If David Haye’s objective was to impress his celebrity friends in attendance at London’s O2 Arena, then Saturday night’s fanfare complete with bright, flashing laser-lights and thumping loud sound systems would have been just the tonic. The only ingredient missing was a fight. In amongst the It crowd assembled at ringside, spare a thought for any genuine fight fans who had paid good money to watch this debacle. If Haye cares about retaining his boxing credibility then he needs to stop treating real fans of the sport with such disdain.
Who looked better last night, Haye or Briggs – and who wins in September?
David Haye-Shannon Briggs, who wins? Go back a couple of months and no-one would have entertained such a question as anything other than a bad joke. Now? The impending collision is still nothing but a curiosity fight at best, a freak show at worst, but it cannot be denied how the two heavyweights with a combined 79 KO’s between them have created quite a buzz. Haye is still phenomenally popular, this despite the fact that he hasn’t fought a world-ranked foe since 2012. Briggs, since taking the George Foreman, keep-busy-against-low-level-opposition-and-get-the-fans-talking route back, has certainly attracted interest; with his mouth and with his fists.
Billy Joe Saunders launches scathing attack on Canelo Alvarez, calls him a “coward” he would “school”
WBO middleweight ruler Billy Joe Saunders has launched a scathing attack on Mexican star Saul Canelo Alvarez. As fans know, Alvarez recently vacated his WBC middleweight title rather than agree to fight Gennady Golovkin (at least he hasn’t agreed to face GGG yet). This has angered many fight fans, Mexican fight fans in particular of course, and Saunders, in speaking with boxingnews24, said Canelo should be ashamed of himself.
Huge Photo Gallery: Lara Retains Title; Charlo Twins Make Boxing History
On a night Erislandy “The American Dream” Lara successfully defended his WBA Super Welterweight Championship with a hard-fought 12-round unanimous decision over Vanes “The Nightmare” Martirosyan, undefeated brothers Jermall and Jermell Charlo, of Houston, became the first twins in boxing history to hold world titles in the same weight class.
Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) retained his IBF Junior Middleweight World Championship with a unanimous 12-round decision over former world champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout (30-3, 17 KOs) of Las Cruces, N.M., in the second of three world title fights on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING® from The Chelsea inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.
Lara defeats Martirosyan in dull fight
With the help of a blown call from referee Vic Drakulich, WBA World junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (23-2-2, 13 KO) was able to beat Vanes Martirosyan (36-2-1, 21 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Chelsea Ballroom, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. The referee Drakulich ruled that a shot on the belt-line of Lara was considered a low blow in the 11th.
Jermall Charlo defeats Austin Trout
IBF junior middleweight champion Jermall Charlo (24-0, 18 KOs) was fortunate to hold onto his IBF title tonight in his title defense against challenger Austin Trout (30-3, 17 KOs) at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas, Nevada. Charlo, 26, won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-113, 116-112, 116-112.
The fight was close enough to be scored a draw. Charlo fell apart in the second half of the contest in tiring out and getting basically swept by Trout in the last five rounds. Trout fought well enough to win the 1st round. If you do the math, Trout should have been given a draw. However, he was the B-side in this fight and Charlo the A-side. For Trout to have won the fight, he would have needed to really give Charlo a pounding rather than fighting him to a standstill like he did tonight.
Jermell Charlo stops John Jackson, wins WBC title
#2 WBC John Jackson’s chin betrayed him once again with him getting stopped in the 8th round by #1 WBC Jermell Charlo (28-0, 13 KOs) on Saturday night in their fight for the vacant WBC light middleweight title at the Las Vegas Events Center (DLVEC) in Las Vegas. Jackson was in control of the fighting going into the 8th round.
Haye stops Gjergjaj in 2nd round
David Haye (28-2, 26 KOs) scored his second straight early knockout in his comeback in stopping fringe contender Arnold Gjergjaj (29-1, 21 KOs) in the 2nd round on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. Haye had the 31-year-old Gjergjaj up and down on the canvas like he was playing with a yoyo.
Denis Lebedev destroys Victor Emilio Ramirez
IBF cruiserweight title holder Victor Emilio Ramirez (22-3-1, 17 KOs) was no match for WBA cruiserweight world champion Denis Lebedev (29-1, 22 KOs) on Saturday night in folding in just two rounds in their long awaited unification fight in the main event at the Khodnyka Ice Palace, in Moscow, Russia.
Lebedev flattened the 32-year-old Ramirez in the 2nd round. Lebedev then finished Ramirez off with a flurry of shots that had the Argentinian turning his back to the Russian fighter at one point before it was halted. The fight was stopped at 1:57 of the round by referee Steve Smoger. Ramirez is a good fighter. He’s just not a world champion level fighter, and that was shown clearly tonight by Lebedev.
Shannon Briggs stops Emilio Ezequiel Zarate in 1st round KO!
Heavyweight contender Shannon Briggs (60-6-1, 53 KOs) showed that he can still punch with massive power in taking out journeyman Emilio Zarate (20-17-3, 11 KOs) in the 1st round with a perfectly placed left hook to the body. Zarate, 34, dropped to the canvas after getting hit by Briggs’ powerful body shot and he stayed down in agony until the fight was halted by the referee at 2:22 of the round.