Gennady Golovkin vs. Matthew Macklin – Preview

738On the 29th of June, Matthew Macklin will be handed his third attempt at the professional fighter’s ultimate prize in challenging WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin. Although there are considerably more avenues to take than days gone by, even consideration for a shot at a World Title lets you know you’re on the right path.

Macklin has the experience of the big occasion, few come bigger than the opportunity for an ‘Irishman’ to face lb for lb great Sergio Martinez on St Patricks day at Madison Square Garden.

A fight Macklin lost, but maintained stock after a good showing even forcing the champion to touch down in the 8th round. Preceding the Martinez fight, Macklin dropped a hugely controversial decision to hometown champion Felix Sturm. A faded Sturm, a solid champion in his own right seemed a little gun shy and overwhelmed by the pace set by Macklin. Although he came on strong late on, I scored the fight in Macklin’s favour as did the majority of media members at ringside. Macklin’ had every right to feel aggrieved and who knows? Maybe third time will be a ‘charm’ for the ‘Irishman’.

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Golovkin-Macklin: A Great Fight for Boxing

739This Saturday night Gennady Golovkin will defend his WBA and IBO middleweight titles against his toughest opponent to date when he faces Matthew Macklin at the MGM Grand, Mashantucket.

The Kazakhstan native, known simply as ‘GGG’, likes to keep his fights as short as his nickname. He has gained a reputation as one of the most devastating punchers of recent times, boasting a KO ratio of 88.46%. The 31 year old champion has racked up 26 consecutive wins however he has never ventured past the 10th round.

Macklin is the first top 20 ranked middleweight to challenge ‘GGG’ and as such poses his stiffest test to date. ‘Mack the Knife’ is no stranger to big fights having shared a ring with both Felix Sturm and Sergio Martinez.

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. Has The Most Entertaining Spending Habit In Sports

floyd5654Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his lavish lifestyle never cease to impress people all over the world. Of course mostly known for his absolutely unparalleled boxing abilities and his media targeted cocky entertaining attitude, Floyd is also well known for his absolute love for money and spending it mercilessly on various luxuries and forms of front page entertainment.

EliteDaily.com has an excellent picture dense article talking about Floyd’s purchasing power and the way he likes to spend his dollars. Anything from private jets to considering hiring someone to keep track of his dozens of Louis Vuitton bags, Mayweather Jr. keeps the readers wanting to hear more.

Did you know that despite the fact that Floyd doesn’t partake in alcoholic beverages, he likes to tuck in and watch some TV with a few Cristal bottles sitting next to him. Crazy? How about the fact that Burberry sends an entire team to Floyd’s house so that he could shop for the limited edition collection in the convenience of his own home?

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Ricky Burns vs. Raymundo Beltran a done deal for September 7th in Glasgow, Scotland

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Raymundo Beltran (28-6, 17 KO’s) will be WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns’ next challenger and the two will be fighting on September 7th at the Scottish Exhibition Centre, in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Beltran is promoted by Top Rank, and if Burns beats him, Burns could then be facing undefeated Top Rank promoted lightweight Terrence Crawford in 2014, if Burns agrees to take the fight.

That’s a big IF because Burns had chances to fight Adrien Broner two occasions and he chose not to. Crawford is at least as dangerous as Broner, if not more, and the way that Burns looked in his last fight against Jose Gonzalez last month, it would be a really tough fight for Burns against Crawford.

Beltran’s a good fighter, but he’s also been beat twice in the last couple of years in defeats against Luis Ramos Jr. and Sharif Bogere. Let’s not get it twisted about what this fight is all about. Burn’s promoter is clearly putting him in with a guy that they feel he can beat and won’t be much of a threat to beat him.

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Willie Nelson: The Fighter

436Rising light middleweight contender, Willie “The Great” Nelson (20-1-1, 12KOs) is a born fighter who knows how to battle adversity and come back stronger. As a young child, he survived on the tough streets of East Cleveland, Ohio without any parents, who were dealing with substance abuse issues, living with one family member after another, until his older sister, Raviele took custody of him, when she was only 17 years old. Even after Raviele became Nelson`s guardian, life was still extremely difficult, as they struggle daily to make ends meet.

“I owe a great deal of my success in life to Raviele who sacrificed her life, so that she could take care of me and my younger siblings and that is why every time I step into the ring, I’m not only boxing for myself but I’m also fighting for my four children and my siblings,” said Nelson. “God only know where I would be in life if Raviele didn’t take custody of me, but I know I wouldn’t be where I’m, if it was not for her.”

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Marcos Maidana vs. Adrien Broner Would Be A Real Test For Both

When I was watching the Broner vs. Malignaggi bout on Saturday night, I noticed a few things which force me to expect Broner to hit the canvas against fighters with power in both hands. I noticed that Paulie was landing a lot more shots than most had expected him to, and if only his punches had more weight behind it, Broner would have a different time in the ring.

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Haye vs. Fury: The Curse of the Purse

haye54David Haye took to twitter this afternoon to quash the exciting rumour that a fight between himself and undefeated heavyweight Tyson Fury was close to being finalised.

“I did everything in my power to get Fury in the ring. Even gifting him a 50/50 split. But big chump won’t sign contract 4 the fans #AllTalk”, was the message the former WBA heavyweight champion delivered to his twitter follower population of almost 1 million fans.

“Can’t believe team haye outed me on twitter not very professional of you guys now where do I go from hear! I can’t blah any more”, replied Fury.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Broner/Malignaggi, Khan, Maidana, Rios & More!

broner0009Jamison G. (Hollywood, FL): I thought Adrien Broner’s performance was pretty average. I don’t see the hype in him at all. How did you rate his performance overall last Saturday night?

Vivek W. (ESB): Seems fight fans around the globe are pretty quick to swing on that proverbial ‘pendulum’ for a fighter, be it for the positive or the negative. When a fighter knocks someone out, that person instantly becomes the “new” KO artist. When a fighter is knocked out, that person instantly becomes an “exposed” fighter. Many compare Broner to Mayweather. Others say Mayweather’s the last person in the world he needs to be compared to, as he simply isn’t that good in their mind. Those two widely contrasting perspectives would symbolize precisely why I don’t like to get caught up in the hype, as the truth is always somewhere in between…..not to the extremes that supporters, as well as haters pursue.

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Commey sparring with Joshua Clottey ahead of Commonwealth eliminator

Commey spars with ClotteyWorld title hopeful, Richard Commey is in high spirits and predicting nothing but victory in his scheduled July 13 fight in the UK against Paul Truscott in a final eliminator for the Commonwealth Lightweight title.

Hitherto UK based Commey has been training in Ghana with his coach, Carl Lokko and has sparred with some of this country’s best boxers including former IBF Welterweight champion, Joshua Clottey and Obodai Sai, a former Commonwealth Lightweight champion.

Now he says he is ready to emulate his illustrious compatriots by going for the ultimate beginning with the date against Truscott at the York Hall, Bethnal Green in London, the very venue of two previous victories in his 15-0, 15 KOs resume.

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