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Now that I'm back on duty full time, let's rock. Here's some stuff that happened.
New York, New York (10/22)
Read Andrew Fruman's main event recap.
Results: Nonito Donaire UD-12 Omar Narvaez, Mikey Garcia TKO-4 Juan Carlos Martinez.
Analysis: Donaire (27-1, 18 KO) wasn't the shock-and-awe destroyer we've seen in other fights, but Narvaez (35-1-2, 19 KO) wasn't just going to give him anything, and despite an enormous size disadvantage, he made it through 12 for some kind of moral victory. The fight was a bore, really, and now Nonito will head up to 122 pounds, where I don't expect he'll stay long, particularly if he can land a fight with Toshiaki Nishioka instead of Jorge Arce right off the bat. Donaire is a featherweight forcing himself down at this point, I believe. Narvaez will head back to super flyweight -- this was a one-off for him.
Bangkok, Thailand (10/21)
Results: Pongsaklek Wonjongkam UD-12 Edgar Sosa.
Analysis: Wonjongkam (83-3-1, 45 KO) has been sort of farting around with the world's flyweight championship since beating Koki Kameda in 2010, but once again, he fought up to his competition and won on scores of 117-110, 117-110 and 116-111. The 34-year-old from Thailand has to be considered a Hall of Famer at this point, in my opinion, though perhaps you may disagree.
AND THE REST!
Newcastle, Australia (10/19)
Results: Anthony Mundine UD-12 Rigoberto Alvarez.
Analysis: Mundine (43-4, 25 KO) continues his career with a win over Alvarez (27-4, 20 KO), the older, far less talented brother of Canelo. This fight was, rather hilariously, for the interim WBA junior middleweight title. Consider this: Austin Trout holds the "regular" title, and is perfectly willing to be active. He had a deal in place to fight Mundine, but Mundine decided not to do that, instead targeting the "interim" belt -- which didn't exist and didn't need to exist -- against the guy that Trout routed (Alvarez) to win the regular belt in the first place. Of course, none of this really needed to happen, as the WBA has Miguel Cotto as their real titleholder, although they've made him a "super champion," even though that usually happens when guys are "unified champions," and Cotto holds only the WBA belt, though he does carry around some other ugly piece of aluminum and tin on a mock leather strap, taking it upon himself to try and legitimize something called the "World Boxing Board," which is based in -- you guessed it! -- Puerto Rico, and has to my knowledge only sanctioned Cotto fights to date, starting with Mayorga in March and continuing with Margarito in December. What a dream it must be for Margarito to fight for arguably the phoniest belt in all of boxing. What a load of shit this sport can be sometimes. Anyway, Mundine won on scores of 117-111, 117-111, and 115-113, and says he wants The Big Fights, but he's been saying that for years and he never takes one, so feel free to ignore him.
Montreal, Quebec, Canada (10/20)
Results: Dierry Jean UD-10 Francisco Lorenzo, Eleider Alvarez RTD-6 Michael Walchuk, Tyler Asselstine TKO-4 Isaac Bejarano.
Analysis: You ever see the movie Parenthood? If you have, you may remember when the doofus comes home with his new son "Cool," and he's saying hello to everyone in a big surprise return, and asks, "Is that grandma?!" And Jason Robards says, "Yeah, she's still around." That's kind of how I feel whenever I see that Francisco Lorenzo has fought again. He lost this one on scores of 100-88, 99-89, and 98-90. Asselstine (7-0, 5 KO) is a 24-year-old super featherweight prospect about whom I keep receiving promotional updates, but he's way too young and totally untested to judge much thus far.
Red Hill, Australia (10/21)
Results: Alex Leapai KO-4 Evgeny Orlov.
Analysis: Maybe this big win will set up Leapai (24-3-3, 19 KO) as a first quarter 2012 challenger for Wladimir Klitschko.
Kobe, Japan (10/21)
Results: Malcolm Tunacao TKO-4 Chatpetch Sithmorseng.
Analysis: Tunacao (29-2-3, 18 KO) has been on a terrific run since 2008, and has become a top ten guy at 118 pounds. But this was just a waste of time for him, facing a guy who was 0-1 coming in and didn't belong in the same ring. A fight like this makes the Klitschko vs Leapai joke sound a lot less ridiculous.
London, England (10/21)
Results: Leon Williams SD-12 Rob Norton, Ryan Walsh UD-10 Liam Richards.
Analysis: This win nets Williams (9-3, 4 KO) the British cruiserweight title. Norton drops to 32-5-2 (19). 25-year-old super bantamweight prospect Walsh stays undefeated (13-0, 5 KO) with a shutout win.
Mashantucket, Connecticut (10/21)
Results: Edwin Rodriguez UD-10 Will Rosinsky, Gabriel Bracero UD-10 Daniel Sostre, Dyah Davis UD-6 Darnell Boone, Danny O'Connor UD-6 Bryan Abraham, Badou Jack TKO-5 Eddie Caminero.
Analysis: Everyone who was supposed to win did, though Rodriguez (20-0, 14 KO) wasn't quite so impressive as the 100-90 scores across the board might lead one to believe. Cliff Rold has a better detailed recap than I can provide, and he's spot-on, in my view.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (10/22)
Results: Logan McGuinness TKO-11 Benoit Gaudet.
Analysis: McGuinness (16-0-1, 8 KO) is getting pretty damn close to running out of things to do on the local/regional level in Canada, and stopping Gaudet (24-3, 10 KO) would be a fitting place to jump up just a hair, or at least hit the road and try to work up a name elsewhere. He's not going to be far off from a potential WBA title shot if he wants one, as he held the NABA lightweight belt before dropping down here to nab the belt at 130.
Ludwigsburg, Germany (10/22)
Results: Marco Huck KO-6 Rogelio Rossi, Dominik Britsch MD-12 Billy Lyell, Kubrat Pulev UD-12 Travis Walker.
Analysis: Huck (34-1, 25 KO) proves little with this win, as it was expected and likely caps his mediocre 2011 campaign. He went 3-0 this year, but against Ran Nakash, Hugo Garay, and Rossi, none of whom were legitimate threats. He's talking about going up to heavyweight to fight the Klitschkos, but I can't see him having any success against either brother.
Panama City, Panama (10/22)
Results: Richard Abril UD-12 Miguel Acosta, Nicholas Walters TKO-6 Irving Berry, Liborio Solis UD-11 Rafael Concepcion, Thomas Dulorme UD-9 Charlie Jose Navarro, Johan Perez TKO-4 Kenny Galarza, Nehomar Cermeno D-8 Yoandris Salinas,
Analysis: Well, I guess it's a question of how much the KO loss to Brandon Rios in February has taken from Acosta, who was never a great fighter or anything, but was also not someone I'd have expected to drop a decision to Abril (17-2-1, 8 KO) on scores of 117-108, 115-111, and 113-112. The win gives Abril the totally pointless vacant interim WBA lightweight belt, and pretty much makes Acosta an afterthought for the time being. As for the rest of the card: Dulorme remains unbeaten, Cermeno's stock takes another little hit, Galarza should probably be considered no more than a FNF co-feature type of guy, and Walters might be interesting. Maybe.
Bolton, England (10/22)
Results: Scott Quigg RTD-7 Jason Booth.
Analysis: A legitimate passing of the torch moment as Booth (36-8, 15 KO) just flat knew he couldn't beat the younger, stronger man, and pulled out of the fight after seven rounds, the last two of which were getting increasingly brutal. I'm about as high on Quigg (23-0, 16 KO) as anybody who isn't related to him and doesn't promote him, and I think he could do real damage at 122 pounds next year.