Miguel Cotto: Puerto Rico’s Shining Star

06/09/201406/08/2014 Paul Jones

By Justin Jones — Manhattan, NY – If there was any doubt surrounding Miguel Cotto’s (39-4, 32 KOs) future hall of fame status, or uncertainty about who his signature victory would be against–as all the greats possess–last night’s stoppage of former middleweight kingpin Sergio Martinez (51-3-2, 28 KOs) was it ladies and gentleman.

Cotto proved to truly be Puerto Rico’s finest as he became the island’s first boxer to ever win a title in four different weight classes. What’s more impressive about the dominating performance is that he achieved the historic feat at Madison Square Garden (MSG), the world’s most famous arena, in front of a packed house of more than 20,000–the majority of them consisting of prideful and supportive fellow Puerto Ricans. Keep in mind he did this against one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world previously, and on the eve of the Puerto Rican Day parade. Most of all and frankly, the fight wasn’t even close.

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Martinez vs Cotto: Keys to Victory, Four to Explore, Official Prediction

06/07/201406/07/2014 Vivek Wallace

Tonight, the collective attention of the fight public will be planted squarely on Puerto Rican warrior Miguel Cotto and his newly-found Argentinean nemesis, Super Middleweight Champion, Sergio Martinez. Although these two men will enter the ring alone when the bell sounds, they’ll both carry two proud nations on their back when they do. While the Argentinean base is thriving on the strength of a solid Matthysse victory months ago and a strong performance from Maidana; the Puerto Rican contingent will do so with a heavy dose of anxiety. The last time Miguel Cotto took center stage at the Madison Square Garden, it was a humbling defeat to Austin Trout. This time around, he has a much more dangerous foe as he attempts to make history in the deep end of the ocean. As we get closer to the first bell, we examine the chances of both men:

SERGIO MARTINEZ (KEYS TO VICTORY)

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Sam Soliman: The Triple A Man

06/06/201406/06/2014 Tony Nobbs

If any current fighter deserved to win a world title it was Sam “King” Soliman. The inspirational Australian won the IBF middleweight championship with a unanimous decision over Felix Sturm in Germany last Saturday night.

While the forty year old Soliman’s performance was convincing it was hardly surprising as the veteran has always been a remarkable Prize Fighter.

Debuting as a professional in April 1997 after going 84-11 as an amateur boxer and grinding out a successful career in the Kick Boxing Arena, Sam has always been a Triple A Man: “Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime”.

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Erik Morales: an appreciation

06/06/2014 James Slater

A report from ESPN Deportes says that Mexican fighting legend and former four-weight champion Erik Morales has decided to call it quits on his fantastic career, dispensing with a planned farewell fight in his homeland. Morales, aged 37, walks away with an incredibly hard-fought 52-9(36) record – and “El Terrible’s” induction into The Hall of Fame is an absolute certainty when the appropriate five years have passed.

Turning pro in his native Tijuana in March of 19993 when he was just 16-years-old, Morales KO’d a guy named Jose Orejel inside a couple of rounds and reportedly spent his meagre payday on chewing gum. It wasn’t long at all before the tall and skinny, long-armed super-bantamweight was fighting for titles; first Hispano and Mexican belts and then NABF and world titles.

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Schaefer’s split affecting Pacquiao, Marquez?

06/06/201406/06/2014 Shrey Chandra

The boxing world is abuzz, and not in any way related to an upcoming fight or even a specific fighter. Richard Schaefer, the man who worked tirelessly to promote Golden Boy Promotions to the powerhouse that it is today, has left the company. Many are confused about what’s happening today, and how Al Haymon’s and Floyd Mayweather’s decisions will affect future business.

But hopefully, it’s not all bad. After all, if things work out properly, then this means that Golden Boy fighters can now take on Top Rank fighters; the kind of thing fans have been yearning for. If we assume that all the fighters we think to be Golden Boy signed are indeed Golden Boy signed (something Schaefer said was not necessarily true) and that they can peacefully agree on a TV network to fight on, where does this leave Top Rank’s two biggest fighters?

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What If A Fight That Never Happened Actually Did Happen? Joe Frazier Vs Ken Norton

06/06/201406/05/2014 Kent Appel

There are some fights that were possible but they never happened. In the case of Joe Frazier verses Ken Norton a little bit of alternative revisionist history is needed to set the stage for the fight to have happened. The following, of course, is fiction and it is my take on how such a fight may have transpired.

It is May 1974 and former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier is in training to fight fellow highly ranked contender Jerry Quarry who had defeated up and coming contenders Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle the previous year. Frazier, who was fresh off a loss to fellow ex champion Muhammad Ali, knew a win over Quarry would solidify another heavyweight title shot against the man who had brutally taken his title from him, George Foreman. But as luck would have it Quarry, who was prone to cuts, was cut while training and the injury was severe enough to sideline him for the next couple of months. Frazier was told by several promoters and by representatives of the major sanctioning bodies that he had to beat a top ranked contender in order to be considered for another title shot. But the problem was that if Quarry, who fit the bill, was not available, and both Lyle and Shavers who had already been beaten by Quarry had slipped in the rankings, who was available for Frazier to fight?

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Ten years ago today: Oscar De La Hoya scrapes past Felix Sturm in Las Vegas

06/05/201406/05/2014 James Slater

A decade ago today, Oscar De La Hoya, the number-one star and Box Office draw of the sport, fought a then largely unknown Felix Sturm in what was “The Golden Boy’s” first fight up at middleweight.

For De La Hoya, the fight, held at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was supposed to be a high-level “warm up” for an assault on world middleweight king Bernard Hopkins’ belts (B-Hop defeated Robert Allen on the same card that June night in 2004), but the fight turned out to be much more than that.

Challenging the 20-0 German for the WBO belt, De La Hoya came in looking overweight and sluggish and he came within a whisker of paying the price and blowing the Hopkins mega-match. Sturm may have been unknown, but he had behind him a superb amateur career and he unveiled his skills against the 36-3 superstar who, at age 31 was six years his senior. Sturm boxed behind his superb left jab, out-punched De La Hoya, marked him up around the eye and generally appeared to boss the fight.

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Press Conference: “Knockout” Reality Show Finals with Floyd Mayweather Sr.

10/09/201406/04/2014 Bill Barner

NUVOtv’s “Knockout” will broadcast from Casino Miami Jai-Alai in Miami, Florida on Saturday June 7, 2014. “Knockout” is a tournament-style reality series wherein young boxers are trained by world-renowned trainers Floyd Mayweather, Sr., Ruben Guerrero and Yoel Judah.

Scheduled televised fights include:

Dennis Douglin (16-3, 10 KOs) vs. Charles Whittaker (40-15-2, 24 KOs) (10 Rounds)
Azea Augustama (16-1, 9 KOs) vs. Cory Cummings (17-5, 13 KOs) (8 Rounds)
Ahmed Elbiali (4-0) vs. Yuwshua Zadok (2-1-1) (4 Rounds)

Douglin, Augustama and Elbiali all made brief statements, as did Floyd Mayweather Sr.

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Kali Meehan Beats Sprott To Win Super 8 Heavyweight Tournament

06/04/201406/04/2014 Tony Nobbs

Quarter Finals:
1/Anthony Nansen (4-2, 1 KO) W 3 (unanimous) Hasim Rahman (50-9-2, 41 KO)
2/Brice Ritani Coe (4-2-1, 3 KO) W 3 (split) Alonzo Butler (30-3-1, 22 KO)
3/Kali Meehan (39-5, 31 KO) W 3 (split) Hunter Sam (10-3-2, 4 KO)
4/Michael Sprott (41-21, 17 KO) W 3 (majority) Martin Rogan (16-6, 8 KO)

Quarter Final summary:

It was sad to see shell of Hasim Rahman sleepwalk through three rounds. Local Anthony Nansen (30-5 as a Kick Boxer) was able to move around and out score the 41 year old former heavyweight champion of the world. Rahman, inactive since a two round knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin for the WBA belt in September 2012, tried and edged the second, but it just wasn’t there, his right hand repeatedly missed the mark or caught gloves as the Kiwi circled away. Eastside’s score: 29-28 Nansen.

In a close bout, Brice Ritani Coe showed the benefits of working in Las Vegas sparring countryman Joseph Parker and other notable big men to take the points over American Alonzo Butler whose work rate and conditioning let him down.

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Froch v Groves II – Postscript

06/02/201406/02/2014 John Wight

Someone once described boxing as show business with blood. Joe Frazier’s take on it was perhaps more to the point. “Boxing is the only sport where you can get your brain shook, your money took, and your name in the undertaker book.”

How to place boxing as a sport in the second decade of the 21st century? Whenever we take a measure of ourselves and society today the word civilized automatically springs to mind – and yet, interrupting this smug belief in our own sophistication, up pops a sport like boxing to remind us of the uncomfortable truth that barbarism still has its place.

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