Andre Berto to face K9 Bundrage for the IBF 154 pound title

Andre Berto to face K9 Bundrage for the IBF 154 pound title (Photo credit: Naoki Fakuda/Dibella) By Joseph Herron: On November 24th, Andre Berto and Cornelius Bundrage will return to the ring in a superb match-up for K 9’s coveted IBF Junior Middleweight Championship.

With much media attention being focused on the upcoming Miguel Cotto vs. Austin Trout contest on December 1st, and the long awaited Vanes Martirosyan vs. Erislandy Lara match-up on November 10th, both fighters are anxious to make a resounding statement that would undoubtedly secure their spot among the elite of the packed 154 pound division.

Even though the title fight hasn’t officially been announced, DiBella Entertainment’s “Boxing Publicist”, Kevin Rooney Jr. (4-2, 2 KOs), claims that it will definitely take place on Thanksgiving weekend.

“It’s going to be a tremendous fight,” states the Junior Middleweight fighter. “Andre is looking to re-establish himself as one of the top fighters in boxing. He’s been cleared by the California State Athletic Commission to fight, and now he just wants get back in the ring to do what he does best.”

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Demetrius Andrade Dominates Alexis Hlores

By James Stillerman: Undefeated 24 year old, Providence, Rhode Island pugilists, Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade, continued his climb up the middleweight division with a dominating second round knockout of Alexis “Hurricane” Hlores at the 11th annual Fight to Educate Pro-Am Card at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Andrade, the 2008 US Olympian, dominated the first round as he had Hlores on the ropes throughout and stunned him several times. Andrade continued the dominance into the second round as he knocked down Hlores with a straight left hook. Hlores got up slowly but Andrade was all over him and seconds later sent him to the canvas again curtsey of a right hook. Hlores got up and beat the count; however the referee stopped the bout.

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Chavez Jr. receives small fine from WBC for positive drug test

By Rob Smith: Former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-1-1, 32 KO’s) is getting off without much punishment from the World Boxing Council for having tested positive for marijuana for his last fight against Sergio Martinez on September 15th. Chavez Jr. will receive a $10,000 fine and will be asked to attend a rehabilitation treatment class by the WBC.

As far as suspensions go, the WBC won’t be suspending Chavez Jr. at all despite this being his second drug offense in addition to a DUI incident earlier this year.

WBC president Jose Sulaiman said on the World Boxing Council website “As president of the WBC, I have got in touch with the Board of Governors, and we have decided to fine him $10,000 USD. That money will be donated to an institution for children who suffer from cancer. We also are asking Julio to attend a rehabilitation center and want official confirmation that he’s so doing…The WBC won’t suspend Julio Cesar for an undefined time, because that is not going to help him.”

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Mayweather-Pacquiao settle defamation lawsuit out of court

By Rob Smith: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao have reach an undisclosed out of court settlement to resolve Pacquiao’s defamation lawsuit against Mayweather. The terms are confidential, according to AP. Each party will pay for their own attorney fees for the case.

The lawsuit came about from alleged comments made by Mayweather and his father Floyd Mayweather Sr. that Pacquiao had used banned substances to accomplish his feats. Last week, Mayweather was ordered to pay $114,000 after failing to show up for the Pacquiao case.

With this case behind them this could be the last impediment to putting together a Mayweather-Pacquiao blockbuster pay per view bout in early 2013. Mayweather wants the fight, Pacquiao wants the fight, and the boxing public badly wants to see them fight. Although it might be a little late in the game for the fight to be put together, it’s better late than never.

Pacquiao can’t afford to wait because he’s clearly lost a step and isn’t the same fighter he was three years ago. He lost his last fight to Tim Bradley, and he perhaps should have lost his fight before that against Juan Manuel Marquez.

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The Hatton debate rages on

By Frank Walsh: Every man is born with a burning desire to go beyond our limits. Circumstance dictates how far we are willing to travel to find it. A man that never faces adversity will never know his true potential.

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Ricky Hatton to make an announcement about his next opponent on Friday, Katsidis not likely to be the one

By Rob Smith: Ricky Hatton reportedly will be revealing who his next opponent during a press conference this Friday to discuss his upcoming comeback fight on November 24th in Manchester, England. It was thought that Australian Michael Katsidis would be Hatton’s next opponent, but those rumors were quashed earlier today when Katsidis’s agent Matthew Tripp told Sky Sports News “At this stage there has been no discussions. But it is something that we would consider depending on the purse and depending on the weight.”

So there it is. If Katsidis was going to be the next guy to fight Hatton, he would have been contacted by now, but that’s obviously not the case. It’s probably helped Hatton by boxing fans thinking he’s fighting Katsidis because it gave the impression that Hatton would be fighting someone decent. It might be a huge letdown on Friday if Hatton reveals that he’s fighting someone lesser than Katsidis. For Hatton and the sake of boxing fans, hopefully Hatton is going to be fighting someone at least on par with Katsidis.

All this attention for Hatton’s comeback fight only to see him fight some guy that has no chance of winning. You can make a strong argument that Katsidis would have had no chance of winning either given that he’s a small lightweight and would likely be asked to move up two divisions to fight a heavy-bodied Hatton at welterweight.

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Haye: I’m not fighting Vitali in Ukraine; it’s too dangerous for me

By Michael Collins: Former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye desperately wants to get a fight against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko before the 41-year-old longtime World Boxing Council champion retires from the sport. However, there are limits to what Haye is willing to put up with in order to get the fight. Haye doesn’t want to fight Vitali in his native Ukraine because he feels it could be dangerous for him to travel there due his fears of being attacked by racist people.

Haye said to the Guardian.co.uk “I’ve never been to Ukraine but I have heard it’s very dangerous for a black man. There are crazy racists who have already sent me death threats. So Germany would be the best and safest place for me to beat Vitali and get out of the stadium alive.”

Haye isn’t exactly in the position to be calling the shots given that he’s just a mere challenger now and no longer a title holder. If Vitali decides he wants the fight to take place in Ukraine, then Haye will have to decide whether he really wants to fight Vitali or not, because the offer will likely be final.

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Sergio Martinez: A 7 Year Old, a World Champion and the Observer

By Padraig Ivory: When the hand was dealt for the young Sergio Martinez it was immediately evident that no picture cards had come to the table. From the outset a tough and challenging life lay ahead for the Argentinean native. Now 37 years removed from those humble beginnings that same boy has not only established himself as a picture card of the boxing deck, but rather emphatically as the undisputed poster boy of the middleweight division.

Imagine a scene 30 years ago in the city of Quilmes, Buenos Aires in which a successful, cigar wielding businessman, smartly clad in an expensive fitted suit is chauffeured through the working class city streets. Passing through a back laneway, safe in the comfort of his leather upholstered world, the small figure of a 7 year old Sergio Martinez momentarily reflects across the irises of his daydreaming gaze. Through the tinted glass the struggling city outside appears back and white, the colorless surroundings concealing the raw talent while simultaneously harvesting a determination deep within the undiscovered superstar.

Today the acclaimed ‘Maravilla’ is the gospel of them very streets that threatened to ignore him. The balance of the hard work expended and the fame that followed has combined to distance Sergio from the province of Buenos Aires.

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Q&A Session with Raul ‘El Tigre’ Casarez

(Photo credit Adrian Hernandez) By Robert Jackson: In the Rio Grande Valley, Texas, middleweight/Jr middleweight pro Raul ‘El Tigre’ Casarez is a local legend. His amateur exploits that began at age 12 are well known to locals from Rio Grande City to Brownsville and throughout South Texas. El Tigre who sports a 19-2, 9 KO’s professional record has been tabbed to face Alfredo ‘El Perro’ Angulo for his comeback fight scheduled for November 10, 2012 in California. In Marines gym on the eastside of Edinburg, Texas this writer got a chance to observe Casarez’ training for his BIG fight and was granted a rare interview afterwards.

RJ: Hello El Tigre, How’s it going? You’re coming off of your biggest win over JC Candelo, what did winning that fight do for your career?

ET: Having fun, that fight was just another day at the office, something I love to do, having fun doing it.

RJ: Tell me about the name “El Tigre”, where it came from.

ET: I was 12 years old at the time I fought at Brownsville Texas regional golden gloves, at that time Octavio Saenz who worked for Univison was there and there was a world champion Nestor “El Tigre” Garza who fought out of Reynosa, Mexico and they (Saenz) said I fought like him and reminded them of him and they started calling me tigre and tigre grew up now I’m El Tigre.

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Tim Bradley – Robert Guerrero possible for December 15th

By Rob Smith: A fight between interim WBC welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) and WBO welterweight champion Tim Bradley (29-0, 12 KO’s) is being negotiated between Golden Boy Promotions and Top Rank for December 15th in a venue still to be determined. If this fight can be put together it’ll be one of the rare recent occasions where the two rival promotional companies can work together.

Guerrero, who is very eager to get a big money fight, said on his twitter page on Monday “I want Tim Bradley, period! Golden Boy and Oscar De La Hoya make it happen! Fans want it, HBO Boxing wants it! No reason for it not to happen.”

It’s sad this may be the closest thing that Guerrero has gotten during his career to a big fight, and you can’t really call this a big fight, at least not compared to the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

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