Having suffered his share of misfortune during his promising heavyweight career, Cuban southpaw Mike Perez, 21-2-1(13) is currently looking in fantastic shape as he gets ready for his drop down to cruiserweight. The Irish-based 31 year old will face Tommy McCarthy, 9-1, on June 10 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Perez showed real talent at heavyweight, but at 6’1” maybe he always was going to be a little too small to be expected to be able to deal with the absolute giants.
Arguably the best, most talented and exciting weight class in the sport today, the welterweight division is currently crammed full with great fighters. New star Errol Spence Junior is for many the new top dog, having relieved a brave but, in the end, outclassed Kell Brook of his belt. But does Spence deserve to be ranked at number-one?
Here is a top-10 you may or may not agree with:
Mike Tyson knows full well he owes all his ring success to one man, Cus D’Amato, and, as is evident in the former heavyweight king’s new book: “Iron Ambition,” Tyson has never forgotten it. The new book, released today, is the youngest ever heavyweight champion’s written tribute to his legendary father figure/trainer/mentor and it promises to be a truly great read.
The book not only focuses on D’Amato’s time with Tyson but also on Cus’ life before “Iron Mike;” back in the 1950s when the eccentric but genius trainer was guiding the likes of Floyd Patterson and fighting the mob.
Oscar De La Hoya revealed last week how the fast approaching, biggest fight of the year between middleweight king Gennady Golovkin and Mexican superstar Saul Alvarez will take place in either Dallas or Las Vegas. Talking with Fight Hub TV, De La Hoya also said he is expecting the September showdown to pull in a staggering 3 million pay-per-view buys.
Though he has not yet put pen to paper and signed on for the fight, semi-retired superstar Floyd Mayweather is doing his utmost to sell his impending match-up with MMA star Conor McGregor (McGregor has signed on, Floyd is expected to do so soon).
The 40 year old all-time great was speaking on Eminem’s SiriusXM channel shade 45, and he praised McGregor’s stand up boxing and fighting skills. “Money” pointed out that McGregor – who he will fight under boxing rules (if the fight goes ahead, and it looks as though it will) – has never lost “standing up.”
Was it just me, or was Amir Khan struggling, at least a little bit, to hide the glee, the sense of satisfaction he had on Saturday night, when his long-time verbal tormentor/possible ring rival Kell Brook was badly beaten by Errol Spence Junior?
Khan, along with Tony Bellew (who also provided punditry duties for Sky Sports Box-Office) was critical of Brook’s decision to “quit” against the unbeaten, sizzling southpaw; the knee Brook opted to take in that 11th round, his eye in pain, his sight almost gone, being pretty much vilified by both fighters. Debate has raged since Saturday’s great fight: is Brook a quitter, or was he doing what anyone else with such a nasty, potentially life-changing injury would have done in the heat of battle (heat, we must remember, no armchair critic has ever come anywhere close to experiencing)?
The scary thing about new IBF welterweight ruler Errol Spence Junior is we might not have seen him at anything approaching his absolute best yet. The new champ courtesy of his 11th round TKO win over Kell Brook, Spence says he felt sluggish due to inactivity, giving himself only a B-minus for his display in Sheffield.
Spence, despite his own self criticism, sure looked good. Fast, his blur of a right jab especially laser-like, powerful and, we now know, possessing a good chin, Spence looked every bit like his nickname; “The Truth.” We have a new star in the talent-rich welterweight division, that much is certain – but is Spence the best 147 pounder right now?
Proving once again how he is never, ever in a dull fight, Mexican warrior Orlando Salido stopped late sub Aristides Perez last night in Sonora, Mexico. The teak-tough veteran forced Perez – a late replacement for original foe Amphon Suriyo, who reportedly encountered visa problems – to remain on his stool at the start of the 8th round.
Salido is now 44-14-3(31), while Perez is now 30-10-2(16).
It’s one of the harshest insults that can be thrown at a fighter: that of him being a quitter. Though every fighter who steps into the ring deserves immense respect, it is still considered a let down, unforgivable even, if a hero, a fighter fans have paid money to see go to war, quits during the action.
Right now, former IBF welterweight champ Kell Brook is on the receiving end, with many fans, and fellow fighters, hurling the quitter tag at him. Brook, badly busted up around the left eye, opted to take a knee in the 11th round of his thrilling fight with new king Errol Spence Junior, and though Brook says he simply could not see in that torrid round, there seem to be few people willing to cut him much slack.
Tonight in Sheffield, in a great, incredibly fast-paced action fight, George Groves became a world champion at the fourth time of asking, stopping a very tough and game Fedor Chudinov in the 6th round. Groves really did hit Chudinov with absolutely everything in the 6th, giving the referee no choice but to dive in and call a halt.
The official time was 1:14 of the sixth and Groves improved to 26-3(19). Russia’s Chudinov, in being stopped for the first time as a pro, is now 14-2(10).