Not a bad last couple of days in The States, and we kick off this report at Mile Hight Stadium in Denver, CO where on Saturday undefeated light welter Mike Alvarado, 25-0 (18), dramatically stopped the very tough Emmanuel Clottey, 24-9 (14), in the tenth and final round in an important bout.

The undercard saw lightweight Robert Frankel, 27-9-1 (4), post a ten round UD over Ricardo Dominiquez, 26-5-2 (15).

The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, PA played host to welterweight Mike Jones, 17-0 (15), and his win over Dario Esalas, 31-16 (25), by second round KO for the NABA title.

At the Valencia Ballroom in York, PA, promising featherweight Carney Bowman, 13-0 (5), outpointed Jesus Salvador Perez, 25-24-3 (14), after eight rounds. More...

There was a smattering of action below the Rio Grande this weekend and we start off in Mexico where there was a battle for the IBF Minimumweight crown at Loreto in Baja California Sur last night.

Local man Raul Garcia, 25-0-1 (16), walked into the arena as reigning champion and after twelve rounds of combat with challenger Jose Luis Varela, 15-6 (7), of Colombia, still held the title, outpointing the former WBA Fedebol kingpin by wide margins in a rematch.

The two originally squared off in September with Garcia also winning that bout and "Rayito" has now retained the IBF belt on two occasions. Varela has lost his last three bouts, each in world title challenges.

Chief support on the bill was provided by San Antonio, Texas based lightweight Juan Castaneda, 15-1 (12), who dropped Los Mochis battler Abel Berrelleza, 19-10-2 (10), three times enroute to posting a first round KO.

Mexico City super feather Alejandro Sanabria, 19-0 (15), kept on track with a third round KO of 39 year old journeyman Jorge Romero, 8-40-1 (4), and David Gaspar, 8-0-1 (5), captured the vacant WBA Fedecaribe Super Flyweight belt with a majority decision against Francisco Reyes, 4-9-2 (3). More...

WBO Welterweight Champion Paul Williams stepped up to light middle and caged the vacant WBO belt by stopping former three time 154 pound world titlist Verno Phillips in the eighth round at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, CA in the highest profile bout in America this weekend.

Williams overcame a bad cut from a headclash early on and used his massive height and reach advantage to good effect, keeping the much older Phillips at bay with hard shots to the body and head.

It was the constant body shots which seemed to take their toll on the former champion as he began to slow down later in the bout but Phillips also didn't have the power to trouble his far taller opponent despite not having much difficulty in hitting Williams when he did throw punches.

By the eighth round, Phillips was getting hurt and the bout was called to a halt before the ninth frame could begin to keep the 39 year old from further damage.

Williams wins the WBO Light Middle title, improving to 36-1 (27), while Phillips drops to 42-11-1 (21) after a brave performance in what could be the last big fight of his long career. More...