number1contender.net

HBO Boxing After Dark Recap

May 30, 2009

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino-Hollywood, Florida

1. WBC Super Welterweight (154 pounds) 12-Round Title Elimination Match:

Alfredo Angulo (15-0, 12 KO's, 153.5 pounds) vs. Kermit Cintron (30-2-1, 27, KO's, 153 pounds)

Angulo had a good amateur boxing career that culminated when he represented his native Mexico in the 165-pound division at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympiad.

The former Olympian is being pushed as the next young Mexican boxing star. That mantle was supposed to go to Antonio Margarito. As Margarito rose in recent years, Angulo served as Margarito's chief sparring partner. With Margarito disgraced and without a boxing license after being caught attempting to use loaded hand wraps in January, Angulo is being asked to take Margarito's place. Angulo has an all action style that focuses primarily on power punching. He is similar to Ricky Hatton in that he seems to bleed in almost every match. This style makes him very crowd pleasing and he is becoming a draw.

Angulo's last match was a brutal technical knockout at 2:38 of round 5 over Cosme Rivera on February 14, 2009 at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. It was the second straight match where Angulo had dealt out a sickening beating to his opponent. Angulo appeared to win round 3, 10-8, without a knockdown. In round 3, Angulo landed 51 of the 79 hard power punches he threw. Meanwhile in round 3, Rivera only threw 50 total punches. Angulo appeared to win round 4 also by the score of, 10-8, without a knockdown. In rounds 3 and 4, Angulo landed 103 total punches, while Rivera landed only 24 total punches. After round 4, Rivera told his corner he was tired. That was code for them to stop the match. Unfortunately, they did not listen and forced their charge to continue being mercilessly beaten. Finally nearing the end of round 5, Rivera's corner told a Florida athletic commissioner on the outside to stop the match. That is the slowest method possible to stop a match. They should have thrown in the towel themselves or run in the ring to get the referee's attention to stop the match. Instead, Rivera was forced to take several more seconds of unnecessary punishment. The referee, Telis Assimenios, did a horrible job in that match. In an event that would feature abominable refereeing, Assimenios was looking to stop the match in round 1, because Rivera was taking so many clean power punches from Angulo, but ultimately never stopped the dangerous pummeling. A full recap of that match and a link to a recap of the much more severe beating Angulo put on Andrey Tsurkan in his previous match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/26/recap-of-alfredo-angulo-vs-cosme-rivera.html

Angulo is unranked by The Ring magazine, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 8 boxer in the world at 154 pounds.

Cintron's amateur combat sports experience came primarily in the form of wrestling, not boxing. Cintron was an outstanding high school wrestler in Pennsylvania. He turned down wrestling scholarships to compete for The Ohio State University and University of Wisconsin. Cintron decided to go the junior college route instead and finished tenth at nationals his Freshman. A knee injury following that season ended Cintron's wrestling career. He quickly transitioned from wrestling to professional boxing with a round 2 technical knockout over Jesse Williams on October 7, 2000 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania having very little amateur boxing experience.

The Pennsylvanian is a natural 147-pounder. Cintron has twice held titles at 147 pounds and is currently the number 1 contender to a vacant belt at 147 pounds. Cintron's 2 losses have both come via knockout making title defenses against the same fighter, Margarito. Considering Margarito likely had loaded hand wraps in both fights, Cintron has appealed to have both outcomes overturned. Unfortunately, since Margarito was not caught at the time, those outcomes are likely to stand. Cintron has only moved up in weight for this match and his last match, because they offered more money then any perspective match at 147 pounds.

Cintron received a gift majority draw challenging for Sergio Martinez' interim 154-pound title on the same card that saw Angulo knockout Rivera. The Reading, Pennsylvania resident was literally ruled to have been knocked out by the referee at the end of round 7. However, after 2 minutes the referee changed his mind and ordered the match restarted. With 11 seconds to go in round 7 Cintron gasped and voluntarily took a knee at the end of round 7 claiming he had been hit with a head butt. Unfortunately, the blow that made the Pennsylvanian gasp and go to the canvas was a straight left-hand. Cintron then began to stand at 9, but did not beat the referee's count. On replay, the referee clearly said ten and "It's over." The referee then waved his arms in the air signaling the end of the match and walked Cintron back to his stool. Inexplicably, 2 minutes later the referee said people misunderstood and the match should continue. After getting a lot of time to recover, Cintron was fine when the action resumed. Then, in round 12 the referee, Frank Santore, Jr., took a point from Martinez for hitting behind the head. At this point it appeared Santore was trying to alter the outcome of the match to the extent Nick Patrick openly did in his days as the NWO referee in WCW. This was a terrible point deduction. The reason Martinez hit Cintron behind the head on the punch that drew the deduction is because Cintron ducked. The punch was aimed at Cintron's face, but the Pennsylvanian's poor defense moved the back of his head into the path of the punch. In spite of all of Santore's efforts, Cintron appeared to be completely dominated in the match. Both HBO's Harold Lederman and my scorecard had Martinez winning the match 116-110 in an obvious blowout. The panel featured 1 experienced judge from New Jersey and 2 inexperienced judges from Florida. The New Jersey judge also scored the match 116-110 for Martinez. However, both of the Florida judges had the match scored an irrational, 113-113. ESPN.com has listed this match as its early favorite for robbery of the year. The full recap of this debacle can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/25/recap-of-sergio-martinez-vs-kermit-cintron.html

Cintron is unranked by The Ring, but ranked by boxrec.com as the number 10 boxer in the world at 154 pounds.

At 26-years old, Angulo is 3 years younger then the 29-year-old Cintron. Cintron has the height advantage standing 5' 11" tall, while Angulo stands 5' 10.5" tall. The Pennsylvanian has the reach advantage with a 25" arm length measured from the armpit to the end of the fist, compared to Angulo's 23.5" arm length. Cintron will be the much heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated since the official weigh-ins to 169 pounds. Angulo has only unofficially rehydrated to 159 pounds and that could mean there is a problem. There are rumors that Angulo is sick entering this match. He only arrived in Florida on the day of the weigh-ins and looked drained when he weighed-in. All of these point to something being very wrong with Angulo entering this match and bring to mind how weak Oscar De La Hoya was entering the ring against Manny Pacquiao. Both Angulo and Cintron will employ the orthodox stance.

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. All of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Florida. The referee is Telis Assimenios. This match is not off to a good start. Harold Lederman will be HBO's unofficial scorekeeper for this event.

Behind a solid left jab, Cintron barely wins round 1, 10-9. Angulo started to land powerful right hands at the end of round 1 that had Cintron going backward. If Cintron does not make adjustments, he is on the way to his third knockout. Lederman scores round 1 for Cintron, 10-9. Cintron appeared to throw a lot more punches then Angulo in round 2, and that will probably win the Pennsylvanian the round, 10-9. Cintron wins round 2 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. The Pennsylvanian dominates Angulo in round 3 and wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Cintron leads on Lederman and my scorecard, 30-27. For whatever reason, Angulo does not look like his normal self in this match. His punch out-put is way down and he simply does not look "right". Through 3 rounds, Angulo has landed 56 of the 214 total punches he has thrown, for a 26% total connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Cintron has landed 78 of the 287 total punches he has thrown, for a 27% total connect percentage.

With 1:30 to go in round 4, Cintron has been cut over his left eye. That cut was probably caused by a punch. Cintron had Angulo badly hurt several times in round 4 and won it easily on everybody's scorecard, 10-9. A close-up in the corner after round 4 shows the cut above Cintron's eye is small. However, it is directly over the eye. Still, the cut should play no factor in this match if Cintron's cutman does a good job on what appears to be a very manageable wound. Cintron uses his superior movement to win round 5, 10-9. Lederman scores round 5 for Angulo, 10-9. In round 6, Cintron has set the CompuBox record for the number of power punches landed on Angulo. Cintron set that record with power connect number 83. With around 45 seconds to go in round 6, Angulo has begun to bleed from around his left ear. That should not factor into the match. Cintron wins round 6 in dominating fashion on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. In round 6, Cintron landed the most total punches he had in any round of the match, 35. Through 6 rounds, Angulo has landed 119 of the 431 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Through 6 rounds, Cintron has landed 164 of the 576 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Of Cintron's 164 total connects, 90 of them have been power connects. After 6 rounds, Cintron leads on the Lederman scorecard, 59-55. After 6 rounds, Cintron leads on my scorecard, 60-54. In the corner after round 6, Angulo's trainer told the boxer that he had lost all of the first 6 rounds by being out-worked.

Cintron wins round 7, 10-9. In a move reeking of desperation, in the middle of round 7 Angulo switched to the southpaw stance. Unfortunately, Angulo was ineffective from that stance and forced to revert to his normal orthodox stance. Angulo is beginning to rush, because he feels he needs a knockout at this point. No opponent has ever been able to finish round 10 when faced with Angulo's overwhelming power. Angulo has knocked out his last 11 consecutive opponents. Both of those streaks appear to be coming to an end in this match. Lederman scores round 7 for Cintron, 10-9. Angulo starts round 8 boxing out of the southpaw stance. Cintron is able to land several straight right hands while Angulo employs the southpaw stance. Therefore, Angulo goes back to boxing out of the orthodox stance in less then 30 seconds. With 11 seconds to go in round 8, the referee calls timeout to have some loose tape on the left glove of Angulo fixed. This interruption is only for about 15 seconds. Round 8 is contested primarily at close distance, and that allows the shorter armed Angulo to win it, 10-9. Angulo wins round 8 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. The young boxer is applying more pressure and Cintron is beginning to tire. Behind some good body punching, Angulo wins round 9, 10-9, but after 9 rounds, Cintron leads on my scorecard, 88-83. Lederman scores round 9 for Angulo, 10-9, but has Cintron ahead on his scorecard after 9 rounds, 87-84.

There is a delay in starting round 10. At the end of the rest period some loose tape on Angulo's right glove had to be fixed. It is a mystery why that could not have been fixed at the beginning of the break. This delay was only about 10 seconds. Cintron uses his jab to win round 10, 10-9. In round 10, Cintron lowered his guard to protect his body rather then his ribs. Cintron is tired and at this point the body punches from Angulo pose more of a threat than the punches to the head, that Cintron has a better chance to dodge. Through 10 rounds, Angulo has landed 220 of the 780 total punches he has thrown, for a 28% total connect percentage. Through 10 rounds, Cintron has landed 269 of the 937 total punches he has thrown, for a 29% total connect percentage. Angulo wins round 10 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. This is the first round 11 of Angulo's career. Conversely, Cintron went to 12-round decisions in his last 2 matches. Angulo wins round 11 easily, 10-9. Cintron appears to be boxing at this point thinking he has a huge lead on the scorecard. The Pennsylvanian is doing enough to not let Angulo score a knockout, but clearly giving away rounds by being very defensive. After round 11, Angulo's corner told their charge that only a knockout would win the match. At the same time, Cintron's corner told their charge to keep his hands up in round 12, because he could only lose via knockout. Lederman scored round 11 for Angulo, 10-9. Angulo lands numerous power punches to win round 12, 10-9. However, Cintron wins the match on my scorecard, 116-112. Cintron wins round 12 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and the match, 115-113.

The official decision courtesy of the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 116-112, 116-112, 116-112 all for the winner by unanimous decision, Kermit "The Killer" Cintron. The win moves Cintron to 31-2-1 with 27 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstat numbers have Cintron landing 316 of the 1094 total punches he threw, for a 29% total connect percentage. Angulo landed 277 of the 957 total punches he threw, for 29% total connect percentage.

Cintron said in his post match interview that this was probably the best performance to date of his career. Cintron concluded by saying that his management will decide if he continues at 154 pounds or goes back to 147 pounds.

The Pennsylvanian was outstanding in this match. Cintron showed good boxing skills and much better defense then he ever has shown in his career. However, his conditioning still needs improvement. The win here makes him the mandatory challenger to Sergio Martinez' 154-pound title. (More on that in the News and Notes section.) However, even Cintron's management think he was dominated by Martinez in their first match. That would not necessarily make them eager to have Cintron take that title shot immediately. The opponent Cintron would have to face to win the vacant 147-pound belt that he is a mandatory challenger to, would assuredly be an easier match-up for him. With more big money matches to be made at 147 pounds and a less formidable opponent looming, Cintron would probably be best off taking that title shot. Cintron can use the 154-pound title shot as money in the bank should he fail to win the 147-pound title.

Angulo was clearly not healthy for this match. He entered the ring for his last 2 matches at 165 pounds. Angulo entered the ring for this match at 159 pounds. In those matches Angulo dominated. In this match, Angulo appeared relatively weak and slow. Angulo only became effective when Cintron became fatigued. Even at that point, Angulo's punches did not carry their usual power. Angulo's normal power punches could have changed the course of the match against an opponent with a suspect chin, but he did not have that type of power tonight. The theory had always been that Angulo's ultra-aggressive style would not be able to deal with a boxer that was constantly moving. That appears to be true. Of course, considering Angulo was clearly not 100% in this match it can be somewhat discounted. Unfortunately, the loss here does set Angulo's career back about a year. Angulo had been looking to get a title shot by the end of this year. Now, it looks like Angulo will not be challenging for a title until sometime in 2010.

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

Andre Berto (24-0, 19 KO's, 145.75 pounds) (c) vs. Juan Urango (21-1-1, 16 KO's, 146.5 pounds)

Berto won this title when it was vacant by defeating Miki Rodriguez via technical knockout at 2:13 of round 7 on June 21, 2008 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/9/28/recap-of-andre-bertos-title-win.html Berto is making his third defense of this title. It had been held previously by Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who vacated the belt to "retire".

Berto is the son of pro-wrestler Dieuseul Berto and had a strong amateur boxing background befitting that heritage. Andre's first boxing trainer was his father and Dieuseul trained his son like a young pro-wrestler. That meant a heavy focus on conditioning and discipline. When other young boxers were working in the gym on correct punching technique, Andre was doing thousands of squats and push-ups. It gave him a stamina and mental toughness that very few in the amateur and eventually the pro ranks could match. When Andre showed up to his first amateur match, he showed up with custom ring gear. Andre came out wearing a shirt and matching trunks that had the flag and colors of Haiti (where his parents were born) on them. Andre was a 2-time National Golden Gloves champion and was fresh of winning the bronze medal at 2003 Amateur World Championships when it came time for the native Floridian to qualify for the United States Olympic team heading to Athens, he hit a snag. Berto suffered a controversial disqualification during qualifying. That forced Berto to go to the 2004 Olympics representing Haiti in the 152-pound division, even though he had yet to visit the island nation when he was named one of their Olympians.

The native Floridian is very lightly tested for a champion making his third title defense. Berto has only faced 1 boxer ranked by The Ring at 147 pounds in his career. That was in Berto's last match. Berto barely escaped that match with his title. (More on that below.) This defense is considered to be against a significantly weaker opponent then Berto faced his last time in the ring. Berto's people say this will be his last relatively easy match, though. They are targeting Shane Mosley, The Ring's top ranked boxer at 147 pounds after this match.

Berto's last match was an exciting 12-round unanimous decision victory over Luis Collazo on January 17, 2009 at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, in what will likely end up as one of the top 5 matches of the year. The referee, Keith Hughes, made a horrific call, deducting Berto a point for holding in round 4. This forced Berto to alter the way he boxed the match to avoid losing more points and allowed Collazo to go up big on the scorecards early in the match. However, Berto was able to use his superior conditioning to out-last Collazo and win the final 2 rounds of the match. That made Berto the winner by 1-point on 2 of the judges' scorecards. Had Berto not had the conditioning to win both rounds, the point deduction would have cost the Floridian his title. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/28/recap-of-andre-berto-vs-luis-collazo.html

Berto is The Ring's number 6 contender to their vacant championship at 147 pounds.

Urango turned pro at 21-years old with a round 2 knockout of Efrain Sotomayor on April 30, 2002 in Monteria, Colombia.

There is a new trend popping up in boxing of Colombian boxers that have astonishing knockout percentages in Colombia and rather average knockout rates outside of Colombia. Urango has good punching power, but appears to be a textbook case of this new trend. In Colombia, Urango is 8-0 with 8 knockouts. Urango scored all of those knockouts in 3 rounds or less. Outside of Colombia, Urango has 8 knockouts in 15 matches, which is a fairly average knockout rate.

Urango's last match was a 12-round unanimous decision victory over Herman Ngoudjo on January 30, 2009 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. Urango dominated the Montreal resident in a match that was unable to be worked by horrific Montreal based referee Marlon B. Wright. Wright is the referee brought in to help Montreal based boxers win major matches. (The best example of Wright's bias can be found here:http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/1/30/recap-of-lucian-bute-vs-librado-andrade.html) The Colombian scored 2 knockdowns in round 3. Urango had Ngoudjo hurt and appeared poised to score the knockout in round 4, but the referee stopped the action to warn Urango for a phantom low blow. This allowed Ngoudjo time to recover. This match became more of a farce in round 10. Ngoudjo told Wright that he was hit low and the referee warned Urango. This was bizarre considering Urango was not hit low and the referee never saw the punch that he was warning the boxer for throwing. At this point, Wright was acting as the puppet of the boxer from Montreal. Round 10 then became more laughable as the timekeeper completely botched the timing of the round. Due to gross incompetence round 10 ended up being 5:10 long. Still, Urango overcame the odds and won a vacant 140-pound title in that match. Urango has boxed the entirety of his career at 140 pounds prior to this match. The belt Urango won in the match with Ngoudjo, which is not on the line in this match, had been made available when Paulie Malignaggi vacated it to face Ricky Hatton for The Ring Championship at 140 pounds. A full recap of Urango-Ngoudjo can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/5/27/recap-of-juan-urango-vs-herman-ngoudjo.html

Urango is The Ring's number 6 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Manny Pacquiao.

At 25-years-old, Berto is 3 years younger then the 28-year-old Urango. Berto has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Urango stands 5' 8" tall. The native Floridian has the reach advantage with a 22" arm length, compared to the 21.5" arm length of Urango. Berto will be the much heavier boxer in the ring having unofficially rehydrated after the weigh-ins to 155 pounds. Meanwhile, Urango has only unofficially rehydrated to 150 pounds. (That is not a warning sign here, because Urango is normally that size.) Both boxers are naturally right-handed, but only Berto will box out of the orthodox stance. Urango will box out of the southpaw stance.

The judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from Puerto Rico, Florida and Mexico. The referee is Tommy Kimmons.

Berto uses his huge speed advantage to win round 1 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. The native Floridian lands several good right-hands to win round 2 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Urango appears to have no ability to negate Berto's tremendous speed advantage. With 1:00 to go in round 3, Urango goes down to the mat. The referee is ruling it a slip. That appears to be the correct call. Urango may have tripped over Berto's left foot backing away from the native Floridian. This type of slip is common when a boxer using the orthodox stance faces a boxer using the southpaw stance. Urango is dusted off, and the action resumes with 55 seconds to go in the round. Berto wins round 3, 10-9, and leads on my scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27. Through 3 rounds, Berto has landed 50 of the 174 total punches he has thrown, for a 29% total connect percentage. Through 3 rounds, Urango has only landed 22 of the 140 total punches he has thrown, for a poor 16% total connect percentage. Lederman scores round 3 for Berto, 10-9, and is ahead on the Lederman scorecard after 3 rounds, 30-27.

Round 4 features some entertaining exchanges, that Berto gets the best of to win the round, 10-9. Berto takes round 4 on the Lederman scorecard, 10-9. In round 5, this match is becoming somewhat sloppy. Even in a sloppy match, Berto is too fast for Urango and wins round 5, 10-9. Lederman scores round 5 for Berto, 10-9. Berto lands several big left hands to win round 6 on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. After 6 rounds, Berto leads on both Lederman and my scorecard, 60-54. Urango is fast, but Berto is ridiculously fast. Berto is showcasing more speed in this match than has been featured in some of the recent Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Berto lands more clean punches to win round 7, 10-9. The native Floridian takes round 7 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9. Round 8 is the same as the previous 7, meaning Berto takes it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Berto wins a boring round 9, 10-9. After 9 rounds, Berto leads on my scorecard, 90-81. The native Floridian takes round 9 on Lederman's scorecard, 10-9, and is ahead in the match after 9 rounds on the Lederman scorecard, 90-81.

Round 10 is more of the same and Berto wins it on Lederman and my scorecard, 10-9. Through 10 rounds, Berto has landed 194 of the 558 total punches he has thrown, for a 35% total connect percentage. Through 10 rounds, Urango has landed 144 of the 603 total punches he has thrown, for a 24% total connect percentage. After round 10, Riddick Bowe is shown sitting in the crowd. Astonishingly, the camera catches the former heavyweight champion eating. Berto picks up the pace and wins round 11 solidly, 10-9. Lederman somehow scores round 11 for Urango, 10-9. Urango landed a lot of solid body punches to win round 12, 10-9. However, Berto wins the match on my scorecard, 119-109. Lederman also scores round 12 for Urango, 10-9, and has Berto winning the match by the score of 118-110.

The official decision courtesy of the "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that the judges have scored the match: 117-111, 118-110, 118-110, all for the winner by unanimous decision, still undefeated and still the WBC Welterweight Champion of the World, Andre Berto. The win moves Berto to 25-0 with 19 wins coming by way of knockout.

The final punchstats have Berto landing 243 of the 655 total punches he threw, for a 37% total connect percentage. Berto landed 174 of the 262 power punches he threw, for an astounding 66% power connect percentage. Urango landed 180 of the 742 total punches he threw, for a 24% total connect percentage. The Colombian landed 171 of the 515 power punches he threw, for a 33% power connect percentage.

Berto said in his post match interview that he followed his game-plan well in this match. The plan was to circle into Urango's left hand, away from Urango's powerful lead right hand. That is the opposite of what a boxer is traditionally supposed to do against a boxer in the southpaw stance. Additionally, Berto said he did a good job boxing on the outside and did not get lured into a slugfest, like what happened in his last match with Collazo. Berto said he does not have a targeted opponent outside of the major names in the division. He concluded by saying that he is still developing and will be getting a lot better over the coming years.

Berto was completely dominant in this win. He is probably the fastest boxer at 147 pounds. That does not mean he is ready to face the division's elite. All of the boxers Berto wants to face are ranked in The Ring's top ten pound-for-pound list. Unfortunately, Berto does not offer a large enough payday to entice boxing's elite to face him at this time. That is fine, because Berto is still a bit too green to be facing that level of opposition. Berto did far too much unnecessary holding in this match and is still a bit inconsistent in the ring. However, he may have the most potential of anyone currently in the weight class. There are only 2 active boxers outside the elite ranks and ranked above Berto on The Ring's top 10 list at 147 pounds, Carlos Quintana and Joshua Clottey. Quintana just withdrew from a scheduled match on June 5 with an injury making him unavailable to face Berto. Clottey will be facing Miguel Cotto on June 13. Clottey had to vacate a 147-pound belt to face Cotto. (That is the belt that Cintron is the number 1 contender for at this time.) Assuming Clottey loses to Cotto, and makes it through the match relatively healthy, he would make the best next opponent for Berto. That is hardly a given, though. That could force Berto to rematch Collazo. It could be a very entertaining match, but should be very unappealing to Berto's people.

Urango was never competitive in this match. The positives Urango can take away from this match is that he now knows to stay at 140 pounds and avoid boxers that are insanely fast. Urango could have been much more active in the clinch, but it would probably not have made much of a difference. The Colombian was beaten when the contract was signed. At 140 pounds Urango would be a very interesting match up for both Ricardo Torres and Kendall Holt. Holt is the more marketable opponent, so that is likely Urango's next opponent.

The first match was relatively entertaining. The second match was too one-sided to be very entertaining. Overall, this show is an easy skip.

News and Notes: The initial revenue figures for the Manny Pacquiao-Ricky Hatton PPV are now available. The show did 825,000 buys domestically and that may be revised up to 850,000 buys at $50 and $60 for the HD broadcast. That means it made roughly $50 million from the domestic PPV sales. It did a live gate of $8,832,950, plus $575,500 in revenue from sales of tickets to see the match on closed-circuit broadcast in the greater Las Vegas area alone. That makes it the second largest PPV not involving Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield or Oscar De La Hoya. The only PPV not involving the big 3 to generate that much money domestically was Floyd Mayweather, Jr. vs. Hatton that did 910,000 buys domestically.

According to Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, the Filipino will return to the ring on HBO PPV in October. Arum is looking to match Pacquiao against another Arum client, Cotto, in that match. Assuming everyone keeps winning this would have Pacquiao facing Mayweather in early 2010. As MMA has taught people this is a dangerous strategy. If there is a money match to be made, it should be made immediately. Upsets can cost people tens of millions of dollars and destroy the best laid plans.

The last recap covered Chad Dawson vs. Antonio Tarver II. There have been several developments coming out of that match. The Ring has moved Antonio Tarver down 1 spot in their rankings. Tarver is now the number 5 contender to their vacant champion at 175 pounds. Dawson has vacated the IBF 175-pound title he defended in that match. He had been ordered to make a mandatory defense against Tavoris Cloud. However, no major network was willing to pay to televise the broadcast. HBO is essentially forcing Dawson to rematch Glen Johnson, because it is the only match they are willing to pay big money to broadcast. Negotiations are ongoing, but the match appears likely for September or November.

The 2004 Olympic boxing gold medalist at 178 pounds, Andre Ward, had his first professional match in his hometown of Oakland, California on May 16. In front of 7,818 fans, Ward dominated Edison Miranda on the way to winning an easy 12-round unanimous decision and is now the mandatory challenger to Carl Froch's 168-pound title. The crowd was about 5,000 less then came to see the return of Ric Flair to Raw in the same building a few months earlier, but was deemed a huge success by Ward's promoter, Dan Goosen. Goosen is looking to bring Ward back quickly to the Oakland Coliseum Arena (Oracle Arena), targeting an August return. The match was not without controversy, though. Miranda has long been considered a dirty fighter and against Ward, Miranda apparently tried to step up his cheating tactics. The Colombian cut Ward with a head butt, that may have been intentional in round 1. Luckily, Ward was employing the best cutman in the business for this match, Jacob "Stitch" Duran. Duran took the severe cut out of play following a few rounds of work. By round 4, Ward was no longer bleeding and pulling ahead on the scorecards. Therefore, Miranda's cutman went into his bag for a "suspicious substance". The substance was in a Vaseline tub, but had a brown color to it. An alert California State Athletic Commission official caught the shenanigans and confiscated the substance before it could ever be used. The substance is currently being tested by the CSAC to determine what it is. Suspensions for Miranda, his cutman and trainer seem imminent.

On May 21, the WBC stripped Vernon Forrest of his 154-pound title for continually refusing to face Sergio Martinez. Martinez' interim title, that he last defended against Cintron, has been elevated to a full championship. However, the WBC has named Forrest an "ambassador of peace and good will in the world through sports." This means that Forrest can challenge for the WBC 154-pound title any time he chooses in the future. Additionally, Forrest will receive 55% of the purse for that match. This is an unusual ruling in some regards. A mandatory challenger getting the bigger share of the purse is very rare and people who hit other people in the face for a living are not normally named an "ambassador of peace."

Rafael Marquez returned to the ring with a round 3 technical knockout victory over Jose Francisco Mendoza on May 23 in Monterrey, Mexico. Marquez showed some ring-rust followings his more then 14-month layoff after his brutal thrillogy with Israel Vazquez. Marquez' next match appears to be another rematch with Vazquez, who is still recovering from their first 3 matches that ended in March 2008 on Showtime in the fall.

Dream 9 did an unexpectedly huge rating (16) in Japan on May 26. That was due to the strong lead-in it received from Daisuke Naito defending his 112-pound title with a 12-round unanimous decision victory over China's Xiong Zhaozhong. At 34 years, 8 months, Naito became the oldest Japanese boxer to successfully defend a title. Dave Meltzer compared this to the situation WWE went through with Raw last week, because the match was scheduled to take place in Shanghai, China. However, due to promotional problems the match had to be moved to Tokyo, Japan on 3 days notice. Like Raw from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California this drew a very small crowd, but unlike Raw this drew a gigantic rating.

Ruslan Chagaev pulled out of his scheduled heavyweight title match with Nikolai Valuev following the weigh-ins yesterday. Chagaev said he did not meet the Finnish boxing federation's medical requirements. Chagaev has been reported to have hepatitis B and that is the likely reason he was not medically cleared. Finnish privacy laws prevent them from announcing what was caused the last minute cancellation of what was to be the first heavyweight title match ever held in Finland. However, at this point it is pretty much a given that Chagaev testing positive for hepatitis B is the reason for the cancellation. This match was to unify the WBA heavyweight title. In light of these developments, Valuev will probably be elevated to full champion status and appears to be eyeing a rematch with Evander Holyfield. Without a main event the entire card set to take place Saturday in Helsinki had to be canceled.

Here is an update on 2 of Top Rank Promotions upcoming Latin Fury PPV's. Juan Manuel Lopez has signed for a quick turn around match to defend his 122-pound title against Olivier Lontchi in the main event of the June 27 PPV that was supposed to be headlined by Kelly Pavlik vs. Sergio Mora. Also, Paulie Malignaggi was supposed to face Mike Alvarado on that PPV. However, Alvarado pulled out with an elbow injury on Friday night. Top Rank is scrambling to find a replacement opponent to keep Malignaggi on the card. Edwin Valero has pulled out of defending his 135-pound title on the July 25 PPV. Valero, who is only medically cleared to box in Texas, said $200,000 was not enough to face an easy opponent of his choice on that card. Valero believes he can get a match in Las Vegas, Nevada later this summer against Joel Casamayor. Unfortunately, Nevada has made it clear they will never sanction Valero who has suffered bleeding on the brain from a non-boxing related injury.

Top Rank Promotions announced that Pavlik had to pull out of the June 27 PPV with a staph infection in his hand. That is strange, because Pavlik told his hometown paper The Vindicator of Youngstown, Ohio that his hand is fine. Pavlik said he had signed for the match and was healthy enough to compete on June 27. ESPN.com's Dan Rafael suspects this postponement is a sign of promotional issues between Pavlik's camp and Top Rank.

After numerous opponents fell through, Tomasz Adamek has signed to defend his IBF and Ring Championships at 200 pounds on July 11 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey against local club boxer Bobby Gunn (no relation to Billy or Bart Gunn). Steve Cunningham is supposed to win an untelevised match on that day's Showtime card to set up a rematch with Adamek later this year. The winner of that could face Bernard Hopkins on HBO in 2010.

Zab Judah officially has an opponent for his match on the undercard of the July 18 Mayweather-Juan Manuel Marquez. Judah will be facing Ricky Hatton's younger brother, Matthew Hatton, in a 147-pound match that night. The Brooklyn, New York native should be making some appearances on Mayweather/Marquez 24/7 which is officially set to begin on June 27.

Roy Jones, Jr. has signed to headline a PPV on August 22 against Jeff Lacy. The match will be held before a sparse crowd in New Orleans, Louisiana at a catch-weight of 170 pounds. The great Mike Sempervive is not even sure he is willing to pay for that match.

Nevada boxing judge Paul G. Smith has been indicted by the federal government for collecting $250,000 of federal disability payments while actually working, some of that time working as a paid boxing judge. Smith faces up to 5 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. There are no allegations that Smith was involved in fixing matches, but the situation warrants monitoring.

Finally, in some good news for boxing and MMA thanks to the lobbying effort of Alabama native and the 2008 Olympic boxing bronze medalist at 200 pounds Deontay Wilder, on May 20 the Alabama Boxing Act was passed. It established a boxing commission in that state that, which was previously unregulated. The 6-round boxing match between Tim Sylvia and Ray Mercer in a cage on June 13 in Birmingham, Alabama is still going to happen, but this should stop any future matches that were denied sanctioning in other states taking place in Alabama.

The next recap will be of the June 13 HBO event featuring Miguel Cotto defending his 147-pound title against Joshua Clottey. Ivan Calderon will be defending his WBO and Ring 108-pound championships on the undercard of that event against Rodel Mayol. Unfortunately, that match is currently not scheduled to be televised. On the bright side the event has already sold more then 12,000 tickets and is airing as part of HBO's free preview weekend with the strongest lead-in possible, the world broadcast premiere ofThe Dark Knight. Even if people do not want to watch the boxing, they should watch the movie that night. Upon several viewings that movie is still great and was definitely the best movie of 2008.

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.