Another edition of the annual “KO to Drugs” card orchestrated by the WBA in Argentina’s Casino Buenos Aires produced some minor upsets and some highlight reel-worthy stoppages by the favs du jour.
In the main event, Giovanni Scuderi improved to 11-0 (5 knockouts) with a final round destruction of local credit Jairo Suarez (now 7-3, 2 IS) in a heavyweight clash.
In a scheduled ten-round bout that was preceded by quite a few pre-fight blazers and scraps, Italy’s Scuderi appeared overly cautious for most of the first half of the fight but managed to dominate the action using his height and gaining advantage against a plodding but willing enemy. Suarez did land a few bombs during the fight, but he seemed to tire down the stretch. Scuderi saw an opportunity and went straight to his body until he landed a two-punch combination to Suarez’s middle that dropped the Argentine for the full count.
Sebastian Papeschi (right) lands an overhand right on Diego Ramírez – Photo courtesy of Boxeo de Primera
The winner lifted something called the “Fedelatin” title belt, usually reserved for fighters living in Latin America, but presumably made available for this fight given the visitor’s origins in the country where Latin civilization was born.
In a pre-fight interview, TV commentator Marcelo Gonzalez prodded WBA President Gilberto Mendoza on the subject of the organization’s penchant for handing out belts of every denomination to fighters of any national origin for no particular reason. Mendoza’s response was a long and meandering comment in which “to make more opportunities available to fighters worldwide” appeared to be the only plausible explanation, followed by a promise to clean up the sanctioning body’s act that either a new promise or a renewal of a similar one made years ago with no clear results in sight so far.
In another example of the WBA’s enthusiastic interest in offering fighters the opportunity to pay sanction fees for no apparent reason, local Argentine product Sebastian Papeschi improved to 22-4 (8 IS) with a picture-perfect knockout of late sub Diego Ramírez (now 25-12-1, 6 IS) in a middleweight bout scheduled for 10 rounds for the “Fedecaribe” title, a belt that makes even less sense to be contested between fighters who live and operate as far from the Caribbean as one can imagine. can imagine
Papeschi, an aggressive fighter who never fails to entertain but usually takes as much punishment as he dishes out, kept Ramirez on the run for most of the fight, dominating the exchanges with his higher output and superior punching power. A debilitating combination dropped Ramirez in a heap in a corner by the end of the fifth round, and the fight was stopped at ten.
Prior to the Papeschi-Ramirez fight, Mexico’s Jacqueline Calvo (21-9-2, 2 KOs) dropped a five-round technical decision to local veteran María Magdalena Rivera (Argentina 14-6-3, 3 KOs) with the interim WBA flyweight belt on the line.
Jaqueline Calvo (right) and Maria Rivera (left) trade blows – Photo courtesy of Boxeo de Primera
The fight ended on a strange note when Calvo claimed she couldn’t open her left eye after an apparent clash of heads and declared herself unable to continue. The referee called for an accidental collision on the scorecards and ended the fight, with the 44-year-old Rivera winning by scores of 49-46 and 48-47 (twice).
Earlier in the card, American heavyweight DeAndre Savage improved to 6-0 with 6 IS after a destruction of Esteban Juarez (6-7-1, 3 IS) in three rounds of a scheduled eight. Savage was just getting started and shifting gears as he caught Juarez’s chin with the end of a long hook and sent him down the ropes for a quick TKO win.
Daniel Combi earlier improved to 12-9 (1 IS) with a majority decision narrow upset win over previously undefeated Colombian Jaime Villegas (now 17-1, 13 IS). Combi received scorecards of 77-75 and 78-74, while the third one tied at 76-76 after eight rounds of action in the lightweight division. A “Fedecentro” belt was presented to Combi after the fight.
Diego M. Morilla has written for The Ring since 2013. He has also written for HBO.com, ESPN.com and many other magazines, websites, newspapers and outlets since 1993. He is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a voter for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He has won two first-place awards in the BWAA’s annual writing contest, and he is the moderator of The Ring’s Women’s Rating Panel. He served as copy editor for the second era of The Ring en Español (2018-2020) and is currently a writer and editor for RingTV.com.
