As Elton John famously sang: Saturday nights all right for fighting – Get a little action in.
On a beautiful cold New England day, boxing took the world stage the world over. On the busiest boxing day of the year, We also celebrate the six-year anniversary of Pacquiao/Marquez IV and the last HBO broadcast. Let’s get into today’s action.

Vasiliy Lomachenko Vs Jose Pedraza:
Thru 3 rounds, both guys well prepared and boxing beautifully, Loma throwing with more power and his footwork is unreal. Pedraza holding his own so far (even fight). Loma starting to land well in round 4 as things start heating up. Pedraza steps on the gas to take round 5. Good fight so far, Pedraza is neutralizing Lomachenko’s speed, Loma is trying to set him up for more side movement. Pedraza finally starting to sit on his punches in the 7th, easier said then done against Loma. Rd. 8, Pedraza giving Loma a taste of his own medicine with great head movement, Loma a bit frustrated because he thought he would be landing more shots by now. Rd. 9, it was only a matter of time before the broadcasters would turn into sales people. Yes Loma won the round but Pedraza is boxing well. Rd.10 Pedraza comes on strong and clearly wins the round. Rd.11 wow, Loma explodes and I don’t know how Pedraza stayed up for two minutes getting hit with none stop pin point punches. Pedraza went down twice in the final minute but survived. A dull 12th to cap of a UD for Vasiliy Lomachenko. Pedraza put on a good show.

Vasiliy Lomachenko Report Card:
I thought Loma was up 6 rounds to 4, I thought if Pedraza could take the championship rounds it could be a draw but looking at the final score cards, there was no shot of beating Loma in a decision. Loma is an all world fighter with great speed, good power unfathomable foot movement. Watching the fight made me think of what a 30 year old Manny Pacquiao would have done to Pedraza. It shows how weak the 2018 P4P list is. Outside of the top flyweights and bantamweights, there is no clear top P4P guys like a Pacquiao, Mayweather, Andre Ward, Chavez, Tyson, Jones, Whitaker or Leonard. GGG was on top for a while but at 36 years old is fading.

Isaac Dogboe vs. Emanuel Navarrete:
The Sweet Science talked about this being a great fight and not to underestimate the Mexican Warrior as he is on full six month rest for the first time in 5 years. Navarrete a very smart and rested fighter, feels out and times Dogboe in the first round. Using his reach, Navarrete has really schooled Dogboe in rounds 2 & 3. Dogboe hurt again in the 5th. This might be like the Maurice Hooker fight last month. Man does Navarrete throw a lot of punches. Dogboe comes back with a very strong 8th round. I wonder is Navarrete is tired because once he hurt Dogboe in round two, he expanded a lot of energy almonds punching himself out. Rd.9- best round of the fight so far. Dogboe comes on very strong and Navarrete dominates the second half. Dogboe gets knocked down but it’s rules a slip because of the wet surface. Dogboe in big big trouble taking career changing damage. I’ll be surprised is he goes the distance. Dogboe survives the 11th, if I was his corner, I would stop it and fight another day. And new WBO Junior Featherweight world Champion Emanuel Navarrete.

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Teofimo Brooklyn Lopez KO’s Mason Menard in the KO of the year.

ESPN and the Broadcast Team did a great job tonight. They had good analysis and we’re entertaining but also let the fights take form and let the audience enjoy the fight. Listening to Timothy Bradley talk about what the fighters are thinking, what there’s trying to do and there possible weakness is Terrific. Also congratulations to ESPN’s Teddy Atlas For being the newest inductee to the Boxing Hall of Fame.

Kell Brook Vs Michael Zerafa:
Watching Brook’s ring walk, you can’t help but get excited. Brook dominating the fight thru 3, but got hit a lot in the last 30 seconds of round 3, Brook breathing very heavy thru three rounds. Now in round 6, Brook boxing beautifully, Brook has a great 1-2 punch but in this day of video research he needs to be able to either disguise his 1-2 or change it up because he’s a bit slow and predictable. It will be interesting to see the fight go 12 and see Brooks ability to last because Zerafa looks like he can box all night. Great 7th round as Brook looks like he bought the big guns tonight. Zerafa absorbing Brook’s shots very well and threw a big right hand that narrowly missed Brook. In the eighth round, Zerafa’s right landing and Brook taking heavy punishment. Zerafa’s looking for the big right hand. You get the sense that Brook won’t be able to take Zerafa’s right hand but Zerafa can take Brook’s biggest punches. Round 9 turn into a real fight and now we see what Kell is really made of. Midway through round 11 Brook is giving it everything he has but is really starting to fade. They start to brawl in the 12th round and Brook catches a left that really hurts him. Good fight- Brook Wins. (Zerafa took Brook into deep water and Brook barely swam out)

Kell Brook Report Card:
Very difficult to judge were Kell Brook is with the opponent he had tonight. Overall I don’t think he looked to great, Brook looks very hittable and will be in trouble with the elite middleweights and he also looks a bit slow with no stamina to be able to beat the top welterweights -Crawford or Spence. Quite honestly his middle ground will probably have to be the super welterweight division. There he will be able to keep his weight and maintain his stamina and fight at the pace which he likes which is a very conservative pace. Brook tonight reminded me of Luis King Kong Ortiz fighting last Saturday. Yes Ortiz dominated the fight last week but he looked old and slow and clearly you can see that Wilder did some permanent damage on him. He is no longer the same fighter. I wonder if Brook at only age 32 is in the same boat.

Also the DAZN Broadcasters are right on the button with there reviews of Brook during the entire fight, great Analysis (except when they talked about Amir Khan, khan is washed up and not an elite fighter by any means).

Jono Carroll vs Guillaume Frenois:
After fighting a good first round using his height, Frenois made the mistake of slugging with Carroll. Carroll took control of the fight in the 2nd round by throwing and landing some heavy shots. Carroll’s aggressiveness , energy and body attacking is sensational. Frenois finally holds his own in the 5th round to make the Fight respectable. Round 6-10 have been very good exciting rounds. Carroll hits Frenois with a hard flush shot after round 10 ended. Very late shot, I would have taken a point for that myself. After round 11, Frenois has taken over and most would guess that he’s ahead on points but I smell some hometown cooking. Round 12 very difficult to score, just like round 12, hopefully this turns into a draw. Hats of to these two fighters as they both left everything in the ring (not just the 12th round, but every round). Decision- Draw (good decision)

Jono ”King Kong” Carroll Report Card:
Carroll has a lot of upside with his toughness, hard punch, conditioning and body attack. He does a good job of bobbing and weaving when he comes in but I don’t like his footwork. He seems to be very stationary and very hittable because he doesn’t do enough side to side movement, he seems to expect people to stand and brawl with him. As he fights higher level world class boxers, he’s going to Need more tools in his toolbox.

Cecilia Braekhus vs Aleksandra Magdziak-Lopes: Braekhus wins by UD.
Claressa Shields or Estrada should have headlined the Card, not the light punching Braekhus. The featherweight and middleweight female divisions are much deeper then the Welterweight division.

Juan Francisco Estrada V Victor Mendez:
Mendez looks much bigger then Estrada. Mendez doesn’t come out for the 8th round, Estrada wins and continues his phenomenal career.

Claressa Shields vs Femke Hermans:
Shields dominated the fight and really letting the leather fly in round 7. Two-time United States Olympic Gold Medalist and WBC/IBF/WBA Women’s Middleweight World Champion Claressa Shields improves to 8-0 and collects another (WBO) title on only three weeks rest. Hermans is a tough champion.

HBO Note:
Congratulations on 45 years and thank you for the memories. HBO broadcasters talked about equal pay for women Boxers but didn’t mention that it also starts with them. For example, on HBO’s October 27th Telecast Heather Hardy won the IBF lightweight title against a tough Shelly Vincent but HBO failed to give them there time in the sun and denied them post fight interviews, how can they build there brand of you don’t give them the same respect you give the men? Also tonight they could have interviewed 2 time gold medalist and unified middleweight champion Claressa Shields but no air time for her either. If we want equality, we all have a hand to play in the matter. (Also with all due respect to Roy Jones, you can be A one dimensional fighter and still be best pound for pound if you are good enough).