The Past Week In Action

January 10

Woodhaven, USA: Middle: Joe Greene (25-1) W PTS 8 Calvin Odom (15-13). In his first fight for almost a year Greene is frustrated by the survival tactics of Odom. “Mean Joe” was pressing in every round with Odom getting home with sneaky counters to stay in the fight. Greene built a big lead, but tired down the stretch allowing Odom to pick up some rounds. Greene wins on scores of 77-75 twice and 79-73.

The 26-year-old New York southpaw’s only loss was on points to Vanes Martirosyan in October 2010. He had only one fight in 2011 and then just one more in January 2012. A former National Golden Gloves winner and World Junior Championships silver medal winner, Greene came in at 156lbs so may be looking to return at light middle. Odom, 31, is 2-9 in his last eleven fights.

Houston, USA: Heavy: Skipp Scott (16-1,1ND) W PTS 10 Kertson Manswell (23-7). Scott wins but has to climb off the floor twice. A long right from Manswell put Scott down in the first round. The 6’8” local boxer picked himself up and boxed cautiously over the next four rounds, building a lead with his jab and rights. In the sixth once again Manswell got through with a right and Scott was on the floor. From then on Scott was looking to spoil his way to the end.

He smothered most of Manswell’s work, overdoing in the seventh, which saw the referee take a point away for his holding. In the end Scott looked lucky to get the unanimous decisions on scores of 93-92 form all three judges. After losing his first fight in 2006 “Strictly Business” Scott, 34, is unbeaten with 16 wins, against poor opposition, and a no decision. This was his first ten round fight and he wins the vacant WBFoundation title. Trinidad & Tobago “Warrior” Manswell, 36, has now lost his last four fights with the last being a first round blow out by Deontay Wilder.

Phitsanulok, Thailand: Light Welter: Patomsuk (22-1-1) W PTS 12 Takamori Akita (7-3-1). Light: Fahsai (39-3,1ND) ND 2 Amor Tino (14-13-2,1ND). Bantam: Mike Tawatchai (27-1-1) W PTS 6 Richard Olisa (23-20-2). Patomsuk retains IBF Pan Pacific title for fifth time and extends his winning run to 14 with unanimous decision over tough Japanese fighter Akita.

Despite giving away height and reach the aggressive Thai swept eighth of the first nine rounds, but Akita took a share of the last four rounds as Patomsuk took his foot of the accelerator. Scores 117-111 from all three judges. The 29-year-old Thai is rated No 15 by the IBF, and had outpointed Akita over eight rounds last May. Akita, 30, had been inactive for almost seven years before that May loss.

The fight between Fahsai and Tino ended early as a clash of heads in the second round saw Fahsai suffering a cut. Fahsai failed in his best chance to make a break through when he lost a split verdict to Martin Honorio in 2011.

“Tyson” Tawatchai scores his second win since being knocked back by a losing every round in a points defeat in Japan against former WBA fly champion Daiki Kameda. He is just too strong for Filipino southpaw Olisa and wins unanimous decision. Olisa has 9 losses in his last 10 fights.

January 11

Santa Fe, USA: Light: John Molina (25-2) W KO 4 Dannie Williams (22-3). Middle: Brandon Gonzales (17-0,1ND) W PTS 8 Don Mouton (12-5-1). Light: Archie Ray Marquez (15-2) W PTS 6 Rynell Griffin (6-12-2). Molina gets win in his first fight since his loss to Antonio DeMarco for the WBC title in September. Williams got off to the better start edging the first two rounds with his good left hand work.

The fight changed in the third in an unfortunate way as a clash of heads left Williams dazed. He was given a five minute recovery period, but still looked shaky, and was rocked by a right later in the round. In the fourth a left shook Williams and Molina drove him back towards the ropes where a right to the temple (and a glancing blow from the elbow) put Williams down into the ropes.

Although he got up before the ten he had rolled under the ropes with the knockdown and as he was outside the ropes he was technically knocked out. The 30-year-old Molina, who suffered a gash to the side of his head in the clash in the fourth, had lost his place in all of the ratings, so this was a good first step back. Now 20 wins by KO/TKO for Molina. Williams, 28, can feel slightly unlucky as he never seemed to recover after that clash of heads. First loss inside the distance for Williams. His previous losses had been on points to Eloy Perez and Henry Lundy.

Gonzalez remains unbeaten with close unanimous win over Mouton. In a good fight the superior skill and speed of Gonzales gave him the edge, but Mouton was busy and had success when he could get in close. Gonzales built a good lead and, despite a strong finish by Mouton, who he seemed to rock Gonzales in the seventh, he looked a clear winner, but the judges saw it close. Scores 77-75 twice and 78-75. Gonzalez, 28, has a good win over Ossie Duran, but this was only his second fight in the last 15 months. Texan Mouton was inactive from April 2009 to last August serving a spell in prison. He had won his three fights since his return.

Marquez wins unanimous decision but has to climb off the floor. Marquez was in control but got careless in the third and found himself on the floor from a right. Over the last two rounds he reestablished his control and won on scores of 58-56 twice and 59-55. Third win for Marquez after back-to-back losses to unbeaten Eastern European fighters Art Hovhannisyan and Bahodir Mamadjonov. Griffin without a win in his last eleven fights.

Indio, USA: Bantam: Feather: Ronny Rios (20-0) W PTS 10 Rico Ramos (21-2). Randy Caballero (18-0) W TKO 4 Luis Maldonado (36-11-1). Daquan Arnett (10-0) W PTS 8 Brandon Quarles (9-1-1).Heavy: Dom Breazeale (3-0) W KO 2 Caleb Grummet (3-2-1). Instead of being solely about the fight, the scoring in the Rios-Ramos match drew a lot of attention.

On paper this was a big win for Rios over the former WBA bantam champion although he nearly let it slip away. The former top amateur took the early rounds, but faded over the closing action. Rios was always working and making the fight. He scored well to the body in the middle rounds. A tentative Ramos seemed content to try to counter and was not letting his hands go enough.

There was not much between them in many rounds, but the higher workrate, and greater accuracy of Rios was allowing him to bank those rounds. Ramos came into the fight more over the last two rounds. Rios wins on scores of 97-93, 96-94 and a ridiculous 100-90!!. Not one of his best performances for 22-year-old Rios, who wins the vacant NABF title, but this was a step up to world class for the former US and National Golden Gloves champion, and he showed he could make the climb. Ramos, 25, who showed his usual good movement and defensive skills, does not seem to be the same fighter since losing his WBA super bantam title to Memo Rigondeaux in January. Although he was always in the fight he was just not busy enough.

Looked as though it might be an early night when Caballero dropped the Mexican veteran in the first. However, Maldonado beat the count, and, although losing the second, did better in the third. The end came in the fourth when a cluster of shots from Caballero put Maldonado down again. He got up and did not seem to be too badly hurt, but the referee stopped the fight.

The stoppage looked premature. A pity as ten rounds with even a fading Maldonado would have been good experience for hot prospect Caballero. The 22-year-old “El Matador”, who was US amateur champion in 2008, now has nine wins by KO/TKO. Maldonado, 34, has now lost 8 of his last 9 fights. He lost inside the distance to Vic Darchinyan, Fernando Montiel and Nonito Donaire, but is now on a long downward spiral.

Golden Boy prospect Arnett, 20, needs a strong finish to take points over Quarles. Arnett just edged the first with good shots to the body. Over the next four rounds Arnett he had his jab working well but Quarles got to work inside and kept the fight close. However he tired in the last two rounds. Arnett upped his workrate and Quarles was forced to hold in the seventh and was deducted a point. The last is all Arnett and he takes the decision. Scores 78-73, 77-74 and 76-75.

Olympian Breazeale has no trouble with built-up cruiser Grummet and gets the kayo early in the second. Now three wins by KO/TKO, all inside two rounds. Too early to make any judgment on the 27-year-old 6’6” heavyweight.

Rosario, Argentina: Light: Sergio E Gonzalez (23-15-4,1ND) W TKO 7 Pablo M Barboza (16-2). Not much excitement in this all-southpaw scrap until Gonzalez finished it in the seventh. Gonzalez had slightly the better of it over the first three rounds. Barboza took the fourth after sending Gonzalez into the ropes with an uppercut, but he failed to capitalise on his success. Too little action and too much clinching in the fifth.

Gonzalez did the cleaner work in the sixth but it looked like this one was going the full ten. All that changed in the seventh as a left uppercut and left cross put Barboza down. He beat the count but was driven to the ropes and floored again by a barrage finished off by another left uppercut. At that point the towel came in from Barboza’s corner.

Upset win for 34-year-old former Argentinian champion Gonzalez. It was thought to be an easy one for Barboza as Gonzalez had lost 7 f his last 8 fights with the other one being a no decision. Hometown fighter Barboza has been built on mediocre opposition and his previous four round kayo loss to journeyman Carlos Tapia showed his limitations. Gonzalez wins interim WBC Latino title.

Chachoengsao, Thailand: Fly: Kwanpichit OnesongchaiGym(20-0-1) W TKO 4 Noli Morales (9-4). WBO No 3 Kwanpichit retains WBO Orient title for the third time with stoppage of game Filipino Morales. The 31-year-old Thai has eight wins by KO/TKO. When he clashed with Morales in July he had to be satisfied with a points win .The draw on his record is of the technical variety. Southpaw Morales has lost his last three fights, but went the full twelve rounds with world rated Rusalee Samor in October.

January 12

Toluca, Mexico: Light Fly: Adrian Hernandez (26-2-1) W PTS 12 Dirceu Cabarca (13-7). Light: Luis A Arceo (26-11-4) W PTS 10 Ric Dominguez (36-9-2). Light Fly: Felipe Salguero (17-4-1) W TKO 5 Javier Romano (8-17-1). “El Confesor” retains his WBC title with wide unanimous decision over Panamanian. From the start Hernandez was on top scoring with combination to the head and body of Cabarca with the Panamanian responding with uppercuts.

Hernandez brought blood from the nose of Cabarca in the third, but the challenger took his punishment and fought well enough to pick up a couple of the early rounds. Cabarca was fighting below his usual division, and had never even had a ten round fight, and these factors combined to see him tire. However he got a boost in the tenth when he opened a cut on the bridge of the champion’s nose in the tenth.

He was still there at the end when a clash of heads left Hernandez with a bad cut on his left eyebrow. Hernandez wins on scores of 119-112, 118-108 and a generous 117-110. On paper this was a bad mismatch brought about by the WBC manipulation of their ratings. It made it a meaningless defence for Hernandez, but Cabarca put up a much better performance than the WBC deserved. First defence in his second reign as champion for 27-year-old Hernandez. Cabarca, also 27, showed guts and durability, but little else.

“Vampiro” Arceo gutted it out against Dominguez to get a paper thin unanimous decision. Dominguez built an early lead and at times over those rounds he looked to have Arceo in trouble and close to folding. However, Arceo stayed there and came on strong in the second half of the fight. That fast early pace told on Dominguez, and together with that sprint start and fighting at altitude (Toluca is over 8,000 ft above sea level-I throw that little fact in as a bonus) he flagged badly over the late rounds.

Arceo, who had paced himself better, did just enough to get his nose in front. Despite suffering a badly gashed cheekbone his perseverance saw him take the decision on scores of 96-94 from all three judges. Arceo gets revenge for a split decision loss to Dominguez in 2011.

He has overcome a streak of seven losses in a row and showed good form last year when kayoing Miguel Castillo (21-1). Dominguez, 27, has a split decision loss to Brandon Rios and lost on points to Humberto Soto for the WBC title and Miguel Vazquez for the IBF title. He lost a wide decision to Mercito Gesta in 2011 but was coming off a points win over Gilberto Gonzalez (18-2).

Hometown prospect Salguero just grinds down Romano who found both the punches of Salguero and the altitude too much and retired at the end of the fourth round. The 21-year-old Salguero was coming off back-to-back losses to Donnie Nietes (for the WBO light fly title) and Luis A Rios, in an IBF eliminator. After losing his first two pro fights he had then gone unbeaten in 17 fights. Sixth loss in his last seven fights for Romano.

Sunrise, USA: Light Welter: Johan Perez (16-1-1,1ND) W PTS 10 Steve Forbes (35-12). Light Heavy: Tom Williams Jr (12-0) W TKO 3 Jason Smith (8-2). Light Middle: Yudel Jhonson (13-1) W PTS 8 Dashon Johnson (13-9-3). Middle: Terrell Gausha (2-0) W TKO 1 Ken Taylor Schmitz (2-6). Venezuelan Perez only just scrapes by veteran Forbes on a majority decision. Forbes got his jab working early and was the busier, scoring well with left hooks.

Perez was going with the right but Forbes showed a good defence. Eventually the aggression of Perez began to eat into Forbes’ lead, but Forbes fought back to rock Perez with rights in the sixth. Perez put in a strong finish with Forbes suffering a cut by his right eye in the last as they both sensed the fight was in the balance. The former interim WBA champion won on scores of 97-93, 96-94 and 95-95.

The 29-year-old “El Terrible” was having his first fight since losing his interim WBA title, and his unbeaten tag, to Pablo Cano on a technical verdict in July. The 35-year-old “2 POUND” Forbes, a former IBF super feather champion, has lost four in a row and is 3-9 in his last 12 fights. He is now filling the role of stepping-stone for younger fighters.

Prospect Williams handed out a steady beating to Smith for two rounds. When a barrage sent Smith to the floor in the third the referee stopped the fight. The 25-year-old from Fort Washington moved up to the eight round level in this one. He has nine wins by KO/TKO including 8 in his last 9 fights. First loss inside the distance for Smith.

Cuban Jhonson returns with a win. The 31-year-old Cuban was having his first fight since an upset loss to Willie Nelson in May which cost him his world rating. The Cuban took a while to get going and looked open to rights from Johnson in the early rounds. Once he had his act together he was scoring heavily with combinations and won a unanimous decision with all three judges scoring it 78-74. Southpaw Jhonson can’t afford any more mistakes. Loser Johnson came in as a very late substitute. He has lost his last six, but gone the distance every time.

Olympian Gausha jumps on Schmidt early and just keeps banging away until the referee steps in to save Schmidt. All over in 104 seconds as the 25-year-old Californian makes it two wins by KO/TKO.

Saint-Quentin, France: Super Feather: Guillaume Frenois (29-0) W PTS 12 Anthony Arimany (12-2). Light Heavy: Mounir Toumi (15-11) W PTS 12 Tony Averlant (18-7-2). Frenois wins all-southpaw scrap and retains his EU title, but given a tough night by Arimany. There were questions over whether Arimany was a worthy challenger, but he answered those. Frenois found himself forced to fight on the inside where his superior skills were nullified.

Arimany was working hard and setting a fast pace and it began to tell on him from the seventh. Frenois started to pull away, but was being forced to fight hard in every round and mix it more than usual. Frenois held on to his lead and when Arimany was cut over his right eye in the eleventh Frenois was able to pull away for a unanimous decision. Scores 117-112, 117-113 and 116-112. Hometown fighter Frenois is rated No 2 by the EBU, but his lack of a punch (five wins by KO/TKO) will be against him when he steps up. Arimany’s only other loss was on points against unbeaten Khedafi Djelkhir for the French title in 2010.

German Toumi pulls off a mild upset as he climbs off the floor to beat favoured Averlant on a split decision. The Frenchman made an ideal start putting Toumi down in the first. However, Toumi did not stay down and took the fight to the taller Averlant. The German did his best work inside and Averlant, too often looking for one big finisher, just could not get room and was not busy enough. Scores 95-94 twice and 93-96.

The 28-year-old Toumi, the GBU champion, has won his last five fights and is 9-2 in his last eleven. Averlant, a former undefeated EU champion, was impressive when looking very unlucky to lose a split decision to WBC No 2 Eduard Gutknecht for the European title in March. He was No 2 with the EBU but will fall a few places after this loss.

Le Cannet, France: Super Bantam: Ali Hallab (13-0-1) W TKO 2 Nikoloz Berkatsashvili (19-7). Light Middle: Michael Soro (20-1) W PTS 12 Kris Carslaw (17-4). Feather: Sofiane Takoucht (26-2) W TKO 3 Levan Garibashvili (12-15-2). Hallab retains his WBO European title with a quick kayo of Georgian. After winning the first round, in the next Hallab put the modest challenger down twice.

The second from a left hook to the body which saw the referee just waive the fight off. The 31-year-old Hallab had a long amateur career representing France at two Olympic Games and three World Championships so he turned pro late. He has seven wins by KO/TKO. Berkatsashvili, 27 has a typical Georgian record. Lots of wins in Georgia look good but he has lost six times by KO/TKO outside his home country.

Soro wins the vacant WBO European title with a unanimous points victory over Scot Carslaw. Soro, with the edge in height and reach, gets the better start with Carslaw under pressure but managing to nullify much of the Frenchman’s work. Soro has a big fifth with the Scot suffering facial damage that hampers him from there. Carslaw does well over the next three rounds and, although Soro is still the aggressor, the Scot is in the fight.

Soro clinches the win over the last two rounds as he dominates the eleventh and the twelfth sees a tiring Carslaw lose his mouthpiece in the action. Scores 118-110 twice and 117-111. Second win for 25-year-old Soro, WBO NO 14, since losing a close points decision to Zaurbek Baysangurov for the WBO title in May. Paisley’s Carslaw, 28, was fighting overseas for the first time and put up a good showing. He lost close decisions to Matt Hall, in a British title eliminator, and Brian Rose for the British title.

Former European champion “ Baby Face” Takoucht has an easy night against Georgian. After a first round of studying what was in front of him southpaw Takoucht opens up in the second and already the Georgian looks to be searching for a way out. In the third a volley of head and body shots sees the referee stop the fight as Garibashvili shows no inclination to fight on. Fifth win for EU champion Takoucht since losing his EBU title to Alex Miskirtchian in September 2011. Three wins in his last eleven fights for the Georgian who is really only a bantam.

Thourotte, France: Middle: Karim Achour (14-3-2) W TKO 5 Michel Mothmora (21-22). French champion Achour puts Mothmora down twice in the first round but lets his challenger off the hook. Mothmora is just looking to survive and sees out the next two rounds. In the fourth the champion gets reckless and is on the canvas. Counted as a knockdown, but looked more like a slip.

Achour ends it in the fifth as he floors Mothmora with a left hook and the fight is stopped. First defence of his French title for Achour and only his third win by KO/TKO. A points loss to Martin Murray in June is the only defeat for Achour in his last nine fights. Mothmora,32, had won six in a row since losing over eight rounds to Achour in 2011.

Tokyo, Japan: light Fly: Shin Ono (15-5-2) W PTS 12 Omari Kimweri (12-3). Light Middle: Akio Shibata (20-7-1) W KO 8 Takayuki Hosokawa (22-10-3). Ono wins vacant OPBF title, but little Kimweri can consider himself unlucky. Ono had a 5” height advantage, but the Tanzanian kept coming forward and throwing right hands. Southpaw Ono was forced to rely on counters.

Kimweri broke through in the eighth and floored Ono with a right. At that point Kimweri looked to have built a good lead, but the judges had it close. Ono had a big tenth but Kimweri seemed to take the last two rounds. The scores were a way out 117-110 and 114-113 for Ono and 114-113 for Kimweri.

WBC No 8 Ono has an eight round points win over current WBC strawweight champion Xiong Zhao Zhong, but other than that his record is not impressive. Kimweri represented Tanzania at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and stayed on in Australia where he is based. Only 4’11” (150cm) the 30-year-old Kimweri had won ten in a row since losing over twelve rounds on a razor thin decision to world rated Angky Angkotta in Indonesia in only his fourth fight. “Lion Boy” is overdue a lucky break.

Shibata retained his Japanese title with stoppage of challenger Hosokawa. The lanky champion was always in command in this one, with Hosokawa’s awkward southpaw style and durability keeping him in the fight. Shibata ended it in the eighth flooring Hosokawa twice and, as Hosokawa was going down for a third time when the referee stopped the fight, it counts as a KO and not a TKO in Japan. Second successful defence of the national title for Shibata and his eighth win by KO/TKO. Hosokawa was out of his depth, but had won his last four fights including a useful win over Randy Suico

Mexico City, Mexico: Super Feather: Dante Jardon (22-3) W DIS 2 Adrian Verdugo (22-7-1). Super Fly: Martin Casillas (12-2) W PTS 10 Juan Jose Montes (23-3-1). Welter: Maurizio Pintor (18-2-1) W KO 5 Hassam Valenzuela (7-2-1). Light Middle: Patrick Teixeira (19-0) W KO 1 Luis Acevedo (24-13-4).

“Crazy” Jardon wins again. The WBC No 9 looked on his way to a quick victory when he floored Verdugo with as left hook in the first. Verdugo was in deep trouble, but was saved by the bell. A brief respite, as he was thrown out in the next round for a blatant butt that opened a cut on the right eyelid of Jardon.

Verdugo’s second Manuel Montiel (the head of the Montiel boxing clan) protested that the clash was accidental and it should have been a no decision. The 25-year-old Jardon retains WBC Continental Americas title. Losses to Kyohei Tamakoshi and Miguel Roman knocked Jardon down a few places in the ratings, but he bounced back with a revenge win over Roman in October. In his previous fight in August Verdugo had been stopped in eleven rounds by Daniel Estrada for the vacant WBC Silver title.

Great things were expected from Casillas when he turned pro and he may be finally delivering. He and the more experienced Montes went to war from the first bell standing toe-to-toe with neither willing to give ground. Casillas had the heavier punch, but Montes used his edge in experience to good effect.

It was even over the first five rounds but Casillas came on strong from there and with Montes hampered by a gash on his right cheek, took a deserved split decision. Scores 97-93 twice and 95-96. The 24-year-old “Pini” has won 9 of his last 10 fights but this was his biggest scalp by a long way. He needs to watch his weight as he came in over the poundage and had to pay a forfeit. IBF No 5, “Goofy” Montes, 23, the WBFederation champion, lost to Tomas Rojas for the WBC title in 2011 but had wins over Jose Salgado, Fernando Lumacad and Sylvester Lopez. He had lost only one of his last 18 fights going in.

Pintor returns with a win after back-to-back losses to Ivan Cano and Ric Alvarez. A body shot had Valenzuela down in the first, but the Hermosillo fighter made it through the round and was causing Pintor some problems. That ended in the fifth when another body punch put Valenzuela down. Now twelve wins by KO/TKO for Pintor. Valenzuela was unbeaten in his last seven fights and did much better than expected.

Brazilian prospect Teixeira makes it 17 wins by KO/TKO with quick kayo. The tall 22-year-old has 17 wins by KO/TKO and this was his fourth win by KO/TKO since moving to Mexico, and his third first round ending in those four fights. Acevedo came in as a late sub and this was his eleventh loss inside the distance.

Mexico City, Mexico: Light: Fermin De los Santos (23-13-2) DREW 12 Edgar Riovalle (35-14-2). Light: Juan Jose Martinez (13-1) W TKO 1 Javier Mercado (16-4-1). De los Santos nearly blew his No 8 featherweight rating with the WBC, and his WBC Cabofe lightweight title(makes you wonder why they rate him as a featherweight) as he stages a late rally to get a draw against “Garbage” Riovalle.

The jab of Riovalle and his good movement gave De los Santos all sorts of problems and he took the first three rounds. De los Santos got through with body shots in the fourth which slowed Riovalle. However, Riovalle took the fifth as he again got his jab going. They went toe-to-toe in the sixth and seventh. Riovalle had built a good lead and looked on his way to an upset.

However, from the eighth his workrate dropped, which let De los Santos back into the fight and he took the ninth and tenth. Importantly Riovalle bounced back to win the eleventh and they fought on even terms in the last. Scores 115-115, 114-114 and 115-114 to Riovalle.

Eighth defence of his Cabofe title for De Los Santos who has turned his career around with 13 wins and this draw in his last 14 fights. The 25-year-old Riovalle can give anyone trouble on his night. He is now 8-2-1 in his last eleven fights with the losses being to world rated Viorel Simion in Romania and Joel Brunker in Australia. He certainly improved on his previous fight with De los Santos back in 2005 when he was stopped in just 53 seconds.

Martinez gets it over quickly as he overwhelms Mercado with a barrage of hooks. After losing on a first round TKO in his second pro fight Martinez has scored twelve wins, the last seven in a row by KO/TKO.

Florencio Varela, Argentina: Super Feather: Fernando D Saucedo (48-5-3) W TKO 7 Edilson Rio (9-14). A messy fight has a messy ending with Saucedo lucky not to get disqualified. The Brazilian just could not figure out the awkward southpaw style of Saucedo who fights with both hands at waist level, leaning to his left in a crouch which makes for a difficult target.

The clash of styles saw lots of clinching and heads bumping together. Saucedo was doing what scoring there was and a series of head shots saw Rio forced to take a standing count in the fourth. At the end of the sixth Saucedo nailed Rio with a wicked left uppercut which clearly shook the Brazilian. Saucedo was looking to finish it in the seventh and another left uppercut had the Brazilian badly hurt and a series of hard shots put him down.

Whilst Saucedo was celebrating his win the referee was counting and Rio got up. He was badly shaken and the fight should have been stopped. Saucedo had to cut short his celebrations. Another left uppercut put Rio down again. Once again he made it to his feet and again the fight should have been stopped. Saucedo landed another volley on the Brazilian who went down for the third time.
Saucedo re-commenced his celebrations and his seconds climbed through the ropes and were in the centre of the ring. However, the idiot of a referee was giving poor Rio yet another count, so the fight was not over, and Saucedo’s seconds had to scramble back out of the ring. Technically that invasion by his seconds should have led to Saucedo’s disqualification.

The referee had his back to all of this and his count only stopped when Rio’s corner threw in the towel. Only the sixth win by KO/TKO for Saucedo. His only loss in his last 34 fights was a points defeat against Chris John for the WBA feather title in 2010. Saucedo wins the vacant WBC Mundo Hispano title. First loss inside the distance for Rio, but he has lost 5 of his last 6 fights now.

Malvinas Argentinas, Argentina: Heavy: Hector A Avila W TKO 7 (19-12-1) Emilio E Zarate (15-10-3). After three close rounds Zarate, the taller and heavier fighter, broke through in the fourth and floored Avila with a left to the temple. Avila beat the count but took more punishment before the end of the round. Avila battled back in the fifth and turned the fight in the sixth flooring Zarate with a right, and then getting through with more rights to have Zarate in trouble at the bell.

When the buzzer sounded for the seventh Zarate stayed in his corner. The 37-year-old Avila, “The Shark”, is a former national cruiser champion and currently rated No 5 in that division in Argentina. This win gave him the WBC Mundo Hispano heavy title. He floored and outpointed Zarate in 2011. The 6’5 ½ Zarate,31, suffered his fifth loss by KO/TKO.

Lipa City, Philippines: Super Bantam: Rodynie Rafol (10-3-2) W KO 1 Donriel Marcos (10-19). All over fast as Rafol puts Marcos away in just 42 seconds. Win No 4 by KO/TKO for 25-year-old Rafol who was in his first ten round fight. Seven losses by KO/TKO for Marcos who should look for another job.