MMAJunkie.com reports that some MMA agents are uniting to try to stop Showtime from auctioning the contracts of Elite XC fighters. ProElite closed it’s doors last last month and Showtime had invested money into ProElite and Elite XC and is owed compensations for the fall out. However, the MMA agents are fighting the legality of Showtime’s attempts to auction off the contracts as part of the ProElite liquidation. Here is an excerpt from the letter:

The unity of this effort is unprecedented and the message that is being sent is clear. Absent significant pre-established negotiated terms, do not bid on these contracts unless you are prepared to fight the challenge to their legality. It is our intention to honor our commitment to Pro Elite, but if Pro Elite is not able to perform in accordance with the contractual terms, the fighters should be granted unrestricted free agency with the unfettered ability to enter the marketplace.

Many managers submitted letters to Elite XC notifying them of breech of contract. A contract is a contract, and I’ve never seen the stipulations of the contract, but I don’t feel that these fighters should be sold like property.

Read the entire story and full letter at MMAJunkie.com

Fight fans were busy last night with bouts broadcast on both HBO and Showtime. Let’s start with the Showtime, fast becoming my favorite of the two boxing-wise.

Showtime’s main event brought together two stellar junior bantamweights, Armenian-Australian Vic Darchinyan and Russian Dimitri Kirilov. Darchinyan predicted a knockout and made gone on his promise by felling Kirilov in the fifth to seize the IBF super flyweight title.

Darchinyan dominated the fight from the opening bell. His speed and punching power was too much for the overmatched Russian who looked to have left his much lauded boxing skills in St. Petersburg. Darchinyan connected often with a range of power punches, body shots, and straight lefts.

Darchinyan amped up his already vicious attack as soon as the bell rang to start the fifth peppering Kirilov with left hand combos which were smartly set up by terrific jabs. The final left in the flurry bloodied Kirilov’s nose and sent him to the canvas for an eight count.

Darchinyan then pounced on his opponent chasing him across the ring before knocking him down for good with an impressive left cross. Kirilov tried to stagger to his feet but could not.

In Showtime’s opener 2004 Olympic bronze medalist Andre Dirrell (15-0-0) remained undefeated by flooring super middleweight Mike Paschall (17-1-1) with a straight left half way through the fourth. The punch wasn’t enough to knock Paschall out but it did split open the tough Baltimore athlete’s forehead.

The ring doctor was called in the look at the cut while blood spewed from Paschall’s dome. Pachall, who had been giving Dirrell a good the fight up until that point, plead for the bout to continue but his entreaties fell upon deaf ears.

Despite the loss one thing was clear: Pachall is a tough dude.

The Showtime Network’s weekend of boxing began with junior middleweight Ronald Hearns (18-0) taking on Kansan Jose Luis Gonzalez (12-3-1) in the Caribbean splendor of the Grand Cayman Islands. Hearns is the son of the legendary Thomas Hearns.

It is hard not thinking about the father while watching the son.

The Motor City Cobra was in The Chosen One’s corner often taking the advice reins from his son’s trainer. After the fight Thomas had the endearing smile of a proud father. He might have been happier after this fight than he had been for any of his own. It was a touching scene.

Ronald’s lanky body, body shoulder blades, hard punch, easy gait, and facial similarities quickly remind you of Thomas. But sadly Ronald is not the elite level fighter that his father was. Not everyone can be. Ronald disposed of Gonzalez in the 7th when the Kansas fighter’s corner through in the towel after he took in a few rounds worth of pounding blows to the head.

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Image details: Juan Manuel Lopez v Juan Brea served by picapp.com

If you stayed with the end of Showtime’s Sergio Mora victory over Vernon Forrest then you probably missed HBO’s opening bout. Heck, if you blinked you might have missed Juan Manual Lopez’ declarative first round TKO and WBO super bantamweight-grabbing win over Daniel Ponce de Leon.

The 24-year-old Puerto Rican destroyed the 27-year-old Mexican first dropping him with a straight left halfway through round one. Ponce de Leon got up but was out on feet an Lopez pounced. He stalked Ponce de Leon around the ring finally cornering him at the 50 second mark. At this point he wailed hook after hook flattening his opponent again. The Mexican was unable to gather and the ref mercifully stepped in and ended the beating.

HBO announcer Max Kellerman asserted that “a star is born.” It’s hard to argue with that statement especially after Lopez’ confident and personality-filled post-match interview. Israel Vazquez and Rafael Marquez now have an exciting prospective Puerto Rican dancing partner. Kellerman asked him if he’s ready for those two luminaries to which Lopez smilingly responded, “If the fight today didn’t demonstrate it, then what do I have to do?”

One after the next The Contenders have come and gone. Unimpressive, overhyped and out of their league. Until tonight. In a startling but well-deserved victory Sergio Mora outworked Ring Magazine’s #1 junior middleweight and WBC super welterweight champ Vernon Forrest to earn a majority decision win.

Few gave Mora a chance. Conventional wisdom said he was a club fighter who got a chance against the two-time Shane Mosley slayer not because of skill but because of his marketability. For the first three rounds this standard line of thinking seemed accurate. But in the fourth Mora landed some punches, found his groove, caught some momentum, gained some confidence, and slowly began to assert his dominance.

Mora’s and the fight’s signature round came in a wild action-filled ninth when Sergio cornered Forrest and landed a barrage of punches. The last one minute of this round was Mora’s emphatic announcement to the boxing world: “I am here and I am the better boxer tonight!”

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It didn’t take long. In just two minutes Paul Williams regained his WBO welterweight title from Carlos Quintana revenging his unexpected February loss to the Puerto Rican. Williams put Quintana down twice in the first reminding us why he was once one of boxing’s most feared fighters.

This emphatic win puts Williams back on the welterweight map. He’s an exciting fighter and a powerful champ. Now that Oscar De La Hoya has nothing to do on September 20 why not take a chance on this up-and-coming star from Aiken, South Carolina.

The best part of Williams’ quick win is that it takes away many boxing fans’ impending 10 p.m. angst: “what will I watch when HBO’s broadcast starts?” Now there might not be much of a choice to make as the Showtime card might be done by that time. Thanks Paul for your quick work!

Photo Source: Newscom.com

On Saturday night in Nottingham, England light welterweight Junior Witter lost his WBC title belt in a split decision to American Timothy Bradley. Witter, a 5:1 favorite was outworked, outsmarted, and outclassed by the unknown southern Californian who dropped the Bradford native in the sixth. Before the fight Witter, who had goldenpalace.net shaved into the back of his skull, was Ring Magazine’s #1 junior welterweight contender. Bradley was unranked.

Witter’s loss adds to the growing list of title-dropping Britons, a number that now has swollen to five in the past six months: Witter, Ricky Hatton, Clinton Woods, Enzo Maccarinelli, and Gavin Rees. The only Britons still holding titles are Joe Calzaghe and former Victoria’s Secret model David Haye.

Badlefthook.com called the fight the “early upset of the year candidate” Graham Houston at the fightwriter.com noted that “Witter did not show the authority, or the will to win, that one expects from a champion.”

I found Witter’s performance tentative, snooze-worthy, and yet another example of an over-rated British pugilist. Quit showing these English poseurs Showtime, they are not worthy of our time or our attention. And next time, please broadcast in HD.

Photo Source: Newscom.com

Two 2004 U.S. Olympians are furthering their careers tonight in southern California. Sadly, they won’t be fighting on the same card and their matches take place at around the same time some 225 miles apart. Lightweight Vicente Escobedo headlines the Carson, Calif. Home Depot Center card while southpaw super middleweight Andre Dirrell is the draw at the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez. You won’t be able to travel to both.

For our money we would go to Carson to see Escobedo (16-1) face wily Argentine vet Roberto David Arrieta (27-12-4). Escobedo dropped his first big match in 2006, a split decision loss to Daniel Jimenez and his confidence hasn’t been the same since. But none other than Oscar de la Hoya, his promoter, believes that he could still be the next Oscar de la Hoya.

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Image details: Mystery Scene served by picapp.com

Clinton Woods‘ performance last Saturday on Showtime against Antonio Tarver was lethargic, disappointing, and downright hard to watch. Trust me. Don’t go searching on youtube for highlights. There were none. On the line in Tampa for Woods were two title belts and a possible big money date in England with Joe Calzaghe. But he didn’t show up. This viewer felt that the Sheffield native might have left his energies in Ybor City where we’d bet he looked good on the dance floor.

In today’s Sheffield Star Woods’ promoter counters with another theory: Clinton Woods was poisoned! Did someone slip something into his grouper sandwich? We may know soon because his promoter has an adamant solution “I want some blood tests to see if there was a reason we don’t know about as to why he was so flat and his legs so heavy.”

Clearly, the promoter had been using his keen observational skills a la fellow Sheffielder Jarvis Cocker: “There were a couple of people in our hotel who had food poisoning.” Was it Woods’ royal food taster? Was it the guys hanging out with Tarver’s friends? Was it northerners on a late winter golfing trip? Was it George Steinbrenner? He doesn’t elaborate.

The whole poisoning excuse seems a little preposterous to us. Clinton just wasn’t as good as Tarver that Saturday. One thing we do know is that his bout had a quick poisoning effect on my wife and I: we watched, became drowsy and disoriented, wished that our hotel room had HBO, and then fell into a immediate and disturbing sleep.

Elite XC (Elite Xtreme Combat) is the newest MMA organization. It will makes its long awaited debut tonight at the DeSoto Civic Center in Southaven, Mississippi. Elite XC “Destiny” as it has been called has a main bout of Frank Shamrock v. Renzo Gracie. Other matches on the card include Wesley Correira vs. Antonio Silva; David Loiseau vs. Joey Villasenor; Women’s Gina Carano vs. Julie Kedzie; and K.J. Noons vs. Charles Bennett on the main card which is being broadcast on Showtime at 10:00 pm eastern.

On the undercard is middleweights Seth Kleinback v. Riki Fukuda, welterweights John-David Shackelford v. Edson Berto, lightweights Adriano Nasal v. Javier Vazquez, Welterweights Mike Pyle v. Ross Ebanez, and heavyweights Tim Persey v. Bo Cantrell. The undercard bouts will begin at 7:00 pm eastern and can be watched live at www.ProElite.com.

Elite XC is varying itself from UFC amongst other organizations in several unique ways that might help it attract a decent audience. First, it includes womens fighters, something UFC and other organizations do not. Although this is most definately a niche market some may tune in for the womens fights, especially if they continue to recieve press like tonight’s bout between Gina Carano and Julie Kedzie has.

Also, it seems as though Elite XC has fully embraced the internet as a means of broadcasting fights and making the undercard so widely available it may give people a taste of what Elite XC is all about without having to subscribe to Showtime or purchase a PPV first. I will keep an eye out for viewership numbers but be sure to tune in to the undercard or main events to see Elite XC’s first fights.