Hearn Announces 5 Year Contract Extension With Sky

Hearn Announces 5 Year Contract Extension With Sky

Matchroom Sports promoter Eddie Hearn has this afternoon announced a 5 year extension to their current exclusive Sky Sports broadcasting contract (which ends next year), meaning that the present Saturday night formula for British fans is set to continue until 2021.

This is sure to elicit a mixed response from fans who, as of late, have grown tired of what they perceive as mis-matches on many of the domestic cards, taking to calling the firm “mis-Matchroom” boxing in jest on social media.

For example, a £5 7-fold bet on the favourites for the last domestic show in Birmingham, that included Matthew Macklin and Anthony Joshua, would have returned you the princely sum of £5.31.

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James DeGale Laughs Off Team Dirrell Insults

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At yesterday’s media workout ahead of Saturday’s PBC on CBS, James DeGale took some time out to chat to iFLtv about the fight and the laughable situation that saw another of the Dirrell brothers, Willie, hijack proceedings – vocally branding the Londoner a loser – among other things – as the assembled media looked on.

DeGale insists he is in better shape than ever ahead of the history making fight for the vacant 168lb IBF strap, which, should he win, means he will become the first British gold medal winning Olympian to go on and win a world title in the paid ranks.

He said;

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Froch v Golovkin At Wembley?

Froch v Golovkin At Wembley?

So just a day or two after saying that he would be ‘flipping a coin’ over whether or not he will fight again – Carl Froch appears to be flirting with the idea of another huge Wembley UK show – a la George Groves – yet this time against the murderous punching middleweight Gennady Golovkin, who we saw break apart Willie Monroe Jr on HBO last weekend.

The Daily Mail, as well as multiple other sources online, are reporting that talks for the fight are underway, although I’m incredibly wary of how much of this is ego-satisfying bluster for “The Cobra” and how much of it is credible, thoughtful and ultimately SERIOUS consideration.

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History in the making: 107 years of Olympic glory

History in the making: 107 years of Olympic glory

Making history has become a common occurrence in modern day sport. Right across the board ‘records’ are broken with alarming regularity, records which have principally been created to serve the increasing demand for content from competitive media outlets.

Subsequently, the significance of such a statement has lost the gravity it once possessed, wheeled out on almost every sporting occasion to provide impetus where it doesn’t belong. We can’t help but become desensitised to the context of these achievements, what has passed before and whether or not they’re indeed worthy of our reverence.

The latest attempt at boxing history takes place within the Agganis Arena, Boston, this Saturday night when British super-middleweight James DeGale takes on American Andre Dirrell for the IBF World super-middleweight title – vacated by Carl Froch earlier in the year.

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Credible Fights For Hughie Fury /Arreola In The Frame

Credible Fights For Hughie Fury /Arreola In The Frame

It would appear that the future is looking bright for British heavyweight prospect Hughie Fury (15-0, 8ko) – cousin of Tyson, if a series of late night tweets from his father and trainer Peter are anything to go by.

The young 20 year old heavyweight took a significant step up in class last time out, turning in a confident and mature performance against the more experienced Ukrainian Andriy Rudenko (24-2, 16ko) on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin/Martin Murray fight in February.

Clearly looking for credible tests for his son, which is always a refreshing thing to hear regarding a young fighter, Peter tweeted the following with regards to the next outing;

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Povetkin v Perez on Friday – Deontay Fights The Winner

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One fight that sadly seems to have been flying under the radar just a little bit is this Friday’s intriguing heavyweight dust-up between Russia’s Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20ko) and Irish based Cuban Mike Perez (21-1-1, 13ko) that will be broadcast live from Moscow on Boxnation in the UK/ESPN2 in the States.

The two will be contesting the lightly regarded WBC Silver title, yet the real prize is that this is a final eliminator to face newly crowned champion Deontay Wilder – who will make the maiden defence of his own title against the unfancied and unheralded Eric Molina on June 20th.

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George Groves Tips DeGale To Beat Dirrell – Eyeing The Rematch

George Groves Tips DeGale To Beat Dirrell - Eyeing The Rematch

WBC 168lb mandatory challenger and long time James DeGale rival George Groves, has tipped his old foe to do the business against Andre Dirrell in Boston on Saturday night, saying;

“He’s in with a chance, a real good chance.”

Groves, who holds victories over the Harlesden fighter in both the amateur and paid ranks, told Sky Sports that while he doesn’t think DeGale can get a stoppage “a points win wouldn’t surprise me.”

DeGale is chasing history when he fights Dirrell by attempting to become the first Brit gold medal winning Olympian to go on and win a world title in the paid ranks. The two men will be contesting the IBF strap recently vacated by Carl Froch.

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Garcia Questions Brook v Gavin – Says Brandon Rios Was Available

Garcia Questions Brook v Gavin - Says Brandon Rios Was Available

In the latest of his frequent trips to the Garcia Boxing Academy in Oxnard, CA, ES News reporter Elie Seckbach has done a fan Q & A via twitter with head coach Robert Garcia to address various issues – one of which being the possibility of his fighter Brandon Rios (33-2-1, 24ko) facing IBF 147 champion Kell Brook.

Brook fights against countryman Frankie Gavin on May 30th in a voluntary defence of his title following his crushing of mandatory challenger Jo Jo Dan in February. It is a match that has been questioned by some quarters for it’s validity, although it’s worth remembering that the Dan fight in February was Brooks first since being viciously slashed to the leg with a machete last year on holiday following his title win over Shawn Porter last August and promotional mechanics have certainly had a part to play.

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Why Vitali Klitschko and Nikolai Valuev Need To Come Out of Retirement and Fight Each Other! An open challenge to Both former Heavyweight Champions!

Why Vitali Klitschko and Nikolai Valuev Need To Come Out of Retirement and Fight Each Other! An open challenge to Both former Heavyweight Champions!

I recently came across an interesting statement that the former Iraqi vice president Taha Ramadan made in 2002: “The American president should specify a group, and we will specify a group and choose neutral ground with Kofi Annan as referee and use one weapon with a president against a president, a vice-president against a vice-president, and a minister against a minister in a duel.”

The statement surely resonated with many people around the world because whenever leaders of any individual country decide to go to war it isn’t they who lead the charge on the frontline. Of course as logical as the statement was (as well as absurd in the context of modern society) the ironic fact is when Hussein’s Iraq itself had disputes with other countries no such offers were made to the leaders of those nations (as noted by then white house spokesman Ari Fleischer), and wars were fought, and people suffered.

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Carl Froch: Dirrell Was A Coward

Carl Froch: Dirrell Was A Coward

Carl Froch has questioned Andre Dirrell’s mentality ahead of Saturday’s PBC fight with James DeGale, writing in his Sky Sports column that “the computer might not be working” with regards to the American’s mental effectiveness – something that has been referenced continually since the 2010 fight with Arthur Abraham in which Dirrell suffered neurological injuries.

Froch, whose former IBF belt the 2 men are contesting at the weekend, fought Dirrell himself back in 2009 as part of the Super Six tournament – getting the nod for what was widely perceived as a hometown (split) decision in the eyes of many – especially the Americans.

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