On February 18, we ranked the fights on the “Last Crescendo” card based on the quality of the matchups. Now that we’ve witnessed each of the seven contests, it’s time to rank them again based on the quality of the action. 

Entertainment, shock value, and whether or not expectations were met were all taken into consideration.

7. Carlos Adames D12 Hamzah Sheeraz (pre-card ranking: 4)

This fight never quite got going, did it? Sheeraz entered the bout as the favorite despite Adames’ status as champion, and his somewhat tentative performance didn’t justify the oddsmaking (and felt like a meek end to his 15-fight stoppage streak). Adames found himself stuck on the end of Sheeraz’s jab for the first few rounds, but managed to break the distance and connect with power shots, after which no adjustment from Sheeraz was forthcoming. Aside from Turki Alalshikh appearing to shout to Sheeraz in the corner that he was down by two points in the late rounds, and a couple of odd scorecards later being announced, this fight produced little for the mind to chew on once the scores were read. 

6. Joseph Parker KO 2 Martin Bakole (pre-card ranking, before Bakole replaced Daniel Dubois: 3)

We can’t fault Bakole for showing up overweight. Good for him for taking this fight on just a couple days’ notice. The argument that he should have been in peak physical condition even when not in the thick of a training camp is meek because it’s, one, not exactly a practice followed by all boxers and, two, a high standard to hold heavyweights to in particular, since they do not have to make weight. Parker couldn’t possibly have handled the occasion any better, however, so credit to him; he’s now beaten arguably the three hardest-punching heavyweights in the division in succession. That said, this one was wanting for evenness, drama outside the dying seconds of the fight, and any real narrative. The fight lacked the competitiveness of Adames-Sheeraz, but the brutality of the knockout earned it a higher place in the rankings.

5. Vergil Ortiz Jnr W12 Israil Madrimov (pre-card ranking: 2)

If you only watched the last three rounds of this fight, you might raise an eyebrow at its placement on the list. More than any of the other bouts, this one suffers from falling short of pre-fight expectations. Early on, the action was more or less nonexistent. Madrimov feinted furiously off the back foot without throwing many punches, giving the impression of a boxing masterclass without the substance. Ortiz, meanwhile, refused to jab his way in as he merely followed Madrimov around the ring. 

The exchanges heated up in the second half, particularly after Ortiz violently dominated the ninth round, which made Madrimov realize he needed to fight toe-to-toe to have a chance. But this was an ugly, mauling fight at times, though an impressive win for Ortiz, that gave the crowd too much reason to boo and the referee too much reason to intervene (this latter point almost entirely due to Madrimov leading with his head or shoulder). 

4. Shakur Stevenson TKO9 Josh Padley (pre-card ranking, pre-Padley replacing Floyd Schofield: 7)

Okay, we might be grading on a curve here, but screw it: Shakur Stevenson scored a knockout! His style and demeanor was genuinely enjoyable to watch, too – he grinned like a madman when he realized he had Padley hurt, granting some delayed validation to his occasional nickname “The Boogeyman.” As a late replacement, Padley fought to win and with heart, throwing back each time Stevenson hurt him with body shots, and didn’t disgrace himself in defeat. Criticize Stevenson for not getting Padley out of there sooner if you like, but this was better by orders of magnitude than his fights with Edwin De Los Santos and Artem Harutyunyan. 

3. Agit Kabayel KO6 Zhilei Zhang (pre-card ranking: 6)

This fight might seem too high at first glance given that aside from a couple moments in the first round and a huge left that decked Kabayel in round five, Zhang was hardly even competitive in this fight. Thinking about the bout as a whole, though, it had everything. There was awe at Kabayel’s relentless body attack, so rarely seen among heavyweights – Zhang shrugged at the body punches in round one only to be visibly sucking air in round two. There was a big if brief momentum shift as Zhang suddenly dumped Kabayel onto the canvas in the fifth. There was the finish: Zhang sinking weakly to the canvas from yet another venomous Kabayel body shot is likely an image few boxing fans ever thought they’d see from “Big Bang.” 

And there was the announcement of Kabayel as a serious heavyweight contender. It just so happens that the world champion is perceived to have problems with body shots. That man, Oleksandr Usyk, genially presented Kabayel with a silly interim belt after his win, but I’d prefer to see how he looks trying to fend off Kabayel’s body attack. 

2. Callum Smith UD12 Joshua Buatsi (pre-card ranking: 5)

What chins on both these men. DAZN broadcaster Sergio Mora confidently and understandably asserted early in the fight that it wouldn’t go the distance, noting the hellacious body shots thrown and landed by both men. Smith doubled over in the third round from a shot to the breadbasket, only to recover and hurt Buatsi with shots to each side of his midsection soon after. Smith pulled away in the later rounds, but Buatsi was always competitive, and frankly deserves some sort of award just for never hitting the canvas. This was ranked low coming in because of its lacking in contextual relevance, which likely remains – Smith surely won’t beat David Benavidez, much less either of the participants in the main event – but as an action fight, this bout was the jewel of the card.

1. Dmitry Bivol MD12 Artur Beterbiev (pre-card ranking: 1)

In some ways the main event was an inverse of Beterbiev-Bivol I, with Beterbiev coming on strong in the middle rounds this time and Bivol closing more aggressively, but it was no less compelling. The stylistic beats were just as musical and savage: Bivol’s jab; Beterbiev’s overhand right; Bivol’s stinging footwork; Beterbiev’s relentless plodding. Bivol produced a near-miraculous, Usyk-esque momentum shift in the eighth round when it seemed inevitable that Beterbiev would storm to victory. Each fighter elevated their legacy through adaptations and resistance to the style of the other. Like the first fight, this bout delivered extreme drama and above-average action, which is about all a fan can ask for from a fight at the most elite level in the sport.