The Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, IN saw Irish middleweight star Andy Lee, 18-1 (13), return to an American ring for the first time in over a year following his shocking loss to Brian Vera.

The lanky southpaw came into his bout with Anthony Shuler, 20-7-1 (14), as a super middle and stopped the Indianapolis man at 2:05 of the eighth in a scheduled ten rounder.

Steel-chinned former IBF light middleweight title challenger Angel "Toro" Hernandez, 30-7 (17), followed up his defeat of prospect James McGirt Jr in January with a sixth round referee stoppage of ex-two weight world title challenger Antwun Echols, 31-12-4 (27), who hasn't won a fight since 2004.

Heavyweight Owen Beck, 29-3 (20), two years removed from his unsuccessful bid at the WBA crown, posted an eight round unanimous decision over granite-jawed former NABO cruiserweight beltholder Jermell Barnes, 18-22-2 (4), who has gone 2-18-2 since January, 2004, by scores of 80-72, 79-73 and 77-75. More...

Angel Hernandez held the NABF Light Middleweight title in 2002 and mounted an unsuccessful bid to unseat IBF Champion Winky Wright in 2003 but the 33 year old Chicago resident has been struggling to regain his foothold in the upper classes of the American boxing scene until upsetting middleweight prospect James McGirt Jr last night at Mallory Square in Key West, FL.

Hernandez was coming off a one-sided loss to light middle contender Vanes Martirosian in June and was to be a step in the rebuilding program of southpaw McGirt Jr, who was coming off a draw against the unheralded Marcus Upshaw in November.

But "El Toro" refused to be a stepping stone and came forward for all ten rounds against McGirt, outworking the 26 year old son of famed trainer and ex-world champion boxer "Buddy" McGirt, in what was a close contest.

Hernandez convinced the judges by marks of 96-94 twice and 96-95 to improve to 29-7 (16) while McGirt has now won just one of his last four outings to drop to 19-2-1 (9).

On the undercard, light middle Ermosele Albert, 22-2-1 (1), posted a ten round UD against Germaine Sanders, 27-7 (17), while welter Damian Frias, 16-1 (7), pulled off a ten round points verdict against Edwin Algarin, 10-6-1 (6).

Heavyweight Darrel Madison, 13-1 (3), defeated Domonic Jenkins, 13-11-1 (6), after six rounds on points.

The new-look middleweight prospect James McGirt, Jr., 19-1-1 (9), has developed an invaluable relationship, like a younger brother, with former world light heavyweight and current title challenger Glen Johnson as they’ve sparred together for their upcoming fights. More...

Team McGirt has reevaluated middleweight prospect James McGirt, Jr., 19-1-1 (9), and, after considerable soul searching, has collectively decided that the 26 year old southpaw will return to old-school training and incorporate a more aggressive attack in order to take better advantage of his hand speed, as well as to avoid his frustrating “fight to the level of his opponent” pattern.

McGirt’s somewhat up-and-down career, at least of late, found him losing for the first time on April 11 to a fighter he had out on his feet, Carlos “Baby Sugar” DeLeon, rebounding from that with an impressive performance on ESPN to defeat former IBO and WBU middleweight champion Raymond “Hallelujah” Joval by 10-round decision last July, which moved McGirt up as high as No. 8 in The Ring’s ratings, but then fighting a disappointing 10-round draw with novice Marcus Upshaw in his last contest this past November. More...