Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa appear to be on a collision course. Neither man has been too impressed with the other. (AP Photo)

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After Juan Manuel Lopez won a Fight of the Year contender over Rogers Mtagwa and Yuriorkis Gamboa blew away Whyber Garcia inside of four rounds, it put the two rising action stars one step closer to a probable summer 2010 meeting at 126 pounds.

Neither one, though, was exactly complimentary of the other man. Dan Rafael of ESPN.com had the post-fight quotes from each.

Gamboa on Lopez:

"I don't think Juan Manuel Lopez is better than me. He's not a challenge for me. If we fight, I will show that. [On Jan. 23], I think I should be the one carrying the card with Lopez because I am a better fighter than him. He's not better than me. Look at our records. Look at our amateur records. I was better than him in the amateurs and I am better than him as a professional."

Lopez on Gamboa:

"Let's see him knock out Mtagwa. I'll knock Garcia out like he did. Let's see what he can do with Mtagwa."

Lopez and promoter Bob Arum were both quick to give kind words to Mtagwa, and frankly I don't think there's any arguing that Lopez had the tougher opponent on Saturday.

Arum also had words about Celestino Caballero, a proposed January 23 opponent for Lopez who has been calling Juanma out for months now. Caballero remarked after the event that he didn't think Lopez would have the guts to fight him, and Arum counters with this:

"Caballero's people are being very difficult with the amount of money they want for the fight. We've offered him $150,000 and if he doesn't want it, that's fine."

It might seem like a low total, but consider Caballero's other options, which are pretty few. It's about the best offer he's going to get from anybody.

Bad Left Hook: The numbers below don't tell the whole story, but they do paint the Juan Manuel Lopez win. However you can see just by the numbers how big of an attack JML was under in the final two rounds against Rogers Mtagwa. Most intriguing is the total lack of jabbing in this fight: Only 30 landed for Lopez, to 19 for Mtagwa. A stiff, consistent jab from Lopez could have made this a much easier night for him, as it may have kept the determined, bull-rushing Mtagwa at bay instead of constantly in his grill.

Total Punches Landed / Thrown

Jabs Landed / Thrown

Power Punches Landed / Thrown

Final PunchStat Report

                                                                       Punches  Landed / Thrown

Juan Manuel Lopez survived the toughest test of his pro career in a Fight of the Year candidate war against Rogers Mtagwa. Lopez won via unanimous decision. (Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank)

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Juan Manuel Lopez and Rogers Mtagwa were set up for a war, but most figured it would be a short war, with Lopez eventually crushing the journeyman Mtagwa, an always-game fighter who can brawl with the best of them.

Instead, Lopez met the first great resistance of his professional career. Mtagwa battled, baited and hurt Lopez over 12 rounds of terrific action, but was outpointed in the end. Lopez remained unbeaten with an unanimous decision win, victorious on scores of 116-111, 115-111 and 114-113. Bad Left Hook scored it 114-112 for Lopez.

The fight was a straight-up brawl, a war that staggered and exhausted both competitors. Lopez scored a borderline knockdown in the fifth round, but the 12th round was a 10-8 for Mtagwa without a knockdown.

Before anyone gets too up in arms about Lopez not being as good as he is supposed to be, keep some other things in mind here. All great fighters have been pressed at some point in their careers, and 99.9% of them even get beaten. This one loss or even one tough opponent thing where everyone expects everybody to steamroll their opposition constantly is way out of hand among fans and people inside boxing. It hurts the sport overall, really. Great fighters do lose sometimes. It's a contact sport, and luck often plays a factor. Style matchups play a massive factor, too. Mtagwa wound up a damn hard style for Lopez to handle, but Lopez also showed a fantastic chin, a ton of heart and spirit, and he stayed up under a 12th round assault that would have floored a lot of guys. Mtagwa isn't feather-fisted and he was unloading.

In short, why focus on much more than the fact that this wound up being a phenomenal fight to watch? Both guys left it all in the ring, Mtagwa (26-13-2, 18 KO) again proved he's one tough SOB, and Lopez (27-0, 24 KO) may not have shown all of his great skills tonight, but he showed us something else, and that's his ability to survive and persevere when he gets into the deep waters.

I'm not saying don't analyze, or don't even discuss the flaws Lopez showed. There were some. But that shouldn't really be the focal point. It was a great fight, and chances are JML comes out of this stronger than he came in.

On the undercard, things more or less went as planned. Yuriorkis Gamboa (16-0, 14 KO) blitzed Whyber Garcia (22-7, 15 KO) in the fourth round, stopping him as soon as he stepped on the gas. The first round of their co-feature bout was tentative, and the second and third were fairly slow, as well. But when Gamboa turned the light on, it was over. Garcia had previous KO losses to Edwin Valero and Jorge Linares, so this was no surprise. No offense to Garcia, but this showed us nothing we don't already know about Gamboa.

In heavyweight action, Odlanier Solis (15-0, 11 KO) knocked out Monte Barrett in the second round. Solis, who was huge at 271 pounds on the scale and heaven knows what in the ring, clipped Barrett (34-8, 20 KO) with a left hook, which put Monte flat on his back. Moments later, he was able to finish him off with a flurry near the ropes and a second knockdown. For the 38-year old Barrett, that should be enough. He's got no punch resistance left and the only reason he got this fight and the David Haye fight last year is he rid the TV boxing world of the Tye Fields experiment, which gave his career a second breath. I am a Monte Barrett fan, but he's finished.

In the TV opener, Pawel Wolak (25-1, 17 KO) used constant pressure on the inside, forcing Carlos Nascimento (24-2, 20 KO) to quit after five rounds of action. Top Rank also showed half of John Duddy's eight-round decision win over Michi Munoz, which was a typical Duddy fight in which he gets hit a lot but wins, and makes it way harder on himself than it needs to be, or at least that's your first thought until you realize you've said that about pretty much all of his fights, and then it just dawns on you that John Duddy is popular and a lot of fun to watch, but just not all that good.

Rogers Mtagwa and Juan Manuel Lopez go to war tonight in the main event. (Photo by Chris Farina / Top Rank)

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Live coverage starts tonight at 9pm ET. It's a four-fight PPV card, and we'll have live results, plus round-by-round coverage and scoring of every fight on the PPV. The live updates will be posted in the comments of this thread. If you have an SB Nation account (it's free, it's clean, it's easy) the comments will update live with no refreshing necessary on your part. Join us!

Bad Left Hook Fight Previews for all four bouts

CompuBox Preview for Lopez-Mtagwa

Photos from the weigh-in

My picks:

Juan Manuel Lopez TKO-5 Rogers Mtagwa

Yuriorkis Gamboa TKO-3 Whyber Garcia

Monte Barrett TKO-9 Odlanier Solis (I don't know if I actually think this, but Solis has come in at 271 pounds and that's absurd for someone with his frame)

Pawel Wolak SD-10 Carlos Nascimento

I know this doesn't seem like the most competitive show on paper, but it should be filled with action, and that's something. Lopez-Mtagwa could be an absolute war, as Mtagwa is outgunned but never lacks in guts. Gamboa-Garcia should be a steamrolling. Solis-Barrett could be a decent heavyweight scrap. And Wolak-Nascimento has "show-stealer" written all over it.

All photos by Chris Farina / Top Rank, from Top Rank's Facebook page

Rogers Mtagwa (121) v. Juan Manuel Lopez (121)

Yuriorkis Gamboa (124 1/2) v. Whyber Garcia (124 1/2)

Monte Barrett (218) v. Oldanier Solis (271)

From Brickhaus earlier:

Nice to see Solis actually trained for this one. The guy's only about 6'1". Until recently, he'd been fighting around 250, which was heavy for a guy his size, but he didn't look completely fat and bloated like Cris Arreola did at the weight. 271 is just ridiculous. Another reason to root for Monte Barrett.

Solis looks undeniably heavy, and Barrett, while faded, is no joke opponent. In fact, Top Rank did a hell of a job getting him in on such short notice, and Monte looks to be in phenomenal shape.

Other Weights:

Pawel Wolak (155 1/2) v. Carlos Nascimento (154)

Off-TV: John Duddy (161) v. Michi Munoz (160)

HT: Weights courtesy Fight News

Juan Manuel Lopez is a huge favorite to everyone when he faces Rogers Mtagwa on Saturday. CompuBox's analysis doesn't differ. (Photo by Chris Farina - Top Rank)

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Editor's Note: This preview was put together by the CompuBox staff, and was not written by anyone at Bad Left Hook. For our preview of Saturday night's Top Rank PPV, go here.

* * * * * * * * * *

So far WBO super bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez has been nothing short of sensational. The 26-year-old has shown speed, savvy and sock as he defeats steadily improving competition. This Saturday his evolution continues as he defends against Rogers Mtagwa, a tough Tanzanian who never stops coming. Will talent win out over tenacity? The numbers may offer a clue.

Pumping Up the Volume: Juan Manuel Lopez's first three title fights offered few glimpses as he scored first round blowouts of Daniel Ponce de Leon, Cesar Figueroa and Sergio Medina. But his two most recent bouts against Gerry Penalosa and Olivier Lontchi offered a more complete examination. Not only is Lopez powerful and technically sound, he can roll up numbers that sap spirits.

Penalosa's almost inhuman toughness allowed Lopez to shine offensively and to smash three CompuBox records for junior featherweights - power punch connects (421) and power punches thrown and connected during a round (129 and 84 in round eight, breaking his own marks of 123 and 71 set two rounds earlier). Lopez was on pace to challenge the all-time record for punches landed in a 12-round fight - 637 by Cecilio Espino against Luigi Camputaro in January 1992.

Lopez landed 444 of 1,020 (44 percent) to Penalosa's 99 of 392 (25 percent), meaning JuanMa landed 52 more punches than Penalosa threw and averaged 113.3 blows per round, nearly double the divisional average of 60.6. He topped 100 punches seven times (including each of the last five rounds) and exceeded 100 power punches three times (in the fifth, sixth and eighth rounds). Lopez surpassed 50 total connects and 40 power punch connects in the final five rounds, where he out-landed Penalosa 319-56 overall and 306-44 in power shots.

The numbers against Lontchi didn't match those in the Penalosa fight but the result was the same - a ninth round corner retirement. Lopez out-landed Lontchi 244-84 overall and 211-65 in power punches, mostly because his heft discouraged Lontchi from duplicating the champ's output. Lopez out-threw his rival 592-271 overall and 484-153 in power shots. To win, Mtagwa must fight the temptation to slow down despite mounting punishment.

True Grit: Mtagwa may not have a sparkling record (26-12-2, 18 KO) but his toughness is worthy of his adopted hometown of Philadelphia. In his rematch with Aldo Valtierra the numbers were tight (Mtagwa led 172-171 in total connects and 42-37 in landed jabs while Valtierra led 134-130 in landed power shots) but Mtagwa's aggression and superior firepower allowed him to win the decision. But it was his classic war with Tomas Villa that earned him this crack. Mtagwa overcame a ninth round knockdown to record three of his own in the 10th. They combined for 1,630 punches (905 Villa to 725 Mtagwa), 679 connects (342-335 for Villa) and 544 power connects (283-261 Villa). Mtagwa will need every bit of that resilience to upend Lopez.

Prediction: Young, skilled and eager almost always trumps everything else but it'll be fun while it lasts. Lopez TKO 9

Top Rank presents a four-fight pay-per-view card on Saturday night from Madison Square Garden, headlined by two exciting, young stars that fight for knockouts and have natural talent in spades. I personally feel that one of them (Juan Manuel Lopez) is already a legit pound-for-pound contender, a 122-pound titlist who has mowed down his opposition so far, but many are even higher on Yuriorkis Gamboa, a featherweight titleholder whose speed can be astounding to watch, and with that speed comes some shocking power.

The show is priced at $39.99, which most are going to feel is pretty expensive for fights that, frankly, don't look competitive on paper. But the fact is this: Top Rank wanted to get these guys on TV, and this was really the only outlet. It's no test of whether or not you're a "big enough boxing fan" when it comes to ordering this. It depends on whether or not you have the disposable cash, or if you don't and you're just a nut, like me. I shouldn't spend $40 on this card, but I will.

Let's take a look at the card.

Main Event: Juan Manuel Lopez v. Rogers Mtagwa

Lopez (26-0, 24 KO) dumped on this fight himself when it was first announced. The 122-pound titlist wanted something bigger, yet at the same time he wasn't showing a lot of interest in unifying with Celestino Caballero at the time, and Caballero didn't really turn up the heat on calling out Lopez until this fight was all but signed on the dotted line.

Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KO) is a rugged, good-punching veteran, but the level of talent that separates these two is enormous. Lopez is a fast, exceptionally strong young fighter. Mtagwa, 30, is probably best-known for his November 2008 war with Tomas Villa, which he dramatically won via final round knockout, storming back into a fight that was all but lost for him. He's really a tough guy, but if he makes it into the double digit rounds with Lopez, be surprised. Lopez is about ten times the fighter Villa is, which makes him about ten times the fighter Mtagwa is. He's just a lot better, period, and this is a mismatch. Everyone knows it. If Mtagwa wins, it's the Upset of the Year.

Co-Feature: Yuriorkis Gamboa v. Whyber Garcia

There's no delicate way to put this matchup either: It sucks. We've seen Gamboa dispose of guys on Garcia's level with relative ease plenty of times already. Gamboa (15-0, 13 KO) is far more advanced than the number of pro fights would lead you to believe, same with most of the top Cuban standouts that have defected and gone pro. Garcia (22-6, 15 KO) has been knocked out four times, and this should be the fifth.

List of Gamboa opponents on Garcia's level, and you've probably seen most of these fights, so expect the same: Al Seeger, Roger Gonzalez, Macos Ramirez, Johnnie Edwards, Jose Rojas, Walter Estrada. Garcia has won his last two since being destroyed by Jorge Linares in 2008, and he was also part of Edwin Valero's long first round knockout streak. Roinet Caballero stopped him in two in between the losses to Valero and Linares. Garcia has no chance on Saturday. If he wins, it's the Upset of the Year.

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If and when Juan Manuel Lopez is successful on October 10 against Rogers Mtagwa, he'll have to field a challenge from Celestino Caballero. The two could fight for the junior featherweight world championship on January 23. (Photo via www.braggingrightscorner.com)

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BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno spoke with agent Sampson Lewkowicz, who gave him some interesting tidbits regarding two fighters he represents, junior featherweight titleholder Celestino Caballero and featherweight titlist Chris John.

Lewkowicz told Reeno that Caballero plans to attend Top Rank's October 10 pay-per-view, main evented by Juan Manuel Lopez taking on Rogers Mtagwa in an obvious tune-up. On the same card, featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa will defend against Whyber Garcia. Top Rank plans to have Lopez and Gamboa meet at featherweight some time in 2010, with this show and a possible HBO date on January 23 serving to set that up for the future.

But Caballero intends on confronting and personally challenging Lopez. Given that HBO is reportedly interested in the fight and that fight fans have responded to the idea with a big "yes," it's probably as good as done. It seems likely now that Lopez and Caballero will meet on January 23 to unify titles at 122 pounds.

Currently, the RING Magazine world championship at 122 pounds is vacant, as Israel Vazquez gave up the championship so that he can move up to featherweight in his October return. Caballero is currently ranked No. 1, with Lopez at No. 2. Assuming Lopez dusts Mtagwa as we all expect, Caballero-Lopez would indeed be fought for the vacant, legit world championship at 122 pounds.

Lewkowicz also says that Chris John will be back in the States to fight again in February or March, and that HBO will televise that fight. As Brick mentioned earlier, John's promoters aren't exactly keen on him having another tough fight, as they believe the 30-year old is nearing the end of his career. I'd personally love to see John take on any of the other titlists at 126, and like Brick, I'd pick him to beat either Elio Rojas or Steven Luevano, if maybe not Yuriorkis Gamboa or Cristobal Cruz. Cruz is like a Rocky Juarez that actually starts from the opening bell, which could give John some real problems despite John having the skill to burn in comparison to Cruz.

Yuriorkis Gamboa will be part of Top Rank's October 10 pay-per-view at Madison Square Garden. Tickets go on sale Friday. (Photo via a.espncdn.com)

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On Friday, tickets will go on sale for the October 10 pay-per-view event presented by Top Rank featuring title defenses by Juan Manuel Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa. The sale starts at noon eastern for the show to be held at Madison Square Garden.

122-pound titlist Lopez (26-0, 24 KO) will defend against tough journeyman Rogers Mtagwa (26-12-2, 18 KO), a fight that has been roundly downplayed by many as a non-challenge for Lopez. Lopez himself objected to the matchup, but it will go ahead nonetheless.

Gamboa (15-0, 13 KO) defends his 126-pound title against Whyber Garcia (22-6, 15 KO) in the co-feature. It's nothing much more than Gamboa's recent fights have been, a should-win against a decent veteran. Also featured will be an intriguing heavyweight bout between former Cuban Olympian Odlanier Solis (14-0, 10 KO) and rising American contender Kevin Johnson (22-0-1, 9 KO).

Tickets are priced at $250, $150, $75 and $50, and will be available at the MSG box office, the arena's web site TheGarden.com, and all Ticketmaster outlets.