Johnny Nelson reckons Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather jr will have to wait to be recognised as an all-time great.
Fans can quiz Mayweather about his career in Leicester, London and Liverpool next month and Nelson will host the shows, promoted by Shane Whitfield’s Kong Events.
Mayweather retired two years ago after equalling Rocky Marciano’s 49-0 record and according to Nelson, he will be held in higher regard by historians than he is by his peers.
Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Tommy Hearns. Felix Trinidad vs. Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao.
That is the elite company welterweight champions Danny Garcia and Keith Thurman will join when they meet in just the 10th unification in division history on Saturday, March 4 on SHOWTIMECHAMPIONSHIP BOXING on CBS, presented by Premier Boxing Champions, from Barclays Center, the home of BROOKLYN BOXING™, live on CBS from 9-11 p.m. ET/6-8 p.m. PT.
Garcia, the WBC titleholder, and Thurman, the WBA champion, will unify the exact same titles that Leonard (WBC) and Hearns (WBA) unified in their 1981 Fight of the Year.
WBA Middleweight World Champion and Mandatory Challenger DANIEL “THE MIRACLE MAN” JACOBS, (32-1, 29 KO’s) held court with the Northern California media at his training camp in Oakland yesterday in preparation for his highly anticipated showdown with Unified Middleweight World Champion GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN, (36-0-0, 33 KO’s) on Saturday, March 18 at The Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden in New York City.
When Chris Eubank Jnr. claimed the IBO Super-middleweight title by overwhelming the underwhelming defending champion Renold Quinlan a couple of weekends ago, it was all pretty super familiar.
The next generation Eubank looked the part as he always has, save for the first half of his 2014 encounter with Billy Joe Saunders, showing flamboyance, movement, accuracy and incredible punch output but, more significantly, reiterated a seeming lack of world-class power.
Last year we were both treated to and surprised by a couple of big fight match-ups that literally came right out of the blue. Nobody saw Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan coming, and it was even more of a shock when Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook was announced later in the year.
Could we see some more surprises here in 2017? Manny Pacquiao Vs. Amir Khan, would that provide the big shock factor if it took place this year? As fans know, Pac-Man has just asked his fans, via Twitter, to pick his next opponent from the four choices he provided: Khan, Terence Crawford, Jeff Horn and Kell Brook (who is definitely out now that his fight with Errol Spence Jr. has been confirmed).
Liverpool’s Liam Smith might have conceded his precious WBO Super-Welter strap and unbeaten tag to Mexican megastar ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in Texas last September (ko9), but his coach Joe Gallagher insists that, still just 28, ‘Beefy’ is positively frothing to re-assert his domestic dominance at 154lbs when he collides head on with Clydach Vale’s undefeated Liam Williams, the reigning British champion, in what promises to be a high grade and explosive Anglo-Welsh confrontation at Manchester Arena on April 8th.
It’s agreed, it’s on and promoter Eddie Hearn says it’s the best fight that could be made in the welterweight division today. And even though a number of fans would likely argue how the upcoming Keith Thurman-Danny Garcia is a better, bigger fight, the Kell Brook-Errol Spence fight is without doubt a big deal.
Hearn announced this evening UK time that terms have been agreed and that the fight will go ahead “in the UK.” Already fans are looking forward to a big Sheffield night, although Hearn says an official announcement, regarding venue and exact date, is to come (the likely date is May 20, venue Bramall Lane, Sheffield).
Doubts are creeping in with regards to former featherweight champ Carl Frampton getting his third and deciding fight with Leo Santa Cruz in his beloved Belfast. As fight fans are aware, Frampton and Mexico’s Santa Cruz are currently 1-1 in their terrific rivalry, and Frampton is adamant that having traveled to the US for the first two battles he is entitled to have the rubber-match at home in Ireland.
The 1990s was one of the greatest decades in the history of professional boxing. It had some of the highest regarded champions of all time, some of the best match-ups of all time, the biggest upset in sports history, one of the most amazing trilogies ever, and a slew of talented and entertaining boxers who helped make this such a magical time in heavyweight history.
There was a time when defeat, let alone a nasty KO defeat, was an utterly unthinkable fate for the sublime Roy Jones Junior when he was doing his stuff in the ring. Not any more. Sadly, and no longer shockingly, a stoppage defeat has become a regular occurrence for the man with the once blurring fists and the chilling power.
For reasons only the future Hall of Famer knows (and yes, Jones is still absolutely guaranteed to be enshrined when the time comes, despite his late career embarrassments; ones that cannot erase his former brilliance) Jones continued to risk his health by carrying on fighting after taking that nasty and disturbing KO hammering at the heavy hands of cruiserweight Denis Lebedev in late 2011. Jones should arguably have called it a career even before his Russian disaster – maybe after his KO loss to Glen Johnson, way back in 2004 – but instead the 48 year-old has fought a further 11 bouts since the Lebedev defeat.