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By Chris Williams: Undefeated light welterweight prospect Luis Ramos (6-0, 4 KOs) stopped Aaron Dominguez (7-2, 5 KOs) in the 5th round of six-round bout on Wednesday night at the Sycuan Resort & Casino, in El Cajon, California. Ramos, a southpaw, knocked Dominguez down twice in the 5th round. He made it up after the second knockdown, a right to the midsection, and finished the round. However, in between rounds the fight was stopped by his corner. The fight was never competitive as Ramos used combinations to dominate the slower, less active Dominguez. In the first round, Ramos jabbed Dominguez, hitting him often with right-left combinations to the head. Dominguez followed Ramos around the ring, throwing slow, wide hooks with little power or form.

Ramos was able to land often when Dominguez would try to open up like this because he would be thinking offense, forgetting completely about his defense. In the second round, Dominguez started off fast, throwing short flurries one after another at the start of the round. However, Ramos immediately took control over the round and worked Dominguez over with combinations to the head. At the start of the 3rd round, Ramos knocked Dominguez back with a strong jab that almost knocked him down.

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By Nate Anderson: Number #11th ranked IBF light middleweight contender Lukas Konecny (37-3, 19 KOs) defeated Brazilian Luiz Augusto Dos Santos (24-15, 20 KOs) by a 5th round TKO when Santos, 36, injured his left shouldering the 4th round and couldn’t answer the bell for the 5th round. Santos, who goes by the nickname of “Tyson,” had major problems competing with the busier, better offensively skilled Konecny, who easily controlled the action up until the fight was stopped in the 5th.

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By Nate Anderson: Unbeaten welterweight Roberto Belge (19-0, 4 KOs) defeated Ukrainian Vladimir Borovski (21-34-1, 9 KOs) by a six-round majority decision on Tuesday night at the Laser Show Hall, Bobycentrum, in Brno, Czech Republic. The final judges’ scores were 60-56, 60-55 and 57-57. I had Belge, 28, winning every round of the fight with ease, using his jab and combinations to easily control the slower, far less active Borovski in every round of the fight. Belge, from Switzerland, had little trouble with Borovski, who came into the fight having lost his last 18 fights. Without any real boxing skills, Borovski was hopelessly outclassed in this fight.

Belge worked Borovski over with combinations, a jab and an occasional shove to keep Borovski safely on the outside where he was unable to do much damage. Belge, a fighter with very little power, more than made up for his lack of power by hitting Borovski with a constant flow of punches from round one. In the first two rounds, Borovski threw only a pitiful six punches and spent most of the time eating shots to the head and body. The 57-57 score from one of the judges was simply ridiculous given Borovski’s sheer lack of offense in the fight. It was as if the judge had either been asleep during the fight or had been confused about another fight on the card.

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By Eric Thomas: Stepping up against his best opponent of his still early boxing career, 25 year-old middleweight prospect James McGirt Jr. (19-1, 9 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision on Friday night at the City Center, in Saratoga Springs, New York. The final judges’ scores were 99-89, 99-89 and 97-91. Forget the scores, though, because the actual fight was much closer with McGirt winning narrowly by a round or two over the 39 year-old Joval. McGirt Jr., a tall, slender southpaw with long arms and little power, shocked the crowd early in the third round when he dropped Joval twice in the round.

The first knockdown occurred when Joval, not quite comfortable with McGirt’s southpaw stance, was nailed by a wide right hook that came around to the side of Joval’s head stunning him and knocking him to the canvas. After he got up, Joval was still badly hurt and had no clue on how to deal with McGirt’s right hook which, due to his unusually long arms, allowed him to connect to the side of Joval’s head with great frequency early on. The punch wasn’t particularly fast, as McGirt Jr. had little in the way of good hand speed, but it connected none the less with great accuracy.

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By Chet Mills: Unbeaten super featherweight prospect Brandon Rios (18-0, 12 KOs) easily destroyed a badly over-matched Sandro Marcos (27-19-2, 23 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled eight-round bout on Friday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rios, 22, the 2004 United States Amateur Featherweight champion, dropped Marcos four times in the fight, with one of them coming in the 1st round from a big left hook to the body, and then three more knockdowns occurring one after another in the 2nd round leading to the fight being stopped by referee Toby Gibson at 2:13 of the 2nd.

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By Nate Anderson: Middleweight contender Gary Lockett (30-2, 21 KOs) still hasn’t made up his mind as to whether or not he’ll continue his boxing career. However, he did tell Setanta Sports that he plans on making his decision public in September, which one would hope is a confirmation that he intends on continuing with is career. Lockett, only 31, doesn’t like the idea of going back to fighting lesser fighters and bouts that are against “non-title fights and British title fights,” according to Setanta Sports.

After working his way to the number #1 ranking and fighting WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik for the championship on June 7th, and losing by a 3rd round TKO, Lockett doesn’t like the idea of having to work his way back up slowly against lower echelon fighters for much less money. One might expect, Lockett received a huge payday in his fight against Pavlik, and naturally he probably doesn’t relish the idea of fighting for much less money against 3rd tier fighters once again. Who can blame Lockett, though?

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By Scott Gilfoid: #1 ranked WBC lightweight Jose Armando Santa Cruz (26-3, 15 KOs) made easy work of journeyman Miguel Angel Munguia (16-13-1, 13 KOs) in a 5th round TKO on Wednesday night at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. Santa Cruz, 27, dominated every round except for the 1st, and put a hopelessly outclassed Munguia away with a leaping left hook to the midsection in the 5th round. Munguia rolled around on the canvas afterwards, in obvious pain from the shot to the midsection while referee Jack Reiss counted him out at 0:42 of the round.

Santa Cruz was coming off a controversial 12-round split decision to Joel Casamayor, who just happened to be in the audience on Wednesday night. The fight against Munguia was meant as a stay busy fight for Santa Cruz, a fight to stay sharp while he waits for a title shot. Going into the fight, Munguia had lost 12 out of his last 14 fights dating back to 2003. Perhaps knowing that he stood almost no chance of beating a fighter as good as Santa Cruz, Munguia came out on fire in the first round throwing a storm of punches at Santa Cruz. In all, Munguia threw an incredible 103 punches, yet landed only 19 mostly wide slapping to the head and body of Santa Cruz. Still, the punches had an effect on Santa Cruz, reddening his face and keeping him busy trying to block and unable to start his own offense up.

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By Chris Williams: Undefeated featherweight prospect Carlos Ivan Velasquez (8-0, 7 KOs) stopped David Vazquez (17-13-3, 10 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled six-round bout on Wednesday night at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, in Cabazon, California. Velasquez, 23, staggered Vazquez with a big left hand in the 2nd round, and then finished him off with a flurry of shots while his back was against the ropes. Referee Raul Caiz moved in and halted the bout at 1:12 of the 2nd round after a final crushing right hand from Velasquez caused Vazquez to sag and collapse against the bottom ring rope.

Velasquez, 5’10”, gave top featherweight contender Yuriorkis Gamboa his last defeat in the 2006 at the Central America and Caribbean Games, which Velasquez would later go on to win the Gold medal at the games. At first hearing this, I thought perhaps the win was a fluke, because Gamboa has looked almost unbeatable since turning professional. However, as soon as the fight started, I could see how would have beaten Gamboa, since Velasquez’s speed, height, long reach and power would have been a huge problem for the tiny 5’5″ Gamboa to have to deal with effectively. Indeed, Velasquez looked every bit as good as Gamboa, perhaps even better because of his ability to punch from long distance due to his long reach and height.

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By Chris Williams: Welterweight Chas Symonds (14-1, 5 KOs) defeated Alexandrs Spitko (4-6, 3 KOs) in a quick controversial stopped in the 3rd round on Friday night at the Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, in Essex. Both fighters were trading shots in the 3rd round, when Symonds landed several big shots that caused Spitko to back up to the ropes temporarily where he then clubbed him with a left hook that pushed him off balance against the ropes. At this point, the referee Jeff Hinds moved in and halted the fight at 2:16 of the round. However, Spitko, 22, looked fine and ready to continuing fight.

Neither fighter focused much on defense or the use of a jab in the fight, as they threw bombs at each from the very first round. Symonds, 26, appeared to get the better of the action in the first round, land some big hooks to the head and body. However, Spitko continued pressing the fight to Symonds and hitting him with big shots repeatedly. At first, it seemed as if Symonds would be too much for Spitko, because he was hitting him with some really big right hands in the 1st half of the round. However, Spitko returned fire in the second part of the round, and hit Symonds with some tremendous shots to the head. Symonds, a good fighter, didn’t focus much on his defense during any part of the round, which made it easy for Spitko to land his shots.

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By Manuel Perez: Light welterweight Terrance Cauthen (33-4, 9 KOs) defeated formerly unbeaten Alexis Camacho (16-1, 15 KOs) in a eight-round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Municipal Auditorium, in San Antonio, Texas. Cauthen, 32, a former Bronze Medalist in the 1996 Olympics, easily dominated his slower, limited opponent Camacho, befuddling him with constant movement, jabs and slick moves during most of the fight.

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