Month: April 2014

Lukas Konecny interview; flying to USA for Quillin fight

Lukas Konecny interview; flying to USA for Quillin fight

Wearing a brand new glasses and with a big smile on his face – that’s how the Czech Republic’s most successful professional boxer Lukas Konecny (50-4-0, 23 KOs) approaches his American adventure (as well as his ultimate fight) against the local middleweight champion Peter Quillin (30-0-0, 22 KOs).

“Quillin’s still the big favorite, but I won’t give him anything for free. We’ve done some things in the camp, working on a specific strategy, so let’s see how it all pans out in the actual fight,” said the 35-year old fighter from Usti as he was waiting on the Prague Vaclav Havel Airport for his noon departure for Frankfurt. Once there, he’ll join his trainer Dirk Dzemski, and the two will then head straight for Washington D.C.

continue

Andre Ward’s situation – a personal plight or a symptom of the current state of boxing

Andre Ward's situation – a personal plight or a symptom of the current state of boxing

It has been a while since super-middleweight P4P star Andre Ward has performed and true boxing fans should be missing him. His inactivity is of legal nature, he is involved in some litigation that apparently has stalled his career. He may not be the most charismatic persona but he is a gem of a boxer, an all around pugilist in search of recognition. He is a sportsman who is currently “held hostage” by legal obstacles while he is in his prime. He has no control over his career right now and it’s a pity that natural ability and talent should be subject to a legal dispute.

continue

Sometimes a boxer’s toughest test is keeping all his money

Sometimes a boxer’s toughest test is keeping all his money

Punching for pay is one very hard and dangerous way to earn a living, with pro fighters sweating, bleeding and risking their very lives once they step bravely into the squared circle. It is all too sadly ironic, then, that far too many great fighters have a tough, tough time keeping hold of all the cash they fought so bravely for.

The story of a great fighter going broke is not a new one: going back to the days of legends such as Joe Louis and Henry Armstrong, both immortals passing away whilst virtually penniless, and the trend doesn’t ever look like going away – not for some unlucky pugilists, anyway. Fans may have read about the sad situation Felix Trinidad currently finds himself in. According to reports, “Tito,” whose ring earnings were around $85 million, is now almost broke, having trusted a top aide with his finances (with the aide investing over $60 million in a very bad way).

continue

Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2: Will it be Revenge or Redemption that ends this tale of tragedy?

Pacquiao vs. Bradley 2: Will it be Revenge or Redemption that ends this tale of tragedy?

photo by Chris Farina — Act two, of what was a classic Greek tragedy (robbery), will take place at the scene of the crime from a very controversial first fight that sent each combatant’s career in opposite directions.

The last thing that was on Manny Pacquiao’s mind in the locker room before the fight, while watching his beloved Boston Celtics get eliminated by the soon to be World Champions Miami Heat, was reverse homecoming.

After walking away lucky to be 2-0-1 in his fights with Juan Manual Marquez, there’s no way anyone could have known that Pac-man’s luck was about to run out, especially after damn near pitching a shout out clearly outworking and out landing Timothy Bradley. Bradley can tell us he won the fight 8 rounds to 4 until he turns blue in the face it only adds fuel to the fire.

continue

Pacquiao and Bradley make weight

Pacquiao and Bradley make weight

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) looked like a statue today at his weigh-in with Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) for their mega fight on Saturday night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bradley look so good before. He came in at 145.5, and was oozing confidence, especially when two fighters came together for the traditional face off.

Pacquiao weighed 145lb and looked good as he always does. Pacquiao looked like he really worked hard for this fight. Let’s hope he’s ready to take the vicious shots that Bradley will be nailing him with on Saturday, because Bradley doesn’t want to give up his WBO title. He’s going to fight tooth and nail to keep it, and if Pacquiao doesn’t find the fountain of youth before Saturday night, he’s going to be out of luck.

continue

Arum expects Pacquiao-Bradley 2 to generate 1.2 million PPV buys

Arum expects Pacquiao-Bradley 2 to generate 1.2 million PPV buys

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is dreaming high about his fight card he’s putting on this Saturday night on HBO pay-per-view with Manny Pacquiao vs. Tim Bradley as the headliner bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Arum thinks the fight will generate 1.2 million buys, which is a very high number given Bradley’s lack of popularity, and given the absence of a high quality undercard to go along with the fight.

To say that Arum scrimped on the undercard is to put it lightly. Arum did the absolute minimum in terms of the undercard fights in adding the following television fights: Raymundo Beltran vs. Arash Usmanee, Bryan Vasquez vs. Jose Felix Jr and Khabib Allakhverdiev vs. Jessie Vargas. I don’t have much interest in seeing any of those fights, and it’s disappointing that I’ll be forced to sit through them while I wait for what I consider to be the only watchable fight on the entire card between Pacquiao and Bradley. Even that fight isn’t a great one because their previous fight was really boring.

continue

Pacquiao-Bradley 2: PPV=Pay for Who?

Pacquiao-Bradley 2: PPV=Pay for Who?

Top Rank has once again underwhelmed us with a lackluster undercard for the Manny Pacquiao v Tim Bradley PPV event scheduled for Saturday night. On a night when we are watching a rematch of a fight that wasn’t highly entertaining to start with, I really expected Bob Arum to stack the card with A list talent. Instead we are left with a “Friday Night Fights” type of lineup.

This is no slight to ESPN because I have seen some great fights on FNF but that platform is for contenders on the way up or a name fighter trying to re-establish their career. Ray Beltran v Arash Usmanee is a fight I would expect to see opening up for a Boxing After Dark card.

continue

Bernard Hopkins Philadelphia Media Workout Quotes / Videos

Bernard Hopkins Philadelphia Media Workout Quotes / Videos

(Photo credit: Casino/Showtime) PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (April 10, 2014) – Future Hall of Famer and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins worked out in front of a throng of reporters Thursday at DSG Boxing Gym in Philadelphia as he winds down preparation for his Saturday, April 19, World Championship Unification against Beibut Shumenov.

Hopkins, the IBF titleholder, and Shumenov, the WBA Super Champion, will square off in the main event of a SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING world championship tripleheader at the DC Armory in Washington, D.C., live on SHOWTIME at 9 p.m. ET/PT (delayed on the West Coast), immediately following the premiere of Episode 1 of ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. Maidana.

continue

Will Bradley Lose Even if He Deserves to Win Pacquiao Rematch?

Will Bradley Lose Even if He Deserves to Win Pacquiao Rematch?

Timothy Bradley and Manny Pacquiao didn’t exactly put on a spectacular show the first time they fought. It was a pretty boring fight actually, and it followed the same predictably dull pattern round after round for the most part. Bradley would typically out hustle Pacquiao for the first 2 minutes of a round, before Pacquiao finished strongly over the last minute. The Filipino generally landed enough crippling lefts that he was winning the rounds, despite looking unusually lethargic during the early portions of most rounds. Nothing particularly exciting happened at any point during the fight, though.

Even though Pacquiao seemed to do enough to comfortably win, the judges saw differently and awarded it to Bradley. Everyone was amazed by the outcome. Fans were shocked, Pacquiao was perplexed, the commentators were annoyed, Freddie Roach was perturbed, Bob Arum was outraged, and even Bradley himself seemed surprised beyond words, with an expression that more closely resembled that of a big money lottery winner than of one who believed he earned a deserved victory. By most accounts this was viewed as a “robbery”, some going so far to call it one of the worst in history.

continue

Kellerman: Pacquiao has more ways to win than Bradley

HBO’s Max Kellerman believes than Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is in a good position to defeat WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) this Saturday night and hand him his first loss of his career at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kellerman likes Pacquiao’s power and speed, and he feels those two factors are going to weigh heavily in him likely beating the 30-year-old light hitting Bradley in their important rematch.

Kellerman also sees it as difficult for Bradley to get a decision this time around if the fight is anywhere close due to Pacquiao getting the shaft last time he fought Bradley in 2012 with two of the judges seeing Bradley as the winner despite Pacquiao having dominated 11 of the 12 rounds.

continue