Ilunga Makabu scored a scintillating fifth round stoppage over Eric Fields in a scheduled twelve round Cruiserweight bout at the Emperor’s Palace in Gauteng, South Africa.

The bout was fast paced with Makabu starting to land fast and heavy shots in round three. The momentum for Makabu continued in land four before he landed a combination that was followed by a devastating left that landed flushed on the chin and Fields crumbled to the canvas on his back and the fight was stopped at 1:59 of round five.

Makabu of South Africa is now 15-1 with 14 knockouts. Fields of Oklahoma is now 22-2.

Ryno Liebenberg stopped Gabriel Ramirez in round one of a scheduled twelve round Light Heavyweight bout.

Liebenbeg dropped Ramirez with a hard combination early in the round round. Liebenberg landed a hard over hand right that hurt Ramirez whose left eye was cut bad. Liebenberg dropped Ramirez two more times with Ramirez taking the ten count on the third knockdown at 1:58 of round one

Liebenberg of South Africa is now 13-0 with nine knockouts. Ramirez of Argentina is now 13-5-1.

Johnny Muller extracted revenge as he stopped Tshepang Mohar in round eleven of their scheduled twelve round Light Heavyweight bout.

Muller landed the bigger shots on the taller Tshepang. He rocked Tshepang in the eleventh and continued tp land fush shots until Thsepang’s corner stopped the fight simultaneously as the referee at 2:28 of round 11.

Muller is 14-3-2 with 11 knockouts. Tshepang is now 9-7.

Vic Darchinyan will look to extract revenge for his knockout defeat to Nonito Donaire in 2007 when the meet in a rematch as part of an HBO televised tripleheader on November 9th according to Dan Rafael of espn.

The bout could possibly take place in Corpus Christie, Texas that will also feature two title bout. WBO Super Featherweight champion Rocky Martinez defending against former Featherweight titlist Mikey Garcia while Demtrius Andrade and Vanes Martirosyan vie for the vacant WBO Super Welterweight title.

“Darchinyan is an awkward guy and he can punch,” said Cameron Dunkin, Donaire’s manager. “He’s a dangerous guy and he really wants this fight and revenge. You never take a guy like this lightly. Anything can happen in this business.”

“Vic has wanted this fight for a long time. He wants redemption,” Frank Espinoza, Darchinyan’s manager, said. “This is a fight he’s been waiting for. I was able to get him that opportunity, but now it’s up to Vic to prepare himself well. I’ve only had Vic for one fight, but here we are, in our second fight together, and he’s got the rematch with Nonito that he has wanted for a long time.

“Of course, it was monetary, too [accepting the higher weight], but it’s good money for Vic. He’s at the point in his career he doesn’t want to wait any longer. He wants redemption, and by beating Donaire, the doors will open for him again.”

“Vic is the smaller guy, but he’s up for the challenge,” Espinoza said. “He really wants to fight Nonito again. This is the first time at 126 for both of them, but Donaire is coming off a loss and the surgery and my guy is coming off two wins.”

“He’s happy and wants to get back in the ring and fight. He’s anxious to fight,” Dunkin said. “He kept asking me, ‘When are we gonna get the contract? When can I fight again?’

“He was really disappointed in himself and didn’t think he fought as well as he should have against Rigondeaux. He said, ‘I know I can beat him but I didn’t, so you gotta give him credit. He beat me.’ But Nonito said he didn’t train properly and that he took it for granted. He says that won’t happen again. He said, ‘Look, I’m 30 years old and I want to finish strong.’ He knows Darchinyan will be really fired up for this fight, so Nonito will really prepare for this one.”

IBF Super Middleweight champion Carlo Froch will defend against undefeated George Groves on November 23rd in Manchester, England according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“I’m delighted to bring this event to Manchester on Nov. 23,” said Matchroom Sport’s Eddie Hearn.. “This ‘Battle of Britain’ is a fascinating fight between a true legend of British boxing in Carl Froch and a superb young talent in George Groves. It’s going to be some atmosphere, some occasion.”

“Phone lines, Twitter and emails haven’t stopped for tickets since we confirmed the fight,” Hearn said. “We are expecting another instant sellout when we go on sale on Sept. 17.”

Jean Pascal will tune up for his January bout with Lucian Bute when he takes on George Blades on September 28th in Montreal as part of the Adonis Stevenson Light Heavyweight title defense with Tavoris Cloud according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“In taking this fight, we have evaluated the pros and cons and at the end when we got the assurance that Jean was physically in perfect condition and in good health, we decided to do it. He’s a professional fighter and a professional fighter should fight,” Yvon Michel, Pascal’s promoter, told ESPN.com on Thursday.

“I’m very happy to be back and I want to thank Yvon for that because boxing is my life,” Pascal told ESPN.com. “It’s not a championship fight, so I’m going to fight at a catch weight, 180. I don’t consider this fight as a tuneup fight because at my level every fight is important and a loss can damage the rest of my career.

“Also, I know that Mr. Blades won’t come to [just to] cash a check. He and his whole team are coming to win.”

“It’s a big fight with Lucian Bute on Jan. 18, but by Jean fighting on Sept. 28, it will keep him motivated to keep training and he will want to look good against George Blades,” Michel said. “Blades is not a world champion but anyone can look good if you’re not well prepared. So Jean wants to use that fight as a preparation step for the fight after against Bute. We all believe having Pascal back in the ring will revive the popularity around the Pascal-Bute fight after it was postponed. Having Jean fighting will put it back in people’s minds and after Sept. 28 we will re-launch the marketing around the Pascal-Bute fight.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former three division world champion Abner Mares will invoke his rematch clause and will face Jhonny Gonzalez next despite being knocked out in the first round last Saturday night.

“When we prepared the contract with Golden Boy, I made sure we had a rematch clause,” Frank Espinoza, Mares’ manager, told ESPN.com on Thursday.

Espinoza said he hopes that the bout can take place in December and is talking to Golden Boy chief executive Richard Schaefer about a deal.

“Abner wants the rematch,” Schaefer said. “He has a rematch clause and wants to do it before the end of the year. Abner called me himself and said, ‘I want to set the record straight and exercise my rematch option. This was nothing, it wasn’t a fight. I want to fight the guy again and I want to take care of it this year.'”

“Abner just wants to get right back in the ring with this guy,” Espinoza said. “You can’t judge that fight by one punch. It wasn’t even a fight. But Abner came out healthy. It was one punch and it happens to the best in boxing.”

“The way Abner is, he wants to come back and avenge his loss and prove himself,” Espinoza said. “Abner has always wanted to fight the best. After the fight, he called me and said, ‘Frank, I want to come back and I want to fight him again this year.’ Abner said he’s ready to go. He’s not afraid to fight anyone. So I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ and I reached out to Richard Schaefer. He said he would work on it for December.”

“Richard’s going to work on it for December, but if we can’t get it done then we may have to wait until January, but my understanding is that December looks good,” Espinoza said.

“But Abner was very clear that he wants the fight next,” Schaefer said. “I don’t know if I can do it this year because it’s a pretty big fight and those kind of fights are expensive, but I will work on it and I will talk to Showtime about it.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBA Middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin will defend his title against Curtis Stevens on November 2nd at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“Gennady has proven himself to be one of the most popular fighters in the sport. Since his knockout over Matthew Macklin in June, there has been an unprecedented amount of interest from fans and media about his next fight,” said Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, which represents Golovkin. “While many of the top names in the middleweight division have been reluctant to fight Gennady, we commend Curtis Stevens for the direct and aggressive path he’s taken to making this world title bout.”

“Everyone put ya money on ‘GGG’ so I could be like 30-1. I could get more money,” Stevens tweeted Wednesday.

“I think it’s a really great fight in the ring and we have a real live ‘dog here,” said Main Events chief executive Kathy Duva, Stevens’ promoter. “Curtis has to fight a different fight than Macklin did, that’s for sure, but there’s no point to talking about the strategy. Curtis has the opportunity, and now he has to capitalize on it.

“He has a great amateur background and world-class punch. Golovkin is a tremendous puncher, and I think he’s the best middleweight in the world, but when you have skills and a world-class punch like Curtis has, you can beat anyone. For anyone who doubts that Curtis can do it, I have two words for them: Jhonny Gonzalez.”

Carlos Condit avenged a 2009 defeat when he stopped Martin Kampmann in round four of a scheduled five round Welterweight bout at the Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Condit battered Kampmann with a combination of knees and punches and the fight was stopped fifty-four seconds into round four.

Condit, 170.5 lbs is now 29-7. Kampmann, 170 lbs is now 20-7

Rafael Dos Anjos scored a three round unanimous decision over Donald Cerrone in a Lightweight bout.

Scores were 29-28 on all cards for Dos Anjos, 155.5 lbs and is now 20-6. Cerrone, 156 lbs is 16-7

Court McGee won a three round split decision over Robert Whittaker in a Welterweight bout.

McGee won by scores of 39-27 and 29-28 and is now 16-3. Whittaker won a card by a 30-27 tally but falls to 12-3.

Takeya Mizugaki scored a three round split decision over Erik Perez in a Bantamweight bout.

Scores were 29-28 on two cards while a 3rd card read 29-28 for Perez.

Mizugaki, 135 1/2 lbs is now 18-7-2. Perez, 135 1/2 lbs is now 13-5.

Brad Tavares scored a three round unanimous decision over Bubba McDaniel in a Middleweight bout.

Scores were 29-28 on all cards for Tavares, 186 lbs and is now 12-2. McDaniel, 185 lbs is now 21-7.

Dylan Andrews scored a third round stoppage over Papy Abedi in a Middleweight bout.

Andrews landed a hard right that sent Abedi to the ground and he got pounded until the fight was stopped at 1:32 of round three.

Andrews, 185 lbs of Gold Coast, Aus is now 18-5-1. Abedi, 184 1/2 lbs of Stickholm, SWE 9-3.

Brandon Thatch scored a first round stoppage over Justin Edwards in a Welterweight bout.

Thatch landed some thunderous knees and the fight was stopped.

Thatch, 170 lbs is now 10-1. Edwards, 170 lbs is 9-3.

Darren Elkins scored a three round unanimous decision over Hatsu Hioki in a Bantamweight bout.

Scores were 29-28 on all cards for Elkins, 145 lbs of Portage, IN and is now 18-3. Hioki, 146 lbs of Nagoya, JP is now 26-7-2.

Jason High scored a first round choke out over James Head in a Welterweight bout.

High used the guillotine choke and the fight was over at 1:41 of round one.

High, 171 lbs is 18-4. Head, 170 1/2 lbs is 9-4.

Zak Cummings scored a first round choke out over Benny Alloway in a Welterweight bout.

The time was 4:19 of round one for Cummings, 170.5 lbs of Kansas City and is now 16-3. Alloway, 170 lbs of Gulf Coast Australia is 13-6.

Abel Trujillo (10-5) and Roger Bowling (11-4) fought to a controversial no-contest in a lightweight bout.

Bowling had Trujillo in chokes at the end of both round’s one and two. Trujillo reversed the second one and landed two illegal knees that was followed by a devastating right hand that knocked Bowling out at 4:57 of round two.

Martin Kampmann 170 – Carlos Condit 170.5
Abel Trujillo 155 – Roger Bowling 155.5
Benny Alloway 170 – Zak Cummings 170.5
Jason High 171 – James Head 170.5
Hatsu Hioki 146 – Darren Elkins 145
Brandon Thatch 170 – Justin Edwards 170
Pepy Abedi 184.5 – Dylan Andrews 185
Bubba McDaniel 185 – Brad Tavares 186
Erik Perez 135.5 – Takeya Mizugaki 135.5
Robert Whittaker 170.5 – Court McGee 170
Brian Melancon 170 – elvin Gastelum 170
Rafael dos Anjos 155.5 – Donald Cerrone 156

Jhonny Gonzalez scored a shocking 1st round knockout over previously undefeated Abner Mares to recapture the WBC Featherweight title at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

Gonzalez landed a crushing left hook to the jaw that sent Mares sprawling on his back. Mares was clarly hurt but tried to fight back instead of holding until he got caught with another left hook that was followed by a straight right that sent Mares down and the fight was stopped at 2:55 of the opening round.

Gonzalez, 125 lbs of Mexico City is now 55-8 with 47 knockouts. Mares, 125 1/2 lbs of Hawaiian Gardens, CA is now 26-1-1.

“This moment right now is the single greatest and most glorious moment of my life,” said an elated Gonzalez, who reclaimed the 126-pound belt he once held and breathed new life into his career with the win over his former training partner. “When I came to the United States for this fight no one gave me any credit. All they talked about was Mares fighting Santa Cruz. I didn’t say anything but I knew I was getting disrespected.”

“I knew I had him badly hurt after the first knockdown,” Gonzalez said.

“I’m good,” said Mares, who held titles at 118 and 122 pounds before claiming the featherweight belt last May. He was making his eighth consecutive appearance on SHOWTIME. “You have to win and you have to learn how to lose in this sport. I’m not in the sport to remain undefeated, but I’m here to fight the best.

“I was alright with the ref’s decision. He did his job and I respect it. But I thought I could go on,” he added. “Now I’m going to take a break and enjoy my family.”

Leo Santa Cruz became a two division world champion as he stopped Victor Terrazas in round three to win the WBC Super Bantamweight title.

Santa Cruz was effective if not relentless in drubbing the now former champion as he landed some hard shots to the body. The shots started to form bad swelling around the right eye. Santa Cruz came out in round three and landed hard flush punches that sent Terrazas to the canvas from a left hook. Santa Cruz finished the fight as he was all over Terrazas and landed a right that sent the native of Guadalajara, Mexico to a knee. When he got to his feet, Terrazas told referee Lou Moret that he could not see and the fight was stopped at 2:09 of round three.

Santa Cruz, 121 3/4 lbs of Los Angeles is now 25-0-1 with 15 knockouts. Terrazas, 121 lbs is now 37-3-1.

“This is a dream come true,” said Santa Cruz, 25, who had fought 106 fewer rounds in his career than Terrazas, who is 30. “I’ve wanted the green belt my entire life. Once I saw the eye start to swell I knew I had to go after him and put the pressure on him.”

Terrazas said, “The eye was not a problem. This was a good fight. He was tough like I expected. He just caught me. I wanted to continue the fight.”

Antonio Orozco scored a three round beatdown over Ivan Hernandez in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

Not much happened in round one but then Orozco got things rolling in round two as he pounded Hernandez with shots that swelled up the right eye of Hernandez. Orozco wasted no tim in round three as he scored two quick knockdowns from relentless pressure that overwhelmed Hernandez. Orozco landed two more thudding lefts that sent Hernandez down for a third and final time that forced the referee to stop the bout at 1:39 of round three.

Orozco, 141 1/2 lbs of San Diego is now 18-0 with 14 knockouts. Hernandez, 141 1/2 lbs of Barranquilla, COL is now 29-4.

Joseph Diaz Jr. scored 3rd round stoppage over Noel Mendoza in a scheduled six round Bantamweight bout.

Diaz showed a tremendous offensive repertoire as he worked the body and the head with austhority.

Diaz dropped Mendoza twice from hard and furious combinations with the second coming from a hard left – right that forced the referee to stop the bout at 1:54 of round three.

Diaz, 123 lbs of South El Monte, CA is now 8-1 with five knockouts. Mendoza, 121 1/2 lbs of Phoenix, AZ is now 6-3-1.

2012 Olympic Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale scored a fourth round stoppage over Lenroy Thomas.

Thomas came and won the first round as Breazeale used it as a feeling out round. With each round, Breazeale picked up the pace and in ronund three he started working the body. In round four, Breazeale landed a flurry that was finished up with a right to the body that sent Thomas down for referee at 2:29 of round four.

Breazeale, 251 lbs of Alhambra, CA is now 6-0 with all wins coming Early. Thomas, 246 lbs of St. Petersburg, FL is now 16-3.

Two-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Vasyl Lomachenko will take a very tough fight in his pro debut when he takes on Jonathan Oquendo as part of the Timothy Bradley – Juan Manuel Marquez undercard on October 12th in Las Vegas according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“He’s stepping up right off the bat,” Top Rank vice president Carl Moretti told ESPN.com. “This is a hellacious debut. I don’t mean to be dramatic, but this is unheard of for a pro debut. You probably have to go back to when [Floyd] Patterson fought [Pete] Rademacher.”

“For a pro debut, this ranks way up there because of how tough an opponent Oquendo is. Just look at his credentials,” Moretti said. “Stepping up a gear during any race is no an easy thing to do. In boxing, in a pro debut, it’s unheard of.”

“Lomachenko must have a lot of confidence making his debut against a fighter like me,” Oquendo said. “He must think he’s really good. Let’s see what happens in the ring.”

“He has this zest to reach the top as soon as possible and knew we could provide him the route to getting there,” Moretti said of one of the reasons Lomachenko signed with Top Rank. “He is on this card against a solid 10-round guy who has fought excellent opposition and has always been in a war. When he signed with us and told us what he wanted to do, our eyebrows were raised. But we were all for it. If somebody has that kind of zeal to prove himself right off the bat, why not.”

If Lomachenko comes through the fight, he could be looking at a world title shot early next year. The plan would be to match him with the winner of the fight between former titleholder Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs) of Mexico and Orlando Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs) of Puerto Rico, who meet for a vacant 126-pound world title in the co-feature of the Oct. 12 card.

“We have our eyes on having Lomachenko fight the Salido-Cruz winner in the first quarter of 2014, in his second or third pro fight,” Moretti said.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, undefeated Lightweights Terrence Crawford and Andrey Klimov will do battle on October 5th as the televised co-feature to Miguel Cotto taking on Delvin Rodriguez in Orlando on HBO.

“Hopefully, Crawford can look good with this guy and keep rising up the rankings in the lightweight division,” said Top Rank vice=president Carl Moretti said.

Klimov (16-0, 8 KOs), 31, of Russia, has been fighting primarily in the United States for the past two years and scored his biggest win on June 7, when he scored a majority decision against former title challenger and longtime contender John Molina.

“The win over Molina on ESPN2 was a good win,” Moretti said of the fight that headlined a “Friday Night Fights” card. “The fact that Klimov is undefeated and has a quality amateur background should make this interesting. He’ll be there to win and to give Crawford all he wants.

NEW YORK, NY–Monday Night at the Best Buy Theater in Times Square, the heart of New York City, Golden Boy Promotions put together the first card to ever be televised on Fox Sports 1. The featured attraction, Daniel Jacobs, set to continue his impossible quest back to stardom. His opponent in this middleweight, the threatening former world title challenger, Giovanni Lorenzo.

Both fighters opened up the fight with rangy punches from the outside. Lorenzo (32-5, 24 KO’s) landed first with a long left hook. Soon afterwards, Jacobs got in a beautifully timed right hand counter. The bout progressed with both fighters eager to land something big, but stellar defense prevented anything serious. Jacobs and Lorenzo showed tremendous respect for each other’s power.

By the third round, the tone of the fight had being set. Jacobs has an unbelievable variety of punches in his arsenal, and they were all being showcased tonight. Right hooks, overhand rights, left hooks, stinging jabs. They were all landing beautifully. Lorenzo worked towards turning the fight into a brawl. The roughhouse tactics opened up a small welt on the side of Jacobs’ face that saw some blood trickle out.

Halfway through another impressive round, Jacobs landed a hook on the top of Lorenzo’s head that seemed to have him stunned. Jacobs took a chance and chased down Lorenzo, who was, in fact, very hurt. A flurry of punches were thrown by Lorenzo, hoping to hit a home run while his back was against the ropes. But it was Jacobs who hit the home run; visciously landing a left and a right flush on Lorenzo’s jaw, knocking him out face first onto the canvas. Lorenzo made a feeble attempt at getting to his feet, but he fell back down onto the canvas, forcing the referee to call the fight off. This was the first time Lorenzo had ever been stopped, and it came at the 2:05 point in the third round.

Hot prospect Eddie Gomez (14-0, 9 KO’s) took a massive step up in class when he signed to fight Steve Upsher Chambers(24-2-1, 6 KO’s) in a Junior Middleweight bout. Chambers is coming off of a disappointing loss at the hands of a much more experienced opponent, and came into the fight confident that he will take what he learned from that loss and use it to his advantage as he is now the experienced fighter in the ring. Gomez, on the other hand, has impressed Golden Boy Promotions with his dazzling combination of speed and power.

Both fighters opened up the fight tentatively, but things changed once both fighters were able to land some leather. Gomez landed a hard left hook upstairs, and Chmbers was able to sneak a few rights of his own. A big right hand from Gomez rocked Chambers badly, and forced him against the ropes. Gomez was able to open up for a flurry until Chambers was finally able to land two hard left hook counters. Just when it seemed like things were calming down, a right hand from Gomez wobbled Chambers into the ropes. Gomez took the opportunity to absolutely tee off on Chambers with a dozen or so punches. The bell was the only thing that saved Chambers from more punishment.

As the bout progressed, Gomez had lost respect for Chambers’ power and settled on flashy pot shots that impressed his hometown crowd. Entering the fourth round, Chambers, true to his Philadelphia roots, put together a string of punches that seemed to surprise Gomez, who weathered the storm for a time before getting back into his groove. A sharp left jab from Gomez caught Chambers on the way in, and buckled his knees badly. Gomez pounced, and referee Steve Smoger quickly jumped in and saved Chambers from himself. The stoppage came at 2:33 of the fourth round.

Another Olympian took to the stage as the first televised boxing match to be broadcast on Fox Sports 1 finally hit the airwaves. Terrell Gausha (9-2, 3 KO’s) looked sharp when he took on Austin Marcum (5-3, 3 KO’s) in a middleweight bout. Gausha began the fight working behind his jab. Marcum was tough enough to withstand some hard blows from Gausha, but was outclassed by his much more experienced opponent.

By the end of the first, a body shot hurt Marcum, giving Gausha an opportunity to land a hook upstairs that hurt Marcum and sent him hanging onto the ropes just as the bell rang. Referee Benji Esteves ruled it a knockdown, and Marcum was able to make it back to his feet, but was visibly hurt.

Gausha wasted no time getting right back to the body in the 2nd round, and Marcum was still reeling from the earlier punishment. Two hard blows to the body caused Marcum to cradle his midsection and double over in pain. A hook upstairs sent him down for good, and the referee called the fight off. Gausha was credited with a TKO at 1:04 of the 2nd round.

United States Olympian and New York native, Marcus Browne (5-0, 5 KO’s) made short work of Robert Hill (1-1) in their cruiserweight bout. Browne took little time showcasing his awesome power. Within seconds, he had backed Hill into the ropes and stuned him with a right hook. Browne Hill tried backing away, but a straight left landed on Hill’s Forehead, knocking him down. Hill initially made an attempt to get up, but fell back down, and was unable to make it to his feet by the ten count. Marcus Browne improves his perfect record to 6-0 with 6 knockouts, this one coming in at :59 of the first round.

Emanuel Gonzalez scored a four round unanimous decision over Micael Doyle in a Jr. Lightweight bout.

In round one, Gonzalez drove Doyle back with a right in the corner. He continued to land some good straight rights that he followed with quick combination;s against the much shorter Doyle.

Gonzalez, 129 1/2 lbs of Bronx, NY is won by scores of 40-36 on all cards and is now 12-0. Doyle, 129 lbs of Prichar, AL was fighting in New York for the 2nd time in five days is 2-4.

Gary Beriguette scored a four round unanimous decision over Kamal Muhammad in a Jr. Middleweight bout.

In round one, Beriguette was landing hard punches until he got caught with a shot that knocked him down. Beriguette returned the favor by landing a body shot in round two that sent Muhammad to the canvas. A clash of heads opened up a nasty cut above the left eye of Muhammad. Not much of note happened down the strecth.

Beriguette, 148.8 lbs of Brooklyn won by scores of 39-36, 39-36 and 38-36 and is now 2-0. Muhammad, 148 lbs of New York is 0-2.

POST FIGHT QUOTES

DANNY JACOBS, Newly crowned WBC Continental Americas Middleweight Champion (Knockout win over Giovanni Lorenzo; 2:05 of Round 3)

“I know a lot of people are looking up to me because I’m a cancer survivor. I want to be inspirational to people. I want people to know that if you work hard, you can fulfill your dreams.

“This win feels amazing. I knew I had Brooklyn here supporting me and it fueled me in the ring and got me so excited.

“I owe it all to the man above. God has gotten me through a lot in my life.

“He hit me with a good left hook and I said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’

“He came after me and I said ‘I got something for you.’

“He tried to use some Bernard Hopkins tactics on me and get into my head, but I knew I had the skills to beat him.”

EDDIE GOMEZ, Undefeated Rising Welterweight Star (Technical knockout win over Steven Upsher Chambers; 2:33 of Round 4)

“I had to be smart and take my time. It felt good in there. I had a great training camp.

“They kept saying that he [Steven Upsher Chambers] was a veteran. I never saw him that way.

“Once they gave me an opponent, I took the fight immediately. I knew that Luis Collazo beat him [Upsher Chambers], and Luis is a world champion. I need to step it up in my career and face tougher guys like that.

“You saw what happened tonight. I made this happen. It is a preview for what’s to come in my career.

“I thought he was going to come in to box, but when came forward I knew he didn’t have the power to stop me.”

TERRELL GAUSHA, 2012 U.S. Olympian and Middleweight Rising Star (Knockout win over Austin Marcum; 1:04 of Round 2)

“It was an honor to be the first fight on Fox Sports 1 as well as to compete on the same card as my Olympic brother Marcus Browne. I hope my win last night was the first of many to come on the network and Golden Boy Live.

“I was excited about the fight. I felt like it was a great opportunity to showcase my talent and I think I did great. I still have some things to work on, but overall I felt like I made a statement in my performance.”

MARCUS BROWNE, 2012 U.S. Olympian and Light Heavyweight Rising Star (Knockout win over Robert Hill; :59 of Round 1)

“I trained so hard and I’m ready to take it to the next level and go the distance.

“Boxing is a fighters sport and he didn’t come to fight.

“It was a short upper cut to the forehead. I was surprised he went down from that punch.

“I’m ready to progress as a professional. I want to go full rounds and hope to learn from those type of fights in the future.”

# # #

Jacobs vs. Lorenzo was presented by Golden Boy Promotions and sponsored by Corona and O’Reilly Auto Parts. The FOX Sports 1 broadcast aired live at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT on Monday, August 19. Tune into the next
Golden Boy Live! event on Monday, September 2 from Cowboys Dancehall in San Antonio, Texas.

LAREDO, Texas – A small but committed group of partisan-Mexican fight fans gathered to see how real Juan Diaz’s comeback was in its second test. The crowd was relieved to find it pretty serious thus far.

Saturday before a sparse crowd at Laredo Energy Arena, Houston lightweight and former world champion Juan “Baby Bull” Diaz (37-4, 18 Kos) outworked and outhit Brazilian Adailton De Jesus (30-8, 24 KOs), eventually causing the De Jesus corner to stop the match before its midway point, at 1:51 of round 5.

From the opening moments of Saturday’s main event, Diaz swarmed and struck De Jesus, attacking him as if after the Brazilian’s very spirit. De Jesus, who wore a noble face and made manly gestures of indifference through the next 15 or so minutes, was not in the fight and knew he was not in the fight, finding himself in the position so many Diaz opponents have, the realization that punching back at Diaz is the only way temporarily to make him stop punching you, until you tire – which you inevitably will.

“I went right to the body to break him down,” Diaz said after stopping De Jesus. “I felt good doing it.”

Each round became like its predecessor, by its closing bell, with Diaz whacking elbows and gloves when he could not find De Jesus’ softer spots, and each new round began with the waistband of De Jesus’ gray trunks pulled higher and higher in the hopes of fooling referee Jon Schorle into warning Diaz, but Schorle was not fooled.

“I threw a lot of hard, accurate punches,” Diaz explained.

The assault continued, with Diaz’s trademark activity rate, until De Jesus’ corner could abide no more and threw not one but two white towels in the ring, bringing an end to the match and a continuation to Diaz’s comeback, one promoter Top Rank envisions eventually concluding with a title match.

“I am still young, only 29,” Diaz said. “And I have a lot of fight left.”

IVAN NAJERA VS. ROGER ROSA

Undefeated San Antonio lightweight Ivan Najera goes by the nickname “Bam Bam,” and every fight symmetry dictates Najera supply one Bam, and collect the other. With an action-making style that relies on a flying chin and talent for turning into opponents’ blows, Najera has yet to encounter a man who is unskilled enough for the San Antonian to make a dull fight with. And Najera’s Saturday opponent, Brazilian Roger Rosa, was not unskilled as his record indicated.

The evening’s third match was its undercard’s best, with Najera (12-0, 9 KOs) winning a unanimous decision by scores of 59-54 and 58-55 and 58-55 over Rosa (4-4-1) – a man of small stature, short muscles and enough chin and confidence to test Najera several times in their six rounds together.

A Najera counter left hook dropped Rosa in round 1, making the official scorecards somewhat wider in margin than the fight they evaluated. The right man won ultimately, but aficionados can be forgiven their concerns about the longevity of a prospect like Najera who makes wars in six rounders against opponents without knockout power.

ALEX SAUCEDO VS. RAMON PENA

There is one young fighter matchmaker Bruce Trampler travels to see wherever he fights, and he is Chihuahuense Alex Saucedo, an undefeated 19-year-old welterweight who calls himself “El Cholo” and fights out of Oklahoma City. And each time Saucedo steps in a ring, Trampler’s wisdom is confirmed more deeply.

Saturday’s second fight saw Saucedo (10-0, 7 KOs) hurt Mexican opponent Ramon Pena (7-4, 5 KOs) with every punch he threw, and hurt him badly with every punch he landed. It was a Saucedo left hook to the head, officially, that was the match’s final punch, at 1:00 of round 1, but it was actually a couple left hooks to Pena’s liver that stopped the overmatched man from Los Mochis, Sinaloa, and kept Saucedo’s record perfect.

DENIS SHAFIKOV VS. SANTOS BENAVIDES

Promoter Top Rank is well known for cultivating talent, but undefeated Russian lightweight southpaw Denis Shafikov appears to have come to them ready-made. Much like Shafikov’s opponent, Nicaraguan Santos Benavides, came to Shafikov in Saturday’s opening match, a 10-round affair that was effectively finished after its first minute, though didn’t end officially till the bell rang to conclude round 6 – when Benavides’ corner wisely called an end to their guy’s evening.

One minute was how long it took Shafikov (32-0-1, 17 KOs) to decipher the secret to Benavides’ (23-4-2, 17 KOs) jab, the southpaw brings it home slow, and begin blasting him with left crosses that made Benavides’ legs shake every time they landed. And they landed with more ferocity as rounds went on until Benavides’ corner did the sage and merciful thing and ended the mess.

Shafikov might just be good as his record anticipates.

UNDERCARD

Saturday’s first televised fight was a 66-second drubbing that saw U.S. Olympian Jose Ramirez (5-0, 4 KOs) drop hopeless Oklahoma super lightweight Mike Maldonado (6-2, 1 KO) three times, twice with body shots, bringing an end to the match barely a minute after it started.

Rangy California super welterweight Danny Valdivia (1-0, 1 KO), who appears extremely tall for a 154-pound fighter but doesn’t seem to know it, fighting behind a short man’s high guard and relying on inside punching, blasted-out Texan Jamaris Chaney (1-2) in fewer than six minutes, Saturday, winning his professional debut at 2:51 of round 2 and then launching an exuberant cheering routine of jumps and kicks.

The evening’s final match, a six-round super bantamweight tilt between Connecticut’s Tramaine Williams (8-0, 2 KOs) and Californian Raymond Chacon (4-6), ended in a no contest at 0:51 of round 3.

Opening bell rang on an empty Laredo Energy Arena at 7:05 PM local time.

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ–Darren Barker wrestled the IBF Middleweight championship with a 12 round unanimous decision at The Revel Hotel and Casino

The action was fast paced from the beginning with Geale coming in swarming with shots that missed that left opening for Barker to counter. Barker seemed to win the early rounds sue to the more effetive punching. Geale was fighting well but his punches did not seem to have the same affect as did Barker’s.

Geale looked he scored a fight ending knockdown in round five when he landed a perfect left hook to the solar Plexas the sent Barker down for a nine count. Geale jumped all over Barker only to have the tide turn as it looked like Barker may have hurt Geale towards the end of the frame.

After that the two took turns taking control of the action and had some furious exchanges down the stretch with a lot of close rounds.

Barker, 159.5 lbs of Barnet, England won by scores of 116-111, 114-113 while geale took a card at 114-113.

Barker is now 26-1. Geale, 159.5 lbs of Mt Annan, Australia is 29-2

Kiko Martinez won the IBF Super Bantamweight title with a sixth round stoppage over Jonathan Romero.

In round one, Martinez came out with fire as he landed some crushing shots mostly on the ropes and hurt Romero with a hard right hand in between body shots. Romero had a nice bounce back round in the second and started out well in the third but in round four he got cracked a few times in that round and started to retreat. A cut over the right eye of Romero was a result from a headbutt. Martinez continued to stick to Romero like glue and he kept firing and landing hard rights. Romero did show good defense but was starting to wear down.

In round six, Martinez was all over Romero as he battered him all over the ring. Romero showed an amazing chin as he ate some vicious shots that saw his head snap back several times. The fight could have been stopped at any point passed the half way mark of the round buy referee David Fields finally called a halt to the action at 2:40 of round six.

Martinez, 121.5 lbs of Alicante, Spain is now 29-4 with 21 KO’s. Romero, 121.5 lbs of Cali, Colombia is now 23-1.

Yordenis Ugas scored a workmanlike ten round unanimous decision over John Williams in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

Ugas started turning up the tempo in round two as he started to land hard shots to the head and body. He trapped Williams in the corner with a series of punches just before the bell rang. Ugas continued to dominate and landed some more hard combinations in round five.

In round six, Ugas landed some nice body shots on the ropes and got in a perfect uppercut. Ugas continue to pound away at Williams, who showed a terrific chin as he took some solid blows and many body shots but was never in serious danger of hitting the canvas. The two went toe to toe down the stretch with each landing that thrilled the crowed in attendance.

Ugas, 141.5 lbs of Miami via Cuba won by scores of 98-91, 98-91 and 99-90 and is now 15-1. Williams, 18 1/2 lbs of Charlotte, NC is now 11-3-1.

Thomas Dulorme scored an eighth round stoppage over Frankie Figueroa in a scheduled ten round Jr. Welterweight bout.

Dulorme used his height over the first two rounds. Figueroa came out agressive in round three until he got caught with a hard right. Seconds later that same punch put Figueroa on the canvas. In round four, Dulorme continued to jump in with the right hand with Figueroa occasionally countering with his straight left. In round five, a solid combination that was finished off by a left hook sent Figueroa to the canvas for a second time.

Dulorme started round six with a hard right hand and continued to stalk Figueroa. Dulorme would later land a wicked right hand that drove Figueroa to the ropes. Finally in round eight, Dulorme pounded Figueroa all over the ring until the bout was stopped at 47 seconds of round eight.

Dulorme, 141 lbs of Carolina, PR is now 19-1 with 14 knockouts. Figueroa, 142 lbs of Bronx, NY is now 20-5-1.

Jonathan Maicelo scored a tenth round stoppage over Jose Alejandro Rodriguez in the final scheduled round of a ten round Lightweight bout.

Round one was a feeling out process with Maicelo landing a solid right hand just before the end of the frame. In round two, Maicelo pumped in a hard one-two. Rodriguez tried to use his length and jab in round four. Rodriguez got in a nice right in round five which was his best punch of the fight up to that point.

Maicelo came out swinging in round seven and landed a hard left hook. Towards the end of the frame, he landed a perfect counter right. In round ten, Maicelo landed a hard right hand that dropped Rodriguez for the ten count at twenty-two seconds of round ten.

Maicelo, 136 lbs of Callao, Peru is now 20-1 with 12 knockouts. Rodriguez, 134.5 lbs of Guadalajara, MX is now 19-12.

Andrzej Fonfara scored a come from behind ninth round knockout over former Light Heavyweight champion Gabriwl Campillo in a scheduled twelve round bout at US Cellular Field in Chicago.

Campillo controlled most of the action as he landed some popping shots from distance that continuously snapped the head back of Fonfara. Both fighter’s made an impression on each other as Fonfara was cut around the left eye while Campillo’s right swelled rapidly.

Campillo was cruising along until he got drilled with hard right which buckled him just before the bell sounded to end round eight. Campillo gathered himself and was having success in round nine until he got caught with a hard right that set off a flurry that was unded with a right to the body that sent Campillo down for the ten count at 1:37 of round nine.

Fonfara, 173 lbs of Chicago via Poland is now 24-2 with 14 knockouts. Campillo of Spain is now 22-6-1.

Heavyweight Artur Szpilka scored his second knockout victory over Mike Mollo, this time in round five of a scheduled ten round Heavyweight bout.

Like the first battle that took place on February 1st, it was a bloody war with Szpilka landing some good shots over the first two rounds which included a hard left that rocked Mollo at the bell in round two. In round three, Mollo landed a crushing short left hook that sent Szpilka to the canvas.

That was reminiscent of their first bout when it seemed like Szpilka was on his way to a dominant win before being dropped in that fight as well.

Mollo was bloodied around the right eye in round four and then was hammered out with a punishing left that sent him flat on his back. He was able to get to his feet but the fight was stopped at 1:41 of round five.

Szpilka, 226 lbs of Warsaw, Poland is now 16-0 with 12 knockouts. Mollo, 233 lbs of Chicago is now 20-5-1.

Adrian Granados got off the floor twice to stop Marc Salser Jr. in round six of their eight round Jr. Welterweight bout.

Salser dropped Granados in round two with a hard right hand. He knocked Granados down with yet another right hand in round five. n round six, Granados turned the tide by dropping Salser with a body shot. Granados jumped on Salser and landed a barrage of punches in the corner and the fight was stopped as Salser was falling to the canvas for a second time.

Granados, 140 lbs of Chicago is now 10-1-2 with 6 knockouts. Salser, 138 lbs of Mansfield, OH is now 15-1.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, formwer Welterweight champion Andre erto had successful shoulder surgery.

“I am happy to have the surgery behind me and hear that everything went well,” Berto said in a statement. “I’m going to rest up and focus all my energy on my recovery so that I can return to the ring full force in 2014.”

NEW YORK—Dibella Entertainment, in association with SMS Promotions, put together another exciting installment of the Broadway Boxing series. The co-main events of the evening featured Boyd Melson in a rematch against Jason Thompson and Tor Hamer against Kertson Manswell.

Melson looked very calm and boxed well from the outset, keeping his distance and landing with hard shots from a southpaw stance.

The middle rounds got interesting though as Thompson was able to close the gap and turning the bout into a bit of a war.

Thompson opened a nasty cut over the right eye of Melson in the sixth round causing the referee to call a time out so the ringside physician could get a closer look. With blood streaming down his face, Melson smiled at the doctor, telling him that there was no way he was stopping the fight.

In the seventh round, Melson returned the favor, cutting Thompson over his right eye. In the eighth and final frame, both fighters stormed off their stools and met in the center of the ring and immediately began throwing bombs. As the fighters were exchanging shots, Melson dropped Thompson with a short right hook. Thompson seemed to be a little off balance, but nonetheless the knockdown was rightfully counted.

In the end, Melson was awarded the well-deserved and hard-fought decision, winning by scores of 78-73 twice, and 77-74. With the victory, Melson improved to 12-1-1, 4KO’s, After the bout, the victor was accompanied in the ring by award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. Melson discussed his foundation “Team Fight to Walk” and the “Just a Dollar Please” organization, which raises money for stem cell research. For more information on the cause visit www.justadollarplease.org

In a strange bout between two big heavyweights, Tor Hamer (20-2, 13 KO’s, 225lbs) took on Kertson Manswell (23-7, 17 KO’s, 280lbs). During the referee instructions, both fighters refused to touch gloves at first, and the referee had to order them twice before they finally gave in. The round opened up with Manswell throwing looping overhand rights. Hamer maintained his composure despite the fact that Manswell’s 280lbs body was constantly crashing into him, often knocking both fighters back. Countering a looping punch, Hamer landed a right hand that knocked Manswell off balance and down. He beat the count, and the fight continued. As the round came to a close, Hamer landed a series of short punches on his off balance opponent, sending him to a knee. The bell to end the round sounded, and Hamer was still throwing. Manswell, on a knee, dramatically fell face first to the canvas, in a performance that not many people believed. Most importantly, the referee wasn’t buying it, and ruled a TKO victory at 3:00 of the first round to Hamer.

In a four round bout, Justin Robbins(1-2, 138lbs) made things sloppy against Donte Strayhorn (2-1, 139.5lbs). Strayhorn worked behind his jab and right, while slipping in viscous body punches in between, while Robbins lunched in with wild hooks. Despite the difficulties that Robins posed, Strayhorn was able to maintain his composure and coast to a 40-36, 40-36, and 40-36 unanimous decision victory.

Michael Doyle (1-3, 131lbs) had the tough task of containing the talented Neuky Santelises (5-0, 4 KO’s, 130lbs) in a bout scheduled for four rounds. The first thing that was noticed was the size disparity between both fighters. Santelesis had a huge height advantage over Doyle. Soon after the opening bell rang, Santelises worked Doyle towards the ropes. Doyle responded by ubleashing a powerful left hand that landed perfectly on Santelises, sending him down on his back. He made it up to his feet quickly, but the referee didn’t like what he saw and stopped the fight. Some at ringside felt that it was a quick stoppage. Still, Doyle won by way of upset TKO victory at 1:19 of the first round.

The very popular Sonia Lamonakis (7-1-2, 1 KO, 216lbs) was in another brawl Wednesday night. This time her opponent was Tanzee Daniel (4-2-1, 1 KO, 240lbs). Like any other of Lomanakis’ fights, she was able to work her opponent into the corner repeatedly with her non-stop hooks. Daniel wasn’t much of a slouch herself. She was able to land cleanly on occasion, but there was very little power behind her blows. After another Lomanokis flurry, Daniel’s response was to taunt in the center of the ring. Lomanokis followed that up with working Daniel into and continuing her assault. The bout continued in this fashion until the final bell sounded. The final scorecards read 60-54, 60-54, and 59-55 all in favor of Lomanakis for the unanimous decision.

Patrick Day (4-0, 2 KO’s 154lbs) took to the ring amid cheers before his bout against Donald Ward (5-1, 3 KO’s). Day was an amateur national champion, and is highly regarded as a young professional. The bout started off with Day aggressive. He was much taller than his opponent, who took to bending low at the waist to avoid Day’s right hands. Defensively, Ward was very skilled. He ducked and dodged away from many of Day’s lightning quick punches.

Day was able to land some hard blows that hurt ward. All right hands that came in the 1st, 2nd, and 4th rounds. While Ward seemed hurt, he reacted to the punches by being aggressive himself, and even briefly hurting Day in the 2nd. The problem with Ward was that he telegraphed all of his punches, and Day was able to capitalize nearly every time. The final scores 60-54, 60-54, and 60-54 in favor of Day.

In a battle of two brawlers, Amos Cowart (7-0, 5 KO’s, 135.5lbs) took on Chazz McDowell (6-3, 1 KO, 137lbs) in a bout scheduled for six rounds. Cowart pressed the action, moving forward behind big blows to the body. McDowell often waited for Cowart to stop his onslaught, and then proceeded to land hard lows of his own. The entire bout saw lots of this back and forth action, and the crowd really gathered behind McDowell. The final scores read 58-56, 57-57, and 57-57 resulting in a majority draw. Promoter, Lou Dibella, announced afterwards that both fighters have agreed to a rematch for the next installment of Broadway Boxing.

Lennox Allen scored a six round unanimous decision over Michael Gbenga in a Light Heavyweight bout.

Scores were 60-54, 59-55 and 59-55 for Allen, 169 lbs of New York and is now 17-0-1. Gbenga, 170 lbs of Washington, DC is now 13-9.

Jeremy Abram made a successful pro debut with a four round unanimous decision over Micha Branch in a Jr. Lightweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Abram, 128 lbs of Cleveland. Branch, 128 lbs of Cincinnati is now 1-8-1.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Scott Quigg and Yoandris Salinas will vie for a vacant 122 pound championship as part of the David Haye – Tyson Fury undercard.

“It’s a dream come true that my first world title fight will be in Manchester,” Quigg said. “It’ll be a massive boost to have my fans there and, with Haye and Fury fighting, too, it’s a huge night to be involved in and a great stage to land a world title. I’ve worked so hard to get here and I’m going to grab this title with both hands.”

“It’s fantastic for Scott to be challenging for his first world title on this bill,” Hearn said. “They’re both young unbeaten fighters desperate to take this golden chance. It’s a great fight on what promises to be a huge night for British boxing.”

The card also will feature middleweight contender Andy Lee (30-2, 21 KOs), 29, of Ireland against Domenico Spada (37-4, 19 KOs), 32, of Italy

“This is a great next step for me in my career,” Lee said. “Spada has been around the world scene for years now and has never before been stopped. He’s a renowned tough guy with a solid chin and a great work ethic. Therefore, it is my aim to go out there, put on a show and become the first man to stop him.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, WBC Light Heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson will defend against former IBF champion Tavoris Cloud on September 28th in Montreal in a bout that will be televised by HBO.

“This fight is totally different than the fight with Dawson,” said Stevenson’s promoter Yvon Michel. “Cloud is aggressive, likes to exchange, likes to fight. He was outsmarted when he fought Bernard Hopkins [in a March loss].”

“We were waiting for paperwork. It took a little while to get the signed paperwork but we had an agreement, and Cloud and Stevenson are already in training,” Michel said. “Tavoris Cloud was the fighter that HBO wanted us to make a deal with and I am happy we got that done with Don King. A lot of people said it would be difficult to do with Don King, but that was not the case. Gary Shaw (Dawson’s promoter who had an option on Stevenson) is also involved with us in this fight and he also helped to get this done.”

For that fight, Cloud had fired trainer Al Bonanni and strength coach Alonzo Johnson and hired Abel Sanchez, who brought him to his camp in Big Bear Lake, Calif. After the loss, Cloud fired Sanchez and rehired Bonanni and Johnson, and is now training with them again in Ocala, Fla.

“He’s back with Al Bonanni and I know he’ll come out swinging and be aggressive, so for Adonis this fight will be to prove that what he did to Dawson was no fluke and that he is the real deal in the light heavyweight division,” Michel said. “We have to show that not only he can punch but that he can box too because he will have to do both in the fight. We’re very enthusiastic about the fight.”

“I wish I had a chance for him to fight Hopkins again,” Bonanni said. “I really felt he wasn’t right for the Hopkins fight. If Alonzo and I were there I think he would have been much more aggressive. Bu we know this here fight with Stevenson is not an easy fight. This is a southpaw, he’s taller, he has reach advantage, he is very strong and even though he is 35, he hasn’t had a lot of wear and tear.

“But Tavoris is in great physical shape. Alonzo been here for three weeks in Ocala working with him. [Monday] was my first day in the gym and Alonzo already has him in great shape. We can beat Stevenson. I’ll do my job and we’ll work on fighting a southpaw and we’ll start sparring next week. This guy [Stevenson] has tremendous power but I’ve seen a lot of things he does that are very rudimentary. He doesn’t have a lot of experience. I think he could get caught and that we have a good chance to pull the upset. They’re taking Cloud because they think he’s done, shot, finito and that’s good. We’re going there to surprise them and to win. We’re not just going there as an opponent or for a big payday.

“I’m happy to be back,” he said. “He asked me to come back. I don’t have any animosity toward him, although I lost a big payday.”

Former welterweight world champion Andre Berto will have Shoulder surgery on Wednesday according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“Surgery is obviously never something that anyone wants to deal with, but adversity is nothing new to me,” Berto said in a statement on Monday. “I know that Dr. [Neal] ElAttrache is one of the best in the business, so I am in good hands. I’m going to tackle this latest obstacle head on and I plan to be back in the ring full force in 2014.

“I really appreciate all the support that my fans have given me over the last few weeks and promise that you are going to see much more from me in the future.”

“I threw a punch in the second round, and when Soto Karass blocked it, my right upper arm connected with his and it felt like fire shot through my arm,” Berto said. “I had no power at all in that right arm and couldn’t hold it up to defend myself. I kept trying to use it, but midway through the fight, I realized I couldn’t and just tried to work my left hand and throw jabs.

“I threw it [instinctively] in the heat of the battle later in the fight and yelled from the pain shooting through my arm. I could see that Soto Karass and the referee heard me, and the referee and doctor kept coming to the corner between rounds to check on the injury, but there was no way I was going to quit.”

BETHLEHEM, PA–Gamalier Rodriguez scored a ten round unanimous decision over Jorge Pazos in a Featherweight bout at Sands Casino.

Rodriguez was the stalker as he landed some solid shots over the first two rounds. In round three, Rodriguez started to turn up the heat on his punches as he landed some good hooks to the head and body.

Rodriguez ripped hard combinations to the body in round six. He opened up round seven with a hard right to the head. He finished out the frame by pounding Pazos numerous times with both hands. In round eight, Pazos mounted his best offense as he landed a crisp three punch combination in the middle of the ring and later landed a counter left hook.

2012 Puerto Rican Olympian Felix Verdejo was tested but scored two knockdowns en rout to a six round unanimous decision win over Guillermo Delgadillo in a Lightweight bout. Having built up a big lead, Rodriguez picked his spots between fighting and backing up. Rodriguez punctuated the fight by landing a big right hand at the bell.

Rodriguez, 125.3 lbs of Batamon, PR won by scores of 99-91, 99-91 and 98-92 and is now 22-2-3. Pazos, 125 lbs of Guamuchil, MX is now 19-6-1.

After Delgadillo came out aggressive, Verdejo landed a left hook that grazed off the top of the head and send Delgardillo to the canvas. Delgadillo continued to pressure Verdejo in round two but kept getting picked off on his way in. Delgadillo wouldnt go away and rocked Verdejo twice and round five. that seemed to incite Verdejo as he came back to land a hard right that had Delgadillo spitiing blood. In round six, Delgadillo tried to pressure Verdejo once again in the corner but was caught with a beautiful left hook that sent Delgadillo to the canvas. Verdejo tried to close the show but ran out of time and had to settle for the unanimous decision victory that saw all three judges score the bout 60-52.

Verdejo, 134.7 lbs of San Juan, PR and is now 7-0. Delgadillo, 133.2 lbs of Walla Walla, WA is now 4-5-1.

Ronald Cruz got back in the win column with a crushing second round knockout over Rodolfo Armenta in a scheduled eight round Welterweight bout.

Cruz landed a hard three punch combination in round one that slightly buckled Armenta. Armenta seemed to want to wind up and throw a home run punch throughout the first frame. Cruz started his vaunted body attack in round two as the two fought at close quarters until unleashed a vicious right and left that set off a nasty barrage of bunches that put Armenta down for referee Gary Rosado’s ten count and the bout was over at 2:40 of round two

Cruz, 147.8 lbs of Bethlehem, PA wins after dropping two straight bouts and is now 18-2 with 11 knockouts. Armenta, 145.2 lbs of Rio Rico, AZ is now 12-11-1.

In a fight between undefeated Welterweights, Arturo Trujillo scored a four round unanimous decision over Yurii Polischuk.

Trujillo scored a knockdown in round two on a hard straight left off the ropes. Trujillo landed some nice power shots in round three. Both guys had moments in round four but Trujillo built up a solid lead to get the victory.

Trujillo, 146.1 lbs of Easton, PA won by scores of 40-35 on all cards and is now 2-0. Polischuk, 145.6 lbs of Alexandria, VA is now 1-1.

Jerome Rodriguez was impressive in scoring a six round unanimous decision over Ariel Duran in a Jr. Welterweight bout.

Rodriguez landed some hard power shots in round two and rocked Duran with a hard straight left. Duran showed a solid chim upon being hammered with two lefts as the bell rang to end round four. Rodriguez continued to break Duran down in round five as he landed a nifty multi-punch combination that was followed by some hard body work. Rodriguez landed six hard lefts for good measure to in round six.

Rodriguez, 140.7 lbs of Allentown, PA won by scores of 59-55, 59-55 and 60-54 and is now 5-0-1. Duran, 139.9 lbs of Queens, NY is now 7-7-1.

In the opener, David Williams scored a four round unanimous decision over William Miranda in a Heavyweight bout.

Williams landed the better power shots the cut Miranda as early as round two.

Williams, 223 lbs of Philadelphia won by scores of 40-36, 39-37 and 38-37 and is now 7-7-2. Miranda, 242.2 lbs of Allentown, PA is 6-7-2.

Toka Kahn Clary scored a four round unanimous decision over Jose Valderrama in a Jr. Lightweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Clary, 131.6 lbs of Providence, RI and is now 7-0-1. Valderrama, 133.2 lbs of Manati, PR is now 3-5.

Jesse Hart scored three knockdowns in eighty two seconds and took out an overmatched Steven Tyner in a scheduled four round Light Heavyweight bout.

Hart, 171.6 lbs of Philadelphia is 9-0 with 8 knockouts. Tyner, 177.1 lbs of Akron, OH is now 3-12-2.

Deontay Wilder made it 29 knockouts in as many fights as he annihilated former world champion Sergei Liakhovich in one round of their scheduled ten round Heavyweight bout at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.

Wilder landed a jab that was followed up by two crushing rights that sent Liakhovich down to the canvas. Liakhovich’s legs were twitching om the ground the fight was immediately stopped just 103 seconds into the fight.

Wilder, 224 lbs of Tuscaloosa, AL is now 29-0 with 29 knockouts. Liakhovich, 232 lbs of Scottsdale, AZ is now 25-6.

“I know I’m blessed with God-given power,” he said after destroying former world heavyweight champion Sergei Liakhovich in Friday’s main event on ShoBox: The New Generation from Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, Calif. “After our team prayer, I always pray that I don’t hurt the guy I’m fighting, that if he has a family he will be OK enough afterward to continue to provide for them.”

“I’m just blessed with tremendous power,” said Wilder, a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympic Games and the last American male boxer to medal in the Olympics. “I don’t depend on it, but it is there. I think my secret isn’t power. It’s my speed. I think people hear about all my KO’s and tend to overlook that.

“I think all my KO’s are helping me get a lot of people’s attention and I love that. I embrace it. I think more people are now starting to feel that maybe I can be the guy who brings the heavyweight title back to America. Honestly, I would love to be that guy.”

In a spirited battle of previously undefeated Super Featherweights, Francisco Vargas scored a ten round unanimous decision over Brandon Bennett.

Bennett boxed well early has he jabbed to keep Vargas for the first round and a half. Vargas got into the fight by landing a couple of power shots towards the end of the round. Round four, the action picked up greatly with Vargas getting the better with his shots where he featured a body assault. Bennett stood his ground and landed quicker yet less powerful shots. Despite getting cut over the right eye in round five, Vargas had a big round as he contunied to work the body until he landed a big right at the end of the round.

In round six, Vargas continued to pound forward with a volume of combinations that were divided up between head and body. As the round progressed, Vargas continued to apply the pressure and the cut became less of a factor. Vargas continued to throw punches and was never threatened down the stretch.

Vargas outlanded Bennett 228 to 81.

Vargas, 130 lbs of Mexico City, MX won by scores of 99-91, 99-90 and 98-92 and is now 17-0-1. Bennett of Cincinnati is now 16-1

“I knew this fight was going to be complicated but I knew with pressure I could win,” said Vargas, an eight-time Mexican national champion who didn’t turn pro until he was 25. “I was scared when I got cut because in the ring you can’t tell how big of a cut it is. All the preparation and hard work that I did in the mountains of Otomi in Mexico paid off. I am very happy with this fight and with my performance.”

Said Bennett: “His strength and speed didn’t surprise me. I just didn’t stick to my game plan. I should have stayed in the middle of the ring. I thought I had him after the first two rounds, but he closed the gap on me in the third and that got me out of my game plan. Instead of just throwing, I waited. Maybe we’ll meet again one day.’

Jermall Charlo scored an impressive second round stoppage over Antwone Smith in a scheduled ten round Jr. Middleweight bout.

Charlo was dominant over Smith, who came in five pounds over the contracted weight In round two, Charlo landed a right to the head that sent Smith to the canvas. When Smith got got to his feet his legs were unsteady and referee Thomas Taylor stopped the bout at 2:23 of round two.

Charlo, 154 lbs of Houston is now 15-0 with 11 knockouts. Smith, 159 lbs of Miami is now 23-5-1.

“I wasn’t surprised at all that the fight ended so quickly,” Charlo said. “The fight went exactly as I expected. Everything my trainer, Ronnie Shields, said would happen happened. This is a great feeling. We accomplished everything we trained for and did exactly what we wanted to do.”

Smith, who weighed in five pounds over the contracted weight of 154 pounds and could not weigh more than 165 for the fight, said “my weight issues had nothing to do with this. I felt normal – until I got hit.”

Former world Heavyweight title challenger Chris Arreola will take on Seth Mitchell on September 6th in Indio, California on Showtime.

“We got the fight done. It’s all set,” said Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer. “Arreola and Mitchell, it’s a crossroads fight for both guys. They know it’s do or die. That’s what makes it so interesting.”

“I could definitely see the winner between Arreola and Mitchell fighting Deontay Wilder next,” Schaefer said. “We could come out of this thing with one true American challenger for the heavyweight title next year.”

The co-feature will pit former bantamweight and junior featherweight champion Rafael Marquez against Efrain Esquivias (16-2-1, 9 KOs), 30, of Gardena, Calif., in a scheduled 10-round junior featherweight fight.

When the fight was first in the works, Dan Goossen, Arreola’s promoter, told ESPN.com last month, “It’s a great fight for both fighters and I think it’s a great fight-fans’ fight. They’ll both come at each other. Fans really love the heavyweights, especially ones that like to get in there and bang with one another. (Arreola is) breathing well. He’s fine. He had a little surgery on (his nose), and a few weeks later he was good to go.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, Bernard Hopkins October 19th mandatory defense with Karo Murat has been pushed back a week to October 26th at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City to avoid conflict with the Mike Alvarado – Ruslan Provodnikov fight on HBO.

Schaefer also said he has made a deal with Showtime to televise the card, which he said could be a tripleheader. The other bouts Schaefer said he is working on for the card are super middleweight titlist Sakio Bika (32-5-2, 21 KOs) taking on mandatory challenger Anthony Dirrell (26-0, 22 KOs) — although Bika could have taken an optional defense because the mandatory is not due yet – and “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs) making the second defense of his middleweight belt against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.

“We’re trying to get the Bika-Dirrell fight done and we’re also looking at having Quillin on the card as well,” Schaefer said.

Zulina Munoz made the third defense of the WBC Female Super Flyweight title with a first round stoppage over Maribel Ramirez in Toluca, Mexico.

Munoz dropped Ramirez with a right that was followed up with a left hook and the fight was stopped after the referee reached the count of eight with Ramirez still on her knees.

Munoz, 115 lbs of Mexico City is now 39-1 with 26 knockouts. Ramirez, 113 lbs of Mexico City is now 8-6-2.

Bruno Sandoval remained undfeated by scoring a sixth round stoppage over Gustavo Garibay in a scheduled ten round Middleweight bout.

Sandoval finished the fight by pummeling Garibay in the corner and the fight was stopped.

the time of the stoppage was 1:04 of round six for Sandoval, 160 lbs and is now 15-0 with 13 knockouts. Garibay, 157 3/4 lbs is now 8-7

Erasto Roque scored a four round unanimous decision over Eduardo Hernandez in a Featherweight bout.

Roque, 126 lbs of Puebla, MX is now 3-4. Hernandez, 126 lbs of Mexico City is now 5-4-1.

Oswaldo Novoa scored a sixth round stoppage over Job Solano in a scheduled ten round Super Flyweight bout.

Novoa, 109 lbs of Jalisco, MX is now 12-4-1 with 7 knockouts. Solano, 109 lbs of Mexico City is now 12-17-2.

Curtis Stevens entered tonight’s middleweight bout against Saul Roman with the knowledge that a solid performance could assure him a big money title fight against Gennady Golovkin in his next appearance. His execution couldn’t have been better.

Early in round one, Stevens stunned Roman with a left hook and proceeded to unload shots, finally dropping him with a hard left hook. Roman was able to beat the count and was trying desperately to survive when a brutal counter left hook put him out cold.

So viscous was the KO that it all but put ink on the Golovkin-Stevens contract. Stevens does have legit power and assuming Golovkin-Stevens does get made, it’ll be fun while it lasts. Stevens improves to 25-3 (18KO’s) while Roman slides to 37-10 (31KO’s).

In what amounted to a stay busy fight, heavyweight Tomasz Adamek soundly outpointed the aging Dominick Guinn over 10 one-sided rounds. Adamek was initially scheduled to take on Tony Grano in a more significant fight, but a neck injury forced Grano to withdraw from the fight and Guinn took his place on short notice.

The fight between Adamek and Guinn, despite being a downgrade,turned out about as well as could be expected. Neither fighter was ever in any trouble, but Adamek was able to keep the crowd entertained by putting together 3, 4 and 5 punch combinations during each of the rounds.

Guinn, a once promising prospect who is now out of shape and in the twilight of his career, still possessed enough defense and power to keep Adamek from overwhelming him. Guinn has never been stopped and the punches he did land throughout the fight clearly kept Adamek honest.

A cut opened over Guinn’s eye in round three from an accidental headbutt but it had little effect on the fight. It was all Adamek throughout and the scores reflected it: 98-92 and 99-91 (twice) all in favor of Adamek.

Although the fight didn’t do much to raise his stock in the division, Adamek did get 10 solid rounds in and remains in place to mix it up with any of the current heavyweight contenders. His record now stands at 49-2 (29KO’s).

Guinn has become the consummate journeyman and still has enough pop in his shots to remain in the role for the foreseeable future. He drops to 34-10 (31KO’s).

If Eddie Chambers was hoping to excite people about his entrance into the cruiser weight division, his debut tonight against Thabiso Mchunu was a disaster on all counts. A lethargic Chambers seemed content to follow Mchunu around the ring, alternately posturing and flicking out the occasional jab. Mchunu did little to help, as his strategy was to counter and Chambers’lack of activity offered little to work with.

So for 30 minutes, the two circled around the ring and stared each other down. Nearly the only scoring blows were produced by Mchunu left hand counters. Each round was nearly a mirror image and few could blame Mchunu for pot-shotting his way to the biggest win of his career. Scores were 97-93 and 99-91 (twice).

Mchunu improves to 13-1 (9KO’s) and it remains to be seen how good he really is simply because Chambers looked so terrible. For Chambers, (now 36-4 18KO’s) it seems time to reassess whether or not he wants to continue to be a professional prize fighter; because his performance tonight was one of a man who has lost all interest in boxing.

Up and coming heavyweight Vyacheslav Glazkov displayed his power and annihilated journeyman Byron Polley in less than two rounds. Midway through round 1 Polley hit the canvas via a hard right hand from Glazkov. Polley rode out the 8 count on one knee but when he rose, was met from another flurry from Glazkov that put him on the canvas for the second time.

Polley survived the round but was overpowered seconds into round two. A left hook, right hand left hook combo from Glazkov dumped Polley to the seat of his pants and referee Harvey Dock waived off the fight without a count.Time of the stoppage was 30 seconds of round two. Glazkov remains unbeaten at 15-0-1 (11KO’s) while Polley slips to 25-16-1 (11KO’s).

Glazkov’s manager, Egis Klimas said after the fight that Glazkov was looking to fight Dereck Chisora in his next bout.

In a 6 round lightweight tilt, East Hartford native Joseph “Chip”Perez dropped a unanimous decision to Staten Island, NY’s Mike Brooks. Brooks opened with a strong body attack and stuck to his plan throughout the fight. Perez was busy but largely ineffective for the first 4 rounds. He picked up the pace in rounds 5 and 6, but was docked a point for an elbow in round 6 that effectively put the fight out of reach. Scores at the end were 57-56, 59-54 and 60-53 all in favor of Brooks; who now stands at 11-0 (2KO’s). Perez drops his second in a row and is now 10-3 (3KO’s).

In the opening bout of the evening undefeated junior middleweight Tony Harrison made short work of his opponent Gilbert Alex Sanchez, blitzing him out before the end of the second round. Harrison was mostly inactive during the first round and he allowed Sanchez to wing punches at his body and head with limited success.

Halfway through round 2, Harrison started sitting down on his punches and scored a delayed reaction knockdown with a jab right hand to Sanchez’s head. Sanchez was slow to rise but to his credit mounted spirited effort to get back into the fight before being dropped for good by a Harrison body shot. Referee Harvey Dock waived off the fight at 2:10 of round 2. Harrison improves to 14-0 (11KO’s) while Sancez drops to 2-3 (2KO’s).

Welterweights Jimmy Williams and Greg Jackson plodded through a 4 rounder in a fight in which neither fighter was willing to risk opening up in order to secure the win. Jackson tried counter punching for most of the fight but the strategy was ineffective because Williams was hesitant to display much more than a jab in each of the four rounds.

The result was an ugly split draw. One judge had it 39-37 for Williams but was overruled by the other two who had it even at 38-38. Both fighters remain undefeated: Williams at 4-0-1 (2KO’s) and Jackson at 3-0-1 (1KO).

Javier Fortuna and Luis Franco battled to a ten round Featherweight bout at the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.

Scores varied as Franco took a card 99-91. Fortuna won a card 96-94 while a third card was even at 95-95.

Fortuna, 128 lbs of the Dominican Republic is 22-0-1. Franco of Cuba is 11-1-1.

Former world champion Kermit Cintron scored a lackluster ten round unanimous decision over Jonathan Batista in a Welterweight fight.

It was a close fight with neither guy getting a distinct advantage. Cintron scored a disputed knockdown in round eight when the two fighters feet became tangled but none the less it was ruled a knockdown. Batista was docked two points in round ten for hitting behind the head and hitting on the break.

Cintron, 146.2 lbs of Reading, PA won by scores of 99-88 and 98-89 on two cards and is now 34-5-2. Batista, 147 lbs of the Dominican Republic is now 14-2.

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, former two-time world Heavyweight title challenger, Tony Thompson will take on Kubret Pulev on August 24th in Germany in will be an IBF title elimination bout.

“We now have received the sanction approval by the IBF,” said Team Sauerland’s Chris Meyer. “We will continue with our plan to stage the fight on Aug. 24.”

“It’s not something I could turn down,” Thompson told ESPN.com on Tuesday, one day after he opened his training at the Keystone Boxing Gym in Temple Hills, Md. “It was a no-brainer for me. I saw some film of (Pulev) and he looks pretty good. He’s fast and active. He’s a pretty good heavyweight fighter. It should be a fight with good action.”

Twice Thompson went to Price’s hometown of Liverpool, England, and knocked him out in exciting fights, in the second round in February and in the fifth round on July 6.

“I went there trying to make an opportunity for myself,” Thompson said.

“This will be a tough test for Pulev as he hasn’t boxed since beating Ustinov in the first leg of the IBF eliminator (box-off),” Meyer said. “Thompson has again entered world stage after beating David Price twice. Thompson may be much older than Pulev, but has made quite a number of big bouts in his career. His only two losses in the last 13 years were to Wladimir Klitschko.

“The bout was made under the condition that the winner becomes IBF mandatory contender to face the winner of Wladimir Klitschko versus Alexander Povetkin. That’s the big incentive for both camps.”

“I think people kind of forgot I only had two losses to the heavyweight champ of the world (since 2000),” Thompson said.

“Once I beat a guy, Price, that people considered a threat to Wladimir’s throne and was rated as the up-and-comer of the year, it opened a lot of eyes to what I am capable of.

“For me, this fight with Pulev is huge and I’m as excited as can be. Wladimir beat me twice and I can understand people being put off by a third fight, but for me it’s the only thing. He is the heavyweight champ of the world so if you are trying to be champion you have to go after him.”

NORTH BERGEN, NEW JERSEY — The Scheutzen Park Ballroom in North Bergen, New Jersey played host to many “firsts” on Saturday night — first professional fights; first wins; first losses; and, perhaps, a first in the history of boxing.

Well, if not in the history of boxing, at least it was something Harold Lederman has — and I quote — “NEVER!” seen.

The originally scheduled main event was supposed to feature Union City’s Juan “The Beast” Rodriguez vs. Massachusetts native Zack Ramsey. That all came undone when sometime last week Ramsey was hit by a motor vehicle while riding his bicycle. The NJ State Commission refused a few potential replacements, and all of the sudden the night’s scheduled main attraction shifted from a welterweight scrap to a heavyweight bout.

—

At Friday’s weigh-in, Jersey City firefighter Patrick “Paddy Boy” Farrell stood nose to nose with Chicago’s Phillip Triantafillo. It was all the normal pre-fight smack talk, until Triantafillo literally smacked Farrell across his face, prompting Farrell’s brother to interject and try to beat the living hell of Triantafillo.

So on Saturday when Triantafillo made the short and heavily escorted walk from the dressing room to the grand ballroom, the electric pro-Farrell crowd showered him with predictable boos and profanities. Paddy Boy, conversely, endured nothing but words of encouragement and roars of “Paddy! Paddy!” during his entrance to the ring. After introductions were read, but before gloves were touched, an extremely agitated Triantafillo forced his way past his cornerman, shuffled his 232 pound frame through the ropes and walked out of the ring. He simply LEFT and the fight was off. No explanation given.

As he made his way back toward the locker room to a chorus of “PUSSY! PUSSY!”, Triantafillo shot the Scheutzen Park crowd a Randy Moss style ‘moon’ — that is, he went through the motions, but his trunks (thankfully) never left his hips.

The ring announcer declared Farrell the winner by disqualification, but the Commission will likely have a different take. They’ll likely, and if so, correctly, rule that since the bell did not ring, the fight did not take place. Deputy Commissioner Sylvester Cuyler told me that the matter will be looked into and an official result would not be declared Saturday, but seemed to hint that this bout will be wiped off the books.

Now to the actual action between bells, which was brought to actualization by KEA Boxing …

Nydia Feliciano and Crystal Hoy squared off in a highly entertaining ten round battle for the IWBF bantamweight title.

Punches came one after another from bell to bell throughout all ten rounds, but unfortunately for Hoy, she found herself continually on the receiving end Feliciano’s fists.

Feliciano was smoother and slicker, smarter and quicker fighter. The Bronx native was best served throwing her jabs, landing a few straight rights, and moving her feet; get in and get out. But even when Hoy had it her way, and forced the fight to the inside, it was still Feliciano getting the better of her counterpart, at one point finding a home for four consecutive lefts while Hoy clung on to Feliciano’s torso.

In the end, all three judges, Pierre Benoist, Kason Cheeks, and Waleska Roldan scored the fight 99-91 for the new IWBF bantamweight champion, Nydia Feliciano (7-4).

The most shocking result of the night came when Justin “Baby Boy” Johnson scored a well-deserved unanimous decision victory over former New Jersey Golden Gloves champion Anthony Gangemi … ” The tone for this one was set early on in the first round when Johnson rocketed a right hand over an outstretched Gangemi jab and sent the 23 year-old flying backward to the mat. Gangemi recovered well and dominated the second round bell to bell, seeming to have turned the page. But in the third round, he once again found himself on the mat courtesy of a Johnson right. In the sixth and final round, Gangemi – sensing that he needed a knockout to win – started throwing a bit more recklessly, trying to catch Baby Boy. But Johnson exploited his opponent’s aggression and found an opening in Gangemi’s defense to send him down one last time. In the end, all three judges scored the bout in favor of Johnson — John McKaie seeing it 59-53, John Poturaj 58-53, and Eugene Grant 57-54. Johnson’s record now reads 6-4-1, while Gangemi’s previously unblemished record now stands at 4-1, 3 KO.

Jersey City heavyweight Tyrell Wright scored a TKO victory against a game, but still winless, Eric George of Niagra Falls. After two rounds of swinging wildly, and putting all his strength behind his punches, George found himself gassed in the third round. Wright, sensing this, turned up the heat and spent the entirety of the shortened round beating George like Rocky beat frozen meat. Referee Ricardo Vera called a halt to the action when George clumsily turned his back to Wright and stumbled toward a vacant corner. Wright moves to 3-0, 2 KO with the win.

In a battle where someone’s “O” had to go, with two fighters making their pro debuts, Newark’s Dion Richardson overpowered Montclair, New Jersey’s Dwayne Holman. Richardson sent Holman to the canvas four times in the first round — leaving referee Sammy Viruet little choice but the stop the fight.

Anthony Jones of Newark improved his undefeated record to 4-0, scoring his first TKO victory when he stopped Adrian Armstrong (3-3) in two rounds.

Kyle Kinder can be reached at KyleKinder1@gmail.com

In round one, Soto Karass rocked Berto with a hard left hook that stunned him on the ropes.. Soto Karas continued to come forward. Berto looked goo offensively, especially with the uppercut but he looked shake defensively and at times it looked as if his legs would betray him. Berto looked like he hurt his shoulder in round four and took him a few rounds to try shake out the injury and gain use of that arm.

The two continued to their high contact bout. Berto started to get the upper hand and dropped Soto Karass with a shot the body in round eleven. Sensing the bout was very close, Soto Karass did not want the judges to figure in the fight and dropped Berto with a short left hook in round twelve. When Berto got to his feet, he stumbled and referee Jon Schorle stopped the bout at 48 seconds of the final round.

Soto Karass, 147 of North Hollywood, CA is now 28-8-3 with 18 knockouts. Berto, 147 lbs of Winter Haven, FL is now 28-3.

“My corner just told me to keep on working and I didn’t think at any moment about his shoulder,” Soto Karass said. “I’m dedicated 100 percent to boxing. I stopped clowning around. My corner told me to come out and start boxing, but I said, ‘no, I’m going to knock him down.'”

“I think I tore it out of the socket early, maybe the fourth round,” Berto said. “That’s why I kept using my left. I couldn’t really use it at all. At the end of the day I show that warrior spirit every time. I don’t care if I mess up my shoulder. I’m going to put it all on the line.”

Omar Figueroa scored a twelve round unanimous decision over Nihito Arakawa in one of the best fights of 2013 in a bout where Figueroa captured the WBC Interim Lightweight title.

The two went at it from the opening bell. Figueroa rocked Arakawa in the opening frame that buckled the visitor. In round two, a huge flurry caused Arakawa’s knee to touch the ground. When it seemed like Arakawa could be done, he came back and landed some good body punches. Arakawa continued to connect in round three but it did not have much affect on Figueroa. The two continued to land at a vicious rate with Arakawa landing a huge left on the ropes but Figueroa came back to land shots to the body and head. In round four, Figueroa was cut on the nose from an accidental headbutt. Arakawa continued to land in between taking hard shots. Figueroa came back later in the round with a big right and left hook. In round five, Figueroa rocked Arakawa with a big right hand and he followed that up with a jard combination/ Arakawa just kept on coming as if he had nothing to lose. the two continues to trad hellacious shots until Figueroa landed a huge body shot that had Arakawa reeling all over the roing and referee Laurence Cole ruled a knock down.

The seond half of the fight was more of the same as the the fighters would not give an inch with Figueroa getting the better of each frame. As great as this war was, you never got the sense the at Arakawa could or would hurt Figueroa but that does not take away from this fight of the year candidate.

Figueroa, 135 lbs of Weslaco, TX won bu scores of 119-107, 118-108 and 118-108 and is now 22-0-1. Arakawa, 135 lbs of Tokyo, JP is now 24-3-1

“It’s what I’ve looked forward to since the beginning,” said Figueroa, who complained to his corner that he injured both his hands in the fight. “My respect to this guy. He can take a beating. We both took a beating. The only things that didn’t hold up were my hands.”

“The only thing I can say is Figueroa was very strong,” Arakawa said. “I was thinking about all the people that supported me up to this point to get to this level and that’s what kept me going.

Keith Thurman won the WBA Interim Welterweight title with a thrilling tenth round stoppage over Diego Chaves.

It was an exciting fight with both guys throwing and landing hard shots to the head and body. Thurman’s impact ful shots caused blood from the nose of Chaves as early as round six. Chaves contiued to fight string but was caught with a hard left hook to the body in round nine that sent him to the canvas. Thurman ended things in the tenth after a double left hook was followed by a huge right that sent Chaves to the canvas and the fight was stopped at :28 of round ten.

Thurman, 146 lbs of Clearwater, FL is now 21-0 with 19 knockouts. Chaves, 146 1/2 lbs of Argentina is now 22-1.

Thurman was awarded a $10,000 bonus by Golden Boy Promotions for the knockout of the night.

“I came in this fight to have multiple game plans,” Thurman said. “I knew he would be my toughest opponent. I wanted to punch him, I wanted to box him and later on, I was able to hit him with that beautiful body shot.

“You save the tools that you want to use for the later rounds. I had a feeling he was going to die out.”

“He connected very well on my temple and I couldn’t recuperate,” Chaves said. “I don’t regret that the referee stopped the fight. I thought I was winning the fight when they stopped it. I hope I get a rematch and come back soon.”