Title Fight Results (Mar. 14)

Took me awhile to get to my blog since the last 2 fights this weekend ended. It's been a pleasantly eventful weekend and I have to first and foremost, get my priorities straight.

Anyway, on to the fights. The Manchester card was well worth it. The main cards didn't disappoint me although the Barrera-Khan could've been better if the accidental head clash did not happen. Nevertheless, like I said, it was a great card. The only fight though that matters to my blog is when hometown (now ex) titleholder, Nicky Cook, was devastatingly dethroned by Puerto Rico's Roman Martinez via TKO in the 4th. Martinez is the new WBO Junior Lightweight champ. Cook seem to be hurting Martinez with body shots and could be winning 2 of the first 3 rounds, but Martinez finally delivered as promised with a crunching upppercut to take Cook down. Cook barely beat the count then made the mistake of trading blows instead of clinching. The end came with a jaw breaking left hook. Referee surprisingly but correctly stopped the fight even though Cook was up before the 10-count. I've always thought that Cook was just a lucky titleholder. He caught a break by challenging and winning against an equally undeserving title holder in Alex Arthur last September. As I predicted, Martinez will be too much for Cook's abilities. It will be interesting to see a unification fight against any of the other beltholders - Humberto Soto, Cassius Baloyi or Jorge Linares. So the UK drops to 10th with 6 others and Puerto Rico is now in solo 3rd. ESPN; Boxing Scene; Fight News

In Germany, Armenia-born German Arthur Abraham successfully retained, as expected, his IBF Middleweight title against American Lajuan Simon via unanimous decision. I did not see the fight but based on reports, Simon seem to have been a worthy opponent and I might've underestimated him. Good to know that a virtually unknown east coast guy represented himself well in a title fight where he's expected to loss by knockout. If Top Rank's not really interested in matching Kelly Pavlik against Abraham for a 4-belt unification fight, then Abraham will very likely move up to the 168-lb. division. ESPN; Boxing Scene; Fight News

Prediction Results:
I knew Martinez is going to win by KO but man did I overestimate Cook's skills.
While an Abraham win is practically guaranteed, contrary to Cook, I underestimated Simon.

My running score is now up to 11-0 and 1 draw. Modesty aside, I'm rockin' and rollin baby!
So, here's the latest tally with changes to Puerto Rico, UK and the rankings. By the way, there's a possibility that UK's not in the list in roughly one and a half months. Carl Froch's defending against Jermain Taylor here in Connecticut and we all know about the biggest fight of the year (so far) on May 2.

As of Mar. 15, 2009

Rank	Country	No. of Titles	Title Holders
1st	USA	10	Andre Berto - WBC147 Timothy Bradley - WBC140 Chad Dawson - IBF175 Vernon Forrest - WBC154 Kendall Holt - WBO140 Steven Luevano - WBO126 Shane Mosley - WBA147 Kelly Pavlik - WBC160;WBO160;Ring160
2nd	Mexico	9	Cristobal Cruz - IBF126 Raul Garcia - IBF105 Juan Manuel Marquez - Ring135;WBA135;WBO135 Ulises Solis - IBF108 Edgar Sosa - WBC108 Humberto Soto - WBC130 Israel Vazquez - Ring122
3rd	Puerto Rico	6	Ivan Calderon - WBO108;Ring108 Miguel Cotto - WBO147 Juan Manuel Lopez - WBO122 Roman Martinez - WBO130 Daniel Santos - WBA154
4th	Ukraine	5	Sergiy Dzinziruk - WBO154 Vitali Klitschko - WBC200+ Wladimir Klitschko - IBF200+;WBO200+ Andreas Kotelnik - WBA140
5th (3 are tied)	Armenia	4	Arthur Abraham - IBF160 Vic Darchinyan - WBA115;WBC115;IBF115
5th (3 are tied)	Japan	4	Takahiro Aoh - WBC126 Hozumi Hasegawa - WBC118 Daisuke Naito - WBC112 Toshiaki Nishioka - WBC122
5th (3 are tied)	Panama	4	Celestino Caballero - WBA122;IBF122 Guillermo Jones - WBA200 Anselmo Moreno - WBA118
8th (2 are tied)	Argentina	3	Hugo Hernan Garay - WBA175 Omar Andres Narvaez - WBO112 Victor Emilio Ramirez - WBO200
8th (2 are tied)	Philippines	3	Nonito Donaire - IBF112 Donnie Nietes - WBO105 Gerry Peñalosa - WBO118
10th (6 are tied)	Ghana	2	Joseph Agbeko - IBF118 Joshua Clottey - IBF147
10th (6 are tied)	Hungary	2	Karoly Balzsay - WBO168 Zsolt Erdei - WBO175
10th (6 are tied)	Poland	2	Tomasz Adamek - IBF200;Ring200
10th (6 are tied)	Romania	2	Lucian Bute - IBF168 Adrian Diaconu - WBC175
10th (6 are tied)	Thailand	2	Denkaosan Kaovichit - WBA112 Oleydong Sithsamerchai - WBC105
10th (6 are tied)	UK	2	Carl Froch - WBC168 Ricky Hatton - Ring140
16th (10 are tied)	Colombia	1	Juan Urango - IBF140
16th (10 are tied)	Denmark	1	Mikkel Kessler - WBA168
16th (10 are tied)	Germany	1	Felix Sturm - WBA160
16th (10 are tied)	Indonesia	1	Chris John - WBA126
16th (10 are tied)	Italy	1	Giacobbe Fragomeni - WBC200
16th (10 are tied)	Nicaragua	1	Roman Gonzalez - WBA105
16th (10 are tied)	Russia	1	Nikolay Valuev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	South Africa	1	Cassius Baloyi - IBF130
16th (10 are tied)	Uzbekistan	1	Ruslan Chagaev - WBA200+(co)
16th (10 are tied)	Venezuela	1	Jorge Linares - WBA130