Tonight boxing fans had two choices to pick from. The choices were a $45 PPV featuring Mike Tyson against Kevin McBride, which offered a less than stellar undercard  or  HBO's 'Boxing After Dark' series which had two well matched fights. I would like to think most real boxing fans, including yours truly, went with HBO.

HBO's double feature got under way with former WBA Super Featherweight champion Joel Casamayor and Almazbek Raiymkulov better known as Kid Diamond in a WBC Lightweight title eliminator. As the first round was in progress I started to get the feeling that perhaps Kid Diamond was in way over his head against Casamayor. Diamond was cut over his left eye, staggered, then sent to the canvas before the bell rang to end the first round. Round one would be the last time Kid Diamond flirted with the canvas but he had his hands full with Casamayor.

As the early rounds started to unfold Kid Diamond would begin to find his mark more and more, constantly putting pressure on Casamayor who played the roll of boxer to Kid Diamond's puncher role. Even with Kid Diamond putting the pressure on Casamayor by coming forward, many of the rounds lacked action as Kid Diamond would do just enough to win the round.

It's obvious by watching Casamayor that he's not the fighter he once was. At 33 years of age, along with the wear and tear of 300 amateur bouts and 35 professional bouts,  have finally started to catch up with him. The speed and sharpness of the southpaw have dulled and it showed tonight. A role reversal did take place in the later rounds when Casamayor started to take the lead and added pressure to Kid Diamond by coming forward.

Casamayor may have turned the tables on Kid Diamond but it appeared it was a case of too little too late. The twelfth and final round was the best round of the night as both fighters stood their ground landing flush blows on each other. With ten seconds left Kid Diamond finally staggered Casamayor with a beautiful three punch combination. As the final bell rang it appeared that Kid Diamond had done enough to deserve the victory but as we all know in boxing things don't always seem to be what they appear.

The judges scorecards went as follows: 116-111 Kid Diamond, 115-112 Joel Casamayor, and 114-114 even, making the fight a draw.  With the draw Joel Casamayor's record stands at 31-3-1 (19 KO's) and Kid Diamond's at  20-0-1 (12 KO's).

The main event featured WBO Junior Welterweight champion Miguel Cotto against Mohammed Abdullaev. Cotto and Abdullaev first met in the 2000 Olympics, with Abdullaev coming out the winner. As much as the promoters and HBO wanted to hype this fight up by telling us Abdullaev held an amateur victory over Cotto it truly did not matter. A win in the amateurs really has no meaning at the professional level, as the amateur and pro levels are almost two different versions of the sport.

Both Cotto and Abdullaev had their moments in the bout. Abdullaev controlled the bout when Cotto laid on the ropes, landing freely to the head and body. Cotto shined when the fight was brought back to the middle of the ring. Abdullaev landed some hard body shots that looked as if they gave Cotto some trouble; however, it was Cotto who got stronger as the rounds wore on and Abdullaev's face started to show it. His right eye  began to swell at a very fast rate.

Abdullaev's right eye was completely closed going into the ninth round and it was obvious he was very uncomfortable signaling to what seemed his corner, then to referee Johnny Callis that he wanted no more. Callis brought Abdullaev to the ringside doctor and the bout was stopped. Mohammed Abdullaev should have no shame in calling it quits, had he continued, his eye may have suffered serious injury if it didn't  already.

As for Cotto he once again looks good, but his biggest flaw is that he gets hit much too often. With the ninth round TKO Miguel Cotto retains his WBO title and improves his record to 24-0 (20 KO's) while Mohammed Abdullaev drops to 15-2 (12 KO's).