:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5393733/137851803.jpg)
London, England
Carl Frampton KO-7 Kris Hughes: Frampton (12-0, 8 KO) is all about calling out British super bantamweight champ Scott Quigg right now, but while Frampton looked good beating Hughes, Quigg is a whole other ball of wax. Quigg can punch, for one thing, which Hughes (15-2, 1 KO) cannot. There was no reason for Frampton to have any fear of Hughes, and as such he was able to pretty easily win this fight, and score a big knockout in seven. I like Carl Frampton, but he's a good handful of fights away from possibly being ready to give Quigg and trouble, and by that point, Quigg might be moved on to world level.
Erick Ochieng TKO-9 Nick Quigley: This 154-pound clash for the vacant English title was reportedly a hell of a fight, but I haven't seen it for myself yet. Ochieng (9-1, 3 KO) and Quigley (10-2, 0 KO) are said to have cut quite a pace early, and then in the fifth Quigley began to tire. (BoxRec Recap)
Robin Reid TKO-5 Daniel Cadman: Reid, 40, continues to fight. No one is quite certain why. Having seen him fight last year, he's just not very good anymore. He's slow, he's robotic offensively, and he's just too old to be a factor at 168 or 175. His goal is apparently to get back to British level, but in reality his last fight should have been his loss to Carl Froch in 2007.
Undercard: John Ryder TKO-2 Mariusz Biskupski, Ryan Taylor TKO-3 Robin Deakin, Wadi Camacho PTS-4 Moses Matovu, Andreas Evangelou PTS-4 Robert Studzinski.
Tijuana, Mexico
Jackie Nava UD-10 Shantall Martinez: Nava (26-4-3, 11 KO) lifts the WBA super bantamweight title from rival Martinez (15-5, 6 KO) on dominant scores of 100-89, 100-89, and 99-90. The last time Martinez had lost, it was to Nava in January 2010. She'd won seven straight since then. (Fightnews Report)
Undercard: Felipe Salguero KO-5 Carlos Melo, Fernando Garcia UD-8 Hector Javier Marquez, Guadalupe Barrera TKO-3 Erick Jimenez Maldonado, Miguel Martinez TKO-2 Luis Segura.
Cebu City, Philippines
Milan Melindo TKO-7 Juan Esquer: Melindo (26-0, 10 KO) is ranked the No. 4 contender to Pongsaklek Wonjongkam by The RING, which I feel is, well, way too high, but they do their rankings...differently than I do, so whatever. Melindo is a good fighter; I have him just outside the top 10 at 112, and he's got a very good case to be in there. Flyweight is actually one of the most talented divisions in boxing right now, as there are legitimate contenders outside of the top ten no matter who your top ten would be. Esquer falls to 27-10-2 (21 KO).
Lorenzo Villanueva TKO-1 Diego Ledesma: Featherweight KO artist Villanueva improves to 22-0 (21 KO) with a first round stoppage of Mexico's Ledesma (18-5-2, 12 KO), which looks better on paper than in reality when you notice Ledesma has never beaten anyone. Villanueva, though, is worth keeping an eye on, even if it's a skeptical eye.
Undercard: Merlito Sabillo UD-8 Sofyan Effendi, Joseph Von Minoza UD-8 Yoo-Shin Kim, Mhar Jhun Macahilig KO-2 Kaichon Sor Vorapin, Jun Entor MD-4 Crispin Parba, Kazuya Harada MD-4 Alvin Aresgado, Mark Andrew Acub KO-1 Samuel Galinato, Jicky Gaco W-TD-3 Ivor Lastrilla.
Springfield, Missouri
Cory Spinks UD-12 Sechew Powell: Don King held a party in Springfield, Missouri, and put on two fights. I don't know if it was a party. These two fights don't make me assume it was a fun party even if it was a party, anyway. Spin it however you like, but 33-year-old Spinks (39-6, 11 KO) is washed up and well past his best days. He doesn't have his legs anymore, and his legs were a huge part of his game. It's not that he can't box or can't take a shot or can't fight a little, but he's not a puncher and his entire approach was built on movement and ring IQ. Powell (26-4, 15 KO) was never quite as good as his reputation in some circles, and this is his second straight loss. His last loss was to Cornelius Bundrage in an IBF title fight back in June 2011, which wasn't a close fight or anything, but this was sanctioned as an IBF eliminator, as I'm pretty certain King owns a controlling interest in the IBF junior middleweight title. So instead of fighting someone interest, Bundrage will be facing Spinks next in another Missouri fight. Oh joy of joys. I know K9 complains about not getting big chances, but he can look to his promoter for that, or he can stop complaining and enjoy or at least accept that he's a featured player in a circle-jerk of title fights that is going to soon come perilously close to mimicking the WBA heavyweight roundabout featuring Chagaev, Valuev, and Ruiz.
BJ Flores TKO-6 Hugo Pineda: BJ Flores is here to stay, baby! He's sick of not getting opportunities! He just beat Hugo Pineda! Pineda hadn't fought in three and a half years! Oops! That part was left out of the fluffer interviews! I really mean this: I wish BJ Flores would just stick with fight commentary as a full-time career. He's very good, and I thought he was terrific helping balance the team on NBC Sports Fight Night. It's not that Flores can't box. But he's boring and I've never seen a Flores fight and come away from it thinking he's got a real passion for being in the ring. That's just my impression. And he can blame promoters and anyone else all he wants for not getting opportunities, but he's been through a lot of different management and his career always keeps the same tone. If he really, truly wanted to make a go of it in the cruiserweight division, he'd be fighting in Germany, just like Steve Cunningham from Philly and Troy Ross from Canada have to do.
Hamburg, Germany
Juergen Braehmer TKO-4 Jose Maria Guerrero: I can't wait for Brahemer to set up a real fight and come up with some excuse to bail on a week's notice. Guerrero (29-3-1, 11 KO) apparently wouldn't have been much a test for James DeGale if DeGale hadn't twice left him hanging. So fear not, doesn't appear we missed much without that fight. Braehmer is now 37-2 (30 KO).
Rakhim Chakhkiev UD-10 Alexander Kotolbay: Chakhkiev (12-0, 9 KO) is starting to make some noise about how he's ready for Marco Huck. This is phenomenal timing, as Huck is leaving the cruiserweight division for a shot at heavyweight titlist Alexander Povetkin on February 25. Obviously Huck could come back, but it's pretty funny that Chakhkiev chose now to call out Huck, who has literally bigger fish to fry. That said, Chakhkiev is a very good prospect who's starting to work his way up. At 29, he should be ready as soon as he wants to be ready. Kotolbay falls to 21-3-1 (15 KO). You may remember him as the Russian blown up in one round by Enzo Maccarinelli in 2010.
Ruslan Chagaev UD-8 Kertson Manswell: If there's one thing that bothers me most about Alexander Povetkin and his bogus heavyweight title, it's that he beat Chagaev for it, and some people treated that as a major win. It was as predictable as it was dull to watch, but for some reason Chagaev is allowed by many to exist in a bubble, always staying the fighter he was from 2006 to 2008, when fact is he really hasn't looked good in four years. The last time a Chagaev performance impressed me at all was January 2008 over Matt Skelton, and I'm being somewhat generous here because I never thought he was all that good a fighter, and his "White Tyson" nickname was absurd. He's 28-2-1 (17 KO) now, but his record doesn't say much about him at this point, and he is not a top 10 heavyweight anymore, probably not top 15. Manswell hasn't beaten anyone with a winning record since 2009, when he beat some dude named Jimmy Joseph in Trinidad and Tobago.
Denis Boytsov KO-4 Darnell Wilson: Boytsov (30-0, 25 KO) keeps biding his time with yet another easy win. His story's getting old. He's made no advancements since 2008. Back then he was beating guys like Robert Hawkins and Vinny Maddalone, and now he's beating Ding-a-Ling Man Wilson and Matthew Greer, which is pretty much the same thing.
Rafael Bejaran UD-12 Daniel Urbanski: Bejaran retains his WBO European middleweight belt and improves to 14-1 (6 KO). He's not going to soon became a real contender or anything close to it. Urbanski falls to 21-8-3 (5 KO), and the Pole has lost three of his last four.
Firat Arslan TKO-2 Orlando Farias: At 41, Arslan (32-5-1, 21 KO) chugs on and wins his third straight fight, all by stoppage.
Vitali Tajbert UD-8 Jose Luis Graterol: Tajbert (22-2, 6 KO) is a crafty fighter who held a belt at super featherweight and then lost it and probably will not ever get it back. He's a pretty good fighter, but against other good fighters, I expect he's going to come up short eight times out of ten, if that makes sense.
Ina Menzer UD-8 Milena Koleva: This card was so jacked to the gills with mismatches that they even let the ladies get in on the fun, as world class operator Menzer (28-1, 10 KO) beat up some Bulgarian woman (3-4-1, 0 KO) for 16 minutes.
Undercard: Vladimir Tereshkin DQ-5 Evgeny Orlov.
Airway Heights, Washington
Read the Friday Night Fights recap.
Ruslan Provodnikov TKO-6 David Torres: Provodnikov wasn't in his best physical shape for this fight, and Teddy Atlas figured after he knocked Torres down easily in the first round, he carried a few rounds since his camp may have had an absence of sparring. Provodnikov (21-1, 14 KO) is a pretty good fighter, but is probably never going to get to a much higher level than this. At 28, his flaws are what they are -- he's not good defensively, he's short at 140 (5'6"), and he pretty much only knows one way to fight. The good news is that the one way he knows how to fight is fun for us to watch, and he never has a bad fight that makes you want to turn off the TV. The world needs Friday Night Fights heroes. Provodnikov is one of them. Torres falls to 21-3-2 (13 KO).
Ji Hoon Kim UD-10 Yakubu Amidu: A very good fight, the first good fight of the season on Friday Night Fights. Kim (23-7, 18 KO) was just too strong and too big for Amidu (20-3-1, 18 KO) who took a lot of good shots and was rocked repeatedly, but stayed in the fight. BLH scored it 97-93 for Kim, and the judges had it 98-92, 97-93, and 96-94, which were all fair. Expect another Provodnikov & Kim double-header at some point this season, since they're inexpensive and Banner doesn't have a lot else to do with them.
Chihuahua, Mexico
Alejandro Sanabria KO-4 Jhunriel Ramonal: Sanabria defends his WBC silver lightweight belt with an easy win over Ramonal, who was penalized for a rabbit punch in round four and then knocked out. Sanabria improves to 31-1-1 (24 KO), while Ramonal falls to 12-5-1 (6 KO). Sanabria could soon be a real contender at 135, or he could hang around this level for a while. Up to him, really.
Marcos Reyes TKO-3 Isaac Mendez: 24-year-old middleweight Reyes was penalized two points for hitting after the bell in round two, then finished the fight in round three. Both of these bouts were refereed by Rocky Burke, the guy who was in the ring for Holly Holm's scary KO loss in December against Anne Sophie Mathis. Reyes is now 23-1 (21 KO) while Mendez drops to 11-4 (9 KO).
Caloocan City, Philippines
Sonny Boy Jaro KO-1 Samuel Apuya: Just a tune-up for Sonny Boy (33-10-5, 23 KO), who now moves on to his March 2 flyweight championship fight against Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.
Marvin Mabait UD-12 Rey Perez: Mabait, a 24 year old super flyweight, is nicknamed "Chavacano Disaster." That's a great nickname. He's now 16-0-2 (10 KO) with the win over Perez (13-2, 2 KO).
Dodie Boy Penalosa Jr TKO-1 Superjames Singmanasak: Dodie Boy Jr improves to 8-0 (8 KO) with the easy win over SUPERJAMES! (1-5, 1 KO).
Undercard: Karlo Maquinton D-8 Mark Joseph Costa, Derek John Rabang D-6 Gerald Cortes, Renren Tesorio D-TD-3 Roy Albaera, Larry Ibarra KO-1 Llaminado Bismanos, Dave Penalosa TKO-2 Rey Colambot, Jayson Barleo UD-4 Gerry Pateno, Rex Tso UD-4 Mabert Paulino, Raymond Empic UD-4 Jonathan Caguiran, Sonny Katiangdagho KO-3 Albert Gonzales.
Atlantic City, New Jersey
The debut show for Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi as a boxing promoter went off fairly well, according to William Holmes of Boxing Insider. Two of the three Hyland brothers won, with Eddie Hyland losing to Franklin Gonzalez. Paul Hyland beat Arturo Santiago, and Patrick Hyland nipped past Emmanuel Lucero. Also on the card, heavyweight Derric Rossy beat Livin Castillo. Patrick Hyland then said he'd like to fight Yuriorkis Gamboa. In related news, Patrick Hyland was drunk.
Other Results: Breidis Prescott KO-3 some guy with a losing record ... Joey Abell TKO-4 Emerson Chasing Bear (Williston, ND) ... Dhafir Smith UD-6 Quinton Rankin (Philadelphia, PA) ... Chauncey Welliver TKO-10 Moyoyo Mensah (Auckland, New Zealand) ... Jackson Osei Bonsu (KO-4) Zoran Cvek (Sint Truiden, Belgium) ... Tomas Kovacs UD-8 Steve Kroekel (Trnava, Slovakia) ... Tony Grano TKO-3 Brian Minto and Eric Fields UD-8 Derrick Brown (Verona, NY).