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Junior welterweight
Marcos Maidana KO6 Victor Cayo
Retains an interim junior welterweight title |
Records: Maidana, 28-1, 27 KOs; Cayo, 24-1, 16 KOs
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Rafael's remark: There's a reason the handlers of titleholder Amir Khan -- Golden Boy and trainer Freddie Roach -- want no part of Maidana, even though as an interim titleholder, he is the mandatory challenger for Khan. The Khan camp went to great lengths to avoid the mandatory by making some bogus deal to keep him away from the money-generating Khan for some time while allowing him to keep his belt. The whole thing was disingenuous to have them both keep belts without fighting each other, but the terrible World Boxing Association approved, which was no big surprise.
If you want to know why the Khan camp is petrified to match the chinny Khan with the monster-punching Maidana, his knockout of Cayo should illustrate why. Argentina's Maidana, 26, is a no-frills guy, but he's superaggressive and rarely gives his opponent a chance to breathe. He came to the United States during the summer of 2009 and made top prospect Victor Ortiz quit in the sixth round of their slugfest, then returned to Argentina for a title defense in November before returning to HBO to face the Dominican Republic's talented Cayo, 25, who may have been too over his head too soon against Maidana.
Cayo is awkward and fast and may eventually develop into a topflight contender, but it didn't happen against Maidana. Although Cayo had his moments and did a nice job outboxing Maidana in spots, he couldn't hold him off. Maidana cracked Cayo with a left hand a split second after the bell ended the second round, and he went down. Maidana clearly didn't hit him after the bell on purpose, and there was no penalty.
In the sixth round, Maidana ended matters, although not with a punch to the chin as you figured probably would happen if he scored the knockout. Instead, Maidana sunk a right hand to the pit of Cayo's cut, and Cayo went down. Although he got to all fours, referee Joe Cortez counted him out at 1 minute, 38 seconds.
If HBO has its way, Maidana's next opponent will be unified titleholder Devon Alexander in the summer. That would be a very interesting fight. But there are so many possibilities in the deep 140-pound division that there are lots of fights for Maidana -- except one with Khan for the time being, because his side knows that would be a bad matchup for the British star.
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Records: Guzman, 30-0-1, 17 KOs; Funeka, 30-3-3, 25 KOs
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Rafael's remark: Guzman is a disgrace to boxing. So he got the close split decision against the hard-luck Funeka, but what did it mean? Guzman cheated yet again, and his management, his Golden Boy promoters or any athletic commission should not be allowed to sign him to a fight below the welterweight division. Furthermore, he ought to be banned from HBO and Showtime after showing up at Friday's weigh-in at 144 pounds. The weight wouldn't be a problem if he were in a welterweight title bout. But it's a huge issue when you're supposed to weigh 135 pounds and fight for a vacant lightweight belt. Doing that once can be forgiven. But Guzman has pulled the unacceptable stunt three times. Enough is enough, especially considering he usually makes crappy fights anyway. When will somebody just say no to this guy?
In late 2008, Guzman, 33, was supposed to challenge then-lightweight titlist Nate Campbell on Showtime, but Guzman weighed 138½ pounds and refused to go through with a nontitle bout even though Campbell was willing. In November, Guzman, of the Dominican Republic, faced Funeka on HBO but was again overweight. Only Funeka, who had worked hard to make the weight, was eligible to win the vacant belt. Funeka, 32, kicked Guzman's butt all night for what should have been a lopsided win, but two judges ruled it an incomprehensible draw. So Guzman got an undeserved rematch, HBO bought the utterly unnecessary fight (albeit as a substitute when another bout fell out) and Guzman eked out the close win in a bout for which he had a massive advantage because Funeka again had drained down to 135 pounds while Guzman didn't and came in much heavier.
Funeka gave the former junior featherweight and junior lightweight titlist a bloody nose in the sixth round, but Guzman responded with a chopping right hand behind the ear that dropped Funeka. The South African was unable to get his jab rolling as he had in the first fight, and Guzman was able to move and box enough to come away with the decision.
Despite losing to a heavier man, Funeka may be the best lightweight in the world, even though he is officially 0-2-1 in his past three bouts. Of course, all three came against opponents who didn't make 135 pounds: two against Guzman and a majority draw against Campbell, who was overweight for their February 2009 bout.
Guzman was fined 25 percent of his $125,000 purse, half of which ($15,625) went to the Nevada commission and half to Funeka, who also got a little bit more in a side deal from Guzman for agreeing to go through with the fight. He wasn't going to refuse the fight after a long training camp and a tremendous need for the payday. Hopefully, Funeka gets some more paydays and Guzman doesn't.
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Records: Jacobs, 19-0, 16 KOs; Berrio, 12-5-1, 6 KOs
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Rafael's remark: Nursing a hand injury, Jacobs, the 2009 ESPN.com prospect of the year, had been out of action since August. He made his ring return a quick one. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native blew away Rodriguez Berrio, 34, of Colombia, handing him his fourth loss in a row. Jacobs dropped him twice, including just before the end of the round. Although Rodriguez Berrio made it to his feet, referee Jay Nady stopped the bout between rounds on the advice of the ringside doctor. Assuming his hand is OK, Jacobs ought to be back in short order. But instead of going on the May 1 Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather HBO PPV undercard, it is more likely he will be added to the May 15 Amir Khan-Paulie Malignaggi undercard in New York, which Golden Boy realizes makes more sense.
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