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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Stevens vs. N’Dam: Where the rubber meets the road

Espn2 Friday Night Fights is back, but not for the season, rather a double dip of sorts that kicks off Wednesday night in Southern California at the Barker Hangar. The winner of Wednesday’s bout will be in line for a title shot facing the winner of Wednesday’s fight between Jermain Taylor and Sam Soliman, which will also be broadcasted by Espn.

A few years ago, and 8 pounds north of his current weight class, Curtis Stevens was on a path leading to nowhere fast on the world level. Stevens, known for his power in both hands, struggled mightily with the likes of Jessie Brinkley and Marcos Primera.

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Cleverly/Bellew rematch live on Sky Sports Box Office

DeGale, Joshua, Quigg, McDonnell and Callum Smith all feature on massive undercard

Tony Bellew will finally seek his revenge against arch rival Nathan Cleverly when the pair meet in the hugely-anticipated grudge match exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Three years ago, Cleverly defeated Bellew by a tight majority decision as he defended is WBO World Light Heavyweight crown and finally the rematch is on. On November 22 the pair will go head to head for the second time but at Cruiserweight back at the Echo Arena in Bellew’s home town of Liverpool.

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ESPN Boxing Weigh-In Results

Tomorrow night on a special edition of ESPN Boxing, Michael King of King Sports presents another great night of fights from Santa Monica, California. Featherweights Miguel Marriago (18-0, 16KO) and Christopher Martin (28-3-3, 9KO) open the telecast, followed by welterweights Frederick Lawson (22-0, 20KO) and Ray Narh (26-5, 21KO). The main event features an IBF middleweight title eliminator between Hassan N’Dam (30-1, 18KO) and Curtis Stevens (27-4, 20KO). Earlier this evening the fighter camps and media gathered for a brief press conference and the official weigh-ins.

Hassan N’Dam vs. Curtis Stevens, middleweights

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Canelo to fight 37-year-old Joshua Clottey next on December 6th

Chris Mannix of Sports illustrated is reporting that Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya has confirmed that Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (44-1-1, 31 KOs) will be fighting 37-year-old former IBF 147lb champion Joshua Clottey (38-4, 22 KOs) next on December 6th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This is obviously disappointing news for hardcore boxing fans with some knowledge of the sport because Clottey hasn’t been a factor since 2010 when he was beaten soundly by Manny Pacquiao.

Recently, De La Hoya dangled James Kirkland’s name as a potential opponent for Canelo’s December 6th fight. You now have to wonder whether De La Hoya did this in order to get Clottey to come in at a cheaper price for the Canelo fight. Why else mention Kirkland’s name if the guy that Canelo and De La Hoya really wanted is the 37-year-old Clottey?

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De La Hoya: Canelo wants to be second to nobody, that’s why he moved to HBO

Golden Boy Promotions president Oscar De La Hoya says that one of the reasons why the 24-year-old former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez moved to HBO was because he didn’t want to be second to anybody in fighting on Showtime. With Canelo’s situation in fighting on Showtime, he was badly overshadowed by the more popular and much more accomplished Floyd Mayweather Jr.

That situation wasn’t going to go away until Mayweather finished out his contract with Showtime, because he was simply a more talented fighter than the red-haired Canelo. That fact was borne out when the two fighters faced each other last year in September and Mayweather made Canelo look bad in beating him by a 12 round unanimous decision.

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