Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Mayweather-Mosley: Floyd takes the spotlight off of Pacquiao-Clottey fight

By Dave Lahr: If this was a chess match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, Floyd would have knocked off Pacquiao’s king with his latest move of setting up a May 1st bout against World Boxing Association welterweight champion Shane Mosley. In contrast, Pacquiao will have to settle for fighting former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey, who is coming off of a recent loss to Miguel Cotto. There’s really no comparison between the Mayweather-Mosley and the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

Hands down, the Mayweather-Mosley fight is the much more interesting bout of the two, and you got to give Mayweather a ton of credit for being intelligent to see the opportunity for a fight with Mosley and then be courageous enough to go for the fight. Pacquiao had an opportunity to fight Mosley last year but instead chose to fight Cotto for some odd reason.

In hindsight, the fight against Cotto seems like a mistake in my book because Cotto had been recently pulverized by Mexican Antonio Margarito only a year earlier, and many boxing fans felt that Cotto wasn’t the same fighter he once was. Pacquiao fans like to point out that Cotto won a controversial 12 round decision over Mosley in 2007, but what they fail to point out is that was before Cotto’s brutal beating at the hands of Antonio Margarito.

Yeah, Cotto beat Mosley by a controversial decision, but Cotto didn’t look like the same fighter after Margarito got through with him. This is why the Mosley fight should have been the opponent that Pacquiao fought instead of Cotto. But I can also understand why it would be an appealing fight. After all, with Cotto not looking like the same fighter, he would be less dangerous and the easier bout.

I got to hand it to Mayweather for setting up the Mosley fight. This was sure brilliance on his part. I think this fight is going to do a lot better than the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight on pay per view. It might not do as well as far as selling more tickets to the fight. The MGM Grand, where the fight Mayweather-Mosley fight will be taking place, is much smaller than the Dallas Cowboy stadium.

But if the Mayweather-Mosley fight was going to take place at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, I have no doubts that it would do better than the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. The reason is because this is a competitive fight. You don’t know who’s going to win the fight. Mosley is a huge talent and is still fighting at a high level despite his advanced age. You can’t say the same thing about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight.

That’s going to be an easy win for Pacquiao. Clottey just lost to Cotto, and has few wins against top tier talent. He also has only one knockout in his last eleven fights, has a poor work rate and history of fading late in his fights. Clottey doesn’t move well and likes to cover up and focus on defending rather than attacking. In other words, Clottey will be like a punching bag with gloves.

That to me spells mismatch. If you had the choice of seeing a mismatch between Pacquiao and Clottey or a competitive fight between Mayweather and Mosley, which would you rather see? I think for most people it will be the Mayweather-Mosley fight.

 

[heyzel]

I’m looking forward to seeing Antonio Margarito back in the ring

By Esteban Garduno: I can’t wait to see former IBF welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (37-6, 27 KO’s) back in the ring ripping up his competition with his trademark high volume offense. Margarito is a warrior and has been missed by many during this past year since he lost his boxing license after the Shane Mosley fight. Margarito, 31, will be fighting on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey fight on March 13th, provided Margarito is given his boxing license by the Texas Athletic Commission.

Margarito should be getting his license back, because he’s served his year suspension and is eligible to get his license to fight back. Margarito will be facing Carson Jones, a good 2nd tier fighter who likes to slug. This is the perfect opponent for Margarito. He won’t have to chase him around the ring or deal with constantly clinching like he did in his last fight against Shane Mosley in January 2009.

Margarito lost that fight by a 9th round stoppage, but I think the last had more to do with the trouble that Margarito had in making weight for the fight against Mosley. Also, the stuff that took place before the fight with the hand wraps being discovered to have an illegal foreign substance wouldn’t have helped matters any. That kind of thing would throw off any fighter. Besides that, the referee let Mosley get away with a ton of clinching without warning him or taking off points.

I think Margarito is going to re-establish himself as one of the top fighters in the welterweight division in 2010, first with a win over Jones and then a big money fight against Manny Pacquiao. I think Margarito can beat Pacquiao. Margarito’s promoter, Bob Arum, needs to work on putting together Margarito-Cotto II.

That fight will do really well with the boxing public, and I think Cotto needs to try and step back up to the plate to see if he can do better than last when he was stopped in the 11th round by Margarito. I doubt the outcome would be any different next time around, but it would be great to see Cotto try to avenge the defeat.

At the same time, it will give Margarito a chance to prove that he beat Cotto fair and square without anything in his hand wraps. People have been hinting that Margarito may have had loaded hand wraps for his win against Cotto in July 2008, and I think that is nonsense. But people will talk anyway until Margarito is given a chance to prove himself again against Cotto.

Margarito needs to be given a second chance. If people who have been caught using steroids are given a second chance, then a person who unknowingly had a plaster-like substance in his hand wraps deserves a second change. Both of them are just as dangerous in my view. You can’t be letting people back in boxing after being caught using steroids and then keeping people with loaded gloves out. That doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t think it’s fair. Let the warrior back in and prove himself that he beat those fighters fair square.

 

[heyzel]

Pavlik vs. Martinez on April 17th?

By William Mackay: Dan Rafael is reporting that WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (36-1, 32 KO’s) could be facing light middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (44-2-2, 24 KO’s) on April 17th. If this fight happens, it would easily be the best opponent that Pavlik has faced since he was schooled by 44-year-old Bernard Hopkins in a one-sided 12 round decision loss in October 2008. Nothing has yet been confirmed about this fight, but it would be great news if Pavlik does finally step it up again and fight someone really talented and exciting like Martinez.

It is unfortunate, though, that Pavlik has to fight an opponent a division smaller than him. However, you can’t really blame Pavlik if he does fight Martinez. The middleweight division is god awful right now with Pavlik holding down two of the titles and Felix Sturm and Sebastian Sylvester holding down the other two. The middleweight division is arguably going through a dry spell right now in terms of talented fighters.

Hopefully that will change as some of the younger fighters mature and take over for some of the mediocre champions. Pavlik missed out on a fight against Paul Williams in 2009 because of a staph infection on the left hand of Pavlik. The staph infection healed finally, only weeks after Pavlik’s bout with Williams was cancelled. Pavlik then went on to fight the little known, and badly over-matched Miguel Espino, taking him out in the 5th round in December 2009.

Pavlik, 27, has defended his WBC/WBO middleweight titles three times in three years, beating the following fighters: Gary Lockett, Marco Antonio Rubio and Espino. As I said, the middleweight division is going through a dry spell right now and until some better middleweights move up in the ranks, Pavlik would continue to feast on over-matched fodder.

However, the Martinez fight is one that could be genuinely a good fight, unless Martinez decides to run all night long. Martinez does well against sluggers and he could make Pavlik look as slow and limited as Hopkins did if he’s able to use his speed against Pavlik. Martinez had problems against Kermit Cintron, a welterweight with power similar to Pavlik.

Although Martinez should have probably won the fight by a knockout over Cintron after knocking him down with a left in the 9th round, there’s no question that Martinez had problems with the hard punching from Cintron during the fight. I had Martinez winning the fight by either knockout or decision. The judges ruled it a majority draw.

 

[heyzel]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Talks Manny Pacquiao and Steroids

By Mark Vester

Floyd Mayweather Jr. recently spoke to DJ Whoo Kid about his upcoming fight with WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley on May 1 and the broken negotiations to make a deal for a fight with Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather said the Mosley fight is done for May 1. He plans to start training very soon and the pre-fight hype will begin in the next few days.

"Me and Shane Mosley is May 1st. It's just another obstacle that I have to accomplish and it's just another obstacle that I have to cross. You go with what makes business sense first. At first Pacquiao, that fight made a lot of sense. So you go to second option when the first option don't work," Mayweather said.

Mayweather was in talks to fight Manny Pacquiao on March 13. The two fighters could not agree on the contract clause for random drug tests. Pacquiao agreed to take an unlimited amount of urine tests and random bloods tests until 24 days before the fight. Mayweather wanted blood tests until 14 days before the fight. Talks broke off and Pacquiao signed to fight Joshua Clottey.

Mayweather pointed at Pacquiao's fast rise over the last few years as the reason he took a hard line with the random drug tests. He said Pacquiao was an ordinary fighter who became a pound for pound sensation as he got older.

"What people don't know about the sport of boxing. In a fighter's career, a fighter starts off good and he's good until the end of his career or a fighter starts off good and then goes downhill towards the end of his career. A fighter doesn't start off like Manny Pacquiao, just ordinary, and then once he gets over the age of 25 he becomes and extraordinary fighter. It just doesn't work like that in this sport of boxing," Mayweather said.

Mosley has agreed to take random urine and blood tests for the May 1 clash. Mayweather plans to request random drug tests for every future opponent. He claims it's his way to clean up the sport of boxing.

"I'm just trying to clean up sports period. He's not the only one who has to take a random drug test. I do too. I never met anyone in sports history who didn't want to take a $25 million dollar drug test. All drugs don't show up in your urine. All I say is to random drug test me or any other fighters. At one particular time in the sport of boxing they didn't take HIV tests. Now they take HIV tests. In one particular time in the sport of boxing, you weighed in the morning of the fight and now you weigh in the day before the fight," Mayweather said.

 

[heyzel]

Roach: "Manny Pacquiao Will Knock Joshua Clottey Out"

By Mark Vester

After two weeks of training camp, trainer Freddie Roach is confident WBO welterweight Manny Pacquiao will knock Joshua Clottey out on March 13 at Cowboys Stadium in Texas. Roach has been looking at tapes on Clottey and he doesn't think the fighter from Ghana is really that good. He overestimated his worth the first time around and thought Pacquiao would win a decision. Now he thinks Clottey will get stopped in the last rounds.

“Manny will knock him out," Roach said to GMA News. “I’ve been studying tapes of him (Clottey), (and) he’s not very good. I think if we break him (Clottey) down, we can get him out of there in the late rounds.

“He (Clottey) has a passive defense and leaves his body wide open for a while when he puts his hands up like that. When we dig to the body and break him down, I think we can get him out of there."

Clottey will be the bigger man and there is some concern about the size. Roach says size will not win a fight. He says ability wins fights.

“It (Clottey’s size) is always a concern, of course. But the thing is, going into the ring, my guy (Pacquiao) is going to be about 149 (lbs) and the other guy will is going to have to be about 10-12 pounds on him and be bigger. But size doesn’t win fights. Ability does!" Roach said.

 

[heyzel]

When is Adamek going to fight someone good?

By Chris Williams: I’ve been waiting for ages for Tomasz Adamek (39-1, 27 KO’s) to fight someone good, and it looks like I’m going to have to wait little longer with Adamek taking on Jason Estrada (16-2, 4 KO’s) on February 6th, at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. Adamek, 32, moved up in weight from the cruiserweight division late last year with a 5th round TKO win over 41-year-old Andrew Golota in October 2009.

That fight may have been interesting for boxing fans from Adamek’s native Poland, but I saw the fight as a dull mismatch. Golota was far too slow and old by the time that Adamek fought him to put up an interesting fight. But I want to see Adamek fight someone good and who can test him. Estrada, 29, has zero power and was beaten recently by Alexander Povetkin last year in a 10 round decision loss.

Adamek, as long as he doesn’t run out of gas, he should be able to beat Estrada without too many problems. Adamek’s goal is to land a fight against one or both of the Klitschko brothers. At 6’1” 222, Adamek is kind of on the small side for a heavyweight.

It’s scary to think what would happen to Adamek if he was to be put in the ring with either of the Klitschko brothers. I can’t see him landing a glove on either one of them, and he doesn’t have the hand speed or the one punch power needed to knock either of them out. At best, all I can see is Adamek losing by a lopsided decision, that is, if he doesn’t get knocked out by them.

However, Adamek is going to have to speed things up and start taking on some better heavyweights at a much quicker pace if he wants to land a fight against either of the Klitschko brothers before they turn 40. Adamek needs some solid wins over the likes of Odlanier Solis, David Tua, Chris Arreola, Denis Boytsov, Povetkin or Kevin Johnson before he lands a title shot against the Klitschko brothers.

Right now, with only a win over Golota to show for his heavyweight experience, Adamek is short on experience. Estrada, who can’t punch, isn’t what Adamek needs. The guy needs to step it up and take on some real punchers and some named fighters if he wants to get a title shot. At 32, Adamek doesn’t have a whole lot of time to slowly work his way into position to fight for a title because he’s aging.

 

[heyzel]

Haye-Ruiz: Will Anyone be surprised if Ruiz knocks Haye out?

By Scott Gilfoid: On April 3rd, World Boxing Association heavyweight champion David Haye (23-1, 21 KO’s) will be making his 1st defense of his WBA title against two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz (44-8-1, 30 KO’s) at the M.E.N. Arena, Manchester, Lancashire. Haye, 29, will be fighting in front of a large British crowd and is expected to beat the 38-year-old Ruiz by a knockout. The reason many people are predicting a knockout win for Haye is that he has much more power, speed and youth compared to the relatively light hitting Ruiz, who has lost three out of his last six fights coming into their April 3rd fight.

But I wouldn’t be the least surprised if Ruiz taps Haye’s fragile chin and gets him out of there. For me, I see Haye’s chin as being like fine china. You got to be careful with it because it can break if you even tap it too hard with a teaspoon. Ruiz might not be a huge puncher, but in looking at the many times that Haye has visited the canvas during his seven year pro career, it doesn’t take a huge puncher to put him down. I think Ruiz is a bigger puncher than Carl Thompson, Jean Marc Mormeck, Monte Barrett and Lolenga Mock, fighters that have put Haye on the canvas during his career.

If Haye fights the same kind of timid, rabbit-like fight he did against Russian Nikolay Valuev in his last fight, then I can see Haye beating Ruiz by a close decision. Haye won’t dominate a fighter like Ruiz throwing only 10 punches per round, but I think Haye can win a controversial 12 round decision fighting in his home country. If Haye stays on the move the entire fight, there’s little chance that Ruiz will be able to find his brittle chin with a hard shot that would put Haye down.

But if Haye tries to turn the tables and stalk Ruiz with his hands down, like a poor imitation of Roy Jones Jr., then I see Ruiz landing something big and taking Haye out. Haye can’t afford to fight the same way he used to fight when he was beating up against smaller, more limited cruiserweights. Those fighters can’t punch as hard as heavyweights, and we already saw that Haye had problems taking even shots from small cruiserweights at times.

Haye has to adopt a turtle defense and protect his glass jaw with his gloves and arms as much as possible or else Ruiz could end the fight as soon as Haye tries to slug with him. Haye doesn’t really throw jabs and instead looks to throw big wild haymaker shots. Those wild punches are good against limited fighters, but Ruiz is a professional. If Haye throws that kind of amateurish shots, Ruiz will clean his clock in no time flat.
Haye moves poorly in terms of foot movement.

Haye doesn’t look good at all when moving laterally around the ring. All that muscle on his upper body makes Haye slow, almost like he has his feet stuck in glue. Haye’s hand speed may be good, but moves like he’s stuck in molasses around the ring. For Ruiz to catch Haye shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I still think Haye should try to move, because the more he does it, the better his chances are that he won’t get knocked out.

If Haye just stands and tries to trade with Ruiz for 12 rounds, I have little doubts that Ruiz will knock Haye out. Ruiz is much better skilled on the inside and has a nice right hand and uppercut that would level Haye once he catches him with it. Haye probably has about 20 to 30 pounds of too much muscle on his upper body for his good. If Haye took off that useless muscle, he’d move a lot better around the ring.

However, he would then be too small to fight as a heavyweight. But I think Haye is too small to fight at heavyweight. He beat an old, slow Valuev, but I think Haye would lose to a dozen of the top 15 fighters in the top 15. Frankly, I think Haye was a letter better fighter earlier in his career when he was a skinny cruiserweight. He was good back then, but after Haye started putting on a lot of muscle on his upper body, he’s become much slower and more lethargic looking. I think Haye’s chin has always been bad, though, whether he was skinny or over-muscled.

 

[heyzel]

Pacquiao-Clottey: How come nobody is talking about this fight anymore?

By Dave Lahr: I don’t know if Manny Pacquiao fans are noticing or not, but no one is talking about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight anymore. If you look at the internet boxing forums, very few fans are discussing the Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight. That’s a bad sign. It shows to me that this is a poor match up. I think Pacquiao’s selling power will be tested for this fight. This is a bout that is lopsided to begin with going in the fight with the much more popular and talented Pacquiao facing Clottey, an obscure fighter who is coming off of a loss to recent Pacquiao victim Miguel Cotto.

How do you sell a fight like this? ‘Clottey may have been beaten by Cotto, but it least it was close.’ I think Pacquiao’s management really made a mistake with this fight. Since Floyd Mayweather Jr. agreed to fight Shane Mosley, basically nothing is being said about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. Even before that, it good portion of what was being said about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight was negative, such as, why is Pacquiao choosing to fight a guy that was beaten in his last fight by Cotto?

There’s really nothing to discuss about Pacquiao vs. Clottey fight. I mean, Clottey is a good fighter, but he doesn’t typically put in the kind of performances in his past fights that would give you any indication that he will do anything other than lose to Pacquiao on March 13th.

No doubt the Mayweather-Mosley fight is overshadowing the Pacquiao-Clottey fight. However, I think nobody would still be talking about the Pacquiao-Clottey fight even if the Mayweather-Mosley fight didn’t take place. It’s just not an interesting fight and there’s no sense of drama. Clottey doesn’t throw a lot of punches, tires late, and mainly focuses on blocking punches rather than throwing them.

That’s not the type of fighter that people can see beating Pacquiao or even being competitive with him. My guess is that people would be still ranting about the missed opportunity for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight and would still be speculating about who would have won the fight had it taken place rather than discussing the Pacquiao-Clottey fight, which many people see as a mismatch on paper.

Some boxing fans feel that the Mayweather-Mosley fight will be the better fight while the Pacquiao-Clottey bout will be ultimately the better fight because of the action. I disagree. I think Clottey will tire too fast and not throw enough punches to make it interesting.

It might be a somewhat competitive fight for five rounds, but after that, Pacquiao will dominate a tiring Clottey. The Mayweather-Mosley fight will be competitive all the way through because of Mosley’s hand speed, power and constant pressure. Mosley will bring out the best in Mayweather for 12 rounds. I can’t say the same for Clottey.

The Pacquiao-Clottey fight could pick up interest for boxing fans if something happens that would handicap Pacquiao. I don’t know what they could do to get people interested. Maybe if Pacquiao broke his hand and decided to take the fight with only one could hand. That might make things interesting. You then could see Clottey having a real chance to win the fight, unlike now.

 

[heyzel]

Mosley says he’ll go after Pacquiao after Mayweather fight

By Jason Kim: In an article at AOL Boxing Fanhouse, WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) says “Then after I fight Floyd Mayweather, I’ll go ahead and fight Pacquiao.” Mosley, 38, is convinced that he’ll beat Mayweather on May 1st at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas. Mosley says “He [Mayweather] got pushed into this fight. He really didn’t want it. I can’t wait to get into the ring and sink my teeth in this fight.”

Mosley, of course, is talking about how Mayweather had little options after his fight with Manny Pacquiao fell apart during negotiations. Because Pacquiao chose a good opponent – Joshua Clottey – to fight on March 13th in place of Mayweather at the Dallas Cowboy stadium, it forced Mayweather to choose someone at least as good, if not better, if he didn’t want to take a lot of heat from both boxing fans and the Pacquiao camp.

As such, Mayweather opted to take the most dangerous fighter at welterweight that he could in 38-year-old Mosley. Mayweather, perhaps, could have taken an even more dangerous opponent than Mosley by fighting Paul Williams if he really wanted to impress boxing fans, but for some reason never took that step.

As it is, Mosley is clearly a better opponent than Clottey. You can’t argue against Mayweather’s choice unless you’re a huge Clottey fan and see his losses against Carlos Baldomir, Antonio Margarito and Miguel Cotto as a mere fluke.

Mosley thinks he’s going to beat Mayweather, and move forward to a fight against Pacquiao. The chances of Mosley doing that would seem unlikely at this point. Mosley has been out of action for a year now since his last fight last January against Antonio Margarito, and by the time that he steps foot in the ring against Mayweather in May, Mosley will have been out of action for 16 months.

If Mosley was a younger fighter like Mayweather, it might not matter much, but Shane is pushing 39. It will be asking a lot of himself to be able to come in from that long of a layoff at 38 to beat a talented fighter like Mayweather. But whatever the case, Mosley will very likely give Mayweather his best match in years. Mayweather has been involved with mostly one-sided fights for the past eight years. This one, at least on paper, appears to be a competitive match.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather/Vargas Agree: Mosley Fight Tops Pacquiao

By Ryan Burton

During Golden Boy's co-promotion of Shumenov-Campillo on Friday night in Las Vegas, BoxingScene.com sat down with former champion Fernando Vargas to watch a few of the fights. After Roger Mayweather's pupil Jesse Vargas won his bout, Roger, trainer/uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr., stopped by for a quick chat.

When asked about the Mayweather vs. Mosley showdown for May 1, Roger commended Shane for agreeing to the fight and the contract clause that calls for random drug testing. When Manny Pacquiao's upcoming fight with Joshua Clottey came up - Mayweather said there is no comparison between the two pay-per-view events. He said Mayweather-Mosley is on another level in comparison to Pacquiao-Clottey.

"Please, you know you can't compare the two. You got Pacquiao and Clottey. Here you got Floyd and Mosley, two hall-of-famers. There's no comparison," Mayweather told BoxingScene.com. "Manny had his chance. We are fighting Shane. Manny knows what he has to do if he wants to fight Floyd."

Fernando Vargas, no stranger himself when it comes to participating in big events, agreed with Roger.

"Mayweather and Mosley blows away Pacquiao versus Clottey as far as an event. It is huge," Vargas said.

Vargas would make a prediction, telling BoxingScene that Mayweather will beat Mosley over twelve. Vargas had two fights with Mosley, and was stopped in both of them.

"I see Floyd winning a decisive decision over Mosley," Vargas said.

Top Rank is stacking Pacquiao vs Clottey with Mexican fighters like Jose Luis Castillo and Antonio Margarito. It will be interesting to see if Victor Ortiz, Saul Alvarez and some of Golden Boy's other Mexican fighters in their stable are on the Mayweather-Mosley undercard. Alvarez, who recently signed with Golden Boy, has already been mentioned for spot on the undercard.

The two events have a clear contrast. On one end you have a main event featuring two foreign fighters, Manny Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey, and on the other end you have a main event featuring two American fighters in Mayweather and Mosley. The buyrate figures will be interesting and the overall figures are sure to set up more intense negotiations between Pacquiao and Mayweather down the road, provided they win these upcoming fights.

On paper, Mayweather vs. Mosley, which has three months worth of time to promote, should outsell Pacquiao vs. Clottey easily but with established stars like Castillo and Margarito on the undercard and Dallas Cowboy's owner Jerry Jones in the mix - you can not underestimate Top Rank's promotion.

 

[heyzel]

Warren Talks About Amir Khan Avoiding Maidana Defense

By Mark Vester

Promoter Frank Warren thinks WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan will send the wrong message by avoiding a fight with mandatory Marcos Maidana. Khan and his trainer Freddie Roach don't think the fight is big enough right now and want to wait it out. Golden Boy Promotions, who recently signed Khan and currently promote Maidana, are looking to build the fight up. The WBA may force the issue. If they do, Khan is likely to vacate the belt. If Khan vacates, Warren says he should have done it against Dmitriy Salita.

"If he's going to drop it, he should have done it against Salita because that was a fight nobody thought would be hard for him. Maidana will be a much tougher proposition than Sailta, so it will look like he's running," Maidana.

"It just seems to be the people around him saying they don't want Maidana. Freddie Roach pretty much said Maidana doesn't mean anything and he needs to build himself up. But I find that quite a strange quote as Amir's never been shown on American TV. Maidana, on the other hand, knocked out Golden Boy's Victor Ortiz on HBO! As a result, everybody knows him, so it's such a strange comment to make. The big fights are there for Khan, it just depends what direction he goes down."

Warren is offended with Khan's reasoning for leaving him. The British star told reporters that he wanted the big fights in America and had to go to Golden Boy to get those fights. Warren said a deal was already in place for Khan to unify with WBC champion Timothy Bradley.

"It's a bit galling when you hear people saying the only way he's going to get the big fights is by going with Golden Boy. That's a bit insulting, just like when people say that Naseem Hamed had to leave me to go to America," Warren said. "It's just garbage. I took Hamed to America and I promoted a show at Madison Square Garden before taking him to Atlantic City. I was the one who walked away when the contract came to an end, not him."

I've done lots of fights over there and I would have had no problem taking Khan to the States. It was in my plans and we even talked about it live on TV after the Salita fight. Maidana fighting Amir in America means nothing, at least as far as the gate's concerned. Over there it's just an Argentinian fighting a Brit, whereas here it would sell. Not only that, I'd already spoken to HBO and they were willing to broadcast the fight. I'd also agreed terms with Tim Bradley for a fight to take place over here and Showtime were going to show it in the States, so he had choices already.

 

[heyzel]

Hopkins vs. Jones II: Is this a pointless fight or what?

By Chris Williams: It’s been ages since Bernard Hopkins (50-5-1, 32 KO’s) and Roy Jones Jr. (54-6, 40 KO’s) last fought. I can only imagine where the boxing fans are today who witnessed the fight between these two aging warriors seventeen long years ago in 1993. And I doubt if the fans who saw that original fight or new boxing could care about wanting to see them fight now after all these years now that their into their 40s.

For fans who do want to see the fight, it will be on pay-per-view on April 3rd at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The bout was made less relevant than it already was after the 41-year-old Jones, trying to squeeze in an extra payday before his fight with Hopkins, was destroyed by IBO cruiserweight champion Danny Green in a 1st round TKO loss on December 2nd in Australia.

Jones was quick to explain away the loss, blaming it on a variety of things. Hopkins, too, sided with Jones, saying that the bout was stopped too quickly by the referee. However, it’s scary to think what would have happened to Jones had Green been allowed to continue to pummel him for the remaining 58 seconds of the round after knocking him down with a right hand. As bad as Jones looked in getting stopped by Green, the last thing I want to see is Roy going out and fighting an even better fighter than Green in the form of the 45-year-old Hopkins.

That’s not to say that Hopkins was a better fighter than Jones during their prime years. Jones pretty much proved, at least to me, that he was the better fighter of the two in beating Hopkins with only one good hand 17-years-ago in May 1993. But if Hopkins and Jones wanted a rematch, they should have done it within a year or two after that fight instead of waiting all this time.

It’s no longer interesting for me considering how badly Jones has slipped as a fighter. Jones has lost five out of his last ten fights and his only wins have come against guys that were either shot or on the margins of the 1st tier. That’s disappointing given how truly great Jones was earlier in his career. I don’t mind seeing a great fighter fighting a little beyond their prime like Jones, but I do mind when they start getting knocked out and dominated by fighters that wouldn’t have laid a glove on him in his prime. I expect Hopkins to easily win this fight, but I can’t really give him much credit if he wins. I think Jones would have handled Hopkins with ease during most of his prime. Only now do I see an avenue where Hopkins can win because he’s held onto his skills better than Jones.

 

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Dirrell vs. Abraham: Will Andre’s speed be too much for Arthur?

By Scott Gilfoid: Next month on March 6th, unbeaten former International Boxing Federation middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (31-0, 25 KO’s) will be facing probably the toughest fight of his entire seven year pro career when he faces the ultra talented American Andre Dirrell (18-1, 13 KO’s) in the stage 2 part of the Super Six tournament competition at the Agua Caliente Casino, in Rancho Mirage, California.

Technically, this is considered to be a home court advantage for the 26-year-old Dirrell, but it hardly can be considered much of an advantage considering that Dirrell comes from Flint, Michigan, and the boxing fans in California probably could care less about whether Abraham is a foreigner or not. If they like him as a fighter, they will support him. As such, I don’t see the crowd as being an advantage for Dirrell in this fight, unlike the large noisy crowd that showed up to support Dirrell’s last opponent, Carl Froch, in Nottingham, England.

Froch, 32, won that fight by a controversial 12 round split decision that many boxing fans felt was a home town decision. For Abraham’s part, he is coming off a 12th round knockout over Jermain Taylor on October 17th. Abraham, 29, is likely looking at that win as evidence that he will continue to do well in the Super Six tournament.

Indeed, many boxing fans who saw Abraham for the first time in his fight with Taylor, are now predicting that Abraham will win the entire Super Six tournament. I’m not one of them. I see several fighters that I don’t think Abraham can ever get by and those are Mikkel Kessler, Dirrell and Andre Ward. I can see Abraham beating Taylor replacement Allan Green without too many problems and I can also see him beating Froch.

However, `Abraham is going to taste his first defeat on March 6th against the blazing fast Dirrell. This is going to be a huge shock to Abraham when he sets foot in the ring against Dirrell. Not only will Abraham be four inches shorter than the 6’2” Dirrell, but he’ll also be giving up three inches in reach.

The reach will be even more than that, because Abraham doesn’t throw very many jabs and fights in a real tight manner as if he has no flexibility. Abraham mainly throws power shots in wild attacks near the end of every round. He’s good at impressing judges with his late work, even when he’s been badly outworked during the vast majority of the round.

It goes to show that judges don’t have the ability sometimes to see past the last 20 to 30 seconds of every round. This is why Dirrell has to fight hard for the entire three minutes of every round and make sure that he stays alert to Abraham’s late round stealing flurries that he likes to throw. I can see Dirrell winning every round of this fight without any problems as long as he avoids Abraham’s clumsy attacks.

Dirrell has to be careful he doesn’t get hit with any of Abraham’s elbows because he’s deadly when he lands those shots. That’s about the biggest thing I think Dirrell needs to worry about to win this fight. Just avoid the elbows and stay alert for the last 30 seconds because that’s when Abraham does most of his punching.

 

[heyzel]

Warren comments on Khan not facing Maidana – News

By William Mackay: In an interview of promoter Frank Warren at The Sun, he gives his thoughts about WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan not facing his mandatory defense against WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana. Warren, who up until recently promoted Khan and steered him to a championship against Andriy Kotelnik last year, says this when asked how he will feel if Khan ends up vacating his WBA light welterweight:

“I’ll be a little annoyed if I’m honest. If he’s [Khan] to drop it, he should have done it against [Dmitriy] Salita because that was a fight nobody thought would be hard for him. Maidana will be a much tougher position than Salita, so it will look like he’s running.” Warren is absolutely correct. If you look around on boxing forums, the news that Khan could end up sidestepping Maidana has been met with a lot of criticism from fans, who see it as a signal that Khan is avoiding the hard hitting Maidana.

Fans don’t like the idea of Khan avoiding this fight, even if he takes on a talented fighter like Juan Manuel Marquez. That’s a great substitute fight for Khan, but the problem is Marquez is a lightweight, smaller than Khan and much older than him at 36. Marquez is also coming off a one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September, a fight in which Marquez looked slow and heavy at 143. Marquez has fought mostly at featherweight during his long career, and seems more suited for that weight class and super featherweight rather than lightweight.

Khan is a light welterweight, and would have a big size advantage over Marquez.
Warren says “It just seems to be the people around him saying they don’t want Maidana. Freddie Roach pretty much said Maidana doesn’t mean anything and he needs to build himself up. But I find that quite a strange quote as Amir’s never been shown on American TV.”

Roach and Golden Boy Promotions don’t want to out Khan in with Maidana, saying they want to find a better known opponent than Maidana for Khan’s first fight in the United States. They want to make Khan a big star in the U.S. and feel that if they match him with more established fighters, albeit older ones, he can become a mega star within a short time.

“Maidana fighting Amir in American means nothing,” Warren says. “At least as far as the gates’ concerned. Over there [in the U.S.], it’s just an Argentinean fighting a Brit, whereas here [in the UK] it would sell. Not only that, I’d already spoken to HBO and they were willing to broadcast the fight. I’d also agreed to terms with Tim Bradley for a fight to take place over here and Showtime were going to show it in the States, so he [Khan] has choices already.”

Thus far, Bradley and Maidana aren’t being mentioned as future opponents for Khan now that he’s switched promoters. Marquez has been mentioned, as well as Zab Judah and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Marquez is reportedly mulling over whether to fight Khan or not. You can’t blame Marquez if he decides against fighting him. Marquez would be in effect being used to build Khan’s name up if he fights him. Marquez is still a champion and doesn’t need to be used in this manner. Marquez also could possibly fight Ricky Hatton, which obviously is a better option for him because Hatton’s more well known in the U.S.

 

[408mobsta]

BoxingScene.com has heard that a doubleheader is taking shape for HBO's date of March 27. The main event would feature IBF super featherweight champion Robert Guerrero moving up in weight to fight the WBO's interim-lightweight champion Michael Katsidis. Because Juan Manuel Marquez is in deep discussions to fight WBA 140-pound champion Amir Khan in May, Katsidis will likely get elevated to full champion status by the time this fight comes around. [Click Here To Read More]


i hope ghost fights this dude..that would be dope ghost is training in sf 4 now but in a week or 2 he should be in big bear wit mosley training...this might be in sj...also

 

[saladbowlking]

ANY NEWS ON ERIK MORALES'S COMEBACK FIGHT?

 

[2-0-Sixx]

^^I think he's fighting on march 27th against Jose Alfaro:

http://www.badlefthook.com/event/CD3FlpiM

Erik Morales Training Very Hard For Jose Alfaro Bout
http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=24919

 

[Johnny Truelove]

erik moreles lives in my neck of the woods met him twice had him sign a pacifico beer bottle for me the second time lmao chill ass dude hope he makes a good comeback and avoids manny haha

 

[2-0-Sixx]

i wonder what weight class he's going to be fighting at. The article says he walks around at 175 pounds, fuck he's going to go to what, 135???

 

[2-0-Sixx]

James Kirkland: Tentative Return is Eyed For August

By Rick Reeno

The year is still young but the wheels are already rolling for the tentative return of junior middleweight contender James Kirkland. BoxingScene.com was advised by Kirkland's co-manager and personal attorney, Michael Miller, that an August return is very possible. Last September during a federal hearing in Texas, Kirkland was sentenced to a 24 month prison term for illegally purchasing a firearm during the month of April. At the time of the arrest, Kirkland was still on probation for a 2003 armed robbery offense, which prohibits him from purchasing and/or possessing firearms.

When Kirkland was hit with the 24-month sentence, the court shaved off 6 months for time already served. Under the federal guidelines, he was able to shave off an additional 100 days for good behavior.

On June 28, Kirkland will get transfered to a half-way house to finish the remaining six months of the sentence. Kirkland will be allowed to leave the half-way house from 7am to 7pm to train. With prior notice given, Kirkland can leave the half-way house to fight - and that includes taking a fight outisde of Texas.

During his prison stay, Kirkland's weight shot up. At one point he weighed 205-pounds. It took a few months for Kirkland, 25, to get himself back in shape. Miller saw Kirkland around the Thanksgiving holiday and said his fighter was now weighing 174-pounds and his body looked good. Golden Boy Promotions is calling Miller on a regular basis to check on Kirkland's status. They are very eager to bring him back.

"[Kirkland will return] probably in the middle of August. He will take a warm-up fight in August and maybe a bigger fight in October or November," Miller told BoxingScene.com