"THIS BUD IS FOR THE BUDWEISER BOXING SERIES" By Elisa Harrison

Following a weekend of boxing which sank the sport to one of its lowest levels, NBC/Telemundo/Main Events brings us the second installment of their Budweiser series from the Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California, and what an offering it was.

The opening bout was shown on Telemundo, a match between Dominican lightweight prospect Francisco "EL Ahogado" Lorenzo (18-1, 11 KOs) and Mexican veteran Genaro Trazancos (20-4-1, 11 KOs). Lorenzo was making his U.S. debut and although he holds the FEDCARIB super featherweight title, the trinket was not up for grabs this time.

The fight was action packed and most entertaining, a nice appetizer for the NBC main course. In the end, "El Ahogado" Lorenzo emerged victorious on all three judges' cards. Lorenzo's only defeat came at the hands of Victoriano Sosa in April of 2001, and he is trained by Fermín Sención, Justo "Sensational" Sención's father. There were no knockdowns and neither fighter was ever seriously rocked, nevertheless the action was fast and steady and both fighters came to fight. No tune up fight here...

NBC's broadcast opened up with Junior welterweight contender Francisco "Panchito" Bojado versus undefeated William Adamyan in a scheduled ten rounder.

Bojado continues to get tested in his young career; this time an accidental head butt in the opening round opened a gash over his right eye bringing on the red fluid profusely throughout the bout. It was the first cut ever for the youngster, who passes the test with flying colors.

Say what you will about Floyd Mayweather, Sr., but the man does seem to establish a special bond with his trainees. Hard to forget the moment when he told Oscar - better yet commanded Oscar- to go out and knock out Fernando Vargas -which Oscar did- and then on Saturday, when Panchito in an almost child-like manner said "but he head butted me" with Floyd responding -and I paraphrase- "yes I know, but you have to get over that and go after him..."

Well, get over it and go after his opponent Panchito did, displaying courage and power in the process. With a steady flow of blood streaming down the right side of his face, Bojado pressured his opponent and finally caught him with a devastating right hand uppercut that sent Adamyan to the twilight zone. The shot was beautifully executed and painful to watch; thank God for shoulders, otherwise Adamyan's head would still be missing in action. Ouch! Official time 3:00 of the 6th round.

It was great to have unbiased commentary on this fight, unlike the doom and gloom spewed by the SHOWTIME team on Bojado's last outing. On that note, I would like to congratulate NBC on the addition of Jessi Losada to their broadcasting team. Losada has substance and knowledge, a pleasing laid back style and could contribute a lot more to the broadcast than he was assigned this past weekend.

On to the main event, between Juan Diaz and Eleazar Contreras. Diaz, age 19, and Contreras, age 23, gave us everything that was missing on that PPV fraud executed on boxing fans this past weekend. The young fighters put on quite an honest show, with Contreras decking Diaz in the 6th, but Diaz coming back strong in the closing rounds to win a unanimous decision officially scored 95-94, 95-94, 97-92. I could live with 95-94 but the 97-92 numbers seem too lopsided to reflect the reality of the bout.

Diaz improves his record to 21-0, 10 KOs while Contreras drops to 19-3-2, 8 KOs in a very gritty performance.

This Bud goes to all parties involved in this series and we thank you for bringing boxing back where it belongs, public TV.