Adrien Broner fans want to see him fight Rios or Garcia next, not Burns

Adrien Broner fans want to see him fight Rios or Garcia next, not Burns By Ed Patrick: WBC lightweight champion Adrien Broner (25-0, 21 KO’s) may wind up fighting a unification bout against WBO lightweight champion Ricky Burns (35-2, 10 KO’s) next, but that’s not the guy that boxing fans want to see Broner fight. Burns is down in the pecking order in terms of who boxing fans want to see Broner fight, although they do have some interest in seeing that fight. In a poll conducted by RingTV, fans want Broner to fight Brandon Rios or Danny Garcia next followed by Burns.

Here’s the results of the poll thus far:

Brandon Rios 28.4%
Danny Garcia 24.2%
Ricky Burns 13.3%
Lucas Mattysse 11.9%
Juan Manuel Marquez 11.1%
Amir Khan 9.3%
Miguel Vazquez 1.8%

No doubt the boxing fans who want to see Broner fight Burns are largely from the UK, because the casual fans in the U.S have little idea of who Burns is. That’s not likely going to keep Broner’s promoters at Golden Boy Promotions from making a Broner vs. Burns fight if possible, but it should. If boxing fans as a whole don’t have a clue who Burns is then Golden Boy shouldn’t waste one of Broner’s valuable fights by putting him in with a little known fighter.

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Haye to Hatton: Don’t listen to the haters

By Michael Collins: Former two division world champion David Haye gave a bit of encouragement to Ricky Hatton for his fight on Saturday night against Vyacheslav Senchenko, telling him not to listen to the criticism from fans and the media about his comeback fight.

Haye said on his site at hayemaker.com “Wishing you good luck tomorrow. Don’t listen to the haters. Just go out and do your thing. I know you wouldn’t be coming back if it wasn’t for a reason. I think you have a little something left. You have a little something up your sleeve. I wouldn’t be surprised to see. Go out and do your thing. Stay healthy.”

I never really saw Hatton’s problems in the past stemming from confidence or lack thereof. That to me seemed to be the last of Hatton’s problems. I think Hatton’s problems were more of a case of his lack of defense, his wild fighting style, and his inability to take hard head shots. It was a combination of things that was ultimately Hatton’s undoing when he got to the upper levels of the welterweight division. It wasn’t just one thing.

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Froch awaits Ward after he beats Pavlik on 1/26

By Michael Collins: A well paying rematch with IBF super middleweight champion Carl Froch is what WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (26-0, 14 KO’s) has to look forward to after he takes care of business against former WBC/WBO middleweight champion Kelly Pavlik (40-2, 34 KO’s) on January 26th at the Galen Center, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

There’s little doubt that Ward will take care of the slow moving, slow punching Pavlik without any problems just as Bernard Hopkins and Sergio Martinez did. Ward wants to fight Froch again to shut him up, and prove that his win over him last December in the Super Six tournament finals wasn’t just a fluke thing. Oddly enough, two of the judges scored it a close fight by the scores of 115-113, and this has given Froch the belief that he almost beat Ward.

Froch says he knows how to beat Ward now, and wants to get him over to Europe to face him in his home city of Nottingham. Ward is amused by this, and he hasn’t said no to the idea.

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Hatton talking retirement if he loses to Senchenko

By Michael Collins: Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) could be putting his career on the line in his comeback fight against Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Manchester Arena. Hatton doesn’t believe in sticking around and wasting his time if he doesn’t have it anymore, and Senchenko, if nothing else, will be a good gauge for the 34-year-old Hatton if he has enough left to compete and capture a world title.

Hatton said this as quoted by thesun.co.uk “I’ll quit if I lose. If the worse happens so be it.”

Hatton’s putting a lot of pressure on himself by coming back and taking on a reasonably good world class fighter in Senchenko. This guy may not be in the same class as fighters like Floyd Mayweather Jr., Andre Berto, Manny Pacquiao – or even Paulie Malignaggi – but he’s definitely a fringe world class contender. Hatton hasn’t seen action in a long time and it’s going to be tough for him to be able to perform at the level that he’s been accustomed to fighting in the distant past.

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Hatton: You’re going to see a better version of me against Senchenko

By Michael Collins: Former two division world champion Ricky Hatton (45-2, 32 KO’s) will be making his long awaited comeback on Saturday night against Vyacheslav Senchenko (32-1, 21 KO’s) at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Few fans are expecting Hatton to be at his very best for this fight.

After all, he’s lost 5 stone [70 lbs], and he honestly hasn’t been in a real fight since November 2008 when he beat Paulie Malignaggi by an 11th round TKO. Hatton did fight Manny Pacquiao in May of 2009, but Hatton was blown out so quickly in that fight that he barely had time to throw a handful of shots before he was taken out by a prime Pacquiao.

Hatton said thesun.co.uk “You watch me on Saturday night. I have really turned the clock back…After the defeat against Pacman, people say ‘no way can he come back the same.’ They are fight because this version is better.”

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Deontay Wilder to display his skills on Showtime against Price on 12/15

By Marcus Richardson: Unbeaten heavyweight Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) will have the perfect vehicle to be seen by millions in his next fight against Kelvin Price (13-0, 6 KO’s) on December 15th with it being televised by SHowtime at the Sports Arena, in Los Angeles, California, USA.

IBF/IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, his currently trainer Johnathon Banks and his late trainer Emanuel Steward all see great things of the 27-year-old Wilder and believe he can be a future heavyweight champion. Steward himself told RingTV that he sees Wilder fighting for a world title in the next 12 months.

The 6’7″ Wilder has got the power and the hand speed to be something special. He’s not just a tall slow guy like a lot of taller fighters are. He’s got excellent hand speed and he can punch with major power with either hand. His right hand is possibly the best in all of boxing, and his left hook isn’t far behind. In his recent sparring with Wladimir to get him ready for his fight with Mariusz Wach, Wilder very emerged as his #1 sparring partner and Wladimir was really impressed with him.

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Ricky Hatton: “There’s Only One and We Love Him For It”

By Marc Livitz: No one knows what it’s like to be the fat man, or was it the bad man? Throughout the past few years, Ricky Hatton has managed to be a bit of both.

The true and fire tested man of the people became the exact opposite of that as he retreated into the heart of darkness. He used cocaine and was even filmed doing so. He also contemplated and attempted suicide. The fact that much of the sports media took this information and displayed it with such repulsive self delight and gratification didn’t help matters very much.

It goes without saying that oftentimes the happiest of the bunch is also the one who is doing his best to shove the closet full of skeletons shut and keep us in the dark about the sad facts. The money, fame and admiration for which so many athletes strive for came naturally to the “Hitman”.

In a way, the hard work and sacrifice that he put forth in the gym, and subsequently in the ring, allowed him to worry less about the bills and gave him the chance to stay grounded in his community…and at times, face down in the local pub. His legions of fans related to the working man persona which Hatton displayed. The Manchester legend played darts and was known to drink a pint or ten with just about anyone. Some would give just about anything to meet their sporting hero. All it took to do so in Ricky’s case was just to extend your hand.

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Guerrero has bulked up for Berto fight: Will it help him?

By Brian Wade: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) has bulked up since his last bout last July and he’s considerably bigger as he goes into his fight with Andre Berto (28-1, 22 KO’s) on Saturday night at the Citizens Business Bank Arena, Ontario, California, USA.

Guerrero now looks like a legitimate welterweight, and judging by how much size he’s put on recently he could probably easily make 154 if he wanted to. However, just because Guerrero was able to bulk up by doing a lot of pushups doesn’t mean he’s going to be bigger puncher and he’s going to have to be for him to compete with Berto.

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Arum: There’s a possibility of a 5th Pacquiao-Marquez fight

By Rob Smith: When asked if we could be seeing a future fifth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum couldn’t rule it out, saying this during Tuesday’s telephone conference call: “There is a possibility. [Sugar Ray] Robinson and [Jake] Lamotta fought six time.”

Watching Pacquiao and Marquez fight for a fifth time is kind of scary because it seems like the fight has been played out too many times and is little more than just a money grab at this point. Both guys are showing signs of fading and it’s not nearly as interesting now to see them still fighting each other. It’s as if Arum has fought something that works and he doesn’t want to look to fight other bouts for his fighter Pacquiao.

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Is Bob Arum cashing out on Kelly Pavlik?

Robert Jackson – It was recently announced that Kelly Pavlik will be facing Andre Ward on January 26, 2013. Good fight for the fans, not so good a fight for Pavlik in this writer’s opinion. Pavlik from Youngstown Ohio – now fighting out of Robert Garcia’s fight academy in Oxnard California, best wins were against stationary, come forwards type fighters, who were there to be hit by Pavlik’s power shots.

Pavlik’s losses came against ring technicians who employed angles and movement to avoid being hit by Pavlik and then countered well. Losing to Bernard Hopkins who mugged, and outhustled Pavlik could be the fight that his January 26th fight may end up looking like tactically and outcome wise. Ward does everything Hopkins does better and with youthful vigor. In Ward’s last fight he even showed power by putting Chad Dawson down 3 times during that fight, even though Dawson’s weight loss played a part.

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