In a night of personal best’s Gavin McDonnell was in no mood to miss out on the fun, outpointing Vusi Malinga in a display of will, determination and no shortage of skill to the delight of the Humberside crowd.
The deal has been signed – unbeaten WBA, IBO and WBC Interim middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (31-0, 28 KOs) of Kazakhstan will fight top-rated Martin Murray (28-1-1, 12 KOs) of the UK in Monte Carlo on February 21.
Golden Gloves and K2 Promotions announced the bout minutes after Murray’s successful WBC Silver belt defence against Domenico Spada in Monaco on Saturday.
Golovkin will go in search of his record 19th straight stoppage while Murray will be hoping it is third time lucky after two previous title bids were rebuffed by the judges.
England’s Martin Murray continued his march towards a world title shot with a dramatic seventh-round technical decision win over rugged Domenico Spada of Italy in the main bout on the Golden Gloves “Title Tornado” card in Monaco on Saturday night.
The fight was called off due to an accidental head butt, leading to a premature calling of the judges’ scorecards.
The fight was officially stopped at 1:33 of the round. Katsidis stopped staggered and looked like he was ready to continue fighting, but McDonnell wasn’t going to let him continue. The shot that Coyle threw wasn’t a really big punch. It was just a case of Katsidis not having his guard up, and him not being ready for the punch.
WBC Silver middleweight champion Martin Murray (29-1-1, 12 KOs) may not have put in an impressive performance tonight in beating #7 WBC Domenico Spada (39-6, 19 KOs) by a 7th round technical decision, but he did earn a potential title shot against WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin with the win.
#3 WBA Alexander Povetkin (28-1, 20 KOs) proved his class last Friday night in defeating #5 World Boxing Association (WBA) contender Carlos Takam (30-2-1, 23 KOs) by a 10 round knockout at the Luzhniki Concert Hall in Moscow, Russia. Povetkin knocked a badly hurt Takam down with a hard left hook to the head at the start of the 10th round.
The shot put Takam down on his back, and the fight was stopped immediately. Povetkin had knocked Takam down late in the 9th round with a hard right hand that sent him down partially through the ropes. Takam was able to make it out of the round due to the time expiring, but there was no way that he could recover in between rounds.
Tommy Coyle v Michael Katsidis (12 x 3 – IBF International Lightweight Belt)
Tommy Coyle now 19-2 (8KO’s) is thrust into the biggest test of his career, on paper at least, against the Australian banger Michael Katsidis 30-6 (24KO’s) for the IBF International Lightweight title. Both fighters find themselves at a crucial stage in their careers where a defeat would be fatal to any aspirations they have of continuing to top the bill on shows such as this.
O. De La Hoya – Let me introduce to you the current WBA and IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion and obviously a future first ballot Hall of Famer. He won the Middleweight World Title in 1995, and defended that title 20 times, solidifying his place as one of the best, if not the best middleweights in boxing history.
Bernard Hopkins, not only are we talking about the fighter who is the best in this era, but can possibly be the best in any era. When you talk about comparing the ’80s and the ’70s and the ’60s and 1990 and the 2000s, well Hopkins is a fighter you can say would have competed, if not would have been the best, in any era. That’s what we’re talking about right here.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY, PHILIPPINES (October 23, 2014) — Fighter of the Decade and World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion, Congressman MANNY “Pacman” PACQUIAO (56-5-2, 38 KOs), the lone congressional representative from the Sarangani Province of the Philippines, his Hall of Fame trainer FREDDIE ROACH and Hall of Fame promoter BOB ARUM hosted an international Media Conference Call today. Emanating from General Santos City, Philippines, where Pacquiao has been in deep, rigorous training for his title defense battle with undefeated WBO junior welterweight world champion CHRIS ALGIERI (20-0, 8 KOs), of Huntington, NY on Long Island, their eagerly-anticipated world championship collision is just five weeks away.
At today’s press conference in the Philippines, Freddie Roach, the vocal trainer for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs), took the opportunity to point out that some of Pacquiao’s sparring partners are better than Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs), who Pacquiao will be fighting on November 22nd on HBO Championship Boxing from the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, in Macao S.A.R., China.
The sparring partners that Roach is likely referring to as being better than Algieri are Mike Jones and Viktor Postol. They are certainly good fighters, and it would be a toss-up if Algieri were to face either of these guys.