With the year coming to a close we know most fans will already have turned their attention to 2014, though for some fans around the world there are still fights taking place, as Hungarian and Czech fans found out about yesterday.

The Hungarian fight scene, whilst not amazing by any stretch of the imagination, is often entertaining and does seem to be growing. Despite the growth we dare say the one constant right now is 47 year old veteran Zoltan Petranyi (50-20, 15). Petranyi, the UBO European and Hungarian national champion, successfully retained his titles and once again proved he was the best Heavyweight in Hungary as he defeated the much younger Tibor Balogh (12-2-2, 8) in just 3 rounds.

Balogh, fighting in his first title bout, was shown to lack the experience needed to over-come the veteran, despite a 20 year age advantage. Unfortunately for Balogh, who was fighting for the 15th time this year, his activity hadn't lead to the experience needed to adapt in the ring like Petranyi and this, ultimately, was what cost the challenger.

Over in in the Czech Republic we had two genuine shocks. For most the biggest shock was seeing journeyman Tomas Mrazek (9-45-6, 5) defeating former British champion Danny Williams (45-20-0-1, 34) via a split decision. This was just days after Williams had defeated Mazur Ali in Abu Dhabi though should be the loss that makes Williams too embarrassed to continue to fight.

Whilst Williams's loss was a big one it's fair to suggest that Roman Kracik (35-11-1, 19) losing to the debuting Lukas Horak (1-0) is even more shocking. Whilst Horak may have fought in MMA and "Bigger's Better" this was still a major win for a pro boxing debut. Hopefully we'll see Horak taking on Mrazek at some point in 2013.

The Heavyweight division may be widely regarded as the key division through boxing history but over this festive period it has certainly been lacking with very little action. Things were on "Boxing Day" with a mere 135 seconds of Heavyweight action.

On paper the one bout we had on Boxing day looked interesting with the unbeaten Albanian born-Swiss based Arnold Gjergjaj (23-0, 17) taking on the big hitting Brazilian Gilberto Matheus Domingos (21-2, 19). Unfortunately however Domingos proved to lack the durability to test Gjergjaj and the fact he is a natural Light Heavyweight won't have helped his case. He unfortunate lasted almost long enough for the Swiss fans to nibble though a Lindt chocolate but that was it folding with 45 seconds of the opening round left.

We're now hoping to see Gjergjaj given a real test in 2014. He's looking promising and a bout with someone like Christian Hammer could see us learning a lot about both men. Unfortunately we're guess that he's more likely to continue to pad his record with wins that look good on paper but really aren't that impressive in reality.

This past Sunday saw the final British card of the year and it featured 2 Heavyweight contests.

For us the most impressive of those 2 bouts saw Louis Cuddy (10-0, 4) moving in to double figures as he over-came the tough and always durable Moses Matovu (4-35-4) over 6 relatively 1-sided rounds. Whilst Cuddy's result was never in doubt Paul Drago (5-0) was fortunate to claim another victory as Tomas Mrazek (8-45-6, 5) took him incredibly close in a bout that probably should have ended with a draw rather than a victory for Drago.

The last Saturday before Christmas may not have been one of the biggest in boxing but it was certainly an interesting night in term of C grade Heavyweight fights, of which we had several.

For us one of the most important was the return to the ring of former WBO Cruiserweight champion Victor Emilio Ramirez (16-2-0-1, 13). Ramirez, fighting for the first time in over 4 years made very light work of the limited and fragile Thabiso Mogale (14-14-2, 9). Mogale lasted less than a round with Ramirez.

Staying in South America, though moving to Bolivia, there were 2 title fights. These saw veteran Billy Wright (42-4, 33) taking just 80 seconds to stop Ricky Torrez (20-7-1) to defend his WBC Latino and WBC FECARBOX Heavyweight titles. The other title fight in Boliva saw Saul Farah (45-17-3, 39) claim the interim South American title with a 3rd round stoppage over Guido Santana (13-7-2, 9).

From South America to North America, where we had 2 more interesting bouts. In North American we saw promising prospect Charles Martin (13-0-1, 11) stopping the previously unbeaten Glendy Hernandez (10-1, 6) in round 4. This was on the same show as a bout between Andrae Carthron (7-10-2, 1) and Helaman Olguin (1-2, 1) which saw Carthron taking a 3rd round stoppage over Olguin.

Thursday saw just 2  Heavyweight bout as the Czech Republic played host to a very low level bout that would have slipped under the radar of most fans.

The less notable bout saw Frantisek Kynkal (3-3, 3) taking less than a round to defeat very chinny journeyman Martin Stensky (1-28, 1). Stensky has now been stopped 27 times in 29 bouts and this really should be the end...and we're sure we're not the only people saying that about him.

In Abu Dhabi we saw former British champion Danny Williams (45-19-0-1, 34) scoring his first victory in years as he managed to stop Mazur Ali (10-9, 5) in the 6th round. Whilst this was a win for Williams that says more about Ali than Williams. Williams is more shot than any fighter we can think of and unfortunately Ali was just dreadful.

Midweek action is rather rare if we're being honest and this Wednesday did seem to slip us by despite their being a number of Heavyweight contests with some pretty unexpected results.

Two of the unexpected results were found in Bethlehem Pennsylvania where the previously unbeaten Dante Selby (2-1-1) was stopped inside a round by Randy Easton (2-2-1, 2). Not just was Selby beaten inside a round but he was actually beaten inside a minute by Easton who may well be looking to dubbing himself the "Easton Assassin" if his punches have that effect on a regular basis.

The other US based shock, was that of Mark Rideout (4-0-1, 1) who was fortunate to maintain his unbeaten record as Eric Newell (7-2-2, 5) gave him all he could handle. This was the second meeting between the two and although Rideout is winning 1-0-1 against Newell there really is little between the two men.

It wasn't all unexpected results in the US however as the hard hitting Jarrell Miller (7-0-1, 7) did what he does and stopped Sylvester Barron (8-3, 3) in the second round. The power of Miller isn't up for question though it maybe difficult to get him bouts that help to develop him as a fighter.

Outside of the US there was one other bout as Cuba's very promising Yasmany Consuegra (15-0, 13) made very light work of Santiago De Paula (13-11-1, 13) in what was a mismatch from the off. The result here wasn't unexpected or a shock the only surprise however was that Consuegra came in at just 210lbs. This was 36lbs lighter than Consuegra was for his last bout 8 months ago.

It's nice when we have a few notable Heavyweight bouts and this past Saturday certainly gave us that with 4 or 5 genuinely note worthy bouts.

For us the most notable was in Germany as we saw one of the worlds best Heavyweights in action. Although there wre TV issues in the United Kingdom with Boxnation there were few problems for Kubrat Pulev (19-0, 10) who stopped American Joey Abell (29-7, 28). Pulev was dropped for the first time as a professional, albeit it from punch-come-slip, before getting up and breaking Abell down with body shots which seemed to drop Abell everytime they landed. Abell, rather than contine to take shots was stopped apparently by the referee in his corner. This bout, a stay busy contest for Pulev, really was just a case of staying busy for the Bulgarian who is almost certain to fight for the IBF world title in the next 12-18 months.

As well as the fight in Germany there was also notable action stateside with several world ranked fighters as well as a man who has been gaining some traction with a loyal fan base. The most predictable of the results on the show saw former Cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (26-6, 12) out point Manuel Quezada (29-8, 18) over the 8 round scheduled. This always seemed the most likely outcome despite the fact Quezada is the naturall bigger and stronger fighter.

What no one would have expected was that the previously unbeaten David Rodriguez (36-1, 34) was stopped by journeyman Darnell Wilson (25-17-3, 21). Of course many would describe Rodriguez as untested, and he was, but this was still an unexpected result that left fans waiting until the final seconds to be sure of the outcome. Unfortunately for Rodriguez the KO came at the 2:59 mark of round 6, the final round of the bout, as Wilson connected with a left hand bomb.

Whilst Rodriguez was totally exposed it's fair to say that Amir Mansour (20-0, 15) certainly didn't shine either. The unbeaten Mansour manage to force the retirement of Kelvin Price (14-2, 6) though looked distinctly limited over the 7 completed rounds. Sorry to say folks but on this performance "Hardcore" mansour looks anything but a promising championship level fighter, merely a man looking for a nice pay day.

At a lower level there were several fights around the world. These included a notable shock as Brian Minto (39-7, 25) traveled to New Zealand and defeated Shane Cameron (29-4, 22) who was retired by his corner. For Minto this victory appears set to be rewarded with a fight against the very promising Joseph Parker, a fight that should give Parker a test early in 2014.

In Azerbaijan fans had 2 bouts. The most notable of these saw Roman Golovashchenko (13-1, 10) upset the padded Yakup Saglam (31-4, 28) with a majority decision. Whilst one judge had the bout 115-115, the other two saw Golovashchenko as a clear winner with one judge having the bout 119-107. The other bout in Azerbaijan saw the debuting Elchin Ahmadov (1-0) take a clear decision over Latvia's Janis Ginters (5-5, 4). Not toofar away in the Ukraine Vladimir Tereshkin (18-0-1, 8) continued his unbeaten run as he outpointed the limited Oleksiy Mazikin (14-10-2, 4) over 8 rounds. Despite the victory Tereshkin did fail to impress.

In Poland Wlodzimierz Letr (1-1, 1) scored his first professional victory as he scored a 146 second stoppage over Ihar Karavaeu (5-5, 4) who was down twice. Staying in Europe, though going over to the UK, fans got to see Andy Jones (1-0) make a wining strat to his professional career as he over-came the always tough Moses Matovu (4-33-4) in a very close 4 rounder.

With regards to the global action South Africa saw their national champion, Anton Nel (18-12-3, 14), make the first defense of his title as he took out the previously unbeaten Sibusiso Sibiya (5-1, 4) in 6 rounds.

The final bouts of the night were in Argentina as we got 2 Heavyweight fights. These saw veteran Gonzalo Omar Basile (61-8, 28) shut out Alfredo Brigido Ruiz Diaz (7-6-1, 2) whilst Marcelo Fabian Dominguez (45-7-1, 24) took a clear decision over Martin David Islas (12-30-1, 4) in an 8 rounder.

The first Heavyweight bout of the weekend took place in Australia earlier today as Commonwealth mandatory contender Lucas Browne (19-0, 17) fought in a stay busy contest against the limited Clarence Tillman (11-15-2, 6). Although the bout was always expected to be a mismatch it was fair to say that no one expected it to be over as quickly as it was, lasting just 141 before Tillman's corner threw in the towel.

Interestingly this this was the second meeting between Browne and Tillman, the first of which saw Tillman going 12 rounds with Browne and ending Browne's initial KO streak of 6 bouts.

The Browne/Tillman fight wasn't the only one in Australia as the country saw a new national champion crowd as Hunter Sam (9-2-2, 4) defeated David Levi (3-4, 3) via 10 round decision for the Australian Heavyweight title.

In the major Heavyweight upset of the day David Howe (10-2, 5) was unexpectedly stopped by Lithuania's Imantas Davidaitis (2-3, 2). This bout, which saw Howe being stopped in the second round, saw the English Heavyweight's 9 fight winning run ended.

Although Browne's victory over Tillman was quick it wasn't the quickest of the day as the debuting Stephan Shaw (1-0, 1) took just 47 seconds to wipe out the win-less Jose Hermosillo (0-2).

The lowest profile bout of the day was in Argentina as Daniel Gustavo Gomez (2-1, 2) stopped the debuting Nicolas Kilodran (0-1) at the 2:10 mark of round 4. The Gomez/Kilodran bout was one of two in Argentina with the other seeing Alejandro Emilio Valori (14-4, 11) stopping the very limited Ruben Ricardo Ponce (2-9-1, 2), also in 4 rounds.

The only Heavyweight bout this past Thursday took place in Herzegovina as Memnun Hadzic (7-0, 1) shut out regular loser Elvir Behlulovic (3-20, 1).