By Luis Rivera

On the undercard of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida, junior middleweight Ivan Kirpa (23-1, 15 KOs) stopped Frankie Santos (16-7-4, 8 KOs). Santos' left eye swollen to the point of being nearly completely shut and was cut at the end of the first round.

Santos was able to land some lead rights but it was not enough to beat the overall defense and work rate of the Russian fighter. Kirpa had Santos hurt in the 5th round and was throwing homerun punches until Santos' corner stepped in. It didn't look like Santos was ready going down, but he was visibly hurt and stumbling.

Crowd favorite Bernie "B Ware" Stiverne (17-1, 16 KOs) dropped Robert "Big Philly" Hawkins (23-12, 7 KOs) in the first with a left hook. When Hawkins got back up they exchanged throwing heavy punches with no consideration on defense. The Haitian landed two huge right hands that echoed thoughout the arena, followed by a slapping right hand that bounce off of Hawkins' head.

The second round was also an all out battle with both going for the knockout. In the third, "B Ware" began to box while "Big Philly" threw heavy leather to the body and was making the fight by coming forward. Stiverne was throwing alot of straight punches with some crosses and a hook every once in a while, Hawkins stuck with the right and left hooks to the body and head. A right hook in the third got the attention of Stiverne and he held on, with Hawkins closing the round hard. Even rounds until Stiverne began to bust Hawkins up in the sixth.

In the seventh, Hawkins began to box effectively but a clash of heads stopped the action briefly.  The eight and final round was action packed with Stiverne mouth's flowing blood. Stiverne looked like the fresher of the two, but both were able to land heavy shots. The scores were 77-73, 77-73 and 78-72, all in favor of Stiverne.