Late Weekend Results - Hirales upsets Casimero, Kamedas win

Los Mochis, Mexico

Ramon Garcia Hirales SD12 Johnriel Casimero - Casimero, the Pinoy upstart who shellacked Cesar Canchila in his last fight, lost his interim title to Hirales.  While Casimero did well early, the 20-year old fatigued in the middle rounds and Hirales took over from there.  Casimero also lost his right to challenge for the title held by Ivan Calderon.  Based purely on styles, Casimero was probably looking forward to that one, although Calderon's now scheduled fight against skilled slugger Giovanni Segura is probably even more dangerous. 

Rodrigo Guerrero UD12 Federico Catubay - Guerrero comfortably outboxed Catubay, who is a much better fighter than his 25-17 record indicates. This was an IBF title eliminator, but it's always hard to tell with them whether it's a #1 eliminator or a #2 eliminator.  In his previous fight, Guerrero was valiant but took a 12-round beating at the hands of Vic Darchinyan.  With Darchinyan potentially moving up in weight, Guerrero might have a much better chance of claiming a title.  Guerrero has a ton of heart and even a fair amount of talent but not a ton of skill, so I don't know if jumping right back into a title eliminator was such a great idea.  I guess it is what it is.  

Omar Chavez KO2 Miguel Angel Galindo -  Chavez remains undefeated and moves to 21-0-1.  Considering his family history, it will probably be another 20 fights before he faces someone who's a contender.  

Jorge Lacierva KO2 Abel Berrelleza - The former title challenger was able to roll over another Mexican journeyman.  

Osaka, Japan

Koki Kameda KO4 Cecilio Santos - Kameda knocked Santos out in 4, which is about par for course for Santos lately.  The former title challenger is still a decent fighter, but check out his murderer's row of opponents: Kameda, Jorge Arce, Rico Ramos, AJ Banal, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr., Olivier Lontchi, Anselmo Moreno, Dmitry Kirilov (with whom he drew) and Fernando Montiel, all in the last 3 years.  Nearly all of the losses have come by mid-rounds knockout.  

Daiki Kameda UD10 Rosendo Vega - The middle Kameda brother won a shutout decision over Mexican journeyman Vega.  The good news is that Daiki came out of the fight unscathed, and is able to move forward with his September fight against Takefumi Sakata, which should be a big one in Japan.   

Campeche, Mexico

Jhonny Gonzalez TKO2 Aristides Perez - I'm not quite sure who Perez has pictures of to keep getting big fights, but he was slaughtered once again.  After getting shellacked by Humberto Soto and Eduardo Escobedo (but winning all of his other fights), Perez was an astounding 250-1 underdog against Gonzalez, who's an extremely talented boxer with a below average chin.  If his chin was above average, we might be talking about Gonzalez in the same breath as the recent Mexican legends.  Instead, he was knocked out by Israel Vazquez, Toshiaki Nishioka and Gerry Penalosa in fights he was otherwise winning, and he continues to fly a bit under the radar.  Gonzalez is currently a mandatory to face Elio Rojas.  

St. Louis, Missouri

Chauncey Welliver UD12 Joell Godfrey - Welliver, a long-time Kiwi contender and all around good guy, travelled to Godfrey's backyard and defeated the former Contender contestant.  Welliver has lost only once in the past five years (to Odlanier Solis), is moving up the rankings for the WBC and the WBO and, surprisingly, is still only 27 years old. As a fighter who's served as sparring partner to some of the best heavyweights out there and who has lost nearly 20 pounds since his last TV appearance, I wouldn't be too surprised if he's improved significantly since the last time he was on TV.