Cotto must pressure Sergio Martinez, says Jones Jr.

cotto 2321While the proposed June 7th fight between Miguel Cotto (38-4, 31 KO’s) and WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (51-2-2, 28 KO’s) still hasn’t been negotiated, Roy Jones Jr. chimed in on his thoughts about the fight anyway. He sees the fight coming down to a couple of things.

If Sergio boxes Cotto, then his chances of success increase dramatically. But if Cotto is able to turn the fight into an inside war like he did in his last fight against fringe junior middleweight contender Delvin Rodriguez then that gives Cotto an excellent chance of beating the soon to be 39-year-old Sergio.

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Mayweather/Pacquiao Mega Fight Updates: It’s all Lies and Hype!

pac-mayI have been receiving a lot of messages and reading a lot of posts about Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao finally setting a day to fight in the fall of 2014. The primary source for much of the Mayweather vs Pacquiao hype is the Youtube Boxing channel, 78Sports TV. The Youtube channel garnered reliability based on it’s announcement of Floyd fighting Guerrero and Canelo before these matches became official in 2013. Well, just this week, both Floyd and Pacquiao’s camp have issued statements saying these are all lies. Who are we to believe?

For this fight to happen, a couple of different things need to be played out first. Above everything else, the big ego’s of both camps need to be checked. This has been a problem in the past as both camps demand more money and/or control in dictating contracts. Both are great, I get that. But let’s recall when Floyd offered Manny Pacquiao $40 million for a fight and Pacquiao demanded a 50/50 split. When one comes with an offer, it simply is not good enough because it is coming from the opponent. Both camps like to call the shots and so they refuse to take the back seat to each other. I suggest these two drive a tandem bike or figure a way to be equals for the sake of the fight. Perfect worlds don’t exist though…

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ESPN2 Friday Night Fights Full Recap: Truax/Duran battle to a disputed draw and a controversial knockout in the main event

truax5667The night started out at the Target Center from chilly Minneapolis with a rematch from a spirited first fight featuring Milwaukee prospect Adrian Martinez fighting Duluth native Trevor Marmon.

The 1st round was evenly fought until the fighters exchanged left hooks with Adrian getting the better of it forcing Marmon to hold avoiding a knockdown.

Beginning of the 2nd round Marmon got to the body but Martinez’s uppercuts, body shots, and several huge right hands seem to bother Trevor. Martinez landed another flush left hook that closed the show with a knockout at the 1:18 mark in the 3rd round. 

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ESPN2 FNF Ends With After the Bell KAYO

mendez676Something unusual occurred in the season premier of ESPN’s Friday Night Fights. It occurred in the main event at the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. It was almost musical. The end came with a thud. Watch the replay, and see if you can keep time with the two punches and bells that ended round two of the fight. First, watch undefeated Rances Barthelemy;s land a hard right to the head of 130 pound champ Argenis Mendez.

Then he ends things with a left hook land as the bell clangs a second time. The fight is over. Oops! Referee Pete Podgorski was out of position and failed to separate the fighters at the end of the round. Can you say appeal? The winner of course didn’t know what announcer Bernardo Osuna was talking about when Osuna asked in the post-fight interview about the infractions? Naturally, Rances was excited with his big win and capturing of the IBF super featherweight world title.

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Kovalev expected back on March 15th

kovalev57WBO light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (23-0-1, 21 KO’s) is expected back in the ring on March 15th in a fight in Moscow, Russia, according to RingTV. Kovalev’s manager Egis Klimas says they want WBC light heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson for that date, but it’s not looking like he’s going to accept that fight.

Kovalev wants to fight Stevenson, Bernard Hopkins, and Beibut Shumenov in order to unify all of the 175 lb. titles. Unfortunately, Kovalev’s chances of getting any of those guys in the ring in 2014 are remote at best. Hopkins is a Showtime fighter, whereas Kovalev fights on HBO.

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Floyd Mayweather “Fighter of the Year”?

floyd676“Experts” are in unison declaring the pound-for-pound “number one” as the best. Cheers! Their consensus on the matter mirrors a lot of odd things in contemporary boxing. And it sends the people a serious message.

Awards aren’t supposed to be blind and politicized. But where have the cerebrums gone for some of those who have the voice to be “counted” in boxing? It has been said that the main purpose of giving an award is to honor a particular person/s extraordinarily good at something in order to encourage him to continue being good at the same worthy level of recognition, and to stand as an example to others.

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Adrien Broner making a mistake in staying at 147

broner6789On New Years day former WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner (27-1, 22 KO’s) surprised many fans by saying that he’ll win another world title belt at 147. This is kind of a shock, because Broner looked so bad in losing to Marcos Maidana last month by a 12 round unanimous decision on Showtime. So bad was the loss that many fans recommended that Broner move down in weight.

Even Broner’s role model Floyd Mayweather Jr. advised him to move down to 140 at least to try his hands at that weight. But judging by Broner’s comments it doesn’t look like he’s going to follow Mayweather’s advice of the advice of his many fans and critics.

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Mikey Garcia a future opponent for Pacquiao, says Arum

garcia564 (2)While WBO super featherweight champion Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s) still hasn’t even proven that he’s the best fighter in the 130 lb. division, that’s not keeping his promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank planning on matching the skinny Mikey up against his cash cow fighter Manny Pacquiao in the near future. Arum hasn’t given a date for when he wants to match the 26-year-old Mikey with Pacquiao, but don’t be surprised if it happens really soon if Pacquiao decides to leave Top Rank. His contract is up with the company this year, and anything is possible if this is his final year with them.

“I wouldn’t be surprised as he [Mikey Garcia] gets older to move up to 140 and possibly fight Manny Pacquiao,” Arum said.

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Huck vs. Arslan II: Will the judges get it right this time?

huck43On January 25th, WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck (36-2-1, 25 KO’s) will be facing Firat Arslan (33-6-2, 21 KO’s) in a rematch at the Hanns-Martin Schleyer Halle, in Stuttgart, Germany. Arslan gave Huck a beating less than 2 years ago in losing a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight that most people felt that Arslan had done enough to deserve a victory.

The three judges that scored the fight saw it different, giving Huck the win by the scores of 115-113, 115-113, 117-111. Huck was pummeled the entire fight, and it’s difficult to figure out what the judges saw in him to give him the victory. Huck just looked like a confused and beaten fighter throughout the fight.

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Bradley and Provodnikov still front runners for Pacquiao’s April fight, says Arum

bradley777Manny Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t changed his mind about his desire to have Pacquiao fight either Tim Bradley or Ruslan Provodnikov in his next fight on April 12th. The only change that Arum has made is he’s stopped mentioning 40-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez as one of three candidates for the fight because of Marquez repeatedly saying that he doesn’t have any interest in ever facing Pacquiao again after having fought him 4 times.

“The two guys that are the front runners are Tim Bradley and Ruslan Provodnikov,” Arum said.

Arum’s not concerned about Pacquiao drawing low numbers in facing these guys, because he sees the disappointing numbers from Pacquiao’s last fight against Brandon Rios being because the fight took place in Macao, China and not in the U.S.

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