on a night where one of the biggest stars in the sport's history is supposedly set to retire, the Pacquiao-Bradley III undercard showcased some of boxing's rising young stars at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO pay-per-view.
Gilberto "Zurdo" Ramirez became the first fighter from Mexico to ever win a super middleweight world title, as he routed defending WBO champion Arthur Abraham on shutout scores of 120-108 from all three judges. SB Nation had it 119-109 for Ramirez, finding a round in the middle to give to Abraham, but it was never a close fight. Stylistically, Abraham's low-output style was made for the tall, rangy, busy Ramirez, but even considering that, this was a very impressive performance.
Featherweight prospect Oscar Valdez (19-0, 17 KO) absolutely smashed former titleholder Evgeny Gradovich (21-2-1, 9 KO), stopping "The Mexican Russian" in the fourth round of a totally one-sided fight. Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian in 2008 and 2012, dropped Gradovich on a left hook that ended the fight when referee Russell Mora made the decision that Gradovich had taken enough punishment. Mora was correct.
Junior welterweight prospect Jose Ramirez (17-0, 12 KO) didn't have an easy night, but he did get a solid win over tough veteran road warrior Manny Perez (25-12-1, 6 KO), winning on scores of 97-93, 98-92, and 99-91. SB Nation had it 97-93 for Ramirez, who showed a lot on offense, but also showed a leaky defense.
Preliminary undercard results
Ukrainian light heavyweight Oleksandr Gvozdyk scored a brutal knockout of veteran Nadjib Mohammedi in the second round, improving Gvozdyk's record to 10-0 (8 KO). Gvozdyk was a bronze medalist at the 2012 Olympic games, and has become one of the many bright professional prospects who featured that summer in London. Mohammedi (37-5, 23 KO) is a former world title challenger and a solid pro -- watching Gvozdyk spark him out on one punch was pretty eye-opening.
Egis Kavaliauskas of Lithuania, another 2012 Olympic medalist, won an eight-round shutout decision over Deniz Ilbay. Kavaliauskas, nicknamed "Mean Machine," won on scores of 80-72 across the board, to improve to 13-0 (11 KO). Ilbay falls to 15-1 (8 KO).
Russia's Konstantin Ponomarev improved to 30-0 (13 KO) with a split decision win over Brad Solomon (26-1, 9 KO) in a 10-round welterweight bout. Scores were 96-94 and 98-92 for Ponomarev, and 96-94 for Solomon.
Leon Bauer improved to 8-0 (6 KO) with a six-round decision win over Ilshat Khusnulgatin (12-2, 6 KO). Scores were 59-55, 59-55, and 60-54.
17-year-old Devin Haney (5-0, 3 KO), trained by Floyd Mayweather Sr, won a four-round decision over Rafael Vazquez (2-5, 0 KO) on three scorecards of 40-36.
