Garcia defeats Salido; Golovkin stops Rosado

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By Bill Phanco: WBO featherweight champion Orlando Salido (39-12-2, 27 KO’s) didn’t have it tonight as he was beaten by the young Mikey Garcia (31-0, 26 KO’s) by an 8 round technical decision at Madison Square Garden in New York. Garcia was able to knock Salido down four times in the first four rounds with superb power punching.

Unfortunately, the fight was stopped after the 8th round from a head-butt that broke Garcia’s nose. Mikey said he couldn’t breath through his nose. The crowd pretty much hated it with some boxing shouting at Mikey, wanting him to continue fighting. It did seem strange that Mikey didn’t want to keep fighting considering fighting with a broken nose seems to be a common thing. However, Mikey had built up a big lead by that point in the fight so he could afford to have it go to the scorecards.

The judges scored it 79-70, 79-69 and 79-69. Salido was fighting better from the 6th round on and getting to Mikey more and more at the time the fight was stopped. I don’t know if Salido would have won but he was definitely starting to land his shots from the 6th to the 8th. Mikey was stopping a lot of Salido’s attacks by shoving him while backing up. Since the referee allowed Garcia to do this, he was able to stop many of Salido’s attacks with this move.

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Pavlik to retire from boxing

pavlikBy Bill Phanco: According to espn, former WBO/WBC middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) is retiring from boxing after a 13-year pro career. Pavlik is concerned about the health risks for him if he were to continue to fight. He’s not seeing any problems now but he’s worried about could show up later in the future if he were to continue his career.

Pavlik said to Dan Rafael of ESPN “When you stay in the sport too long you have health problems. That’s a big, big thing for me. I’m talking about in the future. I’m talking about when I’m 55 or 60…I don’t think the drive is there anymore. I’m moving on to a new chapter in my life.”

The timing for this move is somewhat strange being that there’s been talk of Pavlik facing former IBF super middleweight champion Lucian Bute in Montreal, Canada. That’s a fight that not only would have given Pavlik a nice little payday but it also could have possibly reignited his boxing career if he were to have beaten Bute.

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Fury hoping Wladimir will fight him on April 6th

fury34By Michael Collins: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko needs an opponent for his April 6th fight date in Germany, and thus far there isn’t anyone that his management team has picked out for him. Odlanier Solis was reportedly ruled out for Wladimir, according to Dan Rafael of ESPN.

Unbeaten British heavyweight #4 WBC Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) is hoping he’ll get the fight with the 6’6” Ukrainian. In fact, Fury seems almost desperate to get the fight because WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko likely won’t be fighting Fury anytime soon if ever.

Fury said on his twitter page “Klitschko, if you fight Solis you’re a p***y! Fight me!. Solis is a fat s**t! He got KO’d by Vitali in 2.”

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Gavin Rees sees Broner as a Mayweather clone; he doesn’t think he’s the real deal

broner5352By Michael Collins: Gavin Rees (37-1-1, 18 KO’s) may be considered an underdog against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s), but he doesn’t see himself in that role and he thinks he’s going to beat Broner next month in their fight on February 16th.

Rees thinks Broner is just copying Floyd Mayweather Jr’s fighting style, but he doesn’t think he’s got the same kind of talent and he wants to expose that in their fight in the United States at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Rees said to Sky Sports “He’s [Broner] a Mayweather wanna be. We’ll see if he’s the real deal on February 16th. I don’t think he is.”

Broner is a better version of Mayweather in my view. He’s got better defensive skills and his power as better as well. I think Rees is going to be in for a rude awakening when he steps inside the ring with Broner. Rees is going to take a lot of punishment in this fight, and he’s going to have to possess a good chin to take Broner’s power for any length of time.

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Salido-Garcia, Golovkin-Rosado & Martinez-Burgos tonight on HBO

By Jeff Sorby: Unbeaten WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (24-0, 21 KO’s) will be making his fifth defense of his title against Gabriel Rosado (21-5, 13 KO’s) in the co-main event on the Oscar Salido (39-11-2, 27 KO’s) vs. Mikey Garcia (30-0, 26 KO’s) card on HBO at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, USA.

Also on the card will be WBO super featherweight champion Roman “Rocky” Martinez (26-1-1, 16 KO’s) making his first defense of his title against challenger Juan Carlos Burgos (30-1, 20 KO’s).

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Arum looking to make Donaire-Rigondeaux on April 27th; Mares doesn’t accept offer

donaire22By Rob Smith: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he made an offer to Golden Boy Promotions for a fight between his fighter WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) and their fighter WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares, but Golden Boy didn’t agree to the offer, according to RingTV.

Arum is now looking to match Donaire against his other top super bantamweight WBA champ Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) on April 27th at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

This could end up a much tougher fight for the 30-year-old Donaire by virtue of Rigondeaux’s superior speed, counter punching, power and defensive boxing skills. Rigondeaux doesn’t leave himself open nearly as much as Mares typically does thanks to his much more cautious style of fighting. Mares would have been a perfect opponent for Donaire with his aggressive brawling style of fighting. That match-up would have given Donaire a lot of chances to land his big left hook shots.

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Deontay Wilder vs. Matt Greer tonight in Mexico

By Michael Collins: Unbeaten heavyweight Deontay Wilder (26-0, 26 KO’s) takes on journeyman Matt Greer (15-8, 13 KO’s tonight on Fox Deportes at the Centro de Convenciones, in Villahermoso, Tabasco, Mexico. This is another tune-up fight for the young 27-year-old Wilder go get him ready for better opposition in the division. The fights scheduled for 10 rounds but it probably won’t last more than a round at best.

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Tim Bradley vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa on March 16th?

bradley123By Rob Smith: Bob Arum of Top Rank says his fighter WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) will be facing a well-known opponent in his next fight on March 16th. Arum isn’t saying who it is but it’s rumored to be super featherweight Yuriorkis Gamboa (22-0, 16 KO’s). This would be an interesting fight if it happens because Bradley pretty badly flawed to where even a guy like 5’5” Gamboa would have a decent chance of beating him by moving up three divisions to take the fight.

Arum said to ringtv “The matchmakers are working on a sensational opponent. Once it’s announced, people are going to say, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to see that fight.’”

Gamboa would be a lot of problems for a guy like Bradley because of Gamboa’s superior speed and punching power. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gamboa’s power carries up to the welterweight division because he looked pretty heavy for his last bout and he showed good power.

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Rafael doubts Canelo will face Trout on May 4th

alvarez343By Jeff Sorby: Dan Rafael of ESPN believes that if WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez does fight on the Floyd Mayweather Jr. undercard on May 4th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, it won’t be against the unbeaten WBA World junior middleweight Austin Trout.

Rafael also thinks the only way Canelo will agree to fight on the card will be if he’s given a guarantee to fight Mayweather later in the year on September 14th.

That’s pretty much what a lot of people think is going to happen. Canelo will take a risk-free fight on May 4th, and then look to get the Mayweather payday in September. It probably doesn’t matter to casual boxing fans whether Canelo faces Austin Trout or not on May 4th because they’ll be interested in seeing Canelo fight even if Golden Boy Promotions matches him up against another light welterweight like his last opponent Josesito Lopez.

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