By Rob Smith: Former WBA World heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (30-2-1, 19 KO’s) will be taking a risky bout against unbeaten Cuban prospect Mike Perez (18-0, 12 KO’s) on December 1st in a scheduled 12 round bout at the Burg-Waechter Castello, in Dusseldorf, Germany. Chagaev, 34, wants to get another title shot and for that to happen he needs impressive wins over the likes of Perez and other quality heavyweights. Perez, 27, is an interesting fighter with a lot of potential if he would only fight often enough.
Only 500 tickets left for Froch vs. Mack fight
By Michael Collins: There are reportedly only 500 tickets left for the November 17th clash between IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch and his light heavyweight opponent Yusaf Mack for the Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. Over 9000 tickets have already been sold and the 35-year-old Froch is counting on the last 500 getting scooped up well before the fight next month. Froch wants it to be extra loud for the visiting American Mack just like it was for Froch’s last opponent former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute, who seemed unnerved by the crowd noise and ended up losing badly to Froch.
Froch said to Sy Sports News “The atmosphere against Bute was absolutely electric – the best I’ve ever boxed in front of. Mack will not have seen anything like it in his life…the fans will raise the roof for me.”
Froch hadn’t fought in Nottingham since beating Andre Dirrell there by a controversial decision in October 2009 in the Super Six tournament. The crowd was plenty loud during that fight but Froch fought poorly, missing punching all night, and doing quite a bit of ugly fouling that he got away with. The crowd didn’t help Froch in that respect, and his victory was viewed different depending on what part of the world you came from.
Khan’s trainer wants him to control his speed in Molina fight
By Michael Collins: Virgil Hunter has been given the new task of trying to resurrect Amir Khan’s career after the blazing fast fighter suffered back to back defeats to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia. Hunter is now in the hot seat and has produce the results or he’ll very likely be sent packing just like Khan’s last two trainers have following knockout defeats by Khan.
Klitschko vs Wach: Wladimir has to avoid Wach’s big right hand
By Dwight Chittenden: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 50 KO’s) defends against one of the harder punchers in the heavyweight division in 32-year-old Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KO’s) on November 10th at the O2 World Arena, in Hamburg, Germany. Wach’s KO percentage isn’t all that high, but you have to remember that he didn’t really learn to punch properly until three years ago. Before that, Wach was more of a diamond in the rough and was throwing wild looping right hands that were more like wallops than punches.
Senchenko can send Hatton into retirement with a KO on 11/24
By Michael Collins: Former WBA World welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) is potentially in a position of power on November 24th in his fight against a rusty and short Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) at the Manchester Arena (formerly M.E.N Arena), in Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom. The 35-year-old Senchenko is in the position where he could put Hatton out of his misery by sending him into a permanent retirement by knocking him cold in this fight.
Trainer Ronnie Shields: “Emanuel Steward was unbelievable”
By Joseph Herron
– On Thursday afternoon, October 27 th , the boxing world learned the tragic news of the untimely passing of boxing legend Emanuel Steward.
While every boxing pundit felt the loss of the all time great fight trainer, maybe none more profoundly than expert trainer Ronnie Shields. The lifelong boxing proponent initially met Emanuel when he was competing as an amateur boxer at age 13.
After their early encounter, the mutual friendship grew over several decades and was based on a genuine fondness and deep rooted respect for each other.
Ronnie shared his personal feelings on the air during Sunday night’s episode of “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap”.
“Thursday was probably one of the worst days I’ve ever experienced in my entire life,” admits expert trainer Ronnie Shields.
Dulorme to move down to 140 lbs in 2013 – News
By Marcus Richardson: #3 WBA welterweight contender Thomas Dulorme (16-1, 12 KO’s) plans on moving down to 140 next year … …read more
Nonito Donaire vs. Jorge Arce, December 15 th in Houston, Texas
By Joseph Herron– On Tuesday, October 30 th , Top Rank plans to announce their next big event for the remaining 2012 boxing calendar.
At the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, four division world champion and current WBO/Ring Super Bantamweight Champion Nonito Donaire will defend his titles against one of the Lone Star State’s favorite fighters, “El Travieso” Jorge Arce on December 15 th .
Although most fight fans and boxing scribes would prefer to see the Filipino fighter enter the ring pitted against current 122 pound WBA title holder Guillermo Rigondeaux, they should expect to see the two time Olympic Gold Medalist make an appearance on the fight card, if not in the co-main event of the evening.
But why would the boxing world be treated to Arce vs. Donaire before the critically acclaimed unification bout between Nonito and Rigo?
The relentless aggression of “El Travieso” paired with the athletic counter punching style of “The Filipino Flash” will more than likely be a very entertaining style match up and an overall more enticing event to the casual fight fan.
Exclusive Interview with WBO Middleweight Champion Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin
“With Gennady Golovkin I can say he’s a very strong fighter, very determined, but he doesn’t put any fear in my heart at all”—Peter Quillin
Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I was recently afforded the opportunity to speak with the new WBO middleweight world champion Peter ‘Kid Chocolate’ Quillin (28-0, 20 KOs) following his title-winning victory against Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam (27-1, 17 KOs) last Saturday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Quillin spoke about his performance, talked about his future, and gave his views on the current middleweight landscape and where he would like to go next. Here is a complete transcript from that interview.
Audio:
GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello boxing fans. This is Geoff Ciani from East Side Boxing, and I am joined here today by the newly crowned WBO middleweight champion of the world, Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin. Pete, how does it feel to win your first world championship?
PETER QUILLIN: It feels great. It feels good to come a long way to have some kind of achievement to what my hard work has given me. But most importantly I got to know that there’s going to be some more fights in the future that’s going to allow me to show what my class is really about.
CIANI: Now Pete, during the fight, it appeared to me during the first three rounds that you had a little trouble with his rhythm and that you weren’t able to time him maybe as well as you would have liked to. Reflecting back, what was going through your mind during those first three rounds?
Are promoters and managers showcasing their fighters on the big stage too soon?
By Joseph Herron: On Saturday night, October 27th, on HBO Boxing After Dark, highly touted prospect Thomas Dulorme (16-1, 12 KOs) was stopped in dramatic fashion against hard punching Welterweight contender Carlos Abregu of Argentina in the eighth round of the main event of the evening.
In what was supposed to be a showcase type of contest for the previously undefeated fighter, Dulorme was outgunned and ultimately bested by a more experienced fighter. The promising Puerto Rican star now joins the ever-growing list of young fighters to be ousted in their big network debuts.