By Jim Dower: Interim WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman (24-0, 21 KOs) looked poor tonight in beating 40-year-old European level contender Leonard Bundu (31-1-2, 11 KOs) by one-sided 12 round unanimous decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The crowd booed Thurman’s running from rounds 4 through 12. Thurman treated the light hitting Bundu like he was a knockout artist instead of a light hitting contender.
The judges scored the fight 120-107, 120-107 and 120-107.
Thurman hit and ran for most of the fight and it looked really bad. If this was a fight where Thurman made a case for a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr then he failed miserably, because Thurman proved that he’s not an exciting fight.
“This is the sport of boxing, I pick how I want to fight,” A defensive Thurman said after the fight. “Only some of them are booing, the rest of them are cheering. Marcos Maidana I see you. Let’s go. Let’s get it.”
While Thurman was saying that only some of the fans were booing him, the crowd erupted in unison with a chorus of boos.
With this win, Thurman’s stock really goes down because he fought so timidly. He may have won the fight but he was really, really boring to watch, and it wasn’t a crowd-pleasing fight.
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Former three division world champion Abner Mares (28-1-1, 15 KOs) made easy work of an over-matched Jose Ramirez (25-5, 15 KOs) in beating him by a 5th round stoppae. The fight was halted after the 5th round. Mares knocked Ramirez down in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th round. Ramirez lost an additional point in the 5th for spitting out his mouth piece.
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Former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz (30-5-2, 23 KOs) got back to his winning ways in beating an over-matched light welterweight Manny Perez (22-11-1, 4 KOs) tonight in stopping him in the 3rd round.
Ortiz knocked Perez down with a big left hand to the head in the 3rd. The fight was then halted by referee Vic Drakulich after Perez got back to his feet. The official time of the stoppage was 0:51 of the 3rd.
For Ortiz, it was his first victory since he beat Andre Berto way back in 2011. Ortiz is going to need to take things slowly if he wants to get back into the thick of things because it would be a big mistake for him to test himself against a quality welterweight at this point. The win for Ortiz ends a 3-fight losing streak that dated back to 2011.
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In other action on the card, former WBA 175 pound champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs) defeated Bobby Thomas Jr (14-3-1, 9 KOs) by a 5th round stoppage. The fight was totally one-sided with Shumenov having his way with the over-matched Thomas Jr. Referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight after the 5th round due to the fight not being competitive.
For Shumenov, this was his first fight at cruiserweight. He’s got a long ways to go before he’ll be ready to face the best in the division.
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Undefeated #4 IBF junior middleweight contender Jermall Charlo (20-0, 16 KOs) blasted out 37-year-old Lenny Bottai (22-3, 9 KOs) in the 3rd round. Charlo knocked Bottai down with a hard left hook in the 3rd round. Bottai’s trainer then threw in the towel rather than letting him continue to take punishment. The official time of the stoppage was 0:38 of the 3rd round. In the 2nd, Bottai was cut over his left eye.
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Undefeated Jermell Charlo (25-0, 11 KOs) pounded out a 10 round unanimous decision over an over-matched Mario Lozano (27-6, 20 KOs). The final judges’ scores were 100-90, 100-90 and 100-90. Charlo didn’t show much in the way of power, but he did a good job of putting his punches together to outclass Lozano. Charlo’s defense needs work, but he didn’t have to worry about it tonight due to the lack of power for his opponent.
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Other boxing action on the card:
Abner Mares RTD 5 Jose Ramirez
Jermall Charlo TKO 3 Lenny Bottai
Jermell Charlo UD 10 Mario Alberto Lozano
Yoshihiro Kamegai TKO 4 Oscar Godoy
Errol Spence TKO 5 Javier Castro
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