This weekend marks the second Saturday on the schedule were HBO and Showtime feature dueling fight cards. After a slow February, boxing fans get a plethora of fights this weekend. It would have been nice if either network could have placed one of these cards somewhere last month. Boxing fans are accustomed to taking one on the chin, so beggars can’t be choosy when it comes to a stacked schedule on March 5th.
Month: March 2016
Bernard Hopkins still aims to have one last fight, but it won’t be against GGG
Living legend and former middleweight and light-heavyweight king Bernard Hopkins is still planning to have one last big fight before he walks into the sunset and calls time on his career; one of the greatest in modern day history. Talking with members of the media on Thursday in Washington D.C, the 51-year-old future Hall of Famer said he did seriously want to fight feared middleweight terror Gennady Golovkin, but that that fight is now off the table.
Ricky Burns to fight for third world title in May, will face Italian Michele Di Rocco in Glasgow for WBA light-welterweight belt
Scottish warrior Ricky Burns, the former WBO super-featherweight and lightweight king, will get a chance to become a three-weight ruler in the summer, as he will challenge Italian Michele Di Rocco in Glasgow on May 21st for the regular WBA light-welterweight title which is vacant.
32-year-old Burns, 39-5-1(13) has only won three of his last seven outings and he had a bad spell in late 2013 to the summer of 2014, when he was held to a controversial draw by Raymundo Beltran (in a fight where Burns suffered a broken jaw and was deemed lucky to have escaped without a loss) and was then beaten on points by Terence Crawford and Dejan Zlaticanin. More than a few fans and experts felt the man from Coatbridge, Scotland was finished.
Ten years on: retired great Joe Calzaghe looks back on his “masterpiece” against Jeff Lacy
1,006 punches: that’s how many Welsh dragon Joe Calzaghe threw in a fight that is exactly ten years old today.
Amazingly, when looking back on the display of sheer dominance Calzaghe put on inside The MEN arena in Manchester, he was the underdog entering the fight with unbeaten star in the making Jeff Lacy. Calzaghe, who had a history of injuries and of pulling out of fights, was supposed to be smashed by the Floridian puncher some were calling “the next Mike Tyson.” Instead, British boxing bore witness to one of the finest, most ruthlessly efficient performances in ring history.
Luis Ortiz – Tony Thompson quotes
(Photo Credit: Louis Tinsley – Tom Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions) WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 3, 2016) – Fighters featured on the March 5 HBO Boxing After Dark telecast shared their final thoughts ahead of Saturday’s fights at the final press conference today in Washington, D.C. WBA Interim Heavyweight Champion Luis “The Real King Kong” Ortiz (24-0, 21 KOs) was joined by Tony “The Tiger” Thompson (40-6, 27 KOs) ahead of their clash in the main event on the HBO Boxing After Dark telecast on Saturday.
Muhammad Ali postpones trip to UK until the summer, wants to meet the Queen in his final visit
Heavyweight legend Muhammad Ali had hoped to be in the UK today, to officially open the “I am the Greatest” exhibition honoring his life and career at The O2. But, as reported by The Mirror, the 74-year-old icon was told by doctors that he needed to build up his strength for the long flight from the U.S. Reportedly, Ali, who has been bravely battling Parkinson’s since being diagnosed in 1984 (but many of Ali’s fans believe the great man was actually suffering from the disease a fair bit sooner than then; perhaps as early as the late 1970s, when he was of course still fighting at the highest level) will get his fitness levels up as high as is possible for a man who has Parkinson’s, and the plan is for “The Greatest” to then visit the UK, and the exhibition, in the summer.
Tyson Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessey on the next fight: “100-percent, it’s Wladimir in the rematch”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STEArRmWHxc
Tyson Fury’s promoter seems to know more than his fighters does! Just this past Saturday, when speaking with Sky Sports, the heavyweight champion said he had “no idea” who, when or where he was fighting next. But today, in speaking with Sky Sports himself, Fury’s promoter, Mick Hennessey, confirmed it will be Klitschko next for Fury, in the contracted rematch.
With the WBA ordering Frampton to defend against Rigondeaux next, “Rigo” asks the new WBA/IBF champ, “Are you a coward?”
Yesterday, BBC Sport reported how the WBA have ordered Carl Frampton to fight Guillermo Rigondeaux by July 27th or face being stripped. As fans know, unbeaten Irishman Frampton added the WBA title to his IBF 122-pound belt with a points win over Scott Quigg this past Saturday. Back in late 2015, Rigondeaux, also unbeaten, was stripped of the WBA (and the WBO) title for inactivity and Quigg, the interim WBA champ, was elevated to full champion.
Lucas Browne – Ruslan Chagaev on Saturday
LUCAS BROWNE: “I HAVE 24 MILLION AUSSIES BEHIND ME”
LUCAS BROWNE believes he’ll have a whole nation supporting him when he steps into the ring to face WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in Grozny on Saturday night (March 5).
While there will be few Australians to cheer him on in the arena this weekend, Browne feels everyone in his homeland will be turning on their TV sets and hoping for him to make history.
Stacey Reile declared GFBG featherweight champion
Stacey “Stay Lo” Reile holds the distinction of winning the first International Boxing Federation (IBF) female featherweight title. Reile is now also the first female featherweight champion of another sanctioning body: the newly formed Global Female Boxing Guild (GFBG). The sanctioning body is solely for women’s boxing and does not sanction title fights for men. Reile was recently presented the GFBG featherweight championship belt at a ceremony in Miami Beach, Florida. When Reile obtained the IBF female featherweight title in 2011, it was after she won a boxing match against Dahiana Santana. This is different from how she obtained the GFBG featherweight title because she did not have to fight anyone to receive it.