IBF Light Middleweight Champion “King” Carlos Molina (22-5-2, 6 KOs) has signed a managerial contract with Al Haymon and is temporarily training in Mexico City, while promoter and attorney Leon Margules sorts out his immigration issues.
30-year-old Molina, originally from Michoacán, Mexico, says he’s excited to have aligned himself with one of boxing’s most high-profile managers and is looking forward to returning to the ring.
NEW YORK, NY / MIAMI FL (5/13/14) – World Boxing Council (WBC)/The Ring middleweight champion and Argentina’s favorite son, SERGIO “Maravilla” MARTÍNEZ, opened up his Miami training camp yesterday and held an intense, two plus hour open media workout before a throng of media ahead of his upcoming world title defense and the most eagerly anticipated boxing event of 2014 against three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico, MIGUEL COTTO.
SERGIO MARTINEZ:
“This training camp has been tremendously efficient. Everything has exceeded all of my expectations.
40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (55-7-1, 40 KO’s) has his eyes on a fifth fight against Manny Pacquiao if he can get past Mike Alvarado (34-2, 23 KO’s) in their HBO televised fight this Saturday night at the Forum, in Inglewood, California, USA. Marquez wants the Pacquiao fight because he’s the WBO welterweight title holder, and Marquez wants the opportunity to win a fifth division world title.
For him winning fifth world title will somehow validate his long 21-year pro career. You can’t help thinking that even if Marquez beats Pacquiao to capture his WBO title, Marquez will continue on and have some other goal that will keep him fighting. Hopefully, Marquez doesn’t get it into his head to try and capture a junior middleweight title, because that would be really pushing it.
“We all want the fifth title. It’s very important to all of us,” Marquez said. “That’s the motivation now to keep going. The first thing is Alvarado, but we know that the fifth fight with Pacquiao is a possibility.”
Amir Khan (29-3, 19 KO’s) has his mind made up that WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. (46-0, 26 KO’s) is freezing him out from getting a big fight against him, and he thinks that he’ll finish the remaining 3 fights on his Showtime contract and retire from the sport without giving him a fight.
Khan has it in his mind that Mayweather sees something in his style that he doesn’t feel comfortable with.
“He’s thinking ‘Do I really need to fight Amir Khan? No, I can fight someone else.’ He’s going to avoid me,” Khan said to the dailymail.co.uk. “I think time might be running out…at least the world knows that I wanted it to happen. If he’s not ready or confident then the fight isn’t going to happen. Even if the world says fight Amir Khan next, if he says ‘no’ then it won’t happen.”
(Photo credit: Hogan Photos) Former WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (43-1-1, 31 KO’s) will be able to take advantage of WBA junior middleweight champion Erislandy Lara (19-1-2, 12 KO’s) each time he corners him in their catch weight fight on July 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Canelo, 23, watched Lara’s recent fight against Alfredo Angulo and noticed that Lara mostly would just cover up each time that Angulo cornered him against the ropes.
Canelo thinks he can take full advantage of that if Lara makes that same mistake against him in their Showtime televised pay-per-view fight on 7/12.
In his recent win over Marcos Maidana on May 3rd, Floyd Mayweather Jr. looked about as bad as he’s looked since his two life and death struggles against Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. Mayweather, for the first time in his career, looked his age, and didn’t seem to be the same guy that had dominated Robert Guerrero and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez recently.
That’s why it came across as kind of strange that Floyd Mayweather Sr. is still talking about how easily Floyd Jr. would beat Manny Pacquiao if that fight were to happen. It’s pretty much clear that Mayweather will never agree to fight the Filipino star for whatever reason. But it’s strange to see Floyd Sr. talking boldly about how Mayweather would dominate Pacquiao when he couldn’t even beat Maidana convincingly.
Congratulations to Bermane Stiverne for capturing the WBC-Title. It was a good fight against Arreola.
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) May 12, 2014
IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KO’s) sent out a congratulatory tweet to newly crowned WBC heavyweight champion Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO’s) for his win over Chris Arreola last Saturday night in Los Angeles, California. Wladimir is hoping that Stiverne will now agree to a unification fight with him so that he can capture his Brother Vitali Klitschko’s old WBC title.
Bermane Stiverne stopped Chris Arreola at 2:02 of the sixth round Saturday night to become the first heavyweight titlist of Haitian heritage. ESPN picked up the anticipated rematch and aired it live on the main network rather than ESPN2, which is the home of their popular “Friday Night Fights” series. Here’s a look back at a great event.
The Atmosphere:
It was a unique setting for a heavyweight world title bout, with the card taking place on the University of Southern California campus in Los Angeles. By contrast, the first Stiverne-Arreola match last April was held in front of a larger audience at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California.
If Haitian-born heavyweight puncher Bermane Stiverne didn’t prove he was for real in his last fight, when he out-pointed Chris Arreola over 12-rounds, he sure proved it last night in stopping Arreola in the 6th-round. Stiverne, a powerful counter-puncher, was losing the fight last night, yet he sensationally made the score-cards null and void courtesy of his right hand.
Almost instantly, the talk turned to who the brand new WBC king will fight next (or who his promoter Don King – who, with last night’s big win, made a comeback to the top of the heavyweight division – will allow Stiverne to fight next). King spoke of Stiverne’s right to box a voluntary defence, making it a real possibility that Stiverne will not face WBC mandatory and unbeaten KO artist Deontay Wilder next. King also spoke of taking Stiverne on a “world tour.”
(Photo credit: Tiffany Lam) Tonight millions of boxing fans tuned into a heavyweight title fight live on primetime ESPN. A raucous crowd got their money’s worth at the Galen Center on the University of Southern California campus, just a couple miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Haiti native Bermane “B WARE” Stiverne, who now trains out of Las Vegas, squared off against Mexican-American Chris “The Nightmare” Arreola in a rematch for the vacant WBC title. Stiverne won their first bout last April via decision, but not before shattering Arreola’s nose at the end of the third round. As intense and bloody as the first contest was, fans eagerly anticipated the rematch.
The USC marching band played the national anthem in the ring, and then Chris Arreola made his ring walk, inciting a wild eruption from the partisan LA crowd. Next to the ring was Bermane Stiverne, who was serious as always as he shrugged off boos from Arreola supporters. Michael Buffer introduced the fighters and got the crowd pumped. The atmosphere was electric in anticipation for the opening bell.