A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Chris Algieri W12 Ruslan Provodnikov
Wins a junior welterweight title
Scores: 114-112 (twice) Algieri, 117-109 Provodnikov
Records: Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs); Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: More than any other fight in recent memory the debate over the scoring of this fight has been incredibly intense. It seemed as though there was a massive divide down the middle. Some thought Algieri, after surviving two knockdowns in the first round, totally outboxed the cruder Provodnikov and clearly deserved the decision. And there are seemingly the same amount of people who believe the much harder punching and way more aggressive Provodnikov deserved the decision.
It is the classic example of a fight being scored depending on what you like. Do you like Provodnikov's constant forward movement, heavy punching and damage inflicted (the key in professional boxing) or do you give more credit to the slicker guy, Algieri, who moves well, let's his hands go all night but has nothing on his shots? Two judges -- Don Trella and Tom Schreck, both of whom are consistently good judges -- went with Algieri and one, Max DeLuca, also a top judge, went with Provodnikov and the result was a major upset as Algieri, 30, of nearby Huntington, New York, thrilled the partisan Barclays Center crowd of 6,128 by winning the belt.
Whomever you thought won the fight, Algieri deserves a lot of credit for surviving the first round when he looked to be in desperate trouble after Provodnikov, the 30-year-old "Siberian Rocky" from Russia, scored a hard knockdown on a left hook and then floored him again a few moments later. The result of the first knockdown was that Algieri wound up with a horrifically swollen and black and blue right eye that got progressively worse. By the eighth round it was closed and he could not see out of it, especially Provodnikov's left hands. But he showed true grit to stay in the fight.
Provodnikov was making the first defense of the 140-pound belt he won in October when he plowed through Mike Alvarado to score a 10th-round knockout in Alvarado's hometown of Denver, a fight that came on the heels of Provodnikov's tight decision loss to then-welterweight titlist Timothy Bradley Jr. in the concensus 2013 fight of the year. But Bradley and Alvarado stood in front of Provodnikov and brawled it out with him, the kind of style he likes. But Provodnikov's handlers did him no favors by matching him with Algieri, who used a lot of movement to often frustrate Provodnikov.
The CompuBox punch statistics are interesting. Algieri landed more punches, threw more punches and landed at higher rate -- 288 of 993 punches (29 percent) -- while Provodnikov connected on 205 of 776 blows (26 percent). However, it was so obvious at ringside that Algieri's shots had almost nothing on them while the shots that Provodnikov landed were thudding, hard blows. So it all comes down to the style of fight the judges prefer.
Provodnikov has some sort of rematch clause, but promoter Artie Pelullo (Provodnikov) and Joe DeGuardia (Algieri) claimed they were unsure of the precise language. So we could see them tangle again, but it is unlikely to be next. On top of that, neither Provodnikov or his trainer, Freddie Roach, sounded much like they wanted to face him again. Algieri and DeGuardia, meanwhile, began to campaign for a fall fight with welterweight titlist Manny Pacquiao, even though that is ridiculous and a long shot.
Demetrius Andrade TKO7 Brian Rose
Retains a junior middleweight title
Records: Andrade (21-0, 14 KOs); Rose (25-2-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Andrade, a 2008 U.S. Olympian and 2007 world amateur champion, has all the potential to someday be one of boxing's best pound-for-pound fighters. His skills are tremendous, as is his speed and ring intelligence -- and his power might also be a bit underrated. What he needs now are fights against better quality opponents, although they have not been easy to come by since who wants to face a guy like this? He's going to give probably anyone at junior middleweight or middleweight problems. A lot of them.
Andrade, a 26-year-old southpaw from Providence, Rhode Island, won a vacant world title in November with a decision against previously undefeated 2004 U.S. Olympian Vanes Martirosyan and he was making his mandatory defense against Rose, 29, of England, a tough competitor but a guy who really had not done anything to truly earn the title shot.
Rose came to fight, but he was utterly outclassed by Andrade, whose speed, power and skill level left Rose's in the dust. Andrade was dazzling, albeit against an inferior opponent who never stood a chance.
Andrade dropped Rose with a straight left hand (a serious weapon) in the first round and laid a beating on him for the rest of the fight. He knocked Rose down for a second time when he landed a crushing right hook in the third round. It was basically target practice to the head and body for Andrade, who was hammering Rose (who was badly cut on the bridge of his nose) all over the ring when referee Michael Griffin waved it off at 1 minute, 19 seconds of the seventh round, just as Rose' corner was throwing in the towel.
Rose, whose 11-fight winning streak came to an end, gave Andrade credit for the win. Nobody had ever manhandled Rose like this before. For Andrade, the sky is the limit. It's only a matter of if any of the top fighters will face him.
Saturday at Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico
Jorge Arce TKO8 Jorge Lacierva
Featherweight
Records: Arce (64-7-2, 49 KOs); Lacierva (41-10-6, 27 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In December 2012, Arce, the popular Mexican brawler and former four-division titlist, got destroyed in the third round challenging then-junior featherweight titlist Nonito Donaire and promptly announced his retirement. But 11 months later, Arce, 34, made a comeback and has now won three fights in a row after taking care of Lacierva, 35, of Mexico, a former featherweight and junior featherweight title challenger, who was fighting for the first time in nearly two years.
As usual, Arce is involved in a fan-friendly fights and this one was no different as they battled hard. Arce suffered a cut over his right eye but was dominating the fight. He knocked Lacierva down in the fourth round with a left hook to the liver. In the seventh round, referee Miguel Canul docked a point from Arce for hitting on the break. After the round, Lacierva remained on his stool and complained a shoulder injury. Indeed, his left shoulder appeared dislocated and Canul waved off the fight 10 seconds into the eight round with Lacierva unable to continue.
Arce, who has been a pro for 18 years, is hoping to land a featherweight title opportunity later this year against countryman Jhonny Gonzalez. Lacierva dropped his second fight in a row. He suffered a ninth-round knockout loss to Bryan Vasquez challenging for an interim junior lightweight belt in July 2012.
McJoe Arroyo TKO11 Hernan "Tyson" Marquez
Junior bantamweight
Title eliminator
Records: Arroyo (15-0, 8 KOs); Marquez (37-5, 26 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Arroyo, 28, a 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian, scored the biggest victory of his career as he traveled to Marquez's Mexican turf and won the elimination bout to become a mandatory challenger for a vacant 115-pound title.
It was an impressive performance from Arroyo, who bounced former flyweight titlist Marquez, 25, off the canvas four times in the victory. Arroyo got off to a quick start, dropping Marquez to a knee less than a minute into the fight on a left hand to the head.
Arroyo knocked Marquez down again in the final seconds of the third round when, as they were battling toe to toe on the inside he clipped him with a right hand to the head that Marquez never saw. Marquez barely beat the count and the round ended. In the eighth round, Marquez was down again, this time after absorbing huge punishment, including a big right hand that dropped him to his rear end against the ropes with a minute left. He beat the count, but was very shaky and Arroyo hammered him for much of the rest of the round. Marquez was lucky to survive it.
Marquez was fading in the 11th round when he ate a tremendous and flush right uppercut that sent his eyes rolling up into his head. It was a nasty knockdown but he beat the count, barely. As Arroyo was teeing off on him with abandon when the fight resumed, referee Gary Ritter properly stepped in at 47 seconds to wave it off. This was a terrific performance from Arroyo, who will next fight for a world title. Marquez has been in a lot of grueling fights and dropped to 3-3 in his last six fights, including his title loss to Brian Viloria in their November 20012 flyweight unification bout.
Alejandro Hernandez W12 Daniel Rosas
Wins a vacant interim bantamweight title
Scores: 117-110, 116-111, 114-113
Records: Hernandez (28-10-2, 15 KOs); Rosas (17-2-1, 11 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Hernandez, 28, of Mexico, and Rosas, 24, of Mexico, were fighting for a vacant 118-pound title even though Japan's Tomoki Kameda holds the full title and has a July 12 defenses scheduled in Las Vegas.
It makes no sense that there was an interim belt available, much less between these two. In any event, Hernandez got off to a great start when, during the action packed first round, he knocked Rosas down with a right hand during an exchange. Rosas looked wobbly but was able to survive and go the distance in a pretty good fight.
Saturday at Atlantic City, N.J.
Glen Tapia TKO1 Keenan Collins
Junior middleweight
Records: Tapia (21-1, 13 KOs); Collins (15-9-3, 10 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: The always-entertaining Tapia, 24, of Passaic, New Jersey, was one of boxing's top rising prospects when he got a shot on HBO against heavy handed knockout artist James Kirkland in December. For three rounds it was a fight of the year contender. It was just a great action fight, but then Kirkland took over and gave Tapia a wicked beating. The fight should have been stopped multiple times but the referee and corner allowed Tapia to take a hellacious beating before Kirkland knocked him out brutally in the sixth round.
After the defeat, Tapia made some changes, going to train with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach, who had him in camp for this fight even though he could not be in the corner. Roach was already committed to being with Ruslan Provodnikov for his junior welterweight title defense on the same night. Still, Tapia had no problems with Collins, 37, of York, Pennsylvania, who was there to be beaten and get Tapia back on track. Tapia needed just 82 seconds to drop Collins twice before referee Earl Brown stepped in to call it off with Collins getting plastered along the ropes.
Tapia will return on July 26 and be part of the Gennady Golovkin-Daniel Geale undercard at Madison Square Garden in New York. He will face Boyd Melson (14-1-1, 4 KOs).
Also on the card, Philadelphia super middleweight prospect Jesse Hart (14-0, 11 KOs) dropped Shujaa El Amin (12-6, 6 KOs) in the first, third and sixth rounds on the way to a sixth-round knockout.
Saturday at Tlalnepantla de Baz, Mexico
Humberto Soto W12 Wilfrido Buelvas
Junior welterweight
Scores: 118-106 (three times)
Records: Soto (64-8-2, 35 KOs); Buelvas (15-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Soto, 34, of Mexico, keeps plugging away as he looks for another world title opportunity. Soto has won an interim belt at featherweight and full titles at junior lightweight and lightweight, but was written off by many following a fifth-round knockout loss to Lucas Matthysse in June 2012.
But since then, Soto has won six fights in a row in Mexico, including this lopsided decision against late replacement Buelvas, 25, of Colombia. Soto's victory was not unexpected. Buelvas had faced simply horrible opposition and was out of his depths. His last three opponents had records of 1-10, 5-52-3 and 1-8.
Soto, with his more compact punches, has little issue with the wild-swinging Buelvas. Soto set the tone early when he knocked Buelvas down in the first round with a clean left hand on the chin. Buelvas was a bit unsteady but beat the count. But Soto was in charge right off the bat and remained that way until the final bell even though Buelvas was game and tried to make it a messy fight with a lot of holding and grabbing, not to mention flopping to the canvas several times.
Friday at Montreal
Dierry Jean TKO8 Mario Perez
Lightweight
Records: Jean (26-1, 18 KOs); Perez (15-6-4, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Jean, 32, of Montreal, challenged Lamont Peterson for his junior welterweight world title in January in Peterson's hometown of Washington, D.C., and lost a clear unanimous decision for his first professional defeat. Making his return, Jean was at home to face late replacement Perez, 29, of Mexico. Jean was moving down in weight to lightweight, but Perez was nowhere near the division limit of 135 pounds for this regional title bout. Instead, he was 144 pounds and ineligible to win the regional belt. That made little difference, however, as despite a nine-pound difference, Jean took care of business against Perez, who dropped to 2-5-2 in his last nine fights.
While Jean tried to pressure Perez, he did not seem at all interested in engaging. He ran. He moved around the ring with his back along the ropes for long stretches as Jean tried to track him down. He threw combinations to the head and body and eventually slowed Perez down. Finally, in the eight round, with Perez fading, Jean landed a nice overhand right that forced him to take a knee. Moments later, Jean trapped him along the ropes and unloaded about an eight-punch combination that caused the second knockdown (although a body show in the attack did the most damage) and referee Marlon B. Wright to call off the fight
than 
I'm pretty sure Guerrero and Alexander both win. I'm going to take some time to study Kamegai though. Considering putting a nice chunk of change on Crawford.
