Big night in the ring

I've been critical of Golden Boy Promotions and the card that they placed on their house network Showtime did not look like a typical pay cable card as far as quality goes.
The fighters may not be of the usual level,but the action certainly was as two of the three bouts were of fight of the year consideration caliber and the third was a good fight as well.

A few thoughts on the evening.

Andre Berto delivered another great fight,but with his third loss in four fights and to the limited Jesus Soto-Karass,perhaps its time for Berto to leave the ring.
Berto suffered another injury (shoulder) in the bout and was losing the fight clearly when he was stopped in the 12th and final round.

Another point-Texas boxing has a huge issue with bad referees and bad judging.
The issue with Lawrence Cole (son of Texas boxing chairman Dickie Cole) did not raise its head on this evening,but one judge had Berto AHEAD and another even going into the last round of a fight that was exciting,competitive,but not close?
Unreal.
You want to be sure to win a fight in Texas-get a knockout.

Omar Figueroa's war of a win over Nihito Arakawa was just the type of fight that a young knockout artist needs.
Not everyone will fall at your feet and better fighters take better shots.
Going the distance and being punched back will benefit Figueroa in the future and Arakawa deserves to be heard from as well.

Keith Thurman rallied for a 10th KO of Diego Chaves,but I still think this is another Al Haymon advised fighter being shoved down the throat of the network that wants to use Haymon advised Floyd Mayweather.
HBO suffered through this with Andre Berto and Thurman for a short period and Showtime now has this problem.
I'm not saying Thurman is an awful fighter,but I believe that,much like Berto,when the rubber meets the road at the top of the division-Thurman is going to fall short.

Funny note-Keith Thurman thanking the fans in "San Diego" for their support.
Boos quickly rained down on a puzzled Thurman,who figured it out when Al Haymon whispered in his ear that they were in San Antonio.

All things considered,the action in San Antonio was top notch and kudos to Golden Boy/Showtime for three entertaining bouts.
A fight does not have to be a title fight to be fun to watch and the sports grows with action filled scraps.
That has been what helped UFC grow and that will help boxing as well.

Photo Credit:AP Photo