Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera both weighed in at 130 pounds on the button for their super featherweight title fight tonight, live at 9 ET on HBO pay-per-view. Again, we'll be here at Bad Left Hook with live updates, scoring and analysis for the four-fight card. In addition to Pacquiao-Barrera II -- Barrera's final fight -- we will see Steven Luevano v. Antonio Davis, Steve Forbes v. Francisco Bojado, and Librado Andrade v. Yusaf Mack.
WBO super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel retained his title on Thursday night, scoring a 12th round TKO over challenger Luis Melendez. Montiel is now 35-2-1 with 26 knockouts. Melendez falls to 25-3-1. I don't know if I'd hold my breath waiting for a Montiel-Mijares matchup, which, with Alexander Munoz plying his trade in Japan, is probably the best the division can offer.
Former heavyweight champions Sergei Lyakhovich and John Ruiz will meet next Saturday in Chicago, on the undercard of the Diaz-Diaz lightweight title unification. Lyakhovich (23-2, 14 KO) really went from rising star to vanishing act like it was the new hip thing to do. I really thought he was maybe the best heavyweight in the sport after his battling victory against Lamon Brewster, but then he got knocked out by Shannon Briggs last November on a flukey 12th round rally, and we haven't heard from him since. Ruiz is still a dangerous opponent for anyone; well, OK, not "dangerous." "Bothersome" might be more apt. If he wins, there has been rumor of a Lyakhovich-Valuev fight in January, likely in Germany. But beating Ruiz is going to be no easy task. I find it highly unlikely that HBO would choose to put this fight on TV.
Quick results from Thursday and Friday: Jonathan Thaxton TKO-12 Dave Stewart to retain the BBBofC British lightweight title ... Robert Frankel UD-10 Mike "No Joke" Stewart, which fully establishes Stewart as perhaps not a joke, but at best a journeyman gatekeeper ... Urbano Antillon KO-2 Wilson Alcorro (Antillon is now 20-0) ... Bernabe Concepcion TKO-9 Salvador Garcia.
Don't forget, again, that we're live tonight with 100% free, up-to-date, round-by-round scoring and analysis of Pacquiao-Barrera II. I hope you'll join us for this historic fight, as we bid farewell to an all-time great. Here's hoping Marco goes out with his guns blazing. Coverage will start at 9 ET.