Seemingly genuinely bitter rivals David Haye and Tony Bellew came face to face (literally) in London today, at the O2 presser to further promote/hype their upcoming March 4 clash. The two exchanged words on the top table, before the inevitable (now tiresome) face-to-face “photo opportunity.”
With news coming that former heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko will be in attendance in Manchester for Anthony Joshua’s IBF title defence against Eric Molina, some people are wondering if Joshua will be at all affected by the sight of the man he is set up to meet in a huge fight next March/April. Will Joshua try too hard to impress Klitschko? Will he take his eyes, and his concentration, off the man in front of him?
Joshua told Sky Sports how he aims to make the fight, his second title defence, “look easy.” Molina says there is no way AJ will have an easy night next month, and the Mexican/American also made it clear he does not want any excuses if Joshua underestimates him and winds up losing in a big upset. Molina told Sky Sports that he wants to face a Joshua who is fully focused and is taking his challenge seriously.
There is no doubting the talent of two-weight champ and reigning WBO super-featherweight king Vasyl Lomachenko. It is also undeniable that the 28-year-old Ukrainian is hovering as close as can be to the top spot, pound-for-pound. Some fans and experts suggest “Hi-Tech” is already fully deserving of the top spot.
That much is debatable – considering the formidable talents of special fighters such as Andre Ward, Roman Gonzalez and Gennady Golovkin – but promoter Bob Arum, who looks after the finest, most prominent 7-1 boxer in history, has ensured even more debate amongst fight fans. We’ve already read the Top Rank boss’s statement, one made from the heart, regarding how Lomachenko has impressed him more than any fighter since the peak Muhammad Ali – but Arum also says he feels the southpaw talent is more of a fully formed package than the one and only Floyd Mayweather Junior (who, like the immortal Ali, was once promoted by Arum).
Retired superstar Floyd Mayweather is annoyed at the way certain people involved in the sport continue to talk about, and call for, his ring return. Every week or so, a story breaks suggesting “Money,” now aged 39 and having last fought over 14 months ago, will return to the squared circle soon. But Mayweather, who has said again and again that he is content in retirement, sure seems to mean what he says.
Just yesterday, Mayweather put out a message on social media, in which he both ridicules those people who continue to talk about him returning for fight number-50, and boasts about his incredible wealth.
Forget the cold war, this one will be red-hot! This Saturday in Moscow, Russia, we just might have The Fight of The Year, as cruiserweights Denis Lebedev (never in a bad fight) and Murat Gassiev (brutal KO artist) meet in a fight that has attracted plenty of attention amongst hardcore fight fans. These same fans, and a whole lot of boxing experts, are split as to who wins.
According to Andre Ward, we fans could have, indeed, would have, seen a super-fight between he and middleweight king Gennady Golovkin this year had Team-GGG been willing to take the 50-50 fight that was offered to them. Speaking with TMZ Sports, Ward, now the unified light-heavyweight champion, said Golovkin was not willing to fight him until 2018, so he made the decision to move up in weight and challenge Sergey Kovalev.
“I think the fight with Golovkin should have happened before the Kovalev fight,” Ward said. “That fight was talked about, our teams had some correspondence, and it just didn’t work out. I’m not here to expose them or throw them under the bus or nothin’ like that. But I will be honest with the fans because there is a lot of confusion out there. They didn’t want the fight. They flipped it and said we were ducking and dodging. If you read the e-mail [of an offer for the fight] it was clear – we gave them a 50-50 split so there wouldn’t be any arguments.”
This time last year, British heavyweight Tyson Fury was on top of the world. Today he is pretty close to rock bottom. It was exactly 12 months ago today when heavy underdog (4-1 against) Fury travelled to Düsseldorf, Germany to challenge the world champ Wladimir Klitschko – a heavyweight great who had dominated for over a decade, last losing a fight way, way back in 2004.
Despite the huge odds against him, Fury feinted, boxed, taunted, tricked and at times punched his way to an upset decision victory. Klitschko, who may or may not have had a rare off-night (we may never know if Klitschko can perform better against Fury as now, a rematch looks unlikely) couldn’t figure out the taller, quicker man. The win ranks as one of the finest in British boxing history and Fury returned home a hero. For a while.
Vasyl Lomachenko is looking close to unbeatable right now; which may seem a strange statement as the reigning WBO 130 pound champion has lost a fight, and all that many fights ago at that. But the Lomachenko who lost a close decision to an over-the-weight and very crafty and tough Orlando Salido – in what was just Lomachenko’s second pro outing– was not on display last night in Las Vegas.
Lomachenko, expected by some to have some problems, maybe, with the power of Nicholas Walters, instead put on a dazzling boxing clinic that made “The Axe Man” say No Mas after seven rounds (this one day after the 36th anniversary of the most infamous quit job in boxing history, when Duran threw up his hands against Sugar Ray Leonard in their return bout). But there was no mystery over why Walters quit: he was getting schooled and he knew it. Lomachenko made a good fighter look very ordinary.
History was denied last night in Cardiff, as Puerto Rico’s Orlando Cruz’ attempts at becoming the first openly gay pro boxer to win a world title were thwarted by defending WBO lightweight ruler Terry Flanagan. Flanagan, one of the best yet seemingly underrated fighters in the sport today, crushed Cruz in the 8th-round, scoring two knockdowns that prompted the referee to call a halt.
Flanagan, who retained his title for the fourth time, is now 32-0(13). Cruz, who had moved up to lightweight, falls to 25-5-1(13).
Tonight at Wembley, well-travelled Oklahoma warrior Carson Jones took away Ben Hall’s unbeaten record and also picked up the vacant WBC international silver belt at super-welterweight. Ultra-experienced and teak-tough, Jones scored a 6th-round TKO over Hall, to see his record improve to 40-11-3(30). Hall, hailing from Essex, falls to 9-1-1(2).