In somewhat of an unexpected surprise, unified light heavyweight champion of the world, Andre Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) retired from professional boxing. Ward was 33 years old, and was widely viewed as the best pound for pound boxer in the world. He is coming off of an impressive stoppage victory against Sergey Kovalev last June.
Though Tom Loeffler, promoter of middleweight king Gennady Golovkin, feels his fighter has what it takes to carry on fighting until the age of 40, he also says there is no chance 40 year old Floyd Mayweather will ever agree to face him, even at 154 pounds.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Loeffler said that never at any time were there “serious talks” between GGG and Mayweather; even though “ out of respect to Floyd, he is the only fighter that Gennady would have come to 154 for.”
As fight fans the word over know, boxing great Jake LaMotta passed away this week at the long-lived age of 95. Tributes have been pouring in from all over, deservedly so, and most celebratory pieces written in dedication to “The Bronx Bull” go into great detail about Jake’s great chin, his unimaginably tough and durable chin.
Truly a phenomenon, LaMotta, who retired from the ring with an astonishing 83-19-4(30) record in April of 1954, outlived his famous ring rivals by a considerable amount of time. The sublime Sugar Ray Robinson has been gone for well over thirty years, Frenchman Laurent Dauthuille, against whom Jake scored that flabbergasting, come-from-behind, last 13-seconds of the 15th-round KO, passed away back in 1971. Tony Janiro, the good looking kid Jake busted up (as immortalized in the classic movie starring Robert De Niro (“well, he ain’t good looking no more”) left us in 1985. And the list goes on.
It was the most frustrating, horrible night of Carl Froch’s entire boxing career, one the retired “Cobra” still has nightmares about some six years on. And it is due to the bad night Froch had against Andre Ward, along with Ward’s particular fighting style, that Froch says he will not miss the two-time champ one bit.
As fans know, 33 year old Ward shocked many people by announcing his retirement yesterday. Though he’s still very much on top of his game – scoring a very impressive stoppage over arguably the most dangerous 175 pounder on the planet, Sergey Kovalev in his most recent fight – Ward has had enough. And Froch, who says he was as shocked as everyone else was by the decision of his former foe, says he wouldn’t be too surprised if the unbeaten former champ decided to make a comeback down the road.
The Yunier Dorticos vs. Dmitry Kudryashov & Joseph Parker vs. Hughie Fury standout in a busy boxing weekend that includes cards on ESPN, HBO, YouTube, and a variety of available (legal) streams.
Let’s begin this preview and predictions piece with another installment of the Top Rank on ESPN series. The televised tripleheader opens up with Micheal Conlan and is headlined by Oscar Valdez’s making a mandatory defense of his 126 pound WBO belt. Let’s hope the main event is at least entertaining style-wise and that Conlan puts on show. The best matchup on paper is Gilberto Ramirez (35-0) vs. Jessie Hart (22-0) in the co-feature.
The Triple G vs. Canelo showdown dwindled into a Big Drama Draw instead of the ‘show’ expected from a “Mexican style” fighter and a Mexican proper fighter. The champion who was labeled as one of the most avoided boxers needed a defining fight to meet fans expectations.
SHOWTIME Sports® will close out a banner year of world-class boxing with back-to-back Saturdays featuring heavyweight world championship fights live on SHOWTIME. The network announced today coverage of unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua’s upcoming WBA and IBF world title defense against top-rated mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev on Saturday, October 28 live on SHOWTIME from Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.
“Andre Ward ends his boxing career as he only knew how to live it — as a champion at the top,” says Peter Nelson, Executive Vice President, HBO Sports. “To watch Ward was to marvel at constant mastery of craft in the ring, to say nothing of his being the consummate role model outside it. The Hall of Fame will be lucky to have him.
Great trainer Freddie Roach insists his most famous fighter, Manny Pacquiao, is not finished yet but concedes how the end is “close” for the all-time great. Speaking with Sky Sports, Roach revealed how he has received offers to face Terence Crawford “and some other guys,” but that the fight he wants Pac Man to take is the return with Jeff Horn.
As fans know, this rematch will not happen this year as was the original plan, with Pacquiao deciding he wants until next year to fully prepare for the return bout. Roach says this fight will likely take place next year (no word yet on whether or not Manny is still set on not going back to Australia, the scene of the first fight, back in July) and that he would like to see Pacquiao call it a day afterwards.
Miguel Cotto has made two things clear: he will not fight beyond December of this year, his retirement plans being absolutely final, and he wants to go out with, as he says it, “a bang.” The target the Puerto Rican great had in mind before last Saturday night was the winner between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez.
As we all know there was no winner at the conclusion of the most heavily hyped middleweight showdown in years, so Cotto seems to be out of luck with regards to his facing either warrior (who are almost certain to box a rematch, perhaps next May.) But Cotto has just been given another very interesting retirement fight possibility courtesy of lightweight ruler Mikey Garcia.