FanHouse JoelCasamayor

Southpaw former world champion Zab Judah (pictured) scored a second-round knockout over Ubaldo Hernandez on Friday night at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas to improve to 38-6 with his 26th career KO.

The victory was the fourth in the past five fights for the 32-year-old Judah since June 2007, when he was knocked out in the 11th round by Miguel Cotto.

A former three-time titlist, Judah scored three knockdowns while ending a nearly 12-month layoff against Hernandez (22-20-2, 10 KOs), who, like him, weighed 145 pounds for their welterweight matchup.

Southpaw former world champions, Zab Judah, and Joel Casamayor will return to the ring on Friday night at The Palms Casino in Las Vegas.

Judah, a 32-year-old welterweight (147 pounds), will be ending a nearly 12-month layoff. The 38-year-old Casamayor will be ending a nearly 14-month ring absence when he enters the ring as a light weight (135).

Judah (37-6, 25 knockouts) will face 31-year-old Adailton De Jesus (23-4, 18 KOs) of Brazil, who has won four of his last five fights.

When Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Arturo Gatti in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in June 2005, he was greeted by a hostile crowd partisan to the New Jersey native.

The acrimonious reception brought out the best in Mayweather, who stopped Gatti in six rounds after dropping him early during a generally dominant performance for the World Boxing Council light welterweight title.

The undefeated six-time champion expects a similar atmosphere Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where Mayweather (39-0, 25 knockouts) takes on Mexico City's Juan Manuel Marquez (50-4-1, 37 KOs) at a catchweight of 144 pounds.

Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Sr. both agree with Floyd Jr. that his return to the sport should be as boxing's best fighter, pound-for-pound.

"Nobody beat him. He's still undefeated. He's still Floyd Mayweather Jr. It's like your read a book and you're in the 10th chapter, and you close the book to take a nap," said De La Hoya. "You open the book, once again, when you wake up and you pick up where you left off. It's a continuation."

Juan Manuel Marquez knocked out Joel Casamayor to become the new lightweight champion of the world tonight in Las Vegas.

Marquez brutally knocked Casamayor out in the 11th round, knocking him down once with a right hand on the chin and then knocking him down again and ending the fight with another right just a few seconds later. Although the fight wasn't for the lightweight title belts of any of the alphabet soup sanctioning bodies, it was for the more significant Ring Magazine lightweight title. The real lightweight champ is the Ring champ, and now the true champ is Marquez.

Marquez said after the fight that he hopes to fight Manny Pacquiao again. That could happen some time in 2009, and it would be a great fight, as the first two fights between Marquez and Pacquiao have been.

The 37-year-old Casamayor falls to 36-4-1, with the first knockout loss of his career. The 35-year-old Marquez improved his record to 49-4-1, and he adds another title to his resume.

Welcome to the FanHouse live blog of tonight's lightweight title fight between Joel Casamayor and Juan Manuel Marquez.

UPDATE: The other lightweight title fight, Nate Campbell vs. Joan Guzman, has been canceled.

The Casamayor-Marquez pay-per-view show and our live blog will begin at 9 p.m. Eastern.

As I tried to order the pay-per-view of Saturday night's lightweight title fight between champion Joel Casamayor and challenger Juan Manuel Marquez, I noticed something disturbing: I couldn't find it in high-definition.

So I contacted HBO, which is distributing the fight on pay-per-view, and I was told that the fight is simply not available in HD. The fight is not an HBO production -- HBO is just working with the promoters as a distributor -- and the promoters, Golden Boy Promotions, have apparently decided to cut costs by only offering the fight in standard definition.

That's a shame. In 2008, if a sporting event isn't available in HD, it has a small-time feel. And Casamayor-Marquez is a big-time fight. Or at least, it should be.

In any event, I'll be watching on my standard definition TV and live blogging the Casamayor-Marquez fight here at FanHouse.

We're less than 12 hours removed from Manny Pacquiao's knockout of David Diaz, and already the question must be asked: Who does Pacquiao fight next? Here are a few possibilities:

Nate Campbell: This would be an excellent fight, with the winner potentially unifying the lightweight title belts of all four sanctioning bodies.

Edwin Valero: Pacquiao's promoter, Bob Arum, says Pacquiao will stay at lightweight to defend the WBC title he won last night, and Valero is the one name he mentioned as a possible opponent.

Joel Casamayor: The Ring Magazine lightweight champ faces Juan Manuel Marquez in September; if he wins he'd be a natural opponent for Pacquiao, but probably not until early next year.

Humberto Soto: On last night's undercard, Soto lost a dubious disqualification after dominating Francisco Lorenzo.

Amir Khan: Has been discussed as a possible opponent, but probably isn't ready for Pacquiao.

Ricky Hatton: It would be a huge fight, if Pacquiao is willing to move up in weight class again. This won't happen in 2008 but could happen in 2009.

Joel Casamayor has retained his lightweight championship, stopping Michael Katsidis in the 10th round tonight in a tremendous fight in Cabazon, California.

Casamayor knocked Katsidis down twice in the first minute of the first round, catching him with a couple of brutal lefts and looking like he had the opportunity to end the fight in the first, but it would be back-and-forth from there.

Katsidis staggered Casamayor in the fourth round and appeared close to sending him to the canvas, but Casamayor held on to make it out of the round relatively unscathed. In the sixth, Katsidis knocked Casamayor not just down but actually through the ropes, but Casamayor got back up and back in the ring and managed to survive the round.

And then Casamayor changed the momentum of the fight, avoiding Katsidis' onslaught and even doing some damage himself before catching Katsidis with a huge shot at the start of the 10th. Katsidis got back up after that shot, but the fight was stopped moments later.

The referee warned both fighters about illegal blows several times before finally taking a point away from Casamayor for a low blow in the ninth.

Casamayor entered the fight as the Ring Magazine champion and keeps that title, which is the title that is generally recognized by fans and the boxing media. Other fighters have title belts, but Casamayor is the lightweight champion of the world.

The 36-year-old Casamayor, who defected from Cuba just before the 1996 Olympics, improves to 36-3-1 as a professional, with 22 knockouts. Katsidis, a 27-year-old Australian, falls to 23-1.