Roach suspicious about Marquez’s muscle growth

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Freddie Roach is suddenly suspicious about the muscle growth of Juan Manuel Marquez as he heads towards a fourth fight with Manny Pacquiao on December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Roach suspects that Marquez may have built his impressive physique by other than natural means.

Roach told usatoday.comK/u> “If [Marquez’s body] is natural, I will kiss his a**. [Marquez] has gotten bigger and gained weight. It throws up a red flag.”

Roach has nothing to go on with this, and seems to be just reaching out of nowhere on this. Marquez has never failed any tests in the past for performance enhancing drugs, and he’s really not put a whole of muscle. He started at 135, and has merely put on less than 10 pounds in the past year. That’s hardly the sign of a fighter using performance enhancing drugs.

Marquez hired a strength and conditioning coach Angel Hernandez, who has done a good job of helping Marquez build up his physique with resistance exercises. Hernandez is quite good at his job, and he’s worked wonders with Marquez.

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Schaefer looking for an opponent for Malignaggi’s next fight

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

By Bill Phanco: WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi is in need of an opponent after his desired rematch against big British star Ricky Hatton fell through due to Hatton getting blasted out by Vyacheslav Senchenko last Saturday night in the UK. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is now looking at picking out Malignaggi’s next opponent from one of these fighters: Danny Garcia, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, and Adrien Broner, according to RingTV.

Malignaggi, 32, wants a big name for his next title defense and this may be his last chance to get a big name before gets beaten. Malignaggi almost lost his title in his last fight against fringe contender Pablo Cesar Cano, who Malignaggi barely beat by a 12 round decision last October in a 12 round split decision win. That fight showed that Malignaggi is vulnerable even against fringe level opposition, and that puts more pressure on Schaefer to try and get the biggest name he can because Malignaggi is so vulnerable.

Khan: He’s already beaten Malignaggi and Khan has his own problems right now having lost twice in a row.

Berto: This is winnable fight for Malignaggi but not an easy one because of Berto’s superior power. This wouldn’t be big fight for Malignaggi.

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A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez’s plans

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

A Trout win over Cotto could mess up Saul Alvarez's plans By Bill Phanco: WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez will be attending this Saturday’s fight between Miguel Cotto and WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of facing Cotto if he wins the fight. That’s the opponent that Alvarez badly wants, but he may not get him of Trout has something to say about it.

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said this to RingTV about a Trout victory over Cotto: “I think we have to see what fashion in which Trout wins, and then we’ll make an assessment on it, and I will have to talk with Canelo.”

In other words, Alvarez may not fight Trout if he beats Cotto. I suspect that it doesn’t matter how good or bad Trout looks in the fight. If he beats Cotto, I don’t see Golden Boy allowing Alvarez to take the fight with Trout, because he’s all wrong for their young, flat-footed, easy to hit champion Alvarez. If you look at the types of fighters that they’ve been putting in with Alvarez – slow, older, stationary and smaller fighters – it’s clear that Trout is not the ideal opponent. In fact, Trout is the opposite of the types of guys that Golden Boy has fed to Alvarez, which is why I don’t see Trout getting the fight even if he destroys Cotto.

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Trout needs to give Cotto a real pounding to ensure he gets the decision

09/15/201611/28/2012 ESB

By Paul Grunich, photo by Robert Tibuni – WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) may be the champion as he enters his fight this Saturday night against former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s), but Trout is going to be fighting in front of pretty much mostly Cotto’s fans at the Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA.

What this means is that the fans will be cheering every punch that Cotto throws, even the ones where he misses his target. The judges will no doubt be influenced by the pro-Cotto fans, and this could lead to Trout losing a lot of rounds where he appears to win them. This could be big problem for Trout int his fight. He’s also starting off as the much less popular fighter of the two, and that’s a potential problem as well.

Cotto is the recognizable name, the star if you will, whereas Trout is just a young, slick fighter with a ton of athletic skills going for him. Think of Trout as the future of the junior middleweight division, along with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Even if Cotto wins this fight on Saturday, he’s not going to be fighting for too much longer because the competition is catching up to him, and he mainly wants to fight just the big names in the sport.

It’s surprising that he’s taking the Trout fight, because Trout isn’t well know. But the likely reason that Cotto is taking this fight is so that he can try and pick up a title, and then use that title to get a bigger cut of the financial pie in a unification bout against the WBC junior middleweight champion Saul Alvarez in 2013. Cotto may need a title in his possession to get a bigger cut against Alvarez.

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Robert Guerrero: Could “The Ghost” Be “The Great”?

09/15/201611/27/2012 ESB

By Marc Livitz: Some called it a battle while some called it a brawl. Some complained that they don’t like their sweet science so sour, while others hailed this past Saturday’s meeting between Robert Guerrero and Andre Berto as a masterful production within a phone booth.

The bottom line should be all that really counts. Each fighter showed the utmost amount of grit and determination, yet the detractors didn’t wait to start dissecting the bout staged for the interim WBC welterweight title.

Additionally, much scrutiny was thrown in the way of Berto due to the fact that he hadn’t fought in over a year for reasons within and beyond and his control. In contrast, the stories of family, pain and triumph, which Guerrero brought with him to the broadcast, made some forget all about the fact that he had been able to amazingly jump two weight classes after a year plus break from the ring of his own.

They met and they clashed. Win ugly, but get it done.

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IRON JAWS – Pick 10

11/28/201211/27/2012 ESB

By Paul Strauss: It makes sense to hold off on this list until early next year, and then limit it to fighters currently active in 2012, but the hell with that. Live a little and have some fun doing it now. Step up and give us your list of fighters who you believe have the best jaws. Think of it as being boxing’s version of Madden’s Team.

As you’re making picks, think about what makes for an iron jawed hero or better yet the ability to remain conscious when struck? Does it have something to do with the way the jaw looks or is structured? In other words, does the jaw have to be chiseled and strong looking, such as a comic book character? Does it require a thick neck? Are tough guys smarter or less smart? Are their brains wired differently? The answers have always been debatable and somewhat of a mystery, at least for the general public. It’s kind of like trying to figure out why someone gets air sick or suffers from motion sickness when others don’t? Can you explain why a fighter pilot can withstand tremendous amounts of “G Force” when the rest of us pass out? Is it an inner ear problem? Is the ability contained in part of the brain or bone structure? Some unfortunate folks actually suffer from a medical condition called a “rock slide”, which is a type of vertigo problem. Most of us don’t. Why? Can the reverse of problems like that be related to “good chins”?

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Schaefer: Mayweather is interested in Robert Guerrero fight

09/15/201611/27/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer says that WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is interested in facing WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero in 2013. Schaefer said to LA Times writer Lance Pugmire “Interest is there. It’s a process, one that has begun. I have a site and date in mind.”

If Mayweather takes the fight this will finally end Guerrero’s constant calling Mayweather out. He’s been wanting a fight with Mayweather for well over a year, and it’s been a source of comedy to some boxing fans because Guerrero was talking about a Mayweather fight even before he’d fought at welterweight. Now that Guerrero has beaten two of the top welterweights in Selcuk Aydin and Andre Berto no one is laughing anymore. They have to take Guerrero seriously, because he’s winning decisively and looking pretty sharp.

Guerrero gave Berto a real beating last Saturday night in a 12 round decision, swelling both of his eyes in the process. After the fight Guerrero declined an offer from Max Kellerman to fight a rematch against Berto, and instead said he wanted Mayweather next.

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Broner wants Pacquiao fight: Can this bout me made?

09/15/201611/26/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner let HBO analyst Max Kellerman know last Saturday night that the fight that he wants next is against Manny Pacquiao in early 2013, saying “There’s a fight that can happen – me and [Manny] Pacquiao.” The interview took place before the Andre Berto vs. Robert Guerrero fight, which Broner attended in order to see his friend Berto fight.

A fight between Broner and Pacquiao would appear to be one that likely will never get made due to the two fighters not being from the same promotional stable. Normally this probably wouldn’t matter, but in this case it does because Pacquiao fights for Top Rank and Broner for Golden Boy Promotions. But perhaps the biggest reason why a fight between Broner and Pacquiao can’t get made right now is because Pacquiao is a proven pay per view star, whereas Broner has yet to establish himself as a PPV fighter.

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum would be doing Broner and Golden Boy Promotions a huge favor by agreeing to match Pacquiao up with Broner at this early stage of Broner’s career. It would be an interesting fight because of Broner’s resemblance to Floyd Mayweather Jr. when fighting, and the fight would definitely do well in terms of money.

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Guerrero batters Berto to win a brilliant 12 round UD

09/15/201611/25/2012 ESB

By 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

09/15/201611/25/2012 ESB

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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