Mayweather, Santa Cruz and Quigg all retain titles, Bey "beats" Vazquez and Braekhus unifies the big 4!

It's very rare in boxing that we see the fighters regarded as the male and female pound-for-pound #1's in action on the same day though that's exactly what we got this Saturday and although both won their bouts they each did so in distinctly different ways.

The first pound-for-pound ruler to be in action was boxing queen Cecilia Braekhus (26-0, 7) who made history by becoming the first ever female fighter to unify the so-called "Big 4" world titles. Braekhus's was as dominant as they come as she thoroughly out boxed, out punched and out classed Ivana Habazin (13-2, 5) to add the IBF female Welterweight crown to her collection of the WBA, WBC and WBO belts. Whilst we know female boxing is the "second class citizen" of the boxing world Braekhus still deserves full credit for achieving something only previously done by Bernard Hopkins, who did the same in the Middleweight division. Universally regarded as the #1 pound for pound fighter without a "Y" chromosome Breakhus is a genuinely special fighter who really has no equal in, or around, her division. 

Several hours after Braekhus had shown off her skills to her loyal Scandinavian fans we then got the chance to see the male pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather (47-0, 26) in action. Mayweather was fighting just his second ever rematch as a professional and was battling against Argentina's Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31). The first fight between the two had been great, competitive and exciting with both showing their dirty sides in what was a genuinely good bout. This time around however the fight lacked something as referee Kenny Bayless became too involved, breaking the men repeatedly through the course of 12 rounds. The breaking was not only killing any chance of Maidana making the bout competitive but also breaking any flow of the bout which was haunted by holding throughout. Over the course of the 12 rounds Mayweather did more than enough to retain his WBA and WBC Welterweight crowns and even hinted at a Pacquiao bout next time out, it was clear however that he is not the fighter he once was.

We'll be controversial and state that we don't think Mayweather actually is the #1 any more, in fact we tend to feel that Nicaraguan sensation Roman Gonzalez is the top fighter irregardless of weight. If you've not seen the little Nicaraguan terror you're really missing out on one of the sports truly terrific offensive fighters.

Prior to the Mayweather bout there had been 4 televised bouts, 3 of which were part of the pay-per-view broadcast. 

The first of the televised bouts from the card saw the show's most exciting bout as former world champion Humberto Soto (65-8-2-1, 35) out pointed the all-action John Molina (27-5, 22) in a thoroughly fun, though foul filled, bout. The fight saw Soto using his experience and edge in skills to clearly win a number of rounds against the one dimensional Molina however the bout also saw numerous low blows. The low blows saw deducted 2 points and Soto deducted 1 point. Despite the low blows and deductions the bout was really good and a brilliant way for Soto to prove he is still relevant on the world scene.

The first of the PPV bouts again saw low blows as James De la Rosa (23-2, 13) scored a career defining victory over the now shot looking Alfredo Angulo (22-5, 18). We loved watching Angulo in the past though he looked a shadow of his former self and was dropped in round 2 by De la Rosa en route to a relatively one sided loss. Angulo was deducted a point for low blows in round 7 and although he made a strong comeback in the final rounds he was a clear, clear, loser of the 10 round non-title bout. Although we did love watching Angulo in his prime we really wish to see him, and for what it's worth Juan Manuel Lopez, retire before taking more punishment. "El Perro" is no longer a marauding beast of a man and is actually going to take a lot of damage if he continues to get in the ring, even against limited fighters.

Sadly the second bout on the PPV was among the worst bouts we've seen this year. The bout saw Mickey Bey (21-1-1-1, 10) take a very controversial split decision win over Miguel Vazquez (34-4, 13) to claim the IBF Lightweight title. The bout a real stinker and we'd suggest using it as a cure for insomnia, or a torture method for captured enemy spies, trust us they would break if you showed them this fight on a loop. Although the bout was a stinker it's action, or rather lack of, was massively over-shadowed by the frankly disgusting card of Robert Hoyle who awarded the bout to Bey with a score of 119-109. The bout had been close and although we felt Vazquez had won it was close. To hand in a score of 119-109 for the bout isn't just questionable but it looks as close to corrupt as any card in recent memory. Genuinely atrocious bout with an atrocious score card.

The penultimate PPV bout, prior to the Mayweather/Maidana bout, saw WBC Super Bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (28-0-1, 16) make very light work of the over-matched and under-sized Manuel Roman (17-3-3, 6). Roman was stopped in the second round of what was really a farce.

For those who paid the PPV price for the Mayweather show, we feel really sorry for you and hope that the American scene will wake up and realise it's killing it's own fan base. PPV it's self isn't terrible but a poor quality product at an over-inflated price, as we had tonight, is awful for the sport and we'd not be surprised if this PPV seriously failed to deliver the numbers hoped for. Hopefully a poor number of sales will help either reduce the cost of the sport or even help move bigger fights back to the cable networks, afterall the sport is growing in countries where the fights aren't on PPV, countries like Germany and Japan being notable examples and both being able to interest a huge fan base.

As well as the action in Denmark and the US we also had action from the UK as WBA Super Bantamweight champion Scott Quigg (29-0-2, 22) successfully defended his title with a 3rd round stoppage of Belgium's Stephane Jamoye (26-6, 16). Jamoye, known for his relatively recent loss to Shinsuke Yamanaka, took the fight to Quigg though was out muscled, over-powered and eventually stopped with a sickening body shot. On paper a 3rd round TKO over Jamoye does look impressive for Quigg, though Jamoye was a late replacement for Paulus Ambunda and got only around 3 weeks notice for the fight. Quigg seemed to hint at a possible clash with Carl Frampton though in all honesty we'd steer Quigg away from that fight as we'd strongly favour the Northern Irishman who looks the more complete fighter by far. Saying that there are plenty of interesting fights Quigg could have, such as a battle with Leo Santa Cruz, Chris Avalos or Shingo Wake, all of which would be very good bouts.

(Image courtesy of Badlefthook.com)

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