Dereck Chisora-Denis Boytsov for European crown on September 21st – who wins?

chisora6 Dereck Chisora will be back in action again next month, just over two months after his stoppage win over the previously unbeaten Malik Scott, and “Del Boy” will look to take away another top level fighter’s perfect record on September 21st as he is set to face Russia’s Denis Boytsov in a bout that will contest the European heavyweight belt.

According to the web site of UK trade paper Boxing News, Chisora-Boytsov will take place on Frank Warren’s show at the Copperbox Arena in London.

“That’s a good show,” Warren said to BN. “[Chisora’s] got to get the European and hopefully he can get himself into a good position. I watched Pulev and Thompson at the weekend. We certainly wouldn’t worry about fighting either of those.”

continue

Double Olympic Champion Vasyl Lomachenko Turns Pro at 25 years of age

Vasyl Lomachenko will fight Jonathan Oquendo in a 10 round featherweight bout on the undercard of Juan Manuel Marquez and Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas on October 12. If you are wondering why a newcomer is rushed into a 10 round fight on his debut instead of a four or a six rounder, it’s because of his outstanding amateur pedigree and unique skill set.

Lomachenko is a double Olympic champion, a double World champion and he boasts a record of 396-1 in the amateur ranks. He brings over 1000 quality rounds of experience and this is something money can’t buy. His style is a complete package and you have to see him in action to appreciate a power plant of skill and athleticism. To make things even bleaker for his opponents, he is also a southpaw with power in both hands.

continue

Cecilia Braekhus Interview: “It will be a dramatic and exciting night of boxing”

Pound-for-pound number one Cecilia Braekhus (22-0, 6 KOs) will defend her WBA, WBC and WBO Female Welterweight Titles against WBO Female Light Middleweight Champion Oxandia Castillo (12-0-2, 9 KOs) at the Nordic Fight Night in Frederikshavn on September 7. Here is the latest from the First Lady prior to the clash of champions.

Q: It´s not long until the fight, how has the training been going?

CB: “Everything is going fine. We are training twice a day at the Max-Schmeling-Gym, normal training in the morning and then sparring in the afternoon. That´s very exhausting but just what I need to be in top shape. I need to be at my very best to beat an opponent like Oxandia.”

continue

Left-Hook Lounge: Mayweather/Canelo “ALL ACCESS”, Mares/Gonzalez, Guerrero/Thurman, & Russell Jr.

Martin N. (Philadelphia, PA): You have been consistent from day one about Canelo’s better-than-average chances against Floyd Mayweather in September. Did you see anything on All-Access to sway your opinion one way or the other?

Vivek W. (ESB): I wouldn’t say that I saw anything in the “All Access” episode one to really give me a reason to adjust my position. What I will say is that I saw a few things that did in fact solidify the position I’ve held from day one, though. One of the most intriguing highlights of this episode was when Floyd openly acknowledged something I’ve talked about for quite some time. That was the fact that to a degree, Canelo has been an “understudy” of him, who actually employs many of his same ring strategies, and will inevitably attempt to use them on him. Years ago, I said the fighter I see having a real shot at Floyd will be a guy like Floyd. Hard to hit, a thinking fighter, a strategy swapper (mid-fight when necessary), and a tough S.O.B. who can take a lickin’ and keep tickin’!

continue

Hometown Throwdown

by Earl Orr VNewz: It was an exciting night of fights at the Las Vegas Sports Center last night, as Pochiro Promotions put together their first card, entitled “Hometown Throwdown”. The event was one of what is expected to be many more in the near future. It featured six bouts, with referees Tony Weeks and Robert Byrd alternating as the third men in the ring.

In the first fight, Bronson Stultz (Henderson, NV) scored the sole knockout of the evening over Eric Goodall, who put up a good fight until the accumulation of body punches thrown by Stultz eventually weakened and diminished him in the third round.

Next up, Cameron Krael (3-4-2, 0 KO) of Las Vegas, NV won a unanimous decision over Wilber Lopez in a four-round bout. Krael put up a good showing by walking Lopez down and pinning him against the ropes multiple times. He was also able to avoid many of Lopez’s power punches.

continue

Jhonny goes tap tap tap, then bam

jhonny Jhonny Gonzalez was supposed to be on the way down. After all, hadn’t he lost an 8th round TD to Daniel Ponce DeLeon, a fighter that Mares stopped? The odds makers thought so, and so did most boxing analysts; although, most qualified their opinions by saying he had a puncher’s chance. They would go on to describe how well Mares successfully dealt with different styles to remain undefeated. Abner was more versatile than Jhonny. Well, it took Jhonny less than a round to fool Mares and prove all the detractors wrong.

The fight started with a relative calm. Jhonny moved in a circle around his shorter foe. Abner appeared to be studying, probing, looking for openings. The trio of Showtime announcers: Mauro Renallo, Al Bernstein and Paulie Malagnaggi discussed Jhonny’s remarks made in the pre-fight meeting. Apparently Jhonny remarked tat he needed to get his jab working against Mares, and that would be his key to victory. Saturday night at the Stubhub Center in Carson, CA, it didn’t look like Jhonny was following his own advice. The announcers pointed that out, explaining that Jhonny was just tapping out with his jab. There was no power or snap to it. It was not a jab that would keep Abner away.

continue

Braehmer and Abraham take decision wins in Schwerin, Pulev new IBF mandatory!

Juergen Braehmer took another step towards another crack at a world title. On Saturday, the 34-year-old beat Stefano Abatangelo by unanimous decision (119:108, 119:108 and 115:111) in front of a sold-out home crowd at the Sport- und Kongresshalle Schwerin, Germany. “It was difficult to showcase my skills against Abatangelo as he has an awkward style,” said the light heavyweight contender who defended his European as well as his WBO International Title. “Still it was good for me to get some more rounds under my belt which will definitely help me in my next fight.” Braehmer is the mandatory to WBO Champion Sergey Kovalev.

Arthur Abraham had also to work hard to get his hands raised in Schwerin. Before a crowd of 5,600 spectators inside the arena, Abraham got the decision against durable Willbeforce Shihepo to win the WBO Intercontinental Title. The scores read 116:112, 116:113 and 117:111 in favor of the man from Berlin, Germany. This bout also marked the 10-year-anniversary of the former middleweight and super-middleweight champion’s professional career.

continue

Photos: Jhonny Gonzalez Shocks Abner Mares, Santa Cruz Wins

In a leading candidate for Upset of the Year – and possible Knockout of the Year – former two-division world champion and knockout artist Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) registered a stunning 2:55, first-round knockout over previously unbeaten Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) Saturday on SHOWTIME® before 7,686 loud and enthusiastic fans at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

Gonzalez’s shocking upset victory in the WBC featherweight title fight sets up a possible showdown with Leo Santa Cruz (25-0-1, 15 KO’s), who scored two knockdowns en route to an impressive third-round knockout over defending WBC super bantamweight champion Victor Terrazas (37-3-1, 21 KO’s) in the SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING co-feature.

continue

Noah Zuhdi Blasts Vajda in Two, Retains Title

In front of a packed house last night at the Lucky Star Casino in Oklahoma, WBU Lightweight Champion Noah Zuhdi did not disappoint the partisan crowd as he knocked out clever counter-puncher Gyula Vajda in the second round to defend his championship.

Zuhdi (17-1, 13 KOs) came out strong and Vajda (12-4, 8 KOs) came out stubborn in the first stanza. In a lightening quick exchange in the center of the ring, Zuhdi followed up a jab with a thudding straight right, right as Vajda was trying to counter. The flash knockdown seem to only wake the Hungarian up, however. Vajda began fighting at a heightened sense and temporarily stunned Zuhdi with a counter left that the champion described as “the second hardest I’ve ever been hit with.”

continue

Gonzalez stops Mares in 1st round!!! Santa Cruz obliterates Terrazas

(Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda) WBC featherweight champion Abner Mares (26-1-1, 14 KO’s) was stopped in the 1st round tonight by the hard hitting challenger Jhonny Gonzalez (55-8, 47 KO’s) at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. Gonzalez knocked Mares down twice with left hands near the end of the 1st round to get the stoppage. Referee Jack Reiss called a halt to the fight after the second knockdown, even though Mares was getting back up, and probably would have been able to make it out of the round. That’s the controversial part of it. Mares only had to stay on his feet for a short amount of time and he would have made it to the end of the round.

You can make an argument that Mares made two big mistakes in this fight that led to his defeat. His first mistake was to suddenly go after Gonzalez with 30 seconds left in the round. Mares showed no respect for Gonzalez’ power when he went after him, and that resulted in Marez getting nailed by a left hook that put him down on the canvas.

continue