By Dwight Chittenden: WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) will be defending his title against an opponent still to be determined on December 15th on the undercard of WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley’s first defense of his World Boxing Organization title in an HBO televised fight at the Marlin’s Stadium in Miami, Florida, according to USA Today.
Bundrage-Berto & Abril-Bogere on November 24th
By Rob Smith: A fight between former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) and IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius Bundrage (32-4, 19 KO’s) is reportedly almost complete for November 24th and will be televised by HBO, according to RingTV. On the undercard will be a fight between lightweight contenders Richard Abril (17-3-1, 8 KO’s) going up against unbeaten contender Sharif Bogere (23-0, 15 KO’s) in a fight for the vacant WBA lightweight title. The Bogere-Abril fight is supposed to already be taking place on November 3rd, but it looks like Golden Boy Promotions will be pushing it back to November 24th.
Sergio Martinez wants Mayweather in 2013
By Rob Smith: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez isn’t just content with getting a rematch against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. next year; Martinez also wants a fight against undefeated WBO junior middleweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. Martinez seems to believe that he can get Mayweather in the ring to face him, but the signs aren’t there. Mayweather Jr. is totally silent about a fight against Martinez.
Martinez said to Punto Pelota on Spanish tv, “[Mayweather] be ready because I’m going to find you in 2013.”
The odds are probably very, very low that Mayweather decides on taking the dangerous punching Martinez because Martinez hits too hard and there’s less dangerous options out there for Mayweather to make big money against rather than risking his neck against a bigger and stronger fighter like Martinez.
Khan and McCloskey in talks for rematch in December
By Michael Collins: To show you how far down Amir Khan’s once promising career has plummeted, he’s now looking to go over old ground by taking on a domestic level fighter in 33-year-old Paul McCloskey (24-2, 12 KO’s) in a rematch in December. McCloskey, at one time a contender in the light welterweight division, he’s lost two out of his last four fights [three if you count his gift decision over Breidis Prescott].
In an interview with the BBC Sport, McCloskey’s manager Francie McNichol said “Both parties are serious. The dates being mentioned are 8 or 15, December in Manchester…I would expect that something will be decided in the next week.”
There’s a couple of ways to look at it. One, Khan you could possibly see it as Khan giving up on being a world class fighter and just focusing on facing domestic level opposition in the UK to collect easy paydays to milk his still very high popularity over there.
The life of Brian – Magee vs. Kessler
By Frank Walsh: Born and raised in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Brian Magee’s journey began as an amateur boxer, representing Holy Trinity boxing club in Belfast. A highly successful amateur career saw Magee bag four Ulster senior titles, a Commonwealth bronze medal and a place on Ireland’s boxing team at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Turning professional in March 1999, Magee’s boxing career would ascend to the upper echelon of the super middleweight division. Defeating Britan’s Neil Linford of Britain, provided him his first professional title, the IBO intercontinental super middleweight strap in January of 2001.
Magee successfully defended the title on eight occasions before lifting the British super middleweight title, beating the previously undefeated Scot, Stevie Maguire.
Returning from a thirteen month absence from the ring, and showing no signs of ring rust, Magee defeated Mads Larsen to be crowned the European super middleweight champion.
Last year proved what would be a standout year for Magee when on the 9th of March he entered the ring to wage war, for the WBA super middleweight title against Lucian Bute in front of a partisan crowd in Canada.
Deontay Wilder to fight on December 15th, possibly on Showtime
By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is saying that unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) is being slated to get back in the ring on December 15th in a fight that would wind up being televised on Showtime. There still isn’t an opponent picked out for Wilder for that date, but unbeaten Bryant Jennings (15-0, 7 KO’s) is a slight possibility for that fight.
Jennings, Wilder and Main Events have been battling back and forth on twitter since last night with an offer being made from Main Events, Jennings’ promoter, to Wilder’s promoter at Golden Boy. The offer made for the fight was $20,000, and Schaefer doesn’t look as if he’s going to accept that.
Wilder’s trainer Jay Deas said to RingTV “There’s room for negotiation, and that’s something we’ll explore but there would have to be a lot of negotiation.”
Ricky Hatton: Chasing the Past
By Padraig Ivory: I once saw a black and white photo of Ricky Hatton as he lay unconscious after his last bout in 2009. His ripped abdominal muscles almost gave a cobblestone appearance to the Las Vegas canvas. It was a devastating knockout of the raucously supported English favourite. Now three years later ‘The Hitman’ is preparing both physically and mentally to re-enter the boxing ring.
Envision the early runs. The dew unevenly evaporating from the terrain as the nights shadows slowly recede. The footpaths appear two toned, the white frost fading towards the kerbs edge. His warm breath vaporising as it meets the cooler morning air. The thoughts and dreams of the former champion oscillating to and fro as he paces the city streets.
Turning by Victoria Station he automatically decelerates to a slow jog. Nostalgia weighs heavy. The blurring figure of a younger Ricky Hatton running that same street overtakes the now 33 year old. Inspired by the vivid memory he speeds up, chasing his younger image.
Independence Day Boxing show to thrill Nigerians Monday
By Prince Dornu-Leiku: The Blue Roof of Lagos TV in the Nigerian economic capital takes centre stage when a boxing bonanza with two national titles at stake comes alive on Monday October 1. There will also be music and comedy featuring some of Nigeria’s top comedians to spice up the occasion.
Nigerian Light Welterweight champion Sunday Ajayi (12-6-1, 5 KOs) makes a defence of his title against unbeaten Sadiq Ahmed (4-0, 2 KOs) whilst young Waidi Usman (2-0, 2 KOs) battles Dare Oywola (2-2, 2KOs) for the vacant Nigeria Featherweight championship in the main events.
Under the auspices of the Nigerian Boxing Board of Control (NBBofC) and promoted by Freels and Threels Entertainment headed by Remi Aboderin who is also Secretary General of NBBofC, a total of seven bouts are lined up to whet Nigerian boxing fans’ appetite and excitement on this most important of days in the country’s history and also push up the quest to bring out the best in professional boxing in the big West African nation.
The Best Match-Ups That Can Be Made Today: From Heavyweight To Bantamweight!
By James Slater: Wanna see a good fight? We’ve seen some great, dramatic fights this year (think Martinez-Chavez, Maidana-Karass, Brook-Jones, Garcia-Khan to name but a few) and 2012 has more promising action still in store. But next year, 2013, could be even better – in fact a whole lot better.
How? By making these fights become a reality.
This is the way I see it, anyway: from heavyweight on down, the best match-ups that can be made next year……..
Malik Scott: “I Would Love to Get a Crack At Seth Mitchell. I Believe His Style is Picture Perfect for Me”
Exclusive Interview by Charles White – Congratulations on the big win Malik. How are you feeling after this big victory?
MS: Thanks bro, I’m feeling great. I hopped right back in the gym the same night after the fight and I think I was more sore from my after fight workout then the actual fight. Personally, I don’t even consider that a big win for me. It was easy work and I beat the shit out of Bowie with basically one hand the whole fight so now it’s on to the next so-called test, whoever the hell that’s supposed to be.
For those who didn’t get the opportunity to see the fight, walk us through it briefly. What was working for you and how did you put an end to this fight?
MS: Like I said before it was easy work. I used my jab, I was dressed down in defense and Bowie was looking for one shot all night that he never could land. It was so much more obvious I could have done more to make Bowie quit a lot more sooner than he did and that was my main reason for leaving the venue that night directly after the fight and going straight to the gym to fill in the loop holes of things that I didn’t capitalize on that night against Bowie. As a matter of fact he should consider himself very lucky.