PBC on Fox Results: Wilder Obliterates Arreola, Lubin and Diaz Win by Decision
By: William Holmes
Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) series returned to Birmingham, Alabama for another World Heavyweight Title fight featuring the lone American champion in that division, Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder.
The Fox Network televised tonight’s fight card from the Legacy Arena and Lou Dibella was the lead promoter.
Photo Credit: Ryan Hafey / Premier Boxing Champions
The opening bout of the night was between two time Iraq War veteran Sammy Vasquez (21-0) and former Olympic Gold Medalist Felix Diaz (17-1) in the welterweight division.
Both boxers fought out of a southpaw stance, and it was Vasquez that was backing up Diaz in the first two rounds with a steady jab while remaining out of the range of Diaz. There was more action in the second round than the first, but it appeared Diaz was having difficulty solving the height and range of Vasquez.
Diaz had a solid third round by getting in tight and landing some wild punches and short uppercuts. The difference in power was also evident in the fourth and fifth rounds as Diaz has Vasquez backing up and at times caught him by the ropes or corner with quick combinations.
Vasquez’s punches looked like they were losing it’s snap in the sixth and seventh rounds as Diaz continued to lay traps and pop Vasquez when he came in forward. Vasquez had blood coming out of his nose in the seventh round, and his mouth was wide open in the eighth round and he was visibly tiring.
Diaz knocked Vasquez’s mouthpiece out of his mouth again in the eighth round with several hard combinations. Vasquez’s mouth was bleeding badly and he was taking some hard shots.
Vasquez mounted a small comeback in the ninth round and showed he was willing to take a punch in order to land a punch, but he didn’t appear to seriously hurt Diaz, though he did threaten at times.
The last round featured some hard exchanges by both boxers, but Vasquez’s mouthpiece was popped out again by Diaz and Vasquez lost a point by the referee. Vasquez suffered a bad cut near his right eye in the final round.
It was a good bout with several close rounds but it looked like to this author that Felix Diaz had done enough to win the bout, but the judges scored it 96-94 Diaz, 95-95, and 95-95 for a majority draw.
However, the Alabama Comission recalculated the scorecards and found out the scores should have been 96-93, 95-94, and 95-94 for Felix Diaz. The final round point deduction helped Diaz squeak out the victory.
The second fight of the night was between Erickson Lubin (15-0) and Ivan Montero (20-1) in the super welterweight division.
Lubin, a southpaw, looked in control early with accurate check right hooks and strong body shots. He was walking Montero down in the second round with combinations to the body and head, and several hard left hands.
Lubin was in complete control in the third round, but was warned by the referee twice for low blows in the fourth warned and was told he would be deducted a point if he landed another low blow. Montero was also warned for landing a low blow.
Lubin dominated Montero in the fifth and sixth rounds. He stunned Montero in the fifth round with a straight left hand and did it again in the sixth round with a left hook to the chin preceded by a combination to the body.
Montero clearly needed a knockout in the final two rounds in order to win the fight, but instead he got battered by the more talented Lubin.
Lubin won the decision with scores of 80-72 on all three scorecards.
The main event of the night was between Deontay Wilder (36-0) and Chris Arreola (36-4-1) for the WBC Heavyweight Title.
Even though this bout took place in Wilder’s hometown, the crowd appeared to be somewhat subdued during the ring walk and fighter introductions.
The opening round was a slow round. Arreola circled to his right in order to avoid the right hand of Wilder but threw little. Wilder threw a pawing jab and threw a couple of right hands, but was also pretty passive.
Arreola tried to press forward a little more in the second round but had to eat several jabs in the process and was cut on the bridge of his nose at the end of the round after Wilder made him pay with hard right hand counters.
Wilder landed several hard jabs in the third round that snapped the head of Arreola backwards. Arreola was able to land some body shots, but was stunned at the end of the round.
Arreola was badly wobbled from a two punch combination in the fourth round and went to the mat. He was able to get back up before the ten count, but was immediately attacked by Wilder and badly hurt and wobbly as the round came to an end.
Wilder started off the fifth round aggressively but Arreola still had some fight left in him and kept coming forward despite being badly hurt the previous round. Arreola tried to throw some shots at the head of Wilder,
but most of them were blocked. Wilder was able to land a vicious right uppercut in the fifth round when his back was near the ropes.
Wilder’s jab was extremely accurate in the sixth round. Arreola just was not able to get past that jab and within range to hurt Wilder.
Wilder continued to obliterate Arreola in the seventh round and was showboating while doing so. Arreola went back to the stool on wobbly legs at the end of the seventh and his face was badly bruised.
Arreola had little ot nothing left in the eighth round and had blood streaming from the bridge of his nose. Wilder just continued to land shots at will and the referee looked like he was close to stopping it.
Arreola survived the eighth round, but his corner wisely went to the referee and told him he was stopping the fight before the ninth round could begin. Arreola showed incredible heart, but Wilder was just too big and too powerful for him.
Deontay Wilder wins by TKO at the end of the eighth round.
