Though he didn’t get the finish that it looked like he was going to get early in the fight, Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade (26-0, 16 KOs) picked up his second world title with an extremely decision win over Walter Kautondokwa (17-1, 16 KOs). It won’t resonate like a win over originally scheduled opponent Billy Joe Saunders would have, but he is a two division world titleholder nonetheless. He’s also in a great position in the middleweight division given that all four belts will be on DAZN given Canelo Alvarez’s signing if Danny Jacobs can beat Sergey Derevyanchenko next weekend.
Officially credited with four knockdowns, Boo Boo won by absolutely comical scores. 120-104 appeared twice alongside a highly sympathetic 119-105 tossed in featuring a round for Kautondokwa in it, somehow. The extra point he gained in the first looked more like a trip, but Andrade dropped his Namibian opponent hard in the third and then twice again in the fourth. At one point he began celebrating as the fight appeared to be over. Somehow his oversized challenger got up and finished the fight though. Kautondokwa was huge physically in the ring, but he was also quite slow and easy to hit. Demetrius eased off the gas in the second half of the fight though and cruised to a decision rather than risk being caught by the physically bigger man.
Popular female Olympian Katie Taylor (11-0, 5 KOs) got the co-main event slot thanks the Irish contingency in Boston. Her defense against Cindy Serrano (27-6-3, 10 KOs) wasn’t all that compelling though. She used her natural size advantage coupled with her overall superior toolbox to comfortably control every second of the fight. Serrano realized she had no hope pretty early and basically stopped trying to win too, only to survive. That didn’t help the entertainment value either. In the end Taylor won on shut out scorecards across the board. There was no other way to score this one.
Defensive wizard and junior lightweight titleholder Tevin Farmer (27-4-1, 6 KOs) promised more power coming into the DAZN main event in defense of his belt against James Tennyson (22-3, 18 KOs). He delivered the knockout pledged. It should be noticed that the British title challenger has what could be charitably called a fragile body as he has been hurt and dropped by blows downstairs many times in his career, but a finish is a finish.
Using his fast twitch reflexes to stay out of trouble and lighting quick punches in response to any action, Farmer had no issues with Tennyson through the first three rounds. He almost seemed to be playing with him at times by staying in the pocket when he otherwise wouldn’t. The fight was increasingly one sided already in the fourth before a vicious straight left became yet another body shot that has dropped James Tennyson. Tevin chose to toy with him rather than go for the finish there, but he got it in the fifth anyway on more body work. First another body shot buckled him, though Tennyson initially stayed on his feet. Another one about fifteen seconds put him back down in pain and the fight was waved off immediately.
Kid Ghalad (25-0, 15 KOs) picked up a competitive win in the main card opener over Toka Khan Clary (25-2, 17 KOs). This was an evenly matched bout on paper and it delivered on that promise in the ring. It wasn’t necessarily the most exciting fight throughout, but I also didn’t it was as tedious of a watch as Brian Kenny and Ray Leonard made it out to be. The was downright even through its first two thirds, sometimes literally by the punch stats. The British fighter pulled away in the last third though. While Khan Clary still got the few cleanest shots in like he did most of the fight, Ghalad’s volume and intensity seemed to carry the fight’s final act. I scored the 116-112 in his favor. The official verdict came back 118-110 twice and 115-113 for the same man.
