The World This Week by Oliver Fennell Nov 12th 2007

Oliver Fennell sums up the international action of interest. Results with relevance to British boxing are in bold. We will not reveal The Contender results out of respect for those who wish to watch the series without knowing what happened. November 9 Vincent Vuma returned to his native South Africa following July's exciting win over Mark Thompson in Wigan. Fighting in Gauteng, Vuma retained his WBC International light-middleweight championship with a clear points win over Raul Bejerano of Argentina. On the undercard, hot lightweight prospect Kgotla Baeti went to 14-1-1 with a sixth-round stoppage Gabriel Phakula. One of America's top heavyweight hopes, Kevin Johnson, continued to underwhelm, outpointing Andrew Greeley, over six rounds. Johnson is undeniably a big talent, but he fails to excite. To illustrate this point, Audley Harrison – himself often criticised for a tentative approach – knocked Greeley out in three rounds last year. Welterweight prospect Mike Jones is now unbeaten in 12 fights, having claimed the best scalp of his short career. Jones stopped former lightweight contender Israel Cardona in three rounds in his hometown Philadelphia. November 10 Miguel Cotto posted a unanimous decision over Shane Mosley in a hugely anticipated welterweight showdown at Madison Square Garden. In a promotion billed “Fast and Furious”, Mosley neglected his trademark speed in favour of headhunting in a bid to exploit some chinks suggested by Zab Judah when he fought Cotto. But on this night, Cotto had little trouble standing up to the blows and he outworked the 36-year-old Californian to retain his WBA laurels. In the chief support, WBC interim lightweight titlist Joel Casamayor nicked a razor-thin points verdict over Jose Armando Santa Cruz in which he too looked his 36 years. Also of interest was the return of Antonio Margarito following the loss of his WBO welterweight strap in July. He knocked out fringe contender Golden Johnson in one round to lift the vacant WBO Intercontinental title. On the undercard of David Haye's title-winning theatrics (see main report here) in Paris, another Brit was not so fortunate. Steve Conway, who has scored his share of his upsets, was to be denied on this occasion, getting stopped in three rounds by European light-middleweight ruler Christophe Canclaux in a non-title fight. In the chief support, Souleymane M'Baye came back from his shock loss to Gavin Rees in July and stopped Panamanian Ameth Diaz in four rounds. Former WBA light-welter champ M'Baye earned the mandatory position for Junior Witter's WBC crown with this victory. Canadian super-bantamweight Olivier Lontchi won the NABA and NABO belts with a 12-round decision over former world champion Cruz Carbajal in Montreal. A good result for the 14-0 Lontchi.

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