Canelo’s performance disappointing in “win” over Trout

04/21/201304/21/2013 Michael Collins

I must say I’m really disappointed in WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s performance tonight in his controversial 12 round unanimous decision over WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-1, 14 KO’s) at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

I had expected a lot better from Canelo than what I saw tonight. His stamina was horrible, his defense good, but his work rate was very poor. Canelo fought in a very lazy manner with him reminding me a lot of former IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham the way that he failed to be busy and would get rounds given to him based on a tiny handful of landed power shots.

Result: Tyson Fury KOs Steve Cunningham

04/21/201304/20/2013 Michael Collins

In a revealing fight, undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (21-0, 15 KO’s) had to really struggle tonight in stopping former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham (25-6, 12 KO’s) in the 7th round in a fight televised by NBC from Madison Square Garden, New York. Fury is awfully lucky that he was fighting a guy 44 lbs. lighter than him because Fury got dropped in the 2nd round by a looping right hand from Cunningham.

Charr working hard to get Haye fight; tweets gory photo of him

04/11/201304/10/2013 Michael Collins

BHduKOzCIAEddAH #8 WBC heavyweight contender Manuel Charr (23-1, 13 KO’s) might be little more than just a fringe contender in the division, but he is quite good at pushing for fights against top fighters. Charr campaigned for a title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko last year and got it despite never having faced any real quality opposition.

The outcome was predictable with Vitali easily stopping the over-matched Charr in four rounds and leaving him a bloody mess. Now, Charr is looking to get a fight with former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s), and he recently tweeted a photo of himself holding up the severed head of Haye in a move to make fun of Haye having previously created a head of him holding the severed heads of Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko.

This was the same scenario with Haye talking himself into a fight with Wladimir but without the experience at the heavyweight level necessary for him to be successful.

The scary thing is Charr is considered to be the leading candidate for Haye’s June 29th fight in Manchester, which is slightly disappointing given that Haye’s manager/trainer Adam Booth had been talking big about how Haye’s next opponent would be a top 10 unbeaten contender. The last time I checked, Charr has been beaten by Vitali.

Wilder ready to put Audley out of his misery on April 27th

04/08/201304/07/2013 Michael Collins

Top heavyweight prospect 6’7” Deontay Wilder (27-0, 27 KO’s) says he’s ready to put British heavyweight Audley Harrison (31-6, 23 KO’s) out of his misery this month in ending the 41-year-old’s career by knocking him out in front of his own British fans on April 27th on the Amir Khan – Julio Diaz card at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, UK.

Deontay wants to KO Audley in such a way that it will convince him that it’s pointless for him to continue on with yet another comeback and comeback slogan.

Hearn: Groves feels that Andre Ward is the only fighter he can’t beat yet at 168

04/04/201304/03/2013 Michael Collins

Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (18-0, 14 KO’s) feels that WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward is the only guy that Groves feels he can’t handle at 168.

Hearn said to ESPN “The only person he says he can’t beat yet is Andre Ward. That’s the only one that George says, ‘At the moment I wouldn’t challenge Ward but I’ll beat the rest of them.’ I keep saying, ‘Alright, George, let’s work on this, let’s keep work on this.’”

Macklin could be next for Golovkin

04/04/201304/03/2013 Michael Collins

A fight between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) and Matthew Macklin (26-4, 23 KO’s) is being discussed for the summer in June. Golovkin wants a high profile opponent and the 30-year-old “Mack the knife” Macklin fits that bill.

Golovkin’s management wants the Macklin fight and it now remains to be seen whether Macklin will agree to the fight. He recently had nose surgery and he’s only fought once in the past year, so there may be concern on his part that he might not be ready for a fighter in Golovkin’s talent level by June.

Macklin stopped Joachim Alcine in the 1st round last September, and before that Macklin was stopped in the 11th round by Sergio Martinez in March of last year. It’s good that Macklin rebounded from that defeat to destroy Alcine but that doesn’t mean much because Alcine is up there in age and he’s not in the class of Golovkin.

Bellew vs. Chilemba II possible for Froch-Kessler II undercard on May 25th

04/02/201304/01/2013 Michael Collins

Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says that he’s thinking about putting a rematch between WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KO’s) and Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) on the undercard of the Carl Froch vs. Mikkel Kessler 2 undercard on May 25th at the O2 Arena in London, UK.

Bellew and Chilemba fought to a 12 round draw last Saturday night in a WBC light heavyweight eliminator bout in Liverpool, UK.

Bellew fought well enough to deserve a loss in the fight, but he lucked out when the judges scored the fight a draw. Chilemba was a bad match-up for the hard hitting Bellew because he was unable to hit him with his big swings couldn’t deal with Chilemba’s quick reflexes and excellent defensive skills.

Bellew-Chilemba and Crolla-Mathews both end in draws

03/31/201303/30/2013 Michael Collins

In one of the worst decisions I’ve seen in a while, WBC Silver light heavyweight champion Tony Bellew (19-1-1, 12 KO’s) was given a 12 round draw against challenger Isaac Chilemba (20-1-2, 9 KO’s) tonight in Bellew’s home city of Liverpool, at the Echo Arena in the UK.

Chilemba completely controlled the last 9 rounds of the fight, and deserved a clear win by making the 6’2″ Bellew miss again and again with his shots. At the same time, Bellew got away with an awful of fouling in the fight in terms of holding and hitting, throwing a shot after the bell, a head butt and push that occurred after the 1st round had ended, and a handful of rabbit shots.

It look like the referee was just there to watch the fight instead of controlling it. The final judges scores were 116-112 for Chilema, 116-115 for Bellew, and 114-114 even. I scored the fight 117-111 for Chilemba.