On Saturday, April 23rd at Caesar's Palace, ESPN debuted their first pay-per-view boxing event. Despite several last -minute bout changes, which are par for the course so nobody is complaining, and a rain shower coming down on the outdoor crowd before the start of the headline fight, the card delivered enough excitement and quality fighting to hopefully ensure ESPN's continued growth in the pay-per-view market.

Cintron vs. Margarito: Too Much, Too Fast
The headline fight, a welterweight title bout between champion Antonio Margarito (31-4, 22 KOs) and power-puncher Kermit Cintron (24-1, 22 KOs) was anticipated to be a physical fight that would include hard, damaging punches from both fighters. In the end, though, Margarito came out quickly and overwhelmed a more cautious Cintron early, making it impossibly for Cintron to recover on his way to a fifth round surrender.

For the remainder of the Cintron vs Margarito recap, please click here

Estrada vs. Mosley: Is Mosley back? Possibly...
It was a strange fight. Shane Mosley needed to win in a commanding way to silent his critics after having lost two straight and having gone 1-4 in his last six fights (one was a no contest). Mosley had lost his 154 pound title to Winky Wright last year. Winky Wright was sitting five rows back from the ring watching Mosley try to dominate an opponent who was considered game but essentially a tune-up at 147. Mosley's father and former trainer was not in the corner with his son, but sitting six rows from the ring, watching. Think Shane Mosley may have had a lot on his mind?

For the remainder of the Estrada vs Mosley recap, please click here

McCline Vs. Brock: Somebody Had to Win
It was the only heavyweight fight on the card. U.S. Olympian Calvin Brock (25-0, 20 KOs) and former title holder Jameel "Big Time" McCline (31-5-3) were ready to go at it for ten rounds of action. Only they didn't really go at it. For the record, Brock won a unanimous decision. But the fight itself left much to be desired from an interest perspective.

For the remainder of the McCline vs Brock recap, please click here

In Other Action: Tirado vs. Martinez
Jose Tirado took a fight with undefeated bantamweight and two-time national amateur champion Raul Martinez (8-0) on just six days notice, and the cancellation of the Diaz/Elder fight. Martinez looked like a serious prospect as he took five of the six rounds on all the judge's scorecards and landed some impressive uppercuts and outworked and out-punched Tirado on his way to the unanimous decision.

An Opinion: ESPN Should Step Up in the Pay-Per-View Market
Despite the rain and the change in the card that eliminated one of the most anticipated fights, the card was entertaining, pertinent and well-managed. I'll be curious to find out how ESPN fared on
pay-per-view purchases. But ESPN should stay in they pay-per-view market. Here's a thought though, perhaps ESPN should do a little more promotion next time around. Is it just me who thinks that? ESPN could dominate the boxing market. I watch Sportscenter every night. Every night, and not because I have a crush on Stuart Scott. I didn't see a ton of pre-fight stories regarding this card. There were enough human interest and pure sport angle stories here to spark public interest beyond hard-core boxing fans. ESPN has the avenues to promote boxing events like nobody else does. They could take pay-per-view to a new level. I hope they do. I hope this is just the first of many events, and I hope that ESPN works to make boxing more accessible to everybody. It's a winning situation for everybody if they do.