Toney, a veteran of 88 pro outings dating back to the tail end of the 1980s when his marvellous career began, has surprised many by getting himself in good physical shape (at least Toney looks to be in good shape, having dropped something like 50-pounds) and tipping-in at a lowly (for him) 217-pounds. This, and the fact that Toney has been matched with relative novice Matt Legg (who has just 7 pro bouts to his name) in his first fight, must be what has influenced the bookmakers.
Old rival George Groves may be the talk of the town at the minute but James “Chunky” DeGale will go some way to confirming his reputation as a genuine title challenger if he can deal with opponent Dyah Davis in an impressive fashion. The American challenger has lost only three of 26 fights to date, one against Bika, a 10th round stoppage in June, but if the Englishman can do things a tad more convincingly, it would shoot him up the rankings and into the picture for major honours. The 6ft southpaw boxer brings a CV of 16 wins against that one famous reverse to city rival Groves back in 2011 and has halted each of his last two before the end of the fourth round.
David Tua ( 52-4-2) and world ranked Alexander Ustinov (28-1) clash on Saturday 16th November at Mystery Creek, Hamilton, New Zealand.
David Tua whose latter career has been punctuated with weight problems had reportedly blown out to 348 pounds before starting to train for this fight.
Originally the pair were meant to meet on August 31st but a grade one calf tear sustained by Tua in training caused promoters to amend the fight to its current date.
The extra training time has served Tua well. Tua’s appearance in August is remarkably different to the physical constitution he is sporting in the lead up to this weekend’s fight.
Good morning America and good evening to World-Famous Freddie Roach because it is 11 PM in General Santos City in the Philippines. It is very gracious of him to join us – he has a 4:30 AM run with Manny Thursday morning.
We are just 10 days from Macau – Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios in a 12-round welterweight battle which will be headlining a live five-bout pay-per-view card on November 23 beginning at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT. Also joining us on the call is Hall of Fame Promoter Bob Arum who is in Las Vegas.
BOB AUM: I just got up, but listen, I’m in better shape than Freddie because he is ready to go to bed – he has to get up early in the morning. So I am not going to waste any time – I’ll give it back to you.
“I’m in China baby!” exclaimed Rios as he was greeted at the resort’s VIP Entrance. “I worked hard in camp, have a great team, Robert Garcia will be in my corner on the night of my fight. I’m totally prepared and I will win.”
Rios (31-1-1, 22 KOs), of Oxnard, Calif., will train daily at The Venetian Macao’s gym beginning Thursday morning.
In this revealing and intimate video featurette, Edwin Rodriguez, legendary trainer Ronnie Shields, and expert conditioning coach Danny Arnold discuss the Super Middleweight title challenger’s preparation for the highly anticipated championship contest.
While most fight fans and boxing writers are heavily favoring the reigning title holder on November 16th, Edwin’s prolific trainer truly believes that his fighter is unlike anything Ward has ever seen in the ring.
Remaining tickets, priced from $1,275 to $115, and various ticket-hotel packages at Sands China’s Cotai Strip Resorts Macao, are now on sale and can be purchased online at www.venetianmacao.com/manny. U.S.-based fans may also order via a special toll-free number: 1-855-234-4410.
Hannali R. (Reseda, CA): I thought Nonito Donaire proved that he still belongs at the top of the sport with his victory over Darchinyan. How did you rate his performance? And what do you think about Rigondeaux’s bizarre request to stage a rematch in Miami?
Vivek W. (ESB): To be quite frank, I see this purely the opposite of anyone who feels this effort either “places him” or “keeps him” at the top of the sport. What I saw in Donaire was a talent who appeared totally unsure of himself, and very limited – in terms of self confidence. I’m a long time proponent of pure fundamental skills, and although I’d stop short of calling Donaire a “hype job”, when I think of the accolades received that labeled him “Fighter of the Year” and beyond, I’d be the first to say he never really had the level of talent to support such claims. Donaire’s speed and power alone made him a phenom. Beyond those two attributes, he has very little left in the tool kit and we were reminded of this again, last Saturday night.
In boxing six years can be an eternity for the arc of a career and the landscape of different levels of class. Six years and fourteen pounds ago Nonito Donaire was not the pound for pound fighter he is today but a real unknown. His abilities and progress as a fighter had not shown anything indicating what was to come for the sensational fighter has ultimately become. He was heading into his first world title bout all the down at flyweight against an emerging star in Vic Darchinyan.
A very cocky Darchinyan was making his seventh defense of his International Boxing Federation championship and had been on an impressive run knocking out all in his path minus one exception. That exception was Glenn Donaire, the older brother of Nonito, who lost a technical decision after an accidental foul resulted in a broken jaw. Heading into this fight it did not appear that Nonito was going to bring anything into this fight that was going to stop the blossoming Darchinyan from continuing his drive toward the larger stardom of boxing as he was hyped to be capable of.
Although four division world champion Nonito Donaire had tasted defeat for the first time in twelve years when last seen in the ring, the Filipino Flash remained one of boxing’s premier fighters and an HBO attraction going into Saturday night‘s Featherweight grudge match with longtime nemesis Vic Darchinyan.
Since the disappointing loss to two time Olympic gold medal winner and Super Bantamweight Champion Guillermo Rigondeaux on April 13th, 2013, Nonito welcomed his first born son, Jarel Donaire, into this world and reconciled with his father, trainer, and mentor, Nonito Donaire Sr.
With the time away from the squared circle, the 30 year old fighter felt genuinely excited about the sport once again, and wanted to use the return bout with “The Raging Bull” as a gauge in which to measure his current level of boxing proficiency.
While most fight fans and boxing writers may not be able to determine his stature among the elite of boxing with last night’s performance, Nonito’s heart, grit, and physical durability was off the charts inspirational. Despite being a heavy favorite leading into the long awaited rematch, the Armenian born fighter gave Donaire Jr. everything he could handle in the squared circle.