PAL Results, Day 2

Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

OK, the bad news. Lots of us got eliminated last night.

Peter Dobson, James Wilkins, and Oba Bakare all lost decisions.

Kike Bermudez was eliminated by Thomas Velasquez in a bout that featured some questionable calls from the officials. After over a minute of waiting in the ring, Kike was announced the winner by walkover, but then the opponent appeared and the bout was allowed to go on. Kike seemed to have cooled down during the wait and got off to a slow start. Just as he was picking things up in round two, an accidental headbutt cut him over the left eyebrow. The doctor stopped the fight, and it was mysteriously ruled a TKO loss. Kike looks like an action hero with his new scar.

We thought Hans Perez might have pulled it out against a strong southpaw, but the judges saw it differently.

Jayquran Hazel looked fatigued in his loss to Ve Shawn Owens. When Jay turns up in condition, very few people can beat him. 

Dago Mederos admitted to feeling a bit of ring rust as he dropped a decision to Alfonso Ponce of Anaheim PAL.

Iron Boy fell to 0-3 against his local rival Michael Stoute, but each loss has been closer than the last, and one of these days he'll get him.

And B-Hopp took a big step up in opposition against top-ranked Antonio Vargas. Here's hoping that he and all our eliminated fighters take their losses as an inspiration to keep going and train harder.

And now for the good news.

Danny Sanchez stopped Daniel De Jesus.

Shu Shu looked slick and powerful winning over Evander Agustin.

We got the answer to that burning question: Who would win if Ali fought Tyson? The winner is: Ali. Ali Salem, that is, our Egyptian-American light heavyweight, who outboxed Tyson Turner.

Dago's brother Harley kept the Mederos family alive with his second win in as many days.

Julian Sosa and Africa both won clear decisions, although both fighters know they can perform better. Both will face strong opposition today.

Big Black looked simply spectacular for the first minute of his win over Jose Medrano, but he spent the rest of the fight hanging on. He revealed later that he had been hit in the throat. Boxing is a tough sport!

And Earl "The Flash" Newman won by walkover when his opponent failed to show up at the weigh-in. 

"That guy never touched you, Earl," everyone joked at the post-fight press conference held at Denny's. 

"You were like a ghost in there."

"Your hands moved so fast we couldn't even see them."

Thirteen of us are still alive in the tournament.