Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy headlines season premier of “Friday Night Fights”

By Joseph Herron – Highly touted Super Featherweight prospect Rances “Kid Blast” Barthelemy (17-0, 11 KOs) takes his first step towards 130 pound contention tonight on the season premier of ESPN’s “Friday Night Fights” from the Magic City Casino in Miami, Florida, when he faces undefeated Arash Usmanee (20-0, 10 KOs) of Canada.

The scheduled twelve round main event will not only serve as the Cuban exile’s first big step up in competition, but also determine the #2 IBF position in the wide open Junior Lightweight division.

Against a very tough, unbeaten opponent, “Kid Blast” will be marching into undiscovered territory as he embarks on his first outing over eight rounds. Most fight critics and boxing scribes believe the “Cuban Missile” to be ready for his challenging litmus test on network television.

What has a lot of boxing insiders buzzing is Barthelemy’s big 5’11” frame, power in both fists, and his ability to comfortably make the 130 pound weight restriction. Most fight pundits claim Rances Barthelemy has the potential to be a future star of the sport.

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Peter Fury hoping Tyson will fight Vitali in March

By Michael Collins: Peter Fury, the trainer for unbeaten #4 WBC Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s), is hoping that the 24-year-old Fury can jump in line in front of the arguably much more popular David Haye to get a title shot against the 41-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in March or at some point in 2013.

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Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero: “God has put me in this position to humble everyone in the sport”

guerrero123By Joseph Herron: With great speculation concerning a huge May 4th fight date with Floyd Mayweather Jr, Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero truly believes that he and his team are on the cusp of something very special.

While nothing has been officially confirmed by all parties involved, the interim WBC Welterweight Champion has been riding an incredible wave of success both in and out of the ring since winning the coveted green strap.

“Before my last two bouts, everyone counted me out and smirked at the idea of me jumping up two weight classes and dominating my opposition. Everyone thought that I would get knocked out. I just laughed it off and continued to believe in my Lord and savior Jesus Christ and continued to follow his plan for me.”

“Everyone can see it unfolding every day and it’s befuddling all of his detractors. They’re wondering how I’ve moved up to Welterweight and have dominated my opposition. If you look throughout my entire career, I really haven’t lost that many rounds. I’ve dominated fighters and champions. Through the power of Christ, nothing is impossible and nothing can stop me.”

While his impressive showings against Selcuk Aydin and Andre Berto in 2012 have garnered universal respect throughout the boxing industry, most fight scribes and boxing fans feel that his inspirational winning streak will come to an end in May, if and when he faces the pound for pound king, Floyd Mayweather Jr.

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Adonis Stevenson will have to step aside for Froch/Kessler II

stevenson34By Joseph Herron: On October 12th, 1012, Super Middleweight contender Adonis “Superman” Stevenson knocked out Donovan George in spectacular fashion in the final round of a very entertaining twelve round slugfest to become the IBF mandatory opponent for current 168 pound title holder Carl “The Cobra” Froch.

According IBF bi-laws, Froch was given 90 days to negotiate a title defense with the number one contender after dispatching Yusaf Mack in three rounds on November 17th, 2012, in Nottingham, England.

But now, according to a spokesperson for the IBF, Adonis will have to step aside and wait until a unification bout between WBA title holder Mikkel Kessler and the incumbent IBF champ takes place.

“Usually, a mandatory defense is required of the reigning IBF Champion ninety days after a voluntary title defense,” stated a spokesperson for the International Boxing Federation. “But a unification bout always takes precedence over a mandatory defense upon request from the reigning champion.”

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Agbeko fights for IBO title in Ghana February 22

Joseph AgbekoBy Prince Dornu-Leiku: Former IBF Bantamweight champion Joseph King Kong Agbeko returns to the ring on February 22 against Colombian Luis Melendez for the vacant International Boxing Organisation (IBO) Bantamweight belt when he fights in Accra for the first time in 6 years.

Scheduled for 12 rounds at the Accra Sports Stadium, it will be the former two-time world champion’s first bout since losing the bid to unify the IBF Bantamweight and WBC Silver Bantamweight titles against Abner Mares way back on December 3, 2011.

Promoted as the maiden bill of the newly launched Fresh King Entertainment syndicate, the fight against Melendez (34-8-1, 25 KOs) will also be the first time Agbeko, 28-4, 22 KOs will be fighting on the homeland since claiming a 4th round TKO against Baba Nsor on March 23, 2007 at the Azumah Nelson Sports Stadium in Accra.

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10 Fights that Must Happen in 2013

By Jazz Gill: 2012 was a superb year of fights for boxing fans, even if it was the year when the dream of Mayweather vs Pacquiao died forever.

The two still had great fights respectively, whilst other veterans like the Klitschko brothers and Sergio Martinez continued to dominate. At the same time, new young stars proved they are capable of going u the next step – Austin Trout and Danny Garcia for example – whilst others proved they are among the elite of today and ready to take the mantle of the aforementioned veterans (Nonito Donaire, Robert Guerrero and Andre Ward).

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Five “Dark Horse” match-ups for 2013

mayweather46By Joseph Herron: Although several intriguing and potentially crowd pleasing match-ups have already been slated throughout the New Year, there remain many superb pairings that have gone unnoticed by major promoters in boxing.

Because of various promotional, monetary, or network conflicts, many fan friendly unions have very little chance of materializing in 2013. Here are just a few terrific fights that should be made in the upcoming boxing year but probably won’t.

Nonito Donaire versus Abner Mares at Super Bantamweight

Although the fight fans of the world overwhelmingly prefer this superb pairing over any other in the packed 122 pound weight division, there is little to no chance this fight will become a reality in 2013. Abner Mares, the undefeated WBC Super Bantamweight Champion, currently fights under the Golden Boy Promotional banner, while Nonito Donaire, the Ring recognized 122 pound champ, exclusively competes on Top Rank, Inc promotional fight cards.

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Marquez still undecided about whether he’ll continue his career

marquez9025By Rob Smith: 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez still doesn’t know if he’ll return to the ring in 2013, as he’s considering whether to continue to fight or not, according to notifight.com. He’s still talking with his family about whether he should come back and perhaps fight one or two more times before hanging up the gloves permanently.

It’s going to be difficult for Marquez to retire right now with the lure of a fifth fight with Manny Pacquiao at the Cowboys Stadium this year. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum hasn’t yet talked to Marquez about his future plans, but you can guess that he’ll make a huge offer to get Marquez to continue fighting so that he can set up a Pacquiao vs. Marquez fifth fight this year.

It might actually be better Pacquiao’s sake if he doesn’t try and get Marquez to continue fighting because Pacquiao really doesn’t need another knockout loss like the one he suffered on December 8th of last month when Marquez knocked Pacquiao completely out in the 6th round. That was a knockout that could have some lasting negative effects for Pacquiao for the remainder of his career.

Arum could be making a mistake of having Pacquiao fight Marquez again, because even if it makes a ton of money for Pacquiao, Arum and Marquez, it could be the last big payday for Pacquiao if he gets knocked cold again. You would have to figure that Pacquiao would have a lot of pressure on him to retire after getting knocked out a second time.

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