[Thomas Hearns]

A very logic group , as it was expected Miguel Cotto was the winner of the group, but he had more trouble than expected drawing two fights against little regarded Arnaoutis and fellow top fighter Lamont Peterson.

Junior Witter performed better than it was expected, being second on the group standings, he won all the fights against lower oppsition and he destroyed Kendall Holt finally he was defeated by the two top fighters of the group Cotto and Peterson.

Lamont Peterson was expected to be the main rival of Cotto but he suffered to upset losses against Ali Funeka and Gianluca Branco. On the other hand he performed very good against top rivals, defeating Holt and Witter and drawing against Cotto.

Kendall Holt was very near of being eliminated of the tournament but he could beat Gianluca Branco to earn the last spot on the second round. He suffered a terrible KO1 loss against Junior Witter.

At 41 Gianluca Branco was very near of being the great surprise of the group, he beat lacklusters Funeka and Arnaoutis and he had an outstanding win against Lamont Peterosn but he came short against Holt when he only needed a draw to pass to the second round.

Ali Funeka left the tournament with a surprising victory against Lamont Peterson and nothing more.

The greekman Mike Arnaoutis left the tournament winless and with a draw with Miguel Cotto as his only highligh.