The Latest Boxing News
Top Rank chief Bob Arum is currently in the UK to discuss options for some of his fighters and has held a meeting over the weekend with Matchroom Sport chief Barry Hearn, father of Eddie, ostensibly with a view to making match-ups for Matchroom world champions Kell Brook and Scott Quigg.
On his twitter account on Sunday, the elder Hearn posted a picture of himself with the long-time Top Rank chief alongside the caption, “Great evening with an old friend. Lots to talk about!”
Watching the latter day Floyd Mayweather in interviews and at media scrums is a little bit like watching a small child who has been told by it’s mother – “think carefully before you speak,” such are the deliberate pauses for careful consideration every time he opens his mouth these days.
The delay each time he’s asked a question grows more amusing every time he is interviewed, and if there were silence you’d probably hear the sound of distant tumbleweed blowing around inside his skull such is the intellectual capacity of the media-trained, self-professed “Best Ever.”
Britain’s former 2 weight world champ Ricky Hatton, who himself boxed both Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas, has spoken out to the ‘expressandstar.com’ to suggest that if “jilted bride” Amir Khan cannot secure the mega fights he craves with either of the two P4P giants, then he should just do what most right thinking fans want him to do – fight IBF 147 lb champion Kell Brook.
Khan has ostensibly talked himself out of a Floyd fight for good, even if “Money” goes for the 50-0, and so has now turned his attentions to trying to secure a big-money fight against the now 37 year old Filipino star instead.
In response to pleas from British fans in particular, Khan keeps saying he will fight Brook at some point “in the future,” when the champion fights what he deems big enough names.
In a do or die fight for two older heavyweights looking for one last opportunity at a world title bout, Antonio “Magic Man” Tarver and “USS” Steve Cummingham gave everything they had in a hard fought, competitive twelve round split decision draw. Scores were 115-113 for Cunningham, 115-113 for Tarver, and 114-114. This main event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was part of the Premier Boxing Champions and was broadcast on Spike TV.
Promoter Frank Warren revealed on Friday as part of the “Bunce’s Boxing Hour” show on Boxnation that Flanagan would be fulfilling his mandatory obligations immediately after capturing the vacant WBO 135lb strap against Jose Zepeda, who dislocated his shoulder in the 2nd round of their July fight and was thus unable to continue.
Former IBF 168lb champ Lucian Bute (32-2, 25 KOs) came out on top tonight in defeating Italy’s Andrea Di Luisa (17-3, 13 KOs) by a 4th round TKO after Di Luisa’s corner threw in the towel in the 4th round at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.
Bute knocked the 33-year-old, Ink-covered Di Luisa down with a left to the head in the 4th. Di Luisa got to his feet at the count of 8. When asked if he was okay, Di Luisa appeared to shake his head. The referee let it continue anyway. Moments later, Di Luisa’ corner threw in the towel and the fight was halted at 1:53 of the round. Bute was slightly hurt by a left hand from Di Luisa before the knockdown. The shot had Bute backing up, but he wasn’t badly hurt but he clearly was stunned by the shot from the Italian fighter.
Northern Irish middleweight contender and IBF #3, Eamonn O’Kane (14-1-1, 5ko) is set to face far and away the biggest test of his career when he enters a considerable underdog against Bahamian former Olympian and IBF #4 Tureano Johnson (18-1, 13ko) on the under card of the highly anticipated Gennady Golovkin/David Lemieux HBO PPV bill on October 17th at Madison Square Garden, New York.
The winner of the bout will become mandatory challenger to the IBF title currently held by Lemieux, and following the official announcement earlier this week, O’Kane – who is in training at Abel Sanchez’s Summit facility in preparation for the contest, tweeted; “I’m pleased to announce I will be winning my mandatory position for the WBA & IBF titles Oct 17th Madison Square Garden #AttitudeIsEverything.”
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Little known Krzystof Glowacki pulled off a stunning upset in New Jersey last night, knocking out long reigning WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck in the 11th round of a thoroughly entertaining scrap, sending the large Polish contingent in attendance at the Prudential Center absolutely wild.
Glowacki was flat on his back in the 6th after a solid left hook, and after rising to his feet looked as if he might get waved off, but he showed a lion hearted grit and determination to take the fight back to the German based champion, ably weathering the crisis.
Faded 46 year old modern great and 4 division world titlist Roy Jones Jr continues in his quest to try and somehow maneuver himself into position to challenge for an elusive cruiserweight world title when he fights Eric Watkins (12-9-2, 5ko) as part of the Knockout Season 2 finale, live on NUVOtv in the States.
Jones has been on record lately insisting that he would like to capture the 5th divisional world honour and had been keen on a challenge to the now former WBO champion Marco Huck, who sensationally dropped his title this weekend in a stunning upset at the hands of little known Pole Krzsytof Glowacki.
Photo: STEPHANIE TRAPP – What a difference two years can make. On this date in 2013, two-time world champion Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right shoulder. Two years later, he’s feeling stronger than ever and enjoys a new appreciation for the speed, power and athleticism he’s been blessed with. Berto plans to showcase all of those attributes in his Saturday, September 12 showdown with pound-for-pound king Floyd “Money” Mayweather (48-0, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas live on SHOWTIME PPV (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
“It gave me a completely different perspective; I really thought my career might be over,” Berto said. “I told myself that when I get back in there, I was going to go all in.”