Randall Bailey notches 44th career win

Three-time, two-division world champion Randall “KO King” Bailey (44-8, 37 KOs) returned to the ring last Saturday night in Tampa for his first fight in 13 months, defeating Ecuador welterweight Humberto “Bam Bam” Toledo (41-11-2, 25 KOs) by way of an eighth-round disqualification for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) International belt.

Bailey battered Toledo from the opening bell right up to the bizarre ending, in which Toledo suddenly and surprisingly took a knee in the middle of the ring, only to get back up and get disqualified for pushing referee Frank Santore, Jr. into the ropes.

“I wasn’t really surprised because I saw the way he was responding in the first couple of rounds,” Bailey explained. “I was hitting him hard and often and he was looking to the referee to find a way out of the fight. The ref wasn’t cooperating with him, so in the eighth round, he took a knee, jumped up and pushed the ref.”

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Nathan Cleverly withdraws from Daniel Ammann bout with back injury

cleverly66 Former WBO World Light-Heavyweight Champion Nathan Cleverly has had to withdraw from his comeback fight at the Copper Box Arena this Saturday due to a back injury.

The Welsh star was making his long awaited return to the ring against Australian Daniel Ammann for his first fight in the cruiserweight division with the Vacant Commonwealth title on the line.

Finchley heavyweight Dereck Chisora still headlines the show when he defends his WBO International title against Ondrej Pala with the Vacant WBA International title also on the line, with London super-middleweight star Frank Buglioni challenging for his first title – the Vacant WBO European Championship, plus a cracking showdown between Bradley Skeete and Colin Lynes for the Vacant English Welterweight title.

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VIDEO ALERT: Judah & Malignaggi Discuss Battle For Brooklyn Bragging Rights

“I’m still a force to be reckoned with. Now I’m going to go ahead and just finish the chapter out beautifully.” – Zab Judah

“A loss to Zab in this fight would be two in a row. It would put things into perspective and make me think about things for my future.” – Paulie Malignaggi

Zab Judah and Paulie Malignaggi are multiple division world champions and two of Brooklyn’s finest fighters. On Saturday, Dec. 7 they’ll square off for a different type of title – King of Brooklyn. Don’t miss Judah vs. Malignaggi in a battle for bragging rights at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, which has emerged as one of America’s hottest boxing venues, Saturday, Dec. 7, LIVE on SHOWTIME (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).

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Carl Froch vs George Groves: A Double mugging

At first glance it would appear that in the Froch/Groves fight last Saturday, George Groves was robbed too early in the fight.

On second glance, it wculd also be conceived the other way round.

Groves was clearly winning the fight up to the that point, 10/8 round to Groves in the first round and won most of the rounds after that until the 9th round.

Froch was slow and messy, Groves was sharp and to the point until the 6th round, at that point Groves power seemed to fade, decent combos deflected off the side of Froch’s face like we have seen from everyone who has fought him in the past.

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Manny Pacquiao: “I Am Willing To Fight Floyd. So It Is Up To Him”

pac6838 As expected, the two names that are involuntarily intertwined forever, Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are back where they belong: in people’s heads and forum boards.

Now that Pacquiao disposed on Brandon Rios, winning every single round of their fight according to most, Mayweather Jr. is being mentioned as a possible opponent sometime in 2014. Their match-up, at least in my opinion is unavoidable, and the two stepping inside the ring across each other is just a matter of time.

The question that Pacquiao vs. Rios was supposed to answer is whether Manny is still a viable competitive opponent for Mayweather Jr., but was that question really answered? Was Rios the test? According to Freddie Roach, the fight is still hot.

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Left-Hook Lounge: Pacquiao that “Great” or Rios that “Bad”?, Is Pacquiao a Threat to Mayweather?, Froch “Gift” Victory?

Alain B. (Cebu, Philippines): In the past you said that Pacquiao would give Mayweather a good run for him money. After seeing this performance, would you still say that he is a threat to Mayweather?

Vivek W. (ESB): From day one, I’ve maintained that Pacquiao’s offense would be a great threat to Mayweather, and that his ability to pepper the opponent with power shots would be a threat to anyone in the sport, and yes….that does include Floyd Mayweather. His offense was never a question. The only question about Pacquiao was his ability to handle punches. Now that we know he can, without doubt, he remains a threat to Floyd Mayweather and everyone else. Now…..that being said…..when you peel back the layers of excitement and fanboy-isms attached to this potential showdown and see it for what it is, I don’t think anyone thinking clearly can tell me that Pacquiao is the lock to win that fight.

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And so we go down that road again…talks begin anew for Mayweather Vs. Pacquiao

pac931 I can hear the groans from some fight fans already, those who have suffered enough over the games both sides have played with regards to thus far putting the stumbling blocks on making the fight the whole world (still) wants to see: Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao.

No sooner had Pac-Man put a beat down on a game but outclassed Brandon Rios, did promoter Bob Arum and Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach begin banging the drum (again) for a Mayweather-Pacquiao showdown. Arum told AFP that the fight can finally be made because “where there is a will there is a way.”

Roach went further in hyping the would be fight, stating how he believes his fighter will “overwhelm” Mayweather should the two superstars get it on.

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A Message to Alex Ariza

(Photo by Chris Farina – Top Rank) by David Douglas: The sport of boxing, and the business of boxing, is reserved for men and women who have character, in and out of the ring. Respect and honor is earned, literally, by the blood, sweat, and tears of the boxers in the ring, the expert boxing trainers that help prepare them, by the cut man with their precision in the corner, the diligent managers and even the eager promoters that make or brake careers…and yes, at times, sometimes more than not, this family of pugilistic passion, rears its ugly head of dysfunction. But, because everyone knows the price payed and time invested by those subjected to a not so pleasant passionate exchange, at the end of the day, the deserved due respect is given.

So, in case you haven’t been properly informed, you are not of this family of pugilism…you are not even worthy of being in a boxing gym, or most importantly, in a ring corner. How you managed to hustle your way into a significant boxing gym is on you.

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Dusty Hernandez-Harrison Closes Out 2013 Campaign With Resounding First Round Knockout

Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, only 19 years old and just 20 days after winning the WBC Youth Welterweight World Championship, scored a devastating first round knockout over Marlon Lewis at Dover Downs Hotel and Casino on Friday night. The win was Hernandez-Harrison’s eighth of 2013 and increased the undefeated 2013 GFL.TV Fighter Of The Year and Knockout of the Year nominee’s record to an outstanding 19-0, with 11 wins coming by knockout.

Hernandez-Harrison used body shots sending Lewis (6-3-2, 3KOs), who had never been down in his career, to the canvas three times before the referee stopped the contest.

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Groves: Froch was on his last legs, gassing out

George Groves (19-1, 15 KO’s) confesses that one of the reasons why he wasn’t throwing a lot of shots back at IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (32-2, 23 KO’s) last Saturday night in his 9th round stoppage loss was that he thought that if he let Froch expend a lot of energy that he’d gas out and he’d be able to take advantage of that in the remaining three rounds of the fight.

Unfortunately what happened was the referee Howard John Foster saw Groves not punching and he likely figured he was more hurt than he really was so he stopped the fight.

You’ve got to put a lot of the blame for the defeat on the hands of Groves for making the decision to let Froch use up energy throwing shots.

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