March 18
Hollywood, USA: Welter: Brad Solomon (17-0) W PTS 10 Demetrius Hopkins (30-2-1). Heavyweight: Cedric Boswell (34-1) W PTS 10 Oliver McCall (55-11,2ND). Super Bantam: Yan Barthelemy (12-2) W PTS 10 Francis Ruiz (9-4,1ND). Disappointing fight, but important win for 27-year-old Solomon, as he overcomes a slow start to outwork the former WBO light welter challenger.
After first three rounds Hopkins, 30, hardly in the fight as stylish boxing and good combinations from Solomon see him take the middle rounds. As the pace drops he continues to pick-up the points and Hopkins fades. Solomon, retained the WBA International title, and is already rated No1 by the WBA. He wins on scores of 97-93 twice and 99-91, but there are still some rough edges. Difficult to see where Hopkins goes from here. Boswell wins a comfortable points verdict over a too heavy former WBC champion McCall. Detroiter Boswell just too mobile and too busy and wins on scores of 99-91, 99-92 and 98-92. Boswell, 41, has been a pro since 1994, and his only loss was a stoppage by Jameel McCline in 2003, but he has not progressed at all. Now 45, McCall, who won the WBC title with an upset stoppage of Lennox Lewis and lost it to Frank Bruno, weighed 259lbs and was only able to plod after Boswell. Cuban southpaw Barthelemy, 31, too good for sub Ruiz. The former Olympic gold medallist’s fast, accurate punching and busy style sees him to a wide unanimous decision including a knockdown in the fifth round. Scores 100-89, 98-91 and 97-92. Barthelemy defected in 2006 along with Yuriorkis Gamboa and Odlanier Solis, but has struggled as a pro.
Costa Mesa, USA: Super Middle: James Kirkland (27-0) W KO 2 Jhon Berrio (15-9).Light Welter: Luis Ramos (18-0) W PTS 8 Jose Hernandez (10-5-1). Light: Francisco Contreras (16-0) W PTS Adolfo Landeros (20-18-1). Colombian Berrio makes a fight of it for the first round, but then a body shot from 27-year-old southpaw Kirkland discourages him and a follow-up attack sees Berrio down on his knees from a punch that just seemed to graze him, and he was counted out. Second win for Kirkland since his release from a spell in jail which cost him two years out of his career. Kirkland has 24 wins by KO/TKO but looked over anxious and both wild and wide open at times. Berrio has lost five of his last seven and has never won a fight outside of Colombia. Southpaw Ramos just could not get to grips with the taller, clever, hard punching Hernandez, and although he rocked Hernandez in the second, he in turn was also rocked by the brawling 24-year-old Texan. Hernandez, 24, looked to have just done enough to win, but the judges gave it to Ramos on a majority verdict with scores of 79-73, 77-75 and 76-76. Second bad break in succession for Hernandez, who looked unlucky to only get a draw with unbeaten Mickey Bey last month. A tough learning fight for Ramos. Despite having won 13 of his fights by KO/TKO, nine in the first round, Dominican Contreras finds Mexican Landeros a tough and durable opponent and has to settle for a unanimous points win. Landeros has won only one of his last eleven.
Nonthaburi, Thailand: Super Feather: Fahsai (32-2) W TKO 8 Julio de la Basez (18-18-5). Fahsai, 29, has easy time with game Indonesian. Has too much speed and power and wins every round before the referee saves de la Basez in eighth. Fourth defence of IBF Pan Pacific title for Fahsai. Despite his impressive looking credentials “Mountain Boy” is not rated by any of the sanctioning bodies. The Indonesian, who started as a strawweight, has visited Thailand eight times, and lost eight times.
Mexico City, Mexico: Super Feather: Dante Jardon (16-1) W TKO 1 Humberto Martinez (20-6-1). “Crazy” strikes again. The streaking Jardon scores two knockdowns with right hands and halts Martinez in 104 seconds to win the vacant WBC and WBO Latino titles. Recent wins over David Rodela and world rated Rene Gonzalez have taken Jardon to No 7 in the WBC ratings. He has won his last 15 fights, has 14 wins by KO/TKO and seven of those have come in the first round. Colombian Martinez, 27, has been in with some good opposition such as former world champions Jorge Linares and Rudy Lopez, and Jordan put him quicker than either of those champions.
Clermont-Ferrand, France: Super Middle: Hugo Kasperski (16-1) W TKO 1 Milton Nunez (22-3-1). Welter: Ismael El Massoudi (34-3) W PTS 6 Albert Starikov (15-14-1). Kasperski delights his hometown fans as he destroys Colombian Nunez in two minutes. A superb left puts Nunez down and he is counted out. Kasperski, 23, retains the WBC Youth title and wins vacant WBO title with his twelfth win by KO/TKO. Nunez had been kayoed in 58 seconds for the interim WBA title in August, and has never won a fight outside of Colombia. El Massoudi wins comfortable decision over Russian-born Estonian. El Massoudi, a former French light welterweight champion, is African Boxing Union champion now.
Sunshine, Australia: Light Middle: Heath Ellis (14-2-1) W KO 2 Yodmongkol (11-10-1). Super Bantam: Daniel Iannazzo (19-1) W PTS 6 Sirichai (10-4). Ellis continues his rebuilding as he flattens crude Thai in the third and wins the WBC Asian Continental title. Second win for the 22-year-old nephew of “Master Blaster “ Lester Ellis, the former IBF super featherweight champion, since crushing kayo loss to Steve Maxwell in April last year. “Baby Face” Iannazzo, 22, also rebuilding and takes comfortable points win over modest Thai. Second win for Iannazzo since losing unbeaten record against Filipino Alan Jay Tuniacao last July.
Richmond, Australia: Feather: Joel Brunker (18-0) W TKO 4 Marangin Marbun (20-8-1).Australian champion Brunker, 25, wins interim WBO Orient title with stoppage of Indonesian. A 2004 Olympian, Brunker has twelve wins by KO/TKO. Marbun now lost three of his last four.
Buenos Aires, Argentina: Heavy: George Arias (49-11) W TKO 2 Lisandro Diaz (19-11-1). Arias, 36, destroy Argentinian Diaz in two rounds. The Brazilian scored heavily in the first and then really opened up in the second. After shaking Diaz with punches to the body, a right cross split open a gash in the nose of Diaz. The referee examined the wound but said the fight could continue. Diaz went for broke throwing wild punches, but Arias waited out the storm and then scored with a succession of hard hooks to face and body and with Diaz not fighting back and badly cut over his left eyebrow the towel came flying in. Arias, 33, retained the South American title. The Brazilian lost to Johnny Nelson for the WBO cruiser title in 2001 and on points to Audley Harrison in 2008.
Ensenada, Mexico: Light: Antonio Cervantes (16-5-5) W PTS 12 Reyes Velasquez (9-1-2). Super Middle: Juan Carlos Virgen (17-1-1) W TKO 5 Paul Rodriguez (11-7-4). Middle: Orlando Lora (27-1-1) W TKO 2 Joel Juarez (27-14-1). A hard-fought, close battle saw both fighters willing to stand toe-to-toe and exchange bombs. The greater experience of “Bazooka” Cervantes, 33, told as he put in a late surge to win the unanimous decision on scores of 117-111, 116-113 and 118-115 and retained his WBC Fecarbox title. Virgen gets a needed win as Rodriguez is pulled out with a bad cut on his right eyelid. Lora returns after eleven months out and floors and halts experienced Juarez in two. Lora, 29, had his unbeaten streak of 27 fights ended last April by David Estrada. Any fight featuring Juarez, 32, rarely goes the distance and 37 of his 42 have ended early. Good punch, no chin.
Phoenix, USA: Jesus Gonzales (26-1) W PTS 12 Dhafir Smith (24-20-7). Gonzales collects wide, unanimous verdict over Smith. The 26-year-old southpaw outboxes Smith and scores repeatedly with right jab, straight left combinations and dominates from bell to bell. Scores 118-109 twice and 119-108. Gonzales wins vacant IBF North American title and his seconds wins after two years away. Smith was unbeaten in five, including a win over Jeff Lacy.
Royal Oak, USA: Super Middle: Darryl Cunningham (23-2) W PTS 8 Marcos Primera (20-24-2). Mark-time fight for southpaw Cunningham as he wins comfortable points victory over a washed-up Primera. Cunningham, 36, was shaken briefly in the eighth, but other than that it was really target practice, and the experienced Venezuelan concentrates on survival. Cunningham has won his last 16 including victories over veterans Antwun Echols and Ruben Williams. Primera has lost his last nine.
March 19
Cologne, Germany: Heavy: Vitali Klitschko (42-2) W KO 1 Odlanier Solis (17-1). Cruiser: Ola Afolabi (16-2-3) W TKO 5 Lubos Suda (23-5-1). Heavy: Nuri Seferi (30-6) W PTS 8 Jozsef Nagy (24-10). Welter: Stefan Worth (10-1-1) W PTS 8 Ferenc Zold (11-4,1ND). Heavy: Mike Sprott (35-15) W PTS 4 Serdar Uysal (13-12-2). All over inside three minutes. Cuban Solis starts well throwing some quick combinations, but then Klitschko gets on the front foot and begins to find the Cuban with his jab and had him retreating. As Solis moved forward, a mild, cuffing right to the temple from Klitschko sees Solis backing up and then awkwardly going down. A bewildered Klitschko cannot believe Solis has gone down from the light punch, but it is obvious as the count is ongoing and as he struggles to pull himself up by the ropes that Solis has injured his right knee. Having been counted out, he needs help to get back to the corner, whilst an angry Klitschko remonstrates with him for going down so easily. Solis said it was the knee injury that caused him to fall and be unable to continue, and the hospital later confirmed that he had suffered a serious knee injury which would require surgery, and his team admitted that in fact he had existing problems with the knee before going into the fight, but did not want to let the chance go by. Sixth defence of WBC title for 39-year-old Klitschko and win No 39 by KO/TKO. Solis, 30, had got himself into some condition with his weight down to 247lbs, but the knee injury made it irrelevant. Rest of the show nothing much. Londoner Afolabi gets his second win since an unsuccessful challenge to Marco Huck in December 2009 as experienced Czech Suda is halted due to a bad cut. Albanian Seferi wins a unanimous verdict over Hungarian Nagy, who used to be a middleweight, and now weighs 202lbs, which tells its own tale. Prospect Wroth and veteran Sprott also score points wins over poor opposition.
Montreal, Canada: Super Middle: Lucien Bute (28-0) W TKO 10 Brian Magee (34-4-1). Middle: Vanes Martirosyan (29-0) W KO 2 Vladimir Hernandez (18-5). Super Feather: Benoit Gaudet (24-2) W T DEC 6 Adrian Verdugo (17-4-1). Super Feather: Viorel Simion (13-0) W PTS 8 Pedro Navarette (26-11-3). Light Welter: Pier Olivier Cote (15-0) W TKO 1 Mike Lozada (37-8-1). Bantam: Sebastien Gauthier (20-2) W KO 2 Jovanny Soto (31-10-1). After three fairly even rounds Romanian Bute takes over in this all-southpaw battle. Bute began to dominate from the fourth and scored knockdowns with body punches in the sixth and seventh. As Magee tired Bute looked for the finish and found it in the tenth when he floored Magee with an uppercut, and the referee stopped the fight. Seventh defence of his IBF title for Bute and 23 of his wins have come by KO/TKO. It was only the second time that Magee had been stopped; the other time was a kayo in eleven rounds by Carl Froch in 2006. Ruthless display from “Nightmare” Martirosyan. Hurts and shakes Mexican in first and then wraps it up in the second with a left hook and a finishing right. WBO No 1 Martirosyan now has 18 by KO/TKO, but fourth loss inside the distance in a row for Hernandez. Gaudet given a tough night by Verdugo. Takes first three rounds but has a rocky fourth. A clash of heads sees Gaudet cut badly over the left eye and the bout goes to the scorecards. Gaudet, 31, wins on scores of 59-55 twice and 58-56. Guadet’s only loss in his last 18 was to Humberto Soto for the WBC super feather title in May 2009. Verdugo’s third loss in three tries in Canada. Former amateur star Simion, 29, has to climb off the floor twice in the second round to overcome experienced Mexican Navarette. Rights from Mexican put the Romanian down, but he recovered quickly and scored a knockdown of his own in the sixth. His better boxing helped him take a split decision, despite losing a point in the sixth for hitting Navarette behind the head. Scores 76-72, 75-73 and 74-75.Cote, 26, catches former WBA super feather challenger Lozada early and then puts him down three times for automatic stoppage to make it ten wins by KO/TKO. Spectacular kayo win for Gauthier as he floors Soto at the end of the first and then flattens him with a tremendous right in the second.
Dublin, Ireland: Super Bantam: Memo Rigondeaux (8-0) W TKO 1 Will Casey (11-1). Middle: Anthony Fitzgerald (12-2,1ND) WTKO 5 Affif Belghecham (19-7-1). Cruiser: Ian Tims (9-0) W PTS 10 Mike Sweeney (9-2-1).Massacre in Dublin as former double Olympic gold medalist destroys Casey inside a round. Right at the beginning Rigondeaux hurt Casey with a tremendous body punch. With Casey badly hurt the 30-year-old Cuban southpaw then floored him with a left. Casey went down on one knee and although he did not seem too badly hurt at that point. However, a pair of crashing hooks to the side of the head put Casey down again. He got up and tried to show some resistance but was caught with another hard punch, and as he was going down again the referee stopped the fight. First defence of his interim WBA title for “The Jackal”. Casey, also a southpaw was never given a chance to get into the fight. Fitzgerald, 25, wins vacant WBA version of a European title with controversial stoppage of Frenchman Belghecham, who was mad enough at the stoppage to get into a pushing match with the referee. Useful win for Fitzgerald as former European Union and French champion Belghecham, 36, had given Darren Barker a good fight for the vacant EBU title last April and gone the distance with Andy Lee. Timms just edges out Sweeney to win vacant Irish title. The referee scored it 97-95.
San Pedro Colula, Mexico: Light Fly: Roman Gonzalez (28-0) W PTS 12 Manuel Vargas (29-8-1). Light Welter: Ric Dominguez (33-7-2) W PTS 10 Luis Antonio Arceo (23-11-3).”Chocolatito” too good for challenger Vargas. His left jab takes him in front in the first three rounds. Vargas, the aggressor, has a good fourth and finishes strongly, but in between the classy 23-year-old Nicaraguan dominates and Vargas is cut and battered at the end. Two scores surprisingly close at 116-112 but third sees Gonzalez winning by 119-109. Gonzalez, going the distance for only the fifth time, retains WBA title and is looking to fight the winner of the April 2 fight between Giovani Segura and Ivan Calderon. “Chango” Vargas, 29, a former interim WBO strawweight champion, has lost 5 of his last 8, but all to champions. Good ten round scrap sees 25-year-old Dominguez just edge out Arceo on a split decision. A left from Dominguez put Arceo down in the third, but “ El Vampiro” came back into the fight and seemed to even things up with strong rounds from seven to nine. Dominguez produced the better work in the last round to just snatch the verdict, but Arceo looked worth a share of the points. Dominguez lost last year in challenges to Miguel Vazquez for the IBF light title and Humberto Soto for the WBC title. Arceo, 32, who lost only one of his first 22, then lost seven in a row, but had got his career back on track.
La Carlota, Argentina: Super Middle: Pablo Farias (18-0) W PTS 10 Matias Franco (9-7-1).Clear but unimpressive win for “Pokemon”. Despite giving away height and reach he easily outboxes Franco without really doing any damage, and Franco finishes strongly as Farias slows. Argentinian No 1 Farias, 23 remains unbeaten as he takes unanimous verdict on scores of 99-95 ½, 99-94 and 99-93 ½.
Moncton, Canada: Feather: Tyson Cave (14-1) W TKO 3 Hassan Wassa (5-13-3). Predictable early night for southpaw Cave. “Prince of Hali” drops Ugandan in each of the first two rounds and after a knockdown in the third, the referee stops the fight. Cave’s only loss was to Will Casey. Wassa has failed to win any of his last seven and this was his fourth loss in visits to Canada.
Mexico City, Mexico: Bantam: Jesus Ruiz (25-3-2) W PTS 10 Angel Aguilar. Light: Oliver Flores (21-0-1) W PTS 10 Daniel Hernandez (11-6). Light: Mauricio Pintor (13-0) W TKO 1 Gustavo Meza (1-5-1). Ruiz wins this one easily. He is too experienced and too fast for Aguliar, who is game but never really in the fight. “Little Star” Ruiz, 21, takes unanimous decision and retains WBC Latino title for third time. Nicaraguan prospect Flores wins unanimous decision over Hernandez and with it the vacant WBC International title. Still only 19, and with 15 wins by KO/TKO, Flores is being carefully matched, so needs better opposition to be evaluated. Tall for a lightweight at 5’10”, Mauricio Pintor, the nephew of the great Lupe Pintor, marches on with win No 13 by KO/TKO in mismatch.
Tampico, Mexico: Light Middle: David Lopez (40-12) W PTS 12 Mike Rosales (30-4). Super Feather: Sergio Torres (16-2-1) W PTS 11 Marlon Aguilar (25-10-1). 33yo “The Destroyer” Lopez, 33, wins NABA title and a WBA eliminator (although neither fighter is rated in the top 15!) with a hard fought majority victory over Rosales. It was a disappointing fight as their styles did not mix well and the taller Rosales kept it close. Lopez is unbeaten since 2005 and has lost only one of his last 22 fights. Not bad after being 5-5 in his first ten fights. Rosales had won seven in a row, including an upset victory over Filipino Mark Melligan, but Lopez was just too strong down the closing straight. “Bam Bam” Torres has to climb off the floor in the second and come from behind to wear down Nicaraguan Aguilar. From the seventh onwards Torres takes control and win on scores of 107-101, 106-102 and 105-103 to lift the WBA Fedlatin title. This was revenge for a loss to Aguilar in Nicaragua in 2007 and extends his unbeaten run to 14. “Rocky” Aguilar, 23, has been matched tough with losses to Jhonny Gonzalez, Daniel Ponce De Leon and Oscar Larios
Windhoek, Namibia: Super Middle: Wilberforce Shihepo (14-6) W TKO 9 Don Kampamba (2-2-2). Light: Paulus Moses (27-1) W KO 1 Miguel Lombardo (15-10-1). Light: Julius Indongo (7-0) W PTS 10 Sam Kapapu (7-6). No real test for “Hitman” Moses, 32, as the former WBA secondary champion puts Argentinian down for the count with a body shot with one second left in the first round. Now 19 by KO/TKO for Moses, but the 34-year-iold Argentinian has won only two of his last eleven fights. “Black Mamba” Shihepo found Zambian Kampamba a game opponent, but from the first round, when the Zambian suffered a cut, it was one-way traffic. Shihepo scored knockdowns in the fourth and seventh rounds, and with the cut worsening a Doctor’s inspection brought the stoppage. This for the interim WBO African title and win No 12 by KO/TKO for Shihepo, who was ahead 90-79 on two cards and 89-80 on the other The tall Indongo use his long left jab to dominate in his fight with Kapapu and won the vacant national title on scores of 99-91 twice and 100-90.
Manukau City, New Zealand: Heavy: David Tua (52-3-2) W PTS 10 Demetrice King (15-20). Super Middle: Maselino Maseo (30-6) W KO 4 Kashif Mumtaz (7-23-1).Cruiser: Vaitele Soi (14-0) W PTS 6 Oscar Siale (13-9). Tua scores unanimous decision over experienced loser King. Tua trying hard for kayo from the start, but no knockdowns and King, whose right hand hardly ever moves away from his chin, survives. Tua has to settle for points win. Scores 100-91 twice and 100-90.Now 38, Samoan-born Tua’s title hopes suffered a set back when he could only manage a draw with Monte Barrett in July. Tua missed out on his big chance when he lost on points to Lennox Lewis for the WBC and IBF titles in 2000. King, 26, has only been stopped twice, and can fight when he wants to, as inside the distance victories over Bermane Stiverne and Bowie Tupou prove. Former WBA champion Masoe, 44, too strong for Pakistani-born southpaw Mumtaz, 39, and is well in front when he halts Mumtaz late in fourth round. Samoan Soi, 23, remains unbeaten but has to settle for a split decision over former Commonwealth contender Siale. Scores 59-54, 58-54 and 56-57. Soi had won a majority verdict over Siale in January last year. Now having lost six of his last seven fights, the 39-year-old New Zealand southpaw Siale seems to have no luck in tight decisions as his loss in the fight for the vacant Commonwealth title with Dominic Vea in July was also a majority verdict.
Cebu City, Philippines: Bantam: AJ Banal (24-1-1) W TKO 2 Francis Miyeyusho (29-9-2). Super Fly: Milan Melindo (24-0) W KO 1 Rosendo Vega (16-7). Super Fly: Rocky Fuentes (29-6-2) W PTS 8 Jemmy Gobel (16-13-5). Light Welter: Romeo Jakosalem (12-4-1) W TKO 8 Steve Claggett (11-1-1). Too easy for 22-year-old southpaw Banal. After Miyuyusho edges first round, AJ then floors Tanzanian three times in second and Miyeyusho counted out. First defence of WBO Asia Pacific title for Banal. Miyeyusho, 31, and also a southpaw, was kayoed in two rounds by Isaac Ward for the Commonwealth title in 2007, and has yet to last the distance in any fight outside Tanzania. IBF top rated flyweight “Method Man” Melindo scores two knockdowns and puts away Mexican with just one second remaining in the first round. Vega, 33, had gone the full ten rounds with WBA champion Daiki Kameda in July. WBC No 3 “Road Warrior” Fuentes pressures Gobel all the way. Has him badly hurt at end of seventh, but Gobel lasts out eighth. All three officials see it 80-70 for OPBF champion. Gobel lost five of six now. “Romeo Jako” upsets highly touted Canadian Claggett. Dropped twice with body shots in the second, the Filipino survives and cuts Claggett in fourth. Doctor examines the cut but lets the fight continue. Claggett remains the aggressor, but walks into some heavy punishment. Claggett being badly rocked by combination punches in eighth and not fighting back when the referee stopped it.
