Other former world heavyweight champions confirmed to attend the event include Lennox Lewis, Roy Jones Jr., Larry Holmes, Michael Moorer, Riddick Bowe, Ray Mercer, Hasim Rahman, Tony Tucker, Tony Tubbs, James “Bonecrusher” Smith, Michael Bentt, Lamon Brewster, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Mike Weaver, Tim Witherspoon, Pinklon Thomas, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks and Bruce Seldon.
Leonard Ellerbe – I’d like to thank everyone for calling in today to hear from our main event fighter, Andre Berto who will be fighting Floyd “Money” Mayweather Saturday, September the 12th.
HIGH STAKES: Mayweather vs. Berto is promoted by Mayweather Promotions and it’ll be shown live on SHOWTIME PPV. Just a reminder, the PPV broadcast will begin at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Our event is sponsored by Tecate, we still have tickets on sale at the MGM now and tickets are priced at $150, $300, $500, $750, $1,000 and $1,500.
Aside from the headline fight, that pits the fanatically supported featherweight Josh Warrington against Aussie, Joel Brunker, Matchroom’s Leeds show on Saturday is turning out to be an absolute shocker, with the news today that Liverpool cruiserweight hopeful Tony Bellew (24-2-1, 15ko), will face Latvian journeyman Arturs Kulikauskis (16-26-5, 8ko), a man who has lost 4 of his last 6, and 7 fights in the last 12 months!!! – yes, you did read that correctly.
It is an extremely poor return to form for Eddie Hearn and the heavily criticised domestic mis-match shows of earlier this year, that, in Leeds especially, are reliant only on massive ticket seller Warrington, and his army of football fans, to make the events – often beset with last minute changes – worthwhile.
Long faded heavyweight loudmouth Shannon Briggs (58-6-1, 51ko), currently on a 7 fight win streak against low level opposition, seems to think that if he wins his fight against unheralded club fighter Michael Marrone on Saturday night, then it somehow strengthens his case for a shot at dominant lineal champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53ko).
Briggs, who was famously brutalized, hospitalized and ‘retired’ by Wladimir’s brother Vitali in 2010, launched something of a meaningless comeback last year, and instead of trying to work himself into position for a shot at any one of Wlad’s WBO/IBF or WBA (sup) titles, seems to think ‘pester power’ and being a professional irritant, is the most viable way to secure himself a shot.
It has been confirmed that WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (32-1-1, 12ko) has officially split from long-time trainer Joel Diaz, following on from his recent win over Jessie Vargas in June.
Speaking out to address the many conflicting reports that began emerging last night on social media, “Desert Storm” said of the decision to part ways with the man who guided him from his pro debut 11 years ago, to world titles in 2 divisions, including WBC youth honours;
As expected, Britain’s unbeaten IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook, will indeed make the next defence of his title on October 24th in Sheffield, against Argentina’s Diego Chaves, before returning to the ring in December, in what will be his 4th fight, and title defence, of 2015.
Just before Brook appeared live on Sky Sports News in the UK today, to talk about the fight with Chaves, there was some conveniently timed twitter chatter from American veteran Shane Mosley, who stopped the horrendously out-of-shape Ricardo Mayorga last weekend in Los Angeles – his first fight in two years since returning from injury.
“On Saturday night expect action. There are eight heavyweight fights with all of the former heavyweight champions sitting around the ring. You see Holyfield sitting right there, then you see Tony Tucker over there, Tony Tubbs, Chris Byrd, Hasim Rahman – this is unreal. It’s never been done before. Thanks to Kris Lawrence of the Heavyweight Factory and the Hard Rock Hotel it is happening.
Kenny Porter, father and trainer of former IBF welterweight champion Shawn, says that neither of the much sought after bouts with Florida’s WBA (reg) 147 lb champion Keith Thurman, or Philadephia’s former 140 lb boss, Danny Garcia, are realistic options for his son right now.
Following Shawn’s dominant victory of Adrien Broner in June, fans were looking forward to a potential fight with his friend and divisional rival Thurman, who himself claims he wants a big fight before the end of the year, after an underwhelming clash with Luis Collazo in July.
As long as he gets past durable, but limited Columbian Jose Miguel Torres (31-6, 27ko) in Leeds on Saturday night, as expected, then British 3x world title challenger Martin Murray (31-2-1, is keen on a challenge to current WBO 168 lb champion Arthur Abraham, and is prepared to again go abroad to finally capture the world strap that has so far proven frustratingly elusive.
Murray drew with Felix Sturm in Germany, in his first world title challenge in 2011, and was again considered unlucky 16 months later when he dropped a decision to former middleweight boss Sergio Martinez in the Argentine’s backyard. A third title challenge at 160 to Gennady Golovkin last February, in Monaco, resulted in the Brit taking the big-hitting Kazakh further than anyone prior, before being stopped in 11.
Oh dear I thought, as I made my way through the boisterous crowd making their way to the Notting Hill Carnival on Saturday evening, their jovial behavior made me begin to doubt that my decision to travel to the other side of the city, to attend the season opening event at York Hall was actually worth it, but in the end I decided to persevere and to be honest am really glad I did.
I arrived later than planned, expecting to have missed the first bout as it was gone 7pm, only to find that it hadn’t actually started and instead of walking in half way through a bout I was greeted by the sight of a troupe of dancers twirling in the ring.