Last night in Cancun, Mexico, 35 year old Yuriorkis Gamboa kept his career alive with a win – but only just. The once seemingly untouchable Cuban scraped through with a ten round MD over Mexico’s Alexis Reyes, prevailing by scores of 95-94 twice in the 135 pound bout, the third judge seeing things all square at 94-94.
Gamboa is now 27-2(17), 22 year old Reyes, who has never been stopped, is now 15-3-1(7).
As fight fans now have a chance to see a short (very short) clip of the sparring sessions we’ve heard so much about, between Conor McGregor and Paulie Malignaggi, they also have a chance to listen to the MMA star’s latest prediction regarding his August 26 showdown with Floyd Mayweather.
Regarding the short clip of the sparring sessions: the clip does show Malignaggi going down, yet he appears to be off-balance and also helped down by a forearm, and the second the clip ends, Malignaggi is in the act of bouncing straight back up, clearly unhurt. Still, McGregor and his supporters are using the video clip as “proof” that he can box and that Mayweather will be in trouble, as was Malignaggi.
Boxing legends Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns are currently in Las Vegas – the scene of many of their sensational, unforgettable fights – to attend tonight’s Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame.
Hearns, a former five-weight king, will be inducted, Leonard, also a five-weight ruler, will be taking care of the induction duties. Once venomous rivals, the two all-time greats who met in 1981, at welterweight, and in 1989, at super-middleweight, have nothing but mutual respect these days. They earned it in the ring, in so doing thrilling the world with 26 rounds of superb boxing.
Deontay Wilder is shopping around for his next fight – set to take place, possibly, in November – and he may have found a most marketable and exciting opponent in dangerous Cuban southpaw Luis Ortiz.
Speaking with Premier Boxing Champions, the unbeaten WBC heavyweight king spoke about how Ortiz, also unbeaten, is a fighter other heavyweights are afraid of. But “The Bronze Bomber,” who said Ortiz is known as a “Boogeyman,” insists he does not in any way shape or form scare him.
The last time he fought, former two-weight champ Juan Manuel Lopez actually fought twice on the same night. “Juanma,” who returned from a two year layoff last October, this inactive spell coming after two straight (and quite nasty) stoppage losses, beat Wilfredo Vazquez Jr – and after the 11th round TKO win, the Puerto Rican got involved in a fracas with one of Vazquez’ corner-men!
Biggest isn’t always best. Promoter Oscar De La Hoya, himself no stranger to gargantuan numbers, either as a fighter or as a promoter, said on Tuesday’s conference call to further promote the September 16 world middleweight clash between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Canelo Alvarez that the upcoming fight will be THE biggest fight in the history of the middleweight division.
It’s possible the fight has been overtaken somewhat in terms of hype and fan attention (an understatement if ever there was one!) but Miguel Cotto will face Yoshihiro Kamegai on August 26; the night Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor meet up in what is either a joke fight or a genuinely fascinating crossover fight (depending on your own view).
Is former super-middleweight king Carl Froch worthy of going into The Hall of Fame? “The Cobra,” now aged 40, his reputation, his health and his wealth as intact as his recently surgically repaired nose, told BBC Sport that he has “heard whispers that I might be a Hall of Famer one day.”
The British legend again confirmed how he will not be coming back, that he has “been out too long,” and that he would find it “dangerous” to attempt to boil back down to 168 pounds. Froch, who went out on a high with his crushing of vocal rival George Groves, who he knocked flat in a return fight in front of a then record crowd at Wembley in May of 2014, says he currently weighs around 14st (196 pounds) and that he is content where he is, on the safe side of the ropes.
Though recently crowned WBO welterweight champ Jeff Horn recently told The Sydney Telegraph that his in-the-works rematch with Manny Pacquiao will very likely take place in Australia, the superstar former champ says he very much wants the return bout to take place in his homeland of the Philippines, or failing that in Dubai or in the US.
This weekend in Las Vegas, nothing short of boxing royalty will be both in attendance and receiving honours at the fifth Nevada Boxing Hall of Fame inductions. There will be a genuine celebration of two great rivalries, as Thomas Hearns will be inducted, by Sugar Ray Leonard, and as Erik Morales will be inducted, by Marco Antonio Barrera.