Happy Birthday Roberto Duran

06/16/2017 James Slater

Turning 66 years old day is the great, the hugely celebrated Roberto Duran. One of the finest “born fighters” in history, Duran lit up the sport in a major way for years. Arguably the finest living fighter today, Duran did everything his way.

Turning pro in February of 1968, Duran won a UD over four-rounds against a guy named Carlos Mendoza. Roberto would go on to score a number of brutal KO’s and he would also collect no less than four world titles in different weight classes – lightweight, welterweight, light-middleweight and middleweight being the divisions this legend conquered.

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Deontay Wilder arrested and charged with marijuana possession

06/15/2017 James Slater

While we fans and the man himself await his next fight, WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder has run into a little bit of trouble. According to a news story in The Tusacaloosa News paper, Wilder was arrested yesterday in his home town.

Pulled over in his car, Wilder’s Cadillac was found to have some marijuana inside. The unbeaten KO artist was arrested and later released on a $1,000 bail. According to Wilder’s attorney, Paul Patterson, the drugs belonged to someone other than Wilder, who had loaned out his car whilst being out of town.

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More on Mayweather McGregor: Fight will be at 154 pounds, with 10oz gloves

06/15/201706/15/2017 James Slater

For those fight fans that are interested, further details have come out on the “Super-Fight” that is now official for August 26 – Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor. Dana White, in speaking with Fox Sports, said the fight will be fought over a scheduled 12 rounds, it will be fought at the light-middleweight limit of 154-pounds and the two fighters will fight using 10oz gloves.

White, doing his best to further hype the fight as a genuinely competitive match-up, said that in his opinion Mayweather “struggles with southpaws.” The MMA warrior from Ireland is of course a southpaw and maybe, just maybe, White will be proven right, and Floyd will, for a round or two, struggle with McGregor’s stance.

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Carl Froch looks back on his loss to Andre Ward…

06/15/201706/15/2017 James Slater

… insists he was not outclassed, says he would have stopped Ward had the fight been a 15-rounder

Like the rest of us, former super-middleweight king Carl Froch is interested to see what happens in Saturday’s big rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev. Froch, these days content in retirement from the ring and working as a pundit for Sky Sports, of course faced Ward, down at super-middleweight, in the “Super-Six” final.

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Carl Frampton set to go to war with another Mexican warrior, will face Andres Gutierrez July 29

06/15/201706/14/2017 James Slater

Carl Frampton certainly likes fighting tough Mexican warriors. The former super-bantamweight and featherweight ruler will face Andres Gutierrez in Belfast on July 29. The fight will be a WBC featherweight eliminator.

Frampton, 23-1(14) was last seen losing a close decision in his rematch with Mexico’s great Leo Santa Cruz, having previously decisioned him in an earlier, more action-packed fight. Now wanting to fight for another world title and become a three-weight king, “The Jackal” has not in any way picked an easy or safe opponent in the 35-1-1(25) 23 year old from Guadalajara.

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Alexander Povetkin – Andriy Rudenko will now contest WBO title

06/14/2017 James Slater

As fans may have read, Russia’s Alexander Povetkin will return to action on July 1st. The former WBA heavyweight champion who has suffered his share of out of the ring issues – testing positive for illegal stimulants; which ruined his big fight with Deontay Wilder, set for last summer – will face Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko, 31-2(19) on a big card in Moscow.

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Tyson Fury on him Vs. Joshua: “If it doesn’t happen it will be like Lennox Lewis-Riddick Bowe”

06/14/201706/14/2017 James Slater

Of all the must-see, must happen fights that we didn’t actually see, because they didn’t happen, the 1990s heavyweight classic that would have been Lennox Lewis-Riddick Bowe has to be one of the biggest disappointments. Back and forth these two stars and rival champions went, only for the fight to fail to get off the ground.

Former heavyweight king Tyson Fury does not want a fight between himself and Anthony Joshua to go the same way: nowhere. Just this week, unbeaten WBA/IBF champ Joshua called Fury out, saying this is the fight the fans want and therefore it is “top of my list.”

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The peak Roy Jones Junior: Better than Mayweather, as great as Leonard?

06/13/2017 James Slater

In his peak years, from 1993 to 2003, Roy Jones Junior was as close to unbeatable as any fighter could possibly be. Better than Floyd Mayweather Junior, up there with the two Sugar Rays, maybe even the best fighter of the past forty years or so at the time, Jones was sheer poetry in motion. If only he’d walked away before his skills, and his blinding speed, deserted him.

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Big-money betting taking place on Mayweather-McGregor fight, despite the bout not yet being official

06/13/2017 James Slater

While much has been made of The Money Team reportedly reserving The MGM Grand in Las Vegas for August 26 for the much hyped “Super-Fight” between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor, the fight between the superstar boxer and the superstar MMA fighter is not yet official.

Despite this, big wagers have been placed on the fight’s outcome in the Vegas casinos and sportsbooks. According to an interesting piece on ESPN.com, The Westgate Superbook in Las Vegas has already had over $10,000 bet on the fight. Currently, Mayweather is a whopping -900 betting favourite (down from an even bigger –2,500 favourite when odds were first announced back in February), while McGregor is currently listed at +700 (he was +1,100 back in February).

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Hearn says the public “want to see” Bellew-Haye rematch, says Haye “needs it”

06/13/2017 James Slater

In this, a big year for big boxing rematches, promoter Eddie Hearn wants to add Tony Bellew-David Haye II to the list of returns that includes Ward-Kovalev II, Joshua-Klitschko II (most likely anyway) and Rungvisai-Gonzalez II. In speaking with Sky Sports News HQ, Hearn said that the public want to see the rematch (do you, really?), that he himself wants to see it, and that David Haye “needs it.”

Hearn argues how in Haye’s case, there is “no other fight for him other than Tony Bellew,” but that Bellew has plenty of options. Hearn added how the rematch, if it does happen, will likely go down in December, giving Haye’s terrible Achilles injury enough time to fully heal – “to make sure he is 110-percent,” Hearn said.

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