This weekend wasn't a big boxing on on paper yet it turned out to be a good overall weekend with a surprise or two along the way. The biggest fight, or rather the two biggest fights, happened in the newly refurbished Forum at Inglewood. The most significant of those bouts saw Mexican great Juan Manuel Marquez (56-7-1, 40) look sensational as he easily out pointed Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23) to claim the WBO International Welterweight title.Although both men were down it never looked like Marquez was going to lose against a gun shy Alvarado who looked scored to let his shots go. This bout was being sold not just as a bout between two men in need of a win but as a bout with a big prize on the line, a bout with Manny Pacquiao. As Marquez won, with ease, we're now expecting to see the 5th chapter in their iconinc series of fights and if it's as good as their previous 4 then we're in for yet another modern day classic. The second big fight at the Forum saw a very, very impressive performance by Ukrainian Viktor Postol (26-0, 11) who became the first man to stop Turkey's Selcuk Aydin (26-3, 19). Postol put on a near punch perfect performance before stopping Aydin in the 11th round to become the WBC mandatory challenger at Light Welterweight. Although Postol did have a bit of the "Wladimir Klitschko" look to his boxing he did look genuinely fantastic and really deserves a world title bout following both this result and his victory over Henry Lundy. On a different show in California fans got to see rotund Heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz Jr (22-0, 16) score an early and impressive stoppage over the usually durable Manuel Quezada (29-9, 18). Quezada was stopped in 2 rounds as he suffered the 3rd loss of his career. On the same show Olympian Oleksandr Gvozdyk (2-0, 1) scored a very good win over the tough and hard hitting Michael Gbenga (19-13, 19) over 6 rounds. This was a fantastic step up for Gvozdyk who seems likely to be fast tracked up the rankings. In Argentina the sensational Omar Andres Narvaez (42-1-2, 23) made history by becoming the first man to record double figure title defences in 2 weight divisions. Narvaez's scored the 10th defence of his WBO Super Flyweight title by stopping the criminally over-matched Antonio Garcia (13-2, 6) in just 4 rounds. Garcia had failed to make weight but that didn't really help him against the "Hurracan" who was too skilled, too fast and too powerful for the hapless challenger. Frustratingly a dream fight between Narvaez and WBC champion Srisaket Sor Rungvisai seems unlikely though oddly the two men are the only 2 real stand out fighters in the division and it's one of the the only bouts that really whets our appetite at Super Flyweight. Welsh boxing fans got the chance to see two former world champions in action, albeit in very different stages of their careers. The first was former WBA Light Welterweight champion Gavin Rees (38-4-1, 18) who waved good bye to the sport with a good victory over over fellow Welshman Gary Buckland (28-4, 9). The bout was a rematch of a contest fought earlier this year, won by Buckland via a controversial decision. Some how the scorecard of Richie Davis favoured Buckland though every one knew Rees won this one with his intelligent movement and very good counter-punching. Whilst Rees waved good bye to boxing and hung up his gloves his compatriot, and former gym mate, Nathan Cleverly (27-1, 13) started a new chapter in his career. Cleverly, who is a former WBO Light Heavyweight champion, made the move up to Cruiserweight and stopped the frankly awful Shawn Corbin (17-5, 12) as he claimed the WBA Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title. We don't like to talk down fighters but who ever allowed this mismatch to be made needs to explain themselves it was an atrocious mismatch and the sort of thing that puts fans off the sport. The main event in Wales saw prospective world title challenger Lee Selby (19-1, 7) out point tough Mexican Romulo Koasicha (21-4, 12) in a bout that was scored widely to Selby on the 3 cards though did actually see the Welshman look less than sensational, despite the commentary. Selby was wobbled at one point and seemed unable to hurt the Mexican who, although limited, may have shown that Selby wasn't nearly ready for a world title fight. On a separate UK card we got the fight of the night as Travis Dickinson (17-1, 7) and Matty Clarkson (12-2-2, 3) beat the snot out of each other. Both men were down multiple times, both looked like they were ready for the taking and both came back from adversity. Sadly however the stoppage, in round 6, was a poor one by the referee who "saved" Clarkson despite both men having been in much worse trouble earlier in the bout. Referee Michael Alexander certainly made more enemies than friends as a result of his decision though both fighters will likely be happy to fight each other further down the line. For fans who missed this one it really was a FOTY contender and well worth hunting down. (Image courtesy of Katsuo Miura/TopRank)
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InternationalWe know that not every fight involves an Asian fighter but a lot of fights do affect Asian fighter. As a result we've decided to add this new section to Asian boxing where we look at selected International bouts. Archives
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