Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Sauerland has verbal agreement for Kessler to fight the winner of the Super Six tourn

By Dan Ambrose: Promoter Kalle Sauerland, who promotes World Boxing Council super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (43-2, 32 KO’s), says he has a “verbal agreement” for Kessler to fight the winner of the Super Six tournament, according to Skysports.com. Kessler, 31, had to drop out of the Super Six tournament on Thursday due to an eye injury. If Kessler elects to take that agreement and fight the tournament winner, he could be facing Andre Ward, the fighter that caused Kessler his eye problems because of his hard punches in their fight last year in November.

That may not be a wise fight for Kessler to take coming off an injury. Kessler wasn’t even remotely competitive with Ward, and it was more than just Ward’s style. It was his advantage in speed and athleticism. I don’t know that Kessler can ever make up for his lack of physical tools. I see him getting beaten even worse in a rematch with Ward. Kessler might be better off telling Sauerland, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’


Kessler needs to go after winnable fights and that would mean someone like WBO super middleweight champion Roberto Stieglitz or a rematch with Carl Froch. Those are fights that Kessler would do well against. The Froch wouldn’t be easy, because Kessler would likely take a lot of punishment in a rematch with Froch, but it’s a fight where Kessler would be able to make a lot of money, generate a lot of fans interest and get a lot of credit if he were to beat Froch for a second time.

Kessler is expected to be out of action for nine months at the very least. He’s tentatively expected back in April or May 2011 and that’s if his injury has healed. It may not have healed by then but that’s why he’s going to have to wait and see and hope for the best.

Speaking about his injury, Kessler says “I have a few problems when I go down the stairs and when I close one eye. I don’t see double. It means that I had to give up my big dream, but I am not throwing the towel in the ring.” Kessler may have to throw in the towel if his injury doesn’t heal or if he continues to have problems in the ring in terms of taking punishment. Right now, Kessler needs a lot of rest for his injury to heal if it ever does.

 

[heyzel]

Bert Sugar sees Pacquiao vs. Margarito as a “B+” fight

By Dan Ambrose: Boxing writer Bert Sugar thinks the upcoming November 13th fight between Antonio Margarito and Manny Pacquiao is a B+ fight, according to an article by writer Chris Robinson at Examiner.com. Sugar, who has written over 80 books about boxing and other sports, said this about the Pacquiao-Margarito fight: “It’s a B+ fight, not the A+ fight we were looking for which is still the most anticipated fight since Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard 30 years ago. But this is not chopped liver. This is a good fight.”


I don’t know if I agree with Sugar. If my head was still stuck in 2008, I’d call this a B+ fight, but Margarito hasn’t looked like the same fighter he once was in his last two fights and there’s a lot of questions about his power now. He doesn’t look like the huge puncher he was previous to his loss against Shane Mosley in 2009. I can’t call it a B+ fight now, not with the way that Margarito has been looking.

It’s more like a C fight if anything. Rather than matching Pacquiao against guys like Mosley, Andre Berto, Paul Williams or Sergio Martinez, all of whom I think would beat Margarito, Bob Arum has decided to match Pacquiao against one of his own fighters. I think Arum is two years late on this fight. Had it been back in 2008, it would have been a great fight but not now.

Margarito looks like someone completely different and he was taking punishment and running in his last fight against little known Roberto Garcia. That’s not a good sign for Margarito going into his fight against a much better fighter like Pacquiao. I’m sure Sugar knows a lot about boxing, but I think he’s dead wrong in calling this a B+ fight. If he had said it was a D+ fight, I think he would be a lot closer to reality than it being characterized as a B+ bout.

Margarito has had battles against Paul Williams, Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey in the past, beating Cotto and Clottey, but he doesn’t look to be the same fighter he was back then. And even if he was, I’m still not sure he would be good enough to compete with Pacquiao. He was always really slow and wide his punches. Margarito was able to get away with this because he didn’t face much quicker fighters. Pacquiao will be a lot faster and will give him problems with his speed and movement. No, I don’t see this fight as a B+ fight. It’s closer to a D than a B.

 

[heyzel]

Dirrell should agree to fight Ward in Oakland

By Scott Gilfoid: For the sake of breaking the impasse between them, I think Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) should just give in and agree to fight WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward (21-0, 13 KO’s) in Oakland, California instead of insisting on Detroit, Michigan or a neutral venue. The fight will make more money in Oakland compared to Detroit and if they put it in a neutral venue, like Carl Froch and Arthur Abraham are doing with their October 2nd Super Six tournament fight, it will hurt both Ward and Dirrell because they’ll draw far fewer boxing fans to the fight.


But here’s the thing: Dirrell is more than talented enough to beat Ward in his own home town, and if he’s not, then it probably wouldn’t have any difference whatsoever if the fight were to be held in Detroit where it would likely draw less than 5000 fans. This is a do-or-die fight for both Ward and Dirrell, because Mikkel Kessler and Allan Green are both out of the Super Six tournament because of Kessler’s eye injury.

As such, the Ward-Dirrell fight is now a semifinal fight where neither of them can afford to lose. If Dirrell beats Ward, Dirrell will have an identical 2-1 record as Ward, but his win over him will give Dirrell the nod to get to the finals against the winner of the Abraham vs. Froch bout. It’s likely then that Dirrell could be facing Abraham again for a rematch of their March fight. Dirrell beat Abraham in an impressive fashion by an 11th round disqualification.

But first things first, Dirrell has to agree to fight Ward in Oakland so that they can end this impasse and still fight on September 25th. What they don’t need is both Ward and Dirrell being stubborn about it and causing the fight to be postponed. We’ve already had too many postponements and this would be silly.

If Dirrell isn’t good enough to beat Ward in Oakland, then it doesn’t matter where the fight would take place. I don’t see Dirrell ending up a victim of a home town decision in Oakland. I think the judges will get the scores right if it goes to decision.

The only thing that Dirrell would have to deal with is the large amount of boxing fans that would be cheering for Ward in this fight. But Dirrell needs to shut that out and just focus. He can win if he uses his speed and feet. I think the bigger crowd would be better for the fight than if the bout were to be put in a much smaller venue like Detroit.

 

[heyzel]

Hopkins vs. Pascal in December on HBO

By Jim Dower: WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 16 KO’s) could be facing 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KO’s) in December o HBO, according to boxing news from RDS.ca. The promoter for the 27-year-old Yvon Michel says that Golden Boy Promotions, Hopkins’ promoter, has approached him for a fight between Hopkins and Pascal.


HBO reportedly is interested in this match-up and see it as an appealing fight. I don’t know if it is or not. Hopkins hasn’t looked really good since beating Kelly Pavlik by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision two years ago in October 2008. Hopkins has had two fights since then, beating Enrique Ornelas and Roy Jones Jr. but didn’t look good in either of those fights.

Some people think that Hopkins looked rusty, whereas others think he is starting to look old. I’m on the latter side. I think Hopkins is starting to show his age and may no longer be good enough to beat talented fighters like Pascal, Beibut Shumenov and Tavoris Cloud, three of the light heavyweight champions in the division.

Pascal defeated Chad Dawson by an 11 round technical decision on August 14th and looked good for the most part until the 10th and 11th when Pascal ran out of gas. However, it’s doubtful that Hopkins, who doesn’t put his punches together in a real way anymore, could flurry on Pascal the way that Dawson was doing in the 10th and 11th rounds.

Still, it will be interesting to see if Hopkins can somehow get by Pascal. It will be one huge test for Hopkins at this point in his career. If he loses to Pascal, Hopkins might need to consider retirement because there aren’t a lot of options out there for him at this point unless he wants to fight the less popular fighters. Hopkins said recently that he would like to fight WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, but that’s not going to happen, especially if Hopkins loses t Pascal.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather says he’ll move when he’s ready, not when he’s told

By Dave Lahr: The unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t going to respond when others try to pressure him into fights before he’s ready. The man has his own life and his own timeline for when he wants to make fights. Recently, Bob Arum, Freddie Roach, and HBO tried to get him to make the fight with Pacquiao for November.


Mayweather never said anything about wanting to fight in November, and yet here there was a huge push from one side trying to get boxing’s cash cow to make the fight. Can really blame Mayweather for ignoring them? He’s not going to let other’s call the shots for him.

This is what Mayweather has to say about all this on his Facebook page: “A real boss moves when he’s ready, not when told.” What Mayweather is trying to say is that he won’t be pushed into a fight by Arum, Pacquiao, HBO or Roach and that he is his own boss. He’ll fight Pacquiao when he’s ready to fight him and he’s not afraid of him. Mayweather is living his life and enjoying his success.

When he decides he wants to fight Pacquiao, then you can bet that he’ll give a 100% effort to make the fight happen. The only thing that will likely prevent the fight from being made in the future is if Pacquiao wants a 50-50 deal or refuses to take the random blood tests that Mayweather wants. I think Pacquiao may have a good argument that he deserves an even split with Mayweather if Pacquiao’s fight with Antonio Margarito brings in huge pay per view numbers.

But anything short of 1 million buys means that Mayweather, the cash cow, will be the one that should get the bigger cut of the money. In that case, Pacquiao needs to agree to it or else continue to fight Arum’s stable fighters, Miguel Cotto, Antonio Margarito and Joshua Clottey over and over again until he retires from boxing.
Arum didn’t do himself any favors this last time out by setting up a deadline for Mayweather to respond for a fight with Pacquiao.

That was like the worst possible thing you can say. That made it seem like Arum was calling the shots, despite his fighter Pacquiao having smaller PPV numbers than Mayweather. I’m no promoter but I couldn’t think of a worse thing to say than that. That’s was really not conducive for putting a deal together. It wasn’t as if Arum had a great opponent waiting in the wings to match Pacquiao up with.

Look at who Pacquiao’s fighting – Margarito. This was the fighter that Arum was in a big rush to put Pacquiao in with. Margarito didn’t even have a license until today, and his biggest pay per view numbers of his career is 450,000. Pacquiao and Arum had a chance to fight Mayweather in March, but they quickly abandoned the negotiations when Mayweather asked for Pacquiao to take random blood tests with a cutoff of 14 days.

Instead of agreeing to that, Arum and Pacquiao moved on and fought Joshua Clottey. They gave up on Mayweather to fight Clottey. Unbelievable. Now Pacquiao is fighting Margarito for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title despite Pacquiao having never fought in the division before and Margarito only having fought once in the past six years. And the fight will be held at a catch weight of 151.

 

[heyzel]

Cotto’s shoulder surgery won’t cause postponement of Chavez Jr. bout

By Eric Thomas: Despite having shoulder surgery on his right shoulder, World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) will still go ahead with his December 4th fight against the unproven Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) at a still to be determined location.


Cotto, 29, had minor surgery performed on his right shoulder early in August and is recovering quickly from the surgery. Cotto is expected to start training for the Chavez Jr. bout next month in September. It’s still unclear where the fight will take place. Bob Arum, the Top Rank promoter for both Cotto and Chavez Jr., has mentioned New York’s Madison Square Garden as a possible venue for the bout.

Given Cotto’s large fanbase in the New York area, it’s likely that Arum will opt to place this fight there rather than taking the risk of trying to put it in Texas at the Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington. Chavez Jr. isn’t a huge star in the East Coast and is known mainly as the son of famous boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez.

However, Arum recently matched Chavez Jr. against one of his beatable fringe contenders, middleweight John Duddy, and Chavez Jr. looked good in beating Duddy by a lopsided 12 round decision. However, there’s a huge difference between a fighter like Duddy and quality guy like Cotto.

Chavez Jr. was stunned a couple of times by the light hitting Duddy. Cotto hits a lot harder than Duddy with every punch and if he gets Chavez in trouble, which is very likely, he will almost certainly finish him off. This is a win-win fight for Arum, because Cotto would likely get beaten if Arum were to match him against a quality junior middleweight like Alfredo Angulo or Paul Williams, but Chavez Jr. is a very winnable fight for Cotto.

And best of all, he fights for Top Rank, so the fight can stay in house for Arum. Chavez Jr. comes off well in defeat because Cotto is considered to be one of the top fighters in the sport in terms of popularity and it doesn’t look nearly as bad getting beaten by him compared to if Arum were to put Chavez Jr. in with a better quality fringe contender in the middleweight or junior middleweight divisions and Chavez Jr. was to get beaten.

Freddie Roach, the new trainer for Chavez Jr., thinks he can turn him into a really good fighter. He also thinks Chavez Jr. can beat Cotto. Will see if Roach is right about this, but he’s made some pretty big boasts in the past about some of his fighters and we’re still waiting on the results.

Cotto should be able to easily beat Chavez even with his shoulder coming off of surgery. Chavez is pretty basic, has very little defensive skills and tends to get hit a lot to the head. He’s going to have problems in this fight unless Roach teaches him a lot during his upcoming training camp.

 

[heyzel]

When Is Haye going to man up and fight Wladimir Klitschko?

By William Mackay: Man, I am so disappointed in David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s) since he moved up to the heavyweight division. Haye was an impressive fighter at cruiserweight, I’ll give him that much. But since he moved up to heavyweight, he’s been all talk and no action.


Haye has talked long and hard to the media about wanting to fight both of the Klitschko brothers, but instead he goes after World Boxing Association heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev last year when it came time to challenge for a heavyweight title.

To Haye’s credit, he won the fight, just barely, and is now one of the three heavyweight champions in the division. But since then, Haye has been acting less than thrilled at the prospects of taking on the Klitschko brothers and proving himself to be worthy of being one of the heavyweight champions.

It would be okay if Haye talked so much about wanting to fight the brothers. He would still be expected to fight them, since they badly want to unify the titles. But Haye has been the one calling the brothers out, talking about how boring their styles are and how he was going to breathe new life in the heavyweight division. You can’t say that he has. His fight with Valuev was totally boring, and I lost track of all the rabbit punches he landed against 38-year-old John Ruiz in his last fight in April. Although Haye lost a point in that fight, I thought he should have been penalized multiple times and/or disqualified for the rabbit shots. He looked like he got rabbit crazy at one point.

I saw the same rabbit shots in his fight against 38-year-old Monte Barrett in 2008, the fight in which Haye appeared to be knocked down by Barrett in the 5th. The English referee didn’t count the knockdown but it sure looked like a knockdown to me and I’ve seen it on replay in slow motion a hundred times.

Haye has recently emerged from seclusion and still hasn’t mentioned who his next opponent will be. Most boxing fans figure it will be 38-year-old Audley Harrison, which honestly doesn’t surprise me at all. It would have surprised me two years ago before Haye fought his first fight at heavyweight, but now that I’ve seen Haye matched against 38-year-old Barrett, 36-year-old Valuev and 38-year-old Ruiz, the 38-year-old Harrison fits among that list quite nicely.

I now think that Haye was never serious about wanting to fight the Klitschko brothers. For whatever reason, I think he’s intimidated by them and doesn’t want to get brutally knocked out, even if it means getting the chance to get the biggest payday of his career.

Haye just doesn’t seem willing to take the plunge. So after Harrison, I expect Haye to continue to milk his title against older and weaker threats rather than stepping up and facing the Klitschko brothers and likely getting knocked out. It’s too bad.

 

[heyzel]

Chisora: If Haye is Not Man Enough, I'll Spark Harrison Out

British heavyweight champion Derek Chisora says he'll fight Audley Harrison if David Haye is not man enough.

Haye and Harrison are bickering in the press ahead of a possible showdown later this year, but Del Boy has told Haye to put up or shut up - or he'll step in.

"Make your mind up Haye, because I'll quite easily knock out Harrison if you can't do it," said Chisora.

"You are running away from the Klitschko brothers like a thief in the night, if you can't beat a powder-puff like Harrison, you should pack up.

"Harrison still hasn't won the British title that he promised to do inside eight fights when he turned pro.

"He's now had 27 fights, I've got the British title so if he wants to finally come good on his promise here's his chance.

"To be honest, I can't believe he's close to getting a world title shot after needing a lucky punch to beat Michael Sprott.

"If he gets in the ring with me, I'll knock him spark out.

"The future of British heavyweight boxing is me, not an old man like Harrison."

Chisora will defend his British title against Commonwealth champion Sam Sexton on September 18 as part of Frank Warren's Magnificent Seven card at the LG Arena, Birmingham.

 

[heyzel]

Mosley Breaks Down Why Mayweather-Pacquiao Fell Apart

By Mark Vester

"Sugar" Shane Mosley appeared on the latest edition of BoxingScene.com's official audio show, Leave It In The Ring Radio . Mosley broke down his thoughts on why a welterweight mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. continues to fall apart during negotiations. Mosley lost a twelve round decision to Mayweather in May. He returns on September 18 against Sergio Mora.

Mosley thinks it's a situation where Mayweather wants to control everything before the two fighters step in the ring and that strategy continues to result in the fight falling apart. He doesn't feel Mayweather is really concerned with Pacquiao being on steroids. Mosley sees it as a situation where Mayweather is using the issue of random blood testing to control Pacquiao before the fight.

"I think with Floyd, with the blood test, was to get control of the situation with Manny Pacquiao. Manny Pacquiao said 'forget you, do you know who I am? I'm not going to give you any control. I'm not giving you control of the situation.' And Floyd wants to take control of the situation before they actually get in the ring. Basically trying to win the battle before the fight, before they get in the ring. That's probably the strategy to his tactics," Mosley said.

 

[heyzel]

Evander Holyfield vs Brian Nielsen in February 2011?

By Ruslan Chikov

There are stories in the Danish media that returning heavyweight Brian Nielsen (62-2, 43KOs) might face former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield in February 2011. Nielsen is planning a ring return after being retired since 2002. Sauerland Event is involved with Nielsen's return. He will start training camp in early October and plans to be ready for his comeback in February. Based on the word of several reports, the Viasat television network in Denmark would like to see the popular Danish heavyweight face Holyfield. Nielsen is a very popular fighter in Denmark and the network expects huge ratings for his return. The actual event is expected to draw a big crowd.

 

[heyzel]

Maidana is Tired of "Scared, Liar" Amir Khan, and Roach

By Lem Satterfield

WBA interim-junior welterweight champion Marcos Maidana is tired of what calls "excuses" coming from the mouth of Amir Khan, the WBA's full champion at 140-pounds. If Maidana beats DeMarcus Corley on Saturday night at Estadio Luna Park in Argentina, Golden Boy Promotions will attempt to match him against Khan on December 11 in England.

During a recent interview that appeared on this website, Khan made claims that Maidana was overpricing himself by demanding a lot of money for a possible December fight. Maidana called the British fighter a "liar" who fabricates excuses due to fear. When Golden Boy made attempts to make the fight in the past, Maidana claims Khan, and his trainer Freddie Roach, "begged" for other opponents.

"It's just another lie from the Amir Khan team and his camp. Because, just yesterday, myself and my team met with Eric Gomez of Golden Boy Promotions. And Eric Gomez told my team that it would be probable for me to face Amir Khan. But the money was never discussed at all, whatsoever. It's like I said before, he's afraid. But he's not only afraid, but Amir Khan is a liar. It's another example of him not saying it to my face. It's another excuse not to face me," Maidana said.

Khan wants the fight in England. Maidana would love to take the fight in England. There is so much tension that Maidana would like nothing more than to knock Khan out before his hometown fans.

"I enjoy that sort of atmosphere at a boxing match, so I plan to enjoy myself in England. I want to knock Amir Khan out, but not simply because we would be fighting in England, because I have nothing against the English. But I want to knock him out because I want to knock him out. I don't like to make a forcast or a prediction about my fights, because fights can be tough. So I'm not the kind of guy who talks like that. But I am sure that I will defeat Amir Khan," Maidana said.

 

[heyzel]

Dana White: James Toney is Capable, Couture Should Win

By Rick Reeno

The talking is almost done. This Saturday night, two legends will collide in the octagon for bragging rights. The Ultimate Fighting Championship debuts in the state of Massachusetts at the TD Garden in Boston. One of the most talked about fights on this particular pay-per-view card, UFC 118, will showcase a boxing vs. mixed martial arts encounter when James "Lights Out" Toney makes his MMA debut against Randy "The Natural" Couture.

Toney, with a record of 72-6-3, 44KOs as a boxer, and a former middleweight, super middleweight and cruiserweight champion, will put his money where his mouth is, when he challenges Couture, who sports a record of 18-10, 10 by TKO/Submission. Couture is a former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion. Toney's record has key wins over Evander Holyfield, Vassily Jirov, Mike McCallum, Tim Littles, Iran Barkley and Michael Nunn. Couture's record is equally impressive, with key wins over Tim Sylvia, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Vitor Belfort, Mark Coleman, Pedro Rizzo and Maurice Smith

How did this fight come about? UFC President Dana White told BoxingScene.com that it started with a war of words. White made it clear that Toney-Couture was not put together for the sole purpose of buyrate numbers. Over the last few years, plenty of boxers have trashed the UFC, and plenty of them have discussed how easily they could dismantle a UFC fighter. Toney is the first boxer [in terms of the UFC] to actually take it a step further by signing a contract to fight a top UFC mixed martial artist.

"It started with him chasing me all around the country, calling me names. He was chatting about me, the sport and the fighters in it. James Toney picked a fight for himself and now we're going to do it on Saturday. What happened was, when all of the smack was going back and forth between me and Toney, Couture called me and said 'if this fight happens, I want it.' Toney wanted [UFC heavyweight champion] Brock Lesnar," White said to BoxingScene.com. "Lot's of guys have talked smack. Only one guy has stepped up to the plate."

"We're not doing this fight because we thought it would do well on pay-per-view. That was never our thinking. James Toney ran around talking smack. He picked a fight. I'm a fight fan. I love fights. I think that my job is to make the fightw that the fans want to see. When Toney started doing this, more and more people said, 'let's kick this guy's ass.' That's how it all went down. We ended up making the fight and we'll see what happens on Saturday."

"A lot of fighters have talked smack and a lot of fighters have said a lot of things. But he's actually doing it. Let's be honest here, I have a lot of respect for James Toney. He's been one of the best for years and years. He's a bad dude. He's a mean dude. This just didn't pop up out of nowhere. Toney was talking smack in 2002 and wanted to fight Tito Ortiz."

Based on the expert opinions being voiced in both sports, boxing and MMA, Toney may have bit off a little bit more than he could chew by making his MMA debut against a fighter on the level of Couture, regarding as one of the best wrestlers to ever compete in the UFC. Besides his UFC credentials, Couture has an impressive amateur background as a wrestler. He was a three-time Olympic team alternate (1988, 1992 and 1996); a semifinalist at the 2000 Olympic Trials; a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I All-American and a two-time NCAA Division-I runner-up at Oklahoma State University. In 1992, he was the Division-I runner up at 190 pounds, coming in second after Mark Kerr.

"Randy is one of the best guys to come up with gameplans and to go in there and expose guys weaknesses....probably the best. I haven't sold this fight with 'come watch this unbelievable war.' I've been pretty much saying that I'm 99.9% sure that Couture goes in, double-legs him and puts him against the fence and smashes his head," White said.

"Like I've been saying, it's not like I've been trying to sell this fight as some unbelievable war, but I'm not ignorant either. What happens when they get in there on Saturday night, it's a fight. And anything can happen in a fight, and James Toney is a real guy and he can knock Couture out with either hand. He has more knockouts than Couture has actual fights. James Toney is mean and nasty and anything can happen."

What if Toney upsets the odds? What if Toney knocks Couture out cold?

"It absolutely, positively could happen. People make it like I'm this guy who is trying to destroy boxing. Boxing is destroying itself....it has nothing to do with me. The fact that the biggest fight [Mayweather-Pacquiao] that can be made isn't happening, shows you where boxing is and what they're doing. I love the sport and I'm not trying to bash it. Toney could win the fight. Toney is a boxer and Randy is a mixed martial artist. Toney has now dabbled in MMA now and what's going to happen when they get in the Octagon is a fight. A fight is going to happen and anything can happen in a fight," White said.

But, White knows that he's going to take a lot of heat, from boxing fans and especially Toney, if the upset actually occurs. The simple thought of an upset sends ripples down the spine of White.

"[If Toney wins] he would climb up the ladder at heavyweight and fight somebody else. Let me tell you what, and a lot of boxing people can imagine what my life will be like if Toney wins this fight. I'll have to deal with Toney for another eight months to a year. It's going to be fun. I'm going to get a lot of sh*t. I would be lying if I didn't say that I was nervous about this fight. When they walk out on Saturday night into that octagon, and say 'let's do this' - it's going to be fun," White said.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Hopkins vs Pascal Possible For December 18 on HBO


By Lem Satterfield

According to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, a potential fight between WBC/IBO light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and veteran Bernard Hopkins could possibly take place on December 18 on HBO. Discussions for the fight have been favorable, says Schaefer. Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) has given his promoter, GYM, the green light to make a fight with Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KOs). The date of December 18 appears to work for both parties based the schedules of HBO and Canadian television.

"Actually, I had a very good conversation with Pascal's promoter, and, you know, I have to say that things are looking pretty good," said Schaefer. "We actually talked and we'll talk again. One date that was mentioned because of the availability in Canada was Dec. 18."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Hopkins vs Pascal Possible For December 18 on HBO


By Lem Satterfield

According to Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, a potential fight between WBC/IBO light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal and veteran Bernard Hopkins could possibly take place on December 18 on HBO. Discussions for the fight have been favorable, says Schaefer. Pascal (26-1, 16 KOs) has given his promoter, GYM, the green light to make a fight with Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KOs). The date of December 18 appears to work for both parties based the schedules of HBO and Canadian television.

"Actually, I had a very good conversation with Pascal's promoter, and, you know, I have to say that things are looking pretty good," said Schaefer. "We actually talked and we'll talk again. One date that was mentioned because of the availability in Canada was Dec. 18."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.

 

[Tony]

That's why I believe the negotiations never happened the 2nd time around in regards to Floyd and Pacquiao. Floyd is going to start negotiating to fight when he's ready. If they were negotiating the fight would be jumping off.

And Shane is trippin'.... the fight never materialized because Pacquiao refused to submit to the same type of blood test that he (Shane) agreed to. Did Shane feel controlled by Floyd? It's simple. If Pacquiao would have agreed to the same type of testing that Shane did, it would have been Pacquiao that got his ass whooped instead of Shane.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Floyd is going to start negotiating to fight when he's ready.

You don't think it's a wild coincidence that floyd wasn't ready when pacquiao was trying to fight him in November, then days after margarito/pac is signed Floyd suddenly becomes available and announces he's going to fight in DECEMBER? LMAO come on tony, don't be so naive.

Anyways, someone comment on BHOP fighting PASCAL on Dec 18th on HBO!!

 

[MOREBASS]

Only an idiot wouldn't recognize that! Its not a coincedence! No one cares what Floyd is doing, if it doesn't involve Pacquiao. Just look at the back lash he's recieving in the media, and amongst the boxing community. Its pretty clear cut, to me that he simply doesn't want the fight. Period.


Props to Pascal taking that fight! Its pretty much a lose-lose to fight Hopkins nowadays. You beat him, he's old and shouldn't be fighting. When you lose, you were exposed. I wanted to see Pascal vs Bute though.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

bute wont go up to 175 and honestly I don't think he should since he has a good thing going for him at 168 plus he's guaranteed to fight the winners of the super 6 tournament.

I don't know what hopkins has left but if he can beat the true light heavyweight champ at 46 years of age, man, that goes beyond legendary status in my book.

Hopkins is going to need to find some stamina though he got winded against jones and jones threw like 1.2 punches per round.

 

[Tony]

You don't think it's a wild coincidence that floyd wasn't ready when pacquiao was trying to fight him in November, then days after margarito/pac is signed Floyd suddenly becomes available and announces he's going to fight in DECEMBER? LMAO come on tony, don't be so naive.

When did Floyd announce he was fighting in December? And who is he fighting against? I must've missed that.... Maybe you're the naive one bro...

 

[2-0-Sixx]

When did Floyd announce he was fighting in December? And who is he fighting against? I must've missed that.... Maybe you're the naive one bro...

"Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s vacation may soon be over. Las Vegas Weekly's Robin Leach quoted the Las Vegas transplant Mayweather whom he hung out with at the Del Mar Racetrack in Southern California over the weekend saying he is ready to announce his next fight soon. “We’ll announce it all very soon,” Mayweather said and added, “But this time it won’t be in Vegas. It will be in another desert kingdom: Dubai.”​