Javier Fortuna decisions Patrick Hyland to win interim WBA Featherweight title

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By Joseph Herron: In one of the more highly anticipated preliminary bouts on the Pacaquaio/Marquez IV fight card, knock-out artist Javier Fortuna (21-0, 15 KOs) defeated Patrick Hyland (27-1, 12 KOs) with a surprisingly competitive twelve round unanimous decision. The judges at ringside scored the contest 118-110, 116-112, and 115-113.

The scheduled twelve round fight was for the interim WBA Featherweight Championship, and both men were looking for a sensational showing to attract bigger opportunities against the elite level fighters of the 126 pound weight class.

In the first two stanzas of the 126 pound fight, both men showed their opponent much respect and seemed surprisingly tentative to begin the match. But in the third round, Javier Fortuna began to realize that Patrick Hyland wasn’t planning to let his hands go early and began to open up with sharp straight left hands and right hooks around the tight guard of the cautious Irish fighter.

Although the hard punching Dominican fighter overwhelmingly landed more power shots than his opponent in rounds four and five, nothing seemed to detour Patrick Hyland. Fortuna seemed content with landing the occasional combination, then circling the Irish fighter with lateral movement on both sides of the ring.

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Mikkel Kessler destroys Magee, wins WBA super middleweight strap

Mikkel Kessler destroys Magee, wins WBA super middleweight strapBy Michael Collins,, photo: Wende / Team Sauerland – Using a fierce body attack, Mikkel Kessler (46-2, 35 KO’s) chopped down WBA World super middleweight champion Brian Magee (36-5-1, 25 KO’s) in a third round TKO on Saturday night to capture his World Boxing Association 168 pound title at the BOXEN, in Herning, Denmark.

Kessler started off slowly but once he figured out that Magee couldn’t handle it to the body, he dropped him with a nice right hand in the 2nd and then another time in the 3rd round. After the knockdown at the start of the 3rd, the fight was halted because Magee was in no shape to continue fighting.

Kessler landed probing shots in the 1st round as he looked for areas to attack the 37-year-old Magee. Kessler landed some nice jabs and a few single right hands but nothing special. The southpaw Magee charged Kessler and hit him with a few nice shots at the end of the round but for the most part it was all Kessler.

In the 2nd round, Kessler noticed that Magee was wincing when he hit him to the body. He then loaded up with a big right hand to the midsection of Magee that put him down. Kessler then continued to hammer Magee to the body, causing him on two occasions to crouch down in pain but not hitting the canvas.

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Mayweather Sr. not interested in Pacquiao-Marquez 4 bout

By Bill Phanco: Floyd Mayweather Sr. doesn’t have a whole lot of interest in tonight’s clash between Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) and Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s), because he says he’s seen too many fights between them in the past where the wrong fighter got his hand raised after the fight.

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Boxing Losers v. Winners

Boxing Losers v. WinnersBy “Old Yank” Schneider

Sentimentalism Defined:

The bloom is off the rose. We all saw it coming with Freddie Roach “wishing” his way to win after win with Amir Kahn. But one more win was not in the cards. Roach fighters would continue to lose. Senshenko…Chavez, Jr….Pacquaio. Wilting in boxing is uglier than it is in any other sport because of the utter sense of downer that follows. There are no other team members to pick you up. When the wilting begins only the solo bloom is there, losing its petals, in what seems a one-act play following an often brilliant career; the soliloquy spoken to an audience that has painfully, quietly and sadly if not pitifully already left the theater. Losing it at the end of a career in boxing is the ultimate solo performance — this rose by any other name does not smell sweet.

The fans are already leaving. We know it to be true. It is the legacy of the old ushering in the new — especially so when all the others have gone — evidenced by them playing their hedging comments out in the blogosphere before the bout has even begun.

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Marquez wants to KO Pacquiao to remove the judges from the equation

Marquez wants to KO Pacquiao to remove the judges from the equationBy Bill Phanco: Former four division world champion Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) will be looking to knock Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) clean out on Saturday in their fourth fight between them. Marquez, 39, wants to take the judges completely out of their position of being able to sit as the decider in this fight by knocking Pacquiao and making sure that he won’t be on the receiving end of another controversial decision like in the past three fights.

Speaking with the BBC Sport, Marquez said “I am looking for the knockout. I have trained really hard, and I feel ready. I am looking for the knockout because the judge gave another [bad decision in last Pacquiao fight].”
Marquez has got the body and the strength now to accomplish his goal. He looks even more muscular than in his last fight against Pacquiao, and in that fight Marquez looked powerful.

If Marquez’s extra muscles equate to more power than Pacquiao could be in for a brutal beating tomorrow night because he and his trainer Freddie Roach have already said that they’re going to take the fight to Marquez to try and overwhelm him with punches. Roach seems to believe that the answer to beating guys like Marquez and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is to try and overwhelm their defenses.

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Kessler vs. Magee tomorrow night for WBA 168 lb title

Kessler vs. Magee tomorrow night for WBA 168 lb title(Photo credit: Sauerland Events) By Michael Collins: Mikkel Kessler (45-2, 34 KO’s) and Brian Magee (36-4-1, 25 KO’s) weighed in earlier today for their fight on Saturday with Kessler coming in at 167.8 pounds and Magee at 168 for their bout at the BOXEN, Herning, Denmark. Kessler, 33, is a huge favorite in this fight, as he has the bigger power, better hand speed, bigger size and the much bigger talent than Magee. Kessler also four years younger than the 37-year-old Magee, and that’s something that will help as well.

Magee has been fighting well lately and has won his last two fights, but he’s traditionally crumbled when stepping it up against quality opposition in losses to Lucian Bute, Carl Froch, Robin Reid and Vitaliy Tsypko. He’s got good power but not the kind of power that will get him past Kessler unless Kessler has really gone downhill since his last fight.

Kessler was knocked down in the 1st round in his last fight by Allan Green last May. Kessler came back to stop Green in the 4th round with a tremendous left hook, but it does cause you to wonder what would have happened to Kessler had he fought someone that was throwing a lot of punches at him. Green only threw a few punches in the entire fight, and yet he had Kessler hurt and on the deck. If Magee can land a decent amount of shots on Kessler’s chin we could see an upset tomorrow night.

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Maloney Statement on Fury vs Price

An offer was made to Tyson Fury guaranteeing him a £650,000 purse to challenge David Price for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles.

Tyson’s promoter Mick Hennessy turned down the offer, describing it as a “joke” and added that David would have to “step up to the plate on our terms”.

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Pacquiao expecting Marquez to be a stationary

Pacquiao expecting Marquez to be a stationaryBy Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao has a perfect explanation for why he’s not looked good since his win over Miguel Cotto in 2009. He says it’s because all of his opponents have been literally running from him in the ring instead of standing stationary and slugging it out in an old fashioned style of fighting that Pacquiao favors.

Pacquiao thinks that his opponent for Saturday night Juan Manuel Marquez will look to slug it out the entire time so that they can giving boxing fans a show that will please them, and at the same time finally prove who the better fighter is between them.

Pacquiao said to Sky Sports News “It just happens that in the last three fights I’ve fought people who run around, who won’t fight me toe-to-toe. I expect more action…I’m expecting him [Marquez] to try to prove something and fight toe-to-toe with me.”

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Pacquiao with four pound weight advantage over Marquez

Pacquiao with four pound weight advantage over MarquezBy Steve Mabbott: Juan Manuel Marquez had looked huge during his training video on the HBO Pacquiao-Marquez 24/7 episodes, but during today’s weigh-in for Saturday’s Las Vegas based fight, Marquez weighed in at only 143 lbs, a whole four pounds lighter than the 147 pound Manny Pacquiao.

This is interesting because unless Marquez rehydrates to a much higher weight, we’re likely to see Pacquiao as the bigger guy tomorrow night. It sort of makes a lot of sense because Marquez walks around at 145 lbs in between fights, and he has to eat like crazy just to stay up in weight. He’s a light welterweight, and Pacquiao is now a natural welterweight.

The last time Pacquiao fought Marquez in November of last year, Pacquiao had a one pound advantage in weight at 143 to 142 for Marquez. In their 2008 fight, Marquez had a one pound weight advantage at 130 to 129 for Pacquiao. And in their first fight in 2004, both fighters came in at 125 lbs.

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