GRADES: MAURICIO LARA, LEIGH WOOD, LUIS NERY, AZAT HOVHANNISYAN & MORE

By: Jay Calderon

To be honest, if the best fight of the weekend had been Leigh Wood vs. Mauricio Lara, it wouldn't have been a terrible weekend. The fact that Wood-Lara eventually took a backseat to Luis Nery vs. Azat Hovhannisyan spoils us fight fans in the best way possible.

In fairness, both fights solid performances from both the winners and loses, and the grades reflect that. So, without much more ado, let's get to these marks.

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MAURICIO LARA: B+

RESULT: DEF. LEIGH WOOD, 7TKO (FEATHERWEIGHT)

Power really can be the ultimate eraser in boxing.

On Saturday against Leigh Wood, Mauricio Lara didn't quite look on his game. Outside of the second round, Wood seemed in control and poised to upset the Mexican. Lara was the betting favorite heading into the contest, but was looking the worse for wear when entering those middle rounds.

The body attack and sharp shots of Wood seemed to take it out of Lara. Until.

Until the end of the seventh round when the pair traded left hooks. That single shot ended matters and effectively erased anything bad one might have said of Laura's performance.

Does he get too wild at times? Is he too easy to hit? Can he be bothered to the body? Yes to all those questions.

However, he can also make that all go away with a single shot.

And with that power, he wipes away an otherwise lacking performance, and pick up his first world title in the process.

LEIGH WOOD: B-

RESULT: LOSS TO MAURICIO LARA, 7TKO (FEATHERWEIGHT)

It's unfortunate for Leigh Wood.

Prior to the contest, if you would have told Wood he would be up in rounds 5-1 after the first half of the fight, he would have liked his chances. Reasonably so.

And make no mistake about it: Wood was certainly up on every reasonable card. However, the only round that ultimately mattered was the seventh.

After fighting very well for six rounds, putting together perhaps the best performance of his career in many ways, a crushing left hook landed for Lara. While Wood managed to make it up before the count, his corner threw in the towel, and the fight was waved off.

One could argue it was a premature stoppage, especially with only seconds left in the frame. The truth of the matter is that fight was over.

It's hard to grade this type of performance. Really, Wood only made one major mistake in the fight. It just so happens that's all it took.

LUIS NERY: A-

RESULT: DEF. AZAT HOVHANNISYAN, 11TKO (JR. FEATHERWEIGHT)

Well, there's not too much you can fault in the performance of Luis Nery. It's not that it was perfect. Sure, he was ragged far too often, showed signs of still being soft around the midsection. He definitely fell behind on the cards during those middle frames as a result of those two simple facts.

However, that's what he had to do in this fight to win. He had to endure being outlanded at times. He had to be hurt. He had to dig deeper than one should be willing to dig. Against someone with the mindset of Azat Hovhannisyan, and with the mentality that Nery possesses, there was only one way to victory. And that was walking through fire.

Other nights, Nery can sit back, be a boxer-puncher and slowly break his man down in a much neater, tidier fight. This was not that fight.

It wasn't a perfect performance, it was just exactly what Nery needed to do to get the job done.

AZAT HOVHANNISYAN: B

RESULT: LOSS TO LUIS NERY, 11TKO (JR. FEATHERWEIGHT)

It's unfortunate that someone had to lose Luis Nery-Azat Hovhannisyan. However, in the end, that's boxing. And Hovhannisyan ended up with the short end of the stick -- and ended up looking like Nery beat him with that stick as well.

Ultimately, the mistakes were just too much to overcome. Hovhannisyan would back up in too straight a line. He would trade far too often with the bigger puncher. When the body work was clearing taking a toll on Nery, Hovhannisyan would get greedy and abandon the work in favor of the more obvious shots upstairs.

But, to point out those flaws feels wrong when someone puts up that much of a fight, regardless of result.

Hovhannisyan deserves the credit for being the fighter that fell just short in an instant classic. I'm sure a win would have meant more, but he's due at least that credit nonetheless.

SHANE MOSLEY, JR.: B-

RESULT: DEF. MARIO LOZANO, 10UD (SUPER MIDDLEWEIGHT)

It was a decent win for Shane Mosley, Jr., the son of Hall of Fame former world champion Shane Mosley. Was it perfect? No. But he can take a lot from ten tricky rounds against a cagey veteran in Mario Lozano.

The scores were much wider than they perhaps should have been, as they effectively made it seem as though Mosley had no issues whatsoever. That simply isn't true. Lozano out-landed his younger foe, both in terms of power shots and overall blows. However, Mosley bit down and applied pressure, came forward and made his work count got more.

Mosley certainly isn't a spring chicken at 32 years of age, but this can still be considered something of a learning fight. He needs to be able to deal with these sorts of fights if he's ever to push beyond the fringe contender level of the sport. The time would be now if Mosley is ever to do so.

A decent performance, and he moves on to his next opportunity.

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