Iceman John Scully: “I think maybe Chad’s style more than the ring rust might create some apprehension for Ward in the beginning”

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I was recently afforded the chance to talk with boxing trainer ‘Iceman’ John Scully, who is training light heavyweight champion ‘Bad’ Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KOs) for his upcoming big match this Saturday night against super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KOs). Scully talked about training and preparation, and also shared his views on the fact this fight will be contested at the 168 pound limit, a weight Dawson last made for a professional fight more than six and a half years ago. Iceman also provided his opinions on Ward as a fighter, the fact the fight will be in Oakland, and the upcoming match-up itself when these two elite talents square off. Here is what Scully had to say.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello everyone. This is Geoffrey Ciani from East Side Boxing, and I am joined by boxing trainer ‘Iceman’ John Scully. How’s everything going, John?

JOHN SCULLY: Spectacular! I’m very glad to be here.

CIANI: Good. Good to hear. Now you have the big fight coming up this weekend. Chad Dawson is going down to 168 pounds to face Andre Ward. How do you feel about Chad’s training and preparations for this fight?

SCULLY: I’m pretty excited about, and as I always say, when I’m training a boxer, especially at this level, I really go off the fighter. You know I see their mood, and how they look, and what their conditioning looks like. A lot of guys will say they feel good, but I’m looking at them and I’m saying well I don’t necessarily think you’re looking as good as you say you do. But Chad is so sharp and he just feels good. He’s really upbeat. You know most fighters when they get close to a fight they start to get moody and everything. He hasn’t even reached that stage yet, which is kind of surprising for a fight of this magnitude. I was expecting him to be a little bit more on edge and that type of thing, but he’s been really good and he’s very confident. So that makes me even more confident.

Pacquiao-Marquez 95 percent finished, say Beltran

By Rob Smith: Juan Manuel Marquez’s promoter Fernando Beltran is saying that a fight between Marquez and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) is almost complete with a reported “95%’ of it being done for December 8th. Whether they can get the last 5% remains up in the air but it’s good sign if you’re interested in seeing Pacquiao fight the 39-year-old Marquez yet again after having fought three times in the past already.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum seems to want to put this fight together after another one of their big money options Miguel Cotto bailed out of the Pacquiao lottery in order to fight WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout.

In an interview at the Record.com.mx, Beltran said “The only reason I can not guarantee the fight is because there isn’t a contract of Pacquiao before us. However, in the coming hours we will. Verbally we can announce that on December 8th, we will make this fight…It is 95% finished.”

Trout: I don’t want to hear any excuses after I beat Cotto

By Dwight Chittenden: Unbeaten WBA World light middleweight champion Austin Trout (25-0, 14 KO’s) doesn’t want to hear a bunch of complaining or excuse-making from former WBA Super World light middleweight champion Miguel Cotto (37-3, 30 KO’s) after he beats him on December 1st in their fight at Madison Square Garden in New York, New York. Trout, 26, plans on beating the 31-year-old Cotto in a convincing enough manner to where Cotto’s boxing fans and fans in general won’t be able to question his victory.

Trout said to RingTV “I can shock everybody. It’s the perfect scenario for me. I love this fight, man. He [Cotto] just had one where he stopped Antonio Margarito, and he just had the decision loss to Floyd. So I don’t want to hear any excuses when I beat Migel Cotto, you know what I mean?”

Trout, 26, is going to have to fight a lot better than he did last June in defeating junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez by a 12 round unanimous decision. The judges didn’t give Rodriguez much credit for giving Trout a lot of problems in this fight. I personally had the scores a lot closer than the ones that were handed down. But worrisome thing about the fight was that the southpaw Trout was hit by a lot lead right hands and jabs from Rodriguez and if Trout fights the same way against Cotto, he’s going to get beaten up.

Cotto hits too hard wight his right hand, and his jab is too powerful for Trout to be getting hit all night long with those shots. Cotto also has an excellent left hook that will cause Trout problems.

The Middleweight Landscape

By Anthony Loy: Forget arguing about the p4p rankings, the middleweight division is currently the home of fierce debate regarding who will sit atop the mountain in the very near future.

The heir to the throne appears to be one Gennady Golovkin, a punch perfect destruction of hard-hitting but limited Grzegorz Proksa on Saturday night has put the hype train into full speed but whilst he undoubtedly has the tools and an extensive amateur background (in which he holds wins over Andre Dirrell and Lucian Bute) I can’t help but feel people are getting carried away with his exciting but totally expected win over the one-dimensional Proksa, a man who was outpointed not long ago by the unheralded Kerry Hope.

The man currently reigning supreme in what is fast turning into the most fascinating division in Boxing Sergio Martinez takes on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr for the WBC belt on September 15th in what promises to be one of the fights of the year, Chavez who has a very impressive 46-0-1 record will provide Martinez with a stern test and will hope to impose his size advantage when the two meet, whatever the outcome of this fight and I believe it will be a close points win for Chavez I think its likely it will be Chavez’s last in the 160lb division.

Daniel Geale and Felix Sturm provided and excellent fight and a nightmare for the judges on Saturday night with Geale earning a split-decision win away from home in Germany, a place not known for giving visiting fighters a fair shake (just ask Matthew Macklin).

Sergio Martinez: My fight with Chavez Jr. will end early, he’ll be on his knees in front of me

By Rob Smith: Former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) says he can already seen the outcome of his September 15th fight against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) and he doesn’t see the fight ending well for the 26-year-old son of boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Martinez plans on getting the hulking 180 pound Chavez Jr. out of there early to make a nice clean win without any controversy.

Martinez said “I go over it in my mind and can see it. I can see him [Chavez Jr] on his knees right in front of me…I know the fight will end early. I know I’m going to knock him out.”

With his power and speed, Martinez is going to make it difficult for Chavez Jr. to do the same kinds of things he’s been doing in his recent bouts against more stationary fighters. Chavez Jr. has really had his way against guys with little ability to move like Andy Lee, Peter Manfredo Jr and Marco Antonio Rubio. Lee isn’t that bad when it comes to getting around the ring, but in his case he was fighting Chavez Jr. in a small ring in El Paso, and he compounded it by choosing to slug with him instead of trying staying on the outside.

Geale to fight 38-year-old Soliman next, not Golovkin

By Michael Collins: With his 12 round split decision victory over WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm last Saturday night, IBF/WBA middleweight champion Daniel Geale (28-1, 15 KO’s) will be bypassing an World Boxing Association ordered title defense against WBA World middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to fight 38-year-old Sam Soliman (42-11, 17 KO’s) in December.

The move will likely result in the WBA stripping Geale of his newly won WBA 160 pound title unless Geale’s management can get permission to bypass the defense against Golovkin. The WBA ordered that the winner of the Geale-Sturm fight has to defend the title against the mandatory by December 31st. If Geale chooses to fight Soliman, who clearly is the lesser threat compared to the hard hitting Golovkin, the WBA may choose to strip Geale of his title.

Geale probably would be better off vacating the WBA title because he doesn’t match up well with Golovkin at all. This wouldn’t be a fight where Geale could out-jab and win rounds against Golovkin by landing weak right hands all night long like he did in beating Sturm. That wouldn’t against Golovki, who would be teeing off on Geale each time he catch up to him and we’d likely see a knockout by the 6th round. In that case, it’s smart that Geale is looking to take on Soliman instead because Geale can win that fight, but he can’t beat Golovkin. That would be a terrible mismatch.

Pacquiao expected to fight Marquez on December 8th

By Rob Smith: 33-year-old Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) is expected to sign to fight 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) on December 8th now that Marquez’s only real competitor for the fight, Miguel Cotto, has decided on taking on Austin Trout on December 1st. Technically, WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley is still in the running for Pacquiao’s next fight on December 8th, but he’s not a serious option because of the controversy that surrounded his win over Pacquiao last June. But importantly, Bradley isn’t an option because the Pacquiao-Bradley fight brought in low pay per view totals last time out.

Money is the name of the game, and Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is trying to maximize the income he can get for his fighter with what little time he’s got left in the sport. Judging by how Pacquiao has looked in his last two fights, I don’t think he’s got too much time left at the top of the game unless Arum starts spoon-feeding him weaker opposition at some point. A lot of boxing fans think that’s already been going on with Arum putting Pacquiao in with Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley and Bradley instead of Floyd Mayweather Jr. or Andre Berto.

Marquez brings in a lot of Hispanic fans to a fourth fight with Pacquiao, and Arum realizes that. It’s a fight that could make a lot of money due to the casual boxing fans that will be excited about seeing this. However, it’s a fight that the hardcore boxing fans have seen one too many times it’s utterly predictable how the fight will take place and end.

Klitschko vs Charr: Manuel Charr Interview

Questions & answers with Manuel Charr (21-0, 11 KO), a challenger for the WBC heavyweight title. The Lebanon-born Charr, nicknamed “Diamond Boy” will face Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KO) on Saturday in Moscow, Russia.

Q: Hello Manuel, please tell us something about you history, your family and origin. How did you get to Germany?

A: My father was a Syrian citizen but I was born and raised in Lebanon. Sadly my father died in 1986 during the war. We have lived in Beirut till we came over as fugitives to Germany in 1989. We, that have been my mother, my 5 sisters, my 2 brothers and I. I was just 6 years old. First we stayed for a couple of weeks in Berlin Wedding and then we moved to Katernberg (a district of Essen) next to Gelsenkirchen, in the center of Germany. There I grow up, went to school and learned German.

Q: Do you visit Syria sometimes?
A: I do have some family there, but me close family is in Germany, so I hardly go over there.

What Must Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. Do To Beat Sergio Martinez?

By Sean Ocampo – Undefeated WBC Middleweight Champion Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) will put everything on the line against pound for pound great and former Middleweight title holder Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez (49-2-2, 29 KO’s) at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Chavez is going into this fight as underdog because of Martinez’s undeniable skills and his reputation as one of the very best in boxing. Chavez will have the toughest test of his career this coming September 15, 2012. Will he pass the test or will he flunk it?

These are the keys on how Chavez will succeed against Sergio Martinez.

PRESSURE

Chavez has to take away Martinez’s footwork and footspeed. That’s easier said than done, but it’s pretty much doable in the fight game. Martinez is most dangerous when he’s outside. We’ve seen him knockout or knockdown opponents when he’s fighting outside, just like when he knocked out Paul Williams. With constant pressure from Chavez, he should be able to cut the ring and take away the breathing space of Martinez. Once he cuts the ring, he’ll be able to land his hard combinations to the head and body. Perfect example for this would be Chavez’s last fight with Andy Lee, who is coincidentally a southpaw.

Khan will make a mistake if he dumps Freddie; Danny Garcia’s strategy wrong for Morales rematch too

By Paul Strauss: Amir Khan apparently is looking for another trainer, because he doesn’t want to continue sharing Freddie Roach’s time with Manny Pacquiao. On the surface that seems reasonable; although, it presents obvious problems finding a suitable replacement. It’s a safe bet he’s going to find similar circumstances exist with all of the big name trainers.

Some boxing fans, not necessarily Khan’s, claim Freddie can’t teach the defensive skills Amir needs to protect what some fans believe to be his suspect chin. There’s some truth to that, but it isn’t because Freddie doesn’t have the know-how. Rather, it’s because Freddie’s fighters are generally aggressive fighters, and everyone knows a fighter is most vulnerable when he’s punching.

Of course there’s the old adage that a good offense is a good defense. In football, it can simply mean out scoring your opponent, but it can also mean keeping the ball out of the hands of the opposition. They can’t score without the ball. For it to work, the team better have a good line and a punishing running back, or maybe a good short passing game, because if they just throw it down field, hoping to score fast and big, it’s not likely they will keep the ball long enough to accomplish what they want. In fact, the reverse might be true.