NO QUESTION IN REMATCH The first time Ricardo Lopez and Rosendo Alvarez fought this past March, the upstart Alvarez had the upper hand. When their rematch was over last night at the Las Vegas Hilton, there was no question who was the best, Ricardo Lopez.

WEIGHT GATE

The fight almost didn't take place as Alvarez, now 24-1-1, (16 KO's) showed up at the weigh in Thursday evening three and a quarter pounds over the 105 lb. limit.

FIGHT IN DOUBT UNTIL 5:30 PM ET

That's when Ricardo Lopez stated he would fight Alvarez, who now weighed 114 lbs., compared to Ricardo's 112.

LOPEZ WANTED TO SILENCE PEOPLE LIKE...

Me, who thought that the king of the jockey sized fighters had slipped. That his dominating guys with six and eight fights was not a whole lot to lay claim to, and that he had been overrated.

METHODICAL WORK

Ricardo threw combinations, right hand leads, upper cuts, you name it. This was an evening where Ricardo pulled out all the stops to insure his hand would be raised at the end.

ALVAREZ NOT BUSY ENOUGH

The fight which would go the 12 round distance, looked like the pairing of the two 105 lbers. was jinxed when a clash of heads had Ricardo bleeding as was in their first encounter. In all, Lopez would suffer four facial lacerations, while Alvarez didn't look he was the one taking the heat most of the evening, although he was.

"NOT" EFFECTIVELY AGGRESSIVE

One of my longtime Ring Talk wise guys is Dale Martino from Delaware. He was of the opinion that Alvarez was coming forward and blocking a lot of what Lopez was heaving at him.

While he was adept at slipping some shots, the sheer number of the blows Lopez was throwing had to outnumber the Nicaraguan's 3-1. Not that Alvarez didn't have his moments, as I tabbed the 12 rounder 116-113, for Lopez, who ascends to 47-0-1, (35 KO's).

FRIGHT DOCTOR "BLOWS" LOPEZ

From the tone of the e mail I received post Lopez-Alvarez, I guess it's safe to say that Ferdie stopped just short of on air copulation of the longtime WBC champ who adds the WBA belt to his collection. For Pacheco to say that Lopez is the best fighter in the world today is just more SHOWTIME "puff."

OFFICIAL TALLY A SPLIT

That's right! Although the fight was competitive, it was not a real close fight on the cards. Jerry Roth of Las Vegas tabbed the contest 116-112, Britain's Larry O'Connell, had Lopez up 116-114, while the third panelist, a Filipino in need of a seeing eye dog had it 115-113 for Alvarez!

CHRISTY SCREWS KING ON FIGHT DAY

Christy Martin decided she was feeling sick and could not compete in the supporting feature on the Don King promoted card. This was after she went to King at the last minute and asked for more money. The Don said, well you know what he said!

NEVADA ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL LOOK INTO IT

According to Marc Ratner, of the Nevada Commission, the Attorney General might have some jurisdiction here as it appears from reports that Christy had tried to muscle King at the last minute, all the while refusing to sign a contract.

BLAME DKP AGAIN

Yesterday, I told you how Don King Productions had no advance publicity on the fight, be it in the Las Vegas papers or nationally. The King is slipping, or maybe it's his Director of Boxing Bobby Goodman. You see, Martin's signature should have been on a contract before she was even sent air accommodations to Las Vegas.

WEIGHT GATE, DITTO

Although it certainly is Rosendo Alvarez' fault or being overweight, the fact that he arrived in Las Vegas at the last minute is probably Goodman's fault AGAIN. Had the fighters been there a week, not only would they have been better acclimated, they could have worked to promote the fight.

HILTON THEATER NO "SELL OUT"

The Hilton arena holds 2,000 people, and yet there were plenty of seats available. This is where the sin was committed, as Lopez and Alvarez are indeed two very fine fighters who could draw the masses to the jockey sized divisions because of their exciting world class abilities.

JONES TAKES ON "STINKER" IN GRANT

Otis Grant is a difficult guy to fight. At 6'1, he is a tall rangy lefthander who has pretty good hand speed. Of course, his opponent tonight will be Roy Jones Jr., a young man who knows something about fast hands.

WHY?

That's a good question. Why is Roy Jones fighting the Canadian southpaw? One report has it that Jones, who has never felt real strong against lefties, would like to face a couple before meeting Dariusz Michalzewski in 1999. Dariusz, a Polish born German citizen is unbeaten at 34-0, and has held the WBA, IBF, as well as the WBO 175 lb. trinket which is currently his.

PREDICTION

In this battle of once beatens, Jones clearly has all the edges. Even when it comes to the mind games, Otis seems beaten already when he said this. "If he doesn't get me early." Grant is frightened of Jones and should be prone within five heats.

BEST IS FIRST

Opening he HBO card will be unbeaten Shane Mosley, going for win number 30, and KO # 28. when he engages Jessie James Leija in defense of the world lightweight crown.

PREDICTION

Leija is shaken up within the blink of an eye. Only survival tactics can insure rounds.

FIRST BOUT 10 PM ET AS HBO GOES PRIME TIME

AFTERWARDS, I'M KNOCKING OUT ALL BUMS!

Be sure to catch the post fight chatter on Ring Talk, a syndicated talk show on the Talk America Radio Network for two hours starting at 11:06 PM ET with LIVE Internet audio at www.talkamerica.com

IVAN ROBINSON GUESTS!

The man who upset Arturo Gatti a couple of months ago on HBO, Ivan Robinson will discuss his preparation for his December rematch on December 12, under Yory Boy Camapas' IBF 154 lb. title defense against top rated Fernando Vargas.

SUNDAY, RING TALK IS ON A DIFFERENT NETWORK

The show begins at 11:06 PM ET also, but the Sunday show is one hour in duration and is heard on the Talk America "2" Network. Be advised, there is a difference between the two networks.

BOTH the TALK 1 and Talk 2 Networks have separate LIVE Internet audio channels at www.talkamerica.com