Boxing Results: Erickson Lubin decisions Terrell Gausha; Jaron Ennis KOs Abreu

By Boxing News - 09/20/2020 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Erickson “Hammer” Lubin (23-1, 16 KOs) put himself in a position to challenge for a world title in defeating Terrell Gausha (21-2-1, 10 KOs) by a slow-paced 12 round unanimous decision in a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut.

With Gausha, 33, not letting his hands go, Lubin dominated the first half of the contest with ease. In the ninth round, the 2012 Olympian Gausha finally started to show a sense of urgency in attacking Lubin with power shots.

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Gausha ran out of time with his rally and ended up losing by the following scores 115-113, 116-112, and 118-110. Boxing News 24 scored it 118-110 for Lubin.

In the 10th, Lubin was hurt by a big right hand from Gausha. Two rounds later, Lubin returned the favor in hurting Gausha in the 12th.

With the victory, Lubin, 24, is now mandatory for WBC junior middleweight champion Jermell Charlo. Lubin was knocked out by Charlo in the 1st round three years ago in 2017 n a failed bid to win his WBC title.

Lubin not impressive

What we saw from ‘The Hammer’ tonight, he likely won’t do well in the rematch with Charlo. Lubin is too easy to hit, he gets hurt even by weak shots, and he lacks the work rated needed to beat a fighter like Jermell.

The World Boxing Council will still need to order the winner of the September 26th unification fight between Charlo and IBF/WBA champion Jeison Rosario to fight Lubin. There’s no way of knowing how soon they’ll get around to doing that. It could be this year or more likely in late 2021.

In the meantime, there will be pressure for Lubin to fight a good fighter while he waits for his title shot. Tony Harrison and Jarrett Hurd would be excellent options for Lubin. They’d be risky opponents for sure, but if he can’t beat them, then he surely won’t defeat Charlo in their rematch.

“I think Jermell Charlo is going to come out on top against Jeison Rosario,” Lubin said. “I’m ready for a rematch if he can take care of business like I did.

“I definitely made a statement,” Lubin continued. ‘I feel like I beat one of the top 154 pounders and I’m going to keep doing that.’

Well, for the record, Gausha, 33, isn’t even ranked in the top 15 by the WBC, so it’s difficult to agree with Lubin’s comment about him being “one of the top 154 pounders” in the division. Gausha is a fringe-level contender at best. He’s not on the level of many of the contenders in the weight class.

It’s troubling that Lubin is making more of his win over Gausha than what he should be doing, as it wasn’t an outstanding performance. Besides, ‘The Hammer’ Lubin wasn’t fighting one of the best. If Lubin wanted to make a real statement, he should have taken on one of these contenders:

  • Israil Madrimov
  • Tony Harrison
  • Jarrett Hurd
  • Tim Tszyu
  • Liam Smith
  • Brian Castano
  • Kell Brook
  • Julian ‘J-Rock’ Williams
  • Charles Conwell

Image: Boxing Results: Erickson Lubin decisions Terrell Gausha; Jaron Ennis KOs Abreu

I wouldn’t say that ‘The Hammer’ is a better fighter than he was in 2017 when he lost to Charlo by a 1st round knockout.

Lubin has been beating guys like 40-year-old Ishe Smith, 37-year-old Silverio Ortiz, 33-year-old Gausha, 38-year-old Zakaria Attou, 32-year-old Nathan Gallimore. Lubin hasn’t been fighting the best, and that’s the chief reason he’s been doing so well since his loss to Charlo. The way that Lubin looked last night, Charlo would have had a good chance of knocking him out in the first round if he’d been in there with him instead of the weak-punching Gausha. 

Nothing has changed for Lubin. It’s all smoke and mirrors with him, as he’s been matched against weak old guys that are no longer in their prime.

If Lubin will have any chance against the winner of the unification clash between Jermell and IBF/WBA 154-lb champion Jeison Rosario, he’s going to need to come out on fire in the early rounds and look to unload everything that he has.

If Erickson doesn’t shock Rosario or Charlo with some big shots early on, it’ll only be a matter of time before they knock him out.

Tugstsogt “King Tug” Nyambaya edges Cobia Breedy

The recently beaten Tugstsogt “King Tug” Nyambayar (12-1,9 KOs) defeated Cobia Breedy (15-1, 5 KOs) by a 12 round split decision in a WBC featherweight title eliminator bout.

Image: Boxing Results: Erickson Lubin decisions Terrell Gausha; Jaron Ennis KOs Abreu

The scores were 1114-112, 114-113 for Nyambayar, and 115-111 for Breedy.

Nyambayar knocked Breedy down in the first two rounds but wasn’t able to hurt him the rest of the way.

It’s unclear why the fight was made a title eliminator, as Nyambaya was coming off of a 12 round decision loss to WBC 126-lb champion Gary Russell Jr last February.

Does Nyambayar deserve another title shot so soon? 

For Nyambaya to competing in a WBC title eliminator in his very next fight, it didn’t make sense. What about the other contenders in the top 15 in the WBC’s rankings at featherweight. WBC 126lb champion handled Nyambaya efficiently earlier this year In beating him by a one-sided 12 round decision.

Nyambayar’s best hope to win the WBC featherweight title is if Russell vacates his belt and moves up to 135 like he’s been talking about for the past month. If Russell stays at 126, then the outcome will be no different for Nyambayar when he challenges him.

Nyambayar is not fast enough or talented enough to beat Russell. That’s why it’s odd that the WBC sanctioned the Nyambayar vs. Breedy fight to be a WBC 126lb title eliminator. That move doesn’t make sense on many levels, mainly because Nyambayar lost to Russell in his last battle.

What happened to the days where a world title challenger needing to put together three to six solid wins before they’re put back in position to fight in a title eliminator? In Nyambayar’s case, the WBC allowed him to immediately fight in a title eliminator in his first match after losing to Russell. What’s the message behind that move by the WBC? 

Jaron Ennis stops Juan Carlos Abreu

Undefeated welterweight contender Jaron Ennis (26-0, 24 KOs) made a statement in stopping Juan Carlos Abreu (23-6-1, 21 KOs in the sixth round.

Abreu was knocked down once in the fifth round and then two more times in the sixth round. The referee halted the fight at 1:06 of the competition.

It a situation where Abreu was overmatched from start to finish, and this made it easy for Ennis to dominate him.

The win for Ennis sends a statement to the other fighters in the welterweight division that he’s coming.