The ever honest Saunders is confident of dethroning his Irish rival in style and being crowned the new champion, yet in the event that happens, don’t expect him to sign for a unification with murderous punching Kazakh Gennady Golovkin – arguably the most avoided fighter in boxing today depending on who you believe.
With his purported upcoming fight against an undefeated ring legend who made more money per minute (6 million plus) in his last fight than most aspiring pugilists could ever hope to make for their entire career, 31 year old Andre Berto (30-3 23 KO) comes into his bout with 38 year old all time great Floyd “Money” Mayweather (48-0 26 KO) as perhaps the greatest underdog in the history of the sport.
And that’s definitely to take nothing away from Berto’s career accomplishments. Berto is a 3 time World Champion in the 147 Pound division, he has held the coveted WBC Welterweight title and defended it five times, against four former world champions in a span from 2008-2011 in which he was seen as a can’t miss future superstar of the division. Then along came another Mayweather opponent named Victor Ortiz who simply would not be denied his moment in the sun and shocked the world in early 2011 with a major upset of Berto for his world title.
He is more comfortable behind the comms mic these days, and hasn’t been in a boxing ring since the four round beatdown in April last year at the hands of Shawn Porter, but Brooklyn’s Paulie Malignaggi returns on August 1st in a 12 round non-title bout against Danny Garcia on a PBC on ESPN card, and has said via fighthubtv that he has the bit back between his teeth again.
Malignaggi was due to box on the Khan/Algieri undercard back in May against the unheralded Danny O’Connor but withdrew through injury and now takes on the far tougher task of Garcia – who himself has been criticised for recent performances against Lamont Peterson and Mauricio Herrera – and is debuting at 147 lbs.
Two of Philadelphia’s top fighters held a media workout Tuesday as Danny “Swift” Garcia (30-0, 17 KOs)and Steve “U.S.S.” Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs) prepared for their respective Premier Boxing Champions headlining events in August.
Garcia, who was joined by his father and trainer Angel, will be looking for his record fifth main event victory at Barclays Center on Saturday, August 1 when he takes on former world champion, Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi (33-6, 7 KOs) in a 12-round welterweight battle on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN at 9:00 p.m. ET/6 :00 p.m. PT.
Today saw the London presser to promote the historic contest between the two southpaws – which is already developing into the classic boxer v puncher narrative – and will see two men of traveller origins contesting a version of the world title for the very first time.
Talking about what the fight means to him, unbeaten former Olympian Saunders, said;
Talking to iFLtv and evidently referencing David Haye, who twice signed – and twice pulled out – of fighting the Manchester born fighter, Fury said;
“When you’re three months away from a fight, these idiot’s they automatically get injuries don’t they? When things aren’t going right for them in training camp they pull out.
This Saturday on HBO, WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev fights mandatory challenger Nadjib Mohammedi in a fight fans can only see going one, destructive way.
For many fans the simple fact remains that the fight they want to see at 175 – and are being denied – is the unification with lineal champion and WBC belt holder Adonis Stevenson, a fight that due to his affiliation with elusive ‘advisor’ Al Haymon, is further away than ever.
It’s looking like WBC 168 lb mandatory George Groves may have to wait a little bit longer for his opportunity to dethrone new champion Badou Jack, with the mooted August 22nd date reportedly being moved to the Mayweather v Bero under card on September 12th.
Before the August date was announced, “Money Team” member Jack had hinted the fight would take place on Floyd’s Vegas under card, and now Showtime exec Chris DeBlastio has confirmed the broadcaster doesn’t have an event scheduled for the 22nd.
Haye more than came up short that night and failed to back up his pre-fight boasts, blaming his lackluster performance on a broken toe, yet Wladimir feels Haye came out the other side a ‘better person’, having learned a valuable lesson in humility, and Dr.Steelhammer today said to iFLtv that he expects this fight to play out much the same way.
Last weekend in Germany the rebuilding of David Price failed spectacularly when he was knocked out cold by German based Turk, Erkan Teper, ostensibly ending any hopes he ever had of reaching world level.
The former Olympic medalist has never really recovered from the two devastating, back-to-back losses to Tony Thompson in 2013, and following the fight there were murmurings that he could still provide a credible test for some of the young British heavyweights coming through, such as Hughie Fury or Anthony Joshua.