We didn't do staff picks for knockout of the year this year, but just to get an idea, what are your knockouts of the year? If everyone lists their top 3, I will assemble our list and come to a consensus for the site and its readers. Links to my top 20 or so candidates follow the jump.

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Los Angeles. California

Chad Dawson TKO2 Bernard Hopkins - This one was an oddball that begs for a rematch, though it may not happen considering both Hopkins's age and the fact that it's unlikely that this pay per view sold well.  Dawson got the win on what was almost universally considered to be an illegal bodyslam.  Whether it was Dawson or Hopkins (or both) who initiated this is up for debate.  A full write-up is available here courtesy of Andrew Fruman.

Antonio DeMarco TKO11 Jorge Linares - In a fight that was marked by solid action, DeMarco came from behind in a fight where, while many rounds were close, Linares had a seemingly insurmountable lead going into the championship rounds.  Notwithstanding Linares's better boxing, DeMarco had battered and bloodied Linares in a war of attrition.  While it's quite clear that Linares has immense talent, I personally class him in a category with guys like Jhonny Gonzalez - if this was the amateurs, he'd be spectacular, but in the pro game, his chin is just going to let him down from time to time.  Both men proved in this one that they're legitimate world-level fighters.

Danny Garcia SD12 Kendall Holt - Former titlist Holt apprised himself well in this bout, but Garcia just had the better stamina and was able to pull out the late rounds to earn the win.  It's hard to tell what this one proves because Holt hadn't looked to hot in the past couple years, but he seemed to mostly be back to his old self in this one.  While Golden Boy is banking on Garcia to be a future name fighter, his style isn't quite exciting enough to build a reputation of making good fights, and it seems he's just not quite good enough to build a following due to his excellence.  While he was able to batter guys like Mike Arnaoutis and the shell of Nate Campbell, this fight together with his razor-thin win over Ashley Theophane seem to say that either he's not quite ready for prime time, or he'll just never get there.

Paulie Malignaggi UD-10 Orlando Lora - Malignaggi looked dominant in this welterweight battle, but it doesn't say much since Lora usually isn't much more than a trial horse.  It's about time to Paulie to take another step up or two in class to prove if he's a legit welterweight.  He'll never have power, but at his best, he has quickness and skill that can give him an advantage.

Freddy Hernandez UD-10 Luis Collazo - Onetime semi-contender Hernandez won a reportedly close but clear decision over former titlist Collazo, who took his first serious fight in almost three years.  While Collazo still gets mentioned in prospective bouts from time to time, this loss together with his reputation as an almost impossible negotiator probably means he's lost all relevance at this point.

Dewey Bozella UD4 Larry Hopkins - His opponent wasn't much, but it's a great story for Bozella, who won his first pro bout as a 52 year old after being exonerated from a crime where he served nearly 30 years before being released from prison.

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Edit: Bumped! Great look at a little talked about prospie.

On this site and elsewhere in the Rays' blogosphere, a fair amount of attention has been given to Oscar Hernandez and his Ruthian (or really, Williamsian) numbers as a 17-year old catcher in the VSL (.402/.503/.732).  In the discussions, it's been noted that the VSL leader in home runs each of the last four years has been someone in the Rays' organization, and that Hernandez hitting more home runs than most of the entire teams in the league, his hitting seems to largely be a product of a bandbox home field that extremely favors pitching.

When you consider how well the hitters do in the VSL (to the point that none of them have yet to make a significant impact in the American minor leagues), it makes it all the more impressive when a pitcher puts up good statistics while playing in the same ballpark. 

Andres Gonzalez was signed by the Rays in May of this year as a 17-year old.  According to this local article, he features a fastball that sits in the 88 - 92 mph range, a good change up and a developing curve.  He's currently 6'4", and from the picture, it looks like he still has a lot of projectability. 

I suspect part of the reason he hasn't received much attention at this point is because of his mediocre 5.5 K/9 rate.  That said, here's a kid who's been pitching in a complete bandbox, only allowed 1 home run and 6 walks in 56 innings and has allowed under a hit an inning.  While I don't know of any resource that has G/F rates for the VSL, these statistics make it look pretty safe to guess that he induces a lot of ground balls. 

Obviously, he has a long way to go and it's hard to get excited about a prospect before he's set foot on US soil.  Still, despite Hernandez's monster season in Venezuela, I'd guess that this kid in the long-run turns out to be the better prospect.

For the peanut gallery - are there any other Rays prospects out there you feel are flying way under the radar?

Thursday, July 14

Eurosport 2 (UK, France), 2 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. local), Lee Haskins vs. Mohamed Bouleghcha, Souleymane M'Baye vs. Ismael El Massoudi.  M'Baye makes the first defense of his interim "title" against El Massoudi, a fellow Frenchman who has tended to lose when he steps up.  M'Baye is a decent fighter and still seems to have something left, but God forbid the WBA actually enforce a mandatory though.  Regular "titlist" Vyacheslav Senchenko has been defending once a year against abysmal competiition for a while now.  Former two-weight class Commonwealth titlist Haskins attempts a move up to bantamweight after being very inactive for the last couple years.  His opponent's best fight was a close loss to Stefane Jamoye.

Friday, July 15

Fox Sports 1 (Australia), 6 a.m. Eastern (8 p.m. local), Nader Hamdan vs. Daniel Pawsey, Billel Dib vs. Luke Norton.  Dib is a 2-0 prospect who is the younger brother of Billal "Billy" Dub.

Eurosport (Germany), 3 p.m. Eastern (9 p.m. local), Firat Arslan vs. Lubos Suda, Nikola Sjekloka vs. Khoren Gevor.  Former titlist Arslan says he's targeting Marco Huck, but he's lost two of his last three (including to Steve Herelius) and is now 40 years old, so the clock is ticking against him.  Sjekloca is an undefeated super middleweight prospect whose paper record looks decent, but this is his first time fighting outside of the former Yugoslavia.  Gevor used to be one of my favorite fighters, but after attacking the referee at the end of his last fight (against Robert Steiglitz), I'm shocked he can even get licensed and a little sickened that they're letting him step in the ring.

GoFightLive.tv, 7:30 p.m. Eastern ($9.99), Gabriel Rosado vs. Allan Conyers.  This could be a decent scrap between two Philly-based gatekeepers who like to bring heat.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Pawel Wolak vs. Delvin Rodriguez, Raymond Serrano vs. Daniel Sostre.  Wolak has crept up into BLH's top 10 at 154 on the strength of beating Yuri Foreman and always being in solid fights.  Rogriguez is pretty similar to Foreman, only with less of a chin and maybe a bit more power.  He's moving up from 147, where he was one of the most consistently robbed fighters out there.  He's not spectacular, but he's fun to watch, and his real-life record should probably be 29-2 instead of 25-5-2.  Serrano is an undefeated prospect with some decent skills. 

Direct TV (Argentina), 9 p.m. Eastern (10 p.m. local), Fernando David Saucedo vs. Carlos Ricardo Rodriguez, Marcelino Nicolas Lopez vs. Gustavo Davis Bermudez.  Saucedo's claim to fame was being a title challenger against Chris John, despite scoring 3 knockouts in 41 wins.  Lopez is undefeated, albeit exclusively against domestic competition.

Showtime, 11:05 p.m. Eastern, Diego Magdaleno vs. Alejandro Perez, Casey Ramos vs. Georgi Kevlishvili.  Top Rank has high hopes for Magdaleno, who they consider to be one of their top prospects.  Perez was once a decent prospect himself, and last time out flattened Antonio Escalante Jr. in one.  I haven't heard much of Ramos before, but he's undefeated as well.  As an aside, I can't remember the last time Top Rank hosted a ShoBox fight.  Perhaps this is one of their efforts to deepen the relationship.  Between a weekly show on Fox Sports, a few ESPN appearances, PPVs, HBO and now Showtime, they have to be averaging promoting over a card a week at this point.  It takes incredible depth of the stable to be able to pull something like that off.  This week, they're hoping you bounce straight from ESPN to Showtime to catch four hours of Top Rank boxing in a row.

TeleFutura, 11:35 p.m. Eastern,  Jayson Velez vs. Carlos Valcarcel, Eddie Gomez vs. Johnuel Tapia.  This week, we get showcases for a couple of undefeated prospects.  Gomez is a Puerto Rican from the Bronx who has been mostly fighting on the island.  Abner Cotto will also fight on the card.  Cotto seems a lot more like cousin Jose than cousin Miguel, but he had a solid amateur career at lightweight. 

A bunch more fights on Saturday, after the jump.

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Friday, July 8

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Francisco Sierra vs. Jesus Gonzales, Yaundale Evans vs. Emmanuel Lucero.  The main event of this one looks good on paper, but it's hard to tell exactly where Gonzales is these days.  Since getting wiped out by Edison Miranda in a round, Sierra has come back with some solid wins over Don George and Jose Luis Lopez, as well as a draw with Dyah Davis (who subsequently upset Marcus Johnson) to pretty firmly entrench himself as a fringe contender in the super middleweight division.  Gonzales was once an exciting fighter, but he's taken a few years off and hasn't really stepped back up since coming back, other than a win over Dhafir Smith.  Evans is a super featherweight prospect taking a big step up against former contender Lucero, who himself was retired for a few years before recently coming back to action.  Lucero has a penchant for getting knocked out, so if Evans can take care of him early, that will help establish that he's someone to watch.

TeleFutura, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Jesse Vargas vs. Walter Estrada.  Golden Boy has some high hopes behind Vargas, a big puncher who fights mean.  After a joke win over a shell of Vivian Harris, Vargas takes a true step up here against Estrada, who has always been the opponent but has a long history of upsetting prospects. 

Saturday, July 9

Canal Indigo PPV (Quebec), Bell TV PPV (elsewhere in Canada), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Lucian Bute vs. Jean Paul Mendy, Viorel Simion vs. Jun Talape, Pier Olivier Cote vs. Pedro Navarette, Renan St. Juste vs. Jaudiel Zepeda, Bogdan Dinu vs. TBA.  As we've already covered, this is a pretty weak defense by Bute, but it's his mandatory.  If he was going to make it back to Romania for a fight, this was probably the one.  The other fights are mostly showcases and filler.  Dinu is one person worth mentioning at least as a heavyweight with a decent amateur career who has recently followed over his countrymen Bute and Adrian Diaconu to Canada to fight professionally.  Brick's pick: This one should be a blowout.  Bute has been known to start late sometimes, but the way Sakio Bika brutalized him, I suspect Bute will try to start quickly and give his hometown crowd a real show.  Bute TKO-1.

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Brandon Rios vs. Urbano Antillon, Kermit Cintron vs. Carlos Molina.  On paper, the main event is a can't-miss fight.  Both guys are big punchers who never take a backwards step, work the body well and like to grind down opponents before eventually knocking them out.  While Rios can sometimes act like a bag of dicks, there's a reason why in the ring he's become a fan favorite.  Antillon is tough as nails and is a better boxer than he's sometimes given credit for.  Cintron gets his first televised fight since flopping against Paul Williams, and quite frankly, I'd be a lot more excited if they were showing Mercito Gesta's fight instead.  Brick's Pick:  While Rios is younger, fresher and probably a little better, there is one big difference between the two, which is that Antillon is a fast starter and Rios is a slow starter.  No matter which way this goes, it looks to be a war of attrition.  While it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Antillon is able to hurt Rios early, dent his chin a bit and pull off the upset, I think Rios will be able to ride out the early storm and come on strong later while earning a late stoppage.  Rios TKO-11. 

HBO, 10:15 p.m. Eastern, Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara, Akifumi Shimoda vs. Rico Ramos.  Williams has taken some serious time off since getting knocked out cold by Sergio Martinez his last time out.  Before then, he was a top 10 pound for pound guy, albeit one with a ton of holes in his game.  He's really tall, but he doesn't fight tall, and at the end of the day he's really an awkward volume puncher without much regard for defense.  Lara was touted as a top prospect, and was a top amateur, but his career seems to have stalled out, and he looked pretty bad in getting gifted a draw against Carlos Molina his last time out.  Shimoda dominated Ryol Li Lee to win a title his last fight, while Ramos has been Goosen Tutor's best looking prospect for a while now.  Shimoda is now the second Teiken fighter to come over to the US (and I believe the first ever Japanese fighter to attempt a defense of his title stateside).  The last one who came over as an apparent stepping stone for a touted American prospect was Nobuhiro Ishida against James Kirkland, and we all know how that one went.  Brick's Picks:  While Lara just hasn't looked that great recently, Williams still remains wide open to a lot of shots.  That could mean bad news against a tricky southpaw counterpuncher who likes to pick his spots.  Fortunately, Paul has a very high and flashy workrate, while Lara sometimes seems hesitant to throw at all.  I think Williams will eke out a decision that people who prefer accurate punching will call a robbery.  The undercard fight is the real treat here though.  I think this will be a massive coming out party for Ramos, who is just too quick, too strong and too skilled for reigning titlist Shimoda.  Williams SD-12, Ramos UD-12. 

Televisa (Mexico), approx 12:00 a.m. Eastern, Hugo Cazares vs. Arturo Badillo.  Cazares takes another relatively soft defense here against Badillo, a fellow Mexican who lost to Roland Barrera the only time he really stepped up previously.  Nonetheless, Cazares always makes good fights, and he doesn't use an easy fight as an excuse to fight easy.

Also in action this weekend - Giacobbe Fragomeni, Giuseppe Lauri, Daiki Kameda, Tomoki Kameda, Mercito Gesta, Matt Korobov, Mike Lee, Cris Arreola vs. Friday Ahunanya, Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Tomas Villa, Carson Jones. 

Friday, July 1

Thailand 3, circa 5:00 a.m. Eastern, Pongsaklek Wonjongkam vs. Takuya Kogawa.  True flyweight champ Pongsaklek continues his normal career pattern with this one.  He'll have a really good fight or two, usually earned by way of manddatory, and then go back into hiding in Thailand, making title defenses against mediocre opposition while staying very busy.  He goes for win #81 (and the 20th title defense of his career) against Kogawa, a middling Japanese fighter who has spent most of his career at bantamweight.  Fear not though - Edgar Sosa is Pong's mandatory, has made it very clear that he wants the fight, and says he'll be taking that fight next if he wins this weekend.

ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Mark Melligan vs. Sebastian Lujan, Mickey Bey Jr. vs. Alejandro Rodriguez.  Melligan and Bey are Top Rank prospects who have both struggled recently.  For whatever reason, the Bobfather has tried to build him up as the next big Pinoy thing, except that he just isn't that good and there are about a dozen other Filipino fighters who would be more deserving.  Lujan is a tough, tough late replacement, who since practically getting his ear lopped off by Tony Margarito has rattled off some decent wins over Jose Luis Castillo, Walter Matthysse, Charlie Navarro and Jorge Daniel Miranda.  Bey was lucky to earn a draw with Jose Hernandez, who had lost his previous three in a row, his last time out.  Rodriguez has a similar profile to Hernandez. Note that this one won't be on ESPN2. Brick's Pick: Melligan has had some trouble with guys who bring pressure and guys who box well in the past; Lujan can do both.  While Melligan is the theoretical A-side and the house fighter, if he manages to win this one other than controversially, I'll consider it an upset.  Lujan TKO-8. 

TeleFutura, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Frankie Gomez vs. Khadaphi Proctor, Randy Caballero vs. Alexis Santiago.  Golden Boy puts up two of its main blue chip prospects to headline this one.  Gomez has been seen before, and he was a top amateur champion at a young age (and the primary rival to Jose Benavidez Jr.) along with seeming to be a pretty exciting and aggressive fighter overall.  Proctor has been the B-side to a lot of prospect fights, but he's managed to pull off a couple of upsets.  This is probably the first good look most fans will get of Caballero, who is represented by Al Haymon and thus it's probably just a matter of time before he becomes HBO's next hype job.  Santiago is undefeated, but against a less than overwhelming slate of opponents.

Saturday, July 2

Sky Box Office (UK), Main Event (Australia), Polsat Sport (Poland), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye, Ola Afolabi vs. Terry Dunstan, Ashley Sexton vs. Mike Robinson.  We'll be having a lot of coverage this week on the biggest heavyweight fight in recent memory.  As shouldn't be any surprise, the undercard is typical Klitschko dreck, but at least people won't be subjected to an Alexander Ustinov fight.  Brick's Pick:  I'll go into much more detail later in the week, but I think this is pretty likely to be a dud of a fight where Haye makes it interesting for a round or two, gets smacked hard once, and then you end up with two tentative fighters who won't do much until Wlad turns up the pressure late and knocks Haye out.  Basically a redux of the Chambers fight.  Klitschko TKO-11.  Bad Left Hook will have live round by round coverage of this card.

HBO, RTL (Germany), 4:45 p.m. Eastern, Wladimir Klitschko vs. David Haye.  Here's to hoping the first of Wladimir's fights to be aired on HBO in years isn't as bad as the last few that did. 

Fox Sports Net, Fox Deportes, TV Azteca (Mexico), 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Hernan "Tyson" Marquez vs. Edren Dapudong, Daniel Rosas vs. Federico Catubay.  After getting shellacked by Nonito Donaire not long ago, Marquez scored a major upset in defeating Luis Concepcion for a title in a serious fight of the year candidate.  His first defense is a relatively easy one, and probably the kind of defense he needs, against Dapudong, who has a bit of pop in his fists but has generally lost when he's stepped up in class.  Rosas is only 11-0, but he won Campeon Azteca and has beaten several much more experienced fighters in and around bantamweight.  Catubay is a pretty standard gatekeeper these days, but this is a showcase for Rosas more than anything.

TyC Sports (Argentina), RPC (Panama), 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Celestino Caballero vs. Jonathan Victor Barros.   Caballero has said he'll retire if he doesn't win this one.  He's won big fights in his opponent's backyard before (Somsak Sithchatchawal, Steve Molitor, Lorenzo Parra), but he's just not the same animal at 126 as he was at 122.  Barros apprised himself well against Yuriorkis Gamboa and beat Victor Terrazas since then, so he's somewhat legitimized his paper title.  Brick's Pick:  Echoing my sentiments from when the fight was originally scheduled, I do think Caballero will be just a little too much for Barros, and he always seems to step up his game when the marbles are on the line.  Caballero TKO-9.

Televisa Deportes (Mexico), circa 12:00 p.m. Eastern, Edgar Sosa vs. Julio Paz, Giovanni Caro vs. Simphiwe Vetekya.  As mentioned above, Sosa is the mandatory to face lineal flyweight titlist Pongsaklek Wonjongkam.  He takes a tune-up against Paz, who I know little about other than that he has a 12-1 record fighting exclusively in Uruguay, which probably tells you as much as you need to know about his chances of winning this one.  Caro and Vetekya face off in an eliminator for the right to face Toshiaki Nishioka.  Caro has an ugly 22-8-4 record, and a history of getting knocked out, but he's gone undefeated in his last eight fights against decent competition.  Vetekya, on the other hand, has a much prettier 22-1 record, but has barely fought since keeping it close against Hozumi Hasegawa in 2007. 

Also in smaller fights this week: Chauncey Welliver (in China of all places),  Masaaki Serie, Timur Ibragimov, Carlos Negron, McWilliams Arroyo, Billy Lyell, Darnell Boone, Ronald Cruz, Luciano Cuello, Ricardo Castillo, Jorge Paez Jr., Cristian Esquivel, Ricardo Nunez, Anthony Dirrell, Wes Ferguson and Jonathon Banks. 

While there's nothing spectacular going on this weekend, boy is it loaded with televised fights.

Thursday, June 23

Fox Sports Net, http://www.ustream.tv/goldenboy, 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Fight Night Club.  No recognizable names on this week's docket, but sometimes they have entertaining low-level bouts.  The closest thing to a prospect here is Irishman Jamie Kavanagh. 

Friday, June 24

Fox Sports (Australia), 6:00 a.m. Eastern, Kali Meehan vs. Michael Kirby.  Meehan had a pretty good run as a part-time fighter and full-time construction worker.  At 41 years of age, after fighting for the title once and in multiple title eliminators, as well as winning a slew of regional trinkets, it appears he's decided that the time for him to win a major title has passed, so he's fighting for the WBF version of the heavyweight title so he can someday tell his grandkids that he was a world champion.  This doesn't appear to be farewell quite yet though - he and fellow Aussie Alex Leapai have been having a war of words through the media, so expect him to keep on trucking.

ESPN2, ESPN 3D, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, John Molina vs. Robert Frankel, Mauricio Herrera vs. Mike Dallas Jr..  Molina and Herrera each bumped themselves up to fringe contender status by scoring upset wins over heralded prospects in the recent past, Molina by knocking out Hank Lundy, and Herrera by outpointing Ruslan Provodnikov.  Dallas was himself a well-regarded prospect until recently when he was dominated and stopped by Josesito Lopez.  In case it gets to a swing bout, former Olympian and troubled soul Ricardo Williams Jr. is also slated to fight on the card.  Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.

Gofightlive.tv ($9.99), 9:00 p.m. Eastern, David Rodriguez vs. Owen Beck.  Rodriguez is now 33 years old and 34-0 as a professional fighter.  Yet Beck, who has lost his last four in a row and seriously looked awful in his last one, is still a pretty major step up.  He's a local attraction in El Paso, and that's all he desires to be, it so appears.

Telefutura, 11:30 p.m. Eastern, James Kirkland vs. Dennis Sharpe, Brian Vera vs. Eloy Suarez.  Kirkland's trials and tribulations have been well documented, and now he starts on his second comeback in as many fights.  He seemed like one of the hottest prospects out there when he went to prison, and was promptly knocked out by light hitting Nobuhiro Ishida in his first televised fight back.  Sharpe is even less of a threat than Ishida, but Kirkland needs the confidence builder.  Golden Boy got options on Vera after he beat Sergio Mora, and it seems they're actually trying to build him into a viable attraction.  His record on it's face doesn't look so great lately, as he's 3-4 in his last seven, but the wins came over Mora, Andy Lee and Sebastien Demers, two of the losses came to Kirkland and Craig McEwan, and the other two losses were of the hometown dispute variety.  Bad Left Hook will have live coverage.

Telemundo, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Jesus Pabon vs. Javier Castro.  Pabon has been building a following among the Miami area's Puerto Rican community. 

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Friday, June 17

TVMax 9 (Panama), Approx 8 p.m. Eastern, Anselmo Moreno vs. Lorenzo Parra, Gennady Golovkin vs. Kassim Ouma.  Moreno and Parra are both ranked around the back end of the top 10 at super bantamweight, but I can't think of a much uglier fight on paper.  Both guys are dirty, defensive minded fighters who have been accused of running in the past.  On the other hand, the main undercard fight could be a good one.  Ouma isn't the workhorse he once was when he was a titlist at 154 pounds, but he's acquitted himself well lately and is still a much better fighter than his recent record indicates.  Golovkin is one of the top middleweights in the world and a potential future star, but is toiling in obscurity in Panama while he waits for a legal situation with his promoter to work itself out.  I'm not sure that Ouma at his best could have beaten the current version of Golovkin, but this should be a good measuring stick to see where Golovkin stands today, and it still is probably his best opponent to date.  Alberto Mosquera and Irving Berry will also be fighting on the card.  As usual, TVMax 9 has legal, live streaming available at http://www.tvmax-9.com/.  The cards usually start early, but they usually play the entire undercard before the main fights, so expect the main events to start closer to 11 p.m. Eastern after FNF is over.

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Fernando Guerrero vs. Grady Brewer, Karim Mayfield vs. Stevie Forbes.  Guerrero has been lauded here for an exciting style and an ability to draw well in his hometown, but his career seems to have been moving sideways lately.  Brewer is a tricky fighter who can present some problems, but is probably still a step back from Ishe Smith, who Guerrero eked out a decision against about a year ago.  The biggest news is that this one is at light middleweight rather than middleweight, and that Guerrero's frame (together with a lack of any real standout talents in the division) makes him more likely to do serious damage in that weight class in the future.  Forbes lost to Brewer in the finals of the second season of The Contender, and since then went to the top (fighting Oscar de la Hoya) and the bottom (losing to Harrison Cuello in early 2010).  The shell of the former lightweight titlist is 3-6 in his last nine and fighting well over his best weight.  Mayfield is an undefeated, smallish welterweight prospect who I assume is there to look good against an old Forbes. 

Telefutura, 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Gary Russell Jr. vs. Antonio Meza, Jermell Charlo vs. Larry Smith.  Russell was thought to be the best pro prospect out of the most recent class of U.S. Olympians, but never got to fight when he failed to make weight.  Now 15-0 as a pro, Meza is a decent step up who was once a fringe contender, but has now lost five in a row, all against decent competition (including a disputed loss against Daud Yordan).  Charlo is an undefeated welterweight prospect who hasn't done too much to distinguish himself except that his actual level of opposition has been pretty high for a kid with his level of experience. Smith has a decent looking 9-3 record, but has been knocked out before and most of the wins came against woeful competition. 

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In today's conference call, Carl Froch mentioned that he really wished championship fights were still 15 rounds long.  It's not hard to picture how the complexion of any given fight may have changed if there were 15 rounds instead of 12.  Librado Andrade would have almost certainly knocked out Lucian Bute in the opening seconds of round 13 of their first fight.  Certain fighters who fight aggressively might fight less so to conserve energy for the extra three rounds.  Fighters who don't have much wasted movement would probably have an advantage in the later rounds.

What modern era fighters do you think would have been greater than they are if fights still had 15 rounds?  I do think Carl Froch falls into that category - he seems to always have the fitness to go hard in the last round.  Who else might have more of an advantage?  Here's a few I think would have done better, based on both their styles and their stamina:

• Marcos Maidana
• Glen Johnson
• Librado Andrade (although his prime already seems to be over)
• Orlando Salido
• Humberto Soto

Who do you think would have done better?

Conversely, who would have been much worse if fights were 15 rounds?  The only person I can think of off the top of my head is Jermain Taylor, but surely there are others?  Would Bernard Hopkins still be able to fight at his level at his age if he had to worry about three extra rounds?

It's a holiday weekend in the US as well as a UFC weekend, so not a lot of big fights going on this weekend.

Friday, May 27

Sport1 (Germany), 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Lukas Konecny vs. Hussein Bayram.  Konecny defends his European light middleweight title.  Since losing a close one to Sergei Dzinziruk in one of the better European fights in recent memory, Konecny has used his forward-moving, non-stop motion style to mow over some decent European level opposition.  Bayram isn't too bad himself, once staying competitive for a few rounds with Dzinziruk and losing a very close one to Zauerbek Baysangurov. 

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Chris Arreola vs. Kendrick Releford, Tony Thompson vs. Maurice Harris.  Arreola is back in the best shape of his career, which is still somewhat round, but a heck of an improvement from where he was in his biggest fights.  Releford doesn't have a great record, but he's fought mostly good fighters and can actually box a little, although he's really a cruiserweight masquerading as a heavyweight.  Think the Zack Page spoiler type.  Thompson-Harris is an IBF #2 eliminator, meaning the winner will need to face Eddie Chambers for the right to fight for the title.  Since losing to Wladimir Klitschko (and putting up as good of a showing as anyone since the first Sam Peter fight), he's won four somewhat lackluster knockout victories over decent but not great opposition, and he's started to look his age a bit.  Harris is no spring chicken himself, but after a long career as a gatekeeper, he's knocked off four straight wins over some other gatekeepers and gets this shot.  Bad Left Hook will have live coverage of this card.

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Friday, May 20

Eurosport (Germany), 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Bradley Pryce vs. Sergei Rabchenka.  Former longtime Commonwealth titlist Pryce has looked faded of late, but got a bit of a boost by coming in second place in a recent Prizefighter tournament.  Rabchenka is 16-0, fighting mostly out of Belarus, and the only recognizable name on his resume is a quick knockout of Martin Concepcion.

ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Joel Julio vs. Agnes Adjaho, Sadam Ali vs. John Revish.  The "Love Child" keeps plugging along and seems to be retooling his defensive skills en route to moving towards another welterweight title shot.  He's scored a few good wins, but no great ones, and has lost whenever he's stepped up.  Adjaho is a tougher opponent than he's often given credit for, but he's also a natural lightweight.  Ali was a 2008 Olympian who has obvious talent but also a serious penchant for showboating.  I've seen press materials saying this one airs on ESPN2 in addition to ESPN Deportes, but ESPN's schedule doesn't list it there, so who knows.  Bad Left Hook will have live round by round coverage of this card.

Telefutura, 11:30 p.m. Eastern, Christopher Martin vs. Charles Huerta, Ronny Rios vs. Georgi Kevlishvili.  Martin, the "S.D. Kid", is a solid super bantamweight prospect who has built up a 21-0 record, including wins over Chris Avalos and Jose Luis Araiza.  He's not a puncher and he's not super exciting, so he'll probably never be a star, but he's a solid fighter to watch.  Huerta is an exciting fighter who has been a Fight Night Club mainstay, but who is probably a class or two down from Martin.  Rios is a decent undefeated prospect as well, taking on a 12-1 Georgian with pillows for fists.  All in all, this is a solid Solo Boxeo card, and it's nice to see that Golden Boy has been putting together better cards for this lately.

Telemundo, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Jesus Ruiz vs. Jesus Galicia. 

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We have an absolutely stacked month here, quite possibly the best month of boxing since Bad Left Hook has started this feature.  There are probably about five fights this month that don't even make it on the poll that would have been likely winners in some other months.

Previous winners:

January - Timothy Bradley TD-10 Devon Alexander (30%)

February -  Brandon Rios TKO-10 Miguel Acosta (59%)

March - (Tie) Roman Gonzalez UD-12 Chango Vargas / Andy Lee TKO-10 Craig McEwan (25%)

And the nominees for this month are...

Hernan "Tyson" Marquez TKO-11 Luis "El Nica" Concepcion - After a crazy first round in which both men were knocked down, this one turned into a war, with lots of ebb and flow in the early rounds.  Whenever one fighter started to take control, the other would land a few powerful shots to get back in the fight.  In the second half of the bout, Marquez started to wear down El Nica, eventually getting a controversial stoppage where the referee stepped in during the middle of a punch by Concepcion.

Marcos Maidana UD-12 Erik Morales - Since losing the third fight of his trilogy against Manny Pacquiao, common logic dictated that Morales was toast.  For one night, the veteran warrior turned up the heat and pulled out one more great performance, albeit in a losing effory.  Maidana was himself - unrelenting and powerful - but Morales used his craftiness to war back and make a nearly even fight, despite having a swollen eye for nearly the entire fight.

Victor Ortiz UD-12 Andre Berto - In his first fight at welterweight, Victor Ortiz proved that's probably where he should have been fighting all along.  From the start, he came out aggressive, knocking down Berto in the first round and dominating the first two and a half.  Berto showed some life by returning the favor in the third, and while he never fully recovered from getting hurt in the first, he continued to fight aggressively and exchange hard punches with Ortiz in the middle of the ring.  While there were a few momentum shifts, Ortiz was mostly able to stay in control to become the new kid on the block at welterweight.

Orlando Salido TKO-8 Juan Manuel Lopez - Part of what makes Lopez so exciting to watch is his vulnerability, and unfortunately for him, that was on full display here, with the Puerto Rican earning his first career loss.  Salido was able to draw Lopez into a brawl and consistently hurt him, eventually forcing a somewhat controversial stoppage that probably robbed Salido of a true knockout.

Francisco Leal SD-10 Robert Marroquin - This was supposed to be a major step up for prospect Marroquin, and it turned out to be an even sterner test than expected.  While Marroquin was the better boxer, Leal wouldn't back down and fought hard and dirty, exchanging hard shots with his fists and causing some cuts and swelling with his head.  Looking very beaten up, Marroquin didn't back down, and continued to brawl instead of box, which led to a very entertaining bout.

Stephen Smith MD-12 John Simpson - In 24 collective rounds, these two men have fought hard and nearly even, with Smith barely earning the victory both times.  There was a lot of back and forth action, and both fighters stayed busy throughout.  After appearing to run out of gas mid-fight, Smith was able to come back strong in the later rounds to nick the fight.

Adrian Hernandez TKO-11 Gilberto Keb Baas - I haven't caught this one yet, but it was another very strong fight, and I'll go with Scott's words here:

Baas held up with Hernandez in the early rounds, but eventually found himself on the receiving end of many hard right hands. Though Baas wouldn't go down or even so much as back off for more than a moment, the fight was stopped after 10 rounds, with an exhausted Baas conceding defeat to his stronger foe.

Honorable mentions: Darren Barker UD-12 Domenico Spada, Chris John UD-12 Daud Yordan, Luis Cruz UD-10 Martin Honorio, Lee Purdy TKO-5 Craig Watson, Vic Darchinyan TD-5 Yonnhy Perez, Omar Narvaez UD-12 Cesar Seda, Yota Sato UD-10 Kohei Kono, Nobuhiro Ishida TKO-1 James Kirkland, Jhonny Gonzalez TKO-4 Hozumi Hasegawa, Toshiaki Nishioka TKO-9 Mauricio Javier Munoz, Hank Lundy UD-10 Patrick Lopez.

Thursday, May 5

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($9.99), Edgar Santana vs. Robert Jones.  Santana has become a local favorite in the NYC area.  Oddly, this appears to be the only 'televised' fight anywhere on Cinco de Mayo itself.  Usually there would at least be a couple of Mexican bouts on this day.

Friday, May 6

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Diego Magdaleno vs. Gilberto Sanchez Leon, Bernabe Concepcion vs. Juan Carlos Martinez.  In what I can only assume is an effort to cross-promote the Pacquiao-Mosley fight, Top Rank actually hosts this date of Friday Night Fights.  Magdaleno is a cutie southpaw with an undefeated record, and Leon is a light-hitting journeyman with a solid chin who's been known to brawl.  Concepcion takes his first fight in nearly a year since getting knocked out by Juan Manuel Lopez in a title shot.  Notre Dame alum Mike Lee will also fight on the card, and I assume they'll show him in a swing bout.

Telefutura, 11:35 p.m. Eastern, Librado Andrade vs. Aaron Pryor Jr., Enrique Ornelas vs. Hector Hernandez.  This main event could be somewhat interesting.  Pryor doesn't have the skills of his father, or the power, but he certainly has the length.  While he lost his last time out to prospect Edwin Rodriguez, he also has a recent victory over Dyah Davis that looks a lot better now than it did at the time.  Andrade is known for relentlessly coming forward and throwing punches, eventually wearing his opponents out.  However, his previously granite chin has started to show a few cracks, and it will be interesting to see how much longer he can have success.  Ornelas is coming back from a title fight loss against Robert Stieglitz in a bout he probably had no business being offered in the first place. It's also worth mentioning that, despite different last names, Andrade and Ornelas are brothers, and this is the first time in quite a while they'll be fighting on the same card.  Brick's Pick - Pryor doesn't carry enough power to deter Andrade at this point, and after enough attacks on that skinny body of his, Pryor will weaken and eventually go down.  Andrade KO-6. 

Saturday, May 7

TBS (Japan), 6:00 a.m. Eastern, Koki Kameda vs. Daniel Diaz, Tomoki Kameda vs. Nathan Bolcio.  It seems that Kameda's hype train has died down somewhat in Japan lately, but he keeps trucking along and will attempt the first defense of his bantamweight paper title.  Diaz has a decent 18-2 record, but his opponents are largely unknowns and he's never fought outside of Central America.  Tomoki, the youngest of the Kameda brothers, has typically fought in Mexico more than Japan, but he returns home for what looks like a showcase bout, though I'm not sure if that one is airing live (or at all).  Undefeated super featherweight Masao Nakamura will also fight on the card.

Sky Sports 1 (UK), 4:00 p.m. Eastern, Prizefighter heavyweights, featuring Juan Carlos Gomez, Konstantin Airich, Kevin Johnson, Gregory Tony, Michael Sprott, Mike Perez, Tye Fields and the almighty TBA.  This is the first Prizefighter tournament to be made open to fighters outside of the UK, so it's no surprise that, on paper, this is easily the best field in Prizefighter history.  The field features a former cruiserweight titlist (Gomez), a hotshot prospect (Perez), a comebacking title challenger (Johnson), a faded former title challenger but local favorite (Sprott), a couple solid European level fighters (Tony and Airich), and a guy who's, well, really really big (Fields).  Brick's pick: I'm going in a completely different direction on this one.  In this field, I do believe the only guys with little chance of winning are Sprott and Airich.  Gomez may be the most talented of the bunch, but a three-round format doesn't play well to his strengths.  Even before a putrid performance against Vitali Klitschko, Johnson made it a habit of nicking rounds rather than trying to dominate, so I see him losing somewhere in here and complaining loudly about it.  Fields may even pull off an upset or two - once someone catches him on the chin, he's out, but until then his high workrate style will play well in this format.  But I think the two guys with the best shot here are Perez and Tony.  Perez might be the most skillful fighter after Gomez, and he's aggressive, which will play well here.  He's also undersized and doesn't pack a big punch, which will play against him.  He's a longshot, but between his size and his punch (and the relative lack of other punchers in the tournament, since Tony doesn't seem to be able to handle punchers well), I'm picking Gregory Tony to win this.

ARD (Germany), Main Event PPV (Australia), 5:00 p.m. Eastern, Sebastian Sylvester vs. Daniel Geale, Eduard Gutknecht vs. Danny McIntosh.  Liliputian middleweight Sylvester has gotten a lot of mileage out of being a halfway decent German, and if this bout wasn't at home, I'd be confident that this is the end of his reign.   Geale is a pretty good boxer, though he's not a knockout threat, and he may need that in Germany.  Gutknecht and McIntosh will face off for the European light heavyweight title, which is a darn good matchup for that trinket.  Brick's picks - I don't see Geale having a problem using his length advantage to easily outbox Sylvester.  Here's to hoping justice actually prevails.  I think McIntosh is just a hair better than Gutknecht overall, but Gutknecht is hard to hit and has the home field advantage.  Geale UD-12, Gutknecht SD-12.

Independent PPV, ViaSat PPV (Denmark), 6:00 p.m. Eastern, Evander Holyfield vs. Brian Nielsen, Kubrat Pulev vs. Derric Rossy, Dustin Dirks vs. Patrick Maxwell, Cecilia Braekhus vs. Chevelle Hallback.  The main event of this one will see over 90 years of experience in the ring.  That's not a good thing.  The undercard is actually fairly solid.  Pulev is one of the best heavyweight prospects at the moment, and will take on Rossy, a pretty decent boxer who generally has lost when he's stepped up his level of competition.  Dirks is an undefeated prospect at super middleweight, but probably in the second tier of prospects in that weight class.  Braekhus is a women's champ who is wildly popular in Denmark.

Toprank.com, around 7:00 p.m. Eastern, Rodel Mayol vs. Javier Gallo, Jose Benavidez Jr. vs. James Hope, Pier Olivier Cote vs. Ariz Ambriz.  Top Rank will be airing the untelevised undercard of Pacquiao-Mosley for free, likely on the PPV channel before the card 'starts' at 8:30, likely on their website, and likely on Yahoo.com.  Benavidez is the showcase here.  While the 18-year old uberprospect recently parted ways with Freddie Roach, he's still about as bright of a prospect as there is out there.  Hope has lost three of his last four by knockout, and nine of Benavidez's 10 wins have come by knockout, so you do the math.

Showtime PPV, Sky Sports 1 (UK), Main Event (Australia), 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley, Kelly Pavlik vs. Alfonso Lopez, Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. vs. Jorge Arce, Mike Alvarado vs. Ray Narh.  We'll have tons of Pacman vs. Sugar Shane coverage during the week, so I won't focus on that one here.  Lopez seems like a safe comeback bout for Pavlik, who moves up to super middleweight.  Lopez is undefeated, but also mostly untested.  Vazquez-Arce is a changing of the guard fight, although Arce is WAY over his best weight and might be the oldest 33 year old out there.  Alvarado and Narh both have good records, but neither is really a prospect at this point.  Alvarado at least tends to make good fights, and it seems relatively evenly matched, so the late replacement bout may still wind up being the fight of the card.  Brick's Picks - Pacquiao UD12 Mosley, Pavlik TKO-7 Lopez, Vazquez TKO-6 Arce, Alvarado controversial UD-10 over Narh.  Bad Left Hook will have live round by round coverage of this card.

TyC Sports (Argentina), 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Diego Gabriel Chaves vs. Hector Carlos Santana.  Both fighters are undefeated welterweights with impressive knockout numbers, albeit exclusively against Argentinian competition. 

• For those of you in the northeast, there will be a decent card at the Foxwoods on Friday night, featuring raw but exciting puncher Vladine Biosse against tested veteran Saul Duran, and former title challenger Elvin Ayala against George Armenta. 
• Also in smaller bouts this weekend:  Carson Jones, Grady Brewer, Jose Alfaro, Jonathan Oquendo, Randy Caballero, Deontay Wilder, Karo Murat, Enad Licina and Edmund Gerber.

Tuesday, April 19

Thailand 7, circa 4:00 a.m. Eastern, Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym vs. Eric Barcelona, Kwanthai Sithmorseng vs. Muhammad Rachman.  Poonsawat has been keeping active since losing his title in a major upset late last year, with this being his third fight since then.  Barcelona is much better than his 51-19-4 record indicates.  He lost his last three, but all three were close losses on the road, including to Vic Darchinyan.  Sithmorseng makes the first defense of his minimumweight title against Rachman.  Sithmorseng is still pretty untested overall, despite a 31-0 record, While Rachman was once a legitimate titlist and long-time contender at the weight, he's now 39 years old and pretty close to being shot, having gone 2-5 in his last 7.

Friday, April 22

ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.com, 10:30 p.m. Eastern, Breidis Prescott vs. Bayan Jargal, Demetrius Andrade vs. Omar Bell.  Prescott's team has been milking his 15 minutes of fame from knocking out Amir Khan for as long as possible, somehow continuing to get him TV fights even though he's either struggled in or lost every single one other than his first round starching of Khan.  Jargal is a late replacement Mongolian living in the US who has a 15-1-2 record, but one that's very light and fluffy.  The only recognizable name on his record was a loss to Steve Upshur Chambers.  Bell is a small step up for the absurdly protected Andrade, which ain't saying much.  He's 8-1 against seemingly okay competition, although his loss was a first round knockout loss to Keith Thurman.   

Saturday, April 23

Gofightlive.tv, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Omar Sheika vs. Garrett Wilson.  Yup, Sheika's still fighting, and he's all the way up at cruiserweight now.  This is for a regional title, which is a little nutty.  Wilson did upset Aaron Williams (whose chin is already proven to be pretty bad at this point) his last time out, but he's 9-5 overall and has already been knocked out by Sheika previously.

Fox Sports Net, Fox Sports Espanol, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Robert Marroquin vs. Francisco Leal, Andy Ruiz Jr. vs. Angel Herrera.  Top Rank Live finally returns with a couple of their prospects headlining.  Marroquin gets his first headline spot, facing former tiitle challenger Leal in what looks like a pretty big step up for the Dallas featherweight.  With Juan Manuel Lopez getting upset this past weekend, look for Top Rank to start moving Marroquin quickly.  Andy Ruiz Jr. is a 9-0 heavyweight prospect who looks like Cris Arreola v2.0, including his aggression, his deceptive quickness, his tendency to block punches with his face and his breasts that jiggle just a little too much for my liking for a male professional athlete.  That said, Ruiz is only 21 years old and has gone down in weight steadily from fight to fight (debuting around 300 and down to about 255 these days), so maybe he won't have the same issues with lack of motivation.  He trains at Wild Card, so that can't hurt.  Or maybe he won't have Arreola's solid chin, without which he never would have become relevant to begin with.  And ooh oooh ooooh - Tom Zbikowski will be fighting on the card as well.

Shotwime, 10:30 p.m. Eastern, Abner Mares vs. Joseph Agbeko, Vic Darchinyan vs. Yonnhy Perez.  So far every weekend this month has had a great fight, and on paper, it looks like this card should continue that hot streak.  Mares-Agbeko is the final of Showtime's bantamweight tournament, and the winner should be lined up for some pretty big fights if they want to take them.  Both guys have better than recognized technical acumen, a tendency to get drawn into brawls and the ability to throw 1000 punches over 12 rounds.  If this one goes like I think it might, it could mean that April was a better month of fights than was the entire year of 2010.  Perez and Darchinyan face off in the loser's bracket, and could be a pretty solid fight as well.   Darchinyan was a half of my personal fight of the year for 2010 (his close loss to Mares), and Perez was involved in one of the top 5 fights of 2009 (his win over Joseph Agbeko, where he probably threw about 1600 punches).  If Vic is all there, this could be exciting, especially since Perez's team doesn't seem to be much for strategy.  Brick's picks: Mares may be the better boxer, but he had some trouble with Vic's awkwardness and hasn't seen someone who fights like Agbeko.  Agbeko's been inconsistent, but when he's on, he's really on.  I like Agbeko to edge out Mares in another fight of the year contender - Agbeko SD-12.  As for Vic and Yonnhy, Vic still has trouble with boxers with a chin, plus he still isn't a real bantamweight.  Unless Perez gets sloppy and gets caught, I think he rolls in this one - Perez UD-12.  Bad Left Hook will have live round by round coverage of this card.

In smaller bouts this weekend: BLH house fighter Martin Tucker (versus Nick Casal), Koji Sato, Julius Jackson, John Jackson, Alfred Tetteh, Monty Meza-Clay, DaVarryl Williamson vs. Mike Marrone, Ed Paredes vs. Cristian Favela, Luis Ortiz, Sonny Boy Jaro and Rolly Matsushita. 

Whoops, let this one slip by for a little while....

Previous winners

January - Timothy Bradley TD-10 Devon Alexander (30%)

February -  Brandon Rios TKO-10 Miguel Acosta (59%)

Due to trouble with the poll widget, please vote using the +1 format.  In the comments, I will list out the candidates, and if you vote for that fight, please reply to that candidate with a "+1" post.

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Wednesday, April 13

Main Event PPV (Australia), 5:00 a.m. Eastern, Anthony Mundine vs. Garth Wood II.  After the unpolished Wood already knocked the tar out of Mundine, they have the gall to charge AUS $50 for the rematch with no undercard to speak of.  They couldn't even get some bummy former rugby players to fill out the card with fights against bouncers and bar brawlers.  Brick's Pick: Mundine may have slowed down with age, but he'll find his legs enough to take the rematch.  Mundine UD-10.

Friday, April 15

Fox Sports 4 (Australia), 4:00 a.m. Eastern, Omar Shaick vs. Johannes Mwetupunga.

TyC Sports (Argentina), 8:00 p.m. Eastern, Omar Narvaez vs. Cesar Seda.  Has there ever been a guy with 20 title fight wins across two weight classes who has done less than Narvaez?  Seda is an undefeated but untested Puerto Rican who has shown a fair amount of pop recently.  His only notable win is over Omar Soto, who Narvaez also dominated.  Brick's Pick: Narvaez has shown chinks in the armor, but Seda will need a knockout in Argentina, and I doubt he gets it.  Narvaez UD-12, but the toughest fight he's had in a long time.

ESPN2, ESPN3.com, ESPN Deportes, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Ruslan Provodnikov vs. Ivan Popoca, Ji Hoon Kim vs. Marvin Quintero.  Provodnikov and Kim have both had recent runs of mediocre fighting, but both are good action fighters so this card doesn't particularly bother me.  Popoca is a 15-0 fighter, so the winner of the main event should come out looking pretty decent.  Kim-Quintero looks like fun on paper.  Both 'busted prospects' are very crude, can bang, and have displayed shaky chins, which should at least make for an entertaining finish.

HBO Latino, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Marcos Maidana vs. Erik Morales replay.  If you didn't have the chance to see this fight of the year candidate from the past weekend, you can check out the replay.

Televisa, 11:35 p.m., Eloy Perez vs. Alejandro Rodriguez.  Golden Boy has been pushing Perez, who has struggled in quite a few fights of late.  Rodriguez has a light 12-1 record, so this one may help him build back some confidence.

Saturday, April 16

Primetime (UK), 3:00 p.m. Eastern, Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey.  It should be a gimme fight for Khan - McCloskey has an undefeated record, but has been relatively protected, and is a guy who's gotten there on guts a lot more than talent.  Assuming the UK broadcast gets picked up by Primetime, the undercard is decent but not great, featuring Rendall Munroe vs. fringe contender Andrei Isaeu, a solid domestic clash between Craig Watson and Lee Purdy, and a fringe title fight between Martin Murray and John Anderson Carvalho (who once lost a wide decision to Sebastian Zbik, which tells you a lot about his talent level).  Brick's Pick: McCloskey doesn't have particularly troubling power, so expect Khan to be more aggressive in this one.  A knockout is unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if Khan is so dominant that his corner or the referee eventually just stops the fight.  Khan RTD-9.

Gofightlive.tv, 8:00 p.m. Eastern ($9.99), Evgeny Gradovich vs. Juan Dominguez, Scott Sigmon vs. Tiwon Taylor, Elijah McCall vs. Matt Green.  Can't say I know much about Gradovich or Dominguez, but they're both undefeated featherweights early in their careers.  Gradovich had an okay amateur career, but supposedly his style is suited well for the pros.  He has sort of an interesting story, adjusting to the U.S. after coming from a town of 10,000 in the middle of nowhere in northern Siberia.  They'll be fighting for a minor trinket.  McCall ain't his dad, and has already been knocked out more often than pops.

HBO, 9:45 p.m. Eastern, Andre Berto vs. Victor Ortiz, Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey.  This one could be interesting or it could be a complete dud.  Both Berto and Ortiz have been relentlessly hyped up by HBO, but neither has been nearly as impressive as would warrant the hype.  Ortiz looked listless his last time out against Lamont Peterson, while it's been over a year since Berto has had a legitimate fight.  The tape-delayed version of Khan-McCloskey stays on HBO despite getting dropped by Sky.  Brick's pick: Berto and Ortiz are both open enough defensively that there's a chance they both open up offensively.  Berto has the big speed advantage, while Ortiz probably has the power advantage, and neither one appears to have a great chin.  I think Berto ekes this one out in a better, and more competitive fight than many are anticipating.  Berto MD-12.

Showtime, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, Pacquiao-Mosley Fight Camp 360. 

Showtime, 10:30 p.m. Eastern, Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Orlando Salido, Luis Cruz vs. Martin Honorio.  Rather than setting up the one fight between Lopez and Yuriorkis Gamboa that everyone actually wants to see, Brad Goodman continues his matchmaking merry-go-round by having the two keep fighting common opponents.  Salido is a former titlist who can fight, but he's not really the type to draw someone into a brawl, and that's likely what he would need to do to beat Lopez.  Cruz-Honorio is possibly more interesting than the original co-feature, which would have included former titlist Roman Martinez against Cruz.  This is a big jump in class for Cruz still, and Honorio brings a high energy style and the pedigree of a solid fringe contender.  Brick's picks:  Salido isn't the guy to take down Lopez, who beats Salido about as thoroughly as did Gamboa.  Cruz struggles with Honorio at first, but wears him down with the much bigger punches before stopping him late.  Lopez UD-12, Cruz TKO-9.

TyC Sports (Argentina), 11:00 p.m. Eastern, Jesus Marcelo Andres Cuellar vs. Ramon Armando Torres.  Cuellar is a 15-0 featherweight knocking on the door of a WBO title shot. 

Sunday, April 17

RCTI (Indonesia), Golden Boy PPV, Chris John vs. Daud Yordan, Alex Leapai vs. Peter Okhello, Naoufel Ben Rabah vs. Isaac Hlathswayo.  With Chris John's career clearly on the decline at this point, the time was right to make the fight between the two best Indonesian fighters.  John is clearly a class above Yordan, but he's getting long in the tooth and has been inactive lately.  If John has started to fade more, or if he's not at 100%, this could be a pretty competitive fight.  Leapai continues to face a steady stream of former contenders in an effort to get into the heavyweight title picture.  Rabah-Hlatswayo might be the best fight on the card, and is the type of fight that usually just wouldn't get made, as you have two dangerous but unheralded former titlists who don't have much of a fan base, fighting in neutral territory where they can't charge outrageous seat prices.  RCTI's website appears to be down, so your guess on the time is as good as mine (though the card starts at 3 pm local time).  Golden Boy's website says this one will be available in the US via pay per view, but I'm guessing the distribution will be extremely limited. Brick's pick:  John's handlers must think he still has something left to make this fight instead of having him take (and probably lose) a much more lucrative bout against Gamboa stateside.  If he does have something left, the gulf in class will just be too huge for Yordan to overcome.  John UD-12.

• In Spain, Kiko Martinez will defend his European super bantamweight crown against Jason Booth.  It's not a bad fight, and while it's not televised in the UK, I wouldn't be surprised to see it get televised in Spain.  It's also possible that, with Khan-McClosky dropped from Sky, this might get picked up as a cheap substitute.  Pablo Navascues and Gregorz Proska were supposed to fight each other on the undercard as well, but I no longer see that listed. 
  
• Also in smaller fights this weekend: Luis Collazo, Dmitry Salita, Fernando David Saucedo, Victor Oganov, Konstantin Airich, Yory Boy Campas (continuing his slow march to 100 wins), Aleksy Kuziemski, Fidel Monterrosa, Deandre Latimore and Joseph Elegele.
  

Once again, this one is brief, but it was a lot easier to find good fights in February.  If there are any major ones I'm missing, please let me know and I'll try to add them.