Boxing News Thread
- Thread starter heyzel
- Start date
Pacquiao says Mayweather offered him $40 million guaranteed for a mega fight
January 26th, 2012
By Chris Williams: According to writer Nick Giongco of tempo.com.ph, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao says he was offered a juicy guaranteed $40 million from Floyd Mayweather Jr. during their phone discussion with each other, but Pacquiao wouldn’t get any of the pay per view money for the fight if he agreed to accept the offer.
Pacquiao told tempo.co.ph “He [Mayweather] said he would guarantee me $40 million but I won’t have any share on the pay per view and other sources of revenue. How can he leave me out of the pay per view when I generate more than him in pay per view sales? I am still praying that Mayweather gets enlightened because I believe that I am not being unreasonable.”
Actually, Mayweather’s deal would work out to be the same as the 60-40 deal that he offered Pacquiao, so it’s not as if Mayweather is being unreasonable or anything by giving Pacquiao a flat payment. The way thing is going to work out is that Mayweather will probably get close to $60 million, whereas Pacquiao will get $40 million. That’s still roughly twice what Pacquiao has been getting to face guys like Juan Manuel Marquez, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.
That’s a good deal for Pacquiao because he’ll still get two fights worth of money in one bout. He needs to accept that offer if he’s smart because he won’t make that money anywhere else. Of course, there’s another way of looking at this as well.
If Pacquiao is concerned about losing to Mayweather and thus seeing his own PPV money go downward in future fights, then I can understand Pacquiao trying to get as much as he can while he can still make the money. But in that case, Pacquiao shouldn’t really even be fighting Mayweather because he’s going to lose to him no matter what and see his chances of making money in the future likely take a big hit.
Pacquiao might as well keep fighting the guys that his promoter Bob Arum is setting him up with. With the exception of Pacquiao’s last fight against Marquez, where they seemed to have misjudged how much the 38-year-old Marquez had left in the tank, Arum has been doing a great job of careful matchmaking for Pacquiao. He’s putting him in with guys he can beat and keeping him away from guys that can beat him like Mayweather and Sergio Martinez. Look at the guys that Arum is considering to put Pacquiao in with now: Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson. What does that tell you?
Pacquiao will still likely fight Miguel Cotto next if Mayweather doesn’t give him his asking price, but Pacquiao will have to give in and fight him at 150lbs, the weight that Cotto is asking for him to come in at so that he himself doesn’t have to drain down to 147.
Pacquiao’s opponents have generally been the ones that have given in to whatever he wants from them, but in this case we may see Pacquiao giving in. He will give in if he wants the cash from the Cotto bout. If Pacquiao plays stubborn, then he’ll lose millions by facing Bradley or Peterson. It’ll be interesting to see if Pacquiao is smart and agrees to Cotto’s weight requirements or is stubborn about it and refuses to give Cotto the small catchweight and then end up losing millions.
January 26th, 2012
By Chris Williams: According to writer Nick Giongco of tempo.com.ph, WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao says he was offered a juicy guaranteed $40 million from Floyd Mayweather Jr. during their phone discussion with each other, but Pacquiao wouldn’t get any of the pay per view money for the fight if he agreed to accept the offer.
Pacquiao told tempo.co.ph “He [Mayweather] said he would guarantee me $40 million but I won’t have any share on the pay per view and other sources of revenue. How can he leave me out of the pay per view when I generate more than him in pay per view sales? I am still praying that Mayweather gets enlightened because I believe that I am not being unreasonable.”
Actually, Mayweather’s deal would work out to be the same as the 60-40 deal that he offered Pacquiao, so it’s not as if Mayweather is being unreasonable or anything by giving Pacquiao a flat payment. The way thing is going to work out is that Mayweather will probably get close to $60 million, whereas Pacquiao will get $40 million. That’s still roughly twice what Pacquiao has been getting to face guys like Juan Manuel Marquez, Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley.
That’s a good deal for Pacquiao because he’ll still get two fights worth of money in one bout. He needs to accept that offer if he’s smart because he won’t make that money anywhere else. Of course, there’s another way of looking at this as well.
If Pacquiao is concerned about losing to Mayweather and thus seeing his own PPV money go downward in future fights, then I can understand Pacquiao trying to get as much as he can while he can still make the money. But in that case, Pacquiao shouldn’t really even be fighting Mayweather because he’s going to lose to him no matter what and see his chances of making money in the future likely take a big hit.
Pacquiao might as well keep fighting the guys that his promoter Bob Arum is setting him up with. With the exception of Pacquiao’s last fight against Marquez, where they seemed to have misjudged how much the 38-year-old Marquez had left in the tank, Arum has been doing a great job of careful matchmaking for Pacquiao. He’s putting him in with guys he can beat and keeping him away from guys that can beat him like Mayweather and Sergio Martinez. Look at the guys that Arum is considering to put Pacquiao in with now: Timothy Bradley and Lamont Peterson. What does that tell you?
Pacquiao will still likely fight Miguel Cotto next if Mayweather doesn’t give him his asking price, but Pacquiao will have to give in and fight him at 150lbs, the weight that Cotto is asking for him to come in at so that he himself doesn’t have to drain down to 147.
Pacquiao’s opponents have generally been the ones that have given in to whatever he wants from them, but in this case we may see Pacquiao giving in. He will give in if he wants the cash from the Cotto bout. If Pacquiao plays stubborn, then he’ll lose millions by facing Bradley or Peterson. It’ll be interesting to see if Pacquiao is smart and agrees to Cotto’s weight requirements or is stubborn about it and refuses to give Cotto the small catchweight and then end up losing millions.
His Amateur record was 302-16.
Highlights against Daniel Judah and a couple other guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJILRA3DvWo
highlights against Yordanis Despaigne from March 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruEzdTEnxCU
(why can't I embed?)
Highlights against Daniel Judah and a couple other guys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJILRA3DvWo
highlights against Yordanis Despaigne from March 2011:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruEzdTEnxCU
(why can't I embed?)
Malignaggi may not be fighting Senchenko next after Golden Boy losses purse bid
January 26th, 2012
By Jason Kim: Former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KO’s) is reporting that his promoters Golden Boy lost their purse bid to WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko’s promoters.
Senchenko’s promoters put in a winning bid of $1 million, which is a huge amount of money that Golden Boy didn’t want to match for a fight like this. What this means is that the fight could possibly not get made because Malignaggi is reluctant to have to travel all the way to Ukraine to fight the Ukrainian Senchenko (32-0, 21 KO’s) there where Malignaggi might find it difficult to win a decision as the visiting fighter. Malignaggi will have to accept being the visiting fighter and taking what could be less money than he was hoping to get.
Malignaggi isn’t a power puncher, so being able to win a decision would be extremely important for him.
Malignaggi said on his twitter page “I have bad news…Senchenko and Ukraine have won the purse bid for $1 million dollars!!! I have so much to say but I have to hold it in…Hopefully something can happen to get me back in the ring.”
Malignaggi was hoping to get a nice payday out of this fight but it won’t likely happen if he has to negotiate with Senchenko’s team and fight in Ukraine. He’ll probably have to take what he can get and be happy with whatever is offered to him.
The money is one thing but coming into the fight as a visitor will make it all the worse for Malignaggi because you have to really do a lot to beat a champion when they’re fighting in their own country. Senchenko is bigger, stronger and has a better jab than Malignaggi. Senchenko’s game is centered around winning fights by decision, even though he does have a lot of knockouts on his resume, albeit against little known opposition.
You can make an argument that Malignaggi, #2 WBA, is hardly deserving of a title shot at welterweight given his lack of competitive fights since he moved up to welterweight in December 2010 from the light welterweight division. In three fights at welterweight, Malignaggi has beaten Michael Lozada, Jose Miguel Cotto and Orlando Lora. That’s a pretty average bunch to be fighting for someone to get pushed to the #2 sport by the World Boxing Association. It seems that Malignaggi got pushed to the top of the WBA mainly on him being a former IBF champion and a well-known fighter rather than for having beaten anyone of note since moving up in weight. A contender that could have a good chance of beating Senchenko in Ukraine is unbeaten #3 WBA ranked Thomas Dulorme, who punches very hard and could take the judges and the crowd out of the picture by knocking Senchenko out. He could be next in line in trying to get a fight against Senchenko if Malignaggi fails to take the shot.
January 26th, 2012
By Jason Kim: Former IBF light welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (30-4, 6 KO’s) is reporting that his promoters Golden Boy lost their purse bid to WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko’s promoters.
Senchenko’s promoters put in a winning bid of $1 million, which is a huge amount of money that Golden Boy didn’t want to match for a fight like this. What this means is that the fight could possibly not get made because Malignaggi is reluctant to have to travel all the way to Ukraine to fight the Ukrainian Senchenko (32-0, 21 KO’s) there where Malignaggi might find it difficult to win a decision as the visiting fighter. Malignaggi will have to accept being the visiting fighter and taking what could be less money than he was hoping to get.
Malignaggi isn’t a power puncher, so being able to win a decision would be extremely important for him.
Malignaggi said on his twitter page “I have bad news…Senchenko and Ukraine have won the purse bid for $1 million dollars!!! I have so much to say but I have to hold it in…Hopefully something can happen to get me back in the ring.”
Malignaggi was hoping to get a nice payday out of this fight but it won’t likely happen if he has to negotiate with Senchenko’s team and fight in Ukraine. He’ll probably have to take what he can get and be happy with whatever is offered to him.
The money is one thing but coming into the fight as a visitor will make it all the worse for Malignaggi because you have to really do a lot to beat a champion when they’re fighting in their own country. Senchenko is bigger, stronger and has a better jab than Malignaggi. Senchenko’s game is centered around winning fights by decision, even though he does have a lot of knockouts on his resume, albeit against little known opposition.
You can make an argument that Malignaggi, #2 WBA, is hardly deserving of a title shot at welterweight given his lack of competitive fights since he moved up to welterweight in December 2010 from the light welterweight division. In three fights at welterweight, Malignaggi has beaten Michael Lozada, Jose Miguel Cotto and Orlando Lora. That’s a pretty average bunch to be fighting for someone to get pushed to the #2 sport by the World Boxing Association. It seems that Malignaggi got pushed to the top of the WBA mainly on him being a former IBF champion and a well-known fighter rather than for having beaten anyone of note since moving up in weight. A contender that could have a good chance of beating Senchenko in Ukraine is unbeaten #3 WBA ranked Thomas Dulorme, who punches very hard and could take the judges and the crowd out of the picture by knocking Senchenko out. He could be next in line in trying to get a fight against Senchenko if Malignaggi fails to take the shot.
Khan claims integrity of boxing at stake over Peterson controversy
January 26th, 2012
By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) insists that the integrity of boxing is at stake over the poor handling of his fight with new light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s).
The initial controversy that developed in the Khan – Peterson match was when referee Joe Cooper took the unusual step of deducting a point from Amir on two separate occasions during the fight. Cooper deducted the points from Khan for pushing off. Longtime boxing observers were hard pressed to remember another instance in which points were deducted by the referee for pushing off on an opponent.
Khan said in the post fight interview that he felt as though he was fighting two opponents, Peterson and referee Cooper. Khan has stated since the December fight that Peterson came in with his head down numerous times and he had no alternative but to push back on him to avoid being head butted.
Adding to the controversy was the disappearance of the master score card immediately following the fight. The scorecard re appeared a couple of days later in pristine condition leading Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer to suspect that it may have been tampered with.
Adding fuel to the irregularities in the fight was the presence of a “Mystery Man” in the fight who was seen on video interfering with WBA scoring supervisor Michael Welsh.
Initially it was thought that the “Mystery Man” was an IBF official, but the IBF later identified him as Mustafa Ameen and acknowledged that he was not one of their employees.
Ameen, in an effort to quell the brewing firestorm over the controversy in the fight, allegedly said that he was not doing anything wrong and that he was only at ringside pointing out errors in the scorecards. Of course those comments merely made matters worse since Mustafa was not supposed to be anywhere near Welsh or the judges.
To compound matters Ameen is seen in the video after the fight celebrating in Lamont Peterson’s corner.
Schaefer filed an appeal with the IBF in December over the numerous irregularities in the fight. The appeal however was withdrawn when it was revealed that the key players involved, referee Cooper and scoring supervisor Welsh would not be present at the hearing.
The WBA has ruled that Peterson must give Khan a rematch. After initially stating in a post fight interview that he would give Amir a rematch, Lamont filed an appeal with the WBA in hopes of having it’s ruling overturned. It is unclear at this point whether Khan and Peterson will fight again any time soon.
January 26th, 2012
By John F. McKenna (McJack): Former WBA/IBF light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) insists that the integrity of boxing is at stake over the poor handling of his fight with new light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s).
The initial controversy that developed in the Khan – Peterson match was when referee Joe Cooper took the unusual step of deducting a point from Amir on two separate occasions during the fight. Cooper deducted the points from Khan for pushing off. Longtime boxing observers were hard pressed to remember another instance in which points were deducted by the referee for pushing off on an opponent.
Khan said in the post fight interview that he felt as though he was fighting two opponents, Peterson and referee Cooper. Khan has stated since the December fight that Peterson came in with his head down numerous times and he had no alternative but to push back on him to avoid being head butted.
Adding to the controversy was the disappearance of the master score card immediately following the fight. The scorecard re appeared a couple of days later in pristine condition leading Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer to suspect that it may have been tampered with.
Adding fuel to the irregularities in the fight was the presence of a “Mystery Man” in the fight who was seen on video interfering with WBA scoring supervisor Michael Welsh.
Initially it was thought that the “Mystery Man” was an IBF official, but the IBF later identified him as Mustafa Ameen and acknowledged that he was not one of their employees.
Ameen, in an effort to quell the brewing firestorm over the controversy in the fight, allegedly said that he was not doing anything wrong and that he was only at ringside pointing out errors in the scorecards. Of course those comments merely made matters worse since Mustafa was not supposed to be anywhere near Welsh or the judges.
To compound matters Ameen is seen in the video after the fight celebrating in Lamont Peterson’s corner.
Schaefer filed an appeal with the IBF in December over the numerous irregularities in the fight. The appeal however was withdrawn when it was revealed that the key players involved, referee Cooper and scoring supervisor Welsh would not be present at the hearing.
The WBA has ruled that Peterson must give Khan a rematch. After initially stating in a post fight interview that he would give Amir a rematch, Lamont filed an appeal with the WBA in hopes of having it’s ruling overturned. It is unclear at this point whether Khan and Peterson will fight again any time soon.
Brandon Rios and Yuriorkis Gamboa to share April 14th card at the MGM Grand
January 26th, 2012
By Chris Williams: According to Dan Rafael, former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios and former featherweight/super featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa will be sharing the same card on April 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
They were both supposed to be on a March 3rd card but that’s been pushed ahead to April 14th. It doesn’t matter much to boxing fans because neither fighter is rumored to be facing anyone particularly interesting. There’s talk of Rios fighting lightweight contender John Molina and Gamboa possibly facing former WBO super featherweight champion Roman Martinez or Rocky Juarez.
Neither guy would be an earth shattering opponent for Gamboa, and not the kind that would cause the boxing world to take notice or want to cancel appointments to see the fight. Gamboa’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t done a whole heck of a lot with in terms of setting up interesting fights. Arum sat on a potentially interesting fight between Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez for two years, and the fight never happened because Lopez finally got beaten by Orlando Salido.
I guess the best fight of Gamboa’s five year pro career thus far is Daniel Ponce De Leon, which was a decent fight but not one big enough to make a star out of Gamboa. Basically Gamboa got Lopez’s leftovers in De Leon and didn’t look nearly as good as Lopez did in beating him.
Look for Gamboa to be put in with another dull choice by Arum with few boxing fans, other than the hardcore variety, really caring about his next fight.
Gamboa needs to move up in weight to super featherweight and get matched against WBO champion Adrien Broner and then move up again after that to lightweight. There are zero big fights at super featherweight other than Broner, so Gamboa will have to be pushed up.
Rios reportedly has a new nutritionist and is working to keep his weight down low so he can make the lightweight limit this time after failing to make weight in his last fight against John Murray.
Rios may not be long for the lightweight division and that could cripple his career because he won’t likely be such a big deal against the 140 pounders like Marcos Maidana and Timothy Bradley to name just a couple.
January 26th, 2012
By Chris Williams: According to Dan Rafael, former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios and former featherweight/super featherweight champion Yuriorkis Gamboa will be sharing the same card on April 14th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
They were both supposed to be on a March 3rd card but that’s been pushed ahead to April 14th. It doesn’t matter much to boxing fans because neither fighter is rumored to be facing anyone particularly interesting. There’s talk of Rios fighting lightweight contender John Molina and Gamboa possibly facing former WBO super featherweight champion Roman Martinez or Rocky Juarez.
Neither guy would be an earth shattering opponent for Gamboa, and not the kind that would cause the boxing world to take notice or want to cancel appointments to see the fight. Gamboa’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t done a whole heck of a lot with in terms of setting up interesting fights. Arum sat on a potentially interesting fight between Gamboa and Juan Manuel Lopez for two years, and the fight never happened because Lopez finally got beaten by Orlando Salido.
I guess the best fight of Gamboa’s five year pro career thus far is Daniel Ponce De Leon, which was a decent fight but not one big enough to make a star out of Gamboa. Basically Gamboa got Lopez’s leftovers in De Leon and didn’t look nearly as good as Lopez did in beating him.
Look for Gamboa to be put in with another dull choice by Arum with few boxing fans, other than the hardcore variety, really caring about his next fight.
Gamboa needs to move up in weight to super featherweight and get matched against WBO champion Adrien Broner and then move up again after that to lightweight. There are zero big fights at super featherweight other than Broner, so Gamboa will have to be pushed up.
Rios reportedly has a new nutritionist and is working to keep his weight down low so he can make the lightweight limit this time after failing to make weight in his last fight against John Murray.
Rios may not be long for the lightweight division and that could cripple his career because he won’t likely be such a big deal against the 140 pounders like Marcos Maidana and Timothy Bradley to name just a couple.
Bradley and Cotto under consideration for Pacquiao’s next fight; Mayweather out of the running
January 27th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Miguel Cotto is still the guy that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to match against his fighter Manny Pacquiao on June 9th, although the negotiations have reached an impasse due to Pacquiao not willing to fight above 147 and Cotto not willing to fight below 150.
With neither Pacquiao nor Cotto willing to give in on this, Arum has pulled out a plan B in his new Top Rank signee WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, who is more than willing to fight Pacquiao 147. However, Pacquiao isn’t exactly excited about this fight given Bradley’s lack of a fan base and it would likely mean that Pacquiao wouldn’t make the big numbers that some of his recent pay per view fights have made.
Pacquiao told the Manila Bulletin “Yeah, I know,” in noting that Bradley doesn’t have a strong fan base. It seems pretty cut and dried here.
If Pacquiao doesn’t mind not bringing in the same PPV numbers as the last few fights, then he needs to go with Bradley because Cotto won’t be giving Pacquiao a handicap by draining himself down to fight at 147 and nor should he. If Arum and Pacquiao hunger for the money that Cotto brings to the table, then you got to meet the guy halfway. That’s how thing are done in society.
You can’t give people one-sided choices and expect everyone to cave in your entire life because it doesn’t work that way every time, and it looks like it won’t work out this time. Pacquiao is probably going to have to accept the lesser fight against Bradley if he doesn’t want to give Cotto the tiny catchweight he’s asking for. But as a congressman, it would be a good thing to do in order for Pacquiao to seem more open-minded about what other people want. It looks good if Pacquiao is willing to bend for an opponent rather than giving him the it’s going to be my way or the highway type of thing.
Arum doesn’t seem to mind the idea of Pacquiao fighting Bradley, because it increases Bradley’s value as well as it helps set up a fight later against the winner of the Lamont Peterson vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which is being talked about for April. Arum wants a four-man tournament between Pacquiao-Bradley and Marquez-Peterson with the winners meeting in November. I don’t know how Pacquiao is feeling about this but I imagine he’ll go along with Arum if he’s asked to.
January 27th, 2012
By Chris Williams: Miguel Cotto is still the guy that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to match against his fighter Manny Pacquiao on June 9th, although the negotiations have reached an impasse due to Pacquiao not willing to fight above 147 and Cotto not willing to fight below 150.
With neither Pacquiao nor Cotto willing to give in on this, Arum has pulled out a plan B in his new Top Rank signee WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, who is more than willing to fight Pacquiao 147. However, Pacquiao isn’t exactly excited about this fight given Bradley’s lack of a fan base and it would likely mean that Pacquiao wouldn’t make the big numbers that some of his recent pay per view fights have made.
Pacquiao told the Manila Bulletin “Yeah, I know,” in noting that Bradley doesn’t have a strong fan base. It seems pretty cut and dried here.
If Pacquiao doesn’t mind not bringing in the same PPV numbers as the last few fights, then he needs to go with Bradley because Cotto won’t be giving Pacquiao a handicap by draining himself down to fight at 147 and nor should he. If Arum and Pacquiao hunger for the money that Cotto brings to the table, then you got to meet the guy halfway. That’s how thing are done in society.
You can’t give people one-sided choices and expect everyone to cave in your entire life because it doesn’t work that way every time, and it looks like it won’t work out this time. Pacquiao is probably going to have to accept the lesser fight against Bradley if he doesn’t want to give Cotto the tiny catchweight he’s asking for. But as a congressman, it would be a good thing to do in order for Pacquiao to seem more open-minded about what other people want. It looks good if Pacquiao is willing to bend for an opponent rather than giving him the it’s going to be my way or the highway type of thing.
Arum doesn’t seem to mind the idea of Pacquiao fighting Bradley, because it increases Bradley’s value as well as it helps set up a fight later against the winner of the Lamont Peterson vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight, which is being talked about for April. Arum wants a four-man tournament between Pacquiao-Bradley and Marquez-Peterson with the winners meeting in November. I don’t know how Pacquiao is feeling about this but I imagine he’ll go along with Arum if he’s asked to.
SHOWTIME wanted Dirrell vs. Bute, but InterBox prefers Bute-Froch
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it seems that IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24 KO’s) and his promoters at InterBox prefer Carl Froch as the next opponent on April 14th and are willing to still fight him even if it means that the fight might not be televised by SHOWTIME. Wow! Talk about being willing to stand by your ideals, but this is silly.
SHOWTIME wants Bute to face the talented Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) on April 14th rather than trotting out Froch, who was beaten about as bad a fighter can in his last fight against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward last month. You can see why SHOWTIME might be reluctant to pay to show that fight to American viewers because Froch looked like a fighter with arthritis in his arms and shoulders. Talk about slow and rickety.
Froch looked absolutely horrible in that fight and deserved to lose at least 10 of the 12 rounds. I know the scoring was jacked up with a couple of judges coming off with some weird scoring that had Froch only losing by a 7-5 score. But SHOWTIME is in show business and that’s why they didn’t want to see Bute fight Froch after the way he was exposed by Ward, Mikkel Kessler and Dirrell.
SHOWTIME wants to see the best fight the best, and that’s why they their preference was for Bute to fight Dirrell. But InterBox doesn’t want that fight and instead will be looking to put together an April 14th fight with Froch. You can basically call it academic at this point that the Froch-Bute fight will be made unless Bute’s camp doesn’t offer Froch a good deal.
Frankly, I think Froch is insane if he agrees to fight Bute in Canada and this has nothing to do with Dirrell or anything. I just think it’s plain stupid for Froch to fight over there where he might need to not only knock Bute out to win but to knock him out cold to get a win. We all saw Bute’s first fight with Librado Andrade where Bute appeared to be knocked out but then the referee spent valuable time telling Andrade to go to the neutral corner over and over again while Bute was on the canvas.
Does Froch want that to happen to him? Froch is much better off fighting in Nottingham against a top 10 contender and waiting for the smoke to clear from the Mikkel Kessler vs. Robert Stieglitz fight in April. Froch could then take on the winner of that fight and maybe get lucky. Froch won’t get lucky against Bute because that guy will be fighting at home in Montreal, and he’s impossible to beat there with his hit and retreat fighting style.
Dirrell is the real unlucky guy here, because he just got passed over by Bute’s team for a title fight. But Dirrell will get his shot soon enough. Bute will still be there as the champion after he beats Froch in April and I doubt that WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward will waste time fighting Bute after this because Ward wanted Bute to prove himself against an A level fighter like Dirrell, and here Bute is taking the back door to try and get a unification bout against Ward. Forget that.
Ward needs to tell Bute in plain language that he now needs to not only beat Froch, which was never on Ward’s list for Bute to begin with, but also take on both of the Dirrell brothers – Anthony and Andre – and try and beat them to get a shot at Ward. If Bute and his promoter interested in facing the Dirrell brothers, then they obviously don’t deserve to fight Ward.
It’s as simple as that. You can’t take the back door to try and get a fight against the best fighter in the super middleweight division. Also, Bute needs to fight the Dirrell brothers so that it can help bring more interest in a Ward-Bute fight, because right now the fight wouldn’t mean a whole heck of a lot because Bute hasn’t been as visible as Ward has been in the United States in terms of competitive fights.
To be sure, a number of Bute’s fights have been shown on American television but they’ve all been pretty much mismatches against fodder opposition. Bute needs to fight the Dirrell brothers and prove that he can beat ‘A’ level fighters and that in turn will draw interest in an eventual finals type bout against Ward. The thing of it is, I smell fear from Bute and his promoter and I don’t see them EVER facing the Dirrell brothers because I think both of them would beat Bute. But those should be Ward’s rules – no Dirrell brothers, no fight. Bute has to prove himself worthy of fighting Ward and Froch doesn’t count.
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it seems that IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute (29-0, 24 KO’s) and his promoters at InterBox prefer Carl Froch as the next opponent on April 14th and are willing to still fight him even if it means that the fight might not be televised by SHOWTIME. Wow! Talk about being willing to stand by your ideals, but this is silly.
SHOWTIME wants Bute to face the talented Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) on April 14th rather than trotting out Froch, who was beaten about as bad a fighter can in his last fight against WBA super middleweight champion Andre Ward last month. You can see why SHOWTIME might be reluctant to pay to show that fight to American viewers because Froch looked like a fighter with arthritis in his arms and shoulders. Talk about slow and rickety.
Froch looked absolutely horrible in that fight and deserved to lose at least 10 of the 12 rounds. I know the scoring was jacked up with a couple of judges coming off with some weird scoring that had Froch only losing by a 7-5 score. But SHOWTIME is in show business and that’s why they didn’t want to see Bute fight Froch after the way he was exposed by Ward, Mikkel Kessler and Dirrell.
SHOWTIME wants to see the best fight the best, and that’s why they their preference was for Bute to fight Dirrell. But InterBox doesn’t want that fight and instead will be looking to put together an April 14th fight with Froch. You can basically call it academic at this point that the Froch-Bute fight will be made unless Bute’s camp doesn’t offer Froch a good deal.
Frankly, I think Froch is insane if he agrees to fight Bute in Canada and this has nothing to do with Dirrell or anything. I just think it’s plain stupid for Froch to fight over there where he might need to not only knock Bute out to win but to knock him out cold to get a win. We all saw Bute’s first fight with Librado Andrade where Bute appeared to be knocked out but then the referee spent valuable time telling Andrade to go to the neutral corner over and over again while Bute was on the canvas.
Does Froch want that to happen to him? Froch is much better off fighting in Nottingham against a top 10 contender and waiting for the smoke to clear from the Mikkel Kessler vs. Robert Stieglitz fight in April. Froch could then take on the winner of that fight and maybe get lucky. Froch won’t get lucky against Bute because that guy will be fighting at home in Montreal, and he’s impossible to beat there with his hit and retreat fighting style.
Dirrell is the real unlucky guy here, because he just got passed over by Bute’s team for a title fight. But Dirrell will get his shot soon enough. Bute will still be there as the champion after he beats Froch in April and I doubt that WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward will waste time fighting Bute after this because Ward wanted Bute to prove himself against an A level fighter like Dirrell, and here Bute is taking the back door to try and get a unification bout against Ward. Forget that.
Ward needs to tell Bute in plain language that he now needs to not only beat Froch, which was never on Ward’s list for Bute to begin with, but also take on both of the Dirrell brothers – Anthony and Andre – and try and beat them to get a shot at Ward. If Bute and his promoter interested in facing the Dirrell brothers, then they obviously don’t deserve to fight Ward.
It’s as simple as that. You can’t take the back door to try and get a fight against the best fighter in the super middleweight division. Also, Bute needs to fight the Dirrell brothers so that it can help bring more interest in a Ward-Bute fight, because right now the fight wouldn’t mean a whole heck of a lot because Bute hasn’t been as visible as Ward has been in the United States in terms of competitive fights.
To be sure, a number of Bute’s fights have been shown on American television but they’ve all been pretty much mismatches against fodder opposition. Bute needs to fight the Dirrell brothers and prove that he can beat ‘A’ level fighters and that in turn will draw interest in an eventual finals type bout against Ward. The thing of it is, I smell fear from Bute and his promoter and I don’t see them EVER facing the Dirrell brothers because I think both of them would beat Bute. But those should be Ward’s rules – no Dirrell brothers, no fight. Bute has to prove himself worthy of fighting Ward and Froch doesn’t count.
The Five Greatest Trilogies In Boxing History
By James Slater: It’s arguable that, had they got down to business and actually fought when they should have, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao could have even wound up fighting a trilogy together; with fights one and two being so great and so fiercely fought that a rubber-match was needed.
Instead, we have yet to see fight-one (and may never get to see it).
But there have been some sensational boxing trilogies over the years. Here I list my picks for the five absolute best:
1. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier
Quite simply, when Ali and Frazier fought - the world watched! Yes, fight two was a disappointment, but the first and final bouts of the series, “The Fight of the century” and, “The Thrilla In Manila” are as mesmerising to watch today as they were when they occurred, some three decades ago. We can only dream of seeing a heavyweight fight this great today. Ali and Joe were willing to bear their souls in a bid to decide who was the better man and as a result we fans were treated to boxing that was both brutal and beautiful. Both men’s names will be forever linked. It is almost impossible to think of one of them without the other. Sadly, only Ali, recently turned 70, is still with us.
2. Marco Antonio Barrera v Erik Morales
The opening bout of the series was absolutely breathtaking. Neither man was willing to give in and the violent slugfest that unfolded will never be forgotten. As with the Ali v Frazier trilogy, fight two was something of a letdown. But the third and final instalment made up for it. The quality of boxing put on by both Mexican legends was first rate - some even favour fight three to fight one. What almost everyone agrees on though, is that there has never been a better three fight series among the lower weight classes. These fights were fought over three different weight classes, yet despite being heavier men in each subsequent meeting the pace never slowed down. Amazingly, Morales is not only still fighting at the highest level, but he is a reigning world champ!
3. Tony Zale v Rocky Graziano
Boxing Illustrated magazine, when looking back at this trilogy, wrote that these fights were not fights, they were wars without survivors! How could anyone dispute such a statement? All three fights were crammed full with savagery and violence - to such an extent that neither fight ever looked remotely like going the distance. Brutal KO’s were the order of the day when Zale and Graziano met. What is a crying shame though, is the fact that only one fight from the trilogy was ever captured on film - the final fight. As a result we can only read about the first two thirds of the most fierce trilogy of fights in middleweight history. Both Rocky and Tony spring to mind instantly when a fight fan attempts to picture a consummate tough guy.
4. Arturo Gatti v Mickey Ward
More than a few experts made the comment that this three fight series was akin to the vicious and wild affairs fight fans were used to back in the 1950’s. The action packed fights Arturo and Mickey put on actually top most of boxing’s previous match-ups for toe-to-toe slugging and sheer drama. The first fight especially, was utterly mind boggling. Both men gave their all and, as with many of the fighters on this list, their names will always be correlated. Ward wisely retired after the third and final gruelling bout, whereas Gatti fights on still. Ward has been given the full movie star treatment in the recent and terrific “The Fighter” film, while Gatti sadly left us a while back.
5. Riddick Bowe v Evander Holyfield
Another heavyweight series, Bowe’s three fights with “The Real Deal” are the best from the big guy’s division in recent years. Fight one had an incredible tenth round in which both men took turns in landing hurtful shots. “Big Daddy” had the upper hand in the series’ opener though - only for Evander to extract his revenge (despite the idiotic actions of “fan Man”
in the rematch. Holyfiled almost won the rubber match too, courtesy of a stunning left hook that dropped Bowe at the halfway stage of the bout, only for the younger man to come back to stop him in the eighth round of a very dramatic fight, the only KO of the series. Tragically (or potentially tragically) both men still harbour interest in fighting again; Evander whilst almost 50, Bowe whilst well into his 40s.
By James Slater: It’s arguable that, had they got down to business and actually fought when they should have, Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao could have even wound up fighting a trilogy together; with fights one and two being so great and so fiercely fought that a rubber-match was needed.
Instead, we have yet to see fight-one (and may never get to see it).
But there have been some sensational boxing trilogies over the years. Here I list my picks for the five absolute best:
1. Muhammad Ali v Joe Frazier
Quite simply, when Ali and Frazier fought - the world watched! Yes, fight two was a disappointment, but the first and final bouts of the series, “The Fight of the century” and, “The Thrilla In Manila” are as mesmerising to watch today as they were when they occurred, some three decades ago. We can only dream of seeing a heavyweight fight this great today. Ali and Joe were willing to bear their souls in a bid to decide who was the better man and as a result we fans were treated to boxing that was both brutal and beautiful. Both men’s names will be forever linked. It is almost impossible to think of one of them without the other. Sadly, only Ali, recently turned 70, is still with us.
2. Marco Antonio Barrera v Erik Morales
The opening bout of the series was absolutely breathtaking. Neither man was willing to give in and the violent slugfest that unfolded will never be forgotten. As with the Ali v Frazier trilogy, fight two was something of a letdown. But the third and final instalment made up for it. The quality of boxing put on by both Mexican legends was first rate - some even favour fight three to fight one. What almost everyone agrees on though, is that there has never been a better three fight series among the lower weight classes. These fights were fought over three different weight classes, yet despite being heavier men in each subsequent meeting the pace never slowed down. Amazingly, Morales is not only still fighting at the highest level, but he is a reigning world champ!
3. Tony Zale v Rocky Graziano
Boxing Illustrated magazine, when looking back at this trilogy, wrote that these fights were not fights, they were wars without survivors! How could anyone dispute such a statement? All three fights were crammed full with savagery and violence - to such an extent that neither fight ever looked remotely like going the distance. Brutal KO’s were the order of the day when Zale and Graziano met. What is a crying shame though, is the fact that only one fight from the trilogy was ever captured on film - the final fight. As a result we can only read about the first two thirds of the most fierce trilogy of fights in middleweight history. Both Rocky and Tony spring to mind instantly when a fight fan attempts to picture a consummate tough guy.
4. Arturo Gatti v Mickey Ward
More than a few experts made the comment that this three fight series was akin to the vicious and wild affairs fight fans were used to back in the 1950’s. The action packed fights Arturo and Mickey put on actually top most of boxing’s previous match-ups for toe-to-toe slugging and sheer drama. The first fight especially, was utterly mind boggling. Both men gave their all and, as with many of the fighters on this list, their names will always be correlated. Ward wisely retired after the third and final gruelling bout, whereas Gatti fights on still. Ward has been given the full movie star treatment in the recent and terrific “The Fighter” film, while Gatti sadly left us a while back.
5. Riddick Bowe v Evander Holyfield
Another heavyweight series, Bowe’s three fights with “The Real Deal” are the best from the big guy’s division in recent years. Fight one had an incredible tenth round in which both men took turns in landing hurtful shots. “Big Daddy” had the upper hand in the series’ opener though - only for Evander to extract his revenge (despite the idiotic actions of “fan Man”
in the rematch. Holyfiled almost won the rubber match too, courtesy of a stunning left hook that dropped Bowe at the halfway stage of the bout, only for the younger man to come back to stop him in the eighth round of a very dramatic fight, the only KO of the series. Tragically (or potentially tragically) both men still harbour interest in fighting again; Evander whilst almost 50, Bowe whilst well into his 40s.Khan to fight in April or May in a big fight, says Schaefer
January 27th, 2012
By William Mackay: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says he’s looking for an opponent to put with former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) for his next fight in April or May now that it’s looking like Lamont Peterson will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in April rather than electing to fight a rematch with Khan.
Schaefer isn’t mentioning the potential opponents for the 24-year-old Khan but one of them – 40-year-old Shane Mosley – is already known. Mosley says he was asked to fight Khan at a catchweight of 145lbs and he said he’s not with it for that weight but he does have an interest in fighting Khan.
Schaefer told RingTV “He’s [Khan] a very exciting fighter and the networks are after him like there’s no tomorrow. Amir will be in a big fight and that’s all that I’m going to say at this point.”
If Schaefer is referring to Mosley vs. Khan as an exciting fight, then I respectfully disagree with him. I see a Khan-Mosley fight as being one of the ESPN2 type cards on Friday night and not a good matchup if you’re talking exciting fights. It might be exciting if Khan looks as clueless as he did against Peterson and if he’s allowed to shove and pull down on Mosley’s head.
It still won’t be very exciting but I think Khan can beat Mosley with the way Mosley is looking nowadays. I sure hope Schaefer can scare up some better game than that because watching Khan go back to the mismatches he’s been put in consistently since 2008 is frankly boring.
The only two good fights he’s been put in since being stopped by Breidis Prescott are bouts against Marcos Maidana and Lamont Peterson and in both of those fights, Khan was exposed. He’s exciting fighter but as wild as wild can get and completely undisciplined. He needs to learn how to fight and maybe get a new trainer who can sink some knowledge into his head because Khan is still much too amateurish for his own good.
Schaefer needs to sit Khan down and have a long talk with him because HBO likely won’t keep showing his fights if he gets beaten a couple of more times. I think they’ll stick with him through another loss but this could be a regular occurrence for Khan if Schaefer matches him against guys that can actually fight and aren’t shot or totally weak. And if Khan isn’t able to do his normal shoving and pulling down on his opponent’s heads to escape pressure, I don’t know what the guy is going to do because he doesn’t have any knowledge about inside fighting or how to escape pressure without resorting to these fouls.
January 27th, 2012
By William Mackay: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says he’s looking for an opponent to put with former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-2, 18 KO’s) for his next fight in April or May now that it’s looking like Lamont Peterson will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in April rather than electing to fight a rematch with Khan.
Schaefer isn’t mentioning the potential opponents for the 24-year-old Khan but one of them – 40-year-old Shane Mosley – is already known. Mosley says he was asked to fight Khan at a catchweight of 145lbs and he said he’s not with it for that weight but he does have an interest in fighting Khan.
Schaefer told RingTV “He’s [Khan] a very exciting fighter and the networks are after him like there’s no tomorrow. Amir will be in a big fight and that’s all that I’m going to say at this point.”
If Schaefer is referring to Mosley vs. Khan as an exciting fight, then I respectfully disagree with him. I see a Khan-Mosley fight as being one of the ESPN2 type cards on Friday night and not a good matchup if you’re talking exciting fights. It might be exciting if Khan looks as clueless as he did against Peterson and if he’s allowed to shove and pull down on Mosley’s head.
It still won’t be very exciting but I think Khan can beat Mosley with the way Mosley is looking nowadays. I sure hope Schaefer can scare up some better game than that because watching Khan go back to the mismatches he’s been put in consistently since 2008 is frankly boring.
The only two good fights he’s been put in since being stopped by Breidis Prescott are bouts against Marcos Maidana and Lamont Peterson and in both of those fights, Khan was exposed. He’s exciting fighter but as wild as wild can get and completely undisciplined. He needs to learn how to fight and maybe get a new trainer who can sink some knowledge into his head because Khan is still much too amateurish for his own good.
Schaefer needs to sit Khan down and have a long talk with him because HBO likely won’t keep showing his fights if he gets beaten a couple of more times. I think they’ll stick with him through another loss but this could be a regular occurrence for Khan if Schaefer matches him against guys that can actually fight and aren’t shot or totally weak. And if Khan isn’t able to do his normal shoving and pulling down on his opponent’s heads to escape pressure, I don’t know what the guy is going to do because he doesn’t have any knowledge about inside fighting or how to escape pressure without resorting to these fouls.
Andre Dirrell wants Bute in U.S; leaves Shaw & Haymon to become own promoter
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: According to RingTV, super middleweight Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) has left his promoter Gary Shaw along with advisor Al Haymon to become his own promoter with Team Dirrell. His uncle/trainer Leon Lawson Jr. will oversee the promotional company.
This is big news for Dirrell because he’s back in action after a 21 month layoff and he’s on the verge of getting some really big fights and if he’s acting as his own promoter with his uncle’s help, that obviously means more money for them along with a greater freedom to choose the kinds of fights he wants to make.
One of those fights that the talented 28-year-old Dirrell badly wants is IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. However, Lawson Jr. would like for it to take place in the United States rather than in Canada where Bute fights all of his fights.
Earlier today, it was learned that SHOWTIME wanted Bute to fight Dirrell next on their network to show American fans an exciting fight. However, Bute and his promoters at InterBox decided they preferred Carl Froch next for Bute instead of the speedy and very dangerous Dirrell and it’s easy to see why.
Froch doesn’t have one punch power like Dirrell and he’s not hard to hit or lightening quick and the other champions and is basically made to order for Bute.
Dirrell was pleased to know that SHOWTIME had faith in him and his abilities. Dirrell told RingTV “It just lets me know that I’m on the same level as Bute and the other champions out there.”
Lawson would like to get Bute to come to the United States to fight Dirrell when the time comes. It’s obviously a lot safer for Dirrell to face Bute here than it would be if Dirrell went to Canada where he might be put in a situation where he would need a knockout to get a win.
Dirrell may have problems getting Bute to fight him, though, because the Romanian has never fought anyone that was blazing fast and talented like Dirrell and hasn’t much of a drive to face anyone like that. Bute had the chance today but instead they opted to look for a fight against the painfully slow Froch next. By the way, Froch just got totally beaten by Andre Ward so what does that tell you?
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: According to RingTV, super middleweight Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) has left his promoter Gary Shaw along with advisor Al Haymon to become his own promoter with Team Dirrell. His uncle/trainer Leon Lawson Jr. will oversee the promotional company.
This is big news for Dirrell because he’s back in action after a 21 month layoff and he’s on the verge of getting some really big fights and if he’s acting as his own promoter with his uncle’s help, that obviously means more money for them along with a greater freedom to choose the kinds of fights he wants to make.
One of those fights that the talented 28-year-old Dirrell badly wants is IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute. However, Lawson Jr. would like for it to take place in the United States rather than in Canada where Bute fights all of his fights.
Earlier today, it was learned that SHOWTIME wanted Bute to fight Dirrell next on their network to show American fans an exciting fight. However, Bute and his promoters at InterBox decided they preferred Carl Froch next for Bute instead of the speedy and very dangerous Dirrell and it’s easy to see why.
Froch doesn’t have one punch power like Dirrell and he’s not hard to hit or lightening quick and the other champions and is basically made to order for Bute.
Dirrell was pleased to know that SHOWTIME had faith in him and his abilities. Dirrell told RingTV “It just lets me know that I’m on the same level as Bute and the other champions out there.”
Lawson would like to get Bute to come to the United States to fight Dirrell when the time comes. It’s obviously a lot safer for Dirrell to face Bute here than it would be if Dirrell went to Canada where he might be put in a situation where he would need a knockout to get a win.
Dirrell may have problems getting Bute to fight him, though, because the Romanian has never fought anyone that was blazing fast and talented like Dirrell and hasn’t much of a drive to face anyone like that. Bute had the chance today but instead they opted to look for a fight against the painfully slow Froch next. By the way, Froch just got totally beaten by Andre Ward so what does that tell you?
Kessler doubtful about Ward rematch, says he can’t see the American fighting outside of the U.S
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (44-2, 33 KO’s) hasn’t even beaten his next opponent WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (41-2, 23 KO’s), who the 32-year-old Kessler fights on April 14th at the Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark, and yet Kessler is already looking for excuse for why he can’t fight a rematch against American WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
Speaking with Sporten.dk, Kessler stated that he doesn’t think Ward will be interested in fighting outside of the United States, and feels that Americans given Ward grief about that fact. Kessler doesn’t say he won’t fight him but it sure doesn’t sound too promising.
Basically if Ward wants to fight Kessler, it sounds like Ward will have to fly all the way to Kessler’s home country of Denmark to fight him there. I don’t know if Ward would do that or not but I don’t see it as being a problem. I mean, if Carl Froch was able to come close to beating Kessler in their fight in Denmark in April 2010, then Ward will have no problems beating Kessler over there.
Their previous fight in November 2009 was a one-sided fight with Ward winning pretty much every round. Kessler was too slow and couldn’t stop Ward’s fast lead right hand and his powerful jab. It was a totally one-sided fight from start to finish, and yeah, I know a lot of Kessler’s fans from Europe have tried to explain away Kessler’s loss by blaming it on Ward head-butting Kessler but that’s not the reason he lost.
Kessler lost because he didn’t have enough talent plain and simple. Kessler was too slow, too wide open defensively and too crappy. But I really got to hand it to him; I like the shot across the bow from Kessler already hinting that there won’t be a Kessler-Ward rematch. I bet he’s shaking in his boots about a fight against Ward again and wanted to make sure he got the excuse out there early enough to take away some of the early calls for a Ward-Kessler rematch.
January 27th, 2012
By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Mikkel Kessler (44-2, 33 KO’s) hasn’t even beaten his next opponent WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (41-2, 23 KO’s), who the 32-year-old Kessler fights on April 14th at the Parken, Copenhagen, Denmark, and yet Kessler is already looking for excuse for why he can’t fight a rematch against American WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward.
Speaking with Sporten.dk, Kessler stated that he doesn’t think Ward will be interested in fighting outside of the United States, and feels that Americans given Ward grief about that fact. Kessler doesn’t say he won’t fight him but it sure doesn’t sound too promising.
Basically if Ward wants to fight Kessler, it sounds like Ward will have to fly all the way to Kessler’s home country of Denmark to fight him there. I don’t know if Ward would do that or not but I don’t see it as being a problem. I mean, if Carl Froch was able to come close to beating Kessler in their fight in Denmark in April 2010, then Ward will have no problems beating Kessler over there.
Their previous fight in November 2009 was a one-sided fight with Ward winning pretty much every round. Kessler was too slow and couldn’t stop Ward’s fast lead right hand and his powerful jab. It was a totally one-sided fight from start to finish, and yeah, I know a lot of Kessler’s fans from Europe have tried to explain away Kessler’s loss by blaming it on Ward head-butting Kessler but that’s not the reason he lost.
Kessler lost because he didn’t have enough talent plain and simple. Kessler was too slow, too wide open defensively and too crappy. But I really got to hand it to him; I like the shot across the bow from Kessler already hinting that there won’t be a Kessler-Ward rematch. I bet he’s shaking in his boots about a fight against Ward again and wanted to make sure he got the excuse out there early enough to take away some of the early calls for a Ward-Kessler rematch.
Marquez: I’ll sign the contract for Peterson fight if I can get Pacquiao 4th fight
January 27th, 2012
By Chris William: Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) could be facing IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) in April in fight for the 38-year-old Marquez’s fourth division world title at the Cowvboy’s Stadium in Arlington, Texas, according to RingTV.
Marquez says he’ll agree to this fight if he can get a guarantee for a fourth fight against Manny Pacquiao, who he lost to recently by a controversial 12 round decision last November in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Peterson-Marquez fight would be part of Bob Arum’s brainchild idea of a four-fighter tournament. The other fight will be Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley. The winner of the two fights will meet up in November in the finals. Floyd Mayweather Jr. obviously won’t be a part of any of this.
Marquez says he’ll be signing the contract for the Peterson fight in a week or two. His promoter Fernando Beltran is working on the deal.
Marquez told RingTV “I told Fernando that I will only sign the contract [for Peterson fight] if you give me the fight with Manny. I won’t sign the Peterson contract if you won’t give me the fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.”
There it is. It’s going to be a tit for tat thing where Bob Arum is going to have to give Marquez a fourth fight with Pacquiao if he wants Marquez to fight Peterson to make the four fighter tourney a reality.
Arum has got the right idea by putting Marquez in the Cowboys’ Stadium because Marquez will likely draw a huge crowd and if Arum puts a decent undercard with this fight, it could bring in decent numbers. I wonder if the numbers will be anything close to 41,000 that Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito brought in when they fought at the Cowboys Stadium in 2010.
Marquez-Peterson isn’t a bad fight. Peterson likes to punch on the inside but he’s not as good on the inside as Marquez and this could be the one of the rare occasions where Peterson is out of his league.
January 27th, 2012
By Chris William: Juan Manuel Marquez (53-6-1, 39 KO’s) could be facing IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (30-1-1, 15 KO’s) in April in fight for the 38-year-old Marquez’s fourth division world title at the Cowvboy’s Stadium in Arlington, Texas, according to RingTV.
Marquez says he’ll agree to this fight if he can get a guarantee for a fourth fight against Manny Pacquiao, who he lost to recently by a controversial 12 round decision last November in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Peterson-Marquez fight would be part of Bob Arum’s brainchild idea of a four-fighter tournament. The other fight will be Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley. The winner of the two fights will meet up in November in the finals. Floyd Mayweather Jr. obviously won’t be a part of any of this.
Marquez says he’ll be signing the contract for the Peterson fight in a week or two. His promoter Fernando Beltran is working on the deal.
Marquez told RingTV “I told Fernando that I will only sign the contract [for Peterson fight] if you give me the fight with Manny. I won’t sign the Peterson contract if you won’t give me the fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao.”
There it is. It’s going to be a tit for tat thing where Bob Arum is going to have to give Marquez a fourth fight with Pacquiao if he wants Marquez to fight Peterson to make the four fighter tourney a reality.
Arum has got the right idea by putting Marquez in the Cowboys’ Stadium because Marquez will likely draw a huge crowd and if Arum puts a decent undercard with this fight, it could bring in decent numbers. I wonder if the numbers will be anything close to 41,000 that Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito brought in when they fought at the Cowboys Stadium in 2010.
Marquez-Peterson isn’t a bad fight. Peterson likes to punch on the inside but he’s not as good on the inside as Marquez and this could be the one of the rare occasions where Peterson is out of his league.
Arum offers Mayweather $45 million for Pacquiao fight
January 28th, 2012
By Chris Williams: In a rather childish move, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. a counter offer of $45 million to fight his guy Manny Pacquiao on June 9th, according to the Manila Standard.
This offer from Arum was in response to the $40 million offer that Mayweather had given to Pacquiao to take for the fight, which entailed that Pacquiao would get that money only and Mayweather would be entitled to all of the pay per view profits and other outside areas for revenue for the fight.
Arum told the Manila Standard writer Ronnie Nathanielsz “I am offering Mayweather $45 million under the same conditions he offered Pacquiao.”
That offer from Arum means that there won’t be a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, which means that Pacquiao will have to settle for making around half that amount for his next fight against whoever Arum digs up for him. It seems to be that it would be better off for Pacquiao to take the $45 million than receiving a little more than $20 million for his next fight. He’s losing close to $20 million by not taking the Mayweather fight.
According to the Manila Standard, the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight will bring in as much as $150 million. I don’t believe that number for a second. I think that’s probably about $70 million too much. But the thing is the longer Arum dilly dallies around by keeping Pacquiao fighting his other fighters, it’s likely to cause the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout to make less money over time.
The longer you wait, the less interest there is in boxing fans seeing this fight, especially with Pacquiao beginning to show signs of aging and slowing down. He could beat and then there won’t be that $45 million anymore. It could drop real low for him once he gets whipped by one of the guys that Arum is matching Pacquiao up with.
January 28th, 2012
By Chris Williams: In a rather childish move, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum gave Floyd Mayweather Jr. a counter offer of $45 million to fight his guy Manny Pacquiao on June 9th, according to the Manila Standard.
This offer from Arum was in response to the $40 million offer that Mayweather had given to Pacquiao to take for the fight, which entailed that Pacquiao would get that money only and Mayweather would be entitled to all of the pay per view profits and other outside areas for revenue for the fight.
Arum told the Manila Standard writer Ronnie Nathanielsz “I am offering Mayweather $45 million under the same conditions he offered Pacquiao.”
That offer from Arum means that there won’t be a fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather, which means that Pacquiao will have to settle for making around half that amount for his next fight against whoever Arum digs up for him. It seems to be that it would be better off for Pacquiao to take the $45 million than receiving a little more than $20 million for his next fight. He’s losing close to $20 million by not taking the Mayweather fight.
According to the Manila Standard, the Pacquiao vs. Mayweather fight will bring in as much as $150 million. I don’t believe that number for a second. I think that’s probably about $70 million too much. But the thing is the longer Arum dilly dallies around by keeping Pacquiao fighting his other fighters, it’s likely to cause the Mayweather-Pacquiao bout to make less money over time.
The longer you wait, the less interest there is in boxing fans seeing this fight, especially with Pacquiao beginning to show signs of aging and slowing down. He could beat and then there won’t be that $45 million anymore. It could drop real low for him once he gets whipped by one of the guys that Arum is matching Pacquiao up with.