Is Badou Jack A Better Fight For George Groves?

Before last night’s upset Stateside, there was one fighter who had been keeping a careful eye on proceedings between Anthony Dirrell (27-1-1, 22ko) and Badou Jack(19-1-1,12ko) and that was Britain’s “St.” George Groves, mandatory challenger to the WBC 168lb strap.

Groves (21-2,16ko) had originally stepped aside to let Dirrell make a voluntary defence of the belt, a move that backfired on the Michigan fighter spectacularly when he dropped a MD to “The Money Team” fighter by scores of 114-114, 115-113 and 116-112.

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Miracle Man Jacobs TKOs Caleb Truax in 12th

Bright lights, lots of hoopla, and celebrities in search of a microphone. Daniel “Miracle Man” Jacobs 28-1-0 (26KO) was hyped and ready for his first WBA world middleweight title defense. He knew going in that he was the low man on the title totem pole. Ahead of him were Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin, Miguel Cotto, and Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillan.

If Jacobs wanted to be looked upon as their equal, he needed to make a good showing against Caleb “Golden” Truax, 25-1-2 (15KO) who had never been stopped or even knocked down in his nine year career. Caleb’s last two fights were at UIC Paviion in Chicago, tonight’s venue, the site of tonight’s Premier Boxing Champions (PBS) broadcast on Spike TV.

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Jack defeats Dirrell; Jacobs defeats Truax

In a surprise upset, WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (27-1-1, 22 KOs) was defeated by #8 WBC challenger Badou Jack (19-1-1, 12 KOs) by a 12 round majority decision on Friday night in a fight that wasn’t supposed to be competitive at the UIC Pavilion, in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dirrell, 30, looked under motivated from the start as he threw single shots and spent much of the time clinching to try and shutdown Jack’s pressure style offense.

Jack didn’t have fast feet, and Dirrell likely could have out-boxed him if he was a mobile fighter like his older brother Andre Dirrell, but he simply didn’t have the mobility to stay away from Jack. All throughout the fight, Jack would cut off the ring on Dirrell and force him to fight on the inside where he was less skilled. Dirrell would then clinch to stop Jack from nailing him with shots. But Jack used these opportunities to rough Dirrell up by hitting him to the body, side of the head and even to the back of the head.

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Deontay Wilder v Tyson Fury – Who Wins?

This weekend lineal heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3,53ko) returns to America to fight Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings (19-0,10ko) at Madison Square Garden in New York, the big Ukrainian fighter’s first fight on American soil in seven long years.

Nobody expects relative novice Jennings to trouble the dominant champion in a fight that is for all intents and purposes a mismatch. Jennings has only been boxing for 6 years in total, amateur AND professional and the question lies more in who is going to be the next star of the division?

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Klitschko v Jennings Weigh-In; Wilder-Briggs Go At It!

During an eventful weigh-in at Madison Square Garden-Chase Square this afternoon, Wladimir Klitschko, 63-3 (53KO’s), tipped the scales at 241.6 pounds, looking magnificent at 39 years of age.

His challenger Bryant Jennings, 19-0 (10KO’s), looked equally impressive – despite the size aggregate – notching a ripped 226.8 pounds.

Sadly, it was not the two men who will put it on the line tomorrow that will take the headlines from today. These will once again be dominated by the tedious sideshow that is Shannon Briggs and his furious slanging match with reigning WBC World heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.

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Arum: Money Means Nothing To The 1%

The Mayweather-Pacquiao ticket saga, after rumbling on since the fight was announced, came to an end inside a minute yesterday when all of the public allocation were snapped up within seconds.

Top Rank boss Bob Arum has spoken to CNN regarding the cost of tickets to the mega-fight, which as of Friday afternoon (BST) are currently re-selling on Stub-Hub for in excess of $128,000. Serious, serious money.

He said; “The 1% have so much money that they don’t know how to spend it. Whether it’s yachts, paintings or tickets to a fight, the money means nothing to them. We’ve never seen anything like this in all of boxing, and I don’t think, for any sporting event”

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Klitschko/Jennings Weigh-In Live Stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAoatq-tyGs

Saturday’s HBO World Championship Boxing doubleheader telecast begins at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT).

The HBO telecast kicks off from Madison Square Garden in New York City with an exciting 10-round welterweight showdown between Sadam Ali and Francisco Santana. The main event pits Wladimir Klitschko defending his heavyweight championship against Bryant Jennings.

Official Weights from New York:

Wladimir Klitschko: 241.6 lbs. – Bryant Jennings: 226.8 lbs.
Sadam Ali: 146.8 lbs. – Francisco Santana: 146.4 lbs.

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Give Up On Floyd, Amir

It’s looking increasingly likely that Britain’s Amir Khan (30-3, 19ko), who fights American Chris Algieri (20-1, 8ko) in New York on May 29th, will have to give up on his dream of fighting Floyd Mayweather, a fight he has been chasing for the better part of 2 and a half years.

Mayweather has stated equivocally that win or lose on May 2nd, his last fight will be in September.

“My last fight will be in September. I don’t know who I will fight in September, but I shan’t be overlooking anyone”

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Klitschko v Fury – Is Jennings Able To Spoil The Party?

Ahead of this weekend’s heavyweight clash from New York that pits dominant lineal champion Wladimir Klitschko against Philadelphia’s Bryant Jennings, Frank Warren has written in his weekly column for the Independent in the UK to talk of his hopes for British #1 Tyson Fury, and how he wants the fight for his man against Wladimir in the UK.

Fury is the mandated challenger to Wladimir’s WBO belt and should Klitschko beat Jennings Saturday night as all expect him to, then Warren and the Klitschko’s have 30 days to put the fight together before it goes to purse bids.

Warren wrote of Klitschko;

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Joe Calzaghe Talks Mayweather v Pacquiao – “Being Undefeated Can Be A Burden”

Legendary British 168lb wizard Joe Calzaghe has spoken to the BBC ahead of the Vegas super-fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao, predicting a win for Floyd, though calling his undefeated record “a massive burden.” If there is anyone well placed to talk of the burden of protecting an ‘0’ then it’s Calzaghe, who finally retired in 2008 after an unblemished 46-0 record and 11 long years a world champion.

He was involved in many memorable contests throughout his hall-of-fame career, including his destruction of American “Mini Mike Tyson” Jeff Lacy in 2006 and his US victories over living legends Roy Jones Jr and Bernard Hopkins in 2008. Not to mention his MASSIVE showdown with Denmark’s Mikkel Kessler that unified the 168lb titles in front of 50,000 in Cardiff in 2007.

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