Weekend wrap up.
A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at San Jose, Calif.
Robert Guerrero W12 Selcuk Aydin
Welterweight
Wins a vacant interim welterweight title
Scores: 117-111, 116-112 (twice)
Records: Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KOs); Aydin (23-1, 17 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: "The Ghost" Guerrero re-appeared back in the ring after a 15-month layoff with a lot to prove, all of which he did as he made the unusual jump up two weight classes. Guerrero, a former featherweight, junior lightweight and interim lightweight titleholder, skipped over the junior welterweight division and was making his welterweight debut after having fought only once previously north of 135 pounds (138 for a win against Joel Casamayor in 2010). Few fighters in recent boxing history have made such a move, although one of them, Sugar Shane Mosley (a good friend of Guerrero's) did it with great success.
Besides the weight, Guerrero had to show that his left shoulder was sound. He had suffered a partial tear of his left rotator cuff just a week before a junior welterweight fight with Marcos Maidana last August, forcing him to have surgery and then spend months in rehabilitation during his protracted layoff. Guerrero, who had previously called out the likes of welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. only to hear snickers from fans and media because it was such a ridiculous notion for a fighter who had never fought above lightweight, also needed to show such critics that he was able to handle the rigors of facing a top-10 welterweight contender. Aydin, 28 and a former Olympian from Turkey, was just that, and the 29-year-old Guerrero accomplished that goal too. Fighting in front of a hometown crowd of 6,267 at the HP Pavilion (Guerrero is from nearby Gilroy) and headlining a "Showtime Championship Boxing" card, Guerrero looked pretty darn good in his new division as he survived some rocky moments to claim the clear decision in an exciting, fast-paced fight that was a pleasure to watch.
Aydin had threatened to break Guerrero's jaw in the build up to fight (in his last fight, he did break Jo Jo Dan's jaw in November) but after taking his loss, Aydin was respectful and gave Guerrero credit. Guerrero sure deserved it after the very tough fight. Aydin pressured Guerrero throughout the bout, but Guerrero, a southpaw, took the shots well and relied on a good jab to open up an early lead in a fight that featured excellent back-and-forth action. After the fight, Aydin said he was seeing double from the fourth round on. But Aydin never stopped trying to get to Guerrero, who claimed an interim belt (although Mayweather, who gets out of jail on Friday, holds the organization's full title). Aydin, for as experienced as he is, simply refused to use his jab in any meaningful way, which would have helped him a whole lot because he did come on strong in the late going as Guerrero began to fade.
Guerrero had landed many right hands but in the 10th round Aydin seemed to stagger Guerrero with body shots and uppercuts. He hurt him again in the final seconds of the 11th round and even though Guerrero seemed to be ahead, the question was would he be able to hang on for the final round? Aydin had another excellent round in the 12th but Guerrero showed great heart. He never ran from the more powerful man. Instead, Guerrero stood his ground throughout the fight and did a tremendous job of dealing with one of the more powerful fighters in the welterweight division. Although Aydin was the heavier hitter, Guerrero won this fight on sheer activity. He landed 254 of 972 punches (26 percent), according to CompuBox, while the less flashy Aydin connected on just 189 of 528 blows (36 percent). With such a determined effort, Aydin -- who was once rejected by HBO as an opponent for then-welterweight titlist Andre Berto -- ought to be able to land another top-level premium cable fight in America. Guerrero, of course, called out Mayweather again after the fight. It remains to be seen if he can land such a massive fight but at least he showed he's a legitimate welterweight contender who would fit in with any of the other talented contenders and titleholders in the weight class not named Mayweather.
Shawn Porter W10 Alfonso Gomez
Welterweight
Scores: 98-92, 97-93, 96-94
Records: Porter (20-0, 14 KOs); Gomez (23-6-2, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was the kind of fight for a prospect to prove his mettle, and that's just what Porter did against tough veteran Gomez, 31, of Mexico, in a grueling bout that undoubtedly will make Porter better. It was an action fight in which Porter, 24, of Akron, Ohio, had to really dig down and work for the victory. In Gomez, Porter was facing, by far, the best opponent of his career. Gomez gained fame as a participant in the first season of "The Contender" reality series, which he parlayed into multiple noteworthy fights. He knocked out the late Arturo Gatti in the seventh round in 2007 to send him into retirement, got knocked out in the fifth round of a welterweight title bout by Miguel Cotto in 2008 and, in his last fight, got knocked out by junior middleweight titlist Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in September. Despite the losses in title fights, Gomez is still handful for an unprepared opponent. But Porter, in his second fight following a 14-month layoff caused by promotional difficulties, was ready to grind out the rough, tough win in which there were a number of head butts and elbows from both fighters. Porter and Gomez both landed their fair share of clean shots. Porter suffered a cut over his right eye in the first round from an accidental head clash and a much worse cut over his left eye from another accidental head butt in the ninth round. The cut over his left eye was severe enough that referee Ed Collantes called timeout for the ringside doctor to examine it in the ninth and 10th round. Frankly, a lot of doctors would have called for a stoppage. Had the fight been halted and sent to the scorecards for a technical decision, Porter would have won comfortably but he was allowed to continue to the final bell for his biggest victory.
George Groves TKO6 Francisco Sierra
Super middleweight
Records: Groves (15-0, 12 KOs); Sierra (24-6-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Groves, 24, of England, is a stablemate of former heavyweight titleholder David Haye and is the reigning British and Commonwealth champion. Groves, who scored a big win last year against onetime amateur rival (and 2008 British Olympic gold medalist) James DeGale in a heavily hyped fight, was fighting in the United States for the second time and gave the fans in attendance and those watching the Showtime Extreme coverage a good show. He was supposed to have challenged world titleholder Robert Stieglitz on May 5 in Germany, but Groves pulled out of the fight with an injury. Now healed, Groves returned to face Sierra and mostly had his way with him, although Sierra was competitive in spots. However, Groves was quicker and seemed to have more snap on his shots. In the third round, an accidental head butt opened a deep cut over Groves' right eye. In the sixth round, Groves nailed Sierra with a right hand followed by a cracking left hook for a hard knockdown. Sierra was wobbly when the fight resumed and Groves immediately landed a huge right hand. Sierra was ready to go and after eating two more clean right hands, his corner threw in the towel and referee Ed Collantes waived it off at 2 minutes, 15 seconds. It was a solid and entertaining performance from Groves, but the nasty cut is going to be an issue. He is supposed to face Kenny Anderson in a rematch on Sept. 14 in London. Given how bad the cut looked it will not come as a surprise if the bout is postponed. Sierra, 24, of Mexico, dropped to 1-3 in his last four bouts, including an 11th-round knockout to top-10 contender Thomas Oosthuizen in November.
Saturday at Indio, Calif.
Ronny Rios KO9 David Rodela
Junior lightweight
Records: Rios (19-0, 9 KOs); Rodela (16-7-3, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was a terrific fight, the best fight in a long time on the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" series on Telefutura. It was an all-action fight between the prospect, Rios, and the tough, game veteran Rodela, who pushed Rios very hard but ultimately came up short against a younger, fresher foe. Rios, 22, of Santa Ana, Calif., is a crowd pleaser and this was no different, even if he made the back-and-forth slugfest a bit harder on himself that it needed to be. Rodela let it all hang out and was not only in the fight for the first few rounds, but appeared to have the edge as they exchanged in toe-to-toe fashion. Rios began to get into a groove as the fight went along. It would have been nice to see the full sixth round, but Telefutura instead offered up an extended commercial break that ended with the round all ready more than a minute old. That is inexcusable. Rios and Rodela continued to battle at close quarters for an appreciative and loud crowd, but Rodela, who was surprisingly competitive, was beginning to fade. Finally, in the ninth round, Rios put him away. He was banging Rodela with clean shots and had him in retreat when he unloaded more than 20 unanswered shots and, with Rodela covering up and throwing nothing back, referee Jerry Cantu wisely stepped in to stop it at 1 minute, 14 seconds. Rios showed he could weather the storm against an experienced veteran while also continuing to entertain. Rios might not be a world beater, but he will absolutely be in good fights time and again. Rodela, 30, of Oxnard, Calif., showed his huge heart and should definitely be respected for that, but he has been in a lot of tough fights, and it appears as though he is just about finished after losing for the fourth time in his last five fights, including three of the losses coming by knockout. He is also 2-6-1 in his last nine.
Julio Diaz KO5 Henry Aurad
Welterweight
Records: Diaz (39-7, 28 KOs); Aurad (14-5-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Diaz, 32, of Coachella, Calif., is a former two-time lightweight titleholder now seemingly playing out the string. He will beat opponents such as Aurad all day long, but when he steps with the top guys he almost always loses. He had not fought since being knocked out in the third round by former junior welterweight titlist Kendall Holt in the third round 14 months ago. After the long layoff -- another of Diaz's supposed retirements -- he returned as a welterweight to face Aurad, who had no shot. Diaz dominated, scoring a pair of knockdowns en route to the victory. In the third round, he nailed Aurad with a right hand that forced him momentarily to take a knee. In the fifth round, Diaz continued his attack and rocking Aurad with virtually every shot, including several right hands. One of them knocked the unsteady Aurad to a knee and referee Eddie Hernandez called it off 54 seconds into the round. Aurad, 28, a native of Colombia based in Los Angeles, dropped to 2-4 in his last six bouts with three of the losses by knockout.
Saturday at Chihuahua, Mexico
Orlando Salido KO3 Moises Gutierrez
Junior lightweight
Records: Salido (39-11-2, 27 KOs); Gutierrez (21-5, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In March, Salido polished off Juan Manuel Lopez for a 10th-round knockout win in a fight of the year candidate to retain the featherweight belt he had won from Lopez by stopping him in the eighth round in April 2011 in their first fight. With an eye on a fall defense against top contender Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia (28-0, 24 KOs) -- which could land on the Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce undercard in October -- Salido was staying busy with a nontitle bout in his native Mexico. He got in a few rounds of work, scored a knockout and came away unscathed. Salido, 31, had been scheduled to face Oscar Bravo (20-3, 9 KOs) of Chile, but when he dropped out, Gutierrez, another fighter from Chile who had won five fights in a row since a split decision loss to Bravo, took his place. So instead of Bravo, Salido beat up on Gutierrez. He worked over Gutierrez in the first round, sending him into retreat as he hammered him to the body and mixed in a number of clean head shots. It was basically target practice. Gutierrez bought some time in the second after being hit with a low blow in the second round. The way Gutierrez was acting you would have thought he was in the ring with Andrew Golota. After referee Gabriel Peralta gave Gutierrez time to recover, Salido resumed the domination. In the third round, Salido finally put Gutierrez out of his misery, dropping him to his rear end following a five-punch combination. As Gutierrez clung to the ropes, he wisely took the full count from Peralta at 2 minutes, 49 seconds.
Saturday at Leon, Mexico
Edgar Sosa TKO9 Shigetaka Ikehara
Flyweight
Records: Sosa (46-7, 28 KOs); Ikehara (22-4-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In April 2007, Sosa, 32, of Mexico, outpointed Brian Viloria to win a vacant junior flyweight title and defended it 10 times before losing it to Rodel Mayol via controversial head-butt induced knocked out in November 2009. Sosa then moved up to flyweight, won six fights in a row and got a mandatory shot at titleholder Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, the Thai legend, in Thailand in October. Sosa lost a clear decision and is now on the road to another title opportunity with his third consecutive victory since losing the Wonjongkam. There was nothing fancy here other than Sosa giving Ikehara -- fighting outside of Japan for the first time -- a good, old fashioned beating. Sosa culminated his performance by unloading an eight-punch flurry that drove Ikehara into the ropes just as the bell sounded to end the eighth round. With Ikehara's face swelling and having no shot to win, his corner stopped the fight with him on the stool just after the bell rang to begin the ninth round. Sosa looked good and Ikehara, 30, lost his second bout in a row and dropped to 2-3 in his last five fights.
Friday at Atlantic City, N.J.
Raymundo Beltran W10 Hank Lundy
Lightweight
Scores: 96-94 (twice), 95-95
Records: Beltran (26-6, 17 KOs); Lundy (22-2-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Although Mexico native Beltran, 31, of Hollywood, Calif., entered the "Friday Night Fights" main event having lost two of his previous three bouts -- the losses coming against quality prospects Sharif Bogere and Luis Ramos Jr. -- he was no joke. Still, Lundy, 28, of Philadelphia, accepted the fight with a lot on the line when he did not really need to take this tough of an assignment. Since being stopped in the 11th round of a fight he was easily winning against John Molina Jr. in July 2010, Lundy, who loves to talk trash, had reeled off four wins in a row against quality opponents to put himself on the verge of a title shot, especially since one of the sanctioning bodies had him ranked No. 1. He gambled by taking on Beltran and lost. A title shot is down the drain, at least for the near future, after Beltran eked out the close (but deserved) majority decision. It was nice to see the judges get it right, especially with Beltran being the A-side and the virtual hometown fighter. Lundy was a bit sluggish, a situation that likely is directly related to his terrible trouble making 135 pounds. He needed four tries to make the weight, including an extended time sitting in a sauna. Beltran nearly stopped him in the final seconds of the third round. Beltran, who was cut over his left eye, trapped Lundy against the ropes and was teeing off on him. He badly rocked Lundy and was close to a stoppage, but Lundy landed a clean left hand that knocked Beltran back just as the bell sounded to end the round. They knew it was a great exchange and smiled at each other and tapped gloves after the round ended. But time and again, Lundy found himself against the ropes with Beltran -- who has been one of Manny Pacquiao's main sparring partners -- serving as the aggressor throughout the bout. He continually stalked Lundy and outworked him en route to the upset decision. It was a good fight and Beltran put himself in a good position to get more TV exposure while the loss is a huge setback for Lundy.
Saturday at San Jose, Calif.
Robert Guerrero W12 Selcuk Aydin
Welterweight
Wins a vacant interim welterweight title
Scores: 117-111, 116-112 (twice)
Records: Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KOs); Aydin (23-1, 17 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: "The Ghost" Guerrero re-appeared back in the ring after a 15-month layoff with a lot to prove, all of which he did as he made the unusual jump up two weight classes. Guerrero, a former featherweight, junior lightweight and interim lightweight titleholder, skipped over the junior welterweight division and was making his welterweight debut after having fought only once previously north of 135 pounds (138 for a win against Joel Casamayor in 2010). Few fighters in recent boxing history have made such a move, although one of them, Sugar Shane Mosley (a good friend of Guerrero's) did it with great success.
Besides the weight, Guerrero had to show that his left shoulder was sound. He had suffered a partial tear of his left rotator cuff just a week before a junior welterweight fight with Marcos Maidana last August, forcing him to have surgery and then spend months in rehabilitation during his protracted layoff. Guerrero, who had previously called out the likes of welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. only to hear snickers from fans and media because it was such a ridiculous notion for a fighter who had never fought above lightweight, also needed to show such critics that he was able to handle the rigors of facing a top-10 welterweight contender. Aydin, 28 and a former Olympian from Turkey, was just that, and the 29-year-old Guerrero accomplished that goal too. Fighting in front of a hometown crowd of 6,267 at the HP Pavilion (Guerrero is from nearby Gilroy) and headlining a "Showtime Championship Boxing" card, Guerrero looked pretty darn good in his new division as he survived some rocky moments to claim the clear decision in an exciting, fast-paced fight that was a pleasure to watch.
Aydin had threatened to break Guerrero's jaw in the build up to fight (in his last fight, he did break Jo Jo Dan's jaw in November) but after taking his loss, Aydin was respectful and gave Guerrero credit. Guerrero sure deserved it after the very tough fight. Aydin pressured Guerrero throughout the bout, but Guerrero, a southpaw, took the shots well and relied on a good jab to open up an early lead in a fight that featured excellent back-and-forth action. After the fight, Aydin said he was seeing double from the fourth round on. But Aydin never stopped trying to get to Guerrero, who claimed an interim belt (although Mayweather, who gets out of jail on Friday, holds the organization's full title). Aydin, for as experienced as he is, simply refused to use his jab in any meaningful way, which would have helped him a whole lot because he did come on strong in the late going as Guerrero began to fade.
Guerrero had landed many right hands but in the 10th round Aydin seemed to stagger Guerrero with body shots and uppercuts. He hurt him again in the final seconds of the 11th round and even though Guerrero seemed to be ahead, the question was would he be able to hang on for the final round? Aydin had another excellent round in the 12th but Guerrero showed great heart. He never ran from the more powerful man. Instead, Guerrero stood his ground throughout the fight and did a tremendous job of dealing with one of the more powerful fighters in the welterweight division. Although Aydin was the heavier hitter, Guerrero won this fight on sheer activity. He landed 254 of 972 punches (26 percent), according to CompuBox, while the less flashy Aydin connected on just 189 of 528 blows (36 percent). With such a determined effort, Aydin -- who was once rejected by HBO as an opponent for then-welterweight titlist Andre Berto -- ought to be able to land another top-level premium cable fight in America. Guerrero, of course, called out Mayweather again after the fight. It remains to be seen if he can land such a massive fight but at least he showed he's a legitimate welterweight contender who would fit in with any of the other talented contenders and titleholders in the weight class not named Mayweather.
Shawn Porter W10 Alfonso Gomez
Welterweight
Scores: 98-92, 97-93, 96-94
Records: Porter (20-0, 14 KOs); Gomez (23-6-2, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was the kind of fight for a prospect to prove his mettle, and that's just what Porter did against tough veteran Gomez, 31, of Mexico, in a grueling bout that undoubtedly will make Porter better. It was an action fight in which Porter, 24, of Akron, Ohio, had to really dig down and work for the victory. In Gomez, Porter was facing, by far, the best opponent of his career. Gomez gained fame as a participant in the first season of "The Contender" reality series, which he parlayed into multiple noteworthy fights. He knocked out the late Arturo Gatti in the seventh round in 2007 to send him into retirement, got knocked out in the fifth round of a welterweight title bout by Miguel Cotto in 2008 and, in his last fight, got knocked out by junior middleweight titlist Saul "Canelo" Alvarez in September. Despite the losses in title fights, Gomez is still handful for an unprepared opponent. But Porter, in his second fight following a 14-month layoff caused by promotional difficulties, was ready to grind out the rough, tough win in which there were a number of head butts and elbows from both fighters. Porter and Gomez both landed their fair share of clean shots. Porter suffered a cut over his right eye in the first round from an accidental head clash and a much worse cut over his left eye from another accidental head butt in the ninth round. The cut over his left eye was severe enough that referee Ed Collantes called timeout for the ringside doctor to examine it in the ninth and 10th round. Frankly, a lot of doctors would have called for a stoppage. Had the fight been halted and sent to the scorecards for a technical decision, Porter would have won comfortably but he was allowed to continue to the final bell for his biggest victory.
George Groves TKO6 Francisco Sierra
Super middleweight
Records: Groves (15-0, 12 KOs); Sierra (24-6-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Groves, 24, of England, is a stablemate of former heavyweight titleholder David Haye and is the reigning British and Commonwealth champion. Groves, who scored a big win last year against onetime amateur rival (and 2008 British Olympic gold medalist) James DeGale in a heavily hyped fight, was fighting in the United States for the second time and gave the fans in attendance and those watching the Showtime Extreme coverage a good show. He was supposed to have challenged world titleholder Robert Stieglitz on May 5 in Germany, but Groves pulled out of the fight with an injury. Now healed, Groves returned to face Sierra and mostly had his way with him, although Sierra was competitive in spots. However, Groves was quicker and seemed to have more snap on his shots. In the third round, an accidental head butt opened a deep cut over Groves' right eye. In the sixth round, Groves nailed Sierra with a right hand followed by a cracking left hook for a hard knockdown. Sierra was wobbly when the fight resumed and Groves immediately landed a huge right hand. Sierra was ready to go and after eating two more clean right hands, his corner threw in the towel and referee Ed Collantes waived it off at 2 minutes, 15 seconds. It was a solid and entertaining performance from Groves, but the nasty cut is going to be an issue. He is supposed to face Kenny Anderson in a rematch on Sept. 14 in London. Given how bad the cut looked it will not come as a surprise if the bout is postponed. Sierra, 24, of Mexico, dropped to 1-3 in his last four bouts, including an 11th-round knockout to top-10 contender Thomas Oosthuizen in November.
Saturday at Indio, Calif.
Ronny Rios KO9 David Rodela
Junior lightweight
Records: Rios (19-0, 9 KOs); Rodela (16-7-3, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: This was a terrific fight, the best fight in a long time on the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" series on Telefutura. It was an all-action fight between the prospect, Rios, and the tough, game veteran Rodela, who pushed Rios very hard but ultimately came up short against a younger, fresher foe. Rios, 22, of Santa Ana, Calif., is a crowd pleaser and this was no different, even if he made the back-and-forth slugfest a bit harder on himself that it needed to be. Rodela let it all hang out and was not only in the fight for the first few rounds, but appeared to have the edge as they exchanged in toe-to-toe fashion. Rios began to get into a groove as the fight went along. It would have been nice to see the full sixth round, but Telefutura instead offered up an extended commercial break that ended with the round all ready more than a minute old. That is inexcusable. Rios and Rodela continued to battle at close quarters for an appreciative and loud crowd, but Rodela, who was surprisingly competitive, was beginning to fade. Finally, in the ninth round, Rios put him away. He was banging Rodela with clean shots and had him in retreat when he unloaded more than 20 unanswered shots and, with Rodela covering up and throwing nothing back, referee Jerry Cantu wisely stepped in to stop it at 1 minute, 14 seconds. Rios showed he could weather the storm against an experienced veteran while also continuing to entertain. Rios might not be a world beater, but he will absolutely be in good fights time and again. Rodela, 30, of Oxnard, Calif., showed his huge heart and should definitely be respected for that, but he has been in a lot of tough fights, and it appears as though he is just about finished after losing for the fourth time in his last five fights, including three of the losses coming by knockout. He is also 2-6-1 in his last nine.
Julio Diaz KO5 Henry Aurad
Welterweight
Records: Diaz (39-7, 28 KOs); Aurad (14-5-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Diaz, 32, of Coachella, Calif., is a former two-time lightweight titleholder now seemingly playing out the string. He will beat opponents such as Aurad all day long, but when he steps with the top guys he almost always loses. He had not fought since being knocked out in the third round by former junior welterweight titlist Kendall Holt in the third round 14 months ago. After the long layoff -- another of Diaz's supposed retirements -- he returned as a welterweight to face Aurad, who had no shot. Diaz dominated, scoring a pair of knockdowns en route to the victory. In the third round, he nailed Aurad with a right hand that forced him momentarily to take a knee. In the fifth round, Diaz continued his attack and rocking Aurad with virtually every shot, including several right hands. One of them knocked the unsteady Aurad to a knee and referee Eddie Hernandez called it off 54 seconds into the round. Aurad, 28, a native of Colombia based in Los Angeles, dropped to 2-4 in his last six bouts with three of the losses by knockout.
Saturday at Chihuahua, Mexico
Orlando Salido KO3 Moises Gutierrez
Junior lightweight
Records: Salido (39-11-2, 27 KOs); Gutierrez (21-5, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In March, Salido polished off Juan Manuel Lopez for a 10th-round knockout win in a fight of the year candidate to retain the featherweight belt he had won from Lopez by stopping him in the eighth round in April 2011 in their first fight. With an eye on a fall defense against top contender Miguel Angel "Mikey" Garcia (28-0, 24 KOs) -- which could land on the Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce undercard in October -- Salido was staying busy with a nontitle bout in his native Mexico. He got in a few rounds of work, scored a knockout and came away unscathed. Salido, 31, had been scheduled to face Oscar Bravo (20-3, 9 KOs) of Chile, but when he dropped out, Gutierrez, another fighter from Chile who had won five fights in a row since a split decision loss to Bravo, took his place. So instead of Bravo, Salido beat up on Gutierrez. He worked over Gutierrez in the first round, sending him into retreat as he hammered him to the body and mixed in a number of clean head shots. It was basically target practice. Gutierrez bought some time in the second after being hit with a low blow in the second round. The way Gutierrez was acting you would have thought he was in the ring with Andrew Golota. After referee Gabriel Peralta gave Gutierrez time to recover, Salido resumed the domination. In the third round, Salido finally put Gutierrez out of his misery, dropping him to his rear end following a five-punch combination. As Gutierrez clung to the ropes, he wisely took the full count from Peralta at 2 minutes, 49 seconds.
Saturday at Leon, Mexico
Edgar Sosa TKO9 Shigetaka Ikehara
Flyweight
Records: Sosa (46-7, 28 KOs); Ikehara (22-4-2, 18 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In April 2007, Sosa, 32, of Mexico, outpointed Brian Viloria to win a vacant junior flyweight title and defended it 10 times before losing it to Rodel Mayol via controversial head-butt induced knocked out in November 2009. Sosa then moved up to flyweight, won six fights in a row and got a mandatory shot at titleholder Pongsaklek Wonjongkam, the Thai legend, in Thailand in October. Sosa lost a clear decision and is now on the road to another title opportunity with his third consecutive victory since losing the Wonjongkam. There was nothing fancy here other than Sosa giving Ikehara -- fighting outside of Japan for the first time -- a good, old fashioned beating. Sosa culminated his performance by unloading an eight-punch flurry that drove Ikehara into the ropes just as the bell sounded to end the eighth round. With Ikehara's face swelling and having no shot to win, his corner stopped the fight with him on the stool just after the bell rang to begin the ninth round. Sosa looked good and Ikehara, 30, lost his second bout in a row and dropped to 2-3 in his last five fights.
Friday at Atlantic City, N.J.
Raymundo Beltran W10 Hank Lundy
Lightweight
Scores: 96-94 (twice), 95-95
Records: Beltran (26-6, 17 KOs); Lundy (22-2-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Although Mexico native Beltran, 31, of Hollywood, Calif., entered the "Friday Night Fights" main event having lost two of his previous three bouts -- the losses coming against quality prospects Sharif Bogere and Luis Ramos Jr. -- he was no joke. Still, Lundy, 28, of Philadelphia, accepted the fight with a lot on the line when he did not really need to take this tough of an assignment. Since being stopped in the 11th round of a fight he was easily winning against John Molina Jr. in July 2010, Lundy, who loves to talk trash, had reeled off four wins in a row against quality opponents to put himself on the verge of a title shot, especially since one of the sanctioning bodies had him ranked No. 1. He gambled by taking on Beltran and lost. A title shot is down the drain, at least for the near future, after Beltran eked out the close (but deserved) majority decision. It was nice to see the judges get it right, especially with Beltran being the A-side and the virtual hometown fighter. Lundy was a bit sluggish, a situation that likely is directly related to his terrible trouble making 135 pounds. He needed four tries to make the weight, including an extended time sitting in a sauna. Beltran nearly stopped him in the final seconds of the third round. Beltran, who was cut over his left eye, trapped Lundy against the ropes and was teeing off on him. He badly rocked Lundy and was close to a stoppage, but Lundy landed a clean left hand that knocked Beltran back just as the bell sounded to end the round. They knew it was a great exchange and smiled at each other and tapped gloves after the round ended. But time and again, Lundy found himself against the ropes with Beltran -- who has been one of Manny Pacquiao's main sparring partners -- serving as the aggressor throughout the bout. He continually stalked Lundy and outworked him en route to the upset decision. It was a good fight and Beltran put himself in a good position to get more TV exposure while the loss is a huge setback for Lundy.
