Inoue-Dasmarinas, Charlo-Montiel and more live results and analysis

  • Previously covered University of Michigan for ESPN.com and AnnArbor.com
  • Also covered Notre Dame for Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

  • ESPN Staff Writer
  • Previously a college football writer for The Dallas Morning News
  • University of North Texas graduate

Multiple boxing cards, featuring three title fights and a former UFC champion facing a former boxing champion, headline a Saturday full of action.

After a successful debut under the Top Rank banner in October, a seventh-round TKO victory over Jason Moloney to defend his IBF and WBA bantamweight world titles, Naoya Inoue returns to Las Vegas to face Michael Dasmarinas on Saturday at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (ESPN/ESPN+, 10 p.m. ET, prelims 8 p.m. ET on ESPN+).

Japanese boxer Inoue (20-0, 17 KOs), 28, is one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, ranked No. 3 by ESPN. He defeated future Hall of Famer Nonito Donaire to win the Muhammad Ali trophy in the World Boxing Super Series bantamweight final in 2019.

Dasmarinas (30-2-1, 20 KOs), a 29-year-old southpaw from the Philippines, doesn’t have many big names on his record, but he is 12-0-1 since losing a split decision against Lwandile Sityatha in December 2014.

In the co-main event, Mikaela Mayer (14-0, 5 KOs), 30, of Woodland Hills, California, makes the first defense of her WBO women’s junior lightweight title against Erica Farias (26-4, 10 KOs), 36, of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in a 10-round fight. Also in the card, 26-year-old Isaac Dogboe (21-2, 15 KOs), of Accra, Ghana, faces Adam Lopez (15-2, 6 KOs), 25, of Glendale, California, in a 10-round featherweight bout.

At the Toyota Center in Houston, Jermall Charlo puts his WBC middleweight world title on the line against Juan Macias Montiel in the main event of a PBC card (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET).

Charlo (31-0, 22 KOs), 31, of Houston, is considered one of the best middleweights in boxing but is still waiting to face the big names at 160 pounds. Charlo defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko by unanimous decision in September, his fourth successful title defense since winning the belt with a second-round KO of Hugo Centeno Jr. in April 2018.

On the undercard, former junior featherweight world titlist Angelo Leo (20-1, 9 KOs), 27, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, faces 27-year-old Aaron Alameda (25-1, 13 KOs), of Mexico, in a 10-round battle.

At Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico, former UFC champion and legend Anderson Silva, 1-1, 1 KO in boxing, 46, of Sao Paulo, gets back in the ring for the first time in 16 years to face former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (52-5-1, 34 KOs), 35, of Culiacan, Mexico, in a 10-round cruiserweight bout.

Also on the card, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. faces Hector Camacho Jr. in a six-round middleweight exhibition.

Follow live throughout the night with recaps and insights from Michael Rothstein and Ben Baby.

Fight in progress in Las Vegas: Lindolfo Delgado vs. Salvador Briceno, 8 rounds, junior welterweights

Fight in progress in Houston: Angelo Leo vs. Aaron Alameda, 10 rounds, junior featherweights

Fight in progress in Mexico: Kevin Torres vs. Jorge Luis Melendez, 8 rounds, junior welterweights

Results:

In Las Vegas: Puente gets up from the canvas to outpoint Meza

Eric Puente may not knock out fighters, but the San Diego native does do one thing — he keeps winning.

Puente (6-0, 0 KOs) survived being knocked down in the first round against Jose Antonio Meza, who is from Mexico, to rally and beat Meza, 57-56, 58-55, 58-55 in a six-round lightweight fight. Meza (7-6, 2 KO) was a game fighter throughout the six rounds and looked to have a real shot at knocking off the 21-year-old prospect early on.

But it appeared as if the knockdown woke up Puente, because from that point in the fight, Puente largely controlled the action. He still is, however, seeking his first career knockout.

In Las Vegas: Rosario demolishes Mariano

Omar Rosario climbed up into the corner, jumped up on the rope and lifted his fist in the air. The hands, after all, had been busy all night. Rosario knocked down JJ Mariano three times in four rounds Saturday, the last one resulting in a KO of the Reno, Nevada-based Mariano in a junior welterweight bout.

Rosario (4-0, 2 KO), from Caguas, Puerto Rico, was dominant from the first bell, continually combining on flurries of punches to stagger and send Mariano to the canvas. Mariano (3-1, 2 KO) continued to get up, but was overmatched throughout the entire fight, suffering the first loss of his career.

A two-time Puerto Rican national champion as an amateur, Mariano is the second fighter in a row Rosario has handed a first loss to; he defeated Uriel Villanueva by second-round KO in February.

In El Paso, Texas: Former junior middleweight titlist Jaime Munguia defeated Kamil Szeremeta by sixth-round TKO in a middleweight bout.

In El Paso, Texas: Gabriel Rosado defeated Bektemir Melikuziev with a KO-of-the-year candidate in the third round. Rosado landed a right hand that dropped Melikuziev for good at 1:21 of the round.

In El Paso, Texas: Marlen Esparza defeated Ibeth Zamora by unanimous decision to win the WBC women’s flyweight title.

In El Paso, Texas: Blair Cobbs defeated Brad Solomon by fifth-round TKO in a welterweight bout to stay unbeaten.

Still to come:

Las Vegas (Watch on ESPN and ESPN+)

  • Title fight: Naoya Inoue vs. Michael Dasmarinas, 12 rounds, for Inoue’s IBF and WBA bantamweight titles

  • Title fight: Mikaela Mayer vs. Erica Farias, 10 rounds, for Mayer’s WBO women’s junior lightweight title

  • Adam Lopez vs. Isaac Dogboe, 10 rounds, featherweights

Houston (Showtime)

  • Title fight: Jermall Charlo vs. Juan Macias Montiel, 12 rounds, for Charlo’s WBC middleweight title

  • Isaac Cruz vs. Francisco Vargas, 10 rounds, lightweights

Jalisco, Mexico (PPV)

  • Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Anderson Silva, 10 rounds, cruiserweights

  • Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. vs. Hector Camacho Jr., 6 rounds, middleweight exhibition

  • Omar Chavez vs. Ramon Alvarez, 10 rounds, middleweights

  • Damian Sosa vs. Abel Mina, 10 rounds, junior middleweights

  • Manuel Jaimes vs. Francisco Arturo Ramirez Martinez, 8 rounds, lightweights

  • Mario Alberto Ramirez vs. Pedro Castro, 8 rounds, featherweights

  • Erik Inzunza vs. TBA, 6 rounds, junior lightweights

  • Karen Rubio vs. TBA, 4 rounds, women’s junior flyweights

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