The first bout of this four fight heavyweight PPV got underway with former four time champion Evander Holyfield squaring off against Larry Donald. It's no secret that Holyfield should have hung his gloves up long ago but he still continues to fight with a dream of once again being unified champion.  And once again his dream became a nightmare in the ring. Larry Donald manhandled Evander Holyfield from the first to the last round working behind his jab and right hand keeping Holyfield all but shut down for most of the rounds.

As the rounds passed Evander offered less and less offense while Donald's confidence grew. Evander Holyfield looked and fought like a man in his sixties. Although his body seemed fit, Evander's skills have seriously eroded the past five years. Larry Donald on the other hand looked his best tonight, not just counting on his jab to get the job done he threw a stiff right hand after his jab constantly throughout the night landing at will. Evander's best round came in the tenth when he momentarily stunned Donald but was unable to capitalize on the stunned man in front of him. Larry recouped and continued to snap Holyfield's head back with jabs and right hands. Larry Donald easily cruised to a 12 round unanimous decision, the scores went  as follows: 119-109 twice and 118-109.

The good in this fight was Larry Donald who may have had the best outing of his career. The bad and the ugly come from Holyfield. The ugly was his performance tonight. He just couldn't pull the trigger. The mind was saying throw the punch, but the command from the mind didn't get to the hands in time.  The bad part of this fight is that Holyfield says he will continue to fight. It's sad enough to see a man who is considered by most a legend in the sport get dominated the way he did tonight. It's even more upsetting to think what his fate may be in the ring if he continues to fight. Larry Donald walks away with the NABC title and improves his record to 42-3-2 (24 KO's) while Evander Holyfield looses yet again and his record slumps to 38-8-2 (25 KO's).

The second bout of the night featured former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman against Kali Meehan. Rahman, who was fighting for the fifth time this year, looked very impressive from start to finish. He came out fast and Meehan simply couldn’t hold him off. Rahman landed hard punches in bunches seriously hurting Meehan in the second round. Meehan looked to be on steady legs in the third but still couldn’t keep the oncoming Rahman away. The fourth round was an absolute beating. Rahman wailed away one after another to Meehan’s head. To the Australian’s credit he never hit the canvas but his corner finally saw enough and stopped the bout after the end the fourth round.  The good in this fight was Hasim Rahman, he looked to be at his best tonight. If he continues to fight like he did tonight he will be able to give any heavyweight champion a run for his money. Hasim Rahman improves his record to 40-5-1 (33 KO's) While Kali Meehan drops to 29-3 (23 KO's).

The third fight of the night was the first of two championship fights pitting IBF champion Chris Byrd against long time friend Jameel McCline. The beginning of the fight was all McCline as Byrd had little offense for the man who held a 56 pound and six inch reach advantage over him.  McCline struck gold late in the second round sending Chris Byrd to the canvas. It looked as if Byrd fell hard to the canvas but popped right up looking as fresh as ever. McCline was still fighting hard in the next few rounds but it was obvious he was tiring quickly.  As the fight trickled into the middle rounds it was all Byrd doing what he does best. Throwing quick left rights one after another to McCline's head.

Byrd’s punches have little power behind them but they come quick and often, and when he opened up he left McCline standing there, too slow to get his own shots off. McCline would again come alive in the tenth round trapping Byrd on the ropes, wailing away to Byrd’s head and body. The punches seemed to have more of a lasting effect on McCline than Byrd. McCline, who had already exhibited signs of fatigue, now seemed totally drained. What surprised most throughout the fight was Byrd's willingness to stand in front of the much bigger man and trade, although with McCline fading with each passing round there was less trading and more defense from Byrd.

Chris Byrd finished the last two rounds looking like a champion should. The fight was close due to the knockdown Byrd suffered in the second round and McCline's good output in the early rounds but in the end the judges saw it for Byrd via split decision with the scores of 115-112, 114-113 Byrd and 114-112 for Jameel McCline. Chris Byrd keeps his IBF title and improves his record to 38-2-1 (20 KO's) while Jameel McCline drops to 31-4-3 (19 KO's). The good in this fight was the fight itself. It was an exciting fight, which you don't see often coming from a Byrd fight.

The main event featured two of boxing's dirtiest fighters. WBA champion John Ruiz against long time contender Andrew Golota.  Ruiz opened the fight with his new and exciting style rushing at Golota throwing punches to Golota's head and body. However, this new exciting style wouldn't last long as Golota sent Ruiz twice to the canvas in the second round. The first knockdown came from a solid right hand that landed flush to Ruiz's head. The second was more of a push but scored a knockdown by referee Randy Neumann. The style we have all grown to hate came back to Ruiz in the third round, you know what I’m talking about,  punch, clinch, punch, dive in head first. This is where the fight became ugly and looked more like a wrestling match than a professional boxing match, let a lone a championship encounter. 

In the third round referee Randy Neumann warned both fighters that the next man to commit a foul would be penalized a point. To the surprise of most watching, the first and only point deduction went against Ruiz in the fourth round for hitting behind the head.  In round five the really ugly butted its head into the fight.  The really ugly would be no one other then Norman Stone who is both trainer and manager to Ruiz. Ref Randy Neumann called a halt in the middle of the round to have loose tape dangling from Ruiz's glove fixed. While fixing the tape Norman Stone went on an all out verbal rampage on Randy Neumann holding back no verbal punches. At the end of the round referee Randy Neumann went to Ruiz's corner and warned Norman Stone one more outburst like that and you’re out of here, something you don’t see in boxing very often. Many of the rounds were very hard to score; with so much clinching and dancing going on it was hard to tell if there was an actual fight going on.

In the eighth round Ruiz's tape became loose again and when referee Randy Neumann took Ruiz to his corner to get it repaired, Norman Stone had unkind words for the arbiter. As promised, Randy Neumann had Norman Stone thrown out. On his way to the dressing room, Stone stopped to tell promoter Don King the fight was fixed. To Ruiz's credit he would occasionally throw a big punch and land but those punches were few and far between.

Every time I see a Ruiz fight I say to myself, I don't think I've ever seen such an ugly fight. Then I watch Ruiz fight again and I mutter the same words to myself. Golota suffered a cut over his eye in the 9th round that came from a hard right hand by Ruiz. Besides that punch, it's hard to give a blow by blow of the final rounds or any of them for that matter, as Ruiz does what he always does, punch and clinch. He has to be one of the worst fighters to watch. In the end the judges scored the fight in favor of Ruiz 114-111 twice and 113-112.

The only good that came from this fight happened in the eighth round when Norman Stone was escorted from the ring. The bad was... too bad Golota couldn't put enough together to get Ruiz out of there, perhaps keeping him off any televised fight cards in the immediate future. The ugly was Ruiz's fighting style, it never gets easier to watch and it never will. And the uglier came from Norman Stone who simply has no class and has proven it many times over. Hopefully soon both John Ruiz and Norman Stone will be out of the picture. With his win John Ruiz keeps his WBA title and improves his record to 41-5-1 (28 KO's) while Andrew Golota falls to 38-5-1 (31 KO's).