What to Know
- Fans watching the Zuffa Boxing 13 early in the U.S. on Saturday needed a serious dose of caffeine to get through the sluggish card.
- Middleweight champion Carlos Adames went the distance in a contract weight fight at 165 pounds against Gerome Warburton.
- Andrew Maloney and Bruno Serace also heard the final bell in their fights.
Zuffa Boxing 13 should be called Zzzzzzzzzuffa Boxing 13.
The underwhelming lineup delivered underwhelming performances in front of an audience at The Venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that seemed uninterested in the action going on in the ring. Did we hear boos during the main event? It seemed so.
For the record, here’s the recap.
Carlos Adames Cruises To A Win
WBC World Middleweight champion Carlos Adames of the Dominican Republic (26-1-1, 18 KOs) walked through his first fight under the Zuffa banner with a subpar effort, but more than good enough to get a wide decision over opponent Gerome Warburton of Wales (18-3-2, 2 KOs).
Adames won by unanimous decision, 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92. Warburton just seemed happy after the final bell to be on a major stage, presumably getting the biggest purse of his career.
“Thank you to everyone for attending the show. Hopefully I had a good show for you. Thank you for supporting Carlos “Bronco” Adames,” said the winner.
Asked by ringside reporter Mark Kriegel (who, surprisingly, was working in person in Riyadh, when the rest of the broadcast team was in the studio in the U.S.) to assess the fight, Adames verbally shrugged.
“I think he was just in the ring to basically survive. He wasn’t really here to win the fight. We could have done more. I think he could have done more, but he was just surviving,” said Adames of Warburton
“I can fight whoever I want. The real question is, ‘who wants to fight Carlos Adames?’ Anyone at 160, 168. Jaime Munguia, Lester Martinez, the Cuban Iglesias, anyone can get it.” Note the names Adames rolled off are all competing at super middleweight, not the middleweight division where Adames holds his title.
A reminder: no title was on the line. The fight took place at a 165-pound catchweight. Why didn’t Adames work to make the weight limit and put some skin in the game? Is it because he’s thinking about moving up?
If I’m one of the other middleweight belt holders, a unification fight with Adames is suddenly more appealing, assuming Zuffa Boxing plays ball with the sanctioning organizations.
Jason Moloney Defeats Andres Teran
In the co-main, former world champion Jason Moloney of Australia (30-4, 20 KOs) won a solid decision against Andres Teran of Mexico (19-3, 14 KOs). At age 35, Moloney wanted to prove he’s still a player in the bantamweight division after a lot of tough fights with world champions. Scores were 99-91, 98-92, and 97-93.
Although Moloney showed a little wear and was breathing hard midway through the fight, he has a veteran former champion’s grit and knows how to bite down and rally to hold off any potential threat.
With damage showing inside his left eye after the fourth round, Teran pounced with an uppercut that shook up Moloney for a moment. Moloney regained control in the next round, tagging Teran with combination punching to shut down any momentum from Teran.
Bruno Serace Slides past Kamil Bednarek
In the opener on the main card, Bruno Serace of France (27-1-2, 5 KOs) handed super middleweight Kamil Bednarek of Poland (17-1, 10 KOs) his first loss by decision. Scores were 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94.
Much like the main and co-main events, Serace and Bednarek never heated the fight up much above a simmer. For the first few rounds, the orthodox Serace and the southpaw Bednarek battled more with their foot position than their hands.
Serace began landing some solid hooks from both sides. They slowed Bednarek down, who fell into a pattern of holding on to avoid anything worse. It didn’t win him rounds, but he made it to the final bell.
Serace hasn’t ever truly capitalized on his stunning upset win over Jaime Munguia at the end of 2024. He’s found a home at Zuffa Boxing, and it suits him. Not a compliment.
Zuffa Boxing 14 Announced for December 4
In the preview, we reported that Saturday’s card would be the last of 2026 for Zuffa Boxing. However, Zuffa Boxing 14 was announced and will return to The Venue in Riyadh on Sunday, December 4.
In the main event, Aaron McKenna will defend his middleweight title against Jevgenijs “The Hurricane” Aleksejevs.
In the ten-round cruiserweight co-main, Jack Massey faces Andrew Tabiti,
Also on Zuffa Boxing 14:
• Light Heavyweight Bout: Zak Chelli vs. Jesse Hart
• Cruiserweight Bout: Ryan Rozicki vs. Gaetan NTambwe
• Preliminary Fights: Vladyslav Sirenko vs. Charles Martin and Jamar Talley vs. Sherif Musah
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
