Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao: “It’s just business”

09/14/201610/10/2012 ESB

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao: “It’s just business” By Joseph Herron: This morning on ESPN’s “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless, HBO’s Larry Merchant chimed in on whether or not a mega fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao would ever take place.

“What’s stood in the way of a big Mayweather/Pacquiao fight taking place up to this point is a financial disincentive for both men,” insists the world renowned boxing commentator. “Both fighters are already making 40 and 50 million dollars a year fighting lower risk opposition. There’s no financial urgency to make this fight happen. This is a business as well as a sport.”

While many fight fans and boxing scribes have called for a PPV boycott of both fighters’ events to force the hand of the promoters and athletes involved, Mr. Merchant feels the prospect of that actually happening is highly unlikely.

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Adonis “Superman” Stevenson vs. Don “Da Bomb” George: “Someone’s getting knocked-out”

09/14/201610/10/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron: On Friday, October 12th, a super fight will break out in the Super Middleweight division at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Slated to be televised this week on Wealth TV, at 9PM EST, two of the biggest punchers in the very competitive 168 pound division will square off in an impactful IBF title eliminator. Popular hometown KO artist Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (18-1, 15 KOs) will take on the always dangerous Don “Da Bomb” George (23-2-1, 20 KOs) in yet another intriguing match-up within the entertaining Super Middleweight division.

While most fight scribes and boxing pundits are viewing this fight with eager anticipation, lifelong boxing coach Ronnie Shields is observing this match up with a very meticulous eye.

The elite level trainer’s Super Middleweight standout, Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (22-0, 15 KOs), could easily find himself in the ring with the eventual winner sometime in 2013.

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Arturo “Thunder” Gatti: Hall Of Fame-Worthy Or Not!?

09/14/201610/10/2012 ESB

By James Slater: Sadly, as we all know, Arturo “Thunder” Gatti passed away in July of 2009 (with still no definitive answer as to what happened that tragic day in Brazil), but had he lived, Gatti would soon be very interested in seeing whether or not the boxing writers of the day deem him worthy of being enshrined in The Hall of Fame in Canastota.

Gatti, who retired with a 40-9(31) ledger, is on the 2013 inductions ballot; leaving it to today’s influential and highly respected experts to either vote him in or decline to do so. One such expert, ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael, has said it will be a tough call indeed. For while Gatti lost nine times, being stopped on 5 occasions, “The Human Highlight Real” lit up the sport like few other pugilists (the nickname really says it all). Some argue how Gatti is THE most exciting warrior of modern times, if not in all of boxing!

Sure, that’s some praise, but maybe Gatti is deserving of it. Maybe Gatti is also deserving of being voted into IBHOF hands down. And it sure will be tough for anyone who ever saw Gatti thrill to forget the thrills this amazing warrior with a ton of heart and limitless bite-down courage and guts provided his sport with.

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Hatton to likely fight Malignaggi for WBA 147 lb title if he can get past Senchenko on November 24th

09/14/201610/08/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: 33-year-old Ricky Hatton’s comeback course is predictable at this point. Hatton has a fight against former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) next month on November 24th in Manchester, England. If Hatton wins that fight then he’ll likely be fighting WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KO’s) for his title in early 2013. This is the belief a lot of boxing fans, and Hatton hasn’t said anything recently to give the impression that he’ll do anything else.

Hatton already easily beat Malignaggi four years ago by an 11th round TKO in an easy fight for Hatton. It’s no wonder that Hatton wants to fight this guy again given how badly he dominated him in 2008.

Before Hatton can get the Malignaggi rematch, Malignaggi, 31, has to win his next fight against 22-year-old Pablo Cesar Cano this month on October 20th at the Barclays Center, in Brooklyn, New York. Malignaggi should be able to win this, because his promoters at Golden Boy has been good enough to select Cano from the light welterweight division to face Malignaggi instead of choosing a welterweight for him to fight.

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Adrien Broner – The Making of a Star

09/14/201610/08/2012 ESB

By Paul Strauss: Adrien “Problem” Broner is a star in the making. You doubt that? If so, it’s obvious you haven’t done your homework. Look around, read a little and listen to boxing people in the know. You will soon realize the media want this guy to be boxing’s next star. One prime example is Ring magazine’s current edition. It devotes considerable ink to the undefeated youngster from Cincinnati, Ohio.

However, when preferential treatment is allotted, it begs certain questions. For example, “Is all of this attention justified? Does “Problem” deserve all the attention”? The media is in the star making business. Star making “sells newspapers” as the old saying goes. That’s obvious, so don’t necessarily look to them for answers. The media will too often shrug and say what they do is acceptable behavior in modern society. Many in the entertainment business from Mae West to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. have understood that fact and exploited it to the hilt.

The truth is there’s always been a kind of unholy union between a star in the making and the media, kind of a wink wink thing. It’s not a new phenomenon, and in fact unholy unions even exist on a much more serious level with governments.

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Reggie Johnson Interview

09/14/201610/08/2012 ESB

By Michael R. Cumberbatch — Welcome to the inaugural edition of “Catching up With” — a feature series focusing on former champions. In this edition, I had the privilege to talk to Reggie Johnson, a former three time champion who fought at the middleweight and light-heavy weight divisions. I found Reggie to be quite engaging, extremely intelligent, and passionate about boxing and life.

MRC: Reggie, earlier this year you talked about fighting again. At age 46 is that still a possibility?

RJ: First Michael, let me thank you for this interview and platform to be heard. My return to the ring is in progress and in early 2013 I will announce when, where, and who I will be fighting.

MRC: You’ve also talked about the Boxing Hall of Fame. If you were given the opportunity to state your case for becoming a member, what would you say?

RJ: I was blessed to visit the IBHOF in 2005, 2006, and this year, 2012. If any man is not inspired by that experience as a fighter, trainer, manager, promoter, etc… to take their chosen profession higher, they are working in the wrong field. I read a blog years ago that featured me …… titled “Reggie Johnson wants to be in the Hall of Fame.”

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Jorge Linares decisions Velazquez, and Yoshihiro Kamegai draws with Silva

09/14/201610/07/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – On Saturday night, October 6th, at the classic Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, Don Chargin Productions & Paco Presents Boxing staged a memorable eight bout fight card, which was headlined by the return of two division world champion Jorge Linares (32-3, 20 KOs) and the Japanese KO artist, Welterweight Yoshihiro Kamegai (21-0-1, 18 KOs).

In the co-main event of the evening and the first bout on the Fox Sports televised portion of the fight card, Jorge Linares was tested by rugged Lightweight gatekeeper Hector Velazquez (52-18-3, 35 KOs) for ten action filled rounds.

The featured bout marked Linares’ first contest since being stopped on cuts in the 2nd round by hard punching Sergio Thompson of Cancun, Mexico on March 31st of this year.

Although the hard-nosed Velazquez pressed the talented young fighter from start to finish, “El Nino de Oro” showed flashes of brilliance throughout the entire contest.

Despite getting cut over his left eye in the fourth round and being hammered occasionally by the Velazquez right hand, the gifted Venezuelan sharpshooter scored often with clean, effective punching and crisp, precise counters to the body and head of the 37 year old Mexican fight veteran.

After the ten rounds of competition concluded, the judges at ringside scored the bout 100-89, 99-91, and 97-91, all in favor of the winner by unanimous decision, Jorge Linares.

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Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns: “Floyd Mayweather Jr. would have a lot of problems with a prime Hitman”

09/14/201610/06/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron: Whenever anyone strikes up a passionate mythical debate between fighters facing off from different eras, one match-up always enters the conversation: “How would Floyd Mayweather Jr. at Welterweight fair against the 147 pound version of the six division world champion, Thomas “The Hitman” Hearns, circa 1981?”

Earlier this week on “The Pugilist KOrner” radio show, the Hall of Fame fighter shared his thoughts on the hypothetical prime for prime pairing.

“You know how I fought. And if a man couldn’t deal with that, then I would just have to say goodnight to him,” professed the legendary “Hitman” Tommy Hearns. “That was my thing; to put everybody to sleep. It didn’t matter who I faced, it was almost a guarantee that I would put them to sleep.”

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Hatton can’t decide who he’d do better against – Khan or Kell Brook

09/14/201610/06/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton returns to the ring next month against former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko on November 24th in Manchester, England. If Hatton looks really good in blowing out Senchenko, he could find the pressure mounting for him to fight Amir Khan or Kell Brook in fights that would be positively huge in the UK. Hatton, 33, still wants to prove himself worthy of facing both of those guys by getting past Senchenko in style and perhaps some other fighters.

In an interview by Kugan Cassius of IFilm London, Hatton said “It’s really hard to say [who Hatton would do better against]. I’d have to sit on the fence and go right down the middle. If Amir Khan gets drawn into a fight, it goes to the blue corner. But if Amir sticks to his boxing ability and moves and uses his hand speed, then obviously you’d have to side with Amir by a slight edge. I really can’t split between the two of them.”

Hatton goes onto say that he has to prove himself against Senchenko before he’s mentioned with Khan and Brook. However, I just wonder how much Hatton will have proven even if he does blow out Senchenko.

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Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout: Will Junito be in trouble on Dec 1st?

09/14/201610/06/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – With less than two months until the highly anticipated face-off between three division world champion Miguel Angel Cotto (37-3, 30 KOs) and Austin “No Doubt” Trout (25-0, 14 KOs), many fight scribes and boxing fans are concerned that the Caguas warrior picked on the wrong Junior Middleweight title holder.

The current WBA Junior Middleweight Champ is quite certain the future Hall of Famer made a miscalculated decision in selecting him as an “opponent”.

“First of all, Miguel Cotto is a warrior who has never backed away from any challenge, and I’ve always had the utmost respect for him as one of the best representatives of the sport,” admits Austin Trout. “I am very grateful for the opportunity to fight him on December 1st at Madison Square Garden. But with that said…he messed up.”

“He shouldn’t have done it, because I’m going to win this fight. I honestly don’t see how I can lose against Miguel Cotto.”

Although the Las Cruces, New Mexico resident is always confident before a big fight, Austin seems eerily self-assured that he will indeed be successful on December 1st.

“Without taking anything away from Miguel Cotto, I just feel that I will be the faster, stronger, taller, and better technical fighter on fight night. I believe that I have better attributes on many different levels. I know he is a very good puncher and a smart fighter with a lot of experience in the ring, but he’s also 5’7” with a short reach.”

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