Brook stops Saldivia in 3rd round

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) did a demolition job on an outclassed Hector Saldivia (41-3, 32 KO’s), stopping him in the 3rd round in this IBF welterweight eliminator bout at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Saldivia was knocked down twice in the fight, once in the 1st and a final time in the 3rd. In the 3rd, Brook hit Saldivia with a hard jab that knocked him down. Saldivia got back to his feet but referee Howard Foster rightfully stopped the fight at :28 of the round.

Brook had Saldivia down in the 1st from a right hand. The remainder of that round saw Saldivia running and just trying to keep fro getting knocked out. The second round was mostly Brook landing jabs, uppercuts, right hands and left hooks while Saldivia took them clean in the face like a good sparring partner. In the tail end of the round, Saldivia came alive, landing a handful of shots that had Brook in distress. However, the round ended before Saldivia could do anything more.

There really wasn’t much to the fight. Saldivia threw next to no punches and was put down in the 1st round from a right hand. What jumped out at you in watching this fight was how did Saldivia get ranked #3 by the IBF? He looked worse than any of the top 15 contenders for any of the sanctioning bodies, and just made the fight look like a joke from start to finish. It was clear from watching the first 10 seconds of the fight that Saldivia didn’t belong out there, and the IBF didn’t do him or their own company any service by ranking Saldivia so highly when he didn’t have the skills to be fighting at this level.

Erik Morales vs. Danny Garcia: Paulie Malignaggi’s big fight preview

By Joseph Herron: On September 25th, reigning WBA Welterweight Champion Paulie “Magic Man” Malignaggi visited “The Pugilist KOrner” radio show and offered his analysis of the big rematch between Mexican legend Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) and current WBC/WBA Junior Welterweight Champion Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs).

The highly anticipated title fight is slated to headline the big Golden Boy fight card on Showtime premium cable network tonight at 8PM EST/PST.

While many boxing pundits have questioned the second pairing between the two fighters, “The Magic Man” feels it has the potential to be a very entertaining scrap.

By Joseph Herron – When 18 year fight veteran Randall Bailey (43-7, 37 KOs) of Miami, Florida was slated to face undefeated 147 pound contender Mike Jones on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao/Timothy Bradley PPV event on June 9th, 2011, for the vacant IBF Welterweight Championship, most fight fans and boxing scribes didn’t give the 38 year old fighter much of a chance to win the coveted title.

But when the “Knock-Out King” shocked the boxing world by landing a perfect right uppercut to the chin of the unbeaten prospect in the eleventh round of their championship bout, it left little to the imagination as to why Bailey uses his moniker during the pre-fight announcements.

After dropping nine of the previously contested ten rounds of “action” to Mike Jones, most ringside observers viewed the pairing as a colossal mismatch and a dismal one-sided affair. Ringside commentator for HBO and Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward summed up the title fight perfectly.

“The Mike Jones/Randall Bailey fight went from being one of the worst fights in the history of HBO PPV, to being one of the most sensational knock-outs in the history of HBO PPV.”

With one solid right hand, the old man of the Welterweight division won his second world title in two divisions and became a legitimate player in the talent enriched weight class.

Tonight from the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Randall Bailey will make his first title defense against former WBC/IBF Junior Welterweight Champion Devon Alexander (23-1, 13 KOs) as part two of a scheduled quadruple header, slated to be televised on Showtime premium cable network at 8:00 PM EST/PST.

Erik “El Terrible” Morales vs. Danny “Swift” Garcia: To be or not to be…that is the question

(Photo credit: Adrian Hernandez) By Joseph Herron – On March 24 th of this year, the boxing world thought they had seen the last of Erik “El Terrible” Morales (52-8, 36 KOs) in the ring…again.

After losing his WBC Junior Welterweight title to the scales, the four division world champion took a beating at the hands of undefeated Danny “Swift” Garcia (24-0, 15 KOs), en route to losing a unanimous twelve round decision.

During the post fight press conference, the defeated Mexican legend stated that he was unmotivated for the fight and questioned whether or not he had the hunger to continue fighting any longer.

But after the unlikely WBC Champion shocked the world by knocking out Amir Khan in the third round of their unification contest on July 14 th , the 36 year old warrior began to view his previous performance from a different perspective.

Was Erik’s twelve round loss to Garcia merely the result of taking a relatively unknown fighter from Philadelphia a little too lightly?

Nonito Donaire-Jorge Arce Set To Rumble: Mexico City, Dec. 15th – This One Could Be Special!

By James Slater – For a while now, Nonito Donaire, one of the finest fighters operating today, and Jorge Arce, one of the toughest fighters operating today, have been looking at squaring off (even though the seen-it-all-done-it-all warrior that is Arce recently said he “is not impressed” by Donaire yet disappointingly opted to face a 36-12-1 Mauricio Martinez in his next bout).

Well, the intriguing clash, one that just might result in something special (depending on how much the somewhat grizzled 33-year-old five-weight ruler has left in the tank after his quite amazing 70-bout pro career) is set to go down in Mexico City on a Bob Arum promotion on Dec. 15th. This is the exclusive word according to Philboxing.com, who report that the fight will be made official this coming Monday.

Sure to be a big deal in Mexico, where millions of real, honest to goodness fight fans live, Donaire-Arce is a meeting of two totally different fighters and men. Donaire, both slick and deadly, can seemingly do it all in the ring yet he is both polite and respectful outside of the squared circle. Arce, meanwhile is a true throwback in the tough sense of the word, “Travieso” is also a proven trash-talker, totally unlike “The Filipino Flash” in terms of personality. The clash of styles and personalities will hopefully make for a memorable battle.

“Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin goes for the gold on October 20th

By Joseph Herron – Tonight at the newly erected Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, 29 year old Middleweight, “Kid Chocolate” Peter Quillin (27-0, 20 KOs), will attempt to capture his first major world title as he takes on incumbent WBO Champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-0, 17 KOs) in the opening act of a spectacular Golden Boy quadruple header.

The action in the ring will be televised on Showtime premium cable network with a start time of 8PM EST/PST.

While most casual fight fans won’t be familiar with the reigning title holder, the hungry young Brooklynite will have his hands full against the durable and undefeated French born fighter.

But according to “Kid Chocolate”, the juice will definitely be worth the squeeze on October 20th.

“Every fight is a 50/50 fight, no matter what anyone tries to say,” stated Peter Quillin. “Any fighter can come into a fight with the right frame of mind and land one shot that puts you away. It only takes one good punch to knock a fighter out and anyone can come in the ring and land that perfect shot on any given day.”

“I know that N’Dam is a world champion and I know he’s undefeated. To get to that level you have to be the hardest working fighter in the gym. Unless you’re Chavez Jr, a world champion is always the hardest working fighter in the gym.”

Paulie Malignaggi: No sleep till Brooklyn

By Joseph Herron – It’s a great time to be the “Magic man”.

Not only is two division world champion Paulie Malignaggi making the first defense of his WBA Welterweight title, but he’s defending the coveted strap in front of a few thousand of his closest friends…just a few miles from where he grew up.

The 31 year old Brooklynite will be part of a huge Golden Boy Promotions presentation which brings championship boxing back to the famed borough for the first time in over eighty years.

This is a very special event for the current 147 pound champ.

“Whenever you get to defend your title in your hometown, it’s always a very exciting event,” states Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KOs). “Brooklyn has a lot of boxing history. A lot of great fighters came from Brooklyn and it’s very special to be a part of that history. To be able to bring boxing at a very high level back to this area really means a lot to me.”

The last championship bout staged in the beloved area took place at the legendary Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, back in 1931.

By Peter Wells: It’s taken 8 years for the Sheffield prospect to get to the edge of a world title fight. Tommorow night Kell Brook fights in a final eliminator for the IBF Welterweight title. Brook has gone as far as stating that he will retire if he loses to Hector Saldivia at the Motorpoint arena in his hometown of Sheffield. This is likely a comment to build up his fight and over dramatise how important this bout is for his career. For some fighters chances at a world title don’t come terribly often so Brook wants to make sure he doesn’t miss his chance to book a shot at the IBF title.

Brook may have waited a while for his shot at a world title, but Saldivia has had just as long to wait. Final eliminators also haven’t gone well for the Argentinian in the past. On the 1st May 2010 he faced off against Said Ouali in an eliminator for the WBA Welterweight title. Saldivia came out strong scoring an early knockdown, but got too caught up in the moment and went down twice before the referee stepped in to end the fight. Said never got his WBA title shot, instead looking at the IBF route, before losing in 7 rounds last year to Carson Jones.

Garcia vs. Morales + Undercard: Something for everyone

By Peter Wells: With just over two months left of the year, boxing fans are suddenly being handed early christmas presents as week after week world title fights are swarming out TV’s. On saturday night Golden Boy have delivered boxing fans with 4 world title fights on one single card. And there’s something for everyone. Danny Garica headlines defending his WBC and WBA titles in a rematch with Erik Morales. Paulie Malignaggi defends his WBA Welterweight title in front of his home fans against Pablo Cesar Cano. Hot prospect, Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin takes on unbeaten WBO Middleweight champion Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam and what could be the fight of the night, Devon Alexander challenges hard hitting IBF Welterweight champion Randall Bailey. So, what isn’t to like about this weekends super show live on Showtime.

Nonito Donaire: “I want Rigondeaux to be at his best when I fight him”

(Photo credit: Adrian Hernandez) By Joseph Herron: In less than a full calendar year’s time, four division world champion and pound for pound talent Nonito Donaire (30-1, 19 KOs) has garnered two world titles in the Super Bantamweight division, as well as the WBC Diamond belt and Ring Magazine’s distinction as the man to beat at 122 pounds.

So where does the “Filipino Flash” go from here?

After the 29 year old fighter’s brilliant performance against former WBC Champ Toshiaki Nishioka on October 13th, HBO’s Max Kellerman asked Donaire about a potential meeting with Cuban exile and two-time Olympic Gold medal winner Guillermo Rigondeaux.

While most fight fans were somewhat puzzled with Nonito’s on-air response, the southern California based fighter clarified his reply on Tuesday night’s edition of “The Pugilist KOrner”.