Rob Smith

Schaefer wants Garcia-Matthysse and Peterson-Judah for September 7th

matthysse53Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is going to try his best to put together a fight card with Danny Garcia facing Lucas Matthysse and Lamont Peterson taking on Zab Judah for September 7th in Washington, D.C.

Dan Rafael said on his twitter “Schaefer says he has September 7 on hold at Verizon Center in DC for Garcia-Matthysse, hopes to do Peterson-Judah in co-feature.”

I can definitely see Peterson and Judah facing each other because Peterson is pretty fearless and Judah knows he’d have a decent chance of winning this fight if he can get to Peterson’s chin the same way Matthysse did in destroying him in only three rounds last night at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Rafael: Mayweather-Guerrero only sold 870K PPV buys, according to my sources

floyd#30Dan Rafael of ESPN is still standing behind his source for the final pay per view numbers for the Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Robert Guerrero fight despite Showtime saying that the fight will bring in over 1 million buys when the final tally is in.

Rafael says his source is telling him that the Mayweather-Guerrero final PPV numbers will be only 870,000 PPV buys, a much lower number than what Showtime is saying.

Rafael said on his chat this week: “I have good industry sources who swear on their children that this fight will not reach 1 million buys, much less be ‘in excess’ if 1 million and I believe them. These are people with no dog in the fight who I respect and have known for many years and trust. I am told that the number right now is about 870,000 buys.”

Rafael doubts Mayweather-Canelo fight will get made despite Schaefer’s optimism

canelo453ESPN writer Dan Rafael says that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer e-mailed him saying that the reports about Floyd Mayweather Jr. wanting a fight with WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez to take place at 147 lbs. isn’t true.

It’s interesting that Schaefer is saying that because Mayweather’s father Floyd Sr. said in an interview today that Canelo has to come down to 147 for the fight to happen in September, and that he won’t let Floyd Jr. fight the 172 pound Canelo due to the huge weight difference between the two fighters.

Mayweather Sr: If Canelo wants Floyd Jr., it’s going to be at 147

floyd#121Floyd Mayweather Sr. doesn’t want his son Floyd Jr. fighting the 172 lb. WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) at 154 lbs. because he sees the potential of Canelo filling up on water weight in the 24 hours after the weigh-in and coming into the fight weighing well over 170 pounds in their proposed fight on September 14th.

As such, Floyd Sr. is saying that if Canelo wants to fight Mayweather Jr. it’s going to have to be at 147. Canelo will have to prove that he can make that weight before he can get the fight with Floyd Jr.

Cotto could give Canelo a lot of problems

canelo4534After seeing how exhausted WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez looked in his fights against Austin Trout and Shane Mosley, I think Miguek Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) has a good chance of beating Canelo in September if he ends up being the one that faces him, and right now it’s looking like Cotto could be the guy that gets picked.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants Canelo to come down to 147 before he’ll agree to fight him, and I don’t think it’s possible for Canelo do that without being weakened from water loss. You can never say never, but I doubt Canelo will agree to lose that kind of weight.

Arum: Donaire will fight in October or November

donaire#55Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that former IBF/WBO super bantamweight Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) will be back in the ring in either October or November this year against a still to be determined opponent. It won’t be newly crowned WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazas because he’ll likely be facing newly signed Top Rank fighter Vic Darchinyan.

If Darchinyan wins that fight then Arum would like to match him against Donaire in a rematch in 2014. Donaire stopped Darchinyan in the 5th round in 2007.

Is Mayweather ducking Canelo by asking him to come down to 147?

floyd#88Floyd Mayweather Jr’s team reportedly gave WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez the option to fight him at 147 lbs. on September 14th if he wants to get the biggest payday of his career. Canelo is only 22-year-old and has no pay per view history behind him to show that he’s a proven money maker.

Canelo’s not shown yet that he’s someone that can make money, and therefore he’s not position to dictate what weight the fight will take place on. Some of Canelo’s fans think Mayweather is ducking the fight with him by asking him to come down to 147 instead of accommodating the 22-year-old by moving up to 154, so that Canelo can make weight and rehydrate to 170+ the night of the fight and enjoy a 20-25 pound weight advantage over Mayweather. When it gets down to it, Canelo’s only chance of beating Mayweather is to use his light heavyweight-sized weight to crush him.

Pacquiao vs. Rios: Brandon could give Manny more than he bargained for

pac89Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) hasn’t had an easy fight since his one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over a completely shot Shane Mosley two years ago in May, 2011. Since that fight, Pacquiao has gone downhill himself and looked bad in his two fights against Juan Manuel Marquez and his fight with Tim Bradley.

Pacquiao lost two of those fights, but you can make strong argument that he deserved to lose three of them because his win over Marquez in November 2011 was a controversial one. Pacquiao now will be fighting Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) on November 24th in Macau, China.