This will mark the third fight in a trilogy between Viloria and Romero. Romero beat Viloria by a wide margin in their first meeting in 2006 to win the WBC jr. flyweight title. In the rematch three months later the fight was ruled a majority draw, but a failed drug test from Romero prompted the Nevada State Athletic Commission to change the outcome to a no contest. Romero, of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, sat out almost nineteen months, and lost his comeback fight to Juanito Rubilar. Romero eventually regained the WBC’s jr. flyweight belt with a unanimous decision victory over Rodel Mayol in 2010. Romero lost his title to unlikely title challenger, Gilberto Keb Baas later that year. Romero’s last fight took place in August, when he knocked out Mexican club fighter, Javier Romano, in three rounds.

Viloria, from the Philippines by way of Hawaii, will be making the second defense of the WBO title he won from Julio Cesar Miranda last July. He spent much of 2010 regrouping after a twelve-round TKO loss to Carlos Tamara, a fight which saw Viloria collapse from exhaustion before the twelfth and final round while ahead on two of the three scorecards. Viloria, presently ranked number 8 by The Boxing Tribune,  scored wins over Omar Soto and Liempetch So Veerapol before getting the call to challenge Miranda. In his last fight, Viloria knocked out former unified jr. flyweight champion, Giovani Segura, over eight lopsided rounds.

The co-feature will, pit Mexican Julio Cesar Miranda against Rodel Mayol of the Philippines. Miranda, ranked number 10 by The Tribune, won the WBO flyweight title nearly two years ago with a win over young Filipino, Richie Mepranum. He made three successful defenses of the title before dropping a close unanimous decision to Viloria last July. Miranda last fought in November, taking a unanimous decision over Mexican club fighter, Cecilio Santos.

Mayol has flown under the radar since the 2010 loss to Romero, with wins over Thailand’s Pompetch Sor Sompong, Javier Gallo, Jayson Rotoni, and Ernie Marquez. Mayol has come up short more often than not when up against top-tier competition, but his list of defeats includes losses to Ulises Solis, Eagle Kyowa, Adrian Hernandez, and Romero. He won his first title in 2009 when he knocked out Edgar Sosa in two rounds in Mexico.

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

N’Jikam represented his native Cameroon in the 2004 Summer Olympics, and held one of three versions of the WBA’s middleweight belt. He is currently ranked number 11 by The Boxing Tribune. N’Jikam dropped his WBA Interim title this February rather than face Gennady Golovkin, who held the World Title (Felix Sturm is recognized as WBA titlist by The Boxing Tribune). To his credit, N’Jikam has fought and beaten Avtandil Khurtsidze and Giovanni Lorenzo, both respectable opponents, in his last two fights.

Bursak fights in the traditional European style, but has shown a penchant for countering off of his opponents’ mistakes, in the video that is available on him. He will be stepping up in class to face N’Jikam. Bursak has fought exclusively in his home nation of Ukraine, and the brightest mark on his resume includes a win over Brian Vera in 2010.

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

Pirog was an unknown commodity, with his flagship win coming against Kofi Jantuah, until he was pitted against the expected successor of the vacant WBO middleweight title, Danny Jacobs. Pirog ended Jacobs’ night with a beautiful right hand in the fifth round. Since capturing the WBO title two years ago, Pirog has defended the title twice, scoring a unanimous decision over Javier Maciel and a RTD victory over Gennady Martirosyan.

The momentary hype surrounding Ishida following last April’s first-round TKO win over James Kirkland evaporated as fast as it arrived. Ishida’s next fight was against another first-round knockout, this time over Edson Espinoza, who was making his pro debut in Mexico. Ishida lost in his last outing to Paul Williams, losing every round on all three scorecards before deciding to move back up to middleweight.

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

Narvaez, from Cordoba, Argentina, is a two-division champion with long, dominant reigns in the flyweight and super flyweight divisions against varying levels of competition. He captured the WBO flyweight title in only his 12^th professional fight. His sixteen successful title defenses spanned seven years and included wins over Luis Lazarte, Carlos Tamara, Rayonta Whitfield, and Omar Soto before the crafty southpaw moved up in weight to capture the vacant WBO title at super flyweight against former world title challenger, Everth Briceno. Narvaez’s three super flyweight title defenses have come against young, inexperienced opponents, and he looks to continue the trend with Cabrera.

Cabrera has won a few minor titles in his young career, and hasn’t stepped up in class since his win over Mexican journeyman Jovanny Soto in 2009. His four opponents since the win over Soto had fought only 41 combined professional fights. His youth and inexperience will make for a tough hill to climb against a seasoned veteran like Narvaez.

Russian cruiserweight Denis Lebedev (23-1, 17 KOs) takes on another soft touch, older than his 32 years, when he faces 37-year-old fringe contender Shawn Cox (16-1, 15 KOs) of Barbados in Myakinino, Russia on Wednesday night.

Don’t let Shawn Cox’s record fool you. Before he knocked out a badly faded Wayne Braithwaite in his last fight only a few weeks ago on February 25^th (the same Wayne Braithwaite who will be taking on O’Neil Bell in a “why do commissions sanction these fights?” battle this summer), Cox’s best win was over a journeyman heavyweight named Francisco Alvarez, who came into that fight at 250 pounds after fighting two of his previous three in the light heavyweight division. Cox has fought one legitimate prospect in his career, and that was a unanimous decision loss to Salvatore Erittu, 17-0 at the time of the fight, in 2008. Cox is 37 years old, did not turn pro until three months before his 33^rd birthday, and is unlikely to pose a threat to Lebedev in front of a partisan Russian crowd.

Meanwhile, Lebedev, himself, continues to turn into more sideshow than contender. Time was, the Russian made an honest (such as it is in boxing) climb through the WBO ranks en route to a title shot. The problem is that once he got that title shot, against Marco Huck in December of 2010, the split decision, no doubt a function of fighting in Huck’s backyard of the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, seems to have made Lebedev unwilling to challenge himself.

First there was the absolute farce against Roy Jones Jr., in which Lebedev beat Jones so badly that there was real concern for the former great champion’s health, then for an encore (and an inexplicably sanctioned interim WBO belt), Lebedev beat James Toney in a 12-round unanimous decision that looked more like what should have been a stoppage than a valiant warrior going the distance Rocky-style. The 120-108 cards handed in by all three judges in that fight do not adequately convey just what a one-sided, sadistic, everything bad about the sport beatdown it truly was.

So now we get Denis Lebedev doing what he appears to do best—fighting scrubs in his native country on days when nothing else is happening in the sport, compiling a puffed-up record in lieu of doing what he has to do to get back atop the cruiserweight division. The WBO has once again sanctioned this bout as being for a bogus title, which is exactly the sort of positive reinforcement that will hurt Lebedev down the road if he ever wants to gain legitimacy at his current weight again; a win like this will not put fear into the hearts of Marco Huck or Steve Cunningham or Yoan Pablo Hernandez or anybody else, much less Alexander Povetkin or Tomas Adamek or the Klitschko brothers should Lebedev decide that more marketable opportunities await at heavyweight like most cruisers inevitably choose.

This will not be a competitive fight. If Lebedev makes a meal out of this fight, or if heaven forbid Shawn Cox’s highly questionable “power” (compiling 15 KOs in 16 pro wins against hobos and strip club bouncers does not real power make) puts Lebedev on the floor for at least ten seconds at a stretch as counted by the referee, it will likely mark the official end to his career as a contender. This fight is a terrible risk-reward prospect and it needs to be asked why Denis Lebedev’s handlers took it in the first place.

For those wishing to watch, the fight can be found on BoxNation in the UK on Wednesday, April 4^th, with the card beginning at 3 PM British time, and US fans looking to grab a live Internet or satellite feed can tune in at 10 AM Eastern/7 AM Pacific.

Fox Doucette covers Friday Night Fights for The Boxing Tribune. His weekly column, The Southpaw, appears on Thursdays. Fan mail, hate mail, and offers to fight Denis Lebedev (even though at 34 your columnist is way too young to be a Lebedev opponent) can be sent to beatcap@gmail.com.

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

Following his loss, a battered Lopez told Showtime’s Jim Gray that referee, Roberto Ramirez Sr., was a known gambler and a questionable official. Given two chances to clarify his statement, Lopez would only reaffirm his accusations.

Valcarcel did, however, leave some room for pulling the suspension, allowing five days for Lopez to give cause to rescind the punishment.

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

There’s only one road to redemption for Juan Manuel Lopez–and that road takes him to Orlando Salido, the man who stopped Lopez and took his WBO featherweight title eleven months ago in the middle of a partisan pro-Lopez crowd in Puerto Rico.

One gets the feeling that Lopez’s people would’ve preferred another route to redemption. Salido isn’t a big-ticket draw and, frankly, is a legitimate bad-ass and the type of well-seasoned truth-detecting fighter who can dissect pretenders and those who haven’t taken their training seriously.

Unfortunately for Lopez (31-1, 28 KOs) though, the featherweight division isn’t what it used to be.

Yuriorkis Gamboa has gone up in weight, Indonesia’s Chris John has decided to stay at home and fight second-tier challengers, and the rest of the players at 126 rank significantly below the mark Lopez had left before being shocked by Salido.

So, after some stalling and some exploring of other avenues, Lopez is back to Salido and Salido (37-11-2, 25 KOs), whose only chance at a real payday is against Lopez, has also come around to a Lopez rematch after some initial balking.

One learning experience and eleven months later, and the questions around Lopez still remain.

The charismatic Puerto Rican was an amateur star brought along carefully and treated like the potential gold mine that he was. Lopez would develop into a fan-friendly fighter, solid in a lot of areas, but spectacular in none. His saving grace was always a thudding left hand and a monstrous right coming from the southpaw stance.

Then, things started falling apart. As is the case with many 20-something stars making big money and living a big lifestyle, Lopez succumbed to the night life. Training was becoming gradually less intense and a crew of hangers-on and professional partiers started occupying much of his time.

Some fighters can go for years before the night life begins to eat away at the professional product. In Lopez’s case, the results were almost immediate.

The biggest warning flag came against Rogers Mtagwa in 2009 when Lopez completely ran out of gas late in the fight and was almost stopped by the journeyman from Tanzania. Many would suggest that the completely one-sided twelfth round was only allowed to continue because Lopez was playing to a packed Puerto Rican crowd at Madison Square Garden and because his promoter, Top Rank, was positioning him to be the heir apparent to Miguel Cotto on the Boricua boxing throne.

In subsequent fights, Lopez began to look flat and sluggish. He was dropped by fringe contender, Bernabe Concepcion, in the first round before stopping the Filipino in the second. Then, he would go on to have a tougher time than expected against faded Mexican star, Rafael Marquez, before a shoulder injury forced Marquez to retire between rounds eight and nine.

After the Marquez fight, Lopez walked into his next title defense primed for an upset–and Orlando Salido happily obliged.

Salido, from Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, is the very definition of “old school.” Never an amateur star or blue chip prospect, “Siri” was just another pug on the Mexican club scene, paying his dues and learning along the way.

Losses on the road to more experienced club fighters built character and defeats at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez, Alejandro Gonzalez, and Cristobal Cruz built class. Along the way, though, Salido had his share of victories as well–beating Rogers Mtagwa, Cesar Soto, Cristobal Cruz in a rematch for the IBF featherweight title, and Robert Guerrero (in a bout that was later declared a no contest after Salido tested positive for the anabolic steroid, Nandrolone).

By the time he lost to Cuba’s Yuriorkis Gamboa via unanimous decision in 2010 and relinquished his IBF strap, the one-time car thief and street thug had already made a name for himself as a blue-collar, no-nonsense battler who knew every trick in the book.

When Salido walked into the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, Puerto Rico to challenge for Lopez’s WBO 126 lb title, he was treated as a mere speed bump to glory by most in the media, but those “in the know” considered him a very live underdog–and Salido responded accordingly.

After four fairly even rounds, Salido proceeded to disassemble a Lopez who had no back-up plan and began to fade fast when his Mexican rival put on the heat.

Following a knockdown at the end of the fifth, Salido took his time with the buzzed champion. He walked Lopez down and threw copious amounts of right hands–like any old pro would do against a southpaw–eventually forcing Puerto Rican referee, Roberto Ramirez Jr., to stop the fight in the eighth.

Since the upset, Salido has made one defense of the title, stopping hapless challenger, Japan’s Kenichi Yamaguchi in the eleventh round and then surviving two hard knockdowns before stopping Filipino, Weng Haya, in the eighth round of a ten-round non-title contest. In both of those bouts, Salido looked startlingly unspectacular, almost looking the role of a journeyman play-acting as champion. But, of course, Salido has the reputation of fighting up to (or down to) the level of his opposition.

Lopez, since his TKO 8 loss, stopped journeyman, Mike Oliver, in the second round of a scheduled twelve-round bout in the same ring where he dropped the title to Salido. Lopez looked strong and, by all accounts, didn’t struggle to make the featherweight limit. But not much was learned from beating the overmatched Oliver, who was, literally, wobbled by every punch Lopez landed.

This Saturday, Salido goes back to Puerto Rico to face Lopez. Things have changed, but not really.

Of course, Salido is now the defending WBO champ and Lopez is the challenger.

Also, referee, Roberto Ramirez Sr., is taking the place of his son, Robert Jr., and instead of fighting at the Coliseo Ruben Rodriguez in Bayamon, they’ll be fighting in San Juan at the Coliseo Roberto Clemente.

But Lopez is still the heavy-handed star with a variable work ethic. Salido is still the old-school, blue-collar fighter who learned his boxing lessons the hard way.

Lopez has the spark of greatness when he is 100% right and focused, but the great intangible in this rematch is whether that spark will still be there when the action gets hot and heavy. On the other side of the ring, Salido is Salido and will be the same fighter no matter what.

Lopez’s success completely depends on whether his humbling lesson last April has matured him as a man and as a fighter. Lopez, the man, should be able to handle Salido. Lopez, the tabloid star, will be soundly defeated again.

Salido vs. Lopez II will be aired Saturday, March 10 on Showtime at 10pm ET/PT

“Like” us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for exclusives and other bonus material from Boxing’s Independent Media. You can also keep track of all the latest in boxing news and views by downloading our safe & free toolbar:

Mormeck, a 50-to-1 underdog in the fight, came out holding his hands high, bobbing and weaving his way inside, forcing Klitschko to grab and lean on him when he got in close. Klitschko was unable to extend his jab and had to shorten his jab and use his left hook more often than usual. Despite Mormeck’s determination to get inside, he threw very few punches and landed no punches in the round as Klitschko found his range and started working his jab.

Klitschko used the first round to get a feel for Mormeck and opened up in the second when he began to land his right hand. Klitschko dropped Mormeck in the second round with a flush right hand. Mormeck beat the count and made it out of the round, but looked like he was ready to go from that point on.

Klitschko mercifully ended Mormeck’s night in the fourth round, when he landed a hard right hand that stunned Mormeck. A short left hook landed on a crouching Mormeck and sent him to the canvas. Mormeck made it to his feet, but referee Luis Pabon had reached the count of ten.

With the win, Klitschko tallies knockout victory number 50, passing Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey and moving one step closer to overtaking Max Baer (52).

“There are a lot of guys that are not well known yet. There is David Price, the tall guy standing ringside. There is Tyson Fury, even bigger guy. There is Povetkin, an Olympian and a WBA champion. There is some other guys; Seth Mitchell,” Klitschko stated when Chris Mannix asked if he has run out of challengers.

“I think Chris Arreola deserves the fight against me and I think that’s the fight we will make.”

On the non-televised undercard, cruiserweight contender Ola Afolabi (19-2-3, 9 KOs) scored a fifth round TKO over Valery Brudov (39-4, 28 KOs). Afolabi brutalized Brudov, dropping him twice and rendering him senseless at the end of the fifth round. The referee decided Brudov had taken enough punishment and stopped the fight as Brudov stood against the ropes unaware of which corner to walk to. Afolabi will be the mandatory challenger to Marco Huck should he return to the cruiserweight division, and will be named WBO cruiserweight titlist if Huck chooses to stay in the heavyweight division.

Unbeaten heavyweight prospect Alexander Ustinov (26-0, 20 KOs) scored a third round TKO victory over Kertson Manswell (22-5, 17 KOs).

The WBO cruiserweight title belt is currently held by Marco Huck, who recently made a spirited showing in the heavyweight division against Alexander Povetkin, but came away with a majority decision loss.

Afolabi, a London native fighting by way of Los Angeles, comes into this bout ranked 15^th in the world among cruiserweights.  His professional career began in 2002, though he had a three-year layoff from 2005 to 2008.   Since coming back in ’08, Afolabi has gone 7-1, with the loss coming by unanimous decision against Marco Huck in December of ’09.  Although six of his wins since 2008 have come against fighters with winning records, his most recent win was over Lukasz Rusiewicz who was 9-10 at the time.

At the age of 35, Brudov is only four years his opponent’s senior, but he has fought nearly twice the number of fights.  The Russian’s professional career began in 1999, and he’s gone 9-3 since 2006.  His most recent loss comes against ranked cruiserweight, Guillermo Jones, in 2010 by TKO 11.  Of the nine wins, only two have come against fighters with winning records.

Follow us on Facebook …Click “Like” to follow the source of Boxing’s True Independent Voice….We also have a Twitter page, follow us for exclusives and other bonus material.

Broner is an exciting undefeated prospect ranked 3^rd in the world among super featherweights.  He’s fun to watch and even more fun to listen to, as many will remember this quote from his latest post-fight interview:

“Uh, hold on Max.  Hey Dad!  Brush my hair one time.  Hey Pops!  Come brush my hair.  [Broner’s father brushes his hair] Alright, okay.  Now I’m more comfortable Max.”

And if you follow Broner on Twitter, you were treated to this gem,

“Just a couple days left before I PUNCH THIS DUDE IN HIS CHUBBY NOSE OF HIS LOL GET YO TICKETS I’M GOING IN!”

Broner is not the strong and silent type.

Broner has been boxing since the age of six, and he boasts an amateur career with more than 300 fights.  He’s knocked out 80% of his opponents, with the most recent being Vicente Martin Rodriguez in his last fight (which also aired on HBO).  He has a TKO win over Jason Litzau (who is currently ranked 6^th in the world among super featherweights) and a UD win over Daniel Ponce de Leon (who is currently ranked 7^th in the world among featherweights).

Perez is ranked 8^th in the world among super featherweights.  He is also undefeated, but he has yet to face a fighter ranked in the top twenty.  In his latest win, he recorded a sixth round TKO over Ira Terry.  In the spring of 2011, he recorded unanimous decision wins over Roger Gonzalez and Alejandro Rodriguez.  He made a minor title defense against Daniel Jimenez, whom he dropped twice in the first round before ending the bout with an impressive second round knockout.

The main event will feature Devon Alexander vs. Marcos Maidana, both of whom are taking their first fight at welterweight.  The fighters are ranked 4^th and 5^th in the world among junior welterweights, respectively.