It was a lull.
Lamont Roach Jr has fought to his second draw in a row. I thought he won, but it doesn’t matter, because the judges didn’t. Now, Roach goes from a titleholder to a fringe star in the sport, without winning a fight in 2025. Isn’t boxing odd?
Roach fought Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz to a majority draw on Saturday night. The fight was a tale of two halves. Cruz used his power and aggression to win the first half of the fight. Roach hit the canvas for the first time in his career in the third round. Roach appeared frustrated from the physical elements of Cruz, including headbutts and rough tactics on the inside. Cruz would lose a point for a kidney punch in the seventh round. Roach would win that round and most of the final rounds, outboxing Cruz, who was extremely frustrated. It is the rare fight where neither fighter lost any momentum, but it is hard not to feel for Roach, who should be one of the marquee fighters of the year, yet he didn’t record a win in two fights.
Boxing can be strange.
O’Shaquie Foster might have all-time great potential. Foster outclassed Stephen Fulton Jr, as yet again, Fulton found himself in a 50-50 fight on paper, but it was far from that when the bell rang. Foster established his jab and distance as Fulton, who missed weight by two pounds the day before, struggled to be first, and his reflexes couldn’t match Foster’s ability. On top of that, Foster was setting traps and targeting the body of Fulton. Foster established himself as one of the best fighters in the world, and now Fulton is 0-2 in consequential super-fights.
Middleweight Erislandy Lara won a 12-round unanimious decision over Johan Gonzalez. Lara would drop Gonzalez twice, but couldn’t stop him. Gonzalez took the fight on less than a week’s notice after Janibek Alimkhanuly was unable to compete due to an adverse drug test finding. Lara defended his WBA middleweight title.
In the pay-per-view opener, Jesus Ramos Jr won a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley Jr, to win the interim WBC middleweight title.
Undercard thoughts: Junior welterweight Frank Martin brutally knocked out Rances Barthelemy in the fourth round. The fight was Martin’s first fight at his new weight class. Junior middleweight Isaac Lucero stopped veteran Roberto Valenzuela Jr. Featherweight Luis Nunez won a razor-close unanimous decision over Hector Sosa.
In the main event, Shabaz Masoud won a narrow unanimous decision over Peter McGrail in an exciting 12-round main event. McGrail started strong, and Masoud caught a second wind. Then the last three rounds were awkward. Masoud looks like this might be his ceiling, and McGrail, a former Olympian, now has two losses early in his career.
Elif Turhan stopped Beatriz Ferreira in the fifth round to win the IBF lightweight world title. Turhan is a crude operator, but good luck to anyone who trades with her. Ferreira decided to in round one and went down twice (only once was it ruled a knockdown). Ferreira never seemed to recover. Turhan ends the title run of Ferreira, who was looking to make her fourth title defense. Turhan, more than likely, is women’s boxing story of the year.
Conah Walker upset Pat McCormack. Walker has now won three fights in 2025, with his most recent being a 12th-round stoppage of the 2020 Olympic silver medalist McCormack. Walker is now on a four-fight win streak and is a contender at welterweight. Junior welterweight Sean McComb stopped Hugo Micallef. McComb, who is best known for a controversial loss to Arnold Barboza Jr., called out Richardson Hitchins, the IBF beltholder, after the fight.
Jai Opetaia knocked out unbeaten Huseyin Cinkara in eight rounds. Was it Opetaia’s best? No! Does it matter? No!
Opetaia fought three times this year, with his January bout being the most notable, as he slowly began to fade away from the conversation amongst boxing fans. His latest bout didn’t appear on DAZN. Opetaia was a breakout fighter in 2022 and emerged as a future pound-for-pound type guy in 2024, but has lost a lot of momentum in 2025.
Junior welterweight Jack Wyllie and Paul Flemming fought to a majority draw. Readers of this blog noted this fight would be a good one. Wyllie’s ceiling might have been reached. Former titleholder Jason Moloney got an eighth-round technical knockout over Herlan Gomez, and top heavyweight prospect Teremoana Jr stopped German Garcia Montes in one round. Hopefully, Teremoana makes the leap in opposition next year as he is a top-10 level prospect.
