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25-year-old Uzbek junior middleweight prospect Israil Madrimov wants to graduate to contender status sooner than later, and took another step in that direction this evening in Texas, stopping veteran Charlie Navarro in the sixth round of some sort of WBA eliminator.
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Madrimov (5-0, 5 KO) dominated the 40-year-old Navarro (29-10, 22 KO), a journeyman from Venezuela who had fought around the world for the last 16 years but was remarkably making his U.S. debut in this one. He didn’t fare so well, which you’d have expected if you’d ever seen him fight before.
Madrimov now has some sort of spot in the WBA rankings worth having, meaning he’s in line for a shot perhaps at Jeison Rosario, their “super” champion, or Erislandy Lara, their “world” champion. (People always say “regular,” but I don’t know why.) Madrimov has said he prefers to fight Lara as he feels Lara is the best at 154. That’s debatable at best, but 154 is a debatable division in general.
Diego Pacheco UD-6 Oscar Riojas
The 18-year-old Pacheco is now 9-0 (7 KO). As we say every time he fights, he’s a 6’4” super middleweight, tall and mostly uses his height as you’d like to see a fighter with his dimensions do. The 36-year-old Riojas (21-13-1, 10 KO) is a 36-year-old veteran who is generally good at hanging around and surviving, and he did that here, though barely, as he was hurt late in the fight and the referee was ready to jump in, but we heard the final bell. Scores were 60-54 across the board.
Alexis Espino UD-6 Delvecchio Savage
Savage falls to 3-6-1 (3 KO) and gave his usual effort here. He’s a 23-year-old fighter that if someone had cared to carefully manage him from the jump, might have been a fighter of some level. But most likely he’ll have any ambition beaten out of him soon enough if he hasn’t already. He’s tough, but he took a lot of shots here from Espino (6-0, 4 KO), a 20-year-old middleweight/super middleweight prospect who continues to look like a young fighter with a serious future. Scores were 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54.