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.
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!
@FloydMayweather, tell @AdrienBroner to fight me on your card and when I beat him, you fight me next!
— Amir Khan (@AmirKingKhan) March 2, 2014
Having been turned down by Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a fight on May 3rd, Amir Khan is now trying to work a deal to fight former three division world champion Adrien Broner on Mayweather’s undercard in exchange for Mayweather agreeing to fight him. So in other words, Khan will do Mayweather a big favor by helping make his May 3rd Showtime pay-per-view card a successful one by agreeing to fight Broner in exchange for Mayweather signing him up for his next fight after that.
So whatās happening with former WBC light heavyweight champion and former Olympian Jean Pascal? Heās coming of a pretty impressive win against fellow Canadian fighter Lucian Bute back in January and at the age of 31 years old; heās still in his prime. Of course, Bute is considered to now be a shot fighter after his disastrous performance against reigning IBF and WBA super-middleweight champ Carl ĀØThe CobraĀØ Froch, but itās still a win against a well known, former champion of the world. I mean, you can say all you want about Bute, but guys like Gennady Golovkin and Sergey Kovalev are prime example of guys that have not fought this caliber of opponent in their career and are both considered top fighters in the business.
The Ukranian showed up in excellent condition and started the fight with confidence trying to work from long range. He used a lot of movement and footwork but found out his sharp shots had little effect on his rough and tough Mexican opponent. Salido kept his head low and walked through his rival’s pot shots to close in and rough him up at close range using his weight advantage.
DeGale knocked Khatchikian down a couple of times in the 11th round with body shots. Referee Mark Green then decided that Khatchikian had taken enough punishment so he stopped the bout at 2:58 of the round.
DeGale boxed beautifully through most of the fight. However, his habit of keeping his hands down by his sides led to DeGale getting nailed with a lot of hard right hands from Khatchikian. In the 5th round, DeGale got caught with a tremendous right hand from Khatchikian. DeGale backed up like he was hurt, and he took punishment for the remainder of the round.
Just by hanging around, Vera was able to punish Chavez Jr. with less powerful shots and he had his face looking like he was the loser tonight instead of the winner.
The final judges scores were 114-113, 117-110, 117-110. There’s no question that Chavez Jr. deserved the decision this time around, but it’s too bad that he was given what many boxing fans saw as a gift decision over Vera last September in their previous fight. But Vera got a rematch out of that fight anyway, so it worked out about the same as him getting a win.
WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-3-1, 11 KO’s) gave it his best shot tonight, but it wasn’t … continue
Abraham knocked Stieglitz down in the 12th round. Before the knockdown, Stieglitz had been wobbled from a right hand from Abraham. It looked like for a second there that he might make it out of the round without going down, but Stieglitz took another big shot and that caused him to hit the canvas.
In the co-featured bouts, Derek Edwards upset previously undefeated Badou Jack and rising Mayweather Promotions star Christopher Pearson defeated Lanardo Tyner in an 8-round middleweight bout.
The eveningās promoter, 10-time World Champion Floyd āMoneyā Mayweather, was ringside at Turning Stone Resort and Casino and interviewed by SHOWTIME Sports analyst Steve Farhood for the first time since Mayweather announced his next opponentāMarcos “El Chino” Maidana.