IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitachko (60-3, 51 KO’s) isn’t doing much to try and ruffle the feathers of his Russian opponent WBA heavyweight champion Alexander Povetkin (26-0, 18 KO’s) ahead of their fight tomorrow night at the Olimpiyskiy, in Moscow, Russia.
Wladimir has been very complimentary of the 34-year-old Povetkin throughout the build-up to this fight to the point where it’s probably worked against both of them in generating interest in the fight.
Will either have enough left in the tank to make it competitive or at the very least entertaining? Both fighters are clearly past their prime but skill will ultimately rule the day.
Miguel Cotto is one of the best and most liked fighters of his generation. Haven fought the who’s who of names ranging from the 140 pound division all the way up to junior middleweight, giving us thrilling drama on the way.
Naturally a left hander, Cotto fights out of an orthodox stance, building his legend with one of the best jabs in the business and a left hook to the body that has left many of his opponents day dreaming about a cold bath mid fight.
Yesterday Team Khan came out with a statement saying that the rumors about Amir Khan (28-3, 19 KO’s) facing Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May were false and that Khan would be fighting IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander (25-1, 14 KO’s) on December 7th. Alexander’s trainer Kevin Cunningham doesn’t believe the statement from Team Khan, because the Khan-Alexander fight still hasn’t even been negotiated and there’s only 2 months to go before the fight.
Cunningham is saying that if the Khan-Alexander fight isn’t negotiated by October 7th, Alexander won’t take the fight because they want at least 8 weeks to train to get ready. They don’t want to be told at the last minute the fight is happening and end up not ready.
While Bradley (30-0, 12 KOs), of Palm Springs, Calif., and Márquez (55-6-1, 40 KOs), of México City, enter this World Welterweight Championship fight fresh from Fight of the Year caliber performances, Márquez will also be attempting to become the first Méxican fighter to win world titles in five different weight divisions.
Boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. wasn’t altogether pleased with what he saw from his son former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (47-1-1, 32 KO’s) in his controversial 10 round unanimous decision victory over Bryan Vera (23-7. 14 KO’s) last Saturday night at the StubHub Center in Carson, California.
Chavez Jr. was throwing mainly one punch at a time, backing up much of the time, and getting nailed by the much smaller Vera each time would be cornered. It was a very strange sight to see a bigger fighter with more power running from a smaller fighter.
The judges gave Chavez Jr. the win by the scores 97-93, 98-92 and 96-94, but only a small handful of people agree with those scores.
On Wednesday both Team Khan and Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe said that a fight between former two division world champion Amir Khan and Floyd Mayweather Jr. isn’t happening. According to Dan Rafael, Ellerbe calls it nothing more than rumors that Floyd will be fighting the struggling Khan, and Team Khan is saying that Khan will possibly be fighting IBF welterweight champion Devon Alexander on December 7th.
This leaves the question about who Mayweather Jr. will be fighting on May 3rd next year. He’s selected the Cinco de Mayo holiday to fight, so it makes a lot of sense for him to fight a Mexican fighter or least a Hispanic fighter. Unfortunately, there’s not too many names for Mayweather to fight at 140, 147 or 154 if he’s looking to a top Hispanic fighter.
Having just read another article on heavyweight punching legend Earnie Shavers (this fascinating piece on Ringtv.com), I wanted to put up my own piece on “The Acorn,” a man who was once dubbed “The Puncher of The Century.”
I’ve had the privilege of speaking with the 1970’s and early ’80’s heavyweight terror a number of times and here he kindly lists for me his top-three all-time heavyweight punchers; as well as telling me how he feels he would have done – in his pure-punching, zinging prime – against fellow legends, Tyson, Foreman, Liston and today’s kings, the Klitschkos.
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING, HBO Sports’ flagship boxing series, presents a dynamite split-site tripleheader headlined by the return of two of the sport’s biggest stars on SATURDAY, OCT. 5. The action begins at 3:30 p.m. (live ET) with the heavyweight title fight WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO VS. ALEXANDER POVETKIN from SC Olimpiyskiy Arena in Moscow. Following a replay of the fight later that day at 9:45 p.m. (ET/PT), the doubleheader MIGUEL COTTO VS. DELVIN RODRIGUEZ AND TERENCE CRAWFORD VS. ANDREY KLIMOV will be presented from Amway Center in Orlando, Fla. (live ET/tape-delayed PT). The HBO Sports team of Jim Lampley, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. will call all the action, which will be available in HDTV, closed-captioned for the hearing impaired and presented in Spanish on HBO Latino
Other HBO playdates: Oct. 6 (8:00 a.m.) and 7 (11:30 p.m.)
HBO2 playdates: Oct. 6 (4:00 p.m.) and 8 (11:30 p.m.).