A Measured Storm: Fury vs. Johnson

A Measured Storm: Fury vs. Johnson By Phenyo Molefe: Given Tyson Fury’s previous bouts, recent outbursts and the clear articulation of his goals; one would not be at fault to believe that we were about to witness Tyson unleash punishment on an ‘ill-prepared’ but proven Kevin Johnson. Tyson had to make a statement.

In the opening round, Fury jumped on Johnson with some jabs to the body not giving him sufficient time to find his footing. It looked like we were about to see a new and revised Fury as he presented movement and a variation of punches from all angles. He moved with improved fluidity, comfortably establishing his range and following through with some meaningful combinations.

The second round, begun with the near feverish pace with which Fury had ended the last round. Fuming with a blizzard, setting the jab on a stinger as he pelted Johnson’s body with little restraint. Johnson did have a little success when he pinned Tyson in the corner for a moment or two; however Fury replied with a pivot setting pressure back on Johnson with some telling hooks. He was definitely boxing well and grew in confidence, taking firm control of the bout.

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Roach: We [Pacquiao] still want Mayweather

By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach is still hoping that 35-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. will perk up and show some interest in facing 34-year-old Manny Pacquiao before it’s too late. It’s not looking good, however. Pacquiao just lost his last fight to Tim Bradley, and he could lose this one on Saturday against Juan Manuel Marquez in Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s not to say that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight couldn’t still get made and end up as successful one, but it won’t get the attention that it would if they made the fight with both guys still winning more or less.

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Pacquiao: I’m going to attack Marquez and pressure him constantly

By Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) is going to attempt to use an old strategy from his youth this Saturday night in trying to beat the 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez (54-6-1, 39 KO’s) in their pay per view bout on HBO at the MGM Grand, Grand Garden Arena, in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Pacquiao said to the sports.inquirer.net “I intend to attack him, pressure him.”

In his sparring sessions, Pacquiao has been overwhelming his less talented sparring partners in short four round sparring events. However, going all out in short sparring against over-matched sparring partners isn’t going to be the same as what Pacquiao will be dealing with on Saturday night against Marquez. He’s not a sparring partner, and this isn’t going to be a four round fight.

If Pacquiao goes all out in the first four rounds, he’s likely to gas out in the second half of the fight like he did against Tim Bradley last June and possibly lose.

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Ahmet Öner: Felix Sturm bought his Superchampion title

In an Interview with the German TV magazine format ‘Sport Inside’ (WDR) on Monday, the Turkish born former promoter Ahmet Öner claims to have bought Felix Sturm’s WBA Superchampion title two and a half years ago in an effort to salvage Sturm’s career.

Öner told Sport Inside WDR: “With this belt Sturm wasn’t obligated to make mandatory defenses. Sturm was able to fight whoever he wanted to, hand-picked opponents. That’s how he managed to pocket big paydays with his TV partner SAT1, he collected 7-figure Euro sums for each event. And that’s how Felix, over the course of five or six fights, made a nice little fortune. I assume the total sum is closer to 8-digits than not. All this was possible just because he had the “Superchampion” title; a paper title he bought. He paid a couple hundred thousand Euros, and the return on investment was huge. Without this Superchampion title he wouldn’t have had this degree of freedom to pick his opponents. And Sturm didn’t think the belt had any importance then he would never have paid so much for it in the first place.”

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Schaefer still wants Cotto vs. Alvarez

By Rob Smith: Richard Schaefer, the CEO of Golden Boy Promotions, isn’t going to let Miguel Cotto’s 12 round decision loss to WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout from last Saturday night get in the way of a potential pay per view bout between Cotto and WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. Schaefer still wants to make the Cotto-Alvarez fight despite Cotto losing.

Schaefer said after the fight “There’s still a possibility we’ll see Canelo-Cotto fight.”

This doesn’t sit too well with Trout, who said “You’d think that he’d [Alvarez] be ready to fight me because I beat Miguel Cotto…I beat his brother [Rigoberto Alvarez]…He should want to fight me…There’s nothing left for him to do, besides fight a real junior middleweight, to get another belt. But that’s my thinking. Not everyone thinks like me apparently.”

Alvarez really wants the Cotto fight, and that was one of the three names that he insisted on Golden Boy Promotions getting for him for his next fight on May 4th. Cotto is the only one that Golden Boy can possibly get because Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Sergio Martinez, Alvarez’s other two choices, aren’t breaking down Golden Boy’s door to try and get the fight with Alvarez.

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Canelo fans doubt “No Doubt”

by Paul Strauss: Despite the impressive win by WBA light middleweight champion Austin “No Doubt” Trout 26 (KO14)-0-0 over Miguel Angel “Junito” Cotto 37 (KO 30)-4-0 this past Saturday at Madison Square Garden, fans of WBC light middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez‘ 41(KO 30)-0-1, who was ringside, are confident their red headed warrior will remove all doubt when he meets Trout. It’s likely this matchup will be made, because both fighters eagerly want to unify the title and become the universally recognized light (junior) middleweight champion of the world.

Austin has taken the nickname “No Doubt”, because having doubt implies fear. He trains and conditions his body, his mind and his spirit to remove all doubt. It comes as no surprise that Canelo fans also feel there is no cause for fear on their part, because they see Cinnamon as a fighter who has the needed tools to beat the slick boxing Trout.

The southpaw “No Doubt” beat Cotto by employing a steady, but not necessarily damaging, right jab. It was a jab that gave Cotto fits. He was forced to spend time and effort trying to avoid and work around it. It was a disruption, a gnat in the eye, an irritant, a distraction. It enabled Trout to sneak through with straight lefts to the body and head. It also disrupted Cotto’s rhythm and ability to get off with his shots.

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Austin “No Doubt” Trout: The best kept secret in boxing is revealed

By Joseph Herron, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime: Last night at the famed Madison Square Garden in New York, New York, undefeated WBA Junior Middleweight Champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KOs) retained his title in decisive fashion by winning a wide unanimous decision over three division world champion and future Hall of Famer Miguel Angel Cotto (37-4, 30 KOs) with scores of 119-109 and 117-111 twice.

While many ringside pundits will argue that the judges’ verdict was a little wider than expected, most won’t dispute that the correct fighter won the highly publicized event.

Going into the bout, most casual fight fans weren’t familiar with the slick southpaw and were expecting a customarily clear and resolute victory for the Puerto Rican favorite in his favorite fight domain of Madison Square Garden. Although the Caguas warrior put forth a valiant effort, the experienced ring veteran couldn’t mount an effective assault against the crafty undefeated champion at any time during the twelve round match.

Now that the elite level cat is out of the boxing bag, will Austin reap the benefit of his dominant and decisive victory over one of the sport’s biggest names?

Not just yet.

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Is Adrien Broner vs. Tim Bradley on the Menu?

by Robert Jackson: 8 rounds of destruction highlighted Adrien ‘The Problem’ Broner’s decisive victory over former champion Antonio DeMarco a few weeks back. Broner fought with power, and Broner fought with skill. The underskilled but game DeMarco didn’t have an answer for what ‘The Problem’ brought to the ring that night. Finally DeMarco’s corner made the right decision to throw in the towel because the warrior in DeMarco would’ve never quit and as it was he was taking heavy shots. Shots that a lot of fighters never come back from.

During the post-fight interview Broner went verbal as his alter ego the ‘Can Man’ suggesting that everyone ‘Can’ get some, but never specifically called anyone out. This writer was wondering whether Timothy ‘Desert Storm’ Bradley was watching the HBO telecast. As we all know Bradley who fights under the Top Rank banner has nothing lined up currently and no future bouts involving him have been mentioned. It’s also possible for Bradley to drop down to 140lbs to make a fight against Broner.

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Austin Trout Shows His Mettle In The Garden As Cotto Falls Victim To The “Canelo Curse”

by Bradley Pearson, photo by Tom Casino / Showtime: A subdued wave of anti-climactic reality clouded the historic Madison Square Garden Arena Saturday night, as the hostile pro-Cotto crowd witnessed what just might have been the sun setting on the career of their favourite son.

Three weight world champion Miguel Cotto (37-4, 30 KO’s) suffered his second consecutive defeat in the hands of spirited underdog Austin Trout, who retained his WBA light middleweight crown- along with his unblemished record. An ageing performance from the proud Puerto Rican gladiator, in which Trout’s (26-0, 14 KO’s) physical advantages appeared too big a task to overcome, punishing Cotto down the stretch of the fight. With the alias “No Doubt”, the American didn’t fold under the lights, repeatedly tagging Cotto with the straight left hand at will, while bullying his smaller opponent on the inside- earning what in the end was, a comfortable points decision. Despite having some early success, Cotto ultimately couldn’t find that extra gear we’ve become so accustomed to seeing; that saw him excel in previous bouts. As the fight matured, the defending champion was able to use his range well, keeping Miguel on the outside, even backing him up at times. Whilst surprisingly wide, the verdict was certainly a fair one- and one that was met with the expected rafters of boo’s from the army of Cotto fans.

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Trout defeats Cotto; Jacobs tops Fitzpatrick; Velez destroys Sanchez II

By Rob Smith, photo by Tom Casino/Showtime WBA World junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) may have ruined Miguel Cotto’s big chance of fighting a huge money mega fight against WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez by beating Cotto by a decisive 12 round unanimous decision tonight at Madison Square Garden, in New York, New York, USA. The final judges’ scores were 117-111, 117-111, 119-109.

Trout might have lost out on a knockout in the 9th round when he hit Cotto with a perfectly legal body shot that had Cotto turning his backing away as if he was quitting. The referee gave Cotto a HUGE break by ruling it was a low blow when in fact it was right on the belt and perfectly legal. Cotto was clearly hurt by the shot and really should have knocked out.

Cotto couldn’t land his big shots during the fight, as he missed over and over again. It just looked like he was too small for the 5’10” Trout. When Cotto did land a nice shot, the crowd would roar with applause. However, this actually worked against Cotto because Trout would turn up the pressure on Cotto. It was this way the entire fight with Cotto landing a rare shot and then having to take 10 shots in return from Trout. Cotto was getting nailed with a lot of jabs, and he didn’t seem to have any way of getting out of the shots other than move around the ring. That’s what Cotto did in the second half of the fight. He was moving constantly and not fighting with the aggression that a challenger should be fighting with.

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