Paulie Malignaggi wins split decision over Pablo Cesar Cano

By Joseph Herron – In what was supposed to be his first title defense at the newly erected Barclays Center in front of his hometown fans of Brooklyn, New York, current WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KOs) was forced to settle for a twelve round grudge match due to his opponent’s failure to meet the 147 pound weight requirement.

Former Lightweight pugilist Pablo Cesar Cano (25-2-1, 19 KOs) of Mexico weighed in at 147.75 at the official weigh in on Friday afternoon and lost his opportunity to challenge for the WBA title.

Despite missing out on the chance to become a Welterweight champion, the young 23 year old fighter made a very solid showing for himself against the much more experienced two division world champion.

Although Cano eventually lost a uniquely scored split decision to the Brooklyn born fighter, the tough Mexican body puncher gave Paulie everything he could handle, flooring the WBA Champ with a sharp right hand in the eleventh round of action.

But to begin the contest, the fight was all Malignaggi.

Peter Quillin wins WBO Middleweight title in front of hometown faithful

By Joseph Herron – Undefeated Middleweight Peter Quillin (28-0, 20 KOs) captured a piece of the 160 pound puzzle by besting the previously unbeaten incumbent WBO title holder, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-1, 17 KOs), to earn a unanimous twelve round decision, flooring the defending champ six times in the process.

To begin the most action filled bout of the highly publicized Golden Boy quadruple header, the French based fighter used shifting lateral movement to keep the title challenger off balance and seemed to frustrate Quillin with quick shots from the outside.

N’Dam ostensibly won two of the first three rounds of action based on ring generalship and clean, effective punching from mid to long range. Despite having difficulty cutting off the ring effectively, “Kid Chocolate” showed his poise and maturity by shifting gears to plan B and forcing the reigning champ to assume a more aggressive role.

Rather than fighting N’Dam’s fight, the 29 year old Brooklynite baited the fleet footed visiting fighter into letting his hands go while moving in and countered Hassan with a picture perfect left hook that floored the WBO title holder for the first time in his professional career within the first minute of round number four.

Danny Garcia destroys Erik Morales in 4!

By Joseph Herron — On Saturday night at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, universally recognized Junior Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia proved to the boxing world that his initial victory over future Hall of Famer Erik “El Terrible” Morales on March 24th was no fluke.

By using superior speed and strength, the 24 year old fighter from Philly overwhelmed the Mexican legend and more than likely put a dagger in the once brilliant career of the four division world champion with a massive left hand bomb at the 1:45 mark of round number four.

The courageous “El Terrible” immediately flew back into the ropes upon impact and spun onto the ring canvas. Before the third man in charge, Benjy Esteves Jr, could begin to count, a Morales cornerman jumped into the ring and Esteves instantaneously called a halt to the bout at the 1:43 mark of the fourth and final round.

Most ringside observers could see the difference in athleticism and power at the opening bell.

To begin the contest, the two men fought a very tentative round that could be described as a feeling out stanza for the customarily action oriented warriors. Aside from a few good shots landed by both fighters, the action didn’t begin to heat up until the subsequent 3 minutes.

Brook stops Saldivia in 3rd round

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) did a demolition job on an outclassed Hector Saldivia (41-3, 32 KO’s), stopping him in the 3rd round in this IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Saldivia was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and a final time in the 3rd. In the 3rd, Brook hit Saldivia with a hard jab that knocked him down. Saldivia got back to his feet but referee Howard Foster rightfully stopped the fight at :28 of the round.

Brook had Saldivia down in the 1st from a right hand. The remainder of that round saw Saldivia running and just trying to keep fro getting knocked out. The second round was mostly Brook landing jabs, uppercuts, right hands and left hooks while Saldivia took them clean in the face like a good sparring partner. In the tail end of the round, Saldivia came alive, landing a handful of shots that had Brook in distress. However, the round ended before Saldivia could do anything more.

There really wasn’t much to the fight. Saldivia threw next to no punches and was put down in the 1st round from a right hand. What jumped out at you in watching this fight was how did Saldivia get ranked #3 by the IBF? He looked worse than any of the top 15 contenders for any of the sanctioning bodies, and just made the fight look like a joke from start to finish. It was clear from watching the first 10 seconds of the fight that Saldivia didn’t belong out there, and the IBF didn’t do him or their own company any service by ranking Saldivia so highly when he didn’t have the skills to be fighting at this level.

Rios vs. Alvarado: Brandon takes a ton of punishment in winning; Pacquiao could be next

Rios vs. Alvarado: Brandon takes a ton of punishment in winning; Pacquiao could be next By Reni M. Valenzuela: How can you not fall for boxing as a Sweet Science after having just watched the classic Rios-Alvarado yesterday?

The fight was truly classic in the sense that it lasted only seven rounds but there was more than enough action the fans needed to see to be awed and spellbound. Much unlike the hide-and-seek Halloween baccarat in the main card, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado pursued each other for a non-stop head-on collision in the ring, and with so much heart and boxing skill on display coming from both of them.

It was like a novel that keeps you hold your breath until the last paragraph of the last page wherein only you get to know for sure the story line’s ending. “The War” ended uplifting as the people in the open-field Home Depot Center were exuberant and cheered like a dog with two tails, and with wide grin. They simply have fallen for everything that happened within those 19 minutes of the fight.

Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: One for the ages

By Joseph Herron: Too often in boxing, heavily publicized events fail to live up to expectation and fall short of the preceding media hype. In this era of safety first fighters and early stoppages, it’s hard to guarantee a sure fire winner.

But when the match-up of Brandon Rios versus Mike Alvarado was initially announced by Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum and company several months ago, most fight fans and media members knew that the pairing would surely strike gold at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on October 13th.

Both fighters were undefeated going into this bout, and the two warriors desperately wanted to put forth a star making performance on the biggest stage of boxing, HBO.

Rios’ KO of Alvarado – Awesome Display of Ferocity

By Paul Strauss: It’s almost unfair. Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios not only is heavy handed, he’s also iron jawed. Mike “Mile HIgh” Alvarado hit him bunches of times with shots that would have put lesser fighters in la la land. Yet each time Rios got nailed, he would hardly take a step back, and instead would jump right back in Mike’s face. Alvarado tried to mimic him, and to many, including unofficial score keeper Harold Lederman, Mile High was being successful at the Home Depot Center, Carson, CA.

As the battle unfolded, it looked to be shaded in favor of Alvarado. He boxed well, making good use of his size advantage, his good mobility and his jab. He changed angles of his punches, managing to get around Rios’ tight guard, or split it up the middle. But, Mike’s swollen face told a different story. It revealed the power of Bam Bam’s short shots, which were not showy but devastating. Often times Rios’ unique style causes one to believe he’s back on his heels. His posture just doesn’t seem to be quite right, but the truth is he gets all of his body behind his pulverizing inside work, and he loves it. After a particularly brutal early round, he trekked back to his corner with a big smile on his face, telling trainer Robert Garcia, “I love this @#!%!”

It’s impossible to give a blow by blow description of the fight. It was more like a gang attack. On the one hand it was bam bam by Rios, and on the other it was rat ta tat tat by Alvarado. Both men had automatic weapons. There was no single shot firing by these two combat veterans. These guys were equipped with high caliber, rapid fire arsenals.

Donaire stops Nishioka in 9th round; Rios defeats Alvarado in 7th round TKO

By Rob Smith: In a really disappointing match, IBF/WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (30-1, 19 KO’s) easily defeated 36-year-old WAY best his best Toshiaki Nishioka (39-5-3, 24 KO’s) by a 9th round TKO on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, USA. Donaire knocked the reluctant Nishioka down twice in the fight, once in the 6th and finished him off with a right to the head in the 9th. Nishioka’s corner threw in the towel after the knockdown.

It was yet another one of Donaire’s disappointing fights because he had tried to sell the aging Nishioka as the best fighter in the super bantamweight division for weeks to boxing fans, saying he’s better than the top fighters. It was painfully obvious tonight that the fading Nishioka wasn’t what Donaire had said he was, and it’s just disappointing that Donaire won’t take on the best guys in the division like Abner Mares and Guillermo Rigondeaux instead of guys like Nishioka and Jeffrey Mathebula.

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In a toe-to-toe war, former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-0-1, 23 KO’s) defeated previously unbeaten Mike Alvarado (33-1, 23 KO’s) by a 7th round TKO on Saturday night to claim the vacant WBO Latino light welterweight title in their WBO light welterweight title eliminator bout.

DeGale struggles to beat Mohoumadi in a war

By Michael Collins: In another poor performance from EBU super middleweight champion James DeGale (13-1, 9 KO’s), he went life and death tonight in defeating little known Frenchman Hadillah Mohoumadi (13-3-1, 9 kO’s) by 12 round unanimous decision at the Glow, Bluewater, Greenhithe, Kent, United Kingdom. DeGale took an awful lot of punishment in this fight and spent most of the fight against the ropes soaking up punishment.

The final judges’ scores were 119-109, 117-111 and 116-112. The scores were something of a joke because the fight was a lot closer than the scores would have you believe. 116-112 is a lot closer to reality, but even that was far off the mark. The judge that scored it 119-109 for DeGale appeared to be watching a different fight altogether because DeGale took a real beating in this fight and no way did he deserve to win the fight by that kind of score.

DeGale’s face was badly swollen on the left side of around his eyes from Mohoumadi’s hard right hands.

Price destroys Harrison in 1st round KO; Skelton stops Gospic

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion David Price (14-0, 12 KO’s) not surprisingly destroyed a well past his prime 40-year-old Audley Harrison (28-6, 21 KOs’) in the 1st round tonight at the Echo Arena, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Price hurt Harrison with a straight right hand that didn’t look like it was thrown with a lot of power or speed.

It was more like a jab than anything. However, Harrison had his head turned sideways for some reason and the shot hurt him. Harrison then foolishly backed up to the ropes and just stood there while Price unloaded on him with everything but the kitchen sink. After getting hit with one especially hard right hand, Harrison fell down just as the referee jumped in to stop the slaughter.

After the fight the British media seemed to be making a big fuss out of Price’s victory, pouring the compliments over his head endlessly without thinking about who Price just beat. This was Audley Harrison who had already been exposed by the likes of David Haye and Martin Rogan among many others, and it wasn’t much of a victory. The question is why is a 29-year-old former Olympic bronze medalist like Price still being matched the likes of Harrison? Does Price’s promoter know something about his chin that other fans don’t? If his chin is okay then Price should have been WAY past guys like Harrison years ago. Price is wasting too much time in his career facing fodder opposition instead of quality.