Donaire, Viloria Victorious; Sonsona, Bernabe Unlucky

   Young star Bernabe Concepcion of Philippines lasted only less than 6 minutes to WBO featherweight champ Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico as he failed to claim his first world title.

   The Puerto Rican champion took control early as he bombarded Concepcion with a flurry of powerful punches that sent him down. After the knock down, "Juan-Ma" looks for the finishing touches as he aggressively attacked the Filipino with another set of punches. But with his back against the ropes and looking like to kiss the canvass again, Concepcion fired a left hook out of nowhere that sent the champion down.

   In the second round, the champion showed why he is still unbeaten as he took control of his younger opponent by sending him down twice and ended the fight at 2:30 as the referee had enough of what Concepcion have been receiving from Lopez. The champion improved to 29-0, 26KO while the challenger dropped to 28-4-1 with 14KO.

   In the co-main event, Filipino Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire (24-1, 16KO) showed his ring brilliancy by defeating Hernan "Tyson" Marquez (25-2, 18KO) of Mexico by 8th round TKO to retain his interim WBA's 115 lbs. belt.

   Donning a southpaw stance for the first 4 rounds, Donaire still managed to control the fight with his jabs and uppercuts. In the 5th, he switched back to his typical orthodox stance that sent down Marquez before the end of the round. He continued his control over Mexican on the 7th and by round 8, a powerful uppercut to the head sent Marquez down again that made the referee stop the fight.

"So clinical was Donaire’s demolition of Marquez that he should be, from hereon, labelled Doctor Donaire instead of the Filipino Flash." says Ed Tolentino, a boxing analyst on a article from PhilBoxing.com. "Skill-wise, Donaire once again showed that he is the only Filipino fighter right now who can carry the torch for Philippine boxing after Pacquiao archives the gloves. Donaire, however, needs to step up to the big leagues. An impending showdown with Fernando Montiel might just give his career back the momentum it lost after his spectacular knockout win over Vic Darchinyan in July 2007." he added.


   In the undercard,  another Filipino, Eden Sonsona lost to Jonathan Oquendo via 9th round KO in a match full of low-blows where Sonsona played as the receiver. Sonsona was leading on the scorecards despite being hit by numerous low-blows until he was dropped by Oquendo in the 9th.


   Back in his hometown, Filipino Brian Viloria defeated Mexican Omar Soto by split decison in a 10-round match at Ynares Sports Arena, Manila, Philippines.






(The Blogger Says: Today, I believed in two things. One, that Juan-Ma was really too good and too powerful for a young Bernabe. Just before their match, I already believe that only a miracle will take Concepcion to snag his opponent's belt just by looking to the quality of their previous opponents. It is not just Concepcion's time yet and big factor might be the disappearance of Freddie Roach from his camp. Two, I agree with Mr. Ed Tolentino's opinion that Nonito needs to step-up to the big leagues. Aside from the boxers he mentioned,  I would also love to see him fight the theatrical Jorge Arce or Eric Morel. For sure, we all want to see what's Nonito really got in him.)




Photos: www.fightnews.com

Lesnar Still Champ

   If the fight ended in the first round, challenger Shane Carwin could have ended as the champion. But it wasn't the way the fight ended on the second round as Brock Lesnar retains his heavyweight belt via arm-triangle on UFC 116 at Las Vegas, Nevada.

   Carwin proved his strength early on as he chased the champ when he knocked him down with a huge uppercut. As from the looks of by the end of the 1st round, Carwin has it going when he left Lesnar bloodied to his corner. But the 2nd round turned to be for Lesnar as he took the tired challenger to the mat and went for the submission at 2:19.

Dave Batista vs. Bobby Lashley?

   There's no contract yet for Filipino-Greek Dave Bautista (WWE's Batista) to be on Strikeforce but news around buzzing is Strikeforce CEO Scott Cooker is said to be very interested on bringing him in and matching him up on Bobby Lashley, also a former WWE champ. Cooker said that a good undercard and a CBS deal would make them high on ratings.

   Bautista said that he would like a few fights first before clashing with Lashley. He now training boxing, wretling and jiu-jitsu while Lashley is still recovering from a knee injury.

Deadman is "Wrestling's Most Absurd Storyline"

   According to UGO Entertainment's official website, UGO.com, WWE's "Phenom" The Undertaker character is it's most absurd storyline ever. Joining the likes such as "HBK tagging with God", "Hornswoogle as Vince's son", "Mae Young gives birth", the "Deadman" ranks no. 1 among them.

Here's what UGO.com has posted: "Make no mistake: The Undertaker is a tremendous talent. His longevity as a performer, his constantly evolving ring work, his masterful understanding of wrestling psychology and his instantly recognizable gimmick all ensure that he is a future Hall of Famer. However, that gimmick is absolutely ridiculous." Then added: "When The Deadman debuted, professional wrestling was a very different place, and The Undertaker fit in perfectly. However, as the rest of the landscape changed, toning down the more outrageous gimmick, The Undertaker retained every wacky bit of his, including his control over lightning, his ability to appear out of nowhere and even the loyal druids that attend him. And on top of that, try explaining to someone who doesn’t know anything about wrestling why the huge, creepy undead dude with magical powers is a good guy."

Chavez Jr. Still Unbeaten!

   Mexican Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. kept his record clean after he dominated John Duddy of Ireland via unanimous decision in a good action packed fight at Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

   The fight was close but Chavez Jr. proved to be the more accurate puncher towards the end of the fight that got him the advantage on the judge's scorecards. After the fight, promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank said that Miguel Cotto is a possible opponent for Chavez Jr.'s next fight.

   With the win, Chavez Jr. improved to 41-0-1, 30KO while Duddy dropped to 29-2, 18KO.

   In the undercard, another Mexican, Marco Antonio Barrera (66-7, 43KO), beat Adailton De Jesus (26-5, 21KO) in a 10-round unanimous decision at lightweight division.

Lesnar, Booker T Disses Batista About His MMA Plans

   Former WWE champs Booker T and Brock Lesnar, UFC's heavyweight champ, both criticized Dave Batista, also a former WWE champ, about his confirmation that he will be joining the likes of Lesnar and Bobby Lashley or entertainer-wrestlers who jumped to MMA.

   In a recent interview by TMZ, Batista confirmed that he will be joining MMA in a company called Strikeforce. But TMZ also learned that Batista haven't signed up yet with the company.

   TMZ also posted an interview with Booker T, who had a real backstage fight with Batista in 2006 saying he won't "last 5 minutes" with Bobby Lashley and he don't think Batista can match-up with the big boys of Strikeforce.

   While in an interview with MMAFighting.com, UFC champ Brock Lesnar asked about Batista, he responded "Get in line. Everybody and their dog wants to get into fighting. Next question, We're talking about a heavyweight championship fight, not some wannabe."

Omar Niño Romero Crushes Rodel Mayol

   Mexican Omar Niño Romero successfully won the WBC lightweight belt yesterday after he won a 12-round unanimous decision over Filipino Rodel Mayol in a bloody fight at Mexico.

   The fight favored for Mayol in the early rounds but Niño proved to be the stronger fighter as the fight goes on but had to be stopped for several times to check the cuts suffered by both fighter due to occasional head butts.

   These two fighters also met earlier this year that ended in a draw after three rounds due to Romero's low blow and hard punch to Mayol that almost knocked him out.

Batista Talks About His Reasons For Leaving and Doing MMA

   As noted before, Batista was at this week's Strikeforce MMA show and made it clear that he left WWE because he was unhappy with the direction of the company. Dave Meltzer asked Batista if he would do something like Chris Jericho and return in a year or two. Batista said he didn't want to be compared to Jericho and said he had no plans on returning but did not rule out a return one day.
   Batista joked that he was in Los Angeles looking for work and said he's open for offers, be it MMA or acting. Batista has had discussions about doing a reality TV show.

   Apparently Batista has been approached with an offer by a non-major MMA group. Word is that it's a big money offer and is for two fights, likely pay-per-view events and the first opponent would be a well-known former headliner. This is the same offer that Batista hinted around about when he was leaving WWE. Batista has been training regularly at the Affliction gym and has dropped considerable weight since leaving WWE. Most believe that a MMA career for Batista is highly unlikely, given his age and experience, among other things.

   Batista's contract with WWE has expired and he is a free agent. TNA did make an offer to Batista but with the large amount of money they have spent on bringing in other big names recently, they couldn't come close to matching what he had been earning in WWE.


Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Rampage Wants WWE!

   After a hosting stint last week at RAW along with his A-Team co-stars, former UFC champ Quinton "Rampage" Jackson expressed his desires to join WWE via his Tweeter account.

   He said "I was like a kid today,I have not been happy this past week,but meeting my child hood heros,and making new friends was all I needed I'm back," Quinton said. "I will tell y'all everything tomorrow,it's late here,I'm still on tour,I will let y'all know what I'm doing so y'all can keep u,btw I want n." He then added "Everybody was cool! They r a bunch of big kids like me,doing what they love. Big Show was so funny! He showed me the choke slam. I want n!!!".

Franklin KOs Liddell

   Are the days of Chuck "Iceman" Liddell finally over at the octagon? Well he probably showed that it is after he suffered a first round KO from former champ Rich Franklin in the main event for UFC 115 at Vancouver, Canada.

   Franklin was forced to use his right hand mostly as he broke his left while blocking a Liddell kick. And it was a blessing in disguise for Franklin as a right hand counter was the one that ended the fight and left Liddell out cold at the last five seconds of the opening round.

Cotto Defeats Foreman "Twice" In One Night

   Former welterweight king Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico bounced back from his welterweight defeat from Manny Pacquiao and grabbed the super welterweight crown from the handicapped Yuri Foreman of Israel in a interesting night of slugfest at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York.

   Cotto, though not favored to win because of  his size disadvantage, unleashed the most of the heavier bombs to Foreman. But being the more bigger fighter, Foreman showed the more agile and faster fighter by moving and skipping around the ring.

   The two fighters looked sharp in the first six rounds, until the seventh came and Foreman stumbled by slipping twice due to wet canvass. The slip cause him to have a limping effect that Cotto took advantage. But "The Fighting Rabbi" continued to exchange blows with the Puerto Rican until someone threw a towel from Yuri's corner. But the referee cleaned up the ring again as he wanted the fight to continue because according to the rules, the towel must be waived from the fighter's corner as it may come from an unauthorized person if thrown. But Foreman still wanted to fight, continued until Cotto dropped him in the 0:42 of the 9th round. The referee halted the fight as Yuri had enough.

UFC 114: Sugar Defeats Rampage

   The most awaited match up between two former light heavyweight champs have finally concluded and in the end, "Sugar" Rashad Evans got the upper hand over Quinton "Rampage" Jackson via unanimous decision at UFC 114 in MGM Grand Garden Arena at Las Vegas, Nevada.


   The two exchanged solid blows for most of the fight, mostly coming from Evans but Jackson known as a knockout artist had the biggest blow that sent down Evans in the early minutes of the 3rd. But Evans battled back in the final moments that sealed the victory.

 In the other bouts:

- Michael Bisping defeats Dan Miller by Unanimous Decision
- Mike Russow defeats Todd Duffee by Knockout in the 3rd round
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira defeats Jason Brilz by Split Decision
- John Hathaway defeats Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision

- Dong Hyun Kim defeats Amir Sadollah by Unanimous Decision
- Efrain Escudero defeats Dan Lauzon by Unanimous Decision
- Melvin Guillard defeats Waylon Lowe by Knockout in the 1st round
- Cyrille Diabate defeats Luiz Cane by Technical Knockout in the 1st round
- Aaron Riley defeats Joe Brammer by Unanimous Decision
- Ryan Jensen defeats Jesse Forbes by Submission (guillotine choke) in the 1st round

Klitschko Retains

      Arguably one of two best heavyweights today, the other is his brother, Ukraine's Vitali Klitschko successfully defended his WBC heavyweight championship via a 10th round KO of Albert Sosnowski of Poland at Germany.

   The Polish had a great start, connecting some big shots in the early rounds. Kiltschko took over and bloodied Sosnowski's nose in the 5th until a left hook was landed by the champion in the 6th round that sent him down to the canvass. But the challenger still managed to put up a powerful showing in the next two rounds. Finally, the champ took over again in the 9th with a series of combinations and landed a right that ended the fight at 2:30 mark of the 10th.

   Looking very sharp, Kiltschko improved to 42-2 with 38 KOs while Sosnowski dropped to 45-2-2 with 27 KOs.

Batista Quits Pro Wrestling; Will Do MMA Next?

   Half-Filipino, half-Greek 6-time world champion Batista decided to call it's quit at the WWE after over a decade of body-slamming in the squared circle, mainly because of the injuries he suffered last May 23 PPV, Over The Limit. But the news buzzing around is, after his last appearance on RAW last May 24th, "The Animal" will pursue a career in MMA! With a video of him seen training at Affliction, WWE alumni Jim Ross was asked about his comments about Batista joining the likes of Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar in the MMA, he stated in his blog :

   “I’ve heard some rumblings that when Batista gets healthy that he might try his hand in the MMA world. This rumor is FAR from official but I do know that Batista has been doing some MMA training and has a bona fide interest in the genre,” Ross wrote.

   He then added, “This would be a huge challenge for Batista if he indeed attempts to compete in MMA at a high level which, again, is not a done deal.”

   As for WWE's John Cena "As for Batista, I never know how permanent 'quitting' really is. The only two I've seen quit, and truly not come back yet are JBL and HBK."

   WWE has yet to announce it's official statement about Batista's actions but news around the company is he'll comeback before Wrestlemania 27. His profile on WWE's website is also transferred from RAW to Alumni section.

Marquez Demolishes Vasquez

  The fourth installment of one of the greatest rivalry in boxing ended in a blasting finish as former two-time champion Rafael Marquez left his rival former three time champ Israel Vasquez bloodied and unable to protect himself that forced the referee to halt the fight at 1:33 of the 3rd round at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

   Marquez (39-5, 35KO), took advantage of Vaquez's (44-5, 33KO) two deep cuts caused by an accidental clash of heads and was unable to have a clear vision due to the blood heavily flowing to his eyes. Vasquez was knocked down after a vicious assault by Marquez but got up. Marquez didn't let his momentum go as he assaulted Vasquez again but the referee was forced to stop the fight due to Vasquez's condition.

Broken Face Can't Keep Brandon Vera Down

Couple of months after receiving a vicious elbow to the face that sent Filipino Brandon Vera to the operating room, "The Truth" is back, this time as an endorser of a local beer. Starring along Vera are Filipino basketball stars Arwind Santos and Anthony Washington.

The Punisher Scores A "Win"

   In a bizarre finish, "The Punisher" Paul Williams scored a split technical decision over Kermit "The Killer" Cintron on Home Depot  Center at Carson, California. The 3-time world champion Williams (39-1, 27), who got 2 of the judges scorecards, got tangled with Cintron  (32-3-1, 28KO) and fell down while Cintron stumbled out off the ring and reportedly hit his head to one of the monitors, then fell again to the concrete floor which serves as a tennis court when it is not used as a boxing arena. Due to California rules, where the fight needs only to start the 4th round to reach a decision, the fight was awarded to Williams.

UFC 113 Results

   Brazilian Mauricio “Shogun” Rua captured the UFC light heavyweight title with a first round stoppage over formerly undefeated champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida at UFC 113 at the Bell Centre in Montreal Canada.

- Josh Koscheck defeats Paul Daley by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Jeremy Stephens defeats Sam Stout by Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
- Matt Mitrione defeats Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson by TKO (Punches) - Round 2 at 4:24
- Alan Belcher defeats Patrick Cote via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) - Round 2 at 3:25

Margarito's Successful Return

   A crowd of 17, 000 saw Antonio "Tijuana Tornado" Margarito demolish Roberto Garcia in a 10-round unanimous decision at La Plaza De Toros in Mexico.The former welterweight champ Margarito (38-6, 27KO) dropped Garcia (28-3, 21KO) in the 1st round but survived. Still, Margarito's combinations and more accurate punching prevailed over Garcia's aggressiveness.

Marquez - Diaz Rematch Announced

   The 2009 Fight of the Year will try to live up to it's reputation again this year as Juan Manuel "Dinamita" Marquez will square up against Juan Diaz in a rematch for the WBO and WBA lightweight titles at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas on July 31.
    “A lot of people are saying this is a must-win fight for me,” said Diaz. “But I don’t see it that way. I see it as redemption. This fight has been in the back of my head and I’m going to pick up where I left off – the ninth round.”

   “There are two reasons to fight Juan Diaz again,” said Marquez. “Number one: He’s a great fighter deserves a rematch. No. 2: People want to see this kind of fight. Last year it was Fight of the Year. Maybe, now in 2010, it will be it again.”