Using a touch of Champions League soccer, Showtime will televise a tournament-type series of fights featuring six of the top super middleweights in the world.

Evenly balanced among three American and European fighters, Showtime's The Super Six World Boxing Classic will attempt to identify the best fighter in a talented weight class.

The series begins Saturday night with a bout featuring 2000 United States Olympian and former middleweight world champion Jermain Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) and Arthur Abraham in Berlin, Germany. A native of Armenia who is now living in Germany, Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs) moved to the 168-pound division after nine successful defenses as International Boxing Federation middleweight champion.

``I've fought the best of the best in boxing. I've won some and lost some,'' Taylor said in a conference call last week. ``I just want to win this tournament.

``It's not about the money or anything, but that I want to win.''

A victory seemed within Taylor's grasp in his previous bout against World Boxing Council champion Carl Froch on April 25. But Froch, behind on two scorecards, rallied and scored a 12th-round knockout victory, retaining his super-middleweight belt.

Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) also will be featured in the tournament. Like Taylor, Froch's first bout will be Saturday against American Andre Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) in Froch's native England.

``The only reason I lost to Carl Froch was because I got tired,'' said Taylor, a part-time Miami resident. ``I wasn't prepared. The best fighter lost because he didn't train right.''

Abraham hopes that winning the tournament will serve as a springboard to lucrative bouts in the United States. Abraham has fought only once in the United States -- a fifth-round knockout of Edison Miranda in a non-title bout at the Seminole Hard Rock Live Arena in Hollywood last year.

``This Super Six tournament will only help me get that big fight in America,'' Abraham said.

The tournament's other first-round bout will match Andre Ward, who captured the last gold medal by an American boxer in the 2004 Olympics, and former world super-middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler of Denmark on Nov. 16 in Oakland.

A point system will determine the four fighters who advance to the semifinal stage. Winners will earn two points with a bonus point for a knockout or TKO victory. If a fight ends in a draw, both fighters receive one point. Each fighter will participate in three group-stage bouts.

GAMBOA DOMINATES

Miami resident Yuriorkis Gamboa fulfilled his end of the bargain, and Juan Manuel Lopez complied under much more difficult circumstances.

Gamboa successfully defended his second-tier World Boxing Association featherweight title with a fourth-round technical knockout of Whyber Garcia on Saturday in New York.

On the same card, Lopez retained his World Boxing Organization junior-featherweight crown with a hard-fought, unanimous decision over Rogers Mtagwa.

Gamboa (16-0, 14 KOs) dropped Garcia in the fourth and, although his challenger beat the 10-count, Garcia could not evade Gamboa's relentless flurry of punches, forcing the fight to be stopped at 58 seconds of the round.

Lopez (27-0) went the distance for only the third time in his career, as he overcame a challenge from Mtagwa. All three judges scored the bout for Lopez, 116-111, 114-113 and 115-111.

Gamboa and Lopez were featured on the same card at Madison Square Garden as a prelude to a possible marquee bout next year.

Two of Gamboa's former teammates from the Cuban national boxing team who defected with him late in 2006 also fought on the same card, with mixed results.

Heavyweight Odlanier Solis (15-0, 11 KOs) stopped former contender Monte Barrett in two rounds, but super bantamweight Yan Barthelemy (8-2) suffered a sixth-round technical knockout loss against Jorge Diaz.

VAZQUEZ GETS WIN

Israel Vazquez outlasted Angel Priolo with a ninth-round TKO victory late Saturday in Los Angeles. A former super-bantamweight champion, Vazquez (44-4, 32 KOs) scored three ninth-round knockdowns in what was a close fight.

Vazquez's final knockdown ended the bout at 2:10 of the round.

The fight was Vazquez's first after a 19-month absence.

JULIO ON UNDERCARD

Junior-middleweight contender Joel Julio will try to snap a two-fight losing streak Friday night at Miccosukee Resort and Gaming. Julio, of Colombia, will face journeyman Clarence Taylor in an undercard bout.

After losing a title bout against champion Sergiy Dzinziruk last November, Julio (34-3-1, 31 KOs) was stopped in six rounds by James Kirkland on March 7.

Friday night's main event will match Colombia's Antonio Pitalua and Puerto Rico's Wilfredo Negron for a regional welterweight title.

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