Super Middleweight Universe -second try-

[Thomas Hearns]

IBO SMW SUPER 8 TOURNAMENT

Kelly Pavlik stopped Barkley on six!

On a dramatic and changing fight #11 Kelly Pavlik 28-2-0 (20) climbed from the canvas to stop #20 Iran Barkley 25-5-0 (20) and entered on the final of the IBO tournament.
The fight started with great back and forth action from the first round with both fighters landing big hooks but with Barkley a bit better.
The second round was even again, Pavlik connected a huge hook but Barkley connected more punches than him.
On the third stanza Pavlik was in control for the first time on the fight hurting Barkley with a hard cross to the head.
On the fourth round with Pavlik attacking Barkley connected a huge hook to Pavlik’s head and dropped him. Pavlik got up at nine and badly shaken but Barkley couldn’t finish the job.
On the following round Barkley continued dominating the actions and with a hard cross to the head he made Pavlik stumble backwards.
Finally on the sixth stanza with Barkley looking for the final punch Pavlik connected a hard cross to Iran’s chin and dropped him for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage Barkley was leading on two scorecards by 49-45 with the other even (47-47).

Balzay outpoints Lacy!

On the other semi-final of the IBO Tournament #19 Kardy Balzay 28-3-0 (21) scored a slim split decision win against #21 Jef Lacy 30-1-1 (24) and advanced to the tournament final.
Lacy dominated the first two rounds on a convincing way but then Balzay hurt him with a hard straight right early on the third stanza and then continued dominating the round on a one-sided form.
Using his jab and combinating with long rights and some uppercuts Balzay won the fourth round on a big form.
The fifth round had even action but again on the sixth stanza Balzay was the total dominator also hurting Lacy with a hard body shot.
On round seven both fighters had great activity exchanging big blows with Lacy a bit better than Balzay. On the eight stanza both fighters looked tired and the pace slowed dramatically Lacy landed a bit more to win the round.
On the last two rounds Balzay managed to did the neccesary to edge the stanzas and secured his hard-worked victory.
The scorecards were 96-94 and 97-93 for Balzay and 96-94 for Lacy. (Fightnews card 95-94 for Balzay).

Finally Jeff Lacy and Kardy Balzay will fight for the inaugural IBO SMW crown on July or August.

[Thomas Hearns]

Griffin defeats Hopkins on highly expected rematch!

IBF super middleweight champion #1 Montell Griffin 28-1-1 (17) scored a technical unaniomous decision victory on the last round against #3 Bernard Hopkins 28-1-0 (21) to succesfuly defend his title for the first time.
The fight ended a minute into the last round when the referee stopped the actions due to a nasty cut over Hopkins’ right eye. The cut was produced by an accidental head-butt on the sixth round and was reopened on the seventh, the eight and finally on the last round.
The fight started with the boxers trading the first two rounds. But then Griffin dominated the actions for the following four stanzas, except the sixth round all were very competitive but Griffin was always a bit better.
On the seventh round Hopkins with blood on his face seemed to came to life and hurt Griffin with an uppercut followed by a hook to the head. The eighth round were an even affaire the blood over Hopkins eye was complicating Bernard vision.
Rounds from nine to elven were all easy for Griffin that took a good lead on the scorecards. Finally on the last round Hopkins cut reopened for the third time on the fight and the referee stopped the actions and went to the scorecards.
The scorecards were 107-102 107-103 and 108-101 all for the winner and stil IBF SMW champion Montell Griffin. (Fightnews card: 108-102 fro Griffin).
With this fight Griffin had faced his mandatory challenger so Montell can do two optional defenses now.

Kinchen stops Czyz on cuts!

Attemping to redirect his career after his overwhelming KO loss against James Toney, #32 James Kinchen 25-1-0 (21) scored a TKO9 –on cuts- victory against #37 Bobby Czyz 26-1-1 (16).
The fight started with a first round with little action in which Kinchen put the rules with a hard hook and a great uppercut.
On the second round Czyz increased his workrate and dominated the stanza. Kinchen regained the control on the third round connecting a cross from the outside and a pair of uppercuts from the inside. On the fourth round Czyz showed his power dropping Kinchen with a perfect left-right combination. Kinchen got up and Czyz was near to put him out with his follow up attack.
Miracrously Kinchen reacted on the following round hurting Czyz again with his uppercuts and with one straight right.
Kinchen continued his momentum on the sixth round hurting Czyz this time with hard hooks from the inside, with one of this hooks Kinchen opened a nasty cut on Bobby’s right eyelid that was the key of the fight.
The seventh round had little remarkable action, only a hard hook to the head by Kinchen.
On the eighth round Czyz catched his second wind and punished Kinchen with a hard hook and with a winging right but on the other hand Bobby finished the round bleeding again.
Early on the ninth round a jab followed by a cross by Kinchen reopened Czyz cut and the referee stopped the actions.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 76-75 (x2) for Czyz and 76-75 for Kinchen. (Fightnews card: 76-75 for Kinchen).

[Thomas Hearns]

Collins outpoints Sturm to win EBU SMW belt!

British SMW champion #8 Steve Collins 27-1-1 (14) scored a convincing unanimous decision win against German SMW champion #9 Felix Sturm 22-3-0 (2) to win the inaugural European Boxing Union (EBU) title.
Collins dominated the first two rounds of the fight but Sturm reacted on the third round.
On the fourth stanza Collins regained the control of the fight on a big form also hurting Sturm with an uppercut.
Rounds five an six were very closed ones with each fighter winning one of this stanzas by a narrow margin.
After that Collins took the total control of the fight for the following four rounds clearly outworking a passive and cold Sturm.
On the last two rounds Sturm improved a little his performance and both rounds had even action. The scorecards were 117-112 117-113 and 116-113 for Collins. (Fightnews card 117-112 for Collins).

Sartison upsets Arthur Abraham!

On the co-feature event of the fight for the EBU crown #116 Dimitri Sartison 21-3-1 (11) scored a surprising TKO5 win against #98 Arthur Abraham 26-3-0 (13) when the referee stopped the actions on the fifth round due to a bad cut over Abraham’s right eye.
For Abraham it was his third consecutive loss and his career is now a great question mark.
Abraham dominated the first round on a big form putting Sartison on trouble several times.
The second round had a slow pace but a hard jab by Sartison opened the cut that was the key of the final result of the fight.
On the third round Abraham punished Sartison behind his jab and combining with hard hooks to the head.
The fourth round was more competitive and both fighters exchanged blows, a left hook by Sartison reopened Abraham’s cut.
Finally on the fifth round a jab by Sartison reopened the cut again and the referee stopped the actions. At the time of the stoppage Abraham was leading in all three scorecards by 40-38 (x2) and 39-38.

[Thomas Hearns]

1 Montell Griffin 29-1-1 (17) IBF 1 Defense
2 Darius Michalczewski 29-0-0 (26) WBC
3 Steve Collins 28-1-1 (14) EBU-BBBoC
4 Joe Calzaghe 28-0-0 (11) WBO
5 Glencoffe Johnson 30-1-1 (18) WBA
6 James Toney 29-0-0 (21) NABO
7 Kelly Pavlik 29-2-0 (21) On IBO Tournament
8 Bernard Hopkins 28-2-0 (21)
9 Andre Ward 31-0-1 (15) USBA
10 Don Lalonde 25-3-0 (15)
11 Roy Jones Jr. 32-0-0 (27) NABA
12 Felix Sturm 22-4-0 (2) German
13 Fulgencio Obelmejias 27-2-0 (19)
14 Nigel Benn 28-1-0 (28)
15 Jermain Taylor 30-0-0 (21)
16 Felix Trinidad 27-1-0 (23) FECARBOX
17 Charles Brewer 27-2-0 (20)
18 Kardy Balzay 29-3-0 (21) On IBO Tournament
19 James Kinchen 26-1-0 (22)
20 Chad Dawson 24-1-0 (20)
21 Sergio Martinez 30-0-0 (23) FESUBOX
22 Iran Barkley 25-6-0 (20)
23 Jorge Castro 25-0-0 (20) Argentine
24 Jeff Lacy 30-2-1 (24)
25 Tavoris Cloud 30-0-0 (27)
26 Frank Liles 29-0-1 (21)
27 Antony Mundine 22-4-1 (17) Australian
28 Thomas Hearns 28-0-0 (25) NABF
29 Sven ottke 24-0-0 (9)
30 Ray Leonard 23-2-0 (14)

[Thomas Hearns]

Breaking News

WBO champion #4 Joe Calzaghe 28-0-0 (11) will defend his world title for the first time against #20 Chad Dawson 24-1-0 (20) next May 10 on Cardiff International Arena on Wales.

[Thomas Hearns]

Felix Trinidad stops Manny Siaca to retain FECARBOX belt!

#16 Felix Trinidad 27-1-0 (23) scored a spectacular KO6 victory against fellow boricua Manny Siaca 21-7-0 (16) to retain his FECARBOX super-middleweight crown and to put himself near of a world title shot.
Siaca put Trinidad on trouble early on the first round with a hook to the head but Tito reacted on good form hurting Siaca with a corss and then with a hard one-two combination.
The second round was even and with little remarkable action. On the third round Trininad stunned Siaca with a hook but Siaca answered with a big cross. Trinidad landed a bit more than Siaca on this round.
On the fourth round Trinidad took the total control of the fight hurting Siaca with uppercuts and hooks from the inside.
Siaca edged the fifth round with a hard right that made Trinidad retreat late on the stanza.
Finally on the sixth round Trinidad connedcted a big hook to the chin and hurt Siaca and never let him recover, quickly Trinidad connected with both hands and then another big hook, Siaca attemped to run but Trinidad caught him with two striaght rights to the head and finally with a hard cross to the chin that put Siaca to sleep for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-47 (x3) for Trinidad.

[Thomas Hearns]

Toney disqualified, Eric Lucas is the new NABO SMW champ!

Canadian SMW champion #32 Eric Lucas 25-0-1(6) won the NABO SMW crown when now former champion #6 James Toney 29-0-0 (21) was disqulified due to a blatant low blow on round eight. The foul really existed but it was Toney’s first one on the fight. At the time of the stoppage Toney was clearly dominating the fight and had a huge lead on all three scorecards (69-61(x2) and 68-62).
The fight started with Lucas surprising Toney on the first round with an all-attack strategy, Lucas also hurt Toney with a hard uppercut near the end of the round.
On the second round Toney turned the things on his favor when he dropped Lucas with a hard body-shot. Lucas got up but from that poin Toney took the control of the fight.
Toney won rounds three and four on a convincing way clearly outboxing and outspeeding Lucas.
On the fifth round a hard one-two combination by Toney dropped Lucas for the second time on the fight and the end seemed to be near. After Lucas got up Toney punished him until the end of the round.
On the sixth round Toney hurt Lucas with a hook followed by an uppercut both from the inside.
The seventh round had little remarkable action but Toney also won it.
Finally on the eight round Toney connected a hard uppercut and Lucas stumbled backwards Toney chased him and connected a straight right and then he went for the definition and connected a huge….low blow and the referee immediately diqualified him.
A rematch seems to be possible.

Olajide destroyed Michael Nunn!

On the co-feature event of the NABO title fight #54 Michael Olajide 20-2-0 (13) scored a KO6 victory against #92 Michael Nunn 26-3-0 (18).
Nunn started the fight in control for the first two minutes but a great hook by Oljide dropped him for a short count.
Nunn seemed to be recover on the second round and he edged this stanza but form the third round Olajide took the total control of the fight winning rounds three, four and five on a very convincing way.
On the sixth round Olajide dropped Nunn with a hard uppercut, Nunn got up but less than a minute later he was on the canvas again after a hard body shot by Olajide. Nunn got up again but Olajide was merciless and dropped him for the third and last time with a wicked uppercut this time Nunn heard the ten count on the floor.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-45 (x2) and 48-46 for Olajide.

It was great night for Canadian boxers becouse on the other two fights Jean Pascal 27-1-1 (22) scored a unanimous decision win against Rodney Toney 23-3-1 (7) (96-93 (x3) and Syd Vanderpool 24-9-1 (16) scored a shocking KO2 victory against Peter Quillin 22-5-1 (17).

[Thomas Hearns]

Beyer outpoints Obelmejias!

#38 Marcus Beyer 22-1-0 (7) scored a convincing unanimous decision win against #14 Fulgencio Obelmejias 27-2-0 (19). Both fighters were attemping to redirect their careers after hard losses, Beyer against Sturm for the German SMW crown and Obelmejias against Michalczewski for the WBC SMW world Title.
For the first five rounds Beyer did the perfect fight clearly outworking and outlanded Obelmejias on every round.
Obelmejias came to life on round six with a more aggressive strategy and continued his good moment edging the seventh round too.
On the eight round Beyer regained the control of the fight clearly outworking Obelmejias.
The ninth round was the best of the fight with Obelmejias hurting Beyer with a hook early on the round and then going to the punch per punch, Beyer attmeped to reply the fire but he received a hard cross that hurt him near the end of the round.
The last round saw a tired Obelmejias and a very careful Beyer that didn’t take any risks.
The scorecard were 97-93 (x2) and 96-94 for Beyer. (Fightnews card 97-93 for Beyer).

[Thomas Hearns]

Dawson edges Calzaghe and is the new WBO SMW champion!

On a very competitve, close and polemic fight #20 Chad Dawson 24-1-0 (20) socred a minor upset split decision victory against local fighter and now former champion #4 Joe Calzaghe 28-0-0 (11).
Calzaghe dominated the first round against a passive Dawson, Joe also connected a hard cross as the highlight of the round.
On round two Dawson found his pace to win the round and he deepened his dominance on the following round hurting Calzaghe with a hard hook to the head.
On the fourth round Calzaghe regained the control of the fight working behind his jab.
The fifth round was competitve with both fighters landing but with Dawson connecting the bigger blow of the round a hard uppercut that gave him a little edge.
The sixth round was an even affaire and Dawson dominated the seventh round shooking Calzaghe with a hard hook.
Calzaghe outworked Dawson on the eighth round in which we saw a great exchange of blows at the middle stage of it.
The ninth round was totally one-sided for Dawson, Calzaghe didn’t connect any significant punches on this round.
Feeling that he was losing the fight and his title Calzaghe put his final effort on the last three rounds winning all of them, the ten and the last ones on a very convincing way and the eleventh on a great back and forth action packed round. With this great final rally Calzaghe seemed to have done just enough to retain his title.
The scorecards were 116-113 for Calzaghe and 115-114 for the new champion Chad Dawson.
(Fightnews card 115-114 for Joe Calzaghe).

Tavoris Cloud rallied to beat Ray Close!

On the co-feature event undefeated #26 Tavoris Cloud 30-0-0 (27) scored a slim unanimous decision victory against #36 Ray Close 24-2-1 (8).
Close started the fight on fire dropping Cloud with a hook on the first round. The second round had even action but Close regained the control on the following two rounds. From the fifth round Cloud strated a big rally winning the following five rounds on a row the fifth and seventh ones on a specially big form. Entering on the last round the fight seemed to be very even but on this last stanza Cloud punished and also dropped Close with a hard combination to secure his win, Close got up and hardly survived until the end of the fight.
The scorecards were 96-94 95-94 and 96-93 for Cloud. (Fightnews card: 96-93 for Cloud).

[Thomas Hearns]

McClellan destroyed Jarvis!

Hard puncher #49 Gerald McClellan 23-1-0 (21) gave a smaple of his power knocking out former IBO tournament competitor #35 John Jarvis 17-3-2 (13) on only three rounds.
McClellan dominated the fight from the first round hurting Jarvis with an uppercut. On the second round both fighters connected some good combinations but again McClellan’s power dictated the rules.
On the third round Jarvis connected a jab and then a hard left that McClellan seemed to feel but when Jarvis attemped to follow up the action McClellan connected a hard cross to Jarvis’ chin and put him to sleep for the ten count. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 20-18 (x2) and 20-19 for McClellan.

[Thomas Hearns]

IBO SMW First defense Tournament.

The IBO will run a Super 4 single elimination tournament to determine the first rival of the winner of the championship fight between Kelly Pavlik and Kardy Balzay.

The competitors for this tournament are:

#35 Jean Paul Mendy 27-3-2 (16) French SMW Champion
#44 Glen Gattley 21-5-0 (18)
#51 Dennis Inkin 22-2-2 (18) Russian SMW Champion
#58 Mike McCallum 28-2-0 (21)

The first fight card of this tournament will be on May 24 on the Palais do Sport on France with Mendy facing Inkin as the main event and McCallum facing Gatley as the co-feature one.

Johnson-Taylor on June 10

WBA SMW champion #4 Glencoffe Johnson 30-1-1 (18) will face undefeated #17 Jermain Taylor 30-0-0 (21) on his first title defense.
Johnson won his title against Don Lalonde by majority decision and Taylor comes from edging Lindell Holmes on a real war. The fight will take palce on the mitic Madison Square Garden on New York.

Michalczewski-Kinchen for the WBC SMW crown

WBC super middleweight champion #2 Darius “the Tiger” Michalczewski 29-0-0 (26) will defend his title for the first time against #20 James Kinchen 26-1-0 (22) on the Funkturm-Hallen on Berlin on June 17.
Michalczewski won his title destroying Fulgencio Obelmejias on only three rounds, Kinchen comes from a big win against Bobby Czyz that allow him to redirect his career after a hard KO loss against James Toney on his revious bout.

Hearns-Lalonde for the NABF SMW Title.

Former WBA SMW title challenger #10 Don Lalonde 25-3-0 (15) will face undefeated raising star #28 Thomas Hearns 28-0-0 (25) with Hearns NABF SMW title on the line. The fight will take place on Ballys Atlantic City on June 2.
For Lalonde this is the chance to rebound his career and put himself near of another title shot, for Hearns this is a great chance to enter on the top ten on the super-middleweight rankings.

[Thomas Hearns]

Mundine edged Baek to win the OPBF SMW crown!

Australian champion #28 Antony Mundine 22-4-1 (17) edged, now former, OPFB champion #62 In-Chul Baek 22-4-0 (21) on a real war.
The fighters split the first two rounds, the first one for Mundine and round two for Baek. On the third stanza the action were very even with both fighters landing on big form, Mundine with a big uppercut and Baek with a pair of hooks.
The fourth round had little and even action until the last thirty seconds in which Mundine connected a hard straigth right to the head and Baek answered with a big uppercut.
Mundine dominated an action packed fifth round but the referee deducted a point from him due to a low blow.
On the sixth round a great straight right by Mundine sent Baek to the canvas for a four count, Baek got up and stayed out of risk for the rest of the round.
Surprisingly Baek dominated the following round with a hard cross to Mundine’s head as a highlight.
But on the eighth round Mundine dropped Baek again this time with a hard cross to the chin. Baek got up visible hurt and Mundine punished him until the end of the round but couldn’t finish the fight.
On the ninth stanza Baek went to the inside and connected hard hooks and uppercuts that put a tired Mundine on trouble.
Mundine connected a bit more than Baek on the tenth round to edge it but on the following round Baek connected a big uppercut followed by a hook and dropped Mundine for a nine count. Mundine got up but he was out on his feet but the bell saved him.
On the last round a miraculously recuperated Mundine controlled the actions against a passive and tired Baek. The scorecards were 112-110 (x2) and 112-111 all for Mundine. (Fightnews card 114-112 for Mundine).

[Thomas Hearns]

Martinez climbed from the canvas to defeat Miranda!

#23 Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez 30-0-0 (23) retained his FESUBOX SMW crown with a convincing unanimous decision win against #114 Edison Miranda 21-6-1 (17).
Miranda gave Martinez great trouble on the early rounds but then he get tired and the more skilled argentine easily dominated him.
Martinez win an action-packed first round but Miranda answered winning an equaly moved second stanza.
On the third round Miranda connected a hard jab-straight right combination and dropped Martinez for a four count. After Martinez got up Miranda looked for the final punch but missed a lot.
Martinez outlanded Miranda on the fourth round but each time Miranda landed a punch Martinez seemed to be on trouble.
On the fifth round using his speed to connect hard combinations Martinez turn the fight on his favor.
The sixth stanza was all for Martinez, a very tired Miranda didn’t connect any significant punches.
On the seventh round after punishing Miranda for almost all the stanza Martinez connected a hard uppercut to Miranda’s chin and dropped him. Miranda got up and the bell saved him.
Martinez continued easily dominating the fight on the following two rounds, hitting Miranda at his own.
On the tenth round Miranda landed a big hook and then attemped to go to the punch per punch with Martinez but the argentine survived the storm.
On the eleventh stanza Martinez dropped Miranda again with a hard left hook and after his rival got up Sergio threw and almost landed all that he had but Mranda refused to fall.
On the last round Martinez controlled the actions without taking risks.
The scorecards were 117-108 and 117-107 (x2) for Martinez. (Fightnews card 116-108 for Martinez).

Miguel Angel Arroyo new Argentine SMW champion!

#131 Miguel Angel Arroyo 20-4-0 (10) scored a major upset victory against, now former, argentine champion #26 Jorge Castro 25-0-0 (20).
Arroyo started the fight on fire dropping Castro on the first round with a hard left and again on the second round with a violent hook to the head.
Castro seemed to survive the storm and on rounds three and four mounted a short rally.
But Arroyo edged round five and on the sixth one he dropped Castro for the third time on the fight with a huge cross on counterpunch.
Castro dominated rounds seven and eight to put himself again on the fight but Arroyo won a cold ninth round.
On the tenth stanza Castro connected a wild overhand right and dropped Arroyo for a seven count. Arroyo got up and survived the rest of the round.
The last two rounds were slow and anticlimactic and we can gave one for each boxer.
The scorecards were 113-111 (x3) for Arroyo (Fightnews card: 113-111 for Arroyo).

[Thomas Hearns]

IBO Super 4 First defense Tournament

Inkin stopped Mendy on eight!

Russian SMW champion #51Dennis Inkin 22-2-2 (18) scored a KO8 victory against French champion #35 Jean Paul Mendy 27-3-2 (16) to advance to the final of the tournament.
Inkin easily dominated the first three rounds of the fight hurting Mendy several times with hard combinations and rights on straight and cross.
On the four round Inkin was decided to finish the fight and dropped Mendy with a strong cross, the frenchman got up but Inkin sent him to the mat again with a barrage of punches. Mendy got up again on bad shape but the bell saved him.
On the fifth round Inkin seemd to be winded by the eefort and Mendy looked spent so the fight was disputed on equal and slow terms. Mendy won his only round on the sixth one but Inkin regained the control on the following round.
On the eight stanza Inkin connected a hard body shot and dropped Mendy for the ten count.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 68-62 (x2) and 67-63 for Inkin.

McCallum defeats Gatley!

On the co-feature fight #58 Mike McCallum 28-2-0 (21) scored a convincing unanimous decision win against #44 Glenn Gatley 21-5-0 (18) to advance to the final of the tournament.
McCallum dominated the first round and then he dropped Gatley on the second with a hard uppercut. After Gatley got up McCallum connected some big blows but the englishman survived the charge.
On the third round McCallum continued easily commanding the actions and he also edged an actionless fourth round.
On the fifth round Catley reacted a bit also hurting McCallum with a hard uppercut to win the round.
The sixth round had even action but with McCallum a bit better than Catley. On the following stanza McCallum dropped Catley again this time with a hard left-right combination.
Again Catley got up and survived the round eating a hard straight right on the way.
The tenth round had great back and forth action with Catley having the upper-hand but McCallum regained the control on big form on the following round also dropping Catley for the third time on the fight.
On the last minute of the final round Catley threw all that he had and hurt McCallum with a winging right but the Jamaican survived the late charge.
The scorecards were 97-90 and 96-91 (x2) for McCallum. (Fightnews card: 97-90 for McCallum).

So Dennis Inkin and Mike McCallum will dispute the final of this tournament on the same night that Kelly Pavlik and Kardy Balzay will fight for the inaugural IBO SMW crown.

[Thomas Hearns]

1 Montell Griffin 29-1-1(17) IBF 1 Defense
2 Darius Michalczewski 29-0-0 (26) WBC
3 Steve Collins 28-1-1 (14) EBU & BBBoC
4 Glencoffe Johnson 30-1-1 (18) WBA
5 Chad Dawson 25-1-0 (20) WBO
6 Joe Calzaghe 28-1-0 (11)
7 Kelly Pavlik 29-2-0 (21) IBO Tournament
8 Bernard Hopkins 28-2-0 (21)
9 Andre Ward 31-0-1 (15) USBA
10 Don Lalonde 25-3-0 (15)
11 Roy Jones Jr. 32-0-0 (27) NABA
12 Felix Trinidad 28-1-0 (24) FECARBOX
13 James Toney 29-1-0 (21)
14 Felix Sturm 22-4-0 (2) German
15 Eric Lucas 26-0-1 (6) NABO & Canadian
16 Nigel Benn 28-1-0 (28)
17 Jermain Taylor 30-0-0 (21)
18 Charles Brewer 27-2-0 (20)
19 Kardy Balzay 29-3-0 (21) IBO Tournament
20 James Kinchen 26-1-0 (22)
21 Antony Mundine 23-4-1(17) OPBF & Australia
22 Tavoris Cloud 31-0-0 (27)
23 Sergio Martinez 31-0-0 (23) FESUBOX
24 Marcus Beyer 23-1-0 (7)
25 Iran Barkley 25-6-0 (20)
26 Jeff Lacy 30-2-1 (24)
27 Frank Liles 29-0-1 (21)
28 Thomas Hearns 28-0-0 (25) NABF
29 Sven Ottke 24-0-0 (9)
30 Ray Leonard 23-2-0 (14)

Other World Champions
54 Thomas Tate 20-1-3 (16) WBU

[Thomas Hearns]

Lalonde stops Hearns to win NABF SMW Title!

Former title challenger #10 Don Lalonde 25-3-0 (15) scored a great TKO9 victory against highly regarded #28 Thomas Hearns 28-0-0 (25) and stole from him the super-middleweight NABF crown.
Hearns dominated a slow first round behind his jab and connecting some sporadic rights but on the sccond round Lalonde connected a cross and followed it by a one-two combination and seemed to hurt Hearns. After that Lalonde dominated the rest of the round against an elusive Hearns.
On the third round Hearns seemed to be recover and regained the control of the fight hurting Lalonde with a text-book uppercut to the chin.
Using his trade-mark crosses and some right hooks Hearns dominated the fourth round on a big form.
The fifth round had great back and forth action, again Hearns connected some great blows but Lalonde answered the fire on good form.
The sixth stanza had even and poor action and both fighters seemed to be a bit tired.
On the sventh round Lalonde started to turn the fight on his favor hurting Hearns a pair of times with straight rights.
On the eight round Hearns put Lalonde on trouble with a hard cross and a violent uppercut early on the round but Lalonde rallied on the second part of the stanza.
On the ninth round Lalonde connected a hard three punch combo but Hearns answered with a violent striaght right and went after Laonde that answered with a hard uppercut to Hearns chin and dropped him for a five count. After Hearns got up Laonde landed to the body and the head and dropped him for the second time. Hearns got up at nine on bad shape and after receiving one more straight right by Lalonde he stumbled backwards and the referee stopped the action.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 77-75 (x2) and 78-75 for Lalonde. (Fightnews card 77-76 for Lalonde).

Charles Brewer defeats merqui Sosa by TKO6!

#18 Charles Brewer 27-2-0 (20) scored a TKO6 victory against #71 Merqui Sosa 23-1-0 (18). The fight ended when the referee stopped the actions on the sixth round due to a nasty cut on Sosa´s forehead that delivered rivers of blood over his face.
The first round had even back and forth action with both fighters connecting big blows. On the second round Brewer took the control an produced the cut on Sosa´s forehead with a hard cross.
With a solid cross to Brewer´s head Sosa edged the third round that again had great action.
On the fourth stanza Sosa dominated the actions from the outside using his straight right as his lethal weapon, Brewer ansewed with some uppercuts when he reached the inside distance.
Brewer edged the fifth round and with a hard right reopened Sosa’s cut.
On the sixth round the fighters exchanged punches on the short distance, with a hook and an uppercut Sosa seemed to have the upperhand but a hard left by Brewer opened the cut for the third time on the fight and the referee stopped the actions.
At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 48-47 (x2) and 49-46 for Brewer.

[Infinity]

Woah! Hearns lost to LaLonde?!?!? I think a rematch or possibly a trilogy is in order!...

[Thomas Hearns]

Benn demolishes Wilczewski!

After five months without action since his loss against Joe Calzaghe for the WBO SMW crown #16 Nigel Benn 28-1-0 (28) returned to the ring with an impresive performance against former IBO tournament competitor #42 Pitr Wilczewski 21-3-2 (6).
The first round had even action with Benn connected the hardest punch, a left to the Polish chin’ but Wilczewski connecting more punches.
Then Benn edged a slow second round but on the third stanza the englishman showed all his power punishing Wilczewski for all the round until dropping him with a hard hook to the head.
On the following atanza Benn put Wilczewski on trouble again with an uppercut and a straight right.
The fifth round was a very big one for Benn that with hooks, some crosses and quicks combinations gave Wilczewski a real beating.
At the start of the sixth round the Polish looked totally spent and Benn went for the definition connecting all sort of big blows until the referee stopped the uneven fight. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were 49-44 (x2) and 49-45 for Nigel Benn.

Eubank edged Kranjc!

On the co-feature fight of the night #69 Chris Eubank 23-3-1 (7) had a lot more than expected trouble to scored a split decision victory against #115 Armand Kranjc 19-4-2 (16).
Eubank dominated the fight for the first five rounds, looking really good on the second and fourth stanzas. But on the second part of the fight he slowed his pace dramatically allowing Kranjc to rally and almost took the fight from him.
Kranjc edged an ugly action-less sixth round and after that he clearly dominated rounds seven and eight against a passive Eubank.
The englishman reacted winning the ninth round on a convincing way but the referee deducted a point from him due to holding and hitting.
On the last round with a hard cross that buckled Eubanks’ knees Kranjc edged the round to put some suspense to the final result.
The scorecards were 95-94 and 96-93 for Eubank and 95-94 for Kranjc. (Fightnews card 96-93 for Eubank).

[Thomas Hearns]

Jones jr destroyed Eric Regan!

Undefeated #12 Roy Jones Jr. 32-0-0 (27) scored an easy KO4 victory against an outclassed #66 Eric Regan 23-6-0 (13) to retain his NABA super-middleweight crown.
Jones Jr. dominated the fight from the start hurting Regan with hard right crosses and lighting combinations. Regan couldn’t land any significnat punches on the first round.
On the second round Jones Jr. continued in total control and seemed to be playing with his rival.
On the third round Regan surprised Jones Jr. with a hard hook that made Roy retreat but in spite of this Jones won the round.
Finally on the fourth round Jones Jr connected a pair of hooks to Regan’s head and dropped him for the ten count. At the time of the stoppage the scorecards were all 30-27 for Jones jr.

[Thomas Hearns]

Jermain Taylor defeats Glenn Johnson and is the new WBA SMW champ!

#17 Jermain Taylor 30-0-0 (21) scored a surprising but convincing unanimous decision win against #4 Glencoffe Johnson 30-1-1 (18) to win the WBA super middleweight title.
Taylor started the fight on fire connecting a hard uppercut and then connecting some hooks to the body and the head to finally sent Johnson to the canvas. After Johnson got up Taylor connected some hard blows but the champion survived the charge.
The second round had good and even action with both fighters landing on good form.
On the third round Taylor again had the total control of the fight putting Johnson on trouble with straight rights and crosses from the outside.
Taylor continued his momentum on the following round with the highlight of a hard left to Johnson’s head.
But when Taylor seemed to have all under control the champion appeared on the fight with a big fifth round in which he punished Taylor and finally dropped him with a hard straight right. Taylor got up and the bell saved him.
But on the next round Johnson couldn’t continue his rally and Taylor regained the control of the fight and he mantained his momentum until round nine.
On rounds nine and ten Johnson preassure the action and put Taylor on trouble a pair of times but on the final two rounds Taylor regained the control of the fight and he crowned his great job dropping Johnson with a hard cross on the last seconds of the bout. A spent Johnson got up and survived the final few seconds until the end of the fight.
The scorecards were 116-110 (x2) and 115-112 for the new champion Taylor (Fight news card: 116-110 for Taylor).

Liles outpoints Dirrell!

On the undercard of the WBA title fight undefeated #27 Frank “Fabulous” Liles 29-0-1 (21) scored a convincing unanimous decision win against #38 Andre Dirrell 26-2-3 (13).
Liles dominated the first two rounds of the fight but Dirrell cameback on the following two ones. Liles regained the control on rounds five and six, winning this last one on a big form.
Dirrell reacted winning the seventh stanza but Liles did the things better on the last three rounds of the fight.
This was a bout between two stylists in spite of having good action there wasn’t a lot big blows.
The scorecards were 97-94 (x3) for Liles.(Fightnews card: 97-94 for Liles).