Collard opponent set in boxing; Westin to headline MMA card

Just a quick few notes: (UPDATE BELOW)

According to ESPN's Steve Kim, MMA/boxer Clay Collard has an opponent for an Aug. 22 boxing card in "The Bubble" MGM Grand in Las Vegas, promoted by Top Rank. Collard (8-2-3), winner of four bouts this year, will face middleweight Maurice Williams (7-1).

The bout will likely be broadcast on ESPN as Collard has gained a following as boxing's most consistent face, and winner, during this pandemic year. Collard is seen above stopping L.T. Nelson in his most recent win.  ... Noted also is that 17-year-old professional boxer Jesus Haro, of Merced, Calif., logged his first win last weekend in Tijuana, Mexico. Haro, a prominent amateur, has family in Utah. Also winning on the card was Miklo Arnold, a 16-year-old professional, of North Plains, Ore.

And in MMA news, Mountain Force MMA is planning a card in Evanston, Wyo., on Aug. 1. Utah professional Westin Wilson, of Orem, will headline the card, meeting Kurt Steinke. The card is here. Mountain Force's Facebook page is here. Its website is here. ... On the weekend of Aug. 21 and Aug. 22, FitCon 2020 is planning to have amateur MMA bouts. Its Facebook page is here. Utah amateur MMA fighter Brittany Guillemin is scheduled to fight on Aug. 21.

ALSO, on Friday, July 31, Utah MMA pro heavyweight, Zac Cavender, (3-1) fights in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Legacy Fighting Alliance 87 card, which is being broadcast on UFC Fight Pass. Cavender meets debuting Zac Pauga. The card starts at 7 p.m. MST.

UPDATE TO WESTIN and CAVENDER MMA bouts: Cavender, 3-2, lost a three-round decision in his streamed bout against Pauga, a highly touted amateur who was making his pro debut. Westin, 8-5, stopped the debuting Steinke in the first round.

This time as the favorite, Clay Collard scores a TKO win on ESPN

On a Top Rank card on ESPN on Tuesday, July 14, middleweight boxer Clay Collard (8-2-3) (seen above winning an earlier bout) continued his winning streak with a second round TKO over Lorawnt T. Nelson (5-4). It's Collard's fourth win of the year. His activity in this pandemic-plagued year has boosted the Utah/Idaho boxer to a near cult status in the boxing world.

His win over Nelson in Las Vegas, and on ESPN, was the semi-main bout of the card. It was also the first fight in a long while where Collard was the favorite going in. Nelson, a South African living in Colorado, like Collard, is a professional MMA fighter, with Bellator experience. He also has fought professionally as a kick boxer, with success on Glory promotions.

As a boxer Nelson had won three of his previous four bouts prior to July 14. His three losses in the sport had come against boxers with a combined record of 26-1. Nevertheless he was no match for Collard, who has won 7 of his last 8 bouts.

After 90 seconds of a feeling-out period, Collard walked right through his overmatched, one-dimensional opponent, flooring Nelson once in round one and hurting him just before the bell. In round two, Collard floored Nelson with a right hand punch, and then Nelson hit the canvas again from a counter left hook from Collard. With Nelson groggy and bleeding, the referee stopped the fight at 1:57 of round two.

Afterwards, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum announced Collard would be fighting again on a Top Rank card in August. The former UFC MMA fighter, unorthodox but effective as a boxer (with strong ring generalship), has gained quite a following. Nine months ago only this blog was noting Collard's success barnstorming the nation, defeating or drawing with opponents in their home towns or "home" promotions. But after his success on TV this year, Collard is a welcome fan favorite. Here's an ESPN feature by Steve Kim and a Sports Illustrated feature, both published very recently. Let's' give a nod to Collard's trainer, Ryan Ault, for his great work of late guiding his career.

Utah heavyweight Olguin scores win on Top Rank TV card

In Las Vegas tonight, (June 23, 2020) South Jordan, Utah heavyweight Helaman Olguin (above right) scored a six-round majority decision win over Adam Stewart in a bout that was televised on ESPN, and promoted by Top Rank.

It was a good win for Olguin, 8-3, who has resurrected a career -- that started 2-3 -- with six wins in 15 months, including a promotional Utah heavyweight title belt. I suspect Top Rank thought that the tall Arizona boxer, 231-pound Stewart, 8-1-1, would get the win over Olguin, 290 pounds.

But Olguin, frankly, was more ring smart in the bout against his opponent, who hadn't fought in more than 400 days. Stewart had the edge in the first round, but Olguin controlled the majority of rounds two through five. In the earlier middle rounds he got inside Stewart's reach and pounded away. Later, as he tired, Olguin calmly outboxed Stewart, catching him with counters. The South Jordan southpaw often nailed Stewart with a looping left hand.

Stewart rallied in the final round as Olguin tired but he never was able to use his jab to effectively land hard shots against Olguin.

I scored the bout 58-57 for Olguin, giving him rounds 2, 4 and 5. I scored the third even. One judge scored the bout 57-57; the other two scores were 58-56 Olguin.

The bout was competitive and would make a good rematch, perhaps in Utah for the state heavyweight championship.

Fight highlights are here.

Utah boxer Clay Collard scores, you guessed it, another upset win

Cache Valley professional boxer Clay Collard did Thursday night what he's been doing so well the past 13 months -- going into an opponent's hometown- or promotional-ring and usually coming out with a win.

Middleweight Collard (at left in photo above) (7-2-3) dominated very game super-prospect David Kaminsky (6-1), originally from Israel but living in Tarzana, Calif., over six rounds in a nationally televised (ESPN) bout in Las Vegas. (The entire card is here). It is the second win in a row for Collard over a prospect deemed valuable enough to be signed by a major promotion. Earlier this year Collard upset Ray Guajardo, stopping him in round 2.

In the past 13 months, Collard has fought 11 times against boxers with a combined record of 65 wins and three losses. He and manager Ryan Ault have barnstormed the nation taking tough fights. This boxing experience seems ideal for a feature write up by a major sports or boxing magazine.

Collard, a professional MMA fighter, has fought with the UFC and was scheduled to spend 2020 with the Professional Fighting League MMA tourney.  Covid-19 ended his MMA plans for now so it was back to the ring.

Against Kaminsky, Collard dominated the first two rounds, cutting his opponent near the left eye with a right hand early. Kaminsky seemed confused by Collard's unorthodox aggressiveness, which includes throwing punches while charge-chasing his opponent across the ring to the ropes.

Rounds three to five were more competitive, with Kaminsky countering well at times and going to the body, once seeming to hurt Collard in Round 5 with a couple of shots to the body. However, Collard only slowed down, and didn't show any physical reaction to the punches. During the competitive middle rounds, Collard was still more active. Over the six rounds, Collard threw more punches and landed 158 shots to Kaminsky's 102.

The Utah boxer punctuated the win by wearing down Kaminsky in the final couple minutes of the sixth round. Kaminsky never stopped trying as hard as he could, but took such a beating that he was taken to an area hospital after the bout. Fortunately, it seems only precautionary and he is all right.

I scored the bout 59-54, giving Kaminsky only round five. Two judges appropriately scored the bout 58-56 for Collard. One judge, Patricia Morse Jarmen, scored it 58-56 for Kaminsky; a tally that both insulted Collard's aggressive winning effort and Kaminsky's courageous losing effort.

Also on the card was super-lightweight Justin Horsley, a stablemate of Collard's and trained by Ault. Horsley is from Las Vegas but has Utah professional MMA experience. He lost a four-round decision to Top Rank prospect Victor Rodriguez, 3-0, of Anaheim, Calif. Horsley was aggressive and occasionally landed a fast, unorthodox overhand right, but was stymied by his opponent's footwork and ring generalship. Horsley is 0-2 in his young career (both decision losses) but has fought two undefeated fighters so far.

-- Doug Gibson.

(Photo above is credited to ESPN/Top Rank)

Boxer Jose Haro wins in return bout after long absence

In a bout on Saturday night, on Leap Year Feb. 29, 2020, West Jordan featherweight professional boxer Jose Haro resumed his career after a long layoff, defeating Genaro Velarde Rodriguez at The Big Punch Arena in Tijuana, Mexico.

Haro last fought on June 10, 2017, when he knocked out Daniel Franco, in a nationally televised bout, to win the United States featherweight championship. Franco suffered injuries from the bout that hospitalized him for a long while and ended his career. Haro at one point was tabbed for a world title fight but unfortunately it did not occur.

Recently, it was announced that Haro had signed with Sheer Sport Management, and was readying to resume his career. The fight with Rodriguez was announced late last week.

The fight ended rather abruptly after four rounds, with Haro being awarded a decision win. It had been scheduled for more than four rounds. Rodriguez, a young, durable veteran, was aggressive through 12 minutes of boxing. Haro, however, had the upper hand throughout, scoring left jabs at will and occasionally following with straight right hands and a looping left hook. There were only a few body punches landed by Haro, who is known for body-punching strength. That may have been because the West Jordan boxer was anticipating a longer scheduled bout. (Photo above, courtesy of Facebook, shows Haro (left) and Rodriguez the day before the bout)

A ring card woman was preparing to enter the ring with a fifth round sign but was informed that the bout had concluded.

It was an entertaining bout and can be be viewed at SporTijuana Box at Facebook, streamed on Feb. 29. I believe Haro vs. Rodriguez is the seventh bout on the card. Hopefully, Jose will fight regularly as he works his way back into world contender status.

February MMA, boxing results in Utah

MMA

On Feb. 15 at The Maverik Center in West Valley, Fierce Fighting Championship hosted an MMA card. featherweight Bobby King scored a third round stoppage of Samson Phommabout in the main event. King, who has enjoyed success of late, seems ready for an opportunity in Bellator, etc.

The entire card is here. In other bouts, Mike Hamel defeated Fabio Serrao via decision, Kyle Stewart and Carson Hardman scored first round wins over Mike Jones and Nate Kearsley, Josh Quinlan and Tracy Hardy scored submission wins over Aaron Thomson and Eric Munoz, and Trever Bradshaw and Brian Mitchell stopped Randy Rowland and Thomas Hughes in the first round.

---

On Feb. 21 in Salt Lake City, SteelFist hosted an MMA card. In the main bout, professional Cole Shafer, 1-0, 185 pounds, made a successful pro debut, stopping Nick Martinez in round one. In an amateur promotional title fight, 185 pounds, Ryan Thaxton stopped Zack Partridge in round 2. Undefeated amateur 265 pounder Bryce Scanlon stayed unbeaten, stopping Kendrid Wolf in round 3.  And in a battle of 145-pound amateurs, Austin Atkinson stopped Jordan Munoz in the second round. The entire card is here.

BOXING

At the 801 Event Center in Salt Lake City, there was a boxing card. In the main bout, professional heavyweight Helaman Olguin, 7-3, stopped Mexico's Alfredo Trevino, 9-7-1. Also, local Jalel Lopez, Lopez, 9-3-2, defeated veteran Edgar Ivan Garcia, 7-22-1. Undefeated Brandon Douglas defeated Carols Apodaca, 3-15-2, Ray Corona won his pro debut over Gary Bailey, 0-1-1, and Maryguenn Vellinga-Heinz, in her pro debut, defeated Jennifer Michelle Woods, 0-2.

On Feb. 22, there was an amateur boxing card at Foley's gym in Ogden. Below is a photo of the card with victors circled.

And in other news ...

SteelFist is having a Kickboxing card March 6 at the Union Event Center in Salt Lake City. Tyson Roberts will be fighting on the card ... On March 7, grappler John Valentine will be competing in a submission-only bout in Las Vegas. His sons will also be competing on the card.

Collard scores electrifying boxing upset on national television

Readers of this blog may have noticed that we have been charting UFC MMA fighter-turned professional boxer, Clay Collard's career. In the past several months, the Northern Utah boxer has fought 10 times, in his opponent's hometown or his promotional banner. Remarkably, the journeyman Collard has won five of those bouts, scored draws in three, and lost twice.

Last night he fought one of the top 160-pound prospects in the world, Raymond Guajardo, (5-0) of El Paso, Texas. Collard (6-2-3) was brought in, like many journeymen boxers, with the expectation that he would pad the prospect's record, or in other words, lose. I had noted in past blogs that one reason Collard was scoring upsets over undefeated boxers is the level of competition he is facing. In his last 10 fights, Collard has met opponents with a combined record of 59 wins and two losses. Prior to last night's bout, Guajardo had met opponents with a combined record of 4-6.

The photo above is a TV grab from last night's bout on Fox Sports 1. Collard is standing over Guajardo. You can watch the fight here.

Over the course of 4 minutes and 42 seconds, Collard floored Guajardo twice and severely battered the young prospect around the ring before it was stopped. The game Guajardo managed to floor Collard once during the wild bout, that is already being touted as an early candidate for fight of the year. Certainly the first round may remain round of the year.

Guajardo might become a great fighter but in Collard he was essentially facing a veteran, a fighter who fought the toughest UFC fighters, including Max Holloway, and had been boxing tough competition on more or less a monthly basis. No one vocally noted this on the PBC fight card. But it was out there had the promotion, and perhaps Guajardo's braintrust, done some due diligence.

So congrats on a great win for Collard. In an interesting twist, this may be it for him for a long while regarding boxing. He has an opportunity to compete in the Professional Fighters League annual MMA tournament. The winners earn $1 million. However, he's now a hotter boxing commodity after the drama of last night's bout. Major promoter Lou DiBella wants him on an upcoming Utah boxing card, and I'm sure other large promotions have tucked Collard into their proverbial "Rolodex."