It was a busy, fairly eventful Saturday for what was supposed to be a "slow" weekend in boxing. Here's everything that went down.
Cancun, Mexico
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Juan Manuel Marquez KO-1 Likar Ramos: A gross mismatch in reality, and it always was going to be. The only risk was Marquez getting injured or cut, and since Ramos went to sleep on the first good right hand, no biggie. The important factor here for Marquez was the training camp. [Full Recap]
- Rafael Marquez RTD-6 Eduardo Becerril: Another massive mismatch, but Rafael looked pretty shop-worn in there. He was soft in the midsection and slow in every way, including some very plodding footwork. The class difference was enormous (Becerril is a pure club fighter who fought last weekend) and Rafael was probably going at 75% speed or so, so we'll see what happens this fall if he does get that fight with Toshiaki Nishioka. [Full Recap]
- Roman Gonzalez TKO-7 Omar Salado: The best thing about this fight was Col. Bob Sheridan's commentary, where he claimed to have followed Salado's career from the get-go in 2004, praising his great skills and noting how incredible Gonzalez (29-0, 24 KO) must be for savagely beating on him for this entire fight. Sheridan claimed Salado deserved another title shot, but I'm unsure how he came to that conclusion, given that Salado's last win was over a guy who was 0-1, and two fights ago he lost to a guy who was 16-17, and his last decent win was in 2007. Sheridan's a riot -- always. He will sell anything he needs to. Anyway, Salado really was game here, but he was brutalized. [Full Recap]
- Sebastian Hernandez UD-4 Andres Uribe: This was one of two swing fights on the Top Rank/Azteca broadcast, and while I can seriously state that Uribe (1-1, 1 KO) is one of the worst fighters I've ever seen, this was just great fun, and if it winds up on YouTube, do watch it. Uribe had the wildest, widest punches I've seen in my life, and by the third round, every time he uncorked one, the crowd shouted, "OLÈ!" You can't beat that. Hernandez, a Nacho Beristain fighter, won with relative ease.
Liverpool, England
- Kevin Mitchell TKO-8 John Murray: Mitchell looked better than ever in his first fight in 14 months, and got the previously unbeaten Murray out after breaking him down with good, hard, accurate shots throughout the fight. Murray (31-1, 18 KO) did what he always does, come forward and try to wear out his opponent, but Mitchell (32-1, 24 KO) just was not going to be broken down. This is a big chance for Mitchell to get his career and life back on track, and hopefully he takes it. He's a good figher and showed real class after the fight, too. [Full Recap]
- Ricky Burns TKO-1 Nicky Cook: This is the one indisputable fact, in my opinion: Nicky Cook should not have been in the ring yesterday. There's really nothing to say about the fight other than Cook went down early and was out almost as early due to a back condition. [Full Recap]
- Tony Bellew UD-12 Ovill McKenzie: Bellew (16-0, 10 KO) was previously known as a raw, gutsy, tough fighter who made for fun fights, even with limited ability. But now he's not taking risks, and in his delusion, feels that by circling around the ring and not throwing many punches and landing 78 over a 12-round fight, he's putting on a "masterclass" performance by being just too good for Ovill McKenzie. Part of me has no interest in seeing Bellew get embarrassed by Nathan Cleverly, who should be fighting better fighters, but part of me would still like to see the grudge match. Cleverly will win unless Bellew is suddenly twice as good as he's ever been, but they've talked it up. [Full Recap]
- Frankie Gavin SD-12 Curtis Woodhouse: A second straight weak performance from Gavin (11-0, 8 KO), and he was ripped to shreds by Barry McGuigan of Sky Sports after the fight, with McGuigan saying Gavin could wind up the "biggest waste of talent" in UK boxing history if he doesn't commit himself to his diet and training and making 140 pounds. He might not be wrong, as harsh as he was.
- Undercard: Rocky Fielding PTS-6 Jamie Ambler, Ronnie Heffron PTS-6 Barrie Jones, Joe Selkirk TKO-1 Terry Carruthers.
Munich, Germany
- Marco Huck KO-10 Hugo Garay: Huck again retains his WBO cruiserweight belt, making this his seventh successful defense. Huck (33-1, 24 KO) put Garay (34-6, 18 KO) down in the opening round, but it wasn't a hard knockdown. After that, Garay hung around in the fight but Huck mostly had his way as usual. I think a lot of us would love to see a Huck vs Steve Cunningham rematch before Cunningham is all old (he's 35) and faded, as Cunningham is the only man to beat Huck.
- Undercard: Eduard Gutknecht UD-12 Lorenzo di Giacomo, Dominik Britsch TKO-9 Ryan Davis, Kubrat Pulev UD-8 Maksym Pediura
Oldham, England
- Lee Purdy TKO-5 Craig Watson: This was a rematch of what was a really good fight and a pretty fair upset the first time around, when Purdy (16-2-1, 9 KO) lifted the British welterweight title from Watson (20-5, 8 KO) in the fifth round. It happened again this time, with Watson going down twice in the fifth and failing to go any further once again.
- Bob Ajisafe TKO-3 Darren Stubbs: This was a cut stoppage.
- Denton Vassell PTS-6 Ronny McField: Stay-busy fight for Vassell (18-0, 9 KO), the Commonwealth welterweight titlist who may well get the next shot at Purdy in what seems like a very interesting fight to me right now.
Honolulu, Hawaii
- Brian Viloria UD-12 Julio Cesar Miranda: Viloria (29-3, 16 KO) is one of the most inconsistent talents in the sport, but now he's back in the game at flyweight, picking up a trinket with this win over Miranda (35-6-1, 28 KO). Scores were 117-110, 115-113 and 114-113. BoxingScene.com has a detailed recap, and this one sounds worth checking out.
- Denver Cuello TKO-2 Omar Soto: Cuello is now going by the name "Cuello D. Singwancha," but I honestly have no plan to call him that.
- Michael Farenas MD-8 Fernando Beltran Jr: This is a second straight solid win for Farenas, but it's also the second straight majority decision for him.