Hopkins beats Murat; Deontay stops Firtha; Quillin stops Rosado

10/27/201310/26/2013 Rob Smith

hopkins78 Making his first defense of his IBF light heavyweight title champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) defeated Karo Murat (25-2-1m 15 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. The final judges scores were 117-110, 119-108, 119-108. Hopkins took a lot of shots in the fight and it was a lot of back and forth action between them. This was easily the most exciting Hopkins fight in quite some time.

Speaking of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Hopkins said “I can make 160. If the negotiations are serious, I can make 160.”

Hopkins must look good in beating Murat tonight to keep Super Fight hopes alive

10/26/201310/26/2013 Rob Smith

It’s not really question of whether IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) will beat his little known German based opponent Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) tonight in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The only question is whether the 48-year-old Hopkins will look sensational in stopping him or as boring as he’s looked in many of his fights over the years.

Either way, Hopkins will win this fight with ease. Murat has one defeat on his record, but he should arguably have three defeats because he draw and victory over Gabriel Campillo in their two fights were fights that Murat appeared to lose. Murat was also stopped by Nathan Cleverly several years ago in one-sided match.

Rosado suspicious about Golovkin’s gloves

07/31/201410/25/2013 Rob Smith

It took Gabriel Rosado (21-6, 13 KO’s) nine months to speak up but he’s now saying that he’s suspicious about the gloves that WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO’s) used when he stopped him in the 7th round last January in Madison Square Garden, New York. Rosado, 27, says that he noticed that there was little padding around the knuckle portion of the gloves compared to his own, according to RingTV, and that has Rosado wondering what’s up.

Golovkin turned Rosado’s face into what resembled hamburger by the 7th round, and it was pretty quick the way his features changed once Golovkin started to land his power shots. Rosado was running the entire fight with the exception of the 5th round. In that round, Rosado mixed it up with Golovkin and both guys got hit with some good shots. The fight was pretty much over in the 6th round after Golovkin caught Rosado with a right hand uppercut that staggered him. A bleeding Rosado then went back onto his bike until the fight was stopped in the 7th.

Murat: I’m going to end Bernard’s career; he’s old

10/26/201310/25/2013 Rob Smith

#2 IBF contender Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) isn’t beating around the bushes for what he plans on doing against the soon to be 49-year-old Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) in their fight this Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Hopkins will be making the first defense of his IBF light heavyweight title.

Murat wants to send Hopkins into a retirement that he won’t come back from. Murat feels that Hopkins time has passed and he’s going to be the one that puts him out of his misery.

Bernard Hopkins aims to prove he’s not old at 48

09/15/201610/23/2013 Rob Smith

IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (53-6-2, 32 KO’s) will be turning 49-years-old on January 15th, and he’s a proven that he’s a unique fighter with his incredible longevity in the sport. Hopkins is still fighting at a high level at 48 in a sport where most fighters are pretty much over-the-hill by the time they’re 35.

Hopkins will be defending his IBF title for the first time this Saturday night against the much younger 30-year-old Karo Murat (25-1-1, 15 KO’s) at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. This is Hopkins’ mandatory challenger and there wasn’t any way for him to get around not taking the fight, so you can’t blame Hop for facing a less than spectacular opponent.

Blame it on the International Boxing Federation for ranking Murat at #2 off a wins against opposition like this: Sandro Siproshvili, Otis Griffin and Christian Cruz. Beating those fighters got Murat installed as Hopkins’ mandatory.

Bradley decisions Marquez; Salido defeats Cruz

10/14/201310/12/2013 Rob Smith

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) won an incredibly dull 12 round split decision on Saturday night over 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) by the scores of 115-113 Marquez, 116-112, 115-113 Bradley at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Bradley did a great job of staying on the outside to keep Marquez from landing his power shots, but unfortunately it kept Bradley from landing punches as well. Bradley ended up moving too much and that really took away the excitement in the fight. The only round where Bradley actually exchanged was the 12th, and he clearly lost that round.

Arum wants Miguel Cotto vs. Sergio Martinez next year in June at Giants Stadium

10/08/201310/07/2013 Rob Smith

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is interested in matching Miguel Cotto vs. WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez next year in June during the Puerto Rican weekend at the Giants Stadium, according to Dan Rafael. Martinez, 39, has already tweeted that he’s up for the fight and there’s talk that it could take place at a catch-weight of 158.

Cotto hasn’t decided yet, and he’s going to think it over and look at all the options has available to him. Whether Martinez is the best fight he can get is unclear.

If Cotto can get a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. or former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez then that would be by far the better fight than to face the arguably much less popular Martinez.

A rematch with Mayweather is something that Cotto has already said he wants, and he should be looking to stay in the running for that fight instead of moving up to middleweight to fight a bigger fighter like Sergio.

Sanchez thinks Golovkin can face Mayweather or Cotto

07/31/201410/07/2013 Rob Smith

Abel Sanchez, the trainer for WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, thinks that Golovkin should be in the running for a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. and/or Miguel Cotto. Golovkin has a fight next month on November 2nd against contender Curtis Stevens, but Sanchez figures that’ll be an easy fight for Golovkin.

Once Stevens is out of the way, Sanchez wants Golovkin to face Mayweather or Cotto. He believes that Golovkin can down to 154 to face either of them as long as he has a full 8 week training camp to trim down.

Sanchez said to RingTV “Gennedy came into camp weighing 167 before training, so it would be just a matter of getting enough time to get down to 154…we would start losing some of the weight that we have to earlier…it’s just a matter of having the time to do it.”