By: William Holmes
Al Haymons’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) was broadcast live tonight from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York and was televised live on the Showtime networks.
The main event of the night was a heavyweight showdown between current heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Dominic Breazeale.
The opening bout of the night was between Juan Heraldez (16-0) and Argenis Mendez (25-5-2) in the super lightweight division.
Mendez had many fights in the lightweight division and Heraldez spent most of his career fighting at 140 or 147lbs.
Heraldez was a highly touted prospect, but Mendez was a cagey veteran who presented a good challenge for Heraldez and was able to keep the fight at a slower pace early on.
Heraldez had a strong fifth round and was able to crack Mendez with some heavy shots in the middle of the round, but Mendez had his moments and landed a straight right hand that had blood coming from the nose of Heraldez.
Mendez was the one who pressed forward in the seventh round, but Heraldez showed good movement while circling away and appeared to be the slightly more accurate puncher.
Heraldez did have Mendez briefly trapped by the corner in the eighth, but appeared hesitant to really let loose and go for the knockdown.
Mendez had his moments in the ninth round, but Heraldez looked like he did enough to slightly win the later rounds.
A lot of rounds could have been sored for either fighter, but the judges scored it 97-93 for Mendez, and 95-95 on the other two scorecards.
The fight was ruled a majority draw.
The next bout of the night was between Gary Russell Jr. a (29-1) and Kiko Martinez (39-8-2) for the WBC Featherweight Title.
Russell was able to move in and out with ease in the opening two rounds and appeared to be able to pop shot Martinez at will. Russell’s combinations caused a mouse to form under the left eye of Martinez in the second.
Martinez was able to land some body shots in the third round, but Russell’s superior hand speed won him a majority of their exchanges. Russell turned up the power in the fourth round and forced a cut over Martinez’s eye to begin to bleed badly.
Russell’s jab was focused on the cut of Martinez’s eye in the fifth round and made it open up to a dangerous sized gash. The referee asked the ring side doctor to take a look at it, and he advised the referee to stop the fight.
Gary Russell Jr. wins by TKO at 2:52 of the fifth round.
The main event of the evening was between Deontay Wilder (40-0-1) and Dominic Breazeale (20-1) for the WBC Heavyweight Title.
Breazeale and Wilder were listed at identical heights but Wilder looked like he had a few inches on Breazeale at the referee introduction. Wilder looked extremely confident and gave Breazeale a death stare, who looked a little timid.
Wilder had a sharp jab early on and was able to connect with a two punch combination in the opening minute. A right hand form Wilder knocked Breazeale back a few steps who appeared to be stunned, but Breazeale landed two hard overhand rights that briefly stopped Wilder’s momentum.
Both fighters were in a clinch and Breazeale landed a few short punches before the referee separated them. Wilder than landed a booming right hand that sent Breazeale crashing to the mat.
Breazeale began to attempt to get up around the count of eight, but he was unable to get to his feet before ten and he was still badly hurt.
Deontay Wilder wins with a stunning knockout at of the 2:17 first round.