Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Juan Manuel Marquez looking to fight Pacquiao after Katsidis bout

By Dan Ambrose: WBA/WBO lightweight champion Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 37 KO’s) isn’t interested in taking on any other lightweights after he finishes dealing with WBO lightweight interim champion Michael Katsidis (27-2, 22 KO’s) on November 27th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Marquez, 37, has bigger fishes to fry. Marquez wants to go after Manny Pacquiao, provided that Marquez can beat Katsidis this month. In an interview at ESPNs Golpe a Golpe, Marquez said he wasn’t interested in fighting WBC lightweight champion Humberto Soto or Jorge Linares. Marquez said “They are good fighters, but I am looking for bigger things, bigger fights after Katsidis.”


Marquez is making no secret about his wish to get a third rubber fight with Pacquiao so that he can prove that he’s the better fighter. Pacquiao and Marquez have fought twice previously, with the first fight ending in a 12 round draw in 2004, and then Marquez lost the 2nd fight by a controversial 12 round split decision in 2008. Rather than fight a third fight with Marquez to try and prove that he’s better than him, Pacquiao has fought Joshua Clottey, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto and now Antonio Margarito.

Marquez is at least popular than Margarito and Clottey. That makes you wonder why Pacquiao isn’t giving Marquez a rematch. It’s up to Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter. He’s the one that chooses all the fights for him. There must be something about Marquez that is causing Arum to steer Pacquiao clear of him. I doubt much will change after Marquez gets through with the Katsidis fight.

I can’t see him getting a fight with Pacquiao following that fight, even though it’s a fight that makes sense. You can’t blame Marquez for not wanting to fight Linares and Soto. Those guys don’t bring in the big money that guys like Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. do. That’s what Marquez is partially interested in. I’m sure he wants revenge against Pacquiao, but the big money doesn’t hurt either.

 

[heyzel]

Jermain Taylor-Andre Dirrell fight possibly be on the horizon? Or will Taylor take on

By Marquise Bullock: If Jermain “Bad intentions” Taylor (28-4-1 17KOs) comes out of semi retirement is a Taylor-Dirrell fight the next option for both fighters? Here’s my theory on why this fight is a possible match-up for the year 2011. Ok, on the second episode on “Fight Camp 360” Jermain Taylor basically stated he needed a break from the sport for obvious reasons, the episode also showed a clip of Taylor keeping in shape working out.


Now on another hand you have Andre Dirrell (19-1 13KOs), who is an former “Super Six” prize fighter as well. Andre Dirrell dropped out do to neurological problems from the blow he received from the Dirrell-Abraham bout. But in my opinion, I don’t think he fought ward due to business reasons and contract problems. I could be wrong. But right now he’s in “recovery mode” basically, but when he’s ready to step back in the ring, who’s he going to go up against? I think it’s safe to scratch out guys like Kelly Pavlik, Lucian Bute, and most of the 175 pounders.

So I think that leaves the veteran, against the young lion. Both fighters are former Olympians and have crowd pleasing styles. It’ll be a fast pace chest match per say. This would be great for Taylor to get his name back out there, and this is one of the only two fights I see for Taylor. I doubt we’ll see a Dirrell take on Arthur Abraham or Andre Ward anytime soon, because I believe those two guys are going to meet in the finals of the “Super Six.” I honestly think that boxing fans are in for a big surprise when Taylor returns and announces his future opponent, which could be Dirrell. And for Dirrell this fight makes all sorts of sense, in every aspect.

Now on the other side of the card you have a Dawson-Taylor fight which doesn’t seem so farfetched. With this long layoff, if Taylor can’t make weight 175 pounds is his next option. Chad Dawson (29-1 17KOs) is coming of an effortless loss to Canadian based fighter Jean Pascal, Taylor might want to target Dawson if he were smart. This fight also make sense for both fighters, especially a Taylor who’s been down on his luck in the ring lately. Chad Dawson isn’t such a big hitter, and probably has trainer issues at the moment, why not go after him?

The difference between fighting Dirrell and Dawson is, Dawson can bring Taylor Money and Confidence back, if he beats him that is. Dirrell on the other hand is sort of the reverse, as Dirrell would look at beating Taylor to be crowned the next “it boy.” Don’t be surprised if you hear about a Taylor-Dirrell fight or a Dawson-Taylor fight. If Taylor decides to lace em’ up again, I truly believe one of those two fights are on the horizon. Just stay tuned and we could end up seeing one of these epic battles go down.

 

[heyzel]

Lucian Bute working on three fight deal with Showtime

By Jason Kim: Unbeaten IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (27-0, 22 KO’s) and his promoter Jean Bedard from Interbox are reportedly working on a three fight deal with Showtime to have Bute fight the best fighters in the super middleweight division in 2011. There still in the process of negotiating the contract, but hopefully it gets signed.


Bute will be perfect for Showtime, because the Super Six tournament was put together by that network. Bute unfortunately missed out on the tourney. However, he can still wind up fighting the best of the bunch in 2011, and hopefully the winner of the tournament will be one of the fighters that Bute hooks up with in 2011 for a fight.

HBO was interested in having Bute fight former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik in 2011. However, that won’t be happening now. Pavlik was supposed to be fighting Bryan Vera in a comeback fight on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito bout on November 13th. But Pavlik injured his ribs and had to pull out of the card.

Bute plans on fighting in March 2011 against a still to be determined opponent. Bute is coming off of a 9th round TKO over Jesse Brinkley on October 15th. This was yet another dull opponent for Bute. Since capturing the IBF belt in 2007, Bute has defended it six times against the likes of Edison Miranda, Librado Andrade, Brinkley, William Joppy and Fulgencio Zuniga.

Bute hasn’t had any stars to fight or even opponents that are even slighting interesting. Andrade came the closest to being an interesting opponent, but that’s only because he appeared to knock Bute out in their first fight in 2008. Bute won the fight by a controversial manner when he was knocked down in the 12th, and then given extra time to get back up by the Canadian referee. Instead of giving Andrade an immediate rematch, a year went by before Bute fought Andrade again.

 

[heyzel]

Berto will be fighting big fight in early 2011, or else he won’t be fighting on HBO,

By William Mackay: WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (26-0, 20 KO’s) has had a real cushy situation for the past three years with virtually all his fights ending up being shown on HBO, despite pretty much everyone of them being a mismatch against an less than interesting opponent. After three years, Berto, 27, has failed to build a large fan base among boxing fans in the United States. Quite the contrary, Berto appears to be turning off fans with each fight due to his inability to be matched against an appealing opponent.


For example, Berto has faced the following fighters since winning the World Boxing Council welterweight title with a 7th round TKO win over Miguel Angel Rodriguez in June 2008: Steve Forbes, Luis Collazo, Juan Urango and Carlos Quintana. Those are good serviceable fighters, but none of them are what you would call a big named star. Berto had a chance to fight Shane Mosley this year, pulled out of the fight after the earthquake in Haiti. You can understand Berto’s situation for that one fight, because the earthquake affected family members in Haiti.

However, that doesn’t explain why Berto has failed to fight a big named star in the past, and it doesn’t say much for why Berto is facing little known Freddy Hernandez (29-1, 20 KO’s) on November 27th on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez vs. Michael Katisdis bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Berto needs to and has needed to step it up several levels in the past two years in terms of higher competition, yet the training wheels have remained on for some reason.

In an interview by Ross Greenburg, the president of HBO Sports by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Greenburg says “The bottom line is Andre Berto will be in a big fight in early 2011, or he won’t be on HBO. Whenever he fights next, if it’s not against a big-name opponent, then you won’t see him. He knows that, his management knows that. And his promoter knows that. Believe it or not, they feel the same way. We’ve been very patient. Now it’s time. If it doesn’t happen, so be it.”

It’s too bad that Greenburg didn’t star this policy beginning with the Berto-Hernandez fight on November 27th, because that fight will be the co-main event for the Marquez vs. Katsidis bout, and it will clearly be shown on HBO. That’s not the fight that boxing fans wanted to see Berto in. Many of them were hoping, a the minimum, he would be facing #2 WBC welterweight contender Selcuk Aydin, the young Turkish slugger.

 

[heyzel]

Greenburg: “You have to deliver Khan-Maidana or we’re not interested in Khan

By William Mackay: Well, it looks as if Golden Boy Promotions didn’t have much choice in the matter whether to match their young possible star World Boxing Association (WBA) light welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KO’s) up with WBA light welterweight interim champion Marcos Maidana (29-1, 27 KO’s, because if Golden Boy didn’t put Khan in with Maidana, HBO wasn’t going to be televising anymore of Khan’s fights. In an interview by Dan Rafael of ESPN with HBO’s Sports president Ross Greenburg, Greenburg said this to Golden Boy Promotions: “You have to deliver Khan-Maidana or we’re not interested in another Khan fight.”


Wow! So that’s why Khan finally was matched against the hard hitting Maidana? I always thought it was because the WBA had threatened to strip Khan of his title if he didn’t finally face Maidana and get it over with. Maidana had only been waiting for an entire year, being told that they were building the fight up and that Maidana still wasn’t a big enough name to fight Khan yet, even though Khan was completely unknown in the United States at the time and is barely known now. Khan will be facing Maidana on December 11th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Khan vs. Maidana bout will be shown on HBO, because this is the fight that they, along with most boxing fans, have been interested in for a long time now. It’s nice that khan has finally agreed to take the bout, because the division isn’t big enough for the both of them. One of them is going to get picked off in this fight and relocated to mere contender and/or gate keeper status.

My guess is that it will be Khan that gets knocked cold and pushed down into the hungry pack of contenders, where hopefully he’ll take on some of the top fighters and work his way into a shot a the title next time instead of having it handed to him without having to beat any of the top 15 contenders. When Khan fought for the WBA light welterweight title last year against then champion Andriy Kotelnik, Khan had never fought at light welterweight, and had instead fought his entire career at lightweight. Khan was allowed to skip over the top 15 in the WBA and fight for the title against Kotelnik, which I don’t think was hardly fair for the contenders that got skipped over.

 

[heyzel]

Arum thinks Pacquiao-Margarito ticket sales will exceed 60,000

By Dan Ambrose: Bob Arum, the promoter for both Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito, thinks their November 13th fight will exceed 60,000 tickets sold for the fight at the Cowboys Stadium, in Arlington, Texas. If this turns out to be the case, it could end up being the largest indoor crowd ever for a boxing match, according to ESPN. Arum had this to say in a conference call earlier today, “This one, I think will go over 60,000. The response to the ticket sales has been great. We’re tracking well ahead of where we were of the [Joshua] Clottey fight, so I’m optimistic.” The Pacquiao-Clottey fight sold 50,994 tickets at the Cowboy Stadium, but a disappointing 750,000 on PPV.


Arum also had projected the crowd for the Pacuiao-Clottey fight at 60,000, but it fell well short of that. It’s hard to pay much attention to the numbers Arum is throwing around, because it’s to his benefit that it sells as much as possible. A week ago, a neutral promoter reported that the ticket sales were at 27,000, and that’s quite a bit off from the numbers that Arum is dreaming about. It’s difficult to imagine boxing fans wanting to travel to a place as far away as Arlington, Texas, to see Pacquiao fight a guy like Margarito, who just recently got his boxing license back after a year due to him losing it because a plaster-like substance was found in his hand wraps last year before his fight with Shane Mosley.

Like the Clottey-Pacquiao fight, boxing fans largely see the Pacquiao-Margarito bout as being a mismatch with Pacquiao having far too much speed and talent for the painfully slow Margarito. This is why it may not be possible for Arum to realize his vision of having over 60,000 tickets sold for this bout. Margarito isn’t well know to casual boxing fans and he hasn’t looked exciting in the HBO 24/7 Pacquiao/Margarito episode 1 and 2. The largest indoor boxing crowd in history was for the 1978 bout between the faded Muhammad Ali vs. a young Leon Spinks. That fight drew 63,315 fans. It’s hard to imagine Pacquiao-Margarito bringing in more fans, unless Pacquiao’s loyal Filipino fans flock to the area from other parts in the United States to watch this fight.

 

[heyzel]

HBO interested in Klitschko-Adamek or Klitschko-Haye bouts

By Matt Stein: HBO isn’t currently showing either of the Klitschko brothers fights on their network, because they’re tired of showing the brothers beat up over-matched opponents in one-sided fights that leave boxing fans less than impressed. However, Dan Rafael of ESPN interview Ross Greenburg, HBO’s Sports President earlier today, and Greenburg said that he’s open to showing the Klitschkos fights provided that its’ against popular heavyweights like David Haye and Tomasz Adamek. Greenburg doesn’t have any interest in showing the Klitschko brothers against American heavyweights because the U.S. doesn’t have anyone that can compete with the Klitschko brothers right now.


But Greenburg would be interested in seeing the Klitschko brothers face Haye or Adamek, saying “We’re always thinking about a Vitali or Wladimir fight. If a Haye fight materializes over there, we’ll be there. If there’s an Adamek fight in the United States, we could create a heck of an event in the New York metro area. But it doesn’t make any sense to put a six hour tape delay of a mismatch on HBO from Germany….If any of these big fights materialize, we will be there, and they know it.”

You can’t blame Greenburg for not wanting to waste valuable HBO money on watching the Klitschko brothers beat up the likes of Samuel Peter, Chris Arreola, and Dereck Chisora. Those are fights that are hopelessly one-sided and not something that will be entertaining for boxing fans. However, Greenburg may not know this yet, but the Klitschkos against Haye and Adamek are just as one-sided (if not more) fights as the Klitschko brothers against guys like Peter, Arreola and Chisora.

Adamek and Haye will likely be taken out fast by either brothers because of their lack of size at heavyweight and their shaky chins. Hopefully, Greenburg doesn’t totally turned off after seeing Adamek or Haye blown out by one of the brothers and then decided he doesn’t want to take a chance in showing the other fighter against the klitschkos. Adamek and Haye or decent heavyweights, but totally unproven at heavyweight and they haven’t been looking all that impressive against the older fighters that they’ve matched against.

 

[heyzel]

I Love You, Boxing

by Niko Tricarico: I love you boxing. In spite of all your flaws and your promotional ineptitude’s, your ignominious undercards and your luxuriant and hollow belts, I still stand by you with blinding obedience. I love you for your bloody knuckles and your swollen lips, for your broken noses, black eyes and bruised ribs. I love you for the fluidity of the speed bag and the repetitious thwacks of the jump rope. I love you for the sounds of a flattened glove smacking against a canvas heavy bag that sways from a jangling chain attached to the ceiling. I love you for the insightful, historical examinations of A.J. Liebling and the gut wrenching emotion of F.X. Toole. I love you for the fragility of an undefeated record and for fighters who cite legacy as their motivation instead of money. I love you because you survived and evolved from the most basic and unsophisticated form of competition to the skillful and complex artistry that exists as a modern fighter’s devastating ammunition. I love the left jab and the right cross, a check hook or a shoulder roll, a lead right hand, an uppercut, a foot shuffle, a bolo punch or even a ghetto whopper! I pound the nearest surface in support of a fighter who comes back to win after getting knocked down. I shadow box between rounds, emulating my favorite styles. I love the survival, the discipline, the tenacity, the resolve of a bloodied and beaten fighter to hear the final bell. I love you for your salvation, your redemption and retribution; for your forgiveness. For all those reasons and more, I love boxing. Boxing, however, doesn’t always love me back.


It is consistent and seemingly content in its own lethargy and hasn’t produced a big event of substance or worth in months. Squabbling promoters squash potentially scintillating fights and sanctioning bodies match up fighters with tedious, “mandatory” opponents forcing them to relinquish their belts if they refuse. Fighters themselves cultivate and harvest their own egos and hide behind them like a shield of invincibility. In boxing, there are no seasons, the sport is perpetual, but often perpetually slow. There are no consecutive or effective professional tournaments, like tennis or forced matchups like the UFC. In boxing, fighters have much more control once they gain even a modicum of status. Andre Berto hasn’t fought since early April and won’t fight again until the end of November. That’s almost eight months of inactivity. That’s almost eight months for a casual fan to forget his name and ignore his next fight. Commentary in the mainstream media is nonexistent and it irks me to think of all the fights that could be happening or would have already happened had it not been for a lack of public support and pressure.

But I love boxing in spite of all its frustrating flaws. And though it is consistent in its inability to sustain its popularity, it is equally consistent in its resiliency. For after a dearth of compelling matchups over the past few months it seems as though boxing is poised to make another comeback. In a little under two weeks Manny Pacquiao, the hardest working man in boxing, will be fighting the formerly disgraced Antonio Margarito. One week later and live on HBO, Paul Williams and Sergio Martinez will duke it out in their highly anticipated rematch. Hard hitting Marcos Maidana will take on long armed Amir Kahn and that same night, Lamont Peterson faces off against sometimes vicious Victor Ortiz. Bradley is fighting Alexander, Abraham is fighting Froch and Ward is fighting Bika. All in all boxing is surely making up for its lackluster summer and fall. With fights happening for Andre Berto, James Kirkland, Bernard Hopkins and Juan Manuel Lopez there is barely a weekend off after the Pacquiao fight and I, for one, am excited.

I love boxing. And while it is rare that I find someone with whom I can have a conversation about upcoming fights and fighters, reminisce about classic matchups or complain about the state of the sport, my love remains undeterred.

It’s boxing; the first sport to ever be filmed and it’s still awesome.

 

[heyzel]

Fury: “Haye is a blown up cruiserweight that shot his mouth off and just wants easy f

By Scott Gilfoid: Undefeated British heavyweight Tyson Fury (12-0, 9 KO’s) came out with both barrels blazing in his opinion of World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight champion David Haye (24-1, 22 KO’s), who the 22-year-old Fury doesn’t think too highly of. In an article at Eastsideboxing.com on their On the Ropes Boxing Radio, Fury had this to say about Haye: “I think David Haye is a blown up cruiserweight who shot his mouth off and got himself a world title shot and beat a very poor champion in [Nikolay] Valuev. If I got to fight Valuev in Quebec, Canada on the 18th, I’d take the fight no problem…He’s [Haye] been avoiding the Klitschkos and he won’t fight them. So David Haye is not a man of honor to me, and he just wants to fight easy fights.”


I totally agree with Fury. I think Haye talked his way into a title shot against the weakest of the heavyweight champions last year in 36-year-old Valuev, and then barely beat him by a 12 round majority decision in one of the most dull fights I’ve ever seen before. And Haye doesn’t look good at 217, looking like he’s carrying around extra blubber.

Fury is right about Haye avoiding the Klitschkos for easy fights like John Ruiz and Audley Harrison. Haye is milking his WBA title for all it’s worth, but he’s so small, and his chin is so fragile, Harrison might just win this fight if he has the sense to reach back and let loose his left hand for all he’s worth early in the fight against Haye.

Fury says “Audley Harrison, he’s got about as much heart as this phone I’m on, so I don’t know where a guy’s going to go like that against someone as ferocious as David Haye. I do think that if Harrison connects on him with any sort of shot, he’s gone. David Haye will be knocked out. It doesn’t make any difference to me who wins, because Haye and Harrison are both on my radar and I’m hunting them down. But it’s going to be a good fight. It’s one of those fights you can’t call because it depends on which Harrison turns up, for one. Haye’s a small heavyweight. He can punch, he’s fast, but then again he’s never been hit by a proper heavyweight before and Harrison is a big man. He’s 6’5″ 250 pounds, and if he hits him, it’s going to be game over. I just hope Harrison comes out fighting and not being negative and doesn’t want to fight. It could be very interesting because I know if Harrison attacks him at all, he’s got Haye, because he’s a smaller man and his chin is a bit suspect as well. Can I call it? No, because it’s very, very close on my card.”

Haye would probably be furious to know that Fury isn’t picking him by an easy win, because Haye doesn’t even see this as a fight. Haye wants to be seen in the same class as the Klitschko brothers, but no one, aside from Haye’s loving British fans, see him anywhere close to being in the same as the klitschkos. I can see Harrison winning this fight. All he needs to do is tap Haye’s glass jaw once and we’ll have shards of glass all over the ring and Haye laid out flat on his back wondering what happened

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Fury should uppercut himself in the face again, he doesn't really have any right to talk.

Clearly David Haye is milking his fame while he can.

there are three household names in the UK - Amir Khan, David Haye and for better or worse, Audley Harrison.

In Haye's mind he can make a lot of money fighting Harrison and he knows the klitschko's aren't going anywhere. So that's what he's doing. Make some money while he can, then fight Klitschko(s) next year and retire.

 

[heyzel]

agreed and tyson fury sure is talking big for a man who has yet to prove he can do anything

 

[heyzel]

Paul Williams: I Would Love To Fight Floyd Mayweather Jr.

By Lem Satterfield

On November 20, welterweight junior middleweight and middleweight contender, Paul Williams, will rematch WBC middleweight king Sergio Martinez in an HBO televised bout from the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The venue was the site of their first meeting last December, which saw both fighters dropped in the first round, and ending with Williams earning a disputed decision.

When they met the first time, Martinez replaced a withdrawing Kelly Pavlik. Williams has claimed that he didn't have enough time to properly train for Martinez, but this time things will be different because he had a proper training camp.

"The title is just something that I have to take from him now. You know, I've already beaten him once, so, it will be easier beating him again, now," Williams said. "He's going to have to fight me, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm going to stay on him, you know, so he's going to have to fight."

A few weeks ago, Williams took a verbal jab at Floyd Mayweather Jr. Williams said Mayweather would not fight him because "he didn't have a vagina" - an obvious reference to Mayweather's domestic violence and legal troubles. Looking back, Williams regrets making the comment.

"Yeah, I kind of regret saying that, you know. It was the heat of the moment, and everybody was asking me stuff. No more comment on that. Just like everybody else, he's a professional, you know. His personal life is his personal life. But I would love to fight him," Williams said.

"Anything can happen to anybody in their personal life. You could get in trouble being with your friends or something. Something could come off, and, you know, there's no telling."

 

[heyzel]

Joshua Clottey Eyes Move To 154, Picks Pacquiao To Win

By Ryan Burton

Former welterweight champion Joshua Clottey reached out to BoxingScene.com to send a message to his fans. "Joshua Clottey hasn't gone anywhere. I plan on hopefully fighting a tune-up soon and then hopefully I can get another big fight soon. I want to let all the fans know I am sorry for my last fight and I will put on a better performance in my next fight."

Clottey last fought in March when he lost a one-sided decision to Manny Pacquiao at Cowboy's Stadium in Dallas, Texas.

When pressed for who he wanted to fight after his tune up the African fighter told BoxingScene, "I want any big fight. I really want to fight Margarito or Cotto again. Cotto and I have unfinished business." Clottey was referring to his very close split-decision loss to Miguel Cotto in June 2009 at Madison Square Garden.

We then spoke about next week's showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito. Clottey feels that both guys can win but gives the edge to Pacquiao.

"Margarito doesn't have the best defense and can be hit. When I fought Pacquiao he was so fast. Like a blur. Its very hard to catch him."

Clottey went on to say, "Another part of the problem is I have been struggling to make weight at 147. That is why I am coming back at 154. I am too big for 147."

 

[heyzel]

ESPN and K2 agree to a deal to air Klitschko vs. Chisora on December 11th

By Jim Dower: According to boxing news from Dan Rafael of ESPN, ESPN and K2, the promotional company of the Klitschko brothers, have reached an agreement to air IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s next title defense against unbeaten Britain Dereck Chisora (14-0, 11 KO’s) on December 11th live on ESPN3, and tape delay on ESPN2. This is great because HBO has decided to pass on showing the Chisora-Klitschko fight, and if ESPN hadn’t stepped up and agreed to air the fight there would be no way for U.S. boxing fans to see the klitschko vs. Chisora fight until much later if at all.


Wladimir, 34, had been hoping to coax WBA heavyweight champion David Haye into fighting him next. However, Haye instead opted to fight Audley Harrison on November 13th at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England. Klitschko then chose the 26-year-old inexperienced Chisora to fight to remove a potential future opponent for Haye while at the same time Wladimir wanted to get more visibility among British boxing fans by facing and beating Chisora, one of their best fighters. Chisora recently defeated Sam Sexton and Danny Williams, and next to Haye, is probably the second best heavyweight in the UK right now. Wladimir will likely beat Chisora with ease, which will set up nicely a fight with Haye next year, should Haye chose to accept Wladimir’s challenge at that time.

 

[heyzel]

Diaconu-Henry Rematch Likely on Bute Card in March

by Richard Cloutier, Netboxe.com

According to the echoes from Mexico, the WBC, at the 48th annual convention, sanctioned a rematch between former light heavyweight champion Adrian Diaconu (27-2-0) and top contender Chris Henry (25-2-0) of America. The stakes of this fight would be the WBC belt Silver. Initially, Chris Henry had to face Argentina's Roberto Bolonti but the Argentine boxer got hurt recently.

Recall that Diaconu and Henry already fought in Romania on April 4, 2008, in a high-stakes eliminator for the WBC interim-championship. Diaconu won by unanimous decision. Since then he was measured twice, unsuccessfully, against Jean Pascal, the current champion of the WBC. In his last battle fought on Oct. 15, the 'Shark' won a decision over Omar Sheika. The latter has subsequently announced his retirement.

The new duel should presumably happen at the Bell Centre in Montreal on March 12. This would be the first of three televised by Showtime events under the new agreement involving IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute.

 

[heyzel]

Williams-Martinez Winner Must Face Zbik, Then Chavez Jr

By Ruslan Chikov

The World Boxing Council has finally sorted out the mess in the middleweight division. The winner of Sergio Martinez vs. Paul Williams, set to clash for the WBC middleweight title on November 20, must face the interim-champion Sebastian Zbik in their very next fight. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is the WBC silver champion at 160. If he decides to remain at middleweight, he can press for the next mandatory title shot. If Chavez decides to go back to 154 or turns down the opportunity, then the winner of the final eliminator between David Lemieux and Marco Antonio Rubio would become the next mandatory challenger

 

[heyzel]

Spadafora Drops Pernell Whitaker, Back With Jesse Reid

By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com was advised that former champion Paul Spadafora has parted ways with trainer Pernell Whitaker. Spadafora (44-0, 18KOs) has reunited with former trainer Jesse Reid, who is training him for the scheduled fight with Diego Jesus Ponce at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Spadafora hired Whitaker last June. Spadafora's promoter, Michael Acri, tells BoxingScene that Whitaker has not communicated with them for several weeks.

"I don't know what happened. We've been trying to reach him for weeks. We can't get a hold of him, so Paul is back with his former trainer, Jesse Reid, who is going to work with him going forward," Acri said.

I hope sweet pea aint back on that shit

 

[$migg Cant Rap]

By Rick Reeno

BoxingScene.com was advised that former champion Paul Spadafora has parted ways with trainer Pernell Whitaker. Spadafora (44-0, 18KOs) has reunited with former trainer Jesse Reid, who is training him for the scheduled fight with Diego Jesus Ponce at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. Spadafora hired Whitaker last June. Spadafora's promoter, Michael Acri, tells BoxingScene that Whitaker has not communicated with them for several weeks.

"I don't know what happened. We've been trying to reach him for weeks. We can't get a hold of him, so Paul is back with his former trainer, Jesse Reid, who is going to work with him going forward," Acri said.

I hope sweet pea aint back on that shit

that sure is a bitch ass way to do it. man-up & answer the phone, you fag-monger.

 

[heyzel]

Roach turn Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. into a super star?

By Dan Ambrose: Freddie Roach gets a lot of credit for the job that he’s done on fighters like Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, although the jury is still out on Khan because he still hasn’t fought a top light welterweight that’s worth mentioning.


Roach is also considered a genius just based on what he did with Pacquiao. Because of the good work that he did with Pacquiao, Roach is getting more and more struggling fighters coming to his Wild Card Gym in LA to try and save their careers. One of those fighters is unbeaten middleweight contender and World Boxing Council Silver middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KO’s), who will be facing welterweight contender Alfonso Gomez (22-4-2, 11 KO’s) at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, California.

Roach has only worked with Chavez Jr. for one partial training camp before his fight with fringe middleweight contender John Duddy last June. Chavez Jr. responded to the training by easily beating Duddy by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.

Some of the credit has to go to Roach for making some changes to Chavez’s game and to his physique with the help of his strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza. However, Duddy is a pretty limited fighter, after all, and was nearly beaten by 2nd tier middleweight Walid Smichet in 2008.

Chavez wants to take on Pacquiao in the near future for a big money fight. It’s kind of a silly fight and most boxing fans would likely be turned off at the thought of this fight happening.

However, Chavez Jr. has the luck of fighting for Bob Arum, the same promoter as Pacquiao. As we’ve seen, Arum likes to pit his Top Rank fighters against each other rather than having them take on fighters from outside his stable.

Since Arum only has a small handful of fighters that boxing fans really care about, it’s likely that Arum will match Chavez Jr. against Pacquiao in the near future unless Chavez gets beaten up by someone.

Chavez Jr. has been spoon fed for his entire seven year pro career with his best opponent being the badly flawed Duddy. If I was to rank where Chavez Jr. is in the line of top middleweights, I would put him around number 16 or 17.

I think that’s a good ranking for him, because there’s some fighters that I think Chavez Jr. will never be able to beat like Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams, Gennady Golovkin, Felix Sturm, Kelly Pavlik, Dmitriy Pirog and Sebastian Sylvester. However, you can never count out what Roach is capable of doing with a fighter.

But if Roach is going to mold Chavez Jr. into a super star fighter, he’s going to have to make some major changes to Chavez’s game because he’s too wide open on defense, has poor stamina, moves like his feet are stuck in quicksand, and doesn’t have huge power.

I’m skeptical about Roach being able to budge Chavez Jr. for more than two or three places upwards in the rankings. I can’t see Chavez Jr. ever being a top five middleweight, even though the WBC has for some reason decided to rank Chavez Jr. at number 1 despite the fact that he has only one win over a top 15 opponent, and that was against Duddy.

 

[heyzel]

Will Matthysse put Judah out of his misery?

By Jim Dower: 33-year-old Zab Judah (39-6, 27 KO’s) has a tough task ahead of him on Saturday night against number 3 ranked World Boxing Organization light welterweight contender Lucas Martin Matthysse (27-0, 25 KO’s) in a 12 round bout at the Prudential Center, in Newark, New Jersey.


Judah has wasted the last five years of his career serving as fodder for the top welterweights, losing to guys like Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey. Judah’s wins during those years came against lower level 2nd tier fighters.

On Saturday night, Judah will be facing a good puncher in Matthysse and this going to be a real test for Judah. He can’t afford to lose this fight if he wants to move forward and get fights against the better fighters like Devon Alexander, Amir Khan, Marcos Maidana and Timothy Bradley.

Matthysse, 28, is a decent fighter but probably doesn’t deserve the high ranking that the WBO has given him. He’s only fought one recognizable opponent Vivian Harris, and he didn’t look good in that fight, although he won it by a controversial 4th round TKO.

Matthysse looks undersized for a light welterweight, and would probably be better off moving down to lightweight where he would have an easier time. Matthysse actually made the fading Harris look good for three of the four rounds.

In the 4th, Matthysse hurt Harris with a hard right hand and was pummeling him when the referee stepped in and prematurely stopped the fight. It was a bad stoppage because Harris wasn’t hurt, but he was in trouble. Matthysse doesn’t punch as hard as his record would have you believe.

It looked like Harris had more power than him. But what makes Matthysse a dangerous fighter is that he gets in close and loads up on some of his short punches and can hurt his opponents. His defense is terrible, and Judah should be able to hit him at will.

However, Judah needs to try and get this fight over with as fast as he can, because Matthysse can hurt Judah if he’s allowed to get in close and stay in this fight. Judah has a questionable chin, and Matthysse can punch a little. If he’s allowed to work on the inside against Judah, he could take Zab out.

Judah is more of a six to eight round fighter at this point in his career, and doesn’t appear to have the stamina to fight as hard as he used to earlier in his career.

If Matthysse takes Judah out, it could be the end for Judah. I don’t see how he could come back from a knockout against Matthysse. I already think Judah will lose to Alexander and Bradley, but getting beaten by a lesser fighter like Matthysse will really be a strong signal for Judah to hang up the gloves.

Who knows? Maybe Judah could move down to lightweight and compete there, but I don’t see him being a factor any longer if Matthysse stops him and puts him out of his misery.