Left-Hook Lounge: How Good is “GGG”?, Is Rios “Afraid” of Pacquiao?, & is Mike Perez a Heavyweight Threat?

perez784 H. Barlow (Dallas, TX): Count me to the list of supporters behind GGG! I think the guy is amazing and I don’t see anyone at 160 or 168 who can stop him. Who do you think would give him the “most” trouble between 154 and 168?

Vivek W. (ESB): Before I get into GGG’s performance, I’d like to start by saying great effort by Curtis Stevens. I thought Stevens performed very well, although he hindered himself by only pressing in spurts. Easy to say from my living room couch, but the reality is that when he did move more and let his hands go, I thought he made the fight very interesting. He couldn’t sustain that effort, and most of that has to be credited to GGG. When you analyze GGG closer, you have to give him great absolute credit. One of the things that gave Curtis Stevens a problem all night was Golovkin’s ability to cut off the ring.

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Who You Calling A Coward?

While having been brought up in a fight game active family, the massive respect I have for the MEN that enter the ring, on any level, comes only natural. To see how easily some fans blast proven fighters to the point of labeling them “cowards” only shows the little ring or in-deft boxing experience they actually have, if any at all. Fighters know THEMSELVES pretty well. It’s way past hypocritical when those that once praised his ‘Blood n’ Guts’ bravado in the past suddenly turn around and refer to him a ‘coward’ when he admits he’s ‘finished’ for the night and decides to fight another day.

A “coward”? It was probably the wisest decision the fighter or his corner made if we consider his health, family and future after his ring days are over. Hundreds fighters we’ve all admired, the kind that sometimes had to be saved from themselves, have passed away in conditions that would make the most hardened hearts cry. Many more barely exist in nursing homes, shelters, asylums… nobody visits nor offers them any help.

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Golovkin Punishes Stevens and Then Stops Him in the 8th Round

Undefeated knockout artist, Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin punished Curtis “Showtime” Stevens over seven rounds before Stevens` head trainer and uncle, Andre Rozier saw enough and stopped the fight before the eight round began, preventing Stevens from receiving anymore punishment. Golovkin retained his World Boxing Association (“WBA”) and International Boxing Organization Middleweight Title for the ninth and sixth time respectively.

This fight took place in an almost sold out Madison Square Garden Theater in New York City, New York and was televised on HBO Boxing After Dark.

Golovkin controlled the action in this competitive bout but one that he outworked and out landed Stevens and demonstrated that he was the vastly superior boxer. He pressed the action throughout the fight and cut off the ring really well as he had Stevens on the ropes on several occasions where he landed a great deal of punishing shots.

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Ricky “Hitman” Hatton hits York!

Boxing legend and former light-welterweight king Ricky Hatton was in my hometown of York, England yesterday, the Manchester warrior a guest of honour at a dinner. Joined by York hero and former European, British and Commonwealth super-middleweight champ Henry Wharton, Hatton mingled with fans, posed for photos, signed autographs and then took to the microphone to speak about his fantastic career.

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Triple G beats down Stevens for his 15th straight kayo win

WBO/IBO Middleweight Champ Gennady “Triple G” Golovkin took his time on the way to his 25th victory. He took some hard shots from hard hitting Curtis “Showtime/Kryptonite” Stevens, impressing the packed house in the Theater at Madison Square Garden. The destroyer from Kazakhstan picked up his 15th straight knockout, passing yet another test to further prove he is one of the elite fighters in the division. It’s came as no surprise that he now wants to fight the lineal champ Sergio Martinez.

Triple G’s only setback came in the post-fight interview when he said Curtis never hurt him. There was a collective groan heard from the crowd, and not just from Stevens’ fans. They weren’t biting on that bit of bragging. The truth is there were some pretty tense moments in the fight, enough to keep fans on the edges of their chairs. Even while hurt, it was obvious to them Stevens remained a threat. He proved he could take a punch, coming back strong after a big Triple G left hook put him on the canvas in the second round. Stevens beat the count, but clearly was hurt and confused. He kept looking to his corner as though he wanted confirmation that he had been decked. Or, maybe he thought they could yell out some sage advice.

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Golovkin stops Stevens; Afolabi decisions Janik; Perez defeats Abdusalamov

In a surprisingly one-sided fight, WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (28-0, 25 KO’s) defeated Curtis Stevens (25-4, 18 KO’s) an 8th round TKO tonight at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York. Stevens took a ton of punishment to the head in the 8th round from Golovkin.

After the round was over, Stevens’ corner chose to have the fight stopped rather than letting him come out for the 9th and get finished off. There was no way that Stevens was going to be able to come back and have a chance to win the fight because he was little more than a short punching bag for Golovkin. Stevens was taking a lot of big shots in the 8th.

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Golovkin willing to go down to 154 or up to 168 for a big fight

It’s kind of a forgone conclusion that WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (27-0, 24 KO’s) will be dominating his over-matched and undersized opponent Curtis Stevens (25-3, 18 KO’s) in their HBO televised fight at Madison Square Garden Theater, in New York, New York, USA. It’s not so much what happens in this fight for Golovin, because he’s going to win by either a knockout or a lopsided decision.

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Barrera-Hamed: The fight that closed the show for “The Prince”

Back in April of 2001, “Prince,” Naseem Hamed, then sporting a perfect 35-0 record, faced “The Baby Faced Assassin,” Marco Antonio Barrera, then holding a 52-3 pro ledger in one of the biggest featherweight fights in recent history. What took place in the ring proved memorable.

The showdown, at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was widely expected to provide another exciting knockout night for “Naz” – instead we saw a would-be great humbled almost to the point of retirement.

Who can forget the way Hamed, by now trained by the great Emanuel Steward, took so long in coming out of his dressing room for battle? A good fifteen or twenty minutes passed before Barrera, who had made his way to the ring with no fuss at all, was joined by the U.K superstar who was attempting to gain similar status in America. On the way to the ring, carried in as he was by a huge, sort of hoop/swing that held him aloft, Hamed was pelted by unimpressed fans, who threw beer over the deeply religious, non-drinking Muslim. The irony was not lost!

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Hearn: I’ve never seen Froch so rattled before

Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn was very surprised at how his fighter IBF/WBA super middleweight champion Carl Froch (31-2, 22 KO’s) seemed to come unglued last Thursday night on the Sky Ringside show with his opponent George Groves (19-0, 15 KO’s). Froch was under constant pressure from Groves the entire program with Groves needling him while the two fighters sat on the same bench in the studio.

Near the end of the shot, Froch looked like he was on the verge of tears from Groves comments. Instead of backing off, Groves went for the kill and started pointing out that Froch looked like he was about to cry. It was bad for Froch because he turned to Hearns to see if he would step in to deflect some of the stuff that Groves was saying, but Hearn just sat silently not saying a word. Froch even attempted to get the Ringside host Johnny Nelson to start asking questions of him, but Nelson seemed to be paralyzed by what was transpiring between Froch and Groves.

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Juan Carlos Gomez stops Buharalija, Alexander Petkovic KOs Chipindi

Juan Carlos Gomez kept his word when returning to the cruiserweight division with a bang on Friday night in Dachau, Germany.

“The Black Panther” seemed to feel very comfortable back at 200 lbs. landing nice combinations at will against an overmatched Adnan Buharalija from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Gomez dropped his opponent with a nice left hook at the end of round one and followed up in the second flooring Buharalija again. Only seconds before the end of round two the referee stepped in to stop the one-sided fight to save Buharalija from further punishment.

“I said it – and I did it! “The Black Panther” is back! This was only the first step on my way back to the world championship. I will take back what’s mine. I will be cruiserweight champion of the world again!”, said Gomez smiling and celebrating with his fans.

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