Ashley Theophane looks back on 2013 and talks Mayweather Promotions

by Ashley Theophane – As I look forward to a fresh and positive new year, it has given me the chance to reflect back on 2013 from my perspective.

It has been an exceptional year that met the dreams I had as a five year old child. Many of the ‘experts’ have frequently said that it would not be possible for me to achieve hardly anything over my ten year career. This could have deflected anyone from their goals and dreams, but for me, it has only served to drive my determination to achieve even more.

I still have much more to achieve and have so many youngsters to continue the privilege of doing all I can to be a ‘role model’ for. My life is proof that if you believe and want to be something in life, you can achieve it. You just have to work really hard for it, without ever being put off by mishaps, lack of support or failure.

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Photos: Gennady Golovkin Lights Up The Golden Globe Awards

Beverly Hills, California (January 14, 2014) Boxing’s fastest rising superstar Gennady “GGG” Golovkin hit the 2014 Golden Globe Awards Sunday night at the Beverly Hills Hilton where he met many Hollywood stars from across the entertainment world.

Among the stars Gennady met were award winning actors, Michael Douglas, Tom Hanks and Matt Damon in addition to Michael K. Williams of Boardwalk Empire (“Chalky White”) and Rex Lee of Entourage (“Lloyd”).

The undefeated WBA/IBO Middleweight World Champion was also present among boxing royalty, “Iron” Mike Tyson and unified Heavyweight World Champion Wladimir Klitschko as well as Hall of Fame Ring Announcer Michael Buffer and HBO Boxing Commentator Jim Lampley.

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Lamont Peterson Looks to Wreak “Havoc” on Jean

By Paul “Paparazzi” Jones & Justin Jones, Photo © Paul “Paparazzi” Jones

Washington, DC —January 25th marks the return of Lamont ‟Havoc” Peterson, 29, to Showtime® Championship Boxing (9:00 PM ET/PT; delayed on the West Coast). Peterson (31-2-1, 16 KOs), the reigning IBF Jr. Welterweight Champion, headlines the network’s kickoff telecast in a 12-round title bout at the DC Armory (Washington, DC) versus undefeated contender, Dierry ‟Dougy Style” Jean (25-0, 17 KOs). Jermell Charlo (22-0, 11 KOs) and Gabriel Rosado (21-7, 13 KOs, 1 NC) round out the doubleheader in a 10-round Jr. Middleweight fight.

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Gamboa added to list of possible opponents for Pacquiao’s April 12th fight

In a not so surprising move, Top Rank is adding lightweight Yuriorkis Gamboa (23-0, 16 KO’s) into the mix for April 12th fight of their star Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to the Manila Bulletin. At this point Top Rank really needs a body for Pacquiao that has a good record, and who won’t price himself out.

Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz will be meeting with Bob Arum of Top Rank on Tuesday to discuss Pacquiao’s next fight, and decide on which of the three will be a good option.

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Ricky Burns: Crawford fight will be difficult for me

After two years as the WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (36-2-1, 11 KO’s) may be reaching the end of the line as the champion after four title defenses. He dodged a bullet against Raymundo Beltran last September in being given a 12 round draw, and he lucked out in halting Jose Gonzalez last year in May in a fight that he was losing. However, Burns’ luck might be at an end when he faces the unbeaten Terence Crawford on March 1st at the Scottish Exhibition Center in Glasgow, Scotland.

Burns is a very good fighter and he’ll try every trick in the book in an effort to beat Crawford, but it might not be good enough. Burns appears to be overmatched in this fight, and he’s going to need to come up with the perfect fight strategy for him to come out ahead on March 1st.

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Hopkins sees Kovalev as easy fight for him

IBF light heavyweight champion Bernard Hopkins (54-6-2, 32 KO’s) may never get a chance to fight WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO’s) due to them fighting on different cable networks, but that’s not stopping Hopkins from giving his opinion about how he’d do against the Russian fighter if he ever did fight him. Hopkins, who turned 49 this Wednesday, thinks Kovalev would be an even easier fight for him than his fight with Kelly Pavlik.

Hopkins believes that Kovalev is a fighter with only one dimension, and be figures he’d soundly beat him if the two ever fought. The fact that they probably never will fight gives Hopkins the chance to talk as much as he’d like without having to actually prove himself against Kovalev in the ring.

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Chavez Jr-Vera set for March 1st in San Antonio, Texas

Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1, 32 KO’s) has signed his contract for a rematch against Brian Vera (23-7, 14 KO’s) on March 1st on HBO at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This time there will be a $250,000 weight penalty for Chavez Jr. if he can’t make the weight for the fight. As of now, it’ll be at 168 lbs., but it’ll be interesting to see if this weight will be nudged forward to the 170s like in his fight with Vera last September.

That weight ended up taking place at 173 lbs., and even then Chavez Jr. looked incredibly emaciated when weighing in. During the fight, Chavez Jr. looked as big as a cruiserweight, and one can only guess how heavy he was. Vera ended outworking Chavez Jr. and getting robbed in the eyes of many fans. Chavez Jr. looked good enough to win 3-4 rounds at best, and it was hard to understand what the three judges saw in his performance that made them score the fight for him.

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Canelo-Angulo undercard looking kind of thin

For Saul “Canelo” Alvarez’s first pay-per-view head-lining fight against Alfredo Angulo (22-3, 18 KO’s) on March 8th, Golden Boy Promotions is in the process of stacking the undercard with generally smaller fighters that the casual boxing fans will have a hard time recognizing. This is probably not the wisest move for Golden Boy and Canelo do because the Canelo vs. Angulo fight is hardly a PPV quality fight, and Golden Boy could be making things worse by stacking the undercard with generally smaller guys.

What this card needs is the Adrien Broner vs. Marcos Maidana II rematch and/or Canelo facing Erislandy Lara instead of Angulo, a fighter who was just knocked out. Golden Boy and Canelo need to re-think the idea of making this fight card a PPV bout because it’s doubtful that fans are going to want to pay to see a mismatch in the main event and then 2 mismatches in the undercard.

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Eddie Hearn says Froch-Groves II could sell out an 80,000 arena in UK! (but will it happen?)

Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn spoke with Sky Sports today, on the subject of whether or not we will see a return bout between bitter British rivals Carl Froch and George Groves. Fans everywhere have craved a sequel ever since the November clash between the two super-middleweights thrilled and then ended controversially, with Froch retaining his super-middleweight titles via what was widely viewed as a premature 9th-round TKO.

Hearn says he feels a return will take place:

“I think there’s a great chance,” Hearn told Sky Sports on the possibility of a Froch-Groves II. “I think it comes down to pride and ego at the end of the day, and of course a lot of money. As a fan and a promoter it’s the biggest fight out there. I know we could have this at a huge stadium and have 60, 70, 80,000 people. It was a tremendous fight last time and taking away the controversy, it was one of the best fights I’ve ever seen. A rematch could be even bigger. If I was a betting man I think we are going to get there. I hope we do.”

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Left-Hook Lounge: Broner/Maidana II, Mayweather/Pacquiao, Top Rank (Cold War)

Kelvin Y. (Atlanta, GA): It was recently reported that Adrien Broner secured his option to take an immediate rematch against Marcos Maidana. What are your thoughts about his chances of winning the rematch and what a win or loss would do for him in the aftermath?

Vivek W. (ESB): A few weeks ago when Broner was humbled by Maidana, I felt at the time that his best move would be to go down to 140lbs and allow himself to slowly develop into the welterweight division. There’s a huge misconception that just because a fighter walks around at a weight, he can fight at that weight. Broner learned the reality behind this flawed train of thought quickly in the first round when he realized he was standing across from a man who could hurt him that he didn’t have as much ability to hurt in return. I expect the rematch to be very interesting, but unlike many, I don’t know that I really see a different outcome in the end. The biggest issues I saw with Broner in the fight were his inability to adapt, his limited head movement, and what I also perceived to be a conditioning issue.

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