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By Aaron Klein: Lightweight prospect Gamalier Rodriguez (6-1-2, 2 KOs) defeated Mexican fighter Jose Navarrete by a six-round unanimous decision on Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The final scores were 59-54, 59-53 and 57-56, for Rodriguez. The 21 year-old Rodriguez, from Puerto Rico, is considered a good, if not raw, prospect in the lightweight division, and has excellent offensive skills.

The problem for Rodriguez, though, is his defense is almost nonexistent at this stage in his career and needs a tremendous amount of work before he’s ready to step it up against 1st tier competition. However, in terms of offensive talent, Rodriguez looked incredibly well polished, much like many of the top fighters in the lightweight division already. The defense or lack there of, is something that Rodriguez had a lot of work cut out for him in the future to work on.

In the 1st round, Rodriguez landed well to the body of Navarrete, hitting him repeatedly during the round. However, his aim was a tad off on several of the occasions, resulting in low blows and a number of warnings from referee Jay Nady.

By Dan Ambrose: Former BBBofC British welterweight champion Young Mutley (24-3, 13 KOs) stopped Kevin Placide (9-4-1, 5 KOs) in the 4th round of a scheduled 8-round bout on Friday night at the George Carnall Leisure Centre, Davyhulme, in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom. Mutley, 31, was trailing in the fight in the fourth round, when he suddenly landed a short left hook that dropped Placide to the canvas. Perhaps forgetting about the standing eight count, Placide stayed down a little too long, attempting to buy time to clear his head, and was subsequently counted out by referee Phil Edwards.

As good as the win was for the former champion Mutley, it was made less so because of how bad he looked in the fight up until the TKO. This was supposed to be a rebuilding bout for him, and Placide, an average fighter from Trinidad, was thought to be an easy opponent for Mutley to both look good against and one to sharpen his skills.

By Dan Ambrose: Former BBBofC British welterweight champion David Barnes (23-1-1, 11 KOs) defeated EBU (European) light welterweight champion Ted Bami (23-3, 11 KOs) by a 12-round unanimous decision on Friday night to win the vacanat BBBofC British light welterweight title at the George Carnall Leisure Centre, Davyhulme, in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom. Barnes, 27, controlled the fight from the outset, using constant movement, a slow pawing jab and a straight left hand to get the victory. It wasn’t a pretty bout, however, due to the constant movement and clinches from Barnes, who would wrap Bami up with a clinch after every 1-2 punches thrown by either fighter. The final judges’ scores were 119-110, 117-111 and 117-111, all for Barnes.

As ugly as it was, the strategy was more than effective to beat the likes of Bami, a limited fighter from the Congo. Barnes, perhaps, didn’t really need to clinch and run as much as he did, for Bami rarely threw any meaningful punches, and even those that he did throw, were wild shots that missed by a mile. Surprisingly, the British crowd didn’t boo Barnes for all of his running and clinching, because I have expected them to. In most countries, the audience would have booed him out of the ring for the boring, safety first performance he put on display against Bami. However, I suppose the crowd were being loyal to him because of him being a local fighter.

By Erik Schmight: Former Women’s IBF European Super Bantamweight champion Esther Schouten (19-4-1, 9 KOs) defeated Zsofia Bedo (0-3-1) by a six-round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Maritim Hotel, Magdeburg, in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. Schouten, who was coming off a year and a half layoff following an unsuccessful bid for the WBC featherweight title against Sharon Anyos, had an easy time against the inexperienced 22 year-old Bedo. Obviously, this was a step down in competition for Schouten, from the Netherlands, who appears to be in the rebuilding stage in her career after having experienced three losses out of her last four fights going into her bout with Bedo.

In the first round, Schouten had her way with Bedo, landing an assortment of jabs, right crosses an occasional shot to the midsection. I would have liked to have seen a few more combinations and punches to the midsection, though, because Schouten appeared to be mostly loading and landing one shot at a time. She looked good, using excellent form when throwing the punches, but she needed to add a couple of more to make her work more impressive. Bedo landed nothing in the round and only attempted a few punches.

Coming in at a career high of a plump 257 lbs, heavyweight contender Sinan Samil Sam (30-4, 16 KOs) destroyed 42 year-old Ratko Draskovic (28-7-2, 16 KOs) in the 2nd round of a scheduled 12-round bout for the WBC Mediterranean heavyweight title last night at the Zenith – Die Kulturhalle, in Munich, Bayern, Germany. After a rather uneventful first round, Draskovic was knocked down three times by Sam, 33, in the second round before referee Daniel Van de Wiele moved in and halted the one-sided slaughter. At the same time that the referee was stopping the bout, Draskovic’s corner was throwing in the towel in an effort to spare their fighter any more punishment from Sam.

Sam, who lost to Oliver McCall by decision last year in a WBC eliminator bout, looked to be in terrible shape last night, sporting a a huge pendulous belly, and looking as if he had trained little for the bout. As it turns out, Sam wouldn’t need much training to beat the 42 year-old Draskovic, who was out of he element against the power-punching Sam. Draskovic looked good in the opening moments of the first round as he used his jab to fend off Sam’s bull-like attacks. However, Sam soon began walking through Draskovic’s jabs and nailing him with uppercuts and chopping right hands to the head.

By Aaron Klein: Hard-hitting undefeated bantamweight prospect Alex Mercado (5-0, 4 kOs) continued his unbeaten streak with a 4-round unanimous over the tough but game Joseph Rios (3-2, 1 KOs) last night at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rios, 26, was down late in the 2nd round after walking into a short right hand from Mercado. Luckily for Rios, the knockdown occurred late in the round, enabling him to escape without being knocked down again, though he did take a several more big shots from Mercado before the round ended. The final judges’ scores were 40-36, 39-36 and 39-36, for Mercado.

Mercado, 25, considered one of the best young prospects in the bantamweight division, came out slugging in the 1st round, hitting Rios with doubt hooks to the body and head. Mercado seemed to throw everything with knockout intentions, forgoing completely throwing jabs as he went all out in the first round, loading up with his shots.

By Nick Adams: Undefeated middleweight prospect Paul Smith (23-0, 13 KOs) TKO’d Cello Renda (14-6-1, 9 KOs) in the 6th round to win the vacant BBBofC English middleweight title on Saturday night on the undercard of the cruiserweight unification bout between David Haye and Enzo Maccarinelli at the O2 Arena (Millenium Dome), in Greenwich, London. Smith, 25, who previously fought on The Contender reality TV series and is trained by Buddy McGirt, hurt Renda with a big right hand in the sixth and then landed a flurry of punches, causing the referee Marcus McDonnell to step in and halt the bout with Renda defenseless against the ropes.

By Aaron Klein: Undefeated junior middleweight prospect Jason Lehoullier (21-0-1, 8 KOs) fought to a 10-round draw with Jose Gonzalez (11-2-1, 9 KOs) on Friday night at the Foxwoods Casino, in Mashantucket, Connecticut. The bout seemed far from a draw, though, as Gonzalez, 26, took over the fight starting in the 3rd round and easily appeared to win the remaining rounds of the fight.