The Latest Boxing News
Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader telecast begins at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
Opening up the telecast from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada pits Jean Pascal vs. Yuniesky Gonzalez in a 10-round light heavyweight attraction. The main event features light heavyweight champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev defending his titles against challenger Nadjib Mohammedi for 12 rounds.
Last Saturday, Northern Ireland’s IBF 122 lb champion Carl Frampton survived two 1st round knockdowns and some early heat in his US debut against Mexican Alejandro Gonzalez Jr, only to dig deep, refocus and boss his way back into the fight, eventually claiming the unanimous decision victory.
Immediately following the fight the Tiger’s Bay native and new Al Haymon signing was perhaps overly critical of his performance, with trainer Shane McGuigan even going as far as to suggest that a potential move up to 126 lbs could be on the cards after “The Jackal” struggled more than ever to make the 122 lb limit.
Saturday night on HBO in the US and Boxnation in the UK, Sergey Kovalev will defend his IBF/WBO and WBA light heavyweight titles against French mandatory challenger (IBF) Nadjib Mohammedi, who will be entering the fight as a heavy underdog.
The Frenchman will bring a 37-3, 23ko record to the ring, though hasn’t mixed in anywhere near the level of class as his Russian opponent. British fans may remember him from a 2010 loss to Welshman Nathan Cleverly, himself destroyed by the Russian in 2013, yet Mohammedi is in confident mood regardless.
On the verge of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s final fight on September 12 I’ve been debating with myself over just how his ironclad first ballot Hall of fame career should be remembered and how high up upon the pantheon of all time greats does the self proclaimed “T.B.E.” or “The best ever” deserve to be placed.
Let’s start out by simply stating that no one with even a casual knowledge of the sport to the most ardent historian of the sweet science can deny Mayweather’s greatness. He’s 25-0 in recognized world title contests. He’s beaten two men in Oscar De LA Hoya and the late ‘ultimate blood and guts warrior’ Arturo Gatti who have already been enshrined in the hallowed halls of Canastota New York and at least a hand full of other men who will surely be enshrined in the International Boxing Hall of Fame when they come up on the ballot.
Knockout king Sergey Kovalev has labelled Adonis Stevenson as “not a real champion” and dreams of capturing his WBC belt. The unified WBA, WBO and IBF light-heavyweight world champion has conquered all before him, including wins over the legendary Bernard Hopkins and Jean Pascal, but a showdown with 175-pound rival and current WBC champion Stevenson has eluded him.
A clash has been much talked about over the past year but 32-year-old Kovalev is now set to do battle this Saturday night, live and exclusive on BoxNation, against Frenchman Nadjib Mohammedi but his ambition is still to complete his title haul by adding the WBC belt.
Unbeaten British 122 lb prospect Barry Awad aka Kid Galahad has had a 2 year ban for doping upheld by the UK anti-doping agency after testing positive for a banned steroid following his win over Adeilson Dos Santos in September of last year.
Galahad, a product of the famous Wincobank gym in Sheffield that has produced the likes of Naseem Hamed and current IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, had claimed that a protein drink had been spiked by his brother – currently in prison – who provided a sworn affadavit to that effect – although the claim was rejected by the UKADA appeals panel.
A press conference was held this past Tuesday at the ESPRIT Arena to formally announce the highly anticipated World Heavyweight Championship between undisputed and long reigning champion Wladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko and #1 ranked mandatory challenger Tyson Fury set for Saturday, October 24. The event will be televised in the U.S. live on HBO World Championship Boxing beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET/PT.
Fighters competing in a pair of exciting cruiserweight matchups on Saturday’s Premier Boxing Champions on NBCSN event held a final press conference Thursday in advance of their July 25 bouts at The Pearl at Palms Casino Resort.
Televised coverage begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and is headlined by former world champion Beibut Shumenov (15-2, 10 KOs) taking on B.J. Flores (31-1-1, 20 KOs) in a 12-round showdown. A 10-round battle between undefeated fighters Jordan Shimmell (19-0, 16 KOs) and Isiah Thomas (14-0, 6 KOs) will also be featured on the telecast.
“You’re overlooking me…I wouldn’t break camp, but you’re breaking camp for me. Good luck August 14. You’re crazy. You’re out of your mind.” – Tarver to Cunningham
“A few years ago, you were calling me a ‘nobody.’ Let’s keep it real. You’re a professional mouth-runner. I’m a professional fighter…period.” – Cunningham to Tarver
New York (July 23, 2015) – Former world champions Antonio Tarver and Steve Cunningham exchanged heated words today on a routine media conference call that escalated into a back-and-forth dialogue about mutual respect and ring generalship.
Both Tarver and Cunningham joined the call at minute 20:51 (MP3 linked above) following a much friendlier media Q&A featuring the televised undercard fighters Marco Huck and Krzysztof Glowacki.
There seems to be a consistent struggle for big-hitting WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to find a suitable opponent, with him being linked to a number of names from Andre Ward and (previously) Carl Froch at 168, through now to newly crowned IBF middleweight champion David Lemieux, in what would be a true battle of the bangers should it take place.
After his exciting victory over Hassan N’Dam in Canada last month, Lemieux’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya had said his fighter would be looking to face his (unnamed) mandatory challenger next, although the Golden Boy has this week said to ESPN that provisional talks between the respective camps for a unification bout are now underway.
“We’re exploring options for David Lemieux and discussing things with Tom Loeffler (Golovkin’s promoter from K2 Promotions)”