Roach sees body-punching as key for Cotto beating Delvin Rodriguez

cotto123Miguel Cotto’s new trainer Freddie Roach is bringing the 32-year-old Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) back to the basics to beat #4 WBA, #9 WBO, #11 WBC, Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KO’s) on October 5th at the Amway Center, in Orlando, Florida, USA. Roach thinks that if only Cotto starts throwing more body shots, it’ll enable him to get past Rodriguez and start winning more of his fights.

The truth is Cotto can probably easily beat Rodriguez even if chooses not to throw one body shot the entire. Rodriguez is not on Cotto’s level, and he’s pretty much just the sacrificial lamb being brought in to end Cotto’s 2-fight losing streak. The worry here is that if Cotto can’t even beat Rodriguez or can’t beat him in a convincing manner, then Cotto and Roach are going to have to face some hard truths about where he can go from here.

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Julio Chavez Jr. vs. Brian Vera this Saturday on HBO from Carson, California

chavez8Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) may have lost his last fight against Sergio Martinez by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision, but he’s back on HBO this Saturday in a fight at 168 against middleweight contender Brian Vera (23-6, 14 KO’s) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.

HBO no doubt is hoping that Chavez Jr. will put in an exciting fight against Vera, but it’s just too bad that they didn’t press for Chavez Jr. to fight an actual super middleweight for this fight instead of a smaller, lighter middleweight.

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Miguel Cotto / Freddie Roach Interview Transcript

cotto34Former three-division world champion and the Pride of Puerto Rico Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs), of Caguas, Puerto Rico, is in his final weeks of training with Hall of Famer Freddie Roach at Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, Calif. Cotto is preparing for his 12-round super welterweight battle with Top-10 contender and two-time world title challenger Delvin Rodriguez (28-6-3, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic. Cotto vs. Rodriguez will take place Saturday, October 5, at the home of the Orlando Magic, Amway Center, in Orlando, Fla. Cotto’s Florida debut will be televised live on HBO World Championship Boxing®, beginning at 9:45 p.m. ET/PT.

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Vasyl Lomanchenko has arrived

Lomachenko’s arrival at the LAX airport in LA a couple of days ago marked his arrival at the professional scene. He is expected make a splash with his debut as he is jumping at the deep end choosing to fight for 10 rounds in his first fight. He will fight Jose Luis Ramirez on Oct.12, 2013 on the under card of Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley.

Ramirez is ranked at featherweight and his ranking is targeted by Vasyl who plans to fight for a championship on his second fight. That is if he wins his debut and he may not need 10 rounds to do it although he needs the experience.

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Caleb Truax scores 4th round KO: Plus Full Recap from Minneapolis

Caleb Truax hurt and finished local rival Cerresso Fort in the fourth round, quieting a talkative Fort in the early goings. With this victory Caleb keeps his position as a contender and will continue to climb the ladder of the middleweight division with the next step coming in January on Espn.

The main event between the now 22-1-1 (14KO) Caleb Truax and Cerresso Fort started slow with both fighters working behind their jabs. Fort made Caleb miss a few time early on making sure Truax knew it as he talked trash for most of the 1st round. In the second round Truax was able to land stiff jabs which opened up power shots to the head and body.

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David Haye “gutted” at having to postpone Tyson Fury fight due to cut eye

If fans didn’t know already, September 28th’s all-British clash between Tyson Fury and David Haye has been postponed due to Haye suffering a cut above his left eye during training.

Haye suffered the injury on Friday evening and will require six stitches. According to reports, the stitches will remain in place for five to seven days and Haye is waiting on further medical advice when it comes to when he will be able to return to action.

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Haye’s injury could be good thing for Tyson Fury

fury2222With the news today about former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye suffering a cut during sparring for his fight next week against Tyson Fury, it means that the fight will be postponed or possibly be even cancelled depending on whether Team Fury still wants to reschedule. However, it might be in Fury’s best interest to forget about facing Haye altogether, because it’s not as if Fury stood a real chance at winning the fight.

The odds were heavily in Haye’s favor to the point where it was hardly worth it for Fury to take the fight. Let’s be honest here; does anyone really think that the 6’9″, fragile-chinned Fury had any actual chance to beat Haye in this fight?

Fury doesn’t have the power, speed or the chin to have any chance at beating a big puncher like Haye. That’s why this injury might actually be the best thing for Fury because it let’s him move on and save face at the same time. I mean, Fury now has a ready-made excuse for why he shouldn’t have to face Haye now, and no one will blame him if he moves on and resumes fighting the likes of Martin Rogan, Kevin Johnson and Vinny Maddalone-types.

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Oscar De La Hoya- love, hate

Oscar De La Hoya, one of my favorite fighters in recent memory. That guy had the whole tool box, but also had the fearlessness to be great. I enjoyed watching Oscar over his career; he took on every tough opponent that was there to fight. Oscar had the total package, for those of us who like a display of skills, Oscar provided that. For those who like fights with the very best in the sport facing off in their known primes, Oscar also gave us that. I can’t think of a fighter he may have ducked, I can’t think of a fight where he didn’t give the fans what they wanted. In my estimation, these are traits of a fighter that anyone could be proud of. But when it comes to Oscar, I never felt the Mexican community totally embraced him, and I’ve always wondered why.

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Dahou beats Dodze to win WBC Youth title

dahou wins wbc youthAlgerian, Nasreddine Dahou claimed the WBC Youth Welterweight championship following a 3rd round stoppage of Ghana’s Frank Dodze on Friday night in Accra.

Fighting in front of a massive crowd at the D.G. Hathiramani Hall of the Accra Sports Stadium, 21 year old Dahou defied the huge home advantage of Dodze, flooring the Ghanaian in round 2 of their scheduled 10-rounder before the corner of the Ghanaian couldn’t take it any longer, throwing in the towel in round 3 much to the delight of Dahou.

Afterwards, the Algerian was decorated with the WBC Youth Welterweight belt by WBC Vice President also African Boxing Union (ABU) President, Houcine Houichi ably assisted by Ghana Boxing Authority (GBA) President, Peter Zwennes.

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