
Kevin Iole
LIVE! At T-Mobile Arena for Tim Tszyu-Sebastian Fundora PPV card
LAS VEGAS -- What's up, everyone? I'm at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for the PPV card featuring Tim Tszyu against Sebastian Fundora! I'll be commenting here all night with news and updates. Stay in touch and we'll hopefully enjoy the fights together!
• 8:43 p.m.: 116-112, 115-113 and 112-116, split decision for Sebastian Fundora.
• 8:42 p.m.: Amazing if Fundora gets the decision here, he'll go from being KO'd in his last fight to winning the unified title in his next one
• 8:40 p.m.: Fundora 10-9 in 12th. I have him winning it 115-113.
• 8:35 p.m.: Fundora with a good round and takes 11th 10-9. I have Fundora up 105-104.
• 8:31p.m.: Tszyu wins it 10-9 and evens the fight at 95-95 heading into the championship rounds. High drama at T-Mobile.
• 8:28 p.m.: Fundora takes the ninth and moves into the lead on my card. He's busy and landing. I have it 86-85 Fundora.
• 8:23 p.m.: Fundora takes the eighth, 10-9, and it's an even fight now. Fascinating stuff. All the harder shots landed by Tszyu, but Fundora is catching him clean with a lot of things.
• 8:20 p.m.: Fundora controls the round with his jab and takes it 10-9 on my card. There's not a lot on it but he's connecting a lot. After seven, four rounds to three, 67-66, for Tszyu.
• 8:15 p.m.: Close round, Tszyu takes it 10-9. 58-56 Tszyu
•8:11 p.m.: Fundora takes the fifth round, using his jab well. Tszyu is up three rounds to two, 48-47
• 8:07 p.m.: Tszyu won the fourth very close, 10-9. I have it 39-37 for Tszyu.
• 8:02 p.m.: Great combination by Fundora. Tszyu is backing up. He's bleeding profusely, too. Cut was from an elbow not a punch.
•8 p.m.: Doc lets Tszyu continue, but that's a gnarly cut.
• 7:59 p.m.: Fundora bleeding from nose. Tszyu landing a ton of right hands. He's up 20-18. Tszyu cut on hairline btw.
• 7:55 p.m.: Tszyu 10-9 in the first round.
• 7:51 p.m.: Here we go with the main event.
• 7:48 p.m.: My story on Cruz' win is on the site. The main event is in the ring.
• 7:23 p.m.: Time of the TKO is 56 seconds of the eighth round.
• 7:19 p.m.: Huge left hand by Cruz hurts Romero and he is all over him. Massive right hand. Referee jumps in and it's over. Cruz is your new WBA champion.
• 7:17 p.m.: Doctor checks Romero's right eye, which is swelling, but he lets the fight go.
• 7:16 p.m.: Romero was having his best round until Cruz unloaded on him with several combinations. Sent him reeling into the ropes. 10-9 Cruz and he's up 70-62 at this point
• 7:12 p.m.: Shutout halfway through on my card. Just think Romero has to try to do something to blunt Cruz's charge. It's 60-53 on my card.
• 7:08 p.m.: Cruz 10-9 in the fifth. With the point deduction, it becomes a 10-8 and I have Cruz up 50-44. His title is slipping away.
• 7:07 p.m.: Referee Thomas Taylor takes point from Romero for holding and pulling down Cruz' head.
• 7:03 p.m. Cruz 10-9 and he's up 40-36. He had a great bit two minutes in, pinning Romero in the corner and going body-head-body-head. Romero needs to pick it up.
• 7 p.m.: Cruz 10-9 in third. It's a fun fight, but Romero is moving a lot and not throwing as much as he needs to. Cruz is getting in his chest.
• 6:56 p.m.: Action-packed second. Cruz takes it 20-18 but Romero landed some hard shots.
• 6:52 p.m.: 10-9 Cruz in the first. He hurt Romero twice at least.
• 6:51 p.m.: Romero in huge trouble!
• 6:46 p.m.: Loudest ovation of the night so far goes to Isaac Cruz when he was introduced. Huge, raucous ovation from the crowd.
6:40 p.m.: Co-main event time! This should be fun. Isaac Cruz versus champ Rolly Romero for the WBA super lightweight title.
• 6:32 p.m.: Time of the TKO is 2:59 of Round 2. Erislandy Lara retains his WBA middleweight title by stopping Michael Zerafa.
• 6:29 p.m.: Lara landed a jab with about 10 seconds left in the second. He followed it with a left on the chin and that was that.
• 6:28 p.m.: Well, it's over! Lara blasted Zerafa late in the second and he went down. He got up but was on unsteady feet and the fight was stopped. Lara retains the belt!
• 6:19 p.m.: Erislandy Lara and Michael Zerafa are about to begin for the WBA middleweight title.
• 6:05 p.m.: Scores: 113-113 even. 114-112 twice for Julio Cesar Martinez. Majority decision win. Martinez retains the WBC flyweight title.
• 6:02 p.m.: I had it 8 rounds 4 Martinez, I think I screwed up how I was writing it, sorry. But I have it 116-110 for Martinez. 8-4 with the two points off for the knockdown.
• 5:58 p.m.: Cordova 10-9 in the 11th. 104-101 Martinez heading to the last.
• 5:55 p.m.: Head butt was nasty.
• 5:54 p.m.: 10-9 Martinez in the 10th. I have him up 95-91.
• 5:53 p.m.: Time called and doctor looking at Martinez' cut. He allows it to continue. Referee said there is a second cut and it's from a butt. It's a bad one, too.
• 5:50 p.m.: Martinez' cut looks bad from here, but he's fighting well with it. I gave him the ninth and I have it 86-82 Martinez after nine.
• 5:46 p.m.: Martinez cut outside of right eye in eighth.
• 5:45 p.m. Martinez up 76-73 after eight.
• 5:41 p.m.: Cordova takes the seventh 10-9, though he was rocked early in the round by a Martinez left hook. I have it 67-64 Martinez at this point.
• 5:37 p.m.: Martinez 10-9. He's up 58-54 after six on my card.
• 5:33 p.m.: Cordova is on rubbery legs and not really steady. Martinez takes the fifth 10-9 and is now up 48-45.
• 5:30 p.m.: Close round and I give it to Martinez, 10-9. I have it 38-36 Martinez after four.
• 5:25 p.m.: Huge round for Martinez, 10-7. I have it 28-27 Martinez after three. He dropped Cordova twice and had him in trouble numerous other times.
• 5:22 p.m.: He's down again!!!
• 5:21 p.m. Down goes Cordova!!
• 5:20 p.m.: Cordova 10-9 in the second.
• 5:17 p.m.: Cordova 10-9 in the first. He landed a really hard hook with just under a minute left and he also connected with several good right hands. It was a pretty good round overall, though.
• 5:12 p.m.: The PPV card will open with the WBC flyweight championship bout between Julio Cesar Martinez against Angelino Cordova.
• 5:09 p.m.: While we wait for the main card to begin, here are the final punch stats for the Bohachuk-Mendoza fight:
Bohachuk was 319 of 822 in total punches. Mendoza was 168-507.
In jabs, Bohachuk had a 94-49 edge.
In power shots, Bohachuk was 225 of 471 compared to 119 of 296 for Mendoza.
• 4:58 p.m.: Odds for main card, via DraftKings:
Julio Cesar Martinez -340 versus Angelino Cordova +260
Erislandy Lara -370 versus Michael Zerafa +280
Isaac Cruz -310 versus Rolly Romero +240
Tim Tszyu -575 versus Sebastian Fundora +400
• 4:50 p.m.: Kind of odd that they're interviewing the LOSER first! They talked to Mendoza after announcing Bohachuk as the winner and I was wondering if I misheard the scores. But no, Bohachuk won!
• 4:47 p.m.: Scores: 118-110, 117-111 twice for Serhii Bohachuk! Bohachuk wins the interim WBC super welterweight title.
• 4:45 p.m.: The Bohachuk-Mendoza fight is going to the cards. I didn't score this one (I was working in the early part!) but my sense is Bohachuk won.
• 4:40 p.m.: If you're wondering, uber prospect Curmel Moton, a protege of the legendary Floyd Mayweather, won a wide unanimous decision over Anthony Cuba earlier on the undercard. Moton won by scores of 80-72 on all three cards. He landed 50.7 percent of his punches thrown, according to CompuBox, but he was hit more often than you'd like to see out of a top prospect.
• 4:37 p.m.: Mendoza landed a good shot that seemed to wobble Bohachuk late in the 11th and the crowd came alive.
• 4:31 p.m.: Of note to some, most of the old Showtime boxing announce crew is back. Mauro Ranallo is doing play-by-play with Abner Mares and Hall of Famer Joe Goossen doing analysis. Hall of Famer Al Bernstein, who had worked for many years at Showtime, wasn't hired for this event. He's in Bulgaria doing Kubrat Pulev's fight tonight.
• 4:29 p.m.: The main card opens a bit after 8 p.m. ET with Julio Cesar Martinez versus Angelino Cordova. After that, it's Erislandy Lara versus Michael Zerafa, Rolly Romero against Isaac Cruz and the main event, Tszyu versus Fundora.
• 4:27 p.m.: The Bohachuk-Mendoza fight is in the ring now. This is for the interim WBC super welterweight title. If that sounds odd to you, it's because it is! In the main event, Tszyu and Fundora are fighting for the regular WBC super welterweight title, as well as the WBO belt.
