The mere mention of the title given to a card which promised to be the best night of boxing ever stirs up a beehive of feelings for this writer. Why is it that this mega event has left such a sour taste in my mouth? Is it just me? Or am I missing something here?

As I was driving to a friend's house to watch the fights, I passed by a sports bar which was showing the telecast. It pleased me to see the parking lot overflowing with vehicles, and remember thinking to myself, "Hope this will be a great card, because most of those people that will be watching at the bar are not real hard core boxing fans, so if the show is a good one, it stands to reason that the Sweet Science may have made some converts." The same scenario would apply nationwide, tremendous exposure -and hopefully acceptance- for a sport that seems to be languishing a bit.

I drove on, looking forward to this King-size event, and hoping that by night's end boxing would have earned itself thousands of much needed fans. Before I even had a chance to pull out my pad and pen, Zab Judah had already knocked out his opponent, a Colombian contender who at one point won the WBO Latino lightweight title. Jaime Rangel had never fought in the United States before Saturday, and he might never again. Judah disposed of him authoritatively 1:12 into the opening stanza.

A dynamic and lively opener; I thought, so far so good. On with the show and Alejandro "Terra" Garcia vs Travis Simms, with Garcia's WBA light middleweight title on the line.

Upon close examination, Garcia's record indicates some flaws, or better yet, the making of a padded record. For instance, out of his first 13 fights, 9 were against debutantes, all of which he KO'd, all in Tijuana, Mexico. If Boxrec.com is correct, Garcia fought for the WBO NABO light middleweight title against Sergio Valenzuela, who had a record of 0-1-0 in 2001, having lost his previous fight in France in 1998. According to Boxrec.com Valenzuela had not fought between 1998 and 2001 nor has he fought since 2001. Four soft opponents after Valenzuela, Garcia fights Santiago Samaniego for the WBA title, winning by TKO3 in Las Vegas. 'Terra' Garcia then stops Roshii Wells in 10 and those are the credentials that bring him to the boardwalk on December 13.

In all fairness, Travis Simms' record is not a whole lot better; the level of his competition does not really suggest a shot at a title, but heck, what do I know? The fight starts with a very tense looking Garcia, and a very loose Simms. A glancing blow at Simms' mid-section sends him on his bike, and that's where he remains for the majority of the fight, and then the fifth round, and a fateful clinch.

Referee Sammy Viruet yells "break" from a distance, Garcia drops his hands and relaxes, waiting for Viruet to step in and physically separate him from Simms who seizes the moment and hits Garcia with a vicious left hook to the jaw that landed flush and sent the Mexican fighter packing for the night. It wasn't pretty, the referee had clearly called for a break, but... what is the paramanout rule of boxing? Protect yourself at all times! Garcia must've forgot and it cost him his title. Simms improves his record to 23-0, 18 KOs, Garcia slips to to 22-1, 21 KOs.

I could hardly contain my enthusiasm at the next bout. Well, ok, ok, I'm exagerating a bit, but let's face it, the next contestants were stepping up as desperate fighters being given one last chance at a prominent place in the big picture of a very muddled and wide open divi$ion. You would think that they would fight accordingly, right? WRONG!

John Ruiz and Hasim Rahman's fight was like watching two sweethearts on prom night, (hugging each other and dancing the night away) and/or watching Hulk Hogan take on Randy Savage, (rough tactics, headlocks, holding, etc). Missing from either scenario, though, was the PASSION... sweethearts on prom night feel PASSION for each other; Hogan and Savage portrayed PASSION in their staged distaste for one another, and thus, made their matches entertaining and fun to watch. That was not the case here. There was passion in their corners, you could hear it in the instructions shouted out after each round; actually Roger "The Black Mamba" Mayweather (Rahman's newest trainer) vs Norman "Stoney" Stone (Ruiz' long time manager/trainer) would have made for a more fiery encounter. (Who can forget Stoney and Merkerson getting into it at the Ruiz-Jones pre-fight press conference? It was Merkie by TKO).

Those who managed to stay awake booed often and loudly, and after 12 of the most agonizing and boring rounds in the history of the sport, Ruiz got the nod unanimously, with scores of 118-110, 115-114, and 116-112. Roy Jones Jr. has 120 days to defend his WBA belt against Ruiz, now the interim champion, or the association will strip him and make The Quietman the real champion. Alas!

While referee Viruet was not forceful enough in his performance, referee Randy Neuman allowed Rahman and Ruiz to get away with every dirty trick in the book. Throughout the evening, the referees affected the outcome of the bouts in one way or another; meanwhile, New Jersey Boxing Commissioner Larry Hazzard was seen chatting the night away with Las Vegas' Marc Ratner.

I also thought it odd that Lennox Lewis, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, was seated several rows back, an unusual position for someone of his pugilistic stature. Jay-Z, Denzel Washington and Mike Tyson - just to name a few notables- were all seated in front of Mr. Lewis. Like Rodney Dangerfield, Lewis gets no respect.