A roundup of the past week's notable boxing results from around the world:

Saturday at Philadelphia

Danny Garcia TKO7 Samuel Vargas - Fight recap

Welterweight

Records: Garcia (33-0, 19 KOs); Vargas (25-3-1, 13 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: As expected Garcia, 28, fighting in his hometown for the first time in six years, ran roughshod over the Toronto-based Vargas, 27, of Colombia, in exactly the kind of mismatch everyone expected. This was a total waste of time, but Garcia, out since winning a vacant welterweight world title against Robert Guerrero in January, took this nontitle bout for one reason, because he said he needed a tune-up fight to get ready for the real fight already scheduled. That will come March 4 in a title unification showdown with Keith Thurman (27-0, 22 KOs), 27, of Clearwater, Florida, who was ringside working as an analyst on the Spike telecast. What Thurman saw was Garcia destroy Vargas, who got knocked down on a right hand in the second round and battered until referee Gary Rosato waved off the fight at 2 minutes, 17 seconds of the seventh round, just as Vargas' corner was waving a white towel in surrender. What was more entertaining than the fight was Garcia and Thurman talking trash and going nose to nose after the fight.

Jarrett Hurd TKO6 Jo Jo Dan - Full undercard recap

Junior middleweight

Records: Hurd (19-0, 13 KOs); Dan (35-4, 18 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Hurd, 26, of Accokeek, Maryland, is an exciting prospect who opened a lot of eyes with his impressive 10th-round knockout of then-unbeaten Oscar Molina on CBS on the Keith Thurman-Shawn Porter undercard in June. In his first fight since, Hurd was once again impressive as he manhandled replacement opponent (and much smaller) Dan, a 35-year-old southpaw from Romania who fights out of Montreal. Hurd did damage with an accidental low blow in the third round, but even without that, Dan, coming off a 14-month layoff, had no chance. Hurd imposed his will from the beginning and landed many punishing right hands on the former welterweight world title challenger. When Hurd nearly dropped him with a right hand in the sixth round and continued to fire away, trainer Howard Grant threw in the towel and referee Benjy Esteves Jr. ended the carnage at 1:06.

Javier Fortuna W10 Omar Douglas - Full undercard recap

Lightweight

Scores: 96-93 (twice), 95-94

Records: Fortuna (31-1-1, 22 KOs); Douglas (17-1, 12 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: In June, Fortuna, an extremely fast 27-year-old southpaw from the Dominican Republic, lost his secondary junior lightweight belt by upset 11th-round knockout to Jason Sosa in Beijing. Fortuna, who has a rematch clause and is expected to face Sosa next, won his second fight in a row since the upset, as he outpointed Douglas, 25, of Wilmington, Delaware, in a fast-paced fight. There were a lot of fouls and holding, and referee Shawn Clark had his hands full. He doled out several warnings, but Fortuna and Douglas still put on a pretty good show. That said, Fortuna, who got off the deck after a first-round knockdown on a clean left hand to the chin, rightfully got the nod in a very close fight.

Saturday at Monte Carlo

Jason Sosa W12 Stephen Smith

Retains a junior lightweight title

Scores: 117-110, 116-112, 116-111

Records: Sosa (20-1-4, 15 KOs); Smith (24-3, 14 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: In by far the best fight of the weekend, Sosa and Smith waged a terrific slugfest that was competitive throughout even if Sosa, 28, of Camden, New Jersey, got the well-deserved nod to retain his secondary belt for the first time following his upset 11th-round knockout of Javier Fortuna to win it in June. This was a very hard-fought fight in which Sosa's physical strength and pressure style made the difference. He dropped Smith with a left hand in the second round and opened a bad cut over his right eye just before the end of the third round. The fourth round was a fierce toe-to-toe battle that could be a round of the year honorable mention, after which the ringside doctor took a close look at Smith's damaged eye. It was the second time that England's Smith, 31, one of the four fighting Smith brothers (along with former junior middleweight titlist Liam, Paul and Callum), came up short in a world title fight. Two fights ago, in April, he dropped a decision to Jose Pedraza.

Luis Ortiz W12 Malik Scott - Fight recap

Heavyweight

Scores: 120-105, 120-106, 119-106

Records: Ortiz (26-0, 22 KOs); Scott (38-3-1, 13 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. This was just an absolutely hideous fight and an utter waste of time because Scott did not come to fight, as has been the case for most of his frustrating and forgettable 16-year career. While "King Kong" -- to many the most avoided man in the heavyweight division -- tried to hunt him down with his powerful left hand, and he did knock him down three times (but not very dynamic knockdowns), all Scott did was run, clinch, flop to the mat, complain about imaginary fouls and try to survive. Scott, 36, of Philadelphia, looked petrified the entire fight, knowing that at any moment a missile from Miami's Ortiz, a 37-year-old southpaw Cuban defector, could end his night. Ortiz, recently stripped of an interim title for ignoring his mandatory defense against Alexander Ustinov, landed nearly as many punches (146) as Scott threw (155) and scored knockdowns in the fourth, fifth and ninth rounds, but even they were not enough to make this fight interesting. Ortiz is due back in action Dec. 10 on the Anthony Joshua-Eric Molina card in Manchester, England, and whatever happens it can't be worse than this.

Jamie McDonnell W12 Liborio Solis

Retains a bantamweight title

Scores: 117-111, 116-112, 115-113

Records: McDonnell (29-2-1, 13 KOs); Solis (25-5-1, 11 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Horrible scoring alert! McDonnell, 30, of England, was lucky to retain his belt for the fifth time thanks to hometown cooking against Solis, 34, a former junior bantamweight world titleholder from Venezuela. This will go down as one of the most controversial decisions of the year, especially given the absurdly wide 117-111 scorecard turned in by Robert Hoyle. Solis looked to have gotten a raw deal. Even Sky Sports, McDonnell's U.K. broadcaster, had Solis, despite a 6-inch height disadvantage, winning the fight. McDonnell did land some nice body shots to slow Solis down a bit in the middle of the fight and he hurt him in the ninth round. But Solis, with his nonstop pressure, appeared to have the better of the action, including when he hurt McDonnell with a right hand in the 11th round. Don't count on a rematch. McDonnell, according to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, probably will move up in weight.

Martin Murray W12 Nuhu Lawal

Super middleweight

Scores: 117-110 (twice), 116-111

Records: Murray (34-4-1, 16 KOs); Lawal (23-1, 13 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Murray, 34, of England, is 0-2-1 in middleweight world title fights and 0-1 in super middleweight title bouts, and still eyeing that elusive title belt. He was supposed to fight former titleholder Arthur Abraham in a rematch of Abraham's split decision win against him in 2015, but he dropped out with an elbow injury. Then Russian replacement opponent Dmitry Chudinov dropped out about a week before the fight because of a virus and was replaced with Lawal, 34, a native of Nigeria fighting out of Germany. Lawal, really a junior middleweight/middleweight, gave a solid account of himself, but his punches lacked snap and were usually wide against the more compact and skillful Murray, who rocked Lawal in the first round and was never in any danger despite being penalized one point by referee Russell Mora for leading with his head in the 12th round.

Saturday at Ciudad Valles, Mexico

Jose Argumedo TKO3 Jose Antonio Jimenez

Retains a strawweight title

Records: Argumedo (19-3-1, 11 KOs); Jimenez (17-6-1, 7 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Argumedo, 28, of Mexico, traveled to Japan in December 2015 and won a ninth-round technical decision against Katsunari Takayama to claim a 105-pound world title. Argumedo made his second defense against Jimenez, 33, of Colombia, and took him out impressively to stop his eight-fight unbeaten streak. Argumedo scored two knockdowns in the third round, first with a huge overhand right hand that bounced Jimenez off the ropes before he went down and then moments later when referee Mario Gonzalez credited him with one when he pounded Jimenez into the ropes, which held him up. Jimenez was in rough shape and Argumedo continued to hurt him with right hands until Gonzalez stepped in to wave it off.

Saturday at Magdeburg, Germany

Robert Stieglitz W12 Medhi Amar

Wins European light heavyweight title

Scores: 116-112 (three times)

Records: Stieglitz (50-5-1, 29 KOs); Amar (33-5-2, 16 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: Germany's Stieglitz, 35, a two-time super middleweight world titleholder, moved up to light heavyweight in 2015 and won his third in a row (since losing a world title fight to rival Arthur Abraham in their fourth meeting) to claim the European title in a steady if unspectacular performance in a relatively low-action fight. Amar, 34, of France, was making his first defense after winning the vacant title in May.

Friday at Miami

Yunieski Gonzalez TKO1 Maxwell Amponsah

Light heavyweight

Records: Gonzalez (18-2, 14 KOs); Amponsah (11-3, 10 KOs)

Rafael's remarks: In July 2015, Gonzalez burst on the world stage with a tremendous performance against former light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal on HBO, but Gonzalez was robbed in a decision loss. Then Gonzalez, 31, a Cuban defector based in Miami, dropped a majority decision to contender Vyacheslav Shabranskyy. But now Gonzalez has won two fights in a row on the comeback trail, both by first-round knockout, including this blowout of Amponsah, 30, a 2012 Olympian from Ghana fighting out of New York. Amponsah lost his second fight in a row by knockout.