Odlanier Solis vs. Leif Larsen on October 12th

Odlanier Solis vs. Leif Larsen on October 12th By Marcus Richardson: Former 2004 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist for Cuba Odlanier Solis (18-1, 12 KO’s) will be fighting 37-year-old unbeaten Norwegian heavyweight Leif Larsen (16-0, 13 KO’s) on October 12th at the Madrid Arena, in Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain in a scheduled 10 round bout. The 6’4″ Larsen played professional football with the Buffalo Bills from 2000 to 2001. He’s been a pro boxer since 2003, but failed to fight 2008 and 2009.

Before he faces Larsen, Solis, 32, has an eight round fight scheduled on September 14th against Erkan Teper (8-0, 6 KO”s) at the Tabea-Areal, Halle an der Saale, Sachsen, Germany. This will be Solis’ second tune-up fight after tearing up his right knee in a 1st round knockout loss to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in March of last year.

One of Solis’ problems since turning pro in 2007 is his weight. Although only 6’1 1/2″, Solis has fought much of his career between 250 and 270 pounds, and the weight could have been a factor in Solis blowing out his knee. He’s put on a great deal of weight since his amateur days when Solis fought at 200 lbs. You can understand Solis putting on a little weight after turning pro, but 50 to 70 lbs is just an incredible amount of weight to slap on.

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Robert Guerrero wants Broner to come up to 147 lbs to face him; sees Mayweather as possible fight

By Michael Collins: WBC interim welterweight champion Robert Guerrero (30-1-1, 18 KO’s) wants former WBO super featherweight champion Adrien Broner to come up all the way to welterweight to fight him without a catchweight. Guerrero feels that Broner, who has never even fought at lightweight, should move up from super featherweight three divisions to face him at welterweight. Why Guerrero doesn’t want to meet Broner at a catchweight is unclear but you have to wonder if he’s worried about how he would performance against Broner if a catchweight were used.

Guerrero also thinks a fight between him and unbeaten WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. is possible, saying to Ryan Maquinana at csnbayarea.com “It’s possible to make the fight. Everything’s there to do the fight. I just think he might go out without a fight, just give up the [WBC] title. We’ll see what happens…If he wants it, he can come get it.”

Guerrero is referring to his interim WBC title. Why Mayweather would want that title when he has the full WBC title is the big question. I think Guerrero is wrong about Mayweather losing his title. The World Boxing Council might be a little reluctant to strip Mayweather given the huge sanctioning fees they can get for his fights. I think Mayweather getting stripped of his WBC title would be something that might take a long time to happen, because Guerrero just doesn’t bring in the same kind of money that Mayweather does. sure, the WBC can strip Mayweather of his title and then give it to Guerrero, but what will they have then? Guerrero barely beat Selcuk Aydin in his last fight.

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36-year-old Erik Morales promises to give Danny Garcia a boxing lesson on October 20th

By Dwight Chittenden: Former four division world champion Erik Morales (52-8, 36 KO’s) sees himself schooling unbeaten WBA/WBC light welterweight champion Danny Garcia (24-0, 15 KO’s) in their fight on October 20th at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Morales already fought Garcia last March and was decisively beaten by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 117-110, 116-112 and 118-109.

Morales looked stiff, slow and old in that fight. The performance has since been partially blamed on Morales having recently come off of gallbladder surgery. While that sounds like a good excuse it doesn’t take away from the fact that he was beaten by Garcia, and it’s hard to see Morales improving enough from that fight to beat him in the rematch next October.

Morales said this about the Garcia rematch to Suljos.com “I think Danny Garcia is talking too much. He feels confident but I warn him I will defeat him. I will take him some boxing.”

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Ariza wants to take Pacquiao back to his old ways of training to get him ready for next fight

By Rob Smith: Alex Ariza, the strength and conditioning coach for 33-year-old Manny Pacquiao, wants to take him back to the way he used to train Pacquiao in the past to get him ready for his December 8th fight against possibly 39-year-old Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao has noticeably slowed down in his last three fights and doesn’t move around like he used to three years ago.

More importantly, Pacquiao is no longer fighting for the full three minutes of every round. In his last fight against Tim Bradley, Pacquiao only fought hard in the past 20 to 30 seconds of the round. It just looks like Pacquiao has aged both in his performance and in appearance.

Ariza told the Manila Standard “He [Pacquiao] has to go back to the old ways of training, focus more on the other stuff.”

This begs the question: Can Pacquiao get back to where he once was even with Ariza putting him through his old paces like in that past or he simply beyond the point of no return? 33 isn’t old, but it is for some fighters. Muhammad Ali had really slowed down by the time he reached 33. Compared how he looked in his 20s and even in his last 20s, Ali wasn’t the same fighter at 33.

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Roach: Chavez Jr. is going to set traps against Sergio Martinez to hurt him with body shots

By Marcus Richardson: Trainer Freddie Roach is coming up with plans for his fighter WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) to attack the body of Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) on September 15th to take the fight out of him. Chavez Jr. needs to be able to work on the inside against Martinez somehow because that’s probably the only chance that the 26-year-old Chavez Jr. has of winning this fight.

Chavez Jr. is not going to be able to beat Martinez by exchanging big shots from a distance. That’s not Chavez Jr’s game. He’s strictly an inside fighter, and if he can’t get that going he’s pretty harmless.

Roach said this about his plans for having Chavez Jr. beat Martinez as quoted by Fightnews.com: “Martinez is a smaller guy and it’s harder to get to his body. But we have traps set to break the body down to take his legs away from him. It’s a difficult task but we’re working on it.”

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Steve Cunningham: “I don’t feel the world has seen the best Steve Cunningham yet, so I’m willing and prepared to show them”

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I recently had the opportunity to speak with former two-time cruiserweight champion Steve USS Cunningham (24-4, 12 KOs), who will be making his heavyweight debut this Saturday when he takes on Jason Gavern (21-10-4, 10 KOs) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Cunningham spoke about a variety of topics including: his decision to move to heavyweight, adjusting to his new weight, his upcoming match against Gavern, a potential rematch against Tomasz Adamek, his views on the Klitschko brothers, his heavyweight goals, and more! Here is what Steve had to say.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello everyone. This is Geoffrey Ciani from East Side Boxing and I am joined here today by former two-time cruiserweight champion, about to make his heavyweight debut this weekend, Steve USS Cunningham. How’s everything going, Steve?

STEVE CUNNINGHAM: Everything is good. Training camp is over, and we’re leaving tomorrow, so it’s fight time.

CIANI: Great! Now Steve, as I mentioned a moment ago, you’re getting ready to make your heavyweight debut here. You said you just closed out camp. How was training and preparations for your first fight at heavyweight?

CUNNINGHAM: It was pretty intense because I was sparring with some big guys. I was sparring with Chazz Witherspoon and a couple of other heavyweights you guys probably don’t know from the gym. But these guys are big, man! 240 and about 6’6”, and Chazz Witherspoon is about 6’3” and 230. So you know I’ve been getting in some good work with some good heavyweights. It’s been grueling on the body taking those shots, but also it’s helping me learn and helping me develop more. The next thing was just me getting this extra weight on. I’ve gained about eight pounds I guess since my last fight, since we’ve been working at being a heavyweight, so eight to ten pounds. But since I was a small cruiserweight, you know I would leave the gym at like 195-196, or 194 and sometimes lower. Putting on this weight has been a little task, you know, just learning how to do it and keep it on.

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Perennial contender Ray Austin discusses his career, the heavyweight division, and the Klitschkos

by Pavel Yakovlev: (September 5, 2012) – Anyone following the heavyweight division knows about Ray “The Rainman” Austin. A professional since 1998, he has fought in several elimination bouts to determine mandatory challengers for the heavyweight champions. In 2007 Austin tangled with Vladimir Klitschko for the IBF world heavyweight title. In addition, the towering fighter – he stands over 6’6” and weighs around 240 lbs. – has squared off against top names such as Odlanier Solis, Sultan Ibragimov, Andrew Golota, Lance Whittaker, Larry Donald, Bermane Stiverne, and DaVarryl Williamson, among others. A perennial contender who is still capable of winning world-class bouts at age 41, Austin will most likely figure in more high profile matches before his career winds down.

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Prediction: Ward will outclass Dawson

By Emilio Camacho, Esq. First, I offer my apologies to those who requested this prediction sooner. I have been troubled by this competitive fight but have decided to make a bold prediction. If I am wrong, I will definitely
admit it.

Second, I believe both of these fighters are top-notch. Both of them are in their prime, disciplined, proven champions, committed to the sport and are not afraid to face the biggest challenge. As boxing fans, we are lucky because we do not get fights like these very often (did someone say Manny and Floyd?). So, here is how I think the fight will play out.

Round 1 will be slow and both fighters will try to make sense of each other’s rhythm and style. Not much will happen in this round but Ward’s rhythm will simply look better to the judges and he will get this round.

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PREVIEW – Bellew versus Miranda – Saturday 8th October

By Matt Amos: This Saturday night (8th September) will see the “Wavetree Bomber” Tony Bellew further enhance his credentials when he meets the tough, powerful former middleweight Contender Edison “Pantera” Miranda at Alexandra Palace in London for the WBC International Light Heavyweight Title.

Bellew, 17(11) – 1(0), is an exciting, slick 29 year old boxer who has already captured the British and Commonwealth titles. An articulate, likable family man with an accomplished domestic amateur career having won three National ABA Heavyweight Titles, he will look to increase his worldwide exposure when battling the well known rugged Colombian.

31 year old Miranda, 35(30) – 7(3) is a proven operator at top 10 level in the middle and super middleweight ranks and like Bellew attained considerable success at amateur level winning four national titles and reputedly 128 of 132 fights. He achieved his greatest professional triumphs in 2006/7 when stopping the granite chinned Howard Eastman and then defeating the previously unbeaten Allan Green. A controversial world title fight with Arthur Abraham followed in which after breaking the Armenian German’s jaw and having point deductions for headbutting he was subsequently outclassed by Abraham.

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Chavez Jr: Sergio Martinez is just a big clown

By Marcus Richardson: WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (46-0-1, 32 KO’s) doesn’t think too highly of his opponent for September 15th, former WBC middleweight champion Sergio Martinez (49-2-2, 28 KO’s) and he plans on shutting his mouth when they face each other in a televised fight on HBO pay per view. The asking price for the fight is $49.99 for boxing fans that have deep enough pockets to shell out that kind of cash in this sorry economy.

Chavez Jr. said this about Martinez today as quoted by Fightnews.com “He’s got a big mouth. On September 15th I’m going to shut him up once and for all. He’s just a big clown.”

Chavez Jr. in fact will be the bigger fighter in the ring on that fight. In looking at recent training video of the 26-year-old Chavez Jr., he appears to be still over 180 pounds and it’s unlikely that he’s going to get down below 180. Chavez Jr. sees his weight as being a significant factor for him in this fight, although he plans on showing some other wrinkles to try keep Martinez guessing. Chavez Jr. can move a little at times, but he’s never shown the ability or the inclination to move for more than a short period.

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