Photo © Simon Dawson / AP

It was a fun night at the fights for those that watched, with David Haye retaining his status as cruiserweight champion (which he will soon vacate), Samuel Peter finally getting his crack at Oleg Maskaev and cracking him to win the WBC heavyweight crown officially, and veteran Nate Campbell outfighting heralded young star Juan Diaz to win the IBF lightweight title. And that was just what was on American TV tonight.

Let's kick things off with something else, though: In their fourth fight, WBC flyweight champion Daisuke Naito and rival Pongsaklek Wonjongkam fought to a draw in Tokyo, meaning their rivalry now stands at 2-1-1 for Wonjongkam. The 33-year old Naito (32-2-3, 20 KO) retains the title on scores of 114-114, 115-113 (Naito) and 115-114 (Wonjongkam). A fifth fight? Why not, I suppose? It's still the biggest fight for either of them, except maybe a showdown with young gun Nonito Donaire.

Wonjongkam is now 67-3-1, a bogus record, still, almost entirely padded with junk fighters. I'm not saying he isn't good, because he is. He's one of the world's best flyweights. But that record makes him look like some sort of legend. He's a Thai legend, to be sure, but he's not exactly fast-tracked to Canastota or anything.

Now on to what we saw tonight from Showtime and HBO.

At the O2 Arena in London, half a mile from where David Haye was born, the crushing cruiser puncher stopped Welshman Enzo Maccarinelli at 2:04 of the second round after a bruising right hand sent Maccarinelli into the corner, where Haye continued to unload on his foe until referee John Keane called it off. It's worth noting that Keane did so in a peculiar fashion, as he pulled Haye away from Maccarinelli, then never actually administered a count, seemingly having some sort of conversation with Enzo before deciding to stop the fight.

It was the right call -- Maccarinelli was in bad shape and just about out on his feet. But what if Enzo hadn't been too badly shaken? The referee would've given him extra time to recover during all that, and had no choice but to either wrongly stop the fight because of his own mistake, or allow it to continue at a slight advantage to Maccarinelli.

Luckily, it wasn't in doubt. Haye was cut within the five minutes of the fight, and said after that that prompted him to abandon the respect he did show Maccarinelli's power and just go for the knockout. It would've been tough, after all, for Haye to make his official and much-discussed jump to the heavyweight division had he lost to Maccarinelli in his final fight at 200 pounds.

Haye came in at 198 pounds for the fight, too, which I think is notable. He looked in really outstanding shape, and fought like it. He never looked sluggish (though five minutes isn't much time to start looking sluggish), and looked really lean, healthy, and energetic.

It's sort of too bad that the wonderful fans in London didn't get more for this much-anticipated showdown, but this was one of two real options for this fight's result. Either someone was going down early and excitingly, or the fight would be vicious and grueling.

In all honesty, it worked out great for American fight fans, who then were able to switch on over to HBO and watch that network's card if they so chose.

Haye is now 21-1 with 20 knockouts. Maccarinelli is 28-2 (21). Enzo made no excuses afterward, saying he got himself knocked out and that he just didn't box the gameplan. He gave all credit to Haye for beating him, and I expect we'll see Enzo in more big cruiserweight fights over the coming years.

In Cancun, the HBO double-header delivered as well as could be expected, though the outcomes were not exactly as many had planned.

In the televised opener, Juan Diaz lost his "0" as Nate Campbell outgunned, outfought, and just plain beat the 24-year old "Baby Bull," winning a split decision victory (116-111, 115-112, 113-114). Though Campbell erroneously had a point taken away for what the referee saw as a headbutt that opened a pretty fair gash just over Diaz's left eye, it didn't matter. Campbell swept the last six rounds of the fight in convincing fashion, as he looked like Juan Diaz, while Diaz looked like Julio Diaz or Acelino Freitas last year-- beaten men losing the will to fight.

It was a wonderful performance from Campbell (32-5-1, 25 KO), who seemed to get under Diaz's skin early and often, and also came out charging full-on, fighting Diaz's fight, working in close, rapidly punching, and pounding away to the body. Once the bad cut opened up, Diaz lost his composure and was hardly even competitive. While he gets much credit for being a humble loser, particularly considering it was his first loss after some were talking him up as nigh invincible at 135 pounds, and for fighting with heart and gutting out the 12 rounds, Campbell (to be blunt) beat Diaz's ass down the stretch. Those last six rounds were one-sided, not even close.

Diaz (33-1, 17 KO) will now be seeking a new promotional contract while coming off of his first loss, but I don't think it's likely he'll have a hard time finding a new home after his relationship with Don King was officially severed this week. Golden Boy or Top Rank would love to snatch up a fighter this good. What happened tonight was no more complex than a veteran fighter who can still fight beating a kid that has only once really been tested as a professional. As good as Diaz is, it takes fights like these to really become a great fighter.

It also really would help if he had more power, something they've got to try to work on. He needs to get stronger. Yeah, his best asset is his volume punching, but Campbell showed the blueprint tonight on how to beat Diaz. Train hard, come in great shape, and just run with Diaz. Fight Diaz's fight, and he can be beaten. I always thought it was impossible to beat Diaz trying to box cutesy-style at a distance, with jabs and the occasional combo. He simply won't allow a fighter to do that. Ask Julio Diaz, who is a good fighter than Juan made look like a scrub.

With Campbell never bothered by Diaz's power, he was allowed to stay inside and trade, trade, trade with Diaz. All the best punches of the fight came from Nate Campbell. Joel Casamayor has long said that Campbell was the hardest puncher and toughest opponent he ever faced, and he picked Campbell to score this upset. Nate, like Sam Peter, had long ago earned the right for this fight. In fact, he should have fought Julio Diaz. But it didn't materialize. Now he's proven how good he is. He's a world-class fighter who has learned from all the mistakes, never let the setbacks put him down, and persevered to become a major titleholder.

But do not count Juan Diaz out. He'll be back, and he's still among the division's best. But as of this moment, I have to consider Campbell the No. 1 135-pound fighter in the sport -- how weird is that?

In the HBO main event, Samuel Peter mauled Oleg Maskaev in the sixth round before referee Lupe Garcia put a stop to the assault, giving Peter the WBC heavyweight title, officially, and maybe putting an end to a good career for Oleg Maskaev, who looked slow and old.

It was nice that we got a conclusive finish, and it was a lot better than Klitschko-Ibragimov. But if anyone tells you this was really a good fight, don't buy the hype. They punched hard, occasionally, and then the rest of the fight waited on the other to do something. Nobody ever got into an effective rhythm, and the fight was marred by looping, sloppy punching, plus Sam Peter's trademark shots to the back of the head.

I'm happy for Sam Peter as I think the good guy won this fight. Now, he'll almost certainly go on to fight Vitali Klitschko, even though the only people in the world that would rather see that than Peter-Wlad II are all employees of the ridiculous WBC, or their last name is "Klitschko."

If Vitali does make it through a training camp and actually show up for a fight, I'll be honest, I hope Peter dumps him unceremoniously and calls Wladimir out on the spot, and then within a week, a contract is signed.

Ruslan Chagaev is a pretty quality fighter, and that's great. But he's stuck fooling around with Valuev in a rematch. Wladimir Klitschko versus Samuel Peter is THE heavyweight fight. I don't expect it would be anything great, but that's the fight. Some argue (if their last name is Klitschko) that Wlad already beat Peter, and then they note Wlad's marked improvement since that fight. But Peter has gotten better, too, shaky showing against Jameel McCline notwithstanding. Let's not forget that Peter hadn't been preparing to fight a big guy like McCline, and that he really showed heart to even take the fight when he didn't have to. McCline was not in line to do anything important, and still isn't. But Peter went out and put on a show for people at MSG that paid for his originally planned fight with Maskaev, and that should be commended.

Peter wants to fight anyone, and for once, I actually believe that coming from a heavyweight.

MAIN EVENT #1 (SHO)
For the Ring Magazine, WBC, WBA and WBO Cruiserweight Titles
DAVID HAYE
(20-1, 19 KO, London, England)
versus
ENZO MACCARINELLI
(28-1, 21 KO, Swansea, Wales)

MAIN EVENT #2 (HBO)
For the WBC Heavyweight Title
OLEG MASKAEV
(34-5, 26 KO, Zhambul, Khazakstan)
versus
SAMUEL PETER
(29-1, 22 KO, Akwaiborn, Nigeria)

CO-FEATURE (HBO)
For the IBF Lightweight Title
JUAN DIAZ
(33-0, 17 KO, Houston, TX)
versus
NATE CAMPBELL
(31-5-1, 25 KO, Tampa, FL)

The show goes live on Showtime in about 40 minutes. I'll switch over to the HBO card as soon as this fight ends. HBO's card starts at 9:30.

Also, if you're interested in MMA and don't care about the HBO card -- I'm not trying to downplay boxing, but I know there are people out there that are fans of both sports (like me!) -- our friends over at Bloody Elbow will be covering the Ken Shamrock-Buzz Berry main evented Cage Rage card from the UK, which immediately follows Haye-Maccarinelli on Showtime.

My official picks for the night: Maccarinelli TKO-6 in a hard-fought battle (Haye's chin, focus and weight issues bother me too much) ... Diaz via UD ... Peter TKO-8.

Part of me hopes this'll end kind of early so we can catch and score both fights on HBO, but most likely we'll be able to do this and the heavyweight fight, and see a portion of Diaz-Campbell.

We're going to do dual analysis to the lead-up of this weekend's HBO v. Showtime head-to-head, and if you glance over at the left sidebar, you might already guess what I'm going to be watching live.

This Saturday night, the long-awaited fight between WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev (34-5, 26 KO) and interim titleholder Samuel Peter (29-1, 22 KO), live from Cancun, Mexico -- the first ever major heavyweight title fight that will take place in Mexico.

It's something of a big deal. On paper, you could expect fireworks. But after the glorious turd that Klitschko and Ibragimov laid on February 23, I expect nothing now. I expect absolutely zilch from any heavyweight fight. Why prop myself up on expectations when chances are high I'll be let down?

But let's briefly try to escape into what could potentially happen.

Peter is arguably the division's biggest puncher, or is at least regarded as such. Maskaev is a tough, durable heavy, but he's been knocked out five times. Corey Sanders (not the Wlad conqueror), Lance Whitaker, Kirk Johnson, David Tua and Oliver McCall have all stopped Maskaev. Three of those came early in the fight -- McCall in the first, Johnson in the fourth, Whitaker in the second. Tua took Maskaev out in the 11th round, and Sanders stopped him in the eighth.

Peter has the thunder to end any fight early. But when's the last time he did so? That would be April 28, 2006, against Julius Long. In fact, who has Peter ever knocked out? Yeah, he put Wlad down three times, but he lost the fight. There are a few solid names on Peter's KO sheet, but nobody big. He's gone 12 rounds his last three fights, twice with old, inflated James Toney, and last time out against late sub Jameel McCline, who huffed and puffed his way through most of a rugged, butt ugly fight -- and beat the piss out of Peter in the process.

If McCline can hurt Peter, so can Maskaev. For a while it's been assumed that Maskaev will lose to Peter. I am not so sure about that. Maskaev is a talented boxer, far better fundamentally than Peter, and he's no feather-fisted puncher. He generally weighs in the neighborhood of 240 pounds for his fights, and he's 6'3". This isn't a small heavyweight we're talking about.

But the whole fight is so overdue that I can't help but have the attitude of, "Jesus Christ, FINALLY," rather than any real sense of anticipation. Maskaev has held the belt hostage since beating Hasim Rahman in August of 2006, defending one time since then (12/06, beating Peter Okhello, a joke of a challenger).

In that same timeframe, Peter has won two eliminator bouts and an interim title fight. If rust bothers anyone, it'll be Oleg. In fact, almost all signs point to Peter winning.

He's been far more active, he's stronger, he's 12 years younger, and he's fought better opposition of late. He is also, to be totally fair, the only guy since 2004 to give Wladimir Klitschko a real test.

Look, I want to think that this fight will be an action-packed slugfest, but I've been burned too many times by heavyweight boxing. It's also a fight that is being contested more to see who the returning wrench in the works, Vitali Klitschko, will fight for a title, in a shot he doesn't deserve.

But, again -- Jesus Christ, FINALLY. At least we'll be done talking about Maskaev-Peter. It was never a real marquee fight, and it's been so drawn out. Just hope for the best from the fight, that's the most enthusiasm I can muster.

On the undercard, the IBF lightweight title will be contested when champion Juan Diaz (33-0, 17 KO, largely considered the world's best 135-pounder) takes on Nate "Last Chance" Campbell (31-5-1, 25 KO).

Lots of folks are talking about Campbell being a live dog. He is. He's a good fighter. He's a strong puncher, as anyone will tell you -- hell, ask Joel Casamayor. As Campbell has recently brought up, Casamayor counts Campbell as the hardest puncher he's ever faced.

Juan Diaz is 24. Campbell is 35. And Juan Diaz's last two fights have been bigger wins than any in Campbell's career.

I'm not disrespecting Nate at all, nor do I count him out. The man can fight, and I think -- or hope, anyway -- that he gives Diaz more trouble than Julio Diaz or Popo Freitas did last year. But Campbell has never proven himself on a large stage. He's had a couple of chances, and come up short.

He waxes fringe contenders and below. I'm not going to call him a gatekeeper, because he's better than that. He's a real contender, and in fact, he long ago earned a shot at Julio Diaz that he never got. He slaughtered Ricky Quiles a year ago to get this fight, and it's just now happening, and that's only because Don King got in the way of Juan Diaz fighting Michael Katsidis.

The young Diaz -- he's in college! he's in college! he's in college! -- is not a big puncher, but he never stops going. He's the freakin' Energizer bunny out there. He punches, punches, punches, punches. It's almost impossible to get anything off against him. You can't build a rhythm because you can't get him to stop moving. And it's even hard to counter-punch him, because how many counters can you throw?

I will never think that any fighter will quit. That's not a prediction I can bring myself to make, just like I find it somewhat disrespectful to predict a knockout prior to, say, the fourth round. But Juan Diaz has made his last two opponents give up. Nate's in for an uphill climb.

Give me Sam Peter by late TKO in a sloppy fight, and Diaz by unanimous decision.

Next time out, I'll take a closer look at Showtime's counter: David Haye v. Enzo Maccarinelli. If you want to see some pretty big fellas throw leather, that's your destination on Saturday night.