Sturm defeats Barker

barker674 In a surprise upset, former WBA midleweight champion Felix Sturm (39-3-2, 18 KO’s) came out fast and knocked IBF middleweight champion Darren Barker (26-2, 16 KO’s) out in the 2nd round tonight at the Porsche Arena, in Stuttgart, Germany. Barker was knocked down twice in the 2nd round from clubbing right hands to the head from Sturm.

Barker was able to get back to his feet after the 2nd knockdown, but he was taking some big head shots that led to his corner choosing to have the fight stopped by throwing the towel in.

Barker reportedly dislocated his left hip in the fight. In watching it on replay, the injury may have occurred when he was staggered after the 1st knockdown. Barker almost lost his feet and he put a lot of weight on his left leg.

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Liam Smith re-signs with Frank Warren; puts on devastating display against Thompson

British Light-Middleweight Champion Liam Smith has extended his promotional deal with Frank Warren by signing a new deal.

The Liverpool ace put on a ruthless performance tonight in front of his home fans at the Liverpool Echo Arena to destroy challenger Mark Thompson inside four rounds to successfully make the first defence of his title.

Smith, 25, who is now undefeated in 16 fights with six knockouts, is delighted to continue working with his promoter who he signed with in 2008 and is looking to achieve big things in 2014.

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Krzysztof Wlodarczyk Victorious in Chicago

WBC Cruiserweight Champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk successfully defended his title last night at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. This victory completed his trilogy of fights with Italian former champion Giacobbe Fragomeni and was also his sixth defense of the WBC belt. Wlodarczyk displayed a true veteran’s poise in the ring tonight and put on a flawless performance. Fragomeni was giving up several inches in height and reach but sometimes it felt like a foot. Wlodarczyk’s footwork was also put on display as he rarely if ever let Fragomeni get inside, the only place the challenger could get any solid work in.

The highlight of the fight was most certainly the left hook in round four that knocked Fragomeni to the canvas. It was a strange knockdown on a very short punch. The two came close together and the referee came over and it looked like there was going to be a break and Wlodarczyk just threw a punch. Fragomeni went down to his stomach and was shaking his head as the count picked up and it didn’t look like he was going to make it.

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ShoBox: Knockout Night For “Money Team”: Love, Jack, Bey and Pearson KO Opponents

Boxing superstar Floyd Mayweather’s “Money Team’’ fighters went 4-0 in fights Friday on ShoBox: The New Generation live on SHOWTIME® from Little Creek Casino Resort.

Each won by convincing knockout, much to the delight of Floyd, who watched from ringside.

“I’m proud of my team,’’ he said. “We have a talented group of fighters and they proved that tonight. It was a nice crowd of boxing fans and I enjoyed myself. The city of Shelton, Wash., welcomed us with open arms and the hospitality was great! I’m looking forward putting on more exciting shows like the one Mayweather Promotions put on tonight.’’

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Malingaggi vs. Judah & Trout vs. Lara: Four highly skilled fighters two 50-50 fights

This weekend fight fans will get the whole kit and caboodle when it comes to the variety of fights and the style in which these combatants will fight with.

Showtime has a quadruple header this Saturday with the main focus of this article being the “Battle between Brooklynites featuring Paulie Malignaggi and Zab Judah, also including a very intriguing tilt pairing Erislandy Lara and Austin Trout.

Let’s start with the Brooklyn bred Paulie vs. Zab fight that makes plenty of sense as the headliner even with all the belts that will be on the line in the undercard fights.

Both men are coming off losses at the Barclays Center yet both managed to prove people wrong with their respected performance.

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Rigondeaux vs. Agbeko & Tapia vs. Kirkland: Return of the 122 King and a classic prospect versus vet matchup

This coming weekend boxing fans get quite a treat with a plethora of fights to choose from. This article will focus on the return of the Super Bantamweight King Guillermo Rigondeaux facing off against the hardened pro Joseph Agbeko.

There is a fantastic matchup between rising prospect Glen Tapia, who is vying to become a contender, and always dangerous James Kirkland, which will serve as the co-feature for the HBO broadcast from Atlantic City.

Much has been stated or spewed about Guillermo Rigondeaux’s performance the night he did the unthinkable and beat than Top 5 P4P member Nonito Donaire.

Some of the top writers in the sport rained down on the Cuban’s parade for not having enough excitement or action in his victory. Many including Bob Arum labeled it as horrible bordering on torture to watch the whole fight in one sitting.

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“The Prince and the Pauper” are threatened by loss of identity

209 Some highly regarded boxing experts and pundits are still using the term “amateur” in a derogatory sense towards boxers. They fail to notice that the word has a totally different meaning when applied to boxing and appear to be the amateurs per se.

The amateur sanctioning body AIBA is addressing such issues by renaming Amateur boxing to Olympic boxing and dropping the word “amateur” from all official events. They are changing the rules and are obviously aiming to merge the pro and amateur codes with very loose differentiations between the two. Like all sanctioning organizations, they are riddled by their own moral and political issues. They’d better get their scoring system right instead of renaming and depersonalizing the good old mother of boxing. If I used to be a middleweight amateur (75 kg/165 lbs) back in the day, now I have to change all my old papers to super-middleweight Olympian? Nonsense (forget about it).

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When enough is not enough

pac784 Boxing fans and sports fans in general have recently had some good and bad news bounced off of them. Momentary rekindling of their hopes (for the big fight) grew to be a flicker, only to be doused with negative news.

This is how is went. Fans were gradually pumped up with a good bit of worldwide ballyhoo, hawking Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao’s return to the squared circled against a worthy opponent, who was presented as a dangerous slugger with only one loss on his record. Questions were going to be answered. Either a new star would emerge from the USA, or another would re-emerge brighter than ever.

Colorful tidbits of Information were supplied, making old news new news, and the ordinary extraordinary. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum carefully orchestrated the one ring circus, so fans could understand the potential of the fertile ground he was about to exploit. The octogenarian and the sport of boxing were about to conceive a new fruitful baby in Maucau, China.

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Stevens – Majewski, Mchunu – Wilson Begin NBCSN Fight 2014 With a Bang

The popular nationally televised live boxing series, Fight Night, begins the new year with a bang on Friday, January 24th with an explosive double header from Resorts International Hotel Casino in Atlantic City. Topping the card, which will be telecast on NBC Sports Network Fight Night beginning at 10PM ET, is a 10-round middleweight contest between hard-hitting contender Curtis Stevens, 25-4, 18 KOs, and the iron-jawed Patrick Majewski, 21-2, 13 KOs.

“Showtime” Stevens, Brooklyn, NY, is coming off a gallant challenge of 160-pound champ Gennady Golovkin, and is eager to battle his way back to another title try. Stevens is known for his devastating punching power, and has scored quickies against seasoned Saul Roman, warrior Elvin Ayala, then-undefeated Piotr Wilczewski and many others. This time out, Stevens will learn if his fists can crack the granite in Majewski’s chin.

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Will Agbeko Perform Better Than Donaire Against Rigondeaux?

Nonito Donaire and Joseph Agbeko both became well established names in boxing circles following impressive victories against Vic Darchinyan. More than 6 years ago, when still a relative unknown, Donaire was the first to defeat Darchinyan in a shocking upset knockout. From there Donaire coasted and ultimately earned universal elite status recognition. Many people felt Donaire’s great run would continue for the foreseeable future, and it had until he was outclassed by Guillermo Rigondeaux earlier this year.

Rigondeaux made Donaire look absolutely terrible. In fact Rigondeaux was so dominant that it left fans searching for answers. Was Rigondeaux really that good? Was Donaire perhaps a bit overrated? Is Donaire on the slide? A bad style match up? An off night? Too reliant on his power? Whatever the case may be, Donaire’s style was awful and entirely ineffective against Rigondeaux. Donaire more closely resembled a rank amateur than a solidified P4P superstar. It was simply a masterful performance from the Cuban sensation.

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