Compiled by Scott Shaffer
Telemundo: Jose Carito Lopez TKO11 Juan Keb-Baas: Jose Carito Lopez stopped Juan Keb-Baas in the eleventh round at the Miccosukee Resort in Miami, Florida. Keb-Baas was on his feet but both of his eyes were swollen and he was trailing badly on the cards to the Puerto Rican Lopez, rated #22 by Boxingtalk. Although they fought to a draw last year, the two men’s careers are heading in opposite directions. After losing to Fernando Montiel and Mauricio Pastrana in 2001, Lopez is 6-0-1 in his last seven bouts. Keb-Baas, a blown-up strawweight, is now 0-6-1 in his last seven, although he only fights the very best little men in the sport.
Telemundo: Oscar Leon TKO2 Raul Sandoval… Oscar Leon, loser of two straight split decisions, fought for the first time in nearly a year and defeated Tijuana, Mexico import Raul Sandoval by second-round TKO. Leon floored Sandoval, then swarmed him against the ropes and had Sandoval on the verge of going down again when the bout was halted. Leon improves to 26-4 while Sandoval’s record, like his hometown, goes just south of the border, 11-12. Leon, Boxingtalk’s #25 featherweight, lost split decisions in 2003 to Derrick Gainer and Chris John with WBA belts at stake.
Telefutura: Diego Morales W10 Phillip Payne… Fighting at 122 pounds, Diego Morales floored durable trialhorse Phillip Payne in round four en route to a unanimous ten-round decision. Official scores were 96-93, 97-92 and 99-90. The card, held in Fort Worth, Texas on Friday, featured a tribute to retiring great Paulie Ayala. The Morales, 32-2, held the WBO 115-pound belt in 1999 and earlier this year won a WBC eliminator at 118. Boxingtalk rates Morales #10 at bantamweight. Payne drops to 14-12-1 but has never been stopped.
BBC: Howard Eastman W10 Jerry Elliot... European middleweight champion Howard Eastman outpointed Jerry Elliot 99-91 in a ten-round non-title bout in Nottingham, England on Friday. Elliot was a late replacement for Jorge Sendra, but Elliot is no tomato can: Boxingtalk rates him as the #16 middleweight in the world. Eastman, rated #5 by Boxingtalk, floored Elliot in the ninth round to improve his record to 40-1 (only loss: majority decision to William Joppy). There is now talk of a bout between Eastman and American Jermaine Taylor to determine the WBC mandatory contender for Bernard Hopkins' indisputable world middleweight championship.
BBC: Carl Froch KO1 Damon Hague... Also on the Nottingham card, Carl Froch continued his march toward world title contention with a first-round knockout of Damon Hague, now 23-4-1. The win earned Froch the British super middleweight title as well as his fourteenth win in as many pro starts.