Calzaghe (45-0) rebounded from a first-round knockdown at the hands of "The Executioner" to seemingly win easy, however one judge did give the 43-year-old Hopkins the fight by a score of 114-113. The other two judges scored in favor of the 36-year-old from Newbridge, though, 116-111 and 115-112.

Hopkins (48-5-1) floored the favored Calzaghe in the first round, but was dominated for much of the fight, and suffered his first loss since dropping consecutive decisions to Jermain Taylor in July and December 2005.

Diaconu (25-0, 15 KOs) and Henry (21-1, 17 KOs) battled it out for 12 rounds, with the judges awarding the fight to Diaconu with scores of 115-113, 115-113 and 116-113.

04/19 19:41:32 ET

Fighting in his home town, Nuzhnenko (27-0-1) took a head butt in the second round that opened up a cut over his left eye. The cut grew worse throughout the fight, forcing the referee to stop the bout after the 10th.

One judge had Nuzhnenko ahead on the scorecard, 96-95, but the other two scored the fight at 95-95, allowing the 31-year-old to retain over the Puerto Rican Garcia (16-3-2).

It's always something with Bernard Hopkins.

Whether trashing an opponent's native flag as he did prior to meeting Puerto Rican hero Felix Trinidad in 2001 or walking the tightrope of racial insensitivity, during a recent nose-to-nose confrontation with Saturday night foe Joe Calzaghe, the Philadelphia veteran is never short on made-for-TV abrasiveness.

Dawson (26-0, 17 KOs) used his combinations and his left-handed jab, but Johnson (47-12-2 32 KOs) continued to stay in the fight throughout.

Dawson, though, took over the fight in the sixth round as he would fire off combos and pull away from Johnson.

Tampa, FL (Sports Network) - Chad Dawson's sharpest blow came about 10 minutes after his fight ended Saturday.

With boos raining down from a near-capacity crowd at the St. Pete Times Forum -- audibly upset at the verdict allowing the New Haven resident to retain his WBC light heavyweight title -- Dawson dismissed any thought of an immediate re-do with punishing Miami-based challenger Glen Johnson.

Cotto (32-0, 25 KOs) landed 188 punches to Gomez's 63, and the fight was stopped after five rounds once it was clear the challenger was in danger of being seriously injured. The Puerto Rican champ, coming off convincing wins over Shane Mosley and Zab Judah in his previous two fights, will likely face newly crowned IBF Welterweight champ Antonio Margarito in a unification bout this July.

Gomez (18-4-2, 8 KOs) had never previously been knocked down, let alone knocked out, but was clearly overmatched against Cotto Saturday. The native of Mexico withstood a brutal early barrage from the champ, but the beating took its toll sooner rather than later, leading t

It's put-up or shut-up time for Antonio Tarver.

The loquacious southpaw, never at a loss for words when recorders are in range, finds himself in a watershed situation for whatever's left of his career on Showtime this Saturday night.

Molitor (27-0) won by scores of 120-107 on two of the scorecards and 119-108 on the other one.

It was the fourth successful defense of the belt for Molitor, who captured it with a knockout of Michael Hunter in November of 2006.

Referee Russell Mora ended the fight with just 36 seconds gone in the round.

Sturm (29-2-1) earned the technical knockout after his previous title defense resulted in a draw against American Randy Griffin, pummeling Pittman throughout the final three rounds and opening a cut about the Aussie's eyebrow that ultimately did him in.

Ladies and gentlemen, it's good to be Mark Taffet.

The HBO boxing kingmaker -- though, to be exact, the title on his business card reads "senior vice president of sports operations and pay-per-view" -- is happily riding herd over an ongoing renaissance that's recently translated into positive numbers for the network's three fight-related franchises.

Abraham (26-0, 21 KOs), nicknamed "King Arthur", was just that as he knocked down Ayala in the fifth round. Then in the 12th, the champion landed a big left uppercut which took down the challenger again. The fight was then ruled a KO with 28 seconds left in the round.

The 28-year-old Abraham made the seventh successful defense of his title he won with a fifth-round knockout of Nigerian Kingsley Ikeke in December of 2005.

Phillips (42-10-1), won 116-112, 115-113, 113-115 on the judges' scorecards, picking up his fourth straight win. Phillips, 38, came into the fight off an unanimous decision over Eduardo Sanchez on February 16.

Spinks (36-5), the son of Leon Spinks, dropped his second straight split decision. He was nipped by Jermain Taylor in a contest for the WBC and WBO middleweight titles in May. Spinks was fighting in his hometown of St. Louis, but lost for the second time in three fights in his native city.

Forget the "Show Me" state.

Missouri has officially become the "Please, tell me you're kidding" state.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports sources said Green made his decision in the early morning hours of Easter Sunday to retire before his April 27 mandatory title defense against Argentina's Hugo Garay.

Nicknamed the Green Machine, the 35-year-old Green captured the title last December 16 with a 12-round unanimous decision over Stipe Drews. Green finished his career with a 25-3 mark with 22 knockouts.

Casamayor (36-3-1, 22 KOs), who floored Katsidis twice in the first minute of the opening round, was sent through the ropes by a flurry of punches in the sixth round. However, Katsidis couldn't finish off his opponent and he even landed a shot to the face after the bell.

Katsidis (23-1) connected with a solid punch early in the 10th, but when he missed a right in trying to follow-up, Casamayor caught him with a square hook right to the cheek for a knockdown. Katsidis got to his feet, but Casamayor connected with a flurry of punches before the bout was finally stopped at the 30-second mark by referee Jon Schorle.

Referee Luis Pabon stepped in and stopped the fight at 2:34 of the final round to give the 30-year-old Ukrainian the win. Kotelnik (29-2-1, 13 KOs), a former Olympic silver medalist, has not lost a fight since Junior Witter scored a unanimous decision over him in July 2005.

Since then Kotelnik has won five fights, a streak interrupted by a 12-round draw with Souleymane M'baye last March.

Some unsolicited gambling advice:

Anyone pondering a wager on how long Shane Mosley's got left in the ring -- bet the over.

The Universum Box-Promotion won the right to promote the much anticipated rematch at a WBA purse bid Monday. Universum's bid of $4,354,840 outdistanced Sauerland Event ($3,541,021) and Don King Promotions ($3,000,000).

The bout is scheduled for May 31 and will take place at a venue to be named in Germany.

Duane Ford scored the fight 115-112 for Pacquiao, Jerry Roth gave the fight to Marquez by the same margin and Tom Miller scored the bout 114-113 for Pacquiao.

The two previously met May 5, 2004, a bout in which Pacquiao (46-3-2) knocked Marquez down three times in the first round before Marquez (48-4-1) recovered to earn a draw.

This just in...I don't get it.

Though he's clearly a talented guy, surely adored in his homeland and certainly on anyone's modern-day list of fun guys to watch in the ring, I honestly don't see what all the fuss is concerning Manny Pacquiao.

Peter (30-1, 23 KOs), in his first title bout, leveled Maskaev (34-6) with several punches to the face late in the sixth round before the referee called a halt to the bout with four seconds remaining in the round.

The 27-year-old Peter, who became the first Nigerian heavyweight titlist, first hurt Maskaev with a right to the face and then drove him back to the ropes and eventually to the corner with more uncontested shots before the fight was halted.

Despite blood oozing from the left eye of Haye (21-1, 20 KOs), he nailed Maccarinelli with a hard right to the face and followed that with several punches as his opponent staggered. Maccarinelli's head came through the ropes, but when he got to his feet, referee John Keane called a halt to the bout at the 2:04 mark.

Haye was coming off a seventh-round TKO of Jean-Marc Mormeck last November 10.

One judge scored the 12-round bout 115-113 in favor of Naito and another scored it 115-114 for Wonjongkam, but a third had it 114-114.

Naito now has a record of 32-2-3, with his only losses coming against Wonjongkam, the former champ who now owns a mark of 67-3-1.

A funny thing happened on the way to Sam Peter's Hall of Fame induction.

Though the burly heavyweight - dubbed the "Nigerian Nightmare" for his string of trauma-inducing KOs during a four-year rise through suspect journeyman ranks - maintains the daunting physical presence he exuded during that win streak, the in-ring havoc has essentially ground to a halt.