Everything You Need to Know About the Weekend in Boxing

Marriaga finishes Estrella with a vicious liver shot! #BercheltRoman pic.twitter.com/qN9saENODF

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) November 4, 2018

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Sullivan Barrera Outboxes Seanie Monaghan to Unanimous Decision

With his wealth of professional and amateur success, it was expected that Sullivan Barrera would be able to outbox New York’s Seanie Monaghan. But with the fight taking place in New York City, and the unquestionable toughness of Seanie Monaghan there was enough of a doubt to make the fight intriguing when it was first announced. However, in the end the fight went pretty much as expected, Seanie Monaghan hung in tough and showed a lot of heart but was ultimately outboxed, losing a unanimous 99-91, 99-91, 98-92 decision.

Credit should go to both men; to Monaghan for continuing to press forward despite being outclassed by a superior boxer, and credit to Barrera for trying to close the show in the later rounds by opening up with more and more combinations.

Nonito Donaire Beats Ryan Burnett after Burnett Suffers Back Injury

Nonito Donaire dropped two weight classes and picked up a stoppage win over Ryan Burnett… technically. See, in the midst of a competitive fight, Ryan Burnett missed on a right hand in the fourth round and dropped to a knee in pain. While Donaire tried to capitalize on Burnett’s issues, Burnett bravely fought on for the remainder of the round, but was in such agony when he went back to his corner that his team wisely opted to stop the fight.

While it was a good win for Donaire, there was not much we could learn from the fight. While many felt Nonito Donaire would appear drained after moving down in weight, that was not the case. “The Filipino Flash” looked fresh for the duration of the fight, however, the entire duration of the fight was only four rounds. Who knows if he would have substantially faded down the stretch had the fight gone the full twelve rounds? Those questions will likely be answered in the next round of the World Boxing Super Series Tournament, when Donaire faces WBO champion Zolani Tete.

Josh Taylor Dominates Ryan ‘Bluechip’ Martin

In what was supposed to be a matchup of two future contenders, only Josh Taylor showed he may have what it takes to become something special, dominating Ryan Martin en route to a seventh-round stoppage victory. Many fans felt that the stoppage was premature, as it appeared Martin dropped from a shot behind the head and was not so much hurt as he was trying to influence the referee. Unfortunately for Martin, he was being beaten badly enough that there wasn’t a huge uproar as to the referee’s decision to stop the fight. It probably didn’t help that the fight was in Glasgow, Scotland, and Taylor is from nearby Edinburgh.

Regardless of the ending, Taylor looked great and moved on to face Russia’s Ivan Baranchyk in the semifinals of the World Boxing Series’ 140-pound tournament.

Miguel Marriaga Lands Perfect Liver Shot to Stop Jose Estrella in 4

After dropping Jose Estrella with a left hook in the third round, Miguel Marriaga landed a left hook to the liver that was so clean, so accurate, that Jose Estrella dropped to the canvas and started rolling in a cartoonish manner that it would be funny if you didn’t realize how much pain he must be in.

After the fight, Marriaga expressed a desire for another shot at a world title. Although Estrella is not a great fighter, after this knockout of the year contender it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he got one.

Miguel Berchelt Stops a Courageous Mickey Roman

And finally, in the weekend’s marquee matchup Miguel Berchelt stopped Mickey Roman in the ninth round after dropping him twice in the sixth. The entire point of this matchup was to create an exciting fight that would renew fans’ excitement over Berchelt’s career, and to both men’s credit they produced that exciting fight.

Mickey Roman did what he usually does, pressed forward with thudding body shots and a relentless pressure that forced Berchelt to stand toe to toe with him. Unfortunately, over the course of the fight Berchlet’s class and the exhaustive style Roman was employing began to take its toll, and by the end of the fight Roman was wilting badly. In the last three rounds of the fight, Roman was outlanded 127-52 and Berchelt had his 31st knockout in 36 fights.

After the fight, Berchelt expressed a desire to unify his title against one of the other 130 lb. titlists; Tevin Farmer, Gervonta Davis, Alberto Machado and Masayuki Ito. However, Dan Rafael seemed to indicate that Berchelt would be looking to move up in weight for an eventual shot at pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko. That would be a tall task but anybody looking to fight Lomachenko instead of looking to avoid him -- looking at you, Mr. Garcia -- deserves praise in my book. For Roman, this will likely be his last high-profile fight and should probably be his last fight ever, if he has the finances that would allow him to retire.