Official 2013 Boxing Thread: Year is over, please lock.

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JapanAir21 said:
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Man, I can't see how NO ONE gave Provodnikov a 10-8 in that second round. He was borderline murdering the guy int he ring, and he had no kind of offense in that round. It wouldn't have changed the outcome, Bradley still would have won, but it would've had a draw on two of hte cards.

The 11th was the closest round to me, but I felt like Provodnikov pulled that round out.
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It's 2013 and they still write scores on paper. It just opens the door for corruption. Type it on an iPad or something sheesh :smh:
 
when is the last time you saw a 10-8 round with out a knock down in it or point taken away? it just doesnt happen

HBO will not buy anymore golden boy fights
 
GUNNA GET IT said:
ShannonsCrooks said:
Paulie is tough as nails so Broner will get rounds in at the very least.
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Paulie's gonna get Wrecked. Mannn its gonna be ugly.
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He ain't lyin'

Such a pointless fight for Broner



I hope Bradley doesn't plan on fighting like that for the rest of his career or it won't last too long.


Bradley couldn't dodge Provodonikov's over hand punches reminded me of the Williams vs Lara fight.
 
Top Rank put on a great card Saturday night. I was not expecting that much action from both fights, especially the Bradley vs. Provodnikov fight. Both men showed tremendous heart in there. Much respect to both individuals. I scored the fight 113-113 but can clearly see how the decision was given to Bradley. The lack of activity from Provodnikov in the middle rounds is what did him in. Bradley did excellent work to Provodnikov's body. Too many times fighters neglect going to the body and stick to head hunting. Minus the missed knockdowns, I thought Pat Russell did a great job letting the fight go on.

Bradley received a lot of undeserving hate after the Pacquiao fight. There's also a lack of respect fight fans have for Bradley. I think in an attempt to gain more respect & fans, he sacrificed his gameplan in order to make it an exciting fight.
 
HBO, the highest-rated boxing network, made the extraordinary decision Monday not to buy fights from Golden Boy Promotions, one of the sport's two biggest promoters, for the foreseeable future.

That will mean the exodus from the network of a number of Golden Boy stars, including lightweight champion Adrien Broner and light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

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For now, rising star Adrien Broner is no longer "Mr. HBO Boxing." (AP Photo)Broner, who is one of the rising stars in the sport, has done extraordinary ratings for HBO for a young fighter and has referred to himself in social media as "Mr. HBO Boxing." But at least until the issues between HBO Sports and Golden Boy are worked out, that will not occur.

Broner's contract with Golden Boy and adviser Al Haymon reportedly expires in April. Rap star turned boxing promoter Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has reportedly made an offer to Broner to join his company, SMS Promotions, when his Golden Boy deal is done.

HBO Sports president Ken Hershman, who formerly ran the boxing program at rival Showtime, made the decision to part ways with Golden Boy after running into issues with company executives. Showtime hired Stephen Espinoza, the former Golden Boy legal counsel, to run its boxing program after Hershman left for HBO.

[Also: Timothy Bradley, Ruslan Provodnikov are both big winners]

Since Espinoza joined Showtime in late 2011, the vast majority of its televised boxing offerings have come from Golden Boy.

"In order to achieve our goal of the best fighters in the most compelling match-ups, we've decided to focus our efforts and resources on those strategic relationships where we better share common goals and business philosophies," Hershman said in a statement.

Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

The irony in this decision is that Golden Boy was founded in large part because of the close relationship between the network and Golden Boy president Oscar De La Hoya. De La Hoya fought virtually his entire career on HBO and never appeared on Showtime.

A number of top Golden Boy fighters debuted on HBO only to switch to Showtime. Among those are Amir Khan, Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez.

Showtime also recently signed Floyd Mayweather Jr., the sport's pound-for-pound king, who had been with HBO. Mayweather works closely with Golden Boy, but wasn't under its promotional umbrella.

Khan, Garcia and Alvarez are, though, and all made the move from HBO to Showtime after Espinoza's hire.

Though ratings on premium cable television networks such as HBO and Showtime aren't viewed the same as they are on broadcast TV or on regular cable channels, all three of those fighters have done far better ratings on HBO than Showtime.

Khan, for instance, did 1.56 million viewers for his bout with Lamont Peterson. In his one fight on Showtime, against Carlos Molina, he drew 616,000 viewers.

[Also: Olympic boxing gold medal doesn't faze teen]

Garcia did 1.255 million viewers for his fight with Khan on HBO and 1.2 million for his first fight with Erik Morales. The rematch with Morales was on Showtime and had 729,000 viewers.

Alvarez drew 1.55 million viewers for his June 18, 2011, win over Ryan Rhodes. In his only fight on Showtime, he attracted 1.036 million viewers for his Sept. 15, 2012, match with Josesito Lopez. However, the Alvarez-Lopez fight went head-to-head with an HBO Pay-Per-View card promoted by Top Rank featuring Sergio Martinez against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
 
The beginning of HBO dismise please get rid of Hershman he made a bold decision. Clearly GBP has a deep stable then Top Rank. It will be very interesting to see what happens next. Promotions have beef and drag the networks into it smh. We will never see GBP fighters vs TR fighters ever cause of this bs politics.
 
jay23oth said:
The beginning of HBO dismise please get rid of Hershman he made a bold decision. Clearly GBP has a deep stable then Top Rank. It will be very interesting to see what happens next. Promotions have beef and drag the networks into it smh. We will never see GBP fighters vs TR fighters ever cause of this bs politics.
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i mean its not like Golden boy had any of there big names outiside of broner on HBO. they already started to move all there big names to showtime every since HBO picked Chavez JR VS sergio Martinez over the Canelo fight.

it sucks as a fan TR and GBP fighters wont fight each other tho.
 
So boxers will only fight each other if they are on the same network, have the same promoter, and are not good friends.
We need change. I would rather one promoter monopolize the entire sport than this mess. It would still be horrible but the lesser of two evils.
 
blackngold1z said:
So boxers will only fight each other if they are on the same network, have the same promoter, and are not good friends.
We need change. I would rather one promoter monopolize the entire sport than this mess. It would still be horrible but the lesser of two evils.
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Yup basically crazy how these promoters turned the networks against each other smh. Networks should decide what content they should buy and not get involved with these promotional feuds. Personally I think HBO shot themselves in the foot with that stupid move. HBO mad at Al Haymon for making that Showtime deal with MW. TR needs to beef up their roster.
 
#70 Luis Manuel Rodriguez (107-13)

Luis Manuel Rodriguez was a loose-limbed and brilliant operator who boxed as beautifully as anyone in his era. A slippery combination puncher with superb timing and ability to judge positioning, he owned his turf in the ring, picking his circle and maintaining distance or shutting his man down inside, making room for punches whilst simultaneously positioning himself to smother the opponent’s. He is the epitome of a boxer-puncher who lays the emphasis on the boxing—he is also in possession of one of the most frustrating coulda woulda shoulda stories in the sport, defined by his struggles with Emile Griffith.

Griffith represented the opposite stylistic polar to Rodriguez, a tough, strong, comparatively ugly boxer who was neither anything like the puncher Rodriguez was. Griffith, who we’ll discuss later in the series, was very capable of fluid and even destructive punches, but he never had The Cuban’s panache. On paper, these fights should have belonged clearly to Rodriguez—and if you speak to the right people, they did.

They first met in December of 1960, with Rodriguez in the assent at 35-0 and Griffith, by comparison, dragging his heels at 21-2.

“I was scared, only once in my life,” remembered Griffith, years later, “and that was because of Luis Manuel Rodriguez. The first time I fought him in 1960—I thought I was going to shake to pieces.”

The fight was close. Rodriguez posted his first loss by a hair. It is literally the case that if you count the UPI ringside poll of writers and combine their opinion with that of the judges, these nineteen boxing men cannot be separated. They had it 8-8-3.

The inevitable rematch, fought for the world title in 1963, was an equally close affair with Rodriguez taking the unanimous decision but more ringside reporters this time finding for Griffith—there was nothing to do but fight again, which they did later that year in a fight which Rodriguez clearly won only for the judges to hand it to Emile Griffith. No fewer than seventeen ringside reporters scored against him whilst six found in his favor. Whilst this is overwhelming rather than definitive, the key thing to recognize is that this is the widest margin of ringside observers that ever found in the favor of either fighter through the entirety of their rivalry.

More than this, it is a result that forever defines the great Cuban as a nearly man, in as much as that is possible for a fighter appearing on our list. Should he have been given the decision in this fight, Rodriguez would not only have posted a successful defense of a world title—something he never managed to do in his hall of fame career—but be afforded the chance to make others. When he stepped up to middleweight, Rodriguez scalped some very impressive fighters, men like Holly Mims, in perhaps his best filmed performance, Gene Armstrong, George Benton, Rubin Carter, Bennie Briscoe, Denny Moyer and future light-heavyweight titlist Vicente Rondon, but when he got his title shot, he was firmly beaten by Nino Benvenuti, who stopped him in nine, dropping him to 1-3 in title fights.

The lurking Curtis Cokes, who, although clearly not quite as brilliant as Rodriguez, beat him twice out of three goes, may have had a word to say about Rodriguez managing a meaningful number of defenses as might Emile Griffith, who beat him in another split decision in 1964 (seven ringside reporters favored Griffith, five favored Rodriguez) but he had earned the right to try.

Title defenses, although crucial, are no replacement for a win ledger as stacked as the one Rodriguez built, especially given that the bulk of that work came at 160 lbs. whilst his slim frame fit snugly into 147 lbs., a combination of factors which leads to his gracing the top seventy.

 
#69 Richard (D) Tiger (60-19-3)

**** Tiger was unbrawlable. I don’t care which fighter you name, if he weighs 160 lbs. or under and tries to brawl with this guy, he would lose. So singular was the perfect storm of his considerable talents that he is rendered unbreakable in that kind of fight and he proved it, just as he proved his phenomenal strength (he once threw the terrifying Gene Fullmer, who sought to test him in this area, straight to the canvas) and punch resistance as well as an indomitable spirit that just made it extremely likely that the opponent rather than he would be the one to quit—almost regardless of who the opponent was.

The three truly destructive brawlers he bumped up against during a career were Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the New Jersey tough who was said to have up and moved house due to his inability to stop challenging gym-mate Sonny Liston to violent spars once he was actually at the gym (to his severe physical detriment); Henry Hank the Mississippi born middle and light-heavyweight; and Florentino Fernandez, “The Ox”, so named for his prestigious strength and power. What all of these men had in common was their inability to fight any other way than straight ahead and the huge success they had made of it. Not one put so much as a dent in Tiger, Carter actually backing up after twice being dropped, receiving another serious rattling in the seventh, Hank winning, at most, a single round, and Fernandez beaten into total submission at the end of just five.

Tiger was, at middleweight, utterly unbreakable.

The rub; not a brawler himself but a box-punching counter-puncher, he could be out-maneuvered. Such varied individuals as Wilf Greaves, Spider Webb, Joey Archer and, bizarrely, Joey Giardello managed to do just that. Nevertheless, he did beat more than a few world-class fighters who likely had the technical attributes to pull of this trick, amongst them Giardello, Greaves and Webb as well as Gene Armstrong, Gene Fullmer and Holly Mims before he dropped his title to the cagey Emile Griffith who executed Gil Clancy’s plan for frustration to a tee.

Losing his middleweight title to a former welterweight is hurtful to his overall standing, but Tiger responded by stepping up to 175 lbs. and adding a second title, past his prime in a division which, at 5’8, he wasn’t really built for. Certainly his stoppage loss to the 7” taller, 8” rangier murderous punching Bob Foster is difficult to hold against him. Tiger beat Jose Torres, Roger Rouse, Frank DePaula, Nino Benvenuti and Andy Kendall during his time above 160 lbs., all whilst past his prime and likely whilst working on the liver cancer that was shortly to kill him.

 
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This whole TR and GBP beef have taken it too far! Now they got networks siding with each other; what kind if girl **** is that SMH
 
#68 Harold Johnson (76-11-0)

Harold Johnson seems to have become known as a technically exacting but rather plodding 1950s light-heavyweight, eclipsed, as he is, behind Archie Moore, Ezzard Charles and the other leading lights of that stacked division’s history. Fair enough; he beat both of those guys though.

Nor should he be known just for his superb body of work in the fifties. Both the forties and the sixties bear his mark. Neither should be known only as a light-heavyweight— starting with his 1949 defeat of Chilean veteran Arturo Godoy, Johnson made his mark at heavyweight too. He would add such notables as Ezzard Charles and Eddie Machen in two technical masterclasses during which he out-jabbed the two supposed best jabbers that division had to offer.

Brilliant at distance despite his short reach, Johnson built his boxing from that one-two but was no slave to it like many of the so-called technicians boxing today; he was a master at all ranges. A single win over Archie Moore in their 1-3 series may be his greatest triumph, but defeats of Jimmy Bivins, Bert Lytell, Henry Hank, Doug Jones and Nino Valdes give him the bones of a rather splendid top-to-tail resume. Losses to Bob Satterfield and the one-punch devastation wrought by Oakland Billy Smith hurt him but it is likely that these losses and his defeats to Moore aside, Johnson doesn’t have another legitimate loss between his turning pro in 1946 and Willie Pastrano controversially edging him out in 1963.



#67 Manuel Ortiz (100-28-3)

Tricky.

Manuel Ortiz remains, in these marvelous days of lavishly shared footage and online newspaper archives, something of a shadow, a legend who, when compared to peers like Willie Pep and Henry Armstrong, lies relatively unexplored. A Mexican-American who dominated a weight division during a decade that is perhaps the richest in fight history, the 1940s, he nevertheless has a Wikipedia entry that would fit into Oscar De La Hoya’s one-hundred times over. He wasn’t even inducted to the IBHOF until 1996— they finally thought to get around to him a quarter of a century after his death.

And yet I name him greater than Oscar; greater than Juan Manuel Marquez; greater than Miguel Canto; greater even than Zarate. In fact, you can count the Mexicans who are clearly greater than Manuel Ortiz on one hand and then wonder to yourself, “Am I sure?”

He took a little time to find his feet at title level, failing in tilts at the American flyweight title and the Californian State bantamweight title between ’39 and ’41 and in spite of an astonishing draw with future champion Little Dado in January of ’40, Ortiz appeared to be slouching towards journeyman hell. Then, in ’42, he hit his stride. And boy did he.

Between the beginning of that year and the middle of ’44 when he stepped out of the bantamweight division to take on featherweight giant Willie Pep (then 74-1), Ortiz does not appear to have come close to losing. Dusting himself off, Ortiz put together another astounding run, unbeaten from August of ’44 until October of ’46. It was a rare, rare peak.

During it, he won sixteen world title fights. He also found time to step up to featherweight to dust ranked top ten toughs like Carlos Chavez (SD10 in a gutter war), Enrique Bolanos (in the middle of a superb featherweight run when he was brutalized in six), and Larry Bolvin (outclassed over ten). Comparing them is natural and so it is natural to point out that Ortiz had more success at featherweight than Zarate could manage in the newly constructed super-bantamweight division.

The first of those title fights was against incumbent champion Lou Salica. Fading by the time he met Ortiz for the second time (he had won a non-title bout against a novice Ortiz in 1939), Salica was still a wonderful champion, wielding a title in two stints between ’39 and ’42 during what was a confused time for the bantamweight division. That confusion was about to be singularly and brilliantly put to bed for some time by one of the greatest title runs in history, although it began inauspiciously with defenses against the unranked Kenny Lindsay, George Freitas, Lupe Cardoza and Joe Robleto (twice, bizarrely). He also rematched Lou Salica removing him with the certainty of a knockout and then a year into his reign he knocked out the ranked Leo Lopez and the unbeaten Benny Goldberg, who had previously beaten him not once but twice, including on his pro debut. “The clever southpaw challenger,” made it difficult for the champion to begin with but once Ortiz had warmed up to the man in front of him—a recurring theme in this great career—Goldberg had it all taken away from him by sustained punishment the Lewiston Morning Tribune described as “terrific.” It was not a close fight, and when Goldberg picked up the duration title when Ortiz went into the army in ’45, the people knew it was just that.

The #2 ranked Tony Olivera went next and then the #5, Luis Castillo, matched twice after a cut and not the concussive punching that would decide the rematch decided the first. Castillo was matched again in ’46 after he re-climbed the rankings to #3 and then another top 5 opponent was crushed in the form of perennial Hawaiian contender David Kui Kong Young.

When #1 contender Harold Dade unseated him by a wide margin in 1947 it seemed a natural conclusion to an enormously dominant run. And then he won the title again.

“He recaptured his title,” wrote the Toledo Blade, “by punching out a fifteen round decision over lightning fast Chicago Negro whose youth and speed defeated Ortiz two months ago…Ortiz came back with a flashing series of left hooks, right uppercuts and overhand rights that had Dade backing across the ring while Ortiz determinedly closed in, building up a lead that Dade never could overcome.”

More defenses followed. Only Joe Louis would amass more in protection of a unified title. When he was separated from it once and for all in 1950 by the excellent Vic Toweel, he had been fighting top contenders for more than ten years. During his exquisite best he went 43-1-1, a record amassed in the main against ranked bantam and featherweights, the one loss suffered at the hands of Willie Pep.

 
#66 Abe Attell (72-9-16; Newspaper Decisions 41-8-6)

In October of 1904 Abe Attell defended his featherweight title against the tough Brooklyn featherweight Tommy Sullivan, and lost by way of a controversial fifth round knockout. The offending punch was a left uppercut, driven to the belt-line with such ferocity it is said to have lifted Attell from the canvas and then reintroduced him to it face first, but Abe claimed he had been fouled. In accordance with the sometime rule of the era, the referee, unsure as to the legitimacy of a foul called forth the doctor who would examine the brutalized party. No less than three physicians examined Attell, whilst he writhed in apparent agony in full view of an agitated crowd and none found any evidence of his being fouled (what might constitute evidence, I am unsure!) at which point Sullivan was named the winner.

Once he had recovered from this foul blow, Attell completely ignored the judgment of the referee and doctors and continued to defend “his” world featherweight title, just as though that loss had never happened. Such were the vagaries of boxing in this time that many people happily acknowledged his claim and, fascinatingly, so too do many modern commentators. If you examine the Wikipedia and Cyber Boxing Zone entries for featherweight lineage you will see that they name Attell as champion from 1902 and 1903 respectively, with no loss to or reign by Tommy Sullivan referenced. Furthermore, BoxRec lists no defenses of this title by Sullivan, although the general sense seems to be that it was vacated after Sullivan lost it to the mysterious Hugh McPadden, who then retired, allowing Attell to pick it up once more by defeating Jimmy Walsh in 1906.

I have broken with the seeming tradition in honoring Sullivan’s victory over Attell thereby crediting him with two shorter reigns rather than one extremely long one. Although this still makes him one of the most dominant champions in bantamweight history, an unbroken run of a decade would have resulted from the Sullivan victory being ruled a foul and that would indeed have seen Attell ranked even higher. These calls are tough but have to be made.

Even so, Attell’s raw statistics are stunning. He managed twenty successful title defenses of his undisputed world championship and he met the best of his time, even if he was perhaps a little too keen on non-title or no-decision bouts (see part three for details of his no-decision bout with the great Jim Driscoll) for the taste of some.

His decision to sit on the title for two years between 1909 and 1912 was also unfortunate but in the end few champions stack up.

#65 Rocky Marciano (49-0)

He was a monk, sequestered in a chapel on a hill where he worshiped only destruction. So focused was he upon the approaching fight that in the final weeks of training for a title match he did not speak to his wife on the telephone and did not shake hands with other men, his fists still except when they were not, except when they were training for war and his fingers for the skill of battle. He did not set foot in a car. He did not do anything except prepare himself for what he had to do; nowhere in the annals of ring history is there a fighter more committed or indelibly determined than Rocky Marciano.

This was important. Marciano’s style traded on grit. He was one of the ring’s most violent disciples and he propelled, apparently face-first, into whatever his opponent had to give whilst landing prodigiously hard punches two-handed on whatever part of his unfortunate target’s anatomy presented itself. He was a living nightmare in the ring.

Harder to hit clean than he appeared (Jersey Joe Walcott: “Rocky was easy to hit, but hard to get at with effective punches”) Marciano also had the durability born of sheer, bloody-minded over-commitment, the same over-commitment that would make him appear badly balanced or awkward. He held his power late, as the aforementioned Jersey Joe Walcott can attest, and was capable of delivering the knockout blow with either hand.

He is one of only two unbeaten fighters to appear on this list, in part because Rocky dealt only in the #1 and #2 contenders in his division for his title years, and he crushed them all. In Archie Moore, Jersey Joe Walcott and Ezzard Charles he met all-time great fighters of his own size who represent his superiority over types that on paper appear to have certain stylistic advantages over him; more, they underpin the argument that against fighters of his poundage, he may have been invulnerable. Rocky came as close in his career to proving this as any fighter has at any other weight, and he must respected and lauded for it.

Marciano can be ranked lower depending upon how you feel about his competition and the incredible manifestation of his psychological determination in the ring, but whilst it is true that he has not defeated the level of competition many of the other men on this list have, a core group of Rex Layne, Joe Louis, Lee Savold, Henry Matthews, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles, Don Cockell and Archie Moore, in addition to the big fat zero wielded in the face of the best contenders his era produced, Marciano can be ranked higher, too.

 
Bradley fight was extremely entertaining. But I agree...he doesn't have the punching power or movement to survive against these big punchers much longer. He better not fight JMM or Rios.

Its one of those fights that is hard to score and i think its why Bradley beat Manny. I always love that when Harold Letterman on HBO would say "who would you not want to be" in each round. I don't know the punch stats but im assuming bradley landed more.....but i would have much rather been Provodnikov. Bradley's brains were getting scrambled by those shots.

Props to Tim though for staying in there. If he would have lost this fight he would have basically been able to kiss any sort of relevant pay day goodbye.
 
Weekend wrap up.
A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:


Saturday at Carson, Calif.
Timothy Bradley Jr. W12 Ruslan Provodnikov
Retains a welterweight title
Scores: 115-112, 114-113 (twice)
Records: Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs); Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: It was obvious going into this fight with Russia's little-known Provodnikov that Bradley, a proud guy, felt the weight of the world on his shoulders in the aftermath of last June's gift split-decision win against Manny Pacquiao. It was one of the worst decisions in modern boxing history, but Bradley tried to keep a stiff upper lip, insisting that he really did deserve the victory and the title belt he claimed, while virtually everyone else thought he had clearly lost.

So it had been a difficult nine months for Bradley since the Pacquiao fight. Bradley, 29, of Palm Springs, Calif., suffered through ridicule and worse -- including death threats -- and talked openly about it in the lead-up to the Provodnikov fight. After his long layoff -- during which he turned down a December fight -- Bradley was finally ready to come back and had the frame of mind to show people what he was really made of. The former unified junior welterweight titleholder clearly came into his first welterweight title defense with a chip on his shoulder. Bradley wanted to prove a point: that he could excite fans and that he was worthy of his belt. The result was an epic fight that came to pass because Bradley didn't fight as he usually does. Instead of showing some caution and slickness to go with his quickness, Bradley went right into battle. That was fine with Provodnikov, also 29, who is the epitome of a straight-ahead brawler.

Bradley's decision to alter his style, combined with Provodnikov's typical approach, made for a memorable slugfest and the early fight of the year front-runner -- a bout filled with toe-to-toe action; clean, heavy punching; and a lot of drama. Bradley has never been much of a draw, even in his home region, and this fight attracted only 3,055 to the Home Depot Center, which, by the way, is becoming known as an arena for great fights (the venue also hosted two of the four classic Rafael Marquez-Israel Vazquez battles and the October thriller between Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado). But the fans who turned out and those watching on TV were treated to the most unexpected of shootouts.

Bradley's aggression almost cost him dearly when Provodnikov caught him with a nice right hand in the first round and Bradley went down. The punch was clear, but referee Pat Russell blew the call and ruled it a slip, a move that ultimately would cost Provodnikov a draw on the scorecards. Provodnikov continued to hurt Bradley and had him in huge trouble. He nearly ended the fight again in the second round with another onslaught, but Bradley somehow survived. From the third round on, with Provodnikov having punched himself out a bit, Bradley was able to collect himself, get back into the fight and begin winning rounds. There was a ton of back-and-forth action, especially late in the sixth round, which was absolutely sensational as the fighters simply pounded each other nonstop. Provodnikov suffered a bad cut on his left eyelid in the ninth round, and both men had taken so much punishment that at various points their trainers, Freddie Roach (Provodnikov) and Joel Diaz (Bradley), threatened to stop the fight.

But neither corner made a move, and it set the stage for a dramatic conclusion. With Provodnikov seemingly needing a knockout to win, he staggered Bradley with a left hand, hurt him again with a right and sent him to the canvas with a flurry of shots with 15 seconds left in the fight. A dazed Bradley (who said afterward that he had suffered a concussion early on) beat Russell's count and the fight ended before another punch could be thrown.

While Provodnikov did more overall damage with his heavier blows, Bradley was busier and more accurate, not to mention that Provodnikov gave away too many of the middle rounds. Bradley wound up landing 347 of 1,000 blows (35 percent), according to CompuBox statistics, while Provodnikov connected on 218 of 676 blows (32 percent).

Kudos to both fighters for laying it all on the line and showing massive heart and determination. It was just the sort of performance that should finally endear Bradley to fight fans, while Provodnikov showed that he too can compete with the best in the division.

Jessie Vargas W10 Wale "Lucky Boy" Omotoso
Welterweights
Scores: 97-92, 96-93 (twice)
Records: Vargas (22-0, 19 KOs); Omotoso (23-1, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Vargas, 23, of Las Vegas, and Omotoso, 27, who is from Nigeria but lives in Southern California, didn't have much name recognition but received this high-profile undercard slot and made the most of it in a much-better-than expected bout. Although the scorecards showed Vargas as a clear winner, this was an extremely tight fight that could have gone either way -- or even been a draw.

Vargas was the quicker, busier sharpshooter while Omotoso, who landed fewer punches, was easily the harder, more destructive hitter. For the fight, Vargas landed 165 of 486 punches (34 percent) and Omotoso connected on 103 of 429 blows (24 percent). The judges obviously preferred Vargas' activity to Omotoso's power. Omotoso came into the fight at 164 pounds, according to HBO's unofficial scale, having put on 18 pounds since the weigh-in. He was obviously the bigger man compared to Vargas, who weighed 154 on fight night for the bout, in which both officially weighed 146.

Omotoso's bulk showed early as he dropped Vargas to a knee in the second round with a shot that connected on the arm when Vargas covered up in anticipation of an Omotoso body blow. It was the first time that Vargas had ever been down in his career. In the third round, Omotoso opened a cut over Vargas' left eye. Vargas rebounded nicely in the fifth round, rocking Omotoso multiple times. Vargas had him hanging on for dear life by the end of the decisive round.

Before the 10th round, Eric Brown, Omotoso's trainer, told his man that he needed at least a knockdown, and Omotoso fought through the final frame with that in mind. The fighters traded back and forth, and closed the show with an exciting 10th round as Omotoso landed some solid uppercuts and right hands.

Vargas, whose previous televised fights left a lot to be desired in terms of entertainment value, made one of the best fights of his career. Omotoso was also crowd-pleasing. Both are likely to get another opportunity for TV exposure, especially because they fight in the talent-rich 147-pound weight class.

Jessie Magdaleno KO3 Carlos Fulgencio
Junior featherweights
Records: Magdaleno (14-0, 10 KOs); Fulgencio (19-10-1, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Magdaleno, a 21-year-old southpaw from Las Vegas, is one of boxing's best prospects. The younger brother of junior lightweight contender Diego Magdaleno, he may have an even higher ceiling than his brother, who will challenge Roman "Rocky" Martinez for a world title on April 6.

Jessie Magdaleno was a standout amateur, but rather than continuing down the path that could have made him a 2012 U.S. Olympian, he elected to turn pro and has looked great through his first 14 fights. Taking on one of his more experienced opponents, Magdaleno cut through Fulgencio, of the Dominican Republic, with ease.

Magdaleno dropped him with a beautiful double right hand in the opening round, first to the body and then to the head. In the second round, a right hand knocked Fulgencio off balance, forcing him to touch his left hand to the canvas, which referee Tony Crebs properly ruled a knockdown. And in the third round, Magdaleno landed a pinpoint right uppercut during a flurry of punches to drop Fulgencio for the third time in the fight, prompting Crebs to wave off the fight 45 seconds into the third round of a scheduled eight-rounder. It was target practice for Magdaleno, who looks like a sure-fire future world titleholder.

Oscar Valdez TKO4 Carlos Gonzalez
Featherweights
Records: Valdez (3-0, 3 KOs); Gonzalez (1-3, 0 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Valdez, 22, was a two-time Mexican Olympian, representing his country in 2008 and 2012. Now he's a blue-chip prospect who appears to have a very bright future. He is calm and poised for a young fighter and displays very sound technique and a tight defense, holding his hands nice and high. But he is also offensive-minded, as Gonzalez, 24, a native of Mexico who lives in Bell, Calif., found out.

Valdez had his way with Gonzalez. In the first round, Valdez badly wobbled him with a left to the head late in the round. He was pummeling Gonzalez as the round ended. Valdez spent most of the second round teeing off on Gonzalez, who showed an excellent chin and a big heart. But he was outclassed as he ate uppercut after uppercut.

Gonzalez had taken a lot of punishment by the fourth round, and when Valdez rocked him with a left hook and then landed nearly another dozen unanswered shots, referee Tony Crebs stepped in to call off the bout at 48 seconds. Tuck away the name of Oscar Valdez in the back of your mind; he could become somebody we'll be talking a lot more about in a couple of years.

Saturday at Thackerville, Okla.
Robert Marroquin KO3 Antonio Escalante
Junior lightweights
Records: Marroquin (23-2, 16 KOs); Escalante (28-6, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Marroquin, 23, of Dallas, a former amateur standout, was a blue-chip prospect before an upset decision split-decision loss to Frankie Leal in April 2011. But Marroquin rebounded to win his next three fights and was rewarded with a shot at junior featherweight titleholder Guillermo Rigondeaux. Marroquin had some good moments and hurt Rigondeaux multiple times, but not often enough, and he lost a unanimous decision in one of the featured fights on the Sergio Martinez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. undercard in September.

In his comeback fight, Marroquin met Escalante, 27, of El Paso, Texas, who has been in many exciting fights but hasn't shown the chin needed to get through a firefight. Escalante has been stopped in five of his six defeats, including two in a row after an eighth-round knockout loss to Rocky Juarez was followed by the Marroquin defeat.

It was shaping up as a good fight before the sudden end. In the second round, Marroquin landed a left jab to the gut of Escalante, who went down, but referee Jay Nady ruled it a slip. When the fight resumed, Marroquin was connecting and rocking Escalante late in the round. In the third, Marroquin hurt Escalante with a chopping right hand and then dropped him with another right hand to the head. Escalante went sprawling to the canvas on his backside. He got to his knees, but Nady counted him out 49 seconds into the round.

A nice win in an exciting performance for Marroquin, who is still very young and has a chance to win a world title and live up to the lofty expectations so many have had for him.

Saturday at Cancun, Mexico
Marco Antonio Periban KO2 Samuel Miller
Super middleweights
Records: Periban (20-0, 13 KOs); Miller (25-7, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This fight was originally the co-feature, but was elevated to main event status on Thursday when welterweight contender Pablo Cesar Cano of Mexico came down with the flu and withdrew from his headline fight with Manuel Perez of Denver.

Periban, 28, of Mexico, was a standout amateur and member of the Mexican national team before turning pro in 2008. He is a little old for a prospect, but he's coming along. He scored his best win in November when he took a majority decision against Francisco Sierra. Miller, 33, of Colombia, is very experienced, having faced the likes of Marco Antonio Rubio, David Lopez and Brian Vera. Periban took the fight right to Miller, who was never in it.

Miller was in retreat early and eating right hands. A five-punch combination midway through the second round dropped Miller to a knee in a corner, and that was the beginning of the end. A left hook to the body dropped Miller to his knees seconds later, and he wasn't nearly as interested in getting up this time. He fiddled with his mouthpiece while referee Johnny Callas counted him out at 2 minutes, 46 seconds. Only a moment after Callas reached 10 did Miller, who has lost three of his past four bouts, rise to his feet.

Periban isn't the fastest fighter, but he's aggressive, has an entertaining style and fights in a good weight class. It would be nice to see him gain more experience against better opponents, and then maybe he will be ready for something more significant.

Alberto Guevara W10 Jose Alfredo Tirado
Junior featherweights
Scores: Not available
Records: Guevara (17-1, 6 KOs); Tirado (27-13, 19 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In December, Guevara, 22, of Mexico, took a big step up in competition when he challenged then-bantamweight titlist Leo Santa Cruz for his world title. Guevara put up a heckuva fight but lost a unanimous decision. In his first fight since that moral victory, he returned to outpoint countryman Tirado, 33. Although the scores weren't announced when the decision was read, Guevara was dominant, taking the fight to Tirado throughout the 10 rounds. Tirado, who lost his second in a row, could not keep pace with the younger, quicker and fresher Guevara.

Jorge Linares TKO8 David Rodela
Lightweights
Records: Linares (33-3, 21 KOs); Rodela (16-8-4, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Linares, 27, of Venezuela, was once viewed as a future pound-for-pound-caliber fighter. He had won belts at featherweight and junior lightweight, and displayed a terrific arsenal and outstanding boxing skills. But he also showed that he had a hard time taking a big punch -- he has been stopped in all three of his defeats -- and he cuts easily. He lost back-to-back fights to Antonio DeMarco: an 11th-round knockout in a dramatic fight for a vacant lightweight title in October 2011 and a second-round knockout to Sergio Thompson last March, in what was supposed to be a tune-up fight for an previously scheduled rematch with DeMarco. The rematch went down the drain and Linares was left to start over.

He was returning from a tough 10-round decision against veteran former contender Hector Velazquez in October to face Rodela, 30, of Oxnard, Calif., in his second bout since the defeats. Linares looked pretty good against the overmatched Rodela. Linares steadily broke him down. While Linares peppered him with shots, Rodela would resort to just covering up so as not to take the full force of the punches. In the eighth round, Linares drove Rodela into the corner with a flurry, prompting Rodela to take a knee. The fight was allowed to continue, but Linares drove Rodela back into another corner seconds later and was unloading unanswered punches when the referee intervened to stop the fight at 2 minutes, 51 seconds.

Rodela has now lost five of his past six, including four by knockout. Linares still has the talent to make another run. The question is can his chin, and confidence, hold up?

Also on the card, junior featherweight and 2012 U.S. Olympian Joseph Diaz (3-0, 1 KO), a 20-year old from South El Monte, Calif., won a six-round decision against Alberto Cupido (7-8-2, 6 KOs), 26, of Mexico. No scores were announced.

Friday at Kissimmee, Fla.
Orlando Cruz KO6 Aalan Martinez
Featherweights
Records: Cruz (20-2-1, 10 KOs); Martinez (14-2-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Cruz, 31, of Puerto Rico, a fringe contender, made international headlines last year when he became the first active fighter in history to announce that he was gay. This was his second fight since the announcement, and he turned in a dominant performance against fellow southpaw Martinez, a native of Mexico who lives in Los Angeles.

Cruz scored four knockdowns in all. He was credited with his first knockdown just before the end of the first round when he tagged Martinez with a right hook that sent him reeling into the ropes. Referee Telis Assimenios correctly ruled the ropes were responsible for keeping Martinez up and called a knockdown. Cruz scored another knockdown in the fourth round when he badly hurt Martinez with a right hook to the body, then crumpled him seconds later under a hail of blows. Another right hand to the body dropped Martinez in the fifth round. He spit out his mouthpiece, and the fight appeared to be over, but Martinez jumped up to just beat the count and then received additional recovery time while Assimenios replaced his mouthpiece.

Cruz finally ended the fight when he caught Martinez with a left hand to the jaw, sending him to his back. Martinez again spit out his mouthpiece, and this time Assimenios waved off the bout at 1 minute, 19 seconds without finishing the count.

Martinez's four-fight winning streak came to an end. He hadn't lost since dropping a six-round decision in April 2011 to Evgeny Gradovich, who went on to win a featherweight world title on March 1. Cruz won his fourth fight in a row since back-to-back losses and is now a possible opponent to challenge featherweight titleholder Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia in his first title defense early this summer.

Friday at Lincoln, R.I.
Peter Manfredo Jr. W10 Walter Wright
Super middleweights
Scores: 100-90, 98-93, 97-93
Records: Manfredo (39-7, 20 KOs); Wright (14-4, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Manfredo, 32, of Providence, R.I., rolled to the decision in this match between former participants on "The Contender" reality series. Manfredo starred in the first season and Wright was part of the second season. Wright, 32, of Seattle, was fighting for the first time since a six-round decision win in June 2010. He took the fight on two weeks' notice as a replacement for original opponent Joey Spina, who withdrew for medical reasons.

Manfredo, fighting in front of his hometown crowd, controlled the fight with his jab, outboxed Wright and nearly closed his right eye by the middle rounds of the fight. Manfredo won his second fight in a row since being stopped in the fifth round challenging then-middleweight titleholder Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in November 2011 and then going into a brief retirement.
 
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