Luis Collazo: Ready, willing, and able

Collazobklyn[1] Labor Day, the first Monday in September, has always paid homage to the American worker and served as a tribute to the contribution he or she has made to the strength, opulence, and welfare of the United States.

On a day that celebrates the worker’s fortitude and commitment to success, it seems only fitting that one of the more determined and resilient fighters in boxing gets another opportunity to “punch the clock” on network television.

Former WBA Welterweight Champion Luis Collazo (33-5, 17 KOs) will compete in the main event of the evening on Fox Sports One’s newest boxing series, “Monday Night Fights”, from San Antonio, Texas, against 22 year old prospect Alan Sanchez (12-2-1, 6 KOs) of Fairfax, California.
The perennial contender is excited to be a headliner on the Golden Boy/Leija Battah Promotions fight card.

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Left-Hook Lounge Mailbag: Mayweather/Canelo “All Access” Ep.2, Garcia/Matthysse, & Canelo Weight: Penalty or Remedy?

Kerri I. (Cincinnati, OH): Last week, you pointed out a few things from the first episode of Mayweather/Canelo “ALL ACCESS” that you felt gave insight on how the bout may end. What did you take from this weeks Episode 2?

Vivek W. (ESB): I’ve watched the initial two installments of “All Access” probably 6 or 7 times now. There were certain things that stood out in the first episode. But in this second episode there was one piece that continued to resonate with me well after it finished each time…..almost as a prelude of what’s surely destined to come. In a funny irony, leading into the Mayweather vs Ortiz showdown, I remember stating that of all the things I heard Mayweather say, the words “If you make a mistake, you have to pay” rang loud and clear, more so than any others. On fight night, it was those very words that embodied the final storyline and all subsequent headlines that went to press the next morning all over the globe!

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Pacquiao should be careful against Rios, says Del Rosario

pac Tambong, del Rosario, the former trainer of Rustico Torrecampo, thinks Manny Pacquiao (54-5-2, 38 KO’s) needs to be extra careful in his fight on November 23rd against Brandon Rios (31-1-1, 23 KO’s). Del Rosario’s concerns are that Pacquiao could hurt against Rios in the same way that he was in his 6th round knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez last December.

In that fight Pacquiao disregarded Marquez’s power, and walked into one of his hard right hands in the 6th round that resulted in Pacquiao getting knocked clean out.

Del Rosario said Philboxing “Manny should watch out and not make the mistake he committed against Marquez last December. Maybe Rios is younger and lacks experience, but he definitely possesses the strength and endurance that can connect when his rival gets careless.”

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Pascal, Alvarez and Lemieux on Sept. 28 Stevenson-Cloud card in Montreal

MONTREAL (September 1, 2013) — Last week, GYM confirmed that World Boxing Council (WBC), The Ring Magazine and linear world light heavyweight champion, Adonis “Superman” Stevenson ( 21-1-0 , 18 KOs), will defend his crown for the first time against former International Boxing Federation (IBF) light heavyweight champion Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud (24-1-0, 19 KOs). The titanic collision will take place at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Saturday, September 28 and will be broadcast live worldwide by HBO Sports USA.

GYM recently confirmed the Sept. 28th participation of the former WBC light heavyweight, The Ring Magazine and linear world light heavyweight champion, Jean Pascal (22-2-1, 16 KOs), against George “Honey Boy” Blades (23-4-2, 16 KOs). WBC #2-rated Pascal will be fighting for the first time since defeating Aleksy Kuziemski in December, 2012.

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Mayweather calls Canelo “Chucky” and “Carrot top”

Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) seemed to get confused about the name of his opponent Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) during ALL ACCESS Mayweather vs. Canelo episode 2, saying “I’m fighting Dennis the Menace, I mean, Carrot top, I mean, Chucky.”

Mayweather also spoke on the weak opposition that Canelo has been matched up against by his promoters at Golden Boy in saying “I’ve faced real opponents. It’s not his [Canelo] fault. His job was to beat anyone that they put in front of him. When I think of my career and Canelo’s career, tell me 10 you have beat out of 42 fights; just 10. I have more than 20.”

Mayweather Jr. does have a point in commenting on Canelo’s weak resume. The red-haired Mexican fighter has had essentially the same amount of fights as Mayweather, yet Canelo’s opposition has been much weaker. Canelo’s has faced the likes of Carlos Baldomir, Lovemore N’Dou, Kermit Cintron, Ryan Rhodes, Shane Mosley, Alfonso Gomez, Austin Trout, Matthew Hatton, and a lot of fighters that fans have never even heard of.

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Canelo brags about how his sparring partners can’t keep up

It was kind of sad to see WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) reduced to bragging about dominating unknown sparring partners on SHOWTIME’S ALL ACCESS Mayweather vs. Canelo. Instead of realizing that he’s sparring guys that are not even remotely as good as Maywether, Canelo chose to pat himself on the back by pointing out that some of his sparring partners are unable to handle the punishment they’re taking in training camp with him.

Canelo said “It’s the word. It’s the work. It’s the way that we train. They can’t keep up. They can’t keep up with the work. They get hurt, and that’s why they leave.”

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Unbeaten heavyweight Erkan Teper stops Michael Sprott in 1st-round – Teper may be one to watch

It was a slow, slow weekend for boxing as fans know, yet over in the somewhat unlikely setting of Switzerland, an unbeaten heavyweight scored a win that just might suggest he is worth keeping an eye on. In a fight that flew very much under the radar outside of Switzerland, unbeaten German heavyweight Erkan Teper scored the biggest win of his three-year pro career last night in Basel, as he scored a 1st-round TKO over the seasoned and well travelled Michael Sprott.

31-year-old, 6’5” Teper scored with a right hand and Sprott was unable to recover. Improving to 11-0(7), Teper might have moved himself into position for some bigger fights. 38-year-old Sprott is now 37-21(17) and loser of six of his last seven outings. This could well be the end for the former British and Commonwealth champion.

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Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez: “I would love to fight Miguel Cotto”

Video by Carlos Sacriste – This Labor Day weekend, universally recognized Middleweight Champion Sergio “Maravilla” Martinez was in San Antonio, Texas, participating in the annual “People Magazine en Espanol” festival, representing HBO Latino.
While the Argentine ambassador was visiting with the thousands in attendance, the slick southpaw spoke about how he plans to fulfill his remaining two fight obligation with Home Box Office.

Co-promoter DiBella Entertainment stated publicly that Martinez will not return to the ring until spring of 2014, due to injuries suffered to his hand, shoulder, and knee. After his previous outing in Argentina, in front of almost 50,000 of his adoring fans, the 38 year old fighter stated that he wasn’t happy with the way his body responded throughout the grueling 12 round battle with previously undefeated Briton Martin Murray, and wanted to give his body adequate time to heal.

“I don’t want to fight until my body is 100%,” stated the talented boxer/puncher. “I haven’t trained since my last fight, and won’t fight until I’m all healed.”

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De La Hoya: Canelo won’t be flat-footed against Mayweather

(Hogan Photos) Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions doesn’t think WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0-1, 30 KO’s) will have problems with his conditioning for his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (44-0, 26 KO’s) on September 14th.

De La Hoya says that Canelo has a nutritionist and that he’s worked on his conditioning to avoid running out of gas like he did in his fights against Shane Mosley, Matthew Hatton and most recently against Austin Trout.

De La Hoya also says that Canelo won’t be the flat-footed fighter that we’ve seen throughout his career, and that he’ll be lighter on his feet.

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Mayweather vs. Canelo ALL ACCESS episode 2 tonight on SHOWTIME

(Photo credit: Stephanie Trapp/Showtime) Episode 2 of Mayweathr vs. Canelo ALL ACCESS will be aired on SHOWTIME tonight at 10 pm ET/7 pm PT for boxing fans to tune in check out the two fighters as they go about their paces to get ready for what they hope will be a record-breaking pay-per-view card on September 14th on SHOWTIME from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Episode 1 of Mayweather-Canelo was a disappointment as far as viewing numbers go with it drawing only 225,000 viewers, and those are pretty dreadful numbers.

Tonight’s viewing will need to do better for the Mayweather-Canelo fight to have any chance at all to break the PPV record of 2.4 million buys set by Mayweather vs. Oscar De La Hoya in 2007.

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