Carlos Adames and Sergiy Derevyanchenko sizzle, but Adames wins

Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs. Carlos Adames was pure fire on the undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Isaac Cruz, but Adames took the decision. 

Sergiy Derevyanchenko vs. Carlos Adames looked like it would be a firefight on paper, and it more than lived up to the hype on the Dec.5 undercard of Gervonta Davis vs. Isaac Cruz. They gave fans at the Staples Center in L.A. their money’s worth, but there could only be one winner.

Derevyanchenko (13-4, 10 KOs) is an elite middleweight, but he came in with two losses in a row. Granted, they came against Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin by razor-thin margins, but at 36, the clock is ticking on his career.

Adames (21-1, 16 KOs) lost to Patrick Teixeira, but his move to middleweight proved successful. He threw Derevyanchenko off in round 1 by coming out as a southpaw and confused him in the early rounds by switching stances.

It took Derevyanchenko until round 5 to win his first round on FanSided’s card, but he heated up as the fight went on. Derevyanchenko is a notoriously slow starter, and that proved to be the case once again.

Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Carlos Adames put on a show from the Staples Center on the Gervonta Davis vs. Isaac Cruz undercard

Adames also tends to gas late in fights, which occurred in this fight. Derevyancheko flipped the script and was more effective than Adames in the last three rounds, but he gave up too many rounds early.

Adames and Derevyancheko threw power punches all night long and tried their best to knock each other out, but they both had granite chins. Unfortunately for Derevyanchenko, the fight belonged to Adames collectively.

The judges scored the fight 95-95, 97-93, and 96-94 for Adames, giving him the majority decision. This was a WBC middleweight title eliminator, and he could fight WBC champion Jermall Charlo next.

Adames looked fantastic early but faded down the stretch. He can’t do that against a fighter like Charlo, but tonight, he was good enough to best Derevyanchenko.