Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag – Mayweather vs Pacquiao, Terrance Crawford, Garcia, Thurman, GGG, and more!

Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag - Mayweather vs Pacquiao, Terrance Crawford, Garcia, Thurman, GGG, and more!

Freddy C. (Raleigh, NC): Terrance Crawford is a guy that I never really cared for initially, but after watching him again, this kid is solid. Give us your thoughts on where you place him as a talent and who you would like to see him face going forward?

Vivek W. (ESB): I’ve watched Crawford develop over the past few years and I can say unequivocally, this is the most polished “fighter on the rise” in the sport, today. When I look at young talents out there that seem to grab headlines at will…..guys such as Danny Garcia, Keith Thurman, Adrien Broner, Golovkin, etc.; each of those young studs are great in their own way, but Crawford is without question the most complete talent of them all. What I love most about him is the hybrid type effect he exudes. You get the cerebral, fundamental type execution; yet when he gets touched, you see the ‘dog’ in him surface and take over, as well! Literally, the best of both worlds!

read more

Terence Crawford Shows Mastery in Win Over Beltran

Terence Crawford Shows Mastery in Win Over Beltran

Terence Crawford thrilled the standing room only crowd at the Century Link Center Omaha, Nebraska with his skill and finesse. Once again he managed to display a touch of artistry in the most violent of sports. He always remains calm and poker-faced while he carves and sculpts his subject. Saturday night, after twelve one-sided rounds, the skillful practitioner named Terence “Hunter/Bud” Crawford 25-0-0 (17KO) presented his finished work in the form of a swollen and bruised Raymundo “Sugar” Beltran 29-7-1 (17KO). Everyone was impressed. They liked what they saw.

What’s not to like about this young man. First of all, he seems to have his priorities straight. The first thing he did after winning his fight against Ray Beltran was to give thanks to God. He obviously understands and his grateful for the gifts with which he has been blessed. He also acknowledged he fought his last fight as a lightweight and will be moving up to the 140lb division.

read more

Pacquiao-Bradley undercard takes a hit, Roman Martinez drops out

Pacquiao-Bradley undercard takes a hit, Roman Martinez drops out

Former two-time WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez has dropped out of his co-feature bout against lightweight contender Raymundo Beltran for this Saturday’s HBO pay-per-view card headlined by Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley 2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Martinez is ill, and there’s no way he can take the fight under those conditions.

So instead of Martinez fighting Beltran, another super featherweight, Arash Usmanee (20-1-1, 10 KO’s), has been substituted in Martinez’s place for the co-feature. It’s unclear why Top Rank is matching Beltran against super featherweights instead of fighters from the lightweight division, but I guess the boxing fans paying to see the card on PPV won’t know and won’t care. Roman Martinez is a super featherweight as well, and he was coming off of a knockout loss to Mikey Garcia.

read more

Burns-Beltran 99 percent done for February

burns4545Contender Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KO’s) will be getting a second shot at WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) in February next year, as negotiations between the two fighters are reportedly close to being done, according to Burns’ manager Alex Morrison.

The fight will take place in Glasgow, Scotland. Beltran wanted a rematch in another venue, but as the challenger he obviously didn’t have the kind of pull needed to dictate where the fight would take place.

Beltran and Burns fought last September in Glasgow, Scotland it’s fairly unanimous among boxing fans that Beltran did more than enough to deserve the victory over Burns.

read more

Ricky Burns v Ray Beltran – The View from Ringside

YouTube video
Sitting ringside at the Ricky Burns v Raymundo Beltran fight in Glasgow last Saturday, I was never more proud to be associated with the sport of boxing, as a writer, nor more ashamed.

Scotland’s Ricky Burns and Mexico’s Ray Beltran are true warriors, honourable men who are a credit to their respective countries and to a sport which throughout its history has regularly made headlines for all the wrong reasons. The draw that was announced at the end of the fight was not only a travesty, it was a crime. Not only was Ray Beltran denied his just deserts for the endless weeks of hard training, sparring, and sacrifice it took to get himself ready, Ricky Burns was forced to endure the embarrassment of standing in the ring with his hand raised in front of 6000 spectators and the millions watching at home, who all knew he’d lost. As a genuinely decent man, this undoubtedly hurt the WBO lightweight champion, adding to the physical trauma of the broken jaw he sustained early in the fight.

read more

Ricky Burns – Ray Beltran ends in draw

YouTube video
In what amounts to be the robbery of the century, WBO Lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) was awarded a 12 round draw against Raymundo Beltran (28-6-1, 17 KO’s) at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. The judges scored were 115-112 for Burns, 115-113 for Beltran and 114-114 even.

It was a total robbery for sure, as Beltran clearly deserved the win. Burns held all night long, and the referee didn’t life a finger to stop it. Why the referee allowed Burns to get away with nonstop holding in every of the fight is the big question.

I don’t know how on earth a judge could actually give Burns the victory in this fight of even a draw, yet that’s exactly what happened. I had a feeling this was going to happen, and I know it was going to make Burns look bad as heck. Getting a gift draw only makes Burns looks bad, especially given all the holding that he was allowed to get away with.

read more

Burns keeps title with disputed draw with Beltran

YouTube video
SAN DIEGO (September 7, 2013)– Ricky Burns was fortunate to keep his WBO Lightweight championship with a twelve round split draw with Raymundo Beltran at the Scottish Exhibition Centre in Glasgow, Scotland

The fight was televised LIVE in the United States on AWE (formerly Wealth TV) and www.awetv.com

Burns controlled the first round and a he as he jabbed and worked the body. Beltran started landing some hard shots with the left hook and began to find his rhythm in round’s two and three. In round four, Beltran rocked Burns with a perfect left hook. Beltran continued to press Burns against the ropes where Burns started to look uncomfortable.

read more