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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
WBO 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.