BOXING'S BIGGEST NIGHT By Kenny Perrault

The Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey played host to "The Biggest Night in Boxing" promoted by Don King. The PPV show started with Zab "Super" Judah putting his WBO Jr. Welterweight title on the line against Jaime Rangel. Judah only needed a little over a minute to put Rangel away with a straight left hand that sent Rangel hard to the canvas where he would stay. Judah improved his record to 30-1 (22 KOs) while Rangel dropped to 29-5 (25 KOs)

The second card of the PPV show squared up two undefeated fighters, Travis Simms against WBA 154 pound champion Alex 'Terra' Garcia. The first four rounds were fairly even with both boxers getting their licks but neither man hurting the other. The fifth round started off like the previous four until both fighters engaged in a clinch. Simms let go of Garcia while Garcia was looking at the ref to see if he was coming in to break the clinch. Garcia then dropped his arms and relaxed his body, as if the referee was coming in to break the two fighters. Simms then saw an opening and threw a smashing left hook that sent Garcia to the canvas for the ten count. Garcia forgot one of the most important rules in boxing PROTECT YOURSELF AT ALL TIMES! Simms becomes the new WBA Jr. Middleweight champion and upped his record to 23-0 (18 KOs) while Garcia fell to 22-1 (21 KOs).

The third fight could possibly be one of the most boring fights of the year if not the decade. And guess who was in it? John Ruiz! Imagine that, John Ruiz in an ugly, boring fight.

Ruiz fought former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman in a twelve round snooze fest. These two fighters spent more time holding each other in a 12 round fight than most couples do in a year. Ruiz must have been watching professional wrestling tapes before this fight because every chance he had he would put Rahman in a headlock. The fight pretty much went like this... jab by Ruiz, Rahman tries to counter, Ruiz grabs Rahman and puts him in a headlock. Neither man did anything to up his stock in the heavyweight division. HBO and Showtime must be licking their chops to get either man in the ring again. At any rate, Ruiz did enough to win a unanimous decision, with the judges scoring the fight 118-110, 115-114, and 116-112. Ruiz walks away as the WBA interim champ and his record improves to 39-5-1 (27 KOs) while Rahman drops to 35-5-1 (29 KOs). This is Rahman's third loss in his last four fights.

The fourth bout brought together the welterweight divisions two champions. Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga, holder of the WBA and WBC versions of the title while his opponent Cory "The Next Generation" Spinks brought in the IBF title. It was the first of two undisputed fights of the night and proved to be the biggest upset also.

Mayorga tried to pressure the slick southpaw Spinks early in the fight like he does with all his opponents. Spinks used great defense and legs to stay away from the charging "El Matador" for most of the fight. Mayorga would swing his way into the inside but many of his punches missed or were blocked by Spinks. It seemed as if every time Ricardo would get to Spinks, he would counter Mayorga and stop his oncoming barrage of punches that came from all angles. In round five, and following several warnings, Mayorga was deducted a point by veteran referee Tony Orlando for hitting after the bell.

Mayorga would loose another point in the 11th round for holding and hitting Spinks. Throughout the fight Spinks did his best to stay away from the charging Mayorga using his legs and bobbing his head while trying to land counter punches of his own and it proved to be enough. At the end of the 12 round affair the judges saw it in favor of Spinks, scoring the fight 114-114, 114-112- and 117-110 crowning Spinks the undisputed welterweight champion of the world. Just a side note, had referee Tony Orlando not deducted the two points from Mayorga, Ricardo would have won on one score card, causing the fight to be called a draw. After the decision was announced Mayorga walked over to Spinks and placed his two belts on Spinks' shoulders, showing good sportsmanship. Ricardo Mayorga's record slid to 26-4-1, (23 KOs) while the newly crowned undisputed champion Cory Spinks improved to 32-2, (10 KOs).

The last fight of the night would put undisputed middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins in the ring against William Joppy. Not a whole lot to say about this fight, as Hopkins simply dominated Joppy for 12 rounds. Joppy did all he could to get in the fight but the superior Hopkins manhandled him from opening to closing bell. Joppy's face swelled in a gruesome manner as the fight went on, with both cheeks puffing up as if there were apples under his skin. This was Hopkins' last fight with Don King as he is now a free agent, and planning to start his own promotions this year. Joppy did walk away with a little bonus of $50,000 for lasting the distance with the undisputed champion Hopkins.