Don’t jump on the Amir Khan band wagon just yet

12/16/2012 ESB

003KhanvictoryIMG_5867 by Paul Strauss, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime: Yes, Khan looked impressive on Showtime against Carlos Molina last night at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. His hand and foot speed were there. But, they’ve always been there. Initially last night, there did seem to be one thing that was different. Khan seemed calmer and less herky-jerky. He walked and shuffled when out of range instead of hopping and running. But, Molina’s smaller stature, short arms and less than knockout power provided the opportunity for Khan to show off a bit.

The fact is Khan is still very hittable. The shorter Molina tagged him plenty of times, but unfortunately for Molina, he just doesn’t have true junior welterweight power. Khan’s people knew that when the match was made. As a result of that power deficiency, Khan was able to take risks, to stay in the pocket more often than he should have, and to show off with shoe-shine like displays without real risk of penalty.

The fact is Khan still drops his hands when attempting to rip off combinations. For example, when throwing his left, whether a jab or hook, his right glove is still too low, which allowed Molina to land several counter left hooks. Khan doesn’t get under the shot either.

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Amir Khan successful in first fight with new trainer Virgil Hunter

09/15/201612/16/2012 Geoffrey Ciani

by Geoffrey Ciani, photos by Tom Casino / Showtime – Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KOs) ended a two fight losing streak when he impressively defeated an overmatched Carlos Molina (17-1-1, 7 KOs) last night in Los Angeles. This marked the first time Khan was paired up with new head trainer Virgil Hunter, who is best known for his long term working relationship with rising pound-for-pound superstar Andre Ward. The new team made a good impression in their first effort together, with Khan in complete control of the action that ultimately came to an end when Molina’s corner stopped the contest after the tenth.

Even though Khan and Hunter have only worked together eight weeks, Hunter already seemed to have a visible impact on Khan’s performance. Amir was very patient in the early going and was measured in his approach, especially when it came to attacking. Everything for Khan started with his jab, and this helped create openings where he could unleash short three and four punch combinations that possessed a nice blend of speed and precision. He would throw a short series of shots, reposition himself, throw another combination, and then calmly take a stroll to establish new perspective, resetting the action where he could resume controlling the range to his liking. As Showtime commentator Paulie Malignaggi noted, “There he goes again, Khan is taking a walk”. Amir was composed.

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Leo Santa Cruz Impresses In Boxing’s Return To Network Television

12/16/2012 ESB

Photos by Tom Casino/SHOWTIME and Esther Lin/SHOWTIME — Professional boxing returned to the CBS Television Network on Saturday afternoon for the first time in 15 years. In SHOWTIME Sports presentation of “SHOWTIME BOXING on CBS,” unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz capped a spectacular year by retaining his International Boxing Federation (IBF) World Bantamweight Championship with an exciting and closely contested 12-round unanimous decision win over previously unbeaten Alberto Guevara, live on CBS from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

Santa Cruz (23-0-1, 13 KO’s), of Los Angeles, won the lone bout on the CBS broadcast, the network’s first since Bernard Hopkins knocked out Glen Johnson on Jan. 20, 1997, by the scores of 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112. Making his initial start in the United States, Guevara (16-1, 6 KO’s) of San Diego, Calif., made it close for six rounds but couldn’t sustain his momentum as Santa Cruz came on strongly to close the show.

Santa Cruz was making the third defense of the IBF 118-pound title he won with a 12-round decision over Vusi Malinga last June 2 on SHOWTIME®. In his two defenses, both also on SHOWTIME, he knocked out Eric Morel and Victor Zaleta in September and November, respectively.

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Donaire destroys Arce in 3rd round TKO!

12/16/201212/16/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco, Photo: Chris Farina – Top Tank — In a dreadful mismatch, WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) totally annihilated a smaller and older Jorge Arce (61-7-2, 46 KO’s) in stopping him in the 3rd round in front of a large crowd at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Arce was down three times in the fight and put out of his misery with a hard left hook in the 3rd round that knocked him out.

Arce, 33, was down once in the 1st round and another two times in the 3rd round.In an interview after the fight. Arce said he was retiring. He made a reported $800,000 for the fight.

The first knockdown occurred in the 1st round when Donaire bumped into Arce, sending him to the canvas. The referee blew the call and scored it as a knockdown. Arce did very little in the round and just looked like he was afraid to get hit.

In the 2nd, Arce came out a lot more aggressive and was immediately dropped by a right hand from Donaire. After the knockdown, Arce was a little more aggressive as the took the fight to Donaire, but the action was still largely controlled by Donaire with his left hook, jabs and occasional rights.

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Groves defeats Johnson in one-sided fight

12/16/201212/16/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Sometimes you have to wonder why fights like this get put together in the first place. Tonight, unbeaten #2 WBO, #4 WBC, #7 WBA, #8 IBF Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (16-0, 12 KO’s) successfully defended his domestic level title against a way his best his prime 43-year-old Glen Johnson (51-18-2, 35 KO’s) in winning a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 120-107, 120-107 and 119-109 at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, in London, United Kingdom.

This fight had mismatch written all over it before the fight was even made, because Johnson had been retired and lost four out of his last five fights coming into the bout. Groves had predicted that he would knock Johnson out, but he never came close to doing that despite trying hard to stop Johnson in every round.

Groves unloaded everything but the kitchen sink on Johnson in rounds 1, 6, 7 and 12, but he didn’t go anywhere. But what Groves did show in going all out was a lack of discipline because he didn’t seem to have a clue that all that he was doing was hitting gloves for the most part, and leaving himself open for huge shots from Johnson. I lost track of all the times that Johnson tagged Groves with shots that would have knocked him cold if Johnson was a little younger.

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Khan beats Molina, calls out Danny Garcia after fight

12/16/201212/16/2012 ESB

By Steve Mabbot,Photos: Tom Casino/SHOWTIME – Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) picked up the WBC Silver light welterweight strap tonight with a nice 10th round stoppage win over Carlos Molina (17-1, 7 KO’s) on Showtime television. After the fight an excited Khan said “I’m ready to fight Danny Garcia anytime, anyplace.”

It was Garcia that knocked Khan out last July in the 4th round. Khan hasn’t enjoyed the sting of the loss, as he said tonight “He [Garcia] got lucky. He caught me with a good shot.”

Khan doesn’t look ready to be fighting Garcia right now, because Molina was able to hit him frequently in the early rounds with left hooks and right hands. If Molina was three inches taller and had the power of Garcia, I have no doubts that Khan would have been knocked out again because Khan was leaving himself open a lot when throwing his flurries.

Khan did box more in the fight, but he was still throwing a lot of flurries in each round that would give someone like Garcia plenty of opportunities to knock him out again if Khan were to fight like that in a rematch with him.

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Arce: I’m going to KO Donaire like the way Marquez did Pacquiao

12/15/201212/14/2012 ESB

By Ed Patrick: Jorge Arce (61-6-2, 46 KO’s) is predicting a knockout win on Saturday night in his fight against WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (30-1, 19 KO’s) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. Arce, 5’4”, is a huge underdog in this fight and few boxing fans believe him capable of beating the faster, stronger, taller and younger Donaire. If Arce is going to win it’s going to be a huge upset because he doesn’t look capable of pulling it off.

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Will Pacquiao be the Next fighter to dump Roach?

12/14/2012 ESB

by Robert Jackson: Manny Pacquiao’s devastating loss to long time rival Juan Manuel Marquez, came as a shock to many the world over. But it wasn’t that he lost, it was how he lost, and that he was put to sleep with one second remaining in the round. Manny could have patiently stalked Marquez at the end of that round then let the round end and re-engage in the next round. Fighters throughout the history of boxing have been very careful during the last seconds of a round to avoid the very same thing that happened to Manny Pacquiao this past Saturday night.

Oscar De La Hoya disengaged during the last seconds of a round to prevent a KO and his opponent from stealing the round. Sugar Ray Leonard during the Marvin Hagler fight used the last 30 seconds of each round to come on strong so he COULD steal rounds from Marvelous Marvin…and it worked.

In both cases these tactics were worked out during training camp and implemented during the fights. Sugar Ray Leonard’s cornermen would shout out “30 seconds”, to prompt Leonard to begin his assault. With this in mind I now return to last Saturday night –round 6, where with seconds remaining in the round, Pacquiao engaged with Marquez who he had backed into a corner, attacking sloppily without having his hands in a defensive position or his chin tucked. Marquez countered the lazy right jab that Pacman threw with a right of his own which Pacquiao walked right in to…and the fat lady was singing.

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Will Floyd Mayweather be better with his father training him?

09/14/201612/13/2012 ESB

floyd2 By Robert Jackson: Taking nothing away from Roger Mayweather former world champion and current trainer for P4P #1 fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr, a change of trainers to his father Floyd ‘Joy’ Mayweather may be a good thing.

Uncle Roger as he’s known in the Team Mayweather camp suffers from ‘sugar’, i.e. diabetes which demands constant attention and lifestyle changes to remediate the harmful effects. Diabetes is a bigger killer than AIDS and Cancer together – worldwide. Roger Mayweather other than being a great trainer is probably the best ‘mitts man’ in the boxing business. But as far as boxing technique, tactics, and know-how, Floyd Jr. knows how to fight and doesn’t need much tutoring during training camp.

Floyd Mayweather Sr., former welterweight contender and trainer of several fighters is a great tactician, technique trainer and has a knack for improving fighters under his tutelage. Case in point, Bad Chad Dawson hasn’t been ‘Bad’ since he parted ways with Mayweather Sr. who saw him to a dominant championship victory over Tomas Adamek. He also oversaw a championship run by Joan Guzman a few years back. Currently Mayweather Sr. is training Andre Dirrell and Philadelphian Mike Jones.

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Transnational Boxing Rankings December Update!

09/15/201612/13/2012 ESB

by Matt McGrain: Another busy month for boxing has seen fewer changes to the Trans Boxing Rankings than November but drama abounded at the top of more than one division, not least lightweight where a new #1 contender was installed. Adrien Broner isn’t to everyone’s taste as a man, but as a fighter he was deemed deserving of the #1 spot after his one-sided domination of former #1 Antonio DeMarco on the 17th of last month.

DeMarco slips to fourth and everyone below him drops a spot with Mercito Gesta’s tenancy of the #10 spot limited to just a month as he makes way for Broner’s sensational entry at #1. With Ricky Burns sticking at #2 the mooted meeting between these two would crown a new Champion at the weight.

Also vacating a #10 spot is Diego Magdaleno at Junior Lightweight, pushed out by a resurgent Yuriorkis Gamboa who is introduced at #7 after his win over Michael Farenas. The other mover below lightweight is Juan Francisco Estrada who debuts at #10 based upon his worthy effort versus Roman Gonzalez.

Above lightweight, the big news was at welterweight and junior –middleweight. At 147lbs. Robert Guerrero overhauls Zaveck, Ortiz and Lopez to gatecrash the top 5 whilst Juan Manuel Marquez batters his way into the #2 spot just as he battered perennial rival Manny Pacquiao to the canvas this past Saturday night. He also replaces Pacquiao as the only fighter that can crown a genuine welterweight Champion in a contest with Floyd Mayweather, although there may be no appetite for that rematch based upon the one-sided drubbing Floyd handed Juan Manuel in their original meeting. Pacquiao drops to #3.

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