Eddy Pronishev

Eddy Pronishev has been covering the sport since 2001, known for his deep technical breakdowns, sharp industry insight, and no-nonsense analysis of boxing’s biggest fights and promoters.

Ronnie Shields remembers Omar Henry

By Joseph Herron: On Friday, February 1st, Junior Middleweight prospect Omar Henry passed away at age 25, after battling gallbladder cancer for the past three months.

After learning of the tragic news, trainer Ronnie Shields expressed his sympathy for his former fighter on this Sunday’s edition of “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap”.

“I trained Omar Henry in the beginning of his professional career, and we always had a lot of fun in the gym. He was a fun-loving and jovial character. He was always making people laugh and telling jokes.”

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Cory Spinks Retires

spinksBy John G. Thompson — As reported on various websites including a statement released by Christy Spinks on Boxingscene.com, her husband, thirty-four year old Cory “The Next Generation” Spinks (39-8, 11 KO’s) is retiring from the sport of boxing following his loss to Carlos “King” Molina (21-5-2, 6 KO’s) this past Friday night.

Molina dominated the IBF eliminator at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, pitching a shutout on one judge’s scorecard, and losing only one round according to the other two judges. Spinks was deducted a point in the ninth round for holding. Molina knocked him down in the eleventh, and Spinks was given a standing eight count in the twelfth after the ropes seemed to keep him from going down again.

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Exclusive interview with Quatavious Cash

Exclusive interview by Dan Emicus with Quatavious Cash [6-0, 4 KOs]

When did you know that boxing was your calling?

I knew boxing was my calling when I was six years old. I was forced to fight everyday and I was good. So I always knew I was going to become a fighter, even though I didn’t get the opportunity until I was 14 or 15. That’s when I stopped everything and gave all my focus to boxing.

How did you fare in the amateurs?

I was too small for 165 and too big for 152, so I never reached my full potential as an amateur.

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Braehmer beats Gutknecht – Robert Woge wins first title

EduardGutknecht_JuergenBraehmerJuergen Braehmer is the new European Light Heavyweight Champion. After twelve exciting rounds, the 34-year-old won an unanimous decision over previous titlist Eduard Gutknecht in Berlin on Saturday night.

“It was a very tough fight against Eddy. I did manage to take advantage of most of my strengths, but it was difficult for me to keep focus for the whole duration of the fight,” said the prodigy of coach Karsten Roewer after the championship bout at the Max-Schmeling-Halle.

Right at the beginning, the former titleholder Gutknecht was keen to put his stamp onto the fight and went straight into attack mode. The 30-year-old caught Braehmer on the head, who seemed a bit overrun by this ferocious start. However, this was not going to be the only unwanted surprise for the man from northern Germany. Gutknecht tried everything he could which resulted in him not only showing an aggressive approach with his fists but also using some unclean methods by pushing his opponent to the ground.

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Finally: Timothy Bradley Gets A Post-Pacquiao Opponent – Will Face Russian Slugger Ruslan Provodnikov In March

provodnikov324By James Slater – Though some fans were a little turned off by unbeaten pound-for-pounder Timothy Bradley after his hugely controversial points win over superstar Manny Pacquiao – most people referring to the June 2012 split decision as a blatant robbery – the subsequent time spent out of the ring by “Desert Storm” has been unfortunate. Some fans seem to feel Bradley, 29-0(12) should have raised his hands after June 9th last year, and admitted he didn’t really defeat Pac-Man, but of course he didn’t and who can be surprised by this (have you EVER known a winning fighter confess that he didn’t deserve the victory he was awarded)?

But despite the perceived lack of sportsmanship on the part of Bradley, he is too good a fighter to have been out of action for almost a year. The good news is Bradley has an opponent all sorted out; the not so great news is the guy the WBO welterweight champ will defend against on March 16th on HBO. After the “win” over Pacquiao, it was thought the Palm Springs man would get further mega-fights. Instead, Bradley will face crude (but hugely exciting) Russian light-welterweight Ruslan Provodnikov. The 29-year-old (the same age as Bradley) from Beryozovo will move up in weight and go after Bradley’s belt at The Home Depot Centre.

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Dirrell dominates Gbenga

dirrell23427By Michael Collins: Last Saturday night, super middleweight Andre Dirrell (21-1, 14 KO’s) showed boxing fans why he was so highly hyped in the past by beating an out of his class 2nd tier fighter Michael Gbenga (14-7, 14 KO’s) by an impressive 10 round unanimous decision at the Convention Center in McAllen, Texas.

The 29-year-old Dirrell, who hadn’t seen action in well over a year, knocked down with a right uppercut to the head in the 9th round, and Dirrell also had Gbenga hurt in the 7th and 10th rounds from blistering right hands.

Gbenga showed good power as well, but he wasn’t able to land many of his shots due to Dirrell ducking or pulling his head away to avoid his power shots. He looked pretty frustrated with his inability to connect.

Dirrell’s hand speed was just as fast as it was when was competing in Showtime’s Super Six tournament in 2009-2010.

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Rees upset about his underdog status for Broner fight

rees34By Michael Collins: Former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) figured he’d be an underdog in his fight against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) on February 16th, but Rees only now is finding out how much of an underdog he is with some betting agencies. Rees is reportedly an underdog 16-1 to 80-1, and he thinks the bigger numbers are just way too high given his experience and talent.

Rees said to thesun.co.uk “I understand Broner being a firm favorite, but I can’t believe my ability is being treated with such contempt. To regard me as an 80-1 chance is simply absurd. Do they think I’m some wet behind the ears novice?…I’m going to pull off an upset.”

Are 80-1 odds too high for this fight? I really don’t have any problems with those kinds of odds, and even if it was 100-1, I think those are a lot more realistic than 16-1 odds or whatever odds that Rees feels should be for this fight. Rees is just so far out of his league in this fight that it’s just not even funny.

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Interview with “Awesome” Aaron Williams

williams464464Exclusive interview by Dan Emicus

What was it like to work with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad?

Working with Eddie was great. We had such great team chemistry and I learned so much from him. For me, he is one the top five best boxing trainers of today. I wish him nothing but the best.

You took some time out, but that has somehow turned into 2 years! What’s the reason for this?

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Carlos Molina Dominates Cory Spinks

molina3By Joe Harrison: Junior middleweight contender Carlos Molina (21-5-2, 6 KOs) defeated former two-division champion Cory Spinks (39-8, 11 KOs) by a unanimous decision in front of 5,354 screaming fans at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL. The contest was the main event on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.

Spinks showed very little fight as Molina frustrated him with his accurate punches and stellar defensive skills throughout the 12-round IBF eliminator. Spinks simply could not find an answer as Molina pressed forward and bullied him around the ring. Although Spinks was able to land an effective punch here and there, he mostly resorted to clinching to avoid further punishment.

Spinks was deducted a point in round four for excessive holding. Spinks was also dropped by a left hook in round eleven. In round twelve, Spinks received a standing eight count when it was ruled that the ropes held him up from going down again. In the end, the scores were 119-106 twice and 120-105, all for Molina.

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