Former contenders Cosme Rivera and Antonio Pitalua fought to a back and forth spirited draw in a Mexico City in a Jr. Welterweight bout in Mexico City.

The two exchanged hard shots through out the fight and the scores read 115-114 for Pitalua; 115-113 for Rivera and 114-114.

Pitalua, 140 lbs of Monteria, COL is now 52-5-1. Rivera, 140 lbs of Sinaloa, MX is now 32-14-3

Ariel Guzman scored a four round split decision over Miguel Dominguez in a Super Flyweight fight.

Scores were 39-37 on two cards for Guzman who is now 6-1. Dominguez took a card but is now 1-3.

PHILADELPHIA –Despite having a tumultuous summer, Jr. Middle Gabriel Rosado looked ready and focused as he captured the Pennsylvania State championship with a shutout ten round unanimous decision at the Asylum Arena in South Philadelphia that highlighted a card that was broadcasted across the country on Telefutura.

Rosado used his range and quick hands to keep Collins at bay and never let Reading, Pennsylvania native get into the fight more than just a few seconds over the thirty minute bout.

Rosado started taking complete command as early as round two as he started featuring three and four punch combination’s for which Collins could just cover up and absorb the blows. In round three, Rosado began mixing in the thunder as started landing huge shots on the ropes. Collins has some brief moments in round four but they were short lived as Rosado landed about fifteen unanswered blows that had Collins in trouble. Those shots forced a cut over the left eye of Collins. He showed enough fight to been able to continue on in the bout.

Over the second half of the fight, Rosado boxed and slugged with equal success as it looked like he had a game plan to dominate boxing in one round and then use power shots in the next.

Rosado coasted down the stretch and won by scores of 100-90 on all cards.

The win has to be extra sweet for Rosado, who was arrested in July for allegedly hitting a Police Officer in an Atlantic City casino just hours after stopping Ayi Bruce.

To have the type of flawless performance with all of the out of the ring distractions shows the focus that Rosado had going into this fight and going forward and he is becoming a factor in the Jr. Middleweight division.

Rosado, 153 lbs of Philadelphia is now 18-5. Collins, 152 lbs of 13-7-2.

In the co-feature, rising Welterweight Ronald Cruz continued to systematically break down his foe as he made Christopher Fernandez say “No Mas” after round six of their scheduled eight round bout.

Much like his previous bouts, Cruz used a body assault that took the will and desire from Fernandez. He started boxing in rights that do not look like much but have hurt just about everyone of his opponents.

That punch usually sets up well placed flank shots that on this night continuously made Fernandez take two and three steps back.

Fernandez landed some good shots in round four that drew some blood from the mouth of Cruz.

One of the few times that Fernandez didn’t go backwards on a body shot was in round five when he took a left to the ribs and went down.

Fernandez was able to get out of the round only to take a pounding of body blows in round six.

Fernandez had enough of the drubbing after the round and the fight was stopped.

Cruz, 146 lbs of Bethlehem, PA is now 14-0 with eleven knockouts. Fernandez, 146 lbs of Salt lake City, UT is now 19-14-1

In the opening bout, Tevin Farmer out boxed Joshua Arocho and scored a four round unanimous decision in a Featherweight bout.

Scores were 39-37 on all cards for Farmer, 126 lbs of Philadelphia and is now 2-1. Arocho, 126 lbs of Vineland, NJ is now 1-5-1.

On the strength of a second round knockdown, Lonnie Kornegay got into the win column as he scored a four round split decision over William Miranda in a Heavyweight bout.

Kornegay, 266 ½ lbs of Baltimore, MD won by scores of 39-36; 38-37 and Miranda took a card at 38-37.
Kornegay is now 1-4-2. Miranda, 234 lbs of Allentown, PA is now 3-4-1.

DeCarlo Perez needed just ninety-eight seconds to dispose of Tolan Tascoe in a four round Welterweight bout.

Perez, 149 lbs of Atlantic City, NJ is now 5-0-1 with two knockouts. Tascoe, 150 lbs of Newark, NJ is now 1-6-1.

Bryant Jennings dropped Alex Mejias in round three en route to a six round unanimous decision over Alex Mejias.

Jennings clipped Mejias with a hard over hand right in round three that briefly hurt Mejias. Mejias made the fight a raggedy affair but Jennings landed the better shots and won by scores of 59-55; 59-55 and 58-56.
Jennings, 223 lbs of Philadelphia remains perfect at 10-0. Mejias, 227 lbs of Paterson, NJ is now 11-8.

Fred Jenkins Jr. dropped overmatched Peter Yates twice and scored a stoppage at 3:00 of round two of a scheduled four round Super Middleweight bout.

Jenkins, 166 ¾ lbs of Philadelphia is now 4-0 with two knockouts. Yates, 166 lbs of Norfolk, VA is now 1-3.

The card was promoted by Hall of Famer Russell Peltz and Peltz Boxing along with Don Chargin Productions

After Lucas Matthysse fell ill earlier this week, Golden Boy Promotions scrambled to find an opponent for Erik Morales as part if the Floyd Mayweather Victor Ortiz undercard and they came up with undefeated Mexican Pablo Cesar Cano according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

“When Matthysse dropped out we looked at who the available contenders were and we wanted to still put on an exciting fight,” Golden Boy Promotions Richard Schaefer told ESPN on Friday night, just after the deal had been completed. “Matthysse against Morales would have been toe-to-toe action. We all know that. With Pablo Cesar Cano I know it will also be toe-to-toe action. And the rivalry between Mexico City (Cano) and Tijuana (Morales) continues.”

It turns out that the 21-year-old Cano (22-0-1, 17 KOs) is trained by Rudy Perez, who trained another Mexican star, Marco Antonio Barrera, for his all-time classic trilogy with Morales.

“Rudy Perez is excited about the opportunity. Cano is thrilled,” Schaefer said. “Rudy Perez told me has exactly the recipe to beat Morales. He’s done it before in (two of the three) Barrera fights. They are all fired up for this opportunity. Cano just fought a couple of months ago and he is in great shape and ready go. They really jumped on this.”

Schaefer said Morales (51-7, 35 KOs), 35, also accepted the fight immediately.

“He said, ‘I don’t care, just sign him up,’” Schaefer said. “He said, ‘I don’t care who I fight. Bring me King Kong.’ I know this is going to be an exciting fight. It was easy to get made and I’ll bet anyone it will be an exciting fight. When you have two Mexicans fighting each other — on Mexican Independence Day weekend — for a world title, I don’t think you see too many boring fights. These guys really want it.”

Nick Diaz must have done something right in order to keep his name on the UFC 137 roster. UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday via Twitter, stating that Diaz will now take on B.J. Penn, who was left without an opponent after his original foe Carlos Condit received the call to replace Diaz to face Georges St. Pierre for the welterweight crown. Despite the twisting turn of events, the main headliner and its co-feature still feature all four guys originally slated to compete. Stylistically speaking, some say that the swap might even lead to more entertaining bouts. UFC 137 will take place on October 29th at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that Lucas Matthysse has fallen ill which will force him to opt out of next Saturday’s showdown with Erik Morales that would have been for the vacant WBC Super Lightweight title that was to be a part of the Floyd Mayweather – Victor Ortiz undercard.

“They did send us a certificate from a doctor but this is a situation where I don’t even need to see a certificate,” said Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy Promotions. “The guy was favored to go and win a world title against a legend like Erik Morales on the biggest pay-per-view card of the year. Who the hell would want to pull out of that?”

“He has a very severe virus, which totally dehydrated him and weakened him,” Schaefer said. “I was told he had to be admitted to the hospital to deal with the dehydration issues, but he is going to be OK.”

When Matthysse (28-2, 26 KOs) dropped out Schaefer said Morales’ first request was that Golden Boy try to line up a rematch with titleholder Marcos Maidana, who won majority decision against him in an April barnburner.

“Erik came to us and said he was looking forward to the fight with Matthysse and that he will fight anyone in his place,” Schaefer said. “He said, ‘Get me Maidana.’ So we reached out to Maidana, but he prefers to fight in Argentina at this point.”

Schaefer said there are three potential opponents for Morales, although he declined to name them.

“We should have something to announce in the next 24 hours,” he said.

“Erik Morales is always in exciting fights,” Schaefer said. “You could never see Erik Morales in a bad fight, so I am excited no matter who he fights.”

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that the anticiapted grudge match between WBC Super Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito set for December 3rd in Madison Square Garden will be televised on on HBO Pay Per View.

“New York, Cotto versus Margarito, HBO. All the ingredients for a memorable night,” said Top Rank President Todd duBoef.

“What made us make the decision (to go back to HBO) was because they’re really giving us tremendous assets and the deal is very, very good,” said Top Rank CEO Bob Arum. “They’re gearing up and they think we can do 750,000 homes for that fight.”

“Showtime knows we are going with HBO and they took it OK,” Arum said. “They’re pros.”

Asked if the move would damage his new found relationship with Showtime, Arum said, “It’s not helping it, but it’s not hurting it. They’re sensible. If we have a product good for their network they’ll buy it, and we are certainly not going to shut the door to them.”

Omar Chavez remained undefeated with a one punch stoppage over Alberto Martinez in a scheduled ten round Welterweight bout Mexicali, Mexico.

Martinez face was reddened from the outset. The two exchanged wildly for most of the first round. Chavez uncorked a perfect left hook over the jab of Martinez and dropped him to the canvas. Martinez beat the count but the fight was stopped at 2:51 of round one.

Chavez, 147 lbs of Culican, MX is now 27-0-1 with twenty knockouts. Martinez, 146 1/2 lbs of Case Grandex, MX is now 11-2.

Jorge Paez Jr. scored a third round stoppage over Rodrigo Juarez in a scheduled eight round Welterweight bout.

Paez dropped Juarez in round one from a uppercut. In round three he landed a left hook that rocked Juarez back to the corner where Paez landed three crunching blows that sent Juarez down and the fight was stopped at 1:02 of round three.

Paez Jr. 146 3/4 lbs of Mexicali, MX is now 29-4-1-1 with eighteen knockouts. Juarez, 147 lbs of Tijuana, MX is now 16-14-1.

In an exciting eight round Bantamweight bout, Ruben Tamayo scored a split decision over previously undefeated Jose Cayetano.

Scores were 77-75 on two cards for Tamayo while Cayetano won a card at 78-75.

Tamayo, 122 1/2 lbs of Ciudad, MX is now 18-2-2. Cayetano, 123 lbs of Tijuana, MX us now 9-1.

Jose Gonzalez scored a spectacular first round stoppage over Eddie Soto in a scheduled ten round Lightweight bout at Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Gonzalez landed a wicked left hook that would be followed up by a short right that sent Soto Crashing down to the canvas where the back of his head slammed on the canvas.

Soto started breathing heavy as he would lie on the canvas and he was quickly attended to by ringside doctors where they applied oxygen and was removed from the ring on a stretcher.

The time of the stoppage was 1:50 of round one for Gonzalez, 134 3/4 lbs and is now 17-0 with thirteen knockouts. Soto, 134 3/4 lbs is now 12-3.

McJoe Arroyo scored a one punch stoppage over Ivan Moxey in a scheduled six round Bantamweight bout.

Arroyo landed a right hook that sent Moxey to the canvas. He got to his feet but the referee would not let him continue and the bout was halted at 1:35 of the opening frame.

Arroyo, 116 3/4 lbs of Puerto Rico is 8-0 with five knockouts. Moxey, 114 3/4 lbs is now 2-5.

In an upset, faded former Light Heavyweight world title challenger, Epifanio Mendoza scored a surprising third round stoppage over previously undefeated former Puerto Rican Olympian Carlos Negron in round three of their scheduled six round Heavyweight bout.

Mendoza rocked Negron at the end of round two with a leaping left hand. Negron never really recovered as he was dropped from a vicious right hand in round three and sent down again with a right. With no legs left, Mendoza hurt Negron gain with a crunching left and the bout was stopped.

Mendoza, 207 3/4 lbs is now 32-12-1 with twenty-eight knockouts. Negron is now 13-1.

Andre Berto won his second Welterweight championship after capturing the IBF portion when reigning champion Jan Zaveck could not continue after round five of their clash at The Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The two set a good pace early with Berto displaying lightning hand speed but Zaveck seemed unimpressed as he trucked forward and was solid with the right. Berto had a good round three as he pounded the body of Zaveck by doubling up his hooks. Zaveck had a good round four as he started working to the body and got through with good combination’s’.

Round five was an intense round with both guys landed hard shots. Zaveck landed a good right to open the round. The two traded nice uppercuts in the center of the ring. It was Berto, who showed the war scars as he had a mouse forming under his left eye. Berto’s hard shot formed swelling around the right eye of Zaveck. The landed another over hand right to end the round.

When Zaveck sat down in the corner, there was blood on the right eyelid and swelling from the left eye. he told his corner he couldn’t see but wanted to continue. The corner won out and the bout was stopped before round six could commence.

Berto, who was coming off his professional loss to Victor Ortiz but won back a sliice of the welterweight title and is now 28-2 with twenty-two knockouts. Zaveck of Slovenia was making his American debut put up a tough effort but is now 31-2.

Featherweight Super Prospect Gary Russell Jr. scored a dominating eight round unanimous decision over Leonilo Miranda.

Russell Jr. showed incredible handspeed and had Miranda in trouble on a few occasions. Russell had a big round four as he landed some big body combinations and then came upstairs to the head. In round six, Russell ripped off a ten punch combination that had Miranda to the point that he ducked under the top rope to avoid anymore damage. those big punches opened up a cut around the right eye of Miranda.

Russell cruised downed the stretch and showed glimpses of the brilliance that many boxing insiders beleive he could be one of the next stars on the American circuit.

Russell of Capitol Heights, Maryland won by scores of 80-72; 80-72 and 79-72 to remain perfect at 18-0. Miranda of Mexico is now 32-4-1.

It was a clean sweep for DiBella Entertainment (DBE) stable-mates Thomas Oosthuzien, Randall Bailey, Luis Orlandito Del Valle and Ivan Redkach earlier in Biloxi, Mississippi, on the undercard of tonight’s live HBO Boxing After Dark telecast, featuring former WBC Welterweight Champion, Andre Berto looking to reclaim a piece of the welterweightr crown when he takes on reigning IBF Champion, Jan Zaveck.

In a very entertaining fight, South Africa’s Oosthuzien defended his IBO Super Middleweight Title with a twleve round unanimous decision victory over Aaron Pryor Jr. The southpaw, Oosthuzien who was making both his U.S. and DBE debut, was able to work behind a vicious body attack to outwork Pryor for most of the fight. Pryor hung tough, and did some good work of his own, causing a nasty cut to open over Oosthuzien’s right eye, but in the end Oosthuzien was the much busier of the two, winning by scores of 117-11 on all three judge’s scorecards.

IBF #2 rated welterweight, Randall “The K.O. King” Bailey improved to 42-7, 36KO’s with a dominate ten round unanimous decision over Yoryi Estrella. Bailey, the manadatory challenger to tonight’s main event winner, controlled the action throughout, dropping Estrella with an uppercut in the 5th round, before going on to win by scores of 100-89, 100-89, 98-91.

Del Valle knocked out Anthony Napunyi with a tremendous overhand right, improving to a perfect 14-0, 11KO’s. Official time of the stoppage was 1:21 of round three.

Redkach improved to a 8-0, 7KO’s stopping Vernon Alston (4-2, 4KO’s) in the third round of their scheduled six round lightweight contest.

In the opening bout of the evening, Gerald Jordon (8-5-1, 5KO’s) scored an upset six round split decision over previously undefeated welterweight Sergio Vartanov (9-1, 6KO’s).

After having his August 27th HBO debut fight against Mike Mollo canceled, undefeated Heavyweight prospect was quickly re-scheduled for a September 16th date that will be broadcasted on dueling Networks Telefutura and Fox Sports Net from Las Vegas accoring to Dan Rafael of espn.com

The card will take place at the Texas Station casino and will be on the eve on the much anticipated Floyd Mayweather – Victor Ortiz showdown.

“Seth had worked so hard and I needed him to have something,” manager Sharif Salim told ESPN.com. “This is the longest layoff he’s had between fights. I just said to Golden Boy, ‘Hey, get us something so we can stay busy.’”

“Seth was so disappointed that the (Aug. 27) fight was called off,” Salim said. “He was disappointed not just because of the purse factor, but because he had worked so hard. It was going to be his first time on HBO. That was humongous.”

“We’re ready for what I like to call the ‘fading glories,’” he said. “We’re ready for (former contenders) like Michael Grant and Hasim Rahman. But we have to just stay focused. After the fight was called off, we gave him about two days off and then he got right back in the gym.”

According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, World Bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire will make his New York debut when he takes on Omar Naravez on October 22nd at The Theater in Madison Square Garden.

“We’re finalizing stuff with the Garden now,” said Top rank President Todd duBoef. “It’s where stars are born. If you can play New York, you can play anywhere. It doesn’t matter what sphere of entertainment you are in — music, theater, athletics — to play that city is a big steppingstone for anybody.”

“Stylistically, it’s a good match and his record speaks for itself,” duBoef said. “Narvaez made an incredible amount of defenses (at flyweight). He is a pressure fighter who will come to Nonito, and you couldn’t ask for anything else. He will put pressure on him and be there all night. We felt that from a television and fan point of view this could be a very crowd-pleasing fight.”

“Narvaez is, by far, the most popular fighter in Argentina and I believe one of the most popular fighters in South America,” Top Rank’s Carl Moretti said. “He’s small, but Donaire is going to be bigger than any bantamweight because you are basically looking at a featherweight fighting at bantamweight. Donaire is going to grow into the featherweight division, so the size factor will be there no matter who he fights. He has freakish size, like Thomas Hearns when he was at welterweight. So you have to come up with the toughest style and toughest guy to challenge him.

“Look, Narvaez is an undefeated southpaw, clearly experienced and a champion in his own right. He brings tremendous credentials to the ring.”

“The fact that Donaire, a top three pound-for-pound fighter in the world, gets to display his talents to the East Coast fans and media at the mecca of boxing is a plus for everybody,” Moretti said. “We are aware of a large Filipino contingent in the tri-state area, which we will directly market to as well as making sure we have a lot of local flavor on the undercard. We love these types of opportunities and challenges in promoting. It’s so much better than going to a stale casino atmosphere, and better for the sport overall.”

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that WBO Light Heavyweight champion will defend his crown on October 15th against Brit Tony Bellew in Liverpool, England.

“A fight between me and Bellew has been heating up for a long time and now he’s ready to be taught a lesson,” Cleverly said. “He’s got a big mouth, but he can’t back it up with his fists and this time he’s talked himself into big trouble that he won’t be able to fight his way out of. My blood boils when I think back to the press conference we had and he wanted to fight there and then.

“I just wish it was him in the ring that night instead of Kuziemski. I would have knocked him (out), but he would have come out with excuses that he was a last minute replacement. I’m happy that this time he’s had time to prepare and his weight will right and he’ll have no excuses when he’s knocked out cold by me.”

“I’ll be fit and ready on the night and it’s the worst scenario that he could have ever wished for. I’ll give him nightmares,” Bellew said. “This is the fight I’ve wanted and been banging for and now I’m going to prove all along what I’ve been saying is true. I rattled him at the last press conference. He’ll deny it, but he was physically shaking and it’s still playing on his mind now. He can’t beat me mentally or physically and he knows that. He may have a touch more speed, but I have plans to counter that.”

Cleverly’s promoter Frank Warren said it is possible that the winner could get a chance to face champion Bernard Hopkins if he defeats Chad Dawson on Oct. 15.

“I’m in discussions with Hopkins’ promoter, Richard Schaefer, about a potential fight with the winner, so it’s a massive incentive for both guys.”

Former world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero had successful surgery on his shoulder on Tuesday according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

Guerrero’s manager Bob Santos said the arthroscopic surgery, which lasted about two hours, was performed by Dr. Michael Dillingham, the San Francisco 49ers team physician, in Burlingame, Calif. Guerrero (29-1-1, 18 KOs), 28, was already resting at home Tuesday evening.

“Dr. Dillingham is a very humble doctor, so he is not one of these kind of guys who will jump up and down and say, ‘Hey, it’s a success!’ But in his opinion, everything was OK and we are very optimistic,” Santos said. “He felt he was able to fix the tear.”

“The doctor looked at the rotator cuff and said he probably hurt it when he was playing football, that this was not just something that happened in one sparring session,” Santos said. “He said the whole thing has been damaged for years, but that he went ahead and fixed everything. He was amazed that Robert has been fighting his whole career with this. He said the rotator cuff was all scar tissue and had to have been there for years. The reason he could deal with it throughout his career was because of his pain threshold. But once it tore more when he was sparring, it was a different feeling.

“The doctor was very optimistic about things. Robert has been dealing with it for years and never knew it, but went about his business and sucked it up. But whatever the doctor could do to his best surgical ability, that is what he did.”

Guerrero will be in a sling for about two weeks before he can begin rehabilitation. Santos said the doctor said Guerrero would probably be able to punch with his left hand in about four months.

“Robert was relieved to go in and get the surgery done,” Santos said. “God-willing, everything will OK. He’s just 28 and there is no reason to rush him.”

Heralded prospect Frankie Gomez edge Adrian Granados via eight round majority decision in a Lightweight bout of unbeaten fighters in Chicago.

Gomez scored a knockdown in round two when Granados walked into a pushing right hand. He was not hurt and finished the round. In the next round Granados was cut underneath his left eye but that was not a problem during the fight. In fact, Granados was spurred on and engaged in some furious exchanges over the second half of the fight.

For most of the next couple rounds, Granados was walking the hard charging Gomez down. The two fought at close quarters to the end of the fight which thrilled the crowd.

Gomez, 136 lbs of East Los Angeles, CA won by scores of 78-73; 77-74 and 76-76 to stay perfect at 11-0. Granados, 136 lbs of Cicero, IL is now 6-1-1.

Omar Figueroa scored a sensational second round stoppage over Marcos Herrera in round two of a scheduled six round Jr. Welterweight bout.

The two engaged in a heated flurry on the ropes when hard left from Figueroa got through and sent Herrera to the canvas. After Herrera was able to get up, Figueroa landed a crushing left hook that sent Herrera down and out at 1:19 of round two.

Figueroa, 138 lbs of Weslaco, TX is now 13-0-1 with ten knockouts. Herrera, 135 lbs of Arroyo Seco, NM is now 6-7-1

Luis Santiago scored a four round unanimous decision over Cliffored McPherson in a Welterweight bout.

Scores were 40-36 on all cards for Santiago, 148 lbs of Chicago, IL and is now 3-0. McPherson, 147 lbs of Cleveland, OH is now 2-5-1.

Juan Bustamante scored a first round stoppage over an overnatched Andrew Kato in a scheduled four round Lightweight bout.

Bustamante was all over Kato, who looked like he had no business in the same ring as Bustamante. Bustamante dropped Kato with a series of body shots. Kato got to his feet only to eat eat five more unanswered blows with the final being a left to the body and the fight was stopped by referee Gerald Scott at 1:40.

Bustamante, 130 lbs of Chicago is now 2-0 with one knockout. Kato, 134 lbs of Milwaukee, WI is now 0-3.

Daniel Sotelo made a successful pro debut with a first round stoppage over Ronnie Fuentez in a four round Welterweight bout.

Wit the two fighters exhanging on the ropes, Sotelo landed a hard left to the body that put Fuentez down for the count at 1:20.

Sotelo, 143 lbs of Chicago is now 1-0 with one knockout. Fuentez, 144 lbs of Milwaukee, WI is now 0-2.

Anderson Silva re-emphasized his standing as the greatest MMA fighter of the world, but he did so for the first time in his home country of Brazil. After twice dropping the highly regarded Yushin Okami in round two with a perfectly timed punch to the head, barrages of punches from the top soon followed, prompting the referee to call the bout to a halt. It was vintage Spider, who displayed his usual dazzling speed, cat-like reflexes and most importantly, his finesse and flash that just can’t be replicated inside the Octagon.

A performance akin to that of the middleweight champ’s destruction of Forrest Griffin, Okami was simply overmatched, unable to neither initiate any offense nor sustain any effective output. Silva extends his unbeaten UFC streak to fourteen and successfully defended his middleweight crown for the ninth time.

The co-main event in Rio featured Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, who avenged his loss to Forrest Griffin in a rematch between two former light heavyweight champions. Shogun was sharp, creating distance to measure his striking. Griffin looked a bit listless and got dropped by a right hand to the head, allowing Rua to follow up with a series of hammerfists. The referee soon stepped in, giving Rua the victory at the 1:53 mark of the first round.

Former heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira revived his career in an exciting first round stoppage win over the streaking Brendan Schaub in a legend vs. up-and-coming contender type match up. Both fighters shared exchanges and the early going appeared to favor the American, who was able to stun the hometown veteran. The much more experienced Nogueira effectively used his clinch to push Schaub against the cage and landed a hard right hand that dropped his younger foe face-first on the canvas. It only took another hard shot to finish off Schaub, causing the ref to step in at 3:09. With the win, Nogueira gets back on the winning column, after suffering a devastating loss to current champion Cain Velasquez back in UFC 110.

In the other fights, Paulo Thiago bounced back from two consecutive losses to win in front of his home country against David Mitchell. It was a one-sided fight that saw Thiago use superior grappling and effective aggression to grind out a unanimous decision. Jungle Fight’s welterweight champion Erick Silva impressed in his UFC debut,quickly disposing Luis Ramos with an overhand right. After a quick ground and pound follow up, the ref stopped the contest at the :40 mark. The best fight of the night saw Rousimar Palhares and Dan Miller taking turns nearly knocking each other out before going the distance over three rounds. Palhares dropped Miller and relented after a short attack from the top, assuming that the fight was over. Palhares jovially got on top of the cage to celebrate before referee Herb Dean informed the Brazilian fighter that the fight was not finished. As the fight resumed, Miller recuperated and landed a devastating punch of his own, nearly stopping his foe all within the same round. Palhares dominated with a series of punches from the top in round two and secured the unanimous decision victory after three rounds.

Alexander Povetkin won the “WBA Regular Heavyweight title” with a twelve round unanimous decision over former champion Rulsan Chagaev in Erfurt, Germany.

Povetkin boxed well early but getting through with some body shots and uppercuts.

Chagaev seemed to have found his way in round’s five through eight as he dominated and even briefly staggered Povetkin with hard left hands.

Povetkin was urged on by trainer Teddy Atlas whose motivating tactics are unmatched as he tried and eventually did light a fire under Povetkin by mentioning Povetkin’s late family and late father.

In round nine, Povetkin started to get inside and penetrate Chagaev’s guard and that continued for the final third of the fight.

Povetkin, 231 1/1 lbs of Russia won by scores of 117-113; 117-113 and 116-112 and is in line for a showdown with Wladimir Klitschko with a record of 22-0.

Chagaev, 231 1/2 lbs of Uzbekistan is now 27-2-1.

It was a very tough fight,” Povetkin said afterwards. “I am very happy that I won. This is for my father, who died last year and always wanted me to be world champion.”

“I told him that the feeling of exhaustion would not last forever, only for 18 minutes at most,” he stated. “I told him he was about to write history. He could become heavyweight champion of the world and win the title for his father.” Povetkin survived the scare and fought back, hitting Chagaev with strong combinations. In the later rounds, he would regain control, cleverly firing in series of hooks and uppercuts. “Povetkin was better and deserved to win,” Chagaev said. “I´m very disappointed. It was not my day.”

Povetkin´s promoter Kalle Sauerland praised the Russian warrior´s skills and will. “He really showed he wanted to win the title. He hung in there when things got rough in the sixth round. I am very happy for Alexander that all his hard work has finally paid off. He´s been an Olympic champion and now he has fulfilled his dream of becoming heavyweight champion as a professional.”

Among the 4,500 spectators in Erfurt, Germany was four-time heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield. The Real Deal liked what he saw. “It was a great fight,” he said. “Povetkin and Chagaev fought like middleweights, they were very fast and threw a lot of punches. Povetkin was better. He deserves to be world champion. It was a strong performance.”

Good looking Heavyweight contender Robert Helenius scored a ninth round stoppage over former WBO champ Sergei Liakhovich in a bout scheduled for twelve rounds.

Liakhovich fought hard early but couldn’t seem to get past the size of the 6’7″ Helenius who landed some good shots that had the nose of Liakhovich bleeding early in the contest.

Helenius started dominating in round eight as series of blows dropped Liakhovich to his knees. Liakhovich beat the count but it was only a matter of time before Helenius would score the stoppage.

That happend in the beginning of the next frame as Helenius unloaded a series of power shots that sent Liakhovich down. The referee stopped the fight basically at the same time that Liakhovich;s corner threw in the towel.

Helenius is now 16-0 with eleven knockouts. Liakhovich is now 25-4.

“This is another big win for me,” Helenius said. “I started a little slowly but my coach Mr Wegner woke me up and then I did the right things. Liakhovich was very tough but I was the better man tonight and that´s why I won.”

Liakhovich gave Helenius, who defended his WBA/WBO Intercontinental Heavyweight Titles, credit: “He is very strong,” the White Wolf stated. “I don´t want to make any excuses or take anything away from him, but I broke my nose in the second round and had trouble to breathe. But he fought a great fight and deserved to win.”

Hall of Fame Promoter Wilfried Sauerland was full of praise for the hard-hitting Scandinavian. “That was another fantastic win,” he stated. “Robert has now knocked out three former world champions, which is amazing given his young age of just 27 years. His power is incredible and he has the potential to be world champion in the future. It was a great evening of heavyweight boxing.”

Sergei was unable to breathe through his nose from the moment the first break occurred in the third round,” Manager Tony Cardinale said. At the same time, Liakhovich began to swallow copious amounts of blood as he attempted to catch a breath through his mouth.

“Sergei proved last night that he is one of the toughest fighters in the heavyweight division.” Cardinale continued. “Despite a painful handicap that made it nearly impossible for him to take a proper breath, Sergei kept on coming. Even after the knockdown, he came back swinging. Had Sergei not been so severely injured, I think he would have won the fight.”

Doctors, last night, advised “The White Wolf” to remain at the hospital and have immediate surgery under general anesthesia. However, later on Sunday morning, a surgeon determined that the bruising and swelling was too severe to operate right now.

Liakhovich, whose trip back to the US has been postponed due to travel restrictions caused by Hurricane Irene, intends to have the necessary surgery later this week when he returns to his home in Arizona.

“Those who say that there are no exciting fighters in the heavyweight division haven’t been paying attention,” promoter Kathy Duva of Main Events said. “Sergei has now participated in two of the most action-packed heavyweight fights of the past 10 years and he let me know this morning that he wishes to remain as active as possible as soon as he recovers.”

The Belarusian, who has been inactive for 17 months due to a contractual dispute, a training injury and an injury suffered by Helenius earlier in the summer, fought under the Main Events banner for the first time, last night.

“A fighter needs to stay active to be sharp,” Duva continued. “While fighting through the pain and barely able to breathe, Sergei actually improved his performance during the middle rounds as his timing started to come back. When Sergei fully recovers from his injuries, Main Events intends to treat Sergei’s fans–and I know he made a lot of new ones last night–by keeping him very busy.”

Juan Garcia scored a six round majority decision over Hector Serrano in an entertaining Jr. Welterweight bout at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California.

The two traded some solid shots throughout the fight as they both landed some good right hands. Garcia’s work was more evident as he landed some hard rights that had Serrano’s nose bleeding as early as round two.

The continued to wage a back and forth battle with Serrano being buckled a couple times but he showed great courage for not only making it to the final but getting in quality offense of his own.

Garcia, 136.6 lbs of Los Angeles, won by scores of 58-56; 58-56 and 57-57 and is now 15-3. Serrano, 136.4 lbs of Huntington Park, CA is now 13-3.

On the strength of a first round knockdown, Ramon Valadez cruised home with a six round unanimous decision over veteran Noe Lopez Jr. in a Lightweight fight.

Valadez dropped Lopez with a short right hand in round one. Lopez came back to land some solid shots in round two. Valadez boxed well over the next four rounds and came home with the verdict by scores of 59-54 on all cards.

Valadez, 131 3/4 lbs of East Los Angeles, CA is now 10-1. Lopez Jr., 132 1/2 lbs of Nogales, MX is now 8-10

Jose Sanchez scored a second round stoppage over Ricardo Garcia in a scheduled four round Jr. Lightweight bout.

Sanchez dropped Garcia in round two from a short left hand. Garcia recovered but only to be hit by a power punch combination and referee Lou Moret stopped the bout at 1:11 of round two.

Sanchez, 129 lbs of Santa Ana, CA is now 5-2 with two knockouts. Garcia, 128 1/2 lbs of La Habra, CA is now 2-2.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that WBC Middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. hurt his hand and is forced to cancel his September 17th bout with Ronald Hearns.

Chavez manager Billy Keane said Chavez suffered a freak injury about two weeks ago when he was in the gym training and stretched out his arms and caught his right hand on a ceiling fan. The fan cut Chavez’s hand, which needed two stitches.

He still wants to fight, but he really can’t,” Keane said. “I advised him to pull out when this first happened. He wanted to push on and fight. He says he is doing this for his father. But he’s only sparred one day and he had a really hard time.”

Keane said when Chavez’s hand hit the fan, “it split him open and there was a lot of blood. His girlfriend took him to the hospital and he needed two stitches. He said he was fine, but I went down to see him in Tijuana and it was all puffy. The hand is bad. He can’t make a tight fist. I advised him again to pull out of the fight. I told him to see the doctor again and he will (on Friday).”

Lou DiBella, Hearns’ promoter, said his right-hand man, Ron Rizzo, got the news Thursday night from Sean Gibbons of Zanfer Promotions, Chavez’s co-promoter. DiBella said he simply does not believe the story.

“They say he hurt himself two weeks ago and then I heard he was sparring two days ago with (Antonio) Margarito,” DiBella said. “People said he was way overweight, maybe 180 pounds. There’s a lot of red flags here so, no, I don’t believe it. I certainly believe he was in no condition to fight. His gut was injured. This was totally predictable, which is sad.”

Speculation that Chavez was indeed having weight problems surfaced again last week when the WBC conducted its mandated weight-check 30 days before the fight, a procedure designed to make sure the boxers are within a certain range of safely making weight.

Hearns’ was within the range when his weight was announced at 174.51 pounds while Chavez’s was listed as unavailable. Two days later, Chavez’s weight was announced at 173.

“I totally saw this coming when the 30-day weights— was going on,” DiBella said. “They released Hearns’ weight and wouldn’t release Chavez’s weight until a couple of days later. Come on. Ronald is going to be crushed because he was working his ass off. He loved this fight. He thought a big right hand might land. I think it would have been a competitive fight. An out of shape Chavez loses to an in-shape Hearns and I think that’s why the fight isn’t happening.

“Do I believe the injury happened weeks ago? No. Then the 30-day weigh-in stuff happened. There are just too many coincidences. Why do a press conference after this supposed injury? Come on. There is nothing you can do but shrug your shoulders and say f—.”

“He’s got no respect for Ronald Hearns,” Keane said. “He thinks he annihilates him. He thinks he’s too strong and he will break him down and it won’t be a difficult fight — even with one hand and a short camp.”

As disappointed as he was for having this weekend’s fight with Marcos Maidana postponed, Robert Guerrero will be out “only four months” after a second opinion revealed the injury was not as bad as first feared according to Dan Rafael of espn.com.

“I’m just staying positive and praying about it,” Guerrero told ESPN.com on Wednesday. “Right when I felt it, I thought, ‘This isn’t good.’ And then waking up the next day and not being about to move my arm at all, it was scary. I was doing 500 push-ups a day and about 100, 120 pull-ups, and then you can’t even move your arm. So it was scary.

“But I feel good about the test results and look forward to getting the surgery out of the way and getting my shoulder cleaned up and doing what I have to do to get back. I just got to take it one day a time, get the surgery done, get the rehab and get back to full-blown training.”

“He’ll spend two to four weeks in a sling and then can shadow box and jump rope and that sort of thing, but the doctor said he couldn’t punch on it for three or four months,” manager Bob Santos said. “So you’re looking at probably four months before he can train 100 percent. Best-case scenario is if he is back punching on it in four months and then does a six- or eight-week training camp, you’re talking about him being able to fight again in maybe February, March, April.”

“I feel helpless walking around with a sling on, especially on my dominant hand, the left hand,” Guerrero said. “I guess I got to look at the bright side. I can work on my right hand more and make it more effective in the ring. When you work with both hands, you’re more of a well-rounded fighter. I throw (the right) but there is always room for improvement. But the main focus is getting the surgery done and getting it all cleaned up and getting back to 100 percent.”

“The doctor said the arm looked fantastic except in the area where it was injured, that it had scar tissue,” Santos said. “That is probably from having an initial tear in the rotator cuff back then. So the thought is that, over time, it finally tore again.”

“We knew we weren’t going to the doctor and we were taught that if you’re hurt you block it out because you know you’re not going to the doctor,” Guerrero said. “If you can move it, it ain’t broke. That’s how we were brought up.”

“Sometimes you can do rehab, but this being the second time, we thought it was best to get it fixed because this is how he makes his living, using his arm,” Santos said. “So Dr. Dillingham said he would fix the problem and also be able to see what else, if anything, was going on in the shoulder that might not have shown up on the MRI.

“It’s really a shame this happened because I have never seen him in such great shape. We took Maidana more seriously than any fighter we have ever faced. Unfortunately, that old injury reared its head and derailed us.”

“Robert told me, ‘The more I kept thinking about it, every once in a while I would get a deep pain in (the shoulder) for the last few years,'” Santos said. “Now he knows something will be done about it. He would just say before when he felt it that he was the kind of guy who would suck it up and push through it, although this was different. I see him as relieved.”

Disappointed by the postponement of this weekend’s scheduled bout with Robert Guerrero, former 140 pound beltholder Marcos Maidana will not sit around and wait as he will take an interim bout in his native land of Argentina according to Dan Rafael of espn.com

That includes going home to Argentina for a Sept. 16 fight, Sebastian Contursi, Maidana’s adviser, told ESPN.com. Contursi said Maidana was “terribly frustrated” about the fight with Guerrero called off so close to the bout after spending a month training in Argentina and then two more months training in Puerto Rico.

“He was ready to go as he went out of the gym last Thursday at 144 pounds,” he said.

“We did, as Maidana was like a lion locked in a cage, ready for war, but Soto turned it down, which is understandable, of course,” Contursi said. “As we were told that no dates were open for Maidana within the next few weeks we decided to go back to Argentina and have a fight here for Marcos to stay busy. That’s why we are making arrangements to hold it on Sept. 16.”

The fight will take place in Buenos Aires in the neighborhood of Villa Ballester, where Maidana has lived since he was 16. No opponent is set yet, but Contursi said he is working with Golden Boy to secure one.

The fight will take place in Buenos Aires in the neighborhood of Villa Ballester, where Maidana has lived since he was 16. No opponent is set yet, but Contursi said he is working with Golden Boy to secure one.

“Obviously, Marcos was depressed (about) the cancellation of such a big fight and got a little out of focus during the weekend, but now he is back at training (in Argentina),” Contursi said.

If Maidana comes through his fight next month, Contursi said he hopes to face a big-name opponent before the end of the year. Maidana’s main target is titleholder Amir Khan, who is tentatively slated for a Dec. 10 fight as part of his HBO contract.

“Another guy Marcos likes is Tim Bradley, of course,” Contursi said of another of the 140-pound titleholders.

Dan Rafael of espn.com is reporting that former world title challenges Eddie Chambers and Tony Thompson will square off on October 28th in Atlantic City for the right to fight a rematch with the man who knocked them both out, Wladimir Klitschko.

The fight between good friends will take the night before the Super 6 Final between Andre Ward and Carl Froch at will take place at Ballys in Atlantic City which is just a few steps away from Boardwalk Hall where there Ward – Froch clash will take place.

It’s tough, but there is an opportunity for both of us to realize a dream,” Thompson said of fighting his friend. “I’m happy for both us to get this opportunity, but I have to go in there and take care of business. I consider us more than friends — I consider myself like a mentor to him. But I told my own brother I’d kick his ass if had to to get back to a Klitschko fight, and my brother knew I was dead serious.”

“But sometimes in this business you got to fight your friends,” Chambers said. “I’m just looking forward to the fight and getting it done. We’re two of the top heavyweights in the division and we’ve helped each other get there. I’ve helped him and he’s helped me get ready for fights several different times. He’s the kind of person that if I had kids, I’d have my kids play with his kids, but we know this is business. Boxing is not a team sport, but if it was a team sport, we would be on the same team.”

“Both fighters have had that taste of a championship challenge and both of them withstood many rounds with Wladimir. To me the question about their fight is who has learned more from their loss,” Said promoter Dan Goossen, who represents both fighters. “Both of them have come back from their loss. Eddie beat Rossy and looked good and Tony has been kept fairly busy and has been winning against pretty good opponents and getting knockouts. I hate to have our guys fighting each other and only one advancing, but that is what you do as a promoter — you give both of the guys an opportunity. I think it will be an interesting fight.”

“I definitely gotta go in there and stop this guy. I’m going in there to knock your head off your shoulders and separate you from your senses long enough for the referee to raise my hand,” said Thompson, who is close to Klitschko’s size at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds.

“We’re both fighting for our professional lives,” said Chambers, who is 6-1 and 210 pounds. “This could be his last go-round, his last hurrah. He’s still performing well, but at the age of 40, you can get old overnight in this game. Yes, we have respect for each other, but that is even more reason to go out there and give 100 percent. We got two people on a collision course who have everything to lose, and there’s a lot to gain as well with a win. With a win it catapults us to a title shot again. That’s what we are both shooting for.”

Lightweight prospect Michael Perez remained undefeated with a one punch bidy shot knockout over Miguel Rodriguez in a scheduled ten round bout at the Paradise Theater in Bronx, New York.

Perez landed a left to the body that sent Rodriguez down on a knee. Rodriguez tried to get up but squatted right back down as he was riding in pain and referee Steve Willis had no choice other that to stop the bout at forty-nine seconds into the fight

Perez, 135 lbs of Lares, Puerto Rico is now 14-0-1 with eight knockouts. Rodriguez, 136 lbs of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico is now 6-3.

Sensational looking eighteen year old Eddie Gomez scored a one round destruction over Marcus Hall in a jr. Middleweight bout scheduled for six rounds.

Gomez dropped Hall three times with the first being a perfect and quick right hand. The second came from a left-right combination to the head. The end came after a combination bounced off of Hall’s head and sent him to the canvas where referee Harvey Dock ended things at 2:00 of round one

Gomez, 150 lbs of Bronx, NY is now 6-0 with five knockouts. Hall, 151 lbs of Rochester, NY is now 5-4-1.

In a battle of pro debuting Welterweights, Richie Nieves and Latwon Halsey battled to a four round majority draw.

Scores were 39-37 Nieves while two judges ruled it even at 38-38.

Nieves, 146 lbs of Long Island is 0-0-1. Halsey, 147 lbs of Newark, NJ is now 0-0-1.

Mike Brooks scored a hard fought six round unanimous decision over Jamell Tyson in a Lightweight bout.

Scores were 58-55; 58-55 and 57-56 for Brooks, 136 lbs of Nassau, NY and is now 5-0-1. Tyson, 134 lbs of Rochester, NY was docked a point in round four for spitting out his mouthpiece is now 2-3-1.

Throw the records out when Light Heavyweights Todd Erikkson and Borngod Washington meet as the two put on an entertaining scrap that saw Washington score a four round unanimous decision.

Scores were 39-37 on all cards for Washington, 173 lbs of Queens, NY and is now 2-8. Eriksson, 170 lbs of Dover, NJ is now 3-7-1.

Photo by Claudia Bocanegra

Earlier tonight on the 2011 Season Finale of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights”, 2008 U.S. Olympian, Demetrius Andrade took a step way up in class and won a dominate ten round unanimous decision over tough veteran, and winner of Season 2 of “The Contender”, Grady Brewer.

Andrade might have been the much younger and less experienced of the two, but it didn’t show as he worked his game-plan to a T, taking the veteran Brewer to school for their entire ten round jr. middleweight contest.

Working behind a piston-like jab, Andrade kept Brewer off balance and guessing all night long. Brewer who was coming off one of, if not the biggest win of his career, a fourth round TKO over previously undefeated and highly regarded Fernando Guerrero (21-0) on ESPN, just couldn’t put together any offense against the much quicker and more skilled Andrade. It was a very impressive showing for Andrade, who took the fight on very short notice, and silenced many boxing insiders who felt he was in over his head, winning the bout easily on all three judge’s scorecards 99-91, 99-91, 98-92. With the win Andrade improves to a 14-0, 9KO’s, while Brewer who suffered just the second defeat in his last twelve fights, falls to 28-13, 16KO’s

“Hammerin” Hank Lundy scored a wild war sixth round stoppage over former world champion David Diaz in a scheduled ten round Lightweight bout.

Lundy showed superior handspeed while Diaz showed toughness and grit. The fight took on a life in round four when Diaz landed a huge shot to the top of the head that had Lundy stumble to the canvas. Lundy went for the end but got caught with a big shot that caused a grotesque cut around his right eye. Diaz continued to land body and head shots until he ran into a bog right from Lundy. Diaz responded by ending the round with a big left.

Diaz was bleeding bad from the eye and was even checked by the ringside doctor. When the doctor let him continue Diaz started to fight with alot of urgency but that left him open for a big left hand that was followed by a series of lefts.

Lundy opened up the sixth with a big left hand that sent Diaz down and out at thirty-seven seconds of rounds.

Lundy, 134 1/2 lbs of Philadelphia is now 21-1-1- with eleven knockouts. Diaz, 134 1/2 lbs of Chicago is now 36-4-1.

“There’s something about those straight punches,” Lundy said. “When you land those straight punches, you don’t even have to look. You know once you connect, it’s done.

“Everyone can get hurt,” he continued. “Even with gloves on, it doesn’t matter. You can get touched in the right way and go down, but it’s how you finish the fight. Like the scriptures say, ‘We fall down, but we get back up.’ It’s all about how you finish, and God gave me the power to get up and finish.”

“I think that was my mistake,” Diaz said. “I should’ve been more calm because my legs were still wobbly.”

“[The cut] got him frustrated,” Lundy said. “I’ve been cut before, so it all depends on your career. Some guys see their own blood and fold under pressure and get a little tentative. I know when I get cut I’m going to see my own blood, but that makes me work harder.”

“It blurred my vision a lot,” Diaz said. “It was just coming down, but you’ve got to push through. That’s what I tried to do.”

“I broke him down a little bit,” Lundy said. “They know I’m a switch hitter so when I turned it right-handed I said, ‘OK, I’m going to try to go southpaw and try to land that overhand left.’

“I feigned him with the jab, he clinched, and then the left hand came over the top that he didn’t see. He was out. [My trainer] Sloan [Harrison] has been helping me turn those punches over. Everyone on the Lundy team has been working hard and that’s what we’ve been doing – turning those punches over.”

“My mistake was going to my right,” Diaz said. “I should’ve gone to my left and stayed away from the left hand that was coming.”

“I would love to have a rematch if he would accept it,” Diaz said. “This is boxing. [Stuff] happens. You get hit, you get hurt, you get cut – if you don’t, then it’s not boxing. Back in the old days, guys used to get knocked out everyday and come back in a month or two and start fighting again, so it’s no big deal.”

“You know what? Any guys in the 135-pound division that’s willing to fight me – [Robert] Guerrero, any of these top guys – let’s go,” Lundy said. “If not, I’ll go up to 140.

“I was fighting at 140 making a statement. Most of my knockouts came at 140, so I can bang with the big guys. God willing, anybody that comes my way, let’s get it. Let’s get it.”

Yakubu Amadu scored a third round stoppage over Martin Tucker in a scheduled six round Lightweight bout.

Amadu landed a big right that sent off a flurry that produced six hard punches and the referee stopped the bout at …

Amadu, 134 1/2 lbs of Accra, Ghana is now 20-2-1 with eighteen knockouts. Tucker, 136 lbs of Toledo, OH is now 7-10

Miranda Carter puts on a Sunday afternoon show at the York Hall in the East End of London on September the 18th.

Topping the bill will be the come backing Leon ‘Solid’ Williams at cruiser who is hoping to get back into title contention.

Also at light welter is Ideh Ockuko in a four rounder, while at feather and super feather you have Akash Batia and George Jupp respectively in four rounders.

Brett O Callaghan features at light middle, while Danny Connor doe’s at welter, at middle there’s Diego Burton and at light Francis Gichecha who along with Luke Fowler both make there debuts!

Heavyweight Ian Lewison fights in a four rounder, and also you have the comeback of Paul Bowen whose been out due to various injury’s, Bowen is hoping to get into title contention in the not too distant future, Paul whose been out since February last year will be boxing at cruiser!

No opponent’s were announced at time of going to press, for ticket information please phone 07825 795616 for ticket’s or alternatively log on to www.leftjab.co.uk for ticket information.

Door’s open 2 pm and the first fight is 3pm.

DOVER, DEL–Amir Mansour remained perfect as he captured the Interim NABO North American title with a ten round beatdown of former contender Dominick Guinn at Dover Downs

The action started out blistering with bith guys trying to land power punches. Mansour got in four hard and quick left hooks on the ropes. A fracas broke out in the crowd in round one. Guinn landed a couple of nice body shots to finish out the opening frame. Round three saw a dominant Mansour lnd some vidious hooks off the body and head of Guinn. In round four, Mansour landed two hard straight lefts to face of Guinn and he quicy followed that up with some nice body work. Mansour landed some hard lefts and rights that slammed into tyhe head of Guinn but the visitor showed a graniye chin and proved why he hadn’t been stopped in his pro career.

Mansour continued to be the boss by landing some hard and quick combinations with both hands. Guinn then went in a defensive shell but still got hit with a lot of hard shots from Mansour. Mansour and Guinn had a furious exchange in the final moments of the bout for which each landed some heavy blows with Mansour getting the better of the action. Mansour did his best to entertain the throngs of his supporters and they went home happy but for the first time since his comeback, Mansour failed to get a stoppage.

Mansour, 223 lbs of Wilmington, Delaware won by scores of 100-90; 100-90 and 99-91 and is now 15-0. Guinn, 227 lbs of Houston, TX is now 33-8-1.

Edgar Santana scored an explosive fifth round stoppage over Omri Lowther to capture the NABA Jr. Welterweight title.

Santana dropped Lowther in round one from a straight right. Lowther started to back Santana up over the next few rounds by focusing on the body then coming upstairs.

The momentum was clearly in Lowther’s favoR WHEN OUT OF NOWHERE, SANTANA LANDED A CRUNSHING LEFT HOOK that sent Lowther to the canvas. Referee Gary Rosato let the fight go on for a brief moment later before stopping the bout at 1:43 of round five.

Santana, 140 lbs of New York is now 26-3 with seventeen knockouts. Lowther, 140 lbs of Toronto, Canada is now 14-4.

Anthony Caputo Smith dropped Steve Walker in round one from a straight right hand that froze him and followed up with a body shot and moments later got him out of there with a combination in the corner in their scheduled four round Light Heavyweight bout.

The time was 2:09 for Smith, 175 lbs of Kennett Square, PA and is now 11-0 with nine knockouts. Walker, 169 lbs of Hannibal, MO is now 25-28.

Ronica Jeffrey scored a six round unanimous decision over Ela Nunez to capture the NABF Super Featherweight title.

Jeffrey came out boxing and landed a hard right on the ropes at the end of round one. Nunez began moving forward trying to land a big power shot.

Jeffrey worked behind a (sometimes double and triple) jab and came behind it with the right. Jeffrey used the ring very nicely as she darted in and out and was always just a step out of the way of Nunez punch attempts. Nunez came at Jeffrey hard to start the final round. Jeffrey was on her horse to start the frame but then came forward and landed a nice three punch combination on the charging Nunez.

Jeffrey, 127 1/2 lbs of Brooklyn, won by scores of 60-54; 59-55 and 59-55 to remain perfect at 8-0. Nunez, 128 lbs of Johnstown, NY is now 9-10-1.

Local favorite Ryan Belasco scored a six round unanimous decision over Fernado Basora in a crowd pleaseing and bloody Lightweight bout.

In round one, Belasco scored a knock down when Basora walked into a jab. Round two saw some big exchanges that got got Basora into the fight. Round three was a back and forth wild three minutes. Basora dropped Belasco with a little right hand in the corner. That only seemed to energize Belasco as he came firing out and ripped off a combination that was ended by a big right hand that sent Basora to the canvas. Basora began to bleed bad from under his left eye but was able to make it out of the round.

Belasco landed a big right and uppercut that ended the fifth which caused Basora’s cut to become more prominent. Knowing that he was behind, Basora went for in the final round and like the previous five, there was some very crowd pleasing moments with both guys landing solid shots. Towards the end of the round, Basora started to bleed from the middle of his forehead.

Belasco, 136 lbs of Wilmington, DE won by scores of 59-54; 59-55 and 58-55 and is now 15-5-3. Basora, 136 lbs of Bronx, NY is now 8-7-1.

Dan Biddle scored a four round unanimous decision over Dan Shull in a Cruiserweight bout.

Both guys traded hard shots that entertained the crowd with Shull landing some surprisingly effective blows but it was Biddle being more active that propelled him to the win.

Scores, were 40-36; 39-37 and 39-37 for Biddle, 189 lbs of Hockessin, DE and is now 8-1. Shull, 189 lbs of Winchester, VA is now 2-13-1.

Omar Douglas remained perfect with a first round stoppage over Corey White in a scheduled four round Lightweight bout.

Douglas dropped White twice with body shots with White not being able to be at the count at 2:25 of round one.

Douglas, 132 lbs of Philadelphia is now 2-0 with one knockout. White, 133 lbs of Cincinnati, OH is now 1-3.

Lamont Singletary needed just sixty seconds to dispose of William Clint Green in a scheduled four round Cruiderweight bout.

Singletary landed a hard combination that was punctiated by a right hand that sent Green down for Gary Rosato’s ten count.

Singletary, 195 lbs of Dover, DE is now 2-0 with two knockouts. Green, 192 lbs of Hannibal, MO is now 1-3

In one of his last training sessions before his August 27th bout with Marcos Maidana, Former world champion Robert Guerrero hurt his should which is forcing the be bout to be postponed according to various reports.

The whole card, which was to feature Seth Mitchell taking on Mike Mollo as part of the HBO televised show at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California has been scrapped for the time being.

“Robert Guerrero injured his shoulder [Wednesday] in sparring to the point where it was numb,” Golden Boy’s Richard Schaefer said on a teleconference with boxing reporters that was supposed to feature Guerrero and Maidana talking about their fight. “He couldn’t move it at all. It was numb. They were hoping it would get better overnight. It did not. He can’t move the arm at all, can’t put on a jacket.”

“We’re afraid it is a torn rotator cuff,” Schaefer said. “We don’t know. As a result, the fight card, which we were all very much looking forward to, has unfortunately been canceled. I hope it will be rescheduled. This is a fight that was on track to selling out in San Jose. It really is very unfortunate that this exciting showdown is not happening at this point. We wish and hope that Robert will be well and that it is an injury that can be taken care of. When I talked to Bob Santos he sounded extremely, extremely, extremely concerned. This is a big setback for (Guerrero).”

“HBO (was) saddened by the news as well,” he said. “We will have to wait to see what the doctors will say about his status. Hopefully, it can be rescheduled for a later date. Marcos Maidana obviously wants to fight, but on a week’s notice it is impossible to find a suitable opponent on such short notice.

“I would be surprised if Robert isn’t going to be out for quite awhile. If that’s the case Marcos Maidana will be fighting against somebody else (later in the year).”

“We’ll be working to see where we can place the other fighters,” he said. “We’ll look to see how we can accommodate them.”

Dan Rafael of espn.com reports that IBF Super Middleweight champion Lucian Bute on November 5th in a bout that will be televised on Showtime.

Johnson got that bout after negotiations failed with Mikkel Kessler and Kelly Pavlik.

“We reached an agreement. I’m just waiting for the paperwork and I’m moving forward. I’m preparing myself mentally and physically,” Johnson told ESPN.com. “I have every intention of going to Canada to derail that train.”

Leon Margules, Johnson’s co-promoter with Lou DiBella, said the offer eventually was improved, but he was still not happy with it. However, Johnson so badly wanted the fight, he gave Margules firm orders not to blow the deal. Margules didn’t and Johnson accepted an offer that will pay him less than $400,000.

“It’s a better deal than they initially offered, but it’s not as healthy as it should (be),” Margules said. “But at the end of the day, Glen’s the boss and he wanted the fight. The difference in money, while important, was not going to deter him from making sure he got this opportunity.”

“To be honest, I stopped focusing on the dollar value and just kind of wanted to keep my eyes on the prize, which is the opportunity to derail that train and then make a splash in a rematch or fight somebody else for big money,” Johnson said. “It is not about what I get for this fight. Even if I got what I wanted to get, or somewhere in between what I wanted and what I’m getting, it really wasn’t going to change my zip code. I had to just focus on the opportunity to fight for a world title against a major star in the sport in Canada. It doesn’t come any better than that.”

“We worked very hard for the Pavlik fight and we were very surprised with what happened,” Bedard said. “We were already planning press conferences. But at least he pulled out three months before the fight and not three days like he just did (for a fight scheduled against Darryl Cunningham on Aug. 6). We know we have a guy, Johnson, who will be there. This is Lucian’s biggest opponent. He’s fought everybody. He’s only been knocked out once and that was by Bernard Hopkins in 1997, and he didn’t even go down.

“For Lucian, there are still a lot of people who don’t think he’s the best super middleweight, so I think it’s a great fight for fans to see where Lucian is now. People (in Quebec) are happy that we can bring this quality of fighter here to fight Lucian. A lot of people think it’s a tougher fight for Lucian than Pavlik.”

“I’m extremely excited. I’m delighted. I believe this could not come at a better time,” Johnson said. “I’m coming off a loss I’m disappointed in. There’s nothing like getting an opportunity to go out there and redeem yourself, so this opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time.”

“He’s a tremendous body puncher,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen him work. He’s an overall good boxer. He’s a southpaw, so that bring its own difficulties. I have tremendous respect for his abilities and I have huge respect for his stardom and for him as a person. But this is a business and this goes out the window when the bell rings. I’m trying to feed my family and beat him.”

“It’s really a fight Glen’s wanted since they sparred,” Margules said. “He’s always believed he could beat Bute. Glen wanted the fight in the worst way.” The Jamaican-born, Miami-based Johnson, who has suffered several debatable decision losses in his opponent’s hometown, said he is not concerned about going to Bute’s turf for the fight. He said he knows he cannot leave it to the judges.

“I believe the knockout is going to happen. I feel like this is something I need to win the fight,” Johnson said. “I just need to dominate. I’m not going to win a close decision. I better go in there and separate from myself from Bute in every fashion and a knockout would be the best way, the sure way to get that victory.”

Dan Rafael of espn/com is reporting that WBO Super Middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz will take on former world champion Mikkel Kessler on November 5th in Denmark.

“The negotiations with SES Boxing and Robert Stieglitz have been tough but now everything is in place,” said Kalle Sauerland, who promotes Kessler. “With the support of his ferocious Viking fans, I am sure that Mikkel will accomplish his goal and become world champion for a fourth time.”

“I have a lot of respect for Robert Stieglitz,” Kessler said. “He has a very good record and he is a deserving world champion. But his reign will be over once we meet in the ring. Throughout my career, I have proven myself against the best fighters out there. I can’t wait to be world champion again. Winning the title for a fourth time will be special. & I have never lost a fight in Denmark. It will be no different this time. It can promise my fans a hell of an evening with me leaving the ring as the winner.”

Just more than twenty-four hours after announcing his retirement, Chris Lytle choked out Dan Hardy in round three of their Welterweight bout that was the main event of a UFC on Versus show from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Each had their moments until Hardy tried to shoot in with a takedown and Lytle was able to lock in the choke that made Hardy tap out at 4:16 of round three

Lytle, 170 1/2 lbs of Indianapolis, IND finishes his career with a mark of 41-18-4.

Ben Henderson battered Jim Miller over the final two rounds to win an three round unanimous decision and ending both a seven fight win streak and a potential title shot for Miller.

Miller had a good first frame as he had Henderson in a choke hold. Henderson came back to bloody the right eye of Miller, get Miller in a submission and at the end of round two begin to pound away on Miller. In round three, Henderson beat up Miller as he dominated the whole round by pounding and attempting to choke out Miller.

Henderson, 156 lbs of Glendale, AZ win by scores of 30-26; 30-27 and 29-28 and is now 14-2. Miller, 155 1/2 lbs of Whippany, NJ is now 20-3

Donald Cerrone scored a first round stoppage over Charles Oliveira in a Lightweight bout.

Cerrone landed a short punch to the body that sent Oliveria down. Cerrone then preceded to land twenty-five unanswered blows before referee Mario Yamasaki stopped the bout at 3:01

Cerrone, 156 lbs of Albuquerque, NM is now 16-3-1. Oliveria, 155 lbs of Houston, TX is now 14-2-1.

Duane Ludwig scored a three round unanimous decision over Amir Sadollah in a Welterweight bout.

Ludwig won on the strength of striking from the standup position.

Scores were 29-28 on all cards for Ludwig, 170 1/2 lbs of Denver, CO and is now 29-11. Sadollah, 170 lbs of Las Vegas, NV is 6-3

Abner Mares won the IBF Bantamweight championship and in the process captured the Showtime Bantamweight tournament crown with a dubious majority decision over reigning champion Joseph Agbeko at the Joint at The Hard Rock in Las Vegas.

Both guys gave a good effort. The same could not be said for Russell Mora as he became as much a part of the fight as the two combatants as he missed in upwards of twenty low blows that Mares landed on Agbeko. Mares was barely warned throughout the fight.

Mares was the more active fighter over the first have of the fight as he landed some solid shots with both hands. Mares scored a flash knockdown as he landed a little left hook but in combination with Agbeko slipping sent the campion to the canvas. It could easily been ruled a slip and that was the first of many missed calls from Mora throughout the fight.

In round six, Mares was cut over the left eye from a accidental headbutt.

Agbeko’s shining moment over the first half was a big right that buckled Mares in round four.

Agbeko started being more aggressive as he landed some nice jabs but was very right hand happy in trying to duplicate what he accomplished in the fourth.

Agbeko continued to fight well despite being peppered with the low shots and Mares was working the body.

After some good action rounds, all hell broke loose in round eleven.

Mares attempted t land a body shot but the punch ended up a good foot below the belt and Agbeko crumpled to a knee on the canvas. More hesitated and most people watching thought that finally Mares would be punished for his “South of the Border” shots but instead and shockingly, Mora began to count Agbeko by ruling a knockdown.

That seemed to to take the sails out of what was becoming a very close fight on the score cards Mares built an insurmountable lead. After round eleven, Agbeko and his corner men had to restrained by Nevada officials from the their bitter dismay at the job Mora was doing.

Not much happened in round twelve.

Mares, 117 1/2 lbs of Guadalajara, MX won by scores of 115-111; 115-111 and 113-113 and is now 22-0-1. Agbeko, 118 lbs of Bronx, NY is now 28-3.

During the telecast, SHOWTIME ringside analyst Antonio Tarver said, “Mora robbed all of us of a great fight.’’

There were 1,394 punches thrown in a give-and-take slugfest. Mares connected on 318 of 732, Agbeko on 318 of 732.

“I thought the first knockdown was clear,’’ said Mares, who made history by becoming the first homegrown Golden Boy Promotions boxer to capture a world title. “On the second I hit him on the belt and the ref chose to give him a count. I agree with the ref’s choice.

“I like to work the body but I was making the fight and all he did was counter-punch.

“I’m open to fight anybody (next). I love this tournament and would love to be in another one like this.’’

Said Agbeko, who demanded an immediate rematch, “I felt as though I was fighting two opponents in the ring tonight, Abner Mares and the referee. The referee ruled incorrectly on the knockdowns and he allowed Mares to hit me low repeatedly. Then, in the 11th, he called what everyone could see was another obvious low blow a knockdown.

“I don’t why these things happened to me. I felt the ref was against me from the start. All I wanted was a fair fight.

“I like Abner. He’s a good fighter. But I’m sure he didn’t want to win a fight this way.’’