Can Virgil Hunter help Khan’s return?

Can Virgil Hunter help Khan's return? by Robert Jackson: News Flash – Amir Khan has left the Freddie Roach camp and now trains under Andre Wards’ trainer Virgil Hunter. Also part of the Hunter camp are fighters Mike Dallas Jr, and Alfredo Angulo – both of whom turned to Hunter after ‘falling hard’ under their previous trainers. Last time we saw Khan in the ring he was getting KO’d by WBC 140lb Champion Danny Garcia. During that fight Khan abandoned his boxing pedigree showing a lot of heart to engage in an exciting street fight, to his own disadvantage.

Also during that fight Freddie Roach was unable to get Khan to follow the game plan and was unable to tell Khan anything in the corner that Khan would obey. Instead Khan threw caution to the wind and engaged in the type of battle that gave Garcia the advantage. After that loss Khan’s team approached Roach with new terms which included making Khan his TOP priority demoting other Roach fighters including Manny Pacquiao to lower priority to make Khan the TOP dog. To this Roach refused.

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Roach still wishes Pacquiao had chosen Bradley to fight rather than Marquez

By Rob Smith: Trainer Freddie Roach says he wished that his fighter Manny Pacquiao had selected WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley to fight next instead of facing Juan Manuel Marquez for a fourth time when they meet on December 8th. Roach has made it clear in the past that Marquez is a really tough fight for Pacquiao and he doesn’t see anything to be gained from fighting him yet another time after having already faced him three separate times.

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Few tickets left for Pacquiao-Marquez 4 bout

By Rob Smith: While the hardcore boxing fans might be incredibly sick of seeing Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez fight endlessly, the casual boxing fans are clearly not bored as they’ve purchased nearly all of the 16,800 tickets for the Pacquiao-Marquez scheduled for December 8th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of Monday morning there were only 3000 tickets left with 13,00 having been sold over the weekend. By now the 3000 remaining tickets are probably reduced to even lower numbers.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum is pretty excited about this, saying to ESPN “We are ecstatic with the response.”

I bet Arum is. The last Pacquiao fight was against Tim Bradley and it reportedly didn’t do well on pay per view. This is one of the reasons why Bradley didn’t get a second chance to beat Pacquiao again.

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The right fight at the right time

By Anthony Loy: How many times have we heard it? Or better yet “doesn’t make financial sense”. Boxing is plagued by quotes like this but sadly a large percentage does hold up under scrutiny.
It was announced last week that Kell Brook turned down a fight with Tim Bradley; this news was met by anger and ridicule in some sections but not by me because when you break it down its perfectly logical.

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Donaire vs. Nishioka; power vs. quickness

by Robert Jackson: Quickness is in the mind, speed is in the body. Quickness is that quantity where ones perceptions – in response to events going on around him/her, are analyzed by the mind in a very short time and a solution is come to very rapidly. Speed is rapid mechanical movement produced by the body. Examples of these would be a sprinter who’s quickness is in play upon hearing the starters gun to rapidly respond and leave the starting blocks, and whose speed motors him/her down the track to the finish line.

Power in mathematical terms is the force (strength) x velocity (speed), where either affects the absolute output. With more force and less speed the power that is produced will exhibit itself as a forceful PUSH. Increase the speed along with that force and the power produced will look like a punch with a lot of pop on it, the kind that produces knockouts. So, depending on the sport you’re engaging in the type of power you want is specific. For example an NFL offensive lineman will develop the force component of power to a very high level to forcefully push defensive linemen and linebackers out of his way to make a running lane for a following halfback. While a boxer will develop force to a optimum level while simultaneously developing speed to a optimum level to have the necessary pop on his punches to KO his opponent rather than just deliver a forceful push.

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Edwin Rodriguez vs. Kelly Pavlik: Expert trainer analysis

By Joseph Herron: On Saturday night, at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Mashantucket, Connecticut, Super Middleweight contender Edwin “La Bomba” Rodriguez (22-0, 15 KOs) made a major statement to the rest of the talent enriched 168 pound weight class by stopping the previously undefeated Jason Escalera (13-1-1, 12 KOs) in impressive fashion while making his first headlining appearance on HBO Boxing After Dark.

After the sensational performance, Rodriguez was very clear in stating that he wanted to tangle with former universally recognized Middleweight Champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik in the near future.

Though it’s clear this bout would be considered a potential fight of the year candidate by most boxing fans and fight scribes before both men ever entered the ring, it’s uncertain which fighter would eventually hold their arm up in victory.

To give fight fans and boxing enthusiasts a closer examination of this fan friendly match-up, master fight strategist James Gogue analyzes the head to head pairing.

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Povetkin to have to wait until next summer to fight Wladimir Klitschko

By Rob Smith: If WBA World heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (25-0, 17 KO’s) really honestly wants a shot against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitshko next year, who you can make an argument that might not really want this fight, then he’s going to have to wait until next summer at the earliest for the fight to happen. There’s talk that the 33-year-old Povetkin’s promoters at Sauerland Events want to put Povetkin in with Wladimir in February of next year. However, that’s not going to happen according to Wladimir’s manager Bernd Boente. If the fight does happen it’s going to take place next summer.

This isn’t exactly a bad thing for Povetkin and Sauerland because it’s not as if he’s going to beat Wladimir anyway. Sure, he’d get a nice payday for the Wladimir fight but he’d out-gunned and totally embarrassed by the 6’6″ Wladimir. Sauerland Events is better off by keeping Povetkin busy fighting the older heavyweights he’s been dining on lately. He picked up the WBA title with a win over Ruslan Chagav, and then has defended it against 42-year-old Cedric Boswell, 39-year-old Hasim Rahman and then a cruiserweight in Marco Huck.

The talk now is that Povetkin will make his defense against 41-year-old Serbian Javo Pudar in either late December or early 2013. With these easy fights who needs Wladimir? All he’ll do is mess things up by ending the Povtkin gravy train by whipping him and sending him back into the contender ranks. I don’t know that Povetkin will ever be a champion again if Wladimir beats him because there’s better heavyweight contenders out than Povetkin.

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Khan vs. Molina fight to be televised on Showtime

By Michael Collins: Showtime reportedly has bought the Amir Khan vs. Carlos Molina fight to televise on their network on December, according to Steve Kim of Maxboxing.com. The Khan-Molina fight could also have unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder fighting on the undercard against an unknown opponent. Molina, 5’6″, is a lightweight contender and would be moving up in weight to face the bigger, faster and stronger Khan. Presumably, the Khan-Molina fight was offered to HBO first but it doesn’t appear there was much interest from them.

A Khan vs. Molina would have been an okay fight for Khan to take earlier in his career but it does seem a tad out of place to be taking place now that he’s a former two-time world champion. There’s also the question about whether a Khan-Molina fight is worthy of being a main event for Showtime. I think it would be an okay ESPN2 level main event but not for Showtime. You’d expect a lot better than this given the size, power and talent differences between Khan and his smaller opponent Molina.

It’s been two years since Molina scored a knockout, which tells you a lot about his power or lack thereof. Molina has been facing little more than B and C level opposition and yet he’s not able to even knock them out.

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Javan “Sugar” Hill: “There is no replacement for Emanuel Steward in Wladimir Klitschko’s training camp”

(Picture credit: Michael Freitag) By Joseph Herron: While camp is just getting underway at Wladimir Klitschko’s customary training facility in Austria, many have pondered the question concerning who will serve as the Heavyweight Champion’s chief second in Hamburg, Germany on November 10th.

Due to an unexpected ailment suffered by Wladimir’s longtime trainer, friend, and mentor, Hall of Fame boxing legend Emanuel Steward, “The Steel Hammer” will find himself in a very unusual situation when he faces undefeated Heavyweight contender Mariusz Wach.

While the usual band of fighters, coaches, and supporters will be on hand to help prepare the popular fighter, the incomparable master strategist and motivator will be unable to reprise his role as head trainer for a title defense that is set to take place in just 41 days.

Emanuel Steward’s nephew and longtime Kronk Gym trainer Javan “Sugar” Hill expounds on the current situation.

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WBC prepared to enforce Junior Middleweight mandatory challenger in 2013

By Joseph Herron – On November 10th, at the Wynn Las Vegas, Vanes Martirosyan will finally face Erislandy Lara in a highly anticipated WBC Junior Middleweight title eliminator, which should place the eventual winner in a Championship contest opposite current WBC title holder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2013.

While many fighters and boxing scribes alike have characterized the WBC’s involvement with Canelo’s championship run as unscrupulous, the president of the WBC has assured boxing fans and all three fighters involved with the 154 pound mini tournament that the eventual mandatory challenger for the WBC Junior Middleweight crown will indeed receive their deserved title opportunity immediately following the conclusion of the big November 10th event.

“Saul Alvarez must defend his title against the winner of the November 10th contest between Vanes Martirosyan and Erislandy Lara,” asserts Don Jose Sulaiman. “If he does not want to face the winner immediately after the conclusion of the contest, then he will have to forfeit the title.”

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