Pacquiao-Bradley 2: PPV=Pay for Who?

04/11/201404/10/2014 B.J. Garnett

Top Rank has once again underwhelmed us with a lackluster undercard for the Manny Pacquiao v Tim Bradley PPV event scheduled for Saturday night. On a night when we are watching a rematch of a fight that wasn’t highly entertaining to start with, I really expected Bob Arum to stack the card with A list talent. Instead we are left with a “Friday Night Fights” type of lineup.

This is no slight to ESPN because I have seen some great fights on FNF but that platform is for contenders on the way up or a name fighter trying to re-establish their career. Ray Beltran v Arash Usmanee is a fight I would expect to see opening up for a Boxing After Dark card.

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Will Bradley Lose Even if He Deserves to Win Pacquiao Rematch?

04/11/201404/10/2014 Alexander Caldwell

Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao didn’t exactly put on a spectacular show the first time they fought. It was a pretty boring fight actually, and it followed the same predictably dull pattern round after round for the most part. Bradley would typically out hustle Pacquiao for the first 2 minutes of a round, before Pacquiao finished strongly over the last minute. The Filipino generally landed enough crippling lefts that he was winning the rounds, despite looking unusually lethargic during the early portions of most rounds. Nothing particularly exciting happened at any point during the fight, though.

Even though Pacquiao seemed to do enough to comfortably win, the judges saw differently and awarded it to Bradley. Everyone was amazed by the outcome. Fans were shocked, Pacquiao was perplexed, the commentators were annoyed, Freddie Roach was perturbed, Bob Arum was outraged, and even Bradley himself seemed surprised beyond words, with an expression that more closely resembled that of a big money lottery winner than of one who believed he earned a deserved victory. By most accounts this was viewed as a “robbery”, some going so far to call it one of the worst in history.

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Video: Pacquiao vs. Bradley – Bob Arum livens up Final Press Conference

04/10/2014 BoxingChannel.tv

Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2 will happen this Saturday, April 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the final pres conference for the main event took place today (Wednesday, April 9) the fighters showed calm, respectful and poised. Top Rank’s CEO, Bob Arum, however, was not shy of showing his discomfort (he was rightfully upset) towards the fact that the MGM Grand has posters and advertisement up for a different fight (Mayweather vs. Maidana) all over the hotel.

Bob Arum made his remarks while MGM executive, Richard Sturm, was sitting right next to him, earlier in the presser Arum introduced Sturm as “president of hanging posters for the wrong fight”.

Pacquiao vs. Bradley will be produced and distributed LIVE by HBO Pay-per-View beginning at 9PM EST/6p.m. PST

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Clottey tops Mundine

04/10/201404/09/2014 Eugene Carnachan

In Newcastle, Australia last night Anthony Mundine (46 – 6) fought Ghanaian Joshua Clottey (38- 4) in the classical cross roads fight, the loser destined to fight local derbies as a competitive journeyman.

At stake was the WBA International Middleweight title.

Both fighters were in magnificent condition, Mundine at 38 years of age carried the advantage of being the physically bigger man, however from the outset Clottey the younger man by two years ignored that physical fact and fought as if he was.

Clottey started on the front foot, paying no dues to Mundines power or speed as he continually pressed forward throughout the first round, outpunching and most importantly out landing Mundine.

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Clottey beats Mundine, ends his title aspirations

04/09/201404/09/2014 Adam Santarossa

Joshua Clottey has ended the world title aspirations of Anthony Mundine, knocking the three-time world champion down five times on route to a unanimous decision win.

Clottey proved too strong for Mundine, with the Ghanaian regularly getting through the defence of the Australian.

The Ghanaian found himself on the deck early in the 2nd round, but the referee correctly ruled that is what a result of a rabbit punch, issuing Mundine a warning.

Mundine felt the power of Clottey soon after, hitting the canvas for the first time in the Round 3.

Mundine was caught standing right in front of Clottey and a powerful right hand sent him down. The Australian was able to beat the count, before the bell sounded signalling an end to the round.

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Cunningham vs. Mansour: Will the U.S.S. Cunningham prove to be too hardcore for Amir?

04/04/201404/04/2014 Chris Carlson

There’s a time when even the most protected fighters get the first true test of their careers. There is no comparing Steve Cunningham’s resume, which is deep and full of recognizable names, to Amir Mansour resume. Will Cunningham’s experience and reach advantage be too “hardcore” for Mansour to overcome? We will find out this Friday night from Philly on the NBC Sports Network.

Amir Mansour’s first fight was in 1997, and at age 41 his career is really just getting started after taking over 9 years off from 2001 to 2010. Mansour comes into this matchup sporting an unblemished record of 20 wins with no losses and 15 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

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The Road to Wembley: Froch vs Groves 2, Who wins?

04/01/201404/01/2014 Johnny Richards

Tickets sold out in the space on an hour. It will break the post-war attendance record of 55,000 (Ricky Hatton vs Juan Lazcano, City of Manchester Stadium in 2008. Venue, Wembley with an 80,000 seat capacity, and Michael Buffer , the most famous ring announcer on the planet, will be there to welcome both warriors to the 60,000, and more, jam-packed stadium.

Promoters have a habit of exaggerating the significance of a fight but who can argue with Eddie Hearn’s just yet when he claims this could be the biggest fight in British boxing history ? I can’t! The stats say it all!

The build up to the fight confirms what we expect from both fighters on the night. The tension at the press conference was enough to make anyway in the room feel nervous.

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OPEN MIC: Curtis “Showtime” Stevens Discusses Johnson, Quillin, Kirkland, Mayweather Jr., and More!

04/01/2014 Paul Jones

By Paul “Paparazzi” Jones, Photo © Paul “Paparazzi” Jones

Atlantic City, NJ — This Friday, NBCSN’s Fight Night series travels to the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia (PA) and features a heavyweight clash between Steve “USS” Cunningham (26-6, 12 KOs) and Amir “Hardcore” Mansour (20-0, 15 KOs) for the USBA Heavyweight Championship. However, the co-feature of this Main Events promoted card, pitting Curtis “Showtime” Stevens (26-4, 19 KOs) against undefeated prospect Tureano Johnson (14-0, 10 KOs), has “Fight of the Night” written all over it.

A product of Brownsville, Brooklyn, the 29-year-old Stevens has experienced his share of ups and downs since turning pro in 2004. From his early success as one-half of the “Chin Checkers,” to lackluster performances against Andre Dirrell (21-1, 14 KOs) and Jesse Brinkley (35-7, 22 KOs), Stevens has shown two qualities that often endear a fighter to his or her fan base: (1) resilience and (2) a desire to compete against boxing’s elite.

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Chatman Defeats Brewer

03/31/201403/31/2014 James Stillerman

Photo courtesy of Chris Chatman — Chris Chatman dedicated his middleweight fight against Grady “Bad Boy” Brewer to his grandmother and late manager, Mark Dion, who both died this week and he did them both proud as he beat Brewer in a nonstop action packed bout, as he took over the fight after the fourth round, en route to a eight round unanimous decision victory with three scorecards, 79-73, 80-72 and 79- 73.

“My last fight against Jarrett Hurd was a robbery, so I wanted to come out and dominate this bout, which I did and to make sure that I didn`t have another bad loss, especially in my Classic Entertainment and Sports (CES) debut,” said Chatman. “Brewer is an extremely tricky fighter, so I didn`t press for a knockout, which I wanted, because he has couple of victories with late knockouts.”

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Kovalev Grinds Down Agnew; Warns Light Heavyweight Division to “Stay in Shape!”

03/30/201403/30/2014 Paul Jones

By Justin Jones & Paul “Paparazzi” Jones-, Photo © Paul “Paparazzi” Jones — Atlantic City, NJ — Russian WBO Light Heavyweight Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (24-0-1, 22 KOs) continued his winning ways on Saturday night at the Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City) by punishing previously unbeaten Cedric “L.O.W.” Agnew (26-1, 13 KOs) over seven rounds. A devastating left hook to Agnew’s gut sealed the deal in the seventh round, dropping the challenger to his knees as he winced in pain. Shortly thereafter, the referee stopped the bout when Agnew failed to beat the count.

“I hit him and hurt him with the same shot in the fourth or fifth round, so I knew he felt my punch,” said Kovalev. “I knew once I landed the left hand to the liver (in the seventh round) that he was done.”

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