In the summer of 2012 Liverpool’s Tom Stalker was rated as the world’s number one amateur lightweight and skipper of the Team GB boxing squad at the London 2012 Olympics. Conversely, Chorley’s Jack Catterall was a student at Preston College who’d never ventured past the English ABA quarter-finals.
Two years on, the pair collides for the vacant WBO European light-welter title at Liverpool’s Echo Arena this weekend and, remarkably, the bookies can barely split them.
Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) is targeting the winner of the Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Miguel Cotto fight next year for who he’d like to have his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank set him up. Gennady Golovkin would like to fight the winner of the Canelo-Cotto fight, but the chances are very good that if Cotto gets past Canelo, boxing fans are going to see Cotto in against Bradley rather than Golovkin.
Cotto’s WBC middleweight title may or may not be on the line for a Bradley fight depending on if Cotto vacates or if the World Boxing Council strips him by then for not facing Golovkin. Last Saturday, Golovkin defeated Marco Antonio Rubio by a 2nd round knockout to become the WBC interim middleweight champion.
British boxing star Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) will be fighting former two division world champion Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) on December 13th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Before the Alexander fight was agreed on, Khan had been saying that Alexander and Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero were two of the names that they were looking at for his December fight. However, Guerrero says that the fight against Khan was never even offered to him.
“The [Khan] fight was never offered to me,” Guerrero said on his twitter.
Hard-hitting Canadian middleweight David Lemieux (32-2, 30 KOs) will be taking a dangerous fight against Gabriel Rosado (21-8, 13 KOs) on HBO Boxing in two months from now on December 6th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Lemieux’s handlers feel he’s ready to take a step up in class against the 28-year-old Rosado, who has lost 3 out of his last 4 fights in the past year.
The 25-year-old Lemieux is ranked #2 WBC, #5 IBF, #8 WBO, and #15 WBA in the middleweight division, and he just needs a solid win to get him into position for a world title shot.
Unbeaten Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) is hoping to beat the old lion WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) next month in their fight on November 22nd and take his place at the top of the boxing world. Pacquiao has showed signs of aging in his recent fights, and the taller and younger Algieri could be the guy to knock the soon to be 36-year-old Pacquiao of his throne.
Algieri would still need to beat Pacquiao in a likely rematch before he could move on to face guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr, Kell Brook, Amir Khan and Keith Thurman. Financially, a victory over Pacquiao will set Algieri up for life because it would enable him to get a bigger purse split in a rematch against Pacquiao.
Tim Bradley (31-1, 12 KOs) will be fighting for the first time since losing his WBO 147lb title when he steps inside the ring to face Argentinian Diego Chaves (23-2, 19 KOs) on December 13th on HBO from the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Bradley thinks Chaves reminds him a little of Floyd Mayweather Jr with his fighting stance.
Chaves doesn’t have the hand speed or the mobility that Mayweather possesses, but he does like to stand in the pocket and use the shoulder roll like him.
Showtime and HBO will have competing boxing shows on December 13th. On Showtime, Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) faces Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) in the main event at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. On the same night on HBO, former two division world champion Timothy Bradley will be in action against Diego Chaves.
The good news for boxing fans is neither of them will be on pay-per-view, but it’s still not a great thing unless you’ve got Tivo and can record one of the fight cards while viewing the other.
LAS VEGAS, NV (October 20, 2014) — Former two-division world champion TIMOTHY “Desert Storm” BRADLEY JR. returns to the ring where he will battle one-time interim welterweight world champion DIEGO “La Joya” CHAVES in a 12-round welterweight rumble, Saturday, December 13, inside The Chelsea at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (3708 Las Vegas Blvd South, Las Vegas, NV 89109). The fight will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 10:00 p.m. EST/PST. The telecast will open with World Boxing Association (WBA) Interim Super Lightweight World Champion MAURICIO “El Maestro” HERRERA defending his title against undefeated contender JOSE BENAVIDEZ, JR.
Undefeated Heavyweight contender Bryant “By-By” Jennings awaits his title shot
By Justin Jones – Bryant “By-By” Jennings’ (19-0, 10 KOs) is patiently waiting for reigning WBC Heavyweight Champion Bermane “B. Ware” Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and undefeated mandatory challenger Deontay “The Bronze Bomber” Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) to strike a deal and set a date for their bout.
Jennings’ eagerness for the Stiverne vs. Wilder fight to take place runs deeper than the boxing enthusiast who sees the bout as a compelling fight, one laced with numerous storylines (e.g. will Wilder’s KO streak continue? Will Stiverne deliver Wilder’s first professional loss? Etc).
http://youtu.be/tj5aS6ioHB0
A record attendance of 9,323 fans filled the StubHub Center to see Gennady Golovkin face Marco Antonio Rubio in the “Mexican Style” fight card main event Saturday night. Golovkin proved that styles not only make fights, but fight fans, as the mostly Mexican-American crowd cheered for the Kazakhstan native throughout. Rubio appeared confident and ready during his ring walk, looking much fresher than he had at the weigh the previous day. “GGG” and his team made an extra-long ring walk, circling the entire lower bowl and waving to fans, sending the place into a frenzy. The stage was set for Gennady’s promise of a “big drama show”.