(Photo credit: Bill McCay/Premier Boxing Champions) PHILADELPHIA (January 14, 2016) – Before they travel across the country for their Saturday, January 23 showdowns, Danny “Swift” Garcia and Amir “Hardcore” Mansour held a Philadelphia media workout Wednesday to discuss their Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on FOX and FOX Deportes bouts taking place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.
Roach thinks Arum wanted to protect Crawford from Pacquiao
Trainer Freddie Roach believes a possible reason why the unbeaten Terence Crawford (27-0, 18 KOs) wasn’t put in with Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) for his next fight because Top Rank promoter Bob Arum might have wanted to protect the 28-year-old Crawford from being pushed into such a tough fight at an early point in his career.
Instead of Pacquiao fighting Crawford, which was a fight that a fair amount of fans wanted to see, Arum selected Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) for a third fight against the Filipino star. Pacquiao and Bradley will now be facing each other on April 9 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Liam Smith receives offer for Saul Canelo Alvarez fight
WBO junior middleweight champion Liam Smith is considering an offer from Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for his next fight. This would be the 25-year-old Canelo’s next fight on May 7 on HBO pay-per-view. Canelo needs a name that will attract fans. Smith doesn’t have a big name, but he does have the undefeated record that would make for a more appealing fight.
The other names that are in the running for Canelo’s next fight are nothing special.
Roach: Crawford rejected Pacquiao fight
In a really surprising bit of news, Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach is saying that unbeaten WBO 140lb champion Terence Crawford (27-0, 19 KOs) turned down a fight against Manny Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 KOs) for April 9th. Roach says Crawford said no to a fight against Pacquiao, and that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum said they wouldn’t try and get Crawford to take the fight with Pacquiao yet.
Pacquiao said last week that he plans on fighting for the last time against WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (33-1-1, 13 KOs) in their fight on April 9th on HBO pay-per-view from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deontay Wilder – Artur Szpilka pre-fight scuffle
WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder and Polish contender Artur Szpilka continued their fight-week activities Wednesday, staring each other down for the first time at 4 World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan.
Danny Garcia – Robert Guerrero to fight for vacant WBC welterweight title
Danny Garcia (31-0, 18 KOs) and Robert Guerrero Guerrero (33-3-1, 18 KOs) will now have more motivation going into their January 23 fight this month now that the World Boxing Council has announced that their fight will have the vacant WBC welterweight title at stake at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Having the WBC title on the line will make the fight a lot more interesting because we’re going to see a new champion crowned in this fight, which will be televised on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox Sports 1.
Deontay Wilder ready to turn Szpilka into KO victim No.35
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs) is promising to knockout Polish challenger Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) this Saturday night in their contest on Showtime from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Deontay does not care that Szpilka has improved since his knockout loss to Bryant Jennings in 2014. Deontay doesn’t believe that Szpilka can improve enough to beat him on Saturday. Szpilka looked really bad in his fights against Jennings and Mike Mollo. However, Szpilka will be entering the ring on Saturday night with a 4-fight winning streak, albeit with wins over much lesser fighters than Wilder.
Jean Pascal Media Workout Quotes and Photos
Jean Pascal – Former World Champion
On working with Freddie Roach
“I like Freddie. Freddie is a good man. He is a great boxing coach. One thing that I like about Freddie is he is a coach who like to listen. He is gonna ask me question. He is going to try to see my point of view. He gonna explain to me his point of view.
Miguel Flores dominates Mario Briones in San Antonio
Miguel Flores (19-0, 9 KOs) defeated Mario Briones (27-5-2, 20 KOs) by unanimous decision (98-92, 100-90, 100-90) in a 10-round contest on the Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) TOE-TO-TOE TUESDAYS on FS1 and BOXEO DE CAMPEONES on FOX Deportes fight card Tuesday night from the Dancehall in San Antonio.
Flores opened up the bout establishing the left to the body of Briones. Fighting out of Houston, TX, Flores controlled much of the action in the first, but Briones used his experience and had a nice exchange with Flores to close out the round.
Deontay Wilder vs. Artur Szpilka quotes, photos
(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/SHOWTIME) A huge fight week featuring the first two heavyweight world title fights in Brooklyn in 115 years kicked off Tuesday with media workouts at world famous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn.
This Saturday, January 16 at Barclays Center, WBC Heavyweight World Champion Deontay Wilder will make the third defense of his title against Polish bruiser Artur Szpilka while unbeaten heavyweights Charles Martin and Vyacheslav Glazkov battle for the vacant IBF Heavyweight World Championship. The doubleheader will air live on SHOWTIME® at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.