Boxing

KIEL, Germany (AP) -- Zsolt Erdei of Hungary won the WBC cruiserweight title with a majority decision over Giacobbe Fragomeni on Saturday night.

Erdei vacated the WBO light-heavyweight title to fight at cruiserweight for the first time, and managed to do just enough against the 40-year-old Italian. Two judges had it 115-113 for Erdei, while the third scored it 114-114.

Erdei (31-0) controlled the first three rounds with his speed, landing several powerful rights to Fragomeni's head. The tide turned in the middle rounds when Fragomeni (26-2-1) stepped up the pace, and he began to wear down his younger opponent.

FanHouse has a Mikkel Kessler vs. Andre Ward live blog for round-by-round updates for one of the Showtime Super Six Super Middleweight World Boxing Classic bouts.

The 168-pound main event will start a little after 10PM ET. The live blog begins below.

Kessler (42-1, 32 knockouts) vs. Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) live blog: Refresh this page often for minute-by-minute updates.

Oleg Maskaev had won two of five fights and been stopped three times when promoter, Dennis Rappaport, met him in 2002 -- not long after the 33-year-old Russian-American had suffered an eighth-round knockout loss to journeyman, Corey Sanders.

Since then, however, Maskaev is 14-1 with 10 knockouts -- a run that began with six straight KOs. The first stoppage was a one-rounder against Erroll Sadikovski in February of 2003.

"Oleg, in the ring, is now doing something that he's never done before -- and that's being relaxed," Rappaport said of Maskaev, who is coming off of a first-round knockout of Rich Boruff in March -- his second straight win since being dethroned as WBC champ a year earlier by Samuel Peter in six rounds.

"A relaxed fighter is the most dangerous fighter in the world. Oleg's boxing beautifully, he's devastating to the body," said Rappaport. "Even at his age, he's learning new things, and, more importantly, he's got the desire to continue learning."

ESPN carried the live broadcast of Friday's weigh-in featuring WBA super middleweight champion, Mikkel Kessler, and, challenger, Andre Ward.

And the competitors' bodies did not disappoint.

Both looked as if they were cut from diamond as the qualified for the 168-pound limit -- Kessler at a chisled, 167, and, Ward, at a ripped, 166.5.

Each struck a body-builders' double-biceps pose, and there was some talking between them, as they stood, face-to-face, for photos.

From the early indications, Kessler (42-1, 32 knockouts) vs. Ward (20-0, 13 KOs) will be an appealing display of speed, athleticism and boxing skills waged before an enthusiastic crowd at the Oracle Arena in Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao is on top of the world. His following is reaching new heights. Watch how it takes a dozen cops to get the Pacman from his car to the airport terminal as Manny heads back to the Philippines. We also join the media crush that tries to get Manny to talk about potentially facing Floyd Mayweather.

Check out the video after the jump.

Denmark's WBA champion, Mikkel Kessler, is considered boxing's premier 168-pounder -- and for good reason.

And it is among those same reasons why the 30-year-old "Viking Warrior" is favored to take down 25-year-old former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward in defense of his title on Saturday night at Oracle Arena.

"Mikkel Kessler's just been in with a higher quality of opponent. And Kessler's been involved with more big fights, fighting, more or less, for 12 rounds since Andre Ward has been a professional boxer," said Doug Fischer, co-editor of RingTV.com. "And now he's fighting in Andre Ward's hometown of Oakland, Calif., which is going to be nothing new to him."

Manny Pacquiao's historic, 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto, whom he dethroned as WBO welterweight champ for a record, seventh title in as many weight classes on Saturday night, has generated 1.25 million buys, according to official records released to FanHouse by Mark Taffet, HBO's senior vice president of pay per view.

Along with Floyd Mayweather's Sept. 19, unanimous decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez, which resulted in 1.05 million buys, this year represents the first time HBO pay per view has ever recorded back-to-back fights exceeding a million buys, Taffet indicated in Friday's e-mail.

Pacquiao-Cotto also marks the first time since 1999 that two, pay per view boxing events have totaled more than a million purchases, joining Felix Trinidad's controversial decision over Oscar De La Hoya, and, Lennox Lewis' disputed draw with Evander Holyfield.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Daniel 'The Rock' Dawson is a renaissance fighting star. He is not only a kickboxing world champion, but also a highly rated boxer with the impressive record of 34-and-1 (20 KOs) in the boxing ring.

In this FanHouse video, we caught up with Daniel and his trainer Justin Fortune. Find out what Daniel would do if he wasn't a fighter and whether he prefers kickboxing or boxing more.

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

As a teen, Jamie "Shotgun" Winchester was sent to prison for attempted murder. Now, he's using boxing to keep his life on the right track.

We caught up with him moments after his fight at the MGM in Vegas. Winchester was one of the undercards for the Pacquiao-Cotto fight. He faced Middleweight prospect Matt Korobov (8-0, 6 KOs) in a match that Korobov won.

Winchester shares some of the crazy things he witnessed in prison and has a message for those still locked up.

Check out the video after the jump.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said that the early pay-per-view numbers released on Manny Pacquiao's victory over Miguel Cotto are "over a million and under 1.5 million buys -- and that's without all of the precincts being reported."

"They're not really accurate yet, but all that we can say with absolute certainty is that Pacquiao-Cotto was the biggest, revenue-producing event on pay-per-view for the entire year," said Arum. "And that surpasses all of the UFC. Everything. Any event. It's the biggest event of the year from the standpoint of revenue being generated."

Arum, who promotes Pacquiao (50-3-2, 37 knockouts), said that he met with officials at HBO on Thursday concerning the numbers.