Month: June 2013

Schaefer wants Maidana to face Broner-Malignaggi winner

maidana66Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is going to be looking to match #2 WBC, Marcos Maidana (34-3, 31 KO’s) up against the winner of the June 22nd fight between WBA welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) and Adrien Broner (26-0, 22 KO’s), according to Dan Rafael of ESPN. Maidana defeated Josesito Lopez by a 6th round TKO last Saturday night in Carson, California, in a tough, tough for Maidana.

That was not an easy win despite the early stoppage. Maidana was hurt in the 4th round by some big body shots from Lopez, and the referee Lou Moret appeared to miss a knockdown of Maidana in that round.

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Let’s Look On The Bright Side… The Cold War Has Its Benefits

By now boxing fans know about the sport’s latest impediment- the war between Golden Boy (with USADA and Showtime apparently in the promotion’s corner) and Top Rank (with VADA and HBO apparently on board). As a result, many fights boxing fans want to see have not come to fruition.

However, let’s look at some matchups that have taken place as a result of “Boxing’s Cold War” and how they have benefitted fight fans. Then moving forward, let’s explore some possibilities of good matches taking place if the status quo remains intact.

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Left-Hook Lounge: Dawson, Lara, & Maidana vs Broner!!!

dawson100Virgil B. (Liberty City, FL): Chad Dawson is a very good fighter, in terms of skills. But he has looked worse in the last few fights and I just don’t get it. Is his heart no longer in the sport? Is there outside distractions? What do you think the reason for this really is?

Vivek W. (ESB): I always like to look at things by measuring the total picture. There are times when it’s best to analyze certain elements exclusively; but when trying to determine probable cause for flaws, on a wide scale, I always like to look at the total picture. When I look at the evolution of Chad Dawson, particularly scanning over my catalog of notes over the years, two things in particular stand out. Back in 2008, I remember watching Dawson take on Glen Johnson. Decent performance, but it left me with a few questions. From that point through 2010, I remember criticizing him for taking part in what I termed the “Senior Tour”, facing aged veteran after aged veteran.

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Kotey Neequaye beats Sanchez to improve to 20-0

Samuel Kotey Neequaye winsGhanaian world championship hopeful, Samuel Kotey Neequaye improved his burgeoning career record to 20 wins in as many fights and an impressive 15 knockouts to boot after adding Guillermo Sanchez to his list of conquests on Friday night.

In perhaps the toughest fight of his career thus far, 29 year old Neequaye edged the strong challenge of Sanchez in their Lightweight clash at Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, New York via a unanimous points’ decision victory.

Refereed by Paul Brown, Judge Tom Schreck scored it 76-75, Don Trella also scored it 76-75 whilst judge number three, Don Ackerman had his scorecard 77-74, all in favour of the hard hitting Samuel Kotey Neequaye despite suffering a knockdown in the second round.

“He stepped on my feet because he is a southpaw and threw a straight right which I thought the ref will not count. But rather I took the count and it made me more aggressive when I woke up. You know it comes with the territory where the strong survives,” Neequaye explained to the Ghana based website www.sportsinghana.com from his US base.

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Ronnie Shields: “Erislandy Lara deserves to fight for the universally recognized Junior Middleweight Championship”

Erislandy Lara winsOn Saturday, June 8th, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, top rated Junior Middleweight Erislandy Lara became the 154 pound interim WBA title holder when he retired the aggressive minded Alfredo “El Perro” Angulo in the tenth stanza of a scheduled twelve round contest.

After getting off of the canvas twice within the bout, the thirty year old southpaw displayed great physical and mental toughness by fighting through adversity and stopping his granite chinned opponent late in the fight.

The Cuban native’s world renowned trainer, Ronnie Shields, believes his fighter proved a great deal during his entertaining scrap against one of the hardest hitters in the talent enriched Light Middleweight division.

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Stevenson destroys Dawson in 1st round TKO: Gamboa and Lemieux victorious

dawson1Adonis Stevenson (21-1, 18 KO’s) snatched the title from WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-3, 17 KO’s) tonight by knocking him out in the 1st round with a vicious left hand to the head in the 1st round at the Bell Centre, in Montreal, Canada.

Although Dawson got back to his feet after the knockdown, there was no way he was going to be able to survive the round. The referee stopped the fight after noticing that Dawson wasn’t all there.

It was a miracle that Dawson got up from the knockdown because he was really tagged by that shot. He was trying to land a punch of his own and he leaned into a big left hand from Stevenson.

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Maidana stops Lopez; Lara defeats Angulo

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Welterweight Marcos Maidana (34-3, 31 KO’s) was simply too strong for Josesito Lopez (30-6, 18 KO’s) tonight in stopping him in the 6th round in a back and forth fight at the Home Depot Center, in Carson, California, USA. Maidana unloaded on a hurt Lopez in the 6th with a blizzard of punches until referee Lou Moret called a halt to the fight at 1:18 of the round.

Maidana was hurt in the 4th round, but came back to knock Lopez down in the 6th round with a scorching right hand to the head. Lopez climbed off the canvas and continued to fight, but he was way too hurt to fend off Maidana’s powerful shots being thrown with both hands. Lopez backed up to the ropes and took some really mean looking shots. At that point the referee stopped the fight because Lopez wasn’t throwing anything back at Maidana.

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DeGale Stays on Course; Galahad Impresses

degale66James DeGale made a successful first defence of his WBC Silver super middleweight title in Kent tonight against Stjepan Bozic. The English super middleweight improves to 16-1.

‘Chunky’ was entering the ring for the third time in only 6 months. The 2008 Olympic Gold medallist claimed the vacant title via a unaminous 12 round decision against the tough Colombian Fulgencio Zuniga back in December.

DeGale was guilty of losing focus that night, allowing his veteran opponent enjoy periods of success as the Englishman loitered unnecessarily on the ropes.

In his most recent outing the London native travelled to Canada where he comprehensively demolished Sebastien Demers in 2 aggressive rounds.

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Huck decisions Afolabi; Woge, Gutknecht, Zeuge Win

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WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (36-2-1, 25 KO’s) held onto his WBO title tonight with a 12 round majority decision win over Ola Afolabi (19-3-4, 9 KO’s) at the Max Schmeling Halle, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin, Germany. If you’ve never seen Huck fight before you might have been alarmed at the rabbit punches and low blows that he threw – and got away with – in this fight, but it was actually a pretty tame performance from him in terms of his fouling.

Huck probably should have lost at least one or two points for the fouling. I saw way too many rabbit punches and low blows from Huck and it was surprising the referee failed to do anything about it.

The final judges’ scores were 114-114, 115-113, 117-111.

Afolabi had Huck hurt in the 10th round from some big, big shots. Huck returned the favor in the 12th after blasting Afolabi with a big right hand.

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Huck battles Afolabi tonight at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany

20130607_162712WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (35-2-1, 25 KO’s) will be facing Ola Afolabi (19-2-4, 9 KO’s) tonight at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin, Germany. This will be third and possibly the final time these two fighters go at unless Afolabi can pull off an upset. He was beaten by Huck in 2009 in losing a 12 round unanimous decision.

In their second fight in 2012, the two fought to a 12 round draw. Afolabi did enough to deserve the decision in the minds of many boxing fans, but he didn’t fight well down the home stretch and that ended up keeping him from getting the victory. Afolabi has been inactive since that fight.

Huck has fought once since then, beating Firat Arslan by a controversial 12 round unanimous decision. Huck didn’t look as strong in that fight as he did against Afolabi and it makes you wonder whether Afolabi took something out of Huck because he wasn’t as strong or as confiderent.

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