Bellew-Cleverly 2 tickets sell out quick

Perhaps Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn knew what he was doing by making the November 22nd rematch between Tony Bellew (22-2-1, 14 KOs) and Nathan Cleverly 28-1, 14 KOs) a pay-per-view fight on Sky Box Office from the Echo Arena, in Liverpool, Merseyside, United Kingdom. The fight card, which includes the likes of James DeGale, Anthony Joshua, Callum Smith, Stephen Smith, Scott Quigg, and Jamie McDonnell, sold out in just 48 hours after the tickets went on sale.

That’s pretty impressive. The Bellew-Cleverly 2 fight is a decent one, but hardly what you’d call a great one. Neither of these guys have the talent to win a world title at cruiserweight in my view, but that still didn’t stop their fans from quickly buying out the tickets in just 2 days.

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Cotto-Canelo will come close to 2 million PPV buys, says De La Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions has high hopes for the proposed pay-per-view fight next year between Golden Boy’s flagship fighter former WBA/WBC junior middleweight Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) and WBC 160lb champ Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) on HBO. De La Hoya is projecting that this fight will bring in close to 2 million pay-per-view buys.

This is a huge number when you look at the fact that the recent pay-per-view fights for both guys have been around 300,000. De La Hoya is assuming that when you get Cotto and Canelo together, it’ll bring a much bigger number than when they’re facing other opposition.

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Battle Lines – Main Event Preview

Saturday night marks the eagerly awaited return of local favourite Josh Warrington (18-0 2KO’s), who meets Italian Davide Dieli (15-3 5KO’s) for the vacant EBU Featherweight title at the impressive First Direct Arena in the heart of his beloved Leeds.

When Eddie Hearn described Josh Warrington as “The biggest ticket seller in the country right now” he wasn’t kidding. Alone, Warrington has shifted 1500+ tickets, for what is the first fight in a bumper 5 fight deal with Matchroom, that’s no joke, in fact it’s a following that would embarrass many World Champions.

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Kovalev with no specific plan for Hopkins fight

WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (25-0-1, 23 KOs) says he has no specific game plan for his fight next month against the more experienced and much older 49-year-old IBF/WBA 175 pound champion Bernard Hopkins (55-6-2, 32 KOs) on November 8th at the Boardwalk Hall, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA.

Kovalev’s style of fighting is one oriented around him going all-out in an attack mode to try and score a quick knockout. He’s throws a lot of heavy combinations, putting a massive of pressure on his opponents. His opposition generally fold pretty quickly even with them fighting 100% a defensive fight. They’re unable to stand up to Kovalev’s power for long with him throwing combinations with huge power.

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Sergey Kovalev Training Camp Notes

As current WBO Light Heavyweight World Champion Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev prepares for the fight of his life against Bernard “The Alien” Hopkins next month, he is on the precipice of a life-altering event as his wife, Natalya, is moments away from giving birth to their first child.

The Kovalevs are expecting their son any day now, with the official due date scheduled for October 17. Despite the stress and distractions that come with expectant-parenthood, the 31-year-old Kovalev assured everyone at his media day at Wolf Total Fitness in Big Bear City, Calif. yesterday that his focus is still fixated 100 percent on Hopkins, “I’m living for this fight. Only for this fight. I’m leaving for Florida when my [first] baby is due. I’ll be in training camp in Florida because this is the most important thing in my life right now.”

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Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed Vows to Impress in His Top Rank Debut — Glen Tapia, More!

Light Welterweight prospect fights Juan Montiel in his Top Rank debut

By Paul “Paparazzi” Jones & Justin Jones | Photo © Daniel Kucin, Jr.

Undefeated Junior Welterweight Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed, 10-0 with 6 KOs, takes an important step in his pro career when he faces Juan Montiel (7-6-3, 2 KOs) this Saturday in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The six-round bout, featured on the undercard of the Junior Middleweight matchup between Glen “Jersey Boy” Tapia (21-1, 13 KOs) and Donatas Bondorovas (18-5-1, 6 KOs), marks the first contest for Reed as a Top Rank fighter. While there is pressure to validate his signing, the 21-year-old Reed is not concerned about succumbing to it.

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Battle Lines – Undercard Review

Saturday night marks the eagerly awaited return of local favourite Josh Warrington, who meets little known Italian Davide Dieli for the vacant EBU Featherweight title at the impressive First Direct Arena in the heart of his beloved Leeds.

Eddie Hearn and Matchroom have taken the opportunity of what promises to be a raucous occasion to assemble a deep card, packed with notable names from their growing stable.

Returning to action in the chief supporting bout, this time at Light Welterweight is former two-weight World Champion Ricky Burns. The Scotsman contests what appears to be a routine 8-rounder against Frenchman Alexandre Lepelly (17-1-1 3KO’s). Burns (36-4-1 11KO’s) now under the tutelage of Tony Sims, comes into the fight on the back of 3 straight defeats (If you correctly count the Raymundo Beltran debacle as a defeat) and will take the opportunity to feel his way into a new weight class, against a fighter not renowned for his punching ability.

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N’Dam defeats Stevens

In a rather dull fight, Former WBO 160 pound title holder Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (31-1, 18 KOs) beat Curtis Stevens (27-5, 20 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision tonight to earn himself a shot at the winner of the fight this month between IBF middleweight champ Sam Soliman and former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor.

As expected, N’Dam did an awful lot of moving to keep out of the way of the harder punching Stevens in their fight at the Barker Hangar, in Santa Monica, California, USA. Stevens walked into a right hand in the 8th round and was knocked down. N’Dam foolishly tried to finish Stevens off, and got caught with a couple of big right hands from Stevens. Those shots from Stevens changed N’Dam’s mind about trying to score a knockout.

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Chad Dawson’s Quest for a Third World Title Continues this Saturday against Tommy Karpency

Former two-time world light heavyweight champion, “Bad” Chad Dawson (32-3, 18KOs) will continue his comeback toward another world title when he squares off against former world title challenger, Tommy Karpency (23-4-1, 14KOs) in a ten round bout on Saturday, October 4, 2014 from the Fox Theater at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut.

“I`ve had a great camp, my weight is in check and I`m extremely excited to fight this Saturday,” said Dawson. “I`m looking to make a statement in this bout in front of my hometown fans and put the boxing community on notice that I`m back. After I defeat Karpency, I want significant fights in 2015.”

The Dawson vs. Karpency matchup will be televised on Showtime Boxing Special Edition which will headline reigning and undefeated International Boxing Federation (“IBF”) Champion, Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (20-0-0 -1NC, 12KOs) as he defends his super featherweight title against former world title challenger and IBF third ranked, Fernando Saucedo (52-5-3, 8KOs), in the main event. These fights are co-promoted by DiBella Entertainment and Warriors Boxing.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Malignaggi, Mayweather/Pacquiao, Thurman/Kahn, & Danny Garcia!

Austin E. (Charlotte, NC): Paulie Malignaggi was recently quoted saying that he feels Thurman and Khan both have enough in their arsenal to defeat Mayweather and Pacquaio. I was curious to hear your thoughts on his words and whether or not you find them true?

Vivek W. (ESB): Malignaggi is one of those guys who has earned my respect both in and outside of the ring. Despite his limited power, I always viewed him as a fighter who had a very strong grip on the fundamental element of boxing. Listening to him in the role of commentator, I think his words solidify that position, as I think he’s a complete natural at breaking it all down. Few have done a better job than Paulie behind the mic, as it relates to articulating how certain fighters need to go about execution to gain victory in a given match. I think this is the first time I totally questioned his logic, but in all truthfulness, I can’t say that he’s wrong, either.

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