Froch-Groves II: Wembley Stadium to serve as Battleground

After weeks of speculation the battleground for the eagerly anticipated rematch between Carl Froch and George Groves on May 31st has finally been announced as the Wembley Stadium. Although Wembley had always been the favorite venue, other stadiums including Emirates and The Millennium Stadium were slated to play host on account of the logistical issues posed by Wembley’s accommodating the England and Peru friendly match on the prior evening.

However the fight’s promoter Eddie Hearn was said to be blown away after first walking through Wembley’s tunnels and has worked tirelessly with the stadium and the FA to see that the biggest fight since the Eubank and Benn rematch was staged there. Hearn heavily believes that the fight is the biggest that Britain will have yet seen and strongly felt that the new Wembley Stadium would do it the most justice, especially as it will be the first boxing match to be held at the new stadium since its reopening in 2007.

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Hearn says Froch-Groves II is “Biggest fight in British boxing history” – but who wins?

As fight fans may have read by now, it has been confirmed how the eagerly anticipated rematch between bitter super-middleweight rivals Carl Froch and George Groves will go ahead at the colossal Wembley Stadium in London. The fight, a return meeting of last November’s controversial thriller won by Froch via 9th-round TKO, is expected to sell over 60,000 tickets on May 31st.

Promoter Eddie Hearn told BBC Sport today that he thinks the fight will surpass all other British fights as far as ticket sales go, and Hearn has called the return “the biggest fight in British boxing history.” Currently, there have been a few fights held in Britain that saw over 50,000 fans attend – the Joe Calzaghe-Mikkel Kessler fight that took place at The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in 2007 and Ricky Hatton-Juan Lazcano clash that went down at The City of Manchester Stadium in 2008, this fight the current record holder at around 54,000 tickets sold – but Hearn is convinced Froch-Groves II will break all records.

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Boxing 411: “Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. vs. Gennady Golovkin” on tap for 2014?

After Julio Cesar Chavez Jr’s convincing unanimous decision victory over Bryan Vera this past Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, shockwaves were felt throughout the offices of HBO, Top Rank, Inc, and K2 Promotions, regarding a potentially explosive super-fight between WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin and the former WBC Middleweight title holder.

When “Boxing 411” caught up with Triple G’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, in the Alamo City, the veteran fight mentor couldn’t confirm anything concerning his fighter’s next appearance on HBO, except that it more than likely wouldn’t be taking place on April 26th as originally planned.

“At this point there’s some breaking news about Triple G’s future that you’ll have to talk about with managing director of K2 Promotions Tom Loeffler.

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Gary Russell Jr. in line for the WBO Title

Gary Russell Jr. will finally get a chance to showcase his talent against some decent opposition. The WBO has named Russell the number one contender for the vacant title. This is all due to the fight that happened over the weekend between Orlando Salido vs. Vasyl Lomanchenko. Since Salido was victorious in the bout his next opponent might be none other than Mr. Russell Jr. Gary is quick and explosive but hasn’t fought anybody worth mentioning. He has been a mile ahead of his competitors in all of his recent fights.

His followers are losing interest because he has yet to develop from a prospect into a contender. I’m a DMV native who actually had the pleasure of seeing Gary train and I can definitely say that hard work runs in his family. Gary comes from a fighting family of seven boys who are all trained by Gary Russell Sr. They train late at night but they push their bodies to the limit and focus intently on their craft.

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Angulo to test his debilitating power on Canelo this Saturday

Boxing fans will get a chance to see how good Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s punch resistance is this Saturday night in his Showtime pay-per-view clash against the hard-hitting Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is going to be a first for Canelo in terms of him facing an opponent that has power equal to his own, and it should give fans a good chance to see if Canelo can stand up to the kind of big power shots that Angulo will be hitting him with.

Angulo’s trainer Virgil Hunter has been very impressed with Angulo’s power ever since he started training him, and he thinks he’s got the kind of punch that could lay the 23-year-old Canelo out, especially if he’s able to get him into a fatigued state.

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Ricky Hatton joins those banging the drum for Anthony Crolla-John Murray collision

Talks are currently ongoing for Manchester lightweights Anthony Crolla and John Murray to meet in a mouth-watering clash in April. The Manchester Evening News reports how the fight could take place on April 19th on the under-card of Scott Quigg’s WBA super-bantamweight title defence against Nehomar Cermeno at The Manchester Arena.

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Khan-Broner: The saga continues

One could be forgiven for mistaking the headline as the title of a new Star Wars film but actually it is the heading of an entirely different lengthy series that concerns Mayweather and Khan. The thing that needs to happen pronto is for the latter to announce his next fight so, at least for the time being, we can forget about the whole Mayweather and Khan narrative that is being increasingly drawn out.

An interesting clash that Mayweather is endorsing to be featured on his May undercard is between Khan and Broner. Khan tweeted last week that he would KO Broner and for Mayweather to fight him afterwards, and Broner was a name that Khan had mentioned as his next potential opponent on Sky Sports’ ‘Ringside’ program.

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Khan-Broner on the May 3rd Mayweather Card?

By Brandi Miller: Floyd “Money” Mayweather has challenged Amir Khan to face Adrien Broner on his May 3rd undercard for a chance to face Mayweather himself, that being if Khan is able to beat Broner of course. Those who follow boxing know that recently Khan was in the running to face Floyd this May but instead Floyd chose Marcos Maidana. Khan was begging for the fight in the weeks leading up to the fight announcement only to be embarrassed by Mayweather when he was not the chosen one.

The question now is will Khan accept the challenge from Floyd to face Broner. Khan made it publicly known that he needed to fight a big name in order to land the Floyd fight and Broner would definitely be the name that could get people talking. Khan even went as far as calling Broner out on twitter and saying her would win by knockout. Broner has not responded but he did mention the possibility of fighting on “big bros” undercard so maybe he is willing to accept the Khan fight. In my opinion the Khan-Broner fight is an interesting fight but I don’t think it does much for Khan beating a guy who just came off a loss like the one Broner took.

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Acourtier ‘Warzone’ Event Review

Former cruiserweight world title challenger Mark Prince continued his comeback on Saturday night when he demolished Latvian Olegs Lopajevs in the first round at a lively Acourtier event at the legendary York Hall venue in East London.

Although the event was less high profile than the shows in Glasgow, Germany and the US which all had world title fights, the evening was packed with all the boxing related drama you could wish for.

Seasoned pro Mark Prince was the headline act and he showed real class when he took centre stage. The Londoner, who has called his comeback the ‘Return Of The Prince’, was actually taking part in his second bout after being absent from the ring for 14 years.

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Lomachenko doesn’t take the bait; Chavez, Jr. battles more than one opponent

Top Rank’s grand poobah Bob Arum called for the head of referee Laurence Cole. It’s no secret Arum wanted Vasyl Lomachenko to set a record by capturing a world title in only his second professional fight. What a promotional gem that would have been. Concerning Cole, Arum had an ally in HBO blow-by-blow announcer Jim Lampley. Secure in his 26 year history of anchoring or co-hosting boxing, he threw his own low blow, but this time at Cole by describing him as dreadful. He then reminded viewers that Laurence’s father sits on the commission. Ouch!

So what’s all the fuss about? Well, Arum’s camp (and plenty of others) claim Orlando Salido didn’t fight fair, and referee Cole allowed him to get away with it. Heavens to mergatroyd! That’s a first. A fighter goes into his opponent’s backyard and gets jobbed. In this case, it’s a foreigner in a strange country. Sure, he will be taken care of. Boy, was he ever taken care of!

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