Tonight in London on the big O2 card, middleweights Matthew Macklin and Brian Rose engaged in a gruelling, tiring and very likely ageing battle. Macklin, in a must-win fight he said he would retire from the sport with if he lost, edged Rose over 12 tough rounds via majority verdict. Now 35-6(22) the 33-year old prevailed by scores of 115-111 twice (which seemed far too close) and 113-113. Rose, the younger man by two years, falls to 28-4(8).
BoxNation have secured the exclusive UK live TV rights for Unified World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury’s highly-anticipated rematch against the legendary Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday 9th July at a venue in the North-West of England to be announced by promoters Hennessy Sports and K2 Promotions.
The exciting news follows hot-on-the-heels of the recent announcement that The Channel Of Champion also acquired the exclusive live rights to the sensational showdown between British boxing hero and former World Champion Amir Khan against the Mexican pound-for-pound great Canelo Alvarez on Saturday 7th May.
Everyone has an opinion on tonight’s intriguing Charles Martin-Anthony Joshua fight. A genuine 50-50 affair in the opinion of many – including A.J’s promoter Eddie Hearn – the IBF title fight will set the winner up for some huge fights. One of these potential blockbusters awaiting tonight’s winner is a unification clash with unbeaten KO King Deontay Wilder, the reigning WBC champion.
Wilder, of course, has to take care of the formidable Alexander Povetkin in Russia first, but as long as he takes care of business, Wilder would be willing to defend his belt, and look to pick up another title, against either Martin or Joshua.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=a2bPFp4Ln00
By: Bill Dwyre* – Saturday night, in a familiar boxing ring at a trendy bright-lights casino here, superstar MANNY PACQUIAO will do, in 36 minutes or less, what superstar Kobe Bryant has spent an entire NBA season doing.
Carl Frampton, the unbeaten Irish star who added the WBA super-bantamweight title to his IBF crown with his recent points win over Scott Quigg, has been stripped of the title. The WBA, seeing how Frampton has no intention of facing his mandatory challenger, Guillermo Rigondeaux – the WBA’s champion in recess – stripped him. Frampton has made no secret of the fact that he intends to move up in weight and challenge Leo Santa Cruz in an expected summer blockbuster.
Is today’s bout against Timothy Bradley the last one for Manny Pacquiao? Will the conclusion to his career be celebrated tonight? Or will the boxing community be left with another default answer, suggesting nothing at all?
While his retirement is probably just around the corner, it is hard to say when that moment will actually arrive. Despite the fact that Pacquiao had admitted that his jetlag and training have become more difficult for him to adjust to, he did mention that come fight night, he always feels like his old self. Freddie Roach has also mentioned on numerous occasions that Manny has a few more fight left.
Arthur Abraham (44-4, 29 KOs) defends his WBO World Super Middleweight title against Gilberto Ramirez (33-0, 24 KOs) tonight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
‘King Arthur’ fights away from home for the first time since 2011 and will face a difficult task to overcome the undefeated Mexican Ramirez.
It looks as though Shannon Briggs has finally talked, harassed and pestered his way into a big fight and the big pay day that will go along with it. After spending months irritating then-heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko in an unsuccessful attempt at getting a title shot – with Briggs entertaining some and irritating others with his war cry of “Let’s go Champ!” – Briggs shifted his attention to the UK scene.
When Tyson Fury upset long – reigning champion, Wladimir Klitschko last November to win the lineal heavyweight championship, it immediately injected new life into a division in need of life. Okay, so it wasn’t exactly George Foreman taking Joe Frazier’s lunch money or Larry Holmes and Ken Norton beating each other up with the rusted links of the evolutionary chain.
It was more like the first microbes that crawled from the primordial ooze of the earth’s beginnings. Nothing exciting, I’d assume but it was a start and that always leads to somewhere, even if it takes the craziest route, which is exactly what happened.
