Ricky Burns (31-4-1, 11 KOs) will be hunting for his 3rd division world title next year at light welterweight. He’s given up on the idea of saying at 135 due to the problems he’s been having in making weight for the class.
Burns and his manager Alex Morrison feel that a move up to light welterweight will result in Burns having the strength and energy that has recently abandoned him. Burns is scheduled to fight for the first time at 140 on October 4th in Leeds.
Former three division world champion Adrien Broner (28-1, 22 KOs) doesn’t see either Amir Khan or IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook as being able to beat him. Broner feels he beat both of them if he shared the same ring with them.
When asked by esnewsreporting who would win between Khan and Brooks, Broner said “I don’t give an [expletive], neither of them could beat me.”
Khan and Brooks are in the welterweight division; whereas Broner fights at 140. Broner is currently on a different path than those guys because he’s already captured a world title at 147, and he’s now looking to win a world title at 140. After that, Broner wants to unify all the light welterweight belts before he decides what his next move is.
Trainer Robert Garcia really likes what he sees in WBO light welterweight champion Chris Algieri (20-0, 8 KOs) in terms of the talent he has. Garcia doesn’t train Algieri, but he’s seen him sparring his fighters and he became a fan of his after that.
Algieri will be facing Freddie Roach trained WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KOs) on November 22nd in Macao, China. Pacquiao will be giving away 3 ½ inches in height against the 5’10” Algieri and close to 6 inches in reach.
Former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (32-2-1, 23 KOs) won’t be going back and clearing up the huge controversy surrounding his 9th round disqualification win over Diego Chaves from earlier this month. Instead, Rios is being matched up by his promoters at Top Rank against former WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov (23-3, 16 KOs) this November, according to Boxingsphere. The negotiations are underway right now between the two fighter’s management.
Rios was on his way to losing to Diego Chaves when referee Vic Drakulitch stepped in and stopped the fight in the 9th round following a head-lock that Chaves had put on Rios. It was later learned that Drakulich had disqualified Chaves for throwing an elbow at some point in the 9th round. It didn’t take place at the time of the stoppage because Chaves didn’t throw an elbow.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) 32-year-old Alfredo Angulo (22-4, 18 KOs) feels no pressure whatsoever going into his next fight against James De La Rosa (22-2, 13 KOs) on the September 13th Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Marcos Maidana 2 card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Angulo isn’t concerned about having been stopped in his last two fights against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Erislandy Lara. Angulo says that he’s not the same fighter who was knocked out in the 10th round by Canelo last March in a fight where Angulo looked incredibly weak.
WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz has no doubts in his mind that unbeaten #2 IBF Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KOs) will come out on top in his title challenge against IBF 122 pound champion Kiko Martinez (31-4, 23 KOs) in their rematch next month on September 6th at the Titanic Quarter in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
It’s actually not that hard for Santa Cruz to pick Frampton as the winner in this fight, because Frampton stopped Martinez in the 9th round in their fight last year in February. It’s not that Frampton can punch any harder than Martinez can. It’s more of a case that he’s able to take advantage of the way that Martinez leaves himself open when he’s attacking his opponents.
IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs) is reportedly working really hard in training camp for his title defense against #1 IBF Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) on September 6th at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Wladimir is training in Austria, and he’s working with 15 sparring partners, one of which is 2012 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist Anthony Joshua. With Wladimir’s deep pockets, he can afford to have a large number of sparring partners and in train in beautiful surroundings.
(Photo credit: Esther Lin/Showtime) WBC super bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (27-0-1, 15 KOs) feels like he’s got to put in an especially impressive performance next month when he defends his title against fringe level bantamweight contender Manuel Roman (17-2-3, 6 KOs) in the co-feature on the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Marcos Maidana 2 card at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Santa Cruz knows that millions of boxing fans will be watching the fight, and he wants to look good so that he doesn’t let anyone down.
Eddie Hearn, the promoter for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), has his eyes set on two big fights for Brook in 2015 in matching him up against Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KOs) and WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs).
Hearn sees both fights as being capable of selling out the 80,000 seat Wembley Stadium in London, UK. If Brook can beat Khan in early 2015, then there’s no question that a fight between Brook and Mayweather would be able to fill Wembley as well.
Since beating Sergio Martinez last June to capture his WBC middleweight title, Miguel Cotto (39-4, 32 KOs) has shown little interest in fighting a unification match against WBA 160 pound champion Gennady Golovkin (30-0, 27 KOs).
Well, Cotto may be soon forced to make a decision whether to fight Golovkin or vacate his WBC strap, because Golovkin’s will be fighting WBC interim middleweight champion Marco Antonio Rubio (59-6-1, 51 KOs) on October 18th, and if Golovkin beats him, he’ll become Cotto’s mandatory challenger, according to Steve Kim.