The boxing world turns it's attention to London this weekend as Eddie Hearn puts on, arguably, the best British card in a decade. Whilst we are often critical of Hearn, who has put on some awful match ups this year, this card really is an intriguing one.

The supposed main event is probably the weak link of the card as IBF Welterweight champion Kell Brook (34-0, 23) defends his title against domestic foe Frankie Gavin (22-1, 13). Gavin, once an amateur standout, has failed to shine as a professional and it it would be a monster upset for the Brummie to over-come his more esteemed countryman.

A much more interesting world title fight comes at Featherweight where unbeaten IBF champion Evgeny Gradovich (19-0-1, 9) takes on highly touted Welshman Lee Selby (20-1, 8). Many of our UK friends have suggested this is going to be an easy nights work for “The Welsh Mayweather” though Gradovich is never going to be an easy night for anyone and we suspect this could be very competitive. Alternatively our friends from the UK may be right and this could be Selby's coming out party. For Japanese fans this bout is notable as Hisashi Amagasa has stated he wants to face the winner.

An even better looking world title bout will see Japanese based Venezuelan Jorge Linares (38-3, 25) defending his WBC Lightweight title against Englishman Kevin Mitchell (39-2, 29). This has all the ingredients of a enthralling bout. Both guys are very highly skilled though both are extremely flawed and all 5 of their combined losses have come by stoppage. This could be a case of who unfolds first as opposed to who is actually the better boxer.

Also on this card is British Olympic gold medal winner Anthony Joshua (12-0, 12) who battles the always frustrating Kevin Johnson (29-6-1, 14). The talk going in to this is whether or not Joshua will become the first fighter to stop Johnson. If Joshua can't take Johnson out then we fear for the fans who will have to put up with Johnson show casing his survival skills more than his fighting skills. On paper it's a huge step up in class for Joshua though in reality Johnson scarcely comes to win fights any more.

This past weekend wasn't just a busy one in Asia but also a very, very busy on around the boxing world with numerous fights taking place around the planet.

For many fans the biggest fight, outside of Macau, took place in the UK as the much talked about rematch between unified Super Middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24) and compatriot George Groves (19-2, 15) took place. The men, who first fought last November, seemed tentative of the other's power early on but the first slowly came alive in the middle rounds, that was until Froch killed the bout with a vicious and destructive right hand that sent Groves down hard. The challenger, who had talked the talk, failed to recover though in fairness the shot would have stopped anyone in the division. 

A second world title fight on this show saw Jamie McDonnell (24-2-1, 11) over-come Thailand's Tabtimdaeng Na Rachawat (52-3, 34) in what was one of the most action packed fights of the evening.

On the same card in the UK fans also got to see several other notable bouts. These included another Super Middleweight bout which saw Olympic champion James DeGale (19-1, 13) stopping American Brandon Gonzales (18-1-1, 10) in what was sold an IBF Super Middleweight title eliminator. In theory this makes DeGale the mandatory challenger to Carl Froch though we've got doubts that that bout will be taking place any time soon, if ever. Another Olympic champion, Anthony Joshua (6-0, 6), was als on the show as he stopped Matt Legg (7-3, 2) inside a round.

Also on this British card was a was a victory for former 2-time world title challenger Kevin Mitchell (37-3, 28) who scored a come-from-behind stoppage of of the previously unbeaten Ghislain Maduma (16-1, 10). Mitchell, who was down going into round 11, managed to twice drop Maduma who was out on his feet when the stoppage came.

It wasn't just the UK that featured a notable rematch as Germany also featured one. This time it was between Felix Sturm (39-4-2-1, 18) and Sam Soliman (43-11-0-1, 18). This bout, fought for the IBF Middleweight title, saw Sturm thoroughly out worked as Soliman became a world champion for the first time in his long and often over-looked career. For Sturm this was a disappointing way to lose his title considering the blistering performance that saw him winning the belt against Darren Barker, looking back however that victory appears to have been a misleading one with Barker losing due to a recurring injury that has now cost him his career.

On the same card in Germany local fans got to see the very talented Susi Kentikian (33-2-0-1 17) defend her WBA female Flyweight title with a stunning performance against South Korean Dan-Bi Kim (9-3-1, 2).

On the undercard of Srisaket Sor Rungvisai's (27-4-1, 25) disappointing contest with Mexico's Carlos Cuadras (30-0, 24) there other bouts of note. One of these saw WBC #1 contender at Light Flyweight Pedro Guevara (22-1-1, 14) take a decision over Armando Torres (19-12, 13). Guevara, the top contender for Naoya Inoue, successfully defended his Silver title with this victory and will be hoping to challenge Inoue later this year or, if Inoue remains at 108lbs, early next year.

Anthony Joshua and James DeGale weren't the only Olympic champions in action and in Ukraine we had another, in fact we had arguably the pick of the bunch in the form of Oleksandr Usyk (4-0, 4) who made very light work of Argentinian veteran Cesar David Crenz (21-9, 13). Usyk, who looks like a murderous fighter in the ring, spent a round quietly scouting Crenz before slowly going through the gears and stopping Crenz with a brutal body shot.

We also had bouts in the US. Amongst those was a victory for the talented, and quickly maturing Henry Lundy (25-3-1, 12) who scored a stay busy victory over the over-matched Gerardo Cuevas (17-12, 15). The bout, which ended via a 2nd round KO for Lundy, was a pointless bout in terms of competitive nature but we can't help but think that keeping Lundy active is a great by his team who probably know that he's a fighter who can be frustrating if he gets bored either in, or out, of the ring.

Also in the US there was a victory for two possible challengers for Asian title holders. One of those men was Javier Fortuna (25-0-1-1, 18) who out pointed Juan Antonio Rodriguez (25-5, 23) and could well be moved into position for a bout with Takashi Uchiyama later this year or Takashi Miura. The other man was Sergio Mora (26-3-2, 9) who scored a rare stoppage as he defeated Samuel Rogers (14-2, 8) and moved one step closer to a possible encounter with Gennady Golovkin.

(Image courtesy of http://www.bestboxingblog.com)

When boxing is at it's best it's one of the greatest and most honest sports the world has. It's one of the only sports that pits man against man in a true battle of skill, wits, strength and technique. Unfortunately at it's worst our sport leaves us with a bitter taste, a feeling of corruption and more anger than any other sport. It's one of the few sports where the "rightful winner" can be denied their day in the sun by officiating that leaves us with more questions than any sport really should. Sadly boxing, at it's worst looks like the only sport where the winner can lose and the loser can win.

The idea of a winner losing and a loser winner was shown perfectly on Saturday night in Puerto Rico where the unbeaten Danny Garcia (28-0, 16) was hugely fortunate to retain his WBC and WBA "super" titles in a Light Welterweight clash with Mauricio Herrera (20-4, 7). Garcia, a highly touted fighter who has been on a great run recently, was heavily favoured to beat Herrera with many asking why Herrera was picked as an opponent. The challenger, a relative unknown to many boxing fans, was written off before the first bell though proved that those who write fighters off do so at their peril.

Herrera started well and found a home for his jab from the opening round. Garcia, well known for his timing, simply couldn't cope with the jab, movement and angles Herrera was giving him and it seemed like Garcia was amateur fighting a skilled professional. Herrera kept landing clean blows whilst Garcia looked lost trying to load up on his famed left hook and missing wildly as if he was doing something for the first time.

Unfortunately the judges did what they could to keep the title in the hands of unbeaten man though many know that there was no way Garcia won the bout and the rightful winner, whilst dignified after the fight, has every right to question why he is in this sport.

Whilst the controversy of the Garcia/Herrera fight was the big talking point of this past Saturday in Puerto Rico it was far from the only talking point. Another was the opening round "KO" scored by Deontay Wilder (31-0, 31) over close friend and seemingly happy victim Malik Scott (36-2-1, 13). Scott seemed to be caught by a slapping left hand and then a blocked right hand though was unable to beat the count in a fight many in the online community are calling suspect. It did seem like a very poor effort on Scott's part of trying to beat the count and it certainly didn't seem like Scott tried to win despite the fact he knew there was a big fight around the corner if he had won.

A third controversy on the card was the stoppage in a bout between Puerto Rico's very own Juan Manuel Lopez (34-3, 31) and Mexico's Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-6, 35). The bout, a rematch of the contest that put Lopez on the map a few years back, saw both men knocked down in a thrilling second round though the referee did seem to jump in too early to "save" Ponce De Leon.

The trio of questionable results in Puerto Rico certainly hasn't helped anyone to believe that Golden Boy Promotions are "the good guys" in the boxing world and instead has amped up conspiracy theorists who believe that the promotional outfit are hosting fixed fights. We'd not suggest that fights are fixed but the judging in the main event really was disgusting and it's little wonder fight fans are turning away from our sport.

Thankfully not everything was questionable and in Nicaragua we saw former world champion Jose Alfaro (27-8-1, 23) completely dominate compatriot Marcos Mojica (13-2-2, 9) en route to a 7th round KO. Alfaro is best known to Asian fans due to his split decision victory over Thailand's Prawet Singwancha and his loss to Japanese pair Yusuke Kobori and Yoshiro Kamegai. Although unlikely to ever compete at the world level again we still felt this was a notable result.

Another fight that saw little doubt over the winner was a contest between unbeaten Ukrainian Heavyweight Vyacheslav Glazkov (17-0-1, 11) and Polish veteran Tomasz Adamek (49-3, 29). Adamek, a great warrior and genuine tough guy, saw his face looking very swollen in a losing effort that could well be his swansong at the top level. It was a brave effort from Adamek but his age and natural size was clearly against him with Glazkov being a clear victor.

In the UK we again saw some clear victors with the unbeaten Kell Brook (32-0, 22) dominating and later stopping Mexico's Alvaro Robles (17-3, 15). Whilst this was supposed to be a tune up for a world title fight for Brook we've unfortunately heard "Brook" and "Tune up" put in the same sentence too many times to know quite what to expect from Brook's next fight.

On the same show in the UK Kevin Mitchell (37-2, 27) made light work of Mikheil Avakyan (21-12-4, 8) scoring a second round TKO. This bout, like Brooks, was supposed to be a prelude for a world title fight though it's hard to imagine Mitchell beating any of the current Lightweight champions.

Although not a big bout we'd suggest that the best bout of the night was actually the British Light Heavyweight title fight between Bob Ajisafe (12-2, 3) and Dean Francis (34-5-1, 26). We hadn't expected much from this contest due to various issues, instead however the bout turned out to be genuinely brilliant and is well worth a watch.

(Picture courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions)

The Light Welterweight division has been one of the most interesting divisions in recent years. Whilst many fighters have used it as a stop gap before joining the always brilliant Welterweight division it has still given us some great fights such as the Mike Alvarado/Brandon Rios fights or Marcos Maidana's fights with Victor Ortiz and Amir Khan.

This weekend promises us another notable contest in the 140lb division as the divisional kingpin Danny "Swift" Garcia (27-0, 16) defends his WBA "super" and WBC titles against the tough but limited Mauricio Herrera (20-3, 7) in Puerto Rico. In terms of boxing skills this shouldn't be a contest with Garcia being the much better fighter, however Herrera has got the toughness to give good fighters headaches and does hold a very notable victories over Ruslan Provodnikov and Ji-Hoon Kim.

We have to strongly favour Garcia though we do expect the bout to be highly entertaining.

Another bout on the same card is, arguably, the biggest all-American Heavyweight bout in a generation as Deontay Wilder (30-0, 30) puts his perfect record on the line against Malik Scott (36-1-1, 13). Wilder goes in as a notable favourite though this is a big step up for the unbeaten man and we're expecting to see him tested properly for the first time. Just a shame it's taken him almost 6 years to move up to this level.

The card also features several other interesting contests. One of those is between big punching rivals as Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30) faces Daniel Ponce De Leon (45-5, 35) for the second time. These two men first fought back in 2008 when Lopez announced himself on the world stage with an opening round KO over Ponce De Leon. Since their first fight however Lopez has taken a lot of punishment and Ponce De Leon has a solid chance at revenge.

Another bout sees former Middleweight title challenger Daniel Jacobs (26-1, 23), a former Dmitry Pirog foe, fighting against Colombia's Milton Nunez (26-9-1, 24). Whilst Jacobs is best known for his loss to Pirog he has actually beaten some notable opponents, the same however cannot be said about Nunez who has lost to every of note, including Gennady Golovkin. With that in mind we're expecting Jacobs to win by stoppage.

One more bout on this card features Lightweight hopeful Jose A Gonzalez (22-1, 17) who famously gave Ricky Burns, the then WBO Lightweight champion, a tough test last year. Gonzalez, fighting against Ramesis Gil (8-8-5, 5), will likely be hoping to get a second world title fight later this year and from what we've seen of him he could well be a nightmare for anyone else at 135lbs.

In the US the most notable bout is another Heavyweight contest as Poland's Tomasz Adamek (49-2, 29) meets Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov (16-0-1, 11) in what is a major bout for both. Both still have ambition to be be a Heavyweight world champion though both have seen their stock drop in recent fights and a loss for either man would effectively be the end of their dreams. Major bout and one that could force one of the men to retire.

In the UK we have 2 bouts of note.

The key one sees perennial Welterweight contender Kell Brook (31-0, 21) attempt to stay busy as he fights Alvaro Robles (17-2, 15) in what should be Brook's final bout before a world title contest. Then again every bout seems to be Brook's final bout before a world title fight.

The other bout of note in the UK sees former 2-time Lightweight title challenger Kevin Mitchell (36-2, 26) fighting against Mikheil Avakyan (21-11-4, 8). Whilst this is a "gimme" for Mitchell the expectation is that a victory here will see him moved on to a world title fight with IBF champion Miguel Vazquez later this year. A loss here though and that'll be the end for the highly touted Mitchell.

(Banner courtesy of http://www.goldenboypromotions.com)