Bernard Hopkins to fight on March 9th in Brooklyn, Cleverly, Shumenov and Cloud possible opponents

Bernard Hopkins to fight on March 9th in Brooklyn, Cleverly, Shumenov and Cloud possible opponents By Bill Phanco: Former two division world champion Bernard Hopkins (52-6-2, 32 KO’s) will be fighting on March 9th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The possible opponent will be picked from one of these fighters: Nathan Cleverly, Beibut Shumenov and Tavoris Cloud.

It’s safe to say that Cleverly won’t be the one getting the fight because he has a mandatory title defense coming up against his mandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi in February, and he’s got to take that fight if he doesn’t want to risk getting stripped by the World Boxing Organization for failure to defend against his mandatory.

Hopkins will be turning 48 in January, and that’s pretty old for a fighter still looking to compete at the world class level. Hopkins looked like he’d lost something from his last two fights with Chad Dawson. He was beaten by Dawson last April by a 12 round majority decision, and before that Hopkins had fought to a 2nd round no contest with him in October last year.

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Pacquiao a Fallen Hero – Sadness and Disappointment

By Paul Strauss: For fear of being maudlin, there are plenty of us out there with feelings of sadness and regret. It’s the kind of feeling we get when one of our hero’s does something we thought impossible. They lose. It’s often unexpected and painful. We knew all along it was possible, but still we refused to believe it. It’s the kind of feeling that overwhelmed people when Gene Tunney beat Jack Dempsey, or when Rocky Marciano beat Joe Louis. “It can’t be!” That is the thought that flashes across our mind’s eye. It won’t go away. It like the image is stuck on “play”! We want to awaken from the nightmare, but reality has just given us another smack up side the head.. There’s no way to shake it off. Our hero is human after all.

Saturday night at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas, NV, Manny Pacquiao was the victim of a sensational kayo at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez (JMM). It was a decisive finishing blow that ended a sensational fight. Referee Kenny Bayless saw no need to administer a count. Some so called experts thought the fight shouldn’t occur. They boo hoo’d it, fearing it might prove to be less than thrilling. What foolishness. We can only hope they’re ashamed of themselves for even thinking such thoughts…

The fourth and greatest of their fights was action packed from beginning to its dramatic conclusion. The end was in doubt right up until JMM’s final punch landed. It was a powerful short right landing flush on the nose and chin of Pacman.

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As it Unfolded, As it Evolved: Pacquiao vs. Marquez 4

By Phenyo Molefe: We all bore witness to what transpired on Saturday evening, to that which shook boxing and those who grace its pastures. I took account of the fight as it unfolded before us but have decided to treat the bout to further review and flee from any hurried assumptions, unveiling how it truly unfolded. Having watched all three previous meetings between these combatants just hours before their fourth encounter, I was further shocked by that which has evolved.

Seldom have I heard an audience voice itself as charged as what the masses did, Marquez has found favour with those seeking his redemption.

Round 1:

Although respect is abound Pacquiao and Marquez both have something to prove. The bout begins with some jousting and notable movement by both fighters as they size each other up. Manny throws the jab and quickly follows through with his left, seeking Marquez’s head. Marquez looks to counter Manny as he has done in previous contests and has already begun paying attention to Manny’s body. It looks like this is going to be a better start than what we saw in their second encounter and may very well surpass their third meeting.

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Hatton advising Pacquiao to retire

By Steve Mabbott: Ricky Hatton wants Manny Pacquiao to retire from boxing due to the bad KO loss that Pacquiao suffered last Saturday night at the hands of Juan Manuel Marquez. Hatton doesn’t see any point in Pacquiao dragging out his career at this point.

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Khan doesn’t mind if he’s boring on Saturday against Molina

By Michael Collins: Former IBF/WBA light welterweight champion Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) plans on fighting with a lot more self-control when he steps inside the ring on Saturday night against unbeaten Carlos Molina (17-0, 7 KO’s) in Los Angeles, California. Khan knows he can’t afford to lose another fight after losing his last two, so he’s going to be looking to fight a completely disciplined fight where he takes zero changes of getting hurt.

Khan said to thesun.co.uk “It’s all about minimum risk. I will beat up my opponent until they quit. I don’t have to go in there and knock them out. I do that I could start making mistakes and maybe get caught.”

It sounds like Khan is going to focus on throwing a lot of jabs and single power shots instead of the flashy combinations that he liked to throw in the past to try and KO his opponents and impress the crowds. That could work for him but Khan would still be presented with opponents that will walk through his guard to get in close enough to work him over in the same way that Lamont Peterson did.

That’s going to be a problem for Khan because he’ll either be forced to run, shove, hold or fight. We found out already that Khan can’t run for 12 rounds, so he won’t be able to use that for a long fight. Khan also can’t shove because most referees won’t put up with that and will warn Khan and then likely take points off.

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Pacquiao got too greedy against Marquez

By Brad Cronick: If you want to pick out the #1 reason why Manny Pacquiao lost to Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night it’s probably due to Pacquiao’s greed. He had Marquez hurt in the 5th round from a hard combination, and he had been working him over in that round and in the 6th. Marquez bleeding, his nose looked broken, and clearly wasn’t going to be able to last very much longer with the pounding he was taking from Pacquiao. But instead of staying patient in the last seconds of the 6th round, Pacquiao rushed Marquez and got hit with a perfect right that knocked Pacquiao completely out. The rest is history.

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Khan in comeback bout against Molina on Showtime this Saturday

By Marcus Richardson: Amir Khan (26-3, 18 KO’s) will be getting back in the ring in a fight against unbeaten Carlos Molina (17-0, 7 KO’s) this Saturday night on December 15th on Showtime at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. Khan has lost his last two fights and he’s looking to end his losing streak against the 5’6’ Molina, who isn’t much of a puncher and isn’t all that quick either but he’s a decent fighter.

Khan is pretty lucky that his promoters at Golden Boy still believe in him enough to put him in the main event on this card because losing back to back fights sometimes has a way of sending former champions to undercards instead of the top of the bill fights. However, if Khan loses this fight to you’ve to imagine that he’ll be demoted to undercard fights in the future until he proves he can beat good opposition.

Khan was knocked out in his last fight against WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia last July in a fight where Khan got lured into a war by Garcia’s father Angel Garcia, who angered Khan during their press conferences with his trash talking. Khan lost his temper and fought with anger and it cost him the fight when he was knocked down in the 3rd and twice more in the 4th round before the fight was halted.

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Pacquiao says there will be future fights

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao told a crowd in Manila, Philippines, that he’ll continue fighting despite getting viciously knocked out last Saturday night. Pacquiao was knocked out by a tremendous right hand by Juan Manuel Marquez last Saturday night in Pacquiao and Marquez’s fourth fight in their series in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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Ricky Burns off Saturday’s card; will next fight on January 26th

By Marcus Richardson: Alex Morrison, the promoter for WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s), was unable to find a replacement opponent for Jose Ocampo for this Saturday night for Burns’s previously scheduled fight at the ExCel Arena in London, England. Morrison attempted to find someone after Ocampo pulled out but the fighter they were looking at getting Derry Matthews didn’t agree to the fight.

Morrison said to STV “Ricky will not fight this weekend. We couldn’t find an opponent for him to fight. He was offered a 10 round fight but decided not to take it. We’re now looking at January 26 for the next title defense and hopefully that will take place in Glasgow.”

Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer was hoping to get Burns to agree to fight WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner on February 16th, but with Morrison not mentioning that as option it doesn’t appear that there’s any interest in that fight on Burns’s team as of now. That’s too bad because Broner wanted to get a chance to grab Burns’ belt after failing to get a fight with Burns last year when Burns held the WBO super featherweight title and Broner was his mandatory challenger.

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Thurman vs. Maidana possible for April, 2013

By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions is looking to match former WBA light welterweight champion Marcos Maidana (32-3, 29 KO’s) up with junior middleweight Keith Thurman (19-0, 18 KO’s) in April next year. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer wants to put the Maidana-Thurman fight with unbeaten featherweight Gary Russell Jr. (21-0, 13 KO’s) against a still to be determined opponent in a doubleheader card. They wanted Jhonny Gonzalez, but that was a no go after he showed no interest in the fight. Russell Jr. is a good fighter and if they can find a quality opponent to put him in with then they’ll have a decent card.

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