Magdaleno siblings shoot at stardom
Dan Rafael [ARCHIVE]
ESPN.com
August 6, 2012
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A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:

Saturday at Las Vegas

Diego Magdaleno TKO4 Antonio Davis

Junior lightweight

Records: Magdaleno (23-0, 8 KOs); Davis (29-8, 13 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Top Rank has designs on getting Magdaleno, 25, a title shot later this year or early next year, possibly against the winner of the Sept. 15 bout for a vacant belt between Roman "Rocky" Martinez and Miguel Beltran Jr. With a title shot in his near future, this bout, which headlined "Solo Boxeo Tecate" on Telefutura, served as what will be his likely final tuneup before a title opportunity. Therefore, Magdaleno was matched relatively softly against the 40-year-old Davis, a former three-time junior lightweight title challenger from Atlanta who was once a decent contender. Now he is 3-4 in his past seven bouts, with each loss coming by knockout. Magdaleno routed him, as expected. Fighting in front of his hometown fans, Magdaleno was on his game against the slower Davis. Magdaleno, a southpaw, repeatedly hurt Davis with combinations and punches from all angles. He worked the body and head and had little concern for Davis' limited offensive attack. With only about 20 seconds left in the fourth round, Magdaleno badly hurt Davis with a short left uppercut. Davis was in bad shape and trying to cover up, but Magdaleno continued to work him over. Magdaleno was destroying him until referee Joe Cortez stepped in to call off the fight at 2 minutes, 59 seconds -- just as one of Davis' cornermen had stepped up onto the ring apron to throw in the towel. Ideally, Top Rank will line up the title shot for Magdaleno. He looks like he is ready.

Jose Benavidez TKO4 Javier Loya

Light welterweight

Records: Benavidez (16-0, 13 KOs); Loya (7-1, 6 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Benavidez, 20, of Phoenix, was a star amateur who probably would have been competing in the Olympics had he not turned pro. He is so gifted that he was granted a special waiver by the Nevada State Athletic Commission to begin his pro career when he was 17 instead of waiting until he was 18, which is the rule. Although he has had some hand issues that have forced him into longer-than-anticipated layoffs, Benavidez is a stud prospect. Loya, 26, also of Phoenix, was undefeated and game but utterly outclassed. Benavidez was in full command going into the fourth round when he finally stunned Loya and put together a sustained flurry of blows that had Loya on the verge of going down. Benavidez was rocking Loya's head all over the place with clean shots until referee Tony Weeks correctly intervened at 1 minutes, 41 seconds. Benavidez is a top prospect to keep an eye on.

Mike Lee TKO2 Tyler Seever

Light heavyweight

Records: Lee (10-0, 6 KOs); Seever (13-12-1, 11 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Lee, 25, of Chicago, continues to gain experience as he moved into double-digit victories. If you follow boxing, you ought to know about Lee by now. He graduated from Notre Dame with a finance degree and could have gone to Wall Street. Instead, he decided to pursue his dream of professional boxing and also wound up with a Subway restaurant endorsement deal to boot. With some early knockouts, Lee's bout made the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" broadcast on Telefutura and joined the early knockout parade. Lee dominated the first round and landed some solid right hands. In the second round, Lee finished Seever, 28, of St. Joseph, Mo., dropping him twice -- both times with hard right hands -- until referee Russell Mora called off the fight following the second knockdown at 1 minute, 35 seconds. Seever's five-fight winning streak came to an end as he was stopped for the ninth time. Lee will move on to a coveted spot on the HBO PPV undercard of the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. middleweight world championship fight on Sept. 15 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. His presence on the televised portion of the card is because of a deal between Top Rank and Subway to come on board as a sponsor of the event, according to Top Rank's Bob Arum.

Saturday at Mobile, Ala.

Deontay Wilder TKO1 Kertson Manswell

Heavyweight

Records: Wilder (24-0, 24 KOs); Manswell (22-6, 17 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Four years ago, Wilder, 26, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., was in Beijing on his way to a heavyweight bronze medal. He was the salvation for a historically awful Team USA, which had only Wilder's medal to show for its efforts. As a professional, Wilder has been brought along by Golden Boy extraordinarily slowly as he has racked up one easy win after another against a series of woeful soft touches. He was supposed to take a small step up in competition against undefeated Kelvin Price in the main event of this Fox Sports Net/Fox Deportes card, but Price dropped out a few weeks ago because of an injury and was replaced with Manswell, 34, of Trinidad, who at least had a lot of experience but was otherwise a punching bag in recent fights. Wilder blew him out and barely broke a sweat doing it. The most competitive part of the fight was the prefight staredown in the center of the ring, when they went literally forehead-to-forehead during referee Keith Hughes' instructions. Then they spent the first 75 seconds of the fight doing nothing but feinting, staring and pawing jabs before the imposing 6-foot-7, 228½-pound Wilder dropped Manswell to his backside with a couple of right hands, the first shots of any consequence thrown in the bout. A right hand-left hook combination floored Manswell almost immediately when the fight resumed, and moments later, Manswell went down for the third time off a right hand, and Hughes stopped the farce at 2 minutes, 10 seconds. Wilder can certainly punch, especially with his right hand, but it is really time for his handlers to dramatically raise his level of competition. He has fought abysmal opposition and probably gets better work in the gym than he did from Manswell, who lost his third fight in a row and for the sixth time in eight fights. At least Wilder looks the best of the good opponents Manswell has been facing. Wilder got him out in the first round, while a series of notable heavyweights took longer to erase him: Alexander Ustinov (three rounds), former world titleholder Ruslan Chagaev (eight-round distance), former world title challenger Cedric Boswell (10-round distance), prospect Mike Perez (three rounds) and fringe contender Bermane Stiverne (two rounds). Even though Wilder has never faced an opponent with even a faint pulse, he called out the heavyweight champion brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko after the fight. Try not to laugh. Maybe someday it won't be so funny, but right now it is hilarious.

Saturday at Mazatlan, Mexico

Johnriel Casimero W12 Pedro Guevara

Junior flyweight

Retains a junior flyweight title

Scores: 116-111,...
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