Check out the highlights and recap from the Premier Boxing Champions CBS-televised card from Quebec City, Quebec yesterday afternoon.
If you were a combat sports fan you were treated to daytime boxing and UFC yesterday, with Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions series making its first appearance on CBS. Let me be clear in saying that this card basically had a squash match element to it, but hey, if you're willing to look past the nature of competitive sport and dive right into the violence, then this show was for you.
Artur Beterbiev (8-0, 8 KOs) def. Gabriel Campillo (25-7-1, 12 KOs) via KO at :43 of round 4 - Light Heavyweights (175 lbs)
Russia's Artur Beterbiev was a gigantic favorite to smash the veteran Spaniard Gabriel Gampillo, and smash he did. Campillo was dropped in the 1st round after he ate a vicious right hand and then took a knee under a barrage of additional punches. Beterbiev salted victory away with a wicked set of body shots, followed by an overhand right that snuck through Campillo's guard, then one more right hand that almost took Campillo's head off as he fell to the canvas. There was no count necessary.
There's no questioning how talented Beterbiev is just 8 fights into his career. It helps that he had an unconfirmed 300+ amateur bouts along the way, and running through even an aging and faded former contender in Campillo is another good notch on his belt. Between that and smacking Tavoris Cloud around silly two fights prior, he's earned bigger fights. As for Campillo, it's his 3rd KO loss in the past 2 years and there's no reason for him to be facing any legitimately good LHW again.
(Highlights of the two knockdowns can be seen in the video at the top of the page.)
Adonis Stevenson (26-1, 21 KOs) def. Sakio Bika (32-7-3, 21 KOs) via unanimous decision (115-111, 115-110, 116-110) - WBC Light Heavyweight Title
"Superman" won in front of the partisan Quebecois crowd by comfortably dispatching Sakio Bika in the main event. Stevenson had Bika down twice, although one of those knockdowns should've been ruled a slip. The southpaw Stevenson was able to bust up the veteran Bika with his powerful left hand, and he had no real reason to throw right hooks or even jab with the way he was having his way with Sakio. The fight was so comfortable for Stevenson that he did the Ali shuffle and landed a right hand afterwards, as well as turned his back in nonchalant fashion multiple times. How the three judges managed to score this one so closely is beyond me, but the outcome wasn't really in doubt. At least for Bika he was able to keep his streak of never being knocked out alive and well.
Here's the hard truth about this one - this was a garbage "title defense". Bika is a career middleweight and super middleweight who had ZERO previous bouts at light heavyweight and was coming off a loss to Anthony Dirrell. It looked like Adonis Stevenson would fight #1 ranked LHW Sergey Kovalev last year but Stevenson and his team balked and opted for what amounted to easier tune-up fights, with this one vs. Bika being one of them. Last week the WBC had mandated Stevenson vs. Kovalev, which would unify the four major LHW belts, and hopefully this contest finally gets made.
(Highlights of the fight in the two videos below.)
Premier Boxing Champions returns to primetime next Saturday on NBC from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson headline the event in a 143 lbs catchweight bout, while WBO middleweight champion Andy Lee defends his title against Peter Quillin.
For more boxing coverage, check out Bad Left Hook.
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