The 2008 Olympic Gold medal hero will take on the unbeaten American for the right to face the winner of Carl Froch and George Groves, as the Brit rivals do battle on the same night in a rematch for Froch’s WBA and IBF belts.
DeGale is on the cusp of his first World title challenge but the 28 year old knows Gonzales brings a great threat from across the pond, and the Londoner is delighted to be facing the 29 year old at the national stadium in his first fight with new promoter Eddie Hearn.
Bob Arum made his remarks while MGM executive, Richard Sturm, was sitting right next to him, earlier in the presser Arum introduced Sturm as “president of hanging posters for the wrong fight”.
Pacquiao vs. Bradley will be produced and distributed LIVE by HBO Pay-per-View beginning at 9PM EST/6p.m. PST
In Newcastle, Australia last night Anthony Mundine (46 – 6) fought Ghanaian Joshua Clottey (38- 4) in the classical cross roads fight, the loser destined to fight local derbies as a competitive journeyman.
At stake was the WBA International Middleweight title.
Both fighters were in magnificent condition, Mundine at 38 years of age carried the advantage of being the physically bigger man, however from the outset Clottey the younger man by two years ignored that physical fact and fought as if he was.
Clottey started on the front foot, paying no dues to Mundines power or speed as he continually pressed forward throughout the first round, outpunching and most importantly out landing Mundine.
Joshua Clottey has ended the world title aspirations of Anthony Mundine, knocking the three-time world champion down five times on route to a unanimous decision win.
Clottey proved too strong for Mundine, with the Ghanaian regularly getting through the defence of the Australian.
The Ghanaian found himself on the deck early in the 2nd round, but the referee correctly ruled that is what a result of a rabbit punch, issuing Mundine a warning.
Mundine felt the power of Clottey soon after, hitting the canvas for the first time in the Round 3.
Mundine was caught standing right in front of Clottey and a powerful right hand sent him down. The Australian was able to beat the count, before the bell sounded signalling an end to the round.
In a huge upset, #14 WBA Joshua Clottey (38-4, 22 KO’s) defeated #3 WBA Anthony Mundine (46-6, 27 KO’s) by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision on Wednesday night at the Entertainment Centre, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Clottey was supposed to be a safe fight for the 38-year-old Mundine to win in order to stay in line for a title shot against WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara. However, Clottey didn’t go along with the program, as he knocked the slow moving Mundine down 5 times in the fight with his still fast hooks to the head. Mundine was down once in rounds 3, twice in the 6th, once in the 8th, and a final time in the 10th. The final judger scores were 116-108, 115-109, and 117-108.
Kelly Swanson
This week has been jam-packed with information about the April 19 ‘History at the Capitol. Yesterday, we did a conference call with the undercard fighters, and now, we have our main event fighters available today to talk to the press. I’m very excited about it.
Bernard Hopkins, the IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion, certainly a future first ballot Hall of Famer is on the phone; along with Beibut Shumenov, who is the WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Champion. I think it’s going to be an amazing unification bout; let’s go ahead and talk a little bit more about the fight and its particulars as well as introduce the fighters. I’d like to introduce Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions.
Reading Boxing News’ website – the website being as invaluable as the weekly magazine itself – I came across a short news piece on former heavyweight terror, the unbeaten Ike Ibeabuchi. Reportedly, Ibeabuchi, who was imprisoned for sexual offences in 1999, has NOT been released but merely transferred from the Nevada Department of Corrections to Washoe County Jail.
Over the past few weeks there have been various reports on various boxing websites, stating how Ibeabuchi, now aged 41, had been released; some articles even stating how “The President” had resumed training. Thanks for Boxing News for clearing this issue up.
Trainer Freddie Roach is saying that his fighter Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) may need to retire from boxing if he loses his fight this Saturday night against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s). Roach sees the fight as one that the 35-year-old Pacquiao can’t afford to lose.
A defeat in this fight will be Pacquiao’s third loss in his last four fights, and that obviously would have a major effect on his future earning power in terms of his pay-per-view fights.
With no one for him to fight that would gain him any respect from the boxing public, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) says that he’s offered WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) fight for July 12th, but here’s the kicker: Lara will only have two months in between his May 2nd title defense and the July 12th fight to get ready.
So in other words, if Lara is going to have very little time to get ready for the 23-old Canelo, and if he suffers so much as a scratch in the Ishe Smith fight, then his title defense against Canelo will go down the drain.
Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) had been bring his ‘A’ game on Saturday night because WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) means business when the two of them meet up on April 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bradley says he’s not going to show any mercy on the aging 35-year-old Filipino fighter, as he sees it as a situation where he’s looking to provide for his family. Bradley won’t let up on Pacquiao this Saturday, and he expects the same from him.
“He [Pacquiao] will get absolutely no compassion from me,” Bradley said via RingTV. “In that ring, it is all about my family eating or his family eating. Manny Pacquiao will have to knock me out to stop my family from eating.”