Andre Ward signs with Roc Nation

After a protracted legal battle with Goosen Promotions, WBA Super World middleweight champion Andre Ward (27-0, 14 KOs) signed with Jay Z’s Roc Nation Sports on Friday, which reportedly ends his deal with Goosen Promotions. This means that the soon to be 31-year-old Ward should get a lot busier in terms of fighting on a more regular basis.

Ward’s fought only fought twice in the last three years, and he didn’t fight at all in 2014.

“It’s official!! #NextChapter Happy to be a part of the @rocnation family,” Ward said on his twitter today.

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Carl Froch having second thoughts about retiring

IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs) appears to be having second thoughts about him walking away from the game in 2015. He’s been talking about retirement since the Lucian Bute fight in 2012, but in the last two years the talk has increased to the point where many boxing fans believed that he would retire after a proposed farewell fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr this year.

Froch now feels like he can continue fighting, and he’s talking about the Chavez Jr and even showing sudden interest in a possible James DeGale fight.

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Stiverne, Wilder Talk Training Camp And Their Place In Heavyweight History

“One man has the hype, the other the belt. But you need both to make heavyweight history.” – ALL ACCESS: STIVERNE VS WILDER premieres tonight, Friday, Jan. 9 at 10:45 p.m. ET/PT during SHOWTIME® Free Preview Weekend and immediately preceding the first SHOBOX: The New Generation of 2015 (Redkach vs. Amidu, 11 p.m. ET/PT; live on SHOWTIME).

Take a peek behind the scenes of Bermane Stiverne and Deontay Wilder’s training camps in advance of their WBC Heavyweight World Championship showdown. Get into the action with this full episode of ALL ACCESS, and don’t miss the United States’ most anticipated heavyweight battle in a decade on Saturday, Jan. 17 at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT; live on SHOWTIME.”

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Stiverne vs. Wilder: Bombs Away!

In what could be the liveliest heavyweight scrap of recent times, reigning WBC champ Bermane Stiverne will face undefeated KO artist Deonte Wilder, on January 17th at the legendary MGM Grand, Las Vegas. This could be the fight to bring heavyweight glory back to its rightful home, and finally reignite the spark that has been absent from the big boys’ division for far too long.

Will Wilder’s undeniable power be enough to overcome Stiverne’s solid chin and vicious countering abilities? Or will the young lion be ‘exposed’ following his widely considered ‘soft’ opposition? With a genuine ‘anything can happen’ element to this potential classic, there’s a lot to be excited about. Jim Lampley’s famous “theatre of the unexpected” tag will be more than appropriate here.

Stiverne has proven himself a fierce adversary with a string of strong performances in recent years, icing his cake with a stoppage win over the usually iron-chinned Cris Arreola in their rematch in May of last year.

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Amir Khan: The Art of Talk

Few pugilists over the years have divided opinion as much as the UK’s Amir Khan. Throughout his largely impressive career, he has been dogged with derision and doubt, as fans and pundits alike have continued to question his level of opposition, the resilience of his suspect chin, and his overall pedigree as a fighter. Throw into the mix a ‘speak-before-thinking’ mentality, and you have the recipe for a boxer everyone loves to hate.

I wrote an article on ESB some years ago, attempting to give a fair and balanced look at the controversy and opinionated views surrounding Amir, who was then based in Freddie Roach’s Wildcard Gym. Since then, Khan lost his 140lb titles to Lamont Peterson in a somewhat controversial decision, got timed and sparked by Danny Garcia within 4 rounds of a careless outing, made hard work of Carlos Molina and Julio Diaz, before looking a lot more impressive against Luis Collazo and Devon Alexander more recently.

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Rigondeaux Can Spark Super Bantamweight Unification Series

As we settle in for 2015, it’s customary for the boxing fraternity and fans alike to state their hopes and wishes for the year ahead. Essentially dream fights which we hope will be made, which against all logic are not likely to happen. There are a few that spring to mind immediately, an end to the Floyd Mayweather/ Manny Pacquiao saga, Andre Ward v Gennady Golovkin (catch weight), Sergey Kovalev v Adonis Stevenson and of course Alex Ariza v a peak Mike Tyson.

On this occasion I have chosen to air on the side of caution and focus my attentions on an occurrence of a more realistic persuasion, which would be the collision of the current crop of Super Bantamweight World Champions. In Guillermo Rigondeaux, Leo Santa-Cruz, Carl Frampton and Scott Quigg, the division finds itself on the cusp of greatness. Greatness it enjoyed almost 15 years previous when Erik Morales won a split decision over Marco Antonio Barrera in what is widely considered one of the greatest fights of all time. Right now we have four fighters, boasting a collective 92-0-3 (61KO’s) record and a blend of styles capable of producing a series of fights that will define each of their careers.

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Golovkin will knock Murray down to 5’10”, says Sanchez

Abel Sanchez, the trainer for WBA Super World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, isn’t too worried about Golovkin’s opponent Martin Murray having a size advantage over Golovkin in their February 21st fight at the Salle des Étoiles, Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Sanchez figures that Golovkin will take away Murray’s size advantage by knocking him down to his size with his big power shots. This could mean that we’ll see Golovkin throwing a lot of body shots to get Murray to bend forward more to keep from getting hit with them as much.

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Froch still on course to face Chavez Jr

Rob McCracken, the trainer for IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (33-2, 24 KOs), says that Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (48-1-1, 32 KOs) is still a target for them for their next fight. McCracken says that they’re in talks with Chavez Jr for a fight. This is news because Chavez Jr’s promoter Bob Arum recently said that there is no Chavez Jr-Froch fight.

This means that if Froch’s promoter is having talks with Chavez Jr about a fight, then they’re doing it without Arum’s Top Rank company being part of the talks. If Arum and Top Rank aren’t going to be involved then it’s unknown if a fight between Chavez Jr and Froch can take place.

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Khan: Mayweather’s running, who wants to see Khan-Pacquiao?

Amir Khan says that Floyd Mayweather Jr is running from him because he won’t agree to fight him. Khan instead is now targeting Manny Pacquiao for his next fight if the Filipino fighter doesn’t end up facing Mayweather next on May 2nd.

“Who wants to see Khan vs. Pacquiao because I know Mayweather’s running,” Khan said on his twitter.

I’m sure that a lot of boxing fans would love to see Pacquiao face Khan. If the only other alternative to a Mayweather fight is Jessie Vargas, then I can see a lot of fans seeing Khan as a much better choice. However, Khan is managed by Al Haymon, which would seem to be a huge barrier for Khan getting a fight against Pacquiao due to Haymon not working with Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum.

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Cleverly to melt down to light heavyweight to fight on 4/11, wants Braehmer

Nathan Cleverly is going to need to drop a ton of weight to get down to 175 for his next fight on April 11th in Lees. He’s moving from cruiserweight back down to light heavyweight where he hopes to get a crack at WBA World light heavyweight champion Jurgen Braehmer in the near future. That fight obviously won’t happen on April 11th, but that’s the direction Cleverly is being steered in.

First, however, he’s going to need to lose 25 pounds to get down to 175. This isn’t just 25 pounds of fat though. This is 25 pounds of muscle that Cleverly slowly put on in order to move up to cruiserweight. He won two out of his three fights in that weight class, but after his lethargic performance in losing to Tony Bellew last November, Cleverly decided he should move back down to light heavyweight.

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