While boxing fans, often the most loyal and patient fans in all of sports, remain hopeful the Gennady Golovkin-Saul Canelo Alvarez mega-fight will indeed go ahead this coming September as planned, there is much cause for concern. Most troubling are the recent comments unbeaten middleweight king Golovkin made regarding the contract for the fight, the one Canelo’s promoter Oscar De La Hoya sent to him.
In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, GGG said he has yet to lay eyes on said contract!
Floyd Mayweather, who is currently in the UK on a tour to meet the fans, has officially ended the retirement he had been in since his September 2015 win over Andre Berto – so that’s 18 months if you’re keeping count.
Talking to the fans and media in attendance at Liverpool’s Auditorium last night, the 40 year-old star said he is “tired” of the excuses MMA star Conor McGregor is making with regards to making a fight with him, and Floyd said he has “officially” ended his retirement as he aims for McGregor.
Irish warrior Jamie Conlan did it again last night: he overcame adversity in a thrilling action fight and somehow managed to pull out a win. In edging tough, dangerous and experienced Yader Cardoza of Nicaragua via 12 round split decision – Conlan prevailing by scores of 115-113, 114-113, the third judge having it 115-112 for the visiting fighter – “The Irish Mexican” improved to 19-0(11).
Two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Claressa Shields shined in her television debut, knocking out the durable Szilvia Szabados in the fourth round (1:30) to advance to 2-0 as a professional in the main event on ShoBox: The New Generation Friday on SHOWTIME at MGM Grand Detroit.
Shields (2-0, 1 KOs) put on a show less than an hour from her hometown of Flint, Mich., landing nearly 50 percent of her power shots in the first women’s boxing main event in premium television history.
A future date with Canelo is potentially at stake when former middleweight champion David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens meet in the main event on HBO this Saturday night. Could this be a setup bout to ensure a quality opponent for Canelo Alvarez in September assuming Golden Boy Promotions and K2 Promotions can’t seal the deal on a Canelo vs. Golovkin fight? Regardless of what the future holds for the winner, the matchup itself is worth watching.
Demetrius Andrade W 12 Jack Culcay (116-112, 116-112, 113-115)
Nikki Adler W 10 Mery Rancier
Leon Bauer W 10 Soso Abuladze
Alexander Peil W 8 Ramazi Gogichashvili
Gamal Yafai W 6 Khvicha Gigolashvili
Tomi Honka W 4 Mateusz Gatek
Undefeated former Jr. Middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade and his camp have been in Germany all week as he gets ready to take on WBA Super Welterweight champion Jack Culcay in their long awaited showdown Saturday, March 11th at the Fredrich Eberthalle in Ludwigshaten, Germany, for Culcay’s WBA title.
A Message to Artur Beterbiev from Team Sullivan Barrera:
Artur, Yesterday, you decided to go to the internet and social media as you have tried to do in the past and paint your own picture of the IBF eliminator bout between yourself and Sullivan Barrera. Maybe your propaganda works in Russia and in Canada but not in the United States. The fact is this fight was doomed to fail from the beginning and you can only look to your fake promoter for reasons and excuses.
Tyson Fury admits he is weighing a whopping 25 stone, or 350 pounds right now, but the former, unbeaten, heavyweight champ insists he has beaten depression in “the hardest fight” of his life and is more than ready for a fresh start. It could be a long road back for the 28 year-old who has not boxed since sensationally upsetting defending champion Wladimir Klitschko in November of 2015, and he has yet to obtain a license to box in the UK.
Fury, who is absolutely adamant he is a clean fighter and has never taken steroids or any other performance-enhancing drugs, will face a full investigation from VADA in May. But before then, the hard training will start and Fury has all that weight to shift. But, as he said via twitter, Fury says losing the weight will be no real problem for him.
Keith Thurman wants to fight the best and give the fans what they want to see; ditto Shawn Porter. And when the two welterweight stars faced one another in June of last year, we witnessed a classic. Ever since the close decision that was awarded to Thurman, fans have craved a rematch.
Mayweather, speaking in an exclusive interview with BT Sport’s Rio Ferdinand…
Mayweather on England:
“I love England, I always loved England. At one particular time I wanted to fight in England – that didn’t happen, but a lot of people are asking me about number 50 so we just don’t know at this particular time, but we don’t know what the future holds.”