In HBO's second installment of "Boxing After Dark" this year, Jhonny Gonzalez outpointed Fernando Montiel to retain his WBO bantamweight title. In the co-featured bout between two unbeaten prospects, Paul "The Punisher" Williams stopped Walter Matthysse in the tenth round. This fight card was featured at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

Fighting for the opportunity to face bantamweight kingpin Rafael Marquez, Jhonny Gonzalez defeated Fernando Montiel by split decision. It was a tactical fight that was devoid of sustained action, yet both fighters displayed a great deal of technical skill and professionalism. However, in boxing the big punch sells and neither man helped his marketability to great benefit. Jhonny Gonzalez, of Mexico City, retains his WBO Bantamweight title and raises his record to 33-4 (28 KOs), while Montiel, Los Mochis, Mexico, falls to 32-2-1 (24 KOs).

In the seventh and eighth rounds, boos from the crowd started to come in at a sustained fashion for the first time in the fight. The HBO commentators were trying to hype the action up with verbiage, but there was no mistaking the dullness of the combat. However, in the middle of the tactical foot war, Montiel landed his best punch of the fight with an overhand right that landed on Gonzalez just before the end of the eighth round. Gonzalez once again resumed his role as aggressor in the ninth, pressing forward and landing a couple of body shots here and there.

The tactical boxing match continued into the tenth round, with Montiel countering infrequently and Gonzalez unable to land devastating blows on his elusive foe. Midway through the round, Montiel slipped as a consequence of the perspiration that had accumulated on the paint in the middle of the ring. That was one of the more memorable moments of the fight. In the eleventh round, Montiel realized that he would need to become more aggressive and started to come forward. While he did pick up his work rate, he was unable to get any effective scoring done. Montiel came out for the twelfth round flurrying and moving, and seemed to win the first 2:30 of the stanza. With 15 seconds left in the fight, Montiel raised his hands in celebration prematurely, allowing Gonzalez to step in and land some effective punches and possibly steal the round.

The official judges' scorecards at the end of the fight read as a split decision win for Gonzalez, with two cards reading 118-111 and 116-112. Those tallies over-ruled the 115-113 card that had Montiel victorious. Montiel will now probably have to return to the super flyweight division to rebuild after this loss.

As for Gonzalez, he now stands as the most viable challenger to bantamweight champion Rafael Marquez. This fight would be a very exciting fight with two fighters who are offensive minded. I would pick Marquez in this one, however, as Marquez's big punch and speed advantages are hard to argue against.

In the twelve round co-featured welterweight bout, Paul Williams of Augusta, Georgia, defeated Walter Matthysse of Argentina at 1:56 of the tenth round TKO. In a very entertaining, yet sloppy bout, Williams' superior conditioning and technique was too much for the rough brawler Matthysse. Williams, who is one of the most celebrated prospects in the fight game, raises his undefeated record to 30-0 (22 KOs), while the tough Matthysse loses for the first time, dropping to 25-1 (24 KOs).

In the first round, Williams started quickly, landing very effective punches from his southpaw stance. Matthysse was retreating early, trying to figure out Williams' tricky style. Later in the first, Matthysse warmed up and became more aggressive, but it was still Williams' round. In the second round, Matthysse started to impose himself more by getting inside of the 6'2 Williams' punches and landing more of his shots. The third round featured William's continuing to take advantage of his height, landing effectively from a distance.

In the tenth round, Williams continued to press the action, landing hard body shots and left crosses to the head. Showing signs of great fatigue, Matthysse backed himself into the corner and seemed to concede to his opponent. Finally, with two minutes left in the round, the referee stopped the contest and declared Paul "The Punisher" Williams the winner.

Williams displayed impressive stamina and punch output in his first fight on an HBO telecast. However, he did show a few flaws that he needs to work on before being ready to make a serious statement in the welterweight division. Williams is a big man, whose 6'1 welterweight frame draws shallow comparisons to Thomas Hearns. Williams would be better suited defensively if he kept the fight at a distance instead of fighting on the inside where it's harder for him to unleash his longer punches. He also needs to become more authoritative with his jab so he can keep his opponent's on the outside where he is significantly more effective.

In his post-fight interview, Williams displayed interest in fighting welterweight survivor Antonio Margarito. Given their history as sparring partners, the temerity he exhibited in calling out Margarito displays a great deal of self belief. That said, Williams would probably be better served to avoid him for the time being and face gradually better opposition while refining some of the technical flaws in his style.

Before I finish, I would like to show my pound for pound list for the month of June.

1. Floyd Mayweather Jr.
2. Winky Wright
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Marco Antonio Barrera
5. Rafael Marquez
6. Jermain Taylor
7. Ricky Hatton
8. Diego Corrales
9. Jose Luis Castillo
10. Joe Calzaghe