Boxing news from last week

Fights involving local fighters:

Cristian Favela smiles for the camera at one of the 11 weigh-ins he attended last year. Photo: Jim Wyatt

On Thursday night, Cristian Favela (28-32-7) of Lakeside, Ca. once again made another fighter look bad, this time it was Jessie Vargas of Las Vegas. As you might expect, Vargas (14-0-0, 7 KOs) still got the win.

On Saturday, Antonio DeMarco (25-2-1, 18 KOs) of Tijuana won an unanimous decision over Reyes Sanchez (20-4-1, 11 KOs) and Marvin Quintero (21-3-0, 17 KOs) of Tijuana scored a third round TKO victory over Lowell Brownfield (11-7-1, 4 KOs). Twenty-eight year old Aaron Garcia of Vista, CA (10-1-2) beat Alejandro Lopez (20-2-0).

The top boxing stories from across the planet:

Brandon Rios (left) takes a punch from Miguel Acosta (right). Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

Rios suffers broken right hand while winning the title

Brandon “Bam-Bam” Rios of Oxnard, CA, who claimed a lightweight title with his 10th-round knockout of Miguel Acosta on Saturday night in Las Vegas, did so with a broken right hand that should keep him out of action for at least five months.

And then Brandon Rios (right) delivered his own. Photo: Tom Casino/Showtime

Even though Rios (27-0-1, 19 KOs) scored knockdowns in the sixth, eighth and 10th rounds, his corner said he told them of the break at the end of the eighth round. Rios never complained and went on to land at least three hard right hands to Acosta’s head.

“He knew it was injured and he kept throwing it, that’s how much he wanted the fight,” said his manager later.

Rios did not have the hand X-rayed until Sunday after he was back home but they knew it was broken after the fight because “the bone was sticking up and his hand was swollen. Immediately after the x-ray, Rios’ hand was put in a cast.

Acosta (28-4-2, 22 KOs), 32, of Venezuela, was making his first title defense.

Hopefully Bernard Hopkins can get a fair shake this time around.

Pascal’s promoter reaches agreement with Hopkins’ camp

Light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1-1, 16 KOs) came to terms with his promoter Yvon Michel, paving the way for his May 21 HBO-televised rematch with former champ Bernard Hopkins (51-5-2, 32 KOs).

Hopkins promoter Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy and Michel are still dickering about the site – whether it will be in Montreal or Quebec City, site of the first fight on December 18. You may recall there was talk to have that rematch in Philadelphia. That of course went out the window after Pascal somehow managed to get the favorable draw.

Under the bid rules, Pascal, 28, gets 55% and Hopkins gets 45%. Pascal retained the title against Hopkins via a disputed majority draw in December, when one judge had it for Hopkins and other two had it a draw. Pascal scored two early knockdowns, one of which was highly questionable, but Hopkins dominated most of the rest of the fight.

Hopkins, who turned 46 in January, will once again make his bid to become the oldest world champion in boxing history, a record held by former heavyweight champion George Foreman, who was 45 when he knocked out Michael Moorer to regain the title in 1994.

It appears all those belts are weighing Nonito Donaire down.

Nonito Donaire stops Fernando Montiel in the second round

Nonito Donaire won the WBO and WBC bantamweight championships on Saturday night after his lightning fast left hook caught the champion square sending him to the canvas. Even though Montiel managed to get back to his feet, referee Russell Mora could see he couldn’t continue.

Donaire controlled most of the first round, landing a left hook that briefly stunned Montiel and then came out swinging in the second, landing a few combinations before stunning the champion with that hard left hook.

Donaire (26-1, 18 knockouts) has now won 25 consecutive fights, while Montiel dropped to 44-3-2 (34 KOs).

Mike Jones beats Jesus Soto Karass by unanimous decision

Jones (24-0, 18 KOs) opened cuts over both of Karass’ eyes and, by the end of the bout, there was blood streaming down his face. Both cuts were ruled as the result of punches. However, replays showed the first cut, over the left eye, was from an accidental head butt. The second cut, over the right eye, was from a clean shot.

The 27 year-old Jones was in control throughout thanks to a stiff jab, which Karass (24-6-3, 16 KOs) continued to walk into throughout the fight. Give him credit, Karass showed a durable chin by absorbing everything Jones threw at him. Jones connected on 408 of 846 punches (48%), according to CompuBox, while Karass was landed 226 of 993 (23%).

Felix Sturm defends his title against Hearns

Saturday night, Sturm, a German of Bosnian parentage, defended his WBA middleweight title by knocking out American challenger Ronald Hearns.

The referee stopped the bout in the seventh round after Hearns, the son of Thomas “Hitman” Hearns, was trapped in a corner and unable to stay on his feet after taking a couple of heavy shots to the head.

Sturm improves to 35-2-1, 15 KOs, while Hearns drops to 26-2-0, 20 KOs.