Scores at ringside confirmed the general consensus that it was the superior boxing ability and slick movement from the home fighter that was much preferred, reading 97-93, 97-93 and 100-90.
Ali – subject to intense pressure throughout – boxed superbly off the back foot at times in the face of Santana’s relentless pressure and persistent will to drag the young New Yorker into a war.
Amir Khan has hit back at ex-trainer Freddie Roach who said that the British fighter maybe lacks the intestinal fortitude to square off against either of the world’s two premier 147lb fighters, in Mayweather and Pacquiao.
Roach, who once said that Manny had Khan down 4 times in sparring, is arguably bitter over the Bolton man’s decision to “defect” to Virgil Hunter after his crushing defeat to Danny Garcia back in 2012.
He said of Khan; “Amir should be calling out my man or Mayweather, but he doesn’t have the balls”
“Sorry but the contest is over and nobody has #MayPac tickets as of today with less than two weeks to go. #FansFirst#wheresmyticket” – Oscar De La Hoya Twitter feed, April 21, 2015
Odd choice of a hashtag there, Oscar.
How can you call this a “Fans First” issue when only 1,000 out of 16,800 tickets were actually available to the public? The more pertinent questions – why were so few tickets available? And has this superfight ever put the fans first?
Mayweather-Pacquiao should be a love letter to fans. It’s the once-in-a-generation event every generation deserves. They’ve hoped and prayed for Mayweather-Pacquiao since 2009. Now the fight’s finally here, the invitations have been issued, but it doesn’t seem like those fans are welcome. Instead, this enterprise merely exemplifies the asinine business model that’s slowly killed boxing for the last two decades.
After last night’s jab-hug-hold fest in NY, that finally saw Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53ko) deducted a point for the antics that have served him so well for so long, it would appear WBO #1 Tyson Fury (24-0, 18ko) will definitely be the giant Ukranian’s next contest later this summer.
If the reception from the watching American public towards Klitschko was lukewarm before the opening bell, then last night’s performance against Bryant Jennings will have done nothing to whet their appetites ahead of a clash with the 6ft 9″ British gypsy.
I, along with many others, wrote Jennings off leading into the fight, and whilst the score cards pitched a shut-out, you can make an argument that they don’t fully reflect the performance of the Philadpelphia fighter, who showed heart and persistence in spades.
Mandatory WBO World Heavyweight Title Challenger Tyson Fury is closing in fast on his dream clash with WBO World Champion Wladimir Klitschko following the Ukrainian’s victory over Bryant Jennings.
The WBO will now order a 30-day negotiating period to start between both promotional camps to reach an agreement for the mouthwatering showdown. If an agreement is not reached in the given period then a purse bid will be set for the fight.
Promoter Frank Warren, in association with Mick Hennessy, will now look to bring the fight to the UK and stage it at an outdoor stadium in one of the biggest heavyweight fights on these shores in recent years.
Loathsome pop-brat and perennial “hanger-on” Justin Bieber has been dealt a blow by his “buddy” Floyd Mayweather Jr ahead of next Saturday’s super-fight with Manny Pacquiao, reports the Daily Star in the UK.
The Canadian singer, who embarrassingly appeared to gate-crash proceedings when the fight was announced, had banked on being front and centre when Floyd makes his ring-walk in 6 short days.
Sadly for the 21 year old, who is more known for his anti-social, publicity seeking antics than his “music” these days, a source close to Mayweather told The Star;
Wladimir Klitschko (63-4) retained his titles via UD against extremely fit and rugged challenger Bryant Jennings (19-1) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night. The scores were wide, 116-111 twice and 118-109, and the skill differential even wider but Jennings was more problematic for Klitschko than the scores or his own boxing ability could suggest. Klitschko acknowledged the hand speed of his opponent baffled him and he compared Jennings to a modern Frazier but he was surely far too kind and gave his opponent too much credit for fighting back sporadically. Bryant demonstrated a granite chin and courage to spare but if he had Frazier’s left hook or even half of it the fight might have turned out differently.
Wladimir Klitschko successfully defended his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles at New York’s Madison Square Garden tonight with a unanimous points decision over previously undefeated challenger Bryant Jennings.
All three judges found in favour of the Ukrainian with scores of 116-111, 116-111 and 118-109, despite a spirited effort from the challenger who succeeded in announcing himself as a name in the heavyweight division.
Klitschko seemed to be missed, as the crowd was littered with Ukranian flags and would erupt even at the sight of him on the arena screens before his match-up with Jennings.
MAYWEATHER/PACQUIAO: THE LEGENDS SPEAK debuts SATURDAY, APRIL 25 (12:15 a.m. ET/PT), immediately following “HBO World Championship Boxing® – The half-hour special will open with Lampley and Kellerman setting the stage for the mega-fight. Then Lampley sits down with Oscar de la Hoya and Shane Mosley, who faced both Mayweather and Pacquiao, to talk about how they trained and fought them and what they think each fighter will need to do to win the upcoming showdown. HBO also captured interviews with middleweight title-holder Miguel Cotto, Mexican superstar Juan Manuel Marquez and former British boxing sensation Ricky Hatton, all of whom fought Pacquiao and Mayweather in the Las Vegas spotlight.