It was a pretty quiet Friday in boxing overall, but let's take a look at the results.
Mashantucket, Connecticut (Friday Night Fights)
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Hank Lundy UD-10 Patrick Lopez: I managed to watch a replay this morning after my internet took a dump thanks to the blinding light rain here in Indiana. I thought Lundy deserved the W, but this was very close. Watching live, Matt Miller scored it 95-94 for Lundy, which is what I had, so Hammerin' Hank there basically won in the eyes of Bad Left Hook thanks to a second round knockdown of Lopez. The truth about Lundy (20-1-1, 12 KO) is that he isn't all that good. He's solid, and he makes for good TV fights for the most part, so I have no problem whatsoever with him being featured on Friday Night Fights consistently. You can't argue with a guy who can make a decent main event in a week where it was tough to get a good fight. Lopez (20-4, 12 KO) gave a better accounting of himself than I expected, or he just furthered my theory that Lundy is a B- fighter. Peter Hary was the judge who scored it 95-94, and Don Trella scored it 97-92 for Lundy, which I would call acceptable. Then there was judge Eddie Cotton, who scored the fight 99-91 for Lundy, which is indefensible. Lundy did not win nine of the 10 rounds in this fight. I'm really getting sick of American fighters and some American fans constantly complaining about scoring in other countries like Germany or Mexico or Canada (which is the new hot spot for judge whining, apparently) when the exact same incredibly questionable scorecards are routinely handed down in the States. This happens like once a week in a notable fight. Someone has some absurd scorecard, but the right guy won, so we generally forget, until the wrong guy wins one, like when Oscar got the nod over Felix Sturm. If those weren't "German scores" that night way back when, I don't know what was, except that time the German guy got screwed. Anyway, before I go on for about 1500 words about this, I'll stop. I just find it odd that many American fans never pick up on the fact that scoring seems biased or corrupt or just plain incompetent pretty much everywhere in the world. For the record, I'm certainly not calling Eddie Cotton corrupt or biased.
- Vladine Biosse TKO-5 Tim Connors: I'll again warn that this win for Biosse (11-0, 6 KO) isn't all it might seem at first, since Connors was fighting two divisions north of his standard. But while he's definitely a work in progress, Biosse's athletic ability is obvious, and he seems very willing and able to learn. He'll be worth keeping an eye on, though he's far from a finished product.
- Elvin Ayala RTD-4 Joe Gardner: Ah, Elvin Ayala. What demon possessed you and commanded your brawling with David Lemieux last year, Elvin? Ayala improves to 22-5-1 (10 KO) with this dominant win against the overmatched Gardner (7-2-1, 1 KO), a 35-year-old who came back to boxing in 2010 after leaving in 2003.
Indio, California (Solo Boxeo Tecate)
- Eric Morel TKO-4 Luis Maldonado: Morel (44-2, 22 KO) still hasn't lost a fight since his return from prison in 2008, but also has yet to do anything particularly impressive, and also should have lost to Gerry Penalosa but got a nice gift. Other than that he's been beating up on journeymen, gatekeepers and washed-out former contenders. Maldonado is kind of a combination of all of that, as he was once a legit contender at flyweight and super flyweight but hadn't fought since 2009 entering this bout, and was a short notice replacement for Martin Castillo (a washed-out former contender). If you've seen Morel in the last few years, you missed nothing with this fight. He's still waiting on a title shot, and if Abner Mares wins the Showtime bantamweight tournament, I guess there's a chance Morel gets it, since Golden Boy doesn't have any other bantamweights and it's the only in-house fight they can make at the weight.
- Randy Caballero TKO-2 Felix Perez: Total mismatch. Caballero is now 9-0 (5 KO).
- Ramon Valdez KO-1 Rob Diezel, Adolfo Landeros KO-4 Juan Jose Beltran, Alfonso Blanco KO-2 Ricardo Malfavon
Chicago, Illinois
- Don George TKO-8 Maxell Taylor: George (22-1-1, 19 KO) takes a pretty healthy step back in competition but gets the win at the UIC Pavilion. George is a pretty confident fighter in interviews and he fights hard, but he was mauled last year by Francisco Sierra and didn't look good against Osumanu Adama either. At 26, he's not a baby in the sport either, and the sky is most likely not the limit for him. The hope will be that he learned from his struggles, but the Sierra fight was a destruction, so it's easy to not dream on the kid.
Caguas, Puerto Rico
- Juan Mercedes UD-10 David Quijano: Mercedes is now 25-3 (17 KO), and managed to be convincing enough that as a Dominican he got the points nod against Puerto Rican Quijano (13-2-1, 9 KO). That or Quijano was robbed. I don't know. I didn't see the fight. I'm just telling you the result.
- McWilliams Arroyo TKO-5 Erickson Martell: McWilliams is the one who lost last year in that terrific four-rounder against Takashi Okada.
- Jonathan Gonzalez TKO-1 Jonathan Gonzalez: Two debuting super flyweights, both from Puerto Rico, both named Jonathan Gonzalez. The winner is from Caguas, while the loser hails from Vega Alta.