Who will be the Ring King?

What a great fight this is going to be, I see it as a battle of two undefeated fighters, Mayweather rightly has never seen his 0 go, while Cotto's two defeats have both been controversial.

The two fighters who face off at the MGM Grand

Everyone who knows Boxing knows how good Floyd Mayweather is, in my opinion the guy is a genius, he has unbelievable skills and is what Boxing should be about, which is to not get hit. He might not always be the most exciting fighter to watch, but he really is one of the best fighters of all time in my opinion.


Last time out he had a bit of a farcical fight with Victor Ortiz, it ended very controversially, but Floyd was starting to break him down and would have got a mid to late stoppage in my opinion.


Cotto is a great fighter and is the #1 in this light middleweight division, which is why he deserves so much respect. Last time out he had that massive rematch win over Margarito, breaking the Mexican down, putting serious damage on his opponent's very fragile eyes, the referee stopping the bout in the 10th.


Margarito handed Cotto is his first career loss, a serious beatdown, but then came that controversy with the hand wraps, which put major doubts over the legitimacy over the win. His only other loss was a 12th round stoppage by Manny Pacquiao, a year after that Margarito loss. This is a controversial loss as Cotto was forced to fight at a catchweight of 145lbs, 2lbs under the normal welterweight limit, which meant really Pacquiao was at his strongest and Cotto at his weakest. Considering Cotto went straight up to 154 after that fight says how much of a disadvantage he was.

Mr Flash Mayweather at the fighter's meeting earlier this week

Mayweather has fought just once at 154, which was in that big fight with De La Hoya, one Mayweather did have the edge in, but was scored a split decision. That does suggest Cotto will give him problems, especially as he's just got better and better at this weight, looking very comfortable with new trainer Pedro Diaz, an ex Cuban scholar who certainly has improved the Puerto Rican.


However I just don't think there's an active Boxer who can beat Mayweather, this is going to be a tremendous fight and occasion, but I'm backing Mayweather to win a unanimous points decision.

Lopez and Salido to dish out another cracker

I love big Puerto Rican bills and this weekend live on Showtime, we see a rematch of one of last year's Fights of the Year, plus some massively talented Puerto Rican kids are in action.

Lopez and Salido are ready to go again

Starting off with the main event, which sees the #1 Featherweight Orlando Salido (37-11-2, 25 KO's) defend his WBO title against the home favourite Juan Manuel Lopez (31-1, 28 KO's) in a classic Mexico v Puerto Rico battle. Salido stunned Lopez in April last year, stopping Lopez on his feet in the 8th round, this after systematically beating him, putting him down in the 5th. Salido has been stopped five times, but many of those early defeats where when he was inexperienced, his last five defeats have all been on points, and that includes against guys like Gamboa and Juan Manuel Marquez. Since beating Lopez, he's made two successful defences, however they've been against guys with not much of a dig in Kenichi Yamaguchi (17-1-2 at time of fight) and Weng Haya (15-3 at time of fight). The Haya fight especially brings up doubts as Salido was put down in the 3rd and 4th, before coming back to win in the eighth, since then Haya has been stopped in four against a guy with a record of 14-5-1.

Salido after his stunning win in April

Lopez was one of the hottest guys in world Boxing going into that first fight, he was being tipped up for a super fight with Gamboa, but it all fell apart in Bayamon. I still rate this guy though, before the Lopez fight he had impressively stopped Steven Luevano, Bernabe Concepcion and the legend Rafael Marquez, and again this weekend he's landed home advantage. He had a return in October and beat Mike Oliver in two rounds, you can't really ask more than that, and I think it's the perfect confidence booster for him. The feeling I get about him here is that he will have learnt from his mistakes, and I really like his chances of regaining that title on Saturday night.


I really can't wait for this fight, it's going to be a great occasion and even though some rematches don't usually live up to the hype, I think this one will. My pick is Juanma, I havent been impressed with Salido in his last two fights, and I think Lopez is going to stop him late here.

Garcia and Concepcion provide the chief support

The main headline bout sees Oxnard based fighter Miguel Angel Garcia (27-0, 23 KO's) defend his WBO NABO featherweight title against Bernabe Concepcion (29-5, 15 KO's). Garcia is trained by his brother, star trainer Robert Garcia, and judged on recent displays really isn't far off world title contention. Judged on the title he holds and his spot on this bill, the winner of the main event looks his next opponent and that fight with either would be very exciting. He's knocked out some good guys already in the likes of Cornelius Lock and Matt Remillard, but this looks a tough job. Concepcion isn't in the best form, but only Juan Manuel Lopez has knocked him out and in that fight he put Lopez down in the first. In his last two fights he's not been at his best and judged on that he wont be able to compete with Garcia.


On the undercard watch out for a flyweight called Jonathan Gonzalez (8-0, 7 KO's) who impressed me massively when stopping Samuel Gutierrez in five rounds a month ago, he did a really good job on him last night and this weekend goes for the interim WBO Youth flyweight title, which is a ridiculous belt. His opponent is fellow countryman Erickson Martell (9-3-1, 7 KO's), who's just behind him in the Puerto Rican rankings and is on a five fight winning run, but only one of those fighters had ever won a fight. McWilliams Arroyo, who also is in a title fight on this bill, stopped him in five in April last year.


There's one or two other guys on the undercard to look out for, but I don't know a great deal about them, so it will be a case of having a look at those bouts and seeing where the talent is, which we should see as Puerto Rican Boxing is and always is very strong.

Big weekend for the Scots

Massive weekend of Boxing coming up North of the Border, with the new star of British Boxing, Ricky Burns, making the first defence of his interim WBO lightweight title at the Braehead Arena.

Big night for Burns

Burns (33-2, 9 KO's) became a two weight world champion with a fantastic performance against the dangerous Michael Katsidis last time out at Wembley Arena, using his fantastic skills to claim a unanimous decision over 12 rounds. The Coatbridge man is one of the most improved fighters in world Boxing and he's already ranked #7 in the world in what's an exceptionally competitive division. Even though I was massively impressed with what I saw last time out in November, the fact he didn't defend his super featherweight title against anyone of note still raises one or two doubts. However he's such a nice guy and very dedicated under the expert leadership of trainer Billy Nelson.

Moses brings a top pedigree

His opponent this weekend is Paulus Moses (28-1, 19 KO's) who's held the WBA title and is ranked #31 in the world, so does have some credibility. He won that WBA title in January 2009 away in Japan against Yusuke Kobori, before making a successful defence at home against another Japanese fighter in the tough Takehiro Shimada, easily winning a UD over 12. However after that he ran into the big punching Venezuelan Miguel Acosta, and was stopped in six in front of his home crowd, which will no doubt raise some doubts over his chin. Since then he's had three fights, all at home, and against nobody near the same level of ability as Burns. He's experienced, has a 65.62 KO% and can win on the road, so he's a pretty good challenger.


Should be a real good fight on Saturday night, Burns is a pretty strong 1.2 favourite with the bookies, and although he might be able to test Moses' chin now that he's a lot more comfortable at this weight, I think it will be a hard 12 round fight, which Burns should show his superior technical ability.

Appleby needs to start stepping up

The main undercard bout sees the vacant Celtic super featherweight title on the line as home favourite Paul Appleby (17-3, 11 KO's) faces Ireland's Stephen Ormond (11-0, 5 KO's). It should be a really good fight with Appleby's last one an absolute cracker against Liam Walsh at York Hall for the Commonwealth title. Appleby is the bookies favourite, but the worry I have is that he's lost his last three title fights and that last fight was a hard one. Ormond is fresh and is ahead of him in the rankings (110th in the world, Appleby 181st), and has also been away in the US in the past for fights and sparring. He's not faced the hardest opponents, but no unbeaten fighter should ever be underestimated.

Johnson boxed for Scotland as an amateur

Some awesome prospects on this bill, Commonwealth medallist Callum Johnson (3-0, 1 KO) is a fighter going places, he trains at Gallagher's Gym in Manchester, and simply needs to be a bit more active. He has a hard night's work ahead of him with the very tough Belfast man Tommy Tolan. Cruiserweight Stephen Simmons (3-0, 1 KO) has the same record as Johnson and is another good Billy Nelson fighter coming through. What I've seen of him he's a really solid boxer and has got some good experience under his belt already in beating Nick Okoth, Hari Miles and John Anthony. This weekend he takes on Hastings Rasani, who's never an easy guy to stop.


A guy I'm really looking forward to watching and tracking his future progress is Glasgow's super featherweight Jon Slowey (7-0, 0 KO's). This kid is a very talented boxer, and as reported in last week's Boxing News, he's recently been out in Thailand sparring some world champions, including ex super bantam king Poonsawat. I heard he did really well in those sessions, and that kind of sparring will be a massive help to a young fighter like himself. Fellow Scot James Ancliff is his opponent this weekend, which on paper is a step up in class.


Symington light welterweight Sammy Hill (2-0, 0 KO's) has shown some excellent skills in two pro fights so far, and after being involved in two pretty small shows in Scotland, gets a chance for some big bill experience here against Matt Seawright. John Thain (5-0, 1 KO) is a light middleweight attracting some hype, while 20 year old lightweight Jordan McCorry (2-0, 1 KO's) has a step up in class against Youssef Al Hamidi.


There is a debutant on the card this weekend as well, that being Leeds welterweight Damon Jones, who I've heard quite a bit about and has turned pro a little sooner than expected. He had some decent success last year as an amateur and this weekend he takes on Liam Griffiths, stopped just once in nine fights and has gone the distance with a lot of unbeaten prospects.


It is a massive weekend for Scottish Boxing and on Friday night we shouldn't forget about super featherweight Michael Roberts (6-0, 0 KO's) who headlines a bill at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, as he takes on Pavels Senkovs. Roberts is a really talented fighter, he's not beaten the greatest opposition so far, but has shown some solid, raw skill.


Great to see so much talent coming through in Scotland and it's a simple case of success breeding success with Ricky Burns spearheading the renaissance of Scottish Boxing. The bill is live on BoxNation and hopefully they will show a good few of these Prospects, who deserve some TV coverage and hype.

Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 02/03/2012 - Review

Mixed weekend for some of the Prospects I featured, here's what happened.


Friday 02/03/2012

Little was very impressive on Friday night

Adam Little (5-0, 2 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 638 in the World, 66 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Ricky Hatton trained Little earns himself a ranking by claiming just his second stoppage win, and his most impressive by stopping Martin Shaw in the first round at the Castle Leisure Centre in Bury. It was a very good performance from the Blackpool fighter as he headlined a Youtube streamed showed, working well behind a fast jab, before a big right hand had Shaw in real problems. He's very much an improving fighter and is with the right team.

Marrero (left) kept his paper title

Claudio Marrero (11-0, 9 KO's) Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 246 in the World, 5 in the Dominican Republic.

How did the fight go? - Southpaw Marrero made a successful first defence of his WBC FECARBOX title on Friday night by claiming a wide UD over Gerardo Zayas, three judges scoring it 99-91 x2 and 100-90. The big punching 22 year old probably wasn't at his best, but he was fighting a guy ranked as a lightweight, so was always going to have a bit of a dig to put him back. Getting 10 rounds in your 11th pro fight is a real positive if you ask me, and he definitely looks like one of a number of good Dominican fighters coming through.

Saturday 03/03/2012

Johanneson edged a great fight with Goodwin

Chris Goodwin (14-2-1, 0 KO's) Lightweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 209 in the World, 11 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Goodwin loses a split decision to Johanneson, but it was a fantastic fight on Saturday night in Chester, with both men going all out in the British title eliminator. One judge had it 97-95 for Goodwin, while the other two scored it 96-95 and 99-93, which is a pretty shocking scorecard as most, if not all of the rounds were very close, and does paint a rather harsh tale for Goodwin. Johanneson's experience and class was just the deciding factor, but credit to Goodwin, who fought a great fight on the inside, but may just not have the quality or power to be a domestic king.

Joe Hughes (4-1, 2 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 543 in the World, 52 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Hughes suffered his first pro defeat, losing 58-57 on referee Phil Edwards' scorecard against the crude, but dangerous Joe Efidh on Saturday night. It was a fight shown after the McDonnell bout on Sky, and credit has to be given to both men as it was a cracking little fight. Hughes showed some very good stuff early on and put his opponent down in the first, but then Efidh, who had been out of the ring for over two years, seemed to find some fight and made it a real hard night's work for Hughes. The 21 year old Hughes just showed a bit of naivety, but judged on what I've seen so far, he looks like the type of fighter who will learn from this loss and come back stronger.

Price will probably be next out on May 19th

Danny Price (4-0, 1 KO) Cruiserweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 245 in the World, 17 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Price continued his steady rise up the rankings and gain some quality experience by easily outpointing the very experienced John Anthony 40-36 over four rounds at Hillsborough Leisure Centre. Anthony has taken a lot of the current best British cruisers the distance, and has only really been outclassed when going on the road to the continent. Price was about 12lbs the heavier man here, and the size difference was very evident, which is why he completely bossed the bout. Like I said in the original Prospect Watch, he's very well schooled, technically sound, and will continue to feature here on Dragon Boxing.

Sunday 04/03/2012

Eddie Corcoran (8-1, 3 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 445 in the World, 36 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Corcoran was supposed to be in with Dee Mitchell yesterday, instead found himself facing the stopped just five times in 77 fights Duncan Cottier. Corcoran went about his business nicely and was by far the stronger boxer as he claimed a 40-36 win over four rounds. He showed some really classy work to the head and body, switching beautifully, and certainly looks like a fighter with the hunger back.

Prospect Watch - Weekend Starting 02/03/2012

Not many big shows this weekend, but the next two weeks are going to be crazy and the next few months even crazier with Bute v Froch announced today.


Friday 02/03/2012

Hatton's first pro fighter as a trainer is Little

Adam Little (4-0, 1 KO) Welterweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - Unranked

Notable win(s) - Yet to beat a Boxrec ranked fighter

Facing and Where? - Martin Shaw (3-2, 1 KO) @ Castle Leisure Centre, Bury.

What's he all about? - Trained by former world champion Ricky Hatton, this talented boxer from Blackpool is a lad I've heard quite a bit about, with plenty of improvement being made under the "Hitman". He's yet to lose a round as a pro and comfortably outclassed Billy Smith in November, this his first bout under Hatton's tutelage. His opponent here like him is a young guy, and although stopped for the first time in his last fight, that was against a talented young fighter called Joe Hughes, who features on Saturday night and later in this blog.

Claudio Marrero (10-0, 9 KO's) Featherweight

Marrero is an ex Olympian

Age - 22

Boxrec Ranking - 249 in the World, 6 in Dominican Republic.

Notable win(s) - TKO 2 Francis Ruiz @ Westin Diplomat Resort, Hollywood, Florida.

Facing and Where? - Gerardo Zayas (18-18-2, 11 KO's) @ Westin Diplomat Resort, Hollywood, Florida 10x3.

What's he all about? - Big punching Dominican fighter, who comes into this fight on the back of his career best performance in January, where he claimed his first title in beating Ruiz for the WBC FECARBOX title. Before that he'd only beaten one person with a winning record, and Ruiz was a significant step up in class, but he dealt very well with it. Ruiz had gone the distance with Jonathan Arrellano and Yan Barthelemey before this fight, and it took leading prospect Randy Caballero six rounds to stop him. This southpaw has a lot of class and although his KO record is excellent, he's stopped most guys with pressure not power.

Saturday 03/03/2012

Chris Goodwin (14-1-1, 0 KO's) Lightweight

Age - 23

Goodwin is big news in his hometown

Boxrec Ranking - 203 in the World, 12 in UK.

Notable win(s) - PTS 4 Jon Baguley @ Robin Park Centre, Wigan.

PTS 10 Geoffrey Munika @ Northgate Arena, Chester.

Facing and Where? - Carl Johanneson (31-5, 20 KO's) @ Northgate Arena, Chester 10x3.

What's he all about? - This guy is bringing big time Boxing back to Chester, improving significantly in the last two years and a win in this British title eliminator will be massive for him. Stepped up to 10 rounds in his last two fights and has had no problem with the distance, beating Geoffrey Munika, which was a really good win, and last time out against unknown, but tough Belgian, Wesley Hertoghe. This is a significant step up in class against former British super feather king Johanneson, who nearly regained that title last year against Gary Sykes and is his only loss in his last five fights. This could be a typical small hall classic and to be honest it's a hard one to pick, although I think Goodwin's home advantage and 23 year old freshness could be massive.

Joe Hughes (4-0, 2 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 21

Boxrec Ranking - 469 in the World, 42 in the UK.

Notable win(s) - TKO 6 Martin Shaw @ Rainton Meadows Arena, Houghton-le-Spring.

Facing and Where? - Joe Efidh (6-0, 0 KO's) @ Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield 6x3.

What's he all about? - I've already mentioned this fighter, who's impressed me in his first four fights, especially with some tricky matchmaking. He impressively stopped Shaw in six way back in April, and then in his last fight in September, took every round 60-54 against tough Welshman Tony Pace in Doncaster. The Wiltshire man has got plenty of technical ability and got himself in awesome shape last time out, getting down to 141lbs, the lowest weight of his career so far. Efidh has taken a hiatus from the game since July 2009, but before that he'd boxed well in six fights, not losing a round as a pro fighter. On that form he's a test, but is he in the right frame of mind coming back?

Danny Price (3-0, 1 KO) Cruiserweight

Age - 26

Boxrec Ranking - 245 in the World, 18 in the UK.

Price steps up in class again this weekend

Notable win(s) - PTS 4 Hastings Rasani @ Peterlee Leisure Centre, Peterlee.

Facing and Where? - John Anthony (7-22-1, 5 KO's) @ Hillsborough Leisure Centre, Sheffield 4x3. 

What's he all about? - Price made his pro debut in October, this a couple of months after he was dropped from the GB squad. We've seen great boxing ability from him in first three bouts though, he's exceptionally well schooled and is a technically very sound fighter. Last time out he claimed a 40-35 points victory over a tough Bulgarian called Tayar Mehmed, stopped only once in his career, but Price did put him down with a classy 2nd round body punch. Here he faces Anthony, stopped just three times in 30 pro fights and has taken all the leading British cruiserweights

Sunday 04/03/2012

Corcoran in his comeback bout v Voldoins

Eddie Corcoran (7-1, 3 KO's) Welterweight

Age - 26

Boxrec Ranking - 448 in the World, 37 in UK.

Notable win(s) - RTD 4 Jay Morris @ York Hall, Bethnal Green.

Facing and Where? - Dee Mitchell (9-19-1, 2 KO's) @ York Hall, Bethnal Green 6x3.

What's he all about? - Corcoran was being touted as a really good prospect in mid to late 2008, but three years ago this month, he was put in with fellow unbeaten fighter, the then 10-0 Denton Vassell and got stopped in the 6th round of their scheduled eight round bout. It took him until November 2011 to get back in the ring after that, and he looked on form, stopping Latvia's Segejs Volodins in two rounds, this impressive as Volodins had recently gone the distance with the likes of Dean Byrne and Ryan Barrett. Losing to Vassell is no disgrace, but judged on his last fight, Corcoran looks on the way back. Mitchell has been stopped just twice in 29 fights, but was done in four by Bolton stylist Rick Godding last time out.

Prospect Watch Weekend Starting 24/02/12 - Review

Here's the review of the Prospects featured this weekend and how they got on in their fights. From now on I wont be telling of any new guys to follow, but I will be adding guys to my watch list, so when they are next out they'll be featured.

Butcher continues to impress as a pro

Friday 24/02/2012

Iain Butcher (3-0, 1 KO) Flyweight

New Boxrec Ranking - Now 234 in the World and 7 in the UK. 

How did the fight go? - Butcher continued his good form as a pro by getting his first stoppage win against Hungary's Richard Voros with a stunning first round stoppage. The promoters had spent a fair bit of money getting the kid over, but Butcher proved far too good and secured an impressive victory, which will send out a message to the rest of the British flyweights.

Richard Contreras (9-0-1, 8 KO's) Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 204 in the World and 12 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Contreras was always in a hard fight with tough journeyman Daniel Quevedo and unfortunately for him he was held to a draw. I think we saw here a guy who's powerful and expected to go out and blow his opponent, but unfortunately he was facing a real hard man. He has gone up in the rankings, but really this is a step back for him.

Jessie Vargas (18-0, 9 KO's) Light Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 6 in the World, 4 in the USA

Expect to see Vargas at the MGM Grand May 5th

How did the fight go? - Vargas had an incredibly tough opponent in Lanardo Tyler and it really wasn't a pretty fight fight, however Vargas showed his class to win 99-91 on all three judges scorecards. Vargas has a lot of talent and getting the rounds in is no issue, you need to fight guys like Tyler and this was a good 10 round workout for him. He could very well be out in May on the Mayweather-Cotto bill as he's signed to Mayweather Promotions.

Saturday 25/02/2012

Luke Blackledge (8-0, 3 KO's) Light Heavyweight

New Boxrec Ranking - No ranking change as of yet

How did the fight go? - No confirmation of this result on Boxrec, but Blackledge proved too strong for his Polish born Welsh based opponent Robert Studzinski, stopping him in three rounds. Blackledge really is a fighter on an upward curve at the moment and represents the VIP Promotion stable he represents. He looks like a very talented fighter and will fancy a step up in class now.

Centeno Jr was an easy six round winner

Hugo Centeno Jr (12-0, 6 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 211 in the World and 43 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Centeno makes a nice step up in the rankings by completely outclassing his opponent Narvaez over six rounds, winning 60-52 x2 and 59-53 on the judges scorecards. Narvaez is a rough old fighter and has only been stopped three times in his pro career, so Centeno did his job to get the decision. At 6ft1 he uses his height well in the division, but surely as he gets older he will be a light middleweight or middleweight.

Culcay had too much for his Italian opponent

Jack Culcay (11-0, 7 KO's) Light Middleweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 94 in the World, still 1 in Germany

How did the fight go? - Culcay found himself in with a tough Italian, but was far too good over the seven rounds which it lasted, stopping him with a real heavy barrage in the penultimate round. This classy ex amateur star seems to have a lot going for him at the moment, and is getting big German bill experience. Harder fights are to come, but he looks to be fighting incredibly well at the moment and is showing his class.

Craig Evans (6-0, 2 KO's) Super Featherweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 408 in the World, 21 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - Big shame for Evans here as his opponent Marc Callaghan retires at the end of round 1 with an arm injury. He had a really frustrating 2011 and to be honest his 2012 hasn't really got off to the best start. He's coming along nicely with Lee Beard as his trainer, but he needs some tough rounds to show his quality.

Frankie Gavin (12-0, 9 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 39 in the World, 6 in the UK.

Gavin looked really good on his return

How did the fight go? - Great win for "Funtime" who looked a lot sharper in stopping ex British champion Kevin McIntyre in three rounds on Saturday night. It was an awesome body shot that did it for him and everything about Gavin in the run up to the fight and in it was far better than what we've seen recently. This could easily have been a tricky night if he wasn't on form, but his head was right and he showed the class which made him Britain's only World Amateur champion.

Lewis Rees (3-0, 2 KO's) Light Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 623 in the World, 42 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - This was one of the best fights on the undercard

"Beefy" did well against Morby

Liam Smith (9-0-1, 4 KO's) Welterweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 186 in the World, 15 in the UK.

How did the fight go? - When I wrote the Prospect Watch this weekend we didn't even know who "Beefy" was fighting after Laszlo Komjathi pulled out. He ended up fighting a guy who's usually two weight divisions above him in Paul Morby, and he was far too good for the man from Portsmouth, winning 80-69 on the referee's scorecard. Early on Liam looked like he really had him and was on the verge of a stoppage win, with some very good work shown in the first three rounds. After that he just carried on the solid work and ground out a good decision.

Christopher Pearson (3-0, 2 KO's) Middleweight

New Boxrec Ranking - 395 in the World, 76 in the USA.

How did the fight go? - Pearson makes a big step up the rankings with a 1st round smashing of Jeremy Wood on the big bill in St Louis. Wood had gone the distance with one or two unbeaten fighters in the past, but found himself completely over-matched here against a very good young fighter. Pearson was a really solid amateur and what I've seen of him as a pro, he looks a real talent.

Bets Of The Weekend #2

Alexander Povetkin v Marco Huck - WBA Heavyweight Title 

I'm picking Povetkin on points

Alexander Povetkin (23-0, 16 KO's) makes the second defence of his WBA title in Germany tonight as he faces former WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-1, 25 KO's) in a real grudge match.

Povetkin has to be given the edge as he's the natural heavyweight with all the amateur skills having won Gold at the 2004 Olympics. He's still a work in progress, but has come along well in his last two fights, beating Chagaev on points and stopping poor Yank Cedric Boswell in eight last time out. I was impressed with his controlled style in that fight and technically he's very sound, which is going to give Huck big problems.

Huck hasn't lost since December 2007 when Steve Cunningham stopped him in the final round of their world title clash, but since then he's been very dominant at the lighter weight. He's been fed a lot of bad opponents in his last few bouts, and the only time he was tested he had the judges thank, escaping with a SD win over Denis Lebedev in December 2010. Povetkin only has an inch over him in terms of height and that suggests he should be able to compete in this heavyweight by using some movement and his added ring craft, but he did weight in 20lbs lighter in the weigh in and that firmly puts the ball in Povetkin's court.

Povetkin to win on points @ 2.5 with Stan James

Nathan Cleverly v Tommy Karpency - WBO Light Heavyweight Title

Cleverly looked great at the weigh in

Big weekend of Welsh sport and tonight in Cardiff Nathan Cleverly (23-0, 11 KO's) takes centre stage as he makes the third defence of his WBO light heavyweight title against unknown American Tommy Karpency (21-2, 14 KO's).

Cleverly battled to a majority decision over Tony Bellew in his last fight in October and had to show the determination of a champion to get through a really hard fight in Liverpool. His all action style is great to watch and I think the fact he came in at 174lbs for this fight suggests he's in fantastic shape and ready to go. It's the lightest weight he's come in since a great 10th round stoppage over Karo Murat in September 2010 and that's worrying for the American.

Sometimes we do underestimate these unknowns that come over and what I've gathered about Karpency is he's a tough counter punching southpaw, who's never been stopped. The only real name on his record is Murat, who he gave a good fight in May 2010, losing on all three judges scorecards in Germany. The problem I have is that this guy has done nothing to earn a title shot, he's never even won one of these small WBO belts, losing to Murat in a challenge for the WBO Inter-Continental, which is probably the sick way he's got this shot. The fact he's never been stopped suggests he's got fighting heart and he can take a shot, but he's also been out of the ring for over a year and for me everything seems to be against him.

Cleverly needs a big statement tonight and really anything less than a stoppage will be slightly disappointing, it's what everyone's expecting.

Cleverly to win by stoppage @ 1.53 with Ladbrokes

Dennis Shafikov v Lee McAllister - European Light Welterweight Title

McAllister and Shafikov at the weigh in

Lee McAllister (34-2, 9 KO's) has a big chance in his hometown of Aberdeen tonight as he challenges Russian champion Dennis Shafikov (27-0, 16 KO's) for the European light welterweight title.

McAllister is a former WBU and Commonwealth champion at lightweight, and has recently won the Commonwealth and IBO International title at this weight, but for me this is too much of a step up in class. He looks comfortable at this weight and his power does seem to be improving, but looking at his last four or five fights he hasn't really been tested. The key to this fight I think is his loss to John Murray in January 2009, where he was stopped in eight by the powerfully built Manchester man. Shafikov looks a similar, but he also has three fights more experience than Murray had at that time.

The Russian looks like a real warrior and comes into this on the back of winning the title against experienced, but shot Italian Giuseppe Lauri with an 8th round retirement, where he was considerably the stronger fighter. The only time he's really stepped up in class he could only draw on his own patch with then 20-0 Italian Brunet Zamora, who does travel well. However the fact he's coming over to Scotland suggests he really fancies this one. There's been plenty of notice for both and I expect Shafikov to be at his best, which is bad news for McAllister.

Shafikov to win by stoppage @ 3.0 with Boylesports

Adrien Broner v Eloy Perez - WBO Super Featherweight Title

Broner talking the talk as usual

Two unbeaten fighters meet in what looks like a great WBO super featherweight title fight tonight with champion Adrien Broner (22-0, 18 KO's) making his first defence v Eloy Perez (23-0-2, 7 KO's).

Broner is being hottly tipped as the new Floyd Mayweather

Perez is a fighter I really rate and he certainly deserves his shot here as he's come through the right way, making five defences of the WBO NABO title, so he's picked up the right kind of experience. Boxrec have him at #6 in the world and he's certainly one of the best contenders out in this average division. I watched his last fight with Ira Terry and was really impressed by his controlled, thinking, mature style, he doesn't do anything rash and throws with real venom, despite having a pretty low KO%. He's stopped his last two and those have been against decent fighters, so I think he's in form.

Perez physically is able to cope with Broner I think and although you would expect him to be big odds anyway, I think he's going to win a world title sometime in his career, it's a hard ask tonight, but he might just do it.

Perez to win @ 6.0 with SportingBet

Devon Alexander v Marcos Maidana - 10 round Welterweight Contest

Expect a great fight tonight in St Louis

Cracking fight here as two guys who won world titles at 140lbs, step up to 147 for a big ding dong in St Louis. Alexander (22-1, 13 KO's) takes on Maidana (31-2, 28 KO's) in a 10 rounder.

The worry a lot of people have here is that Alexander is going to get a controversial decision, and already the rumour mill is alive with news that the fight was brought down from 12 to 10 rounds because he'll struggle late on and get stopped. It's something he's been very suspect of, and was lucky to scrap a split decision over another Argentine in Lucas Matthysse last time out. I watched that fight this week and I think the Argentine nicked it as he secured a knockdown and was busier, especially in the later rounds. He hasn't really fired since beating Urango in eight, securing dodgy decisions over Kotelnik and Matthysse, but also struggling to get going in that big fight with Bradley.

Maidana on the other hand has come on really well from the Khan fight, outworking Morales for a 12 round points win, and wining a homecoming in four last time out, destroying a poor Spaniard called Petr Petrov. He's above Alexander in the rankings and I think moving up to 147 is going to suit him even more because he'll strengthening, and not cutting too much weight. I think his all action and come forward style is going to be too much for Alexander. The St Louis man will take some punishment early on and he'll feel that by the later rounds. If it goes to points I think Alexander has hit, but I really fancy Maidana to get the stoppage in one of the last three rounds.

Maidana to win @ 2.5 with Totesport