Audley: It’s over if I lose to Deontay Wilder

harrison564 Heavyweight Audley Harrison (31-6, 23 KO’s) says it’ll be over for him if he loses to the 27-year-old Deontay Wilder (27-0, 27 KO’s) on April 27th on the undercard of the Amir Khan vs. Julio Diaz fight at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Audley, 41, has talked about retiring in the past but he always sticks with it after he gets knocked out.

Audley said to Sky Sports “Deontay is fast, dangerous puncher, but he has not been tested as a pro. Lose and it’s over, win and I’m in the top 10 for sure, eligible to challenge for the world title. Biggest risk for the biggest reward. It can’t get any bigger than that.”

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Rigondeaux CAN beat Donaire!

Note: The “Road to Donaire-Rigondeaux” special replays today (Apr. 4) on HBO2 at 6:15 p.m. ET/PT.

With close to 400 fights in the mighty Cuban amateur boxing program Guillermo Rigondeaux is one of the most decorated amateur boxers in that program and the history of amateur boxing. The 12 losses that he accrued during his amateur run that saw him win 2 Olympic gold medals (2000, 2004) is short of amazing for such a long amateur career. After defecting from Cuba, the Cuban standout entered the professional ranks.

As a professional Rigondeaux’s 11-0 record and fight resume is nothing to brag about, because his amateur pedigree thus far has prevented him from getting the competitive fights…until now. In 10 days Rigondeaux will face his toughest test as a professional when he takes on P4P fighter Nonito Donaire for Donaire’s 122lb title. Many scribes, boxing analysts and insiders are predicting a Donaire win based on professional experience and size alone, discounting Rigondeaux deep participation in the amateurs. Some are even questioning Rigondeaux’s skills and heart. Donaire himself has said he sees a ‘flaw’ in Rigondeaux’s fight style that he will exploit on fight night.

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Steve Cunningham: “We have a solid gameplan for Tyson Fury on April 20th”

Media Day Workout Report – The Theater at Madison Square Garden will once again host Major Boxing action when Philadelphia’s Heavyweight pride Mr. Steve “USS” Cunningham enters the ring on April 20th, under the big lights for a 12 round face-off with the English giant, 24 year old Tyson Fury.

On Wednesday, April 3rd, Cunningham held a media workout at the Rock Ministries Gym in “The City of Brotherly Love” and had more than a few things to say about where he’s been, where he’s at and what’s in store for Fury.

“I came up and came through Europe. I’m used to not hearing the USS chants so that doesn’t bother me. We have a solid game plan for April 20th and if Fury is looking to have “fun” in the ring, I’m all set to have my “fun” too. I won’t even call this [Boxing] a sport, this is a lifestyle where people want to knock my head off so I’m ready to get in there and do the same. I have to be ready to do that and I have to win. If Fury uses his extended reach or starts doing his other antics we have a game plan for that too.”

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Thurman vs. Chaves & Berto vs. Soto-Karass in late July on Showtime

In a couple of interesting fights that are being put together for late July, former IBF/WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto (28-2, 22 KO’s) will be getting a chance to redeem himself in a fight against Jesus Soto-Karass (27-8-3, 17 KO’s), and unbeaten welterweight Keith Thurman (20-0, 18 KO’s) will face interim WBA welterweight champ Diego Chaves (22-0, 18 KO’s) in a fight that will be televised on Showtime. The date of the fight hasn’t been set but they’re looking at either July 20th or July 27th as of now.

Berto, 29, could find himself in deep, deep trouble if he gets outworked like he was in his last fight against Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero last November in a 12 round unanimous decision loss. Guerrero didn’t do anything special to beat Berto other than pressuring him and throwing a lot of shots.

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Australian Boxing: Jarrod Fletcher v Randy Suico This Friday Night

WBA #5 middleweight Jarrod Fletcher (14-1, 8 KOs) headlines a six fight card this Friday night at the Grand Star Receptions, Altona North, Victoria, Australia.

Fletcher, 29, has positioned himself as one of the leading middleweights in Australia, clearly Australia’s leading division on the world scale, led by IBF champion Daniel Geale, Sam Soliman and Anthony Mundine.

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Hearn: Groves feels that Andre Ward is the only fighter he can’t beat yet at 168

Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn says his fighter Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (18-0, 14 KO’s) feels that WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward is the only guy that Groves feels he can’t handle at 168.

Hearn said to ESPN “The only person he says he can’t beat yet is Andre Ward. That’s the only one that George says, ‘At the moment I wouldn’t challenge Ward but I’ll beat the rest of them.’ I keep saying, ‘Alright, George, let’s work on this, let’s keep work on this.’”

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Arum willing to match Donaire against Mares on HBO

Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is saying that he’d be willing to match his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) against the unbeaten Abner Mares (25-0-1, 13 KO’s) in the future, but only if the 27-year-old Mares was willing to face the 30-year-old Donaire on HBO rather than Showtime where Mares typically fights.

Arum said to Ringside SEN Radio in Melbourne that if Mares is “Willing to come over and fight Donaire on HBO that’s fine. [Mares] doesn’t enjoy 25 percent of the popularity Donaire enjoys but if he wants to fight Nonito and get a real good pay we’ll be happy to fight Mares.”

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Arum confident he can get Pacquiao-Marquez 5 fight made for September

pac6 Despite Juan Manuel Marquez’s apparent reluctance to fight Manny Pacquiao for a fifth time, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum remains extremely confident that he’s going to get the fight made for September in Singapore or Macao, two places where the fighters can escape the taxes from the pay per view money that they get from U.S boxing fans. Arum is looking for the perfect hotel-casino in Macau or Singapore to stage the fight.

The rematch would likely be promoted as their previous fights with the fighters traveling to three or four major cities in the U.S to hold press conferences, and then the fight would take place outside of the U.S on fight night.

You can make a strong argument that Arum isn’t exactly doing Pacquiao any favors by putting him back in the ring with a guy like Marquez after the way that Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez last December. Marquez knocked Pacquiao out cold with a nice right hand in the 6th round of that fight.

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Macklin could be next for Golovkin

A fight between WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (26-0, 23 KO’s) and Matthew Macklin (26-4, 23 KO’s) is being discussed for the summer in June. Golovkin wants a high profile opponent and the 30-year-old “Mack the knife” Macklin fits that bill.

Golovkin’s management wants the Macklin fight and it now remains to be seen whether Macklin will agree to the fight. He recently had nose surgery and he’s only fought once in the past year, so there may be concern on his part that he might not be ready for a fighter in Golovkin’s talent level by June.

Macklin stopped Joachim Alcine in the 1st round last September, and before that Macklin was stopped in the 11th round by Sergio Martinez in March of last year. It’s good that Macklin rebounded from that defeat to destroy Alcine but that doesn’t mean much because Alcine is up there in age and he’s not in the class of Golovkin.

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Price vs Thompson II: Is The Price Right?

price#2 On July 6th UK Heavyweight hope David Price returns to the scene which derailed his express-like march through the lower to mid echelons of the Heavyweight division. Can the tracks be rapidly repaired or does the damage go beyond the tracks, is the fledgling Scouse Express already destined for the scrapheap?

Returning to the events of February at a packed out Echo Arena filled with his adoring home fans Price was a massive favorite with the bookmakers. Thompson represented a significant step up in quality for Price. Price coming of the back of relatively impressive performances had been kept active by the shrewd management of Frank Maloney. Price looked devastating against Audley Harrison and in particular against Sam Sexton-I believe Price’s best career performance. However I thought Price looked untidy and surprisingly vulnerable against an ageing Mat Skelton, watching the fight it became clear that Price could do with developing his inside fight skills, Price certainly looked uncomfortable at times when Mat was applying pressure, maybe not hurt but I got the impression that a decent pressure fighter could cause all kinds of problems for Price.

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