Andrzej Fonfara vs. Doudou Ngumbu: Recap of Showtime's Tripleheader

The Windy City's adopted son, Andrzej Fonfara, found his way back into the win column Saturday night. Fonfara (26-3) rebounded from the third loss of his career and outfought the game and unheralded Doudou Ngumbu to a unanimous-decision victory in front of a partisan crowd at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois.

Dubbed "The Polish Prince," Fonfara teamed up with the awkward stylist Ngumbu (33-6) to make up the main event of the Showtime Championship Boxing tripleheader that featured standout bantamweight Tomoki Kameda defend his WBO title and newly signed Al Haymon product Javier Fortuna put his unbeaten record on the line.

The event proved to be equal parts competitive and off-the-wall bizarre. 

Fonfara Still a Light Heavyweight Contender

An interesting set of skills for each man made this one a decent scrap.

Just one fight removed from a surprisingly competitive bout with light heavyweight kingpin Adonis Stevenson, Fonfara proved himself a more complete fighter than his Congolese adversary. The Polish-born boxer ultimately walked away a unanimous-decision winner on scores of 97-93, 97-93 and 98-92 but not before Ngumbu took it to him in the first couple of rounds and looked apt to pull of the upset.

Ngumbu utilized his herky-jerky movement and chopping overhand rights and lefts to brush back the 5-1 favorite Fonfora. He attacked from an almost crouching position and deflected most of his taller opponent’s offense with a stiff guard.

But it would not last.

Fonfara’s long jabs and right crosses started finding their marks. In Round 5, he rattled Ngumbu with a big right hand and tattooed him on the face and body with punishing left hooks.

Thenceforth, the former IBO light heavyweight titlist pulled away while his opponent wilted, culminating in a gripping final round that saw Ngumbu shaken to the core by a violent series of right and left crosses and uppercuts.

Fonfara is a slow starter, but he trades off of attrition. He fights at a fixed pace that was capable enough to extend “Superman” Stevenson the distance in May for the first time in six years in addition to dropping the cataclysmic puncher late in their fight.

Keeping up with Fonfara’s grind for upwards of 30 minutes isn’t easy. Ngumbu—who has been stopped just once in 39 fights—barely did. It’s the 26-year-old’s grinding mentality that has helped him rank among very best 175-pounders in the world, according to The Ring magazine and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (in which he currently sits at No. 4).

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Fonfara has made it very clear he wishes to avenge his loss to the WBO champ earlier this year. He told The Ring's Lem Satterfield before his fight with Ngumbu: "My next step is the rematch with Stevenson, because I feel I can beat him." He didn't hurt his chances with a win this weekend.

But if he's truly hellbent on facing off with Stevenson again, the latest light heavyweight powerhouse, Artur Beterbiev, needs a dance partner for his scheduled bout on Dec. 19 on the undercard of Stevenson's title defense against Dmitry Sukhotsky at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City. A win then against Beterbiev—fresh off of knocking out the durable Tavoris Cloud like no one ever had before—gives Fonfara his best chance at securing a possible rematch with Superman. 

It is unlikely, as it would be the light heavyweight contender's quickest turnaround since his first full year as a professional in 2007. But opportunity is rarely dressed up nice and pretty in this line of work.

Kameda Win Sets Up Unification Bout with McDonnell

Twenty-three-year-old Kameda defended his WBO bantamweight strap for the third time against former training partner Alejandro “Little Clown” Hernandez (28-11-2) via a split decision. The verdict was controversial and, given his reputation as one of the world’s brightest, most exciting young stars, “El Mexicanito” (31-0) was a bit underwhelming. 

He never exhibited the body-punching savagery that fans in the U.S. likely expected from him following his lethal liver-shot knockout of Pungluang Sor Singyu in July, but he did land on an impressive 155 of his 320 power punches for a connection rate of 48 percent. Hernandez only managed to connect on 22 percent of his power punches (111-505), most of which came late. 

Kameda pitched a shutout for the first eight rounds. His left hand was blistering, and Hernandez had nothing for his piston-like jabs and sweeping hooks. “Payasito, ” 28, tried to apply pressure on his younger opponent but was physically overwhelmed in close quarters. Still, Kameda almost seemed too content at times, never really finding his way through Hernandez’s guard. Instead, he punched at his raised gloves with straight rights and lefts—delivering little damage.

In Round 9, Hernandez finally broke out of his stagnancy and employed a high output to swell and open up a cut above Kameda’s left eye. This only made the Japanese champion move his feet even more in the final three rounds and continue to pick Hernandez apart from long range. 

Save for the 12th round, this was a tame affair. The final round did see Hernandez begin to find success stalking and swarming Kameda, making for the most exciting round of the fight and the only other stanza to belong solely to the Mexican-born fighter. 

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Judge Dennis Nelson saw the fight 115-113 for Hernandez, giving him seven rounds, while the other two turned in far more reasonable 115-113 scores the other way. Kamada’s older brother Koki also picked up a win Saturday night on the same card against former title challenger Omar Salado.

On Friday, ESPN's Dan Rafael wrote that Tomoki and WBA bantamweight champion Jamie McDonnell have agreed to a unification bout in early 2015 provided that each man win their next fight.

Kamada has done his part. Now it's up to McDonnell (24-2-1) to get past Walberto Ramos on Nov. 22 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. 

Fortuna Remains Undefeated

A day after Halloween, the bizarre and the wacky found their way into the squared circle.

Incompetent refereeing and foul play ran amok in what turned out to be a real farce of a prizefight between Javier Fortuna and Abner Cotto. Despite another a knockout victory for the heavy-handed Fortuna (26-0-1) in the fifth, the finish is marred with low blows, bewildering point deductions and the worst dive in recent memory.

In Round 2, Cotto (18-3), cousin to one middleweight champion Miguel, cocked back and threw two blatant punches to the back of Fortuna’s head, sending him to the canvas. It was an obvious foul and worthy of a penalty.

It was. And it wasn’t.

Referee Lou Hall, who began refereeing professionally just 15 months ago, deducted a point from Cotto but also ruled a knockdown. It doesn’t work that way.

If a punch is a foul, a 10-count should not be initiated. It was an inexplicable call. After this, spectators and viewers at home were lucky enough to see Cotto’s head smack into a Showtime camera man’s rig while backing up into the ropes from a stalking Fortuna. Boxing is dangerous as it is—the last thing these men need is some amateur with a camera making things worse from outside the ropes. 

But as it was, things only got worse from there.

Towards the end of Round 4, Cotto struck Fortuna with what was one of multiple low blows, sparking Fortuna to retaliate after the bell for the second time. The punch completely whiffed, but after some coaxing from his trainer Cotto took a trip to the canvas anyway. 

"

LOL Cotto flopped at the end of the round like his name was LeBron James.

— Ryan Bivins (@RyanBivins) November 2, 2014"

Hall, eager to outdo even himself, took a point from Fortuna.

Thankfully, everything came to an end in the fifth by way of a stiff left hand that crashed into the chin of Cotto, who was unable to beat the 10-count. 

It was the 19th knockout victory of Fortuna’s career. Hopefully he doesn't ever have another one amid a fight nearly as bizarre as he did this weekend.