Bradley defeats Provodnikov in war; Vargas decisions Omotoso

bradley11By Bill Phanco: WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (30-0, 12 KO’s) defeated light welterweight challenger Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Bradley, 29, was knocked down in the 12th round by Provodnikov, and badly hurt in the 1st, 2nd, 6th in addition to the 12th round. It looks like the referee blew a call in the 1st that would have caused the fight to end in a draw by ruling it a slip after a badly hurt Bradley was knocked down by Provodnikov. The judges scored it 114-113, 114-113 and 115-113.

After the fight, Bradley, with bad swelling on both sides of his face, said “I think I have a concussion. This guy is a power puncher. He’ll beat any 140 or 147 pound fighter out there.

Mendez KOs Salgado in 4 to capture IBF Super Featherweight title

By Joseph Herron: It took Dominican born Argenis Mendez (21-2, 11 KOs) just ten minutes and forty seconds to dispose of former IBF Super Featherweight Champion Juan Carlos Salgado (26-2-1, 16 KOs) in last night’s main event at The Hangar in Costa Mesa, California.

His first championship opportunity against Juan Carlos was fought in September of 2011 and was staged in Salgado’s backyard of Jalisco, Mexico, which resulted in a unanimous decision victory for the hometown favorite.

Hopkins The Master Does It Again, Takes Another One To School!

hop9By James Slater – Living legend Bernard Hopkins did it again last night in New York: he took a good, strong unbeaten young fighter to school and relieved him of his world title. Arguably putting on his best show since taking away Kelly Pavlik’s perfect record in 2008, the amazing 48-year-old totally confused the powerful and dangerous Tavoris Cloud over 12 enthralling rounds to take the IBF 175-pound belt.

Enthralling rounds? Well, it’s certainly been said that Hopkins is a boring fighter, but if you do not enjoy ring mastery, ring brilliance and, yes, sheer genius unfolding before your eyes, then maybe the problem is more with you and less with ‘Nard. And Hopkins, now 53-6-2(32) sure put all his ring craft, all his savvy and experience and all his boxing brains on display last night. Scoring more rounds for defence perhaps (B-Hop cares less about punch stats and more about history stats!), Hopkins bamboozled Cloud, he had him tied up in knots (as ring caller Dave Bontempo stated on air) and he had Cloud bleeding and well beaten.

Hopkins defeats Cloud; Thurman decisions Zaveck

hop11By Bill Phanco: 48-year-old Bernard Hopkins defeated IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture his IBF title at the at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 117-111, 116-112.

Undefeated welterweight Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) put in an impressive power punching display in pounding out a nice 12 round unanimous decision on against #1 WBO Jan Zaveck (32-2, 18 KO’s) in an WBO title eliminator bout. The victory locks Thurman in as the mandatory challenger for WBO 147 lb. champion Tim Bradley.

The judges scored the fight 120-108, 120-108, 120-108. Thurman kept a constant flow of power shots raining down ont he shorter Zaveck through the full 12 rounds.

Barker stops Rotolo; Groves defeats Balmaceda

By Jeff Sorby: Super middleweight contender George Groves (17-0, 13 KO’s) made easy work of Dario Balmaceda (11-7-2, 7 KO’s) in stopping him in the 3rd round in a two knockdown performance on Saturday night in the 24-year-old Groves’ first fight with Matchroom Sport at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Grove put the lanky Balmaceda down with a short right hand to the body in the 2nd.