Props to HBO for saying “Fuck you” to the WBC and their president Jose Sulaiman. The WBC suspended a very emotional Chris Arreola for cursing during his post-fight interview after his recent fight with Vitali Klitschko. HBO replayed a segment of it during a promotional piece for Chris’ next fight, and deliberately left the swearing in.

As usual Arthur began slowly but came on as the fight progressed. He almost ended it in the ninth after landing a hard right to the jaw but Taylor survived. Then, in a near replay of his last fight versus Carl Froch, Taylor was knocked out in the final seconds of the bout. Only this time a single right hand bomb from Abraham sent him to sleep with his arms extended in the air.

According to Taylor’s promoter Lou DiBella, Taylor will remain in the hospital in Berlin for several more days.

“He has a severe concussion,” DiBella said. “He also had some short-term memory loss, and in the interest of being completely safe and overly safe, he’ll be in the hospital probably for several days. They believe the area of his head that was hurting him was from his head hitting the canvas. He’ll be in Berlin for another week because the doctors didn’t want him to fly, but his wife and his mother are with him.”

DiBella said when they were in the dressing room after the fight, Taylor asked him what round he was knocked out in. DiBella told him, but Taylor asked him again a few minutes later. And then, according to DiBella, Taylor asked his wife the same question twice because he could not recall which round he had been stopped in.

Hopefully Jermain will make a full recovery.

In the second bout of the Super Middleweight Tournament, Carl Froch won a disputed split decision over Andre Dirrell.

Dirrell used his superior speed to get in and get out against Froch. He landed more blows and even hurt Froch late in the bout, however at least half of the rounds were very close and the judges gave those to the champion. Dirrell was also penalized a point in the tenth round for holding however it did not affect the outcome of the bout.

Fight Report scored the bout 115-112 for Dirrell but the judges had it 114-113 for Dirrell and 115-112 twice for Froch.

The final bout in the opening stage of the tournament will take place on November 21st, in Oakland, CA between Andre Ward and Mikkel Kessler. Stage two and three matches are as follows:

Stage 2
Andre Dirrell vs Arthur Abraham
Mikkel Kessler vs Carl Froch
Jermain Taylor vs Andre Ward

Stage 3
Andre Dirrell vs Andre Ward
Carl Froch vs Arthur Abraham
Mikkel Kessler vs Jermain Taylor

After the three stages are complete, the four boxers with the most points will compete in a single-elimination tournament to determine the winner. Points in the first three stages are awarded as follows:

Win = 2 points
Draw = 1 point
Loss = 0 points
KO = 1 bonus point

Current Standings (#s in parenthesis = max # of pts the fighter can score)
Arthur Abraham: 3 (9)
Carl Froch: 2 (8)
Jermain Taylor: 0 (6)
Andre Dirrell: 0 (6)
Mikkel Kessler: 0 (9)
Andre Ward: 0 (9)

In one of the undercard bouts, Scott Jorgensen TKOd Noah Thomas with elbows and punches from the top. One strike towards the end of the sequence drew blood which prompted referee Mark Calo-oy to stop the bout. Thomas lay on the canvas wincing as blood streamed down his face. Official time was 3:13.

Salgado dropped Linares with a left hook to the temple early in the first. Jorge never recovered from the punch, and seconds after he got up he was trapped in the corner and pummeled into a TKO.

Linares is now 27-1, 18 KOs and Salgado is 21-0-1, 15 KOs.

The entire fight lasted six seconds. Havili threw a low kick, and Muir countered with an overhand right that knocked him cold. As he lay on his back, Muir dropped two more bombs to the chin that sent the KOd fighter into convulsions. Later in the video Havili is seen sitting upright so it appears as if he will make a full recovery from this frightening knockout.

Arreola was never in the fight. Few jabs, poor lateral footwork and a lack of head movement left him wide open for Klitschko. Vitali used his jab and right hand to keep Cris at bay. Whenever Cris managed to close the distance Vitali would circle out of harm’s way or tie him up. The few punches Arreola did land did not phase Klitschko.

Vitali landed 215 more punches than Cris and by the end of the tenth round, Arreola’s face was a mess. His trainer Henry Ramirez mercifully stopped the bout even though Cris likely would have made it to the twelfth.

Klitschko was gracious after the fight. “Arreola gave great performance, I was very surprised. He has great chin. And actually after I land right hook, many of my opponents go to the floor. He still stays. Big respect.” The crowd booed him loudly.

Arreola was an emotional wreck after the fight and I felt bad for him. Even though he got dominated he never quit. His trainer made that call for him. “I wanted to go the full 12 rounds. I knew he was fuckin me up but hey, I’m sorry guys… …He was just a smarter fighter in there. And whatever I did he’d find a way to counteract that. He just found a way to win and I found a way to lose… …I promise I’ll be back. This ain’t the last you’ve seen of me. Fuck that I’m coming back.”

With the win Klitschko improves to 38-2, 37 KOs while Arreola drops to 27-1, 24 KOs.

Power Punches
Klitschko 151 out of 283 (53%)
Arreola 24 out of 107 (22%)

Total Punches
Klitschko 301 out of 802 (38%)
Arreola 86 out of 331 (26%)