number1contender.net

Showtime ShoBox Recap

April 17, 2009

Buffalo Bill's Star Arena-Primm, Nevada

1. WBC International Welterweight (147 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Selcuk Aydin (17-0, 14 KO's, 146 pounds) (c) vs. Said Ouali (25-2, 17 KO's, 146 pounds)

Aydin won this title when it was vacant via 12-round unanimous decision over Lucky Lewele on April 26, 2008 at Spor Salonu in Trabzon, Turkey. The previous champion was Bongani Mwelase, who appears to have vacated the belt rather then rematch Lewele whom he nearly defeated for the title. Aydin is making his third defense of this belt.

Aydin had a solid amateur boxing career that ended in disgrace. He took second place at 132 pounds in several European amateur championships and represented his native Turkey in that weight class at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad. However following an amateur loss in 2005, Aydin hit the referee. That had Aydin suspended for more then a year. Following the suspension, Aydin began boxing as a pro with a technical knockout victory 1:31 into round 1 over Marian Gabris on November 10, 2006 at Sprthalle in Hamburg, Germany.

The champion now lives in Germany and has boxed primarily out of Germany as a pro. Of Aydin's 17 professional matches, 14 have been in Germany. The other 3 were also in Europe. Aydin has boxed twice in his native Turkey and once in Spain.

Aydin's last match was a technical knockout at 2:32 of round 1 over Luis Hernandez on March 6, 2009 in Germany.

Aydin is unranked by The Ring magazine, and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 34 boxer in the world at 147 pounds.

Ouali is a native of Morocco that began his professional boxing career in the Northeastern United States on November 24, 2000 with a technical knockout win over Peter Howard at JFK High School in Paterson, New Jersey.

The Moroccan has knocked out his last 8 opponents. This string of knockouts was highlighted by Ouali defeating Irving Garcia via technical knockout at 1:44 of round 2 to open up an ESPN Friday Night Fights card on March 23, 2007 from the Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut. Ouali used his powerful left hand to score 2 knockdowns in the second round for the stoppage. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/15/recap-of-said-ouali-vs-irving-garcia.html

Ouali's last match was a technical knockout at 2:18 of round 1 in a scheduled 8-rounder over Jonathan Nelson on January 16, 2009 at the Million Dollar Elm Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Nelson entered the match winless in his last 5 matches and Ouali was coming off a technical knockout win in a scheduled 6-round match. This is Ouali's first scheduled 12-rounder. He has only gone to a 10-round decision once in his career.

Ouali is unranked by The Ring, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 11 boxer in the world at 147 pounds.

At 25-years-old, Aydin is 4 years younger then the 29-year-old Ouali. Ouali has the height advantage standing 5' 10" tall, while Aydin stands 5' 7" tall. The challenger has the reach advantage with a 71" wingspan, compared to the 65" wingspan of the champion. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, Ouali should be the much heavier boxer in the ring. Aydin will box out of the orthodox stance and Ouali will employ the southpaw stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Nevada. The referee is Tony Weeks.

Round 1 is contested on the inside. This allows the much smaller Aydin to dominate it and win round 1 easily, 10-9. Round 2 is closer, but Aydin still wins it, 10-9. The great Roger Mayweather is training Ouali and told his charge after round 1 to stay off the ropes. However, Ouali spent much of round 2 putting himself against the ropes. Ouali landed some very good punches in round 2, but judges are not going to score rounds for boxers who spend the entire round with their back on the ropes. There was a stare-down at the end of round 2 following the final bell as the boxers started back to their corners. Then, Aydin foolishly pushed Ouali. That is a move that can get a boxer disqualified and suspended. Both boxers were warned for this after the bell encounter and the referee promised to take points if this match started to get out of hand. However, if Aydin does something that ridiculous again, he is probably getting disqualified. Mayweather was suspended for 1 year for getting in a brawl during a match between his nephew, Floyd Mayweather, Jr., and Zab Judah. The veteran trainer having learned from his experience told Ouali to go straight back to his corner from now on and not get involved in any of that non-sense. In addition to Aydin's suspension for punching the referee that ended his amateur career, he was suspended earlier in his amateur career for 5 years for brawling with an opponent after the bell. Round 3 was an entertaining brawl that saw both boxers land numerous hard power punches. Aydin wins the exciting round 3, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Ouali is landing good punches. However, he is losing the rounds because his back is against the ropes. Therefore, it looks like Ouali is being dominated when the rounds are very close. Both of Showtime's commentator's for this event, Nick Charles and Steve Farhood, have Aydin ahead after 3 rounds, 29-28. They both scored the first 2 rounds for Aydin by the score of 10-9. They then scored round 3 for Ouali, 10-9.

Aydin wins round 4 in the same manner he has won the previous 2 rounds, 10-9. Ouali is the superior boxer, but seems unwilling to box. Ouali could use his long jab to keep Aydin on the outside. However, Ouali has only thrown that punch a few times in this match. Mayweather is explaining to Ouali in the corner after every round how he is losing the rounds. However, the Moroccan is ignoring his trainer's advice and losing rounds, because of it. With 1:34 to go in round 5, the referee is going to call timeout briefly to admonish both boxers for roughhousing. Ouali begins to follow Mayweather's advice in round 5, but only slightly. That means Aydin wins round 5, 10-9. There is some redness on Ouali's back after round 5. It appears to be from Aydin hitting the Moroccan illegally in the kidneys. It may also be rope burn, because Ouali is marked at the same level on both sides. It is at the height of the third rope, which Ouali has been leaning on for most of the match. (Boxers generally do not develop the tolerance for hitting the ropes that pro-wrestlers do from running ropes.) Wit 1:58 to go in round 6, Aydin goes to the canvas as Ouali lands a few left hands followed by a right hand that appears to miss. However, the fall was caused from Aydin tripping walking backwards to dodge the right hand. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly restarted. With 4 seconds to go in round 6, the referee calls timeout, after Aydin hits Ouali with a hard right hand in the groin. The referee is taking a point from Aydin for hitting low. Aydin had been warned numerous times for hitting low, amongst a host of other fouls the champion has committed in this match. Weeks is an excellent referee and this is a good call. The crowd is booing, but this match could turn very ugly if Weeks does not maintain control of it. The action was paused for about a minute for Ouali to recover. When the action resumed there was only time for Ouali to throw a right jab that was blocked. The point deduction makes round 6 even, 9-9. After 6 rounds, Aydin leads on my scorecard, 59-54. Charles scored round 6 for Ouali, 10-8. Farhood scored round 6 even, 9-9. However, they both scored rounds 4 and 5 for Aydin, 10-9. That puts Aydin ahead on the Charles scorecard after 6 rounds, 57-56. After 6 rounds, Aydin leads on the Farhood scorecard, 58-55.

Ouali continues to box with his back to the ropes in round 7. That allows Aydin to land a variety of power punches to win round 7, 10-9. Round 8 is the same as all of the other ones and Aydin wins it, 10-9. Mayweather is being unusually calm with Ouali in the corner. If Mayweather were dealing with his nephew, he would be screaming in frustration at his charge's refusal to follow instructions. At the end of round 8, Ouali was cut on the outside of his nose. The cut is on the right side of Ouali's nose and should play no factor in the match. Ouali boxed a lot more in round 9, but Aydin landed the more significant punches in the round. Therefore, Aydin wins round 9, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 9 rounds, 89-81. Aydin tried to throw more punches after the bell and had to be restrained by the referee following round 9. The referee warned Aydin, again. The champion is now in serious danger of being disqualified. After round 9, Aydin has some swelling on the left side of his face. It started much earlier in the match, but is starting to become very noticeable. However, it is on the boxer's cheek and so far away from his eye that it should not play a factor in the match. Farhood gave round 9 to Ouali, 10-9. After 9 rounds, he has this a very close match with Aydin ahead, 86-84.

Ouali stayed off the ropes much more in round 10, and therefore wins it, 10-9. The challenger spends much of round 11 with his back against the ropes. That means Aydin wins round 11, 10-9. Aydin appears more gassed then Ouali entering the final round, even though Ouali has never gone 12 rounds before in his career. However, Ouali has not shown the ability to hurt Aydin in several rounds, making his chance to score a come from behind knockout seemingly remote. After round 11, both Farhood and Charles have Aydin ahead narrowly by the score of 105-103. Conversely after 11 rounds, my scorecard has Aydin up big, 108-100. With 36 seconds to go in round 12, an exhausted Ouali falls to the canvas chasing after Aydin. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is quickly restarted. Ouali was more active then Aydin in round 12. That may have allowed the Moroccan to barely win the sloppy round, 10-9. However, Aydin wins the match on my scorecard, 117-110. Both Charles and Farhood score round 12 for Ouali, 10-9, but have Aydin winning the match by the score of 114-113. The crowd gave the match a standing ovation following the final bell. (This is a somewhat easy crowd to please.)

It is taking a long time to add up the scorecards which tends to me something bad is about to happen. Considering Adalaide Byrd is on this panel, who is an infamously terrible judge, things are very tense in the ring. The official decision courtesy of Mike Hart is that the judges have scored this match: 114-113 for Ouali, 115-112 for Aydin, 116-111 for the winner by split decision and still WBC International Welterweight Champion, Selcuk "Mini Tyson" Aydin. Unsurprisingly, Byrd was the judge with the dissenting scorecard. The win moves Aydin to 18-0 with 14 wins coming by way of knockout.

Aydin was good in defeating a perfect opponent for him. The champion had an opponent that was stationary and allowed him to walk forward the entire match. Aydin appears one-dimensional. His defense is poor. Aydin appears unable to box going backwards or deal with an opponent that moves. If he is well protected he can continue winning for years. However, the 147-pound division is the deepest in boxing. Therefore, he will need to improve significantly to contend for a major belt in the weight class. However, his behavior in this match was unacceptable. Aydin cannot allow himself to become so easily frustrated and lose control. The first time Aydin runs across a serious challenge, he is likely to get himself disqualified and suspended for at least a year.

Ouali was bad in this match. He has the skills to beat Aydin, but did not use them. Ouali possesses the ability to move and box, but did not. The Moroccan was receiving great advice from his corner, but was unresponsive. A win here could have moved him into the top 10 at 147 pounds and had him potentially competing for a title within 12 months. However, this loss is such a setback that Ouali may never get a title shot.

Farhood is now going to interview the 2004 Olympic boxing gold medalist at 178 pounds, Andre Ward. The native of Oakland, California is there to plug his match on May 16 against Edison Miranda. The match will be carried on ShoBox and be Ward's first professional match in Oakland. Ward was very nice in his promo, which is not going to sell tickets. There are at least a half-dozen Hall-of-Famers from Oakland highlighted by 2009 inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame Ricky Henderson that can talk about how great they are seemingly forever. Ward really needs to meet with them to learn better promo skills.

2. Interim WBA Ordinary Featherweight (126 pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Yuriorkis Gamboa (14-0, 12 KO's, 125.5 pounds) vs. Jose Rojas (25-6-1, 1 ND, 17 KO's, 125 pounds)

This title is being created in this match so the WBA can get more sanctioning money. The WBA Super Champion at 126 pounds is Chris John. According to WBA rules, John should not be a Super Champion, creating the need for an Ordinary Champion. Additionally, John is neither injured nor behind on making his mandatory title defenses. Therefore, this is at best equivalent to when ROH had the Number One Contenders Trophy in the early days of the promotion. This should be at best be a title eliminator, but the WBA got the boxers to pay for the right to win a belt with as much prestige as the TNA Legends Championship. Even Gamboa has acknowledged this is a fake title match, but he needs to win it to face John. Therefore, good for the WBA and its corrupt policies, since it got them more money.

Gamboa had a highly decorated amateur boxing career. The highlight of Gamboa's amateur career was when he won the gold medal at 112 pounds for Cuba at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The Cuban's last high profile match was an ugly knockout victory over Marcos Ramirez at 1:41 of round 2 on October 2, 2008 at the Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California. Gamboa was knocked down by an illegal right elbow in round 1. The elbow smash appeared unintentional, but still the referee should not have ruled it a knockdown. An angry Gamboa responded by knocking down Ramirez down twice in round 2 to for the knockout. Those were the first 2 times Ramirez had been on the mat in his professional or amateur boxing career, but it was the fourth time Gamboa had tasted the canvas as a pro. The win sounds impressive, but Gamboa looked bad in the match. He was terrible defensively. Gamboa was reckless offensively, making him available for counter-punching. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/15/recap-of-yuriorkis-gamboa-vs-marcos-ramirez.html

Gamboa's last match was a knockout victory at 35 seconds of round 1 over Walter Estrada on February 20, 2009 at the University Center Arena in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Gamboa is unranked by The Ring, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 5 boxer in the world at 126 pounds.

Rojas started his professional boxing career very young, after a solid amateur boxing career where he won 5 national amateur championships in his native Venezuela. He made his pro debut at 18-years-old with a decision victory over Nelson Lugo on July 29, 1989 in Caracas, Venezuela. The Venezuelan would spend the next 2 years as an extended amateur career going 8-0 only facing 1 boxer that had ever won a professional match. Rojas' next 6 matches were very poorly chosen. He went 1-4 with 1 no decision. The lone victory in that stretch came in a 10-round split decision against a boxer that was 36-0.

However, Rojas learned from that horrific series of matches and has only failed to win 3 times since 1997. All of those were matches for the full version of this belt. The last 2 were to the top ranked boxer at 126 pounds, Chris John. On December 3, 2004, Rojas was beating John on the scorecards after 3 rounds, when the match had to be stopped because of an accidental clash of heads. It went into the record books as a technical draw and Rojas would not get his rematch for years. On March 3, 2007, Rojas challenged John for the WBA 126-pound belt at Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. Seeking to avenge the only blemish on his record at the time, John dominated Rojas in the rematch. John knocked Rojas down in round 2 and round 4 on his way to winning a wide unanimous decision.

Rojas' last match was a round 3 technical knockout over Rafael Castillo in a scheduled 6-rounder on March 20, 2008 in Colombia. Castillo entered the match with a record of 1-9-1 with 8 of those losses coming by knockout in his last 9 matches. It was Rojas first match in over a year following his loss to John. Somehow, in the months following that victory Rojas was moved up in the WBA's rankings from number 5 to number 3, so they could have this fake title match.

Rojas is unranked by The Ring and boxrec.com, because he has been inactive for over 1 year.

At 27-years-old, Gamboa has a 10 year age advantage over the 37-year-old Rojas. Rojas has the height advantage standing 5' 7" tall, while Gamboa stands 5' 5.5" tall. The Venezuelan has the reach advantage with a 68" wingspan, compared to the 65" wingspan of the Cuban. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, the numbers suggest Rojas will be the slightly heavier boxer in the ring. Gamboa will box out of the orthodox stance and Rojas will employ the southpaw stance.

All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Nevada. The referee is Russell Mora.

Gamboa started round 1 under control, then landed a series of powerful right hands to hurt Rojas with about 1:15 to go in the round. That caused the Cuban to revert to the reckless offensive style that has become his trademark. Gamboa went wildly charging after Rojas and fell, nearly going through the ropes making an out of control run at the Venezuelan with 1:06 to go in round 1. The Cuban did not stop when he fell, though. He got up and immediately hit Rojas with an illegal punch as the referee moved in to dust the young boxer off following the slip. The referee is correctly ruling it a slip, and strangely is not warning Gamboa for hitting on the break. Gamboa easily wins round 1, 10-9. The referee calls timeout at 2:56 of round 2, before the boxers can leave their corners. Rojas had too mach vaseline on his forehead that needed to be wiped off. There was going to be a delay to start the round, anyway. The official who stands in the corner during every round, did not exit the ring before the bell sounded for action to resume. That same official caused a few delays in the first match by not getting out of the ring by the time the bell sounded for the next round to start. Round 2 is only delayed about 10 seconds, before ready the boxers are allowed to resume practicing their craft. Gamboa wins a deliberate round 2, 10-9. Rojas is boxing with his hands very low, but has been able to dodge many of Gamboa's power punches. Gamboa is very fast, but throws very wide punches that Rojas can see coming and slip. If Gamboa threw straight punches this match would probably be over already. The start of round 3 is again delayed for the official in Rojas' corner to get out of the ring. The official is completely incompetent, but sporting a great 1970's era Burt Reynold's style mustache. With 1:35 to go in round 3, Gamboa goes lunging after Rojas, and again puts himself on the mat. The referee correctly rules it a slip, and the action is quickly restarted. With 1:17 to go still in round 3, Rojas pulls back to avoid a punch and trips over Gamboa's lead left leg. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is restarted after a 3 second pause. At the end of round 3, Rojas has some swelling underneath his right eye. Gamboa wins a sloppy round 3, 10-9 and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Farhood and Charles' scorecards match mine through 3 rounds and they both have Gamboa leading after 3 rounds, 30-27.

The start of round 4 is delayed because Rojas has too much vaseline on his face and the official sporting the pornstache is still in the ring. The official keeps trying to towel off the water in Rojas' corner from inside the ring after the stool is removed. What the official is supposed to do is get out of the ring and reach under the ropes to towel off the water from outside the ring. This is getting very annoying. At the start of round 4, the swelling under Rojas right eye is very severe. Rojas also has some severe swelling above his right eye. They are probably combining to already effect his vision and may lead to an early stoppage. Gamboa wins a more deliberate round 4, 10-9. With around 2:10 to go in round 5, a left hand puts Rojas down to a knee. That is the fourth time Rojas has been knocked down in his professional career. Rojas is arguing that it was a slip. The Venezuelan was somewhat off balance when Gamboa hit him. However, the punch contributed to Rojas going down. Therefore, the knockdown call is correct. Rojas easily answers the referee's 8-count and is allowed to continue with 1:56 to go in the round. Gamboa did not work to finish Rojas in round 5. That allowed the Venezuelan to easily finish out the round and make it back to the safety of his corner. The knockdown gives round 5 to Gamboa, 10-8. The start of round 6 is delayed, because the officials have not gotten out of the ring in Rojas' corner. There is now a bald official in Rojas corner to aid the inept official with mustache and neither of them were out of the ring in time. This is ridiculous. Rojas had better moments in round 6, but was still dominated in the round. Gamboa wins round 6, 10-9, and leads after 6 rounds, 60-53. Both of Showtime's commentator's scorecards are identical to mine after 6 rounds with Gamboa leading, 60-53. It would be very difficult to score this match differently.

The officials almost made it out of Rojas' corner by the bell to start round 7, leading to only a few second delay, rather then the 10 or more second delays that have become customary in this match. At the end of round 7, Rojas was cut around his right eye apparently from a punch. Gamboa wins round 7, 10-9. The Cuban is alternating between being recklessly aggressive and unusually passive. Gamboa will stand and stare at Rojas not punching for roughly 10 seconds at a time. The final punchstats will probably show this as a relatively slow paced match for boxers in this weight class. Rojas has done very little offensively despite being given numerous counter opportunities. Rojas is cut directly above his right eye on the area that has significantly swelling. Rojas may have no sight at all out of his right eye at this point. Rojas is also cut on the outside of his nose on the right side. The doctor should check Rojas. If Gamboa circled to his left the Cuban should be able to land free shots for the rest of the match. The referee checked on Rojas, and the boxer said he was fine to continue. However, it is the doctor who should check Rojas in this situation to make sure the boxer can see. With 1:06 to go in round 8, Rojas goes wildly charging after Gamboa in an effort to land a right hook and rams his own head into the turnbuckle. Amusingly, Farhood calls this, "a WWE move." Rojas clearly cannot see and this match should be stopped. Rojas shows some good defensive skills in round 8, but Gamboa wins the round easily, 10-9. The reason Rojas is able to show good defensive skills and slip so many punches is because Gamboa is almost exclusively throwing wide punches at Rojas' head. This is allowing Rojas to dodge. Gamboa lands almost every solid body punch he throws. If Gamboa threw more body punches this match would be over already. If Gamboa did a lot of things better this match would have been over already. However, the Cuban is still very green. Despite Gamboa's mistakes, the match should be stopped now in the corner after round 8 by the doctor or Rojas' trainer, because the boxer is clearly impaired and at risk of being severely hurt. At the end of round 8, Gamboa has some swelling around his left eye. It should play no part in this match. In the corner after round 8, the referee again checked on Rojas in the corner, but did not call the doctor over to examine the boxer. That is bizarre. The start of round 9 is delayed by the officials not getting out Rojas' corner on time, again. This is becoming a significant aid to the Venezuelan. Gamboa does very little in round 9, but wins it behind a few solid left hooks, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Gamboa leads on my scorecard, 90-80. The Showtime commentators have identical scorecards to mine. In round 9, it was very clear that Rojas cannot see Gamboa's left hook coming. This match should be stopped, because Rojas cannot see. When Gamboa figures out that he can land body shots and left hooks any time he wants this match will get very ugly. Finally after round 9, the doctor is going to check on Rojas. The doctor pretends to examine Rojas and rules the boxer fit to continue. The examination consisted of the doctor asking Rojas if he could see. Rojas said yes, even though he clearly cannot. Therefore, the doctor is going to let the match continue. The doctor never asked Rojas to tell him how many finger he was holding up or shined a light in his eyes. That is a dangerously incompetent examination and may get Rojas seriously injured.

With 1:32 to go in round 10, Gamboa started to land pick up the pace and was landing combinations. This caused the referee to move in and stop the match with Rojas still standing. It was a good stoppage based on the accumulation of punches Rojas had taken and the fact he could not see. The referee clearly wanted the doctor to stop the match after round 9, letting Rojas out somewhat honorably. However, the doctor did such a poor job the referee had to stop the match at the first opportunity he could find in round 10.

The official outcome courtesy of Mike Hart is that at: 1:31 of round 10 the winner via technical knockout, still undefeated and new interim WBA Featherweight Champion of the World, "El Cicion de Guantanamo" Yuriorkis Gamboa. The win moves Gamboa to 15-0 with now 13 wins coming by way of knockout.

Gamboa said in his post match interview that he wanted to box more in this match. Then Gamboa had his promoter say that his next match will be against the winner of John and Rocky Juarez, which is scheduled for June 27 on HBO.

Gamboa still has numerous flaws. His defense is still poor. Gamboa's offenses alternates between recklessly aggressive to passively non-existent. He possesses a lot of raw skill, but still needs a lot of training to refine that skill into making him an elite professional boxer. Gamboa's next match will probably be against John in the fall. John is an excellent boxer and counter-puncher, which is the worst stylistic match up for Gamboa at this point. Gamboa is going to need to spend much of the next 6 months training for the Indonesian or he will be blown out in that match.

Rojas showed outstanding defense in this match. However, his offense in this match was poor against an opponent that was very hittable. Rojas may retire after this match, since he was in semi-retired before this match. He may also become a mandatory challenger to the John-Gamboa winner if he beats a weak opponent in the next 8 months. The latter option seems more likely.

This event is a very easy skip.

News and Notes: As anticipated, Oscar De La Hoya retired at his press conference on Tuesday. He leaves the sport as the greatest PPV draw in history. In De La Hoya's career he made more money then any boxer ever has. His records for drawing money are likely to stand for at least a decade and possibly much longer. De La Hoya matches did 14.1 million buys in the United States alone for a total of $696.4 million. The actual money his matches made is much higher when everything is factored into the equation. De La Hoya won 10 world titles in 6 weight classes, becoming the undisputed champion in 4 separate weight classes. In 1997, De La Hoya would begin a brief reign as the top pound-for-pound boxer in the world. He leaves the sport with a phenomenal record of 39-6 with 30 wins coming by way of knockout as he retires at 36-years-old. All of the boxers who gave De La Hoya his 6 losses are likely headed to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He began boxing at 5-years-old and compiled an amateur record of 223-5 with 163 wins coming by way of knockout that culminated when he won the gold medal at 132 pounds the 1992 Barcelona Olympics to keep a promise to his late mother whom he dedicated the medal. De La Hoya leaves the ring to be arguably the premier promoter in the sport today. De La Hoya has constructed an empire that extends beyond boxing to real estate, a partial ownership stake in Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo and as a substantial investor in the sugar substitute Equal among numerous other ventures. He has used boxing to earn him a net worth of nearly $1 billion dollars. However, De La Hoya has given a lot of his money back to charity. He funded a cancer wing at a hospital in East Los Angeles, California that is named after his mother who died of breast cancer. There is a charter school funded and named after the boxer, also in his native East Los Angeles. A win over De La Hoya made his opponent into superstars. Even a match with De La Hoya could help make his opponents into stars. There is a bronze statue of him outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The mayor of Los Angeles showed up at De La Hoya's retirement press conference to thank the boxer for everything he has done. It was time for De La Hoya to retire, but the sport will feel the loss of his presence in the ring for many many years.

The Floyd Mayweather, Jr. return date has changed. He will now be likely returning on HBO PPV against Juan Manual Marquez on July 18. The date was moved, so as not to compete with UFC 100.

There were some changes to The Ring's rankings following last week's HBO event. Chris Arreola moved up 1 spot to become The Ring's number 7 contender to their vacant title at heavyweight. Paul Williams is now The Ring's number 5 contender at 160 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Kelly Pavlik. Williams remains their number 2 contender to the vacant championship at 154 pounds. He was The Ring's number 2 contender at 147 pounds a few months ago at the time behind only Antonio Margarito, until he relinquished his belt in the weight class. However, Williams has not moved into The Ring's top 10 pound-for-pound list.

Ruslan Chagaev is being forced to unify his portion of the WBA heavyweight title with Nikolai Valuev's portion on May 30. The match will likely take place in Helsinki, Finland and not be televised in the United States.

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia has signed to make his professional boxing debut in a 6-round match against former heavyweight boxing title holder Ray Mercer on June 13. The match was originally going to be held in New Jersey. However, New Jersey has a relatively good commission and refused to sanction the match. Thanks to commission shopping, the competitors moved the match to Mississippi where it was quickly approved by the weak state commission there. That highlights the need for a national boxing commission.

Miguel Cotto told reporters this week that he does not want charges filed against his uncle for throwing a cement block at him. However, the Puerto Rican police may file charges anyway.

The Cotto match with Joshua Clottey on June 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York is no longer a 147-pound title unification match. Cotto missed a deadline for filling out the paperwork to challenge for Clottey's belt. This has forced Clottey to vacate his title to face Cotto. Otherwise, Clottey was going to have to take a mandatory defense and skip the better paying match with Cotto.

Andre Berto has signed to defend his 147-pound title in the main event of the May 30 HBO event against 140-pound title holder Juan Urango at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Hulk Hogan and family will likely be in attendance at that event, which should be interesting.

HBO premiered their latest documentary on boxing last Saturday and it is phenomenal. The documentary titled "Thrilla in Manila" focuses on the rivalry between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It is not a kid friendly movie or for people who like to have heroes. The movie opening of the movie is so brutally violent that it may even make some boxing fans uncomfortable. There are going to be a myriad of replays of this film over the coming years and people should really go out of their way to see it.

The next recap will be covering the April 24 Showtime event featuring Cory Spinks competing in a match for a vacant belt at 154 pounds.

Sincerely,

Jereme Warneck

number1contender.net

Boxing and Video Game Correspondent for f4wonline.com

Hidden Valley Lake, CA

I can be reached for feedback and comments at ZurRoadie@aol.com or as JeremeW on XBOX Live. I read everything.