Mikey Garcia a future opponent for Pacquiao, says Arum

garcia564 (2)While WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) still hasn’t even proven that he’s the best fighter in the 130 lb. division, that’s not keeping his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank planning on matching the skinny Mikey up against his cash cow fighter Manny Pacquiao in the near future. Arum hasn’t given a date for when he wants to match the 26-year-old Mikey with Pacquiao, but don’t be surprised if it happens really soon if Pacquiao decides to leave Top Rank. His contract is up with the company this year, and anything is possible if this is his final year with them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised as he [Mikey Garcia] gets older to move up to 140 and possibly fight Manny Pacquiao,” Arum said.

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Huck vs. Arslan II: Will the judges get it right this time?

huck43On January 25th, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (36-2-1, 25 KO’s) will be facing Firat Arslan (33-6-2, 21 KO’s) in a rematch at the Hanns-Martin Schleyer Halle, in Stuttgart, Germany. Arslan gave Huck a beating less than 2 years ago in losing a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight that most people felt that Arslan had done enough to deserve a victory.

The three judges that scored the fight saw it different, giving Huck the win by the scores of 115-113, 115-113, 117-111. Huck was pummeled the entire fight, and it’s difficult to figure out what the judges saw in him to give him the victory. Huck just looked like a confused and beaten fighter throughout the fight.

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Bradley and Provodnikov still front runners for Pacquiao’s April fight, says Arum

bradley777Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t changed his mind about his desire to have Pacquiao fight either Tim Bradley or Ruslan Provodnikov in his next fight on April 12th. The only change that Arum has made is he’s stopped mentioning 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez as one of three candidates for the fight because of Marquez repeatedly saying that he doesn’t have any interest in ever facing Pacquiao again after having fought him 4 times.

“The two guys that are the front runners are Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov,” Arum said.

Arum’s not concerned about Pacquiao drawing low numbers in facing these guys, because he sees the disappointing numbers from Pacquiao’s last fight against Brandon Rios being because the fight took place in Macao, China and not in the U.S.

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Espn2 Friday Night Fights kicks off the season from Minneapolis at the Target Center

637The season premiere of Espn2’s Friday Night Fights will begin in sub zero degree weather at the Target Center from Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the main event IBF Super Featherweight Champion Argenis Mendez takes on unbeaten challenger Rances Barthalemy and serving as the co-feature is local attraction Caleb Truax squaring off with tough as nails Ossie Duran. The event is promoted by Iron Mike Productions, Seconds Out Promotions, and Warrior Boxing.

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Anthony Mundine faces Carson Jones on January 29th in Australia

mundine1The soon to be 39-year-old Anthony Mundine (45-5, 27 KO’s) will continue his slow climb to a title shot at 154 when he faces welterweight Carson Jones (35-10-3, 25 KO’s) on January 29th in a scheduled 10 round bout at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall, Queensland, Australia. Mundine recently beat 42-year-old Shane Mosley by a 6th round stoppage last November in Australia. Mundine looked huge compared to the smallish Mosley in that fight and it was odd-looking fight.

For fans who don’t remember, Mundine has fought most of his career in the super middleweight division and he previously captured the WBA 168 lb. title and held it on two separate occasions. Mundine has come down in weight in hopes of getting a big fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mundine is currently ranked #4 WBA, #10 WBC in the junior middleweight division, and is striking distance to a title shot against Mayweather, if he doesn’t vacate his belt.

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Mayweather exposes Pacquiao fight rumors as false

floyd990Floyd Mayweather Jr. says that rumors of him supposedly fighting Manny Pacquiao in September or nothing more than a lie. He has no plans in fighting Pacquiao. The rumors have also been dismissed by Pacquiao’s personal adviser Michael Koncz as being false. It would seem that some site jumped the gun and decided to come up with news of the Mayweather-Pacquiao mega fight without fact.

Pacquiao and Mayweather will likely go in different directions career-wise until either Mayweather becomes more open to working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank or until Pacquiao leaves Arum and goes with another promoter. I’m not holding my breath waiting for either of those things to happen. Mayweather doesn’t need to change his mind because he’s making good money fighting all the Golden Boy Promotions fighters, and Pacquiao is making a good living fighting Arum’s Top Rank fighters one after another.

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Bermane Stiverne on mission to become 1st Haitian-born world heavyweight champ

arreola453OTTAWA, Canada (January 2, 2014) – On his mission to become the first Haitian-born heavyweight champion of the world, World Boxing Council (WBC) Silver champion Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne (23-1, 20 KOs) still doesn’t know exactly when and where he will be fighting for the vacant WBC heavyweight world title.

After patiently waiting 2 ½ years as the mandatory challenger, though, the 34-year-old Stiverne understands that he will be in his first world title fight sometime during the first-quarter of 2014 – date, place and network to be determined – in a rematch with Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola (36-3, 31 KOs).

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Adrien Broner expects big paydays in the future

broner6767433While many boxing fans have serious doubts about whether Adrien Broner’s career will ever recover from his loss to Marcos Maidana last December, Broner is still incredibly confident and he sees himself coming back to make $1-10 million+ for his fights in the future. Broner sees himself continuing on the course to become boxing’s next big money fighter after Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao both retire from the game. Broner’s confidence in himself is refreshing, and it would be great for the sport if he an succeed.

In the near future, Broner will need to show that he can beat the top guys at 140-147 if he’s to come back from the Maidana loss and continue in the direction of being boxing’s next cash cow. Broner will need help from Golden Boy Promotions in terms of them matching him against guys that he can beat, and he’s going to need to listen to wise people like Mayweather when it comes to match-making. Mayweather can definitely help Broner by recommending opposition that is better suited towards his style.

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Dereck Chisora battles Andriy Rudenko on February 15th

chisora7445Dereck Chisora says he’ll smash through big-hitting Klitschko clone Andriy Rudenko on Saturday 15th February at London’s Copper Box Arena to keep in line for a potential world title shot this year.

Chisora, 30, has his first fight of the year against the undefeated Ukrainian ace, live and exclusive on BoxNation (Sky Ch. 437/Virgin Ch. 546).

The Finchley puncher, who holds the European title, turned his career around last year and won all four fights by stoppage and aims to continue his KO run into 2014 as he targets a second shot at the world title.

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Hearn sees Crawford fight as toughest of Ricky Burns’ career

burns754Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn is looking at potentially the end of his fighter WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns’s 3-year reign as the World Boxing Organization 135 lb. champion when he steps inside the ring to fight the unbeaten but still largely untested Terence Crawford (22-0, 16 KO’s) on March 1st at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

This is a tougher fight than anything that Burns has faced before, and it’s coming at the wrong time with him after two tough fights against Jose Gonzalez and Raymundo Beltran. Burns had his jaw broken by Beltran last September in receiving a 12 round draw. It’s hard to see that fight and not think that Burns lucked out in getting a draw out of that. At best, Burns looked like he won 1 round of the fight. At worst, he appeared to be shutout completely by Beltran, who looked superior to him in every facet.

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