Matchroom’s Monaco event held this past weekend saw Uzbek fighter Murodjon Akhmadaliev affirm his status as a top super bantamweight contender after a dominant outing in his headlining fight, while British cruiserweight contender Cheavon Clarke suffered a dubious loss to his opponent in the co-main event. The Matchroom show was held at the Salle des Etoiles in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on Saturday, December 14.

Murodjon Akhmadaliev Vs. Ricardo Espinoza

In what can best be construed as a stay-busy fight, former super bantamweight (122 lbs) world champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (13-1, 10 KO’s) faced unranked Mexican contender Ricardo Espinoza Franco (30-5, 25 KO’s) in a 12-round fight he was expected to win handily.

Despite a somewhat slow 1st round where Espinoza seemed to threaten the Uzbek on the front foot, Akhmadaliev largely met expectations as he would dominate the rest of the rounds after he appeared to have figured out Espinoza’s style.

Faced against an opponent that relied mostly on pressuring opponents, Murodjon Akhmadaliev kept the distance well as he sought to exploit Espinoza through his jab. This approach proved effective as Espinoza, despite his lack of name recognition, appeared dangerous with his right hands within the pocket. However, a combination of ring IQ and solid defense prevented Espinoza’s approach from gaining any steam and allowed Akhmadaliev to capitalize in moments where Espinoza slowed down.

Akhmadaliev’s strategy paid off immensely in the 3rd round as he landed some crucial combinations early on to rock Espinoza. From that point, Espinoza found himself mostly on the receiving end as Akhmadaliev continued landing cleanly and often throughout the 1st minute. Roughly half a minute after, Murodjon Akhmadaliev well-timed counters throughout the match appeared to have taken its toll as a a one-two combination [from the southpaw position] dropped Ricardo Espinoza.

While Espinoza beat the count of ten to continue, he was clearly in a vulnerable state following the knockdown and roughly 30 seconds after, he was dropped for the second time by Akhmadaliev after a right hand saw the Mexican contender knocked down several late seconds after being hit clean while attempting to retaliate.

Espinoza again managed to continue but was clearly on wobbly legs, allowing Murodjon Akhmadaliev to launch a continuous assault on the Mexican fighter for nearly entirety of the rest of the round. In the closing seconds, Espinoza found himself knocked down for the 3rd and final time after which the referee interceded and waved the fight off, culminating in a technical knockout (TKO) victory for Akhmadaliev.

Following the victory, Akhmadaliev made sure to call out Japanese undisputed super bantamweight champion Naoya Inoue (28-0, 25 KO’s) in his post-match interview. Akhmadaliev, who is still considered to be the WBA mandatory challenger at 122-pounds, has been unfortunate thus far in arranging a fight with Inoue after accepting an exemption that the WBA gave the Japanese champion to face TJ Doheny (26-5, 20 KO’s) in September.

Following the Inoue-Doheny fight, the WBA neglected to send down a mandate for a Inoue-Akhmadaliev bout, culminating in the IBF ordering Inoue to face Australian IBF mandatory Sam Goodman (19-0, 8 KO’s) instead. This upcoming Inoue-Goodman clash is set to go ahead in Japan on December 24 next week Tuesday.

Cheavon Clarke Vs. Leonardo Mosquea

In the co-main event, British cruiserweight (200 lbs) contender Cheavon Clarke (10-1, 7 KO’s) suffered his first loss against French contender Leonardo Mosquea (16-0, 9 KO’s) who retained his undefeated record following a split-decision (SD) victory over Clarke. The two fought over the vacant EBU European title in a match scheduled for 12 rounds.

The two were very evenly-matched throughout the match which was characterized by a 1st-round knockdown that Clarke suffered. Despite suffering a knockdown for the first time of his career, Cheavon Clarke did well to come back and seek to overcome the disadvantage on the scorecards, though Mosquea proved to be Clarke’s most resilient and threatening opposition as the two would go toe-to-toe for many rounds.

With only the last 3 rounds, the championship rounds, to spare, the match appeared close to a draw but seemed to go in favor of Clarke who managed to rock Mosquea a couple of times though Mosquea himself did not lack for firepower―making for a conflicting match with it both fighters being able to make a case for having won.

Ultimately, the judges revealed Mosquea to be the winner through dubious scorecards of 116-112 and 117-113 in favor of the Frenchman as opposed the lone judge that scored the fight for Cheavon Clarke [115-112], allowimg the French contender to grab a pivotal and surprising split-decision victory over the British talent.

Notably, while the result is already in question, the scores themselves do not seem to have accurately portrayed the fight as neither fighter had excelled to the point the scorecards should have suggested more than 1 or 2 rounds in favor of either Clarke or Mosquea.

As a result of his unexpected victory, Mosquea has become the EBU European cruiserweight champion while Clarke’s career has very much taken a hit. A potential rematch might occur between the two next year given the close nature of their contest, though it is also entirely possible both fighters will continue on with their respective careers to reach for the highest honors.

Undercard results:

• The most competitive match on the undercard was between Irish lightweight (135 lbs) contender Gary Cully (18-2, 10 KO’s) and English contender Maxi Hughes (28-7-2, 6 KO’s) as they fought in a high-stakes 10-round bout. Unlike the Clarke-Mosquea bout which ended up being more competitive than expected, Hughes would destroy every pre-match prediction of a close fight as he carved out a unanimous decision (UD) win over the 10 rounds, defeating Cully handily as reflected by all the judges’ three scorecards which ruled the fight completely in favor of Hughes through scores of 100-90.

• Also fighting on the undercard was Brazilian IBF women’s lightweight champion Beatriz Ferreira (6-0, 2 KO’s) who similarly defeated her opponent, French contender Licia Boudersa (23-3-2, 4 KO’s) in dominant fashion to retain her IBF belt over 10 rounds. 100-90 scorecards from all the three judges were given to Ferreira.