Khan would give Mayweather problems, says Malignaggi

10/10/201410/09/2014 T.Baker

The more and more former two division world boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr could be in for a really tough time against Amir Khan if he selects him as one of his opponents in 2015. Malignggi says Khan’s hand speed, height, reach and overall fighting style would give Mayweather fits at this point in his career.

Malignaggi feels that Maywether can move around the ring like he used to, and unless he’s able to move a great deal, he’ll struggle against the younger 28-year-old Khan if that fight gets made.

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DeGale faces Periban on 11/22 on Bellew-Cleverly 2 card in Liverpool

10/09/201410/09/2014 Bill Phanco

Boxing fans will be seeing #1 IBF, #4 WBO James DeGale (19-1, 13 KOs) stepping into the ring to fight #11 WBC Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13 KOs) on 11/22 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn made the announcement that DeGale-Periban has been added to the Tony Bellew – Nathan Cleverly 2 card as likely the chief support. Periban is a decent, but hardly great opponent.

It would be a lot more interesting to see DeGale fighting the guys that recently beat Periban in Sakio Bika or J’Leon Love. Hearn obviously doesn’t want to take any chances of DeGale getting beaten by matching him against someone with a decent chance of beating him like Bika and Love.

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Taylor defeats Soliman; Dirrell destroys Brinson

10/09/201410/08/2014 Jeff Sorby

International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight champion Sam Soliman (44-12, 18 KOs) physically fell apart and he looked every bit of his 40 years in losing to 36-year-old Jermain Taylor (44-12, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino, in Biloxi, Mississippi, USA.

Neither fighter looked good at all. Taylor may have won the fight, but he looked poor in comparison to the likes of Gennady Golovkin and Miguel Cotto, two of the best middleweights in the division. Soliman slipped on the wet canvas in the 7th, causing him to injure his left leg while being knocked down.

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Soliman vs. Taylor: Bad intentions in Biloxi

10/08/2014 Chris Carlson

Jermain Taylor returns from a sabbatical of sorts to challenge Sam Soliman for his IBF middleweight belt. The card will be broadcasted live on Espn2 from the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino in Biloxi, Mississippi.

Boxing adviser extraordinaire Al Haymon, known for his mysterious persona, has a way of giving his clients the best possible deal and boxing fans the shaft. His mismatches on Showtime have underlined a subpar 2014, coming off an energized 2013.

When I first heard this fight being announced it wasn’t so much how but why. I’m not one to take money out of the next mans pockets but this fight is more than a shame.

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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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