by David P. Greisman

No one fight saves boxing. No one fight breaks it either. But there are nights that leave fans with a bad taste in their mouths. And there are weeks where that bad taste thankfully gets washed away.

That is where we found ourselves Saturday, one week after the disappointment that was the long-awaited heavyweight unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye.

Klitschko-Haye was the second biggest bout in boxing that could be made, a clash of champions that took years to bring to the ring. For all of our anticipation, however, and for all of the combatants’ talk, the bout itself was an aesthetic disappointment, the promise of harm unfulfilled, the action indefensibly defensive.

This past weekend was 75 percent better.

None of the four fights broadcast on HBO and Showtime approached the importance of Klitschko-Haye. None of them needed to. The big fights hold even more import in this era because they are rare. What these fights did have were elements of what attracts us to the sport even when the boxers are lesser known and the storylines aren’t must-see blockbusters.

Taken in chronological order:

Carlos Molina vs. Kermit Cintron: The Upset

Carlos Molina is a fighter who once went more than two years without a win. Later, he went nearly two years without a fight.

Now?

Now he is a fighter whose 19-4-2 record includes a draw with Erislandy Lara, a touted former Cuban amateur who had the spotlight from the moment he turned pro. Some believe Molina deserved to win the Lara fight.

He has a stoppage win over Allen Conyers, a measuring stick opponent who’s not necessarily an easy out.

And he now has a decision victory over Kermit Cintron, a former welterweight titleholder and a somewhat surprising fall guy for Molina’s biggest pro victory yet.

Not a bad stretch in 2011; all of that has taken place since March 25.

Molina was once best known for a controversial six-round draw in late 2005 against a green Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. They fought again just two months later, Chavez Jr. taking a majority decision.

Molina had a good distance win in June 2009 against Danny Perez. But then promotional issues sidelined him for close to 22 months.

Cintron was coming off his own extended layoff, 14 months since that infamous technical decision loss to Williams that came after Cintron tripped and hurtled through the ropes and out of the ring.

Though Cintron is years removed from his most glorious days, he remains a capable foe whose only blemishes had come against Williams, Antonio Margarito (twice) and a draw with Sergio Martinez (in a bout that Martinez deserved to win).

Boxing is full of athletes who get the spotlight but never make the most of their talent. The sport is also full of fighters who never get the chance to make the most of their talent and never get to experience their full potential.

Molina has now fought twice on ESPN2 this year and took advantage of an undercard slot on Showtime, getting more time to train and prepare for the Cintron bout. It showed. He had to work to beat Cintron; this was not just a case of Cintron slipping, but of Molina pressing the action to take advantage of the situation.

Molina took the fight to a puncher, landing combinations and then making Cintron miss. His tenacity gave Cintron trouble, and it brought himself the victory.

The last upset that was this feel-good came in November, when Jason Litzau won a split decision against the more-acclaimed Celestino Caballero. That only allowed for the limited Litzau to be served up to the talented Adrien Broner; Litzau crashed out quickly via a first-round stoppage loss.

Molina, however, is in a division, junior middleweight, where he deserves a spot in the ring with many of the other names that have been jockeying for television time or title shots. His 2011 has been a good one, and this latest win over Cintron will have even more rooting for him in his next outing.

Akifumi Shimoda vs. Rico Ramos: The Comeback

Not only was Rico Ramos losing, but he also wasn’t looking good in the process. He wasn’t throwing man punches against 122-pound beltholder Akifumi Shimoda, and he wasn’t giving any reason for viewers to expect him to do anything beyond slinking away in disappointment and defeat.

He was down big after six rounds. And then he did something big in the seventh, landing a single left hook that put Shimoda down hard. Shimoda rose on weak legs, then stumbled forward, giving the referee ample reason to end the bout.

Too many dreary fights go the distance. It is bad enough that the action stinks. It is worse that the stinking is prolonged.

Many of Wladimir Klitschko’s fights have seen his opponents rendered impotent, unable to compensate for Klitschko’s size, reach, power, foot movement and technique. Fortunately, several of Klitschko’s title defenses have ended with highlight knockouts, providing, at the least, that one memorable moment as a takeaway.

Ramos is a young fighter, 24 years old, now 20-0, thrust into a title shot without ever truly beating that one opponent who’d take him from prospect to contender. Though he is now he a beltholder, being in the junior featherweight division doesn’t guarantee a return to HBO. It is more likely we see Ramos back on ESPN2 or ShoBox, unless his opponent carries more name recognition (Guillermo Rigondeaux, Jorge Arce, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr.).

Ramos didn’t do anything to win fans over in his victory over Shimoda. But at least they’ll remember him more for the way he ended that bout than for the way he fought until then.

Brandon Rios vs. Urbano Antillon: The War

Rare is it that the biggest fights are the best fights. Rare is it that the best fights are the biggest fights.

A large amount of people will look forward to the biggest fights but will not know what action they will bring. Many of the best fights, however? People expected greatness in advance.

Brandon Rios was coming off a win in a war with Miguel Acosta. Urbano Antillon was coming off a loss in a war with Humberto Soto.

They were two come-forward, action-friendly lightweights. The natural comparison was to the great war between Diego Corrales and Jose Luis Castillo – and the hopes and expectations were that Rios-Antillon would resemble it.

There was plenty in the way of heavy punches and little in the way of backward steps. And while it didn’t approach Corrales-Castillo – what can? – it did reward those who’d tuned in with about three rounds of action.

It is understandable when boxers seek to hit without getting hit in return. There are boxers whose strategies in the ring can be appreciated. But there is no more pure fun for fight fans than a slugfest without abandon.

Rios withstood Antillon’s shots, floored him twice in the third and then won by technical knockout. The end came shortly after Antillon staggered away from the action, reminiscent of another three-round battle, the superlative middleweight war between Marvin Hagler and Thomas Hearns.

Hagler-Hearns was one for the vaults that has since been watched again and again. Rios-Antillon didn’t reach that level, but it did something important: It gave those watching reason to want to see Rios in the future.

Erislandy Lara vs. Paul Williams: The Robbery

The above were three of Saturday’s four big televised fights. Sadly, just as we entered the weekend with the bad taste of the previous week’s Klitschko-Haye debacle, we ended the night with the controversial ending to Erislandy Lara vs. Paul Williams.

Nearly everyone who watched Lara-Williams saw Lara taking advantage of Williams’ career-long defensive deficiency – his lack of head and body movement leaving the tall, lanky junior-middleweight’s chin even more exposed than usual. Lara loaded up and hit that chin just as Sharmba Mitchell (albeit in defeat) and just as Sergio Martinez did to get a knockout.

Somehow one judge saw Lara-Williams a draw, while the two others gave Williams a victory he did not deserve.

The war between Brandon Rios and Urbano Antillon, as short-lived as it was, should’ve been the talk of the weekend. Unfortunately, most of the conversation coming out of Saturday night was about Lara-Williams.

Fortunately, no one fight breaks boxing. We made it through Klitschko-Haye to this past weekend, and we’ll make it through Lara-Williams to the next.

The 10 Count will return next week.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com.

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