Frampton will beat Kiko Martinez, says Santa Cruz

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.

continue

Klitschko working with 15 sparring partners to get ready for Pulev

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.

continue

Santa Cruz feels pressure of fighting in co-feature on Mayweather-Maidana 2 card

(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.

continue

Hearn thinks Brook vs. Mayweather will sellout Wembley Stadium

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.

continue

Golovkin with chance to become Cotto’s WBC mandatory if he beats Rubio

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.

continue

Brook pushing hard for Khan fight

IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs) is starting to sound a little needy and desperate in hopes of getting a fight against Amir Khan in 2015. Brook wants the negotiations with Khan to start pronto, and he doesn’t seem to want to wait.

Brook needs to get control of his emotions and play it cool or he could scare Khan off with how desperate he’s sounding.

Brook’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that Khan’s management still hasn’t made contact with him about a Khan-Brook fight. At this point there’s no reason for Golden Boy Promotions to contact Hearn about a Khan-Brook fight, because they have no intention of fighting him next.

continue

Maidana throwing 100 punches per round in training for Mayweather

It seems pretty obvious that Marcos Maidana’s plan to try and beat WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) in their rematch next month is to overwhelm him with punches by throwing as many shots as possible as possible on September 13th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maidana is reportedly throwing over 100 punches per round during his sparring sessions with the likes of Steve Forbes and Mikey Garcia. In throwing that many punches, Maidana obviously doesn’t have much time to think a lot about throwing the perfect shot because he’s just looking to overwhelm his sparring partners with shots rather than picking his shots.

continue

Austin Trout looking to turn his career around against Daniel Dawson

28-year-old former WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-2, 14 KOs) will be fighting on ESPN this Friday night against #15 WBC fringe contender Daniel Dawson (40-3-1, 26 KOs) in a 12 round fight at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California.

Trout says he’s figured out why he lost his last two fights against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Erislandy Lara, because he wasn’t fighting his fight and was trying to force the action against those guys.

continue

Kell Brook’s trainer doesn’t want him to take an easy fight on December 6th

Dominic Ingle, the trainer for IBF welterweight champion Kell Brook (33-0, 22 KOs), doesn’t want him to take his career backwards for his first title defense on December 6th in Sheffield by taking on an easy opponent.

Ingle wants Brook to face a high level opponent because he sees that in helping him get ready for one of the bigger fights like Amir Khan or Floyd Mayweather Jr.

The knock on Brook is he’s spent most of his 10-year pro career fighting tune-up type bouts. Last Saturday, Brook finally fought a good opponent in Shawn Porter, and he was able to somehow get the victory by nullifying Porter’s offense on the inside with frequent clinching.

continue

Is Canelo capable of taking the baton from Mayweather to become boxing’s next PPV star?

Before former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s last two fights against Alfredo Angulo and Erislandy Lara, he was seen by many boxing fans as the guy who would take over for the aging Floyd Mayweather Jr to become the sport’s next huge money-making pay-per-view attraction.

It didn’t matter that Canelo couldn’t speak English and that he looked too heavy for the weight division he was fighting in; fans still saw him as the guy who would take the baton from Mayweather and bring in huge PPV numbers each time he fought. But now after the disappointing PPV stats that Canelo brought in for his last two fights against Angulo and Lara, it’s now looking like Canelo will be more of a replacement of Miguel Cotto in terms of PPV stats than Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao.

continue