Pacquiao’s options are few if Marquez says no to November fight

Bob Arum of Top Rank needs Juan Manuel Marquez to agree to face his fighter WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao in order to pump up his pay-per-view numbers, if only for this one fight. But if Marquez says now, and that’s a real possibility, Arum has very little to offer Pacquiao with the limited fighters in his stable.

The only real option that Arum has for Pacquiao is a fight against WBO light welterweight champion Ruslan Provodnikov. While hardcore boxing fans might like to see a Pacquiao-Provodnikov fight, casual boxing fans likely won’t be too eager to pay $70 to see Pacquiao fight a former ESPN fighter like Provodnikov.

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David Lemieux Scores Ferocious Third-Round Knockout Over Fernando Guerrero

Montreal’s David Lemieux (32-2, 30 KOs) gave his hometown fans exactly what they wanted with a ferocious third-round knockout victory over Fernando Guerrero (26-3, 19 KOs).

Lemieux charged out at the opening bell and didn’t stop attacking Guerrero until the stoppage, knocking him down in the first, second and third rounds before scoring the knockout.

“I knew Fernando Guerrero is a very strong fighter. Very tough,” said Lemieux. “He’s been down many times and always gets back up. Once I started to land my shots I could see it in his eyes that the game started to change.

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Adonis Stevenson Retains Light Heavyweight Title In Thrilling Bout Against Fonfara

MONTREAL (May 25, 2014) – Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (24-1, 20 KOs) successfully defended his WBC light heavyweight title for the third time Saturday night in a thrilling 12-round battle with world-ranked challenger Andrzej Fonfara (25-3, 15 KOs) on SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Stevenson won via unanimous decision, with the three judges scoring the bout 115-110, 115-110 and 116-109 in his favor.

“Superman” started strong and knocked Fonfara down in the first and fifth rounds and looked to be en route to an easy win. But Fonfara showed his mettle and battled back to floor the champion in the ninth. From there, Stevenson and Fonfara went toe-to-toe, trading powerful shots and asking each other for more up to the final bell.

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Stevenson decisions Fonfara; Lemieux destroys Guerrero

(Photo Credit: SHOWTIME/Stephanie Trapp) WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson (24-1, 20 KO’s) was badly exposed tonight by Andrzej Fonfara (25-3, 15 KO’s) in winning a very, very unimpressive 12 round unanimous decision at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

The 36-year-old Stevenson proved that he can dish it out, but he sure couldn’t take it from Fonfara. Stevenson was on the deck in the 9th round after getting hit with a right to the head. The thing is Fonfara isn’t a noted puncher, yet he still have Stevenson down on the canvas. Stevenson came back in the 10th and 11th rounds and was able to hurt Fonfara with body shots, but he wasn’t able to finish him off because he’d lost a lot of the zip on his shots. Stevenson punched himself out after the first 5 rounds, and had to depend on body punching to control the second half of the fight.

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Petrov Shows Adams How It’s Done

The finals for Friday Night Fights got their schedule for Boxcino finals got turned around. It should have had the lightweight finals first, instead of the middleweights. That way middleweight finalist Brandon Adam could have learned what his game plan should have been against the taller Willie Monroe, Jr.

It’s one thing to think you have a clear mental picture of what should be done, but it’s even better to see it done before your own eyes. Petrov could have been a visual aid, provided in graphic detail of how it’s done, meaning Lesson 101 “How to beat a taller man”.

The shorter Petrov got his jab going, mainly to Carcamo’s body. He used good head movement, side to side, up and down, coupled with movement at the waist. He quickly escalated the action by throwing combinations, beating to the punch Carcamo’s efforts to counter. Petrov wisely moved to his left, away from the southpaw Carcamo’s power left hand. He continually used inside angles by stepping around Carcarmo, requiring Carcamo to reset. For Carcamo, it was like being able to load the gun, but unable to pull the trigger, because the target kept moving.

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Stevenson-Fonfara Preview: Some Toast Before The Main Course

Time and again, boxing fans have watched champions dispense with challengers in a manner that makes them wonder why these fighters were presented with the opportunity to challenge in the first place. Our natural impulse in that situation is to question the contender’s ability and accomplishments; and to declare that he wasn’t deserving of the chance he was given.

To be fair, that opinion is often justified. Let’s face it- we’ve all watched fighters receive a title shot simply because they were connected to the right people, or because they happened to be in the right place at the right time. We’ve all watched these types of fighters fail miserably in their attempt to dethrone a reigning title holder; and have their challenge quashed quickly and seemingly without much effort provided by the champion in question. We’ve watched this happen more than once, so it’s completely understandable for to be a bit cynical when it comes to rating the challenger’s worth as a fighter.

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Stevenson vs. Fonfara: In one year ‘Superman’ goes from overnight Superstar to boxing fans Kryptonite

Oh what difference a year can make as Adonis Stevenson now setting his sights on the Legend of Longevity with dollar signs and legacy in mind. Much to the chagrin of hardcore fans after the ground work had already been laid out building anticipation for a fight with powerful puncher Sergei Kovalev.

One can hardly blame boxing fans who routinely get hosed year in a year out for getting angry at the outcome. But to blame just Stevenson or Al Haymon would not be fair either.

The blame can also be spread to HBO in a variety of ways for not closing the deal with Stevenson’s signature before the late November card, not kicking in another 100k for this fight, and for booting Golden Boy off their network in the first place. Don’t get me wrong both Golden Boy and HBO shoulder the blame for their split but the end result has only added fuel to the raging fire.

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Miguel Cotto Interview Transcript

TODD duBOEF: I would like to welcome everyone to Miguel’s conference call. This fight is one we have all been waiting for. Obviously Miguel wants to show time and time again how great New York is and how passionate he is for the fans there and how he has created a great brand with the Puerto Ricans on Puerto Rican Day Parade weekend. But more importantly he has a goal to become the first Puerto Rican fighter to win world titles in four different divisions. In regards to the event, I’m not going to talk about Miguel and how he feels and how he is training – I’ll let Freddie and Miguel do that. Let’s talk about the event. As we went on sale, The Garden told us it was the fastest selling sporting event it has had in many years. The demand has been incredible. The match is right. The fans are behind both Sergio and Miguel and we know that The Garden is going to be electric the night of June 7. So, let’s go to Freddie and Miguel…

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Chris Eubank on Chris Eubank Junior: “He beats Golovkin now”

Tonight on Sky Sports’ Ringside show – on a Froch-Groves II preview special – former middleweight king Chris Eubank was a guest, along with his son, unbeaten 15-0 pro talent Chris Eubnak Junior. Junior spoke of his “countless rounds” of sparring with George Groves and of his hard sparring with Carl Froch. Eubank said that, out of respect for both fighters, he would not give a pre-fight prediction on the rapidly approaching May 31st rematch; but he and his father (his father mostly) were not shy when it came to making predictions on Eubank Junior’s own career.

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Froch-Groves 2: Pushing barriers, planting seeds

A first preemptive seed planted in the referee’s mind for their mega-fight, George Groves’s trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick has drawn attention to Carl Froch’s not-so-nice line in the barge and the rabbit punch. But if Groves really wants a clean fight, all he has to do is box from distance and Froch will have it all to do.

George Groves understands his attempt to ridicule Froch on the Ringside show as a continuation of war by other means and contemplation of his role as psychological ’bully’ even sprang a faintly rueful smile. With the self-possession of an assassin that is about him always, Groves assures us that he harbors no ill-will once a fight is over. Cold composure, as his former trainer Adam Booth defines it. Clinical, scientific, precise. He views Froch as much too under the sway of brute feeling. The merest smuggled emotion for Groves is a crutch in the ring.

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