Rigondeaux wins his first title

Rafael's remarks: Heavyweight contender Eddie Chambers and former titlist Sergei Liakhovich were supposed to hook up in a 10-rounder in the first main event of NBC Sports Network's new "Fight Night" series is it putting on with promoter Main Events. However, Chambers withdrew eight days before the bout with fractured ribs he had suffered a week earlier but did not tell anyone. That left Main Events in a tough spot. It tried to find a suitable replacement for Liakhovich on short notice but that was an impossible task. So to save the show, it turned to two heavyweights who are totally unknown, but were unbeaten and willing to fight. Handed the grand stage of national television, Jennings and Byarm knew this was a chance to make a name for themselves. What they did was turn in a solid heavyweight scrap that made the decision to go with unknowns look like a good one.

Jennings, 27, of Philadelphia, and Byarm, 29, a Philly native living in Washington, had wanted to fight each other anyway in a turf battle, and it was Jennings who came out on top in a nice fight to win the Pennsylvania state title. It was a competitive match, which is exactly what Main Events and promotional partner Russell Peltz wanted for the debut show. But Jennings was a bit more skilled as he landed some solid shots and countered very nicely to maintain general control against Byarm, a southpaw who happens to the son of Lionel Byarm -- the man who lost a six-round decision to Evander Holyfield in Holyfield's professional debut in 1984, on a card that was also promoted by Main Events.

Rafael's remarks: Rosado, 26, continued his nice recent run, winning his fifth bout in a row and doing it in front of his hometown fans in Philly. And he'll be a nice footnote as Rosado also won the first bout on the kickoff edition of NBC Sports Net's new "Fight Night" series. Rosado was too big, too strong, too quick and, frankly, looked in a lot better shape than Mexico's Soto-Karass, 29, who dropped to 0-4 with a no contest in his last five bouts and was stopped for the first time in his career. Soto-Karass' previous two losses came against another Philadelphia fighter, welterweight contender Mike Jones; now Soto-Karass was moving up in weight and did not look as if he belonged. Rosado pressured Soto-Karass and nailed him repeatedly with uppercuts and right hands and worked his body. Rosado opened a bloody cut over Soto-Karass' left eye in the third round. Rosado teed off during a dominant fourth round and referee Steve Smoger looked to be very close to stepping in. According to CompuBox statistics, Rosado landed 59 of 102 power shots (58 percent) in the round. That is an absurdly high percentage. In the fifth round, Rosado continued the punishing attack and was teeing off against Soto-Karass, who was not throwing anything back, when Smoger stepped in for a perfectly timed stoppage at 2 minutes, 6 seconds. It was quite an impressive performance for Rosado, who is at the top of his game right now and might be able to parlay this win into something a bit more notable.

Rafael's remarks: Former junior featherweight titlist Ponce De Leon had a rough 2011, losing both his fights on HBO and in the United States. First, he lost a debatable decision to Adrien Broner at junior lightweight, then a lopsided eighth-round technical decision to Yuriorkis Gamboa at featherweight. But Ponce De Leon, 31, a southpaw from Mexico, returned home, took a step down in competition and took out Estrella, his 24-year-old countryman, for a nice knockout win. But it was not without some struggles: Estrella landed a clean right hand and dropped Ponce De Leon to his backside late in the second round. Ponce De Leon did not appear hurt and began to turn up the heat on Estrella. In the sixth round, Ponce De Leon was hammering Estrella with right-left combinations until Estrella finally crumpled to the canvas near the ropes. He was on all fours as referee Tom Taylor counted him out at 1 minute, 31 seconds. Good rebound victory for Ponce De Leon, who is still a dangerous puncher, despite his limitations against top opponents.

Also on the card, bantamweight Leo Santa Cruz (19-0-1, 11 KOs), 23, a Mexico native living in Southern California and one of Golden Boy's top prospects, scored a fourth-round knockout of Mexico's Alejandro Hernandez (24-9-2, 13 KOs), 25, who lost a decision to Omar Narvaez in a 2008 flyweight title challenge.

Rafael's remarks: The 6-foot-8, 246-pound Price, 28, won a 2008 Olympic bronze medal for England and is one of the top heavyweight prospects in boxing. Since turning pro in early 2009, however, he has moved rather slowly. So he needed to make a statement against McDermott, 31, also of England, who is experienced and probably Price's most notable opponent so far. Although McDermott lost for the fifth time in his last six fights, he had lost to worthy opponents. He lost two apiece to Danny Williams (a former title challenger who also knocked out Mike Tyson) and Tyson Fury, one of England's rising heavyweight contenders. In three of those four losses, McDermott went the distance. In his second fight with Fury in June 2010, he was knocked out in the ninth round. Price, however, made that statement by destroying McDermott (6-3, 271 pounds) in 73 seconds. Price dropped him three times for the rousing victory, which makes mandatory for Fury's British championship. That's a huge fight in England, but Fury probably won't take the challenge and would forfeit the belt. Price looked as good as he ever has, blowing McDermott away. He dropped him with a combination against the ropes 25 seconds into the fight. McDermott did not seem too hurt but he was a few moments later, when Price landed his calling-card right hand and dropped him again. He was shaky and made it to his feet, but Price ended it with the next punch, another right hand that dropped him for the count. Very nice win for Price, whose size, power and amateur credentials make him a big man to keep an eye on.

Rafael's remarks: Vazquez, 25, returned to his hometown to make the third defense of the vacant belt he claimed when he easily outpointed Ji-Hoon Kim in August 2010. Making his mandatory defense against Panama's Diaz, 28, Vazquez gave his fans a lopsided exhibition. Vazquez, a southpaw, totally outboxed Diaz -- who had been knocked out in one round by Kim in a May 2010 title eliminator -- as he rolled to the shutout decision. Diaz won three in a row after that defeat to become Vazquez's mandatory.

Rafael's remarks: Ramos, 24, of Pico Rivera, Calif., claimed a world title in July when he scored a huge knockout of Japan's Akifumi Shimoda in the seventh round to rally from a hopeless-looking deficit on all three scorecards. He had been easily outboxed, but never gave up and found the power. Rigondeaux, 31, was a whole different kettle of fish; Ramos found that out in his first defense, when they met in a long-delayed mandatory bout on a special edition of Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation." Rigondeaux, who lives in Miami, was a two-time Cuban Olympic gold medalist and is widely considered one of the greatest amateur boxers ever. He was the clear favorite and did a number on Ramos to join a select group of fighters to win a major world title inside 10 pro fights.

Rigondeaux can do basically whatever he wants, whenever he wants inside the ring. He is so poised, fast and effective in every area of boxing that it is scary. He doesn't always make for exciting fights, one of the knocks on him, because he just does not need to get into a battle. It's sort of the same thing with Floyd Mayweather. Rigondeaux, however, did create some excitement in the first round when he dropped Ramos with a left hand without about 40 seconds left. Ramos was clearly hurt and Rigondeaux nailed him with several additional left hands before the round ended.

While Rigondeaux was in total control, Ramos went into a shell and would not throw many punches. Rigondeaux was not throwing a lot of leather either, but it was a ton compared to Ramos' output. The restless crowd let them know they weren't pleased and began booing. In the sixth round, however, Rigondeaux put Ramos and the viewers out of their misery when he landed five consecutive left hands to force Ramos into a corner. Then a digging left to the body knocked him to the canvas, where referee Joe Cortez counted him out at 1 minute, 29 seconds. It was a horrible performance from Ramos, who was never in the fight for a minute. For Rigondeaux, it was the culmination of what many believed would happen when he finally escaped Cuba and arrived on U.S. shores -- that he would win a world title. The question now is who will promoter Top Rank match him with because, love his style or hate it, Rigondeaux is going to be dangerous against anyone from bantamweight to featherweight. Top Rank, of course, could try to match him with the winner of the Feb. 4 vacant junior featherweight title bout between Nonito Donaire and Wilfredo Vazquez, among other notable fighters it promotes in those weight classes.

Rafael's remarks: This was an unexpected mini-classic slugfest and the fight of night on Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" tripleheader. They were not even originally meant to be on television, but when middleweight prospect Brandon Gonzalez suffered a hamstring injury and dropped off the card, Diaz, 19, of Palmdale, Calif., and Robb, 22, of Sacramento, Calif., were matched and elevated to television. Turned out to be a great save by matchmaker Tom Brown as they went at it hard and fast in a very exciting shootout. Diaz got knocked down in the second round with a right hand that he never saw and Robb hit the deck twice in the third round as they hammered away at each other. It was all action round after round. There were several momentum swings until the seventh round, when Diaz hurt Robb and was landing a lot of punches, and referee Vic Drakulich stepped in to call it off at 2 minutes, 20 seconds. Diaz was ahead on all three scorecards at the time of the stoppage as the young prospects saw the seventh round for the first time in their careers.

Rafael's remarks: Villanueva, 25, of Burbank, Calif., turned in a strong performance when he got the opportunity for some national television exposure on Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" in the opening bout of a tripleheader. Coming off a third-round technical draw in June, Villanueva displayed a crowd-pleasing style as he threw a lot of punches against Ruiz, 22, of Fresno, Calif., who dropped his second fight in a row. Villanueva was clearly the heavier puncher, which he showed in the second round when he dropped Ruiz. Villanueva continued to pound him in the third round, but Ruiz is tough. He was determined to hang in there as long as he could, so it's a credit to Villanueva that he could maintain his poise and not get too excited about gunning for a stoppage. He kept chopping the tree down and finally, at 1 minute, 4 seconds of the seventh round, referee Russell Mora stepped in to stop Villanueva's continued assault.