Tyson talks candidly (does he know any other way?) about Wladimir Klitschko not wanting to spar him, Deontay Wilder being more deserving of a world title shot than himself, and says he is up for a fight with David Haye despite a fight between the pair already falling through twice before.
The boxing world is abuzz, and not in any way related to an upcoming fight or even a specific fighter. Richard Schaefer, the man who worked tirelessly to promote Golden Boy Promotions to the powerhouse that it is today, has left the company. Many are confused about what’s happening today, and how Al Haymon’s and Floyd Mayweather’s decisions will affect future business.
But hopefully, it’s not all bad. After all, if things work out properly, then this means that Golden Boy fighters can now take on Top Rank fighters; the kind of thing fans have been yearning for. If we assume that all the fighters we think to be Golden Boy signed are indeed Golden Boy signed (something Schaefer said was not necessarily true) and that they can peacefully agree on a TV network to fight on, where does this leave Top Rank’s two biggest fighters?
So many questions linger in the lead up for the HBO PPV battle between Miguel Cotto and Sergio Martinez broadcasting live from Madison Square Garden this Saturday night.
Will Cotto’s face hold up under constant fire from accurate combination punching of Maravilla? Can Martinez make it through a whole fight without his knee flaring up? Is Sergio Martinez’s career already Hall of Fame worthy or does he need to secure a win against Miguel Cotto to help him get over that hump?
Age is more of a factor for Sergio but physically even with Martinez’s recent string of injuries, Miguel’s fighter body may be the more shopworn of the two having engaged in many brutal wars over the years.
On June 6, 2014, boxers weighed in at Casino Miami Jai-Alai in anticipation of NUVOtv’s Saturday broadcast.
The fighters were professional and focused. There was no pushing or trash-talking, and very little posturing. Floyd Mayweather Sr. even refrained from reciting his poetry.
“Water, Pedialyte, and Gatorade is all you can drink,” shouted Jorge Curtiellas of the Florida Boxing Commission to the crowd of fighters, trainers and corner men. “Once you get to the ring, only water.”
“There’s all these drinks with God-knows-what in them,” Curtiellas said on the side. “Water, Pedialite, and Gatorade. We know what’s in those.”
There are some fights that were possible but they never happened. In the case of Joe Frazier verses Ken Norton a little bit of alternative revisionist history is needed to set the stage for the fight to have happened. The following, of course, is fiction and it is my take on how such a fight may have transpired.
It is May 1974 and former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier is in training to fight fellow highly ranked contender Jerry Quarry who had defeated up and coming contenders Earnie Shavers and Ron Lyle the previous year. Frazier, who was fresh off a loss to fellow ex champion Muhammad Ali, knew a win over Quarry would solidify another heavyweight title shot against the man who had brutally taken his title from him, George Foreman. But as luck would have it Quarry, who was prone to cuts, was cut while training and the injury was severe enough to sideline him for the next couple of months. Frazier was told by several promoters and by representatives of the major sanctioning bodies that he had to beat a top ranked contender in order to be considered for another title shot. But the problem was that if Quarry, who fit the bill, was not available, and both Lyle and Shavers who had already been beaten by Quarry had slipped in the rankings, who was available for Frazier to fight?
For De La Hoya, the fight, held at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was supposed to be a high-level “warm up” for an assault on world middleweight king Bernard Hopkins’ belts (B-Hop defeated Robert Allen on the same card that June night in 2004), but the fight turned out to be much more than that.
Challenging the 20-0 German for the WBO belt, De La Hoya came in looking overweight and sluggish and he came within a whisker of paying the price and blowing the Hopkins mega-match. Sturm may have been unknown, but he had behind him a superb amateur career and he unveiled his skills against the 36-3 superstar who, at age 31 was six years his senior. Sturm boxed behind his superb left jab, out-punched De La Hoya, marked him up around the eye and generally appeared to boss the fight.
VERONA, NY (June 4, 2014) — Turning Stone hosted “Kings of the Ring: A Conversation with Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes” today to promoted this week’s ESPN Friday Night Fights (see fact sheet below), promoted by Iron Mike Productions, at the resort casino in upstate New York.
Longtime sports columnist for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com, Bud Poliguin, served as the moderator, asking the two Hall of Famers and world heavyweight champions a series of questions, before the floor was opened for the many fans in attendance to ask Tyson and Holmes questions.
Scheduled televised fights include:
Dennis Douglin (16-3, 10 KOs) vs. Charles Whittaker (40-15-2, 24 KOs) (10 Rounds)
Azea Augustama (16-1, 9 KOs) vs. Cory Cummings (17-5, 13 KOs) (8 Rounds)
Ahmed Elbiali (4-0) vs. Yuwshua Zadok (2-1-1) (4 Rounds)
Douglin, Augustama and Elbiali all made brief statements, as did Floyd Mayweather Sr.
Quarter Finals:
1/Anthony Nansen (4-2, 1 KO) W 3 (unanimous) Hasim Rahman (50-9-2, 41 KO)
2/Brice Ritani Coe (4-2-1, 3 KO) W 3 (split) Alonzo Butler (30-3-1, 22 KO)
3/Kali Meehan (39-5, 31 KO) W 3 (split) Hunter Sam (10-3-2, 4 KO)
4/Michael Sprott (41-21, 17 KO) W 3 (majority) Martin Rogan (16-6, 8 KO)
Quarter Final summary:
It was sad to see shell of Hasim Rahman sleepwalk through three rounds. Local Anthony Nansen (30-5 as a Kick Boxer) was able to move around and out score the 41 year old former heavyweight champion of the world. Rahman, inactive since a two round knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin for the WBA belt in September 2012, tried and edged the second, but it just wasn’t there, his right hand repeatedly missed the mark or caught gloves as the Kiwi circled away. Eastside’s score: 29-28 Nansen.
In a close bout, Brice Ritani Coe showed the benefits of working in Las Vegas sparring countryman Joseph Parker and other notable big men to take the points over American Alonzo Butler whose work rate and conditioning let him down.
NEW YORK CITY (June 3, 2014) Boxing’s fastest rising star, Middleweight World Champion, GENNADY “GGG” GOLOVKIN will battle two-time world champion DANIEL “The Real Deal” GEALE in his triumphant return to ‘The Mecca of Boxing”, Madison Square Garden SATURDAY, JULY 26 and televised Live on HBO World Championship Boxing® beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET/PT., it was announced today by K2 Promotions and GGG Promotions in association with Gary Shaw Productions and Grange Old School Boxing.
Headlining the sensational “G4” boxing extravaganza, Golovkin will defend his World Boxing Association (‘WBA’) and International Boxing Organization (‘IBO’) titles against Geale in the scheduled 12-round main event. Golovkin was recently elevated to “Super Champion” status by the World Boxing Association.