Rafael Mensah vs Emmanuel Tagoe in the works

Ghanaian boxing bragging rights will be on the line when undefeated Rafael ‘Sweet Pea’ Mensah faces compatriot Emmanuel ‘Game Boy’ Tagoe in a battle of two of Ghana’s best lightweight boxers in Accra in May.

Boxing247.com can exclusively report that the camps of both boxers are in talks to make the super fight happen within three months, and a deal could be finalized by the end of this month.

Both boxers are highly rated with a combined career record of 47 wins, 28 knockouts and a solitary defeat, as well both have held various titles in Ghana and on the African continent and are both desperately chasing world title dreams.

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Klitschko vs Jennings: Bryant looking for a KO over Wladimir

Bryant Jennings landed himself the biggest fight of his career vs unified champion Wladimir Klitschko when he beat Mike Perez last year. Jennings is certainly a big underdog going into this fight as he is the shorter, lighter and far less experienced fighter, however he is undefeated and is sporting some good wins to his credit.

Bryant Jennings could certainly steal the limelight from his fellow American boxer Deontay Wilder with a win in this fight. Wilder bagged himself a ton of fans when he beat Bermane Stiverne for the WBC heavyweight strap in their bout, but a win over the long time lineal champ would be far more impressive. This would be the eighteenth consecutive defence should Klitschko be able to pull it off and a loss would certainly be one of the biggest upsets for years.

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Shawn Porter open to fights with Ruslan Provodnikov and Lucas Matthysse

Former IBF welterweight champion Shawn Porter has a fight coming up against Roberto Garcia in a comeback fight after his loss to Britains Kell Brook for his title in August of last year. This was Porters first ever loss as a professional and after consecutive wins over Julio Diaz, Devon Alexander and Paul Malignaggi, many were discussing Porter as one of the next big things in boxing. He was the favourite against Brook due to his edge in competition level going into that fight but ended up losing a mixed decision at the end of the night.

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Demetrius Andrade – the Charlos are bums compared to me

WBO world super welterweight champion Demetrius Andrade went on a rant during an interview with ThaBoxingVoice recently. He claimed that Canelo had ducked him in favour of easier opponents and then went on to say that the Charlo brothers, whilst good, were levels below him and were ‘bums’ in comparison to himself.

Andrade is currently undefeated in 21 bouts with 14 stoppages to his name. He made his way into the big picture with a win over the undefeated machine Vanes Martiosyan in 2013 where he picked up the then vacant WBO strap. He then came back in mid 2014 against Brian Rose. Rose was a british fighter with just 1 loss in 27 bouts but was brutally beaten around by Andrade and made to look slow and amateurish by the WBO champ.

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Murray Unfazed By Golovkin’s Fearsome Reputation

Any doubts about Martin Murray’s mental state ahead of this weekend’s middleweight championship fight against Gennady Golovkin, boxing’s biggest puncher, can be laid to rest.

“This is going to be a war and I’m willing to do anything it takes,” the WBC number one contender has told promoter Rodney Berman.

The pair square off for Golovkin’s WBA Super World middleweight, interim WBC World middleweight and IBO middleweight titles at the Salle des Étoiles concert hall in Monte-Carlo on Saturday.

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Throwing in the Towel

It’s July 16th 2005 in a stiflingly airless MGM Grand arena. After a scrappy, evenly contested encounter a landmark juncture in modern boxing history has been reached. A dumbfounded crowd of 12,000 have bore witness to the end of Bernard Hopkins’ historic reign of twenty straight defences as Middleweight Champion; the man to upend him is a young buck from Little Rock with a jarring jab, a follow-up right and a porous defence. These tactical observations matter little, as the new Middleweight kingpin holds aloft his hard-earned belt in one hand and his adorable kid in the other. Speaking to Larry Merchant after the bout he is respectful of Hopkins, exudes gratitude to HBO for the opportunity and initiates every answer with a deferential “Yes, Sir.” Every inch the modest all-American hero, right? The scene elapses, the audience spills into the Las Vegas night and life moves on.

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Commonwealth champ Ekpo targets Groves, Froch and Smith brothers

Nigeria’s reigning Commonwealth Super Middleweight champion, Isaac Ekpo has called the bluff of George Groves, Carl Froch, Callum Smith, Steven Smith and other highly rated Super Middleweights in world boxing.

Ghana-based Ekpo (25-2, 18 KOs) who fought for the WBO Super Middleweight world title in a decision loss to Robert Stieglitz in Germany in October 2013, has targeted another crack at the world championship but first he wants to beat some top boxers in his weight division and he is talking tough.

“I am ready for the top Super Middleweights in the UK like Steven Smith, brother of Callum who is fighting for the WBO Super Middleweight title on February 28 in Germany, that’s the perfect fight I am looking for,” Ekpo told Boxing247.com exclusively in Accra.

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Who will fight Hassan N’Dam for the IBF Middleweight strap

The picture at middleweight is largely dominated by four-weight world champion Miguel Cotto and long time WBA/IBO champion Gennady Golovkin. The third man in the division has to be seen as Andy Lee after his thrilling KO of previously undefeated Matt Korobov to win the vacant WBO share of the title. Therefore the IBF title, even if it was held by someone, wouldn’t hold much weight in the middleweight picture right now as that individual would be the fourth place champion on the list, and until a unification takes place it is not likely that they would have the opportunity to move up.

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James DeGale to become first ever British Olympian to win a world title

James DeGale has been waiting for his chance for a long while now. The one setback on his resume was a close and controversial mixed decision to George Groves back in 2011 and since then has won European and WBC Silver titles. DeGale has really been making an impact recently since joining with Matchroom sports. In his last three bouts he has three knockouts. Two over undefeated fighters and the third over highly rated Marco Antonio Periban. His record now stands at 20 – 1 – 0 with fourteen knockouts, and he is ready for the world stage.

Andre Dirrell is certainly going to be a tough test for DeGale and whilst I would put my money on him, I can understand this is a 50-50 fight for a lot of people.

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Can a fighter damage their legacy if they miss one fight?

Over the years there has been much speculation as to what extent Floyd Mayweather’s reputation and legacy will be tarnished should he retire without facing Manny Pacquiao. The fans are split between two opinions, the Mayweather fans claim it will have no meaning and what he has already accomplished is enough to support his claim as a true all time great.

The critics respond by saying it will leave doubt and at the end of the day he will be remembered more for missing this fight than he will be for what he has done in the ring. Similarly some say a similar effect will take place when trying to establish Pacman’s place in history once he hangs up the gloves.

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