Ariza signs 2-year contract with Mayweather

Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has reportedly signed a 2-year contract with WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (47-0, 26 KOs) that should in theory take Mayweather all the way to retirement. Ariza had helped Mayweather stretches during one of his workouts in getting ready for his rematch against Marcos Maidana.

Ariza continued to be around the Mayweather gym, making many boxing fans feel that it was just a matter of time before Mayweather eventually signed him up as his strength and conditioning coach.

“I signed an official contract for two years to serve as Floyd’s strength and conditioning coach,” Ariza said via the Manilastandardtoday.com.

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Chuy Gutierrez wins first title Saturday in Las Vegas

Saturday night Chuy Gutierrez (13-0) stepped in the ring to battle Rashad Ganaway (14-5-1) outdoors at Sunset … continue

Groves: I don’t think Anthony Dirrell can stand up to my power

George Groves (20-2, 15 KOs) captured the EBU super middleweight title tonight in beating champion Christopher Rebrasse (22-3-3, 6 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in their WBC super middleweight eliminator fight at Wembley Stadium in London, UK.

Groves is now on a crash course for a title shot against WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell (27-0-1, 22 KO. Groves thinks that Dirrell would have folded had he been in the ring tonight instead of Rebrasse.

“I knockout a lot of guys and he [Rebrasse] took a lot on the chin tonight,” Groves said after the fight. “Dirrell, I don’t think he’d stand up to that. He’s the champion, I’ll give him that respect. He says he doesn’t want to come to the UK. We [Sauerland] might just make him. He says he doesn’t want to fight me. Well, now he has to. He better do his research because his facts so far are unclear and he’s in for a rude awakening. I want to keep busy, I want to keep the momentum. Hopefully, I’ll be challenging for the title before Christmas.”

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Star Boxing Signs “The Irish Bomber” Joe Smith Jr.

(September 19th) During an brief intermission at Star Boxing’s “Rockin Fights 15” at Long Island’s hottest boxing venue Star Boxing President and CEO Joe Deguardia announced the signing of Shirley, Long Island’s promising light heavyweight Joe “The Irish Bomber” Smith Jr.

The 24 year old Irishman coming with an impressive amateur pedigree including two New York Gold Glove and New York City Metro titles can best be described as a boxing reincarnation combination of Philadelphia’s Jack O’Brien and “Irish” Bob Murphy.

Turning pro October 2009 winning his first six inside the distance, Smith’s KO run came to an abrupt stop August 2010 versus Lawrence, Massachusetts slugger Eddie “Thunder” Caminero.

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Groves defeats Rebrasse, now WBC mandatory for Dirrell

Using a high volume attack, George Groves (20-2, 15 KOs) beat EBU super middleweight champion Christopher Rebrasse (22-3-3, 6 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision on Saturday night to put himself in as the WBC mandatory challenger at the Wembley Arena in London, UK.

Groves is now the mandatory to WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell. Groves constantly attacked Rebrasse throughout the fight, throwing punch after punch in hopes of scoring a knockout.

When the KO failed to happen, Groves had to slow down some to pace himself because he was burning out badly by the 8th round. It was lucky for him that Rebrasse had zero power for as tired as Groves was, he would have likely been knocked out.

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Cletus Seldin blasts out Gil!

Before another packed house on Friday, Sept. 19th, at The Paramount in Huntington, NY, undefeated, fast rising, Jr. Welterweight prospect Cletus “The Hebrew Hammer” Seldin (14-0 11KO’s Long Island, NY), blasted out spoiler Ramesis Gil with a sensational one punch knockout in the 2nd round of a scheduled 10 round Jr. Welterweight bout.

Both fighters came out aggressively in the first round with each scoring hard shots and little to choose between them. The 2nd round began with Seldin stalking Gil (8-9-5 5KO’s Santo Domingo, DR) backing him up. Seldin beat Gil to the punch and landed a thunderous right hand on Gil’s chin. Gil crumpled to the mat and was counted out giving Seldin his 11th KO in 14 fights.

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Gilbert Defeats Matthews in an Action Packed Fight

Chris Gilbert escaped with an eight round unanimous decision by three scorecards of 76-75 in a close back and forth action packed bout over Steve Matthews. Windsor, Vermont native, Gilbert, improved to 12-1, 9KOs and got back into the win column following a lost in his last outing to Daniel Sostre. Matthews, from Greensboro, North Carolina, fell to 4-1, 2KOs.

Matthews controlled the first round and then Gilbert landed a devastating right hook that knockdown Matthews in the next round. Matthews barely beat the count as the bell rang ending the round. This was the first knockdown he has suffered as a professional. Matthews went after Gilbert in the third round and for the next six rounds, it was great two way action between these two fighters, as they both landed significant punches and the momentum shifted back and forth. Matthews was the more active boxer and landed the crisper punches in the fight while Gilbert connected on the more powerful shots. This was Gilbert`s fourth time fighting at the “Fight to Educate” event. Hopefully both of these junior middleweights can box one another in a rematch in the near future.

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Rebrasse looking to wreck Groves’ world title hopes

Sometimes losing pays off for certain fighters. That was never more the case with George Groves (19-2, 15 KOs), who will be fighting in the WBC’s super middleweight title eliminator tonight against #3 WBC Christopher Rebrasse (22-2-3, 6 KOs) at the Wembley Arena in London, UK. Groves is coming off of two knockout losses in a row to Carl Froch.

The WBC doesn’t care that Groves has lost his last two fights. They feel that he fought well enough to rank above the likes of Sakio Bika and a number of other quality fighters in the top 15 rankings.

If Groves beats the 28-year-old Rebrasse tonight then he’ll be facing WBC super middleweight champion Anthony Dirrell for his WBC title in either December or early 2015. Rebrasse will be looking to beat Groves tonight and wreck his plans for a world title shot.

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Back at home Chris Algieri’s whirlwind continues

NEW YORK(September 18, 2014) – After completing a 12-day, 27,273 mile international media tour, one would think a nice rest would be in order. For Chris Algieri though, that simply hasn’t been the case. Then again, there are not any fighters in the world quite like the undefeated WBO junior welterweight champion and Huntington native, who is set to take on Fighter of the Decade Manny Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division world champion, on Saturday, November 22. The Pacquiao vs. Algieri world welterweight championship event will be produced and distributed live by HBO Pay-Per-View®, beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET / 6:00 p.m. PT.

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The Sweet Sucker Punch: Georgie Benton

Excerpt from The Sweet Sucker Punch – “A Tribute to Georgie Benton (1933 – 2011)”: It was a balmy spring day in Philly and I was feeling pretty battle ready, so I decided to cruise North Philly and visit ‘Smoking’ Joe Frazier’s Cloverlay Gym on Broad St. I needed unfamiliar sparring to keep my guns sharp. It was about 1pm, a slow time at the gym. There were only a few boxers and a couple of trainers milling around. I remember it well, that nostril-attacking odor of sweaty gloves and pungent hand-wraps when opening the door.

But this smell was spiked with the hint of a familiar, exotically aroma. It was Georgie Benton’s cologne wafting the stale air as he strutted around the floor in his tailor-made outfit and big-brimmed hat angled on his head. Then I heard that unmistakably raspy voice: “Aayy Baby Cakes, ‘what’s happ’nin?”

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