By Ryan Songalia

Crowd favorite Edison "Pantera" Miranda found little resistance in his first fight as a super middleweight, stopping Henry Porras in 2:45 of the fifth round at Hollywood, FL's Seminole Hard Rock Casino. It was a surprisingly disciplined performance from Miranda, whose style had often been compared to both Ricardo Mayorga and a wayward helicopter. Miranda worked well behind the jab, mixing in occasional body shots while making Porras miss in close by rolling away from punches.

Consensus thought was the first clean shot Miranda landed would be the undoing of his Costa Rican-foe, but Porras showed a sturdy beard in weathering Miranda's flushest right hands. Perhaps Miranda may have found the super middleweights to be a little too super to blast out. Nature carried out it's course, however, as Porras' will sapped by the second in the fifth. After several unanswered flurries in his own corner, Frank Santore mercifully halted the action, awarding Miranda his first win since being thrashed by now-Middleweight Kingpin Kelly Pavlik this past May.

The talk of the town now circles around a showdown between Miranda and Canadian slugger Jean Pascal, a matchup that figures to be the Hagler-Hearns of this era. In the meantime, Miranda will add another mark to his record, moving to 29-2 (25 KO), while Porras' unlucky streak outside of his country continues at 33-7-1 (25 KO).

James McGirt Jr. Conducts Snoozefest

Unfortunately, the remaining crowd was sparse for the main event following a dreadful, monotonous performance by James McGirt Jr., outpointing Canadian Jason Naugler over eight identical rounds. McGirt controlled the fight throughout, maintaining his distance and outworking his foe. McGirt's offense was limited to pitty-pat point scoring and seemed content to take the safe route. Suffice it to say that few fans were converted in the process.

McGirt Jr.'s record goes to 17-0 (9 KO), while Naugler drops to 17-7-1 (11 KO).

Cubans Gamboa and Barthelmy Arrive in America

For most of the international crowd, the only fights of consequence were the United States professional debuts of Cuban defectors Yuriorkis Gamboa and Yan Barthelmy, both 2004 Olympic Gold medalists. Barthelmy (3-0) proved to be superior to his opponent Kevin Hudgins, 5-11 (2 KO), but little else. Over four rounds, Barthelmy displayed an inability to maintain distance, using his jab just to kickstart the southpaw left hand that seemed to be the focal point of his offense. Barthelmy was unable to hurt his foe during the bout, but won all four rounds en route to an uninspiring performance.

Gamboa may be a different story. For the first round of his bout, Gamboa appeared to be the Messiah of Boxing. With a style not unlike a young Roy Jones Jr.'s, Gamboa dispensed with the jab early, choosing instead to pot shot and overwhelm his opponent, Adailton DeJesus, with breathtaking effectiveness. Before the end of the round, a perfectly-timed lead right deposited DeJesus onto his rear for an eight count.

Gamboa's blazing start may have taken some of the gas out of his engine, as slowly but surely DeJesus began to feel his way back into the fight. By the third round, Gamboa was beginning to get sloppy, which gave DeJesus the opening he sought all night. A right hand caught Gamboa off balance and put him on the floor for the first time as a pro.

Gamboa answered the call with sound messages in the fourth and fifth round, until finally a ruthless flurry at the beginning of the sixth ended the night for DeJesus. Gamboa's mark now stands at 7-0 (6 KO), while DeJesus's record fell to 19-3 (17 KO).

Gary Stark Jr. Takes Another Step to Recovery

One of New York's favorite sons, Gary Stark Jr., needed a big morale booster in the wake of his two confidence crushing defeats to Mike-Mike Oliver and Andres Ledesma. What he got with Robert Da Luz is open to interpretation. Having suffered his first knockout loss in his bout against Andres Ledesma, the first round of this fight was going to be very important. It was, but not in the way Stark anticipated. A right hand and a left behind it from the heavier-handed Da Luz rocked Stark's world late in the opening stanza, forcing Stark into the ropes.

Stark recovered well, showing heart and determination in turning the tide with more accurate punches. From time to time, Stark's lack of focus played against him, his pride creating openings in his already porous defense. It was will that won the fight for him, outhustling his man and dropping Da Luz with a right hand in the eighth and final round to cement a 79-72 unanimous decision victory.

Stark improved his record to 19-2 (8 KO), while Da Luz pulls even at 10-10-2 (9 KO).