Last year ESPN2 aired the inaugural ‘2014 Boxcino Championship’ tournament for the 135 lb Lightweight and 160 lb Middleweight divisions. In the lightweight finals, Petr Petrov (35-4-2, 17 KO) of Madrid, Spain defeated Fernando Carcamo (17-6, 13 KO’s) of Ciudad Obregon, Mexico by TKO in round 8. In the middleweight finals, Willie Monroe Jr. (19-1, 6 KO) of Rochester, NY defeated then undefeated Brandon Adams (15-1, 10 KO) of Los Angeles, CA via unanimous decision.
Canelo looking at plan B option, Arum offering Tim Bradley
Mexican star Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) has about run out of patience in waiting on his opponent WBC middleweight champ Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) to sign the contract for a fight against him. Canelo, who is kind of used to getting his own way in negotiations, has told his promoter Oscar De La Hoya, the president of Golden Boy Promotions, that he wants to have him start looking for another opponent for him to fight. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that Tim Bradley is a possibility for Canelo to fight next.
Bradley is a considerable step down from Cotto, both in size and popularity. Canelo-Bradley isn’t a fight that would be near big enough for the 24-year-old Canelo to boot Floyd Mayweather Jr from the May 2nd fight date that he has his eyes on, so Canelo would need to have an open mind about moving off that date. Canelo has insisted for the past month that he plans on fighting on May 2nd, the Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo.
Stiverne: Wilder won’t make it past the 6th round
(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) Tonight’s fight between WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) and his hard-hitting challenger Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) will be a short one, according to Stiverne. The 36-year-old Stiverne expects to get the inexperienced Wilder out of there by the 6th round by knocking him out in a painful fashion.
Stiverne notes that Deontay has positives in his game such as his power and height, but he feels that he’s not ready to step up so quickly at this juncture in his career.
“I think he’s [Wilder] a fraud. I don’t think he deserves to be fighting for the title and that’s why not with it,” Stiverne said via Fightnews.com. “But what is worse is that he is not even ready to fight at this level. I would be surprised if this fight goes more than 5 or 6 rounds.”
Monroe out-slicks Vera
In the main bout of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights, 2014 Boxcino middleweight champion Willie “El Mongoose” Monroe Junior (19-1, 6 kos) scored a ten round unanimous decision over Brian Vera (23-9, 14 kos) at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona.
The slick New York southpaw could hardly have been more impressive as he dominated the 33 year old Texan veteran putting on a wonderful exhibition of boxing.
Mayweather-Pacquiao – Espinoza: ” If we were running a race we would still have a ways to go”
In an interview with USA Today, Showtime’s Stephen Espinoza has made it clear that while both sides want the fight to happen, finalizing the deal is not yet around the corner.
“We’re making meaningful progress but if we were running a race we would still have a ways to go. Everyone is trying to get to the finish line as soon as possible,” said Espinoza via USAtoday.com.
Bermane Stiverne: You will never ever hear about Deontay Wilder after this fight
(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) If everything goes right for WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) he’ll be putting an end to the Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) hype and sending him off into obscurity after giving him an embarrassing thrashing at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Stiverne figures that if he knocks the 6’7” Deontay Wilder in shocking fashion, Deontay will be forgotten by boxing fans after this fight and written off as a serious heavyweight contender. As it is, Deontay has been compared frequently with 6’7” American heavyweight Michael Grant, who started off his career with a near identical record of 31-0.
Deontay Wilder: The fans can’t fight for you, Stiverne
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Heavyweight Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) thinks that WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) has gained confidence from the support from the boxing fans who are pulling for to beat the tall 6’7” American this Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Deontay doesn’t care what the fans are saying, because he feels he’s going to expose the 6’2” Haitian heavyweight as a mediocre heavyweight when he blasts him out in front of the MGM Grand crowd.
Deontay Wilder interested in facing Tyson Fury after Stiverne fight
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KOs) hasn’t yet finished his business with WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KOs) for this Saturday night, but already Deontay is looking past the fight towards a showdown with Britain’s Tyson Fury. Deontay is up for the clash with Fury if he can’t get a bout against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
That’s the fight that Deontay really wants, but he’d settle for a fight against Fury. However, the one problem with that is Fury is the WBO mandatory challenger for Klitschko, and it’s unlikely he’ll take a fight against Deontay before he gets the Klitschko fight. It’s too dangerous, and Fury won’t want to take the chance that he gets whipped by Deontay before he gets his payday fight against Wladimir.
Mayweather-Pacquiao fight close to being done
Sam Watson, a close associate of Al Haymon, says that the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Manny Pacquiao fight is close to being done. It’s being worked on, and they’re at the part where they’re trying to iron out the Showtime and HBO deal. Both networks will likely be televising the fight on pay per view on the same night.
This part of the deal is going to be tricky, and one can only hope that they don’t mess things up. Pacquiao has reportedly agreed to a 60-40 split of the money.
De La Hoya working on Matthysse vs. Provodnikov bout
If Oscar De La Hoya gets his way, boxing fans may soon be seeing a fight between Lucas Matthysse and Ruslan Provodnikov taking place this year. De La Hoya is reportedly working hard to try and put the fight together. It’s a doable fight due to Provodnikov not being promoted by Golden Boy rival Top Rank, and a situation where the Russian fighter needing a win badly after his loss to Chris Algieri last year.
Provodnikov lost his WBO light welterweight title in that fight to Algieri, and he’s done much since then other than beat a 40-year-old Jose Luis Castillo recently.