Introducing: Izu Ugonoh

10/08/2014 Bryce Wilson

A Polish guy with Nigerian parents walks into a gym in New Zealand….it sounds like the beginnings of a good joke but it is merely proof once again how the sport of boxing can uplift a fighter from everything they know and transport them halfway around the world as they seek to take their tools of trade on the road, mapping out a journey to championship belts and a better life.

I meet Polish Heavyweight fighter Izu (pronounced ‘E-zoo’) Ugonoh at a boxing gym in East Auckland as he prepares to take on the ever dangerous ‘TBA’ as one of the featured undercard bouts for the upcoming Joseph Parker/Sherman Williams fight at Trusts Stadium on October 16th.

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De La Hoya: Why not Amir Khan vs. Lamont Peterson in Washington, D.C?

10/07/2014 Bill Phanco

Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions floated the idea today of Amir Khan facing IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson in Washington, DC. Khan previously fought Peterson in that city three years ago in Khan losing by a 12 round split decision after being docked points in the 7th and 12th rounds for shoving Peterson.

The referee working the fight Joseph Cooper had repeatedly warned Khan to stop shoving Peterson, but Khan had no other alternative because he was getting worked over by him on the inside and he didn’t have any other way of keeping Peterson off of him other than by shoving him.

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Canelo will rest his injured ankle for 6 weeks, then look to fight on Cinco de Mayo, says De La Hoya

10/07/2014 Rob Smith

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be resting his injured ankle for the next 6 weeks, says his promoter Oscar De La Hoya. Canelo has a muscle strain that has lingered for the past 3 months since before his last fight against Erislandy Lara, says De La Hoya. Last Monday, Golden Boy Promotions announced that Canelo’s December 6th fight against former IBF welterweight champion Joshua Clottey was cancelled due to Canelo’s ankle injury.

Instead of rescheduling it, De La Hoya says Canelo will probably stay out of the ring until next May and then look to fight Miguel Cotto in an HBO pay-per-view bout. This is the fight that De La Hoya and Canelo both want. It’s the biggest fight in boxing right now other than Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao.

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Kell Brook to fight in February

10/07/2014 Bill Phanco

IBF welterweight belt holder Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) has targeted February for his next fight date against an opponent still to be determined. Brook was stabbed last September while on holiday in Tenerife, and he’ll be coming back from that injury. Brook wants to fight either Floyd Mayweather Jr or Amir Khan, but those opponents will probably not be in the cards for the 28-year-old Brook.

We’ll likely see Brook facing one of the names that his promoter Eddie Hearn was previously mentioning for him to fight on December 6th before Brook was stabbed and unable to fight on that date. Hearn was talking about matching Brook against a fighter that Americans would recognize like Brandon Rios, Andre Berto or Josesito Lopez.

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Ankle Injury Sidelines Canelo Alvarez For Dec. 6 Bout

10/06/201410/06/2014 Jeff Sorby

In disappointing news, the red-headed Mexican superstar Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) has pulled out of his December 6th fight against Joshua Clottey due to an ankle injury Canelo suffered. With the injury, it looks like Canelo will go straight into the May 2015 fight against WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto on HBO pay-per-view.

More than a few boxing fans are already suspecting that Canelo pulled out of the fight with Clottey in order to avoid the risk involved in facing the tough ex-IBF welterweight champion. Clottey might be 37, but he looked awfully good last April in soundly beating Anthony Mundine by a 12 round decision. In that fight, Clottey looked as good as he had in the prime of his career when he was beating Zab Judah and giving guys like Antonio Margarito problems.

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Pacquiao has a lot of miles on his odometer, says Atlas

10/06/201410/06/2014 Rob Smith

Teddy Atlas of ESPN isn’t counting out unbeaten Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) in his fight against the 35-year-old Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) in their 11/22 bout at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

While Atlas likes Pacquiao’s skills and his power, he still sees him as having a lot of mileage on him from all the hard fights he’s had during his 19-year pro career. With Pacquiao having fought that long, Atlas sees Algieri as having a real chance of whipping Pacquiao and taking his WBO welterweight title in front of the entire boxing world on HBO pay-per-view.

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Buboy: Pacquiao will be attacking Algieri with a non-stop assault

10/06/201410/06/2014 Rob Smith

Buboy Fernandez, the assistant coach for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), says Pacquiao is training to attack challenger Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) with nonstop punches in their fight on November 22nd at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Pacquiao will be looking to wash over Algieri like a Tsunami next month in their HBO pay-per-view televised fight on Championship Boxing.

Buboy figures that the all-out attacking style of fighting for the 35-year-old Pacquiao could produce a knockout early if the slender Algieri chooses to slug with him. Why Algieri would do that is unknown, because if he watched his last fight against Ruslan Provodnikov, you can see that Algieri was moving constantly and not mixing it up.

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Rubio will give Golovkin problems with his Mexican blood, says Robert Garcia

10/06/201410/06/2014 Bill Phanco

While many boxing fans see WBC interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) as a lamb being led to the slaughter by WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs) on October 18th, Rubio’s trainer Robert Garcia thinks that Rubio, with his Mexican style, will give Golovkin all kinds of problems.

Garcia thinks it comes down to Rubio having real Mexican blood while Golovkin is just someone that is attempting to adopt the Mexican style of fighting. In other words, Rubio is the real thing while Golovkin is just trying to copy what he sees instead of what’s inside of him.

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Kessler: I’m sitting by the phone waiting for Froch to call; I want to fight him in a decider

10/06/2014 Bill Phanco

35-year-old Danish fighter Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 35 KOs) says he’s waiting by the phone to get a call from IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) to be his next opponent on January 31st next year in a fight that would be staged in London. Froch’s promoter Eddie Hearn is saying that he’s looking to match the 37-year-old Froch against either Kessler or James DeGale, Froch’s IBF mandatory challenger.

“I am sitting by the phone, hoping something is going to happen soon – I want a decider with Carl,” Kessler said to Ringside.

The problem with matching Froch against Kessler is that it’s a fight that some boxing fans would see as a rip-off considering that Kessler hasn’t fought since May of 2013 when he was beaten by Froch.

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Hearn interested in matching Burns against Katsidis-Coyle winner

10/06/2014 Bill Phanco

Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is kicking around the idea of pitting his fighter Ricky Burns (37-4-1, 11 KOs) against the winner of the October 25th fight between Michael Katsidis (30-6, 24 KOs) and Tommy Coyle (19-2, 8 KOs). Hearn wants to bring the 31-year-old Burns back to Glasgow, Scotland for his next fight.

Last Saturday night, Burns labored to an 8 round points decision victory over Alexandre Lepelley (17-2-1, 3 KOs) at the First Direct Arena, Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. It was Burns’ first and possibly his last fight at light welterweight. Immediately after the fight, Burns talked about wanting to move back down to lightweight. It’s a move that Burns pretty much has to make because he doesn’t have the frame to be fighting at light welterweight nor the power as well.

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