The Latest Boxing News
‘RESURRECTION’ Matchroom’s foray into the British heartlands – set to take place this Saturday in Birmingham – has been impacted by schedule changes and drop outs that have seen the UK’s premier promotional outfit call in the cavalry.
Premier prospects Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell and Callum Smith will step in to fill the void left by home favourite Frankie Gavin – who will now challenge IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook on 30th May in London’s O2 Arena.
It’s not been a great week for British 168lb boss Carl Froch (33-2, 24 ko). After being widely mocked online for his fawning over Floyd Mayweather in that cringe inducing star-struck Sky interview – the Cobra – (whom everybody now knows knocked out George Groves in front of 80k at Wembley) – has now been stripped of the WBA (reg) title that he won back in 2013 in his rematch with Mikkel Kessler.
It has been a year since he last boxed and the WBA have ordered Felix Sturm and interim WBA champ Fedor Chudinov to instead fight for his title this weekend in Germany.
Multiple sources online and across social media are beginning to talk about a potential match-up between former IBF 147lb champion Shawn Porter (25-1-1, 16ko) and Floyd Mayweather wannabe Adrien Broner (30-1, 22ko).
The fight, potentially being talked about as a catchweight contest at 144lbs is sure to be an intriguing match-up should it take place and a June 20th date is being mooted by RingTV and in Boxrec’s forum.
Broner has had an easy time of things since dropping a decision to Marcos Maidana some 18 months ago. His last bout, against an out-of-sorts John Molina was a comparitive stroll in the park compared to that fight and the test the strong, stocky and marauding Porter is likely to present.
It feels like a long, long time since Germany’s Felix Sturm (39-4-3, 18ko) fought Oscar De La Hoya in 2004 and announced himself on the world scene in a fight many felt he was hard done by to lose. In the intermittent years the German has remained a dominant champion although he has never again traveled outside of his home country.
British fans in particular will remember he had good back to back fights with both Matthew Macklin and Martin Murray in 2011 who were sadly unsuccessful in their challenges to his title. In Macklin’s case especially, Sturm had a karmic helping hand winning a SD – if he was unlucky in Vegas against De La Hoya – It was Macklin who was hard done by that night.
Already a marquee event featuring Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KO’s) defending his WBC Middleweight and Ring Magazine World Champion titles against former Two-Time World Champion Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KO’s) in a 12-round main event, the June 6 showdown will now include a live musical performance by Roc Nation and Grammy-nominated artist Big Sean before the main event.
Roc Nation will bring other major names to the boxing experience at Barclays Center including notable event emcee and “The Voice of New York” Angie Martinez, who will serve as the event’s host, alongside hit master DJ Lobo from WSKQ La Mega 97.9 FM New York City, the #1 Spanish radio station in the United States. Martinez and Lobo will entertain together throughout the night to keep the energy up between bouts.
Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and James Kirkland are ready to bring the action and exciting back to Texas and the sport in general.
James Kirkland is never in a boring match and Canelo is ready to be the heir of the Mexican boxing spotlight.
Translation: these are only the few initial ingredients of what promises to be a post Cinco de Mayo treat for boxing fans not just in Texas, but the nation as well.
It would seem that the fall-out from last Saturday’s fight that never caught light shows little sign of abating and those frustrated at shelling out $100 dollars for a PPV have now aimed pot-shots at Floyd Mayweather – the man who earned himself $2.7 million a minute at the weekend for his efforts.
On social media a link to a story from NYPost.com that shows a picture of Mayweather alongside the following quote, has sparked outrage. “F*** Africa. I don’t need to help nobody but myself. How the f*** I look giving to causes? I want to spend MY money on ME. Not on feeding no damn African’s or anybody else. If you are homeless that’s YOUR problem.”
Its is misleading and sensationalist journalism at it’s very worst. Reading the “quote” and the tone it gives off one could be forgiven for thinking Mayweather is the biggest ahole walking the face of the earth. It implies the “quote” was following the fight too – when it actual fact it WASN’T.
Britain’s former 140lb world champion Amir Khan, who fights American Chris Algieri on May 29th appears to have climbed down on his earlier insistence that any fight with Floyd Mayweather would only happen if Mayweather moved off his penciled in September date for the final fight of his Showtime deal.
The devout Muslim was previously thought to be left too little time following the period of fasting to train for a September Floyd fight, yet Sky Sports are reporting that the Virgil Hunter trained Khan has had a change of heart – no doubt fuelled by the mega-money a fight with Floyd can bring.
Khan said;
Houston, TX takes the boxing center stage once again this coming May 9th live from the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park. Day 2 of fight week festivities continued with the top main event and undercard fighters engaging in brief workout sessions for the fans as well as autograph and photograph sessions.
Fighters making their appearances included James Leija, Jr., Taishan, Humberto Soto, Frankie Gomez and of course main even attractions James Kirkland and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Abel Sanchez: Hi. Good morning, guys. We’re looking forward to—what is it ten days from now eleven days from now, putting on another fantastic show. We’re fortunate to have a young man in Willie Monroe who I know is going to come to fight and provide us with that exciting fight that we haven’t had. Well, actually last week was not as exciting as this one’s going to be, so hopefully Willie’s in great shape. I know that Tony’s getting him ready, so we’re looking forward to this Saturday night.
Tom Loeffler: And then I also want to introduce the WBA, the WBC Interim Champion, IBO Middleweight Champion, 32-0 with 29 knockouts, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.