By Bill Calogero

It was another great night for Professional Boxing and PPV last Saturday night as Bernard Hopkins retained his Light Heavyweight crown with a unanimous 12-round decision over Ronald “Winky” Wright as the main event from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The outstanding card was broadcast live on HBO PPV.

In my opinion, it was a seesaw battle from the first round through the twelfth and final round. Both fighters were able to demonstrate their ring savvy, both defensively and offensively. They both, uncharacteristically, were aggressive at times as well.

Two of the three judges at ringside scored the fight 117-111, while the third scored the bout 116-112 all in favor of Bernard Hopkins giving him the unanimous decision win. TheDailySports.com had the fight much closer and as a matter of fact scored the fight a draw at 114-114.

During his post-fight interview Hopkins said, “Boxing’s Back” and said he is willing to take on anyone. Winky, rightfully so, thought he wuz robbed again, but the bottom line is that is was a GREAT fight on a GREAT PPV card.

In the best fight of the night, Michael Katsidis and Czar Amonsot treated everyone who paid the $49.95 to a great battle. Talk about “throw-back” fights, this was one for the ages.

Every round was filled with non-stop action. There was punches being thrown from every angle imaginable and talk about blood, it made the Chainsaw Massacre look like Mary Poppins!

Katsidis clearly won the first two rounds, landing the harder punches more often, putting Czar Amonsot down in the second. He was up quickly and then was able to come back and dominated rounds three, four and five.

Michael Katsidis had severe cuts, primarily on his left eye, which in my opinion should have been stopped, but the ringside doctor permitted him to continue. By the time the bout was over, Katsidis’ face looked like chop meat. He had cuts (from punches) in, above and below both eyes, and all around his mouth. He also had a gash on his forehead from an unintentional head-butt. This fight was not only great; I would think it would be in the running for “fight of the year”. I think it will be hard to beat.

One judge scored the bout 116-110, one had it 114-112 and the third saw the fight at 115-111 all in favor of Michael Katsidis. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 115-111, also in favor of Michael Katsidis.

Michael Katsidis improves to 23-0 (20 KOs), while Czar Amonsot surely gained value even in defeat, dropping to 18-3-1 (10 KOs). I just can’t say enough about this fight. Hats off to BOTH combatants! This was pro boxing at it’s finest.

In other action, Jorge Linares won the WBC Featherweight title by stopping Oscar Larios with a TKO at 2:37 of the 10th round in this toe-to-toe bout. The majority of this bout was fought close, but in this case, the younger fighter prevailed.

Linares improves to 23-0 (15 KOs), while Oscar Larios drops to 59-6-1 (37 KOs).

Also on the undercard, Librado Andrade stopped last minute sub Ted Muller at 1:48 of the second round of another brutal contest. The fight was scheduled for eight rounds in the Super Middleweight Division.

Librado Andrade improves to 25-1 (19 KOs), while Ted Muller should consider retirement, dropping to 19-12-2 (9 KOs).

All in all this was a great card for PPV and in my opinion was worth the fifty bucks. I have to agree with B-Hop when he said “Boxing's Back” because if the powers that be can continue bringing quality, competitive shows like this, the fans will definitely come back. These types of cards should be the norm, not the exception.

I feel that Golden Boy Promotions and HBO PPV did a great job bringing us this action-packed night of boxing and I hope it continues with all of the promoters out there.