Results From The MGM Grand In Las Vegas

By Marc Abrams

13.04 - CRUZ CARBAJAL 22-11-1 (8) vs Steve Dotse 22-5-2 (16): Carbajal coming off an explosive 4th round knockout over Danny Romero and is the current WBO 118 pound champ. This was an over the weight non-title fight as Carbajal is 120.5 and Dotse was 121. The only name on Dotse's ledger was 6th round knockout loss at the hands of former champ Tim Austin.

Carbajal comes out strong and lands 4 nice right hands as Dotse looks outclassed is trying to counter to the body. In round 2 Carbajal comes out throwin volumes of punches and wobbles Dotse. Dominating round as Carbajal is throwing a barrage of punches. In between rounds Dotse walks to the wrong corner and Ref Joe Cortez asks Dotse if he is ok and he got no response and stops the fight at the end of round 2. Your winner by TKO 2: CRUZ CARBAJAL

WBA featherweight title holder Derrick "Smoke" Gainer 38-5 (24 ko's) versus the unheralded Oscar Leon 23-2 (16 ko's): Gainer most known as Roy Jones' best freind and is vying to get in the Barrera/Morales sweepstakes. Gainer by far has fought the better competition as he has been in with Kevin Kelley twice, Diego Corrales, and Freddie Norwood and Leon has fought only John Michael Johnson as name opponent.

In round 1 Leon comes and is scoring inside and each trade some big shots. Gainer has a better round 2 as he lands some nice combos. Leon unexpectadly takes the middle rounds by simply outworking the champion such as round 4 where he out punched Gainer 97-39 and continued his volume punch in round 5, with little response from Gainer. Gainer gets back into the fight in rounds 6 and 7 as he does a little more the Leon. In round 8 Gainer is looking stronger throwing some nice combos and drops Leon with a great body shot right on the belt. Leon tries to land ome big shots at the end of the round. In round 9 Leon comes out slugging and Gainer is throwing wild shots that miss. Gainer is taking control of the fight by landing the better shots throughoy the late rounds including a huge right hand as Leon tried to come in and was dropped to the canvas for a second time. Leon might have won round 11 but did not do enough in my opinon to get a decision. I scored 114- 111 for Gainer despite outpunching him 673 to 367 he only landed 1 more punch 135-134.

Judge Duane Ford scored 114-112 Gainer, Judge Carol Castelano scored the same 114-112 but this time for Leon. The WBA appointed judge from the Phillpines scored 117-110 Gainer. YOUR WINNER BY SPLIT DECISION: DERRICK "SMOKE" GAINER

On to the main event Marco Antonio Barrera 56-3(39 Ko's), regarded the best featherweight in the world, takes on former champ Kevin "The Flushing Flash" Kelley. Both guys have fought the who is who of the featherweight division. They both fought Erik Morales (Barrera solit 2 epic battles with his countryman), where Kelley was TKO'd 7 and Barrera beat Naseem Hamed as Kelley was knockedout in 4. Barrera is coming off an impressive decision over Johnny Tapia. Kelley has not beat anyone of note in 6 years or so and thats why oddsmakers have Barrera a 15-1 favorite.

Kelley went down on the 1st decent shot of the fight, a short left hand landed by Barrera and right away you can tell this is a big class difference as Kelley makes out of round 1. Barrera is landing whenever he wants to in rounds 2 and 3 and Kelley's eye begins swelling by eating so many of Barrera's left jabs. In round 4 2 vicious body shots put Kelley down for a 2nd time. He gets up to take more of a savage beating and goes down for a 2nd time in round 4. Mercifully Referee Robert Byrd Stops it Mid way Through round 4. Your Winner by 4th round TKO and the recognized Featherweight Champion of The world, Marco Antonio Barrera.

For a pay-per-view fight This was a gross mismatch and i hope we dont see too many more of these offerd to the public. One could becoming in a couple of weeks where Oscar DeLahoya is taking on a undeserving and probably overmatched Yory Boy Campas in a fight Oscar should win in his sleep, but at least on the undercard of that show we get to see 1A of the featherweights in Erik Morales.