Adames Outpoints Warburton in Riyadh, but Nobody Is Calling It a Statement

Update, Nov. 14: Zuffa later named Alexander Castro and Radzhab Butaev Fight of the Night, and Jason Moloney and Dariial Kuchmenov Performance of the Night. The promotion did not announce bonus amounts. Castro's short-notice majority-decision upset over Butaev is already on the card below.

Carlos Adames got the win he came for in Riyadh. He did not get the statement. The WBC middleweight champion beat Gerome Warburton by unanimous decision on Saturday at The Venue, 100-90, 99-91 and 98-92, in a 10-round, 165-pound main event at Zuffa Boxing 13 that did nothing to rush anybody to the phones.

The official Zuffa results page lists the cards. Adames, in his first fight in nearly eight months, started slowly, opened up late in the fourth and then went to work on the body. From the fifth round on he kept landing his right hand to the midsection while the southpaw Warburton, long and mobile, mostly stayed on the defensive. Warburton had a better eighth round and lasted the distance, but the promotion's own recap called the night "more of a showcase for the Dominican."

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Not everybody watching saw a showcase. Veteran reporter Dan Rafael posted the cards and called it a "horrible fight."

The belt was never at risk. As we noted in the fight-week preview, the bout was made at 165, five pounds over the middleweight limit, and both men hit the number at Friday's weigh-in. Adames came in 25-1-1 (18 KOs). So the question coming out of Riyadh isn't about the title. It's about what's next for a champion whose latest calling card is a wide, quiet decision.

In the co-feature, former titleholder Jason Moloney outpointed Mexico's Andres Teran over 10 bantamweight rounds, 98-92, 99-91 and 97-93. Teran had come in 1.5 pounds over the 118-pound limit on Friday. He landed a sharp uppercut in the fourth that briefly stopped Moloney, who was marked up around his left eye, but the 35-year-old Australian took back control in the fifth and boxed to a clear win.

France's Bruno Surace beat Kamil Bednarek by unanimous decision, 98-92, 97-93 and 96-94, at super middleweight. It was close early. Surace pulled away from the seventh round on and hurt Bednarek with right hands in the 10th.

On the rest of the card:

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• Heavyweight prospect Jakhongir Zokirov stopped Brandon Colantonio after one round to go to 3-0. He dropped Colantonio with body shots and was docked a point for hitting him while he was down, and then Colantonio's corner pulled him out before the second.
• Alexander Castro took a short-notice majority-decision upset over Radzhab Butaev at middleweight, 96-94, 97-93 and 95-95, working the body all night.
• Dariial Kuchmenov won a split decision over Ivan Ortiz at lightweight, 77-74, 76-75 and 75-76, after dropping Ortiz with a counter hook in the first round.
• Tullo Boymatov knocked out Moro Kanla at 1:29 of the first round at light heavyweight.
• Riyadh's Rayan Awaji stopped Sudais Lubega at 2:15 of the third round in his pro debut.
• Abdulaziz Alotaibi beat Ezra Ssali by unanimous decision, 40-35 on all three cards.

Zuffa is back in Riyadh on Dec. 4, when Aaron McKenna defends the IBF middleweight title against Jevgenijs Aleksejevs at Zuffa Boxing 14.

You can follow Adames and what he does next on his Boxbid boxer page, and when his next fight is set, log your call in Guess the Rounds.