Groves: I’m going to KO Glen Johnson

By Michael Collins: Commonwealth super middleweight champion George Groves (15-0, 12 KO’s) thinks he’s going to stop 43-year-old Glen Johnson (51-17-2, 35 KO’s) in their fight tonight at the ExCel Arena, Dockland, London, United Kingdom.

Groves said to Sky Sports News “Clearly Glencoffe knows how to survive, even if he doesn’t come to survive. Stopping him would make a huge statement. I do expect to stop him don’t expect him to just fall over.”

This is interesting because I’ve seen quite a few of Groves’ fights and I don’t consider him to be a big puncher. He may have a lot of knockouts but those knockouts came against pretty much entirely British level fighters or Euro fighters. There’s not much quality among his knockout victims in terms of world class ability. In fact, not one of Groves’ knockouts has come against a world class opponent.

Groves has faced one decent fighter in his career, James DeGale, and many people think Groves was given a controversial decision in that fight last year.

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Khan: A fight with Brook is possible in the future

007KhanIMG_0152 By Michael Collins, photo Tom Casino/Showitme – Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) says he wouldn’t mind fighting Kell Brook if he can somehow, someway beat IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander in their fight in March. Khan says he might fight Brook under the condition that he holds the IBF 147 pound title, but he doesn’t seem all that eager either. Part of the problem that Khan has is he wants to avenge his losses to Danny Garcia and Lamont Peterson, and if he chooses to put those fights off to go and take on Brook he won’t be able to quiet his critics in that manner. The only way he can do that is if he beats the guys that beat him.

Khan said to thesun.co.uk “If he [Brook] can get past that [Alexander], then there is a chance we could get it on in the future.”

The future likely means when and if Khan can take care of business at 140, and it also depends on whether Brook can beat Alexander and then hold onto the title long enough until Khan can move in weight in the future to face him. Those are all big ifs because Brook isn’t a world beater as we saw in his life and death struggle to beat Carson Jones.

Khan has a fight tomorrow night against Carlos Molina in Los Angeles, and he really needs this fight if he wants to be taken seriously as a contender.

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Did Pacquiao lose to Marquez because he was stepping on his foot when he KO’d him?

By Bill Phanco: It’s interesting to hear the excuses still being brewed about why Manny Pacquiao was knocked senseless by Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. The one that we’ve probably heard the most is that some boxing fans think Marquez was using performance enhancing drugs. A lot of these same boxing fans still believe this even though test results came out on Friday revealing that Marquez’s test results for PEDs was negative, as was Pacquiao’s.

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Saul Alvarez says he’s close to finalizing a fight with Mayweather Jr

By Brad Cronick: 22-year-old WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) believes he’s going to be fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr. (43-0, 26 KO’s) on May 4th next year. Alvarez wants the fight badly, and it was thought that Mayweather was looking in the direction of fighting WBC interim champion Robert Guerrero, but Alvarez is now saying he’s the guy that will be getting the fight with Mayweather.

Alvarez said on his Facebook page “Out next fight is scheduled to take place on May 4, we are close to finalizing the Mayweather fight.”

I’ll believe it when I see it. I really can’t see Mayweather Jr. making this fight with the young Alvarez, but I don’t blame Alvarez for getting eager and hoping. It’s just that Mayweather tends to take the safe route, and he doesn’t tend to take on guys that are tearing fighters apart the way that Alvarez is right now. But perhaps the most important reason why I do see Mayweather taking on Alvarez is because of the way that Mayweather had to really struggle to beat Miguel Cotto last May.

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Will Pacquiao be the Next fighter to dump Roach?

by Robert Jackson: Manny Pacquiao’s devastating loss to long time rival Juan Manuel Marquez, came as a shock to many the world over. But it wasn’t that he lost, it was how he lost, and that he was put to sleep with one second remaining in the round. Manny could have patiently stalked Marquez at the end of that round then let the round end and re-engage in the next round. Fighters throughout the history of boxing have been very careful during the last seconds of a round to avoid the very same thing that happened to Manny Pacquiao this past Saturday night.

Oscar De La Hoya disengaged during the last seconds of a round to prevent a KO and his opponent from stealing the round. Sugar Ray Leonard during the Marvin Hagler fight used the last 30 seconds of each round to come on strong so he COULD steal rounds from Marvelous Marvin…and it worked.

In both cases these tactics were worked out during training camp and implemented during the fights. Sugar Ray Leonard’s cornermen would shout out “30 seconds”, to prompt Leonard to begin his assault. With this in mind I now return to last Saturday night –round 6, where with seconds remaining in the round, Pacquiao engaged with Marquez who he had backed into a corner, attacking sloppily without having his hands in a defensive position or his chin tucked. Marquez countered the lazy right jab that Pacman threw with a right of his own which Pacquiao walked right in to…and the fat lady was singing.

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Will Floyd Mayweather be better with his father training him?

floyd2 By Robert Jackson: Taking nothing away from Roger Mayweather former world champion and current trainer for P4P #1 fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr, a change of trainers to his father Floyd ‘Joy’ Mayweather may be a good thing.

Uncle Roger as he’s known in the Team Mayweather camp suffers from ‘sugar’, i.e. diabetes which demands constant attention and lifestyle changes to remediate the harmful effects. Diabetes is a bigger killer than AIDS and Cancer together – worldwide. Roger Mayweather other than being a great trainer is probably the best ‘mitts man’ in the boxing business. But as far as boxing technique, tactics, and know-how, Floyd Jr. knows how to fight and doesn’t need much tutoring during training camp.

Floyd Mayweather Sr., former welterweight contender and trainer of several fighters is a great tactician, technique trainer and has a knack for improving fighters under his tutelage. Case in point, Bad Chad Dawson hasn’t been ‘Bad’ since he parted ways with Mayweather Sr. who saw him to a dominant championship victory over Tomas Adamek. He also oversaw a championship run by Joan Guzman a few years back. Currently Mayweather Sr. is training Andre Dirrell and Philadelphian Mike Jones.

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Tony Bellew: Perched on the Edge

By Padraig Ivory: Liverpool’s Tony Bellew is coursing the perimeter of the light heavyweight division’s elite. The past 12 months have proven a successful exercise in raising the profile of the 30 year old fighter. Matchroom boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has insured Tony is a regular feature on Sky Sports TV as the path to a second world title challenge unfolds.

This year has incorporated three successful outings for the rangy orthodox Bellew. April brought a TKO win as Danny McIntosh failed to grapple the British light heavyweight from the Liverpudlian. The build up to this bout had enthralled the boxing public as the pair traded verbal jabs throughout. When the time for combat arrived it was the 6’2 frame of Bellew that lived up to the pre-fight bravado as McIntosh met the canvas in round 4 and decisively once more in round 5.

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Mike Tyson Interview Transcript

MIKE TYSON: Hey Guys

Is there anything you don’t like to talk about in the show? Something that hurts you to talk about.

MIKE TYSON: You went right to the hurt part, huh? I speak about my daughter towards the end of the show and that’s kind of not a pretty sight.

Did you have to be pushed to talk about everything?

MIKE TYSON: I talk about everything that everyone knows about. They have seen them in the press and they don’t know the underlying factors – I am expressing that.

MIKE TYSON: They know it all so I have to talk about it or they would say, ‘that’s bull’ because they know it. What they don’t know it how i got started and what caused the altercation. They just know about the altercation. I am expressing the underlying story.

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Transnational Boxing Rankings December Update!

by Matt McGrain: Another busy month for boxing has seen fewer changes to the Trans Boxing Rankings than November but drama abounded at the top of more than one division, not least lightweight where a new #1 contender was installed. Adrien Broner isn’t to everyone’s taste as a man, but as a fighter he was deemed deserving of the #1 spot after his one-sided domination of former #1 Antonio DeMarco on the 17th of last month.

DeMarco slips to fourth and everyone below him drops a spot with Mercito Gesta’s tenancy of the #10 spot limited to just a month as he makes way for Broner’s sensational entry at #1. With Ricky Burns sticking at #2 the mooted meeting between these two would crown a new Champion at the weight.

Also vacating a #10 spot is Diego Magdaleno at Junior Lightweight, pushed out by a resurgent Yuriorkis Gamboa who is introduced at #7 after his win over Michael Farenas. The other mover below lightweight is Juan Francisco Estrada who debuts at #10 based upon his worthy effort versus Roman Gonzalez.

Above lightweight, the big news was at welterweight and junior –middleweight. At 147lbs. Robert Guerrero overhauls Zaveck, Ortiz and Lopez to gatecrash the top 5 whilst Juan Manuel Marquez batters his way into the #2 spot just as he battered perennial rival Manny Pacquiao to the canvas this past Saturday night. He also replaces Pacquiao as the only fighter that can crown a genuine welterweight Champion in a contest with Floyd Mayweather, although there may be no appetite for that rematch based upon the one-sided drubbing Floyd handed Juan Manuel in their original meeting. Pacquiao drops to #3.

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Final Press Conference: Donaire VS. Arce, Rigondeaux VS. Poonsawat

by Steve Lopez– Photo: Chris Farina – Top Rank- The stage is set for Saturday’s Jr. Featherweight showdown between highly favorite WBO Champion Nonito “Filipino Flash” Donaire and Jorge “Travieso” Arce. Wednesday marked the final press conference where fighters addressed the members of the media and to reinforce what to expect in their performances. The co-featured bout will feature Cuba’s up and coming rising star Guillermo Rigondeaux against Thailand’s Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym.

To show boxing’s global presence with fighters and fans, Wednesday’s conference featured a rather interesting mix of fighter backgrounds: Mexico, Cuba, Thailand and the Philippines. It was no surprise that each fighter, with the exception of Donaire, required a translator to get their points across. I had the privilege to attend the conference and captured some visuals and quotes from each fighter:

Guillermo Rigondeax was a man of few words ready to fight.

“Nothing much to say. We’re ready to get this going.”

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