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

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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Malignaggi vs. Mosley possible for April 27th

By Ed Patrick: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is looking to match 41-year-old former three division world champion Shane Mosley (46-8-1, 39 KO’s) against WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (32-4, 7 KO’s) on April 27^th for Malignaggi’s next title defense, according to RingTV.

Schaefer said to RingTV “Paulie Malignaggi…and it might be, if we can get it done, what is being discussed is the return of Sugar Shane Mosley.”

This isn’t the big fight that Malignaggi was hoping to get against Ricky Hatton, but this is probably the best that Malignaggi can get in terms of a well-known opponent that the casual boxing fans are familiar with. Malignaggi obviously wants to keep his World Boxing Association 147 pound title for a little while longer, and that’s not going to happen if they match him against a decent welterweight. Malignaggi almost lost to what was supposed to be a very beatable Pablo Cesar Cano last October.

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Hopkins doesn’t think Pacquiao will ever be the same after his KO loss to Marquez

By Rob Smith: Bernard Hopkins came out tonight on the Jim Rome show and gave his thoughts on whether Manny Pacquiao will be the same fighter after being knocked out viciously in the 6^th round last Saturday night by Juan Manuel Marquez. Hopkins doesn’t see Pacquiao being the same fighter after that knockout. Pacquiao was unconscious for close to two minutes, face down on the canvas from Marquez’s right hand.

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Cotto could be back in the ring on June 8th

By Steve Mabbott: Former three division world champion Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) could be back in the ring on June 8^th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, according to RingTV. Cotto, 32, lost his last fight against WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout in a failed attempt to capture his title at Madison Square Garden earlier this month on December 1.

Cotto was beaten pretty badly in this one-sided fight, and the loss removed any hope of Cotto facing WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in a unification bout. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer still didn’t rule out a Cotto-Alvarez fight taking place on May 4^th, but then Alvarez came out and said he was no longer really interested in facing Cotto, so this leaves Cotto looking for a fight on June 8^th.

Schaefer told RingTV “We’re definitely going to be working with Miguel Cotto on that date [June 8^th] as a fighter.”

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Brook-Alexander moved to March 2nd; Matthysse-Lundy still good for January 19th

By Jeff Sorby: The fight between IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (24-1, 13 KO’s) and challenger Kell Brook (29-0, 19 KO’s) has been moved from January 19^th to March 2^nd due to Brook injuring one of his ankles and needing more time for it to heal. The January 19^th fight card will still go ahead, but it will be now headlined by WBC interim light welterweight champion Lucas Matthysse (32-2, 30 KO’s) defending his title against lightweight Hank Lundy (22-2-1, 11 KO’s) at the Nokia Theater, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

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Abraham defends WBO 168 lb title against Bouadla on Saturday

Photo: Udo Dreier — By Bill Phanco: WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (35-3, 27 KO’s) isn’t taking any chances that he might get beaten in his first title defense of his newly won World Boxing Organization 168 pound title, so he’s dipped down low in the WBO rankings to find Frances’ Mehdi Bouadla (26-4, 11 KO’s) for a nice easy win this Saturday night at the Arena Nürnberger Versicherung, Nuremberg (Nürnberg), Bayern, Germany. Abraham considers a strong test, and it’s hard to understand what he’s talking about because Bouadla didn’t look good in getting destroyed last year by Mikkel Kessler in a 6th round knockout defeat.

Abraham must have felt like he was in a meat grinder when he tested his skills against the very best in the super middleweight division in the Super Six tournament. Abraham was beaten left and right by almost every fighter he faced, and when the tournament was over Abraham left licking his wounds and was dismissed by a lot of boxing fans as a finished fighter. However, his promoters have rejuvenated him by matching him against a couple of fringe level contenders and then arguably the weakest of the champions Robert Stieglitz, and presto, Abraham’s career has been turned around.

It’s hard to see it that way, though. It just looks like one paper champion has been switched for another, although Abraham still has talent to give a lot of fighter problems on any given day. It’s just that he doesn’t have the size or the talent to beat the really good fighters at super middleweight.

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Arce tailor-made for Donaire

By Rob Smith: If you’re a big fan of 5’4” Jorge Arce (61-6-2, 46 KO’s), you might not want to tune in to watch him fight on Showtime this Saturday night against WBO super bantamweight champion Nonito Donaire (30-1, 19 KO’s) because he’s going to probably get beaten pretty badly in this fight at the Toyota Center, in Houston, Texas, USA. Most boxing experts are picking Donaire to win, and they’re unanimously picking him to win by a knockout.

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