Dawson: I wanted the Ward fight at 170 lb catchweight but they said no

Dawson: I wanted the Ward fight at 170 lb catchweight but they said no By Rob Smith: Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO’s) said it wasn’t his idea to fight WBA/WBC super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO’s) at 168 for their September 8th fight at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California. Dawson, 30, was left with no other choice but to come all the way down fro 175 lbs to make the fight at super middleweight after he was refused when he asked for a catchweight of 170 lbs.

Dawson said on 24/7 Road to Ward-Dawson “We wanted to do a catchweight at 170, but they threw it out the window. They said no. We can’t make the fight unless it’s 168 pounds. The weight don’t bother me. The fight in Ward’s backyard don’t bother me. Ward’s a great fighter; I’m a great fighter. I don’t know why I’m the underdog in this fight. I don’t think people look at resumes too close. I beat some big names in the sport.”

I don’t think anyone knows for sure who will win this fight on September 8th. Ward is the better inside fighter and he’s done remarkably well against the top of the class in the super middleweight division in his fights in the Super Six tournament. However, Ward showed some vulnerabilities in his fights against Sakio Bika and Carl Froch that Dawson could take advantage of if he’s smart, and works hard.

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Dirrell wants Abraham rematch

By Michael Collins: Andre Dirrell (20-1, 14 KO’s) wants to get a shot at newly crowned WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham’s World Boxing Organization crown to take the title off of him and pay him back for being fouled in their fight in April 2010 in the Super Six tournament. Although Dirrell completely dominated Abraham and won the fight by an 11th round disqualification, Dirrell still wants to get Abraham back in the ring so that he can beat him until the conclusion of the fight.

Dirrell said this on his twitter yesterday after learning about Abraham beating WBO super middleweight champion Robert Stieglitz by a 12 round unanimous decision in Berlin, Germany: “I want that WBO [belt], Abraham!!! Scene 2, Ace 2. I’m gonna act out another ass whopping on you…again! Let me get the mandatory for that WBO after my next fight!!! I bet Abraham won’t fight me!!! Haha. I can’t wait!!!”

I also bet Abraham doesn’t fight Dirrell. There’s really no reason for Abraham to take the fight because in terms of important fights that can make him the most money, a fight against Dirrell would have to be low ranking right about now. Abraham can make better money against fighters like Lucian Bute, Mikkel Kessler, Felix Sturm or Carl Froch. Abraham isn’t going to use up an important fight and risk getting beaten again if he’s not going to get the biggest payday.

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Arthur Abraham-Felix Sturm – The Super-Fight For Germany Makes All The Sense In The World

By James Slater – They are both mega-stars in Germany, and reigning world champions Arthur Abraham and Felix Sturm have seemingly been on something of a collision course for years. Now that “King” Arthur is back where he belongs and has done his job against the classy Robert Stieglitz, all that remains for the super-fight to happen is Sturm taking care of his business this coming Saturday.

Sturm, the long-reigning WBA middleweight king, faces IBF champ Daniel Geale, 27-1(15) and if the 33-year-old can come though okay, it would be a natural for him to move up to 168 (Sturm has struggled to make 160 for some time) and get it on with Abraham.

32-year-old Abraham, 35-3(27) now a two-weight ruler, against Sturm, 37-2-2(16), would attract an absolutely monstrous audience in Germany. Simply put, both guys are total legends in their homeland (Abraham being born in Armenia but living in Berlin for a number of years). In separate fights the two stars bring in huge crowds, together the box-office records would likely be smashed.

Both men have enjoyed long, likely Hall of Fame-worthy careers, and the two veterans are closing in on their last few years. What we need to see now is a showdown between the two, to finally find out who is the best. Abraham has those heavy hands and he is rock-solid and tough.

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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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