WHO WON THE WEEKEND? The Pernell Whitaker Edition

We are knee deep in summer time here on the East Coast of the United States.

Beach going, BBQ doing, out-sized Con Ed bills, it's all front and center.

And in the era of OTT expansion, that also means that a Friday and a Saturday are replete with myriad options to watch pugilism, from various pockets of the globe. Yessir, there was a bunch of matches and standouts to choose from in this edition of Who Won the Weekend.

The NYF squad put on their thinking caps and pondered and gave us their votes…

“Daniel Dubois….

…won the weekend,” said Kelsey McCarson. “The 21-year-old's dynamite fifth-round stoppage of Nathan Gorman earned him the British heavyweight title in just his twelfth professional fight. More importantly, Dubois established himself as a legitimate world level force who might someday go on to become heavyweight champion of the world.”

And Abe G, what say you? “Joet Gonzalez won the weekend! Although he started a little slow, he made the appropriate adjustments in the third round and started to really beat up his opponent. Avila was no push-over, a tough and slick boxer who was Joet's slickest opponent yet but Gonzalez ended being too much for him. He is ready to fight in September and if not for an interim title of sorts, maybe he gets a crack at a title shot with the hopes that boxing politics doesn't get in the way of his life long dream.”

David Phillips, talk to us: “I sort of have two winners for the weekend. First, welterweight Jamal James put forth a terrific performance against Antonio De Marco in picking up a UD Saturday night. De Marco isn't what he used to be, but he's still a quality opponent. James was willing to take some to give some, and man, did he give a lot. Constantly outworking DeMarco, landing heavy shots, and absolutely busting up DeMarco's face. It was an excellent performance that should put James in line for a title shot within the next year. The other winner is anyone who got to watch the fight. Constant action. Two guys giving their best. There were no knockdowns, but it was a stellar watching experience. We haven't had as many of those as I'd like this year, so pin push a pin on this date. That was entertaining.”

“Hard one this weekend, but I am going with Ronny Rios for his shock win over Diego De La Hoya in what will likely propel him to a big pay day in his next outing or possibly a world title clash,” said Chris Glover. “He for me standouts as the winner of this weekend!”

Jonathan Leir weighed in: “Perhaps it was that Dubois reminded some of another muscular heavyweight who was exposed last month. Perhaps Nathan Gorman under tutelage of Ricky Hatton had really became the fighter that many in the UK felt he was. But whatever the reason, the line change in Vegas has moved from DDD being a 4 to one favorite, to many books saying he was slightly higher then even money by the time Saturday came. Despite money movement and popular perception, Daniel Dubois completely outmatched his opponent, dispatching of Gorman under 6 and making a clear statement that he is coming close to becoming a legitimate contender for a title. Make no mistake, pugilistic punters will learn not to doubt “The Dynamite.”

Vladimir Lik gave his two cents: “Daniel Dubois won the weekend. In a red hot heavyweight division he won a big fight by KO against Nathan Gorman while headlining at the 02 Arena in London. Leading up the fight many experts predicted Gorman will win because he was a better boxer and Dubois didn’t have the same skills or hand speed as Gorman. Instead Dubois beat him up and finished him off on the same card when Joe Joyce didn’t impress. Dubois is a legitimate threat in the heavyweight division.”

Tim Hocking gave us his three cents: “It was a very, very busy weekend of boxing with a number of fighters worthy of owning the weekend title – it would be an injustice to not mention their accomplishments prior to naming my winner. There were two shockers in Carson, CA as Eduardo Hernandez blitzed blue chip prospect Roger Gutierrez with a KO-1 while Ronny Rios beat down the previously unbeaten Diego De La Hoya via KO-6. At the O2 Arena in London we had one of the more evenly matched and highly anticipated heavyweight contests in British boxing in some time. The blue chipper was Daniel Dubois, only 21 years of age and having knocked out all 11 of his opponents in his young career. The vogue pick, though, was Nathan Gorman, the 23 year old gypsy, also undefeated in 13 pro bouts and possessing what many claimed to be more nifty boxing ability. Well, Dubois left zero doubt as he landed an eraser in the 5th after a pretty one sided affair to claim the British heavyweight title. He's on the heavyweight radar screen now which in 2019 is a great place to be. All that said, for me it's a no brainer who won the weekend. Japanese middleweight Ryota Murata had been written off by the entire boxing community as he immediately rematched Rob Brant after a one-sided shellacking by Brant to strip away Murata's WBA regular middleweight title back in Las Vegas last October. I read many, many pre-fight analysis and listened to over 20 different podcast previews of this rematch. The predictions were so similar it was if they had been all read from the same pre-fight press release – “with Brant's superior boxing skills I can't see this going any different than the first fight.” Until they stepped in the ring. 2012 Olympic gold medalists Murata came out firing from the opening bell – in a drastic change of strategy – and matched Brant's characteristic high volume punching. Brant seemed confused that Murata was trading with him blow for blow and became overwhelmed by the Japanese fighters volume punching. Murata backed Brant down and put him on the canvas in the 2nd and the referee stepped in moments later as Murata was attempting to close the show. Ryota Murata, who won the weekend, ripped his WBA regular middleweight title back from the Minnesotan Brant and put his name in the mix in what is a very crowded and potentially lucrative middleweight landscape.”

Last words go to John Gatling, saluting one of the best defenders of this or any damn era: “Pernell Whitaker…

…won the weekend because we lost him on Sunday night.”