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At the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, junior middleweight prospect Alfredo Angulo (15-0, 12 KOs) beat up veteran Cosme Rivera (31-12-2, 23 KOs) for five bruising rounds before the fight was stopped.
Despite numerous reports overseas from the British media, and from the camp of David Haye, a fight with WBO/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko for June 20 is far from a done deal and is not even close to being finalized.
Former champion Clinton Woods (42-4-1, 24 KOs) redeemed the poor performance in his last fight, against Antonio Tarver ten-months ago, by winning a solid twelve round unanimous decision over Elvir Muriqi (35-5, 22 KOs) at the Hotel De France in Channel Islands, England - picking up the number 2 position in the IBF's light heavyweight rankings to champion Chad Dawson. The scores were 117-111 119-110 and 117-111.
On the undercard of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, super middleweight prospect Anthony Dirrell (15-0, 12 KOs), the brother of the more popular Andre, won a four round decision over Jose Medina (14-13, 10 KOs) over four. The scores were 40-35 on all three cards. Medina went down in the fourth. Anthony's third bout since returning to the sport last October after a near two-year layoff due to illness.
IBF featherweight champion Cristobal Cruz (38-11-1, 23KOs), retained his IBF featherweight title with a close unanimous twelve round decision over Cyril Thomas (33-3-4, 10KOs) at the Palais des Sports in Aisne, France.
The camp of WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is taking no chances with mandatory opponent Juan Carlos Gomez. Their fight takes place on March 21 in Germany. According to reports coming out of Klitschko's camp, they are going to bring in Chris Byrd and Tony Thompson to spar with Vitali.
New Zealand heavyweight Shane Cameron (22-1, 19KOs) has secured a new opponent for his homecoming return on March 7 in Gisborne. The fight will be a tuneup before Cameron faces countryman David Tua on June 6. Cameron was scheduled to face Leo Nolan (27-1, 10KOs) of Michigan, but that fight will be dumped due to issues with Nolan being unable to receive a visa to enter New Zealand.
If people were salivating to see a unification bout between WBO/WBC champion Kelly Pavlik and IBF champ Arthur Abraham - they may have to salivate for a while longer. Pavlik's next ring appearance is probably not going to be against Abraham or WBA champion Felix Sturm. The most unlikely of opponents, undefeated John Duddy, may get the Pavlik title shot.
Former three-division champion Marco Antonio Barrera is starting the hard work in his training camp in Guadalajara, Mexico, where he prepares for his March 14 bout with Amire Khan in Manchester, England. Barrera suffered a bad cut during a tuneup with Freudis Rojas on January 31 in Mexico, but passed all of his medical exams when a doctor took a look at him in Florida. The medicals were sent over to England and the British Boxing Board gave the meds a green light.
Terms could not be reached for a bout between Fernando Montiel (38-2, 28KOs) and Eric Morel (40-2, 21KOs), who were slated to battle for the vacant WBO interim bantamweight title in the co-feature position of Top Rank's Latin Fury pay-per-view. Montiel will still appear on the card.