A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Houston
Nonito Donaire KO3 Jorge Arce
Retains a junior featherweight title
Records: Donaire (31-1, 20 KOs); Arce (61-7-2, 46 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Donaire has had a great year, which he finished off in style to likely lock up fighter of the year honors. Not only has Donaire dominated four quality opponents in four world title bouts, but he did it by removing any notion of doping, which -- as in most sports -- has become a major problem in boxing. Donaire is the only fighter in the world who has agreed to be randomly drug tested (urine and blood) 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year whether he is training for a fight or not. It's an admirable position that other fighters would do well to emulate. So when Donaire thrashes good opponents, nobody has to suspect something is amiss.
Donaire held titles at flyweight and bantamweight (and an interim belt at junior bantamweight) before moving up to junior featherweight in February and winning a vacant title by outpointing (and dropping) former titlist Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. In July, he hammered Jeffrey Mathebula in a unanimous decision to unify belts and then (despite vacating one belt) stopped former titleholder Toshiaki Nishioka in the ninth round in October. In front of a crowd of 7,250 at the Toyota Center, nearly all of whom were rooting for Mexico's Arce in the heavily Mexican crowd, Donaire, 30, a native of the Philippines based in California's Bay Area, won his most dominant fight of the year by erasing Arce, 33, in three lopsided rounds.
Donaire scored three knockdowns total, including one in the second round on a right-left combination, and two more in the third round, on a right hand-left uppercut combination and then a crushing left hook to the chin that knocked out Arce. Referee Laurence Cole had no need to count and called off the fight at 2 minutes, 59 seconds while Arce was on his back and in need of medical attention. It was a sensational knockout, on par with Donaire's blistering second-round knockout of Fernando Montiel to win two bantamweight titles in the 2011 knockout of the year. Arce, who is a good friend of Donaire's, was down for a couple of minutes before he was able to get to his feet, after which he announced his retirement during the postfight interview with HBO's 81-year-old Larry Merchant, who was calling his final fight for the network after 35 years at ringside.
Donaire was the superior man in terms of speed, technique and power. Although Arce showed his usual big heart, he had no way of getting inside against the longer Donaire, who can fight inside or outside and is very fast with his punches.
Arce said he is done and leaves behind a wonderful legacy of being an all-action fighter and a crowd favorite. He did well for himself, winning world titles in four weight classes (junior flyweight, junior bantamweight, bantamweight and junior featherweight) and an interim title in another (flyweight).
While Arce goes out to pasture, Donaire -- one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world -- might move up to featherweight for his next fight, although ideally he would remain at 122 pounds for two more fights and face fellow titleholders Guillermo Rigondeaux (whose undercard fight was canceled Thursday when former titleholder Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym failed a prefight blood test) and Abner Mares. Making the Rigondeaux fight would be a snap because both are represented by Top Rank. Making the Mares fight would be a nightmare because Mares is with rival promoter Golden Boy.
Saturday at Los Angeles
Amir Khan TKO10 Carlos Molina
Junior welterweights
Records: Khan (27-3, 19 KOs); Molina (17-1-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was the perfect comeback fight for Khan, a former unified junior welterweight titlist, who had lost two in a row. There was the controversial split decision loss to Lamont Peterson in Peterson's hometown of Washington, D.C., last December, followed by the fourth-round knockout to Danny Garcia in July. Unable to withstand a third consecutive loss and still remain a premium cable main event fighter, Khan fired Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and hired reigning trainer of the year Virgil Hunter. More important, promoter Golden Boy and Khan's team selected the non-threatening Molina as his next opponent.
Molina, the smaller man, was moving up from lightweight and isn't much of a puncher even at 135 pounds. But Molina is tough and has a big heart, so he took 10 rounds of punishment from Khan, who got in rounds and worked on the things Hunter asked of him -- such as being less wild, tightening his defense and showing patience. Although Molina landed a few solid shots, Khan took them well and won every second of the fight. It was even more one-sided than many thought it would be when the match was made.
In the first round, Khan, 26, of England, cut Molina over the left eye, which bled for the rest of the fight. Khan picked apart Molina with fast combinations, a steady jab and heavy shots. Molina could never get inside against the taller and longer Khan, who lit him up with combinations. As early as after the fourth round, Clemente Medina, Molina's trainer, was threatening to stop the fight if he didn't see something from his man. Molina never showed anything and, finally, after the 10th round, Medina threw in the towel and referee Jack Reiss stopped the contest. The CompuBox statistics showed just how lopsided the mismatch was, as Khan landed 312 of 679 blows (a whopping 46 percent) while Molina was limited to landing only 87 of 335 punches (26 percent).
Molina, 27, of Norwalk, Calif., probably will go back to the lightweight division (where he belongs) while Khan, still a crowd-pleasing fighter, kept himself in line for a big fight next year. Garcia was sitting ringside, and Khan said he would like a rematch. Garcia and Khan are both with Golden Boy, and if Garcia gets past Zab Judah on Feb. 9, a sequel could make for a big summer fight.
Deontay Wilder KO3 Kelvin Price
Heavyweights
Records: Wilder (26-0, 26 KOs); Price (13-1, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Wilder, 27, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., was a 2008 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist and is now regarded by many as the No. 1 American heavyweight prospect in the wake of Seth Mitchell's recent knockout loss. Wilder, who is 6-foot-7 and 223 pounds, is a physical specimen with dynamite in his right hand. He could probably knock out anyone if he lands his best shot. But he remains very raw and is still quite untested, as he has been matched very softly by Golden Boy.
However, the 6-7 Price, 37, of Pensacola, Fla., was a legitimate step up for Wilder, who passed the test beautifully. It was a bit of a sloppy fight through the first two rounds before Wilder, who went 6-0 this year, ended it in devastating fashion. He unleashed a perfect overhand right that Price never saw coming and knocked him down hard. Price was dazed but tried to get to his feet. He fell over as he got to all fours, though, and referee Ray Corona stopped the bout at 51 seconds. A nice win for Wilder, who needs more work but is fun to watch.
Alfredo Angulo W10 Jorge Silva
Junior middleweights
Scores: 97-93 (three times)
Records: Angulo (22-2, 18 KOs); Silva (18-3-2, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: As long as Angulo doesn't blow out his opponent, you can pretty much count on an exciting fight whenever he steps into the ring -- and this one was no different. Angulo, 30, and Silva, 20, both of Mexico, put on one heckuva fight.
It was a high-contact slugfest that had the crowd cheering throughout. Although it wasn't an easy night for Angulo, he was the clear winner after taking the final three rounds on all three judges' scorecards and he got in some very valuable rounds as he continued his comeback.
After a sixth-round knockout loss to James Kirkland in November 2011, Angulo was out of the ring for a year, mainly because he spent seven months in a detention center having his severe immigration issues resolved. He returned Nov. 10 and blitzed Raul Casarez in one round. Getting back to action just 35 days later, Angulo was pushed much harder by Silva in this brawl.
As usual, Angulo went for the knockout, but Silva showed a great chin and took him the distance. Angulo still looked a bit rusty at times and probably needs another fight before stepping into a major bout, but it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to see him wind up facing titleholder Canelo Alvarez (who was ringside) at some point in 2013. And if Kirkland ever resolves his promotional issues with Golden Boy, a rematch between he and Angulo would be a natural match.
Shawn Porter D10 Julio Diaz
Welterweights
Scores: 96-94 Porter, 96-94 Diaz, 95-95
Records: Porter (20-0-1, 14 KOs); Diaz (40-7-1, 29 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Porter, 25, of Cleveland, has to be disappointed with the draw, which was fair. The fight was made with the idea that Porter would gain a win against a former two-time lightweight titleholder and move on to bigger and better things. In that sense, a draw is almost like a loss for him. As for Diaz, the 32-year-old fading veteran from Coachella, Calif., he was able to show that he still has a bit left.
Porter, who had a standout amateur career, may have reached his ceiling. In July, he had a very tough fight with steppingstone opponent Alfonso Gomez in a 10-round decision win. Now he has the draw with Diaz, who probably has more right to complain about the draw than Porter. At least it was a very good action fight.
Diaz was more aggressive as Porter tried to use his speed advantage to escape the shots. If Porter wants to show he really can be a contender, he ought to try to get a rematch with Diaz, who can probably make as much money fighting Porter for a second time than he can anywhere else.
Saturday at Los Angeles
Leo Santa Cruz W12 Alberto Guevara
Retains a bantamweight title
Scores: 119-109, 118-110, 116-112
Records: Santa Cruz (23-0-1, 13 KOs); Guevara (16-1, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Santa Cruz, 24, of Los Angeles, capped a big year with this hard-fought victory, which marked the return of live boxing to CBS (with an assist from sister network Showtime) for the first time since it aired then-middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins' defense against Glen Johnson in 1997. Santa Cruz, one of boxing's most thoroughly entertaining fighters, was a perfect pick to headline the show.
Although Santa Cruz struggled a bit early against Guevara, put off by the challenger's movement and fighting spirit, he clearly won the fight to finish a breakout year, in which he went 5-0 -- including winning a vacant world title in June and making three defenses as one of boxing's busiest titleholders.
Guevara, from Mexico and now living in San Diego, hung in very well against Santa Cruz's pressure and won some early rounds. Santa Cruz, known for his exhausting punch output, was a little off his game but picked it up in the second half of the fight. If the bout, which was quite crowd-pleasing, was close in the eyes of some through the first few rounds, it was obvious that Santa Cruz ran away with it over the final six rounds as he picked up his pressure and Guevara tailed off.
Santa Cruz cut Guevara over the right eye with a punch in the sixth round and still fought well despite a nose problem that forced him to breath out of his mouth for most of the bout, plus suffering an injured right hand that he hurt during training camp. Although it wasn't Santa Cruz's best performance -- perhaps a byproduct of being in the gym nonstop throughout the year -- he still looked good and gave CBS a reason to put on more fights.
Three 2012 U.S. Olympians also were on the first half of the split day-night card at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena card. Southpaw junior featherweight Joseph Diaz Jr. (1-0, 0 KOs), 20, of South El Monte, Calif., made his pro debut and easily outpointed Vicente Alfaro (5-3, 1 KO), 30, of Northfield, Minn., winning 40-35 on all three scorecards. Diaz, who dropped Alfaro with a body shot in the fourth round, was supposed to have his bout televised on CBS, but the fight didn't make the telecast because of the college basketball game that went into overtime preceding the boxing telecast.
Also, light heavyweight Marcus Browne (2-0, 2 KO), 22, of Staten Island, N.Y., knocked out Ritchie Cherry (3-6, 1 KO), 25, of Oklahoma City, with one second left in the first round. Browne scored three knockdowns, but he was also docked a point by referee Tom Taylor for a rabbit punch. And junior middleweight Errol Spence Jr. (2-0, 2 KOs), 22, stopped Richard Andrews (5-3-3, 2 KOs), 21, of Charlottesville, Va., 44 seconds into the third round.
Saturday at Nuremberg, Germany
Arthur Abraham TKO8 Mehdi Bouadla
Retains a super middleweight title
Records: Abraham (35-3, 28 KO); Bouadla (26-5, 11 KO)
Rafael's remarks: Abraham, 32, of Germany, had his best days as a middleweight, when he was knocking everyone out and made 10 title defenses. When he moved up to super middleweight to join the Super Six World Boxing Classic, he washed out. After brutally knocking out Jermain Taylor in the opening fight, he lost his next three tournament bouts in lopsided fashion to Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch and Andre Ward. But then he got two soft-touch wins and was maneuvered into a fight against titlist Robert Stieglitz in August. Abraham edged him on points in a close fight and was making his first defense against the relatively non-threatening Bouadla, 30, of France, who had won four low-level fights in a row since being knocked out by Mikkel Kessler in June 2011.
Abraham had little trouble with Bouadla, who was game but offered little else. Abraham beat up on him for most of the fight. He landed a lot of clean shots, including solid body shots and an effective jab, but Bouadla managed to stay on his feet. By the eighth round, Bouadla was running out of steam. His punches had even less on them than they had up to that point, and his legs were a bit shaky. Abraham wobbled him with a few shots and, at one point, Bouadla dropped to his knees in the eighth round seemingly from exhaustion, not a punch (although it was not ruled a knockdown).
Abraham kept up the punishment as he put together a strong combination that pushed Bouadla back to the ropes and, as the challenger cowered away from another blow he expected, referee Mark Nelson did the humane thing and stepped in to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 11 seconds. Bouadla, who had a cut over his right eye, was a beaten man and everyone knew it, so good for Nelson to call it off.
Saturday at London
George Groves W12 Glen Johnson
Retains Commonwealth super middleweight title
Scores: 120-107 (twice), 119-109
Records: Groves (16-0, 12 KOs); Johnson (51-18-2, 35 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: When lightweight titlist Ricky Burns' defense against substitute opponent Jose Ocampo was scrapped after Ocampo fell out, Groves' fight with former light heavyweight world champ Johnson moved to the top of the bill -- and it turned into the gross mismatch many feared it might be.
Groves, 24, of England, is a young contender on the rise with a bright future. Johnson, who will turn 44 on Jan. 22, is an old warhorse and a former top fighter who is now badly faded and needs to call it quits before he gets hurt. After middling light heavyweight Andrzej Fonfara easily outpointed him in July, Johnson -- who is from Jamaica (and thus qualified to fight for the Commonwealth title) but lives in Miami -- announced his retirement. It didn't last long, as he returned for this ill-conceived match with Groves. If the pounding he took from Fonfara didn't convince him to retire for good, hopefully this pasting by Groves will.
Groves won every round, even if one judge did manage to find one for Johnson. To add insult to injury, Groves dropped Johnson with a flurry of punches when he caught him on the ropes in the final seconds of the fight. Johnson spent most of the fight following Groves around while being unable to get his punches off in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, Groves tattooed him over and over with hard jabs and right hands. It was sad to watch Johnson, the 2004 fighter of the year, lose his fourth fight in a row, fifth in his past six and sixth in his past eight.
Saturday at San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina
Omar Narvaez W12 David Quijano
Retains a junior bantamweight title
Scores: 120-106, 120-108, 119-109
Records: Narvaez (38-1-2, 20 KOs); Quijano (15-3-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Narvaez, 37, of Argentina, is best known to American fight fans as the guy who ran for 12 rounds and stunk out the joint in a shutout decision loss while challenging then-bantamweight titleholder Nonito Donaire in November 2011. Narvaez had the safety of still having his junior bantamweight title to go back to defending after that disgraceful performance, however. He continued to defend his 115-pound belt at home against questionable opposition as he made his sixth defense -- following 16 title defenses at flyweight -- by routing Quijano, 26, of Puerto Rico.
Quijano's résumé is devoid of a victory that should have qualified him for a world title fight, and Narvaez exposed just how little he had by utterly dominating in every facet of the fight. He stalked him throughout the bout and landed plenty while Quijano could do little other than display his heart and take a pounding.
Friday at Montreal
Jean Pascal W10 Aleksy Kuziemski
Cruiserweights
Scores: 100-88, 98-90 (twice)
Records: Pascal (27-2-1, 16 KOs); Kuziemski (23-5, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Pascal, the former light heavyweight world champion, hadn't fought since May 2011, when he lost a unanimous decision and his title in a rematch against Bernard Hopkins, who became the oldest fighter to win a world title. Various injuries and scheduling issues sidelined Pascal, 30, of Laval, Quebec, who fought at 181½ pounds, with the intent to fight again at light heavyweight.
Considering Pascal was coming off a 19-month layoff, he did a tremendous job, especially because he wound up being limited to fighting with only his right hand. Pascal's left was useless after, he said, injuring his left shoulder during the second round. Even with one hand, he knocked down Kuziemski, 35, a 2004 Polish Olympian, twice with right hands -- in the sixth round and again in the 10th round, to punctuate a lopsided win. Pascal also said he injured his right hand during the 12th round.
With the injuries mounting, it remains to be seen whether Pascal will be ready to fight in March, when HBO is working to close a deal for him to face champion Chad Dawson. Pascal handed Dawson his first defeat in August 2010, winning a clear 11th-round technical decision.
David Lemieux TKO2 Albert Ayrapetyan
Middleweights
Records: Lemieux (28-2, 27 KOs); Ayrapetyan (20-4, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: As recently as 2010, Lemieux, 23, of Montreal, was one of the hottest prospects in boxing as he was crushing opponent after opponent. But in 2011, he lost both of his fights in major upsets: first a stunning seventh-round knockout loss to Marco Antonio Rubio in a fight that Lemieux had thoroughly dominated and then a majority decision loss to former junior middleweight titlist Joachim Alcine in an all-Montreal showdown. Promoter Yvon Michel has brought back Lemieux slowly since then, and the fighter has now notched three straight knockouts inside two rounds.
The latest was this destruction of Ayrapetyan, 31, of Germany. Lemieux pummeled him in the first round, dropping him twice, first with a left hook midway through the round and then again on an accumulation of punches in the final 15 seconds. Lemieux was poised in the second round as he stalked Ayrapetyan, whom he was catching with heavy shots from both hands. With Ayrapetyan retreating to the ropes, Lemieux unloaded a sick right hand that rocked him back and dropped Ayrapetyan to all fours. He barely beat the count, but he was in no shape to go on and referee Michael Griffin called off the fight at 1 minute, 26 seconds.
Lemieux is expected back in action Feb. 8 against Jose Miguel Torres. Ayrapetyan's most recent loss had come in 2005 when Sergio Martinez, who would go on to become world middleweight champion, stopped him in the 11th round. Ayrapetyan didn't fight again until coming back this year, winning two fights and now having lost two in a row.
Wednesday at Buenos Aires, Argentina
Marcos Maidana KO3 Angel Martinez
Welterweights
Records: Maidana (33-3, 30 KOs); Martinez (13-4-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Former junior welterweight titlist Maidana, 29, of Argentina, is one of the more exciting fighters in boxing and one of its biggest punchers. But when he moved up to welterweight in February, things didn't go well, as he lost a near-shutout decision to Devon Alexander in a terrible performance. But then Maidana got back on track with a very exciting eighth-round knockout of Jesus Soto Karass in September in an excellent fight.
Maidana, who is represented by Golden Boy, is hoping for a significant fight in 2013. He would like to challenge titlist Paulie Malignaggi or interim titlist Robert Guerrero. It remains to be seen whether either are possibilities, but instead of just waiting around, Maidana returned home to fight at famed Luna Park, taking on Martinez in a stay-busy fight.
Maidana made short work of Martinez, dominating the first two-plus rounds with his aggression and power shots before scoring the knockout with a digging left to the gut. Martinez went down to all fours and couldn't beat the count from referee Jorge Basile, who called off the fight at 1 minute, 38 seconds.
Martinez, 21, of Mexico, lost his third fight in a row and dropped to 0-4-1 in his past five bouts, including a sixth-round knockout loss to Argentina's top junior welterweight, power-punching Lucas Matthysse.
. Wilder got that wicked overhand right, it'll be interesting if he can string together enough quality wins to eventually face one of the Klitschko brothers before they exit the game. It's a shame he wasn't just a tad older so he could've got either one of them in their prime. He still seemed rough around the edges, and maybe that was because he was fighting someone his size, or that Price seemed unorthodox in his boxing nature (not fighting stance). Price looked just like what was expected, someone who took up boxing late in the game.
. I don't get the hate for him. I understand why someone would sit here and say he ducked fights, but back when he first hit the scene, he took on Vic who it seemed like would carry that division for the future, and destroyed him. Since then he hasn't faced guys like Mares, but Mares hasn't been huge for that long, and neither has Rigondeaux. I'm not sure what other junior feathers there are for him to face. He's beat up Arce. He had a tough battle against Wilfredo. Maybe he moves up and starts fighting featherweights? There are definitely some good fights to be made there, but after Mares and Rigondeaux, there's really not much out there for Donaire. I'm personally not a big fan of Mares either. 
