Rees: I’m going to beat Broner; he can’t knock me out

rees45By Michael Collins: Former WBA light welterweight champion Gavin Rees (37-1, 18 KO’s) doesn’t see himself as an incredible underdog in his February 16th fight against WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s). Rees thinks he’ll beat him and then use the win to get a big unification bout against WBO champion Ricky Burns in 2013.

Rees said to livefight.com “I will win…this will put me on the map everywhere…It will open doors for a unification fight for me against Ricky Burns.”

You almost feel sorry for Rees because he’s going to be crushed in this fight. Here he is already looking at fights beyond the Broner fight as if the win is in the bag. It’s going to be tough on Rees to taste defeat and find out that he just doesn’t measure up.

Rees has been stopped once in his career in his loss to Andriy Kotelnik in 2008, but I think he’s going to be stopped again in this fight against Broner.

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Haye: I can give Vitali the mega-fight his resume is missing

haye324By Michael Collins: David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) still isn’t giving up in his seemingly hopeless pursuit of a big money fight against 41-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KO’s) despite the apparent lack of interest coming from the 6’7” Ukrainian. It seems like the more Vitali ignores Haye, the more Haye continues to talk up a fight between him and Vitali.

Haye said to the telegraph.co.uk “There’s nobody else in heavyweight division that can give RTL the viewing figures…But the bottom line is that he’s a fighter and hopefully he wants the fight the fans want. He’s never had that flagship fight, that one mega-fight that people will always remember him for.”

I don’t think Haye would be a fight that would make much of a serious impact on Vitali’s resume to tell you the truth. Having Haye on his resume would be pretty much about the same as having other guys like Shannon Briggs, Samuel Peter and Corrie Sanders.

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Ricky Burns’ next title defense postponed

burns43By Michael Collins: WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) won’t be back in the ring on January 26th as previously scheduled, according to his manager Alex Morrison. Burns wants to rest up a little more and then come back in February or March, according to the BBC.

Burns still doesn’t have an opponent in mind for his next fight, but we do know it won’t be WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner, as Burns turned that fight down for some reason. Boxing fans really want to see Burns fight Broner, but Burns isn’t ready yet.

Broner has his own theory for why Burns isn’t interested in fighting him, saying to Fighthype.com “He don’t want to fight me…He’s trying to milk the game. He knows after he fights me, he’s not going to be s***.”

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Pacquiao could fight twice in 2013

pac342By Rob Smith: The recently knocked out Manny Pacquiao could still be fighting twice this year, according to ABS-CBN News. Pacquiao just arrived back from vacation in Israel and he reportedly may choose to fight twice in 2013 if possible. His opponents are still undecided, although his promoter Bob Arum is very high on putting Pacquiao back in with Juan Manuel Marquez for a fifth fight.

Before Pacquiao fights again, he’ll likely be checked out at the Cleveland Brain Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada to make sure that he’s okay to fight again. This is what Arum wants before Pacquiao gets back in the ring.

For Pacquiao to fight twice in 2013, he’s going to have to be back in the ring by at least June or July, since his fights are often five months apart. It’s possible for Pacquiao to fight twice but he may have to convince Arum that this is a good idea because he’s been talking about having Pacquiao rest until September.

If Pacquiao fights in September then he’ll only get one fight in this year. It looks like Pacquiao doesn’t want to drop off his activity level, so we should be hearing something soon if he does indeed plan on getting two fights in this year.

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Tyson Fury turns down big offer for David Price bout

By Michael Collins: Undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s) has reportedly turned down a big £1 million offer from British promoter Frank Maloney for a fight against the unbeaten 6’8” David Price (15-0, 13 KO’s) for an all British clash in June, possibly in Anfield or London.

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Bellew to face Chilemba in WBC 175 lb eliminator on March 30th

By Michael Collins: Tony Bellew (19-1, 12 KO’s) will be trying to put himself in position for a title shot when he faces Isaac Chilemba (20-1-1, 9 KO’s) on March 30th in a WBC light heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, UK. #3 WBC Bellew can’t afford to lose this fight if he wants to get a shot against WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson this year.

Both fights are going to be very tough for the 30-year-old Bellew because these aren’t the typical fodder opponents that he’s been dining on most of his career. Chilemba is one of the best fighters in the division, and might even be good enough to beat WBO light heavyweight champion Nathan Cleverly, who beat Bellew by a 12 round majority decision in October 2011. Chilemba can really bring and he’s got some good wins on his resume with victories over Maxim Vlasov, Edison Miranda and a nice draw with Thomas Oosthuizen.

Bellew has gotten too used to blowing out weak opposition and it’s going to be interesting to see how he adjusts to someone he can’t take out and who keeps coming forward. Bellew looked mighty stressed out in his recent fight against Miranda last year in September. Bellew won the fight by a 9th round TKO, but he was clearly bothered and worried about Miranda’s big power.

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Guerrero’s manager says Mayweather fight is close

guerrero123By Bill Phanco: Luis De Cubas Jr., the manager for WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero, says that he believes that a fight between Guerrero and WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is close to being done for May 4th.

There’s no real mystery that Mayweather Jr. has been leaning in the direction of the three time world champion Guerrero rather than the still unproven but more popular WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez despite the high amount of interest in that fight by boxing fans.

Mayweather Jr. will likely let that fight build until at least September 14th, and perhaps even later.

De Cubas Jr. said to the record.com.mx “We are in the final process of closing…talks are going well and it seems that everything is on track. In two weeks we’ll have a final decision. We have worked hard to put Robert in the limelight for the Mayweather fight. The difference between Guerrero and Canelo [Saul Alvarez] is that Robert has earned his place.”

Guerrero has really helped himself in this past year by moving up from the lightweight division and beating two solid fighters at this weight in Andre Berto and Selcuk Aydin.

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Chad Dawson leaves trainer Scully; back with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad

dawson3By Jeff Sorby: WBC light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-2, 17 KO’s) has reportedly left trainer John Scully and is now back with his old trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, according to RingTV. Dawson lost his last fight against Andre Ward last April in a 10th round TKO loss while being trained by Scully, and it’s unclear why Dawson has decided to go back to being trained by Muhammad.

Dawson’s loss to Ward seemed to have been caused by a combination of things, starting with his questionable decision to move down from 175 lbs to fight Ward at 168 lbs without a catchweight. Dawson had problems taking off all the weight and he looked drained against Ward. That still wasn’t the entire reason for the loss, but it couldn’t have helped Dawson.

Ward was simply the faster guy with the better skills. There’s little doubt watching that fight that Ward was just too good for Dawson. Ward would have likely dominated Dawson even if he moved up in weight and fought Dawson at 175. It was a case of Ward having too much talent.

Dawson can go back to Eddie Muhammad but I doubt he’ll be able to help Dawson get past his next opponent Jean Pascal on March 23rd in Montreal. Dawson has problems with speed, and the only way he can beat a fighter like Pascal is jump on him to take him out.

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Froch will find out this week who his next opponent will be

froch3232By Michael Collins: IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch (30-2, 22 KO’s) will learn this week which guy he’ll be facing next – Mikkel Kessler or Adonis Stevenson. Froch, 36, has made it no secret that he wants the rematch with Kessler next, as he lost to the Dane by a 12 round unanimous decision in April 2010 and he’s been bugged about the loss ever since.

Froch thinks he should have won the fight but boxing fans as a whole disagree and saw Kessler as the rightful winner. The Kessler rematch, if it can be made, will give Froch and Kessler a $2 million payday. That’s good money for super middleweight. It’s obviously not even close to the kind of cash that superstars like Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. rake in each time they fight, but then again Kessler and Froch aren’t on the radar screen in terms of worldwide popularity like those two talented fighters.

Froch told the Nottingham Post “We should know something in the next few days. If the Kessler fight is finalized we can apply for an exemption from the IBF. If we have to give up the belt to fight Kessler, so be it.”

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