World Weekend Boxing Roundup: Martinez, Garcia, Lebedev Victorious

We kick off this week’s report in sunny San Juan, Puerto Rico where Rocky Martinez became a three-time WBO super featherweight champion by dethroning Mexico’s Orlando Salido last night at Coliseo Jose Miguel Agrelot.

Martinez used good footwork and a height advantage to keep Salido at bay in the early rounds but by the third the fighters were engaging at close range. Surprisingly, this approach worked well for the challenger, who decked Salido in the third and fifth rounds.

Salido focused on attacking his rival’s midsection for the first ten rounds, losing a point in the 11th frame for straying low, and had good success but was never in control as Martinez used his edge in quickness working off an effective jab to win points.

The champion stepped it up over the last two rounds and did everything he could to knock out the local man but Martinez wisely avoided a slugfest and came away with a 116-109, 115-110, 114-111 UD.

Martinez improves to 29-2-2 (17) while Salido falls to 42-13-2 (29).

Crossing the Caribbean, we land in Mazalatan, Mexico where the world’s top light flyweight, Pedro Guevera, 25-1-1 (17), made short work of previously undefeated power puncher Richard Claveras, 12-1-2 (12), by banging out the challenger at 2:31 of the very first round at Centro de Usos Multiples.

Guevera retains for the first time the title he won on the road in Japan by knocking out Akira Yaegashi in December and could be back in Japan or the Philippines next for a unification match.

Heading north, we hit Barclays Center in New York, NY where WBO Middleweight champion Andy Lee, 34-2-1 (24), rose from two knockdowns to drop former WBO champ Peter Quillin, 31-0-1 (22), in the seventh as the two battled to a thrilling draw.

Scores were 113-112 for Lee, 113-113 even and 113-112 for Quillin. The WBO title could only have been lost by Lee as Quillin was ineligible to win the belt as he failed to make weight on Friday.

Light welter world champions Danny Garcia, 30-0 (17), and Lamont Peterson, 33-3-1 (17), faced each other at a catch weight of 143 pounds, with no title belts on the line.

Garcia was the busier fighter and was awarded the majority decision by winning two of the scorecards 115-113 while the third came in even at 114-114.

The Philadelphian hasn’t defended his WBC and WBA crowns in over a year and is reportedly moving up to the welterweight division, where he will find a far more competitive weight class.

Aside from a controversial hometown split decision victory over Amir Khan in 2011, Peterson has never defeated a top class opponent, losing to Garcia, Lucas Martin Matthysse and Timothy Bradley while drawing with Victor Ortiz.

On Friday, the Villa La Nata Sporting Club in Benavidez, Argentina erupted in joy as local cruiserweight Victor Emilio Ramirez, 22-2 (17), outfought former world title challenger Ola Afolabi, 21-4-4 (10), to pick up the Interim IBF belt.

Ramirez had previously held the WBO strap in 2009 but was dethroned by Marco Huck later that year. With the win over Afolabi, Ramirez has now earned the right to face IBF champion Yoan Pablo Hernandez.

At Luzhniki Arena, in Moscow, Russia, local man Denis Lebedev, 27-2 (20), retained the WBA cruiserweight crown by outpointing Youri Kayembre Kalenga, 21-2 (14), by margins of 116-111, 116-110 and 115-112.

Lebedev was down in the fourth before returning the favor in the seventh.

Lebedev could be in line for a massive domestic showdown with WBC champion Grigory Drozd should Drozd win his rematch with former champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk next month.