Undefeated light middleweight Michael “Pretty Boy” Zerafa (11-0, 5 KOs) suffered a major scare en route to defeating Rey Anton Olarte (17-23-8, 4 KOs) via unanimous decision last night to capture the 2013 Bob Rose Cup at the Malvern Town Hall, Melbourne, Australia.
In the biggest test of his career to date, Zerafa suffered a devastating knockdown in round three to Sydneysider Olarte, which had Zerafa on wobbly legs and lucky to survive the count. Olarte’s southpaw style and awkward angles caused great difficulty for Zerafa in the early rounds, but the knockdown seemed to spur him into action where he rebounded strongly across the middle rounds.
FRED STERNBURG: Welcome everyone. We have got two very hot fighters from a very hot division getting ready to take each other on in world championship fight on Saturday, June 15, at the American Airlines Center® in Dallas. It will be televised live on HBO® at 10:45 p.m. ET/PT. The HBO Boxing After Dark telecast will open with a ten-round bout between Top-10 contenders Terence Crawford and Alejandro Sanabria Jr. for the vacant NABO lightweight title. If it is two things Mikey Garcia and Juanma Lopez know, it is how to win and how to win by knockout.
From the opening bell in this highly anticipated matchup between Josesito Lopez and Marcos Maidana one thing will be clear, both fighters will dig deep for a victory and have a win by any means necessary attitude. In what is yet another main event being billed as a possible fight of the year for 2013, a boxing year that has exploded from March to May it’s hard not to assume that this fight will live up to the lofty expectations placed on it by hardcore fans. These fighters managed to pull off upsets versus Victor Oritz, making him quit without a 10 count. The winner puts himself in great position to land a title fight at welterweight. Style and the mentalities of these fighters should make for an instant classic, something the Home Depot Center (now named StubHub) has become accustom to in recent years. 
Oscar De La Hoya thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the same fighter now that he was when they fought in 2007. De La Hoya believes Mayweather is still essentially as good as he was back then, but the difference now is he’s fighting who De La Hoya feels is a better fighter than himself in Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on September 14th. 
BERNARD HOPKINS, IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is saying that he’s got an agreement from both Amir Khan and IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander for a fight on December 7th in Dubai. Schaefer is still working out the details of the fight and he still needs to iron out the venue, but he’s got the hardest part out of the way in getting both guys to agree to the fight.