Photos: Artemio Reyes KOs Francisco Reza

209 ORANGE, Calif. (Nov. 24, 2013) – Thompson Boxing Promotions concluded its year with seven sensational fights that thrilled and entertained the capacity crowd at the Doubletree Hotel in Ontario, Calif.

Friday’s main event showcased welterweight prospect Artemio Reyes of Colton, Calif. against Francisco Reza of Torreon, Mex. Reyes continued his knockout spree, this time flattening Reza in the second with vicious hooks to the body. Reyes dropped him the first time with a pinpoint left hook to the body. Reza would rise, but seconds later Reyes crushed him with a right hook to the ribs that put him down for good. This marks the six straight victory for Reyes, five of which have come by stoppage. Only one of those knockout wins went further than the second round.

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Pacquiao fans breathe a sigh of relief as he shuts out Brandon Rios

Looking at the score cards wouldn’t tell you the whole story of Manny’s victory of Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios. If that was all you had to find out what happen Sunday (Saturday night here) at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort in Macau, China, then you would probably think Brandon Rios didn’t put up much of a fight. However, if you asked Manny Pacquiao, he would change your opinion, explaining that Rios was dangerous right up until the final bell.

In fact, Manny told HBO’s Max Kellerman in the post-fight interview that Bam Bam hurt him in the fifth round. Manny appeared very tired, and speaking softly gave an honest response when admitting Rios hurt him. He thought it might have been in the fifth round. Regardless, Manny added that Rios was very strong and tough. Manny said it was a hard fight for him; although, he knew he was winning, so in the twelfth round, he backed off, giving up any possible chance he might have had for a stoppage. He wasn’t about to make the mistake of getting careless again.

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Slick Slips Past Sosa; Beale Bests Bolden in Newark!

Newark, NJ (November 24, 2013) – Popular welterweight Michael “Slick” Anderson had all that he could handle from dynamite-fisted George Sosa in the eight round main event of All Out Promotions and Edmonds Promotions’ “Fighting For Attendance” at Weequahic High School in Newark.

Backed by a large group of supporters, Anderson was clearly the most popular fighter of the evening, but Sosa quickly made it evident that he wanted to silence the hometown favorite’s fans by knocking him out. Anderson, who accommodated Sosa, a late replacement, by agreeing to fight at 152 pounds, stepped on the scale Friday evening at 148 and was visibly smaller on fight night.

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Pacquiao defeats Rios by lopsided decision

To no no great surprise, Manny Pacquiao (56-5-2, 38 KO’s) won his tune-up fight against former WBA lightweight champion Brandon Rios (31-2-1, 23 KO’s) by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision tonight in the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China. Pacquiao won the WBO International welterweight title belt. The judges scored it 120-108, 119-109, 118-110.

It really wasn’t much of a fight unless your idea of a fight is to stick a slow guy with a high guard in the ring with a much faster guy. It was kind of boring because it wasn’t competitive and it reminded me a lot of the mismatch that Bob Arum set up between Pacquiao and Joshua Clottey back in 2010 except that Clottey mostly stood in one place all night while covering up with a high guard to block incoming. In contrast, Rios, using his high guard, followed Pacquiao around like a moving punching back.

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Manfredo KOs Gingras in the 8th Round and Obtains His 40th Victory

zqo8 The former International Boxing Organization and North America Boxing Federation Champion, Peter “The Pride of Providence” Manfredo, Jr. scored an eight round technical knockout victory over Richard Gingras, as referee, Joey Lupino stopped the bout with 1:33 left in the round after Manfredo landed more than ten powerful unanswered shots on Gingras who was stumbling towards the ropes and on the verge of being stopped.

“This was a great victory for me tonight because I earned my 40th win which not a lot of fighters achieve in their pro career, but more importantly, I was able to dedicate this victory to my close friend, light welterweight boxer, Gary Balleto who`s paralyzed from the waist down from an accident he suffered in July,” said Manfredo, Jr.

The fight card event entitled “Pride and Power” was sponsored by Jimmy Burchfield`s Classic Entertainment and Sports at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, Rhode Island.

This was a great all out action packed first four rounds where both orthodox super middleweight pugilists had their momentums and landed strong punches on the other fighter. Manfredo had the slight edge in the first two rounds before Gingras stunned Manfredo in the third round with a right hook that had him in significant trouble. He pinned Manfredo on the ropes and landed several powerful shots, yet Manfredo escaped the round.

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Froch beats Groves in terrible stoppage; Leapai Outpoints Boytsov in Germany

In a classic case of poor refereeing, IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) stopped George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) in the 9th round on Saturday night when the referee jumped in between the action of the two fighters and stopped it in the middle of an exchange at the Phones 4u Arena, Manchester, United Kingdom.

It was an incredibly weird stoppage and pathetic at the same time because the referee did a disservice to all the paying fans by prematurely stopping the fight.

Froch hurt Groves with a big windup right hand to start the ball rolling for the stoppage. Groves held onto Froch briefly to try and clear his head, but then Groves seemed to be already and got separation.

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Analyzing Pacquiao vs Rios

(Photo Credit: Top Rank/Chris Farina) Brandon Rios was chosen for a reason tonight. The pay per view welterweight feature fight in Macau, China is a chance for Manny Pacquiao to rebound his career against an opponent that is designed for him to win and win big. At his best, 2009 to 2010, Pacquiao absolutely demolishes Brandon Rios with relative ease minus the occasional hard connect. This fight has shades of his destruction of Ricky Hatton and his dominant and punishing decision over Antonio Margarito. Margarito of course was trained by Robert Garcia who will once again attempt to lead his fighter over Manny Pacquiao and his trainer Freddie Roach.

When a major pay per view event is announced usually the gut feeling is the correct feeling as most of these pay per view events have not been much of a mystery at announcement. Then the hype machine gets put in motion and the fight begins to get closer in perception as people either become convinced it’s a good fight or they want it to be a good fight and over think the outcome too much. After the dust settles and the outcome has been decided the same people lash out in disappointment and feel robbed by the expensive pay per view price they paid for a fight that they “foresaw” when it was first signed despite getting wrapped into the prefight emotions. When Top Rank Promotions announced that Manny Pacquiao’s next fight would be against the former lightweight titlist Brandon Rios the gut feeling was this fight is a mismatch.

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Carl Froch vs. George Groves Hours Away: Who Wins?

Who wins Froch-Groves?

A few weeks ago, I would’ve confidently picked Carl Froch by early to mid rounds KO. Now, I’m not so sure – but I’m still leaning towards the Cobra.

Groves has done a fantastic job of getting under the champion’s skin; refusing to play the respectful ‘happy to get my opportunity against a great champion’ role and consistently confronting the WBA/IBF belt holder with a series of flaws – or ‘truths’, as Groves likes to call them – that he has found in the Cobra’s résumé.

Froch, for his part, has largely tried to play the cool champion who isn’t fazed by a disrespectful young upstart. He hasn’t carried the act well though, and at times has seemed irritated by Groves’ ability to calmly analyze his words and turn them cleverly against him. It’s fair to say that Groves has got the better of Froch in the pre-fight bickering that is so much a part of the psychological battle in a big fight.

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Hatton: Rios is a dangerous fight for Pacquiao

rios563 Ricky Hatton thinks that Manny Pacquiao could (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) could be in for a bit of a problem tonight against Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) if he’s unable to get Rios out of the ring by the 6th round in their fight in Macao, China.

Hatton thinks Rios’ power and his nonstop pressure could give Pacquiao major problems if he’s not able to get Rios out of there quickly to avoid having to take his massive shots round after round.

This is a fight that Hatton believes that Pacquiao will definitely win with his power and hand speed. Hatton expects Rios to walk into one of Pacquiao’s big shots that will end matters early on. Where Pacquiao could have problems though is if he Rios is able to take his power the way that Antonio Margarito did three years ago.

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Pacquiao out to mirror a nation ready to fight back

pac31 Manny Pacquiao is fighting to overcome more than just his sensational knockout loss last year, with the hopes of a nation devastated by Typhoon Haiyan pinned firmly on his shoulders this weekend.

There’s no getting away how big a star Pacquiao is in his homeland of the Philippines, a country which has been left reeling following the natural disaster which has claimed the lives of over 5000 people and displaced as many as 4 million.

In the early hours of Sunday morning on BoxNation the face of the Philippines steps back into the ring for the first time since his emphatic knockout loss to the Mexican counter-puncher Juan Manuel Marquez last December, when he takes on Brandon Rios in the gambling capital of the world – Macau.

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