Pacquiao (left) and Marquez will complete a famous trilogy on Saturday

Five-time, three-weight World champion Juan Manuel Marquez (53-5-1, 39KO’s) could be forgiven for resting on his laurels and looking back at a career well done, but instead, this Saturday, faces the biggest test of his boxing life to date, against the great Manny Pacquiao (53-3-2, 38KO’s), a man he has already fought twice before.

This trilogy will be remembered in the same vain as the great ones and is a fitting occasion following the death of Joe Frazier earlier this week, who of course delivered us possibly the greatest trilogy of all time against Muhammad Ali.

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Bradley (pictured at yesterday's final presser) had plenty to say for himself

Timothy Bradley (27-0, 11KO’s) was all fired up as he faced reporters in the final press conference ahead of defending his WBO junior-welterweight title on Saturday in the chief-supporting bout to Pacquiao-Marquez III in Las Vegas. Opponent, Cuban veteran Joel Casamayor (38-5-1, 22KO’s), wasn’t exactly helping matters either.

As Bradley began to speak Casamayor began shouting “Shut up!” every time the Californian opened his mouth. It didn’t take long for matters to take a turn for the worse and a slanging match ensued, with both men needing to be dragged away. The only effect it seemed to have on Bradley was to whip him into a frenzy, and he showed us a hunger that maybe we haven’t seen from him before.

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Angulo (left) couldn't avoid Kirkland's relentless punching

Everything was against James Kirkland (30-1, 27KO’s) stepping into the ring in Cancun, Mexico to face Alfredo Angulo (20-2, 17KO’s) but the Austin, Texas man pulled off a great performance last night, getting up off the canvas to stop his man in six furiously exciting rounds.

It’s true redemption for Kirkland following his shocking first round loss to Nobuhiro Ishida earlier this year and a clear statement that he isn’t quite finished yet at the top level.

“The difference for this fight was we trained hard,” said Kirkland afterwards. “Me and (trainer) Ann Wolfe stayed up working night and day because we know Alfredo Angulo is a true champion”

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Bute (right) lands a hook from his southpaw stance

It was billed as possibly Canadian-based Romanian IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute’s (30-0, 24KO’s) toughest fight to date, but he was in total control against Glen Johnson (51-16-2, 35KO’s) tonight at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, shutting out the 42-year-old Miami veteran for a lopsided unanimous decision victory. Quite whether it was the showcase Bute, 31, would have wanted for US fans watching on Showtime is debatable, but there was no doubt about the winner as Johnson simply failed to get to the elusive champion round after round.

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Burns (left) keeps Katsidis at bay with his jab

Scotland’s Ricky Burns (33-2, 9KO’s) is the new WBO interim lightweight champion after defeating Michael Katsidis (28-5, 23KO’s) over twelve rounds tonight at the Wembley Arena in London. Burns now becomes a two-weight World champion and with it picked up possibly the biggest victory of his career to date.

Considered an outsider to win, Burns showed good boxing skill and kept Katsidis at bay with a raking jab and hard shots to the body. He had to go through some sticky patches and take several crushing punches, and down the final stretch Katsidis came on strong as Burns’ energy waned, but ultimately it was an impressive performance from the Coatbridge fighter and fully deserved the unanimous decision on the judges scorecards.

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Burns (left) and Katsidis

Australia’s Michael ‘The Great’ Katsidis (28-4, 23KO’s) has never done things the easy way, and once again travels half way around the World to fight, this time to face Scotland’s Ricky Burns (32-2, 9KO’s) at the Wembley Arena in London on Saturday night in a bout to decide the WBO interim lightweight championship.

Katsidis has already challenged for the title twice in his last three fights, and despite losing in both finds himself once again with an opportunity to take home the title he has already held twice before. The problem with Katsidis is that when he comes up against the very best he usually comes out on the losing side, often gallantly.

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Bute (left) and Johnson will put aside their friendship for twelve rounds on Saturday

Undefeated Canadian IBF super-middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24KO’s) has been a World champion for four years now with eight successive title defences under his belt, but the Quebec fighter has yet to truly make his name on the international stage, despite his obvious talents.

On Saturday night at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City Bute will face arguably the biggest name opponent of his career to date, defending his title against former light-heavyweight champion Glen Johnson (51-15-2, 35KO’s). Ironically the pair have sparred regularly for the past two years and have become good friends, but as Johnson points out, sparring and fighting are not the same thing.

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Hernan 'Tyson' Marquez

Mexico’s hard-hitting Hernan Marquez (32-2, 25KO’s)  is still the WBA flyweight champ after defeating Panama’s Luis Concepcion (23-3, 18KO’s) in their rematch last night in the champion’s hometown of Sonora, Mexico.

Their first fight, an eleventh round TKO win for Marquez, saw both men hit the deck before Marquez finally prevailed, but this time there was no doubt as he dropped Concepcion three times on his way to an emphatic first round knockout win.

Concepcion was full of enthusiasm as the opening bell rang and danced around the ring popping out jabs and hooks but Marquez bided his time and chose his punches. The very first blow he landed was a solid straight left from his southpaw stance that caught Concepcion square.

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Marco Huck celebrates an eighth successful defense

Germany’s WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (34-1, 25KO’s) made easy work of Rogelio Omar Rossi (17-3-1, 11KO’s) at the Ludwigsburg Arena in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, knocking the Argentinian challenger down three times on his way to a sixth round stoppage victory. The defense, his eighth, wasn’t the toughest of his career but the finish was emphatic.

Rossi hasn’t done anything of note on the World scene and didn’t look the best challenger Huck has faced but started well and was full of enthusiasm. Huck isn’t a quick starter and was just measuring his man with a high guard and solid jab, but soon realised he could outclass Rossi and started to land with almost contemptuous ease.

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Donaire (left) was in control throughout

WBC/WBO bantamweight champion ‘The Filipino Flash’ Nonito Donaire (27-1, 18KO’s) had to settle for a points victory over Argentinian WBO super-flyweight champion Omar Narvaez (35-1-2, 19KO’s) at Madison Square Garden Theater in New York, and although a clear winner Donaire will be disappointed with the nature of his victory.

The blame however has to go to Narvaez, who remained far too defensive for the entire fight and had the look of a survivor about him from very early on in the bout, not something you usually associate with an undefeated champion.

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Hopkins is clearly in no mood to continue

‘Bad’ Chad Dawson (31-1, 18KO’s) became the new WBC light-heavyweight champion last night, defeating former holder Bernard ‘The Executioner’ Hopkins (52-6-2, 32KO’s) inside two rounds at the Staples Center in L.A in a highly controversial bout that left a bitter taste in the mouth for everyone involved. An apparent shoulder injury suffered by Hopkins left the Philadelphia veteran unable to continue, and referee Pat Russell, taking the decision into his own hands, awarded the TKO victory to Dawson.

Referee Russell will be the main talking point and his call was a big one. Deeming Dawson’s push on Hopkins not to be a foul does seem a little harsh, but Hopkins does make the most of opportunities and has been known to cry wolf before, especially when he feels the tide has turned against him, so Russell may have had that at the back of his mind when making the decision.

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Martinez celebrates as Barker finds himself unable to continue through a mixture of fatigue and pain

California-based Argentinian World middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (48-2-2, 27KO’s) didn’t make things easy for himself against London’s Darren Barker (23-1, 14KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ last night but eventually found his rhythm, showing his class to earn an eleventh round stoppage of the formerly undefeated Englishman.

Barker, through his tight, high guard, gave Martinez a few headaches early on with snappy boxing and footwork. Also a solid jab from the Barnet man seemed to frustrate the champion from the very beginning. Martinez may not have been as focused on the fight as he should have been, possibly looking past Barker to potential superfights down the road, but for whatever reason looked clumsy and out of sorts for at least the first six rounds.

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Mayweather catches Ortiz with a cheap shot

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather’s fourth round KO victory over ‘Vicious’ Victor Ortiz to claim the Californian’s WBC welterweight title at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was marred by an ugly sequence of events that left a bitter taste in the mouth of all who watched. A two punch combination thrown before referee Joe Cortez had made the order to box, after deducting a point from Ortiz for a nasty headbutt, put Ortiz flat on his back and unable to beat the ten count. What followed in Mayweather’s post-fight interview with paymasters HBO was nothing short of disgraceful.

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6’9″ British & Commonwealth heavyweight champ Tyson Fury (16-0-0, 11KO’s) continued his successive run of victories to sixteen in a non-title bout tonight, defeating decent American Nicolai Firtha (20-9-1, 8KO’s) in five exciting rounds at the Kings Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Both men had their successes but in the end Fury’s size and willpower gave him the edge. There were no feeling out rounds as both men tore into each other almost from the opening bell. Firtha, a big man himself at 6’6″, still didn’t quite seem to have the reach to get to Fury as much as he liked. In between rounds Fury’s corner told him to use his jab more and not get involved in a street fight and to an extent Fury obliged, leading with his jab and following up with his right, but Fury is of Irish traveller stock and will seemingly always get drawn into wars. Although he managed to steadily outbox Firtha for the second round, it almost all went terribly wrong for him in the third.

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Argentina’s IBF light-flyweight champion Luis Alberto Lazarte (48-9-2, 18KO’s) last night retained his title for a second time but Ulises ‘Archie’ Solis (32-2-3, 21KO’s) was convinced he had got the decision at the end of the fight. In truth it was a tight, close bout in Buenos Aires, Argentina with steady, unspectacular action, and for a challenger to take a champion’s title you’d expect a little bit more than Solis gave.

Lazarte may well have won by split decision if he hadn’t spent the whole fight rabbit punching. Solis complained throughout and with reason. Having already been given a stern warning by the referee, Lazarte continued to foul and was eventually docked two points for his misdemeanours. Considering the fight was scored a draw on two of the three judges scorecards (the third gave the fight to Solis by a shocking score of 109-117) it’s evident that Lazarte would have won should he not have had the points taken off.

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