Throwback Fighter: Marcus Upshaw

The confident, tenacious, and hard-working orthodox middleweight pugilist Marcus “Arillus” Upshaw (17-13-4, 1NC, 8 KOs) is a firm believer that he’ll be a world champion in the near future.
“My uncle, the late Gene Upshaw, a NFL Hall of Fame offensive tackle for the Oakland Raiders always told me that I can accomplish anything that I set my mind to, and that is what I aim to do by becoming the best boxer in my weight class,” said Upshaw.

Upshaw’s opportunity to become a world champion continues as he takes on hometown favorite Lanell “KO” Bellows (12-1-1, 7 KOs) this Sunday, June 21st at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Upshaw is moving up to the super middleweight division and fighting in his opponents’ backyard for this bout, which he has done throughout his career.

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Barthelemy beats DeMarco

(Photo career: Lucas Noonan/Premier Boxing Champions) LAS VEGAS (June 21, 2015) – Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (23-0, 13 KOs) dominated and dropped Antonio DeMarco (31-5-1, 23 KOs) on his way to a wide unanimous 10-round decision on Premier Boxing Champions on CBS Sunday afternoon at the MGM Grand Garden Arena as promoter of the event and President of Mayweather Promotions Floyd “Money” Mayweather watched from the first row.

Barthelemy was strong in his 140-pound debut, landing with his left hand from every angle, including a straight left that knocked DeMarco down in the fourth round. Barthelemy controlled the fight, never allowing the southpaw DeMarco to ramp up the pressure or land anything significant.

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Floyd Mayweather insists he will fight either Karim Mayfield or Andre Berto in September

(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) With Saturday’s dominant win over Adrien Broner under his belt, former IBF welterweight ruler Shawn Porter is understandably calling out Floyd Mayweather Junior. Porter – who was too strong for Broner (despite having to weigh-in three-pounds below the welterweight limit as per Broner’s demands) appeared to have things largely his own way until the 12th and final round when Broner put him down with a lead left hook to the head – scored a unanimous decision and now wants to face Mayweather in September.

“Money,” who will be having his 49th and very possibly final fight at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas on September 12th, has yet to officially announce his challenger. Amir Khan remains hopeful he will get his dream fight, while other big names such as Gennady Golovkin and Keith Thurman have been calling out Mayweather for some time. And now, in the opinion of some, Shawn Porter deserves to be considered for September 12th. But Mayweather, in speaking with his website of choice, FightHype, had a surprise in store when he was asked on camera who he will likely fight in September.

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Andre Ward Is Back At…Catch Weight

(Photo credit: Tom Hogan – Hoganphotos/Roc Nations Sports) Andre Ward resurfaced after a long absence and steamrolled British super middleweight Paul Smith at the Oracle Arena in Ward’s native Oakland, Cal. Ward spent two of his best years away from the prize ring due to legal and promotional disputes. He came back as shiny as new and kept his opponent in the crossfire for 9 rounds before the bloodied Smith was bailed out by his corner.

If there was any ring rust, it was shadowed by the skill differential which gave Ward full convenience. Coming from a 19 month layoff he was not expected to choose a tough challenge although Smith was no push over. The Brit went the distance twice with Arthur Abraham in his last two fights. This probably legitimized him as an opponent for Ward who did much better than Abraham. The American was on a different level and had an indecently easy time against his tough but over-matched foe. Ward exhibited his boxing talent and his speed allowed him to do whatever he pleased in the ring. There was a catch though, the catch weight clause.

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Shawn Porter beats Adrien Broner in dominating performance

(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) LAS VEGAS (June 20, 2015) – “Showtime” Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) outworked and out-landed Adrien “The Problem” Broner (30-2, 22 KOs) on his way to a unanimous decision victory on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC in front of 8,138 fans at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night.

In a fight dubbed “The Battle for Ohio”, the Akron-born Porter threw 590 punches compared to the 309 thrown by the Cincinnati-native Broner. Porter landed 149 punches compared to 88 from Broner.

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Porter decisions Broner; Spence stops Lo Greco in 3rd

(Photo credit: Suzanne Teresa/Premier Boxing Champions) Shawn Porter (26-1-1, 16 KOs) conquered Adrien “The Problem” Broner (30-2, 22 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in a spirited fight on Premier Boxing Champions on NBC from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Porter may not have had the talent that Broner had, but his tremendous heart, aggressiveness and high work rate proved to be too much for the 25-year-old Broner to deal with.

Porter literally had Broner holding and running for 12 full rounds. The one bit of success that Broner had came in the 12th round when he caught Porter with a left hook and dropped him on his backside. The knockdown proved to be just a fluke thing because Porter regained his equilibrium and finished the round strong.

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Lemieux decisions N’Dam to win vacant IBF middleweight title

The big punching David Lemieux (34-2, 31 KOs) built up an early lead and held onto it in the second half of the fight to defeat #1 IBF Hassan N’Dam (31-2, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to win the International Boxing Federation 160 pound title at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada. Lemieux’s left hook was a big weapon for him in this fight, as he knocked N’Dam down with it on four occasions in the fight.

The scores were 115-109, 115-109, and 114-110.

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Tyson Fury Taunting Deontay Wilder

I do love Tyson Fury’s twitter. The 6ft 9″ giant British heavyweight, who is soon to get a shot at lineal heavyweight champ and future Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko, last night took the opportunity to wind up American rival Deontay Wilder in his own unique and inimitable style when the Alabama man posted a “caption this” selfie for his 88k followers, in which he had a surprised look on his face.

Fury wasted no time tweeting;

“u ugly cu**”

And he didn’t edit the expletive!

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Keith Thurman: ‘Brook Deserves Mayweather Over Amir Khan’

He enjoys a considerable base of support here in the UK – and top American welterweight Keith Thurman, who boxes Luis Collazo next month on Premier Boxing Champions on ESPN – has spoken out regarding the “Mayweather September Sweepstakes” to suggest that if it is not he who gets the call to face his countryman and P4P star for “Money’s” 49th fight, then British IBF champion Kell Brook is more than deserving of the opportunity.

Speaking to BehindTheGloves.com Thurman also went as far as to suggest that Brook’s domestic rival Amir Khan – who has been publicly chasing a Floyd fight for over 2 years – has yet to show he truly belongs at 147 and thus is not as deserving a challenger.

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The Forgotten Fight: Lemieux v N’Dam Preview

(Photo credit: Photo Credit: Eye of The Tiger Management) We are spoilt for choice as boxing fans this weekend as no fewer than three big clashes hit our screens. We of course have the PBC Broner v Porter card, as well as the “Son of God’s” return in Oakland when Andre Ward takes on Britain’s Paul Smith – who incidentally came in a whopping 4 lbs over the agreed 172 catch-weight.

However the one fight that has seemingly gone under the radar is the IBF 160 lb title fight between big -punching French-Canadian David Lemieux and France’s teak tough Hassan N’Dam. It is on Fox Sports 2 in the US and has thankfully been picked up by Boxnation in the UK.

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