Action Heroes Update: James Kirkland Knocked Out in One, Malignaggi Cruises

The first two fights of the HBO PPV from the MGM Grand have been eventful, and with the two main events to come, we might be looking at a memorable night.

In the opener, Paulie Malignaggi (29-4, 6 KO) won a wide ten round decision over Jose Miguel Cotto (32-3-1, 24 KO). Malignaggi won on scores of 99-91 (twice) and 97-93. Bad Left Hook scored it 99-91 for Malignaggi. Paulie was simply far more active and landed too many punches, and even faded in the speed department, much too fast for the older, less talented Cotto brother. He becomes the first fighter to ever go 1-1 against the Cotto brothers, as both Martin Ramirez and Ubaldo Hernandez both went 0-2 against them.

The second fight was a pure stunner. If you told anyone that the fight between James Kirkland and Nobuhiro Ishida would go 1:52 and finish on a third knockdown, I don't think anyone would have been stunned. But the fact that Ishida came away the victor is going to stun the boxing world. Ishida (23-6-2, 8 KO) floored Kirkland (27-1, 24 KO) almost instantly with a left hand, and floored him again just after that with another one. But it was a right hand that finished the fight at 1:52. Nobody saw this coming, and now we've seen so many upsets this weekend that it's almost ridiculous.

We continue on with coverage of the double main event here.