By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist
There’s not much happening in the MMA world due to July 4th so I’ll
just cover some boxing and MMA news in this briefer than usual blog.
Nate Diaz (21-13 MMA, 1-1 Boxing) defeated Jorge Masvidal (35-17 MMA,
1-1 Boxing) by Majority Decision in a10-round boxing match last
weekend. Diaz was active early but Masvidal fired back with some
strong punches. Masvidal looks more powerful with his punches but Diaz
is throwing a lot of them. Diaz just keeps coming forward like he’s
Jason Voorhees or something. Masvidal is effective with his counters
but Diaz keeps coming. They’re brawling here and leaving it all in the
ring. I applaud the effort and tenacity shown by both men.
The judges scored it 95-95, 97-93, and 98-92 in favor of Nate Diaz.
After the win Nate says he wants to box Jake Paul again, beat him,
then go back to the UFC and win another championship. At 39 years old
that seems like it’ll be very hard to accomplish but anything is
possible.
Other fights on the card included-
Shane Mosley Jr. (22-4) beating Daniel Jacobs (37-5) by Unanimous
Decision in a 10-round boxing match 99-91, 99-1, 100-90. Mosley was
content to coast to victory here instead of going for a stoppage win.
He was clearly the better fighter.
Chris Avila (6-1) beat Anthony Pettis (1-1) by Unanimous Decision in a
6-round boxing match 58-56, 59-55, 59-55. This was a dull affair
without much in the way of action.
Curmel Moton (4-0) beat Nikolai Buzolin (9-9-1) by TKO in the 2nd
round. Moton is only 18 years old and mentored by Floyd Mayweather so
there’s a lot of hype around this young man. He could be one of the
faces of boxing in the future. He’s fast, aggressive, and strong. His
future looks bright.
Amado Vargas (11-0) beat Sean Garcia (7-1-1) by TKO in the 6th round.
Both men are 23 years old and have good futures ahead of them. Vargas
was just more relentless with his punches. Sean is the younger brother
of Ryan Garcia (24-1, 1 No Contest), who’s been going through some
personal issues lately. Sean still fought pretty well, though, so
maybe that didn’t affect him here? I don’t know.
Devin Cushing (14-0) beat Manuel Correa (13-2) in an 8-round boxing
match 77-75, 78-74, 80-72. Not a very good fight as there wasn’t much
action. Not much else to say except that.
Gabriel Costa (4-7) beat Steve Dunn (5-1) by TKO in the 2nd round.
Costa unloaded on Dunn and stopped him with good power.
Kenneth Lopez (10-0) beat Andres Martinez (4-2) by Unanimous Decision
in a 6-round boxing match 59-54, 58-55, 59-54.
*************
Jake Paul (9-1) will face Mike Perry (14-8 MMA, 5-0 Bare Knuckle, 0-1
Boxing) in a boxing match scheduled for 8 rounds on July 20th, which
was the date Paul was scheduled to face Mike Tyson (50-6, 2 No
Contests) on that date but Tyson had to pull out due to an ulcer
flare-up. Paul will now face Tyson on November 15th.
I’ll say this about Jake. He’s right when he says he moves without
fear because Perry is a dangerous opponent. He’s got some power and
toughness and is very aggressive but he’s not a huge name so if he
loses to him it’s going to be pretty damaging to his credibility.
*************
UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones (27-1, 1 No Contest) has said that
he’ll be fighting on November 9th at UFC 309. As I’m writing this the
UFC hasn’t confirmed that but I don’t think Jones would say it if it
wasn’t true so it looks like Jones will finally fight Stipe Miocic
(20-4) in November, a year after they were originally supposed to
fight before Jones suffered a torn pectoral muscle.
Miocic hasn’t fought since March 2021 so I imagine Jones will be a
heavy favorite.
My new epic fantasy book is out. It’s called Kingdom of Zarias: The End’s
Beginning. The exciting epic fantasy series Kingdom of Zarias
returns with the 4th book in the series. After the harrowing events of
Book 3 the residents of the Kingdom of Zarias continue on their paths.
Serena Summers continues to learn and grow as a fighter, desperately
seeking to become stronger before she loses anyone else in her life.
Daniel Summers discovers new parts of the world that open his eyes to
just how little he truly knows. A new hero, Lamar Abeers, arrives to
join the fight against evil. Plus, Zach Summers, Tiana Highsmith, and
Xavien Ekens continue their journeys with their friends, and a new
ruler of Vhaharen is crowned. The world has found a little peace.
However, that peace is only temporary. In a shocking act of violence,
the monstrous villain Galren strikes from the shadows and changes the
world forever. This is Book 4 in the series. There’s lots of action,
magic, and monsters in the Kingdom of Zarias. It’s like a tabletop
game in novel form. It’s on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other
places. If you’re interested, I would greatly appreciate it if you
would check it out and support me. Also, here’s the link to my
Compendium book about the Kingdom of Zarias series- KoZ Compendium Thank you
very much, have a good day.
Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.
Leave a Reply