The Greatest of This Time

[BigBoyBrackey]

The Pyramid in Memphis, Tenn., is the site for the fight-in round, giving late additions Paul Williams, Ricky Hatton and Kermit Cintron the opportunity to qualify for the 16-man round-robin field.

Ricky Hatton W12 Rafal Jackiewicz: Hatton drops Jackiewicz twice in each of the last two rounds, turning an already one-sided fight into a rout.

Both knockdowns in the 11th resulted from crushing right uppercuts. The second came seconds before the bell and, while Jackiewicz made it to his feet at the count of six, he would likely not have been allowed to continue had the round not been over. Jackiewicz crashed twice more in the 12th, but referee Dave Parris, for reasons known only to him, allowed the slaughter to continue.

The scorecards read 117-107, 117-106 (including a 10-6 11th) and, bizarrely, 114-110, indicating that judge Remigio Ruggeri somehow had Jackiewicz up by two points through 10 rounds.

Delvin Rodriguez TKO9 Kermit Cintron: Rodriguez dominates throughout, drops Cintron in the fifth and closes his left eye with an endless stream of straight rights to force the stoppage at 2:38 of the ninth.

Cintron landed several big shots to take the first round, but Rodriguez appeared to gain confidence from absorbing Kermit's power and began landing at will in the second. By the third, Cintron was loading up with every swing, but consistently beaten to the punch. He was cut under the left eye by the right that flattened him in the fifth, when the same eye began noticeably swelling.

It could have been stopped late in the eighth, with Cintron out on his feet and sagging into the ropes. Referee Luis Pabon let it go on, though, until Cintron's eye closed late in the ninth and the ring doctor recommended ending the blowout. Rodriguez, a member of the original field for the upcoming round-robin tournament, had been very vocal about being forced into the fight-in match when Cintron announced his return to the welterweight division.

"Who the &%$# does he think he is?" Rodriguez, a native of the Dominican Republic, demanded during the post-fight interview. "He shows up and they give him a shot at my spot? He can take that back to Puerto Rico with him. If he can see to get there."

Rodriguez led 79-71 (twice) and 78-72 at the end.

Paul Williams KO11 Alfonso Gomez: Williams administers a horrific beating, ripping open a gash under Gomez's right eye with the first left cross he lands and dropping Gomez six times before finishing him off.

The fight could and should have been stopped any time after the sixth round, but referee Samuel Viruet somewhat sadistically allowed the beating to go on. Gomez had no answer for Williams, who threw twice as money punches and landed nearly three times as many.

The undersized, overmatched Gomez went down in the fifth, eighth and ninth, twice in the 10th and once in the 11th before a right hook put him down for the full count at the 2:44 mark. Williams led 100-84, 100-84 and 99-86 through 10 rounds.

The victory gives Williams the final spot in the 16-man Greatest of This Time Welterweight Tournament.

[BigBoyBrackey]

The first eight bouts of the round-robin tournament are:

Vyacheslev Senchenko vs. Manny Pacquiao
Joshua Clottey vs. Carlos Quintana
Antonio Margarito vs. Luis Collazo
Zab Judah vs. Paul Williams
Kell Brook vs. Ricky Hatton
Shane Mosley vs. Andre Berto
Miguel Cotto vs. Delvin Rodriguez
Floyd Mayweather vs. Jan Zaveck

I'm still looking at a few ratings -- Clottey seems low at 6, as does Berto at 7. I'm not going to start for a few days, as I want to make sure I've got everything right this time. I'm also deciding whether Mosely and Cotto should be prime or post-prime, and whether to lower Floyd's aggression and killer instinct from 7 to 6. All input, on these or others, is welcome, particularly from those with more ratings background than me. Which is just about everyone ...

[BigBoyBrackey]

After doing some testing, I made the following adjustments for the tournaments. Mostly, I looked at the bios included with the database and assumed the records at that time were the ones used to create the ratings. So, if something had happened in a fight or fights since, I adjusted accordingly (I think). For example, Berto's record is 24-0 in his database bio. He is now 25-0, with a one-sided decision over Juan Urango in the interim. He clinched a lot in that fight and kept Urango from landing much of anything, so I upgraded his defense from 2 to 1 and upped his clinching from 71 to 72. His overall rating changed from 7 to 8.

I also tweaked Clottey slightly upward, moving his KO chin from 2 to 1 and his punching from 38 to 39, elevating him from a 6 to a 7 overall.

As suggested above, I put Mosley to post-prime, where testing shows he's still tremendous, as well as Judah and Hatton, for obvious reasons.

I decided against changing Mayweather's aggressiveness, killer instinct or hitting power, as I chose to defer to the vastly superior expertise of the database team for Floyd, whose ratings probably shouldn't change based on the Marquez fight. The only deductions I made were for Margarito (a 7 to a 6 for hp to account for the plaster that evidence strongly indicates was used against Cotto, at least) and Hatton (adjusting his chin to a 3/2 in light of the Pacquiao massacre, which took place after his rating was formulated, from the looks of things).

A summary of the changes:

Hatton to post-prime, KD/KO from 1/0 to 3/2 (changes overall from 9 to 8)

Judah to post-prime

Mosley to post-prime

Clottey KO from 2 to 1, punching 38 to 39 (changes overall from 6 to 7)

Berto clinching from 71 to 72, defense from 2 to 1 (overall from 7 to 8)

Margarito hp from 7 to 6

[BigBoyBrackey]

After Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s demands that every fighter in the tournament undergo urine, blood, hair-follice and stool testing for steroids, human-growth hormone, illegal recreational drugs, Ex-Lax, NyQuil, horse tranquilizers, and Levitra were rebuffed by tournament officials, the Greatest of This Time welterweight tournament got underway with a card of four bouts at Madison Square Garden, which will serve as the site for the 16-man round-robin tournament.

Mayweather -- who also complained incessantly that the event is not being held in Las Vegas and about the random assignment of cornermen for each fighter, as well as the refusal by producers of the pay-per-view telecasts to produce a 15-part series entitled simply "Mayweather 24/7" -- did get to open the tournament, facing Jan Zaveck of Slovenia, who holds the IBF's 147-pound title.

After Zaveck had some success with the jab early in the first, Mayweather landed a hard right cross to the head and a solid uppercut to take control. Zaveck did some good body work in the second and outworked Mayweather to keep things even for most of the third, but Floyd drilled a hook to the body shortly before the bell that may have swayed the officials.

Mayweather established a pattern through the middle rounds, landing a few good shots early, then going on the defensive.

Zaveck got inside in the seventh, scoring with hooks and straight rights to the body, while Mayweather coasted.

In the eighth, though, Mayweather put Zaveck on the floor with a left hook-right cross combination. Zaveck got up at eight, and though he appeared badly hurt with more than 1:40 remaining, Mayweather spent the rest of the round circling and throwing the occasional jab.

Mayweather landed at will through the next three rounds, but never fully opened up, either dancing away after connecting or accepting Zaveck's clinches. Late in the 11th, he received a warning from referee Jay Nady for holding and hitting.

In the 12th, Mayweather barely threw a punch. Instead, he put on a defensive clinic, blocking and slipping almost every shot thrown by the exhausted Zaveck.

The judges were impressed by Mayweather's performance to varying degrees, turning in scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 120-108 to give him the unanimous decision.

[CONN CHRIS]

Nifty to see Delvin Rodriguez in a universe! He resides here in CT. All that I've seen of him live was the minute or so it took him to put Sugarman Smith on a stretcher back in '05 on a Clay-Bey undercard. While Smith should not have been cleared to fight for that thing, he did look crisp and impressive.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Paul Williams opens the tournament as a popular choice to reach the tournament's final four, along with Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Shane Mosley.

He looks the part from moments after the opening bell, when he drills Zab Judah with a left cross to the jaw, sending the ex-champion wobbling into the ropes.

Williams solves Judah's defensive game plan rather easily, connecting from all angles while taking only a few jabs in the first three minutes.

Judah surprises Williams by going on the attack early in the second, getting inside and pelting Williams with combinations to the head and several body shots, capped by a hook-cross-hook to the head.

Referee Arthur Mercante warns Williams for a rabbit punch early in the third and a visibly angry Judah responds with a nasty left cross that snaps Williams' head back. As he backs away, blood begins coursing from above his right eye and down his cheek.

As Williams begins pawing at the wound, Mercante calls time and leads Williams to the ringside doctor. Williams can be seen speaking quickly as the doctor looks at the gash, his eyes wide with worry.

The doctor nods to Mercante, who motions the fighters together.

Williams immediately goes on the attack, landing a long-range left uppercut and missing with a right hook. He blocks a left cross from Judah, then lands another uppercut. After feinting deftly, he misses with a straight left, takes a glancing left that just misses his eye and bounces off the side of his head, and unloads a left cross followed by a right hook, forcing Judah to take a step back, then drop to his knees.

Mercante begins counting, but Judah struggles to his feet at three. After Mercante allows the fight to continue, Williams, blood still flowing into his right eye, lands another straight left but the bell rings before he can follow up.

Williams' corner somehow manages to staunch the bleeding and he comes out looking to capitalize on the previous round's knockdown. He lands a right hook to the ribs but misses with an uppercut. Judah counters with a right jab-left cross combo and the gash over Williams' right eye pops open again.

Williams swipes at the eye, then attempts a hook with the same hand but misses badly. Judah ducks under, then comes up jabbing, landing two quick shots.

Williams answers with a right-left that sends Judah stumblign back into the ropes, from where he flails ineffectually as Williams moves in.

A murderous right hook by Williams sails high, creating an opening for Judah's left cross. The blow lands squarely over the eye, further tearing the already-seeping gash. As Williams starts to move away, blinking hard and covering his eye with his glove, Mercante again stops the action and leads Williams to the ropes.

This time, the ringside doctor says the bleeding is too severe for Williams, who is clearly unable to see out of his right eye, to continue.

In easily the biggest upset of the first round, Judah is declared the winner by technical knockout at 1:42 of the fourth round.

Williams, who led 29-28 through three rounds, issues a string of expletives before leaving the ring, while Judah climbs the ropes on all four sides of the ring and pumps his fist to a crowd split between his hometown fans and Williams backers refusing to accept their man's early demise.

Miguel Cotto W12 Delvin Rodriguez: Rodriguez tries to slug it out, and has some success in the early rounds, but Cotto opens a cut outside Delvin's left eye with a right cross late in the first, and wears him down with a steady stream of power shots to the body and head.

Several rounds are all-out wars, with Rodriguez's cut reopening the in the 10th. Cotto seems to be safely ahead by that point and eliminates any doubt in the 11th, dropping Rodriguez three times, with a hook to the head, then a debilitating body shot, then a right uppercut. Each time, Rodriguez gets up, the last after the bell sounds.

Rodriguez's refuses his corner's pleas to stay on his stool and comes out for more punishment in the 12th, somehow making it through. Cotto prevails by scores of 118-107, 118-109, 118-107.

Carlos Quintana KO10 Joshua Clottey: Trailing on points and bleeding as the result of an accidental head butt in the fifth round, Quintana stuns Clottey with a right hook late in the 10th and finishes him with a savage left cross.

Clottey, who leads 87-85, 87-86, 88-85 through nine rounds after winning the eighth and ninth on all three cards, crashes hard and is counted out at 2:10 of the 10th.

Antonio Margarito TKO12 Luis Collazo: After having his hand wraps inspected by five members of Collazo's camp, as well as three tournament officials and a member of the New York City Police Department's forensics department, Margarito administers a systematic beating.

Margarito nearly stops Collazo in the seventh, drops him for a seven count with a left hook to the ribs in the ninth and opens an ugly cut over his right eye with a left hook a minute into the final round. With Collazo bleeding profusely and no longer a threat to win the fight, referee Mike England stops it at the 1:02 mark. Margarito leads 108-99, 106-101 and 107-102 at the end.

Shane Mosley KO8 Andre Berto: An aggressive Mosley is too smart and too strong for Berto, hurting him badly in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh. He finally sends Berto to the floor for a nine count with a left hook early in the eighth. Moments after rising, Berto falls again, this time for a nine count after eating a right cross. After about half a minute spent upright, another right puts him down for the full count, which tolls at the 2:08 mark.

Berto had his moments in the first and sixth, but Mosley leads 68-65 on all three cards at the end.

Ricky Hatton TKO8 Kell Brook: Hatton never takes a backward step, finally overwhelming Brook with his punch volume, capping his performance with at least a dozen unanswered head shots, forcing referee Dave Parris to intervene at 2:09 of the eighth.

Kell's more precise punches help him get the better of several rounds, giving him a 67-66, 67-66, 67-67 edge through seven, and he seems to be coming on as the fight passes the halfway point. But Hatton's harder blows tell in the eighth, when Brook's hands begin to drop and his knees begin to wobble.

Manny Pacquiao TKO4 Vyacheslav Senchenko: Pacquiao batters Senchenko from the opening bell, his superior hand speed keeping the Ukrainian from mounting any sort of sustained attack.

Pacquiao lands power shots from all angles, with a left hook/uppercut late in the second opening a gash on his right eyebrow. A straight left reopened the wound early in the fourth, and after conferring with the ringside physician, referee Silvestre Abainza calls it off just 12 seconds into the round. Senchenko, who lost each of the first three rounds on all three scorecards, and his corner protest only feebly.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Originally Posted by CONN CHRIS

Nifty to see Delvin Rodriguez in a universe! He resides here in CT. All that I've seen of him live was the minute or so it took him to put Sugarman Smith on a stretcher back in '05 on a Clay-Bey undercard. While Smith should not have been cleared to fight for that thing, he did look crisp and impressive.

Delvin turned in a gutty performance in his first outing, but Cotto was too much. Rodriguez looks to be a tough test for anybody in the tourney, and should have some success against the lower-ranked guys.

Ah, Lawrence Clay-Bey. Now that's some good underachievement. Too bad he didn't stick around a few more years. He probably could have gotten a shot at a Klitschko ...

[BigBoyBrackey]

Floyd Mayweather (1-0) vs. Miguel Cotto (1-0)
Jan Zaveck (0-1) vs. Delvin Rodriguez (0-1)
Shane Mosley (1-0, 1 KO) vs. Kell Brook (0-1)
Andre Berto (0-1) vs. Ricky Hatton (1-0, 1)
Zab Judah (1-0, 1) vs. Antonio Margarito (1-0, 1)
Paul Williams (0-1) vs. Luis Collazo (0-1)
Joshua Clottey (0-1) vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (0-1)
Carlos Quintana (1-0, 1) vs. Manny Pacquiao (1-0, 1)

[aaaaaaaaa]

Originally Posted by BigBoyBrackey

Floyd Mayweather (1-0) vs. Miguel Cotto (1-0)
Jan Zaveck (0-1) vs. Delvin Rodriguez (0-1)
Shane Mosley (1-0, 1 KO) vs. Kell Brook (0-1)
Andre Berto (0-1) vs. Ricky Hatton (1-0, 1)
Zab Judah (1-0, 1) vs. Antonio Margarito (1-0, 1)
Paul Williams (0-1) vs. Luis Collazo (0-1)
Joshua Clottey (0-1) vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (0-1)
Carlos Quintana (1-0, 1) vs. Manny Pacquiao (1-0, 1)

Williams-Judah fight was great.

I predict: Zaveck TKO 9-12
Mosley KO 4-6
Berto UD 12
Margarito KO 3-5
Williams UD 12
Clottey UD 12
Pacquiao TKO 6-9

[BigBoyBrackey]

Originally Posted by aaaaaaaaa

Williams-Judah fight was great.

I predict: Zaveck TKO 9-12
Mosley KO 4-6
Berto UD 12
Margarito KO 3-5
Williams UD 12
Clottey UD 12
Pacquiao TKO 6-9

Williams-Judah played out realistically enough that the early cut stoppage didn't bother me as much as it usually would. At least it didn't come completely out of nowhere, and Williams did have problems with cuts against Quintana, so it wasn't totally uncharacteristic, either.

What's your pick for Mayweather-Cotto?

[aaaaaaaaa]

Originally Posted by BigBoyBrackey

Williams-Judah played out realistically enough that the early cut stoppage didn't bother me as much as it usually would. At least it didn't come completely out of nowhere, and Williams did have problems with cuts against Quintana, so it wasn't totally uncharacteristic, either.

What's your pick for Mayweather-Cotto?

True.

Missed that one..

Mayweather TKO (cuts) / 4-5 point UD

[BigBoyBrackey]

With two rounds of a 16-man round-robin tournament complete, holding The Greatest of This Time welterweight tournament at Madison Square Garden might not seem like such a terrific idea to 15 of the contestants.

The site is just fine with Zab Judah, however.

The Brooklyn native pulled his second stunning upset in as many outings, battering Antonio Margarito into semi-consciousness inside of four rounds. In his first fight, Judah got off the floor to stop Paul Williams on a severe cut.

After a slow, fairly even first round, Judah (2-0, 2 KOs) stands toe-to-toe with Margarito in the second and takes control with his superior hand speed in the third, hurting Margarito with a straight left followed by a right hook, both to the head.

Another hook up top wobbles Margarito (1-1, 1) early in the fourth and Judah pours it on from there, slamming home a series of unanswered power shots. Steve Smoger is left with no choice to jump in at the 2:21 mark with Margarito slumped against the ropes.

All three scorecards were even at 29 through three rounds.

"People wrote me off coming into this tournament, saying I'm done," Judah said. "The only ones done are the poor suckers who have to fight me. Floyd, Manny, I'll make punks of all of them before this is over."

Floyd Mayweather TKO6 Miguel Cotto: Mayweather is hurt in the second and cut over the left eye in the third, but goes on the offensive in the fourth, rocking Cotto with body shots and nearly taking him out with a a right cross shortly before the bell.

Mayweather (2-0, 1) is content to outbox Cotto in the fifth, taking a fairly even round with a hard left hook late in the frame. Two more big hooks rock Cotto early in the sixth. Moments after Cotto is warned for what referee Barry Yeats considers an intentional head butt, a right cross puts him on his back. He makes it up at the count of eight, but Mayweather pounces with uncharacteristic aggression.

Badly hurt, Cotto (1-1) is unable to slip Mayweather's punches or tie him up, leaving him with no choice but to try slugging it out.

Mayweather's hand speed is too much, though, and a blinding flurry leaves Cotto sliding down the ropes toward the floor when Yeats stops it with six seconds left in the round.

Delvin Rodriguez DQ10 Jan Zaveck: Zaveck seems to be taking control of a back-and-forth brawl when referee Perez Huerta disqualifies him for committing blatant back-to-back fouls.

After an epic seventh round that saw both fighters badly hurt and Zaveck lose a point for a low blow, the Slovenian's body attack puts him in charge through the eighth and ninth and well into the 10th. A little more than halfway through, Huerta deducts a point from Zaveck for pulling down on the Dominican's neck, almost throwing Rodriguez (1-1) to the floor, the second time he has been warned for the infraction.

As soon as the fighters separate, Zaveck (0-2) throws a left hook that lands well south of Rodriguez's belt line, sending him to the floor in agony. Huerta immediately disqualifies Zaveck.

Through 10 rounds, the judges' scores were 86-84 Rodriguez, 86-83 Zaveck and 85-85.

Shane Mosley TKO10 Kell Brook: Brook's aggression keeps the fight even through seven rounds, but Moslely (2-0, 2) ends any thought of an upset when he drops the Brit with a right cross early in the eighth.

Brook (0-2) takes a beating from there, going down from a right uppercut early in the 10th and again from another right cross moments later. He makes it up at the count of nine, but absorbs a barrage of head shots before referee Raul Caiz Jr. rescues him at 1:57.

Andre Berto TKO12 Ricky Hatton: Berto (1-1, 1) climbs off the floor in the ninth round to drop Hatton in the 10th and then, trailing on two cards heading into the final round, reopens a gash across the Manchester native's forehead to force a stoppage at the 1:36 mark.

Hatton is able to force his way inside to build an early lead, but Berto's superior boxing skills begin to tell in the middle rounds, and he seems in control after initially opening up Hatton's forehead in the seventh.

Blood flowing down his face, Hatton gets battered about the ring in the eighth and through much of the ninth before catching Berto with a right uppercut that floors him in the late going. He bounces right up and the bell rings before Hatton can follow up.

Berto recovers during the 60-second break and floors Hatton with a clean right cross a minute into the 10th, but lands little else of consequence in the rest of the frame. He buckles Hattons' knees with a right cross and again with a right uppercut in the 11th, but Hatton rallies to pin Berto in the corner, where he strafes him with body shots to take the round.

Neither fighter does much damage in the 12th until a Berto's right-hand lead starts the blood flowing again, forcing the stoppage.

Hatton (1-1, 1) leads 104-103 on two cards through 11 rounds and trails on the third by the same score, meaning that he would have secured at least a draw if he had made it to the final bell without suffering another knockdown.

Paul Williams W12 Luis Collazo: Williams recovers from his stunning first-round loss to Judah by administering a systematic beating.

Williams bombs Collazo (0-2) from all angles, sweeping the first 10 round on one card and taking nine on another and going 8-1-1 on the third, capped by 10th-round knockdown by way of a left cross. Collazo makes it up at eight and actually wins the 11th as Williams takes a rest before turning it on again in the final round.

Williams (1-1) wins by scores of 118-109, 119-109 and 118-110.

Joshua Clottey TKO4 Vyacheslav Senchenko: Clottey's left hook opens a cut over Senchenko's right eye in the first and the wound reopens in the second and again in the fourth, finally becoming grotesque enough to convince referee Mark Nelson to wave it off at 2:15 of the fourth.

Senchenko has his moments in the third, but can't keep it going once the blood starts flowing into his eye again in the next round.

Clottey (1-1, 1) and Senchenko are knotted at 29 on all three cards through three rounds.

Manny Pacquiao KO7 Carlos Quintana: Pacquiao (2-0, 2) drops Quintana with a left cross midway through the first and nearly stops his overmatched foe in that round and again in the fifth, but Quintana's willingness to trade makes for an interesting fight much of the way.

The two sluggers produce highlight-reel rounds in the second and third, Pacquiao's superior power prevails. A savage two-handed attack in the seventh has Quintana (0-2) out on his feet, but when referee Silvestre Abainza is slow to step in, Pacquiao's roundhouse right hook puts an end to it, with the 10-count tolling at 2:59 of the seventh.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Floyd Mayweather (2-0, 1) vs. Delvin Rodriguez (1-1, 1)
Jan Zaveck (0-2) vs. Miguel Cotto (1-1)
Shane Mosely (2-0, 2) vs. Ricky Hatton (1-1, 1)
Andre Berto (1-1, 1) vs. Kell Brook (0-2)
Zab Judah (2-0, 2) vs. Luis Collazo (0-2)
Paul Williams (1-1) vs. Antonio Margarito (1-1, 1)
Joshua Clottey (1-1, 1) vs. Manny Pacquiao (2-0, 2)
Carlos Quintana (1-1, 1) vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (0-2)

[BigBoyBrackey]

Coming off perhaps the most impressive performance by any boxer in the Greatest of This Time welterweight tournament, a six-round dissection of Miguel Cotto, Floyd Mayweather shifted into neutral against heavy underdog Delvin Rodriguez.

Rodriguez drove Mayweather back with a relentless two-handed onslaught in the first round and stayed on the offensive throughout the night.

While able to take control seemingly at will, Mayweather was content to give away several early rounds, trailing on all three cards after seven.

By the time Mayweather got serious in the eighth, an increasingly confident Rodriguez matched him flurry for flurry. Mayweather's superior hand speed gave him an edge in each of those two torrid rounds and Rodriguez appeared to tire in the 10th, which ended with the underdog badly hurt along the ropes.

For some reason, though, Mayweather went into a defensive shell in the 10th, allowing the exhausted, but still aggressive Rodriguez to take the frame on all three cards. Mayweather was a little busier in the 12th, while Rodriguez was able to land only an ineffectual combination in the early going. Mayweather appeared to control what little action there was and most of media row gave him a narrow, but clear, victory.

The judges, however, were less unified in their opinions. Gary Ritter (U.S.) scored it 115-113, Mayweather, while Errki Meronen (Finland) had it 115-114, Rodriguez. Rocky Young (U.S.) somehow saw fit to score the last round for Rodriguez, evening up his scorecard at 114-114. The fighters will meet in a rematch after the completion of the rest of the third set of matches.

Mayweather (2-0-1, 1 KO) denied that he was looking past Rodriguez to his fourth-round matchup with Shane Mosley and was furious at being held to the tournament's first draw.

"I don't know what fight those two were watching," he said, his left eye swollen. "Must be they couldn't keep up with what I was doing to him in there. I let him swing away early, but he couldn't hurt me. Once I proved that, I won every round when it mattered."

Rodriguez's aggression clearly impressed Young and Meronen. While the fighters each landed about the same number of punches, Rodriguez threw about 20 more per round. Mayweather connected with more jabs, while Rodriguez scored more power shots. There were no cuts or knockdowns.

"I showed I can stay with him tonight," said an ecstatic Rodriguez (1-1-1), who qualified for the round-robin field by stopping the favored Kermit Cintron in nine rounds. "In the rematch, I will prove I can beat him."

[umk]

yeah, Mayweather seems to go into defensive mode often after he hurts his opponent badly in the previous round. It happened in my boxing league uni too.

[BigBoyBrackey]

After scoring impressive wins in his first two bouts, Shane Mosley looks every bit of his 38 years against a surprisingly effective Ricky Hatton.

Hatton, whose late entry into the field caused more than a little controversy, crowds Mosley from the opening bell, working his left hook steadily to the ribs while popping right crosses over the top.

Mosley can't get untangled in the early rounds, rarely throwing more than one punch at a time as Hatton outworks him round after round.

Mosley's frustration gets the better of him late in the third, when he is cautioned by referee Danny Schiavone for driving his right shoulder into Hatton's face.

Trailing badly by the sixth, Mosley appears to finally take control by dropping Hatton hard with a left hook. For the rest of the round, he makes Hatton look lost, slipping and blocking punches and hammering home pinpoint counters.

Mosley takes a slow seventh, as well as a torrid eighth, much of which is spent with the two blasting away inside.

The ninth features more toe-to-toe action, with Mosley establishing a slight edge until the final minute, when Hatton hurts Mosley with a sneak right, then a left uppercut that puffs Mosley's right eye, pinning him on the ropes for the rest of the round.

Mosley briefly retakes control early in the 10th with another left hook and a three-punch combination, but Hatton again forces his way inside and the two slug it out the rest of the way.

Hatton continues his success inside in the 11th by landing body shots, then clinching before Mosley can respond.

Knowing he needs a big finish, Mosley lets fly in the 12th, strafing Hatton with lightning combinations. Though Mosley scores effectively, he never comes close to dropping Hatton, who responds with enough body shots and rights to the face to keep the final round competitive.

Referee Berit Andreasen (Denmark) scores it 114-113 for Hatton, though Omar Quijada (Panama) sees it for Mosley by the same score, with their differing views of a ninth round that appeared to belong squarely in Hatton's column making the difference.

The decisive score is submitted Cyril Cairns (Australia), whose 116-111 assessment for Hatton sets off incessant waves of annoying singing from his countrymen, as well as a smattering of boos. The dispute, though, is not with the result -- Hatton clearly won the first five rounds and recovered strongly from the knockdown -- but the rather absurd card turned in by Cairns.

Hatton improves to 2-1 with one stoppage win, while Mosley falls to 2-1, 2.

Miguel Cotto KO1 Jan Zaveck: Cotto (2-1, 1) rebounds from his devastating loss to Floyd Mayweather by blasting Zaveck into semi-consciousness in less than a round.

A pair of left hooks stagger Zaveck (0-3) in the first minute and a lead right sends him staggering into the ropes. Another hook midway through the first drops Zaveck on his face and, though he makes it to his feet at the count of seven, he takes several more unanswered power shots before another hook sends him back to the floor, where he is counted out at the 2:34 mark.

Kell Brook W12 Andre Berto: Brook gives Berto all he could handle in the early going, but the American's superior hand speed and power helps him build five-, three- and one-point leads on the three official scorecards through seven rounds.

That all changes early in the eighth, when Brook catches an off-balance Berto with a left hook and puts him down for a seven count. Berto does not seem seriously hurt, though, and stays out of trouble for the rest of the frame to make a strong case for a 10-9 round, despite the knockdown.

His trip to the floor seems even more of a fluke when Berto drops Brook with an uppercut early in the ninth and again with a left hook to the chin shortly before the bell. Brook makes it to his feet at seven, but seems very unsteady. The bell rings before referee Tommy Kimmons gives the Brit much of an examination, though, and his corner works frantically through the rest period.

Whatever they did works wonders, as Brook comes out throwing hard combinations. He drops Berto with a left-right for a three-count half a minute in, then again with an uppercut before the 10th reached the one-minute mark. Berto barely makes it up at nine, only to take another full-force hook-cross and crash in a rather frightening, delayed-reaction fashion midway through the frame.

The third knockdown seems to somehow revive Berto, who manages to stay away from an arm-weary Brook for most of the rest of the round. Brook catches him with a pair of hooks with less than 10 seconds remaining and Berto looks out on his feet, but understandably, given the wild swings in momentum, Kimmons refuses to intervene.

The exhausted fighters do little but lean on each other in the 11th, with a Berto uppercut the only significant shot of the entire three minutes.

Berto (1-2, 1) and Brook trade laborious punches through the 12th, with the latter's carrying a bit more snap and the former being admonished by the referee for holding and hitting.

Judge Robert Hoyle has it 111-111, while Clark Sammartino and Hans Larsen see it 112-110 and 112-111 for Brook (1-2).

Luis Collazo KO11 Zab Judah: After dropping Judah with a textbook left-right less than a minute into the fight and dominating the early rounds, it looks like Collazo is going to let his shot at an upset slip away.

Judah, who shocked both Antonio Margarito and Paul Williams with fourth-round TKOs, begins taking Collazo seriously midway through. Judah dominates the seventh and eighth and drops Collazo early in the 10th, nearly stopping him before the bell.

Judah comes out looking to finish the job in the 11th, but Collazo lands a hard right cross, then a left to the ribs that drives Judah to the ropes. Once there, Collazo (1-2, 1) fires another left hook that lands well below the belt, drawing a warning from referee Frank Garza.

Judah charges and misses with a straight left. Off balance, he falls into a left hook and drops on his face.

Judah (2-1, 2) tries to get up as Garza's count reaches eight, but can only make it to one knee as 10 is tolled at 2:46 of the 11th round.

One judge had Judah ahead 95-94 at the end, while the other two scored it 94-94 through 10 rounds.

Paul Williams TKO3 Antonio Margarito: Williams quickly turns what looked like the most even match of the tournament's third round goingg in into a blowout, hurting Margarito with the first punch he throws, a straight left to the chin, then overwhelming his stunned foe with a blistering array of punches with both hands.

Margarito spends the last 30 seconds of the first round on the ropes, with a pair of left uppercuts snapping his head back violently.

The only significant difference in the second round is that a straight left by Williams rips a across Margarito's right eyebrow, and a sweeping hook opens it a few moments later, forcing referee Johnny Callas to call time so the ringside physician can take a look.

Margarito is allowed to continue, but he shows little interest in doing so. He flails ineffectively while Williams continues to bomb away with both hands until ithe bell.

Williams rushes out at the bell for the third round and stuns Margarito with a straight left, then unloads a perfect right hook that drops Margarito to his knees.

Margarito jumps up at the count of two, but Williams immediately pins him on the ropes, bombing away with unanswered straight lefts, right hooks and left uppercuts. Amid Wiliams' furious assault, blood begins gushing from the reopened gash over Margarito's eye. As blood pours down his face, Callas again leads him to the ring doctor. This time, it only takes a quick look for the doctor and referee to agree that they've seen enough, giving Williams (2-1, 1) the stoppage victory at the 43-second mark.

Manny Pacquiao TKO2 Joshua Clottey: Pacquiao attacks at the bell, stunning Clottey with a hard jab followed by a left uppercut.

Pacquiao connects with another uppercut, this one to the body, taking Clottey's wind. He can do little but try to clinch, but Pacquiao does damage every time he gets his arms free.

A straight left drops Clottey, who makes it up at the count of three, but can do little but take punishment along the ropes for the final 30 seconds of the round. He trudges back to the rope, his right eye swelling badly.

Pacquiao opens the second with four straight right jabs, each landing squarely, pushing Clottey into a neutral corner. Trapped, he is an easy target for a pair of left crosses.

Clottey escapes briefly, but is again hemmed in by Pacquiao's two-handed attack. Clottey tries to clinch, with little more success than in the first. A Pacquiao right hook lands with such force that the Madison Square Garden crowd emits an audible groan, but Clottey somehow keeps his feet.

A left uppercut snaps Clottey's head back and to the side, causing his right eye to swell nearly shut.

Pacquiao (3-0, 3) lands a quick combination to the body, following up with another booming uppercut. Clottey (1-2, 1) falls to the side, his left arm draped over the top rope. Silvestre Abainza leaps in, stopping the slaughter at 2:30 of the second round.

Carlos Quintana TKO6 Vyachaslev Senchenko: Quintana opens strong, hurting Senchenko with a series of right hooks, one of which opens a cut over the left eye, which is also swelling by the end of the first.

After struggling again in the second, Senchenko starts mauling Quintana around the ring in the third, taking the frame even though the cut reopens.

A right cross causes Senchenko's eye to swell further early in the fourth, but he ducks a right hook from Quintana and delivers a crushing left hook to the side of the head. Quintana flops to the canvas, where he takes an eight count before getting to his feet, still badly disoriented.

Senchenko follows up with a hard right and another solid hook, nearly dropping Quintana again, but can not put him away.

Senchenko lands several damaging shots early in the fifth, but Quintana's head clears and he turns things around with a debilitating right hook to the ribs. Quintana (2-1, 2) takes the initiative for the rest of the fifth and the early part of the sixth, ripping open the wound over Senchenko's badly swollen left eye. Senchenko (0-3) can't keep the eye open, due to the amount of blood flowing into it, and is declared the loser by TKO 45 seconds into the sixth round.

[BigBoyBrackey]

FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. W12 DELVIN RODRIGUEZ: Embarrassed by drawing with Delvin Rodriguez, Mayweather drops the Dominican in the second with a left hook -- the first of four knockdowns -- and cruises to a unanimous decision.

Rodriguez does force Mayweather into trading toe-to-toe in the third and fourth, but Mayweather's superior skills take over from there. Rodriguez (1-2-1) goes down in the 10th and twice more in the 11th, but Mayweather backs off in the 12th, rather than trying to finish his opponent off.

Mayweather (3-0-1, 1 KO) prevails by scores of 115-109, 114-110 and 116-108.

[BigBoyBrackey]

Inspired by the new issue of The Ring, I'm going to be changing up the format for my division-by-division tourneys after finishing this welterweight round-robin.

This issue contains the magazine's divisional rankings for the decade spanning 2000 to 20009. One of the problems with setting up this tournament, which seems even more problematic when looking at some of the other divisions, is the number of fighters who aren't rated, or are rated in divisions other than the ones in which they presently campaign. No complaints here -- Title Bout is a game unlike Strat-o-Matic, or a simulation of any other sport, where the seasons are clearly defined, making it much easier to keep everything up-to-date and in chronological order.

By going with the top 10 for the decade in each division, every fighter will be able to fight at prime. It will also eliminate the need to question whether ratings need to be changed based on contemporary results.

I'm thinking that in each weight class, fighters ranked 7-10 will take part in a four-man round-robin, with the top two finishers making the field for an eight-man round robin. The top two finishers in that tourney will square off for the best-of-the-decade title.

First, I'm going to finish the welterweight 16-man event already underway, then re-visit the division using the new set-up later on. I'm also going to try to make write-ups a little briefer, since I started this project as a way to run a less writing-intensive thread. So I'll try to feature one bout each round, with a line or two about the other results. That was my original plan, but some of the upsets have brought out the long-windedness in me.

Anyway, on to the fourth round:

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (3-0-1, 1 KOs) vs. Shane Mosley (2-1, 2)
Jan Zaveck (0-3) vs. Andre Berto (1-2, 1)
Miguel Cotto (2-1, 1) vs. Kell Brook (1-2)
Delvin Rodriguez (1-2-1) vs. Ricky Hatton (2-1, 1)
Zab Judah (2-1, 2) vs. Joshua Clottey (1-2, 1)
Paul Williams (2-1, 1) vs. Carlos Quintana (2-1, 2)
Antonio Margarito (1-2, 1) vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (0-3)
Luis Collazo (1-2, 1) vs. Manny Pacquiao (3-0, 3)

[BigBoyBrackey]

Paul Williams comes out moving and swinging against Carlos Quintana, setting a frenetic pace while taking the first two rounds.

Quintana slows things down in the third, holding at every opportunity before staggering Williams with a right uppercut late in the round. Another single big punch earns Quintana the fourth.

Things heat up from there, with Williams forcing a faster tempo, but Quintana responding nearly punch for punch.

A brutal fifth round apears to wear Quintana out, as he carries his hands lower at the start of the sixth, but against keeps up with his fellow southpaw, winning the round despite drawing a warning for rabbit punching early on. It is Quintana's third warning from referee Earl Morton, who also admonishes Williams on two occasions.

Despite a swelling left eye, Quintana manages to keep pace in the seventh and, midway through the eighth, a right hook opens a cut above the outside corner of Williams' left eye.

Quintana takes advantage in the next round, landing a series of jabs and right hooks, one of which sends an exhausted Williams wobbling into the ropes. Quintana follows him there and hammers away with both hands, turning Williams' cut into a gash.

With Williams bleeding profusely and not punching back, Morton leaps in and wraps his arms around the injured fighter, making a TKO winner of Quintana at 2:58 of the ninth round.

Quintana, who handed Williams his lone career real-life loss to date, improved to 3-1 with three knockouts. After suffering his second upset loss of The Greatest of This Time welterweight round-robin tournament, Williams is 2-2 with two knockouts.

At the conclusion, two cards were even at 76-76, with Williams holding a 77-75 edge on the third.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. W12 Shane Mosley: Mayweather bloodies Shane Mosley in the first round and overcomes a cut of his own, scoring a knockdown en route to a unanimous, but hard-fought, decision.

The gash under Mosley's left eye reopened several times. Mosley opened up a cut over Mayweather's left eye with a right cross in the fourth round, but neither wound ever came close to ending the fight.

Mosley (2-2, 2 KOs) goes on the offensive in the middle rounds, but Mayweather's defense and the timing of his counters help him build a lead. Mayweather's jab-cross-hook combo midway through the ninth puts Mosley down for a four-count. He looks ready to go, but Mayweather backs away for the last 20 seconds of the round.

He moves, jabs, and covers up the rest of the way, doing little damage and nearly blowing his lead in the eyes of one judge, who scores the fight 115-114.

The other officials see it 117-113 and 118-111, both for Mayweather (4-0-1, 1).

Jan Zaveck W12 Andre Berto: Zaveck pounds away from the opening bell, softening Berto up with a steady body attack and dropping him in the fourth and eighth rounds on the way to his first win of the tournament.

Berto (1-3, 1) has his moments, hurting Zaveck in the eighth and getting the better of a wild shootout in the 10th, but fades over the final two rounds. Zaveck (1-3) prevails by scores of 116-111, 116-110 and 114-112.

Miguel Cotto TKO2 Kell Brook: Brook and Cotto turn in the round of the tournament so far in the first, trading power punches from bell to bell. All three judges give Brook the edge.

Cotto (3-1, 2) drives Brook to the ropes with a heavy right cross early in the second and keeps him there with a two-handed onslaught. Late in the round, Brook turns to his left in an effort to escape the ropes, but turns into a right cross that opens a gash above his right eye.

The bleeding is too heavy for Brook (1-3) to continue and referee Luis Pabon calls the fight at the 2:52 mark.

Ricky Hatton TKO8 Delvin Rodriguez: Hatton (3-1, 2) dominates a no-frills brawl, closing Rodriguez's left eye with a steady stream of right crosses.

The ring doctor looks at the grotesque swelling in the sixth and again in the seventh, but allows the fight to continue each time. Finally, with the eye completely shut, he advises referee Keith Garner to call it at 1:24 of the eighth. Garner could easily have called the fight, due to the pounding Rodriguez (1-3-1) was taking, any time during the two previous rounds, as well.

Hatton leads 69-62 on all each of the official cards, including a 10-8 advantage from all judges in the seventh.

Joshua Clottey W12 Zab Judah: Judah (2-2, 2) hurts Clottey in the first and builds and early lead, but Clottey takes over in the second half of the bout, at least in the eyes of two judges.

Clottey gets busier as the fight goes on, causing Judah's left eye to swell with a series of right-hand leads.

Neither fighter goes down and the number of close rounds is reflected in the scoring. Ricardo Bays (U.S.) has it 116-112 for Judah, while Jesus Manuel Cova (U.S.) sees it 115-114 and Marty Sammon (U.S.) scores it 115-113, both for Clottey (2-2, 1). The disparity in scoring is particularly clear over the last three rounds. Bays gave all three to Judah, while Sammon had all three for Clottey, who got the 10th and 12th from Cova.

Antonio Margarito KO4 Vyacheslav Senchenko: After a slow first round, Margarito opens up on the Ukrainian, softening him up with a steady diet of left hooks to the ribs, then incessantly launching head shots.

Senchenko (0-4) is hurt in the second and third and finally goes down after taking a pair of right uppercuts, first to the belly, then the chin. He is counted out at the 2:50 mark. Margarito improves to 2-2 with both wins by way of knockout.

Manny Pacquiao W12 Luis Collazo: After getting knocked around in the first couple rounds, Collazo frustrates Pacquiao with his boxing and counterpunching abilities to keep the fight competitive going into the final third.

Pacquiao's speed and power are too much down the stretch, though, and he nearly finishes him with a straight left that drops Collazo (1-3, 1) in a heap. He makes it up at nine, though, and only just manages to make it to the final bell, the first fighter to do so against Manny in this tournament.

All three judges score it 116-111 for Pacquiao (4-0, 3).

[BigBoyBrackey]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (4-0-1, 1) vs. Andre Berto (1-3, 1)
Jan Zaveck (1-3) vs. Shane Mosley (2-2, 2)
Miguel Cotto (3-1, 2) vs. Ricky Hatton (3-1, 2)
Delvin Rodriguez (1-3-1) vs. Kell Brook (1-3)
Zab Judah (2-2, 2) vs. Carlos Quintana (3-1, 3)
Paul Williiams (2-2, 1) vs. Joshua Clottey (2-2, 1)
Antonio Margarito (2-2, 2) vs. Manny Pacquiao (4-0, 3)
Luis Collazo (1-3, 1) vs. Vyacheslav Senchenko (0-4)