Showtime Boxing: Undercard Action for July 11

Former Champion Steve Cunningham won a somewhat uneventful 12 round decision over Wayne ‘Big Truck ‘ Braithwaite by scores of 119-109, 118-110, and 117-111. The fight was Cunningham’s first since losing an epic encounter to Tomasz Adamek last December. Cunningham controlled the bout throughout and was effective mainly with his jab. Braithwaite remained dangerous every second however and landed some big shots on occasion. At the end of the day Cunningham’s ability to control the bout from the outside with his boxing ability was the deciding factor. Braithwaite fought well enough to land another payday and Cunningham will surely be eyeing a rematch with Adamek.

Cruiserweight Contender Francisco ‘El Wizard’ Palacios looked impressive in destroying journeyman Manu Ntoh in under a round. The Puerto Rican had Ntoh on wobbly legs after a left hook and a right hand floored him moments later. The referee waived the contest after Ntoh seemed unfit to continue. This is the second consecutive first round stoppage for Palacios, who once again appeared to be in great shape and is dying for a title shot. Palacios is now unbeaten in 18 contests with 11 knockouts.

Welterweights Ivan ‘The Terrible’ Kirpa and Miguel Angel Rodriguez fought a competitive fight, with Kirpa walking away with a 118-110, 120-108, 119-109 decision victory. Kirpa showed relentless aggression
throughout the bout and punished Rodriguez, who is best known for losing by 7^th round knockout to Andre Berto. With the win Kirpa moves to 23-1 with 15 knockouts and is now in line to fight Berto for the WBC Welterweight title.

Unbeaten Victor Fonseca shut out former champion Mauricio Pastrana over eight somewhat competitive rounds. Despite looking like a shell of his forme r self, Pastrana still showed enough toughness and grit to remain competitive with his younger foe despite losing by scores of 80-71 on all cards. With the win Fonseca moves to 15-0 with 8 knockouts.

Lightweight Angelo Santana improves to 6-0 with 4 knockouts after a hard fought decision victory over Jaime Rodriguez. In the bout Santana had to adapt to the awkward style of his taller opponent but showed the adequate hunger and poise in pulling out the victory.