Bill Phanco, Author At Boxing News 24/7

Groves with tough task in facing Anthony Dirrell, says Froch

January 12, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Anthony Dirrell, Carl Froch, George Groves - Boxing News

IBF/WBA super middleweight champ Carl Froch sees a tough road for his recent knockout victim George Groves (21-2, 16 KOs) if and when he faces WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1, 22 KOs) in the United States. Froch thinks that the 26-year-old Groves could have problems if he fights Dirrell in the U.S, although it’s hard to see why it would be any different than it would be if the fight were to take place elsewhere.

Groves doesn’t have to fight Dirrell in order to get a title shot. He can wait until Froch gives up his IBF title, and then face James DeGale for the vacant strap or look to fight the winner of DeGale vs. Andre Dirrell for the title.

Anthony Joshua injured, fight with Kevin Johnson off

January 12, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Anthony Joshua, Kevin Johnson - Boxing News

British heavyweight Anthony Joshua (10-0, 10 KOs) will need to take some time off to heal a back injury he sustained in his last fight against Michael Sprott. The injury to the 25-year-old Joshua’s back means that his fight against American Kevin Johnson will be canceled for January 31st.

Joshua has a stress fracture in his back from his 1st round stoppage win over the 39-year-old Sprott two months ago on November 22nd. Joshua did something during the fight that tweaked his back, and he’s been slow healing ever since then. It goes without saying that Joshua should have taken some time off from the gym rather than getting back into training recently.

Khan giving Mayweather 5 days deadline to agree to fight him

January 11, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr - Boxing News

Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) is drawing a line in the sand with unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) by giving him a hard 5-day deadline for him to make up his mind whether he wants to fight him next or not. If Mayweather doesn’t choose to fight Khan in the next five days, Khan will move on presumably.

Khan didn’t say whether he would change his mind after the 5-day limit, but you can assume that the so-called limit wouldn’t keep Khan from still taking the fight.

Khan: Many experts think Mayweather is scared of me

January 11, 2015 by Bill Phanco

It appears that Amir Khan hasn’t given up on steady pursuit of a career payday fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr despite the signs not looking good that he’ll be getting a fight against the superstar in 2015, if ever. Khan is now saying that he’s hearing from boxing experts that Mayweather is afraid of him.

Whether this is true or not impossible to tell, because it’s nothing more than speculation and guesswork from the so-called experts. What we do know is Mayweather feels that Khan doesn’t bring enough to a fight in terms of his popularity in the U.S, and for that reason he’s dismissing him as a potential opponent for him.

Froch not interested in Golovkin or Ward, wants Chavez Jr

January 11, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Gennady Golovkin - Boxing News

If he can’t get his desired fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Las Vegas, IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch says he’ll be hanging up his gloves and going into retirement. He has no interest in taking plan-B backup options of facing Gennady Golovkin or Andre Ward, even though both of those fights would do quite well on British pay-per-view and would likely sell as well as Froch’s recent fights against George Groves.

Froch wants Chavez Jr because he thinks he can beat him, and he likes that Chavez Jr has a large Mexican fan population that follows him.

Carl Froch having second thoughts about retiring

January 9, 2015 by Bill Phanco

IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) appears to be having second thoughts about him walking away from the game in 2015. He’s been talking about retirement since the Lucian Bute fight in 2012, but in the last two years the talk has increased to the point where many boxing fans believed that he would retire after a proposed farewell fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr this year.

Froch now feels like he can continue fighting, and he’s talking about the Chavez Jr and even showing sudden interest in a possible James DeGale fight.

Khan: Mayweather’s running, who wants to see Khan-Pacquiao?

January 7, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Amir Khan, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Manny Pacquiao - Boxing News

Amir Khan says that Floyd Mayweather Jr is running from him because he won’t agree to fight him. Khan instead is now targeting Manny Pacquiao for his next fight if the Filipino fighter doesn’t end up facing Mayweather next on May 2nd.

“Who wants to see Khan vs. Pacquiao because I know Mayweather’s running,” Khan said on his twitter.

I’m sure that a lot of boxing fans would love to see Pacquiao face Khan. If the only other alternative to a Mayweather fight is Jessie Vargas, then I can see a lot of fans seeing Khan as a much better choice. However, Khan is managed by Al Haymon, which would seem to be a huge barrier for Khan getting a fight against Pacquiao due to Haymon not working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.

Cleverly to melt down to light heavyweight to fight on 4/11, wants Braehmer

January 7, 2015 by Bill Phanco

Nathan Cleverly is going to need to drop a ton of weight to get down to 175 for his next fight on April 11th in Lees. He’s moving from cruiserweight back down to light heavyweight where he hopes to get a crack at WBA World light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer in the near future. That fight obviously won’t happen on April 11th, but that’s the direction Cleverly is being steered in.

First, however, he’s going to need to lose 25 pounds to get down to 175. This isn’t just 25 pounds of fat though. This is 25 pounds of muscle that Cleverly slowly put on in order to move up to cruiserweight. He won two out of his three fights in that weight class, but after his lethargic performance in losing to Tony Bellew last November, Cleverly decided he should move back down to light heavyweight.