Floyd Schofield (18-0, 12 KOs) had to get up off the canvas to defeat Rene Tellez Giron (20-4, 13 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision in a lightweight contest on Saturday night at The Theater Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
Giron surprisingly dropped Schofield in the 11th round with a left Hook to the head. Schofield jumped right up, showing that he wasn’t hurt, but he continued to take big punches for the remainder of the round.
The scores were 118-109, 116-111, and 118-109, all for Schofield. Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya gave Schofield a “C minus” grade for his performance.
Undercard results
– Super middleweight contender Bektemir Melikuziev (15-1, 10 KOs) stayed in the world title hunt with an unimpressive 12-round split decision win over David Stevens (14-2, 10 KOs). The scores were 116-112 for Stevens, 118-110 and 117-111 for Bektemir.
The Golden Boy promoted Bektemir, who looked bloody and battered at the end of the fight, bleeding from the nose and cuts around his eyes. He took a lot of hard shots from the harder-punching Stevens.
By the sixth, Bektemir was exhausted and had lost all the zip on his punches. However, he was able to use movement, jabs, and pot shots to win most of the final six rounds against a tired Stevens.
After that performance, it’s difficult to imagine Bektemir beating any of the top gun contenders in the super middleweight division. He’s a six-round fighter basically, and if he can’t get a knockout by then, he’s fighting on fumes. Golden Boy will need to figure out what they want to do with Bektemir because he’s not going to beat the dangerous contenders like Jaime Munguia, Diego Pacheco or Osleys Iglesias.
– In the fight of the night thus far, IBF flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora (15-0, 7 KOs) scored two one-punch knockdowns to get a seventh-round knockout win over WBA, WBC, and WBO champ Gabriela Alaniz (15-2, 6 KOs) to become the undisputed champion.
In round seven, the lanky Fundora landed a left to the head of Alaniz to put her down. She complained to the referee that Fundora had stepped on her front foot, but it was no use.
Moments later, Alaniz was dropped a second time by a perfectly placed left hand from Fundora. This time, the referee waved it off. The official time was at 1:40 of round seven.
Fundora had struggled through the first five rounds, but when changed things up in round six, throwing lighter shots, she dominated from that point on.
– Super middleweight Darius Fulghum (13-0, 11 KOs) scored a third-round technical knockout win over Christopher Pearson (17-5, 12 KOs). Fulghum backed Pearson against the ropes and then hammered him with an unanswered flurry of shots, forcing the referee to step in and stop the fight. The time of the stoppage was at 1:02 of the round.
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#2 WBA-ranked Schofield (17-0, 12 KOs) will be using Giron (20-3, 13 KOs) to get more practice to prepare him for an eventual title shot, which he hopes will come next year against Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. The unbeaten Schofield feels there’s a chance the WBA belt will become vacant soon, as he thinks Tank won’t want to fight him.
Girón, 25, has looked good lately, winning his last three fights since losing to Jose Matias Romero and Giovani Cabrera. He’s still expected to be over his head tonight against Schofield, but you never know.
DAZN main card
Floyd Schofield vs. Rene Tellez Giron
Bektemir Melikuziev vs. David Stevens
Gabriela Fundora vs. Gabriela Alaniz
Darius Fulghum vs. Christopher Pearson
Joel Iriarte vs. Xavier Madrid
In the chief support fight tonight, super middleweight contender Bektemir Melikuziev battles the heavy-handed slugger David Stevens in a 12-round fight. Golden Boy is trying to position the 28-year-old Bektemir for a title shot against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
The Bektemir-Stevens fight was supposed to be a WBA title eliminator, but Bektemir came in overweight at the weigh-in. As such, the WBA title eliminator only holds for Stevens.
Also on tonight’s card is IBF flyweight champion Gabriela Fundora (14-0, 6 KOs), fighting an undisputed championship contest against WBA, WBC, and WBO champ Gabriela Alaniz (15-1, 6 KOs). This fight may steal the show in tonight’s event on DAZN.
Floyd Schofield takes on the capable Rene Tellez Giron in a 12-round lightweight fight tonight in Las Vegas in the main event on DAZN. The event begins at 8:00 p.m. ET.
