Boxing News Thread

[heyzel]

David Reid - Sad Article Inside



The room is small, dimly lit, but clean.

A flat-screen TVPosted Image sits in the tiny parlor where the curtains are always drawn. Boxing magazines and books are splayed out across the floor and kitchen table, but the room is empty, devoid of any presence or personality.

David Reid prefers it this way. The 1996 Olympic gold medalist lives a cloistered, almost monastic life by choice. Reid rarely ventures from his modest two-bedroom apartmentPosted Image complex in Marquette, Mich., where he’s lived for the past seven years.

His days are spent reading various magazines and books – alone. He eats alone. He works out alone. He attends church alone.

Reid feels safe in the cocoon he’s created. More importantly, he knows where he is and that he can’t get lost, because there was a time when Reid was lost.

There was a time the Philadelphia native, who recieved a million-dollar pro signing bonus and debuted on HBO, ate his Thanksgiving dinnerPosted Image in a homeless shelter. There was a time when America’s Olympic hero came close to dying from heat exposure while sitting alone in his car during one of the hottest summers in Michigan’s history.

Those are the dark years, a time when Reid lost faith in friends and family. All are now gone, no longer a part of his life.

Reid doesn’t recall much from this time.

He doesn’t remember the details of that sweltering summerPosted Image day in 2005 when he sat in his car with the windows up, sweat raining down his face as he voraciously paged through his books, numb to what was happening to his overheated body.

The next thing Reid knew he was in the hospital. Reid survived and recovered, but he's not alright.

Today, Reid is about 30 pounds heavier than his fighting weight. He gets around well, but his speech comes in slow, halting starts and stops, each word measured.

He battles depression and far-ranging mood swings. Some days are good, some not so good.

altIt’s difficult to believe this same human being was one of the biggest stories of the ’96 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Reid’s come-from-behind one-punch knockout of Cuban Alfredo Duvergel instantly generated worldwide fame. Reid, the lone American gold medalist in boxing, became the toast of a U.S. squad that included Floyd Mayweather Jr., Antonio Tarver and Fernando Vargas.

Those who watched the bout on NBC will never forget Marv Albert screaming, “Down goes Duvergel, Duvergel is hurt, David Reid connecting … It’s all over … David Reid has stunned Duvergel … In dramatic fashion, he has won the gold … What a moment for David Reid!”

Those who saw his ultimate triumph will never forget Reid jumping up and down all over the ring, hugging his coach and mentor, Al Mitchell, and waving a little American flag. It looked like a fairytale beginning for a good, genial kid that somehow survived the urban blight of North Philly.

Those were the good times, the moments fans thought Reid would always hold dear. However, he doesn’t, not anymore. Reid has pushed away those golden memories in favor of withdrawing from the outside world.

“I … like … to … be … by … myself,” Reid admitted in a halting, broken cadence. “I haven’t been doing much lately. I stay in the church. That’s about it and I take care of myself. I have an apartment in Marquette, Michigan, and I live. I don’t do anything at all. I was working out at one point with Al, but I… I… I’m not doing anything with boxing at all.

“I wouldn’t want to get into training and coaching or anything like that. I still have the eye problemPosted Image and I can’t fight anymore. I still love the sport. Ever since I was a kid, I fell in love with the sport. (But) I didn’t get enough rewards from the sport. It’s why I would rather not have anything to do with the sport.

“I don’t want anything to do with the sport at all.”

Reid doesn’t like to look up when he speaks to people. He’s self conscious about his droopy left eyelid, which looks far better than when he was fighting. He doesn’t see it that way. It’s one of the reasons Reid doesn’t like going out.

It's why he insulates himself inside a shell filled with books and magazines.They don’t stare back.

“I’m not going to say I look good or feel good. I train to keep my body in shape, and right now, I just read,” he said. “My whole take on life is not to have anything to do with boxing at all. I’m doing okay with everything else.”

 

[heyzel]

Ellerbe: Canelo has a lot of weaknesses; Roger & Floyd Sr. are aware of them
August 22nd, 2013 | Post Comment - 1 Comment
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By Dan Ambrose: Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO of Mayweather Promotions, says he’s seen a lot of WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and noticed a lot of different areas that will be exploited by unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) on September 14th in their fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ellerbe says that trainers Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Roger Mayweather are also aware of Canelo’s weaknesses.

Ellerbe said to Hustleboss.com “Oh yeah, he [Canelo] has a lot of weaknesses, and Floyd’s dad and Roger are very aware of what those weaknesses are, and Floyd will be able to deal with that on September 14th.”

It seems pretty clear what those weaknesses are even without Ellerbe having to spill his guts to say what those areas are. For starters, Canelo has major stamina issues, likely due to his habit of draining down from the upper 160s to low 170s to fight in order to make weight at 154 lbs. for him to fight lighter guys in the welterweight division [147].

Taking off 18 lbs. in 1 week and then putting it back on within 24 hours, it’s got to be hard on his body to do that kind of thing each time he fights. It doesn’t matter that Canelo is 23-years-old; putting your body through an ordeal like that, and going out and competing at a high level, it’s probably not a healthy thing to do in regards to what it does to your body in a 24 hour period.

That could be the major reason why Canelo has had stamina issues. If he would just fight at his normal weight in the 170s against super middleweights or light heavyweights, Canelo would probably have more energy. The problem with that are, guys his own size like Carl Froch and Andre Ward would likely totally dominate him in one-sided fights. But in fighting smaller guys, Canleo has the chance to stomp them early before his stamina issues comes into play.

Another weakness that Canelo has is with his flat-footed style of fighting. That problem could feed into Canelo’s stamina issues. He’s so-heavy bodied for the junior middleweight division that it’s not easy to move that kind of weight around, especially when you just put it back on 24 hours before the fight in rehydrating. You go from walking around at 154 lbs. to suddenly walking around at 172 lbs, and that could have the effect of making you a flat-footed fighter.

 

[heyzel]

Stevens: I’m going to put Golovkin to sleep; I’m going to kill GG
August 21st, 2013 | Post Comment - 53 Comments
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Golovkin Stevens Golovkin vs. Stevens Curtis Stevens gennady golovkin By Dan Ambrose: #5 WBC, #6 IBF, Curtis Stevens 25-3, 18 KO’s) can’t wait to get WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO’s) to try and knock him out in their agreed upon fight on November 2nd on HBO at the Madison Square Garden Theater, in New York, New York, USA.

The fight hasn’t been signed yet, but it’s expected to be shortly. Stevens, only 5’7”, packs a big punch, and he’ll be the first opponent that Golovkin has fought who has legitimate one-punch knockout power.

Stevens said on his twitter today, “If I’m p*****g GGG off, WTF y’all think ya’ll doing to me. In f**** mind I’m getting destroyed. My fuel to my fire. My motivation. I’m going to kill GG. I can’t wait to put his a** to zzz, and talk M @Max _kellerman [of HBO] and say what the f***. I told you so.”

It would be easier to believe in Stevens if he hadn’t been beaten by Jesse Brinkley in a 12 round unanimous decision loss three years ago. For that matter, Stevens struggled to beat journeyman Derrick Findley by an 8 round unanimous decision in a fight that was a lot closer than the final scores that were handed down in the April fight.

Stevens was also out-boxed by Andre Dirrell in June 2007 in a 10 round unanimous decision loss. It’s not that Stevens doesn’t have good power. Stevens’ problem is he can be out-boxed, he doesn’t move well around the ring, and he’s short even for a middleweight. Stevens had been fighting at 168, but he finally made the smart move in coming down to 160 last year. He’s eben a lot better since then.

Stevens is easy to hit, and he’s never faced anyone with Golovkin’s power. Stevens seems to take a pretty head shot, but he’s going to be getting hit with a lot of hard body shots against Golovkin, and that could make Stevens look very mortal.

 

[heyzel]

De La Hoya: My fighter [Canelo] is going to kick Mayweather’s a**!
August 22nd, 2013 | Post Comment - 52 Comments
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Mayweather Canelo Mayweather vs. Canelo saul alvarez oscar de la hoya floyd mayweather jr By Dan Ambrose: Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions sees his fighter WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) handing unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) his first loss of his career on September 14th in their fight on Showtime pay per view.

De La Hoya thinks he’s got the younger, stronger, smarter and more talented fighter in 23-year-old Canelo, and he expects him to beat Mayweather Jr. soundly in front of a nationwide audience. De La Hoya sees this as the beginning of big things for the junior middleweight, which Golden Boy tends to match up against a lot of welterweights.

De La Hoya said this about Mayweather: “I respect that he’s beaten everybody. He still has that ‘O’ on his record. What Mayweather has to understand is my fighter [Canelo] is going to kick you’re a**!”

The only thing you can say about De La Hoya and Canelo is that if the red-haired Mexican fighter can’t beat Mayweather Jr. with a 20 pound weight advantage in coming into the fight over 170 lbs, then that’s a pretty sad statement about Canelo. If you gave Mayweather a weight advantage like that and asked him to fight someone 20 pounds lighter than him in the super featherweight division [130 lbs], I can’t see anyone in that division hanging with Mayweather.

Throw Mikey Garcia in the ring with Mayweather Jr. and Mikey would get clowned by Mayweather. But if Canelo can’t even hang with Mayweather Jr. with a 20 lb. weight advantage, then Oscar is going to have to start picking out more light welterweights for Canelo to fight, because it’s going to look bad if Mayweather Jr. ends up schooling Canelo in front of the entire world on September 14th.

Canelo will literally look like he’s 3 weight divisions heavier than Mayweather Jr., and yet it won’t help him unless Mayweather Jr. stays and one place and lets Canelo tee off on him. I don’t think Mayweather Jr. is going to do that. He’s not like the guys that Golden Boy has been digging up for Canelo to fight at 147.

 

[heyzel]

Floyd Sr. believes Broner vs. Mayweather Jr. Fight could happen
August 22nd, 2013 | Post Comment - 47 Comments
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floyd mayweather jr adrien broner By Allan Fox: Floyd Mayweather Sr. thinks it’s highly possible that his son Mayweather Jr (44-0, 26 KO’s) could end up facing unbeaten Mayweather-like Adrien Broner (27-0, 22 KO’s) in the near future if Broner does something that Floyd Jr. doesn’t like. Under that circumstance, Floyd Sr. thinks his son will forget about his friendship with Broner and agree to fight him in the ring. Right now Broner says he would never face his “big brother”, because he sees him as family.

Floyd Sr. told Mlive.com “There can always be something there that makes you fight. You say you ain’t gonna do this, you ain’t going to do that/ Let something go wrong. Let Broner says something wrong that Floyd don’t like.”

Floyd Sr. sees Broner as the best of the Mayweather Jr. imitators, but he pictures Broner coming apart at the seams when he eventually faces a quality fighter. Floyd Sr. thinks Broner will drop all the stuff he’s learned from watching Mayweather Jr. such as using the shoulder roll, and fight like he did before he started using Mayweather fighting style. In other words, Floyd Sr. doesn’t think Broner will do well when the day comes for him to face a really good fighter.

Floyd Sr. has a point. Broner didn’t look so hot against Paulie Malignaggi, and if he faces someone like Keith Thurman, all of the Mayweather stuff that Broner has been using could deteriorate in the process of him getting beaten.

There are some boxing fans who think Golden Boy Promotions is positioning Broner to be the replacement for Mayweather Jr. once he’s gone from the sport. Golden Boy already has a proposed pay per view card with Broner headlining it against Marcos Maidana on November 9th, and it looks like Broner’s fights are now going to be PPV events from now on. Can Broner sell like Floyd Jr. or even someone like Miguel Cotto? If Broner is the next Mayweather Jr, it’s going to be a watered down, weakened version.

A fight between Broner and Mayweather Jr. would be interesting as part of Mayweather’s 6-fight contract with Showtime. Broner would be over his head in that fight, and he would have to improve in every part of his game to keep from getting dominated. Right now, it would be a mismatch from start to finish with Mayweather Jr. working Broner over, and making him look like the pupil.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Can you guess who this is in the picture before reading the article?????!!!!!

Full Article:

Merrill: Tommy Morrison's latest big fight - ESPN

In a house on the edge of a dead-end road, an old woman waits for her son to die. The call will come any day now, she says, and when it does, she wants her youngest boy to be buried in Sulphur Springs, Ark., with the rest of the family. She dreads and hopes for this call, if that makes any sense. Only none of it makes sense.

Diana Morrison crushes a Pall Mall, lights another and dissects her son's fate. She's matter-of-fact about it, barely emotional, perhaps because Tommy Morrison, former World Boxing Organization champion, former HIV cautionary tale, has stared at death before. But this time it's different.

She says he has full-blown AIDS. She believes he's in his final days. His skin is jaundiced; his liver is failing. "He's too far gone," she says, flashing an incredulous look when asked whether he could recover. "He's in the end stages. That's it." She says Morrison has been bedridden for a year, can't speak and is being kept alive with the help of a feeding tube and a ventilator.

[+] EnlargeTommy Morrison
Bobby Bank/Getty ImagesTommy Morrison in April 2011 at an event in Parsippany, N.J.

"I talk to him on the phone," she says. "I tell him that the family loves him, he's always in our prayers. What can you say to him? I don't tell him to keep fighting or nothing, because I want him to go."

She is interrupted by her ex-husband, who's living with her now because he's had a couple of strokes. Tim Morrison wraps his arms around Diana, and she tells him to go lie down, but he keeps pacing around the house with a blank look on his face.

It's the middle of the afternoon, but the house is dark. Diana lights another cigarette. She is slight but imposing, harsh but sentimental; she's a woman with tattoos on her arm and her great-granddaughter's pink bike parked outside the house.

Diana gets up off her chair and searches for proof of her son's status, pulling down a picture from the wall. It captures one of the last times she saw her son. She's not good with dates, and can't remember when it was taken, but Tommy is thin, gray-bearded -- barely recognizable as the strapping, confident man from six years ago who swore he was not HIV-positive and vowed a comeback. In the photo on the wall, he looks lost.

It's been about a year since she last saw him. It's complicated. She just had back surgery; he's been shuffled to various health care facilities in at least three states. She says she doesn't have the money to leave her house in Aurora, Mo., and drive hundreds of miles to see him. There's tension between her and Morrison's wife, Trisha, and at the moment, it seems thick. In her heart, Diana believes her daughter-in-law loves Tommy, but is keeping him alive through extraordinary means. She says Tommy wouldn't want it this way.

She says Trisha, like Tommy, doesn't believe he has HIV.

"Tommy blowed smoke up her butt about it," Diana Morrison says. "He's been in denial ever since he's had it. So he's blown smoke up her rear end and got her believing."

The women communicate daily by text. It's easier that way. Diana says he's in a hospital somewhere in Nebraska. Morrison's wife, reached by phone, declines to say where he is. She doesn't want the hospital to be inundated with reporters and visitors. "He is somewhere," she says, and adds that she is touching his arm as we speak. She says he was to have surgery Thursday to replace a gastrointestinal tube. She is steadfast that his illness is not HIV-related.

Since Feb. 10, 1996, when the Nevada Athletic Commission said Morrison tested positive for HIV before a fight, the 44-year-old has spent most of his days dodging the diagnosis. And now Trisha Morrison, who married Tommy two years ago, is carrying on that battle. She says both of them question whether the virus exists in him, and if it exists at all.

She says Morrison's health issues began more than a year and a half ago, when a doctor left a 12-foot piece of surgical gauze in his chest for eight days. She declines to name the hospital or doctor, only that it happened in Tennessee. Things got worse, she says, when he contracted Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an ailment in which the immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. She says Morrison has the rare Miller Fisher variant, which manifests as a descending paralysis.

She has hope, but it's all up to Tommy now, she says. God and Tommy. She hangs up the phone, and texts a photo of a gift she says Tommy gave her before he got sick. It's a picture of a heart-shaped piece of wood, and on it is a handwritten note.

"Don't give up on me!!" it says.

 

[heyzel]

wtf he looks like another person

 

[heyzel]

SCHAEFER PRAISES STEPHEN ESPINOZA'S PASSION: "HE KNOWS BOXING BETTER THAN ANY OTHER NETWORK EXEC"
By Ben Thompson | August 23, 2013

"We basically as a company said look, we want to have fighters which come to fight. We're not so worried about them losing. We want to reward all-action fights. We talked - Oscar, me, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz - we sat down and said we really want to give people what they want to see. They want to see thrilling fights, they want to see action, and we don't just want to do that once in awhile. We want to do that on a consistent basis," stated Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who spoke to FightHype.com about how Golden Boy Promotions has been able to put together several stacked cards featuring many of the biggest names in the sport in action-packed fights. Though Schaefer gives the majority of the credit to his matchmakers, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz, he also makes it clear that the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza, played a big role in making a lot of these fights a reality.

"And I have to say, in a way, that whole notion of getting these kinds of fights done was really the idea, as well, of the President of Showtime Sports [Stephen Espinoza]. He is first and foremost a boxing fan. I think one needs to know and understand Stephen's background and realize what that is. As a little boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, his grandfather was a huge boxing fan and really instilled the love and passion for the sport in Stephen when he was a young kid. He took him to fights and this was something which really marked Stephen's profound love for the sport; that time he spent with his grandfather," Schaefer explained as he gave some insight into Espinoza's love and passion for the sport. "I was fortunate to meet his grandfather on several occassions because when we became one of Stephen's clients when he was an attorney, Stephen often invited his grandfather to fights, and his grandfather always came and was an amazing guy. He passed away now, but Stephen has a love and a passion for the fights, and when he decided to join Showtime, he told me, 'I'm happy about it and I'm unhappy about it because I know you have a great relationship with HBO. I just want to make sure now that I'm going to be competitive and that I have a chance and an opportunity to buy some of those great fights Golden Boy is doing and bring them to Showtime.' I said, 'Well, you know, we'll see. You're going to have to be competitive.'"

As far as Schaefer is concerned, Espinoza's passion for the sport and his mindset as a boxing fan separates him from other network executives, allowing him to make Showtime not only competitive, but the leader when it comes to boxing programming. "Showtime has become very competitive and has obviously put an emphasis on boxing. That has now made Showtime clearly the leader when it comes to boxing, snatching up pretty much all names which matter in the sport with a couple of exceptions. I think that all started because of Stephen wanting to bring the best fights to Showtime so he can go and see them. You see Stephen ringside at even Shobox events. I mean, Mayweather recently had a Shobox event in Las Vegas, a card with Mickey Bey on it. Would you think back in the day that a Kerry Davis or a Ross Greenburg or a Ken Hershman or a Mark Taffet would have gone to a card like that? Hell no," Schaefer continued. "Here you are, you have the President of Showtime Sports going to fly from New York to Las Vegas to watch a card, and I'm not knocking the card, but a card of that level. The guy is so passionate. He can't get enough boxing and he is involved; he loves to be attending. That's why he said, 'When I go and do an event, I want to see, as a fan, great fights, so we need to do great fights.' I think that's one of the reasons why you see all these great matchups. He knows boxing much better than any other, and I do mean any other network executive involved in boxing probably in the world."

 

[RM211]

Can you guess who this is in the picture before reading the article?????!!!!!

Full Article:

Merrill: Tommy Morrison's latest big fight - ESPN

In a house on the edge of a dead-end road, an old woman waits for her son to die. The call will come any day now, she says, and when it does, she wants her youngest boy to be buried in Sulphur Springs, Ark., with the rest of the family. She dreads and hopes for this call, if that makes any sense. Only none of it makes sense.

Diana Morrison crushes a Pall Mall, lights another and dissects her son's fate. She's matter-of-fact about it, barely emotional, perhaps because Tommy Morrison, former World Boxing Organization champion, former HIV cautionary tale, has stared at death before. But this time it's different.

She says he has full-blown AIDS. She believes he's in his final days. His skin is jaundiced; his liver is failing. "He's too far gone," she says, flashing an incredulous look when asked whether he could recover. "He's in the end stages. That's it." She says Morrison has been bedridden for a year, can't speak and is being kept alive with the help of a feeding tube and a ventilator.

[+] EnlargeTommy Morrison
Bobby Bank/Getty ImagesTommy Morrison in April 2011 at an event in Parsippany, N.J.

"I talk to him on the phone," she says. "I tell him that the family loves him, he's always in our prayers. What can you say to him? I don't tell him to keep fighting or nothing, because I want him to go."

She is interrupted by her ex-husband, who's living with her now because he's had a couple of strokes. Tim Morrison wraps his arms around Diana, and she tells him to go lie down, but he keeps pacing around the house with a blank look on his face.

It's the middle of the afternoon, but the house is dark. Diana lights another cigarette. She is slight but imposing, harsh but sentimental; she's a woman with tattoos on her arm and her great-granddaughter's pink bike parked outside the house.

Diana gets up off her chair and searches for proof of her son's status, pulling down a picture from the wall. It captures one of the last times she saw her son. She's not good with dates, and can't remember when it was taken, but Tommy is thin, gray-bearded -- barely recognizable as the strapping, confident man from six years ago who swore he was not HIV-positive and vowed a comeback. In the photo on the wall, he looks lost.

It's been about a year since she last saw him. It's complicated. She just had back surgery; he's been shuffled to various health care facilities in at least three states. She says she doesn't have the money to leave her house in Aurora, Mo., and drive hundreds of miles to see him. There's tension between her and Morrison's wife, Trisha, and at the moment, it seems thick. In her heart, Diana believes her daughter-in-law loves Tommy, but is keeping him alive through extraordinary means. She says Tommy wouldn't want it this way.

She says Trisha, like Tommy, doesn't believe he has HIV.

"Tommy blowed smoke up her butt about it," Diana Morrison says. "He's been in denial ever since he's had it. So he's blown smoke up her rear end and got her believing."

The women communicate daily by text. It's easier that way. Diana says he's in a hospital somewhere in Nebraska. Morrison's wife, reached by phone, declines to say where he is. She doesn't want the hospital to be inundated with reporters and visitors. "He is somewhere," she says, and adds that she is touching his arm as we speak. She says he was to have surgery Thursday to replace a gastrointestinal tube. She is steadfast that his illness is not HIV-related.

Since Feb. 10, 1996, when the Nevada Athletic Commission said Morrison tested positive for HIV before a fight, the 44-year-old has spent most of his days dodging the diagnosis. And now Trisha Morrison, who married Tommy two years ago, is carrying on that battle. She says both of them question whether the virus exists in him, and if it exists at all.

She says Morrison's health issues began more than a year and a half ago, when a doctor left a 12-foot piece of surgical gauze in his chest for eight days. She declines to name the hospital or doctor, only that it happened in Tennessee. Things got worse, she says, when he contracted Guillain-Barré Syndrome, an ailment in which the immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system. She says Morrison has the rare Miller Fisher variant, which manifests as a descending paralysis.

She has hope, but it's all up to Tommy now, she says. God and Tommy. She hangs up the phone, and texts a photo of a gift she says Tommy gave her before he got sick. It's a picture of a heart-shaped piece of wood, and on it is a handwritten note.

"Don't give up on me!!" it says.

dam sad story, breh...i know its a very long shot but i hope he pulls thru. tommy gun was a beast in his hay day, dude had some sicc ko power

 

[2-0-Sixx]

SCHAEFER PRAISES STEPHEN ESPINOZA'S PASSION: "HE KNOWS BOXING BETTER THAN ANY OTHER NETWORK EXEC"
By Ben Thompson | August 23, 2013

"We basically as a company said look, we want to have fighters which come to fight. We're not so worried about them losing. We want to reward all-action fights. We talked - Oscar, me, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz - we sat down and said we really want to give people what they want to see. They want to see thrilling fights, they want to see action, and we don't just want to do that once in awhile. We want to do that on a consistent basis," stated Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, who spoke to FightHype.com about how Golden Boy Promotions has been able to put together several stacked cards featuring many of the biggest names in the sport in action-packed fights. Though Schaefer gives the majority of the credit to his matchmakers, Eric Gomez and Robert Diaz, he also makes it clear that the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza, played a big role in making a lot of these fights a reality.

"And I have to say, in a way, that whole notion of getting these kinds of fights done was really the idea, as well, of the President of Showtime Sports [Stephen Espinoza]. He is first and foremost a boxing fan. I think one needs to know and understand Stephen's background and realize what that is. As a little boy growing up in El Paso, Texas, his grandfather was a huge boxing fan and really instilled the love and passion for the sport in Stephen when he was a young kid. He took him to fights and this was something which really marked Stephen's profound love for the sport; that time he spent with his grandfather," Schaefer explained as he gave some insight into Espinoza's love and passion for the sport. "I was fortunate to meet his grandfather on several occassions because when we became one of Stephen's clients when he was an attorney, Stephen often invited his grandfather to fights, and his grandfather always came and was an amazing guy. He passed away now, but Stephen has a love and a passion for the fights, and when he decided to join Showtime, he told me, 'I'm happy about it and I'm unhappy about it because I know you have a great relationship with HBO. I just want to make sure now that I'm going to be competitive and that I have a chance and an opportunity to buy some of those great fights Golden Boy is doing and bring them to Showtime.' I said, 'Well, you know, we'll see. You're going to have to be competitive.'"

As far as Schaefer is concerned, Espinoza's passion for the sport and his mindset as a boxing fan separates him from other network executives, allowing him to make Showtime not only competitive, but the leader when it comes to boxing programming. "Showtime has become very competitive and has obviously put an emphasis on boxing. That has now made Showtime clearly the leader when it comes to boxing, snatching up pretty much all names which matter in the sport with a couple of exceptions. I think that all started because of Stephen wanting to bring the best fights to Showtime so he can go and see them. You see Stephen ringside at even Shobox events. I mean, Mayweather recently had a Shobox event in Las Vegas, a card with Mickey Bey on it. Would you think back in the day that a Kerry Davis or a Ross Greenburg or a Ken Hershman or a Mark Taffet would have gone to a card like that? Hell no," Schaefer continued. "Here you are, you have the President of Showtime Sports going to fly from New York to Las Vegas to watch a card, and I'm not knocking the card, but a card of that level. The guy is so passionate. He can't get enough boxing and he is involved; he loves to be attending. That's why he said, 'When I go and do an event, I want to see, as a fan, great fights, so we need to do great fights.' I think that's one of the reasons why you see all these great matchups. He knows boxing much better than any other, and I do mean any other network executive involved in boxing probably in the world."

LOL how can a writer write up this article and fail to mention that STEPHEN ESPINOZA was an employee for GOLDEN BOY for years until he got the gig at Showtime? Of course Schaefer/Golden Boy love him because he IS Golden Boy. Showtime is Golden Boy boxing. Every card this year on Showtime has been a Golden Boy card, every single one. Which so far has been fine but I'm tired of such shitty "journalism".

 

[drunkaholic707]

 

[heyzel]

HOPKINS UNIMPRESSED WITH KOVALEV; SAY HE'S NO DIFFERENT THAN TRINIDAD, PAVLIK, TARVER AND CLOUD
By Ben Thompson | August 24, 2013

Last Saturday, newly-crowned WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev made a statement with his title-winning victory over the previously undefeated Nathan Cleverly. Many considered it to be an impressive performance by the hard-hitting Kovalev, who dropped the former champion two times en route to a 4th-round stoppage. One person who is not impressed with Kovalev, however, is IBF light heavyweight champion and future Hall of Famer Bernard Hopkins.

"When Murat couldn't get visa. By the IBF rules the next guy was S @Sergey kovalev I was ready to fight him. He went the other way," Hopkins wrote earlier today on his official Twitter page, reminding his followers that he was more than ready to defend his title against the mandatory challenger, but it was Kovalev who decided to go in a different direction. As far as Hopkins is concerned, Kovalev is no different than several other big punchers who were predicted to defeat him. "Tito, Kelly Pavlik, Traver n Cloud all are the same flat footed punchers who come forward. Kovalev is no different," he explained, comparing Kovalev to Felix "Tito" Trinidad, Kelly Pavlik, Antonio Tarver, and Tavoris Cloud, all fighters that Hopkins defeated with relative ease, despite the fact that they were considered the favorites to win.

Hopkins is currently scheduled to defend his title against mandatory challenger Karo Murat on October 26 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ and televised live on Showtime Championship Boxing.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

41 year old Hopkins who dominated Tarver at light heavyweight wouldn't beat Kovalev without question. But after his mandatory fight with Murat he will turn 49 years old in January. That's pretty insane to fight a beast like Kovalev. 49 is 49! I hope Nard gets the last record against Murat (oldest successful title defense in history) then walk away.

 

[heyzel]

De La Hoya: Canelo will be the new Rooster on September 14th
August 25th, 2013 | Post Comment - 3 Comments
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Mayweather Canelo Mayweather vs. Canelo saul alvarez oscar de la hoya floyd mayweather jr By Dan Ambrose: Boxing great Oscar De La Hoya has his mind made up about his fighter WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) beating the best fighter in the world in Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) on September 14th, and proving that he’s the new Golden Goose or as De La Hoya says, “the new rooster.”

Given the money that Canelo stands to make during his career for himself and Golden Boy Promotions, I like the name that Austin Trout came up with, “Golden Goose” for Canelo a lot better. Regardless of how badly Mayweather beats Canelo on September 14th, Canelo will be laying golden eggs for many years to come for Golden Boy and himself.

All Golden Boy needs to do is keep matching Canelo against welterweights, and Canelo will be laying eggs until he can no longer make the junior middleweight division. But even then, there’s no reason why welterweights can’t be persuaded to come up to the middleweight division to fight Canelo or the super middleweight division.

De La Hoya said to HBO “On September 14th there will be a new Rooster.”

Canelo echoed those thoughts, saying to his loyal fans “I am your Rooster. When I get in the ring I don’t even respect myself. On September 14th, he [Mayweather Jr.] will know who I am.”

I can’t really see the difference between Canelo and Victor Ortiz, one of Golden Boy’s other highly hyped fighters that Mayweather Jr. badly exposed. Canelo is slower than Ortiz, doesn’t jab as well, and definitely doesn’t move as fast as him. The only differences I can see between Ortiz and Canelo is the weight and a little bit more power for Canelo.

Ortiz is about 10 pounds lighter than Canelo, and he doesn’t hit quite as hard. But the power differences between Ortiz and Canelo are negligible. It’s not enough to make Canelo much better than him. Canelo does better against fighters that stand still than Ortiz, but then again if you gave Ortiz another 10 pounds of muscle and threw Josesito Lopez in the ring with him, of course he’s going to blast him out under those circumstances. But I don’t see much difference between Ortiz and Canelo in terms of overall skill.

I think Mayweather is going to turn Canelo into another Ortiz; except I don’t think Canelo will drop his gloves and let Mayweather Jr. tee off on him. But I see it going really badly for Canelo in the middle of the ring just as it was with Ortiz.

Canelo has that flat-footed fighting style that is going to really cripple him against Mayweather, and Canelo is too dependent on his body punching. That style is perfect for guys that stand in one place like the fighters that Golden Boy Promotions has been feeding Canelo all these years, but this is going to be a much different story with Mayweather on September 14th. Get ready to see Canelo get totally clowned by Mayweather.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Bummer. Would have been a good fight (I think they wanted this as the co-main event for the Broner-Maidana fight

Guerrero turns down Keith Thurman

"Guerrero turned down the fight," Schaefer told BoxingScene.com. "Soto Karass is another guy who will fight anyone. Soto Karass would love to fight Keith Thurman and Keith Thurman would love to fight Soto Karass. That's another fight where you know it's going to be great."

 

[CZAR]

Wow! Thats fuckin weak! Guerrero got spanked by Mayweather and is now scraed to lose again to Thurman which he would. Wow! I wonder what Guerrero's father will say about his son now after chickening out? What a bitch move. Mayweather took that boys heart lol! Got Em!!

 

[2-0-Sixx]

At least wait to hear his reason lol. Maybe he's out of shape not ready for a September fight. Maybe he wants a tunr up. Maybe he was offered a small purse, who knows.

 

[Coach E. No]

I can't imagine there's a ton of money to fight Thurman right now. It might be posturing to get more money. That just happened with Stephens/GGG. Could be any litany of reasons but either way, that's pretty wack and I'm not too happy to hear that he turned the fight down.

 

[Coach E. No]

Thurman/Ortiz? I guess Ortiz isn't fighting anymore?

 

[2-0-Sixx]

Ortiz is actually planning a December return, possibly on the Khan-Alexander card. I guess he was originally going to fight on the Mayweather Canelo card but Stallone called him for the Expendables movie. Early rumors are against Alfonzo Gomez but nothing concrete.