By Michael Collins: Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) will reportedly be making a move up in weight in his next fight on November 24th against IBF junior middleweight champion Cornelius Bundrage (32-4, 19 KO’s). There’s no question that this is a risky fight for both Bundrage and Berto. However, this could be a more tougher fight for Berto being that he hasn’t fought and entire year since last September. He’ll be facing a big puncher in Bundrage whole coming off of a long layoff.
Roach: Sergio Martinez isn’t a great boxer; Chavez Jr. is going to knock him out
By Rob Smith: Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) is going to have to make a believer out of WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) and especially his trainer Freddie Roach, who is predicting a knockout victory for the young 26-year-old Chavez Jr. on Saturday.
Bradley targeting Mayweather Jr
By Marcus Richardson: Tim Bradley is now officially out of the running for a mega fight against Manny Pacquiao for December 8th. Bradley had to wait around for months to finally discover that he’s not going to get the fight. Needless to say he’s not happy about being passed over by Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum for the big money rematch. However, Bradley is now hoping to hit the ground running by getting an even better money fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez: Should the boxing world judge slowly?
(Photo Credit: Esther Lin/SHOWTIME) By Joseph Herron: Like many great fighters of yesteryear, the boxing world has witnessed many great champions cultivated with a careful guiding hand.
Most recently, the career of Canelo Alvarez’s famed promoter Oscar De La Hoya was nurtured cautiously by the vigilant eye of Hall of Fame matchmaker Bruce Trampler and Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum.
The Top Rank brass knew what they potentially had and elected to carefully navigate the Golden Boy’s career during the early stages of his rise to super stardom. Many ringside critics and boxing experts criticized the star-making machine, asserting that Oscar was a padded fighter who was purposely avoiding the stiffest competition available.
Although the five division champion currently possesses great disdain for his former handler, De La Hoya has learned very important lessons from the masters at Top Rank and is utilizing the same promotional tactics to develop his WBC Junior Middleweight Champion.
With a true architect of the sport like the great Don Chargin overseeing the 21 year old fighter’s career, Oscar has placed Alvarez in a position to succeed and possibly become the next big star of boxing.
Chavez Jr. vs. Martinez: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
(Photo credit: Sumio Yamada) By Paul Strauss: What’s a silly movie made in 1966, starring Zero Mostel, Phil Silvers and Buster Keaton got to do with this Saturday night’s HBO PPV fight night at the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, NV? Maybe it should be rephrased to …….”Life is what happens when you’re making plans”, or in this case game plans.
In the classic matchups between boxers and punchers, we expect the puncher to attack, hoping to land the big shot. If that doesn’t work, it’s expected he will continue applying extreme pressure, enforcing a threat, hoping to wear down his opponent and then eventually administering the coup de grace (or a series of them if necessary). On the other hand, the boxer is often expected to stay away, jabbing, moving and building up points in hopes of getting a decision. It’s not that unusual to expect he might even get lucky and cut the slugger and get a TKO. It’s pretty simple, right? The fighter who is best at carrying out his fight plan wins the fight.
However, more often than not, funny things happen along the way, and you’ll hear losing fighters in post-fight interviews say things like, “I just couldn’t get off tonight” or “He was faster and stronger than I expected” (Chad Dawson). Maybe the funny thing is “He was in a zone” or “He was really up for this one.” It is an emotional thing that can cause an announcer on nights like that to describe the high level of a fighter’s motivation by saying, “There’s something funny going on here”. (Can you say Buster Douglas) Sometimes new words are even invented as a result of the surprise, such as “rope-a-dope”.
JC Chavez Jr. set the trap…has Maravilla already taken the bait?
By Joseph Herron: Great trainers insist to every fighter who walks through their gym to leave all emotion at the door. The sport of pugilism is not about violence, but built on sportsmanship, discipline, and athleticism.
Most decisions a fighter makes in the ring based on emotion almost always leads to a disappointing result. Adversely, every logical and intellectual judgment made within the hostile confines of the squared circle usually results in a satisfying performance and a victory.
Leading up to this Saturday’s main event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring Sergio Martinez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, the fighter most affectionately known as “Maravilla” has been uncharacteristically carrying around a sack full of emotion based largely on pride, vengeance, and anger.
Will the universally recognized Middleweight Champion decide to leave his emotions at the door of the Thomas & Mack Center this Saturday night? Team Chavez certainly hopes that he doesn’t.
On July 14th, 2012, we witnessed a similar dramatic situation unfold in the ring.
Would Chavez Jr. be popular if he didn’t have a famous father?
By Michael Collins: In looking at how average WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) has looked throughout his boxing career, including his time as the WBC 160 pound champion, one has to wonder whether the 26-year-old Chavez Jr. would be as popular as he is now if his father wasn’t the famous former boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. Chavez Jr. is able to draw huge crowds in stadiums and draw big ratings on HBO despite looking very mediocre.
To be sure, Chavez Jr. is winning fights but a huge part of that seems to be based on his size. He’s winning on being the much heavier fighter compared to the smaller middleweights he’s been facing. That’s part of the criticism of Chavez Jr. He’s like a light heavyweight/cruiserweight sized fighter that is somehow still able to get down to middleweight to compete against smaller guys and get and advantage in doing so.
If you compare Chavez Jr. to his father Chavez Sr. it’s like night and day. Chavez Sr. was had a ton of talent. Everything was so easy for him. He had big time power in both hands, he was light on his feet, and he never had to dehydrate down to fight smaller guys. Chavez Sr. was made for fighting.
Khan possibly interested in Matthysse fight
By Michael Collins: Amir Khan mentioned interim WBC light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (32-2, 30 KO’s) as someone that he might be interested in fighting on December 15th when Khan fights next. Matthysse is among several names that Khan is looking into fight on that date.
Khan said to thatboxingvoice.com “Matthysse had a great win [over Olusegun Ajose]. Maybe he can be one.”
That’s a highly ambitious choice of Khan if he does go with Matthysse, because Khan was knocked out in the 4th round by WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia in his last fight in July and has now lost his last two fights.
Normally when a fighter has lost two fights in a row they look to face an easy mark so that they can get there confidence back and recover from the punishment they took in losing. However, if Khan does with a fight against Matthysse, he would be taking a huge risk for his career.