Peterson vs. Matthysse a possibility for Alexander-Brook undercard on May 18th

matthysse2 By Jeff Sorby: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is planning on getting IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KO’s) back in the ring on May 18th to face WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) on the undercard of the fight between IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander and Kell Brook on Showtime, according to Dan Rafael.

Schaefer wants the Peterson-Matthysse fight to take place in Peterson’s home city of Washington, DC.

Peterson stopped Kendall Holt in the 8th round last night in Washington, DC. After the fight, Peterson said he’s interested in facing Matthysse, Amir Khan or Danny Garcia next. Golden Boy likely won’t let Peterson face Khan next because they want to keep Khan winning long enough to put him in with Danny Garcia for a rematch.

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Mayweather doesn’t see the point in facing Pacquiao now

By Rob Smith: Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t see a mega fight between him and Manny Pacquiao as being worth it now after Pacquiao’s recent losses to Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez. Those losses have taken a lot of the air out of a Pacquiao-Mayweather mega fight according to Mayweather.

He’s not ruling out a fight with the Filipino fighter, but he says for that to happen Pacquiao is going to have to get back in the ring with Marquez and Bradley and beat them to avenge his defeats.

Mayweather told ESPN: “I don’t think the fight holds very much weight anymore. At one possible time, I wanted the fight to happen. I wanted to fight Manny Pacquiao…I don’t know if it will ever happen, but if my legacy was defined off of one fight, then I feel I didn’t have to fight 43 fights. If that’s the case, I could have came into the sport of boxing, fought one fight and gone down as the best fighter that ever lived.”

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Peterson stops Holt in 8th – Video Interviews with Peterson/Holt

By Bill Phanco: In an impressive performance, IBF light welterweight champion Lamont Peterson (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) retained his IBF title on Friday night in stopping Kendall Holt (28-6, 16 KO’s) in the 8th round at the DC Armory, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Referee Tony Weeks stopped the fight after Peterson unloaded with a storm of shots while Holt stood helpless against the ropes futilely trying to block the nonstop rain of shots. The official stoppage was at 1:42 of the round. Peterson put Holt down in the 4th and 6th rounds, and had him hurt in every round from the 4th on.

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David Price vs Tony Thompson Weigh-in Video; Price Keen To Outdo The Klitschkos

By Phil Barnett, Press Association Sport (@barnettoPA) – David Price wants to send a message to the Klitschko brothers by hammering former world title challenger Tony Thompson in style tomorrow.

The 6ft 8in Liverpool heavyweight has his long-term sights set on a clash with either WBC champion Vitali or his brother Wladimir, who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.

First however, the unbeaten Price faces a step up in class against American veteran Thompson, who has lost twice to Wladimir in the past.

The British champion knows he can make a statement to the world by beating Thompson even more impressively than Klitschko, who needed 11 rounds to stop the Washington man in 2008 and six in July last year.

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Lamont Peterson vs. Kendall Holt Preview and Predictions and Weigh-In Video

by Chip Mitchell, Robert Uzzell, and Crystal Hamlin: Friday Night Fights returns to Washington, DC as World No. 6 ranked (No. 3 IBF) Kendall “Rated R” Holt, (28-5, 16 KOs) tries to dethrone IBF Light Welterweight champ Lamont “Havoc” Peterson (30-1, 15 KOs) in the main event. The card is billed as “Redemption: Lamont Peterson vs. Kendall Holt”.

Peterson
Lamont Peterson hasn’t fought in the past 14 months, but is coming off a huge, albeit controversial win against Amir Khan. He will enter the bout with Holt winning 3 of his last 4, with a draw against Victor Ortiz mixed in.

Holt
Kendall Holt is coming off of a 12 month layoff. Holt has also won 3 of his last 4, with a split decision loss to World No. 2 ranked (WBA/WBC champion) Danny Garcia.

Common Opponent
Both fighters entered the ring to face Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley in 2009. Holt fought Bradley earlier in the year and almost ended it early with a hook in the first round. He dropped Bradley again in the 12th, but didn’t do enough and lost a decision.

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Tyson Fury-Steve Cunningham: No Easy Assignment For Tyson’s U.S Debut

fury67 By James Slater: Tyson Fury already enjoys at least something approaching a decent profile in America today, and now the 20-0(14) giant is bursting with anticipation over his American debut. U.S fight fans who have already formed an opinion of the 24-year-old (most of them through seeing his recent fights, against American imports Vinny Maddalone and Kevin Johnson, on Wealth T.V) will get to see Fury in the flesh on April 20th – at the legendary Madison Square Garden in New York, no less.

Fury deserves credit for the quality foe he and his team have accepted for his U.S debut, too. Former IBF cruiserweight champ Steve “U.S.S” Cunningham may be 36-years-old and he may have picked up just a single heavyweight win since moving up from 200-pounds; yet most fans who saw the Philadelphian’s recent, Dec. 2012 clash with another former cruiser champ, in Tomasz Adamek, feel Cunningham deserved the points victory. In a rematch of their 2008 thriller, Cunningham lost a debatable 12-round split decision. Cunningham, 25-5(12) was disgusted with the result.

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Mayweather vs Guerrero: May 4th and Why People Still Love Boxing

By Julius Stecker: Boxing has always been the one sport that has separated itself from all others. There is a reason why you will have a boxing movie every 4 or 5 up for an Academy Award. Why do people still love Rocky? Why did people care about Micky Ward? Why do people still talk about Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson? The reasons are not because of jabs, left hooks, hand speed, and or defense. The explanations for this are boxing provides us with the ultimate life metaphor.

It grants us with the underdog and the survival stories, it gives us the drama of one of one combat, and it provides for the individual who participates in it a legacy to remember and possible great financial reward. May 4th will give us all of this and more. We will have a prohibitive underdog in Robert the Ghost Guerrero. Guerrero’s personal family struggle with the scourge of cancer will not leave a dry eye in the building, once the world finds out what they had to go through to get this opportunity.

It will have perhaps the greatest prize fighter (Floyd Mayweather Jr.) of the last 25 years involved. He will be attempting to continue on his stellar legacy and once again send another challenger back to where he came, while keeping his undefeated record. The event could have the best undercard match-up of the last decade. Canelo Alvarez, perhaps boxing’s brightest young budding star, will possibly be taking on boxing’s most underrated champion Austin Trout in a Jr. Middleweight unification bout.

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Andrew Golota returns to face Przemyslaw Saleta

by Geoffrey Ciani – Andrew Golota is a poster boy for unfulfilled potential in boxing. His unique adventures through the heavyweight rankings were interesting, unpredictable, and sometimes downright bizarre—and apparently his journey is not yet finished. This Saturday, 45 year old Golota (41-8-1, 33 KOs) will step inside the squared circle for the first time in more than three years when he is pitted against fellow Pole, Przemyslaw Saleta (43-7, 21 KOs). Saleta himself turns 45 this March and has not seen action in over seven years, effectively rendering this into a pick’em fight between two old war horses both absent from the battlefield for quite some time.

The boxing history books will show that Golota was unsuccessful in four bids for portions of the heavyweight crown, one against each of the four major sanctioning alphabet organizations. These were bookended by devastating first round knockout losses at the hands of Lennox Lewis (WBC) in October 1997 and Lamon Brewster (WBO) in May 2005. In between he had a solid showing in a twelve round draw against Christ Byrd (IBF) in April 2004, and followed that up with a good account of himself in a somewhat controversial loss against John Ruiz (WBA) that November. Even though he failed to secure a title belt in ‘04, many observers felt that Golota did well enough to deserve a victory in both contests.

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Ricky Burns vs. Miguel Vazquez WILL take place on March 16th

la foto Photo: Vazquez with manager and trainer Javier Capetillo holding a signed bout agreement

By Jeff Sorby: Contrary to the news that came out yesterday about IBF lightweight champion Miguel Vazquez saying a fight between him and WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns isn’t a done deal for March 16th, Frank Warren Promotions, the promoter for Burns, is saying the fight is going to take place on that date.

East Side Boxing has obtained an a signed letter of acceptance from Vazquez’s promoter Juan Carlos Torres of Zanfer Promotions that confirms the agreement for the Burns-Vazquez fight on March 16th. The acceptance was signed on January 10th, 2013.

East Side Boxing also obtained an e-mail from Torres to Frank Warren Promotions matchmaker Dean Powell on January 10th that confirms the fight four days prior to Mr. Warren announcement of the fight in a press conference in London.

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Tyson Fury vs Steve Cunningham on April 20 at The Theater at Madison Square Garden

fury544 Explosive 6’9″ heavyweight contender and former unbeaten, Irish, Commonwealth and British Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury, 20-0, 14 KO’s, will make his New York debut on Saturday afternoon, April 20th when he takes on former cruiserweight World Champion Steve USS Cunningham, 25-5, 12 KO’s, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden.

This fight is an official IBF Heavyweight Voluntary Eliminator fight for the #2 position between #9, Tyson Fury and #12, Steve Cunningham. The winner will become #2 and must meet #1 or the leading available contender to establish the mandatory challenger for Heavyweight King Wladimir Klitschko. The fight will be broadcast at 4PM ET on NBC as a special 2 hour afternoon presentation of NBC Sports Fight Night.

“Cunningham’s got all the tools; a former World Champion, good fighter, he’s got a lot of skill. I’m looking to put on a devastating performance; the best of my career to date.” said Fury. “I’m absolutely ecstatic to be fighting at Madison Square Garden; it goes back in history and I can’t wait to put my name with a long list of Champions who have fought there – I’m a historian of boxing myself so this is definitely the pinnacle of my career so far.”

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