It was the first truly busy weekend of the year, and it was a pretty good one overall with a lot of telling fights, some questions raised, and maybe even a couple actually answered.

San Antonio, Texas

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr UD-12 Marco Antonio Rubio: I said at one point that the fight appeared to be drowning in Ambien but fighting to stay away. I didn't mean that to say it was a terrible fight or anything -- it was doing sort of what was expected, but slower and without the oomph. The last two rounds were very good, and Chavez kept his undefeated record and his WBC title belt. After the fight, Rubio unfortunately threw a PEDs accusation toward Chavez, but I think it's pure bunk even more than just sour grapes, since Chavez freely admitted he was out of shape and it bothered him. [ Chavez vs Rubio Recap ]

Nonito Donaire SD-12 Wilfredo Vazquez Jr: It's certainly not that Donaire was perfect in this fight, but the split decision verdict was shocking. Judge Ruben Garcia has some splainin' to do with his 115-112 Vazquez card. Donaire injured his left hand early in the fight, and word going around the gossips after was that there was a double fracture. [ Donaire vs Vazquez Recap ]

Vanes Martirosyan TKO-3 Troy Lowry: I've had my pretty hate-filled say about this sham of a fight twice already, so I won't go into it again. [ Undercard Recap / Video Highlights ]

Wale Omotoso TKO-6 Nestor Rosas: Rosas has fought once in six years, so this was a true step back for Omotoso from his last fight against the credible Lanardo Tyner. It wasn't particularly impressive, but Rosas took a good shot and had to be thankfully pulled out by the referee when it became totally pointless.

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Alexander Alekseev was too physically strong and had too much power this evening for Enad Licina, winning the vacant European cruiserweight title by wide unanimous decision scores of 118-110, 116-112, and 118-112. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 118-110 for Alekseev.

Alekseev (23-2, 20 KO) scored the best win of his career in large part because Licina (21-4, 11 KO) just couldn't deter him. The left uppercut was the money punch in the fight for Alekseev, but he had success with a straight left hand and a consistent jab, as well.

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Our live coverage of the Hernandez vs Cunningham card continues here, with the European cruiserweight title fight between Enad Licina and Alexander Alexeev coming up next.

Yoan Pablo Hernandez became the new Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion of the world and retained his IBF title in a back-and-forth battle against Steve Cunningham today in Germany, winning by unanimous decision on scores that may seem a bit wide by most tastes, but with little argument about Hernandez being named the winner of the fight.

Hernandez won on scores of 116-110, 116-110, and 115-111. Bad Left Hook scored it 114-112 for the Cuban.

Hernandez (26-1, 13 KO) performed brilliantly in the early rounds, taking the first three rounds on most scorecards, though Cunningham (24-4, 12 KO) was definitely having his moments.

[ Related: Gutknecht Outpoints Uzelkov ]

The fight nearly ended in the fourth round, when Hernandez caught Cunningham with a monstrous left hand, flooring the American. It looked like Cunningham wouldn't even make it to his feet, but he did. Immediately as the fight restarted, Hernandez put him down again, though not on a big shot. Cunningham managed to survive that and, indeed, the rest of the round -- somehow. With his legs jelly and Hernandez doing a pretty good job not letting his opponent tie up, Cunningham still got out of the fourth round and carried on.

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Our live coverage of the Hernandez vs Cunningham card continues here, with the main event yet to come, as well as the European cruiserweight title fight between Enad Licina and Alexander Alexeev.

Germany's Eduard Gutknecht was able to outwork and simply outbox rugged Vyacheslav Uzelkov today on the Hernandez vs Cunningham undercard, winning a 12-round unanimous decision to retain his European light heavyweight title. Scores were 115-114, 116-112, and 117-111 for Gutknecht. Bad Left Hook scored it 116-112 for the German.

Gutknecht (23-1, 9 KO) started the fight quickly and swept the first five rounds on the BLH scorecard, rather easily outboxing the slow and plodding Uzelkov. But in the middle rounds, the Ukrainian challenger started to build a bit of momentum with his relentless pursuit and his pure physical strength. His punching power began making a difference, and through eight rounds, the fight had become either dead even or very close to it, and momentum seemed to be going the challenger's way.

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Today at 1 p.m. EST on BoxNation (fights likely to start around 2-2:30 p.m.), Steve Cunningham looks to regain the IBF cruiserweight title from Yoan Pablo Hernandez in Frankfurt, Germany, and two European titles are also on the line.

[ Related: Quigg vs Arthur Round-By-Round Coverage ]

Cunningham (24-3, 12 KO) and Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO) met last October in what turned out to be a controversial technical decision going Hernandez's way. Neither man has fought since then, and today they rematch in a fight that deserved a second go.

Also featured on the card will be European light heavyweight champion Eduard Gutknecht (22-1, 9 KO) defending against Vyacheslav Uzelkov (25-1, 16 KO), and the vacant European cruiserweight title is on the line between Enad Licina (21-3, 11 KO) and Alexander Alexeev (22-2, 20 KO).

Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of the entire lineup. Join us!

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This afternoon from Frankfurt, Germany, a big, cruiserweight-heavy card from Sauerland Event comes your way via BoxNation in the United Kingdom. The program will go on at 1 p.m. EST, as listed by BoxNation, with live fights likely to start closer to 2 or 2:30 p.m. EST.

In the main event, Yoan Pablo Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO) defends the IBF cruiserweight title against the man he controversially defeated in October, Philadelphia's Steve Cunningham (24-3, 12 KO). Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of the entire card this afternoon. Here's how you can watch:

Fight time: 1:00 p.m. EST

Location: Fraport Arena - Frankfurt, Germany

TV channel: BoxNation (United Kingdom)

Odds: Cunningham is a slight favorite to regain the IBF title from Hernandez.

Full undercard lineup after the jump.

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Today in Frankfurt, Germany, Steve Cunningham will attempt to regain the IBF cruiserweight title in a rematch against Yoan Pablo Hernandez, and the American is favored by a slim margin to do just that:

Cunningham (24-3, 12 KO) lost the belt to Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO) via controversial technical decision last October, and neither man has fought since then, as the rematch was being sorted out. Hernandez did floor Cunningham in the first round last time out, but Cunningham started to really take over the fight in the third and fourth rounds, and was building a lot of steam before the fight was stopped on a suspect cut after six rounds. Cunningham lost via split decision, including one card (59-54 Hernandez) that seemed a bit ridiculous.

After the jump: Odds for undercard fights (Alexeev vs Licina, Masternak vs Simms).

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The vacant Ring Magazine cruiserweight championship will be on the line on February 4 in Germany, when Yoan Pablo Hernandez defends the IBF belt against Steve Cunningham in a rematch.

The decision comes down because Marco Huck has been moved out of the Ring's rankings with his coming move to the heavyweight division to challenge Alexander Povetkin on February 25. Huck was ranked No. 1, with Hernandez and Cunningham at Nos. 2 and 3. Ring has dropped Huck, which moves everyone else up.

Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO) and Cunningham (24-3, 12 KO) fought to a controversial and highly unsatisfying technical decision last October 1, with the fight stopped due to a cut that should not have stopped the bout, and a points win being given to Hernandez, who had dropped Cunningham in the opening round.

But it was Cunningham coming on strong when the fight was stopped, and Hernandez appeared to be badly fading. After the fight, Cunningham remarked that he'd "been had," and said he felt 'set up."

This will be the second time Cunningham has fought for the vacant real world championship, as he lost to Tomasz Adamek in an extremely memorable slugfest back in December 2008.

Sauerland Event has booked the IBF-mandated rematch between Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Steve Cunningham for February 4 in Frankfurt, Germany, ESPN.com's Dan Rafael reports.

The first fight between the two on October 1 was highly controversial, as referee Mickey Vann stopped the bout after six rounds on the advice of the ringside physician. The cuts Cunningham had suffered, due to a headbutt, were really not affecting his ability to fight, and the IBF ruled that the stoppage was incorrect as the physician had said the fights might interfere with Cunningham, not that they actually were interfering.

Scores for the fight were 59-54, 58-55, and 56-57, giving Hernandez (25-1, 13 KO) a technical split decision win. The scores, too, were called into question, particularly the absurd 59-54 card for Hernandez. At the time of stoppage, Bad Left Hook had it 57-56 for Cunningham, who had rallied to take over the fight after a first round knockdown, and seemed on his way to victory as Hernandez began to fade.

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