Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Dirrell should be the WBC champion

By Scott Gilfoid: Forget about the question of whether or not Andre Dirrell (19-1, 13 KO’s) deserves to get a title shot right now, Dirrell should really be the current WBC super middleweight champion in my view. Dirrell dominated Carl Froch in 2009, hitting him at will with a beautiful jab, right hook and straight lefts and then disappearing before the painfully slow Froch had an opportunity to try and land anything in return.

The fight was held in Froch’s home city of Nottingham, England, and he was given a 12 round split decision victory over Dirrell. It was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I honestly can’t remember ever seeing a worse one that. I had Dirrell winning 8 rounds to 3 with 1 round even.

Froch was landing rabbit shots, holding and hitting and even threw Dirrell to the canvas at one point in the fight. And the incredible thing is Froch was never penalized for any of it. Instead of Froch being penalized, it was Dirrell who ended up losing a point. It was just a terrible fight. In my book I still see Dirrell as unbeaten and the rightful WBC champion.

Dirrell turned around and dominated Arthur Abraham in his last fight, knocking him down and winning by a 11th round disqualification after Abraham fouled Dirrell. Froch may have the WBC title right now, but I see it as tainted, and not rightfully his.

The belt should be around Dirrell’s waist and he should be the one defending it. The silly argument that one of the writers on this site made the other day about whether Dirrell deserves to fight for a title is really meaningless, because he shouldn’t have to fight for it; he should be the WBC champion right now in my mind.

 

[heyzel]

Haye says he will give Wladimir flashbacks to Sanders and Brewster

By Jim Dower: WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s) thinks that once he starts connecting enough with his power shots against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) in their fight in June or July of this year that Wladimir will start reliving his experiences in his fights against Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster.

Wladimir was knocked out by both Sanders and Brewster after getting hit with some really blows. Haye sees himself doing the same thing against Wladimir. The only difference here seems to be that Wladimir went into the Sanders and Brewster fights not expecting much from them and not knowing what he was dealing with. Wladimir ended up paying for it by getting destroyed in both fights. He later stopped Brewster in a rematch, but was unable to get a fight with Sanders.

Speaking with Sky Sports News, Haye said “Once I consistently start hitting on the chin, maybe not the first time or the second time but slowly he will start having flashbacks to the Corrie Sanders fight of the Lamon Brewster fight where he got violently exposed and knocked out, where he was crawling around on his hands and knees. I’m going to put him back in that position. It’s going to be a tough task but I will find a way to beat him.”

Haye is going to have to knock him out fast, because if Haye stings Wladimir with a shot, he’s going to make Wladimir even more defense than he already will be to begin with. He’s not easy to hit when he’s staying on the outside using his jab and retreating backwards. It’s going to be very hard for the 6’2” Haye to put his punches together with Wladimir hanging back and keeping his head out of range of Haye’s shots.

Wladimir has the longer reach, the much better jab and a better left hook. Haye may get beaten with Wladimir’s jab/left combination alone without ever getting hit with his right. That’s happened before and it may happen again. When Wladimir’s not throwing right hands, he’s hard to hit. Even a fighter like Haye could find it very difficult to land any head shots.

 

[heyzel]

Prediction: Rahman to stop Fury in six rounds or less

By Scott Gilfoid: Unbeaten Tyson Fury (14-0, 10 KO’s) is being put in a sink or swim fight against a major puncher in 38-year-old Hasim Rahman (49-7-2, 40 KO’s) on April 16th on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Paul McCloskey fight at the M.E.N. Arena, in Manchester, England.

The Rahman-Fury fight may turn out to be the best bout on the card, because the main event between Khan and McCloskey looks like a dud, and undercard is filled with obscure fighters that only British hardcore fans would recognize. I’m not talking casual British boxing fans. I’m talking the hardcore fans.

From what I can see, the Fury-Rahman fight is the only fight worth watching on the whole pathetic card. Forget about the main event, that’s pretty much a set up fight for Khan. It’s like lobbing a softball to a baseball player that can’t hit a fastball. Khan has been marched against a weak puncher. Khan will win this without getting stunned blasted around the ring like he was in his last fight. But I’m intrigued by the Fury-Rahman fight. That’s going to be interesting because the 6’9” Fury only knows how to fight one way and that’s to slug it out. He has no real boxing ability and his jab is more like a weak back than anything.

Rahman is going to walk through Fury’s sloppy-looking shots and tee off on his head with some major power shots. Rahman is definitely not the same fighter he once was, but if you put him in with a novice without any defensive skills like Fury and let him have it for five or six rounds, Rahman is going to knock that fighter out 99 out of a 100 times. Fury is the type of fighter that Rahman does really well against.

This is going to be similar fodder for him like the guys he’s been facing since he was stopped by Wladimir Klitschko in 2008. Rahman has fought Clinton Boldridge, Shannon Miller, Damon Reed and Marcus McGee. Fury is very similar to these fighters in talent, and Rahman is probably chomping at the bit waiting to knock the tall and largely unskilled Fury into next year. Rahman is a professional fighter with 59 bouts and 289 rounds boxed against a lot of top fighters compared to Fury’s 14 fights and 63 rounds

 

[heyzel]

Calderon to move back down to 105

By Jason Kim: Having been stopped in his last two fights at light flyweight [108 lbs], former flyweight/light flyweight champion Ivan Calderon (34-2-1, 6 KO’s) plans on moving back down to 105 to try and recapture the previous success he had at that weight.

Calderon was stopped last weekend by WBO light flyweight champion Giovanni Segura by a 3rd round stoppage after getting pummeled against the ropes with a devastating body attack. Calderon was also stopped by Segura in the 8th round last year in August.

Calderon now will be looking to drop down in weight to try and regain his form at flyweight. From 2003 to 2007, Calderon was the WBO flyweight champion. He moved up in weight in August 2007, and captured the WBO light flyweight title with a controversial 12 round split decision win over Huge Fidel Cazares.

Although Calderon found success at this weight, he wasn’t nearly as dominating as he was at 105. In 2008, Calderon began to run into problems with a series of fights against Cazares and Rodel Mayol that ended with Calderon getting cut from head clashes and the fights stopped prematurely due to the severity of the cuts. Calderon didn’t look good in any of the fights and looked like he may have been in danger of losing had the fights made it to the final bell.

Calderon reportedly wants to go after his old WBO title at 105, which is currently held by Donnie Neites. It’ll be interesting to see if Calderon has enough left in the tank to win a title at this because he’s getting up there in age at 36 now, and he may be too old to beat someone like Nietes.

 

[heyzel]

Froch seeing the benefit of facing Johnson in the U.S

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC super middleweight champion Carl Froch (27-1, 20 KO’s) seems to have accepted that his Super Six fight against Glen Johnson will be taking place in the United States instead of the venue where he wanted it, which was his home city of Nottingham, England.

Instead of sulking and acting out the way some fighters would when they’re not getting their way, Froch has decided to accept the venue and be an adult about it. I like this. This is really for the best. There are a lot of Jamaican and English transplants in the area and many of them will likely flock to see the Froch-Jonson bout on June 4th. I’m so happy Froch is taking this with a stiff upper lip. I wouldn’t want to see a bunch of bellyaching over something as minor as a venue, especially after Froch previously said he had problem fighting in the U.S.

Froch had this to say about the venue at thisisnottingham.co.uk: “I had to explore every avenue for it to be local. But every cloud has a silver lining and hopefully the fight will go out live on Sky Sports. Plus, Atlantic City is only an hour from the Big Apple and there are lots of beaches and resorts next door to the venue, the weather in June is very good out there.”

Atlantic City is a sensational venue. You won’t have to worry about the gloomy cloud-filled skies in the UK and will actually be able to see some nice sun. There will be a lot of things for boxing fans to do and see in Atlantic City, gambling and all kinds of fun for the fans and their families. This is a really good place for this fight and it will leave both fighters and their fans happy.

 

[heyzel]

Ward planning big finish to Super Six tournament

LOS ANGELES (AP)—Although the Super Six World Boxing Classic has become a ramshackle, sputtering vehicle in its final laps, Andre Ward is still determined to ride it to the finish line.
Ward recently announced he’ll face Arthur Abraham at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif., on May 14 in the semifinals of a well-intentioned super middleweight tournament beset by injuries that led to the withdrawal of half the original field.
The turmoil hasn’t slowed down Ward (23-0, 13 KOs): The Oakland native and Olympic gold medalist dominated his last three fights, emerged on the international boxing scene and became the favorite to win it all. England’s Carl Froch meets Glen Johnson in the other semifinal in June, with the final expected late this year.


“Since this tournament started, my skin has got a lot thicker,” Ward said. “I’ve just got to keep doing me. Just keep fighting, keep winning, and keep putting on spectacular performances for the fans.”
Ward and Abraham appeared together at a promotional news conference in an Italian restaurant in Sherman Oaks, although Abraham (32-2, 26 KOs) attended by video link from Berlin, declining to interrupt his training with a flight to Los Angeles. Ward didn’t let it shake him, grinningly posing with a life-size cardboard cutout of Abraham.
Abraham was an unbeaten pre-tournament favorite, but the Armenian-born German’s career took major hits with a disqualification loss to Andre Dirrell and a stunningly one-sided decision loss to Froch last year.
For all of its flaws and changes, Ward still believes the Super Six will propel him into greater fame and paydays. He expects a win over Abraham to set up a decisive fight with WBC champion Froch, and he’s hoping to fight IBF champion Lucian Bute for the undisputed 168-pound title after the Super Six is settled.
Froch already has called out Ward, a thought that evokes a smirk from Ward.
“I’m going to give him what he’s been asking for,” Ward said.
Although Ward was criticized early in his pro career for his slow pace up the ladder following his gold medal triumph in the Athens Olympics, he believes everything was building to 2011. The only American gold medalist in the past three Olympics won the WBA’s 168-pound belt with his stunning victory over Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler to open the tournament in November 2009.
“This tournament sped me up,” Ward said. “I knew I had to win right away. I couldn’t build it up slowly anymore.”
Ward is the only fighter who has emerged from the Super Six concept with his career enhanced and unscathed.
Froch lost to Kessler, who eventually cited injuries in withdrawing from the competition. Dirrell and Jermain Taylor also withdrew, essentially reducing it to a four-man tournament now with the addition of the tough veteran Johnson.
“No matter how the Super Six has progressed, I think it’s a tremendous concept for boxing,” said Dan Goossen, Ward’s promoter. “I think everyone learned how tough it is to make great fights amongst the world’s best fighters. It sometimes takes years and years to put together a fight that people want to see. It’s taken some time, but it’s been worth it.”
Although Ward has career aspirations that include an eventual fight at heavyweight, he’s hoping the Super Six title propels him into a fight with Bute, the best 168-pounder not in the Super Six field.
And even if everything works out as he plans, Ward won’t forget the struggle that got him into position for a shot at this title.
“I have two more fights before I’m the best super middleweight in the world,” Ward said. “And I plan on winning both of them.”

 

[heyzel]

Antonio Tarver, Back and at Cruiserweight Against Danny Green

Former light heavyweight champion of the world, Antonio Tarver (28-6, 19 KOs), will be fighting Australia’s, Danny Green July 20th, in Sydney, Australia in his debut bout at the cruiserweight limit.

Tarver last fought as a heavyweight, scoring a sluggish unanimous decision win over Nagy Aguilera in October of last year. He’s also been seen as a color commentator at Showtime for the last several televised cards.

The 42-year old Tarver is best known for his run at 175 lbs., where he held both the WBC and IBF world titles on separate occasions. He has also scored wins over a veritable who’s who of the light heavyweight division, including Glen Johnson, Montell Griffin, Clinton Woods and two high-profile wins over Roy Jones Jr., the first of which via frightening second round KO. The Tampa, Florida resident, who didn’t start his pro career until he was 29, has also been handed defeat by guys such as Bernard Hopkins, Johnson, Jones, and, on two occasions, Chad Dawson.

Danny Green’s (31-3, 27 KOs) last contest was a unanimous decision victory over BJ Flores in November of last year. Shortly after, he underwent abdominal surgery that, at the time, was thought to be career-threatening. Perth’s Green also holds a first round KO of Roy Jones Jr. in 2009.

“Danny Green is in the fight of his life, the fight of his career, and he’ll be defined by this fight,” Tarver told FOX Sports, Australia. “This is the toughest fight of Danny Green’s life…He’s gonna bring it, I’m gonna bring it.”

–Paul Magno

 

[heyzel]

McCloskey’s trainer believes Khan is still vulnerable to being knocked out

By William Mackay: John Breen, the trainer for unbeaten light welterweight contender Paul McCloskey (22-0, 12 KO’s), believes that WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KO’s) is just as vulnerable as he was previously thought to be in terms of Khan’s ability to take head shots.

Khan has had a reputation for having a weak chin long before he was blasted out in one vicious round by Breidis Prescott in 2008. Khan changed trainers after that blowout loss by signing up American trainer Freddie Roach to oversee his development. Roach has made some inroads to helping Khan stay on his feet in the ring by having him move a lot more and throw shorter combinations than he once did.

However, as we saw in Khan’s last fight against Marcos Maidana, Khan is still vulnerable to head shots. He very likely would have been knocked out in the 10th round of that fight had he not been able to hold on or have the action broken up so often by referee Joe Cortez.

In an article at the Belfast Telegraph, Breen said “A lot of people seem to feel that Khan has improved but the only thing that I can see where he has developed is in his defense. That has improved since he went to America to train with Freddie Roach. But, having watched a lot of his fights you can see that he is still vulnerable. In his last fight he almost got stopped by Marcos Maidana and if he had been stopped by the referee in the 10th, nobody would have argued.”

I thought Khan should have lost the Maidana fight, either by having it stopped in the 10th or by Maidana blasting him out after Khan was penalized for holding. The only improvement in his game that I can see is his foot movement. And that won’t help him beat the better fighters. He’s going to have to actually fight, and I don’t think his chin will stand up to the pounding.

 

[heyzel]

Nathan Cleverly to Unify WBO Title

By Gari Jones: Come the 21st May Nathan Cleverly W21 (10), D0, L0 gets the chance to win a major title of the Lightweight division, WBO interim holder cleverly will try to unify the title against Juerghan Braehmer W39 (29), L2, D0.

Nathan will face his biggest test to date, Braehmer although not the toughest in the lightweight division is certainly one of the top ten, with 39 wins, 29 KO’s to his credit and only two losses it shows he has experience and KO power to trouble the undefeated Welshmen.

Watching Braehmer on YouTube in his last fight against Mariano Nicolas Plotinsky, he’s a tricky southpaw to deal with; a counter puncher with good head movement if he see the shot coming, he uses the jab well and he also combines the with one-two’s on occasion not all the time but sometimes. He has a tenderness to hit the odd left and right hooks to the head but especially to the body, but he doesn’t seem to follow them up with anything but all round he seems very comfortable fighting this way and solid with it too.

However I don’t think Cleverly will struggle too much against him, one thing that Braehmer tends to do, is leave his hands down quite often, coming in the clinch or when he’s in close, if Cleverly lands an uppercut or a overhand hook there’s a very good possibility that Braehmer will get caught. Cleverly is a boxer on the up, every time he fights he looks sharper and more confident with each step up in opponent.

He last fought against Nadjib Mohammedi who while struggling against did pull out the win, however people should be aware Nadjib was a very late replacement for Alejandro Lakatos who Nathan had be training for, when he fought against Nadjib he hadn’t been prepared for his style and it did throw him off his original gameplan and he had to adapt.

Braehmer seems a very good fighter and that I well may be overlooking him a bit, but looking at Braehmers record he’s fought good boxers but it seems he hasn’t fought the real cream of the crop in recent years. There seems to be a mix here, Mariano was 35yrs old and not very experienced, BOXREC.com 13th Dimitry Sukhotsky was undefeated and more prestige and he got a UD win, Aleksky Kuziemski 32yrs at the time was undefeated but more of a European level than World level fighter, he lost to Hugo Garay in his first shot at WBA and he Title by UD in November 2008 and has a a Rnd 5 KO win over journeyman Rachid Kanfouah who was 35 at the time. The point I’m making is that they are all good fighters some better than others, but they aren’t like the Jean Pascal’s, Bernard Hopkins or the Chad Dawson’s of the division, so Cleverly might be favourite for this fight.

The one name that stands out though is Antonio Brancalion who both men have faced and beaten Cleverly round 5 and Braehmer round 1.

Cleverly is younger, taller, faster and in my opinion the better boxer, Southpaw will give him some trouble but I imagine he’s been in sparring to prepare for such a fighter. So how can Cleverly win this fight if he stays to the right side and keeps moving that way he will take away the advantage of Braehmer’s left body shots and by moving in and out quickly landing combo’s of 1-2’s and maybe a hook for measure I believe Cleverly will wear down Braehmer and set him up for a late Knockout my prediction would be for round 9 or 10.

If he wins this I would like to see Bernard Hopkins maybe take on Nathan Cleverly there’s every possibility of that happening once he holds a major title.

 

[heyzel]

European boxing vs. American boxing flip sides of the same coin

By Mark Young: In my last article I touched on why Andre Dirrell doesn’t qualify for an instant title shot after coming back from a dubious head injury, I pointed out that his career was tainted with controversy, some of this controversy coming off the back of a lack lustre performance in the UK against Carl Froch.

The fight was an unpleasant affair and I’ll make no excuses for either fighter, on the plus sides Dirrell showed good hand speed and lateral movement while Froch pushed the fight and came to please the crowd. On the down side Dirrell was nervous and reluctant to engage while Froch was at times made to look slow. Constant clinching lead to a WWE throw to the canvass, constant ducking was rewarded with punches to the cranium and the fight was an ugly mess.

The result of the fight is well known to anyone who keeps up with boxing and the complaints coming from some sectors are never ending, one might seriously think that Dirrell wrote his own articles when reading certain articles. The reaction to Carl Froch winning a fight in Nottingham was split across the Atlantic divide. Europeans were furious that a fighter had shown up hoping to steal the fight by spoiling and engaging with late flurries while Americans were unhappy their fighter had been robbed after showing burst of fast precision punching.

It’s quite clear that had Carl Froch not knocked out Jermain Taylor in his first defence of the WBC title that he would have lost the fight by a four round margin on the judges score cards, with press row still had the fight with all to play for going into the 12th round along with British journalists.

It’s quite obvious that European judges and American Judges are looking for different things in a fight. Just looking at differing opinions on here it seems European fighters are regarded as Neanderthals who come to bludgeon each other into a pulp when viewed by an American audience and Americans viewed as track and field stars who are scared to have a fight.

We may argue but we all love the same sport and because of this we need to find some common ground, a certain criteria needs to be met when guys cross the pond, it’s no good turning up in Europe and expecting to be rewarded for a performance akin to fencing and the same goes for a European traveling to the states, it’s no good to go there and land half the amount of shots and think you’ve won because they were a lot harder. I think for each individual fight a framework should be established, a statement made about what the judges are looking for and what they want to see, I’m not talking about referring to compubox or the original boxing rules that most referees are reluctant to enforce but at least and indication of what’s going to sell on the night.

I’m sure some people will hark back to the rules of boxing and the requirements set out by the Marquis of Queensbury and how there are already a set of requirements a fighter must meet but lets be honest it doesn’t pan out like that and an agreed criteria would be as good for the judges as it would for the fighters .It would clear a lot of things up if the ring announcer welcomed the crowd and told told the crowd who the judges were, what they would be looking for in the fight and what wouldn’t be acceptable. We have referees who openly interpret the rules, we get to know these referees and even become suspicious when it seems they are brought in to suit a particular fighter so openly stating what’s expected doesn’t seem like a big ask.

 

[heyzel]

The tax man and money man go head to head

8CN Boxing News

Former pound-4-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr., has been issued with a $3.4 million tax bill from the IRS. According to The Detroit News<, Mayweather owes back taxes from the 2009 period when he was paid an estimated $25 million to fight Juan Manuel Márquez.

The IRS filed a lien with the Clark County Recorder against the Nevada resident in late January.
Fights with the Tax Man are apparently nothing new for “Money” Mayweather. Within the past ten years he has been smacked with a $6 million dollar bill for unpaid income taxes, he later negotiated a payment plan.

 

[heyzel]

Roach has no concerns about Pacquiao's preparation this time

by Michael Rosenthal



Freddie Roach returned from the Philippines before Manny Pacquiao’s fight against Antonio Margarito last year with a degree of concern.

Pacquiao had worked hard but, because of myriad distractions related mostly to his second career as a congressman, he fell behind in his training. He had to play catch up in Los Angeles in the final weeks before the fight.

RingTV.com sat down with Roach on Wednesday at Staples Center, the site of a news conference to promote the Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.-Sebastian Zbik fight on June 4.

What was Roach's state of mind a month before Pacquiao fights Shane Mosley on May 7? Couldn’t have been more relaxed. He has the quiet confidence of a trainer absolutely certain that his fighter will be at his best come fight time.

“We had a very good start in the Philippines,” Roach said. “Congress didn’t really get in the way this time. His mind was on training. I think the first time we were there he had just become a congressman. It was exciting and new. I think he realized that congress is pretty boring. They don’t do a lot.

“Congress never came up. He never said he misses his job (as a congressman, as he did last camp).”

Roach is giving Mosley the requisite respect all world-class opponents deserve – but only to a point.

A Pacquiao who is 100 percent focused and prepared against a 39-year-old who has seen better days, Roach implied, might not turn out to be a competitive fight. He is making a bold prediction.

“We’re not taking this guy lightly,” he said. “We’re taking him seriously. We’re back here in L.A. He sparred yesterday, six rounds with Karim Mayfield and Shawn Porter, two good sparring partners. And Manny looked very good.

“I don’t see Shane having a chance.”

And what about Mosley’s power?

“He has a big punch … relatively,” Roach said. “Who has he knocked out? (Ricardo) Mayorga? Big deal. That guy can’t fight a little bit. I’m not going to say this will be a good fight to try and sell the fight.

“We’re going to knock him out.”

When?

“I doubt early,” he said. “He has experience. He knows how to survive. We’ll make the fight at a fast pace, our pace. I’d say he’ll stop him in six, seven rounds. … That’s the prize, to be the first to stop him, to show the world how much better we are than anyone else. That’s our goal.”

One thing that could stand in the way of a knockout is Pacquiao’s compassion.

He had a badly beaten Margarito in enormous trouble late in the fight but couldn’t bring himself to inflict unnecessary punishment to finish the job. Roach respects that sentiment but added that it could lead to trouble.

“He’s a compassionate person,” he said. “He ends up liking his opponents as time goes on. He feels sorry for them. I urged him not to do that. He said it’s a sport, that he should try not to kill anyone. I agree with that.

“He was asking (Margarito) if he was OK in the 11th and 12th rounds; they were nodding to each other. One punch can change a fight if a guy gets lucky, though. You shouldn’t let those things happen.”

Will he do it again?

“Yes, he’ll probably do it again,” Roach said.

Even so, if Pacquiao is as sharp as Roach says he is, an aging Mosley might not last long.

 

[heyzel]

No looking back for De La Hoya

By Kevin Iole,



LAS VEGAS – Oscar De La Hoya wants to fight again. Don’t believe a word you hear otherwise. He has carefully observed the sport since announcing his retirement two years ago and believes there are fights he could win, shows he would headline, titles he may claim.

The most popular boxer of his era misses the roar of the crowd, the adrenaline rush that comes with challenging himself against another man and the sheer emotion that comes with having his hand raised in the center of the ring.
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He’s in Las Vegas to promote an HBO Pay-Per-View card at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday and, it’s no stretch to suggest he’d much prefer to be the guy making the long walk down the aisle as the headliner as the crowd roars and the music blares than to be sitting front and center in a suit as the promoter watching Erik Morales and Marcos Maidana do the fighting.

He’s a fighter and fighters never want to quit. They’re forced to quit, but it’s almost never a case of them getting sick of fighting which causes them to walk away. They tire of the pain, of losing, of making the sacrifices a boxer is required to make, and so they quit. Never, though, does the urge to compete go away. And so, if he could, De La Hoya would fight on.

Don’t, however, get your hopes up.

There will be no triumphant comeback. There will be no return to glory. As much as De La Hoya may fantasize about a comeback, as much as he may actually want to do it to fulfill that competitive urge deep inside of him, he’ll be the first to tell you that there’s zero percent chance that it actually happens.

He has arthritis in his elbows and in his shoulders and his back occasionally aches. People remember the handsome, athletic, fast man of a decade ago and imagine him in the ring again. De La Hoya lives with the aches and pains of 30 years in the fight game and isn’t able to call upon his body in that way any more.

“There is not a single day that has gone by since I announced my retirement that at least one person doesn’t ask me if I’m going to come back and fight again,” De La Hoya said. “I get hounded about that every single day. Every one. And I’m not going to lie. There are times I feel I have more to offer, but I am satisfied with what I’m doing now.”

Even if he weren’t, he wouldn’t come back. Rumors floated throughout the industry that he was contemplating a June 18 return against Golden Boy’s latest sensation, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez.

De La Hoya chuckles at the thought. Just going through a workout like the average middle-aged man does at the local health club erases any doubt that he may come back. He’s 38 and he feels every day of those 38 years. A comeback is not on the agenda, not now, not six months from now, not ever.

“My body won’t let me do it,” he says. “No chance. None.”

Two years after the emotional retirement ceremony outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles, he’s working to develop his niche as a promoter. He still appears at news conferences and promotional events, and his partner, Golden Boy CEO Richard Schaefer, insists he’s intimately involved in planning.
Oscar De La Hoya misses the ring, but has adapted well to the role of promoter.
(AP)

De La Hoya, Schaefer said, is as far from a figurehead as could be.

“He has a chart he keeps that has a list of Golden Boy’s future stars, Golden Boy’s elite fighters and which he keeps notes on and everything,” Schaefer said. “He goes and sits with [matchmakers] Eric Gomez and Roberto Diaz and goes over his thoughts and ideas and is learning from the ground up.”

His biggest impact upon the company may be as a mentor to fighters such as Alvarez, who is starting to walk the same path De La Hoya did two decades ago after winning a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

Alvarez is only 20, already a world champion and an idol to millions in Mexico. Before his title-winning effort over Matthew Hatton in Anaheim, Calif., last month, Alvarez credited De La Hoya with providing wise counsel.

“He’s done what I’m doing now,” Alvarez said. “There’s nothing I can’t talk about with him, because he’s been there and knows what it’s like. That makes it easier for me because I can rely on him to help me.”

De La Hoya took three young boxers, Adrian Broner, Seth Mitchell and Danny Jacobs, with him on a USO tour of the Middle East last month. The trip afforded him time to speak to each of them privately and advise them about their careers.

Broner fought Daniel Ponce de Leon on the Alvarez-Hatton undercard and, though he won, did little to impress. Fans and media were turned off by his effort, in which it seemed like he tried harder to impersonate Floyd Mayweather Jr. than he did to win the fight.

On the USO tour, De La Hoya suggested he tone down the flashiness.

“The thing that’s good for us is, Oscar can have an impact with these guys because of his background and because they know he’s done it at the highest level,” Schaefer said. “He takes these guys under their wing, and they listen, and that helps them become better.”

De La Hoya says he’s devoting much of his post-fighting career to reviving boxing. He raves about the work that Dana White has done building the Ultimate Fighting Championship and says he wants to do similar for boxing.

Boxing was once one of the three major sports in the U.S., along with baseball and horse racing. It may never return to that point, but De La Hoya is convinced he can play a role in lifting it from where it stands now.

He’s had conversations with White about White’s blueprint for the UFC and is going to take what he can from it and apply it to boxing.

“We have to bring corporate America into it and run boxing like a business, a real business,” he said. “Our product is the fights and we have to listen to our customers, the fans, and give them what they want. Me coming back to fight isn’t going to solve the problems. We have to take a close look at what went wrong, what works, and put it together to put boxing back where it belongs.”

He’s vague, and short on specifics, but he knows this, not a return to fighting, is where he can have the biggest impact.

It’s this challenge, the most difficult fight of his career, which gets him out of bed in the morning raring to go.

“Fighters come and create memories that last a lifetime, but the challenge on our end of the business is to replace those fighters when they go and to develop and market the new generation of stars,” De La Hoya said. “The career of a boxer is not a long one. As a promoter, I can have the longevity to make the kind of changes in this sport that really need to be made. I love boxing and I want to spend the rest of my life building it up, higher and higher and higher. That’s what I will do every day for as long as I can.”

 

[heyzel]

147-pound contender Ortiz need only look in mirror to explain woe Read more: http://

With his status as one of boxing's top prospects in jeopardy, Victor Ortiz followed a path taken by too many fallen sports stars.

He blamed the media.

"I'm tired of people saying I have no heart or no balls," Ortiz said recently. "At the end of the day, I'm not scared of getting in the ring with anyone."

It's bewildering, really, why Ortiz would look anywhere but in the mirror to explain his recent struggles. After all, he was the one who raised his glove and said no más in 2009 when, under a relentless assault from Marcos Maidana, Ortiz simply chose to quit. He was the one who refused to go for the kill in a majority draw against the light-hitting Lamont Peterson in December, sparking a (justifiable) debate as to whether Ortiz had a killer instinct.

In fact, the only questionable statements being put out there are coming from him. During a recent conference call to promote his April 16 welterweight title fight with Andre Berto, Ortiz told reporters that Maidana was "running left and right, dodging me. When he gets the courage to come out of the closet, he can meet me at 147 [pounds]." He also declared that Maidana, "couldn't put me down," inexplicably ignoring the fact that Maidana dropped him twice before making him quit.

It's true, at times the media can be controversy's accomplice. But Ortiz created this one all by himself. His reputation as a quitter, a fraud, is one he earned, not one inflated by an overzealous media.

Still, the beauty of sports -- boxing in particular -- is that reputations can change in one night. And the 24-year-old Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs) will have a chance to do some serious repair work on his when he meets Berto (27-0, 21 KOs) later this month for Berto's WBC welterweight title. Berto, 27, is an elite 147-pounder in the prime of his career. He has power, speed and a solid chin. A win against that caliber of an opponent would go a long way towards changing the public's perception.

"He's training harder than I've ever seen him train before," Ortiz's promoter, Richard Schaefer, told SI.com. "Sure, I think he is using [the media] as an extra motivator, saying, 'All of you guys who have criticized me, I'm going to prove you all wrong.' Hey, I hope it works."

Now onto your e-mails:

Did Andy Lee's last fight do anything to move him up towards a middleweight title fight? That was an excellent fight, albeit against an opponent many thought he should have easily defeated. But it held my interest more than the pummeling Sergio Martinez gave Serhiy Dzinziruk right after it.
--Neil, Worcester, Mass.

• Lee's a fun guy to watch, no question. But as you said, in his last fight he was in a life and death struggle with an opponent (Craig McEwan) that he should have had an easier time with. Will he get a title shot? It's possible. His promoter, Lou DiBella, wanted to match Lee against Martinez but that idea was shot down by HBO. However if Lee can win his next fight -- most likely a rematch with Brian Vera -- it's possible DiBella tries to put him in with Martinez again, especially if the pool of opponents for Martinez continues to dry up.

I'm a huge fan of the Klitschko brothers. After one of them destroys David Haye, what's out there for them? I mean other than beating up retreads they already have beaten is there any new blood that could offer a challenge?
--Herb, Tulsa, Okla.

• There are a few opponents I'd like to see the Klitschkos matched up with. I'd like to see Vitali fight Tomasz Adamek (which, assuming Wladimir is healthy enough to face Haye, is on the books for September) and then make a long rumored fight with 7-foot giant Nikolai Valuev. Wladimir-Haye is the most meaningful heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson. If Wladimir wins that one, he could finally face undefeated mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin.

One name to keep on your radar: Robert Helenius. He's a 6-foot-7 prospect who obliterated Samuel Peter in a ninth-round knockout last weekend. His resume is a little thin -- his most notable win before Peter was against a faded Lamon Brewster -- but his size and power might make him an appealing opponent for either brother sometime next year.

Good column on Tommy Zbikowski. As a Notre Dame fan from the community where he played high school ball I have always kept my eye on his accomplishments. Let's say the NFL lockout extends into the late summer/early fall. Tommy Z is fighting once a month or so and defeating better competition. If he gets a shot and wins the light heavyweight title, does he get in the conversation as one of the best dual-sport athletes of all time? I mean he is not Jim Thorpe, Bo Jackson or Jim Brown, but a starting NFL defensive back and boxing champion is nothing to sneeze at.
--Craig, Buffalo Grove, Ill.

• I agree, it would be an impressive accomplishment. But I think it would take more than winning one title for Zbikowski to be elevated into that rarified air only because these days titles in boxing have become so easy to win. I think it's well within the realm of possibility for Zbikowski to fight for a title sometime in the next year or two in a division (cruiserweight) that is considered one of the weakest in the sport. But in order for Zbikowski to be considered an upper echelon two-sport star like Thorpe, Brown or Jackson I think he has to win multiple titles and establish himself as the top fighter in his weight class.

Did you happen to ask [Zbikowski] about the head trauma that he is putting himself through? Since football players are being scrutinized about head blows and deceased players are having their brains examined; I find it interesting that he is competing in the two sports that put the player at great risk for concussions, etc.
--Greg, Chicago

• Zbikowski understands the risks. I think that's part of the reason he was so eager to work with Emanuel Steward. Steward likes his fighters to protect themselves with a stiff jab, a style world champions like Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko have mastered. One thing I learned about Zbikowski is that he doesn't fancy himself a knockout artist. He told me repeatedly that he preferred to win fights with his wits and not get caught up in too many toe-to-toe wars. Besides, I don't think Zbikowski has much to worry about for a while. He's Top Rank's golden ticket and I don't think they are going to match him with anyone that could seriously hurt him for quite some time.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...victor.ortiz.mailbag/index.html#ixzz1IphtHNZt

 

[2-0-Sixx]

So I hear Juan Manuel Marquez is going to defend his 135 title soon, then try to fight Judah later. And he's going to extend his contract with Golden Boy. I just don't get JMM, he says he wants to fight Pacquiao more than anything else and Bob Arum went on record several times stating if JMM is a free agent, like Mosley is, he will 100% get a fight with Pac. But if he re-signs with Golden Boy, it's not going to happen. I guess either he doesn't want the fight anymore, or Oscar offered him boatloads of cash or both.

 

[heyzel]

at this point I think jmm don't know what the hell to do but where are his adviser because it looks like the people around him are not making the best business decision for him if he don't take the manny fight

 

[heyzel]

Khan should have picked Prescott as his opponent instead of McCloskey

By Dan Ambrose: With the news that news that Sky Sports has decided to move Amir Khan’s April 16th bout against Paul McCloskey to Sky Sports 3 instead of pay-per-view, Khan is said to be losing as much as £1 million pounds from this move by Sky. The card lacks a co-main event with Matthew Macklin vs. Khoren Gevor being cancelled and the replacement bout Tyson Fury vs. Hasim Rahman going up in smoke after Rahman decided he didn’t want to take the trip to the UK on short notice.

This all leads you to the question of why Khan didn’t choose to fight Breidis Prescott in a rematch instead of selecting for a weaker puncher in McCloskey. Khan made a big production about wanting this fight to take place in the UK rather than the United States, wanting to give something back to his fans by letting them see him fight. However, where Khan seems to have gone wrong is by choosing to fight McCloskey rather than Prescott.

Boxing fans, even ones from the UK, aren’t too familiar with McCloskey and the fight lacked a lot of interest from the very start. Now with the card being pretty much empty of intriguing fights, Sky has decided to take it off of PPV and put it on regular free television. Khan could have avoided this from happening had he chosen to fight Prescott. Khan may have moved past that fight but boxing fans are still interested in seeing that match-up and Khan would have been able to put that on PPV without any problems. The fight would have stood on it’s own.

Prescott may have been considered too dangerous for Khan in a rematch because of how well suited Khan was for his style of fighting. Khan seemed tailor made for Prescott’s hooks and a rematch might not change any of that. Khan would be tested early and often by Prescott, and Khan’s running and short flurries wouldn’t keep him from getting hit on a regular basis. You don’t beat Prescott without getting hit, and Khan would have have had his chin checked.

 

[heyzel]

Dzinziruk vs. Wolak a possibility

By Eric Thomas: WBO junior middleweight champion Sergiy Dzinziruk (37-1, 23 KO’s) could be facing junior middleweight contender Pawel Wolak (29-1, 19 KO’s) next in a fight that could be shown on HBO. Dzinziruk’s promoter wants to put Dzinziruk back on HBO. Wolak, a Top Rank fighter, is reportedly interested in taking on Dzinziruk. This would be an interesting match-up to say the least. I would favor Dzinziruk in this fight unless he’s still feeling the affects from his recent loss to Sergio Martinez. Dzinziruk is a good puncher and he might give Wolak a lot of probelms with his jab. Dzinziruk will have to throw more punches than he did in the Martinez fight, though, if he wants to beat Wolak.

Dzinziruk, 35, was stopped in the 8th round by Martinez on March 12th. Dzinziruk, despite losing the fight, gave a good account of himself and was totally obliterated. He had a few good rounds in there before Martinez stepped up the heat and took him out with some hard head shots in the 8th.

Wolak, ranked #12 WBC, #5 WBA, #10 IBF, #12 WBO, is coming off of an impressive 6th round stoppage over former World Boxing Association junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman on March 12th. Wolak put a ton of pressure on Foreman and eventually wore him down to get the stoppage.
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[heyzel]

Ten Years Ago Today: When “The Prince” Was Humbled By “The Assassin

By James Slater: Ten years ago this very day, a fighter some experts were praising as one of the best featherweights of the last twenty years or so and also as THE hardest-hitting 126-pounder of all-time, met a Mexican warrior who had refined his craft and turned himself into a masterful boxer/puncher.

“The Prince,” Naseem Hamed, then sporting a perfect 35-0 record, faced “The Baby Faced Assassin,” Marco Antonio Barrera, then holding a 52-3 pro ledger. The showdown, at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was widely expected to provide another exciting knockout night for “Naz” - instead we saw a would-be great humbled almost to the point of retirement.

Who can forget the way Hamed, by now trained by the great Emanuel Steward, took so long in coming out of his dressing room for battle? A good fifteen or twenty minutes passed before Barrera, who had made his way to the ring with no fuss at all, was joined by the U.K superstar who was attempting to gain similar status in America. On the way to the ring, carried in as he was by a huge, sort of hoop/swing that held him aloft, Hamed was pelted by unimpressed fans, who threw beer over the deeply religious, non-drinking Muslim. The irony was not lost!

What was lost, though, was the familiar sight of Hamed flipping headfirst into the ring. On this night, unhappy with the ropes, Hamed declined to treat us with his trademark. Was this, along with the inordinately long amount of time it took for him to make an appearance, proof that Hamed had lost his usual self confidence?

Once the bell for round-one rang, Hamed surely lost his poise. Belted so hard he was lifted clean off the canvas, the 27-year-old was saved only by his amazing ability to take a shot and recover. There was a time, though, when Hamed was almost impossible to hit cleanly. Not any more. Months of declining to put in the hard work in training, instead opting to rely on his withering punch power to get the job done, had taken their toll on Naz’ skills. And how the supremely experienced former three-time WBO super-bantamweight champion took advantage.

Hamed remained dangerous all night, and though Barrera hurt him on a number of occasions the unbeaten star never went down. Naz was behind on the scorecards, though, and Marco knew it. Having listened to all the talk the Sheffield man came out with in the days leading up to the fight, Barrera, in the last round, decided he could afford himself a little pay back. Ramming Hamed’s head into a ring post just after an attack from his rival had missed, Barrera reportedly bellowed into his former verbal tormentor’s ear “who’s your daddy now!”

The infringement cost 30-year-old Barrera a point, but he knew he could afford it.

To his credit, Hamed, though beaten soundly, was not thrashed, as some later rethinking of the fight claims. The unanimous decision loss hurt badly, however, and Hamed’s incredible faith in his talents all but disappeared. So too did Hamed, who was not seen in a ring for over a year. After the “comeback” win, a dull points win over Manuel Calvo - in a fight that had none of the old Hamed excitement or theatrics, to the point where fans left the arena before the fight’s conclusion - Hamed disappeared for good.

“The Prince” never did announce his retirement officially, but looking back - Barrera, that night in Vegas, took away Hamed’s desire to ever want to fight the best again.

 

[heyzel]

Lemieux vs. Rubio Featured in WBC Title Eliminator on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights

ESPN’s Friday Night Fights will originate from Montreal, Quebec with a 12-round main event featuring Ring Magazine’s #10 ranked middleweight David Lemieux (25-0, 24 KO’s, WBC#2) pitted against former middleweight world title challenger Marco Antonio “El Veneno” Rubio (49-5-1, 43 KO’s, WBC#3) April 8, at 9 p.m. ET live on ESPN3.com and ESPN Deportes. Friday’s show will be aired on ESPN2 at 11 p.m. ET with Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas ringside at the Belle Center, describing the action..

Lemieux, who’s most recent win is a second-round TKO over Purnell Gates, is taking a step up in opposition against Rubio, his most accomplished and dangerous opponent yet. For more information on Lemieux visit http://es.pn/hLvFEE.

After his last fight, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael wrote, “Lemieux, the super prospect from Montreal, closed out a busy 2010 with yet another early stoppage. The kid fought five times this year and other than being taken the 10-round distance by tough guy Jason Naugler in February, nobody could take Lemieux into the third round. He stopped Hector Camacho Jr. and Elvin Ayala in the first round and Walid Smichet and now Gates in the second round. Gates seemed to clearly hurt his right hand in the first round, grabbing it with about a minute left in the round. A guy with one paw is dead meat. And in the second round, that’s what Gates was. It was typical quick work for Lemieux, who has scored early knockouts against some opponents who were expected to give him rounds. Next up for Lemieux is a title elimination fight against Marco Antonio Rubio, a former title challenger who might at last give Lemieux some competition. But the way Lemieux has looked recently that is probably not a good bet.”

Mexico’s Rubio, has won his last six fights, five by knockout, including an eighth-round TKO against Wilson Santana in his last fight on January 1. Rubio said of Friday’s fight, “It’s a turning point in my boxing career, I know this for sure. I am working very hard to beat Lemieux, and this is my only desire at this time. The fight will be extremely complicated, but I have to exercise my experience and power of my fists.”

Studio host Brian Kenny will present all the latest boxing news and highlights.