Lennox Lewis regained his WBC Heavyweight Championship by avenging
 his only defeat, with a fifth round TKO of Oliver McCall.  Lewis had been 
 waiting for this title shot since he was declared the #1 Contender after
 KO'ing Lionel Butler in the summer of 1995.  But this fight was even more 
 bizarre than how it materialized.  The fight started off fine.  Lewis 
 dominated the first 3 rounds, but McCall was still fighting.  After the
 third round however, McCall didn't return to his corner. Instead, he began
 to wander around the ring. During the fourth round McCall just didn't fight.
 He threw one punch, but he still continued to defend himself.  Lewis was 
 fighting cautiously, thinking that McCall was playing possum.  After the
 fourth round, McCall was forced back to his corner where he started crying.
 When asked by Mills Lane if he wanted to continue, McCall replied "Yeah I 
 want to fight.  I have to fight".  Lewis, realizing that McCall wasn't 
 acting, stepped up the tempo in the fifth.  After McCall took more punches 
 and didn't fight back, Mills Lane stopped the fight.

 Oscar de la Hoya and Pernell Whitaker have signed to fight in early
 April.  But if Whitaker preforms the way he did against Diobelys Hurtado, 
 this won't turn out to be much of a Superfight.  Whitaker was floored twice
 and behind on the scorecards before he caught Hurtado in the 11th Round.  
 Before the fight, Hurtado was an unknown, unproven fighter.  Some people
 will say that Whitaker is preforming at the level of his opposition and
 that he needs a big fight to get motivated.  Well, he's got his big fight.
 Will he preform? If you compared Oscar and Pernell's last preformance, you 
 would say Whitaker is gonna get destroyed.  But that's not an accurate way
 to predict.  Whitaker is still a good fighter (a very good one), but at this
 point in his career, I think that Oscar will be just too much for him.  As
 for right now, I predict ODLH by Unaminous Decision.  Maybe a few years ago
 Pernell.

 

 Oscar de la Hoya won a unaminous decision over Miguel Angel Gonzalas on 
 January 18th.  De la Hoya dominated most of the fight, but he did give away 
 a few rounds though.  De la Hoya set himself up for a big payday with 
 Pernell Whitaker in early April. 

 Also on the card, 

 Michael Carbajal lost by decision to Mauricio Pastrana.  This was a big 
 upset for Carbajal.  Pastrana was an unknown and untested fighter before 
 the fight, but he walked away with the belt. 

 Kosta Tszyu got a Technical Draw in the first round against Leonardo Mas. 
 Tszyu was destroying Mas and he knocked him down three times. Unfortunatly, 
 the last knockdown was sort of on the break.  After a little bit of acting 
 by Mas, the fight was declared a TD1 in what should've been a TKO1.



 Frankie Randall was recently stopped by the virtually unknown frenchman,
 Khalid Rahilou.  Randall, a three-time Jr. Welterweight champion, was 
 stopped for the second time in his career.  Randall is famous for being 
 the first man to beat Julio Caesar Chavez.  Randall's other three losses 
 were by a 10-round decision and two contreversial Technical Decisions (with 
 Chavez and Coggi).  This was a big upset by Rahilou.  Randall was looking 
 towards a big payday with Felix Trinidad, but he had to win this fight. 

 Also on the card, 

 Felix Trinidad got off the canvas in the 2nd to knock Kevin Lueshing down 
 three times and out in the 3rd.

 Terry Norris stopped Nick Rupa in the later rounds.  Rupa was taking too 
 much punishment and was floored twice before the fight was stopped.

 Henry Akinwande won a dull 12-round unaminous decision over Scott Welch.  
 Akinwande easily beat a Scott Welch, who wanted to last the distance rather 
 than to try and win the fight.



 There was mixed results for the two upcoming Heavyweights, Chris Byrd and
 Jimmy Thunder.  Thunder, who was looking towards a possible showdown with
 Lennox Lewis, lost a 12-round split decision to John Ruiz. But this fight 
 wasn't as nearly as close as the judges scored it, Ruiz clearly dominated 
 throughout the whole fight. Thunder supposedly had the flu. 

 Chris Byrd, on the other hand, had a good night against Craig Petersen. 
 Byrd outboxed, knocked down and stopped Petersen in the middle rounds.
 


 Andrew Golota was disqualified against Riddick Bowe, AGAIN. During the 
 November 14 fight, Bowe was floored twice and Golota hit the canvas once. 
 Golota hit Bowe at will throughout the fight with jabs, hooks, an 
 intentional headbutt and several low blows. Golota dominated the fight from
 the start. In the second Golata knocked Bowe down and battered him the rest
 of the round. Bowe rallied, won the fourth and knocked Golata down in the 
 fifth. Golata got up and he threw a low blow, which he lost a point for. 
 Golota then continued to dominated the fight. He knocked Bowe down again in
 the 6th. He beat Bowe until the end of the 9th, where Golota was 
 disqualified again for low blows.

 In the undercard, Ray Mercer won a Unaminous Decision over Tim Witherspoon 
 and Courage Tshabalaba was Knocked Out by Brian Scott. Also two Olympians 
 fought,  Terrance Cauthen and Joel Casamayor. Terrance Cauthen, the 
 American Lightweight who won a bronze medal at Atlanta, won his pro debut 
 by  decision.  Joel Casamayor, the defected Cuban Batanweight champion in
 Barcelona, won his third professional fight with a first round knockout.



 Oscar De La Hoya is scheduled to move up to Welterweight for a Superfight 
 with Pernell Whitaker in May.  But first, both Whitaker and De La Hoya 
 have to defeat their undefeated opponents in January.  De La Hoya is
 fighting Miguel Angel Gonzalez (41-0) and Whitaker is fighting Diobelys 
 Hurtado (20-0).



 Former WBC Heavyweight Champion Oliver McCall was brought up on drug
 possesion charges for the third time this year. McCall was given 18 monthes
 probation. He is scheduled to fight Lennox Lewis on February 7 for the
 vacant WBC Heavyweight Championship.

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