RINGSIDE
Daniel Barrera (right) ended 2025 with a decision over Mario Hernandez.
with Zuffa Boxing. I’m not referring to Opetaia, Benn or the handful of Ring-rated contenders (Efe Ajagba) and former titleholders (Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Jose Valenzuela, Mark Magsayo, Charles Martin) currently under its banner. I’m talking about the majority of the 93 boxers that Zuffa Boxing announced as “Signed Athletes” in a February social media post. Some are promising young up-and-comers, such as Robert Meriwether III and Floyd Diaz, but most are solid 10-round level fighters generally overlooked by the boxing media and fans. Due in part to a five-year (2021-2025) commentating gig with Tom Loeffler’s 360 Promotions, I recognized a bunch of the names on that list of Zuffa Boxing signees. The best- known of this group of fighters are former junior middleweight contender Serhii Bohachuk and unbeaten Irish standout Callum Walsh. But the others – including Umar Dzambekov, Omar Trinidad, Cain Sandoval, Jaybrio Pe Benito, Jorge Maravillo, Adan Palma, Abel Mejia and Daniel Barrera – are only known by those who attended Loeffler’s cards in Southern California or watched the shows on UFC Fight Pass. Dzambekov (14-0, 10 KOs), a talented Austrian light heavyweight with a deep amateur background, may develop into a legit contender. But the others have likely hit their ceilings. That’s a hard reality in the current U.S. boxing landscape. The only value a limited but hard-nosed featherweight scrapper like Trinidad (20-0-2, 14 KOs) has with traditional promoters is his unbeaten record. He would be used for one or two matchups against a favored house fighter and then get discarded after a couple of losses. One of the things I like about White
ESPN). Of his next 13 bouts, from January 1988 to October 1991, nine were televised on ESPN. I’ve got four takeaways from the first half of Ward’s career (prior to a 2½-year hiatus and his hard-fought climb to HBO status): Activity – Ward fought six times in ’88 and seven bouts between ’89-’91. Tough matchups – Ward gave his all vs. Ring-rated fighters, such as Frankie Warren, Harold Brazier and Charles Murray, all of whom outpointed him over the 12-round distance. Network returns after losses – Following the loss to Curet, Ward was back on ESPN vs. Joey Ferrell (TKO 1) in January ’88. The network brought him back immediately after losses to Mike Mungin (UD 10) in September ’88 and Warren in January ’89. From April ’90 to October ’91, he lost four in a row to Brazier, Murray, Tony Martin (UD 10) and Ricky Meyers (UD 10), all televised main events. Exposure – From Curet to Meyers, 10 of 14 bouts were on ESPN. The Warren bout was on CBS and the Meyers bout was on the USA Network. This is what Zuffa Boxing promises to fighters like Sandoval, who dropped a spirited 10-round decision to Julian Rodriguez in the opening bout of its inaugural show on January 23, and Palma, who was outworked and outpointed over eight heated rounds by a determined Pablo Rubio (despite scoring two knockdowns in the third) in the opening bout to the March 8 show headlined by Opetaia- Brandon Glanton. They’ll be back, and it won’t get
is his rejection of modern boxing’s obsession with undefeated records. A UFC fighter can have losses in the double digits and still be a viable player within the organization. As long as the fighter is willing to challenge himself on a regular basis and he makes for good fights, he’ll be welcomed back – win or lose. The U.S. boxing scene used to have a
fighter. From 1986-1991, fans literally witnessed the junior welterweight from Lowell, Massachusetts, develop from the four-round preliminary bouts to 10- and 12-round main events, usually on ESPN’s “Top Rank Boxing” series. Ward won his first 14 pro bouts, nine of which were televised on ESPN, before he dropped a 10-round split decision to Edwin Curet in September 1987 (also on
place for tough fighters who fell short of world-class but could test a superior talent on a good night and, most importantly, weren’t afraid to lose. They’re sometimes called fringe contenders. White and Hall of Fame promoter Lou DiBella refer to them as boxing’s “middle class.” Right now we’ve got an upper class – blue-chip prospects and world-level boxers signed
to major promoters, managers and platforms – and an unsigned lower class made up of gatekeepers and journeymen used to pad the records of the elite. But during the 1980s and ’90s, hungry blue-collar professionals were seen in quality matchups every week on network television and basic cable. Micky Ward, prior to his legendary trilogy with Arturo Gatti, was one such
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