Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Timothy Bradley, Thurman/Collazo, & Best American Fight Trainers in the Game!

06/30/201506/29/2015 Vivek Wallace

Preston B. (San Francisco, CA): Timothy Bradley has proven time and time again that he’s the best welterweight in the world. I don’t think he gets the respect he deserves and I never understood that. He knows how to win. How did you rate his performance and his talent in general?

Vivek W. (ESB): Timothy Bradley is tough topic to tackle for me at times. I often think back to his fight across the pond against Junior Witter. I had seen him before and studied a few notes on him, but after that performance I became a very big fan. The heart he displayed that night in an effort thousands of miles away in another man’s land was as good as it gets. Where my personal trouble comes with Bradley is his inability to be consistent with those type of performances. We saw him look great against arguably the best Mexican warrior and future Hall of Famer of this era (Marquez); we’ve seen him look awful against the likes of Provodnikov.

David Haye: Fury Is Not Good Enough To Beat Klitschko

06/29/2015 Olly Campbell

The soon-to-go-to purse bids clash between long reigning lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and mandatory challenger Tyson Fury, is set to be one of the biggest heavyweight clashes involving a British fighter since David Haye’s own ill-fated Wladimir challenge and trip to Hamburg 4 years ago – which resulted in the now infamous and oft ridiculed “Toe-Gate” saga in which Haye displayed his injured little toe to the world as “evidence” of his poor performance immediately after the fight.

The fact of the matter remains that like so many before him, Haye came up short against “Dr.Steelhammer” – yet ahead of Fury’s attempt at dethroning the younger Klitschko brother, he has seen fit to speak out and scotch the giant Mancunian’s chances – going so far in ‘The Sun’ as to suggest the fight won’t even take place – saying he’ll be “very surprised” to see Fury actually get in the ring to fight the Ukrainian champion.

Scott Quigg Still Believes Frampton Fight Can Happen

06/29/201506/29/2015 Olly Campbell

On July 18th WBA (reg) 122 lb champion Scott Quigg goes into what will be a fight for comparative purposes when he takes on Spain’s Kiko Martinez in Manchester.

Bitter rival Carl Frampton boxed and beat Martinez twice – the first time in 2013 by 9th round stoppage and then again 18 months later by unanimous decision, to take the IBF 122 lb strap the Northern Irishman currently owns.

Negotiations for a fight between the two Brits recently broke down, with Frampton going on to sign with seemingly omnipotent ‘advisor’ Al Haymon – “The Jackal” is now set to face Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in Texas on the same July 18th date Quigg fights.

Kell Brook: I Believe I Can Beat Floyd Mayweather

06/28/2015 Olly Campbell

There is still a degree of uncertainty surrounding September 12th for Britain’s IBF 147 lb champion Kell Brook. While mooted to be facing American brawler Brandon Rios on that date, the Sheffield fighter is still one of the names in the hat as a potential Floyd Mayweather opponent on the same date – and has spoken out to Sky Sports to insist that he is one of the few fighters out there able to cause Floyd real problems in the ring should that be the fight that comes off for him.

With Bob Arum recently suggesting the choice lies with Rios himself as to whether or not he ends up traveling to the UK to fight Brook, it’s clear that “The Special One” is keeping his options open.

Tough Night All Around – Bradley beats Vargas

06/28/2015 Paul Strauss

Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley Jr., 32-1-1 (12KO) the favorite, did what was expected. He pounded out a unanimous decision over the until then unbeaten Jessie Vargas 26-1-0 (9KO). All too often the 5′ 10″ Vargas gave up his four inch height advantage. He allowed Bradley to control the distance and land his own jab and just out work him. Neither man is a big puncher, so neither man was in serious trouble until the last round. That is when the fun started Saturday night at the StubHub Center, Carson, CA.

With under twenty-seconds left in the fight, Bradley got careless and in the middle of an exchange, he dropped his guard. At just about that precise moment Vargas was uncorking a big right hand.

Joel Diaz: Bradley/Vargas Rematch Makes No Sense

06/28/2015 Olly Campbell

Boxing is littered with bizarre incidents and controversy, from in-ring riots to Parachutist’s landing in the ring – yet last night’s welterweight clash between Tim Bradley and Jessie Vargas introduced us to a slightly different kind of strange when referee Pat Russell initially appeared to wave the fight off in favour of Vargas – who behind on all 3 cards – rocked Bradley badly in the dying seconds of the final round.

This prompted wild celebration from the WBA 140 lb champion, when in actual fact, Russell was signaling the end of the action after mistaking the 10-second clacker for the final bell – and after much confusion, order was restored and the rightful winner announced – with Bradley getting the unanimous decision by scores of (115-112, 116-112 AND 117-111).

Bradley beats Vargas, captures interim WBO 147lb title

06/28/201506/27/2015 Jeff Sorby

Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12 KOs) dodged a bullet in the 12th round to defeat previously unbeaten Jessie Vargas (26-1, 9 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous tonight to win the interim WBO welterweight title at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. In the last 30 seconds of the round, Vargas connected with a huge right hand that had Bradley out of his feet.

Vargas then spent 11 seconds trying to line Bradley up for another big hand, when suddenly referee Pat Russell halted the fight with 10 seconds to go because he thought he had heard the final belt. Vargas, thinking the referee had stopped the fight due to Bradley being badly hurt, immediately started jobbing up and down celebrating thinking he’d scored a knockout.

British Mega-Fight: Haye v Joshua

06/28/201506/27/2015 Adam McMeeking

Standing 6 foot 6 inches and tipping the scales for his last fight at a ripped 248 1/2 pounds, the sight of Anthony Joshua is surely not what any boxer wants in the opposite corner when that first bell rings.

After just over a year and a half as a professional, the reigning Olympic super heavyweight champion from Watford has torn through thirteen opponents – all by stoppage. The normally durable American, Kevin Johnson, was recently hammered through the ropes in the first round, somehow surviving a couple more minutes before the referee had seen enough. No opponent has made it to the fourth round.

Eddie Hearn Thinks Callum Smith ‘One Fight From World Titles’

06/27/2015 Olly Campbell

Following the headline performance on last night’s All or Nothing card from Liverpool’s Echo Arena in which hometown boy Callum Smith came through his first significant test with a points win over Frenchman Christopher Rebrasse, promoter Eddie Hearn has confidently asserted he believes his fighter is now just the one fight away from a potential world title opportunity.

With his WBC #3 ranking going into the fight, Smith is now perfectly placed to be challenging the winner of the upcoming clash between champion Badou Jack and “St.” George Groves which is to take place toward the end of August.

Debunking the GGG hype…

06/28/201506/27/2015 Adam Kallanous

Gennady Golovkin is one of the fastest growing stars in boxing. Some believe he is merely a smoke and mirrors hype job created by HBO, while others are convinced that he is the next best pound for pound king.

Let’s look into the Gennady Golovkin story.

Golovkin started boxing at 8 years old, and grew into an accomplished amateur. He boasts an amateur record of 345-5, with two gold medals in the World Amateur Boxing Championships, (which alongside the Olympic boxing program is the highest level of competition for the sport). He is also a silver medalist for the Kazakhstani Olympic Team of 2004.