Iceman John Scully: “I think Riddick Bowe potentially could have been one of the best heavyweight champions ever”

Exclusive Interview by Geoffrey Ciani – I was recently afforded the opportunity to have a very nice discussion with ‘Iceman’ John Scully. As a professional boxer, Scully posted a record of 38-11 with 21 wins coming by way of knockout during a career that spanned from 1988-2001. Scully shared his views on many of his contemporaries, including some of the biggest names in boxing from his era, including: Roy Jones Junior, Mike Tyson, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, Pernell Whitaker, George Foreman, Julio Cesar Chavez, Hector Camacho, Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, and more! Here is a complete transcript from that interview.

Audio:

GEOFFREY CIANI: Hello everyone. This is Geoffrey Ciani from East Side Boxing and I am joined by trainer Iceman John Scully. How’s everything going today, John?

JOHN SCULLY: Everything is spectacular. I’m very happy to be here with you.

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Abraham with a lot of options for big fights

By Adrian Soehner: Newly crowned WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (35-3, 27 KO’s) is in a great position right now to get a big money fight against some of the other top super middleweights and champions from other divisions after beating WBO super middleweight champ Robert Stieglitz (42-3, 23 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision earlier on Saturday night at the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. Abraham’s power came through for him to help him win a posts decision by the scores 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113.

Abraham was expected to win going in and he showed why people favored him by punishing Stieglitz all throughout the fight with hard combinations. Abraham has always been heavy-handed since his days as the IBF middleweight champion, but now he seems to be even more powerful now that he’s matured. That doesn’t mean he’s invincible. He’s far from actually. The win proved little other than showing that Abraham can beat the weakest of the super middleweight champions. But it still won’t keep him from getting a good opponent for his next fight later on in the year. However, Abraham is going to have to choice wisely because he may not get a second title defense if he faces someone too good.

The options for Abraham are as follows:

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Tyson Fury sparring with MMA fighters to get ready for Chagaev bout

By Michael Collins: Peter Fury, the uncle and trainer for unbeaten Tyson Fury (19-0, 14 KO’s), says that Tyson is sparring with MMA fighters to get in shape for his upcoming fight which they hope will be against former WBA World heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev in November.

Peter Fury said to Britishboxers.co.uk “He’s got a couple of MMA fighters…excellent sparring for him.”

I’ve never really heard of a professional fighter using MMA fighters to spar with to get ready for a well seasoned veteran like Chagaev. I’m not sure that an MMA fighter would be someone that would be good for a sparring partner given that they’re often guys from wrestling backgrounds with little skills or experience at boxing.

You can pretty much take even the oldest heavyweight from professional ranks and put in a top MMA fighter and put gloves him and he’s likely to lose and lost badly. It takes too many years to get good at boxing, and sticking gloves on an MMA fighter and sparring with them probably is a waste of time.

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Abraham defeats Stieglitz in close fight, wins WBO super middleweight title

By Michael Collins: Arthur Abraham (35-3, 27 KO’s) finally found success at 168 lbs in beating WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz (42-3, 23 KO’s) by a 12 round unanimous decision to capture his World Boxing Organization title on Saturday night at the O2 World Arena, Kreuzberg, in Berlin, Germany. Abraham used his power punches, high guard and a lot of pressure to get the better of the volume puncher Stieglitz throughout the fight. Abraham started out slow but really came on from the 4th round until the 9th, fighting effectively with his big power shots and showing some slickness at times.

The judges scored it 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. There was no question that Abraham was the better man, as he was able to land his power shots tonight and block many of the return punches from Stieglitz. He did, however, tired in the last three rounds, which is normal for him. Luckily, he had a lead built up by then so he didn’t lose too much despite his obvious fatigue problems.

Abraham did a lot of showboating for the Berlin crowd and seemed to be really enjoying himself against Stieglitz. You really can’t blame Abraham because his career was thought to be near over after getting beaten by Carl Froch, Andre Dirrell and Andre Ward in the Super Six tournament. However, Stieglitz didn’t have the same kind of talent as those guys, and it made things a lot easier for Abraham to control the action with his big wind up shots.

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Chavez Jr. will have run out of challenges at 160 lbs if he gets past Sergio Martinez

By Rob Smith: If WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is able to get past 37-year-old Sergio Martinez next month on September 15th, Chavez Jr. will have for the most part run out of opponents for him to face. If he chooses to stay at 160 lbs beyond that point in time he’ll likely be limiting himself in terms of important fights that boxing fans to see.

At 6’0″ 180 pounds, Chavez Jr. has the size to compete at super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight. He’s already too big for the middleweight division, as we’ve seen already with him looking like a hulk next to smaller fighters that look several weight divisions smaller than him. There really won’t be any reason for Chavez Jr. to stay at middleweight once Martinez is out of the way, because all that will be left is guys like Peter Quillin, Felix Sturm, Gennady Golovkin, Daniel Geale and Dimitriy Pirog. Those are fine fighters, but none of them are really well known in the United States except with hardcore boxing fans.

Chavez Jr. really needs to move up to super middleweight after the Martinez fight so that he can take on the top guys in this division. There are a lot of fighters that Chavez Jr. can make good money against, such as Carl Froch, Andre Ward, Mikkel Kessler, Andre Dirrell, Anthony Dirrell, Edwin Rodriguez, Adonis Stevenson and Thomas Oosthuizen. This division is absolutely loaded with talent and it would be interesting to see if Chavez Jr. would succeed at this level.

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Malignaggi defends his WBA title against light welterweight Cano on October 20th

By Michael Collins: You can make a strong argument that WBA World welterweight champion Paulie Malignaggi (31-4, 7 KO’s) is milking his World Boxing Association title by taking on light welterweight Pablo Cesar Cano (25-1-1, 19 KO’s) next on October 20th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With all the potential welterweights for the 31-year-old Malignaggi to choose from to defend his 147 pound title, he chose a light welterweight contender in 22-year-old Cano to defend his title against.

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November 10th still in play for Pacquiao’s next fight

By Rob Smith: Former WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao (54-4-2, 38 KO’s) could still end up fighting on November 10th rather than December 1st, the date that his adviser Michael Koncz recently said Pacquiao’s next fight would be taking place. Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum wants him to fight on November 10th and he sees it as still possible if he can get someone to file for him in the upcoming elections in the Philippines.

Nothing changes whether Pacquiao goes back to the November 10th date or not. Arum still has three opponents – Miguel Cotto, Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez – for him to choose from, so there’s not going to be anything new in terms of opponents to choose from. It’s going to be guys that Pacquiao has fought before instead of a much more preferable fight between Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr.

At this point we’ll probably be lucky if Pacquiao fights Mayweather next year. With Marquez, Cotto and Bradley all available for rematches, Arum may string it out until all those guys have fought by Pacquiao before he starts thinking of putting his valuable money fighter in with Mayweather.

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Fights To Hope For In The Next Six Months Or So

By James Slater: Wish list time! Now that we are at last approaching the summer drought that always happens in boxing, the remainder of 2012 and early 2013 will, hopefully, give us some great match-ups and some great fights for boxing. There are some quality fights set for September through November, and if the trend continues, some of the following bouts will get singed for December and beyond:

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Tyson Fury To Face Former Champ Ruslan Chagaev Next – A Good Test For Tyson?

By James Slater: According to British Boxers.com, who were afforded an exclusive interview, unbeaten British heavyweight star Tyson Fury will next face experienced former WBA heavyweight champ Ruslan Chagaev. The fight is set for November (exact date and venue to be announced).

33-year-old Chagaev, 29-2-1(18) was once looked at as one of the very best heavyweights in the world. Known as “The White Tyson,” the southpaw had an excellent amateur career and his pro career went without a hitch until a 2009 corner retirement loss to world ruler Wladimir Klitschko (arguably Wladimir’s best-ever, most punch-perfect, performance) . Before that one-sided fight, that saw “Dr. Steel Hammer” sweep every minute of every round, Chagaev had, for just over two years, held the WBA crown. Wins over John Ruiz (a final eliminator) Nikolay Valuev, Matt Skelton and Carl David Drummond still look pretty good on the Uzbekistan’s record.

Since his best days, Chagaev has had health problems (hepatitis) and he has also endured long layoffs. 4-1(1) since the loss to Klitschko, Chagaev’s other loss came on points to Alexander Povetkin in a failed attempt at regaining the then vacant WBA strap. So-so wins over Kerston Manswell (WU8) and, last time out, Billy Zumbrun (TKO 3) have seen Chagaev keep a little more active as of late.

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Who Is America’s Best Heavyweight Prospect? Ring Magazine OnLine Poll Results Say Seth Mitchell

By James Slater – Right now, there are at least a handful of young, unbeaten American heavyweights out there; fighters U.S fans are hoping will one day soon manage to bring at least a slice of the coveted title back home. Amazingly, America – the country that produced heavyweight legends like Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Joe Frazier and George Foreman – has not had a heavyweight titlist since Shannon Briggs, who held the WBO strap in 2006.

With the two Klitschko brothers currently destroying everything in their path, be it American or European opposition, the new crop of U.S heavies have a tough task ahead of them. Who can topple a Klitschko?

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