Boxing News

On Saturday night in Buenos Aires, Argentina the place to be was the Ce De M Number One Club where local hero and South American/WBO Latino Bantamweight Champ Diego Oscar Silva, 22-1-3 (11), retained his WBO belt with a third round knockout of Cordoba’s Santagio Allione, 13-6-1 (4), in a rematch of their bout two years ago, won by Silva over six frames.

Heading over to Chile, Francisco Mascarena, 5-0 (1), finished off winless Guillermo Leyton, 0-3 (0), in four to capture the vacant Chilean Super Middle belt at Gimnasio Fiscal in Castro.

At Gimnasio Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rico, the victory parade of heavyweight Carl Davis Drummond, 25-0 (19), continued as the 33 year old from Limon was taken the distance by WBA Fedelatin Cruiserweight champ Luis Andres Pineda, 21-7 (18), of Panama in a WBA Fedelatin Heavyweight title winning effort.

Featherweight Brian Vasquez, 14-0 (7), stopped Jose Guiterrez, 11-3-2 (9), in the sixth to cage the vacant WBA Fedelatin crown. Also enjoying wins were middleweight Julio Sanchez, lightweight Nelson Lara and super feather Berman Sanchez. More…

There was a big card at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan last night with the headliner a hotly anticipated showdown between the top two light flyweights in Puerto Rico, Ivan “Iron Boy” Calderon and Nelson Dieppa. At stake was the WBO Light Flyweight title held by Calderon since jumping up from minimumweight last year.

37 year old Dieppa had held the title in the earlier part of the decade but had it removed by Mexican slugger Hugo Fidel Cazares in 2005 and failed a year later to reclaim the belt in a rematch. Since then the Vieques natives had gone 1-1 and was looking to right his flagging career with a win over Calderon.

But it was not in the cards last night for Dieppa as Calderon was on point from start to finish, beating the older man to the punch with his fast hands flowing from a southpaw stance. Utilizing cat-quick reflexes and superb footwork, Calderon never let Dieppa in the bout and cruised to a dominating 120-108 verdict on all three scorecards. More…

**With Slideshow**

© Martin Warr / dkp

Last night in front of 7,000 fans at a packed Plaza de Toros in Cancun, Mexico, Don King Productions put on a huge show headlined by WBC Heavyweight Champ Oleg Maskaev’s title defense against Interim Champ Samuel Peter and IBF Lightweight Champ Juan Diaz’s title defense against challenger Nate Campbell. More…

There’s a big card on tonight at the Domo De La Feria in Leon, Mexico with Top Rank promoting four high level bouts. While there’s only one genuine world title contest, there are three other intriguing fights that all add up to a massive bill.

WBC Light Flyweight Champion Edgar Sosa, 30-5 (16), puts his title at risk for the fourth time in meeting Culiacan based challenger Jesus Iribe, 13-4-3 (7), over twelve scheduled rounds.

28 year old Sosa turned his career around after losing a Mexican Light Flyweight title bid by majority decision to current IBF Champion UIises Solis in 2003 and there’s been no stopping the Mexico City man since as he’s racked up 18 straight wins, including high profile victories over the likes of Roberto Carlos Leyva, Lorenzo Trejo, Brian Viloria, Luis Albero Lazarte and Noel Arambulet since 2006. More…

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The upcoming December 8 showdown between boxing’s top pound for pound performer Floyd Mayweather and British wrecking ball Ricky Hatton has captured the imagination of fans of the sport the world over as the date draws near.

Most in the media are tipping Mayweather to extend his dominance over the sport with a comprehensive victory over Hatton. But the hopes of an entire nation are riding on the shoulders of the stocky Mancunian as British fans are banking on the idea that once again “The Hitman” can return to the Colonies with the intent of proving his legion of American doubters wrong.

The Brits are a hardy lot and when they love, they love hard but in this instance, their affection for Hatton’s Vegas dream will be crushed by the flying fists of none other than the man they love to hate, Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather.

Mayweather became a world champion when Hatton was still fighting no hope Englishmen in leisure centers and has faced so many top class opponents since that time that it this piece would have to be a multi-part article to fully cover the quality of opposition in his career. More…

WBC Super Flyweight Champion Cristian Mijares retained his bet for the third time with a stunning first round KO of challenger Franck Gorjux at the Autodrome de Go Karts in Cancun, Mexico.

31 year old Frenchman Gorjux came into the bout having faced only modest competition, which in no way prepared him to contend with the best super flyweight in the world.

Mijares was all over Gorjux the minute the bell sounded to begin the first round and it wasn’t long before the Mexican southpaw had canvassed the challenger. More…

It was a big weekend in Nación Argentina with Saturday night providing the lion’s share of the action. As always, the biggest bill took place at Estadio Luna Park in Buenos Aires, with Juan Carlos Reveco, 17-0 (8), retaining his WBA Light Flyweight belt for the first time with a devastating fifth round KO of Mexican visitor Humberto Pool, 14-5-3 (9).

Also at Luna Park, Argentine Heavyweight Champ Lisandro Ezequiel Diaz, 16-7-1 (13), faced Sebastian Ignacio Ceballos, 10-5-1 (5), for the third time over the course of four bouts.

With each man coming into the contest with one victory apiece against each other, it was bound to be a difficult struggle and the close contest was broken wide open in tenth and final round when Diaz floored Ceballos enroute to posting a split decision victory.

Welterweight Rodolfo Ezequiel Martinez, 25-1-1 (9), furthered his title shot chances with a six round unanimous decision over Rodrigo Gomez, 12-2 (6). More…

Tonight at the Sears Center in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, IL, Don King Productions puts on a big bill headlined by WBA/WBO Lightweight Champion Juan Diaz clashing with IBF Champion Julio Diaz.

It’s an exciting fight that has been brewing for years as Julio has fought through large measures of hard luck to get where he is today and is clearly disrepectful of what he sees as Juan’s clearer path to a world title.

But the Houston, TX based Juan Diaz, 32-0 (16), has clearly achieved a respectable resume up to this point in his career as demonstrated by wins over Acelino Freitas, Lakva Sim, Julien Lorcey, Jose Miguel Cotto and others.

The Coachella, CA based Julio Diaz, 34-3 (25), had to reconcile losses to Jose Luis Castillo, Angel Manfredy and Juan Valenzuela through such victories over Jesus Chavez, Javier Jauregui, Ricky Quiles and Courtney Burton. More…

Four years after stopping Mexican living legend Marco Antonio Barrera in the eleventh round, Filipino star Manny Pacquiao has to once again take on the “Baby Faced Assassin” as the two square off at the Mandalay Bay tonight in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao, 44-3-2 (35), first met Barrera, 63-5 (42), as a featherweight but now the two will meet a weight division higher for the WBC International 130 lb crown.

In the four years since the two first touched gloves, Pacquiao has defeated such top notch Mexican fighters as Erik Morales twice, after losing to “El Terrible” in their initial encounter, Oscar Larios and Jorge Solis while drawing with Juan Manuel Marquez.

Barrera has also been largely successful in that time frame, beating Morales, Paulie Ayala, Rocky Juarez twice and Mzonke Fana, while losing to Marquez in his most recent fight. More…

It was a good weekend in South America, so let’s get to it with a round up of what went on in Argentina as WBO Flyweight Champ Omar Andres “The Huracan” Narvaes, 25-0-2 (16), retained his belt for the eleventh time with a stoppage of overmatched Nicaraguan import Marlon Marquez, 11-3 (4), on Friday at Gimnasio Municipal Number 1 in Trelew.

As expected, Narvaes’ busy southpaw style and long big fight experience were simply too much for the ex-WBO Latino titlist Marquez, who was finished by the fourth round.

Also on Friday, iron chinned defensive master and South American Lightweight Champion Aldo Rios, 43-4 (10), kept his crown with a twelve round decision over Sante Fe campaigner Diego Martin Alzugaray, 21-15-4 (3), at Club Independiente in Rios’ hometown of Neuquen. More…

Kendall Holt nearly pulled off an upset last night at Salon Jumbo Del Country Club in Barranquilla, Colombia but the power of reigning WBO Light Welter Champion Ricardo Torres bailed out the hometown man, stopping the American challenger in the eleventh round.

Things started off slow as both men probed the defenses of the other with jabs and Holt kept his distance until Torres found range with a hard right hand in the third that hurt Holt but the fleet footed New Jersey man kept his distance to avoid more damage.

The champion continued his control of the bout into the fourth but by the fifth Holt had regained his bearings and good, two-way action broke out.

Near the end of the sixth, Holt caught Torres with a picture perfect counter right and Torres fell heavily to the canvas and was saved by the bell. More…

There were two good cards in Argentina over the weekend with Saturday’s bill in Buenos Aires leading the way where southpaw light welter sensation Cesar Rene Cuenca remained undefeated .

26 year old Cuenca improved to 30-0 (1) with a clear cut ten round decision over Centenario based journeyman Juan Alberto Godoy, 19-10-1 (7), via scores of 100-91, 100-92 and 99-92 in a rematch to the pair’s bout three years ago.

Godoy brought a lot of experience into the ring having faced such luminaries as Andreas Kotelnik, Mohamad Abdulaev, Victor Hugo Castro and was coming off a failed bid to take the South American Light Welter title from Carlos Wilfredo Vilches back in June.

While the 27 “Maravilla” only lost to Cuenca by a few rounds three years ago, last night Godoy was simply outclassed by the slick Barrio Santa Brigida man More…