Erik Morales W12 Marco Antonio Barrera: A lot of people disagreed with the decision, but the fight was nothing short of awesome. The action and power punching never let up and neither fighter allowed himself to succumb to each others brutal punching. Barrera becomes the first man ever to score a knockdown over Morales. The knockdown came about in the 12th when a seemingly weary Morales goes down, not from a punch, but from an accumalation of punishment. Both fighters absorbed hellacious punishment. I'm in the majority in that I felt Barrera won. It's early in the year, but it's going to be hard to top this one.
"Irish" Mickey Ward KO 8 Shea Neary: This starts off as a back and forth battle until Ward comes on strong half way through as he is known for doing. Ward starts going to the body, landing his right hand, and landing with the left uppercut. The left uppercut proves to be an asset as Neary is unable to continue after a hard left uppercut to the head.
Paul Ingle KO 11 Junior Jones: Call me crazy, but I thought this was a little more interesting than Vargas-Quartey. I guess it was because I expected Vargas-Quartey to unfold exactly the way it did. I too expected Ingle to win but I thought he would have an easier time. Jones pulled out another great effort. He knocked Ingle down with a good right hand and he made it close. However, Jones has been on the decline as of late and he eventually started wearing down. Credit that to Ingle who eventually finished Jones and won a gutsy KO victory in an entertaining fight.
"Sugar" Shane Mosley W12 Oscar De La Hoya- Mosley comes in as an underdog. He hasn't had as many top fights as DLH. DLH comes in as an all-out agressor and takes the fight to Mosley. Mosley counters well and begins to throw effective combinations. DLH needs to adjust his game plan, but he continues forward as he had promised before the fight. Mosley takes full command in the final round, underlining his victory, and wins a hard fought split decision.
Ener Julio W12 Randall Bailey- (See "Upsets")
Melissa "Honey Girl" Salamone D10 Laura "Poet of the Ring" Serrano- In one of the first epic superfights in recent women's boxing history, two talented women do their sport credit with a hard fought battle. Salamone has more fight experience with 18 wins, no losses and 7 KOs with a win over the talented Lena Akesson. Serrano has more world class experience squeezed into her 10-0-1 4 KOs with a draw against Christy Martin, and victories over Deirde Gogarty, Cheryl Nance and Tracy Byrd. Serrano the southpaw starts early, rocking Salamone with left crosses to the head and body and a crisp right hand. Salamone tries dancing out of Serrano's way, but Serrano is a consistent aggressor, forcing Salamone into her punching range and against the ropes. Salamone tastes the canvas in round 3 in a disputed knockdown. By round 6, Salamone is seemingly behind on points and needs to rally big time and she begins to let her hands go more. By round 7, a tremendous turnaround for Salamone ensues as she rediscovers her right hand and slams it into Serrano's head to win the round. Serrano is unshakable as her attack is consistent, but no longer as dominant in the face of Salamone's more effective right hand. Seconds before the conclusion of round 8, Serrano rushes Salamone and is dropped with a right hand. Salamone has taken the later rounds and it's enough in the eyes of the judges to squeak out a draw. 95-93 Salamone; 96-92 Serrano; and 94-94 in a memorable woman's war. Promoter Leon Margules said he was going to try and set up a rematch. Serrano was bitter about the decision and Salamone said that Serrano was the toughest opponent of her career so far. Salamone said: "We will fight again. Mark my words."
Hector Camacho Jr. KO 1 Harold Warren: Picture perfect right hand takes Warren out of the fight in Camacho's most impressive outing yet,.
Angel Manfredy KO 4 Sean Fletcher: Manfredy, coming off a close decision loss to Stevie Johnston, knocks Fletcher out with a textbook left hook. Fletcher sags on the ropes as the ref intervenes just as Manfredy begins to pummel Fletcher.
Evangelio Perez KO 10 Hugo Dianzo: WBA interim champ Dianzo is way ahead when Perez cracks him hard. Dianzo is out before he even hits the canvas. His head slamming onto the canvas with a bouncing thud.
Lennox Lewis KO 2 Michael Grant: As I mentioned in my "Lowblows Fight Column", I thought Lewis would win, but not quite so quickly and so brutally. Lewis thrashed Grant in a complete blowout.
Lennox Lewis KO 2 Franz Botha: The normally resilient and gritty Botha is stopped with a startling fast, powerful right left right combination. It brought flashbacks of a Joe Louis type KO.
Jorge Lacierva W12 Mauricio Pastrana- Pastrana has jumped into Bantamweight from the Flyweight division and has been successful for two fights at that weight class. Pastrana is undefeated and Lacierva is coming off a somewhat close technical decision loss to Mark "Too Sharp" Johnson. Pastrana starts off slow and allows Lacierva to pile up points. By the the middle of the fight, Pastrana realizes that he has a significant gap to close and begins to rally. It proves to be immensely difficult against a determined Lacierva. Pastrana begins to turn the fight around slightly, but Lacierva fights back. In the 12th, most ringsiders feel that Pastrana needs a knockout and he fights accordingly. Pastrana wins the final round, but loses the fight 115-113 on all the judges scorecards. After the fight, Lacierva told me that he'd advise Pastrana to go back down to 108 or 112. Pastrana admitted that he allowed Lacierva to get ahead and that it cost him the fight. Both said they're going back down to 115 and that they'd take a rematch. Good fight.
Ener Julio W12 Randall Bailey- Unknown Julio comes in and takes the fight to Bailey, knocking him down with a left jab/left cross to the chin in the first. Among his assortment of left hooks, right cross and left jabs, Bailey musters knockdowns in the later rounds with single right hands. Bailey uses his left jab well, but not well enough to take Julio off his game plan. Throughout the fight, Bailey is reduced to a one-punch-at-a-time fighter and does ok. But Julio is determined. Bailey's left eye swells up like a golf ball and slips a few times in situations that could arguably be called knockdowns. The fight goes the distance and Julio eeks out a close, yet convincing 12 round split decision and takes Bailey's WBO title in a fight of the year type fight.
Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera for never letting on the punches and never backing down, no matter how brutal the punishment.
David Reid. He suffered a terrible beating at the hands of Felix "Tito" Trinidad, getting knocked down 4 times in the fight with hard punches. After round 6, Reid was fodder for Trinidad merciless power punching, but Reid fought the good fight and lasted the distance.
Derrick Jefferson. Badly hurt his leg in the first round against Oleg Maskaev when he was knocked down with a flush right hand. Jefferson hobbled along, unable to throw his left hook. Jefferson threw his haymaker right in hopes of catching Oleg on the button, wincing as he struggled. The referee finally stopped it in the 4th, when he saw Jefferson's face contort into a mask of pain during a brief moment where Jefferson was trying to protect himself.
