Bad Left Hook Fight of the Month Poll - September 2010

January: Carlos Tamara TKO12 Brian Viloria (25%)

February: Antonio Escalante UD10 Mickey Roman (48%)

March: Andre Dirrell DQ10 Arthur Abraham (48%)

April: Mikkel Kessler UD12 Carl Froch (65%)

May: Yonnhy Perez D12 Abner Mares (30%)

June: Miguel Cotto TKO9 Yuri Foreman (42%)

July: Dmitry Pirog TKO5 Daniel Jacobs (43%)

August: Giovanni Segura KO8 Ivan Calderon (44%)

This month, there were about ten cards that aired in the U.S. featuring about 40 fights, and yet it's the Europeans that dominate this month's poll.  All of two fights that aired on American TV make it into this month's poll, but those who were glued to their computer screen during the afternoon (or live in the UK) were rewarded.  The big winner of the month was Frank Warren, who promoted four of these bouts, three on the same card.  Fortunately for the fans, he's put all of those fights up on his Youtube channel, so you can still catch the fights even if you didn't trawl for a stream when the events were taking place live.

Ricky Burns UD12 Roman Martinez -Probably the top candidate for upset of the year, titlist Martinez came into Burns' home turf, and at times the Scot made the power punching Puerto Rican look downright rudimentary.  Burns was able to outbox Martinez for most of the night, but he wasn't shying away from contact either, and both fighters took plenty of lumps.  It was even more exciting in the heat of the moment, knowing that the major underdog was likely to pull off a major upset, but also knowing that Martinez had the one punch power to turn things around at any moment.

Brandon Rios DQ7 Anthony Peterson - HBO made it clear that the night was supposed to be Peterson's coming out party, but Rios had none of it.  After getting outboxed in the first round, Rios turned up the heat, coming forward and apparently getting stronger as the fight wore on.  There were some truly exciting moments when the two men exchanged, although Rios was able to get the better of most of them.  Unfortunately, the fight was also marred by excessive low blows, with Peterson getting disqualified after landing his seventh or so blatant nut shot.

Lukas Konecny TKO6 Matthew Hall - There's always something fun about watching two guys who might look like twins (if you squint a little) beating the hell out of each other.  While the result of the fight was never particularly in doubt, both men fought very hard, staying inside each other and focusing on high volume punching to the body.  Unfortunately for Hall, Konecny's punching was that much harder, and his defense that much tighter, allowing him to come out with the knockout victory.

Nathan Cleverly TKO9 Karo Murat - Cleverly was coming into this fight with major height and reach advantages, and thankfully for the fans, he chose not to use them.  Rather than trying to box smart from the outside, Cleverly was able to slowly wear down Murat by fighting with smart pressure, mixing it up with combinations and picking his spots to sit on his punches.  Murat had no modesty with his punches either, mixing it up more than he normally would with his turtle shell defensive style.  While several rounds were close, as the fight wore on it was apparent who was the better man, and Clev had been dominating for a couple rounds before trainer Ulli Wegner threw in the towel.

Derek Chisora TKO9 Sam Sexton - The third candidate from the Magnificent Seven card was also the commentators' favorite of the night.  While neither man is the most skilled in the world, it's nice to see two in shape heavyweights actually boxing each other while throwing punches with bad intent.  After a few close rounds, both men started to fade a bit, although Chisora was able to find his second wind and keep laying on the punishment.  In the end, he was able to score the stoppage after overwhelming Sexton.

Krzyzstof Wlodarczyk UD12 Jason Robinson - This was supposed to be a walkover for Diablo, but Robinson, having won only three times against marginal competition in the last eight years, came out to fight and made his presence known early.  There were times when the fight got tactical, but each time it looked like it would turn into a jabfest, one of the men came forward and the two would exchange in the middle of the ring.  In a year full of sleepers, here's another one.

Ramon Garcia MD12 Manuel Vargas - For 12 rounds, Chango just didn't have an off switch.  He came forward the entire fight, unloading lots of punches, successful to varying degrees.  Garcia actually fought his best backing up, keeping Chango at a distance, but every 30 seconds or so the fighter in him would make an appearance, and he'd come forward and the two would exchange punches, each hitting the other more often than not.  In a close fight, a bloodied and battered Vargas came forward and went for the knockout in the 12th, with Garcia deciding to battle it out rather than play it safe for the second half of the round, but he was able to stay on his feet and come out with a razor thin decision.

Honorable mentions: John Murray TKO9 Andriy Kudryatsev; Humberto Soto UD12 Fidel Monterrosa; Saul Alvarez KO6 Carlos Baldomir; Jhonny Gonzalez TKO6 Jackson Asiku; Yuriorkis Gamboa UD12 Orlando Salido; Reyes Sanchez SD12 Daniel Estrada; Stephen Smith SD12 John Simpson; and Jan Zaveck MD12 Rafal Jackiewicz.