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.

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