By Bill Calogero

This past weekend was a busy one for televised professional boxing. On Friday, ESPN2 broadcast live from Saratoga, NY featuring two hot prospects.

In the Co-main event, Heavyweight prospect Chazz Witherspoon put his unbeaten record on the line against Talmadge Griffis in a scheduled ten-round bout.

The fight began very slowly for Witherspoon. Griffis, who was out weighed by twenty pounds, was able to land effective punches from the outside and his constant movement caused Witherspoon to follow him around head hunting. Talmadge was all Chazz could handle until a solid right rocked Griffis at the end of the 8th round.

As the 9th round began, Chazz Witherspoon went after Talmadge Griffis. Griffis still seemed a little stunned, but did not look like he was in any kind of trouble. Witherspoon was throwing punches and Talmadge was covering up. During a barrage of shots thrown by Chazz, Talmadge began to fight back when referee Ken Zimmer jumped in and stopped the fight. In my opinion, he did so too soon, however Talmadge Griffis did not argue the stoppage.

The official time of the TKO was 1:08 of the 9th round. Chazz Witherspoon improves to 19-0 (13 KOs) while Talmadge Griffis drops to 24-7-3 (16 KOs).

Although Chazz won this fight by TKO, it also proved to me that he has a long way to go if he wants to someday be a World Champion. As for Talmadge Griffis, due to his physical size, and since he has shown decent overall boxing skill, he should consider moving down to the Cruiserweight Division. I believe he will be much more competitive and if he could string together several wins as a Cruiserweight, in time, he would get a title shot.

In the Main Event, the highly regarded Welterweight Prospect, Andre Berto battled tough veteran Cosme Rivera in a ten round action-packed fight.

In the first two rounds, Berto got the best of Rivera, landing the harder punches and being the aggressor, but both rounds were close. The third round was also extremely close as I felt Rivera had the edge.

The action continued in round four. Berto was the aggressor, but was clearly in against his toughest opponent to date. Rivera was able to roll with most of the solid shots Berto tried to land. An accidental head-butt caused a cut over the bridge of Rivera’s nose.

In the fifth round, Andre Berto took control of the fight. He began landing solid shots both to the head and body of Cosme Rivera. As the sixth round began, Berto continued to batter Rivera throughout the round until Cosme Rivera landed a huge left uppercut that sent Andre Berto down at the close of the round. He was up quickly and then the bell sounded to end the 6th round.

As the seventh round began, the referee gave Berto and his corner time to recover when he made them make repairs on his gloves. Why he didn’t do this at the close of round six and chose to do it as the seventh began is a question I am sure will never be answered. After all, he is a NYS sanctioned referee and they seem to answer to a totally different set of rules than other referees.

Nonetheless, Berto and his obvious second wind took control of the fight again, battering Rivera. A solid punch caused a serious cut in the right eye socket of Cosme Rivera.

Round eight again had me scratching my head with referee Charlie Fitch. During the round, Fitch stopped the action and brought Rivera to his corner to have his eye checked to see if they wanted to continue. He did not call for the doctor, but rather he put the question to Rivera’s corner. The action continued as Berto continued his onslaught, landing punches from several angles both to the head and body of Rivera. Rivera’s cut was serious and bleeding very badly as the round ended.

Round nine picked up where the eighth ended but during the tenth and final round, Rivera made his last attempt at scoring a KO. He landed several hard shots and on my scorecard, won the round, but it was not enough to make it close.

Two of the three judges scored the fight 98-91, while the third had it 97-92 all in favor of Andre Berto, giving him the unanimous decision win. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 96-93 also in favor of Berto.

Berto improves to 19-0 (16 KOs) while veteran Cosme Rivera drops to 30-11-2 (21 KOs).

Although Berto won the fight, he too seems to need more time before he takes a serious shot at a World Title. His level of opponents up to this fight have been a collection of softies, and with Rivera’s uppercut showing he can be put down, proved to me he is still some time away from challenging for a World Title.

On Saturday night, HBO’s Boxing After Dark broadcast live from the Emerald Queen Casino located in Tacoma, Washington, Vernon Forrest against Carlos Baldomir for the vacant WBC Jr. Middleweight title.

Why a fighter that was coming off a loss and the other off of a substantial lay-off due to injury were matched up for the vacant title, rather than the number one and number two ranked fighters was my biggest question going into the fight. To ease my mind, as it turned out, I feel we were treated to a very competitive bout, with action from start to finish.

Round one was a feel out round for both fighters. Round two provided more action and began to lay the blueprint of what was to come during the duration of this bout. Vernon Forrest was able to use his superior hand and foot speed to get in, score and then move out. To Baldomir’s credit, he too showed he had more hand speed and agility than was expected, especially since it was reported that he had to lose over forty pounds for this fight.

On my scorecard, the third round was very close and I gave it to Carlos Baldomir because he seemed to land the harder punches. During the fourth round, Vernon Forrest landed the harder shots more often. When the ten-second warning sounded, Carlos Baldomir thought it was the bell and stopped fighting. At that point, knowing the round had not ended, Vernon Forrest was able to land a two-punch combination that landed flush on the face of Carlos Baldomir. Baldomir was mad but did not seem to be affected by the punches (or any others that Forest had thrown to this point) even though they had been landed as cleanly as they possibly could have.

The fifth and sixth rounds had Vernon Forrest landing hard shots to the body and head of Carlos Baldomir, winning both rounds on my scorecard, however the punches, even though they were solid and landing flush, were not hurting Baldomir one bit.

Round seven may have been the best round of the fight. It was a round that was an all out brawl that found both fighters standing toe-to-toe hammering at each other. I felt the edge in this particular round went to Carlos Baldomir.

Vernon Forrest began to do what his corner wanted him to do during the eighth round. He was able to stick and move and control the round. During the ninth round, Baldomir again came out as the aggressor as he did in the 7th, hammering Forrest and at one point clearly stunned the former two-time Champion. Immediately after he was hurt, Forrest landed an intentional low blow, which caused referee Mike Ortega to deduct a point from him. Rightfully so. Since Carlos had been winning the round and adding the point deduction to his favor, on my card this became a 10-8 round for Carlos Baldomir.

For the final three rounds, Vernon Forrest fought like a smart fighter. He used his jab and feet to stick and move scoring points while staying away from danger. At the end of the fight, two of the three judges scored the fight 118-109 while the third had it 116-111 all in favor of Vernon Forrest giving him the unanimous decision and the WBC Jr. Middleweight Title. TheDailySports.com scored the fight 116-111 also in favor of Vernon Forrest.

Vernon Forrest improves to 39-2 (28 KOs) and should have some big fights available to him in the near future. Carlos Baldomir drops to 43-11-6 (13 KOs) but seemed to gain value. Look for him to come back on the scene, win a couple of fighters and get another opportunity at a world title in either the Jr. Middleweight or Welterweight divisions.

All in all, this was a great weekend for professional boxing. I am glad to see that over the past several weeks, we as boxing fans have been treated to quality bouts. Most importantly, these fights have been very competitive and the result is positive for Professional Boxing. It certainly proves to me that boxing is a sport that will continue to survive despite rumors that it’s going to become extinct. It has and will have its ups, downs, good times and bad times but will ultimately survive.

Boxing is like a fire. The sport itself provides the spark. Its up to the managers and promoters to provide the quality bouts, which becomes the flame and fuel for the fire. Finally, its up to the fighters themselves to take the flame and turn it into a fire and ultimately into a blaze, by performing at their very best and becoming a World Champion. With the way these last several weeks have gone, we have got ourselves a fire going. Lets hope that the managers and promoters keep feeding the fire.