Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka: Head to Head

By Joseph Herron Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka: Head to Head – On Saturday night, October 13th, from the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, pound for pound fighter and current IBF/WBO Super Bantamweight Champion Nonito Donaire (29-1, 18 KOs) will attempt to diversify his already successful boxing portfolio as he takes on the WBC Champion Emeritus Toshiaki Nishioka (39-4-3, 24 KOs).

The Championship contest is part of a spectacular double header, which will be broadcast tonight on HBO Boxing After Dark, beginning at 10 PM EST/PST.

While many fight fans and boxing scribes are clamoring for a super fight between Nonito and current WBA Champion Guillermo Rigondeaux, tonight’s main event will pit the Ring recognized number one ranked 122 pound fighter against number three.

Because of his exposure on Showtime and HBO, it would be natural to assume that Donaire would be entering the ring as the number one ranked Super Bantamweight in the world.

But he’s not.

Toshiaka Nishioka is considered to be the number one fighter in the packed 122 pound weight division…and for good reason. The Tokyo, Japan based fighter hasn’t lost since entering the Super Bantamweight division back in 2004, defeating his opposition in convincing and impressive fashion.

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Brandon Rios-Mike Alvarado: Excitement Guaranteed

By Peter Wells: While the main event between Toshiaki Nishioka and Nonito Donaire may turn out to be a contender for fight of the year, it still may not be the fight of the night. That’s because in the co-main event, Brandon Rios and Mike Alvarado, two of the most entertaining fighters in boxing square off in what could very well be one of the greatest fights in a long time.

Both fighters are unbeaten, they have a combined record of 63-0-1 – Brandon Rios drew in a 10 rounder 4 years ago. Not only that but Brandon Rios has 22 knockouts from 30 wins while Alvarado has 23 knockouts from 33 wins. Alvarado’s opposition though isn’t a shade on Rios’, but the way he has dispatched those put in front of him shows he is ready for this step up in class. 16 of those knockouts for Alvarado have come in the first 4 rounds. His most impressive victory came in November last year when he came from behind to stop the tough Breidis Prescott in the final round. Alvarado suffered a horrific laceration on the corner of his upper lip, but battled though, wearing his opponent down before a late stoppage.

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Adonis “Superman” Stevenson stops Don “Da Bomb” George in 12

By Joseph Herron: In a fight dedicated to legendary trainer Emanuel Steward, Super Middleweight contender Adonis “Superman” Stevenson (19-1, 16 KOs) went eleven plus rounds with the always rugged Don “Da Bomb” George (23-3-1, 20 KOs) before putting him away with only 1:57 left in the fight.

Known for being one of the hardest punchers in the division, the new IBF mandatory challenger to Carl Froch’s Super Middleweight title showed off his much improved technical skills that he’s been cultivating at the world renowned Kronk Gym in Detroit, Michigan with Steward and chief second Javan “Sugar” Hill.

In what started out as a tactical fight, the 35 year old Canadian resident controlled the action with sporadic right jabs to the body and head of the hard-nosed Chicago resident. Although George staggered the hometown favorite in the third round with a big right hand bomb, it was Stevenson who was regularly getting the better of the exchanges and throwing the wider variety of punches throughout the majority of the bout.

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Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka & Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: Weigh-in report

By Joseph Herron: Earlier today from the Marriott Manhattan Beach on the southern California coastline, all four marquee fighters participating in tomorrow night’s HBO Boxing After Dark double header, Donaire vs. Nishioka and Rios vs. Alvarado, stepped on the official California State Athletic Commission scale to gain their respective division eligibility.

If the crowd in attendance anticipated some heated moments throughout the media event, they were ultimately disappointed. All four combatants were professional and courteous to their respective foes during the entire Top Rank special presentation.

The big question going into the official weigh-in was whether or not Brandon Rios was finally going to make the division weight limit to become eligible to compete for the WBO Latino Junior Welterweight title tomorrow night.

Before his previous two bouts, “Bam Bam” twice failed to make the Lightweight division limit of 135 pounds and wasn’t permitted to compete for the WBA lightweight Championship, although ultimately being cleared to fight.

Before the event, trainer Robert Garcia insisted that Brandon would be able to make 140 pounds comfortably.

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Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios vs. Mike Alvarado: Expert trainer analysis

By Joseph Herron: In the co-main event of the greatly anticipated doubleheader on October 13th, at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, undefeated former WBO Lightweight Champion Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios (30-0-1, 22 KOs) will be competing in the talent enriched Junior Welterweight division for the first time against the dangerous and unbeaten Mike “Mile High” Alvarado (33-0, 23 KOs) from Denver, Colorado.

“The Pugilist KOrner’s” expert boxing strategist, James Gogue, believes the ten round special event has the makings of a potential “Fight of the Year” candidate.

“This is a fight fan’s dream match-up that has become a stark reality this Saturday,” claims the 29 year experienced trainer. “I know a lot of praise always goes to the promoter and matchmaker whenever a beautifully brutal style match-up like this one is made, but the true credit goes to the fighters who are willing to enter the ring and face the toughest opponents in their respective weight class.”

“These are two undefeated fighters who have a history of imposing their will onto every opponent they’ve faced up to this point; two fighters who don’t like to take a back step to their adversary. Who will eventually get their way in the ring on October 13th? This is a real 50/50 fight in which I can’t really picture either man conceding to defeat.”

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David Price vs. Audley Harrison: Battle of the Olympians

By Peter Wells: What does a Gold medal really mean? How can it be enjoyed when all it brings with it is expectation and pressure? It has taken Audley Harrison 12 years to finally be able to enjoy the feeling of being a Gold medallist. The ridiculous pressure that Audley has faced since winning the Heavyweight Gold medal at the Sydney Games in 2000, have at last been removed from his shoulders and he can look back at his memorable moment with joy, rather than stressing over a future that will never glisten as bright as that medal around his neck. Anthony Joshua has now taken the load from Audley’s 40 year old shoulders as he will now be under the microscope throughout his career after capturing the Heavyweight Gold for Great Britain at this years Olympics.

This means for once all eyes aren’t sternly staring down at Harrison, when he meets the up-and-coming British and Commonwealth Champion, David Price. The giant Liverpudlian is hot property right now, coming off the back of 3 big early knockout victories.

In 2008, David Price tried to replicate what his opponent did 8 years prior, but was stopped in the semi-finals by Italian Roberto Cammeralle. Price did come home from Beijing with a bronze medal, and was quickly swooped up by Frank Maloney.

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Nonito Donaire vs. Toshiaki Nishioka: Will it be the return of the Filipino Flash?

By Peter Wells: Knockout after knockout after knockout. That was what it was like to be Nonito Donaire. Suddenly though a move to Super Bantamweight has halted Donaire’s fan pleasing knockout style and suddenly his fights are dragging out into one-sided 12 rounders.

On Saturday night maybe that spark he once possessed will return when he faces his toughest test at Super Bantamweight and may well be his toughest fight of his career. Toshiaki Nishioka may be 36 but is unbeaten since 2004 and has never lost at Super Bantamweight. After two early career defeats he has only lost twice, both defeats at the hands of the fantastic Thailand fighter, Veeraphol Sahaprom, both via unanimous decision. The Japanese fighter has also only ever been stopped once, and that was in his second professional fight back in 1995.

The former WBC champion, who had his title stripped after he couldn’t fight his mandatory challenger due to personal problems, has beaten many top quality fighters including; Jhonny Gonzalez, Ivan Hernandez, Rafael Marquez and Britain’s most famous binman, Rendall Munroe.

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Where does Juan Manuel Marquez rank in the history of Mexican boxing?

By Emilio Camacho, Esq. Mexico has an impressive imprint in boxing history. The current most dominant Mexican boxer is Juan Manuel Marquez. Several of you have emailed me asking where does Marquez stand in history.

Experts will argue that Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. and Salvador Sanchez rank above Marquez. This is not hard to justify. In addition, I believe that Ricardo “Finito” Lopez should be ranked above Marquez. Lopez was the most dominant force in Mexican boxing and retired undefeated. However, Chavez and Sanchez arguably had the better opposition.

What is important to think about is not how Marquez ranks in all-time Mexican boxing history but rather how he ranks in his own era. This is because there are two other fighters, Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales, who dominated that era for a long time, and actually overshadowed Marquez for many years while all three had active boxing careers. This is significant because it is rare to have great talent at the same time, though it has certainly happened before (Ali, Frazier, Foreman as well as Leonard, Duran, and Hagler are some examples).

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Chris Byrd Interview: The Former Two-Time Heavyweight Champ Talks About “The Byrd’s Eye View”

By James Slater — Former WBO and IBF heavyweight champ Chris Byrd, a slick stylist who recently hung up the gloves on an illustrious yet at times unappreciated career, feels he and many of his fellow fighters have a pretty tough time of it when it comes to getting a fair shake from today’s boxing commentators.

“Rapid Fire,” now aged 42 and leaving the game with a 41-5-1(22) record in early 2009, wants to give the fans and the sport a new-look boxing show. Set to be unleashed on the web (as well as on You Tube and a number of other internet outlets) this month, “The Byrd’s Eye View” promises to pull no punches. Tired of the often negative attitude a number of the current well known crop of T.V commentators have, and as weary of their on-air criticism (often from people who, as Chris points out, have never ever boxed; HBO legend Larry Merchant being at the top of his hit list!), the southpaw is looking forward to letting people more qualified to call a fight do the talking.

Along with his own, in-the-firing-line-acquired knowledge of the fight game, Byrd will have a number of fellow pros, both active and retired, assisting him to give it real to the fans. Byrd’s show will consist of pre-recorded shows and, later on, live shows that take in big fights – with shows planned for Las Vegas and, next year, London.

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Mikey Garcia: “A fight with Yuriorkis Gamboa is ultimately the bout that I want”

By Joseph Herron: With an HBO date already scheduled for November 10th, and a big title fight with WBO Featherweight Champion Orlando Salido on the 2013 horizon, 126 pound contender Mikey Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs) is ready to make his mark in boxing.

The undefeated 24 year old fighter is slated to face tough Argentine Jonathan Victor Barros (34-3-1, 18 KOs) in the main event of a brilliant double header on HBO Boxing After Dark next month. His original assignment was supposed to be a title opportunity against the hard punching WBO champ, but Salido was sidelined after inadvertently slamming his index finger in a car door.

While some boxing pundits have questioned the decision of Top Rank and manager Cameron Dunkin to fulfill the November HBO date rather than wait for the championship opening, Mikey feels confident in his team and his abilities in the ring.

“Because we’ve already committed to fighting on November 10th, and we don’t know when Salido is going to be ready to get back in the ring, we decided to go ahead and fight Jonathan Victor Barros. I’m not too concerned with whether or not it’s a good or bad idea to take an interim fight with a title opportunity on hold; my primary concern is winning the fight on November 10th and getting a decisive victory.”

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