Boxing is making a comeback in Maine as undefeated Brandon “The Cannon” Berry, (7-0, 5KOs) takes on tough challenger, Eric Palmer (4-3-3, 1KO), in the main event at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, Maine this Saturday, October 11th. This will be the first bout in Lewiston in over ten years and the first fight in this venue in over twenty years, which was made famous when Muhammad Ali beat Sonny Liston in their rematch bout for the World Heavyweight Belt in May 1965.
Mayweather: Khan has Danny Garcia problems & Pacquiao has Marquez problems
WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr says the recent quotes coming from a British boxing site about him being interested in facing Amir Khan are total lies. Mayweather says he didn’t make those quotes, and he’s not sure who he plans on fighting next.
Mayweather says Khan still has unfinished business with WBA/WBC 140lb champion Danny Garcia, who knocked Khan out in the 4th round two years ago in July 2012. Khan never avenged the loss to Garcia, and he still hasn’t avenged his losses to Breidis Prescott and Lamont Peterson.
Mayweather also says that Manny Pacquiao still has unfinished business with Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao was knocked out cold by Marquez in the 6th round by him two years ago, and he still hasn’t fought Marquez since then to try and avenge the defeat. Marquez reportedly priced himself out of the November fight against Pacquiao by asking for too much money.
Pacquiao/Algieri getting only one episode on HBO 24/7
The November 22nd fight between WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao and Chris Algieri, which will be televised by HBO pay-per-view, is getting only one thirty minute 24/7 series on HBO on November 8th at 1:00 a.m. (ET/PT) following the World Championship Boxing match-up between 49-year-old grizzled veteran Bernard Hopkins and the younger 31-year-old Sergey Kovalev.
This is a huge departure for Pacquiao for what his fights have previously received by HBO, and it begs the question whether this will be a new trend or a one-time thing with HBO. Granted, the Pacquiao-Algieri fight isn’t exciting many boxing fans, and it’s pretty clear already that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum made a mistake in selecting Algieri instead of someone a little more marketable and more charismatic.
Mexican Style – Golovkin Will be Wearing the Sombrero
Marco Antonio “El Veneno” Rubio 59-6-1 (51KO) and his trainer Robert Garcia say Marco is going to introduce Gennady Gennadyevich Golovkin 30-0-0 (27KO) to “Mexican Style” fighting. The description implies being a warrior, willing to die in the ring, courageous, never afraid, exhibiting a good chin, always calm and of course having a great left hook to the liver.
Rubio enjoys all of the Mexican Style qualities. He is the current WBC interim middleweight champion. He has been through several wars, and with the exception of three stoppages in his long career, has proved to have the “good chin”.
Mayweather: I’ll punish Khan if the fight happens
Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) is starting to show interest in facing British boxing star Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) after listening to the fighter call him out for well over a year now. Mayweather says his father Floyd Sr really wants him to fight Khan to shut him up for good and he’s thinking about doing that.
Mayweather isn’t saying he’ll absolutely face him, but he says he wants to fight him if he feels he’s earned the fight.
Khan does have wins over Zab Judah, Paulie Malignaggi, Luis Collazo and Marcos Maidana. But Khan failed when he stepped it up against 1st tier fighters Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia in 2011 and 2012.
Khan would give Mayweather problems, says Malignaggi
The more and more former two division world boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi thinks Floyd Mayweather Jr could be in for a really tough time against Amir Khan if he selects him as one of his opponents in 2015. Malignggi says Khan’s hand speed, height, reach and overall fighting style would give Mayweather fits at this point in his career.
Malignaggi feels that Maywether can move around the ring like he used to, and unless he’s able to move a great deal, he’ll struggle against the younger 28-year-old Khan if that fight gets made.
Selby and Brunker Dispute Title Shot
The Australian, Joel Brunker, has fought twenty-seven men so far and he’s beaten every single one of them. Brunker’s last victory was in Atlantic City, USA, over the respected Mike Oliver whom Brunker beat comfortably, as indicated by the unanimous decision. In support of Brunker’s unblemished professional record is his supreme level of fitness and conditioning which is a result of his sheer hard work and dedication to being the best that he can possibly be. The IBF ranks Brunker at number 3 in the world.
South Florida Female Boxing Team: Under the Radar, Above the Rim
South Florida Female Boxing Team is a newly established Florida based boxing team with some of the best talent found in the country. At the head of it all is CEO, Wanda Jiles, joined by Dalia Duran, who most know as daughter of the legendary Roberto Duran. Training new talent with proper fundamentals is vital to such an operation, so looking for the right person to make it happen wasn’t easy. After much consideration, the decision was made to bring in former world bantamweight Champion, Ada Velez of Puerto Rico. Recently, EastSideBoxing took a moment to talk about the project, as well as what fight fans can expect to see from them in the coming months:
DeGale faces Periban on 11/22 on Bellew-Cleverly 2 card in Liverpool
Boxing fans will be seeing #1 IBF, #4 WBO James DeGale (19-1, 13 KOs) stepping into the ring to fight #11 WBC Marco Antonio Periban (20-2-1, 13 KOs) on 11/22 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. DeGale’s promoter Eddie Hearn made the announcement that DeGale-Periban has been added to the Tony Bellew – Nathan Cleverly 2 card as likely the chief support. Periban is a decent, but hardly great opponent.
It would be a lot more interesting to see DeGale fighting the guys that recently beat Periban in Sakio Bika or J’Leon Love. Hearn obviously doesn’t want to take any chances of DeGale getting beaten by matching him against someone with a decent chance of beating him like Bika and Love.
This Day in Boxing History: Margaret McGregor vs. Loi Chow
In the late 1990s, boxing promoter Jim Rupp and manager Bob Jarvis had been working on a first-ever co-ed bout between Martin O’Malley and Christy Martin. O’Malley was an accomplished amateur boxer who had recently turned professional. Martin was one of the best female boxers worldwide.
However, the fighters and promoters never made the match happen. Nonetheless, an idea was born, and Rupp would ultimately see the idea through.