Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Bika could be facing Allan Green on December 18th in the Super Six tournament

By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news tip, super middleweight contender Sakio Bika (28-4-2, 19 KO’s) could be the replacement for WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler for a fight against American Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO’s) on December 18th in the stage 3 part of the Super Six tournament. There will reportedly be discussions this week with Bika’s promoter and Showtime to put the fight together. The bout, if it gets made, will be shown on the same card as the WBC light heavyweight match-up between champion Jean Pascal and 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins.


Bika, 31, was disqualified in the 1st round in his last fight in July against Jean Paul Mendy. Bika had Mendy in the corner and dropped him with a powerful left hook. Rather than waiting for Mendy to get up before finishing him off, Bika landed a hard right hand while Mendy was on his knees. The punch knocked Mendy out cold briefly. Referee Joe Cortez immediately disqualified Bika for the foul. It was an unfortunate accident on Bika’s part, because he landed a beautiful left hook and it’s extremely doubtful that Mendy would have survived the round. Bika looked too powerful for him.

Green, 31, lost his last fight in the Super Six tournament to Andre Ward by a shutout 12 round decision in June. Green was supposed to be facing Kessler, but he dropped out of the Super Six tournament, complaining of an eye injury. Green will have his hands full with Bika if he ends up being the replacement. Green has to fight a lot better than he did against Ward if he wants to beat the likes of Bika. Green probably can punch as hard, if not harder, than Bika, but he’s got to be more aggressive if he wants to win this fight.

Share and Enjoy:

 

[heyzel]

Roach finally admits that Pacquiao isn’t ready for Mayweather bout

By Dave Lahr: I never thought I’d see the day when Freddie Roach would come clean about his fighter Manny Pacquiao not being ready to face Floyd Mayweather Jr. Well, here it is straight from the horse’s mouth in an article by Ronnie Nathanielsz at inquirer.net: Roach says “I would like to see him [speaking about Pacquiao] get a couple of more fights, then get Mayweather Jr., and get out of there.” There it is, folks. Roach is admitting that Pacquiao isn’t ready to face Mayweather Jr.


Let me translate what Roach appears to be say – Pacquiao needs to fight some more guys, because he’s not ready for a boxing demon like Mayweather. Oh, this is really bad. Roach still doesn’t think his fighter is ready after all this time. Okay that explains everything about why we haven’t seen a fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao yet.

If Pacquiao isn’t ready to face Mayweather after all this time, he surely wasn’t ready to face him earlier in the year when they were quibbling about not wanting to take random blood tests 14 days before the fight. What are we going to do about Roach and his lack of confidence in his boy Pacquiao. He’s got to take the training wheels off already. Pacquiao is a man, so send him out to his fate and let him take on Mayweather.

Who cares if Pacquiao gets destroyed Mayweather? It’s just a sport and that’s what it’s about. You have to compete against the best fighters and sometimes that means you get royally spanked. It’s better that Pacquiao get stripped clean by Mayweather rather than fighting all these ex-champions at catch weights. I’ve had it with watching Pacquiao beat up on guys that have already been beaten black and blue before Pacquiao has even fought them. Roach needs to send his boy Pacquiao so he can take on Mayweather, take his beating, and return as a man – a defeated, that is.

 

[heyzel]

Cotto a shot fighter?

By Jason Kim: Recently, WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (35-, 28 KO’s) opted to sit out the remainder of 2010 rather than taking on either Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17 KO’s) or Kermit Cintron (32-3-1, 28 KO’s). Cotto says he wants to fight mainly popular fighters, but I really wonder if that’s the reason he didn’t decide on fighting Cintron or Martirosyan. In looking at how bad Cotto looked in beating Yuri Foreman in his last fight in June, I think Cotto would have been in big trouble against either Martirosyan or Cintron.


And, I don’t see those guys as the best fighters in the junior middleweight division, but I do think either of them can beat Cotto at this point in his career. I don’t think he’s the same fighter since his 11th round TKO loss to Antonio Margarito. He seems different now, and much more vulnerable. Cotto has only been beaten once since the loss to Margarito, when he was stopped by Manny Pacquiao last year in a 12th round TKO in November.

However, Cotto looked like he was well on his way to losing to Joshua Clottey in his fight with him in June 2009. Luckily for Cotto, Clottey suddenly stopped punching in the 10th round and spent the remainder of the fight just covering up like a dutiful sparring partner on the ropes. I think Cotto would have lost that fight if he had taken on better fighter than Clottey. In Cotto’s fight with Foreman, Cotto was getting lite up until Foreman hurt his bad leg in the 7th.

After that, Cotto was facing a one legged fighter and was able to take Foreman out in the 9th.

I think Cotto is basically just playing out his string and is going to avoid guys like Martirosyan and Cintron for the remainder of his career. Cotto’s fights are pretty well planned for 2011. He’s going to be fighting rematches with both Margarito and Pacquiao, and then taking on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. I suspect that Cotto will lose all three fights badly.

I think Cotto could beat Chavez Jr. if he fought him at the start of 2011, but if he waits until after he’s been destroyed again by Margarito and Pacquiao, there won’t be enough left of Cotto to beat even Chavez, who I don’t even rate as a fighter. I think Cotto would be beaten by an injury free Foreman, Sergeii Dzinziruk, Paul Williams, Alfredo Angulo, Shane Mosley, Martirosyan, Cintron, Fernando Guerrero, Selcuk Aydin, Andre Berto, Mike Jones, Floyd Mayweather, and Saul Alvarez.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather Sr. "Him Beating Margarito Don't Mean Sh*t"

By Ruslan Chikov

During his interview with Golzka, trainer Floyd Mayweather Sr. attacked WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. Mayweather was asked for his opinion on Pacquiao moving to the junior middleweight division to fight Antonio Margarito on November 13 in Texas. Mayweather doesn't think Pacquiao should get any credit because Margarito was beaten very badly by Shane Mosley two fights ago.

"Him beating Margarito don't mean sh*t. Shane Mosley beat the sh*t out of Margarito. And who beat the sh*t out of Mosley? You saw what happened. You saw what Little Floyd did to Mosley and he'll do the same thing Pacquiao," Mayweather Sr. said.

 

[heyzel]

Carl Froch Says "Abraham is Finished!" and Talks Hatton

By Mark Vester

Carl Froch says November 27 is the end of the road for "King" Arthur Abraham. The former WBC champion is confident that he will knock Abraham out in Helsinki, Finland. The two super middleweights will clash in the third stage of the Super Six Boxing Classic. He continues to lash out at Abraham for his past comments regarding Froch's loss to Mikkel Kessler. Froch is hanging Abraham's DQ loss over his head.

"Arthur Abraham thinks I've lost my mind since my unsuccessful trip to Denmark. Abraham has stated that the defeat has deeply affected me, which made me chuckle. These were words from a man, who went and fought in front of a handful of people in Detroit against a man [Andre Dirrell] I've beaten, yet he was dropped, outclassed and disqualified," Froch said in his Nottingham Post column.

"But I flew through a volcanic ash cloud at the drop of a hat and had a toe-to-toe war with Mikkel Kessler, who was fighting to save his career, in front of 12,000 crazy Vikings, in Kessler's back yard! I've proved against world champions like Jermain Taylor and Kessler than I'm a road warrior, whereas Abraham has proved he's just a loser when he travels. I've got the bit between my teeth now and, in Helsinki on November the 27, Abraham is gonna be Finnish'd!"

Froch gave his take on the Ricky Hatton cocaine scandal. He thinks the British media and fans should get off Ricky's back and remember everything that he's done for the British boxing scene.

"Finally, a word about Ricky Hatton, who has helped put boxing in this country on the map globally. I think he should be left alone now by the media and I wish him a speedy recovery," Froch said.

 

[heyzel]

John Murray vs. Victor Ortiz on the December 11th, Khan-Maidana card?

By William Mackay: EBU light welterweight champion John Murray could very end up fighting on the December 11th undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana fight against top light welterweight contender Victor Ortiz. Since Murray, 25, would be moving up in weight for this one fight, his European Boxing Union title, if chooses to keep it, won’t be on the line. It’s a fight where Murray would be showing a lot of courage to take because Ortiz is younger at 23, faster and a much bigger puncher.


Murray would get a lot of credit even if he ends up losing the fight. But most importantly, he would get a lot of visibility because the fight will be shown in both the United States and the UK. Murray is interested in taking the fight, and it really is the best fight that can be found for him on this short notice. Murray defeated Ukrainian challenger Andriy Kudriavtsev by a 9th round stoppage victory last Saturday night. Murray now wants to fight for a world title against lightweight champions Humberto Soto, Michael Katsidis and Juan Manuel Marquez.

However, none of them will be available to fight Murray anytime soon, and it’s highly unlikely that they’ll fight him because he’s not well known enough and not the mandatory challenger for any of them. If Murray and somehow defeat Ortiz, he would make a huge name for himself in the U.S. and he would almost definitely find himself fighting one of the world lightweight champions. However, beating a fighter like Ortiz is easier said than done.

Ortiz has lethal punching power, whereas Murray is the type of fighter that needs to land a lot of shots to take his opponents out. Ortiz is also a very good inside fighter and capable of generating a lot of power with short shots to the head and body. Since Murray likes to fight inside a lot, he would be getting hit with some mammoth shots from Ortiz. He would have to count on having a great chin to absorb the kinds of shots that Ortiz would be hitting him with.

It’s not impossible, as Maidana proved in his 6th round TKO win over Ortiz a year ago. However, Maidana had a huge advantage in power that Murray simply doesn’t have. It will likely take Murray twice as long as to do what Maidana did, and Murray can’t afford to take heavy shots from a big puncher like Ortiz for long without getting knocked out.

 

[heyzel]

Golden Boy President Wants To Eliminate All Competition

By Mark Vester

During a lengthy interview with Broadcasting Cable, Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya discussed the future of boxing and the necessary direction to fix the ongoing problems in the sport. In the opinion of De La Hoya, the sport of boxing has to be run like any other sport. There needs to be one promoter calling the shots and making the cards, and De La Hoya says that entity needs to be Golden Boy.

"The Don Kings and Bob Arums have had a chokehold on this sport for the last 40 years. They've been able to put great fights on, they've been able to promote the sport, yes, but I believe the days are long past of the way they promote. Now, we have to think outside the box; we have to think like the NBA and MLB and have one commission and one major promoter in the sport," De La Hoya said.

"We need to sign all the talent and get all the TV dates; then you can have your own agenda and have a schedule for the fans and the sport. You can do a monthly PPV, a bi-weekly HBO fight, you can have the best fighters fight each other. When you have five or six promoters, it's very difficult."

De La Hoya says his plan is not to take over boxing, but to eliminate any conflicts that prevent the sport from moving forward and cut out the issues that prevent the big fights from happening. De La Hoya fails to mention how this scenario would greatly benefit Golden Boy. If every promoter was eliminated, Golden Boy would be able to pay whatever they pleased to boxers, and the boxers would be forced to take the amounts because there would be no alternative promoter to sign with.

"My plan is not to take over boxing, but really do what no other promoter was able to do, and that is have unified rules and one commissioner and make sure the fighter is taken care of and is not cheated out of anything. That's one of the reasons boxing hasn't really taken itself to the next level, because we cannot make those big fights and a lot of times promoters are the ones in the way," De La Hoya said.

"We are very transparent with whatever we do with our fighters, and in a way, yes, we do want to take over. Well, we don't want to take control of boxing, but we want to do the right thing for the sport. Have one [entity] running it like U F C. It's very confusing with all these championship belts-my idea would be to have one champion in each division. There should be one heavyweight champion, not 20 like we have now. Too much confusion. We have to weed out the bad and bring in the good."

 

[heyzel]

De La Hoya: Mayweather Probably Does Fear Losing

By Mark Vester

Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya spoke with BroadCasting Cable about a potential Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao mega-fight. In the opinion of De La Hoya, the fight will happen at some point. He feels there is too much money involved for Mayweather to walk away from the fight. If De La Hoya had to guess, the fight will happen early next year.

"I believe so. My philosophy is Mayweather just fought two or three months ago. Floyd is saying, "I just made $65 to $70 million in two fights. Why am I going to rush to fight again; why should I be pushed? I will fight when I want." We feel that early next year, first quarter of next year, we are optimistic it will happen. It has to happen. Floyd knows it's the biggest fight out there, and they don't call him "Money Mayweather" for nothing," De La Hoya said.

A lot has been said about Mayweather avoiding the Pacquiao fight because deep inside he has a "fear of losing his perfect record." Some of those close to him have said that his record means a lot more to him than money. De La Hoya gives Mayweather the nod to beat Pacquiao, easily. He doesn't deny that Mayweather likely has a deep fear of losing that perfect record.

"He probably does have fear in losing. He does have fear in having that one loss, and probably thinks people will not accept him anymore. But all the experts know that Floyd will outbox [Pacquiao], probably easily. Styles make fights, and Floyd is a special fighter inside the ring. Outside the ring is a whole other story," De La Hoya said

 

[heyzel]

John Murray: I Want To Conquer at 135, Then Amir Khan

By Mark Vester

If the opportunity presents itself, unbeaten lightweight John Murray is ready to move up in weight for a domestic mega-bout with WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan. Murray, ranked at number three by the WBC, would like to get a fight with the champion Humberto Soto. Another priority is the winner of Juan Manuel Marquez-Michael Katsidis, taking place on November 27 in Las Vegas.

Murray wants to land a major fight at lightweight and make a name for himself at 135, and them move up to fight Khan. Judging by his comments, Murray is likely not going to move up in weight to face Victor Ortiz on the Khan-Marcos Maidana undercard on December 11.

“I want to make a name for myself in the sport and if that means going up a weight to do it, I will. But I do want to conquer the lightweight division before I do that. There are some big names and I’d love to clean up the division. There is so much interest in me going up a weight because Amir Khan’s there, but I’d like to conquer the lightweights and then a year or two down the line me and Amir can fight, both world champions, both kings of our divisions. That could be an absolutely massive, mega fight down the line," Murray told the Manchester Evening News.

Murray will keep a close eye on the Marquez-Katsidis bout. He hopes to land the winner in the first quarter of 2011.

“Marquez and Katsidis is a fight I’ll be watching with great interest,” said Murray. “I don’t want to take the easy option and avoid people, I want to fight the best and prove I’m No 1.”

What do you think? Have your say.

 

[heyzel]

Berto vs Mosley Eliminator For Pacquiao is Needed

Michael Marley

You go ahead if you feel like playing dirty but I refuse to kick Sugar Shane Mosley after Sergio "I Admire Him So Much I Held Back" Mora dragged him down.

No way, Don Jose, will I stomp on SSM because the offensively defensive "Latin Fake" turned their bout into a stinker rivaling a group of pachyderms with diarrhea in a confined area.

I spoke with a top Golden Guy and he agreed with me. The company where he serves as an "executive" - knows that the nearly age 40 fighter is nearing his sell by date.

But they can't kick him in the can or throw him in the street, either.

The man has given so much to his sport/business he's more than entitled to one more chance to shine.

If the Mora debacle was an abberation, we'll find out. If not and he's sliding like some elderly citizen with one foot on a roller skate and the other on a banana peel, we'll discover that in his next outing.

There's only fight left to Mosley, really, and it's a reset of his supposed to have been bout against WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto, which was scheduled for January 30 of this year, and later postponed for personal reasons on the side of Berto.

In my hands I hold an MGM Grand betting sheet dated 11/15/2009 and it lists Mosley as the minus $2.30 favorite and unbeaten Berto as a plus $1.90 underdog.

Kiss those odds bye bye as Berto has been inactive the whole year and has nothing solid on the horizon. And Mosley's stock tanked in the Mora boreathon.

I'm sure adviser Al Haymon, having put Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez to bed for Nov. 20, is working on something but this is a good crossroads fight.

If Mosley loses and is dull, he gets the sandbag treatment.

If he wins, he might qualify for a Manny Pacquiao match especially now that Freddie Roach is talking one 2011 bout before the Floyd Mayweather garguantuan bout.

If Berto hurdles Mosley, then he can be Pacman's post-Margarito foe.

Hit their reset button for January and the winner could box Pacman in May.

Shane and Manny is, no doubt, a decent PPV TV main go with Berto a bit sketchy unless he creams the older man.

 

[heyzel]

David Haye: "The Klitschko Brothers are Killing Boxing

By Lem Satterfield

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is back on the attack. He rips both Klitschko brothers for their level of competition in the last few years. He says both brothers are setting an obvious pattern of fighting American heavyweights who are simply looking for nothing more than a big payday.

"Basically, they're used to fighting guys like Shannon Briggs. Guys who come to the table and just have their hands out. They're used to fighting these American guys who are just looking for a paycheck. They're just looking for money to put into the bank to pay their mortgage," said Haye to FanHouse.

Haye has tried to make fights with both brothers at several points since the start of last year. The Klitschkos are claiming that Haye is very difficult to deal with at the negotiating table. Haye counters, claiming the brothers are always trying to undervalue his worth as a fighter. According to Haye, the terms for last year's title win over Nikolai Valuev, were "three times" as lucrative as the offers presented by both Klitschko brothers.

"They don't realize that I can make big, big money in the United Kingdom fighting anybody. They don't know how to come to the table and negotiate," said Haye. "They realize that they're facing someone who can put more into the pot than they do. It blows their mind. They tried to treat me like a challenger and not a champion. Not a champion on equal parity to them. Until they do that, then the fight isn't going to happen."

"Anybody who signs a fight with the Klitschkos are either very, very desperate, or they're just there for a paycheck. The Klitschkos are killing the sport by what they're doing

 

[heyzel]

Amir Khan: "I Can End Mayweather's Unbeaten Record!"

By Mark Vester

WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan is excited with the possibility of facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the fall of 2011. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is ready to groom Khan as a potential Mayweather opponent for next year. Khan seems very confident that he can end Mayweather's unbeaten run.

"I would love to fight Mayweather and I believe I can end his unbeaten record," Khan told Daily Mail.

A lot has to get done before a Mayweather-Khan enouncter is lined up. Khan has to beat mandatory challenger Marcos Maidana on December 11 in Las Vegas. And beyond Maidana, Khan is likely going to face the winner of January's unification between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander. Khan is not anticipating an issue with either fight standing in his way of $20 million dollar payday against Mayweather.

"I have to focus on Maidana first, then the winner of Bradley and Alexander. There are risks there but I am fully confident of winning both those fights," Khan said.

 

[heyzel]

Shaw: I've Warned HBO About Golden Boy's Motives

By Michael Marley

It came as news, unwelcome news, to Big Gary Shaw that he and any other boxing promoter not named Golden Boy is obsolete in the current market.

Like Top Rank's Bob Arum, the New jersey based "Shawtime" was quick to deliver his own body shots in retaliation to Oscar de la Hoya's war declaration in an interview in TV trade pub, Broadcasting & Cable.

Oscar's basic theme is that boxing needs to be monolithic like the UFC is to mixed martial arts and that only his company can run the big shows.

"First thing, after I read the article, I see Oscar doing is to go out and hire Dana White. He can have Dana run his boxing like he runs the UFC," Shaw said.

"Second thing for Oscar is to get with his attoneys and HBO's attorneys to discuss how they can avoid an antitrust lawsuit."

Shaw said Oscar cuddles up to HBO, where his company has an "output deal" that favors it above all competitors, through the end of 2011, but that the Goldens real goal is to bypass the prime cable network.

"That, again, is the UFC model to have their own platform to telecast the events," Shaw said.

"I've been telling (HBO Sports president) Ross Greenburg this for a year or so. They don't think they need an HBO, they want to eliminate HBO and do their own platform. That's why I don't understand HBO paying for fights like (Shane) Mosley and (Sergio) Mora."

As for his own future, Shaw was sarcastic.

"I'll just dust off my resume, I guess, and go see Oscar. Maybe Oscar can give me a job

 

[heyzel]

Arum Rips De La Hoya: "He's Pathetic, Really So Dumb"

By Lem Satterfield

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum tore into his promotional rival, Golden Boy Promotions President Oscar De La Hoya, over his recent comments regarding the elimination of every promoter in boxing - other than Golden Boy. De La Hoya feels that boxing would be in a much better position if only one core promotional company is running the fights and major televison dates, and that company should be Golden Boy.

"We need to sign all the talent and get all the TV dates. Then you can have your own agenda and have a schedule for the fans and the sport," said De La Hoya. "You can do a monthly pay per view, a bi-weekly HBO fight, you can have the best fighters fight each other. When you have five or six promoters, it's very difficult."

Arum doesn't agree with De La Hoya's commentary.

"There's one word to describe Oscar, and his commentary, and that's pathetic. I mean, this guy is really so dumb. Anybody that pays any attention to what he says has to be stupid," said Arum.

"That's all that I have to say about it. I mean, I'm not going to give a rebuttal to it," said Arum. "It's preposterous. What do you do, get angry at it? He's just simply pathetic. That's my crituque on this, that it's pathetic."

The tension between the two companies, Top Rank and Golden Boy, has been raised to an all-time level in the last few weeks. On Sept. 21, Golden Boy Promotions filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Nevada against Arum and Top Rank CFO, David Lopez, accusing the duo of racketeering and fraud and seeking damages in the range of $3 to $5 million plus attorneys fees related to money generated from three Pacquiao fights.

Golden Boy Promotions owns a percentage of Pacquiao's promotional contract in accordance with a settlement between the two companies in 2007, and is owed millions of dollars from Pacquiao's 2008 lightweight title bout against David Diaz, his 2009 welterweight title bout against Miguel Cotto and his March welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey.

 

[heyzel]

Antonio Tarver makes his heavyweight debut against Nagy Aguilera on 10/15

By Matt Stein: Former IBF/WBA/WBC light heavyweight champion Antonio Tarver (27-6, 19 KO’s) moves up to the heavyweight division next month on October 15th to take on the hard hitting Nagy Aguilera (16-4, 11 KO’s) at the Buffalo Run Casino, in Miami, Florida. Tarver, 41, is hoping to find the same kind of success that former light heavyweight champion Tomasz Adamek has found thus far in his move up to the heavyweight division.


However, Adamek has a big advantage over Tarver in that Adamek was a big puncher and light heavyweight and continued to show big power when he moved up to cruiserweight. For his part, Tarver has decide to skip the cruiserweight division altogether and just move up straight to the heavyweight level in hopes of getting a big money heavyweight title shot in the near future.

Since Tarver wasn’t a huge puncher at light heavyweight, it’s doubtful that any of the power that he did have at light heavyweight, will come up with him in moving up in weight. Tarver turns 42 in November, and he can’t afford to take his time and work his way up to a heavyweight title shot. Tarver is going to have to fight often and look impressive.

If he can just knock off one fringe contender at heavyweight, that may be enough for him to get a fight against either Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko. Tarver might be able to mimic the same results as Adamek if he were to face fighters like Chris Arreola, Michael Grant and Jason Estrada, but I have my doubts that he could beat any of them.

Tarver looks too slender and weak to beat a good heavyweight, and I think fringe heavyweight contenders like Arreola and Estrada would give Tarver a lot of problems. Grant might beat Tarver on size alone.

 

[heyzel]

41-year-old Glen Johnson could be Allan Green’s next opponent

By Jason Kim: I figured Allan Green (29-2, 20 KO’s) wouldn’t likely be getting much for his replacement opponent in the Super Six tournament after Mikkel Kessler bowed out of the tourney with an eye problem. However, I at least expected that Green would be facing someone from his own weight class, since the tournament is being pooled from fighters from the super middleweight division.


This is why I find it rather odd that light heavyweight Glen Johnson (50-14-2, 20 KO’s) is being considered as Green’s next opponent. Johnson turned 41 in January, and is coming off a 12 round decision loss to IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud in August. More than that, Johnson looked flabby, old and weak in that fight. After making weight for the fight, Johnson immediately ballooned up to a fat looking 190 and fought poorly.

I would like to have at least someone that is doing well, in in shape, is relatively young and is a fighter from the super middleweight division. Why choose an old guy fat guy that has lost two out of his last three fights? Johnson got totally dominated by Chad Dawson last year in November, and looked horrible in his last fight against Cloud. Whatever the case, Johnson might actually be able to out-point Green by out-working him with slapping punches.

But Johnson is not going to score a knockout, meaning he won’t make it to the semifinals of the Super Six tournament. Johnson will start the Super Six tournament with zero points and will need a knockout, and help from one of the other fighters in the Super Six tournament to make it to the semifinals.

I don’t like Johnson as a replacement opponent, not with him having lost two out of his last three bouts and looking fat as he was. I don’t know how Johnson will be able to strip down to 168. I guess he can drain himself of water weight like he did for the bout with Cloud, but I think it’s going to hurt him big time when he balloons back up to 190 again.

Hopefully, Johnson burns off some of the extra weight in training camp, but I’m not expecting any miracles from him in that regard. He’s getting older and it’s not easy to takeoff weight, I imagine. If Johnson does end up as the replacement for Kessler, then the bout will likely take place on November 6th, on the undercard of the Rafael Marquez vs. Juan Manuel Lopez bout, according to boxing news from Dan Rafael of ESPN.

The Johnson-Green fight might help make that card a little more interesting, but not by much. I think this is an awful fight. Why didn’t they replace Kessler with a European instead of Johnson, who lives in Miami, Florida. That’s basically adding another American to the Super Six tournament. I know Johnson is from Jamaica originally, but he lives in the United States now. With Johnson added to the Super Six tournament, there are four American based fighters of the six. I think that’s a bad idea. They should have replaced him with a European.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

I don't understand why/how Johnson can be a replacement for Kessler. First off, he's 41 years old and lost his last 2 of 3. Second, he hasn't weighed below 175 in over 10 years. It's a huge gamble that he can even make 168 pounds. In most recent fight against Cloud, after the weigh in he ballooned up to 190+ pounds. Can he really get to 168 pounds? Who knows, that's very tough challenge for a 41 year old. Third, Sakio Bika anyone? He's ranked #6 at SMW by the Ring Magazine and the last time he lost a fight was about 5 years ago to Lucen Bute. This is the super six right? Why not put a top 6 fighter into the tournament, rather than a 41 year old who hasn't fought in the division in over 10 years?

While I like Glen Johnson, it just doesn't make sense. Either use Bika as the replacement or simply kick allen green's sorry ass out of the tournament and have a final four (ward/dirrell & froch/abraham).

 

[MOREBASS]

November To Remember...and even spills over into December, up until the 18th when Hop fights Pascal.


Sick fights every week! Love it. More than makes up for the first half of 2010 being somewhat non eventful, compared to last year.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

yes indeed, it's going to be a great end of the year. Also, there are so many things building up into 2011 - Bradly vs Alexander, Khan vs Bradley/Alexander/Ortiz, Pacquiao vs Mayweather and/or _____, Coto vs Chavez or Berto, Lopez vs Gamboa, James Kirkland vs the world, Pirog vs Paul Williams/Martinez winner hopefully, etc etc etc.

Like I said before I kinda looked at 2010 as a rebuilding year, lots of young talent making names for themselves which will make for a great 2011.

 

[heyzel]

Vitali Klitschko “I sent Lennox Lewis into retirement”

By Dave Lahr: In the latest boxing news, Ukrainian Vitali Klitschko is taking credit for sending former IBF/WBC heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KO’s) into retirement following their fight in June 2003 seven years ago. Klitschko’s face was nearly ripped apart in that fight and he was taking vicious shots in the 5th and 6th rounds from huge uppercuts from Lewis. The referee Lou Moret stopped the bout after the 6th round, thankfully, to save Vitali from taking even more punishment to the face. Klitschko had this to say about Lewis in East Side Boxing’s On the Ropes Boxing Radio program yesterday: “If we talk about the retirement of Lennox Lewis, I am more than sure I sent Lennox Lewis into retirement. Lennox Lewis was smart enough to make the decision to announce his retirement before somebody beat him.”


Baloney! Lewis retired because he was 38, and had accomplished everything that he wanted to. Lewis cleaned out the heavyweight division, beating Mike Tyson, Vitali, David Tua, Hasim Rahman, Tommy Morrison, Andrew Golota, a young Shannon Briggs, Ray Mercer, Oliver McCall, Francois Botha, Donovan “Razor” Ruddock and Tony Tucker. There was no one left for Lewis to fight at that point, and the money that he would have made in a rematch with Klitschko, who was just then starting to build a fan base in the U.S, would have paled in comparison to the money that Lewis made in his fights with Holyfield and Tyson.

There really wasn’t any reason, in terms of dollars and cents, to fight a rematch with Klitschko when Lewis had already proved himself to be the superior fighter with his power. The money wouldn’t have been big enough for Lewis to waste his time with a rematch and he was already fabulously rich from the Holyfield and Tyson fights. He didn’t need the money anymore and there wouldn’t have been huge money to fight a rematch with Klitschko. The thing of it is, Lewis wasn’t even in the best of shape when he Klitschko. He was a heavy 256 and looked like he hadn’t trained hard, yet he was able to rip Vitali’s face apart with his huge right hands and uppercuts.

Lewis says he would have stopped Klitschko in the upcoming rounds had the referee not stopped the fight in the 6th, and in a rematch, an in shape Lewis would have torn Klitschko apart with his shots. If Lewis, who hit harder than Vitali, didn’t take him out with a single shot, he would have ripped Vitali’s face apart again with his big shots, especially with all the scar tissue around Vitali’s face after their previous fight.