What side of the pond will the IBF Super Middle Weight title land, when James Degale and Andre Dirrell square off?

What side of the pond will the IBF Super Middle Weight title land, when James Degale and Andre Dirrell square off?

May 23rd DeGale, and Dirrell will climb into the ring, and one will return home with an impressive red belt, and a second chance at stardom. Both of these men are at a critical point in their careers, and each has traveled a rocky path to arrive. Despite bringing home a gold medal in 2008 Olympics, DeGale was far from a fan favorite. The crowd erupted in boos as Chunky made his pro debut.

He later played the villain during the lead up to a George Groves clash, and further estranged his fan base.

After losing for the first time however, DeGale was humbled. He made changes, and not only sharpened his boxing acumen, but also polished his people skills. He went on to have a 10 fight winning streak, and win a European title. Now he is boxing for a world title.

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DeGale Says He’ll Make History / Froch Rules Himself Out – ‘DeGale v Dirrell’

DeGale Says He'll Make History / Froch Rules Himself Out - 'DeGale v Dirrell'

This coming Saturday, Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions format attempts to deliver once again with the clash between Britain’s gold medal winning Olympian James DeGale and Michigan native Andre Dirrell for the IBF 168lb title that was recently vacated by Nottingham’s Carl Froch.

DeGale, who is hoping to become the first gold medal winning British Olympian in history to go on and win a world title in the pro game, has spoken to Sky Sports ahead of the eagerly anticipated battle of two tricky southpaws to insist he firmly believes that Saturday is his destiny and everything he has worked so hard for will culminate in championship gold around his waist.

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Floyd Doesn’t Need Golovkin Says Willie Monroe Jr

Floyd Doesn't Need Golovkin Says Willie Monroe Jr

One of the names that keeps getting linked to Gennady Golovkin – despite the unlikeliness of the fight ever happening – is Floyd Mayweather – who after intense criticism over “The Fight Of The Century”, needs a decent name for his September date and final Showtime fight.

Whether Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, Miguel Cotto or Donald Duck gets the call, the talk surrounding Golovkin simply will not go away. Furthermore after we saw how Monroe and his pure boxer style was arguably able to nick a couple of rounds against Golovkin, there is a belief that Floyd might actually fancy the task if Golovkin boiled down to 154lb after all.

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GGG Not Afraid To Lose His ‘0’

GGG Not Afraid To Lose His '0'

In the wake of his sublime 6th round destruction of Willie Monroe Jr, Gennady Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez has spoken out to address the issue of future fights for the Kazakh wrecking machine – saying that it’s the other big names out there in and around 160lb (like Cotto and Canelo) who need to step up to fight his man – insisting that Golovkin himself is not afraid to lose his ‘0’ against marquee names in the big fights.

After the fight with Monroe Jr – (in which if there was any criticism of Golovkin – it was over the fact he is extremely hittable at times) Sanchez praised it as a learning curve against an awkward southpaw who gave his fighter much needed ‘practice’

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Kathy Duva – Adonis Needs To Make Up His Mind

Kathy Duva - Adonis Needs To Make Up His Mind

He has had his fair share of heat over Adonis Stevenson as of late, yet Main Events chief Kathy Duva has come to the defence of her fighter – WBO, WBA & IBF 175lb champion Sergey Kovalev – and spoken to fighthype.com to further clarify their position regarding any potential fight, saying “Adonis needs to make up his mind” whether or not he really wants to get in the ring with the Russian puncher.

With the main sticking point being the respective television deals of the fighters, it would appear that Duva will not back down over the fight needing to be on her broadcaster HBO – something that could crucially prevent it from happening.

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Gennady Golovkin: Business As Usual

Gennady Golovkin: Business As Usual

The 20th consecutive KO (TKO) win for Golovkin was less eventful than “the big drama show’ catch phrase suggested. The fight took place on May 16 and the venue was the Forum in Inglewood, Cal. The challenger Willie Monroe Jr. (19-2, 6 KOs), a US southpaw with Cuban roots, was known for his speed but not his power and he was not expected to rock and test the Kazakh with concussive leather. Monroe comes from a boxing family – his uncle Willie “The Worm” Monroe once outpointed Marvin Hagler of all middleweights handing him his 2nd pro loss – and when you add the Cuban connection the bar goes up a notch as well. Willie was a Boxino tournament champ and his only loss had been a UD to Darnell Boone, an under-appreciated but notoriously awkward customer who KOed Adonis Stevenson and has scored knock downs over Sergey Kovalev and Andre Ward. The undefeated Golovkin looked forward to fighting a slick southpaw and they were of equal size with a reach advantage in favor of the American. Here is a round by round recap of the bout:

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Power and Excitement – No shortage of it with Triple G and Chocolatito

Power and Excitement - No shortage of it with Triple G and Chocolatito

Punching power is one thing. Destructive power is another. The heavy handed type is devastating, brutal, and ruinous. That is an apt description of WBC flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatitio” Gonzalez 43-0-0 (37KO) and WBA and WBC interim middleweight champion Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin 32-0-0 (32KO). They continued to demonstrate as much in front of a full house at the Forum in Inglewood, CA. A full house saw Chocolatito destroy Edgar Sosa 51-8-0 (30KO) inside of two rounds. Triple G’s feature bout looked as though it was going to be a repeat performance, as he had Willie “The Mongoose” Monroe 19-2-0 (6KO) down twice in the second. But, to Monroe’s credit, he recuperated and actually won a round or two before being stopped by Triple G at :45 of the sixth round.

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Golovkin destroys Monroe Jr; Gonzalez obliterates Sosa

Golovkin destroys Monroe Jr; Gonzalez obliterates Sosa

Challenger Willie Monroe (19-2, 6 KOs) tried hard tonight, but he was no match for IBO/WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (33-0, 30 KOs) in getting stopped in the 6th round of a scheduled 12 round bout at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Monroe was down three times in the fight, and would have likely been down even more if he hadn’t quit on his feet in the 6th round following a hard knockdown. Referee Jack Reiss officially stopped the fight at 0:45 of the 6th.

Monroe hit the canvas twice in the 2nd round. The first knockdown came from a left hook to the head that put Monroe down. Less than a minute later, Monroe was knocked down by a volley of punches from Golovkin. At this point in the fight it looked like Monroe wouldn’t make it past the 3rd round.

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Caution Always Advised But There Won’t Be An Upset : Prediction – Golovkin v Monroe Jr

Caution Always Advised But There Won't Be An Upset : Prediction - Golovkin v Monroe Jr

I have to admire ESPN’s Boxcino tournament winner Willie Monroe Jr’s (19-1, 6ko) attitude towards tonight’s impending clash with unbeaten Kazakh wrecking-machine Gennady Golovkin (32-0, 29ko). The slick, yet light punching southpaw believes in his heart of hearts that he can win this one – and deserves props for even stepping up to the challenge in my humble opinion, especially when it is clear that the division’s WBC champion Miguel Cotto – who fights former GGG victim Daniel Geale on June 6 – doesn’t seem to fancy the job.

Both fighters made weight yesterday and all the talk going into the fight, rather than focusing on Monroe Jr – is of Golovkin’s potential future fights with the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Cotto and even Floyd Mayweather.

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Broner v Porter – A Tasty Little Match-Up

Broner v Porter - A Tasty Little Match-Up

Say what you want about Al Haymon and his Premier Boxing Champions format – that he’s going to turn it and his stable of fighters into boxing’s UFC, fighting for in-house titles and the like – but scare stories aside – so far I have been nothing but impressed with both the brand itself and the quality of the fights that have been dished up to us, the fans.

Last week’s Burns v Figueroa fight is the most recent case in point, corrupt official aside – of an action packed contest that will surely bring in new fans as well as satisfy the existing ones – and now perhaps the most eagerly anticipated fight of the series yet – between Ohio natives Adrien Broner & Shawn Porter has been confirmed for June 20 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Vegas.

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