Many questions surrounded Ricardo "El Matador" Mayorga (28-5-1, 23 KO's) entering his fight with Michelle Piccirillo (44-3, 28 KO's) for the vacant WBC Super Welterweight Championship, an under card which probably should have been the evening's Main Event. How would he look in a big fight after a near 10 month layoff? A powerhouse at welterweight, how would his power translate to the 154 lbs. division? How would his one-sided loss to Felix Trinidad affect his confidence?

 

I believe "El Matador" answered the questions to the satisfaction of most, on his way to claiming the vacant WBC Super Welterweight title via a landslide unanimous decision (117-110, 117-108 and 120-105).

 

While Mayorga did not get the 1^st round knockout victory he had predicted all week long leading up to the fight, he was able to show the former IBF Welterweight Champion Piccirillo his power early, when Mayorga dropped him twice with big looping right hands in the 2nd and again in the 4th with another right hand.

 

After throwing bombs and trying to end the night early, Mayorga did begin to fade as the fight progressed, resulting in some slow rounds later in the fight. However, both men landed a number of big right hands resulting in an especially exciting 8th round. Although Piccirillo was able to weather the storm, with Mayorga having built up such a huge lead early, it gave the pure boxer little to no chance to win this fight on the cards and a come from behind knockout victory, especially against someone with a great chin like Mayorga, seemed far fetched.  

 

With the victory, Mayorga is not only a World Champion again; he is also setting his sights on a lucrative bout with Fernando Vargas (25-2, 22 KO's) who will become the #1 Contender if he is successful against Javier Castillejo (58-5, 39 KO's) next Saturday. About a potential Vargas match up, the always quotable Mayorga had this to say, "Before I make a decision for my next opponent I need to drink some water and have a cigarette, but I want Vargas next. I want to be back in the ring in November."

 

-Photo Credit: David Martin-Warr/DKP-

 

In other action, WBA Welterweight Champion Luis Collazo (26-1, 12 KO's) proved to be too strong and too fast for Mexican legend and former WBC Lightweight World Champion Miguel Angel Gonzalez (49-5-1, 39 KO's). While the 1st Round was close, Collazo began to dominate from the 2nd round on, landing clean combinations battering the veteran Gonzalez. While Gonzalez was quite effective cutting off the ring and working Collazo into some corners, he simply could not get his punches off and was taking a significant beating in every round of the fight, taking a lot more than he was giving. Always the proud warrior Gonzalez refused to go down, but the fight was stopped at :01 of the 8th round when Gonzalez did not come out for the 8th round at the suggestion of the corner.

 

In an exciting off-TV bout Interim WBA Super Welterweight Champion Alejandro "Terra" Garcia (25-1, 23 KO's) successfully defended his title against the game and rugged Italian Champion Luca Messi (28-6-1, 11 KO's) via a unanimous decision (117-110, 117-110 and 119-108). Although Garcia deserved the victory, many ringside observers thought the fight was a lot closer than the scoring would indicate. Messi was down once in the 7th when, after hurting Garcia with a big right hand, he went on the attack trying to finish him off, but the powerful Garcia managed to land a right hand of his own flooring the challenger. An interesting side note, while Messi dressed himself in a suit and sat ringside to watch the remaining fights, Garcia was hospitalized and did not participate in the post fight press conference.

 

Chicagoan and former WBC Heavyweight Champ Oliver McCall (45-8, 32 KO's) won a 4th round TKO victory over Poland's Przemyslaw Saleta (42-7, 21 KO's) in the evening's other heavyweight special attraction.

 

Robert "Doctor" Kamya (15-5, 4 KO's) won a majority decision over Alex Bunema ( 26-5-2, 12 KO's) to capture Bunema's WBC Continental Americas Super Welterweight Title in a lackluster bout. Kamya was down once in the 3rd and had a point deducted for a low blow in the 7th.

 

Highly regarded Lightweight Matt "Boom Boom" Zegan (36-1, 21 KO's) scored a TKO victory over Jesus Perez ( 24-11-2, 5 KO's) when Perez did not come out for the 7th round. Perez was down once in the 3rd and three times in the 6th.

 

Undefeated Heavyweight Volidia "Sleeping Killer" Lazebnik (8-0, 5 KO's) demolished Michael Middleton (11-15-1, 5 KO's) dropping him once in the 1st and twice in the 2nd resulting in the bout being stopped at 2:23 of the 2nd and earning Lazebnik a TKO victory.

 

Middleweight Josiah Judah (4-0, 1 KO) improved his unbeaten record with a split decision victory over Chicago's Adam Stewart (2-9-2 , 2 KO's).

 

Chicago's Louis Turner (1-0, 1 KO) won his pro debut at middleweight when Chris Patterson (3-15), also of Chicago, failed to answer the bell for the 2nd round.