BERNIE BAHRMASEL: Good afternoon and Good Morning to the international media and thanks very much for joining us on this Media Conference Call promoting the highly anticipated World Middleweight Championship between Unified Middleweight World Champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN, (36-0, 33 KO’s) and WBA Middleweight World Champion and Mandatory Challenger DANIEL “The Miracle Man” JACOBS, (32-1, 29 KO’s) set for Saturday, March 18 from THE Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Lou Duva Obituary: Legendary Boxing Trainer & Manager Passes at age 94
Paterson, NJ, March 8-Legendary Hall of Fame boxing manager and trainer Lou Duva, the patriarch of one of the most influential families in the sport, passed away today at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Paterson, New Jersey. He was 94. He died of natural causes, according to his son Dino Duva. A fiery and charismatic character, Lou Duva’s career spanned seven decades in the corners of boxing champions.
Duva handled the careers of 19 world champions, and most notably trained heavyweight titlist Evander Holyfield, and welterweight kingpins Pernell Whitaker and Meldrick Taylor – all U.S.A. Olympic medalists – just to name a few. Duva’s first world champion was middleweight Joey Giardiello, who won the title in 1963.
Thurman-Garcia II? Angel takes a U-Turn, says the rematch with “Ponytail” will happen
Do fans really want to see a return meeting between welterweight stars Keith Thurman and Danny Garcia? In truth, the clash the two unbeaten warriors engaged in this past Saturday was no classic – it was no dud, but at the same time, it was no Leonard-Hearns.
And after the split decision went “One Time’s” way, Angel Garcia, trainer and of course pop of Danny, said he was “disgusted” with both the official verdict that saw his son lose his WBC belt and unbeaten record, and the sport of boxing itself. Angel, in his own inimitable way, said he wanted Danny to call it quits and retire. No-one really believed the once-beaten Philly talent would actually hang ’em up, and now, via a video Angel has posted (big thanks to Bad Left Hook) Garcia Snr has claimed revenge will be exacted in a return bout.
Lemieux vs. Stevens / Gamboa vs. Alvarado this Saturday on HBO
HBO BOXING AFTER DARK presents a nonstop doubleheader of hot ring action when DAVID LEMIEUX VS. CURTIS STEVENS AND YURIORKIS GAMBOA VS. RENE ALVARADO is seen SATURDAY, MARCH 11 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT) from the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona, NY. The HBO Sports team will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino.
Other HBO playdates: March 12 (9:00 a.m.) and 14 (11:00 p.m.) HBO2 playdates: March 12 (3:30 p.m.) and 13 (12:25 a.m.)
Pacquiao-Khan fight “dead” says Bob Arum; but reports say Khan is still hopeful of landing the fight
Well, we can’t say promoter Bob Arum didn’t warn us. The Top Rank boss was always more than a little bit sceptical over the talked of $38 million super-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan actually taking place. Both fighters announced the fight on twitter as a done deal, with the fight set for April, then May 20, at a location to be determined; most likely in the UAE.
Keith Thurman vs. Danny Garcia ratings stats on CBS
– The peak audience for Saturday’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING ON CBS broadcast of Thurman vs. Garcia reached 5.1 million viewers, the largest audience for a primetime boxing broadcast since 1998 and up 30 percent over last June’s SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING ON CBS primetime broadcast of Thurman vs. Porter. Last Saturday’s peak audience came during the final round of the 12-round main event bout.
Once untouchable, “Sugar” Shane Mosley fights on, will face unbeaten Russian contender Magomed Kurbanov in May
Roy Jones Junior is not the only once great boxing master refusing to call it quits. Former three-weight king “Sugar” Shane Mosley, a fighter cut from similar cloth to the great the Jones, has another fight scheduled at age 45. Last seen dropping a decision to David Avanesyan in May of last year, Mosley, 49-10-1(41) is scheduled to face 10-0 Russian prospect/contender Magomed Kurbanov in Ekaterinburg on May 5th.
Andre Berto and Shawn Porter collide on 4/22 on Showtime
Former world champions Andre Berto and Shawn Porter are set to collide in a welterweight world title eliminator on Saturday, April 22 in the main event of SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, presented by Premier Boxing Champions, from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™.
Berto (31-4, 24 KOs) and Porter (26-2-1, 16 KOs) will battle in a 12-round eliminator for the WBC welterweight title live on SHOWTIME with televised coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT. The winner will become the mandatory for the WBC crown picked up this past weekend by Keith Thurman, who unified the WBA and WBC titles with a victory over Danny Garcia on CBS at Barclays Center.
Haye says he’s far from finished; suggests Bellew trilogy could be up there with the likes of Gatti-Ward, Ali-Frazier
Although he suffered a major injury in his losing fight with Tony Bellew, David Haye is not talking like a man who is resigned to retirement. Haye, who had to take many months off after undergoing a 2012 career-threatening shoulder op, has now undergone surgery on his torn Achilles tear. But although Haye, 36, seems to be a fighter who has a career in tatters, he insists he will still “carry on my path to become No 1 in the world.”
Jamie Conlan: “A Red Mist Descends On Fight Night!”
White knuckle Belfast warlord Jamie Conlan has been swapping leather and lumps against some of the world’s hottest talent in the brutal fight school’s of the US West Coast, ahead of his charge towards a 115lb world title shot this year, writes Glynn Evans.
The 30 year old, who is known for professional purposes as ‘The Mexican’ because of his swarthy looks and lethal liver shots, is already ranked second to Japan’s WBO champ Naoya Inoue and ninth to IBF boss Jerwin ‘Pretty Boy’ Ancajas of the Phillipines.