Random boxing news.

[Afterglow]

Adamek wins in New Jersey return

NEWARK, N.J. -- Tomasz Adamek beat Jason Estrada by unanimous decision in a heavyweight fight in his return to the Prudential Center on Saturday night.

Most of the 10,000-plus fans were there to support Adamek, waving the Polish flag and cheering wildly for him.

The judges scored the bout 115-113, 116-112 and 118-110, all for Adamek.

"If everyone in this room were completely honest with themselves you would all admit that I got robbed. I mean I got played. I might as well have had a gun pointed to my head," Estrada said. "At best I give Adamek three of the twelve rounds. I seriously think the last judge doesn't need to judge anymore."

Adamek (40-1, 27 KOs) knocked out Andrew Golota before an adoring crowd in Lodz, Poland, in his first appearance as a heavyweight last fall.

"It was the best Jason Estrada I've ever seen in my life," Adamek said. "He was 50 percent better today, than he when he fought a top three heavyweight like Aleksander Powietkin. Quick, with a good defense and a very hard head. It was extremely difficult to locate precise punches, because of his defense."

Estrada (16-3, 4 KOs), of Providence, R.I., outweighed Adamek by nearly 17 pounds.

The Polish-born, New Jersey-based Adamek has a huge following among the Polish community in New Jersey. His fans also previously packed the Prudential Center for the cruiserweight champion's wins over Bobby Gunn, Johnathon Banks and Steve Cunningham.

"My trainer, Andrzej Gmitruk, wanted me to be more boxer than puncher, was screaming at me in the corner," Adamek said. "But how can I fight differently when I have a 10,000 of my red and white fans screaming for me to do just that?

"They pay good money to see entertaining fight, not some boring, slow guys throwing 10 punches a round."

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[Afterglow]

Valero stops DeMarco in ninth round

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Edwin Valero of Venezuela retained his WBC lightweight belt by stopping Mexico's Antonio DeMarco on Saturday night.

DeMarco sat in his corner and declined to come out for the 10th round of their title fight. The Mexican was well behind on points and, though he had no obvious injuries, officials said he retired on the advice of his handlers.

When the fight ended, Valero was eight points up on the scorecards of all three judges.

Valero improved to 27-0, with none of his bouts going the distance. DeMarco had only his second career defeat against 23 wins and a draw.

"My physical strength started to show," Valero said. "Little by little, I started gaining ground. The first three or four rounds I couldn't hit him with my jab, but then I started to connect."

Valero picked up a gash across his forehead in the second round, which came from an elbow by DeMarco that was ruled accidental. Valero needed three stitches afterward to close the wound.

Valero said he'd like a fight with Manny Pacquiao, which would force him to move up several weight categories.

"That's the fight the world wants to see," the Venezuelan said.

There could be many problems standing in the way of a Pacquiao-Valero fight.

Valero has been denied a U.S. visa because of a drunk-driving charge in Texas. He claims he was turned down because of his strong support for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America.

Valero also had a severe motorcycle accident in February 2001 that left him with a fractured skull and required surgery to remove a blood clot. He eventually failed a pre-fight exam in New York. He was handed an indefinite suspension that effectively banned him from fighting in the United States.

The Venezuelan claimed the belt with a second-round TKO of Antonio Pitalua in April last year, and defended it in December when Hector Velasquez retired after six rounds.

DeMarco took an interim version of the belt with a 10th round TKO of Jose Alfaro in October last year.

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[Afterglow]

Kameda wins by unanimous decision

KOBE, Japan -- Japanese challenger Daiki Kameda has defeated Denkaosen Kaowichit of Thailand by unanimous decision to win the WBA flyweight title.

Kaowichit controlled Sunday's bout in the early rounds, but Kameda took charge as the fight progressed and improved to 15-2 with 11 knockouts. Kaowichit dropped to 48-2-1.

Daiki Kameda is the brother of WBC flyweight champion Koki Kameda.

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[Afterglow]

Vargas in after Guerrero fails eye exam

Nonito Donaire, one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, has a new opponent after Gerson Guerrero failed his pre-fight eye exam on Wednesday.

Donaire (22-1, 14 KOs) was scheduled to defend his interim junior bantamweight belt against Guerrero in the main event of Top Rank's "Latin Fury 13/Pinoy Power 3" pay-per-view card on Saturday night at the Las Vegas Hilton.

Guerrero (34-8, 26 KOs), of Mexico, had a detached retina, Top Rank matchmaker Brad "Abdul" Goodman told ESPN.com. He was quickly replaced by another Mexican fighter: Manuel Vargas (26-4-1, 11 KOs), a former interim strawweight titlist who has also fought as a flyweight.

In his last bout in September, Vargas dropped a split decision to strawweight titlist Donnie Nietes of the Philippines.

Now Vargas will fight at junior bantamweight and challenge for Donaire's belt.

The two other names on Goodman's short list were Hugo Ruiz and former junior bantamweight titlist Jose "Carita" Lopez of Puerto Rico, but he was nowhere close to the 115-pound weight limit.

"I guess [Guerrero] has some sort of eye problem, but I am just ready for this fight," Donaire told ESPN.com moments after being told of the issue with Guerrero. "I've always been prepared to fight anybody. I can adapt to any changes. I am ready for anything. Whoever they put in, I'm ready if Guerrero can't make it. So be it."

Donaire said, if necessary, he was willing to make Saturday's fight in the 118-pound bantamweight division.

"As long as I get to fight, I am happy," Donaire said.

Cameron Dunkin, Donaire's manager who consulted with Goodman about a new opponent, signed off on Vargas.

Before the opponent was set, Dunkin said, "Nonito used to tell all the time that before I managed him, he never knew who he was fighting and he would take fights on short notice. He would say, 'I am ready for anybody. I'll work it out. Just let me know who it is and I'll be ready to go.' We'll get somebody and fight because Nonito is a fighter. A lot of guys would be blaming and complaining, but he's not like that. He's got a big smile on his face and says he's just ready to go."

Donaire, a former flyweight titlist from the Philippines but based in California, claimed his interim belt by outpointing Rafael Concepcion in August.

Donaire is hoping to use Saturday's fight as a springboard to a bigger fight against either unified division champion Vic Darchinyan, whom Donaire knocked out in a flyweight title fight, or titlist Jorge Arce.

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[Afterglow]

Caballero stripped of 122-pound title

Panama's Celestino Caballero, who unified two of the junior featherweight titles by knocking out Steve Molitor in the fourth round in November 2008, has been stripped of one of his belts by the IBF.

And one of the men who will fight for the vacant 122-pound belt? Molitor.

Caballero (33-2, 23 KOs), who defended the unified crown twice, was relieved of his belt because no promoter, including his own handlers at Warriors Boxing, made an offer at either of the purse bids called for his mandatory defense against South Africa's Takalani Ndlovu.

Although Ndlovu's handlers did not bid on the fight either, he was allowed to retain his position with the IBF and will fight for the vacant belt against Molitor on March 27 on Molitor's turf at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario.

In 2007, Molitor made the first defense of his title reign by knocking out Ndlovu (30-5, 18 KOs) in the ninth round at Casino Rama.

"We didn't bid because we had no place to put the fight and my guy wants to go to 126 pounds anyway," Warriors Boxing's Leon Margules told ESPN.com about why he didn't bid on Caballero-Ndlovu. "If we had a place to do it and could have paid Caballero his money, he would have made the weight. But we didn't and now he's going to move up. There are better opportunities and bigger fights for him at 126 pounds."

Margules and Top Rank have talked about the possibility of Caballero challenging featherweight titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa in the spring or summer on HBO.

"I told [Top Rank's] Carl Moretti, 'Yes, we're interested,' " Margules said.

That leaves Molitor (31-1, 12 KOs) to try to regain his old belt. He first won the then-vacant IBF belt in November 2006 and made four defenses before being blown out by Caballero. Since the loss, Molitor has won three in a row, including a title eliminator, to get himself back in position for another opportunity.

"All I've been thinking about is becoming a two-time champion, and nobody is going to get in my way," said Molitor, 29. "Especially Ndlovu. As good as I was the first time against him, Ndlovu's crazy to think he has a chance of beating me in a rematch. I'm here to not only regain my title, but to show the world I'm even better now than I was during my first title reign. That means laying an even more convincing beating on Ndlovu this time around."

Ndlovu, 32, is 3-1 since the loss to Molitor, including a decision win against Spanish contender Kiko Martinez in September in an elimination bout.

"I have earned my mandatory spot in the IBF rankings, and the fact that I'm now No. 1 and Steve No. 2, speaks volumes. This time around it will be far different from the last time I fought Steve," Ndlovu said. "I'm not overconfident, but the fact that I have agreed to go back to Canada, shows my mindset for this fight. This is most likely my last chance to win the IBF world title and I'm prepared to do what ever it takes to beat Steve."

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[Afterglow]

Pair of bouts moved to April 24

Two of the fights in Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic are moving to a new date.

Super middleweight titleholder Andre Ward's defense against Allan Green and Carl Froch's defense against Mikkel Kessler are moving back one week -- from April 17 to April 24.

Showtime did not offer a reason for moving the Group Stage 2 bouts, but it means they will no longer compete with HBO's major split-site doubleheader on the same night, which is to feature super middleweight titleholder Lucian Bute defending his belt against Edison Miranda in Montreal and middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik defending the title against junior middleweight titlist Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City, N.J.

"It was just confirmed to me by Showtime that we're moving to April 24," Lou DiBella, Green's promoter, told ESPN.com on Friday afternoon. "It's fine with us. My fighter was preparing to fight in April. One week isn't going to make a difference. I'm thrilled, actually."

DiBella is happy because he also promotes Martinez and would not have been able to be at both fights.

"I was going to attend the Green fight and have my co-promoter at Sergio's fight," DiBella said. "This is wonderful for me because now I can attend both fights."

It's not so wonderful for promoter Dan Goossen, who was in a bind regardless of if the fight was April 17 or April 24. He promotes Ward and co-promotes Miranda, and planned to be at the Ward bout. But with Ward moving to April 24, it means he'll have to pick between being with Ward, who will be making his first title defense, or being with heavyweight contender Cristobal Arreola, who is supposed to face former cruiserweight champ Tomasz Adamek on April 24 in the main event of an HBO broadcast. Arreola-Adamek is still being negotiated.

The site of Ward-Green is still to be determined, DiBella said, although Oakland, Calif., Ward's hometown, is a strong possibility.

"This is a true 50-50 promotion between Goossen and I, so the fight will be where we get the most money and the best deal," DiBella said. "It will be where we get the best economic situation and something that will work for Showtime. That means it could be in Oakland, but it doesn't mean it's definitely in Oakland."

Froch-Kessler will take place at the MCH Messecentre in Herning, Denmark -- Kessler's home country -- co-promoters Sauerland Event and Hennessy Sports announced Friday.

"With the support of my great Danish fans, I will defeat Carl Froch and become world champion again," said Kessler, who lost his title in an upset to Ward in November in his Group Stage 1 bout of the Super Six. "The atmosphere at MCH Herning is incredible. I only have the best of memories of the venue. The TKO victory over [Gusmyr] Perdomo last September confirmed my place in the Super Six. After a bad start, I am now out for a knockout."

England's Froch said he was concerned about his fans, who made travel plans for an April 17 bout.

"I am upset for my fans with the change of date but this has been unpreventable due to scheduling issues," Froch said. "I just hope that my fans will understand this change and will still come in their thousands to support me in Herning. I am looking to be the first fighter to take Mikkel Kessler out before the final bell. I have gone to Jermain Taylor's backyard and defended my belt and I am more than happy to do the same with Kessler. As the champion I will prove that I can fight and beat the best anywhere."

Group Stage 2 opens on March 6 with Germany's Arthur Abraham facing American Andre Dirrell at the Agua Caliente resort in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

The four fighters with the high point totals after three bouts in the tournament will advance to the semifinals. Fighters are awarded two points for a win, a third point if the win is by knockout, one point for a draw and no points for a loss.

Abraham, who knocked out Jermain Taylor, leads with three points. Froch and Ward each have two points. Kessler, Dirrell and Green (who replaced Taylor when he dropped out) have no points.

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[Afterglow]

Donaire stops Vargas in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Nonito Donaire knocked out last-minute replacement Manuel Vargas in the third round of their fight Saturday night.

Donaire controlled the bout throughout before flooring Vargas for good with a solid right uppercut at 1:33 in the third.

"It was a matter of relaxing and working my game plan," Donaire said. "I went side to side, leading with the jab, then landed that hard uppercut."

Donaire, the WBA interim super flyweight champion, was scheduled to fight Gerson Guerrero. But Guerrero failed his pre-fight physical, paving the way for Vargas.

"It was a crazy week," Donaire said. "It didn't matter who I fought, I simply tried to figure him out."

On the undercard, WBO bantamweight champion Fernando Montiel knocked out Ciso Morales at 2:06 of the first round with two devastating body shots. Morales hit the canvas in obvious pain and was unable to beat the count.

Eric Morel earned a split-decision victory against Gerry Penalosa in a WBO interim bantamweight title fight. The judges scored it 115-113 and 116-112 in favor of Morel and 115-113 for Penalosa.

Bernabe Concepcion won an unanimous decision over Mario Santiago, and Jose Benavidez, Matt Korobov and Diego Magdaleno also were winners on the undercard.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=4913256

[Afterglow]

No Margarito return on Pacquiao card

Top Rank has scrapped its plan for disgraced former welterweight titlist Antonio Margarito to make his comeback March 13 as the co-feature on the Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey pay-per-view undercard at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Last month, Top Rank signed Carson Jones to a contract to face Margarito in a planned 10-round bout at 155 pounds, pending Margarito being licensed in Texas. That fight has been canceled, Jones manager Bobby Dobbs told ESPN.com.

"[Top Rank] said the fight is off. It's dead. I didn't ask exactly why," said Dobbs, who said Top Rank told him not worry about Margarito being licensed when they signed the contract. "I don't know if Texas made a public announcement or just told Top Rank, but Margarito isn't going to get a license and he's not going to fight Carson at this time. I don't care about the specifics of why, I just know he's not fighting.

"We're heartbroken. Carson has been training for five week for the fight and didn't even get any training expenses for it," Dobbs said. "He was trying to get in the best possible shape for a fight that isn't going to happen now."

Although Top Rank did not mention Margarito, it announced on Friday that Humberto Soto and David Diaz would meet for a vacant lightweight belt in the March 13 co-feature.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef said the company had no comment regarding the change in plans or on Margarito.

Before the new fight was announced, Top Rank chairman Bob Arum told ESPN.com that he would put Soto-Diaz on the card "if it looks like we're having problems" with Margarito's license. Arum also said before Soto-Diaz was announced that if Margarito wasn't licensed in Texas, he would likely make his comeback on a May 8 pay-per-view card Top Rank is planning in Mexico, which is under no obligation to recognize punishments handed out by regulators in the United States.

However, if Margarito fights in Mexico while under a revocation in the U.S., it could severely impact his ability to be relicensed in America, because regulators would not look kindly on a fighter who went around a U.S. revocation.

In one of boxing's most significant scandals in recent years, Margarito (37-6, 27 KOs) had his license revoked by the California State Athletic Commission last February for attempting to fight Shane Mosley with illegal pads coated in a plaster-like substance that were placed inside his hand wraps.

Mosley trainer Naazim Richardson objected to how Margarito's hands had been wrapped. And when the commission cut off his gloves minutes before he was to walk to the ring for the Jan. 24, 2009 fight, the illegal inserts, which had escaped notice of the commission inspector overseeing the hand-wrapping process, were discovered.

Margarito's hands were re-wrapped and Mosley dominated him before knocking him out in the ninth round to win a welterweight championship at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

At a hearing a few weeks later, the California commission voted 7-0 to revoke the licenses of Margarito and trainer Javier Capetillo. Margarito pleaded ignorance and Capetillo said the illegal pads must have been used by accident, but few believed either explanation.

The vote effectively barred Margarito and Capetillo from boxing in the United States, because commissions honor revocations and suspensions doled out by other jurisdictions. Both were eligible to reapply for licenses after one year, which Margarito did in Texas in advance of the possible March 13 fight.

The Association of Boxing Commissions, a national non-profit organization that represents state and Native American tribal boxing commissions, acknowledged in a Jan. 29 letter to Texas regulator Dickie Cole of the state's combative sports division, which is overseen by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, that Texas was within its rights to license Margarito now that the terms of his revocation has expired.

However, in the letter from ABC president Tim Lueckenhoff, he added that there should be a public hearing regarding Margarito's request for a license in Texas and that the "the ABC Board of Directors also opined that Mr. Margarito should not be licensed at this time due to the seriousness of the violations surrounding the revocation of Mr. Margarito's license by the CSAC."

Margarito could not be reached for comment.

Although Top Rank no longer plans to put Margarito on the Pacquiao-Clottey card, his license application is still pending in Texas, Susan Stanford, the public information office for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, told ESPN.com.

"The status of Mr. Margarito's application is that it is still under review," Stanford said. "That means we are reviewing it to see if it's complete or not, and if we need more information.

"He is revoked in the state of California. We will review the application and the applicable state and federal laws. In this case, the federal law with the Muhammad Ali Act is that all regulating states will honor suspensions and revocations in other regulating states."

Stanford said Texas made no assurances to Top Rank or anyone else that Margarito would be licensed if he applied.

"That was their prerogative to file the application," she said, adding that his past behavior in California would be taken into consideration when his application is reviewed.

Dobbs said Top Rank promised him that if Margarito-Jones didn't happen because of a licensing issue, that it would at least give Jones a spot on the untelevised undercard against another opponent. However, Dobbs said Top Rank is now balking at that promise.

Jones (24-7-1, 15 KOs), who notched an upset third-round knockout victory against previously unbeaten Tyrone Brunson on Dec. 4, was due to make a career-high $50,000 purse to fight Margarito.

"Now, we'll just see what's out there," Dobbs said. "He's in great shape and we have nowhere to go. I'm hoping one of these miracle phone calls come through like happens in boxing and we get something."

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=4913706

[Afterglow]

Mayol headlines new Guadalajara card

An injury to former unified junior bantamweight titlist Cristian Mijares has forced the cancellation of one Feb. 27 boxing card, but paved the way for another to gain American pay-per-view exposure.

Mijares (38-6-2, 17 KOs), now campaigning at bantamweight, was due to box on the Cancun, Mexico, half of the Integrated Sports-distributed "Double Assault" split-site pay-per-view show. However, Mijares withdrew Tuesday because the broken eardrum he suffered in his sixth-round knockout victory against of B.J. Dolorosa on Dec. 12 has not healed enough for him to fight.

"After looking forward to coming back and restoring his rightful place among the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, Cristian Mijares was crushed with disappointment to learn a broken eardrum he suffered Dec. 12 hasn't healed properly and doctors wouldn't clear him to fight Feb. 27," said KO Entertainment promoter Ignacio "Nacho" Huizar.

With Mijares injured, the card in Cancun is off, including the match between Hugo Hernan Garay and Chris Henry, who were due to meet for an interim light heavyweight belt.

The Cancun portion of the pay-per-view has been replaced by a card from Guadalajara, Mexico, which will be headlined by the first title defense of junior flyweight titlist Rodel Mayol (26-4-1, 20 KOs) of the Philippines facing former titlist Omar Nino (28-3-1, 11 KOs) of Mexico.

Also featured on that segment of the show: a 10-round lightweight bout between Daniel Estrada (21-1, 17 KOs) and Angel Alirio Rivero (21-7-1, 14 KOs).

The Puerto Rican half of the show remains intact. The pay-per-view will open at Ruben Rodriquez Coliseum in Bayamon as former junior bantamweight titlist Marvin Sonsona (14-0-1, 12 KOs) of the Philippines meets Puerto Rico's Wilfredo Vasquez Jr. (17-0-1, 14 KO's) for a vacant junior featherweight belt.

Sonsona, 19, won a junior bantamweight belt in September by outpointing Puerto Rico's Jose "Carita" Lopez, but was stripped before his first defense in November for failing to make weight. Sonsona fought Alejandro Hernandez to a draw in the nontitle bout and then moved up to junior featherweight.

Vazquez Jr., 25, the son of the former three-division titleholder, has won eight in a row since a draw in 2007 to earn the title bout.

Also featured on the Puerto Rican portion of the card will be cruiserweight Carlos Negron (7-0, 6 KOs), a 2008 Puerto Rican Olympian, and the pro debuts of 2008 Puerto Rican Olympic twins, flyweight McWilliams Arroyo and bantamweight McJoe Arroyo.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/box...ory?id=4919583

[Afterglow]

Guerrero's wife battling leukemia

Robert Guerrero announced Tuesday that he has vacated his junior lightweight world title in order to care for his ill wife, Casey, who is hospitalized and battling leukemia.

"It is with great regret that I am relinquishing the junior lightweight championship of the world that I, along with my team, worked so hard to capture," Guerrero said in a statement. "I feel that it is in the best interest of the sport and the fans that I care so deeply for to give someone else a chance to fulfill their dream of becoming a world champion. I am now focused on the love of my life, my wife Casey, as undoubtedly we face the greatest opponent of our life, cancer.

"Whatever the outcome, our faith in Jesus Christ will get us through. Thank you for the prayers and support. God bless."

Casey Guerrero, 26, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007, recently had a bone marrow transplant and chemotherapy. She has been at Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto, Calif., for about three weeks. The family expects to know within the next two to three weeks if the treatment was a success.

Guerrero, who has two small children with Casey, had been scheduled to move up to lightweight to face interim titleholder Michael Katsidis on March 27 in an HBO main event. However, Guerrero withdrew from the fight on Feb. 8 because of Casey's illness.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Guerrero family during this tough time," said Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya, Guerrero's promoter. "We respect his decision to vacate his title and will do everything in our power to get him back in for a world title shot when he is ready to return to the ring."

Guerrero (25-1-1, 17 KOs), of Gilroy, Calif., vacated his featherweight belt in 2008 and moved up to junior lightweight last year. He easily outpointed South Africa's Malcolm Klassen in August to claim a world title.

Now, Guerrero has vacated a title for a second time, although under far different circumstances.

"It's a very tough situation, but we felt that rather than hold up the title, let these other guys fight for it," said Shelly Finkel, Guerrero's co-manager with Bob Santos. "When it makes sense for Robert to come back, he can come back at 130 or 135 and we'll work to get him another opportunity."

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