OAKLAND, CA (March 23, 2015) – On Tuesday, March 22, Two-Time World Champion and top-rated pound-for-pound fighter Andre Ward (28-0, 15 KOs) and number one rated IBF light heavyweight contender Sullivan Barrera (17-0, 12 KOs) participated in a media workout at King’s Gym in Oakland, California in advance of their March 26 fight at Oracle Arena in Oakland. Ward and Barrera will meet in 12-round IBF number one position and mandatory position eliminator bout televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT. NABF Featherweight Champion Joseph “Jojo” Diaz Jr. (19-0, 11 KOs) and top-rated featherweight contender Jayson “Star” Velez (23-1-1, 16 KOs) were also in attendance during the workout ahead of their 10-round NABF Featherweight title fight which will open up the HBO telecast.
Month: March 2016
Froch thinks Saunders beats GGG
British boxing great Carl Froch says WBO Middleweight King Billy Joe Saunders has the skills to take out Kazakh middleweight king Gennady Golovkin.
Froch, a four-time super-middleweight world champion, refuses to jump on the GGG bandwagon and has backed the undefeated Saunders to prove he is the world’s true middleweight champion.
Andre Ward vs. Sullivan Barrera – beware of the underdog
Sullivan Barrera (17-0) and Andre Ward (28-0) are scheduled to fight each other this Saturday at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Ward’s hometown. Barrera, an ex-Cuban amateur who turned pro in 2009, is the mandatory challenger for Sergey Kovalev’s IBF title but he will fight Ward instead who is rated fourth after one fight at light heavyweight. The Cuban is advertised as an amateur standout but the last time he stood out was back in the year 2000 when he won the World Junior Championship.
Anthony Dirrell vs. Caleb Truax & Andre Dirrell vs. Blake Caparello on 4/29
Olympic Bronze Medalist Andre Dirrell (24-2, 16 KOs) takes on Australia’s Blake Caparello (22-1-1, 6 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight attraction as Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) returns to Spike on Friday, April 29 from Taj Mahal Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Also on the same card, Dirrell’s brother, former world champion Anthony “The Dog” Dirrell (28-1-1, 22 KOs) will meet former world title challenger Caleb “Golden” Truax (26-2-2, 16 KOs) in a 10-round super middleweight affair as part of an exciting night of PBC on Spike action beginning at 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT.
Beibut Shumenov looking for title shot
World Boxing Association (WBA) Interim Cruiserweight World champion Beibut Shumenov (16-2, 10 KOs) is targeting the May 21st unification title winner between WBA titlist Denis Lebedev (28-2, 21 KOs) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion Victor Emilio “El Tyson de Abasto” Ramirez (22-2-1, 17 KOs). When Shumenov defeated B.J. Flores (31-1-1, 20 KOs) last July in Las Vegas, the former WBA light heavyweight champion became WBA Interim champion as well as its No. 1 mandatory contender.
Get well soon, Herol “Bomber” Graham
British great Herol Graham – widely recognized as one of the finest fighters of recent years never to have won a world title – is currently in hospital, battling complications that arose from a burst appendix, so reports The Sheffield Star. The former British, Commonwealth and European king who retired with a 48-6(28) record in 1998 – after a stoppage loss to Charles Brewer in what was the ludicrously talented southpaw’s third crack at world glory – has been given a boost by way of hospital visits from the likes of Frank Bruno, Colin McMillan and other British boxing stars.
Pacquiao speaks about his recent lack of KO wins: I’m a 140-pounder, I can make 135
Superstar Manny Pacquiao, a once vicious, unstoppable whirlwind of a fighter, has heard the criticism thrown his way for not scoring a knockout victory in quite some time (Pac-Man’s last stoppage win coming over Miguel Cotto back in 2009) – and the former multi-weight king has an explanation: he is not a welterweight.
Despite having fought in the 147-pound division for some time – included amongst his welterweight bouts the highest grossing fight in history with Floyd Mayweather Junior – 37-year-old Pacquiao, 57-6-2(38) told ESPN Deportes he is really a natural 140-pounder who could still make lightweight if he really wanted to. This, Pac-Man says, accounts for his long string of KO-less fights.
New WBA heavyweight champ Lucas Browne fails drugs test, is seeking legal advice
Recently crowned WBA heavyweight titlist Lucas Browne, who made history by becoming the first Australian to win a portion of the world heavyweight title with his stunning stoppage win over Ruslan Chagaev, is today seeking legal advice after reports surfaced saying he failed a drugs test.
According to a story broken by ESPN.com and subsequently picked up by a vast number of publications and web sites, Browne tested positive for the metabolism booster, Clenbuterol. Browne, responding to the report via his Twitter page, insists he knows nothing about these events and that he will seek the advice of a lawyer immediately.
Ormond dominated Jimenez, captured the lightweight IBF Intercontinental Belt
Stephen “The Rock” Ormond crushed Marcos Leonardo Jimenez over ten one-side rounds, en route to unanimous decision victory, 100-90 on all three scorecards in the main event. Ormond with the victory, obtained the vacant lightweight IBF intercontinental title and upped his record to 21-2, 11 KOs. He has won four in a row while Jimenez dropped to 21-7, 14 KOs.
Ormond pressed the action and connected on whatever he wanted, especially in the last couple of rounds. He landed several extremely powerful combinations on Jimenez throughout this fight that badly staggered him and it appeared that he would knockout Jimenez, but Jimenez somehow hung in there and didn’t go down. Jimenez deserved a great deal of credit for not getting knocked down from all the punishment that he absorbed from Ormond’s punches. Jimenez; however, was unable to sustain any effective offensive output to turn this fight around.
Lemieux-Tapia in co-feature bout on Canelo-Khan card
LOS ANGELES (March 21, 2016) – Before WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion, Canelo Alvarez (46-1-1, 32 KOs) and former two-time world champion Amir “King” Khan (31-3, 19 KOs) step into the ring at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday, May 7 for the biggest fight of 2016 thus far, three hard-hitting bouts have been confirmed to get fight fans ready for the main event.
Canada’s biggest boxing star and former IBF Middleweight World Champion David Lemieux (34-3, 31 KOs) will be looking to make an impression and use his power against the swift contender from Passaic, New Jersey, Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia (23-2, 15 KOs) in a 10-round middleweight co-main event.