It was a busy month and boxing is just going to get spicier as time goes on, so let’s hit the highlights:

O’Shaquie Foster UD Rey Vargas - WBC Super Featherweight Title

February 1th - AlamoDome, Texas, USA

OI’Shaquie Foster (USA) had his way with Rey Vargas (Mex) throughout the fight. He came in as an outside aggressor from the start and was consistently in Vargas’ face. Foster was looking to counter and land power shots, while Vargas was looking to push and make the fight more up close and personal. Foster’s aggression deterrence was always there and Vargas fell into his traps virtually the entire fight. By the end of the second third of the, Foster was ahead on every scorecard penned by a rational person.

If the fight was any indication, Foster may already be a top-5 at 130. He has the potential to become a unified champion if he were to pursue those fights. Foster uses angles to set up his power punches, seems to have a decent chin, and he has a swift and accurate jab. Foster seems to be one of those guys who is not afraid to get in the ring with the best opponents and put his skills to the test simply because he believes in himself that much. He likes to stick and move, he also has a nice balance, and he fights well off of his back foot. Here are the other champions at 130:

WBA - Hector Garcia (Dom)
IBF - Shavkat Rakhimov (Tjk)
WBO - Emanuel Navarrete (Mex)

Rakhimov (represented by RCC Boxing (Rus)) is facing his mandatory challenger, Joe Cordina (Wls), in late April so that fight may not be on the horizon soon. Should Cordina win the IBF title back, he is aligned with Matchroom and DAZN, while Foster for these purposes we will say is with PBC and Showtime. A unification bout with Navarrete has the same difficulties as Cordina, but swap in Top Rank and ESPN. Rakhimov is not out of the realm of possibility, but it would be cross-promotion and those don’t always come off as easily. That leaves us with our good friend Hector Garcia. The scrappy Dominican came out of nowhere last year and followed up the wins over Colbert and Gutierrez with a marquee showdown against Gervonta Davis at 135. Garcia appears to have suffered some significant damage that ended the fight, among which was an eye damaged to the point of temporary blindness. Garcia insists he’ll be back to defend his title at 130 and he falls under the same management umbrella.

Mauricio Lara TKO7 Leigh Wood - WBA Featherweight Title

Well well well, Mauricio Lara’s “British Destruction Tour” continues! The Bronco boxing sensation stopped Leigh Wood in just 7 rounds to claim the WBA title. This guy is a force to be reckoned with and has been making waves ever since he flew into most peoples’ radars with the win over Josh Warrington. When you throw in a fighter like Mauricio Lara, who has the power to knock out opponents with ease, in with these guys who for whatever reason feel it’s a good idea to go punch for punch with him, it's no wonder people are tuning in. But let's talk about this particular fight for a moment: Leigh Wood put up a good fight. He boxed smart to start, but when he decided he was going to take the fight into closer range, he was no match for Lara's power. All in all, it was a great fight, and the rematch should be more exciting with the brilliant boxing mind Ben Davidson (lol) chopping up a new plan with Leigh Wood. Mauricio Lara is a fan-friendly talent, and I have no doubt that we'll be seeing much more of him in the future, so let’s check out his contemporaries.

WBO - Robeisy Ramirez (Cub) v Isaac Dogboe (Gha), April 1st
IBF - Luis Lopez (Mex)
WBC - Rey Vargas (Mex)
WBA (Super) - Leo Santa Cruz (Mex)

First thing is that the only realistic possibility of those guys is Luis Lopez, since he’s also in the Matchroom stable, especially after bopping Warrington. Second thing is that the “actual” champion is LSC, who is on the wrong side of the tracks so that throne-sharing won’t be squared up any time soon. Some theoretical fun though is that there are a lot of Mexican champs here, so a few all-Mexican showdowns would be fun. With Rey Vargas losing to O’Shaquie Foster at 130, it seems he’ll be coming back to 126 to take his mandatory Brandon Figueroa (USA). Like LSC and Vargas, the winner of Robeisy and Dogboe won’t be unifying with any of the other champions, as Top Rank is wont to do, so we can only really theorize what that matchup would look like for Lara.

Subriel Matias TKO5 Jeremias Ponce - IBF Junior Welterweight Title

The long hard slog to a title is over for Matias, but now begins the difficult journey of retaining that status as a world champion. I have no doubt in my mind that Matias is up to the test after what we saw against Ponce and there are plenty of exciting fights strictly within the PBC ecosystem. As is tradition, let’s have a look at his fellow champions.

WBC - Regis Prograis (USA)
WBA - Alberto Puello (Dom)
WBO - Josh Taylor (Sct)

Puello is tied up at the moment, as he’ll be facing the colorful Rolando Romero (USA) in mid-May. It’s worth noting that while this is for the “Regular” title, the “Super” is currently vacant since Josh Taylor was stripped a while back. Those two being in the same camp as Matias, that could make for a fun little unification down the road. As for Taylor, he’s a Top Rank guy and has a rematch with Catterall lined up so we won’t be getting that any time soon if ever. The wildcard here is Prograis. Zepeda is/was a Top Rank guy, but the title fight was promoted by MarvNation. Regardless of whether Prograis is exclusive with MarvNation, the kind of purses that PBC can offer would be unrivaled by any other organization that’s putting on fights, but there is some rough history between Prograis and PBC. Politics aside, Matias vs Prograis would be a barnburner.

Tommy Fury SD Jake Paul - Cruiserweight Buttheads

Well, it finally happened. Tommy Fumbles got to share the ring with youtuber turned pro fighter Jake Paul. It was exactly what one would expect from an 8-0 guy fighting a 6-0 guy, which is to say the fight left a lot to be desired in terms of top-quality boxing. Whatever, the Jake Paul spectacle seems to be coming to a close in terms of boxing, seeing as he is joining the PFL to start mixing it up with the MMA cats. Something pretty cool is that Paul has made an arragement with PFL for a sort of secondary “league” called PPV Super Fights. The purpose of this secondary league is to guarantee more of the revenue to the fighters, which while one could say this is really cool of him to try and set up, it’s also a clear poke in the eye to UFC head-butthead Dana White and the horrible pay structure. Further to that if Paul’s “Fighter’s Association” (a Union for combat sports athletes collective bargaining) takes hold, there could be some serious changes on the horizon. I know you might be thinking that the top guys make lots of money, which is completely true, but the journeymen at the bottom of the pyramid? Not so much. I totally support the effort cuz you don’t play combat sports. Regardless, Paul seems to be satisfied with how high he’s taken boxing and is moving onto greener pastures.

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Badou Jack TKO12 Ilunga Makabu - WBC Cruiserweight Title

It’s a matter of whether you rate the WBA “regular” as a legitimate title, which I don’t, so Badou Jack (Swe) becomes a two-weight world champion by styling on Ilunga Makabu (CoD) to a late stoppage. From the performance Makabu turned in, it’s pretty safe to say he wasn’t the strongest champion in the division. That also makes Canelo’s pipe dream of fighting Makabu seem more realistic. At the advanced age of 39, Jack’s best years are clearly behind him but let’s see how he stacks up against the rest of the division:

IBF - Jai Oppetaia (Aus)
WBO - Lawrence Okolie (Eng)
WBA - Arsen Goulamirian (Fra)

All three of these guys are young, hungry lions all coming in undefeated with 22, 18, and 27 wins respectively. Badou Jack clearly has the experience over these guys and he just showed us that he can give 12 solid rounds at high pace. I’m a Badou fan; Jack’s calm, cool confidence really impressed me when I had a chance to talk to him briefly some years ago following the questionable draw against James DeGale. A few years under the belt with his trainer Jonathan Banks really seems to have done him good, his less impressive outing against Richard Rivera notwithstanding. Of those three other titlists, Okolie might be the weakest of them - truthfully I’ve not seen Goulamirian fight before - but that’s not at all to say he can be taken lightly or overlooked. It’s a tall order for Badou Jack.

February Fighting Frenzy