Has Froch let his fans down by choosing Yusaf Mack to fight next?

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

Has Froch let his fans down by choosing Yusaf Mack to fight next? By Michael Collins: By now you’ve all heard the news about IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch’s next fight against light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) on November 17th at the Capital FM Arena, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom. Froch’s choice of an opponent hasn’t been well received from boxing fans who wanted to see Froch fight a much better opponent than then the struggling 32-year-old Mack. Froch had always prided himself on not taking any easy fights. Well, this certainly does seem to be an easy fight for him and it’s more than off putting when you consider that Froch may not have more than a small handful of fights left in his career before he retires.

Boxing fans wanted to see Froch fight unbeaten South African Thomas Oosthuizen or Sakio Bika at the least. But in choosing Mack, Froch and his promoter Eddie Hearn seem to have really reached for the bottom and it’s disappointing to Froch fans. There are some Froch fans who are okay with this choice and feel that Froch can fight anyone due to him having put in two hard years in the Super Six tournament.

However, many other boxing fans don’t buy into excuses like that and they feel that fighters shouldn’t be taking easy fights, especially given that the price of tickets don’t change to reflect an easier fight. I can understand that. If a fighter is going to take a tune-up bout then the prices of tickets should change along with it so that boxing fans don’t get stuck paying big money for a mismatch that will likely end in a few rounds.

Marco Antonio Rubio vs. Carlos Baldomir on September 8th

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Marcus Richardson: IBF International International middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (54-6-1, 47 KO’s) will be defending his title against 41-year-old former WBC welterweight champion Carlos Baldomir on September 8th in a still to be determined venue in Mexico. Rubio, #6 WBC, suffered a 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr earlier this year in February. Rubio fought his heart out in that fight, but simply didn’t have the weight to compete with the 180 pound Chavez Jr. and ended up spending most of the fight pinned to the ropes by the bigger Chavez Jr.

Rubio has since won his last fight, beating Jorge Cota by a 7th round knockout in June of this year. Rubio looked good in that fight and beat a good fighter in Cota.

Baldomir previously held the WBC welterweight title from January 2006 to November of 2006 after beating champion Zab Judah by a 12 round unanimous decision in a shocking upset. However, Baldomir was only able to successfully defend the title once, beating Arturo Gatto by a 9th round TKO in July of 2006. In November of that same year, Baldomir lost his title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision.

Chris Arreola Working Hard, In Shape At A Reported 245-Pounds; May Fight In November

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By James Slater: Rest assured Chris Arreola fans. Though “The Nightmare,” has been quiet as of late (after a most active 2011, during which he fought five times), leading some fans to wonder whether the 31-year-old has lost his desire and piled the pounds back on, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Though the Riverside native has not fought since his February win over Eric Molina (a 1st-round stoppage victory, for which Arreola scaled 245-pounds), he has been working hard in the gym. Just today, ESPN’s Bernardo Osuna posted a Twitter photo of an trim-looking Arreola working on the speed bag in the Riverside Gym. Osuna reports that Arreola weighs exactly the same as he did for his February fight and that he is “eying a possible November return to the ring.”

This is good news. As we know, a dedicated, motivated Arreola is a handful for any heavyweight out there and it would be good to see the WBC#1 ranked heavyweight contender get another fight in before the end of the year. At one point, Arreola, 35-2(30) was very much on Ring Magazine, WBA, IBF and WBO king Wladimir Klitschko’s radar – with “Dr. Steel Hammer” saying he would like to fight in America again and that Arreola was the fighter he had in mind.

Mike Tyson Vs. Evander Holyfield: Which Fighter Has The Greater Legacy?

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

by James Slater: Somewhat as it is with Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, the names Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson are destined to be forever linked. Though they only fought twice, with Holyfield winning on both occasions, Tyson and Holyfield had a long running rivalry, with a genuine grudge element added. The two were talked of as natural rivals as far back as 1987, when “The Real Deal” was a cruiserweight, but we had to wait – for one reason or another (jail, injury, etc) – until 1996 before the two mesmerizing heavyweights clashed in ring centre.

Today, quite amazingly considering the infamous “bite fight” of 1997, the rematch, the two have become pretty good friends (with Evander today releasing a Twitter pic of himself wearing a T-short mocking the bizarre DQ win he engaged in with “Iron” Mike. But who was the overall greater fighter, who has the greater legacy – Tyson or Holyfield?

Though many would ordinarily jump right on an article that prompts a debate about who was the better man between two fighters when one of them has beaten the other twice, I have a feeling this will not be the case here. Sure, Holyfield twice defeated Tyson, but this is “Iron Mike” we are talking about after all – a fighter with one of the most rabid and vocal groups of supportive and idolising fans in modern day boxing history.

Pacquiao update: Still no opponent picked out and no date chosen for next fight

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum still haven’t selected an opponent for a date for Pacquiao’s next fight. All that is known now is that the fight will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on either November 10th or December 1st. We know that Pacquiao will chose amongst three fighters – Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley or Juan Manuel Marquez – picked out for him to choose from by Arum but there’s still no word who that guy will be. Michael Koncz, the personal adviser for Pacquiao, had said that the name of the opponent could possibly be revealed this week, so hopefully they can finally say who the guy will be.

Cotto’s name is mentioned but the chances of him getting the fight are so slim that it’s not even funny. Cotto has already booked Madison Square Garden in New York for December 1st, and Pacquiao and Arum won’t likely agree to fighting in New York because of the State taxes that would be taken out if the fight took place there. Nevada doesn’t have state taxes, which is why the fight can only take place there and that’s not going to happen with Cotto having already booked Madison Square Garden.

The only choices for Pacquiao’s next opponent are Bradley or Marquez. It’s pretty clear that Arum seems to favor the soon to be 39-year-old Marquez because he helped bring in 1.4 million pay per view buys for Pacquiao’s last fight with him last November. That number was double the 700,000 PPV buys that Pacquiao-Bradley brought in last June. Just doing the math it suggests that Marquez is overwhelmingly the favorite to get the fight with Pacquiao.

Chavez Jr says to Martinez: You can’t get away from me inside the ring

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) believes that his opponent Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) will be using a lot of movement on September 15th to try and keep away from his heavy pressure in their HBO fight at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, the 26-year-old Chavez Jr. doesn’t see Martinez having much success in trying to keep away from him.

Chavez Jr. said to Max Kellerman of HBO on their recent Chavez Jr-Martinez face off with Kellerman: “The ring is square like this. [Chavez Jr. then uses his hand to draw an imaginary square on the table]. You can’t get out.”

Martinez: “Neither can you.”

Martinez will likely fight Chavez Jr. as he’d done against past slow-footed sluggers such as Kelly Pavlik and Alex Bunema by using constant movement mixed in with periodic attacks. Martinez probably won’t throw a lot of punches, but he’ll make his shots count by landing the harder shots. The much heavier Chavez Jr. has little choice but to try and cut off the ring on Martinez to try and force to fight on the inside, as Chavez Jr. doesn’t have great skills on the outside, and he won’t be able to move a lot without taking a big risk that he may tire out like we’ve seen him do in some of his past fights. Tiring out against a fighter like Matt Vanda is one thing, but if Chavez Jr. fades against Martinez he could get knocked out.

Carl Froch to face Yusaf Mack on November 17th in Nottingham

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (29-2, 21 KO’s) will be taking on a soft opponent for his next fight against recent Tavoris Cloud knockout victim light heavyweight Yusaf Mack (31-4-2, 17 KO’s) in a scheduled 12 round bout on November 17th at the Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, UK. The fight doesn’t really make a lot of sense because Mack has already been knocked out by Glen Johnson in 2010, a fighter that Froch already beat in the Super Six tournament. It just looks like a mismatch.

Mack, 6’1″, will have to drop down from light heavyweight to make the fight with the 35-year-old Froch and you can imagine that Mack will be weakened from the process of making weight. It’s already a mismatch going in but when you add to that Mack having to take off weight to get down to the 168 lb limit then you’re really talking mismatch.

Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn from Matchroom Sport did his best to try and hype Mack as an opponent, saying to Sky Sports News “He’s got nothing to lose coming here to face me and I know he’ll put it all on the line to take the title from me so I’ll be fully prepared for everything he’s got and I’ll be hitting him with all my best.”

“Nothing left to lose” sounds like code to me to mean Mack only has a puncher’s chance in this fight. In other words, this is a mismatch.

Fres Oquendo is Shelved for Six Weeks with a Broken Hand

09/14/201608/28/2012 ESB

By Pavel Yakovlev, photo by Joey Hill – Heavyweight contenders can sigh with relief…at least for a while. Fres Oquendo is out of action for six weeks due to a broken right hand. The injury occurred during the Boricua Bomber’s seventh round stoppage of Robert Hawkins last week. In the third round, Oquendo landed numerous crunching rights, twice flooring the brick-chinned Hawkins and nearly ending the fight. But by the end of the round, Oquendo’s right was throbbing with pain. The next day, an orthopedist confirmed what Oquendo and his cornermen suspected: that the hand was broken.

“My hand was in excruciating pain. I felt it for the whole fight after the third,” said Oquendo. “But I didn’t tell anyone. I just wanted to get the job done.” Oquendo compensated for the injury by switching his attack to the body, even though he continued to fire rights to the head. Oquendo’s manager Tom Tsatas explained, “Fres didn’t let up despite the pain. He knew Hawkins has a hard head, so he started driving both hands to the body. It worked.”

Yusaf Mack To Challenge Froch, Nov. 17th?

09/14/201608/27/2012 ESB

By James Slater: Earlier this week, when the news broke that Carl Froch would be defending his IBF super-middleweight title at his hometown arena, The F.M in Nottingham, there was speculation over who “The Cobra” would be facing.

A number of names were mentioned, including Philly’s Yusaf Mack, but in a news piece in The Daily Star it was reported that Mack was unwilling to put pen to paper and accept the terms offered to him. Well, according to a new piece on Ringtv.com, it appears as though 32-year-old Mack, 31-4-2(17) has had a change of heart and has agreed to the November fight.

Ringtv.com reports that the fight is a done deal for Nov. 17th, and that Froch will then fight former IBF champ Lucian Bute in a contractually agreed rematch at a date to be confirmed. If it is Mack next for Froch, some fans may well moan a little, as used as they are to seeing 35-year-old Froch, 29-2(21) fight the very best (Froch’s last eight fights being, in order, Jean Pascal, Jermain Taylor, Andre Dirrell, Mikkel Kessler, Arthur Abraham, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward and, last time out, the 5th-round stoppage win over Bute – a crazy resume if ever there was one!)

But Froch, having his second fight in a row at home, is more deserving than most when it comes to having an “easy” fight. But this is to perhaps pay a disservice to the tough and experienced Mack.

Evander Holyfield: Is “The Real Deal” About To Call Time On His Legendary Career?

09/14/201608/27/2012 ESB

By James Slater – Over the weekend, a number of boxing web sites ran with the story of WBC heavyweight king Vitali Klitschko basically ruled out a fight living legend Evander Holyfield (I read the story on Examiner.com).

Fans will not in any way have been shocked by this statement by Klitschko, as he and his younger brother are class acts, neither one wanting to either hurt or humiliate the once-great Holyfield, nor get arrested for murder. Speaking very much for his brother as well no doubt, Klitschko has made it clear: there is no big fight left out there for the 49-year-old former four-time ruler.

Holyfield has said himself that he will not take a meaningless non-title fight “just for the sake of fighting,” and we must now hold him to his word. With a Klitschko fight now as dead in the water for him as can be, Evander surely has nowhere to turn but towards the exit door.

In truth, the future Hall of Famer who last fought in May of last year (a win: a 10th-round TKO over fellow veteran Brian Nielsen) should have called it quits a number of years ago, say after his close points loss to the huge Nikolay Valuev (this December 2008 fight being “The Real Deal’s” last good showing).