A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Sunday at Melbourne, Australia
Lucas Browne W12 James Toney
Heavyweights
Scores: 120-108, 119-109, 117-111
Records: Browne (16-0, 14 KOs); Toney (74-8-3, 45 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Browne, 34, an Australian known as "Big Daddy," fought a recognizable name for the first time since turning pro in 2009. However, that opponent was the 44-year-old horribly faded former three-division champion Toney, a once-great fighter (and two-time steroid cheat) with basically nothing left but a big mouth and a great chin. But he fights on because he has financial problems and nothing else to fall back on. Browne said in the build-up to the fight that beating Toney would be a big deal. Years ago, it would have been. Not anymore.
Still, Browne did what he was supposed to do, rolling to a lopsided points victory. Toney has lost two of his past three fights, including a massively one-sided beating against cruiserweight Denis Lebedev in an interim title bout that went the distance in 2011.
Saturday at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Danny Garcia W12 Zab Judah
Retains unified junior welterweight title
Scores: 116-111, 115-112, 114-112
Records: Garcia (26-0, 16 KOs); Judah (42-8, 29 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Garcia doesn't always look spectacular, but all he does is win. He retained his title for the third time, turning back a stiff challenge from former three-time titlist (and former undisputed welterweight champ) Judah in Judah's hometown in a fight that elevated from solid scrap to bloody thriller in the second half.
Judah, 35, and Garcia, 25, of Philadelphia, spent most of the promotion threatening each other, saying mean things and otherwise causing such chaos that the two were not allowed to appear together for the final news conference or weigh-in. Most of the rancor was between Judah and Angel Garcia, Danny's smack-talking father and trainer, starting with a near-brawl at the December news conference to announce the fight, which was originally scheduled for Feb. 9 but postponed because Garcia suffered a rib injury.
With a hot crowd of 13,048 for the third card in the brief history of the Barclays Center, Garcia and Judah put on a great show. Garcia was in total control early on. He nearly dropped Judah in the fifth round with one of the many hard right hands he landed. He pummeled Judah in a brutal display in the sixth round, nearly knocking him down and rocking him with right hands. There were times in the past when Judah would have folded when faced with that kind of adversity. But he had a burning desire for this fight and showed huge heart.
Garcia, still in control in the eighth round, sent Judah to his rear end with a clean straight right hand, which also cut his right eye. But just when it looked like Judah was all done, he came to life and Garcia began to fade. Judah stunned him with a left hand in the 10th and continued to hurt him. Judah also rocked Garcia in the 11th round with a right hand. In fact, Judah won the final three rounds on all three scorecards to make the scores very respectable, even though he was the obvious points loser. The 12th round started with a bad accidental head-butt, but the fighters went toe-to-toe for most of the round. The entire crowd was on its feet as they closed the show in tremendous fashion. Both guys let it all hang out, both were cut and bloody, and both did their fans proud.
By the way, a tip of the cap to referee Steve Smoger, who did his usual outstanding job. It's no coincidence that so many of the fights he works turn out to be memorable slugfests. Fighters respect him because he let's them fight, yet knows just when to insert himself in the action to break fighters or warn them.
Judah did more than enough to show that, despite the loss, he is by no means done yet. He probably will land some other fight of note in one of boxing's best divisions. Garcia will move on to a biggie in the fall. Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer wants to match Garcia in a September title unification bout with the with the winner of the May 18 nontitle bout between titleholder Lamont Peterson and interim titlist Lucas Matthysse. It's a fight than can easily be made since Schaefer promotes all three of them. Peterson-Matthysse is a great matchup. A fight pitting the winner against Garcia would be exceptional.
Peter Quillin TKO7 Fernando Guerrero
Retains a middleweight title
Records: Quillin (29-0, 21 KOs); Guerrero (25-2, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Quillin, 29, of New York, was just too powerful for Guerrero in a fight that was almost man-versus-boy. In June 2011, Guerrero, 26, a native of the Dominican Republic from Salisbury, Md., was stopped in his only previous defeat, a huge upset by journeyman Grady Brewer. That loss prompted many to question his ability to take a punch. Guerrero, a southpaw, won four fights in a row after that, all against lesser opponents, before being handed this unwarranted shot at a belt. Quillin showed that Guerrero didn't belong in a world title fight.
Quillin registered six knockdowns against France's Hassan N'Dam in a unanimous decision win in October to claim a title on the undercard of the inaugural boxing event at the Barclays Center. He notched four more knockdowns against Guerrero, giving him an incredible 10 knockdowns in his past two fights. He dropped Guerrero twice in the second round, hurt him several times in other rounds and then scored two more knockdowns in the seventh. After the final knockdown, referee Harvey Dock had seen enough punishment and called off the fight at 1 minute, 30 seconds. This was an exciting and strong performance from Quillin, whose future looks very bright.
Daniel Jacobs TKO4 Keenan Collins
Middleweights
Records: Jacobs (25-1, 22 KOs); Collins (15-8-3, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Jacobs, 26, is as heartwarming a story as there is in boxing. After the 2009 ESPN.com prospect of the year nearly died from a rare form of bone cancer, he not only beat the disease but was able to return to the ring after a 19-month absence in December for a knockout win in front of his hometown Brooklyn fans on the first boxing card at the Barclays Center. In blowing away Collins, 36, who was born in Brooklyn but lives in York, Pa., Jacobs notched his third win since his comeback -- and his first since his doctor recently declared him cancer-free.
Jacobs hammered Collins nearly at will. After scoring the second of two knockdowns in the fourth round, referee Shada Murdough called off the carnage at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. Jacobs figures to find himself in a much bigger fight before too long.
Saturday at Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sergio Martinez W12 Martin Murray
Retains world middleweight title
Scores: 115-112 (three times)
Records: Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KOs); Murray (25-1-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: What a night! Good fight, significant event, wild weather and an incredible atmosphere. After Martinez outpointed Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to retain the lineal title (and reclaim an alphabet belt) in September in dramatic fashion, surviving a knockdown and a near-knockout in the final 90 seconds, he wanted to go home again. Martinez, 38, hadn't fought in his native Argentina since he was still an unknown in 2002. After that, he made his bones in Spain and England before coming to America in late 2007.
In 2010, he became champion by beating Kelly Pavlik and was named fighter of the year, while also rocketing up the pound-for-pound list. As big as he had become in boxing, Martinez grew into a massive star in Argentina following the Chavez win, so promoter Lou DiBella and adviser Sampson Lewkowicz fulfilled the fighter's dream of a homecoming. A crowd of about 50,000 turned out to a soccer stadium in a full-blown wind-and-rain storm to cheer him on against England's Murray, 30, a quality contender who had fought to a draw with then-titlist Felix Sturm in Germany in a debatable outcome in December 2011.
Martinez, who was coming off right knee surgery and a broken left hand (injuries suffered against Chavez), opened an early lead because Murray started so slowly. And although Murray began getting to Martinez, it was mainly with just one shot at a time. Later, he caught Martinez with a straight right hand to drop him cleanly in the eighth round. Murray continued to turn up the pressure Martinez, who was nursing a cut over his left eye, in the late rounds and appeared to have scored another knockdown with a right hand in the 10th round. But referee Massimo Barrovechio ruled it a slip.
The WBC employed its awful open scoring system in the fight, so Martinez knew he was ahead after the eighth round, which sapped some of the late-fight drama. The WBC also had approved use of instant replay for the bout and examined the replay of the 10th-round slip, but elected not to overturn it even though it seemed quite clear that Murray had landed clean shots to drop Martinez.
In the end, Martinez got the close call in a glorious homecoming. He did, however, injure his right knee again and hurt his left hand again. His handlers said that even though the prospect of a mega-money rematch with Chavez was being eyed for the late part of the year, Martinez will not fight again in 2013. He needs to get his injuries healed. He looked very vulnerable against Murray, and his time near the top might be coming to an end. Murray has nothing to hang his head about. He figures to be back in another high-profile fight before too long. He's as credible as anyone in the division.
Luis Carlos Abregu W10 Antonin Decarie
Welterweights
Scores: 97-90, 97-92, 97-92
Records: Abregu (35-1, 28 KOs); Decarie (27-2, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This fine matchup of emerging contenders was really fouled up by the terrible wind and rain, which forced it to be cut down from a scheduled 12-round bout to a 10-rounder and also to be axed from HBO's split-site tripleheader (aside from an extended highlight package). But it didn't keep the fighters from putting on a tough distance fight.
The powerful Abregu, 29, of Argentina, who was coming off a seventh-round knockout of hot prospect Thomas Dulorme in October, began to take over in the seventh round. In the eighth, he dropped Decarie, 30, of Montreal, with an overhand right. He took a beating in the round, in which he also suffered a cut near the corner of his left eye. He was in big trouble, but the referee inadvertently called an early end to the round, mistaking the clapper to signal 10 seconds were left for the end of the round. That helped Decarie out, but he was falling further and further behind and could not rally.
Saturday at Ontario, Calif.
Bermane Stiverne W12 Cristobal Arreola
Heavyweight title eliminator
Scores: 118-109, 117-110 (twice)
Records: Stiverne (23-1-1, 20 KOs); Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Three times this fight was postponed for various reasons, but at long last Stiverne, 34, a native of Haiti, and Arreola, 32, of Riverside, Calif., met for the right to become the mandatory challenger for heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko (who stopped Arreola in the 10th round of a 2009 world title fight). Both men were coming off long layoffs. Arreola hadn't fought in 14 months because of injuries and Stiverne hadn't fought in a year. They both have great power and a straight-ahead style, so expectations were for a good fight and a probable knockout. Although they did put on an entertaining fight, it surprisingly went the distance, which is a credit to Arreola, whose heart was pretty much all that was keeping him in it in the late rounds.
Arreola got off to a good start, but the fight radically changed in the third round when Stiverne caught him with a booming right hand to drop him. The shot broke Arreola's nose, pouring blood and making his breathing difficult for the rest of the fight, which Stiverne dominated. Arreola did his best to stay in it, but Stiverne had a wounded man in front of him and never let up. He hurt Arreola to the head and body, and sent blood flying from his nose with several blows. Stiverne is supposed to be next for Klitschko, but it remains to be seen whether Klitschko will fight again or retire, as he has talked about.
Saturday at Sheffield, England
Amir Khan W12 Julio Diaz
Welterweights
Scores: 115-113, 115-112, 114-113
Records: Khan (28-3, 19 KOs); Diaz (40-8-1, 29 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Love him or hate him, Khan sure knows how to make things dramatic, doesn't he? The former unified junior welterweight titlist returned home to make his first fight in England in two years (and what he says could be his last fight there) and had a much-tougher-than-expected battle with Diaz, 33, the past-his-prime former two-time lightweight titlist from Coachella, Calif.
Khan is trying to rebuild himself after back-to-back losses in world title fights to Lamont Peterson (in a highly controversial split decision) and Danny Garcia (in a harsh fourth-round knockout). He stopped the smaller Carlos Molina in the 10th round in his December comeback fight before facing Diaz. This was the second fight in which Khan was working with trainer Virgil Hunter, after firing Freddie Roach. But no matter who trains Khan, one thing will always haunt him: his chin. Khan was cruising along when Diaz, not a big puncher, landed a couple of nice left hooks to floor him in the fourth round of their bout, which was contested at a 143-pound catchweight, the heaviest of Khan's career. To his credit, Khan showed the kind of heart he has always shown and was able to continue. But Diaz hurt Khan a number of times in the later rounds of a good fight, although Khan was clearly the points winner. (Even Diaz admitted that he hadn't done quite enough to deserve the nod.)
It wasn't a particularly good performance from Khan, but he got what he needed -- a victory. Khan is getting married in May, will observe the Muslim holiday Ramadan this summer and is supposed to be back in action in December. The plan, according to Golden Boy promoter Richard Schaefer, is for Khan's next fight to be a world title challenge against the winner of a September unification fight between Garcia and the May 18 Lamont Peterson-Lucas Matthysse winner.
Deontay Wilder TKO1 Audley Harrison
Heavyweights
Records: Wilder (28-0, 28 KOs); Harrison (28-7, 21 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Wilder, 27, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., received a 2008 Olympic bronze medal and is the last American to win an Olympic boxing medalist. As a pro, he is perfect, but his wins have come against absolutely woeful competition. That said, his power is undeniable. So when he was matched with the washed-up 41-year-old Harrison, the 2000 British Olympic gold medalist -- who has zero ability to take a shot -- the result many expected is exactly what happened: a complete blowout and first-round knockout win that proved absolutely nothing.
Wilder needed just 70 seconds to put Harrison away. He badly staggered Harrison with a right hand -- the first real punch of the fight -- and then began winging punches as Harrison went down and cowered in a corner. Harrison beat the count, but referee Terry O'Connor didn't like what he saw and called off the fight. Harrison is done. He shouldn't even have been in this fight. Wilder? He's still a prospect -- but an utterly unproven one despite the beautiful record. His closing flurry against Harrison was wild and amateurish, many of Wilder's shots completely missing the mark.
Anthony Ogogo KO2 Kieron Gray
Middleweights
Records: Ogogo (1-0, 1 KO); Gray (5-14-1, 1 KO)
Rafael's remarks: England's Ogogo, 24, who won a bronze medal in front of the home folks at the 2012 London Olympics, made his professional debut in style with a big knockout of 35-year-old countryman Gray. Ogogo's opener was scheduled for six rounds, which was unusual because debuts typically are scheduled for four rounds. But it hardly mattered, because Ogogo got rid of Gray in two.
Ogogo looked very poised. He took his time, won the first round and was winning the second when he landed a picturesque right hand on the chin to put Gray down. Gray beat the count, but referee Michael Alexander decided to wave off the bout at 2 minutes. It was a nice knockout for a good-looking prospect who was getting his feet wet as a pro. Ogogo's second pro fight is scheduled for May 18 in Atlantic City, N.J., on the Lamont Peterson-Lucas Matthysse undercard.
Also on the card, British bantamweight Haroon Khan (1-0, 0 KOs), the 21-year-old younger brother of headliner Amir Khan, made his professional debut and won a 40-37 decision (only the referee scored the fight) against countryman Brett Fidoe (1-3, 1 KO) .
Terry Flannigan TKO4 Nate Campbell
Lightweights
Records: Flannigan (20-0, 6 KOs); Campbell (36-11-1, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: 2008 sure seems like a long time ago. That's when Campbell was on top of the world, having upset Juan Diaz to win three lightweight belts all at once. It has been pretty much all downhill for Campbell, 41, of Jacksonville, Fla., since. In his next fight (11 months later), he blew weight and lost his titles on the scale. Then came a no-contest and three losses in a row. Campbell has mixed in a few wins since then, but he has now been stopped in consecutive fights -- the latest coming against 23-year-old Flannigan, a southpaw from England, who was matched with Campbell as a bit of a step up in competition.
Flannigan had his way in this fight and really began to turn up the heat late in the third, whacking Campbell with shots that Campbell could respond to only by covering up. The fourth round saw more one-way traffic, and when it was over Campbell quit in the corner, citing a hand injury. It was the second fight in a row in which Campbell quit. Campbell was very good in his day, but he has nothing left at all.
Saturday at Austin, Texas
Raymundo Beltran W10 Alejandro Rodriguez
Lightweights
Scores: 99-91 (twice), 97-93
Records: Beltran (28-6, 17 KOs); Rodriguez (19-5, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Beltran, 31, of Mexico, has been one of Manny Pacquiao's chief sparring partners for years, but he also emerged as a lightweight contender in 2012 with wins against Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim. In his first bout since bouncing back from a knockdown to batter Kim in a lopsided decision in December, Beltran returned to cruise past Rodriguez.
It was an important victory for Beltran because it cleared the path for a likely HBO appearance against hot prospect Terrence Crawford on the June 15 undercard of featherweight titlist Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia's first defense, which will come against an opponent to be determined (and likely be staged in San Antonio). Rodriguez, 24, of Mexico, dropped to 1-2 in his past three fights and 3-3 in his past six.
Jose Ramirez W4 Antonio Martinez
Junior welterweights
Scores: 40-35 (twice), 40-36
Records: Ramirez (3-0, 2 KOs); Martinez (1-2-2, 1 KO)
Rafael's remarks: Ramirez, 20, of Avenal, Calif., was a 2012 U.S. Olympian and one of the most highly sought-after amateurs on the market after the Games. He turned pro on the Juan Manuel Marquez-Manny Pacquiao IV undercard in December, notching a first-round knockout win, which was followed by another first-round knockout on March 30. But in his third pro fight, Ramirez was pushed the distance by Martinez, 26, of Espanola, N.M., who took a beating but was game.
Ramirez lashed Martinez throughout the fight with left hooks to the head and body, and also mixed in a hard jab and right hands. One of the many left hooks connected in the second round, sending Martinez down on a delayed reaction. To his credit, Martinez persevered to make it out of the round and last the rest of the fight. Ramirez didn't get a knockout, but he got in some needed rounds.
Saturday at Mexico City
Jhonny Gonzalez TKO4 Akihiko Katagiri
Featherweights
Scores: 99-91 (twice), 97-93
Records: Gonzalez (54-8-46 KOs); Katagiri (12-7-1, 4 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Last September, Gonzalez, 31, of Mexico, lost his featherweight belt via eight-round technical decision to Daniel Ponce De Leon when Gonzalez was unable to continue because of a cut over his right eye, which was caused by an accidental head clash. Gonzalez returned with a victory in February and notched his second straight win with this performance against Katagiri, 26, of Japan, who was fighting outside of his home country for the first time.
In a major step down in competition, Gonzalez did as he was supposed to do, taking out Katagiri with ease. In the fourth round, Gonzalez dropped him twice for the stoppage. First, it was a sizzling left hook that landed on the button and sent Katagiri down hard. Gonzalez was all over him in a follow-up attack, landing all kinds of punches, including a nasty left uppercut that dropped Katagiri again and prompted referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia to immediately call off the fight at 1 minute, 41 seconds.
