By TK Stewart

Cornelius “K-9” Bundrage versus Joel “The Latin Love Child” Julio went down last night on ESPN2 Wednesday Night Fights and it wasn't a bad scrap.

It was a case of another "The Contender" reality show contestant being beaten in a relatively higher profile fight.

Bundrage 26-2 (15)KO, who took the fight on only three weeks notice, showed some heart and guts by hanging in there for eight rounds against Julio 31-1 (29)KO.

Bundrage rose from a third round knockdown and a knockdown in the eighth before finally being beaten up to such an extent that he had to be saved by the referee. Bundrage was being hammered against the ropes and the fight was stopped at 1:08 of round eight by referee Jack Reese.

Bundrage showed again that "The Contender" fighters are really C and B level type guys as he fell to world class opposition much like Peter Manfredo, Anthony Bonsante, Noberto Bravo, Walter Wright et al.

Julio has a glossy record but shows several flaws. While Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore, who called the fight from ringside, praised Julio's skills and tout him as a legitimate star, I just don't see it that way.

Julio's problem is that when an opponent moves against him, or throws any sort of feint or even a flicker of a punch - he stops punching altogether. That was the reason he lost so meekly to Carlos Quintana who kept a glove in his face all night and offered some lateral movement. Julio is a busy guy with decent power and fundamentals but I don't think he's even good enough to win an alphabet title in the red-hot 147 pound division right now. The upside is that he is only 22 years old. If he can improve over the years he may turn into something, but right now I don't think he's top 10 material.

The corrupt alphabet sanctioning cartels apparently believe Julio to be better than I do. The WBA has him ranked #3, the WBC sees him one better as #2, the IBF agrees with me and doesn't even have him in the top 15 while the IBF ranks him #5. The Ring Magazine also does not rank Julio at all. What's curious to me is that all of the alphabet cartels have Julio ranked as a Welterweight when he has fought at Junior Middleweight in his last four bouts.

With Main Events as his promoter you can bet that a title shot is not too far off. It should be interesting to see what happens with this kid in the long term.

Allan “Sweetness” Green Returns

Tulsa, Oklahoma’s own Allan Green , 23-1 (16)KO is going in the main event on ESPN2 Friday Night Fights this week. His opponent is the reborn Darrell Woods, 26-10 (18)KO who at age 39 is going through some sort of career resurgence.

Woods has won four straight fights and is coming off a majority decision win over the previously undefeated Colombian, Samuel Miller (who was 17-0) in an excellent fight that was televised on ESPN2 back in May.

I really like Allan Green and I was as high on him at one time as Timothy Leary was on LSD back in the 1960’s. In watching Green come up through the ranks in 2003-2006 he reminded me of Julian Jackson and Gerald McClellan. Green was displaying freakish power for a young contender and I thought he had all of the skills, hunger and power to go straight to the top. More importantly, he has Tony Holden paying his bills and promoting him and Holden is very good at moving guys along.

Something happened to Green though, and I think it was that he began reading his own press clippings. After a big scare in a fight against his former sparring partner Donny McCrary (TKO 6), in which he was nearly knocked out, Green rebounded against everyone’s favorite punching bag, former “The Contender” contestant Anthony Bonsante (TKO 5) but then came up flat in fights against the ancient Emmett Linton (W SD 10) and the unfulfilled Jerson Ravelo (TKO 8).

Finally, the wheels came off Green’s wagon entirely and he lost in muted fashion to the over-hyped Edison Miranda in his last fight in March of this year. At age 27, I think Green has to make his move before the year is over and make a statement against Woods on Friday night and then get in another couple fights before the end of the year. The Super Middleweight division is red hot right now and it looks like it will get hotter as titlists Calzaghe and Kessler get set to square off on November 3rd and Middleweight Champ Jermain Taylor says he is moving to 168 right away.

Green’s only alphabet sanctioning cartel ranking is by the WBO who pegs him as their #11 contender. The Ring Magazine says Green is the #8 best fighter in the world at 168 pounds.

I fully expect Allan Green to come back with a vengeance tomorrow night. He claims his poor performances were complex, health related concerns. My prediction is that Green shines and that Miller gets tagged early and stopped before the bell rings for the fifth.