It takes something very special to steal a show from three world title fights, all in one night, all on one card. And for that something special to come from a 12 fight novice is something even more impressive.
Yet, special and impressive are understatements in regards to just how good Anthony Joshua looked on the Rule Britannia Matchroom Boxing card last Saturday in London. Joshua put in a performance so devastatingly good many think he may be one of the very best in the division already, just 18 months into his professional career.
Former light heavyweight World title challenger Blake “il capo” Caparello announced his arrival at 168lbs by putting on an educated boxing display to dominate game Frenchman Affif Belghecham.
Caparello in his first fight at super middleweight lifted the WBO Oriental and the PABA titles and improves to
21 – 1 – 6 ko’s.
Caparello stated; “I felt good at my new weight and I’m happy to know I can go 10 rounds against a pressure fighter. I’m looking forward to some big fights at super middleweight.”
Eric Molina – We’re very excited about the fight, the opportunity to go down to Alabama. We know it’s going to be a very hectic environment down there, very uncomfortable environment, but Wilder is the champion, and he gets to enjoy all these privileges of all the guidelines of where we fight and all the logistics of it, so we’re excited for the opportunity to fight for the heavyweight world title and we are very prepared.
Training camp is going extremely well. We’re closing up our training camp on Saturday, and we should be ready to go down to Alabama on Monday. Everything’s looking very good, and we’re ready to go.
L. DiBella Thank you, Eric. Fight week, next week, there’ll be a slew of events leading up to the fight, including a workout on Wednesday and a public weigh-in on Friday. I’d like people to follow AlabamaTitleFight.com for all details as they’re updated, including a lot of details about stuff that’s open to the public and that the people of Birmingham can enjoy during fight week, so that’s www.AlabamaTitleFight.com.
As the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight taught us, all obstacles can be moved aside when you’re putting together a big PPV fight. Promotion companies, weights, feuds, and even separate cable network contracts are not enough to stiffen the plans of a Mega fight.
As we wait until Floyd’s next opponent becomes official, one potential golden ticket winner stands out.
There is no opponent, more dangerous to Mayweather’s zero than Gennady Golovkin. Unfortunately this is also one of the most unlikely match ups.
(Photo Credit: Will Hart/HBO) WBC middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) came in really low at 153.6lbs at his weigh-in today for his title defense on Saturday night against Australia’s Daniel Geale (31-3, 16 KOs) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Cotto looked like he overestimated how much weight he needed to strip off in order to make his own 157lb catch-weight.
By coming in lower than he needed to, Cotto kind of shot himself in the foot because he didn’t need to strip off nearly that much weight.
The fire of excitement surrounding London 2012 gold medallist Anthony Joshua, from both the hardcore fight fans and those who follow the sport a little less closely, has been burning intensely for months now – and following his seemingly effortless destruction of Kevin Johnson last weekend, expectation and interest in the Watford star has reached a career high level.
Arguably the freshest, strongest and most talented heavyweight prospect that the UK has seen since the days of Lennox Lewis (who won his Olympic gold for Canada), those growing more and more convinced he will – over the next 18 months/2 years – develop into the finished article, are now left with an awkward situation on their hands, asking the same questions as promoter Eddie Hearn.
LONDON (5 June) – Middleweight world champion Miguel Cotto believes he would have too much for either Canelo Alvarez or Gennady Golovkin if they were to share the ring.
The WBC champion makes the first defence of his title this weekend against Australian Geale from the Barclays Center in New York, live and exclusive on BoxNation.
Much talk prior to the Geale showdown has circled around potential clashes with Mexican idol Canelo and rising pound-for-pound star Golovkin, but four-weight world champion Cotto believes he would be at an advantage if he was to face either man.
Live on HBO from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Miguel Cotto and Daniel Geale meet for the lineal middleweight title. Instead of breaking down the X’s and O’s of the matchup the pugilist masses are mainly fixated on the number 157. That is the number Geale must hit to prevent a possible cancellation. Cotto’s image has taken a big hit of late and even if he does make a big statement this Saturday night the damage is deep. They might as well of called this fight Cotto vs. Geale: To Catch A Mockingbird.
Barring a minor roadblock the only major obstacle that stands in the way of an HBO PPV fight between Miguel Cotto and Canelo Alvarez is Daniel Geale. The Aussie has middleweight contender pedigree it’s just too bad that this bout won’t be contested at 160. Instead, this bout will be fought at a catchweight of 157 pounds. Judging by the comments made by both camps in the lead-up it sounds as though sticking to their guns is the plan.
Those that witnessed it saw something special last Saturday when Dagenham lightweight Kevin Mitchell tragically fell short of his world title dream against Venezuelan WBC champ Jorge Linares, when he was stopped at the end of the 10th round after giving an heroic account of himself – flooring the champion along the way and sustaining an horrific eye injury from an earlier clash of heads.
For those that had doubted whether Mitchell truly belonged at top level, things became a little clearer given his performance. In a thrilling contest, at the time of the stoppage, Mitchell was up on 2 of the cards and things were level on the third. A fitting testament to the drama that left those in attendance and watching at home crying out for more.
The catchweight situation is at the forefront of boxing more than ever right now, most notably with Miguel Cotto, who is using it as the preferred method of defending his WBC middleweight title this weekend against Australia’s Daniel Geale – a visibly larger fighter.
A similar situation, although not quite as extreme, surrounds welterweight Shawn Porter, who fights Adrien Broner as part of Premier Boxing Champions on June 20th at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas at a 145lb catchweight – though unlike Geale, he has a 10lb rehydaration clause woven into the contract that means he won’t be able to “blow-up” on the night beyond 155.
Talking to ThaBoxingVoice about the fight and the catchweight stipulation imposed by Team Broner, Porter was relaxed and confident about the job in hand;
