There were some notable results on Friday night in the boxing world. Here's the round-up from across the globe.

Grapevine, Texas

Top Rank Live was pre-empted on basically every regular FSN channel, I'm guessing. This show was the company's appetizer card for tonight's Pacquiao-Clottey PPV in Arlington.

• Samuel Peter TKO-2 Nagy Aguilera. This result really shouldn't surprise anybody, so I hope it doesn't. Aguilera (15-3, 10 KO) got into this IBF eliminator solely on the "strength" of knocking out a cold, old Oleg Maskaev in the first round, which isn't really that amazing. Maskaev is in his 40s and never had a great chin. This win definitely does not mean for sure that Sam Peter (34-3, 27 KO) is "back," but he came in at 237 1/2 pounds, his lowest weigh-in since 2001, which was his debut year in professional boxing. Peter's weights have been very good since signing with Top Rank. I don't know that he's the fighter some people expect him to be, but it's pretty obvious he's legitimately re-focused on being the best he can be, and is deserving of being back in the discussion. Good for him, because at his best he could be a bulldozer in this division. The win does make Peter a mandatory challenger for ... wait for it ... Wladimir Klitschko, unless Klitschko loses to Eddie Chambers next week. Peter has losses to both on his record and I'm betting would love to avenge either.
• Richie Mepranum UD-10 Hernan Marquez. And there goes Marquez's "0." 22-year-old Filipino prospect Mepranum (17-2-1, 3 KO) can't punch a lick but is a solid young fighter anyway, and his two losses aren't anything to be upset about. He was 19 when he lost in Thailand to Panomroonglek Kratingdaenggym, and he was just 20 and hung in fairly well with Denkaosan Kaovichit in 2007. Kaoivchit would go on to win a world title at flyweight. Now at junior bantamweight, Mepranum won by wide scores last night (99-91, 98-92 and a closer 96-94). Marquez (27-1, 20 KO) had a pretty soft record coming in, and now with his first loss, we'll find out what he's really made of.
• Anthony Peterson KO-3 Juan Ramon Cruz. Total stay-busy fight for Peterson (30-0, 20 KO), who's looking on his way to his first major title shot. Cruz (16-8-1, 12 KO) has now lost seven of his last ten fights.
• Omar Henry TKO-1 Francisco Javier Reza. The very promising Henry (8-0, 7 KO) continues to roll early in his career. The Chicago-born Henry fights out of Houston and has been out of the first round just one time.
• Dennis Laurente UD-8 Ben Tackie. Not really an important fight at all, but a couple of veterans getting together for an eight-rounder that leads to better gatekeeping opportunities, hopefully. Also, Philippines versus Ghana. Laurente won on scores of 78-74, 77-75, 77-75, which is sort of exactly what you'd expect out of this fight. 32-year-old Laurente is now 34-3-5 (17 KO), while the 36-year-old Tackie looks close to winding down a damn solid career as he falls to 29-12-1 (17 KO) with his sixth straight loss (all decisions, all at least competitive).
• Jose Benavidez TKO-3 Bobby Hill. Freddie Roach calls the 17-year-old Benavidez his "future," and that's high praise. This kid is one hell of a prospect if everyone is to be believed, a Golden Gloves champion with a very bright future and loads of talent.

Liverpool, England

(Photo via BBC)

• Paul Smith UD-12 Tony Dodson. Smith retains the British super middleweight title on scores of 117-112, 116-111 and 115-112. Bad Left Hook had it 115-112 for Smith (29-1, 15 KO), who suffered pretty bad cuts in the first and second round on head clashes between the two reckless, messy fighters. Dodson (24-6-1, 12 KO) really gave away a golden opportunity. I had this fight even through eight before Smith took over, made worse by the fact that Dodson was docked a point (and rightly so) in the 10th round for excessive holding. If Dodson had targeted the cuts in the 3rd-5th rounds, he might have been able to get Smith out of there and take home the title in an upset. Instead, he fought like a guy simply waiting for the cut itself to get worse and hand over Smith's title. In the end, Smith out-gutted him and out-fought him, and it's as simple as that. Pretty decent fight with some fine drama and plenty of tension. The star of the fight was Smith's veteran cut man, Mick Williamson, who did a really phenomenal job keeping the blood flow minimized.
• Kell Brook TKO-6 Krzysztof Bienias. Brook (21-0, 14 KO) is ready for the world stage. I don't often suggest a guy skip a domestic level or two (or three) when he's in a system like the UK's, where the domestic levels actually can benefit a career, but Brook is ready to go. He's 23, he's a big, talented welterweight, and he's got the goods. Bienias is nothing more than a journeyman with a fluffed-up record (39-4, 16 KO), but Brook battered him pretty ruthlessly. I'm not suggesting Brook jump right into the fire on this level, but if he signed to fight Andre Berto tomorrow I'd consider it more or less a toss-up fight, and I think he'd dominate the guys the IBF has circling their title.
• Tony Bellew TKO-1 Atoli Moore. The Commonwealth light heavyweight belt goes to Bellew (13-0, 9 KO), who rather predictably crushed Moore (4-1, 2 KO) in a gross physical mismatch. Moore has been fighting around the 175-pound limit, so fair game and everything, but the Ghana-born fighter is 5'6". Bellew is about 6'3", a big light heavy.
• Enzo Maccarinelli TKO-1 Zoltan Czekus. Yep. Zoltan. Macca (31-4, 24 KO) wins his second straight over a scrub, trying to bounce back from the bad losses to David Haye, Ola Afolabi and Denis Lebedev.

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

• Giovanni Lorenzo KO-2 Wilmer Gonzalez. Former title challenger Lorenzo (28-2, 20 KO) gets back on track after losing in his crack at the IBF middleweight title last year to Sebastian Sylvester. Lorenzo still hasn't proven a whole lot, but the division is really weak and he can be an exciting fighter, so he's likely to get another shot sometime. A rematch with Sylvester would be suitable, but probably unlikely. Gonzalez (17-9-1, 11 KO) never really had much of a chance. This was a total comeback fight.
• Felix Diaz UD-6 Orlando Membreno. Former Olympian Diaz (5-0, 3 KO) gets some rounds in after flooring Membreno in the opening round. Nicaraguan Membreno (11-13-1, 10 KO) has been knocked out six times. Insane in the Membreno. Sorry. I'm really sorry.
  

Prague, Czech Republic

• Lukas Konecny TKO-4 Ionut Trandafir Ilie. Never let it be said that only the major sanctioning bodies pull stunts like this. Konecny (43-3, 21 KO) fought for the vacant Czech middleweight title on December 30 against Attila Kiss, who has a truly standing ovation-worthy name but also a 9-56-3 record coming into that fight. But Konecny didn't make weight. Now Konecny has won the interim Czech middleweight title over Ilie (13-3-1, 1 KO). Konecny is probably best-known for losing a 154-pound title shot against Sergiy Dzinziruk in 2008, if he's known to you at all.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• Paul Spadafora TKO-8 Ivan Fiorletta. Spadafora, 34, seems pretty realistic about what his career is. After two years of what would have been his prime was spent in prison, he's fought guys like Fiorletta (24-6-2, 7 KO) and beaten them, but really shown little interest in going higher than that. This time his team imported the 30-year-old Italian, who had fought in the States just twice before, both on small cards in Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. It sort of reminds me of the influx of Japanese talent in Major League Baseball from early last decade, after Ichiro really blew the doors open, and these teams would bring in these old, mediocre pitchers, and you'd wonder, "You couldn't find this in Triple-A? You had to import it?" Also dorky noteworthy: this fight was held at one of the consistent tour venues for the original ECW.

Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand

• Wisanu Pornobnum UD-12 Ichal Tobidal. This is the sort of great, 12-round title fight matchup you can only get in Thailand. Pornobnum (34-7-2, 12 KO) successfully staved off the challenge from the definitely qualified and worthy Tobidal (6-5, 5 KO) to retain his PABA junior flyweight title. This comes on the heels of very strong defenses against Deni Timor (5-5-1), Donnie Mabao (12-8-1), Edo Resilay (12-5-2) and some non-title fights against dangerous opponents such as Johan Wahyudi (4-10) and Alwi Alhabsyi (11-15-3).

Mashantucket, Connecticut

• Tony Grano UD-10 Mark Brown. Grano (17-1-1, 13 KO) isn't going to be a real heavyweight contender, and neither is Brown (15-3, 7 KO). But I'm glad Grano won so that maybe we can get a Grano-Kauffman rematch.
• Mike Oliver KO-3 Kermin Guardia. Oliver (23-2, 8 KO) looked like a possible American contender at 122 pounds before back-to-back bad losses to Reynaldo Lopez and Antonio Escalante (both TKO-3) in 2008. Now he's on the comeback trail, and at 30, he better get a move on. The knockout shot was to the body. Guardia (37-12, 21 KO) is about as close to done as it's going to get without just retiring. The 40-year-old Colombian hasn't won a fight since 2007. He's lost six in a row now, and 10 of his last 12. We're talking about a guy who challenged the great Finito Lopez for his strawweight title back in 1994.

Today at 5pm ET, Sky Sports presents a fine double-header from Echo Arena in Liverpool, and Bad Left Hook will be here with live, round-by-round coverage, scoring and analysis.

In the night's main event, Paul Smith (28-1, 15 KO) defends the British super middleweight title against fellow hometown fighter Tony Dodson (24-5-1, 12 KO). Dodson has been stopped four times in his five losses, including in his last fight, a 12th round TKO loss to Tony Quigley. He was also knocked out in three by Carl Froch back in 2006. Smith beat Quigley in October by split decision.

Dodson, 29, tells Sky Sports that he's gunning for the knockout:

"I've changed nothing since the Quigley fight because I did everything perfectly apart from that last round." said Dodson. "I was 60 seconds from being champion.

"Sparring means nothing. We used to get on but some people forget themselves.

"He's a self-made celebrity who thinks he's great and I can't wait to punch his lights out."

Perhaps of greater interest to American fans is rising welterweight Kell Brook (20-0, 13 KO). The 23-year-old prospect takes on Krzysztof Bienias (39-3, 16 KO), who is sure to be vastly overstated by the Sky commentators as some sort of major test. In all candor, Brook should dominate Bienias given Brook's pedigree and talent. Bienias' biggest fight was way back in 2004, when Junior Witter stopped him in two. He was also shut out in 2003 by Oktay Urkal over 12 rounds.

Note: At 6pm ET, we will interrupt our coverage to go to live coverage of the Pacquiao-Clottey weigh-in.

We finally get our first truly big fight of the year, and the promoters have basically cleared out the schedule in anticipation of it.  There is, however, also a solid card going on in Germany the day of Pacquiao-Clottey, and Bob Arum as usual has a lead-in card the night before the big fight, and a Friday Night Fights substitute will be on ESPN Deportes instead of ESPN2.

Friday, March 12

Eurosport (EU), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Lukas Konecny vs. Ionut Trandafir Ilie.   Ilie is a late replacement for Attila Kovacs, but probably isn't much of a step down.  Konecny is most prominent for nearly beating Sergei Dzinziruk a few years ago, and now is ranked as a middleweight by a couple of sanctioning bodies.  The proceeds of this fight will go towards relief in Haiti.

Sky Sports (UK), 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Paul Smith vs. Tony Dodson, Kell Brook vs. Krzyzstof Bienias.  Former "Contender" participant Smith will attempt the first defense of his BBBoC super middleweight title against exciting gatekeeper Dodson.  Brook it taking his first (sort of) step up in trying to take Pole Bienias' WBO intercontinental trinket.  Brook has been making a lot of noise lately about how he's gunning for Miguel Cotto and ready to face the big boys in the welterweight division, but that's all a pipe dream until he starts facing a few guys people have heard of. 

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. ($9.99), Tony Grano vs. Mark Brown, Mike Oliver vs. Kermin Guardia, Sadam Ali vs. Jose Duran.  Grano is coming off his upset of Travis Kaufman and is trying to avenge is only loss, which came to Brown.  He's exciting, but he's still a four round fighter.  122 pound contender Oliver will take on former titlist Guardia, who is now 40 years old, fighting six weight classes above where he won his title and has lost five in a row.

ESPN Deportes, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Giovanni Lorenzo vs. Wilmer Gonzalez, Kenny Galarza vs. Miguel Casillas, Felix Diaz vs. Orlando Membreno.  So there isn't officially a Friday Night Fights this weekend, but this card is about as good as a lesser FNF, just you'll need to watch it in Spanish because of college basketball.  This is a bounceback fight for Lorenzo, who in his last bout lost a split decision to titlist Sebastian Sylvester.  Blue chip Dominican prospects Galarza and Diaz will be taking small steps up as well.

Fox Sports Net / Fox Sports Espanol, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Sam Peter vs. Nagy Aguilera, Hernan Marquez vs. Richie Mepranum.  Peter vs. Aguilera is a title eliminator for the belt held by Vitali Klitschko.  Since losing to Eddie Chambers, Peter has supposedly refocused and gotten back to his old self in a series of off-TV bouts with new promoter Top Rank.  Aguilera knocked out Oleg Maskaev for this chance, bit he's a bit wild and rudimentary, and probably isn't much better than the guys Peter was knocking out before he fought Wladimir Klitschko.  This bout should be a good litmus test.  Marquez vs. Mepranum is potentially a great fight between prospects.  Marquez is an undefeated power punching southpaw who's only 21 years old, and he's exciting but VERY raw.  Mepranum is only 22 himself and has a couple of losses, but one was to a hotshot Thai prospect and the other was to recent titlist Denkaosan Kaovichit. Anthony Peterson, Omar Henry and Jose Benavidez Jr. are also slated to fight on the undercard, in case things run short.  Check your schedules on this one - the English language broadcast is probably pre-empted by college basketball in most places, but it should still be carried by Fox Sports Espanol.

Saturday, March 13

ARD (Germany), 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Marco Huck vs. Adam Richards, Alexander Povetkin vs. Javier Mora.  Huck is a fairly entertaining fighter who punches with authority, though has a tendency to fight in spurts.  Richards is an exciting fighter who goes all-out, and who has recently moved down to cruiserweight.  Team Richards has essentially guaranteed that this fight will end in a knockout - he's going for the KO, and if he doesn't get it, he'll get KOed trying.  Check back here near fight time, as we may have live round by round coverage of this one.

HBO PPV, 9:00 p.m. Eastern ($49.95), Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey, Humberto Soto vs. David Diaz, Jose Luis Castillo vs. Alfonso Gomez, John Duddy vs. Michael Medina.  Click here to get full fight previews of each of these bouts.  Bad Left Hook will have live round by round coverage of this card.

Sunday, March 14

Brandhatton.com, 9:00 a.m. Eastern (2.99 pounds), Dean Harrison vs. Ben Lawler.  Ricky Hatton tries his entry into the internet pay per view realm with this minor card involving a fight for the Midlands light welterweight title.  About 8 other fights will be on the card as well.

Elsewhere in the world of boxing...

• On the German undercard, there are a few more decent fights.  Cruiserweight contender Yoan Pablo Hernandez will face unproven Argentinian Cesar David Crenz for an IBF trinket.  Alexander Frenkel takes a minor step up against durable and boring journeyman Michael Simms.   Kubrat Pulev continues to face really tough tests for someone with fewer than 10 pro fights as he faces Danny Batchelder. 
  
• On the UK undercard, 12-0 Tony Ballew will attempt to win the vacant Commonwealth light heavyweight title against Atoli Moore.  I realize that Ghanian fighters often have more of a record than Boxrec indicates, but this is the third or fourth time lately they've really scraped the bottom of the barrel to fill a vacant title.  Officially, Moore is 4-0.  The combined records of his opponents is 2-7.  COMBINED.  Note to the BBBoC - you folks have one of the few smaller belts that people actually take seriously.  They won't take it seriously for that much longer if you keep filling vacancies with fights like this. 
• Sam Soliman will get back in the ring in Australia against Shannon McMahon.  The fight is for a minor middleweight belt.   
• In Mexico, a couple of gatekeepers will go at it in what should be an exciting fight when Gamaliel Diaz faces Eden Marquez. 
• Paul Spadafora continues his comeback in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Again, he's facing a much smaller fighter with a decent looking record who is very unproven.  We'll see if he ever decides to step back up, or if he's content to just stay on the regional circuit.  It's pretty likely that he has much left after spending a good chunk of his prime in prison. 

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Derek Chisora will get a chance to make a bit of a splash on February 13 when he faces BBBofC heavyweight titlist Danny Williams.

Chisora (11-0, 6 KO) was set to fight Matt Skelton on that card, and Williams was to take on Sam Sexton. But Sexton suffered a cut on his hand in training, giving Chisora a bump up the ladder. Williams (41-8, 31 KO) seemed set to retire after an upset loss to Carl Baker in the Prizefighter tournament last October, but has decided to make a final go of it.

Chisora, 26, was born in Zimbabwe and turned pro in 2007. Thus far he's cut through the opposition fairly easily, including a win in 2008 over Sexton (TKO-6). Skelton was to be a decent step up in competition, and Williams will serve as the same, though both Skelton and Williams may be on their last legs.

In addition, light heavyweight prospect-contender Nathan Cleverly's fight against Antonio Brancalion has been moved from March 12 to February 13, joining Williams-Chisora. Cleverly (18-0, 8 KO) is looking like the real deal for sure, and is hoping to get a world title shot before the end of 2010. Brancalion (32-7-2, 8 KO) should realistically be much challenge. The fight will be for the vacant European light heavyweight title.

That fight switches dates with welterweight Kell Brook's battle with Poland's Krzysztof Bienias. That fight will now headline in Liverpool on March 12. Bienias has two wins over Sven Paris and losses to Junior Witter and Oktay Urkal, and little else of which to speak. Shouldn't be much more than a gatekeeper fight for the promising Brook.