Kessler vs. Magee tomorrow night for WBA 168 lb title

Kessler vs. Magee tomorrow night for WBA 168 lb title (Photo credit: Sauerland Events) By Michael Collins: Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KO’s) and Brian Magee (36-4-1, 25 KO’s) weighed in earlier today for their fight on Saturday with Kessler coming in at 167.8 pounds and Magee at 168 for their bout at the BOXEN, Herning, Denmark. Kessler, 33, is a huge favorite in this fight, as he has the bigger power, better hand speed, bigger size and the much bigger talent than Magee. Kessler also four years younger than the 37-year-old Magee, and that’s something that will help as well.

Magee has been fighting well lately and has won his last two fights, but he’s traditionally crumbled when stepping it up against quality opposition in losses to Lucian Bute, Carl Froch, Robin Reid and Vitaliy Tsypko. He’s got good power but not the kind of power that will get him past Kessler unless Kessler has really gone downhill since his last fight.

Kessler was knocked down in the 1st round in his last fight by Allan Green last May. Kessler came back to stop Green in the 4th round with a tremendous left hook, but it does cause you to wonder what would have happened to Kessler had he fought someone that was throwing a lot of punches at him. Green only threw a few punches in the entire fight, and yet he had Kessler hurt and on the deck. If Magee can land a decent amount of shots on Kessler’s chin we could see an upset tomorrow night.

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Maloney Statement on Fury vs Price

An offer was made to Tyson Fury guaranteeing him a £650,000 purse to challenge David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.

Tyson’s promoter Mick Hennessy turned down the offer, describing it as a “joke” and added that David would have to “step up to the plate on our terms”.

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Pacquiao expecting Marquez to be a stationary

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao has a perfect explanation for why he’s not looked good since his win over Miguel Cotto in 2009. He says it’s because all of his opponents have been literally running from him in the ring instead of standing stationary and slugging it out in an old fashioned style of fighting that Pacquiao favors.

Pacquiao thinks that his opponent for Saturday night Juan Manuel Marquez will look to slug it out the entire time so that they can giving boxing fans a show that will please them, and at the same time finally prove who the better fighter is between them.

Pacquiao said to Sky Sports News “It just happens that in the last three fights I’ve fought people who run around, who won’t fight me toe-to-toe. I expect more action…I’m expecting him [Marquez] to try to prove something and fight toe-to-toe with me.”

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Pacquiao with four pound weight advantage over Marquez

By Steve Mabbott: Juan Manuel Marquez had looked huge during his training video on the HBO Pacquiao-Marquez 24/7 episodes, but during today’s weigh-in for Saturday’s Las Vegas based fight, Marquez weighed in at only 143 lbs, a whole four pounds lighter than the 147 pound Manny Pacquiao.

This is interesting because unless Marquez rehydrates to a much higher weight, we’re likely to see Pacquiao as the bigger guy tomorrow night. It sort of makes a lot of sense because Marquez walks around at 145 lbs in between fights, and he has to eat like crazy just to stay up in weight. He’s a light welterweight, and Pacquiao is now a natural welterweight.

The last time Pacquiao fought Marquez in November of last year, Pacquiao had a one pound advantage in weight at 143 to 142 for Marquez. In their 2008 fight, Marquez had a one pound weight advantage at 130 to 129 for Pacquiao. And in their first fight in 2004, both fighters came in at 125 lbs.

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Mayweather to fight twice in 2013; Robert Guerrero a possibility for first fight

By Bill Phanco: Leonard Ellerbe, one of Floyd Mayweather Jr’s advisers, has reported that Mayweather will be fighting on May 4th [Mexican holiday Cinco de Mayo] and September 14th in 2013. Mayweather has two dates but no opponents to fill those dates. The chances of a Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao fight for the first date on May 4th isn’t going to happen.

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Official weights: Pacquiao 147, Marquez 143

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) made weight today for his bout tomorrow night against Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Surprisingly, Pacquiao weighed in 4 more than Marquez. Pacquiao weighed in at 147 pounds, while Marquez weighed 143 lbs. Marquez looked bigger than Pacquiao despite being four pounds lighter, but much of Marquez’s weight was in his upper body.

Pacquiao is the favorite in this fight with the oddsmakers, you have to ignore them and focus on who has been looking like the better fighter of late. That would have to be Marquez. He arguably beat Pacquiao last year in November, and then followed it up with a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision win over a very defensive minded Serhiy Fedchenko last April.

Marquez may not have looked as good he normally does, but he was facing someone that was running away each time he would even hint at throwing a punch in Fedchenko. Pacquiao looked poor against Marquez and then looked even worse in his loss last June to Tim Bradley. Boxing fans as whole saw Pacquiao as the winner of that fight, but he still looked bad in that fight, and nothing like what he once did in his prime.

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Matthysse vs. Lundy in the works for January 19th in Los Angeles, CA

By Steve Mabbott: A fight between WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (32-2, 30 KO’s) and the struggling lightweight contender Hank Lundy (22-2-1, 11 KO’s) is being negotiated for January 19th, according to RingTV. The Matthysse-Lundy fight will be on the Devon Alexander vs. Kell Brook card at the Nokia Theater, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

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Harold Lederman: “Expect Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez to go all out in part four”

By Joseph Herron – On the eve of the monumental fourth meeting between two future Hall of Fame fighters, Manny Pacquaio and Juan Manuel Marquez, HBO’s unofficial ringside scorer Harold Lederman chimed in on what fight fans should expect to see when these ring legends collide at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“One variable that’s worth noting when you look at the fourth installment of the Pacquiao/Marquez saga is that two of the three ringside judges will be from outside of Nevada,” observes Harold Lederman. “I screamed and yelled that Juan Manuel Marquez is entitled to have all three judges flown in from other locations, but they’re using Adalaide Byrd as the lone Nevada state judge.”

“But one of the judges will be from Great Britain, and the other will be flown in from New Jersey, so we’ll see what happens. But at least we don’t have three Nevada state judges this time for a fight of this magnitude. Maybe they’ll see it differently, because my gut tells me that it’s going twelve rounds once again.”

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“King” Gabriel Rosado: “I will defeat Gennady Golovkin on January 19th”

By Joseph Herron: It’s been just a little over two months since “King” Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KOs) earned the opportunity to fight for championship gold by defeating Charles Whitaker in an IBF Junior Middleweight title eliminator on NBC Sports Network.

But to the surprise of most, the 26 year old puncher won’t be standing across the ring from IBF Champ K9 Bundrage when the opening bell sounds to begin his subsequent outing. The courageous Philly fighter will be taking on current WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KOs) instead.

On January 19th, at the Mecca of boxing, Madison Square Garden, Rosado will face one of the more avoided fighters and hardest pound for pound punchers in the entire sport. The title fight will be broadcast on HBO, as one part of an outstanding World Championship triple-header.

When Hall of Fame promoter Russell Peltz contacted his fighter concerning the prospect of facing the undefeated WBA Middleweight Champion, it didn’t take long for Gabriel to answer with a resounding, “Where do I sign?”

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Pacquiao vs. Marquez IV – Hold That Thought

By Marc Livitz: Rest assured and let there be no confusion in regards to the highly anticipated yet not totally appreciated mega fight which is set to take place this Saturday evening at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There will be a Pacquiao versus Marquez V. And VI, VII, VIII and so on. While this idea is likely to be nothing more than figurative, the bickering amongst the dedicated faithful of the respective sides are likely to verbally squabble for many years to come. Manny Pacquiao believes he won and Juan Manuel Marquez knows that he won.

Of course, there’s been three superbly contested matches between the two combatants since 2004, yet the razor thin margins which have separated the incendiary results have less to do with the actual outcome than they do with the acknowledgement that popular culture found its way into the pugilistic mindset.

Consider this: The Nevada Athletic Commission easily makes available the totals and figures tallied at boxing events staged within its borders. Without looking, most boxing fans are well aware that the May 2007 bout between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr was the most lucrative night for the fighting sport. Of the three contests staged between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, only the third one, which took place in November of last year even cracks the top 30. However, marketing strategists and eager promotional posses often make the most serendipitous of bedfellows.

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