Weekend Boxing Results, June 10

.@GGGBoxing DROPPED Him #GGGRolls pic.twitter.com/JL1AK20GVE

— DAZN USA (@DAZN_USA) June 9, 2019

GGG KOs Rolls, But Canelo Fight May Not be Certain

In the end, the new Gennadiy Golovkin looked a whole lot like the old Gennady Golovkin. By now, you’ve probably heard that GGG knocked out Steve Rolls in the fourth round of their fight on Saturday, but if you were looking to see a huge difference in the Kazakhstani after moving from training with Abel Sanchez to training with Jonathan Banks, you didn’t really see it. GGG landed his trademark looping hooks to the top of the head, was outboxed in spurts, and finally landed a huge left hook out of the southpaw stance after a quick shift, which ended the night.

After the bout, he called out Canelo for a fight in September. However, Golden Boy and Canelo keep talking about how they want to fight someone with a belt, and Golden Boy went so far as to tweet out a picture of potential Alvarez opponents including Jaime Munguia, Callum Smith and Demetrius Andrade. That may be posturing, as Mike Coppinger tweeted “Golden Boy can sing whatever tune they please. This is posturing. Canelo-GGG 3 deal is a formality for Sept. 14. It will get done.”

So, what’s going on? Well, Golden Boy very likely want the fight in Las Vegas, but GGG doesn’t. Even before the first Canelo-GGG fight, there were murmurs that GGG wouldn’t get a decision in the town to which Canelo brings so much money. Two fights later and Golovkin’s people have likely smartened up. Alvarez’s people, on the other hand loved, that advantage and are essentially threatening to take their ball and go home if the fight’s not where they want it.

Zab Judah Suffers Brain Bleed After 11th Round Stoppage Loss to Cletus Seldin

The idea was that at 41, Zab Judah was old enough that Cletus Seldin would give him a good fight, rather than be outboxed and frustrated as would have happened in Judah’s prime. Unfortunately, Zab Judah was so old, that he got stopped in the 11th round and hospitalized with bleeding in the brain.

Seldin bullied Judah, pushing him against the ropes and attacking his body. Judah was hurt momentarily in the third but held on, until he was hurt again in the eleventh. Seldin attacked, and the referee wisely stopped the fight.

Judah supposedly felt uncomfortable while eating with his family, so they called 911 and he was taken to the hospital. A brain bleed was identified, but Judah was never in a coma and is reportedly doing well. Not that it matters, but to be clear, in his prime Seldin wouldn’t have been able to lay a glove on Judah. Zab Judah gave Floyd Mayweather fits, and absolutely knocked him down with a right hook, though it was called a slip.

We should probably let this fight serve as a reminder that there are no “fun” fights when it comes to boxers far past the age when they should be competing.

Felipe Orucuta in Coma after Loss

Felipe Orucuta wasn’t so lucky. The 33-year-old Mexican who twice unsuccessfully challenged for world titles collapsed in the ring after a TKO loss to Jonathan Rodriguez. There is extremely graphic footage on the internet of a collapsed Orucuta receiving CPR in the ring as he fights for his life.

If you want to see what boxing’s worst-case scenario is, and why Paulie Malignaggi keeps going nuts when MMA fighters make jokes about boxing being fighting with pillows on your fists, click the link.

Oscar Valdez Retains Belt with Unanimous Decision

In a boring fight, Oscar Valdez beat Jason Sanchez via a unanimous 117-110, 118-109, 118-109 decision which saw Sanchez dropped with a left hook in the fifth, and fighting off a last round attempt by Valdez to close the show with a stoppage. It is this inability to get Sanchez out of there that inspired some chatter. The first idea is that after switching to Canelo’s trainer, Eddy Reynoso, specifically to be a better defensive fighter and that was what we saw. The other theory is that the WBO featherweight champion, Valdez is drained trying to make the weight class and is suffering the consequences.

Why does that matter? Well, after admitting he needs to move up in weight sooner rather than later, but leaving the door open to sticking around at featherweight for big fights, Bob Arum said after his win that if Carl Frampton win his next fight, he’ll do Valdez-Frampton. That’s a big fight that will keep Valdez at 126, but it’s also a good enough opponent that if he’s drained from the weight cut, could make him regret not moving to 130.

Gabriel Flores Jr. Cruises By, But Never Hurts Salvador Briceno

Gabriel Flores Jr. was too good of a boxer for Salvador Briceno, and Briceno was too durable and unwilling to lay it all on the line to give Flores an opportunity for a stoppage. So, in the end it was a pretty uneventful, unanimous 78-74, 78-74, 79-73 decision victory for the 19-year-old from Stockton, California. Flores wants another fight this summer, so we’ll see if Top Rank gives him his wish, and if he can get in a more exciting bout.

Ali Akhmedov KOs Marcus McDaniels in the 3rd round. Now, it's time for the fight we've been waiting for #GGGRolls pic.twitter.com/T5TOKEcVPf

— Def Pen Sports (@DefPenSports) June 9, 2019

Akhmedov Stops Marcus McDaniel in Three

On the GGG-Rolls undercard, fellow Kazakhstani Ali Akhmedov walked down former drive-by shooting victim Marcus McDaniel, before dropping and stopping him in the third round. McDaniel deserves credit for taking the fight, but he never had the power to keep the undefeated 168-pounder from walking through his shots and bludgeoning him with power. With the win, Akhmedov moved to 15-0 with eleven knockouts.

James McGirt Jr. Fights to a Draw, Roberto Duran Jr. Gets the Win via Split Decision

It was a tough weekend for sons of boxing legends. On the weekend his dad was inducted into the boxing hall of fame, James McGirt Jr. fought to a draw against undefeated French fighter David Papot, while Roberto Duran Jr. took a highly dubious decision off Jonathan Pierre.

Michael Seals drops Brooker for the KO!!#ValdezSanchez | @ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/eHFoEWrEyU

— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) June 9, 2019

Michael Seals Scores Absurd Knockout over Christopher Brooker

175-pound fighter Michael Seals moved to 23-2 with 17 knockouts by landing a right hand on the top of Christopher Brooker’s head that crumbled him in a way you rarely see in professional boxing. There’s not much to say other than wow, that was some knockout. Also, look how confused the guy to the left is who misses the knockout punch but turns around to see the aftermath.