By Michael Collins: 38-year-old Junior Witter (41-6-2, 22 KO’s) really showed his age tonight in losing his British welterweight title to the younger 26-year-old Frankie Gavin (14-0, 10 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, United Kingdom. The judges scored it 117-112, 119-109 and 117-110. For all practical purposes, Witter stopped punching from the 4th and did next to nothing for the last eight rounds of the fight other than flicking jabs and annoyingly changing stances from orthodox to southpaw seemingly nonstop.
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Q & A interview with amateur star Antoine Douglas as he makes professional debut
By Lou McLaughlin: Last week I conducted a phone interview with amateur star Antoine Douglas of Washington, D.C. who at the time was scheduled to make his professional debut Virginia on October 27th Douglas is scheduled for a quick ring return when he fights on November 10th in Millville, New Jersey. Due to hurricane Sandy I was unable to put this interview out earlier. But the results were Antoine winning in 90 seconds of the first round. Douglas as an amateur had a record of 85-30 and was a National PAL Champion, 2009 Jt. Olympic Champion as well as a Ringside World champion as well as placing third in the Olympic trials, recently signed with managers Bill Mielnicki and Kay Korona and with promoter Greg Cohen.
Argentina Continues to Shine
By Emilio Camacho, Esq. – Thomas Dulorme was supposed to be the next Puerto Rican boxing star. He was supposed to be the Felix Trinidad. That’s gone.
This was important because Puerto Rico is losing its big stars. Miguel Cotto is getting old and has few fights left. Ivan Calderon retired after being defeated because he cannot compete at the elite level any longer. Juan Manuel Lopez was crushed by Orlando Salido. Twice. Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. was defeated by Jorge Arce and Nonito Donaire. Carlos Quintana and Kermit Cintron are not “A” class fighters. In short, Puerto Rico was looking at Thomas Dulorme as the next Puerto Rican hope. Unfortunately, they pushed him far too soon.
Last Saturday, Luis Carlos Abregu, a fighter from Argentina, crushed Dulorme. After a big right hand landed on Dulorme in the 3rd round, sending him to the canvas, there was no way he could recover. In the end, the corner stopped the fight and Puerto Rico’s hope for Dulorme as its next star, if any, faded. In all fairness, Dulorme is only 22 years of age and he could always come back stronger (Pacquiao is a good example).
Javan “Sugar” Hill: “Adonis Stevenson is ready to become the IBF Super Middleweight Champion”
By Joseph Herron – After becoming the mandatory IBF title challenger by knocking out Super Middleweight contender Don “Da Bomb” George on October 12th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (19-1, 16 KOs) is ready to take on the best at 168 according the his friend and trainer Javan “Sugar” Hill.
“Adonis showed me a lot in his victory over Don George,” professes the nephew of boxing legend Emanuel Steward. “Even with an injured left hand, he showed a lot of poise and stuck to the game plan of out-boxing George. Even after he had a lot of good exchanges with Don, he went right back to the focus of boxing instead of slugging it out with him.”
“Even with the injury to his power hand bothering him, Adonis was able to turn it up and get Don George out of there in the twelfth round. Adonis really showed me that he’s ready to fight anyone in the world.”
Although Stevenson is the next in line to face the current IBF Super Middleweight Champion Carl “The Cobra” Froch, the talented young trainer claims that Adonis is willing to fight any of the major title holders in the packed 168 pound division.
“Without a doubt, Adonis is ready for any one of the three recognized major world champions at Super Middleweight; Carl Froch, Arthur Abraham, and Andre Ward. Adonis really proved a lot on October 12th. With the pressure of fighting a big puncher like Don George in an IBF title eliminator, and having to overcome the adversity of decisively beating a tough opponent with an injured hand, Adonis proved that he is worthy of an opportunity for a world title.”
Interesting Match-Ups Await “Dr. Steel Hammer” – are Wach, Povetkin, Boytsov/Fury soon to give Wladimir a real fight?
By James Slater – Those fans who have been waiting oh, so long to see heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko’s formidable skills tested to the full might, just might be about to see the 36-year-old in a real fight. Hardly pushed at all since his first encounter with the hard-hitting Samuel Peter, way back in 2005 (although to be fair, David Haye did win a couple of sessions during his July 2011 challenge of Wlladimir), Klitschko has gone through the likes of Ruslan Chagaev, Jean Marc Mormeck and, last time out, Tony Thompson, like a hot knife through warm butter.
But the seemingly laughably easy fights may be at an end for the unified WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO ruler. Next up for Wladimir is unbeaten but unproven (at the highest level) Polish banger Mariusz Wach. No, this fight, set for Nov. 10th, doesn’t look exactly like an ultra-dangerous fight for Wladimir, but the outside chance of a potential banana skin awaits him all the same. Not only is Wach, 27-0(15) a pretty stiff puncher, with the right hand especially, he is also able to look Wladimir directly in the eye. Much has been made of the fact that never before has Wladimir faced so tall an adversary, and, with the sad passing of his long-time trainer and friend Emanuel Steward, this fight could possibly prove difficult for Klitschko.
Chris Byrd: “I don’t believe Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez will change very much in part four”
By Joseph Herron – With the fourth installment of Pacquiao/Marquez just six weeks away, both men have begun the sparring portion of their preparation for the big December 8th boxing showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While Pacquiao and Roach have boldly stated through various media sources that a knock-out will be imperative to win for a third time, former IBF Heavyweight Boxing Champion Chris “Rapid Fire” Byrd believes that a KO victory against the Mexican legend will be a task that is much easier said than done.
“Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez will always be a great fight,” insists the lifelong boxing proponent. “This is still maybe the toughest fight out there for Manny Pacquiao other than a match-up with Floyd Mayweather Jr.”
“One of the reasons why a fight with JMM will always be difficult for Manny is that Marquez is so smart, he cuts you in half. He uses his footwork in a way that strategically makes a southpaw reach over his body to try and hit him. This ultimately leaves Manny out of position and open for a Marquez counter.”
“JMM patiently picks his shots because he knows he doesn’t have the edge in hand speed. He sets up his shots extremely well and delivers with precision. Because Manny has more to lose in this fight than Marquez, due to his questionable loss to Bradley and his controversial win against JMM, you might see Manny Pacquiao fight with more of a sense of urgency which could lead to more careless mistakes that a smart fighter like Marquez could exploit.”
“Rapid Fire” makes an excellent observation. Manny Pacquiao indeed has more to lose going into the fourth contest with JMM.
Because of Pacquiao’s inability to put away his last five opponents, and due to the controversial nature of his last two outings, the Filipino boxing icon has seen his pound for pound ranking among many fight fans and boxing scribes slip considerably.
Cotto vs Trout: Cotto’s lack of size will hurt him against Trout
By Rob Smith: Boxing star Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has the experience going for him against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) but that might not be enough for Cotto to get the win when the two of them meet up on December 1st at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Cotto is dealing with youth, speed, size and just pure athleticism against Trout. I mean, let’s face it; Trout is the better athlete and you can see that just from watching one round of action from one of his fights.
Trout is the more skilled fighter and just looks natural. In contrast, Cotto looks like a fighter wearing a bad pair of shoes that are too small for him. It’s pretty painful to watch Cotto move around the ring, because he looks like he’s on a pair of pair of ice skates for the first time and isn’t really sure of his footwork. Trout isn’t someone that Cotto is going to be able to overpower like the guys he’s beaten in the past.
The problem Cotto will have is Trout’s defense and size. He doesn’t get hit a lot because he’s got such long arms and knows how to keep his opposition on the outside. And Cotto isn’t going to win this fight by jabbing Trout. Cotto may have a good jab, but he can’t win this fight with that weapon because Trout has a lot more than that in his arsenal. Cotto is going to be forced to take chances and it’s going to be difficult for him because of how elusive Trout is.
Boente: Vitali to make decision on career in mid-December
By Dwight Chittenden: WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko will be making a decision about whether he’ll retire or not by mid-December according to his manager Bernd Boente. Vitali’s political career is what could be the factor for him retiring if he chooses to step away from the boxing game.
Broner to go after Ricky Burns after the DeMarco fight
By Michael Collins: Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) will be targeting WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) after the 23-year-old Broner takes care of business next month against WBC lightweight boxing champion Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KO’s) on HBO boxing at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.
Broner’s trainer Mike Stafford said to Bleacherreport.com “We’ll go to Ricky Burns and get that other title. He’ll [Broner] be too fast, too smart and he’s (Burns) not strong enough, these guys are too slow for Adrien. He’s a special guy, a special guy.”
I agree with Stafford 100 percent. I think Burns would be like Jason Litzau, a fighter that Broner took out in a 1st round TKO last year in June. It would be too easy beating Burns. The only advantage thing that Burns has going for him is his height and his weight, but against Broner the weight would be the same for both fighters, so Burns wouldn’t have his customary size advantage. He’d be taller, to be sure, but the reach and the weight would be the same. The height wouldn’t help at all and Burns would just get knocked out quick by Broner.
Deontay Wilder takes a step up in competition against Kelvin Price on 12/15
By Marcus Richardson: Unbeaten heavyweight boxing prospected Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) takes a slight step up in competition against the 6’7″ Kelvin Price (13-0, 6 KO’s) on December 15th at the Sports Arena, in Los Angeles, California, USA. This is the 26-year-old Wilder’s big opportunity to unveil his talent in front of the wide U.S boxing public, because the fight will be televised by Showtime and Wilder be fighting on the undercard of the Carlos Molina vs. Amir Khan fight. This will surely lead to a lot of boxing fans tuning into this card if only to get a glimpse of Khan. Wilder will be the undercard fight and it should be interesting for while it lasts.