
To refresh the memory of fight fans:
Leonard, at the time of November of 1988 already a three-weight world champion (welterweight, light-middleweight, middleweight), wanted more gold and to get it he persuaded Lalonde to defend his WBC light-heavyweight title against him at Caesars Palace. But there was a catch (pardon the pun!). Lalonde, a natural 175-pounder, had to drop down to the newly-created super-middleweight weight limit of 168-pounds because – in either a stroke of contractual genius or a stark example of gaining an unfair advantage – Leonard had seen to it that the newly-gilded WBC 168-pound strap would also be on the line.


Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) realizes that he’s been brought in as the sacrificial lamb for Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s)to slaughter this Saturday night on HBO to make Donaire look better than he is and to make boxing fans forget about the sight of a bleeding Donaire being clowned by WBA super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux last April. Darchinyan doesn’t care that he’s being brought in as a kind of a tune-up fight for Donaire instead of a credible opponent, because he plans on embarrassing Donaire by knocking him out in front of the entire nation on HBO at the American Bank Center, in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
Sampson Lewkowicz, promoter of hospitalized Russian heavyweight Magomed “Mago” Abdusalamov, along with promoters Leon Margules and Lou DiBella, and with help and support of others in the industry, are establishing a fund and to donate and raise funds to help alleviate the financial burden the unfortunate brain injury Abdusalamov suffered Saturday night has placed on him and his family.
On Saturday night, Gennady Golovkin defeated Curtis Stevens in front of nearly 5,000 fans at the Theater in Madison Square Garden. Golovkin won by TKO as Stevens’ uncle and trainer Andre Rozier stopped the fight after round eight. The victory takes “Triple G’s” record to 28-0 (25 KOs), while Stevens falls to 25-4 (18 KOs).
Nonito Donaire (31-2, 20 KO’s) plans on leaving no doubts about who the better fighter is this Saturday night in his HBO televised fight against 37-year-old Vic Darchinyan (39-5-1, 28 KO’s) at the American Bank Center, in Corpus Christi, Texas, USA.
James DeGale thinks George Groves (19-0, 15 KO’s) is wasting his time with his efforts to try and unnerve IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) before their fight this month on November 23rd in Manchester, UK. Groves has Froch pretty flustered looking in their meeting on Sky Ringside last Thursday to the point where Groves felt that Froch was on verge of tears. DeGale thinks Froch is too good to lose to Groves .
The significance of Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s) this month may be a lot more than what many people think it is, because Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum believes that it might be all over for the Filipino if he gets beaten by the 27-year-old Rios on November 23rd in their fight at the Cotai Arena, Venetian Resort, Macao, Macao S.A.R., China.
Abel Sanchez, the trainer for WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s), says that Golovkin is the best fight for the 36-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. if he wants to keep getting the kinds of money that he made in his last bout against WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez last September. Sanchez says that Golovkin is willing to drop down in weight from 160 to face Mayweather Jr. at 154 if he’s agreeable to taking the fight.