Showtime Sports big time boss vice president Stephen Espinosa came out of the woodwork on Friday quash the rumors about the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero fight resulting in less than 1 million pay per view buys on Showtime from last Saturday night. Espinosa says the fight did no less than 1 million PPV buys, although he’s still not sure what the full tally is as of now, but it is more than 1 million.
Rob Smith
Mayweather hints that he’s going to box Guerrero instead of slug with him on 5/4
WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) was recently able to WBC welterweight champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) to agree to go toe-to-toe with him in their fight on May 4th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Mayweather Jr. asked Guerrero how he wanted the fight to take place and Guerrero responded with “Toe-to-toe.” Mayweather immediately agreed to fight him that way, but it looks like Mayweather Jr. is having second thoughts about it due to his father, who will be training him for this fight, preferring that Mayweather Jr. fight in a more defensive manner.
Arum willing to match Donaire against Mares on HBO
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that he’d be willing to match his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) against the unbeaten Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KO’s) in the future, but only if the 27-year-old Mares was willing to face the 30-year-old Donaire on HBO rather than Showtime where Mares typically fights.
Arum said to Ringside SEN Radio in Melbourne that if Mares is “Willing to come over and fight Donaire on HBO that’s fine. [Mares] doesn’t enjoy 25 percent of the popularity Donaire enjoys but if he wants to fight Nonito and get a real good pay we’ll be happy to fight Mares.”
Arum confident he can get Pacquiao-Marquez 5 fight made for September
Despite Juan Manuel Marquez’s apparent reluctance to fight Manny Pacquiao for a fifth time, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum remains extremely confident that he’s going to get the fight made for September in Singapore or Macao, two places where the fighters can escape the taxes from the pay per view money that they get from U.S boxing fans. Arum is looking for the perfect hotel-casino in Macau or Singapore to stage the fight.
The rematch would likely be promoted as their previous fights with the fighters traveling to three or four major cities in the U.S to hold press conferences, and then the fight would take place outside of the U.S on fight night.
You can make a strong argument that Arum isn’t exactly doing Pacquiao any favors by putting him back in the ring with a guy like Marquez after the way that Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez last December. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out cold with a nice right hand in the 6th round of that fight.
Arum looking to make Pacquiao-Marquez 5 in Macau or Singapore in September
Promoter Bob Arum is looking to put together a fifth fight between Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) and Juan Manuel Marquez (55-6-1, 40 KO’s) in Singapore or Macau in September in order to dodge U.S taxes. Arum is looking at possible casinos in both places to see which one is the best fit for the fifth and possible final fight between the two.
If Arum can put the fight together, and that’s a big if, the fight could be the last one if Marquez knocks Pacquiao out cold again. He destroyed Pacquiao in 6 rounds last December and you can’t imagine that he’ll agree to a 6th fight with Marquez if he gets blasted out again.
Andre Ward hoping to fight Chavez Jr.
WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) says former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) is high on his list for a big fight in 2013. Ward just destroyed WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson last September in a 10th round TKO when Dawson made the mistake of moving down in weight to face him at 168. Now, Ward is hoping that Chavez Jr., a huge fighter for the 160 pound division, will move up in weight and face him at 168. Ward thinks it’s a fight that boxing fans will want to see.
Ward said to RingTV “A fight between me and Chavez Jr. is more interesting. I think it’s what fans what to see more than [Sergio] Martinez now.”
Canelo-Trout: Will Alvarez’s stamina hold up for 12 fast-paced rounds?
One of many question marks about WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) going into his April 20th fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) is whether Canelo’s stamina will hold up for the full 12 rounds in a fast paced fight.
We’ve seen how Canelo has looked tired in his fights against Ryan Rhodes, Matthew Hatton, Alfonso Gomez, and Shane Mosley, and those were fights where he was allowed to plod for the full fight and not have to move quickly to catch up to a fighter on the move like he will against a constantly moving Trout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Canelo looked like he didn’t have a lot of excess energy in the gas tank any of those fights, which is perhaps why he seemed to pace himself and fight flat-footed in each one of them. They were all mismatches, yet Canelo wasn’t take to take it out of 2nd gear to put these guys away quickly. He did stop Rhodes and Gomez, but it took a lot longer than it should have, and I don’t buy the excuse that his fans make that Canelo did this on purpose.
David Haye to announce comeback on Thursday in London press conference
Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) will be holding a London press conference this Thursday at which time he’s expected to announce his comeback, and his two-fight plan to get himself locked in as the mandatory challenger for IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
The 32-year-old Haye, who hasn’t fought since last July in beating 2nd tier heavyweight Dereck Chisora by a 5th round TKO, has given up trying to talk WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko into fighting him. Haye now wants to force the issue on his brother Wladimir by fighting two quick fights against top tier opposition to get himself locked in as Wladimir’s mandatory while at the same time putting him in a better spot to get more money than he would if it were to be an optional title defense.
Canelo: I hope Guerrero beats Mayweather
WBC 154 lb. champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez is pulling for WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) to cause a big upset on May 4th by beating undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Canelo said to esnewsreportingcom: “Anything can happen in boxing, but I hope Guerrero wins.”
It’s interesting that Canelo is hoping that Guerrero gets the victory because this would be something that would hurt Canelo by having Mayweather’s unbeaten record taken away by somebody else. That undefeated record is obviously something that helps bring huge money to Mayweather with fan interest.
Trout: Canelo hasn’t developed his man strength yet; I’m taking his belt
WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) doesn’t believe that the 22-year-old WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) has developed his full power as of yet, and still isn’t strong enough to defeat him when the two meet up on Showtime on April 20th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Trout said to Fightnews.com “I don’t think he [Canelo] has developed his man strength yet. I will impose my will on him…I took the belt from his older brother [Rigoberto Alvarez], and I am going to take his, too.”