OSCAR DE LA HOYA: Thank you very much. First of all, to all the media who has joined us for today, for the Miguel Cotto-Sadam Ali international media conference call.
Just want to say a few words about the event. Obviously, this is a classic event. As one star says good-bye and another one looks to try to fill that void, that one we’ll leave behind.
An energized, reinvigorated Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) spoke with Southern California’s leading boxing journalists and websites and put on a show of skills at a media workout on Tuesday, November 14. The event also featured Kovalev’s new trainer, Abror Tursunpulatov; Kathy Duty, CEO of Main Events, and Egis Klimas, Kovalev’s manager. (Photo credit Craig Bennett/Main Events)
Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev – former unified light heavyweight world champion
If he could pull it off, it would almost certainly go down as a bigger upset than the one he scored in July of this year in dethroning defending WBO welterweight champ Manny Pacquiao – and Jeff Horn says he “knows” he can do it: beat pound-for-pound star Terence Crawford.
As per Australia’s Grantlee Kieza’s weekly boxing blog via The Courier Mail, Horn says he is “very keen to fight Terence Crawford.” The unbeaten Horn faces Britain’s Gary Corcoran on December 13 in Brisbane, but “The Hornet” is looking at a massive fight with unbeaten two-weight king Crawford; who has recently moved up to 147.
Tributes have been flooding in due to the sad passing of lifelong boxing figure Rafael Garcia; best known for being a long-serving cutman for Floyd Mayweather Junior. Mayweather has led the tributes, of both the written and verbal variety.
Garcia was 88 years old and he died due to a heart attack, he was also suffering from leukaemia.
IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua is ready to put himself in the same class as boxing greats Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson if he can beat champions Deontay Wilder [WBC] and Joseph Parker [WBO] next year. Joshua feels he’ll be mentioned with those greats when/if he defeats Parker and Wilder.
You won’t see it on BoxRec and chances are it won’t generate too many articles or post-fight reports, but all-time great James Toney is set to fight again – in Bristol, England on November 25, against Sam Pomphrey, 2-0 as a pro.
It’s a white collar bout and 27 year old Pomphrey, a good amateur boxer who boxed in a number of tournaments before briefly going pro (both bouts taking place at light-heavyweight, Pomphrey winning both via decision; his debut against a guy who was 6-36-2, his second fight against a 0-1-0 fighter) – is understandably excited about the prospect of sharing the ring with a living legend.
WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders won’t be fighting IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin anytime soon, but he still believes he has the perfect strategy for giving him his first loss of his career.
Former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has started training, and he’s looking very good for a fighter that is still overweight. In the training video released, Fury is showing the movement and athletic skills that made him the No.1 heavyweight in the division 2 years ago in 2015.
Top Rank on ESPN will kick off its 2018 season with a sensational Super Bowl weekend world championship event. GILBERTO “Zurdo” RAMÍREZ , Mexico’s super middleweight champion with the matinee idol looks, defending his world title. Ramírez (36-0, 24 KOs), from Mazatlan, Mexico, will make his third defense of his World Boxing Organization (WBO) super middleweight title against Top-Five world-rated contender HABIB “Wild Hurricane” AHMED (22-0, 17 KOs) from Accra, Ghana. The fight will take place on Saturday, February 3, at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, TX, and will be televised live and exclusively at 10:30 p.m. EST on ESPN and ESPN Deportes and stream live on the ESPN App.
IBF World Super-Middleweight Champion James DeGale MBE will defend his title against American Caleb Truax in his long-awaited British homecoming on Saturday 9th December when he headlines at London’s Copper Box Arena, exclusively live on BT Sport and BoxNation.