Abel Sanchez: “A third fight between Marco Huck and Ola Afolabi is coming” – Huck/Afolabi 3

Ola Afolabi vs Marco HuckBy Joseph Herron – With the prospect of Denis Lebedev defending his WBA Cruiserweight title against former Heavyweight title challenger “Fast” Eddie Chambers in 2013, many fight scribes and boxing fans alike have been pondering the possibility of potential opponents for WBO Champion Marco Huck.

Trainer Abel Sanchez recently visited “The Pugilist KOrner” and made an intriguing declaration concerning the hard punching German based title holder.

“My fighter, Ola Afolabi, will be facing Marco Huck for a third time on March 2nd in Germany,” insists Big Bear Lake based fight trainer. “I just spoke with Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and he stated that the deal is 99.9% completed.”

Seven months ago, the two powerful Cruisers met in the ring for a second time and treated the fight fans in attendance to an entertaining slugfest and fight of the year candidate. Because the competitive sequel ended with an inconclusive majority draw verdict, most die-hard fight fans have been clamoring for third pairing between Huck and Afolabi.

Abel Sanchez is hoping that a third fight will indeed be the charm for Ola Afolabi.

“Both previous fights were very competitive and entertaining. So it just makes sense to do it again. The first bout resulted in a very close win for Huck, and the second was an entertaining majority draw. So hopefully the third bout will finally end in my fighter’s favor.”

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Sergio Martinez says Martin Murray won’t make it past 8

martinez123By Steve Mabbott: WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (50-2-2, 28 KO’s) doesn’t see his opponent unbeaten British middleweight Martin Murray (25-0-1, 11 KO’s) going the distance with him when they face off on April 27th at the Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield, Distrito Federal, Argentina.

Martinez said as quoted by the Sportsmole.co.uk “It’s great that he should want to give his all and I was the same but the fight won’t go past the eighth round.”

Murray has good power and a lot of heart, but he’s not special. He was staggered by Felix Sturm in their fight last year, and he’s mighty lucky that Sturm didn’t have more time to work on him in the 12th because he probably would have knocked him out. Most of the opponents that the 30-year-old Murray has faced in his career have been nothing special. The difference in experience against quality opposition between the two fighters is monstrous.

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Donaire to move up in weight if he doesn’t get Rigondeaux or Mares in March or April

donaire2334By Rob Smith: WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (31-1, 20 KO’s) will be fighting in March or April, 2013, and he wants to unify the 122 pound titles in fights against WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux or Abner Mares.

The Mares fight is something that will have to wait for a little while longer, however, because Donaire’s promoter Bob Arum is reportedly interested in matching Donaire with Rigondeaux in an in house Top Rank fight.

It makes a lot of sense for Arum to do this because it’s not a difficult fight to put together like it would be if he tried matching Donaire with the Golden Boy promoted Abner Mares, and Rigondeaux has been asking for the Donaire fight for a long time. At least this way Arum will give Rigondeaux what he wants while at the same time giving boxing fans a good fight.

Donaire said to Philstar.com “That’s [Donaire-Rigondeaux] the fight I want to happen, but I know not to wait for anyone. If they can’t make the fight happen, then I’ll move up in weight [to featherweight].”

Donaire has been saying recently that it could be difficult to set up a fight with Rigondeaux because of what the Cuban fighter might ask for in terms of money for the fight. It doesn’t look like Donaire is going to be patient with Rigondeaux like he was with the much more popular – and far less dangerous – Jorge Arce.

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Khan to fight in April; thinks he’ll be fighting for title

By Michael Collins: Amir Khan says he’ll be fighting in April in a title fight against one of the world champions at 140. Which champion is still unknown, but he thinks he’s going to be facing one them and he plans on then taking on WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia after that with the belt that he wins in his April bout.

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Can Amir Khan make it back to the top?

By Jacob Roberts: Last Saturday Amir Khan gained his first win for nearly 18 months with a TKO victory against overmatched Carlos Molina. It was a must win fight for Khan, who’s reputation was in tatters after successive defeats in the last year. Forced into a rebuilding process, he is now remoulding his style with the help of new trainer Virgil Hunter.

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“Fast” Eddie Chambers graciously accepts Denis Lebedev’s post-fight challenge

chambers54353By Joseph Herron – On December 17th, at the Crocus City Hall in Myakinino, Russia, WBA Cruiserweight Champion Denis Lebedev (25-1, 19 KOs) impressively dispatched Santander Silgado in just four rounds, giving the fight fans in attendance a devastating knock-out of the year candidate to remember.

After the successful title defense, the hard punching Russian fighter precariously issued a post-fight challenge to perennial Heavyweight contender turned Cruiserweight pugilist, “Fast” Eddie Chambers (36-3, 18 KOs).

The versatile Philly based fighter recently appeared on this week’s edition of “The Pugilist KOrner’s: Weekend Wrap” to graciously accept Mr. Lebedev’s proposal.

“The idea of competing for the WBA Cruiserweight Championship in my first bout within this talented division sounds awesome,” admits Eddie Chambers. “I didn’t think most Cruisers would want to give me the opportunity right away, but I guess my body of work in the Heavyweight division precedes me.”

Although the 30 year old fight veteran is a little surprised about being targeted by a current title holder, “Fast” Eddie can see why a hungry and driven fighter like Denis Lebedev would pursue a former Heavyweight title challenger.

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Today’s Heavyweights: Breaking Down The Best Young Guns In The U.S – Wilder, Jennings, Arreola, Hanks, Scott, Banks, Mitchell, Hamer

004WildervsPriceIMG_4870By James Slater, pohoto by Tom Casino/Showtime – Astonishingly, America has not been able to lay claim to even a portion of the heavyweight championship of the world for over half a decade. For not since Shannon Briggs lost his WBO title to Sultan Ibragimov in early 2007 has America – once the superpower of heavyweight boxing – held a major crown in the sport’s one-time glamour weight class.

Today, at the end of what has been an eventful 2012 for the young guns that might, just might be able to regain the prestigious championship, there are a handful of talented, hard working big men who, both individually and as a group of contenders, aim to bring the titles back home. At one point, for a good year or so, former linebacker turned heavyweight contender Seth Mitchell was looked at as the top dog, yet this young heavyweight was recently blasted out inside a couple of wild rounds by experienced Klitschko sparring partner and former cruiserweight title challenger Johnathon Banks.

Mitchell and Banks will meet again in February, but most good judges feel former Emanuel Steward-coached Banks, no slouch of a fighter, will repeat the win. But as dangerous and as durable as Banks is (unbeaten as a heavy, beaten just once as a cruiser), the former Kronk pupil will not be the man to end the reign of the mighty Klitschkos. Banks has more or less said he will not even try to land a fight with either sibling; so close to them is he (even adopting the role of head trainer for Wladimir, since the sad passing of Steward). Banks prefers a shot at “regular” WBA boss Alexander Povetkin. If he can topple the unbeaten Russian, Banks will no doubt get a hero’s welcome in the U.S, even if he will only have won a dubious at best version of the world title (everyone knows Wladimir is the REAL WBA champ).

So which of the other young (or youngish) and unbeaten (or close to it) U.S heavies are worth investing hope on when it comes to achieving world domination?

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The Legacy of Emanuel Steward Part 6: Perspective from Tarick Salmaci

The Legacy of Emanuel Steward Part 6: Perspective from Tarick Salmaci

“So his selflessness—that’s what I’ll remember most is his selflessness. I remember that most, and he always made us feel like we were something, and we always wanted to impress him as kids.”—Tarick Salmaci

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – This is Part Six of an ongoing series dedicated to the memory and legacy of an remarkable individual, Emanuel Steward, whose contributions to the world of boxing are simply extraordinary. In this installment, former Kronk fighter Tarick Salmaci shares his views and some of his unique experiences growing up in the Kronk Gym throughout his childhood. Here is a complete transcript of my discussion with Tarick:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Tarick, it was a big loss for the boxing world, especially the Kronk community, when we lost an exceptional individual when Emanuel Steward passed away. As someone who had the opportunity to work with Emanuel, what are your personal views on his personal impact on the world of boxing?

TARICK SALMACI: Good question. I think he’ll always be a part of boxing. He’s part of the game. He’ll always be part of the game. He helped make boxing what it is as far as training world champions, being involved in all these mega fights he was involved in throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and current. It’s just when it comes to boxing he’s a legend. That’s a given right there.

CIANI: Can you tell the fans out there a little bit about what it was like the first time that you worked with Emanuel?

SALMACI: Let me start by saying that Emanuel, I mean I first met him when I was 11 years old. So I kind of grew up around Emanuel, and from the first time meeting him as a kid he always made you feel important. You know what I mean? That’s one thing he always did, and I noticed that as a kid. He made us feel important, and we always tried to impress him. I mean we were like 11 and 12 years old, here we are, kids from the ghetto, and this man would take us. We were young kids! And with Emanuel this was like the 80s. So he was already on top of his game. He would pick us up and take us to the most expensive restaurant in Detroit. There was a steakhouse called “Carl’s Chop House”, and he’d take about 14 or 15 of us there randomly. Every month, every couple of months, he would take us all there to experience something we never experienced before.

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