ESPN Boxing

Rafael's remark: Maybe you're one of those folks who doesn't think much of Chavez's ability or of his prospects to win a world title or even develop into a serious contender. And maybe you are somebody frustrated by seeing Chavez spoon-fed opponents you've never heard of, especially when the fight is the main event of a $40 Top Rank pay-per-view card. Those are fair criticisms, but one thing is for sure: at least Chavez is being matched in a way in which he doesn't blow out his opponents and the fights are usually high entertainment. With his iconic father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., at ringside, Chavez claimed the tight victory in a bloody battle that was competitive and exciting from the outset. Chavez, 23, thrilled the crowd of approximately 22,000 at the main bull ring in Tijuana as he and Cuello, 24, of Argentina, slugged it out at close quarters all night in the main event of the "Latin Fury: Tijuana Thunder" card.

Cuello's face oozed blood from the fourth round on because of a badly bleeding nose and Chavez suffered the first cut of his career over his right eye in the sixth round. By the time the bout was over, both men were covered in each other's blood. Chavez, who looked like he was a full division bigger than the shorter Cuello, pressured Cuello early but resorted to backing up late in the one of the toughest fights of his career. It was surely a good learning experience for Chavez.

A lot of the drama, however, was sapped from the fight because of the WBC's horrible open scoring system. Because one of the WBC's minor belts was at stake, the scores were announced after the fourth and eighth rounds, so everyone knew Chavez was ahead. After the eighth-round scores of 79-73, 78-74 and 77-75 were announced, you knew Cuello, fighting outside of Argentina for only the second time (he also fought once in Spain), was going to lose unless he did something dramatic.

Top Rank's Bob Arum intends for Chavez to have a summer fight against an opponent similar to Cuello but then says he wants to step him up a bit. He mentioned possible bouts with John Duddy (a fantastic action fight that is pretty evenly matched and would draw a great crowd), Oscar De La Hoya (the only interesting fight out there for De La Hoya, should he elect to continue fighting, because of his history with Chavez Sr.), and Manny Pacquiao (a disingenuous suggestion and an absolute joke but probably made by Arum just to get people talking).

Rafael's remark: There's an old adage in boxing about how fighters automatically become better once they have a title because of the confidence that goes along with it. Soto could be a classic example. As good as he was before he had a belt strapped around his waist, he may be that much more dangerous with one. After years as one of the top featherweights and junior lightweights, Soto finally secured a world title, claiming a vacant belt by dominating Francisco Lorenzo in the rematch of Soto's ridiculous and controversial disqualification loss in June 2008. Making his first defense, Soto, 28, of Mexico, looked very, very good as he pulverized Davis in a stunningly one-sided beatdown. It was not a surprise that Soto won the fight. It was, however, surprising to see him simply overwhelm a solid pro such as Davis, 36, who hadn't been stopped since his fifth professional fight and had gone the distance with Steven Luevano in a featherweight title bout and Joan Guzman in a junior lightweight title bout. Soto dropped Davis with a left hook and cut him in the first round. He smacked Davis around the ring throughout the bout and then put him down again with a massive overhand right in the fourth round. Another right hand dropped Davis again in the fourth. Davis showed a lot of heart to survive, but could not deal with Soto's pressure. During Soto's follow-up attack, he staggered Davis again and referee Roberto Ramirez Jr. smartly called it off before Davis wound up twitching on the canvas. It was a superb performance from Soto, who would love to tangle with some of the big names even if it means going to lightweight.

Rafael's remark: The first time Montiel made an attempt to win a bantamweight title, things didn't go well, as he lost a split decision to Jhonny Gonzalez in a dreadful HBO fight in May 2006. After that fight, Mexico's Montiel retreated to junior bantamweight and continued defending his title in that division. But he is now 30, and making 115 pounds has taken its toll, so Montiel moved up in weight again and took a shot at an interim belt at 118 pounds against Argentina's obscure Silva, 25. Montiel's interim tag figures to be removed in a few weeks after reigning titleholder Gerry Penalosa makes the move to junior featherweight to challenge Juan Manuel Lopez for a 122-pound title.

Silva, who was facing his first name opponent, was never in the fight as Montiel toyed with him and beat him up. He dropped Silva with a right hand at the end of the second round and continued doing damage in the third with two more knockdowns on left hands. The final knockdown, on a beautiful counter left, ended the fight as referee Raul Caiz Sr. didn't bother to count. Montiel, who won his first world title at flyweight, said afterward that he was very comfortable at the new weight, which could mean trouble for the rest of the bantamweight field.

Rafael's remark: In an excellent action fight, Diaz, 32, scored the best win of his four-fight comeback that began last summer after a three-year retirement. The two-time welterweight title challenger (who lost to a prime Shane Mosley in 2000 and to Antonio Margarito in 2003) eked out the tight decision in a fight that could have been fought in a telephone booth. If you like defense, this was definitely not a fight for you as Diaz and Mexico's Castro, 25, fought at close range all night. Castro, who replaced the injured Jose Luis Castillo as Diaz's opponent on short notice, lost a point for repeated low blows.

Rafael's remark: The original intent of Showtime's "ShoBox: The New Generation" was to match prospects in tough fights. This blatant mismatch main event was about as far away from that mission statement as you can get. Findley, 24, never had a chance, not for a second, on paper or in reality. Findley is a natural middleweight who is 8 inches shorter than Dirrell, 26, a decorated amateur and 2004 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist. The one time Findley fought a good opponent was in 2006, when 2004 U.S. Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward took a six-round decision from him in a middleweight bout in Ward's 10th pro fight. So it should have been absolutely no surprise that Dirrell hammered Findley at will until his corner called it a day at the end of the sixth round. There wasn't a moment of competitiveness in the fight. Why on earth would Showtime give Dirrell, now regarded as a contender in the lower part of the top 10 of the 168-pound division, a pure showcase fight against an opponent without a snowball's chance in hell to even make the fight interesting? This was an utter waste of time. Dirrell is ranked No. 1 in one of the alphabet organizations and says he is ready for a title fight. Hopefully, he'll get one -- if for no other reason than to prevent Showtime from putting on this kind of dreck in the future.

Rafael's remark: Thomas Hearns, of course, was a great fighter, one of the best of his era who won a ton of titles and was in many big fights. The one knock on him? He had a poor chin. It seems as though the apple doesn't fall far from the tree as Ronald Hearns, Tommy's 30-year-old son who didn't start boxing until his early 20s, had his chin exposed by Yorgey, who is not known at all for power. Coming off a seven-month layoff, Yorgey, 31, scored three knockdowns in the exciting fight, finally putting Hearns on the canvas for good at 2:59 of the ninth. Hearns, who scored a knockdown of his own in the fourth, was also down in the fourth round and again in the fifth round, and it seemed like only a matter of time until Yorgey, who was ahead on two of the three scorecards at the time of the knockout, finished him. Indeed, Yorgey did finish Hearns, who goes from prospect to serious suspect after such a disastrous outing.

Rafael's remark: With Fernando Montiel vacating a title and making the successful move to bantamweight, Puerto Rico's Lopez and Thailand's Posuwan, 40, went at it for the vacant title and Lopez finally got his belt. He claimed it on his 37th birthday and, remarkably, in his fifth title shot. Montiel had already lost four shots at the WBO's version of the flyweight belt to four different fighters in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2001, all by decision, before outpointing fellow Montiel victim Posuwan for the vacant belt. Nothing like perseverance, is there?

Rafael's remark: Former flyweight titlist and 1996 U.S. Olympian Morel (who was born in Puerto Rico) claimed a near-shutout decision against Bonilla to set himself up for a title fight. With Fernando Montiel claiming a vacant belt in Mexico on Saturday night, Morel, 33, looms as his mandatory first challenger in a fight that, if Top Rank's Bob Arum has his way, will take place on June 27 in Atlantic City, N.J., on the Kelly Pavlik-Sergio Mora pay-per-view undercard. Bonilla, 34, of Nicaragua, lost his fifth in a row. You didn't think anyone was going to put Morel's title opportunity at too much risk, did you?

Rafael's remark:It wasn't pretty -- in fact, it was pretty dreadful -- but Chambers did just enough to outhustle and outbox the pitiful Peter to score the most significant victory of his career in the "Friday Night Fights" main event, the first boxing event to take place at the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles. In January 2008, Chambers was in position to become a mandatory challenger for heavyweight titleholder Wladimir Klitschko, but he blew it by losing a clear decision to Alexander Povetkin in Germany in an elimination bout. Philadelphia's Chambers, 27, rebounded to win three low-level bouts in a row to set up this high-profile bout with Peter, a former titleholder in desperate need of a victory. In his first title defense last fall, Las Vegas-based Nigerian was destroyed over eight lopsided rounds before quitting against Vitali Klitschko in a miserable performance. Neither Chambers nor Peter came in the best of shape and it showed in their lackluster performances. Peter, 28, was a career-heavy 265 (12 more pounds than he was for Klitschko) while Chambers was 223, the heaviest he has been for any of his notable matches. Chambers, however, has pretty good defense and used his jab effectively throughout the fight. He also landed several stinging right hands to keep Peter away from him and was especially effective in the final couple of rounds when the fight appeared to still be up for grabs. Peter just didn't do enough and didn't seem to have much fire in him, even though the 99-91 scorecard against him from judge Ray Corona was laughable. If Peter, once the hottest heavyweight in the world, has any prayer of returning to the top he must get in better shape, change his attitude and make changes in his corner. It's time he fought with some urgency; otherwise, he's done. Chambers needs to get in better shape and let his hands go a little more and stop thinking so much in the ring. If he can do that, he'll beat a lot of heavyweights and make his fights more entertaining for fans.

Rafael's remark: Molina, 26, is a heavy-handed fighter and exciting to watch. Although he certainly had some early issues with Vinan, he overcame them to score the stoppage victory at 2:40 of the second round when referee David Mendoza stepped in with Vinan getting pounded. Vinan had a surprisingly effective first round as he landed all kinds of shots and unexpectedly rattled Molina. But Molina got himself together and began to land shots with both hands in the second round. The blows were taking their toll when Molina wobbled Vinan and was teeing off on him when Mendoza intervened.

Rafael's remark: Promoter Dan Goossen hopes Estrada, a 2008 U.S. Olympian, can develop a following in his hometown of Los Angeles. Goossen is doing his part as Estrada, 23, has had his first three fights in Southern California. And Estrada is doing his job by scoring dominant knockouts, albeit against poor competition, which is usually the way things go when you're an Olympian in your first few fights. But give Estrada, from rough East Los Angeles, some time and maybe he'll develop not only into an attraction but also into a quality professional. Using accurate left hooks, Estrada took care of Craig in easy fashion, decked him three times before it was called off at 1:41. Estrada will be back in action quickly as he is scheduled to fight April 11 in Las Vegas on the undercard of the Paul Williams-Winky Wright fight.

Rafael's remark: Molina joined his 2008 U.S. Olympic teammate (and now promotional stablemate) in the pro ranks with a not-so-surprising blowout victory in his professional debut. Molina, 19, of Commerce, Calif., smacked no-hoper Cabrera, 36, around in the first round before dropping him twice in the second round for the victory at 1:50. Molina showed good poise for a pro debut fighter and displayed a diverse arsenal, including uppercuts and a strong body attack.