To kickoff fight week events, below are 10 fast facts you should know about Deontay Wilder (with his comments):
1. He has spent more than 1,000 hours getting tattoos covering his body, including one of the WBC heavyweight championship belt on his left thigh …
It’s a fight we are going to see sooner rather than later – and with Wladimir Klitschko’s trainer James Ali Bashir expressing concerns earlier this week regarding the danger Tyson Fury presents the giant Ukrainian champion in the Autumn of his career, a tweet from Fury’s trainer and Uncle Peter Fury, last night summed up the belief that evidently exists in camp ahead of the fight – writing the following;
“You will see the best @Tyson_Fury ever. The world will awake to a new era in boxing & the new undisputed champion of the world!”
Now 42 years old, American heavyweight contender and Islamic convert Amir Mansour (22-1, 16ko) hasn’t had the easiest of careers, though it would be fair to say he has been the architect of his own destruction – sentenced to 8 1/2 years for drug offences back in 2001 and then after a fleeting comeback in 2010, he was sent back to jail for a further 14 months for violating his parole the following year.
Nice guy I’m sure – but many boxers have troubled personal lives – look at Jermain Taylor lately – and it’s what gets achieved in the ring that truly matters, with the New Jersey born heavy on a seven fight comeback streak since January 2013 – the sole loss coming to former cruiserweight boss Steve Cunningham in a fight where both men tasted canvas a little over a year ago.
Brandon Rios is looking increasingly likely to be Kell Brook’s next defence of his IBF 147lb title – on August 29th, possibly in Sheffield – and he has spoken out to fighthype.com to insist he sees nothing about the Brit that worries him, insisting the Wincobank fighter isn’t impressive and that he also has no concerns about coming to box in Brook’s backyard.
After his trainer Robert Garcia recently questioned the neutrality of British officials, it would appear Rios is relaxed about the idea and expressed no issues. Asked if the journey across the pond bothers him, he said;
Boxing is often referred to as ‘the hurt business’ and over time the sport has been littered with many casualties, oftentimes angry young men whose star burned brightly but then faded just as fast, the dark energy that propels them to the top inevitably proving unsustainable over the long term. Sitting down with Joseph Parker you sense none of that. Instead you find a young man at ease with himself and the environment around him.
Talk which starts with boxing soon moves on to family and friends, a subject that is never far from Joseph’s mind. But it is a deceptive energy because make no mistake; once the opening bell rings, as he has proven in recent fights, he is all business.
ESB: You must be excited to be back on home soil fighting in front of your family and friends. I understand that your parents have been able to watch you fight overseas as well?
Ahead of his clash with unheralded challenger Eric Molina on Saturday, Alabama’s WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has spoken out to Sky Sports – who will be showing the fight in the UK – to promote the contest and talk about not only the future of the heavyweight division, but the future of boxing generally – something he feels he is ready to be the new star of following Floyd Mayweather’s inevitable retirement from the sport.
He said;
“Floyd Mayweather seems to be coming to the end and boxing needs an exciting new face to take over. I believe I can be that exciting new face.”
After inking his deal with Al Haymon recently, the expected announcement that IBF 122lb champion Carl Frampton would soon appear on the Premier Boxing Champions brand has arrived, with the Tiger’s Bay man fighting Alejandro Gonzalez Jr in El Paso, Texas on July 18th in the 2nd defence of his title.
Not too much is known about Frampton’s Mexican opponent, who at 22 years of age, has only boxed outside of Mexico the once – yet he will be looking to emulate his father, Alejandro ‘La Cobrita’ Gonzalez who pulled off a similar feat in 1995, when he stunned a then undefeated Kevin Kelley to take the WBC featherweight strap when he was just 21 years old – also in Texas.
He will be remembered by history as one of the greatest middleweight titlist’s of all time and the Hall Of Fame will surely already have a spot reserved for him, yet following his incredibly brave and spirited performance against Sergey Kovalev, in which he sustained a severe and comprehensive beating – many felt that Bernard Hopkins had at last taken one trip back to the well too many and that it was time for the curtain to finally come down on the Philly native’s epic, record breaking career.
Among his extraordinary achievements are; the most middleweight title defences in history, longest ever reign at 160 and being the oldest fighter to ever win a world title – so now, being 50 years of age, one thinks what could honestly be left for the modern great?
Last weekend we saw big punching British heavyweight prospect Anthony Joshua answer the ‘test’ of Kevin Johnson in emphatic style, making a mockery of the American’s prior credentials of having never previously being stopped throughout his long professional career – the pinnacle of which saw him see the final bell against Vitali Klitschko back in 2009.
The fact he also extended Joshua’s domestic peers Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora the 12 round distance, has drawn comparisons between the British heavyweight rivals – with a school of thought existing that Joshua could well jump in – and beat – either man tomorrow.
Many fans were left pleasantly surprised by 2014 Boxcino tournament winner Willie Monroe Jr in his fight with Gennady Golovkin recently, in which the spirited American was simply outgunned by the brute strength and power of the Kazakh who broke him down and floored him 3 times en route to earning a 6th round stoppage – one which was no doubt hastened by Monroe appearing to say “I’m done” to referee Jack Reiss after rising to his feet.
In spite of that, not many fans gave the light hitting New Yorker a prayer going into the fight, yet he was consistently able to tag Golovkin as the champion moved forward, all the while displaying some slick footwork, decent handspeed and a pure boxing southpaw style that for me, showed he at least has the ability to hang with most of the top 10 at 160lb.