For many boxing fan this past Saturday was all about the action Stateside as we saw a new Heavyweight champion crowned, but that wasn't the only bout of major international significance.

It's with that US bout that we start though and what a fight it was as Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21) stopped Chris Arreola (36-4, 31) in a genuine throw back fight that saw both men tearing pumps from the other. Stiverne, who went through hell in rounds 2 and 3, eventually turned the tables and stopped Arreola in round 6 to claim the WBC title and become the first Haitian born Heavyweight world champion.

The Arreola/Stiverne fight brought back some memories of fun to watch Heavyweight battles and, whilst not as good as the brilliant bout between Lamon Brewster and Siarhei Liakhovich it was still a great Heavyweight fight, arguably the best since the aforementioned Brewster/Liakhovich bout.

A second male "world title" fight took place in Venezuela as Johan Perez (19-1-1, 13) defended his WBA "interim" Light Welterweight title with a 10th round retirement of the very undeserving Fernando Monte de Oca (15-3, 12). De Oca entered as the #15 ranked WBA challenger, somehow having one of those unexplainable ranking, and managed to come in as a Lightweight for the bout. Although Perez is talented, as he showed in back-to-back victories over Yoshihiro Kamegai and Paul Spadafora, we don't view him as a world champion and farces like this won't make us change our mind about him.

In regards to female action we had a fair few interesting contests and a fair few surprises.

On result that wasn't a surprise came on the under-card of Perez's title defence and that was a bout that saw Perez's compatriot Ogleidis Suarez (20-3-1, 8) over come big hitting Dominican Calixta Silgado (11-4-2, 8) with a well fought 10 round decision to claim the WBA interim female Super Featherweight title. Suarez, who has more outside interests than many fighters, was given some tough rounds by Silgado but did come out on top in an entertaining female scrap.

In Mexico we had two female IBF title fights. One of those saw the IBF female Minimumweight title changing hands as Nancy Franco (12-6-2, 4) lost in her first defence, dropping a decision to the once beaten Victoria Argueta (12-1, 4). Both of these fighters will be familiar to Japanese boxing fans with Franco having beaten Kayoko Ebata last November for the title in a very hard fought contest whilst Argueta, the new champion, suffered her sole defeat to Japanese boxing queen Naoko Fujioka.

The other IBF female title bout saw the unbeaten Carolina Rodriguez (12-0, 1) becoming Chile's first "big 4" champion as she claimed the IBF Bantamweight title with a majority decision over the defending champion Janeth Perez (19-3-2, 4). Perez, like Franco and Argueta, will be known to Japanese boxing fans for her wins over Riyo Togo and Tenkai Tsunami though since her fight with Tsunami she has been a completely different fighter and could well have been 0-5. For Rodriguez, who has apparently been offered Argentinian citizenship, this will be a career defining victory and the sort of thing that will put her name in the record books as the first "recognised" world champion from Chile.

(Image courtesy of Thesweetscience)

This coming Saturday is one of the biggest talking points in US boxing this year as, for the first time in recent memory, an American will be crowned as a "world Heavyweight champion".

Of course we all know the real champion is Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko but this weekend we see Bermane Stiverne (23-1-1, 20) clashing with Chris Arreola (36-3, 31) for the one title Klitschko doesn't hold, the WBC belt. 

The Stiverne/Arreola rematch is likely to be one of the few "must watch" Heavyweight bouts as we are assured of a US based Heavyweight holding a world title. Stiverne is from Haiti though is based in Nevada whilst Arreola is a popular Mexican-American based in California and with both men having aggressive styles and a lot of power this is almost certainly going to be great fun to watch.

On the same card as the Stiverne/Arreola bout we also get the chance to see an excellent bout between the unbeaten Amir Imam (13-0, 12) and Cuba's once promising Yordenis Ugas (15-3, 7). Ugas has failed to live up to his potential though this bout really is a sink or swim bout for both men.

Although the biggest bout of the weekend is a male Heavyweight contest we also have a lot of very interesting female bouts. One of those will see the very highly regarded Janeth Perez (19-2-2, 4) defending her IBF female Bantamweight title against the unbeaten Chilean Carolina Rodriguez (11-0, 1). We'd imagine Perez should come out on top. On the same card Nancy Franco (12-5-2, 4) will be defending her IBF feamle Minimumweight title against the once beaten Victoria Argueta (11-1, 4). Franco will be defending her belt for the first time following her victory over Japan's Kayoko Ebata for the belt last November.

A card in Venezuela features both a male and a female bout. The male bout will see WBA interim Light Welterweight champion Johan Perez (18-1-1, 12) defending his belt for the first time. Perez, who holds a notable win over Yoshihiro Kamegai, will be taking on WBA #15 ranked fighter Fernando Monte de Oca (15-2, 12). We've got to admit we've no idea who Monte de Oca is but from his record he's not got a chance against the very talented Perez.

The female bout on the Venezuelan card will see the popular, and very attractive, Ogleidis Suarez (19-3-1, 8) attempt to claim the WBA interim female Super Featherweight title. Suarez, who lost in a WBA female Featherweight last time out, will be in a tough one here against the big punching Calixta Silgado (11-3-2, 8). This is a great bout though we can't help but feel that "regular" champion Hyun Mi Choi.

(Image thanks to http://www.boxnews.com.ua)