Well, that was...something.
As expected, Brandon Rios and Diego Chaves went toe-to-toe in the main event of last night's (Aug. 2, 2014) HBO: "Boxing After Dark" tripleheader. They went a bit above and beyond the call of duty, however, and things went sour in a hurry.
Rios, as usual, immediately pursued an inside fight, digging away at Chaves' body while the Argentinian winged powerful bombs. As Rios found increasing success, however, Chaves proceeded to clinch, holding Rios' arms and, according to Rios, digging his glove into the his eyes.
Referee Vic Drakulich got fed up in a hurry, taking a point from Chaves in the third round.
From there, the Argentinian focused more on making it an outfight, smashing Rios with powerful right crosses and attempting to steer clear of the phonebooth exchanges that Rios thrives on. Things continued to degenerate in the clinch, however; Rios lost a point in the fifth for seemingly shoving Chaves to the canvas and Chaves lost a second point in the eighth for shoving his glove and forearm into his face while they tied up.
In the ninth, Rios, who had been very vocal in his dislike for Chaves, seemed to throw a fit in the clinch while yelling at Chaves. Though there was no observable foul, Drakulich elected to disqualify the Argentinian, handing him his second loss in three fights.
Watch the video highlights here.
I won't argue that Chaves wasn't being very dirty, but Rios pushed the rules just as much and, as I said, Chaves did not, as far as I can tell, foul Rios in the clinch that prompted the disqualification. It was an unsatisfying ending to a fight that, on all three scorecards, was separated by just one point.
On a brighter note, Sergey Kovalev earned his November crack at Bernard Hopkins, putting away Blake Caparello with three brutal knockdowns in the second (watch the video replay here). Caparello had knocked down an off-balance Kovalev in the first, only for a hard straight to the body to begin the end for the Australian.
The card began with Jessie Vargas defeating Anton Novikov in a close fight, one the judges did not see fit to watch as they scored it inexplicably wide for the hometown fighter.
For quick results and round-by-round coverage of the night's proceedings, click here.