Chavez Jr. dominates Rubio, wins fans

Rafael's remarks: Yes, we know Chavez has not faced Sergio Martinez, the real champion of the division, even though it has been mandated. Yes, Chavez (promoter Top Rank, more precisely) is ducking him. That is obvious. Top Rank makes no apologies for it, and I do not expect it to. Why should it? Top Rank is protecting a valuable asset in Chavez. While many of us want to see the fight, Chavez business is robust without it, so Top Rank has no reason to make it. And don't expect any help from the woeful WBC, which will do anything to protect its favorite son.

Many boxing fans do not give a damn about seeing Chavez and Martinez. That is why Chavez drew 14,120 fans and a gate of more than $1 million to the Alamodome, a big-time arena that was nearly sold out for what it was scaled for, to see him fight Mexican countryman and longtime contender Rubio. Few fighters can sell seven figures in the United States. Chavez is one of them, Martinez fight or not. Chavez, 25 and the son of Mexico's greatest fighter, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., was the star of the show and can keep fighting whomever he wants as long as the fans turn out. He and his team are not concerned about Martinez, a terrific fighter who probably would torture Chavez if they met but is not remotely close to the level of Chavez's drawing power. Whether he fights Martinez or not, Chavez makes entertaining fights and has an emotional connection with his ardent supporters, who do not seem concerned that he had to lose eight pounds in the final two days as he struggled to make weight. They also do not seem to care that just two weeks before the fight Chavez was not exactly engaged in quality training one Saturday night when he was arrested in Los Angeles in the middle of the night and charged with drunken driving (with a hearing scheduled for March 16).

Despite the turmoil of the arrest and the weight problems, Chavez did make the weight. He then blew up to 181 pounds for the actual bout (10 more than Rubio) and proceeded to dominate in his second title defense. The size difference was a big problem for Rubio, 31, who said so after the fight. He saw his 10-fight winning streak come to an end. He had not lost since being stopped in the ninth round by then-champion Kelly Pavlik in 2009.

Chavez never came close to stopping Rubio, but they did engage in a rough, tough fight. It was not the prettiest fight, but there was a lot of heavy body punching and plenty of brutal inside fighting. Chavez clearly dominated the early rounds. Rubio did some fine work in the middle rounds when Chavez began to tire, but he found a second wind and took it to Rubio, who came into the fight with a banged-up hand, down the stretch, including in the tremendous 11th and 12th rounds.

Almost immediately after the fight, Top Rank began to talk about the next fight for Chavez, and it is not Martinez. Top Rank's Bob Arum was already talking to HBO about his desire to match Chavez with Andy Lee, who is promoted by Lou DiBella. That fight had been discussed previously, but Top Rank wound up going in another direction because it did not want to match Chavez with a southpaw. Those concerns seem to be gone. There is also the chance we could see Chavez face -- please, do not shoot the messenger -- former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito, who was last seen having his eye smashed up by junior middleweight titlist Miguel Cotto in December.

Rafael's remarks: One of boxing's pound-for-pound best, Donaire has stated his goal is to win titles from flyweight to junior lightweight. He is in the midst of doing so after claiming a title in a third division (fourth if you count his interim belt at junior bantamweight), as he made his junior featherweight debut and clearly outpointed former titlist Vazquez -- despite the inept card rendered by judge Ruben Garcia that had Vazquez ahead. Even Vazquez, 27, of Puerto Rico and the son of former three-division titleholder Wilfredo Vazquez Sr., did not quarrel with the fact that he lost fair and square.

Despite Donaire's dominance, the 29-year-old "Filipino Flash" did not have his best night. Donaire injured his left hand -- he said somewhere between the second and fourth rounds -- so badly that when his glove was cut off after the fight, his hand was soaked in blood. Even though the hand was hurt, he continued to use it. There was great action in the third round as they fired at each other during fierce exchanges. Donaire, the fight seemingly in hand, had his biggest moment in the ninth round when he scored a knockdown that came from pair of left hands, which were hurt even worse after the sequence of punches.

Vazquez, a sizeable underdog, did not just show up to be a game loser. He fought with everything he had and made Donaire work for the victory in a crowd-pleasing scrap. Vazquez was aiming to reclaim the belt he lost to Jorge Arce by 12th-round knockout in May on the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley undercard. After one win in his return, Vazquez got a shot at the belt because Arce relinquished it. But it was not to be, as Donaire busted him up, got the decision and set himself up for major business going forward. The health of his hand will depend on the exact schedule, but Top Rank and manager Cameron Dunkin hope he can fight four times this year: the win over Vazquez, a defense against Arce (who would come back up in weight to challenge for his old belt), a fight in the Philippines and perhaps a fight with fellow titlist Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan that has been discussed since last fall. Whatever he does, Donaire plans to remain at 122 pounds for the time being. There's a lot of action and money there before he continues pursuing his goal of titles in even bigger divisions.

Rafael's remarks: Martirosyan, 25, of Glendale, Calif., should be in a significant fight, be it a title bout or some kind of televised match against a quality opponent. For various reasons, those fights have not come off, whether it was Martirosyan rejecting an offer to go to Mexico to face Alfredo "Perro" Angulo (can't blame him for turning that down) or other deals not coming through.

Regardless, Martirosyan, a 2004 U.S. Olympian, is ready for something significant. But nobody can just snap their fingers and make it happen, so Top Rank kept him busy, although against an opponent with virtually no chance to win or even be competitive. Lowry, 41, of St. Paul, Minn., has heart and toughness but little else. It was an absolute mismatch but at least an entertaining one if you like seeing one guy get his butt kicked.

Martirosyan asserted himself almost immediately, hurting Lowry in the opening seconds of the fight and dropping him with a left hand to the gut. Lowry showed his determination by surviving, but he took a beating the rest of the round. His face was a bloody mess by the middle of the second round, and it was only a matter of time until it would be over. That time came at 2 minutes, 53 seconds of the third round when Martirosyan, who had been teeing off in the round, dropped Lowry brutally with a right hand. Referee Laurence Cole properly called it off without even counting. There was no point, as Lowry dropped to 2-9 in his past 11 fights. Martirosyan figures to get something of note in his next fight. Arum said he hoped to make a deal to match him with titleholder Cornelius "K9" Bundrage, although there is a chance Martirosyan could face the winner of the March 24 James Kirkland-Carlos Molina fight for the right to become titleholder Saul "Canelo" Alvarez's mandatory challenger.

Rafael's remarks: In October, two-time titlist Cunningham, 35, of Philadelphia, met Germany-based Cuban defector Hernandez, 27, in a defense in Germany, where both fight regularly because they are signed to German promoter Sauerland Event. Hernandez won a controversial sixth-round technical split decision after Hernandez was cut by an accidental head-butt. Although many believed Cunningham had won, despite being knocked down in the first round, the rematch was ordered by the IBF because it said the stoppage was incorrect based on the fact that Hernandez's cuts were not interfering with his ability to compete and neither cut was bleeding much when the fight was halted.

So they met again, and it was a good fight with Hernandez getting the deserved decision, even if the scores should have been slightly closer. The fight was highly competitive until Hernandez took command in the fourth round when he scored two knockdowns. He nailed Cunningham with a left hand to the chin, and the American went down hard. As he tried to get up, Cunningham fell over but eventually made it to his feet. He was quite wobbly, but referee Eddie Cotton made the right call to let the fight go on. Cunningham walked into another left hand and went down again, although he probably went down more from still being out of it from the first knockdown punch. Cunningham showed his heart and survived again. Somehow, Cunningham managed to get himself together and scratch his way back into the fight. They traded back and forth in an exciting bout in which they showed off their considerable skills. Amazingly, Cunningham was winning late rounds but just could not overcome the point deficit caused by the two knockdowns. Hernandez, who also won the vacant Ring magazine belt, now must make a mandatory defense against Troy Ross, who has been in the position for ages but was made to wait longer when the IBF ordered Hernandez-Cunningham II.

There were also two European title bouts on the card. Alexander Alexeev (23-2, 20 KOs), a native of Uzbekistan living in Germany, outpointed Germany-based Serbia native Enad Licina (21-4, 11 KOs) to win the vacant European cruiserweight title on scores of 118-112, 118-110 and 116-112. Eduard Gutknecht (23-1, 9 KOs), who is from Kazakhstan but living in Germany, scored a unanimous decision against Vyacheslav Uzelkov (25-2, 16 KOs) of Ukraine to retain the European light heavyweight title for the second time. Also on the card, cruiserweight contender Troy Ross (25-2, 16 KOs) of Canada ended a 16-month layoff to outpoint Lukasz Rusiewicz (10-12, 3 KOs) of Poland in an eight-rounder, 80-72, 80-72 and 79-73. Ross, a former winner of "The Contender" and a two-time Olympian, lost a title fight by fifth-round knockout to Cunningham in 2010 because of an eye injury and is due to face Hernandez.

Rafael's remarks: Rios, 22, of Santa Ana, Calif., is one of the prospects managed by Frank Espinoza and Golden Boy who is being brought along nicely. Rios continues to develop and looked good taking out McLaurin, 30, of Anaheim, Calif., in the main event of Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo." Rios was patient against the taller and longer McLaurin, so there was not a lot of action in the early going as Rios tried to figure him out. Rios steadily picked up the pace and took command in the third round. In the fourth round, Rios really opened up and hammered McLaurin with several unanswered punches. McLaurin was throwing just enough punches to keep the fight going, but he could only do that for so long. Rios was tagging him repeatedly with both hands to the head, eventually cornered him and was raining unanswered blows on him when referee Raul Caiz Sr. stepped in to stop it at 2 minutes, 31 second. Rios is getting to the point where a solid step up in competition is in order.

Rafael's remarks: Chilemba, 24, of South Africa, looked good taking Miranda apart as a substitute opponent in the "Friday Night Fights" main event. Miranda, 31, of Colombia, was originally scheduled to meet Yordanis Despaigne in a rematch. They had met in July, with Despaigne winning a controversial fifth-round disqualification after Miranda was tossed for questionable low blows. Miranda and Despaigne both took interim bouts on the Dec. 17 Andre Ward-Carl Froch undercard, and even though Despaigne lost, the rematch with Miranda was already signed and was supposed to be a go. But Despaigne pulled out for no legitimate reason. That was fine because Chilemba was a better fight for the fans on paper anyway. Chilemba had come to the attention of the "Friday Night Fights" audience in February 2011 when he handed Maxim Vlasov his first pro defeat in a 10-round decision and deserved to be back on the show. He got his chance against Miranda and made the most of it.

Miranda, a former middleweight and super middleweight title challenger whose best days are gone, started quickly but could not maintain the pace. He was seriously affected by an accidental head-butt in the third round that opened a bad gash over his left eye. It bled profusely for most of the rest of the fight. By the time the bout was over, Miranda and Chilemba were covered in his blood. Chilemba's light colored hair had turned pinkish red from the blood, which was also smeared all over his arms. Although Miranda never stopped trying, his punches were wide and did not have much steam on them, while Chilemba steadily picked him apart and worked nicely on the inside for the decision win. In one oddity, referee Robert Byrd deducted a point from each fighter on the same call in the fifth round when they traded illegal punches behind the head.

Miranda is now 2-3 in his past five and probably can hang around to serve as a decent name on a younger fighter's résumé while Chilemba is moving toward contender status.

Rafael's remarks: Miami resident Barthelemy, 26, was a top amateur in Cuba but defected and turned pro in 2009. He is also the younger brother of 2004 Olympic gold medalist Yan Barthelemy, who also defected. Williams, 21, of Houston, was a superb amateur and a 2008 U.S. Olympic alternate. This was a strong match between two talented fighters meeting at an early stage of their professional careers. That is unusual, but they were willing to take the chance. It worked out for Barthelemy, who rolled to a surprisingly easy decision win. He was aggressive and used his size advantage to impose himself on Williams, who was quicker but nowhere near the heavier hitter. This is an excellent victory for Barthelemy, while Williams' stock will take a hit.

Rafael's remarks: Abdusalamov, 30, of Russia but based in Oxnard, Calif. where he is part of the same training camp as middleweight champion Sergio Martinez, has fashioned a sterling record fighting nobodies, which he continued to do against Rodrigurez, 31, of Miami. Rodriguez weighed 188 pounds when he turned pro in February 2010, but he ballooned up to 243 to face Abdusalamov and looked in woeful shape. Although Rodriguez started fast and landed a few decent right hands in the first round, Abdusalamov, a southpaw who did not begin boxing until he was 22 after having been involved in kickboxing, brushed it off and went to work. The 2005 and 2006 Russian amateur champion let his hands go and was blasting Rodriguez in the second round. He landed a series of hard shots until finally dropping him with a clean left hand, and referee Russell Mora stopped it at 1 minute, 4 seconds. Abdusalamov looks like he has some skills and solid fundamentals. What he needs is better opponents, which should come slowly but surely.