Stiverne: Wilder won’t make it past the 6th round

01/17/2015 T.Baker

(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) Tonight’s fight between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and his hard-hitting challenger Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) will be a short one, according to Stiverne. The 36-year-old Stiverne expects to get the inexperienced Wilder out of there by the 6th round by knocking him out in a painful fashion.

Stiverne notes that Deontay has positives in his game such as his power and height, but he feels that he’s not ready to step up so quickly at this juncture in his career.

“I think he’s [Wilder] a fraud. I don’t think he deserves to be fighting for the title and that’s why not with it,” Stiverne said via Fightnews.com. “But what is worse is that he is not even ready to fight at this level. I would be surprised if this fight goes more than 5 or 6 rounds.”

De La Hoya working on Matthysse vs. Provodnikov bout

01/16/2015 T.Baker

If Oscar De La Hoya gets his way, boxing fans may soon be seeing a fight between Lucas Matthysse and Ruslan Provodnikov taking place this year. De La Hoya is reportedly working hard to try and put the fight together. It’s a doable fight due to Provodnikov not being promoted by Golden Boy rival Top Rank, and a situation where the Russian fighter needing a win badly after his loss to Chris Algieri last year.

Provodnikov lost his WBO light welterweight title in that fight to Algieri, and he’s done much since then other than beat a 40-year-old Jose Luis Castillo recently.

Brandon Rios: The Alvarado fight is a do-or-die match for me

01/14/201501/12/2015 T.Baker

Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) sees his fight against Mike Alvarado (34-3, 23 KOs) this month as a do-or-die fight for him when the two meet up on HBO on January 24th at the 1stBank Center, Bloomfield, Colorado, USA. Rios has recent losses to Manny Pacquiao and Alvarado, and what should have been a loss to Diego Chaves.

It’s safe to say that Rios hasn’t fought well since his 7th round knockout win over Alvarado nearly three years ago in October of 2012. It’s unclear if the punishment that Rios took in the first fight deteriorated his physical skills or if he’s simply faced better opposition since the first fight. Whatever the case, Rios is no longer shining like he once did, and there’s major questions about how much he had left in the tank.

Andre Ward not interested in moving to light heavyweight

01/11/201501/10/2015 T.Baker

Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) feels there’s no need in him moving up to the light heavyweight division to get big fights in that weight class. Ward, 30, feels that there’s no need in him moving up to the 175 pound division until he physically grows into that division.

Right now, Ward still sees him as a super middleweight despite the fact there are questions whether he’ll be able to make the weight given his long year and a half layoff from the ring.

Ward signed with Roc Nations Sports last Friday after breaking free from his previous promoter Goosen Promotions, who Ward had been in litigation with for the last year.

Canelo determined to fight on May 2nd, says De La Hoya

01/05/2015 T.Baker

Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) is doggedly determined to fight on the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo, even if means that he won’t be facing WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs). The two fighters are still negotiating a fight for that date, but there’s no way of knowing if they’ll be able sign for the fight.

Canelo’s promoter Oscar de La Hoya says that Canelo will still be fighting on that date if the Cotto fight doesn’t happen. This means that unless Canelo gets a really good opponent to face him like James Kirkland or Gennady Golovkin, he’s not going to be able to bump Floyd Mayweather off the date.

Wilder getting tips in how to beat Stiverne

01/03/2015 T.Baker

Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) has been using sparring partner Demetrice King (15-20, 13 KOs) as a source of information to get him ready for his fight in two weeks from now against World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. King, 29, stopped Stiverne in the 4th round of their fight in 2007.

There was a little bit of controversy involved with the stoppage, however, because Stiverne was still standing and fighting back. He’d been hurt moments before by a big left-right from King, who then proceeded to land a flurry of head shots while Stiverne attempted to cover up on the ropes.

Mayweather an option for Cotto if he doesn’t face Canelo

12/29/2014 T.Baker

Floyd Mayweather Jr could slide in and snatch Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s hoped for mega-fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on May 2nd. Cotto’s adviser Gaby Peñagarícano is saying that Mayweather is a potential option for Cotto. Mayweather’s adviser Al Haymon has allegedly offered Cotto $40 million to take the Mayweather fight.

This offer hasn’t been confirmed by Mayweather or Peñagarícano though. It would obviously be tough for Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions to match an offer of this kind if it turns out to be true.

Golovkin: I’d move up to 168 for PPV fight against Chavez Jr

12/26/2014 T.Baker

WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) says he’d be willing to move up to super middleweight (168 pounds) for a pay-per-view fight against the likes of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. However, Golovkin says it would have to be for a pay-per-view fight against an opponent that is a pay-per-view fighter.

Golovkin says wouldn’t be interested in moving up to 168 to fight Andre Ward, because he doesn’t see him as a PPV type of fighter. In other words, Golovkin only wants to move up to super middleweight against a big name for big money on PPV. He’s not just going to move up in weight to face someone without a large fan base.

Deontay Wilder looking to KO Stiverne on 1/17

12/20/201412/18/2014 T.Baker

Unbeaten Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) has little doubt that he’ll be victorious next month in his fight against WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) on January 17th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Wilder feels that he’ll get the win but he might not get the credit for the victory because he thinks that a lot of boxing fans will still doubt him.

Beating the 36-year-old Stiverne will go a long ways towards proving Deontay’s many detractors wrong, because Stiverne is considered to be a good fighter by a lot of fans. However, for the 6’7” Wilder to really prove himself, he’s going to need to beat other contenders like Bryant Jennings, Alexander Povetkin, Carlos Takam, Tyson Fury and Kubrat Pulev.

Bundu plans on using his intelligence to beat Keith Thurman

12/10/201412/10/2014 T.Baker

This Saturday night, #3 WBC, #4 WBA welterweight contender Leonard Bundu (31-0-1, 11 KOs) will be looking to use his ring intelligence to hand WBA interim 147 pound champion Keith Thurman (23-0, 21 KOs) his first loss of his career when they get inside the ring to face each other on Showtime from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Thurman-Bundu fight will be on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Devon Alexander fight.

Bundu, 40, fights a lot younger than his chronological age. He’s more like a guy in his late 20s rather than his early 40s. Bundu isn’t a big puncher though, and that’s going to make it tough on him against the hard hitting Thurman. Bundu doesn’t want to get in a war with Thurman, and that’s why he’ll be coming into the fight looking to outsmart him for 12 rounds.