Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Amir Khan: I Can Beat Mayweather! I Want Him in England!

By Mark Vester

WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan may be training for Marcos Maidana on December 11 in Las Vegas, but his long term goal is to secure a 2011 year-end showdown with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in England. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer had already stated that he would like to match Khan with Mayweather by the end of next year. Khan would like the fight in Wembley Stadium.

“I always said I wanted a big fight in England,” said Khan to the Manchester Evening News. “I want to bring the big fights back to this country. The Floyd Mayweather fight would be one of those. I wanted to fight Maidana in the UK, but he wanted to fight in America. It wasn’t my decision, but I know my true fans are over here and I will come back after this one. The Mayweather fight could definitely happen in England.

“After he fought Ricky Hatton he said he wanted to fight over here and I am the only British fighter of the calibre to take him on. We could bring it to the UK and it would be massive. That fight could fill anywhere.”

Khan is confident in his chances to beat Mayweather. He says "styles make fights" and he wants to prove just how good he really is by getting in the ring with Mayweather. Khan, and his trainer Freddie Roach, have already advised Golden Boy to get them Mayweather by the end of next year.

“When I went to Freddie Roach, people thought it would happen overnight, that I’d suddenly be ready to fight Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. We put the suggestion out about Mayweather because in the next 12 months I will be more developed and stronger," Khan said.

“Also styles make fights. I don’t think Mayweather has ever fought anyone as fast as me – and with Freddie Roach in my corner, I would be confident fighting him. People have seen how I’ve improved with my performances. For them to be talking about me and saying I should fight Mayweather, it shows how far I’ve come

 

[trips]

Khan shut the fuck up!!!! and earn some fucken respect bitch. I don't know what Freddie Roach is feeding u

 

[heyzel]

Arum says Pacquiao will fight twice next year but at welterweight

By Marquise Bullock: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum sounds more nervous than a hooker at church. He says Antonio Margarito will weigh in at 150 pounds, but will probably come in the fight weighing 164 or 5 pounds. Freddie Roach says that Manny Pacquiao will probably weigh in at 149 or 50 pounds and that’s about it. Arum was quoted by Michael Marley at examiner.com, saying this about his prize fighter, “It’s just to much of a size different fighting these bigger guys, this should be Manny’s last time”.


Arum also states that Pacquiao will fight two more times at welterweight next year. Arum said “We’re looking at a bout in May with or without Floyd, we don’t know how his legal problems are going to play out, so we can’t count on him”. Arum also quoted “Sugar Shane Mosley is a possibility. So is the winner of the Alexander-Bradley fight”. Personally, I would love to see Pacquiao mix it up with Juan Manuel Marquez once more or fight Andre Berto. In my opinion, Paul Williams is just to big and would most likely win, and Sergio Martinez is a big southpaw that can box. So those fights are predictable.

Well it’s good to hear Manny’s fighting live bodies next year. Because all he’s been doing is preying on the weak and fighting stiff, slow, drained, opponents. But he’s been doing what he’s supposed to do to them, and that’s finish them off. I would pay a clean $60 too watch him and Berto or Timothy Bradley go at it. That would be epic. If these fights end up happening, true boxing fans will really see where Pacquiao stands. But if my theory is correct, he might fight Mosley because he looked bad in his last fight but I could be wrong. I just hope he fights live bodies back at welterweight.

 

[heyzel]

Adamek thinks he would give Vitali problems with his pace and movement

By Dan Ambrose: Former two division world champion Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KO’s) doesn’t see himself taking a beating against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko the way that Shannon Briggs did last Saturday night. On the contrary, the 33-year-old Adamek thinks he would give Vitali problems with his speed, movement and pace. In an article at Fightnews.com, Adamek says “Against me, he [Vitali] would be more tired after three rounds than he would be fighting Briggs…Much faster fight, much more energy spent to defend himself, not from one but multiple punches. We are taking totally different here.” It’s hard to imagine Adamek doing any better than Briggs, however.


If all you have to go by is how Adamek looked in his fights at heavyweight against Jason Estrada, Chris Arreola and 38-year-old Michael Grant, I’d say Adamek is probably going to get knocked out within the first six rounds. Adamek was hurt in each of his last three fights, and in his bouts with Arreola and Grant, he was hurt multiple times despite not getting that much. Adamek looked particularly bad against the 6’7″ Grant, who had Adamek hurt on the few occasions he actually threw any punches. Grant did almost zero in the fight, just standing there and not letting his hands go. But when he did throw punches, he had Adamek hurt, busting up and running.

I don’t think a fight with Adamek and Vitali would be very good. In fact, I think it would be much worse than Briggs-Klitschko, because Adamek running around on the outside and would quickly get nailed, start bleeding and then get stopped. I give credit to Adamek for beating the limited fighters that he’s been matched up with, but I think he would be destroyed the Klitschkos, David Haye, Denis Boytsov, Odlanier Solis, Samuel Peter, Alexander Povetkin, Eddie Chambers and possibly Kevin Johnson.

Adamek will be facing 2nd tier heavyweight Vinny Maddalone (33-6, 24 KO’s) on December 9th at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey. This is a slight step down from the types of fighters that Adamek has bene fighting. You have to wonder why. Is it because they’re worried he might lose after looking so bad against Grant? Maddalone is only 6’2″, a lot smaller than Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko. Adamek faced Grant in order to prepare for fighting the Klitschkos. Why is he now fighting a much smaller fighter? Has he given up on the idea of beating them? This is someone that Adamek should have fought when he first started out at heavyweight, not now after he’s faced Estrada, Arreola and Grant. It looks like a big step back for Adamek.

 

[heyzel]

Haye: Klitschkos Like To Fight Old, Run-Down Americans

By Mark Vester

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye is warning the Klitschko brothers to come to the table before October 2011, which is the target date for Haye's planned retirement from boxing. Haye wants to retire before October 13, 2011, the date of his 31st birthday. Before walking away from the sport, he wants to face Vitali Klitschko for the WBC title, or Wladimir Klitschko for the IBF, IBO and WBO crowns.

"My plan is to quit before my 31st birthday. So far I've done a lot in my career: I was the undisputed world cruiserweight champion - and that's my goal in the heavyweight division. If they wait much longer, the opportunity will be gone. In a year, I will stop. They need to hurry," Haye was quoted as saying by AAP.

Haye claims that neither brother has tried hard to make the fight because they are trying to keep as much of the money as possible. Haye wants to keep all of the money from English TV, and the Klitschkos keep the German TV, and they split everything else. Haye is also not happy with signing a contract that calls for a mandatory rematch.

"If either of them wanted this fight, it would certainly have happened by now, but they would rather squeeze out as much money as possible. The Klitschko brothers are apparently happy to fight old, run-down American boxers. I can only laugh," said Haye.

"We offered them a deal: they keep 100 percent of the money from the TV station RTL in Germany and I get the complete TV revenue from England. The rest of the money, which comes in from television rights and ticket sales revenue, is shared. They rejected that."

The manager of the Klitschko brothers, Bernd Boente, says Haye is the greedy party. The money generated from the English pay-per-view buys is far more money than the Klitschkos would generate from their deal with RTL, which is why Haye is pushing to keep everything from the English end. The Klitschkos offered a deal that calls for a 50-50 split down the middle on all revenue. Further, Boente says there is no rematch clause being presented.

"It is not us who is greedy, but him," Boente said. "The English pay-per-view channels can raise far more money than we receive from our partner RTL. Moreover, there has never been an option calling for a rematch. In reality, is is Haye who is too cowardly to fight."

 

[heyzel]

Hopkins says his “Career ends” if he loses to Pascal on 12/11

By Dan Ambrose: 45-year-old Bernard Hopkins (51-5-1, 32 KO’s) may not have said that he’s going to officially retire if he gets beaten by WBC light heavyweight champion Jean Pascal (26-1, 14 KO’s) if he loses to him on December 11th, but Hopkins did say this: “I understand that this fight is a win or go home for me. There’s really no tomorrow for me, unless I take this fight and take it aggressively – my career ends. People will be calling for my head. Pascal is the guy to beat right now and my motivation to accept his challenge is to show he’s just borrwing that title.” Hopkins will be fighting Pascal at the Pepsi Coliseum, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.


What his means is that Hopkins is going to have to work hard if he wants to get a decision, because he’s not going to impress the judges if he clinches or flops around the canvas if he gets hit low or behind the head. He’s going to have to go out there and beat Pascal, because he can’t do it with Pascal losing points for fouls. I don’t believe for a second that Hopkins will retire if he loses to Pascal. I can’t see that happening. Hopkins will likely continue to fight one or two times a year against this fighter or that one. Hopkins has done next to zero since beating Kelly Pavlik in 2008.

He took some time off after that win and then came back for a fight against little known Enrique Ornelas. After beating him, Hopkins defeated 41-year-old Roy Jones Jr. in an ugly fight last April. The bout, which was a pay per view fight, didn’t bring in big numbers and it was hard to watch. In looking at how average Hopkins has looked in those two fights, it’s next to impossible to see him beating Pascal. Hopkins looks too slow and isn’t throwing enough punches to beat a younger fighter like Pascal.

I would say that even the Hopkins that beat Pavlik would lose to Pascal. I think this is a bad fight for Hopkins, but I don’t think he has a lot of options. I don’t think he can beat WBA light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov and and I see IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris Cloud beating him too. Hopkins might be able to beat WBO champion Jurgen Brahmer, but he probably wouldn’t be interested in that fight because Brahmer is totally unknown in the U.S. I see Hopkins getting beaten WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward and IBF champion Lucian Bute

 

[heyzel]

Margarito to make $3-5 million for Pacquiao bout, says Arum

By Jason Kim: Despite his hand wrap scandal and his poor showing in his last two fights, former IBF/WBA/WBO welterweight champion Antonio Margarito (38-6, 27 KO’s) is going to make out like a fat rat in his next fight against Manny Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KO’s) on November 13th at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says Margarito stands to make between $3 million to as much as $6 million for the Pacquiao fight, according to boxing news from aba-cbnnews.com. Arum says “He [Margarito] is guaranteed $3 million and he has an upside on the pay-per-view. So if everything goes the way I think it would go, he should make approximately between five to six million.”


Those are incredible numbers for a fighter like Margarito who hasn’t looked good in two years, and who just finished going through a lot of problems getting his boxing license back. What it shows you is that it pays off to be part of Top Rank right now while Arum is still running things. He’s loyal to his fighters and believes in spreading the wealth around by letting them get shots at each other. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if there wasn’t someone as popular as Pacquiao in the Top Rank stable. He’s got the golden touch, and whoever Arum matches him with in the Top Rank stable, whether it be Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey or Margarito, they’re turned into millionaires.

After Margarito makes his bundle, Cotto is probably get another golden touch to make more money. Never mind that the rematch is pointless, there’s not too many other fighters left in the Top Rank stable for Pacquiao to be matched up against, so it means he’s going to have to fight some of them twice. After Cotto gets another shot, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. will probably find his riches in a fight with Pacquiao. Chavez may not be the best fighter or even close to being the best fighter in the middleweight division, but he does have the name recognition due to his famous father Julio Cesar Chavez. That’s probably all that’s needed for Chavez Jr. a shot against Pacquiao and the big money.

 

[heyzel]

Bradley vs Alexander: Winner Wants Pacquiao Shot

By Ryan Burton

Earlier this week BoxingScene.com's Michael Marley ran a story in which Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum said that the winner between Tim Bradley-Devon Alexander, among others, will be in the sweepstakes to fight Manny Pacquiao in May of next year. Bradley-Alexander takes place on January 29.

BoxingScene spoke to Alexander about the idea of fighting Pacquiao and the IBF/WBC junior welterweight champion had this to say, "Ryan you know I don't look ahead. I take it one fight at a time. Kevin (Cunningham) and I are focused on beating Tim Bradley."

Alexander has been in the gym staying in shape. He will begin his training camp for Tim Bradley next month. The St. Louis native said he would have no problem moving up to welterweight to face the Filipino icon. "I am very confident that I will beat Bradley. After I am done with him it would be an honor to step in the ring with Pacquiao."

BoxingScene also spoke to Tim Bradley who holds the WBO's version of the junior welterweight championship. The Palm Springs, California native gave us his thoughts on a potential showdown with Pacquiao. "Bring it on! In all seriousness I don't look ahead. Once I take care of Devon then we can talk about Pacquiao," Bradley told BoxingScene.

Bradley loves the idea of fighting Pacquiao but doesn't think it will happen. "After I take care of Devon let's see if Arum still wants to put Pacquiao in the ring with me. Of course I want the fight but you have to be realistic. We talked about fighting Pacquiao before and it didn't happen. All Arum has to do is make a phone call to make the fight happen."

Before Pacquiao's anticipated May return, he first has to take care of business against Antonio Margarito on November 13th at Cowboys Stadium in Texas.

 

[heyzel]

Chisora: If I Saw Him, I Would Have Slapped Briggs' Face

By Ruslan Chikov

British heavyweight Dereck Chisora, who challenges WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on December 11 in Germany, is disgusted with last weekend's performance by American heavyweight Shannon Briggs. In the fight, WBC champion Vitali Klitschko punished Shannon Briggs for twelve rounds.

Chisora said he was so angry with Briggs' performance that he would have slapped the former heavyweight champion across his face. Chisora was ringside to watch the fight. After the action he spoke with RTL and voiced his displeasure with American heavyweights. Chisora thinks the American opponents of the Klitschko brothers are only interested in getting a "fat check."

"I don't respect Shannon Briggs. He's a let down to boxing. He's an embarrassment to boxing. He should hang up his gloves. If I saw him myself, I would have slapped his face. He's an embarrassment to boxing," Chisora said.

 

[REdRUM]

500 pages of the best thread on the Siccness.

Great work everyone.

 

[heyzel]

we got another 500 more to go

 

[heyzel]

Chisora and david haye the brits have been doing alot of shit talking lately

 

[heyzel]

Kessler and Manager Part Ways; EBU 168 Title Bout; More

By Per Ake Persson

WBC champion emeritius Mikkel Kessler has parted ways with manager and adviser Simon Lundt Hansen. The official reason is that Kessler, sidelined with a long term eye injury, don´t feels he needs a manager during this time. A couple of weeks ago Kessler told Danish media how he had wasted a lot of money - if there´s a link here is an open question. The two have been friends for a long time and were at one-time part of an exellent amateur team coming out of the CIK gym in Copenhagen. Both turned pro but while Kessler stuck to boxing and developed into a superstar, Lundt Hansen retired at 5-1 and did some time for drug dealing. Later he surfaced as the best friend of Kessler and chief adviser when Mikkel left Team Palle for Sauerland.

WBC female jr. lightweight champ Olivia Gerula is lined up to defend the title against Frida Wallberg November 27 in Stockholm. The fight will after a special agreement with the WBC be staged over eight two minute rounds in order to make it easier to get an exception from the current rule of maximum 12 minutes. However, this special permission is not there yet.

Ukrainian Stas Kashtanov and German Eduard Gutknecht are co-challengers for the vacant EBU super middleweight title. The EBU have set November 11 as deadline for purse bids or agreement. Gutknecht, 19-1, is signed to Universum while Kashtanov, 28-0, is with Union Box Team.

EU super middleweight champ Lolenga Mock defends the title against Lorenzo Di Giacomo December 22 in Penne, Italy. Both men have been around a long time and the loser in this one won´t have many places to go boxing-wise.

Is Derric Rossy a suitable challenger for either of the Klitschkos? Manager Sal Musumeci thinks so but says that whenever he´s in touch with K2/KMG - he gets the reply that Rossy won´t be accepted by German TV (RTL) after the loss to Aleksandre Dimitrenko.

"That was years ago and Derric is a different fighter now," says Musumeci, who however acknowledges that the problem is rather that Dimitrenko has failed to develop into a genuine contender despite the early promise and the loss to him don't look good. - "I take the blame for making that fight and one against Eddie Chambers too. Derric is a late starter and those fights came too soon. As for now Rossy was in Germany to spar with Shannon Briggs and did really well," says Mamusci, and he beat Craig Drummond who gave Ruslan Chagaev a tough fight. One could of course argue that Chagaev was outclassed by Wladimir Klitschko.

The Jackson Boxing Club, headed by Louis de Vries, promotes the Said Ouali vs Randall Bailey fight December 10 in Antwerp. It´s named after Antwerp's big star Jackson Osei Bonsu but Jackson is no longer promoted by the company that bears his name. Instead Osei Bonsu and his coach Renald De Vulder have formed another promotional outfit that makes its debut November 11 in Deurne with Jackson, a huge ticketseller, headlining.

The results of the sudden boxing boom in Belarus reported in a previous column could be seen in Poland this past weekend: On a show in Jaworzno one Pavel Staravoitau, two months into his pro career and with a claimed (via boxrec) record of 3-3-1 got a shot at an obscure title and got stopped in two. On the undercard Andrei Charnou with a claimed record of 6-0 with five first round stoppages got knocked out in one by 1-0 Robert Swierzbinski.

Sauerland promotes its annual show at a shopping center in Berlin tomorrow. It´s free entrance and the show isn´t announced until now to avoid huge crowds. Light heavyweight Artur Hein, back after a knee injury that caused his first loss as a pro, headlines.

 

[heyzel]

De La Hoya: Mosley's Options Include Berto, Canelo, Cotto

By Robert Morales

It was pointed out to Oscar De La Hoya that "Sugar" Shane Mosley, 39, has had consecutive fights - a one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. and a draw with Sergio Mora - where he had difficulty getting off his combinations.

But again, De La Hoya said Mayweather and Mora are fighters who make it difficult to look good.

"You put (Mosley) in with a 'Perro' Angulo, against fighters who are going to come to fight, who stay in front of you and want to bang, and Mosley is going to shine," De La Hoya said to BoxingScene.com.

De La Hoya said he is working on finding an opponent for Mosley's next fight.

"There are different options for him," De La Hoya said. "Probably, we are going to sit down with Shane when I get back next week. The fight with Andre Berto has obviously been talked about. There is [Saul] 'Canelo' Alvarez. Also, we're going to see if an Antonio Margarito or a (Manny) Pacquiao or even a (Miguel) Cotto want to fight Mosley.

"We are always open to fighting anybody. We just want to make the best fights."

 

[heyzel]

Guzman To Alexander: Beat Bradley, We Can Get It On

By Jake Donovan

For as long as it took for them to agree to terms to face one another, it seems that Devon Alexander and Tim Bradley are already looking beyond their January 29 clash.

Once signed, sealed and delivered, it didn’t take long for either to not only predict victory, but reveal plans to parlay such a win into a lucrative showdown with Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather.

Pursuit of such a payday is understandable, and forgivable for either fighter to look very far beyond their head-on collision.

What is rubbing some the wrong way is the opinions being developed of other fighters angling for a shot at the winner of what’s being referred to as the first major fight of 2011.

In particular, Devon Alexander’s comments on a variety of topics conducted in an interview recently posted on You Tube, struck a nerve with a certain fighter.

Undefeated former two-division champion Joan Guzman was none too pleased with his name making its way to Alexander’s thoughts, especially since it was mentioned in a derogatory manner and not to discuss the possibility of a future fight.

In a brief interview conducted earlier Tuesday, Guzman had the opportunity to comment and respond Alexander’s comments regarding his once-scheduled fight with Chris Fernandez, which would have been his first since his pair of tough fights with Ali Funeka.

"Devon Alexander should mind his own business when it comes down to who I am fighting,” Guzman said of his planned tune-up, which was recently scrapped due to an issue with the on-site investors.

“I heard his interview where he commented on Chris Fernandez and why I'm fighting a guy with 10 losses. Well, my fight with Fernandez was recently canceled. All he has to do is get past Bradley and we could get it on in the ring since he's so concerned with my career.”

The fight with Fernandez was intended as a rust-shaker, as he hasn’t had a sanctioned fight since his rematch with Funeka earlier this year. Guzman came out victorious, but once again lost his battle at the scales, weighing in well beyond the lightweight limit.

It was agreed by Guzman and his team that, while he could still realistically make the 135 lb limit with the right preparation, the logical step just to save face would be to move up to 140. They thought that by moving up to his fifth weight class as a pro, that the ultra-talented Dominican would have an easy time securing fights.

Wrong they were, which was why they wound up agreeing on Fernandez as an opponent. Not from cherry picking, but because they wanted to fight and had to accept whomever was willing.

“For the record, my team contacted Kendall Holt and his people turned us down, Lucas Matthysse turned us down, Andre Berto turned us down, Raymundo Beltran turned us down, Dorin Spivey turned us down, I asked for Victor Ortiz and that also went unanswered.

“I could go down a list of fighters that said no to me and the only one that had the heart was Fernandez. My respect goes out to him.”

Unfortunately for both, neither will be able to collect a payday against the other, barring a reschedule, though fights on that level rarely remain in queue for very long, or in any kind of demand when it comes to reserving TV dates.

The likely scenario is that Guzman winds up going idle for the remainder of 2010. Perhaps a long enough layoff will entice some of his peers to jump into the ring with him.

Ideally, he’d like one more fight before pursuing one on the level of the winner of Alexander-Bradley. But for now, he’ll just settle for whoever is willing to fight, rather than merely drop his name without any intention of stepping to him.

“If only some of these 140 pounders had the heart Fernandez has boxing would be in good shape, but instead we have to deal with managers who want to protect their fighters and others that just know how to run their mouths."

 

[RM211]

It is true about american fighters, they're lousy fighters and only want a checc, there's no talent comin out of the states at heavyweight who are willing to fight the klits

 

[bigface]

You're right about that. All of the big HW of this era are either playing football or basketball. They're doing that because the money is a lot better and it's easier to get involved in those two sports. With boxing you have to put in a lot of time to get really good at it, and with very little pay-off in the beginning. If you're good at basketball or football you can see the pay-off or the fruits of your labor pretty quickly, you know like a full ride to go to college. Then you add in MMA another sport that is very easy to get started in and you have no HW boxers.

 

[CHRISHOGGALYPSE]

heavyweight boxing bores me anyways

 

[2-0-Sixx]

I think historically heavyweights hasn't been all that. Besides Mike Tyson and the Ali days, and probably Joe Louis going way back, it's always been about the lower weight classes imo. I mean think of the all time greats sugar ray robinson, sugar ray leonard, hearns, duran, hagler, Henry Armstrong, Whitaker, Carlos Monzon, Chavez, pryor, etc etc etc. I think the perfect weight classes is welterweight - middleweight because you get the best of both worlds - speed & power.

 

[CHRISHOGGALYPSE]

It's definitely the glory division but it still bores me. I've noticed most casual fans or people that used to be fans stopped watching when there were a lack of good heavyweight fights. It sucks but it is what it is. I've always been a lighter weight fan. I had had much interest above 160lbs until this 168lb divison really started jumpin off in the last year and a half

All of my favorite fights have taken place under the 147lb division other than Hagler/Hearns and Hagler/Mugabi.