If anyone deserved to win the Chris Byrd-Fres Oquendo fight last Saturday night, it was Fres. From the second round on, he landed the stiffer punches and seemed to win at least half the rounds. Byrd stalked Oquendo throughout, apparently believing his usual counterpunching style was unnecessary and that he could simply do as he pleased against his ostensibly inferior opponent.

Fres Oquendo can box. Maybe not as well as Chris, but he can punch a whole lot better. Going into their fight I figured that Fres' skill as a boxer and talent as a puncher, combined with Byrd's underestimating him, set the table for a possible upset. Byrd escaped with an unpopular unanimous decision by a ridiculously wide margin.

It is fair to call the win for Byrd controversial -- and that is the problem with Bob Arum's and Oscar De La Hoya's outrageous behavior after Shane Mosley was awarded a close decision over Oscar the Saturday before last.

By implying that there was somehow foul play or incompetent judging involved in Mosley's win, Arum and De La Hoya created the impression that boxing had somehow just endured a scandalous night of corruption. Most major media outlets led with the "De La Hoya to launch investigation into the decision" angle in their post-fight coverage. The so-called controversy became the story -- Arum and De La Hoya made sure of that.

So now, after it appears that Oquendo actually got jobbed, everywhere from ESPN newsrooms to the man on the street all I hear is: "what's going on with all these bad decisions in boxing?"

When individuals in our sport imply that there was impropriety simply because they are on the wrong side of a close decision, it both dilutes complaints about legitimately bad decisions (like Byrd-Oquendo), and unfairly reinforces the public perception of boxing as a hopelessly corrupt sport.

It did appear to me that Oquendo got the raw deal, but I should here state that it is possible that we are so unaccustomed to seeing Byrd hit cleanly that when we do, we might give his opponent credit for doing more than he is actually did. I cannot see where Byrd won more than six rounds, but then again, I can see where he did in fact eke out six.

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A while back, ESPN.com began taping "ESPN Motion" segments. Every Friday before we begin Friday Night Fights, Brian Kenny and I do a new Motion from the FNF set. A couple of weeks ago, we were debating what topic to discuss for the segment when I came up with (and insisted on) talking about great upcoming pay-per-view undercard matchups. So we previewed the Juan Lazcano-Stevie Johnston fight on the undercard of Mosley De La Hoya II (Sept. 13th), and also the Diego Corrales-Joel Cassamayor fight on the undercard of Evander Holyfield-James Toney (Oct. 4th).

My comment at the time (as I recall) was that these two supporting bouts might turn out better than their main events. So far, Lazcano-Johnston certainly lived up to its promise.

In a fight to determine the true No. 1 lightweight contender in the world, Johnston (who, though he officially entered the fight with two losses and a draw, had never lost a fight on one of my scorecards), fought bravely against a relentless Lazcano, who came into the fight the hottest contender in the division. But "'Lil but Bad's" bravery, and even his still formidable talent, was simply not enough, not against "The Hispanic Causing Panic" (who should enter fights up on the cards for that nickname alone!). Lazcano not only won a dramatic and thoroughly entertaining fight, but he became the first fighter to stop Stevie Johnston - knocking him down twice in the 11th before Stevie's corner intervened.

Lightweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. told me beore Lazcano's scintillating win that he was giving up the 135-pound belt after his upcoming title defense against Phillip Ndou, and going after bigger game in the 140, 147 and even 154-pound weight divisions. Assuming the champ gets by the dangerous Ndou, a fight against Lazcano, who now has a legitimate mandate to fight for the title, could be the most anticipated matchup for Floyd since he took on (and took apart) Diego Corrales at junior lightweight almost three years ago.

And speaking of Diego, his fight against Cassamayor promises to be every bit the fight the Johnston-Lazcano was. What's more, this matchup serves the same function at 130 that Johnston-Lazcano did at 135, that is, the winner has a mandate to fight the division's kingpin, in this case Acelino Frietas.

While casual boxing fans harp on "controversial scoring" of fights on consecutive weeks, the hard-core fans can instead look to incredible undercard fights in consecutive months -- fights that clarify weight divisions by establishing legit No. 1 contenders and thrill fans with fireworks from some of the best fighters in the business.

Max Kellerman is a studio analyst for ESPN2's "Friday Night Fights" and the host of the show "Around The Horn."