Boxing News & Updates – 6^th February – For: Spivey-Vasquez; Result, Cleverly vs. Karpency: 25^th Feb, Roberto "Massa" Ortiz, Still Winning, Hernandez - Cunningham Result, Yuba Takes Fourth National Belt, Chavez was arrested for DUI, Chavez Jr. retains title, Donaire defeats Vazquez, Team Rubio Claims Chavez Jr. Dodged Doping Test, Rubio To Protest Chavez Jr. Fight, Joe “The Future “ Hanks wins by 2^nd TKO

• Spivey-Vasquez; Result - Saturday night (4^th Feb) at the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Dangerous” Dorin Spivey (41-6, 30 KOs) captured the NABA lightweight title, outslugging Victor Vasquez (14-6-1, 7 KOs) en-route to hard fought seventh round stoppage. Heavyweight Contender Chazz “The Gentleman” Witherspoon (30-2, 22 KOs) captured the vacant IBS North American Continental title with a brutal second round knockout of David Saulsbury (7-5, 7 KOs) in the eight round co-feature of the evening.

• Joe “The Future “ Hanks wins by 2^nd TKO - Saturday night (4^th Feb) at the Times Union Center, Albany, New York, Joe “The Future “Hanks (19-0, 13 KOs) defended his IBA Americas Title by second round TKO against 6’7 Cuban Rafael Pedro (21-10-1, 15 KOs). The Outgunned Pedroclaiming a dislocated right shoulder, informed the referee he was unable to continue and the bout was stopped at the 0:48 mark of the second round.- In the co-main event,fans were treated to a fast-paced ten rounder between bantamweights Sahib Usarov of Moscow, Russia and Cuban 2004 Olympic Gold Medalist Yan Barthelemy for the WBO Inter-Continental Title.Fighting for the first time in the United States. Usarov took the fight right at the fellow southpaw. Utilizing excellent boxing skills, the Russian was able to score effectively with a piston like jab and sharp left hands, keeping the awkward Barthelemy at bay. Both fighters eyes were swollen by the end of the fight. Scores at the end were tallied in Usarov’s favor, 98-91 and 96-93 twice. With the win Usarov improved his unbeaten record to 18-0-0 (6KO’s), while Barthelemy fell to 12-3-0 (4KO’s).

• Roberto "Massa" Ortiz, Still Winning - Saturday Night (4^th Feb) Auditorio Centenario, Torreon, Mexico - Roberto "Massa" Ortiz (23-0-1, 20KOs) continued his win streak, as he retained the WBC's silver junior welterweight title with a fourth round stoppage of Cesar Chavez (18-2, 8KOs). After dominating the first three rounds, he started unloading with everything to knock Chavez down in the fourth. The referee had seen enough and stopped the fight. After the contest was over, Ortiz told reporters that it "would be an honour" to fight full WBC 140-pound champion Erik Morales.

• Hernandez - Cunningham Result – Saturday Night, Frankfurt - Yoan Pablo Hernandez (26-1, 13 KOs) defended his International Boxing Federation (IBF) Cruiserweight Title with a spectacular points victory over Steve Cunningham (24-4, 12 KOs. The pattern was similar to their first meeting last October, with Cunningham fighting back after two knock-downs in the fourth round. After an exciting fight, Hernandez was ahead 116-110, 116-110 and 115-111 on the scorecards. “This is a big victory for me,” Hernandez said. “But I take my hat off to Steve, he is a great, great fighter and once again proved his world class. But our strategy worked today and I am very happy about the outcome.”

• Yuba Takes Fourth National Belt - Saturday, Tokyo, Japan. - 35-year-old veteran southpaw Tadashi Yuba (40-7-2, 30 KOs), 159.25, acquired his fourth national belt as he won the vacant Japanese middleweight throne by dispatching JBC top ranked Carlos Linares (8-2, 8 KOs), 160, a Japan-based Venezuelan, at 0:39 of the seventh round.

• Chavez was arrested for DUI - Just two weeks prior to his defence against Marco Antonio Rubio, during what would have the peak of his training camp, WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of drunk driving at the late, late hour of 4:38AM. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department website, the Son of the Legend was held for about six hours and must return to court on March 16 at 8:30AM. At the time of his arrest, Chavez was listed as weighing 175lbs and it is known that he had difficulty making weight for his fight with Rubio, although he successfully made the 160lb limit on the first try. In the 30 hours or so between the weigh-in and fight, Chavez bulked up nearly 22 pounds according to HBO. (Source Fight News / Karl Freitag.

• Chavez Jr. retains title - WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (45-0-1, 31 KOs) successfully defended his title with a twelve round unanimous decision over mandatory challenger Marco Antonio Rubio (53-6-1, 47 KOs) on Saturday night (4^th Feb) before 14,120 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Rubio put forth a valiant effort; however the effort wasn’t enough to capture the title as the judges at ringside scored the bout 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113.

• Donaire defeats Vazquez - In a clash for the vacant WBO super bantamweight belt, pound-for-pound star Nonito Donaire (28-1, 18 KOs) effectively used his left hand and combinations throughout the entire fight and went on to score a hard fought twelve round split decision over former champ Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. (21-2-1, 17 KOs). The bout too place Saturday night as the Chavez Jr.-Rubio co-feature before 14,120 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

• Team Rubio Claims Chavez Jr. Dodged Doping Test - Promociones del Pueblo, representatives of Marco Antonio Rubio, claim WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. violated the WBC regulation that stipulates that in title fights the fighters must leave a urine sample for drug testing with the doctor of the local commission, in this case Texas. According to Team Veneno Rubio “at the end of the fight, in a very suspicious way, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. practically fled from the dressing room without leaving a sample to be medically evaluated later.”

• Rubio To Protest Chavez Jr. Fight - Handlers for middleweight contender Marco Antonio Rubio plan to protest Saturday’s title fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in San Antonio. The basis for the protest is no anti-doping testing having taken place, despite language existing both in the fighters’ contracts and in the WBC championship rules. “We will protest the fight today,” Rubio’s promoter, Oswaldo Kuchle informed BoxingScene.com early Sunday morning. .”The fight was a WBC world title fight, and they didn’t do the urine anti-doping test as the rules state so. We had agreed on the anti-doping.”

• Cleverly vs. Karpency: 25^th Feb - World Boxing Organization (WBO) world light-heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly expects the Welsh and British boxing fans to be at their very best when he makes his long awaited homecoming on February 25th. Cleverly will face American Tommy Karpency in the 3rd defence of his world title as he headlines the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. He’ll be fighting in front of his own Welsh fans for the first time in 4 years and there are just a few hundred tickets left before the show sells out. “The atmosphere is going to be awesome on the night. It’s going to be a sold out arena and such a good atmosphere. It’s going to give me a great buzz and there’s a good buzz around the fight. I’m excited to come out to an atmosphere like this, it’s going to be electric”, Cleverly commented.