Linares & Mitchell Set To Do It Again?

Those that witnessed it saw something special last Saturday when Dagenham lightweight Kevin Mitchell tragically fell short of his world title dream against Venezuelan WBC champ Jorge Linares, when he was stopped at the end of the 10th round after giving an heroic account of himself – flooring the champion along the way and sustaining an horrific eye injury from an earlier clash of heads.

For those that had doubted whether Mitchell truly belonged at top level, things became a little clearer given his performance. In a thrilling contest, at the time of the stoppage, Mitchell was up on 2 of the cards and things were level on the third. A fitting testament to the drama that left those in attendance and watching at home crying out for more.

Shawn Porter: No Concerns About The Catchweight - Porter v Broner

The catchweight situation is at the forefront of boxing more than ever right now, most notably with Miguel Cotto, who is using it as the preferred method of defending his WBC middleweight title this weekend against Australia’s Daniel Geale – a visibly larger fighter.

A similar situation, although not quite as extreme, surrounds welterweight Shawn Porter, who fights Adrien Broner as part of Premier Boxing Champions on June 20th at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas at a 145lb catchweight – though unlike Geale, he has a 10lb rehydaration clause woven into the contract that means he won’t be able to “blow-up” on the night beyond 155.

Talking to ThaBoxingVoice about the fight and the catchweight stipulation imposed by Team Broner, Porter was relaxed and confident about the job in hand;

Many many column inches are being devoted to the potential Brook v Khan fight, that so far continues to elude us thanks to Amir Khan’s stubborn insistence that Brook is somehow ‘undeserving’ of sharing a ring with him.

It’s a fight the British public in particular are desperate to see – and thankfully, down to this day and age of media saturation via the internet – every verbal barb and excuse is visible and it’s growing increasingly obvious who is stopping this fight from happening – even to the man in the street and the “casual” fan, if you will.

And it’s not the IBF 147lb champion, who has once again gone on the record to state his position unequivocally regarding Khan, telling Sky Sports;

Robert Garcia Concerned By Coming To The UK - Brook v Rios

He was in London at the weekend to corner his fighter Evgeny Gradovich in his (unsuccessful) defence of the IBF 126lb strap against Lee Selby – and following that TD loss, Robert Garcia has spoken to fighthype.com to voice any concerns he has about making Brook/Rios in the UK, hinting that contractually there are already a number of things he doesn’t like – even going so far as to question the neutrality of British officials – and even the ringside doctor!

Never shy, Garcia said;

“Brandon wants the fight, we want the fight too but there’s already a few little things that I’m not liking. First of all they told us we wouldn’t be able to wear the (Everlast) MX gloves. They said the commission in London or England, whatever (BBBofC) – that they’ve pretty much banned those gloves. I think that’s just ’cause of us, ’cause they know what we wear and they’re worried.”

The main event is former world champion, Robert Guerrero (32-3-1 18 KOs) out of Gilroy, California. Robert’s no stranger to the southern California boxing fans, having posted two huge wins in recent years: the sensational 12-round decision over Andre Berto in November 2012 down in Ontario, and his epic fight-of-the-year win over Yoshihiro Kamegai on June 21, 2014 at the StubHub Center.

Aaron Martinez, West Covina, California has a record of (19-3-1, 4 KOs). He made his bones on the southern California boxing circuit, and knows how valuable this opportunity to face Guerrero is on such a big platform. Martinez never takes a backward step, never tires, and that’s his primary weapon: incredible stamina. With the styles of Guerrero-Martinez, this main event has all the makings of another action-packed StubHub Center war to add to the venue’s history.

Froch Hits Back At DeGale : 'Wouldn't Get Past 8 vs Me'

After he vacated his IBF title instead of facing James DeGale (his then mandatory) in the first instance – something that allowed the Londoner to box – and beat – Andre Dirrell in Boston last month for said title, Carl Froch has spoken out (again!) to hit back at DeGale for his recent pu*** slur on him, insisting he is too experienced for the new champion to deal with – and certainly no pu***.

Speaking to TalkSport to criticise DeGale’s history making performance against Dirrell, Froch said;

“I thought he did just what he had to do to win the fight. I thought he could have pressed it home a little bit more when he scored the knockdown, (but) he seemed off the pace and on the back foot towards the end.”

I have long been a vocal supporter of Amir Khan, but he seems to be doing his utmost to alienate anybody who still has the belief in him to back him against his many detractors. He has now had a minimum of 2 opportunities to sign up to a World title fight and he has rejected them both. His last fight was against an opponent who was, with all due respect, completely irrelevant. His excuses are changing every time; I want Mayweather, I want Pacquiaio, I want World title fights, and now apparently Kell Brook is not worthy of a fight with King Khan. It is becoming harder and harder to argue that Khan is one of the top fighters in the Welterweight division and, perhaps more importantly, I no longer want to try.

Roc Nation Sports and Miguel Cotto Promotions hosted the final press conference for the June 6 showdown between WBC and Ring Magazine Middleweight World Champion Miguel Cotto and former Two-Time World Champion Daniel Geale on Tuesday, June 2 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City. Along with the main event participants, undercard fighters Junior Younan and Zhang Zhilei were also in attendance.

Other speakers included Michael Yormark (President & Chief of Branding and Strategy of Roc Nation), Hector Soto (Miguel Cotto Promotions), Freddie Roach (Cotto’s Trainer), Gary Shaw (Gary Shaw Productions), Graham Shaw (Geale’s Trainer), Brett Yormark (CEO of Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets), Peter Nelson (VP HBO Sports Programming), David Berlin (Executive Director of the New York State Athletic Commission) and Ululy Martinez (Vice Chairman of the National Puerto Rican Day Parade Board of Directors). The press conference was emceed by Brooklyn Nets Public Address Announcer David Diamante.

Khan Says Brook Needs Him & Having An 'Easy Run'

It hasn’t taken long for Amir Khan to find his way home following Friday night’s laboured victory over Chris Algieri – and after initially appearing to concede his performance may have dented his chances of a Floyd Mayweather fight – a series of interviews with various UK media outlets appear to show the Bolton man has changed his mind.

Last night on regional news in the North-West and now in an interview with TalkSport radio, the former Athens Olympian addressed both the issues of Floyd Mayweather and more pertinently, domestic rival Kell Brook – a man he is ostensibly avoiding, all the while insisting the IBF 147lb champion is yet to prove himself.

He said;

Deontay Wilder's Gimme Fight - Wilder v Molina

I’ve said it countless times before. Deontay Wilder is a fighter I really WANT to like and after winning his WBC title in January against Bermane Stiverne, I’d taken baby steps toward that in terms of the Bronze Bomber answering some of the questions that fans had about him – most notably his 12 round engine and ability to take a shot.

So I joined everybody else groaning in despair at his ‘gimme’ defence against Eric Molina that has been picked up Sky Sports in the UK as opposed to Boxnation – and found myself laughing out loud at the title of the Showsports press release this morning – encaptioned ‘Deontay Wilder Hopes Eric Molina Fights Back on June 13.’

Linares & Mitchell Set To Do It Again?

Shawn Porter: No Concerns About The Catchweight – Porter v Broner

Kell Brook Clears Up The Khan Situation

Robert Garcia Concerned By Coming To The UK – Brook v Rios

Robert Guerrero – Aaron Martinez, Dominic Breazeale quotes

Froch Hits Back At DeGale : ‘Wouldn’t Get Past 8 vs Me’

Amir Khan – King of What?

Cotto and Geale press conference quotes

Khan Says Brook Needs Him & Having An ‘Easy Run’

Deontay Wilder’s Gimme Fight – Wilder v Molina