Khan vs. Algieri – A Must KO Win For Khan

05/29/201505/28/2015 Ivan Ivanov

The fight will take place on May 29 at the Barclays center, a high capacity indoor arena in Brooklyn, NY. Usually boxers need excuses why they do not take a certain fight but Amir Khan (30-3) has been trying to justify his choice and has offered excuses why he should fight Christopher Algieri (20-1). The British boxer can gain credibility only from a stoppage win over this opponent even though Algieri went the distance with Pacquiao and holds a win, albeit a controversial SD, over rough and tumble Ruslan Provodnikov.

Chris Algieri is a little taller and his reach is a little longer but he lacks in experience and skill compared to Khan. In fact he lacks in experience compared to any high-level boxer. Khan is an Olympic silver medalist and his transition to the paid ranks was not seamless but he has more fights than Algieri, a journeyman with little if any amateur experience. The American has been floored 8 times in his last two fights and it would take a stretch of imagination to conjure up a winning path for him in this fight.

Cruiserweight Mayhem in Moscow

05/23/201505/23/2015 Ivan Ivanov

The Russian invasion of the cruiserweight division continued on Friday night at the Luzhniki arena in Moscow. All three Russian cruiser weights, Grigory Drozd, Rakhim Chakhkiev and Dmitri Kudryashov who fought on the under-card of Povetkin/Perez stopped their opponents and established Russian as the official language of the division. Oleksandr Usyk of the Ukraine must be mentioned as a potential game-changer in the division and he speaks fluent Russian as well. Marco Huck (Muamer Hukic) has studied Russian at school in his native Serbia as a boy but it will hardly help him come to terms with the advancing troops. Huck had an extremely hard time with Dennis Lebedev and the new guard seems tougher.

Alexander Povetkin Revives Career with a 1st Round TKO Over Mike Perez

05/23/2015 Ivan Ivanov

The main event of the action-packed card at the Luzhniki arena in Moscow last night was the shortest fight of the night. Alexander Povetkin (29-1) sandbagged highly regarded Mike Perez (21-2-1) for half a round and cemented his mandatory WBC spot by winning the WBC Silver heavyweight title. He was already number 1 in the rankings prior to the fight.

Both competitors had notable amateur background. Alexander Povetkin won Olympic gold in Athens and Perez was a successful amateur for the Cuban national team winning the World Junior Championship in 2004. He later grew up to cruiser weight but failed to secure a spot in the national team having mixed success against the top dogs. Irish boxing promoter Gary Hyde spotted him at a tournament and lured Perez into defecting from Cuba. He arranged the prospect’s escape from the Island of Freedom using the services of a Mexican cartel. Perez was required to swim offshore from Cuba and board a cartel vessel in neutral waters and he ended up being hostage for 9 days until Hyde was able to pay what the cartel demanded for Perez’s release.

Gennady Golovkin: Business As Usual

05/18/201505/17/2015 Ivan Ivanov

The 20th consecutive KO (TKO) win for Golovkin was less eventful than “the big drama show’ catch phrase suggested. The fight took place on May 16 and the venue was the Forum in Inglewood, Cal. The challenger Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs), a US southpaw with Cuban roots, was known for his speed but not his power and he was not expected to rock and test the Kazakh with concussive leather. Monroe comes from a boxing family – his uncle Willie “The Worm” Monroe once outpointed Marvin Hagler of all middleweights handing him his 2nd pro loss – and when you add the Cuban connection the bar goes up a notch as well. Willie was a Boxino tournament champ and his only loss had been a UD to Darnell Boone, an under-appreciated but notoriously awkward customer who KOed Adonis Stevenson and has scored knock downs over Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. The undefeated Golovkin looked forward to fighting a slick southpaw and they were of equal size with a reach advantage in favor of the American. Here is a round by round recap of the bout:

Mayweather “open to a rematch with Pacquiao”

05/06/2015 Ivan Ivanov

The fans may have had too much of Mayweather and Pacquiao for the last several months but the saga continues. Mayweather has stated, or rather texted his wish to have another go with Manny Pacquiao. He sent a text message to Stephen A. Smith from ESPN expressing his interest in a sequel. Pacman cried rematch right after the final bell and the fighters seem unanimous in their decision to finalize their careers with forging a rivalry. The rivalry used to be intriguing before it materialized into “the fight of the century” which failed to meet even the most conservative expectations of aficionados while it satisfied most of the naysayers’ warnings. The numbers have not been released yet but it looks like the fight may have met at least one high expectation that the fans care little about – a grossing pay-per-view record.

Pacquiao announced a shoulder injury after the fight which got him into several kinds of trouble. He did not need an excuse as he did well and even his opponent complimented him, saying “I take my hat off to him”. Team Pacquiao behaved erratically after the fight, they were in denial and showed little class in reconciling with the verdict, fair or not and maintaining dignity.

The farce of the century? Mayweather UD 12 Pacquiao

05/04/201505/03/2015 Ivan Ivanov

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The triumph of politics and hype over the sport of boxing is unanimous, professional boxing exists as a sport only nominally and has turned into a financial instrument. Show business likes scripts and scenarios and everything was under control last night, judging/scoring and even punch stats calculations occurred independently and irrespectively of the action in the ring or of the actual number of landed shots. The fight definitely did not live up to the hype except perhaps financially – the alleged fight of the century will hardly qualify for a fight of the year candidate.

The last man who beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring relies on CNN to take him to “the fight of the century”

04/30/201504/29/2015 Ivan Ivanov

Serafim Todorov happened to be the last opponent in Mayweather’s amateur career which ended bitterly for the mega star with a 10:9 loss under the computerized scoring system. Todorov is an ex-amateur boxing prodigy from Bulgaria and is now living on a subsistence allowance in the projects of a Bulgarian town and has been “forgotten by everyone but the Lord” as he likes to repeat. He is an Olympic silver medalist, a three time world and twice European champion and his only steady income is the government pension (about $430) he was awarded for his Olympic medal. He would indeed have disappeared form the public eye if he had not given a rare interview last year to a local TV station which came to the attention of CNN that decided to feature him in a short documentary.

Mayweather/Pacquiao – game plans last until the first big shot

04/28/2015 Ivan Ivanov

Clichés like “key to victory” and strategic game-planning referring to the coaches’ insights and observations are a vital part of the mental preparation and the “psyche” of any pugilist. However even the most elaborate game plan is just a hypothesis, an intention that lasts until the first big shot is landed. In the late rounds when incremental damage piles up boxers fight on habit and instinct with rare moments of ingenuity and little regard of the initial game plan. They are creatures of habit like everyone and rarely act out of character especially under pressure. Hence the importance of style – an amalgam of habits and steady boxing skills replenished and honed over the years. Here is a review and comparison of the combatants’ fundamentals before the clash of epic financial proportions and yet-to-be-seen technical value.

Klitschko keeps both detractors and supporters happy with a UD over Bryant Jennings

04/26/2015 Ivan Ivanov

Wladimir Klitschko (63-4) retained his titles via UD against extremely fit and rugged challenger Bryant Jennings (19-1) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The scores were wide, 116-111 twice and 118-109, and the skill differential even wider but Jennings was more problematic for Klitschko than the scores or his own boxing ability could suggest. Klitschko acknowledged the hand speed of his opponent baffled him and he compared Jennings to a modern Frazier but he was surely far too kind and gave his opponent too much credit for fighting back sporadically. Bryant demonstrated a granite chin and courage to spare but if he had Frazier’s left hook or even half of it the fight might have turned out differently.

Wladimir Klitschko sets his sights on Joe Louis’s record of 25 straight title defenses

04/23/201504/23/2015 Ivan Ivanov

Klitschko is not just looking past Bryant Jennings (19-0) but he has grand plans to rewrite the record books. At this stage the Ukrainian has 17 consecutive title defenses ranking third behind Larry Holmes with 19 pops and Joe Louis in a league of his own with 25 straight wins at the top. Dr. Steelhammer will tie one of Louis’s achievements – 27 title bouts- the moment he sets foot in the ring tomorrow night at the Garden to defend his 4 titles against Jennings.

“As long as I have the motivation and health, I’ll do it. I don’t feel old, or bad, or slow.” said the confident champion. At the last press conference prior to his fight with Jennings, Wladimir acted out of character and did some brash talking giving the media and fans a little more food for comments. Ever the gentleman, he never talks trash and he found some balance in dismissing the up comers but paying his respect to the legends form the past, saying: “I am still looking up to those guys.