Manny Pacquaio wrote himself into the history books last night in front of a packed Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Pacquiao needed nine rounds as he defeated former world champion David Diaz by knockout. This win now makes him the first Asian fighter to win world titles in four weight divisions.

The great Manny Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs) give David Diaz (34-2-1, 17 KOs) all sorts of problems throughout the nine rounds. Pacquiao looked the quicker of the fighters and outpunched Diaz. Diaz to his credit always came forward and only stopped when he was left on the canvas in round nine for the count.

In what may be the most controversial disqualification since Jones v Griffin I. Super featherweight contender Humberto Soto (43-7-2, 27 KOs) punished Francisco Lorenzo (33-4, 14 KOs) for four rounds but still went home with a loss. Soto dropped Lorenzo twice, however after the second knockdown Soto caught Lorenzo while he took a knee. Lorenzo remained on the deck which prompted referee Joe Cortez to spend several minutes consulting with other officials before deciding to DQ Soto.

Monte Barrett (34-6, 20 KOs) needed just 57 seconds to knockout 6'9 Tye Fields (40-2, 35 KOs). This may have been the biggest upset of the night with a lot of boxing experts expecting Fields to be the next big heavyweight star.

WBO featherweight champion Steven Luevano (35-1-1, 15 KOs) and Mario Santiago (19-1-1, 14 KOs) battled to a twelve round draw. In a very exciting bout both men tasted the canvas in an eventful round two. Santiago was looking the more comfortable of the two fighters but Luevano battled back to take the last few rounds. Scores were 117-111 Luevano, 115-113 Santiago and 114-114. Luevano retains his title.

Jesus Rojas (12-0, 10 KOs) scored a sixth round TKO over Alex Baba (26-13-1, 19 KOs).

Dennis Laurente (29-3-5, 15 KOs) scored a fouth round TKO over Steve Quinonez (30-13-1, 10 KOs

John Duddy (25-0, 17 KOs) scored a punishing ten round unanimous decision over Charles Howe at "The Castle" in Boston on Saturday night. scores were 100-90 on all cards

WBO #15 heavyweight Shane Cameron (21-1, 19 KOs) scored a fifth round TKO over Kevin Monity (17-4, 13 KOs) on Saturday night in Wellington, New Zealand,

Muhammad Rachman won a 10 round unanimous decision over the young Filipino Edren Dafudong at trans 7 Studio, Jakarta, Indonesia, on Saturday night.

Yodsanan Sor Nanthachai stopped Jimrex Jaca in round six,

Super bantamweight Matthew Marsh (10-1, 1 KO) won the first British title when he outpointed Esham Pickering (33-7, 13 KOs) over twelve rounds

Bantamweight Abner Mares (17-0, 10 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Jonathan Arias (15-2, 8 KOs) on Friday night at the Morongo Casino Resort & Spa in Cabazon, California. Mares was always in command throughout the bout and sailed to a easy point decision Scores were 99-90, 99-90, 98-91. Super bantamweight Nestor Rocha (19-1, 6 KOs) won a ten round unanimous decision over Jose Angel Beranza (30-13-2, 25 KOs). scores were 100-90, 99-91, 97-93.

Manny Pacquiao 134.5 vs David Diaz 135 (WBC Lightweight Championship)

Steven Luevano 126 vs Mario Santiago 125 (WBO Featherweight Championship)

Humberto Soto 130 vs Francisco Lorenzo 130 (WBC interim super featherweight title)

Tye Fields 265 vs Monte Barrett 220

Anthony Peterson (27-0, 19 KOs) scored a one sided twelve round unanimous decision over veteran Fernando Trejo (19-13-4, 17 KOs) on Thursday night at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Scores at the end of the bout were 120-108, 120-108, 119-109 with the win he now holds the NABF interim lightweight title.

The ever impressive Vanes Martirosyan took his record to 20-0 with 13 KOs after a ten round unanimous decision over former world title challenger Angel Hernandez (28-7, 16 KOs). Martirosyan scored a shutout 100-89 verdict on all cards.

Manny Pacquiao: 

“It is so important for me to win because I have dedicated this fight to my countrymen and it will make them happy if I win.  After the fight I will get back there and I will do something to help them.”

(Note:  Filipino media brought it to Manny’s attention today that many people at home are without food and shelter.  But the thing many are really worried about is if the power will return by Saturday so they may watch the fight.)

“He can punch.  He’s not careless in the ring.  So he has a chance to win (laughs).”

“He likes to come in and I like to fight a guy like that.  I do not take him lightly.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to fight a guy like him because he is not a name guy like Morales or Barrera.  But I have to fight him and I had to get in shape to do it.  And I am in great shape.”

“When I lost the 1^st Morales fight I learned a lot, not just in the ring, but outside of the ring because I had a lot of distractions.  I tried to do my best in that fight but it was not good enough.”

“Moving up in weight, I feel better.  I don’t know how much I will weigh when I get into the ring on Saturday night.  It depends on how much water I drink.  It is very hot here (100’s all week) so I have to drink a lot of water.”

Do you feel if you win the fight you will be #1 PFP?

“What I try to do is maintain keeping the people, my fans, happy when I am inside the ring.  When I am outside the ring, I try to be a good man.”

“I am not worried about punching power.  In training camp I was sparring with 145-pounders.”

“I don’t have any idea if it will go the distance.  We won’t know that until Saturday night.”

David Diaz

“I would like to thank Mandalay Bay for putting me up in this real nice suite.”

“My dad took care of 9 kids and he put a roof over our heads.  He is my hero.  And he got me interested in boxing.  One time I told him I wanted to go out and play football and he said that sport is for animals!  He told me boxing is mano-a-mano, football is crazy.”

“Right now I am about 2-pounds over weight.”

“I have always done pretty good against southpaws.  I hit them, so I really should be all right.”

Any superstitions?

“That Billy Goat scared the heck out of me.  Could you imagine what it would be like if the Cubs started losing?  I don’t want that on my ticket.”

According to several newspaper reports in the Uk, Super Middleweight king and free agent Joe Calzaghe is looking to face Superman Roy Jones Jr on September 20th in Las Vegas, The date came about after HBO needed the 20th filled because of Floyd Mayweather's retirement.

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Has HBO scramble to fill the gap left by Mayweather's retirement it now seems that apart from the potential match up between Calzaghe and Jones Jr a match up between Felix Trinidad and Oscar De la Hoya has also been talked about. The two fighters met almost ten years ago with Trinidad winning a very controversial decision and since that time De La Hoya has always tried to set up the fight.

According to a witness testimony in a gang trial on Monday. Former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson had a contract put out on him by the gang leader Damion 'World' Hardy.

The contract was made after Tyson ordered the killing of the men responsible for murdering his bodyguard, The plot to kill Tyson was planned to be carried out in June 2000, which was two months after the death of minder Darryl Baum, who was the man accused of shooting rapper 50 Cent nine times in May of the same year. Gang member Shelby Henderson testified in Brookyn, New York Federal Court in the trial against member Abubakr Raheem. Henderson claimed that when he learned of the $50,000 bounty Tyson had offered to have their members killed, gang leader Damion 'World' Hardy planned a retaliation.

The 41-year-old told the New York Post, "I already expect the worst to happen... I expect one day somebody'll blow my brains out over some BS. No one gives a s*** about Mike Tyson. Someone accuses me of a horrible crime, others say, 'Yeah, he's capable of that. Mike probably did it.'

Super middleweight king Joe Calzaghe has annouced he has split from long time promoter Frank Warren and will now be self managed. Calzaghe has been with Warren for a total of twelve years but told The South Wales Argus.

"There has been a lot of speculation about my future, At this time I want to set the record straight and end that speculation. I am now a free agent with no contract and intend to be self-managed from now on. I am the only person who can make negotiations for my next fight. Regarding that fight, I am not in negotiations with Kelly Pavlik, despite reports to the contrary. My intention is to fight Roy Jones Jnr, a four-weight world champion fighter. That would be a special event for me against a legend of the sport. There are issues to be resolved with my former promoter Frank Warren and I hope they can be done so amicably."

According to sources close to the scene, After Edison Miranda was knocked down for the third time and the fight was stopped Saturday night, there are reports that Arthur Abraham's brother Alexander got in the ring and kicked Edison Miranda while he was getting checked by the ring doctor. The ring doctor also got struck which started a brief scuffle which involved former boxer Randall Bailey coming to Miranda's aid.

Alexander then tried to get out of the ring but was upended by security and was taken to the local jail.

Andre Berto (22-0, 19 KOs) stopped Miguel “Mikki” Rodriguez (29-3, 23 KOs) in round seven to claim the newly vacated WBC Welterweight Championship. Berto dropped Rodriguez in round seven with a uppercut and the referee stopped the contest.

Chris Areloa (24-0, 23 KOs) defeated Chazz Witherspoon (23-1, 15 KOs) by third round disqualification at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. Arreola dropped Witherspoon twice in round three, the second time at the bell. Referee Randy Phillips gave Witherspoon an eight count at which point Witherspoon's corner entered the ring to try to help Chad back to the corner and Chad was DQ'd.

IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (27-0, 22 KOs) showed that last times fight was on fluke win with Edison Miranda (30-3, 26 KOs) as he scored a knockout in round four of a hotly anticipated rematch on Saturday night at the Hard Rock LIVE Arena in Hollywood, Florida.

Abraham looked by far the sharper fighter while Miranda covered up. In round three Abraham started to open up and catch Miranda at will. Round four saw Miranda hit the canvas on three occasions, after the last one the referee opted to end the fight.

Raul Marquez (42-3, 29 KOs) scored a unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Giovanni Lorenzo (26-1, 18 KOs) last night which earned him a shot at the IBF title.

Marquez broke down the younger Lorenzo throughout the bout and although Marquez had a point deducted in round ten he still took home scores from the judges with all three scoring the contest 114-113.

Mikkel Kessler regained the WBA super middleweight world title last night with a twelfth round stoppage over the previously unbeaten Dimitri Sartison on Saturday night at Brondby Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Kessler stalked his opponent for most of the rounds and finally got to him with a great shot that left Sartison on the deck. Kessler, knowing the end of the bout was near, choose his time well and finished Sartison in the very next round.

Amir Khan (17-0-0) had to come through a turbulent time and get off the canvas in doing so to stop Michael Gomez in Round five on Saturday night at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.

The fight started with Michael Gomez ,his workman like self, coming forward which Khan adjusted to well, using great counter punching to combat Gomez style. The challenger tasted the canvas in the very first round from a great right hand which may have had a lot of fight fans thinking they were in for an early night. In Round two the Manchurian Gomez had a knockdown of his own which caught Khan with a glancing left hook and left the champion on the canvas taking an eight count. Round four may have been the best round with both men hurting each other with big shots. The end came in the fifth round from a great combination from Khan that left the referee with no choice but to end proceedings. Gomez protested the stoppage but we here at TopClassBoxing think the referee made the right decision.

Bradley Pryce retained his Commonwealth title with a sixth round stoppage over Marcus Portman.

Andre Ward (16-0, 11 KOs) scored an impressive eighth round TKO over Jerson Ravelo (18-3, 12 KOs) on Friday night at the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal in George Town, Grand Cayman.

Ward pushed the pace from the opening round while Ravelo was happy to sit back and remained cautious. It was like a comedy sometimes with Ravelo hitting the canvas several times because of slips. The stoppage came in the eighth and has Ravelo made it to his feet Ward jumped straight on his foe and the referee had little option but to end the fight.

Ronald Hearns (19-0, 15 KOs) scored a seventh round stoppage of Jose Gonzales (12-3-1, 10 KOs).

Former world champion Wayne McCullough (27-7, 18 KOs) remained on his stool at the end of round six against Juan Ruiz (22-5, 7 KOs), Although Wayne was ahead on two of the judges scorecards he took the mic after the stoppage and said "I think this is my last fight and I want to thank you all for coming. I am disappointed with the way things went but I just felt I could not go on."

"I think this is my last fight and I want to thank you all for coming. I am disappointed with the way things went but I just felt I could not go on."

WBC strawweight champion Oledong Sithsamerchai retained his title yesterday when he knocked out Japan's Junichi Ebisuoka in 1.14min of the ninth round.

In a very polished performance from the champion he won every round up until the finish. When the referee counted out the Challenger Ebisuoka the fight fans in attendance rose to their feet and gave a standing ovation.

Ebisuoka claimed that he thought he could tackle Oledong easily, with the experience he had gained while fighting as a flyweight, but he found the Thai fighter to be too good, very elusive to hit with his bobbing and weaving style and his left hooks which were very powerful.

"He was accurate with his punches,".

"I am very happy to have retained the title," said Oledong. "I fought my own fight, targetting his face, midriff and abdomen. I was able to avoid his punches because I have been training to bob, weave and duck during my sparring sessions."

Amir Khan has been dealt a sucker punch with news that Joan Guzman has taken his Number one ranking and ultimately a shot at the title.

Khan became the number one challenger after beating Danish number one contender Martin Kristjansen in his last fight.

Commonwealth champion Khan, who takes on Michael Gomez in Birmingham on Saturday, is still confident, however, he will fight for a world title later this year and promoter Frank Warren has admitted he is trying to get his charge a meeting with Campbell.

"If I keep beating everyone they put in front of me I know then eventually I will get the chance to fight for a world title," he admitted. Earl, Limond and Gomez are the type of fights I needed to gain experience and the more fights I have before a world-title shot the better. Boxing has so much politics about it. It is not as easy as picking up a phone and saying I want a world-title fight. You have to earn your way up there and people like Guzman have the priority. I can wait six to eight months for a chance against Campbell or Casemayor and they could pull out or even vacate the title. I might as well get a couple of fights in while I am waiting. My chance will come."

Golden Boy Promotions and Arena Box announced today that a co-promotional agreement has been signed for two of Cuba’s hottest prospects in years, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Yan Barthelemy and 2005 World Amateur Champion Erislandy Lara.Flyweight Barthelemy is 6-0, 0 KOs as a pro and welterweight.

According to the latest reports in the Manilla Bulletin, there is serious talk about the exciting match up between Pound 4 Pound number one Manny Pacquiao and Britain's own Ricky Hatton to fight in November.

Bob Arum who currently promotes Pacquiao told the Manilla Bulletin that Goldenboy CEO Richard Schaefer contacted him last friday about working out a deal between the two fighters for November with Las Vegas being talked about as the location.

The Goldenboy of British boxing Amir Khan is itching to get some kind of world title around his waist and is looking towards Campbell for the challenge.

We spoke and he said we would like to make the fight," Frank Warren said. "Let's take it one fight at a time, and when the Gomez fight is out of the way, we'll see what happens.

"What I do know is that Campbell's fight with Joel Casamayor isn't happening, so there might be an opportunity. What is really important is that Amir focuses on next weekend."

It was thought that new WBC champion Sergio Mora would face off against Shane Mosely on October 11th but due to former champion Vernon Forrest having a rematch clause it looks as though this fight may be a long way off. Now it seems Ricardo Mayorga will step into the breach to face Mosely.

This match up has been talked about for years but has never really been signed to anything concrete, now though it seems that the fans are getting their wish with Goldenboy Exec Richard Schaefer telling various reporters that they are talking to Don King about the matchup.

Raul "Rayito" Garcia (23-0-1, 15 KOs) has successfully dethroned IBF minimumweight champion Florante Condes (22-4-1, 20 KOs). Garcia prevailed via unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Estadio Arturo C. Nahl in La Paz, Mexico.

Despite being dropped to the canvas in the last round Garcia showed a champions heart to make it to his feet and finish the bout with the decision and ultimitely the title, It was all to late for the champion Condes who lost alot of points early on has Garcia boxed smart and caught the Indonesian at will, at the end of twelve rounds two of the judges scored the bout identicaly with scores of 115-112 with the third judge scoring the bout by a wider margin of 118-110.

Edgar Sosa (32-5, 17 KOs) retained his WBC title has he scored an eighth round TKO over southpaw Takashi Kunishige (18-3-1, 2 KOs) on Saturday night at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.

The stoppage came in the eighth round when Sosa caught Kunishige with a crisp combination that left the referee with no choice but to end proceedings.

WBC #2 ranked light flyweight Juanito Rubillar (46-10-7, 22 KOs) won a split decision over former world champion and #1 ranked Omar Nino (25-3-1, 11 KOs) in a WBC eliminator.

WBC #2 ranked lightweight contender Antonio Pitalua (43-3, 37 KOs) scored a fourth round KO over Jose Arely Lopez (22-4).

Mia St. John (44-9-2, 18 KOs) won an eight round majority decision over Amy Yuratovac (6-2, 6 KOs) to claim the WBC international crown.

A fight between Super Middleweight king Joe Calzaghe and Middleweight king Kelly Pavlik has been squashed.

When asked about the fight by The South Wales Argus Joe Calzaghe said "I'm not sure if Pavlik really wants to face me at the moment. He would have little to gain because I believe I would definitely beat him and, with respect to Gary Lockett, I would be a step-up too far for Pavlik."

WBC bantamweight champion Hozumi Hasegawa (24-3, 8 KOs), successfuly retained his title for the sixth time as he impresively stopped his challenger Cristian Faccio (15-3, 10 KOs), twice to give the refree little choice but to end proceedings the time of stoppage was 2:18 of the second session on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan

WBA super-feather champ Edwin Valero (24-0, 24 KOs), kept hold of his WBA title and collected another Knockout victory which extended his KO streak by demolishing Japanese challenger Takehiro Shimada (22-4-1, 15 KOs), at 1:55 of the seventh round on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan.

The fight up untill the stoppage saw the ever aggressive Valero persuing the more defensive Shimada while trying to put any kind of combination together, Valero finally caught up with Shimada in the seventh and floored him with a right hook which he followed with a strong left. Referee Guillermo Perez Pineda made the right decision and called time on the challengers chances, Shimada looked visable on shaky legs as he made his way to his feet.

Valero's next challenge could see him finally make his US debut which is reportedly going to happen in Texas.

After annihilating Gary Lockett on Saturday night The Middleweight king Kelly Pavlik looked towards Joe Calzaghe for his next challenge.

When asked about a possible match up later in the year Pavlik told reporters

"Calzaghe would be a great fight. I'll see what my managers and promoter propose. If they want me to fight Godzilla, I'll fight Godzilla."

Unbeaten Sergio Mora (21-0-1, 5 KOs) upset previous world champion Vernon Forrest on saturday night when he scored a majority decision to take the WBC crown.

The fight started with Forrest pushing the pace and the champion seemed to dominate the proseedings early on but Mora had enough in the tank to outwork the champion over the second half of the fight. Scores after the twelve rounds were 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112 for Mora.

Paul "The Punisher" Williams (34-1, 25 KOs) recaptured the WBO welterweight title with a first round destruction of reigning champion Carlos Quintana (25-2, 19 KOs).

Williams dropped Quintana twice, both times after tough flurries capped off by strong left hooks that sent the now former titleholder to the canvas. After the second knockdown, referee Eddie Claudio immediately stopped the fight as it was obvious that Quintana was out on his feet. Time of the stoppage was 2:15 of the opening round.

Sergio Martinez scored a seventh round TKO over Archak "Shark Attack" TerMeliksetian (16-7, 13 KOs)

Clarence "Bones" Adams (43-6-4, 19 KOs) and Jesus Perez (25-20-3, 14 KOs) fought to a no contest

We may have a reason why Evander Holyfield want to carry on fighting and it may not be because of the title but because of financial reasons.

His $10 million estate in suburban Atlanta is under foreclosure, the mother of one of his children is suing for unpaid child support, and a Utah consulting company has gone to court claiming the boxer failed to pay back more than a half million dollars for landscaping.

A legal notice that ran Wednesday in a small local newspaper said Holyfield's estate will be auctioned off "at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash" at the Fayette County courthouse on July 1.

Meanwhile, Holyfield's handlers allegedly told the mother of one of his children that he will no longer be able to make his $3,000-a-month support payment. Toi Irvin claims the boxer has already missed two payments, so she has gone to court seeking restitution.

Growing speculation over the last couple of month's said that the Former undisputed light welterweight champion Kostya Tyszyu was planning to make a big comeback to the ring but this i am sad to say is untrue.

"I'm hundred percent sure I shan't be back to boxing. At least, the way you [boxing press] expect me to be back," said Tsyzu "I will turn 39 in two months and that's a critical age. I feel myself young and healthy but I gave this sport 30 years of my life, too much for now. I want to devote myself to other activities. If I continue my boxing career as a fighter it will all be forced out to the background. I know I help children by being here. 50-100 of them will go to the gym following my visit. Some of them will stay there for a while to become future prospects and stars. I think it's more important than my personal ambitions,"

Everlast worldwide Inc yesterday signed a deal with former WBO champion Paul Williams which allows Williams to exclusively wear Everlast footwear, apparel, and professional fight gloves.

Matt Cowan, Director of Sports Marketing for Everlast Worldwide comments, “Paul Williams’ physical stature and relentless fighting style is a true representation of the strength and dedication that our brand was built upon. He is a champion in and out of the ring, and we are extremely proud to welcome Paul and his team to the Everlast family.”

Fernando 'Cochulito' Montiel (37-2-1, 28 KOs) retained his WBO super flyweight championship for the eighth time with a third round knockout of Luis 'Titi' Maldonado (38-3-1, 28 KOs) on Saturday night at the Plaza de Toros el Paseo in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Montiel dropped Maldonado in rounds one and three and the bout was stopped during Montiel's follow-up barrage. Time of the KO was 2:58.

After the fight Montiel claimed he would like to face fellow countryman Christian Mijares in what would be a great fight.

The WBC have given Joe Calzaghe untill September to face his mandatory Carl Froch. The fight will probably not happen with Calzaghe looking towards a big payday against Roy Jones Jnr or Kelly Pavlik.