Prescott peaking again with win

Rafael's remarks: Prescott, 29, a Miami-based Colombian, likely will always be best known for his shocking first-round knockout of Amir Khan in a 2008 lightweight fight. Prescott has campaigned for a Khan rematch since, but Khan, who went on to win multiple junior welterweight titles (and get knocked out again, by Danny Garcia in July) has never taken him up on the offer. Prescott has had a roller-coaster career since that fight, going 6-4 over the stretch, including this hard-fought -- albeit somewhat one-sided -- battle against Figueroa that headlined Telefutura's "Solo Boxeo Tecate."

For Prescott, it was a way to continue his rebound from back-to-back losses. In September 2011, Prescott lost a highly debatable decision to Ireland's Paul McCloskey in a junior welterweight title eliminator in Belfast. In November, Prescott was on his way to an upset of Mike Alvarado on the Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view undercard before a badly cut Alvarado rallied for a dramatic 10th-round TKO victory. Prescott returned to Colombia for a low-level victory against a sub-.500 opponent in January before re-emerging in the United States against Figueroa, hoping to make another run.

Prescott, who looked much bigger than Figueroa, opened a significant lead by scoring a pair of knockdowns in the first round, the first on a combination and the second on an overhand right hand. Figueroa's biggest moment came in the fifth round when he landed a wild right hand that knocked Prescott off balance and down for a knockdown with about two minutes left in the round. Prescott wasn't happy with referee Frank Santore Jr.'s call, but he was not hurt. Looking at the replays, Santore made the correct call. Prescott continued to outpunch Figueroa down the stretch for the clear decision in an entertaining fight. Figueroa, 34, a native of Puerto Rico living in the Bronx, N.Y., lost his second fight in a row (after not fighting at all in 2010 or 2011) and dropped to 0-3-1 in his past four bouts.

Rafael's remarks: Barthelemy, 27, a native of Cuba living in Miami, began his pro career in the shadow of older brother Yan Barthelemy, a 2004 Cuban Olympic gold medalist. But as Yan's pro career faded quickly, Rances is on a big-time upswing as a quality prospect in the 140-pound division. He doesn't have the Olympic pedigree of his brother, but Rances opened a lot of eyes in February when he took a unanimous eight-round decision against fellow prospect and standout American amateur Hylon Williams Jr. in a minor upset. Barthelemy rolled to an eight-round decision win against Robert Osiobe in May and now has another even more lopsided decision win in the bank after an easy night against Rodriguez.

After fighting in six consecutive bouts away from his adopted hometown of Miami, Barthelemy returned to dominate. He set the tone in the first round when he dropped Rodriguez with a left to the body followed by a left upstairs as Rodriguez was going down. The body shot, which is what caused the knockdown, seemed a little low, but referee Sam Burgos didn't hesitate to call a knockdown immediately. Barthelemy was never in any trouble as he used solid left hooks to beat back Rodriguez throughout the entire one-sided fight.

Rodriguez, 24, of Mexico, was game and took a lot of shots on his way to a second consecutive defeat and sixth loss in his past eight bouts.

Rafael's remarks: Salgado, 27, of Mexico, won a vacant title by outpointing Argenis Mendez in September 2011 and was making his third defense on home turf against Barros, 28, of Argentina, a former featherweight titleholder. Barros was two fights removed from losing his 126-pound belt to Celestino Caballero in October in a rematch of Barros' controversial victory in their first fight eight months earlier.

Barros turned in a spirited effort against Salgado on Saturday, although he also committed a number of fouls, including blows behind the head and head-butts, not all of which appeared to be accidental. They kept referee Tony Weeks on his toes.

One of the head-butts opened a cut over Salgado's left eye early on, but it never became a factor because his corner did a tremendous job round after round to keep it closed. Despite the sometimes dirty nature of the fight, this was very much a crowd-pleasing bout. There was lots of spirited, give-and-take action and a fast pace in general. Salgado was more aggressive and often found a home for his right hand as Barros spent too much time on the defensive and backing up. Several times, Salgado was able to back Barros into the ropes and land point-scoring flurries. Although there was good action, it was clear that Salgado was in control. Barros never seemed in real danger of going down, but he also didn't seem to have a chance to win over the final few rounds as Salgado continued to march forward and plant right hands and body shots.

Salgado is safely through the fight (although the cut could take some time to heal), which means that he is a strong possibility to be the fall opponent for former unified featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa. Gamboa recently settled his promotional dispute with Top Rank out of court and signed with the newly formed TMT Promotions, which is headed by rapper 50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Even before the fight with Barros, TMT was talking to Salgado about facing Gamboa, but Salgado elected to go through with the Barros fight first. Coincidentally, Barros' first defeat came to Gamboa in a 2010 featherweight title bout.

Rafael's remarks: Look who's back. Again. Every so often, Spadafora, of Pittsburgh, reappears and talks about a comeback in which he will be more active. From 1999 until 2003, Spadafora, who turns 37 on Sept. 5, held a lightweight belt before giving it up because he could no longer make weight following a bloody draw in a title unification bout with Leonard Dorin. Doesn't that seem like a lifetime ago? Ever since, Spadafora has fought sporadically. There has been an ongoing drinking problem, rehab and a jail term for the 2004 non-fatal shooting of his then-girlfriend. Spadafora has, to say the least, had his problems.

How frustrated was Toledo by his inability to land much of anything against his opponent? At one point, he tried to kick Spadafora. Considering the layoff and all of the personal issues, Spadafora, a southpaw, was sharp and showed a solid jab. He was also quick, at least compared to the shopworn Toledo. Spadafora will beat guys like him all day long. Maybe someday during this never-ending comeback he will keep himself together long enough to get on a roll and eventually face a legitimate opponent.

Rafael's remarks: Molina, 29, of Chicago, is one of those guys whom few are interested in fighting because he doesn't have a big name or generate a lot of money but he's a dangerous pain in the butt to fight. He earned his way into the 154-pound top 10 with a series of strong performances starting in early 2011 -- when he returned after a nearly two-year layoff due to a promotional battle with Don King. Free of King and hooked up with promoter Leon Margules, Molina has thrived. He had a disputed draw with top contender Erislandy Lara in his return, an excellent knockout of Allen Conyers, a one-sided drubbing of former titlist Kermit Cintron and then a gut-wrenching, 10th-round disqualification loss to James Kirkland in March.

Unable to secure any meaningful fight since, Molina elected to stay active against Frias, 35, of Miami. The fight was originally supposed to be the co-feature to the season finale of ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" but wound up being bumped up to main event status when the original main event of Adonis Stevenson-Donovan George was scrapped when Stevenson suffered a hand injury and had to be replaced on short notice.

Frias, a southpaw trained by former middleweight titlist John David Jackson, scored a solid 11th-round knockout win against Henry Crawford in his most recent fight, but that was 11 months ago and at welterweight. He proved to be no match for a better all-around fighter in Molina, who pitched a clean shutout. Molina was better in every facet of the fight. He jabbed Frias well, worked the body and went upstairs. It was all Molina, all the time. He showed his full arsenal and stayed sharp, awaiting the day he gets a title shot -- one that he richly deserves.

Rafael's remarks: George, 27, of Chicago, was supposed to face Quebec's big-punching southpaw Adonis Stevenson in a title elimination bout at Montreal's Bell Centre on "FNF," with the winner due to get a mandatory title shot against England's Carl Froch next year. But Stevenson suffered a left hand injury in training about 10 days before the bout, forcing it to be postponed, likely until October. With George having put in a full training camp and wanting to stay sharp, his handlers found a new opponent -- and a new site, the Buffalo Run Casino -- for him to face the right-handed Miranda, although the bout was demoted to the "FNF" co-feature slot. No matter. George, who had to be reeling from the last-minute change in the stakes and purse for the fight, stayed focused and took care of business in fairly dominant fashion in an entertaining bout against Miranda. The win preserved George's title eliminator later in the year and was a good way for him to rebound from a decision loss to top prospect Edwin Rodriguez on March 17.

George started a tad slowly, but he picked up steam as the fight went along. He and Miranda, who was coming off a 14-month layoff and took the fight on five days' notice, traded some solid shots throughout the fight. Miranda was looking for right hands to hurt George with, but it was George who buzzed him twice with his own right hands late in the fourth round. George hurt Miranda again with right hands late in the fifth round as Miranda began to run out of gas. In the sixth round, Miranda took the brunt of even more solid right hands from George. Miranda's legs were awfully shaky as George continued to land the right hand with abandon. Miranda tried to throw his best right hand in return but came up short on landing it solidly as the round wore down. When the sixth round was over, Miranda had had enough and his corner told referee Gary Ritter that their man was done.

Miranda, 30, a native of Colombia based in Miami, Fla., gave it a game effort but was outgunned by the stronger George, who did his usual postfight backflip in the ring to celebrate the victory. Miranda dropped to 3-6 in his past nine fights and has been stopped in five of his past seven. For George, it's on to the title eliminator with Stevenson in the fall.