“Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag”: Would GGG Face Kovalev?, Mayweather Crossing Lines?, Rigondeaux in Pacquiao Camp?

Ensei L. (Ontario, CA): I’m a huge GGG fan and looking at Kovalev, I couldn’t help but think about how great a matchup would be between the two. Do you ever see that fight happening down the line?

Vivek W. (ESB): As much as I would love to see that fight, I have very little hope that we will ever see it. It’s one of those topics that really challenges me, personally. You never want to take a negative or harsh disposition towards an emerging talent in the sport, but when you look at the negative narratives that follow proven commodities in the sport, contrasted by images drawn up to illustrate perceptions of those who aren’t, it’s just not proper. When I think of a Danny Garcia, or an Andre Ward, there’s a consistent rhetoric that almost mandates that they take on a certain level of competition or be banished to hell for not “proving themselves”.

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Mike Reed Stops Soto in 2nd; Vows, “Best Is Yet to Come”

By Justin Jones & Paul “Paparazzi” Jones: Washington, DC – Unbeaten light welterweight Mike “Yes Indeed” Reed (13-0, 6 KOs) recorded his 13th consecutive victory on Saturday night’s Keystone Boxing “Capital City” Card at the Sphinx Club in DC by seeking and destroying Edgardo “Eddie” Soto (12-9, 4 KOs), 38, in less than six minutes of work. Reed recorded his third and final knockdown – two knockdowns in the first – 2:10 into round two before the referee called a halt to the bout.

There’s no other way to sum up Yes Indeed” Reed’s intent and demeanor other than a man on a mission. As soon as the timekeeper sounded the opening bell, Reed began walking Soto down and landing power punches to the body and head. There was no slow start; no finesse; no feeling out his opponent; it was all business.

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Kovalev stops the unstoppable Pascal and sets up fight with Stevenson

(Photo Credit: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev stopped the unstoppable Jean Pascal, but not before Pascal gave him his toughest fight to date. Pascal’s hometown capacity crowd at the Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada were in shock when, in the eighth round, Referee Luis Pabon waived an end to Pascal valiant efforts to continue. Loyal Pascal fans were muted as they witnessed Kovalev’s powerful and efficient dispatch of their hero.

As loyal as they are to Pascal, they were obliged to respect Krusher. He had vanquished their champion. He did it by overcoming, overpowering and quashing all Pascal had to offer, which was considerable. His victory came with a price in the form of some bumps and bruises, but the Krusher proved yet again that he is a helluva fighter. Ringside analyst Bernard” Alien” Hopkins explained that Sergey continues to improve with each fight, adding “That’s scary!”

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Sergey Kovalev TKO 8 Jean Pascal – Round by Round Review

Kovalev defended his WBO, WBA Super and IBF light heavyweight titles with a substandard performance vs. a durable but technically and tactically bridled strongman. Both competitors were one-dimensional in their own way and showed little capacity or tendency to adapt or at least modify their efforts according to the flow of battle. Pascal had not been stopped or knocked down as a pro and was expected give the “Krusher” a run for his money.

Round 1: Kovalev moved forward in a straight line trying to walk down Jean Pascal to the ropes or to get him to fight. Pascal would not take the fight and bounced around ducking low whenever he felt threatened. Kovalev did not advance indiscriminately, his basic skills are rock-steady and he is very particular in observing range. He does not care too much about the opponent’s range; he is preoccupied with his own comfort zone as he is tall and has long arms. If he is in range, the opponent often isn’t and when the opponent tries to get close, Kovalev’s best defense is his frontal punch power. Pascal was met by rapid fire upstairs and downstairs whenever he tried to get into position. His rally in the end of the round was more of distress call than a serious attack.

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Berto Shines in the Spike TV Spotlight

The main event of Friday night’s “Premiere Boxing Champions” card on Spike TV pitted former welterweight titlist Andre Berto against former title challenger Josesito Lopez. The crowd at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California was biased for Lopez, the local boy from nearby Riverside. Berto fought off boos from the crowd throughout, but he would have the last laugh.

Berto’s trainer, the great Virgil Hunter, wanted his charge to take his time and ease into the fight – no brawling. The Haiti native, now living in Florida, seemed to take the first round off, allowing Lopez to get off to the body and outwork him.

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Kovalev blasts Pascal out in 8th round TKO

(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) In the much-anticipated main event of the evening, Sergey “Krusher” Kovalev (27-0-1, 24 KOs)* and Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) pleased fans with an action-packed battle. Both fighters started by trading some good shots, but Kovalev started to throw some nasty combinations in the third round to take the wind out of the hostile crowd at the Centre Bell in Montreal.

Just before the end of the third round, Kovalev knocked Pascal through the ropes but Pascal was saved by the bell. Sergey came out swinging in the fourth to try to capitalize on the near KO, but Pascal managed to stay on his feet and land a huge right to show Kovalev he was still in the fight. As the bell rang to end the fourth round, both men were still trading big shots.

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Porter Gets Back on Track

Cleveland, Ohio native Shawn Porter got back into the win column last night as the co-main event of another “Premiere Boxing Champions” card, which was broadcast live on Spike TV. Although he was originally scheduled to fight rugged veteran Roberto Garcia, there was a last minute replacement. Apparently Garcia was more than 4 pounds overweight the day of the weigh-in and didn’t even bother to show up. So Al Haymon reached out to Erick Bone, a New Yorker by way of Ecuador, and flew him out to California less than 24 hours before the bout.

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Kovalev stops Pascal; Glazkov beats Cunningham

(Photo Credits: David Spagnolo/Main Events) Jean Pascal (29-3-1, 17 KOs) gave it a game effort tonight, but he just wasn’t able to handle WBA/WBO/IBF light heavyweight Sergey Kovalev’s power, as Kovalev dropped Pascal twice in the process of halting him in the 8th round in their fight on Saturday night on HBO Championship Boxing from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

Pascal visited the canvas in the 4th and the 8th rounds. Referee Luis Pabon pulled the plug in the 8th shortly after Pascal was dropped with a left hook by Kovalev. Pascal sprang to his feet, staggered to the ropes for a last stand. Kovalev then nailed the near defenseless Pascal with two hard right hands to the head that had Pascal’s eyes rolling around in his head. The fight was stopped at 1:03 of the round. Not surprisingly, Pascal protested the stoppage, even while staggering around.

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Bryant Jennings is ready for the transition

A remarkable 6-year journey will reach its crescendo when Bryant Jennings, 19-0 (10KO’s), faces the long reigning heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko, 63-3 (53KO’s), in Madison Square Garden on 25th April.

For it has been in that short space of time, that the 30-year old Philadelphian has managed to travel from first lacing them up to having the opportunity to claim the most prestigious prize in the sport.

Regardless of era, such a remarkable feat is deserving of respect.

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Douglas, Barroso, Odom & Lopez Score Knockouts In ShoBox QuadrupleHeader

Photo by Rosie Cohen/SHOWTIME® – Talented unbeaten middleweight Antoine Douglas made an impressive 2015 debut thoroughly outboxing previously unbeaten Thomas LaManna before finishing him by TKO at 2:44 of the sixth-round in the main event of a night of knockouts on ShoBox: The New Generation Friday from The Space at Westbury in Westbury, N.Y.

Douglas (17-0-1, 10 KOs), of Washington, D.C., controlled the bout from the opening bell and was the more active and accurate fighter, throwing 127 total punches to LaManna’s 73. LaManna (16-1, 7 KOs), of Millville, N.J., was tough and tried to counter, but wasn’t experienced enough to land anything meaningful against the skilled Washingtonian. Douglas employed a diverse and ferocious attack of uppercuts, hooks and jabs knocking LaManna down twice before scoring the knockout in an exciting win.

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