Shades of Mike Tyson Vs. Buster Douglas? WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder is a whopping favourite to retain his belt with a win over Chris Arreola when they meet on July 16th. A betting site in Alabama – Wilder’s hometown – list the champ as a 37-1 favourite to beat Arreola. Most odds, found on line, have Wilder as around a 25-1 favourite to win next month.
James Slater
Amir Khan “chasing” return fight with Danny Garcia, still no interest in Kell Brook
Amir Khan, last seen losing his big and brave gamble of a 155-pound fight with Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez, is not sounding at all like a fighter who is thinking about retirement. Far from it, Khan is searching – or, to use his exact words, chasing – another big fight; a return meeting with WBC welterweight ruler Danny Garcia. Khan is currently the WBC number-one contender and he wants the fight.
Khan was of course stopped by Garcia back in 2012, inside four-rounds. Can Khan do any better in a rematch? If Khan gets his way, we will find out.
Eddie Hearn: “Don’t be surprised to see Eubank-Golovkin in September”
Though there are certainly plenty of critics and cynics who say the fight will either never happen at all or that it is a gross mismatch anyway, Chris Eubank Junior’s promoter Eddie Hearn insists talks are well underway, at an advanced stage even, for his fighter to face unbeaten pound-for-pound star Gennady Golovkin. In fact Hearn, in speaking with Sky Sports News HQ, said we should “not be surprised to see Eubank-Golovkin in September.”
Hearn said Eubank must first take care of, and look good against, Tom Doran in defence of his British middleweight belt on June 25th (on the Joshua-Breazeale card in London) but that it could then be an assault on GGG’s collection of world titles.
Canelo Alvarez to fight September 17th, either in Vegas, New York or Texas; opponent TBA
Mexican superstar Saul Canelo Alvarez will fight again on September 17th, RingTV.com reports – but there are three different venues being considered for Canelo’s return and, more seriously, no confirmed opponent. Alvarez will fight, Golden Boy’s Eric Gomez says, either at The MGM in Las Vegas, at Madison Square Garden in New York or at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. At which weight? Gomez says Alvarez will box anywhere from 154 to 160, with “everybody” in that weight range being considered as an option.
Joseph Parker visits Sonny Liston’s gravesite, speaks about the need to have “the right people around you”
Heavyweight great Mike Tyson used to visit the gravesite of the legendary Sonny Liston (and maybe still does) and, legend has it, Tyson would carry out imaginary conversations with the 1960s heavyweight king who was so mysterious in so many ways. Tyson found inspiration from his visits with Liston and another fighter who aims to become the next heavyweight ruler, in New Zealand’s Joseph Parker, has reportedly been paying homage to Liston at his final resting place just outside of Las Vegas.
Ward-Kovalev set for Las Vegas, November 19th
Providing they each win their upcoming tune-up bouts, Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward, both unbeaten and rated highly in the various pound-for-pound rankings, will fight on November 19th at The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. ESPN.com reports the fight will be available on HBO pay-per-view. A genuinely intriguing, hard to pick fight, Ward-Kovalev is a classic boxer Vs. puncher match-up.
Outside of a Kovalev-Adonis Stevenson unification clash, Kovalev-Ward is the biggest and best fight that can currently be made in the 175-pound division.
Roberto Duran turns 65, and he has a new movie to celebrate!
The great Roberto Duran turns 65 today, June 16th. Arguably the finest living fighter, the finest lightweight in history and one of the greatest Hispanic boxers of all time, Duran, Hands of Stone, is a hero to millions and a huge influence on many thousands of fighters, both past and present. Duran turned pro way, way back in February of 1968 (LBJ was president, Muhammad Ali was in exile, George Foreman had not yet won his Olympic gold medal) and he won his first world title, the WBA lightweight crown, in June of 1972 (“Tricky Dicky” was now president, Ali had returned, lost to Joe Frazier and was on the comeback trail anew, Foreman was an unbeaten 35-0 contender).
This is how long the cherished Duran had been a part of fight fans’ lives. Duran would beat everything in his path at 135-pounds, then beat the new US superstar Sugar Ray Leonard at welterweight, then win world titles up at 154 and 160 and fight to earn a quite astonishing, 103-16-(70) pro record! Imagine that today? No, I can’t, either.
Ali to Foreman: Please come back and beat Ken Norton for me
Big George Foreman, with the passing of the great (or greatest) Muhammad Ali, has become the oldest living former world heavyweight champion, and the 67-year-old legend sure has a number of tales to tell. Foreman has literally seen it all, done it all, and lived to tell the story of it all. George has had some quite amazing life, no doubt. But despite all he has witnessed, the incomparable Ali still leaves George somewhat mystified and in awe.
These past two weeks have seen Foreman share with us all his memories of Ali, and George has paid great tributes to the former three-time king. One of the more interesting things Foreman had to say about his one-time archenemy came on the latest episode of Jim Lampley’s The Fight Game. Foreman spoke of an unexpected phone-call from Ali, “in the late ’70’s.”
Wladimir Klitschko vows to end Fury’s reign, take away Tyson’s platform
Former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko regrets losing to Tyson Fury for a number of reasons. Klitschko, a man used to winning, obviously didn’t want to lose, period, but he is mostly bothered by two things: his own admittedly poor performance, and the fact that with his big win over him, Fury was given a global platform to vocalise his views and opinions. And Klitschko, as he wrote today on social media, regrets the platform his loss gave Fury.
Dreaming big: could Jason Quigley be a future foe for Golovkin, Canelo?
Unbeaten Irish prospect Jason Quigley made a big step towards becoming a contender with his last win, a May 7 points victory over the experienced James De La Rosa, and now the former amateur standout has a, the sky’s the limit attitude. Quigley may be just 11-0 as a pro, but he says in an interview with The Irish News that he already has superstars such as Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez on his radar.
Quigley, signed with Golden Boy and Sheer Sports, acknowledges how he needs more experience and that he is in no rush, but he is already dreaming of the big, big fights – a super dream fight with GGG in Ireland especially.