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According to reports in Panama, there are negotiations currently taking place for Celestino Caballero to dump the super bantamweight division to move up in weight to challenge WBA "regular" featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa. Caballero was recently stripped of the IBF's version of the title at super bantam. He still holds the WBA's "super version" of the title at 122.
The new WBO interim-bantamweight champion Eric Morel is giving veteran Gerry Penalosa a lot of credit. Morel won a very close split decision over Penalosa on Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton. Morel controlled most of the action in the first half of the fight. Penalosa began to break Morel down and took over the second half of the fight. Penalosa seemed to get fired up after suffering two head clashes in the sixth round that opened up bad cuts above both eyes.
WBA heavyweight champion David Haye has been searching for a country that wants to claim former two-time heavyweight champ John Ruiz. Haye defends his title against Ruiz on April 3 in Manchester. Ruiz is from Puerto Rico. Haye has approached Puerto Ricans and none of them want to claim Ruiz. They call Ruiz an American. Haye goes to Americans and they tell him Ruiz is Puerto Rican.
Former two division champion Miguel Cotto is getting ready to start training camp for the June fight with undefeated WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman. Cotto will try to match the boxing record of fellow Puerto Rican Felix "Tito" Trinidad by going for a world title in his third weight division. Cotto expects the fight with Foreman to be locked and loaded in the next two weeks for June 12 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
As expected, Floyd Mayweather Jr. has gone on the record and told Manny Pacquiao that he can forget a 50-50 deal if the fight with Shane Mosley does better on pay-per-view than Manny's fight with Joshua Clottey. Pacquiao defends his WBO welterweight title against Clottey on March 13. Mayweather faces WBA champion Mosley on May 1. If Mayweather's pay-per-view has better buyrate numbers than Pacquiao's fight with Clottey, Mayweather will demand a bigger slice of the cake when, and if, the two boxers ever try to negotiate a fight again.
At the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, WBA interim-super flyweight champion Nonito Donaire (23-1, 15KOs) knocked out late-replacement Manuel Vargas (26-5, 11KOs) in three rounds.
At the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Fernando Montiel (40-2-2, 30KOs) retained his WBO bantamweight title with a first round knockout of previously undefeated Ciso Morales (14-1, 8KOs). After both fighters were picking their spots, in the final moments of the round, Montiel landed a heavy combination to the body that sent Morales down for the full count. He was still down after the count of ten was over.
At the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Eric Morel (42-2, 21KOs) won a close twelve round split decision over Gerry Penalosa (54-8-2, 36KOs) to grab the WBO's interim-bantamweight title. The scores 115-113 for Morel, 115-113 for Penalosa, and 116-112 for Morel.
At the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, a battle of featherweights saw Bernabe Concepcion (28-3, 15KOs) win a ten round decision over Mario Santiago (21-2, 14KOs). The judges saw it 98-91, 96-93 and 97-92 for Concepcion. He will now fight WBO bantamweight champion Juan Manuel Lopez in June. Juanma was ringside scouting the action.
John Hopoate has withdrawn from his heavyweight fight with Shane Cameron. Cameron is scheduled to return to action on March 18 in Australia. There was a lot trash being flung between the two fighters. Cameron signed his side of the contract. Hopoate never signed. Cameron returns for the first time since being destroyed by David Tua in two rounds.