In a crucial fight which had both combatants looking to rebound from a loss, Arnold Barboza Jr. faced Kenneth Sims Jr. for the WBO Global title in the main event of a Golden Boy card at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Sims opened the fight fighting southpaw before switching to an orthodox stance midway through the first round. The bout marked Barboza’s first appearance at welterweight. Though an inch shorter than Sims, Barboza held the reach advantage and made good use of it, landing sharp jabs and hooks.
Stylistically, the two fighters mirrored each other, frequently throwing the same punches at the same time. The key difference was Sims’ reluctance to close the distance, which allowed Barboza to consistently beat him to the punch.
By the second half of the contest, Barboza’s jab had produced visible swelling beneath Sims’ right eye. Sims, meanwhile, struggled to adjust and appeared stuck in neutral, showing little urgency as the rounds slipped away.
In the eleventh round, both fighters leaned in to throw right hands and collided heads, leaving each man cut. Barboza suffered the worse of it, bleeding heavily from a gash along his hairline, while Sims sustained a smaller cut near his right eye.
The cuts had little impact on the twelfth and final round. Barboza fought with growing confidence, even dropping his hands at times. He did walk into a big right hand from Sims but quickly shook it off. Moments later, Barboza began talking to his opponent, telling him, “I told you there were levels to this.”
The judges scored the fight 117–111, 118–110, and 120–108, all in favor of Barboza. The victory improves his record to 33-1 with 11 knockouts, while Sims falls to 22-4-1 with 8 KOs.