One More Round: Rios/Peterson, Gamboa/Salido, Klitschko/Peter, Mora/Mosley, etc...

Michael Nelson brings you this week's edition of One More round.

Despite boxing's struggles in 2010, the last three weeks have been quietly excellent. We had Giovanni Segura's dramatic knockout victory over pound-for-pound stalwart Ivan Calderon on August 28th, a fight of the year candidate between Ricky Burns and Roman Martinez the following Saturday, and a very solid HBO Boxing After Dark card last Saturday.

Problem is, those outside of the hardcore contingent probably haven't seen any of those fights. Instead, they're seeing frequent ESPN news flashes about Floyd Mayweather's antics outside of the ring. How's that campaign to clean up boxing going, Floyd?

Nevertheless, if they tuned in Saturday night, they got a taste of what makes the sport great. Brandon Rios likely earned more HBO dates by beating the favored Anthony Peterson into submission in an exciting affair. Peterson - consciously or subconsciously - called it a day by turning into Andrew Golota as he wilted under an avalanche of uppercuts and body blows. Fortunately, referee Russel Mora recognized quickly that the young man wanted out of the fight, and didn't let his torrent of low blows continue past a few rounds.

Those wondering why Peterson didn't use his "boxing skills" to dance around Rios should take a look at his struggles against 21-8 journeyman Luis Antonio Arceo last year. Although Anthony outpointed Arceo, trainer Barry Hunter was so frustrated with him that he exited the ring in between rounds 9 and 10 after notifying his pupil that he had nothing else to say. His older brother Lamont Peterson was always a more polished fighter.

Meanwhile, Rios' power and in-fighting were impressive, as well as his composure when Peterson began nailing him in the cup. Besides the fleet-of-foot Miguel Acosta - who I feel is the future of the division - he'd have a chance against anyone at lightweight.

In the main event, Orlando Salido nearly erased an early deficit against Cuban phenom Yuriorkis Gamboa with a workmanlike focus towards Gamboa's midsection before Gamboa regained control of the bout down the stretch. Salido, with most of his 11 losses occurring during his teenage years, is a guy who gave a prime Juan Manuel Marquez good work. So Gamboa failing to steamroll him shouldn't be viewed as a negative.

I still favor Yuriorkis over Juan Manuel Lopez, if that fight ever gets made.

Congratulations to Wladimir Klitschko for beating up a shopworn fighter with cement feet. But Emanuel Steward had to beg him for several rounds to stop the incessant clinching and throw a few combinations before the consensus number one heavyweight finally opened up. Yes, Sam Peter can be dangerous, but there's a reason why Wlad hasn't had an entertaining win in several years, and it goes beyond being dominant.

He's a pot-shotter that holds. A lot. And despite suggestions by some that he gets hated on because "he's so good", I'm not sure when pot-shotting and holding became such endearing traits.

Don't get me wrong, Klitschko's a very good fighter and an extraordinary athlete for his size. I might even consider putting him near a P4P list whenever he beats a decent sized heavyweight with some speed (the last opponent that fit that description was Corrie Sanders). But it's not a mystery why his style isn't captivating.

I think Sergio Mora's a very live dog against Shane Mosley, who did very little in rounds three through eleven against Floyd Mayweather in their megafight four months ago. We should get a good indication tomorrow of how much of Mosley's non-effort was due to Floyd and how much of it was due to age.

The best fight of the night, for my money, will be Antonio Escalante against Daniel Ponce De Leon. Escalante is one of the more under appreciated action fighters of the last four years. He's facing the most dangerous opponent he has seen in his professional career.

I expect him to win a decision in a fourth consecutive thrilling weekend of boxing.

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