Trout defeats Cotto; Jacobs tops Fitzpatrick; Velez destroys Sanchez II

Trout defeats Cotto; Jacobs tops Fitzpatrick; Velez destroys Sanchez IIBy Rob Smith, photo by Tom Casino/Showtime WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) may have ruined Miguel Cotto’s big chance of fighting a huge money mega fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez by beating Cotto by a decisive 12 round unanimous decision tonight at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 117-111, 119-109.

Trout might have lost out on a knockout in the 9th round when he hit Cotto with a perfectly legal body shot that had Cotto turning his backing away as if he was quitting. The referee gave Cotto a HUGE break by ruling it was a low blow when in fact it was right on the belt and perfectly legal. Cotto was clearly hurt by the shot and really should have knocked out.

Cotto couldn’t land his big shots during the fight, as he missed over and over again. It just looked like he was too small for the 5’10” Trout. When Cotto did land a nice shot, the crowd would roar with applause. However, this actually worked against Cotto because Trout would turn up the pressure on Cotto. It was this way the entire fight with Cotto landing a rare shot and then having to take 10 shots in return from Trout. Cotto was getting nailed with a lot of jabs, and he didn’t seem to have any way of getting out of the shots other than move around the ring. That’s what Cotto did in the second half of the fight. He was moving constantly and not fighting with the aggression that a challenger should be fighting with.

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Tyson Fury Wins Wide Decision Over Kevin Johnson In Dull Encounter

Tyson Fury Wins Wide Decision Over Kevin Johnson In Dull EncounterBy James Slater: A penny for the thoughts of David Price!

Tonight in Belfast, Tyson Fury retained his unbeaten record in winning a wide yet dull points win over a safety-minded Kevin Johnson. Winning by scores of 119-110, 119-108, 119-108, 24-year-old Fury advanced to 20-0(14) and also moved a step closer to a shot at the WBC heavyweight crown currently held by Vitali Klitschko.

33-year-old Johnson, who promised so much beforehand but failed miserably in the delivery department, is now 28-3-1(13).

There was little action to speak of and tonight’s fight had no standout round. Fury boxed well at times, remaining focused and refusing to go wild at any point. Occasionally switching to southpaw, Fury jabbed well when he used his best weapon. Johnson, appearing to have no real ambition other than to hear the final bell, did get home with the odd jab of his own, as well as the even less frequent right hand.

Soon growing tired of the lack of action (and to be fair, Fury has never been in a stinker before tonight, and the lack of action has to be put firmly on Johnson’s wide shoulders), the crowd began booing in the middle rounds and by the 8th the boos were deafening.

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Joan Guzman: Fractured in his right hand and left knee

Joan Guzman lost yesterday on November 30th at The BB&T Center his unconquered record against the Russian Khabib Allakhverdiev and fall defeated in the judge’s cards by Technical Decision after 8 rounds. At the moment of the detention of the fight for injuries of the Dominican, the judges had his cards in this way; Michael Pernick 75-76: Nelson Vázquez 76-75: Mark Streisand 75-76.

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Freddie Flintoff Wins – Where Does He Go Next?

Freddie Flintoff Wins - Where Does He Go Next?by Phil Marshall: No doubt where Flintoff the cricketer would be – in the pub for some time. But exactly what he does next will tell us a lot. If it’s the pub he’s in trouble with his boxing. He’s no Ricky Hatton who in his prime could handle binge drinking and boxing.

If instead this is a new Freddie with a different mindset, and everything about his training says it is, let’s just go with him for the ride.

First, let’s get the negatives out of the way. He was like a booth fighter at the fair many years ago. Except he was the punter up from the audience who fancied his chance. Swinging away while the pro let him have a go. The right hand that first impressed McGuigan needs work. Then more work, Roundhouse, sloppy, nowhere near dangerous enough. But he got in a couple of left jabs that raised hopes especially when he followed up with the right.

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Price destroys 45-year-old Skelton in 2nd round TKO

Price destroys 45-year-old Skelton in 2nd round TKOBy Michael Collins: David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) successfully defended his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles tonight with a nice 2nd round TKO victory over Mat Skelton (28-7, 23 KO’s) at the Aintree Equestrian Centre, Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Price took his time with the 45-year-old Skelton, but then turned up the heat on the aging fighter in 2nd round after hitting him with a nice body shot that sent Skelton retreating to the ropes.

Price then unleashed an 8-punch flurry that ended with two solid lefts to the body that put Skelton down on his hands and knees on the canvas. Skelton’s corner threw in the towel before the knockdown but the referee failed to see it.

Skelton landed several decent right hands in the opening round after rushing Price in the opening seconds of the round. However, Skelton didn’t have the power or the handspeed to worry the 6’8″ Price, and by the end of the round Skelton was already starting to look tired.

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Flintoff defeats Dawson, fails to impress

Flintoff defeats Dawson, fails to impressBy Michael Collins: Making his debut tonight was 6’4″ heavyweight prospect Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff (1-0) who defeated American Richard Dawson (2-1, 1 KO’s) by a sloppy 4 round points decision on Friday night at the Manchester Arena, in Manchester, United Kingdom. Referee Richard James Davies scored the fight 39-38 for Flintoff in a close fight. Flintoff, a former English cricketer, didn’t show much in the way of power and he looked awful for the most part. I’m being kind. He looked worse than awful. Flintoff’s form looked wild amateurish to say the least. He also looked a little flabby despite being tall and slender.

In the 2nd round, Flintoff overextended himself after missing a shot and was knocked to the canvas by a straight left hand from Dawson. Instead of looking to finish off Flintoff after he got back to his feet, Dawson failed to throw any punches for the remainder of the round. It was very strange because all Dawson had to do was hit Flintoff one or two more times and he would have been down in out, but he did zero.

In round three and four, a tired Flintoff continued to rush Dawson while throwing wild punches in every direction seemingly without any sense. Many of the shots missed by a mile and Dawson just looked he wanted to survive. He probably could have knocked Flintoff out with one punch if he had the wherewithal to let his hands go, but he mostly just keep stepping back looking to avoid Flintoff’s wild shots.

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Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UD

Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UDBy Joseph Herron – Last night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California, four division World Champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero successfully defended his WBC Welterweight crown by defeating former world titlist Andre Berto by way of twelve round unanimous decision.

All three judges at ringside were identical, scoring the bout 116-110 in favor of the underdog and incumbent champion.

The primary reason why Berto was a 2 to 1 favorite going into last night’s contest was because of Guerrero’s lack of experience against top level opposition. Although “The Ghost” was indeed a four division world champion going into the contest and the reigning title holder, it was largely believed that he would crumble under the pressure and skill-set of a high level fighter in his respective prime.

Guerrero proved to his detractors that he belongs among boxing’s best by negating the speed and power of Andre Berto and imposing his will on the faster and harder puncher last night.

In the outset of the contest, Andre Berto used the questionable tactic of implementing the shoulder roll defensive stance against a very crafty and intelligent fighter like Robert Guerrero. The fighting pride of Gilroy, California took advantage of Berto’s inexperience and feinted with the straight right hand while pounding the leaning challenger with the left hook.

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Senchenko ends Hatton’s comeback; Guerrero defeats Berto; Thurman beats Quintana

Senchenko ends Hatton's comeback; Guerrero defeats Berto; Thurman beats Quintana Great night of boxing for both HBO and Showtime; Minutes away from a great comeback win, Hatton has liver failure

Thurman continues to look impressive in stopping Quintana

Two knockdowns too hard for Berto to overcome – Guerrero gets UD

By Paul Strauss: Don’t worry, Ricky’s condition was temporary. It was due to a beautifully placed body shot that snuck in under “The Hitman’s” outstretched right arm. There isn’t a more debilitating shot in boxing. It doesn’t matter how many sit-ups you’ve done. If the shot lands on target, forget it. A few years back, Ricky landed a similar shot to the liver of Luis Castillo with the same results. You just don’t recovering quickly from one of those, regardless of whether you have a six- pack, eight-pack or full case of abdominal muscles.

Up until that time, Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton was fighting a good fight at the Manchester Arena, Manchester, Lancashire UK on Showtime Boxing.

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Ricky Hatton gets KO’d by Vyacheslav Senchenko in 9

Ricky Hatton gets KO’d by Vyacheslav Senchenko in 9By Joseph Herron: After staging a valiant comeback from over three years of inactivity, Ricky Hatton (45-3, 32 KOs) was knocked out by a lethal shot to the liver via left hook from former WBA Welterweight Champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (33-1, 22 KOs) in the closing seconds of the ninth round in a scheduled ten round contest.

To begin the contest, an exuberant “Hitman” excited the crowd by closing the distance effectively and launching his trademark left hooks to the body and head of the rangy Ukrainian boxer. Although Ricky’s timing and rhythm was not reminiscent of the classic Junior Welterweight Hatton, Manchester’s favorite son was pressing the action successfully and forcing the fight to the larger visiting pugilist in the first half of the bout.

To begin the sixth round, Senchenko began to create distance by using the jab and landing the left hook, straight right hand combination to the body and head of the two division world champion. Despite trudging forward and landing the occasional effective left hand, the 34 year old fight veteran was getting caught cleanly and regularly while marching into the much taller and rangier fighter throughout the last half of the contest.

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Ricky Hatton: Blue Moon on Sunday

Ricky Hatton: Blue Moon on SundayBy Marc Livitz: The Manchester fighter once again had the adulation of his home crowd behind him on Saturday evening and by his own admission, he faced an opponent who was anything but a “ham and egger”.

Vyacheslav Senchenko had the gall to step into the ring while wearing a Manchester United shirt, which made this writer hope for a Hatton knockout even more. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian fighter may already know what will be his first choice of what to take with him into the next life: his left hook to the body. When you absolutely must send your rival to the floor, accept no substitutes.

One’s liver is quite susceptible to blunt force, yet Ricky didn’t appear to get to experience the one to two second delay that separates the shot from the slump. The bet to place in regard to a valid explanation may be the easiest addition to your next parlay. The documentation present in virtually all forms of media confirms that one of the hardest working entities in all of the British Isles has been Hatton’s liver. Do as you will and live as you may, yet the little party rascals to which Ricky has given anything and everything but austerity may have stiffed him on the check more than he would care to believe.

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