Cotto Retires Mayorga

Miguel Cotto vs Ricardo Mayorga - WBA Super Welterweight Title

Ricardo Mayorga now needs a job. Well thats what he said in his post fight interview on Showtime after Miguel Cotto stopped him in 12 exciting rounds at the MGM Grand. Mayorga was also man enough to admit that all the acting pre fight was just to sell tickets and that Cotto was the better man who punched very hard.

Regarding Mayorga's retirement , i think its the perfect time as he can only fight in small spurts. This suited Cotto who was able to win most of the rounds with his jab. The Puerto Rican icon also never fell for any of the challengers shenanigans , he stayed calm and picked his shots when needed. On my card i had Cotto winning 5 of the first 6 rounds with only the 2nd being close enough to merit Mayorga with a share. Cotto was landing the better punches and was more frequent with them.

The challengers best round was the 7th as for once he was able to maintian a constant pace and push Cotto back. I also gave the challenger the 8th and 9th purely on workrate but it was to be Mayorga's last stand as Cotto regained his composure and began to control the fight again in the 10th and the 11th.

Cotto fought at a un-hurried pace , i actually think he looked slow in the fight , not punch wise but overall movement. The 154lb limit seems to be one weight too many?? but he is a titlelist and there are big fights out there for him to take namely Sergio Martinez or Saul Alvarez.

What happened in the 12th remains a wee bit of a mystery because when Cotto had floored Mayorga the challenger immediately clutched his left hand. Replys showed there was minimum contact with the hand. Mayorga continued though for about 20-30 seconds but then asked the ref to stop the fight as he was in too much pain not by the punch but by the pain in his hand.

It certainly was a weird ending to a weird type of fighter that is Mayorga.

Below as always is my scorecard along with the boxing fans forums scores , TV , written press and boxing websites scoreson the fight.

Round 1.....Cotto 10-9
Round 2.....Draw 10-10
Round 3.....Cotto 10-9
Round 4.....Cotto 10-9
Round 5.....Cotto 10-9
Round 6.....Cotto 10-9
Round 7.....Mayorga 10-9
Round 8.....Mayorga 10-9
Round 9.....Mayorga 10-9
Round 10...Cotto 10-9
Round 11...Cotto 10-9

TOTAL.....107-103.... MIGUEL COTTO

MIGUEL COTTO WINS BY 12TH ROUND TKO

Judges Scores : Duane Ford...107-102.....Cotto
                        Jerry Roth......107-102.....Cotto
                        Chris Wilson..107-102.....Cotto


TV , Fans Forums , Written Press and Boxing Websites Scores

Al Bernstein (showtime)........108-101 Cotto
Antonio Tarver (showtime)...108-101 Cotto

Diego Martinez (showtime press).......108-101 Cotto
Kieran Mulvaney (showtime press)....108-101 Cotto
Lance Pugmire (showtime press)........107-102 Cotto

Graham Houston (boxingmonthly)......108-101 Cotto

LA Times......107-102 Cotto

Kevin Iole (yahoo)..........107-102 Cotto
Steve Cofield (yahoo).....108-101 Cotto

Dan Ambrose (boxingnews24.com).....107-102 Cotto

Boxrec Forum....8-0 in favor of Cotto...cards...106-103 , 119-110

Budweiser Forum...2-0 in favor of Cotto but left no cards

Livefight.com.....11-0 in favor of Cotto....card...107-102

Boxingscene Forum....5-0 in favor of Cotto...card...108-101

Eastsideboxing Forum....14-0 in favor of Cotto...cards...108-101 x 9 , 106-103 x2
................................................................................107-102 x 3 , 109-100

Unification Beckons For Burns

Ricky Burns vs Joseph Laryea - WBO Super Featherweight Title

Two Voluntary defences out of the way , One big unification fight to come. That was the story of Saturday Nights SKY Sports main event where Ricky Burns made his 2nd successful title defence against Joseph Laryea. Fighting again at the Braehead Arena in Glasgow although not as big a crowd due to poor pricing (£50 was the lowest price for a ticket) Burns displayed the attributes that took him to that shock title win over Roman Martinez last September by totally outworking his Ghanaian challenger making his corner throw in the towel before the start of the 8th round.

Before the fight Laryea had made all the the threatening noises by mimicking that he was going to break Burns neck but in all honesty after 5 rounds Laryea was beginning to wilt as the Scottish champion began to dominate the fight.

The first few rounds were close with the taller Laryea being able to out jab Ricky but the champion still was winning the rounds due to the combination punching and body work. Round 3 was the first clear round for the champion as he began to work off his jab and land much more of those slashing right hands. The 4th many felt including the SKY commentators that Laryea had won the round. Not on my card though as i still felt that Burns was landing the cleaner blows.

Laryea's title challenge began to wilt late in the 5th as he began to slow down due to the high volume of punches still being thrown by the champion. The 6th was a dominating round for Burns as he stepped up the pace again , jab , right hand , left hook to the body and a left hook up top slammed into Laryea time after time. It was the same story in the 7th where Burns was now landing at will and it was clear that Laryea didn't have the same energy as in the first 4 rounds. I feel that it was just a matter of time before Laryea was totally gassed and Burns would have been announced the winner but the Ghanaians corner pulled their man out before the 8th round citing a broken right knuckle??.

The job was done and now Ricky can now look forward to a big summer showdown vs IBF Champion Mozonke Fana.

Below as always is my scorecard along with the fans forums scores , TV , written press and boxing websites scores on the fight.

Round 1....Burns 10-9
Round 2....Burns 10-9
Round 3....Burns 10-9
Round 4....Burns 10-9
Round 5....Burns 10-9
Round 6....Burns 10-9
Round 7....Burns 10-9

TOTAL....70-63 RICKY BURNS

RICKY BURNS WINS BY RTD END OF 7


TV , Fans Forums , Written Press and Boxing Sites Scores

Billy Nelson - Burns Trainer.....Burns 70-64


Glen McCrory (sky).....69-64 Burns
John Rawling (sky).......69-64 Burns
Jim Watt (sky)..............69-64 Burns
Barry McGuigan (sky)..70-64 Burns
Bob Mee (sky).............69-64 Burns

Graham Houston (boxmonthly)....69-64 Burns

Ian McNeily (boxrec)...69-65 Burns

Boxrec Fans Forum.....9-0 in favor of Burns...cards...70-63 x 4 , 70-64 , 69-64

Eastsideboxing Fans....12-0 in favor of Burns...cards...69-64 x 4 , 70-63 x 2 , 70-64

Budweiser Fans Forum..2-0 in favor of Burns...cards...69-65 , 70-63 (thebud)

Saddoboxing Forum.....5-0 in favor of Burns...card...70-63

Boxingscene Forum....6-0 in favor of Burns but there were no cards

Martin Hannan (the Scotsman paper)....70-63 Burns

Dan Risk (boxingnews24.com)......69-(61)??? Burns

Worldboxing.net.....69-64 Burns

Tom Gray (secondsout.com).....70-63 Burns

A Mighty Effort

Saul Alvarez vs Matthew Hatton - Vacant WBC Light Middleweight Title

The headline says "a mighty effort" well they are not my words but the words of legendary fighter Roy Jones Jnr who was mentioning on HBO the effort displayed by Matthew Hatton who never gave up in his brave title challenge against 20 year old Mexican superstar Saul Alvarez.

On reflection of the scoring , this fight was all one way ( the 3 judges scored 119-108) but Hatton was competitive although thoroughly out gunned by Alvarez. The wonderkid won this fight handily but a lot more questions will now be asked as the new champion failed to knock out Hatton who is really a welterweight.

Everybody expected this fight to be a knockout for Alvarez probably after Hatton putting up some minor resistance but as the fight went on Alvarez began to get a little bit annoyed that he couldn't land that KO punch. The Mexican really does dig his punches in , his stand in front of you style will no doubt land him in exciting fights , add this to that he is quite easy to hit and you can see why he is being touted as the next big star. Against Hatton whenever Alvarez wanted he upped the pace and battered the brave Brit around the ring.

This was an easy fight to judge because of the way Alvarez was picking his punches , the difference in power though was telling as Hattons punches did no damage whilst Alvarez repeatably hurt Hatton especially to the body. Many gave Alvaez every round although he did lose a point for hitting on the break in the 7th.

All in all it was a decent performance by Alvarez but many who were watching i feel were expecting more especially the KO. Hatton though will walk away from this with huge credit and possible another shot on HBO , how about Hatton vs James Kirkland??? Kirkland returned on the undercard and won by a knockout.

Below as always is my scorecard along with the boxing fans forums scores , written press , TV guys and boxing websites scores on the fight.

Round 1.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 2.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 3.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 4.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 5.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 6.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 7.....Draw 9-9........Alvarez deducted 1 point for hitting after call of break
Round 8.....Draw 10-10
Round 9.....Alvarez 10-9
Round 10...Alvarez 10-9
Round 11...Alvarez 10-9
Round 12...Alvarez 10-9

TOTAL......119-109 SAUL ALVAREZ

Judges Scorecards : Jack Reese..... 119-108 Alvarez
                               Raul Caiz Snr...119-109 Alvarez
                               Joel Scobie.......119-109 Alvarez

SAUL ALVAREZ WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

TV , Fans Forums , Written Press and Boxing Websites Scores


Harold Lederman (HBO).......119-108 Alvarez

Jim Watt (SKY)......118-110 Alvarez

Dan Rafael (ESPN).....119-108 Alvarez

Graham Houston (Boxing Monthly)....119-108 Alvarez

Budweiser Forum....3-0 in favor of Alvarez...cards...119-109 , 118-109 for Alvarez

Boxing Asylum Forum....3-2 in favor of Alvarez...cards...114-113 , 115-113 Hatton?

Eastsideboxing Forum...22-0 in favor of Alvarez...cards...119-108 x3 , 119-109 , 117-110

Boxrec Forum .....14-0 in favor of Alvarez..cards...119-108 x 4 , 117-108 , 118-109

Boxingscene Forum...17-0 in favor of Alvarez...cards..119-108 x 2

Badlefthook...4-0 in favor of Alvarez..cards... 118-109 , 118-110 Alvarez

Livefight forum...10-0 in favor of Alvarez but no cards were left

Theboxingtruthradio...1-0 in favor of Alvarez....119-109 Alvarez

Redemption For Sykes

Gary Sykes vs Carl Johanneson - British Super Featherweight Title

Another main event on Sky TV another excellent fight. Gary Sykes and Carl Johanneson deserve immense credit for a very good and close fight last night in Huddersfield. Sky Sports must also be happy as so far this year  every main event has given the boxing fans well matched contests.

Sykes vs Johanneson was probably the closest fight this year to judge although the BBBof C judges did an excellent job by all agreeing that Sykes had done enough to retain his title. The champion started with his usual high tempo as the older and more experienced Johanneson couldn't keep up with his younger upstart. Johanneson though was landing body punches even though he was losing the first few rounds but as the fight began to reach the middle stages the constant pressure from the Leeds man began to tell as he was beginning to nail Sykes and slow him down.

The young champion rallied in the 7th and 8th rounds as the former champion began to  slow down himself , Johanneson had been landing big shots but none like the one punch kayo suffered by Sykes in his last fight vs Gray Buckland in the prizefighter format. That was to change though early in the 9th when Johanneson landed a massive overhand right that knocked Sykes to the ground. Johanneson then put everything into finishing the champion but Sykes showed that he has learned from his shock defeat by covering up well and grabbing hold of Johanneson. In the last 30 seconds of the round it was Sykes who was firing the punches as the older former champion had run out of gas. I feel this was the turning point in the fight as Sykes had proven to himself that he could come through a big crisis.

After 9 rounds i had it 86-85 Johanneson , the problem though was that in trying to finish Sykes Johanneson had used up too much energy. Sykes who is 5 years younger then began to use his famous work rate again and was able to out punch Johanneson in the last 3 rounds. This i feel is where the fight was won as on many cards the fight was very close until Johanneson's long career began to catch up on him.

After the fight Sykes promoter Frank Maloney said that he is hoping for a match between Sykes and new European Super Featherweight champion Ermano Fegatilli who dethroned Steve Foster Jnr last week.

Below as always is my scorecard along with the fans forums scores , TV , written press and boxing sites scorecards.

Round 1.....Sykes 10-9
Round 2.....Sykes 10-9
Round 3.....Johanneson 10-9
Round 4.....Johanneson 10-9
Round 5.....Johanneson 10-9
Round 6.....Draw 10-10
Round 7.....Sykes 10-9
Round 8.....Sykes 10-9
Round 9.....Johanneson 10-8
Round 10...Sykes 10-9
Round 11...Sykes 10-9
Round 12...Sykes 10-9

TOTAL.....SYKES 115-113

Judges Scorecards : Steve Gray .....116-112 Sykes
                               Mark Green.....115-112 Sykes
                               John Keane......115-113 Sykes

GARY SYKES WINS BY UNANIMOUS DECISION

TV , Fans Forums , Written Press and Boxing Sites Scores


Glen McCrory (SKY).........114-113 Sykes
Ritchie Woodhall (SKY)......Sykes by 2 points
John Rawling (SKY)............Sykes just ahead

Bob Mee (SKY).......114-113 Sykes

Graham Houston (boxing monthly)....116-111 Sykes

Andrew Wake (Secondsout.com)....Sykes by 5 points

Ian McNeilly (boxrec.com)....115-114 Sykes

Alexy Sukachev (boxingscene.com).....114-114 Draw

Worldboxingnews.net.....114-113 Johanneson

Boxrec Forum - 8-0 in favor of Sykes...cards...116-113 , 115-113 , 114-113 , 117-112

Boxingasylum - 2-1 in favor of Sykes...cards...116-112 , 115-112 for Sykes

Budweiser Forum - 2-0 in favor of Johanneson...cards...114-113 , 115-114

Eastsideboxing forum - 15-0-1 in favor of Sykes...cards...116-114 , 115-112 , 114-113
                                    116-113 x 2 , 115-113 x3 , 116-112 x 3 , 114-114 draw