Liverpudlian super-middleweight contender, Rocky Fielding, has promised he will enter next months crunch domestic British title fight with bitter rival and fellow Scouser, Callum Smith, looking for fireworks.
Promoter Eddie Hearn deserves credit for pitching the two unbeaten 168 lb-er’s together in what represents a real grudge match for not only the city of Liverpool, but British boxing generally, with the winner inching one step closer to an eventual world title shot.
Tyson Fury has claimed that the postponement of his WBO/WBA/IBF heavyweight title fight against Wladimir Klitschko is the best thing that could have happened, given he had been suffering from a virus in the original build up.
Klitschko pulled out of the initial Oct. 24 date just days after a fun-filled London press conference – citing a minor calf strain – meaning that the fight was rescheduled for the same Esprit Arena venue in Dusseldorf, 5 weeks later on Nov.28; It’s something Fury says has inadvertently done him a massive favour given he was feeling out-of-sorts with a bug.
WBA Interim titlist, Chris Eubank Jr, has vowed to ‘punish’ Irish middleweight rival, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan when the two meet on December 12th in London.
Eubank didn’t even get out of first gear last night in Sheffield, where he absolutely destroyed the hopelessly out-gunned and overmatched Tony Jeter inside 2 pathetically one sided rounds – after which the Brighton fighter was greeted by boos from the frustrated Arena crowd.
Manny Pacquiao’s veteran promoter, Bob Arum, has confirmed that the Filipino superstar will fight one last time in April before calling time on his long and illustrious career.
Pacquiao was last seen in May’s disappointing mega-fight with Floyd Mayweather, a fight that will always be overshadowed by his decision to enter the bout carrying a shoulder injury – an injury that later required surgery and ruled him out of fighting for the rest of this year.
Undefeated WBO 140lb champ Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) did what everyone thought he would do tonight in smacking around little lightweight Dierry Jean (29-2, 20 KOs) for nine rounds until the non-competitive sparring match was halted in the 10th round by referee Tony Weeks at the Century Link Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
In his first fight on Sky Sports, #1 WBA Chris Eubank Jr. (20-1, 15 KOs) wiped out his carefully selected opponent Tony Jeter (20-5-1, 14 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout on Saturday night in a fight that was over shortly after it was started at the Sheffield Arena in Sheffield, UK. Jeter hit the deck in the 1st round, and then was stopped on his feet not long after the start of the 2nd round.
WBA (interim) middleweight champion, Chris Eubank Jr makes his Sky Sports TV and Matchroom Sport promotional debut tonight in Sheffield, England, against 39 year old American, Tony Jeter, assuming top-billing in Kell Brook’s absence and promising an ‘explosive performance.’
The British legends’ son has promised he isn’t overlooking the fringe contender and WBA #13, even though his next fight – a December outing against Irishman, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan is already announced.
Rob “Bravo” Brant, 18-0-0 (11KO) from St. Paul, MN had a tough test at the Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, AZ with upset minded Louis “Unknown” Rose 13-3-1 (5KO) out of Lynwood, Calif. Physically, they matched up pretty close with Rose enjoying a slight edge in reach. Neither man is a big puncher, but Brant proved to be the crisper more snappy puncher. Rose consistently missed the target with his, which was something the judges noted. Many of the rounds in this ten round fight were very close, and arguably could have been scored either way. Brant came into the fight as the favorite, with the better pro record and amateur experience, but Rose fought the better competition. He pulled off wins over four undefeated fighters and planned to make it a fifth on Showbox.
Brandon Rios claims he is ready for anything ahead of his clash with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley next month, insisting he is confident he can draw Bradley in and make him fight ‘his fight.’
Rios goes into the clash having not boxed since way back in January when he destroyed an out-of-sorts Mike Alvarado in their rubber match, and knows that Bradley – under the guidance of new trainer Teddy Atlas – is looking to box a smart fight and not get caught in a war as he has been prone to unnecessarily in the past.
It’s not exactly of ‘did aliens land at Roswell?’ or ‘who shot JFK?’ proportions, yet a persistent conspiracy theory has surrounded IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook’s rib ‘injury,’ an injury that postponed tonight’s scheduled clash with Argentina’s Diego Chaves.
Many quarters on social media have questioned the legitimacy of the ailment, with reasons given for it including Eddie Hearn wishing to move the fight to his December PPV show, as well as Brook struggling to make 147 in time; rumours that Hearn recently called ‘absolute rubbish.’