Chris Byrd: “I don’t believe Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez will change very much in part four”

09/15/201610/31/2012 ESB

Chris Byrd: “I don’t believe Manny Pacquiao or Juan Manuel Marquez will change very much in part four” By Joseph Herron – With the fourth installment of Pacquiao/Marquez just six weeks away, both men have begun the sparring portion of their preparation for the big December 8th boxing showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

While Pacquiao and Roach have boldly stated through various media sources that a knock-out will be imperative to win for a third time, former IBF Heavyweight Boxing Champion Chris “Rapid Fire” Byrd believes that a KO victory against the Mexican legend will be a task that is much easier said than done.

“Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez will always be a great fight,” insists the lifelong boxing proponent. “This is still maybe the toughest fight out there for Manny Pacquiao other than a match-up with Floyd Mayweather Jr.”

“One of the reasons why a fight with JMM will always be difficult for Manny is that Marquez is so smart, he cuts you in half. He uses his footwork in a way that strategically makes a southpaw reach over his body to try and hit him. This ultimately leaves Manny out of position and open for a Marquez counter.”

“JMM patiently picks his shots because he knows he doesn’t have the edge in hand speed. He sets up his shots extremely well and delivers with precision. Because Manny has more to lose in this fight than Marquez, due to his questionable loss to Bradley and his controversial win against JMM, you might see Manny Pacquiao fight with more of a sense of urgency which could lead to more careless mistakes that a smart fighter like Marquez could exploit.”

“Rapid Fire” makes an excellent observation. Manny Pacquiao indeed has more to lose going into the fourth contest with JMM.

Because of Pacquiao’s inability to put away his last five opponents, and due to the controversial nature of his last two outings, the Filipino boxing icon has seen his pound for pound ranking among many fight fans and boxing scribes slip considerably.

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Cotto vs Trout: Cotto’s lack of size will hurt him against Trout

09/15/201610/31/2012 ESB

By Rob Smith: Boxing star Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) has the experience going for him against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) but that might not be enough for Cotto to get the win when the two of them meet up on December 1st at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Cotto is dealing with youth, speed, size and just pure athleticism against Trout. I mean, let’s face it; Trout is the better athlete and you can see that just from watching one round of action from one of his fights.

Trout is the more skilled fighter and just looks natural. In contrast, Cotto looks like a fighter wearing a bad pair of shoes that are too small for him. It’s pretty painful to watch Cotto move around the ring, because he looks like he’s on a pair of pair of ice skates for the first time and isn’t really sure of his footwork. Trout isn’t someone that Cotto is going to be able to overpower like the guys he’s beaten in the past.

The problem Cotto will have is Trout’s defense and size. He doesn’t get hit a lot because he’s got such long arms and knows how to keep his opposition on the outside. And Cotto isn’t going to win this fight by jabbing Trout. Cotto may have a good jab, but he can’t win this fight with that weapon because Trout has a lot more than that in his arsenal. Cotto is going to be forced to take chances and it’s going to be difficult for him because of how elusive Trout is.

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Broner to go after Ricky Burns after the DeMarco fight

09/15/201610/31/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Adrien Broner (24-0, 20 KO’s) will be targeting WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) after the 23-year-old Broner takes care of business next month against WBC lightweight boxing champion Antonio DeMarco (28-2-1, 21 KO’s) on HBO boxing at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Broner’s trainer Mike Stafford said to Bleacherreport.com “We’ll go to Ricky Burns and get that other title. He’ll [Broner] be too fast, too smart and he’s (Burns) not strong enough, these guys are too slow for Adrien. He’s a special guy, a special guy.”

I agree with Stafford 100 percent. I think Burns would be like Jason Litzau, a fighter that Broner took out in a 1st round TKO last year in June. It would be too easy beating Burns. The only advantage thing that Burns has going for him is his height and his weight, but against Broner the weight would be the same for both fighters, so Burns wouldn’t have his customary size advantage. He’d be taller, to be sure, but the reach and the weight would be the same. The height wouldn’t help at all and Burns would just get knocked out quick by Broner.

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Trainer Ronnie Shields: “Emanuel Steward was unbelievable”

09/15/201610/30/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – On Thursday afternoon, October 27 th , the boxing world learned the tragic news of the untimely passing of boxing legend Emanuel Steward.

While every boxing pundit felt the loss of the all time great fight trainer, maybe none more profoundly than expert trainer Ronnie Shields. The lifelong boxing proponent initially met Emanuel when he was competing as an amateur boxer at age 13.

After their early encounter, the mutual friendship grew over several decades and was based on a genuine fondness and deep rooted respect for each other.

Ronnie shared his personal feelings on the air during Sunday night’s episode of “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap”.

“Thursday was probably one of the worst days I’ve ever experienced in my entire life,” admits expert trainer Ronnie Shields.

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Nonito Donaire vs. Jorge Arce, December 15 th in Houston, Texas

09/15/201610/30/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron– On Tuesday, October 30 th , Top Rank plans to announce their next big event for the remaining 2012 boxing calendar.

At the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, four division world champion and current WBO/Ring Super Bantamweight Champion Nonito Donaire will defend his titles against one of the Lone Star State’s favorite fighters, “El Travieso” Jorge Arce on December 15 th .

Although most fight fans and boxing scribes would prefer to see the Filipino fighter enter the ring pitted against current 122 pound WBA title holder Guillermo Rigondeaux, they should expect to see the two time Olympic Gold Medalist make an appearance on the fight card, if not in the co-main event of the evening.

But why would the boxing world be treated to Arce vs. Donaire before the critically acclaimed unification bout between Nonito and Rigo?

The relentless aggression of “El Travieso” paired with the athletic counter punching style of “The Filipino Flash” will more than likely be a very entertaining style match up and an overall more enticing event to the casual fight fan.

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Exclusive Interview with WBO Middleweight Champion Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin

09/15/201610/30/2012 Geoffrey Ciani

“With Gennady Golovkin I can say he’s a very strong fighter, very determined, but he doesn’t put any fear in my heart at all”—Peter Quillin

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I was recently afforded the opportunity to speak with the new WBO middleweight world champion Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin (28-0, 20 KOs) following his title-winning victory against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-1, 17 KOs) last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Quillin spoke about his performance, talked about his future, and gave his views on the current middleweight landscape and where he would like to go next. Here is a complete transcript from that interview.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello boxing fans. This is Geoff Ciani from East Side Boxing, and I am joined here today by the newly crowned WBO middleweight champion of the world, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin. Pete, how does it feel to win your first world championship?

PETER QUILLIN: It feels great. It feels good to come a long way to have some kind of achievement to what my hard work has given me. But most importantly I got to know that there’s going to be some more fights in the future that’s going to allow me to show what my class is really about.

CIANI: Now Pete, during the fight, it appeared to me during the first three rounds that you had a little trouble with his rhythm and that you weren’t able to time him maybe as well as you would have liked to. Reflecting back, what was going through your mind during those first three rounds?

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Emanuel Steward 1944-2012

09/15/201610/30/2012 ESB

By James Slater: The tributes have been coming in thick and fast ever since the tragic, sad news broke of boxing guru Emanuel Steward’s untimely passing at the premature age of 68. Having so much more to give his sport, with so much further wisdom ready to be shared with his star pupils, Emanuel, we all thought, would be around for years and years to come.

The top scribes of boxing have each composed heartfelt tributes to Emanuel – a man they have all correctly written was a genius who had such an easygoing way about him he was able to make everyone who interacted with him feel like a friend – and what more can be said of the man who lived and breathed boxing?

I was fortunate enough to have been able to speak with the great Emanuel Steward on a couple of occasions, and here are some of the hugely interesting things he was kind enough to share with me: –

Emanuel on the best fighters he ever worked with:

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Rocky Juarez KOs Antonio Escalante in the 8th

09/15/201610/28/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – On Saturday night at the historic Joe & Harry Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, fight veteran Rocky Juarez (29-10-1, 21 KOs) exorcised the boxing demons and proved that he could still compete at the world class level. After losing his last six fights, the eleven year fight veteran dazzled the crowd in attendance by closing the show in style with an eighth round KO against a very strong and hungry Antonio Escalante (27-5, 19 KOs).

Going into the fight, both fighters appeared to be traveling in different directions professionally. While Juarez hadn’t gained a victory since 2008, the fast rising Escalante had knocked out his last four opponents.

The opening round was a surprise to most at ringside, which saw the fearless Rocky Juarez uncharacteristically use lateral movement to set traps for the younger and stronger Escalante.

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Antonio Escalante: Taking the reins

09/15/201610/27/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron, photo by Esteban Stipnieks: After creating a massive buzz throughout the boxing world in 2010, Super Featherweight puncher Antonio Escalante (28-4, 19 KOs) suffered a massive hindrance to his fight career after dropping two consecutive bouts by surprising and head scratching knock-out.

Although the losses set the El Paso, Texas resident back in the pecking order of the ultra competitive Featherweight division, the overall experience has self-admittedly made the 27 year old fighter a much wiser combatant.

“I had been ranked as a number one contender for three years in the WBO without any big opportunities because I was viewed as a high risk/low reward type of fighter in 2010,” insists Tony Escalante. “Right after I knocked Edel Ruiz out in the third round on ESPN’s ‘Friday Night Fights’, I was given the opportunity to fight Daniel Ponce De Leon in a WBO title eliminator bout. The catch was that it was scheduled just three weeks after the fight on ESPN.”

“I really didn’t feel comfortable taking the fight on such short notice against such an experienced fighter, but my handlers advised me to take it because I wasn’t getting very many big fight opportunities. It ended up being one of the worst decisions I ever made.”

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Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez: “My dream is still to become a world champion”

09/15/201610/27/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – Every young fighter dreams of one day becoming a world champion once they lace up the gloves for the first time.

But the commitment, discipline, sacrifice, and pain that every prizefighter is forced to endure is enough to turn even the most ardent of athletes away from the ring. Despite recognizing the various obstacles on the pathway to glory, every fighter indeed has a vision; and until they accomplish their ultimate goal, most of these brave warriors will continue to place themselves in harm’s way for our entertainment.

2000 American Olympic Silver Medalist Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez (28-10-1, 20 KOs) still possesses this dream; and it still burns feverishly within him just as the first day he began boxing.

“My goal in this business has always been to be a world champion. I feel like I’ve been right there on the borderline. I’ve come so close and have been in a lot of great championship type fights. I know I have what it takes to do it. It just hasn’t officially happened for me.”

The Rock has certainly come unnervingly close to grabbing championship hardware throughout his storied fight career.

After beginning his professional career with a perfect 23-0 record, the hard punching Houston, Texas native was in line to face the WBC Featherweight Champion In-Jin Chi of South Korea in August of 2005. In what was billed as a possible “Fight of the Year” candidate, the highly anticipated match-up was slated to air on HBO as the co-main event of the Fernando Vargas/Javier Castillejo spectacle.

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