Fight Night Blog will be providing round by round blog posts for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto HBO PPV followed by a recap later. FNB will also post the result and recap of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Shane Mosley bout. Make sure to follow Fight Night Blog for updates on this PPV and other main events. 

Chad "Bad" Dawson (31-1) defeated father time otherwise known in boxing as Bernard "the Executioner" Hopkins (52-6-2) by majority decision on HBO Championship Boxing for The Ring light heavyweight championship. Their nicknames being more lethal than the fight ,well other than head butts. It was a typical slow Hopkins fight, but Dawson was able to do more while Hopkins was mostly all defense with occasional one punch pop shots. 

The first few rounds were the closest with Dawson being disturbed by Hopkins fouling. However, he maintained his composure to effectively beat Hopkins with his best punch being the straight left. In still a rough fight, Dawson was cut by a head butt in round four and later in round 11, both men wrestled to the mat. Final scorecards were 114-114, 117-111, and 117-111. Hopkins did not stay in the ring for a post fight interview due to displeasure with the decision, but to the HBO commentators and Fight Night Blog, Dawson clearly won and the even scorecard was ridiculous. The bout was in Atlantic City, NJ where Hopkins has fought many fights. Dawson also credited BHop as a Hall of Fame fighter while at the same time stating he uses dirty tactics basically complimenting and criticizing all in one which seemingly was a reaching out attempt to be nice by Dawson that genuinely did not like Hopkins coming in.    

The televised undercard featured a much more exciting bout of heavyweights Seth Mitchell (25-0-1) vs Chazz Witherspoon (30-3) in which Mitchell won by a resurgent third round TKO win after obviously hurt and in trouble early. Witherspoon began by connecting with 24 of 39 power shots in round one according to HBO. Witherspoon's straight right was landing flush and was difficult for Mitchell, former Michigan State football player, to avoid. 

Mitchell looked slow and weak to start out, but woke up by round two and came back strong against Witherspoon. By round three, the Spartan was working aggressively with persistent "in-fighting" landing hard power punches including body shots. He connected with a right-left combination to Witherspoon's head dropping him in the middle of round three. Mitchell kept the pressure on with powerful punches until getting the TKO later in the round leaving Witherspoon out on his feet. He landed 42 body shots in the short bout. It was an exciting and active heavyweight bout. Mitchell is not in anyway ready for a Klitschko yet, but I definitely want to see him in the ring again.  

There was an enormous upset on the ESPN Friday Night Fights main event in which light heavyweight  Denis Grachev (12-0-1) defeated Ismayl Sillakh (17-1) by eighth round TKO shockingly after down early on in round three. Sillakh was an 11-1 favorite according to Teddy Atlas of ESPN. It looked as though Sillakh would cruise to a win until he was caught with a right hand in the eighth that lead to more stunning punches ending with a right that dropped Sillakh as the referee was jumping in to stop the fight.
 
In the ShoBox main event, Thomas Oosthuizen (19-0-1) defeated Marcus Johnson (21-2) by unanimous decision for the IBO super middleweight title. Oosthuizen gained momentum as the fight went on and stayed busier with good connects including a knockdown in round eight as Johnson's mouthpiece was coming out . He also showed some good hand speed, but Johnson did win a couple rounds with all the final scorecards being 98-91 in the ten round bout. 

YouTube Videos:
2012-04-27 Ismayl Sillakh vs Denis Grachev

Elite pound for pound fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr (42-0) faces Miguel Cotto (37-2) for the WBA junior middleweight championship on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO pay per view. Mayweather is a 6-1 favorite, but Cotto is definitely a worthy opponent. The Puerto Rican star has won three bouts in a row including against Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga, and Yuri Foreman after losing by 12th round TKO to Manny Pacquiao in November 2009. 

For Mayweather, after he defeated experienced fighters Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley he knocked out his last opponent Victor Ortiz in a bout that ended strangely with a kiss, hug, and Mayweather knocking out Ortiz after an apologetic embrace. Mayweather needs this win to keep profiting off of his dominance and legacy as well as the always looming possibility of a superfight with Manny Pacquiao. 

This is another chance for Cotto to climb the pound for pound rankings after his crushing loss to Pacquiao and a win against Mayweather would do more than enough to warrant a rematch with Pacman. It will all depend how much of his recent performances were a mirage or were the real Cotto since his last bouts were against previously injured and old fighters; Margarito (eye), Foreman (knee), and Mayorga. 

We know that Mayweather will be fighting the real Cotto. It should make for a good match up with Mayweather willing to fight more in recent bouts and Cotto fighting at a higher weight than against Pacquiao. Does Cotto have a chance? Yes and more than a puncher's chance, but the stars will still have to align just right. Mayweather should still dominate the fight, but if he has slowed down any then this may be just the right time for Cotto to have a chance to beat Money and continue to make more big money. 

Floyd Mayweather vs Miguel Cotto - HBO Face Off with Max Kellerman

On Showtime Boxing Saturday night, Abner Mares (24-0-1) beat Eric Morel (46-3) by unanimous decision to win the WBC super bantamweight title in impressive but still challenging fashion. Mares was crisp and agressive, but Morel would not go away giving a strong fight including bloodying his nose. Mares still won a lopsided yet tough fight. 

Also on Showtime, Anselmo Moreno (33-1-1) won by ninth round TKO over David De La Mora (24-2) after he quit in between rounds. Moreno was dominating the fight offensively and defensively. De La Mora was only able to land 1 out of 21 punches in the first round with the bout not getting much better afterwards including two knockdowns suffered as well as some hard body blows. 

YouTube-Recap: Mares vs Morel, Moreno vs. De La Mora - SHOWTIME Championship Boxing - Boxeo

Adonis Stevenson (18-1) won by TKO in the second round vs. Noe Gonzalez (28-2) on the ESPN Friday Night Fights main event. The southpaw Stevenson did control the fight for the short time it went. The stoppage seemed quick, but  it appeared that he was on his way to a knockout after hurting Gonzalez with a left hand followed by a series of hard punches. 

Ronald Hearns (26-3) ,son of former Boxing great Thomas Hearns, was demolished in the first round by Erislandy Lara (16-1-1) on ShoBox. A left on the button put Hearns down then Lara followed up dropping him twice more to put an end to the fight with Hearns laid out on the canvas (the second of three knockdowns was counted due to Hearns only being held up by the ropes). 

Jermain Taylor (30-4-1) also won by unanimous decision on ShoBox against Caleb Truax (18-1-1) surviving a knockdown to do so. Taylor was the busier fighter most of the bout against the slow paced Truax and he had the better connects when they did occasionally engage. Then in round nine, Taylor was laid on his back by a brutal right hand to the jaw by Truax over a lazy left that seemed to be deja vu all over again for JT who has been knocked out three times before all late in fights. However, Taylor got up this time while on shaky legs but managed to survive the round by repeatedly holding on and by the tenth he was able to fight back. Disturbingly, Jermain Taylor who previously suffered a subdural hematoma was overly elated by his victory while not being worried about the knockdown or caring if he gets knocked out. His trainer Pat Burns seemed to be more concerned about the knockdown, but still confident in his fighter. Final scorecards were 98-91, 97-92, and 97-94. 

Here are results and quick recaps of this weekend's televised main events:

Albert Mensah (25-3-1) defeated Michael Katsidis (28-6) by majority decision on ESPN Friday Night Fights in a tough competitive junior welterweight bout. As usual, Katsidis was an aggressive fighter but was also easy to hit. It was a close match with Mensah mostly boxing while picking off Katsidis. Mensah did lose many rounds and the fight scores were close except one. Final scorecards were 95-95, 96-94, and 98-92 with the latter seemingly misjudged. 

Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1) will remain in the pound for pound rankings with his decisive win over Sergey Fedchenko (30-2) for the WBO interim junior welterweight title on HBO PPV Saturday night. Marquez was ranked sixth in The Ring magazine ratings coming into the fight. Marquez stayed active throughout the match landing flush shots, but Fedchenko was resilient enough to make it through 12 rounds. Final scorecards were 119-109, 118-110, and 118-110. Marquez will most likely pursue a fourth fight with Pacquiao. 

Also on HBO PPV, Brandon Rios (30-0-1) beat Richard Abril (17-3-1) by a controversial split decision in a light weight match. Abril picked off Rios from the outside with Rios giving a lethargic performance. The final scorecards varied with judge Adelaide Byrd scoring it 117-111 for Abril, but Jerry Roth scored it 116-112 and Glenn Trowbridge had 115-113 both for Rios. Abril was infuriated by the decision.

Brandon Rios vs Richard Abril