Michael Collins

Burns’ trainer: Jose Gonzalez doesn’t hit as hard as Roman Martinez

burns#11(Photos courtesy PR Best Boxing Promotions/Joel Colon) Billy Nelson, the trainer of WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) feels that his opponent for Saturday night Jose Gonzalez (22-0, 17 KO’s) isn’t the puncher that many people think is. In fact, Nelson thinks Gonzalez isn’t even as big a puncher as former WBO super featherweight champion Roman Martinez, who Burns defeated by a close 12 round unanimous decision in 2010 to take his title.

Nelson said to RingTV “Ricky has a superb chin and in my opinion Gonzalez doesn’t hit as hard as Martinez. To this day, Roman is the hardest puncher Ricky has faced by a long way, but he still couldn’t get the job done.”

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Khan sees Mayweather as too skilled for Guerrero; thinks he’s got the style to beat Floyd

Amir Khan is hoping to get Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring in the near future, possibly in September if Mayweather gets past Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Khan likes Mayweather in that fight due to his skills.

Khan said as quoted by thesun.co.uk “Guerrero’s a tough guy but skill-wise he’s not in the same league as Mayweather…I have a great team around me and we have a game plan for defeating Mayweather.”

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Khan: I want the Danny Garcia fight

khan111It’s no secret that Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) looked pretty bad last Saturday night in beating Julio Diaz (40-8-1, 29 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision. Khan was knocked down in that fight in the 4th and hurt to the point where he needed to hold onto Diaz in the 11th.

Khan was also hurt in the 9th and 10th rounds from shots from Diaz. The judges gave him a close decision by the scores of 114-113, 115-113 and 115-113. Khan now will be off until December at which point he’ll be likely facing Lucas Matthysse, Danny Garcia or Lamont Peterson.

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David Haye to fight Manuel Charr on June 29th; press conference this Wednesday

charr435Heavyweight contender Manuel Charr’s campaigning for a fight against former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) has paid off, as the two fighters will be facing each other on June 29th in the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK. There will be a press conference to announce the fight this Wednesday. The fight will be shown Sky Sports.

Charr (23-1, 13 KO’s) has only been beaten once in his career in losing to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko last year by a 4th round TKO. However, Charr also has had it pretty easy in terms of opposition. There’s his one fight against Vitali, and the rest of Charr’s opponents have been mediocre at best. Is it an accident that Charr has been brought along so carefully by his promoters? No, I think it’s the norm in the heavyweight division nowadays.

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Canelo’s performance disappointing in “win” over Trout

08I 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.

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Result: Tyson Fury KOs Steve Cunningham

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.

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

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.

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

wilder33Top 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.

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

groves4534Matchroom 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.’”

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Macklin could be next for Golovkin

martinez4545A 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.

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