Lou DiBella
Thanks, everybody for joining us for the main event conference call for the PBC on FOX and FOX Deportes show on July 15th live at 8:00 pm Eastern Time, 5:00 pm Pacific Time on FOX and live at NYCB Live home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum o=in Uniondale, New York.
Guillermo Rigondeaux (17-0, 11 KOs), WBA World Super Bantamweight Champion
“I can’t wait for Saturday night. The Mexican boxing community is going to be out there and every Mexican is ready for war, so we’re ready to put on a spectacular fight on Saturday. I believe my preparation has always been excellent and the Cuban school of boxing has always been something I’ve focused on. I believe, on Saturday, June 17, it will be shown. I train for one boxer at a time and when it comes, it comes. You just train hard all the time. No boxer intimidates me in any way. [Flores] is a good boxer and I’m impressed by his style, but I’m not intimidated by anyone. It’s a God-given gift to move [the way I do] in the ring and have the reflexes I have. It just kicks in. I go to work when I step into the ring.
On Wednesday, June 14, the televised undercard of Andre Ward vs. Sergey Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” sat down to participate in roundtables with the media during Fight Week Powered by Monster. Head trainers Virgil Hunter (Team Ward) and John David Jackson (Team Kovalev) followed the group of boxing talent with respective roundtables of their own. Ward-Kovalev 2: “The Rematch” will take place Saturday, June 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The championship event, presented by Corona Extra, will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View® beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT.
While we fans and the man himself await his next fight, WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder has run into a little bit of trouble. According to a news story in The Tusacaloosa News paper, Wilder was arrested yesterday in his home town.
Pulled over in his car, Wilder’s Cadillac was found to have some marijuana inside. The unbeaten KO artist was arrested and later released on a $1,000 bail. According to Wilder’s attorney, Paul Patterson, the drugs belonged to someone other than Wilder, who had loaned out his car whilst being out of town.
For those fight fans that are interested, further details have come out on the “Super-Fight” that is now official for August 26 – Floyd Mayweather versus Conor McGregor. Dana White, in speaking with Fox Sports, said the fight will be fought over a scheduled 12 rounds, it will be fought at the light-middleweight limit of 154-pounds and the two fighters will fight using 10oz gloves.
White, doing his best to further hype the fight as a genuinely competitive match-up, said that in his opinion Mayweather “struggles with southpaws.” The MMA warrior from Ireland is of course a southpaw and maybe, just maybe, White will be proven right, and Floyd will, for a round or two, struggle with McGregor’s stance.
… insists he was not outclassed, says he would have stopped Ward had the fight been a 15-rounder
Like the rest of us, former super-middleweight king Carl Froch is interested to see what happens in Saturday’s big rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev. Froch, these days content in retirement from the ring and working as a pundit for Sky Sports, of course faced Ward, down at super-middleweight, in the “Super-Six” final.
Juergen Braehmer says Paul Smith (38-6, 22 KOs) is not on the same level as Tyron Zeuge (20-0-1, 11 KOs) and is confident his protégé will defend the WBA World Super Middleweight title on Saturday, June 17 at the Rittal Arena in Wetzlar, Germany.
Braehmer, who guided Zeuge to his World title win over Giovanni De Carolis on November 5 at the MBS Arena in Potsdam, believes we have yet to see the best of the Berlin boxer, and expects him to show his class against his British challenger Smith.
Welp, looks like we’re off to another iteration of the “Fight of the Century,” and to no surprise, it looks much like the Mayweather-Pacquiao “Fight of the Century” we endured back in 2015.
Both bouts have Floyd Mayweather – the supreme talent of his generation; both feature tireless back-and-forth “will they, won’t they?” speculation and conjecture designed to keep the masses on edge. Both of them seemingly dominate the news in boxing. And both seem less focused on the fight potential itself, and far more heavily focused on the cash-grab potential. Not a good sign.
Carl Frampton certainly likes fighting tough Mexican warriors. The former super-bantamweight and featherweight ruler will face Andres Gutierrez in Belfast on July 29. The fight will be a WBC featherweight eliminator.
Frampton, 23-1(14) was last seen losing a close decision in his rematch with Mexico’s great Leo Santa Cruz, having previously decisioned him in an earlier, more action-packed fight. Now wanting to fight for another world title and become a three-weight king, “The Jackal” has not in any way picked an easy or safe opponent in the 35-1-1(25) 23 year old from Guadalajara.
FOX Sports UFC analysts and hosts react to the Mayweather vs. McGregor announcement today. Plus, on UFC TONIGHT, host Kenny Florian, guest host Tyron Woodley and Karyn Bryant react to the Mayweather vs. McGregor news and catch up with UFC president Dana White and Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole.
UFC TONIGHT host Kenny Florian on Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor and what this means for McGregor: “I’m still trying to figure out what dimension we’re in. We’ve never seen anything like this. Conor McGregor has done some amazing things in mixed martial arts. He’s a two weight champion in the UFC, he’s broken UFC PPV records, and now he’s fighting the best boxer in our generation in Floyd. This is amazing.”