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Guzman defeats Soto, but will he get a crack at Pacquiao?

Guzman wants Pacquiao, but he might have to wait in a line for that one. The whole world from 122lbs to 140lbs wants Pacquiao, but some challengers in that world command more money and attention than others!

Last night at the Borgota in Atlantic City, NJ, WBO Super Featherweight Champion Joan Guzman retained his title and kept his undefeated record in tact with a unanimous decision over Humberto Soto. Guzman utilized beautiful ring generalship at times to outbox and offset the powerful Mexican challenger. Soto had his moments when he would trap Guzman on the ropes and fire combinations and flurries to Guzman's body.

Guzman controlled the fight in the middle rounds for the most part, but seemed to coast down the stretch when Soto mounted a late round comeback out of desperation. In the eyes of the official ringside judges, it was simply too little too late for Soto. The judges awarded the fight to Guzman by scores of 117-111 (twice) and 118-110 (twice). I didn't score the fight round by round, but HBO's unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman scored the fighter closer at 115-113 for Guzman. The Associated Press scored the fight a draw, which may have been stretching it by just a little. Had I scored it round by round, I probably would've had it somewhere in the middle. Not as wide as the three judges, but maybe not as close as the unofficial scorers. The fight was probably 7-5, maybe 8-4 for Guzman.

In any case, this was a very good win for Guzman. Not only his best win at 130lbs, but also his career-best win to this date. Guzman would love to fight Manny Pacquiao, and he made a strong case with this win last night, but who doesn't want to fight Manny Pacquiao right now? The man brings money and a monster-sized fan base. He's helped to turn the public's attention from the heavyweights to the featherweights. Would I like to see Pacquiao/Guzman? Absolutely! I'd also like to see J.M.Marquez/Pacquiao II. In all fairness, Marquez should be Pacquiao's next fight, due to their unfinished business from three and a half years ago.

Marquez is the legitimate world champion at 130lbs, and being one of the two top pound for pound fighters in the world, that's a title that Pacquiao would probably love to take. The winner of Marquez/Pacquiao should face Guzman, who is respectably the number three guy at 130lbs right now. In all likelihood, Pacquiao will either face Marquez or move up to lightweight to face Juan Diaz in his next fight, or face Marquez and then face Juan Diaz. Those matches are where the money is at. Guzman, as good as he is, will probably have to play the waiting game - much like Winky Wright had to do for a number of years when he labored in obscurity.

Updated Pound for Pound rankings!!!

It has been a while since you saw an update of the Boxing Chronicles Pound for Pound List. With all of the significant matchups that have taken place throughout this fall, I wanted to wait until just about all of them happened. And guess what? There are some changes.

Significant changes, following middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik's title winning knockout victory of Jermain Taylor and Joe Calzaghe's successful quest to unify the super middleweight championship with a unanimous decision over Mikkell Kessler.

Where do they rank now? Click here to check out the new rankings. Feel free to comment!

Boxing Chronicles Scorecard: Cotto -vs- Mosley

Round 1: Cotto 10 Mosley 9
Round 2: Mosley Total: Cotto 19 Mosley 19
Round 3: Mosley Total: Cotto 28 Mosley 29
Round 4: Cotto Total: Cotto 38 Mosley 38
Round 5: Cotto Total: Cotto 48 Mosley 47
Round 6: Cotto Total: Cotto 58 Mosley 56
Round 7: Cotto Total: Cotto 68 Mosley 65
Round 8: Mosley Total: Cotto 77 Mosley 75
Round 9: Mosley Total: Cotto 86 Mosley 85
Round 10: Mosley Total: Cotto 95 Mosley 95
Round 11: Cotto Total: Cotto 105 Mosley 104
Round 12: Mosley

Total: 114-114 (6-6)

Cotto edges Mosley in a tremendous battle of wills!

Last night at Madison Square Garden in NYC, WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto retained his title with a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley. Cotto raised his record to 31-0, while Mosley's record fell to 44-5.

For the third time in a span of a month, I was wrong about a prediction in a big fight. First I picked Holyfield over Ibragimov. Dead wrong. Last weekend, I picked Kessler over Calzaghe. Dead wrong again. This weekend, I picked Mosley over Cotto. Wrong three times. Perhaps I can make some really good money by picking a fighter to win a fight, and then betting money the other way. Worth a try, maybe?

Back to the fight - I felt the fight was close as hell. I, for one give, credit to both fighters for giving such terrific accounts of themselves. These are two excellent fighters, fighting at an elite world class level, who tested each other wills in a fight that pretty much went back and forth. That was some truly great stuff to watch in the eyes of this observer.

In rounds one through four, the fight was pretty even and each guy took two rounds. Round one was Cotto's on the account of his cleaner punches and strong jab that was finding its target. Mosley began to loosen up a bit in rounds two and three, finding his bounce and outboxing Cotto. Cotto would begin to turn the tide in round four, however, as he applied pressure and began to nail Mosley with some hard shots to body and chin. To his credit, Mosley hit Cotto with some really good body shots as well. Mosley may very well have underestimated Cotto's hand speed, as so many other opponents have done in the past prior to entering the ring against the Puerto Rican sensation.

Rounds five through seven, it appeared as though Cotto was wearing Mosley down. At one point, I even said, "good thing I didn't put money on this one." Mosley, however, readjusted by getting up on his toes and began to bounce and throw right hands. Mosley hurt Cotto in round nine as well as in the first half of the tenth round. Cotto came back in round 11. Shane finished strong in round 12. It was an terrific fight that featured some toe to toe fighting as well as some boxing and counter punching. Could've gone either way. Both fighters gave as good as the received, but in the end, the three official ringside judges awarded the fight to Cotto by scores of 115-113 (twice) and 116-113. Boxing Chronicles scored the fight a draw, 114-114.

As many of you already know, I'm a Mosley fan. I wanted to see him win. It would've done wonders for his already brilliant career at the ripe old age of 36. Remember, this is a fighter, whom after the first fight with Winky Wright in 2004, many fans and experts believed was shot and had seen better days. Many felt it was the end of Shane's career, but not I. He proved it by fighting 12 hotly contested rounds with a young champion approaching his prime and may one day be great. Mosley had nothing to be ashamed of.

As a fan of his, I'm also an objective viewer who will tell you the fight could've gone either way and I'm content with the decision just as Mosley was after the fight. Props to Miguel Cotto for the big win.

Other results on the undercard:

Joel Casamayor rose from the canvas after an illegitimate first round knockdown to retain his Lightweight Championship with a highly controversial split decision over the game Jose Armando Santa Cruz. There is no way Casamayor won that fight. No way in hell! Santa Cruz was not only the aggressor, but he was the effective aggressor. He was throwing punches and landing some of his punches. Although his accuracy was nothing to write home about, he was landing more shots that Casamayor. Certainly, he was landing more power shots. Casamayor showed the effects of an older champion who had been out of the ring for over a year. He looked off balance. His upper body motion was sloppy. He avoided exchanges with Santa Cruz and looked bad doing it. Official scores were 114-113 Santa Cruz, 114-113 (twice) Casamayor. I scored the fight 118-109 for Santa Cruz, as did unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman as well as some other respectful fans and writers. Absolutely dreadful decision. Horrendous showing on the part of Casamayor! Let's call it the robbery of the year. Biggest robbery I've seen in at least a few years.

Joel Casamayor, you need to stop calling Juan Diaz a pussy. Looking like that, you need to stay away from Juan Diaz period. Diaz would appear to be the goods in the lightweight division and he'll eat your ass up like pacman!

Antonio Margarito looked impressive stopping Golden Johnson in less than a round. I didn't expect much from Johnson, but it was nice to see Margarito make such a big statement following the loss to Williams this past summer. He started quickly and wasted no time. Good job, Antonio Margarito. Onto a top five contender now, please.

Victor Ortiz, young 140lb contender from Oxnard, CA, made a tremendous statement in the opening televised bout of the evening with a first round knockout of his own against Carlos Maussa. Maussa, once a world champion, had been in the ring with the likes of Miguel Cotto, Vivian Harris, and Ricky Hatton. He stopped Harris in their title fight in Atlantic City in 2005 to win his world title, but lost it to Hatton in their unification match later that year. The guys who have beaten Maussa did not to him what Ortiz managed to do last night. That was an impressive showing on the part of this young fighter. The Jr welterweight division is wide open. Let's see Ortiz against one of the titleholders; possibly starting with WBO Champion Ricardo Torres being that he is the weakest of the titleholders.

Fast and Furious prediction!

Tonight, at Madison Square Garden, WBA Welterweight Champion Miguel Cotto is getting ready to defend his title against former three division champion Sugar Shane Mosley. In his last fight, Cotto beat up and stopped former welterweight champion Zab Judah in 11 grueling rounds in front of a sold out MSG crowd. Mosley was last seen outworking and outclassing the Luis Collazo at the Mandalay Bay back in February.

This fight is being titled Fast and Furious. Mosley is seen as the faster the fighter, while Cotto represents the furious. Cotto has made his mark by winning the welterweight championship with a stoppage of previously undefeated Carlos Quintana. He beat up Quintana and flat out made him quite last December. The whooping he handed Judah was very good. If he can defeat Mosley, that would be great. Mosley has revived his career, after consecutive losses to Winky Wright in 2004. At the time, he was fighting in a division where he appeared to be too small. His confidence also appeared to be at an all time low. Afterall, he had also been defeated twice by Vernon Forrest in 2002.

Since the losses to Wright, Mosley moved back down to welterweight and won some fights against David Estrada and Jose Luis Cruz. Mosley's back to back stoppages, particularly the 2nd one, of Fernando Vargas really signaled the return of the Sugar of old. Against Collazo last February, Mosley pitched a practically perfect fight against Collazo.

In this fight tonight, we have a matchup between a young undefeated tenacious slugger who is on the way up and a former champion, with blazing hand and foot speed, who has the potential to be an all-time great. Can Cotto, once again in front of his countrymen in a packed house at MSG, put an exclamation point on his so-far flawless career? Or can Mosley continue his resurrgence by upsetting the young champion?

My prediction: Mosley TKO 12

Calzaghe vs Kessler Boxing Chronicles Scorecard

Round 1: 10-9 Calzaghe
Round 2: 10-9 Kessler Total: 19-19
Round 3: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 29-28 Calzaghe
Round 4: 10-9 Kessler Total: 38-38
Round 5: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 48-47 Calzaghe
Round 6: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 58-56 Calzaghe
Round 7: 10-9 Kessler Total: 67-66 Calzaghe
Round 8: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 77-75 Calzaghe
Round 9: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 87-84 Calzaghe
Round 10: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 97-93 Calzaghe
Round 11: 10-9 Calzaghe Total: 107-102 Calzaghe
Round 12: 10-9 Kessler

Total: 116-112 (8-4) Joe Calzaghe


Official judges scorecards:

Massimo Barrovecchio scores it 116-112
Raul Caiz Jr. scores it 117-111
John Stewart scores it 116-112

Compubox numbers:

Calzaghe total punches: 285/1010
Kessler total punches: 173/585

Calzaghe total jabs: 137/550
Kessler total jabs: 52/326

Calzaghe total power punches: 148/460
Kessler total power punches: 121/259

Calzaghe decisions Kessler: becomes Undisputed Champion at 168lbs!

At 35 years of age, in this boxing fan's eyes, this was Calzaghe's break through fight. Anybody who wasn't particularly impressed prior to that performacne last night, should be now!

While celebrating my birthday at a local nightclub last night, one of the sports most anticipated showdowns was taking place. In the first big super fight at 168lbs since Roy Jones, Jr and James Toney fought in 1994, WBO and Ring Magazine Super Middleweight Champion Joe Calzaghe and WBC/WBA titlist Mikkell Kessler squared off in a battle of undefeated champions in Cardiff Wales. Thankfully, I was way too drunk last night to search for the result of the fight or even comprehend throughout the evening who the victor was. Therefore, the fight and the result were unknown to me when I popped the tape into the VCR this afternoon.

Let me admit to you that I picked Kessler to win by unanimous decision. Once again, I was dead wrong. In this instance, though, I was not the only one to pick Kessler. I thought Kessler would win the fight with his calculated counter punching style, but Calzaghe had other plans in store for us. Raising his professional record to 44-0, Calzaghe won a unanimous decision by scores of 117-111 and 116-112 (twice). Boxing Chronicles agreed with two of the three judges in terms of the score, giving Calzaghe the fight 116-112. Calzaghe did exactly what Jim Lampley described at ringside. He spoiled Kessler's boxing style. The fight started off with Kessler circling and trying to outbox Calzaghe, and Calzaghe coming forward throwing fast flurries behind his jab.

As the fight wore on, it was Calzaghe who became the boxer and Kessler who ended up trying to chase him down out of desperation when he realized that the boxing style wasn't working. This may have been Calzaghe's best performance to date; even more impressive than his win over Jeff Lacy. In my eyes, this was Calzaghe's career defining fight. He broke through with this performance. You come to box, he'll hunt you down and take that style away. You come to brawl and try to knock him out, he'll shoot crisp straight shots down the middle, as he did to Lacy, and punish you all night long.

Brilliant performance on Calzaghe's part. Kessler, who lost decisively, gave a fine account of himself as well. He did everything right, but it just wasn't enough to unseat a man who's been champion in that division for ten years and, between his professional and amateur careers, has been undefeated for seventeen years! Kessler landed some bombs throughout the fight and had some moments in the fight, but Calzaghe proved to have a cast-iron chin. The man can take a punch!

Next up for Calzaghe should be a move to 175lbs. He admitted that after Kessler, there's no other business to tend to at 168lbs. Expect to see Calzaghe at 175lbs, against either IBF titlist Clinton Woods or Ring Magazine Champion Bernard Hopkins. Hopkins is the bigger fight in the US. Woods, no question about it, is the bigger fight overseas. Given that Calzaghe is terribly interested in crossing the pond, and he doesn't exactly see Hopkins as major draw here in the states, the Woods fight is likely to be the more probable option for the Undisputed Super Middleweight Champion to exercise.