Boxing News Thread

[Lamberto Quintero]

^Yes Khan showed a lot of heart, and honestly I didn't expect it. I look at him a lot differently after this fight then I did before. And I don't look at Maidana as less in any way either, just props to Khan.

I watched it again and scored it 114-111, and I gave Maidana the tenth round with a 10-8 score...

 

[heyzel]

David Haye Promises To Eliminate Both Klitschkos in 2011

By Lem Satterfield

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23KOs) continues to hold his position on retiring from boxing prior to his 31st birthday in October of 2011. Haye has promised to retire regardless of whether or not he fights WBO, IBO and IBF titlist Wladimir Klitschko, or, his older brother, WBC king Vitali Klitschko.

Negotiations have already begun for a possible showdown between Haye and Wladimir Klitschko, tentative for early 2011 in either England, Germany or Las Vegas. The British champion is very confident of beating both brothers to unify the heavyweight division.

"Watch me next year become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. I said that I would become the undisputed cruiserweight champion and some people said 'no, you won't do it.' Don King had Jean Marc Mormeck and Frank Warren had Enzo Maccarinelli, the other champion. I went in there and cleaned up all the belts and moved up to heavyweight," Haye told FanHouse.

"I went over to Germany to fight Nikolai Valuev, the biggest heavyweight champ in history at 7'2 and 350-pounds. The biggest guy ever. I beat him. I said I'm going to beat the Klitschko brothers and people say 'yeah, yeah.' But I don't lie, I tell the truth. I said what I was going to do from day one and I'm going to do it. The fights are going to happen and I'm going to destroy whoever I fight because whatever I hit turns to dust. End of story

 

[heyzel]

Freddie Roach Not Pleased With The Ariza vs Diaz Feud

By Michael Marley

Our telephone connection from Manhattan to Manila was not the strongest. On my end, Coach Freddie Roach sounded as though he was speaking into a Dixie cup with string attached to it.

But I did understand one thing that Manny Pacquiao's celebrated trainer said clearly.

Do not look for Roach, age 50, to jump into the heated fray, the war of words between Pacman strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza and longtime cutman-trainer Miguel Diaz.

Diaz, originally from Argentina but a Las Vegan for about 40 years or so, and the much younger Ariza, who is originally from Colombia, got into verbal sparring right after the final bell sounded Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay.

Roach and Ariza were in the corner of main event winner Amir Khan while Diaz was chief second for his countryman, Marcos Maidana, who was rugged and gallant but who was outpointed by the Bolton, UK, resident.

Ariza said that Diaz made a derogatory remark about Maidana, calling him a piece of s--t.

[Diaz] starts coming over and calling me a fraud and a cheat and stuff like that. I don't know where it came from. So I just said, 'Hey, whatever, my fighter won, yours didn't.' Sometimes, you just don't know, you know?" said Ariza.

"It's kind of disappointing because you think, 'This is a sport, and it has nothing really to do with that,'" said Ariza. "But, you know, Miguel is ... sometimes when they get older, and you can see that you're on your way out. This is his last chance to make something. But to call me a fraud, you know, I don't cheat. Everybody knows that."

Diaz's story, as told to BoxingScene.com's Chris Robinson and Lem "Baltimore Gem" Satterfield, was that it was Ariza who started the verbal venom.

"Alex Ariza is the one who started the whole thing. I went to congratulate Freddie Roach, and from the back of everybody else, and, in front of Freddie, there were a lot of people. And Alex sticks his head out from out of everyone else and says, 'Your fighter is a piece of s**t,'" said Diaz.

"That's exactly what Alex Ariza told me," said Diaz. "And I said, 'You are a f**king fraud that's what you are.' But Alex is the one who started everything with me."

Roach is not keen on playing schoolyard monitor or referee between the two.

"I do not know what done and what was said between them," Roach said from his hotel in Makati.

"I do not know what was said or what was done. All I know is I told them they were both acting like like two little kids. And then I walked away."

Roach and Pacman promoter Bob Arum leave Manila Friday morning to go to General Santos City for Pacquiao's lavish 32nd birthday bash at the Convention center Friday.

Roach is known to have accepted if not recommended shopworn Sugar Shane Mosley as Manny's May 7 opponent

 

[heyzel]

Arum: Hopkins Spread Word of Mosley's Free Agent Status

By Michael Marley

It was breakfast time in Metro Manila and 79 year old Bob Arum was not in a fighting mood.

Arum, who with wife Lovee and stepdaughter Dena will be among the VIP guests at Manny Pacquio's swinging soiree (32nd birthday bash) Friday night at the General Santos City Convention Center, did not have much to say about whether the Pacman-Sugar Shane Mosley has been "put to bed" for April 16 or May 7 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Tight lips sink ships, I suppose, and Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto are technically supposed to still be viable candidates to fight the Congressman until he makes his final call.

"I'm confident that we have the situation in hand," Arum said from the swanky Shangri-La Hotel in Makata. "I don't want to say more until Manny makes his decision official. We sat and talked Tuesday night here. I think we'll know in a day or two, probably when we get to Gensan."

Arum did say there were no 11th hour communiques from Golden Boy as to Juan Manuel Marquez's purse demand (which Arum deemed excessive) or from Lou DiBella ("reasonable," Arum said) as to Berto's financial request.

No need to mention that the 39 year old Mosley wears the TR Varsity Sweater these days, a piece of apparel neither the Mexican or the Haitian-American boxers owns.

Arum said he thought the 4/16 date may turn into 5/7 because of Pacquiao's Congressional schedule.

And the lack of his fighting mood? I would not attribute it to jet lag. My impression is Uncle Bob is weary of the back and forth, the invective and insults being swapped between he and the Golden Boy tandem of De La Hoya and Schaefer.

Can there be an extension of the olive branch or a hatchet burial between the rivals?

"That would be fine with me," Arum said. "A lot of what I do is just reactive to them. A lot of it is they said and then I said. I resent remarks (made by Oscar) about my being a little older now. I resent that a lot.

"I'm not a guy who backs down. I didn't appreicate those comments from him. I'm not the kind of guy to back down or just take it without firing back. If I get it, I'll give it back."

Anybody got a white flag handy for a possible truce or even a temporary cease-fire?

Arum thinks that Golden Boy is wasting time and energy complaining about how Mosley, a vice president with their company, walked out. There was no contract to impede Shane's flight.

"It makes no sense (to complain)," Arum said. "Oscar left me, after great years, to go to the great guru, Jerry Perenchio, who had Univision. Isn't that the same thing? We kept hearing rumors that neither Shane nor Bernard Hopkins had promotional contracts tieing them to Golden Boy."

I asked who the source of said rumors could have been.

"Hopkins because, well, because Bernard could not keep his big mouth shut. So I can't say I was surprised when Shane came around looking to fight Manny," Arum said.

Arum and his family have a Wednesday night dinner to attend hosted by George Araneta, owner of the sporting facility Araneta Coliseum.

If it's Friday, then it must be Gensan and party time for the Arums and the Pacquiaos. Gov. Chavit Singson is flying the Arums to Manny's old hometown (he resides officially in Sarangani, ahem, for political reasons).

Although some critics have said Pacman should not, as a public servant, be having a party with a "Godfather" theme, Arum said he doesn't know anything about it.

"Manny hasn't mentioned any Godfather theme party to me."

Come to think of it, Mosley will be partying the same night, I think

 

[heyzel]

Kizer on Why Khan-Maidana, Others Struggled in Las Vegas

By Chris Robinson

When a great fight occurs in the sport of boxing it has a definite effect that results in much lingering discussion afterwards. Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana was such a fight, as last weekend's WBA junior welterweight duel from the Mandalay Bay was chalked full of action, suspense and plenty of post-fight drama. Khan would edge his Argentinean counterpart in one the year’s better fights and people are now sizing him up as an ideal choice to face the winner of next month’s Timothy Bradley-Devon Alexander unification bout.

Khan’s future looks bright but one thing I couldn’t help but notice as I watched the bout from press row was just how many empty seats there were inside of the Mandalay Bay that night. I was anticipating the arena to be half full but there were only 4,652 reported spectators in the building that night.

Earlier today I asked Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer why he felt the number was in that range and he offered up his thoughts.

“I think there are three things involved there,” Kizer said. “First and foremost it is a sign of the economic times. Even [Michael] Katsidis and [Juan Manuel] Marquez, two well-established names, did about the same. Just a little bit better they did than the Khan-Maidana card. That's roughly the same as the Lopez-Marquez fight at the beginning of November.”

There were three fine events in the Vegas area in a five-week span, with the aforementioned November 6th Juan Manuel Lopez-Rafael Marquez featherweight title fight and Marquez’s thrilling stoppage of Katsidis coming before Khan-Maidana. While all of those fights lived up to expectations, Kizer feels the turnout was lukewarm compared to events in the past simply because of bad timing.

“It was a tough weekend,” he continued. “Both the November 27th weekend where they had Marquez-Katsidis then the December 11th weekend with Khan-Maidana are probably two of the worst weekends to have a fight other than Christmas and Easter weekends. But they were trying to get some good fight cards in here by the end of the year so we kind of had to live with what we had.”

Kizer went on to tell me that it’s a rarity to have a boxing event achieve success during a Thanksgiving weekend, with only the 2004 rubber match between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales standing out in his mind. Kizer also pointed to Floyd Mayweather's December 2007 drubbing of Ricky Hatton as a fight that caught everyone’s interest.

In speaking with Kizer you can tell that he is an educated man but he also points out that you simply have to look past the logistics when looking at the situation. Khan and Maidana may have been adored in their native lands but they simply lacked star power in the states.

“I also think the fact that Khan has never fought here before and his following is from the UK,” he continued. “Maidana, his following is from Argentina. So neither guy really has a base in Vegas. I think it’s part of one of the reasons they had a fight here was that it was neutral territory and they both wanted to fight in the fight capitol of the world.”

I was also sure to get Kizer’s take on the latest developments regarding Manny Pacquiao’s next bout. As my colleague Michael Marley has been documenting, it looks at those the Filipino star’s next bout will be taking place on May 7th, not April 16th as originally planned, with the MGM Grand in Las Vegas still likely to serve as the host.

That seems to conflict with the plans of Golden Boy Promotions, who seemed intent on having welterweight sensation Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s next fight on the same date at the same location. If Pacquiao pushes through with the May 7th date in Vegas than Alvarez will obviously have to come up with some new plans and Kizer wouldn’t be surprised to see his bout moved to another date.

2010 will come and go with Pacquiao not having fought in the area but Kizer highlighted that it wasn’t of his own accord. When Pacquiao signed on to face Joshua Clottey the MGM Grand already had the March 13th date reserved for a Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight but the undefeated star ended up squaring off with Shane Mosley on May 1st instead. Pacquiao’s victory last month over Antonio Margarito simply wasn’t feasible because the Tijuana fighter wasn’t licensed in the state.

Pacquiao’s agent Michael Koncz reached out to Kizer earlier this year to tell him that they planned on staging his future bouts in Las Vegas and it seems to be a natural fit, just like in years’ past.

“I think the MGM has definitely had some success over the years with Pacquiao, to say the least. I’m sure of both of them are longing for it to occur here in the spring of 2011. We have no problems having that happen assuming an appropriate opponent and a date request from Top Rank for that day.”

 

[heyzel]

Haye: I'll Retire in October, With or Without Klitschko

By Mark Vester

WBA heavyweight champion David Haye continues to apply the pressure for a deal to get struck with IBF/IBO/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko. Haye advised the BBC that he plans move forward with his plan to retire in October 2011 - with or without the Klitschko fight taking place.

"I'll retire in October next year - if [the fight] doesn't happen next year it won't happen, I'll just have to accept that becoming the WBA champion was enough and move on with my life. "That'll be 20 years of getting punched in the face, which is a long enough time. I set my goals and achieved them so unifying the titles is the cherry on the cake but if it doesn't happen it wasn't meant to be and I've just got to get on with my life," Haye said.

If an agreement with Klitschko doesn't come together, Haye will honor the WBA's recent order to meet his mandatory obligation against former champion Ruslan Chagaev.

"I'll have to look out for good challengers. The mandatory challenger is Ruslan Chagaev, who is an awkward southpaw, but I've come off the back of training for a southpaw after the Audley Harrison fight. It wouldn't be too hard to put that fight together and I'm sure he'll jump at the chance of challenging for the world title, but he'll get the same treatment as everybody else," Haye said.

 

[heyzel]

Berto: Do You Want To See Pac Fight Mosley's Old Ass?

By Mark Vester

A war of words has broken out between WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto and former three division champ "Sugar" Shane Mosley. Berto attacked Mosley on Twitter, demanding the veteran boxer step aside from a possible fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 7 in Las Vegas.

Berto and Mosley are both under consideration to face Pacquiao in May. Juan Manuel Marquez is also being considered. Based on everything that's been said by Pacquiao's adviser Michael Koncz, and Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, Mosley is the frontrunner to get the fight, but a deal has yet to be finalized. Those details have not stopped Berto from stating his case on why he's more deserving of the Pacquiao oppotunity.

"You need to go ahead and step aside," Berto told Mosley. "Go sit in your lil old man rocking chair and stir some coffee real slow. I got this. Do you really want to see Pac fight Mosley's old ass? Boxing is looking for that new young fresh face, not grandpas."

berto is wildin but he must of forgot that he had a fight with mosely

 

[heyzel]

Tim Bradley: Amir Khan Better Not Fade Against Me!

By Lem Satterfield

On January 29 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, WBO junior welterweight king, Tim Bradley (26-0, 11 knockouts), of Palm Springs, Calif., and, WBC titlist, Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs), of St. Louis, Mo., are headed for an HBO televised clash that will go a long way toward determining which of them should be considered the best fighter in their division.

Bradley was on hand last Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, where he watched his WBA counterpart from England, Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KOs), retain his title with a twelve round unanimous decision over interim titlist Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs) of Argentina. After watching Khan's fight, Bradley believes Khan fades in the later rounds when constant pressure is applied.

"We are both quick. He's a little bit rangier than I am, so I would have to apply the pressure. It would be a great couple of rounds, but like I've seen today - he fades. When you get in the ring with me, do not fade because I come on strong at the end. I come on strong at the end. When he faces me, he better not fade," Bradley told FanHouse.

 

[MOREBASS]

I don't think Amir Khan faded in that fight. He got clocked, and fought the rest of the fight on Queer St, but it wasn't fatigue.

Bradley needs to worry about Devon first, because that's far from a garnette'd win for him.

 

[trips]

lol berto would get straight whooped on by mosley. berto couldnt fuck with mayweather or sergio mora's running ass lol. he needs to go fight collazo, shit or even paul williams before chassing the big checks(cause thats what hes doing lol) or hes gonna be looking at the stars!!!! straight up. your not worthy berto!!!! you already get paid a guaranteed million every fight, no matter who it is(like khans bitch ass lol) go step up your resume before you end your career before it started youngsta.

 

[Tony]

Lol, Mosley can't even punch. He's shot.... He's a former drug user, damn near 40 years old, and was dominated by Floyd Mayweather. Talking about his neck was tight.... Lol

Floyd talked about him wearing tight Levi's and still sporting a Jehri curl and still ended up beating the crap out of Mosley.

I would say a roided up, younger version of Mosley beats Berto, but not this old, shot version.

 

[Tony]

Team Pacquiao is scared of Berto, period! If they weren't, they'd be going after his title to unify the titles and become the undisputed champ. That's what great fighters do.... they don't continue to beat up on has beens.

 

[trips]

mayweather is the best in the game if u ask me, and easily the best defensive fighter also. you putting Berto on his level or even manny's is damn near comedy to me because Berto is not proven straight up. Berto is not even ahead of mosley(he needs to get in line), hes being protected as you can see by looking at his resume lol! I don't even remember the dudes name he last fought lol cause he does'nt have one. Berto wants to get paid straight up, he may think he can win but he wont. and if he does get a shot like he wants, he will lose and guess what knowone would care, cause he has no name.

 

[trips]

and fuck the titles!!!! they dont mean shit at this level. its all about money!

 

[2-0-Sixx]

According to Zab Judah via twitter, Amir Khan vs Judah is nearly a done deal, just trying to figure out if it will be in the US or UK.

____

I think it's a pretty decent fight for Khan to lead into the Bradley-Alexander winner. Slightly dangerous because Judah still has some power, but I expect Khan to win.

 

[trips]

its going to be in the uk

 

[heyzel]

According to Zab Judah via twitter, Amir Khan vs Judah is nearly a done deal, just trying to figure out if it will be in the US or UK.

____

I think it's a pretty decent fight for Khan to lead into the Bradley-Alexander winner. Slightly dangerous because Judah still has some power, but I expect Khan to win.

if this fight goes down I like zab with a 6th rd ko

 

[heyzel]

Arum says Marquez wants too much money for Pacquiao bout

By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum has reasons why he doesn’t want Pacquiao to fight Juan Manuel Marquez and Andre Berto, and why he prefers the badly fading 39-year-old Shane Mosley for Pacquiao’s next fight. Mosley has looked poor recently in his last two fights, but Arum seems only concerned that the boxing public knows his name and isn’t as familiar with Marquez or Berto.


It is kind of sad if that’s the only reason for not matching Pacquiao up with Marquez or Berto, because in that case, why did Arum just finish matching Pacquiao up with his badly struggling Top Rank Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito? Those were Pacquiao’s last two fights, and few people in the United States knew either of those fighters, but it didn’t stop Arum from putting them in with Pacquiao. And neither Clottey or Margarito were fighting well at the time that they were put in with Pacquiao.

In an article by Dan Rafael of ESPN, Arum had this to say about why he’s not interested in having Pacquiao fight Marquez: “The problem with Marquez is the number he wants is so damn high, and he hasn’t moved off it, and that’s preventing the Marquez fight. We know what he got when he fought [Floyd] Mayweather and we feel that asking for double what he got for the Mayweather fight after he lost to Mayweather is a little bit much.”

Marquez is probably too dangerous for Pacquiao to fight, because he almost beat him twice before in their two fights. I had Marquez winning both of the fights. It may not matter what Marquez wants. He’s not likely going to get Pacquiao no matter what the way I see it. Marquez is better off saving his breath and focusing on other fights, because if Arum wanted Marquez as an opponent for Pacquiao, he would have come looking for him a long time ago.

Arum wants Mosley and doesn’t seem to mind that Shane is looking about as shot as you can look without being retired. Arum said “He’s [Mosley] the guy everybody knows, the pay-per-view guys, the casinos, the foreign television. Sugar Shane resonates. The downside is he has two bad performances, but he’s still Sugar Shane. With Shane, there’s room to make an adjustment, a little tweak here or there, and I’m sure we could get it done.”

Arum may be able to make some tweaks to get a contract signed, but the fight itself is going to be nothing short of awful for fans to watch. If Arum is okay with setting up a mismatch on PPV, then I feel sorry for all the fans that will be paying to watch this. Coming from my early years in the service industry, I learned a long time ago that you never want to upset your loyal customers with bad service and/or food. I don’t see this fight as being good for fans, especially when they’re being asked to pay a lot of money to see it. If the gold standard for an exciting fan-friendly fight is Amir Khan vs. Marcos Maidana, then I see Mosley-Pacquiao as the copper beneath fake gold. I see fans as feeling sick and turning green when they see how much of a mismatch this fight is going to be. But, hey, if Arum is okay with a mismatch, then what can you say. Personally, I don’t believe in upsetting and/or turning away loyal customers with a bad product and I see Pacquiao vs. Mosley as the worst fight you could put before fans right now

 

[Tony]

^LMFAO!!! Pussyuiao is cool with it though...

 

[heyzel]

Khan To Become Super Champion? Ortiz/Maidana II?

By Jhonny Gonzalez

The word coming out of Panama details the possibility of WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan receiving the sanctioning organization's status of "super champion." The "super champion" status would provide Khan with additional time before he's obligated to make another mandatory defense.

Khan made his last mandatory defense on December 11 against interim-champion Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas. The British boxer won a twelve round unanimous decision. Maidana did well enough in the loss that the WBA is going to place him in the number 1 position in the top ten rankings. Victor Ortiz, who recently fought to a draw with Lamont Peterson, will be dropped down to number 2.

If Khan receives the "super champion" status, the "regular" title will become vacant and the two highest ranked available contenders will fight for that vacant belt. It would set up a rematch between Maidana and Ortiz. The puncher from Argentina stopped Ortiz in six rounds in 2009. If either boxer passes on fighting for the vacant belt, then the WBA would go down the line to the next available contender.