Houston, TX takes the boxing center stage once again this coming May 9th live from the Houston Astros’ Minute Maid Park. Day 2 of fight week festivities continued with the top main event and undercard fighters engaging in brief workout sessions for the fans as well as autograph and photograph sessions.
Fighters making their appearances included James Leija, Jr., Taishan, Humberto Soto, Frankie Gomez and of course main even attractions James Kirkland and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
Abel Sanchez: Hi. Good morning, guys. We’re looking forward to—what is it ten days from now eleven days from now, putting on another fantastic show. We’re fortunate to have a young man in Willie Monroe who I know is going to come to fight and provide us with that exciting fight that we haven’t had. Well, actually last week was not as exciting as this one’s going to be, so hopefully Willie’s in great shape. I know that Tony’s getting him ready, so we’re looking forward to this Saturday night.
Tom Loeffler: And then I also want to introduce the WBA, the WBC Interim Champion, IBO Middleweight Champion, 32-0 with 29 knockouts, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin.
Artie Pelullo: Hi, guys. Hello. Good morning to everybody. I guess the opening statement that I would like to make is I would like to thank Gennady Golovkin and Tom Loeffler for giving Willie Monroe this opportunity. As we all know, Willie is number two in the world, and the reason why we’re here is because of how well he did in 2014 by winning four fights in a row, including the tournament that ESPN had the ability and the foresight to put on called Boxcino. And then Willie came back and then won a unanimous decision after winning the tournament against Bryan Vera, which now has put him in the status to challenge the best middleweight in the world, and it’s going to be a very interesting fight.
Big punching British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua (11-0, 11ko) – tipped as a future star by many – takes another step toward his “acid-test” fight with solid American veteran Kevin Johnson on May 30th with a scheduled 8 rounder against South American journeyman Raphael Zumbano Love on Saturday as part of Matchroom Sports Sky Sports broadcast from Birmingham.
Whilst nothing but a win is expected, the Olympic gold medalist is making all the right noises ahead of the contest, promising an “explosive” performance.
He said to Sky Sports;
Golden Boy Promotions today filed a $300 million lawsuit against Al Haymon and his related companies and Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. and its related hedge funds, alleging their repeated violation of the antitrust laws and the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act. The case was filed in Federal Court in Los Angeles.
Since the moment Al Haymon launched Premier Boxing Champions, he has repeatedly and brazenly broken the letter and spirit of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act that is meant to protect fighters from exploitation. As part of an anti-competitive conspiracy that includes financial backers from Waddell & Reed, Haymon has “entered into agreements to restrain trade in a substantial portion of the market for promotion of Championship-Caliber Boxers,” the bombshell new lawsuit claims.
The fans may have had too much of Mayweather and Pacquiao for the last several months but the saga continues. Mayweather has stated, or rather texted his wish to have another go with Manny Pacquiao. He sent a text message to Stephen A. Smith from ESPN expressing his interest in a sequel. Pacman cried rematch right after the final bell and the fighters seem unanimous in their decision to finalize their careers with forging a rivalry. The rivalry used to be intriguing before it materialized into “the fight of the century” which failed to meet even the most conservative expectations of aficionados while it satisfied most of the naysayers’ warnings. The numbers have not been released yet but it looks like the fight may have met at least one high expectation that the fans care little about – a grossing pay-per-view record.
Pacquiao announced a shoulder injury after the fight which got him into several kinds of trouble. He did not need an excuse as he did well and even his opponent complimented him, saying “I take my hat off to him”. Team Pacquiao behaved erratically after the fight, they were in denial and showed little class in reconciling with the verdict, fair or not and maintaining dignity.
This Saturday, Birmingham middleweight Matthew Macklin (31-6, 20ko) attempts to steer his career back towards world title glory in a confidence building fight against Ferenc Albert (12-7, 7ko) on the Matchroom sport show from the city’s Barclaycard Arena.
Macklin – just days shy of his 33rd birthday – is coming off a devastating knockout loss to Argentine contender Jorge Sebastian Heiland (25-4-2) last November that left many in the trade questioning whether the Brum fighter still has the goods to mix it at top level.
Cinco De Mayo unleashed “Canelomania” as Canelo Alvarez and James “Mandingo Warrior” Kirkland arrived in Houston on the celebrated holiday to kickoff fight week for their highly anticipated clash on May 9 at Minute Maid Park and live on HBO World Championship Boxing ®. The fighters greeted Houston fans at a special Cinco De Mayo Fan Fiesta hosted by Corona and HEB and then sped off to attend the ceremonial coin toss for the Houston Dynamo vs. San Jose Earthquakes game along with Oscar De La Hoya, President and Founder of Golden Boy Promotions.
Tickets for May 9 Canelo vs. Kirkland are priced at $350, $150, $100, $50 and $25, plus applicable fees and service charges, are available for purchase at Astros.com/boxing, the Minute Maid Park Box Office (Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) all Ticketmaster outlets, by calling Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000, online at www.ticketmaster.com. There is a 19-ticket limit per household.
One normally doesn’t associate the North Yorkshire city of Hull with Hollywood A-list glamour, but British media is alight with the news that a business graduate from the city blagged his way ringside for last Saturday’s mega-fight and ended up meeting a horde of boxing figures and celebrities including the fighters themselves.
Steve Carruthers, who had managed to obtain a $2000 ticket for the fight, told the Hull Daily Mail how after following actor Mark Wahlberg down to ringside – and pretending to be a part of Leonardo Di Caprio’s entourage, he spent the evening swigging champagne in the VIP bar with fighters and famous faces, taking selfies with Christian Bale, Donald Trump and Michael Keaton.
I’m a Brit so please forgive me if you DON’T find the American legal system slightly farcical at times, yet the BBC is reporting that two “people” have filed a lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao in Nevada for “defrauding ticket buyers, television viewers and gamblers” after the fight on Saturday.
The litigation culture in America is something foreign in the extreme to us and all this mess has stemmed from Pacquiao’s post fight insistence that a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder was to blame for his underwhelming, yet spirited performance that resulted in a UD defeat.