Ensenada, Mexico
Results: Fernando Montiel KO-3 Alvaro Perez ... Aaron Herrera UD-10 Carlos Wiston Velasquez ... Jorge Silva KO-8 Alvaro Robles.
Analysis: Two straight bounce-back wins for Montiel (46-3-2, 36 KO), and you have to like how he jumped right back into the ring after the devastating loss to Nonito Donaire in February. The 32-year-old Montiel should be able to wrangle a title shot at 122 pounds soon, and if Erik Morales doesn't win on September 17, Montiel has a really good shot at being the first real four-division titlist in Mexican boxing history. Lightweight prospect Herrera is now 21-0 (15 KO). 19-year-old welterweight Silva (16-1-1, 15 KO) came off the canvas in round five to take the unbeaten record of Robles (11-1, 10 KO).
Mexicali, Mexico
Results: Alfredo Angulo KO-1 Joseph Gomez ... Juan Romo KO-1 Vicente Sandez.
Analysis: Angulo improves to 20-1 (17 KO), but this fight was only slightly less a waste of time than Juan Manuel Marquez vs Likar Ramos. Gomez (17-5-1, 8 KO) has now lost three straight and four of five, and he pretty much crumbled on the first good body shot that "El Perro" landed. Angulo looked as displeased as the crowd sounded by the 90-second fight, but it's hard to tell what that means since Angulo rarely looks pleased about anything. The good news is he's back in action. The better news will come when he's allowed in the U.S. again and can get back onto the big shows. The fight is streaming on replay at ESPN3.com for those who missed it. I had a great Tony Romo joke while I was putting the skeleton of this post together, but I forgot it. Heavyweight Juan Romo is now 8-1 (8 KO), and this was his first fight since October 2010, when he weighed just over the cruiserweight limit at 201¾. He was 227 for this one.
Osaka, Japan
Results: Rocky Fuentes UD-12 Hirofumi Mukai ... Shota Kawaguchi TKO-6 Takashi Nishimura.
Analysis: Fuentes (29-6-2, 17 KO) is better than his record might suggest, and is a back-end top ten guy at flyweight. He retains his OPBF title with the win over Mukai (5-1, 0 KO), on scores of 118-110, 118-111, and 117-111. I'd love to see Fuentes, now 25, take a step up to the world stage soon.
Manzanillo, Mexico
Results: Rafael Guzman D-12 Rafael Hernandez ... Juan Jose Montes TKO-2 Sammy Reyes ... Kaliesha West UD-10 Jessica Villafranca.
Analysis: Guzman (28-3-1, 20 KO) is best-known as "that guy Mikey Garcia walked through in June," but here he is just two and a half months later in another solid fight for his level, and he draws Hernandez (13-3-2, 11 KO), a Venezuelan who has been fighting mostly in Panama lately, and also went to Thailand to lose to Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym a while back. Montes (20-2, 13 KO) gets back in the win column after losing to Tomas Rojas in May. West (14-1-3, 4 KO) is originally from South Haven, Mich., which is one of those Quaint Lakefront Towns in southwest Michigan that all the Chicago summer people love to invade every year, so I always keep tabs on her.
Worcester, Massachusetts
Photo by Emily Harney Photography
Results: Edwin Rodriguez TKO-2 Chris Traetti ... Joachim Alcine D-8 Jose Medina ... Kelvin Price UD-6 Joseph Rabotte ... Ryan Kielczewski UD-8 James Lester ... Luis Rosa UD-6 Shawn Nichol ... Gabriel Du Luc UD-4 Noel Garcia.
Analysis: Rodriguez (19-0, 14 KO) is now working under trainer Ronnie Shields, and this was a test-the-waters fight for the duo. Traetti (10-3, 6 KO) never really had a chance, but so far so good anyway for Rodriguez/Shields, and "La Bomba" definitely needed the tightening up from a top-flight trainer that Shields could provide for him. If you need further evidence of how far Alcine (32-2-1, 19 KO) has fallen, there you go, as he's now drawing with club fighters. Price (11-0, 6 KO) is another one of those middle-aged American heavyweight project prospects (former basketball player) and is the guy who beat Tor Hamer in May 2010. Hamer, for the record, hasn't fought this year.