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

alvarez454 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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Rigondeaux matched tough against Poonsawat on Saturday

By Bill Phanco: Fighting on the undercard of Nonito Donaire vs. Jorge Arce on Saturday will be WBA World super bantamweight champion Guillermo Rigondeaux (11-0, 8 KO’s) in a really tough fight against 32-year-old Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym (48-2, 33 KO’s) at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. This is a fight that is a lot tougher than the one that Donaire will have against Arce. Poonsawat is the type of fighter that throws of shots with a really good power, and he could give Rigondeaux all he can handle in this fight unless Rigondeaux can find a perfect shot to take Poonsawat out.

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Kessler defeats Magee: Herning with Desire

By Padraig Ivory: Denmark’s sole remaining Viking Warrior, Mikkel Kessler, laid siege on Brian Magee’s World championship belt last Saturday night. Unlike his seafaring ancestors, Mikkel enjoyed the comfort of familiar terrain as he looted the Belfast man’s crown in front of a mob of blood thirsty Danish boxing fans.

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Roach prefers Pacquiao wait until September before fighting again

By Rob Smith: Freddie Roach doesn’t want Manny Pacquiao to take any chances by coming back too early from his knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez. Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s promoter, is mentioned wanting him to be back in the ring in April in either a rematch against Marquez or a fight with Brandon Rios. However, Roach thinks April is far too soon for Pacquiao to be getting back in the ring after the way he was knocked out by Marquez last Saturday night in Las Vegas. Roach thinks Pacquiao would be much better off if he waited until September next year before he gets back in the ring.

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