Fury Pulls Out Of Ustinov Fight
Tyson Fury has withdrawn from his heavyweight contest tonight against Alexander Ustinov after his uncle and first trainer, Hughie, has been taken seriously ill into hospital.
The multi-title show will still go ahead with Billy Joe Saunders challenging for the Vacant European Middleweight title against Emanuele Blandamura, Liam Smith defends his British Light-Middleweight title against Jason Welborn; Terry Flanagan challenges Martin Gethin for the Vacant British Lightweight Championship, and Jack Catterall face Nathan Brough for the Vacant Central Area Light-Welterweight Championship
Antoine Douglas & Michel Soro Fight To Majority Draw In Main Event Of ShoBox 200
Antoine Douglas and Michel Soro fought to a majority draw (96-94 Soro, 95-95 twice) in a bout that was a tale of two halves in the main event of Friday’s ShoBox: The New Generation, live on SHOWTIME® from Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, Calif.
The undefeated Douglas (14-0-1, 9 KOs) dominated the first half of the fight, controlling the action with a plethora of jabs against the vastly experienced former world title challenger. A rip in Soro’s gloves caused a halt in the bout midway through the fourth, but it was more of the same once the bout restarted with Douglas controlling the action.
Soro (23-1-1, 13 KOs) had a solid sixth that gave him a bit more confidence, but as he took more risks it allowed Douglas to land his power shots. A right hand followed by an onslaught of punches from Soro had Douglas dazed in the seventh, but the Frenchman stepped off the gas and allowed Douglas to escape the round. Douglas was still struggling as he entered the ninth for the first time in his career and stayed in survival mode for the remainder of the fight. Continue reading
Golovkin vs. Geale & Perez vs. Jennings weights
(Photo credit: HBO/Will Hart) At today’s weigh-in, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) scaled in at 159.8 pounds for his fight against former IBF/WBA middleweight champ Daniel Geale (30-2, 16 KO’s) for Saturday night. Geale, who looked pale and not particularly defined, weighed in at 159.2. Golovkin looked ripped up in comparison, and showed a lot more definition than the Australian fighter.
The fight card will be taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York, and Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions expects a crowd of around 7,000 for the 18,200 seat arena. If this was a fight involving New York favorite Miguel Cotto, MSG would no doubt sellout, but Golovkin is from Kazakhstan and he lives in Germany. You can’t expect him or the Australian Geale to sellout the Garden. Continue reading
Tyson Fury 18st five pounds Alexander Ustinov 20st five oz
Tyson Fury and Alexander Ustinov faced off during their weigh in for tomorrow nights eagerly awaited heavyweight clash this afternoon. Ustinov took to the scales tipping in at 20st 5oz while Fury came in almost two stone lighter at 18st 5 pounds
Ustinov, a cerebral looking individual, looked considerably slimmer than has been seen in previous bouts, still packing those immensely powerful arms and upper body. Fury, as promised, looked svelte, trim and athletic. His physique was a far cry from that which we saw against Joey Abell in his most recent bout. The crowd were fired up as the Manchester showman arrived, and in contrast to his press conference appearances Tyson seemed to really have his game face on as the two went head to head. Tyson announced he’s ‘going to inflict pain on you.’ Ustinov simply smiled off the trash talk. Continue reading
Robert Stieglitz vs. Sergey Khomitsky tonight in Germany
Tonight former WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (46-4, 26 KOs) has a very tough test on his hands in facing #7 WBO Sergey Khomitsky (29-10-2, 12 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Anhalt Arena, Dessau, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
Stieglitz is still reeling from having lost his WBO strap in his last fight against Arthur Abraham four months ago in July in losing a 12 round split decision. Stieglitz wants another chance against Abraham to try and regain his WBO strap, but for that fight to happen, Stieglitz needs to beat Khomitsky tonight and possibly Gilberto Ramirez if the WBO forces him to fight in a WBO eliminator bout before he can fight Abraham again. Continue reading
Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed Inks Deal with Top Rank
photo by Daniel Kucin, Jr.
Undefeated Light Welterweight prospect Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed (10-0, 6 KOs), of Waldorf, MD, signed a long-term deal with prominent boxing promoter, Top Rank on Wednesday. Terms of the multi-year contract were not disclosed.
Prior to signing with Top Rank, the 21 year-old Reed was a free agent fighting mostly on Keystone Boxing cards. However, the Las Vegas-based promoter signed an exclusive deal with the southpaw after witnessing Reed’s impressive victory over Alberto Morales (11-4-1, 1 NC, 8 KOs) in June at Bally’s in Atlantic City.
Although Reed’s next fight is unscheduled, he intends to stay busy in the months ahead.
Golovkin vs. Geale: Will Daniel thrive or try to survive?
Gennady Golovkin was built on HBO’s “Boxing After Dark” and has become just that, bad. Golovkin has already passed the eye test now he will encounter a new style test versus Daniel Geale from historic Madison Square Garden in New York City broadcasted live on HBO Championship Boxing.
Majority of talk inside the boxing world leading up to this matchup has been more about what’s next for “Triple G”. The round in which Golovkin stops Geale seems to be the only item up for debate. Does Geale have enough skill and sturdy enough chin to end the string of knockouts which currently stands at 16 in a row? To find out what these fighters are capable of let’s look back at what got them here.
How much will Saturday night tell us about the future of Tyson Fury?
In a bout no one could have foreseen or predicted, this Saturday night boxing fans shall witness Tyson Fury attempt to maintain his lofty world ranking against the dangerous fringe contender Alexander Ustinov. The collapse of the Dereck Chisora rematch renders any discussion of him, or Fury’s attitude to him a moot point. What fight fans need to consider is what this bout has the potential to tell us about Fury’s current standing in the division, and whether or not it shall serve as a good indicator of Fury’s ability to mentally reign himself in after massive disappointment.
Whether loved or loathed the Mancunian giant inspires opinion among all those who watch him fight, or even just hear him speak. Many including this author see massive potential on a world level in Tyson Fury; however, large bastions of boxing’s faithful will be very quick to arrogantly dismiss him as an overblown hype job. The polarizing views fans have about Tyson Fury are not quite as easy to understand as one might think.
The Good And The Bad Guys
In boxing, fighters often take the role of a good guy or a bad guy character in order to gain fan base. Fighters like Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Arturo Gatti and Roy Jones Jr. were known for the good guy roles and their fans loved them, tuned to watch them fight and hoped for them to never to lose. On the other hand we have fighters such as Floyd Mayweather Jr., Prince Naseem Hamed and Ricardo Mayorga gained fans because of their flamboyancy, arrogance and disrespect to other fighters. These fans tuned to their fights, some actually like them and hoping for them to win, others despise them and hoping that they will get knocked out. Continue reading
Tyson Fury to face Alexander Ustinov on Saturday
According to the Mail, Tyson Fury will face giant Alexander Ustinov on Saturday. Original foe Dereck Chisora fell out with a hand injury – picked up while sparring with the 6’7″ Ustinov – and now Fury will face an altogether different foe with an entirely different style to Chisora.
Can Fury stop Ustinov, or will Fury get a good distance test?
An action packed undercard features top American heavyweight Eddie Chambers and some of the best in domestic talent: undefeated rising talent Chris Eubank Jnr., unbeaten Liam Walsh; plus top prospects Tom Stalker, Adrian Gonzalez, Declan Gerraghty, Yusef Safa, McCauley McGowan and the pro debut of Michael Gomez Jnr.
Tickets for the show and VIP packages are available through Eventim on 0844 249 1000 or eventim.co.uk Watch Fury v Ustinov and the whole action packed card on BoxNation, the Channel of Champions (Sky Ch.437 (HD490)/Sky Ch.546). Join at www.boxnation.com