Mikey Garcia – And Another Thing

garcia324By 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.

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Should Professional Boxers Be Allowed To Compete In The Olympics?

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?

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Sergio Martinez mentions Miguel Cotto As a Possible Future Opponent

martinez44While Google Translate didn’t do that great of a job translating a website form Spanish to English for me, the plot of the article was clear with one of the quotes by Sergio Martinez:

“One of the possible future opponents may be the Puerto Rican Miguel Angel Cotto,” Martinez said to diariouno.com.ar. If you are not excited about the possibility of this fight taking place, well you should be. While I see Martinez as more of a technical fighter than Cotto, Miguel is the type of fighter who will not make too many mistakes in a fight.

It has been a while since Martinez impressed his fans in a memorable fight, with a knockout or at least an action packed fight. His fight against Chavez Jr. was a great demonstration of skill, but to this day I believe that Jr. wasn’t ready for that fight, and was a very successfully handpicked opponent.

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Have Gloves Will Provide Excitement! The Ten Best Value-For-Money Fighters Today – And Their Chances Of Going Into The Hall Of Fame

khan222Fight fans these days don’t often get guaranteed excitement/value for money; not even if they pony up some serious dough. Too many times, a hardworking fan has parted with something like £20 in the U.K or $55 in the U.S, only to be left feeling disappointed. Make no mistake, the Pay-Per-View industry has proved to be a serious gamble on many occasions.

But the following fighters – in the opinion of this writer, anyway – ALWAYS give fans value for money and never leave them feeling aggrieved after having paid so as to view.

Want almost certain guaranteed bang for your buck (as the saying goes), or punches for your pound? Then watch these guys fight!

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Why We Don’t Love Floyd Mayweather

003MayweathervictoryIMG_1590Isn’t it obvious? It is to me. It’s at the heart of his verbal bout with Brian Kenny. It boils over during his quarrel with Larry Merchant. Every dollar bill hurled at a camera lens, and every no-apologies, f%*@-you, contrived exhibition of brash bravado is coated in one non-sugar (Ray) harsh truth …

Floyd Mayweather wants your respect. Desperately.

He’s crying out for it. Lashing out. In the ring and out, with sharp jabs or barbed insults. He’s fighting for it.

But he has our respect, you might say. No. Floyd Mayweather is the greatest boxer of our time. That is not said out of respect, but fact. Indisputable. Like his record.

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Left-Hook Lounge: Mikey Garcia, Malignaggi/Broner, & A Look at Puerto Rico’s Struggling Talent

lopez543Cristian G. (Coral Gables, FL): Can you give your thoughts on Mikey Garcia’s performance and discuss whether or not you think it’s time for us to start putting Mikey Garcia in the P4P debate?

Vivek W. (ESB): I think Garcia has consistently given us the same product, time and time again. He’s not fundamental in the sense of the Mayweather’s, Ward’s, etc, of the world; but he has totally given life to the notion that Mexican warriors, under the right tutelage, are far better than the stalk-til-they-can’t-walk variety. He has some of the best shot selection I’ve seen anywhere in the sport. He places his punches properly, and they all come with vicious intentions. I absolutely love what I see, and as a future star of the sport, I love having him on the scene, because you don’t have to guess what you’re gonna get when the bell rings.

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Exclusive Interview: Adonis Stevenson

“If I fight Andre Ward at 168, I can go fight in his home town. Then we can have a rematch at 175 and he can come to my home town to fight. That’s what I’m proposing.”—Adonis Stevenson

Adonis StevensonAdonis “Superman” Stevenson (21-1, 18 KOs) made a huge statement when he scored an explosive first round knockout against “Bad” Chad Dawson (33-3, 17 KOs) to become the new light heavyweight king. This dazzling display of sheer strength and power catapults Stevenson into the spotlight of an already interesting 168-175 pound landscape, which includes Andre Ward, Carl Froch, and living legend Bernard Hopkins to name a few. Stevenson suddenly finds himself in a unique position where a slew of lucrative opportunities are likely to surface. I was recently afforded the opportunity to speak to Stevenson about his championship winning performance, his future in boxing, and his opinions of some of the other big names who reside in and around his weight class. Here is what the new champ had to say.

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello boxing fans. This is Geoff Ciani from East Side Boxing, and I am joined here today by the newly crowned light heavyweight champion of the world, Adonis Stevenson. Adonis, first of all, congratulations on your outstanding victory.

ADONIS STEVENSON: Thank you very much.

Audio:

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Garcia vs. Lopez: Engaging, Explosive, or at the very least Entertaining

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Mikey Garcia made a statement in his last fight when he disarmed tough as nails pressure fighter Orlando Salido from The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City on January 19th. The same Orlando Salido that took Juan Manuel Lopez’s “0” in a battle of Mexico vs. Puerto Rico in 2011 and followed that performance up just short of 11 months later with another TKO victory. Which Juanma will show up to the ring this Saturday for his fight versus unbeaten Mikey Garcia at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas?

Bob Arum had to have a tear in his eye the night of April 16th 2011. One of his prized pupils from Puerto Rico had his boxing heart ripped out of his chest, in what was a nightmare scenario to any Puerto Rican boxing fan, by the hands of a Mexican fighter. Yeah Bob Arum made money that night and the fight set up a rematch that also filled the Top Rank coffers. Fight fans were happy with the war that added to yet another classic installment to the Puerto Rico vs. Mexico rivalry. But deep down inside Arum had to feel the pain Lopez felt in his boxing soul, only it wasn’t his soul but a hole he felt in his deep pockets considering what was at stake that night.

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Boxing’s 10 Most Exciting Fighters Today

pac433More than just a trending revival, thanks to recent exciting fights and big bouts on the horizon, boxing is seemingly back as one of the most watched and profitable sports on earth. Carl Froch vs Mikkel Kessler had the whole of Britain enraptured, while the announcement of Floyd Mayweather fighting Saul Alvarez in September has made every sports fan around sit up and take notice. All over, boxing is far away from the days where many stated it was ‘dying’.

It is probably true that the rise of MMA gave boxing the kick up the backside it needed to ensure the best fights were getting made regularly and made accessible to as many as possible. But there are also powerful new promoters that have helped boxing rise back to prominence, with the likes of Golden Boy Promotions and Matchroom Boxing in particular wrestling control away from the old-school promoters that called all the shots and thus stifled the sport.

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“Twice Bitten,” The Story Of Holyfield-Tyson II A KO Read

holyfield_tyson6442Review by James Slater: New York Post writer George Willis has delivered a fine read regarding the true story regarding one of the blackest days in boxing history. Willis, having done impeccable research, has produced the definitive read on the infamous second meeting between heavyweight legends Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.

Known universally as “The Bite Fight,” the spectacle that unfolded in Las Vegas in June of 1997 shocked everyone; fans, experts and casual viwers alike. Willis, in his addictive book, explains why.

More than just a book to cash in on the shocking behaviour of the then hugely unhinged Tyson, “Twice Bitten” also serves as a comprehensive biography of both heavyweight greats. With good coverage devoted to the formative years of both men, including when Tyson and Holyfield met for the first time, and the time the “obsession” Holyfield had of fighting Tyson first reared its head, Willis gives readers plenty of new information: such as, how a member of Team Tyson took to dying his white shorts black when no black ones were at hand, and what Holyfield trainer Don Turner feels about religion and boxing, and his take on God “picking the other guy to win.”

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