By Rudy Mondragón

Chris Arreola vs. Bermane Stiverne (Full Story Via BoxingScene.com)

This fight marked the return of Chris Arreola (35-3, 30 KOs) as he had not fought since his first round KO win over Eric Molina in February of 2012. Bermane Stiverne (23-1, 20 KOs) was coming off an eight round unanimous win over Willie Herring that took place in April of last year. With both fighters coming off long lay offs, both knew what was at stake here: Winner of this match would become the mandatory challenger for Vitali Klitschko. Fight was physical, Arreola being knocked down at the end of the third round. Many said Arreola had a broken nose due to all the blood coming down from his nose as well as an injured left hand as he was favoring his right. Stiverne came out victorious at the end earning a unanimous decision:

judge: Carla Caiz 117-110 | judge: Claude Paquette 117-110 | judge: Marty Denkin 118-109

Amir Khan vs Julio Diaz

Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KOs) won in his fight that took place in Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom versus boxing veteran Julio Diaz (40-8, 29 KOs). Khan brought excitement to the people as he took risks and engaged in semi brawls with Julio. UK announcers said that a new and improved Khan was fighting… Really??? I guess that is what announcers are paid to do, hype up the hometown fighter who is yet again rebuilding his career. No doubt there was excitement in the fight and it came at the expense of Khan letting his pride and ego get the best of him, still believing he can brawl. He can’t and he paid the (small) price in the fourth round as Diaz caught him off balance and put him down on the canvas. Score cards were close, one judge scoring it a draw. Khan squeezed by with a win, allowing him to move forward and continue to rebuild his career. Long way ahead for the young 25 year old.

judge: Phil Edwards 113-114 | judge: Steve Gray 113-115 | judge: Terry O’Connor 112-115

Sergio Martinez vs Martin Murray

Homecoming for the 38 year old Sergio Martinez (51-2, 28 KOs), back home in Argentina to entertain his 40,000 fans who packed the Buenos Aires club Velez Sarsfield Stadium. His opponent, Martin Murray (25-1, 11 KOs), who put up a good fight and refused to be a boxing pawn. Martinez did enough to win the early rounds as Murray kept his guard up. Big credit to Murray as one could tell that he studied Sergio’s last few fights and put that to practice last night. Murray put Martinez down (officially) in the eighth round. Martinez went down in the 10th and 11th, but those were ruled slips. Nonetheless, Murray executed a well informed game plan, but it was not good enough in Martinez territory as the judges all saw the fight in favor of the home crowd favorite. All three judges had Martinez winning 115-112.

It will be interesting to see what is next for Martinez health wise. He did mention last night an injured hand as well as possibly re-injuring his knee (injured first last year against Chavez Jr.)

BloodMoneyBoxing family, check back for the recap of the Zab Judah and Danny Garcia fight to be posted later tonight!