Middleweight king Gennady Golovkin is definitely a star, but is he a big star; even a mega-star? Oscar De La Hoya has major doubts regarding Golovkin’s ability to pull in the big pay-per-view numbers, and as a result, the earlier verbal offer to GGG for a September fight with Canelo Alvarez is “off the table.”
Speaking with The Los Angeles Times, De La Hoya said that a new offer will be put forward to GGG, one that will take into consideration the middleweight champ’s pay-per-view sales.
54-year-old Bobby Hitz, a proud native of Chicago, is a former heavyweight who turned promoter and today, aside from wanting to see one of the fighters he currently promotes become world heavyweight champion, his main goal is to “help keep boxing flourishing.”
Hitz, who went 21-4 as a pro (Bobby says BoxRec’s 15-5 numbers are wrong) had his biggest fight in 1988, when he met a comebacking George Foreman in Michigan. One round later, Hitz began thinking of a life after boxing. Still, Hitz has boxing in his blood and he wanted to remain active in the sport. A couple of fights later, after a meeting with Jackie Kallen in Detroit, Bobby found his calling: that of boxing promoter.
One of the oldest, most often repeated sayings in the sport of boxing is, it’s tough becoming a world champion, but it’s even harder remaining as one. Everyone from Mike Tyson to Muhammad Ali has said these words and right now, one man who knows first hand how incredibly hard it can be to stay at the top of the mountain once you’ve got there , is training for a comeback.
Manchester Arena in England will be jam-packed again for a rematch from an entertaining dust-up between Jorge Linares and Anthony Crolla this Saturday. In the states Showtime, currently leaving HBO in the dust, will be the broadcaster of this lightweight showdown in the afternoon. The big question heading into this rematch is what if anything can Crolla do differently?
It’s one of the most eagerly awaited, even demanded, rematches in recent memory; it’s Andre Ward-Sergey Kovalev II, and almost as soon as the decision, in favour of Ward, was announced last November, fans called for it. According to a piece on RingTV.com, the date for the return meeting is June 17, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, but Ward, as of yet, has not signed on the dotted line.
Unbeaten WBC Super Welterweight World Champion Jermell Charlo will defend his world title against No. 1-rated challenger Charles Hatley Saturday, April 22 live on SHOWTIME® from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.
Televised coverage of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, presented by Premier Boxing Champions, begins at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT and is headlined by former world champions Andre Berto and Shawn Porter meeting in a 12-round welterweight world title eliminator.
As fight fans may have read by now, British heavyweight warrior Dereck Chisora will travel to Finland for a rematch with Robert Helenius on May 27 (the month of May really looking like a great month for boxing, what with the heavyweight battle added to big fights including Canelo-Chavez and Brook-Spence).
A good, solid fight, one that will be a sequel to the controversial points win Helenius picked up in 2011 (British promoter Frank Warren calling the decision one of the worst he had ever seen at the time), Helenius-Chisora II could well prove entertaining. But, as an official WBC eliminator, the question has to be asked: is either Chisora, 26-7(18) or Helenius, 24-1(15) capable of defeating Deontay Wilder, or even of giving the reigning WBC king a tough fight?
WBA Lightweight World Champion Jorge Linares and his British counterpart Anthony Crolla both weighed in at 134 ½ pounds for their lightweight title rematch tomorrow/Saturday, March 25 at Manchester Arena live on SHOWTIME® (6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT).
The SHOWTIME BOXING INTERNATIONAL® presentation originates from New York City with WBC Lightweight World Champion Mikey Garcia serving as guest analyst alongside host Brian Custer and analysts Al Bernstein and Paulie Malignaggi.
We’ve seen some shocking, unlikely match-ups get made just recently in boxing; where two men from different weight classes, sometimes with more than one weight class between them, got it on in a catch-weight bout. Recently, no-one saw Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan coming, or Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook; while going back a few years, the Manny Pacquiao-Oscar De La Hoya fight was widely ridiculed when it was first announced.
Might a Tony Bellew-Chris Eubank Junior clash be the next catch-weight contest that will get shot down initially but then just might catch on with the fans? Due to a highly entertaining and amusing twitter battle between the two British stars, Eubank – the former British middleweight champ who recently moved up to 168 pounds and won the lightly regarded IBO belt at the weight -called Bellew out.
Golden Boy Boxing on ESPN debuted with a bang Thursday night as rising middleweight contender Jason “El Animal” Quigley (13-0, 10 KOs) took home the NABF middleweight championship, earning a hard-fought 10-round unanimous decision over a game Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia (23-4, 15 KOs) in the main event before a sold out crowd at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino and televised live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.