With Nos. 20-16 down, we move on to the next five on the countdown.

Part One

15. Eddie Hyland v. Oisín Fagan
July 25, 2009 - Dublin, Ireland

There weren't a whole lot of people in the National Basketball Arena in Dublin for this local battle between Irish prospect Eddie Hyland and journeyman Oisín Fagan, but as soon as it ended, press went out. This was a fight you had to track down.

Originally aired on Setanta Ireland, Hyland-Fagan can now be seen in full on YouTube, and I truly recommend it. I fear that for some, the lack of crowd noise and the iffy commentary can ruin what is a truly punishing, back-and-forth war of attrition between a couple of hungry fighters who leave it all in the ring. In my mind, I tried to imagine this fight having been positioned, say, where Chavez-Rowland was in November, just beneath Cotto-Pacquiao. Obviously that's not realistic or anything, but I just tried to imagine it with that size of a crowd, a crowd that excited to see a fight. This would have gone over like gangbusters and had a lot of people on their feet.

Though Hyland's superior boxing is probably what won him the bout, this was a fight, and make no mistake about it. These two went toe-to-toe for 36 grueling minutes, Fagan taking the worst of it but never backing off, never giving in to the younger man. Though Fagan, 36, has never gotten over the hump and likely never will, he has made a name for himself over the years as a pretty decent opponent, one that always comes to fight. Hyland, 28, likely will never become more than a European-level fighter at best. But if neither of them ever have another fight this good, they did give us this one, and that's something to be thankful for. This was a fight fought by two men as if they were in front of 60,000 for the championship of the world.

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Since we had such a massive slate of fights yesterday, let's just run them down recap style. This isn't what I normally do, but it's the best way to do it today.

Timothy Bradley UD-12 Kendall Holt

Bradley (24-0, 11 KO) unified his WBC 140-pound title with Holt's WBO strap, and put himself in position for a fight with a bigger star, though that may end up just being Nate Campbell and not the Hatton-Pacquiao winner or anything. For Holt (25-3, 13 KO) this was a heartbreaker, as he lost on scores of 115-111 (twice) and 114-112. Both guys were in good form, the fight was pretty crisp and moved quickly, and Bradley proved for certain he's no one-fight wonder, he's a world class guy at 140 pounds. Holt also acquitted himself pretty nicely against a good boxer. The two competitors exhibited great respect for the other man, which might explain why their forced trash talk was so awkward in the build-up for this fight. They like each other.

Librado Andrade UD-12 Vitali Tsypko

Speaking of class acts, IBF super middleweight titlist Lucian Bute was seated at ringside for this one. After Andrade (28-2, 21 KO) won a fairly dominant decision over Tsypko (22-3, 12 KO) to put himself back in position as Bute's mandatory, making a rematch likely, Bute cheered him enthusiastically, gave him the thumbs up, and shook his hand. I really think Bute's just in another class apart from Librado, but that's a rematch that people want and it's good to see the fighters understanding that. Andrade won this fight the way he always wins: Muscle and guts.

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In case anyone's wondering, yes we'll be here this Saturday night for Golden Boy's Lightweight Lightning PPV with live, round-by-round coverage, scoring and general BSing during the night. Still looks like a fun card to me.

Edwin Valero v. Antonio Pitalua (Lightweights, 12 Rounds - Vacant WBC title on the line)

Valero (24-0, 24 KO) and Pitalua (46-3, 40 KO) could put on a power-punching war for the ages if the stars align and everything comes together. I'm really serious -- this one has gruesome display of wicked punchmanship written all over it. Or someone might go down in the first round. You never know. But this one could be worth the price of admission alone.

Pitalua has been stopped before, but it came 14 years ago when he stepped way up in competition against Mexican Jesus Rodriguez, not an awful fighter or anything. He hasn't lost a fight since 2001, but he's also not faced the best competition since then. What sells him as a legit threat now is the sixth round knockout of Jose Armando Santa Cruz last September.

This is a big, big fight for both guys. It might not be a "big fight" by usual standards, but if Pitalua wins, he's the guy that took Valero's "0." Valero is getting a chance to show his game to a wide American audience for the first time. He's been a myth for most American fans, even the majority of the diehards. You can watch him on YouTube, but that's just not the same.

I do think that Valero will eventually run into someone he can't handle, and Manny Pacquiao will light him up like a Griswold Christmas tree if those two fight down the line. But I don't think Antonio Pitalua is the guy that's going to do it. This could be war. Valero KO-6

Michael Katsidis v. Jesus Chavez (Lightweights, 10 Rounds)

As much as I hate "keys to the game" or "keys to the fight" the way they're presented to us by the likes of Teddy Atlas ("Use jab!") or Tim McCarver ("Score runs!"), this one is pretty simple.

For Katsidis to win, he needs to take the fight to Chavez and test his heart and that surgically-repaired knee that gave out on him the last time he was in a major fight, against Julio Diaz in 2007. Chavez is 36 years old and Daniel Jimenez and Andres Ledesma aren't going to have him ready for this kind of step back up the ladder. Katsidis can be a pummeling sort when he's on his game. If he tries to box Chavez like he did Juan Diaz, he will lose. He is not fast enough, he doesn't have one-punch power, and he's not good enough defensively to win fights like that. Even an old, rusty Chavez can beat the Katsidis that fought Diaz, though not as easily as Diaz did.

Chavez? Pray. Pray the knee holds up, pray Katsidis doesn't ring his bell early, pray the fire is still deep down in there. I really hate saying it or bringing it up, but you can't ignore that Jesus hasn't won a big fight since Leavander Johnson, and that he's only been in one big fight since then, which lasted less than three rounds when his knee collapsed. He's not 100% in any way, and he never will be again. Katsidis TKO-8

Carlos Hernandez v. Vicente Escobedo (Lightweights, 10 Rounds)

Speaking of guys on big fight win droughts, here's 38-year old Carlos Hernandez, whose last really big win was against Stevie Forbes in 2003. He was supposed to be matched with Jorge Barrios, who spent the press conferences talking smack at Valero only to pull out of the event, and now he meets 27-year old Vicente Escobedo, a more natural lightweight. Escobedo turned pro in 2005, fought three low-key bouts last year, and is 19-1 (12 KO) for his career, with only a split decision loss to Daniel Jimenez marring his record. He was also on Fight Night Round 3, which was quite peculiar.

Even at 38 and with just one fight since a 2006 loss to Kevin Kelly, Hernandez might be the best fighter Escobedo has faced to date. "El Famoso," on the other hand, has been in the ring with the likes of Erik Morales, Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Genaro Hernandez, among others. Hernandez is a half-mystery going into this show, much like Chavez. I don't really have any idea how much he's got left in the tank. I've never been thoroughly impressed with Escobedo, but I'm glad he's taking the chance with this fight and trying to work his way up. If the timing's right, Escobedo will take the old man down. If he's not good enough, the old man will probably still struggle to win. That said, I have to favor the younger fighter. Escobedo UD-10

Julio Diaz v. Rolando Reyes (Lightweights, 10 Rounds)

Since his embarrassingly one-sided loss to Juan Diaz, Julio has beaten the crap out of David Torres and routed Fernando Trejo. Reyes, 30, is a fringe contender that didn't look too hot in a decision win over Ivan Valle last time out on ESPN2. Yeah he won the fight, and deserved to, but if anyone was expecting something more out of the guy that made Stevie Johnston quit in October 2007, I think we now know that spoke more to where Stevie Johnston is at these days. Reyes' biggest fight came when he lost a lopsided decision to Jose Luis Castillo in 2006. Diaz is the better fighter, and should win handily. Diaz TKO-7

And also on Saturday night, live on Showtime from Montreal...

Timothy Bradley v. Kendall Holt (Junior Welterweights, 12 Rounds - Bradley's WBC and Holt's WBO titles on the line)

Totally forgot about this fight on the original post, then Brickhaus brought it up in the comments. That sort of tells you what I think about this fight.

It's not a bad fight. In fact it's a good fight. It's admirable of both guys to take a matchup with the other. It just lacks any real sizzle. Perhaps the fact that I'm not a big fan of either guy handicaps my level of anticipation for this one.

I gotta go with Bradley, though. Better all-around fighter, probably just as good of a puncher as Holt, and hasn't been down 314 times in his career. But Bradley has been out of the ring since September, while Holt last fought in December, and that little bit of rustiness might make a difference. In truth this is a real pick'em. Who ya got? Bradley TKO-10

According to Dan Rafael's Notebook, the postponed rematch between Chad Dawson and Antonio Tarver has been rescheduled for May 9. The fight was originally scheduled for March 14, but delayed due to a minor hand injury suffered by Dawson in training. They could put this fight on any day and it's no more interesting than it was when originally announced.

Also from Rafael's notes:

• Chris Arreola will likely face Jameel McCline on April 11. McCline, though big, is no threat to a guy as ferocious as Arreola. "The Nightmare" will likely just overwhelm him due to aggressiveness. I can already see McCline backing down, trying to cover up while Arreola throws massive right haymakers.
• Miguel Cotto will be back on June 13, as expected. He'll face either Joshua Clottey (my choice), Kermit Cintron or Andre Berto. He'd destroy Cintron.
• Showtime has agreed to televise Lamont Peterson-Willy Blain as the featured undercard bout on April 4, beneath the Bradley-Holt junior welterweight title unification. Details are being finalized with the camp for Blain (20-0, 3 KO).
• The Cesar Canchila-Giovanni Segura rematch will happen on March 14, not on the Tijuana Thunder PPV on March 28. The rematch also means Ivan Calderon is back to looking for an opponent. As much as I want Calderon to face a good opponent, Canchila-Segura definitely deserves a rematch.
• Alexander Povetkin will return to the ring on April 4 against ex-U.S. Olympian and powerless heavyweight Jason "Big Six" Estrada. Estrada talks a pretty good game and has talent, but Povetkin is in another class.

Super middleweight contender Librado Andrade (27-2, 21 KO, No. 3 Ring rankings) will return to the ring on April 4 in Montreal to take on Ukraine's Vitali Tsypko (22-2, 12 KO) in an IBF eliminator, the main co-feature beneath the Timothy Bradley-Kendall Holt junior welterweight title unification.

The press release for the event calls Andrade "Montreal's adopted son," as the fans took a strong liking to him after his notorious title bid last time out against Lucian Bute. If you live under a rock, just plain missed it, or are totally new to the sport, you can read all about that bizarro mess here.

Andrade, a Golden Boy fighter, should be a heavy favorite over Tsypko, who was last seen by most of us in his December 2006 crack at Jeff Lacy. Tsypko lost by majority decision, though I thought he won the fight. Then again I think Lacy has lost four of his last five (Calzaghe, Tsypko, Manfredo, Taylor) and the other one I had a very close win for Lacy (Mendoza). So I'm not exactly giving Tsypko high marks. In reality, Jeff is 3-2 in his last five.

Andrade is one of the sport's most exciting fighters simply because he's a banger who probably takes the best punch in the business. Antonio Margarito (pre-controversy Margarito) was the only guy I put on level with Andrade, and now he's been knocked out. Andrade is the human Terminator -- he's defeatable, but you have to fire some pretty heavy ammunition. Mikkel Kessler couldn't make a mark on the guy beating the crap out of him for twelve shutout rounds, and Bute never deterred him even though he won the majority of the fight, too.

Here's hoping that Andrade's trainer, Howard Grant, won't be suspended for this show as he was for Herman Ngoudjo's loss to Juan Urango in January, and that Marlon B. Wright is kept the hell out of the building.