Leo Santa Cruz
Hello everyone and good afternoon.
I’m just very happy and excited to go back in the ring. I’ve trained very hard for this fight. I know that it’s going to be a hard fight because Kiko is a fighter that comes to fight. He always comes ready. This could be a great opportunity because I know he has everything to win, everything to lose. So I know he’s going to come with everything. But I’m here ready for him. I’m just ready to give the fans a great show.
Los Angeles, CA (February 23, 2016) Over 50% of the tickets available for UNDEFEATED have been purchased as boxing fans worldwide are acting quickly in great anticipation of superstars’ Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez return to The Fabulous Forum on Saturday, April 23 in separate bouts. The event will be televised Live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.
At The O2 Arena in London next month, an exhibition will open – until August – that will celebrate the legendary career of the one and only Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest.” And Ali himself, who has recently celebrated his 74th birthday, is expected to fly to the UK – perhaps for the very last time – to visit the tribute that is sure to be a massive hit with fight fans.
But London’s own David Haye wants the UK to go one step further, and recognize Ali with an honorary Knighthood. Haye has launched a petition, inviting people to sign it and, as he says, give the great man what he deserves.
Rising star and 2012 U.S. Olympian Errol “The Truth” Spence Jr. (19-0, 16 KOs) will take on former world champion Chris Algieri (21-2, 8 KOs) in a 10-round welterweight showdown headlining an exciting night of matchups on Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on NBC in primetime on Saturday, April 16 from Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The NBC coverage begins at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT and will see unbeaten world champion Krzysztof Glowacki (25-0, 16 KOs) of Poland squaring-off against former two-time cruiserweight world champion Steve “U.S.S.” Cunningham (28-7, 13 KOs) plus 2012 U.S. Olympian and unbeaten light heavyweight “Sir” Marcus Browne (17-0, 13 KOs) of Staten Island takes on undefeated Radivoje “Hot Rod” Kalajdzic (21-0, 14 KOs) in a 10-round battle.
Promoter Oscar De La Hoya knows real talent when he sees it, and the Golden Boy head thinks he has the best big man in the sport signed to him. De La Hoya believes interim WBA champ Luis Ortiz can see off all comers and he wants to keep the Cuban southpaw active – so much so that, if Ortiz beats Tony Thompson with relative ease on March 5th, “King Kong” will fight again on the May 7th Canelo Alvarez-Amir Khan bill in Las Vegas.
It seems we can pretty much forget about seeing a light-heavyweight unification battle between bitter and vocal rivals Adonis Stevenson and Sergey Kovalev any time soon. These two gigantic punchers should have met by now, at least a few months back, but negotiations, for whatever reason or reasons, have failed and failed.
When he was pulled out at the conclusion of ten woefully one-sided rounds in his rematch with Tyson Fury in November of 2014, Dereck Chisora cut something of a sad figure. Some people even thought “Del Boy” had had too many tough fights and was practically finished as a top contender. But, after finding a new promoter to back him (Sauerland) the 32-year-old warrior proceeded to reel off five straight wins (albeit against so-so opposition) and Chisora, 25-5(17) is now on the verge of a fight that just might see him recapture the European title.
British legend Nigel Benn, who ruled the world at middleweight and super-middleweight, is sure his son Conor will reach the very top also. Set to have his pro debut soon, as a light-welterweight, Conor is the real deal, Benn insists. Conor, who will carry his father’s “Dark Destroyer” nickname, had just 22 amateur fights but is sure the pro game will suit his fighting style.
Speaking with Sky Sports, former king Benn spoke about the 18-year-old son he is understandably very proud of and has also sparred with.
Unbeaten heavyweight contender Anthony Joshua knows better than anyone how quality southpaw sparring is paramount to his chances against defending IBF heavyweight champ Charles Martin. “A.J” has not fought a southpaw before in his 15-0 pro career, and people are wondering how the stance of Martin may or may not affect Joshua on April 9th.
Joshua has revealed to Sky Sports how he is sparring, amongst others, unbeaten Swedish lefty, Otto Wallin. The 25-year-old with the 14-0(10) pro record is almost as tall as Joshua and he has, according to the 2012 Olympic gold medal winner, been providing good work.
There is a chance the rubber-match between welterweights Manny Pacquiao and Tim Bradley will not go ahead as scheduled on April 9th in Las Vegas. The reason is, today (local time) the Philippine elections committee was asked by Pac-Man’s senate candidate rival Walden Bello to stop the fight as it would give Pacquiao unfair publicity and exposure ahead of the May 9 elections.
Bello insists a law, put in place to give candidates equal publicity when entering an election, will be broken if Pacquiao’s fight, and all its TV, radio and print exposure, goes ahead. Bello, ESPN.com reports, wants the fight postponed until after May 9th.