GRADES: VERGIL ORTIZ, ISMAEL BARROSO, OHARA DAVIES, ARNOLD BARBOZA & MORE

By: Jay Calderon

Definitely not the busiest start to 2024, but that's to be expected in the sport of boxing.

Still, we did see the 154 pound debut of Vergil Ortiz (even if only for a few minutes) as well as the quality upset win produced by Ismael Barroso over Ohara Davies.

Outside of those encounters, we also saw the return of Arnold Barboza at 140 pounds and another impressive victory for Welterweight prospect Raul Curiel. 

So, without much more ado, let's hand out these Grades:

VERGIL ORTIZ/FREDRICK LAWSON
RESULT: ORTIZ DEF. LAWSON, 1TKO (JR. MIDDLEWEIGHT)
GRADE: N/A
To be honest, I can't fairly give either man a grade in this one.

For what it's worth, Ortiz looked solid at the new weight, didn't seem to dip in speed or how he carried himself. But, again, it's too hard to make that call off of less than one, legitimately completed round.

Lawson didn't look great, but he wasn't really given the chance by Tony Weeks to fight back and change anything. Would he have changed anything? Can't answer that without making a(n educated) guess.

Wasn't much of a fight, so it doesn't get much of a grade.
 

ISMAEL BARROSO
RESULT: DEF. OHARA DAVIES, 1TKO (JR. WELTERWEIGHT)
GRADE: A+
Well, when you're a decent sized underdog and stop the favorite in a single round, it's hard to give you anything lower than an A+.

Granted, Davies isn't anything special (and shouldn't have been such a big favorite), but Barroso still had to go in there and get the job done.

And, that, he did.

Barroso, typically more aggressive, sat back, looked for the left hand counter and nailed it. Now, presumably, Barroso is in line for a title shot at 140 against the man many feel got away with one in Rolly Romero the last time the pair met in May of last year.

Probably the performance of the weekend.

OHARA DAVIES
RESULT: DEF. ISMAEL BARROSO, 1TKO (JR. WELTERWEIGHT)
GRADE: F
Back in May of last year, Ismael Barroso seemed on his way to defeating Rolly Romero for a vacant portion of the gold at 140 pounds. However, with what seemed like a premature stoppage (again, see Tony Weeks), Romero pulled off the victory in the ninth round of action, and snatched up the gold.

Prior to his own encounter with Barroso for an interim portion of the aforementioned title, Ohara Davies quipped that he wasn't sure if Barroso was actually good, or if Romero was just so bad that the 40-year-old looked better in comparison.

Well, Davies got his answer -- and that's why he gets such a low grade.

It wasn't just that he looked awful in the opening moments and was blasted out. That's part of it. But, it's also the arrogance he had heading into the contest that hurts him as well.

Performances don't get too much worse than that of Davies this weekend.

ARNOLD BARBOZA
RESULT: DEF. XOLISANI NDONGENI, 8TKO (JR. WELTERWEIGHT)
GRADE: A-
Let's be perfectly clear: Xolisani Ndongeni isn't a world-beater. That said, he wasn't brought in to be one. Ndongeni is fairly sturdy, a veteran, and was brought in to push Barboza a little bit.

To be honest, Barboza cleverly avoided all of that.

For the most part, Barboza was too crafty and a step ahead of his man throughout the fight. Barboza set up his work and landed hard shots on a consistent basis. Even when Ndongeni managed to get into a bit of a back and forth, it was Barboza coming out having landed the better work.

Barboza will definitely have tougher questions asked of himself at 140 in the future. Still, a solid debut with Golden Boy over the weekend.

RAUL CURIEL
RESULT: DEF. ELIAS DIAZ, 8TKO (WELTERWEIGHT)
GRADE: A-
Raul Curiel doesn't do anything crazy, amazing, over the top. True, he has plenty of power. Still, outside of the occasional bomb, he's just a very solid fighter.

Curiel has solid fundamentals, throws and picks his shots well, digs to the body when it's there. He effectively takes what the opponent gives him, and a little bit more. All positive signs to see in an up and coming prospect.

In some respects, Curiel reminds me of Danny Garcia. Garcia, like Curiel, is solid in most areas and will beat most guys he faces in or around his weight class. Garcia was never the best of his era, but he was a solid fighter that was a challenge for anyone he faced.

Whether Curiel becomes the best of his era remains to be seen. Maybe he's more the Garcia type: solid. But that isn't an insult. You can build a solid career around those type of attributes.

LINKS:

- SCHEDULE & ODDS

- RESULTS

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