Tag: Carlos Cuadras

Cuadras-Moloney, Hughes-Johnson added to Loma-Kambosos undercard

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Two world title fights featuring Australian challengers have been added to the super card headlined by the vacant IBF lightweight world title showdown between Vasiliy Lomachenko and George Kambosos Jr. on Sunday, May 12 at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.

Mexican standout Carlos Cuadras will defend his WBC Interim junior bantamweight world title against former world champion Andrew Moloney.

And, in a bantamweight world title tilt, WBA champion Nina Hughes looks to turn back the challenge of one-time world champion Cherneka “Sugar Neekz” Johnson.

Promoted by DiBella Entertainment, Top Rank, Ferocious Promotions, TEG Sport and Duco Events, Lomachenko-Kambosos, Cuadras-Moloney and Hughes-Johnson will be broadcast in prime time in the United States on Saturday, May 11 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT, live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+.  Cuadras vs. Moloney is presented in association with Teiken Promotions.

“Not only is this historic event a first for Australia, with three world championship fights on the same bill, it is truly a fight fan’s card with compelling matchups in each of the featured attractions, promising plenty of action. Both Aussies, Andrew Moloney and Cherneka Johnson, will be extra motivated to reclaim past glory in front of their compatriots. Mexican great Carlos Cuadras is never in a bad fight, and it’s impossible not to root for Nina Hughes, a single mom who continues to defy the odds,” said Lou DiBella, President of DiBella Entertainment.

“I can’t wait to arrive in the beautiful city of Perth for this historic event,” said Top Rank Chairman Bob Arum. “Andrew Moloney is in a fantastic fight against one of Mexico’s great champions, and I expect the Hughes-Johnson title fight to be a competitive, dramatic bantamweight battle.”

Cuadras (42-5-1, 28 KOs), a 16-year-pro and one of the leading lighter weight fighters of this generation, made six defenses of the WBC 115-pound world title from 2014-2016. Since being dethroned by pound-for-pound great Roman Gonzalez in September 2016, he is 7-4, including decision defeats to Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez and Juan Francisco Estrada in bids to regain his WBC world title. Cuadras has won three consecutive fights, most recently traveling to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and edging countryman Pedro Guevara by split decision to win the Interim world title.

“I look forward to the challenge of fighting Andrew Moloney in Australia, and I am coming to prove I am still a force at 115 pounds,” Cuadras said. “There are many great champions in my division, but I can’t overlook Moloney, a hungry fighter who will be encouraged by the Australian fans.”

Moloney (26-3, 16 KOs) briefly held the WBA junior bantamweight world title before going 0-2 with a no contest in an eventful trilogy against Joshua Franco from 2020-2021. He then reeled off four consecutive victories, including three on Australian soil, to earn a shot at the vacant WBO junior bantamweight world title last May against Japanese superstar Junto Nakatani. Moloney hung tough, but in the 12th round, Nakatani landed a crunching left hand that ended the fight. He returned to the win column last December, securing a decision over Judy Flores to pick up a regional title.

“I’m absolutely pumped to have this fight locked in. Carlos Cuadras has been in with the best of the best at junior bantamweight, and he is the biggest name available in the division,” Moloney said. “I was there live to watch him fight Juan Francisco Estrada nearly seven years ago, and to be fighting him for the Interim world title in Australia is a huge opportunity. To have both Lomachenko and Cuadras fighting in Australia shows how much Australian boxing is flying now, and I’m thrilled to be part of it all. Bring on May 12!”

Hughes (6-0, 2 KOs) turned pro in December 2021 at 39 years old. She had a decorated amateur career with more than 70 fights and four national titles. Hughes, a single mother of two, set her sights on a professional career during the COVID-19 pandemic. She won the Commonwealth bantamweight title in her third outing and upset Jamie Mitchell by unanimous decision in November 2022 to capture the WBA bantamweight world title. She made her lone title defense last June, turning away Katie Healy via decision. The ageless Hughes now turns her attention to Johnson, the home country favorite.

“I am looking forward to showing the world why I am the WBA bantamweight world champion, and I’m thrilled to be fighting on such a prestigious event in Perth, Western Australia,” Smith said. “Cherneka Johnson is a former world champion, and while it will be a tough assignment, I will not be denied victory. Thank you to DiBella Entertainment and Leon Sudbury at Takeover Sports Management for getting this fight made.”

Johnson (15-2, 6 KOs) was born in New Zealand but moved to Australia as a pre-teen, and she soon established herself as one of Australia’s standout amateurs. In April 2022, six years after turning pro, she snatched the vacant IBF junior featherweight world title with a majority decision over Melissa Esquivel in Melbourne, Australia. She defended the title six months later on the Devin Haney-Kambosos II undercard in Melbourne, overcoming a brutal cut to beat Susie Ramadan. Johnson lost her title last June in London, where she lost a unanimous decision to Ellie Scotney. Nearly a year later, she returns to bantamweight, motivated to become a two-weight queen.

“I am excited to fight for a second world title on this great event alongside boxing legends here in Perth, Western Australia,” Johnson said. “It has been a long journey for me, full of hard work and dedication, and I am determined to become a two-time world champion. It is an honor to fight Nina Hughes, but I am here to win. On fight night, I will show the world what I am made of.”

‘Bam’: ‘I’ll get the winner of Chocolatito-Martinez’

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Jesse Rodriguez put on a clinical display to win the WBC World Super-Flyweight title against Carlos Cuadras at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona

Rodriguez (15-0 10 KOs) lived up to the promise that had many pundits calling him the young fighter to watch in 2022 and entered his first ever World title fight against former ruler Cuadras (39-5-1 27 KOs) as a replacement for the unwell Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.

‘Bam’ showed no signs of the task being too great despite moving up two weights for his first World title battle and indeed first scheduled 12 round action, and proved the point in the third round, with a peach of an uppercut floored Cuadras in the third round.

The Mexican, who was looking to regain the title he held in 2014-16, kept Rodriguez honest with his experience and power, but the 22 year old showed dazzling footwork and unique angles to consistently clip Cuadras and stepped on the gas to drive his victory home at the end, taking the win 117-110, 117-110 and 115-112 on the cards and becoming the youngest World ruler and first born in the 2000s.

“That was a tough ass fight,” said Rodriguez. “He brought out a Jesse Rodriguez I didn’t know was in me, I’m so happy.

“I knew it was going to be a tough fight, he’s a true warrior, I thought I was going to get him out of there but he’s so strong.

“I stuck to the game plan, used my angles, but in the fifth round I knew he wasn’t going to go so I stayed composed and did my work.

“I feel good at this weight so I will stay here for now but if I get a good fight at 108 pounds or 112 pounds, maybe I’ll get the winner of Chocolatito-Martinez, who knows – I’m just open to the best fights.”

Jamie Mitchell (8-0-2 5 KOs) impressed in the first defense of her WBA Bantamweight title against Carly Skelly (4-1-1), landing a dominant fourth round stoppage win. Skelly hit the canvas hard in the final seconds of the opening round, and Mitchell repeated the trick at the end of the second. Somehow, the Briton made it back to her corner and through a third round, but a barrage in the fourth scrambled the senses one time too many and the referee ended proceedings – Mitchell’s right hand could be a real weapon at 118lbs.

“It was cool, my first defense and my most precious fight as a pro,” said Mitchell. “Shout out to Claressa Shields for getting the win in the UK tonight, we had great sparring in the build-up so thank you to her for that. She’s truly the GWOAT and an inspiration.

“If you are going to run at me, I’m going to stop you in your tracks and that’s what happened.

I am only going to get better, we train all year round, people are sleeping on me but I’m going to slowly wake them up.”

Raymond Ford (11-0-1 6 KOs) defended his WBA Continental Featherweight title with a controversial split decision win over Edward Vazquez (11-1 3 KOs). Ford was defending his title for the second time but started slowly against the Texan challenger, who was full of intent from the off. Ford grew into the fight towards the end and finished strongly and held onto his title with cards of 96-94 Vazquez, 98-92 Ford and 97-93 Ford.

Fernando Diaz (11-1-1 3 KOs) and Lorenzo Smith (10-1 8 KOs) shared ten entertaining rounds at Flyweight that did both their reputations no harm. Smith clipped Diaz with a left hook to put him down in the fifth, and the action heated up as the fight headed to it’s conclusion, with Diaz getting on top of the hometown man in the eighth but Smith fired back in the ninth and both men let everything go in the final round – and with scores of 96-93, 96-93 and 95-94, Diaz got the nod for the win.

Khalil Coe (2-0-1 2 KOs) recorded a dominant second round KO win over Dylan O’Sullivan (1-1) to put the disappointment of a draw last time out behind him. A big uppercut floored O’Sullivan with a minute to go in the second round, and Coe unloaded on the Tennessee man who had no answer for ‘Big Steppa’s’ barrage.

Elijah Garcia (10-0 9 KOs) recorded the ninth stoppage win of his career in front of his hometown crowd, with Antonio Hernandez’s (6-12-2 4 KOs) pulling their game fighter out of harm’s way after three rounds of action.

The opening bout of the night saw local Heavyweight Adam Stewart (13-1-1 8 KOs) winning every round of six and scoring a knockdown in the last to see off Alvin Davie (6-3 5 KOs).

Aaron Aponte’s (5-0 2 KOs) first fight under Matchroom against Louis Jourdain (2-1 1 KO) ended in a shut-out win for the ‘Alien King’.

Photo: Ed Mulholland/Matchroom