By Jonathan Snowden

Sometimes a boxer needs just one shot to insert himself into the sport's narrative, to make sure whenever big fights are discussed, his name is prominently in the mix.  

Errol Spence Jr. took his best shot Saturday on NBC, taking on a tough, battle tested contender in Chris Algieri. To say that shot landed was an understatement. He literally landed a scintillating left hook to the head at the end of the fifth round. But the metaphorical impact on boxing's leading journalists was just as important.

Here's a sampling from the top names in the game:

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While certainly impressive, it is important to keep in mind who he was fighting. Algieri's claim to fame was going 12 rounds against Manny Pacquiao. What promoters didn't want you to think about was what those 12 rounds looked like.  The ref could have stopped it whenever he wanted to, as Algieri was dropped six times in the bout.  Instead, he was allowed to stay in the fight and Pacquiao was forced to collect woefully one-sided scorecards.

Stylistically, Algieri was almost guaranteed to be in for a world of hurt against Spence, who could walk him down knowing he didn’t have the power to hurt him. Spence was allowed to be a little reckless. Poor Algieri didn't have the guns or the sort of lateral movement or slickness required to actually get away and counter effectively. 

Still, Spence did what he was supposed to and looked good doing it. Great fighters understand how to turn up the wick and perform on those occasions. It's the difference between Spence and the thousands of young fighters who have pulled their pistols on the big stage only to misfire badly. He took his shot and landed in the center of the bulls eye.

Notes

1. Felix Verdejo, another rising star, had yet another shot to prove the hype was real, yet another homecoming in Puerto Rico in front of the fans who are supposedly destined to love him. This time the opponent was Jose Luis Rodriguez, a little known and unassuming Mexican fighter who should have posed little problem for Verdejo and his presumptive power and speed advantage. 

And while Verdejo clearly deserved his ten round unanimous decision victory, he looked anything but spectacular doing it. “Diamante” seemed to be in full sparring mode, taking no chance, purely counter punching, and showing little activity against the face first slugger Rodriguez. There was no southpaw stance, no slick defense, no long layoff, nothing to offer as an excuse for the mediocre showing: Verdejo simply came to get paid and cared little about anything else.

2. While Verdejo failed to wow, at least he deserved to win, which is more than you can say for several other A-side fighters. Most notable was Marcus Browne, PBC’s star light heavyweight prospect. He was knocked down and hurt repeatedly by the previously undefeated Radivoje Kalajdzic. Somehow he managed to be handed a split decision victory anyway, in large part due to referee Tony Chiarantano totally botching a “knockdown” call in the very first round. Not only was it not a knockdown, Browne proceeded to blatantly foul Kalajdzic by hitting him when he was down.

Stuart Hall beat Rodrigo Guerrero and Josh Warrington was handed a unanimous decision over Hisashi Amagasa. Both score cards completely ignored reality—both men were in tough, competitive fighs. As the US would never want to be outdone in the poor scoring department, Chris Van Heerden was given two 97-93 cards to beat Steve Claggett in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was Van Heerden breaking down and being clearly outworked throughout much of the fight, especially the second half, but this seemed to matter little in the final tabulation.

3. Eudy Bernardo arrived on Shobox the clear favorite over his opponent, the equally unknown Mason Menard. Both were products of scenes where fighters often obtain inflated records fighting unknowns and non-talents. As it turned out, that perception was wrong—at least for one of them. 

Menard showed legitimate skill, speed, and power. He overwhelmed Bernardo and left him crumpled and unmoving on the canvas with the odds-on-favorite for KO of the Year in the 3rd round. Menard’s sole loss came in his 3rd pro fight roughly 8 years ago. Throw it out for future analysis. This guy is serious.

4. Aside from the prospects, it was actually a pair of grizzled vets that stole the weekend. Jesus Soto-Karass and Yoshihiro Kamegai engaged in a back and forth punch fest that most people probably saw via streaming internet. 

Soto-Karass threw a junior middleweight record 168 punches in the 10th round. That heroic effort probably evened up the cards, leading to a split decision draw. No big knockdowns or huge power shots were recorded, but there was a whole lot of back and forth action. A rematch should most certainly be explored, and it belongs on a better network than the anemic Estrella TV. 

5. Gary Russell Jr. returned from over a year away from the ring to score an impressive second round knockout against largely unknown Patrick Hyland. In the post fight interview, Russell suggested he would follow Vasyl Lomachenko to any weight class in order to get his rematch. Later he also acquiesced to fighting the likes of Lee Selby, which is good as he's more likely to be a future opponent. 

Jose Pedraza also managed to defend his belt after several months away, defeating Stephen Smith by unanimous decision. Smith seemed tentative and unwilling to trade for long stretches. A Pedraza knockdown in the 9th round was indicative of the punching power that dissuaded him from doing so.