number1contender.net

Showtime Championship Boxing Recap

April 4, 2009

Bell Centre-Montreal, Quebec

1. IBF Super Middleweight (168 pounds) 12-Round Title Elimination Match:
Librado Andrade (27-2, 21 KO's, 167 pounds) vs. Vitali Tsypko (22-2, 1 ND, 12 KO's, 167.25 pounds)

The current IBF Champion at 168 pounds is Montreal's Lucian Bute. The winner of this match will face Bute in this same building probably on Showtime on August 1 or September 5. Therefore, even though this is not the main event it is supposed to be the primary gate draw for this show. It however, does not make for appealing television in Canada. Instead, TSN is airing a replay of the match of the year candidate from February between Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz.

Andrade had a short amateur boxing career before turning pro with a 4-round unanimous decision over Marcus Harvey on August 14, 1999 at the Los Alamitos Racetrack in Cypress, California. The resident of nearby La Habra, California would then use the next few years of his career facing limited opposition as a form of extended amateur career.

The Californian has severe nerve damage in his left arm that means any match could literally be his last. Due to that nerve damage, blocking punches with his arms and gloves causes his arms to go numb. This has caused Andrade to develop the unusual defensive tactic of essentially blocking punches with his face. Andrade intentionally lets opponents hit him in the face, then tries to roll with the punch so that they have no effect. Therefore, Andrade does very poorly on judges' scorecards, even in rounds where he takes little damage. This means that Andrade must primarily win by knockout, because of his unusual defensive style.

Andrade's last match was a robbery 12-round unanimous decision loss to Bute in this building on October 24, 2008. Andrade knocked Bute down and out with less then 5 seconds to go in round 12. However, the Montreal official refused to rule Bute knocked out. Instead, the referee, Marlon B. Wright, took around 25 seconds to apply his 8-count, claiming Andrade had left the neutral corner as an excuse to hold up the count. Still after the outrageously long count, Bute was still out on his feet. In that situation, a referee is supposed to rule a boxer knocked out, because they are not fit to continue and cannot be saved by the bell even in the last round under the unified rules of boxing. Instead, Wright signaled that the semi-conscious Bute was fine to continue and the final bell sounded before another punch could be landed. This allowed Bute to be knocked out and escape with his title. A full recap of that abomination can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/1/30/recap-of-lucian-bute-vs-librado-andrade.html

Andrade is The Ring magazine's number 3 contender to their vacant championship at 168 pounds.

Tsypko is a Ukrainian that has boxed the entirety of his professional career in Europe with 2 exceptions. The 2 times Tsypko boxed professionally outside of Europe, he did not win. On June 5, 2004, Tsypko traveled to Joplin, Missouri to face the then fast rising Jeff Lacy for the IBF's number 2 contender position at 168 pounds. That match would end in a no decision in round 2 when Tsypko could not continue after being cut by an accidental clash of heads. Tsypko returned to the United States to rematch Lacy in Lacy's first match after the American was dominated by Joe Calzaghe on December 2, 2006. The match was held in essentially Lacy's hometown of Tampa, Florida at the St. Pete Times Forum. That night, a fading Lacy won a 10-round majority decision with the 2 scorecards in Lacy's favor having the Floridian ahead 6 rounds to 4 rounds.

Tsypko's last match was a match to stay busy against Marcin Piatkowski on May 17, 2008 in Germany. Tsypko won by technical knockout in round 3 over Piatkowski, who was 1-7 in his last 8 matches. The Ukrainian was already the IBF's number 2 contender at 168 pounds via a 12-round unanimous decision victory over David Gogiya on September 29, 2007 in Germany. Therefore, it is clear Tsypko was only facing Piatkowski to get time in the ring until getting his number 1 contenders match.

Tsypko is unranked by The Ring, and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 23 boxer in the world at 168 pounds.

At 30-years-old, Andrade is 2 years younger then 32-year-old Tsypko. Andrade has the height advantage standing 6' 1" tall, while Tsypko stands 5' 11.5" tall. The Californian has the reach advantage with a 74" wingspan, compared to the 73.5" wingspan of the Ukrainian. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available. However, the IBF rule requiring both boxers to weigh-in within 10 pounds of the weight limit on the day of the match are in effect. That means both boxers should be roughly the same size in the ring. Tsypko will employ the southpaw stance and Andrade will box out of the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. The official judges keeping score of this match are from the United States, Germany and Canada. The referee is Jean-Guy Brouseau. The pre-match stare-down revealed there may be some problems with the officiating in this match. The referee speaks at least English and French. It appears Tsypko speaks neither.

Andrade out-works Tsypko to easily win round 1, 10-9. With 2:38 to go in round 2, Andrade lands a huge right hand that drops Tsypko onto his backside on the canvas. It is a flash knockdown and Tsypko is up easily to answer the referee's 8-count. Tsypko seems mostly clear headed and anxious to resume when the action is restarted with 2:23 to go in the round. The Ukrainian appeared to have completely recovered 20 seconds after the action had resumed and had no problems lasting out the round. However, the knockdown gives Andrade round 2, 10-8. Andrade lands repeated hard power punches to win round 3, 10-9. At this point, it does not look like Tsypko is going to be standing for too many more rounds. The crowd was gasping several times at the ferocity of the punches Andrade landed in round 3. After 3 rounds, Andrade leads on my scorecard, 30-26. Al Bernstein, who is doing color commentary of this event for Showtime, has Andrade ahead after 3 rounds, 29-27. Bernstein scored round 1 for Tsypko.

Round 4 is Tsypko's best of the match and he may have barely won it, 10-9. Andrade continues to land hard right hands, and that earns the Californian round 5, 10-9. After round 5, Bute is shown in the crowd. There is some concern that Bute will vacate his belt to avoid a rematch with Andrade, but all of the champion's words and actions have indicated that he too wants a rematch. Andrade lands the more meaningful punches to win a close round 6, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Andrade leads on my scorecard, 59-54. The members of press row keeping unofficial score of the match for Showtime all have Andrade ahead after 6 rounds: 60-53, 58-55, 59-54. After 6 rounds, Bernstein also has Andrade winning by the score of 58-55.

With 2:34 to go in round 7, a combination highlighted by a right uppercut sends Tsypko staggering and down to his knees on the mat. The combination that knocked Tsypko down for the second time in the match was not a flash knockdown. However, Tsypko appears to have amazing recuperative powers and appears almost back to normal when he regains his feet. A frustrated Tsypko is allowed to continue with 2:20 to go in the round, and should be able to last out the round. Andrade dominates the rest of round 7 to win it big, 10-8. At this point, Tsypko is starting to appear haggard. The accumulation of punches and Andrade's constant pressure is getting to the Ukrainian. Tsypko will need to change the momentum quickly or he will be knocked out in the next 3 rounds. If Tsypko suffers another round like round 7, his corner should probably throw in the towel. Tsypko has almost no chance of knocking out Andrade, who has never been stopped. The Ukrainian possesses very little punching power and has shown none in this match. With 1:21 to go in round 8, the referee calls timeout to attend to some lose tape on the right glove of Tsypko. The action is only stopped for roughly 15 seconds. Andrade may have squeaked out a very close and uneventful round 8, 10-9. Andrade wins a close round 9, 10-9. Tsypko did make adjustments in rounds 8 and 9 to change the flow of the match. The Ukrainian stopped boxing aggressively and now appears in survival mode. Tsypko appears content to accept a decision loss and is no longer boxing aggressively to win at the risk of a knockout loss. However, Tsypko boxes more aggressively in round 10. That allows Andrade to land more big right hands and take round 10 easily, 10-9, and he leads on my scorecard after 10 rounds, 99-89. After 10 rounds, Bernstein has Andrade ahead, 97-91.

With a little over 2 minutes to go in round 11, Andrade is cut above his left eye. On replay it appears Andrade may have been cut by one of Tsypko's right jabs. The cut appears to be impairing Andrade's vision. If the match were stopped because of that cut, Tsypko would win via come from behind technical knockout. With over 10 seconds to go still in round 11, a punch from Andrade causes blood to start flowing from the nose of Tsypko. Tsypko did well in round 11 after Andrade had begun to bleed. Andrade rallied with less then one minute to go in the round, but Tsypko probably did enough to win the close round 11, 10-9. A close up in the corner after round 11 reveals that the cut above Andrade's eye is very small. It is highly unlikely that the referee would stop the match in the final round on that cut. The cut has stopped bleeding when Andrade comes out to start round 12. Andrade pours on the offense to win an exciting round 12 that has the crowd giving both boxers a standing ovation when the final bell sounds, 10-9. Andrade wins the match on my scorecard, 118-108. After the final bell sounded, Bute was shown in the crowd standing and enthusiastically clapping. This has the crowd chanting for Bute. They want a rematch. Andrade then goes over to the corner nearest Bute's seat and waves at the champion. Bute responds by giving Andrade a thumbs up for a job well done. This match did an excellent job marketing the rematch.

The official decision from the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 120-106, 117-109, 117-109, all for the winner by unanimous decision, Librado Andrade. The win moves Andrade to 28-2 with 21 wins coming by way of knockout.

Andrade said in his post match interview that he wants his rematch with Bute and will be happy to have it in Montreal.

Bute's new mandatory challenger was good in this victory. Andrade still showed problems defensively and an inability to cut off the ring. A good boxer will be able to take advantage of those weaknesses and Bute is an excellent boxer. It means that in the rematch Andrade will have to do the same thing he needed to do in the first match, score a knockout to win.

Tsypko showed a lot of ring rust in the early rounds. The Ukrainian will need to be far more active to compete with the top boxers at 168 pounds. Tsypko's next match will probably be against a soft opponent in Europe. After a few years of beating up weak opposition in Europe, he may return to American television to challenge for a title.

2. WBC Super Lightweight/WBO Junior Welterweight (140 pounds) 12-Round Championship Unification Match:

Timothy Bradley (23-0, 11 KO's, 138.5 pounds) (WBC) vs. Kendall Holt (25-2, 13 KO's, 139.75 pounds) (WBO)

Bradley won his title in a huge upset of Junior Witter via 12-round split decision on May 10, 2008 at what was the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. In round 6, Bradley used a Chuck Liddell style overhand right to knock down Witter for the first time in the Englishman's professional boxing career. At the end of the match, the only controversy was how one judge had managed to score the match for Witter. Even some of the English fans booed that ridiculous scorecard. The win made Bradley only the fifth boxer born in history born in the United States to win a world title in England. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/24/recap-of-timothy-bradley-jr-vs-junior-witter.html Bradley is making his second defense of this title.

Holt won his title with The Ring's 2008 Knockout of the Year of Ricardo Torres at 1:01 of round 1 on July 5, 2008 at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the exciting rematch, Holt was dropped twice in the first 32 seconds of the match. Holt then got off the canvas to knock Torres completely unconscious with a headbutt followed by a right hand. In a memorable scene, Torres landed in the position similar to the pose of French sculptor Auguste Rodin's famous statue "The Thinker". A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/19/recap-of-kendall-holt-vs-ricardo-torres-ii.html Holt is making his second defense of this title.

Bradley had an extensive amateur boxing career of over 145 amateur matches.

The Californian is one of the top young boxers in the sport. However, as tonight's ring announcer Lennon got caught saying in a video that ended up on the internet, Bradley has one great weakness, "he's a terrible trash-talker." Therefore, Bradley has taken the unusual step for a boxer of getting promo coaches. Bradley has enlisted the services of a promo coach that has drawn a lot of money in former WCW and WWE World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg. (However in keeping with kayfabe, ESPN.com identified Goldberg as an MMA analyst.) This promo training has served Bradley well. After cutting a terrible promo on Holt in December, Bradley came back with a great performance at the press conference hyping this event a few months later. Instead of the usual boxing press conference that ends in a pull-apart, Bradley cut a promo and participated in several verbal exchanges that convinced viewers he was going to have an entertaining match. It was refreshing and did not seem scripted, like most boxing press conferences.

Bradley's last match was a 12-round blowout unanimous decision over Edner Cherry on September 13, 2008 at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi. Bradley out-worked Cherry throughout the match and landed a huge right hand to score a 1-punch knockdown in round 7. That was only the fourth time Cherry had been knocked down in his 32 match pro career, continuing to show Bradley's growing 1-punch power. (Oddly, in the Showtime text message poll for the event one of the options for the key factor in this match is that Bradley lacks 1-punch power. To show how valid viewers thought that option was, it finished last in the text message poll by a wide margin.) A full recap of the Bradley vs. Cherry match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/4/recap-of-timothy-bradley-vs-edner-cherry.html

Bradley is The Ring's number 1 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Ricky Hatton.

Holt had a modest amateur boxing career where he won 3 New Jersey Golden Gloves Championships.

The Paterson, New Jersey resident is undefeated in matches that have gone to he scorecards. Holt's 2 losses have both come via controversial technical knockout. On June 18, 2004, Holt lost to Thomas Davis via stoppage at 2:59 of round 1 at the DePaul Athletic Center in Chicago, Illinois. Many observers believe the referee stepped in prematurely in that match. The other knockout loss was a dubious stoppage in round 11 to Torres on September 1, 2007 at Salon Jumbo del Country Club in Barranquilla, Colombia. Holt was knocked down earlier in the round 11 and successfully answered the referee's 8-count. Then, the fans began to pelt the ring with debris. Holt was hurt, but did not appear out of it. However, the people in the ring and at ringside were in serious peril as debris continued to rain down and the crowd became riotous. Therefore, the referee deciding it was best to leave the ring alive called a questionable halt to the contest.

Holt's last match was a 12-round split decision victory over Demetrius Hopkins on December 13, 2008 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Holt was scheduled to face Torres for a third time that night in an event titled "No Excuses", but the Colombian pulled out less then a week before the match saying he had been sick and could not make weight. Coming off over a year long layoff, Hopkins who had been training for a match at 145 pounds on the undercard then stepped in to take the title shot. The result was a horrifically bad match. The boxers matched up poorly. Holt had been training for a pressure boxer in Torres and ended up with a counter-puncher. This lead to a boring match where Holt did little offensively. A full recap of the match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/4/1/recap-of-kendall-holt-vs-demetrius-hopkins.html

Holt is The Ring's number 6 contender at 140 pounds.

At 25-years-old, Bradley is 2 years younger then the 27-year-old Holt. Holt has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Bradley stands 5' 6" tall. The New Jersey resident has the reach advantage with a 70.5" wingspan, compared to the 69" wingspan of Bradley. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but the numbers suggest that Holt will be the heavier boxer in the ring. Both boxers will employ the orthodox stance.

Two of the official judges keeping score of this match from ringside are from Canada, and the other judge is from Puerto Rico. The referee is Michael Griffin.

With 1:01 to go in round 1, Holt lands a gigantic counter-left hook that literally lifts Bradley off his feet. The punch had Bradley briefly soaring in the air, before the boxer crashed down hard on the canvas. That is one of the most spectacular knockdowns of the last few years and should end up on highlight reels for years. Holt knocking Bradley skyward is far more impressive then what he did to Torres to earn knockout of the year. Everyone reading this needs to seek out this replay to see this knockdown. Gus Johnson, who is doing play-by-play of this event for Showtime, is usually over enthusiastic. However, here his screaming to call this knockdown matched the moment and was great. That is the first time Bradley has ever been knocked down in either his amateur or professional boxing career. Astoundingly, Bradley was up quickly after hitting the mat. Bradley easily answers the referee's count and is allowed to continue with 46 seconds to go in the round as Johnson continues to lose his mind screaming with excitement on commentary. The Californian boxed the rest of round 1 tentatively, but made it back to his corner without needing to clinch. Holt's awe inspiring knockdown earns him round 1, 10-8. Holt wins round 2 by landing several good power punches, highlighted by 2 big left hooks in the opening minute of the round, 10-9. Bradley is busier in round 3, but Holt appeared to land the more effective punches in the round. Therefore, Holt wins round 3, 10-9, and is ahead on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-26. After round 3, Nate Campbell is shown watching in the crowd. Campbell lost his titles at 135 pounds when he failed to make weight for his last match. He is moving up to 140 pounds and looking to face the winner of this match. (The other notable celebrity that has been shown in the crowd is the starting halfback for the NFL's New York Giants, Brandon Jacobs, who accompanied Holt to the ring.) After 3 rounds, Bernstein has the match even, 28-28. The Showtime commentator scored rounds 2 and 3 for Bradley based on his superior work rate.

With over 30 seconds to go in round 4, Holt has been cut over his right eye. Holt is acting like the cut is bleeding into his eye and effecting his vision. The cut appears to have been caused by an unintentional clash of heads. Both boxers had been warned about headbutting earlier in the round. Round 4 is Bradley's best round of the match and he wins it easily, 10-9. The cut above Holt's eye does not appear to be very serious. It is very small and barely bleeding. However, Holt appears to be badly effected by the cut. The referee never signaled that the cut was caused by a clash of heads. The rule is that whenever a referee is unsure about the cause of a cut, they are to rule it is caused by a punch. That means if this cut were to cause a premature stoppage, Holt would lose via technical knockout. However, Holt is not bleeding when he comes out to start round 5. In the opening 20 seconds of round 5, Holt has already complained twice to the referee about Bradley headbutting him. Holt began to vociferously complain to the referee about Bradley's roughhouse tactics at the end of round 4 to the point he turned away from his opponent. The New Jersey native appears to be losing focus from defeating Bradley and instead focusing on complaining to the referee to get Bradley deducted a point. If Holt does not regain his composure quickly, he could give away several rounds. The busier Bradley wins round 5, 10-9. To start round 6, Holt is bleeding slightly out of his right nostril. That and the continued body punching from Bradley may explain the diminishing punch output from Holt. Holt was relatively active for the first 2 minutes of round 6, then barely punched in the last minute. Therefore, Bradley wins round 6 easily, 10-9. Round 7 features numerous largely intentional fouls from both boxers and some great body punching from Bradley to win the round, 10-9. After 7 rounds, the match is even on my scorecard, 66-66. Bernstein has Bradley with a big lead after 7 rounds, 68-64.

With 1:00 to go in round 8, Bradley hits Holt low with a left hand and the referee gives serious consideration to deducting a point from the Californian. Instead, the referee opts to issue Bradley a stern warning for hitting low. The next flagrant low blow may cost Bradley a point, but the referee clearly does not want to be the deciding factor in the match by deducting potential crucial points. Therefore despite the referee's stern warning, Bradley will probably not be deducted a point even if he hits low a few more times in this match. With 30 seconds to go still in round 8, Holt is pushed to a knee on the mat. The referee correctly rules it a slip. The action is quickly restarted with 25 seconds to go in the round. Bradley out-works Holt to win round 8, 10-9. Holt landed several good power punches to win a close round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, the match is still even on my scorecard, 85-85. Bernstein still has Bradley ahead by 4 points after 9 rounds, 87-83.

Bradley wins round 10 by doing the more consistent work throughout the round, 10-9. Bradley spends much of round 11 chasing the retreating Holt around the ring, and wins round 11 easily, 10-9. With 29 seconds to go in the final round, a combination from Holt causes Bradley to slip and the Californian's right glove touched the canvas for a moment. The referee is correctly ruling that, because the combination contributed to the slip that is a knockdown. Bradley has now been knocked down for both the second time in this match and in his competitive boxing career. The crowd is booing the referee's knockdown call, because they could not see the glove touch. After failing to convince the referee it was a slip, Bradley is smiling in disbelief as the referee applies the mandatory 8-count. Bradley is allowed to continue and appears fine to finish the match when the action is resumed with 15 seconds to go in the round. Holt did not work to finish Bradley in the remaining time, but did win round 12, 10-8. The 2 knockdowns have the match ending in a draw on my scorecard, 113-113. After a match that had a plethora of fouls from both boxers, when the final bell sounds the boxers embraced in the center of the ring. They then chatted like good friends as they anxiously awaited the official decision. Bernstein has Bradley winning the match by the final score of 115-111. The members of the press keeping unofficial score of the match from ringside for Showtime had the match a majority draw: 113-113, 113-113, 114-112 (Holt). It should be noted that the member of the press who had Holt winning is a writer for the newspaper in Holt's hometown.

The official outcome courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 114-112, 115-111, 115-111, all for the winner by unanimous decision, still undefeated and now the Unified WBC/WBO 140-Pound Champion of the World, Timothy "Desert Storm" Bradley. Upon hearing the decision, Bradley dropped to the canvas in tears of joy. The win moves Bradley to 24-0 with 11 wins coming by way of knockout.

Bradley, still crying, was unable to say anything of note in his post match interview.

A disappointed Holt in his post match interview, admitted he gave away some of the rounds by being relatively inactive. Of course, Holt wants a rematch.

Bradley was very good in this match. He showed poor defense on occasion. However, Bradley still showed that he is the best 140-pound boxer in the world not named Hatton. Bradley has several options of where to go after this match. The Showtime broadcasters kept mentioning a potential match up between the winner of this match and Hatton, Manny Pacquiao, and Floyd Mayweather, Jr. However, none of those boxers are looking to face Bradley in 2009, nor should they. A rematch with Holt is dangerous, and Bradley would not have little to gain in another victory. That makes it very unlikely to happen, even though it would be entertaining for boxing fans. The WBC mandated before this match that the winner make a mandatory title defense against Devon Alexander in their next match or be stripped of the title. Bradley has 15 days to decide if he wants to take the mandatory defensive or vacate the belt. The Californian will most likely take the title defense. The added draw of having 2 belts could help Bradley get bigger money matches at 140 pounds in the future. That would probably be an undercard match on another Showtime Championship Boxing event.

Holt was good in this match. He would have won if he were more active. Holt was very effective with his jab, but rarely threw it and that could have been the difference in the match. The tape of this match will provide ample things for Holt to work on and improve in training. Holt also has numerous good match ups available to him coming out of this match. The best match for Holt is an immediate rematch with Bradley, but that is unlikely to happen. The next best option for Holt is to main event a ShoBox event in a rubber match with Torres. The winner of that match should be in line for an immediate title shot. If that falls through, Holt could probably face a few lower profile boxers at 140 pounds and have himself back in title contention within 12 months.

The first match on this show was good and featured an exciting last round. The second match was very good throughout the contest. That combines to make an excellent show that is worth seeking out a replay of in the future. There are no immediate replays scheduled, but Showtime will replay this numerous times over the next several years.

News and Notes: Oscar De La Hoya has scheduled a press conference for April 14 in Los Angeles to announce whether he is going to retire or continue boxing. This has not been announced, but it will probably be carried live on ESPNEWS or even regular ESPN.

It is official that David Haye will challenge for Wladimir Klitschko's heavyweight titles on June 20. It will be held at the home stadium of Bundesliga soccer club Schalke in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The retractable roof stadium holds 61,673 fans for soccer matches and should be able to accommodate thousands more for this match. The Klitschko-Haye match will be carried in the United States live on HBO in the afternoon with a primetime replay. The revenue deal was worked out that Haye will only be paid a portion of the money from Setanta Sports, who is paying to broadcast the match in Great Britain. That will reportedly be several million dollars. Klitschko will receive a portion of the Setanta broadcast fees and all of the money HBO is paying to carry the match. In addition, Klitschko will receive all of the money from the German broadcast fees, all other worldwide broadcast fees, the entire profit from the live gate and any sponsorship money from the event. Furthermore, should Haye win he has had to sign for 2 title defenses. Haye will have to run the Klitschko gauntlet. The order of the gauntlet is not guaranteed, but presumably, Haye would first have to rematch Wladimir. Then if Haye were to defeat Wladimir again, the Englishman would have to face older brother Vitali to unify their heavyweight titles. The bonus for Haye in this deal is that he would get to promote his potential 2 title defenses, which would guarantee the Englishman huge purses.

The lab tests are in on the illegal substance that was in Antonio Margarito's hand wraps prior to his match with Shane Mosley match. Apparently, the "plaster-like substance" was in fact plaster. That is the worst case scenario. It is now very unlikely that Margarito's former trainer Javier Capetillo will be reinstated after 1 year when he is first eligible. Margarito has suddenly become very remorseful for what happened and is now going to be trained by the 2008 consensus trainer of the year Freddie Roach. However, it is still unlikely that Margarito will be reinstated after a year, since it appears he was attempting to kill his opponents. There was apparently already dried blood on the illegal hand wraps that the California State Athletic Commission confiscated. Bob Arum, Margarito's promoter, originally called the CSAC racist for suspending Margarito fallowing the hearing. When Arum was informed of the lab results, the normally talkative promoter said he had no comment.

The Miguel Cotto-Joshua Clottey 147-pound title unification match is official for June 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. It will be carried live on HBO. As for the list of future Cotto opponents after Clottey, it is unlikely to ever include Margarito. Cotto who had been diplomatic about commenting on whether Margarito used loaded hand wrap in their match is now openly discussing his outrage with the disgraced boxer. The Puerto Rican boxer has said Margarito should be banned for life. Cotto is accusing Margarito of using loaded hand wraps in their match. The apparent Margarito victim has described what the disgraced boxer did as placing his opponents in a "slaughter house". Cotto, rightly never wants to see a person whom he believe literally tried to kill him, again let alone be involved in a match that would earn the person millions of dollars.

The talks have ceased in the potential Bernard Hopkins-Tomasz Adamek match. The deal would have had Hopkins moving up from 175 pounds to challenge for Adamek's Ring Championship at 200 pounds on July 11 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on HBO. HBO had reportedly already offered around $3 million to carry the match. The match was expected to do an over $1 million live gate powered by the strong Polish-American community that support Adamek in Newark. Additionally, there was going to be additional revenue generated from the event from international broadcasting fees, primarily in Adamek's native Poland. However, Adamek and his promoter, Main Event Promotions, were offered a flat $500,000 combined for the match by Golden Boy Promotions. That was a ridiculously low offer. That is the same amount Adamek and his promoter made for the Pole's title defense on ShoBox against Jonathon Banks. Main Event was looking for a percentage split of the revenue for the event. Main Event had asked for a silly 60-40 split in favor of Adamek, which was also ridiculous. However, they were willing to negotiate and would have probably settled for a percentage split in favor of Hopkins. Hopkins now says he wants to move down to 168 pounds to face Paul Williams. Adamek was being positioned for a rematch with Steve Cunningham, who he defeated in a controversial split decision to win the vacant Ring Championship at 200 pounds. That makes Cunningham, Adamek's likely next opponent in a match on Showtime. That match could happen in June. However, there is also the potential that Glen Johnson could move up in weight to challenge Adamek, but no network is very interested in televising that match.

The Adamek-Hopkins match falling apart, is also important, because another former pound-for-pound king was looking to box on HBO that day. It appears Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will now be able to make his return on HBO World Championship Boxing that night. Although, that has not been officially announced as happening.

In addition to UFC 100, a potential Affliction show and a potential Mayweather return on HBO, Showtime has scheduled their big July event for July 11. It is official that Vic Darchinyan will move up to 118 pounds and challenge Joseph Agbeko that day at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida.

The details of the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora match have been finalized. It will take place June 27 on pay-per-view from Boardwalk Hall. The entire card will air from Atlantic City focusing on Pavlik's defense of his 160-pound titles. There was originally talk of it being part of a split-site PPV with Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. headlining the other half from Mexico. Chavez defeated Luciano Cuello on March 28 in a PPV from Tijuana, Mexico. The great Mike Sempervive wrote an excellent recap of that event that can be found here: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/8803/105/ However, it now appears Chavez' next match will be as the headliner of his own PPV on July 25.

Controversial boxer Edwin Valero finally made his debut for HBO on Saturday, albeit HBO PPV with a round 2 technical knockout victory over Antonio Pitalua. Valero was placed on indefinite medical suspension by New York when an MRI revealed he had suffered bleeding on the brain following a motorcycle accident in 2001. However, that decision was retroactively changed to a simple license denial for medical reasons. This allowed Valero to compete in Texas and will allow him to compete in other states that do not care as much about boxer's safety. (For the record, Nevada is one state that has made it clear they will not license Valero.) A full recap of that PPV by the talented Mike Sempervive can be found here: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/8891/105/ Valero's promoter said they want him to eventually face Pacquiao, but the only places Valero can currently box in North America are Texas and Mexico. Pacquiao is not going to headline a PPV from either Mexico or Texas.

Showtime was scheduled to run an event on April 24 headlined by Celestino Caballero and promoted by Seminole Warriors Boxing. However, at the last minute the government of Panama offered Caballero about triple what he was scheduled to make to move the match to his hometown of Panama City, Panama. Therefore, Caballero is now boxing in Panama City, but not on Showtime. This would ordinarily be seen as a bad break for Seminole Warriors Boxing who was also hosting the event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. However, Seminole Warriors Boxing only scheduled this event to get Caballero to renew his promotional agreement. They were going to lose between $30,000 and $50,000 had the April 24 event been held at the Hard Rock as scheduled. The benevolence of the government of Panama allowed Seminole Warriors Boxing to resign one of the top 10 ranked pound-for-pound boxers in the world for 18 more months at a discount. It is unclear how much money the government of Panama is going to lose promoting this event, but it safe to assume it is over $100,000.

Don King is appealing to the British Board of Boxing Control, WBO and WBA to have the result of the Marco Antonio Barrera-Amir Khan match overturned. The match was stopped after round 5 by the doctor on a cut Barrera suffered from an accidental clash of heads in round 1. The match was then sent to the scorecards where Khan won easily. The match was held in Manchester, England. Therefore, King is arguing that the doctor waited to stop the match until the match would go to the scorecards, when it should have been stopped in round 1. That would have made the match a no contest. King has no chance of winning this protest, but it could set up Barrera for a good paying rematch with Khan.

The International Olympic Committee will make their final decision in August on whether to add women's boxing to the 2012 London Olympiad. Boxing is currently the only Summer Olympic sport without a female equivalent. The IOC declined to add women's boxing to the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in 2005, saying it was not a global sport. However, London is looking to be an equal opportunity Olympics, and starting with Chairman Mao China had a ban on boxing for decades for being too western. That makes this a very different situation.

Now, a few notes about WrestleMania. Adding Mayweather to WrestleMania XXIV, appears to have paid dividends to this years card in the boxing community. After seeing the great presentation of last year's WrestleMania compared to the somewhat boring presentation of many boxing PPV's many boxing journalists are going to be buying the show this year. ESPN's Dan Rafael even said he was looking forward to it more then the HBO PPV featuring Valero. ESPN's Robert Flores and many other boxing analysts from the worldwide leader in sports will also be at home watching the show. Additionally, this was not actually the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania. This was simply WrestleMania XXV. The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania will come next year at WrestleMania XXVI. However, WWE is never one to let the truth spoil a good story. Also, after BJ Penn was given a tremendous amount of flak for breaking training camp for a vacation while training to face Georges St. Pierre, it is very odd that there has been no uproar about Frank Shamrock breaking camp to go to WrestleMania XXV less then a week before his match with Nick Diaz.

Finally, my review of WWE Legends of WrestleMania for the XBOX 360 is out for members at f4wonline.com. Therefore, people should subscribe and read it here: http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/8835/105/

The next recap will cover the April 11 HBO event featuring the return of Winky Wright against Paul Williams.

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.