Khan and McCloskey in talks for rematch in December

Khan and McCloskey in talks for rematch in December By Michael Collins: To show you how far down Amir Khan’s once promising career has plummeted, he’s now looking to go over old ground by taking on a domestic level fighter in 33-year-old Paul McCloskey (24-2, 12 KO’s) in a rematch in December. McCloskey, at one time a contender in the light welterweight division, he’s lost two out of his last four fights [three if you count his gift decision over Breidis Prescott].

In an interview with the BBC Sport, McCloskey’s manager Francie McNichol said “Both parties are serious. The dates being mentioned are 8 or 15, December in Manchester…I would expect that something will be decided in the next week.”

There’s a couple of ways to look at it. One, Khan you could possibly see it as Khan giving up on being a world class fighter and just focusing on facing domestic level opposition in the UK to collect easy paydays to milk his still very high popularity over there.

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The life of Brian – Magee vs. Kessler

By Frank Walsh: Born and raised in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. Brian Magee’s journey began as an amateur boxer, representing Holy Trinity boxing club in Belfast. A highly successful amateur career saw Magee bag four Ulster senior titles, a Commonwealth bronze medal and a place on Ireland’s boxing team at the 1996 Olympic Games.

Turning professional in March 1999, Magee’s boxing career would ascend to the upper echelon of the super middleweight division. Defeating Britan’s Neil Linford of Britain, provided him his first professional title, the IBO intercontinental super middleweight strap in January of 2001.

Magee successfully defended the title on eight occasions before lifting the British super middleweight title, beating the previously undefeated Scot, Stevie Maguire.

Returning from a thirteen month absence from the ring, and showing no signs of ring rust, Magee defeated Mads Larsen to be crowned the European super middleweight champion.

Last year proved what would be a standout year for Magee when on the 9th of March he entered the ring to wage war, for the WBA super middleweight title against Lucian Bute in front of a partisan crowd in Canada.

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Deontay Wilder to fight on December 15th, possibly on Showtime

By Rob Smith: Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer is saying that unbeaten heavyweight prospect Deontay Wilder (25-0, 25 KO’s) is being slated to get back in the ring on December 15th in a fight that would wind up being televised on Showtime. There still isn’t an opponent picked out for Wilder for that date, but unbeaten Bryant Jennings (15-0, 7 KO’s) is a slight possibility for that fight.

Jennings, Wilder and Main Events have been battling back and forth on twitter since last night with an offer being made from Main Events, Jennings’ promoter, to Wilder’s promoter at Golden Boy. The offer made for the fight was $20,000, and Schaefer doesn’t look as if he’s going to accept that.

Wilder’s trainer Jay Deas said to RingTV “There’s room for negotiation, and that’s something we’ll explore but there would have to be a lot of negotiation.”

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Ricky Hatton: Chasing the Past

By Padraig Ivory: I once saw a black and white photo of Ricky Hatton as he lay unconscious after his last bout in 2009. His ripped abdominal muscles almost gave a cobblestone appearance to the Las Vegas canvas. It was a devastating knockout of the raucously supported English favourite. Now three years later ‘The Hitman’ is preparing both physically and mentally to re-enter the boxing ring.

Envision the early runs. The dew unevenly evaporating from the terrain as the nights shadows slowly recede. The footpaths appear two toned, the white frost fading towards the kerbs edge. His warm breath vaporising as it meets the cooler morning air. The thoughts and dreams of the former champion oscillating to and fro as he paces the city streets.

Turning by Victoria Station he automatically decelerates to a slow jog. Nostalgia weighs heavy. The blurring figure of a younger Ricky Hatton running that same street overtakes the now 33 year old. Inspired by the vivid memory he speeds up, chasing his younger image.

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The Best Match-Ups That Can Be Made Today: From Heavyweight To Bantamweight!

By James Slater: Wanna see a good fight? We’ve seen some great, dramatic fights this year (think Martinez-Chavez, Maidana-Karass, Brook-Jones, Garcia-Khan to name but a few) and 2012 has more promising action still in store. But next year, 2013, could be even better – in fact a whole lot better.

How? By making these fights become a reality.

This is the way I see it, anyway: from heavyweight on down, the best match-ups that can be made next year……..

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Malik Scott: “I Would Love to Get a Crack At Seth Mitchell. I Believe His Style is Picture Perfect for Me”

Exclusive Interview by Charles White – Congratulations on the big win Malik. How are you feeling after this big victory?

MS: Thanks bro, I’m feeling great. I hopped right back in the gym the same night after the fight and I think I was more sore from my after fight workout then the actual fight. Personally, I don’t even consider that a big win for me. It was easy work and I beat the shit out of Bowie with basically one hand the whole fight so now it’s on to the next so-called test, whoever the hell that’s supposed to be.

For those who didn’t get the opportunity to see the fight, walk us through it briefly. What was working for you and how did you put an end to this fight?

MS: Like I said before it was easy work. I used my jab, I was dressed down in defense and Bowie was looking for one shot all night that he never could land. It was so much more obvious I could have done more to make Bowie quit a lot more sooner than he did and that was my main reason for leaving the venue that night directly after the fight and going straight to the gym to fill in the loop holes of things that I didn’t capitalize on that night against Bowie. As a matter of fact he should consider himself very lucky.

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Sergio Martinez ultimately wants a fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.

(Photo credit: Adrian Hernandez) By Joseph Herron: After securing his dominance in the Middleweight division with an undefeated three year, six bout campaign, the world of boxing has suddenly become Sergio Martinez’s oyster at the tender age of 37.

While many fight fans are clamoring for an immediate rematch with former WBC Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, most boxing scribes see many more enticing match-ups residing south of the Middleweight border for “Maravilla”.

Although Martinez has never shied away from a challenge, DiBella Entertainment’s “Boxing Publicist” Kevin Rooney Jr. doesn’t necessarily see a rematch with Junior as the biggest challenge for “Maravilla”.

“Sergio absolutely dominated that fight for eleven rounds and ninety seconds,” professes the Junior Middleweight fighter. “A lot of fans seem to be demanding a rematch based on the twelfth round, which is fine. Sergio is by no means leery of getting back in the ring with Chavez, but we think it turns out pretty much the same way as their first encounter.”

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Vanes Martirosyan: “The WBC should hand over Canelo Alvarez’s belt after I beat Erislandy Lara”

By Joseph Herron:, photo by Adrian Hernandez — On November 10th, at the Wynn Las Vegas, “The Nightmare” Vanes Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KOs) will finally get it on with elite level talent Erislandy Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs) in the co main event of a tremendous double header, slated to be aired on “HBO Boxing After Dark”.

The highly anticipated bout will determine the mandatory challenger for the current WBC Junior Middleweight Champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KOs).

“The Nightmare” from Armenia claims that the WBC mandatory position is somewhat of a dubious formality.

“In my opinion, the two best fighters at 154 pounds will be facing each other on November 10th. Both Lara and I would knock-out Canelo if he were to step in the ring with either one of us, so the WBC should just give the belt to the winner of our fight and just tell Canelo to go home because he’s never going to fight us.”

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What’s Behind Pacquiao’s Decision to Drop Lawsuit

By Paul Strauss: The latest news release reveals Manny Pacquiao is dropping his defamation lawsuit against the Mayweathers in exchange for an undisclosed settlement. In addition, the Mayweathers have to endure some humiliation by releasing a statement explaining they never intended to imply Manny used PEDs, and none of their previous comments should in any way be construed as such. Talk about foul tasting!

Don’t you find it interesting this is coming soon after a judge ordered Floyd Mayweather, Jr. to pay Manny’s legal fees? The judge apparently felt Floyd failed to cooperate. Floyd’s reason or alibi’s given for failing to appear on prescribed dates for depositions were not acceptable. Another way of looking at it is Floyd was refusing to comply with his legal obligation to be deposed. At least that’s the way the judge looked at it. The possibly of giving testimony under oath was obviously not something Floyd, Jr relished. That possibility was harder to swallow than the crow he is now eating.

Alas, it’s a safe bet the undisclosed amount Floyd, Jr. has agreed to pay to Manny is going to be somewhere close to five percent of the projected purse for their long awaited and hoped for match. Remember, just a few days ago, Manny announced he would take 45% to Little Money’s 55%.

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David Haye: All Bravado, No Bottle 2.0

Back in March 2011, I wrote an article entitled the same as this one minus the “2.0.” I opined that Haye’s performance against Wladimir Klitschko in a match that unified three of the heavyweight belts (WBA, WBO and IBF) was disgraceful and shameful given all of the chest-pounding, insults and smack talk that allowed David Haye the opportunity to fight a Klitschko brother for a title belt.

To say Haye failed to live up to his bravado before the fight with Wladimir Klitschko is an understatement. Haye was excoriated around the globe for his pathetic performance and embarrassing attempt to blame the loss on a hurt toe, and, for flopping like a professional soccer player attempting to draw a penalty.

Now, Haye claims that he wants a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko before Dr. Ironfist retires from boxing. Bravado.

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