No surprises as Figueroa, Nery, Roman and the Charlo brothers win convincingly

On Saturday evening, September 26, 2020, the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut hosted the latest USA Showtime Boxing Pay-Per-View offering which featured more than its share of notable contests.

It’s likely if you were to ask any Boxing fan: “Which of this weekend’s Boxing Shows on TV, PPV, in Las Vegas or anywhere, do you think will draw the most fans, it’s likely the majority would say, “Showtime should blow away the competition.” Their fight poster with the twins posing with those two warm and fuzzy kitties is surely an eye catcher. One that says, if the two glaring Charlo brothers were to ever get hungry enough, they might just take off their gloves and devour their opponents.

In the first of these contests, it was the 5’11” tall, 153 3/4 pound Jermell “Iron Man” Charlo (right), the WBC, WBA and IBF Super Welterweight champ taking on the 5’11” tall Dominican Jeison ‘Banana’ Rosario.

In twin brother Jermall “Hit Man” Charlo’s middleweight contest versus the 34-year-old, 5’9″ tall Sergiy “The Technician” Derevyanchenko (13-2) from Brooklyn, New York by way of the Ukraine, the six-foot tall, 159 3/4 pound Jermall won a 12-round unanimous decision with scores of 116-112, 118-110, and 117-111 to improve his record to 31-0 with 22 KOs. Meanwhile Derevyanchenko dropped to 13-3 after losing his second straight. On October 5, 2019, Derevyanchenko lost a similar 12 round unanimous decision to Gennadiy Golovkin.

This slugfest went right up to the final bell when it appeared Roman had dropped Payano with a left hook but it was not ruled a knockdown since Payano had touched the canvas after the final bell. All three judges scored the bout the same 116-112 for Roman, who with the win improved his record to 28-3-1 and no doubt revitalized a career that some people believed had begun to tail off.

How so? On January 30, 2020, after going four and a half years without a loss, Roman went a full 12 rounds against the younger, more fit at the time, Murodjon Akhmadaliev from Uzbekistan and lost both his WBA and IBF World Super Bantamweight Titles by a narrow Split Decision. Word on the street: At the time, it was said Roman was dealing with a shoulder injury, but was convinced that pulling out of the fight with Akhmadaliev was not advisable. Since drawing the wrath of a promoter never is, the dutiful/compliant Roman went ahead with the Title fight.

“After defeating Payano, my focus has now shifted to challenging Luis Nery for the Green and Gold title”, stated Roman after the fight. “I’m now the mandatory challenger and believe that fight can be done easily as we are both fighting on Showtime with PBC. Nery is a true warrior, like me, and I will be ready to fight him anytime, anywhere. Nery is a very talented fighter and I think that fight will be exciting for the fans.”

On Saturday night, the WBA World Super Bantamweight Champ Brandon “The Heartbreaker” Figueroa turned in perhaps the best performance of his career when dominating Damien Vazquez for 10 rounds. The way he broke Vazquez down to administer his non-stop punishment, masterful.

Saving the best for last: Luis Nery’s defeat of the game Aaron Alameda

Note well: Showtime’s Matchmaker must have been thinking ahead. His Master Plan of showcasing six of the World’s top Super Bantamweights on this September 26 fight-card worked out perfectly and Boxing Fans will no doubt be looking forward to seeing a Danny Roman vs. Murodjon Akhmadaliev rematch and a Brandon Figueroa versus Angelo Leo match-up for the right to face the Champions: Luis Nery and Rey Vargas.