When you have a three-division champion winning in his return, an excellent action championship fight, a future star moving up the ladder and a former heavyweight champion ending his fight vis knockout, it's a great night.
However, none of those fights are the story of the night as that honor belongs to Roman "Chocolatito" Gonzalez, who won the WBA junior bantamweight title from Kal Yafai by a ninth-round knockout.
Gonzalez had fought only twice, both against lower-level competition, since his stunning fourth-round knockout loss to Srisaket Sor Rungvisai.
The knockout defeat for Gonzalez was the second in a row to Rungvisai, who had defeated Gonzalez via a decision in their first fight in which finished in the conversation for fight of the year with most scoring Gonzalez as a decisive winner and combined with knee surgery since, many wondered how much that Gonzalez had lost from the supremely skilled fighter that was so dominant at junior flyweight and flyweight and was still elite at junior bantamweight, if not quite the same at the higher weight.
Despite five successful defenses of his WBA title, Yafai was looked at as the third best fighter in the division at best behind WBC champion Juan Francisco Estrada and Rungvisai with some ranking him fourth or fifth behind IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas and/or WBO Kazuto Ioka, as Yafai didn't have a standout win and had scored just one knockout in his defenses.
Yafai was clearly the bigger and taller man and he may have been able to fight off the jab, using his range to keep Gonzalez off him and maybe won a decision, but instead despite his corner's protestations, decided to fight on the inside and try to grind down the veteran.
The grinding process worked well- for Gonzalez, who gradually pounded Yafai and dominated the sixth and seventh before knocking Yafai down late in the eighth round.
The clock saved Yafai in the eighth, but it would not in the ninth as Gonzalez knocked Yafai down with a crushing right within the first few seconds with the referee waving the battle off immediately.
Gonzalez winning was a surprise only due to his circumstances, not his ability and it was one of those nights in boxing that you don't see very often- a great fighter summoning up an unexpected effort to make the viewers remember how great he once was and that he might have more than a bit remaining.
I had Gonzalez leading 78-73 going into the ninth, so it was more than just hurting a fighter and finishing him off and I'll be interested to see "Chocolatito" 's next fight as he has just entered a triangle of exciting 115 pounders with Estrada and Rungvisai with each fighter having scores to settle- Gonzalez holds a win over Estrada (at flyweight), Estrada has defeated Rungvisai, and Rungvisai owns two wins over Gonzalez, so any pairing of the three will have an instant storyline and all should be action fights.
Roman Gonzalez may have won fighter of the night, but the fight of the night had to be Julio Cesar Martinez's unanimous decision victory over Jay Harris.
Martinez retained his WBC flyweight title in a fight that saw Harris fight bravely but was just a bit overmatched against the talented champion.
The fight was often held toe to toe with both fighters landing strong shots, but Martinez landed the bigger shots and more often, bloodying Harris from the nose and swelling the face of the Welshman for the second half of the fight.
Martinez landed a hard left to the body in the tenth that dropped Harris and looked like the end of the fight was near, but Harris managed to grit his way through and last the distance.
Martinez won on my scorecard 116-111 and I'd love to match him against any of the three other champions in the flyweight division, but don't rule out Harris either.
I'm not sure Harris beats any of the other champions in a strong division, but when fighters move up in weight or retire, I think he might be in the mix.
For four rounds of the main event, Jessie Vargas was on his way to a huge upset over Mikey Garcia.
I thought Vargas won three of the first four, the other round was close and just as I started to think upset, Garcia struck with a barrage of right hands that knocked Vargas down and swung the fight his way.
Garcia tried to end the fight in the sixth and seventh with a strong attack against a shaken Vargas, but Vargas rode out the storm and when Garcia put the car into neutral for the final four rounds, content to win a decision, that's what Garcia got- a unanimous decision that thrilled few and proved only that Garcia is capable of defeating top ten welterweights, but not the best of the division.
I scored Garcia a 116-111 winner, but I didn't find him overly impressive in victory and for all of his technical skills, Garcia's workmanlike style hasn't dazzled me since his days at 126 and 130 pounds.
Many things in life, we get paid for things that we are good at, not always things that we love.
Mikey Garcia doesn't seem to have the passion that truly great fighters have and sometimes watchers of the sport have to realize that we may want the passion for greatness more than the men that fight do.
Israil Madrimov entered a junior middleweight eliminator with the reputation of a future star and he did nothing to disprove that with a dismantling of Charlie Navarro in six rounds.
The 40-year-old Navarro isn't at the level of a title eliminator and he gave little resistance to Madrimov, who toyed with Navarro as he would with a novice before two sixth-round knockdowns ended the fight.
Madrimov's next fight will be tougher as he'll face someone in a final eliminator that could see him face recently crowned WBA/IBF champion Jeison Rosario or Julian Williams, should Williams win their contractually obligated rematch.
Former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker survived a cut to stop trialhorse Shawndell Winters in five rounds.
Winters gave a game effort, but the naturally smaller fighter could never sting Parker and earn his respect.
Parker knocked Winters down late in the third round with the bell saving Winters and Winters showed plenty of heart in getting through the fourth, but was unable to survive the bigger puncher's fifth-round combination that sent him to the floor and ended the fight.
Parker could be facing British veteran Dereck Chisora next, who he was scheduled to fight last year before falling out due to a spider bite or even WBC top contender Dillian Whyte in a rematch of their terrific 2018 fight that was won by Whyte by unanimous decision.
Whyte could be reluctant to face Parker with a title shot on the line, but a rematch could be another battle.
In the boxing challenge, I outscored Ramon Malpica eight to seven with the Roman Gonzalez win as the difference in the week.
I lead the challenge 41-37.
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