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Rafael's remark: Froch isn't the smoothest or most skilled boxer, but he makes up for it with a physical, relentless style. It served him well when he outslugged Jean Pascal (who would go on to win a light heavyweight belt) to win a vacant super middleweight title in December. It served him well when he rallied to starch Jermain Taylor with 14 seconds left in the fight in his first defense in April. And it served him well again as he eked out a split decision against Flint, Mich., native and 2004 U.S. Olympic bronze medalist Dirrell to retain his title in a Group Stage 1 match of Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic six-man super middleweight tournament. Froch had the luxury of fighting in his hometown, but had to enter the ring in the wee hours of the morning to accommodate Showtime's live telecast to the East Coast of the United States while Dirrell had simply stayed on his normal body schedule for the fight. Dirrell also fought in his normal negative, agonizing style. He ran, he cried to the referee about just about everything and he held. And grabbed. And wrestled. At times, it was like watching a smaller, faster, more skilled version of John Ruiz. It was ugly. When Dirrell, who has all the talent in the world but still fights like an amateur, would stand and fight, he landed some nice counter right hands. But he didn't do it nearly enough. The first half of the fight was an abomination because of Dirrell's unwillingness to do anything but run and grab. All the while, Froch was making the fight, coming forward and firing in what degenerated into a somewhat dirty fight. But in the eighth round, Froch nailed Dirrell with a left hook late in the round that definitely rattled him. Both fighters fouled each other often with low blows, elbows, blows to the back of the head and punches on the break. Referee Hector Afu did his best, but had a very hard time maintaining control. Both guys could have had points deducted at various times but Afu did not pull the trigger until finally docking a point from Dirrell for holding and hitting in the 10th round, during which Dirrell hurt Froch with two hard left hands. In the end, two judges gave it to Froch, which was the right call. How can you give Dirrell the fight when, for the most part, he fought scared, complained to the referee about everything and barely threw any punches in the first half or two-thirds of the fight? He finished very strong, but it wasn't enough to warrant or deserve the decision. At best, he could have had a draw, which would have still not given him the title.

Froch, 32, picked up two points for the victory and will move on to face Mikkel Kessler in a Group Stage 2 bout to be scheduled for sometime around March. If Kessler defeats Andre Ward in their Group Stage 1 bout on Nov. 21, Kessler-Froch would be a title unification bout. Dirrell, who along with Ward is the most inexperienced fighter in the field, didn't hurt himself too badly with the loss. He gained valuable experience and showed he can compete with the top dogs in the division. But he needs to do more fighting and less running. He has a very tough Group Stage 2 bout. Arthur Abraham is supposed to come to the United States from Germany to face Dirrell, 26, in late January. That's a very, very tough fight.

Rafael's remark: Like most of Taylor's losses, everything started out well for the former undisputed middleweight champ in this first Group Stage 1 bout of Showtime's much-heralded Super Six World Boxing Classic. And then it ended with a brutal knockout loss, one that put Taylor's continuation in the modified round-robin tournament -- and even his career -- in significant jeopardy. Abraham, a former middleweight titleholder who gave up his belt to move up in weight to participate in the tournament, is typically a slow starter and Taylor took advantage of that. The Little Rock, Ark., native, fighting outside the United States for the first time since receiving an Olympic bronze medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, swept perhaps the first four rounds of the fight. He was popping his jab, throwing combinations and body shots and easily outboxing Abraham, who was content to take the shots, many of which landed on his arms in front of a tight guard. However, as Taylor began to slow just a little, Abraham began to open up more and more. Taylor, 31, had been warned for low blows several times by referee Guadalupe Garcia when Garcia took a point from him in the sixth round when another shot strayed below the belt. The rest of the fight -- other than the 11th round -- belonged to Abraham, 29, who was coming on strong. He has a great chin and is so physically strong and rough, he's a handful for anyone, which is one of the reasons he was installed by oddsmaker Danny Sheridan as the co-favorite in the field along with Mikkel Kessler.

Abraham wobbled Taylor at the end of the seventh round and hurt him badly with a right hand in the ninth round. Abraham had clearly seized control of the fight and was cruising to a decision win in the 12th round when, out of nowhere, he landed a stiff right hand down the middle, connecting with Taylor's chin and knocking him out flat on his back. Garcia could have counted to 100. Taylor was out before he hit the canvas hard, sending the pro-Abraham crowd of about 14,000 into cheers. Abraham has the best late power in the sport as he notched his fifth knockout in the 10th round or later. And it was a highlight-reel kind of knockout that will get consideration as the knockout of the year.

With the victory, Abraham picks up three points in the tournament (two for the win and an extra point for the knockout). He'll next fight Andre Dirrell in early 2010 in the United States. For Taylor, however, the future is not as clear. He suffered a severe concussion and short-term memory loss and was admitted to the hospital, where he had a battery of tests. Promoter Lou DiBella told ESPN.com that Taylor was released from the hospital on Sunday night, but would remain in Europe for about a week because the doctors do not want him flying because of the head injury. The knockout loss was Taylor's third such hard knockout in his past five fights, and he has lost four of five. He was also stopped in the 12th round for the second consecutive fight, having been knocked out by titleholder Carl Froch (who is also in the tournament) in April. It appears unlikely that Taylor will continue in the tournament and perhaps will retire. Showtime will be responsible for selecting an alternate to take Taylor's place if he indeed drops out.

If this is the end for Taylor, he's had an excellent career. He beat Bernard Hopkins twice and won the undisputed middleweight championship while making four defenses before losing it to Kelly Pavlik. Nobody in recent years has faced a series of such difficult fights one after the other. From 2005 until Saturday night, Taylor faced Hopkins (twice), Pavlik (twice), Winky Wright, Froch, Abraham, Jeff Lacy and his supposed easy opponents, former junior middleweight titleholders Cory Spinks and Kassim Ouma. That lineup rivals any in the sport.

Rafael's remark: When Rios, the 23-year-old Oxnard, Calif., prospect promoted by Top Rank, first met Perez in October 2008, they fought to a majority draw in Perez's hometown of Denver. Two judges had the 10-round bout a 95-95 draw, with the third judge having it 96-94 for Perez. Since the draw, Rios hasn't left his fights in the hands of the judges. He scored his fourth consecutive knockout and cleaned up the lone blemish on his record in the TV Azteca-televised bout. Rios dominated Perez this time around. He opened a cut on Perez early and kept the pressure on throughout, finally getting the stoppage at 1 minute, 16 seconds of the seventh round.

Rafael's remark: The last time San Antonio's Martinez, 27, was in the ring, he was punished and dominated by then-flyweight titlist Nonito Donaire in a rough fourth-round TKO loss in April in the Philippines. Making his return from his first defeat, Martinez made easy work of Colombia's Perez, 22, torturing him with body shots. Martinez dropped him with a body blow in the third round and twice more in the fourth round. Martinez never made it off his stool for the fifth round as his corner called it off 10 seconds into the round. Perez dropped to 3-7 in his past 10 bouts, although some of those defeats came against quality competition, such as former junior bantamweight titlists Martin Castillo and Jose "Carita" Lopez and bantamweight contender Abner Mares. Martinez probably has another run at a title in him.

Rafael's remark: Puerto Rico's Santiago, 31, is best known for fighting featherweight titleholder Steve Luevano to a draw in a June 2008 shootout on the Manny Pacquiao-David Diaz HBO PPV undercard. After a year off, Santiago returned in June to win a unanimous eight-round decision against Gilberto Sanchez Leon in Atlantic City, N.J. He notched his second consecutive win against Kenya's Chule, 29, albeit by split decision. It was Santiago's first bout since agreeing to a promotional contract extension with Top Rank, which will be busy in the featherweight division in which Santiago campaigns. Top Rank has titleholders Luevano and Yuriorkis Gamboa plus junior featherweight titlist Juan Manuel Lopez about to move up in weight. There's action at 126 pounds and Top Rank is right in the middle of it, so Santiago, a southpaw, figures to get some sort of opportunity sooner rather than later.

Also in action on the undercard, three of Top Rank's top prospects notched victories. Featherweight Jerry Belmontes (10-0, 3 KOs), 20, fighting in front of his hometown fans, won a shutout six-round decision against Mexico's Adulato Gonzalez (11-8, 4 KOs). All three judges had it 60-54. Junior featherweight Roberto Marroquin (10-0, 7 KOs), also 20, of Dallas took a shutout six-round decision against Miami's Jose Garcia Bernal (26-18-1, 17 KOs). Marroquin scored a knockdown and won 60-53 on all three scorecards. Also, 22-year-old Houston junior middleweight Omar Henry (6-0, 5 KOs) was pushed the distance for the first time, but took a shutout four-round decision against Miami's Carlos Aballe (5-10, 3 KOs), who was down in the fourth round. All three judges had it 40-35.

Rafael's remark: Former cruiserweight champ Vassiliy Jirov, also a 1996 Olympic gold medalist, returned for his first bout since a second-round knockout of journeyman Kenny Craven in July 2007. Although Jirov notched the knockout victory, he had a bit of a scare in the first round when late replacement Williams, filling in on a few days' notice for Cory Phelps, scored a flash knockdown. However, Jirov, 35, rebounded to drop Williams three times in the second round for the victory. Jirov, who tested the waters at heavyweight and found little success, is now back at cruiserweight, where he intends to campaign. He has also reunited with manager Ivaylo Gotzev, who led him to the cruiserweight title. "Vassiliy can't be in a bad fight," Gotzev said. "There was a flash knockdown, but all it did was put Vassiliy back in the right state of mind to go for the kill. The shot he got hit with was his welcome back to the fight game. In the second round, Vassiliy showed that 'The Tiger' is truly back."

Former heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs (48-5-1, 42 KOs), 37, was supposed to fight on the undercard in his first bout since losing a lopsided decision and his belt to Sultan Ibragimov in June 2007. However, the fight was called off at the last minute when journeyman opponent Aaron Lyons (9-7, 7 KOs) failed a pre-fight eye examination and was ruled ineligible to box.

Rafael's remark: Pitalua was originally scheduled to fight former junior welterweight titlist Diobelys Hurtado in the Telemundo main event, but Hurtado withdrew from the bout a couple of weeks ago because of a hip injury and Negron replaced him. In retrospect, that probably was not a good idea for Puerto Rico's Negron, 35, a onetime contender who fell to 1-5-1 in his past seven. Pitalua, 39, of Colombia, dominated the fight from the outset. It was a good performance from Pitalua, who has won two fights in a row since Edwin Valero knocked him dead in the second round of a lightweight title defense in April. Pitalua moved up to junior welterweight in his comeback fight in August and scored a knockout of the year candidate in the sixth round against Jose Reyes. His knockout of Negron at welterweight wasn't nearly as highlight-reel-worthy, but still very effective. Rather than a monster knockout, Pitalua just put his punches together and smacked Negron around. Finally, referee Frank Santore Jr. had seen enough and stopped the fight at 2 minutes, 9 seconds of the fifth round as Pitalua was pounding Negron, who was not answering back.

Rafael's remark: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, the Love Child! Julio, a former ESPN.com prospect of the year, shook off back-to-back losses for the routine shutout decision victory. Julio, of Colombia, moved quickly in his rise but suffered a decision loss to Carlos Quintana in a 2006 welterweight eliminator. After winning seven in a row after the loss, Julio got another big opportunity, but couldn't deliver. He went to Germany and lost a competitive decision to titleholder Sergei Dzindziruk in November 2008. Then came a showdown with hot prospect James Kirkland in March. Kirkland ran roughshod over Julio, stopping him in the sixth round in Kirkland's last fight before going to prison. Making his comeback, Julio easily outboxed and outpunched Taylor, 38, in a Telemundo-televised undercard fight. Despite Taylor's woeful record, he was actually coming off an upset knockout win and he gave Julio good work. Julio is still only 24 and heavy-handed. It won't be a surprise to see him get another opportunity if he has the desire to work for it.