Cunningham decisions Mansour; Stevens stops Johnson

Photo: Rich Graessle/Main Events — The more experienced Steve Cunningham (27-6, 12 KO’s) survived two fifth round knockdowns to go on and beat USBA heavyweight champion Amir Mansour (20-1, 15 KO’s) by a 10 round unanimous decision tonight to win by the scores 97-90, 95-92, 95-92 at the Liacouras Center, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Cunningham put Mansour down on the canvas in the 10th and final round with a right hand after getting him off balance from a series of rights to the head. Mansour’s left eye was almost closed at the time from the heavy shots he’d absorbed from Cunningham.

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Frampton stops Cazares in 2nd

An unusually timid-looking 35-year-old Hugo Fidel Cazares (40-8-2, 27 KO’s) was blasted out in just two round tonight by a much younger 27-year-old Carl Frampton (18-0, 13 KO’s) in a World Boxing Council 122lb title eliminator at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The fight ended suddenly when Frampton hit Cazares with a solid left hook that sent him staggering to one knee.

Cazares then lost track of the count and failed to get up after the referee counted him out. Instead of watching the referee while he was counting, Cazares took his eyes off of him and was grinning at his corner like he was okay. Immediately after the referee Victor Loughlin stopped the fight at 1:38 of the 2nd round, Cazares rose to his feet in disbelief and began to protest, as if he wanted to continue.

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Porter, Malignaggi, Quillin and Konecny interview transcript

Kelly Swanson

Today we have a great conference call to discuss an unbelievable undercard that will be on the “Hopkins vs. Shumenov” fight card at the D.C. Armory in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, April 19. I’m looking forward to seeing all of these fights. We’re going to start with Lukas and Pete, and then we will move into Shawn and Paulie immediately upon the completion of these two fighters. So, to make the introductions is Bruce Binkow, the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Golden Boy Promotions. He is joining us to introduce the fighters and talk a little bit more about the fights.

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Monte Barrett hangs ’em up – wishing “Two Gunz” a happy retirement

Heavyweight warrior Monte Barrett was stopped in the 4th-round by unbeaten Cuban Luis Ortiz last night, and after having once again taken a fight knowing he had with him the disadvantages that come when entering the ring having had precious little time to get ready, Barrett announced his retirement after the bout.

Now 42, “Two Gunz,” as Barrett was known throughout his up and down but always exciting career, took to social media to make his exit official.

A genuine warrior and also a genuine good guy in a sport that is often short of fighters possessing the Queen’s man’s sheer class, Barrett always fought the best while attempting to give the same.

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Peter Fury: “Tyson Is Ready Now”

Tyson Fury could beat Dereck Chisora right now according to his trainer and uncle Peter even though the fight is still 16 weeks away.

The bitter rivals collide in the biggest domestic heavyweight rematch in recent years at the Phones 4 U Arena in Manchester on Saturday 26th July, with the winner getting a shot at WBO World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko and the European and Vacant British titles are also on the line.

But Peter insists he’d have no problem letting Tyson loose on Chisora right now.

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Cunningham vs. Mansour: Will the U.S.S. Cunningham prove to be too hardcore for Amir?

There’s a time when even the most protected fighters get the first true test of their careers. There is no comparing Steve Cunningham’s resume, which is deep and full of recognizable names, to Amir Mansour resume. Will Cunningham’s experience and reach advantage be too “hardcore” for Mansour to overcome? We will find out this Friday night from Philly on the NBC Sports Network.

Amir Mansour’s first fight was in 1997, and at age 41 his career is really just getting started after taking over 9 years off from 2001 to 2010. Mansour comes into this matchup sporting an unblemished record of 20 wins with no losses and 15 of those wins coming by way of knockout.

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Bernard Hopkins: ” I want to unify the titles, that’s good for boxing”

The 49 year old boxing legend Bernard Hopkins has no plans on retiring anytime soon. He wants to unify the light heavyweight division and he plans on starting April 19th against Beibut Shumenov. Beibut is the current WBA champion and Bernard holds the IBF championship.

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Bradley: My fight with Pacquiao won’t go the distance

WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (31-0, 12 KO’s) isn’t known for his punching power, but he feels that his April 12th rematch with former 8 division world champion Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) is going to end with one of them getting knocked out in front of a large pay-per-view crowd on HBO, and live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bradley’s only way of getting a knockout of Pacquiao is if he can catch him with something while he’s running in. Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach practically has him brainwashed with the belief that he’s got to fight for a full 3 minutes of every round. That’s a good plan to follow when you’ve got a younger fighter with a strong chin and not a lot of mileage on him. But Pacquiao is 35, and he’s been in countless difficult fights during his career. He also was knocked out badly by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, and not had a hard fight since then.

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Adrien “The Problem” Broner, Carlos Molina, J’leon Love and Marco Antonio Periban media conference call transcript

Kelly Swanson

Thanks, everybody, for joining us we appreciate you being here with us today. Unfortunately, we are going to have to reschedule this call because the fighters have not shown up. April Fools!

We’re joined by a great group of fighters today. They are part of the SHOWTIME PPV undercard for “THE MOMENT: Mayweather vs. Maidana,” Adrien Broner vs Carlos Molina and also J’Leon Love vs. Marco Antonio Periban.

Today’s host of the call is none other than Leonard Ellerbe, Chief Executive Office of Mayweather Promotions. Leonard, I’m going to turn it over to you and just so everybody knows, the translator for Mr. Periban today will be Rolando Arellano.

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Hopkins targeting Stevenson after Shumenov fight

49-year-old IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) is in the last legacy-building portion of his career as he heads into his April 19th fight against WBA World light heavyweight champion Beibut Shumenov (14-1, 9 KO’s) at the DC Armory in Washington, DC. Hopkins wants to not only defeat the little known Shumenov to capture his WBA title, but then he plans on facing WBC 175lb champ Adonis Stevenson to try and capture his title as well.

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