Also on the card, former junior bantamweight world titleholder Carlos Cuadras faces Jose Maria Cardenas in a 10-round battle, unbeaten prospect Gabriel Flores Jr. and Miguel Angel Perez Aispuro meet in an eight-round lightweight bout and former light heavyweight title contenders Felix Valera and Vyacheslav Shabranskyy face-off in a 10-round fight.
This file will be updated with analysis after every fight. Watch Fury vs. Wallin on ESPN+ .
Emanuel Navarrete def. Juan Miguel Elorde by TKO, retains his WBO junior featherweight title. Fight recap coming up.
Zepeda scores big win against Pedraza
Jose Zepeda, right, outpointed Jose Pedraza to win a unanimous decision in their junior welterweight battle. Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Junior welterweight contender Jose Zepeda scored the biggest win of his career, a unanimous decision against former lightweight and junior lightweight world titlist Jose “Sniper” Pedraza, who was moving up to 140 pounds.
Zepeda, a southpaw, outworked and outfought Pedraza in an entertaining fight and won 97-93 on all three scorecards.
“It’s probably one of the best days of my life. It’s Mexican Independence Day. I was giving everything for Mexico,” Zepeda said. “I guess persistence (was the key to victory). The people here were giving me excitement to go get him, to go after this guy. We knew that he was a hell of a boxer.”
Both of Zepeda’s losses came in world title bouts, a second-round stoppage due to a shoulder injury for a vacant lightweight belt to Terry Flanagan in 2015 and a disputed majority decision to Jose Ramirez for a junior welterweight title in February. But with a strong performance against Pedraza (26-3, 13 KOs), 30, of Puerto Rico, Zepeda has put himself back in the title hunt and called for a rematch with Ramirez.
“There were talks that maybe the winner of this fight would go after Ramirez,” Zepeda said. “For me, the rematch, I would like that. It was a very close fight. A lot of people thought I won, a lot of people thought he won. I would love a rematch. I think the people would love it, too.”
It took a couple of rounds for the fight to settle into a rhythm, with Pedraza coming forward and Zepeda (31-2, 25 KOs), 30, of La Puente, California, looking to counter and relying heavily on his jab.
Zepeda’s rapid-fire left hands landed often in the fifth round, but his jab also proved difficult for Pedraza to handle. In the sixth round, Pedraza began to go more to the body and landed a few shots that were audible at ringside, but Zepeda took the shots well and continued to fire jabs down the middle as Pedraza’s face began to show the wear from the shots.
Pedraza, his right eye closing and perhaps believing he was down, came out strong in the eighth round and landed a hard left hand in the opening seconds and then began to stick his jab in Zepeda’s face over and over, forcing him to back up.
According to CompuBox statistics, Zepeda landed 167 of 470 punches (36 percent) and Pedraza connected with 141 of 439 blows (32 percent).
Pedraza remained aggressive in the 10th round and cut Zepeda over his left eye in the best action round of the fight, one that closed with them in a toe-to-toe exchange.
Pedraza dropped to 1-2 in his past three fights, having lost his lightweight belt by decision to Vasiliy Lomachenko in a unification fight in December before bouncing back with a ninth-round knockout of Antonio Lozada in May, before he elected to move up to junior welterweight.
“It was a very good fight. He looked very well, and I just couldn’t do any of the things I wanted to do,” Pedraza said. “Nothing came out the way I wanted. The instruction from my corner was to throw more punches, but nothing was going my way.
“This was my debut at 140. I felt good. I will meet with my team to evaluate if we stay at 140, or if we move down in weight.”
Cuadras edges Cardenas
Former junior bantamweight world titleholder Carlos Cuadras, left, scored a majority decision over Jose Maria Cardenas. Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Former junior bantamweight world titlist Carlos Cuadras (39-3-1, 27 KOs), 31, of Mexico, eked out a majority decision victory over countryman Jose Maria Cardenas (17-5, 14 KOs), 22, in a rough, tough battle in which both fighters were rocked.
Cuadras won his third fight in a row since suffering back-to-back decision losses to McJoe Arroyo and Juan Francisco Estrada, but it wasn’t easy against his unheralded opponent. In the end, Cuadras got the nod 96-94 on two scorecards, while one judge had it 95-95.
“I did what I had to do to get the win. I don’t care what he says,” Cuadras said. “I connected the most powerful and definitive shots. I won the fight.”
Cardenas was upset by the decision.
“This was a total robbery. I clearly won the fight,” he said. “I want an immediate rematch.”
There was lots of back-and-forth action, but it was the quicker Cuadras — darting in and out and landing quick combinations — who had the edge. Cuadras suffered a nasty-looking swelling around his left eye from the fifth round on; and Cardenas’ punches appeared heavier as he backed up Cuadras several times with hard shots, but Cardenas never seemed to have any urgency.
Lowe outpoints Garcia Hernandez
Junior lightweight Isaac Lowe, right, outpointed Ruben Garcia Hernandez for a unanimous decision victory. Mikey Williams/Top Rank
British featherweight Isaac Lowe (18-0-3, 6 KOs), 25, a friend of Fury’s with whom he shared trainer Ben Davison, scored an entertaining unanimous decision victory against Ruben Garcia Hernandez (25-5-2, 11 KOs), 26, of Mexico, in a hard-fought fight in which both had good moments. Lowe won by scores of 78-74, 77-75 and 77-75.
Lowe, who also won on the undercard of Fury’s fight in June against Tom Schwarz, had the biggest moment of the fight when he rocked Hernandez with a right hand in the fifth round.
Flores dominates Perez Aispuro
Gabriel Flores Jr., right, defeated Miguel Angel Perez Aispuro in their lightweight fight. Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Lightweight prospect Gabriel Flores Jr. (15-0, 6 KOs), 19, of Stockton, California, put in a workmanlike performance in a shutout victory over Miguel Angel Perez Aispuro (12-9-2, 8 KOs), 29, of Mexico. Flores landed many combinations and won easily, 60-54, on all three scorecards.
“It’s always a thrill to fight here in Las Vegas,” Flores said. “This has been a great year for me as I continue to develop as a fighter. I’ll be back soon.”
Kharsan stops Ochoa
Featherweight Iskander Kharsan, right, stayed unbeaten with a TKO victory over Isidro Ochoa. Mikey Williams/Top Rank
Junior featherweight Iskander Kharsan (7-0, 5 KOs), 22, of Kazakhstan, dropped Isidro Ochoa (7-1, 3 KOs), 22, a southpaw from Fresno, California, with a short right hand in the fifth round. Ochoa’s corner stopped the bout in the corner after the round. It was another dominating performance for Kharsan.
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