Berto faces Soto Karass; Thurman battles Chaves this Saturday on Showtime

berto233 This Saturday night on Showtime, undefeated welterweight Keith “One Time” Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) faces off against unbeaten Argentinian Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) and former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto 28-2, 22 KO’s) takes on Jesus Soto Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Both fights are scheduled for 12 rounds and both have titles on line. Thurman-Chaves will be fighting for the interim WBA 147 lb. title, and Berto-Soto Karass will be fighting for the vacant NABF welterweight strap.

Rodriguez crushes Grachev

rodriguez44 Super middleweight Edwin Rodriguez (24-0, 16 KO’s) proved he was the better man tonight in quickly stopped Denis Grachev (13-2-1, 8 KO’s) in the 1st round on Saturday night at the Salle des etoiles, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Rodriguez nailed a hurt Grachev with three straight clubbing right hands to the head that ended with referee Stanley Christodolou stopping in to stop the fight at 2:50 of the round.

Rodriguez had already put Grachev down twice in the round, and he was hitting him nearly at will at the time of the stoppage.

Rodriguez made the calculated move to come out blazing fast in the 1st round and throwing everything he had at the slower but hard hitting Grachev.

Stieglitz defends WBO title against Kiyota tonight in Dresden, Germany

WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (44-3, 25 KO’s) will be making a title defense tonight against Japan’s Yuzo Kiyota (23-3-1, 21 KO’s) at the Energie Verbund-Arena in Dresden, Germany.

Stieglitz faces Kiyota on Saturday in Dresden, Germany

WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (44-3, 25 KO’s) is opting to take an easy first title defense against unknown, untested #10 WBO, Yuzo Kiyota (23-3-1, 21 KO’s) this Saturday night, July 13th at the Energie Verbund-Arena, in Dresden, Sachsen, Germany.

Provodnikov agrees to face Mike Alvarado on October 19th

provodnikov22 Welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov (22-2, 15 KO’s) has agreed to fight WBO interim light welterweight champion Mike Alvarado (34-1, 23 KO’s) on October 19th in a fight that could take place in Alvarado’s home city of Denver, Colorado. HBO would be televising the fight.

Now they’re waiting on Top Rank promoter Bob Arum to get his fighter Alvarado to agree to the deal. It’s not likely that Alvarado will turn it down, because he doesn’t have a ton of options right now in terms of fights.

Sturm thinks he’ll get rematch with Geale by end of the year

sturm676 Former WBA/WBO middleweight champion Felix Sturm (38-3-2, 17 KO’s) thinks he’s one fight away from getting a rematch against IBF middleweight champion Daniel Geale later on this year. Sturm, 34, easily defeated #4 IBF, Predrag Radosevic (27-1, 9 KO’s) last Saturday night by a 4th round TKO at the Westfalenhalle, Dortmund, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Sturm knocked Radosevic down three times with body shots in the fight. The fight, if you want to call it that, was stopped in the 4th round after Sturm knocked Radosevic twice in the round.

Dib decisions Oliver

dib2 Former IBF featherweight champion Billy Dib (36-2, 21 KO’s) got back on the winning track on Friday night in defeating a ring rusty 33-year-old Mike Oliver (25-4, 8 KO’s) by a 10 round majority decision at the Connecticut Convention Center, in Hartford, Connecticut. The final judges scores were 96-92, 96-92 and 94-94. Dib was docked a point each in rounds 2 and 3 for throwing low blows.

Oliver went on the canvas after the 1st point deduction and it’s unclear whether he was hurt by a body shot, the low blow or if he was merely acting so that he would get the point taken away from Dib. Whatever the case, Dib was docked a point for the shot. Referee Mike Ortega seemed to react a little quick in taking off a point in the first low blow.

Allan Green misses weight for Eleider Alvarez bout

Light heavyweight Allan “Ghost Dog” Green (32-4, 22 KO’s) came in 6 pounds over the contract limit of 180 lbs for his fight against unbeaten Eleider Alvarez (12-0, 8 KO’s) for their scheduled 10 round fight this Friday night at the Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

Mayweather says Pacquiao’s career is done

pac89 Floyd Mayweather Jr. wasn’t bashful about giving his opinion about Manny Pacquiao in Mayweather’s press conference with WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in San Antonio, Texas this week. Mayweather told the fans that he saw Pacquiao as an over-the-hill fighter, and he then complimented Juan Manuel Marquez seemingly for a job well done in knocking Pacquiao out last December.

Mayweather said “Pacquiao’s a has-been; his career is over. [Juan] Manuel Marquez is a legend. I commend him.”

Mikey Garcia destroys Lopez; Crawford stops Sanabria

Mikey Garcia (32-0, 27 KO’s) put on a jabbing and counter-punching clinic in destroying a once good fighter Juan Manuel Lopez (33-3, 30 KO’s) by a 4th round TKO tonight at the American Airlines Center, in Dallas, Texas, USA. Mikey, 25, knocked Juanma down twice in the fight, once in the 2nd from a right hand, and a final time in the 4th with a tremendous left hook. Official time of stoppage was 1:35.