Schymkent, Kazakhstan

Beibut Shumenov KO6 William Joppy - It's a disappointment that Shumenov wasn't able to attempt unification with Juergen Braehmer, but faded former titlist Joppy was able to step in as he was already scheduled to fight on the undercard.  According to reports, Shumenov took care of business, battering Joppy for five rounds, before hitting him with a left hook to the body that put Joppy down for the count at the beginning of the sixth.  This is likely to be the end of the line for Joppy, who hasn't won a fight since 2007.

Gayrat Ahmedov RTD-4 Tursunboy Abdullakimov - Ahmedov, who is promoted by Shumenov and looked great is destroying Dallas Vargas on the undercard of Shumenov-Uzelkov, turned in another solid performance in beating late replacement Abdullakimov.  Ahmedov was originally supposed to face Joppy, who was bumped to the main event after Juergen Braehmer mysteriously pulled out.

Las Vegas, Nevada

Mauricio Herrera UD-12 Ruslan Provodnikov - In the upset of the weekend, Herrera won a close and disputed decision over favorite Provodnikov.  A solid fight to start out the year, nearly 1800 punches were thrown over 12 rounds.  Herrera was generally a bit more accurate and a bit more active, although it seemed that Provodnikov (who already looked beaten up from sparring before the fight even started) landed the harder shots.  By the end of the fight, it seemed that Provodnikov had taken over, and the result was a surprise to many.  While Provodnikov is hung up with a loss and had some of his flaws exposed, this shouldn't be too big of a step backwards for him.  Under most circumstances, he probably would have won the decision, and he's still an exciting fighter.  Despite the loss, don't be surprised if his team continues to have him fight guys at this level, and a rematch wouldn't be too surprising.

Demetrius Andrade UD-8 Alberto Herrera - Andrade didn't have many problems with his lower level opponent, but for someone with so much physical talent, he looked incredibly flawed.  The former Olympian has some huge holes in his defense and was sloppy on offense, and it almost seems like he's stopped paying attention to his trainer and father.  On talent alone, he could win a title someday, but it's become painfully obvious that he'll need to get a new trainer, and needs to do it soon, in order to reach his full potential.

Tokyo, Japan

Charlie Ota TKO-6 Taisei Marumoto; Nihito Arakawa TKO-8 Hiroshi Nakamori - Our full write-up of the card, courtesy of Japanese correspondent Sidney Boquiren, is here. 

Mexico City, Mexico

Christian Esquivel TKO-2 Eduardo Garcia - Esquivel wins a silver title at bantamweight and becomes the mandatory to face the winner of the clash between Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire.  This was a war for as long as it lasted, which admittedly wasn't long.  A hard straight right put Garcia on the ground, and while Garcia got up, he just didn't have the legs to continue.  Despite a couple of early career losses, Esquivel has looked strong in his last half dozen fights and should now be considered a legitimate contender in an already stacked bantamweight division.

Ganigo Lopez UD-12 Armando Torres - Lopez picked up a "silver" title as well, this one at minimumweight.  Lopez outquicked Torres to take an easy unanimous decision.  Lopez is now in line to face the Oleydong Sithsamerchai - Kazuto Ioka winner.

Fairfield, California

Brandon Gonzales UD-8 Lester Gonzalez - Middleweight prospect Gonzales pulled off a well-contested but wide decision victory over Cuban southpaw Lester Gonzalez.  With solid fundamentals, a good trainer (Jeff Mayweather) and the support of the Golden Boy machine, expect to see more of Gonzales in the future.