WBC Silver middleweight champion Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) may not have put in an impressive performance tonight in beating #7 WBC Domenico Spada (39-6, 19 KOs) by a 7th round technical decision, but he did earn a potential title shot against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin with the win.
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Povetkin defeats Takam by 10th round stoppage
#3 WBA Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20 KOs) proved his class last Friday night in defeating #5 World Boxing Association (WBA) contender Carlos Takam (30-2-1, 23 KOs) by a 10 round knockout at the Luzhniki Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia. Povetkin knocked a badly hurt Takam down with a hard left hook to the head at the start of the 10th round.
The shot put Takam down on his back, and the fight was stopped immediately. Povetkin had knocked Takam down late in the 9th round with a hard right hand that sent him down partially through the ropes. Takam was able to make it out of the round due to the time expiring, but there was no way that he could recover in between rounds.
Pacquiao-Roach-Arum Conference Call Transcript
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, PHILIPPINES (October 23, 2014) — Fighter of the Decade and World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion, Congressman MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO (56-5-2, 38 KOs), the lone congressional representative from the Sarangani Province of the Philippines, his Hall of Fame trainer FREDDIE ROACH and Hall of Fame promoter BOB ARUM hosted an international Media Conference Call today. Emanating from General Santos City, Philippines, where Pacquiao has been in deep, rigorous training for his title defense battle with undefeated WBO junior welterweight world champion CHRIS ALGIERI (20-0, 8 KOs), of Huntington, NY on Long Island, their eagerly-anticipated world championship collision is just five weeks away.
Roach: Some of Pacquiao’s sparring partners are better than Algieri
At today’s press conference in the Philippines, Freddie Roach, the vocal trainer for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), took the opportunity to point out that some of Pacquiao’s sparring partners are better than Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), who Pacquiao will be fighting on November 22nd on HBO Championship Boxing from the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, in Macao S.A.R., China.
The sparring partners that Roach is likely referring to as being better than Algieri are Mike Jones and Viktor Postol. They are certainly good fighters, and it would be a toss-up if Algieri were to face either of these guys.
George Groves faces Denis Douglin on 11/22 on Sky Box Office
On November 22nd, #1 WBC George Groves (22-2, 15 KOs) will be in action against southpaw Denis Douglin (17-3, 10 KOs) in a 12 round bout at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. This fight is to get Groves ready for a title shot against the southpaw WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell in 2015.
Whether a guy in Douglin’s class can help Groves get ready for someone like Dirrell remains to be seen.
Groves wants to look good in this fight, and steal the spotlight from the headliner fight between Tony Bellew vs. Nathan Cleverly. It’s going to be tough for Groves to accomplish that if his fight turns out to be a one-sided mismatch. You have to realize that Douglin has been dominated by the likes of Jermell Charlo, Jose Angel Rodriguez and Doel Carrasquillo in the past.
Wladimir Klitschko hints at an early outcome of his fight vs. Kubrat Pulev on Nov.15
In an interview for Polsat TV a couple of days ago, W. Klitschko bluntly dismissed Kubrat Pulev’s chances of becoming a real challenge. Wlad did not like the question whether Pulev would be a tougher opponent for him than Alex Leapai and asked in return what the reporter would say if Pulev got KOed in the first round.
W. Klitschko is not a trash talker and he is generally very tolerant towards his opponent’s antics and stunts. He usually has kind words for his foes but he seems to have none this time especially after Pulev brought up the Olympic drug testing issue. Klitschko is very sensitive to this subject and he blames Pulev’s promotional team, Sauerland, for trying to “get under his skin”.
Hopkins sees himself on another level as Kovalev
IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) might be nearing 50-years-old and losing punching power, but he still feels he’s at a higher level than his opponent WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) who he’ll be facing on November 8th on HBO Championship Boxing at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Hopkins thinks he’s going to take the hard hitting Russian Kovalev to school next month and show him the difference between the levels he fights at and the one Kovalev has been fighting at during his career.
Fury calls out Anthony Joshua
British heavyweight Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KOs) still hasn’t taken care of Dereck Chisora in their rematch next month and yet Fury already has his eyes set on who he wants to fight next. Fury says he wants to fight undefeated and untested British prospect Anthony Joshua (9-0, 9 KOs) so that he can prove himself against him.
Never mind the fact that a fight between Fury and Joshua would make no sense at this point considering that Joshua isn’t a belt holder, and has never beaten anyone remotely talented. Fury still feels like it’s a fight that he wants.
Bradley says Mayweather wouldn’t be the toughest opponent, but still wants to fight him
Welterweight contender Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) says he’s going to be moving up in weight to 154 to target the top fighters in that weight class. He’s specifically interested in fighting Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Miguel Cotto. Besides those guys, Bradley says he’d like to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr, because he’s already fought Manny Pacquuiao and Juan Manuel Marquez in the past.
Interestingly enough, Bradley doesn’t see Mayweather as being the toughest opponent for him. He doesn’t say who’s tougher, but you’d have to assume he means Pacquiao, Cotto or Canelo. Bradley’s coming off of a 12 round decision loss to Pacquiao in his last fight in April of this year in a one-sided loss.
Bradley targeting the winner of Cotto vs. Canelo
Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) is targeting the winner of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto fight next year for who he’d like to have his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank set him up. Gennady Golovkin would like to fight the winner of the Canelo-Cotto fight, but the chances are very good that if Cotto gets past Canelo, boxing fans are going to see Cotto in against Bradley rather than Golovkin.
Cotto’s WBC middleweight title may or may not be on the line for a Bradley fight depending on if Cotto vacates or if the World Boxing Council strips him by then for not facing Golovkin. Last Saturday, Golovkin defeated Marco Antonio Rubio by a 2nd round knockout to become the WBC interim middleweight champion.