Tonight at The O2 in London on the big Haye-Bellew card, unbeaten super lightweight prospect/contender Ohara Davies proved way too fast, sharp – and young – for former champ Derry Mathews.
These two had a real war of words at Monday’s press conference, with Mathews vowing to give his young upstart opponent a boxing lesson.
The welterweight division is really buzzing right now; with tonight’s 50/50 unification shoot-out between Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman set to thrill, a Manny Pacquiao-Amir Khan clash on the horizon and, set to be officially announced tonight before the WBC/WBA title showdown, Shawn Porter Vs. Andre Berto.
According to RingTV.com, the fight has been finalised and will go ahead on April 22 at Barclays Centre in New York. Porter-Berto is not as big as tonight’s fight or the Pac-Man-Khan fight, but the battle of former champions just might result in a great action fight. Porter, last seen slugging it out with Thurman in last June’s modern day classic, is always in great fights, while Berto is a dangerous puncher with a huge heart.
At one point quite recently it looked as though Shannon Briggs would fight David Haye, but tomorrow night the former heavyweight champ will be merely an interested observer as Haye fights Tony Bellew in their intense grudge-match. Briggs, speaking with Sky Sports, said that he still has ideas of facing Haye down the road – but he hopes Bellew scores the KO win tomorrow.
The celebrated Michael Buffer was on hand to conduct MC duties (always the sign of a big fight) and bitter British heavyweight rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew weighed-in moments ago, ahead of their big non-title fight at The O2. Not surprisingly Haye was the heavier man, tipping in at 16st 9oz (233 pounds) while reigning WBC cruiserweight champ Bellew weighed a career-high 15st 3lb 8 oz (213 pounds).
It’s the biggest, most intense British heavyweight match-up of the year and opinions remain divided over just what will happen when passionate rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew collide in London. The supercharged atmosphere surrounding the fight has led to both excitement and controversy; Haye’s pre-fight threats of inflicting serious, career-ending damage on his rival offending many.
British boxing fans are pumped up right now, looking ahead as we are to Saturday’s grudge-fight between David Haye and Tony Bellew. Over the years, fans have grown accustomed to trash-talk between the two fighters, they have got used to seeing pushing and shoving taking place at press conferences and fans have even tired of seeing punches and other missiles thrown in the lead up to a fight.
Former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko today began his training camp for his massive 90,000 sell-out fight with IBF ruler Anthony Joshua. The fight, just under two months away, will contest the WBA belt as well as Joshua’s IBF strap and Klitschko told The Daily Mail that he is “obsessed” with reclaiming two of his old belts and of redeeming himself for letting himself down against Tyson Fury in November of 2015.
After all the hype, the ward of words and the entertaining press conferences, it would be a massive blow if Saturday’s David Haye-Tony Bellew fight got called off. Believe it or not, there is apparently a chance that this will actually be the case. A story broke this morning regarding Haye suffering an injured Achilles tendon.
Haye flew out to see his German doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfahrt yesterday, to have his Achilles checked out. When this was revealed, a number of publications and web sites jumped on the story, suggesting Saturday’s fight was in jeopardy. And of course Haye has form; having pulled out of a few fights due to injury – sometimes at the eleventh hour. But, in speaking with ESPN.com, Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn said that the fight will take place and that he knew about Haye’s Achilles problem weeks ago.
They’re both big fights and fans have shown huge interest, with both the March meeting between middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and challenger Danny Jacobs and the May “Battle of Mexico” between Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. reaching sell-out status.
Fans are bracing themselves for some good, maybe even great action, and arguments are being made on both sides, about both fights, regarding who wins. In terms of betting odds, both GGG and Canelo are very big favourites to win: Golovkin faces an 8/1 underdog in Jacobs, while Canelo faces a 7/1 underdog in his countryman Chavez Jr.
Immediately after scoring his impressive 5th round stoppage win over former champ Lucian Bute, unbeaten light-heavyweight contender Eleider Alvarez called for his earned shot at reigning WBC 175 pound champ Adonis Stevenson. Alvarez, 22-0(11) said he hoped to fight Stevenson, 28-1(23) next and yesterday the WBC ordered Stevenson to defend against his mandatory challenger.