Chavez Jr-Martinez, Sturm-Geale, Dawson-Ward: Three Significant Boxing Fights In September

09/14/201608/29/2012 ESB

Chavez Jr-Martinez, Sturm-Geale, Dawson-Ward: Three Significant Boxing Fights In September By James Stillerman – Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez, 49-2-2, 28 KOs squares off against Julio Caesar Chavez Jr., 46-0-1, 32KOs for the WBC middleweight title and the right to be claimed the best middleweight pugilist in the world on September 15th at the Thomas Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, in a twelve round main event. This is an intriguing matchup of a young towering undefeated and upcoming fighter in Chavez Jr. versus the smaller crafty season veteran in Martinez, who is considered by many boxing experts as the best fighter in the world not named Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao.

Adding excitement to this bout is the fact that both men greatly despise one another other and have repeatedly said that they will end the boxing career of the other fighter in the ring, making it appear that this fight will be an all out action packed event.

Martinez has a significant advantage in experience compared to Chavez Jr. He has fought the vastly superior competition against the likes of Paul Williams, Kelly Pavlik, Kermit Cintron, Serhiy Dzinziruk and Darren Baker.

Martinez won all of those bouts in convincing fashion except for a controversial draw with Cintron, a fight he should have won and a contentious loss to Paul Williams which he got revenge in the rematch by knocking out Williams in the second round. Chavez Jr. has defeated Andy Lee, Marco Rubio and Peter Manfredo and dominated these fights; however none of these fighters are on the same level as Martinez`s competition.

Mariusz Wach Shows Sharp Sense Of Humour – Says He’s Not Sure If He Wants To KO Wladimir Klitschko Or Not, Doesn’t Want To Hurt Him!

09/14/201608/29/2012 ESB

(Photo: Michael Freitag) By James Slater: You’ve got to hand it to unbeaten upcoming world heavyweight title challenger Mariusz Wach: not only is the Polish giant the biggest, tallest challenger of Wladimir Klitschko’s career to date, “The Viking” is also in possession of a gigantic sense of humour.

Today, at a second press conference to hype the November 10th clash set for Hamburg, Germany, Wach, 27-0(15) let loose with some good lines. Not showing any nerves at all, Wach, who does seem to truly believe he will win against the odds in November, managed to slightly annoy the cool and calm “Dr. Steel Hammer.”

“It will be almost impossible to win against a world champion like Wladimir Klitschko on the scorecards,” Wach said in Warsaw. “So, most likely, I have to knock him out. I just don’t know if I want to do it, because I’m not sure if the last guy I knocked out is still in the hospital or not.”

Wach seems to have full belief in his punching power, and being the first fighter that can look directly into Klitschko’s eyes, Wach has fans wondering if he can get some bombs off on Wladimir’s chin. Klitschko goaded his upcoming challenger to try his best to KO him – “I heard a lot about my so-called glass chin,” Wladimir said. “Wach is just one of my previous opponents predicting a KO” – and the defending champion said all the pre-fight talk is nothing more than “fun and games.”

Peter Quillin-Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam WBO Middleweight Title Bout Added To “Brooklyn Pride” Show: Someone’s “O” Must Go

09/14/201608/29/2012 ESB

By James Slater: The October 20th “Brooklyn Pride” Show just got even better. The quality, value for money card will be topped by Danny Garcia’s rematch with Mexican legend Erik Morales at 140-pounds, with “Magic Man” Paulie Malignaggi defending his 147-pound belt against former Morales foe Pablo Cesar Cano as the chief support.

Richard Schaefer has now told Ringtv.com that hot middleweight contender Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin will challenge for his first world title on the card – against fellow unbeaten and reigning WBO 160-pound champ Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam of France.

“Peter Quillin, Kid Chocolate, will be the first fight on the Brooklyn card, and he will be fighting for the WBO middleweight championship of the world. So now, it’s going to be a triple-header, world championship card,” The Golden Boy CEO told Ring.

Pacquiao and Mayweather Should Learn from Dawson and Ward

09/14/201608/29/2012 ESB

By Emilio Camacho, Esq: On Saturday September 8th, two of the top fighters in the sport will meet in the ring. This will be a great day for boxing fans. Both, Andre Ward and Chad Dawson, are in their prime, highly skilled, and tend to bring their best with them to the ring. What is interesting to me, and the main argument of this article, is that Pacquiao and Mayweather can learn something from Dawson and Ward. Let me elaborate on this point.

First, after Dawson fought Hopkins and he was asked what was next in his career, he clearly and unambiguously stated that he wanted Ward for his next fight and was willing to compromise to make the fight happen (regarding weight). He did not say, “…whatever my promoter wants…,” “…I need some rest and will think about it after a deserved vacation…,” “…I need to talk to my team…,” etc. Essentially, Dawson knew the type of match up that the public expects to see, and he delivered just that.

In comparison, Manny Pacquiao has often been asked what he wants next in his career and, most of the time, he defers to his promoter, Bob Arum. Many would argue that this is exactly the problem; the fact that Manny will not stand up for himself and tell Arum to make the best fight available—Pacquiao v. Mayweather. It would seem to some that this is Manny’s way to avoid the fight because the blame is shifted away from him and onto other people around him, such as Bob Arum. This is tragic when we are facing a fight of such a magnitude. In short, Manny could learn something from Chad Dawson and stand up for himself if he really wants the fight. His legacy will be deficient without Mayweather.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez on November 10th?

09/14/201608/29/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) have reportedly reached agreement to fight on November 10th, according to fightnews.com. It’s still not official but the word is that Marquez and Pacquiao have reached an agreement for a fourth fight between them, which will take place the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tim Bradley, the WBO welterweight champion, has been passed over for a rematch with Pacquiao, no doubt due to the poor pay per view figures that the Pacquiao-Bradley fight brought in last June.

Pacquiao has to beat Marquez in order to get a much bigger payday against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr next year. It’s still unclear whether that fight can even be made unless the two fighters can agree on the purse split and other issues.

A fourth fight between Pacquiao and Marquez might be well received by some boxing fans who have enjoyed the two fighters three previous fights together. However, other boxing fans are plain sick of seeing these guys fight each other so often and they prefer to see them go their separate ways. The fights have always been controversial and that’s really taken away from them, as Marquez has fought well enough to deserve a decision in all three fights, and yet he’s got two losses and a draw to show for them.

Michael “Second To” Nunn: How Good Was The Former Middleweight Ruler, And How Great Could He Have Become?

08/29/2012 ESB

by James Slater: How great was Michael Nunn. Or, perhaps a better question: how great could he have become? Michael “Second To” Nunn, who captured the IBF middleweight title by stopping former Olympic gold medallist Frank Tate almost a quarter of a century ago, was certainly a fighter who once seemingly had it all. The Davenport, Iowa southpaw was a tall, athletic, naturally gifted and hardworking boxer; one who was being referred to at the time of his 9th-round stoppage of Tate as a future great. Back in the mid-1980s it was rumoured how even the legendary “Sugar” Ray Leonard was reluctant to face the peaking star.

Ricky Hatton needs Khan, Mayweather or Cotto for comeback fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: The rumors persist about former two division world champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) staging a comeback in the next couple of months. Hatton looks in incredible shape having burned off a thick layer of flab that covered his once muscular physique and it’s hard to imagine that he’s just taking off the weight just for the sake of living a healthy life. It’s unclear why Hatton would come back at this time, but perhaps he wants to prove to himself that he can put in a better effort than he did in losing to Manny Pacquiao in his last fight in 2009.

Hatton, now 33, probably needs to go for the biggest fight possible if he does decide to make a comeback. It’s too risky for him to take on a guy like Paulie Malignaggi, who won’t bring in the big cash because he lacks the huge star appeal needed to really rake in the cash. Hatton can’t afford to take a lesser fighter because at this point he could lose to almost anybody he fights because of the time he’s been out of the ring. What Hatton needs is someone like Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

A fight against Mayweather would be the ideal situation for Hatton, because it would bring in the most money possible and Mayweather let Hatton hang around for the full 12 rounds instead of trying to drill him into the canvas early.

Mike Alvarado: My fight against Rios will be talked about for a very long time

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Marcus Richardson: The October 13th clash between unbeaten light welterweight contender Mike Alvarado (33-0, 23 KO’s) and former WBA World lightweight champion Brandon Rios (30-0-1, 22 KO’s) promises to be an exciting one when the two fighters mix it up on the undercard of the Toshiaki Nishioka vs. Nonito Donaire fight at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California.

Both Alvarado and Rios are hard hitters that constantly come forward trying to land knockout shots with every punch. Rios might be at a little disadvantage in this fight in that he’s moving up from lightweight to take it, and he’s not looked really good for some time. Rios could be biting off more than he can chew by fighting the all action Alvarado, because this is a guy that has torn pretty much everyone apart that he’s faced thus far.

Alvarado said in his recent conference with Rios as quoted by the denverpost.com “This is the fight that’s going to be talked about for a very long time.”

It’s possible that this fight could live up to the billing, but for that to happen Rios is going to have to raise his game considerably from his last two outings. He’s blamed his less than spectacular performances on him having problems making weight. That sounds like a reasonable excuse but he’s going to have to up his game none the less. At this point there’s a question of whether Rios can even make 140 without a great struggle because it’s only five pounds more than the weight class that Rios has been having big problems with.

Sergio Martinez hoping that win over Chavez Jr. will lead to Mayweather fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) has some really big hopes for what a win over WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) will potentially do for him when he meets Chavez Jr. on September 15th in Las Vegas, Nevada. Martinez, 37, sees a victory over the young 26-year-old Chavez Jr. as something that could open doors for him to land a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and if not it could put him on the doorstep to a big money fight.

Martinez said on Max Kellerman’s Face off on HBO to Chavez Jr “After I beat you, I will be nipping on Mayweather’s heals.”

So is Martinez deluded about his aspirations of wanting to get a big money fight against Mayweather? We’ve seen Robert Guerrero talking up a fight with Mayweather recently, and it’s pretty clear that Guerrero has no chances of ever landing that fight unless Mayweather wants decides on taking an easy stay fight. The 37-year-old Martinez could also be kidding himself if he thinks that Mayweather will show any interest in fighting him.

Josesito Lopez given high ranking by WBC at 154 for Alvarez fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: The World Boxing Council recently pushed welterweight Josesito Lopez (30-4, 18 KO’s) to number #4 in the 154 pound rankings just as Lopez heads into his September 15th fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (40-0-1, 29 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Why the WBC decided to give Lopez a high ranking in the junior middleweight division is the big question. Lopez has never fought at 154 before and he only recently moved up to 147 lbs to fight Victor Ortiz in his last fight.

Going from light welterweight to welterweight for one fight and then being pushed to the #4 spot by the WBC at 154 is kind of baffling to me. What did Lopez do to get ranked so high other than signing to fight the WBC’s champion Alvarez? Stuff like this just makes me feel distrustful of the sanctioning bodies. When they take a fighter and push him to a high ranking in a division that they don’t fight in it seems wrong. I hate the idea of Alvarez a welterweight, if you want to call him that, in the first place. Why couldn’t Alvarez at least fight someone in his own division.

I know the WBC has now taken care of all this by giving Lopez an inflated ranking in the junior middleweight division, but it’s disappointing that Alvarez is being matched up against what is really a light welterweight for this fight. I thought it was really bad that Alvarez picked up the vacant WBC junior middleweight title last year by fighting a welterweight Matthew Hatton, who wasn’t even ranked in the junior middleweight division. But now Alvarez is making things look even worse by taking on a fighter from a division below him Lopez.