Rees upset about his underdog status for Broner fight

rees34By Michael Collins: Former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) figured he’d be an underdog in his fight against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) on February 16th, but Rees only now is finding out how much of an underdog he is with some betting agencies. Rees is reportedly an underdog 16-1 to 80-1, and he thinks the bigger numbers are just way too high given his experience and talent.

Rees said to thesun.co.uk “I understand Broner being a firm favorite, but I can’t believe my ability is being treated with such contempt. To regard me as an 80-1 chance is simply absurd. Do they think I’m some wet behind the ears novice?…I’m going to pull off an upset.”

Are 80-1 odds too high for this fight? I really don’t have any problems with those kinds of odds, and even if it was 100-1, I think those are a lot more realistic than 16-1 odds or whatever odds that Rees feels should be for this fight. Rees is just so far out of his league in this fight that it’s just not even funny.

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Exclusive Interview with super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson

Exclusive Interview with super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson

“I stopped Bute with 20 ounce gloves in sparring. I stopped him in like the third round, so when Bute fought Carl Froch I knew he was going to get hit because Carl Froch has a good style.”—Adonis Stevenson

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I was recently afforded the opportunity to speak with #1 ranked IBF super middleweight mandatory challenger Adonis Stevenson (19-1, 16 KOs). Stevenson is looking forward to the chance to fight for the title after the dust settles in the upcoming rematch between reigning IBF champion Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch and current WBA title holder Mikkel Kessler. Stevenson shared his views on that match-up, and also discussed his plans while he waits for his opportunity. Additionally Stevenson also talked about his twelfth round stoppage victory against Donovan George, his opinion on 168 pound king Andre Ward, and the sad and untimely passing of his Hall of Fame trainer, Emanuel Steward. Here is what Stevenson had to say.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello boxing fans. This is Geoff Ciani from East Side Boxing and I am joined by super middleweight contender, Adonis Stevenson. How’s everything going today, Adonis?

ADONIS STEVENSON: Very, very good. Very good, everything’s good.

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Interview with “Awesome” Aaron Williams

williams464464Exclusive interview by Dan Emicus

What was it like to work with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad?

Working with Eddie was great. We had such great team chemistry and I learned so much from him. For me, he is one the top five best boxing trainers of today. I wish him nothing but the best.

You took some time out, but that has somehow turned into 2 years! What’s the reason for this?

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Carlos Molina Dominates Cory Spinks

molina3By Joe Harrison: Junior middleweight contender Carlos Molina (21-5-2, 6 KOs) defeated former two-division champion Cory Spinks (39-8, 11 KOs) by a unanimous decision in front of 5,354 screaming fans at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, IL. The contest was the main event on ESPN’s Friday Night Fights.

Spinks showed very little fight as Molina frustrated him with his accurate punches and stellar defensive skills throughout the 12-round IBF eliminator. Spinks simply could not find an answer as Molina pressed forward and bullied him around the ring. Although Spinks was able to land an effective punch here and there, he mostly resorted to clinching to avoid further punishment.

Spinks was deducted a point in round four for excessive holding. Spinks was also dropped by a left hook in round eleven. In round twelve, Spinks received a standing eight count when it was ruled that the ropes held him up from going down again. In the end, the scores were 119-106 twice and 120-105, all for Molina.

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Soliman beats Sturm, Kentikian defeats Jah

Sturm_Soliman_2By Jeff Sorby: Former WBA Super World middleweight champion Felix Sturm (37-4-2, 16 KO’s) tasted defeat on Friday night in losing a surprising 12 round unanimous decision to 39-year-old Sam Soliman (43-11, 17 KO’s) in an IBF middleweight eliminator bout at the ISS Dome, in Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

The final judges’ scores were 116-111, 114-113 and 114-113. Sturm knocked Soliman down with a hard right hand in the 2nd round, and him in trouble late after almost knocking him down again. However, Sturm stopped throwing as many punches after the 2nd round and that caused the fight to get away from him.

Sturm was still landing the harder punches and tagging Soliman consistently with his jab, but he was letting Soliman out-work him from the 3rd round on. Sturm’ left eye began to swell up after the 5th, and he a lot of problems with Soliman’s unorthodox fighting style.

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Who will Mayweather fight next?

floyd434By Robert Jackson: The P4P King Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) of boxing has penciled in on his schedule 2 dates for the 2013 boxing season: May 4, 2013 and September 14, 2013. But what has not been penciled in are his opponents for either date. On the short list of Mayweather foes are Robert Guerrero, Canelo Alvarez and Timothy Bradley (only a rumor). Other possible foes could be Austin Trout, a Miguel Cotto rematch, Manny Pacquiao and Sergio Martinez.

Mayweather the consummate businessman has always said “if it makes money it makes sense” and any of the fights on his short list will definitely make money only because of the chance that Mayweather could lose. A high number of Mayweather fight buys are made by buyers hoping to see Mayweather clearly defeated in the ring. What’s also interesting are the dates that Mayweather has chosen to fight on – both of which are traditional Mexican Holidays. So it can be speculated that Mayweather will want to fight Mexican fighters to maximize the profitability of these fights. So that bodes well for Canelo and Guerrero.

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Manuel Charr talks Klitschko, Wilder, Saglam and more!

HayeCharrExclusive interview by Dan Emicus

Having pursued kickboxing initially, what made you to want to switch to boxing?

“I started kickboxing because I liked combat sports. But I didn’t do it for a long time because it felt so easy to reach all my goals. I became German Champion and European Champion. There was no real hard competition. It didn’t feel like a big challenge to me. But I like challenges. I thought that in boxing it’s harder to get to the top. You can’t become European Champion in two years in boxing. And of course, it’s nearly impossible to make a living out of kickboxing while the best boxers in the world make good money. So that definitely contributed to the decision, too.”

From amateur kickboxing straight into professional boxing, how did you find the transition between two different combat sports? Most boxers with an ex-kickboxing background find it difficult to un-learn certain habits, such as engaging their opponents squarely, but you’ve never seemed to have such issues?

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Floyd Mayweather, Jr. – Decisions, Decisions, Decided

floyd32By Marc Livitz: In a bit less than one hundred days time, the world’s greatest fighter will take his place in the ring once again, a full year removed from his previous trip to the same place in the same city. While his space in Canastota all but secured, we could possibly acknowledge his tenure in the Gall of Fame as equally credible. Until that day comes, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. will continue to turn heads, garner attention (for better or for worse) and get many of us to tune in to his next bout, which could always be his last.

In any case, the gears of professional boxing, which have been able to effectively run smoothly with the help of younger and fresh talent will screech to a halt whenever Floyd decides to officially announce his selected opponent for Saturday, May 4, 2013.

The recent revelations that Mayweather himself sets the venue, ticket prices, pay per view rates and perhaps even the price of extra cheese on the nachos is more than worth its weight in platinum that he is in full command. Good for him. Maybe he’s set the template for fighters present and future that they more than anyone else in their close and at times far too close inner circles and they alone face the biggest risks. He does call Las Vegas home after all and maybe that’s why he feels so comfortable in the figurative position of dealer, pit boss and floor man.

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