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Kevin Johnson: I don’t need my ‘A’ game to beat Tyson Fury

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By Michael Collins: American heavyweight Kevin Johnson (29-2-1, 13 KO’s) figures he won’t even need to switch on his ‘A’ game this Saturday night in order to defeat unbeaten #3 WBC heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (19-0, 14 KO’s) in their fight at the Odyssey Arena, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. Johnson sees the 24-year-old Fury as a doofy, we-punching heavyweight without experience against quality heavyweights.

Johnson said in his conference call with Fury “Height is not a problem. I know a lot of guys that don’t know how to use their key element. It don’t matter if you’re tall or short, I can break you down in 0.5 seconds, especially if your level of opposition..This guy [Fury] isn’t championship level. It’s not as if I’m going against an ‘A’ fighter. That’s not the case for me to bring out my ‘A’ game. So my ‘A’ game will really kill this dude. So what have I learned from fighting tall guys? You really don’t learn much. The tall or the short games are the same thing. It just depends on how skillful. This [Fury] is the most doofiest I’ve met in boxing. This is the most feeble-handed guy I’ve ever seen in boxing history, and you’re going to come in and make a mistake against me? When the bell rings I’m going to go and get him. I haven’t done that in a long time.”

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Roach suspicious about Marquez’s muscle growth

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By Rob Smith: Freddie Roach is suddenly suspicious about the muscle growth of Juan Manuel Marquez as he heads towards a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao on December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roach suspects that Marquez may have built his impressive physique by other than natural means.

Roach told usatoday.comK/u> “If [Marquez’s body] is natural, I will kiss his a**. [Marquez] has gotten bigger and gained weight. It throws up a red flag.”

Roach has nothing to go on with this, and seems to be just reaching out of nowhere on this. Marquez has never failed any tests in the past for performance enhancing drugs, and he’s really not put a whole of muscle. He started at 135, and has merely put on less than 10 pounds in the past year. That’s hardly the sign of a fighter using performance enhancing drugs.

Marquez hired a strength and conditioning coach Angel Hernandez, who has done a good job of helping Marquez build up his physique with resistance exercises. Hernandez is quite good at his job, and he’s worked wonders with Marquez.

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Schaefer looking for an opponent for Malignaggi’s next fight

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By Bill Phanco: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi is in need of an opponent after his desired rematch against big British star Ricky Hatton fell through due to Hatton getting blasted out by Vyacheslav Senchenko last Saturday night in the UK. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is now looking at picking out Malignaggi’s next opponent from one of these fighters: Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, and Adrien Broner, according to RingTV.

Malignaggi, 32, wants a big name for his next title defense and this may be his last chance to get a big name before gets beaten. Malignaggi almost lost his title in his last fight against fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano, who Malignaggi barely beat by a 12 round decision last October in a 12 round split decision win. That fight showed that Malignaggi is vulnerable even against fringe level opposition, and that puts more pressure on Schaefer to try and get the biggest name he can because Malignaggi is so vulnerable.

Khan: He’s already beaten Malignaggi and Khan has his own problems right now having lost twice in a row.

Berto: This is winnable fight for Malignaggi but not an easy one because of Berto’s superior power. This wouldn’t be big fight for Malignaggi.

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Berto to be given another title shot next year, says Schaefer

Berto to be given another title shot next year, says SchaeferBy Rob Smith: Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) may have been soundly beaten and may have looked horrible in losing to WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s), but that’s not going to get in the way of Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer of giving Berto another world title shot next year against possibly WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi.

Schaefer said to RingTV “He [Berto] will be back, bigger and stronger. I am convinced that he will be back fighting for a world title again in 2013.”

Berto is going to have to raise his game if he wants to keep getting world title shots, because he didn’t look good in losing to Guerrero. Berto’s footwork, stamina, decision making and defense were all flawed against Guerrero. Berto looked really stiff, and was easily pushed to the ropes by the slender Guerrero.

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Peter Quillin vs. Jermain Taylor possible for February 9th in Brooklyn, New York

Peter Quillin vs. Jermain Taylor possible for February 9th in Brooklyn, New YorkBy Paul Grunich: Golden Boy Promotions is reportedly looking to make a fight happen between former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (31-4-1, 19 KO’s) and WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin (28-0, 20 KO’s) on the undercard of the Danny Garcia vs. Zab Judah fight on February 9th at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, USA. Taylor, 34, has the recognizable name that Golden Boy wants for an opponent for Quillin, and Taylor has a #8 ranking by the World Boxing Organization.

This is a fight that Richard Schaefer of Golden Boy wants to make. Quillin looked really vulnerable in winning the WBO title against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam last October. Although Quillin knocked N’Dam down six times, in between those knockdowns Quillin was getting out-boxed and outworked, and he didn’t look very special at all.

WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin was hoping to get a unification fight with Quillin, but Quillin and Golden Boy aren’t interested in that fight at all. It’s not surprising because Golovkin would likely knock Quillin into the next century if given the chance. That would be mismatch because Quillin is a pretty limited fighter and is going to need to be matched very carefully by Golden Boy if they want to keep him a champion for more than just one defense.

Taylor won his last three fights since coming off of a two year layoff from boxing from 2009 to 2011. Taylor has looked awful in all three fights, and nothing like his prime years of his career. Of all the middleweights, Quillin is probably the only one that Taylor has a small chance of beating but that doesn’t mean he will. Taylor has already been knocked down in his comeback and hurt, and Quillin, if nothing else, can punch. He’ll likely knock Taylor out cold at some point in this fight unless Taylor lands something big on Quillins’ chin.

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A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez’s plans

A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez's plansBy Bill Phanco: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be attending this Saturday’s fight between Miguel Cotto and WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of facing Cotto if he wins the fight. That’s the opponent that Alvarez badly wants, but he may not get him of Trout has something to say about it.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said this to RingTV about a Trout victory over Cotto: “I think we have to see what fashion in which Trout wins, and then we’ll make an assessment on it, and I will have to talk with Canelo.”

In other words, Alvarez may not fight Trout if he beats Cotto. I suspect that it doesn’t matter how good or bad Trout looks in the fight. If he beats Cotto, I don’t see Golden Boy allowing Alvarez to take the fight with Trout, because he’s all wrong for their young, flat-footed, easy to hit champion Alvarez. If you look at the types of fighters that they’ve been putting in with Alvarez – slow, older, stationary and smaller fighters – it’s clear that Trout is not the ideal opponent. In fact, Trout is the opposite of the types of guys that Golden Boy has fed to Alvarez, which is why I don’t see Trout getting the fight even if he destroys Cotto.

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Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decision

Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decisionBy Paul Grunich, photo by Robert Tibuni – WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) may be the champion as he enters his fight this Saturday night against former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s), but Trout is going to be fighting in front of pretty much mostly Cotto’s fans at the Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA.

What this means is that the fans will be cheering every punch that Cotto throws, even the ones where he misses his target. The judges will no doubt be influenced by the pro-Cotto fans, and this could lead to Trout losing a lot of rounds where he appears to win them. This could be big problem for Trout int his fight. He’s also starting off as the much less popular fighter of the two, and that’s a potential problem as well.

Cotto is the recognizable name, the star if you will, whereas Trout is just a young, slick fighter with a ton of athletic skills going for him. Think of Trout as the future of the junior middleweight division, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Even if Cotto wins this fight on Saturday, he’s not going to be fighting for too much longer because the competition is catching up to him, and he mainly wants to fight just the big names in the sport.

It’s surprising that he’s taking the Trout fight, because Trout isn’t well know. But the likely reason that Cotto is taking this fight is so that he can try and pick up a title, and then use that title to get a bigger cut of the financial pie in a unification bout against the WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in 2013. Cotto may need a title in his possession to get a bigger cut against Alvarez.

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Juan Manuel Márquez / Nacho Béristain Interview Transcript

Juan Manuel Márquez / Nacho Béristain Interview TranscriptTODD duBOEF: Welcome everybody. Welcome champion Juan Manuel Márquez, Fernando Beltran and Hall of Fame trainer Ignacio “Nacho” Béristain. Juan Manuel’s media day was in México last week and the reports say that Juan Manuel has never looked this good. We all know what has happened over the years and how this is a legendary match-up and I think it’s really important for everyone to speak to Juan Manuel and Nacho about their strategy and before I do that I would like to introduce Fernando the co-promoter of Juan Manuel

FERNANDO BELTRAN: Welcome and I think what Todd says is absolutely true. This is a unique rivalry and the most important match of the year without a doubt. We are going to close the year on the right foot. Juan Manuel is world champion in four weight classes and has never looked this good. Everybody knows about the controversy in the last fight. It was good for Manny Pacquaio to take this fight to clear everything up and let’s see who the best man is on December 8.

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David Price targeting Chisora after bout against Skelton on Friday

By Michael Collins: After unbeaten heavyweight David Price (14-0, 12 KOs) dispatched with 45-year-old Matt Skelton (28-6, 23 KO’s) this Friday night in their fight at the Aintree Equestrian Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. The fight isn’t expected to be much of a fight because Skelton is in his mid 40s and he doesn’t have much power.

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