Hopkins: I have 10 weapons to Kovalev’s one bomb

IBF/WBA light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) respects the power that WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) will be bringing to their fight this Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. However, Hopkins feels that he’s got more ways to beat Kovalev than he does.

Hopkins figures that all he needs to do is nullify Kovalev’s power and he’ll have the fight won. That’s obviously going to be a lot easier said than done, because Kovalev is going to be on top of Hopkins for the full 12 rounds looking to blast him out with each shot. If Kovalev does fade in the later rounds, it likely won’t be unless the 8th or 9th. By then, he’ll have hit Hopkins with a lot of really hard head and body shots, and that might take a lot of the fight out of the aging 49-year-old.

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Pacquiao: After Algieri fight, we can talk about Mayweather

WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) doesn’t want to talk about a potential mega-fight against WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr right now, because he doesn’t want to give the impression that he’s name dropping in order to increase pay-per-view sales for his fight this month against Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.

Some boxing fans believe that the only reason why Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum have been talking about Mayweather in the run up to the Algieri fight is because the interest in the fight has been less than huge. The fight might ultimately bring in respectable PPV results, but few hardcore boxing fans are excited about it.

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Fonfara suffered hand injury in win over Ngumbu

If you were wondering why #6 WBC light heavyweight contender Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) looked so poor last night in defeating Doudou Ngumbu (33-6, 12 KOs), you have to realize that Fonfara suffered an injury to his right hand in the 4th round of the fight, according to Fightnews.com. From that point on, Fonfara was pretty much stuck using his left hand to do most of his power punching.

Fonfara won the fight by a 10 round unanimous decision by the scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93. Of course, the injury Fonfara sustained doesn’t explain why he looked so bad in the first three rounds of the fight.

That’s something that you have to wonder about because Ngumbu was able to hit Fonfara nearly at will with his power shots, and it was kind of disappointing to see something like that happening when Fonfara had previously been hyped by a lot of boxing fans.

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Danny O’Connor KOs Farmer

Danny O`Connor made a triumph return to the boxing ring in front of his hometown crowd as he dominated Andrew “The Doo Man” Framer and then knocked him out at 2:33 in the fourth round from a devastating left hook to the body.

“I was a bit nervous because this was my first fight in a while and I was boxing in front of my hometown fans, but I saw Farmer`s punches really well tonight and successfully counter-punch and landed what I wanted,” said O` Connor. “I wasn’t looking for the knockout punch, but it presented itself and I`m glad I won the way I did for my fans.”

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Pacquiao: “You’ll see that I’m back in the old days when I was young.”

After 63 professional bouts, many of them against not notch world champions, it would be plausible to say that Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career has probably run its course. This belief has been highlighted, even exaggerated due to 2 losses in 2012: a SD loss to Timothy Bradley, and of course the 6th round knockout loss to Pacquiao’s nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez. Clearing a loss is much more than just winning a couple of fights, which Pacquiao did against Brandon Rios in 2013 and Timothy Bradley in April of this year.

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Fonfara beats Ngumbu

Former light heavyweight world title challenger Andrzej Fonfara (26-3, 15 KOs) defeated Doudou Ngumbu (33-6, 12 KOs) by a workmanlike 10 round unanimous decision tonight in a fight that was a tougher than it should have been for Fonfara at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago. Fonfara was hit cleanly by a lot of Ngumbu’s best power shots in the fight.

The defense definitely wasn’t there tonight for the 6’2” Fonfara, but he was still able to outwork Ngumbu to win by the scores of 98-92, 97-93 and 97-93. The 98-92 score was a way off from the fight that actually took place in the ring. Ngumbu did a lot better than that score.

Ngumbu was hurt in the 5th round from a left hand from Fonfara. In the 10th, Fonfara had his way with a tired Ngumbu in nailing him with a lot of hard power shots.

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Kovalev: Hopkins thinks I only have two bullets, but I will bring more

WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) says he’s going to bring a lot of pain next Saturday night in his long awaited unification fight against IBF/WBA champ Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Kovalev thinks Hopkins sees him as a fighter who will run out of gas early after he expends his energy trying to score a quick knockout, but Kovalev says he’s going to be able to keep throwing with power for the entire fight for as long as it lasts.

“I always have bullets in my arsenal. My hands are my weapons. It’s my weapon in the ring. Hopkins thinks that I only have two bullets but I will bring some more,” Kovalev said.

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Khan: I want to show I’m a major force at 147

WBC Silver welterweight champion Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) figures that a win over Devon Alexander (26-2, 14 KOs) will prove to boxing fans that he’s a major player in the welterweight division when he faces him on December 13th on Showtime at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Khan wants to show fans that he’s deserving of a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr, and to do that he needs to dominate the 27-year-old Alexander, who has won world titles in two different divisions during his 10-year pro career.

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Dahou faces Valenzuela for WBC Interim Youth Welterweight title

Algeria’s Djamel Dahou gets the opportunity to state his case for a world title crack when he takes on Daniel Valenzuela of Mexico for the WBC Youth Interim Welterweight belt on December 19.

World title chasing Dahou hopes to take advantage of home support to see off the challenge of Valenzuela at 34000 Bordj Bou Arreridj in Algeria on the heels of Christmas 2014.

Algeria’s leading fight promoters, Mokhtar Mohamed Boxing Promotions are staging the December 19 bout which has been sanctioned by WBC as well as the Algeria Boxing Board and sponsored by Groupe Benhamadi.

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When Boxing Was Great

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since Muhammad Ali shook the world to its boots when knocking George Foreman out in 8 in Kinshasa, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo). But nothing in all those years has come close to surpassing what is overwhelmingly recognised as the finest, most iconic night in the history of boxing. That is some feat and one that has been fittingly remembered across all media outlets this past week.

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