Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

Pavlik is expected back on June 8th on ESPN2
April 1st, 2012

By Jason Kim: Former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (38-2, 33 KO’s)n will be back in the ring on June 8th in a fight that will be televised on ESPN2 and will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Vindy.com.

Pavlik will likely be matched against another weak opponent like the one he defeated last Saturday night at the Illusions Theater, in San Antonio, Texas. Pavlik stopped a fighter by the name of Aaron Jaco (15-3, 5 KO’s) in the 2nd round. Jaco was fighting only for the 2nd time in the past six years. Good match-making, huh?

Pavlik’s promoter Bob Arum wants to take him slowly one step at a time to rebuild his confidence and his skills before putting him in with his WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next year, if Chavez Jr. isn’t stripped of his title by then for still not having faced his mandatory challenger Sergio Martinez. If Chavez Jr. does face Martinez in 2012, then the Chavez Jr. vs. Pavlik fight probably won’t happen because Chavez Jr. won’t have the WBC title any longer. Martinez will.

Pavlik said to Vindy.com “It’s pretty much a guarantee at this point. It’s the night before the [Manny] Pacquiao fight [against Timothy Bradley]. Anything can happen in boxing but that’s the way it’s looking.”

Pavlik no doubt wouldn’t mind having his fight put on the Pacquiao-Bradley pay-per-view undercard at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for that to happen because Pavlik is probably going to be matched against another 3rd tier fighter and it might upset fans knowing they’re big money to see a terrible mismatch like the Jaco-Pavlik fight turned out to be. When boxing fans are dumping $55.95 on a PPV card, they like to get value for their money and not mismatches from top to bottom on a fight card.

Pavlik’s next fight will definitely be a mismatch going into the fight because his promoter isn’t ready to put him in with a live fighter yet. Based on the way Pavlik looked last night against Jaco, he’s more than ready to fight quality opposition again. Its’ a waste to use up another year of Pavlik’s career by putting him in with fodder over and over again believing that it’ll his confidence. I don’t know that it will and it’s not useful to spent an entire year putting him in with one weak opponent after another. The talk is that Pavlik will fight three more times in 2012 against weak opposition and then sometime next year, possibly in April or May, he MIGHT get a fight against Chavez Jr. There goes a year of Pavlik’s career. Is that smart? I don’t think it is. I understand two tune-up fights, but not three and not where it consumes an entire year of his career. Pavlik fought only once in 2010 and once in 2011. Does he really need to waste anymore time? Arum needs to make the Pavlik vs. Chavez Jr. fight now while Chavez Jr. still has the title. Waiting and letting the fight marinate will ruin it because Chavez Jr. will get beat or get stripped of his title for avoiding the Martinez fight for too long. Pavlik would have destroyed Chavez Jr. last night. He may be rusty but he beats Chavez Jr. in his sleep. It’s a mismatch.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

god some of these writers are morons. this was only pavliks 2nd fight under Garcia and a totally new environment for kelly. let the man get some experience with his new trainer before taking on a big fight. his fight last night was an undercard fight on a mexican channel and a small card, his fight in june will be on ESPN so its not like he's getting paid big money for tune ups. additionally he's going to fight 3-4 times total this year.

On top of that chavez has a fight already scheduled for june and pavlik said he's not positive if he'll fight at 160 or 168 (his fight last night was a catchweight of 170).

 

[2-0-Sixx]

JuanMa Lopez suspended for one year. Damn that's way too harsh. Dude just got knocked out, his brain was scrambled and he said some stupid shit about a ref. He since apologized three times. Give the guy a break.



Juanma is Suspended For One Year, Plans To Appeal
By Jhonny Gonzalez

Former world champion Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez will appeal the sanctions imposed by the Boxing Commission of Puerto Rico (CBPPR). On Tuesday, the commission announced their sanctions - punishing the boxer for last month's comments against referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. During a live televised interview, Lopez called Ramirez "a gambler" after getting stopped in ten rounds by Mexico's Orlando Salido on March 10th in San Juan.

The Puerto Rico Commission has announced that Lopez is now suspended for a period of one year (after serving time for medical suspension until September), and he was hit with a $10,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.

"We will definitely appeal the penalty, which we believe is too much for a boxer. We are already meeting with Juanma and his entire legal team and to carry out this appeal, "said Peter Rivera, vice president of PR Best Boxing Promotions (PRBBP), the company that co-promotes Lopez with Top Rank.

Lopez recently held a press conference to issue a public apology to Ramirez and he stated during a hearing with a rep appointed by the Puerto Rico Commission that he didn't have any evidence to indicate that Ramirez had a gambling problem.



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Arum Erupts Over Juama Lopez's One Year Boxing Ban

By Michael Marley

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is standing with his fighter Juan Manuel Lopez in reaction to a one year ban handed down Tuesday morning by the boxing commission in Puerto Rico. Lopez was given a one year ban for his comments about referee Robert Ramirez Sr., which followed the Puerto Rican boxer's ten round TKO loss to Orlando Salido on March 10th in San Juan.

Lopez, during a televised interview on Showtime, alleged that Ramirez was a gambler and the alleged activity may have influenced the referee's hand in stopping the fight. The boxer has since aplogized to Ramirez, several times. Besides the one year ban, Lopez has to pay a $10,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.

Juanma is currently under a six month medical suspension, which expires in September. Then the one year ban would begin, and unless Juanma wins a planned appeal - he will sit until September 2013.

"It's absurd," the 80-year-old promoter said by telephone. "It is too severe, especially considering the remarks were made when JuanMa was concussed, when he had just been knocked out by Salido.

"I mean, maybe I could see this if those comments were made the next day or something, when the fighter's head was clear but this was not the situation here. That's like penalizing somebody for making these kind of remarks when they're drunk."

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Hell yeah, this will be a dope fight. I guess Cloud looking bad in his last fight was what it took to finally get a fight with Pascal.



Tavoris Cloud vs. Jean Pascal Title Showdown in Play

By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com has been advised that a light heavyweight clash between IBF champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19KOs) and former WBC champion Jean Pascal (26-2, 16KOs) is close to being finalized.

Both fighters have exciting, crowd pleasing styles and have been rumored to be on a collision course for years. Our sources have stated that the fight could take place in late June or July and Pascal's hometown of Montreal, Quebec is a likely landing spot for the fight.

More details to follow.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Chavez jr. vs Andy Lee June 16th, at the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas

Contracts are not signed yet, but both sides said they are confident the deal will be finalized. Adding intrigue to the fight is that Chavez promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank and Lou DiBella, Lee's promoter, are also working on a deal under which the winner of Chavez-Lee would challenge lineal middleweight champion Sergio Martinez -- who is promoted by DiBella -- in September.

Top Rank president Todd duBoef tweeted, "Andy Lee set for June 16 against Chavez Jr. in El Paso at Sun Bowl."

The promoters have agreed to terms and are finalizing deals with their fighters.

Now he will fight Lee at the Sun Bowl, where Top Rank hopes to draw a crowd of some 40,000 to rival the last fight it did there, an HBO card in 1998 on which then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya defended his crown via third-round knockout against Patrick Charpentier of France.

full article:
http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/i...ez-jr-put-middleweight-title-line-vs-andy-lee

 

[CZAR]

Hell yeah, this will be a dope fight. I guess Cloud looking bad in his last fight was what it took to finally get a fight with Pascal.



Tavoris Cloud vs. Jean Pascal Title Showdown in Play

By Ryan Burton

BoxingScene.com has been advised that a light heavyweight clash between IBF champion Tavoris Cloud (24-0, 19KOs) and former WBC champion Jean Pascal (26-2, 16KOs) is close to being finalized.

Both fighters have exciting, crowd pleasing styles and have been rumored to be on a collision course for years. Our sources have stated that the fight could take place in late June or July and Pascal's hometown of Montreal, Quebec is a likely landing spot for the fight.

More details to follow.

Yea I would definitely want to see this fight. See what Cloud is really made of. Got Em!!

 

[2-0-Sixx]

JuanMa Lopez suspended for one year. Damn that's way too harsh. Dude just got knocked out, his brain was scrambled and he said some stupid shit about a ref. He since apologized three times. Give the guy a break.



Juanma is Suspended For One Year, Plans To Appeal
By Jhonny Gonzalez

Former world champion Juan Manuel "Juanma" Lopez will appeal the sanctions imposed by the Boxing Commission of Puerto Rico (CBPPR). On Tuesday, the commission announced their sanctions - punishing the boxer for last month's comments against referee Roberto Ramirez Sr. During a live televised interview, Lopez called Ramirez "a gambler" after getting stopped in ten rounds by Mexico's Orlando Salido on March 10th in San Juan.

The Puerto Rico Commission has announced that Lopez is now suspended for a period of one year (after serving time for medical suspension until September), and he was hit with a $10,000 fine and 100 hours of community service.

"We will definitely appeal the penalty, which we believe is too much for a boxer. We are already meeting with Juanma and his entire legal team and to carry out this appeal, "said Peter Rivera, vice president of PR Best Boxing Promotions (PRBBP), the company that co-promotes Lopez with Top Rank.

Lopez recently held a press conference to issue a public apology to Ramirez and he stated during a hearing with a rep appointed by the Puerto Rico Commission that he didn't have any evidence to indicate that Ramirez had a gambling problem.



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Arum Erupts Over Juama Lopez's One Year Boxing Ban

By Michael Marley

Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is standing with his fighter Juan Manuel Lopez in reaction to a one year ban handed down Tuesday morning by the boxing commission in Puerto Rico. Lopez was given a one year ban for his comments about referee Robert Ramirez Sr., which followed the Puerto Rican boxer's ten round TKO loss to Orlando Salido on March 10th in San Juan.

Lopez, during a televised interview on Showtime, alleged that Ramirez was a gambler and the alleged activity may have influenced the referee's hand in stopping the fight. The boxer has since aplogized to Ramirez, several times. Besides the one year ban, Lopez has to pay a $10,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.

Juanma is currently under a six month medical suspension, which expires in September. Then the one year ban would begin, and unless Juanma wins a planned appeal - he will sit until September 2013.

"It's absurd," the 80-year-old promoter said by telephone. "It is too severe, especially considering the remarks were made when JuanMa was concussed, when he had just been knocked out by Salido.

"I mean, maybe I could see this if those comments were made the next day or something, when the fighter's head was clear but this was not the situation here. That's like penalizing somebody for making these kind of remarks when they're drunk."

to put this in perspective Margarito was suspended for a year for loading his gloves. most guys who test dirty for peds or a banned substance are suspended for 6 months or so.

 

[WYNO707X4]

Chavez vs lee is good. I think this was plavik first fight with robert garcia..... im glad chavez jr is stepping it up and takes on martinez next. i think he will i been riding with jr since day one war chavez!

 

[Lamberto Quintero]

I like Jr vs lee, but maravilla will box circles around him.

 

[heyzel]

Emanuel Steward Tells BBC Egos Preventing Mayweather-Pacquiao Clash; Recalls How Leonard-Hearns Super-Fight Was “Made On A Handshake In About 30 Minutes”

By James Slater: Legendary Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward sounded like a worried man when speaking with BBC Sport this week. The master of Kronk said, in an interview with the world service, that boxing has changed drastically from the glory days of yesteryear: a time when the best fought the best.

Steward spoke about how “there are too many egos today,” and that “it’s more of a business now and it’s hurting boxing.” Steward began by lamenting the fact that there are no potential classics to be made in the sport’s former glamour division: the heavyweight division.

“Unless some drastic changes come about, I don’t like the way things are looking for boxing,” Emanuel said. “There’s not one dream heavyweight fight- you’ve got Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko and nobody else. That’s not good. What made that era [the 1980s] great was that they fought each other. They could have played politics but they were true warriors.”

Steward wasn’t talking about the 1980’s heavyweights necessarily (although back in that decade we had far more heavyweight drama - most of it provided by Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson - than we do today) - he was actually referring to the lower weights. Today, Emanuel says, the general public are only interested in one fight when it comes to a genuine super-fight; this one being between “two little guys - Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather.”

Yet, as Emmanuel and all the rest of us know, this fight is just not getting made. And it needn’t be the way it is. The top trainer explained how one of the greatest, biggest and most-demanded fights in all of boxing, in Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns I, was made so easily.

“I could see something building so I called Mike Trainer (Leonard’s manager) and I said, ‘Mike, it looks like the public wants to see Ray and Tommy fight and he said, ‘why don’t we meet today?’ I jumped on a plane and we met at an airport coffee shop. Mike said ‘what are you looking at for Tommy?’ I said ‘I want five million for Tommy.’ He said ‘have you lost your mind?’ How much do you think Ray should get? And I said $8 million.

“They were all shocked, they thought I was going to ask for more for Tommy. They stepped out for a minute, came back and said ‘pal, you’ve got a deal.’ I shook hands and flew back to Detroit on the exact same plane I’d arrived on. That’s how quick the deal was made. One of the biggest fights in history was made on a quick handshake in about 30 minutes. There were no egos involved.”

Imagine the same type of scenario unfolding today with Pac-Man and “Money?” Not a chance! Nobody makes deals for Mayweather without him being present. It is of course a good thing when a fighter can control his own destiny in a way fighters from a different time could never hope to. More power to the fighters, of course. But when egos are involved, as Steward says, the public suffers because the mega-fights are seldom made today. Look around - the proof is there to see.

And to think; only if we were really, really lucky would a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight deliver half as much scintillating action as the Las Vegas Super-Fight of 1981 did. Maybe we were just plain spoilt back in those days; when the Bob Arums and the Don Kings led boxing, and guys like Steward could be relied upon by his fighters to get the big bouts made.

 

[heyzel]

Mayweather wants Pacquiao or Sergio Martinez in November
April 3rd, 2012

By Chris Williams: Unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. is already planning ahead of his May 5th fight against Miguel Cotto looking towards after he completes serving his three months jail sentence. Mayweather wants to fight either Manny Pacquiao or Sergio Martinez in November. Pacquiao is the #1 choice, but as the Ring #2 pound-for-pound fighter, Pacquiao will have to accept that he can’t make as much money as the #1 fighter Mayweather if he wants to get the payday fight against him.

If Pacquiao still refuses to accept his smaller portion, Mayweather will move on and face former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez instead. Mayweather’s fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on May 5th is the perfect preparation for Mayweather to get ready for Martinez because Cotto is a big fighter and tends to bulk up to over 160 for his fights. Going from Cotto to Martinez will be effortless and it’ll be a match-up that favors Mayweather due to his speed advantage over Sergio.

Mayweather’s adviser Leonard Ellerbe told adrempress.com “Nobody in the sport deserves a 50-50 split with Floyd, nobody…He really wants to fight Manny. Top Rank knows this…He is fighting Cotto at 154 to prepare for Sergio in the event that Pacquiao loses his next fight.”

That sounds smart. By fighting Cotto, Mayweather is right there and ready to face Martinez if Pacquiao gets whipped by Timothy Bradley on June 9th. There’s no point of ever having a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight if Pacquiao gets beaten by Bradley, because we already saw Pacquiao pretty much get his backside handed to him in his last fight against Timothy Bradley, only to see two of the judges go with Pacquiao and ignore the screaming crowd that saw Marquez as doing the better work in their November fight last year. If Pacquiao beats Bradley, then Mayweather will once again try and line up a fight with him. He may even sweeten the pot a little by offering Pacquiao a little more than the $30 million he offered last time, but Pacquiao is going to have to accept that he’s not going to get a 50-50 deal with Mayweather, because he’s the new #1 pound-for-pound king and Pacquiao is #2. Mayweather Jr. easily beat Marquez, while Pacquiao won what a lot of fans saw as a gift decision.

 

[heyzel]

Bradley: I can nullify most of the stuff Pacquiao does; I can handle his hand-speed
April 3rd, 2012

By Chris Williams: Tim Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) feels confident that he can nullify all of WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao’s main advantages in their upcoming fight. Bradley specifically mentions Pacquiao’s hand speed and his working of the angles to try and gain an edge. Bradley doesn’t see either of those things as being a problem in his fight with Pacquiao.

Bradley said this as quoted by Fighthype.com “There are not too many fighters that can work on angles against me…I have the ability to nullify a lot of the stuff Pacquiao likes to do.I think I can deal with his hand speed.”

Of course, Bradley can deal with Pacquiao’s hand speed. Bradley handled Devon Alexander’s hand speed with no sweat and Alexander is almost as fast as Pacquiao, and about as powerful. Alexander doesn’t throw as many combinations as Pacquiao, but his speed and power are about the same. Bradley was able to get inside on Alexander and really work him over to get him to finally quit in the 10th round. Will Pacquiao quit? No, I don’t think he will but I can see Bradley taking the fight out of the aging Pacquiao to the point where he’s just going through the motions in a fight he’s losing.

This is the first fight for Pacquiao where he’s facing a complete boxer with fast hands, good power and all around boxing skills. Pacquiao has been matched against a number of flawed fighters, some good, some just plain bad. He beat Oscar De La Hoya, who was a really good fighter in his prime, but the combination of age and a crazy diet left De La Hoya weak and unable to fight at his former level. Pacquiao’s wins over Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito were victories over fighters that had lost something though hard fights, the catchweight [Cotto and Margarito] and aging.

 

[heyzel]

Arum might end up being sorry he didn’t make Mayweather-Pacquiao fight if Bradley defeats his cash cow
April 4th, 2012

By Chris Williams: Bob Arum could really regret not making the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight if Pacquiao’s next opponent 28-year-old unbeaten Tim Bradley turns around and beats Pacquiao. Arum waited too long for the Juan Manuel Lopez – Yuriorkis Gamboa fight, wanting to let the fight marinate. Lopez has now lost his last two fights both by knockouts and nobody cares about seeing a Lopez-Gamboa fight.

Some people say that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight hasn’t been made because Pacquiao doesn’t want it bad enough. But I think Arum could have already convinced him if he really wanted the fight. I think it’s like Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer sees it. He believes Arum is going to wait until the very last fight of Pacquiao’s career before he makes the fight.

In that way it won’t be a big deal if Pacquiao loses the fight, because it won’t hurt future pay-per-view because there won’t be anymore PPV fights because of his retirement. But if Pacquiao were to fight Mayweather now, Pacquiao would likely get beaten and and the money might go down dramatic from there.

Bradley has a real chance of beating Pacquiao in this fight, because Pacquiao has slipped a couple of notches in his last three fights. We’ve been seeing that in his performances lately against Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Juan Manuel Marquez. But the fight against Marquez brought it out loud and clear that Pacquiao is starting to fade slowly but surely. If Marquez was able to fight as well as he did against Pacquiao, just imagine what a younger, faster and better inside fighter like Bradley can do to him. And the judges can’t keep giving Pacquiao wins in fights where he appears to have lost it. I think this time they’re going to get it right by giving the decision to Bradley. And I bet Arum will feel awful afterwards because the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will never happen then.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Arum might end up being sorry he didn’t make Mayweather-Pacquiao fight if Bradley defeats his cash cow
April 4th, 2012

By Chris Williams: Bob Arum could really regret not making the Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight if Pacquiao’s next opponent 28-year-old unbeaten Tim Bradley turns around and beats Pacquiao. Arum waited too long for the Juan Manuel Lopez – Yuriorkis Gamboa fight, wanting to let the fight marinate. Lopez has now lost his last two fights both by knockouts and nobody cares about seeing a Lopez-Gamboa fight.

Some people say that the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight hasn’t been made because Pacquiao doesn’t want it bad enough. But I think Arum could have already convinced him if he really wanted the fight. I think it’s like Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer sees it. He believes Arum is going to wait until the very last fight of Pacquiao’s career before he makes the fight.

In that way it won’t be a big deal if Pacquiao loses the fight, because it won’t hurt future pay-per-view because there won’t be anymore PPV fights because of his retirement. But if Pacquiao were to fight Mayweather now, Pacquiao would likely get beaten and and the money might go down dramatic from there.

Bradley has a real chance of beating Pacquiao in this fight, because Pacquiao has slipped a couple of notches in his last three fights. We’ve been seeing that in his performances lately against Shane Mosley, Antonio Margarito and Juan Manuel Marquez. But the fight against Marquez brought it out loud and clear that Pacquiao is starting to fade slowly but surely. If Marquez was able to fight as well as he did against Pacquiao, just imagine what a younger, faster and better inside fighter like Bradley can do to him. And the judges can’t keep giving Pacquiao wins in fights where he appears to have lost it. I think this time they’re going to get it right by giving the decision to Bradley. And I bet Arum will feel awful afterwards because the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight will never happen then.

the same can be said for floyd if he loses to cotto. tired of seeing chris williams articles on here dude is a joke

 

[naner12]

It's awesome how people point at the Marquez fight to show how Pacquiao is slipping considering Marquez did the same thing to Pacquiao before he was a huge superstar and then did it again after. I guess Pacquiao's been slipping since 2004, what a slow slide.

 

[WYNO707X4]

Yup manny should of just ducked marquez after the first fight. Just like marquez and manny they have ducked no one they take risks not take vacations,retire.......self presuer wat ever the fuck lol

 

[heyzel]

Carlos Baldomir, Juan Urango: Two Tough Ex-Champs Set To Fight On

By James Slater: It proves tough for one-time elite fighters to call it quits these days. We’ve all grown accustomed to seeing 40-something ex-champions soldiering on after short, or even long, layoffs - and two well known stars (or near stars) of the light-welter and welterweight divisions are set to engage in further battle soon.

On April 14th in his native Argentina, former welterweight king Carlos Baldomir will face unbeaten but largely untested Argentine Billi Facundo Godoy in a ten-rounder up at middleweight. “Tata,” currently 48-13-6(14) is now aged 40 and he hasn’t had a major fight since his 6th-round stoppage loss to new star “Canelo” Alvarez in September of 2010. Baldomir, who once defeated excellent fighters such as Zab Judah and the late Arturo Gatti, has picked up three low-key points wins since being stopped (for only the second time in his career) by Alvarez.

We don’t know how much Baldomir has to offer whilst fighting so far above his natural weight, but we also have no real idea how good 25-year-old Godoy is. At 24-0(13) “The Kid” has a nice-looking record, but many of Godoy’s wins have come against relative no-names in his homeland. Even a 40-year Baldomir will represent the young hope’s biggest test yet. Hard to pick a winner from this one.

Then, on April 26th, another ex-champ, this one from Colombia, will make a ring return of his own. “Iron Twin” Juan Urango, far more inactive than Baldomir, will face Mexican journeyman Cristian Chavez in Mexico over a scheduled ten-rounds at or around the welterweight limit. Still relatively young at age 31, southpaw Urango should win his comeback fight. 27-year-old Chavez has a modest record at 23-18(11) and he has been halted no less than 13 times.

Urango, who once battled the likes of Ricky Hatton, Andre Berto and who holds a win over Randall Bailey, last fought in March of 2010; when he was stopped in the 8th by Devon Alexander. Like Baldomir, we have no idea how much Urango, 22-3-1(17) has left but, unless he really has gone back, the Colombian should be able to pound out a relatively quick stoppage win at the end of the month.

But even if Urango and Baldomir both win, how much further can either guy possibly go today? Two proud ex-champs, unable to quit the sport they love.

 

[heyzel]

Dmitry Pirog to defend WBO title against Nobuhiro Ishida on May 1st
April 5th, 2012

By Dan Ambrose: In yet another disappointing title defense, WBO middleweight champion Dmitry Pirog (19-0, 15 KO’s) will be making his third defense of his World Boxing Organization title next month on May 1st against #9 WBO Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9 KO’s) at the Sport Complex Krylatskoe, in Moscow, Russia. For boxing fans hoping to see the 31-year-old Pirog step it up against better opposition, this is probably going to be bad news for them.

It wouldn’t have a bad fight between Pirog and the 36-year-old Ishida a few months ago before Ishida BADLY schooled by Paul Williams in a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision loss last February, but the fight is meaningless now. It looks awful when you have a champion like Pirog defending his title against a fighter that was just beaten soundly in their last fight like Ishida was in his loss to Williams on February 25th. That was an embarrassingly easy win for Williams, as he won the fight by the following judges’ scores: 120-108, 120-108 and 120-108. In other words, Ishida lost EVERY round in the 12 round fight. And then he gets picked out by Pirog to challenge for his WBO title. That’s just wrong. The WBO needs to block that move because it looks bad when you have champions defending their titles against fighters that aren’t just coming off of narrow decision defeat, but rather a real one-sided loss.

If Pirog had been taking on some real quality fighters since he captured the vacant WBO title in 2010, you could maybe overlook him taking an easy fight against Ishida, but Pirog hasn’t been facing any notable fighters since he won the fight. He’s defended his WBO title twice against these two fighters: Javier Francisco Maciel in an easy 12 round unanimous decision win in March 2011, and then Gennady Martirosyan in a 10th round stoppage in September 2011. When is Pirog going to start taking on good opposition? He needs to step it up before he ages out of the division

 

[heyzel]

Adrien Broner vs. Monty Meza Clay a possibility for 5/19
April 5th, 2012

By Jim Dower: WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner (23-0, 19 KO’s) would wind up facing fringe super featherweight contender Monty Meza Clay (32-3, 21 KO’s) for the 22-year-old Broner’s optional defense on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson rematch at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dan Rafael reports that the name he’s been hearing for Broner right now is the 5’2″, 31-year-old Meza Clay.

Clay isn’t ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Organization, but he is ranked #12 by the WBA and #15 by the IBF. He could make for a slightly interesting opponent, but not much more than that. Clay hasn’t done a whole lot since being beaten in back to back fights by Jorge Solis in an IBF featherweight title eliminator bout in January 2009, and Fernando Beltran. Solis stopped Clay in the 5th, while Beltran defeated him by a 12 round unanimous decision in June 2009. Clay has also lost to Edner Cherry by a 11th round TKO in May 2006.

I don’t really care for a mismatch between Broner and Clay because the size and power differences between the two of them would be staggering. Broner is 5’7″, while Clay is only 5’2′. That may not mean a lot to some boxing fans but when you add in the fact that Broner is so much faster and stronger than Clay, it has the makings of a terrible mismatch.

Just seeing the two of them in the same right might make some boxing fans wonder why Broner is picking on such a smaller guy, especially if he wipes him out quickly like he did his last opponent Eloy Perez last February in a 4th round TKO win. I’d prefer to see Broner matched up at least with someone roughly the same height as him and preferably someone ranked at least at the 10 spot. Dipping into the rankings to find a short guy for Broner is a little off putting. I’d rather see Broner go over old ground than see him wipe out a guy like Meza Clay who is five inches shorter than him.

 

[heyzel]

Andre Dirrell shines in sparring session against Badou Jack
April 4th, 2012

By Scott Gilfoid: Super middleweight Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) reportedly really impressed fellow boxers in a sparring session with unbeaten light heavyweight Badou Jack (10-0, 8 KO’s) at the Mayweather Boxing Club gym on Tuesday in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to examiner.com writer Chris Robinson.

Dirrell, who is getting ready for a fight in the near future, sparred the 28-year-old Badou for four rounds and took it easy on him in the first two rounds, only giving him a little taste of his speed and power. However, in rounds three and four, Dirrell turned it on and gave Jack the full treatment, hitting him all angles with amazing hand speed that rivaled Floyd Mayweather Jr. Dirrell not only took command of the sparring session, but completely dominated it for the last two rounds with his blazing fast hand speed.

Robinson reports that a number of well known boxers were on hand to witness Dirrell’s mastery, fighters like Yuriorkis Gamboa, Hasim Rahman, Ishe Smith and Roger Mayweather. They all got to see Dirrell work his magic as he gets ready for whoever they can find that’s brave enough to step in the ring against him.

Dirrell last fought in December, beating a tough Darryl Cunningham by a 2nd round knockout in an impressive performance by Dirrell. That was Dirrell’s first fight since his victory over Arthur Abraham in 2010, and it was as if Dirrell had never been gone. He was masterful in that fight as dominated Cunningham from start to finish.

Dirrell is ready to take on the big names in the division in 2012, and wants to get a fight against IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute after gets finished beating Carl Froch in May. Dirrell also would like to avenge his questionable defeat at the hands of Froch from October 2009. If Froch can somehow beat Bute, then there’s always a possibility that Dirrell and Froch can meet up if Froch is willing to get back in the ring with Dirrell. However, the fight won’t take place in the UK because Dirrell already made it clear that he doesn’t want a second dose of being on the receiving end of a controversial, some what say hometown decision. If Froch wants Dirrell, he’ll have to come to the United States to mix it up with him in a neutral venue like Las Vegas, New Jersey, New York or Los Angeles.