Martinez beats Pavlik to claim middleweight title; Bute Knocks Miranda Out in 3

Courtesy AP:

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Nobody could deny Sergio Martinez the victory this time.

The junior middleweight champion dominated the final five rounds Saturday night, winning a bloody and impressive unanimous decision over Kelly Pavlik to claim the WBO and WBC middleweight belts at Boardwalk Hall.

Martinez (45-2-2) moved up to 160 pounds to challenge Pavlik, who had never been defeated at his natural weight. The 35-year-old from Argentina put on marvelous display of speed and footwork, though, rallying from a questionable knockdown in the seventh round to batter and frustrate the pride of Youngstown, Ohio.

When the final bell sounded, Martinez immediately ran for the corner and leaped onto the ropes in victory, his promoter Lou DiBella storming into the ring. Pavlik solemnly raised his own arm, his face awash in blood — just as it been at the end of every round after the eighth.

Judge Roberto Ramirez scored the fight 116-111, Barbara Perez scored it 115-111 and Craig Metcalfe had it 115-112. The Associated Press also scored it 115-112.

Martinez said he knew that he had won the fight when it ended, even though the judges haven't been kind to him the last couple of years.

He appeared to beat Kermit Cintron in February 2009, dropping his opponent in the seventh round and watching the referee count him out. But after a lengthy commotion, the fight was allowed to continue, and all Martinez was able to get out of it was a draw.

Then in December, Martinez fought feared puncher Paul Williams in the smaller ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in a Fight of the Year candidate. Both of them hit the deck in the first round and they stood toe-to-toe the rest of the way, but Williams earned the debatable decision.

No way Martinez was going to let it happen again.

He moved around the outside of the ring like a hornet from the beginning, dashing in to sting Pavlik (36-2) before moving away from the champion's punishing right hand.

Pavlik appeared to make his move in the middle rounds, finally starting to catch Martinez with a couple of hard shots that left the challenger off balance. A short right sent Martinez to the floor with about 90 seconds left in the seventh round, but he claimed that it was a slip and never appeared to be seriously hurt.

That much was obvious by the ninth round, when the momentum swung back to Martinez. He opened a heavy cut over Pavlik's right eye that turned his face crimson by the end of every round, and Martinez was on cruise control after that. He kept out of the way of a knockout blow in the final round, the only thing that could have sent the titles back to Youngstown again.

Pavlik's corner said that he would need at least a dozen stitches to close the cut.

Much has changed since Pavlik last stepped foot on the boardwalk, when he was embarrassed by slick veteran Bernard Hopkins in a non-title fight in October 2008.

Back then, thousands fans made the trip from Youngstown to cheer on their favorite son, the next great middleweight. He was feted everywhere he went, throwing out the first pitch for the Cleveland Indians and showing up in magazine and newspaper spreads on a regular basis.

Then he contracted a staph infection on the knuckle of his left hand that threatened his career, if not his life, and caused him to back out of a fight against Williams last fall.

His only title defenses last year, against overmatched and undersized Marco Antonio Rubio and Miguel Espino, took place in his hometown — far removed from the glaring spotlight that had once shone so brightly. Rumors began to circulate that Pavlik was an alcoholic or having other personal problems, and many of his fans began to turn their back to him.

Boardwalk Hall was still heavily in his corner Saturday night, but Pavlik acknowledged before the fight that merely winning might not be enough to earn back everyone who abandoned him. He needed to win the fight convincingly, perhaps by knockout.

In the end, Martinez was the one who nearly finished the fight early....

Courtesy USA Today:

MONTREAL — Undefeated Lucian Bute stopped Edison Miranda 1:22 into the third round to retain the IBF super-middleweight title Saturday night at Bell Centre.

Early in the third, Miranda mocked Bute and dared the Montreal fighter to give his best shot to the body. Bute then had the Colombian scrambling with a flurry of punches, stopped for a second to grin at his opponent, then finished him off with a combination.

Miranda got up, but was still wobbly and the fight was stopped.

Bute, a Romanian who moved to Montreal in 2003, improved to 26-0 with his 21st knockout. Miranda dropped to 33-5.

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Two Years of Injury, Defeat and Mismanagement: Can Kelly Pavlik Get Back on Track?

by Paul Magno

Two years ago, every informed finger was pointing directly at Kelly Pavlik as a "for sure" superstar of the future and, possibly, as the face of the sport as guys like Oscar De la Hoya faded from the scene.

You couldn't ask for a better back story or more impressive rise to glory.

Two big wins over a pound-for-pound Jermain Taylor, a destruction of the still well-regarded Edison Miranda as well as victories over fringe challengers like Bronco McKart, Jose Luis Zertuche and Fulgencio Zuniga; It all pointed to a legit pound for pound placement with a definite eye aimed at upward movement.

There seemed to be no limit to how big Pavlik could grow. A blue collar, pickup-driving Mid-west middleweight champ with an exciting style and, seemingly, not an ounce of pretense to him. Lord, this kid was destined to be a money machine!

But then Pavlik (or his people) veered off Top Rank's carefully prepared course and stalled in the proverbial roadside ditch.

A one-sided schooling to Bernard Hopkins at 170 lbs, injury, inactivity, listless performances and one public relations disaster after another have characterized the last two years of "The Ghost's" career.

Now, Pavlik's last real chance to get off the side of the road and back onto the path of glory will be coming this Saturday in Atlantic City against Argentine world jr. middleweight champ, Sergio Martinez.

A loss for Pavlik ends the wild ride and permanently sends him back to the full-time job of being Youngstown, Ohio's resident big fish in a small pond. But, in Team Pavlik's typical short-sighted fashion, even a win for Pavlik is not likely to regain his status of twenty four months earlier.

Aside from being a strong, quick-footed, southpaw, Sergio Martinez is also the fans' second choice of opponent for Pavlik with Paul Williams , who just beat Martinez in a thrilling war, being the consensus preferred opponent.

So, essentially, Team Pavlik has made it so that a win for Kelly in his biggest fight since the Hopkins debacle, will still be coming against the guy who just lost to the fighter that Pavlik is accused of ducking.

Martinez has a nightmare style for Pavlik that will force him to revisit the same technical flaws that cost him against Hopkins...Aside from that, Pavlik has to impress and convince the masses that this is the same Kelly Pavlik of old, fully recovered from a bad turn of recent events and a potentially career-ending hand injury.

This will be a real test of whether Pavlik truly wants to be at the top of the sport again and, as has been the case ever since he reached the spotlight, he'll have to do it all with his own team seemingly stepping on his feet every step of the way.

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The BTBC Rumor Mill: WBC wants Martinez Out of the Picture

Rumblings in the WBC offices indicate a strong desire to put a world strap on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.'s waist within the year.

Rumor has it that there's a less than subtle push by the organization to encourage reigning 154lb. champ, Sergio Martinez, to make a permanent leap up to 160.

The thought within the Mexico City-based WBC is that a Chavez with a belt will boost an extremely sluggish Mexican fight scene.

Chavez Jr. is already the organization's number 1 ranked Jr. Middleweight with Kermit Cintron ranked second. Look for the organization to somehow bypass Cintron and work to match up Chavez against third ranked Brit, Ryan Rhodes.

If Martinez can't be rushed out the door to compete full time at Middleweight, look for a Chavez Jr. interim title bid later in the year.

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2009 Junior Middleweight Report

by Dafs117

Last year there was hope. This year, there’s self-pity.

The revolving door at 154 pounds continues to revolve, with the likes of Paul Williams and Sergio Mora moving up to middleweight, and the star-studded names such as Shane Mosley and Oscar De La Hoya have either headed down south or retired. Their replacements were hardly a fair trade. Although Carlos Quintana and Joshua Clottey are great technicians, they are hardly Pay-Per-View fighters. Quintana and Clottey are suppose to come up from welterweight, but who knows in the current fight game. Unfortunately, so far, Kermit Cintron, hasn’t exactly created the predicted splash, which is impressive if you’re a platform diver, but not in any other sport. The Puerto Rican promised a big showing, but we received a lacklustre play instead.

The death of Vernon Forrest has left the division reeling, with the older, wiser gentlemen at the upper half of the ratings taking time off to reflect on their careers. "The Viper's" death scarred the year, alongside legends Alexis Arguello and Arturo Gatti, and respected fighter Marco Nazareth, who all passed away in a July 2009.

One of the fighters that’s took a break from the ring is Ukranian lefty Sergiy Dzinziruk. Another talented fighter from the Eastern bloc, Dzinzurik recently split with promotion outfit, Universum Box for failing to land him a fight with a desperate Paul Williams. Should return for a successful 2010, quite possibly with new promoter, Top Rank, but who would want to risk their winning streak if the WBO strip his title?

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Why The Hell Is This Guy Not a Draw?

by Paul Magno

Paul Williams is the type of boxer that fans are always begging for; A tough, highly-skilled fighter who will fight anyone, anywhere and will always put in an honest, exciting effort regardless of the opponent.

There's not an ounce of dog in "The Punisher" and nobody can ever accuse him of playing it safe with his opponent selection. Williams is just a soft-spoken punching machine who will fight any opponent in any division.

He should be selling out every seat wherever he fights. He is precisely what every hardcore boxing fan wishes for when they go up and down the rankings and complain about the sad state of the sport today.

Yet, Paul Williams is not a draw; He doesn't bring big numbers to HBO and he doesn't put asses in seats...and that's a real shame and a damn fine mystery to explore.

After all, its not like he's without his connections. He has Al Haymon representing him and Haymon has a direct line to HBO and, seemingly, carte blanche to air what he pleases on HBO World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark. The same pit bull pushing Floyd Mayweather into eight-figure paydays is behind Paul Williams, yet Williams has a hard time even filling the first dozen rows of his fights or attracting a rating higher than a 2.0.

Looking over his recent resume, his only less-than-scintillating performance was against Winky Wright and the lack of intrigue in that one had nothing at all to do with Paul Williams' effort as he hurled punches in bunches at a defense-minded Wright.

And if there was need for further proof of Williams' entertainment value, Saturday's war with Sergio Martinez should've erased all doubt as to his ability to thrill even the most casual of fan.

In a candidate for Fight of the Year, Williams and Sergio Martinez went at it with a ferocity that bordered on frenzy at times, but despite the buzz that surrounds a quality fight, this one will ultimately result in a sigh of disbelief and a shrugging of the shoulders as we read the Nielsen television ratings report. This gorgeously chaotic war will undoubtedly draw lower ratings than next week's peck and paw rematch of Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi.

So, why can't a fighter, proven to be entertaining and a representative of all things boxing fans claim to want, attract the proper amount of attention?

Some will point to the big fighters' unwillingness to fight Williams and the resulting necessity to fight trickier, lesser-known opponents in order to make a living. That could be a solid reason, but it's not like Williams has been fighting The Contender alumni at club shows in Minnesota. Williams has fought guys like Margarito, Quintana, Phillips, Wright and Martinez on the nation's premier boxing network. Lesser fighters have achieved greater glory with weaker opposition.

A darker reason for Williams' inability to draw relative to his ability is racial in nature. I've said it a couple of times on our forum (www.thebtbc.com), but I feel that if Williams were Latino, he'd be a major star right now. The shadow of race and nationality is still a factor in the sport, more so than some would like to believe. Mexicans tend to throw their support behind Mexican fighters, Puerto Ricans support Puerto Rican fighters, African Americans support African American fighters, etc. As a result, Williams is only getting full support from a fraction of the available fan base and simply being ignored by the more vocal and fanatical Latino community.

The most pessimistic of the reasons behind Williams' lack of star power is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow. Maybe the fans, despite their cries to the contrary, simply don't care about entertaining, brave warriors who step softly into battle. Maybe they simply like who they like, based on personality or background, and couldn't care less about anything else.

Whatever the reason, Williams is a special kind of fighter and he deserves to be seen by a much wider audience. Hopefully the buzz around the Martinez bout will fix that. If not, take all fight fans' whines about wanting a re-emergence of old-school fighters with a huge grain of salt...they're not telling the truth.

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Williams Edges Martinez in Thriller

In a thrilling back and forth war at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, Paul "The Punisher" Williams (38-1, 27 KOs), beat fellow southpaw, Sergio "Maravilla" Martinez via Majority Decision.

The fight started with Williams being slightly more aggressive than usual and forcing Martinez into a knockdown which instant replay showed to be more off-balance slip. Martinez answered back by stunning Williams at the end of the round and knocking him down and up against the ropes.

Martinez employed a strategy of constant movement, taking advantage of Williams' aggression with strong right hooks and well-timed lefts as the lanky southpaw from Augusta, GA lunged forward.

Williams, for his part, was firing away, getting caught with big shots, but still throwing his own responses.

Despite some tense moments in the first four sets and a couple of cuts around his left eye, Williams started finding his rhythm in the middle rounds and the rest of the fight consisted of Williams advancing and Martinez in strategic retreat, looking to counter.

Both fighters landed crowd-stirring bombs throughout the final few rounds and as the final bell rang the result was anything but a foregone conclusion...well, one person surely had his mind made up.

Judge Pierre Benoist scored the fight 119-110 in one of the most curious scores of the year. Thank God the other two judges were actually watching the fight: Lynne Carter and Julie Lederman got it right with 115-113 and 114-114 respectively. The BTBC scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Williams.

On the televised undercard, Chris Arreola (28-1, 25 KOs) beat Brian Minto (34-3, 21 KOs) via TKO 4 in a predictable, but entertaining slugfest.

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Magno vs. The Machine (Stage 6: Paul Williams vs. Sergio Martinez)

After a disgraceful draw in last week’s bout between Joan Guzman and Ali Funeka, the Machine’s protest of an extra KO was denied. An upset Machine is threatening legal action against Alan Davis and Benoit Roussel by taking them to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Anyway, back to the important stuff. Magno will go into the halfway point with a victory on his side, but a KO could be vitally important as the next week’s dreaded triple header comes around. Can the two challengers pick the right result for the middleweight bout between Paul Williams and Sergio Gabriel Martinez?

Paul Williams vs. Sergio Gabriel Martinez

Magno: Martinez is good and I think he'll present more of a problem, stylistically, than Kelly Pavlik, but he's not as good as some are making him out to be. He's a southpaw who aspires to a slick style that's a little beyond his physical ability. He got screwed in his bout with Kermit Cintron and looked like a real stud against Alex Bunema, but there's nobody else on his resume that would suggest that he can live up to the acclaim he's received in some circles.

Against Williams, he'll find himself in against his toughest opponent by far and, by the middle rounds, he should find himself well over his head.

Williams might take a few rounds to find Martinez, but when he does, the ending will be just a formality. I think Martinez is mobile enough to stay on his feet, but he won't be able to do enough to win many rounds at all.

Williams takes this via Unanimous Decision, with scores around 117-111.

Machine: After a torrid last week, the machine predicts an easy run out for Paul Williams on Saturday.

The greater skill set, power, tactics and opposition make Williams a firm favorite going into the fight. Both have faced Margarito, with Martinez’ only defeat coming to the hands of Margarito. Williams outpointed the Mexican in an intense fight.

Williams will spice up the early rounds moving a lot and cutting down the ring. Williams will lead the first four rounds comfortably when Martinez begins to hold. By the fifth, Williams is throwing punches at will, firing from all different angles.

Martinez drops a point in the seventh for excessive holding and is dropped in the ninth. By this time, Martinez has blood pouring from his right eye and looks a contender for the George A. Romeo Gore Award. The referee rescues a very brave Martinez in the tenth. Williams the winner by tenth round stoppage.

Current Scores: Magno 6-2 (2 KOs), Machine 5-3 (1 KOs)

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Where does Williams go next?

by Dafs117

Four-weight fighter Paul Williams has been waiting for Kelly Pavlik since September. The bad news is he’s still waiting and after news broke out that Pavlik wanted to further delay his fight, Williams and his team stood firm and cancelled Kelly Pavlik off the December 5 list. In a follow up from Tomasz Adamek, we assess Paul Williams’ current options and possible paths, judging fighters he should challenge, and the fighters he should definitely avoid.

Firstly, we estimate that Williams’ goal is to get a fighter that brings him recognition, money and most importantly victory. We then looked at who’s called out Williams, who’s in a better position than Williams and who Williams needs to get his reputation up to world class.

Headhunters:

Sergio Gabriel Martinez: The Argentine WBC light middleweight titleholder has been a candidate from the start and is a name that many feel would prove if Williams has the bottle to cut it at the top level. Many have even gone as far and mentioned the ‘D’ word, ducking to suggest that Williams will fight an older American to avoid fighting Martinez. It would be a cracking contest, with Martinez playing the spoiler countering hard at any occasion. It would be interesting to see if Martinez does try and attack Williams’ body as he’s done with previous opponents as the rangy American could easily pick him off with that jab. It’s an interesting bout that most fans on our forum would prefer to see over any other possible opponents. If Williams wants to enhance his recognition further at light middleweight, Sergio Gabriel Martinez is certainly the guy to do it. Does Martinez bring money on to the table? Probably not enough for the Punisher’s liking and for that reason the fight is in jeopardy.

Sergio Gabriel Martinez: AVOID

Joshua Clottey: The former welterweight belt-holder thought he had won the lottery when he landed a fight with Shane Mosley on December 26. The cancellation curse struck again and Clottey was forced to search for a new opponent. Up came the chance to fight former Puerto Rican welterweight titlist Carlos Quintana at a catchweight of a 149 pounds, but the cancellation curse got the better of the fight as Pavlik pulled out of the main event. As Clottey doesn’t have an opponent and as Williams doesn’t have an opponent, surely logic and fate points them towards each other, right? The Ghanaian brings money to the table, recognition and an opponent Williams should beat at a higher weight. Clottey would demand more money than the rest of Williams’ opponents. It would be a more gripping contest with Clottey absorbing punches on his guard and probably easily getting out-pointed by the mystery of Paul Williams. Probably has the skill set to put up a fight against Williams, but as we saw against Cotto, not that adrenaline rush to throw punches at will in the dying stages of a very close fight. This makes too much sense for the fight to happen.

Clottey recently turned down a 650K payday to fight Williams in December. Williams should offer more money to Clottey and beat him. He's there for the taking for Williams.

Joshua Clottey: CHALLENGE

Kermit Cintron: After a ridiculous draw against Sergio Martinez, Cintron turned the tables with an impressive points victory over the monster Alfredo Angulo. In his homecoming last week, Cintron stopped Juliano Ramos in 5 to send his home-crowd into raptures. After more than a little tussle in the post fight press conference with WBA light middleweight champion and fellow countryman Daniel Santos, that fight will surely happen in 2010. That means that Cintron would probably fight once more in 2009, could that be against Paul Williams? Another former welterweight titlist, Cintron has suffered with a bad guy reputation that has hindered his fanbase considerably. So he’s in good shape after a win at the weekend. He can go and rest with his family for two weeks and then train hard for a major payday. However, Cintron might bring money, recognition and more than a beatable opponent if he is put under pressure, but the Puerto Rican star might have a few tricks up his sleeve to defeat the American. He might fight for half the fight, but Cintron does possess serious knockout power in both hands, an ability to move around the ring and uses enough lateral movement to confuse the Punisher. A fight I would certainly want to see.

Kermit Cintron: AVOID

Sebastian Sylvester: Who’s Sebastian Sylvester I hear you ask. He’s the IBF middleweight champion that’s the most wanted fighter in the world right now. Over half the division have spotted Sylvester as the major weak link in the division’s titlist and are all queuing up desperate for an opportunity against the German. What makes Paul Williams so special in front of Anthony Mundine, Daniel Geale and Matthew Macklin? He brings more money than all three of them put together. What would Williams do with Sylvester? Take his title, use it in the future as an advantage in any purse bidding. Ok, you couldn’t fill a phone booth with the number of Americans who would recognize Sylvester if he walked down the street, even though he looks like something from ET. That means the fight would have to take place in Germany to make any money. Williams would stop Sylvester inside 6 despite the bias officials. Sylvester’s team wouldn’t fight Williams if he could carry a crowbar in the ring and Williams would have to throw gallons of milk up and down in the minute interval between rounds. But they must realise he’s just another useless asset to their promotional company.

Sebastian Sylvester: CHALLENGE

Sergiy Dzinzurik: This fight was supposed to happen in September, but a certain Kelly Pavlik got their first. Following his promotional company’s failure to land him this fight, Dzinzurik quit his suit and left in his bid to land his major fight. He must have felt like a donkey when Pavlik pulled out the first time and he was leading the race with Sergio Gabriel Martinez to replace the Ghost. Anyway 3 months down the line and it’s the situation. In need of a smaller challenger that will put up a fight for eight rounds and then crumble under his hard work and lose the last four rounds. Dzinzurik doesn’t crumble. That’s why he’s unbeaten. Don’t underestimate him because you can’t pronounce his name and wouldn’t know him if you married his daughter. He can fight. He has a poor risk/reward ratio, similar to Adamek-Cunningham II situation. Williams would get little credit for defeating the tough Ukrainian.

Sergiy Dzinzurik: AVOID

The Boxing Tribune Pathway Too Success: If you want to make yourself a world class name in the sport, Williams would fight Joshua Clottey, probably the highest ranked fighter in contention. A Williams’ win would set up numerous fights from junior middleweight to super middleweight. With Jermain Taylor rumoured to be pulling out of the Showtime Super 6 Boxing Classic, could Paul Williams be his replacement?

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Moore Pencilled in For Chavez Jr. or Martinez Shot

The winner of what is arguably the British domestic battle of the year between two light-middleweights Jamie Moore and Ryan Rhodes, will be taken one step closer to a world title.

The massive excitement surrounding the contest has gone up another level with the news that the WBC has granted the fight as an eliminator for Sergio Martinez’s world crown. Jamie Moore’s European light-middleweight title will also be on the line when the pair meet in October.

The match will be staged at Bolton Arena later in October, with Salford's Moore ranked third and Rhodes seventh in the WBC's rankings. Moore is ranked #8 with The Ring Magazine and at #10 with the BTBC’s own professional ranking system.

Moore's manager Steve Wood and promoter Frank Maloney are hoping that a victory for Moore over Rhodes could propel him towards a straight shot at Martinez or at a final eliminator against mandatory contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

"I have lobbied the WBC and it is great that they are getting behind British boxing," said Maloney. "If Jamie wins he will go to the WBC convention in Jeju, Korea in early November and try and get him the fight he dreams of. This fight is already potentially the domestic fight of the year, but this great news from the WBC makes it even bigger. No wonder tickets are flying out of the door."

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is using his father’s name to his advantage, earning many pay-checks fighting overmatched fighters. He will get the chance to show the world what he’s made of on the undercard of Pacquiao-Cotto on November 14. Many believe he has the potential to be a champion, but his lack of experience against quality boxers may prove to be his downfall. A fight with ‘Mr Excitement’ Moore, could prove his doubters that he has the ability to beat a world level fighter at 154 lbs.

Many felt that current WBC champion Sergio Martinez won his controversial battle with Kermit Cintron when the pair met in February. The bout was scored a draw, and had one of the weirdest rounds in boxing history when the bout looked to be stopped but was overturned and restarted with all sorts of confusion in the ring. Martinez is currently on a different scale to Chavez Jr, but there are similarities between Martinez and Moore’s styles, which could make a bout between both boxers an ever more intriguing challenge.

The last thing we want is another WBA light welterweight saga with more than three fighters claiming to have the right to challenge for the title. WBC should set the record straight with both camps. Is Chavez Jr. ready for the major step-up in class? Is Martinez-Moore the most exciting match-up at 154? Or is there more money in Chavez Jr.-Moore?

Discuss this topic on our forum: Here

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Berto Handles Urango, Cintron Shocks Angulo

Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KOs) successfully defended his WBC Welterweight title at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL against tough southpaw IBF Jr. Welterweight champion, Juan Urango (21-2-1, 16 KOs).

The unanimous decision victory played out similarily throughout all 12 rounds:

Urango would bull forward, head down, Berto would attempt to catch him with fast uppers and hooks and the end result would almost invariable lead to a clinch, a half-clinch or an entanglement of bodies.

Despite the lack of aesthetic appeal to the bout, Berto controlled the contest from the very beginning and cruised to victory with scores of 117-111 and 118-110 (twice). The BTBC had it scored 118-110.

In the opening bout of the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast, Kermit Cintron (31-2-1, 27 KOs) shocked most experts and fans by beating highly-regarded Mexican prospect, Alfredo Angulo, via UD in a WBC Jr. Middleweight Title Eliminator.

Cintron began the bout by using plenty of lateral movement and utilizing his reach advantage by throwing nothing but jabs and straight punches.

In the first four rounds, Angulo seemed almost paralyzed and unable to catch Cintron with anything of note. By the second half of the fight, however, Angulo began to come on and win some rounds with his relentless pursuit.

Angulo's best moments came in the last three rounds when Cintron seemed to be flat-out running and looking to tie up whenever possible.

However, the late surge wasn't enough and Angulo lost on all three cards by a score of 116-112.

The BTBC had it scored 115-113 for Cintron.

Cintron will now face champion Sergio Martinez in a bout that will be a rematch of their controversial draw last February.

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WBC: Vernon Forrest...Buh-Bye!

From the Bribe-Covered Desk of WBC Pres., Jose Sulaiman:

"...Vernon Forrest is a three-time WBC world champion and a champion outside the ring, as well, known for his efforts in support of the children and underprivileged persons in the world.

Unfortunately, Forrest has sustained an injury which is forcing him to stay away from the ring for some time.

The WBC is hereby naming Sergio Martinez as the undisputed WBC super welterweight champion of the world. Martinez is one of the most loyal fighters I have ever met as WBC President. Our dear Ruben Martinez, who passed away two years ago, fought with passion to bring the opportunity to Sergio and it was with a sensational victory over Alex Bunema that he won the WBC interim green and gold belt. He then defended the interim championship against Kermit Cintron, and is now regarded as a new sensation in boxing. I am sure that he will proudly represent the WBC.

Vernon Forrest has been unanimously voted as “WBC Ambassador of Peace and Good Will in the World Through Sports,” and will be eligible to compete for the WBC championship as soon as he recovers from his injury with a 55-45 purse split against Martinez .

I am very happy for Sergio Martinez, and very honored to have Vernon Forrest as an Ambassador. I am confident that Forrest will heal very soon and compete again for the WBC championship."

...Wow, "WBC Ambassador of Peace and Good Will in the World Through Sports..." That's much better than being champ, anyway...

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