By James Blears

The Heavens opened on Mexico City sluicing down a massive and sustained deluge, leading up to the demolition of Willie Limond by Erik Morales at the Plaza de Toros.
 
Willie who only has eight kncokouts on his record held his own for a while and eluded some of Erik's early onslaughts with slick lateral movement, which at times made the Mexican legend look clumsy and slow. But by the fifth round, Erik was range finding and homing in on his target.

Erik moved from head to body with a wicked left hook to the ribs which had Willie down in the sixth. Another body blow under his guard in roughly the same zone crumpled the Scot again and when an extra flurry put Willie down for the third time, the WBC rule prevailed and referee Jay Nady intervened at 2.46.
 
The crowd who'd been lashed by the first storm, but cheered the second pumelling, erupted as red, white and green fireworks exploded into the sky and a mariachi band belted it out. Earlier they'd booed a recording of bagpipes during the introduction. The rain had stopped by that time.
 
Edgar Sosa proved his mettle in a slugfest with Filipino Ryan Bito. The two fought through a curtain of rain, which wiped out the internet, but not their passion for a real scrap. The first clash of heads happened in the second round. Referee Gualdalupe Garcia deducted a point from Bito after another in the third, but the damage was done because Edgar was bleeding from a cut. 

Round four saw yet another collision of foreheads, but undistracted, Edgar was putting together combinations to head and body, with greater frequency than his opponent who was still firing back with gusto, having some success with left hooks to the head.

The crowd gasped in the ninth as Edgar went down, but it was ruled a slip due to the drenched canvas. In the tenth Edgar launched an onslaught. A right to the body did the damage, felling Ryan, who bravely got up, badly winded. Trapped on the ropes Ryan went down again from a combination to the body, and was got off his haunches, but  the referee saved him. The time of the TKO was 2.05.
 
An irrestistably intense Ana Maria Torres dominated her fight against Germany based Alessia Graff who's from Belarussia. Ana had Alessia down twice in the third, and the European did extremely well to weather that storm. Alessia composed herself and had her moments as the fight wore on, but Ana Maria was in front from opening to closing bell.
 
They went to war in the tenth and final round, and Alessia was wobbled with a huge left hook, which brought the crowd to its feet. Ana Maria outpunched and outboxed Allesia, who never gave up and battled on even though she was comprehensively defeated.
 
The best was saved to last. Local and likely lads Reyes Sanchez and Daniel Estrada fought world war three for twelve absorbing rounds. A minor scuffle in the crowd and some precious beer thrown, thus wasted, was a mild prelude of the tribal tussle to come. Reyes had his home district of Neza printed on his back, while Daniel favored Telmex.
 
Within a couple of rounds they'd bloodied each others' noses. Yet Reyes' hooter was a crimson mess as the fight intensified. Daniel caught Reyes with more jabs, but the volume of Reyes' punches was just that little bit higher. He had Daniel in serious trouble in the last half minute of round three. Two huge left hooks to the top of the head did the temporary damage.
 
In the eleventh round a peach of a right uppercut from Daniel snapped Reyes' head back and Daniel was connecting with his left jab. But Reyes replied with hooks, to underline the ebb and flow of the slugfest, which had a titanic intensity to it.
 
The two of them barely brushed gloves after the twelfth started, and continued slugging. Daniel caught Reyes with a right hook in the last seconds, but both were still firing on full cylinders.
 
Reyes won a split decision for a marginally higher work rate, but the crowd was clamoring for a re-match. It'll be a while in the coming as both dished out and took a tremendous barrage of blows.
 
There was an eleven bell tribute to the everlasting memory of those who died in 9-11, and ten bell tolling for the eternal memory of Mexican boxing idol Raul Raton Macias, who filled this Plaza de Toros with a crowd of 55,000- a feat which has never since been matched.