PAUL WILLIAMS PUTS THE WELTERWEIGHT DIVISION ON NOTICE... by Oleg Bershadsky
Nothing is more exciting than a fight between two undefeated boxers, especially with legitimate credentials. Knowing that one must lose makes the two boxers fight that much harder to keep their unbeaten streak alive. When Paul Williams walked into the ring against Walter Matthysse it was to find out the truth about each of their potentials as the possible future of the welterweight division. 

GONZALEZ EDGES MONTIEL BY SPLIT DECISION... by Tom Dickey @ ringside
In what turned out to be a disappointing main event, Jhonny Gonzalez retained his WBO Bantamweight title by split decision over Fernando Montiel from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

AUGUSTUS SCHOOLS LOGAN IN DECISION ROUT... by George Elsasser
The win has Augustus at a now shabby on paper 33-27-6, 17 KO’s, but in performance, he once again displayed  the copyrighted in and out of the book of sweet science skills, that make him unique among the rest - as simple as A-B-C, the reliable veteran can quickly change gears to adjust to the situation at hand.

STILL THE MAN: MUNDINE WINS A SHOT AT THE WORLD... by Andrew Stevenson
BOXING'S great grudge match went the distance last night, thrilling a crowd of more than 30,000 and delivering Australian bragging rights firmly into Anthony Mundine's lightning fast hands.
Mundine's unanimous points decision ended four years of sniping - impressive even by boxing's trash-talking standards - and should ensure him another world title shot.
 

PETER POWER PREVAILS - HALTS LONG IN 1... by George Elsasser
This one was predestined - power punching Peter still only a kid of age 25, albeit a big one at 6’ 1" and 256 pounds, did what comes naturally in the role of predator as he drops his prey late in the opening candle - and then quickly closes the show with two more right hands that saw Long down and out.

GUTIERREZ DEVASTATES WRIGHT BY 2ND ROUND TKO... by Tom Dickey @ ringside
Gutierrez came out aggressively in round two, and Wright still seemed hurt. Gutierrez began rocking Wright with combinations. Midway into the round Gutierrez got Wright on the ropes and wailed away with combinations until referee Jose Cobian halted the bout. Gutierrez wins by 2nd round TKO at 1:41. With the win, Gutierrez of Santa Rosa, California improves to 9-0 with 8 KOs, while Wright of San Diego falls to 5-7-1.

WILLIAMS KO'S RIOS IN TWO... by George Elsasser
Tall, rangy southpaw Paul Williams of Augusta, Georgia country upped the flawless streak to a now 29 with 21 coming via knockout after dropping, and stopping, overmatched Sergio Rios at the 2:24 mark of stanza two.
Williams opened the show to a busy beat, as he pressed a seemingly intimidated Rios behind a darting jab mixed with assorted offerings from both sides -  and come round two it was clear to Williams he would be calling all the shots.

BRYANT HALTS SYKES IN FOUR... by George Elsasser
Took two two stanzas of slow, lumbering, awkward inaction, with the "Riot"  struggling without directions while the "Bull" kept him occupied with a roundhouse arm punch here and there, before things would change come candle three.
With both resting on the inside, and hack third man in the ring Jim Korb imploring either to toss a punch or two, it was Bryant taking the initiative with a short right uppercut that dropped Sykes heavily to the canvas - before the bell came to the rescue "The Bull" would fall a second time.
 

THE WATER GETS STIRRED AT HEAVYWEIGHT... Sharkie's Machine by Frank Gonzalez Jr.
Congratulations to “The New” WBO, Heavyweight Champion of the World, Sergei “The White Wolf” Liakhovich of Belarus, who was ranked 13th by the WBO before his undisputed Unanimous Decision victory over Lamon Brewster. For Sergei, it was an impressive display of skillful boxing, strategic use of round time, defensive mobility, heart and will to win. Congrats also go to Lamon Brewster, who has been a good Ambassador for the sport during his reign as WBO Champion. All good things come to an end and Saturday night in Cleveland, Brewster’s time was up.
 

TERRI BLAIR STOPS SUMYA ANANI TO BECOME NEW IBA WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPION... by Elisa Harrison
What on paper seemed to be a sure shot for Sumya Anani, 25-2-1 10 KOs, became a major upset when Terri Blair, 6-10-2, 3 KOs, stopped the talented Anani 1:37 into the 10th round. Blair, 30, a southpaw from Louisville, Kentucky dropped Anani in the tenth round, leading to an eventual stoppage.

ZABALA'S ALL STAR BOXING RESULTS: COSME RIVERA DEFEATS GIL 'SUGAR' REYES
 

MIRANDA HALTS EASTMAN - EARNS IBF TITLE SHOT... by George Elsasser
Last night’s FNF feature bout from Hollywood, Florida paired undefeated Edison Miranda and Howard Eastman in an IBF middleweight eliminator to current champion Arthur Abraham - and when the smoke cleared it was Miranda advancing via 7th round TKO.

PHILLIPS BESTS CANDELO IN ESPN GRUDGE BATTLE... by George Elsasser
The ESPN2 Wednesday summer series season opened with a doctored version of a grudge match pitting former pals Verno Phillips and J.C. Candelo over some respective personal slights.
The action was brisk - Phillips the bigger puncher and Candelo the slicker stylist of the two - bitter feelings appeared to cloud the mind of the lighter punching Candelo, as he willingly spent much of the rounds waging battle on the inside.

FELICIANO GETS WIN OVER 'COOL' VINCE PHILLIPS... by Jim Amato
Feliciano came to fight and I think he surprised Phillips in the first two rounds with his strength and aggression. As ringside commentator Teddy Atlas noted, starting in the third round Vince seemed to make some adjustments to give himself more room and began to land his dangerous right hand.

FELICIANO NIPS PHILLIPS BY MAJORITY DECISION... by George Elsasser
Last nite’s ESPN FNF offering from Boston, MA coughed up a busy, non-stop welterweight club fight affair that saw Jesse Feliciano claiming a majority decision win over 42 year old warhorse Vince Phillips.
Feliciano quickly brought the action to Phillips while grabbing the opening two stanzas - nothing text-book as he pumped away at close quarters with short on clout point scorers -  Phillips had trouble finding needed space for his combinations.
 

PITO' CARDONA SCORES EARLY STOPPAGE IN COMEBACK BOUT...
Former USBA & NABF lightweight champion Israel "Pito" Cardona impressed in his comeback fight on Friday night; the 31-year-old destroyed his opponent Bobby McAndrews in a welterweight bout at the Lexington Street Armory in Worcester, Massachusetts.
McAndrews went down three times before the fight was stopped at 2:29 of the opening round. With the win, Cardona's record improves to 35-6 with 27 KOs while McAndrews drops to 3-6-1, 3 KOs.

SOLIMAN CRUISES OVER MUNOZ; MORA SHOCKS JOHNSON... by Tom Dickey, ringside
Soliman had a completely different opponent than he had in his last fight. Munoz was no Winky Wright, in fact Munoz was the anti-Winky. He knew only one way and that way was straight ahead. Soliman with his aggressive style, and high punch output was able to dominate and issue a lot of punishment to Munoz. From the opening bell Soliman jumped on Munoz, who fought valiantly but was overmatched.

COTTO RETAINS WBO BAUBLE - HALTS BRANCO IN 8... by George Elsasser
Popular Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto continued unbeaten last nite with an eight round TKO stoppage of Italian challenger Gianluca Branco -  end came suddenly following a power left-hook to the shoulder that resulted in Branco waving the proverbial flag of surrender.
 

COTTO STOPS BRANCO; STAYS ON TRACK FOR CLASH WITH MALIGNAGGI
Cotto simply seemed to be the stronger and harder puncher between the two, although Branco showed plenty of professionalism along the way in keeping things interesting. Cotto's best work came as he pinned his foe to the ropes and fired off punishing shots to the head and body, which eventually took their toll and had Branco retiring to his corner holding his right shoulder and wincing in pain.  

SHOBOX 'THE NEW GENERATION' RESULTS: DARCHINYAN STOPS GABI TO RETAIN IBF FLYWEIGHT TITLE
In the second world title fight in “ShoBox” history, Vic Darchinyan successfully defended his International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight title for the third time by scoring an eighth-round TKO over IBF No. 3 contender Diosdado Gabi Friday on “ShoBox.”  In the junior welterweight co-feature from the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, Calif., Rustam Nugaev dealt Anthony Mora his first defeat by recording a fifth-round TKO.
 

HOPKINS CONTINUES UNBEATEN; FIGUEROA-MOSLEY STEAL THE NIGHT... by George Elsasser
The ESPN FNF Demetrius Hopkins- Mario Jose Ramos pairing pretty much went as scripted - the undefeated and celebrated Bernard nephew, budding jr. welter prospect faced a non-threat in Ramos who has amassed no more than 3 stoppages on his 16-1-1 work application.
Demetrius prospect, a 5-11 age 25, 140 pounder with 9 knockouts on the resumé in a now 24 outings appears short on clout as well.

MARGARITO CRUSHES GOMEZ IN DEVASTATING FASHION... by Mike Leanardi, ringside
During the post-fight press conference Margarito’s promoter Bob Arum, who is also the promoter for WBC Super Lightweight Champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., dropped a bombshell when he stated, “I have reserved July 29 at the Thomas and Mack Center for Margarito to fight the winner of Mayweather and (Zab) Judah. Hopefully Floyd will pull out the win because I know a fight between Mayweather and Margarito will be huge. It's a fight that everybody will want to see,” and indeed it would be.

VILORIA BATTLES HIS WAY TO UNANIMOUS DECISION AGAINST AGUIRRE... by Mike Leanardi, ringside
WBC World Light Flyweight Champion Brian Viloria (19-0, 12 KO's) battled his way to a tougher than expected unanimous decision over Jose Antonio Aguirre (33-5-1, 20 KO's).

CHAVEZ JR. UNIMPRESSIVE IN HIS REMATCH AGAINST CARLOS MOLINA... by Mike Leanardi, ringside
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (24-0-1, 18 KO's) was greeted to a smattering of boos as his six-round  majority decision victory was read to the crowd at the Aladdin Performing Arts Theater.
 

CALDERON WAS NEARLY FLAWLESS... by Mike Leanardi, ringside
WBO Minimumweight Champion Ivan Calderon, 25-0, 5 KO's) was nearly flawless in his title defense against Mexican challenger Isaac Bustos (24-8-3).
 

MANFREDO JR. CLOCKS PEMBERTON... by Jim Amato
I was very impressed with Peter Manfredo Jr.'s third round stoppage of  the formidable Scott Pemberton. Now that Peter is with Freddie Roach, he  looks terrific. There is talk of a third match with "Contender" champion  Sergio Mora in Peter's backyard of Providence, Rhode Island. I hope it  comes off. I feel that Sergio won their first fight but Peter was robbed  in the rematch. These two need to settle their differences.
 

ESPN FNF CARD A BARREL OF LAUGHS... by George Elsasser
Caught the ESPN traveling fite carnival last noche at pit stop Memphis - and from the get-go we were served a collection of house fighter "prospects" in Lamont Peterson,  Delvin Rodriguez - and a 253 pound heavyweight novice Alonzo Butler that closed the show in bizarre fashion to remain undefeated.

LOPEZ SURVIVES ZAYAS; BRADLEY CLOBBERS ORTIZ... by Tom Dickey, ringside
Thompson Boxing's own Josesito Lopez and Timothy Ray Bradley notched victories in separate bouts on Friday night. Lopez won a 10 round unanimous decision, while Bradley cruised to a 2nd round knockout. The two fighters were the main events on Thompson Boxing Promotions  five-bout "Path to Glory" card on Friday night from the sold out Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, California.

TRAINER RICKY RAY TAYLOR'S BROADWAY BOXING RECAP... by Ricky Ray Taylor
Round 1 - The size difference becomes very obvious immediately with Oquendo looking like he's matched against his son.  Nonetheless, both fighters are extremely cautious.  Bispo looks really stiff with very little head movement and slow lethargic punches.  Oquendo is loose and starts looking to counter Bispo's lazy jab.  Oquendo lunges with long rights towards the end of the round that miss their mark but he still does enough to win the round. 
 

MANFREDO HALTS PUGILIST CADAVER PEMBERTON IN 3 - AND THE BEAT GOES ON... by George Elsasser
Took no more than the opening three minutes of ring action to see that age 39 Pemberton had been left naked after last year’s ill-fated knockout defeat at the hands of power punching Jeff Lacy - and it took little time for hometown Peter to seize the opportunity.
The younger and quicker Manfredo tossed caution to the wind in candle two, and come stanza three a big left hook wobbled Pemberton - and with it a non-stop barrage of power punches followed - the crusher a big right uppercut that dropped his prey - the second knockdown closed the show with referee Dick Flaherty waving it off at the 2:06 mark.
 

MANFREDO IMPRESSIVE IN HIS KO WIN OVER PEMBERTON... by Oleg Bershadsky
As usual before every boxing fight of any significance the speculations on what would happen and who would win were abundant. Does Scott Pemberton have anything left after all the tremendous wars he has fought the last few years? Can Manfredo bounce back from a questionable loss to Mora? And will Manfredo be able to deal with Pemberton’s power? Boxer vs. Puncher and Youth vs. Experience were what this fight was exactly about.
 

CRUZ vs CHERRY: SHOWTIME SATURDAY SPECIAL COUGHS UP HALF A LOAF... by George Elsasser
Showtime Saturday Special from the lone star state of Texas, was originally slated as part three of Jose Luis Castillo vs. Diego Corrales trilogy - but injuries to Corrales reduced it to half a loaf, with little known Rolando Reyes in the role of pinch hitter. On that note, the half-loaf lightweight prelim battle for the NABF minor league strap featuring defending Jose Armando Santa Cruz and Edner Cherry, easily claimed stars of the show recognition with a sizzling, barnburner that went to the scorecards.
 

OUMA SHOW-CASER GOES AS CHOREOGRAPHED - HALTS MORA IN 8... by George Elsasser
In a show-case performance for the NABO junior middle strap, the rebounding Ugandan had things going his way from start to finis - the hand speed, good movement, coupled with assorted eye catching accuracy from the port side had the handwriting on the wall after no more than three candles.
 

BERTO REMAINS PERFECT, POWELL EARNS UNANIMOUS DECISION OVER FRAZIER ON A 'SHOBOX: THE NEW GENERATION' DOUBLEHEADER
Sechew “Iron Horse” Powell celebrated a family gathering on the fight card and continued his rise to prominence in the junior middleweight division with a convincing, 10-round unanimous decision over veteran Robert “Push Up” Frazier Friday ... In the action-packed co-feature, Andre Berto kept his perfect record and his torrid knockout rate intact by stopping previously unbeaten Jonathan Tubbs with a third-round TKO in a welterweight clash.
 

POWELL BREEZES BY FRAZIER; BERTO DISMANTLES TUBBS... by George Elsasser
It was clear from the opening bell that Powell, a promising boxer-puncher in style and maturing age 26, had too much of everything for Frazier who gave it his best at a now 32 and making his 42nd kept appointment.
Semi-final scheduled eight-round welterweight mismatch saw power punching Andre Berto dispatching game, but clearly outgunned Jonathon Tubbs at the 2:44 mark of stanza three when his corner wisely tossed in the towel.
 

GOGOLADZE DECISIONS DAVIS... by George Elsasser
The ESPN2 FNF comedy last evening had itself a pit stop at Motown, USA for a club fight affair pairing late arrivals Koba Gogoladze and Antonio Davis in the main event - adding to the humor of it all, local fraud Frank Garza in the role of man in charge.
Ok, the Gogo-Antonio show is not exactly major league quality - both started pro-careers late, and have already celebrated respective birthday 33, with Davis entering last noche’s engagement with 20 past appointments and Gogo with 18.
 

ARTURO GATTI: THE THUNDER ISN'T GONE YET... by Tom Dickey
At 33 years of age and coming off a bad loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his last fight, some wondered whether Father Time had caught up to Arturo Gatti. Last Saturday night, Gatti showed that the Thunder is not gone quite yet as he demolished the tough Thomas Damgaard. It was a typical Gatti fight: action packed and exciting, which is what endears him to most boxing fans.
 

GATTI HALTS DAMGAARD IN ELEVEN - AND THE BAND PLAYS ON... by George Elsasser

The "other" guy was a visitor from Denmark, that had never before waged war outside the home country - age 34 and unblemished resume` of 37 wins with 27 stoppages - and a southpaw... Then the opening bell - and Arturo the "human highlight reel" begins with a few dance steps, and the tourist in constant pursuit but little else - and what we were getting is Gatti the hoofer - not ballet or ballroom but rather more a pugilistic version of Gene Kelly than Fred Astaire - and the band played on.