Devin Haney & Amanda Serrano Take Manhattan while Michael Hunter Underwhelms!

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By Anthony “Zute” George (At Ringside)

The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden was packed with fans anticipating some riveting boxing action Friday night. And countless other fans were snuggled into their homes to catch the action on the DAZN application. Or perhaps in the street, on their phone or tablet. In the main event, Devin “The Dream” Haney did his part to rile up the crowd with a sensational effort over previously undefeated Zaur Abdullaev. Haney was too fast, electric and accurate, for Zaur, who, despite his undefeated record, was severely outclassed. The Russian fighter scarcely threw any leather over the course of four rounds, and failed to answer the bell for the fifth round; a damaged cheekbone was the official reason given for the stoppage, but in reality, the corner must have known that anymore boxing this evening would have been a lost cause for them and dangerous for their fighter.

Haney won the WBC interim lightweight championship with the victory. He is now the mandatory challenger for Vasyl Lomachenko. Exactly where Devin Haney fits on the Lomachenko/Teofimo/Commey carousel is unclear, as it appears unlikely Devin Haney will be given a fight against Lomachenko before that business is settled. But Haney has been looking spectacular and needs to be matched up against the best at the lightweight division. Fights against more fighters like Abdullaev accomplishes nothing except some pay. Haney and the fans deserve better, and they are many good lightweights to be tested against. Gervonta Davis, anyone? With the victory Devin Haney improves to 23-0, 15 KO’s, while Zaur falls to 11-1, 7 KO’s.

In the co-feature, Amanda Serrano defeated Heather Hardy vis unanimous decision. Scores read 98-92 and 98-91 (twice). Serrano blitzed Hardy early and had her in serious trouble in round one. But Hardy survived and was being competitive by the middle rounds. But Serrano had a very good seventh round and took over the fight once again. The story of the fight was that Hardy just did not have the capability to keep Serrano off her. When the fight was on the inside, Serrano was just too strong. But Hardy never gave up and earned much respect in her first losing effort. The raucous crowd was treated to a high-octane battle between the Brooklyn natives. Serrano improves to 37-1-1, 27 KO’s, while Hardy falls to 22-1, 4 KO’s. The fight showed that women getting equal pay in boxing could never be more deserving, as this was clearly the best fight of the night in terms of competitiveness and excitement. The crowd was there to see this fight, even more so than the main event, and the fighters delivered. Pay the women what they are worth already.

Michael The Bounty Hunter, 18-1, 12 KO’s won a lackluster decision against Sergiy Kuzman, 15-1, 11 KO’s. All three scorecards read 117-110 in favor of Hunter. The big story of this fight was Hunter could not establish an effective jab. He was much more effective when he was in close, as he dropped Kuzman in the fifth round with a beautiful, short, compact left hook. However, when the fight was fought at distance, Hunter kept overreaching with his jab and could not get anything going. Not to be able to establish a jab against Kuzmin, a big, plodding target who did very little to make Hunter miss, was alarming to see. But Hunter did his job in the sense that he won a clear a decision and escaped with no injuries or cuts. Therefore, he gets to improve the next time out, and he will need to make some major adjustments if he wants to be competitive against the top tier of heavyweights.

In other action:

Featherweight Ray “Savage” Ford 4-0, 1 KO, was not all that savage in his four-round decision against Rafael Castillo, 1-4. All three scorecards read in favor of Ford, 40-36. Castillo tried to make a fight out of it, as he came forward, forcing the action, but Ford did not want to engage, and used his legs and defense to come home with a victory.

Lightweight Christian Bermudez made his pro debut against Jonathan Conde 1-3, 1 KO. Bermudez fought like the car was double parked, hurting Conde early and stopping him at 1:56 of round two. The native New Yorker had a huge fan base in the crowd, and let everyone know that he was a free agent. With particular attention focused on Eddie Hearn when making that declaration. The kid appears to be a ticket seller, so maybe being a free agent is not a bad thing.

2016 Olympic gold medalist Daniyar Yeleussinov 8-0, 4 KO’s blitzed Reshard Hicks 12-1-1, 6 KO’s in the first round. A barrage of punches dropped Hicks face first, and the bout was stopped at 2:38 of the opening stanza.

Another Olympian, Murodjon MJ Akmadeliav 7-0, 6 KO’s stopped Wilner Soto 22-6, 12 KO’s in a super bantamweight bout at 1:56 of round 4. MJ was supposed to fight WBA/IBF super bantamweight champion Daniel Roman who pulled out with an injury. MJ should fight for a championship in his next fight, or against a top contender, if Roman is not available the next fight out.

Wesley Ferrer 14-1-1, 7 KO’s won an eight-round unanimous decision over Larry Fryers 11-2, 4 KO’s. Scores read 80-72 and 79-73 (twice). In a much-anticipated action fight, where both fighters had a strong representation of fans in the crowd (Wesley’s was a bit bigger), the life was sucked out of the arena by the inability of referee Sparkle Lee to prevent Ferrer from constantly holding. While Wesley was fast, sharp, and accurate when he did throw, it was one punch at a time. He would then clutch Fryers after landing. For the whole fight. Wesley’s actions did not render one serious warning from Lee, who continues to be the story after a lot of fights she officiates, for all the wrong reasons.

Heavyweight Magomedrasul Majidov 1-0, 1 KO made his pro debut against Ed Fountain 12-7, 5 KO’s. He survived a second-round knockdown and bounced back to stop Fountain at 2:41 of round four.

In the opening bout super bantamweight Darren Cunningham 10-0, 5 KO’s won a six-round decision over Jonathan Lecona Rivas 18-25-5, 6 KO’s. Scorecards read 60-54, 60-54, 59-55. Cunningham was busy and impressive, unfortunately a lot of fans missed the action, as they were literally walking into the arena as the action was going on. It would be a good idea to let the fans get settled in before the opening bell. Just saying.

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