ESPN Boxing

Rafael's remark: What else can you say about Klitschko's performance other than that it was flawless? Maybe it wasn't an all-action slugfest as so many hoped to see in a heavyweight championship fight, but Klitschko was so utterly dominant that it didn't matter. In a clinic before a capacity crowd of 61,000 at Veltins Arena, a soccer stadium, and an American television audience on ESPN Classic, Klitschko won every round with ease.

Klitschko scored a second-round knockdown courtesy of a huge straight right hand down the middle, and he busted open a cut over Chagaev's left eye in the eighth round. He landed his hard, textbook left jab at will and landed his powerful right almost as often. This was straight abuse to the point where you almost had to feel sorry for Chagaev as he took such a ruthless, controlled pounding. You do have to give Chagaev credit for displaying a solid chin because he got hit with some missiles, many of which snapped his head back or lifted his leg off the canvas.

Chagaev, 30, of Uzbekistan but based in Germany, was regarded as one of the top heavyweights in the world and held an alphabet world title until he was demoted to a so-called "champion in recess" because of illness and injury. Still, he had never lost his belt in the ring. Yet he could do absolutely nothing against Klitschko. Chagaev's southpaw stance was not an advantage because Klitschko, of Ukraine but based in Germany, is extremely experienced against southpaws. Chagaev could never get inside on Klitschko either because of a 5-inch height disadvantage and a reach disadvantage. It was basically over in the first round when Klitschko, with a 15-pound weight advantage, kept Chagaev on the outside at the end of his jab and fired in those rights when necessary. Nothing ever changed. Eventually, Chagaev's corner stopped the beating with Chagaev on the stool one second into the 10th round.

By winning the fight, Klitschko, who already held two alphabet titles, picked up the vacant Ring belt and wide recognition as the man to restore the lineage of the heavyweight championship, which was broken when Lennox Lewis retired.

Klitschko is at the top of his game, and nobody in the division, except probably Vitali Klitschko, his 37-year-old older brother and a titleholder, really comes close. But because they have said they will never fight each other, Wladimir, 33, is the guy at the top of the heavyweight mountain until someone knocks him off. He has systematically been cleaning out the division for years.

Klitschko won his 11th fight in a row (eight of which have been by stoppage). Most of the wins during the stretch have come against the best in an admittedly weak division, including such foes as Chris Byrd, Samuel Peter (when he was undefeated), Calvin Brock (also undefeated), Lamon Brewster (for revenge purposes), Sultan Ibragimov (an unbeaten opponent in a unification fight), Tony Thompson and former champion Hasim Rahman. Klitschko can't fight Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali or Lewis. He can only fight the best the division has to offer, and he has done that.

The only heavyweights of consequence Klitschko hasn't beaten are his brother and questionable titleholder Nikolai Valuev, who lost a belt to Chagaev but regained the vacant trinket only when Chagaev was demoted because of injuries and illness.

Keep in mind that Klitschko took on Chagaev on only two weeks' notice because former cruiserweight champ David Haye pulled out with a back injury. That led HBO to dump its coverage, which ESPN Classic picked up for nothing. Chagaev also had had a fight called off. He was supposed to face Valuev in a mandatory rematch on May 30 in Helsinki, but it was canceled because Finnish officials would not allow Chagaev to fight because he tested positive for hepatitis B. Germany has different rules, and the fighters were willing to fight on short notice. Thus, the fight came together. Chagaev probably regrets it.

Rafael's remark: In February, Banks, 26, of Detroit, took an ill-advised fight with cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek and was drilled in the eighth round for short money ($40,000). It was a poor decision because Banks had the opportunity to fight for a belt against Enzo Maccarinelli as a mandatory challenger for six times the money ($240,000) based on the purse bid promoter Frank Warren won, but instead opted for the harder, less lucrative bout. So you live and learn, right? Anyway, Banks, trained and managed by Emanuel Steward, fought for the first time since the Adamek debacle and got back into the win column with the victory. He dropped Butlin twice, sending the 33-year-old Briton to his fifth in a row and seventh defeat in his last eight bouts.

Rafael's remark: Lee, a 6-foot-2 southpaw and 2004 Irish Olympian, was one of the hottest prospects in boxing when he met up with Brian Vera (of "The Contender" fame) on ESPN2 in March 2008. Lee was 15-0 at the time, and manager and trainer Emanuel Steward was already talking about a possible title shot against champion Kelly Pavlik. That night, Vera stopped Lee in the seventh round, sending Lee's stock plummeting. Lee took some time off to have surgery to remove scar tissue caused from cuts and since then has churned out three victories in a row, including this dominant performance. Lee, 25, who sparred with Wladimir Klitschko to give him a southpaw look as he prepared to fight Ruslan Chagaev in the main event, punctuated the victory when he dropped Fedotovs with a straight left hand in the sixth round. Fedotovs, 25, of Latvia, saw his five-fight winning streak end.

Rafael's remark: Sosa just keeps rolling on. The 29-year-old is on as good a run as any little guy in the business and remains the busiest titleholder in boxing. Fighting in front of a crowd of about 12,000 in his hometown, Sosa gave it another thrill in a solid knockout of Melo. Sosa lured Melo into a bit of a slugfest, and Melo couldn't take the power. In the fifth round, Sosa cracked Melo with a strong left to the body. Melo winced and went down on a delayed reaction. He was grimacing from the pain, but still made it to his feet in time. But Sosa was relentless and attacked him immediately, forcing referee Frank Garza to call off the fight moments later during the ensuing assault. It was Sosa's second title defense in a three months and his ninth since claiming a vacant 108-pound title via majority decision against Brian Viloria in April 2007. Melo, 26, of Panama, who has lost three of his past four fights, was stopped for the first time in his career.

Rafael's remark: Garay, of Argentina, has been one of the weaker world titleholders since claiming a vacant belt in July 2008. It's not a big surprise that he couldn't make it through a second defense, losing it via majority decision to Spain's obscure Campillo, a southpaw with zero credentials to deserve a shot at a world title in the first place. But then again, that's probably why Garay's people picked him. Plus, the joke known as the WBA, which has horrendous rankings, approved him. Garay appeared to be strong during the first half of the fight and was taking to Campillo, but Garay began to tire during the later rounds, opening the door for the challenger to come on strong and take the decision in a decent scrap.

Rafael's remark: This raging battle was not only the best fight of the weekend but also one of the best fights of the year so far. Just a tremendous battle set to the backdrop of a frenzied crowd of 13,659 at Montreal's Bell Centre, where the fans turned out to see the first world title bout between two Montreal-based boxers. It more than lived up the billing as Pascal, moving up in weight from super middleweight, won a deserved decision, but one that probably should have been a little bit closer on the scorecards.

It was a bit surprising that the fight was made because Montreal's two rival promoters had never worked together. But InterBox, which handles Diaconu, and Yvon Michel, which has Pascal, came together for the promotion because neither fighter had a significant fight on the immediate horizon.

Diaconu, originally from Romania but living in Montreal, had claimed a vacant interim title in April 2008 when he beat Chris Henry, then was elevated to full titleholder when Chad Dawson vacated. But Diaconu, 31, had fought only once since, a nontitle bout in April because a mandatory defense against Silvio Branco was postponed multiple times. Meanwhile, Pascal, 26, who was born in Haiti but lived in Canada (which he represented in the 2004 Olympics) for many years, challenged Carl Froch for a vacant super middleweight belt in December and lost the decision in a terrific slugfest. He rebounded with a sensational fifth-round knockout of Pablo Zamora Nievas in April, then moved up in weight when the shot at Diaconu came up.

The fight was exciting from the outset. The taller, quicker Pascal tried to box and move from the outside, while the stockier, stronger Diaconu came straight ahead. The contrast in styles meshed perfectly, as the action rarely relaxed. The fifth round will go down as one of the rounds of the year. In that round, Pascal scored the only knockdown of the fight when he creamed an off-balance Diaconu with a left hook. Diaconu was OK, got to his knees and rose at eight. Pascal was all over him in the follow-up attack with more than a minute left in the round, but Diaconu hurt Pascal with a big right hand that shook him near the end of the round. Diaconu shook Pascal in the 11th, and the 12th round also was rousing. Both men showed terrific chins and a lot of heart. Bless Versus for picking up this fight for the American television audience. Savvy boxing fans knew it was going to be a good one when it was signed. How about a rematch eventually?

Rafael's remark: In February, two-time Canadian Olympian Ross, 33, stopped Hino Ehikhamenor in the fourth round to win the fourth season of "The Contender" reality series. Ross had rolled through the tournament, scoring three knockouts in his four bouts. His first fight after the series was supposed to be a June 20 match near his home in Brampton, Ontario, against interim cruiserweight beltholder Ola Afolabi. When the deal fell apart because of Afolabi's visa issues, Ross was moved to a Canadian card the previous night in which his co-promoter, Yvon Michel, was involved. He was matched with former American amateur standout Simms, 34, who has had nowhere near the level of pro success as he had in the unpaid ranks. Ross outpunched and outworked the durable Simms, who did little other than open a small cut over Ross' left eye. Ross didn't look so good, but he did enough to win comfortably, including hurting Simms near the end of the final round and forcing referee Michael Griffin to give him a standing eight-count. Still, it was a somewhat disappointing performance from Ross. Simms lost for the seventh time in eight fights.

Rafael's remark: If you missed this "Friday Night Fights" show, you are probably not alone, because the card was shifted from ESPN2 to ESPN Classic with no advance notice because of the College World Series. If you found it, you saw an entertaining main event pitting two-time junior featherweight title challenger Beltran, 27, of Mexico, against Meza-Clay, 28, of Rankin, Pa. Both fighters have been on the fringes of contending, and both needed a solid victory. Last time out, Beltran, a southpaw, scored a suspect split-decision victory against Miguel Roman on FNF in the same Laredo ring in March. Meza-Clay was coming off a fifth-round TKO loss to Jorge Solis in a featherweight title eliminator in January. Beltran is the one who scored the convincing win in a fast-paced fight in which both men threw punches nonstop. But Beltran, who displayed an excellent and effective jab, threw more, landed more and landed at a higher percentage. That was enough to give him the competitive victory. The poor punch counters had their hands full, as Beltran landed 508 of 1,361 blows (37 percent), a tremendous number of punches thrown -- more than 100 per round. Meza-Clay's work rate would have been enough to win many fights, but not this one, as he was 213 of 1,020 (21 percent).

Rafael's remark: Originally, the "Friday Night Fights" co-feature was supposed to pit emerging Australian contender Daniel Dawson against Raines, but Dawson withdrew from the bout. That opened a spot for Greene to get on the card when his co-promoters, Lou DiBella and Leon Margules of Seminole Warriors Boxing, worked something out with show promoter Artie Pelullo of Banner Promotions. So Greene, a 23-year-old southpaw from New York, shook off 10 months of rust with a lopsided decision against Raines, 23, who was outclassed in every conceivable manner but gave a good effort. He dropped to 2-3 in his past five.

For Greene, it was a good way to ease back into things after such a long layoff. He had been set for a significant HBO fight against Sergio Martinez in January but pulled out because he had a bout with kidney stones. Then, Greene was scheduled to fight on the Andre Berto-Juan Urango undercard, but his opponent pulled out a day or two before the fight and could not be replaced. So, finally, Greene got a fight and took advantage. He has a lot of potential but needs to be more active.

Rafael's remark: Andrade had no trouble whatsoever with Hirsch despite going the distance for the first time as a professional. The 2008 U.S. Olympian and 2007 world amateur champion is a blue chip prospect with a huge future, but these are the sort of bouts designed to simply get him used to the pro game and to get him the pro rounds and experience every young fighter needs. The Providence, R.I., prospect was more skilled, faster and stronger than Hirsch, 25, who hung in there but had little hope. Andrade, 21, has all the tools to be a champion and a star. How far he goes is up to him.

Rafael's remark: Guerrero, a 2007 U.S. amateur national champion, doesn't have the hype behind him of some other prospects, doesn't get a lot of television time and is with hardworking smaller promoter Prize Fight, but he's just as interesting a prospect as many more well-known fighters from his amateur class. Guerrero, 22, is as exciting as any young fighter in the sport. He also has something a lot of those fighters don't have – a passionate following in his adopted hometown of Salisbury, Md., where he sells a ton of tickets every time he laces up the gloves there. It's a beautiful thing.

Without the benefit of a television outlet, Prize Fight made the card available as a $4.95 Internet pay-per-view, and those who saw it had to be impressed by Guerrero, who blew Norman away. And Norman, 30, despite his average record, was by no means a terrible opponent. He's a guy who in 2007 went the 10-round distance with Jean Pascal, who won a light heavyweight title Friday night. After a bit of a feeling-out round in the first frame, Guerrero scored a pair of knockdowns in the second round. After the second one, on a nice three-punch combination, Norman was in rough shape when he rose, so referee Kenny Chevalier called it off. Can't wait to see more of Guerrero.

Rafael's remark: It was a short night for Porter, lasting all of 2 minutes, 9 seconds, but what could you expect when Wooten, 34, was shoveled in as a late replacement on two days' notice for original opponent Dion Nash (5-0, 3 KOs)? Nash had figured to make a more solid fight, but don't blame Porter, 21, for being presented with a journeyman and destroying him. Porter was a standout amateur and 2008 U.S. Olympic alternate. He displayed his speed and power in dismantling Wooten, who went down three times in the blowout. He showed fast combinations and a brutal body attack.

Rafael's remark: In his last fight, a weight-drained Arthur lost a unanimous decision and his junior lightweight title to Nicky Cook in September. Making his ring return and moving up to lightweight, Arthur was not tested in what was expected to be a blowout. And it was. The 30-year-old Scotsman needed just 93 seconds to hand Benbiou, 34, his ninth loss in his past 12 bouts. Arthur came at the Frenchman winging left hooks to the body and dropped him in the opening minute. After two more knockdowns, it was over.