A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:
Saturday at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Danny Garcia W12 Lamont Peterson
Welterweight
Scores: 115-113 (twice), 114-114
Records: Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs); Peterson (33-3-1, 17 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: The most important thing about this match, one which many fans had been awaiting, was that it turned out to be a good, competitive and entertaining fight with a solid crowd of 12,300 at the Barclays Center. In many ways it was a tale of two fights with Garcia taking control early to jump out to a lead and Peterson closing strong as Garcia faded in the later rounds. In the end, Garcia eked out the majority decision, his second close call in three fights because many thought that Garcia got a gift when he was awarded a majority decision against Mauricio Herrera 13 months ago.
The one drawback from this fight, however -- which could have also been a draw -- was that for no legitimate reason Garcia, the unified 140-pound world champion, and Peterson, who also held a 140-pound title, instead met at a catchweight of 143 pounds. That rendered the fight, the main event of NBC's second prime-time "Premier Boxing Champions" card, a nontitle match and a fight that would not determine supremacy in the division, which was the whole idea of the fight in the first place going back to last summer when they smashed woeful opponents on a doubleheader to ostensibly set up the unification fight.
Garcia, 27, of Philadelphia, claimed he did not want to lose the extra weight, which is fine and his prerogative. If that was the case, he should have given up the titles ahead of time. He probably will now as he said after the fight he likely will move up to 147 pounds. Same with Peterson, 31, of Washington, D.C., who was stripped of his title for losing the nontitle fight, if you can figure that one out.
Peterson moved a lot and was quite defensive early against the bigger puncher, Garcia, but Peterson began to assert himself as the fight wore on and there were a lot of good exchanges and action throughout the fight. Things really got hot over the final five rounds. The eighth round was action packed. Peterson had a big 11th round as Garcia was tiring and his right eye began to swell. It seemed obvious to everyone the fight was up for grabs in the final round and Garcia and Peterson fought like it, giving the fans a terrific round that finished with them firing heavy shots at close range. It was a terrific finish to a good night of fights.
The CompuBox punch statistics favored Garcia, who was credited with landing 173 of 589 punches (29 percent) while Peterson connected on 170 of 494 blows (34 percent). To Peterson's credit, he did not cry robbery. Instead, he said he would like a rematch but was respectful about it. Garcia also admitted it was a very close fight and that Peterson had given him trouble. If both head to welterweight, there should be plenty of good opponents for them to fight and perhaps they'll fight each other again down the road.
Andy Lee D12 "Kid Chocolate" Peter Quillin
Retains middleweight title
Scores: 113-112 Lee, 113-112 Quillin, 113-113
Records: Lee (34-2-1, 24 KOs); Quillin (31-0-1, 22 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Although the fight lost some luster on Friday when Quillin, 31, of Brooklyn, failed to make weight (he was 160.6 and unable to make 160) and was no longer eligible to reclaim the belt he vacated in September, it still turned out to be a highly entertaining bout. There were a lot of dull stretches but when these guys mixed it up it was explosive and the crowd loved it.
Lee, 30, of Ireland, won the belt Quillin relinquished in December by comeback sixth-round knockout of Matt Korobov and was supposed to make his first defense against Quillin. But because of Quillin's weight issue, not only could Quillin not win the title but Lee could not lose it. But they still fought like everything was on the line. Lee, a southpaw, found himself in massive trouble late in the opening round as Quillin hammered him with an overhand right on the chin to knock him down. Then Quillin badly rocked Lee again and appeared to have him out on his feet as he blasted him with a clean left hand. For some reason, Quillin, fighting for the first time in a year, did not come out to press the action in the second round even though Lee was in terrible trouble. Quillin dropped Lee again in the third round with a left hook, but Lee, whose left eye was cut, was not in serious trouble on that knockdown.
Lee slowly got himself back into the fight and finally connected with his best punch, the right hook, in the seventh round to drop Quillin. There was a lot of back-and-forth action down the stretch and while many viewed Quillin as the rightful winner, there were several close rounds and a draw did not seem out of line. Perhaps there will be a rematch, but Lee does have a potentially lucrative fight likely on deck. Mandatory challenger Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 11 KOs), of England, stepped aside to allow Lee to face Quillin and that would appear to be next up, and that would be a big fight in Ireland, where Lee wants to defend his title.
Saturday at San Juan, Puerto Rico
Roman "Rocky" Martinez W12 Orlando Salido
Wins a junior lightweight title
Scores: 116-109, 115-110, 114-111
Records: Martinez (29-2-2, 17 KOs); Salido (42-13-2, 29 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: As soon as this fight was made the expectations were for a terrific action fight, and that is exactly what we got. These two consummate warriors laid it all on the line in a fantastic fight of the year candidate that personified the great Mexico versus Puerto Rico rivalry, the best in boxing.
Salido, 34, of Mexico, is known to the Puerto Rican fans because he had won three previous fights there, including his famed upset knockouts of favorite son Juan Manuel Lopez in featherweight world title bouts in 2011 and 2012. In his previous fight, Salido claimed an interim 130-pound world title in an absolute war with Thailand's Terdsak Kokietgym in September. The fight featured seven knockdowns overall and Salido winning by 11th-round knockout. After being elevated to full titleholder, Salido looked at his options and traveling to Puerto Rico to give a shot to Martinez, 32, of Puerto Rico, made the most sense.
Twice before Martinez had held the belt Salido owned and was looking to win it for a third time -- and Martinez did in a rough, brutal fight that featured tremendous action throughout and a wild, pro-Martinez crowd.
He got off to a strong start to put a lot of rounds in the bank and then held off a big finish by Salido, who continued his relentless march forward even after being dropped twice and hurt several times. Salido nearly knocked Martinez down in the second round but tasted the canvas himself in the third round when Martinez blinded him with two jabs and then clobbered him with a clean right hand on the chin with 15 seconds left in the round. Salido went down to his rear end and the round ended before Martinez could follow up.
There was so much passion in this fight that they continued to go at it after the bell ended the fourth round. It was also a bit of a dirty fight thanks to Salido, who did what he usually does -- throw low blows and shots to the hip and lead with his head. But Martinez did not let those rough tactics take him out of his game plan. He knocked Salido to his butt again late in the fifth round with a left hand. In the ninth round, he staggered Salido with a big right hand.
Salido was having a big 11th round but when he landed a low blow, referee Jose H. Rivera, who had issued him several warnings about his fouls, finally took away a point. The 12th round was yet another round of ferocious violence, one that Salido got the better of, that stamped this one as perhaps the best fight so far this year. It was a big win for Martinez, who won for the second time in a row since losing the belt to Mikey Garcia in November 2013.
Saturday at Mazatlan, Mexico
Pedro Guevara KO1 Richard Claveras
Retains a junior flyweight title
Records: Guevara (25-1-1, 17 KOs); Claveras (12-1-2, 12 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In December, Guevara, 25, of Mexico, traveled to Japan and knocked out former flyweight world champion Akira Yaegashi in the seventh round to win a vacant junior flyweight title. In his hometown, Guevara made his first title defense against Claveras, 25, of the Philippines, and wiped him out.
Although Claveras' record was perfect, he had faced putrid opposition and in no way, shape or form warranted a crack at a world title. Nonetheless, he got one and got knocked out in the opening round. They exchanged some decent shots in the round but Guevara was pinpoint with his punches. Eventually, he landed two left hooks to the body. One backed Claveras up and the second one a moment later dropped him to his knees as he took the full count from referee Jerry Cantu at 2 minutes, 31 seconds. This was the kind of hometown, soft-touch easy work some titleholders unfortunately opt for.
Saturday at Laredo, Texas
Oscar Valdez KO3 Jose Ramirez
Junior lightweight
Records: Valdez (15-0, 14 KOs); Ramirez (25-6, 15 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: The 24-year-old Valdez, a two-time Mexican Olympian (2008 and 2012), is one of boxing's top prospects. He notched a good victory against solid veteran Ramirez, 28, of Mexico, who has now lost three fights in a row, having also been stopped by featherweight titlist Vasyl Lomachenko (in Lomachenko's pro debut) and former three-division titlist Abner Mares. Valdez ended Ramirez's night quicker than those two did.
Valdez was never troubled, but midway through the third round both fighters were shaken up by an accidental head-butt, although it was Ramirez who got the worst of it. He suffered a cut over his right eye that gushed blood down his face and body and was so rocked by the head-butt that he went down to the mat. After a quick exam by the ringside doctor, Ramirez continued but a few seconds later Valdez erased him with a sensational left hook to the liver. Ramirez dropped to the mat, was in very obvious agony and was done as referee Jon Schorle counted him out at 2 minutes, 5 seconds.
Also on the card, middleweight Esquiva Falcao (8-0, 5 KOs), a 25-year-old southpaw and 2012 Brazilian Olympic silver medalist, scored a six-round rout of Omar Rojas (3-3, 1 KO), 23, of Knoxville, Texas, winning by 60-54 shutout on all three judges' scorecards.
Junior featherweight prospect Jessie Magdaleno (20-0, 15 KOs) was supposed to headline the "Solo Boxeo Tecate" card on UniMas, but an issue with the medical report of opponent John Mark Apolinario (18-5-3, 5 KOs) caused the fight to be canceled on Friday.
Friday at Brooklyn, N.Y.
Frank Galarza KO3 Sheldon Moore
Junior middleweight
Records: Galarza (17-0-2, 11 KOs); Moore (13-3-1, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Galarza, 29, was fighting in his hometown and looked good as he got rid of former kickboxer Moore, 28, of Belgium, in the main event of Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" tripleheader. It was an entertaining bout in which Moore seemed to win the first round. But then Galarza, known as "The Brooklyn Rocky," took over, especially in the power punch category. In the third round, he rocked Moore with a left hook. The punch sent Moore staggering backward toward the ropes before Galarza landed a three-punch combination -- a right, a left and a right to the body -- that knocked him down. Moore, who was fighting in the United States for the fourth time, slowly tried to get to his feet, but he could not beat the count from referee Benjy Esteves Jr., who counted him out at 1 minute, 38 seconds. It remains to be seen how far Galarza, who sparred with the likes of Daniel Jacobs and Sadam Ali in preparation for the fight, is going to go but he is a very crowd-pleasing fighter destined for more televised fights.
Ievgen Khytrov W8 Aaron Coley
Middleweight
Scores: 79-73 (twice), 78-74
Records: Khytrov (10-0, 9 KOs); Coley (9-1-1, 6 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Khytrov, 26, is one of the many quality prospects who have made their way to the United States from Ukraine. He was a 2012 Olympian for his home country and a 2011 world amateur champion and has looked good since relocating to Brooklyn to turn pro in December 2013.
Khytrov, coming off an eighth-round knockout of the experienced Jorge Melendez on March 6, had been plowing through all of his opponents until Coley, 24, a southpaw from Hayward, California, became the first man to take him to the final bell. Although the scores were lopsided, Khytrov worked for the victory against the first southpaw he has faced as a pro -- although he faced many during his lengthy amateur career. Coley, who went past six rounds for the first time in his career, was taking a big step up in opposition and hung in there all the way. Khytrov needs some more work before he's ready for a top opponent but he seems to be on his way to big things.
Sergey Derevyanchenko TKO4 Alan Campa
Super middleweight
Records: Derevyanchenko (5-0, 4 KOs); Campa (13-2, 9 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Derevyanchenko, 29, of Russia, was a 2008 Olympian during his big-time amateur career. He also went 23-1 with seven knockouts in the World Series of Boxing before making the move to true professional boxing last July. Thanks to his vast amateur experience Derevyanchenko, now fighting out of Brooklyn, figures to move quite quickly. He did a number on Campa, landing his right hand almost at will. He dropped Campa to his knees with a big right hand with 20 seconds left in the second round. Derevyanchenko continued to break Campa down in the third round and then dropped with a flurry of punches along the ropes in the fourth round. Campa survived the knockdown but was in deep trouble moments later as Derevyanchenko hammered him along the ropes, forcing referee Ricky Gonzalez to step in to stop the fight at 1 minute, 17 seconds. Campa, 23, fighting outside of his native Mexico for the first time, saw his four-fight winning streak come to an end.
Friday at Bethlehem, Pa.
Boxcino tournament semifinals
Brandon Adams TKO7 Vito Gasparyan
Junior middleweight
Records: Adams (17-1, 12 KOs); Gasparyan (15-4-5, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For the second year in a row, Adams, 25, of Los Angeles, advanced to the Boxcino finals. In 2014, Adams participated in the middleweight tournament but lost a lopsided 10-round decision to Willie Monroe Jr. in the final. Adams dropped down to 154 pounds to enter this year's junior middleweight field and stormed to the May 22 final against John Thompson by scoring knockouts in both of his bouts, including this one against Gasparyan, 29, a native of Armenia living in Burbank, California.
The fight was pretty much all Adams, who outboxed and outpunched Gasparyan throughout the fight. By the sixth round Gasparyan's left ear was badly swollen and filling with blood after taking so many right hands from Adams. After Adams banged yet another right hand off the ear in the seventh round, Gasparyan had enough and walked away, forcing referee Gary Rosato to call off the fight at 35 seconds. His ear was a grotesque mess so it's hard to blame Gasparyan for calling it a day.
John Thompson W8 Stanyslav Skorokhod
Junior middleweight
Scores: 78-74, 77-75 Thompson, 78-74 Skorokhod
Records: Thompson (16-1, 5 KOs); Skorokhod (9-1, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: In a mild upset, Thompson, 26, of Newark, New Jersey, advanced to the May 22 finals of the Boxcino tournament to face Brandon Adams. Thompson was originally an alternate in the tournament, getting a spot in the quarterfinals against Ricardo Pinell on one day's notice and winning a six-round decision against him in February when Cleotis Pendarvis was dropped from the field when he failed to make weight.
The fight with Skorokhod had scores all over the place but the faster Thompson got the nod by split decision in the hard-fought fight. Skorokhod, 25, of Ukraine, who knocked out Michael Moore in the fourth round of the quarterfinals, was the aggressor and the heavier puncher but the judges who favored Thompson must have liked his better boxing skills in a fight filled with seemingly even rounds. Thompson did leave Skorokhod with a marked up right eye.
Donovan Dennis KO2 Razvan Cojanu
Heavyweight
Records: Dennis (12-1, 10 KOs); Cojanu (13-2, 7 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Dennis, 27, of Davenport, Iowa, scored his second knockout in a row in the Boxcino tournament, this one a huge one to advance to the tournament final against Andrey Fedosov on May 22. Cojanu, 28, of Romania and fighting out of Woodland Hills, California, needed a seventh drawbreaker round in February's quarterfinals to advance to the semis, but got crushed when he got there. And, oh, my, did the 6-foot-7 fighter fall hard. Early in the second round, Dennis, who also scored a knockout of Steve Vukosa in the fourth round in the quarterfinals, landed a massive left hand out of nowhere that annihilated Cojanu, who hit the deck like a pile of rocks. He made a cursory effort to get up but he was gone and referee Shawn Clark counted him out at 59 seconds. The knockout was so good it might wind up as knockout of the year honorable mention and even made the top 10 plays of the day on "SportsCenter" -- and with good reason.
Andrey Fedosov KO3 Lenroy Thomas
Heavyweight
Records: Fedosov (27-3, 22 KOs); Thomas (19-4, 8 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Fedosov, 29, of Russia and fighting out of Hollywood, California, advanced to the May 22 Boxcino final to face Donovan Dennis after overcoming a knockdown by Thomas, 30, a native of Jamaica fighting out of St. Petersburg, Florida. Thomas, a southpaw, landed a hard straight left hand down the middle to drop Fedosov to his rear end about a minute into the fight. But Fedosov shook it off and got right back into the crowd-pleasing fight.
In the third round, Fedosov unleashed a flurry of punches as he backed Thomas into the ropes. One of the shots, a right hand upstairs, stunned him. Fedosov continued to throw punches, landing to the body and a left hand to the head that dropped Thomas to a knee. It did not appear to be a heavy knockdown and Thomas' eyes looked clear but he gave up, taking the full count from referee Gary Rosato, who waved it off at 1 minute, 1 second. For Fedosov, it has been an impressive run to the finals as he needed less than four full rounds to win his quarterfinal and semifinal bouts. Thomas' three-fight winning streak came to an end.
Friday at Moscow
Denis Lebedev W12 Youri Kalenga
Retains a cruiserweight title
Scores: 116-111, 115-112 (twice)
Records: Lebedev (27-2, 20 KOs); Kalenga (21-2, 14 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: Lebedev, 35, of Russia, made his fourth title defense by facing Kalenga in a rough, tough fight in which both fighters were knocked down. Kalenga, 27, a native of Congo living in France, has fought around the world. In fact, he has fought in eight different countries so going to Lebedev's home turf in Russia was probably no big deal. He did very well early on and even dropped Lebedev with a wild counter left hand in the fourth round. Lebedev returned the favor in the seventh round as he floored Kalenga with a left hook that sent him to his rear end and into a summersault. Kalenga shook it off and they continued their action fight until the final bell in what was a highly competitive contest.
Also on the card, 2008 Olympic gold medalist and former world title challenger Rakhim Chakhkiev (22-1, 17 KOs), 32, of Russia, dropped former cruiserweight title challenger Valery Brudov, 38, of Russia, in the third round and knocked him out at 1 minute, 58 seconds of the fourth round.