In the early undercard action on Saturday’s Golden Boy Boxing card, fans enjoyed entertaining knockout wins from Bektimir Melikuziev, Amari Jones, and a surprising Mohammed Alalkel. Notice that Joshua Edwards isn’t on this list.
Bek Melikuziev Takes Down Sena Agbeko
If you like a slugfest, you loved the super middleweight battle between Bektimir Melikuziev and tough veteran Sena Agbeko. Melikuziev of Uzbekistan (17-1, 11 KOs) took down Agbeko of Ghana (29-5, 23 KOs) in seven rounds. But the tough-as-nails Agbeko made “The Bully” work for it.
Melikusiev and Agbeko stood right in front of each other, doing their best to land big bombs. Considering he’d only fought five rounds in more than two years with two early knockout losses, the 34-year-old Agbeko was giving his best, but Melikuziev was delivering a beatdown round by round.
It took Melikuziev two more rounds before he had taken enough out of Agbeko to end the fight. He dropped Agbeko with a combination starting with a left hook to the body and a right hook to the temple. Agbeko was thrown off balance and wobbled, and Melikuziev followed with a vicious right and left hook combination to send Agbeko down.
Agbeko got to his feet with just seconds left in the round. Referee Chris Flores took his time assessing Agbeko, letting him continue. Melikuziev flew at Agbeko with a single hard left hand and Flores had to step in and stop the fight at 2:58 of the seventh round.
Melikuziev said he was glad to be back in the ring after injuries restricted him to a single fight in 2025. “I hope this is one step closer to what I’m aiming for, a world championship fight,” he said.
Bek: “I Don’t Remember The Fight”
In the fifth round, there was the inevitable head clash between the southpaw Melikuziev and the orthodox Agbeko. Melikuziev took the worst of it with a triangular cut over the inside of his right eye. After the fight, he admitted being so buzzed by the headbutt in the fifth round that he didn’t remember the rest of the fight.
“T. I don’t remember half of the rounds. I woke up in the fifth round. I was doing everything automatically because the headbutt really distracted me. After the fifth round I started seeing the openings, my legs and arms started feeling better, and I started getting back into the rhythm,” explained Melikuziev.
Melikuziev said he’s knocking on the door and “asking and begging for that title opportunity,” saying he plans to fight the next winner of the WBA World Super Middleweight title, recently vacated by Terence Crawford.
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Amari Jones Proves He’s For Real
Middleweight prospect Amari Jones delivered the kind of impressive stoppage win a prospect needs to graduate to contender. Jones of Oakland (16-0, 14 KOs) beat down veteran Luis Arias of Las Vegas (22-7-1, 11 KOs), forcing the Arias corner to step in and save their fighter by retiring after four rounds.
Jones was more aggressive, letting his hands go early against Arias. He mixed up punches nicely to body and head. Arias didn’t like the body shots and left himself vulnerable to getting caught. Jones switched to a southpaw stance, and as he continued to come at Arias, the veteran evaded a right hook only to get caught with the left hook for a second-round knockdown.
Arias got off the canvas and managed to survive two more rounds with Jones dishing out more punishment. It was clear Arias’s team would need to make the call to protect him and they did the right thing by the 35-year-old.
“I thought I did a hell of a job. He’s only been stopped once. His corner stopped the fight, you can’t really say nothing about that,” said Jones of his win.
“I knew I would need to catch him open with the big shots. My game plan was to stay smart. I caught him and countered, it was on the money. I want to cement myself as a prospect as a contender, and I did that,” said the 23-year-old.
CompuBox stats show Jones landing 56% of his power punches and 44% overall in the four rounds.
Jones credited working with veteran trainer Vergil Hunter for his improvements, saying he’ll fight anyone who will get him closer to a world title.
Abel Sanchez Working Wonders for Alakel
Veteran trainer Abel Sanchez was lured out of retirement to train Saudi lightweight prospect Mohammed Alakel, who moved to Big Bear, California to train with him. The decision for both is paying off. Alakel (7-0, 2 KOs) got his second knockout win over David Calabro of Aston, Pennsylvania (5-2, 3 KOs).
In round two, Alakel scored a knockdown that broke Calabro’s nose. Calabro got to his feet, only to be drilled with a left hook to the body. Calabro’s corner threw in the towel.
Alakel dedicated the knockout win to Turki Alalshikh. He called Sanchez “the best in the business. I’m really grateful to be working with Abel. I’m learning a lot.”
Heavyweight Joshua Edwards Goes the Distance
In the opening bout, promising heavyweight prospect Joshua Edwards of Houston (6-0, 5 KOs) got his first victory by decision over a surprisingly tough Brandon Colantonio of Victoria, British Columbia (7-2, 1 KO). Scores were all 60-54 across the board. Edwards complimented Colantonio on his toughness. Getting rounds in at this stage is money in the bank for Edwards.
Colantonio celebrated being on the big stage at the T-Mobile Arena with a few dozen fans who came to see him. You might think he was the winner. Surely he’ll get a callback as a B-side test for another young talent. In the meantime, his friends will be picking up his tab tonight.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist and the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). She is the Managing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.