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Los Mochis, Mexico
Lorenzo Parra D10 Jorge Arce - For the second year in a row, Jorge Arce was upset on a Mexican Independence Day card. Or nearly. Parra thoroughly outclassed Arce, circling around the outside and potshotting while Arce could never catch up to him. Bad Left Hook officially scored the fight 98-92 for Parra, and that was generous for Arce. At the end of the fight, no scores were read, and Lupe Contreras just simply stated that "the fight was declared a draw." We'll see if there's any more back story behind that one. Despite very clearly winning, Parra looked thrilled to even get the draw on Mexican soil in a non-title fight with Mexican referees.
Humberto Soto UD12 Fidel Monterrosa - Soto's team has been handpicking creampuff opponents for years, but Monterrosa, a Colombian who was blown out against the only name fighter he's ever faced, gave Soto all he could handle. Quite frankly, Monterrosa just seemed to be much more game than Soto, who seemed out of it this fight, barely doing anything for the first two minutes of every single round. It got really sloppy and ugly late, with both fighters slipping on wet advertising at least a dozen times, multiple low blows, and a round that ended a minute and a half sooner than it should have. Monterrosa scored an official knockdown in the 11th, but there were several other slips that were aided by punches that could have been scored knockdowns by a less forgiving referee, and Monterrosa had Soto on shaky legs several times. The two 115-112 scored for Soto were conceivable if you scored all the close rounds for Soto, but the 118-109 card that only gave the knockdown round to Monterrosa is a leading candidate for worst scorecard of the year. Bad Left Hook scored the fight 115-112 for Monterrosa, with the acknowledgment that Soto was the likely winner because the fight was in Mexico and several of those rounds were very close. However, someone needs to figure out a better way to put ads on the canvas without accumulating moisture, and do it fast. All the slipping really hampered both fighters, and I suspect someone will actually get injured by one of those ads before long.
Omar Chavez KO4 Rodrigo Juarez - Chavez nearly got his first career loss to Juarez a few months back. Juarez is tough and aggressive, but not very good, to say the least. This time around, Chavez was able to mostly win rounds before knocking Juarez out on body shots. Chavez still doesn't look like much. His punches are slow, and he ate a lot of punches from journeyman Juarez once again.
Los Angeles, California
Shane Mosley D12 Sergio Mora - Our full write-up is here.
Saul Alvarez KO6 Carlos Baldomir - Our full write-up is here.
Victor Ortiz KO3 Vivian Harris - Our full write-up is here.
Daniel Ponce de Leon KO3 Antonio Escalante - Our full write-up is here.
Birmingham, England
Nathan Cleverly TKO10 Karo Murat - Our full write-up is here. While he didn't fight smart, Cleverly really stole the show on this one, and the fight was way more entertaining than it had any right to be on paper. Cleverly is now the mandatory to face Juergen Braehmer.
Alexander Frenkel KO6 Enzo Maccaranelli - Our full write-up, including knockout of the year candidate, is here. Frenkel wins the European cruiserweight title.
Kell Brook TKO5 Michael Jennings - Our full write-up is here. Brook is now the mandatory to fight Manny Pacquiao, as if that will EVER happen.
Matthew Macklin TKO6 Shalva Jomardishvili - Our full write-up is here.
Lukas Konecny TKO6 Matthew Hall - Our full write-up is here.
Derek Chisora TKO9 Sam Sexton - Our full write-up is here. Chisora wins the heavyweight Commonwealth title to go with his British title.
James DeGale TKO1 Carl Dilks - Our full write-up is here.
Gauteng, South Africa
Lovemore N'Dou SD12 Bongani Mwelase - N'Dou retains his fringe welterweight title. Mwelase, a previously undefeated southpaw with a 10-inch reach advantage, was outsmarted in this one, as N'Dou was able to effectively get inside and pound him there.