Marquez to make decision on whether to continue fighting

marquez412By Rob Smith: Juan Manuel Marquez riding high right now after knocking Manny Pacquiao out cold in the 6th round of their fight this month. Marquez avenged his two earlier controversial decision losses to the Filipino and did it in dramatic fashion by knocking Pacquiao completely out cold.

Marquez reportedly had promised his wife that the fourth fight with Pacquiao would be his last fight of his career and that he’d retire after that, but Marquez is now considering fighting on. For him to do that, however, he’s going to have to convince his wife, who wants him to hang up his gloves for good.

Marquez told the record.com.mx “I wish my wife would give the green light to continue and seek a fifth world title. I am trying to convince her.”

There won’t be any titles on the line for a fifth fight between Marquez and Pacquiao, so this would mean that Marquez is considering facing another opponent besides Pacquiao next year. The only one that’s a logical fit for Marquez is WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley, because he’s a Top Rank fighter and Bob Arum of Top Rank would likely go for that fight.

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Mayweather Sr. worried Pacquiao might get knocked out again if he faces Marquez in 2013

pac53By Bill Phanco: Floyd Mayweather Sr. is advising that Manny Pacquiao stay far, far away from a rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez next year. Mayweather Sr. is concerned that Pacquiao’s ability to take head shots may have been diminished with his 6th round knockout loss to Marquez recently, and thinks Pacquiao get knocked out once again if he makes the mistake of fighting Marquez for a 5th time.

Mayweather Jr. told Doghouseboxing.com “When you get knocked out like that, pretty much everything is over…Pacquiao is not going to be the same fighter he was…If he fights Marquez again the same thing could happen.”

It definitely could happen.

Pacquiao doesn’t think it will, but then again this is the common response for fighters that have been knocked out like he was. They often think they can go back in the ring and fight like they did before the knockout, but many of them quickly find out that they can’t take heavy shots like before without getting knocked out.

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Rigondeaux to fight Donaire in June 2013

rigondeaux4By Steve Mabbott, photo by Tom Casino — It looks like WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) will finally be getting his shot at WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire in the summer. Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde is saying that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has promised him that he’ll set up a fight between Donaire and Rigondeaux for June.

Rigondeaux, 32, has to first win his next fight on February 23rd, and then he’ll be free to face Donaire in the summer.

Hyde said to El Nuevo Herald “Rigos next fight is scheduled for February 23rd against an opponent still to be named. Promoter Bob Arum promised me Rigo-Donaire fight will be in June 2013.”
This is good news because Rigondeaux has been waiting to get a shot at Donaire for a year now, and it looks like he’ll finally be getting his big chance.

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Ariza wants Pacquiao to adopt his old strength program before facing Marquez again

pac562By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza wants to get Pacquiao back on their strength training regimen so that he can increase Pacquiao’s strength and get him winning a again. Ariza thinks that Pacquiao has made a mistake by not following his old strength training with Ariza.

Pacquiao lost his last fight to Juan Manuel Marquez, who did a great job of increasing his own strength with his strength coach Angel Heredia.

Ariza has a lot of respect for what Heredia was able to do with Marquez with building up his muscle strength while keeping Marquez’s weight the exact same as it was. Heredis built up Marquez’s body and was able to replace the fat on his frame with muscle, which made him a much different fighter than he’d been in the three prior fights with Pacquiao.

Ariza said to Doghouseboxing.com “In a perfect world, I would want Manny to adopt the strength and conditioning program all over again from day one. Then I’d like him to have a tune-up fight to get familiar with that feeling again. After that then Marquez again and let me do my thing to help.”

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Chavez Jr. could sack Roach and replace him with Beristain

chavez422By Jeff Sorby: Trainer Freddie Roach’s bad luck could be about to get even worse, as fightnews.com is reporting that Roach might possibly get the sack by former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The replacement, if it happens, will be Nacho Beristain, the trainer of Juan Manuel Marquez.

It’s a move that would make sense for Chavez Jr. because there wouldn’t be the language issue by switching to the Mexican Beristain. It would also make training easier because Chavez Jr. wouldn’t have to travel to Los Angeles, California to train with Roach. Chavez Jr. could stay in Mexico and trainer there with Beristain.

It’s a logical move and I can understand why Chavez Jr. might want to do that. Also, Beristain has the hot hand right now with his fighter Marquez’s recent impressive 6th round knockout win over Manny Pacquiao. I doubt that Beristain would be under consideration if Marquez had been the one knocked out.

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Amir Khan signs deal with Showtime for three fights

khan4343By Michael Collins: Amir Khan (27-3, 19 KO’s) may not be with HBO anymore following his losses to Lamont Peterson and Danny Garcia, but he’s now signed on with Showtime for a three fight deal, which should take him through the end up next year.

A three fight deal is a nice safe number for Showtime because if things go to pieces with Khan in terms of him getting knocked out left and right then Showtime won’t be left with a lemon that nobody in the boxing world wants to see.

It’s likely that Khan won’t run into trouble for his first fight of his contract with Showtime because he’s being mentioned as possibly taking on Josesito Lopez in April. That’s a very winnable fight for Khan, because Lopez, as good as he is, he’s not really a puncher.

He’s just a guy with a lot of heart that likes to go to war with his opponents despite not being a huge puncher and not being all that fast either. Lopez would have likely lost to Victor Ortiz had Ortiz not quit on his stool after the 9th round.

Khan could end up fighting Danny Garcia in the middle of 2013. I honestly don’t believe that Golden Boy Promotions will make this fight, I really don’t. If they make that fight it’ll be like them putting another loss on Khan’s record because he’s really not ready to fight Garcia again.

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Geale vs Mundine 2 : The Road to Redemption

by Adam Santarossa: Anthony Mundine is the only fighter in history to have had all of his fights broadcast on PPV. The simple answer is Anthony Mundine equals money. Mundine reportedly made $700,000 from his boxing debut against Gerard Zohs way back in 2000. It was similar money to what he would have made only a year earlier for a full season with the St George/Illawarra Dragons.

Daniel Geale on the other hand would have been lucky to make a few thousand dollars from his debut fight, despite being a former Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

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Video: Lebedev stops Silgado in highlight reel KO; Calls out Eddie Chambers

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By Rob Smith: WBA World cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (25-1, 19 KO’s) showed tonight why he’s one of the most dangerous fighters in the cruiserweight division by knocking out #8 WBA Santander Silgado (23-1, 18 KO’s) in the 4th round with a devastating left uppercut to the head that put him down face first on the canvas at the Crocus City Hall, in Myakinino, Russia.

There really wasn’t any point in counting because Silgado was knocked out. The fight was stopped at 2:16 of the round.

Silgado showed really nice power during the first three rounds if the fight, as both fighters traded some monster shots. However, Silgado didn’t have quite as much power as Lebedev and he wasn’t as quick as him either. Lebedev was landing some tremendous punches that told you that the fight wasn’t going to last too long. You’ve got to give credit to Silgado for giving it a game effort but he simply was out of his class in this fight.

It would be nice to see Lebedev and WBO cruiserweight champion Marco Huck get back in the ring for a rematch because those two fighters are at the top of this division and there’s still a lot of controversy about Huck’s 12 round split decision win over Lebedev back in 2010.

After the fight, Team Lebedev called out Eddie Chambers, who in return said he is ready for the fight.

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