This past Saturday may not have had a lot of bouts in the US though it was still a major weekend of fights with some fantastic contests across the globe.

The first world title of the day was in Finland of all places as WBA Lightweight champion Richar Abril (19-3-1, 8) retained his belt with a majority decision over local favourite Edis Tatli (23-1, 7). On paper the bout was a contest between a proven world class operator and a promising, though untested, prospect. As it turned out it was the proven fighter that would have that bit too much class and although one judge had the bout even at 114-114 the right man got the win. Sadly we would like to question what Carla Caiz was watching though lets not dwell on what now seems to be the token bad card. With this win Abril ended a break of more than a year between fights and will now likely be a target for Takahiro Ao among others.

Although not a world title bout there was another major bout in Europe as 2-time world title challenger George Groves (20-2, 15) claimed the European Super Middleweight title and became the WBC mandatory challenger courtesy of a clear decision over Frenchman Christopher Rebrasse (22-3-3, 6). Although the win was well deserved from Groves he did appear to be lucky in that he was face a light punching fighter who was more concerned with defense than offense. This was Grove's return to the ring following a nasty KO at the hands of Carl Froch earlier this year and the result should set Groves up another world title bout bout between with a contest against Anthony Dirrell, the current WBC champion, the supposed reward for this win though with the way boxing works you never can be sure about these things.

Next the attention turned to Mexico where there were several major bouts.

In the Super Flyweight division fans saw WBC champion Carlos Cuadras (30-0-1, 24) make the first successful defense of his title as he scored a 4th round technical draw with fellow Mexican Jose Salgado (34-2-2, 27). The bout saw Cuadras in action for the first time since his technical decision win over Srisaket Sor Rungvisai, a decision that won him the belt. Sadly however a headclash, which looks to have been a complete accident on replay, left Salgado unable to go on. Their was talk of a rematch after the fight though we'll be honest and admit we'd rather see Cuadras give a rematch to Srisaket.

The bout looked really exciting on paper and came just a day after Omar Andres Narvaez retained his WBO title. Sadly the early conclusion left wondering about what could have happened.

On the same card in Mexico fans saw WBA female Bantamweight champion Irma Garcia (11-1-1, 2) retain her world title with a decision win over Brazil's Simone Da Silva Duarte (14-7, 6) in what really was a poor excuse for a world title fight. We like Garcia though have no idea how Da Silva Duarte continues to get high profile bouts like this, she has proven she isn't good enough to compete at this level so lets stop having her in this type of bout! The two traded through out the bout but there was a clear gulf in class between the two.

On a separate Mexican card, televised on BeIN sports Espanol, we saw Javier Mendoza (22-2-1, 18) battle incredibly hard with Ramon Garcia Hirales (20-5-1, 12) for the previously vacant IBF Light Flyweight title. The bout was a war from the opening bell with both throwing heavy leather at each other. The fire power of Garcia seemed to shake up Mendoza in round 3 though the best shot of the round was landed too late for Garcia to make the most of it, just a few rounds later it was Garcia Hirales who was hurt, and in fact dropped after some big body shots from his fellow Mexican. From then on Mendoza continually went to the body and round by round Garcia Hirales wilted, he did his belt to fight back but the body shots took all the steam out of him. In round 10 Garcia Hirales was down for the second time in the fight. Amazingly Garcia Hirales rallied strongly in round 11 as Mendoza seemed to begin struggling with the pace though he managed to see out the small scare and had done enough to take a clear decision after the bell to end round 12.

At the end of 12 rounds it was amazing that both men had managed to see out the 12 rounds in what was one of the best fights this year. Truly a sensational fight and well worth checking out if you didn't get to see it live. We imagine now that Mendoza, with his new IBF title, will be targeted by both Ryo Miyazaki and Akira Yaegashi, who are both looking to claim Light Flyweight titles in the near future, and we'd imagine either of those bouts would be another FOTY contender courtesy of the styles of the fighters.

(Image, from the Mendoza/Garcia bout, courtesy of Katsuo Miura/boxingnews.jp)

We know many boxing fans focus on what happens in the US and Europe whilst ignoring many bouts outside of those two areas. That was part of the reason that we began this site last year and we hope that we've managed to bring some attention to new fighters, fighters like Kosei Tanaka and Sho Ishida, who are both very under-the-radar of the typical western boxing fan.

This coming weekend is one where many western fans will end up missing out on some fantastic fights as Mexico really takes a hold of boxing for a night of great action and big fights.

For us the most exciting bout comes in Sinaloa as WBC Super Flyweight champion Carlos Cuadras (30-0, 24) defends his belt against compatriot Jose Salgado (34-2-1, 27). This will be Cuadras's first defence since winning the belt with a technical decision against Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and it the potential to be a very interesting bout between two heavy Mexican handed fighters. This really could end up a slug fest if the machismo of both men drags them into a war.

On the same card in Sinaloa fans will also see a female world title bout between WBA female Bantamweight champion Irma Garcia (10-1-1, 2) and Simone Da Silva Duarte (14-6, 6). It's hard to see anything but a win for the champion but she does tend to be in action-packed fights courtesy of her style which is all about activity.

A third interesting bout on the same show will see highly ranked Light Flyweight Pedro Guevara (22-1-1, 14) fight in a stay busy contest with Alejandro Morales (14-4, 7). Guevara is likely to be in a world title fight at 108lbs next year so should be viewed as a possible opponent for someone like Akira Yaegashi, Ryo Miyazaki or Jonathan Taconing and we'll be honest any of those men against Guevara would be great to see.

Another notable Light Flyweight bout takes place on a second show in Mexico as the heavy handed Javier Mendoza (21-2-1, 18) battled against Ramon Garcia Hirales (20-4-1, 12) in a contest for the currently vacant IBF Light Flyweight title. This is a genuinely interesting bout and against should be viewed as a bout that could see the winner matched with a top Asian fighter in 2015. For those who remembered correctly this title was stripped from Johnriel Casimero earlier this year after he failed to make weight for his bout with Mauricio Fuentes.

The Mendoza/Garcia Hirales bout comes on the same card as Terdsak Kokietgym's world title bout against Orlando Salido.

Over in Europe we do have two notable bouts. The high profile of those is in the UK as former world title challenger George Groves (19-2, 15) attempts to get his career back on track after back-to-back stoppage defeats to compatriot Carl Froch. Groves will be fighting European Super Middleweight champion Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6) in what is really a make-or-break fight for both men. On paper Groves should be the big favourite though his clean KO loss to Froch last time out may have a lasting effect and Rebrasse will know he's being over-looked by many. 

The only other European bout of note takes place in Finland of all places. This bout will see tricky Cuban Richar Abril (18-3-1, 8) defending his WBA Lightweight title against the unbeaten Edis Tatli (23-0, 7). For Abril this will be his first bout in 19 months, following a decision over Sharif Bogere whilst for Tatli this will be his first world title bout and in fact his first major bout. Abril is a tricky, frustrating but highly skilled fighter who can make anyone look bad, including himself. As for Tatli he's looked decent in recent bouts though hasn't fought anyone near this level before. It's possible that the winner of this bout may face Takahiro Ao next year and in fact Abril was set to fight Jorge Linares last year so this bout does have some significance to Asian boxing fans.

(Image courtesy of notifight.com)