A few days back, Top Rank Boss and Manny Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum stated flat-out that the stories in the UK newspapers claiming Pacquiao could fight Amir Khan next were “complete bulls**t.” Well, the ongoing saga on who Pac-Man may fight next just took yet another twist, as Manny himself has confirmed that yes, he IS in talks with Khan.
“My team and I are in negotiations with Amir Khan for our next fight. Further announcement coming soon,” Pacquiao wrote in his tweet.
Both the ongoing press tour for the big Canelo Alvarez-Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr showdown and the fight itself just got even more interesting. The two Mexican stars, appearing on Univision’s Despierta America TV show, bet their fight purses in a bold winner takes all move.
Canelo, who already feels the May 6 catch-weight fight is “personal,” felt slighted when he heard how Chavez Jr. had predicted that he would KO him inside eight rounds. In response, Canelo agreed to the audacious bet with his rival countryman.
Danny Garcia says he has a “huge” legacy as a 140 pound fighter and he now needs a win over Keith Thurman in their fast-approaching WBC/WBA unification showdown to achieve the same as a 147-pounder. Garcia, in speaking with RingTV.com, says a win over Thurman – one he is sure he will indeed pick up in New York on March 4 – will “have my name up there with the Miguel Cottos of the world.”
In his own super-polite way, IBF heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua has laid into rival champ, WBC ruler Deontay Wilder. AJ is no trash-talker and never will be, but he got as close to being verbally aggressive towards another fighter as he is likely to get when he spoke about Wilder and his “easy pickings” opposition.
While almost all fight fans and boxing historians feel there will NEVER be another fight or night as epic and as truly special as the happening that was the Joe Frazier-Muhammad Ali super-fight from 1971, reigning WBC heavyweight king Deontay Wilder says that a fight between he and rival champ Anthony Joshua would rank right up there with “The Fight of The Century.”
Just who will superstar Manny Pacquiao fight next, and where will the fight take place? Recently, with doubts creeping in over Pacquiao’s assumed April fight with Jeff Horn in Brisbane, an online poll, set up by Manny himself, asked fans who they wanted to see him fight next and in the United Arab Emirates.
And yesterday evening UK time a number of reports came out in the British press that said a deal had been reached for Pacquiao to fight Amir Khan next. Khan won the twitter poll, receiving the most fan votes, so plenty of people bought into the idea that it would indeed be Pacquiao-Khan next.
It was back in June of 2013 when Adonis Stevenson shocked and stunned defending WBC light-heavyweight ruler Chad Dawson, sensationally taking the crown inside a round. Stevenson, a wickedly powerful southpaw banger, looked set for a thrilling reign as world champ; maybe with big unification fights to come.
But, despite “Superman” engaging in some exciting fights, Stevenson has let some people down with his choice of opposition – former champ Dawson especially. Since the crushing win over “Bad” Chad, Stevenson, 28-1(23) has defended his belt an impressive seven times, yet a good number of his retentions did not come against elite opposition.
Is Adrien Broner an elite welterweight? Did Broner deserve the hard-fought ten round split decision victory he picked up over Adrian Granados on Saturday night? Who will Broner fight next? These are just a few of the questions surrounding “The Problem” and the future of his career. In a fair world, Broner would grant the deserving Granados a return fight, but that’s not going to happen.
Granados might have answered one of the questions asked above though: Broner, Granados says, is not a welterweight. But Broner, who has had weight problems, is unlikely to drop back down to 140. Broner is targeting the big names at 147 and he said after squeaking past Granados that he is very interested in fighting either Manny Pacquiao and/or the winner of the upcoming March unification meeting between Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman.
As he continues his preparations for “The Battle of Mexico” with Canelo Alvarez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is already looking to be in good condition. In the past, Chavez suffered in fights due to not having trained properly, but these weight issues appear to have gone for this fight, one the former middleweight champ is calling “the fight of his life.”
Chavez appears slimmed down and well on his way to being bang on the 164.5 pound agreed catch-weight for May 6. Motivation is not an issue for the 30 year-old in this, the biggest fight of his career, and Julio Cesar Chavez Senior says that a fully motivated, properly trained Junior “can beat anyone.”
The upcoming David Haye-Tony Bellew fight is a big fight and an attractive fight here in the UK, but Haye is targeting a much bigger fight; one he goes as far as to say is “the biggest fight on the planet.” It’s no secret Haye believes he will do away with Bellew in double-quick fashion (and he may well do so on March 4) and it’s also no secret that the former WBA heavyweight champ wants a shot at Anthony Joshua.