Félix Manuel Díaz Guzman vs. Francisco Santana & Chris van Heerden vs. Festim Kryeziu RBR

Round 2

Lubkovich is jabbing the belly and throwing a roundhouse right into the floating rib as Mayfield comes charging in at him. Mayfield spins him into the ropes and Lubkovich sort of falls between two of the middle ones awkwardly. Smoger has Mayfield back off so Lubkovich can extricate & recompose himself. Time in. Lubkovich is standing in with Mayfield and slugging in short bursts, giving him a taste of his own medicine with clubbing right forearms across the back of the neck and short chopping rabbit punches with both hands as Mayfied is ducking in unsuccessfully targeting Lubkovich's body. Quick jabs by Lubkovich on the lateral step, drawing the lead from Mayfield with a right hand lead feint, then swaying outward and clipping Mayfield with a left hook/right hand combo. Mayfield is swarming and clattering his fists against Lubkovich's neck, pulling him into rough clinches, practically throttling & shaking him about.

10-9 Lubkovich

20-18 Lubkovich

 

Holyfield is gonna be mad as hell at Mayfield if he loses. I'm guessing he selected these guys for alternates without really knowing much about Lubkovich thinking "Mayfield, that's a guy that has fought on TV and been a contender, let me feed him a tall Russian with a padded unbeaten record so he can whoop him and I can sit ringside with my hand in my pocket kneading my loaf while squinting and fantasizing that I'm watching some alternate dimension miniaturized version of my Valuev fight.."

 

Yeah, imagine paying for a ticket for this and then feeling bored during this, probably the greatest showcase of technical skill that will be seen in the ring all night?

 

Round 3

Lubkovich is cruising and laying the jab on Mayfield when they circle at medium-long range. Mayfield is dashing toward him with low-diving sorties, upper body pitching in first and fists windmilling into the shoulders and throat of the Russian. Lubkovich is able to repel most of the clinches with a shove or a sideways wrenching motion to slough Mayfield off before resuming lateral motion & reestablishing his jab.

10-9 Lubkovich

30-27 Lubkovich

 

So not only does the winner here get to be first in line if they need a substitute, but if no alternates end up being required by the semis they will fight a quarterfinal loser next on the SF undercard.