Scorecard: Shane Mosley loses fight, title opportunity
— -- A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Sunday at Liverpool, England
Tony Bellew KO3 Ilunga "Junior" Makabu
Wins a vacant cruiserweight title
Records: Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs); Makabu (19-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Bellew lost in world title fights twice, at light heavyweight -- by majority decision to Nathan Cleverly in 2011 (a loss avenged in 2014 at cruiserweight) and sixth-round knockout to Adonis Stevenson in 2013.
When world titleholder Grigory Drozd (40-1, 28 KOs) of Russia had to twice withdraw from mandatory defenses against Makabu, he was made a titleholder "in recess" and Bellew got the chance to face Makabu for the vacant belt.
Makabu, a hard-hitting southpaw from Congo who is based in South Africa, traveled to Bellew's hometown of Liverpool for the fight. It was put on in an electric atmosphere outdoors at the Goodison Park, the home stadium of the Everton Football Club -- and Bellew, who had a recent starring role in the Rocky film "Creed," did not disappoint, even if things looked bleak early on when Makabu, 28, dropped Bellew, 33, with a clean straight left hand in the final seconds of the first round.
Both fighters were fairly cautious in the second round but Bellew began to open up on offense in the third. He backed Makabu near the ropes and let his hands go, blasting him with several clean shots, including a left and a right that badly hurt him. Bellew measured him for more blows as he hammered him at will. A left hook on the ropes bent Makabu over and he appeared out on his feet, but Bellew landed one more hellacious right hand to finish him off, sending him to the mat, out cold, as referee Victor Loughlin was jumping in to call off the fight at 1 minute, 20 seconds.
It was a sensational finishing sequence and sent the home crowd into a wild celebration as Bellew won his seventh fight in a row, and easily the biggest of his career. The loss was Makabu's first since he was knocked out in the first round of his professional debut in 2008.
Stephen Smith TKO7 Daniel Brizuela
Junior lightweight
Records: Smith (24-2, 14 KOs); Brizuela (28-6-2, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: On April 16, Smith, 30, lost his mandatory title shot against junior lightweight world titleholder Jose Pedraza in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Fighting in his hometown of Liverpool, he made a quick return against Brizuela, 30, of Argentina, and took him apart.
Smith was in command from the outset, broke Brizuela down and knocked him down twice in the seventh round, first from an accumulation of punches and then a few seconds later following a series of body shots. After Brizuela took a knee for the second knockdown, referee Ian John Lewis waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 59 seconds.
Callum Smith TKO6 Cesar Hernan Reynoso
Light heavyweight
Records: Smith (20-0, 15 KOs); Reynoso (14-8-3, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Smith, 26, is one of the four fighting Smith brothers from Liverpool, including junior middleweight world titleholder Liam Smith (who defends his belt Saturday) and junior lightweight contender Stephen Smith and super middleweight Paul Smith, both of whom won on this card.
Callum Smith took out Reynoso, 29, of Argentina, with ease. Although he is European super middleweight champion, Smith was fighting a nontitle bout just to stay busy for a mandatory shot at the winner of the September world title unification fight between James DeGale and Badou Jack. He battered poor Reynoso for the entire fight. He dropped him three times, in the first and fourth rounds with left hooks upstairs and with a left hook to the body in the fifth round, and then was pounding him in the sixth round when referee Steve Gray stepped in at 2 minutes, 2 seconds.
In another undercard fight, one-time heavyweight top prospect David Price (20-3, 17 KOs), 32, also of Liverpool and a 2008 British Olympic bronze medalist, dropped Vaclav Pejsar (9-3, 8 KOs), 31, of the Czech Republic, twice and stopped him at 1 minute, 30 seconds of the second round. It was Price's first fight in 10 months since suffering a second-round knockout in a fight for the vacant European title to Erkan Teper, who failed a drug test following the bout.
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