Chris Carlson

ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Full Recap: Truax/Duran battle to a disputed draw and a controversial knockout in the main event

truax5667The night started out at the Target Center from chilly Minneapolis with a rematch from a spirited first fight featuring Milwaukee prospect Adrian Martinez fighting Duluth native Trevor Marmon.

The 1st round was evenly fought until the fighters exchanged left hooks with Adrian getting the better of it forcing Marmon to hold avoiding a knockdown.

Beginning of the 2nd round Marmon got to the body but Martinez’s uppercuts, body shots, and several huge right hands seem to bother Trevor. Martinez landed another flush left hook that closed the show with a knockout at the 1:18 mark in the 3rd round. 

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Espn2 Friday Night Fights kicks off the season from Minneapolis at the Target Center

637The season premiere of Espn2’s Friday Night Fights will begin in sub zero degree weather at the Target Center from Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the main event IBF Super Featherweight Champion Argenis Mendez takes on unbeaten challenger Rances Barthalemy and serving as the co-feature is local attraction Caleb Truax squaring off with tough as nails Ossie Duran. The event is promoted by Iron Mike Productions, Seconds Out Promotions, and Warrior Boxing.

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Floyd Mayweather: And the winner is…

Floyd MayweatherEvery December the boxing world buzz burns hot with the topic of who will Floyd Mayweather face next and what are the chances that it will be Manny Pacquiao.

All signs point to Amir Khan as the winner of the Money May Sweepstakes for May, 3 2014.

With numerous recent reports it would seem the only thing that needs to be figured out now is the place and undercard.

Obviously it needs to happen in a somewhat timely fashion in order to beat the drums of hype, something Golden Boy & Mayweather Promotions will need with the major backlash this fight has received any time it’s been mentioned since Amir was sparked out by Danny Garcia in the summer of 2012.

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Broner vs. Maidana: Will Chino shut Broner’s mouth or will Adrian’s speed be too much of a problem for Marcos?

Broner and MaidanaPhoto: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME – The old saying “If you build it they will come” rings true for boxing.

In 2013 the two biggest networks and promoters have improved the quality of their product despite engaging in a Cold War.

Both networks have done a great job building events along with lowering the average price of admission causing attendance to rise and the best example of this would be San Antonio, Texas.

Earlier this year Canelo Alvarez fought Austin Trout on Showtime in front of almost 40,000 fans at the Alamodome.

This summer Showtime had what was probably the best tripleheader of the year back in San Diego, oops I mean San Antonio.

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Malingaggi vs. Judah & Trout vs. Lara: Four highly skilled fighters two 50-50 fights

11 Lara and Trout IMG_0738This weekend fight fans will get the whole kit and caboodle when it comes to the variety of fights and the style in which these combatants will fight with.

Showtime has a quadruple header this Saturday with the main focus of this article being the “Battle between Brooklynites featuring Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah, also including a very intriguing tilt pairing Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout.

Let’s start with the Brooklyn bred Paulie vs. Zab fight that makes plenty of sense as the headliner even with all the belts that will be on the line in the undercard fights.

Both men are coming off losses at the Barclays Center yet both managed to prove people wrong with their respected performance.

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Rigondeaux vs. Agbeko & Tapia vs. Kirkland: Return of the 122 King and a classic prospect versus vet matchup

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This coming weekend boxing fans get quite a treat with a plethora of fights to choose from. This article will focus on the return of the Super Bantamweight King Guillermo Rigondeaux facing off against the hardened pro Joseph Agbeko.

There is a fantastic matchup between rising prospect Glen Tapia, who is vying to become a contender, and always dangerous James Kirkland, which will serve as the co-feature for the HBO broadcast from Atlantic City.

Much has been stated or spewed about Guillermo Rigondeaux’s performance the night he did the unthinkable and beat than Top 5 P4P member Nonito Donaire.

Some of the top writers in the sport rained down on the Cuban’s parade for not having enough excitement or action in his victory. Many including Bob Arum labeled it as horrible bordering on torture to watch the whole fight in one sitting.

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Pacquiao vs. Rios: The Macau Massacre

pac93623This Saturday night which will be Sunday morning Macau time, Manny Pacquiao attempts to climb back on the horse that bucked him and ride that thing in to the sunset of his career.

The man that will be across the ring from Pacquiao is Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios, who’s full steam ahead style has everyone outside the Rios camp thinking this fight will be a one sided beat down not in his favor, and entertaining as hell while it lasts.

Can Manny bounce back from the nightmare that still lingers from his fourth encounter with the Mexican legend Juan Manuel Marquez?

Can Rios clip Manny with a fight changing punch making him an overnight star in the boxing world?

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Ward vs. Rodriguez: Will ring rust make this fight more competitive?

419 It will have been just over 14 months since the last time Andre Ward graced the HBO airwaves as a fighter when he enters the ring this Saturday to face unbeaten Edwin Rodriguez.

Sidelined with a shoulder injury much has been said and written about Andre Ward.
Some of it was said using facts.

While other articles, tweets, and forum posts clearly had biasness oozing out of it, whether directed at Ward personally or at the way in which he was taught to fight.

The style of fighters and fans vigorously debating over the topic is nothing new.

I will never forget some of the arguments that my grandfather, the man that introduced me to the sport, and I had over who was better fighter and why between Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard.

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Donaire vs. Darchinyan 2 & Garcia vs. Martinez: A bridge to nowhere

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Normally when two elite fighters are co-featured on a card together you can expect the winners (favorites) to be matched up in a (super) fight of sorts at some point in the near future.

It’s a formula that’s been used to build or as Bob Arum would say “marinate”, certain fights that have been labeled by the fans as must see fights.

Usually the promoters put each fighter in a showcase type fight for future highlight replays that will be used as fuel to stoke the fire of a talked about fight.

Some fights never come to fruition due to the inner political issues of the business of boxing.

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Golovkin vs. Stevens: Slugfest, Slaughter, or both?

!cid_2_963738041@web120201_mail_ne1_yahooGennandy Golovkin has taken America by storm shooting up the ladder of success faster than most of his opponents have lasted in his current streak of 14 straight knockouts.

Brooklyn native Curtis Stevens, who will be fighting close to home in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, has taken a much different path en route to get back on HBO after losing to Andre Dirrell his first time on the network.

The Las Vegas betting lines, boxing fans and media alike aren’t giving Stevens much of a chance besides as a puncher. Can you really blame them in a matchup that looks like a duck?

It seems like HBO is playing a dangerous game of trick or treat with triple G’s.

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