Brad Jacobs' Global Productions put together the second edition of 'Crown Royal Presents Miami Fight Night,' under a beautiful star-lit and balmy South Florida evening, hosted by the new Waterfront Theater at AmericanAirlines Arena, home of my beloved Miami Heat.

The card ran deep with local talent, Jermaine "Bad Intentions" Taylor headlined the six bouts event. More on Taylor in a minute, let's go to the first match, a 6 rounder in the heavy -and I do mean heavy- weight division, between Fort Lauderdale's Garing Lane and Pensacola's Gabe Brown. Between these two men over 600 pounds of thunder; a heavily contested match, which ended with a unanimous but not lopsided 58-56 decision going to Gabe Brown. Lane drops to 21-32-2, 12 KOs while Brown, trained by Al Merkerson of RJJ fame, improves to 15-2-1, 9 KOs.

Light heavyweights Vendel Aradi and Bobby Griffith came to the ball for the first time and didn't disappoint. Each man had his moments in the four rounder, and in the end they came away with a pro debut draw, although had it been a popularity contest local talent Aradi would have won it hands down. Aradi trains out of the 5th St. Gym in South Beach, a facility owned by Trevor Howard, seen holding hands ringside with his very pretty wife, Jolie.

You could feel the temperature rising as the third bout of the evening was announced. Nothing flyweight about the ladies who came up next; marking the return of crowd favorite, rising superstar, Patricia Martinez. One of the things I love about visiting boxing gyms is that I get to know the fighters, their progress, and I have been watching Ms. Martinez for a year or so now. Hats off to trainers Norman Wilson, Chico Rivas and José Guzman for the tremendous work they have done with Patty, who gets credit as well, for taking it all in and executing it beautifully inside the ropes.

Patricia, a 1997 U.S. National Amateur champion at 106 pounds, went to work against Nancy Bonilla, out boxing, out gunning and outclassing her in a very short one minute and twenty seconds stoppage. She moves on to a 10-1, 4 KOs record, while her opponent drops to 3-1, 2 KOs. Keep your eyes on this young woman, and remember you read it here first; we are looking at a future champion in Patricia Martinez.

Junior welter Damian "Devo" Friar, with the Cuba/Miami connection, was up next in only his second bout, against Don Roberts, owner of a 1-3 record. The fight was competitive, both fighters stayed active throughout, and Friar pulled out a majority decision, 40-36, 39-37, 38 all.

Sean Fletcher and Lamar Murphy followed, and although these two have known each other since their amateur days, they went all out. Fletcher was on the receiving end of some serious body blows that eventually put him down and out, a TKO stoppage at 2:58 of round three. "Cochise" Murphy, rated #12 by the IBF and #1 by the USBA improves his record to 28-6-1, 20 KOs while Fletcher, a 1992 U.S. National amateur champion, drops to 25-5, 19 KOs.

On with the main event of the evening, a very competitive super middleweight bout -at least on paper- between Jermain "Bad Intentions" Taylor and Lionel "The Lion" Ortiz. Pat Burns continues to do a great job with Jermaine, markedly improving his conditioning, strength and all around boxing ability. Taylor impresses more and more with each appearance, his confidence is soaring, and last night's test helped to move him to the next level, as he fought a legitimate contender in Lionel Ortiz.

The Olympic bronze medallist, a native of Arkansas and now an adopted citizen of Miami, Florida, lived up to his "bad intentions" moniker. Taylor had bad intentions in his punches from the opening bell, catching Ortiz with everything he threw, dropping him within one minute of the opening round. Although seemingly stunned and hurt, the Puerto Rican with the Miami connection, managed to survive the round. However, it became apparent that it wasn't a matter of who would win, but how soon, and the question was answered soon enough, 40 seconds into the second round, as Taylor exploded with a jab, double left hook and right hook to put all speculations to rest.

Ortiz hit the canvas hard, referee Armando Garcia waved him off, and the fallen fighter was promptly looked after by both ringside physicians. Ortiz did seem to recover and we sincerely hope that no serious damage was done. Mr. "Bad Intentions" moves on like a freight train, improving his record to 14-0, 10 KOs. There is no question that Taylor is fast becoming a player in his division, and we look forward to seeing more of the explosiveness that he brings to the ring.

All and all, an entertaining night of boxing, which served its purpose well. To the skeptics who yawned ringside and criticized the evening's proceedings I want to say this: young fighters have to begin somewhere, and Brad Jacobs' Global Productions is offering them a forum to do exactly that. Don't let it be said that we all must have forgot, forgot, forgot this very important issue.