Taylor KO'd by Froch, JuanMa pummels Penalosa

Carl Froch TKO12 Jermain Taylor

Carl Froch put the boxing world on notice by delivering a stunning KO of Jermain Taylor on Saturday night, the stoppage coming with only 14 seconds remaining in the fight. Froch was behind on the cards and would have lost his belt if not for the late rally which saw him drop Taylor with under 30 seconds remaining in the 12th round. Taylor emerged at the count of 9 but Froch jumped right on him, and the ref waved it off as Jermain appeared to drop his guard while taking some serious punishment. Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) was expected to be cast aside by his more experienced opponent, and that looked to be the case as he was knocked down by Taylor in the 3rd round. Taylor appeared to be well on his way to victory, sweeping the first 5 rounds, but one of the knocks on him was his stamina and that was indeed the case in this fight, as his activity decreased as the fight went on. There were some nice flurries from both guys in the late rounds, but as the fight wound down, it was clear that Taylor had nothing left. Froch retains his WBC super-middleweight belt and after the fight called out the unbeaten, but retired, Joe Calzaghe.

This moves Taylor's record against white guys to 0-3 (don't forget the 2 losses to Kelly Pavlik), and drops his career record to 28-3-1, 17 KO. More importantly, this drops the great Larry Merchant's Vodka Breath to a paltry 5-2. Froch remains a free agent.


Juan Manuel Lopez TKO9 Gerry Penalosa

This was supposed to be the toughest test of Lopez's young career, and he passed with flying colors, dominating the rugged Filipino legend. Penalosa's trainer Freddie Roach stepped in at the end of Round #9 and wisely put a halt to the fight, as Penalosa's face was being used as target practice for JuanMa's fists.

JuanMa set all kinds of PunchStat records, if you believe in that sort of thing, landing over 400 power punches in 9 rounds, while Penalosa threw only 390 total punches or so. Despite this barrage, Penalosa (54-7-2, 36 KOs) never hit the deck, and actually he has never been knocked down in his career. This was, however, the first stoppage loss of his career, and had the fight gone on any longer, serious damage could have been sustained.

After the fight, Lopez (25-0, 23 KOs) essentially said he's not long for the 122-lb weight class, as he looks to move up to featherweight (126-lb) by the end of this year or beginning of 2010. And of course he helps Simply Juanderful improve to an astounding 9-0 with 7 KOs.