Bryan Vera: “I want Gennady Golovkin on March 30th after I’m victorious on FNF”

01/28/201301/25/2013 Eddy Pronishev

vera2 By Joseph Herron – After WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin’s methodical and impressive seven round destruction of customary Junior Middleweight contender Gabriel Rosado on January 19th, the Kazakhstani’s promoter, Tom Loeffler and K2, issued a statement announcing that the stone-fisted title holder would follow up his TKO performance on March 30, 2013.

While a challenger for the upcoming event has not yet been determined, perennial Middleweight contender and Texas native Bryan Vera (21-6, 12 KOs) has declared a genuine interest in facing the most avoided fighter in the packed 160 pound weight class.

“That’s the fight we originally wanted,” claims the 31 year old fighter. “We were being considered for the January 19th slot but ultimately didn’t land the fight. Team Golovkin and HBO decided to go with Gabriel Rosado instead. But we’re still hopeful that a championship opportunity against Gennady will happen in the near future. I would really love that fight.”

Mark de Mori: “I wanted to focus on weight training and build my body into a heavyweight wrecking machine.”

01/28/201301/23/2013 Eddy Pronishev

By Dan Emicus

Having previously been an Australian football player, what made you want to switch to boxing?

I really enjoyed Australian rules football and it is the most popular sport by far in Australia, so I was surrounded with it. However, when I first saw some tapes of Muhammed Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard, I became obsessed with boxing. While I was a natural at most sports, boxing was not something that came easily, but I was determined to do it.

It’s been said that you idolised Mike Tyson. Was it the explosive KOs, or did you also come to admire him stylistically?

Montana Boxing Legend Marvin Camel – First Cruiserweight Champion of the World

01/24/201301/23/2013 Eddy Pronishev

By Brian D’Ambrosio – Marvin Camel started off the bout on 3/31/1980 for the WBC Cruiserweight title picking up where he left off in their first encounter – a brutally unfair draw on his opponent’s home territory of Yugoslavia. He flicked out a stiff right jab and scored hard body shots. Mate Parlov retreated and lost the first pair of rounds. After a sluggish, indecisive third round, Parlov stepped up the aggression in the next three, countering effectively.

In the sixth, Parlov cut Camel’s left cheek near the sideburn. Despite the chants and flag-waving of a small contingent of his countrymen, Parlov could not sustain his advantage. After an even seventh, the rest was controlled by Camel except for the fifteenth when an ugly gash below Camel’s eyebrow caused him to lose that round.

Pleasing to the Las Vegas crowd crammed with many of his home state Montana fans, Camel re-established his right jab in the eighth round and dictated the rest of the fight with his most dependable asset. As the fight progressed, Camel discovered that he could deliver this punch to its target from a crouch, and that Parlov could not counter effectively when Camel was in this stance.

Washed up after one punch – the unglamorous decline of Manny Pacquiao

01/22/2013 Eddy Pronishev

pac342 by Anthony Jeffrey – When is a boxer really ‘washed up’? It seems to be a common expression used in the boxing world after a top class fighter takes a beating, most likely for the first time in his career; gets knocked out and isn’t the same afterwards; or just isn’t as good as he was a couple of years earlier.

In late 2008, after crushing Oscar de la Hoya, against the odds, it seemed as if we would never see the day that the invincible Manny Pacquiao be referred to as ‘washed up’. Yet after a being on the receiving end of a dodgy split decision and perfectly placed punch it seems like he has been placed in the same dreaded category as fighters who continue to participate in freak shows of fights because they didn’t manage their finances properly during their prime.

Boxing fans can be the most critical yet fickle and narrow minded amongst sports fans. Fighters, and indeed other boxing fans, are subjected to fierce and often childish criticism all over boxing websites and social media platforms. However, in a sport where some of the contributing factors of a boxer’s worth are nationality, popularity, and pre-fight hype, this is not overly surprising: Miguel Cotto was on top of the world until his loss to Antonio Margarito turned the tables and left him being labelled washed up. Ironically, Shane Mosley was already universally considered washed up before he sent Margarito flying from his perch to the canvas. But even after inheriting the throne, in terms of fight fan hype, Mosley’s renaissance was short lived when a subsequent beating from Floyd Mayweather has now left him eternally washed up.

Mikey Garcia’s broken schnoz – Critics honking about stoppage!

01/21/2013 Eddy Pronishev

By Paul Strauss: Almost before the well-publicized results and televised replay of Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia vs Orlando “Siri” Salido fight were made, the discordant honking sounds of the carping, nitpicking twerps surfaced. It permeates the air with the old nonsensical bull shit about quitting. It’s the old testosterone crapola about “going to war” or “he’ll have to kill me” foolishness. The thoroughly whipped Salido had nothing left but to throw in his, “My nose was broken too, but Mexicans don’t quit.”

Good for you Siri. However, if your nose was broken, it came from a punch. You had no choice but to continue, unless you wanted to be TKO’d. There’s no doubt about what caused Mikey’s rerouted smeller. It was a rapidly moving noggin thruster, thrown from the left hook side. There was no wham, only a crunching sound…….skull on bone and cartilage. Damn right is was an “Ouch”! More importantly, it was a foul; albeit accidental according to the generous Mikey.

Accordingly, why should Mikey fight on just to please the raucous, adrenaline high knuckleheads, who would much rather witness a barroom brawl than a picturesque demonstration of the sweet science?

Mikey Garcia is a joy to watch

01/20/201301/20/2013 Eddy Pronishev

garcia1 by Paul Strauss: Here’s a bucket of money. Now go out and hire a biological engineer and make known your wishes for the creation or design of a great boxer. If necessary, the lab rats will take a little DNA here and a little there, garnering the needed ingredients to come up with the desired result. It will be your job to give a detailed description of what you want. Don’t leave anything out. Make it known you want your boxer (not fighter) to have power in both hands. He must be technically sound, demonstrating the ability to block, slip, parry, duck under and counter each and every shot thrown at him.

Undoubtedly, you will want your fighter to be tough and not to get flustered when defending or attacking. Give your fighter great instincts, so he can read opponents’ tells. Go ahead and let the biologist know your man should not expel energy unnecessarily. He should be graceful and move well, but only at the right time and at the right distance, not wasting any motion or get himself out of position.

Tell the scientists, your boxer must always be on balance, ready to strike at any instant and with power. After supplying these instructions, chances are you will end up with a boxer closely resembling Miguel Angel “Mikey” Garcia.

Mikey Garcia wins WBO Featherweight title

01/20/201301/20/2013 Eddy Pronishev

garcia2 By Joseph Herron – After many months of eagerly anticipating his first world title opportunity, 25 year old Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KOs) captured the WBO Featherweight Championship by defeating the widely recognized number one ranked 126 pound fighter in the world, Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KOs), by way of an eight round unanimous technical decision.

Unfortunately for those in attendance, the judges’ verdict was forced prematurely and the action was ceased after only eight stanzas had materialized because of an accidental headbutt that inadvertently broke the nose of Mikey Garcia.

During the closing seconds of the eighth round, Orlando Salido lunged in while attempting to land an overhand right, which was followed by a forehead shot that bludgeoned the snout of the young title challenger. Although the vicious butt was deemed unintentional, the fight was ultimately stopped after referee Benjee Esteves, Jr. followed the recommendation of the physician at ringside.

Gennady Golovkin dominates Gabriel Rosado to earn TKO in 7

01/20/201301/20/2013 Eddy Pronishev

rosado1 By Joseph Herron – Gennady Golovkin (25-0, 22 KOs) successfully retained his WBA Middleweight Championship with a technical stoppage over a lively but overmatched Gabriel Rosado (21-6, 13 KOs) at the 2:46 mark of round seven.

The decision to stop the contest was made by Rosado’s trainer and friend, Billy Briscoe, when it became abundantly clear that the courageous Philly native’s vision was being impaired by a horrid gash over his left eye. After bleeding profusely for the majority of the seven round contest, the 27 year old fighter stopped being competitive and shifted gears into survival mode throughout the final stanza of the halted bout.

While the stoppage was unanimously supported by those at ringside, it was also collectively understood that Golovkin’s second consecutive HBO appearance was much more competitive than most fight pundits and boxing scribes had anticipated.