Boxing Hbo

Romanian-born, left-hander, Lucian Bute, may have retained his IBF super middleweight title against Mexcan-born, Librado Andrade, 13 months ago, due as much to a referee's decision as to his own admirable bravery in surviving a near-final round knockout before a partisan crowd of more than 70,000 at Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

And when Bute (24-0, 19 knockouts) rematches Andrade (28-2, 21 KOs) in Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, in Saturday night's HBO-televised bout, Steve Farhood will be watching with interest on television rather than from ringside as he did last October.

"I think that a mandated rematch was appropriate," said Farhood, a Showtime boxing analyst who called the match alongside Nick Charles. "With that said, it's difficult to imagine Andrade finishing the job this time -- but he deserves the chance."

Andrade was 24-1 with 18 knockouts, his lone defeat having come by decision againsts former WBA king former Mikkel Kessler when he faced Bute, who will be making the fifth defense of a crown he earned with an 11th-round knockout of Alejandro Berrio in October of 2007, and who is coming off of March's fourth-round technical knockout of Fulgencio Zuniga.

And until Bute hit what appeared to be a wall -- emotional, physical, mental, or otherwise -- Bute had been comfortably ahead against Andrade with no reason for any of his partisan fans not to believe that their champion wasn't going to coast to an easy victory.

The past, nearly 10 months have been anything but joyous for Kelly Pavlik, the WBO and WBC middlewieght champion.

A native of blue collar Youngstown, Ohio, Pavlik was hailed as perhaps the sport's next matinee idol when he bravely rose from being floored and nearly knocked out in the second round of his seventh-round stoppage of previously, unbeaten and undisputed middleweight champion, Jermain Taylor.

But Pavik has recently endured questions about his courage from those in Youngstown and abroad -- even as he said that he survived a near-death experience that resulted from a staph infection in his left forefinger which forced the cancellation of a Dec. 5 title defense against talented Paul Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts).

"We weren't surprised. This is really the fourth time, now, so this fight will never take place," said Williams' trainer and manager, George Peterson, to FanHouse on Oct. 21.

"We're going to move on," said Peterson. "There's is no injury. He [Pavlik] just needs a heart transplant."

Paul 'The Punisher' Williams is not only tall, rangy and talented, but the two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion appears to have an endless reserve of energy that allows him to throw punches forever and at a high rate.

In his most recent victory over former world champion Winky Wright, Williams threw 1,086 punches -- an average of 91 punches per round that far exceeds the middleweight average of 51 per round.

George Peterson claims not to know why Paul "The Punisher" Williams is among the most feared boxers in the sport.

And then he gives a perfect argument as to why.

"Walter Mathese was 25 fights with 24 knockouts. Nobody wanted to fight him. Paul fought him and stopped him. Antonio Margarito was most feared. Nobody wanted to fight him. Paul got in there and beat the breaks off of him. Then it was Winky Wright. This goes on and on," said Peterson, Williams manager and trainer.

"Paul will fight anybody from 147-to-160 right now -- whether it's Manny Pacquiao, or Miguel Cotto, or Andre Berto, or Shane Mosley. It doesn't matter," said Peterson. "I can't understand why everyone calls everyone else out, but nobody calls out Paul Williams. All that we want to do is to get their butts into the ring."

A two-time welterweight and one-time junior middleweight champion, Williams (37-1, 27 knockouts) will take on Sergio Martinez (44-1, 24 KOs) in a Dec. 5, nontitle middleweight (160 pounds) clash of southpaws in Atlantic City.

Brian Minto first got the call to fight Cris Arreola about "three or four weeks ago."

"I think that they wanted to bring Arreola back, and they were looking for opponents," said Minto, who is considered to be a journeyman with a solid punch. "I know what the situation is. It's happened to me before. I was brought in to lose to Axel Schulz."

Minto was referring to a sixth-round knockout victory over Schulz in June 2006 that followed the latter's stoppage loss to Wladimir Klitschko.

And now, said Minto, "I'm a guy they think they're bringing in" to pad the record of Riverside's Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs), who is coming off of September's 10th-round knockout loss to WBC king, Vitali Klitschko.

Teon Kennedy first met Francisco Rodriguez (pictured right) in the Poconos of Pennsylvania as a teenager when the two talented boxers faced off in a spirited bout as amateurs.

"It was in 2003 at the Eastern Trials when we fought each other in a tough match. He ended up winning a decision," said Kennedy, who left the ring knowing that he had lost to a worthy rival. "That was my first time ever seeing him, and he was a great fighter back then, and I guess he got even better."

Rodriguez would earn national Golden Gloves championship glory in Chicago before turning pro in 2005.

Rodriguez reeled off wins in his initial seven bouts, with knockouts in the first four, and took a record of 14-2, with eight stoppages into Philadelphia's Blue Horizon on Friday night.

Junior middleweight Shawn Porter, whose intense sparring prepared Manny Pacquiao for his 12th-round knockout of Miguel Cotto on Nov. 14, scored a fourth-round knockout against Jerome Ellis on Saturday night at Fitzgerald's Casino & Hotel, Tunica, Miss.

Known for his speed, power and Cotto-like left hook, the 22-year-old Porter scored his ninth career knockout to improve to 11-0.

The stoppage was the fourth straight for Porter, whose previous three KOs had come in the first round. Porter's 154-pound bout with Ellis was scheduled for eight rounds.

The 31-year-old Ellis slipped to 12-10-2, with 10 knockouts. Ellis, who was stopped for only the second time in his career, was coming off of an eighth-round, split-decision victory over Jamaal Davis in May.

For Oleg Maskaev to be in contention for a heavyweight world title is incredible considering the obstacles he has overcome both in and out of the ring.

There was his near-death experience as a 16-year-old coal miner in his native Zhambul, Kazakhstan, and the fact that only his budding, amateur boxing career saved the former Soviet leutenant from being sent into the war in Afganistan.

Knocked out in all of his six losses, Maskaev overcame a suspect chin to earn his biggest career wins -- two knockouts of former world champ, Hasim Rahman, with the second earning him a brief stint as WBC champion.

Maskaev says that he suffered a broken right elbow during the rematch with Rahman, an injury he endured during a subsequent win over Peter Okhello, as well as in a loss to Samuel Peter.

But now, Maskaev (36-6, 27 knockouts), who turns 41 in March, finds himself, yet again, on the verge of title contention.

For with a Dec. 11 victory over Dominican-born, Nagy Aguilera (14-2, nine KOs), Maskaev would earn a matchup with 39-year-old Ray Austin (28-4-4, 18 KOs). The winner of Maskaev-Austin positions himself for a shot at WBC king, Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs), whom Maskaev knocked out in the first round as an amateur.

FanHouse caught up recently with Maskaev, who has dual citizenship in America and the United States.

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.

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."