Pascal vs. Bute, Alvarez vs. Oosthuizen and Perez vs. Takam is seen Saturday, Jan. 18

froch3243 American fight fans will see the biggest bout in Canadian boxing history when the action-packed tripleheader WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING: JEAN PASCAL VS. LUCIAN BUTE, ELEIDER ALVAREZ VS. THOMAS OOSTHUIZEN AND MIKE PEREZ VS. CARLOS TAKAM is presented SATURDAY, JAN. 18 at 10:15 p.m. (live ET/tape-delayed PT) from the Bell Centre in Montreal, exclusively on HBO. The HBO Sports team will call all the action, presented in HDTV and in Spanish on HBO Latino.

Other HBO playdates: Jan. 19 (8:30 a.m.) and 21 (midnight)

HBO2 playdates: Jan. 19 (4:00 p.m.) and 20 (11:00 p.m.)

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Robert Guerrero still not scheduled to fight after 8 months out of ring

Former three division world champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-2-1, 18 KO’s) has gone quiet after getting a big payday fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. last year in May. Guerrero worked hard to get the fight with Floyd by constantly calling him out in the media for well over a year, and beating Selcuk Aydin and Andre Berto by 12 round decisions. But since the fight with Mayweather, Guerrero has stayed out of the ring and hasn’t scheduled any fights.

Last month, Guerrero mentioned wanting to fight Manny Pacquiao in an interview with the Philippine Star. Guerrero felt that this was a fight that boxing fans would want to see. But how can Guerrero call out fighters like Pacquiao when he’s not staying active. Just hanging out and calling out a big name after a loss and a layoff is kind of a weak way of getting big fight.

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Arum: Pacquiao may renew contract [with Top Rank] past 2015

pac8787 If you were one of the fans who were hoping that Manny Pacquiao would leave Top Rank when his contract expires with them at the end of 2014, you might not be happy to read the news from Top Rank promoter Bob Arum, who is saying that Pacquiao may re-sign with Top Rank to stay with them beyond 2015. This could mean a 2-year contract or possibly even longer.

“I just had a good meeting with Michael [Koncz] yesterday, and I’ll leave it at that,” said Arum via RingTV. “I have a contract with Manny, and he’s saying that we may very well renew the contract past 2015.”

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Rafael: Pacquiao is near the end; Top Rank wants Mikey Garcia as a PPV guy

This past week Bob Arum of Top Rank mentioned that he’s interested in having Mikey Garcia (33-0, 28 KO’s), the current WBO super featherweight champion, facing his No.1 star Manny Pacquiao once Mikey moves up in weight in the future. The fact that Arum is talking about this fight tells you that we can expect that fight to happen very, very soon. Arum doesn’t have another pay-per-view presence in his Top Rank stable, and the 35-year-old Pacquiao is about the end of the line as a PPV guy in a year or two.

We’re already seeing Pacquiao’s PPV numbers diminishing with his last fight against Brandon Rios. Was that just an aberration as a result of Pacquiao fighting in Macao, China, or a signal that fans are growing weary of him?

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Arum wants Bradley-Marquez rematch, if Pacquiao selects Provodnikov for next fight

If Manny Pacquiao chooses not to fight WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley in a rematch on April 12th, and instead face his former sparring partner Ruslan Provodnikov, then Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is interested in putting together a rematch between Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. Presumably the Bradley-Marquez fight would then be the co-feature for Pacquiao’s bout against Provodnikov in April.

It makes a lot of sense to have Marquez on the card, because without Marquez, who Arum wanted to face Pacquiao in a 5th fight, Pacquiao’s next fight might not bring in the huge pay-per-view numbers that he’s been accustomed to getting in the past when matched against Marquez and Miguel Cotto. Arum has struck out when matching Pacquiao against Bradley, Joshua Clottey and Brandon Rios in getting big PPV numbers.

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Come-backing Michael Katsidis wants Adrien Broner showdown

As fight fans may have read, always thrilling Australian warrior Michael Katsidis is set to make a ring return. Reunited with long-time trainer and friend Brendon Smith, Katsidis, the former WBO interim lightweight champion, is scheduled to box in Australia in March (against a TBA, likely to be of the tune-up variety) but the 33-year-old is already looking at a bigger fight.

Katsidis, 28-6(23) has called out Adrien Broner, asking for the match-up on both his Facebook and Twitter accounts. Broner of course, has to make a ring return himself, having been beaten up and defeated by Marcos Maidana a few weeks back. Maybe a fight with the dangerous Katsidis will interest Broner as he attempts to prove his first loss has not ruined him.

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Cotto must pressure Sergio Martinez, says Jones Jr.

While 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-may I 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

The 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

Something 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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