herring and to challenge him to a title unification fight. Herring would be the underdog vs. Berchelt, but keep in mind that he was also a slight +165 underdog vs. Ito.
The final moments of this World Title Fight. Who do you have winning?#ItoHerring | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/hgxpMc4UzA
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 26, 2019
Herring overcome with emotion. This is why we love boxing.#ItoHerring pic.twitter.com/N3KWTSvnV3
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) May 26, 2019
Afterward, Herring gave Ito back his belt.
Boxing can be a brutal sport but in the end it’s a sport. Thank you @masayukiito0630 for the opportunity, you’re a good champion, but better person and you will be a world champion again!#SemperFi #TheJudge pic.twitter.com/XDecmqYXzV
— Jamel Herring (@JamelHerring) May 26, 2019
--Though it appeared Terrell Gausha (21-1-1, 10 KOs) did enough to pull off the biggest win of his career vs. Austin Trout (31-5-1, 17 KOs), the judges ruled it a split draw. The judges scored it 99-91 for Gausha, 96-94 for Trout and 95-95. In his biggest fight previous fight before Saturday, Gausha lost a unanimous decision to Erislandy Lara in 2017. He probably should have gotten his big win on Saturday. Unfortunately for him, not all the judges saw it that way. Though Trout said he’d like a rematch, Gausha doesn’t seem interested. “I feel like I want to do bigger and better things,” he said, via Premier Boxing Champions. “I feel like I won the fight.”
