Reigning WBC, Ring Magazine and Lineal Middleweight World Champion, Miguel Cotto, and former WBC and WBA Super Welterweight World Champion Canelo Alvarez, launched their four-city press tour yesterday in Los Angeles, at the Hollywood and Highland Center ahead of their highly anticipated championship showdown. The fight will take place Saturday, Nov. 21 atthe Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View. At yesterday’s event, Cotto, the first native of Puerto Rico to become world champion in four different weight classes and Mexican Superstar Alvarez were joined by their promoters and hundreds of pumped-up, chanting fans.
Roy Jones Jr: Not Giving Up on Cruiserweight Title Dreams / Wants Glowacki Fight
It appears that long faded 46 year old legend Roy Jones Jr (62-8, 45ko) has still not given up on his dream of capturing an elusive cruiserweight world title, and has bizarrely now turned his attentions to new WBO champion Krzysztof Glowacki in a bid to achieve this seemingly impossible feat.
Jones had been publicly chasing a bout with long-time former champ Marco Huck, who Glowacki stunned 11 days ago to be crowned champion, and seems to be under the impression that capturing honours in the 200lb division is a realistic proposition should the Polish fighter agree to the bout.
Good News for Liam Smith: Michel Soro Out / Now Fights American John Thompson for WBO 154lb Strap
Britain’s unbeaten Liam Smith (20-0-1, 10ko) has a new opponent for his October 10th challenge for the vacant WBO light-middleweight title after dangerous Frenchman Michel Soro has been ruled out following an unspecified “internal disagreement” with his promoters, Bob Arum’s Top Rank.
It’s fair to say that replacement American contender John Thompson (17-1, 6ko) presents a far more winnable proposition for the talented young Scouser, who is looking to be the first of his family of fighting brothers to lift a world title.
Miguel Will Fight Smart Against Canelo says Freddie Roach
After losing out with his man Manny Pacquiao in the 1st super-fight of the year, Miguel Cotto’s trainer Freddie Roach is determined not to be on the wrong end of the 2nd; November 21st’s hotly anticipated WBC middleweight clash with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez, that will come from the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and pits the two men together in a classic Mexico/Puerto Rico rivals encounter.
Speaking at the first official presser to launch the fight, Roach has promised that the advancing years of the champion will not be a factor provided the right adjustments are made, and the 7x trainer of the year has made it crystal clear that they have no plans to stand and slug it out with the bigger, younger Alvarez on the night.
Jermain Taylor says he will box again
Former lineal Middleweight champion Jermain Taylor (33-4-1, 20KOs) has sent word to the boxing world through his lawyer Hubert Alexander that he indeed plans on making a return to the ring once his pending legal cases and Mental evaluation are squared away.
Taylor, now 37 last fought in October of last year when he defeated Sam “King” Soliman for the IBF 160 lb championship of the world. It was the second time in Taylor’s career that he had held Middleweight Gold. Taylor was stripped of that title earlier in the year after failing to defend against mandatory Sergio Mora due to allegations and arrest concerning gun-play.
David Price Can Come Again If He Chooses says Anthony Joshua
It doesn’t seem so long ago that David Price was being touted as the next big thing in British heavyweight boxing, tipped for the top ahead of domestic rival Tyson Fury, who now finds himself challenging Wladimir Klitschko for 3/4 of the world heavyweight crown in October, just a few short months after Price himself was iced by Erkan Teper in 2 rounds in Germany, the 3rd brutal KO loss of his career – How times change.
The man who now finds himself carrying the next generation of heavyweight hopes is Olympic gold medalist Anthony Joshua, currently unblemished with 13 straight knockouts from as many fights, and is well accustomed to the pressure that Price felt on his shoulders before running into wily old American veteran Tony Thompson. “AJ” doesn’t think this latest loss has to spell the end.
No Brook vs Bradley for 2015 / Diego Chaves Still the Front Runner
Much to the chagrin of many hardcore British fight fans keen to see their IBF 147 lb champion Kell Brook in a big fight with a marquee name, the wait will go on as a unification fight with WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley is officially off the cards for 2015.
After also seeing a mooted bout with Stateside brawler Brandon Rios fall by the wayside recently, it is now looking increasingly likely that Argentina’s Diego Chaves will indeed be making the trip across the Atlantic towards the end of the year to fight Brook, as earlier reports indicated.
Badou Jack: Promising Knockout Performance Against George Groves
For many boxing fans left underwhelmed by September 12th’s Mayweather/Berto fight in Las Vegas, the silver lining comes in the form of the WBC 168lb title fight between the “Money Team’s” champion Badou Jack, and dangerous British challenger George Groves that will appear on the undercard in chief support of the main event.
With the potential to eclipse that headline fight extremely high, Sweden’s Jack, who has made Vegas his adopted hometown, has promised a knockout performance against the big-hitting British challenger, who in the eyes of many – this writer included – will enter the fight a considerable favourite.
Shane Mosley: I’ll Fight With or Without Mayorga on Saturday / “Back-Up Fighter In Place
With Saturday’s scheduled catchweight rematch battle against fellow old timer Ricardo Mayorga in serious jeopardy due to a Don King lawsuit, “Sugar” Shane Mosley has insisted that the show will go on in L.A with or without the chain-smoking Nicaraguan in the opposite corner.
King filed emergency injunction papers in Miami recently, claiming he still has Mayorga under contract and hasn’t given his okay for him to compete in the bout, something that is looking increasingly likely to be true after last Thursday’s hearing in Miami, which Mosley attended.
Abner Mares: “I’m Better Than I Ever Have Been” Ahead of Leo Santa Cruz Fight
If Don King succeeds in putting the kibosh on next Saturday’s Mosley/Mayorga rematch, then fight fans will only have the PBC on ESPN Leo Santa Cruz/Abner Mares bout – that takes place at the Staples Centre in LA on the same night – for their fistic viewing pleasure.
Not that there will be too many fans disappointed by that mind you, given they were set to pay $49.95 for the “priviledge of watching the ageing veterans go at it, yet one of the protagonists in the latter, free-to-air bout – Abner Mares – has promised he has returned to his form of old and will be looking to stun his fellow California-based Mexican rival in their long awaited, and far more relevant bout.