Saunders AND Eubank Jr – Summer Rematch Imminent?

The news that dropped earlier that both WBO 160lb mandatory Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 11ko) and bitter rival, WBA interim champ Chris Eubank Jr (19-1, 14ko) are OFF Frank Warren’s May 9th Wembley show, hasn’t actually come as too much of a surprise to me.

Before today’s news, in the fights they were meant to be in, neither man was really going to set that card alight anyway. Billy Joe, returning from injury still hadn’t a named opponent and Eubank was meant to be making a very routine defence of his own title against unheralded Australian veteran Les Sherrington.

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Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao: Scoping the Narratives

(In this piece, East Side Boxing/Boxing247’s resident scribe, Vivek “Vito” Wallace takes a glimpse at the media coverage of this historical bout, and why it could do without the very noticeable biases. Tomorrow, fans will get a glimpse of the legacies built by these two great warriors, and on Saturday, we take a look at “Keys to Victory”, “Four to Explore”, and a “Final Prediction”).

The world of Boxing has long been viewed as a sport on life support. Tyson, Holyfield, Oscar, and a few others maintained a status most thought would last forever. One by one those shining stars faded into the night, shifting the focus of most casual fans to the the NFL, NBA, and even MMA.

In a great parallel to life itself, any time a sun sets, another rising ‘son’ will soon follow. This particular era would produce two. One in America, and one in the poverty stricken streets of the Philippines.

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James De Gale: “Floyd IS TBE”

British gold medal winning Olympian James De Gale, who travels to America next month to challenge Andre Dirrell for the vacant IBF 168lb title, hasn’t minced his words with his support for “Money”, telling Sky Sports there is only one outcome ahead of Saturday’s big fight.

“I’m a Mayweather man” said De Gale;

“It really is hard to bet against Floyd Mayweather. I actually think he’s a boxing genius. I think he’s achieved a whole heap in boxing and I think he probably don’t get enough credit for what he’s achieved.”

Talking about the enormity of this career-defining fight and the pressure on both fighters, “Chunky” said;

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Floyd’s Buddies At The WWE Make Their Picks!

Perhaps one of the unique things about a fight as big as this is that it totally transcends the sport of boxing. Everybody has an opinion it would seem.

So close to the fight when it seems every detail has been gone through with a fine tooth comb already (many times) I thought it time for something a little light-hearted.

So to avoid writing about the next time either fighter takes a toilet break, or Manny’s entrance song (which is epic btw!) I thought a tongue-in-cheek look at what the over-the-top grapplers at World Wrestling Entertainment think of Saturday’s fight was in order!

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Our Generation’s Super Fight: Mayweather-Pacquiao

How do you know when a super fight is near? When people who don’t watch boxing start talking about boxing. At my gym (non-boxing), I heard someone ask “You going to watch the fight coming up?” Yes, “the fight” says it all.

How we got here?

A chance meeting at a Miami Heat game between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao helped make this fight a reality. From then on, talks between the fighters progressed to the promoters and surprisingly, it didn’t take long to get this fight signed and official. After 2010, I lost hope of this fight ever happening. Olympic style drug testing and failed negotiations knocked this fight out and set boxing back a bit. Pacquiao lost two straight fights in 2012 and that closed the book on this fight for a while. Boxing was missing out on a super fight. After all, how strong is the sport compared to others when you can’t make the biggest fight happen? Fortunately, this super fight is here and is just as big if not bigger than it would’ve been in 2010.

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Calzaghe Says The Pressure Is On Floyd

Once dominant British super middleweight Joe Calzaghe, who himself retired undefeated following his fight with Roy Jones Jr in 2008, has spoken to Sky Sports News this morning ahead of this Saturday’s Vegas mega-fight.

Calzaghe, whose unblemished record also included a marquee Las Vegas fight ( Vs Bernard Hopkins in 2008) ended his own spectacular career with a perfect 46-0 slate.

The Welshman, who has previously spoken about the burden of Floyd protecting his ‘0’ gave his opinion on proceedings following his return from the States where he was guest analyst on last weeks Dirrell – Jack PBC broadcast. He said;

“It’s a fight boxing needs. Two of the world’s best P4P finally fighting each other. For boxing fans it is a tremendous fight”

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Khan Says Manny Can’t Fight On The Inside

It looks like Amir Khan couldn’t help knocking the Freddie Roach trained Manny Pacquiao ahead of Saturday night in his most recent Fighthype.com interview.

Khan, who famously left the Wildcard and Roach under something of a cloud following his knockout loss to Danny Garcia in 2012, has cited Roach’s Parkinson’s disease as a factor in leaving in the past, as well as the fact he didn’t want to play second fiddle in Roach’s affections and attention to the P4P Filipino fighter.

Pacquiao, known for his movement and speed of hand AND foot, has had his ability to work inside the pocket called into question in this fight.

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My personal assessment, keys to victory, and prediction for Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao

This is fight week and the eyes of the world will be watching as these two first ballot hall of famers will once and for all prove to the world WHO IS the absolute best of their generation. You have Floyd Mayweather who has strategically orchestrated his career into a multi-million dollar empire where he has taken the least-risk most-reward approach, making him the greatest “prize” fighter of all time. Then you have Manny Pacquiao who has been in countless wars and is willing to please the fans even when it’s not advantageous for him.

This fight will transcend the boxing world in which I believe the fans will be surprised on how this fight will play out. I have analyzed both fighters’ careers, greatest strengths and struggle and came up with my keys to victory for both parties, here goes.

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Mayweather v Pacquiao – From A Man Who Faced Both – Ricky Hatton’s Tactical Breakdown

There is a small, yet elite club of fighters past and present who have faced off against BOTH Mayweather and Pacquiao in the ring.

Oscar De La Hoya, Juan Manuel Marquez, Shane Mosley, Miguel Cotto and Britain’s Ricky Hatton.

Ahead of Saturday’s dust-up Hatton, who boxed Mayweather in 2007 and Pacquiao in 2009 has spoken exclusively to the BBC to offer his tactical analysis of the fight from his insider’s perspective.

His fight with Mayweather, after some initial success, sadly began to become one sided and the “Hitman” was caught walking onto a big Mayweather left-hook in the 10th.

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The last man who beat Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the ring relies on CNN to take him to “the fight of the century”

Serafim Todorov happened to be the last opponent in Mayweather’s amateur career which ended bitterly for the mega star with a 10:9 loss under the computerized scoring system. Todorov is an ex-amateur boxing prodigy from Bulgaria and is now living on a subsistence allowance in the projects of a Bulgarian town and has been “forgotten by everyone but the Lord” as he likes to repeat. He is an Olympic silver medalist, a three time world and twice European champion and his only steady income is the government pension (about $430) he was awarded for his Olympic medal. He would indeed have disappeared form the public eye if he had not given a rare interview last year to a local TV station which came to the attention of CNN that decided to feature him in a short documentary.

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