The talented young fighter was recently selected to join Floyd Mayweather’s camp to provide some southpaw sparring ahead of Floyd’s fight with Manny Pacquiao, and away from the bright lights of Vegas, with his feet back on British soil, Catterall is determined to keep the momentum going with a strong showing on Saturday.
Oxnard, CA: Yesterday members of the media traveled to Oxnard, California to attend WBO, WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev’s open media workout in preparation for his upcoming IBF Mandatory match-up with Nadjib “IronDjib” Mohammedi on HBO World Championship Boxing at the Mandalay Events Center in Las Vegas, Below are select quotes from Kovalev and his manager, Egis Klimas:
SERGEY KOVALEV
On Nadjib Mohammedi
“What do I know about him? Believe me, not much. But I do know he’s very dangerous. He’s fast. He has stamina. He’s not stupid; he’s an intelligent fighter.”
He will turn 47 years old in November, yet Antonio ‘Magic Man’ Tarver, the former 175 lb boss many fans best remember for his trilogy of fights with Roy Jones Jr, is set to step between the ropes again at heavyweight in August, when he fights former cruiserweight boss Steve Cunningham on the PBC on Spike card from Newark, New Jersey.
If the Florida man comes through against Cunningham, he has insisted to ThaBoxingVoice that the only fights that make sense for the future would be against the likes of Deontay Wilder, or dominant lineal champion Wladimir Klitschko, who fights Tyson Fury in Germany in October.
It can’t have been easy being the son of a famous Mexican boxing great and feeling the pressure from a young age to follow in your father’s footsteps and live up to his achievements. I think most people would always feel second best or embark upon a different career choice entirely, yet not Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, who – for all his numerous faults – has attempted (or was forced) to follow the family boxing tradition with mixed results over the years.
Chavez’s ring return comes in 8 days time when he fights Marcos Reyes, and it’s being seen as nothing more than a bounce-back fight for the Mexican former 160 lb champion after he seemingly quit on his stool against Andrzej Fonfara back in April in their 172 lb catch-weight clash.
MAGDEBURG – For the second time in his career, he’s on the brink of becoming the heavyweight champion of the world. The Italian-German fighter Francesco Pianeta (31-1-1, 17 KOs) may have wasted his first opportunity two years ago against the Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko, but now he has a whole different opponent to deal with – the Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev (33-1-2, 20 KOs), nicknamed “The White Tyson”. And he surely believes in his chances against the boxer who, among others, has managed to beat the Russian giant Nikolay Valuev…
“Ruslan can reflect on a stellar career. He’s made it very far in our sport, but his best days are well behind him. It’s highly doubtful he’ll ever reproduce these performances, so I’m giving myself a good chance to win this fight,” says the likeable 30-year old cancer conqueror in an exclusive interview to Profiboxing.cz.
IBF super bantamweight champion Carl Frampton will be looking to impress on American soil in 9 days time when he defends his title against Mexico’s Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in Texas, in what will be both his first fight in the US as well his debut under new advisor Al Haymon and the Premier Boxing Champions brand.
Frampton has been one of British boxing’s best for a while now and was sizzling last time out in February stopping brash American challenger Chris Avalos inside 5 rounds in his home city of Belfast.
The highly anticipated showdown between undefeated star Leo “El Terremoto” Santa Cruz (30-0-1, 17 KOs) and former three-division world champion Abner Mares (29-1-1, 15 KOs) is official as the two beloved stars that call Southern California home will fight in their own backyard at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles onSaturday, August 29 live in primetime on ESPN. Televised coverage for this long awaited event begins at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
To kick things off, an open-to-the-public fan rally and press conference will be held next Tuesday, July 14 at 4:30 p.m. PT at Plaza Mexico in Los Angeles. Both Santa Cruz and Mares will be in attendance. Fans are encouraged to arrive early.
Scotland’s Ricky Burns still thinks he has plenty more to give the fight game, and is moving back down to lightweight, where he is a former WBO champion, to achieve it.
Burns, 32, who also held the WBO strap at 130 lbs, was considered by many to be finished going in as the ‘away fighter’ against tough Texan Omar Figueroa back in May on Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, yet gave a heroic account of himself in the wake of some questionable officiating. It was his second fight at 140 and 3rd loss in four fights.
He hasn’t been in a boxing ring since injuring his back in Australia against Anthony Mundine in November 2013, yet yesterday a deal was done for former 3 weight world champ Shane Mosley and bitter rival Ricardo Mayorga to repeat their September 2008 encounter, which Mosley won by knockout in the last couple of seconds of the fight.
Mosley, now 43, was ahead on two judges scorecards and that of ‘unofficial’ HBO judge Harold Lederman, yet there was still some dispute from Mayorga, who believes he was hard done by, and now, after a long social media battle, the rematch between the aging veterans is on.
Gerald N. (Delray Beach, FL): Both Top Rank and Goldenboy Promotions have initiated lawsuits against Al Haymon and the “Premier Boxing Champions” movement. What are your thoughts and what light can you shed on whether or not these lawsuits hold any weight?
Vivek W. (ESB): At this stage, I think it’s far too early to really know or accurately say “how much weight” the separate lawsuits hold. There’s been a ton of information released, but with respect and integrity for the lawsuits independently, there’s still a ton of things we as fans and media simply don’t know. From the outside looking in, my position all along has been that it’s an uphill battle for the parties pursuing matters, for the simple fact that the man being pursued (Al Haymon) has the absolute allegiance of every fighter on his roster, and each and every last one of them has his back with total support.