With a style perfectly suited for the tournament's format, former 140-pound world titleholder Gavin Rees got back into the mix at junior welterweight with a terrific performance today in London, winning the ninth Prizefighter.

Rees (31-1, 14 KO) won all three of his fights by decision, and there was only one fight ended before the final bell all night. Rees beat a valiant Colin Lynes (33-7, 12 KO) in the final.

For Rees, this may give him another opportunity to go for a world title at 140, though I don't think he'd fare too well with any of the titlists. I still think very little of his ability to compete on the world stage; the guy he beat for his world title (Souleymane M'baye) was a regional fighter in his own right, and it was just one of those fluky things. One unqualified "world champion" loses to another man who isn't quite fit for the distinction.

I also find Rees' arrogance off-putting, and I'll admit I'm simply not a fan. But I cannot deny that he came in with the exact perfect gameplan tonight, and seemed to be the only fighter in the tournament that totally understood how to go about this thing. With three, three-minute rounds in every fight, aggression is a major help. Rees was a bulldozer all night, a 5'4" ball of motion who attacked the body, then went for good head shots from deep down. And he won every fight of his convincingly.

It was an impressive performance overall. And he does make for exciting fights, because he's a gutsy guy, and in part because he is so arrogant. He's extremely confident, feels he's underrated, and hey, he's held a world title and won a Prizefighter tournament, so maybe he is.

Here's how the tournament played out:

Quarterfinals

Jason Cook TKO-3 Michael Grant

Fight was stopped with 46 seconds left on a cut; Cook would have won my card, even with Grant winning the third round to that point.

Gavin Rees UD-3 Ted Bami

Bami seemed like his body wasn't responding, and there was talk that he badly struggled to make the weight. Bami fought in the welterweight Prizefighter tournament before, and made it to the finals. In this one, he was just widely outworked by Rees in the opening round. This fight had plenty of hype and didn't live up to its billing.

Colin Lynes SD-3 David Barnes

Like Grant, Barnes is very much a boxer, not a fighter, and the format did not suit him well. Those of us in the live thread seemed in agreement: Lynes won this fight, but Barnes is the better boxer. Doesn't much matter today, though.

Young Mutley UD-3 Barrie Jones

Mutley faded out in the third round, nearly letting Jones pull one out of his hat. The first two rounds were all Mutley, though.

Semifinals

Gavin Rees UD-3 Jason Cook

The two Welshmen put on the night's best fight, for my money, and Rees bulldozed his way to the final. Cook was game, but Rees was just too fast and too determined.

Colin Lynes SD-3 Young Mutley

Lynes took this one 30-27 on two cards, with Mutley getting 29-28 on the other. I had it 29-27 for Lynes, as I scored a 10-8 third for the knockdown Lynes did score, which was called by the referee. After the fight, Sky studio commentator Johnny Nelson remarked that the knockdown was the difference. Given that Lynes won every round on the two cards he won, no, it wasn't the difference. In fact, it made no difference whatsoever. And the judges didn't even score a 10-8 in that round -- none of them did.

Finals

Gavin Rees UD-3 Colin Lynes

Lynes gave it his best go, but Rees had the stamina and conditioning, and he did the same thing he did in the first two rounds.

Rees and trainer Enzo Calzaghe had the perfect plan, and Rees used it brilliantly tonight.

The ninth installment of the Prizefighter tournament takes place today at 4pm ET in the United States, live on Sky Sports in the UK. The Olympia in Kensington is the site for the one-day tournament. All fights are three, three-minute rounds. Generally speaking, guys go for finishes in these fights, and it's usually a good time. It's different at the very least.

Today, the 140-pounders take the ring. First round matchups:

Gavin Rees (28-1, 14 KO) v. Ted Bami (26-5, 13 KO)

Colin Lynes (31-6, 12 KO) v. David Barnes (24-1-1, 11 KO)

Young Mutley (26-4, 13 KO) v. Barrie Jones (16-3, 7 KO)

Michael Grant (12-0-1, 1 KO) v. Jason Cook (25-2, 12 KO)

No, Grant's KO mark is not a typo. Back in October, I did a preview with short bits on each of the fighters. The lone exception is Grant, who is a replacement for the originally booked Lee Purdy. I've seen Grant fight just once, against Gary Reid on the Haye-Barrett card in November 2008. He wasn't particularly impressive, but then he also wasn't unimpressive. Cook is a big leap up in class. I think Grant and his handlers know that even though he's "only" 26 and has fought just 13 times as a professional, his KO rate is such that they better try to cash in if there's going to be anything there. Guys with one stoppage win in 12 against a stream of bums don't often become name fighters.

Smart money is probably on Rees, who both Brick and I may agree is the worst major titlist of the decade, but with no real animosity toward him or the like. Simply put, Rees was incredibly lucky to ever get a shot at a title, ever start his career 27-0, and ever win a title. I don't think he's really any better than anyone else here. Truthfully, I think there's a toss-up nature to this one. Past Prizefighter tournaments have had obvious favorites, or finals matchups it was clear were attempting to be made. Last time with the heavyweights, it was obvious they wanted an Audley Harrison-Danny Williams final. Instead Williams went down the in the opening round.

Just on a total whim, I'm going with David Barnes to win the whole shebang today.

We'll have live coverage of the entire event, and hope you'll join us.

The next Prizefighter tournament is set to take place on Friday, December 4, at London's Olympia's National Hall, with the junior welterweights being featured for the first time. Tournament organizers have set up a nice collection of former titlists, ex-contenders and all-around scrappy fellows, making for a pretty solid lineup for one of these things.

Gavin Rees (28-1, 14 KO)

29-year old Rees has been out of the ring for about 14 months at this point, and will make it around 16 by the night of the tournament. He's a former WBA junior welterweight titlist, an inexplicably stunning upset over Souleymane M'baye giving him that strap in July 2007. Rees is a tough cookie, but he's very limited and will almost surely never contend on the world stage again. It helped him that M'baye, frankly, was himself a regional-level fighter who had come into world prominence. In his first defense of the title, he was knocked out in 12 by Andriy Kotelnik. His one fight since that loss was a win over a guy who came in with a 2-36 record.

Young Mutley (26-4, 13 KO)

Mutley, 33, was knocked out in the third round in his last fight, which came this past Saturday on the Froch-Dirrell undercard. He's won a couple of regional titles at junior welterweight and welterweight. He hasn't actually made the 140-pound limit since 2007, when Colin Lynes stopped him in eight, and he's actually only fought at 140 pounds on four occasions. He's fought as high as 150 as recently as February.

Colin Lynes (31-6, 12 KO)

31-year old Lynes once had some promise, but, well, that was then. He once challenged Junior Witter for the European junior welterweight title, but was outpoined (2005). Since then he's been your average knockaround guy, losing some, winning some. He's lost his last three, two split decisions (M'baye his most recent, as well as Gianluca Branco), and between those decision losses, a destructive TKO loss to Paul McCloskey.

Jason Cook (25-2, 12 KO)

At 34, Cook is the oldest guy in the field, and at 5'9", he's also the tallest, though the latter claim is easily up for debate with a couple of the competitors listed as 5'8 1/2" and boxing's habit of going the pro wrestling route and fudging heights (Andre the Giant, for instance, was billed as 7'4" while standing no taller than 6'11". Anybody want a peanut?)

Cook has also never really fought at 140, most recently fighting in September at about 150, and during his peak fighting days he was at 135. He also had a fairly extended retirement, after being knocked out by Aldo Rios in 2004 and then winning a DQ over Gary Reid in 2005. He was out of the ring just shy of four years before his September return. He retired, he said, because of problems with his shoulder, and said at the time that life as a journeyman was not for him, but also said, "If I was going to fight four or six-rounders, then it might be OK." Prizefighter is perfect for him, apparently.

Cook also did serve a six month prison sentence for credit card fraud back in 2001.

David Barnes (24-1-1, 11 KO)

28-year old southpaw Barnes has won seven in a row, including back-to-back wins over two fellow tournament competitors, Ted Bami and Barry Morrison. His only loss came to Joshua Okine back in 2005, but those wins over Bami and Morrison came in March and July...of 2008. He held the British welterweight title from 2003 to 2005 when he vacated it, and he also held the British junior lightweight title with those wins over Bami and Morrison, but was stripped when he didn't want to face Lynes, and hasn't fought in 15 months.

Ted Bami (26-5, 13 KO)

Bami, 31, was born in Congo but now lives in Brixton, and has fought his entire career in the UK rings. He took part in the 2008 welterweight Prizefighter tournament, losing to Michael Lomax in the final and going 2-1 overall on the night. Since then he's fought once more, losing to Matthew Hatton at 147 pounds by sixth round TKO this past March. The last time he fought at 140 was against Barnes in March 2008.

Barry Morrison (17-4, 7 KO)

Morrison, 29, hasn't beaten anyone with a winning record since a split decision win over Lenny Daws in 2007. The two rematched in September and Daws knocked Morrison out in the 10th. Overall, he has all of five wins over opponents with winning percentages greater than .500.

Lee Purdy (12-1-1, 6 KO)

The tournament's baby at 22, Purdy's lone loss to Peter McDonagh has been avenged. He's also the one fighter in this tournament who hasn't been through the wringer in his career. Most of these guys have fought each other, but Purdy has faced none of them and will surely have the freshest legs of the bunch. The Prizefighter tournament isn't a marathon, it's a series of sprints. He could be a sleeper just because he's the youngest of the lot.