Three fights, three stoppages in four rounds or less. Tonight’s PBC on FOX did not deliver on bout length, but it sure delivered on violence. Omar Figueroa dropped Robert Guerrero five times, Marcus Browne absolutely decimated Sean Monaghan, and Adam Kownacki wrecked Artur Szpilka without any fight seeing a fifth round.
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The level of action in the main event was predictable, but the outcome not so much. I have never thought highly of Omar Figueroa (27-0-1, 19 KOs). While I knew Robert Guerrero (33-6-1, 18 KOs) was well, well past his peak, I figured that given his massive size advantage plus Figueroa’s rust and natural shortcomings, at the very least this would be a competitive fight. I mentally gave a slight edge to Guerrero going into the contest.
I was very wrong. Though “The Ghost” did have a very strong opening salvo, he crumpled at the first strong shot Figueroa landed in the second round. He charged back with vengeance, but then he was dropped again, again, again, and again. Each time Guerrero charged back with fury, and each time he was put back down, five times in total between the second and third rounds. Robert Guerrero still has tons of heart, some athleticism, and some skill, but his chin is entirely gone.
It also appears that at least for now, Omar Figueroa Jr’s repeatedly problematic hands are fine. In what was a very fun three round war, those hands drilled Guerrero repeatedly with full power.
After the fight Figueroa confirmed that he would be dropping back down to 140 to win a belt, but that could be a problem as all four titles are currently spoken for in one upcoming fight this August. Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo are about to completely unify the division. Neither will fight again until the winter in all likelihood, though of course it is also probable that one of the sanctioning bodies will strip a title from the winner sooner rather than later due to it being impossible to handle having four mandatories at once. Pencil Omar Figueroa in for a vacant title shot later this year.
Unlike the main event, the co-feature went exactly as predicted. Marcus Browne (20-0, 15 KOs) absolutely ran over Seanie Monaghan (28-1, 17 KOs). There was never really any question that this fight would end up going this way. Maybe this was a little more dominant than even predicted, but nothing from Monaghan’s career gave any sort of indication that he could suddenly compete with a top talent at 35 after 28 fights against middling competition at best. Still, Monaghan could have finished his career making money as a local attraction without ever talking a real shot like this, so props to him for trying.
Despite two consecutive absolutely dominant performances from Browne, I still have some reservations about him overall. Last April, Radivoje Kalajdzic dropped and in my opinion clearly beat Browne despite what the official judges ruled. Since then he has been matched with two fighters that are very, very easy to hit in Monaghan and previously Thomas Williams Jr. These guys were made for Marcus Browne. I can’t shake the memory of the Kalajdzic fight just because he dominated two guys he would be able to hit with his eyes closed. Skepticism aside, Browne is clearly a dynamic athlete and I hope does develop into a true top contender if he hasn’t already.
Opening the FOX broadcast were some pretty awful technical issues concerning the audio, but behind all that was a fun scrap between Polish heavyweights Adam Kownacki (16-0, 13 KOs) and former title challenger Artur Szpilka (20-3, 15 KOs). The mostly unknown Kownacki stopped Szpilka in four after really taking over in the third. At the end, Szpilka seemed to drop his hands to taunt Kownacki a bit, but instead he paid the ultimately price and was knocked down hard. He rose, but a few more big shots ended the affair quickly. Kownacki, 28, put in a real vintage Chris Arreola style performance. He was a little overweight, looked technical limited, but just overwhelmed a good heavyweight with sheer volume, effort, and a little power. He doesn’t have the defense not to get knocked out by a real top heavyweight, but any fight Kownacki is in will likely be a fun one.
