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Originally Posted by JapanAir21
Bob Arum won't put anyone in Top Rank in the ring with Mayweather,
exactly!! if manny doesnt fight floyd i wouldnt mind seen Cotto VS PBF but arum wont let that happen
2011 Official Boxing Thread: 12/30 Jermain Taylor + Andre Dirrell return on ShoBox.
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by proshares,
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exactly!! if manny doesnt fight floyd i wouldnt mind seen Cotto VS PBF but arum wont let that happen
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I don't see Cotto staying with Top Rank...He used this fight to get back at Margarito for the 1st Loss, he won the fight in dominating fashion and stuck it to Margarito.Originally Posted by Bigmike23
Originally Posted by JapanAir21
Bob Arum won't put anyone in Top Rank in the ring with Mayweather,
exactly!! if manny doesnt fight floyd i wouldnt mind seen Cotto VS PBF but arum wont let that happen
Now I can see him sticking it to Bob Arum and dip from Top Rank....They haven't had the same relationship since after the 1st fight.
Oh and Calling MAC a bum
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I don't see Cotto staying with Top Rank...He used this fight to get back at Margarito for the 1st Loss, he won the fight in dominating fashion and stuck it to Margarito.Originally Posted by Bigmike23
Originally Posted by JapanAir21
Bob Arum won't put anyone in Top Rank in the ring with Mayweather,
exactly!! if manny doesnt fight floyd i wouldnt mind seen Cotto VS PBF but arum wont let that happen
Now I can see him sticking it to Bob Arum and dip from Top Rank....They haven't had the same relationship since after the 1st fight.
Oh and Calling MAC a bum
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- Dec 2, 2011
same here. my heart was hoping cotto would win, but I was pulling for the villain. margs was just too entertaining in that bad guy role.Originally Posted by dako akong otin
gotta admit, i was pulling for Margarito during this fight. I like how he plays the bad guy role and how he gives it all in the ring and I was turned off by Cotto's conservative style of fighting recently.
But props to Cotto for defeating his demons and then staring him down. I didn't like the stoppage, but I don't think Margarito would have done any damage at his current pace of the fight anyway and Cotto was just aiming for that eye with his left hooks
also, last night was the first fight i've watched at hooters. can't beat 10$ a head. it got pretty hype and the women there make up for anti-ring girl HBO broadcast.
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same here. my heart was hoping cotto would win, but I was pulling for the villain. margs was just too entertaining in that bad guy role.Originally Posted by dako akong otin
gotta admit, i was pulling for Margarito during this fight. I like how he plays the bad guy role and how he gives it all in the ring and I was turned off by Cotto's conservative style of fighting recently.
But props to Cotto for defeating his demons and then staring him down. I didn't like the stoppage, but I don't think Margarito would have done any damage at his current pace of the fight anyway and Cotto was just aiming for that eye with his left hooks
also, last night was the first fight i've watched at hooters. can't beat 10$ a head. it got pretty hype and the women there make up for anti-ring girl HBO broadcast.
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True in some aspects, but when reality sets in, old clichés don't matter. The stoppage was wack, but Cotto was on a way to an easy, yet hard fought decision. I called it.
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True in some aspects, but when reality sets in, old clichés don't matter. The stoppage was wack, but Cotto was on a way to an easy, yet hard fought decision. I called it.
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Glad Cotto won. I am assuming that HBO will re-air this fight before the Khan Peterson fight?
I honestly never thought Margarito was a good boxer. I give him credit for beating cotto the first time (with the plaster and all) just for being relentless.
I think berto will beat ortiz in the rematch. I think khan beats peterson this weekend but in a decision. I am not even excited to see Floyd vs Manny if it goes down. I am convinced floyd wins easy
I honestly never thought Margarito was a good boxer. I give him credit for beating cotto the first time (with the plaster and all) just for being relentless.
I think berto will beat ortiz in the rematch. I think khan beats peterson this weekend but in a decision. I am not even excited to see Floyd vs Manny if it goes down. I am convinced floyd wins easy
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Glad Cotto won. I am assuming that HBO will re-air this fight before the Khan Peterson fight?
I honestly never thought Margarito was a good boxer. I give him credit for beating cotto the first time (with the plaster and all) just for being relentless.
I think berto will beat ortiz in the rematch. I think khan beats peterson this weekend but in a decision. I am not even excited to see Floyd vs Manny if it goes down. I am convinced floyd wins easy
I honestly never thought Margarito was a good boxer. I give him credit for beating cotto the first time (with the plaster and all) just for being relentless.
I think berto will beat ortiz in the rematch. I think khan beats peterson this weekend but in a decision. I am not even excited to see Floyd vs Manny if it goes down. I am convinced floyd wins easy
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Question, how easy/hard is it to get Mike Tyson's autograph?
He's doing an autograph signing this week in Cali but I rather spend that money on other things I need right now. I would love to get some gloves signed by him and he's charging $200.
He's doing an autograph signing this week in Cali but I rather spend that money on other things I need right now. I would love to get some gloves signed by him and he's charging $200.
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Question, how easy/hard is it to get Mike Tyson's autograph?
He's doing an autograph signing this week in Cali but I rather spend that money on other things I need right now. I would love to get some gloves signed by him and he's charging $200.
He's doing an autograph signing this week in Cali but I rather spend that money on other things I need right now. I would love to get some gloves signed by him and he's charging $200.
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$200 dollars? Jesus he must really be broke.
You know he'll just move you along like an assembly line too.
I didn't even know RJJ was still boxing, and he's fighting this weekend? Jeez.
You know he'll just move you along like an assembly line too.
I didn't even know RJJ was still boxing, and he's fighting this weekend? Jeez.
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$200 dollars? Jesus he must really be broke.
You know he'll just move you along like an assembly line too.
I didn't even know RJJ was still boxing, and he's fighting this weekend? Jeez.
You know he'll just move you along like an assembly line too.
I didn't even know RJJ was still boxing, and he's fighting this weekend? Jeez.
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Yea I know
, but having some signed gloves by Mike would be
Roy Jones? His rap career ended already?
Roy Jones? His rap career ended already?
- 23,046
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Yea I know
, but having some signed gloves by Mike would be
Roy Jones? His rap career ended already?
Roy Jones? His rap career ended already?
Wrap up of the fights this past weekend:
A good matchup brewing for February:
Dan Rafael
Talks going on for a Feb HBO opening fight to match Kirkland with Delvin Rodriguez on proposed Maidana-Alexander undercard. #boxing
Spoiler [+]
Saturday at New York
Miguel Cotto TKO10 Antonio Margarito
Junior middleweight
Retains a junior middleweight title
Records: Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs); Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Karma's a +%!!%, isn't it? Margarito found that out firsthand as Cotto exacted revenge in impressive fashion in their hotly anticipated grudge rematch. With a sold-out crowd of 21,239 mostly Puerto Rican Cotto fans absolutely rocking Madison Square Garden, he ended his saga with "Margacheato" in glorious fashion. He gave him what he deserved -- a lopsided beating.
Cotto took full advantage of Margarito's surgically repaired right eye -- which nearly prevented him from being licensed by the New York State Athletic Commission until a soap opera of hearings and additional eye exams paved the way less than two weeks before the fight. Cotto, 31, dominated the exciting, albeit one-sided, fight. He was in great shape, was fast and implemented the perfect game plan from trainer Pedro Diaz, with whom he was working for the first time.
Cotto fired accurate shots and was able to move away before taking too much in return from painfully slow Margarito, who winged wild shots and never stopped coming forward but was utterly outclassed. By the third round, Cotto had swelled up the right eye, which eventually was completely closed, leaving Margarito with no vision on the right side. The ringside doctors watched the eye even more closely than they normally would because of the fact that Margarito had suffered a severe injury to it in his previous fight a year ago in a crushing one-sided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Margarito suffered a badly broken orbital bone, needed surgery to remove a cataract and had an artificial lens placed in the eye. Round after round, the eye was checked and, finally, there was a lengthy powwow between the doctors and referee Steve Smoger (who did a typically great job) in the Margarito corner after the ninth round. As the discussion continued, the bell to start the 10th round rang and Smoger called timeout. After some more conversation, Smoger finally called off the fight three seconds into the round on the instruction of Dr. Anthony Curreri, the head ringside physician.
The call sent the Garden crowd into a massive celebration. It was like July Fourth and New Year's Eve rolled into one inside the arena. Cotto, meanwhile, looked more satisfied and relieved than jubilant as he walked to Margarito's corner and gave him a nasty stare. He probably would have liked to continue pummeling his face, but at least he had avenged his tainted loss to the Mexican villain.
As we all know, a few months after Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round of their July 2008 classic -- when he came on strong in the second half of the fight to rally and make Cotto take a knee -- the win became clouded in controversy. That is because, in Margarito's next fight, in January 2009, he tried to enter the ring against Shane Mosley with doctored hand wraps in which illegal pads coated in a plasterlike substance were discovered after Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, forced them to be checked. Since then, Cotto and many others have strongly believed that Margarito got away with fighting him with loaded wraps. It made for a tension- and hate-filled promotion, with Cotto having the last laugh against Margarito. In his past four fights, ones in which we know for sure that Margarito's hands were legal, he is 1-3 and has taken beatings from Mosley, Pacquiao and now Cotto. In the only win, Margarito, 33, went the distance against a low-level opponent. Based on his recent history, it is not unreasonable to view Margarito's career as a fraud because of the wraps scandal. In fights when we know he did not have loaded wraps, he has showed no power. And now he is taking regular beatings and looks finished. Cotto, however, looked as good as he has looked since the first six dominating rounds of the first fight with Margarito. He has good fights in front of him, but Margarito, who needed 12 stitches to close the cuts to his bloody right eye, is yesterday's news. This was good triumphing over bad.
If you missed the fight on pay-per-view, HBO will kick off 2011 finale of "World Championship Boxing" on Saturday night (9:45 ET) with a replay of the fight followed by live coverage of two bouts from Washington, D.C., Amir Khan's junior welterweight title defense against Lamont Peterson and heavyweight Seth Mitchell taking on Timur Ibragimov.
Brandon Rios TKO11 John Murray
Lightweight
Records: Rios (29-0-1, 22 KOs); Murray (31-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remark: That Rios managed to have the kind of energy he had late in this fight was impressive. A little more than 24 hours earlier, he could not make the 135-pound limit and was stripped of his title. After three tries, Rios, 25, of Oxnard, Calif., was 136.6 pounds and looked like a potato chip. He was completely dry to the bone and looked as if he was going to keel over and die getting off the scale. His manager, Cameron Dunkin, was livid when he found out that Rios had not eaten for five days and had drunk only a few ounces of water for the previous two days. But he rehydrated after the weigh-in and engaged England's Murray in a crowd-pleasing fight. Only Murray -- who pocketed an extra $20,000 from Rios' purse because of the weight issue -- was eligible to win the title, and he sure went for it.
Rios started a bit slowly, but he was in good form as the fight wore on. There was lots of action as they traded shots at close range. Neither of these guys is much for defense, so it was fun to watch. Rios may have broken Murray's nose in the fourth round. It was bleeding heavily and never was really stopped. Although it remained quite a competitive fight through about seven rounds, that is when Rios really took over, especially when he benefited from referee Earl Brown docking a point from Murray, 26, for a low blow in the seventh round.
Murray, bleeding and fading -- but showing huge heart -- was in big trouble in the 11th round, when Rios closed the show by landing a ton of punches. A right uppercut-left hook combination badly hurt Murray along the ropes, and Brown intervened at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. Murray was clearly disappointed, especially in losing his second consecutive fight, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. Who wouldn't want to watch him fight again? As for Rios, he is also an exciting fighter, but he obviously should be finished at lightweight. Junior welterweight beckons, and there are plenty of intriguing matches there that the TV networks surely would be interested in. How'd you like to see Rios against Mike Alvarado or even Amir Khan? There are a lot of good options.
Delvin Rodriguez W10 Pawel Wolak
Junior middleweight
Scores: 100-90, 98-92 and 98-91
Records: Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs); Wolak (29-2-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In July, Rodriguez, 31, and Wolak, 30, duked it out in one of the best fights of the year. The "Friday Night Fights" slugfest wound up a majority draw, and fight fans immediately were buzzing about a rematch. With both fighters living in the region -- Wolak is originally from Poland but lives in Rockaway, N.J., and Rodriguez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has lived in Danbury, Conn., since he was a kid -- they each brought a contingent of fans and sold lots of tickets. And although they did not produce the kind of instant classic they did this past summer, they did put on an excellent fight worthy of being on the big pay-per-view show.
If you had to pick a winner in the first fight, most folks probably would tab taller, quicker Rodriguez. In the rematch, he made sure there was no doubt. He put his punches together very well and abused Wolak with a right uppercut throughout the fight. Wolak tried to stay in his chest but paid the price more than he probably cares to remember. Any possible doubts about who was going to win this were put to rest in the 10th round, which is when Rodriguez did his most damage. He battered Wolak, whose face was marked up and who was bleeding from the mouth. Somehow, Wolak stayed on his feet, but he took a terrible beating in the round, eating all kinds of wicked blows but making it to the final bell because he has tremendous heart and rock solid chin. There's no need for a third fight after this display. But now, after something of a hard luck career, Rodriguez deserves an opportunity to go on HBO or Showtime against one of the top junior middleweights. It's a deep division with lots of attractive matches, and Rodriguez deserves to get one of them in his next fight.
Mike Jones W12 Sebastian Lujan
Welterweight
Title eliminator
Scores: 119-109 (twice), 118-110
Records: Jones (26-0, 19 KOs); Lujan (38-6-2, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Philadelphia's Jones, 28, completely dominated Lujan, 31, of Argentina, who turned in a surprisingly poor effort. Jones did not look great, but he easily won, beating Lujan essentially with his left jab. He's lucky Lujan did not do a lot of punching because he carries his hands way too low, which might cost him someday -- but it didn't in this fight. Although Lujan was wide and sloppy with his punches, Jones connected with straight, clean blows and piled up the points for the lopsided and obvious victory. It was an important one, too, because it earned Jones a shot at a belt. After Andre Berto gave up his version of the 147-pound title last month, it paved the way for the winner of this elimination bout to get a fight with mandatory challenger Randall Bailey for the vacant belt. So unless something crazy happens (and, hey, it's boxing, so you never know), Jones' next fight in early 2012 will be against Bailey, a dangerous puncher and former junior welterweight titlist, for the vacant belt. It's been a long time coming for Jones. Lujan, meanwhile, just flamed out and saw his 14-fight winning streak come to a screeching halt.
Saturday at Anaheim, Calif.
Abner Mares W12 Joseph King Kong Agbeko
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 118-110 (three times)
Records: Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs); Agbeko (28-4, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In the final of Showtime's four-man bantamweight tournament on Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, Mares won a majority decision against Agbeko to claim his title. However, it was one of the most controversial decisions of the year, although not because of the judges. It was because of referee Russell Mora, who had a horrible night that probably cost Agbeko his belt. He awarded Mares a questionable first-round knockdown and allowed him to get away with numerous low blows without penalizing any points, including a blatant punch to the groin in the 11th round that floored Agbeko. Rather than taking a point for the foul, Mora called a knockdown. Mora did such a poor job that the IBF ordered an immediate rematch.
So they met again, this time in California with Mora presumably nowhere near the arena. Instead, referee Dr. Lou Moret was in charge as Mares, 26, a native of Mexico living in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., and Agbeko, 31, of Ghana, turned in another exciting and fast-paced fight. The fighters kept it clean this time around, with Moret only warning Mares for a low blow in the sixth round. In the second round, Agbeko landed a left hand that opened a nasty cut over Mares' right eye. Cutman Miguel Diaz did an admirable job to contain the bleeding from the deep cut so it did not have a major impact in the fight even if it looked pretty bad. Mares clearly got the better of Agbeko, but the wide scorecards were a little surprising.
That said, Mares did a good job of beating Agbeko to the punch often enough and seemed to be a bit quicker and stronger as he retained his belt for the first time. He has a bright future. He could stay at bantamweight and face titlist Anselmo Moreno -- who retained his belt on the undercard and signed with Golden Boy, also Mares' promoter, this summer -- in a unification fight. Mares also has interest in moving up to junior featherweight to chase Nonito Donaire, who had two bantamweight belts but is moving up. Don't count on seeing that fight any time soon. Top Rank has other plans for Donaire and does not do much business with rival Golden Boy. Agbeko has lost three of his past four bouts, two to Mares (albeit one in highly controversial fashion), and he split a pair of decisions with Yonnhy Perez in title bouts.
Anselmo Moreno W12 Vic Darchinyan
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 120-107, 117-110, 116-111
Records: Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs); Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Panama's Moreno, 26, signed with Golden Boy Promotions this summer and was making his American debut in his ninth title defense, this time against Darchinyan, the always-entertaining brawler and former junior bantamweight and flyweight titleholder. Moreno's game is about movement, boxing and defense. In other words, he is not generally a crowd-pleasing fighter. Brash Darchinyan, 35, a native of Armenia living in Australia, meanwhile, is the opposite. He wants to brawl and knock opponents out. But it is pretty clear that bantamweight is not his division. He was dominant at flyweight and junior bantamweight. As a bantamweight, he is 3-3, with two of the losses coming in world title bouts. Moreno, with far superior skills and technical ability, easily outboxed more aggressive Darchinyan in a battle of southpaws. Darchinyan was docked a point in the fourth round by referee Raul Caiz Jr. for throwing Moreno to the mat.
Try as he might, Darchinyan could never catch Moreno to land any of his big shots. Darchinyan has lost to Moreno and to main event fighters Abner Mares and Joseph King Kong Agbeko, so he is pretty much out of notable fights at 118 pounds, especially with Nonito Donaire (who handed him his first defeat in a flyweight title) now moving to junior featherweight and that potential rematch seeming destined never to happen. Moreno, however, could very well land a unification match with Mares, who beat Agbeko in the main event. Mares and Moreno are both with Golden Boy, and making that fight would be a snap if CEO Richard Schaefer decides to put it together.
Saturday at Helsinki
Robert Helenius W12 Dereck Chisora
Heavyweight
Wins vacant European heavyweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice) Helenius, 115-113 Chisora
Records: Helenius (17-0, 11 KOs); Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was a highway robbery, an outright theft of a victory from England's Chisora, who was the blatant victim of a horrific hometown decision fighting on Helenius' turf in Finland. You could more easily make the argument that Chisora won by shutout than you could that Helenius deserved even a close decision or draw. No way did he win seven rounds. (For the record, I worked the American broadcast on Epix and scored the fight 118-110 for Chisora.) Maybe, just maybe, if you gave Helenius, 27, every single possible benefit of the doubt, you could find four rounds to give him. Chisora was busier, way more aggressive, landed way more punches, landed harder and cleaner punches, displayed better defense and beat him to the punch round after round, and Helenius often was in retreat in what was, at least, quite a crowd-pleasing brawl. But it also should have been a lopsided Chisora victory. Instead it was stolen by apparently incompetent judges Giuseppe Quartarone and Manuel Oliver Palomo, who scored it for Helenius, who failed to use his 5-inch height advantage. He kept getting nailed by flush uppercuts from shorter Chisora, who looked a million times better than he did in July, when he suffered his first loss, a decision to England's Tyson Fury. Chisora, 27, weighed 261 against Fury but got in much better shape for his past two fights. He was 241 for an easy comeback six-round decision win against Remigijus Ziausys on Nov. 11 and 243 against Helenius.
In his interviews after the fight, Helenius, who has fashioned a nice résumé that includes knockout wins against faded former titleholders Sergei Liakhovich, Samuel Peter and Lamon Brewster, said he thought he won the fight, but he sure did not sound convincing. He said he hurt his hand in the first round and admitted it was the toughest fight of his career. Even if his hand was hurt, that does not explain why he got hit so much. Some viewed Helenius as perhaps the only younger heavyweight who could possibly serve as a serious challenge to champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. However, after this lackluster performance against a relatively inexperienced and much smaller Chisora, it is hard to imagine Helenius being able to handle either brother. Entertaining Chisora, who twice signed to face Wladimir Klitschko only to have the fight called off, deserves another fight of note and deserves it as quickly as possible. Wilfried Sauerland, Helenius' promoter, said he would be open to a giving Chisora a rematch with Helenius after he makes a mandatory defense of the European title against Alexander Dimitrenko, who vacated the title because of recent elbow surgery.
Alexander Povetkin KO8 Cedric Boswell
Heavyweight
Retains a heavyweight title
Records: Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs); Boswell (35-2, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Let's get the politics out of the way first: Povetkin is the ultimate paper titleholder. That is because, in July, the real heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko -- whom Povetkin's handlers have been blatantly ducking for a couple of years -- outclassed David Haye to win the WBA version of the title and add it to his collection of belts. But the WBA seems to create additional titles on a whim, so, after Klitschko unified, it sanctioned Povetkin to face Ruslan Chagaev (who had been destroyed by Klitschko previously) to fight for a vacant belt.
Povetkin, 32, a 2004 Russian Olympic gold medalist, shook off some shaky moments -- thanks in large part to the classic motivational speeches by trainer (and ESPN analyst) Teddy Atlas -- early in the fight to outpoint Chagaev in August to claim the spurious title. Making his first defense, which was televised live on Epix in the United States, Povetkin faced hand-picked Boswell, 42, of Atlanta, who has a great record assembled against questionable competition. The difference in class was evident almost immediately. Boswell tried and was game, but he just could not hang with vastly more talented Povetkin, who looked as sharp as he ever has. He did everything well as he broke down Boswell, one of his former sparring partners. Povetkin did not need any speeches from Atlas to help him through difficult moments because there were none. He was close to stopping a fading Boswell at the end of the seventh round, but the bell rang. However, in the eighth round, Povetkin finished him with a barrage of clean punches that dropped Boswell, whom referee Giuseppe Quartarone counted out at 2 minutes, 58 seconds. Boswell claimed he was hampered in the bout by a right shoulder injury he suffered in the second round.
After the fight, cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck, who, like Povetkin, is promoted by Sauerland Event, stormed the podium at the postfight news conference to challenge Povetkin. That is an interesting fight, so maybe Sauerland will put it together. As good as Povetkin is, he's better off taking that kind of match than finally agreeing to face Klitschko.
Saturday at Mexico City
Jhonny Gonzalez KO2 Roinet Caballero
Featherweight
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Gonzalez (51-7, 45 KOs); Caballero (31-11-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was easy work for Mexico's Gonzalez, 30, who made his third title defense, against Panama's Caballero, 28, in a fight that was televised live in the United States on ESPN Deportes. Gonzalez and Caballero had been scheduled to meet twice before, but the match was postponed both times because Caballero had visa issues and could not come to the U.S. First, they were scheduled to meet in July in Atlantic City, N.J. (when the fight was moved from Mexico on short notice) on the Erislandy Lara-Paul Williams undercard. Then, it was rescheduled to take place in El Paso, Texas, in September, but Caballero's paperwork was still an issue. Meeting in Mexico this time, it hardly seemed worth the wait. Gonzalez, who won his 11th fight in a row, blitzed Caballero. Gonzalez won the first round, then scored a clean knockout in the second round when he dropped Caballero with a classic left hook to the body. Caballero, whose four-fight winning streak ended, was in his second title fight. Featherweight titleholder Chris John stopped him in the seventh round in Indonesia in 2008.
Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.
Anthony Dirrell TKO4 Renan St-Juste
Super middleweight
Title eliminator
Records: Dirrell (24-0, 21 KOs); St-Juste (23-3-1, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Dirrell, 27, of Flint, Mich., younger brother of former Super Six World Boxing Classic participant Andre Dirrell, had no issues taking care of business of against St-Juste, 39, of Quebec, even though the fight ended with more of a whimper than a bang. The uncompetitive fight, which headlined Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation," ended abruptly with six seconds left in the fourth round after St-Juste, a southpaw, apparently dislocated his left shoulder after getting tangled up with Dirrell and spinning away awkwardly. He came out of the clinch with his arm dangling at his side and a grimace on his face, forcing referee Jack Reiss to stop the bout. St-Juste was clearly in pain, and it looked as though the bone was out of place. Moments before the end of the fight, Dirrell had taken the worst part of an accidental head-butt that knocked him to the ground. When the fight resumed, he landed a flurry of punches against St-Juste. The freaky ending of an otherwise ho-hum fight came moments later. Insanely, the bout was a WBC title eliminator that makes Dirrell the alphabet organization's No. 1 contender at 168 pounds. Ridiculous. Dirrell, though a talented prospect, has been a professional for seven years and has fought absolutely nobody to warrant that high status. His résumé is devoid of real opponents and filled with D-level opposition at best other than St-Juste, who is probably a C-class opponent. It's a joke that he is a mandatory challenger for the winner of the Super Six Word Boxing Classic final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch.
Jhonatan Romero W10 Chris Avalos
Junior featherweight
Scores: 96-93, 96-94 Romero, 95-94 Avalos
Records: Romero (20-0, 12 KOs); Avalos (19-2, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Romero, 24, of Colombia, dodged a bullet with a split decision win against Avalos, 22, of Lancaster, Calif., in a really good scrap. Avalos started quickly, scoring a knockdown near the end of the first round from an accumulation of blows while Romero, a 2008 Olympian, was trapped on the ropes. Romero recovered and seemed fine in the second round and did a good job of moving and catching aggressive Avalos as he tried to get inside. Luckily for the viewers, defense was not on either of their minds as they traded punches and let their hands go throughout the all-action bout. Avalos scored with several combinations while Romero worked his right uppercut. The seventh round was filled with two-way action. There were plenty of heated exchanges throughout the fight, but it looked as if Avalos had gotten the better of it, only to be disappointed with the close loss, which the crowd -- which was behind Avalos -- loudly booed. Romero, fighting in the United States for the second time, scored his biggest career victory. The loss snapped Avalos' three-fight winning streak.
Friday at Indio, Calif.
Randy Caballero W8 Arturo Santiago
Junior featherweight
Scores: 80-70 (three times)
Records: Caballero (13-0, 7 KOs); Santiago (7-4-1, 3 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Caballero, 21, of Coachella, Calif., won the shutout decision, but it was not easy. That is because Santiago, 25, of Puerto Rico, fought a rough, dirty fight in the bout, which was the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate." Although Caballero, one of Golden Boy's rising prospects, acted like a professional, Santiago did not. He was outclassed and resorted to dirty tactics to make it to the final bell. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. had his hands full with Santiago's antics. He took a point from him in the third round for putting Caballero in a headlock during a clinch. In the sixth round, Caiz docked another point from Santiago for a headlock followed by a tackle. To Caballero's credit, he stayed calm and easily outboxed and outpunched Santiago to thrill his hometown fans. He upped his record to 8-0 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which isn't far from his hometown.
Friday at Mannheim, Germany
Felix Sturm D12 Martin Murray
Middleweight
Retains a middleweight title
Scores: 116-112 Sturm, 115-113 Murray, 114-114
Records: Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KOs); Murray (23-0-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Sturm, 32, of Germany, loves fighting at home, where the home cookin' can't be beat. Making the 11th defense (all in Germany) of his third reign with an alphabet belt, Sturm kept his title again on a split draw that surely could have gone to Murray -- but it should not be a surprise that it didn't. In June, Sturm, 32, won an outrageous split decision at home against Matthew Macklin. Facing another fighter from the United Kingdom in heretofore untested 29-year-old Murray, who is promoted by former junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, Sturm had some problems but was able to hang on to his belt in the draw. Murray had never faced anyone of note, but he came up with his career-best performance in pushing Sturm to the brink in a methodical, relatively action-free fight. As usual, Sturm relied on his jab but wasn't all that busy. Murray had a big moment in the eighth round when he rocked Sturm with an uppercut.
Miguel Cotto TKO10 Antonio Margarito
Junior middleweight
Retains a junior middleweight title
Records: Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs); Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Karma's a +%!!%, isn't it? Margarito found that out firsthand as Cotto exacted revenge in impressive fashion in their hotly anticipated grudge rematch. With a sold-out crowd of 21,239 mostly Puerto Rican Cotto fans absolutely rocking Madison Square Garden, he ended his saga with "Margacheato" in glorious fashion. He gave him what he deserved -- a lopsided beating.
Cotto took full advantage of Margarito's surgically repaired right eye -- which nearly prevented him from being licensed by the New York State Athletic Commission until a soap opera of hearings and additional eye exams paved the way less than two weeks before the fight. Cotto, 31, dominated the exciting, albeit one-sided, fight. He was in great shape, was fast and implemented the perfect game plan from trainer Pedro Diaz, with whom he was working for the first time.
Cotto fired accurate shots and was able to move away before taking too much in return from painfully slow Margarito, who winged wild shots and never stopped coming forward but was utterly outclassed. By the third round, Cotto had swelled up the right eye, which eventually was completely closed, leaving Margarito with no vision on the right side. The ringside doctors watched the eye even more closely than they normally would because of the fact that Margarito had suffered a severe injury to it in his previous fight a year ago in a crushing one-sided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Margarito suffered a badly broken orbital bone, needed surgery to remove a cataract and had an artificial lens placed in the eye. Round after round, the eye was checked and, finally, there was a lengthy powwow between the doctors and referee Steve Smoger (who did a typically great job) in the Margarito corner after the ninth round. As the discussion continued, the bell to start the 10th round rang and Smoger called timeout. After some more conversation, Smoger finally called off the fight three seconds into the round on the instruction of Dr. Anthony Curreri, the head ringside physician.
The call sent the Garden crowd into a massive celebration. It was like July Fourth and New Year's Eve rolled into one inside the arena. Cotto, meanwhile, looked more satisfied and relieved than jubilant as he walked to Margarito's corner and gave him a nasty stare. He probably would have liked to continue pummeling his face, but at least he had avenged his tainted loss to the Mexican villain.
As we all know, a few months after Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round of their July 2008 classic -- when he came on strong in the second half of the fight to rally and make Cotto take a knee -- the win became clouded in controversy. That is because, in Margarito's next fight, in January 2009, he tried to enter the ring against Shane Mosley with doctored hand wraps in which illegal pads coated in a plasterlike substance were discovered after Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, forced them to be checked. Since then, Cotto and many others have strongly believed that Margarito got away with fighting him with loaded wraps. It made for a tension- and hate-filled promotion, with Cotto having the last laugh against Margarito. In his past four fights, ones in which we know for sure that Margarito's hands were legal, he is 1-3 and has taken beatings from Mosley, Pacquiao and now Cotto. In the only win, Margarito, 33, went the distance against a low-level opponent. Based on his recent history, it is not unreasonable to view Margarito's career as a fraud because of the wraps scandal. In fights when we know he did not have loaded wraps, he has showed no power. And now he is taking regular beatings and looks finished. Cotto, however, looked as good as he has looked since the first six dominating rounds of the first fight with Margarito. He has good fights in front of him, but Margarito, who needed 12 stitches to close the cuts to his bloody right eye, is yesterday's news. This was good triumphing over bad.
If you missed the fight on pay-per-view, HBO will kick off 2011 finale of "World Championship Boxing" on Saturday night (9:45 ET) with a replay of the fight followed by live coverage of two bouts from Washington, D.C., Amir Khan's junior welterweight title defense against Lamont Peterson and heavyweight Seth Mitchell taking on Timur Ibragimov.
Brandon Rios TKO11 John Murray
Lightweight
Records: Rios (29-0-1, 22 KOs); Murray (31-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remark: That Rios managed to have the kind of energy he had late in this fight was impressive. A little more than 24 hours earlier, he could not make the 135-pound limit and was stripped of his title. After three tries, Rios, 25, of Oxnard, Calif., was 136.6 pounds and looked like a potato chip. He was completely dry to the bone and looked as if he was going to keel over and die getting off the scale. His manager, Cameron Dunkin, was livid when he found out that Rios had not eaten for five days and had drunk only a few ounces of water for the previous two days. But he rehydrated after the weigh-in and engaged England's Murray in a crowd-pleasing fight. Only Murray -- who pocketed an extra $20,000 from Rios' purse because of the weight issue -- was eligible to win the title, and he sure went for it.
Rios started a bit slowly, but he was in good form as the fight wore on. There was lots of action as they traded shots at close range. Neither of these guys is much for defense, so it was fun to watch. Rios may have broken Murray's nose in the fourth round. It was bleeding heavily and never was really stopped. Although it remained quite a competitive fight through about seven rounds, that is when Rios really took over, especially when he benefited from referee Earl Brown docking a point from Murray, 26, for a low blow in the seventh round.
Murray, bleeding and fading -- but showing huge heart -- was in big trouble in the 11th round, when Rios closed the show by landing a ton of punches. A right uppercut-left hook combination badly hurt Murray along the ropes, and Brown intervened at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. Murray was clearly disappointed, especially in losing his second consecutive fight, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. Who wouldn't want to watch him fight again? As for Rios, he is also an exciting fighter, but he obviously should be finished at lightweight. Junior welterweight beckons, and there are plenty of intriguing matches there that the TV networks surely would be interested in. How'd you like to see Rios against Mike Alvarado or even Amir Khan? There are a lot of good options.
Delvin Rodriguez W10 Pawel Wolak
Junior middleweight
Scores: 100-90, 98-92 and 98-91
Records: Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs); Wolak (29-2-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In July, Rodriguez, 31, and Wolak, 30, duked it out in one of the best fights of the year. The "Friday Night Fights" slugfest wound up a majority draw, and fight fans immediately were buzzing about a rematch. With both fighters living in the region -- Wolak is originally from Poland but lives in Rockaway, N.J., and Rodriguez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has lived in Danbury, Conn., since he was a kid -- they each brought a contingent of fans and sold lots of tickets. And although they did not produce the kind of instant classic they did this past summer, they did put on an excellent fight worthy of being on the big pay-per-view show.
If you had to pick a winner in the first fight, most folks probably would tab taller, quicker Rodriguez. In the rematch, he made sure there was no doubt. He put his punches together very well and abused Wolak with a right uppercut throughout the fight. Wolak tried to stay in his chest but paid the price more than he probably cares to remember. Any possible doubts about who was going to win this were put to rest in the 10th round, which is when Rodriguez did his most damage. He battered Wolak, whose face was marked up and who was bleeding from the mouth. Somehow, Wolak stayed on his feet, but he took a terrible beating in the round, eating all kinds of wicked blows but making it to the final bell because he has tremendous heart and rock solid chin. There's no need for a third fight after this display. But now, after something of a hard luck career, Rodriguez deserves an opportunity to go on HBO or Showtime against one of the top junior middleweights. It's a deep division with lots of attractive matches, and Rodriguez deserves to get one of them in his next fight.
Mike Jones W12 Sebastian Lujan
Welterweight
Title eliminator
Scores: 119-109 (twice), 118-110
Records: Jones (26-0, 19 KOs); Lujan (38-6-2, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Philadelphia's Jones, 28, completely dominated Lujan, 31, of Argentina, who turned in a surprisingly poor effort. Jones did not look great, but he easily won, beating Lujan essentially with his left jab. He's lucky Lujan did not do a lot of punching because he carries his hands way too low, which might cost him someday -- but it didn't in this fight. Although Lujan was wide and sloppy with his punches, Jones connected with straight, clean blows and piled up the points for the lopsided and obvious victory. It was an important one, too, because it earned Jones a shot at a belt. After Andre Berto gave up his version of the 147-pound title last month, it paved the way for the winner of this elimination bout to get a fight with mandatory challenger Randall Bailey for the vacant belt. So unless something crazy happens (and, hey, it's boxing, so you never know), Jones' next fight in early 2012 will be against Bailey, a dangerous puncher and former junior welterweight titlist, for the vacant belt. It's been a long time coming for Jones. Lujan, meanwhile, just flamed out and saw his 14-fight winning streak come to a screeching halt.
Saturday at Anaheim, Calif.
Abner Mares W12 Joseph King Kong Agbeko
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 118-110 (three times)
Records: Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs); Agbeko (28-4, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In the final of Showtime's four-man bantamweight tournament on Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, Mares won a majority decision against Agbeko to claim his title. However, it was one of the most controversial decisions of the year, although not because of the judges. It was because of referee Russell Mora, who had a horrible night that probably cost Agbeko his belt. He awarded Mares a questionable first-round knockdown and allowed him to get away with numerous low blows without penalizing any points, including a blatant punch to the groin in the 11th round that floored Agbeko. Rather than taking a point for the foul, Mora called a knockdown. Mora did such a poor job that the IBF ordered an immediate rematch.
So they met again, this time in California with Mora presumably nowhere near the arena. Instead, referee Dr. Lou Moret was in charge as Mares, 26, a native of Mexico living in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., and Agbeko, 31, of Ghana, turned in another exciting and fast-paced fight. The fighters kept it clean this time around, with Moret only warning Mares for a low blow in the sixth round. In the second round, Agbeko landed a left hand that opened a nasty cut over Mares' right eye. Cutman Miguel Diaz did an admirable job to contain the bleeding from the deep cut so it did not have a major impact in the fight even if it looked pretty bad. Mares clearly got the better of Agbeko, but the wide scorecards were a little surprising.
That said, Mares did a good job of beating Agbeko to the punch often enough and seemed to be a bit quicker and stronger as he retained his belt for the first time. He has a bright future. He could stay at bantamweight and face titlist Anselmo Moreno -- who retained his belt on the undercard and signed with Golden Boy, also Mares' promoter, this summer -- in a unification fight. Mares also has interest in moving up to junior featherweight to chase Nonito Donaire, who had two bantamweight belts but is moving up. Don't count on seeing that fight any time soon. Top Rank has other plans for Donaire and does not do much business with rival Golden Boy. Agbeko has lost three of his past four bouts, two to Mares (albeit one in highly controversial fashion), and he split a pair of decisions with Yonnhy Perez in title bouts.
Anselmo Moreno W12 Vic Darchinyan
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 120-107, 117-110, 116-111
Records: Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs); Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Panama's Moreno, 26, signed with Golden Boy Promotions this summer and was making his American debut in his ninth title defense, this time against Darchinyan, the always-entertaining brawler and former junior bantamweight and flyweight titleholder. Moreno's game is about movement, boxing and defense. In other words, he is not generally a crowd-pleasing fighter. Brash Darchinyan, 35, a native of Armenia living in Australia, meanwhile, is the opposite. He wants to brawl and knock opponents out. But it is pretty clear that bantamweight is not his division. He was dominant at flyweight and junior bantamweight. As a bantamweight, he is 3-3, with two of the losses coming in world title bouts. Moreno, with far superior skills and technical ability, easily outboxed more aggressive Darchinyan in a battle of southpaws. Darchinyan was docked a point in the fourth round by referee Raul Caiz Jr. for throwing Moreno to the mat.
Try as he might, Darchinyan could never catch Moreno to land any of his big shots. Darchinyan has lost to Moreno and to main event fighters Abner Mares and Joseph King Kong Agbeko, so he is pretty much out of notable fights at 118 pounds, especially with Nonito Donaire (who handed him his first defeat in a flyweight title) now moving to junior featherweight and that potential rematch seeming destined never to happen. Moreno, however, could very well land a unification match with Mares, who beat Agbeko in the main event. Mares and Moreno are both with Golden Boy, and making that fight would be a snap if CEO Richard Schaefer decides to put it together.
Saturday at Helsinki
Robert Helenius W12 Dereck Chisora
Heavyweight
Wins vacant European heavyweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice) Helenius, 115-113 Chisora
Records: Helenius (17-0, 11 KOs); Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was a highway robbery, an outright theft of a victory from England's Chisora, who was the blatant victim of a horrific hometown decision fighting on Helenius' turf in Finland. You could more easily make the argument that Chisora won by shutout than you could that Helenius deserved even a close decision or draw. No way did he win seven rounds. (For the record, I worked the American broadcast on Epix and scored the fight 118-110 for Chisora.) Maybe, just maybe, if you gave Helenius, 27, every single possible benefit of the doubt, you could find four rounds to give him. Chisora was busier, way more aggressive, landed way more punches, landed harder and cleaner punches, displayed better defense and beat him to the punch round after round, and Helenius often was in retreat in what was, at least, quite a crowd-pleasing brawl. But it also should have been a lopsided Chisora victory. Instead it was stolen by apparently incompetent judges Giuseppe Quartarone and Manuel Oliver Palomo, who scored it for Helenius, who failed to use his 5-inch height advantage. He kept getting nailed by flush uppercuts from shorter Chisora, who looked a million times better than he did in July, when he suffered his first loss, a decision to England's Tyson Fury. Chisora, 27, weighed 261 against Fury but got in much better shape for his past two fights. He was 241 for an easy comeback six-round decision win against Remigijus Ziausys on Nov. 11 and 243 against Helenius.
In his interviews after the fight, Helenius, who has fashioned a nice résumé that includes knockout wins against faded former titleholders Sergei Liakhovich, Samuel Peter and Lamon Brewster, said he thought he won the fight, but he sure did not sound convincing. He said he hurt his hand in the first round and admitted it was the toughest fight of his career. Even if his hand was hurt, that does not explain why he got hit so much. Some viewed Helenius as perhaps the only younger heavyweight who could possibly serve as a serious challenge to champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. However, after this lackluster performance against a relatively inexperienced and much smaller Chisora, it is hard to imagine Helenius being able to handle either brother. Entertaining Chisora, who twice signed to face Wladimir Klitschko only to have the fight called off, deserves another fight of note and deserves it as quickly as possible. Wilfried Sauerland, Helenius' promoter, said he would be open to a giving Chisora a rematch with Helenius after he makes a mandatory defense of the European title against Alexander Dimitrenko, who vacated the title because of recent elbow surgery.
Alexander Povetkin KO8 Cedric Boswell
Heavyweight
Retains a heavyweight title
Records: Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs); Boswell (35-2, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Let's get the politics out of the way first: Povetkin is the ultimate paper titleholder. That is because, in July, the real heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko -- whom Povetkin's handlers have been blatantly ducking for a couple of years -- outclassed David Haye to win the WBA version of the title and add it to his collection of belts. But the WBA seems to create additional titles on a whim, so, after Klitschko unified, it sanctioned Povetkin to face Ruslan Chagaev (who had been destroyed by Klitschko previously) to fight for a vacant belt.
Povetkin, 32, a 2004 Russian Olympic gold medalist, shook off some shaky moments -- thanks in large part to the classic motivational speeches by trainer (and ESPN analyst) Teddy Atlas -- early in the fight to outpoint Chagaev in August to claim the spurious title. Making his first defense, which was televised live on Epix in the United States, Povetkin faced hand-picked Boswell, 42, of Atlanta, who has a great record assembled against questionable competition. The difference in class was evident almost immediately. Boswell tried and was game, but he just could not hang with vastly more talented Povetkin, who looked as sharp as he ever has. He did everything well as he broke down Boswell, one of his former sparring partners. Povetkin did not need any speeches from Atlas to help him through difficult moments because there were none. He was close to stopping a fading Boswell at the end of the seventh round, but the bell rang. However, in the eighth round, Povetkin finished him with a barrage of clean punches that dropped Boswell, whom referee Giuseppe Quartarone counted out at 2 minutes, 58 seconds. Boswell claimed he was hampered in the bout by a right shoulder injury he suffered in the second round.
After the fight, cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck, who, like Povetkin, is promoted by Sauerland Event, stormed the podium at the postfight news conference to challenge Povetkin. That is an interesting fight, so maybe Sauerland will put it together. As good as Povetkin is, he's better off taking that kind of match than finally agreeing to face Klitschko.
Saturday at Mexico City
Jhonny Gonzalez KO2 Roinet Caballero
Featherweight
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Gonzalez (51-7, 45 KOs); Caballero (31-11-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was easy work for Mexico's Gonzalez, 30, who made his third title defense, against Panama's Caballero, 28, in a fight that was televised live in the United States on ESPN Deportes. Gonzalez and Caballero had been scheduled to meet twice before, but the match was postponed both times because Caballero had visa issues and could not come to the U.S. First, they were scheduled to meet in July in Atlantic City, N.J. (when the fight was moved from Mexico on short notice) on the Erislandy Lara-Paul Williams undercard. Then, it was rescheduled to take place in El Paso, Texas, in September, but Caballero's paperwork was still an issue. Meeting in Mexico this time, it hardly seemed worth the wait. Gonzalez, who won his 11th fight in a row, blitzed Caballero. Gonzalez won the first round, then scored a clean knockout in the second round when he dropped Caballero with a classic left hook to the body. Caballero, whose four-fight winning streak ended, was in his second title fight. Featherweight titleholder Chris John stopped him in the seventh round in Indonesia in 2008.
Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.
Anthony Dirrell TKO4 Renan St-Juste
Super middleweight
Title eliminator
Records: Dirrell (24-0, 21 KOs); St-Juste (23-3-1, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Dirrell, 27, of Flint, Mich., younger brother of former Super Six World Boxing Classic participant Andre Dirrell, had no issues taking care of business of against St-Juste, 39, of Quebec, even though the fight ended with more of a whimper than a bang. The uncompetitive fight, which headlined Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation," ended abruptly with six seconds left in the fourth round after St-Juste, a southpaw, apparently dislocated his left shoulder after getting tangled up with Dirrell and spinning away awkwardly. He came out of the clinch with his arm dangling at his side and a grimace on his face, forcing referee Jack Reiss to stop the bout. St-Juste was clearly in pain, and it looked as though the bone was out of place. Moments before the end of the fight, Dirrell had taken the worst part of an accidental head-butt that knocked him to the ground. When the fight resumed, he landed a flurry of punches against St-Juste. The freaky ending of an otherwise ho-hum fight came moments later. Insanely, the bout was a WBC title eliminator that makes Dirrell the alphabet organization's No. 1 contender at 168 pounds. Ridiculous. Dirrell, though a talented prospect, has been a professional for seven years and has fought absolutely nobody to warrant that high status. His résumé is devoid of real opponents and filled with D-level opposition at best other than St-Juste, who is probably a C-class opponent. It's a joke that he is a mandatory challenger for the winner of the Super Six Word Boxing Classic final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch.
Jhonatan Romero W10 Chris Avalos
Junior featherweight
Scores: 96-93, 96-94 Romero, 95-94 Avalos
Records: Romero (20-0, 12 KOs); Avalos (19-2, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Romero, 24, of Colombia, dodged a bullet with a split decision win against Avalos, 22, of Lancaster, Calif., in a really good scrap. Avalos started quickly, scoring a knockdown near the end of the first round from an accumulation of blows while Romero, a 2008 Olympian, was trapped on the ropes. Romero recovered and seemed fine in the second round and did a good job of moving and catching aggressive Avalos as he tried to get inside. Luckily for the viewers, defense was not on either of their minds as they traded punches and let their hands go throughout the all-action bout. Avalos scored with several combinations while Romero worked his right uppercut. The seventh round was filled with two-way action. There were plenty of heated exchanges throughout the fight, but it looked as if Avalos had gotten the better of it, only to be disappointed with the close loss, which the crowd -- which was behind Avalos -- loudly booed. Romero, fighting in the United States for the second time, scored his biggest career victory. The loss snapped Avalos' three-fight winning streak.
Friday at Indio, Calif.
Randy Caballero W8 Arturo Santiago
Junior featherweight
Scores: 80-70 (three times)
Records: Caballero (13-0, 7 KOs); Santiago (7-4-1, 3 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Caballero, 21, of Coachella, Calif., won the shutout decision, but it was not easy. That is because Santiago, 25, of Puerto Rico, fought a rough, dirty fight in the bout, which was the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate." Although Caballero, one of Golden Boy's rising prospects, acted like a professional, Santiago did not. He was outclassed and resorted to dirty tactics to make it to the final bell. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. had his hands full with Santiago's antics. He took a point from him in the third round for putting Caballero in a headlock during a clinch. In the sixth round, Caiz docked another point from Santiago for a headlock followed by a tackle. To Caballero's credit, he stayed calm and easily outboxed and outpunched Santiago to thrill his hometown fans. He upped his record to 8-0 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which isn't far from his hometown.
Friday at Mannheim, Germany
Felix Sturm D12 Martin Murray
Middleweight
Retains a middleweight title
Scores: 116-112 Sturm, 115-113 Murray, 114-114
Records: Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KOs); Murray (23-0-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Sturm, 32, of Germany, loves fighting at home, where the home cookin' can't be beat. Making the 11th defense (all in Germany) of his third reign with an alphabet belt, Sturm kept his title again on a split draw that surely could have gone to Murray -- but it should not be a surprise that it didn't. In June, Sturm, 32, won an outrageous split decision at home against Matthew Macklin. Facing another fighter from the United Kingdom in heretofore untested 29-year-old Murray, who is promoted by former junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, Sturm had some problems but was able to hang on to his belt in the draw. Murray had never faced anyone of note, but he came up with his career-best performance in pushing Sturm to the brink in a methodical, relatively action-free fight. As usual, Sturm relied on his jab but wasn't all that busy. Murray had a big moment in the eighth round when he rocked Sturm with an uppercut.
A good matchup brewing for February:
Dan Rafael
Talks going on for a Feb HBO opening fight to match Kirkland with Delvin Rodriguez on proposed Maidana-Alexander undercard. #boxing
Wrap up of the fights this past weekend:
A good matchup brewing for February:
Dan Rafael
Talks going on for a Feb HBO opening fight to match Kirkland with Delvin Rodriguez on proposed Maidana-Alexander undercard. #boxing
Spoiler [+]
Saturday at New York
Miguel Cotto TKO10 Antonio Margarito
Junior middleweight
Retains a junior middleweight title
Records: Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs); Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Karma's a +%!!%, isn't it? Margarito found that out firsthand as Cotto exacted revenge in impressive fashion in their hotly anticipated grudge rematch. With a sold-out crowd of 21,239 mostly Puerto Rican Cotto fans absolutely rocking Madison Square Garden, he ended his saga with "Margacheato" in glorious fashion. He gave him what he deserved -- a lopsided beating.
Cotto took full advantage of Margarito's surgically repaired right eye -- which nearly prevented him from being licensed by the New York State Athletic Commission until a soap opera of hearings and additional eye exams paved the way less than two weeks before the fight. Cotto, 31, dominated the exciting, albeit one-sided, fight. He was in great shape, was fast and implemented the perfect game plan from trainer Pedro Diaz, with whom he was working for the first time.
Cotto fired accurate shots and was able to move away before taking too much in return from painfully slow Margarito, who winged wild shots and never stopped coming forward but was utterly outclassed. By the third round, Cotto had swelled up the right eye, which eventually was completely closed, leaving Margarito with no vision on the right side. The ringside doctors watched the eye even more closely than they normally would because of the fact that Margarito had suffered a severe injury to it in his previous fight a year ago in a crushing one-sided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Margarito suffered a badly broken orbital bone, needed surgery to remove a cataract and had an artificial lens placed in the eye. Round after round, the eye was checked and, finally, there was a lengthy powwow between the doctors and referee Steve Smoger (who did a typically great job) in the Margarito corner after the ninth round. As the discussion continued, the bell to start the 10th round rang and Smoger called timeout. After some more conversation, Smoger finally called off the fight three seconds into the round on the instruction of Dr. Anthony Curreri, the head ringside physician.
The call sent the Garden crowd into a massive celebration. It was like July Fourth and New Year's Eve rolled into one inside the arena. Cotto, meanwhile, looked more satisfied and relieved than jubilant as he walked to Margarito's corner and gave him a nasty stare. He probably would have liked to continue pummeling his face, but at least he had avenged his tainted loss to the Mexican villain.
As we all know, a few months after Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round of their July 2008 classic -- when he came on strong in the second half of the fight to rally and make Cotto take a knee -- the win became clouded in controversy. That is because, in Margarito's next fight, in January 2009, he tried to enter the ring against Shane Mosley with doctored hand wraps in which illegal pads coated in a plasterlike substance were discovered after Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, forced them to be checked. Since then, Cotto and many others have strongly believed that Margarito got away with fighting him with loaded wraps. It made for a tension- and hate-filled promotion, with Cotto having the last laugh against Margarito. In his past four fights, ones in which we know for sure that Margarito's hands were legal, he is 1-3 and has taken beatings from Mosley, Pacquiao and now Cotto. In the only win, Margarito, 33, went the distance against a low-level opponent. Based on his recent history, it is not unreasonable to view Margarito's career as a fraud because of the wraps scandal. In fights when we know he did not have loaded wraps, he has showed no power. And now he is taking regular beatings and looks finished. Cotto, however, looked as good as he has looked since the first six dominating rounds of the first fight with Margarito. He has good fights in front of him, but Margarito, who needed 12 stitches to close the cuts to his bloody right eye, is yesterday's news. This was good triumphing over bad.
If you missed the fight on pay-per-view, HBO will kick off 2011 finale of "World Championship Boxing" on Saturday night (9:45 ET) with a replay of the fight followed by live coverage of two bouts from Washington, D.C., Amir Khan's junior welterweight title defense against Lamont Peterson and heavyweight Seth Mitchell taking on Timur Ibragimov.
Brandon Rios TKO11 John Murray
Lightweight
Records: Rios (29-0-1, 22 KOs); Murray (31-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remark: That Rios managed to have the kind of energy he had late in this fight was impressive. A little more than 24 hours earlier, he could not make the 135-pound limit and was stripped of his title. After three tries, Rios, 25, of Oxnard, Calif., was 136.6 pounds and looked like a potato chip. He was completely dry to the bone and looked as if he was going to keel over and die getting off the scale. His manager, Cameron Dunkin, was livid when he found out that Rios had not eaten for five days and had drunk only a few ounces of water for the previous two days. But he rehydrated after the weigh-in and engaged England's Murray in a crowd-pleasing fight. Only Murray -- who pocketed an extra $20,000 from Rios' purse because of the weight issue -- was eligible to win the title, and he sure went for it.
Rios started a bit slowly, but he was in good form as the fight wore on. There was lots of action as they traded shots at close range. Neither of these guys is much for defense, so it was fun to watch. Rios may have broken Murray's nose in the fourth round. It was bleeding heavily and never was really stopped. Although it remained quite a competitive fight through about seven rounds, that is when Rios really took over, especially when he benefited from referee Earl Brown docking a point from Murray, 26, for a low blow in the seventh round.
Murray, bleeding and fading -- but showing huge heart -- was in big trouble in the 11th round, when Rios closed the show by landing a ton of punches. A right uppercut-left hook combination badly hurt Murray along the ropes, and Brown intervened at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. Murray was clearly disappointed, especially in losing his second consecutive fight, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. Who wouldn't want to watch him fight again? As for Rios, he is also an exciting fighter, but he obviously should be finished at lightweight. Junior welterweight beckons, and there are plenty of intriguing matches there that the TV networks surely would be interested in. How'd you like to see Rios against Mike Alvarado or even Amir Khan? There are a lot of good options.
Delvin Rodriguez W10 Pawel Wolak
Junior middleweight
Scores: 100-90, 98-92 and 98-91
Records: Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs); Wolak (29-2-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In July, Rodriguez, 31, and Wolak, 30, duked it out in one of the best fights of the year. The "Friday Night Fights" slugfest wound up a majority draw, and fight fans immediately were buzzing about a rematch. With both fighters living in the region -- Wolak is originally from Poland but lives in Rockaway, N.J., and Rodriguez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has lived in Danbury, Conn., since he was a kid -- they each brought a contingent of fans and sold lots of tickets. And although they did not produce the kind of instant classic they did this past summer, they did put on an excellent fight worthy of being on the big pay-per-view show.
If you had to pick a winner in the first fight, most folks probably would tab taller, quicker Rodriguez. In the rematch, he made sure there was no doubt. He put his punches together very well and abused Wolak with a right uppercut throughout the fight. Wolak tried to stay in his chest but paid the price more than he probably cares to remember. Any possible doubts about who was going to win this were put to rest in the 10th round, which is when Rodriguez did his most damage. He battered Wolak, whose face was marked up and who was bleeding from the mouth. Somehow, Wolak stayed on his feet, but he took a terrible beating in the round, eating all kinds of wicked blows but making it to the final bell because he has tremendous heart and rock solid chin. There's no need for a third fight after this display. But now, after something of a hard luck career, Rodriguez deserves an opportunity to go on HBO or Showtime against one of the top junior middleweights. It's a deep division with lots of attractive matches, and Rodriguez deserves to get one of them in his next fight.
Mike Jones W12 Sebastian Lujan
Welterweight
Title eliminator
Scores: 119-109 (twice), 118-110
Records: Jones (26-0, 19 KOs); Lujan (38-6-2, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Philadelphia's Jones, 28, completely dominated Lujan, 31, of Argentina, who turned in a surprisingly poor effort. Jones did not look great, but he easily won, beating Lujan essentially with his left jab. He's lucky Lujan did not do a lot of punching because he carries his hands way too low, which might cost him someday -- but it didn't in this fight. Although Lujan was wide and sloppy with his punches, Jones connected with straight, clean blows and piled up the points for the lopsided and obvious victory. It was an important one, too, because it earned Jones a shot at a belt. After Andre Berto gave up his version of the 147-pound title last month, it paved the way for the winner of this elimination bout to get a fight with mandatory challenger Randall Bailey for the vacant belt. So unless something crazy happens (and, hey, it's boxing, so you never know), Jones' next fight in early 2012 will be against Bailey, a dangerous puncher and former junior welterweight titlist, for the vacant belt. It's been a long time coming for Jones. Lujan, meanwhile, just flamed out and saw his 14-fight winning streak come to a screeching halt.
Saturday at Anaheim, Calif.
Abner Mares W12 Joseph King Kong Agbeko
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 118-110 (three times)
Records: Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs); Agbeko (28-4, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In the final of Showtime's four-man bantamweight tournament on Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, Mares won a majority decision against Agbeko to claim his title. However, it was one of the most controversial decisions of the year, although not because of the judges. It was because of referee Russell Mora, who had a horrible night that probably cost Agbeko his belt. He awarded Mares a questionable first-round knockdown and allowed him to get away with numerous low blows without penalizing any points, including a blatant punch to the groin in the 11th round that floored Agbeko. Rather than taking a point for the foul, Mora called a knockdown. Mora did such a poor job that the IBF ordered an immediate rematch.
So they met again, this time in California with Mora presumably nowhere near the arena. Instead, referee Dr. Lou Moret was in charge as Mares, 26, a native of Mexico living in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., and Agbeko, 31, of Ghana, turned in another exciting and fast-paced fight. The fighters kept it clean this time around, with Moret only warning Mares for a low blow in the sixth round. In the second round, Agbeko landed a left hand that opened a nasty cut over Mares' right eye. Cutman Miguel Diaz did an admirable job to contain the bleeding from the deep cut so it did not have a major impact in the fight even if it looked pretty bad. Mares clearly got the better of Agbeko, but the wide scorecards were a little surprising.
That said, Mares did a good job of beating Agbeko to the punch often enough and seemed to be a bit quicker and stronger as he retained his belt for the first time. He has a bright future. He could stay at bantamweight and face titlist Anselmo Moreno -- who retained his belt on the undercard and signed with Golden Boy, also Mares' promoter, this summer -- in a unification fight. Mares also has interest in moving up to junior featherweight to chase Nonito Donaire, who had two bantamweight belts but is moving up. Don't count on seeing that fight any time soon. Top Rank has other plans for Donaire and does not do much business with rival Golden Boy. Agbeko has lost three of his past four bouts, two to Mares (albeit one in highly controversial fashion), and he split a pair of decisions with Yonnhy Perez in title bouts.
Anselmo Moreno W12 Vic Darchinyan
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 120-107, 117-110, 116-111
Records: Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs); Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Panama's Moreno, 26, signed with Golden Boy Promotions this summer and was making his American debut in his ninth title defense, this time against Darchinyan, the always-entertaining brawler and former junior bantamweight and flyweight titleholder. Moreno's game is about movement, boxing and defense. In other words, he is not generally a crowd-pleasing fighter. Brash Darchinyan, 35, a native of Armenia living in Australia, meanwhile, is the opposite. He wants to brawl and knock opponents out. But it is pretty clear that bantamweight is not his division. He was dominant at flyweight and junior bantamweight. As a bantamweight, he is 3-3, with two of the losses coming in world title bouts. Moreno, with far superior skills and technical ability, easily outboxed more aggressive Darchinyan in a battle of southpaws. Darchinyan was docked a point in the fourth round by referee Raul Caiz Jr. for throwing Moreno to the mat.
Try as he might, Darchinyan could never catch Moreno to land any of his big shots. Darchinyan has lost to Moreno and to main event fighters Abner Mares and Joseph King Kong Agbeko, so he is pretty much out of notable fights at 118 pounds, especially with Nonito Donaire (who handed him his first defeat in a flyweight title) now moving to junior featherweight and that potential rematch seeming destined never to happen. Moreno, however, could very well land a unification match with Mares, who beat Agbeko in the main event. Mares and Moreno are both with Golden Boy, and making that fight would be a snap if CEO Richard Schaefer decides to put it together.
Saturday at Helsinki
Robert Helenius W12 Dereck Chisora
Heavyweight
Wins vacant European heavyweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice) Helenius, 115-113 Chisora
Records: Helenius (17-0, 11 KOs); Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was a highway robbery, an outright theft of a victory from England's Chisora, who was the blatant victim of a horrific hometown decision fighting on Helenius' turf in Finland. You could more easily make the argument that Chisora won by shutout than you could that Helenius deserved even a close decision or draw. No way did he win seven rounds. (For the record, I worked the American broadcast on Epix and scored the fight 118-110 for Chisora.) Maybe, just maybe, if you gave Helenius, 27, every single possible benefit of the doubt, you could find four rounds to give him. Chisora was busier, way more aggressive, landed way more punches, landed harder and cleaner punches, displayed better defense and beat him to the punch round after round, and Helenius often was in retreat in what was, at least, quite a crowd-pleasing brawl. But it also should have been a lopsided Chisora victory. Instead it was stolen by apparently incompetent judges Giuseppe Quartarone and Manuel Oliver Palomo, who scored it for Helenius, who failed to use his 5-inch height advantage. He kept getting nailed by flush uppercuts from shorter Chisora, who looked a million times better than he did in July, when he suffered his first loss, a decision to England's Tyson Fury. Chisora, 27, weighed 261 against Fury but got in much better shape for his past two fights. He was 241 for an easy comeback six-round decision win against Remigijus Ziausys on Nov. 11 and 243 against Helenius.
In his interviews after the fight, Helenius, who has fashioned a nice résumé that includes knockout wins against faded former titleholders Sergei Liakhovich, Samuel Peter and Lamon Brewster, said he thought he won the fight, but he sure did not sound convincing. He said he hurt his hand in the first round and admitted it was the toughest fight of his career. Even if his hand was hurt, that does not explain why he got hit so much. Some viewed Helenius as perhaps the only younger heavyweight who could possibly serve as a serious challenge to champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. However, after this lackluster performance against a relatively inexperienced and much smaller Chisora, it is hard to imagine Helenius being able to handle either brother. Entertaining Chisora, who twice signed to face Wladimir Klitschko only to have the fight called off, deserves another fight of note and deserves it as quickly as possible. Wilfried Sauerland, Helenius' promoter, said he would be open to a giving Chisora a rematch with Helenius after he makes a mandatory defense of the European title against Alexander Dimitrenko, who vacated the title because of recent elbow surgery.
Alexander Povetkin KO8 Cedric Boswell
Heavyweight
Retains a heavyweight title
Records: Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs); Boswell (35-2, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Let's get the politics out of the way first: Povetkin is the ultimate paper titleholder. That is because, in July, the real heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko -- whom Povetkin's handlers have been blatantly ducking for a couple of years -- outclassed David Haye to win the WBA version of the title and add it to his collection of belts. But the WBA seems to create additional titles on a whim, so, after Klitschko unified, it sanctioned Povetkin to face Ruslan Chagaev (who had been destroyed by Klitschko previously) to fight for a vacant belt.
Povetkin, 32, a 2004 Russian Olympic gold medalist, shook off some shaky moments -- thanks in large part to the classic motivational speeches by trainer (and ESPN analyst) Teddy Atlas -- early in the fight to outpoint Chagaev in August to claim the spurious title. Making his first defense, which was televised live on Epix in the United States, Povetkin faced hand-picked Boswell, 42, of Atlanta, who has a great record assembled against questionable competition. The difference in class was evident almost immediately. Boswell tried and was game, but he just could not hang with vastly more talented Povetkin, who looked as sharp as he ever has. He did everything well as he broke down Boswell, one of his former sparring partners. Povetkin did not need any speeches from Atlas to help him through difficult moments because there were none. He was close to stopping a fading Boswell at the end of the seventh round, but the bell rang. However, in the eighth round, Povetkin finished him with a barrage of clean punches that dropped Boswell, whom referee Giuseppe Quartarone counted out at 2 minutes, 58 seconds. Boswell claimed he was hampered in the bout by a right shoulder injury he suffered in the second round.
After the fight, cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck, who, like Povetkin, is promoted by Sauerland Event, stormed the podium at the postfight news conference to challenge Povetkin. That is an interesting fight, so maybe Sauerland will put it together. As good as Povetkin is, he's better off taking that kind of match than finally agreeing to face Klitschko.
Saturday at Mexico City
Jhonny Gonzalez KO2 Roinet Caballero
Featherweight
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Gonzalez (51-7, 45 KOs); Caballero (31-11-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was easy work for Mexico's Gonzalez, 30, who made his third title defense, against Panama's Caballero, 28, in a fight that was televised live in the United States on ESPN Deportes. Gonzalez and Caballero had been scheduled to meet twice before, but the match was postponed both times because Caballero had visa issues and could not come to the U.S. First, they were scheduled to meet in July in Atlantic City, N.J. (when the fight was moved from Mexico on short notice) on the Erislandy Lara-Paul Williams undercard. Then, it was rescheduled to take place in El Paso, Texas, in September, but Caballero's paperwork was still an issue. Meeting in Mexico this time, it hardly seemed worth the wait. Gonzalez, who won his 11th fight in a row, blitzed Caballero. Gonzalez won the first round, then scored a clean knockout in the second round when he dropped Caballero with a classic left hook to the body. Caballero, whose four-fight winning streak ended, was in his second title fight. Featherweight titleholder Chris John stopped him in the seventh round in Indonesia in 2008.
Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.
Anthony Dirrell TKO4 Renan St-Juste
Super middleweight
Title eliminator
Records: Dirrell (24-0, 21 KOs); St-Juste (23-3-1, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Dirrell, 27, of Flint, Mich., younger brother of former Super Six World Boxing Classic participant Andre Dirrell, had no issues taking care of business of against St-Juste, 39, of Quebec, even though the fight ended with more of a whimper than a bang. The uncompetitive fight, which headlined Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation," ended abruptly with six seconds left in the fourth round after St-Juste, a southpaw, apparently dislocated his left shoulder after getting tangled up with Dirrell and spinning away awkwardly. He came out of the clinch with his arm dangling at his side and a grimace on his face, forcing referee Jack Reiss to stop the bout. St-Juste was clearly in pain, and it looked as though the bone was out of place. Moments before the end of the fight, Dirrell had taken the worst part of an accidental head-butt that knocked him to the ground. When the fight resumed, he landed a flurry of punches against St-Juste. The freaky ending of an otherwise ho-hum fight came moments later. Insanely, the bout was a WBC title eliminator that makes Dirrell the alphabet organization's No. 1 contender at 168 pounds. Ridiculous. Dirrell, though a talented prospect, has been a professional for seven years and has fought absolutely nobody to warrant that high status. His résumé is devoid of real opponents and filled with D-level opposition at best other than St-Juste, who is probably a C-class opponent. It's a joke that he is a mandatory challenger for the winner of the Super Six Word Boxing Classic final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch.
Jhonatan Romero W10 Chris Avalos
Junior featherweight
Scores: 96-93, 96-94 Romero, 95-94 Avalos
Records: Romero (20-0, 12 KOs); Avalos (19-2, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Romero, 24, of Colombia, dodged a bullet with a split decision win against Avalos, 22, of Lancaster, Calif., in a really good scrap. Avalos started quickly, scoring a knockdown near the end of the first round from an accumulation of blows while Romero, a 2008 Olympian, was trapped on the ropes. Romero recovered and seemed fine in the second round and did a good job of moving and catching aggressive Avalos as he tried to get inside. Luckily for the viewers, defense was not on either of their minds as they traded punches and let their hands go throughout the all-action bout. Avalos scored with several combinations while Romero worked his right uppercut. The seventh round was filled with two-way action. There were plenty of heated exchanges throughout the fight, but it looked as if Avalos had gotten the better of it, only to be disappointed with the close loss, which the crowd -- which was behind Avalos -- loudly booed. Romero, fighting in the United States for the second time, scored his biggest career victory. The loss snapped Avalos' three-fight winning streak.
Friday at Indio, Calif.
Randy Caballero W8 Arturo Santiago
Junior featherweight
Scores: 80-70 (three times)
Records: Caballero (13-0, 7 KOs); Santiago (7-4-1, 3 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Caballero, 21, of Coachella, Calif., won the shutout decision, but it was not easy. That is because Santiago, 25, of Puerto Rico, fought a rough, dirty fight in the bout, which was the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate." Although Caballero, one of Golden Boy's rising prospects, acted like a professional, Santiago did not. He was outclassed and resorted to dirty tactics to make it to the final bell. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. had his hands full with Santiago's antics. He took a point from him in the third round for putting Caballero in a headlock during a clinch. In the sixth round, Caiz docked another point from Santiago for a headlock followed by a tackle. To Caballero's credit, he stayed calm and easily outboxed and outpunched Santiago to thrill his hometown fans. He upped his record to 8-0 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which isn't far from his hometown.
Friday at Mannheim, Germany
Felix Sturm D12 Martin Murray
Middleweight
Retains a middleweight title
Scores: 116-112 Sturm, 115-113 Murray, 114-114
Records: Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KOs); Murray (23-0-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Sturm, 32, of Germany, loves fighting at home, where the home cookin' can't be beat. Making the 11th defense (all in Germany) of his third reign with an alphabet belt, Sturm kept his title again on a split draw that surely could have gone to Murray -- but it should not be a surprise that it didn't. In June, Sturm, 32, won an outrageous split decision at home against Matthew Macklin. Facing another fighter from the United Kingdom in heretofore untested 29-year-old Murray, who is promoted by former junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, Sturm had some problems but was able to hang on to his belt in the draw. Murray had never faced anyone of note, but he came up with his career-best performance in pushing Sturm to the brink in a methodical, relatively action-free fight. As usual, Sturm relied on his jab but wasn't all that busy. Murray had a big moment in the eighth round when he rocked Sturm with an uppercut.
Miguel Cotto TKO10 Antonio Margarito
Junior middleweight
Retains a junior middleweight title
Records: Cotto (37-2, 30 KOs); Margarito (38-8, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Karma's a +%!!%, isn't it? Margarito found that out firsthand as Cotto exacted revenge in impressive fashion in their hotly anticipated grudge rematch. With a sold-out crowd of 21,239 mostly Puerto Rican Cotto fans absolutely rocking Madison Square Garden, he ended his saga with "Margacheato" in glorious fashion. He gave him what he deserved -- a lopsided beating.
Cotto took full advantage of Margarito's surgically repaired right eye -- which nearly prevented him from being licensed by the New York State Athletic Commission until a soap opera of hearings and additional eye exams paved the way less than two weeks before the fight. Cotto, 31, dominated the exciting, albeit one-sided, fight. He was in great shape, was fast and implemented the perfect game plan from trainer Pedro Diaz, with whom he was working for the first time.
Cotto fired accurate shots and was able to move away before taking too much in return from painfully slow Margarito, who winged wild shots and never stopped coming forward but was utterly outclassed. By the third round, Cotto had swelled up the right eye, which eventually was completely closed, leaving Margarito with no vision on the right side. The ringside doctors watched the eye even more closely than they normally would because of the fact that Margarito had suffered a severe injury to it in his previous fight a year ago in a crushing one-sided decision loss to Manny Pacquiao.
Margarito suffered a badly broken orbital bone, needed surgery to remove a cataract and had an artificial lens placed in the eye. Round after round, the eye was checked and, finally, there was a lengthy powwow between the doctors and referee Steve Smoger (who did a typically great job) in the Margarito corner after the ninth round. As the discussion continued, the bell to start the 10th round rang and Smoger called timeout. After some more conversation, Smoger finally called off the fight three seconds into the round on the instruction of Dr. Anthony Curreri, the head ringside physician.
The call sent the Garden crowd into a massive celebration. It was like July Fourth and New Year's Eve rolled into one inside the arena. Cotto, meanwhile, looked more satisfied and relieved than jubilant as he walked to Margarito's corner and gave him a nasty stare. He probably would have liked to continue pummeling his face, but at least he had avenged his tainted loss to the Mexican villain.
As we all know, a few months after Margarito stopped Cotto in the 11th round of their July 2008 classic -- when he came on strong in the second half of the fight to rally and make Cotto take a knee -- the win became clouded in controversy. That is because, in Margarito's next fight, in January 2009, he tried to enter the ring against Shane Mosley with doctored hand wraps in which illegal pads coated in a plasterlike substance were discovered after Mosley's trainer, Naazim Richardson, forced them to be checked. Since then, Cotto and many others have strongly believed that Margarito got away with fighting him with loaded wraps. It made for a tension- and hate-filled promotion, with Cotto having the last laugh against Margarito. In his past four fights, ones in which we know for sure that Margarito's hands were legal, he is 1-3 and has taken beatings from Mosley, Pacquiao and now Cotto. In the only win, Margarito, 33, went the distance against a low-level opponent. Based on his recent history, it is not unreasonable to view Margarito's career as a fraud because of the wraps scandal. In fights when we know he did not have loaded wraps, he has showed no power. And now he is taking regular beatings and looks finished. Cotto, however, looked as good as he has looked since the first six dominating rounds of the first fight with Margarito. He has good fights in front of him, but Margarito, who needed 12 stitches to close the cuts to his bloody right eye, is yesterday's news. This was good triumphing over bad.
If you missed the fight on pay-per-view, HBO will kick off 2011 finale of "World Championship Boxing" on Saturday night (9:45 ET) with a replay of the fight followed by live coverage of two bouts from Washington, D.C., Amir Khan's junior welterweight title defense against Lamont Peterson and heavyweight Seth Mitchell taking on Timur Ibragimov.
Brandon Rios TKO11 John Murray
Lightweight
Records: Rios (29-0-1, 22 KOs); Murray (31-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remark: That Rios managed to have the kind of energy he had late in this fight was impressive. A little more than 24 hours earlier, he could not make the 135-pound limit and was stripped of his title. After three tries, Rios, 25, of Oxnard, Calif., was 136.6 pounds and looked like a potato chip. He was completely dry to the bone and looked as if he was going to keel over and die getting off the scale. His manager, Cameron Dunkin, was livid when he found out that Rios had not eaten for five days and had drunk only a few ounces of water for the previous two days. But he rehydrated after the weigh-in and engaged England's Murray in a crowd-pleasing fight. Only Murray -- who pocketed an extra $20,000 from Rios' purse because of the weight issue -- was eligible to win the title, and he sure went for it.
Rios started a bit slowly, but he was in good form as the fight wore on. There was lots of action as they traded shots at close range. Neither of these guys is much for defense, so it was fun to watch. Rios may have broken Murray's nose in the fourth round. It was bleeding heavily and never was really stopped. Although it remained quite a competitive fight through about seven rounds, that is when Rios really took over, especially when he benefited from referee Earl Brown docking a point from Murray, 26, for a low blow in the seventh round.
Murray, bleeding and fading -- but showing huge heart -- was in big trouble in the 11th round, when Rios closed the show by landing a ton of punches. A right uppercut-left hook combination badly hurt Murray along the ropes, and Brown intervened at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. Murray was clearly disappointed, especially in losing his second consecutive fight, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. Who wouldn't want to watch him fight again? As for Rios, he is also an exciting fighter, but he obviously should be finished at lightweight. Junior welterweight beckons, and there are plenty of intriguing matches there that the TV networks surely would be interested in. How'd you like to see Rios against Mike Alvarado or even Amir Khan? There are a lot of good options.
Delvin Rodriguez W10 Pawel Wolak
Junior middleweight
Scores: 100-90, 98-92 and 98-91
Records: Rodriguez (26-5-3, 14 KOs); Wolak (29-2-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In July, Rodriguez, 31, and Wolak, 30, duked it out in one of the best fights of the year. The "Friday Night Fights" slugfest wound up a majority draw, and fight fans immediately were buzzing about a rematch. With both fighters living in the region -- Wolak is originally from Poland but lives in Rockaway, N.J., and Rodriguez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, has lived in Danbury, Conn., since he was a kid -- they each brought a contingent of fans and sold lots of tickets. And although they did not produce the kind of instant classic they did this past summer, they did put on an excellent fight worthy of being on the big pay-per-view show.
If you had to pick a winner in the first fight, most folks probably would tab taller, quicker Rodriguez. In the rematch, he made sure there was no doubt. He put his punches together very well and abused Wolak with a right uppercut throughout the fight. Wolak tried to stay in his chest but paid the price more than he probably cares to remember. Any possible doubts about who was going to win this were put to rest in the 10th round, which is when Rodriguez did his most damage. He battered Wolak, whose face was marked up and who was bleeding from the mouth. Somehow, Wolak stayed on his feet, but he took a terrible beating in the round, eating all kinds of wicked blows but making it to the final bell because he has tremendous heart and rock solid chin. There's no need for a third fight after this display. But now, after something of a hard luck career, Rodriguez deserves an opportunity to go on HBO or Showtime against one of the top junior middleweights. It's a deep division with lots of attractive matches, and Rodriguez deserves to get one of them in his next fight.
Mike Jones W12 Sebastian Lujan
Welterweight
Title eliminator
Scores: 119-109 (twice), 118-110
Records: Jones (26-0, 19 KOs); Lujan (38-6-2, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Philadelphia's Jones, 28, completely dominated Lujan, 31, of Argentina, who turned in a surprisingly poor effort. Jones did not look great, but he easily won, beating Lujan essentially with his left jab. He's lucky Lujan did not do a lot of punching because he carries his hands way too low, which might cost him someday -- but it didn't in this fight. Although Lujan was wide and sloppy with his punches, Jones connected with straight, clean blows and piled up the points for the lopsided and obvious victory. It was an important one, too, because it earned Jones a shot at a belt. After Andre Berto gave up his version of the 147-pound title last month, it paved the way for the winner of this elimination bout to get a fight with mandatory challenger Randall Bailey for the vacant belt. So unless something crazy happens (and, hey, it's boxing, so you never know), Jones' next fight in early 2012 will be against Bailey, a dangerous puncher and former junior welterweight titlist, for the vacant belt. It's been a long time coming for Jones. Lujan, meanwhile, just flamed out and saw his 14-fight winning streak come to a screeching halt.
Saturday at Anaheim, Calif.
Abner Mares W12 Joseph King Kong Agbeko
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 118-110 (three times)
Records: Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs); Agbeko (28-4, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: In the final of Showtime's four-man bantamweight tournament on Aug. 13 in Las Vegas, Mares won a majority decision against Agbeko to claim his title. However, it was one of the most controversial decisions of the year, although not because of the judges. It was because of referee Russell Mora, who had a horrible night that probably cost Agbeko his belt. He awarded Mares a questionable first-round knockdown and allowed him to get away with numerous low blows without penalizing any points, including a blatant punch to the groin in the 11th round that floored Agbeko. Rather than taking a point for the foul, Mora called a knockdown. Mora did such a poor job that the IBF ordered an immediate rematch.
So they met again, this time in California with Mora presumably nowhere near the arena. Instead, referee Dr. Lou Moret was in charge as Mares, 26, a native of Mexico living in Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., and Agbeko, 31, of Ghana, turned in another exciting and fast-paced fight. The fighters kept it clean this time around, with Moret only warning Mares for a low blow in the sixth round. In the second round, Agbeko landed a left hand that opened a nasty cut over Mares' right eye. Cutman Miguel Diaz did an admirable job to contain the bleeding from the deep cut so it did not have a major impact in the fight even if it looked pretty bad. Mares clearly got the better of Agbeko, but the wide scorecards were a little surprising.
That said, Mares did a good job of beating Agbeko to the punch often enough and seemed to be a bit quicker and stronger as he retained his belt for the first time. He has a bright future. He could stay at bantamweight and face titlist Anselmo Moreno -- who retained his belt on the undercard and signed with Golden Boy, also Mares' promoter, this summer -- in a unification fight. Mares also has interest in moving up to junior featherweight to chase Nonito Donaire, who had two bantamweight belts but is moving up. Don't count on seeing that fight any time soon. Top Rank has other plans for Donaire and does not do much business with rival Golden Boy. Agbeko has lost three of his past four bouts, two to Mares (albeit one in highly controversial fashion), and he split a pair of decisions with Yonnhy Perez in title bouts.
Anselmo Moreno W12 Vic Darchinyan
Bantamweight
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 120-107, 117-110, 116-111
Records: Moreno (32-1-1, 11 KOs); Darchinyan (37-4-1, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Panama's Moreno, 26, signed with Golden Boy Promotions this summer and was making his American debut in his ninth title defense, this time against Darchinyan, the always-entertaining brawler and former junior bantamweight and flyweight titleholder. Moreno's game is about movement, boxing and defense. In other words, he is not generally a crowd-pleasing fighter. Brash Darchinyan, 35, a native of Armenia living in Australia, meanwhile, is the opposite. He wants to brawl and knock opponents out. But it is pretty clear that bantamweight is not his division. He was dominant at flyweight and junior bantamweight. As a bantamweight, he is 3-3, with two of the losses coming in world title bouts. Moreno, with far superior skills and technical ability, easily outboxed more aggressive Darchinyan in a battle of southpaws. Darchinyan was docked a point in the fourth round by referee Raul Caiz Jr. for throwing Moreno to the mat.
Try as he might, Darchinyan could never catch Moreno to land any of his big shots. Darchinyan has lost to Moreno and to main event fighters Abner Mares and Joseph King Kong Agbeko, so he is pretty much out of notable fights at 118 pounds, especially with Nonito Donaire (who handed him his first defeat in a flyweight title) now moving to junior featherweight and that potential rematch seeming destined never to happen. Moreno, however, could very well land a unification match with Mares, who beat Agbeko in the main event. Mares and Moreno are both with Golden Boy, and making that fight would be a snap if CEO Richard Schaefer decides to put it together.
Saturday at Helsinki
Robert Helenius W12 Dereck Chisora
Heavyweight
Wins vacant European heavyweight title
Scores: 115-113 (twice) Helenius, 115-113 Chisora
Records: Helenius (17-0, 11 KOs); Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was a highway robbery, an outright theft of a victory from England's Chisora, who was the blatant victim of a horrific hometown decision fighting on Helenius' turf in Finland. You could more easily make the argument that Chisora won by shutout than you could that Helenius deserved even a close decision or draw. No way did he win seven rounds. (For the record, I worked the American broadcast on Epix and scored the fight 118-110 for Chisora.) Maybe, just maybe, if you gave Helenius, 27, every single possible benefit of the doubt, you could find four rounds to give him. Chisora was busier, way more aggressive, landed way more punches, landed harder and cleaner punches, displayed better defense and beat him to the punch round after round, and Helenius often was in retreat in what was, at least, quite a crowd-pleasing brawl. But it also should have been a lopsided Chisora victory. Instead it was stolen by apparently incompetent judges Giuseppe Quartarone and Manuel Oliver Palomo, who scored it for Helenius, who failed to use his 5-inch height advantage. He kept getting nailed by flush uppercuts from shorter Chisora, who looked a million times better than he did in July, when he suffered his first loss, a decision to England's Tyson Fury. Chisora, 27, weighed 261 against Fury but got in much better shape for his past two fights. He was 241 for an easy comeback six-round decision win against Remigijus Ziausys on Nov. 11 and 243 against Helenius.
In his interviews after the fight, Helenius, who has fashioned a nice résumé that includes knockout wins against faded former titleholders Sergei Liakhovich, Samuel Peter and Lamon Brewster, said he thought he won the fight, but he sure did not sound convincing. He said he hurt his hand in the first round and admitted it was the toughest fight of his career. Even if his hand was hurt, that does not explain why he got hit so much. Some viewed Helenius as perhaps the only younger heavyweight who could possibly serve as a serious challenge to champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko. However, after this lackluster performance against a relatively inexperienced and much smaller Chisora, it is hard to imagine Helenius being able to handle either brother. Entertaining Chisora, who twice signed to face Wladimir Klitschko only to have the fight called off, deserves another fight of note and deserves it as quickly as possible. Wilfried Sauerland, Helenius' promoter, said he would be open to a giving Chisora a rematch with Helenius after he makes a mandatory defense of the European title against Alexander Dimitrenko, who vacated the title because of recent elbow surgery.
Alexander Povetkin KO8 Cedric Boswell
Heavyweight
Retains a heavyweight title
Records: Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs); Boswell (35-2, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Let's get the politics out of the way first: Povetkin is the ultimate paper titleholder. That is because, in July, the real heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko -- whom Povetkin's handlers have been blatantly ducking for a couple of years -- outclassed David Haye to win the WBA version of the title and add it to his collection of belts. But the WBA seems to create additional titles on a whim, so, after Klitschko unified, it sanctioned Povetkin to face Ruslan Chagaev (who had been destroyed by Klitschko previously) to fight for a vacant belt.
Povetkin, 32, a 2004 Russian Olympic gold medalist, shook off some shaky moments -- thanks in large part to the classic motivational speeches by trainer (and ESPN analyst) Teddy Atlas -- early in the fight to outpoint Chagaev in August to claim the spurious title. Making his first defense, which was televised live on Epix in the United States, Povetkin faced hand-picked Boswell, 42, of Atlanta, who has a great record assembled against questionable competition. The difference in class was evident almost immediately. Boswell tried and was game, but he just could not hang with vastly more talented Povetkin, who looked as sharp as he ever has. He did everything well as he broke down Boswell, one of his former sparring partners. Povetkin did not need any speeches from Atlas to help him through difficult moments because there were none. He was close to stopping a fading Boswell at the end of the seventh round, but the bell rang. However, in the eighth round, Povetkin finished him with a barrage of clean punches that dropped Boswell, whom referee Giuseppe Quartarone counted out at 2 minutes, 58 seconds. Boswell claimed he was hampered in the bout by a right shoulder injury he suffered in the second round.
After the fight, cruiserweight titlist Marco Huck, who, like Povetkin, is promoted by Sauerland Event, stormed the podium at the postfight news conference to challenge Povetkin. That is an interesting fight, so maybe Sauerland will put it together. As good as Povetkin is, he's better off taking that kind of match than finally agreeing to face Klitschko.
Saturday at Mexico City
Jhonny Gonzalez KO2 Roinet Caballero
Featherweight
Retains a featherweight title
Records: Gonzalez (51-7, 45 KOs); Caballero (31-11-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remark: This was easy work for Mexico's Gonzalez, 30, who made his third title defense, against Panama's Caballero, 28, in a fight that was televised live in the United States on ESPN Deportes. Gonzalez and Caballero had been scheduled to meet twice before, but the match was postponed both times because Caballero had visa issues and could not come to the U.S. First, they were scheduled to meet in July in Atlantic City, N.J. (when the fight was moved from Mexico on short notice) on the Erislandy Lara-Paul Williams undercard. Then, it was rescheduled to take place in El Paso, Texas, in September, but Caballero's paperwork was still an issue. Meeting in Mexico this time, it hardly seemed worth the wait. Gonzalez, who won his 11th fight in a row, blitzed Caballero. Gonzalez won the first round, then scored a clean knockout in the second round when he dropped Caballero with a classic left hook to the body. Caballero, whose four-fight winning streak ended, was in his second title fight. Featherweight titleholder Chris John stopped him in the seventh round in Indonesia in 2008.
Friday at Santa Ynez, Calif.
Anthony Dirrell TKO4 Renan St-Juste
Super middleweight
Title eliminator
Records: Dirrell (24-0, 21 KOs); St-Juste (23-3-1, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Dirrell, 27, of Flint, Mich., younger brother of former Super Six World Boxing Classic participant Andre Dirrell, had no issues taking care of business of against St-Juste, 39, of Quebec, even though the fight ended with more of a whimper than a bang. The uncompetitive fight, which headlined Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation," ended abruptly with six seconds left in the fourth round after St-Juste, a southpaw, apparently dislocated his left shoulder after getting tangled up with Dirrell and spinning away awkwardly. He came out of the clinch with his arm dangling at his side and a grimace on his face, forcing referee Jack Reiss to stop the bout. St-Juste was clearly in pain, and it looked as though the bone was out of place. Moments before the end of the fight, Dirrell had taken the worst part of an accidental head-butt that knocked him to the ground. When the fight resumed, he landed a flurry of punches against St-Juste. The freaky ending of an otherwise ho-hum fight came moments later. Insanely, the bout was a WBC title eliminator that makes Dirrell the alphabet organization's No. 1 contender at 168 pounds. Ridiculous. Dirrell, though a talented prospect, has been a professional for seven years and has fought absolutely nobody to warrant that high status. His résumé is devoid of real opponents and filled with D-level opposition at best other than St-Juste, who is probably a C-class opponent. It's a joke that he is a mandatory challenger for the winner of the Super Six Word Boxing Classic final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch.
Jhonatan Romero W10 Chris Avalos
Junior featherweight
Scores: 96-93, 96-94 Romero, 95-94 Avalos
Records: Romero (20-0, 12 KOs); Avalos (19-2, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Romero, 24, of Colombia, dodged a bullet with a split decision win against Avalos, 22, of Lancaster, Calif., in a really good scrap. Avalos started quickly, scoring a knockdown near the end of the first round from an accumulation of blows while Romero, a 2008 Olympian, was trapped on the ropes. Romero recovered and seemed fine in the second round and did a good job of moving and catching aggressive Avalos as he tried to get inside. Luckily for the viewers, defense was not on either of their minds as they traded punches and let their hands go throughout the all-action bout. Avalos scored with several combinations while Romero worked his right uppercut. The seventh round was filled with two-way action. There were plenty of heated exchanges throughout the fight, but it looked as if Avalos had gotten the better of it, only to be disappointed with the close loss, which the crowd -- which was behind Avalos -- loudly booed. Romero, fighting in the United States for the second time, scored his biggest career victory. The loss snapped Avalos' three-fight winning streak.
Friday at Indio, Calif.
Randy Caballero W8 Arturo Santiago
Junior featherweight
Scores: 80-70 (three times)
Records: Caballero (13-0, 7 KOs); Santiago (7-4-1, 3 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Caballero, 21, of Coachella, Calif., won the shutout decision, but it was not easy. That is because Santiago, 25, of Puerto Rico, fought a rough, dirty fight in the bout, which was the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate." Although Caballero, one of Golden Boy's rising prospects, acted like a professional, Santiago did not. He was outclassed and resorted to dirty tactics to make it to the final bell. Referee Raul Caiz Sr. had his hands full with Santiago's antics. He took a point from him in the third round for putting Caballero in a headlock during a clinch. In the sixth round, Caiz docked another point from Santiago for a headlock followed by a tackle. To Caballero's credit, he stayed calm and easily outboxed and outpunched Santiago to thrill his hometown fans. He upped his record to 8-0 at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, which isn't far from his hometown.
Friday at Mannheim, Germany
Felix Sturm D12 Martin Murray
Middleweight
Retains a middleweight title
Scores: 116-112 Sturm, 115-113 Murray, 114-114
Records: Sturm (36-2-2, 15 KOs); Murray (23-0-1, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remark: Sturm, 32, of Germany, loves fighting at home, where the home cookin' can't be beat. Making the 11th defense (all in Germany) of his third reign with an alphabet belt, Sturm kept his title again on a split draw that surely could have gone to Murray -- but it should not be a surprise that it didn't. In June, Sturm, 32, won an outrageous split decision at home against Matthew Macklin. Facing another fighter from the United Kingdom in heretofore untested 29-year-old Murray, who is promoted by former junior welterweight champion Ricky Hatton, Sturm had some problems but was able to hang on to his belt in the draw. Murray had never faced anyone of note, but he came up with his career-best performance in pushing Sturm to the brink in a methodical, relatively action-free fight. As usual, Sturm relied on his jab but wasn't all that busy. Murray had a big moment in the eighth round when he rocked Sturm with an uppercut.
A good matchup brewing for February:
Dan Rafael
Talks going on for a Feb HBO opening fight to match Kirkland with Delvin Rodriguez on proposed Maidana-Alexander undercard. #boxing
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Really looking forward to the Khan/Peterson fight. Should be a close fight with good boxing on display.
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Really looking forward to the Khan/Peterson fight. Should be a close fight with good boxing on display.
makita
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I honestly wouldn't do it.
makita
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I honestly wouldn't do it.
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Why not?
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Why not?
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Donaire Vasquez
Morales v Danny Garcia
KIrkland v Molina
JML v Salido 2
Morales v Danny Garcia
KIrkland v Molina
JML v Salido 2
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Those are some pretty good fights. I'm excited to see Kirkland fight again. He defines heart.