Former lightweight titleholder Richard Commey bounced back big in his first fight since 2019, knocking out Jackson Marinez in a late notice main event tonight on ESPN.
Commey (30-3, 27 KO) announced that he certainly isn’t going to fade out of contention at 135 pounds just yet, picking up a solid win that keeps the 33-year-old Ghanaian in the mix in one of boxing’s hottest divisions.
He was also supported by the man who beat him last time we saw Commey, which of course is Teofimo Lopez:
Here’s a look at the finish of the fight:
The win, again, keeps Commey in the mix at lightweight, though a title fight may be hard to come by soon. Lopez holds the WBA, IBF, and WBO belts, as well as whatever claim you want to consider to the WBC belt, while Devin Haney has whatever other claim to the WBC belt, and Gervonta Davis has the WBA’s secondary belt. Commey doesn’t have the big star power, but in all honesty he’d be by far a career-best opponent for Haney if we’re not getting Lopez-Haney next, which we aren’t.
In the co-feature, Adam Lopez (15-2, 6 KO) won a majority decision over 10 rounds against Jason Sanchez (15-3, 8 KO) in a featherweight scrap that seems to have gone down about exactly like you’d expect Lopez-Sanchez to go down:
Jared Anderson KO-6 Kingsley Ibeh
Kingsley Ibeh has been something of a fan favorite on the Top Rank “bubble” shows since last summer, and arguably deserved an upset decision over Guido Vianello, another good heavyweight prospect, last we saw him on Oct. 3.
But Anderson (8-0, 8 KO) showed the difference in class between them, and also the difference in class between himself as a heavyweight prospect and Vianello. The 21-year-old Anderson was too quick and too sharp with his jab, but he did get some rounds in here before brutally knocking Ibeh out in the sixth and final round. Don’t write off getting the rounds, either; five of Anderson’s opponents thus far have gone down in the first round, and it’s important he at least get used to the fact that as he improves the competition, people aren’t going to just crumble inside three minutes.
If you’re a boxing fan, and a heavyweight fan in particular, and even more specifically if you’re a fan of the American heavyweights and have been waiting for a quality young guy to come along, Anderson may be your guy. He’s being developed solidly, he’s very young and still learning, and Top Rank aren’t rushing him into stupid matchups. By the end of this year he should be ready for solid journeyman types, in a couple years maybe the big fights.