The Latest Boxing News
We saw that unless Broner moves back down to the lightweight division, he could end up as little more than just a contender in the future. We learned that Broner’s power isn’t as lethal at welterweight compared to when he was fighting at lightweight.
Malignaggi exposed Broner’s flat-footed fighting style and was able to easily outmaneuver him in the ring for much of the fight. It often took Broner too long to get his shots off because he often waited too long before he’d let his hands go.
In what was a shorter than expected main event IBF Title Eliminator from the Minneapolis Convention Center which was broadcasted by Espn2 and Espn Deportes. Rances Barthelemy scored a 2nd round knockout with shots the body that put Fahsai Sakkreerin on the floor for the full 10 count. Fortunately Sakkreerin was able to get up after a being tended to by the ringside doctor.
Rances controlled the 1st round with lead left hooks and counter right uppercuts on the inside. Fahsai landed his left early in the round but Barthelemy’s ability to roll his punches enabled him to land anything clean.
In the second round Barthelemy stuck his long jab in Fahsai’s face than followed it up with solid shots to the body and head. The fighters exchange body shots a few times in a row but it was Rances bigger, more accurate shots that ended the night. The win moves Barthelemy’s record to a perfect 19-0(12Ko) and puts him in prime position in the IBF rankings.
I can’t recall another fight in recent years that had so much 2 way trash talk leading up to the event. If the fight lives up to even 50% of the hype that got very personal at times, we could see both men fighting with some extra emotion in the ring this Saturday from Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center. This fight isn’t a PPV but you would never guess from the buzz that it has created even with Adrien Broner being a huge favorite at the sportsbooks.
Will Paulie be able push Broner the way Ponce De Leon and Fernando Quintero did? Or will the pre fight presser’s be the only thing we remember about this fight that could be downright boring?
Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s) and WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) both successfully weighed in on Friday for their fight on Showtime Boxing at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Broner weighed in at 146.8 lbs, and Malignaggi weighed in at 146.4.
Not much happened in the stare down, as both fighters jawed back and forth with another. Malignaggi wanted Broner to stare him in the eyes because he kept pointing to his eyes to get Broner to continue staring at him after he turned his head.
Broner looked good at the weight, and he claimed afterwards that he didn’t have to drain himself to make the 147 lb. limit. He said he ate as he always does and he still made the weight. Broner is probably being honest about it because when he was fighting at lightweight, he would rehydrate to close to 147 for his fights, so it makes sense that for him to easily make the 147 lb. limit.
WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2, 11 KO’s) got his difficult title defense against Jose Gonzalez out of the way in beating him by a 9th round TKO last May, and now Burns will be making what should be a lot easier title defense against #8 WBO 8 Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) on September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland.
If Burns beats Beltran, he will likely face the winner of the Gavin Rees vs. Anthony Crolla fight next. That’ll give Burns two relatively easy fights back to back before he has to take on someone dangerous like Sergio Thompson, Omar Figueroa or Terrence Crawford. That’s where Burns will really be tested.
Beltran is a good fighter, but he’s already lost at the top rungs of the division recently in defeats against Luis Ramos Jr. and Sharif Bogere. Beltran did defeat Hank Lundy and Ji-Hoon Kim recently, but those guys aren’t in the same class as Burns and it’s not the same thing.
The Cleverly-Kovalev fight will be staged at the Motorpoint Arena, in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.
This will be one of the rare fights for Cleverly where he’s fighting someone that actually is a really good fighter and who has a chance to beat him. You can’t say that about a lot of the guys that Cleverly has been fighting since he picked up the WBO 175 lb. title in 2011. There’s been a lot of weak opposition that Cleverly has been facing and it’s nice to see him fight a live body for a change.
Just over 25-years ago, Iran “The Blade” Barkley, he of the mean streets of The Bronx, met Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns, he of the equally tough neighbourhoods of Detroit – and a sensational middleweight title fight was witnessed.
Hearns, by 1988 already a living legend, has just made history by becoming the first ever four-time “world” champion in boxing (welterweight, light-middle, light-heavy and then middleweight). Barkley, who had been handily out-pointed by the talented Sumbu Kalambay in his only other world title challenge, was a pretty big underdog entering the ring at The Las Vegas Hilton that summer’s evening. Still, sage boxing people knew Barkley was as tough as he was dangerous. To the shock of millions, Barkley showed just how tough and dangerous he was, after taking a most ferocious beating at the hands of the champion.
Weights for the Espn2 Friday Night Fights Card-Minneapolis Convention Center
Rances Barthelemy 129 vs Fahsi Sakkreerin 128 IBF 130 Eliminator
Donovan George 161.8 vs Caleb Truax 162 -10 rounds 162
Jeremy Mclaurin 134.6 vs Tony Lee 134 -8 rounds 135
Gavin Quinn 154 vs Kenneth Glenn 158(over)-4 rounds 154
Charles Meirer 154 vs Tyler Hultin 153.6 -8 rounds 154
Pat Quinn 363 vs Josh Schimon-4 rounds Heavyweight
Lewayne Hardiman(no show) vs Dustan Perton 155.7 – 4 rounds
Adrian Martinez 135.7 vs Leonard Overstreet 139.2 -4 rounds
Tickets to Friday Night Fights at the Convention Center start at $35 and can be purchased through www.sofights.com.bIn addition to the 12-round Barthelemy vs. Sakkreerin main event, seven more fights are scheduled including the 10-round televised middleweight co-main event between local hero “Golden” Caleb Truax (21-1-1, 12 KO) of Osseo, Minnesota, and Chicago’s Don “Da Bomb” George (24-3-2, 21 KO).
By now everyone knows Mikey stopped Juanma, and everyone knows Mikey missed making weight by two pounds. Everyone knows he is undefeated, blah blah blah, but damn if he didn’t demonstrate boxing at its best Saturday night. It was highly entertaining to watch someone who is so good at his job that he makes it look easy. Unfortunately, some fans mistake his level of talent boring, but they fail to understand and appreciate the difficulty involved with making a violent job like his look easy. He transforms a violent sport into one of grace, power and courage. He puts fundamental together in an almost magical way.
What he does resembles the proverbial surgeon. His victories over Solito and Juanma were excellent example of this type of wonderful skill. Generally speaking, surgeons put people back together, but Mikey systematically takes them apart. His kind of skill surpasses that seen in other sports. In several of those sports the beauty and skill manifests itself through such things as a “sweet swing” in tennis, golf or baseball.
The idea of professional boxers fighting in the Olympics has been recently refreshed by Wladimir Klitschko, who has stated on numerous occasions that he is trying to get approved to fight in the next trials and hopefully win a gold medal.
The thought of such an achievement would draw anyone’s attention and the effort to make it a reality, but would it really be fair to the true amateur fighters trying to make a name for themselves by winning a medal and then trying out in the professional ranks?