A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Macau, China
Zou Shiming W10 Luis De La Rosa
Flyweight
Scores: 99-91 (twice), 97-93
Records: Zou (5-0, 1 KO); De La Rosa (23-4-1, 13 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: It's probably on to a flyweight world title fight for Zou after going the 10-round distance for the first time in a strong performance and what was also an entertaining fight.
Zou, 33, is the face of boxing in China and the reason Top Rank has such a sweet deal to put on regular cards at the Cotai Arena at the Venetian Macao. He is likely headed for a world title opportunity on Nov. 22 -- in Macau again, of course -- on the HBO PPV undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri welterweight title fight. But first Zou needed to get through this fight against a tough, determined and experienced De La Rosa, 28, of Colombia, who has lost three times in interim world title bouts against fighters who all claimed world titles (Moises Fuentes, Merlito Sabillo and Raul Garcia).
De La Rosa was the perfect opponent to get Zou, a three-time Chinese Olympic medalist (gold in 2012 and 2008 and bronze in 2004) and a three-time world amateur champion (2005, 2007 and 2011), ready for a bigger fight and a probable 12-rounder next time out. He could challenge flyweight titlist Amnat Ruenroeng (13-0, 5 KOs) of Thailand.
It's been a quick rise for Zou. He turned pro with much fanfare 15 months ago in a four-rounder, then fought a pair of six-rounders, moved up to an eight-round fight in February (and scored his first knockout in the seventh round) and then advanced to a 10-rounder, all under the guidance of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, who has been slowly helping change Zou's amateur style into a more professional style where he sits down on his punches more.
He looked good against De La Rosa, using his better speed, movement and counter punching style to regularly beat him to the punch. Zou also displayed an effective jab and showed an ability to stand in the pocket and win some fierce exchanges. De La Rosa, fighting outside of Colombia for the second time, suffered a cut over his left eye from an accidental head butt in the fifth round, which bled down the side of his face for the rest of the fight. The crowd, massively pro Zou, loved every minute of it as their man dominated the fight.
Gilberto Ramirez KO1 Junior Talipeau
Super middleweight
Records: Ramirez (29-0, 23 KOs); Talipeau (20-3-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: The impressive performances from "Zurdo" Ramirez continued with this total blowout. Ramirez, a 23-year-old southpaw from Mexico with excellent size and charisma, looked great dominating Talipeau, 30, a New Zealand native fighting out of Australia.
It was the latest in a string of excellent outings. Ramirez was the first fighter to stop journeyman Don Mouton in February, drilling him in the first round, and then he smacked around former title challenger Giovanni Lorenzo on ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" in April before stopping him in the fifth round. And then this complete destruction of Talipeau, who had not been stopped in his previous two defeats.
But Ramirez thrashed him, dropping him three times for the knockout victory. One minute into the fight Ramirez landed a clean right uppercut to floor Talipeau, but he got up very quickly and seemed OK. Then he was badly hurt on the second knockdown with 90 seconds left in the round when Ramirez tagged him with a series of right hands to drop him to a knee. Then Ramirez nailed him with a right-left combo, and Talipeau went down for the third time, coming to rest in a corner with his back against the ring post and his legs twitching, as referee Mark Nelson waved the fight over at 1 minute, 58 seconds.
Ramirez is definitely an interesting young fighter to keep an eye on and one who hopefully will be back in a televised fight soon.
Guillermo Rigondeaux KO1 Sod Kokietgym
Retains unified junior featherweight title
Records: Rigondeaux (14-0, 9 KOs); Kokietgym (63-3-1, 28 KOs),
Rafael's remarks: Few dispute Rigondeaux's talent. The 33-year-old Cuban defector won Olympic gold medals in 2000 and 2004, won a professional world title in his ninth fight and made his fifth title defense against Kokietgym. While Rigondeaux is a technical and defensive master, there is a reason why Top Rank shipped him off to Macau to fight on an undercard -- and not even in the co-feature -- and not on HBO (which essentially banned him), instead relegating him to UniMas. It's because Rigondeaux, for all his talent, is such a negative, boring fighter. He's mostly defensive, rarely steps on the gas, even against overmatched opponents, and couldn't sell a ticket or draw a television viewer if his life depended on it. So with one fight left on his Top Rank promotional contract and promoter Bob Arum unable to sell him anywhere, it was off to fight on a Chinese undercard.
Rigondeaux did not particularly care where he was fighting or what network he was on because he was still getting his mid-six-figure minimum purse. But those days are seemingly over with his contract having now run out. It's hard to see anyone wasting that kind of money on what little entertainment value Rigondeaux delivers. And although he got rid of Kokietgym, 37, of Thailand, in just 1 minute, 44 seconds, he didn't exactly impress. At least it was over quickly rather than subjecting everyone to another of his stinky, boring fights.
His victory this time did not come in the most sportsmanlike manner. Midway through the round Rigondeaux and Kokietgym, both left-handers, clashed heads. Rigondeaux ducked into his forehead, and Kokietgym got the worst of the head butt by far. He dropped to the canvas and was obviously messed up, although he did not suffer a cut. He staggered into a corner, and referee Mark Nelson gave him a brief time to recover, but he should have given Kokietgym the full five minutes he is entitled to from an accidental foul. After only a few seconds to recover, Nelson motioned for the fight to resume. Kokietgym, literally shaking his head to try to get the cobwebs out, unsteadily walked to the center of the ring and raised his right glove to touch Rigondeaux's. He also raised his right glove to touch Kokietgym's but did not appear to touch and then quickly nailed him with the right hand followed by an immediate left, dropping Kokietgym for the count.
So not only was Kokietgym still obviously dazed from the massive head butt, but Rigondeaux rapidly tapped gloves and then tagged him with a combination. It wasn't as bad as, for example, when Floyd Mayweather Jr. drilled Victor Ortiz when he was not looking and had his hands down, but it wasn't too far off.
Kokietgym, who was challenging for a 122-pound world title for the third time -- he lost twice to Daniel Ponce de Leon first in 2005 (by unanimous decision) and then in 2006 (by first-round knockout) -- saw his eight-year, 37-fight unbeaten streak come to an end in the most unsatisfying of ways. Rigondeaux didn't stink the joint out, but it is hard to get excited about the way he achieved his victory. Good luck in free agency. He's going to need it.
Brian Viloria KO5 Jose Alfredo Zuniga
Flyweight
Records: Viloria (34-4, 20 KOs); Zuniga (11-6-1, 5 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Viloria, 33, of Hawaii, was a 2000 U.S. Olympian and has had the best professional career of any of his teammates, which included former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor, former super middleweight titlist Jeff Lacy and perennial bridesmaid Rocky Juarez. Viloria is the last man standing from his team who is still a factor in the pros.
He also won four world titles, twice winning junior flyweight belts and unifying a pair of flyweight titles. But in April 2013, he lost his flyweight belts by split decision to Juan Francisco Estrada in Macau. After 11 months off, Viloria returned for a points win in Las Vegas in March against a low-level opponent and then returned to Macau for another victory against Zuniga, 25, of Mexico, which could lead to Viloria getting another crack at a flyweight world title.
Zuniga, who lost his second fight in a row and for the third time in four bouts, gave a solid effort, and the rounds were somewhat close. There were some good action exchanges also, but in the fifth round Viloria ended any notion of a possible upset when he delivered a tremendous left hook into Zuniga's body, dropping him to a knee and seemingly paralyzing him as referee Danrex Tapdasan counted him out at 1 minute, 42 seconds.
Also on the card, light heavyweight Egor Mekhontsev (4-0, 4 KOs), 29, a 2012 Russian Olympic gold medalist, stopped the Philippines' Mike Mirafuente (2-1, 2 KOs) at the end of the third round of their scheduled six-rounder.
Friday Huntington, N.Y.
Emmanuel Taylor W10 Karim Mayfield
Welterweight
Scores: 97-92, 95-94 (twice)
Records: Taylor (18-2, 12 KOs); Mayfield (18-2-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: There was a sense of desperation in the air for both fighters because each was coming off a defeat. Taylor, 23, of Edgewood, Maryland, was a favorite to land a June 14 fight against then-junior welterweight titlist Ruslan Provodnikov, but he lost a decision in February to Chris Algieri, who went on to face Provodnikov, claim the belt and then land a November fight with welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao. Mayfield, 33, of San Francisco, was also in need of a victory after getting a shot to fight on HBO in March but losing a decision to Thomas Dulorme, which got him released from his promotional contract by Top Rank.
Taylor did a nice job against Mayfield even if his mind was probably somewhere else. He did not arrive at the fight site until Thursday for the weigh-in because he was witnessing the birth of his daughter, Avah, on Wednesday night. He was pretty dominant in the early rounds but eventually ran into trouble in the eighth round when Mayfield landed a right hand high on Taylor's head and dropped him to a knee early in the round. Taylor was up almost immediately, but Mayfield went after him by throwing a ton of overhand rights, some of which landed but nothing that Taylor couldn't shake off. In the end, Mayfield could not capitalize on his knockdown, and Taylor won the clear decision.
Cletus Seldin No contest 3 Bayan Jargal
Junior welterweight
Records: Seldin (13-0, 10 KOs); Jargal (17-5-3, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Seldin, 27, of Shirley, New York, is known as the "Hebrew Hammer" and was taking a bit of a step up in the level of his opposition against Jargal, 32, a native of Mongolia living in Arlington, Virginia. Jargal has been in a lot of tough fights against some quality opponents such as junior welterweight titlist Chris Algieri, Zahir Raheem and Breidis Prescott, but he was also just 2-5 in his previous seven fights headlining into this match.
Seldin did not have much of a chance to show his stuff, however, because the fight ended prematurely. He looked good in the opening round, pressuring Jargal and landing some stiff punches. It was more of the same in the second round as he rocked Jargal with an uppercut. But there was also an accidental head clash that opened a cut over Jargal's right eye. When his eye began to swell referee Pete Santiago called timeout just after the third round began and had the ringside doctor take a look at the cut. Jargal was allowed to continue and made it through the third round, but between rounds Santiago stopped the fight under the advisment of the doctor because Jargal's eye was deemed too damaged for him to continue, resulting in a no contest because four rounds had not been completed.
Friday at San Francisco
Mercito Gesta TKO7 Luis Arceo
Lightweight
Scores: 99-91 (three times)
Records: Gesta (28-1-1, 16 KOs); Arceo (28-13-4, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Gesta, 27, a native of the Philippines living in San Diego, got a lot of unwarranted hype a few years ago when he signed with Top Rank, but he never came close to living up to it. He did get a shot at lightweight titlist Miguel Vazquez in December 2012 and did very little in a one-sided decision loss.
After 16 months out of the ring -- and a release by Top Rank -- Gesta returned in April for a knockout victory and took on Arceo in his second bout since the loss to Vazquez. Arceo, 35, of Mexico, was no match for him whatsoever as he lost his second fight in a row. Gesta, a southpaw, couldn't miss with his left straight. He had Arceo hurt at the end of the second round when he knocked him into the ropes with a left hand. On and on it went as Arceo was cut over his left eye and on the bridge of his nose. The ringside doctor checked on Arce more than once between rounds, but he was allowed to continue. He gave it a good effort but couldn't deal with Gesta's speed and sharp punches. Finally, the doctor took a look at Arceo again after the seventh round and did not like what he saw and ordered referee Edward Collantes to stop the fight. It was a good stoppage of a fighter who was taking too many clean head shots. There was no point for the battering to continue.
Taishan Dong TKO2 Alex Rozman
Heavyweight
Records: Dong (1-0, 1 KO); Rozman (2-6, 1 KO)
Rafael's remarks: Taishan, 26, of China, is a mountain of a man listed at 7-feet and 287 pounds, so he made the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Rozman, 32, of Molina, Illinois, look tiny. Any time you have a heavyweight as big as Taishan -- who calls himself "The Great Wall" -- it commands a look to see what he's all about. Taishan is huge but, to no surprise, very slow. He's going to be a project as a professional, but you can't teach size or strength. Taishan's stated desire is to become the Yao Ming of boxing. He has a long way to go, but he took care of business.
A powerful jab dropped Rozman with 17 seconds left in the first round. Another jab dropped him to a knee in the second round, but Rozman, who looked exhausted, showed a lot of heart by continuing to plow forward and try to make something happen. But there was no chance, and Taishan dropped him for a third time with a right hand to the head, and referee Edward Collantes waved off the fight at 1 minute, 58 seconds.
Friday at Kobe, Japan
Zolani Tete W12 Teiru Kino****a
Wins a vacant junior bantamweight title
Scores: 119-109, 118-110 (twice)
Records: Tete (19-3, 16 KOs); Kino****a (19-1-1, 3 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In December, Daiki Kameda and Liborio Solis were due to meet in a 115-pound world title unification fight. However, Solis failed to make weight and was stripped of his version of the title, so only Kameda could unify belts. The fight went on, and Kameda lost. Although Kameda could not lose his title because Solis was overweight, he later vacated the title in order to move up in weight, and Tete, 26, a left-hander from South Africa, and Japan's Kino****a, 28, met to fill the vacancy.
It was all Tete, who used his five-inch reach advantage to cruise to the lopsided decision courtesy of a strong jab against Kino****a. He showed little zest for combat and put forth little to contest against Tete.