Billy's Boxing Blog

By William Trillo
Photo: Amanda Wescott – SHOWTIME

As defined by dictionary.cambridge.org: Full Nelson
… a bad situation from which it is impossible to escape.

Anyone who saw this Saturday nights battle between WBA, WBC and IBF Super Welterweight World Champion Jermell Charlo and WBO Champ Brian Castaño knows very well that this was a nip and tuck war that was razor close. Everyone except Judge Nelson Vazquez that is. He somehow scored this fight 117-111 in favor of Charlo.

Considering the other two scorecards read 114-113 for Castaño and the other scored it a straight up 114-114 draw it’s safe to say good ol’ Nelsons scorecard borders on absurdity.

What is not so safe to say or suggest is that Nelson may have had his scorecard already written before the opening bell rang, as if he was inspired to have a preconceived notion, so to speak. (I did not say that).

Whatever the case may be, it’s a shame that boxing is slapped in the face with yet another inept scorecard that will forever take away from a darn good, if not Fight of the Year type battle.

Castaño started out like gangbusters and Charlo proved his mettle by coming on strong in the latter rounds to make this fight a tough one to call, unless of course you are Nelson who somehow saw Castaño only winning three rounds?

Three rounds?

To rub salt into the wound, this fight was for an undisputed Championship, which as we know is exceedingly rare these days. Someone was supposed to walk out of the ring Saturday night with all the 154-pound belts strapped around his waist. Both the winner and his promoter would have a lock on the Super Welter division, and they would be calling all the shots.

Are you doing the math here?

Because of Nelson’s questionable score…well as the above definition states;
it’s a bad situation from which it is impossible to escape.

Do with that information as you will.

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing truth.

By William Trillo
Photo: Marlene Marquez

I must admit it was great to be back outdoors in L.A. covering the Golden Boy Promoted fights on a perfect Southern California evening. Everyone in attendance from fans to media to the participants seemed to be having a great time. I know I did. I do have just a few random thoughts on the evening that I felt like sharing.

To be honest, up until this weekend I referred to Light Heavyweight Gilberto Ramirez as “Zzzzurdo”, as in watching him fight normally put me to sleep (zzz). But after watching his performance on Friday night I am going to retract that moniker. Ramirez made quick work of Sullivan Barrera in the Main Event and the multiple knockdowns leading to the KO were impressive. After the fight he stated he was looking for Dmitry Bivol. Coming off this performance it is certainly a fight I would like to see now.

JoJo Diaz overcame a rough patch in the fight and went on to take a well-deserved unanimous decision victory over Javier Fortuna. My first question is why did Ryan Garcia go out of his way to duck Fortuna? If he doesn’t think he can beat this guy what makes him think he has any chance against the bigger names at 135 pounds? You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to read between the lines of Diaz’s post fight comments to know he feels the way.

I didn’t know much about lightweight William Zepeda coming into the fight other than the fact that his 22-0 record with 20 KO’s looked great on paper. Hector Tanajara found out the hard way that Zepeda is as good as his record reflects. After getting beaten from pillar to post Tanajara’s corner did the right thing by stopping the fight after six grueling rounds. Put Zepeda on your radar, this guy is the real thing.

Those girls from Japan can here with bad intentions.

Since when did a girl clanging her drums along with the already too loud D.J. become a thing? I know Sheila E. was pretty cool back in the day, but c’mon, this display was not tolerable in the least.

Check out www.Pound4Pound.com for all the latest boxing news.