Month: January 2013

Bellew to face Chilemba in WBC 175 lb eliminator on March 30th

By Michael Collins: Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) will be trying to put himself in position for a title shot when he faces Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) on March 30th in a WBC light heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. #3 WBC Bellew can’t afford to lose this fight if he wants to get a shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson this year.

Both fights are going to be very tough for the 30-year-old Bellew because these aren’t the typical fodder opponents that he’s been dining on most of his career. Chilemba is one of the best fighters in the division, and might even be good enough to beat WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly, who beat Bellew by a 12 round majority decision in October 2011. Chilemba can really bring and he’s got some good wins on his resume with victories over Maxim Vlasov, Edison Miranda and a nice draw with Thomas Oosthuizen.

Bellew has gotten too used to blowing out weak opposition and it’s going to be interesting to see how he adjusts to someone he can’t take out and who keeps coming forward. Bellew looked mighty stressed out in his recent fight against Miranda last year in September. Bellew won the fight by a 9th round TKO, but he was clearly bothered and worried about Miranda’s big power.

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Guerrero’s manager says Mayweather fight is close

guerrero123By Bill Phanco: Luis De Cubas Jr., the manager for WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero, says that he believes that a fight between Guerrero and WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is close to being done for May 4th.

There’s no real mystery that Mayweather Jr. has been leaning in the direction of the three time world champion Guerrero rather than the still unproven but more popular WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez despite the high amount of interest in that fight by boxing fans.

Mayweather Jr. will likely let that fight build until at least September 14th, and perhaps even later.

De Cubas Jr. said to the record.com.mx “We are in the final process of closing…talks are going well and it seems that everything is on track. In two weeks we’ll have a final decision. We have worked hard to put Robert in the limelight for the Mayweather fight. The difference between Guerrero and Canelo [Saul Alvarez] is that Robert has earned his place.”

Guerrero has really helped himself in this past year by moving up from the lightweight division and beating two solid fighters at this weight in Andre Berto and Selcuk Aydin.

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Chad Dawson leaves trainer Scully; back with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

dawson3By Jeff Sorby: WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) has reportedly left trainer John Scully and is now back with his old trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, according to RingTV. Dawson lost his last fight against Andre Ward last April in a 10th round TKO loss while being trained by Scully, and it’s unclear why Dawson has decided to go back to being trained by Muhammad.

Dawson’s loss to Ward seemed to have been caused by a combination of things, starting with his questionable decision to move down from 175 lbs to fight Ward at 168 lbs without a catchweight. Dawson had problems taking off all the weight and he looked drained against Ward. That still wasn’t the entire reason for the loss, but it couldn’t have helped Dawson.

Ward was simply the faster guy with the better skills. There’s little doubt watching that fight that Ward was just too good for Dawson. Ward would have likely dominated Dawson even if he moved up in weight and fought Dawson at 175. It was a case of Ward having too much talent.

Dawson can go back to Eddie Muhammad but I doubt he’ll be able to help Dawson get past his next opponent Jean Pascal on March 23rd in Montreal. Dawson has problems with speed, and the only way he can beat a fighter like Pascal is jump on him to take him out.

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Froch will find out this week who his next opponent will be

froch3232By Michael Collins: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) will learn this week which guy he’ll be facing next – Mikkel Kessler or Adonis Stevenson. Froch, 36, has made it no secret that he wants the rematch with Kessler next, as he lost to the Dane by a 12 round unanimous decision in April 2010 and he’s been bugged about the loss ever since.

Froch thinks he should have won the fight but boxing fans as a whole disagree and saw Kessler as the rightful winner. The Kessler rematch, if it can be made, will give Froch and Kessler a $2 million payday. That’s good money for super middleweight. It’s obviously not even close to the kind of cash that superstars like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. rake in each time they fight, but then again Kessler and Froch aren’t on the radar screen in terms of worldwide popularity like those two talented fighters.

Froch told the Nottingham Post “We should know something in the next few days. If the Kessler fight is finalized we can apply for an exemption from the IBF. If we have to give up the belt to fight Kessler, so be it.”

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Match-Ups I Want To See Take Place This Year; But Pretty Much Know I Won’t!

floydBy James Slater: For too long in the otherwise great sport of boxing (it could be even greater), we have seen fascinating match-up after fascinating match-up fail to materialise, with one reason or another preventing us from seeing if these great-looking match-ups would have indeed resulted in great ring action (think Lennox Lewis-Riddick Bowe, Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao for two more recent examples – even if Mayweather-Pac-Man could still happen, way too late).

The pessimist in me refuses to accept this frustrating aspect of the sport will ever go away completely, even if the pressure “rival” combat sport MMA has put on boxing, what with the great match-ups being made there, serving to give boxing promoters something of a wakeup call; even forcing them to give the paying fans what they deserve for their money. That said, I now give my own personal wish list of boxing match-ups I want to see come to fruition here in 2013.

Of the dozen or so choices listed below, if even half of them come off it won’t be too bad. Still, is there any real reason ALL of the following fights cannot be made?

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Rosado: I’m going to KO Golovkin in the 9th round

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By Jeff Sorby: Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KO’s) likes to hear that no one is giving him a chance against WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KO’s) on January 19th in Madison Square Garden, in New York. The 26-year-old Rosado draws motivation from boxing fans who think he’ll be knocked out by the hard hitting Golovkin.

Rosado wants to prove them wrong and he things he can stop Golovkin in the 9th round while dominating him the entire fight.

Rosado said to RingTV “No one thinks I can beat Golovkin. I embrace the fact that people talk and don’t think I’m supposed to win. I’m going to knock him out in the 9th round, because I think he underestimates me. I don’t know why, but I think he is going to pay for that. He’s supposed to be the next treat thing.”

Whatever helps Rosado motivate himself for the fight the better it is for him. However, I doubt Golovkin is underestimating him or looking past him. He’s taking the fight seriously as he does all of his fights. He’s not going to slack of just because Rosado has been beaten in the only fight where he stepped up against a decent quality fighter in Alfredo Angulo. Maybe it was just a fluke thing that Angulo knocked Rosado out in the 2nd round in the process of knocking him down three times in the fight.

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Schaefer looking deliver a big fight for Canelo

By Bill Phanco: It seems that Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is cool to the idea of letting WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez fight a unification bout against Austin Trout for May 4th at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Schaefer has someone special in mind and he’s not about to give boxing fans any hints about who that fighter might be other than to rule out Trout as the guy that gets the fight.

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Roach likes Pacquiao vs. Robert Guerrero fight

roach2By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach would like the idea of Manny Pacquiao possibly facing WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero sometime in the future. Obviously, that’s not a fight that can happen in 2013, as Top Rank promoter Bob Arum badly wants to match his struggling star Pacquiao back up with Juan Manuel Marquez in September if Pacquiao can pass the medical exams for the fight. But a fight between Pacquiao and Guerrero would be an interesting one if Guerrero doesn’t get beaten too badly by Floyd Mayweather Jr. in their possible fight on May 4th.

Roach told the boxingchannel.tv “He [Guerrero] did quite well with Manny in sparring, it was quite competitive. If this sparring session was like a fight, it would be a great fight because it was give and take for both guys Would we fight him? We’re not afraid of him [Guerrero] that’s for sure. Guerrero is a great fight.”

Obviously isn’t in great shape right now having been knocked out badly last December by Marquez, and it might not be a good idea to put Pacquiao in with a high volume puncher with a great chin like Guerrero because Pacquiao’s stamina and chin are both questionable at this point.

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Haye: If Vitali retires, I may follow him

By Michael Collins: David Haye wants a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in the worst way imaginable and Haye’s not interested in staying busy while Vitali decides what he wants to do with his boxing career. Haye says might retire if he doesn’t get the Vitali fight. He’s telling everyone that’s willing to listen to speak how badly he wants the Vitali fight. It’s one of those things where he’s totally dialed into this fight and doesn’t want fight anyone else for some peculiar reason.

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