Another boxing movie on the scene; Chuck Wepner gets the silver screen treatment

09/06/201609/03/2016 James Slater

Heavyweight slugger Chuck Wepner, who is most famous for two things: his (almost) 15-round fight with Muhammad Ali and his part in inspiring the Rocky movies. Now, in “The Bleeder,” the 75 year old gets some more movie treatment; and this time the biographical flick is of the non fiction variety.

Played by Liev Schrieber, Wepner – who also faced Sonny Liston and George Foreman during his long and often cut-prone career – is said to like the film and fans are hoping for a fitting tribute to one of heavyweight history’s great survivors.

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Hughie Fury-Andy Ruiz clash set to support Fury-Klitschko II in October; Warren says confirmation announcement will come soon

09/03/201609/02/2016 James Slater

If the plans top British promoter Frank Warren has come to fruition, there will be a huge night for British heavyweight boxing taking place on October 29th. It will also be a huge night for the two Fury’s, Tyson and Hughie. As fans know, Oct. 29 is the working date (still, despite all that has happened) for the eagerly awaited Fury-Klitschko II, and Warren has written in his column in The Star how this mega-fight will indeed happen – “I expect an announcement to confirm everything is going ahead as planned soon” – and that Hughie Fury will face unbeaten Mexican/American Andy Ruiz Jr on the under-card.

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Sheffield legend, former light-heavyweight king Clinton Woods breaks down GGG-Brook clash

09/03/201609/02/2016 James Slater

Say what you want about the Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook fight, but don’t forget that everyone is talking about it! Everyone, and I mean everyone, has an opinion on this fight – a marvellous promotion that has brought a genuine buzz, not only to British boxing, but to world boxing – and the September 10 showdown has to be looked at as one of the biggest fights of the year.

Sugar Ray Leonard has thought about this fight and how it will play out, so too have the likes of Carl Froch, Tony Bellew, Naseem Hamed, Martin Murray, Carson Jones, David Haye and Amir Khan. But one man whose opinion has not perhaps been sought out as much as it should have been is Sheffield’s Clinton Woods, the former long-reigning IBF light-heavyweight champion. Now running his own gym in The Steel City, Woods – who fought his own super fights against the likes of Roy Jones Junior, Glen Johnson and Antonio Tarver – says he has “a feeling” about the upcoming fight.

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Happy Birthday Lennox Lewis – how great was the former heavyweight king?

09/06/201609/02/2016 James Slater

Heavyweight great Lennox Lewis, who today celebrates his 51st birthday, really did win everything there was worth winning during his amateur and pro career. Born in London in 1965 and relocating to Canada at the age of 12, Lewis achieved the following:

He boxed in two Olympics, 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul, capturing gold in his second Olympic adventure.

Lewis, upon turning pro with Frank Maloney (now Kellie Maloney) soon captured the Commonwealth, the British and the European titles.

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Golovkin comes straight out with it: says Canelo is “just scared”

09/03/201609/02/2016 James Slater

Just recently, Canelo Alvarez said that a fight between he and the man he gave his belt to, Gennady Golovkin, will happen “when I want it to.” The fight the whole world wants to see certainly won’t happen before next September (as per that reported verbal agreement between the respective camps) but many people – including GGG himself – are doubtful it will even happen then.

Canelo insists he does want the fight, that he will take it when he feels his body “is ready” to compete with the best at 160-pounds (which GGG so obviously is, with no other top middleweight failing to see this and wanting no part of him, hence welterweight Kell Brook’s brvae move up to face Triple-G) but GGG has come out and said what quite a few people think: that Canelo, and his promoter Golden Boy are scared of taking this fight as a loss is so likely and they know it.

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Liam Smith sees two fights between he and Canelo; says Canelo will want rematch after he loses on Sept 17

09/02/201609/01/2016 James Slater

Though the fight is not getting as much hype and publicity as the Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook showdown that will precede it by a week, the Liam Smith-Saul Canelo Alvarez light-middleweight title fight is arguably a much tougher fight to pick. Smith, the defending WBO champ, is a considerable underdog, as is his countryman Brook, but some good judges are predicting a hard night for Canelo on September 17.

And Smith, unbeaten and trained by the excellent Joe Gallagher, is certainly as confident as Brook appears to be heading into his massive fight – if not more so.

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Huge plans for Anthony Joshua’s next three fights; culminating with Wembley fight against Fury, Haye or Wilder next summer

09/02/201609/01/2016 James Slater

Promoter Eddie Hearn fully expects, as do plenty of other people, Anthony Joshua to become a boxing superstar in the near future, and there are big plans in store for the reigning IBF heavyweight champion. First up, Joshua, 17-0(17) will make the second defence of his belt in either November or December, then there will be defence number three in March and then, next summer at Wembley, Joshua will possibly fight a massive fight against either Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder or David Haye.

Hearn spoke of these plans with Sky Sports:

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David Haye now ranked no-5 in WBA rankings, Mendoza says a title shot could happen for him soon

09/01/2016 James Slater

Former WBA heavyweight champ David Haye could be in line for a shot at regaining his old belt, at least the “regular” version of it, and it could come against the winner of a WBA-agreed match-up between Lucas Browne and Fres Oquendo. President Gilberto Mendoza spoke with Sky Sports and he said that Haye – now ranked the number-five contender with the WBA – is a fighter he and his organisation would “love to have back as our champion.”

“Browne’s title shot came out of a legal settlement we had to do after we got sued by Browne’s people for stripping him,” Mendoza said.

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Khan: I’ll get the January tune-up out of the way, then I want Garcia rematch in May

08/31/2016 James Slater

Amir Khan has already laid out his plans for 2017: fight three times, beginning in January, and hopefully win two big, big fights after the tune-up. Now, in speaking with UK tabloid The Sun, Khan has targeted his number-one rival: WBC welterweight king Danny Garcia. Fans are aware of two things – Garcia KO’d Khan in an exciting fight back in July of 2012, Khan is the current WBC mandatory contender for “Swift’s” green belt.

Khan now says he wants the rematch and he wants it next May. Before that, though, the British superstar aims to re-sharpen his considerable tools with a fight at home.

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Heavyweight triple-header a possibility for Cardiff: Joshua-Pulev, Parker-Price, Chisora-Whyte!

08/30/2016 James Slater

If Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn pulls this off he will be a guaranteed Promoter of The Year award winner in Britain this year. The big plans that are currently underway are for THREE big heavyweight fights to take place on the same night in Cardiff, Wales in either November or December of this year.

According to a news piece in The Mail, Hearn is working, along with others, on staging Anthony Joshua’s second title defence, Joseph Parker against David Price and Dereck Chisora against Dillian Whyte, all at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. The word now is Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev, the current European heavyweight champion, is the frontrunner to land the shot at IBF boss Joshua. This fight, a solid match-up that could well provide A.J with his stiffest pro test thus far in his career, would be supported in fine style if the other two in-the-works match-ups get made.

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