- It was a busy week for fight fans who had to decided between competing cards on HBO and Showtime last Saturday. The bigger names appeared on HBO with a heavyweight bout between Luis Ortiz and Tony Thompson headlining that card. As expected that fight was all Ortiz who dropped Thompson three times, including once in the opening round, on his way to a sixth round knockout win. Thompson didn't put up much of a fight and seemed content to try and survive. However, despite not having much on his punches Thompson was able to land some clean shots on Ortiz. Ortiz is still looking for a big name fight but there doesn't seem to be a heavyweight title holder willing to get in the ring with him anytime soon. Also on that card was an intriguing fight between Sadam Ali and Jessie Vargas. Ali came into the fight undefeated but had not faced the same level of opposition that Vargas had. The fight was close early with Vargas playing the role of aggressor while Ali focused on landing clean counter punches. However, as the fight wore on Vargas' pressure proved too much for Ali who was dropped in the eighth and ninth rounds before the referee stopped the fight late in the ninth. The victory gave Vargas a vacant WBO World welterweight title and perhaps a shot at the winner of the fight between Manny Pacquiao. For Ali this is a big setback especially considering he hadn't yet garnered a large fan base or much popularity.
- Over on Showtime a trio of young fighters were in action. The main event featured Julian Williams taking on Marcello Matano in a fight he was expected to win. Williams did just that, controlling nearly every round before he stopped the awkward Italian in the seventh round and now hopes to get a fight with Jermall Charlo. The fight of the night on Showtime was the bout between new contender Antoine Douglas and Avtandil Khurtsidze. Douglas had a massive height and reach advantage over the 5-foot, 4-inch Khurtsidze but that didn't matter. Khurtsidze brought the fight to Douglas who simply couldn't handle the relentless pressure. Douglas went down hard in the third round and barely made it out of that round. In the seventh round Douglas would be dropped again before eventually being stopped by Khurtsidze in the 10th round in a major upset. The first fight of the night was between Tony Harrison and Fernando Guerrero, both big punchers with defensive flaws. Harrison controlled the fight early, dropping Guerrero in the second round. But Harrison doesn't always protect his chin and was hurt by Guerrero in the fight. Harrison recovered nicely though and dropped Guerrero once more in the sixth round to get the stoppage victory.
- The biggest name who fought last week was without a doubt Antonio Margarito. Margarito returned to the ring after a four year absence to take on Jorge Paez Jr.. Margarito had left the sport in infamy and injury after incidents where he was caught with illegal hand wraps and fights where his right eye was badly damaged. Against Paez, Margarito showed some rust and even got knocked down in the sixth round. However, "El Tornado de Tijuana" was able to fight back strong late and beat Paez by the way of unanimous decision, making his comeback a successful one.
- On Friday on Telemundo Orlando Cruz took on Romulo Koasicha. Cruz, who is boxing's first openly gay fighter and a former title challenger was dominant. He dropped Koasicha three times, including once in the final round and easily won the fight on the scorecards by the way of unanimous decision. While Cruz still has some climbing to do if he hopes to get back into the title picture this win keeps him hanging on to contender status.
- Also on Friday was a fight on Estrella TV between Michael "The Artist" Perez and Martin Honorio. The fight was not very aesthetically pleasing and both fighters were cut from headbutts during the bout. After the sixth round it was ruled that Perez was no longer able to continue and the fight went to the cards where Perez won in a shutout with scores of 60-54 on all three judges scorecards.
MONTHLY RECORD: 4-4
OVERALL RECORD: 659-192-23
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