Berto Shines in the Spike TV Spotlight

The main event of Friday night’s “Premiere Boxing Champions” card on Spike TV pitted former welterweight titlist Andre Berto against former title challenger Josesito Lopez. The crowd at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California was biased for Lopez, the local boy from nearby Riverside. Berto fought off boos from the crowd throughout, but he would have the last laugh.

Berto’s trainer, the great Virgil Hunter, wanted his charge to take his time and ease into the fight – no brawling. The Haiti native, now living in Florida, seemed to take the first round off, allowing Lopez to get off to the body and outwork him.

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Kovalev blasts Pascal out in 8th round TKO

(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) In the much-anticipated main event of the evening, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs)* and Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) pleased fans with an action-packed battle. Both fighters started by trading some good shots, but Kovalev started to throw some nasty combinations in the third round to take the wind out of the hostile crowd at the Centre Bell in Montreal.

Just before the end of the third round, Kovalev knocked Pascal through the ropes but Pascal was saved by the bell. Sergey came out swinging in the fourth to try to capitalize on the near KO, but Pascal managed to stay on his feet and land a huge right to show Kovalev he was still in the fight. As the bell rang to end the fourth round, both men were still trading big shots.

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Porter Gets Back on Track

Cleveland, Ohio native Shawn Porter got back into the win column last night as the co-main event of another “Premiere Boxing Champions” card, which was broadcast live on Spike TV. Although he was originally scheduled to fight rugged veteran Roberto Garcia, there was a last minute replacement. Apparently Garcia was more than 4 pounds overweight the day of the weigh-in and didn’t even bother to show up. So Al Haymon reached out to Erick Bone, a New Yorker by way of Ecuador, and flew him out to California less than 24 hours before the bout.

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Kovalev stops Pascal; Glazkov beats Cunningham

(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) gave it a game effort tonight, but he just wasn’t able to handle WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev’s power, as Kovalev dropped Pascal twice in the process of halting him in the 8th round in their fight on Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

Pascal visited the canvas in the 4th and the 8th rounds. Referee Luis Pabon pulled the plug in the 8th shortly after Pascal was dropped with a left hook by Kovalev. Pascal sprang to his feet, staggered to the ropes for a last stand. Kovalev then nailed the near defenseless Pascal with two hard right hands to the head that had Pascal’s eyes rolling around in his head. The fight was stopped at 1:03 of the round. Not surprisingly, Pascal protested the stoppage, even while staggering around.

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Bryant Jennings is ready for the transition

A remarkable 6-year journey will reach its crescendo when Bryant Jennings, 19-0 (10KO’s), faces the long reigning heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, 63-3 (53KO’s), in Madison Square Garden on 25th April.

For it has been in that short space of time, that the 30-year old Philadelphian has managed to travel from first lacing them up to having the opportunity to claim the most prestigious prize in the sport.

Regardless of era, such a remarkable feat is deserving of respect.

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Douglas, Barroso, Odom & Lopez Score Knockouts In ShoBox QuadrupleHeader

Photo by Rosie Cohen/SHOWTIME® – Talented unbeaten middleweight Antoine Douglas made an impressive 2015 debut thoroughly outboxing previously unbeaten Thomas LaManna before finishing him by TKO at 2:44 of the sixth-round in the main event of a night of knockouts on ShoBox: The New Generation Friday from The Space at Westbury in Westbury, N.Y.

Douglas (17-0-1, 10 KOs), of Washington, D.C., controlled the bout from the opening bell and was the more active and accurate fighter, throwing 127 total punches to LaManna’s 73. LaManna (16-1, 7 KOs), of Millville, N.J., was tough and tried to counter, but wasn’t experienced enough to land anything meaningful against the skilled Washingtonian. Douglas employed a diverse and ferocious attack of uppercuts, hooks and jabs knocking LaManna down twice before scoring the knockout in an exciting win.

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Kovalev vs. Pascal: The Krusher takes the show on the road to face Pascal in Canada

This Saturday night live on HBO from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada, Sergey Kovalev takes his show on the road to face former lineal 175 pound champ Jean Pascal. Can Pascal pull off another upset on his home turf or will the Krusher continue his winning ways? Plus, heavyweight contenders collide in the co-feature when Steve Cunningham and Vyacheslav Glazkov meet in the squared circle.

If there was any question of his supremacy Sergey Kovalev made it crystal clear who the top light heavyweight in the world was in his last outing. In the process the “Krusher” delivered a performance for the ages dominating future hall of famer Bernard Hopkins.

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Golovkin vs Monroe Jr on May 16

Boxing Superstar GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN and Top-Rated Challenger WILLIE MONROE JR. will host a Los Angeles press conference to announce their World Middleweight Championship showdown on Saturday, May 16 at the Forum. Presented by K2 Promotions and GGG Promotions in association with Banner Promotions and the Forum, the event will be televised Live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

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Lucas Matthysse vs Ruslan Provodnikov live on BoxNation

BoxNation will air the much anticipated toe-to-toe war between two of the biggest bangers in boxing, live and exclusive, when Lucas Matthysse and Ruslan Provodnikov headline a stunning triple-fight card on April 18th.

The clash, which is already being billed as a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate, is guaranteed to have fans on the edge of their seats when the light-welterweight knockout kings go at it in a battle which has the makings of a modern day classic.

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Weights: Sergey Kovalev: 174.3 lbs. – Jean Pascal: 175 lbs.

Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing tripleheader telecast begins at 9:45 p.m. (ET/PT).

The HBO telecast kicks off live from Montreal’s Bell Centre when Isaac Chilemba takes on Vasily Lepikhin in a scheduled 12-round light heavyweight contest.

In the co-feature, heavyweights Vyacheslav Glazkov and Steve Cunningham square off for 12 rounds.

The main event of the evening, a 12-round light heavyweight championship bout, features knockout artist Sergey Kovalev defending his titles against Jean Pascal in his hometown.

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