Brandon Rios vs. Mike Alvarado II – “The Boys are Back”

rios222 This coming Saturday evening, let us be collectively thankful that we as the boxing faithful can experience a headache to remember. Hopefully, such a careening of the cranium is felt more in the style of Cheech and Chong’s “Corsican Brothers” as we once more pull up to the TV (or some luckily enough in person) to witness either round one or maybe round eight in the memorable war that was Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios versus “Mile High” Mike Alvarado. The two battle hardened warriors met last October for a thundering clash in one of the sport’s gold standards of divisions, the junior welterweight class. They participated in a seven round, back and forth, see-saw type match-up which had just about everything for which dedicated fight fans clamor.

The two pugilists stood toe to toe during many points of the bout and two of the three ringside judges saw the bout even until “Bam Bam” Rios (31(23)-0-1, Oxnard, CA.) proved too much for “Mile High” Mike (33(23)-1, Denver, CO.) to handle, which resulted in a stoppage of the action at the 1:57 mark of the seventh round.

Vera defeats Bondorovas on questionable stoppage

vera11 Middleweight Brian Vera (23-6, 13 KO’s) got a lucky break tonight when the referee Charlie Fitch stopped a fight that Vera was clearly losing to Donatas Bondorovas (17-4-1, 6 KO’s) after the 7th round because of two small cuts that Bondorovas in their fight at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, Verona, New York, USA.

After an especially strong round by Bondorovas in the 7th, referee Fitch asked Bondorovas if he could see out of his eyes, and he said “not so good.” Bondorovas then angrily got to his feet and told Fitch “I said I CAN see.” It was no use, Fitch had made up his mind and the fight, which was actually good one, was stopped prematurely.

Thomas Stalker Plays Down Reputation

London 2012 Team GB captain Thomas Stalker has played down his remarkable reputation as a box office sensation despite selling over 1,000 tickets for just his second professional fight.

Although he is buried on the undercard of fellow Scouser Tony Bellew’s big fight in Liverpool tomorrow, a huge portion of the 12,000 crowd will be there to watch Stalker compete in a low-key four-round fight against a journeyman.

Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn, who promotes the show, spoke this week of his astonishment at Stalker’s popularity as he starts off on the road to professional glory.

Is Floyd Mayweather Jr. to Blame for the HBO GBP split?

floyd8 Whether it’s Floyd Mayweather Jr. – the guy that everyone loves to hate, just signing a big money deal with the Showtime Network for whom he bolted from HBO for, or other reasons, HBO has now struck back, severing it’s boxing relationship with Golden Boy promotions (GBP) whom Mayweather has collaborated with for his last few fights.

HBO’s claims of Mayweather’s defection having no affect on their boxing program couldn’t be farther from the truth. Truth is they wanted Mayweather and his move was an unexpected shock to HBO who stands to lose millions of dollars and its #1 status from Mayweather PPV’s. So HBO had to do something, cutting their losses they went after the group who reportedly brokered the Mayweather/Showtime deal; Golden Boy Promotions.

Robert Guerrero arrested in New York for attempting to carry a pistol onto a plane

In a potential buzz-kill, WBC interim welterweight champion Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero (31-1-1, 18 KO’s) was arrested earlier today for attempting to board a plane with an unloaded pistol while at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

According to Yahoo Sports, the 29-year-old Guerrero was leaving New York after spending a short period of time promoting his huge blockbuster pay-per-view bout against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

Guerrero was boarding a Delta flight 1429 to Las Vegas at 8:10 a.m. Guerrero attempted to declare the pistol [40 caliber semi-automatic] at the Delta counter, but was arrested. The pistol wasn’t loaded.

Audley Harrison: I have agreed to the terms for Deontay Wilder fight

Heavyweight Audley Harrison (31-6, 23 KO’s) says he’s agreed to all the terms for his April 27th fight against unbeaten American heavyweight Deontay Wilder (27-0, 27 KO’s) at the Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield, Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Audley is now ready to sign the contract to get the fight confirmed.

Audley said on his twitter: “My side has agreed all points. Waiting to sign on the dotted line. Here is my logic for accepting this fight. Take the biggest risk, 4 the biggest reward. Lose 2 any1 from this point on it’s over. Here we go.”

It’s a win-win situation for the 41-year-old Audley in taking this fight with the 27-year-old Wilder.

Canelo-Trout: Will Alvarez’s stamina hold up for 12 fast-paced rounds?

One of many question marks about WBC junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (41-0-1, 30 KO’s) going into his April 20th fight against WBA junior middleweight champion Austin Trout (26-0, 14 KO’s) is whether Canelo’s stamina will hold up for the full 12 rounds in a fast paced fight.

We’ve seen how Canelo has looked tired in his fights against Ryan Rhodes, Matthew Hatton, Alfonso Gomez, and Shane Mosley, and those were fights where he was allowed to plod for the full fight and not have to move quickly to catch up to a fighter on the move like he will against a constantly moving Trout at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Canelo looked like he didn’t have a lot of excess energy in the gas tank any of those fights, which is perhaps why he seemed to pace himself and fight flat-footed in each one of them. They were all mismatches, yet Canelo wasn’t take to take it out of 2nd gear to put these guys away quickly. He did stop Rhodes and Gomez, but it took a lot longer than it should have, and I don’t buy the excuse that his fans make that Canelo did this on purpose.

Vitali: The Haye fight isn’t interesting to me

WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KO’s) says a future fight isn’t an appealing one to him, and it’s not one that’s high on his immediate agenda. Vitali plans on continuing his career, but his main plan is to defend against his top challenger rather than giving Haye a shot at the title.

Vitali’s rationale is he gave Haye the opportunity to fight him last September when Vitali offered him a fight in Moscow, Russia. Haye said no to fight, so Vitali says he moved on and isn’t thinking about Haye anymore.

If Haye wants the fight with Vitali, he’s going to have to wait a long time and put himself in position for the fight by getting ranked high by the World Boxing Council. Haye is currently ranked #5 by the WBC.