Kell Brook Dazzles!

10/21/201210/21/2012 ESB

By John Wight – Sheffield’s Kell Brook returned to action on Saturday with a devastating performance against Argentina’s Hector Saldivia, which ended in a third round stoppage to earn the fighter known as ‘The Special One’ a crack at the IBF world title against the newly installed incumbent Devon Alexander, who defeated Randall Bailey on the same night in New York.

In front of a full house at Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena, Brook was under added pressure to put in a convincing performance after his previous run out against Carson Jones back in July, which ended in a hard fought and unconvincing decision on points. Brook had boxed well against his American opponent for the first half of the fight, but Jones kept coming and forced Brook to dig deep as he began to run out of gas in the second half of the fight

In the aftermath, criticisms of Brook’s preparations and attitude were voiced by his promoter Eddie Hearn, and there was even talk of replacing Brendan Ingle and his son Dominic as Brook’s trainers with Rob McCracken.

However, after this latest performance, these rumours will have been dispelled, as the Kell Brook who stormed to victory with a display of power punching that will have the Alexander camp concerned was a revelation.

Devon Alexander wins IBF Welterweight title in 12 round UD

09/14/201610/21/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – In one of the most disappointing title changing efforts of recent memory, Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KOs) lifted the IBF Welterweight strap from 38 year old Randall Bailey (43-8, 37 KOs) of Miami, Florida, to open Showtime’s quadruple header on Saturday night at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

The former Junior Welterweight title holder easily controlled the action with lateral movement and a quick irregular jab. In what seemed like a fight with more clinches than punches thrown, both men threw and connected at an abysmal rate.

Alexander landed only 120 of 534 total punches thrown, and Bailey set a Compu-Box record for an all time low 45 of 198 total punches thrown.

Paulie Malignaggi wins split decision over Pablo Cesar Cano

09/14/201610/21/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – In what was supposed to be his first title defense at the newly erected Barclays Center in front of his hometown fans of Brooklyn, New York, current WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KOs) was forced to settle for a twelve round grudge match due to his opponent’s failure to meet the 147 pound weight requirement.

Former Lightweight pugilist Pablo Cesar Cano (25-2-1, 19 KOs) of Mexico weighed in at 147.75 at the official weigh in on Friday afternoon and lost his opportunity to challenge for the WBA title.

Despite missing out on the chance to become a Welterweight champion, the young 23 year old fighter made a very solid showing for himself against the much more experienced two division world champion.

Although Cano eventually lost a uniquely scored split decision to the Brooklyn born fighter, the tough Mexican body puncher gave Paulie everything he could handle, flooring the WBA Champ with a sharp right hand in the eleventh round of action.

But to begin the contest, the fight was all Malignaggi.

Peter Quillin wins WBO Middleweight title in front of hometown faithful

09/14/201610/21/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – Undefeated Middleweight Peter Quillin (28-0, 20 KOs) captured a piece of the 160 pound puzzle by besting the previously unbeaten incumbent WBO title holder, Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-1, 17 KOs), to earn a unanimous twelve round decision, flooring the defending champ six times in the process.

To begin the most action filled bout of the highly publicized Golden Boy quadruple header, the French based fighter used shifting lateral movement to keep the title challenger off balance and seemed to frustrate Quillin with quick shots from the outside.

N’Dam ostensibly won two of the first three rounds of action based on ring generalship and clean, effective punching from mid to long range. Despite having difficulty cutting off the ring effectively, “Kid Chocolate” showed his poise and maturity by shifting gears to plan B and forcing the reigning champ to assume a more aggressive role.

Rather than fighting N’Dam’s fight, the 29 year old Brooklynite baited the fleet footed visiting fighter into letting his hands go while moving in and countered Hassan with a picture perfect left hook that floored the WBO title holder for the first time in his professional career within the first minute of round number four.

Danny Garcia destroys Erik Morales in 4!

09/14/201610/21/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron — On Saturday night at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, universally recognized Junior Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia proved to the boxing world that his initial victory over future Hall of Famer Erik “El Terrible” Morales on March 24th was no fluke.

By using superior speed and strength, the 24 year old fighter from Philly overwhelmed the Mexican legend and more than likely put a dagger in the once brilliant career of the four division world champion with a massive left hand bomb at the 1:45 mark of round number four.

The courageous “El Terrible” immediately flew back into the ropes upon impact and spun onto the ring canvas. Before the third man in charge, Benjy Esteves Jr, could begin to count, a Morales cornerman jumped into the ring and Esteves instantaneously called a halt to the bout at the 1:43 mark of the fourth and final round.

Most ringside observers could see the difference in athleticism and power at the opening bell.

To begin the contest, the two men fought a very tentative round that could be described as a feeling out stanza for the customarily action oriented warriors. Aside from a few good shots landed by both fighters, the action didn’t begin to heat up until the subsequent 3 minutes.

Brook stops Saldivia in 3rd round

10/21/201210/21/2012 ESB

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) did a demolition job on an outclassed Hector Saldivia (41-3, 32 KO’s), stopping him in the 3rd round in this IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Saldivia was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and a final time in the 3rd. In the 3rd, Brook hit Saldivia with a hard jab that knocked him down. Saldivia got back to his feet but referee Howard Foster rightfully stopped the fight at :28 of the round.

Brook had Saldivia down in the 1st from a right hand. The remainder of that round saw Saldivia running and just trying to keep fro getting knocked out. The second round was mostly Brook landing jabs, uppercuts, right hands and left hooks while Saldivia took them clean in the face like a good sparring partner. In the tail end of the round, Saldivia came alive, landing a handful of shots that had Brook in distress. However, the round ended before Saldivia could do anything more.

There really wasn’t much to the fight. Saldivia threw next to no punches and was put down in the 1st round from a right hand. What jumped out at you in watching this fight was how did Saldivia get ranked #3 by the IBF? He looked worse than any of the top 15 contenders for any of the sanctioning bodies, and just made the fight look like a joke from start to finish. It was clear from watching the first 10 seconds of the fight that Saldivia didn’t belong out there, and the IBF didn’t do him or their own company any service by ranking Saldivia so highly when he didn’t have the skills to be fighting at this level.

Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia: Paulie Malignaggi’s big fight preview

10/20/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron: On September 25th, reigning WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi visited “The Pugilist KOrner” radio show and offered his analysis of the big rematch between Mexican legend Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) and current WBC/WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs).

The highly anticipated title fight is slated to headline the big Golden Boy fight card on Showtime premium cable network tonight at 8PM EST/PST.

While many boxing pundits have questioned the second pairing between the two fighters, “The Magic Man” feels it has the potential to be a very entertaining scrap.

Randall Bailey: The ultimate neutralizer

10/20/2012 ESB

By Joseph Herron – When 18 year fight veteran Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KOs) of Miami, Florida was slated to face undefeated 147 pound contender Mike Jones on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley PPV event on June 9th, 2011, for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship, most fight fans and boxing scribes didn’t give the 38 year old fighter much of a chance to win the coveted title.

But when the “Knock-Out King” shocked the boxing world by landing a perfect right uppercut to the chin of the unbeaten prospect in the eleventh round of their championship bout, it left little to the imagination as to why Bailey uses his moniker during the pre-fight announcements.

After dropping nine of the previously contested ten rounds of “action” to Mike Jones, most ringside observers viewed the pairing as a colossal mismatch and a dismal one-sided affair. Ringside commentator for HBO and Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward summed up the title fight perfectly.

“The Mike Jones/Randall Bailey fight went from being one of the worst fights in the history of HBO PPV, to being one of the most sensational knock-outs in the history of HBO PPV.”

With one solid right hand, the old man of the Welterweight division won his second world title in two divisions and became a legitimate player in the talent enriched weight class.

Tonight from the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Randall Bailey will make his first title defense against former WBC/IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KOs) as part two of a scheduled quadruple header, slated to be televised on Showtime premium cable network at 8:00 PM EST/PST.

Erik “El Terrible” Morales vs. Danny “Swift” Garcia: To be or not to be…that is the question

09/14/201610/20/2012 ESB

(Photo credit: Adrian Hernandez) By Joseph Herron – On March 24 th of this year, the boxing world thought they had seen the last of Erik “El Terrible” Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) in the ring…again.

After losing his WBC Junior Welterweight title to the scales, the four division world champion took a beating at the hands of undefeated Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs), en route to losing a unanimous twelve round decision.

During the post fight press conference, the defeated Mexican legend stated that he was unmotivated for the fight and questioned whether or not he had the hunger to continue fighting any longer.

But after the unlikely WBC Champion shocked the world by knocking out Amir Khan in the third round of their unification contest on July 14 th , the 36 year old warrior began to view his previous performance from a different perspective.

Was Erik’s twelve round loss to Garcia merely the result of taking a relatively unknown fighter from Philadelphia a little too lightly?

Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce Set To Rumble: Mexico City, Dec. 15th – This One Could Be Special!

09/14/201610/20/2012 ESB

By James Slater – For a while now, Nonito Donaire, one of the finest fighters operating today, and Jorge Arce, one of the toughest fighters operating today, have been looking at squaring off (even though the seen-it-all-done-it-all warrior that is Arce recently said he “is not impressed” by Donaire yet disappointingly opted to face a 36-12-1 Mauricio Martinez in his next bout).

Well, the intriguing clash, one that just might result in something special (depending on how much the somewhat grizzled 33-year-old five-weight ruler has left in the tank after his quite amazing 70-bout pro career) is set to go down in Mexico City on a Bob Arum promotion on Dec. 15th. This is the exclusive word according to Philboxing.com, who report that the fight will be made official this coming Monday.

Sure to be a big deal in Mexico, where millions of real, honest to goodness fight fans live, Donaire-Arce is a meeting of two totally different fighters and men. Donaire, both slick and deadly, can seemingly do it all in the ring yet he is both polite and respectful outside of the squared circle. Arce, meanwhile is a true throwback in the tough sense of the word, “Travieso” is also a proven trash-talker, totally unlike “The Filipino Flash” in terms of personality. The clash of styles and personalities will hopefully make for a memorable battle.