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Saturday May 5

MAYWEATHER DECISIONS COTTO

By Steve Cummings Floyd Mayweather Jr. weathered s determined attack by Miguel Cotto, taking on more damage than usual, but still came away with a clear decision victory on Saturday night. Mayweather (43-0, 26 KO's) allowed his challenger to pin him against the ropes for long stretches, yet still outpunched his opponent over 12 rounds.

Official scores were 117-11,1, 117-111, 118-110. InTheCorner.net scored it 116-112.

Cotto (37-3, 30 KO's) pressured Mayweather by cutting off the ring and getting Floyd's back the ropes, but Mayweather's famous defense was in play as he slipped most of the punches thrown. Floyd, meanwhile, was able to score with accurate right hands from distance and solid counter shots in close.

What was different this time was that Cotto was able to bloody Floyd's nose in the middle rounds and that, at age 35, it was sometimes not clear if Floyd was fighting with this style beccause he wanted to or if it was out of neccesity.

Either way, it was a much more exciting fight than many of Mayweather's previous outings and closer that the scores indicated. Floyd closed strong, after a good eighth round for Cotto appeared to have tightened things up. Mayweather did the most damage in the 12th round as he hurt Cotto and left no doubt as the final bell sounded.

With the win, Mayweather gathered Cotto's 154-lb belt and called for the long-awaited bout with Manny Pacquaio. It's all Bob Arum's fault according to Floyd. Manny has June 9 date with Timothy Bradley. Floyd will be serving a 90-day jail sentence at that time. At this point, who knows where the cards will fall.

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Fight Reports

07/09/11

WILLIAMS MD12 OVER LARA

Paul "The Punisher" Williams had a rough 12 rounds in the ring Saturday night but came away with a majority decision win over Erislandy Lara. Lara (15-1-1) took the fight to the much-taller Williams and landed consistently throughout the fight while Williams (40-2, 17 KO's) seemed to be searching for an offensive rhythm.

No matter for the former welterweight/junior middleweight champion. The judges returned scorecards of 116-114, 115-114 and 114-114, with Williams having the edge on the first two.

As the bout wound down...

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12/11/10

MARES OUTPOINTS DARCHINYAN

Showtime's batamweight tournament kicked off this evening with Abner Mares winning an entertaining battle with Vic Darchinyan by split decision. It was a fight with many twists and turns including both fighters hitting the canvas, a bad cut on Mares' hairline in the first round and a point deduction for Mares for low blows.

Official scores were 115-112 and 115-111 for Mares with one judge ruling in favor of Darchinyan, 115-111.

Mares (20-0-1, 13 KO's) dealt with adversity early, suffering the cut at the end of the first round...

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05/01/10

MAYWEATHER UD12 OVER MOSLEY

Floyd Mayweather Jr. survived one of the rockier moments of his career in the second round and went on to seize control of his fight with Shane Mosley, winning an easy unanimous decision after 12 rounds. The ease with which Mayweather won the last 10 rounds made the first two a distant memory by the time the judges returned scorecards of 119-109, 119-109 and 118-110.

With the win Floyd stayed perfect, improving to 41-0 with 25 KO's.

The battle was fought at welterweight, with Mosley (46-6, 39 KO's) being considered by many as the first legit 147-pounder that Floyd has faced in that division. The size and strength advantages turned out to be all Mayweather's....

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04/10/10

HOLYFIELD TKO8 OVER BOTHA

Holyfield looks to be in great shape. Holy 47, Botha 41. Botha soft in the middle, Holyfield cut.

One - Botha throws the overhand right. Good body shots by Botha. A lot of clinching after they throw power punches. Holyfield gets a head butt in with 40 seconds left. And another. Botha gets a warning for hitting behind the head after doing it several times in clinches. 10-9 Botha.

Two – Holyfield out on the attack. Botha lands a counter right to the side of the head. Holyfield more assertive this round. Right hand on the inside knocks Holyfield back to the corner. Good right by Holyfield. Botha working the body well. Solid overhand right by Holyfield. Another Botha round. 10-9 Botha, 20-18 Botha.

Three – Another warning for Botha. He does it when Holyfield butts him. Evander tries to bull his way in...

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01/23/10

JM LOPEZ TKO7 OVER LUEVANO

Juan Manuel Lopez stepped up to featherweight and dethroned WBO champion Steven Luevano with a seventh-round TKO on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Lopez (28-0, 25 KO's) won every round and hurt the now ex -champ at the start of the seventh with a right hand in the center of the ring. More power shots followed and Luevano went down.

Referee Benjy Esteves stopped the contest at the :44 mark of round seven.

Luevano threw a few more punches over the course of the fight but JuanMa had the upper hand in each round due to his power shots. Luevano got a lot of good work done against Lopez, who is also the WBO jr. featherweight champ. But the heavy hands of Lopez carried the day, both in the scoring of each round and in ending the fight suddenly .

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Recent Articles

05/04/12

COTTO-MAYWEATHER WEIGHTS

Official weights for tomorrow night's pay-per-view clash between Miguel Cotto and Floyd Mayweather Jr. The telecast begins at 9PM ET for the card that takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

MIGUEL COTTO - 154
FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. - 151

SAUL ALVAREZ - 154
SHANE MOSLEY - 154 (154.5 1st Att)

JESSE VARGAS - 146
STEVE FORBES - 146.5

DEANDRE LATIMORE - 154.5
CARLOS QUINTANA -154

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04/20/12

TAYLOR FLOORED BUT BEATS TRUAX

Photo: Craig Bennett / SHOWTIME

BILOXI, Miss. (April 21, 2012) – Jermain Taylor found himself in a very familiar place late in his fight – the canvas – but unlike in the past, Taylor returned to his feet and took home the victory. Taylor controlled a large majority of the 10-round middleweight bout before Caleb Truax floored him with a right hand early in the ninth. Taylor won the second straight fight of his comeback campaign via unanimous decision by the scores of 98-91, 97-92 and 97-94 in the main event of tonight’s ShoBox: The New Generation doubleheader. In the SHOWTIME®-televised co-feature, Erislandy Lara demolished Ronald Hearns via TKO at 1:34 of round one in a scheduled 10-round junior middleweight bout from Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss.

Fighting for only the second time in the last thirty months, Taylor (30-4-1, 18 KO’s), of Little Rock, Ark., started slowly...

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04/06/12

25 YEARS SINCE LEONARD - HAGLER

By Steve Cummings

It was one of the greatest upsets in boxing history. Unless you ask those rooting for Marvin Hagler. 25 years ago today, Sugar Ray Leonard came out of nearly three years of retirement, took on the toughest champion in boxing, and won.

Only, not all observers agreed with the split-decision scores of 118-110, 115-113 and 113-115 in favor of Leonard.

It should be agreed that it was a close fight. Leonard looked much better than anyone could have expected him to look and Hagler never did corral him and punish him the way the Marvelous one's supporters believed he would. That combination made it appear to be a win for Leonard as each round passed.

Hagler stalked, Leonard moved. Even at nearly the middleweight limit (Leonard weighed in at 158 1/2), Leonard had the speed and agility. He threw combinations and moved away. Hagler got frustrated.

Down the stretch of the 12-round fight, in the large ring that Leonard demanded and Hagler granted, the champion finally got there with some meaningful blows. If it were a 15-rounder, who knows?

But it was a virtuoso performance for Leonard. Just enough to get the win. (Forget the 118-110 score). After the inactivity, looking bad enough in his previous fight against Kevin Howard to convince him to step away and coming back at middleweight to take on the pound-for-pound champion in Hagler, Leondard did what seemed impossible.

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03/21/12

MARES VS. MOREL APRIL 21

Photo: Tom Casino / SHOWTIME

EL PASO, Texas (March 21, 2012) - Abner Mares and Eric Morel held a press conference on Tuesday, March 20 at Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas, to formally announce their upcoming showdown for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Super Bantamweight World Title on Saturday, April 21, live on SHOWTIME® (9 p.m. ET/PT, delayed on the West Coast) at Don Haskins Center.

A former Bantamweight World Champion, Mares (23-0-1, 13 KOs), of Hawaiian Gardens, Calif. by way of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, will return to the 122-pound division for the first time since 2006 to take on former Two-Time World Champion Eric "Little Hands of Steel" Morel (46-2, 23 KOs), of Madison, Wis. by way of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the 12-round main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING tripleheader.

In a second world title fight...

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03/09/12

SALIDO - JUANMA WEIGHTS

Both WBO feather champ Orlando Salido and challenger Juan Manuel Marquez made the 126-lb. limit for Saturday night's rematch.

Salido (37-11-2, 25 KO's) - 126
Marquez (31-1, 28 KO's) - 125.7

The Showtime telecast starts at 10PM ET.

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