Groves is now the mandatory to WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell. Groves constantly attacked Rebrasse throughout the fight, throwing punch after punch in hopes of scoring a knockout.
When the KO failed to happen, Groves had to slow down some to pace himself because he was burning out badly by the 8th round. It was lucky for him that Rebrasse had zero power for as tired as Groves was, he would have likely been knocked out.
The Tyson Fury vs. Dereck Chisora card just got a whole lot better with the news that middleweight contenders Chris Eubank Jr (17-0, 12 KOs) and Billy Joe Saunders (20-0, 11 KOs) will be facing each other on the undercard on November 29th at the Excel Arena in London, England.
Saunders and Eubank Jr have been taking verbal shots at each other for the past few months and now they get the chance to prove themselves.
Saunders, 25, missed out on fighting for the vacant WBO middleweight crown when the WBO opted to let WBO 154lb champion Demetrius Andrade move up in weight to fight for the vacant WBO middleweight title against #1 WBO Matt Korobov (24-0, 14 KOs) instead of letting Saunders, #2 WBO, get the shot. The logical choice would have been to have Saunders fighting Korobov for the WBO title, because Saunders was the next highest ranked contender for the vacant belt. But Andrade applied for the spot and was given the shot ahead of Saunders.
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp: Mayweather Promotions) Marcos Maidana (35-5, 31 KOs) believes he was robbed last night in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) in their rematch.
Maidana says he outworked Mayweather by throwing many more punches than him, and he forced the fight with his aggression. The only thing that Maidana feels Mayweather did well was run from him for 12 rounds. Maidana gives Mayweather full credit for his running, but that’s it. Maidana also denies biting Mayweather on the hand in the 8th round. He says that didn’t happen.
(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) Tonight’s “Mayhem” fight card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada has a number of the A-side fighters as huge, huge favorites to win starting with the headlining fight between WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) vs. Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs). Mayweather is a whopping 12-1 favorite to defeat Maidana, according to Fightnews. I don’t know about you but 8:1 odds are pretty steep.
The most troubling fight on this card is the clear mismatch in the co-feature bout between WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) and the fringe contender that he’s being matched against from the bantamweight division named Manuel Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs). Santa Cruz is a 50:1 favorite to defeat the #13 WBC Manuel Roman.
If you saw Friday’s weigh-in, you might have noticed that Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) had a little bit of fat around his midsection, notably along the sides and his lower abdomen for his rematch tonight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Could it be that Maidana made a big mistake by letting his strength and condition coach Alex Ariza go? Ariza had Maidana looking trim and in top shape without the jellyroll around Maidana’s sides. There’s no excuse for a fighter to have that kind of flab hanging over his trousers when he’s had s full 9 weeks of training like Maidana has had for this fight.
Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) says he’s ready to fight hard for 12 rounds on Saturday night, but he plans on pacing himself more against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) this time instead of using up all of his fuel in the first 6 rounds like we saw last May. Mayweather and Maidana will be squaring off on Showtime pay-per-view in this highly anticipated rematch at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Maidana is supposedly coming into the fight at a lighter weight this time. Just how much lighter is unknown, but if he comes into the fight at below 155, then he can probably forget all about winning or doing well. Maidana’s No.1 advantage last May in his previous fight against Mayweather was his weight. Maidana came into the fight weighing 165 pounds against the 150 pound Mayweather, and that extra weight gave Maidana the ability to manhandle Mayweather for parts of the fight.
WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) plans on showing the boxing world the difference between an A-level fighter and a B-level fighter this Saturday night on September 13th in his rematch against #2 WBA, #3 WBC Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather points out that Maidana won only 3 rounds the last time he fought him last May and this was with Mayweather choosing to purposefully fight his type of fight by electing to punch with him with his back against the ropes instead of staying in the center of the ring like he normally does against his opponents.
This Saturday night on September 6th, former three division world champion Adrien “The Problem” Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) will be in the ring facing #13 WBC Emmanuel Taylor (18-2, 12 KOs) in a Showtime triple-header from the U.S Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Broner, #3 WBA, #3 WBC, is working his way into position to fight for a world title against one of the belt holders. With his ranking by the WBA and WBC, it looks like Broner is being positioned to go after the one of those titles if the current WBA/WBC 140 pound champion Danny Garcia vacates to move up in weight to go after bigger fighters.
Showtime will be televising the first episode of the ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana 2 episodes at 9:30 pm ET/PT on Sho. The episode will chronicle the buildup to the Mayweather-Maidana 2 rematch on 9/13 on Showtime pay-per-view. Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) and Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) will be seen preparing for their all-important “Mayhem” rematch from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Despite the closeness of their previous fight, few boxing fans are giving Maidana much of a chance of beating Mayweather in the rematch. The belief is that Mayweather intentionally dumbed down his game last May to give Maidana a handicap to make it interesting for boxing fans to watch it. It’s like a great chess player handicapping himself against a novice to let the game go longer rather winning the match in the least amount of moves.
Maidana and Mayweather will be seen tonight on All Access getting ready for their fight. Maidana is trained by Robert Garcia, who believes that Maidana can win this fight if he’s able to throw nonstop punches for 3 minutes of every round.
WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) could find himself in the position where he’ll be expected to face the winner of the October 18th fight between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golokvin and Marco Antonio Rubio next year at some point if he wants to hold onto the WBC title.
Cotto will be taking a stay busy fight on December 13th against possibly Andy Lee. After that fight, Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will likely be meeting each other in May of 2015. Cotto reportedly intends on defending his WBC middleweight title against Canelo.